On October 6, 1957 — In Game 4, Eddie Mathews’ two-run shot off Bob Grim with one out in the bottom of the tenth inning at County Stadium gives the Braves a 7-5 victory and knots the Fall Classic at two games apiece.
The drama was built when the Yankees rallied for three runs in the top of the 9th with two outs, Spahn who had been spectacular all day, holding the bombers to just 1 run, gave up back-to-back singles to Yogi Berra and Gil McDougal. Fred Haney and Spahn had a short meeting on the mound, and the plan was to pitch Elston Howard away, but Spahn hung a 3-2 slider, and Howard tied the game. It was a crushing moment, but Spahn stayed in the game.
In the 10th, the Yankees again got to Spahn, plating a single run, this time when Hank Bauer scored Tony Kubel on a 2-out triple. Now down 5-4 in the bottom of the 10th to the mighty Yankees, the Braves had to mount a comeback of their own.
Nippy Jones, the first batter, was pinch-hitting for Spahn. The first pitch from Tommy Byrne was at Jones’s feet; it bounded in the dirt and went to the backstop. The ball caromed off the backstop and came to rest near Jones. After umpire Augie Donatelli had ruled the pitch a ball, Jones, who had shinned his shoes the day before, convinced that he had been hit on the right shoe, picked up the baseball and handed it to Donatelli. Before catcher Berra could argue, Donatelli saw the shoe polish on the ball and awarded Jones first base. Berra and Houlk argued, but the polish told the story!
Bob Grimm came in to pitch for Byrnes. Jones then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a double to left field by Johnny Logan. In the previous play, Enos Slaughter had come in to replace Mickey Mantle in CF. Mantle had hurt his shoulder in game three and had trouble throwing, leading to the change in case a throw was needed. The announcers thought Mantle was getting new sunglasses and seemed in disbelief he was being replaced by Big Country. Ironically, Slaughter had trouble with Logan’s hit, allowing him to advance to second. That may have put extra pressure on Grim as Eddie Mathews came to the plate with Hank Aaron on deck Grim had to decide who to pitch to.
Mathews went down 1-2 quickly but he had hit a loud foul for the first strike. On the 2-2 pitch, Mathews deposits the pitch in the rightfield stands. The Milwaukee third baseman becomes the third major leaguer, joining Tommy Henrich (1949) and Dusty Rhodes (1954), to end a World Series game with a walk-off home run.
Among those onlookers was Mathews’ high-school coach, Clarence Schutte, who had traveled from Eddie’s boyhood home, Santa Barbara, California, to see his former pupil in action.
Henry Aaron sends Yankees Tom Sturdivant to the early showers with his 3-run blast in the 4th inning, driving in Logan and Mathews ahead of him.
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