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Walkoff
Boston Globe, October 2, 1932
Special World Series Edition
HAFEY’S DRAMATIC HOMER WINS GAME THREE FOR SOX!
Chick Breaks Scoreless Tie In Bottom Of Ninth Inning
Settlemire Equals Hoyt’s Performance; Throws 4-Hit Shutout
Special to the Globe by PAT O’FARRELL
BOSTON—Is there a baseball-loving child in America who hasn’t dreamed of winning a World Series game with a ninth-inning home run? I have five children, and I have witnessed an untold number of these dramatic moments in the O’Farrell backyard. Yesterday, I watched it happen at Fenway Park, as Chick Hafey made his boyhood dream come true with a game-ending homer off Reds reliever Si Johnson.
The scenario was made possible by another day of sterling pitching by Boston’s Merle Settlemire and Cincinnati’s Benny Frey. Settlemire is not as familiar to most baseball fans as Neal Brady, Waite Hoyt, or Marv Gudat, but he is rapidly establishing himself as a top-flight hurler. Yesterday, he pitched a masterpiece that was just about as efficient as Hoyt’s the day before; like Waite’s, a four-hit shutout.
Merle is a different type of pitcher, so his game took a slightly different shape. His pitches move in ways that befuddle hitters, and consequently, he walks more men than either Hoyt or Brady. Yesterday, six Reds took their base on balls. Merle, however, compensates for this by being especially tough with men on the sacks, and he worked his way around the few instances of trouble that he encountered.
So did Benny Frey, with the help of some splendid glovework by his teammates. In fact, there would have been no need for Hafey’s ninth-inning heroics if not for a nifty double play turned by first basemen Len Styles and shortstop Glenn Wright in the sixth inning. With one out, Judy Johnson was on third, with Lou Gehrig on first and Hafey at the bat. When Hafey smacked a grounder to Styles, the first baseman ignored Johnson as he broke for the plate, and fired the ball down to second. Of course Styles, a veteran pro, did this deliberately. He took the chance that Wright would complete the double play and end the inning, thus erasing the run Johnson was scoring in the meantime.
The Reds executed the play perfectly. Styles’ peg was hard and accurate; Wright neatly avoided the hard-sliding Gehrig and fired a rifle shot back to first; Hafey was out by a full stride. The play combined the grace of ballet, the power of football, and the timing of first-rate comedy. That play gave us one more reason why baseball is the best game of all.
That’s how the score remained tied at zero, and it remained that way until the bottom of the ninth. The decision to remove Benny Frey, who had allowed only three hits in eight innings, from the game will probably be debated in baseball circles for some time. What fans need to remember is this: Many things take place in a baseball dugout that are unknown to all but the players, managers, and coaches that inhabit it.
Was Frey exhausted, mentally and physically, from the exertions of pitching under the intense pressure of a scoreless World Series game all afternoon? Was his arm beginning to feel tight and sore—a condition that the Reds would surely not want to publicize, since he will receive another turn if the Series goes as far as six games? Has Si Johnson, the man who came in to replace Frey, had a lot of success against Chick Hafey during Hafey’s years in the National League? I don’t know these answers, and neither do you. There are plenty of perfectly good reasons why a pitching change might be in order in this situation, and perhaps one of them applies.
What we do know is that Hafey ended the game on the second pitch he saw from Johnson, and it seemed that all of Boston exploded in an ovation that continued long after Hafey touched the plate and was surrounded in a joyous crowd of teammates. When they lifted Chick to their shoulders, the fans roared even louder, and louder still when he waved his cap to acknowledge their cheers.
Tomorrow, we get to do it all over again. Neal Brady is scheduled to pitch his second game of the Series, while young Wes Ferrell will probably get the ball for Cincinnati. Will tomorrow’s game produce a hero like Hafey, whose feat will be discussed as long as baseball is played?
We’ll see, won’t we?
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