July 23, 1947: Red Caps Off The Rally

     On July 23, 1947, down 5-2 to the New York Giants in the bottom of the ninth, the Cardinals put together a four run rally to win 6-5 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Red Scheoendienst capped off a four run rally by knocking in the tying and winning runs.

     You can look at this game and see how different a pitcher was treated in those days, as New York's starter Dave Koslo was still on the bump when the bottom of the ninth rolled around. It was well before the days of the pitching specialists that had specific roles for the late innings, therefore this was  Koslo's game to win or lose, and luckily for Eddie Dyer's Redbirds it was the latter of the two. The game winning rally started with a single by White Kurowski to lead things off, then Ducky Medwick picked up a one out single, before Koslo walked Marty Marion. The heat was on at the ole ballpark with the bases full.

    With that said, the wheels had not come off of the Giants bus completely. Koslo picked up an out when pinch hitter Erv Dusak hit a grounder that took Marion out at second base, however, it did score Kurowski, and the Birds were in business. Del Wilber then had his number called on to pinch hit for the pitcher Al Brazle, and he came though with a RBI double to score Medwick that put the club within one run of tying it up, as Dusak was standing on third. Rather than tie it up, Red pounced on the first pitch he saw, and ripped it right through the box in center and won the ballgame. Dusak and Joffre Cross, who ran for Wilber came into score the game winner. Moments later, the boys trotted off the fields with smiles beaming across their faces, as the crowd stood and cheered. They had witnessed quite the rally.

Check out the box score here:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN194707230.shtml