May 1, 1939: Brooklyn’s bats heat up in wacky win over Phillies

Nine games into his managerial career and Leo Durocher already had the Brooklyn Dodgers feeling, for the first time in years, relevant.

General manager Larry MacPhail vowed that Durocher would instill some much-needed “up-and-at-’em fight” in the moribund Dodgers franchise, and people took him at his word.1 Preseason predictions were cautiously optimistic and early attendance figures suggested fans were buying in, too.

Brooklyn came into the afternoon with a 4-4 record. Nothing ailed them that a little more offense couldn’t help. Two major offseason acquisitions, Gene Moore and Tony Lazzeri, hadn’t done much, nor had the 1938 rookie wonder Ernie Koy. However, as was often the case in this era, Philadelphia pitching provided a potent tonic for a hitting malaise.

To be fair, the Phillies had looked uncharacteristically respectable to that point, with wins in four of their first nine games, including back-to-back walk-off victories over Brooklyn back home at Shibe Park. “Give me another good pitcher and a fellow on first who can tag that ball and I’ll give the fans of Philadelphia a real ball club,” boasted new manager Doc Prothro.2 He never got either of those things, really, and even if he had, he needed a lot more than that. But for the moment, it appeared that he might be onto something.

The two starting pitchers had hooked up in a classic duel 10 days earlier, a game that ended in a 2-2 tie called due to darkness. Philadelphia’s Claude Passeau struck out 11 over eight innings, while the Dodgers’ Vito Tamulis went the distance, surrendering just five hits, despite a scary moment when he was overcome by a sharp pain near his heart. It turned out to be a ruptured blood vessel in his chest, which must have been less dire than it sounded because he pulled himself together and finished the game. This was his first appearance since then.

Neither starter lasted long. The Dodgers attacked Passeau in the first inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Moore, who was hitting .103, doubled in a pair. Then Dolph Camilli slid home just ahead of Passeau’s throw on Lazzeri’s fielder’s choice, and Al Todd drove in a run on a groundout. Just like that, it was 4-0, and Passeau was through.

The Phillies got two back off Tamulis in the top of the second, thanks to Les Powers’ RBI triple and a single from George Scharein that plated Powers. Brooklyn extended the lead to 5-2 in the third against Elmer Burkart when Camilli scored on an error, but Philadelphia replied immediately. Run-scoring hits by Burkart and Heinie Mueller chased Tamulis and narrowed the Dodgers edge to 5-4. Undeterred, Brooklyn tallied four times in the bottom of the fourth to stretch the lead back to 9-4, as Moore again delivered a big blow with a two-run single.

It was 11-5 heading to the ninth and it didn’t appear that Philadelphia had much hope against knuckleballer Tot Pressnell, who had been stellar in his season debut, surrendering one run on three hits in relief of Tamulis. However, it proved “a crazy ninth inning that had all the spectators dizzy.”3

Pressnell took care of the first man, but then everything fell apart. Mueller removed the first bolt with a solo home run over the right-field scoreboard. After a walk to Hersh Martin and a double by LeGrant Scott, Dodgers third baseman Cookie Lavagetto booted Morrie Arnovich’s groundball, which let in Martin and cut the lead to 11-7. Pinky May walked to load the bases, and then Powers finally chased Pressnell with a sharply hit single to left that scored Scott and made it 11-8.

Durocher walked in from his shortstop position and summoned freshly minted Dodger Whitlow Wyatt. After nine years of luckless toil in the American League, Wyatt returned to the minors, learned how to throw a slow curve, and became a new man in Brooklyn. He had shut out the Phillies two days earlier and sported an ERA of 0.95, but Durocher called on him too soon. He had thrown only about five pitches in the bullpen before entering to face dangerous pinch-hitter Chuck Klein with the bases still loaded.4

Klein greeted Wyatt with a long smash that barely eluded the reach of a leaping Goody Rosen and clattered off the exit gate in center field. The double brought home Arnovich and May and the lead was down to 11-10. Philly tied it a moment later when Wyatt unleashed a wild pitch that scored Powers. Then after a walk to pinch-hitter Bill Atwood, Wally Millies lifted a popup into shallow center. As Lazzeri made the catch, Klein broke for the plate and barely beat Lazzeri’s weak throw. It was a seven-run ninth inning, and the Phillies had grabbed a 12-11 lead.

Philadelphia’s mop-up man, Jim Henry, entered to finish it off, but the job was too big. Durocher was flipping switches all over the place. First, he lifted himself for a pinch-hitter, Fred Sington, who walked. Van Lingle Mungo ran for Sington. Oris Hockett, batting for Wyatt, dumped a single into center field, which advanced the tying run into scoring position. For reasons lost to time, Durocher then sent out Tuck Stainback to run for Mungo. “A pinch-runner for a pinch-runner is a wrinkle entirely new in baseball, but anything can happen when the Phillies and Dodgers meet,” mused the Philadelphia Inquirer.5

Durocher ordered Rosen to bunt. After two failed attempts, his groundball to second served the purpose, moving the runners to second and third for the erstwhile goat, Lavagetto, whose error in the top half had led to two unearned runs. After a long conference at the mound, the Phillies decided to pitch to him. Lavagetto erased his blunder with a line drive up the middle, his third hit of the day. The blow scored Stainback and Hockett and gave Brooklyn a wild 13-12 victory.

The 3-hour 2-minute marathon triumph was the Dodgers’ fourth straight win and moved them into a fourth-place tie. Lavagetto knocked in four runs, after coming into the day with just one RBI through the first eight games. The struggling Moore stroked two hits and matched a career-high with five RBIs. Lazzeri’s three hits raised his average 100 points.

The Dodgers weren’t a great team yet, maybe not even an especially good one. They hovered around .500 for most of the season before a hot streak in September boosted them into third place. They were never in serious contention, but for the first time, Brooklyn led the major leagues in per-game attendance. Something felt different. This peculiar and spirited come-from-behind victory was a small, early hint that Durocher would deliver on MacPhail’s promise.

SOURCES

In addition to the newspaper sources cited in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for play-by-play and other information:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BRO/BRO193905010.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1939/B05010BRO1939.htm

The author also reviewed the following sources:

Effrat, Louis. “Hit by Lavagetto Stops Phils, 13-12,” New York Times, May 2, 1939: 30.

Holmes, Tommy. “Dodgers Ready for Ten-Game Western Invasion,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 2, 1939: 14.

Photo credit: Cookie Lavagetto, Trading Card Database.

NOTES

1 Tommy Holmes, “No Miracles Expected from New Manager of Flatbush Flock,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 13, 1938: 20.

2 “Phils Show Teeth for Dentist Pilot,” The Sporting News, May 4, 1939: 3.

3 Lee Scott, “Dodgers Win Crazy Game and Move Into Tie for Fourth Place,” Brooklyn Citizen, May 2, 1939: 6.

4 Scott.

5 “Dodgers Grab 13-12 Verdict in Last Frame,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2, 1939: 21.