1933, the obscure World Series: Mel

Game 5, 7 October 1933

Mel Ott

Game five of the 1933 World Series was the final game in Washington, DC. With the Giants leading three games to one, the Senators had to win in order to keep the Series going. They sent game two starter, and loser, Alvin “General” Crowder to the mound. New York responded with their own game two starter, and winner, Hal Schumacher.

And for six innings it didn’t appear that Washington had any chance of sending the Series back to the Polo Grounds. In the top of the second a Travis Jackson single, a walk to Gus Mancuso, and another bunt sacrifice put runners on second and third with one out. That brought up pitcher Schumacher who promptly singled to plate both runs. In the top of the sixth the Giants tacked on another run with a Kiddo Davis double, a Jackson bunt sacrifice, and a Mancuso double to make the score 3-0 with 12 outs to go.

Schumacher got two of them before Heinie Manush singled. He was followed by a Joe Cronin single that sent Manush to third. Up came Fred Schulte who parked a three run home run into the left field stands to tie the game and give Washington hope. Two more singles put runners on and sent Schumacher to the showers. In came Dolf Luque. At 42, Luque was the oldest Giant by four years and the oldest Giant pitcher by seven years. Only Sam Rice of the Senators was older (43) on either team and Rice was, by 1933, a substitute. The old man responded to the pressure by inducing a grounder to end the threat.

For the rest of the regulation game the teams matched zeroes. There were a handful of hits and a walk, but no one got beyond first base. In the tenth the Giants took two quick outs. That brought up Mel Ott. Into the 1960s, Ott was the all time leader in home runs among National League players (and third all time behind Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx). So he did what he did so well. He parked a ball in the center field seats to put New York ahead 4-3. A grounder back to the pitcher ended the inning and brought up the Senators for one last shot at sending the World Series back to Giants territory.

Luque got two quick outs, then gave up a single and walked Joe Cronin to put two men on with two outs. Up stepped Joe Kuhel. Luque struck him out to end the game and the Series. In relief, Dolf Luque, the first Cuban player to win a World Series game pitching struck out five, walked two, and gave up only two hits in 4.1 innings of relief. Unfortunately his effort was largely lost behind Ott’s game winning homer.

For a five game Series, it had been a good playoff. Two games, the last two, went into extra innings. A third game was 4-2. In an era known for its power hitting, the key blows in the final game were home runs: one by Schulte, the other by Ott. But there were an extraordinary number of runs scored that involved the Deadball Era standard of the bunt sacrifice.

The Giants hitting was fine, finishing with a .267 average 16 runs, three homers, and 47 hits, but the New York pitching had dominated the Series. The team ERA was 1.53 with only 11 runs allowed, and only eight of those earned. They staff struck out 25 with Carl Hubbell going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and Luque matching the 0.00 in the biggest relief outing of the Series.

For the Senators, Earl Whitehill won their only game by giving the Series its only complete game shutout. But Lefty Stewart and Crowder both had ERA’s north of seven, and the staff as a group had given up 10 more hits than the Giants staff. The team hit only .214 with Schulte’s four RBIs leading the team (three on the game five home run).

For the Giants it was the beginning of a decent run in the 1930s. They’d get back to two more World Series’ in the decade (losing both to the Yankees). For the Senators it was the end of their playoffs. The next time Washington made the World Series was 1965. By then they were relocated to Minnesota and called the Twins.

 

 

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1933, the obscure World Series: The Senators

Sam Rice

In 1933, the Giants drew the Washington Senators in the World Series. In the mid-1920s (1924 and 1925) the Senators were a formidable team winning a championship with Walter Johnson on the mound. By 1933 Johnson was gone as was most of the pennant winning team (a few remained).

The Senators offense was first in the American League in hits, triples, and batting average; third in runs, walks, and total bases; and fourth in doubles, home runs, and stolen bases. The team contained a nice mix of younger players (Cecil Travis was 19) and veterans (Sam Rice was 43) who tended to bunch in the stats. Six of the eight everyday players hit above .295 and the other two were in the .260s. A couple of bench players hit above .300 and a total of five were above .260. Only two men had double figure home runs (11 and 10) and except for one position (third base) every starter had between 29 and 45 doubles. Every primary starter managed to have more walks than strikeouts.

The infield from first around to third consisted of Joe Kuhel, Buddy Myer, Joe Cronin, and Ossie Bluege. Cronin, who would make the Hall of Fame, was also the manager, making the 1933 World Series odd by having two player-managers (Bill Terry). Cronin hit .309, led the team with both 118 RBIs and 87 walks. He was a solid shortstop and gave his team 7.2 WAR. All that got him second in the MVP voting. Myer, Cronin’s keystone crony, had 4.4 WAR, good for second on the team among position players. First baseman Joe Kuhel led the team with both 17 stolen bases and 11 home runs, had 107 RBIs (good for second on the team), and also led in OPS (.851) and was second on the Senators with 281 total bases. Ossie Bluege (his Baseball Reference page says it’s pronounced Blue-Jee—-I’ll take their word for it) was, at 32, the senior citizen of the infield. He’d been around for the 1920s pennant run and was still productive. He hit .261 with six home runs, good for third in Washington.  The backups included Cecil Travis who hit .302 in 43 games and Bob Boken who hit .278.

The outfield consisted of two Hall of Famers and Fred Schulte. Schulte hit .295 with 87 RBIs and was second on the team with 10 stolen bases.. The Hall of Famers were Goose Goslin and Heinie Manush. Manush, one of the more obscure Hall of Fame members, led the team with a .336 average, 115 runs scored, and had 4.1 WAR. The other outfielder was Goose Goslin. By the time the 1933 Series ended, Goslin would become the only man to play in all 19 Washington Senators World Series games (Bluege missed two in 1925 and Sam Rice was a part-time player by 1933). For the season his triple slash line read .297/.348/.452/.800 with 10 home runs, 10 triples (try that on purpose), 35 doubles, a 112 OPs+, and 3.2 WAR. Dave Harris and Sam Rice did most of the substitute work in the outfield. Harris had five home runs and hit .260. Rice, who logged 39 games in the outfield at age 43, hit .294, had -0.5 WAR, and would play one more season before retiring with 2987 hits.

Luke Sewell, brother of Yankees third baseman Joe, did the bulk of the catching. He hit .264 with no power and is today probably best known, if he’s known at all, as the manager of the 1944 St. Louis Browns, the only Browns team to win a pennant. Moe Berg, who is also better known for something other than catching (he was a “spy” during the pre-World War II period) hit .185 as the primary backup.

They caught a staff that didn’t have a Walter Johnson anywhere on the roster. General (Alvin) Crowder and Monte Weaver were the primary right handers on a staff that was second in the American League in ERA and runs. The primary lefties were Earl Whitehill and Walter “Lefty” Stewart. All had ERA’s in the three’s and both Crowder and Whitehill gave up more hits than they had innings pitched. Whitehill and Weaver both walked more men than they struck out. Stewart’s 1.244 WHIP was best on the team and Whitehill’s 4.9 WAR led all pitchers. The primary man out of the bullpen was Jack Russell (as far as I know he didn’t have a terrier). His ERA was 2.69 and led the AL with 13 saves. It gave him a 3.5 WAR.

The Senators could hit with the Giants. The question was simply could their pitching keep up with the likes of Carl Hubbell and company. The World Series began 3 October.

 

 

 

Building a Winner: Worse

Dolph Camilli

As bad as the 1937 Brooklyn Dodgers were, the 1938 version was even worse. They dropped all the way to seventh in 1938 going 69-80 to finish 18.5 games back (which is actually closer than in 1937–the ’37 Giants  won 95 games, the ’38 Cubs only 89). Their Pythagorean said they should have finished 74-75, so they underperformed. In hitting they finished sixth in most categories but first in stolen bases and walks. In fact they had 611 walks and only 615 strikeouts for the season (and if you exclude pitchers they actually walked more than they struck out), which helped them to second in OBP. The pitching was also bad. The staff consistently finished about sixth in most categories coming in high in shutouts (3rd) and having the third lowest walk total. Even Hilda Chester might have had trouble rooting for this team.

But a couple of significant changes occurred. First, Dolph Camilli came over from Philadelphia. He posted 24 home runs and 100 RBIs, both of which easily led the team. His 118 walks also led the team (as did his 101 strikeouts). His OPS and OPS+ also led the Dodgers, while his WAR was second on the team (but first among position players). He replaced Bud Hassett at first, but Hassett moved to the outfield replacing Heinie Manush (who got into 17 games), so effectively Camilli replaced Manush. Manush hit for a much higher average in 1937 than did Camilli in 1938, but had only about half the WAR and drove in 73 with four home runs. The other big infield change saw Leo Durocher take over at short. Durocher’s numbers weren’t better than Woody English who’d held down shortstop in 1937, but Durocher became team captain and brought a new competitive attitude to the team. Also in the infield Cookie Lavagetto moved from second to third and John Hudson replaced him at second. Lavagetto replaed Joe Stripp making Hudson essentially Stripp’s replacement. Hudson’s OPS+ and WAR weren’t very good, but they were better than Stripp.

The outfield was entirely different. The aforementioned Hassett was now on one corner. Goody Rosen took another and former college football standout Ernie Koy had the final position. Koy almost hit .300 and his 11 home runs were second on the team, as were the 76 RBIs.

The bench was long in 1938. Merv Shea and Gilly Campbell were the backup catchers while former backup Roy Spencer got into only 16 games. The 1937 starting shortstop Woody English now rode the pine and Pete Coscaret was pushing Hudson for more time at second. Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler was, along with Tuck Stainback, the primary backup outfielder. He was 39 but could still hit in the .270s. Other than Cuyler they didn’t do much.

The battery consisted of Babe Phelps behind the plate and nine primary pitchers. Phelps hit .300 with no power and 1.7 WAR (that was eighth on the team). The primary starters were three holdovers from 1937: Luke Hamlin, Fred Fitzsimmons, and Van Mungo (of Van Lingle Mungo song fame). Fitzsimmons’ 4.4 WAR led the team and Hamlin’s 3.4 was third. The new guy was Bill Posedel who poured kerosene on an already combustible staff by going 8-9 with an ERA north of five. The bullpen (those with 20 or more games pitched) saw Fred Frankhouse as a leftover from 1937 and Tot Presnell, Vito Tamulis, and Max Butcher as the new guys. Both Tamulis and Presnell posted ERA+ number above 100.

Part of the problem lay with manager Burleigh Grimes. Essentially everyone knew he was a lame duck and his authority in the clubhouse waned. He’d been a good pitcher for a long time (eventually making the Hall of Fame) but wasn’t much of a manager. He came immediately into conflict with Durocher who, it was assumed, was manager-in-waiting. It didn’t help team chemistry.

There was one significant off field addition also. In 1939 Larry McPhail became President and General Manager of the Dodgers. He would change the culture of the team greatly.

So where were we when 1938 came to a close? Much of the infield was in place. Camilli was at first and Lavagetto at third. Both were playing well. Durocher was at short, but would leave the position after the end of the season to become manager. Neither the 1941 outfielders nor the catcher were yet in place. The pitching staff was beginning to add the first parts of the pennant winning group in holdovers Fitzsimmons and Hamlin, but the mainstays of the 1941 staff were still missing. Much of this would change in 1939, making it a key year in the rebuilding process.

 

Building a Winner: Bad

Leo Durocher while with Brooklyn

There are a lot of ways to construct a winning team. You can create it internally through a farm system. You can trade for the right players. You can out right buy players from another team. In the last 50 or so years you can go through the free agent market. And of course you can use any combination of these to build your team. I want to take something of an extended look at how one team did it.

As a Dodgers fan I’m much more familiar with their doings than with other teams, so it’s reasonable for me to look at how the Dodgers built a winning team. In this case I’m going to single out the 1941 Brooklyn team that got to a World Series, then faltered, but laid the foundation for the team that was generally in contention through the remainder of the team’s time in Brooklyn (1957).

To start, here’s the main part of the roster of the pennant winning 1941 team. Infield (first around to third): Dolf Camilli, Billy Herman, PeeWee Reese, Cookie Lavagetto. Outfield: Pete Reiser, Joe Medwick, Dixie Walker. The catcher was Mickey Owen. Starting pitchers (guys with double figure starts): Kirby Higbe, Whit Wyatt, Curt Davis, Fred Fitzsimmons, Luke Hamlin. The bullpen (guys with 20 or more appearances from the pen): Hugh Casey and Mace Brown (and Casey also had double figure starts). And the bench (guys with 50 or more games played): Lew Riggs (primarily a 3rd baseman), Pete Coscarart (primarily a 2nd baseman), Herman Franks (a catcher), and Jim Wasdell (and outfielder). The manager is Leo Durocher. Keep all those names in mind as we go through the process of putting this team together. These are the guys we’re ultimately looking for in order to create a winning team.

Now here’s a look at the same team in 1937. The order is the same (infield, outfield, catcher, starters, bullpen, bench, manager): Bud Haslett, Lavagetto, Woody English, Joe Stripp, Heinie Manush, Tom Winsett, John Cooney, Babe Phelps, Max Butcher, Hamlin, Fred Frankhouse, Waite Hoyt, Van Mungo, Fitzsimmons, Roy Henshaw, George Jeffcoat, Jim Lindsey, Gibby Black (outfield), Jim Butcher (2nd, 3rd, and outfield), Roy Spencer (catcher), Lindsay Brown (Short). Burleigh Grimes is the manager.

The ’37 Dodgers finished sixth of eight teams in the National League. They were 62-91, 33.5 games out of first and 17.5 out of fifth place. They finished sixth in batting average, OBP, OPS, runs, and hits; seventh in slugging; dead last in home runs. At least they were third in stolen bases (all of 69) and second in doubles. The pitching was worse. They were seventh in ERA, runs, earned runs, complete games (which meant a lot more in 1937 than it does today, and last in shutouts. At fourth in strikeouts, they managed to get into the top half of the National League. And to top it off they were dead last in fielding percentage. In short, the Daffiness Boys stunk up the place.

Five years later they won the NL pennant. A lot of things changed. But a few things remained. Off the 1937 squad, Cookie Lavagetto remained. He’d moved from second to third. Although many of his traditional stats had regressed, he maintained an OPS+ of 110 (down one point from 1937) and his WAR (BBREF version) moved from 2.5 to 2.7. Luke Hamlin was still around also. His ERA was up, his wins down, his ERA+ was down 25 points, and his WAR had gone from 3.4 to a negative. Fitzsimmons was also there. By 1941 his ERA and ERA+ were much better although his WAR was unchanged. So even the holdovers from 1937, especially Hamlin, weren’t doing much to help the team make its five-year rise. To do well, an entire overhaul needed to occur. In the next few posts I want to look at that overhaul.

A Dozen Things You Should Know About Buddy Myer

Buddy Myer about 1925

1. He was born Charles Solomon Myer in Mississippi in 1904. His father was Jewish, his mother Christian, which must have made for some interesting times in turn of the 20th Century Mississippi. Myer appears never to have been particularly religious although his ethnicity got him into a couple of fights during his Major League career.

2. He attended Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Mississippi State University) and graduated in 1925.

3. He signed with Cleveland, was assigned to Dallas, which he hated, and was released at his request.

4. He signed with New Orleans, an independent member of the Southern Association, and was picked up by the Washington Senators. He made it to the Majors that same year, appearing in four games.

5. Regular third baseman Ossie Bluege was injured in the World Series and Myer played third in the final three games of the Series (with only the four games of MLB experience). He hit .250 with two strikeouts and a walk.

6. He became the regular Washington shortstop in 1926, started slowly in 1927 and was traded to Boston (the Red Sox, not the Braves). While at Boston he led the American League in stolen bases in 1928 with 30 (16 caught stealing) and hit .313. That led Washington to make a trade that brought him back to the Senators. It cost them five players: Milt Gaston, Hod Lisenbee, Elliot Bigelow, Grant Gillis, and Bob Reeves.

7. In 1929 he split time between second base and third base before settling in as the Senators’ regular second baseman for the decade of the 1930s.

8. He won the batting title in 1935 hitting .3495 against Joe Vosmik’s .3489 by going four for five on the final day of the season. He scored 115 runs, knocked in an even 100 (the only time he had 100 RBIs) with an OPS of .907 (OPS+ of 138). He made the All Star team and finished fourth in the MVP voting.

9.  In 1936 he developed stomach trouble (apparently an ulcer). It bothered him off  and on for the rest of his career. His season high in games played after the illness was 127 in 1938.

10. He retired after the 1941 season with a .303 batting average and an OPS of .795 (OPS+ of 108).

11. After retirement he worked as a mortgage banker and died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1974.

12. In 1949 he received his only vote for the Hall of Fame. Joining him with a single vote were future Hall of Famers George Kelly, Fred Lindstrom, Heinie Manush, and Earl Averill as well as Hall of Fame managers Leo Durocher and Al Lopez.