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| Surprise starter Denny Galehouse pitched the St. Louis Browns to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opening game of the 1944 World Series. Galehouse, who'd gone 9-10 during the regular season, carried the worst season winning percentage to ever start a World Series opener. |
By Phil Ellenbecker
When it comes to surprise Game 1 starters in the World Series, and surprise performances, Howard Ehmke's in 1929 is probably the first one that comes to mind. Ehmke, on the way into the sunset of his baseball career, set a Series record with 13 strikeouts in that's year's opener, leading the Philadelphia Athletics to a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on the way to a world title.
Ehmke, who at 7-2 during the regular season had the seventh-most wins on the A's, pitched and lost one more game in the 1929 Series, and was then out of the big leagues after only 10 innings in 1930. But ranking right up there on the surprise scale has to be the outing of Denny Galehouse for the St. Louis Browns in 1944. Galehouse, with a 9-10 record and 3.12 ERA, had the fifth-most wins for the Browns, a surprise themselves after winning their first and only American League pennant that year, clinching on the final day of the season. Jack Hand of The Associated Press had picked them in the preseason to finish last.
Galehouse wasn't even with the team at the beginning of the year, not seeing action until May 15. According to John Heidenry and Brett Teipel in "The Boys Who Were Left Behind," excerpted in the World Series anthology "Glory in the Fall," he'd decided to retire and keep working at his wartime aircraft job in Akron, Ohio, before the Browns persuaded him to come back after he did his own spring training. And then they released him after he fared poorly.
But by the end of the year he was again with the big club and finished strong. He allowed only two earned runs over his final 23 innings of the regular season, including a shutout of the perennial power New York Yankees on Sept. 30, the next-to-last day of the regular season.
So manager Luke Sewell followed a hunch and went with Galehouse when the first and only all-St. Louis Fall Classic between the Browns and reigning NL power Cardinals -- or the Trolley Car Series as it was called -- opened at both team's home field, Sportsman's Park, on Wednesday, Oct. 4. Sewell opted for Galehouse over 19-game winner Nels Potter and 17-game winner Jack Kramer.
"No doubt everyone had to wonder just what Sewell was thinking when he nominated this part-time, home-conditioned, lackluster pitcher as the man who would face the formidable Cardinals in Game 1," Heidenry and Teipel wrote.
The Cardinals had won their third straight pennant, by 14 1/2 games over Pittsburgh. They'd been only the second team ever -- since the 1929-31 Philadelphia Athletics -- to have three straight 100-win seasons.
Galehouse would be matched against the Cardinals' Mort Cooper, a premier pitcher of the time who won the 1942 NL MVP award and was named to The Sporting News' Major League All-Star Team from '42 through '44. This year he'd gone 22-7 with a 2.46 ERA and seven shutouts, tying him with Detroit’s Dizzy Trout for most in the majors. He'd been 2-1 in four starts over the past two World Series, including their only win in a 4-1 loss to the Yankees the year before and only loss in a 4-1 triumph over the Yankes in '42.
Galehouse, meanwhile, carried the worst season winning percentage to ever start a World Series opener.
But the "lackluster pitcher," in his first World Series appearance, was up to the challenge, and he certainly had to be, because Cooper and reliever Blix Donnelly allowed the Browns only two hits. But one of those was a two-run homer by George McQuinn, and that was enough to give the Browns a 2-1 victory.
Galehouse allowed seven hits and one earned run while walking four and striking out five. Cooper pitched seven innings and allowed two hits, including McQuinn's fourth-inning homer, while walking three and fanning four. Donnelly, a 30-year-old rookie who had a 2.12 ERA in 27 games during the regular season, finished up with two perfect innings, striking out two.
After leaving four runners in scoring position, including two at third base, in the first eight innings, the Cardinals finally broke through in the bottom of the ninth to pull within 2-1. Marty Marion, who went 2-for-4 in the game, doubled leading off, his line shot to center going off the glove of a diving Mike Kreevich. He advanced to third on Augie Bergamo's ground out to second and scored on pinch hitter Ken O'Dea's towering sacrifice fly to Kreevich in deep center.
That brought up the top of the order and Johnny Hopp, and Galehouse got another fly out to Kreevich in center to seal the win.
Ehmke, who at 7-2 during the regular season had the seventh-most wins on the A's, pitched and lost one more game in the 1929 Series, and was then out of the big leagues after only 10 innings in 1930. But ranking right up there on the surprise scale has to be the outing of Denny Galehouse for the St. Louis Browns in 1944. Galehouse, with a 9-10 record and 3.12 ERA, had the fifth-most wins for the Browns, a surprise themselves after winning their first and only American League pennant that year, clinching on the final day of the season. Jack Hand of The Associated Press had picked them in the preseason to finish last.
Galehouse wasn't even with the team at the beginning of the year, not seeing action until May 15. According to John Heidenry and Brett Teipel in "The Boys Who Were Left Behind," excerpted in the World Series anthology "Glory in the Fall," he'd decided to retire and keep working at his wartime aircraft job in Akron, Ohio, before the Browns persuaded him to come back after he did his own spring training. And then they released him after he fared poorly.
But by the end of the year he was again with the big club and finished strong. He allowed only two earned runs over his final 23 innings of the regular season, including a shutout of the perennial power New York Yankees on Sept. 30, the next-to-last day of the regular season.
So manager Luke Sewell followed a hunch and went with Galehouse when the first and only all-St. Louis Fall Classic between the Browns and reigning NL power Cardinals -- or the Trolley Car Series as it was called -- opened at both team's home field, Sportsman's Park, on Wednesday, Oct. 4. Sewell opted for Galehouse over 19-game winner Nels Potter and 17-game winner Jack Kramer.
"No doubt everyone had to wonder just what Sewell was thinking when he nominated this part-time, home-conditioned, lackluster pitcher as the man who would face the formidable Cardinals in Game 1," Heidenry and Teipel wrote.
The Cardinals had won their third straight pennant, by 14 1/2 games over Pittsburgh. They'd been only the second team ever -- since the 1929-31 Philadelphia Athletics -- to have three straight 100-win seasons.
Galehouse would be matched against the Cardinals' Mort Cooper, a premier pitcher of the time who won the 1942 NL MVP award and was named to The Sporting News' Major League All-Star Team from '42 through '44. This year he'd gone 22-7 with a 2.46 ERA and seven shutouts, tying him with Detroit’s Dizzy Trout for most in the majors. He'd been 2-1 in four starts over the past two World Series, including their only win in a 4-1 loss to the Yankees the year before and only loss in a 4-1 triumph over the Yankes in '42.
Galehouse, meanwhile, carried the worst season winning percentage to ever start a World Series opener.
But the "lackluster pitcher," in his first World Series appearance, was up to the challenge, and he certainly had to be, because Cooper and reliever Blix Donnelly allowed the Browns only two hits. But one of those was a two-run homer by George McQuinn, and that was enough to give the Browns a 2-1 victory.
Galehouse allowed seven hits and one earned run while walking four and striking out five. Cooper pitched seven innings and allowed two hits, including McQuinn's fourth-inning homer, while walking three and fanning four. Donnelly, a 30-year-old rookie who had a 2.12 ERA in 27 games during the regular season, finished up with two perfect innings, striking out two.
After leaving four runners in scoring position, including two at third base, in the first eight innings, the Cardinals finally broke through in the bottom of the ninth to pull within 2-1. Marty Marion, who went 2-for-4 in the game, doubled leading off, his line shot to center going off the glove of a diving Mike Kreevich. He advanced to third on Augie Bergamo's ground out to second and scored on pinch hitter Ken O'Dea's towering sacrifice fly to Kreevich in deep center.
That brought up the top of the order and Johnny Hopp, and Galehouse got another fly out to Kreevich in center to seal the win.
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| George McQuinn's two-run homer in the fourth inning made the difference as the St. Louis Browns beat the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 in Game 1 of the 1944 World Series. McQuinn's homer was the Browns' second and last hit of the game. |
McQuinn's big fly with Gene Moore aboard, with two out in the fourth inning, had been the game's only scoring until the ninth.
McQuinn, a seven-time All-Star in a 12-year major league career that included a .278 batting average and 135 homers, was as likely a candidate as any for Browns' hitting heroes honors. He'd been second on the team in homers, behind Vern Stephens with 20, clubbing 11 round trippers to go with 72 RBIs and a .250 average in 1944. He'd hit 20 homers in 1938 and 18 in 1941.
But he'd also hit just .167 over his final 50 at-bats of the regular season. No matter. The left-handed hitter was ready and waiting on a low, outside fastball from Cooper and parked a 1-0 pitch over the right-field pavilion.
And that was it as far as any Browns offense. Cooper and Donnelly didn't allow a single runner into scoring position before or after McQuinn's homer. Moore's single before McQuinn came through was their only other hit.
Galehouse, meanwhile, kept fending off Cardinal advances.
With runners at first and third in the second, on a double down the third-base line by Marion and single by Emil Verban with two out, Galehouse got Cooper to strike out looking. Browns second baseman Don Gutteridge saved a run by snatching Verban's hit up the middle and holding Marion to third.
The Cardinals eked out another threat starting off the third when Hopp got a single barely past McQuinn at first and Ray Sanders sent a line single off the glove of the charging, leaping right fielder Moore. That brought up No. 3 hitter and Cardinals legend Stan Musial, who'd led the league in slugging average and was runner-up in batting average this year.
But rather than have him swing away with none out, Cardinals manager Billy Southworth had "The Man" bunt, and it was a beauty, as Musial almost beat it out and Galehouse could only go to first for the out as Hopp and Sanders advanced. But after an intentional walk to Walker Cooper (catcher and Mort's brother) that loaded the bases, and with Bob Muncrief warming up in the bullpen, Galehouse squeezed out of the jam with a strikeout of Whitey Kurowski on three pitches and Danny Litwhiler's fielder's choice grounder.
Galehouse settled down the next three innings, but in the seventh Bergano walked and took second on a ground out by Debs Garms, who pinch hit for Mort Cooper. Again, Galehouse bore down and left Bergano stranded on a fly out by Hopp and line out by Sanders.
Meanwhile, Mort Cooper had allowed no hits and two walks in his first three innings before the Browns' bats woke up, just enough to get them what they needed to win. Chet Laab sent Musial to the wall in right leading off for the first out of the fourth and Stephens popped out. But Moore then broke up the no-hitter by sneaking a single into right. And then the mighty McQuinn delivered.
Gutteridge made what Sewell called the “smartest play of the game” to help Galehouse avoid further trouble in the fifth. After Sanders walked with one out, Musial hit a pop fly back of Gutteridge. Rather can catch it, Gutteridge let it drop, went to shortstop Stephens for the force at second, and Stephens relayed to McQuinn for an inning-ending double play.
And so the Browns set a record for winning a Series game with the fewest hits -- two. And Cooper became the first Series pitcher to lose a two-hitter.
Galehouse, as he'd done in the regular season, finished strong. He threw 20 pitches in the ninth inning, and 17 were strikes. Of the Cardinals' seven hits, five had come in the first three innings.
Of the Cardinals' missed opportunities, their failure to cash in with runners at first and second, none out and Musial at the plate in the third loomed large in the postgame discussion. St. Louis Star-Times sports editor Sid Mercer, as quoted in an article for the Society for American Baseball Research's Games Project, was emphatic in his opinion.
After it was all over, and the fans walked slowly from the park, and the press box gathered to review the stunning defeat of the National League champions, one managerial flaw was noted in Southworth’s strategy," Mercer wrote. “Two on, none down, and the Cardinals’ leading batter at the plate. Would you play the old army game of bunting for a sacrifice, or call out some inside stuff like the hit-and-run or let Stan Musial swing with full power and no strings attached? Southworth played it safety-first for the bunt and the sacrifice, and with Musial the batter, it is repeated. “And this is the story of how two hits won over seven hits – how the Browns, baseball’s Cinderella ball club, captured the first game from their National League rivals.” The Browns, after dropping Game 2 in 11 innings, 3-2, regained the Series edge with a 6-2 Game 3 victory. The Cardinals' city superiority asserted itself over the next three games, however, as they regained the world title by winning 5-1, 2-0 and 3-1. Game 5 featured a rematch between Cooper and Galehouse, Cooper prevailing on the strength of solo homers by Sanders and Danny Litwhiler. Galehouse, with a six-hitter, allowed one fewer hit than he had in the opener. Cooper allowed seven hits, five more than in Game 1, but two fewer runs. Galehouse ended up with a 1-1 record with a 1.50 ERA in two completes games in the Series, which might serve as the highlight of a 15-year career in which he went 109-118, 3.97.
As in 1942, it had been a rather pedestrian season for him, 8-8 with a 4.00 ERA, like in 1944 fifth-most wins on the team. Galehouse had pitched just twice in the past three weeks, posting an 8.10 ERA in 6 2/3 innings of work.
Ace left-hander Mel Parnell had been the presumed starter, but according to an article by Gorden Edes at medium.com, McCarthy went with Galehouse because there was a strong wind blowing out to left field that day and into the "Green Monster" at Boston's Fenway Park, and he didn’t want to go with a lefty.
The decision blew up in McCarthy's face, as the Indians cuffed Galehouse for four runs in three innings on their way to an 8-3 victory. That earned them a trip to the Series for the first time since 1920 and also their first world title since that year. And 1948 stands as the last year the Indians won the Series.
“I thought of Denny Galehouse as nothing but a relief pitcher,’’ Red Sox catcher Matt Batt said. “When McCarthy picked him to start that game, the whole club was upset about it. The whole 25 ballplayers.’’
The playoff loss served as a death knell for Galehouse's career. He pitched only two innings in two games next year, and was out of the big leagues after being released.
But Galehouse certainly came up big as a big-time gamble on Oct. 4, 1944.
McQuinn, a seven-time All-Star in a 12-year major league career that included a .278 batting average and 135 homers, was as likely a candidate as any for Browns' hitting heroes honors. He'd been second on the team in homers, behind Vern Stephens with 20, clubbing 11 round trippers to go with 72 RBIs and a .250 average in 1944. He'd hit 20 homers in 1938 and 18 in 1941.
But he'd also hit just .167 over his final 50 at-bats of the regular season. No matter. The left-handed hitter was ready and waiting on a low, outside fastball from Cooper and parked a 1-0 pitch over the right-field pavilion.
And that was it as far as any Browns offense. Cooper and Donnelly didn't allow a single runner into scoring position before or after McQuinn's homer. Moore's single before McQuinn came through was their only other hit.
Galehouse, meanwhile, kept fending off Cardinal advances.
With runners at first and third in the second, on a double down the third-base line by Marion and single by Emil Verban with two out, Galehouse got Cooper to strike out looking. Browns second baseman Don Gutteridge saved a run by snatching Verban's hit up the middle and holding Marion to third.
The Cardinals eked out another threat starting off the third when Hopp got a single barely past McQuinn at first and Ray Sanders sent a line single off the glove of the charging, leaping right fielder Moore. That brought up No. 3 hitter and Cardinals legend Stan Musial, who'd led the league in slugging average and was runner-up in batting average this year.
But rather than have him swing away with none out, Cardinals manager Billy Southworth had "The Man" bunt, and it was a beauty, as Musial almost beat it out and Galehouse could only go to first for the out as Hopp and Sanders advanced. But after an intentional walk to Walker Cooper (catcher and Mort's brother) that loaded the bases, and with Bob Muncrief warming up in the bullpen, Galehouse squeezed out of the jam with a strikeout of Whitey Kurowski on three pitches and Danny Litwhiler's fielder's choice grounder.
Galehouse settled down the next three innings, but in the seventh Bergano walked and took second on a ground out by Debs Garms, who pinch hit for Mort Cooper. Again, Galehouse bore down and left Bergano stranded on a fly out by Hopp and line out by Sanders.
Meanwhile, Mort Cooper had allowed no hits and two walks in his first three innings before the Browns' bats woke up, just enough to get them what they needed to win. Chet Laab sent Musial to the wall in right leading off for the first out of the fourth and Stephens popped out. But Moore then broke up the no-hitter by sneaking a single into right. And then the mighty McQuinn delivered.
Gutteridge made what Sewell called the “smartest play of the game” to help Galehouse avoid further trouble in the fifth. After Sanders walked with one out, Musial hit a pop fly back of Gutteridge. Rather can catch it, Gutteridge let it drop, went to shortstop Stephens for the force at second, and Stephens relayed to McQuinn for an inning-ending double play.
And so the Browns set a record for winning a Series game with the fewest hits -- two. And Cooper became the first Series pitcher to lose a two-hitter.
Galehouse, as he'd done in the regular season, finished strong. He threw 20 pitches in the ninth inning, and 17 were strikes. Of the Cardinals' seven hits, five had come in the first three innings.
Of the Cardinals' missed opportunities, their failure to cash in with runners at first and second, none out and Musial at the plate in the third loomed large in the postgame discussion. St. Louis Star-Times sports editor Sid Mercer, as quoted in an article for the Society for American Baseball Research's Games Project, was emphatic in his opinion.
After it was all over, and the fans walked slowly from the park, and the press box gathered to review the stunning defeat of the National League champions, one managerial flaw was noted in Southworth’s strategy," Mercer wrote. “Two on, none down, and the Cardinals’ leading batter at the plate. Would you play the old army game of bunting for a sacrifice, or call out some inside stuff like the hit-and-run or let Stan Musial swing with full power and no strings attached? Southworth played it safety-first for the bunt and the sacrifice, and with Musial the batter, it is repeated. “And this is the story of how two hits won over seven hits – how the Browns, baseball’s Cinderella ball club, captured the first game from their National League rivals.” The Browns, after dropping Game 2 in 11 innings, 3-2, regained the Series edge with a 6-2 Game 3 victory. The Cardinals' city superiority asserted itself over the next three games, however, as they regained the world title by winning 5-1, 2-0 and 3-1. Game 5 featured a rematch between Cooper and Galehouse, Cooper prevailing on the strength of solo homers by Sanders and Danny Litwhiler. Galehouse, with a six-hitter, allowed one fewer hit than he had in the opener. Cooper allowed seven hits, five more than in Game 1, but two fewer runs. Galehouse ended up with a 1-1 record with a 1.50 ERA in two completes games in the Series, which might serve as the highlight of a 15-year career in which he went 109-118, 3.97.
This one backfired
Galehouse wasn't through being called upon as an unexpected starter in a key postseason game. When the Boston Red Sox tied the Cleveland Indians for the 1948 AL pennant, bringing on a one-game winner-take-all tiebreaker playoff, BoSox manager Joe McCarthy called on Galehouse to start the game Oct 5.As in 1942, it had been a rather pedestrian season for him, 8-8 with a 4.00 ERA, like in 1944 fifth-most wins on the team. Galehouse had pitched just twice in the past three weeks, posting an 8.10 ERA in 6 2/3 innings of work.
Ace left-hander Mel Parnell had been the presumed starter, but according to an article by Gorden Edes at medium.com, McCarthy went with Galehouse because there was a strong wind blowing out to left field that day and into the "Green Monster" at Boston's Fenway Park, and he didn’t want to go with a lefty.
The decision blew up in McCarthy's face, as the Indians cuffed Galehouse for four runs in three innings on their way to an 8-3 victory. That earned them a trip to the Series for the first time since 1920 and also their first world title since that year. And 1948 stands as the last year the Indians won the Series.
“I thought of Denny Galehouse as nothing but a relief pitcher,’’ Red Sox catcher Matt Batt said. “When McCarthy picked him to start that game, the whole club was upset about it. The whole 25 ballplayers.’’
The playoff loss served as a death knell for Galehouse's career. He pitched only two innings in two games next year, and was out of the big leagues after being released.
But Galehouse certainly came up big as a big-time gamble on Oct. 4, 1944.
Sources:
1944 World Series Game 1 play-by-play: https://www.retrosheet.org/Additional background came from various sources on the Retrosheet and Society for American Baseball Research's Biography Project and Games Project websites, as well as baseballreference.com.
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