Settling the Score

Gil McDougald, who nearly killed Herb Score, has died of prostate cancer at the age of 82. McDougald won the 1951 American League Rookie of the Year, hitting .306 for the Yankees, made 5 All-Star teams and won 5 World Series titles with the Yankees. He made the trivia books as the first rookie to hit a grand slam in a World Series, and made one of the most difficult plays in Don Larsen’s perfect game, throwing out Jackie Robinson after his 2nd-inning grounder deflected off third baseman Andy Carey. As part of the ruthless Yankee domination of the 1950s and 1960s, in a 1957 game, he hit a line drive off the face of Herb Score, a brilliant young left-hander who had led the AL in strikeouts in his first 2 seasons in the majors, but missed extensive time as a result of his injuries, then injured his arm and was never the same pitcher.