September 23, 1957: Hank Aaron Walks a Pennant Off

Aaron with his 1957 MVP award

September 23, 1957: Hank Aaron hits the 109th home run of his career. He would later say it was the most important.

In hindsight, it probably was his most important home run, as it gave his team the Pennant. But the qualifier "probably" needs to be used, since he would go on to hit 755 home runs, and the 715th was also very important.

But no one could have foreseen that on this night. All anyone knew then was that Aaron was the defending National League batting champion, and that he had power, too, going into the game with 42 home runs on the season. He was the favorite for the NL's Most Valuable Player award, and did win it. Teammate Warren Spahn was awarded the Cy Young Award.

Managed by Fred Haney, and with an attack that also included Eddie Mathews, Joe Adcock, Del Crandall, Red Schoendienst, Wes Covington, Bill Bruton and Frank Torre, the Braves were in their 5th season in Milwaukee, after having moved from Boston. They had finished 1 game behind the Brooklyn Dodgers the season before. Now, with the Dodgers aging and in transition, it was the Braves' year.

The St. Louis Cardinals began the day 5 games behind the Braves, with 6 games to go, including the next 3 against each other at Milwaukee County Stadium. One more Braves win, or one more Cards loss, and the Braves had the Pennant. Before the Braves moved in, the minor-league version of the Milwaukee Brewers won the American Association Pennant in 1913, 1914, 1936, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1947 and 1951. This would be the city's 1st major league Pennant.

But this game wouldn't be easy. The Braves got a run on an error in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Alvin Dark singled 2 runs home for the Cards in the top of the 6th. Mathews doubled Schoendienst home in the 7th. (Schoendienst had starred for the Cardinals in the 1940s, would manage them to 2 Pennants in the 1960s, and remained in their organization until his death in 2018.)

The game went to extra innings. Lew Burdette pitched 10 innings for the Braves, before Gene Conley pitched the top of the 11th. Billy Muffett took the mound for the Cardinals in the bottom of the 11th. He got Schoendienst to fly to center, but allowed a single to Johnny Logan. (Logan, the Braves' shortstop, was once told that something that appeared in the newspaper was "a typographical error." Without thinking, his hitter's instinct kicked in, and he said, "The hell it was! It was a clean base hit!")

Muffett got Mathews to fly to center. But that brought Aaron up. He hit a drive into the center field bleachers, and the Braves were 4-2 winners. They weren't called "walkoff" home runs at the time, but a full house of 40,926 at County Stadium seemed to run out of the stands and onto the field.

Stan Musial went 3-for-4 in a losing cause for the Cardinals.

The Braves would face the New York Yankees in the World Series. Years later, Aaron said that the Braves weren't intimidated by the Yankees, but that they were intimidated by Yankee Stadium. They must have gotten over it, because they won Game 7 there, 5-0, and became World Champions.

The Green Bay Packers had won 6 NFL Championships by this point. The title of the National Basketball League had been won by the Oshkosh All-Stars in 1941 and 1942, and the Sheboygan Red Skins in 1943. And the University of Wisconsin had had some athletic success. So the State of Wisconsin had won titles before. But this was the 1st major league championship won by a Milwaukee team. They have been few and far between since.

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September 23, 1957 was a Monday. The film The Three Faces of Eve premiered on this day. I have a separate entry for this event.

There were 3 other games in the major leagues that day:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 9-4 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Frank Malzone hit a home run for the Red Sox. Ted Williams went 1-for-1... with 3 walks. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run as a pinch-hitter.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-4 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Dick Brown singled Billy Harrell home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Cal McLish -- in full, Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish -- went the distance for the win. Hitting home runs for the Indians were Brown, Rocky Colavito, and a rookie named Roger Maris. It is interesting that, on a night when Aaron hit a major home run, Maris -- who, like Aaron, would break a home run record set by Babe Ruth -- also hit a home run. For the Tigers, Al Kaline went 3-for-4 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

* And the Kansas City Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-5 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

There was another notable sporting event: Carmen Basilio won a split decision over Sugar Ray Robinson to win the Middleweight Championship of the World at Yankee Stadium. They would have a rematch 6 months later, at Chicago Stadium on March 23, 1958. It was another split decision, awarded to Robinson.