May 13, 1942: The Jim Tobin Game

Jim Tobin

May 13, 1942: The Boston Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-5 at Braves Field in Boston. The Braves' Jim Tobin was not only the winning pitcher, but hit 3 home runs -- and he would need all of them.

The game was uneventful, until, with 2 outs in the top of the 3rd inning, 2 Braves errors and a Bill Nicholson single gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the 3rd, Tobin hit a long fly ball to right field, caught by Nicholson. He had to work out of another error-aided jam in the top of the 4th. It was beginning to look like it wasn't his day.

But it was. His catcher, former Cincinnati Reds star Ernie Lombardi, hit a home run in the bottom of the 4th. Tobin himself led off the bottom of the 5th with a game-tying home run. Nicholson -- known as "Swish" because his strikeouts made his home runs not really worth it, making him, as a Cub, the Dave Kingman of his day -- turned the tide back with a 2-run homer in the top of the 6th.

Bill Nicholson

Still down 4-2, Tobin led off the bottom of the 7th with a home run. Two outs later, Braves shortstop Eddie Miller tied the game with another homer. With 1 out in the 8th, Paul Waner, the former Pittsburgh Pirates star now closing in on 3,000 career hits -- "Big Poison" got the milestone on June 19 -- singled. After Sibby Sisti grounded out, Tobin came up again. Rather than pinch-hit for a tired pitcher, the Braves' manager played a hunch, to see if he had another homer in him. He did, and the Braves led, 6-4.

The Braves' manager was Casey Stengel. On April 19 of that season, Warren Spahn made his major league debut for the Braves. The following year, Stengel was hit by a taxi and sidelined for a few weeks, 

In 1965, in what would be Stengel's last year as a manager and Spahn's last year as a player, they were reunited on the New York Mets. Spahn said, "I'm the only guy who played for Stengel both before and after he was a genius." A sportswriter called the taxi driver the man who had done the most for Boston baseball that season. One man wrote an open letter to Casey, sending it to a Boston newspaper, saying, "There is a train leaving Boston at 6:00 tonight. Be under it." Not on it, under it.

The pitcher who gave up Tobin's 3rd homer was Hiram Bithorn, the 1st Puerto Rican to play in the major leagues. Light-skinned enough to be considered "white" in that segregated era, "Hi" Bithorn debuted with the Cubs that season, and led the National League in shutouts in 1943 with 7, then served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, missing the Cubs' Pennant season of 1945. He was murdered in Mexico while playing in their league in 1951.

Despite his performance thus far, Tobin was not out of the woods yet. He got the 1st out in the 9th, but gave up a walk to Phil Cavarretta. He got the 2nd out, but, pinch-hitting for Bithorn, Glen "Rip" Russell doubled Cavarretta home. Tobin got Charlie Gilbert to pop up to 2nd, and the Braves were 6-5 winners.

Tobin remains the only pitcher ever to win a game while hitting 3 home runs. Nobody noticed it at the time, but if his earlier drive, before his 1st, had gone just a little further, it would have been 4 home runs in a game, by a pitcher.

Then a 29-year-old native of Oakland, Tobin went 105-112 in a career that lasted from 1937 to 1945. In 1944, he pitched a no-hitter, and was named to the All-Star Game. As for his hitting, it was no fluke: He batted .230 for his career, topping out at .280 in 1943, and hit 17 home runs with 102 RBIs. In 1944, the year of his no-hitter, he drew a walk against Clyde Shoun, making him the only baserunner in another pitcher's no-hitter. He was called on as a pinch-hitter over 100 times.

He was with the Detroit Tigers when they won the 1945 World Series, went back to the Pacific Coast League, and was still pitching in the high minors until 1950. Reunited with Stengel, he pitched and won the PCL Pennant clincher for the Oakland Oaks in 1948. His 105 major league wins were accompanied by 81 in the minors. He had a bad heart, and, after a few years of running a bar, died in 1969, only 56 years old.

His brother, Jackie Tobin, played the infield for the Braves in the "Let's call up anybody who's not yet in the service" year of 1945.

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May 13, 1942 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that Edward Hopper's painting Nighthawks was sold. I have a separate entry for that event.

These other baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 7-2 at League Park in Cleveland. Alfred "Chubby" Dean -- no relation to Dizzy and Daffy -- outpitched Lefty Gomez. Both Yankee runs came on solo home runs by Joe DiMaggio.

* The New York Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-1 at the Polo Grounds. Mel Ott went 0-for-3 with a walk, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0 at Ebbets Field. Curt Davis pitched a 2-hit shutout.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Rookie Stan Musial went 3-for-6 with an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 6-2 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Myril Hoag singled Joe Kuhel home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Ted Williams went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* And the Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Browns, 10-9 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.