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A Chronological History of Amazing Boston Red Sox Losses, Remarkable Collapses and Other Record Breaking Feats
1900- | 1910- | 1920- | 1930- | 1940- | 1950-1959 | 1960- | 1970- | 1980- | 1990- | 2000-1950 94-60, 3rd place in the American League, 4 games back of the New York Yankees
March 30, 1950: Grady Little was born in Abilene, Texas.
April 18, 1950: On opening day, the Red Sox had a 9-0 lead over the Yankees. New York scored four in the sixth inning. The Red Sox used five pitchers in the nine-run eighth (Mel Parnell, Walt Masterson, Earl Johnson, Al Papai, and Charley Schanz). Billy Martin, playing in his first major league game, got two hits (a single and a double) in that inning. Tommy Henrich had two triples in the game, and the Yankees overcame the nine-run deficit to win 15-10.
May 11, 1950: Boston and Detroit were tied for first in the American League. Ted Williams had an error in the first game of a doubleheader (which the Tigers won 13-4). After Williams committed an error in the second game that led to the winning run, fans booed. Williams came out of the dugout to flip the birdthree times(once to left, once to center, and once to right) at Sox fans. He stepped out of the box to spit at fans during his next plate appearance. That display earned him the nickname "Splendid Spitter" in Boston papers (a play on one of his everyday nicknames -- Splendid Splinter).
July 28, 1950: Cleveland's Larry Doby, Al Rosen, and Luke Easter hit back-to-back-to-back homers during a 13-1 Indian victory over the Red Sox.
Boston was again trailing the New York Yankees at mid-season. They had another July through September run, and pulled to within one game of the Yanks on September 18. They proceeded to lose the next four, dropping out of the playoff race.
1951 87-67, 3rd place in the American League, 11 games back of the New York Yankees
May 15, 1951: A 7-7 eleventh inning tie was broken when White Sox 2B Nellie Fox hit a home run to beat the Red Sox 9-7. It was Fox's first major league home run. His debut was on June 8,1947.
June 20, 1951: Cleveland 2B Bob Avila hit three home runs (one of them inside-the-park), a double, and a single against the Red Sox during a visit to Fenway. The Indians had eighteen hits and won 14-8.
August 3-11, 1951: Boston took over the AL lead right after the All-Star break, and remained within a half-game of first through August 3. They had a four-game losing streak, and then went 2-6 over their next eight games; dropping to 4-1/2 back on August 7, and 5-1/2 back on August 11.
September 14, 1951: In his first two career at bats, St. Louis Browns rookie Bob Nieman hit home runs off of Red Sox pitcher Mickey McDermott. He beat out a bunt in his third trip to the plate. No other player in history has homered in his first two major league at bats.
September 19, 1951: Cleveland's Larry Doby walked five times as Early Wynn won his twentieth game of the season, 15-2 over Boston.
September 22, 1951: The Red Sox shut out New York to climb to within four games of the league-leading Yankees. With six games remaining against the Yanks, and standing only 2-1/2 behind second-place Cleveland, Boston was still in the playoff mix. The Red Sox would lose their final nine games of the season, including all six to New York.
September 28, 1951: New York's Allie Reynolds pitched an 8-0 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox in the first half of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. It was Reynolds's second no-hitter, and seventh shutout, of the season. In the second half, New York clinched the pennant as Vic Raschi claimed his 21st win. The pair of wins was a start of a five game sweep over three days.
Boston, favorites to win the American League, came in third. Starting Catcher Les Moss batted .198 with a .272 slugging percentage.
November 25, 1951: Russell Earl O'Dey was born in Savannah, Georgia. O'Dey would later be known as Bucky Dent.
1951-1966
Never coming in better than third in the American League, the Red Sox averaged finishing the season 22-1/2 games out of first during this period; they never had more than 87 wins.
1952 76-78, 6th place in the American League, 19 games back of the New York Yankees
May 4, 1952: Indians OF Larry Doby hit for the cycle against the Red Sox during a 9-6 Cleveland victory.
September 2, 1952: Boston was shut out in both games of a doubleheader against New York, 5-0 and 4-0. Tom Gorman won the first game, and Ewell Blackwell won the second. It was part of a three game Yankees sweep over the Sox (New York outscored Boston 14-1 during the series). The Red Sox came into September with a 69-58 record, 5-1/2 back. The three losses to New York started off a month in which they went 7-20, to finish the season with a losing record, nineteen games out of first place.
September 5, 1952: Washington pitcher Raul Sanchez shut out the Red Sox, 2-0, in his first major league start.
1953 84-69, 4th place in the American League, 16 games back of the New York Yankees
April 23, 1953: The Yankees beat the Red Sox for the third time in 1953. Boston had not beaten New York since August 15, 1952 -- losing twelve consecutive games against the Yanks.
June 14, 1953: In the first game of a doubleheader, White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce blanked the Red Sox 6-0. In the second game, Sandy Consuegra pitched another shutout, winning 1-0.
June 25-27, 1953: On June 25, Boston pitcher Ellis Kinder came into to pitch against Cleveland with the score tied at four in the sixth. He gave up three earned runs in three innings, getting the loss. The following day, he came into the game in the seventh inning (with one out) against Chicago. A three-all tie was broken when he gave up a run; he again got the loss. On June 27, the game was tied at five in the ninth. Kinder came in and again gave up the losing run. In his three losses in three days he pitched 4-2/3 innings.
August 10, 1953: Washington Senator pitcher Bob Porterfield tossed his second one-hitter of the season, beating the Red Sox 2-0.
1954 69-85, 4th place in the American League, 42 games back of the Cleveland Indians
May 12, 1954: Boston's Tom Brewer threw a three-hitter. He gave up four walks in the first inning that led to the only run of the game (which Chicago won 1-0).
May 22, 1954: New York's Allie Reynolds shut out the Red Sox, 7-0, as Mickey Mantle went 4-for-5.
May 23, 1954: Boston traded Hall-of-Fame third baseman George Kell to the Chicago White Sox for Grady Hatton and cash. Kell batted over .300 for the White Sox until he was traded to Baltimore, where he retired in 1957. Hatton played in 225 games for Boston over the next two years, batting .261 with nine homers.
June 14, 1954: Nine Indian batters had two or more hits against Boston during a 13-5 Cleveland victory, completing a five-game sweep at Fenway.
| ab r h bi | ab r h bi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strickland, ss | 5 2 2 3 | Piersall, rf | 5 1 2 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regaldo, 3b | 1 0 0 1 | Goodman, lf | 4 0 1 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Smith, 3b | 3 2 2 1 | Agganis, 1b | 3 1 1 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Doby, cf | 5 2 3 2 | Olson, cf | 4 1 1 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wertz, 1b,rf | 5 1 2 1 | Lepcio, 2b | 4 1 1 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Philley, rf | 4 1 2 0 | Bolling, ss | 5 1 2 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Glynn, 1b | 1 0 0 0 | Consolo, 3b | 2 0 1 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Westlake, lf | 5 1 2 1 | Jensen | 1 0 0 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Majeski, 2b | 6 1 4 1 | Hatton, 3b | 2 0 2 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hegan, c | 5 2 2 1 | Owen, c | 4 0 2 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lemon, p | 4 1 3 2 | Henry, p | 2 0 0 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Narleski, p | 1 0 0 0 | Herrin, p | 1 0 0 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maxwell | 1 0 0 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Brewer, p | 0 0 0 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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June 8-26, 1954: The Red Sox played nineteen games over this 2-1/2 week stretch, losing fifteen while winning four.
July 25, 1954: In the first game of a doubleheader, Chicago's Jack Harshman struck out sixteen Red Sox batters in a nine inning game, winning 5-2. The White Sox also took the second game, 4-2.
August 30, 1954: The Indians and Red Sox met at Fenway for the last (11th) time of the season. The Indians won all eleven road games against the Sox. Their overall record versus Boston was 20-2.
September 25, 1954: 14,175 fans were in attendance at Fenway Park to pay tribute to Ted Williams (who had announced his retirement) in his last game. Williams' retirement only lasted until his divorce was finalized in May 1955; his "retirement" had excluded his contract from the settlement.
The 1954 Red Sox committed 176 errors, the most in the major leagues. Jackie Jensen grounded into 32 double plays, setting the major league record.
November 10, 1954: Bob Stanley was born in Portland, Maine. Stanley was one strike away from winning the '86 Series for Bostonthreetimes.
1955 84-70, 4th place in the American League, 12 games back of the New York Yankees
April 29, 1955: The Red Sox were shut out by the White Sox for the 100th time in history when they lost at Comiskey, 7-0.
May 1, 1955: In the first half of a doubleheader, Bob Feller threw a one-hitter, as the Cleveland Indians beat Boston 2-0. Boston's only hit was a seventh inning single by Sam White. In the second game, rookie Herb Score struck out sixteen -- matching Feller's 1937 performance against the Red Sox. Score's first nine outs of the game were on strikeouts. Boston's Faye Throneberry whiffed four times.
May 7, 1955: Yankees C Elston Howard hit the first home run of his career during a 9-6 New York come-from-behind victory over Boston.
May 18, 1955: Cleveland's Herb Score shutout the Red Sox on three hits, 19-0. The Indians scored eleven in the fifth. Cleveland 1B Vic Wertz had five RBIs in thatinningon a grand slam and a single.
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June 24, 1955: White Sox SS Chico Carrasquel caught Boston's Sammy White off the bag in the ninth inning with the hidden ball trick. Chicago won the game 3-2.
September 18, 1955: The New York Yankees eliminated the Red Sox from playoff contention, winning 3-2 in New York. Five days later, the Yankees clinched the pennant, beating the Red Sox 3-2 in the second half of doubleheader in Boston.
Red Sox firstbaseman Norm Zauchin led the league by striking out 105 times in 477 at-bats.
1956 84-70, 4th place in the American League, 13 games back of the New York Yankees
April 22, 1956: YankeepitcherDon Larsen hit a grand-slam off of Boston's Frank Sullivan during a 13-6 New York victory.
August 7, 1956: Prior to a Yankee game at Fenway, the Red Sox's Jackie Jensen had to be restrained from going into the stands after a fan. In the 11th inning, Ted Williams dropped a fly ball and the Fenway crowd jeered. As Williams left the field, he spit at the crowd. Shortly thereafter, he made a curtain call from the dugout to do it again. Ted Williams was fined $5,000 for spitting at fans (his third time during 1956). "I'd spit again at the same fans...some of them are the worst in the world," Williams said to the press after learning of the fine. During the 1958 season, he was again fined for a similar incident.
September 16, 1956: Boston lost both ends of a doubleheader to Detroit. They dropped to thirteen games back of New York, with eleven games remaining.
The team had a major league leading 169 errors.
1957 82-72, 3rd place in the American League, 16 games back of the New York Yankees
April 20, 1957: New York 1B Bill "Moose" Skowron hit two homers off of Boston's Bob Potterfield during a 10-7 Yankee victory. He hit his first dinger, in the second inning to left-center, out of Fenway Park.
May 21, 1957: Doris O'Donnell, a sports writer traveling with the Indians, was barred from the male-only Fenway press area.
November 22, 1957: Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey declared sports writers "incompetent and unqualified" when they voted Mickey Mantle MVP instead of Ted Williams.
For the second year in a row, Boston led the AL in errors.
1958 79-75, 3rd place in the American League, 13 games back of the New York Yankees
February 6, 1958: Ted Williams signed a contract to play for the Red Sox for $135,000 per year, making him the highest paid player in baseball history up to that point.
The Red Sox started the 1958 season by going 4-10 in April.
July 20, 1958: Detroit's Jim Bunning no-hit the Red Sox during a 3-0 victory. Boston managed to get only three runners on base; Jackie Jensen was hit by Bunning in the second inning and Gene Stephens walked in both the third and sixth. Bunning struck out twelve and allowed only seven balls to leave the infield. Red Sox C Lou Berberet and 2B Ted Lepicio both whiffed three times.
A dearth of pitching prevented Boston from contending, and they finished the season in third place, thirteen games back of the Yankees.
1959 75-79, 5th place in the American League, 19 games back of the Chicago White Sox
Although SS Elijah "Pumpsie" Green hit .400 in the spring (and was a triple-A All-Star at Minneapolis the prior season), he was left off the Red Sox roster. Green was black, and the Red Sox were the only team in major league baseball not to have an African-American player. The Boston Bruinshockey teamintegrated before the Red Sox when they promoted Willie O'Ree in 1958. As the result of a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination investigation, the Red Sox committed, in writing, to end their unofficial policy of segregation.
May 1, 1959: White Sox pitcher Early Wynn pitched a one-hitter versus Boston, striking out fourteen and winning 1-0. Chicago's one run was scored on (the thirty-nine year old) Wynn's home run in the eighth inning off of Tom Brewer.
July 3, 1959: Pinky Higgins (who swore he would never have a black player on his team) was fired as manager. Rudy York managed for one game (and lost). The Red Sox had a 31-43 record as Bill Jurges took over.
July 21, 1959: While on the road in Chicago, Pumpsie Green came in as a pinch runner for the Red Sox, breaking the Sox color line. Earl Wilson, Boston's first black pitcher, debuted ten days later. Boston was thelastteam to integrate its' major league roster. More than fourteen years earlier, on April 16, 1945, three African-American players tried out at Fenway. The Red Sox passed on all three, including a young man named Jackie Robinson. In the spring of 1950 Boston had the opportunity to sign Willie Mays from the Negro League's Birmingham Black Barons, but declined.
November 3, 1959: Boston traded Frank Baumann to the White Sox for Ron Jackson. Jackson played in ten games for the 1960 Red Sox, batting .226 -- before being traded to Milwaukee for Ray Boone (who played in 34 games batting .205). Baumann pitched for six seasons for Chicago, including 1960 when he went 13-6 with a league-leading 2.67 ERA.
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