Today in 1955 - St. Louis Cardinals vs Milwaukee Braves

September 18, 1955 – Today in 1955, the St. Louis Cardinals swooped in on County Field to take on the Milwaukee Braves.

The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1^st on a Hank Aaron RBI double.  The scored remained the same until the bottom of the 8^th.

In that inning, the Cardinals tied the game with a sacrifice fly by Ken Boyer, who hit in Alex Grammas.  The game then went into extra innings.

Starting pitcher Warren Spahn stayed on the mound and pitched shutout ball through the top of the 11^th.  In the bottom of the inning, Spahn faced Cardinals reliever Larry Jackson and struck out.  Bill Bruton hit a triple and Milwaukee had the winning run on third.  Jackson the struck out Johnny Logan and there were two outs.  Jackson intentionally walked Eddie Mathews and faced Hank Aaron.  During the at bat, Mathews stole second and Aaron got a walk.  The bases were loaded with two out.  George Crowe came to bat and hit a single.  Game over.  The Milwaukee Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1.

Spahn pitched for all 11 innings and got the win.  He went to 16-14, struck out 6 and batted 0-4.  Jackson got the loss and fell to 7-14.  He struck out 3 and batted 0-1.

The Braves improved to 83-66.  They were second in the National League, 12.5 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers.  The Cardinals fell to 64-84.  They were 7^th in the National League and 31 games behind the Dodgers.

Notables

• There were 5 Hall of Famers playing in this game: Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial for the Cardinals, and Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, and Warren Spahn for the Braves.
  
• This was Harry Walker’s only season managing the Cardinals.  He replaced Eddie Stanky earlier in the season.  Walker went on to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1965-67 and the Houston Astros from 1968-72.
  
• This was Charlie Grimm’s third season managing the Braves.  He managed the team from 1952-56.  Grimm was a long time manager of the Chicago Cubs, managing the team from 1932-38, 1944-49, and 1960.
  
• Cardinals second baseman Red Schoendienst went on to manage the team from 1965-76, 1980, and 1990.  He led the team to two World Series appearances, winning the championship in 1967.
  
• Cardinals center fielder Bill Virdon became the manager of the Houston Astros, from 1975-82.
  
• Virdon was an opponent of Braves left fielder Chuck Tanner as a player and a manager.  Tanner managed the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1977-85 and led the team to a World Series title in 1979.  Virdon faced Tanner as manager of the Astros and the Montreal Expos from 1983-84.
  
• Virdon managed the Pirates from 1972-73 and played for the team from 1956-65 and 1968.
  
• Del Crandall managed the Milwaukee Brewers from 1972-75.  He would be replaced in 1976 by Cardinals shortstop Alex Grammas, who managed the team from 1976-77.

Game stats and other data can be found on Baseball-Reference.com at St. Louis Cardinal vs Milwaukee Braves - September 18, 1955