June 12, 1949: Hodges, Cox combine forces in Dodgers’ offensive explosion

The final score of the game between Brooklyn and Cincinnati on June 12, 1949, looked like that of a football game. Gil Hodges and Billy Cox were the offensive stars for the red-hot Dodgers. Except that they weren’t scoring or passing for touchdowns; they were hitting home runs and driving in runs in bunches that propelled the Dodgers to a blowout win, 20-7. The duo accounted for 14 runs in routing the Reds, who went through seven pitchers during the game.

Hodges and Cox were part of a skilled infield that included Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese. Dodgers manager Burt Shotton called it “the best in the majors.”1 Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey had assembled a talented squad that he said was “the best team I have ever been associated with.”2 This was a high compliment considering that Rickey had constructed several championship teams in St. Louis during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.

The Dodgers had defeated Cincinnati the day before for their sixth straight win. Brooklyn held a 1½-game lead over St. Louis and the Boston Braves coming into the game. They had been in first place since June 6 as a result of the winning streak. They were riding on the backs of several players during their surge in the standings.

Two years after he integrated White baseball in 1947, Robinson was the best player on the Dodgers team. They had won the NL pennant in 1947, when Robinson was the Rookie of the Year. Veterans Dixie Walker, Pete Reiser, Eddie Stanky, and Cookie Lavagetto had moved on, while Robinson got even better in 1949.

After a poor April, Robinson began May with a .188 batting average and finished the month hitting .360. Opposing pitchers held him hitless in only three games in May as he hit .431 with 6 home runs and 34 RBIs. His slash line coming into the June 12 game was .346/.407/.566. Robinson’s hitting practice under the instruction of Hall of Famer George Sisler during spring training was paying off.

Twenty-five-year-old first baseman Hodges was in his second full season with Dodgers. He had been on a tear, including hitting streaks of 19 games and 10 games. On June 12 he was batting .304 with 7 home runs and 35 RBIs.

In his second year with Brooklyn, third baseman Cox was better known for his defense, but he had hit safely in 15 of the first 19 games of the season before going on the injured list with a sprained ankle on May 8. On June 12 he had been back for only five games.

Reese was also part of the Dodgers’ hit parade. He was in the midst of an 11-game hitting streak that included nine consecutive multi-hit games. He was sporting a .417 on-base percentage to go along with 8 home runs and 36 RBIs.

Duke Snider and former Negro League player Roy Campanella had joined the team since Robinson arrived and had quickly established themselves as key contributors. Outfielder Carl Furillo was having his best season since joining the Dodgers in 1946.

These players formed the core of Dodgers teams that won five more NL pennants and finished second three times from 1949 to 1956.

The day game at Ebbets Field in front of 24,020 fans was the third game of the series. The Dodgers had won the first two, 10-5 and 11-3. Shotton went with right-hander Rex Barney as his starter, and Reds manager Bucky Walters countered with Herm Wehmeier. Barney, who had led the team in wins (15) in 1948, had been erratic during the 1949 season (2-4 and 5.11 ERA), although he had posted a two-hitter in his last start. Wehmeier was 1-2 in six starts.

The Dodgers mounted a 5-0 lead through the first four innings, chasing Wehmeier in the third inning and reliever Bud Lively in the fifth.3 Three of the runs came on two home runs by Cox, one each off Wehmeier and Lively. Cox had hit only one home run in his first 24 games. Wehmeier was trying to walk Robinson in the first inning, when he hit a pitchout to drive in the Dodgers’ first run.4 Furillo drove in the other run.

After four scoreless innings pitched, the bottom fell out for Barney in the top of the fifth. The Reds loaded the bases on a single by Virgil Stallcup, a double by Dixie Howell, and a walk to Bobby Adams, then gave up a run-scoring walk to Johnny Wyrostek. Grady Hatton smashed the third grand slam of his career, his fifth home run of the season, to tie the game, 5-5. After walking Danny Litwhiler, Barney was replaced by Paul Minner, who got the Dodgers out of the inning.

The fireworks ignited for the Dodgers with one out in the bottom of the inning. Robinson doubled off Ken Raffensberger and scored on Hodges’ single off Harry Gumbert. After a single by Furillo and an intentional walk to Bruce Edwards loaded the bases, Cox cleared the bases with a line-drive double to right field off Howie Fox.

Pitcher Minner sent Cox home with a single. Walks to Gene Hermanski and Snider loaded the bases again, and Robinson’s single off Jess Dobernic drove in two more runs for the Dodgers’ sixth and seventh tallies of the inning. Hodges made it a 10-run inning with a home run to left field that plated Snider and Robinson and made the score 15-5. A fly out by Furillo ended the inning.

Both teams took a breather in the sixth as both Minner and the Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer retired the opposition in order. In the seventh, the Reds punched back with two runs on Litwhiler’s homer off Minner that landed in the upper left-field stand.

After retiring Pee Wee Reese leading off the bottom of the seventh, Vander Meer loaded the bases on walks to Hermanski, Snider, and Robinson. Hodges responded with a grand slam, making the score 19-7. A month earlier he had hit his first career grand slam, and he hit 14 during his career.5

Remaining on the mound for mop-up duty in the eighth inning, Vander Meer gave up the final run of the game on a wild pitch with Robinson batting that scored Hermanski.

The 20 runs were the most the Dodgers would score in a game in 1949. They battered seven Reds pitchers for 13 hits and 11 walks, including four home runs.

Hodges had a personal best eight RBIs in a game, but he exceeded that with nine a year later. Cox had six RBIs on his two homers and a double. Pee Wee Reese’s 11-game hitting streak was ended.

Raffensberger, the first of five Reds pitchers in the fifth inning, threw only two pitches but was charged with the loss. He had also taken the loss in his start the day before. The Reds’ use of five pitchers in one inning tied a major-league record with five other teams.6 Minner, who finished the game throwing 4⅔ innings, got his third win of the season.

Robinson contributed to the football-like score with two hits and three RBIs. If the 20-7 contest had been a football game, the Dodgers would have been well-positioned with Robinson, an outstanding running back with UCLA in 1938 and 1939. He solidified his standing as a Dodgers superstar by winning the National League batting title (.342) and Most Valuable Player Award in 1949.

Brooklyn battled the Cardinals down to the wire, never more than 2½ games behind or 3½ games ahead. The Dodgers finally secured first place on September 29 and held on to win the pennant by one game. Despite having one of the best teams to that point of the franchise’s history, they lost to the New York Yankees in five games in the World Series.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and the following:

Burr, Harold C. “Slugging Dodgers Gunning for More Than Standoff in St. Louis Series,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 13, 1949: 13.

Holmes, Tommy. “What Delayed the Dodgers?” Baseball Digest, November 1949: 25-26.

Rampersad, Arnold. Jackie Robinson: A Biography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997).

Smith, Lou. “Bums Murder Reds,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 13, 1949: 18.

NOTES

1 Peter Golenbock. Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1984), 230.

2 Golenbock.

3 Lively was removed for a pinch-hitter.

4 Roscoe McGowen. “Dodgers Crush Reds with 10 Runs in Fifth; Giants Lose to Pirates.” New York Times, June 13, 1949.

5 As of 2021, Hall of Famer Willie McCovey was the National League leader with 18.

6 McGowen.