As I mentioned in an earlier post, this was one of the more interesting developments in my classic teams' season with two editions of the Red Sox making it to the ALDS going head-to-head. Even though the 1941 squad was not outstanding, they did finish with a 84-70 record. However, they were no match for the Yankees who cast a gargantuan shadow finishing that season with a 101-53 mark and a whopping 17 games ahead of Boston. I assembled this '41 team solely with two things in mind: it was the last season a player batted over .400 with Ted's astounding .406 clip and to revive the dynamic one-two punch of Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx. In my classic season, they just finished over .500 with a 82-80 record playing in the American League Central division.
The 1978 version features Cy Young Award finalist Dennis Eckersley as the team registered a fabulous 108-54 record to take the American League East with ease in my classic season. This unforgettable edition needs no explanation for their inclusion in a classic team set posting a 99-63 record to set up that legendary one-game playoff with the Yankees at Fenway Park.
Appearing to be grossly overmatched, the 1941 Red Sox dug deep in Game 1 after a rocky start. Veteran Hall of Famer and five-time Red Sox all-star Lefty Grove took the ball in the opener. The 41-year-old's best days were behind him by this time, and it looked that way in the first inning. Fred Lynn and Jim Rice jumped on Grove. Lynn rapped a single, and Rice pushed him to third with a double. Carlton Fisk cleaned things up with a ringing single back through the box, and Dwight Evans' RBI single scored Fisk to stake Boston to an early 3-0 lead. Nevertheless, Grove was able to tiptoe through five innings despite allowing 9 hits and 2 free passes, and Dick Newsome came out of the pen and blanked the '78 unit for the final 3 innings.
Eckersley was simply unhittable for 4.2 innings. He retired the first 14 batters of the '41 squad, striking out five of them. Pete Fox slapped a hard grounder into the hole at short that Burleson got leather on, but he couldn't make the play giving Fox an infield single. The '41 Red Sox bats went dormant again until the seventh when Vince DiMaggio led off with a single and scampered home on a Ted Williams' double to put them on the board. This would be the only blemish on a shutdown performance by Eckersley in a 110 pitch complete game masterpiece.
Just as an aside, if you see some players' numbers a bit off in the highlights, it is because of one of the few annoyances presented by the MLBTS series. You can't use retired numbers in the post-season after the season ends in franchise mode. The 1941 Red Sox were placed in the Chicago White Sox slot, and I should have avoided this as the White Sox have many retired numbers. I have Ted Williams wearing 99 and Jimmie Fox sporting 33 to name a couple.
Also, I pay homage to the great Red Sox player and announcer, the late Jerry Remy at the end of the highlight reel. Jerry turns a stylish deuce and lays down one of his patented bunts for a base hit. Fisk's game-winning RBI single is also featured.
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