December 9, 1965: The Frank Robinson-Milt Pappas Trade

December 9, 1965: Branch Rickey, baseball's greatest executive ever, dies at age 84. A mediocre catcher in the major leagues from 1905 to 1914, he wasn't much of a field manager, either, from 1913 to 1925. But he served as general manager of the St. Louis Browns from 1913 to 1919, then of the St. Louis Cardinals until 1942, then of the Brooklyn Dodgers until 1950, and finally of the Pittsburgh Pirates until 1955.

As those teams' GMs, he did the following:

* He  practically (if not completely) invented the farm system, revolutionizing baseball.

* He brought Grover Cleveland Alexander to the Cardinals, setting up the most dramatic moment of the 1926 World Series.

* He traded Rogers Hornsby for Frankie Frisch, one future Hall-of-Famer for another.

* He built the team known as "The Gashouse Gang," the 1934 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.

* He built the team led by Stan Musial that would dominate the National League in the World War II years.

* He built on the success of his Brooklyn predecessor Larry MacPhail, and built the team that became known as "The Boys of Summer."

* He revolutionized baseball, a 2nd time by racially integrating the Dodgers by signing Jackie Robinson.

* And he rebuilt the Pirates by signing Roberto Clemente and Bill Mazeroski, though he was no longer there by the time they won a World Series.

The teams he built won 16 Pennants and 8 World Series, the 1st in 1926 and the last in 1960.

He was what country singer Kris Kristofferson would have called "a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction." He was a devout Methodist who would not work on Sundays, and thus would not even go to the ballpark on Sundays, letting a coach manage for him while he was the manager. Yet he would still accept the gate receipts from Sunday, the most lucrative day of the week.

It was said that he had money and he had players, and he didn't like to see them mix. He would be forced out of the Dodgers by Walter O'Malley. The two men had these things in common: They were cheap, they loved cigars, and they were Republicans. That was it: On important matters -- human dignity, racial sensitivity, and the Borough of Brooklyn -- they were incredibly different men.

On November 13, 1965, he was making his acceptance speech for his induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Columbia, when he suffered a stroke. He never regained consciousness, and died on December 9, at the age of 84.

He was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967, 5 years after Robinson was elected. Oddly, while Rickey's plaque at the Hall in Cooperstown, New York mentions his signing of Robinson, Robinson's original plaque made no mention of the fact that he was the 1st black player in modern baseball. A new plaque, cast in 2008, mentions it.

*

Frank Robinson, no relation to Jackie, was rising through the Cincinnati Reds' minor-league system during Rickey's final days as GM of the Pirates. Rickey was so desperate to improve the team, he offered the Reds $1 million -- about $10.3 million in today's money -- for a man who had yet to reach the majors. Gabe Paul was the GM of the Reds, in his 1st major league job, and told Rickey, "I wouldn't give you Frank Robinson for your entire team."

Paul was fired after the 1960 season, and his replacement, Bill DeWitt Sr., father of the man who now owns the Cardinals, was hired, and got the credit for the Reds' 1961 National League Pennant, a year in which Robinson was named the NL's Most Valuable Player. Robinson continued to be one of the best players in baseball over the next 4 seasons.

But on December 9, 1965, DeWitt traded Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson. Baldschun and Simpson were throw-ins, designed to make the trade a 3-for-1, so it didn't look like the Reds were trading Robinson even-up for a single pitcher.

This looked like a bad trade rather quickly, as, in the very next season, 1966, Robinson led the Orioles to their 1st American League Pennant and their 1st World Championship, winning the Triple Crown and the Most Valuable Player award for himself, thus becoming the 1st man to win the MVP in both Leagues. (He's still the only one. Six pitchers have won the Cy Young Award in both Leagues: Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.)

As for the Reds, they wouldn't win another Pennant until 1970, and another World Series until 1975. To make matters worse, when the Reds did win the Pennant in 1970, who beat them in the World Series? Robinson and the Orioles, although Brooks Robinson (no relation, of course) was a bigger reason than Frank on that occasion.

So why did they trade Robinson? Because he was "an old 30." Or maybe it was "not a young 30." The wording varies, depending on who tells the story.

Pappas was making $32,500, Baldschun $24,000, and Simpson $8,000; total, $64,500. Robinson, all by himself? $57,000. Robinson wanted $64,000 for 1966, and DeWitt decided he couldn't throw that kind of money around for just 1 player.

Orioles owner Jerry Hoffberger gave Frank his $64,000. He made it $100,000 after the Triple Crown/MVP/World Series season. The most he ever made? $160,000 in 1973 and '74. He actually took a pay cut in '75, to $105,000, even though he was both playing and managing. (He was the 1st black manager in Major League Baseball. By 1971, that was predictable; in 1965, it wasn't.)

The Reds needed pitching, and Pappas was a very good pitcher. He was then 26 years old, and had already won 110 games in the major leagues, against just 74 losses. In 1965, for an Oriole team that finished a distant 2nd to the Minnesota Twins, he went 13-9, with a 2.60 ERA -- an ERA+ of 133, so he wasn't just taking advantage of a pitching-friendly period in baseball history. His WHIP was a nifty 1.102.

He had made the All-Star Team for the 2nd time in 4 seasons. He'd won 16 games in '63 and did it again in '64, and had just won 13 in '65. That's 45 wins over the preceding 3 seasons. Not great, but very good. And he was reliable: He'd never had a significant injury.

His career record turned out to be 209-164 -- by 1 win in the National League, he missed winning at least 100 games in each League. Ten pitchers have done that: Cy Young, Al Orth, Jim Bunning, Ferguson Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan, Dennis Martinez, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. (UPDATE: As of the end of the 2025 season, Max Scherzer is 7 AL wins away from turning the trick.)

Does this sound like a failed pitcher to you? Hardly. The problem wasn't that the Reds acquired him, it was that they let him go too soon. He had a down year in 1966, just 12-11, 4.29. But, even then, he won just 1 fewer game than he did the season before. In 1967, he went 16-13, 3.35. Much better. And then, in 1968, they traded him to the Atlanta Braves, in a 3-for-3 deal.

The names that mattered in that trade turned out to be Pappas and Clay Carroll. Carroll did turn out to be a key cog in the Big Red Machine bullpen of the 1970s. Then again, you wouldn't trade Frank Robinson and Milt Pappas for Clay Carroll, would you?

In 1970, between the Braves and the Chicago Cubs, Pappas went 12-10, 3.34. If he'd been available for the Reds against the Orioles during the 1970 World Series, it might have been a very different story.

*

December 9, 1965 was a Thursday. This was also the day that A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. Only 1 NBA game was played that night. The San Francisco Warriors beat the Cincinnati Royals, 110-109 -- in Dayton, Ohio, at the University of Dayton Fieldhouse, now known as the Thomas J. Frericks Center, 45 miles northeast of the Royals' usual home court, the Cincinnati Gardens.

And only 1 NHL game was played that night. The New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 7-3 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. The Wings pulled off a rare feat, one which might even be worthy of a "Scores On This Historic Day" post all by itself: 7 different goalscorers. Floyd Smith and Doug Barkley scored in the 1st period; Norm Ullman, Gordie Howe and Ab McDonald in the 2nd; and Alex Delvecchio and former Ranger star Andy Bathgate in the 3rd. 

December 8, 1947: The Trade That Made "The Boys of Summer"

Preacher Roe

December 8, 1947: The Brooklyn Dodgers trade right fielder Fred "Dixie" Walker, and pitchers Hal Gregg and Vic Lombardi to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Elwin Charles "Preacher" Roe, 3rd baseman Billy Cox and utility infielder Gene Mauch.

Walker was a 5-time All-Star. He had helped the Dodgers win the National League Pennant in 1941, their 1st in 21 years. He had led the NL In batting average in 1944, and in RBIs in 1945. He had helped the Dodgers win another Pennant just 3 months before the trade. He was so popular, that he was known as "The People's Cherce" -- "The People's Choice," in the Brooklyn accent. Why trade him away? And why trade Gregg and Lombardi, a pair of decent pitchers?

For one very good reason: Dixie, as his nickname suggests, was a Southerner, and opposed to team president Branch Rickey's desegregation of the team, starting with Jackie Robinson. Plus, Walker was 37, and the Dodgers had Carl Furillo coming up. He would also become an NL batting champion, in 1953; and while Walker was a good fielder in right field, Furillo was a better one, with an arm that got him nicknamed, after his Pennsylvania hometown, the Reading Rifle.

Walker played 2 more seasons, mainly as a pinch-hitter, and retired. Aside from the manpower-drain year of 1945, when he went 18-13, Gregg was never more than a journeyman, and was done after 1952. Lombardi was average at best, and was done after 1950.

What did the Dodgers get? Mauch was an afterthought. Ironically, he became one of a few players stuck at shortstop behind Pee Wee Reese who went on to become major league managers. That list would also include Dick Williams, Sparky Anderson and Don Zimmer.

Cox was certainly not acquired for his bat. Only once in Brooklyn would he top .279, only once reach double figures in home runs, and he never had more than 54 RBIs in a season. But he was one of the best-fielding 3rd basemen of all time.

Before Brooks Robinson, before the Yankees' Clete Boyer, he dove all over Ebbets Field to snare anything hit to the left side. It was said that he could get to a grounder and count the stitches on the ball, and still throw the batter out. My grandmother, a Dodger fan from Queens, insisted to the end of her life that Billy Cox was the best 3rd baseman she'd ever seen.

Billy Cox

The real key to the trade was Roe. A lefthander from Arkansas, his nickname came at the age of 3, when an uncle asked his name and Roe responded "Preacher," because of a minister who would take him on horse-and-buggy rides.

His key pitch was a sinker, though many have suggested that he really threw a spitball. Along with righthanders Don Newcombe and Carl Erskine, he gave the Dodgers what amounted to 3 aces in their starting rotation.

Rickey phased out the farmboys who helped the Dodgers win the 1941 and 1947 Pennants, and the near-misses of 1942 and 1946. By Opening Day 1949, he had the classic lineup that would become known, in the title of the book by Roger Kahn, a Brooklyn-born sportswriter who covered them, taken from the poetry of Dylan Thomas, as "The Boys of Summer": Gil Hodges at 1st base, Robinson at 2nd base, Reese at shortstop, Cox at 3rd base, they never quite settled on a left fielder, Edwin "Duke" Snider in center field, Furillo in right field, and Roy Campanella as catcher.

This Dodger team won the Pennant in 1949, fell 1 game short in 1950, lost a painful Playoff for the Pennant in 1951, won the Pennant in 1952, and won it again in 1953. But they couldn't quite win the World Series.

In 1949, Roe went 15-6. In 1950, he went 19-11. In 1951, he went 22-3, and would have won the NL Cy Young Award had one then been available. In 1952, missing part of the season due to injury, he went 11-2. In 1953, again missing time due to injury, he went 11-3. So, over a 3-year stretch, he was 44-8, a winning percentage of .846.

Roe was a terrible hitter, even by the standards of pitchers. My grandmother was always telling me that Roe was a great pitcher, but the worst hitter she ever saw. On July 7, 1953, the Dodgers swept a doubleheader against the Pirates at Forbes Field. Erskine started and won the 1st game. Roe started and won the 2nd game, and also hit a home run. On the radio, Red Barber said, "Well, old Number 28 has hit a home run, and we'll never hear the end of it, folks!" What Grandma didn't say was that Roe got a 2nd hit in the game; and that, in the same game, the light-hitting Cox hit 2 home runs. The Dodgers won, 9-5.

Roe and Cox arrived in Brooklyn together, and they left together: On December 14, 1954, they were traded to the Baltimore Orioles for a pair of minor-leaguers, infielder Harry Schwegman and right-handed pitcher John Jancse, and $60,000. The following year, with Johnny Podres having replaced Roe as Dem Bums' top lefty starter, and Robinson and Zimmer splitting time at 3rd base, the Dodgers finally won the World Series.

Roe retired rather than report to the Orioles, and never pitched again, finishing his career with a record of 127-84, an ERA of 3.43, a .110 batting average, 28 RBIs, and that 1 home run. Cox played 1 more season, and was replaced as Oriole 3rd baseman by Brooks Robinson. Cox died in 1978, while Roe proved more durable, living until 2009, age 92.

 

*

December 8, 1947 was a Monday. Rock music legend Gregg Allman was born. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek: Monday Night Football was 23 years away. There were no games scheduled in the NHL. There was 1 game in the league that would become the NBA: The New York Knicks beat the St. Louis Bombers, 71-56 at the old Madison Square Garden.

October 16, 1950: O'Malley vs. Rickey, and the Brooklyn Dodgers' Fate Is Sealed

Branch Rickey

October 16, 1950: Branch Rickey's contract as president, and de facto general manager, of the Brooklyn Dodgers expires. He is still owner of 1/4 of the franchise. With the death of quarter-owner John L. Smith, another quarter-owner, Walter O'Malley, buys Smith's share from his heirs, making him the largest owner: O'Malley 50 percent, Rickey 25 percent, and James Mulvey and his wife, Elizabeth "Dearie" Mulvey each having 12.5 percent.

Dearie was the daughter of Steve McKeever, who with his brother Ed ran the construction company that helped former sole owner Charlie Ebbets build Ebbets Field in 1912-13.

O'Malley knew he could dominate the Mulveys, and did so until he finally bought their children out in 1975. But he and Rickey were both very strong personalities, with little in common except being lawyers, cheapness, the Republican Party, the love of a good cigar, and the belief that they always had to be right.

Walter O'Malley

O'Malley hated everything about Rickey, including his favorite player, Jackie Robinson, and his favorite broadcaster, Red Barber; and would force Rickey, Robinson and Barber out of the organization -- all before moving the team, meaning he would have been a dirty bastard even if the team were still in Brooklyn to this day.

O'Malley offered to buy Rickey's quarter-share of the club. Seeing no reason to hold onto it -- he was not going to be offered a new contract as president, and thus would no longer have control over transactions and salaries -- Rickey decided to comply.

But Rickey knew a trick that O'Malley didn't know. He knew that an agreement in the Dodger partnership said that if any of the partners got an offer for their shares, and another partner wanted to buy, that other partner had to match the offer. Rickey found someone willing to pony up a million bucks, and so O'Malley had to pay through the nose: The $350,000 of '42 was worth $515,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars, while, in reverse, the $350,000 of '50 was worth just $237,000, so O'Malley was really offering Rickey a 54 percent loss. Instead, O'Malley had to pay Rickey a 104 percent profit.

Nevertheless, O'Malley got what he wanted: Control. From this day onward, the Brooklyn Dodgers were doomed. Over the next 7 years, O'Malley guided them to 4 National League Pennants, their only World Series win -- and their move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. From his takeover in 1950 until his death in 1979, the Dodgers won 11 Pennants, including 4 World Series.

Today, Rickey's original '42 investment is worth $6.3 million, O’Malley's '50 offer $4.3 million, and Rickey's $1.05 million becomes $12.8 million. In 1969, O'Malley admitted his holdings in the Dodgers were worth $24 million, which is $191 million in 2022 dollars.

At his death in 1979, at which point his son Peter became owner, they were said to be worth $50 million, or today's $201 million. When Peter sold the Dodgers in 1998, it was for $311 million, or today's $558 million. When Magic Johnson bought the Dodger franchise, including Dodger Stadium, in 2012, the price was rumored to be about $2 billion, or today's $2.55 billion.

Rickey's son, Branch Rickey Jr. -- known as "Twig," but never to his face, or to his father's -- was already the Dodgers' farm director. After leaving the Dodgers, Branch Sr. was offered the position of general manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He took it, and took Branch Jr. with him to direct their farm system. Health problems forced Branch Sr. to retire in 1955, but his contributions, and those of Branch Jr., would help lead to a World Championship for Pittsburgh in 1960.

Oddly, Branch Jr., who had diabetes, died first, in 1961; Branch Sr. died in 1965. Branch Jr.'s son, Branch Barrett Rickey (never "Branch Rickey III," but that's what people call him), served as the president of the Pacific Coast League, having also worked in the Pirates' organization, and also in that of the Cincinnati Reds (which makes sense, since Branch Sr. was from Ohio).

*

October 16, 1950 was a Monday. The baseball season had ended 9 days earlier, with the New York Yankees completing a 4-game sweep of the World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies. The NBA season began 2 weeks later. The NHL season was underway, but no games were scheduled. And football was in midweek. There would be no Monday Night Football for another 20 years. Therefore, there were no scores on this historic day.

However, this was the day on which C.S. Lewis published The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, beginning his Chronicles of Narnia series. I have a separate entry for that event.

July 19, 1942: The Tragedy of Pete Reiser

July 19, 1942: Pete Reiser of the Brooklyn Dodgers suffers the worst injury of his career, one of many that may have kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Dodgers were playing a doubleheader with the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Despite a home run from shortstop Harold "Pee Wee" Reese, the Dodgers lost the opener, 8-5. Whitey Kurowski hit a home run for the Cards, and a rookie left fielder named Stan Musial went 2-for-4.

The nightcap ends even worse for the Dodgers. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Enos Slaughter hits a long drive to center field. Reiser goes after it, and catches it, but crashes into the wall, which, like all outfield walls in those days, is not padded. The impact not only knocked him out, it caused him to drop the ball. Slaughter got all the way around the bases. He was credited with an inside-the-park home run, and the Cardinals won, 7-6.

Harold Patrick Reiser was born on March 17, 1919 in St. Louis. An outfielder, he was nicknamed "Pistol Pete" after a film cowboy, and the name "Pete" stuck. (Basketball star Pete Maravich would also later be nicknamed Pistol Pete.) He was good enough that Branch Rickey, then the general manager of the Cardinals, started scouting Reiser from the age of 12.

Reiser signed with the Cardinals, but in 1938, he was among a group of minor league players who were declared free agents by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The Dodgers signed Reiser. Rickey would become their general manager in 1942, but would not get the best out of him as he'd hoped.

He reached the Dodgers in 1940, and in 1941, he led the National League in with a .343 batting average, 39 doubles, 17 triples, 299 total bases, 117 runs scored, and, though almost nobody knew about these stats at the time (though Rickey knew about on-base percentage), a .558 slugging percentage, a .964 OPS and a 164 OPS+. Though these figures did not lead the League, he had a .406 on-base percentage, 14 home runs, and 76 RBIs. He was named to the All-Star Game.

The Dodgers won the Pennant, their 1st in 21 years, and had the top 3 players in the NL's Most Valuable Player voting: 1st baseman Dolph Camilli (his 34 homers and 120 RBIs led the League), center fielder Reiser, and pitcher Whitlow Wyatt (he went 22-10). They lost the World Series to the New York Yankees, but they were a young, scrappy, exciting team that had already had a taste of glory. The future looked bright.

Especially for Reiser: He was only 22 years old. His manager at the time, Leo Durocher, would later manage Willie Mays on the New York Giants. Mays was his favorite player out of all those he managed in a career that lasted from 1938 to 1972, but, comparing him to Reiser, he said, "Pete had more power than Willie, lefthanded and righthanded both. Willie had everything. Pete had everything but luck."

But he his great speed meant that he frequently couldn't stop when making catches in center field, and crashed into the outfield wall. Outfield walls weren't padded then. After his July 19, 1942 injury, he only missed 4 games, and kept going. Then, on August 2, again in the 2nd game of a doubleheader, a 7-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Ebbets Field, he again knocked himself out by crashing into the center field wall.

He was stretchered off. My grandmother was a Dodger fan, living in Queens, and listening to the game on the radio, and she never forgot it. She told me that Tex Rickards, the Dodgers' public-address announcer, nicknamed after George "Tex" Rickard the boxing promoter, was "a real Brooklyn character." Once, when fans down the foul lines had draped their jackets over the railings, the umpires deemed it a distraction. They got Rickards' attention, told him what the problem was, and he announced, "Will da fans sittin' down the foul lines please remove deir clothing?"

Grandma figured that Rickards must have asked someone why Reiser was leaving the game, and he was told, "He don't feel good." So he announced, and it could be heard over the radio, "Your attention, please: Reiser has to leave the game, because he don't feel good!" The few thousand fans in attendance cracked up. Grandma was sure that Dodger radio announcer Walter "Red" Barber, a Southerner but a very cultured man, would have a fit. And he did.

This time, Reiser missed 6 games. He was batting .379 at the time of the 1st injury, and .343 at the time of the 2nd. He finished the season at .310, although his 20 stolen bases led the League. The Dodgers won 104 games, but the Cardinals won 106. No Divisions or Wild Cards then: "Dem Bums" did not see the postseason, and Reiser's injury-induced slump may have been the biggest reason why.

Reiser was drafted into the U.S. Army, and missed the 1943, '44 and '45 seasons fighting World War II. While playing for an Army team, he hurt his shoulder. He later said: "It wasn't as serious as the head injuries, but it did more to end my career. The shoulder kept popping out of place, more bone chips developed, and there was constant pain in the arm and shoulder."

When he came back in 1946, he again led the NL in steals, with a career-high 34. Jackie Robinson became his teammate the next season, and we associate him with stolen bases, but he only topped this figure once, with 37 in 1949. But he only played in 122 games, and the Dodgers lost a Playoff for the Pennant to the Cardinals.

In 1947, with Robinson integrating the team, the Dodgers won the Pennant. But injuries limited Reiser to just 110 games, though he still batted .309. On June 4, in a 9-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Ebbets Field, he crashed into the wall again. This time, teammates who tended to his head injury got blood from his scalp all over their uniforms. He was carried off the field, and even administered the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He missed 34 games, returning to action on July 12.

In Game 4 of the World Series, he was sent up to pinch-hit in the bottom of the 9th, even though he had an injured ankle. Rather than risk losing the game to his hitting, Yankee manager Bucky Harris granted him the respect of ordering that he be intentionally walked. Eddie Miksis was sent in to pinch-run for him, and he scored the winning run. But, again, the Yankees won the Series.

Finally, in 1948, Rickey had enough, and padded the outfield wall at Ebbets Field. Other teams followed suit. In 1949, Commissioner Albert "Happy" Chandler ordered all teams to install "warning tracks" made of dirt around their outfield fences, to let outfielders know they were getting close to the wall.

But the damage was done: Injuries limited Reiser to 64 games in 1948. With Duke Snider ready to take over in center field, Reiser was traded to the Boston Braves. He played for them in 1949 and '50, for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1951, and the Cleveland Indians in 1952, but couldn't take it anymore, and retired at the age of 33, with a .295 lifetime batting average.

Reiser managed in the minors for several years, winning the 1959 Minor League Manager of the Year Award from The Sporting News, for managing a Dodger farm team, the Green Bay Blue Jays, to the Pennant in the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League (a.k.a. "The Three-I League," equivalent to today's Class A). He served as a coach on Walter Alston's Los Angeles Dodgers staff from 1960 to 1964, including finally getting a World Series ring in 1963.

In 1965, he was managing the Dodgers' top farm team, the Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League, when he had a heart attack, and had to quit. His replacement, again, was Duke Snider. Reiser later served as a coach under Durocher with the Cubs and the Houston Astros, and with the California Angels under Lefty Phillips in 1970 and '71.

On October 25, 1981, Pete Reiser died of respiratory disease in Palm Springs, California. He was only 62 years old. Earlier that year, baseball historians Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. They used what they called "Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome" to explain why a truly exceptional player whose career was curtailed by injury, despite not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with the all-time greats, should nonetheless be included on their list.

In addition to Wood and Reiser, they applied this to Dizzy Dean and Herb Score -- but not Ken Hubbs, Tony Conigliaro or Mark Fidrych. And, of course, the book was written before the arrivals in the major leagues of Dwight Gooden, Eric Davis, Bo Jackson, Kerry Wood and Stephen Strasburg.

*

July 19, 1942 was a Sunday. In addition to the Dodger-Cardinal doubleheader, these baseball games were played, all doubleheaders:

* The New York Yankees swept the Chicago White Sox, 9-2 and 12-0 at Yankee Stadium. Hank Borowy went the distance to win the opener, backed by home runs from Joe DiMaggio and Red Rolfe. Red Ruffing pitched a 4-hit shutout in the nightcap, and helped his own cause with a home run.

* The New York Giants split with the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Reds won the opener, 6-3. The Giants won the nightcap, 4-3.

* The Cleveland Indians swept the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston. The Indians won the 1st game, 10-7. Jeff Heath's double in the top of the 12th started a 3-run rally. The 2nd game was called due to darkness after 7 innings, with the Indians ahead, 7-0. Mel Harder had a 3-hit shutout going. Overall, Heath went 4-for-10 with 3 RBIs. Ted Williams was injured and missed both games, but would still end up winning the Triple Crown that season.

* There was a split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Detroit Tigers won the 1st game, 2-1. The Philadelphia Athletics won the 2nd game, 4-3.

* In a battle between the AL's 2 perennial losers at Griffith Stadium in Washington, the St. Louis Browns swept the Washington Senators, 5-3 and 6-3. In a parody of what was once said about George Washington, the baseball team was said to be "Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League." St. Louis, a city built on leather and brewing, was said to be "First in shoes, first in booze, and last in the American League."

But the manpower drain of World War II would hurt these teams less than most, since they had little to lose. The Browns would win their only Pennant in 1944, and the Senators finished only 1 game out in 1945, their best performance between 1933 and 1965 (by which point they were the Minnesota Twins, and the Browns were the Baltimore Orioles).

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept the Boston Braves at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, 8-7 and 9-0. The 2nd game was called due to darkness after 8 innings.

* There was a split at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 1st game, 8-5. The Chicago Cubs won the 2nd game, 8-4.

July 16, 1948: The Durocher Switch

July 16, 1948: Leo Durocher is named manager of the New York Giants -- after having been manager of their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, for 9 of the previous 10 seasons. This shocks fans of both teams: Now, Dodger fans hate a man they had previously loved; and Giant fans, having hated him before, welcome him with open arms.

Durocher had been a good-field-no-hit shortstop, who played on the New York Yankees' 1928 World Series winners (but hadn't yet been promoted for their 1927 "greatest team ever"). In 1929, when the Yankees introduced uniform numbers, based on their batting order, Durocher became the 1st Yankee to wear the Number 7 that would later become legend on Mickey Mantle. But after the 1929 season, the Yankees got rid of him, and he was never employed by another American League team. Legend has it that Babe Ruth accused Durocher of stealing his watch.

He also played for the 1934 World Series winners, the St. Louis Cardinals, a scrappy bunch known as the Gashouse Gang. This team's style of getting runs any way you can would influence his later managing.

In 1938, he was traded to the Dodgers, and was named their manager in 1939. He ceded the shortstop position to Harold "Pee Wee" Reese in 1940, and in 1941, he managed them to their 1st Pennant in 21 years. They lost the World Series to the New York Yankees.

When Spring Training came in 1947, he had to contend with the arrival of Jackie Robinson, the 1st black player in modern baseball. Durocher had grown up in West Springfield, Massachusetts, of French-Canadian descent and Roman Catholic faith, and had been discriminated against for both reasons. So when he learned that some Southerners on the Dodger roster had circulated a petition against Robinson's presence on the team, he stood up for Robinson.

Of course, Durocher was also concerned about winning. And, as a poor kid who became a rich man, and also became a compulsive gambler, he was also concerned about money. So this is what he told them:

You know what you can do with that petition? You can wipe your ass with it. I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a fucking zebra. I’m the manager of this team, and I say he plays. He's gonna win a lot of games for us, and he's gonna make a lot of money for us. And he's only the first. There's a lot more coming.

But Durocher would not be the manager in that critical first season of 1947. He had been connected with mobsters and gamblers. The City's Catholic Youth Organization was also upset over Leo's affair with the woman who would become the 3rd of his 4 wives, actress Laraine Day, and promised a boycott of Ebbets Field if something weren't done.

Baseball Commissioner Albert "Happy" Chandler took the decision out of Dodger president Branch Rickey's hands, and suspended Durocher for the entire season. With Burt Shotton as manager, and Robinson playing superbly under the greatest pressure any American athlete has ever known, the Dodgers won the Pennant -- but, again, lost the World Series to the Yankees.

In the next year's Spring Training, the Dodgers' 1st at the "Dodgertown" complex at Vero Beach, Florida, where they could control things and keep the racists out, Robinson showed up showing the effects of the off-season after-dinner-speaking circuit. Durocher, now eligible to manage again, said, "Jackie Robinson had gotten fat, just for me." Once supportive, Durocher now belittled Robinson, to the point where Robinson called him "a cologne-soaked bully."

Durocher also didn't like Mel Ott. Once the greatest slugger the National League had ever seen, he was now the manager of the Giants, and not a good one. Durocher was once quoted as saying, "Look at Ott. He's a nice guy, and he's gonna finish 8th. All nice guys, and they'll finish 8th with him."

The implication was that, in the 8-team National League, 8th place was last, and that they didn't have enough of a mean streak to win some of the games they could have won. This got turned into "Nice guys finish last," and while it's not Durocher's exact words, he used it as the title of his 1975 autobiography.

Giants owner Horace Stoneham was looking to fire Ott for his lack of success. Rickey, a one-quarter owner of the Dodgers, was looking for a way to get rid of Durocher. It's not clear who made the phone call, but they decided that the easy thing to do was to "trade" Durocher. Ott was bought out of his contract, Durocher was hired by the Giants, and Rickey brought Shotton back, and he remained Dodger manager through the end of the 1950 season.

Leo Durocher, the embodiment of the tough, scrappy, underdogs-for-the-underdogs Brooklyn Dodgers -- managing the aristocratic New York Giants? It was a shock. Sure, Louis Armstrong had played Carnegie Hall, but this was like Frank Sinatra singing at The Met, with his bobby-soxers mixing with the the big donors. Horrors!

Dodger fans, who valued loyalty, now hated him. They said they were betrayed. They called their once-beloved Leo the Lip a traitor and a sellout. They had no idea that it wasn't his idea to make the move. It was Rickey's and Stoneham's. On the other hand, Giant fans who hated him quickly realized that he was just the kick in the pants their team needed, and embraced him. 

What's more, it worked -- for both teams. Without Durocher, the Dodgers won Pennants under Shotton in 1949, under Charlie Dressen in 1952 and 1953, and under Walter Alston in 1955 and 1956. With Durocher, the Giants won an amazing Pennant race with the Dodgers in 1951 (See: "Thomson, Bobby"), and another Pennant in 1954. Durocher led the Giants to win the World Series in 1954, and Alston led the Dodgers to win it in 1955.

Both teams moved to California after the 1957 season. In Hollywood, where he spent his off-seasons, Durocher was re-hired by Walter O'Malley, who had bought out Rickey and the other Dodger partners after the 1950 season, and didn't care that Leo was friends with mobsters and gamblers. Durocher later managed the Chicago Cubs, blowing a sure National League Eastern Division title in 1969; and was still managing in the majors as late as 1973, with the Houston Astros.

He died in 1991, without having been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame -- the rumored reason being that no one wanted to hear his acceptance speech. He was posthumously elected in 1994.

*

July 16, 1948 was a Friday. Two very different musical legends were born that day: Israeli classical violinist Pinchas Zukerman, and Panamanian singer Rubén Blades.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The Giants were supposed to play the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, but got rained out. The game was rescheduled for September 2, and the Giants won, 5-4. Walker Cooper and Jack Lohrke hit home runs in support of Larry Jansen.

* The Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Gene Hermanski hit a home run. Robinson went 0-for-4. Joe Hatten outpitched Ewell Blackwell.

* The New York Yankees lost to the St. Louis Browns, 10-4 at Yankee Stadium. Allie Reynolds did not have good stuff. Joe DiMaggio went 0-for-3, although he did draw a walk. The Yankees did get a home run, from Phil Rizzuto.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams did not play in this game.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 10-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators, 3-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Boston Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 12-10 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The wind was blowing out: Home runs were hit for the Braves by Earl Torgeson and Phil Masi, and for the Cubs by Andy Pafko and Bob Scheffing.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Stan Musial went 0-for-2, but had 2 walks and 2 RBIs.

May 13, 1952: The Rise and Fall of Ron Necciai

May 13, 1952: The Bristol Twins, of Bristol, Virginia -- so named because it's adjacent to Bristol, Tennessee -- defeat the Welch Miners, of Welch, West Virginia, 7-0 at Shaw Stadium. This was in the Appalachian League, in Class D, equivalent to today's "Rookie Leagues," the lowest level of baseball's minor leagues.

Ron Necciai (pronounced "Neh-CHIGH") pitched a no-hitter, and struck out 27 batters. It is not a perfect game: He walked a batter, hit another, another reached on an error, and another reached on a 3rd-strike passed ball.

He had already struck out 20 in his professional debut. In his next game after the 27, he struck out 24. That's 65 strikeouts in 3 games. Clearly, at the age of 19, he was already too good for Class D.

But the Twins' parent club, the Pittsburgh Pirates, en route to the worst season in their history, were desperate. They promoted him to Class B, and then, on August 10, to the major leagues.

The Pirates retired his Number 21. Not for him, but for a player who started wearing in it in 1955: Roberto Clemente. Necciai made 9 major league appearances, going 1-6 with a 7.08 ERA. Clearly, he wasn't ready for the majors.

He was then drafted into the Korean War. But he'd already had ulcers, and got a medical discharge. He never regained his Spring 1952 form, and was just 23 when he threw his last professional pitch. He became a successful sporting goods salesman in the Pittsburgh area, where he was from. As of May 13, 2022, he is still alive, approaching his 90th birthday.

The 1952 Pirates finished 42-112, 54 1/2 games behind the Pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers. Despite having Branch Rickey as general manager, and Bing Crosby as a part-owner, it was the most losses of any National League team between the 1935 Boston Braves and the 1962 New York Mets.

From April 19 to May 6, they went 1-17. From May 13 to 22, they went 0-8. They were 20 1/2 games out of 1st place by Memorial Day, and 31 1/2 games out by the 4th of July. From July 12 to 23, they went 2-11. And from September 3 to 28, they closed the season by going 3-17. On the last play of the game, they won 6 times, but lost 11.

Their pitching was especially bad, losing 4 in which they scored 7 runs, and 7 in which they scored at least 6. In 43 games, they gave up at least 7 runs, going 1-42. Murry Dickson had a 3.57 ERA, but went just 14-21. No other Pirate pitcher had more than 7 wins.

The same night Necciai had his 27 strikeouts, the Pirates lost to the Boston Braves, 3-1 at Braves Field in Boston. Vern Bickford outpitched Howie Pollet, one of several players that Rickey had signed for the St. Louis Cardinals, and had now brought to the Pirates.

For the Braves, a rookie named Eddie Mathews hit his 7th career home run. For the Pirates, Ralph Kiner, the National League's leading slugger the last few years, went 0-for-3. Mathews would retire with 512 career home runs, while a back injury would force Kiner out 3 years later, at the age of 33, with 369. 

That year, making the film The Road to Bali, Crosby's character was asked by one played by Dorothy Lamour, "Do you still have pirates in America?" And Bing said, "Yes, but they're usually in the basement." The film's other star, Bob Hope, was a minority owner of the Cleveland Indians. (Hope grew up in Cleveland. Crosby was from Spokane, Washington, but was a friend of Dan Galbreath, the majority owner of the Pirates.)

Necciai was part of a youth movement, mocked as "Rickey's Rinky Dinks" and "Operation Peach Fuzz." Also part of it was a 20-year-old outfielder from Queens, who had starred at St. John's University, and got into 81 games for the Pirates' other Class D team, the Brunswick Pirates in the Georgia-Florida League. But he was hit in the head with a pitch, missed the rest of the season, and decided to give up baseball, and go back to St. John's for law school. His name was Mario Cuomo.

Once, as Governor of New York, Cuomo and Mickey Mantle attended a sports awards banquet. Mantle mentioned that, when he was signed by the New York Yankees in 1949, he got a bonus of $1,100, while Cuomo's singing bonus 3 years later was $2,000. That got a big laugh. But Cuomo was able to spend his bonus money on an engagement ring, and he and his wife Matilda were married for 60 years.

The next season, Rickey traded Kiner. In hindsight, given his later injury, it may have been for the best. At the time, Kiner was making $90,000 for the season, Rickey was famously cheap, and the team wasn't going anywhere. Phil Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, was filthy rich, so Rickey traded Kiner to the Cubs, telling him, "We finished 8th with you, and we can finish 8th without you." They did.

Joe Garagiola, who had been the backup catcher on a World Series winner, the 1946 St. Louis Cardinals (a team built by Rickey, who by then was building the Dodgers)), was the starting catcher on the 1952 Pirates. Along with his Cardinal teammate Stan Musial, and his St. Louis neighbor Yogi Berra, stories about the '52 Pirates helped build his broadcasting career. He said, "In an 8-team league, we should have finished 9th."

In 1955, health problems forced Rickey to step aside from full-time baseball activity. But he had already signed the prospects that would make the Pirates World Champions in 1960, including Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, Dick Groat, Dick Stuart and Vernon Law.

The Bristol Twins played from 1940 to 1955, winning Appalachian League Pennants in 1942 and 1950. In that 1952 season, they reached the Playoffs, but lost in the 1st round. Previously, from 1921 to 1925, the city was home to the Bristol State Liners.

In 1969, DeVault Memorial Stadium was built. From then to 1994, again in the Appalachian League, the city was home to the Bristol Tigers, Pennant winners in 1972, 1974, 1977 and 1985; from the 1995 to 2013, to the Bristol White Sox, Pennant winners in 1998 and 2002; and from 2014 to 2020, to the Bristol Pirates, who won no Pennants.

*

May 13, 1952 was a Tuesday. John Kasich, Congressman and Governor of Ohio who ran for President in 2016, was born on this day.

These other baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 10-6 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Steve Gromek was the winning pitcher, while Yankee starter Bill Miller didn't get out of the 3rd inning. (Vic Raschi and Eddie Lopat were both injured at the time, Allie Reynolds had pitched just 2 days earlier, and Whitey Ford was serving in the Korean War.)

Larry Doby, Dale Mitchell and Ray Boone (father of Bob, grandfather of Bret and Aaron) hit home runs for the Tribe. Gil McDougald hit a home run. Yogi Berra went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Mickey Mantle did not start, but replaced an injury Bobby Brown at 3rd base, and went 2-for-2. It was the only game he ever played at 3rd base, and he ended up making 2 errors, although no runs scored as a result. (He played 1,742 games in center field, 147 in right field, 129 in left field, 262 at 1st base, 7 at shortstop, and 1 at 2nd base.)

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-4 at the Polo Grounds. Larry Jansen went the distance for the win. Willie Mays, Bobby Thomson and Bob Elliott hit home runs.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 14-8 at Ebbets Field. Ben Wade was the winning pitcher, in relief of Preacher Roe. Wade and Gil Hodges both hit home runs. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-4 with 2 walks. Roy Campanella went 3-for-5 with a walk, a stolen base, and 3 RBIs. Duke Snider went 2-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIs. Stan Musial went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-0 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. 

* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Billy Pierce pitched a 7-hit shutout. Minnie Miñoso went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Ted Williams was unavailable, serving in the Korean War.

* And the Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

CHC	0	Final
PHI	6

 

 

April 9, 1947: Brooklyn Dodger Manager Leo Durocher Is Suspended

April 9, 1947: Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher is suspended for the entire season, for what Commissioner Albert B. "Happy" Chandler calls "conduct detrimental to the game" -- 6 days before Opening Day.

He was accused of consorting with gamblers, including organized crime figures. And gambling was the thing that scared the baseball establishment the most. He was also accused of a different kind of consorting, marrying actress Laraine Day, with both of them being previously divorced.

Both accusations were true. Brooklyn's Catholic Youth Organization threatened to cancel its ticket buys if Durocher were not removed. They seemed to care more about the fooling around with Day than with the connections with the Mob.

Team president Branch Rickey was a Methodist and a moralist, and didn't like Durocher on a personal basis. He knew that Durocher fooled around, that he drank heavily, and that he bet on racehorses. But Rickey tolerated Durocher, because he won. Well, once; A former shortstop, he managed the Dodgers to the National League Pennant in 1941, and lost Playoffs for the Pennant in 1942 and 1946. In other words, in the last 3 seasons that were not affected by the manpower drain of World War II, Durocher had put the team in position to win the Pennant all 3 times.

Rickey also knew that he did not need a distraction, 6 days before Opening Day, the day when his project, Jackie Robinson, was to become the 1st black player in modern baseball. Before his suspension, though, Durocher stood up for Jackie. Having faced anti-Catholic bigotry in his youth, he told the Dodger players who didn't want Jackie on the team that he was going to play, and that any player who wouldn't play with him would be traded. And Rickey was willing to back Durocher up on that.

Branch Rickey

But now, Durocher had been suspended for a full year, the longest suspension in baseball history to that point, short of a permanent ban. Rickey didn't want the fuss over Durocher to detract or distract from Jackie's debut. So on this issue, he did not stick up for Durocher. He chose not to fight the suspension.

He turned to Burt Shotton, one of his scouts. A former outfielder, Shotton had played for both the St. Louis Browns and the St. Louis Cardinals, and had coached the Cardinals, while Rickey was the general manager of those teams. Shotton had also managed the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds. Rickey wanted Shotton to manage the Dodgers.

Shotton had promised his wife that he would never wear another major league uniform. Rickey reminded him that Connie Mack, owner and manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, wore a suit in the dugout, rather than a uniform. So Shotton wore a suit, a team jacket, and a Dodger cap.

Burt Shotton

He managed the Dodgers for the 1947 season. Durocher came back in 1948, but a deal between Rickey and New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham allowed Durocher to switch teams. Rickey brought Shotton back, and he managed the Dodgers through the end of the 1950 season. He led the Dodgers to the Pennant in 1947 and 1949, and nearly did so again in 1950. He and Mack were the last 2 managers to wear suits instead of uniforms.

*

April 9, 1947 was a Wednesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were between the Semifinals and the Finals. The Toronto Maple Leafs went on to beat the Montreal Canadiens in 6 games.

There was 1 score on this historic day: The Basketball Association of America, in its 1st season, 1 of 3 before it merged with the National Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association, played a 1st round Playoff game at the old Madison Square Garden. The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Rebels, 93-71.