Brownies and Nats split

Game 1 – St. Louis 3 Washington 2

Milo Candini and Nels Potter hooked up in a cracker of pitcher’s duel. Both starters went 8 innings allowing only 2 runs. The game went to the bottom of the 9th all tied at 2. Manager Chisholm brought in Mickey Haefner for a tiring Candini. It did not turn out well. He walked the lead-off hitter Milt Byrnes. Don Gutteridge drilled 2-0 offering to the wall and the Brownies had runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Hot hitting George McQuinn was intentionally walked to fill the bases. Vern Stephens stepped up and lifted a ‘Texas Leaguer’ to left center that no one could catch and the faithful went home happy. Potter earns MVP honors.

Game 2 – Washington 2 St. Louis 1

Another great pitching duel. The Browns scored a run in the first off of Johnny Niggeling. Little did they know that that was all they were going to get. Niggeling went the distance allowing 1 run on 5 hits and 5 walks. Washington’s defense which had been porous, committed zero errors. Manager Chisolm complimented the Brownies on their exceptional grounds crew. Niggeling was also the hitting star. After 1 out in the 7th he lined a double to left center. After a ground out moved him to 3rd, Jerry Priddy hit a sharp grounder to 3rd and it looked like the Brownies would escape the inning. Mark Christman’s throw was low and McQuinn could not scoop it. In came Niggeling with the winning run.

Game 3 (1st of 2) Washington 7 St. Louis 1

So ends the close games. Washington exploded for 3 in the 5th and 1 in the 6th off of Sig Jackucki and cruised to an easy win. Dutch Leonard, no not Hubert Benjamin “Dutch” Leonard – this was Emil John “Dutch” Leonard,  was exquisite. He went the distance allowing 1 run on 5 hits with 4 walks. Sound familiar? Sig took the loss, his first, after two fine starts.

Game 4 (2nd of 2) St. Louis 8 Washington 4

It was St. Louis’ turn to win big. Jack Kramer, who has not looked like the ace of the staff yet this season, got the win thanks to 3 homeruns, 2 by Vern Stephens. Vern also had 5 RBIs on the day. George McQuinn had the other homer and stretched his hitting streak to 14. Early Wynn went the distance for Washington and pitched fairly effectively except for the long balls.

Both teams are now 9-7 on the season.

--submitted by Ron Burnette--

Bucs / Brooks split

GAME  1 – Ebbets Field

Strincevich vs Gregg

Dodgers 8, Pirates 1

Hal Gregg cruised to victory as the Brooks gave him ample offensive support.  Luis Olmo was nifty with the bat going 3 for 5 with 3 RBI’s.  Eddie Basinski scored 3 runs from the two hole and September call-up Fats Dantonio was 2 for 3 with an RBI in his season debut.

GAME 2

Sewell vs C. Davis

Dodgers 4, Pirates 1

Curt Davis went the distance allowing 1 run on 7 hits.  Catcher Mike Sandlock and “the Brat”, Eddie Stanky each had two hits, with the latter also knocking in 2 of Brooklyn’s 4 runs.  Dixie Walker hit his first homer of the season in the bottom of the first to start the scoring off.

GAME 3 – DH Game 1

Ostermueller vs Lombardi

Pirates 6, Dodgers 0

The Buc offense finally got on track by scoring  4 quick runs in the top of the first off of tomato can Vic Lombardi (0-4, 3.77).  The dour one, Fritz Ostermueller had an easy 5 hit shutout day on the bump.  Vince DiMaggio had a 2 hit day with an RBI and a run scored as the Bucs took the first game of the twin bill.

GAME 4

Roe vs Branca

Pirates 2, Dodgers 0

Solo runs in the top of the 2^nd and the top of the 7^th were all Preacher Roe needed, as he picked right up with Fritzie left off.  Brooklyn managed just 6 hits and fanned twice in a game with Dodger manager Durocher accused Pittsburgh’s lefty of illegally throwing a spitter.  Lost in the shuffle was the hard luck 3 hit performance of 19 year old Ralph Branca, who just didn’t get any run support as his team was shutout for the second straight day.  Brooklyn actually out hit the Bucs (6-4), but Pittsburgh strung their hits together and took advantage of 6 walks from Branca.

Player Spotlight: Harry Feldman - New York Giants

Feldman, scoring a run while Mel Ott looks (#4) looks on

Due to his bout with TB as a kid, Harry was labled 4F and was kept out of WWII.  From 1942-45 he pitched for the New York Giants and complied a 34-32 record.  In 1945 he was the anchor of New York's pitching staff throwing 217 innings and going 12-13, 3.27.  At the age of 25 he was just about to head into his prime and prove that he could play with the big boys who were returning from the war, but instead he made a huge career error.  Feldman, along with a handful of others, jumped ship to the Mexican league for a bigger pay day.  That bigger pay day would get him blackballed from major league baseball.  Upon his return to the states he wound up only getting a chance in the minors, where he did little to impress anyone.  In two seasons with the PCL San Francisco Seals he went a combined 17-25 with a 4.36 ERA.  At the time the PCL was considered a third major league by many pundits.  At the age of 30 he was out of baseball.  For Feldman, his stint with the Giants was a dream come true since he grew up in the Bronx and was a high school pitching phenom there.  After baseball he ran his own record store in Fort Smith, Alabama.  Sadly, he died of a massive heart attack at the age of 42, while working on his boat in Oklahoma.

Standings after 12 games (3 weeks)

  National           
                     W   L   Pct    GB  L10  Stk
  44 St. Louis N    11    1 .917     -  9-1   L1
  45 New York N      6    6 .500   5.0  5-5   L1
  45 Brooklyn        5    7 .417   6.0  5-5   L1
  44 Cincinnati      5    7 .417   6.0  4-6   W1
  45 Chicago N       5    7 .417   6.0  4-6   W1
  44 Pittsburgh      4    8 .333   7.0  3-7   W1

  American           
                     W   L   Pct    GB  L10  Stk
  43 Washington      7    5 .583     -  5-5   W2
  44 St. Louis A     7    5 .583     -  6-4   L2
  45 Detroit         7    5 .583     -  6-4   W4
  43 New York A      5    7 .417   2.0  5-5   W4
  43 Cleveland       5    7 .417   2.0  4-6   L5
  44 Philadelphia    5    7 .417   2.0  4-6   L4

Cardinals Winning Streak Ended By Cubs

Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
Derringer vs Lanier
St. Louis 5   Chicago 4  (12 Innings)
It was seldom used catcher, Ken O'Dea, who came through with a 12th inning single that plated the winning run for the St.Louis Cardinals and extend their season opening winning streak to 9.  Chicago had taken a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the 8th but was unable to protect it as the Redbirds tied the score that would force the extra innings.

Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
Wyse vs Brecheen
St. Louis 8  Chicago 2
After a tight fought game for 6 innings the Cardinals broke the game open with 2 runs in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th.  St. Louis scored 2 runs in the 3rd inning to take a 3-2 lead before the Cubs got within one on an RBI single by Andy Pafko to plate Peanuts Lowrey who had tripled a batter before.  Danny Litwhiler's 2 run single gave the Cardinals some insurance runs in the 7th and RBI singles by Stan Musial, Ray Sanders and Whitey Kurowski closed out the scoring and stretched the Cardinals' winning streak to 10 games. Musial went 4 for 5 in the game and scored 3 times.

Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
Prim vs Munger
St. Louis 10  Chicago 3
The final score does not indicate the quality of the game that was played.  St. Louis led the game 3-2 going into the top of the 8th inning when the Cub's Stan Hack led off the inning with a double and scored the tying run one out later on a Bill Nicholson single.  Hy Vandenberg came on in the bottom of the inning and retired the first two batters before disaster struck.  Vandenberg suddenly lost his control and proceeded to give up a triple, single, single, walk, walk, single, walk, walk and single before the manager finally removed him.  The result was a 7 run inning and St. Louis' 11th win in a row.  Danny Litwhiler had a triple and Homerun to lead the Cardinals attack.

Sportsman's Park, St. Louis

Passeau vs Cooper
Chicago 3  St. Louis 2
All good things must come to the end and for the St. Louis Cardinals it was the outstanding pitching performance but Chicago's Claude Passeau.  The righthander kept the high powered Redbirds in check all game allowing only three hits and nearly tossing a complete game.  His only mistake came in the 6th inning when he got behind in the count to Whitey Kurowski who took advantage and singled in the only 2 runs the Cardinals would get.  After getting the first 2 outs in the 9th Passeau appeared to run out of steam as he gave up a single to Marty Marion and a walk to Pepper Martin and was replaced by Paul Erickson to face a tough out in PH'er Walker Cooper who was trying to tie or end the game and get his brother Mort off the hook for the loss.  It wasn't to be as Cooper flied out to left to end the game and end the Cardinals magnificent run of wins at 11 games.

Jints and Redlegs split 4 game set in Coogan's Bluff

Polo Grounds

GAME  1

Walters vs Mungo

Giants 3, Reds 0

Van Mungo (1-1) threw 4 hit shutout ball over 8 innings before giving way to A.Adams, who pitched a scoreless 9^th.  The game was a scoreless tie until the Jints broke the ice with an RBI single from Schemer.  Back to back groundouts by Lombardi and Reyes added 2 insurance runs.

GAME 2

Heusser vs Brewer

Reds 5, Giants 0

Ed Heusser (1-0) threw 145 pitches in this 6 hit gem.  Top of the order stars Mel Ott and Ducky Medwick posted hits to keep their averages at or near the .400 mark.

GAME 3

Shoun vs Voiselle

Giants 5, Reds 2

Adrian Zabala pitched two scoreless innings in relief to keep the Reds from coming back from 3 runs down.  New York fired the opening salvo with a 3 spot in the bottom of the first, only to be answered back by the Reds who tallied 2 in the top of the second.  Top of the order guys Hausmann and Kerr were the catalysts with 2 hits each.

GAME 4

De la Cruz vs Feldman

Reds 13, Giants 3

Cincy scored a ton of runs, 11 off Giant starter Feldman, to ensure the series split here in the Big Apple.  Shortstop Eddie Miller (3-5, 3 RBI) led a potent offensive attack that registered 13 runs on 17 hits.  Everyone but starting pitcher De la Cruz registered a saftety.  Tipton and Mesner each had 3, with the former scoring 3 runs.  Giant centerfield Whitey Lockman injured himself on a diving catch and will be out for at least 2-3 days.  Lockman was 1-1 when he left the game.  His season average stands at a beefy .429.

Nats take 3 of 4 from Brownies

Griffith Stadium

GAME  1

Muncrief vs Carrasquel

Senators 3, Browns 1

Nats broke a 1-1 tie with 2 runs in the bottom of the 5^th, then relied on the right arm of Alex Carrasquel to hold the Brownies at bay.  RBI singles by Mickey Vernon and Jake Powell proved the go ahead runs.

GAME 2

Jackucki vs Pyle

Browns 6, Senators 1

Junior Stevens error was the difference between Sig Jakucki posting a complete game shutout and just a complete game.  That error led to Washington’s lone run in the bottom of the 6^th.  The Brownies got 4 of their 10 hits from Mark Christman.  Chet Laabs knocked in 2 with a 3 for 5 day.

GAME 3

Galehouse vs Wynn

Senators 8, Browns 6

The Nats were down 4-2 after 6 ½ innings of play, then jumped all over Denny Galehouse for 6 unearned runs in the bottom of the 7^th.  A comedy of errors, walks and some timely hitting by George Case and pitcher Wynn put the Nats in the driver’s seat.  The Brownies fought back with 2 in the top of the 9^th off of Mickey Haefner, who eventually shut the door.

GAME 4

Kramer vs Leonard

Senators 9, Browns 2

The Nats took a close game (3-1) and blew it open with 6 runs in their final 2 at bats.  Dutch Leonard went the distance for his second win of the season and gave up just 2 runs on 6 hits.  Catcher Tony Giuliani knocked in 4 with a single and a big bases clearing triple.