[Nick Soulis]

Series #238



ANGELS ASCEND AT FENWAY
JOHNSONE AND MAY LEAD CALIFORNIA PAST WILLIAMS AND THE RED SOX



Series 238, Game 1
Weather: Rain, 58°F, wind left to right at 12 mph
Attendance: 47,611 (overflow crowd, fans lining rooftops beyond Lansdowne Street)
At Fenway Park
Final Score:
1970 California Angels …… 0
1955 Boston Red Sox …… 7
Winning Pitcher: Willard Nixon (1–0)
Losing Pitcher: Andy Messersmith (0–1)
HR: J. Jensen 2 (2)
Player of the Game: Jackie Jensen (3–4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB, 2 R)
Series: Boston leads 1–0

GRANTLAND RICE COMMENTARY
In the quiet that followed the final out, Fenway Park seemed to breathe — as though the old park had seen another ghost pass through and nodded in recognition. The rain fell like memory itself, each drop carrying the scent of stories retold. And at the heart of it all was Jackie Jensen — the broad-shouldered prince of Boston’s forgotten summers — who reminded the game that glory still blooms beneath gray skies.
He struck like lightning in the second, and again in the fourth, not out of anger but out of rhythm, as if he could hear some eternal metronome pulsing behind the wind. Around him, Ted Williams stood sentinel — the older craftsman watching the younger man write a chapter of his own. It was not Ted’s night to rule, but his to witness — the torch flickering but never extinguished.Andy Messersmith, brave but undone by the storm within, struggled as many do when they first face history’s weight. His pitches wandered as though distracted by the ghosts in the bleachers. Yet such is the lesson of this field — that even defeat has dignity when it bends to the spirit of the game.As the crowd drifted into the rain, Jensen’s name lingered above the park like a bell tone — rich, defiant, alive. The Angels will return tomorrow with new resolve. But tonight belongs to the man who played as if time itself had waited for him.
And so, the first embers of Series #238 are lit — a reminder that in this place beyond years, every swing still carries the dream that built the field.

Series 238, Game 2
At Fenway Park – October 2, 1955
Weather: Cloudy, 57°F, wind out to center at 13 mph
Attendance: 45,102 (rain delay of 20 minutes in the 4th inning)
Final Score:
1970 California Angels …… 13
1955 Boston Red Sox …… 6
Winning Pitcher: Rudy May (1–0)
Losing Pitcher: Ike Delock (0–1)
Player of the Game: Jim Fregosi (3–4, HR, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 3 R)
Home Runs: CAL — Johnstone (1), Fregosi (1), Repoz (1), A. Rodríguez (1); BOS — Jensen (3)
Series: Tied 1–1

GRANTLAND RICE COMMENTARY
The sky above Fenway wept and then cleared, as if to cleanse the canvas before the Angels began their art. Out of that gray cathedral of brick and lore came a chorus of bats — sudden, bold, unrelenting. The Red Sox, proud and storied, were struck not by chance, but by rhythm — a rhythm born of youth and hunger.Jim Fregosi stood at the center of it, the captain of a club too often overlooked by history’s poets. He struck the ball as if to answer their silence, a drive that climbed into the wet wind and disappeared beyond the Monster’s shoulder. Around him, his teammates followed — the ball bounding, the scoreboard blinking with numbers unfamiliar to Fenway’s solemn eyes.And yet, even in defeat, Boston’s spirit did not vanish. Ted Williams lingered in the twilight, his gaze steady, his bat heavy with unspent fire. Jackie Jensen, again heroic, carried the echo of resistance with each stride around the bases.But tonight belonged to the Angels — not of heaven, but of California — who rose in the mist to prove that time itself can be defied by courage. The field, glistening under the returning light, seemed to whisper its approval.The series, like the game itself, stands even — the dream renewed, the promise alive, and the story moving west, where sunlight and memory meet once more.

Series 238, Game 3
At Anaheim Stadium – October 4, 1955
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 70°F, wind out to left at 9 mph
Attendance: 46,337 (clear skies and the hum of transistor radios)
Final Score:
1955 Boston Red Sox …… 7
1970 California Angels …… 4
Winning Pitcher: Frank Sullivan (1–0)
Losing Pitcher: Tom Bradley (0–1)
Player of the Game: Ted Williams (3–3, HR, 2 BB, 2 R, RBI)
Home Runs: BOS — Williams (1), Jensen (4); CAL — Johnstone (2), A. Rodríguez (2)
Series: Boston leads 2–1

GRANTLAND RICE COMMENTARY
The lights of Anaheim gleamed like halos over the diamond, and beneath them, the old master returned to his canvas. Ted Williams — still proud, still relentless — painted the night with a stroke of red and gold. The swing was smooth as scripture, the contact clean as dawn. When the ball rose beyond the left-field fence, the years seemed to fade, leaving only grace in motion.Frank Sullivan, towering and unhurried, matched the rhythm. His pitches spoke in the old tongue — location, resolve, simplicity. Around him, the Red Sox played like a company of craftsmen, each man sure of his task.
Across the field, the Angels fought bravely, but found themselves spectators in a museum of greatness. Aurelio Rodríguez’s home run was fierce, Jay Johnstone’s valiant, yet neither could unseat the figure standing at the plate, that eternal image of a hitter unbound by time.
As the crowd filed out beneath the soft orange moon, the murmurs carried a single truth — the Kid still reigns. In the Field of Dreams, where legends cross their own footprints, the game remains both sermon and song.
Boston leads the series 2–1, the air thick with memory, and the echo of one perfect swing still hanging above the California night.

Series 238, Game 4
At Anaheim Stadium – October 5, 1955
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 72°F, wind out to center at 8 mph
Attendance: 45,906 (fans waving towels and halos, dusk gold sky)
Final Score:
1955 Boston Red Sox …… 1
1970 California Angels …… 6
Winning Pitcher: Clyde Wright (1–0)
Losing Pitcher: George Susce (0–1)
Player of the Game: Clyde Wright (8 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; HR, 2 RBI)
Home Runs: CAL — Wright (1), Repoz (2)
Series: Tied 2–2

GRANTLAND RICE COMMENTARY
The west wind was kind to the Angels tonight. It carried with it the scent of orange blossoms and victory, and in its wake rose a pitcher who dared to write his name in the clouds. Clyde Wright, humble in his manner and bold in his craft, tamed both bat and ball beneath the lights of Anaheim.
He threw with the grace of an artist and struck with the power of a believer. His home run — a pitcher’s rebellion against his own expectations — soared high into the night, the sound of it ringing like a hymn across the bleachers.
Boston fought with dignity, yet its flame flickered against the calm of California’s resolve. The great Williams stood watchful, the mighty Jensen silent, as the younger men claimed the hour.
And so the ledger reads even, the balance restored. In this Field of Dreams, where eras entwine like ivy and sunlight, one truth endures: on any given night, the game belongs to the brave.
The series stands tied, two wins apiece — and the horizon burns with promise.

Series 238, Game 5
At Anaheim Stadium – October 6, 1955
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 72°F, wind out to left at 6 mph
Attendance: 47,012 (halo gleaming above the Big A, crowd restless and electric)
Final Score:
1955 Boston Red Sox …… 2
1970 California Angels …… 5
Winning Pitcher: Andy Messersmith (1–1)
Save: Eddie Fisher (1)
Losing Pitcher: Willard Nixon (1–1)
Player of the Game: Andy Messersmith (6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K; steady redemption effort)
Home Runs: BOS — Jensen (5)
Series: California leads 3–2


GRANTLAND RICE COMMENTARY
Beneath the fading sun of Anaheim, a man found redemption and a team found its wings. Andy Messersmith — once burdened by wildness, now reborn in command — stood tall upon the mound as though forgiven by the game itself. Each pitch carried the hush of absolution, each out a verse of renewal.The Angels followed his courage like pilgrims chasing light. Fregosi’s double rang with certainty, Repoz’s runs hummed with defiance, and the field itself seemed to glow with conviction. It was not just victory they found — it was identity.Across the diamond, Boston stood proud but weary. The Kid waited for his pitch, and the night did not offer it. Jensen’s bat sang its lonely hymn, but the chorus had fallen silent.And so the series bends westward toward destiny — California one step from ascension, Boston one strike from memory. Yet in the realm of the Field of Dreams, where all times are equal, hope never dies, it merely changes dugouts.The Angels lead three games to two, and the wind whispers east — carrying both promise and reckoning toward Fenway Park.

Series 238, Game 6
At Fenway Park
Weather: Clear, 59°F, wind out to center at 11 mph
Attendance: 31,694 (Fenway faithful solemn, applauding through heartbreak)
Final Score:
1970 California Angels …… 5
1955 Boston Red Sox …… 2
Winning Pitcher: Rudy May (2–0)
Save: Eddie Fisher (2)
Losing Pitcher: Ike Delock (0–2)
Player of the Game: Joe Azcue (3-for-3, 2 RBI, double, walk, scored once)
Home Runs: None

GRANTLAND RICE COMMENTARY — “The Halo Over Fenway”
The light was thin and golden upon the old park, and somewhere beyond the Citgo sign the autumn wind carried the hymn of another ending.
Out of that hallowed soil came a new song — the Angels, young and unburdened, had climbed the ladder of memory and hung a halo above the oldest wall in the game.
Rudy May stood upon the mound like a man walking a high wire across history — every pitch a prayer, every strike a step closer to forever. Behind him, Fregosi’s sure hands turned chaos into calm. Beside him, Joe Azcue, the unheralded sentinel, called the symphony of triumph.
Boston fought bravely — Jensen’s bat, Williams’ gaze, Goodman’s grit — but their season drifted into the same twilight that once followed Ruth and Cronin. The crowd applauded not loss, but the continuation of something grander: the truth that the game will always outlive its heartbreak.
And when the last ball settled in Spencer’s glove, the Angels leapt into eternity — not as conquerors, but as heirs to the dream.
For in this tournament of ghosts, they became something more than champions.
They became remembered.
“May the game forever find its way home.”


1970 California Angels Win Series 4 Games To 2

Series MVP:

(.364, 2 HR, 5 R, 2 2B, 1.119 OPS)