Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Damn Yankees
Page 41
finally tagged with a loss pitching relief in the season’s final week.
Ford’s belated contribution aided a solid corps of starters who were each roughly a decade or more older, led by Vic Raschi’s 21 wins against nine losses. Catching the rotation was Yogi Berra, who started all but seven games behind the dish, while flowering into a dangerous offensive threat at the plate, batting .322 with 28 home runs and 124 RBIs. Joe DiMaggio, now 35, joined Berra at the top of the statistical chart with his last great year; a .301 average, 32 homers, 122 RBIs and a league
leading .585 slugging percentage.
Place blinders around the Boston Red Sox’ list of offensive numbers, and one would have a hard time believing the team could
only finish third. But they did, despite the fact they would be the last team to date to collectively hit .300, and the last to score over 1,000 runs. It could have been worse for opposing pitchers had Ted Williams not missed two months after colliding with the outfield wall at Chicago’s Comiskey Park during the All-Star Game.
Alas for the Fenway Faithful, the Red Sox couldn’t overcome a rough start in which Joe McCarthy; old, tired and losing respect from his players, walked away from the manager’s post. And the