October 9, 1934: The Joe Medwick Game

The offending play. Number 25 is Cardinal coach Mike González,

one of the earliest Cuban players in the major leagues.

October 9, 1934: Before the proceedings began, Cardinal pitcher Jay "Dizzy" Dean said of himself and his brother and teammate, Paul "Daffy" Dean, "Me an' Paul are gonna win this here World Series." Diz was right: All 4 St. Louis wins had one of the Dean brothers as the winning pitcher. Today, the Cards pound the Detroit Tigers in Game 7, 11-0 at Navin Field, the ballpark that would be enclosed and renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938, and renamed again as Tiger Stadium in 1961.

Navin Field, 1934

That would have been stunning enough to make this game legend. But it's a legend for a darker reason. In the bottom of the 6th, Cardinal slugger Joe Medwick slides hard into 3rd base, and is tagged hard by the Tigers' Marv Owen. Medwick then kicks Owen, and the newsreel clearly shows it. A fight results, and when Medwick goes out to left field for the bottom of the 6th, Tiger fans start throwing things at him. Wadded-up programs. Hot dogs. Pieces of fruit. This goes on for minute after minute.

Finally, the Commissioner of Baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, as always in attendance at World Series games, asks the umpires to call Medwick over, as well as the opposing managers, both player-managers wearing Number 3: Cardinal shortstop Frankie Frisch and Tiger catcher Mickey Cochrane. Landis, a former federal Judge, asks Medwick if he kicked Owen. Medwick confesses. Landis removes him from the game, not for disciplinary reasons, he says, but "for his own safety." It was probably a good idea, if not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Afterward, Medwick, no dummy, said, "I understood why they threw all that food at me. What I don't understand is why they brought it to the ballpark in the first place." It was the left-field bleacher section at Navin Field, later replaced by the double-decked stands that formed the Tiger Stadium that my generation knew. Those seats were the last to be sold, and fans had lined up all morning, and had brought their breakfast and lunch to eat while they were waiting. Clearly, some of them hadn't yet eaten their lunches. (I guess they didn't sell food in that bleacher section.)

In the ensuing off-season, Cardinal general manager Branch Rickey refused to give Medwick, his best hitter, a raise. Medwick tells the press, "Mr. Rickey thinks I can live for a year on the food that the Detroit fans threw at me."

Joe Medwick was a graduate of Carteret High School, Class of 1929, a 3-sport star. In 1937, he won the Triple Crown, leading the National League in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. He remains the last NL player to do so. He was probably on his way to both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs before a beaning in 1940 curtailed his career. He was nicknamed "Ducky" for the way he walked, and "Muscles" because he was so strong (How strong was he?), nobody dared to call him "Ducky" to his face.

A Middlesex County Park, stretching through Carteret and the Avenel section of Woodbridge, is named in his honor. He is 1 of 6 people who grew up in New Jersey who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1 of 4 born in the State, and the only one from Central Jersey, let alone from Middlesex County.

The others are Newark native Billy Hamilton, Salem native Goose Goslin, raised-in-East Orange Monte Irvin, and raised-in-Paterson Larry Doby, and born-in-Pequannock but grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan Derek Jeter. Millville native Mike Trout has a legitimate shot at joining them.

The familiar nickname "The Gashouse Gang" would not be applied to the Cardinals until the next season. It's not clear who coined the phrase, but someone said that, with their filthy uniforms due to their roughhouse style of play, they looked like "a gang from the Gas House District." In New York, that area was on the East River, between the Lower East Side and the Gramercy Park area. In 1945, it was all demolished to make way for the housing projects Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

Medwick died in 1975, Owen in 1991. Pitcher Clarence Heise was the last survivor of the Gashouse Gang, living until 1999.

UPDATE: The Cardinals have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1934 World Champions, they have inducted team owner Sam Breadon, general manager Branch Rickey, 2nd baseman and manager Frankie Frisch, left fielder Joe Medwick and pitchers Jesse Haines and Jay "Dizzy" Dean. Johnny Mize was inducted, but he arrived after the 1934 title but left before the 1942 title.

Rickey, Frisch, Medwick and Dean were elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Frisch, Medwick and Dean were elected to the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.

*

October 9, 1934 was a Tuesday. Football was in midweek. Hockey was out of season. And the NBA hadn't been founded yet. So there were no other scores on this historic day.

October 6, 1938: Dizzy Dean's Last Stand

October 6, 1938: The Yankees defeat the Cubs, 6-3 at Wrigley Field, and take a 2-games-to-0 lead in the World Series. Dean, now with the Cubs following an arm injury that will ultimately end his meteoric career at age 31, takes a 3-2 lead into the 8th inning, but Frank Crosetti's homer gives the Yanks a lead they will not relinquish. Joe DiMaggio added a homer in the 8th. It becomes known as Dizzy Dean's Last Stand, although he did pitch another 3 seasons.

The winning pitcher is Gomez, making him 6-0 in World Series play. Although he appears in 3 more Series with the Yankees, this will be his last Series decision. But although Whitey Ford with 10 and Bob Gibson with 7 will win more Series games, Gomez has the best winning percentage in Series history to this day.

Diz was born Jay Hanna Dean, but sometimes told people his name was Jerome Herman Dean. He was born in 1910, but sometimes told people it was 1911, or 1912. He was born in Lucas, Arkansas, but sometimes told people that he was born elsewhere in Arkansas. Or places in Tennessee. Or Mississippi. Or Louisiana. Or Texas. Or Oklahoma. He was one of three, or four, or five, or more siblings. He explained that he wanted every reporter to have an exclusive.

He had a brother who was born in 1912, in Lucas, Arkansas: Paul Dee Dean. Because Jay was called Dizzy, Paul was called Daffy. And Paul really hated that, because, unlike is freewheeling brother, he was a very thoughtful man.

Dizzy was not. He once said, "The Good Lord was good to me. He gave me a strong right arm, a good body and a weak mind." He later went into broadcasting, and took his homespun talk with him. He was a lot like later football star Terry Bradshaw, figuring out that if people think you're an under-educated hick who knows nothing except his sport, but knows that very well, use it to your advantage before they can use it to theirs.

At any rate, Paul was a very good pitcher. Not as good as Dizzy, but capable of winning 19 games in 1934, including a no-hitter in the the 2nd game of a doubleheader, after Dizzy pitched a 3-hit shutout in the 1st game. Dizzy said, "Gee, Paul, if I'd a-known you was gonna throw a no-hitter, I'd a-thrown one, too!"

Another of Dizzy's quotes was, "If you can do it, it ain't braggin'." Before the 1934 season, he said, "Me an' Paul is gonna win 50 games." Not quite: Diz won 30, and Paul won 19, for a total of 49. But by going 30-7, Diz became the last National League pitcher, to this day, to win 30 games in a season. He also said, "Men an' Paul are gonna win this here World Series." This time, he was right: The Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 3, and each brother won 2 games, including Diz pitching a shutout in Game 7.

From 1933 to 1937, Diz was, along with Carl Hubbell and the Negro Leagues' Satchel Paige, 1 of the 3 best pitchers on the planet. Then, in the 1937 All-Star Game in Washington, Earl Averill, the Hall of Fame center fielder for the Cleveland Indians, hit a line drive back up the middle, off his foot. The doctor told him his big toe was fractured. And the undereducated country boy said, "Fractured, hell, the damn thing's broken!"

He came back too soon, and, to favor the toe, he altered his pitching motion, and wrecked his elbow. At age 27, he went from one of the best pitchers in baseball to a man who couldn't pitch without pain. The Cardinals traded him to the Cubs before the 1938 season, and he was only able to make 10 starts. But he went 7-1 with a 1.81 ERA, and the Cubs made a big comeback to win the Pennant. Dean pitched well in Game 2, but the Yankees beat him. He didn't run out of gas so much as he fell victim to the Yankees' comeback ability, known in those days of 3:00 PM starts as "Five O'Clock Lightning."

Dizzy Dean retired after the 1941 season, with a record of 150-83. Ordinarily, 150 wins wouldn't be enough to get a player into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But his 5 years of dominance got him there. He became a beloved broadcaster, and died in 1974. Paul went 50-34 in a career lasting from 1934 to 1943, and died in 1981.

*

October 6, 1938 was a Thursday. Football was in midweek. The NBA wasn't founded yet. And the NHL season was a month away. So there were no other scores this day.

September 30, 1934: Yes, Bill Terry, Brooklyn Is Still In the League

He was 44 years old, and not yet known

as "The Ol' Perfesser."

September 30, 1934: Baseball's regular season comes to a close. Among the games played on this day, the Brooklyn Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, 8-5 at the Polo Grounds. The Giants' 3rd-best pitcher, "Fat" Freddie Fitzsimmons, noted for his usually beating the Dodgers, did not pitch well, although he helped his own cause with a home run.

In the top of the 10th inning, neither the Giants' starter and 2nd-best pitcher, Hal Schumacher, nor their ace, "King" Carl Hubbell, could hold off a Dodger rally. Here's the sequence:

* Sam Leslie singled to left.

* Tony Cuccinello doubled to left, moving Leslie to 3rd base.

* Terry took Schumacher out, and brought Hubbell in.

* Hubbell struck out the Dodgers' pitcher, Johnny Babich.

* Jersey Joe Stripp was intentionally walked, to load the bases and set up an inning-ending double play. But there was only 1 out, and the potential winning run, the run that could have cost the Giants the Pennant -- they didn't know what was going on in St. Louis at the time -- was just 90 feet away.

* Giants shortstop John "Blondy" Ryan muffed a grounder hit by Al Lopez, a very good catcher and later to become a Hall of Fame manager, and Leslie scored.

Glenn Chapman hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Cuccinello.

* And Ralph "Buzz" Boyle singled o right, scoring Stripp.

The preceding January, a sportswriter had asked Bill Terry, the 1st baseman who had also managed the Giants to win the previous year's World Series, who would be their top challengers in 1934. He said, "Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Chicago will be the teams we'll have to beat. I don’t think the Braves will do as well as they did last year. I was just wondering, Is Brooklyn still in the league?"

Bill Terry

Over the last 3 games of the regular season, the Dodgers proved that, yes, Brooklyn was still in the National League. That sweep of a doubleheader on Saturday and the single game on Sunday cost the Giants the Pennant. Had the Giants won 2 out of 3, they would have finished in a tie for the Pennant, and forced a best-2-out-of-3 Playoff with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Oh, yes: The Dodgers' manager was Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel, who had played for the Giants and the Dodgers.

The Cards needed a win, or a Giant loss, to clinch the Pennant on this final day. They got both: The Giants, as already stated, lost; and the Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Jay "Dizzy" Dean pitched a 7-hit shutout, to advance to 30-7 on the season. No NL pitcher has won 30 games in a season since. Only 1 has won 28, and only 1 other has won 27.

Dizzy Dean

Like the Giants, they had a player-manager. Like Fitzsimmons would in 1941, he was an ex-Giant who came back to haunt his former team: Frankie Frisch, the graduate of Fordham University in The Bronx who was nicknamed "The Fordham Flash." On this day, he went 3-for-5. The Cards got home runs from Bill Delancey and James "Ripper" Collins.

The Cardinals went on to beat the Tigers in the World Series. They are remembered as "The Gashouse Gang," but that nickname wouldn't come until the next season.

For Dodger fans, who hated the Giants even more than Red Sox fans would eventually hate the Yankees, it was a rare moment in the Sun. In 1941, they won their 1st Pennant in 1920, with their ace being... a 40-year-old Freddie Fitzsimmons.

Terry had batted .401 in 1930, and remains the last National League player to top .400. He had managed the Giants to win a World Series. He would manage them to back-to-back Pennants in 1936-37. He would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. After their move to San Francisco, the Giants would retire his Number 3.

But, as much as anything else, he is remembered for asking, "Is Brooklyn still in the league?" And getting an answer that embarrassed him, the Giants, and Giant fans everywhere.

In spite of this, In 1949, Ogden Nash, my grandmother's favorite poet, even though she was a Dodger fan and remembered that 1934 Pennant race well, wrote "Line-Up for Yesterday" for Sport magazine, an alphabetical list of star players, and honored Terry, the manager of his favorite team, with his entry for the letter T:

T is for Terry

The Giant from Memphis

Whose .400 average

You can't overemphis.

*

September 30, 1934 was a Sunday. These other baseball games were played.

* The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Senators, 5-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, despite a home run from Lou Gehrig. Babe Ruth goes 0-for-3, and it turns out to be his last appearance for the Yankees.

The Yankees finished 2nd in the AL, 7 games behind the Tigers. This is in spite of having players winning both the batting and the pitching Triple Crown. Gehrig batted .363, with 49 home runs and 165 runs batted in. Vernon "Lefty" Gomez won 26 games (against just 5 losses, and no Yankee has matched those 26 wins since), had a 2.33 earned-run average, and struck out 158 batters. All of those figures led the League. Gehrig and Mickey Mantle remain the only Yankees to win batting Triple Crowns.

So why didn't the Yankees win the Pennant? Yes, the Tigers had a great team, but that didn't usually stop the Yankees between 1921 and 1964. Part of the problem was injuries. Center fielder Earle Combs hit his head on an unpadded outfield wall on July 24, played only 63 games, and was never the same. In addition, 3rd baseman Red Rolfe played only 89 games. And while Gomez and Charles "Red" Ruffing were, as usual, the best lefty-righty combo in AL pitching, there wasn't really a good 3rd starter, let alone a 4th.

* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox won the opener, 5-0. George Hockette allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout. The Philadelphia Athletics won the nightcap, 4-2. Over the 2 games, Jimmie Foxx went 1-for-6 with 3 walks and an RBI.

* The Chicago White Sox won the 1st game of a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians, 9-5 at League Park in Cleveland. Ted Lyons was the winning pitcher, and former Athletics star Al Simmons went 5-for-5. The Indians were leading the 2nd game, 5-3 after 5 innings, when the game was called due to darkness.

* The Boston Braves swept the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 and 5-4 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The 1st game went 10 innings, and the 2nd was called due to darkness after 7. (This was the day the U.S. switched from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time.)

The Braves finished 78-73, in 4th place, 16 games out of 1st. But the next year, they had one of the worst seasons in baseball history, going 38-115, the most losses of any MLB team between 1916 and 1962. For the 1936 season, as would be said today, they "rebranded": They became the Boston Bees, and Braves Field became National League Park, a.k.a. the Bee Hive. Neither name caught on, and in 1941, they went back to "Boston Braves" and "Braves Field."

* The Detroit Tigers sweep a doubleheader from the St. Louis Browns, 10-6 and 6-2 at Navin Field in Detroit. The ballpark will be renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938, and Tiger Stadium in 1961. The Tigers played in it from 1912 to 1999.

In the top of the 6th inning, Charley O'Leary, a coach activated for this game, 2 weeks short of his 59th birthday, and not having appeared in a major league game in 21 years, pinch-hit for Browns pitcher George Blaeholder, and singled off Elden Auker. Following a single by Jake Garms and a double by Jack Burns, he scored. O'Leary thus became the oldest player in Major League Baseball history (a record that stood for 31 years), the oldest to bat (ditto), the oldest to get a hit (a record he still holds), and the oldest to score a run (ditto). I have a separate entry for this event.

* The Chicago Cubs swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-2 and 7-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The next season, Crosley Field in Cincinnati became the 1st major league ballpark with lights. From 1948 to 1988, Wrigley was the last one without lights. Yet, on this day, despite the doubleheader and the early sunset, they got a full 18 innings in. (Well, 17, as neither game needed a bottom of the 9th.)

There were 4 games played in the NFL:

* The football version of the New York Giants lost to the Green Bay Packers, 20-6 at City Stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The football version of the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Redskins, 10-6 at Ebbets Field.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Cincinnati Reds, 21-3 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* And the Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Cardinals, 6-0 at the University of Detroit Stadium.

September 28, 1947: Ol' Diz Makes His Point

This photo is not a mockup for an "alternate history" website.

This actually happened.

September 28, 1947: The St. Louis Browns start Dizzy Dean against the Chicago White Sox at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Dean had been retired for 6 years due to an arm injury, and was broadcasting for the Browns. A few days earlier, frustrated with their pitching, he said, on the air, "Doggone it, I can pitch better than 9 out of the 10 guys on this staff." (He never did say who the 10th guy was, the one who could pitch better than he could.)

The Brown pitchers' wives complained to management, and they decided to put their money where Dean's mouth was. Since Dean was still only 37, they chose the last day of the season, when the spectator-poor Browns would have even more trouble than usual filling Sportsman's Park, to have Dean pitch for the Browns. It doesn't work: Attendance is only 15,910, about half the ballpark's capacity.

He goes 4 innings, and gets a hit off future Yankee All-Star Eddie Lopat, but pulls a muscle rounding 1st base, and has to leave the game. The Browns' bullpen proves Ol Diz' point as much as he does, losing the game for him: Although the game is scoreless going into the 9th inning, it ends White Sox 5, Browns 2. Lopat goes the distance for the win for the Pale Hose.

Interviewed on what would normally be his own postgame radio show, Diz says, "I said I can pitch better than 9 out of the 10 guys on this staff, and I can. But I'm done playing. Talking's my game now, and I'm glad that muscle I pulled wasn't in my throat."

He broadcast for the Cardinals from 1941 to 1946, the Browns from 1941 to 1948, the Yankees in 1950 and 1951, Mutual Broadcasting in 1952, ABC in 1953 and 1954, CBS from 1955 to 1965 (doing the Game of the Week with former Brooklyn Dodger shortstop Pee Wee Reese), and the Atlanta Braves -- probably since he was the best-known living Southern-born baseball figure -- from their debut in 1966 to 1968.

He was known for his fractured syntax ("Zarilla slud into third" being the best-remembered example), and was the template for football quarterback turned broadcaster Terry Bradshaw: The redneck who wasn't nearly so dumb as he appeared. He died in 1974.

In 1949, Ogden Nash, my grandmother's favorite poet, wrote "Line-Up for Yesterday" for Sport magazine, an alphabetical list of star players. For the letter D, he wrote: 

D is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who's the tops?
Said correctly, I is.

*

September 28, 1947 was a Sunday. In other baseball games:

* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium, in a game played after holding their 1st official Old-Timers Day. Johnny Lindell hits a home run off Lou Brissie, the war hero who has to wear a metal plate on his shin to protect his surgically-repaired leg. The winning pitcher is Bill Wight -- not to be confused with Bill White, later a fine 1st baseman, a longtime Yankee broadcaster, and a President of the National League.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers, having already clinched the National League Pennant, lose their meaningless regular-season finale, 3-2 to the Boston Braves at Braves Field. Johnny Sain pitches 5 innings in relief to pick up his 21st win of the season.

The game ends on a run scored due to an error by the Dodgers' 1st baseman. It's not Jackie Robinson, who got the day off. With poetic justice, it is Ed Stevens, one of the Southerners who'd signed the petition to keep Robinson off the Dodgers in Spring Training. He never appears for the Dodgers again: In the off-season, he's traded to Pittsburgh.

* The New York Giants split a doubleheader with the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Jints win the opener, 4-1. The Phils win the nightcap, 3-1. Despite having hit a major league record 221 home runs this season, led by the 51 of Johnny Mize, the Giants hit no homers in this doubleheader, and only finished 4th in the NL, 13 games behind the Pennant-winning Dodgers.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Ted Williams of the Red Sox goes 2-for-4. With the regular season over, Williams has won the Triple Crown for the 2nd time: He batted .343, hit 32 home runs, and had 114 RBIs. But Joe DiMaggio had led the Yankees to the Pennant, and ended up leading them to the World Championship. Again, DiMaggio, not Williams, is named the American League's Most Valuable Player.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Former Yankee Ernest "Tiny" Bonham pitches a 2-hit shutout. Ralph Kiner finishes 1-for-4 with a RBI. He does not hit a home run, finishing with 51 on the season, tying Mize for the NL and major league lead. Not entering the game for the Pirates is Hank Greenberg, who is retiring, and played his last game 10 days earlier.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 1-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Fred Hutchinson, later to manage the Reds to a Pennant, pitches a 6-hit shutout, to beat Bob Feller.

* And the Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Bill Nicholson, known as "Swish" because he struck out a lot by the standards of the era, was kind of a precursor to Dave Kingman: All or nothing. This time, he got all of one, hitting the game's only homer. Johnny Schmitz pitched a 5-hit shutout. Stan Musial did not enter the game for the Cards.

Since it was a Sunday, there were also NFL games played, but only 3 of them:

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Redskins, 45-42. Wikipedia and Pro-Football-Reference.com agree that the game was played at Shibe Park. Except it couldn't have been, unless it was played at night, after the Phillies finished their doubleheader with the Giants. It's much more likely that the game was moved to Municipal Stadium (later renamed John F. Kennedy Stadium) or Franklin Field.

* The Chicago Cardinals beat the Detroit Lions, 45-21 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. This one is possible, since the White Sox were in St. Louis -- oddly, the city the football Cardinals would move to in 1960.

* And The Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 29-20 at Green Bay City Stadium.

And there were 2 games in the All-America Football Conference. The football version of the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Colts, 21-7 at Municipal Stadium in Baltimore. And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Buffalo Bills, 41-24 at Civic Stadium (later War Memorial Stadium) in Buffalo.

September 27, 1935: The Chicago Cubs Win Their 21st Straight Game

Bill Lee, pitcher -- but probably not the one you know.

September 27, 1935: The Chicago Cubs sweep a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals, their arch-rivals and the defending World Champions, at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. They win the opener, 6-2, Bill Lee outpitched future Hall-of-Famer Dizzy Dean, allowing only 6 hits, 2 to the Cards' manager and 2nd baseman, future Hall-of-Famer Frankie Frisch.

Former New York Giants star Freddie Lindstrom, another future Hall-of-Famer, went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Stan Hack went 3-for-4 with a solo home run. Augie Galan went 3-for-5. Lee helped his own cause with an RBI single.

This game clinched the National League Pennant for the Cubs. They also won the nightcap, 5-3, coming back from a 3-0 deficit, scoring 3 runs in the 7th and 2 in the 9th to win it. They got 3 hits each from Galan and yet another future Hall-of-Famer, Billy Herman.

That 2nd game was the Cubs' 21st straight win, setting a new major league record. In 1884, the National League's Providence Grays and the Union Association's St. Louis Maroons each had a 20-game winning streak.

The American League record, at this point, was 19 straight, by the 1906 Chicago White Sox. The New York Yankees tied that mark in 1947. The Oakland Athletics won 20 straight in 2002, and the Cleveland Indians raised the record to 22 straight in 2017.

The 1880 Chicago White Stockings, forerunners of the Cubs, won 22 straight decisions; and the 1916 New York Giants won 26 straight decisions. However, each of those streaks included tie games.

Managed by Charlie Grimm, the Cubs were 10 1/2 games out of 1st place on July 5. Then they went on an 8-game winning streak, lost 2, won 5, lost 1, then won 11. This 24-3 run closed them to within half a game of the League-leading Giants.

On September 2nd, they won the 1st game of a doubleheader with the Cincinnati Reds, and lost the 2nd game. They had the 3rd off. On the 4th, they beat the Philadelphia Phillies, and the streak was on. They began that day 3 games behind the Giants, and then won 21 straight to clinch the Pennant and set the record. But they lost the World Series to the Detroit Tigers.

Lee would go 167-155 in a major league career that lasted from 1934 to 1947. He helped the Cubs win Pennants in 1935 and 1938, and made the NL All-Star Team in 1938 and 1939. In 1938, he led the NL in wins and ERA. Had there been a Cy Young Award at the time, he probably would have won it.

"Big Bill" Lee appears not to have been related to the later Bill Lee who went 119-90 in a major league career that lasted from 1969 to 1982, mostly with the Boston Red Sox; however, that Bill Lee, "the Spaceman," had a grandfather who played in the Pacific Coast League, and an aunt who pitched in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

*

September 27, 1935 was a Friday. Hockey player and coach Al MacNeil was born. Only 2 other baseball games were played, also a doubleheader, at Braves Field in Boston. The Boston Braves beat the New York Giants in the 1st game, 6-4. Buck Jordan went 4-for-5 with an RBI. The Giants won the 2nd game, 8-5. Player-manager Bill Terry did not put himself or his best player, Mel Ott, into either game, and took his ace, Carl Hubbell, out after just 2 innings of the 1st game.

July 7, 1937: Fractured? Dizzy Dean Is Broken

July 7, 1937: Baseball holds its All-Star Game at Griffith Stadium in Washington. President Franklin D. Roosevelt makes the short trip from the White House to throw out the ceremonial first ball. His action, alone, would make the game historic. But nobody knew at the time that the course of baseball history would be changed, right in front of his eyes, and those of 31,390 others. (That was a full house: Griffith Stadium was a small ballpark.)

The starting pitcher for the National League is Dizzy Dean of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was born Jay Hanna Dean, but sometimes told people his name was Jerome Herman Dean. He was born in 1910, but sometimes told people it was 1911, or 1912. He was born in Lucas, Arkansas, but sometimes told people that he was born elsewhere in Arkansas. Or places in Tennessee. Or Mississippi. Or Louisiana. Or Texas. Or Oklahoma. He was one of three, or four, or five, or more siblings. He explained that he wanted every reporter to have an exclusive.

He had a brother who was born in 1912, in Lucas, Arkansas: Paul Dee Dean. Because Jay was called Dizzy, Paul was called Daffy. And Paul really hated that, because, unlike is freewheeling brother, he was a very thoughtful man.

Dizzy was not. He once said, "The Good Lord was good to me. He gave me a strong right arm, a good body and a weak mind." He later went into broadcasting, and took his homespun talk with him. He was a lot like later football star Terry Bradshaw, figuring out that if people think you're an under-educated hick who knows nothing except his sport, but knows that very well, use it to your advantage before they can use it to theirs.

At any rate, Paul was a very good pitcher. Not as good as Dizzy, but capable of winning 19 games in 1934, including a no-hitter in the the 2nd game of a doubleheader, after Dizzy pitched a 3-hit shutout in the 1st game. Dizzy said, "Gee, Paul, if I'd a-known you was gonna throw a no-hitter, I'd a-thrown one, too!"

Another of Dizzy's quotes was, "If you can do it, it ain't braggin'." Before the 1934 season, he said, "Me an' Paul is gonna win 50 games." Not quite: Diz won 30, and Paul won 19, for a total of 49. But by going 30-7, Diz became the last National League pitcher, to this day, to win 30 games in a season. He also said, "Men an' Paul are gonna win this here World Series." This time, he was right: The Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers, 4 games to 3, and each brother won 2 games, including Diz pitching a shutout in Game 7.

From 1933 to 1937, Diz was, along with Carl Hubbell and the Negro Leagues' Satchel Paige, 1 of the 3 best pitchers on the planet. Then, in this All-Star Game, he did fine over the 1st 2 innings, keeping the American League off the scoreboard. In the bottom of the 3rd, he gave up a single to Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees. DiMaggio's Yankee teammate, Lou Gehrig, took him deep for a home run.

And then, Earl Averill, the Hall of Fame center fielder for the Cleveland Indians, hit a line drive back up the middle, off his foot. It ricocheted to the 2nd baseman, Billy Herman of the Chicago Cubs, who threw Averill out. But there was no way Dean could continue.

Earl Averill

Despite a 4-for-5 with an RBI day for his Cardinal teammate, Joe Medwick, the NL didn't do much in this game. With Lefty Gomez of the Yankees, Tommy Bridges of the Detroit Tigers, and Mel Harder of the Cleveland Indians each pitching 3 innings, the AL won, 8-3.

After the game, Dean was examined, and the doctor told him his big toe was fractured. And the undereducated country boy said, "Fractured, hell, the damn thing's broken!"

He came back too soon, and, to favor the toe, he altered his pitching motion, and wrecked his elbow. At age 27, he went from one of the best pitchers in baseball to a man who couldn't pitch without pain. The Cardinals traded him to the Cubs before the 1938 season, and he was only able to make 10 starts. But he went 7-1 with a 1.81 ERA, and the Cubs made a big comeback to win the Pennant. Dean pitched well in Game 2, but the Yankees beat him.

Dizzy Dean retired after the 1941 season, plus a one-game comeback in 1947, with a record of 150-83. The injury may have cost him at least 100 wins. Ordinarily, 150 wins wouldn't be enough to get a player into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But his 5 years of dominance got him there. He became a beloved broadcaster, and died in 1974. Paul went 50-34 in a career lasting from 1934 to 1943, and died in 1981.

Earl Averill, a native of Snohomish, Washington (and thus known as the Earl of Snohomish), should have been so lucky. Despite a career that saw him bat .318, appear in the 1st 6 All-Star Games, be elected to the Hall of Fame himself, and have his Number 3 retired by the team now known as the Cleveland Guardians, he has been virtually forgotten since his death in 1983. When he is remembered at all, it is usually for accidentally curtailing Dizzy Dean's career. His son, Earl Averill Jr., also played in the major leagues.

*

July 7, 1937 was a Wednesday. Since baseball was the only sport in season at the time, this was the only score on this historic day.

July 2, 1933: Carl Hubbell vs. Tex Carleton

Carl Hubbell

July 2, 1933: The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0 at the Polo Grounds. Hughie Critz singled home Jo-Jo Moore with the winning run. This hit came in the bottom of the 18th inning.

Carl Hubbell of the Giants went the distance. The number of pitches the lefthanded screwballer threw in what were, essentially, 2 complete games is not known. What is known is that the native of Meeker, Oklahoma, known as "King Carl" and "The Meal Ticket," pitched shutout ball for 18 innings, allowing just 6 hits and no walks, striking out 12. I think part of that should be repeated, and spelled out: Eighteen innings, and no walks.

James "Tex" Carleton went 16 innings for the Cardinals, before giving way to Jesse Haines. Like Hubbell, Haines would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This game was not part of the reason Haines got in. Also in this game and going to Cooperstown: For the Giants, manager and 1st baseman Bill Terry, right fielder Mel Ott, and shortstop Travis Jackson; for the Cardinals, manager and 2nd baseman Frankie Frisch (a former Giant), left fielder Joe Medwick, and shortstop Leo Durocher (elected on the basis of his later managing).

And this 18-inning epic was the 1st game of a doubleheader. Despite the Polo Grounds not getting lights until 1940, the 2nd game was played in full. And the Giants won it, 1-0. Roy Parmalee pitched a 4-hit shutout, beating Dizzy Dean, another future Hall-of-Famer. Parmalee pitched 9 innings, striking out 13, and walking none.

So, the Giants scored 2 runs in 27 innings in 1 day, and walked away with 2 wins. In 27 innings, 25 strikeouts, and no walks.

NO WALKS IN TWENTY-SEVEN INNINGS IN ONE DAY!

The expression "Beat that with a stick" comes to mind, but the Cardinals tried that very thing, with their bats, and couldn't do it.

The Giants went on to win the World Series that season. The Cardinals did it the next year. From 1933 to 1937, Hubbell and Dean, and Negro Leaguer Satchel Paige, were the 3 best pitchers on the planet.

*

July 2, 1933 was a Sunday. Future hockey star Ken Wharram was born. These other baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Walter "Jumbo" Brown outpitched Mel Harder. Babe Ruth went 1-for-5. Lou Gehrig went 0-for-4 with a walk, and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers swept the Chicago Cubs, 7-3 and 4-3 at Ebbets Field.

* A doubleheader was split at Braves Field in Boston. The Boston Braves won the opener, 1-0. Ed Brandt pitched a 4-hit shutout. The Cincinnati Reds won the nightcap, 3-0. Larry Benton pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* A doubleheader was split at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Philadelphia Athletics won the 1st game, 6-5. Dib Williams singled Mickey Cochrane home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. Lefty Grove won the game in relief. The St. Louis Browns won the 2nd game, 11-6. Williams hit a home run, and Jimmie Foxx hit 2.

* The Detroit Tigers and the Washington Senators were rained out at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 23. The Tigers won the 1st game, 2-1. The Senators won the 2nd game, 9-5.

* The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 24. The Red Sox won the 1st game, 6-1. The White Sox won the 2nd game, 7-6. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Al Simmons drew a walk, and Luke Appling tripled him home.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates were not scheduled. A few weeks later, the Pennsylvania legislature would pass a law allowing professional sports to be played on Sunday in the State, making home games on Sunday for the Pirates, the Phillies, and the Philadelphia Athletics possible.