YANKS WIN 6 HOUR, 15 MINUTE EPIC STRUGGLE WITH TRIBE, CLOSE
TO WITHIN 2
Berra Drives Home Game-Winner in 23rd
NEW YORK, Sept. 16 (AP) - In one of the most remarkable games anyone can
remember witnessing, the New York Yankees blew a four-run lead, overcame a
three-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth and one-run deficit in the 14th,
and finally eked out a 9-8 23-inning victory over the Cleveland Indians before
nearly 57,000 at the Stadium. The contest lasted a season-high six hours
and 15 minutes. Yogi Berra, who had been hitless in nine plate appearances
at one point, drove home pitcher Art Schallock from second base with a single
into right-center field with one out in the bottom of the 23rd. Schallock
narrowly beat the relay throw from second baseman Snuffy Stirnweiss. The
win pulls New York to within two games of Cleveland in the chase for the
American League pennant. The Yankees are now 14-3 in extra inning affairs
this year.
For much of the game, New York seemed to be cruising to a comfortable
victory. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the second on Bobby Brown's RBI
single; Mickey Mantle's 15th home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth
scored starter Allie Reynolds and upped the margin to 3-0. Joe DiMaggio's
run-scoring single in the sixth made it 4-0 while Reynolds was toying with the
Indians.
But in the top of the seventh, pinch hitter Harry Simpson and Barney McCoskey
both drove home runs to cut the New York lead in half. And with the score
still 4-2 in the top of the eighth, Luke Easter and Al Rosen led off with
consecutive singles. Reynolds fanned Sam Chapman and Ray Boone--two of his
nine strikeouts on the afternoon--but Stirnweiss walked to fill the bases.
Reynolds then issued another free pass--to Simpson--which forced in a run.
Bobby Hogue replaced Reynolds and retired McCoskey on a grounder to short, but
the Indians had pulled to within a single run.
The Yankees threatened but didn't score in the home half of the eighth and Hogue
remained in the game to begin the top of the ninth. Birdie Tebbets flied
to right, but pinch hitter Paul Lehner walked and was replaced by pinch runner
Doug Hansen. Easter followed with a base on balls to put runners at first
and second and Hogue was removed in favor of Tom Morgan who retired Al Rosen on
a fly to left. The Indians were down to their final out in the form of
Chapman, who was hitting .178 entering the game. On the very first pitch
from Morgan he drove the ball into the right-center field bleachers, stunning
the large crowd and putting Cleveland ahead for the first time, 6-4. Boone
singled and Stirnweiss doubled him home before Morgan could finally extract
himself from the inning, down three runs.
The Indians were three outs away from chopping their magic number down to
nine. Bob Lemon was brought on to close out the game and he set down Gene
Woodling on a fly to center for the first out. But then he hit pinch
hitter Archie Wilson. Phil Rizzuto grounded weakly to second, forcing
Wilson, and the Indians were only one out away from finishing the game.
Johnny Hopp hit for Morgan and walked, bringing the tying run to the
plate. Hank Bauer then walked to fill the bases. Johnny Mize
followed by looping a double into right-center field, scoring Rizzuto and Hopp
and leaving runners on second and third. The potential winning run was in
scoring position. Jerry Coleman then squibbed a ball over the end of the
bat to the right side and beat it out, scoring Bauer with the tying run.
Berra walked to fill the bases, but DiMaggio flied to left to end the
inning. Somehow the Yankees had blown the game and come back to tie it
down three runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Neither team scored again until the top of the 14th, when the Indians regained
the lead. There were two outs and none on when Simpson reached on an
infield roller to the left side. He stole second and Kennedy followed by
dumping a single in front of DiMaggio at center. Simpson tried to score,
but DiMaggio's throw beat him easily. Berra was waiting with the ball, but
it fell out of his glove when Simpson made contact. Berra was charged with
an error and the Indians held an 8-7 lead.
The Yankees immediately tied the game in the home half. Coleman led off
with a double on a fly ball that Clarence Maddern misjudged in left field.
Berra flied out to medium-deep center field, and Coleman tagged and attempted to
advance to third. Simpson's throw to third hit the runner and the ball
rolled over to the stands. Coleman scored and the game was tied again.
From that point, the game became a contest of attrition, as both teams ran
through their benches and bullpens as the scoreless innings went by. The
clubs ended up using 25 players apiece.
There were few truly good scoring chances after the 14th inning. Leadoff
men reached for both clubs on more than one occasion but were thrown out
stealing or erased in double plays. No one advanced past second base and
neither club had two runners on base at the same time until the 23rd.
In the top of the 23rd inning, Cleveland had an opening. New York reliever
Art Schallock--the seventh Yankees pitcher of the contest--walked Merl Combs and
Al Rosen to open the frame on a grand total of eight pitches. Stirnweiss,
however, rapped into a 6-4-3 double play, leaving Combs at third with two
outs. Simpson walked--the third free pass issued by Schallock in the
inning--and stole second base. But Schallock came back to retired Kennedy
on a fly to left.
In the bottom of the frame, Schallock rolled weakly to first, but Chapman booted
the ball for an error. That was the opening the Yankees needed.
Coleman sacrificed the runner to second and Berra followed with his heroics.
The 23-inning marathon is by far the longest contest of the major league season
to date, both in terms of innings and game time. The previous long in
innings was an 18-inning affair between the Phillies and Pirates at Forbes Field
on August 4; that game was the pervious longest on the clock, lasting four hours
and 54 minutes. The longest AL game prior to this one was 15 innings,
between the Athletics and Indians at Municipal Stadium on July 20. In
terms of minutes, a 13-inning game--the first of a doubleheader--between the
Yankees and Browns at Sportsman's Park on July 22 took three hours and 35
minutes.
Cleveland and New York meet again tomorrow--their final head-to-head play of the
year.
9/16/1951, Cle51-NYA51, Yankee Stadium 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1951 Indians 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 4 0 0 0 1951 Yankees 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 R H E LOB DP 1951 Indians 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 19 4 20 2 1951 Yankees 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 17 2 18 3 Indians AB R H BI AVG Yankees AB R H BI AVG McCosky rf 3 0 1 1 .237 Mantle rf 4 1 1 2 .296 Kennedy,Bo ph 6 0 1 0 .232 Bauer rf 3 1 0 0 .352 Avila 2b 4 0 1 0 .287 Collins 1b 3 0 1 0 .282 Tebbetts c 6 0 1 0 .232 Mize ph 2 0 1 2 .314 Doby cf 4 0 1 0 .281 Ostrowski p 0 0 0 0 .176 Garcia p 0 0 0 0 .225 Jensen ph 1 0 0 0 .331 Brissie p 0 0 0 0 .296 Overmire p 1 0 0 0 .037 Lehner ph 0 0 0 0 .141 Cerv ph 1 0 0 0 .207 Hansen,D pr 0 1 0 0 .000 Nevel p 1 0 0 0 .000 Maddern lf 6 0 1 0 .071 Silvera ph 1 0 0 0 .250 Easter 1b 4 1 1 0 .235 Schallock p 1 1 0 0 .214 Combs pr 5 1 0 0 .219 McDougald 2b 3 1 1 0 .267 Rosen 3b 10 0 3 0 .253 Coleman,Je 2b 6 1 3 1 .287 Chapman lf 10 2 3 3 .174 Berra c 10 0 2 1 .276 Boone ss 4 2 1 0 .239 DiMaggio,J cf 8 1 2 1 .264 Lemon p 0 0 0 0 .245 Woodling lf 9 0 1 0 .299 Zuverink p 1 0 0 0 .000 Brown,B 3b 3 0 1 1 .272 Mitchell ph 1 0 0 0 .349 Martin,B 3b 0 0 0 0 .271 Chakales p 1 0 0 0 .409 Wilson,Arc ph 0 0 0 0 .000 Wynn ph 1 0 1 0 .177 Brideweser 3b 6 0 1 0 .167 Rozek pr 2 0 0 0 .000 Rizzuto ss 9 1 0 0 .290 Hegan c 2 0 1 0 .232 Reynolds p 3 1 1 0 .292 Stirnweiss pr 6 0 2 1 .228 Hogue p 0 0 0 0 .667 Feller p 2 0 0 0 .156 Morgan p 0 0 0 0 .304 Simpson ph 6 1 1 2 .274 Hopp ph 5 1 2 0 .281 84 8 19 7 80 9 17 8 Indians INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Feller 6.0 8 4 4 0 1 73 46 3.77 Garcia 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 10 7 2.67 Brissie 1.1 1 0 0 0 0 20 12 4.00 Lemon BS 1 1.0 2 3 3 3 0 44 19 3.06 Zuverink 4.0 1 0 0 2 3 65 35 2.42 Chakales BS 1 5.0 2 1 0 2 3 70 44 3.65 Rozek L 0-3 4.1 3 1 0 2 0 71 40 2.25 22.1 17 9 7 9 7 353 203 Yankees INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Reynolds 7.2 8 3 3 5 9 143 87 3.79 Hogue H 3 0.2 0 2 2 2 0 17 6 7.02 Morgan BS 2 0.2 3 2 2 0 0 9 8 3.02 Ostrowski 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 13 11 3.60 Overmire 4.0 4 1 0 2 2 68 43 5.71 Nevel 6.0 2 0 0 2 2 83 51 0.00 Schallock W 3-2 2.0 1 0 0 2 2 28 12 5.70 23.0 19 8 7 13 15 361 218 Cle: Simpson batted for Feller in the 7th Stirnweiss ran for Hegan in the 7th Tebbetts inserted at c in the 7th Stirnweiss moved to 2b in the 7th Simpson moved to cf in the 7th Kennedy,Bo batted for McCosky in the 8th Kennedy,Bo moved to rf in the 8th Lehner batted for Brissie in the 9th Hansen,D ran for Lehner in the 9th Combs ran for Easter in the 9th Maddern inserted at lf in the 9th Combs moved to ss in the 9th Chapman moved to 1b in the 9th Mitchell batted for Zuverink in the 14th Wynn batted for Chakales in the 19th Rozek ran for Wynn in the 19th Rozek moved to p in the 19th NYA: Bauer inserted at rf in the 8th Coleman,Je inserted at 2b in the 8th Mize batted for Collins in the 8th Mize moved to 1b in the 9th Martin,B inserted at 3b in the 9th Wilson,Arc batted for Martin,B in the 9th Hopp batted for Morgan in the 9th Brideweser inserted at 3b in the 10th Hopp moved to 1b in the 10th Jensen batted for Ostrowski in the 11th Cerv batted for Overmire in the 15th Silvera batted for Nevel in the 21st E-Chapman, Boone, Simpson, Combs, Berra, Rizzuto. 2B-Rosen(35), Stirnweiss(2), DiMaggio,J(21), Coleman,Je(11), Mize(12). 3B-Hegan(7). HR-Chapman(5), Mantle(14). RBI-McCosky(18), Chapman 3(32), Simpson 2(44), Stirnweiss(6), Mantle 2(58), Berra(93), DiMaggio,J(52), Brown,B(37), Coleman,Je(35), Mize 2(63). SB-Simpson 2(9), McDougald(15), Coleman,Je(4). CS-Rosen, Woodling. K-Avila, Doby 2, Rosen, Chapman 3, Boone, Hegan, Feller, Simpson, Stirnweiss 2, Combs, Rozek, Collins, Berra, DiMaggio,J, Bauer, Hopp, Brideweser 2. BB-McCosky, Easter, Rosen, Chapman, Boone, Hegan, Simpson 2, Stirnweiss, Tebbetts, Kennedy,Bo, Lehner, Combs, Berra, DiMaggio,J 2, Woodling, Bauer 2, Coleman,Je, Hopp 2. SH-Rizzuto, Bauer 2, Coleman,Je. HBP-Wilson,Arc. HB-Lemon. WP-Feller, Brissie. GWRBI: Berra Temperature: 58, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 8 MPH. Attendance: 56,997 Game Time: 6:15