0 HR Guys
Plus Day In Review, May 27, 1949
0 HR Guys
I’ll walk us through the game first.
The Cardinals walloped the Pirates 18-2. This was one of the most lopsided games I’ve ever played, including an incredible 12 run 3rd inning for St. Louis.
I took the entire St. Louis team out at the top of the 4th inning, and they still kept on scoring. Kirby Higbe’s ERA is outpacing inflation. Plus, if you listen really closely in the dark of the night, you can hear Cardinals batters taking ball four.
The highlight was clearly this grand slam by Nippy Jones:
It was a doozy for sure.
Howie Pollet
But that’s not why I’m writing this.
Howie Pollet, the St. Louis pitcher, managed to pull this off:
This was but a small part of Pollet’s incredible 4 for 5 performance, with 2 runs scored and 2 driven in.
But the crazy thing is that Pollet never hit a home run in 1949.
He never hit a home run in 1950, either. Or 1948.
In fact, he never hit a major league home run. He also never homered in the minor leagues.
I haven’t checked, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he never homered in high school or American Legion ball, either.
But he was still able to homer in this replay.
Others
Howie’s not alone.
Tommy Byrne managed to do this earlier in the season:
Byrne also never homered in 1949:
And guess what? Byrne managed to do it again!
Then there’s Ralph Branca:
Yep, you guessed it: a big goose egg in real life.
Well, it turns out that Branca and Byrne have something in common:
Doesn’t this feel odd to you?
Now, I’m pretty sure that there are other examples. I haven’t checked every single player who has homered to make sure that they also had one in real life.
But isn’t this a bit odd? I mean, we’re not even to June yet - and two of these guys have homered twice already? What’s going on?
Other Action
Red Sox 15, Senators 2: At Boston, both Ted Williams and Vern Stephens hit 3 run home runs in this one, as the Red Sox dominate the Senators. Watch the game here.
Indians 9, White Sox 6: At Cleveland, the Indians overcome an early 6-2 White Sox lead, overpowering Chicago’s awful bullpen in the late innings for the victory. Watch the game here.
Tigers 3, Browns 2: At Detroit, the Tigers overcome an early 2-0 Browns lead to win a thriller in the bottom of the 9th. Hal Newhouser strikes out 10 Browns. Read the summary here.
Athletics 4, Yankees 3: At New York, the Athletics rally late to ensure that the American League pennant race stays very competitive. Watch the game here. Read the summary here.
Braves 14, Dodgers 11: At Brooklyn, the Braves hammer the Dodgers. The highlight was Elbie Fletcher’s 6th inning grand slam:
Brooklyn scores 7 in the bottom of the 9th to make it look close. Brooklyn continues to falter, and has now lost 6 in a row.
Reds 7, Cubs 3: At Chicago, the Reds pummel the hapless Cubs.
Giants 8, Phillies 4: At Philadelphia, the Giants led all the way, scoring 3 in the top of the 1st and never looking back Watch the game here.
Cardinals 18, Pirates 2: At St. Louis, see above.
Standings
The Pirates still have a good won-loss record, but it seems that they’re coming back down to earth. And all of those people who tell me that the Dodgers are going to come roaring back ought to be sweating right about now.
The American League, meanwhile, is tons of fun. The Yankees and Red Sox provide the offensive thrills, but I’m not sure they have enough to overcome Cleveland’s superior pitching.