August 5, 1948: Gene Hermanski becomes first Dodger to hit 3 home runs in Brooklyn; Carl Erskine goes distance in first career start

Gene Hermanski’s name will forever be etched in the long history of professional baseball in Brooklyn, dating back to the city’s teams in the National Association (1872-1875), American Association (1884-1889), and the National League beginning in 1890. Despite hitting only 46 home runs in his nine-year career, spent primarily as a reserve with three different teams, Hermanski was the first Brooklyn player to clout three round-trippers in front of his home crowd.

The Dodgers’ 1948 season was as disappointing as the 1947 was exciting. The reigning NL pennant winners stumbled from the outset under skipper Leo Durocher, who returned to the club after his one-year banishment by Commissioner Happy Chandler for a series of controversial incidents. In mid-July Leo the Lip suddenly bolted the team, languishing in fifth place with a losing record (35-37), and took over the helm of the New York Giants. Sixty-three-year-old Burt Shotton, who had taken the reins in the previous season in Durocher’s absence, once again came to the rescue even though he had claimed he would never manage again. Already beginning to heat up, the Dodgers responded to Shotton’s deft touch and much less antagonistic approach to managing.

Heading into a doubleheader with the cellar-dwelling Chicago Cubs (40-58), necessitated by a rainout earlier in the series, ‘Dem Bums’ had won 14 of 21 games under Shotton to move into third place (49-44), just 4½ games behind the front-running Boston Braves.1 One of the major reasons for the Dodgers’ recent success was Hermanski.

The 28-year-old slugger had sipped a cup of coffee with the Dodgers in 1943 before serving in the military for two years. Highly touted, Hermanski was used sparingly in 1946 and then platooned with Pete Reiser in left field in 1947, starting all seven games of the ‘47 World Series. According to Dodgers beat writer Harold C. Burr, Hermanski’s teammates began calling him the “Picture Ballplayer.” He seemingly did everything right in practice and had excellent form and technique, but failed to produce the expected results on the field.2

Moved to right field in 1948 following the trade of longtime starter Dixie Walker, Hermanski started off slowly, then went on a tear. “[A]s Hermanski goes so go the Dodgers,” quipped Associated Press sportswriter Joe Reichler.3 Since July 4, the Massachusetts native had batted .339 and slugged .600 with five home runs and 25 RBIs in 30 games. His one-out double in the ninth inning would have won the previous game against the Cubs, but Jackie Robinson was cut down at the plate. Instead, Hermanski scored the winning run on Bruce Edwards’ single.

On a windy, drizzly Wednesday afternoon, a Ladies Day crowd of 20,352 (15,579 paid) packed Ebbets Field for the midweek twin bill.4

Toeing the rubber for the Dodgers was 21-year-old right-hander Carl Erskine, making his first big-league start. Originally signed as a high schooler in 1945, Erskine “skyrocketed” through the Dodgers farm system, noted sportswriter Dick Young.5 He had joined the Dodgers less than two weeks earlier after posting a stellar 15-7 slate with Fort Worth in the Double-A Texas League, and had thus far thrown 2⅔ hitless innings of relief and picked up two wins.

Erskine breezed through the first, tossing all 11 of his pitches for strikes. A soft-tosser with what Young called a “tricky change-up,” Erskine fanned Clarence Maddern looking to end the frame.

“[I]t sails to one side or the other,” said Erskine of the pitch, which caused havoc for catchers.6 Through four innings, Erskine had faced the minimum 12 batters. He walked two, both of whom were erased in inning-ending double plays he initiated.

While Erskine moved ‘em down, Hermanski knocked ‘em out against Cubs starter Ralph Hamner. In the first inning, with Robinson on first via a hit-by-pitch, Hermanski extended his hitting streak to eight games with a smash that “cut its way through the wet headwinds on a buzzing line and barely stayed fair as it whirred over the right screen,” wrote Young.7 It was Hermanski’s eighth home run of the season, one more than his career total of seven, all of which he whacked the previous year.

Two innings later, with Marv Rackley on first after walking, Hermanski sent Hamner’s 3-and-2 pitch on a “soaring arc” over the right-field screen and onto Bedford Avenue to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead.8

“[I]t must have been difficult for Erskine to realize that he was up in the majors at all,” quipped beat writer Howard C. Burr about the Dodgers’ ensuing defensive blunders.9 Despite tying for the NL lead in double plays accomplished in 1948, the Dodgers were an average fielding team and made six errors in this game, leading to three unearned runs.

Andy Pafko led off the fifth with a chopper that third baseman Tommy Brown threw wildly to first, then moved to third on Bill Nicholson’s single. Peanuts Lowrey’s single put the Cubs on the board. Pee Wee Reese, acknowledged as the NL’s premier defensive shortstop, scooped up Bob Scheffling’s hard chopper to start a 6-4-3 double play. Roy Smalley’s single drove in Nicholson to cut the Dodgers’ lead in half. Erskine fanned Phil Cavarretta, pinch-hitting for Hamner, to apparently end the inning, but Roy Campanella committed a double error when he dropped the third strike and threw poorly to first. With the Cubs threatening to blow the game open, Pee Wee came to the rescue, picking up Emil Verban’s grounder and tossing to first to end the inning.

The Dodgers miscues continued in the sixth. Center fielder Marv Rackley misplayed Hal Jeffcoat’s fly ball. Jeffcoat moved to third on Pakfo’s single and scored on Nicholson’s force out to pull the Cubs to within a run.

Campanella gave the Dodgers a 5-3 lead on a one-out single off reliever Bob Rush to drive in Bruce Edwards, running for George Shuba, who had led off the sixth with a single. Campy tried for second when Lowrey threw home, but Scheffing whipped the ball to Smalley, who tagged Campanella at second. Gil Hodges followed with a single on which Campy might have scored.

Erskine faced another threat in the eighth. Clyde McCullough led off with a single and scored on Lowrey’s two-out single. Erskine committed the Dodgers’ final miscue when he heaved wildly a relay throw to the plate, allowing Lowrey to reach third. With the Cubs 90 feet away from tying the game, Erskine induced Scheffing to fly out.

Hermanski dug in to lead off the eighth. In his previous at-bat, he walked on five pitches from reliever Doyle Lade. It appeared as if pull-hitting Hermanski might draw another free pass. Reliever Jess Dobernic “tried to keep the ball on the outside,” recalled Hermanski, but made a mistake.10 “It was the best smacked ball of the three, going out on a low trajectory,” noted Harold Burr about Hermanski’s opposite-field blast into deep left field. “It looked as if it would strike the wall but it had more legs than a Ziegfeld chorus and cleared the parapet.”11 Hermanski’s blast gave the Dodgers a 6-4 lead.

Erskine set down the Cubs one-two-three in the ninth to complete the victory in 2 hours and 26 minutes. “He pitched with his heart like a real veteran,” said Shotton of Erskine’s eight-hitter with five punchouts and two walks.

Notwithstanding Erskine’s victory in his first start, Hermanski was the star of the game. Twenty-two years after Jack Fournier became the first Dodgers player to hit three home runs in a game, on July 13, 1926, against the Cardinals in St. Louis, Hermanski, wearing number 22 on his uniform, became just the second Dodgers player do turn the trick and the first ever in Brooklyn. “Ski was a brilliant light in the clammy darkness-inducing drizzle that accompanied the entire game,” wrote Young poetically about Hermanski’s feat.12

“I never hit three homers in a game before, not even with the Bushwicks,” said Hermanski, referring to the city’s well-known semipro team, for which he had played.13

Epilogue

Hermanski enjoyed his most productive season in the majors in 1948, setting career bests in many offensive categories, including home runs (15), RBIs (60), and slugging average (.493), while the Dodgers finished in third place (84-70). Shotton, the last NL skipper to wear street clothes in the dugout, would lead the Dodgers to the pennant in 1949 and a second-place finish in 1950 before retiring. Though it took a few seasons, Erskine developed into an All-Star, won 20 games in 1953, and posted a 122-78 slate in his 12-year career, all with the Dodgers.

By the time the Dodgers relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles after the 1957 season, a Dodger had hit at least three home runs in a game five more times, four of which occurred at Ebbets Field. It happened four times in 1950: Duke Snider (and again in 1955), Tommy Brown, Campanella (in Cincinnati), and Hodges, who became just the sixth player in big-league history to club four home runs in a game, smacking a quartet at Ebbets Field in a 19-3 victory over the Braves.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, SABR.org, and The Sporting News archive via Paper of Record.

NOTES

1 The second game of the series, on August 3, was rained out and rescheduled as part of a twin bill on August 5.

2 Harold C. Burr, “Picture-Hitter Gene Hermanski Steps Out of Frame for Dodgers,” Brooklyn Eagle, August 6, 1948: 11.

3 Joe Reichler (Associated Press), “Hermanski’s Three Homers Aid Dodgers Climb Into 2d,” Passaic (New Jersey) Herald-News, August 6, 1948: 14.

4 Roscoe McGowen, “Brooks Take 2d Place by Point, Erskine Turning Back Cubs, 6-4,” New York Times, August 6, 1948: 12.

5 Dick Young, “Hermanski’s 3 Homers Turn Back Cubs, 6-4,” New York Daily News, August 6, 1948: 16C.

6 Young.

7 Young.

8 Young.

9 Burr.

10 Burr.

11 Burr.

12 Young.

13 Burr.