Cardinals manager Eddie Dyer preferred to put Pirates slugger Ralph Kiner on base, representing the potential winning run, rather than give him a chance to hit a walkoff home run.
On Sept. 3, 1950, with the score tied in the bottom of the 10th inning of a game between the Cardinals and Pirates at Pittsburgh, Dyer ordered pitcher Harry Brecheen to give an intentional walk to Kiner with the bases empty and two outs.
The unorthodox strategy backfired when the next batter, rookie Gus Bell, hit a double, scoring Kiner and giving the Pirates a 12-11 victory.
Home run king
The Cardinals carried a four-game losing streak into the Sunday afternoon series finale against the last-place Pirates at Forbes Field.
Kiner hit two home runs. The first was a solo shot against Red Munger in the opening inning. The second home run, a two-run clout versus Cloyd Boyer in the eighth, gave the Pirates a 9-8 lead.
In his first four seasons (1946-49) in the majors, Kiner led the National League in home runs in 1946 (23) and 1949 (54), and tied with Johnny Mize of the Giants for the top spot in 1947 (51) and 1948 (40). Kiner was on his way to winning the league’s home run crown again in 1950.
Comeback Cardinals
Bill Howerton of the Cardinals led off the top of the ninth with a home run into the upper deck in right against Junior Walsh, tying the score at 9-9.
Brecheen, usually a starter, relieved for the Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth and retired the Pirates in order.
In the top of the 10th, the Cardinals scored twice versus Bill Werle. With one out and none on, Red Schoendienst doubled, Stan Musial drove him in with a single and Enos Slaughter tripled, scoring Musial and extending the Cardinals’ lead to 11-9.
Dare to differ
Brecheen retired the first batter, Clyde McCullough, in the bottom of the 10th, but the next two, Pete Castiglione and Bob Dillinger, each hit a home run, tying the score at 11-11. For Castiglione, the home run was his third of the season and for Dillinger it was his first since the Pirates acquired him from the Athletics in July.
After the back-to-back home runs, Brecheen knocked down the next batter, Danny O’Connell, with his first pitch to him. O’Connell grounded out for the second out of the inning.
The next batter was Kiner. The only way he could beat the Cardinals was to hit a home run, but Dyer thought the risk was so high it was worth issuing an intentional walk.
Among the factors influencing Dyer’s thinking:
_ Kiner batted right-handed and Brecheen was a left-hander.
_ Brecheen already had given up two home runs in the inning and thus was vulnerable against Kiner.
“The fact it violated tried and true baseball strategy doesn’t bother us a bit,” columnist Bob Burnes wrote in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. “We’ve always felt too many managers called too many plays in routine fashion purely because that’s the way the pattern said it should be.”
What did bother Burnes is the slumping Cardinals appeared to have lost confidence. “It was a desperation play, one dictated by something almost akin to panic,” Burnes said.
Take that!
As Kiner watched Brecheen lob four pitches wide of the plate, the fans booed.
With Kiner on first, cleanup hittter Gus Bell batted next. Bell had tripled twice and singled. Though a left-handed batter, Bell hit .320 versus left-handers in 1950.
Bell belted a pitch from Brecheen high and deep to right. The ball “appeared headed into the stands for a home run,” the Pittsburgh Press reported, but it hit high on the screen.
Right fielder Enos Slaughter gave chase and fell. The ball caromed about 35 yards from the screen, the Globe-Democrat reported, giving Kiner time to hustle from first base to home. Bell stopped at second with a double as Kiner crossed the plate with the winning run. Boxscore
The teams combined for 30 hits, including 20 for extra bases.
Each team hit three triples. The Pirates had five home runs and the Cardinals had three.
The Cardinals wasted a big performance from Stan Musial, who had four hits and two walks. Playing near his hometown of Donora, Pa., Musial had a two-run home run and scored four times.
Kiner went on to hit 47 home runs in 1950. Only eight came against left-handers.
Brecheen finished the 1950 season with a 3.55 ERA in 23 starts for the Cardinals and a 10.50 ERA in four relief appearances.
RetroSimba 
And let us not forget Kiner’s famous date with Elizabeth Taylor, as arranged by Bing Crosby, then a minority owner of the Pirates. Crosby explained that she needed someone to accompany her to the premiere of the Gregory Peck war film Twelve O’Clock High at Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. After the date they never spoke again.
Good story. Thanks!
Even though the Pirates finished last that year they had our number. They took the season series winning 12 of 21 games. The Cardinal pitchers which had a team ERA of 3.97 that year saw it balloon to 5.60 against Pittsburgh. Both Kiner and Bell got in some good licks against us hitting .337 and .333 respectively. Gus Bell also has the honor of getting the first ever basehit for the 1962 Mets.
Good stuff, thanks. Pirates rookie Vern Law was 3-0 with an 0.68 ERA vs. the Cardinals in 1950. His first win in the majors came on July 7, 1950, with a complete game vs. the Cardinals: https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1950/B07070PIT1950.htm