August 4, 1934: Pitcher Reggie Grabowski Sets a Record for the Ages

Pitcher Reggie Grabowski did little to distinguish himself in parts of three seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies uniform. He appeared in 51 games, including twelve starts, and compiled a 4-8 record with a 5.73 ERA. He was, however, only the second Reggie to play in the major leagues, after one Reggie Richter, and he did have a brother, Al Grabowski, who also pitched in the major leagues. Other than that, there was little to remember from his big-league career until near its end.

On August 4, 1934, Grabowski achieved a feat of pitching futility that has never been replicated and that carved his name into the record books forever. In the ninth inning of a game at Baker Bowl against the New York Giants, Grabowski allowed 11 hits and 11 runs. Here is how it happened.

Coming into an August 4^th doubleheader, the Giants were three games ahead of the Chicago Cubs in the National League pennant race. The Phillies were entrenched in seventh place, outpacing only the Cincinnati Reds. The Phillies won the first game, 5-4, behind their newfound ace, Curt Davis. Snipe Hansen started the second game and was knocked out of the box before you could say “snipe hunt.” * By the time reliever Cy Moore escaped the first, the Giants had established a 5-0 lead. 

The Phils scored two runs in both the first and third to narrow the score a bit, but the Giants responded behind two solo home runs by Mel Ott, his 27th and 28th of the season, and a two-run home run by shortstop Travis Jackson. By the end of the eighth inning the score stood at Giants 10, Phillies 4. Phillies manager, Jimmie Wilson, sent Grabowski to the mound to mop up in the ninth. Things immediately went from bad to disastrous.

Future Hall of Famer Bill Terry led off the inning for the Giants with a single. Fellow future Hall of Famer, Ott, singled for his fourth hit of the game.  Hank Leiber doubled, driving in Terry and sending Ott to third. Next up, Phil Weintraub singled driving home Ott and Leiber. Gus Mancuso and Johnny Vergez both singled, loading the bases. That brought up pitcher, Hal Schumacher, who promptly singled, scoring Weintraub. Lead-off hitter, Hughie Critz, followed with yet another base hit, the Giants' eighth in a row, scoring two more.

Finally, Jackson, grounded out, driving in a run, but giving Grabowski a most welcome first out of the inning. Terry then singled for his second hit of the inning. By this time Grabowski may have been growing a tad frustrated. His next pitch plunked the powerful Ott in the back, loading the bases. Leiber singled home Critz, bringing up Weintraub. What happened next has not been recorded for posterity. We know that Weintraub made the second out of the inning. We also know that Phillies right fielder, Johnny Moore, made an error on the play, allowing two unearned runs to score. That is all we know. We can only speculate that Moore caught a fly ball and then made a wild throw trying to get the runner at the plate, or perhaps at third, allowing two more runs to score. Weintraub was credited with one run batted in, but no sacrifice fly was credited. At any rate, the score now stood at 21-4 and the bases were empty with two outs.

Mancuso then singled for the 11th hit of the inning, before Grabowski finished off his record setting inning with a flourish, striking out Vergez. The Phillies went down tamely in the ninth and the final score was 21-4 in a game played in two hours and eighteen minutes. The final line for Grabowski: 1 IP, 11 H, 11 R, 9 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. Why did manager Wilson leave Grabowski in the game? Perhaps Wilson didn't want to use another pitcher in a blowout game, so he allowed Reggie to "take one for the team."

Grabowski did not pitch again until August 17, when he gave up four runs in 1 1/3 innings in a 12-2 Phillies loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The final appearance of Reggie's major league career came on September 24, when he pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up six runs in a 10-1 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers. After that Grabowski carved out a decent career in the minor leagues, pitching mostly with Albany and his hometown Syracuse teams. He retired in 1945 at age 37 with an 84-81 minor league record.

Since Grabowski set the record for hits and runs allowed in one inning of a game, two pitchers have tied the hits record. Phil Niekro of the Atlanta Braves gave up 11 hits and seven runs to the Cubs in the second inning of a game on June 14, 1980, and Bronson Arroyo gave up 11 hits and 10 runs to the Toronto Blue Jays, also in the second inning, on June 24, 2008. Neither pitcher matched Grabowski's 11 runs allowed. Grabowski's record appears safe for now.

Reggie Grabowski stands second from right with Babe Ruth and
Lou Gehrig (standing center) on a barnstorming team from the early 1930s.

* Yes, as you no doubt guessed, Roy Emeril Frederick "Snipe" Hansen got his nickname because of a snipe hunting adventure. A story for another day.