Sunday, August 11, 2019


1949…The Streak, Ruth and the Natural


                There was a lot of subtext to the 1949 season. While seemingly innocuous, some events left lasting impressions upon the game.

                DiMaggio and his record hitting streak that still stands to this day is one of them. Not Joe. Dom DiMaggio hit in thirty-four consecutive games, which to this day, remains the Red Sox team record. And while Joe’s record pf fifty-six may never be broken, Dom’s streak wasn’t equaled in the American League until Paul Molitor hit in thirty-nine straight in 1987.
                In the thirty-fifth game, Dom was hitless going into his last at bat against the Yankees. He hit a sinking low line-drive that was a sure hit, save for a fantastic shoestring catch by…his brother Joe.


                The most surreal incident of the season occurred in Chicago in mid-June. The Phillies were visiting and had taken a game from the Cubs and had returned to their hotel to prepare for dinner and a night on the town.
                Phiilies first-baseman Eddie Waitkus received a note from an admiring fan, a young lady, who invited him up to her room in the same hotel in which the team was staying. After dinner, Eddie went to the room, and knocked on the door. A young blond woman opened the door, and Eddie entered the room and quickly took a seat.
                That was not the plan at all.
                The young woman, an emotionally disturbed lady, had planned on stabbing Mr. Waitkus to death, and then taking her own life with a gun. Eddie ruined those plans by briskly walking past her and sitting down.
                Ruth Ann Steinhagen then improvised and took out the gun, a .22 caliber rifle, and shot Eddie in the chest. He was critically wounded. She called down to the front desk to report the shooting, and she was found cradling Eddie’s head in her lap as he passed in and out of consciousness.

                Young Miss Steinhagen became enamored of Mr. Waitkus while he played for the Chicago Cubs. Her ability to see him play in her hometown added to her obsession. And obsessed she was.
                Knowing that Eddie’s family was of Lithuanian heritage, she went out and learned the language. Knowing that Eddie was born in Boston, she began to eat baked beans at every meal. Knowing that Eddie wore the uniform number 36, she began to buy music and books that were produced in 1936.
                But her infatuations were not anything new to her family. She had other obsessions about actor Alan Ladd and long deceased composer Franz Liszt. But Eddie was closer, more accessible.
                Ruth reportedly had a complete breakdown in December 1948. She recovered, but complained to her mother, as recently as a week before the shooting, about a “funny feeling” in the back of her head. But no one could imagine what she was preparing to do.  
                Eddie Waitkus was severely injured. The bullet had entered the left side of his chest, but luckily missed his heart. The surgery was very dangerous, and Eddie reportedly almost died on the operating table several times before the bullet could be removed.

                Amazingly, he made a full recovery, and was not only able to return to baseball, he was able to play in each of the Phillies’ one hundred and fifty-four games in 1950, en route to the National League pennant.
                Ruth Ann Steinhagen never stood trial. She was diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder and was institutionalized. She was released after three years and was declared “cured”. Eddie never formally pressed charges, preferring to ‘forget the whole incident’.

Eddie physically recovered, but was mentally scarred, understandably. He was very uncomfortable meeting new people and was eventually treated for alcoholism.

But the story doesn’t end there.
                Bernard Malamud, a short story writer from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, used parts of this story, along with another ballplayer involved shooting from 1932 involving Billy Jurges of the Cubs, into his debut novel “The Natural” which was published in 1952.

                Baseball, as an entity, was flourishing in 1949. Apart from the two major leagues, there were by my count, 442 teams playing in 61 different minor leagues. Some of the talent, especially in lower classifications, was far from top notch. But there were still some performances of note.
                Again, by my count, there were ninety-seven pitchers that won twenty or more games. Of those ninety-seven, teammates Thomas Graham (20-18) and Edward Albrecht (29-12 with 30 complete games) combined to win forty-nine of the Pine Bluff Cardinals seventy-two wins (68.1%) in the Cotton States League.
                Dan Bankhead of the Montreal Royals (International League) went 20-6, and also batted .323 on the season.
                Rene Solis of the Miami Sun Sox of the Florida International League went 20-9, and posted an Earned Run Average of 1.53, which was good enough for second in the league.
                Melvin Fisher of the Florence Steelers of the Tri-State League went 27-12, pitching in 55 games and completing 25.
                Bob Snyder, of the Vancouver Capilanos in the Western International League, went 22-11 while posting a whopping 5.81 Earned Run Average.      
                Carl Wallgast, of the Geneva Red Birds in the Alabama State League, went 22-7 and posted a 1.89 Earned Run Average.
                Vincent Gohl of the Tarboro A’s in the Coastal Plain League went 21-4 with a miniscule 1.27 Earned Run Average.
                Stanley Karpinski of the St. Augustine Saints of the Florida State League went 29-5 with a 1.56 Earned Run Average.
                But the best minor league pitching performance appears to have been by Lynn Southworth of the High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms of the North Carolina State League. He finished the season with a 21-1 record, edging out Edward Varhely of the Stroudsburg Poconos of the North Atlantic League, he finished up with a 20-2 record. And Orie Arntza of the Albany Senators of the eastern League, who finished at 25-2.
                Other pitchers that won twenty-five or more games include Ed Neville of the Durham Bulls of the Carolina League (25-10), Conrado Marrero of the Havana Cubans of the Florida International League (25-8), Earl Escalante of the Bakersfield Indians in the Carolina League (28-9), Walley Gaddis of the Daytona Beach Islanders in the Florida State League (25-8), George Fultz of the Gainesville G-men, also of the Florida State League (25-12), Michael Rossi of the Vidalia-Lyons Twins in the Georgia State League (25-13), and Frank Wilson of the Harlan Smokies in the Mountain States League (27-8).

                With that number of successful pitchers, one might assume that hitting in the minor leagues was not good. To the contrary…fifteen players hit .400 or better, including three in the Tobacco State League.
                Joseph Roseberry of the Smithfield-Selma Leafs finished at .4086 to edge out Hargrove Davis of the Fayetteville Scotties, who finished at .4082. Roseberry’s teammate Richard Woodard finished in third, with a .400 average.
                The Far West League also had a close race, with Louis Vezlich splitting time between the Vallejo Chiefs and the Santa Rosa Cats, compiling a .408 average to beat Ray Perry of the Redding Browns, and his .404 average.
                And Roberto Fernandez of the Abeline Blue Sox hit .408 to beat out Pud Miller of the Lamesa Lobos, who hit .404, for the West Texas-New Mexico League batting title.
                By far, the top hitting performance belonged to Frank Saucier of the Wichita Falls Spudders of the Big State League. He finished up with a .446 batting average. Saucier played just three minor league seasons and combined to hit .380 over that span. He did earn a call-up to the St. Louis Browns in 1951, where he batted .071 in fourteen games.
                Saucier was injured in 1951, and then served two years in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. He returned to school after his service was over and earned a degree in math and physics from Westminster College in Missouri. The baseball stadium there is named “Frank Saucier Field” in his honor. Ironically, his given name is Francis Field Saucier.

                Baseball trivia fans should know the name Frank Saucier well. He was the batter replaced by pinch-hitter Eddie Gaedel in a publicity stunt by Browns’ owner Bill Veeck.

                Other .400 hitters in the minor leagues include: Robert Montag of the Pawtucket Slaters in the New England League (.423), John Temple of the Ogden Reds in the Pioneer League (.400), Forrest Kennedy of the Riverside Dons in the Sunset League (.411), Willie Kerr of the Pulaski Counts in the Appalachian League (.401), Jim Stoyle of the Sparta Saints in the Georgia State League (.400), William Hart of the Cairo Dodgers in the Kitty League (Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee) (.404) and Carl Miller of the Lincolnton Cardinals in the Western Carolina League (.404)

                Other notable items from the minor league world of 1949:
                Frank Wilson of the Harlan Smokies (Mountain States League) won four games in two days against the Morristown Red Sox.
                The Bluefield Blue-Grays of the Appalachian League won thirty-four consecutive home games.
                Portland Beavers pitcher Ad Liska went 4-11 on the season. Strangely, all four of his victories came at the expense of the Oakland Oaks.
                And the Waco Pirates (Big State League) had their incredible record of scoring a run in two-hundred fifty-nine consecutive games snapped by the Texarkana Bears. Joe Budny pitched a two-hit 3-0 shutout to end the streak.

                Across the majors, the offense again outpaced the pitching. Combined hitting scores ranked 14.1% higher than the pitching. The American League accumulated a 19% advantage over their pitching and averaged 4.6% better than the National League hitters.
               
               Here are those rankings, offense first:

American League
Dodgers
Red Sox
Cardinals
Yankees
Giants
Tigers

               
                And the pitching rankings:
Cardinals
Yankees
Dodgers
Indians
Phillies
Red Sox

                The overall power rankings were:
Yankees
World Series Champion
Dodgers
National League Champions
Red Sox
2nd in AL, 1 game behind
Cardinals
2nd in AL, 1 game behind
Indians
3rd in AL, 8 games behind

                In the major leagues, the pennant race was hotly contested all season, with the championship of each league won by a one game margin over the runners up.
                The Brooklyn Dodgers were pre-season favorites in the National League and carried that throughout the season and into the Fall Classic. The Cleveland Indians were the American League pre-season favorites, and that didn’t work out too well for them. They struggled, and finished the season in third place, behind the surprising Yankees.
                The Yankees, under their first-year manager Casey Stengel, who was hired away from the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League, navigated themselves through an injury plagued season to best the Red Sox by a game, and go on to win the World Series.

                The injury bug struck the Yankees hard and heavy. Joe DiMaggio, who prior to the season signed the first ever six-figure contract in baseball history, was the most significant player to lose time. He was having issues with a heel spur which wasn’t responding to treatment, and necessitated surgery to repair. He missed the first sixty-five games of the season. And in September, during the heat of the pennant race, he missed some time while recuperating from pneumonia.

                As the injuries piled up, the Yankees scrambled to find healthy players to fill roster spots, using thirty-seven players on the season. Even going so far as making a deal with the cross-town (really cross-river) New York Giants for their star first-baseman Johnny Mize. Mize played in just thirteen games with the Yankees, as he too was injured for a while.

                The final weekend of the season had the underdog Yankees facing the heavily favored Red Sox, who were managed by former Yankee manager Joe McCarthy. The Yankees won the final two games to beat the Sox for the pennant. Some hypothesize that this series, and subsequent heartbreak for the Sox, is what sparked the long running rivalry between these two teams.

                There is a story that at  the season’s end, a deal was in place that would send Ted Williams to the Yankees, bringing his left-handed bat to their short porch in right-field, in exchange for Joe DiMaggio,  bringing his right-handed bat to Fenway, with the Green Monster a prime target for right-handed hitters, not to mention the 460 foot power ally in left-center in the Bronx. (Many baseball people have often wondered how much bigger the career numbers for those two superstars would have been if they played in each other’s home park)
                The deal never came to fruition, as apparently, the Yankees would not include young catcher Yogi Berra in the deal as the Sox demended.
                The Yankees went on to win the World Series in five games over the Brooklyn Dodgers, who held off the Cardinals to win the National League by a one game margin.
                Of interest in the Series was that Tommy Henrich hit a homer in the first game, off of Don Newcombe. The Yankees won by a 1-0 score. Henrich became just the second player to homer for the only run of a World Series game. The first? His manager Casey Stengel, who homered of Sad Sam Jones in the third game of the 1923 Series.


                Other events and items of note for the 1949 season…

                The Chicago Cubs hit two grand slam home runs in the same week…both hit by outfielder Andy Pafko, and both feature the same runners on base: Roy Smalley, Phil Cavaretta and Hank Sauer.
                Both Philadelphia teams finished over .500 for the season. This was the first time since 1913 that both teams had a winning season in the same year.

                Phillies rookie Eddie Sanicki earned three hits in thirteen at-bats, but each of those hits was a homer. Which gave him a .231 batting average, but a .923 slugging percentage.

                A’s outfielder Elmer Valo became the first American League hitter with two bases loaded triples in the same game.

                In Boston, Red Sox pitchers Ellis Kinder and Mel Parnell would each win twenty games. This would be the last time that two Red Sox pitchers would win twenty games in the same season.

                Ted “The Thumper” Williams would collect 194 hits, the most he would get in a season. Surprisingly, Teddy Ballgame never made 200 his in a season.

                Giants pitcher Dave Koslo became the first Earned Run Average leader to have not pitched a shutout.

                Wally Westlake of the Pirates became the first National Leaguer to hit for the cycle in two consecutive seasons.

                Teammate Ralph Kiner hit a record sixteen homers in the month of September, a record that was equaled by Richie Sexson in 2001.

                Cleveland outfielder Dale Mitchell hit twenty-three triples and would be the last in the American League to hit twenty until George Brett’s twenty in 1979.

                Tiger third-baseman George Kell finished with the second fewest strikeouts by the batting champion in the American League.

                Pee Wee Reese, of the Brooklyn Dodgers, was the last National League shortstop to walk 100 times in a season.

                And teammate Don Newcombe became the first player in Major League history to make an All-Star team after starting the season in the minor leagues.


                

              Now to the statistical review. We’ll begin with the National League pitching. The initial top ten rankings are as follows:

Team
W-L
ERA
Svs
Preacher Roe
Dodgers
15-6
2.79
1
Jack Banta
Dodgers
10-6
3.37
3
Howie Pollett
Cardinals
20-9
2.77
1
Warren Spahn
Braves
21-14
3.07
0
Ken Heintzelman
Phillies
17-10
3.02
0
Russ Meyer
Phillies
17-8
3.08
1
Dave Koslo
Giants
11-14
2.50
4
Don Newcombe
Dodgers
17-8
3.17
1
Harry Brecheen
Cardinals
14-11
3.35
1
Ken Raffensberger
Reds
18-17
3.39
0


                And compared to their own team performances, we get this list:
Ken Raffensberger
Above



Warren Spahn
Above



Preacher Roe
Above



Jack Banta
Above



Bob Rush
Cubs
10-18
4.07
4
Don Newcombe
Above



Johnny Schmitz
Cubs
11-13
4.35
3
Dave Koslo
Above



Monk Dubiel
Cubs
6-9
4.14
4
Eddie Erautt
Reds
411
3.36
1

                Bringing our top ten pitching performances for the National League to this top ten list:
Warren Spahn
7th in MVP vote
Preacher Roe
16th in MVP vote
Jack Banta
No votes
Ken Raffensberger
19th in MVP vote (tied)
Howie Pollett
11th in MVP vote (tied)
Ken Heintzelman
9th in MVP vote
Don Newcombe
8th in MVP vote
Dave Koslo
No votes
Russ Meyer
19th in MVP vote (tied)
Harry Brecheen
No votes

                Note that there was still no individual post-season pitching award voting.

                On to the American League pitchers, where our initial top ten list is:
Mel Parnell
Red Sox
25-7
2.77
2
Bob Lemon
Indians
22-10
2.99
1
Virgil Trucks
Tigers
19-11
2.81
4
Al Benton
Indians
9-6
2.12
10
Fred Hutchinson
Tigers
15-7
2.96
1
Joe Page
Yankees
13-8
2.59
27
Ellis Kinder
Red Sox
23-6
3.36
4
Mike Garcia
Indians
14-5
2.50
3
Vic Raschi
Yankees
21-10
3.34
0
Eddie Lopat
Yankees
15-10
3.26
1

                And then compared to their team performances, we get this next list:
Ned Garver
Browns
12-17
3.98
3
Ray Scarborough
White Sox
13-11
4.60
0
Mel Parnell
Above



Bill Wight
White Sox
15-13
3.31
1
Tom Ferrick
Browns
6-4
3.88
6
Mickey Haefner
Senators
9-11
4.40
1
Virgil Trucks
Above



Alex Kellner
A’s
20-12
3.75
1
Randy Gumpert
White Sox
13-16
3.81
1
Sid Hudson
Senators
8-17
4.22
1

                And that brings our overall top American League pitchers to this:
Mel Parnell
4th in MVP
Bob Lemon
9th in MVP
Virgil Trucks
22nd in MVP
Fred Hutchinson
No votes
Ellis Kinder
5th in MVP
Al Benton
No votes
Mike Garcia
No votes
Joe Page
3rd in MVP
Bill Wight
No votes
Vic Raschi
11th in MVP

                Then to the hitters, leading off with the National League top ten initial list:

Team
HR
RBI
AVG
RCG
Jackie Robinson
Dodgers
16
124
.342
1.47
Stan Musial
Cardinals
36
123
.338
1.37
Ralph Kiner
Pirates
54
127
.310
1.24
Carl Furillo
Dodgers
18
106
.322
1.29
Hank Sauer
Reds/Cubs
31
99
.275
1.08
Enos Slaughter
Cardinals
13
96
.336
1.16
Del Ennis
Phillies
25
110
.302
1.15
Bobby Thompson
Giants
27
109
3.09
1.16
Pee Wee Reese
Dodgers
16
73
.279
1.22
Roy Campanella
Dodgers
22
82
.287
0.96


                Then when compared to their team’s performance, we get this list:
Ralph Kiner
Above




Hank Sauer
Above




Stan Musial
Above




Del Ennis
Above




Andy Seminick
Phillies
24
68
.243
0.88
Andy Pafko
Cubs
18
69
.281
0.90
Jackie Robinson
Above




Walker Cooper
Giants/Reds
20
83
.258
0.90
Wally Westlake
Pirates
23
104
.282
1.07
Bobby Thompson
Above





That then brings us to this finalized top ten National League hitters:
Stan Musial
2nd in MVP vote
Ralph Kiner
4th in MVP vote
Jackie Robinson
National League MVP
Hank Sauer
19th in MVP vote (tied)
Del Ennis
13th in MVP vote
Carl Furillo
6th in MVP vote
Enos Slaughter
3rd in MVP vote
Bobby Thompson
No votes
Andy Seminick
No votes
Wally Westlake
No votes

                To the American League, where our initial top ten list is:
Ted Williams
Red Sox
43
159
.343
1.72
Vern Stephens
Red Sox
39
159
.290
1.50
Tommy Henrich
Yankees
24
85
.287
1.31
Bobby Doerr
Red Sox
18
109
.309
1.31
Vic Wertz
Tigers
20
133
.304
1.35
Eddie Joost
A’s
23
81
.263
1.29
Yogi Berra
Yankees
20
91
.277
1.12
Johnny Growth
Tigers
11
73
.293
1.18
Dom DiMaggio
Red Sox
8
60
.307
1.23
George Kell
Tigers
3
59
.343
1.14

                And against their team averages, we get this list:
Ted Williams
Above




Roy Sievers
Browns
16
91
.306
1.14
Larry Doby
Indians
24
85
.280
1.14
Eddie Joost
Above




Vic Wertz
Above




Tommy Henrich
Above




Vern Stephens
Above




Johnny Groth
Above




Cass Michaels
Senators
6
83
.308
0.97
George Kell
Above





                Which brings our overall top ten American League performances to:
Ted Williams
American League MVP
Vern Stephens
7th in MVP vote
Tommy Henrich
6th in MVP vote
Vic Wertz
10th in MVP vote
Eddie Joost
13th in MVP vote
Bobby Doerr
No votes
Roy Sievers
18th in MVP vote
Yogi Berra
15th in MVP vote
Johnny Growth
No votes
Larry Doby
No votes



                In the overall rankings, the topo five players in each league were hitters. So, I will add the top pitcher to the bottom of each list. Those mythical post-season awards votes would tally as follows:

National League


Stan Musial
Player of the Year

Ralph Kiner
Jackie Robinson
Hank Sauer
Del Ennis



Warren Spahn
Pitcher of the Year



American League



Ted Williams
Player of the Year

Vern Stephens
Tommy Henrich
Vic Wertz
Eddie Joost


Mel Parnell
Pitcher of the Year