Yankees Stallin' For a Tie

[Bernie Carbohydrate]

Back in the .com days I had started a file of Red Soxiana for later stories. I'm dumping the ideas on the Main Board now, so as to serve your Covid isolation needs. For a bit I was fascinated by this game: July 5, 1958--The Tie.

In 1958 New York City had put in a hard midnight curfew. The Sox were part of a rare four hour game (3:58 to be very exact).

But if you review the box score, you don't know what was really going on. The account from sportswriter Louis Effrat describes the Pinstripers running out the clock just as our boys started a rally:



The game was tied after nine, but the Sox started a rally in the eleventh (an inning not reflected in the box score above).

Jackie Jensen actually scored on a sacrifice fly, making the score 4-3 in favor of the Sox. But the run came at 11:54, and the rules required the full inning to be completed for the run to count.

The Yankees went to the bullpen, and relief pitcher Tom Studivant "moved like a snail," burning more time. For some reason, the Sox didn't lay down and end their half of the inning, but kept trying and scored again. The game ended in a tie, with the Sox still batting, at 11:59pm.

 

[JohnnyTheBone]

The Yankees went to the bullpen, and relief pitcher Tom Studivant "moved like a snail," burning more time. For some reason, the Sox didn't lay down and end their half of the inning, but kept trying and scored again. The game ended in a tie, with the Sox still batting, at 11:59pm.

Pricks!

 

[Earthbound64]

"Baseball: One of the only games without a clock."
So much for that.

 

[Norm Siebern]

"The Yankees went to the bullpen, and relief pitcher Tom Studivant "moved like a snail," burning more time."

So, just like the Yankees under Joe Torre

 

[nayrbrey]

@Bernie Carbohydrate Did they replay the game or just continue it at another time? I can’t find anything else on this, I looked at the 58 final standings and they didn’t have a tie and both played 154 games?

edit- great thread idea, a similar one is the 72 (edit #2) season where they missed time due to a strike and lost the division to Det due to playing a lesser amount of games.

 

[Bernie Carbohydrate]

@Bernie Carbohydrate Did they replay the game or just continue it at another time? I can’t find anything else on this, I looked at the 58 final standings and they didn’t have a tie and both played 154 games?

I think the makeup was September 1, 1958.

On August 31 the Sox beat Baltimore 3-2 in Fenway (attendance 13,211!)

[Oddity in this game--Hoyt Wilhem started for the O's and took the complete-game loss; we know him as a reliever, but in 1958-60 Baltimore used him as a starter.]

The next day the Sox played a doubleheader in NY, the last time they would play at the Toilet that season -- they split it, winning the first (4-2) and losing the second (4-2). Over 42 thousand showed up at Stade Faciste that day, understandable since the Yanks were running away with the pennant, sitting at 81-51. Boston was 12.5 games behind.

The Sox then lost two more games of what turned out to be a four game set in New York. So I figure Sept 1-3, 1958 was a scheduled three-game series, and they tacked on the extra game on September 1 to make up the tie and create the doubleheader.

By the way, the 1958 Red Sox finished 79-75, and then entered a decade of futility and didn't see another winning season until '67.

 

[lexrageorge]

@Bernie Carbohydrate Did they replay the game or just continue it at another time? I can’t find anything else on this, I looked at the 58 final standings and they didn’t have a tie and both played 154 games?

edit- great thread idea, a similar one is the 72 (edit #2) season where they missed time due to a strike and lost the division to Det due to playing a lesser amount of games.

A quick note on the 1972 season. Yes, the Red Sox did lose by half a game, but it's not quite the injustice it's been made out to be. First, they were as far back as 7.5 games in late May, and entered July with a 28-34 record, 8 games out of the race, tied with the Yankees, and trailing Detroit and Baltimore. They then turned it on in July, August, and September, going 57-33. They were in first place for a good chunk of September, and entered October 1.5 games of cushion with 4 to play. The Orioles had faded out of the race, and the Tigers stumbled, but were still in striking distance.

On October 1st, Mike Cuellar outdeuled Lynn McGlothlen, with Bobby Grich's home run being the deciding score. Then the Sox had a 3 game series in Detroit, needing to win 2 of them. In the first game, 21 game winner Mickey Lolich struck out 15 en route to a 4-1 win in front of over 50,000 fans in old Tiger Stadium. Backs against the wall, the Sox rolled out Luis Tiant and later Bill Lee, but Al Kaline would drive in the winning run as the Sox bats remained quiet in a 3-1 loss. With the Red Sox eliminated and the division clinched, the Tigers emptied their bench and bullpen to get ready for the ALCS matchup against the A's, and the Sox won the glorified exhibition 4-1 in front of less than half as many fans. The Red Sox won only 5 of 14 games against the Tigers that season, and their 85-70 record would be good enough for only 89 wins in a 162 game season.

Some other notes: Yaz in September was September Yaz, sporting a 0.940 OPS with 8 home runs. Battling injuries earlier that season, he didn't hit his first home run until July 22nd. Carlton Fisk, his first season as a full time starter, would not only lead the team in home runs with 22, but also led the league with 9 triples (!!), and would win Rookie of the Year. Tommy Harper was one of my favorite players on that team, and would steal 25 bases in his first of 3 seasons. Reggie Smith would hit 21 bombs of his own; at the time, I was way too young to know about the issues both players had in that racially toxic environment. Ben Oglivie, Cecil Cooper, Rick Miller, and Dewey Evans would all get at bats with the team that season. Tiant would sport a 1.91 ERA, while Marty Pattin would lead the team with wins at 17.

 

[nayrbrey]

@lexrageorge thanks for that info. My dad would always gripe about that year, but my first Sox memories are of 75.

 

[rlsb]

It was unfortunate that the Red Sox did not play well against Detroit that year, because they were 9-3 against the champion Athletics.
All 6 home games against the Athletics were played in one weekend series in late July due to rainouts in the first week of May. The Red Sox took four out of six that weekend. That was a great series with great pitching, tying a game in the ninth and winning in extra innings twice. Don Newhauser earned half of his career victory total that weekend. (2), as well as Sonny Siebert's pitching his last shutout for the Red Sox.

 

[Marciano490]

I honestly thought this thread was going to be about the 2020 season.

That’s a great story, though. Any quotes come out as to why the Sox didn’t hustle through their at bats and try to wrap up by midnight?

 

[Bernie Carbohydrate]

That’s a great story, though. Any quotes come out as to why the Sox didn’t hustle through their at bats and try to wrap up by midnight?

I'm looking for another account of the game. Possibilities include:

1. Pinkie Higgins was a dumbass.

2. Everyone knew it didn't really matter. After all, the rules say the full inning has to be completed. So even if Higgins had ordered the next Sox batter (I think it would have been CF Gene Stephens) to strike out and end the top of the inning, the Yankees would have had every opportunity to kill time in the bottom half of the inning when they came to bat. Settle into the box, take pitches, call for pinch hitters, step out of the box to scratch their asses...

 

[Marciano490]

I'm looking for another account of the game. Possibilities include:

1. Pinkie Higgins was a dumbass.

2. Everyone knew it didn't really matter. After all, the rules say the full inning has to be completed. So even if Higgins had ordered the next Sox batter (I think it would have been CF Gene Stephens) to strike out and end the top of the inning, the Yankees would have had every opportunity to kill time in the bottom half of the inning when they came to bat. Settle into the box, take pitches, call for pinch hitters, step out of the box to scratch their asses...

Have someone sing “God Bless America.”