July 29, 1951: Player-manager Phil Cavarretta’s grand slam caps Cubs’ doubleheader sweep of Phillies

In his ninth game as the Chicago Cubs player-manager in 1951, Phil Cavarretta came off the bench on July 29 to smash a pinch-hit grand slam off the Philadelphia Phillies’ Robin Roberts and propel the Chicago Cubs to an 8-6 victory in the second game of a doubleheader at Wrigley Field. Cavarretta had a hand in the Cubs’ 5-4 win in the opener too, cracking a triple and driving in three runs. The popular Cub knocked in seven of his team’s 13 runs in the doubleheader sweep.

The 34-year-old Cavarretta – a Chicago mainstay since his major-league debut at the age of 18 in 1934 – had replaced Frankie Frisch as manager on July 21 in Philadelphia. In the Hall of Fame second baseman’s third season at the helm, the Cubs had fallen into seventh place in the eight-team National League. After director of player personnel Wid Matthews announced that Cavarretta was taking over, following a 5-0 loss to the Phillies at Shibe Park, Cavarretta said it was “a dream come true to manage the team of your hometown. It’s a real challenge, and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got. Actually, the truth is, I’d rather be on the field.”1

Cubs owner Philip Wrigley said Cavarretta would finish the season as the team’s manager and then gain more managerial experience in the club’s minor-league system the next year, which was fine with Cavarretta.2

Comparing his managerial style to that of Cub legend Charlie Grimm, the Cubs’ first skipper of Italian descent said he would he would get tough on players for a lack of hustle, a lack of conditioning and mental mistakes.3 He adopted a five-man starting pitching rotation of Bob Rush, Paul Minner, Turk Lown, Frank Hiller, and Cal McLish. Pitching coach Charlie Root filled in for Cavarretta as third-base coach when Cavarretta played, and coach Spud Davis oversaw the bullpen.4

The Cubs and Phillies were going in different directions at the start of the July 29 twin bill. Chicago had won its first game under Cavarretta on July 22 before losing eight straight. The Cubs had gone 26 straight innings without scoring and lost 12 of their last 18 games. They were in the midst of a 25-game homestand in 20 days with third baseman Bill Serena on the disabled list and four other players injured.

The Phillies under manager Eddie Sawyer had won 13 of their last 18 games and pitched four consecutive shutouts, including Bubba Church’s 2-0 victory over the Cubs on July 27 and former Cub Russ Meyer’s 1-0 win a day later.5 The reigning NL pennant winners were in third place, 13 games behind the league-leading Brooklyn Dodgers and nine games up on the Cubs.

But Chicago overcame a one-run eighth-inning deficit against Phillies fireman Jim Konstanty, the 1950 NL MVP, to win the opener. Cavarretta, who had driven in two runs with a sixth-inning triple, knocked in the tying run with a fly out. In the bottom of the ninth, pinch-runner Hal Jeffcoat scored the winning run on Philadelphia shortstop Granny Hamner’s error.

Cavarretta started at first base in the opener but was on the sidelines when the nightcap began. Chuck Connors, a former professional basketball player and future movie and television star, appearing in his 12th major-league game as a 30-year-old rookie, was at first.

Philadelphia struck first when Del Ennis singled off second-game starter Rush to drive in Richie Ashburn. Ashburn had followed former Cub Eddie Waitkus’s leadoff double by reaching base on an error by Connors, then taking second when Waitkus was forced at third.

The Cubs scored twice after two outs in the second inning to go ahead, 2-1. Connors singled, stole second, and crossed the plate when Mickey Owen singled. Owen advanced to second on Rush’s single and scored one batter later on an error by Phillies starter Jocko Thompson.

Rush, who had pitched into the 11th inning in a loss to Philadelphia nine days earlier, held the lead until the sixth. Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones walked with one out and stole second. Second baseman Eddie Miksis’s two-out error on Dick Sisler’s grounder kept the inning alive. Jones scored on Hamner’s single. Pinch-hitter Bill Nicholson, a former Cubs star, walked, loading the bases. Del Wilber singled to drive in Hamner and Sisler. All three runs in the inning were unearned; the Cubs had allowed two more unearned runs in the opener.

It remained a 4-2 Phillies lead until the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Thompson hit Frank Baumholtz on the arm and walked Hank Sauer. Church, who had beaten the Cubs eight times in two years, replaced Thompson on the mound. Ransom Jackson singled past third baseman Jones to drive in Baumholtz and send Sauer to second. Church struck out the next batter, Roy Smalley, but Connors doubled to left to send Sauer home with the tying run.

Roberts, the Phillies’ first-game starter, replaced Church and intentionally walked pinch-hitter Smoky Burgess. After going seven innings in the opener, Roberts was making his third relief appearance of the season, against 24 starts.

The pitcher’s spot was up for Chicago, and Cavarretta chose himself to pinch-hit.

“Cavarretta stepped from the dugout, bat in hand amid a thunderous ovation to bat for Emil “Dutch” Leonard, former Phil, who had pitched in relief,” the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Stan Baumgartner reported. “The slim manager dug his feet firmly in the box, leveled his bat and swung mightily at Roberts’ first pitch.

“There was a terrific report and a wild outcry as the ball sailed for the right field wall. For a moment it looked as if it might go foul,” Baumgartner added. “But umpire Frank Dascoli signaled it fair as it cleared the wall and bleachers and sailed into the street [Sheffield Avenue].

“In a moment Wrigley Field was into bedlam by the [25,840] fans. The three Bruins who had been on base waited at the plate for their manager, hugged him, tried to pick him up and carry him to the dugout. But he wriggled away and trotted to the bench. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”6

Cavaretta, who came into the game with a .309 batting average, had his third homer of the season. The Cubs were ahead, 8-4.

Cubs reliever Joe Hatten allowed one run on two hits in the eighth. Ennis singled and advanced to third on Putsy Caballero’s single. Hamner’s fly to right scored Ennis, but the threat ended when Nicholson popped out and Wilber flied out.

Pinch-hitter Tom Brown homered off Hatten to lead off the ninth, cutting the Cubs’ lead to 8-6. Waitkus and Ashburn grounded out, but Jones walked to represent the tying run. Walt Dubiel was brought in to face Ennis, who grounded out for the third out.

Despite committing an error, Connors went 3-for-4 at the plate, scored twice, and drove in one run. Teammate Jackson went 2-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI. Ennis led the Phillies’ offense with two hits in five at-bats, one run scored, and one RBI. Wilber went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Leonard – at age 42 the oldest player in the majors besides Satchel Paige of the St. Louis Browns – improved his record to 9-3 by retiring the side in the seventh, and Dubiel earned his first save of the season. Church’s record fell to 12-6 after he gave up two hits and two runs (both earned) in one-third of an inning.

Chicago sportswriter Irving Vaughan wasn’t impressed by the Cubs’ doubleheader sweep. “Aside from the Cavarretta heroics, there wasn’t much displayed on the artistic side,” Vaughan wrote. “Pitchers were enough in number to wear a trail from the bullpens to the mound. Errors were so many that both games had the makings of a giveaway program.”7

The Cubs played .500 ball in their first 18 games under Cavarretta. Much of the improvement was due to the pitching staff, which had a 3.32 ERA during that stretch.8 Still, the Cubs went 27-47 after changing managers and finished last with a 62-92 record.9 The Chicago baseball writers honored Cavarretta on January 13, 1952, for long and meritorious service in baseball, recognizing his 17 years in the sport, and his MVP Award and batting title in 1945.

In 1954, Cavarretta became the first manager to be fired in spring training, when he upset Matthews and owner Wrigley with his assessment of the team’s chances in the coming season. He wrapped up his playing career with the Chicago White Sox in 1954 and ’55.

Looking back, Cavarretta said he should have declined the offer to manage the Cubs in 1951 “’cause I could still play. But the reason I should have said ‘no’ was that I had no experience whatsoever managing. When someone presents that package to you right away – you always dream of managing the club – you say yes. But after I thought of it, I should have said ‘no.’ Send me someplace for two, three years to manage ’cause I have to learn how to manage.”10

Acknowledgments

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

Photo credit: Phil Cavarretta, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com, PaperofRecord.com, and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN195107292.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1951/B07292CHN1951.htm

Notes                                                                                                      

1 “Cavarretta Leads Cubs Today; Frisch Out,” Chicago Tribune, July 22, 1951: 39.

2 Edgar Munzel, “Cavarretta, as Cub Pilot, Seen as Stand-in for Hack,” The Sporting News, August 1, 1951: 9.

3 Munzel, “Cavarretta, as Cub Pilot, Seen as Stand-In for Hack.”

4 Munzel, “Cavarretta, as Cub Pilot, Seen as Stand-In for Hack.”

5 The National League record at the time was six straight shutouts by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1903. The American League record at the time was four straight by Cleveland in 1903, the New York Yankees in 1932, and Cleveland in 1948. Stan Baumgartner, “Champs Post 4th Shutout in Row; Vollmer’s Clout Climaxes 8-4 Duel,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 29, 1951: 45.

6 Stan Baumgartner, “Cubs Turn Back Phillies, 5-4, 8-6; Yankees Trim White Sox, 8-3, 2-0,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 30, 1951: 21-22.

7 Irving Vaughan, “Yanks Jolt Sox, 8-3, 2-0; Cubs Win, 5-4, 8-6,” Chicago Tribune, July 30, 1951: 49.

8 Edgar Munzel, “Bruins’ Pitching Braces on Phils’ Rotation System,” The Sporting News, August 15, 1951: 10.

9 Frisch compiled a 35-45 record as Chicago’s skipper.

10 Peter Golenbock, Wrigleyville: A Magical History Tour of the Chicago Cubs (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999), 324.