July 26, 1950: Frustrated Frisch fumes during Dubiel’s disaster

Outside of the sixth inning, Walter “Monk” Dubiel of the Chicago Cubs held the first-place Philadelphia Phillies scoreless on three hits on July 26, 1950, at Shibe Park.

But oh, that sixth inning.

Dubiel walked six batters, including four in a row with the bases loaded – all while his manager, Frankie Frisch, watched passively from the dugout. After the game, a 6-4 Phillies win, Frisch blasted Dubiel for “peeping out to the bullpen” for help.

The previous day, the Phillies had swept the Cubs in a doubleheader to take over first place in the National League; Philadelphia’s “Whiz Kids” were seeking the franchise’s first pennant since 1915. The Cubs had been 31-30 at the end of June, but a disastrous 8-16 mark so far in July had them double-digits out of the race and heading for a fourth straight second-division finish. They had lost five straight games, the last three by shutout.1

On July 26 the Cubs sent Dubiel to the mound. The 32-year-old right-hander and former Phillies moundsman woke up 4-3 with a 2.88 ERA in five starts and 19 relief appearances.2 He was opposed by Russ Meyer, a 26-year-old ex-Cub who had gone 17-8 for the Phillies in 19493 but was a disappointing 5-10 with a 5.77 ERA in 1950.4

Dubiel breezed through the first five innings, allowing only three baserunners on two hits and an error. But in the top of the second, Granny Hamner – Dubiel’s roommate with the 1948 Phillies5 – had smacked a line drive that hit Dubiel in the shoulder. Hamner was out at first base, but Dubiel said the shoulder stiffened as the game progressed and was the cause of his later control issues.6

Meanwhile, the Cubs took an early 1-0 lead on a two-out single by Hank Sauer in the top of the first to score Carmen Mauro, and then added another run in the second on Andy Pafko’s home run.

In the fifth, Dubiel contributed to his own cause with a leadoff double, followed by a walk to Wayne Terwilliger. One out later, Bob Borkowski singled to knock in Dubiel and make it 3-0. A balk advanced Terwilliger to third and Borkowski to second, and Meyer was ejected after bumping home-plate umpire Lon Warneke during the ensuing argument.7 Reliever Milo Candini got Sauer to ground out, with Terwilliger scoring the Cubs’ fourth run of the day.

It was still 4-0 after the Phillies were held scoreless in the bottom of the fifth. The Cubs were retired in the top of the sixth when Dubiel grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Eddie Waitkus – a former Cub who had been traded in 1948 to the Phillies with Hank Borowy in exchange for Dubiel and Dutch Leonard – began the Philadelphia sixth with a single to left, the first time Dubiel had allowed a leadoff baserunner. Richie Ashburn popped out, but Dick Sisler drew Dubiel’s first base on balls of the game.

Del Ennis doubled to knock in Waitkus and break up Dubiel’s shutout. With Sisler on third and Ennis on second, Dubiel intentionally walked .310-hitting Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones to load the bases with one out for the .270-hitting Hamner.

Then came the disaster. Dubiel walked Hamner, .214-hitting Stan Lopata,8 .233-hitting Mike Goliat, and .250-hitting pinch-hitter Bill Nicholson – at one point throwing 22 balls in 24 pitches,9 including 14 consecutive balls10 – to force in four runs and put the Phillies ahead, 5-4.

As the Cubs’ lead unraveled, Frisch, in his first full season as Chicago’s manager after being hired in June 1949, watched from the dugout without even warming up a reliever.11 Shibe Park fans, sympathetic to Dubiel, “shouted their disapproval”12 as the 52-year-old Hall of Fame second baseman took no action to rescue the former Phillie from what The Sporting News called the “walk orgy.”13

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Webster opined that “Frisch’s inaction as pitcher Walt Dubiel came to pieces in the sixth inning first caused wonderment, then hot denunciation of the Chicago Cubs’ skipper and his role of indifferent bystander.”

“Frisch’s strategy was not entirely clear to the observers, many of whom, having been fond of Dubiel since his days as a Phillies’ hurler, objected keenly to his humiliation. It would be difficult to convince an unbiased fan that Walt the Monk is lacking in either heart and fight or ability,” Webster wrote.14

The wildness finally ended when Waitkus grounded into a force, with Lopata scoring to make it 6-4. When Frisch went to the third-base coaching box for the seventh, the Wednesday night crowd of 11,693 let him have it: “They tossed cushions and other debris onto the field in protest of Frisch’s tactics.”15

Dubiel pitched the rest of the game, allowing just one baserunner – a Sisler double in the seventh – and no runs, but the damage had been done. NL MVP-bound Jim Konstanty closed out the final three innings for Philadelphia.16 Candini’s 1 2/3 scoreless innings netted the win, his only decision of 1950.

Dubiel’s five consecutive walks, including the intentional pass to Jones, were two shy of the National and American League record of seven in a row set by Dolly Gray of the Washington Nationals in 1909. The six walks in one inning by the same pitcher were one shy of the NL record and two short of the NL and AL record, also set by Gray. 17

In the presence of reporters and players, Frisch fumed in the Cubs’ clubhouse. The Sporting News described his postgame remarks as “an almost hysterical outburst” and an “impassioned outbreak” in an otherwise silent clubhouse. 

“Not a player said a word during the wild clubhouse harangue by Frisch. Those who have long known Frisch and his fiery outbreaks could recall no oration so emotionally inspired as this one,” the newspaper reported.18

“The players dressed as meekly as bad little boys expecting a spanking from an irate parent,” the Chicago Daily News observed. “On occasions when Frisch’s voice grew more strident they almost cowered.”19

Frisch told reporters he left Dubiel in the game because he wanted to know “if Cub pitchers have to have a lantern on the plate” to find it.20

“I may look bad for having kept such a pitcher in there against a contender, but I’m determined to find out what’s going on,” Frisch said. “If I make myself look bad, it is not a novelty. Maybe some of my players have been making me look pretty bad, too.”21

“I’m sick of watching some of my pitchers getting into jams, then peeping out to the bullpen to see if a reliever is ready to take over their work for them.

“If any of those guys who walked had knocked the ball into the Schuylkill River I would have taken Dubiel out,” Frisch added. “But I’ve got to find out what’s going on when a pitcher can walk six men in one inning and none in seven other innings.”22

Before the next day’s game, Frisch proclaimed that “all his starters would go nine innings,” but pulled Doyle Lade after he yielded eight runs (six earned) on eight hits and five walks in 6 1/3 innings in a 13-3 loss. Johnny Vander Meer walked another five in a five-run eighth. Frisch, after being booed by Philadelphia fans while in his customary spot in the third-base coach’s box the previous night, remained in the dugout for the series finale.23

Frisch’s treatment of Dubiel became a short-lived meme. Three days later, in a semipro game in Illinois, DeKalb Blue Sox pitcher Fred Odegard walked eight men in the first 2 1/3 innings before DeKalb’s manager inserted himself as a reliever. “Apparently, Gene Kylen, Blue Sox manager, was all set to let Odegard suffer in the same manner Frisch gave Dubiel the treatment the other night at Philadelphia but softened up and decided to take matters into his own hands,” reported a local newspaper.24

After a week of rest, Frisch called on Dubiel to start against the New York Giants on August 2. Dubiel allowed an inside-the-park grand slam to Wes Westrum in the first inning and was pulled after allowing another three runs in the fourth inning. He continued to be used as a swingman the rest of the season but pitched poorly, going 2-7 with a 5.48 ERA in 70 2/3 innings after July 26. The Cubs finished the season 64-89 and in seventh place, 26½ games back of the pennant-winning Phillies.

Dubiel opened 1951 with the Cubs, but on May 6, after just one appearance, he requested to be sent to the minors to be closer to his wife, Peggy, who was “seriously ill.”25 He pitched for the Springfield Cubs before being recalled on July 18.26

Three days later, Chicago GM Wid Matthews announced – in Philadelphia – that Frisch had resigned after leading the Cubs to a .418 winning percentage.27 Dubiel had a 2.30 ERA in 54 2/3 innings in 1951, all in relief. He pitched in just one game for Chicago in 1952 and spent the rest of that season and the next two in the minors before retiring at age 36.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Walt Dubiel, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI195007260.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1950/B07260PHI1950.htm

Notes

1 Edward Burns, “Frisch Rakes Cubs; Lose on 6 Walks in 6th,” Chicago Tribune, July 27, 1950: 4. Burns reported that by scoring in the first inning, Chicago guaranteed that it had avoided tying the National League record for consecutive games being shut out. Sauer’s RBI single with two outs in the first snapped a 28-inning scoreless streak for the Cubs that began with one out in the ninth inning of a 5-3 loss to the Giants in the first game of a doubleheader on July 23.

2 Dubiel had an 8-10 record and a 3.89 ERA in 37 appearances as a swingman with the 1948 Phillies, his only season in Philadelphia.

3 Meyer had a 13-12 record and a 3.57 ERA in 56 games with the Cubs from 1946 through 1948. Chicago sold him to Philadelphia for $20,000 in October 1948.

4 Even including his four-run, nine-hit performance in 4 1/3 innings on July 26, Meyer had a better end to his season, going 4-1 with a 4.64 ERA in 66 innings.

5 Stan Baumgartner, “Right Pair-Ups of Roomies Can Mean Pennant,” The Sporting News, August 4, 1948: 8.

6 “Obituaries,” The Sporting News, November 8, 1969: 46. “Dubiel, also unhappy with the humiliation and the subsequent 6-4 defeat, said he had been hit in the shoulder in the first inning by a Granny Hamner drive and the shoulder stiffened as the game progressed. ‘There was a big welt on my shoulder,’ Dubiel said.” Retrosheet’s play-by-play data for the game has Hamner batting for the first time in the second inning but indicates that he grounded out to Dubiel in that plate appearance: “Hamner grounded out (pitcher to first).”

7 Robert L. Burnes, “The Benchwarmer” column, St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 29, 1950: 13. “Russ Meyer of the Phils was tossed out the same night for disputing a balk call by Umpire Lon Warneke. With men on base, Hank Sauer was at bat. As Meyer prepared to pitch, Sauer stepped out of the box, Meyer broke his delivery and Warneke called a balk.” Burnes surmised that Meyer had expected Warneke to call time out when Sauer stepped out.

8 Lopata, Philadelphia’s backup catcher, had entered the game in the top of the third inning; Baumgartner, in his game story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, reported that starting catcher Andy Seminick “re-injured his ankle” in a third inning play at the plate in which Terwilliger had been thrown out at home. Seminick missed the next day’s game but returned to action on July 28.

9 John C. Hoffman, “Frisch, Dubiel Both Wild; Phils Win 6-4,” Chicago Sun-Times, July 27, 1950: 45.

10 Stan Baumgartner, “Phillies Beat Cubs, 6-4, Increase Lead to 1½,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 27, 1950: 1.

11 John Webster, “Flays Frisch as a Manager,” The Sporting News, August 9, 1950: 12.

12 “Obituaries.”

13 Ed Burns, “Frisch Wild After Dubiel Walk Orgy,” The Sporting News, August 2, 1950: 18.

14 John Webster, “Sportscope: Frisch’s Action in Humiliating Dubiel Likely to Prove Demoralizing to Entire Cubs Team,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 28, 1950: 34. He added: “I believe the Phillies, who reluctantly sent Dubiel to Chicago in the trade that brought Eddie Waitkus here, would be happy to have the righthander back in the fold.”

15 “Obituaries.”

16 Baseball did not officially recognize saves until 1969, but Konstanty has been retroactively credited with his 14th save of the season for this game. Konstanty is credited with a majors-leading 22 saves in that season.

17 Associated Press, “Frisch Lets Dubiel Take Licking on Hill,” Terre Haute (Indiana) Tribune, July 27, 1950: 24. The Associated Press story, printed in numerous newspapers, incorrectly attributed the modern National League record of seven walks in one inning to Hall of Fame catcher and occasional pitcher Buck Ewing; it was Bob Ewing on April 19, 1902.

18 Burns, “Frisch Wild After Dubiel Walk Orgy.”

19 Howard Roberts, “Frisch Cuts Cub Hurlers Off Relief,” Chicago Daily News, July 27, 1950: 35.

20 Edward Burns, “Frisch Rakes Cubs; Lose in 6-Walk Inning,” 1.

21 Burns.

22 Stan Baumgartner, “Dubiel Walks 6, 5 in Row, in 6th,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 27, 1950: 28. A ball hit into the Schuylkill River would have been a prodigious shot indeed, as Shibe Park sat more than a mile from it.

23 Stan Baumgartner, “Sweep Set, 13-3; Simmons Winner,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 28, 1950: 34. “Frankie Frisch remained off the coaching lines to change his luck. … He did. … It went from bad to worse. …” Frisch would finally get a complete game from a pitcher, rookie Johnny Klippstein, in the second game of the July 29 doubleheader against the Brooklyn Dodgers. (The Cubs lost, 2-1.) 

24 “Elgin Edges Evanston for State; Great Lakes Beat DeKalb,” DeKalb (Illinois) Daily Chronicle, July 29, 1950: 8.

25 “National League,” The Sporting News, May 9, 1951: 30. Dubiel was optioned to the Springfield (Massachusetts) Cubs, about 30 miles from his home in Unionville, Connecticut.

26 Associated Press, “Dubiel With Cubs Again, Schultz Is Optioned,” Washington Evening Star, July 18, 1951: 42.

27 Edgar Munzel, “Frisch Left Fuming by Sudden Dismissal,” The Sporting News, August 1, 1951. Frankie Frisch told reporters he hadn’t resigned, but had been fired, and blamed anonymous players who had attacked him in the press. According to Fred Stein’s SABR BioProject article about Frisch, “the firing was triggered when general manager Wid Matthews saw the disinterested Frisch sitting in the dugout reading a book during a game.”