Boston Red Sox: Biggest heartbreaks in franchise history

Red Sox lose 1946 World Series

Despite all of his individual accomplishments as the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived, Ted Williams only ever played in one World Series during his career. The Red Sox were one of the best teams in the American League during the 1940s, but only have one pennant to show for it. That came in 1946 when Williams led the Sox to a 104-50 record (the best in franchise history until the 2018 team went 108-54) and the World Series.

This was the first Red Sox pennant since they last won the World Series in 1918 and pitted them against the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. However, they weren’t at full strength and it was for a reason that would never happen in 2020. Because the Cardinals and Dodgers finished tied atop the National League, they faced off in a best-of-three tiebreaker series to determine the NL pennant.

Since the Red Sox had time to kill before the start of the World Series, they staged an exhibition game where they played against a team of American League All-Stars. During one of his at bats, Ted Williams was hit on his right elbow by a pitch, injuring him and forcing Red Sox manager Joe Cronin to pull him from the game. X-rays showed no damage, but in Williams’ own words his elbow “swelled up like a boiled egg.”

He couldn’t even swing a bat until four days later, on the eve of the World Series, and even then he complained about how sore his elbow was. In any event, the series started on October 6, 1946 and after five games, the Red Sox had taken a 3-2 series lead. With the final two games being played in St. Louis, Boston only needed to win once more to capture their first championship in twenty-eight years.

Instead, what became known as “Slaughter’s Mad Dash,” “Pesky held the ball,” and “Pesky’s hesitation,” depending on your viewpoint, happened in Game Seven. The Cardinals led 3-1 heading into the top of the eighth inning, but Dom DiMaggio hit a two-run double which tied the game and gave the Red Sox life. It was in the bottom of the inning that the infamous incident happened.

With two outs and the Cardinals’ Enos Slaughter on first base, Harry Walker lined a 2-1 pitch to left-center field. Because there were two outs, Slaughter was running on contact. The ball was fielded by Red Sox center fielder Leon Culberson (who had replaced DiMaggio after he had pulled his hamstring). Culberson fired a relay through to Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky who was the cutoff on the play.

Meanwhile, Slaughter ignored the stop sign thrown up by his third base coach and rounded toward home. Pesky turned and, in a play that is still debated to this day, hesitated with his throw. By the time he fired to home plate, Slaughter had slid across with the go-ahead run. Photographs of the play (see the one at the beginning of this slide) show that Pesky’s throw was also weak and well up the third base line.

The “Mad Dash” gave St. Louis a 4-3 lead. In the top of the ninth the Red Sox threatened and had the tying run on third base before being retired to lose the game and the series. As for Williams, due to his injured elbow he only hit a woeful .200 in the series with no home runs and only one RBI. He went hitless in Game Seven, putting up an 0-for-4 showing.

For years he was filled with regret and when asked more than fifty years later what the one thing about his career he would change if given the chance, he pointed to this series. “I’d have done better in the ’46 World Series. God, I would.” In the excellent Williams biography The Kid, he was quoted as saying that he thought he’d get to play in at least one or two more World Series after this one.

Alas, he never did although he certainly had two great chances to do so. Unfortunately, those are the next two entries on this list.