May 4, 1964 - The score was 7-7 in the last of the fifth yesterday at Fenway, the lead had changed five times, some lucky hits had been bouncing around the ballpark, but now the bases were loaded for the Red Sox. Carl Yastrzemski (pictured), the American League’s leading batter of ’63 was at bat, and on the mound for the Detroit Tigers was right-hander Julio Navarro.
Yastrzemski had never hit a grand slam in the big leagues — and it looked as though he would have to do it against a formidable southpaw, Mickey Lolich — who was warming up for Detroit.
But manager Charlie Dressen of the Tigers left Navarro on the mound. Yastrzemski missed the first pitch — but not the second. It was smashed into the Detroit bullpen, and now it was 11-7.
And that’s just where it stayed. Dick Radatz saw to that, stopping the Tigers with just one hit the last four innings, and the 11,337 left the place satisfied with the three-hour show.
Why let Navarro pitch to Yastrzemski, a left-handed hitter? “We just got him in a trade,” said Dressen. “He’s supposed to have a screwball [a pitch that breaks away from a left-handed hitter], but I guess he didn’t.”
Boston’s 19-year-old rookie, Tony Conigliaro, hit an opposite-field homer off Phil Regan in the third. The Tiger right-hander tried to throw a 0-2 fastball past the rookie, and Tony lined it just inside the right-field foul pole.
The game, a wild one all the way, produced a staggering 52 total bases by the two teams. But the whole thing was settled by one swing of Yastrzemski’s bat.
Somebody in the Detroit bullpen threw the ball Yaz had hit back to the infield. They didn’t want it out there.
So, Yastrzemski picked it up and took it home for his trophy case — his first grand slam.
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