July 14, 1942: Stan Musial Hits His First Walk Off Home Run

     On July 14, 1942, Stan Musial hit the first walk off home run of his storied career to lift the Cardinals to a dramatic 7-5, eleven inning victory over the Boston Braves at Sportsman's Park. The big blast capped off a comeback for the never say die Redbirds. They had found themselves down 5-0 after five, before a rally started with a three run sixth, then was topped off with a two run shot off of Whitey Kurowski's bat in the eighth. The table was set for the 21-year-old rookie who had called Donora, Pennsylvania home throughout his youth, as Howie Krist put to bed the earlier pitching woes of starter Mort Cooper, who surrendered the five tallies from earlier in the contest. Krist was locked in. He pitched four and a third, after taking over for Whitey Moore and Howie Pollett who bridged the gap until he got the ball in his hands. When he did get the ball, not one Brave picked up a hit off of him, then came Musial in the bottom of the eleventh, with a runner on base. He came out of his famous corkscrew stance, and sent the ball sailing over the screen on right field. Just like that Musial was a walk off hero. He was just getting started on that fine day; Musial hit 12 walk off home runs during the regular season, which stood as a shared record until Jim Thome surpassed it with 13 in 2012.

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN194207140.shtml