We saw stellar careers draw to a close in ’42 and new ones being born. The Giants-Braves game at Braves Field on September 19 was evidence of just that. Giants starting pitcher Carl Hubbell made his second-to-last start of the season. “King Carl” pitched in only 12 games in 1943, drawing to a close one of the great pitching careers in baseball history.

Twenty-six-year-old Mike Sandlock, called up from Evansville of the Three-I League, made his major-league debut and was a late-inning replacement for shortstop Whitey Wietelmann. Sandlock got his first hit and scored his first run in the eighth inning. Third baseman Ducky Detweiler, 23, also was called up from Evansville and made his debut on September 12.

Making the trip to Boston with Sandlock and Detweiler was rookie left-handed pitcher Warren Spahn, 21. Spahn saw action earlier in the season, but was demoted to Hartford of the Eastern League when he disobeyed manager Casey Stengel’s order to bean Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese. After the ’42 season, Spahn enlisted in the Army and served with distinction as a combat engineer. He saw action in the Battle of the Bulge and took part in the seizure of the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen which allowed the Allied troops to cross the Rhine River. Spahn was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, and received a battlefield commission. Stengel would later regret his decision to demote Spahn. “I said ‘no guts’ to a kid who went on to become a war hero and one of the greatest left-handed pitchers you ever saw. You can’t say I don’t miss ’em when I miss ’em,” the Perfessor said.1 Spahn reunited with Stengel on the woeful 1965 New York Mets and joked, “I’m probably the only guy who worked for Stengel before and after he was a genius.”2

The Braves took the field led by rookie center fielder Tommy Holmes, who three years later would hit safely in 37 consecutive games, a National League record for 33 years. Holmes was flanked by Johnny Cooney in right and Nanny Fernandez in left. Cooney started his career with the Braves in 1921 as a pitcher. After arm trouble led to a four-year absence from the big leagues (1931-34), Cooney returned as an outfielder. Cooney’s two career home runs came on consecutive days in 1939.

The Braves featured Max West at first base. West was an All-Star outfielder in 1940. The second baseman was Sibby Sisti, who had been the youngest player in baseball in 1939 when he made his debut with the Bees at the tender age of 18. Starting at shortstop was Whitey Wietelmann, who led NL shortstops in assists (581) and errors (40) in 1943. Ducky Detweiler manned the hot corner for the Braves.

Rookie Lou Tost, 30, was the starting pitcher for the Braves. This was Tost’s only full season in the majors, and he compiled a 10-10 record with a 3.53 earned-run average. Tost’s batterymate was future Hall of Fame catcher Ernie Lombardi.

Leading off for the Giants was veteran third baseman Dick Bartell. Bartell had been the starting shortstop for the National League in the inaugural All-Star Game in 1933. Second baseman Mickey Witek batted second. Batting third and playing right field was manager and future Hall of Famer Mel Ott. Another Hall of Fame slugger, Johnny Mize, batted cleanup and played first base. “The Big Cat” led the NL in ’42 with 110 runs batted in and like many other players served in the military after the 1942 season. Hitting fifth and playing center field was Babe Young. Young attended George Washington High School in Manhattan, which in later years was also the alma mater of Rod Carew and Manny Ramirez. Buster Maynard batted sixth and played left field. Billy Jurges batted seventh. Jurges was a three-time All-Star shortstop with the Giants and Cubs. Gus Mancuso batted eighth and was the starting catcher for the Giants.

King Carl hadn’t pitched since a rough start against the Cards on September 3, and the rust showed in the first inning when he issued a leadoff walk to Tommy Holmes. Johnny Cooney sacrificed Holmes to second, and Nanny Fernandez singled him home. Fernandez stole second, then scored on Ernie Lombardi’s double. Ducky Detweiler’s Texas Leaguer plated Fernandez and gave the Braves a 3-0 lead.

This was the start of a crazy game that featured 30 players, six relief pitchers (four by the Braves), three pinch-hitters, and two pinch-runners. In spite of all of the switches, the time of game was a mere 2 hours and 19 minutes in front of a sparse crowd of 1,841.

Braves starter Tost did his best to keep the lead. The Giants got single runs in the second and sixth innings. Mize hit the first of his two doubles in the second and Gus Mancuso singled him home. Mize accounted for the second Giants run in the top of the sixth, driving in Ott with his second double. The game began to unravel for Tost and the Braves in the top of the seventh when the pitcher walked Mancuso with one out. Pitcher Hal Schumacher ran for Mancuso. Harry Danning, pinch-hitting for Hubbell, followed with a single. After Tost walked Bartell to load the bases, Stengel brought in rookie Johnny Sain. Sain walked Witek, and Schumacher scored the tying run. Stengel replaced Sain with Tom Earley, who had the unenviable task of facing Mel Ott with the bases loaded and one out. Ott sent Earley’s third offering to the right-field bullpen for a grand slam and gave the Giants a 7-3 lead.

The Braves made a comeback in the bottom of the eighth. Bill McGee, who replaced Hubbell in the seventh, surrendered a one-out walk to Sisti. Mike Sandlock, pinch-hitting for Weitelmann, singled. Clyde Kluttz pinch-hit for pitcher Hank LaManna and socked a McGee offering for a triple, scoring Sisti and Sandlock and bringing the Braves to within two runs. Frank McElyea ran for Kluttz. Ott replaced McGee with star reliever Ace Adams. Adams, who led the National League in games finished from 1942 through 1945, gave up a single to Tommy Holmes that sent McElyea to third. Paul Waner’s groundout scored McElyea, bringing the Braves to within one run. Adams retired Fernandez to end the rally, then retired the Braves in order in the ninth to preserve the game for the visiting Giants and give King Carl his 10th victory of the season. Hubbell would win five more games in 1943, his last season.

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto.

Sources

In addition to the items cited in the Notes, the author consulted the following:

City Data – Baseball Forum. http://www.city-data.com/forum/baseball/786804-baseballs-most-memorable-quotes-expansion-pitchers.html. Retrieved August 1, 2015.

Craig, William J. A History of the Boston Braves: A Time Gone By (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2012).

Dawson, James P. “Ott’s Home Run With Bases Filled Conquers Braves for Giants, 7-6,” New York Times, September 20, 1942: Sports 1 and 5.

Harrison, Don. Connecticut Baseball, The Best of The Nutmeg State (Charleston, South Carolina: History Press, 2008).

Moore, Gerry. “Another Ott Homer Beats Braves, 7-6: Hubbell Gets His Tenth, Stengel Uses Five Pitchers,” Boston Globe, September 20, 1942: 28.

Notes

Though attendances were sometimes meager during the war years, it might be said that never were more baseball fans truly appreciative of their season opener as they were in 1945. As the war in Europe was drawing to a close, there was still conflict in the Pacific. The previous seasons saw the major leagues lose much of their top talent to military service. Travel restrictions imposed by the government forced teams to hold spring training closer to home. In 1943, the Phillies moved from Miami Beach to the high-school baseball field at Hershey, Pennsylvania, then moving to Wilmington, DE for 1944 and 1945. Meanwhile the Dodgers left Havana for Bear Mountain, New York.

By 1945, in addition to the travel restrictions, the Office of War Mobilization had asked the Selective Service System to re-examine the status of professional athletes classified 4-F, or physically or psychologically unfit for military service. Ominously, James F. Byrnes, chief of the Office of War Mobilization, had shut down all dog- and horse-racing tracks, and it was clear that Byrnes’ next move was to suspend the 1945 baseball season. Byrnes believed if a man was fit enough to play professional sports, he was fit enough to serve in combat.1

In November 1944 longtime Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis died, and the sport was facing its biggest crisis since the Black Sox Scandal without its leader and savior. During the interim between Landis’s death and the appointment of Senator Albert B. “Happy” Chandler to replace him, Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith, National League President Ford Frick and American League President Will Harridge negotiated a last-ditch plan with the Office of Defense Transportation to salvage the 1945 season by agreeing to additional concessions on top of the existing travel restrictions. Travel would be reduced by an additional 25 percent.2 They agreed to cancel the All-Star Game and, if necessary, the World Series.

With the 1945 season saved, it was time to play ball. The Brooklyn Dodgers opened the season against the perennial residents of the second division Philadelphia Phillies. Ruly Carpenter, a du Pont executive, purchased the team in 1943 after former owner William Cox suffered a lifetime ban for betting on baseball games. Carpenter tried to rehabilitate the Phillies’ image by changing their nickname to Blue Jays. That moniker was not popular with Philadelphia fans and never really stuck.

While Carpenter failed to rename the team, he was successful in rebuilding it. Branch Rickey recognized this, saying before Opening Day, “Look out for the Phillies! The new owner is building soundly and surely. When the war’s over, the Phillies are going to be a factor in the National League race.”3 Rickey’s words proved true as the 1950 Phillies, dubbed the Whiz Kids, won the National League pennant.

Phillies in the Opening Day lineup making their major-league debuts were third baseman Bitsy Mott, left fielder Vance Dinges, and second baseman Garvin Hamner. (Garvin’s brother, 17-year-old shortstop Granny Hamner, was in the lineup too, but had played a few games the season before.) The Phillies had some newly acquired veterans to help mentor their rookies, including “an old Dodger killer”4 Vince DiMaggio, who patrolled center field, and Jimmie Foxx, who winded down his Hall of Fame career with the Phils.

The Dodgers were also counting on some newcomers as key contributors including former Boston Braves infielder Mike Sandlock. Eddie Stanky would embark on a breakout season after taking over for player-manager Leo Durocher at second base.

Durocher started Frenchy Bordagaray in left field for this game so as to not expose the left-handed batting Morrie Aderholt to crafty southpaw Ken Raffensberger5, who was an All-Star in 1944 despite a 20-loss campaign. The Dodgers countered with 41-year-old right-hander Curt “Coonskin” Davis, who had made his debut in 1934 as a 30-year-old rookie with the Phillies and was the ace of their staff for a couple of years.

The Dodgers took the field in front of a home crowd of just 9,865. It was a gloomy, rainy day and the weather kept many fans away from Ebbets Field.6 Mott and Dinges led off the game with singles, putting runners at first and third with no outs. René Monteagudo grounded to third baseman Bill Hart, who got the force out at second as Mott scored.

The Dodgers immediately struck back. Frenchy Bordagaray led off with a single and went to second when Garvin Hamner mishandled the throw-in from Dinges. Dodgers center fielder Luis Olmo singled, scoring Bordagaray and tying the score. Walks to Augie Galan and Mickey Owen loaded the bases with two outs, but Mike Sandlock grounded out to short to end the inning. (Sandlock would have opportunities later in the game to redeem himself.)

The Dodgers staged a two-out rally in the bottom of the third, taking the lead on consecutive singles by Owen, Sandlock, and Durocher.

Dixie Walker led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk and Bill Hart singled. On Mickey Owen’s bunt, the Phillies tried but failed to force Walker at third leaving the Dodgers with the bases loaded and no outs. Sandlock came through with a single, plating Walker and Hart and extending the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1. Sandlock’s hit chased Raffensberger in favor of veteran right-hander Vern Kennedy. Durocher’s grounder to third led to a double play: Owen was thrown out at home and Sandlock was thrown out at third. With two outs and pitcher Davis due up, it appeared that Kennedy was about to stifle the Dodgers’ rally. But pitcher Davis launched a Kennedy offering into the left-field bleachers, giving the Dodgers a 6-1 lead.7

Phillies catcher Johnny Peacock led off the top of the seventh with a double. With one out, Jimmie Foxx pinch-hit for Kennedy and singled, sending Peacock to third. Bitsy Mott’s grounder to second plated Peacock and whittled the lead to 6-2.

Charlie Ripple replaced Kennedy on the mound in the bottom of the seventh. He walked Bill Hart, who stole second and scored when Sandlock blasted a triple that got by Vince DiMaggio and rolled to the center-field fence.8 Durocher’s fly ball to left scored Sandlock and gave the Dodgers an 8-2 lead that held as Davis retired the final eight Phillies batters he faced after Foxx’s pinch-hit single.

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto.

Sources

In addition to the sources in the notes, the author also consulted: baseball-almanac.com, baseball-reference.com, retrosheet.org, and the following:

Burr, Harold C. “Davis’ Arm Makes Dodgers Look Good,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 18, 1945: 17.

Golenbock, Peter. Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers (Chicago: Dover Publications, 2010).

Harrison, Don. Connecticut Baseball, The Best of the Nutmeg State (Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: History Press, 2008).

Lazar, Louie. “Ebbets Field’s Echoes: At 97, the Oldest Living Brooklyn Dodger Reflects,” New York Times, April 3, 2013: B3.

Olsen, Ole. “Opening Game Muffed Bet; Lacked A Chorus – Olsen,” “Brooklyn Daily Eagle,” April 18, 1945, 17.

Notes

After Durocher came up with a charley horse in the Dodgers’ 8-2 victory over the Phils on Opening Day, he met with Dodgers GM Branch Rickey and offered a $2,000 buyout of the player portion of his contract. While Rickey didn’t accept or reject Durocher’s offer, it was painfully clear that Leo could no longer play second base. Rickey recalled that Durocher didn’t have the arm strength to throw out Phillies rookie third baseman Bitsy Mott. “The old Durocher would have thrown Mott out. But he could barely get the ball over to first on the bounce. He doesn’t want to stand out there and be shown up.”1

Mott led off this game for the Phillies. A former Dodgers farmhand, he played 90 games for the Phils in ’45, and they turned out to be the only 90 games he played in the big leagues. After playing 10 of the next 12 years in the minors Mott retired from baseball and became a security guard for Elvis Presley. (Mott was a brother-in-law of Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s manager.) Mott appeared in two of Presley’s movies, Wild in the Country and G.I. Blues.3

Another rookie, Vance Dinges, played left field and batted second for the Phils. Dinges was the lone Phillies player on the National League All-Star team in ’45. (Because of wartime travel restrictions, the All-Star Game, which was supposed to be played in Boston’s Fenway Park was canceled.) Havana native Rene Monteagudo batted third and played right field. This was Monteagudo’s last season in the major leagues; he and several other players were blacklisted by Commissioner Happy Chandler for playing in the Mexican League in 1946.iv Batting cleanup was first baseman Jimmy Wasdell, who only struck out 11 times in 1945 in 500 at-bats. His 45.5 at-bat-to-strikeout rate was bested only by the Boston Braves’ Tommy Holmes, who had 70.67 at-bats per strikeout (9 strikeouts per 636 at bats). Center fielder Vince DiMaggio batted fifth for the Phillies. DiMaggio was an All-Star for the Pirates in 1943 and ’44. He lacked the plate discipline of his younger brother, Joe, and led the league in strikeouts six times, including 1945.

Rookie second baseman Garvin Hamner batted sixth. His younger brother, 17-year-old Granny (technically a rookie even though he played 21 games in 1944), played shortstop for the Phils and batted eighth. Granny became a three-time All-Star during his 17-year career, mostly with the Phillies. Granny was a key member of the 1950 Whiz Kids team that won the NL pennant. Veteran catcher Gus Mancuso batted seventh. The 1945 season was Mancuso’s last, wrapping up a solid career that featured two All-Star Game appearances.

Starting pitcher “Kewpie” Dick Barrett batted ninth. Barrett pretty much coasted through this game. He went the distance and gave up two runs on seven hits. Barrett had also stymied the Dodgers on Opening Day 1944, a 4-1 Phillies victory at Shibe Park. The rest of the ’45 season wasn’t as easy as this one for Barrett; he finished the season with an 8-20 won-lost record (his 20 losses led the National League) and a 5.38 ERA. Barrett led the league with eight wild pitches in 1945, which was his last big-league season.

The weak-hitting Phils team battered Dodgers starting pitcher Ben Chapman for five runs on four hits and three walks in the top of the fourth. (In 1945 the Phillies ranked last in the league in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, and hits, and tied for last in home runs and seventh in runs scored, and on-base percentage. The inning began with a walk to Monteagudo. After Wasdell popped out to the catcher, DiMaggio smashed Chapman’s first offering to the right-field fence for a double, sending Monteagudo to third. With two outs, Chapman intentionally walked Mancuso. Granny Hamner then drove Chapman’s first pitch to right-center, scoring Monteagudo and DiMaggio and sending Mancuso to second. Chapman walked Barrett to load the bases. Bitsy Mott grounded an offering from Chapman to second base. Durocher went to his left and fielded the grounder, but couldn’t throw Mott out, and Mancuso scored. Dinges then drove a 3-and-0 pitch from Chapman to left field for a double, scoring Hamner and Barrett and giving the Phils a commanding 5-0 lead.

For the Dodgers, three-time All-Star Augie Galan was at first base. Galan was a switch-hitter for most of his career but became solely a left-handed hitter in 1943. Durocher started the game at second. Mike Sandlock was the shortstop. Sandlock eventually moved to catcher and spent the remainder of his career mostly behind the plate. Bill Hart manned third for the Dodgers. Morrie Aderholt patrolled left field. Aderholt played a few games at third in the minors; Branch Rickey described him as the “world’s worst third baseman … but he’s a natural batsman,”4 thus the move to the outfield. Speedy center fielder Luis Olmo led the National League with 13 triples in 1945. Dixie Walker, the 1944 NL batting champ, was the right fielder.

Chapman got into more trouble in the fifth as he gave up a leadoff single to Wasdell, walked DiMaggio and yielded a single to Garvin Hamner. With the bases loaded and no outs, a Chapman pitch got by catcher Mickey Owen for a passed ball, allowing Wasdell to score. 6-0 Phillies.

Chapman broke in with the Yankees in 1930 at second base and third. Playing only 91 games at third, he led all AL third basemen with 24 errors. With the acquisition of Joe Sewell, the Yankees moved Chapman to the outfield, where he shined. Chapman was a four time All-Star outfielder in the 1930s. He led the league in stolen bases four times and led the league with 13 triples in 1934. He was also a racist. In New York he greeted Jewish fans at Yankee Stadium with Nazi salutes. With the emergence of rookie Joe DiMaggio in 1936, Chapman was traded in midseason to the Washington Senators. After 12 seasons as a position player, it appeared Chapman’s major-league career was finished after he hit only .226 with the Chicago White Sox in 1941.

However, after two seasons as a minor-league manager highlighted by a season-long suspension in 1943 for punching out an umpire, Chapman returned to the major leagues in 1944, as a pitcher with the Dodgers. He pitched decently in ’44, posting a 5-3 record with a 3.40 earned-run average and six complete games of the nine he started. His 1945 campaign was less successful; this performance was typical. Overall, Chapman had a 3-3 record and a 5.53 ERA. In 53⅔ innings pitched, he Chapman surrendered 33 earned runs on 64 hits and 32 walks. On June 15, the Dodgers traded Chapman to the Phillies. On June 30, the Phillies named Chapman a player-manager, replacing beleaguered Fred Fitzsimmons who had led the Phillies to an 18-51 record. Chapman pitched seven innings in relief for the Phillies, giving up eight runs (six earned) on seven hits and six walks. He pitched another inning in relief in 1946 and became a full-time manager afterward. In 1947 Chapman’s racist behavior was on full display. His taunting of Jackie Robinson from the Phillies dugout was particularly vicious. It was so bad that National League President Ford Frick had to intervene and arranged for the famous photograph of Chapman and Robinson in Philadelphia.

With the Dodgers trailing 5-0 in the fifth inning, Durocher pulled himself out of the lineup. After Mike Sandlock struck out, Durocher had Frenchy Bordagaray pinch-hit for him. Bordagaray singled to left field. Durocher replaced Chapman with pinch-hitter Goody Rosen, who reached on a fielder’s-choice grounder to first. Luis Olmo knocked a double to right, scoring Rosen.

In the top of the sixth, Durocher sent Eddie Stanky in to finish the game at second base. Stanky had been was acquired from the Cubs midway through the 1944 season. He proved to be Durocher’s long-term solution at second base as he led the league in ’45 in runs scored (128) and bases on balls (148). Defensively, Stanky led all NL second basemen in putouts (429), and double plays turned (101). He also led NL second basemen with 34 errors.

Vic Lombardi relieved Chapman and was followed by rookie Otho Nitcholas. Each pitched two scoreless innings.

The Dodgers got another run in the bottom of the sixth when Dixie Walker hit a single to left-center field and Bill Hart launched a triple to the center-field exit gate. As reporter Harold Burr commented in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “When you hit over the fleet DiMaggio’s head, you’re really tagging the ball.”5

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted these sources:

Back To Baseball, backtobaseball.com/gamesiteregularseason.php?IDindex=NY1194504200. Retrieved July 26, 2015

Burr, Harold C. “Dodgers Add a Dozen a Day,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 21, 1944: 8.

Golenbock, Peter. Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers (Chicago: Dover Baseball, 2010).

Harrison, Don. Connecticut Baseball, The Best of The Nutmeg State (Charleston, South Carolina: History Press, 2008).

Notes

After taking three out of four from the Braves, the Giants were looking forward to some home cooking against their crosstown rival Dodgers. The fireworks started early as the Giants erupted for three runs in the bottom of the first as they pummeled Brooklyn, 10-6, thanks in part to a pair of Phil “Mickey” Weintraub homers in the first and eighth innings.

The hometown heroes took the field, led by Weintraub at first base. At second base was George Hausmann who played all 154 games in 1945 and led all NL second basemen with 489 assists. Manning the hot corner was Nap Reyes who led the league in hit by pitches with eight. At shortstop was Buddy Kerr, who led the league in putouts and assists. In left field was Steve “Flip” Filipowicz, who was a running back for the New York Giants football team. Center fielder Johnny Rucker opened the 1945 season with an 18-game hitting streak, a Giants franchise record until Pablo Sandoval hit safely in the first 20 games of the 2012 season. Johnny’s uncle was Nap Rucker who pitched for Brooklyn from 1907-1916. Right field was patrolled by future Hall of Famer Mel Ott who was playing his last full season and who later this season became the first National League player to hit his 500th career home run. Ott hit .308, slugged 21 homers, and finished 13th in the NL MVP voting in ’45. After four seasons as a player/manager, Ott focused on managing the Giants and only played a combined 35 games in 1946 & 1947. Harry Feldman was the starting pitcher and his batterymate was another future Hall of Famer, Ernie “Schnozz” Lombardi. Even at the ripe old age of 37, Lombardi played more games at catcher (96) than anyone in the National League.2

Leading off for the visiting Dodgers was second-baseman Eddie “The Brat” Stanky. Stanky’s father-in-law was former infielder Milt Stock, who had also been Stanky’s manager at the Class-B Macon Peaches. Shortly after Stanky married his daughter, Stock traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers.3 Hitting second and playing first base was three-time All-Star Augie Galan. Galan had led the league in walks in ’43 and ’44. “The People’s Cherce” — right-fielder Dixie Walker — batted third. Walker was the NL batting champ in 1944. Morrie Aderholt was the cleanup hitter and played left field. Center-fielder Luis Olmo batted fifth and led the NL with 13 triples in ’45. Bill Hart played third base and batted sixth. Four-time All-Star catcher Mickey Owen batted seventh. As sure-handed a catcher as any, Owen has the misfortune of being remembered mostly for dropping Tommy Henrich’s third strike, the potential game-ending out in Game Four of the 1941 World Series. The Yankees won that game and took a commanding 3-1 Series lead. Playing shortstop and batting eighth was Mike Sandlock, nicknamed “The Commuter” by broadcaster Red Barber, as Sandlock would often meet up with Barber for a beer at Grand Central Station after Dodger home games.4

In the bottom of the first inning, George Hausmann drew a one-out walk off of Dodgers starter Tom Seats. While Seats only pitched 121 innings in 1945, he managed to hit five batters that year, tying him for ninth place in the National League. Hausmann advanced to third on Mel Ott’s single. Steve Filipowicz then grounded into what could have been an inning-ending double play as Dodger second baseman Eddie Stanky flipped the ball to shortstop Mike Sandlock who was covering second. While Ott was forced out at second, Sandlock lost a few seconds trying to tap on the base and wasn’t able to get Filipowicz out on the throw to first,5 allowing Hausmann to score the first run of the game. Weintraub then drilled Seats’ offering over the center-field fence giving the Giants an early 3-0 lead.

Sandlock made things interesting again in the top of the second. With two outs and a runner on first, Sandlock sent an offering from Giants starter Harry Feldman over the fence narrowing the Giants lead to only one run. It was the first of Sandlock’s two career home runs. Ironically, Sandlock would connect again later this season off of Feldman on September 19, that time at Ebbets Field. Feldman, unable to serve in the Army due to a lung condition, was a productive pitcher for the Giants during the war years posting a 35-32 record (35-35 lifetime). In 1941, Feldman and catcher Harry Danning formed the first Jewish battery in the major leagues.6 At the start of the 1946 season, Feldman and Giants teammate Ace Adams accepted more lucrative offers to pitch for the Mexican League. This resulted in a five-year ban for both Feldman and Adams from major-league baseball. After pitching for only one season (1946) with the Veracruz Azules of the Mexican League, Feldman emerged in 1949 with the Sherbrooke Athletics of the independent Quebec Provincial Baseball League. After two seasons with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, Feldman retired from baseball in 1951 and opened a record store in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Feldman suffered a heart attack in 1962 and died at the age of 42.7

In the top of the third, following a leadoff walk by Stanky and a single by Augie Galan, Dixie Walker roped a double, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. That lead was short-lived as in the bottom of the third, Seats hit Ott with an errant pitch, gave up a single to Filipowicz and walked Weintraub. With the bases loaded and no outs, Clyde King was brought in to relieve Seats. King wasn’t able to get out of the jam Seats created as Ernie Lombardi’s ground ball single scored both Ott and Filipowicz and sent Weintraub to third, giving the Giants a 5-4 lead.  Weintraub scored on Buddy Kerr’s flyout to center field extending the Giants lead to 6-4.

Stanky’s solo shot in the top of the sixth brought the Dodgers within a run. Feldman helped his own cause in the bottom of the sixth with a solo shot of his own keeping the Dodgers down by two. Feldman then gave a run back in the top of the seventh as he surrendered singles to Morrie Aderholt and Luis Olmo. Bill Hart’s sacrifice bunt advanced Aderholt and Olmo and Aderholt scored on Mickey Owen’s groundout. In the bottom of the seventh, King gave up singles to Lombardi, Nap Reyes, and Rucker giving the Giants an 8-6 lead.

Making his big-league debut, Ray Hathaway relived King in the bottom of the eighth. With one out and Filipowicz on first, Weintraub gave the Polo Grounds fans another souvenir with his second home run of the game and secured the 10-6 victory.

After the game, Dodgers manager Leo Durocher was still fuming over the double play that wasn’t in the first inning. “That play just about cost us the ballgame,” Durocher explained to Brooklyn Daily Eagle sportswriter Harold Conrad. “If he makes it, the Giants get no runs instead of three.”8

Things were just as interesting prior to the game as well. New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Fans were entertained by music provided by the 17th Regiment Band of the New York State National Guard.9

A group African-Americans identified as the League for Sports Equality picketed outside of the Polo Grounds protesting the exclusion of African Americans from major-league baseball.10 Within seven months, Jackie Robinson signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. On April 15, 1947, less than two years after protests outside of this game, Robinson made his debut with the Dodgers.

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the notes, the author also consulted Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference.com, and the following:

Back To Baseball. (n.d.). Retrieved July 16, 2015, from http://www.backtobaseball.com/gamesiteregularseason.php?IDindex=NY1194504200

Harrison, D. Connecticut Baseball, The Best of The Nutmeg State Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2008).

Notes

In the Saturday night finale to a four-game series between the Dodgers and Cardinals at Sportsman’s Park, Brooklyn was looking to salvage at least one game from St. Louis before moving on to Chicago for a Sunday doubleheader against the Cubs. To allow the Dodgers to get a modicum of rest and catch a midnight train to the Windy City, it was agreed that no inning would commence after 11:00 P.M.1

Manager Leo Durocher handed the ball to rookie right-hander LeRoy Pfund (1-0), whose first win had come earlier in the month. The devoutly religious youngster, who had it written into his contract that he would not pitch on the Sabbath, had his start moved up one day and was available for the Saturday night assignment. Durocher had threatened wholesale lineup changes to put some life into his team,2 but his only changes were to insert Frenchy Bordagaray at third base in place of Bill Hart, and Stan Andrews behind the plate in place of Mickey Owen.

An announced crowd of 10,784 was in attendance, but owing to a large contingent of servicemen in attendance, the paid figure was 7,600.3

Brooklyn struck early and often en route to an 11-2 win that ended the six-game slide and broke a second-place tie with the Cardinals. The Dodgers barrage included 16 hits, five for extra bases. The Cardinals needed eight hits to score their two runs and never mounted a serious threat.

In the top of the first inning, the Dodgers put up four runs and never looked back. Second baseman Eddie Stanky led off the game with a fly ball that was mishandled by Cardinals left fielder Dave Bartosch. New York Times sportswriter Roscoe McGowen, in the next day’s edition, recounted what happened next: “Goody (Rosen, the Dodger center fielder) whacked his third homer (of the season) into the deep right-center field bleachers and Augie Galan followed immediately with his No. 4 – a prodigious belt into the tower high atop the right-field pavilion.”4

The Dodgers were ahead 3-0 before an out had been registered by St. Louis starter Ted Wilks, who had entered the game with a 2-3 record. Wilks retired Dixie Walker and Luis Olmo but Brooklyn was back in business when Bordagaray singled, stole second, and went to third as the catcher’s throw went into center field. Mike Sandlock’s infield single, the first of his three hits in the game, scored Bordagaray and prompted a pitching change. Blix Donnelly entered the contest and Sandlock quickly stole second base. With pitcher Pfund in the on-deck circle, the Cardinals elected to give an intentional walk to Stan Andrews, and Donnelly retired Pfund on a fly ball to center field. Sandlock’s three hits increased his batting average to .367.

Pfund retired the first 10 Cardinals batters he faced, striking out two, and the Dodgers took a 4-0 lead into the fourth inning. A walk to Stanky, a double by Rosen (his second extra-base hit of the game), and a walk to Walker loaded the bases for Luis Olmo, the Dodgers’ left fielder. Olmo cleared the bases with his second grand slam of the season.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Cardinals reached Pfund for a pair of singles, but the runners, Debs Garms and Buster Adams, were left stranded as Brooklyn took an 8-0 lead to the bottom of the fourth and found another pitcher to victimize.

Harry Brecheen took over the pitching for the Cardinals in the top of the fifth inning and Andrews greeted him with his only career triple in 149 at-bats. Pitcher Pfund was up next and helped his own cause (as if help were needed) with a single that plated Andrews. It was the first of four RBIs in his first and only major league season. When Pfund tried to stretch his hit into a double, he was gunned down by Cardinals right fielder Debs Garms. Pfund returned to the mound in the bottom of the inning and worked his way out of trouble after surrendering singles to Del Rice and Emil Verban, striking out the last two batters he faced in the stanza.

Pfund lost his shutout in the sixth inning. Garms and Adams singled and Garms scored on a fly ball off the bat of Whitey Kurowski. The Dodgers got the run back in the seventh inning when Walker singled in Stanky, who had opened the inning with a walk. There was no further scoring until Adams solved Pfund in the bottom of the eighth inning. As McGowen noted, “Adams came up with two out in the eighth and exploded his sixth homer of the year among the left-field spectators, but that was all.”5

The Dodgers concluded the scoring in the ninth inning. Stanky walked for the third time in six plate appearances and came around to score his fourth run of the game, and his team’s 11th, on a fly ball by Walker.

After a leadoff single by Del Rice leading off the Cardinals’ ninth, Pfund retired the next three batters, striking out pinch-hitter Johnny Hopp for the final out of the game. He was credited with his second win of the season. This would be his only season in the majors. His record for the season was 3-2 with an ERA of 5.20.

The game was over in 2 hours and 14 minutes, and the Dodgers made their train to Chicago. En route, at 1:00 AM, they munched on the after-game meal.6

During the four games in St. Louis, Dodgers Goody Rosen and Augie Galan feasted on Cardinals pitching. Rosen batted .625 with 10 hits to raise his season’s average to .366, and Galan’s eight hits raised his average for the season to .314.

The country was still at war, but the end was in sight. Eighteen days before the game, on May 8, 1945, hostilities had ended in Europe, and the war in the Pacific would end less than three months after the game. Some of those who participated in this game would not see significant action in the majors once the players returned from the war in 1946.

Only nine men played in the game for the Dodgers on May 26. Three would not be in the major leagues in 1946.

Frenchy Bordagaray, who in 1969 was one of 40 players immortalized in the “Van Lingle Mungo” song7, was in his last season. During his 11-year career (six seasons with the Dodgers), he batted .283.

Stan Andrews, who saw limited action behind the plate with the Dodgers, played his first of 21 games with Brooklyn on May 26 and was put on waivers in early August. He finished with the Philadelphia Phillies, and 1945 was his last major-league season.

Mike Sandlock, who went 3-for-5 in this game, would move behind the plate on July 5, as Eddie Basinski held down the position at shortstop pending the return of Pee Wee Reese. Sandlock would be sent to the minors after appearing in 19 of the Dodgers’ first 70 games in the 1946 season and play in the minors through 1952. He returned to the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1953 to catch Johnny Lindell’s knuckleball.

For the Cardinals, 1945 was the last hurrah for four players who were in the game on May 26.

Dave Bartosch, whose first-inning error led to the first Dodgers run, played in the major leagues only in 1945. However, he was a presence in the Cardinals organization for many seasons, and was an area scout as late as 1979. He continued as a scout with the Cubs and later the Padres, with whom he scouted through 1992.8

Debs Garms, who scored the first Cardinals run, was in the last year of his 12 major-league seasons. He had a .293 career batting average.

George Fallon, who started the game at shortstop and went 0-for-1 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter, played all but four of his 133 career major league games during the war years.

Augie Bergamo, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Fallon, played only in 1944 and 1945, and had a composite batting average of .304 for the two seasons. In 1969 he was one of the players mentioned in “Van Lingle Mungo.” In addition to him and Bordagary, Harry Brecheen and Augie Galan were also mentionned in the song.

After the game on May 26 the Dodgers were in second place, 6½ behind the league-leading Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals were in third, a game behind Brooklyn. The next season the two teams would battle it down to the wire as the Cardinals won the pennant and went on to win their sixth World Series. The Dodgers would have to wait for 1947 to return to the World Series for the first time since 1941.

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto

Sources

In addition to those sources cited in the endnotes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

As much of a grind as the Dodgers were going through, their next series was a five-game set in three days against the Reds at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. While five games in three days are pretty demanding, the Reds were a pretty sorry team in 1945. They had just finished a stretch dating back to August 1 where they lost 31 out of 41 games and had fallen 30 games out of first place. If not for the hapless Phillies, the Reds would have been the cellar dwellers. This gave the Dodgers hope that a potential five-game sweep in Cincy would put the third-place Dodgers in a great position to take on the Cards and Cubs the upcoming week, the two teams in front of the Brooks in the standings.

The series began with a Sunday twin bill. Game one featured a matchup between Dodgers youngster Ralph Branca and veteran hurler Vern Kennedy for the Reds. The Dodgers were familiar with Kennedy having faced him several times as a reliever for the Phillies, including their Opening Day victory at Ebbets Field. The Bums had some success against Kennedy as a reliever, plating a run in each of his appearances. However, Kennedy started an August 8 outing for the Reds at Ebbets Field and was the tough luck loser of a 1-0 complete game.

The Dodgers wasted no time scoring on Kennedy in the top of the first thanks to a leadoff walk to Eddie Stanky and a Goody Rosen single. Augie Galan’s flyout to center field preceded walks to Dixie Walker and Big Ed Stevens scoring Stanky and giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. With the bases full and one out, Luis Olmo grounded into a 6-4-3 double play ending the Dodgers rally and getting Kennedy out of a dicey situation.

The Reds struck back in the bottom of the third when Branca walked Reds pitcher Vern Kennedy with one out. He then walked Dain Clay and Steve Mesner to load the bases. Rookie right fielder Al Libke’s fly ball scored Kennedy and advanced Clay and Mesner. With first base open and two outs, Branca wisely walked the Reds’ most dangerous hitter, Frank McCormick, and struck out Hank Sauer to end the Reds threat.

The Dodgers threatened in the top of the fourth when Mike Sandlock hit a one-out double and moved to third thanks to a Branca sacrifice bunt. Unfortunately Stanky’s popout to second left Sandlock stranded at third.

The Dodgers broke through in the fifth when Rosen reached thanks to Frank McCormick’s miscue at first base. Galan’s double put runners on second and third with no outs. After Walker popped out to second, a walk to Stevens brought Olmo to the plate again with the bases loaded and one out. Unlike the first inning, Olmo hit a bases-clearing double and gave the Dodgers a 4-1 lead. After stealing third base, Olmo scored off of a Tommy Brown single. Sandlock’s single kept the rally alive for the Brooks. However, Kennedy struck out Branca and induced a fly ball to center field off of Stanky’s bat that landed harmlessly in Clay’s mitt minimizing the damage done. Kennedy’s line was complete. He surrendered five runs (all earned) on nine hits and four walks. The Dodgers had at least one base runner in every inning Kennedy pitched.

Branca on the other hand cruised, retiring 13 consecutive Reds hitters since his intentional pass to Frank McCormick in the third inning, and 16 out of 17 entering the bottom of the ninth. Through eight innings, Branca struck out 10, surrendering only one hit.

Things went haywire in the ninth when Branca walked the first two batters (McCormick and Sauer) and launched a wild pitch putting runners on second and third with no outs. Eddie Miller’s first hit of the game was a double to left scoring both McCormick and Sauer and narrowing the Reds deficit to 5-3. Branca retired the next two batters before giving up walks to Eric Tipton (pinch hitting for relief pitcher Earl Harrist) and Clay loading the bases again. Dodgers manager Leo Durocher had seen enough and pulled Branca for 15-game winner Hal Gregg. This was a curious move by the Lip as he pulled Branca for his wildness and replaced him with a pitcher who led the NL in walks (he had 137 in 1944 and would go on to lead with 120 in 1945) as well as wild pitches, hit batsmen, and earned runs allowed in ’44. Steve Mesner, whose first-inning double was the only hit Branca allowed prior to the ninth inning, promptly greeted Gregg with a line drive to right field scoring Miller and Tipton knotting the game at five. Tommy Brown took Dixie Walker’s relay throw and nailed Clay at the plate keeping the game tied.

The Dodgers looked to rally in the top of the tenth when Eddie Miller booted a Mike Sandlock grounder to short. It was the fourth time Sandlock reached base in his five plate appearances. Gregg’s sacrifice bunt send Sandlock to second with one out. Stanky’s 4-3 groundout sent Sandlock to third with two outs. Galan’s popout to catcher Al Lakeman left Sandlock stranded at third.

Al Libke led off the tenth with a single and moved to second thanks to a sacrifice bunt by Reds slugger Frank McCormick. After Sauer flew out, Lakeman smacked a double to right field and the Reds walked off with an improbable win against the Dodgers.

Mike Sandlock shined both behind the plate and at bat in the game. He owned the Reds hurlers, with a double, and two singles while driving the ball in all five of his at-bats and reaching safely four times. He tagged out Dain Clay in the bottom of the ninth for the third out on Tommy Brown’s relay, briefly preserving a tie and forcing extra innings. Sandlock was deft behind the plate for all 10 innings, especially so when handling the effectively wild Branca, who struck out 10 and walked nine in 8 2/3 innings.

Game two was similar to game one in that the Dodgers attacked the Reds starting pitcher early and built a four-run lead. Al Lakeman caught both games of the doubleheader and was the offensive hero in game two as well. His homer in the bottom of the fifth broke a 4-4 tie. Lakeman led off the bottom of the eight with a double and scored an insurance run thanks to Kermit Wahl’s single giving the Reds a 6-4 lead that would hold.

The Dodgers remained mired in third place behind the Cubs and Cardinals, dropping to 9½ games behind with 21 games left in the schedule. They would drop three out of five to the Reds. After taking two out of three games from the Cards in St. Louis, the Bums would drop three out of four to the front running Cubs in Wrigley. A grueling stretch of 16 games in 13 days on the road was too much for the Dodgers to overcome.

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto.

Sources

In addition to baseballalmanac.com, baseball-reference.com. Retrosheet,org, and SABR’s BioProject, the author also consulted:

Back To Baseball. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2015, from http://www.backtobaseball.com/playballregularseason.php?page=0&IDindex=CIN194509091

Burr, H. C. “Crosley Field Still Plagues Dodgers; Need A-1 Hurling to Stay in Grind,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 10, 1945: 11.

Burr, H. C. “Pirates Nose Out Dodgers, 6-5 on Coscarart’s Hit in the 12th,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 9, 1945:16.

Golenbock, Peter. Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1984).

Ebbets Field was the venue on this September afternoon and the number of onlookers was small. Total attendance was 10,146. The 5,909 paying patrons were joined by 2,874 servicemen and 1,363 women for the Wednesday afternoon Ladies Day promotion.

The Dodgers sent Vic Lombardi to the mound. The 22-year-old-rookie had a 9-11 record, including three wins against the Giants, and proceeded to retire the first six batters he faced. In the bottom of the second inning, Giant starting pitcher Harry Feldman (12-13) was solved by the first three batters he faced. First baseman Ed Stevens opened the frame with a broken-bat single. He advanced to third base on a single by Stan “Frenchy” Bordagaray. That brought up converted catcher Mike Sandlock. Sandlock, who had homered off Feldman at the Polo Grounds earlier in the season, got his second homer of the year and the score was 3-0 in favor of the Dodgers. Two batters later, after a single by Lombardi, Giant manager Ott removed Feldman and summoned on Bill Voiselle who stopped the bleeding for the time being.

Things quieted down after that. Lombardi kept the Giants scoreless, scattering seven hits through the first six innings. Manager Ott, looking to get back into the game, removed Voiselle for pinch-hitter Clyde Kluttz in the fifth inning, and Kluttz became Lombardi’s fourth strikeout victim. Adrian Zabala took over the mound chores for the Giants and set down the Dodgers in the fifth and sixth innings without further damage.

In the top of the seventh inning, the 5’ 7” Lombardi showed that he could be reached, and the Giants mounted a threat. Buddy Kerr opened the inning with a single. It was his third infield hit in as many at-bats. Napoleon Reyes kept the rally going with another single. With runners on first and second, manager Ott called upon another pinch hitter. This time, Billy Jurges, batting for pitcher Zabala, walked to load the bases. The Dodgers seemed to have a chance to get their first out when Giants center fielder Leon “Red” Treadway sent a ground ball toward Dodger second baseman Eddie Stanky. Stanky could not handle the ball, the lead runner scored, and the bags remained loaded. George Hausmann walked to bring in the Giants’ second tally and Dodger manager Durocher signaled to the bullpen.

Cy Buker came on in relief, but was unable to protect the one run lead, although the blame was not entirely his. Manager Ott inserted himself into the game as a pinch hitter and popped out for the first out of the inning. Danny Gardella grounded to shortstop, but the Dodgers were unable to complete the double play. The score was tied at three apiece. That brought up the hard hitting, slow footed Ernie Lombardi. The Dodger infielders were stationed on the outfield grass and Lombardi’s ground ball went to Dodger shortstop Eddie Basinski. Basinski fumbled the ball, and the Giants took the lead, 4-3 on their third unearned run of the game. By the time Buker struck out Roy Zimmerman to end the inning, the damage had been done.

The Giants trusted their lead to Ace Adams, their fourth hurler of the game. He was making his 63rd appearance of the season, but this time, the trust of the Giants in their top reliever was ill-placed. Dodger center fielder Goody Rosen led off the bottom of the seventh with his 11th home run of the season, tying the score. Singles by Augie Galan and Ed Stevens chased Adams. There was but one out when Jack Brewer took over the mound chores. Brooklyn then tried a double steal, but Galan was thrown out at third as Stevens advanced to second. With two out Bordagaray stepped to the plate and drove Stevens home with a sharp single to right field. Sandlock who had given the Dodgers their early lead hit a long single to center field and Bordagaray tried to score from first. As Harold Burr mentioned in the next day’s edition of the Brooklyn Eagle, “When he tried to score all the way from first, he found the ball and Lombardi waiting for him. Having Big Ernie waiting for you is, in itself, a frightening sight, and Frenchy was out by a city block.”1

There was no further scoring and Buker went back to the mound to shut down the Giants in their final two at-bats to secure the win for the Dodgers. It moved his record to 7-2. Adams took the loss for the Giants, and saw his record go to 11-9.

The final inning was not without entertainment value as Giant manager Ott took exception to an umpire’s call and spent 10 minutes making his case to anyone who would listen. Ott had used his fourth pinch-hitter of the game, Mike Schemer, to lead off the ninth inning. Schemer batted for Brewer, the fifth Giant hurler of the afternoon. He popped out to shortstop Basinski. Eddie in transferring the ball from his glove to his throwing hand had dropped the ball. As Louis Effrat noted in the next day’s New York Times, “Lou Jorda, umpiring at third, signaled that Schemer was out, but George Magerkurth, from behind the plate, indicated the runner was safe.”2 The ruling was that the batter was out, and Ott was not about to change anybody’s mind. Watching on from the Dodgers’ dugout, manager Durocher was a spectator as the normally mild-manner Ott put on a presentation on a par with a typical Durocher encounter with the men in blue.

For catcher Mike Sandlock, his three RBIs were his best for a season in which he had only 17 for the entire campaign. Both figures were career highs. His first inning home run was the last of his two major league homers. The following season, he appeared in only 19 of the Dodgers’ first 70 games before being sent to Triple-A Montreal in July. He would spend seven more seasons in the minors before returning to the big leagues for his last hurrah in 1953 with the Pittsburgh pirates.

Dodger second baseman Stanky had three walks in the game to bring him within 13 of the all-time league record. By season’s end, he set a new mark with a league leading 148 bases on balls. He also led the league in plate appearances and runs scored.

Goody Rosen, whose game tying homer was his 11th of the season, finished the afternoon in third place in the National League batting race with a .329 average. He went on to compile a team leading .325 batting average with 12 homers and 75 RBIs. In the balloting for the National League MVP, he finished in tenth place. His 12 homers were tops for the Dodgers as were his 197 hits. 1945 proved to be his best season. The following year, he was sold to the Giants in late April and, at age 33, batted .281 in 100 games for New York in his last major league season.

Ace Adams, who was charged with his ninth loss of the season, against 11 wins, went on to record 15 saves (based on 2015 statistical metrics) and lead the National League in that category. 1945 was his last meaningful season in the major leagues. The following year, he appeared in three April games, pitched 2.2 innings and had an ERA of 16.88. He was released, and a career that had begun in 1934 in the Class D Evangeline League, was over.

Managers Ott and Durocher, in the last year of World War II were both player-mangers. Ott, at age 36, was in his 20th major league season. In 1945, he had his last productive season at the plate, batting .308 and hitting 21 homers. He hit 511 homers during the course of his career and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1951. Durocher, whose career had begun with the Yankees in the 1920s was pressed into action for two games in 1945. He managed in five decades, won 2,008 games as a manager, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto.

Sources

In addition to those sources cited in the end notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

It was a cold and windy day and only a little over 3,100 fans came out for the second game of the season.1 This one matched up right-hander Russ Meyer of the Dodgers against Johnny Lindell for Pittsburgh. It was the temperamental “Mad Monk” Meyer’s first year for the Dodgers; he’d been with the Phils since 1949 and the Cubs before that. He retired the Pirates 1-2-3 in the top of the first.

Lindell had pitched in 23 games (2-1) for the Yankees back in 1942, mostly as a reliever. After he hurt his pitching arm, manager Joe McCarthy began using him as an outfielder starting in 1943, but after the war he took up pitching again. In 1951 and 1952, Lindell pitched for the Hollywood Stars and in ’52 was 24-9 with a 2.52 ERA; the Stars won the Pacific Coast League title and Lindell was named league MVP. GM Branch Rickey bought his contract and brought him up to Pittsburgh in 1953. Hollywood manager Fred Haney was brought up to manage the Pirates.

Lindell was a little shaky in his first outing, his National League pitching debut, walking two in the first inning, seeing both runners advance on a grounder hit back to the mound, and then throwing a wild pitch to give Brooklyn an early 1-0 lead.

In the top of the third inning, catcher Mike Sandlock singled. He was forced at second on Dick Cole‘s grounder, but then the Pirates took the lead when Lindell homered into the left-field stands off Meyer. They were the only two runs that Pittsburgh scored in the game.

Lindell had a .273 career batting average and this was his 69th home run in the majors.

Carl Furillo of the Dodgers homered to lead off the bottom of the fourth, also to left, tying the score 2-2. There was no more scoring in the game until Brooklyn came up in the bottom of the eighth. Gil Hodges and Furillo both singled and advanced on Meyer’s sacrifice bunt, and then both scored on team captain Pee Wee Reese-‘s single right up the middle through a drawn-in infield and into center field.

Meyer shut down the Pirates in the ninth and won the game, 4-2. It was the first time SINCE 1947 Meyer had won in his first start; he’d been 0-5 over the prior five seasons.

Both Meyer and Lindell had gone the distance, and each gave up eight hits, with one of them a home run. Neither team had committed an error, though there had been the wild pitch and Sandlock was charged with two passed balls. Lindell had become primarily a knuckleball pitcher, the pitch always notoriously difficult to catch. And windy conditions never help a knuckleball.

Lindell had walked 10 Brooklyn batters to Meyer’s one, but only his walk to Junior Gilliam to start the game cost him a run. Lindell had struck out four, and been active as a fielder, too, with seven assists. Among his teammates, only Sandlock, with three hits, had more than one hit.

For the Dodgers, Carl Furillo had a 3-for-4 day, with the one run batted in, on his homer.

Aside from Lindell’s own homer, the Pirates’ star on offense had been Sandlock, who had a 3-for-3 day, all singles. His third-inning hit had caromed off Meyer’s leg, a “savage liner off his right shin,”2 but the Brooklyn pitcher stayed in the game.

Haney had Catfish Metkovich pinch-hit for Sandlock in the ninth, “figuring the percentages were against Sandlock delivering a fourth safety,”3 but Metkovich struck out swinging. Joe Garagiola pinch-hit for Cole and grounded out unassisted to first base, ending the game.

Lindell credited his catcher for helping him get back to the majors. While on his way to Havana to join the Pirates for spring training, Lindell said of Sandlock, who like him was 36 years old at the time: “Sandlock was my catcher in Hollywood. He helped me greatly. It was he who nursed me along, gave me encouragement and acted as my tutor and counsellor. My luckiest break, next to coming back to the big leagues, was when Haney and Sandlock were brought up to the Pirates with me.”4

Dodgers manager Charlie Dressen was pleased to see another win on the books. Not on the basis of the first two games, which were at least competitive, Joseph Sheehan of the New York Times was already calling the Pirates “the predestined cellar tenants.”5 In fact, he proved right, though they won eight more games than the year before, finishing 50-104. Before being sold to the Phillies at the end of August in 1953, Lindell was 5-16 (4.71 ERA) with Pittsburgh. He retired at the end of 1953 after going 1-1 (4.24 ERA) in September with the Phillies. 

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto.

Notes

The Buccaneers and Reds met in the presence of 2,054 paid attendees on August 6, 1953 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati for a game that had no pennant implications. 

The last-place Pirates, which had lost impressive rookie Dick Groat to the military and Ralph Kiner in a trade, were rebuilding the team under Branch Rickey. The Bucs had won only 36 of 111 games to this point.

The 1953 Reds were a second division team with the home run pop of outfielders Gus Bell (30), Jim Greengrass (20), and the first baseman, Ted Kluszewski (40). Coincidentally Reds pitching yielded a lot of home runs in 1953: 179, the most in the National League. Home runs allowed by Reds pitching played a major role in the outcome on this day.

The Reds’ Ken Raffensberger and Pirates’ Johnny Lindell faced each other in the starting pitcher roles.

Lindell was the former Yankee outfielder who tried to come back as a knuckleballer at age 36 and had come from Hollywood in the PCL with Mike Sandlock to join the Pirates in 1953. According to STATS Perform, this was the last game in the 20th century where a starting pitcher hit fifth in the lineup.

Raffensberger was a 35-year-old lefty from York, Pennsylvania and was in his 14th season in the big leagues. He was coming off a 17-win season in 1952. He led the NL in shutouts twice. He frequently ended up on the losing end of a decision; he had the reputation of being one of the unluckiest hurlers in history when it came to run support. Meager run support would haunt him in this game as well.

In the top of the first inning, Raffensberger nearly gave the Pirates all that they would need in this game when he surrendered two runs. He threw Carlos Bernier out at first on a ground ball and then yielded back-to-back home runs to Danny O’Connell and Hal Rice. Two fly ball outs followed and it was 2-0 Bucs after a half-inning of play.

In the bottom half of the first inning, Lindell pitched much better than Raffensberger. Johnny retired Rocky Bridges, Bobby Adams, and Gus Bell on a ground balland two flies. Lindell, who was capable of striking out 10 or walking eight with his knuckler, found his groove early in this game. He retired the first nine Reds he faced, striking out four of them.

After Lindell mowed down the Redlegs through three innings, Raffensberger responded in the second, third, and fourth innings by sending nine consecutive Buc batters back to their dugout, seven of them on infield ground balls.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Lindell finally allowed a base runner. Rocky Bridges singled to right field and advanced to second on an error by second baseman Eddie Pellagrini. A base on balls for Bobby Adams made it two ducks on the pond. Then Gus Bell attempted a sacrifice bunt, missed the ball, and Bridges and Adams were safe at second and third on a double steal. Bell then stroked a grounder up the middle for a single into center, driving in Bridges. Although Lindell walked the next man to load the bases with no outs, he struck out Greengrass and popped out both Willard Marshall and Andy Seminick to end the threat. Bucs 2, Reds 1 at the end of four.

The game remained tight through the middle of the seventh inning as neither team could rally. Lindell used his flutter ball to retire six straight and Raffensberger scattered three hits over the fifth, sixth, and seventh. The score remained 2-1 in favor of Pittsburgh through 6 1/2 innings.

The Reds scratched out a run in the bottom of the seventh. Lindell yielded a single to Greengrass and a double to Marshall. The left-hander struck out Seminick looking but the next batter, Roy McMillan, drove in Greengrass with a fly ball to right field. Another fly ball got Lindell out of the inning but the score was now 2-2 heading into the eighth inning. A dramatic ending was ahead.

Raffsenberger had pitched seven very competent innings but Reds manager Rogers Hornsby had sent up a pinch hitter for him in the seventh. Hornsby sent in relief pitcher Clyde King to face the Pirates number nine hitter, Mike Sandlock, to lead off the eighth. The 37-year-old catcher was batting .208 at the time. The old backstop greeted King by stroking his pitch into the right-field corner for a double. Old Sandbags was safe at third on the next play when the third baseman Adams dropped a throw from the shortstop McMillan on an O’Connell bouncer. Hal Rice then lifted a short fly to Gus Bell in center and the poor throw from Bell reached home on three hops, Sandlock sliding home with the tie-breaking run.

A bang-bang double play stopped the Reds from tying the game at three in the bottom of the eighth inning. Lindell first retired Bridges and then walked Adams and Bell. Pirate manager Fred Haney pulled Lindell, sending in Paul LaPalme to snuff the rally. LaPalme promptly loaded the bases by walking Kluszewski.

With the bases loaded, one out, and Bobby Adams at third, Jim Greengrass lifted a fly to Carlos Bernier in right field. Bernier fired his throw to the plate. Sandlock caught it on one bounce and tagged out the sliding Adams. It was an inning-ending double play. The score was Pirates 3, Reds 2 after eight innings completed.

Sandlock played a pivotal role in the next inning, too. Rajah sent King back out for the ninth and the big righty from Goldsboro, NC soon had two Bucs on with two out. Old Sandbags punched the ball into right field for a single, scoring Paul Smith and making it Bucs 4, Reds 2.

Sandlock’s RBI in the ninth turned out to be the game-winner. LaPalme, back on the mound for the ninth, allowed a run on a walk, a single, and an error by the second baseman, Pellagrini.

With the score 4-3, two outs in the ninth and the tying run at second, Bobby Adams lined a LaPalme pitch to left-center and Hal Rice made a fine running catch that was called “sensational” by Jack Hermon in the next day’s Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The game was over. Mike Sandlock had a memorable game and the Pirates won their third game in a row in the August dog days of a very poor Pirate campaign.

Sandlock’s skills at the receiver spot were tested this day by Lindell’s knuckleball but there is no doubt that he knew how to handle the flutterer. Old Sandbags was the starting catcher in all 23 of Lindell’s starts for the Bucs. They were inseparable on the field in 1953 until The Mahatma sold Johnny to the Phillies on August 31. They were paired in 1952 in Hollywood and might have been together in 1954 on the Phillies had Sandlock not been injured in a spring training collision.

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto.

Sources

The author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet,org, and the following sources:

African-American Registry. “Pittsburgh Pirates Integrate,” (www.aaregistry.org).

Amore, Dom. “He’s hitting 100: Mike Sandlock, MLB’s Oldest Player Has a Lifetime of Milestones,” Hartford Courant, October 4, 2015.

Erardi, John. “Reds Made Up for Being Slow to Integrate,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 13, 2011.

Hernon, Jack. “Bucs Strong Arm Reds For 3 In A Row,” Pittsburgh Post Gazette, August 7, 1953.

James, Bill. “The Turk Farrell Award, Part II,” www.billjamesonline.com, May 1, 2007.

Skipper, James J. Jr., Baseball Nicknames, A Dictionary of Origins and Meanings (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1992).

“MLB’s Black Pioneers,” www.foxsports.com/mlb/lists, February 1, 2013.

Branch Rickey became the Pirates general manager after the 1950 season, following historic tenures with the Cardinals and Dodgers. Rickey’s plan to rebuild the Pirates followed the same formula he had previously used in St. Louis and Brooklyn — to build the farm system and trade his star players for young talent.

The biggest star in Pittsburgh by far was slugger Ralph Kiner, who led the National League in home runs every year from 1946 through 1952. Kiner was one of the highest-paid players in the game, once boasting that “home run hitters drive Cadillacs and singles hitters drive Fords.”1 However, after the Pirates finished the 1952 season with a dreadful 42-112 record, Rickey cut Kiner’s pay even though Kiner led the league in homers. The Mahatma reasoned, “[W]e can finish last without you.”2

Rickey wanted to trade Kiner, but the Pirates ownership wouldn’t allow it since Kiner was their star attraction. As bad as the Pirates were, they managed to draw over a million fans every year, largely to see the slugging Kiner. However, attendance plummeted to 686,673 in 1952 and 572,757 in 1953. Rickey then had leverage to trade Kiner and on June 4 he sent the slugger to the Cubs along with Joe Garagiola, George Metkovich, and Howie Pollet in exchange for Bob Addis, Toby Atwell, George Freese, Gene Hermanski, Bob Schultz, Preston Ward, and $150,000.

The 1953 season was a losing one for the Giants as well. Unlike the Pirates, however, this was in the midst of a four-year stretch in which the Giants had three 90-plus-win seasons, won two National League pennants, and won one World Series title. But the Giants couldn’t recover from the loss of Willie Mays to military service and finished the 1953 season with 22 fewer wins than in 1952.

On September 27 the Pirates took the field in front of a crowd of 17,367, a pretty decent showing for a meaningless game between two teams with losing records. Forbes Field at the time had a capacity of 34,249. The Pirates had added 519 seats to the ballpark in 1953. After the ’53 season, the Pirates removed “Kiner’s Korner” in left field and restored the outfield to its previous dimensions: 365 feet in left field and 406 feet in left-center field, making it once again one of the most difficult stadiums in which to hit home runs, particularly for right-handed hitters.

The home team had Preston Ward at first base, part of the package the Bucs received from the Cubs for Ralph Kiner. Light-hitting Dick Hall was at second base. For the first three years of Hall’s career the Pirates struggled to find a position for him. In 1955 Hall began to pitch, and he flourished on the mound for 16 years, appearing in 495 games and compiling a respectable 3.32 earned-run average. Rookie reserve Dick Smith was at shortstop and slick-fielding Danny O’Connell was at third. O’Connell had the best range of all NL basemen in 1953.

Cal Hogue was the starting pitcher for the Bucs. Hogue struggled to find the strike zone during his brief three-year career in the big leagues as he walked 96 batters in 113⅔ innings. Hogue’s batterymate was Mike Sandlock, who had made his return to the majors after a six-year absence. This was the final big-league game for the shortstop-turned-catcher.

Patrolling the outfield from left to right were Hal Rice, the young slugger Frank Thomas, and Cal Abrams, whose 12 assists led all NL right fielders in 1953.

Leading off for the visiting Giants was Alvin Dark, who was not playing his usual position, shortstop, but was pitching — the only time he took the mound in the major leagues. Two-time All-Star Don Mueller batted second and played right field. Batting third and playing third base was Hank Thompson, who cracked 24 homers in 1953. Hitting cleanup was centerfielder Bobby Thomson, who led the Giants with 26 home runs. Playing left field and hitting fifth was Dusty Rhodes. First baseman Tookie Gilbert, 24, batted sixth and — like Pirates catcher Mike Sandlock — was also making what proved to be his final big-league appearance. Rounding out the lineup were second baseman Bobby Hofman, shortstop Daryl Spencer, and catcher Sam Calderone.

The Giants drew first blood in the top of the first when Dark reached on an error by Danny O’Connell and scored on a single by Bobby Thomson. In the bottom of the first, Dark gave up a one-out walk to O’Connell, then retired Hal Rice, whereupon slugger Frank Thomas cracked his 30th home run of the season to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead.

Rookie right-hander Ruben Gomez relieved Dark in the second inning and Dark moved to third base. Known as “El Divino Loco” (The Divine Madman) in his native Puerto Rico, Gomez became the first Puerto Rican to start a World Series game (Game Three of the 1954 World Series) and be on a World Series champion.

Gomez cruised through the next three innings until the fifth, when Mike Sandlock smacked a one-out single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Cal Hogue. A Dusty Rhodes miscue in left field allowed Sandlock to score an unearned run and gave the Pirates a 3-1 lead.

Cal Hogue couldn’t protect the lead, though, surrendering back-to-back solo home runs to Bobby Hofman and Daryl Spencer that tied the game at 3-3.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth the Pirates regained the lead on a solo shot by Cal Abrams. Once again Hogue coughed up a lead when he walked Wes Westrum (who had taken over at third base for Al Dark in the third inning) and wild-pitched Westrum to second. Dick Smith’s error put runners at the corners. Bobby Thomson’s single to left field scored Westrum and knotted the game again.

Al Corwin relieved Gomez in the bottom of the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Frank Thomas. This set the stage for Preston Ward. The first baseman smacked a Corwin offering into the Forbes Field bleachers, giving the Pirates their 50th win of the season.

This article originally appeared in “100: The 100 Year Journey of a Baseball Journeyman, Mike Sandlock” (SABR, 2016), edited by Karl Cicitto.

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author also consulted the following: 

MLB.com, Pittsburgh Pirates Year-by-Year Results. https://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/pit/history/year_by_year_results.jsp, retrieved September 2015.

O’Toole, A. Branch Rickey in Pittsburgh: Baseball’s Trailblazing General Manager for the Pirates, 1950-1955 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2000).

SABR Baseball Biography Project. https://sabr.org/bioproject.

“Giants Drop Final,” United Press, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 13.

Notes

1Mike Axisa, “Ralph Kiner’s Greatest Quotes,” February 6, 2014. Retrieved from CBS Sports: cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24433569/video-ralph-kiners-greatest-quotes. This quotation has also been attributed to Fritz Ostermueller and others.

2Warren Corbett, “Ralph Kiner,” SABR Biography Project. Retrieved from SABR: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b65aaec9.