Sixty-seven years ago, the Red Sox and Cardinals met in a World Series for the first time. The Serious went the distance, with the Cardinals scoring the decisive run in Game 7 when Enos Slaughter made his “mad dash” in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring from first base on a double to relatively short left-center field.
Serious Flashback (Part 1)
Red Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky was anointed the goat -- in the old days, every World Series needed a goat -- because he supposedly held the ball while Slaughter was rounding third. But that story’s been debunked many times, as a) Pesky had no way of knowing that Slaughter was heading home, and b) even if he’d turned and thrown immediately, Pesky probably didn’t have a good shot at Slaughter. It was just one of those things.
Thanks to MLB Productions, you can see for yourself; it’s the first play in the clip ...
If you watched the clip, you know this already, but the Sox opened the top of the ninth with a couple of singles, then got the tying runner to third base with one out. They just couldn’t get him home.
Ted Williams was terrible in the World Series, with five singles and one RBI in the seven games. His enemies in the press box held up Williams’ performance as evidence that he wasn’t a clutch hitter, but the real problem was that he’d been struck in the elbow by a pitch before the Series, in a practice game. Williams also hit into some tough luck; by his account, he hit a couple of fly balls in Game 7 that went more 400 feet.
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