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The Day Yogi Berra Had A Real-Life “Deja Vu Moment!”
“It was déjà vu all over again!” -Famous quote attributed to Yogi Berra
It happened on September 28, 1951…
Yankee Stadium. Yankees vs. Red Sox. First game of a doubleheader. Two outs, top of the ninth, Yankees ahead 8-0. If they can sweep the twinbill, they win their third pennant in a row…
On top of that, Allie Reynolds, ace of the Yankee staff, has a no-hitter going. Reynolds had already thrown a no-hitter earlier in the year. Throwing two no-hitters in one season had only occurred twice in baseball history….
So who should stroll up to the plate representing the 27th out? None other than the “Splendid Splinter,” the great Ted Williams. If Reynolds can just retire Williams, he’ll have the historic second no-hitter. Of course, as we all know, that would be a task much easier said than done. Ted is already 0-2 with a walk, so he’s due. He swings and obliges Reynolds by hitting a high pop foul near home plate. Looks like an easy third out! “Just catch it Yogi!” Let the celebration begin!
But wait…
Yogi flings away his mask, circles around in foul territory, and camps under the ball…an easy play…he’s made it hundreds of times. And then – at the last second – he lunges desperately to his left, thrusts out his mitt, and…
HE DROPS THE DANG BALL!
It bounces off the top of his mitt as he closes it a millisecond too early. (see photo above).
Can it really be? A huge groan goes out from the Yankee Stadium faithful. Williams is still alive. He’s been given a second chance, a reprieve. Talk about tempting fate! What are the odds of retiring “Teddy Ballgame” twice in a high-pressure situation like this? And if he gets a hit, will Yogi ever live it down?
The players return to their positions and Ted steps back into the batters’ box. Reynolds is daring enough to throw the exact same pitch. After all, he fouled it off the first time, didn’t he? Unbelievably, given a second chance, the .344 lifetime Hall-of-Famer hits another, almost identical, pop foul to…
YOGI BERRA!
Yes, it’s real-life “deja vu all over again!” But this time Yogi is up to the challenge. He again camps under the ball, and, unlike the first time, he holds on for the 27th out, and Allie Reynolds enters the record books with his second no-hitter of the year.
The Red Sox had climbed to within three games of the Yankees in September of 1951, but then proceeded to lose the last eight games of the season and wound up in third place. Their 11-3 loss in the nightcap of this doubleheader clinched the third straight pennant for Casey Stengel’s Yankees. They went on to beat the Giants in the World Series with Allie Reynolds pitching a complete game victory in Game Four.
The Yankees later honored Reynolds with a plaque in Monument Park. It was a deserving honor for one of the best pitchers in franchise history. When asked later if he was upset about Yogi’s missed pop-up, Reynolds dismissed the idea, saying, “No. I was just afraid I had gotten in Yogi’s way. I asked him and he said I didn’t. I saw the wind was blowing the ball toward the field.”
And as for Yogi? After dodging this potentially humiliating bullet, he went on to complete a great season: a .294 batting average, 27 home runs, 88 RBIs, and the American League MVP award.
The list of pitchers with two no-hitters in one season is very short: Johnny Vander Meer, Nolan Ryan, Virgil Trucks, Allie Reynolds, and most recently, Max Scherzer.
Besides Yogi, visible in the photo below are L-R: the Boston batboy, Boston outfielder Clyde Vollmer, umpire Cal Hubbard, and Yankee pitcher Allie Reynolds. Ted Williams was running out the play and is not visible in the photo.
-Gary Livacari
With an 8-0 lead, a no hitter at stake, and Ted Williams at the plate, I would be very tempted to throw 4 pitches well wide of the strike zone.
For sure! What are the odds you’d get him twice!
It was 1951…
Today, Ted would have been forced to sit the last games of the season to guarantee his .400 and the millions that come with it. In 1941 he ripped the cover off the ball in a double header on the last day of the season, going 6 for 8 to finish at .406 but not MVP that season