Karl Drews: Ain’t that a Kick in the Head

In 1952 the Phillies had three pitchers in the top ten in virtually every statistical category. Long time students of Phillies history can probably name two of those pitchers: Robin Roberts and Curt Simmons. Likely only a few can name the third.  That would be a journeyman righthanded refugee from the minor leagues named Karl Drews. The 6' 4", 190-pound Drews went 14-15 for the Phillies in 1952, which may not sound that impressive until you add that he also had a 2.67 ERA, threw five shutouts, and 15 complete games over 228 innings. Drews was particularly effective against the pennant winning Dodgers, beating them four times, including two shutouts. He accomplished all this with a metal plate where part of his skull used to be. In fact, Drews himself credits the injury that resulted in the plate being inserted in his head with turning his career around.

Karl Drews professional career began in 1939 with the Class D Butler (Pennsylvania) Yankees in the old Pennsylvania Association. He gradually worked his way through the Yankees minor league system with stops up and down the east coast until he landed at the top Yankee farm team in Kansas City in 1946. Drews was exempt from service in World War II. Although he tried to enlist, he was rejected due to a heart murmur that was the result of the rheumatic fever he had when he was in high school. Drews' best weapon as a pitcher was a hard sinking fastball. The sink was the result of a broken finger he suffered during a pepper game that caused him to change his grip on the ball.

Drews was called up to the Yankees in the fall of 1946 and stuck with the team with indifferent success for 2 1/2 seasons. In mid 1948 he was dealt to the lowly St. Louis Browns. After a terrible 4-12 season with a 6.48 ERA in 1949, St. Louis sent Drews to their minor league affiliate in Baltimore. In five seasons in the major leagues, he was 15-24 with an ERA close to 6.00. His chief difficulty was his control. He averaged more than seven walks per nine innings.

Early in the 1950 season with Baltimore, Drews was attempting to cover first base on a slow roller to the right side. Second baseman Eddie Pelligrini's throw was low and wide, forcing Drews into the baseline, where base runner Dutch Mele's knee struck him in the temple. Drews was carried off the field. He had suffered a fractured skull. A few days later surgery was performed to remove bone fragments from his brain, and a silver plate was inserted in his head. 

Drews came out of the hospital a changed man. He told the New York Post's Milton Gross, "All the time I was in the Yankee chain I was a strange kind of guy. I worried about a heart murmur I was supposed to have. I got mean and morose. I lost my taste for the game."

"Then a funny thing happened. After the accident, I developed some sort of personality change. I became a different guy on the field and a different guy off it. When I came back to pitch, I found I couldn't hurry myself. Before when I got wild, I kept throwing faster and faster and getting wilder and wilder. Now I took my time. The ball started going where I wanted it."*

In 1951, the Baltimore franchise shifted affiliations to the Philadelphia Philles and Drews became Phillies' property. After an outstanding 17-13 season, Drews was a September call up. He got into five games, including a complete game 7-3 victory over Don Newcombe and the Brooklyn Dodgers. That win struck a damaging blow to the Dodgers who were trying to hold off the streaking New York Giants in the pennant race. Suddenly, 32-year-old Karl Drews had cast himself into the conversation to be a member of the 1952 starting rotation for the Phillies.

Drews was indeed in the starting rotation to start 1952. He lost his first two starts 2-1 and 3-0 despite pitching well. In his third start on May 10, however, he announced to the league what kind of pitcher he could be. Drews threw a complete game, 2-hit shutout over the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbet’s Field, winning 4-0. The only two hits he allowed came in the first inning on back-to-back singles by Billy Cox and Jackie Robinson. Drews retired Roy Campanella and Andy Pafko to escape the inning. The former wild man walked only one, Duke Snider in the eighth inning. The only other man to reach base was on a Willie Jones bobble at third base. Jones hit a two-run homer in the second inning to give Drews all the runs he would need. The Phillies padded their lead in the fifth on an Eddie Waitkus single, a Richie Ashburn double, and a Granny Hamner single. Drews coasted home from there.

Drews became an unwelcome sight for Dodger fans on the mound in Brooklyn. On June 30, he shut the Dodgers out again, this time on five hits, all singles. On August 17, he beat the Bums for a third time. This time by a score of 2-1, the only run scoring on a Willie Jones error. The Dodgers managed four hits, again all were singles. 

At home in Shibe Park on June 22, Drews shut out the Cincinnati Reds on five singles, besting future Phillies hurler Herm Wehmeier in a game shortened to seven innings by darkness.  He shut out the Chicago Cubs on July 27, 3-0 on six singles. In that game a sixth-inning three-run home run by Hamner off Cubs ace Bob Rush provided all the scoring. Drews fifth and final shutout of the year came at home on August 13 over the Boston Braves. Home runs by Del Ennis and Connie Ryan provided the only offensive support Drews needed.  In this game, Drews allowed just five singles.  His sinker seemed to be inducing a lot of ground balls and weak contact. Remarkably, in the five shutouts he pitched in 1952, over 43 innings, Drews allowed just 22 hits, every one of them a single. 

At the end of the year, Karl Drews was second only to Robin Roberts on the Phillies team in WAR at 4.7. He tied for second in wins with Curt Simmons at 14. His 2.72 ERA was seventh in the league. He was third in shutouts with five and sixth in complete games with 15. Finally, as a pitcher who struggled with his control throughout his career, Drews averaged just two walks per nine innings pitched.

Unfortunately, Drews was unable to repeat his 1952 success in 1953. While his record was a respectable 9-10, his ERA rose by almost two full runs to 4.52. The good sink seemed to be gone from his fastball and he was relegated to long relief and spot starting duty. On June 15, 1954, he was sold to the Cincinnati Reds. He stuck with the Reds for the remainder of the season with modest results (4-4, 6.00 ERA). Drews then kicked around the International League for a number of years, before ending his career with two seasons with the Mexico City Reds of the Mexican League. 

In 1961, Drews retired to Hollywood, Florida with his wife and four children. On August 15, 1963, he was run down and killed by a drunken driver while standing outside his disabled car attempting to flag down help. Karl Drews was just 43 years old.

* This quote and some of the
other information in this post comes from Karl Drew's SABR Biography by Peter Mancuso which you can access here.

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