The Cleveland Indians in 1940

Baseball would not have been the primary concern of a serious person in 1940. As the season began Germany overran Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France. The European war was definitely for real, yet isolationist America remained generally complacent and comfortable between two oceans. We were still able to avoid overseas distractions, and by a wide margin the top spectator sport was baseball.

The Indians that year were regarded as being a good team but a definite longshot for the pennant. The Yankees were prohibitive favorites (one prominent bookie gave 7 to 20 odds), and while some pundits favored Boston, most picked the Tribe for third. The Indian lineup had veterans Hal Trosky at first, Ken Keltner at third, Jeff Heath in left, Roy Weatherly in center, Ben Chapman in right, and Rollie Hemsley catching. Much depended however, on the young keystone combination, Lou Boudreau and Ray Mack, who were playing their first full major league season. The bench consisted of infielders Rusty Peters and Odell Hale and outfielder Beau Bell, who had been obtained from the Tigers for Bruce Campbell. Catching depth was questionable, as Frankie Pytlak felt that a $3,500 pay cut was reason enough to hold out. The pitching staff was led by the phenomenal 21-year-old Bob Feller, who had won 24 games the previous year. The supporting cast included Mel Harder, Johnny Allen, Willis Hudlin, and lefty Al Milnar, while another lefty, Al Smith, was returning to the majors after a 16-2 year at Buffalo.

The Indians trained at Fort Myers, Florida. An acknowledgement of the European situation was a spring all-star game for the Finnish relief fund. Keltner, Trosky, Hemsley, and Feller played, as the American League lost to the National, 2-1. On March 19 Boudreau broke a small bone in his ankle, but he managed to recover by the start of the season. The Tribe toured with the New York Giants, the highlight of which was a 1-0 win by Feller over Carl Hubbell. The record against the Giants was 5-7, in addition to 4-2 vs. other major league teams.

The season opener was April 17 at Comiskey Park, with Feller facing Eddie Smith. Supposedly, the Van Meter fireballer didn’t have his curve, but it didn’t matter as he pitched a no-hitter, striking out eight and walking five in a 1-0 victory. Ray Mack saved the gem, knocking down a smash by Taft Wright and throwing him out to end the game. The Indians got another shutout in the home opener two days later, by Johnny Allen, who blanked the Tigers, 4-0. Although Feller was shelled, 12-2, by the Tigers in his second start, the Tribe was in first place after five games. They went to Detroit,. Where on April27 Boudreau hit his first two career home runs to beat 18-year-old Hal Newhouser.
The following day they blew a 9-3 lead in the ninth but won in the tenth on Trosky’s homer.

On May 4 Boston pushed the Indians down to second. Pytlak finally signed, but in the May 15 roster cuts Willis Hudlin, veteran of 14 years with the Tribe, was released. Beside those mentioned above, others on the 25-man roster were infielder Oscar Grimes, outfielder Clarence Campbell, catcher Hank Helf, and pitchers Harry Eisenstat, Joe Dobson, Johnny Humphries, Bill Zuber and 6-foot-8 rookie Mike Naymick. The Indians’ 23-13 record at the end of May kept them a shade behind the Red Sox. The Yankees, having gotten off to a terrible start, were nowhere to be found, but the Detroit Tigers stayed in contention.

In early June Al Milnar shut out the A’s, got a save against Washington, and then blanked the Yankees on two hits. The Indians managed to tie for the lead, but two losses at Fenway knocked them back into a second place tie with Detroit. At this point there occurred the “Vitt Affair”. On June 13 a delegation of 11 players went to club President Alva Bradley, asking that manager Oscar Vitt be replaced by Luke Sewell. Its seems that Vitt was a nervous, irascible type whose constant fidgeting was irritating and whose cutting remarks were deemed intolerable. His insults of opposing players stirred them to greater efforts against the Tribe. About 12 veterans were the leaders of the rebellion (with Feller and Trosky suggested as ringleaders); several of the younger players did not participate. After considering the matter for a couple of days Bradley seems to have talked the players into withdrawing their demands, as a statement to that effect was signed by 21 team members on June 16.

From this distant vantage point it is difficult to say who was in the right. A manager who doesn’t have the respect of his players isn’t worth much. But at the time a manager was regarded as having authority like that of a ship’s captain. Hence the players’ action was generally viewed as mutinous, as is indicated by the following comment by Jim Schlemmer of the Akron Beacon Journal: “To permit a group of high-priced players to throw out their manager is to give in to a revolutionary move which can only hurt all baseball.” FeIler’s salary, incidentally, was $26,000. Most of the other Indians made considerably less than that.

There is no evidence that the strife hurt the team in the short run. After the agreement, the Indians ran off eight home wins in a row to take over first place. The streak ended on June 23, when the Red Sox took the second half of a double header to salvage a win in a four-game series. But the Red Sox had dropped to third, three back, and were never again in serious contention. The threat now came from the Tigers, who managed to grab a half-game lead at the All-Star break. The Indians had a 45-29 record. Three starters, Feller (13-5), Milnar (11-3), and Smith (9-2), were pitching superbly. Ray Mack was hitting .330, and Hal Trosky had 17 home runs.

No Indian started in the All-Star Game, but Keltncr, Boudreau, Mack, and Hemsley played as the AL lost, 4-0. Feller, expected to start, instead was used for the last two innings. After beating the A’s on July 11 the Indians reclaimed the lead. During late July and early August the lead changed hands several times. Then after gaining a tie on August 11, the Indians made their move. The following day Feller beat Detroit, 8-5, for his 20th win. They completed a two-game sweep over the Tigers the next day. After taking two of three at Boston they were ahead by 5 1/2 on August 21, reaching their peak with a 71-46 record. But they were then swept in three by the Yankees, the last game being ominous, as Feller lost after pitching 7-1/3 no hit innings.

On Labor Day the Indians dropped a doubleheader at home to the Browns. In Europe the Germans were blitzing London; in America the Indians were beginning to wilt. They went up to Detroit for three and were routed, 7-2, 11-3, and 10-5. This put the Tigers only a game back, while the seemingly-hibernating Yankees won 21 of 25 to move within two games of the Tribe. The Tigers gained a first place tie on September 7 when the Indians lost to Chicago for their sixth straight, and by September 9 the Indians were in second for the first time in a month.

As their situation deteriorated, the Indian players began meeting and planning strategy without Vitt. Bradley gave Vitt a free hand to deal with matters as he saw fit, but, probably wisely, he took no action. Hal Trosky missed several games due to a pulled muscle, while Feller was being overworked, pitching on two days rest as well as working in relief. Yet the Indians battled back to gain a tie with the Tigers on September 19. There were eight games left, six with the Tigers. The first three were at Detroit. In the series opener the Tigers scored five runs in the eighth to win, 6-5. Feller was called in to save the game but gave up three hits to get the loss. On September 21 Schoolboy Rowe pitched a 5-0 shutout over the Tribe. Feller then won the finale to leave the Indians a game down.

The Indians split two with the Browns, so they entered the final series — three games at home against the Tigers — two games behind. A tie was impossible; the Indians needed a sweep to win. For the September 27 opener Feller would be going for the Indians. Tiger manager Del Baker decided to save Rowe and sent out a surprise starter, 30-year old rookie Floyd Giebell (whose record was 1.0). The Indians got six hits off Giebell but were unable to score. Ben Chapman fanned three times with men in scoring position. In the fourth inning, with Gehringer on, a Rudy York drive barely cleared the left field fence at the 320-foot mark. The Tribe could not score, and the 2-0 victory gave the Tigers the pennant. Behind Harder and Milnar the Indians won the last two games to beat out the Yankees for second, ending officially only one game out of first.

Since the Indians led for so long, with a seemingly comfortable lead, it was generally thought that they had blown it. The players of course were the scapegoats; if they had stayed loyal and followed the manager’s instructions, the team would have hung together. However, a better hypothesis is that the Tigers won because they were the best team, and the Indians did well to get as close as they did. Detroit had the better hitting team; they outhit Cleveland by 21 points (.286to.265) and outslugged them by 44 points (.442 to .398). Greenberg and York each hit more homers than Trosky, the Tribe leader with 25, and they combined for 284 RBI, as compared with 194 for Boudreau and Trosky.

The Tigers scored 888 runs, the Indians 710. The Tigers also had strong years from Barney McCosky (.340) and Charlie Gehringer (.313), while the leading Indian hitter was Weatherly at .303. The Indians had a weaker bench; injuries kept Jeff Heath out for a third of the season, and Vitt did not use his reserves much, so the regulars were probably tired in September.

The Indians, playing in a better pitcher’s park, could be said to have had the edge in pitching. They allowed fewer runs, 637 to 710. This was largely due to Feller, league leader in wins (27, against 11 losses), ERA (2.62), and strikeouts (261). Milnar (18-10) and Smith (15-7) had excellent years, but alter Harder (12-11) and Allen (9-8) there was no pitching depth. Those five accounted for 81 of 89 wins and 14 of 22 saves. The Tigers were led by Bobo Newsom (21-5) and Schoolboy Rowe (16-3), while Al Benton, used exclusively in relief, had 17 saves. Manager Baker was less reluctant to use his second line pitchers than Vitt; his greater confidence in them paid off with the Giebell performance.

Using Bill James’ Pythagorean projection measure, one calculates a .605 percentage for the Tigers, or 93 wins. The projection for the Indians is .554, or 85 wins. Since the Tigers won 90 and the Indians 89, it is arguable that the Indians played slightly over their heads. In that event their performance was hardly shameful, and the alleged psychological effect of the dispute with the manager was negligible. In the course of a season things tend to balance out, and alas, the first all-Ohio World Series was not to be.