Gil McDougald, born this date in 1928, was a solid player on the Yankees during their heyday (hey-years?) of the 1950s. In 10 seasons, he averaged 14 home runs, 76 RBIs, and a .276 batting average. He added another seven blasts (and 24 RBIs) in eight World Series (53 games).
Sadly his legacy is to be remembered for a single at bat, when his line drive crashed into the face of promising Indians pitcher Herb Score, effectively ending the fireballer’s career.
McDougald, who died in 2010, collaborated with Fred McMane on an instructional, Baseball: The Sports Playbook
is available on Amazon.com,
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McDougald also “wrote” a great chapter in Sports Illustrated Baseball (1960) on the “Art of Infielding”. Taught me how to conduct a rundown properly.
Despite being one of the 18,386 fans at Lakefront Stadium May 7, ’57, I had forgotten what happened in Gil’s AB. Checked BR boxscores. It is listed as ” lineout: p-3B-1B”, and is the 2nd out of the inning. Hard to envision that one. Must be an attempt to keep the line drive aspect of the play alive in our minds. Fifty-four years later, how many are still around who saw it happen? Many probably weren’t even in their seats yet, insofar as Gil was the 2nd batter of the game.
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