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AN INNING TO REMEMBER
Brewers - 18 , Giants - 0
May 9th 1989
The Giants are one of those teams that are probably lost to most of you in remembering our opponents over the years. They were originally known as GSB (Germantown Savings Bank) and began play in 1988. They became the GSB Giants in the 1989 season, their 2nd and final season in the WFBL. Some of you may remember them as the team that had their home field at Shipley, a private school out past City Line Avenue, at which we played them in the '88 season.
The Giants were 1-5 in the early going of the 1989 season but had played a couple of their losses tough, and the Brewers were 5-0 heading into this cold, wet Wednesday night game at Devereaux, a home game for us on the schedule and our only game that week.
Normally a mid-week game on a bad weather night against a team that we were definitely better than might not be well remembered, but this one turned out to be one for the record books.
And it only lasted one inning.
The Giants could not come up with a full lineup on this night, fielding only nine players, which was never a good idea against the Brew Crew's assortment of line drive hitters. It would prove to really hurt them, though the game's outcome would likely have never been in doubt in any event.
It all started innocently enough, with the Giants batting in the top of the first they used two hits and an error to load the bases with two outs, but pitcher Ray Emery snared a liner right back at him to end the threat. The Giants would not come to bat again in this game.
Pat Guido led off the Brewers home first by drawing a walk, and George Sweeney and Tom Nejman singled to load the bases. Ray Emery and Frank Gleason each followed with 2-run singles, and it was 4-0 Brewers. Tom O'Connell singled, and an error on the play allowed Frank to score for a 5-0 lead. A single by Ronnie Stein and a walk to Vince Menello, and once again the Brewers had the bases loaded, and there were still no outs.
Kevin Curran reached on an error by the Giants 2nd baseman that allowed 2 runs to score, Chris Novak drilled an rbi single, and Joe Gessner reached on an error by the 3rd baseman that scored another run. It was now 9-0 Brewers with two runners on and still nobody out, and we had batted around the order.
Pat Guido stepped to the plate for the 2nd time in the inning, and his monstrous 3-run homerun put the Brewers up by 12-0. We had sent 12 batters to the plate and all of them had scored so far. And it was not over yet, not by a long shot.
George Sweeney singled for the 2nd time in the inning,and moved up to 2nd base when finally, mercifully, Tommy Nejman flew out to right field for the 1st out of the inning. The mercy didn't last long, however, as Ray Emery and Frank Gleason drilled back-to-back rbi singles to stretch the inning out to 14 runs. Tom O'Connell followed by popping out to shortstop, and it appeared that the Giants might finally by out of the inning. No chance.
Ronnie Stein and Vince Menello drilled rbi singles and raised the score to 16-0. Following a Kevin Curran walk, Chris Novak reached base on an error by the centerfielder that allowed the final two runs to score, making the count 18-0 Brewers.
With two outs and a runner on 2nd now, Joe Gessner drew a walk to set the stage for a truly memorable moment, as Pat Guido stepped into the batter's box for the 3rd time in the inning. Patio started this feast, and so he almost fittingly ended it by flying out to rightfield for the 3rd and final out of the inning.
It would prove to be the final out of the game. The Giants were utterly demoralized. Down 18-0 after just one inning while playing shorthanded against one of the top teams in the league on a cold, wet night will do that to you. They announced "No Mas" to the umpire, and the game was declared over.
The final tallies for the incredible inning were 18 runs on 13 hits, 4 walks and 4 errors, with 2 men left on base. Amazingly, there were only two extra-base hits, George's first at-bat double and Patio's second at-bat homerun. 7 different players scored two times, 6 players knocked in runs, and 4 players had two hits in the inning. Only Joe Gessner, who reached on an error and a walk, failed to get a hit in the frame. The first 13 players who came to bat all eventually scored in succession.
In contrast, 4 members of the Giants never came to bat in the game. It was truly a remarkeable outburst, and who knows what would have happened had the game been allowed to continue.
As the games went on, we began to see scores for games in which the Giants were competitive, sometimes against good teams, and wondered if we just happened to run into them on a bad night. We found out almost a month later, when on June 1st at B & Olney we got into a 19-11 shootout win over them.
One more good thing that came from the Giants games was our being introduced to a new player, their #3 hitter and best offensive player who would turn out to be a key to a later Brewers championship team. In that 2nd game at B & Olney, Mark Bianchi went 3-4 with 2 triples, 3 runs and 4 rbi against us. Bianchi would stay in the league, and would later become a Brewer and contribute greatly to the '92 title team.
On one cold, wet night in May 1989 the Brewers truly overmatched an undermanned and outgunned opponent, sent a guy to the plate 3 times in one inning, and in that one inning at Devereaux left a memory for all time.
THE LINEUP
Pat Guido, rf
George Sweeny, 2b
Tom Nejman, rc
Ray Emery, p
Frank Gleason, lc
Tom O'Connell, 3b
Ron Stein, lf
Vince Menello, ep
Kevin Curran, c
Chris Novak, ss
Joe Gessner, 1b
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