July 6, 1944: All-Star Bob Johnson hits for the cycle in Red Sox rout of Tigers

Less than a week before the 1944 midsummer classic, Boston’s “All-Star squad quartet”1 of second baseman Bobby Doerr, right fielder Pete Fox, pitcher Tex Hughson, and left fielder Bob Johnson paced the Red Sox to a 13-3 thrashing of the Detroit Tigers. A crowd of 5,146 at Fenway Park saw all nine of Boston’s starters contribute to the “ferocity of a Sox attack,”2 highlighted by Johnson hitting for the cycle.

On June 23, Boston had begun a 17-game homestand that took it to the All-Star break. The second-place Red Sox, who trailed only the St. Louis Browns in the American League standings, had won six of the first seven games before the Tigers came to Fenway Park for a four-game series. The two clubs split a July 4 doubleheader, and Detroit won the third game in a blowout.

The AL race was tight. As play began on July 6, just nine games separated the first-place Browns from the eighth-place Philadelphia Athletics. The Red Sox were 2½ games behind St. Louis, and the Tigers were tied with the Cleveland Indians for sixth, only 6½ games out.

Hughson, a 28-year-old right-hander, started the series finale for Boston. He had been the ace of Boston’s pitching staff since 1942, when he earned his first selection to an All-Star Game and tied for the major-league lead with 22 wins.3 Hughson had a 12-3 record so far in 1944 and his earned-run average was a stingy 2.29. On June 3, in his only other start against the Tigers, he had allowed 11 hits and four walks but recorded a complete-game 11-1 win over the Tigers at Detroit’s Briggs Stadium.

Detroit countered with 26-year-old righty Rufe Gentry, making his 16th start of the year after debuting in the majors with four starts at the end of the 1943 season. He had a 4-7 record with an even 4.00 ERA. Gentry had two previous starts against Boston, and in both games, he came away with a loss to the Red Sox.4

Detroit had a runner on base against Hughson in each of the first two innings, but both were caught trying to steal second. The Red Sox were retired in order on the first, but their bats came to life in the bottom of the second, starting with a leadoff single by cleanup hitter Johnson.

The 38-year-old Johnson was in his first season in Boston after 10 years with the Philadelphia Athletics and a campaign with the Washington Senators, where he had finished fifth in the AL MVP voting in 1943.5 Johnson entered the game batting .304 with 6 homers and 39 RBIs in 1944, earning his seventh career All-Star selection.

Johnson scored the game’s first run on Doerr’s triple to deep center. Lou Finney then singled, and Doerr scored easily. Hal Wagner also singled, putting runners at the corners. Gentry retired the next two Red Sox before Jim Bucher singled, driving in Finney. George Metkovich grounded out to first, but eight Boston batters had accounted for three runs.

The Detroit Free Press reported that the Red Sox “safely tucked the verdict away in the third”6 with another three-run outburst. Fox opened with a double and scored on Johnson’s seventh home run of the season, a blast to deep right. Tigers manager Steve O’Neill called for a pitching change, and right-hander Jake Mooty relieved Gentry.

Mooty walked both Doerr and Finney, and after Wagner’s groundout advanced both runners, Mooty intentionally walked Skeeter Newsome, loading the bases for Hughson. Hughson grounded to second baseman Eddie Mayo, who threw to second, forcing Newsome, but Doerr scored on the play. This was Hughson’s third RBI of the season, and the Red Sox had a 6-0 lead.

The Tigers put two runners on in the fourth with no outs, but Hughson stranded them there. In the bottom half, Boston scored twice on four hits. With two down, Johnson tripled to center. Doerr doubled him home, and Finney’s single brought Doerr home, making it 8-0. Through four innings, Johnson had three hits, and both Doerr and Finney had two plus a walk.

The Red Sox hit parade continued in the fifth. Veteran right-hander Boom-Boom Beck became the third Tigers hurler. Hughson led off with a single and advanced to third on Metkovich’s one-out single. Fox doubled and Johnson grounded out to first, scoring Metkovich and sending Fox to third. Finney singled, but Beck retired Wagner to limit the damage to three runs. Boston led 11-0. Both Johnson (double) and Doerr (homer) were one hit away from hitting for the cycle.

Detroit ended the shutout in the sixth. Three consecutive two-out singles by Chuck Hostetler, Jimmy Outlaw, and Mike “Pinky” Higgins gave the Tigers their first run.

In the bottom of the seventh, Metkovich singled and went to third on Johnson’s cycle-completing double to left field. Both runners scored on Doerr’s single. Boston had built a 12-run lead.

Johnson came out of the game in the bottom of the seventh. According to the Boston Globe, he had a “slight strain – no doubt from running so much.”7 Tom McBride took over in left field for Johnson.

In the top of the eighth, Hostetler – at age 40 the oldest rookie position player in major-league history – “whaled a double off the wall.”8 Outlaw followed by depositing a Hughson pitch into the netting over the left-field wall for his third homer of the season. Higgins singled, but Hughson recovered and retired the next two Tigers batters. He pitched a one-two-three ninth to seal the complete-game win.

The 13 runs and 20 hits were highs to this point in the Red Sox season. Eight of Boston’s hits went for extra bases. The All-Star squad quartet validated their selection, as Hughson pitched a complete game, while Doerr, Fox, and Johnson combined for 10 hits, 9 runs scored, and 9 RBIs.

At 13-3, Hughson was far ahead of his 22-win pace of 1942, when he had an 8-3 record after 74 games. He eventually pushed his 1944 record to 18-5 before leaving the Red Sox for Navy service in August. His final start of the season was just over a month after this game, on August 9. He defeated the Chicago White Sox with a 9-1 complete-game victory, scattering four hits. It was his 19th complete game of 1944 and his ninth win that season in which he allowed only one run.9

With his 4-for-5 performance against the Tigers, Johnson became the ninth player in Red Sox franchise history to hit for the cycle. This was his third game of the season collecting four hits. His cycle came just under two months after teammate Doerr accomplished the rare feat at Fenway Park on May 17.10 Had Doerr hit a homer in this contest, he would have been the first player to hit for the cycle twice in the same season since Brooklyn’s Babe Herman in 1931.11 The third (and last) player to hit for the cycle in 1944 was Brooklyn’s Dixie Walker (September 2).

Johnson finished the season batting .324, and he led the American League in both on-base percentage (.431) and OPS (.959). His 6.3 WAR for the season tied him with Doerr for team-best.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks John Fredland for his quality suggestions. This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky 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/BOS/BOS194407060.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1944/B07060BOS1944.htm

Notes

1 “Bob Johnson Gets ‘Cycle’ in 13-3 Tilt,” Detroit Free Press, July 7, 1944: 18.

2 Jerry Nason, “Sox Feast on Tigers, 13-3,” Boston Globe, July 7, 1944: 4.

3 Hughson was selected to three consecutive All-Star Games (1942-1944). He was the pitcher of record in 1944, taking the loss after allowing four runs (three earned) as the AL’s second hurler of the game (all in the fourth inning). The NL won, 7-1. In the game, both Johnson and Doerr were 0-for-3 for the AL squad.

4 Gentry pitched six innings on May 13 and allowed four runs in a 4-2 loss to the Red Sox. On June 4, in the first game of a doubleheader, he lasted only four innings, allowing three runs as Boston beat Detroit, 5-1.

5 Johnson impressed the MVP voters in 1943 despite appearing in only 117 games and recording lower offensive stats than in previous seasons. Bill Nowlin, “Bob Johnson,” SABR Biography Project.

6 “Bob Johnson Gets ‘Cycle’ in 13-3 Tilt.”

7 Nason.

8 Nason.

9 According to Hughson’s SABR biography, written by Andrew Blume, “With the loss of Hughson, coupled with the further loss within a few weeks of both Doerr and catcher Hal Wagner to the military, the Red Sox folded, losing 29 of their final 50 games, including 10 in a row in September, as the Browns won their first and only American League flag.” Meanwhile, the Tigers won 40 of their final 56 games, to finish in second place, just a game behind the Browns. Hughson won 20 games in 1946, his first season back with the Red Sox after World War II. He finished his career in 1949 with a 96-54 record in eight seasons.

10 On May 13, 1947, Doerr hit for the cycle for the second time in his career, against the Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park.

11 Herman hit for the cycle on May 18, 1931, and again on July 24, 1931. Two seasons later, Herman became just the third player to hit for the cycle three times in his career, when he did so on September 30, 1933.