Ernie Lombardi's tenth-inning home run held as North Dallas defeated the Harlem Knights, 6-5, to clinch the 1945 DBS Championship.
Initially down 5-2, the Knights scored once in the seventh to close the gap to two, when Nels Potter retired the first two Harlem batters in the bottom of the ninth. After Charlie Keller singled on a full-count fastball, Hank Greenberg strolled to the plate. After a swing and a miss, Greenberg blast the next offering in to the left field seats, tying the game at 5. Lombardi's lead-off home run in the tenth came off of Al Smith.
10/10/1945, NDA45-HAR45, Wrigley Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E LOB DP
1945 Forty 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 13 1 10 0
1945 Knights 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 5 13 3 12 0
Forty AB R H BI AVG Knights AB R H BI AVG
Galan 3b 6 2 2 0 .500 Walker cf 6 1 3 0 .381
Lake ss 5 1 1 0 .167 Mayo 2b 6 1 1 0 .333
Cavarretta 1b 5 0 1 2 .478 Etten 1b 5 0 1 0 .200
Heath lf 5 1 1 1 .318 Kurowski 3b 4 1 2 0 .318
Estalella cf 5 1 2 0 .385 Keller rf 5 1 3 2 .182
Lombardi c 5 1 4 2 .308 Greenberg lf 3 1 1 2 .294
Cullenbine rf 4 0 0 0 .286 Sandlock c 5 0 0 1 .118
Stanky 2b 4 0 1 1 .235 Newsome ss 4 0 1 0 .294
Potter p 3 0 0 0 .000 Nicholson ph 1 0 0 0 .333
Butcher p 1 0 1 0 1.000 Walters p 2 0 0 0 .000
43 6 13 6 Berry p 1 0 0 0 .000
Peck ph 1 0 0 0 .000
Smith p 1 0 1 0 1.000
Dickshot pr 0 0 0 0 .000
44 5 13 5
Forty INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Potter 8.2 12 5 5 2 2 121 80 8.44
Butcher W 1-0 1.1 1 0 0 0 0 15 9 0.00
10.0 13 5 5 2 2 136 89
Knights INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Walters 4.0 9 5 5 2 2 71 42 12.91
Berry 4.0 2 0 0 0 1 44 30 3.68
Smith L 0-2 2.0 2 1 1 0 0 20 16 6.75
10.0 13 6 6 2 3 135 88
HAR: Peck batted for Berry in the 8th
Nicholson batted for Newsome in the 10th
Dickshot ran for Smith in the 10th
E-Lake, Walker, Mayo, Keller. 2B-Lake, Mayo. HR-Lombardi(1), Greenberg(2).
SB-Dickshot(1). K-Cavarretta, Stanky, Potter, Kurowski, Sandlock.
BB-Cullenbine, Stanky, Kurowski, Greenberg. SH-Potter. HBP-Greenberg.
HB-Potter.
GWRBI: Lombardi
Temperature: 73, Sky: cloudy, Wind: in from center at 20 MPH.