Sunday October 5, 1941
GIANTS HITCH RIDE ON WAGONER TO STAY ALIVE
New York Giants shortstop John Wagoner had 3 hits including a double and triple while driving in 4 runs and scoring twice to lead his club to a 7-4 victory in Game Four of the World Series. The victory keeps the Giants slim hopes alive as they trail in the series 3 games to one.
The 27 year old Wagoner, who played a key role in the Giants two World Series victories over the Yankees in 1938 and 1939, is a lifetime .320 hitter in the postseason including going 6-for-17 (.353) so far in this series.
The Yankees threatened first as lead-off man Martin Robbins hit a triple off of Giants starter Aurelio Ventura to start the game but Ventura got out of the jam damage free with a pair of infield pop-outs and a ground out. While the Yankees could not take advantage of a lead-off extra base hit the Giants did as rookie Mike Hall greeted Yankee starter Elias Edmondson with a double on his second pitch of the game. Hall got a great jump and moved over to third on a comebacker to the mound from Celerino Ochoa and then scored on John Wagoner's ground out.
The Yankees responded quickly in the top of the second and looked like they were going to turn this one into another rout like the opening two games as the American League champs got 3 runs on 5 hits in the inning including doubles from George Foskey and Joe Martin.
However instead of a Yankee rout the Giants bats came alive as they tied the game in the home half of the third inning on an rbi double from Jim Wade and a single from Henry Warner. In the 4th inning the Giants would add three more runs with the big blow being Wagoner's two run triple. In the 6th inning the Giants chased Edmondson when Wagoner doubled in Mike Hall to make the score 7-3.
Edmondson was making his first start since September 28th when he lasted just 1/3 of an inning before leaving with neck problems. The 32 year old who was American League pitcher of the year in 1939, was 18-12 with a 3.10 era on the season but he clearly looked like his timing was off on this day.
One player who's timing is certainly on is journeyman 1B-OF Mike Hall. The 31 year old spent most of the season at AAA Minneapolis before being called up at the September deadline and going 4-for-9 down the stretch as a pinch-hitter for the Giants. Moved into the starting lineup because of injuries the South Gate, California native is batting .400 (6-15) in the 4 World Series games. He is no stranger to the post-season as he had played 19 World Series games prior to this year (4 with the Braves in 1932 and 14 with the Giants in 1938-39). He has appeared in over 1000 regular season major league games batting .292, but just 38 over the past two seasons.