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Frommer Double
Feature
Email:
Harvey
Frommer
Website: Harvey Frommer on
Sports and
Culture
Harvey Frommer is the author of
33 sports books, including "The
New York Yankee Encyclopedia,
"Shoeless Joe and Ragtime
Baseball," "Growing Up Baseball"
with Frederic J. Frommer and
"Rickey and Robinson: The Men Who
Broke Baseball's Color Line." His
"A Yankee Century: A Celebration
of the First Hundred Years of
Baseball's Greatest Team" was
recently published in paperback
form in Sept. of 2003.
Johnny Blanchard,
Four Straight Homers: July 21-
22, 1961
MOST PEOPLE associate home
run hitting and the Yankees with
1961 and Roger Maris. But it was
also the time of Johnny
Blanchard. The third string
catcher nearly quit in 1960 when
Casey Stengel toyed with
activating 40-year-old Jim Hegan
as a back up to Yogi Berra when
Elston Howard was hurt. Casey was
glad he didn't go for Hegan;
Blanchard had a career year and
was adequate behind the plate.
And he also did some special home
run hitting.
On July 21,
Johnny B hammered a ninth inning,
two out, pinch hit grand slam
home run at Fenway Park to push
the Yanks to an 11-8 victory over
the Red Sox. The next day
Blanchard hit another ninth
inning, pinch hit homer to spark
a second come-from- behind
victory over Boston.
On July 26, the
man they called "Super- Sub"
slashed his third and fourth home
runs at Yankee Stadium against
the Chicago White Sox. The homers
drove in four runs as the Yanks
beat the White Sox, 5-2.
Four straight
homers over three games tied a
major league record. Not bad for
a guy who was ready to pack in
his career the year
before.
Blanchard's
career was essentially spent as a
third string catcher: He played
in 516 games, batted .239, hit 67
home runs. In the World Series he
caught fire; in 15 games he
batted .345 and had five home
runs.
In 1965, the
Yankees traded him to to Kansas
City. The "Super- Sub" sat in the
Yankees clubhouse and sobbed
away. Mickey Mande sat down next
to Blanchard and attempted to
cheer him up.
"Don't take it so
hard, John. Just think, in Kansas
City you're going to get a chance
to play."
"Hell, I can't
play, Mick. That's why I'm
crying."
But Blanchard
could play especially on July 21-
22, 1961 - when his bat was lit
by lightning.
The
Bevens' No-Hitter Lost: October
3, 1947
THE WORLD SERIES 1947 Game Four
starter for the Yankees before
33,443 frenzied fans at Ebbets
Field was an unlikely
choice.
Bill
Bevens, the 31-year-old
right-hander had lost 13 of 20
decisions during the regular
season.
His record could
have been a lot better had he not
walked 77 in 165 innings. His
luck was a lot better in the
World Series start - or so it
seemed.
Going into the
ninth inning, Bevens had a 2-1
lead. Much more important - he
was pitching a no-hitter. Sure he
was tired, he had thrown a lot of
pitches, going deep in the count
with quite a few batters.
Brooklyn catcher
Bruce Edwards hit a high fly ball
for the first out in the 9th.
Then Bevens, laboring, walked
Carl Furillo. It was his ninth
walk of the game. Spider
Jorgensen fouled out, weakly.
Just one more out and the first
World Series no-hitter was
sealed.
Then, in Dodger
broadcaster Red Barber's phrase,
"the wheels were turning. Speedy
pinch-runner Al Gionfriddo came
in for Furillo. A gimpy "Pistol
Pete" Reiser hit for relief
pitcher, Hugh Casey. With the
count 3-1 on Reiser, Gionfriddo
stole second base. Bevens
intentionally walked Reiser, his
tenth walk of the game. Eddie
Miksis came in to run for Reiser.
The Dodgers now had two very fast
runners on base.
Eddie Stanky,
headed for the plate, but Dodger
manager Burt Shotton pulled him
and sent in veteran Harry Arthur
"Cookie" Lavagetto as a
pinch-hitter.
Pitch number 136
from Bevens was a swing and a
miss by Lavagetto. The next
pitch, one pitch too many, was
slightly off the plate. Lavagetto
was late on it.
"The pitch was
right out there and I got hold of
it good," said Lavagetto. Line
drive toward the right field
wall. Tommy Henrich, in front of
the scoreboard in
right-centerfield, watched as the
ball struck high, near the center
of the Gem Razorblade sign. It
bounced around and Henrich
finally picked it up, turned,
threw.
"I ran down to
first base," Lavagetto said, "and
turned and saw the two runs
scoring and that's all there was
to it."
"Friends," Red
Barber said, "they're killin'
Lavagetto... his own teammates...
they're beatin' him to pieces and
it's taking a police escort to
get Lavagetto away from the
Dodgers!"
The two-out
double not only broke up the Bill
Bevens' no-hitter; it also pinned
the loss on the Yankee hurler and
tied the series at two games
each. Ironically, goat Bevens and
hero Lavagetto would never again
wear a major league uniform after
the 1947 World Series.
All articles
Copyright © 1995-2004 by
Harvey Frommer.
All rights reserved
worldwide.
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