April 16, 1946: Giants’ Mel Ott hits 511th and final career home run on Opening Day

Mel Ott began the 1946 season, the 21st of his career with the New York Giants, with 510 lifetime home runs, more than anyone else in National League history. He had led or tied for the NL lead in home runs six times, most recently in 1942, and hit 20 or more home runs 15 times. The left-handed hitter, noted for his unique batting stance, had passed Rogers Hornsby as NL’s career home-run leader on August 12, 1937, with his 299th round-tripper.1  

Ott turned 37 years old shortly before the 1946 season started. He was still productive, having led the Giants in home runs (21), RBIs (79), and OPS (.910) in 1945.

Since 1942 Ott had managed the Giants while also holding a full-time job in the lineup. He was looking to improve his team’s standing after having finished in fifth place the year before, with a roster manned by many replacement players during World War II. Despite second-division finishes in his last three seasons, Giants owner Horace Stoneham gave Ott a vote of confidence before the 1946 season by tearing up the contract that had one year remaining and giving him a new five-year deal.2

The 1946 season was marked by the return of ballplayers who had served in the military during World War II. The Giants’ Opening Day lineup when they hosted the Philadelphia Phillies on April 16 featured war returnees Willard Marshall, Sid Gordon, Babe Young, Mickey Witek, and Bill Rigney, in addition to Ott, Ernie Lombardi, and Buddy Kerr, who were holdovers from 1945. Johnny Mize was another war veteran who was expected to be the starter at first base. But he came down with intestinal flu the night before the game and missed the opener.3

Like the Giants, the Phillies were seeking to improve, except that they had even further to go. They had finished last in the league in 1945, a spot they had held in eight of the previous 10 seasons. Ben Chapman, who had taken over as manager in 1945 after Philadelphia won just 18 of its first 69 games,4 returned to the helm in 1946. His starting lineup included four returning servicemen, Danny Murtaugh, Jim Tabor, Ron Northey, and Rollie Hemsley.

The New York Daily News reported that 50,000 fans were expected to attend the afternoon game at the Polo Grounds on April 16. But the actual attendance was 33,693, including New York Governor and 1944 Republican presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey, who threw out the first pitch. With the war ended, the crowd included many servicemen and recently discharged veterans.5 Also in attendance was Ott’s 12-year-old daughter, Lyn, who had flown up from New Orleans for the game.6

Giants righty Bill Voiselle and Phillies lefty Oscar Judd drew the starting assignments. Voiselle was bidding for his third consecutive win in Opening Day starts.

The Giants wasted no time in getting to Judd. Witek walked after Rigney struck out to lead off the bottom of the first. Ott followed with a home run, the 511th of his career. His round-tripper was a looping fly ball that landed in the short right-field stands.7 Young followed with a single and the 38-year-old Lombardi cashed in two more scores with a home run that bounced off the upper-tier façade in right field.

The Giants had Judd’s number that day, as they put up two more runs in the second. After a walk to Voiselle and singles by Rigney and Witek, Ott hit a fly ball to left that scored Voiselle. Young singled for the second time, driving in Rigney for a 6-0 lead. Chapman yanked Judd, calling on righty Hugh Mulcahy to replace him. Mulcahy, an All-Star in 1940, had the distinction of being the first major leaguer to be called into the US Army in 1941, missing four seasons as a result.8

The Phillies reduced their deficit by two runs in the third inning when Murtaugh homered into the right-field lower stands with Skeeter Newsome on first.

In the third inning, Mulcahy loaded the bases on a hit batsman, a walk, and a single. He managed to get out of trouble by fielding Witek’s comebacker and turning it into an inning-ending double play.

The score remained 6-2 until the bottom of the seventh. With Art Lopatka having relieved Mulcahy,9 who left the game for a pinch-hitter in the top of the inning, Marshall led off with a single. Johnny Rucker, who had entered the game in the third inning after Gordon was hit by a pitch, added another Giants run with a triple. Rucker attempted to score on Voiselle’s groundball back to Lopatka but was thrown out at home.

With Voiselle still in the game in the top of the eighth, Johnny Wyrostek led off with a walk. After Tabor flied out, Northey hit a home run into the upper deck in right field. Ott took Voiselle out of the game after he walked the next batter and replaced him with Ace Adams, who retired the next two batters.10

The Giants scored once more in the eighth. With Young on third as the result of a walk and a single by Lombardi, Marshall hit a fly to right fielder Northey, who misplayed the ball for an error, allowing Young to score.

The Phillies mounted a threat in the ninth. Newsome beat out his third hit of the game and took second on an errant throw to first by shortstop Rigney. Lou Novikoff followed with a single that sent Newsome to third. John O’Neil, who made his major-league debut pinch-running for Novikoff, was picked off at first base, but Murtaugh and Wyrostek walked to load the bases. Ott went to the bullpen again, calling on Ken Trinkle, who had only 11 prior major-league games in 1943 to his credit. He retired Tabor and Northey to secure the Giants’ win, 8-4.

Voiselle gave up six hits and four walks in his third Opening Day win. A 21-game winner in 1944, he ended up posting a 9-15 record, which was in keeping with the Giants’ disastrous year. They finished last in the league, 36 games behind the pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies swapped positions in the standings with the Giants, as they finished the season in fifth place, their highest since 1932.

Ott’s home run was his fourth on an Opening Day, with the others occurring in 1931, 1936, and 1938.11

In the next day’s game, Ott dove for a fly ball and injured his knee.12 He ended up playing in only 31 games in 1946, which included 16 pinch-hit appearances. He was ineffective at the plate for the rest of the season, batting a paltry .074 overall. His appearances in 1947 were limited to four pinch-hit at-bats.

When Ott finished his career as a player after the 1947 season, only Babe Ruth (714) and Jimmie Foxx (534) had more career home runs. Chuck Klein (300) had the second-most NL career home runs. Ott managed the Giants until July 1948, when he was replaced by Leo Durocher.

Ott’s National League home-run record stood until Willie Mays – who debuted with the Giants in May 1951, less than four years after Ott’s final game with New York – hit his 512th career homer on May 4, 1966.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Troy Olszewski and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Mel Ott, Trading Card Database.

Sources

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

McCulley, Jim. “Giants Slug Phils, 8-4; Ott and Lombardi Homer,” New York Daily News, April 17, 1946: 54.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NY1/NY1194604160.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1946/B04160NY11946.htm

Notes

1 Hornsby hit his last NL career home run (298) on June 24, 1933, as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. He hit three more home runs with the American League’s St. Louis Browns and retired with a total of 301.

2 Alfred Martin, Mel Ott: The Gentle Giant (Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, 2003), 59.

3 John Drebinger, “Giants’ Fast Start Routs Phillies, 8-4,” New York Times, April 17, 1946: 34.

4 The ’45 Phillies were 28-57 under Chapman.

5 Dick Young, “Giants Open at PG; Flock, Yanks Away,” New York Daily News, April 16, 1946: 18C.

6 Drebinger.

7 Fred Stein, Mel Ott: The Little Giant of Baseball (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 1999), 157.

8 Art Morrow, “Giants Chase Judd in 2nd; Northey and Murtaugh Homer,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 17, 1946: 30.

9 Lopatka was making only his fifth major-league appearance and would pitch in only three more games in 1946, his last professional season.

10 Adams pitched in only two more games for the Giants in 1946. He and teammate Harry Feldman were among 22 major leaguers who were lured by higher salaries to play in the Mexican League.

11 At the time Ott hit his fourth Opening Day home run in 1946, Babe Ruth had six Opening Day homers while Gabby Hartnett and Chuck Klein had four. As of 2024, Frank Robinson had the most Opening Day games with at least one home run (8).

12 Stein.