October 6, 1948: The Phil Masi Game

Assuming Boudreau has hung onto the ball,

Masi looks out in this photo.

October 6, 1948: Game 1 of the World Series. For the 1st time in a career that dates back 12 years (but included nearly 4 years missed due to World War II), Bob Feller is pitching in the Fall Classic, pitching for the Indians against Johnny Sain of the Boston Braves at Braves Field.

As could be guessed with such great starting pitchers, the game was scoreless in the bottom of the 8th. But Feller walked catcher Bill Salkeld, and manager Billy Southworth (who was managing in his 4th World Series, having taken the Cardinals there in 1942, '43 and '44 -- but not '46, Eddie Dyer managed that one) pinch-ran Phil Masi, also a catcher, for him. Mike McCormick bunted him over to 2nd, and Feller walked Eddie Stanky intentionally to set up a double play. Southworth sent in another pinch-runner, Sibby Sisti.

Then Feller tried to pick Masi off 2nd, and Lou Boudreau, the Cleveland shortstop and manager, appeared to tag him out. But umpire Bill Stewart called him safe. Tommy Holmes singled Masi home, and the Braves won 1-0.

The next day, the picture taken by an Associated Press photographer showed that Masi was out. Now, there's no guarantee that the Braves wouldn't have won the game anyway -- after all, it was still scoreless at the time. But there was quite a to-do about Stewart's call. It would probably be remembered much more, along the lines of the Don Denkinger play in the 1985 World Series, if the Braves had gone on to win the Series, but they didn't. This game was the last time the Boston Braves led a World Series.

Masi was actually a pretty good player, a good-fielding catcher who batted a decent .264 and made 4 All-Star Games. He died on May 29, 1990 at the age of 74. Upon his death, his will revealed that he knew he really was out on the pick-off play. He deserves to be known for more than that.

As does Stewart, who really got a bum rap. He was one of the larger sports figures of his time. This was his 3rd World Series, and he would be assigned to a 4th, in 1953. He had also umpired in his 3rd All-Star Game in 1948, and was assigned to a 4th in 1954. He was also named crew chief for the 1951 Dodgers-Giants Playoff series. He had been behind the plate for Johnny Vander Meer's 2nd straight no-hitter in 1938. Following none of those games did the losing team question his calls.

And calling the Vander Meer achievement wasn't the biggest thing he did in 1938: The native of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, who had been a pro baseball and hockey player, coached the Chicago Blackhawks to the 1938 Stanley Cup, making him the 1st American-born coach to win it. He also refereed in hockey, and lived until 1964, age 70.

Feller would also start Game 5 of the 1948 World Series, but lose to fellow Hall-of-Famer Warren Spahn. The Indians won the Pennant again in 1954, but he did not appear in the World Series. So he never won a World Series game. But he won his most important fight, as did Spahn: Both men were decorated for their service in World War II.

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October 6, 1948 was a Wednesday. There were no other scores on this historic day: Football was in midweek, and the NBA and NHL seasons hadn't started yet.  

September 26, 1948: No Need for the Braves to Pray for Rain

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."

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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.

August 30, 1951: The Sain-Burdette Trade

Johnny Sain

August 30, 1951: The New York Yankees trade pitcher Lew Burdette to the Boston Braves for pitcher Johnny Sain. The Yankees also threw $50,000 into the deal, for the perennially cash-poor Braves.

At the time, Sain, from Havana, Arkansas was about to turn 34 -- he was born on September 25, 1917, the same day as his new Yankee teammate, Phil Rizzuto -- and had a career record of 104-91, despite missing 3 seasons while serving in World War II. He had gone 20-14 in 1946, 21-12 in 1947, and 24-15 in the Braves' National League Pennant season of 1948. Had there been a Cy Young Award at the time, he would have won it for the NL in 1948, and been no worse than 2nd in the voting behind Howie Pollet of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1946.

He was only 10-17 in 1949, but 20-13 in 1950. At the time of the trade in 1951, he was 5-13, with a 4.21 ERA, so he wasn't just being dealt a bad hand by a declining Braves lineup. Team owner Lou Perini was probably thinking it was time to sell Sain, while he could still get something for him, and put his $25,000 salary to better use.

In contrast, Burdette, from Nitro, West Virginia, was 24, had faced exactly 6 batters in the major leagues, and was 14-12 with a 3.21 ERA for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, suggesting that he could be ready for the majors. But the conventional wisdom at the time was that a pitcher who was going to be a star would have already done well in the majors by that point.

Yankees co-owners Dan Topping and Del Webb pretty much let general manager George Weiss do as he pleased, and this often including trading away prospects for one key player who could help the team win the Pennant that season.

At the time, the Yankees were in 1st place in the American League, but by only half a game over the Cleveland Indians, and 4 1/2 over the Boston Red Sox. They had their starting rotation's "Big Three" of Allie Reynolds, Eddie Lopat and Vic Raschi, but Whitey Ford, who'd been solid as a rookie the season before, was now serving in the Korean War. Weiss needed another starting pitcher, and Perini needed money. The deal made sense for both teams at the time.

The deal did not pay off for the Yankees immediately: Sain made only 7 appearances for the Yankees, 4 of them starts, and was not part of the reason they won the Pennant. He made 1 World Series appearance, and was not part of the reason they won it.

Manager Casey Stengel continued to use him as both a starter and a reliever, and in 1952, he went 11-6 with 7 saves and a 3.46 ERA. In 1953, he went 14-7 with 7 saves and a 3.00 ERA. The Yankees won the World Series both times. In 1954, he went 6-6 with a 3.16 ERA, and 24 saves, a record at the time. However, this was before the statistic was established: No one knew what a "save" was, so he only held the record retroactively.

In the middle of the 1955 season, he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics, and then retired. His career record was 139-116, with 53 saves, and a 3.49 ERA.

In 1952, Burdette not only got Sain's place in the Braves' rotation, he got his uniform number, 33. (Sain switched to 11 with the Yankees.) In 1953, the team moved to Milwaukee, and Burdette won 15 games in each of the next 2 seasons. Like Sain before him, he formed a good lefty-righty rotation pair with lefthander Warren Spahn. In 1956, he went 19-10.

In 1957, he went 17-9, helping the Braves win their 1st Pennant in Milwaukee. In the World Series, against the Yankees, he won Games 2 and 5. When Spahn came down with the flu, manager Fred Haney called on Burdette to start Game 7 on 2 days' rest. He pitched a 7-hit shutout, outpitching Ford, and the Braves won, 5-0. Not only were the Braves the World Champions, but the baseball press made the point that the Yankees had let Burdette get away. With Sain now retired, the Sain-for-Burdette deal looked like a steal for the Braves.

Lew Burdette

It got worse in 1958, as the Yankees and Braves faced each other again. Burdette went 20-10 in the regular season. The Braves took a 3-games-to-1 lead in the World Series, with Burdette again winning Game 2. This time, though, the Yankees beat him in Game 5, and, again pitching Game 7 on 2 days' rest, got hit hard, and the Yankees won, 6-2.

Burdette never played on another Pennant-winner. He went 21-15 in 1959, but the Braves lost a Playoff for the Pennant to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He went 19-13 in 1960, including a no-hitter, and 18-11 in 1961, but the Braves couldn't win another Pennant.

In 1963, he was traded to the Cardinals. In June 1964, the Cards traded him to the Chicago Cubs. This was not the Cubs-Cards trade that won the Pennant for the Cards; that came 13 days later, Ernie Broglio for Lou Brock. But it did end Burdette's last real chance at a World Series. He was sold to the Phillies in 1965, released by them, signed by the California Angels for 1966, and released by them in 1967, ending his career. He finished 203-144, with 32 saves, and a 3.66 ERA.

In the end, the trade worked out very well for both teams: The Yankees got 3 Pennants and 3 World Championships out of it; the Braves, 2 Pennants and 1 World Championship.

Sain became one of baseball's greatest pitching coaches, starting with the A's in 1959. He helped the Yankees win the Pennant in 1961, '62 and '63; the Minnesota Twins in 1965; and the Detroit Tigers in 1968. He later coached for the Chicago White Sox, and finished with the Braves, who had moved to Atlanta in 1966, retiring in 1986. He died in 2006.

Ini contrast, Burdette never worked in baseball again -- possibly blackballed, due to his reputation for having thrown spitballs, though he never got caught -- and died in 2007. Both he and Sain have been elected to the Braves' team Hall of Fame. Burdette's grandson, Nolan Fontana, was an infielder who played for the Los Angeles Angels in the 2017 and '18 seasons.

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August 30, 1951 was a Thursday. Actor  Timothy Bottoms was born. This was also the day that the films Rhubarb (a baseball-themed comedy) and David and Bathsheba premiered. I have separate entries for those events.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-9 at the Polo Grounds. I guess the buzzer system was working that day, but couldn't overcome the poor pitching of George Spencer, Sheldon Jones, Dave Koslo and Larry Jansen, the last of whom gave up a 9th-inning home run to Ralph Kiner. Rookie Willie Mays hit 2 home runs.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1 at Ebbets Field. Preacher Roe outpitched Ewell Blackwell. Jackie Robinson went 0-for-2, but also drew 2 walks and stole a base. Duke Snider went 1-for-3 with a walk.

The Giants only lost 5 more games over the course of the regular season, and on only 3 of those days -- September 8, 11 and 20 -- did the Dodgers also win.

* The Boston Braves beat the Chicago Cubs, 16-2 at Braves Field in Boston. Earl Torgeson went 2-for-6 with a home run and 4 RBIs.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Stan Musial went 1-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Morrie Martin, in what had to be the career highlight for the lifetime 38-34 pitcher, outpitched Bob Feller.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-4 at Briggs Stadium (later renamed Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Ted Williams went 0-for-4, but did draw 2 walks.

* And the New York Yankees, the Chicago White Sox, the St. Louis Browns and the Washington Senators were not scheduled.