1945, the end of a war, the initiation of a hex, and a misunderstood
star
1945, as
baseball enthusiasts will remind you, was the last year that the Chicago Cubs
appeared in the World Series, losing to the Tigers in a seven game Fall
Classic. Baseball lore runs through the 1945 season, as the Year of the
billy-goat curse, famously begun when the Cubs refused admittance to a Series
game to Billy Sianis and his pet goat.
The goat,
named Murphy, was somewhat of a mascot for the team thay season, a good luck
charm as it was, and the namesake for Sianis' "Billy Goat Tavern" in
Chicago, made even more famous by John Belushi and Bill Murray and their
"Cheeburger, Cheeburger" sketches on Saturday Night Live in the
mid-seventies.
As a part
of the oral tradition of the game, this story gets re-hashed every few years,
but the fact is, they were good enough in 1945 to make it to the Series, and to
take the Series to seven games.
True, the
franchise does appear to be snake-bitten since, when you look at the black cat
in 1969, the non-fan interference in 2003, and the principle that held true for
forty years, where the adage was a team with 2 or more ex-Cubs could never win
a World Series, oral tradition and fate have not been kind to the Cubbies.
But,
1945...
The Cubs
were able to acquire pitcher Hank Borowy from the Yankees in mid-season. The
former Fordham University Ram had won 56
games for the Bronx Bombers in 3 and a half years, but the Yanks let him go to
the Second City
Borowy went
11-2 for the Cubs helping propel them past the Cardinals by 3 games at the end
of the season. Between Borowy, Claude Passeau and Phil Cavaretta (the league's
MVP), the Cubs won 98 games that year.
Over in the
American league, the war effort was still having an impact on the pennant
races. The Tigers benefitted from the conclusion of Hank Greenburg's service. The first baseman
hit in 78 games upon his return from the campaign
in Europe , and helped Hal Newhouser and the
rest of the Tigers to an 88 win season, besting the Washington Senators by a
game and a half.
The Cubs
won 2 of the 3 games played at Detroit 's
Briggs Stadium, including Hank Borowy's 9-0 victory in Game 1 over MVP Hal
Newhouser, and Claude Passeau's one-hit complete game shutout over Stubby
Overmire in Game 3.
The Tigers
won 3 of the next 4 played at Wrigley Field, Newhouser besting Borowy in games 5
and 7.
There were
many sportswriters at the time that consider this Series one of the worst ever
played, owing to the lack of true star power because of the war effort. Hank
Greenburg hit the only 2 homers for the Tigers in the Series.
In an
interesting piece of trivia, Hank Borowy is the last pitcher to win a World
Series game for the Cubs, getting the win in a twelve inning Game 6, at
Wrigley.
Hank Borowy
So in
analyzing the regular season performances, the overall pitching rankings, which
coincide in rankings to their performance compared to the rest of the league
were:
Hal Newhouser DET Harry Brecheen STL
Roger Wolff WAS Hank Wyse CHI
Dutch Leonard WAS Red Barrett STL
Steve Gromek CLE Claude Passeau CHI
Al Benton DET Nick Strincevich PIT
(For
comparison, Borowy in 15 games with the Cubs, would be at the top of the NL
list)
And in
comparing against the rest of their team, the rankings are:
Boo Ferriss BOS Bucky Walters CIN
Russ Christopher PHI Andy Karl PHI
Hal Newhouser DET Nick Strincevich PIT
Steve Gromek CLE Harry Brecheen STL
(Borowy
would place third in the NL if he qualified)
And finally
combining the league and team performances, the total number rankings for the
pitchers are:
Hal Newhouser DET Harry Brecheen STL
Roger Wolff WAS Bucky Walters CIN
Boo Ferriss BOS Nick Strincevich PIT
Steve Gromek CLE Red Barrett STL
(Borowy
would place first in the NL, with the highest overall score. He finished 11-2 with a 2.13 ERA with the Cubs.
Looking at
the offensive side of the numbers, the overall numbers, and league numbers also
match, so the rankings are as follows:
Nick Etten NY
Snuffy Stirnweiss NY
Roy Cullenbine DET Dixie Walker BKL
Jeff Heath CLE Luis Olmo BKL
Vern Stephens STL Augie Galan BKL
(Hank
Greenburg would have placed 1st in the AL
if he had enough qualifying at bats)
Hank Greenberg
And versus their team's average:
Jeff Heath CLE Frank McCormick CIN
Vern Stephens STL Dain Clay CIN
Roy Cullenbine DET Al Libke CIN
Bobby Estalella PHI Eddie Miller CIN
Lou Boudreau CLE Steve Mesner CIN
(Greenburg
would place first on this list as well)
And the
final combination numbers are:
Jeff Heath CLE Tommy Holmes BOS
Roy Cullenbine DET Phil Cavaretta CHI
Vern Stephens STL Frank McCormick CIN
Nick Etten NY Dixie Walker BKL
Snuffy Stirnweiss NY
(And
Greenburg would be the top in the AL
as well)
The
abundance of Reds on the offensive side plays out, since the Reds had the
second most potent offense, and the second worse pitching staff in the league.
So,
combining the overall rankings into one, with pitchers and hitters together,
this is the way a theoretical vote for post season honors would be from me...
Hal Newhouser DET Tommy Holmes BOS
Jeff Heath CLE Phil Cavaretta CHI
Roy Cullenbine DET Harry Brecheen STL
Vern Stephens STL Bucky Walters CIN
Boo Ferriss BOS Frank McCormick CIN
Newhouser
was the AL MVP, going 25-9 with a 1.81 ERA in 313 1/3 innings. He got a
decision on 34 of the 40 games he pitched in, 36 starts in all, with 29
complete games.
Phil
Cavaretta was the NL MVP had a slash line of 6/97/.355 with 94 runs scored.
Tommy Holmes finished with a 28/117/.352 and 125 runs scored, for a Boston
Braves team that finished in seventh place.
Cavaretta
was responsible for creating 1.40 runs per game, while Holmes was at 1.39.
Dixie Walker led the league with a 1.42 runs created per game. Cavaretta won
the award, but I would have given Holmes the nod. Of course, it's 70 years
worth of 20/20 hindsight makes it easy to say, and I have tried my best to
prove it.
Tommy Holmes
Phil Cavaretta
Hal Newhouser
The misunderstood
star referenced in the title concerns Canadian Jeff Heath, of the Cleveland
Indians. Heath's slash lines were 15/61/.305 with 60 runs in 103 games played.
This is the second reference to Mr. Heath made in this blog, as he had a
underrated year in 1941 as well, far overshadowed by Joe DiMaggio and Ted
Williams. His production was hampered by a holdout until early June.
Misunderstood
inasmuch as he was blamed for the Indian team 'uprising' in 1940, his second
full season in the major leagues. In 1939, his rookie season, he went 12/112/.343
with 104 runs scored, one of the more impressive debuts of that era. His
production dropped in 1940, following his first holdout, he rebounded in 1941
to hit 24/120/.340 with 89 runs scored. In fact, he was the first American
League player to hit 20 or more doubles, triples and home runs in the same
season that year.
He was by
accounts moody, and quirky, and prone to bursts of violent temper. He had the
markings of a Hall of Famer early in his career, but wasn't able to provide the
consistency that would keep him in the upper echelon of the baseball elites.
He
rebounded (and matured) in 1948 when at age 33, he hit 20/76/.319 and almost
made it to the World Series that year, only to badly break his ankle during the
last week of the season.
He retired
with a very respectable .293 batting average, with 194 career homers.
Jeff Heath
But oh,
what might have been.
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