July 15, 1945: Bob Elliott hits for the cycle, drives in 6 runs to lead Pirates’ rout over Dodgers

A Sunday crowd of 24,129, including 261 servicemen, “got a double thrill at Forbes Field”1 when the Pittsburgh Pirates swept the visiting Brooklyn Dodgers in a doubleheader on July 15, 1945. The Bucs won the opener, 9-1, and then took the nightcap by a score of 15-3, a game that the New York Daily News described as “pure and simple slaughter,”2 featuring Pittsburgh’s Bob Elliott hitting for the cycle. As an added bonus, the fans in attendance got to see Brooklyn’s Babe Herman hit the final home run of his storied career.

On June 15 Pittsburgh and Brooklyn were tied for first place in the National League, but both clubs fell in the standings over the next month. The Pirates lost 16 of 23 games from June 16 through July 8 and were in fifth place, eight games behind the league-leading Chicago Cubs.3 The Dodgers turned a 19-6 stretch into a four-game lead by July 1, then lost 8 of 11 to drop behind the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.

Pittsburgh’s Rip Sewell picked up his 10th win of the season in the opener of the twin bill, scattering seven Brooklyn hits in a complete-game victory. It was the 38-year-old right-hander’s seventh consecutive season with double-digit wins. Brooklyn rookie Vic Lombardi also pitched the full nine innings, allowing nine runs (five earned). Both teams were playing in their fifth doubleheader since July 1. The large quantity of games in such a short period forced both managers to juggle pitchers.

Pittsburgh skipper Frankie Frisch named rookie Ken Gables as his starter in Game Two. The 26-year-old Gables was making his ninth appearance of the season (just his second start). His longest outing so far had been five innings of relief work against the Boston Braves on July 6, and his only other start “ended in disaster,”4 when he allowed six earned runs without getting through the third inning against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 3. A no-decision in that game and three wins in relief gave Gables a 3-0 record, despite an 8.10 earned-run average and just four strikeouts against 11 walks.

Brooklyn’s pitching staff had “only six healthy pitchers,”5 which is probably why Lombardi pitched all of Game One. Opposing Gables in the second contest was Brooklyn’s ace, Hal Gregg, making his 19th start. Because of World War II, there had been no All-Star Game in 1945. In July, however, a group of baseball writers from the Associated Press named the 24-year-old Gregg the “consensus best starting pitcher in the National League.”6 Gregg’s record was 10-5, and he brought a 3.51 ERA to the mound. Unfortunately, he had a thumb that was “so sore and swollen he could scarcely grip a ball.”7

Pittsburgh’s Pete Coscarart (a former Dodger) led off the bottom of the first with a walk. He advanced to third on Frankie Gustine’s single and scored on Al Gionfriddo’s fly ball to center fielder Goody Rosen.

After notching the single run in the first, the Pirates “heaped up half a dozen more”8 in the second inning. Babe Dahlgren led off with a single. Lee Handley’s double put two runners in scoring position. Al Lopez flied out to right, allowing Dahlgren to tag and score. Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher argued with home-plate umpire George Magerkurth that catcher Johnny Peacock had tagged Dahlgren out at the plate, to no avail.

Once play resumed, Gables singled, putting runners at the corners. Coscarart walked to load the bases. Gustine drove in Handley with the Pirates’ third run-scoring fly out of the game. Gionfriddo then singled, plating Gables and pounding Gregg from the mound. The Dodgers ace had faced only 12 batters, recording just five outs.

Second-year pitcher Clyde King entered in relief. Pittsburgh’s left fielder Elliott, who had flied out in his first-inning at-bat, launched a triple that rebounded off the wall past Augie Galan in left field. Coscarart and Gionfriddo scored easily. Rosen picked up the ball and threw to the cutoff man, Eddie Basinski, but the Dodgers shortstop “fumbled Rosen’s throw,”9 and Elliott scored on the error, making it a 7-0 Pittsburgh lead.

Gables retired all nine Dodgers batters he faced in the first three innings. In the top of the fourth, though, Eddie Stanky, on his way to an NL-record 148 walks in 1945,10 drew a leadoff walk and went to third on Rosen’s single. Galan grounded to first baseman Dahlgren, who stepped on the bag for the first out as Stanky crossed the plate and Rosen took second. A wild pitch moved Rosen to third base, and he scored on Dixie Walker’s fly to center.

Pittsburgh answered in the home half. Coscarart doubled and advanced to third as King retired the next two batters. Then Elliott singled, driving in Coscarart. Jim Russell walked. Dahlgren hit an RBI single and Handley doubled to plate Russell. The Pirates now led 10-2.

In the fifth, Coscarart doubled with one out and took third on Gustine’s popout to first baseman Howie Schultz.11 He tallied on Gionfriddo’s single. Elliott followed with a ball hit “into the right lower deck”12 for his fifth home run of the season. In four at-bats, Elliott already had a single, triple, and home run.

Pittsburgh added another run in the bottom of the sixth. Dahlgren tripled to start the inning. Despite an 11-run lead, Handley laid down a squeeze bunt toward the pitcher’s mound. King’s only play was at first, and Handley’s sacrifice brought Dahlgren home. In the seventh, Coscarart singled once again and scored on Elliott’s two-out double. This gave the Pirates 15 runs, and Elliott had hit for the cycle.

Gables had allowed just one hit (a double) since the fourth inning. In the eighth, Babe Herman pinch-hit for Walker. With Brooklyn trying to stay in the pennant race, Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey had asked the 42-year-old Herman if he “would like to join the team as a pinch-hitter.”13 Herman, a lifetime .324 hitter who had begun his career with six seasons in Brooklyn,14 had been released by the Detroit Tigers midway through the 1937 season but had continued to play in the minors, living in California and playing for the Pacific Coast League’s Hollywood Stars. He had played his first major-league game in eight seasons the week before.

Herman now got his turn to bat against Gables and “whaled the ball into the right lower tier”15 for his first (and only) home run of the season. This turned out to be the last round-tripper of his career.16

Despite being swept, the Dodgers remained in third place, even as the Daily News pessimistically reported: “It’s only a matter of days before there’ll be a change.”17 Gregg was tagged with the loss, but he took the mound two days later, pitching six innings in a 5-2 win over the Pirates. He finished the season with 18 wins, tied for eighth most in the majors.

Gables “held the Flatbush attack”18 to just five hits as he chalked up his fourth victory of the season and remained unbeaten in his major-league career. It was his first complete-game victory in the majors.19 He went on to make 14 more starts in 1945, finishing the season with a record of 11-7 and a 4.15 ERA.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Pirates had “dynamite in their bludgeons,”20 as they banged out 15 runs on 19 hits. For the doubleheader, Pittsburgh collected 30 base hits against Dodgers pitching. They now had a four-game winning streak.21 In addition to Elliot’s quartet of hits in his cycle, Pittsburgh’s Coscarart, Dahlgren, and Handley each added three hits. Coscarart also scored five runs against his former team.22

In the rout, Elliott scored three times and drove in six runs. His achievement marked the 12th time a player had hit for the cycle in Pittsburgh franchise history. Three weeks later, on August 4, rookie teammate Bill Salkeld accomplished the rare feat against the Cardinals (also at Forbes Field). Elliott and Salkeld were the only two players in the majors to hit for the cycle in 1945.

Elliott had also been named to the 1945 All-Star Game that wasn’t played, along with teammates Preacher Roe and Sewell. Walker, Gregg, and Rosen were to represent Brooklyn.  It would have been Elliott’s fourth selection. He added three more, most notably in 1947, when he won the NL Most Valuable Player Award in his first season with the Boston Braves.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Russ Walsh and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Trading Card Database.

Sources  

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT194507152.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1945/B07152PIT1945.htm

Notes

1 Ed. F. Balinger, “Bucs Wallop Dodgers Twice, 9-1, 15-3,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 16, 1945: 16.

2 Jack Smith, “Pirates Batter Dodgers in Twin Bill, 9-1, 15-3,” New York Daily News, July 16, 1945: 20.

3 Charles J. Doyle, “Dodgers Paralyzed by Pirate Power,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, July 16, 1945: 14.

4 Chester L. Smith, “Buc Pitching, Hitting Stocks Soar,” Pittsburgh Press, July 16, 1945: 16.

5 Harold C. Burr, “Dodger Arms, Sore and Creaking, Helpless as Power Short-Circuits,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 16, 1945: 8.

6 James Lincoln Ray, “Hal Gregg,” SABR Biography Project. According to Ray, the AP writers “picked their own standouts based on nominations from the league’s managers.” Thirteen of the 16 managers provided input. In addition, Fred Lieb, writer for The Sporting News, wrote an article selecting players for a “might-have-been” contest. See Frederick G. Lieb, “All-Star Teams Selected for ‘Dream’ Game,” The Sporting News, July 12, 1945: 1.

7 Burr.

8 Balinger.

9 Balinger.

10 Stanky also led the majors in runs scored in 1945 (128). In his 11-year career in the majors, Stanky averaged 90 walks per season. His 148 bases on balls did not come close to Babe Ruth’s record of 170 (set in 1923). Ruth’s record stood for 78 seasons, until it was broken by Barry Bonds in 2001 (177). Bonds then kept breaking his own record, establishing the current mark (as of the end of the 2023 season) of 232 in 2004.

11 According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Gustine grounded out. Baseball-Reference credits a “flyout” for the Gustine’s out, while Retrosheet reports that “Gustine made an out to first.” In any event, Coscarart advanced another base, allowing him to score on Gionfriddo’s single.

12 Balinger.

13 Greg Erion, “Babe Herman,” SABR Biography Project.

14 Herman was only the third player in major-league history with three career cycles.

15 Balinger. It was Herman’s fourth at-bat of the season, and he now had a .750 batting average and a 2.250 OPS.

16 Herman belted 181 home runs in his 13-season career in the majors.

17 Jack Smith. The Dodgers won 43 of their final 74 games, but they remained in third place in the NL standings for the remainder of the season.

18 Burr.

19 Gables had six complete games in his three-season career (all in 1945). He won five and lost one of those games.

20 Balinger.

21 The Pirates won 41 of their final 77 games, finishing the season in fourth place.

22 Coscarart played for the Dodgers from 1938 through 1941. On December 12, 1941, he was traded with Luke Hamlin, Babe Phelps, and Jimmy Wasdell to the Pirates for future Hall of Famer Arky Vaughan.