May 20, 1951: Phillies blast Pirates in 17-0 shutout win

Before the start of the 1951 season, many baseball writers predicted that the Philadelphia Phillies would be competitive in the eight-team National League, but not repeat as pennant winners. A poll in The Sporting News of 204 scribes forecast the Phillies to finish third behind the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, the Phils garnering just 24 first-place votes compared with the Giants’ 99.1

There were some who disagreed. One, Stan Baumgartner, a beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote, “Chosen by most experts to finish behind the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants in the 1951 pennant race, the NL champion Phillies will attempt to get off to a flying start when they meet Brooklyn in the opening game at Ebbets Field.”2 He stated in a separate piece, “This writer expects the Phillies to win the pennant.”3

Behind Robin Roberts’ arm, the Phillies opened the season with a 5-2 win over the Dodgers on April 17.4

The Phillies played at or near .500 until May 13 when they sank below .500, the May 18 loss, an 18-9 defeat by the Chicago Cubs, a real low point. As Baumgartner reported, “It was the Phillies’ third straight defeat, their fifth loss in the last six games and their 14th setback in the last 21, keeping them in last place.”5

A 2-1 win over the Cubs on May 19 gave the Phillies hope for a turnaround. Heading into a Sunday doubleheader in Pittsburgh, only three games separated the eighth-place Phillies from the first-place Dodgers.

On May 20 at Forbes Field, Russ Meyer was on the mound for the Phillies in the doubleheader’s first game, seeking to build on his early-season progress in 1951. Of the four Phillies pitchers who started more than 20 games in 1950, he was the only one to have a losing record (9-11) or an ERA above five (5.30). It was the first time Meyer had a losing record since his career began in 1946. Going into his May 20 start, however, he had a 2-1 record with a 3.82 ERA in four starts.

Starting for the Pirates was Murry Dickson. At age 34, Dickson was in his 10th major-league season and third with Pittsburgh. Since 1947 he had double-digit losses every season, though in three of them he had an ERA of 3.80 or less and one, 1947, in which it was 3.07.

Dickson was a workhorse on the mound. For 10 straight seasons, starting in 1947, he pitched more than 200 innings and started 20 or more games. “He threw practically any pitch anybody could name, changing speeds and delivering overhand, three-quarters, sidearm and underhand, while shifting from one side of the rubber to the other,” wrote SABR biographer Warren Corbett.6

The May 20 opener started slowly, as did the fans’ arrival.

Jack Hernon, a Pirates beat writer, wrote, “The full house was late in arriving. … Probably most of the fans wished they had postponed their trip to Oakland for nine innings.”7 Oakland was the Pittsburgh neighborhood where Forbes Field was located, and 36,166 fans filled the ballpark, the most since the final day of the 1949 season.

In the first three innings, neither team advanced a baserunner past second. Only one Phillies hitter reached first – Dick Sisler’s first-inning single – with just 10 batters stepping to the plate. The Pirates managed three walks and two singles against Meyer, but left all five runners on base.

In the top of the fourth, the Phillies broke the scoreless tie. Dickson retired the first two batters, with the second out coming on shortstop Pete Castiglione’s sharp play on Richie Ashburn’s grounder. “Pete Castiglione made the play of the opener when he ran 10 feet to the right of second base and threw out the speedy Richie Ashburn,” commented the Pittsburgh Press.8

But Del Ennis singled to right, and Eddie Pellagrini, backing away from a pitch, hit a bloop single over the head of Ralph Kiner at first base,9 Ennis advancing to third. Granny Hamner‘s single to left plated Ennis. Phils up 1-0.

In the Pirates’ half of the fourth, the leadoff hitter reached first base for the third time, Dino Restelli hitting a single. One out later, first baseman Eddie Waitkus committed an error on Clyde McCullough’s grounder, putting Pirates at first and second. Restelli attempted to take third on Dickson’s fly out to center, but center fielder Ashburn threw to shortstop Hamner, whose relay to third baseman Willie Jones beat Restelli for the third out. It was one of Ashburn’s 15 outfield assists in 1951, fifth-most in the NL and his highest total since his major-league career began in ’48.10

The Phillies added two runs in the fifth, both unearned. Mike Goliat singled. Meyer sacrificed him to second, and both runners were safe on Dickson’s error. After Waitkus’s groundout forced Goliat at third, Ashburn’s single loaded the bases. Meyer scored when Sisler hit into a force, and Waitkus came home as Ennis beat out a hopper to third baseman Wally Westlake for an infield single,11 upping the Phils’ lead to 3-0.

Neither team scored again until the seventh, when the Phillies knocked Dickson out of the game, scoring more runs in that inning than in any other in the 1951 season. Waitkus and Ashburn started the fireworks with singles into the outfield. As Waitkus took third, Ashburn hurried to second when the ball went through left fielder Restelli’s legs for an error.12 Sisler doubled both home for a 5-0 lead.

Ennis gave the Pirates a momentary breather when he struck out looking, but Dickson walked Pellagrini. Hamner resumed the onslaught, singling to center and plating Sisler. Pirates manager Billy Meyer ended Dickson’s outing. The new pitcher was 19-year-old Bill Koski, making just his seventh big-league appearance.13

After intentionally walking Andy Seminick, Koski gave run-scoring free passes to both Goliat and Meyer. Though Waitkus’s single bounced off the wall in right, only one more run scored, pushing the lead to 9-0. Meyer pulled Koski from the game for another rookie, 20-year-old Bob Friend, who was also pitching for the seventh time in the big leagues.14 Ashburn’s third hit of the game, Philadelphia’s sixth hit of the inning, scored two.

The eight-run inning ended with the Phillies ahead by 11 runs.

The Phillies continued their hot hitting in the eighth. Junior Walsh was the Pirates’ third reliever of the game, and the control problems continued. After Pellagrini grounded out to short and Hamner singled, the bottom three batters in the order – Seminick, Goliat, and Meyer – each walked for the second time, making it 12-0. Waitkus’s groundout scored another run. Ashburn again reached base, this time via a base on balls, but with the bases loaded, Dick Whitman’s popup to short ended their run-scoring at two.

With a 13-run lead in the ninth, the Phillies sent nine batters to the plate against Walsh. To open the inning, Restelli made a two-base error, dropping Ennis’s high fly ball to left.15 It was Restelli’s second error in the game and the Pirates’ third. Pellagrini singled Ennis home. One out later, Seminick singled and Goliat hit the game’s only homer, a three-run shot. After Meyer flied out to center, Waitkus and Ashburn singled, the latter’s fourth hit and fifth time on base. Whitman’s groundout to second ended the rally, the second inning in a row he did that.

The Phillies finished their half of the ninth ahead by 17 runs. Eighteen of their 20 hits had been singles, and 30 Phillies had batted from the seventh inning on, as what had been a 3-0 game turned to 17-0.

While the Phillies pounded the ball in the final three innings, Meyer silenced the Pirates’ bats, limiting them to one single. It was his first shutout since the 1949 season. The Inquirer’s Baumgartner wrote, “[Meyer’s] fastball was the best of the season and he mixed it with a fast breaking hook and tantalizing screwball,”16 adding that “Meyer was particularly effective, pitching as he did in 1949, when he scored 17 victories.”17

The Phillies’ 58 plate appearances were the most in a nine-inning game in franchise history since they had 66 against the Cincinnati Reds on August 25, 1922.18 It was the first time the Phillies had outscored an opponent by at least 17 runs in a shutout win since July 14, 1934, when, in the first game of a doubleheader, they beat the Cincinnati Reds 18-0 in the Baker Bowl, scoring 16 runs in the first two innings.

Philadelphia followed up its 17-run barrage in the doubleheader’s opener with another double-digit output in the second game, beating Pittsburgh, 12-4.19 After the day ended, Hernon summed it up for the Phillies: “Better than batting practice.”20

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Thomas J. Brown Jr. and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Mike Goliat, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org for player, team, and season data.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT195105201.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1951/B05201PIT1951.htm

Notes

1 “Red Sox-Giants Series Forecast,” The Sporting News, April 18, 1951: 4.

2 Stan Baumgartner, “Phillies to Oppose Dodgers in Brooklyn Opener Today,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 17, 1951: 34.

3 Stan Baumgartner, “Phils, Roberts Oppose A’s in Series Opener,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 13, 1951: 47.

4 Stan Baumgartner, “Phillies Beat Dodgers, 5-2, Behind Roberts; A’s Bow,” “Robin Goes Route; Ellis, Goliat Homer,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 18, 1951: 51.

5 Stan Baumgartner, “Cubs’ 17 Safeties Crush Phils, 18-9; Cristante Loser,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 19, 1951: 14.

6 Warren Corbett, “Murry Dickson,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/murry-dickson. Accessed February 2025.

7 Jack Hernon, “Fans Good-Natured Despite Buc Humiliation,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21, 1951: 19.

8 Les Biederman, “The Scoreboard,” Pittsburgh Press, May 21, 1951: 20.

9 Jack Hernon, “36,166 See Phils Shell Buc Pitching, 17-0, 12-4: Largest Crowd Since 1949 Collapse Watches Slab Staff Collapse: Champs Blast 35 Hits in Doubleheader,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21, 1951: 18-19.

10 Ashburn went on to lead the NL in assists in 1952 (23), 1953 (18), and 1957 (18).

11 Hernon, “36,166 See Phils Shell Buc Pitching.”

12 “36,166 See Phils Shell Buc Pitching.”

13 Koski’s major-league career consisted of 13 appearances, all with the 1951 Pirates.

14 Friend appeared in 602 major-league games – all but 22 with the Mets and 12 with the Yankees – over 16 seasons. He was a four-time All-Star and the 1955 NL ERA champion. His 22 wins in 1958 tied Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves for the major-league lead, and he retired with a career record of 197-230.

15 Hernon, “36,166 See Phils Shell Buc Pitching.

16 Stan Baumgarter, “Phillies Rout Pirates, 17-0, 12-4; A’s Win, 2-1, Bow to Indians, 5-3: Champions Total 35 Hits in Two Tests,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 21, 1951: 27-28.

17 Baumgarter, “Phillies Rout Pirates, 17-0, 12-4.”

18 Through the 2024 season, the Phillies held the major-league record for plate appearances in a nine-inning game since 1901 with 66 in a 26-23 loss to the Cubs in August 1925.

19 The Phillies came in fifth in the NL in 1951 with a 73-81 record. The Pirates were seventh at 64-90.

20 Hernon, “Fans Good-Natured Despite Buc Humiliation.”