Bob Elliott
September 26, 1948: The Boston Braves beat the New York Giants, 3-2 at Braves Field in Boston, and clinch the National League Pennant. Bob Elliott, the previous season's NL Most Valuable Player, and not to be confused with the comedian of the same name who had already formed a famed comedy duo with Ray Goulding, hits a home run.
Elliott, the 3rd baseman, finished the season with 23 home runs and 100 RBIs. Left fielder Jeff Heath hit 20 homers and had 76 RBIs. Shortstop Alvin Dark was named the NL Rookie of the Year, after batting .322. He would later star for the Giants.
The Braves had a great lefty-righty pitching pair in Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. At times, those two looked like the only good starting pitchers for the Braves. In September, Gerald Hern of the Boston Herald wrote:
- First we'll use Spahn
- then we'll use Sain
- Then an off day
- followed by rain
- Back will come Spahn
- followed by Sain
- And followed
- we hope
- by two days of rain.
In time, it became "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain." Actually, 1948 wasn't a great season for Spahn: It was the only season from 1947 to 1951 in which he didn't win at least 21 games, going 15-12 with a 3.71 ERA, not indicative of the title he would eventually have, that of the winningest lefthanded pitcher of all time. In contrast, had there been a Cy Young Award then, Sain would have won it, going 24-15 with a 2.60 ERA.
Spahn (appropriately, left) and Sain
But Vern Bickford went 11-5 with a 3.27 ERA, and Bill Voiselle went 13-13 with 3.63 -- meaning each had a better ERA than Spahn. It was Bickford who started and won the clincher.
Managed by Billy Southworth, who had previously managed the St. Louis Cardinals to the Pennant in 1942, '43 and '44, the Braves finished 91-62. This is the 14th Pennant won by the team then calling itself the Boston Braves, the 10th in the National League. But it is the 1st since their 1914 "Miracle." In between, the Red Sox, playing a mile to the east at Fenway Park, had won American League Pennants in 1915, '16, '18 and '46, and still had a chance to make 1948 an All-Boston World Series. But they ended up losing a Playoff for the Pennant to the Cleveland Indians, who then went on to beat the Braves in the World Series, in 6 games.
This 1948 Pennant turned out to be the Braves' last in Boston: They later won 2 in Milwaukee, and, in 2021, won their 7th in Atlanta.
In 1999, seeing the Red Sox with a starting rotation of Pedro Martínez, Derek Lowe, knuckleballing Tim Wakefield, and a washed-up pair of Bret Saberhagen and Portugal, Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe reached back over half a century, and said that Sox fans should pray for "Pedro and Lowe, and three days of snow."
*
September 26, 1948 was a Sunday. Singer Olivia Newton-John was born. And these other baseball games were played that day:
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-1 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Ralph Branca outpitched Robin Roberts. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-4 with a stolen base. Roy Campanella hit a home run. Gil Hodges went 0-for-4, and Duke Snider did not play.
This was a transition year for the Dodgers, as the stars who led them to the 1941 and 1947 Pennants began to be traded away, like Dixie Walker, Eddie Stanky and Joe Hatten. Campanella and Carl Erskine had debuted in 1948, and they had traded for Preacher Roe and Billy Cox. The season before was the debut year of Robison and Snider, and the 1st full season for Hodges. The year before was the debut of Carl Furillo. The 1949 season would be the 1st for Don Newcombe. With holdover Pee Wee Reese as Captain, the team that became known as "The Boys of Summer" took shape, and, of the next 8 NL Pennants, won 5 and just missed 2 others.
* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2 at Yankee Stadium. Tommy Byrne outpitched Mel Parnell. Ted Williams went 1-for-4. So did Joe DiMaggio, who also had an RBI. Tommy Henrich hit a home run.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds, 8-6 and 8-5. Pirate slugger Ralph Kiner went 0-for-3 with a walk in the opener, but 2-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs in the nightcap.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-1 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Bob Feller outpitched Hal Newhouser. The day's games left the Indians 1 game ahead of both the Yankees and the Red Sox, with each team having 5 games left. When the regular season was over, the Indians and Red Sox were tied, with the Yankees 1 game back. The Indians beat the Red Sox in a Playoff for the Pennant, thus preventing an All-Boston World Series. The Indians then beat the Braves in 6 games. Cleveland hasn't won a World Series since.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Stan Musial went 1-for-4 with an RBI. He was wrapping up perhaps his finest season, stat-wise, with career highs in batting average, .376; on-base percentage, .450; slugging percentage, .702; OPS+, 200; total bases, 429; home runs, 39; and RBIs, 131. He fell 1 home run short of the Triple Crown, as Kiner and New York's Johnny Mize each hit 40; and won the MVP.
It was in this season that he began to be called "Stan the Man," after a reporter overheard a fan at Ebbets Field say, "Uh-oh, that man is back in town."
* The Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Randy Gumpert pitched a 6-hit shutout.
* And the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators were not scheduled.
Only 2 games were played in the NFL. The Washington Redskins beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-14 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. And the Chicago Bears beat the team that would become their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 45-7 at City Stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
There were 3 games in the All-America Football Conference. The Baltimore Colts beat the football version of the Brooklyn Dodgers, 35-20 at Municipal Stadium in Baltimore. The Cleveland Browns beat the Chicago Rockets, 21-10 at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Buffalo Bills, 38-28 at Civic Stadium (later renamed War Memorial Stadium) in Buffalo.
All 3 games were won by teams that were admitted to the NFL in 1950. The Bills were not, but were reborn in the American Football League in 1960, and were admitted to the NFL in the merger.
One more sporting event of note: Four months after the country declared its independence, the national soccer team of Israel played its 1st game. The site was the Polo Grounds in New York, and the opponent was the U.S. team that had just played in the Olympics in London. The U.S. won, 3-1. I have a separate entry for this event.
