Fregosi's Phillies 1991: The Unlikely 13 Game Winning Streak

On July 28, 1991, after the Phillies dropped a close 2-1 game to the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park, they were a last place team with a 40-58 record, 21.5 games behind the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates. It had already been a tumultuous year. Manager Nick Leyva was fired 13 games into the season and was replaced by former All-Star shortstop, twice failed manager, and close friend of General Manager Lee Thomas, Jim Fregosi. Despite Fregosi's promise of "better communication" and "rapport with the players", three months into his tenure, the results on the field had not improved much.

Starting on July 30 in San Diego, however, the Phillies went on a remarkable 13 game winning streak that dug them out of the cellar, and set them up for an improbable third place finish in the National League East Division. Heroes during the winning streak included many names that would be core members of the 1993 National League pennant winners and a few other names that have faded into obscurity. Here is how it happened. 

Game 1: The streak began with a tight 2-1 win over Tony Gwynn and the Padres. Jose de Jesus, a wild and inconsistent righthander who had been acquired from Kansas City a year earlier in a trade for Steve Jeltz, started and scattered eight hits and seven walks over eight innings. Mitch Williams earned the save. Doubles by Wes Chamberlain and John Kruk plated the Phillies two runs. 

Game 2: The next night, left fielder Chamberlain led a Phillies offensive onslaught as they beat the Padres by a 9-3 score. Chamberlain was four-for-four with two three-run home runs for six RBIs. Mickey Morandini was three-for-three. Lefty Bruce Ruffin picked up the win, with relief help from Roger McDowell and Joe Boever.

Game 3: On August 1, the Phillies travelled to Montreal to take on the Expos. Chamberlain was again the hero in a 4-1 Phillies win. Chamberlain hit his third three-run home run in two days as part of a four-run fourth inning. Terry Mulholland gave up a triple and a single to the first two batters he faced and then shut the Expos down on one hit the rest of the way.

Game 4: It took the Phillies 11 innings to win their fourth straight. Shortstop Dickie Thon played the hero with a top of the eleventh inning home run that gave the Phillies a 6-5 lead. It was Thon's second home run of the game and his sixth of the year. Mitch Williams got the win. Mike Hartley worked the bottom of the eleventh for his only save in a Phillies uniform.

Game 5: Right-hander Tomy Greene raised his season record to 8-4 by pitching seven shutout innings. Dale Murphy was the hitting star with a three-run home run. The Phillies defeat the Expos again, this time by a 7-1 score. 

Game 6: The streak continues with another extra inning nail-biter. Jose de Jesus pitches eight strong innings and the Phillies score two unearned runs to send the game into overtime. A Dale Murphy double scored Lenny Dykstra with the winning run in the ninth. Mitch Williams pitched two shutout innings for the win, striking out Tim Wallach to end it with a flourish.

Game 7: On August 6 the Phillies bring their winning streak home to Veterans Stadium to meet the Chicago Cubs. A crowd of 26,000+ is on hand. Those fans see an all-time classic. The game is tied at 1 after eight innings. Ruffin pitched a strong 7.1 innings, and Hartley bailed him out in the eighth by inducing a double play line drive from the Cubs George Bell. In the ninth, the Cubs take a 2-1 lead as reliever Boever struggled. Lefty Wally Ritchie got the dangerous Mark Grace out with two men on for the final out of the ninth. Dykstra erased the Cub lead with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth off Cub lefty Paul Assenmacher. Ritchie retired the Cubs in the 10th and, after the Phils also fail to score, Mitch Williams got the Cubs out in the 11th. In the bottom of the eleventh, right-hander Les Lancaster came in to pitch for the Cubs. Dykstra led off with a walk and Darren Daulton singled him to third. Chamberlain strikes out swinging and the left-handed hitting Kruk is intentionally walked. That brings Murphy to the plate, and he sets off the fireworks and sends everyone home happy with a walk-off grand slam home run.

Game 8: It's more of the same the next night as another crowd of 26,000+ sees another 11-inning walk off win. At the end of regulation, the game is tied at four. The Phillies get a home run from Kruk and a triple from Chamberlain along the way. Mulholland works eight innings but struggles allowing four runs. Hartley keeps the score tied with two innings of shutout relief. Williams pitches the top of the 11th and is the winning pitcher for the third night in a row, as, in the bottom of the inning, a Chamberlain single with the bases loaded off the unfortunate Lancaster, brings home Randy Ready with the winning run.

Game 9: There is no drama the next night as the Phillies romp 11-1 behind a strong seven-inning outing from Danny Cox and four RBIs from third baseman Charlie Hayes. Right fielder Jim Lindeman contributes two hits, and an RBI and reliever Steve Searcy follows Cox with two shutout innings.

Game 10: The Expos visit the Vet, and it is time for first baseman Ricky Jordan to get into the act. Jordan's bases loaded double in the seventh scores three and gives the Phillies a 4-3 lead. The Cubs tie the game in the top of the eighth on a bases loaded walk by Williams, but a Dickie Thon sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth provides the margin for victory. Williams scores both a blown save and a win.

Game 11: Once again the pitching of Jose de Jesus is the story as the Phillies prevail 4-2. De Jesus goes seven strong innings while Hartley and Williams finish off the game. Chamberlain, Hayes, and Thon contribute RBIs. 

Game 12: Jim Lindeman is the hitting star as the Phillies use five pitchers to hold off the Expos in a 5-4 win. A Lindeman double plates two, while Ruffin, Boever, Ritchie, Hartley, and Wiliams all contribute on the mound. Williams records the save. The winning run scores on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Game 13: In this game the Phillies Terry Mulholland outpitches the Expos Dennis Martinez, 2-1. Both pitchers throw complete games. Hayes has two doubles for the Phillies and Dykstra and Murphy have the RBIs. Mulholland raised his record to 11-10 with another dominant effort over the Expos. 

The streak ended the next night in Pittsburgh as the Phillies fell 4-3 to Doug Drabek, but the 13-game winning streak was followed by continued improved play by the team. The streak included four extra-inning games and two walk-off wins. Mitch Williams racked up five wins and three saves during the streak. An on-fire Wes Chamberlain contributed 17 hits and 13 RBIs. Dale Murphy, with 11 hits and 11 RBIs, had perhaps his best run of games in his mostly disappointing tenure with the Phillies. The erratic Jose de Jesus pitched very well in his three starts during the streak, winning two.

The Phillies had one other 13 game winning streak in their modern history in August of 1977, a year they won 101 games. The 1887 Phillies, led by pitchers Don Casey and Charles Ferguson, won 16 in row at the end of the season.

In 1992 the Phillies would fall back to last place, but the building blocks that propelled the Phillies to a pennant in 1993 were at least partly in evidence as Jim Fregosi put his stamp on this team during this historic run of games. 

December 1917: The Phillies Get a Christmas Present from the Cubs

Most dedicated Phillies fans know that the team has a history of terrible, one-sided trades with the Chicago Cubs. This history of poor trades dates back to the fall of 1917 when Phils owner, William F. Baker, always, it seems, in need of cash, traded the great Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander and his starting catcher Bill Killefer for two marginal players, catcher Pickles Dillhoefer and pitcher Mike Prendergast, and $55,000. In the 1960s, the Phillies traded away future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins for two over the hill Cubs pitchers, Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson. And then in 1982, of course, there was the trade that sent Larry Bowa and future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg to the Cubs for Ivan DeJesus. To add insult to injury, it was former Phillies pitcher and manager, Dallas Green, now working for the Cubs, who picked the Phillies pocket on that one.

Despite the sordid history, and despite the short-sighted ownership of William Baker, the Phillies did manage to pull off at least one trade with the Cubs that worked out very well for them. In late December 1917, the Phillies traded starting center fielder, Dode Paskert, to the Cubs for center fielder Fred "Cy" Williams. Paskert, a popular player with the home fans, was 37 years old and a veteran of 12 major league seasons. He was known as a fine defensive outfielder, and decent hitter with little power. Williams was 29, and though coming off a poor season, had shown great power potential and enough speed to be a fine outfielder.

Most baseball insiders thought the Phillies had gotten by far the best of the deal. Many believed that Williams could become one of the premiere power hitters in the game, especially in the friendly confines of Baker Bowl, with its short right field wall. The word was that Chicago Cubs manager, Fred Mitchell, had soured on the inconsistent Williams. While Williams was a superior "flychaser," he had a weak throwing arm, something Mitchell valued above all else in his outfielders. 

When the trade was first made, it was not met with universal approval in Philadelphia. Referring to the Phillies manager, Pat Moran, the headline in the Philadelphia Inquirer after the trade read, "Moran Gives Veteran Outfielder, Who Had Splendid Record This Year, For Man Who Played Erratically Last Season." The trade looked even worse when Williams, who was not pleased with the trade, informed the Phillies of his intention to retire rather than report to the Phillies.  Williams never did officially retire, however, and though he missed all of spring training and the first month of the season, he eventually reported and took his place in the Phillies starting lineup on May 29. He would be a fixture there for the next 13 seasons.

Cy Williams did indeed become the great power hitter that was predicted. A left-handed hitter he took full advantage of the Baker Bowl dimensions to become one of baseball's first great home run threats. As the Live Ball Era dawned, he led the league in home runs in 1920 (15), 1923 (41), and 1927 (30). He finished second or third six other times. During his years with the Phillies, he slashed .306/.380/.500. His 251 career home runs were the most in the National League, until Rogers Hornsby passed him in 1929. Williams ranks third on the all-time list of Phillies center fielders behind only Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn and turn of the century standout, Roy Thomas.

On August 5, 1927, Cy Williams became just the third Phillie to hit for the cycle. In a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Williams tripled in the first, doubled in the second, walked in the fifth, homered in the seventh, and singled in the ninth as the Phillies won 9-6. Wiliams finished 4 for 4 with six RBIs in one of his finest days in the major leagues. In 1923, he hit three home runs and drove in seven in a game at the Baker Bowl against the St. Louis Cardinals that the Phillies won 20-14.

Dode Paskert, by the way, had a couple of solid seasons for the Cubs, but his skills were fading, and he was out of the major leagues by 1921. He did have the satisfaction of playing with the Cubs' 1918 pennant winners.

Cy Williams retired in 1930 at age 42. His 217 home runs in a Phillies uniform still ranks 8th on the Phillies all-time home run list. He hit 141 (65%) of those home runs in the friendly confines of Baker Bowl. 

Before he ever signed a professional baseball contract Williams had majored in architecture and starred in three sports at Notre Dame, where he was a teammate of Knute Rockne. In retirement he put his architecture degree to work in his native Wisconsin, where he designed what his biographer Cappy Gagnon calls, "some of the finest buildings on Wisconsin's Upper Peninsula." Many of those buildings are still standing. In 1966 the city of Three Lakes, Wisconsin dedicated Cy Williams Park, which is also still there. Cy Williams died in Eagle River, Wisconsin in 1974 at the age of 86. In 1986, Williams was enshrined on the Phillies' Wall of Fame. 

After all the Phillies franchise has done for the Cubs, they certainly owed us this long-ago Christmas present.

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.

Curt "Coonskin" Davis: The Phillies Fine Thirty-Year-Old Rookie Pitcher

Curt Davis, 30-year-old rookie pitcher for the 1934 Philadelphia Phillies, may have left his heart in San Francisco, but fortunately he took his sidearm fastball with him to Philadelphia. Davis may be the best Phillies pitcher you never heard of. Over 2+ seasons with the Phillies, Davis went 37-35 with a 3.42 ERA for the perennially undermanned Phillies of the mid 1930s. He was the best player on those teams, compiling a gaudy 16.3 WAR in that short span. Traded to the Chicago Cubs for cash and an aging Chuck Klein by the parsimonious Phillies owner William Baker, he went on to win an additional 131 games with the Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers, and St. Louis Cardinals in a 13-year major league career. He pitched in the World Series for Dodgers in 1941 and was an All-Star in 1936, his best season, during which he won 22 games.

Curt Davis was born in 1903 in Greenfield, Missouri and grew up on a farm near Salem, Oregon. It was there he developed his side-armed throwing style, skimming rocks in the river near his home. He never gave much thought to baseball, however, until one day, while he was working as a logger in Cloverdale, California, he was sitting in the stands watching a semi-pro game and watching the pitcher get knocked around. "I could do better than that,” he loudly remarked. The manager of the team heard him and invited Davis to go ahead and try.  Davis marched out to the mound in his dungarees and work boots and pitched very well indeed. Thus discovered, he spent several seasons playing for semi-professional industrial league teams on the west coast before being offered a contract by the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League.

On that San Francisco team Davis was teammates with future Hall of Famer, Lefty Gomez. Davis could only watch as the younger Gomez was sold to the Yankees for $45,000. Many Major League teams were similarly interested in Davis, but the Seals ownership would not part with him unless they got money similar to what they got for Gomez. So Curt Davis remained stuck in the minor leagues for six seasons, compiling 92 wins. Finally, in 1934, Davis was eligible for the Rule 5 draft, and the pitching starved Phillies grabbed him for the bargain price of $7,500. 

Phillies manager, Jimmie Wilson, was enthusiastic about his new pitching recruit. He told the Inquirer's Stan Baumgartner that Davis, "has one of those fastballs that takes off and keeps going." Early in spring training, Wilson was thinking that Davis would make a great relief man. "And how I need one. He'll be as welcome as mustard to a hot dog. Do you know he led the Coast League in earned runs [last year]? [Phillies scout} Patsy O'Rourke has been after him for two years, but the Seals wanted too much for him. We were lucky to get him."

Lucky indeed. By the end of spring training, Wilson realized that Davis was the best pitcher he had. He used Davis as a starter and reliever and he used him often. Davis appeared in a league leading 51 games in 1934, including 31 starts and 274.1 innings. After a so-so start to the year. Davis found his stride and went 12-5 for the months of June and July. Only a six game slide in August and September, during which he often pitched well, but got little run support, prevented him from being the first Phillies pitcher to win 20 games since Pete Alexander won 30 in 1917. As it was, he finished 19-17 with a 2.45 ERA for a Phillies team that won only 58 games.

Davis, who got the nickname "Old Coonskin" because he was a crack shot with a rifle, reminding his teammates of the legendary frontiersman, Daniel Boone, pitched several remarkable games in his rookie season. On Thursday, May 25, he set the Cincinnati Reds down on three hits and no walks, striking out six, winning 5-0. Good control and low strikeout rates would be a hallmark of Davis' pitching throughout his career. He averaged fewer than two walks per game for his career. 

By the middle of July, Davis was garnering comparisons to the Great Alexander himself. In the story of Davis' July 17 shutout of those same Reds, the Inquirer's Baumgartner said, "Not since the days of Grover Cleveland Alexander have the Phillies had as promising a young hurler as Curt Davis. Yesterday, the tall. slim youngster, who resembles the immortal "Pete" of two decades ago in build as well as delivery, blanked the Reds by a score of 7-0." In this game Davis would also contribute his first major league home run. An above average hitter for a pitcher, he would hit 11 dingers in his career.

Davis pitched his third and final shutout of the season on September 26, four hitting the defending champion New York Giants and helping grease the skids on the Giants fading pennant hopes. Davis finished eighth in the Most Valuable Player voting that year. He was third in ERA in the league behind only Dizzy Dean (who was named MVP) and Carl Hubbell, very exclusive company indeed for the rookie.

In 1935, Davis was the opening day starter for the Phillies. He continued to pitch well, compiling a 16-14 record as the Phillies again finished in seventh place. Davis became a highly valued commodity in the National League and finally, at the beginning of the 1936 season, the Phillies traded away their best player and in return brought their fading former superstar, Chuck Klein, back to the Baker Bowl. Davis continued to find pitching success wherever he went, while the Phillies continued to founder in the bottom of the National League's second division. 

There seems little question that if Davis had not been forced to stay in the minor leagues by baseball's reserve clause, he would have been a 200 game winner in the major leagues. If he had, then, like his former San Francisco Seals teammate Lefty Gomez, "Old Coonskin" Curt Davis would have had a legitimate shot at being elected to the Hall of Fame.

Dutch Ulrich and Peck Lerian: Two Baltimore Buddies, Two Phillies, Two Tragic Endings

Growing up in Baltimore, both Frank (Dutch) Ulrich, born in 1899 and Walter (Peck) Lerian, born in 1903 loved baseball. Frank. originally Franz, was born in Austria, immigrating to the United States as a child, hence his nickname. Lerian was born in Baltimore into a strict German Catholic family. He earned his nickname because of the way he threw a baseball as a catcher. Walter would snap off his throw in a manner that resembled a chicken snapping up corn from the ground, hence he became "Peck." 

Peck Lerian

Dutch and Peck met in 1922, when each was playing for the Brooks All-Stars, a Baltimore area semi-pro team. According to Lerian biographer, T. Scott Brandon, the first time Peck caught Ulrich, he immediately recognized that Ulrich had much better speed, movement, and control than the other Brooks' pitchers. He determined to get to know the new pitcher better and the two became close friends.

Ulrich soon signed a professional contract, joining the Moline Plowboys in the Class B Three-I League and began his climb to the Major Leagues. Lerian had already signed a professional contract with the Baltimore Orioles and had spent one season in 1921 with the Baltimore affiliate at Waynesboro, North Carolina in the Class D Blue Ridge League, but when he wasn't satisfied with Baltimore's offer for 1922, he sat out the year figuring he could make more money playing semi-pro baseball and basketball, while staying closer to home. Peck's father had died when he was just six and he felt he needed to be close by to help his mother and younger sister.

Turning down the Baltimore offer meant that Lerian had to sit out a full year of pro ball, but in 1923, he signed a contract with a new team, the York White Roses of the Class B New York Pennsylvania League and was back on track as a professional ball player. He moved steadily up the minor league ladder until he reached New Haven in the Class A Eastern League. At New Haven he developed a reputation as a fine defensive catcher with a powerful arm. 

While in the minors, Peck also perfected what he called the "Cigar Store Indian" play. With a runner approaching the plate, Lerian would stand still as a statue, decoying the runner into thinking the throw was not coming to the plate. At the final second, Lerian would spring into action, grab the throw in his specially modified catcher's mitt and swipe a tag at the startled runner. He used the play often throughout his career. 

Meanwhile, Dutch Ulrich, four years older than Lerian, was pitching extremely well with Waterbury in that same Eastern League. William F. Baker of the Phillies noticed and purchased Dutch from the Brasscos in 1925. Ulrich went 19-27 with a respectable 3.48 ERA for the lowly Phillies over the next three seasons and appeared to be coming into his own as a Major League pitcher by the end of 1927.

In early spring training of 1928, regular Phillies catcher Jimmie Wilson was injured and Phillies' President Baker sent his manager Burt Shotton to hunt for a bargain priced backstop. Shotton traded three minor leaguers for Lerian and Peck signed his first Major League contract in March of 1928. Playing in Philly would mean Peck was close to home and it also looked like Peck would be reunited with his friend Dutch Ulrich as battery mates with the Phillies. 

Alas, that was not to be. Ulrich missed all of spring training with what was diagnosed as double pneumonia and would never play again. It turned out the pneumonia was just part of the story. Ulrich had been battling tuberculosis. While Ulrich improved a bit in the summer and began training in hopes of a return, he relapsed and died in February 1929. He was 28.

Sharing catching duties with the newly acquired Spud Davis, who came over in a trade that sent incumbent catcher Jimmie Wilson to St. Louis, Lerian had an excellent rookie campaign, hitting .272 and providing rock solid defense. Rogers Hornsby called Lerian, "the best young catcher I have seen come up in quite a while."

His hitting fell off some in 1929, but his defense was so good that he maintained the starting catcher's job throughout the season. The Phillies, somewhat surprisingly, had what was for them a good season, finishing fifth. The New York Times designated Peck as the top defensive catcher in the National League. Rumor had it that the New York Giants' manager John McGraw was interested in acquiring Lerian. He called Peck, "the future catching star of the National League."

The last game of the 1929 season was a record setter. The Phillies' Chuck Klein and the Giants' Mel Ott were tied with 42 home runs each. Klein hit a home run off Carl Hubbell to take the lead, after which the Phillies' pitchers walked Ott six straight times. Klein's home run broke Rogers Hornsby's National League home run record. Batting right after Klein's homer, Lefty O'Doul stroked his 251st hit of the campaign, breaking another of Hornsby's records. No one then knew this would be the last game Lerian ever played.

After that season ending game, Lerian stuck around to watch the Philadelphia A's defeat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. He returned home to Baltimore on October 15. After attending church on Monday, October 21, Lerian was standing at the trolley stop at Fayette and Mount Streets, when the driver of a Hecht's Department Store delivery truck swerved to avoid a car that was coming at him, jumped the curb, and struck Lerian, crushing him against a brick wall. It took more than an hour to extricate Lerian from the rubble. He was rushed to the hospital, where friends from St. Martin's Parish lined up to offer blood for a transfusion. Before the transfusion could be completed, however, Peck Lerian died of his injuries. He was 26.

The entire Phillies organization was shocked. President Baker said, "To think that such a fine young fellow who was in the prime of his life just a few hours ago can be suddenly taken out of life." The Hecht's company was eventually ordered to pay Lerian's mother $22,500. The truck driver was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and given probation. Without their young catcher, the Phillies fell back into the National League cellar in 1930.

Lerian is buried in New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore in a grave with a modest marker, saying simply, "Lerian." Ironically, it is the same cemetery where his admirer John McGraw was buried in a large mausoleum five years later.

Two Baltimore friends. Two fine ballplayers. Two Philadelphia Phillies. Two tragic endings. Baseball can be a strange game indeed.

Baker Bowl Brawl: "Lefty" Weinert Battles Casey Stengel to a Draw

Philadelphia native, Philip Walter "Lefty" Weinert, pitched for parts of six seasons in the major leagues, was a regular with the Phillies in 1922 and 1923, was the first Jewish player to appear for the Chicago Cubs in 1927, and was a teammate of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on the 1931 New York Yankees. He may be best remembered today, however, for being the pitcher who, on May 7, 1923, was attacked by a raging Casey Stengel during a game at Baker Bowl.

Weinert signed with the Phillies right out of West Philadelphia High School and spent most of the 1919 season with the Reading Coal Barons in the International League. Despite a 6-15 record at Reading, Weinert made his major league debut with the Phillies that year on September 24 at the reported age of 17.* He worked four innings in relief and gave up 11 hits and nine runs. 

Lefty spent parts of 1920 and 21 with the Phillies, and finally made the team as the fourth starter in 1922. On September 27 of that year, he pitched one of the finest games of his career, a 10-inning complete game victory at the Polo Grounds over the World Champion New York Giants, winning 5-3. Weinert scattered eight hits and allowed just two earned runs. Teammate Russ Wrightstone won the game with a home run in the tenth.

On May 7, 1923, Weinert was called into a game against the Giants at Baker Bowl in the top of the first inning. Lee Meadows, the Phillies starting pitcher had already given up five runs without recording an out. Weinert worked his way out of the inning, allowing one more run. The Phillies were behind 6-0 before coming to bat. 

In the second inning, Weinert got the first two outs, when Casey Stengel came to the plate. It was the first time Weinert had ever faced Stengel. At this point in his career Stengel, a left-handed batter, was platooned and rarely faced left-handed pitching. Weinert and Stengel had been teammates for a brief time in 1920 and 21 with the Phillies, before the Phillies traded Stengel to the Giants. Stengel was not a happy player with the Phillies and whether there was any bad blood between Weinert and Stengel is not clear. At any rate, Weinert promptly plunked Stengel on the shoulder with a pitch. An unhappy Stengel took his place at first base. The New York Daily News reported that Weinert hit Stengel "accidentally."

Weinert singled and scored on a Walter Holke double in the second, but the Giants got to Weinert for three more runs in the third and the score stood at 9-1 as the Giants came to bat in the fourth. With one out Stengel came to the plate again. The first pitch was high and tight. Stengel had seen enough. He threw his bat at Weinert and then charged the mound, and, according to the Jewish Baseball Museum, was spewing anit-semitic epithets on the way.** Weinert met him as he came out and "after a brief exchange of taunts" the two grappled and hammered each other with body blows as their teammates tried futilely to break them apart. Finally, four of Philadelphia's Finest had to come out of the stands to break up the fracas. 

After his brawl with Lefty Weinert,
Casey Stengel is escorted off Baker Bowl field by Philadelphia Police

Both Stengel and Weinert were "banished in disgrace by umpires McCormick and Derr." The Giants eventually won the game 13-8. After reviewing the umpires' report on the fighting incident, National League President, John Heydler, suspended Stengel for 10 games. Weinert was not suspended. Whether this incident earned Stengel a place in manager John McGraw's doghouse, or whether he was injured in the fracas is not known, but Stengel did not start another game for the Giants for two months.

Weinert had a tough 1923 season going 4-17 with a 5.42 ERA for the last place Phillies and labored in the minor leagues for most of the next three seasons. He resurfaced in September 1927 with the Chicago Cubs. In his first outing for the Cubs he pitched a complete game, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-1. The only run he allowed was unearned. It was the closest Lefty ever got to a major league shut out. The Jewish Baseball News reported that this was the "very first Jewish appearance" for the Cubs franchise.

After pitching for the Cubs again in 1928, it was back to the minors for Weinert, until he was purchased from the Louisville Colonels by the New York Yankees in 1931. Weinert pitched in 10 games for the Yankees before being released again. He hung on for a few more years in the minors before finally hanging up the spikes after the 1936 season.

Still calling Philadelphia his home, Weinert was hired as the baseball coach for Villanova College in 1946. He coached the  Wildcats for four seasons and was later a scout for the Phillies, Dodgers, and Indians. He retired to Florida, where he was killed in an automobile accident in 1973. He is buried in Lakeview Memorial Park in Cinnaminson, New Jersey just across the bridge from the site of the old Baker Bowl and his famous brawl.

*While most reports show Weinert was 17 at the time and born in 1902, his grave marker indicates he was born in 1900, which would mean he was actually 19. This makes sense since he had graduated from high school the year before.

**I could not independently corroborate this. Newspapers reported verbal taunts, but did not specify the character of the taunts. You can read what the Jewish Baseball Museum reported here.

The Phillies Other Cliff Lee

I imagine most readers of this blog are familiar with left-handed pitcher Cliff Lee, who, in two different stints with the Phillies, compiled a 48-34 record, as part of his career record of 143-91. Lee was particularly memorable in Philly because of his post-season work in 2009 where he helped the Phillies get to the World Series with playoff wins over the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers, and then recorded two more wins over the New York Yankees in that ill-fated World Series. 

What many Phillies fans may not know is that there was another Cliff Lee who played for the Phillies during the 1920s. This Cliff Lee, a right handed throwing and hitting first baseman/outfielder/catcher, is the living embodiment of obscure. When you go to this Cliff Lee's page on baseballreference.com and click on "player info", the page opens on the information page for Cliff Lee, the pitcher. That seems unjust and a little mean. This blog entry is my meager attempt to rescue "old" Cliff Lee from baseball obscurity.

Cliff Lee was born in Lexington, Nebraska on August 4, 1896. He grew into a lanky 6'1" and 175 pounder and began his professional career at 17 as a catcher with the Muscatine Buttonmakers in the Class D Central Association. After two years with the Buttonmakers, he moved to the Marshalltown Ansons of the same league, and then made the leap to the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. He split time between catching and the outfield. After hitting .359 for Portland, he was a Rule 5 selection of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He made his major league debut for the Pirates on May 15, 1919, getting two hits, including a double against the Phillies in a 5-0 Pirates win. 

After two years as a back up catcher/pinch hitter for the Pirates, Lee was placed on waivers and picked up by the Phillies. With the Phillies, Lee was converted to a first baseman, although he also played some outfield and caught occasionally, and he got a chance to play regularly. He was a solid and consistent hitter for the Phillies for three years, hitting .308, .322, and .321 in 1921, 1922, and 1923 respectively. His best year was 1922 when he was third in the league with 17 home runs (behind Rogers Hornsby and teammate Cy Williams) and eighth in the league in OPS+ at 125. He was top 10 in the league in slugging percentage in both 1922 and 1923.

On May 30, 1922, Lee hit the first home run ever launched over the left field wall at 27 year old Baker Bowl. According to the report in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "It was a tremendous drive. When bat met ball it sounded like the crack of a 45 caliber rifle. When [the ball] disappeared over the wall onto Lehigh Avenue, one wild roar arose from the delighted spectators." Lee also hit another home run in the game, but his two homers and five RBIs were not enough to help the Phillies avoid a 16-7 loss.

Lee's greatest game in the major leagues came just two months later on July 26, again at Baker Bowl, but this time in a 12-7 Phillies win. In this game the Phillies were up against future Hall of Famer and former Phillie, Eppa Rixey, now pitching for the Cincinnati Reds. In the first inning, Lee smashed a three run homer off Rixey to help the Phillies to an early 5-0 lead. Then in the bottom of the eighth, with the score narrowed to 8-7, Lee connected with another Rixey offering for another three-run home run. Lee added a single to his homers on the day for a final line of three hits in five at bats, two home runs, and six RBIs.

In 1924, Lee was relegated to back up duty and let it be known he was none too happy about it. In June he was sold to the Cincinnati Reds in a straight cash deal. After just a handful of games with the Reds, he was sent to St. Paul in the American Association to complete an earlier deal Cincinnati had made. He surfaced the following year with the Cleveland Indians and had another solid year, hitting .322 as a part time player. His final year in the big leagues was 1926 when he appeared in only 21 games for the Indians. That year he missed a month after suffering a severe gash to the thigh when he was spiked by the Detroit Tigers' Heinie Manush.

Lee spent his final four years of professional ball in the minor leagues, first with the Newark Bears in the International League and then with the Seattle Indians in the Pacific Coast League. 

This Cliff Lee may not have been the quality player that the later Cliff Lee was, but he was a pretty good hitter for his time. Lee was especially effective against left handed pitchers, compiling a lifetime .340 average against southpaws.  And, of course, he will always be the first player ever to hit the ball clear over the left field wall at Baker Bowl.

Dick Allen and the 1967 All-Star Game

In the summer of 1967, during the break between my sophomore and junior years of college, I was sharing a basement apartment on New Hampshire Ave. in Washington, DC, with my good buddy from high school, Bruce Ingraham. The apartment wasn’t much, but it had the distinct advantage of being a half block from Dupont Circle, the very heart of the youth culture of 1960s Washington, often called the Greenwich Village of DC. At any time of the day or night on the Circle you could hear folk music, jazz, bluegrass, or Caribbean and African rhythms, or listen to a group of people protesting the Vietnam War or debating civil rights issues, or the latest William Burroughs novel. You could get a good high by just breathing in the “grass” fumes as you walked across the circle.

DC also had the advantage of having a drinking age of 19. As a just-turned 20-year-old, this was my first experience of being able to walk into a bar, any bar, and ordering a beer. I can honestly say that this boy from more restrictive Pennsylvania took full advantage of this unique opportunity.

I had not seen much baseball that summer. Our apartment did not have a television and Bruce was not a baseball fan, but I was determined to take in the 1967 All-Star Game, which was to be played on July 11 in the brand new Anaheim Stadium, home of the Angels in Anaheim, California. I hadn’t missed an All-Star Game in at least 10 years, and I wasn’t going to miss this one, with my Phillies hero, Dick Allen, in the starting lineup.

I decided to take in the game at my new favorite watering hole, the Ben Bow Inn on Connecticut Avenue. The Ben Bow was a dimly lit, narrow joint that resembled, as one might expect of a place named after a tavern in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, a ship’s galley. It hosted an eclectic mix of patrons ranging from beat poets to rednecks, students to businessmen, gay liberationists to motorcycle gang members. Most importantly, at the moment, it had a television tuned to the All-Star game and Michelob Dark beer on tap.

I was about halfway through my first Michelob, when Allen, batting fifth in the order, stepped to the plate to lead off the top of the second inning. There was no score in the game. The pitcher was the Minnesota Twins' ace Dean Chance, getting a chance to start the All-Star game in the town where he had been a star pitcher for the Angels for many years. Allen worked the count to 1-1 and then smashed a low and away breaking ball to deep center field. Tony Oliva, playing centerfield, raced back and then gave up as the ball disappeared over the fence. The announcer was gob smacked that Allen could hit that pitch that far. You can see it all happen here.

https://youtu.be/0jo64akEI9U

I let out a loud "WHOOP," as the ball cleared the fence, which brought the disapproving eyes of several patrons down on me. Washington was in those days an American League town, the home of the recently reconstituted Washington Senators, and the former home, until 1961, of what was now Chance's and Oliva's team, the Twins. Anyway, I calmed down and smiled into my beer. 

Allen's solo home run stood up until the bottom of the sixth, when Orioles' immortal Brooks Robinson took the Cubs' (and former Phillie) Ferguson Jenkins deep . The score remained tied at 1-1 as the night rolled on. Allen had three more at bats and struck out all three times. Phillies lefthander, Chris Short, entered the game in the ninth inning, and to my great pleasure, pitched very well, shutting the American Leaguers down on one hit and one walk. In the tenth, with the winning run on second base, Short struck out Angels shortstop Jim Fregosi. 

By the twelfth inning I was well into my fourth beer and counting my change to see if I could afford another. Thankfully, the National League finally broke through when the Cincinnati Reds' Tony Perez connected against the Kansas City A's' Catfish Hunter. The New York Mets' Tom Seaver came on in the bottom of the twelfth and worked around a one out walk to the Boston Red Sox' Carl Yastrzemski, to lock down the National League victory.

I drained my beer, left my last quarter on the bar,  and walked happily, and a bit unsteadily, out into the late night.

The 15-inning game was the longest game by innings since All-Star games began in 1933. That record was tied in 2008 when the game at Yankee Stadium also went for 15 innings with the American League prevailing 4-3. Both the 1966 and 1967 All-Star games finished with a 2-1 score and both went into extra innings. The lowest scoring All-Star game ever played happened one year later in 1968. That game ended 1-0, with Willie Mays scoring on a groundout in the first inning for the only run of the game.

A Brief Encounter with Whitey: Connie Mack Stadium 1957

I was never much of an autograph hound. Never lined the fence at the ballpark with the other kids before a game with pen and program outstretched hoping to attract a ball player's attention.  Never went down to the bullpen to shout at a player to toss me a ball. Never went to see ballplayers at their personal appearances or winter caravans. It wasn't my thing. I didn't want to bother the players. For that reason, I never had a close encounter with a professional ballplayer of any stripe, until one drizzly, soggy day at Connie Mack Stadium.

Even though I was a huge Phillies fan and lived about 25 miles from that ballpark at 21st and Lehigh, and even though my grandparents lived in Juniata Park about four miles from the park, I only got to two or three games a season. My dad worked a lot and money was tight. But June 8, 1957, the day after my 10th birthday, was one of those days I got to go to the game. It was Keystone School Safety Day and if you were a school safety you got in free and I was a safety at school and so there I was with about 8,000 other kids to see the game.

We took a school bus down to the game and were chaperoned by teachers and parents. My dad was among them. I had my glove with me just in case a foul ball came my way. I was nervous that the rain might lead to a postponed game. We were seated high up in the lower grandstands behind those annoying pillars at old Connie Mack. The stands provided some protection from the occasional light rain that was falling and, of course, a slightly obstructed view of the field.

As we got into our seats, I looked out on the field, which gleamed the bright spectacular green of moist grass. The sky was ominously gray. Another ominous scene was the sight of the umpires and Phillies manager, Mayo Smith and Cubs manager, Bob Scheffing, walking around inspecting the field. The PA announcer proclaimed, "Ladies and Gentleman, this game will be delayed 1/2 hour due to the wet grounds." A collective groan went up, but I was pleased. At least it looked like there was a chance they might  play. 

With the rain falling steadily now, the good seats close to the field were practically empty as fans sought shelter. I asked my dad if I could go down closer to the field. He said, "OK, but be careful and don't bother anybody." A couple of other safeties and I hustled down the steps to the chain link gate on the right hand side of the first base dugout (the Phillies dugout) to see what we could see. No matter how far we leaned over, we could not see into the dugout, but I did notice that the field was a different shape than I expected. Instead of being flat, it was rounded, higher in the center of the field and slopping toward the foul lines. My dad later explained this "turtle back" shape was to help the field drain after a rain.

Just then a  Phillies player hopped out of the dugout and came over to open the gate where I was standing. He raised the latch and, as I stood wide mouthed and motionless, he said, "Excuse me, son." and opened the gate toward me. I knew immediately it was Richie Ashburn. Even though baseball wasn't on tv as much those days, my baseball card collection contained several images of him form over the years. He looked much bigger to the ten-year-old me than his baseball card statistics would indicate, 5'10" and 170 pounds. He looked broad, even husky. Definitely a man among those boys at the fence.

I shuffled back a little and Ashburn came through the gate. He didn't smile. He didn't look up. He just dipped his shoulder in that characteristic way of his (which you can see immortalized in his statue in Ashburn Alley at Citizens Bank Park), and bolted up the steps to the concourse above, his spikes click-clacking on the concrete as he went. As he moved away from me, I noted how white his uniform looked and how marvelous that big red number 1 looked on his back.

At about that moment, the PA system crackled to life again and the announcer intoned, "Ladies and Gentleman, today's game between the Phillies and Cubs has been postponed due to wet grounds. Please hold on to your rain checks, which will be honored at a later game." That was it. All the kids around me groaned. I trudged back up the steps, slump shouldered,, where my dad greeted me with, "I'm sorry son."

I blurted, "Dad, did you see that. That was Richie Ashburn. He walked right by me and he talked to me and he was right there, like I could have touched him." 

"I saw that. Good for you. We better be getting out there to the bus. Maybe we can get to a game later this year." 

"Yeah, OK, dad."

In 1957, the Phillies teased their fans with an early run at the pennant. In fact on that June 8th day when I "met" Richie Ashburn, the Phillies were in third place just one game behind the league leading Cincinnati Reds, and had won nine of their last 12 games. By mid-July the Phillies were tied for first place. It all turned out to be a mirage, however, as their hitting faltered down the stretch. They finished the season in fifth place, 18 games behind the pennant winning Milwaukee Braves. 

Ashburn had a good, but not great year. His average dipped to .297, the first time in 5 years he had hit below .300, but he did lead the league in walks with 94 and collected more than 500 putouts in the outfield for the fifth time in his career.

It was a brief encounter for sure, but to this 10-year-old it was a memorable one and remains the closest I have ever gotten to a future Hall of Famer. 

Johnny Blatnik's Merry Month of May 1948

With many fine young players, the Phillies were a team on the rise in 1948. In spring training two new outfielders were impressing Phillies manager Ben Chapman and major league scouts from every team in both leagues. The 21-year-old Richie Ashburn was impressing with his speed and defensive prowess, The 26-year-old Johnny Blatnik was impressing with his power bat. When asked to rate the best of the crop of young players, the scouts praised infielder Granny Hamner, pitcher Curt Simmons, catcher Stan Lopata, and the high-flying Ashburn, but they reserved special praise for Blatnik. 

Discussing potential rookies of the year, St. Louis Cardinals manager, Eddie Dyer  told Frank Yeutter of Baseball Digest, that while there were many candidates, including Ashburn and his own first baseman, Nippy Jones, he thought Blatnick was the best of them all. "There's a kid (Blatnik) who looks like an old-time ballplayer. He's a good fielder, he can throw well enough, but that bat of his is dynamite." Ben Chapman compared Blatnik favorably to Phillies slugger Del Ennis. "He has the fastest wrists I have ever seen," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer's Stan Baumgartner.

Expert predictions, especially in baseball, often do not pan out. Ashburn, of course, went on to be a key member of the pennant winning Whiz Kids of 1950, and to a Hall of Fame career as a centerfielder for the Phillies, Cubs, and Mets. Meanwhile Blatnik is little more than a footnote on a long list of promising Phillies players who never quite made the grade.

Blatnik, a husky 200 pound six-footer, began his professional baseball career in 1939 with the Washington Senators minor league system, but quickly moved to the Cleveland Indians chain. Blatnik was making steady, if not spectacular, progress through the low minors when his career, like so many ballplayers', was interrupted by World War II. Blatnik lost four years to the war, but when he returned, to Cleveland's Harrisburg affiliate, he showed great improvement in both batting average and power. In 1946 he hit .346 with 19 homeruns and 108 RBIs. Promoted to Class A Wilkes-Barre, he hit .334 with 10 homeruns in 1947. Despite these numbers, Blatnik was left unprotected by the Indians and the Phillies snapped him up for the waiver price of $10,000 dollars.

After impressing the Phillies in the spring, Blatnik made the team as a reserve outfielder. Ashburn had won the job in centerfield, so 1947 centerfielder and batting champion Harry (The Hat) Walker was moved to left. Ennis was in right. Blatnik was restricted to just five pinch-hitting appearances in the month of April. Those at bats resulted in 0 hits, 1 walk and 1 run scored. In early May, however, Walker came down with a case of the flu, and Blatnik took over as the starting left fielder.

In his first major league start on Sunday May 2, Blatnik, batting third, cracked out three singles and drove in two. His first major league hit came off the Brooklyn Dodgers' Rex Barney. The Phillies lost the game 9-6. One week later he had six hits, including his first double and first triple, and five RBIs in a doubleheader sweep of the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field, Cincinnati. On May 12 at Pittsburgh he went 4 for 4 with a double and 2 RBIs in a 5-0 Phillies victory. Blix Donnelly pitched the three hit shutout.

The hits kept on coming. He had three hits at Shibe Park on May 17 against the New York Giants in a 7-1 Phillies victory and another three hit game on May 22 in a 9-2 home loss to Cincinnati. Blatnik's first career homerun came the next day in the first game of a doubleheader at Shibe Park, a two-run shot against the St. Louis Cardinals, Red Munger. His second homerun came in the second game of that doubleheader and was the only run the Phillies scored in that 4-1 loss.

For the month of May 1948, Johnny Blatnik came to bat 99 times and banged out 38 hits for a .384 batting average. The hits included nine doubles, five triples, two homeruns and 18 RBIs. From May 5 to May 19, he hit in 11 straight games. By the end of the month, Blatnik was fourth in the league in hitting. It was a merry month of May indeed for Johnny Blatnik.

It looked like Phillies fans had a new hero to root for, but the good times did not last. According to Blatnik's biographer, John Wickline, Blatnik suffered heatstroke during a game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, missed a few games and struggled to regain his form. He hit .261 in June, .242 in July. .205 in August, and just .180 in September. Perhaps it was the heatstroke or perhaps it was the major league pitchers figuring out Blatnik's weaknesses, but Johnny never regained that May 1948 form. An early scouting report, recounted in the Baseball Digest article provides a clue to Blatnik's inability to sustain his hitting pace: "He swung hard enough, but too often. He cut at inside and outside pitches, he lunged, he hitched." 

Before the 1949 season, the Phillies traded Harry Walker for veteran Cubs outfielder, Bill "Swish" Nicholson and Blatnik found himself the odd man out. Optioned to the Phillies Triple-A affiliate in Toronto, Blatnik hit well (.290, 15 HRs, 80 RBIs), earning a September call-up, but he appeared in only two games after being recalled. In 1950, Blatnik did not figure in the Whiz Kids plans. Traded to St. Louis in late April for pitcher Ken Johnson, Blatnik appeared in just seven games for the Cardinals before he was again sent down to the minor leagues. Blatnik played in the International League for the next six seasons, before retiring from professional baseball and settling with his family in Lansing, Ohio. 

Johnny Blatnik is one more Phillies' tale of what might have been.

Brett Gardner: Phillie Killer

This article originally appeared in Here's the Pitch, the newsletter of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA). If you are interested in the group and/or would like to subscribe to the newsletter you can find more information here.

 

Seeing Brett Gardner yank a line drive home run into the cornfield during the Field of Dreams game on August 12th this year was a refreshing reminder that Gardner does indeed hit well against teams other than the Phillies. You could forgive Phillies fans for thinking he reserves his best for them alone. In a solid 13-year career, played entirely with the New York Yankees, Gardner has slashed .259/.343/.401 with 134 home runs in 5,606 at bats. Decent, but hardly Hall of Fame-type numbers. Against the Phillies, however, Gardner is the second coming of Babe Ruth. In 14 career games before this year, he has slashed an amazing .386/.460/.750 with 4 home runs in just 44 at bats. In four games in 2021, he has continued the onslaught.

 This is an admittedly small sample size, but his performance against Philadelphia qualifies him a bona fide Phillie Killer. Gardner has some distinguished company on the Phillie Killer list. Other solid, but not spectacular, players who saved their best for the Phillies include the Marlins’ Jeff Connie (.287/.363/.487 with 14 home runs), the Giants’ Bill Mueller (345/.417/.547), the Braves’ Matt Diaz (.316/.353/.529 with 8 home runs) and the Rockies’ Ryan Spillborghs (.419/.463/.649). This list ignores some more traditional Phillie Killers like the Braves’ Freddie Freeman or the Mets’ Michael Conforto, who hammer other teams regularly as well.

Gardner made his debut against the Phillies as a pinch hitter on May 23, 2009. Facing Phillies reliever Ryan Madson, he lashed an eighth inning double to left field in a game the Yankees eventually won, 5-4. The next day he got his first start against the Phillies, going 1 for 4 as the Phillies prevailed, 4-3 behind Cole Hamels. In the 2009 Yankees/Phillies World Series, Phils’ pitchers managed to hold Gardner to 0 for 10 in the five games in which he appeared.

 In 2010, Gardner went 2 for 3 with a triple, a single, a walk, and 2 runs batted in against Roy Halladay in a game the Yankees won 8-3 behind C. C. Sebathia. Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick shut Gardner down in the next two games as Gardner went 0 for 6 and the Phillies won both games.

 The Yankees and Gardner did not face the Phillies again until 2015. That year Gardner firmly established his Phillie Killer credentials. In three games at Yankee Stadium, Gardner collected seven hits, two home runs, a double, five RBIs, and six runs scored. In the June 22 game alone, he went 4 for 4, with a home run, while driving in three and scoring two more. In 2018 Gardner went 1 for 4 with a run scored in a 4-2 Yankees win at Citizens Bank Park but was 0 for 3 against Zach Eflin in the only other Yankee/Phillies match up that year.

 Gardner returned to Phillie Killer form in the pandemic shortened 2020 season. He started in three of the four games the Yankees and Phillies played at Citizens Bank Park that year. On August 3, he homered off Jake Arrieta in a 6-3 Yankees win. On August 5, he homered again, this time off Zack Wheeler and had two hits, two RBIs and scored two runs as the Yankees fell 11-6. On August 6, he had two more hits.

 Gardner’s Phillie Killer status extends even to spring training. In March 2021 in Tampa, he smashed a grand slam homerun off the Phils’ Zack Wheeler. In four regular season games against the Phillies, Gardner has homered, tripled, driven in two, and scored three. The homerun was an atypical Gardner blast, instead of sneaking over the wall in dead right, this one went to deepest right center field off the Phillies’ Aaron Nola.

 So historically, while all other opponents can expect Brett Gardner to get a hit every four at bats or so against them, the Phillies must brace for a Gardner hit nearly twice in every five at bats. While other teams can expect Gardner to homer about once every 42 at bats, the Phillies can expect a dinger once in every 11 at bats, a Ruthian pace.

 What makes Gardner such a terror against the Phillies? Small sample size is certainly an important part of the explanation. If Gardner played more against the Phillies, his statistics would in all probability skew closer to the mean. Short right field porches in both Yankee Stadium and Citizens Bank Park may explain some off the power numbers, but Gardner plays half his games at Yankee Stadium and does not put up these numbers against other teams. Maybe it can all be put down to the revenge of Jerry Gardner, Brett’s dad, who toiled in the outfield for four years in the 1970s in the Phillies minor league system without advancing above Double A Reading.

 The most likely explanation is that in baseball, the wonderful, the weird, and the anomalous happen all the time. How else to explain that a career .267 hitter like Dave Concepcion hit .391 against the great Tom Seaver? Or that the short list of players who have hit four home runs in a game includes Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt, and a guy named Scooter Gennett? Or that an unheralded rookie left-hander making his first start in the major leagues, like Tyler Gilbert, could throw a no-hitter against one of the best offensive teams in the league?

When Brett Gardner faces the Philadelphia Phillies the baseball gods take note and smile down upon him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Long Should a Major League Baseball Game Be?

This article originally appeared in Here's the Pitch, the newsletter of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA). If you are interested in the group and/or would like to subscribe to the newsletter you can find more information here.

Huck Betts was the loser in that 69 minute game

On September 9, I tweeted out a brief note about how the 1921 Phillies lost to the Boston Braves, 2-0, in a game that lasted just one hour and nine minutes. Even by 1921 standards this was a short game and I thought it worth noting. Most respondents replied with a variation of “Wow” The good old days!” But one person responded unexpectedly, “I never understood the desire for a ‘fast’ game. A fast game like that can be interesting from a novelty standpoint, however, it's supposed to be a more leisurely game than other team sports. I figure I pay to go see the boys play; I want my money's worth!”

Fair enough. It is probably true that no one wants to invest the money and time it takes to get to the ballpark to watch a game that lasts only a little longer than a rerun of Law & Order. It is undoubtedly true that baseball, with its agrarian roots, was meant to be played at a leisurely pace. This comment begs the question that I have not heard discussed in all the clamor about the length of games and all the various machinations the major leagues have gone through to shorten games: pitch clocks, ghost runners, three hitter rules, limited mound visits, etc. The question is: just what is the ideal length of a baseball game?

I did some research. On September 9, 1921, six major league games were played. The average length of a game was 1 hour and 40 minutes. The shortest game was that Phillies/Braves game at 1:09 and the longest was a 20-15 affair between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox that ran for 2 hours and 20 minutes. Exactly 100 years later, on September 9, 2021, the average game lasted 3 hours and 2 minutes. The shortest game that day was played in 2 hours and 41 minutes between the White Sox and Oakland A’s. The final score was 3-2. The longest nine-inning game that day was a 3-hour 30-minute duel between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees, which the Blue Jays won, 6-4.

I think we can all agree that the ideal length of a nine inning major league baseball game likely falls between the extremes of 69 minutes and 210 minutes, but just what length would make sure that patrons get their money’s worth, that the leisurely traditions of baseball are observed, that people get home in time to get a decent night’s sleep before going to school or work the next day, and that fans are not driven away from their tv screens by endless mound visits, pitching changes, batting glove adjustments, body armor stripping, and pocket index card readings?

Based on absolutely no scientific data but going solely on my instincts as a baseball fan who has been listening to and watching baseball since Mickey Mantle was a rookie, I have determined that 2 hours and 30 minutes is the ideal length of a baseball game. A 2 ½ hour game covers a lot of bases. Fans get their money’s worth; the pace is leisurely enough for any baseball traditionalist; kids get home in time to finish their homework, the workforce is rested and ready to go the next day, and non-fans can get the television back so they can watch Friends reruns. Two-and-one-half hours is a win-win.

Can this 2 ½ hour ideal be achieved? As the chart below shows, the last year that major league baseball averaged 2 ½ hours per game was 43 years ago in 1978.

Chart from Silverman, Steve. “The Average Length of Major League Games,” Sports Rec, December 11, 2018.

 Many things have conspired to increase the length of games since then, but much of what we think of as a part of the modern game was already in place in 1978, including television commercial breaks, heavy use of relief pitchers, and free agency, which meant a lot of money was riding on every pitch.

The increasing time of games is a trend that will be hard to turn around. All the recent efforts have pretty much failed to have much of an impact. For my part, I am not in favor of ploys that may shorten games, but fundamentally change the way the game is played. Here I speak of such spurious innovations as the “ghost runner” for extra innings and the seven-inning games in doubleheaders.

If we are truly going to move the time of game needle back toward that ideal 2 ½ hour target, it is the players who will need to step up.  The best way to squeeze minutes out of game time at this point is to cut down on the time between pitches. It has proven difficult to police players stepping out of the batter’s box to adjust everything from their batting gloves to their helmets to their elbow guards, so batters will need to do this voluntarily. On the pitching mound, I am old enough to remember pitchers like Robin Roberts and Bob Gibson, who got the ball back from the catcher and went right back into their windup. In fact, most good pitchers throughout baseball history have worked at a brisk pace. These days when a pitcher like the Phillies Vince Velasquez gets a man on base, the game slows to an unwatchable crawl.

Umpires can help, too. Simply enforcing the rules already in place would speed things up. Refusing to grant time for every batter’s whim and directing the hitter to stay in the box between pitches will take some players out of their comfort zone for a while, but it wouldn’t take that long to establish a new comfort zone.

What incentive do players have for stepping up the pace of the game? Professional athletes play for money. Money is the incentive to speed up the game. Money depends on television revenue. If people stop watching baseball because they get tired of slogging through four-hour games that end with a 2-1 score and 20 total strikeouts, the television money will dry up.  With all the entertainment choices available to people, baseball is fighting for its survival. There is plenty of blame to go around for this, and baseball management has done a poor job of marketing its stars, but length of game remains an issue and the innovations management has attempted haven’t worked. Time for the players to step up here, if for no other reason than self-preservation. 

Stan Lopata and "The Crouch"

If you were a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies in the mid-1950s, chances are one of your favorite Phillies was catcher Stan "Big Stash" Lopata. And if you were playing Little League or Babe Ruth League baseball in those days, chances are you tried, at some point, to imitate "the stance." The stance was the unique crouch that Lopata adopted in 1954, after six years of indifferent success at the plate. Hall of Fame pitcher turned broadcaster, Dizzy Dean, described the stance as "looking like a man hitting out of an easy chair." The player with the closest modern equivalent to the Lopata crouch was probably Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros, but even Bagwell didn't crouch as far down as Lopata and Bagwell spread out in the box, while Lopata kept his feet close together.

Lopata's unusual approach at the plate came out of a chance conversation in a Chicago hotel lobby in 1954 with one of the greatest hitters of all time, Rogers Hornsby. Lopata's Phillie roommate, outfielder Johnny Wyrostek, knew Hornsby, and asked the Rajah if he had any tips for Lopata, who was struggling at the plate. Hornsby told Lopata that he missed too many balls. He said that anytime you swing the bat you should make some kind of contact. Lopata took the advice to the ballpark that day and many years later he told reporter Skip Clayton what happened next:

So that day I went to the ballpark, I did crouch a little and felt real good, and I saw the ball better. The second time up, I got down a little lower, and the third time, I got even lower. I saw the ball better, and it seemed I could pull the ball better.

While opposing players, managers, and fans laughed at what they saw as the comical stance, Lopata silenced them with his immediate success. After beginning to crouch in early June, he went on a tear that saw his batting average balloon from .247 to .323 in a month. He was slowed for a while by a broken finger, but eventually more power came, too. On July 31, his two-run home run beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5. For the 1954 season, playing in a platoon with the left-handed hitting Smoky Burgess, Lopata hit a solid .290 with 14 homeruns and 42 RBIs in just 259 at bats. These were easily the best offensive numbers of his career. But Stan and his stance were just getting started. 

In 1955, Stan was still platooning, this time with the reacquired Andy Seminick, and still crouching. He also added to his look and his legend by adopting tinted glasses to his repertoire; the result of bright night baseball lights bothering his eyes. Stan was the first major league catcher to wear glasses. New look or no, the hits kept coming. He totaled 22 home runs and 58 RBIs in 303 at bats while compiling a solid .271 average. On June 19 at Wrigley Field he had five hits in six at bats as the Phillies won 1-0 in 15 innings. Lopata started that game at first base as manager Mayo Smith sought ways to keep Lopata's potent bat in the lineup.

Finally in 1956, Lopata was the everyday Phillies catcher and he responded with one of the finest offensive seasons in Phillies history. He established records for Phillies' catchers for most doubles (33), most triples (7), most homers (32), and most RBIs (95). All of those single season records still stand with the exception of the RBI total which was surpassed by Darren Daulton when he drove in 110 in 1992. After his retirement, Stan said, "I had a real good year in 1956, but I didn't know how good a year it was until I saw all of the records in the Phillies media guide. It's nice to hold them as long as possible."

Lopata's stance was so unusual and so successful that many opposing National League managers questioned whether it was legal. Walter Alston of the Dodgers told Baseball Digest he thought the stance gave Lopata (and others who crouched like Ernie Banks), an unfair advantage with the strike zone. There was nothing illegal about the stance, but the controversy about the strike zone for crouching hitters continued for years.

Lopata battled through numerous injuries to his shoulder and knee in 1957. He received much credit from teammates and management for his determination to play through injuries, but this willingness cost him. His offensive numbers fell off considerably. Off season knee surgery was performed, but Stan never fully recovered his form and in 1959 he was traded to the Milwaukee Braves, along with shortstop Ted Kazanski, for pitcher Gene Conley and infielder Joe Koppe. He retired after appearing in just 32 games with the Braves over two seasons.

Despite the disappointing ending to his career in Philadelphia, for a few seasons during the 1950s, Stan Lopata was Philadelphia's own "Stan the Man." With his tinted glasses and his peek-a-boo batting style, not to mention his many prodigious home run clouts, Stan was a player the young fans could all root for and emulate.

Sources

C. Paul Rogers, "Stan Lopata" SABR BioProject accessed on October 5, 2021.
Skip Clayton and Jeff Moeller, 50 Fabulous Phillies, Sports Publishing, Inc., 2000.

Phillies 1959: The Year of the Great Freese

The 1959 Philadelphia Phillies were a bad team. Perhaps even worse, they didn't offer a young fan much to root for. The stars of the Whiz Kid days were fast fading and the front office had failed to replace them with any significant, exciting talent. The top pitchers were Gene Conley, recently acquired from the Milwaukee Braves, and surly Jim Owens, perennial prospect finally having a decent season in the majors. The top hitters were Ed Bouchee, a year and a half past his conviction on a morals charge, and left fielder Harry Anderson, who had a breakout year in 1958, but who was about to experience a breakdown year in 1959. Into this void stepped an unlikely hero: 25-year-old, journeyman infielder, Eugene Lewis (Gene) Freese.

Freese was acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals at the end of the 1958 season for veteran infielder Solly Hemus. The Cardinals wanted Hemus to be their manager and so they sent Freese to the Phillies to obtain his rights. Freese had been in the majors for four years, having come up with Pittsburgh in 1955. He had shown some pop in his bat and some suspect defensive skills, but had never established himself as a regular. The Pirates dealt him to the Cardinals in June 1958 for Dick Schofield. Freese played all over the infield for the Cardinals, hitting .257 with six home runs. When the Cards decided to hire Hemus, Freese was thought very expendable.

In spring training with the Phillies, Freese was given the opportunity to win the third base job. Many pundits predicted he would be the opening day third baseman, but defensive concerns relegated him to the bench behind the incumbent, aging Whiz Kid Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones. In the second game of the season, Freese made his debut for the Phillies as a pinch runner for Jones in the ninth inning of a game at Milwaukee on April 14, and scored the game tying run on a triple by Wally Post.

In his next appearance the legend of Gene Freese began in earnest. On April 18, the Phillies were in Cincinnati to play the Reds. In the top of the third inning, with the Phillies leading 4-3, Freese was sent up to pinch hit for Phillies' starter Seth Morehead. It was Freese's first at bat as a Phillie. The bases were loaded. Left-handed rookie pitcher, Mike Cuellar, making his major league debut, was on the mound. Freese launched a Cuellar offering well over the left field wall at Crosley Field for a grand slam home run. The Phillies went on to win the game, 14-9.

Freese did not appear in a game again until five days later on April 23 at Connie Mack Stadium against the Milwaukee Braves. In the ninth inning of that game, with the Phillies down 3-1, Freese was sent up to pinch hit for Phillies' catcher Valmy Thomas. Joe Koppe was on first base. The Braves pitcher was lefty Juan Pizarro, who had held the Phillies to just one run and four hits to that point. Freese worked the count to 3 and 2 and then launched a deep fly ball into the seats in left to tie the game. Two outs later, Granny Hamner also homered and the Phillies had a walk off win.

The next day the newspapers had dubbed Freese, "Mr. Wonderful" for his pinch hitting heroics. Freese's performance earned him a couple of starts at third base, but he was still a bench player for the most part in this early part of the season. On May 11, Mr. Wonderful struck again, homering off Art Fowler of the Dodgers at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the eighth inning to tie the score at 10. The Phillies eventually lost the game 11-10. 

On May 22, Freese had a two-run pinch homer off the Braves’ Lew Burdette, in the seventh inning of a 10-5 Phillies loss. Then on May 31, his eighth-inning pinch home run off the Braves’ Warren Spahn, was the only run the Phillies could manage in a 2-1 loss. To sum up, by the end of May, Freese had batted just 29 times, but had clubbed five home runs and driven in 13 runs, all as a pinch hitter.

Young Phillies fans were learning to clasp their transistor radios closely to their ears whenever Gene Freese came to bat. Apparently the Phillies front office was learning what they had in Mr. Freese. On June 5, they traded Willie Jones to the Cleveland Indians for outfielder Jim Bolger and Gene Freese became the regular third baseman for the Phillies.

Inserted into the starting lineup, Freese continued to hit the long ball. On June 14 in the first game of a doubleheader, his three run home run capped a six run rally that helped the Phillies come back from a five run deficit to beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-5. In the second game, he drove in three more runs as the Phillies swept the Giants, 6-3. On July 2, he hit his second grand slam of the year, this time at home against the Reds Jim Brosnan to help the Phillies win 7-6. And then, incredibly, on July 9, he smacked his third grand slam of the year. This one was the big blow as the Phillies crushed the Cardinals 11-0 at Connie Mack Stadium.

For one summer Philly had Freese Fever. On a team going nowhere but to the bottom, the exploits of Mr. Freese gave everyone something to cheer about. Freese finished the year with solid numbers. Despite being limited to 400 at bats, seventh on the team, he led the team with 23 home runs, and his 70 RBIs trailed only Post and Bouchee on the team. His batting average for the year was .268. Freese was a defensive liability at third base, however, leading all third basemen with 22 errors in just 261 chances for a .916 fielding percentage.

In December of 1959, Phillies general manager John Quinn traded the popular Freese to the Chicago White Sox. Phillies fans were outraged. The Phillies top slugger, their pinch hitting hero, their Mr. Wonderful, had been traded for some untested 20-year-old rookie right fielder. Eventually, the furor would die down because that rookie was none other than Johnny Callison, the first building block of the very good  Phillies teams to come and one of the most popular Phillies players ever.

Gene Freese bounced from the White Sox to the Cincinnati Reds, where he was a key part of the Reds 1961 pennant winners, bashing 26 home runs and driving in 87. A severe ankle injury in spring training in 1962 limited his playing time thereafter. After 1961, he never played in 100 games in a season again. He journeyed from Cincinnati, back to Pittsburgh, and then back to the White Sox before concluding his major league career in Houston in 1966.

For one summer in Philadelphia, however, the big bat of Gene Freese was just about the only exciting baseball story in town.