But this time, it would be true. One look at the roster and you knew that this time it would be true. They had the best hitter in the game playing left field. They had last season?s batting champ at third base. The pitching staff seemed better. There was only one problem. Seven months later, the Red Sox finished third, six games behind the second place Cleveland Indians and eleven games behind the pennant winning Yankees. It was 1951.
You want a rival? Try the Cleveland Indians. They won the pennant and World Series in 1948, the pennant in 1954, and they finished right behind the Yankees in the other years until 1957. The Cleveland Indians had talent and they used it. They had better pitching than the Yankees and their hitting, fielding and manager were almost as good. The Indians would beat the Yankees and actually win a World Series, which is something the Red Sox have not done for a while.
The Red Sox won the pennant in 1946 and the Cardinals won the World Series. The Yankees won the pennant handily in 1947 and beat a tough Brooklyn Dodgers team in seven games to win the World Series. Cleveland finished a distant fourth. Nineteen forty eight would be different.
The ?experts? picked Cleveland to again finish no higher than fourth. Their infield was good but second baseman Joe Gordon, third baseman Kenny Keltner, and manager-shortstop Lou Boudreau were all at least thirty years old. The bench was weak and unbalanced with Johnny Beradino as the only spare infielder while there were eight outfielders who would share playing time.
The pitching was more than suspect. After Bob Feller there were only questions. Bob Lemon was a former infielder with only one half season?s experience, Gene Bearden was a rookie left hander from the Pacific Coast League whom the Yankees had given up on, and that was it. Detroit had only solid pitching and was picked for third. It would be between the Yankees and the Red Sox.
The Yankees had the pitching. Spec Shea, Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat were a solid foursome with Joe Page in the bullpen. DiMaggio, Henrich, Berra and Billy Johnson made the offense solid and half of the ?experts? predicted the Yankees would repeat. The other half picked Boston.
