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From the archives | Sept. 22

Record crowd near 49,000 jams Fenway Park

Boston was established beyond all doubt yesterday as the greatest baseball city in the universe, when a record crowd of close to 49,000 persons filled every available space in Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox and New York Yankees play a double-header on which hinged nothing more than the practically settled fourth-place standing of the local club.

It was estimated that 10,000 more were turned away.

Red Sox drop both games

Before this unprecedented gathering, the Sox lapsed into some of their worst baseball of the year and lost both games. Wes Farrell received woeful support in dropping the opener, 6 to 4, in his bid for his 25th victory of the season. Vito Tamulis, the Boston boy, was Ferrell’s conquerer. The Yankees then coasted to a 9-to-0 win behind the four-hit hurling of Walter Brown, 265-pound giant, in the nightcap, which was shortened to eight innings by the Sunday law.

This double defeat, which gave the Yankees a clean sweep of a current three-game series, left the disciples of Joe Cronin 3-1/2 games behind the third-place Cleveland Indians. The paid attendance was announced as 47,627. This number constitutes the largest crowd ever to enter Fenway Park or an American League game in Boston. In addition, however, were the usual number of complimentary ticket holders and those who held rain checks from the Red Sox-Yankees five-inning game of Aug 5th. These latter were guests of the Red Sox management yesterday. This brought the number inside the gates closer to 49,000.

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Only a couple of crowds at Braves Field ever surpassed that figure, notably the Braves-Phillies doubleheader that drew 51,000 and the first doubleheader in that memorable Braves-Giants series of late 1933, which had 50,000. Every one of the 37,000-odd seats was taken. The outfield was roped off for the entire stretch in front of the right and center-field bleachers. This necessitated ground rules, a hit into this sector automatically going for two bases. The rest of those who succeeded in getting in at all found standing or squatting space throughout the grandstand and pavilion.

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There were no pennant connections of either club to attract this multitude. The Yankees were mathematically read out of the running Saturday. The Red Sox chances died a long time ago. The special competitive field events between games were not the lure. The fans were yelling for the second game to be started even before these events finished.