September 28, 1952: Cleveland finishes with win over Tigers; Larry Doby claims AL home-run crown

Both the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers were out of contention when they played the final game of the 1952 season on September 28, but there were still some individual titles to be decided, including the American League home-run crown. It had been only five years since Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947; and now the Indians’ Luke Easter and Larry Doby were tied for the AL home-run lead with 31 each and bidding to become the first Black player to lead the American or National League in homers.

Getting to this point had not been easy for either player. Both had battled injuries in the previous season: Doby had struggled with a leg injury, and Easter had knee problems, requiring offseason surgery.1 Both had overcome adversity in the first half of 1952: Doby continued having problems with his leg, and Easter went into such a severe batting slump that he was sent to the minor leagues for several weeks. But Doby and Easter turned things around in a big way in the second half, and now, on the last day, they were engaged in a friendly rivalry to see who would lead the league in home runs.

Black fans had a lot to feel encouraged about in 1952: not only were Doby and Easter having memorable years, but Robinson was still setting records too – his .440 on-base percentage led the NL that year. Six major-league teams now had Black players, and while change was happening slowly, at least there were tangible signs of progress.2 On the other hand, not every team seemed eager to integrate: The Tigers would be one of the last teams to have a Black player in the lineup, and it didn’t happen until 1958.

As for the Indians, they had begun 1952 with high hopes. They were picked by many sportswriters to finish in first place, but it turned out to be a season of frustration and disappointment. The New York Yankees won their fourth straight AL pennant, while the Indians finished second again, two games out, with the same 93-61 record as 1951. The results left many fans (and many sportswriters) mystified.3 The Indians had three 20-game winners: Early Wynn, who won 23 games, along with 22-game winners Bob Lemon and Mike García. They had another productive year from Doby: In addition to competing for the AL home-run crown (which he ultimately won), he led the majors in slugging percentage (.541). And first baseman Easter was named the AL’s outstanding player by The Sporting News.4 Third baseman Al Rosen won the league’s RBI title with 105; Doby finished a close second, with 104. But the Indians struck out a lot – they led the league with 749, with Doby’s 111 setting a club record.5 And their defense repeatedly let them down: The Indians committed 155 errors (tying them with the seventh-place St. Louis Browns for the most in the AL) and made only 141 double plays, the fewest in the league.

The Detroit Tigers had entirely different problems. While the Indians were setting records for offense, the Tigers were setting records for futility, finishing last for the first time ever, with a dismal record of only 50 wins and 104 losses, the most losses in a season in club history. Among the few bright spots for the Tigers was the pitching of Virgil Trucks, who threw two no-hitters during the season,6 a feat as of 2023 accomplished by only four other pitchers in major-league history.7

Despite how poorly the Tigers had done all season, many fans showed up for the final game anyway. There were 14,910 in attendance at Briggs Stadium in Detroit on a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon. The starting pitchers were left-handers Ted “Teddy” Gray for the Tigers and Dick Rozek for the Indians. This was Gray’s 32nd start of the season, while Rozek was starting for the first time after appearing nine times in relief. The Indians were using a “makeshift infield”; manager Al López gave Rosen and second baseman Bobby Avila permission to leave for home early,8 so Ray Boone played third, and Hank Majeski played second.

For the first three innings, neither team scored. That changed in the top of the fourth, when the Indians took a 2-0 lead, as Boone singled and came home on Doby’s homer into the upper right-field stands.9 It was Doby’s 32nd home run of the season, and it put him one ahead of teammate Easter for the AL lead.

Meanwhile, after a shaky first inning, when the first two batters singled, Rozek settled down and got the next three men out. The Tigers didn’t score until the sixth inning, when, once again, Rozek gave up two singles. But this time, Walt Dropo, who had been acquired in a trade with the Boston Red Sox in June, drove in a run with a groundout. It was a solid outing for Rozek, who scattered five hits in six innings, walked two, and gave up only one run.

In the top of the seventh, the Indians added to their lead, scoring their third run on a walk and two singles, with shortstop George Strickland getting the RBI.

Indians manager López brought in Sam Jones to relieve Rozek. But Jones, who had pitched for the Negro Leagues’ Cleveland Buckeyes before joining the Indians, struggled with his control, walking three and hitting two batters in the three innings he worked.10 In the seventh, Jones’s wildness led to the second Tigers run: He walked a batter, then hit another with a pitch, leading to an RBI for shortstop Neil Berry, who singled, driving in the run. Berry turned out to be one of the Tigers’ few bright spots in the game; he got three hits and an RBI.11

The score was 3-2 going into the eighth, but if the Tigers fans thought their team had a chance, the Indians shattered those hopes, breaking the game open with four runs. The key hit was a three-run homer into the upper right-field seats from 31-year-old rookie outfielder Dave Pope, his first major-league home run.12 Pope, another former Negro Leagues player, had just won the 1952 American Association batting title, hitting .352 for Indianapolis prior to being called up. Pope had a good day at bat for Cleveland, going 2-for-4 with a single in addition to the homer.

The Indians scored one final run in the ninth, and it involved a moment of personal drama for Easter. All day he had been trying to keep pace with Doby as they engaged in their friendly competition for the AL home-run lead. It had been a frustrating afternoon for Easter up to that point: He had struck out three times and been hit by a pitch. In that final at-bat, his last chance to tie Doby, Easter made contact, but he did not get the home run he needed. Instead, he singled to left, driving in his 97th run of the year. Doby claimed a historic home-run crown, the first of two in his career.13

The final score was 8-2, and despite all the scoring, the game took only 2 hours and 3 minutes to complete. Rozek was the winning pitcher – in what turned out to be the only decision of his major-league career. Despite being on the Indians’ roster for three years, he had been used sparingly, appearing in only 29 games. As for the Tigers, Gray pitched a complete game, giving up nine hits, walking four, and striking out 11. He was charged with his 17th loss of the year, against 12 wins, and finished with a 4.14 ERA. Although he had a losing record, he was the only Tigers pitcher with a win total in double digits.

Once again, the Indians had no trouble defeating the Tigers. This had become a recurring pattern – the past seven times that the two teams played, Cleveland was the winner. And now that the Tigers’ discouraging season was finally over, their management knew there were decisions to make. Two big trades, including the one that brought Dropo to the team in June, and another that sent Vic Wertz to the Browns in August as part of a deal for pitcher Ned Garver,14 had not made Detroit a winning ballclub. Thus far, the fans had remained supportive, despite the team’s poor performance: Attendance was down 105,795 from the previous year, but more than a million fans showed up to see the 1952 Tigers play, which one local sportswriter called “remarkable” given how many games they had lost.15 But it was doubtful that the fans would continue to show up if the Tigers kept losing.

And in Cleveland, their fans were undoubtedly thinking about what might have been, and wondering how this team could have so many record-setting players and win 18 of their last 21 games, yet still finish behind the Yankees. They also wondered what Indians management intended to do about the situation. All indications were that it would be an interesting offseason for both clubs.16

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank John Fredland, Kurt Blumenau, and Gary Belleville for their helpful suggestions.

This article was fact-checked by Mark Richard and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

The author consulted various SABR biographies, as well as several newspaper databases, including Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank.com. She also consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and The Sporting News.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET195209280.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1952/B09280DET1952.htm

Notes

1 Joe Reichler (Associated Press), “Indians Great Hill Staff Could Bring Pennant,” Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette and Chillicothe News-Advertiser, April 8, 1952: 11.

2 “Behold, What a Change!” Louisville Defender, September 10, 1952: 6.

3 Ben Olan (Associated Press), “Indians Won Many Honors, No Pennant,” Massillon (Ohio) Evening Independent, December 20, 1952: 8.

4 “Sporting News Selects Easter as Outstanding,” Akron Beacon Journal, September 28, 1952: 1-C.

5 “Rosen, Doby Top Sluggers in AL Race Last Season,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 20, 1952: 21.

6 The first one took place in Detroit on May 15, but only 2,215 fans saw the exciting 1-0 victory against the Washington Senators, won by a homer by outfielder Vic Wertz in the bottom of the ninth. This was the first no-hitter by a Tigers pitcher since George Mullin in 1912. The second occurred at Yankee Stadium on August 25, 1952, another 1-0 win. Lyall Smith, “Trucks Pitches No-Hitter; Wertz Homers in 9th, 1-0,” Detroit Free Press, May 16, 1952: 26.

7 Johnny Vander Meer of the Cincinnati Reds in 1938, Allie Reynolds of the Yankees in 1951, Nolan Ryan of the California Angels in 1973, and Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals in 2015 are the only other pitchers with two no-hitters in a season.

8 Harry Jones, “Doby Slams 32nd for A.L. Home Run Title as Indians Win 1952 Final, 8-2,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 29, 1952: 18.

9 “Tribe Closer – It Doesn’t Help,” Akron Beacon Journal, September 29, 1952: 19.

10 “Tribe Closer – It Doesn’t Help.”

11 Lyall Smith, “All Bad Things Come to End – Like Tigers,” Detroit Free Press, September 29, 1952: 25.

12 Since 2020, Major League Baseball has recognized the stats that Negro Leagues players achieved, but that was not so in 1952. On the other hand, Pope hit no home runs in his time playing in the Negro Leagues.

13 In 1954, when Cleveland won the AL pennant, Doby again led the league with 32 home runs.

14 Lyall Smith, “Tigers Give Up Wertz to Get Garver,” Detroit Free Press, August 15, 1952: 19.

15 Leo Macdonell, “Doby Tops in Homers,” Detroit Times, September 29, 1952: 18.

16 While both teams made some moves – notably, Trucks, a Tiger since 1941, went to the Browns in a six-player deal in December 1952 that brought left fielder Bob Nieman to Detroit – the 1953 standings would not show either team winning the pennant. The Tigers, who at least did not finish last, still had a losing record, and finished sixth. And the Indians, once again finished second to the Yankees, although this time, Cleveland was 8½ games out of first.