August 31, 1948: Pirates break Forbes Field season attendance record in win over Giants

Seventh place in the eight-club National League in 1946 and 1947, the Pittsburgh Pirates challenged for the pennant in 1948. The team’s success – and left fielder Ralph Kiner’s league-best home-run stroke – pushed total home attendance toward 39-year-old Forbes Field’s all-time high with a month left in the season. On August 31, before a Tuesday-night crowd of more than 30,000, the Pirates surpassed their season attendance record and rallied for a 5-4 win over the New York Giants, moving them within two games of the first-place Brooklyn Dodgers.

Pittsburgh had finished at least 28 games under .500 in consecutive seasons and had gone without a pennant since 1927,1 but for 1948 the Pirates hired Billy Meyer, a successful minor-league manager piloting a big-league team for the first time,2 and revamped their lineup and league-worst pitching staff.3 They flirted with first place during May and June, slumped in July, then won 17 of 24 games from July 30 through August 27 to join a four-way scramble with the Dodgers, Boston Braves, and St. Louis Cardinals.4

A doubleheader sweep by the sixth-place Philadelphia Phillies on August 28 slowed the Pirates’ charge,5 but Pittsburgh bounced back by beating Boston three times in two days at Forbes Field.6 As play began on August 31, when the Pirates and fifth-place Giants opened their three-game series, the Braves were out of first for the first time since June 12. The reigning NL champion Dodgers led Boston by 1½ games; the Pirates and Cardinals were tied for third, 3½ games out.7

Soaring home attendance was another storyline for the ’48 Pirates. In 1947 Pittsburgh had drawn more than 1.2 million fans, easily a franchise best and fifth overall in the NL,8 with a 92-loss club distinguished mostly by Kiner’s 51-homer barrage and aging slugger Hank Greenberg’s swan song season.9

Forbes Field’s turnstiles spun even more prolifically in 1948, starting by topping the one-season-old ballpark record for a home opener.10 Crowds exceeding 30,000 watched the Pirates’ Sunday, August 29, doubleheader sweep of the Braves and Fritz Ostermueller’s 2-1 win over Boston’s Johnny Sain a night later.11 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette coverage of the August 30 Pirates-Braves game reported that “[t]he attendance brought the home total to 1,261,172. A crowd of 22,500 at Tuesday night’s game with the Giants would set a new, all-time attendance record at Forbes Field.”12

A crowd of 30,386, catapulting the Pirates well past their previous record, came out on a chilly night.13 The Giants had lost six in a row. In their five most recent defeats, they had squandered multi-run leads and allowed winning runs in the opposing teams’ final at-bats.14 Managed by Leo Durocher, who had replaced Mel Ott while the Giants were in Pittsburgh in July, they were eight games behind the Dodgers.15

Alongside reigning two-time homer king Kiner,16 whose 35 home runs were four more than anyone else in the National and American Leagues, many of the Pirates’ top performers were newcomers to Pittsburgh in 1948, their careers sidetracked by injuries, military service, or established players blocking them in previous organizations.17

One of the first-year Pirates capitalizing on opportunities in Pittsburgh was 34-year-old right-hander Elmer Riddle. As a member of the Cincinnati Reds, Riddle led the NL with a 2.24 ERA in 1941 and tied for the lead among NL and AL pitchers with 21 wins in 1943. A shoulder injury limited Riddle to 32 major-league appearances and a 6.96 ERA from 1944 through 1947, including a stint on the voluntarily retired list in 1946.18 But Riddle rehabilitated his arm, and the Pirates claimed him on waivers. Entering his start against the Giants, he had a 10-8 record and a 3.37 ERA.19

New York’s Johnny Mize, who was second in the NL with 31 home runs, led off the second inning by pulling a homer into the upper deck of the right-field stands.20 It gave an early lead to right-hander Sheldon Jones, in his 16th start and 50th appearance of his first full major-league season, a workload giving rise to the nickname Available Jones.21 Jones, reportedly pitching with a sore elbow,22 kept the Giants ahead through three innings, allowing only Danny Murtaugh’s first-inning infield single and dispatching the side in order in the second and third.

The Pirates rallied in the fourth. Murtaugh, who had extended his hitting streak to 18 games, led off with a single to short.23 He took second on Dixie Walker’s single. Habitual pull-hitter Kiner lined an opposite-field single to right, scoring Murtaugh and sending Walker to third.

“[It] was the best and cleanest hit Kiner has made to right field in three years as a Pirate,” the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph observed.24

One out later, Walker tagged and scored when Willard Marshall caught Ed Stevens’ fly ball to deep right in foul territory. Pittsburgh led, 2-1.25

Riddle had stranded two runners in both the third and fourth innings, but the Giants broke through in the fifth. Second baseman Jack Lohrke drew a one-out walk. Whitey Lockman bunted toward third baseman Eddie Bockman, playing for an ill Frankie Gustine,26 and was safe with a single. Riddle attempted to pick off Lohrke but threw wide of second baseman Murtaugh, and the runners moved up a base.27

Sid Gordon’s groundout scored Lohrke with the tying run. Mize followed with a single for his 101st RBI of the season, bringing home Lockman for a 3-2 Giants lead.

Jones extinguished a two-on, two-out threat in the fifth, and catcher Wes Westrum threw out Wally Westlake stealing second to end the sixth inning.

The Giants added a seventh-inning run against Riddle. Lohrke led off with a single. Lockman hit into a force, then moved to second on Bockman’s error on Gordon’s groundball and to third on another force out. Lockman scored when Murtaugh – commended in newspaper coverage for an “amazing” defensive game28 – could only knock down Marshall’s single up the middle.29 New York’s lead was 4-2.

With Jones on the mound in the bottom of the seventh, Johnny Hopp, batting for Bockman, led off with a single. Durocher called in righty Ray Poat in relief.30

Rookie catcher Ed Fitz Gerald greeted Poat with a hit down the left-field line. Bobby Thomson bobbled the ball and Hopp came around to score on the error.31 Fitz Gerald took second with a double.

Meyer sent up Max West to pinch-hit for Riddle. West hit a popup behind second base; Kerr dropped the ball for the Giants’ second error of the inning. West was safe at first, and Fitz Gerald held at second.32

Monty Basgall ran for West. With the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base, Meyer called for a sacrifice, but Poat turned Stan Rojek’s bunt into a force at third. Murtaugh’s groundout to Mize at first advanced the runners to second and third, now with two outs.

Walker walked on a full count,33 loading the bases for Kiner. Durocher, as the New York Daily News observed, “ordered the infield concentrated on the left side of the diamond, with Lohrke directly back of second,”34 a common defensive alignment against the Pirate slugger.35 Kiner hit a hard grounder directly at Lohrke; the ball hit off his glove and rolled into center field. Basgall and Rojek scored on the two-run single, giving Kiner 99 RBIs for the season.36 The rally had “sent a screaming crowd … into a frenzy,” noted the Pittsburgh Press.37 The Pirates led, 5-4.

Meyer called on veteran Kirby Higbe, in his staff-high 45th appearance, to close out the game. Higbe retired the Giants in order in the eighth and set down Mueller and Lockman to begin the ninth. Gordon walked to give Mize one last chance, but the slugger grounded to second for the final out.

“[T]he mound hero was Kirby Higbe, whose courage, power and knuckleball clinched the victory in the last two innings,” the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph concluded.38

Riddle was credited with his 11th win. The Pirates’ fourth victory in a row and 22nd in 31 games left them the closest they had been to first place in September since 1938.39

But the Pirates never made it any closer. The Giants won the next two games,40 and two losses in three games against the eighth-place Chicago Cubs left the Pirates four games back.41 The Pirates finished in fourth, 8½ games behind the pennant-winning Braves.42 Their 83-71 mark was their last winning season until 1958. The Sporting News named Meyer Manager of the Year, and Kiner’s 40 homers netted another home-run crown.43

The ’48 Pirates did top the league in one team category: Their season attendance of 1,517,021 led all NL clubs.44 “Pirate fans who set a paid attendance mark at Forbes Field also should get some credit for the fine Forbes Field showing of the club,” sportswriter Chilly Doyle asserted, citing the Pirates’ 47-31 home record.45 Pittsburgh’s 1948 attendance remained the franchise record until 1960, when the World Series champion Pirates drew more than 1.7 million fans.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Jim Sweetman and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Ralph Kiner, 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. He also reviewed game coverage in the New York Daily News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, and Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph newspapers and SABR Baseball Biography Project biographies of several players involved in the game, especially Nancy Snell Griffith’s Elmer Riddle biography.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT194808310.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1948/B08310PIT1948.htm

Notes

1 The Pirates had a 63-91-1 record in 1946 and went 62-92-2 in 1947.

2 Meyer’s teams had won six pennants in the American Association and International League and two Little World Series titles. Most recently, he had managed the Kansas City Blues, the New York Yankees’ Triple-A club, in 1946 and 1947. Chester L. Smith, “Bill Meyer Named Pirate Manager: Farm Pilot for Yankees Signs 2-Year Contract,” Pittsburgh Press, October 2, 1947: 35.

3 The 1948 Pirates had 12 position players with more than 100 plate appearances. Only four – Kiner, Frankie Gustine, Wally Westlake, and Clyde Kluttz – were members of the 1947 team. The other eight had joined Pittsburgh between September 1947 and January 1948: Stan Rojek (purchased from Dodgers), Danny Murtaugh (trade with Boston Braves), Ed Stevens (purchased from Dodgers), Dixie Walker (trade with Dodgers), Johnny Hopp (trade with Braves), Ed Fitz Gerald (trade with Pacific Coast League’s Sacramento Solons), Eddie Bockman (purchased from Cleveland Indians), and Max West (selected from PCL’s San Diego Padres in Rule 5 Draft). The ’48 Pirates’ three pitchers with the most innings pitched were also acquired during the same time frame: Bob Chesnes (trade with PCL’s San Francisco Seals), Elmer Riddle (purchased from Cincinnati Reds), and Vic Lombardi (trade with Dodgers).

4 The 17 wins do not include a protested August 25 game against the Dodgers that was completed on September 21 and won by the Pirates, 12-11. Sources like Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org backdate the game’s result to August 25, but the win did not count for the Pirates until September 21. Vince Johnson, “Pirates Beaten, 11-9, Protest Game: Erskine Yanked Too Soon in Ninth by Burt Shotton,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 26, 1948: 14; Lester J. Biederman, “Bucs’ Protest of Game With Dodgers Upheld: Frick Orders Replay in Brooklyn Sept. 21 of Disputed Ninth,” Pittsburgh Press, August 26, 1948: 36; Vince Johnson, “Bucs Take Playoff, 12-11; Win, 6-3: Rojek Clears Bases With Two-Bagger,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 22, 1948: 18.

5 Lester J. Biederman, “Phils Hand Double Wallop to Bucs, 9-2 and 11-7: Crowd of 36,060 (14,287 Children) Sees Homer Barrage,” Pittsburgh Press, August 29, 1948: 25

6 Vince Johnson, “Pirates Bump Braves Twice, 6-1, 5-2: Chesnes, Lombardi Pull Victors Within 3 Games of Lead,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 30, 1948: 16; Vince Johnson, “Osty, Walker Too Much for Braves: Dixie Hits Homer with One on; Bucs Take Third Place,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 31, 1948: 14.

7 “The Major Leagues,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 31, 1948: 14.

8 Prior to 1947, the Pirates’ franchise record for attendance was 869,720 in 1927. The ’47 Pirates exceeded that mark on August 2, their 38th home date. Chester L. Smith, “Bucs Split, Set Attendance Record: Pirates Lose, 10-2, Win, 5-4, as Old 869,720 Mark Falls,” Pittsburgh Press, August 3, 1947: 26; Edwin Beachler, “Loyal Pirate Fans Hardy, Daffy and Optimistic Brand of Boosters: Double-Header Jams Park to Capacity,” Pittsburgh Press, July 28, 1947: 2.

9 “The crowds have kept pouring in without the stimuli of mirrors, fireworks or girlie shows,” the Associated Press asserted in July 1947. “They just want to see baseball, even if the home club brand is indifferent baseball.” Associated Press, “Pirates Attendance Is Amazing: 7th Place Team Nears Million Mark,” Portland (Maine) Evening Express, July 30, 1947: 18. One factor contributing to increased fan interest may have been the newly installed “Greenberg Gardens” fence, which reduced Forbes Field’s home run distance by 30 feet in left field. The 1947 Pirates hit 95 home runs at home – nearly three times their previous high of 32 in 1935.

10 The Pirates’ 1948 home opener, a 3-2 win over the Cubs on April 20, drew an overflow crowd of 38,546 to 34,545-seat Forbes Field, topping 1947’s first-game gate by 330 fans. Vince Johnson, “Sewell, Basgall Homer; Bucs Win, 3-2: Cavarretta Smacks in Both Cubs’ Runs” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 21, 1948: 18; “Opening Day Mark Possible,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, April 19, 1948: 24.

11 Johnson, “Pirates Bump Braves Twice, 6-1, 5-2”; Johnson, “Osty, Walker Too Much for Braves.”

12 Johnson, “Osty, Walker Too Much for Braves.”

13 “Frisch Given Familiar Jacket,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 1, 1948: 16.

14 Jim McCulley, “Cards Rip Giants in 2, Matinee, 7-2, Arc, 7-5,” New York Daily News, August 27, 1948: 62; Jim McCulley, “Musial’s HR in 12th, Jones’ Steal of Home Edge Giants, 5-4, 7-6,” New York Daily News, August 29, 1948: 77; Jim McCulley, “Reds Twice Nip Skidding Giants, 3-2,” New York Daily News, August 30, 1948: 35.

15 “The Major Leagues.”

16 Kiner’s 23 home runs as a rookie in 1946 led the NL. His 51 homers in 1947 tied the Giants’ Johnny Mize for most in the majors.

17 For example, shortstop Stan Rojek, whose 4.0 Wins Above Replacement were second to Kiner on the 1948 Pirates, had debuted with the Dodgers in 1942 before missing the next three seasons for military service. When he returned, Rojek spent the 1946 and 1947 seasons as a backup to Hall of Fame-bound Pee Wee Reese. Rojek’s double-play partner with the ’48 Pirates, Danny Murtaugh, had substantial playing time with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1941 through 1943, then spent two seasons in the Army. Murtaugh was in Triple A for almost all of the 1946 and 1947 seasons before the Braves – where he was behind Connie Ryan on the organization’s depth chart –  traded him to Pittsburgh. Murtaugh contributed 3.6 WAR to the 1948 Pirates. Charles J. Doyle, “Bucs Get Braves’ Hopp, Murtaugh in Trade Deal,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, November 19, 1947: 14.

18 “Reds Return to Tampa; Riddle Asks to Be Retired,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 29, 1946: 12.

19 Lester J. Biederman, “Plenty of Hard Work-And-Faith Put Riddle on Comeback Trail: Elmer Almost Feels Like a Rookie Again,” Pittsburgh Press, April 28, 1948: 28.

20 Lester J. Biederman, “Pirates Divide Laurels in Climb Toward Top: New Game Winners Appear Every Day; Breaks Help, Too,” Pittsburgh Press, September 1, 1948: 24.

21 Available Jones was a character in the the popular comic strip Lil’ Abner. Jim McCulley, “Jones, Always Available, Bolsters Giant Hurlers,” New York Daily News, June 27, 1948: 30.

22 Biederman, “Pirates Divide Laurels in Climb Toward Top.”

23 Murtaugh went on to a 23-game hitting streak.

24 Charles J. Doyle, “Bonham to Oppose Giants Tonight: Pirates Two Games from Lead,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, September 1, 1948: 22.

25 Vince Johnson, “Bucs Win, 5-4; Two Games off Pace: Kiner’s Single Paces Three-Run Seventh to Beat Giants,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 1, 1948: 16.

26 Jim McCulley, “Freebooters Win, 5-4, on Giant Boots,” New York Daily News, September 1, 1948: 69.

27 Johnson, “Bucs Win, 5-4, Two Games off Pace.”

28 Johnson, “Bucs Win, 5-4, Two Games off Pace.”

29 Biederman, “Pirates Divide Laurels in Climb Toward Top.”

30 Jones returned to the mound four days later, on September 4, and pitched seven shutout innings against the Dodgers. He finished the 1948 season with a 16-8 record and a 3.37 ERA in 55 games, covering 200 1/3 innings.

31 Johnson, “Bucs Win, 5-4, Two Games off Pace.”

32 McCulley, “Freebooters Win, 5-4, on Giant Boots.”

33 Biederman, “Pirates Divide Laurels in Climb Toward Top.”

34 McCulley, “Freebooters Win, 5-4, on Giant Boots.”

35 Vince Johnson, “Once Over Lightly,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 2, 1948: 15.

36 Biederman, “Pirates Divide Laurels in Climb Toward Top.”

37 Biederman, “Pirates Divide Laurels in Climb Toward Top.”

38 Doyle, “Bonham to Oppose Giants Tonight.”

39 The Dodgers lost a doubleheader to the Cubs and were again tied with the Braves, who beat the Reds. Both the Pirates and Cardinals, who beat the Phillies, were tied for third. “The Majors,” Pittsburgh Press, September 1, 1948: 24.

40 Lester J. Biederman, “Giants Halt Pirate Climb With 3-1 Win: Chesnes vs. Jansen in Finale Today,” Pittsburgh Press, September 2, 1948: 32; Lester J. Biederman, “Batting Slump Threatens Bucs’ Flag Changes: Jansen’s Six-Hitter Extends Slack Period as Giants Win, 5-4,” Pittsburgh Press, September 3, 1948: 30.

41 Bob Drum, “Pennant Fever Subsides as Pirates Cool Off: With Trip Coming up, Bucs Will Do Well to Stay in Fourth Place,” Pittsburgh Press, September 4, 1948: 6.

42 The Giants came in fifth, five games behind the Pirates.

43 Kiner went on to attain seven straight home-run titles from 1946 through 1952.

44 Through the 2024 season, the only other time the Pirates have led the NL in attendance was 1925, when they drew 804,354 fans during a World Series championship season.

45 Chilly Doyle, “Chilly Sauce,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, September 27, 1948: 30.