September 28, 1960: Having announced his retirement, Ted Williams plays his last game. The Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles are both way out of the American League race, which the Yankees wrapped up a few days ago.
It's a Wednesday afternoon. The weather? As Ted later recalled, "Lousy day, damp." Only 10,454 fans come out to Fenway Park in Boston to say goodbye to the man already often called "the greatest hitter who ever lived."
In the bottom of the 8th, the Orioles lead 4-2. with 1 out. Ted comes to bat against Jack Fisher, and cranks a home run to straightaway center field. He is easily the greatest player ever to hit a home run in his last career at-bat.
It is his 521st career home run -- at the time, good for 3rd all-time behind Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx -- and his 2,654th hit. It's hard to believe, until you see it in print, but, because he lost 5 years to military service, Ted Williams not only didn't get 3,000 hits, he didn't even get all that close. His lifetime batting average was .344, which remains the highest of any player whose career began after 1917. (Rogers Hornsby began that year, and batted .358.)
He rounds the bases with his head down, shakes hands with on-deck batter Jim Pagliaroni (later to become semi-famous as a 1969 Seattle Pilot as a result of Jim Bouton's book Ball Four), and walks back into the dugout.
Fans are hoping that he will come out and tip his cap, something he swore he would never do after being abused by Boston fans early in his career. He does not. As John Updike wrote in his acclaimed New Yorker magazine piece about the game, Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu, "Gods do not answer letters."
Ted's career is over, but the game is not. Carroll Hardy replaces him in left field for the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 9th, with the O's leading 4-3, Marlan Coughtry singles, Vic Wertz (yes, the man robbed by Willie Mays 6 years minus 1 day earlier) doubles him to 3rd, Pumpsie Green (the 1st black Red Sock) walks to load the bases, and Willie Tasby grounds to 2nd, where Marv Breeding mishandles the ball, allowing Coughtry and Wertz to score, giving the Red Sox a 5-4 walkoff win.
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September 28, 1960 was a Wednesday. There were 5 other MLB scores on this historic day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 6-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Mickey Mantle hit 2 home runs, and Clete Boyer added 1, in support of Whitey Ford.
* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-3 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-0 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Ned Garver pitched a 3-hit shutout.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. (Dodger Stadium didn't open until 1962.)
* And the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
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