$Unique_ID{BAS00006}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{The History of Major League Baseball:  Part 2}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{
Voigt, David Q.}
$Subject{History Histories Baseball Major League Leagues Majors NL National
Association Second Golden Age American AL Austerity Depression World War
II Postwar Era}
$Log{
Landis, Kenesaw Mountain (right) & Will Harridge*0026501.scf}

Total Baseball:  The History


The History of Major League Baseball:  Part 2

David Q. Voigt


Baseball's Second Golden Age, 1921-1931

     Over the winter of 1920-1921, crestfallen club owners slavishly chose
Federal Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis to be baseball's high commissioner and
empowered him to restore the game's scandal-sullied image. At the time few
observers could have predicted that major league baseball was moving into
another golden age of cash and glory that would be highlighted by the dazzling
exploits of Babe Ruth, who already was enthralling fans by his mastery of the
new "big-bang" offensive style. But the sparkling turnabout in baseball's
fortunes was also buoyed by the optimistic spirit of America's "roaring
twenties." This was a decade of booming prosperity, an expanding urban
population, declining work hours, and hefty increases in recreational spending
by the American people. By 1929, indeed, Americans were annually spending
$4.9 billion for recreational pursuits. To be sure, much of this spending was
diverted into movies, radios, and automobiles, but major sports like baseball,
football, basketball, boxing, golf, and tennis were attracting millions of
hero-worshipping fans. Such adulation made demigods of athletes like Red
Grange, Jack Dempsey, Bobby Jones, and Bill Tilden, but all of these sporting
heroes were overshadowed by Babe Ruth, who now became the most photographed
American of the decade.
     During baseball's "guilty season" of 1920, it was the fun-loving Ruth,
not the stern moralist Commissioner Landis, who diverted the attention of fans
from the Black Sox Scandal. In 1920 the Babe accomplished this feat by
smacking 54 homers to break his own seasonal mark, which he had set only the
year before. Ruth's latest achievement fully justified the astonishing
$125,000 which the Yankees shelled out before the 1920 season to obtain the
former Red Sox pitching ace, whose batting achievements caused him to be
assigned to regular duty as an outfielder.
     With the Yankees, the charismatic Ruth bestrode the baseball scene like a
young colossus. The very embodiment of the big-bang offensive style, Ruth
notched ten AL homer titles over the years 1920-1931. In the last six of
those seasons, he smacked 302 homers, including a record 60 blows in 1927. At
the close of the 1931 season Ruth's homer output exceeded 600, and when he
retired in 1935, he had raised his total to 714, along with a lifetime batting
average of .342.
     Inspired by Ruth's example, the big-bang style dominated major league
baseball offensives of this and all subsequent eras. While no other team
matched the consistent power of the Yankees, in this era NL teams outslugged
their AL counterparts. And if no player surpasses Ruth's consistent power,
sluggers like Cy Williams, Hack Wilson, Chuck Klein, Harry Heilmann, and
Rogers Hornsby ably mastered the big-bang style. In 1930 Wilson hit 56 homers
to set an NL seasonal mark, but for sheer all-around batting consistency
Hornsby and Heilmann had no peers. Over the years 1921-1927 Tiger outfielder
Heilmann topped .390 four times, hit 104 homers, and won four AL batting
titles.
     Incredibly Hornsby bettered this performance. Over the years 1920-1925,
Hornsby won six NL batting titles, topped the .400 mark in batting three
times, and won two Triple Crowns. Hornsby's lifetime batting average of
.358 is the best of any right-handed batter in major league history.
     Such heroics by players of this era were the highlights of all-out
seasonal offensives that dwarfed those of the deadball era. In this decade
seasonal batting averages in both major leagues topped .280, with NL batters
averaging a whopping .303 in 1930. At the same time, league-wide homer
production, averaging 540 a season in the NL and 490 in the AL, helped raise
per-game scoring to an average of five runs per team, while relegating base
stealing to the status of a secondary tactic. Abetting the big-bang
offensives of this era were innovations in technology and in pitching rules.
Technology provided livelier balls, which were more frequently changed during
games; indeed, fans were now permitted to keep balls hit into the stands.
Meanwhile, rule changes of 1920-1921 barred the use of spitters and other
doctored balls by all pitchers except for a few specified veterans. Such
changes made for much battered pitchers with ERAs of 4.00 now regarded as an
acceptable level of pitching performance. To cope with the situation,
managers now relied more heavily on relief pitchers. Nevertheless, virtuoso
starting pitchers like Johnson, Alexander, Grimes, Grove, Pennock, Hoyt, and
Vance ranked among the top stars of this decade.
     That fans welcomed the new offensive style was evidenced by the
record-setting attendance marks of this era. Despite the lurid exposes of the
Black Sox Scandal, a record 9.1 million fans attended major league games in
1920. Then, after falling below that mark for three seasons, attendance
soared to an average of 9.6 million a season over the years 1924-1929 and
peaked at 10.1 million in 1930. Helping to swell attendance in this era were
Sunday games, which were legalized in all cities outside of Pennsylvania.
Such support boosted revenues by 40 percent over the previous era and raised
annual player salaries to an average of $7,000 by 1930. However, such average
figures are misleading. In the NL, the Giants, Dodgers, Pirates, and
Cardinals got most of the profits, and the AL Yankees alone accounted for 25
percent of that circuit's annual attendance. Player salaries also varied
widely, ranging from less than $2,000 for fringe players to Ruth's princely
$80,000 for the season of 1930; moreover, in this era the Yankee and Cub
payrolls topped those of other teams.
     That the Cardinals ranked with the most profitable NL clubs at this time
owed to the genius of General Manager Branch Rickey. One of baseball's
greatest innovators, Rickey had an impact on the game that extended far beyond
this decade. At this time Rickey made a contender out of the impecunious
Cardinals by reviving the farm system and using minor league farm clubs to
develop and train young players. By purchasing minor league clubs and
establishing working agreements with others, and by deploying scouts to sign
young players at low costs, Rickey built and stocked a network of minor league
farm clubs which supplied the Cardinals with a steady flow of star players.
Despite opposition from Landis, Rickey's farm network flourished and was
widely imitated. By cornering the market on young talent and selling surplus
players to other major league teams, the Cardinals profited despite poor
attendance. For his part, Rickey profited by reaping a percentage from each
player sale.
     As a baseball innovator, Rickey had a much more enduring impact on the
game than Commissioner Landis. By banishing the Black Sox, disciplining
players, and presiding in watchdog fashion over annual World Series games,
Landis contributed to restoring the game's honest image. But Landis'
autocratic posturing grated on major league owners, some of whom resented his
opposition to farm systems and his conservative approach to the sale of World
Series radio broadcasting rights. Landis also stubbornly opposed the racial
integration of organized baseball. Thus in this era outcast black players
turned to their own leader, Andrew "Rube" Foster, who founded the Negro
National League in 1920. In 1923 the Eastern Colored League took to the field
as a second black major league, but gave way in 1928 to the Negro American
League, which lasted until 1950. Such leagues fielded great black stars like
future Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Pop Lloyd, "Cool Papa" Bell, the slugging
Josh Gibson, and Ray Dandridge. In this decade postseason exhibition games
played between white and black major leaguers drew attention to the black
stars, whose abilities matched and often surpassed those of white major
leaguers.
     But the limited exposure afforded to black stars contrasted starkly with
the broad media coverage now lavished on the white majors. For this golden
era of major league baseball history was gilded by newspaper coverage which
touted the games and the player-heroes in romanticized style. Moreover,
motion pictures and radio coverage opened new dimensions for promoting the
game that suspicious owners of the age were slow to exploit. Conservative
owners also took a dim view of the night baseball games which pioneer
promoters were staging in the minors and in the black leagues. However, when
the golden age ended amidst the worst economic depression of this century,
such innovations would enable hard-pressed owners to better cope with the
austerities of the 1930s.

Golden Age Campaigns:  The AL, 1921-1931

     In this era dreams of a competitively balanced AL went for naught as
three teams--the Yankees, Senators, and Athletics--dominated the eleven
pennant races. Foremost among these powers, the lordly Yankees used Ruth's
explosive power to win six pennants and three world titles, while outdrawing
all other AL teams by a wide margin. Once established, the Yankee dynasty
lasted for forty years, during which time no more than three seasons passed by
without the Yankees hoisting another AL pennant. In laying the foundations
for this awesome domination, Yankee owners Jake Ruppert and Cap Huston
repeatedly took advantage of their financially strapped Boston colleague,
Harry Frazee, to denude the latter's Boston Red Sox of its ablest stars. In
1919 the Yankees pried pitcher Carl Mays from Frazee, and at the end of that
year, the Yankee owners paid Frazee $125,000 up-front money and also a
$300,000 loan to snag their biggest catch of all in Babe Ruth. What's more,
over the next few years Frazee paid off the loan by sending more players to
New York. By then, picking the right Boston players was the job of General
Manager Ed Barrow, who left his former post as Boston field manager to come to
the Yankees. After joining the Yankees at the close of the 1920 season,
Barrow's dealings with Frazee over the next three seasons made Yankees of such
Boston stars as pitchers Waite Hoyt, Sam Jones, Joe Bush, Herb Pennock, and
George Pipgras, catcher Wally Schang, and infielders Everett Scott and Joe
Dugan.
     Over the years 1921-1923, these acquisitions helped to carry the Yankees
to three consecutive pennants while burying the once-proud Red Sox. In 1921,
with Ruth smashing 59 homers and driving in 171 runs, and Mays pitching 27
victories, the Yankees defeated the Indians by 4 1/2 games. The following
year ex-Red Sox players Jones, Bush, and Scott were on hand to help the
Yankees edge the Browns by a single game. However, consecutive World Series
losses to the rival New York Giants, whose Polo Grounds the Yankees shared as
tenants, blighted these victories. But in 1923 the Yankees, now owned
outright by Ruppert, moved into their brand-new Yankee Stadium, where Ruth's
opening-day homer signaled a coming turnabout. With Ruth batting .393 that
season, leading the league in homers, and sharing the lead in RBIs, the
Yankees swept to an easy 16-game romp over the runner-up Tigers. And then,
after dropping two of the first three games of the 1923 World Series, the
Yankees swept the Giants to land their first world title.
     This initial display of Yankee dominance ended in 1924, when the team
lost to the Washington Senators by two games. It was Washington's first AL
pennant. Led by their "boy manager," second baseman Bucky Harris, the
Senators went on to down the Giants in a seven-game World Series struggle.
Pitching in relief, the veteran Walter Johnson notched the victory in the
final game. The following year the Senators repeated, using a powerful .303
batting assault to top the Athletics by 8 1/2 games. But in World Series
action the 1925 Senators blew a three-games-to-one lead and lost to the
Pirates in seven games.
     As the AL's 1926 season began, any likelihood of a Yankee resurgence
seemed a remote possibility. Only the year before, the Yankees languished in
seventh place, as illness and insubordination tolled on Ruth's performance.
But a contrite Ruth came back as strong as ever, and young infielders Lou
Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, and Mark Koenig revitalized the team. In a close race
the Yankees edged the Indians by 3 games, but lost to the Cardinals in a
memorable seven-game World Series battle. Rebounding from that defeat, the
1927 Yankees mounted one of the most devastating assaults in major league
history. In crushing the runner-up Athletics by 19 games, the Yankees batted
.307 and led the AL in all major offensive categories. Ruth's 60 homers set a
seasonal mark that lasted for 34 years, and Gehrig weighed in with 47 homers
and 175 RBIs. In World Series action the Yankees easily dispatched the
Pirates in four games. The following year the Yankees repeated, although they
were pressed hard by the Athletics, who finished 2 1/2 games behind. Still
the 1928 Yankees finished their season in fine fettle by scoring an avenging
four-game sweep of the Cardinals in the World Series.
     The Yankees' latest stranglehold on the AL ended in 1929, when manager
Connie Mack's power-packed Athletics captured the first of three consecutive
pennants. The resurrection of the once-powerful Athletic dynasty was a
triumph of patient rebuilding by Mack. After the veteran owner-manager broke
up his formidable 1914 team, the Athletics spent the next seven years in the
AL cellar. After quitting the depths in 1922, the team improved steadily. In
1928 the Athletics came close to dethroning the Yankees, and in 1929 the
Mackmen mounted an offensive which rivaled that of the 1927 Yankees as they
crushed the New Yorkers by 18 games. The team's .296 batting average was led
by outfielder Al Simmons, who batted .365 with 34 homers and a league-leading
157 RBIs, and by first baseman Jimmy Foxx's .354-33-117 performance. The
pitching staff, led by Lefty Grove (20-6), George Earnshaw (24-8), and Rube
Walberg (18-11), was the league's best. In World Series play the Athletics
crushed the Cubs in five games; one of the team's victories included a
devastating 10-run outburst that turned an 8-0 deficit into a 10-8 victory.
     Over the next two seasons, the Athletics continued their dominance. In
1930 they defeated the Senators by 8 games, and in 1931 they crushed the
runner-up Yankees by 13 1/2 games. In postseason action, the Athletics beat
the Cardinals in six games to win the 1930 World Series, but in 1931 the team
lost a seven-game struggle to the Cardinals. Indeed, the 1931 AL pennant was
to be the last for manager Mack and for the Philadelphia Athletics. Financial
losses caused by the nation's deepening Depression forced the aging manager to
sell star players to weather the storm. In the past such drastic measures had
worked, and Mack had been able to rebuild his team. But advancing age and
changing baseball fortunes now conspired against Mack.

Golden Age Campaigns:  The NL, 1921-1931

     Although upstaged by Ruth and the Yankees and bested in six of eleven
World Series clashes, NL teams of this era more than held their own against AL
rivals. Indeed, NL sluggers outslugged their AL counterparts in nine of these
seasons, NL pitchers posted better ERAs than AL hurlers, and in the
inflationary 1930 season NL batters outhit and outslugged their rivals by wide
margins. That year NL batters averaged .303 to the AL's .288, and NL sluggers
powered 892 homers to 673 for the junior circuit.
     And yet in this era the NL was no better balanced competitively than the
AL. Of the eleven NL campaigns of this era, the Giants and Cardinals each won
four, the Pirates won two, and the Cubs won the other. In 1924 manager
McGraw's Giants became the first major league team of this century to win four
consecutive pennants. This was a feat matched only by Harry Wright's Boston
Red Stockings of the 1870s and by Charley Comiskey's St. Louis Browns of the
1880s. For their part, the Giants of this era turned the trick with a potent
batting attack; in their four-year sway, Giant hitters averaged better than
.300 and smashed 335 homers.
     In stocking his first pennant winner, McGraw pulled off astute trades
with the moribund Braves and Phillies to obtain pitcher Art Nehf, shortstop
Dave Bancroft, and outfielders Irish Meusel and Casey Stengel. These
acquisitions joined with future Hall of Famers Frank Frisch and Ross Youngs to
lead the Giants to the 1921 pennant. That year the Giants edged the Pirates
by 4 games, and in 1922 they repeated, beating the runner-up Reds by 7 games.
In both years the Giants met and defeated the Yankees in World Series play.
In 1923 the Giants won a third straight flag by edging the Reds by 4 1/2
games, but they lost the World Series to the Yankees. In 1924, with the
addition of first baseman and future Hall of Famer Bill Terry, the Giants eked
a narrow 1 1/2-game victory over the Dodgers. In World Series play the Giants
lost to the Senators in seven games. The 1924 pennant was McGraw's last as
the Giants' manager and the last by a Giant team in this era.
     As sicknesses took their toll on McGraw, coach Hugh Jennings, and
outfielder Ross Youngs, the Pirates ended the Giants' four-year reign with an
8 1/2-game victory over the New Yorkers. Future Hall of Famers--third baseman
Harold "Pie" Traynor, and outfielders Max Carey and Hazen "Ki Ki" Cuyler--led
the Pirates, who went on to score a dramatic come-from-behind victory over the
Senators in the 1925 World Series.
     As the squabbling Pirates faded to third place in 1926, the hitherto
unsung Cardinals won their first NL pennant. It was the first of four
championships in this era by this emergent new dynasty. The rise of the
Cardinals was the handiwork of general manager Branch Rickey. From Rickey's
expanding farm system came stalwarts like infielders Jim Bottomley and Tom
Thevenow and outfielders Chick Hafey and Taylor Douthit. In 1921
player-manager Rogers Hornsby led the team to a 2-game victory over the
Cincinnati Reds. And in a classic seven-game struggle, the Cardinals went on
to defeat the Yankees in the World Series.
     That fall Rickey enraged Cardinal fans by dealing the contentious Hornsby
to the Giants for second baseman Frank Frisch. Frisch batted .337 to lead the
1927 Cardinals, while Hornsby batted .361 with the Giants. Nevertheless, both
teams came up short, as the Pirates edged the runner-up Cardinals by 1 1/2
games. Pittsburgh's .305 team batting average was sparked by future Hall of
Fame outfielders Paul and Lloyd Waner; Paul's .380 clouting led the league,
and brother Lloyd batted .355. But the Pirates were crushed by the Yankees in
the 1927 World Series.
     Under manager Bill McKechnie, the resilient Cardinals rebounded to win
the 1928 campaign by 2 games over the Giants. But like the 1927 Pirates, the
Cardinals too were swept by the Yankees in the World Series. As the Cardinals
slipped to fourth place in 1929, the Cubs won their only pennant of this era.
Managed by Joe McCarthy, the Cub revival was powered by a .303 team batting
attack. Newly acquired Rogers Hornsby, who was pried loose from the Braves in
a mammoth deal, led the Cubs with a .380 batting average. Behind Hornsby the
team's power-packed outfield weighed in with Riggs Stephenson hitting .362,
Hack Wilson batting .345 and driving in 159 runs, and "Ki Ki" Cuyler batting
.360. The assault boosted the Cubs to a 10 1/2-game victory over the Pirates,
but the Chicagoans were no match for the rampaging Athletics in the World
Series.
     As the golden era ended, manager Gabby Street drove the Cardinals to
consecutive pennants in 1930-1931. In 1930 the Cardinals struggled to a
2-game victory over the Cubs, who dumped manager McCarthy in the wake of the
loss. In this vintage year of NL hitting, the Cardinals batted .314, but were
outhit by the Giants, who smote .319 as a team!  Every Cardinal starter in
1930 topped the .300 mark, and in World Series play the Cardinals outhit the
Athletics. Nevertheless, the Athletics won the World Series in six games.
The following year, as NL batting mirrored the falling national economy by
dropping to .277, the Cardinals coasted to a 13-game victory over the Giants.
A .286 team batting average and stout pitching by "Wild Bill" Hallahan,
Burleigh Grimes, Paul Derringer, and Jess Haines paced the Cardinals, who
defeated the Athletics in the World Series, four games to three. But falling
attendance caused by the deepening Depression marred the 1931 NL season.
Indeed, the decline signaled the end of the latest golden age and the
beginning of a long era of austerity in major league baseball.


Austerity Baseball, 1932-1945

     In company with most industrialized nations, America during these years
suffered the calamitous effects of a lingering economic Depression followed
hard after by years of total war. In America the great Depression blighted
the 1930s by creating millions of jobless workers, holding wages far below
their 1929 level, slowing population growth, and, of course, drastically
reducing recreational spending. Although abetted by federal remedial
programs, the national economy languished until 1940, when federal
defense-spending programs spurred an economic revival. But the following year
the nation faced a second ordeal, when it embarked upon four years of total
war against the Axis powers.
     Major league baseball felt the effects of the gathering Depression in
1931, when the AL suffered losses while the NL barely broke even. Once
engulfed by the economic storm, both major leagues were hard hit as attendance
fell to 8.1 million in 1932 and hit rock bottom with an overall total of 6.3
million in 1933. Thereafter attendance improved, but not until 1940 did
annual attendance totals reach 10 million. A similar sickening decline
affected the minor leagues. But the minors recovered strongly after 1933 and
zoomed to a record total attendance of 18 million in 1940.
     Since major league baseball's fate was at its gates, declining attendance
translated into financial losses. In the AL, six previous years of domination
by the Yankees and Athletics had the junior circuit trailing the NL in overall
revenues. After losing a total of $156,000 in 1931, the AL suffered three
desperate years during which overall losses topped $2 million. Slow
improvement began with the 1935 season, but as always revenues were unevenly
distributed. Strong clubs like the Yankees and Tigers fared far better than
the financially battered Athletics, Browns, and Senators. Nor were conditions
much better in the NL, which also lost heavily during the years 1932-1934. In
that three-year span every NL team suffered at least two seasons of red ink.
A turnabout began with the 1935 season, but over the next six seasons annual
profits only twice totaled $500,000. Moreover, like those of the AL, NL
revenues were unevenly distributed. The Cubs, Giants, Cardinals, and Reds
fared far better than did the woebegone Braves and Phillies.
     Under such financial pressures, salaries of major league players were
slashed. Annual salary spending in the majors fell from $4 million in 1929 to
$3 million in 1933, and as late as 1940 total payrolls still lagged behind the
1929 figure. Such cuts dropped the average player's salary to $6,000 in 1933,
and the 1939 average salary of $7,300 still lagged behind the $7,500 figure of
1929. While such pay was good for those desperate times, job insecurity was
rife among big league players of this era. Most players of this era needed no
reminders that budget-slashing owners could easily find cheap replacements in
the minor leagues. But for the time being, the great stars of the black
majors, which also suffered from Depression austerities, posed no competitive
threat. However, winds of change were stirring against segregated
institutions in America, including major league baseball's unwritten color
bar.
     Of course, owners also faced a survival-of-the-fittest struggle in this
depressed decade. Better-located clubs like the Yankees, Tigers, Cubs, and
Giants adapted far better than did the owners of the financially strapped
Athletics, Senators, Browns, Braves, and Phillies. Caught up in a vicious
cycle, these poorer owners were forced to sell players to better-heeled clubs,
a policy which had the effect of worsening attendance. However, one club, the
Cardinals, managed to sell players to much better advantage. Although plagued
by poor attendance, including three seasons which produced an aggregate home
attendance total of fewer than 900,000, and one of those a world championship
season which attracted only 325,000 fans at home, the Cardinals still managed
to hold their own financially. Player sales from Rickey's well-stocked minor
league farm system enabled the Cardinals to recoup financially and at the same
time field strong teams.
     At this time eager purchasers of players included Tom Yawkey, the wealthy
new owner of the Red Sox. In this decade Yawkey spent $1 million on players.
As a result Red Sox attendance rose while that of his moribund NL rival the
Boston Braves worsened. Other bullish owners included the owners of the Cubs,
Reds, Tigers, and Dodgers. But the well-financed Yankees emulated Rickey's
example and built an efficient farm system of their own. Directed by the
ruthlessly efficient George Weiss, the Yankee farms strengthened the Yankees'
stranglehold on the AL.
     Still, Depression-imposed austerities challenged all clubs of this era to
find new ways to beef up revenues. Perhaps the most drastic of these was the
plan of the owner of the St. Louis Browns to move the club to the West Coast,
a strategy which was aborted by the outbreak of World War Two. But for the
most part promoters tried to find ways of wringing more money from ballpark
fans. Among these, expanding concession sales, utilizing promotional schemes,
and staging night baseball games were tactics borrowed from minor league
promoters and the black majors. But night baseball proved to be the wave of
the future for the major leagues. When introduced to the majors in 1935 by
Cincinnati general manager Larry MacPhail, the popularity of night baseball
had most major league clubs following suit by 1940. Yet another source of
profits came from the sale of local radio rights to broadcast accounts of
games, a scheme which some owners had tried, but most had stubbornly resisted
back in the twenties. By 1939 radio income totaled 7.3 percent of club
revenues, up from a negligible 0.3 percent in 1930. Similarly, sales of World
Series radio rights, a windfall shared by all major league clubs, now fetched
higher prices. And at the close of the decade, the new medium of television
showed promise, but the onslaught of World War Two delayed its profitable
exploitation.
     In the near future such innovations would profoundly alter the major
league scene, but for now survival dictated sticking to more conservative
measures. Thus in this era no privately financed ballparks were constructed
(as, indeed, had been the case in the 1920s with the exception of Yankee
Stadium), but Cleveland's publicly financed Municipal Stadium foreshadowed a
future building boom that would replace most of the aging major league parks
with modern facilities financed by public monies. When that day dawned, black
players at last would be playing alongside whites in organized baseball. But
in this era Commissioner Landis and his supporters continued their stubborn
resistance in the face of mounting public support for organized baseball's
integration. The breakthrough came, a year after Landis' death in 1945, as
the first black player in this century signed a major league contract.
Ironically, the integration of the white majors dealt a death blow to the
flourishing black major leagues.
     However, such impending changes were only dimly perceived by owners of
this era. On the whole the 1930s were conservative years, with no significant
rule changes invoked. In these years teams continued to master the big-bang
style of play, with annual homer barrages, and pitching ERAs surpassing those
of the 1920s. And if Ruth's departure in 1935 deprived the game of its most
colorful hero of all time, new slugging stars like Hank Greenberg, Ted
Williams, and Joe DiMaggio proved to be worthy successors. Their
accomplishments and those of this era's teams were lavishly covered by
sportswriters and by a new breed of radio sportscasters, whose ranks included
some ex-players. Such coverage broadened baseball's appeal. So did the 1939
opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York, and the annual
ritual of electing baseball immortals to the select circle. Indeed, the first
annual election conducted in January of 1936 selected Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth,
Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson as the five charter
members. Over the years the number of enshrined players swelled to over 200,
including stars from the segregated black majors. And so did the numbers of
fans who annually made the pilgrimage to the Hall of Fame; from a few thousand
a year in this era, the number of visitors now exceeds 250,000 annually.

The Crisis of World War Two

     The major leagues were recovering from Depression-imposed austerities
when the nation's entry into World War Two posed a second major crisis. From
1942 until the Allied victory in 1945, the nation's total war effort sapped
baseball's manpower and threatened to curtail the 1945 playing season. Among
the 12 million Americans summoned to military service during the war years
were some 500 major league players and 3,500 minor leaguers. This talent
drain shrank the minor leagues to nine circuits at one point, while only
President Roosevelt's "green light" enabled the major leagues to continue
playing throughout the war years.
     That the major leagues continued playing the game in the face of wartime
austerities owed to the resilience of its promoters and the continuing support
of the fans. Although annual attendance fell from 10 million in 1941 to 8.8
million in 1942 and to a low point of 7.7 million in 1943, the numbers
rebounded to 9 million in 1944 and then soared to a record 11.1 million in
1945. Indeed, baseball's continuing popularity won the support of political
figures like J. Edgar Hoover and Senator A.B. Chandler, who were convinced
that the game was serving the war effort by boosting morale, both on the
homefront and among the troops abroad.
     Nevertheless, it was no easy task keeping the game of baseball afloat
amidst a total war effort. In these years owners were hard-pressed to find
ways of coping with a variety of shortages. Among them, a crunching
transportation and hotel accommodation shortage forced promoters to cancel
spring training programs in the southlands. And in 1945 the same problems
forced the cancellation of that year's All-Star Game. Meanwhile a rubber
shortage forced the major leagues to go with a dead "balata" ball (with a hard
plastic at the core) in 1943, and all during the war a shortage of wood
affected the quality of bats. Early in the war the threat of submarine
attacks on coastal shipping also curtailed night games in East Coast centers,
but by 1944 the restriction was lifted. Indeed, night games came to be
welcomed by government officials, who regarded them as good recreation for
defense workers.
     But the worst shortage of all was in manpower. Indeed, never before nor
since did the major leagues face a talent shortage of such proportions as
occurred then. As draft boards denuded team rosters of able players, club
officials scoured the land for draft rejects and other ineligibles; at this
time, overage and underaged players were welcomed along with aliens. In
questing after talented alien players, scouts turned up a mother lode in Latin
America. Cuba turned out to be especially rich in prospects and at this time
some fifty Cuban players were recruited. Indeed, at one point a young minor
league promoter and war hero, Bill Veeck, proposed to buy the sickly NL
Phillies franchise and stock it with black players from the Negro Leagues.
Landis nixed the proposal.
     For their part, owners needed stout hearts and a love of the game to keep
going in the face of financial losses. In 1943 the majors lost $240,000, with
the Cardinals and Tigers faring better than most other clubs. Hardest hit
were the owners of the NL Phillies, who declared bankruptcy. The franchise
was sold to the NL for $50,000, and after one abortive sale attempt NL
officials sold the club to one of the DuPont Company heirs. Thus in the
affluent hands of Bob Carpenter, this chronically weak NL franchise was soon
revitalized.
     At this time each owner was obliged to do his bit for the war effort. In
response, clubs staged war bond sales, admitted servicemen free of charge to
games, and allowed radio broadcasts of games to be transmitted free of charge
to military bases. Although costly, such gestures paid off by increasing
baseball's popularity. By 1944 the worst of the financial reverses caused by
the war ended, and when the 1945 season returned overall profits of $1.2
million, it was apparent that major league baseball was once again on the
upswing.
     Such was not the case for the players who took a financial beating in
each of these years. A government edict of 1943, which was part of a general
effort to halt inflation by stabilizing wages, froze player salaries. The
salary freezes came at a time when player salaries, which averaged $6,400 in
1942, were already at a low point. When the freeze on salaries continued
through 1946, it stirred strong unionist sentiments among grousing players
that erupted in the first postwar season.
     Other changes unleashed by the war forced far-reaching changes on major
league baseball. Fair employment policies adopted by the federal government
and by some states now threatened major league baseball's long-established
practice of racial segregation. Sensing the new trend toward racial
integration, Branch Rickey in 1945 signed black major leaguer Jackie Robinson
to a Dodger contract. Rickey also sent his scouts in search of other
promising talent in the black majors. This was a timely move because Judge
Landis' death in 1944 had removed a major stumbling block to the integration
of the major leagues.
     When the war ended in 1945 with a complete victory over the Axis powers,
the prospects for major league baseball looked bright. But that year also
brought news of the sale of the Yankees to a triumvirate of owners who paid
$2.8 million for the club. And as it turned out, the postwar era would usher
in yet another phase of Yankee domination.

Austerity Campaigns:  The AL, 1932-1945

     In the Depression era of 1932-1941, the AL extended its domination over
the NL by winning seven of ten World Series encounters and six of the first
nine All-Star Games. The annual All-Star Game was instituted in 1933 and
quickly became a popular spectacle that marked the midpoint of each seasonal
campaign. Meanwhile in the seasonal campaigns of this decade, AL batters
topped their NL counterparts in batting average, homers, RBIs, and stolen
bases, while NL hurlers posted lower ERAs than did AL pitchers. But there was
an illusory quality to this apparent pattern of mastery. This was because the
AL's dominance owed most to the powerful Yankees, who captured six of the AL's
seven world titles in these years.
     After a three-year hiatus, the Yankees recaptured the AL heights in 1932,
crushing the Athletics by 13 games. Gehrig and Ruth combined for 75 homers
and Yankee hitters batted .286. Under Manager Joe McCarthy, who was destined
to become one of baseball's most victorious managers, pitching superiority
also became a Yankee hallmark. In 1932, with Lefty Gomez leading the Yankees
staff with 24 wins, the Yankee mound corps led the AL in ERA with 3.98. Thus
fortified, the versatile Yankees went on to sweep the Cubs in a legendary
World Series matchup, highlighted by Ruth's much-debated "called shot" homerun
in the third game. And over the winter George Weiss was hired to build a
Yankee farm system, a task which Weiss handled effectively. Within a few
years the Yankee farm system laid the foundation for an awesome phase of
Yankee domination.
     Meanwhile, the other AL teams enjoyed a brief respite, as the Yankees
fell behind the front-running Senators and Tigers over the next three seasons.
As age tolled on Yankee stars like Ruth, the Senators, now skippered by
another young player-manager, shortstop Joe Cronin, defeated the Yankees by 7
games to win the 1933 pennant race. League-leading hitting and sturdy
pitching by Al Crowder and Earl Whitehill, who combined for 46 victories,
carried the Senators, who went on to lose the World Series in five games to
the Giants. Worse yet, in this rock-bottom Depression year, the Senators
attracted only 437,000 home fans. Confronted with financial losses, owner
Clark Griffith sold outfield star Goose Goslin to the Tigers. Goslin's loss
dashed the Senators' hopes for 1934, and when the team slipped to the second
division that year, Griffith sold Cronin--his son-in-law--to the Red Sox for
$250,000.
     As the Senators suffered, the Detroit Tigers prospered. In addition to
landing Goslin in 1934, the Tigers also purchased catcher Mickey Cochrane from
the Athletics. Installed as the Tigers' player-manager, Cochrane headed a
Tiger resurgence that saw the team rise from a fifth-place finish in 1933 to
consecutive AL titles in 1934-1935. In 1934 Cochrane and Goslin teamed with
Hank Greenberg and Charley Gehringer to spearhead a .300 team batting attack.
What's more, pitchers Schoolboy Rowe and Tommy Bridges combined for 46 wins as
the Tigers defeated the Yankees by 7 games. The sprightly effort attracted
919,000 home fans, who watched Detroit land its first AL pennant since 1909.
Unhappily for the fans, they also saw the Tigers extend their World Series
losing streak to four as the Cardinals prevailed in a seven-game struggle.
But in 1935 the Tigers repeated as AL champions, edging the runner-up Yankees
by 3 games. Greenberg led the team's .290 batting offensive by batting in 170
runs, and the purchase of Crowder from the Senators beefed up the team's
pitching staff. Although a late-season injury kept Greenberg out of action in
the 1935 World Series, the Tigers downed the Cubs in five games. It was
Detroit's first World Series victory since 1887. But as it turned out, this
victory was also the last World Series triumph by any AL team but the Yankees
until 1945.
     The second phase of Yankee domination over the AL began in 1936. The
year before, Ruth's departure had removed the club's greatest drawing card,
but this year young Joe DiMaggio appeared. Purchasing him from the San
Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League for $25,000 and five other
ballplayers, the Yankees were taking a chance that DiMaggio would be able to
play effectively in spite of his injured knee. Indeed, he was, although the
outfielder did prove to be injury-prone. But in 1936 the highly touted
DiMaggio was an immediate sensation. In his freshman year he hit .323 with 29
homers and 125 RBIs. That year Gehrig's 49 homers led the league and the
Yankees batted .300 as a team with 182 homers. The Yankee assault lapped the
runner-up Tigers by 19 1/2 games and in World Series action the Yankees downed
the Giants in six games. It was the first of four consecutive World Series
titles by the Bronx Bombers. During this record-setting streak, Weiss' farm
system provided a steady flow of talented replacements. Included were
pitchers Spud Chandler, Steve Sundra, Marius Russo, and Atley Donald;
outfielders Tommy Henrich and Charley Keller; and second baseman Joe Gordon.
In 1937 the Yankees repeated by topping the Tigers by 13 games; in 1938 they
beat out the beefed-up Red Sox by 9 1/2 games; and in 1939 the Red Sox trailed
the all-conquering Yankees by 17 games. In each of these seasons the Yankees
blasted at least 166 homers. And in World Series play their mastery of their
NL rivals increased steadily; in 1937 the Giants fell in five games, and in
1938 and 1939 the Yankees swept the Cubs and the Reds. Landing four
consecutive world titles was an unprecedented achievement, but such domination
also kindled an enduring wave of anti-Yankee hostility among fans and rival
teams.
     Mercifully for the rest of the AL contenders, a year's respite from
Yankee domination came in 1940. The year before, Lou Gehrig's tragic illness
ended the career of the great first baseman, whose "iron man" record of
having played in 2,130 consecutive games still stands. In 1940 Gehrig's
absence was keenly felt, and it enabled the Tigers and Indians to battle the
Yankees on even terms. Cleveland's fireballing pitching ace, Bob Feller, won
27 games to lead his team's assault, but tensions between the Indian players
and manager Oscar Vitt adversely affected the team's morale. Such tensions
enabled the hard-hitting Tigers to close the gap. Batting a league-leading
.286, the Tigers were paced by future Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg; the big
outfielder batted .340 with a league-leading 41 homers and 150 RBIs. First
baseman Rudy York weighed in with a .316 batting average, and his 33 homers
and 134 RBIs complemented Greenberg's production. Second baseman Charley
Gehringer, another destined Hall of Famer, batted .313 and drove in 81 runs,
and outfielder Barney McCosky batted .340. To top it off, portly pitcher Bobo
Newsom enjoyed a vintage season with a 21-5 record. In the last week of the
season the Tigers deadlocked the Indians, and on the last day of the campaign
the Tigers defeated the Indians to win the hotly contested race. In the
decisive game, won by the Tigers 2-0, rookie Tiger pitcher Floyd Giebell
outpitched the great Feller. Ironically it was Giebell's last major league
victory. But in World Series action the Tigers lost to the Cincinnati Reds in
seven games.
     Hard after that defeat, the gathering storm of World War Two dealt the
Tigers a crushing blow. After playing 19 games of the 1941 season, slugger
Greenberg was drafted into the Army. As the Tigers slumped, the Yankees
rebounded and romped to a runaway 17-game victory over the second-place Red
Sox. But this last peacetime AL campaign was fraught with memorable events.
For one, by hitting safely in 56 consecutive games, Yankee outfielder Joe
DiMaggio sparked the Yankee surge and established an enduring major league
record. For another, by batting .406 over the season, Boston outfielder Ted
Williams became the last major league player to this day to top the .400 mark.
And in the unforgettable World Series of 1941, by missing a third strike with
two out in the ninth inning, thereby opening the floodgates for a game-winning
Yankee rally in the fourth game, Dodger catcher Mickey Owen won enduring
notoriety as the blamesake for the latest Yankee victory. The 1941 Series
victory was the eighth straight by Yankee teams.
     In the wake of the 1941 major league season, the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor plunged the nation into full-scale war with the Axis powers. Soon
thereafter, the military drafts sapped the playing strength of all teams, but
the efficient Yankee farm system enabled the Yankees to retain enough able
players to land two more pennants in 1942 and 1943. In 1942 the Yankees led
the league in homers, fielding, and pitching to defeat the bridesmaid Red Sox
by nine games. Yankee pitcher Ernie Bonham led all AL hurlers with a 21-5
mark, while Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams followed his brilliant 1941 season
by notching a rare Triple Crown effort; Williams batted .356 with 36 homers
and 137 RBIs. However, Yankee hopes of extending their World Series winning
streak came a cropper as the Cardinals downed the New Yorkers in five games.
     But the resilient Yankees bounced back in 1943. League-leading slugging
and pitching, the latter fronted by Spud Chandler's 20-4, 1.64 ERA
performance, carried the Yankees to a 13 1/2-game win over the Washington
Senators. To top off the victory, in World Series action the Yankees scored
an avenging victory over the Cardinals, who were beaten in five games.
     In 1944 the military draft finally denuded the Yankees, who fell to
third. As the Yankees sagged, the Browns and the Tigers battled for the top
position, and the struggle ended with the St. Louis Browns winning their
first and only AL pennant. In edging the Tigers by a single game, the Browns'
.252 team batting mark ranked near the bottom of the league. But stout
pitching by Jack Kramer, Nelson Potter, and reliever George Caster, and
shortstop Vern Stephens' league-leading 109 RBIs made the difference.
Matched against their hometown rivals in World Series play, the Browns fell to
the Cardinals in six games.
     In the last wartime campaign, the 1945 Tigers eked a 1 1/2-game victory
over the Senators. Although the Tigers were outhit by five other teams,
pitcher Hal Newhouser's 25-9, 1.81 ERA pitching and slugger Greenberg's timely
return from military service sparked the Tigers. After missing four seasons
of play, Greenberg returned to play in 78 games, during which he batted .311
and drove in 60 runs. In World Series play Greenberg's .304 batting and his
two homers led the Tigers to victory over the Cubs in seven games, in what has
been described as "the worst World Series ever played."

Austerity Campaigns:  The NL, 1932-1945

     Although offensively outclassed by the AL, the NL boasted the best
pitching in these years. Indeed, pitching decided eight of the first ten NL
campaigns of this era while also contributing to the senior circuit's better
competitive balance. Over the years 1932-1941 the NL campaigns featured nine
close races with five different pennant winners. Thus the longest reign of
any would-be dynasty was two years, a feat achieved by the New York Giants and
the Cincinnati Reds.
     In 1932 the Chicago Cubs rose to the top of the NL and continued a quirky
pattern, dating back to 1929, of winning a pennant every three years. In
August the embattled Cubs replaced manager Rogers Hornsby with first baseman
Charlie Grimm, a timely move that rallied the Cubs. Player-manager Grimm, in
company with infielder Billy Herman and outfielders Riggs Stephenson and
Johnny Moore, led the .278 team batting attack, while pitcher Lon Warneke
(22-6) fronted the team's league-leading pitching staff. The Cubs went on to
defeat the Pirates by four games, but were swept by the Yankees in the World
Series.
     As the Cubs swooned in 1933, another player-manager, first baseman Bill
Terry, led the Giants to their first NL pennant since 1924. They did it by
scoring a five-game victory over the Pirates. Terry batted .322, and
outfielder Mel Ott's 23 homers keyed the Giants' league-leading homer assault.
The pitching staff, fronted by lefty Carl Hubbell's 23 victories, was the
league's best. And in World Series action the Giants beat the Senators in
five games.
     The following year the Giants again boasted league-leading pitching, but
the hard-hitting Cardinals overtook the New Yorkers in the final week to win
by 2 games. Dubbed the "Gas House Gang," these Cardinals symbolized the
Depression austerities that affected the nation in this worst year of the
economic hard times. The Cardinals drew only 325,000 home fans, but
player-manager Frank Frisch, in company with Rip Collins, Ernie Orsatti, Joe
Medwick, and Spud Davis, topped the .300 mark in batting to pace the team's
league-leading .288 batting effort. But the brightest star was pitcher Dizzy
Dean, who won 30 games to become the last major league hurler to crack the
30-game barrier for over thirty years; moreover, Dean's brother Paul won 19.
In World Series play, the Cardinals rebounded from a 3-2 deficit in games to
beat the Tigers.
     The folksy Arkansas country boy Dizzy Dean won 28 games in 1935, but the
Cubs trumped the Cardinal ace with their league-leading pitching staff. At
the close of the campaign, the Cubs led the Cardinals by four games. Heading
the Cub hurlers were Lon Warneke and Bill Lee, each a 20-game winner. Five
Cub regulars topped the .300 mark, including infielders Stan Hack and Billy
Herman, outfielders Frank Demaree and Augie Galan, and catcher Gabby Hartnett,
to pace the team's .288 batting offensive. And outfielder Chuck Klein, a
timely acquisition from the moribund Phillies, powered 21 homers. But the
Cubs were no match for the Tigers in World Series play; the Tigers defeated
the Chicagoans in six games.
     Over the next two seasons, Cub hitters topped all NL teams in batting,
but each time the team finished second behind the Giants. Dominant pitching,
paced by Carl Hubbell's 26 wins and Ott's league-leading 33 homers, led the
1936 Giants to a five-game win over the Cubs and Cardinals. In the second
half of the campaign, many eyes were on lefty Hubbell, as the Giant hurler
finished the season with 16 consecutive victories to threaten the record
seasonal streak of 19 owned by Rube Marquard of the old Giants. Hubbell won
the opener of the 1936 World Series, but the Yankees beat the lefty in the
fourth game and went on to down the Giants in six games.
     But postseasonal play was discounted, and Hubbell went on to add another
eight victories in 1937. When the ace finally lost one on Memorial Day, his
record (over two seasons) of 24 consecutive victories stood as the best by a
major league pitcher. But more important to the Giants' cause in 1937,
Hubbell went on to win 22 games and rookie Cliff Melton won 20 as the Giants
hung on to beat the runner-up Cubs by 3 games. It was the second straight
conquest for the Giants, but in World Series action they again fell to the
Yankees, this time losing in five games.
     For a last time in 1938, the Cubs used their magical three-year formula
to land the NL pennant. In an epic campaign that saw Cincinnati Reds' pitcher
Johnny Vander Meer pitch two consecutive no-hit games, and the front-running
Pirates blow a big lead, the Cubs mounted a remarkable September surge to
overhaul and topple the Pirates by 2 games. In a decisive game played in late
September's gathering darkness at Wrigley Field, player-manager Gabby Hartnett
hit his legendary "homer in the gloaming" as part of a three-game Cub sweep of
the Pirates. Although the Cubs batted only .269 that year, the team's
pitching staff was the best in the league. Nevertheless, the well-armed Cubs
were swept by the Yankees in the 1938 World Series.
     As the punchless Cubs sank to fourth place in 1939, manager Bill
McKechnie drove the Cincinnati Reds to their first NL pennant since 1919.
Since that victory, the Reds had been remembered primarily for pioneering
night baseball and for Johnny Vander Meer's double no-hit feat. But recently
the club had come under the ownership of radio tycoon Powel Crosley, whose
player purchases were strengthening the team. Included were a prize pair of
pitchers:  Paul Derringer, who was purchased from the Cardinals, and Bucky
Walters, who came via the Phillies. In 1939 this duo combined for 52
victories and headed the league's best pitching staff. Supported by sturdy
hitting from outfielder Ival Goodman, first baseman Frank McCormick, and
catcher Ernie Lombardi, the Reds held off the Cardinals to win by 4 1/2 games.
However, the Reds suffered the same fate as did the 1938 Cubs when the Yankees
swept them in World Series play. Regrouping after this defeat, the Reds
repeated in 1940 as they downed the rebuilt Dodgers by 12 games. For the
winning Reds, mediocre hitting was overcome by league-leading pitching and
fielding. And in the 1940 World Series it was the Reds who outlasted the
Tigers in a seven-game struggle.
     In the NL's last peacetime campaign before the outbreak of the Second
World War, the Reds fell behind the rising Dodgers and the perennially
contending Cardinals. In a close race the Dodgers held on to win by 2 1/2
games over the Cardinals. In rebuilding the Dodgers, general manager Larry
MacPhail persuaded the club's banker trustees to bankroll the purchases of
players from the Phillies and Cardinals. From the Cardinals came pitcher Curt
Davis, and outfielders Medwick and young Pete Reiser. Snagging Reiser from
the Cardinals' farm system was a real coup as he led the league in batting
with a .343 mark. From the Phillies, MacPhail obtained pitcher Kirby Higbe
and first baseman Dolph Camilli; and in 1941 Camilli's 34 homers and 120 RBIs
led the league. With additional acquisitions, the 1941 Dodgers fielded few
home-grown players. Indeed, player-manager Leo Durocher was a former Cardinal
hand. But the Dodger assemblage of mercenaries led the NL in pitching and
homers and tied with the Cardinals in hitting. During the frenzied campaign,
the Dodgers attracted a million home fans, most of whom mourned their "Bums"
heart-breaking loss to the Yankees in the 1941 World Series.
     As wartime exigencies riddled NL teams of playing talent, the Cardinals
retained enough players to land three consecutive pennants over the years
1942-1944. Although Rickey left the Cardinals in 1942 to join the Dodgers as
that team's general manager, his efficient farm system fueled the Cardinals.
In dominating the NL, the Cardinals won 316 games in these years, each time
leading the league in hitting and pitching. Managed by Billy Southworth, the
1942 Cardinals needed 106 wins to edge the Dodgers by 2 games. The following
year 105 victories enabled the Cardinals to romp to an 18-game win over the
runner-up Reds. And in 1944 another 105 victories easily carried the Redbirds
to a 14 1/2-game win over the second-place Pirates. In World Series play the
Cardinals split with the Yankees, winning in five games in 1942 and losing by
the same count in 1943. And in 1944 the Cardinals thrashed the Browns in six
games. In these years young outfielder Stan Musial emerged as a superstar
with the Cardinals, winning the first of what would be seven NL batting titles
with a .357 mark in 1943.
     It was the loss of Musial to military service in 1945 which helped the
Cubs end the Cardinals' pennant monopoly. League-leading batting, fronted by
first baseman Phil Cavarretta's major-league-leading .355 batting, and
league-leading pitching carried the Cubs to a 3-game victory over the
Cardinals. But the victory was soured by defeat at the hands of the Tigers in
the 1945 World Series. Worse still, Cub fans to this day are still looking
for another NL pennant.

Baseball's Postwar Era, 1946-1961

     Victory in World War Two unleashed a host of pent-up changes which
altered American society. Among the most welcomed was a steadily expanding
economy which increased jobs, wages, and consumer spending. Bolstered by such
growth industries as housing, television, and automobile production, the tide
of economic prosperity transformed the nation into an affluent society of
dynamic abundance. Moreover, most Americans shared in the fruits of this
abundance. With plenty of discretionary income, Americans spent
ever-increasing amounts for leisure and recreational purposes. From a total
of $11 billion spent in 1946 on such pursuits, such spending topped $18
billion by 1960. By then, the most popular leisure activity was television
viewing, with nearly 80 percent of American households of 1960 boasting at
least one TV set. And the number of American households increased sharply
along with the nation's booming population. A postwar marriage boom fueled a
fifteen-year-long baby boom to add to the nation's population growth. And in
this era, millions of Americans forsook older cities for new suburban homes, a
trend that sped the growth of new urban regions.
     But postwar America was also faced with disturbing and controversial
changes. At home, long-festering opposition to racial discrimination and
segregation now saw black Americans using political action movements to batter
away at sources of inequality. Similarly, increased union activity by
organized workers was aimed at securing bigger shares of the fruits of
abundance. And on the international front, the nation found itself thrust
into a role as defender of the free world against Communist expansion. At
this time a mounting arms race with the Soviet Union had America and the
Russians stockpiling nuclear weapons and extending their rivalry into space
exploration. This international ideological struggle translated at home into
increased federal spending for defense and space programs, a continuation of
the military draft, and a pervasive fear of Communism which spilled over into
political campaigns.
     At this time most of these forces and others impacted upon major league
baseball. For openers, the rising national prosperity boosted attendance and
revenues, but shifting population centers now tempted some club owners to
abandon old sites for greener pastures elsewhere. By 1958 five such franchise
shifts had occurred. In 1953 the NL Braves became the first breakaway
franchise when they abandoned their traditional Boston haunts for Milwaukee;
in 1954 the penurious AL Browns departed St. Louis for Baltimore, and the
following year the equally penurious AL Athletics moved from Philadelphia to
Kansas City. Such moves were controversial, for they destroyed a
long-standing, fifty-year-old status quo in major league baseball. But the
biggest public uproar echoed from Brooklyn and New York City, when fans of the
NL Dodgers and Giants saw these teams move to the West Coast, respectively to
Los Angeles and San Francisco. Following upon those moves, a rival major
league, the Continental League, threatened to plant teams in some abandoned
cities, but mostly in new population centers that now hungered for major
league baseball. The urgent need to defuse the Continental League threat and
the lesser need to assuage bereft New York fans prompted major league owners
to expand the major leagues at the end of this era.
     Meanwhile, these breakaway franchise movements, while increasing major
league attendance and revenues, were weakening the minor leagues by
pre-empting some of the strongest minor league territories. At the same time
attendance at minor league games was being undermined by the increasing radio
and television broadcasts of major league games. For the minor leagues, such
blows were crushers. From an all-time peak in 1949, when the minors fielded
59 leagues with over 7,800 players and attracted 40 million fans, the number
of minor leagues steadily dwindled. By the early 1960s, the number of minor
leagues had shrunk to nineteen, with fewer than 2,500 players and total annual
attendance of less than 20 million fans. By then, major league owners were
learning that there was a piper to pay; for the decline of the minors
confronted the major leagues with a chronic, persistent problem of talent
scarcity. To cope with the knotty talent shortage problem, major league clubs
engaged in costly bidding wars for the services of promising young players.
And in addition to bidding for "bonus babies," major league clubs recruited
black players both at home and in Latin America. Since such moves failed to
solve the problem of talent scarcity, by the end of this era the majors were
challenged to find ways of subsidizing the surviving minor leagues, to prevent
these vital nurseries of playing talent from drying up.
     But baseball's talent scarcity problem was also aggravated by the
television revolution. As television producers soon learned that other sports
attracted viewers, they took to subsidizing rival team sports such as
professional football and basketball. As these and other sports gained in
popularity, young athletes turned to them in increasing numbers. Indeed, at
many schools and colleges baseball now ranked as a minor sport. But
television bestowed blessings as well as problems upon baseball. In 1950
baseball telecasting provided $2.3 million in new revenues and by 1960 such
annual income topped $12 million. As television income enhanced the value of
major league franchises, its potential now became a major consideration in the
relocation of franchises. For now, as at the present time, owners clung to
the policy of negotiating their own local television contracts. But owners of
this era worried over television's impact on live attendance at games. In
1946 a record 18.1 million fans attended major league games and in 1948 rising
annual attendance peaked at 21.3 million. Thereafter annual attendance
sagged, falling below the 20 million mark during the 1950s. For this
turnabout, some owners blamed television for making a free show of the games.
But aging parks, located in congested and declining center cities whose
populations were shifting to suburban areas, also accounted for the decline.
In other ways television altered the game. The steadily increasing number of
night games now transformed major league baseball into a primarily nocturnal
spectacle--except at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Night baseball was a trend
encouraged by the televising of games as producers found night games to be
more profitable. And by making celebrities of players, television triggered a
rise in player salaries which would reach astonishing proportions in later
years. Moreover, by scooping newspapers on the coverage of the outcome of
games, television forced baseball writers to adopt a new, more probing style
of baseball coverage. But such mixed blessings failed to deter owners of this
era from reaping revenues from local and national television contracts.
However, it is unlikely that any owner of this era could have envisioned a
coming time when television revenue would exceed that of ticket sales at
games.
     Nor could many owners at the dawn of this era envision the revolutionary
impact of the racial integration of baseball. Nevertheless, in 1947 major
league baseball became a major front in the ongoing battle for racial
equality. That year Branch Rickey's "great experiment" introduced Jackie
Robinson as the first known black player in this century to play in the major
leagues. Playing first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers that year, Robinson
endured a trying ordeal of acceptance, but he passed the test magnificently.
A .297 batting average sparked a championship season for the Dodgers and won
Robinson the Rookie of the Year honors. More important, his success paved the
way for other black stars to follow in his footsteps. By 1958 some hundred
black Americans and some eighty black Hispanics played in the major leagues,
mostly with NL teams, where their feats helped to exalt the NL over the AL.
In Robinson's footsteps there followed such future Hall of Famers as Willie
Mays, Roy Campanella, Ernie Banks, and Roberto Clemente. However, the opening
of doors into the white major leagues doomed the black major leagues to
extinction. By 1950 the era of the great black majors was over. As for the
white majors, the recruitment of black players only temporarily alleviated the
growing talent shortage.
     Meanwhile, the postwar surge in labor union activity in the nation at
large was exerting its influence on the major leagues. In 1946 a mounting
number of grievances against owners prompted major league players to organize
under the newly formed American Baseball Guild. Headed by Boston attorney
Robert Murphy, this fourth unionizing attempt by major league players now had
players forming chapters on each team, electing player representatives, and
demanding higher salaries, fringe benefits, and a pension plan. A strike
threat that year was defused when owners conceded a minimum salary of $5,000,
some fringe benefits, and a pension plan to be funded by national radio and
television income. The latter concession was portentous; not only were owners
committed to the pension principle, but an important precedent was set by
giving players a share in national media revenue. Such concessions undercut
the Guild, which soon died out. But when the owners attempted to abolish the
pension system in 1953, player representatives from the sixteen clubs hired
New York attorney J. Norman Lewis to represent their cause. Out of this
crisis came the Major League Players Association; under Lewis' leadership,
the Association fought a successful battle to retain the pension system. But
the Association languished after this struggle and late in this era came under
the leadership of Robert Cannon, who ran the Association as a company union
until 1966. Then, under Marvin Miller's efficient leadership, the Association
became a formidable collective-bargaining agency for the players.
     Meanwhile, the Mexican League crisis of 1946 added to the growing
tensions between players and owners. That year Mexican League promoters
enticed a handful of major league players to jump to Mexican League teams with
offers of high salaries. When Commissioner A.B. Chandler blacklisted the
jumpers, one of them, Danny Gardella, sued in the federal courts. When a
Circuit Court of Appeals found for Gardella, the threat to baseball's reserve
clause was serious enough to persuade the owners to settle the case out of
court. Subsequently, congressional investigations into baseball's
monopolistic practices also threatened the reserve clause, but no legislation
followed the work of Congressman Emmanuel Celler's probings.
     Nevertheless, by creating the Major League Players Association and by
linking pension payments to national television revenues, the militant players
of this era laid the groundwork for massive salary breakthroughs to be reaped
by a future generation of players. But for now the players had to content
themselves with salaries which at least topped those of their forebears.
During the 1950s, 75 percent of player salaries ranged from $10,000 to $25,000
a season. However, three superstars--Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Stan
Musial--received annual salaries of $100,000 a season.
     But if organized players showed signs of gaining wealth and power, the
powers of baseball commissioners were waning. Indeed, when Landis died in
1944, it soon became apparent that the owners would not abide another powerful
commissioner. Thus Landis' successor, Commissioner Chandler, was denied a
second term in 1951. For his part, Chandler blamed his assertive stance on
such issues as his support of the pension plan, his opposition to Sunday night
ball, and his defense of the rights of minor league players, for his ouster.
Be that as it may, the flamboyant Chandler was replaced by Ford Frick, who
served for fourteen years as the compliant tool of the owners. At this time
the changing ranks of club owners included a new breed of wealthy businessmen
who deferred to powerful owners like Walter O'Malley of the Dodgers and Dan
Topping of the Yankees. By wielding influence on the owners' powerful
executive committee, their powers far exceeded those of the commissioner.
     Among the playing rule changes of this era, the 1950 recodification
narrowed the strike zone and a 1954 rule permanently restored the sacrifice
fly rule. Of important future significance was a 1959 rule which reacted to
the designs of new, publicly financed ballparks in Milwaukee, Kansas City,
Baltimore, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and which anticipated the coming
new park-building boom. This rule ordained that parks constructed after 1959
must conform to minimum distances of 325 feet from home plate to the right and
left field fences.
     On the playing fields, improved fielding was attributed to bigger, more
flexible gloves. And the homer production of this era owed much to players
wielding lighter, more tapered bats, to the required use of batting helmets,
and to the frequent replacement of balls. A team now used as many as 12,000
balls in a season. Offensively such changes resulted in unprecedented homer
barrages, with NL hitters averaging more than 1,100 homers a season during
the 1950s. What's more, NL hitters regularly also bested AL batters in
batting averages and stolen bases. Credit for this turnabout went to the
greater number of black stars in the NL. Robinson became the first black star
to win a Most Valuable Player Award, and after Robinson received that award in
1949, seven black stars, including sluggers Roy Campanella, Ernie Banks, and
Willie Mays, won NL MVP awards in the 1950s. But the most celebrated stars of
this era were DiMaggio, Williams, and Musial. DiMaggio retired after the
1951 season with a .325 lifetime batting average, while Williams and Musial
starred throughout this era. When he retired in 1960, Williams, despite years
lost for service in World War Two and the Korean conflict, owned a .344
lifetime batting average, six AL batting titles, 521 homers, and a pair of
Triple Crowns. And when Musial retired in 1963, his credentials showed a
.331 lifetime batting average, seven NL batting titles, and an NL record of
3,630 lifetime hits, evenly divided at home and on the road.
     For the battered pitchers these postwar years were nightmarish. ERAs
hovered around 4.00 in the NL and just below that seasonal mark in the AL. To
cope with their batting tormentors, pitchers now relied more upon sliders and
some clandestinely employed illegal deliveries like the spitball. Managers
responded by deploying relief pitchers. At this time "short relievers,"
capable of dousing late-inning rallies, now became valued specialists whose
exploits were measured by saves and honored late in the era with annual
"Fireman of the Year" awards. Among the best of this era's "firemen" were Joe
Page of the Yankees, Jim Konstanty of the Phillies, Roy Face of the Pirates,
and the much-traveled Hoyt Wilhelm. Indeed, the knuckleball-throwing Wilhelm
lasted twenty-one seasons. When he retired in 1972, he had appeared in 1,070
games, with 227 saves and a lifetime ERA of 2.52. But able starters were by
no means extinct at this time. Among the very best, lefty Warren Spahn of the
Braves went on to win 20 or more games in a dozen seasons, and retired with
363 lifetime victories. To honor the outstanding pitchers of each season, in
1956 the annual Cy Young Award was instituted. The first recipient was Don
Newcombe, the black pitching ace of the Brooklyn Dodgers. From 1956 through
the 1966 season, only one award was given annually in the major leagues, but
thereafter the best pitcher of the year in each league received a Cy Young
Award.

Postwar Campaigns:  The AL, 1946-1960

     In this era the AL lagged behind the NL both in offensive performance and
in annual attendance. For this reversal of fortunes, some observers faulted
AL owners for taking a back seat to their NL counterparts in the signing of
black stars and in the occupation of such choice sites as Los Angeles and San
Francisco. But the AL's biggest problem was the overwhelming superiority of
its own New York Yankees. By winning eleven of fifteen postwar-era campaigns,
the Yankees made a mockery of the concept of competitive balance. Moreover,
by their perennial dominance, the New Yorkers attracted the lion's share of AL
attendance, to the detriment of their overmatched competitors. Indeed, such
was the magnitude of the Yankee oppression that after 1948 no AL team but the
Yankees won a World Series until 1966. For their part, the Yankees won nine
world titles, thus singlehandedly maintaining the AL's domination in the
annual test of strength between the two majors. Nevertheless, by the end of
this era, the growing strength of the NL was evidenced by their team's
victories in three of the last five World Series encounters and by victories
in nine of this era's seventeen All Star Games.
     But when each of the first three AL postwar campaigns produced a new
champion, prospects for competitive balance looked bright. In 1946 the Boston
Red Sox won their first AL pennant since 1918 to help foster this illusion.
League-leading hitting by Red Sox batters, fronted by Ted Williams'
.342-38-123 stickwork, and 45 wins posted by pitchers Dave "Boo" Ferriss and
Tex Hughson, boosted the Red Sox to 104 wins and a 12-game romp over the
defending Detroit Tigers. But after the Red Sox lost a hard-fought seven-game
World Series battle at the hands of the Cardinals, another two decades would
pass by before this club won another AL pennant.
     As the Red Sox faded to third in 1947, the Yankees rebounded from a
third-place finish to notch their first postwar pennant. DiMaggio batted
.315 with 20 homers and 97 RBIs to lead the team's .271 batting assault.
Besides leading the league in homers and batting, the Yankees also fielded the
league's best pitching staff; Allie Reynolds, newly acquired from Cleveland,
won 19, and rookies Specs Shea and Vic Raschi combined for 21 wins. Reliever
Joe Page won 14 and tied for league leadership in saves with 17. It was
enough to carry manager Bucky Harris' charges to a 12-game win over the
second-place Tigers. Then, for a second time, the Yankees downed the Dodgers
in World Series play.
     The following year the Yankees, Red Sox, and Indians hooked up in a
furious pennant struggle that ended in a tie between the Indians and Red Sox.
To settle this first seasonal deadlock in AL history, the two teams played a
sudden-death playoff game in Boston. By downing the Red Sox 8-3 in that
game, Cleveland won the 1948 AL pennant and went on to beat the Boston Braves
in the World Series. League-leading team batting (.282), homer production
(155), pitching, and fielding powered the Indians, whose home attendance of
more than 2 million fans was unsurpassed in this era. Player-manager Lou
Boudreau led the Indians with a .355 average; outfielder Dale Mitchell batted
.336, and outfielder Larry Doby, who joined the team in 1947 as the first
black player in the AL, hit .301. Pitchers Bob Lemon, Bob Feller, and Gene
Bearden accounted for 59 victories, but the pitching staff got an important
boost when owner Bill Veeck acquired the legendary and aging Satchel Paige
from the black majors. Paige contributed 6 victories and a save to the team's
winning cause.
     At this point the resurging Yankees dashed all hopes of continuing the
league's pattern of competitive balance. Regrouping under manager Casey
Stengel, the Yankees snatched ten of the next twelve AL pennants, including a
record five in a row beginning with the 1949 conquest. In the torrid 1949
race, the injury-ridden Yankees edged the Red Sox by a game. Needing a pair
of victories to overtake and conquer the Red Sox, the Yankees hosted the
Bostonians in the closing days of the campaign and won both games. Key
performances included relief pitcher Joe Page's 27 saves and 13 victories, and
a .346-14-67 offensive effort by the ailing DiMaggio. Though he was sidelined
much of the season by injuries, the Yankee Clipper's heroics helped to offset
Williams' tremendous performance for the Red Sox. Williams' .343 batting
average was barely edged out by George Kell, and his 43 homers and 159 RBIs
led all rivals.
     Over the next three seasons, the Yankees prevailed in three close races,
edging the Tigers by 3 games in 1950, the Indians by 5 games in 1951, and the
Indians by 2 games in 1952. Nor did they stop there. In winning for a fifth
straight season in 1953, the Yankees enjoyed their only comfortable edge in
their record skein as they downed the perennial bridesmaid Indians by 8 1/2
games. In winning a record five consecutive AL pennants, the great Yankee
pitching triumvirate of Allie Reynolds, Vic Raschi, and lefty Ed Lopat
combined for a sparkling 255-117 won-loss record. That victory total included
two no-hitters pitched by Reynolds in the 1951 campaign. In 1950, future Hall
of Famer Ed "Whitey" Ford joined the Yankee staff; Ford's 9-1 pitching
performance was a decisive factor in the team's winning stretch drive of that
season. Offensively, manager Stengel relied on star performers like DiMaggio
and catcher Yogi Berra and successfully platooned such able hitters as
outfielders Hank Bauer and Gene Woodling. When age tolled on the great
DiMaggio, who retired after the 1951 season, or when the Korean War military
draft snagged young stars like Ford and Billy Martin, general manager George
Weiss summoned rising stars like Mickey Mantle and Gil McDougald from the
Yankee farm system. Shrewd trades by Weiss also landed key performers like
Johnny Mize, pitcher Ed Lopat, and relief pitcher Bob Kuzava. In World Series
action, the relentless Yankees captured five classics in a row. Three times,
in 1949, 1952, and 1953, they toppled the Dodgers. In 1950 they swept the
"Whiz Kid" Phillies, and in 1951 they defeated the "Miracle Giants" in six
games. In two of these encounters, Kuzava's relief pitching was a deciding
factor. And at the pinnacle of their success in 1953, the Yankees could boast
of having won their last seven World Series encounters.
     The following year, the Yankees won 103 games, their best record under
Stengel's leadership, but manager Al Lopez's Cleveland Indians won the 1954
pennant with an AL record-breaking 111 victories. Second baseman Bobby
Avila's .341 hitting won the league's batting title, and Larry Doby's
league-leading 32 homers and 126 RBIs headed the team's league-leading 156
homer barrage. With a 2.78 ERA the team's pitching staff was unmatched; the
starting trio of Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, and Mike Garcia accounted for 65
victories. But like the 1906 Chicago Cubs, who lost the World Series of that
year after winning a major league record 116 games, the Indians fell to the
New York Giants, who swept to victory in the 1954 World Series.
     The 1954 victory was also Cleveland's last AL pennant to this day. What
followed was another assertion of Yankee tyranny. Regrouping in 1955, the
Yankees went on to win a string of four consecutive AL pennants. By this time
most of the heroes of the 1949-1953 Yankees were gone. To replace the great
pitching trio of Reynolds, Raschi, and Lopat, Weiss traded for pitchers Bob
Turley and Don Larsen and summoned catcher Elston Howard, the first black
player to wear a Yankee uniform, from the farm system. In a close race the
1955 Yankees edged the Indians by 3 games, with Berra winning his third MVP
award for his latest offensive performance. Berra batted a workmanlike .272,
and his 27 homers drove in 108 runs. Outfielder Mantle batted .306, and his
league-leading 37 homers were accompanied by 99 RBIs. And Ford's 18 wins led
AL hurlers. But in World Series action the Dodgers finally turned on their
Yankee tormentors as they won the fall classic in seven games.
     In 1956 Mantle's Triple Crown performance (.353-52-130) and Ford's 19
pitching victories paced the Yankees to an 8-game victory over the Indians.
In the aftermath of that victory, the Yankees faced the Brooklyn Dodgers for a
seventh and last subway World Series. The next time these two rivals met, the
breakaway Dodgers would represent the West Coast city of Los Angeles. What
followed was an epochal struggle which the Yankees won in seven games. But
Larsen's brilliant pitching in the fifth game stamped this World Series with
the mark of immortality. With the Series tied at two games, Larsen pitched a
perfect game; it was the first no-hitter in World Series history and the first
perfect game pitched in the majors in over thirty years. But the stubborn
Dodgers carried the Series another two games before succumbing.
     Over the next two seasons the Yankees won two more AL pennants. In 1957
the Bronx Bombers wielded league-leading batting and pitching to down the
runner-up White Sox by 8 games. Mantle's .365-34-94 performance won the
switch-hitting superstar another MVP Award. Rookie shortstop Tony Kubek's
.297 hitting won him Rookie of the Year honors, and rookie Tom Sturdivant's
16 victories led the pitching staff. Nevertheless, the 1957 Yankees lost the
World Series in seven games to the transplanted Milwaukee Braves. But the
1958 Yankees avenged that loss. Winning easily by 10 games over manager Al
Lopez's White Sox, the Yankees led the AL in team batting, homers, and
pitching. Turley's 21 victories led AL pitchers and Mantle's 42 homers led
the league's sluggers. Then, in a rematch with the Braves, the gritty Yankees
overcame a three-games-to-one deficit to win the 1958 World Series in seven
games.
     The following year slumping performances by Mantle and Turley contributed
to the Yankee's third-place finish. The collapse enabled perennial runner-up
manager Al Lopez to drive his Chicago White Sox to a 5-game victory over the
Indians. The White Sox batted a weak .250, but they led the league in stolen
bases, fielding, and pitching. Veteran pitcher Early Wynn, a future Hall of
Famer, notched 22 victories in his last great seasonal performance, and
relievers Turk Lown and George Staley fronted the league's best bullpen crew.
But the White Sox lost the 1959 World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
     That fall the decision by AL owners to expand the league to ten teams in
1961 sounded the knell for the league's hallowed eight-club format and
154-game seasons. As the postwar era ended with the 1960 campaign, the
Yankees rebounded to win by 8 games over the Baltimore Orioles. Although soon
to pass from the Yankee scene, general manager Weiss pulled off another canny
deal by obtaining outfielder Roger Maris from the Kansas City Athletics. With
Maris leading the league in RBIs, and Mantle in homers, the well-armed Yankees
faced the Pirates in the 1960 World Series. Yet despite a World Series record
.338 team batting average, which produced three crushing victories over the
Pirates, the Yankees lost the classic in seven games. Hard after this defeat,
Weiss and manager Stengel were forced into retirement, although the pair soon
surfaced in their familiar capacities with the NL's expansion New York Mets.
Meanwhile, with the passing of the 1960 season, the AL prepared to enter the
dawning era of expansion.

Postwar Campaigns:  The NL, 1946-1961

     In this era much of the credit for boosting NL stock above that of the AL
belonged to Branch Rickey and Walter O'Malley of the Dodgers. Dodger general
manager Rickey built the superb farm system which fueled the Dodger dynasty,
and it was Rickey too who successfully pulled off the coup of baseball's
racial integration. When Jackie Robinson made his successful debut in 1947,
Rickey enjoyed a temporary corner on the market of black players whom his
scouts recruited from the fading black majors and from Latin American
countries. Moreover, when Dodger owner O'Malley engineered Rickey's ouster in
1950, the aging genius joined the Pirates and laid the groundwork for that
forlorn team's rise to power. And as a final touch, it was Rickey's presence
among the would-be promoters of the rival Continental League movement in 1959
that goaded major league owners into expanding their circuit in order to
deflect the threat.
     But the 1957 West Coast move of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants
was O'Malley's doing. Indeed, these moves stirred the Continental League
movement. And it was O'Malley, the most powerful and influential owner of
this era, who persuaded his colleagues to embark upon the expansionist course.
Thus while Rickey and O'Malley plied different courses of action, these
embattled rivals together forced major league baseball to adapt to a changing
American society.
     But the rise of the Brooklyn Dodger dynasty in the NL of this era was
mostly Rickey's handiwork. And an effective piece of domination it was. Of
the sixteen NL campaigns of this era, the Dodgers won seven and narrowly
missed winning three others. And yet the Dodgers, who won only two world
titles, were upstaged by an even greater Yankee dynasty. Nevertheless, the
Dodgers lorded over other NL teams. In these years the Braves won three
pennants and a World Series; the Giants won two pennants and a World Series;
and the four one-time winners--the Cardinals, Phillies, Pirates, and
Reds--accounted for two World Series victories. At least it made the NL a
better-balanced circuit than the Yankee-dominated AL of this era.
     As the NL's postwar era unfolded, the outcomes of the first three
campaigns produced an illusion of competitive balance similar to that in the
AL. Here too the first three races produced three different winners. The
1946 race pitted the Dodgers against a Cardinal team which Rickey had
assembled in his previous tenure at St. Louis. In a donnybrook race, the two
teams finished the season in a dead heat. To settle the issue of this first
true deadlock in NL history, a best-of-three playoff series was set, which the
Cardinals won by sweeping the first two games. Overall, the Cardinals used
league-leading pitching, batting, and fielding to assert their superiority.
Pitcher Howie Pollet's league-leading 21 victories and 2.01 ERA led the
pitching staff. And a pair of outfielders powered the Cardinal offensive:
Musial's .365 hitting won the league batting crown, and Enos Slaughter's 130
RBIs topped all others. In the World Series the Cardinals toppled the favored
Red Sox in seven games.
     As it turned out, St. Louis fans would have to wait another seventeen
seasons before a Cardinal team again scaled the heights. Meanwhile in 1947
attention of fans everywhere riveted upon the Dodgers and Jackie Robinson's
debut as the first black player of the century to play in the majors. When
Commissioner Chandler suspended manager Leo Durocher, Burt Shotton took over
the reins of the club and stationed Robinson at first base. Advised by
Rickey to turn his cheek against racist slurs, which came mostly from the
Cardinals and Phillies, Robinson responded stoically and successfully. His
.297 batting that year won him NL Rookie of the Year honors, and his example
opened the way for more black players to follow. With outfielders Pete Reiser
and Dixie Walker topping the .300 mark at bat, and with pitcher Ralph Branca
winning a league-leading 21 games and bullpen master Hugh Casey saving a
league-leading 18 games, the Dodgers beat the Cardinals by 5 games. That year
the Dodgers also had the satisfaction of seeing their hated rivals, the
Giants, finish in fourth place despite a record 221-homer barrage. But in
World Series play, another local rival, the Yankees, downed the Dodgers in a
grueling seven-game struggle.
     In 1948 the Dodgers slipped to third as ex-Cardinal manager Billy
Southworth drove the Boston Braves to a 6 1/2-game victory over his former
Redbird team. It was Boston's first NL pennant since 1914 and its last as a
Beantown franchise. Boston's pitching trio of Johnny Sain (whose 24 victories
led all NL hurlers), Warren Spahn, and Vern Bickford fronted the NL's most
effective staff. And the team's league-leading .275 batting attack was
fronted by outfielder Tommy Holmes (.325), and by infielders Al Dark (.322)
and Bob Elliott (100 RBIs). But when the Braves met the Indians in World
Series play, the Indians dispatched the Braves in five games. Landing the
1948 NL pennant was the last gasp of this faltering franchise, which five
years later would move to more profitable pastures in Milwaukee.
     As the Braves faded in 1949, the Dodgers asserted their dynastic power.
Over the next five seasons the Dodgers won three NL races and lost two others
by heartbreakingly narrow margins. In 1949 Robinson's league-leading .342
hitting helped the Dodgers eke a 1-game victory over the Cardinals. Joining
the MVP Award-winning Robinson were black stars Roy Campanella, who batted
.287, and pitcher Don Newcombe, whose 17 wins paced the staff. Outfielder
Carl Furillo batted .322 and outfielder Duke Snider and first baseman Gil
Hodges, who combined for 46 homers and 207 RBIs, paced the team's
league-leading homer assault. But then, for a third time, the Dodgers bowed
to the Yankees in the World Series.
     In 1950 the Dodger "Boys of Summer" lost by 2 games to the Phillies'
"Whiz Kids."  Phillies' ace Robin Roberts averted a possible deadlock by
outpitching Newcombe on the final day of the season. With youngsters Roberts
and Curt Simmons combining for 37 wins, and relief ace Jim Konstanty winning
16 and saving 22 for a Most Valuable Player Award performance, the Phillies
boasted the league's best pitching. At the plate the team was powered by Del
Ennis, who drove in a league-leading 126 runs, and by young Richie Ashburn,
who batted .303. But late in the season the team lost pitcher Simmons to the
Korean War military draft. His absence tolled on the Phillies, who were swept
by the Yankees in the World Series.
     Over the winter of 1950, Dodger owner O'Malley forced Rickey out of his
general manager post, but Rickey's departure spared him the agonies of the
Dodgers' 1951 season. As the fateful campaign unfolded, the Dodgers soared to
a 13 1/2-game lead in early August. But in the September stretch, the
"miracle" New York Giants rose to deadlock the Dodgers at the season's end.
In the unforgettable playoff series between these traditional rivals, the
Giants rallied to win the decisive game on outfielder Bobby Thomson's dramatic
ninth-inning homer. In baseball folklore, Thomson's winning blast is
immortalized as "the shot heard round the world."  Indeed, it was a miraculous
season as the Dodgers, paced by the hitting of Robinson and Campanella, led
Giant hitters by 15 points. But black stars Monte Irvin (who batted
.312-24-121) and rookie Willie Mays (who hit 20 homers) powered the Giants,
who also got a .303 performance from team leader Al Dark and a .293
performance with 32 homers from the heroic Thomson. Moreover, Giant pitchers
Sal Maglie and Larry Jansen each won 23 games, to pace the league-leading
Giant pitching staff. However, the Giants' celebrated "Miracle of Coogan's
Bluff" was tarnished by defeat at the hands of the Yankees in the 1951 World
Series.
     But at this point the snakebit Dodgers picked themselves up and went on
to capture the next two NL pennants. In 1952 they outlasted the Giants by 4
1/2 games, and the following year they coasted to a 13-game win over the
transplanted Milwaukee Braves. In the hard-fought 1952 race the Giants
suffered the loss of Mays to the military draft. It was a crushing blow for
the Giants, but Dodger crushers led the league in homers. Snider, Hodges, and
Campanella combined for 75, and this trio drove in nearly 300 runs. The
pitching was shaky. Able starters Preacher Roe, Carl Erskine, and Billy Loes
won 38 games, but reliever Joe Black made the difference. With a 15-4 record
and 15 saves, Black enjoyed the best season of his brief career. The
following year, Erskine picked up after the slumping Black and posted a 20-6
record to lead the staff. Behind him the mature Boys of Summer beat a hefty
tattoo, leading the league in batting (.285) and homers (208). Rebounding
from his previous year's slump, Furillo batted .344 to lead the league, and
Campanella's .312-41-142 record won him another MVP Award. It added up to a
two-year domination of the NL, but in World Series play the Dodger champs
twice fell to their Yankee nemesis; in 1952 they lost the Series in seven
games, and the following year they fell in six games.
     Shortly after the 1953 Series loss, O'Malley picked the little-known
Walter Alston to skipper the club. Although Alston would manage the team for
twenty-three seasons, a longer skein than any of his managerial colleagues,
his 1954 debut was inauspicious. That year the Dodgers lost to the Giants by
5 games. Offensively the Dodgers outbatted and outscored their rivals, but
the Giants matched the Dodgers in homer production and fielded the league's
best pitching staff. Returning from military service, Willie Mays led the
league in hitting with a .345 mark, and his 41 homers and 110 RBIs firmly
established his credentials as one of the leading stars of the decade. That
year also saw the ex-bonus baby Johnny Antonelli come into his own as a
pitcher. His 21 victories and 2.30 ERA paced the Giant pitching staff, which
was the league's best. But the Giants were cast as underdogs in the World
Series against the powerful Cleveland Indians. However, a sensational
fielding play by outfielder Mays doused a promising Indian rally in the first
game, and key pinch hits by "Dusty" Rhodes in each of the first three games
triggered winning rallies. The result was a four-game sweep of the Indians.
     But the Giant victory was also the team's last as longtime residents of
New York. Over the next two seasons, the battle-wise Dodgers rebounded to win
another pair of back-to-back pennants. Each year it was the Braves who
finished second; in 1955 the Dodgers lapped the Milwaukee Braves by 13 1/2
games, and the following year they held off their rivals by a single game. In
1955 outfielders Snider (.309-42-136) and Furillo (.314), and catcher
Campanella (.318-32-107) paced the offensive. For his heroics, Campanella won
his third MVP Award of the decade. Newcombe's 20 wins headed the dominant
pitching staff. In the aftermath of the easy victory, the Dodgers also
managed to defeat their Yankee tormentors for the first time as they won the
1955 World Series in seven games.
     For the team's fanatical followers, this was to be the first and only
world title they would see flying over Ebbets Field. In 1956 the Dodgers
repeated, but only by the narrowest margin. League-leading performances by
pitcher Newcombe (27 wins) and Clem Labine (19 saves) and a league-leading 43
homers by Duke Snider were needed to atone for the team's .258 batting. And
in the aftermath of the grueling 1956 campaign, New York-area fans witnessed
the last subway World Series matchup between the Yankees and Dodgers.
Although the Dodgers won the first two games, they lost the Series in seven
games. What's more, this Dodger team became the victims of the first no-hit
game in World Series history when Yankee hurler Don Larsen hurled his perfect
game in the fifth game.
     As owner O'Malley laid plans for his team's postseasonal move to Los
Angeles in 1957, his Dodger team fell to third. The following season, the
team's first in Los Angeles, they fell further, to seventh place. In these
years there was no stopping the well-balanced Milwaukee Braves. As the first
breakaway franchise to win a major league pennant in this century, the 1957
Braves attracted over 2 million home fans, who saw the team down the Cardinals
by 8 games. Outfielder Hank Aaron's 44 homers and 132 RBIs led the league's
hitters, and veteran pitcher Spahn's 21 wins led the league's pitchers. Third
baseman Ed Mathews supplied additional power with 32 homers and 94 RBIs, and
starting pitchers Lew Burdette and Bob Buhl combined for 35 victories. Then
in World Series play the underdog Braves treated their fans to Milwaukee's
only world title to this date by downing the Yankees in seven games. The
following year the Braves repeated, scoring an 8-game victory over the rising
Pirates. Spahn's 22 victories again led NL hurlers and Burdette added 20
victories. At the bat Aaron showed the way with .326-30-95 hitting, with
Mathews adding 31 homers and first baseman Frank Torre batting .309. But in a
World Series rematch with the Yankees, the Braves blew a commanding
three-games-to-one lead, and the avenging Yankees won in seven games. To the
Yankees went the honor of becoming the first team in over thirty years to
rebound from such a deficit in World Series play.
     As the decade of the fifties drew to a close, the transplanted Los
Angeles Dodgers recovered from their seventh-place finish of 1958 to end the
Braves' two-year reign. In a brilliant September stretch drive, the Dodgers
won thirteen of fourteen games to deadlock the Braves at the end of the
campaign. And for a change the Dodgers won the playoff series by sweeping the
Braves in two games to claim the NL pennant. The Braves outhit, outhomered,
and outpitched the Dodgers, but the Dodgers led the league in fielding, and
outfielders Duke Snider (.308-23-88) and Wally Moon (.302-19-74) supplied
power enough, and the bullpen saved 26 games. In World Series action against
the White Sox, the Dodgers won in six games. The Dodgers' victories included
a sweep of its three home games, which were played at the Los Angeles
Coliseum, where a record 270,000 fans jammed the converted football stadium to
witness the triumphs.
     But the Dodgers fell to fourth in 1960 as the Pirates, a team constructed
by Rickey, beat the Braves by 7 games. Manager Danny Murtaugh's "Bucs" batted
a league-leading .276; shortstop Dick Groat's .325 batting led the NL hitters,
and future Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente batted .314. Vern Law's
20 pitching victories led the starters, but reliever Roy Face was the
bellwether of the staff. Face appeared in a league-leading 68 games, won 10
and saved 24, and posted an ERA of 2.90. In World Series play the Pirates
were thrice battered by the Yankees, but they won the 1960 classic in seven
games. Second baseman Bill Mazeroski's tenth-inning homer in the finale at
Forbes Field secured Pittsburgh's first world title in thirty-five years.
     The AL had already expanded to ten teams in 1961, when the NL played its
last season under the traditional eight-club format with its hallowed 154-game
schedule. In a close race the 1961 Cincinnati Reds edged the Dodgers by 4
games. Stout pitching, paced by starters Joey Jay, whose 21 wins led NL
pitchers, and Jim O'Toole (19 wins), and 40 saves by the relief corps headed
by Jim Brosnan and Bill Henry, carried the team. At bat the Reds batted
.270, with outfielders Frank Robinson (.323-37-124) and Vada Pinson
(.343-16-87) powering the attack. But when the Reds met the Yankees in World
Series play, they succumbed in five games.