Читать книгу Bad Boys, Bad Times. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Prewar Years, 1937–1941 онлайн

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Denny Galehouse opened the game for Cleveland. A Yankee base hit brought cleanup hitter Lou Gehrig to the plate. In the off-season Gehrig had gone Hollywood, auditioning to replace actor Johnny Weissmuller in the popular Tarzan features. Although Lou did not pass the screen test, photos of him in the famous loincloth appeared in newspapers throughout the country. When Gehrig stepped into the batter’s box, a large group of ladies stood up and gave the Tarzan yell. Laughter rocked the stands while Gehrig stood at home plate, staring at the crowd.

In the bottom of the first, the Indians added to the good-humored mood at the park by hammering New York pitcher Bump Hadley for five runs. Earl Averill belted a home run in the fourth inning to make the score 6–0. Galehouse blanked the Yankees for seven innings until he ran out of gas in the eighth. After one run had scored, George Selkirk clouted a three-run homer to cut the lead to 6–4. Manager O’Neill called for reliever Carl Fischer. The thirty-one-year-old pitcher had bounced around the American League, doing time with Washington, St. Louis, and Detroit. He looked fairly good in Cleveland’s spring training and subsequently made the club as a late-inning option. He entered the game with Tony Lazzeri at first and Roy Johnson batting. The Indians fans were no longer smiling from ear to ear. They cringed as Johnson lined a base hit, moving Lazzeri to second.