Monday, May 16, 1949
We had a partial travel day a few days back, but there is only one game today as the AL games for the next few weeks will all be in the east, while the NL games will all be in the Midwest. There is one AL game today, but both of those teams will home tomorrow as visitors from the hinterlands will make their appearance.
Washington (H) 6 Boston (AL) 1
Washington took their second in a row from Boston as three Red Sox errors led to three unearned runs. Catcher Al Evans went 3-for-3 and drove in two of the Senators runs, and Mickey Haefner (2-4) gave up a run in the first and then shut down Boston from there.
Tuesday, May 17, 1949
Boston (AL) (H) 15 Chicago (AL) 5
Perhaps having lost two in a row to the last place Washington had provided a bit of a sting as Boston came out hitting today and took out their frustrations on Chicago. The story of the day was shortstop Vern Stephens hitting three homeruns (9, 10, 11) off three different pitchers and driving in five runs (36) to help crush the White Sox. Mel Parnell (5-1) didn’t have his best stuff today but cruised to the win with a big lead.
New York (AL) (H) 8 Cleveland 6
Cleveland scored first, New York then took a 3-1 lead, only to see Cleveland fight back and tie the score at 3-3 after the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees scored five times, the big hit being a two-run double by Yogi Berra. New York's Eddie Lopat (4-1) made his first start in almost two weeks and managed to hold on for the complete game victory.
Philadelphia (AL) (H) 6 St. Louis (AL) 2
Philadelphia starter Lou Brissie (3-3) kept St. Louis from really getting anything started offensively and walked away with an easy 6-2 complete game win.
Washington (H) 2 Detroit 1
Washington won in an exciting fashion as second baseman Sherry Robertson homered in the bottom of the eighth to give the Senators their first lead of the game. Walt Masterson (2-1) went all the way as Washington has now won three in a row.
Brooklyn 12 Chicago (NL) (H) 4
The Brooklyn bats continue to thunder as the Dodgers thumped the Cubs. The two big hits were a Roy Campanella three-run double in the third and a three-run homerun by Gil Hodges in the seventh that put the game out of reach. Ralph Branca (4-1) got the win even though he gave up twelve hits (and no walks) in only six innings.
Boston (NL) 7 Cincinnati (H) 2
Boston scored early to get a quick lead and then added a four-run seventh to put the game out of reach. Warren Spahn (6-0) got the win plus he drove in two runs on the day to help himself. Pete Reiser had a 3-for-4 day with a homerun to help get the Braves that early lead. Hank Sauer did get his tenth homerun of the season for the Reds.
Pittsburgh (H) 9 New York (NL) 0
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| Bob Chesnes |
Pittsburgh starter Bob Chesnes (1-3) had a good year in 1948 and was definitely part of the Pirates plan for 1949 but has had trouble getting on the mound so far. Chesnes was able to show why the Pirates were high on him by shutting out New York while only allowing two hits. Eddie Bockman hit a first-inning grand slam (#8, 26 RBI's) and later Ralph Kiner (#8, 30) and Wally Westlake (#6, 22) went back-to-back to expand the Pirates lead.
Philadelphia (NL) 3 St. Louis (NL) (H) 2
A sparkling game as today featured three different runners being thrown at home trying to score. Ken Heintzelman (2-2) got the victory, but not until Del Ennis threw out St. Louis first baseman Rocky Nelson trying to score the tying run with two outs in the top of the ninth.
Wednesday, May 18, 1949
Note: Chicago (AL) had acquired reliever Clyde Shoun from Boston (NL) on 05/12/1949, and today acquired reliever Ed Klieman from New York (AL). Chicago (NL) acquired infielder Bob Ramazzotti from Brooklyn for Hank Schenz. Brooklyn immediately sent Schenz to the minors.
Chicago (AL) 7 Boston (AL) (H) 3
Boston scored a run in the seventh to take a 3-2 lead, but the White Sox got to Ellis Kinder (4-1) by scoring twice in the eighth and then three more times in the ninth to win going away. Marino Pieretti (2-2) had another good start and was ably abetted by Luke Appling (3-for-5, .406) and Gus Zerrnial (2-for-5 with two doubles, .355) at the plate.
Cleveland 2 New York (AL) (H) 0
Cleveland woke up this morning and could see that New York was just a half-game behind them in the standings. New York starter Vic Raschi (4-3) didn’t allow a hit until the seventh inning and limited Cleveland to only two runs scored, but Bob Feller (3-1) was better as he shutout the Yankees.
Philadelphia (AL) (H) 5 St. Louis (AL) 4
St. Louis first baseman Jack Graham hit a two run homerun in the first to give the Browns a quick lead, but Philadelphia came back and eventually moved ahead 5-2. St. Louis scored twice in the seventh to make it close, but Alex Kellner came in to shut down the rally and close the game out.
Detroit 4 Washington (H) 0
Detroit starter Ted Gray (2-4) limited Washington to only four hits as he went all the way for a shutout victory. Vic Wertz continued his hot streak as he went 3-for-5 and got his average up to .400.
Note: ATMgr had Hoot Evers starting in left field but Baseball-Reference.com shows Pat Mullin listed.
Chicago (NL) (H) 6 Brooklyn 5 (13)
Chicago had a nice comfortable 4-1 lead heading into the ninth when starter Bob Rush got into a little trouble but looked to be out of it when all of a sudden third-string third baseman Eddie Miksis popped a three-run homerun and the Dodgers suddenly found themselves with a 5-4 lead. Not to be outdone, Hal Jeffcoat hit a pinch-hit homerun in the bottom of the ninth and off to extra innings we went. In the bottom of the thirteenth Andy Pafko led off with a single that center fielder Duke Snider kicked and allowed Pafko to reach second. Not wasting any time, left fielder Peanuts Lowrey immediately singled home Pafko with the game-winner.
Boston (NL) 2 Cincinnati (H) 1
Neither team scored until Ted Kluszewski homered for the Reds in the bottom of the sixth in this pitcher's duel. Boston only had four hits on the day, but three of them came in the eighth inning when they finally broke through against Ken Raffensberger (0-7) with two runs. Johnny Sain (3-3) finished what he started and picked up the win.
Pittsburgh (H) 2 New York (NL) 1
New York starter Larry Jansen (3-3) was the hard-luck loser today. Jansen only gave up three hits and no walks but allowed two runs to score on a pair of sacrifice flies, and that was enough to get Pittsburgh the win. Bob Muncrief (3-0) allowed seven hits but managed to pitch out of a bases-loaded-one-out situation in the eighth and held on for the victory.
St. Louis (NL) (H) 6 Philadelphia (NL) 2
St. Louis starter Harry Brecheen (6-0) went all the way to get the Cardinals win, allowing only four hits to Philadelphia on the day. Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter both had three RBI's, and Red Schoendienst, playing shortstop today, scored three runs.
Thursday, May 19, 1949
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| Johnny Hopp |
Note: Brooklyn acquired first baseman/outfielder Johnny Hopp from Pittsburgh in return for outfielder Marv Rackley. This trade will later be voided and the two players returned to their original teams. In other Brooklyn news, the Dodger front office has announced they will call up pitcher Don Newcombe and he would be available to pitch in St. Louis on Friday.
Boston (AL) (H) 5 Chicago (AL) 3
Boston power prevailed as Vern Stephens hit #12 and Al Zarilla added a solo shot and scored three runs on the day. Chuck Stobbs (2-0) got the win, but when Chicago threatened I the ninth Tex Hughson came in and got Cass Michaels to hit into a game-ending double play.
New York (AL) (H) 7 Cleveland 1
New York second baseman Jerry Coleman and shortstop Phil Rizzuto went back-to-back with homeruns to start the bottom of the first as the Yankees scored all seven of their runs in the first three innings. Yogi Berra got into the homerun barrage when he hit his first of the season in the third inning. Bob Porterfield (2-1) held Cleveland to five hits and went all the way for the win.
Washington (H) 13 Detroit 5
Detroit led 5-3 at the end of the fourth, but then Washington got into the Tigers bullpen and the Senators offense came alive. Center fielder Clyde Vollmer went 4-for-4 with a homerun and two RBI's and shortstop Sam Dente also had a 4-for-4 day but drove in six runs.
New York (NL) 9 Cincinnati (H) 5
New York starter Sheldon Jones (6-2) was looking for his sixth win but got off to a rocky start, giving up five runs in the first two innings, including Hank Sauer's eleventh homerun of the season. The Giants aren't really a team that manufactures runs - they tend to get on base and wait for a homerun. That hasn't been working recently, so today they tried stealing a couple of bases and executing some sacrifice bunts, and that was enough to get them back into the game and once they regained the lead then Johnny Mize hit a three-run homerun (#7) to put the game out of reach.
Boston (NL) 6 Pittsburgh (H) 3
Ralph Kiner had a bad day. Not only did he go 0-for-3 with a double play, but he made two errors in left field and later in the game he crashed into the left-field wall making a spectacular catch, but had to come out of the game. The errors helped Boston build a 4-1 lead after the third and then they built on that from there.
St. Louis (NL) (H) 10 Brooklyn 3
St. Louis center fielder Chuck Diering started off the bottom of the first with a triple and the Cardinals soon had a 2-0 lead. In the third Brooklyn starter Preacher Roe (2-4) allowed a two-out three-run homerun to rookie third baseman Eddie Kazak and the rout was on. Howie Pollet (2-2) kept the Brooklyn bats quiet as he went all the way for the win.
Friday, May 20, 1949
Note: Cincinnati announced they had signed reliever Jess Dobernic, recently released by Chicago (NL). In a corresponding move, Chicago (NL) announced they had claimed first baseman Herman Reich from Cleveland.
Detroit 8 Philadelphia (AL) (H) 2
Detroit scored five times in the third inning and Hal Newhouser (4-3) didn't allow a Philadelphia run (both unearned) until the sixth inning as he went all the way for the win. Third baseman George Kell became the first player to reach the 50 hit mark and he drove in two runs on the day.
St. Louis (AL) 10 Washington (H) 7
In a battle of the two teams at the bottom of the AL standings, it was the Browns who got off to the fast start, scoring three unearned runs in the third and slowly built up a 10-1 lead. Second baseman Jerry Priddy lead the offense with a 3-for-5 day with two doubles and four RBI's. Al Papai (1-2) got the win but needed help getting out of the ninth.
Cincinnati (H) 6 New York (NL) 2
Cincinnati starter Howie Fox (3-1) didn’t allow a run until the seventh inning and picked up the complete-game victory over New York. Center fielder Lloyd Merriman went 2-for-4 on the day with two doubles and drove in the first three Cincinnati runs.
Pittsburgh (H) 12 Boston (NL) 5
The Pittsburgh power duo of Ralph Kiner and Eddie Bockman led Pittsburgh over Boston today. The Pirates had sixteen hits on the day and Boston had fourteen, but timely hitting by Kiner (2-for-4 with a triple and a homerun and four RBI's) and a three run homerun from Bockman made the difference. Both now have nine homeruns on the season and Bockman has 30 RBI's, Kiner 34.
St. Louis (NL) (H) 7 Brooklyn 0
St. Louis starter George Munger (3-2) held the Dodgers to only four hits and went all the way for the shutout victory. Don Newcombe pitched four innings in relief and the only mistake was allowing a three-run homerun to Enos Slaughter in his final inning of work.
Saturday, May 21, 1949
Note: Boston (NL) announced they had acquired veteran first baseman Elbie Fletcher from New York (NL). The 33-year-old Fletcher first appeared as an 18-year-old with the Braves in 1934, but had spent 1948 in Minneapolis and was in Jersey City in 1949 before being reacquired by his old team.
Boston (AL) (H) 8 Cleveland 7
Cleveland scored twice in each of the first and third innings, but the Red Sox rallied back and scored seven times over the next three innings to take a 7-4 lead. Then it was the Indians turn to rally and tie the score at 7-7 after eight. In the bottom of the ninth Johnny Pesky doubled to start the inning, Ted Williams was intentionally walked, and then Vern Stephens promptly singled home Pesky with the game winner.
Chicago (AL) 6 New York (AL) (H) 4
Chicago scored three unearned runs in the first and knocked New York starter Spec Shea out of the box. In the third inning, White Sox rookie left fielder Gus Zernial hit his second homerun of the year, a three-run shot, and Chicago led 6-0. The Yankees made it close in the end, but Bill Wight (5-0) took it home for the win.
Detroit 11 Philadelphia (AL) (H) 9
Detroit hit solo homeruns in the second and third innings to take a quick lead, but Philadelphia roared back and led 6-3 after seven. Then the game got interesting. The Tigers scored five times in the top of the eighth, only to see the Athletics answer back with three in the bottom of the inning to take a 9-8 lead. Not to be outdone, Detroit scored three times in the top of the ninth and then Dizzy Trout shut down the Athletics to get Detroit the hard-fought win.
Washington (H) 4 St. Louis (AL) 3
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| Sam Dente |
Washington built a 2-0 lead through the fifth, but then St. Louis left fielder Roy Sievers knocked a three-run triple and put the Browns ahead 3-2. In the bottom of the inning shortstop Sam Dente came through with a two-run single and Mickey Haefner (3-4) took home a complete game victory.
Note: Dente had 14 RBI's for Washington this week.
Philadelphia (NL) 11 Chicago (NL) (H) 5
Philadelphia scored three times in the first and two more times in the second to knock Chicago starter Dutch Leonard (0-5). The Cubs committed three errors, leading to six of the Phillies runs being unearned. Hank Borowy (3-2) went all the way for the win.
Boston (AL) 2 Pittsburgh (H) 1 (10)
Quite a pitcher's duel between Warren Spahn (7-0) and Murry Dickson (3-3) today in Pittsburgh. In the tenth Eddie Stanky led off with a walk, advanced to second on an infield out, and then scored the eventual game-winner in a two-out single by Bob Elliott. Spahn became the first to seven wins when he set down the Pirates 1-2-3 in the bottom of the tenth.
Brooklyn 6 St. Louis (NL) (H) 3
Brooklyn shortstop Pee Wee Reese led off the game with a homerun, his first of two on the day, as the Dodgers slowly kept adding to their lead over the course of the game. Jim Hearn's (2-1) previous starts had been stellar, but Brooklyn has his number today. Reese now has eight homeruns so far this season.
Sunday, May 22, 1949
Boston (AL) (H) 4 Detroit 3
Virgil Trucks (3-5) and Mel Parnell (6-1) both gave up a few runs early and the score was tied at 3-3 after the fifth, but there it stood until Ted Williams hit his second homerun of the game in the bottom of the ninth to give Boston and Parnell the win. Williams now has nine homeruns and thirty RBI's.
Philadelphia (AL) (H) 4 Cleveland 1 (GM 1)
Philadelphia starter Alex Kellner (3-1) handled Cleveland quite easily, only allowing four hits and keeping the Indians from scoring until there were two outs in the ninth. First baseman Ferris Fain had two RBI's to spark the Athletics offense.
Cleveland 6 Philadelphia (AL) (H) 5 (GM 2)
Cleveland earned a split in the doubleheader but had to work for it. The Indians scored four times in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead, and there the score stood until Philadelphia came alive with a four-run eighth to tie the score at 5-5. In the top of the ninth Dale Mitchell singled, stole second, and then scored on a Joe Gordon single. Early Wynn then got three outs in the bottom of the ninth to earn the save.
Washington (H) 8 Chicago (AL) 4
Washington starter Walt Masterson (3-1) had led the charge since the Senators had their 0-11 start and today they got win #10. The big hit was a grand slam by right fielder Bud Stewart in the bottom of the fourth and Washington was able to cruise home from there.
Boston (NL) 6 Chicago (NL) (H) 2
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| Elbie Fletcher |
Boston starter Johnny Sain (4-3) had another good start today, limiting the Cubs to six hits and one walk as he went all the way for the complete game victory. Center fielder Jim Russell had a 4-for-5 day and in his Braves debut Elbie Fletcher had a single and three walks.
Note: The Cubs are a mess. In the starting lineup today were Hank Edwards (recently acquired from Cleveland), Herman Reich (just acquired from Cleveland), Rube Novotney (made his ML debut today), Bob Ramazzotti (just acquired from Brooklyn) and Gene Mauch (sat on the Cubs bench for most of the first three weeks of the season). They now have fewer wins than the Senators have, despite Washington's 0-11 start.
Brooklyn 9 Cincinnati (H) 1 (GM 1)
Brooklyn starter Don Newcombe (1-0) made his first ML start a good one, but he had some help in that the Dodgers scored four times in the first and then three more times in the second. First baseman Gil Hodges had a 3-for-5 day with three runs scored, two RBI's, and he hit homerun #4.
Cincinnati (H) 5 Brooklyn 4 (GM 2)
Brooklyn scored twice in the second, but Reds starter Ken Raffensberger (1-7) stiffened and didn't allow any more runs until the ninth inning. In between the Reds recaptured the lead on Hank Sauer's twelfth homerun and then held on to get Raffensberger his first win of the season.
Philadelphia (NL) 15 Pittsburgh (H) 2
Philadelphia pummeled Pirates pitching today and Robin Roberts (3-2), despite giving up homerun #10 to Ralph Kiner, kept the Pittsburgh bats quiet in picking up the win. Eddie Miller and Willie Jones both hit three-run homeruns for the Phillies, and Eddie Waitkus had a 4-for-6 day with three runs scored and two RBI's.
St. Louis (NL) (H) 8 New York (NL) 5 (GM 1)
St. Louis scored twice in the first and lead 5-0 after the fourth but had to hold off a furious New York comeback to get the win. Al Brazle (3-2) got the win and drove in two runs with a double. Right fielder Ron Northey chipped in with a 3-for-4 day with a double, a triple, and three RBI's.
New York (NL) 7 St. Louis (NL) (H) 1 (GM 2)
St. Louis starter and bonus baby Bill Reeder (1-1) made his first ML start and quickly found out that repeatedly loading the bases is a bad plan, especially against the Giants. Walker Cooper finally drove home three with a double in the second and gave New York a 5-0 lead, and Larry Jansen (4-3) had what he needed to take home the win.
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