The Saturday afternoon game was also “Joe DiMaggio Day.” When the Yankees had their big mid-season lead, it was figured that the final weekend would be meaningless. A “day” for the great Yankee Clipper was planned to draw a big crowd — not that Joltin’ Joe didn’t deserve the honor. He certainly did. As things worked out, they didn’t need a special promotion to pack the place but, of course, the pre-game ceremonies took place, including Red Sox participation by Sox Manager Joe McCarthy, DiMag’s former Yankee skipper and Joe’s brother, Dominic, the Red Sox Hall of Fame center fielder. What pageantry. What drama.
Allie Reynolds started for the Yankees against Boston’s Mel Parnell, who, along with Ellis Kinder, had carried the Red Sox into first place. Reynolds had control problems and the Red Sox scored a run in the first and had another run in the 3rd inning with the bases loaded when Casey Stengel brought in Joe Page, the great Yankee relief pitcher. But Page walked the first two batters he faced, forcing in two more runs for a 4-nothing Red Sox lead. With Mel Parnell on the mound, it looked like a Red Sox American League pennant. However, Page shut down the Red Sox for the rest of the game and the Yankees chipped away at Parnell for two runs in the 4th and two in the 5th. McCarthy replaced Parnell with righthander Joe Dobson.
The score remained tied, 4-4 into the bottom of the 8th. As recounted by David Halberstam in “Summer of ‘49,” Stengel sent up both Bobby Brown and Cliff Mapes, left-handed pinch hitters, to face the right-handed Dobson. But Dobson handled them. The next man up was Johnny Lindell, a right-handed hitter. Stengel had the left-handed Charlie Keller on the bench. But Lindell already had two hits and he had driven Ted Williams back to the fence his first time up against Dobson. Stengel decided to stick with Lindell.
Meanwhile, up in the TV booth, Don Dunphy was relaying the drama to the large audience in the New York metropolitan region. When Lindell stepped into the batters box, I had some of the same instincts Casey Stengel did. I leaned over Dunphy’s shoulder and marked “HR” on Don’s scorecard. Dunphy was concentrating on the unfolding drama and his startled look told me that he might throw me out of the booth. It was kind of rash of me considering the tension building on the field and in the TV booth.
According to Halberstam’s account, “Lindell was a low-ball hitter, so Dobson and catcher Birdie Tebbetts decided to feed him high fast balls. The first pitch was a ball. Again Dobson came in with a fastball. The ball was both high and inside. Lindell knew he was not going to see anything low. But he got ready, and he crushed the next ball. The moment he hit it, everyone knew it was a home run. Up in the TV booth, pandemonium reigned. Don Dunphy was ecstatic and soon was telling the TV audience how his assistant, Joe Gallagher, had called the shot. I breathed a sigh of relief.
I had become a celebrity, at least in my Riverdale (West Bronx) neighborhood. But that and a token will get you on the subway. Besides, there was one more game to play. Sunday’s finale was another great game with Vic Raschi beating Ellis Kinder for a Yankees pennant. But in my memory book, it was anti-climatic to Johnny Lindell’s home run the day before.
Gallagher is a retired, award-winning Major League Baseball television producer. He remains active in politics and around baseball and resides near Knoxville, Tenn.