1945 World Series

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Yank MacPhail helps Bruins whip Tigers

Sale of Borowy does the trick
By Joe Williams

DETROIT – There is practically no limit to the gay genius of Larry MacPhail.

By the simple whimsical act of selling one ball player, he not only decided the race in the National League this year, but it looks as if he settled the World Series as well.

The ball player is, of course, Henry “Dead Pan” Borowy, who came off the Fordham campus to pitch for the Yankees. MacPhail sold him to the Chicago Cubs in midsummer for $75,000 and three inexpensive throw-ins yet to be delivered for minor league use.

It seemed Borowy couldn’t last nine innings come the hot days of July. Thus the transfer was airily explained.

Joining the Cubs, Borowy proceeded to finish almost every game he started. He wound up with a 11-2 record and was the most potent influence on the Cub’s flag success.

Borowy gets credit

“We couldn’t have won without him,” admits Manager Charlie Grimm.

Borowy was the logical choice to start the World Series against the Detroit Tigers yesterday. He started, finished and won 9-0, dominating a result which, for one-sidedness, has no equal in the history of series openers.

Every game in a World Series is important. The opener takes on added importance because it has tonic implications. To get off in front is to experience a psychological lift. But this was an opener that was extraordinarily important, for it brought the ace pitchers of the two rivals together.

The Cubs had to win behind Borowy to have a chance. And the same was true of the Tigers with their Hal Newhouser. These were the two high cards, the aces; which would rake in the winning chips, and put his club in a commanding position?

Blows game in first

It proved to be Borowy and by so far it wasn’t even a contest. Newhouser failed to survive the third inning. Actually he blew the game in the first inning and it was significant that he yielded the crusher, the please-omit-flowers triple, to Bill Nicholson, a lefthanded hitter.

Most of the Cubs’ power is on the left side of the plate. Newhouser is a lefthanded pitcher. Theoretically, this should give him an advantage in facing lefthanded hitters. It didn’t work out that way.

Newhouser was able to handle only Stan Hack, the third baseman. Nicholson and Phil Cavarretta, the two other lefthanders, found him no puzzle. It naturally followed the righthanders wouldn’t find him too great a puzzle, either. They didn’t.

Tigers play poorly

The Tigers not only looked like a bad ball club in the opener, but, to confirm it, played bad baseball. There was the time for example when their Eddie Mayo tried to go from first to third on Greenberg’s single in the fifth and was an easy out. Only one was down and at this stage the Tigers trailed by seven runs… count ‘em… seven.

Their only chance, if chance it may be called, came in the first inning when they filled the bases on Borowy’s wildness.

Eight consecutive called bails to Greenberg and Cullenbine helped pack the sacks with two down. Was Borowy going to falter as Newhouser had in his first inning?

York fails to wait

It was plain the Cubs were alarmed. Manager Grimm called for time. Presently play was resumed with York at bat, facing a pitcher, mind you, who hasn’t been able to get a strike over in eight consecutive tries.

Does York make him work, wait him out? York hits an early pitch, pops out, and three Tigers are stranded behind a 4-0 deficit.

And so Borowy goes all the way to register a shutout, to win so handily he must be an odds-on favorite to win his second start, and his third, if one becomes necessary.

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The Village Smithy

By Chester L. Smith, sports editor

DETROIT – Evaluating today’s second World Series game in the light of what occurred yesterday prompts only one surmise: Unless the Tigers get pitching that is slightly superior to superlative the rest of the way, they are in for the locking of a lifetime.

The first opportunity to compare the Cubs with the American League Champions was so complimentary to Cholly Grimm’s men as to be almost unbelievable.

The Cubs were the better hitters – against the best pitcher in the junior circuit – Hal Newhouser, who had won 25 games, after turning in a cool 29 last year. All year long, Newhouser had been bated out only twice, but the Bruins gave him the base hit hotfoot with the same speed they might have dispatched a gun-shy rookie.

The Cubs, defensively, were so much more sure of themselves, and yet daring, with it all that the great crowd sensed it early. It is not often that the hometown mob sends up derisive cheers for its favorites when an early fly ball is caught or an ordinary grounder is turned into a putout. Yet this the Detroiters did after a few innings.

Cubs show speed, spunk

The Cubs showed speed and spunk and fight. In the vernacular they were taking “nothing from nobody.” They threw their spikes high as they went into the bases and as early as the third inning. Hank Borowy knocked Greenberg’s cap off with a high, inside pitch that must have been calculated to upset the Bengals’ cleanup hitter.

Mr. G. got up, wearing an injured look and a spot of mud on his shoulder where he had made a one-point landing, and not a Cub so much as favored him with a second look as he trotted to first base it was in that motif that the game was played.

The Cubs were always good, not infrequently spectacular Don Johnson practically broke up the fame in both halves of the first inning. First off, he stole second, a move which seemed to throw the Tigers off balance.

And then, when the home side opened its counteroffensive with singles by Skeeter Webb and Eddie Mayo, he was the middleman in a double play on Doc Cramer, with a throw to Phil Cavarretta while still high in the air and tearing to his right that was worthy of the tradition of all the great second basemen who have come and gone.

Tigers were hexed

From that point down to the end, the Bruins smashed one threat after another, until the poor Detroits must have thought they were hexed.

Cavarretta made a headlong dive to his left in the third to smother an almost certain two-bagger by Webb.

And the climax came in the fifth, a throw from centerfield to third by Andy Pafko that many old hands are claiming must be set out among the gems of all World Series play.

Mayo had started the inning with a hit. After Cramer was removed on a fly, Greenberg lined a single to right-center. Pafko had to take it on the first hop while running at full speed toward right, and Mayo, believing it would be impossible for the little patrolman to wheel in time to cut him off. turned second and headed for third base. That’s where he made the mistake of his life, for Pafko did turn and he did throw – a strike that reached Stanley Hack a split second too soon for Mayo’s safety.

The Cubs gave their opponents no relief at any moment. Rudy York found this out in the sixth when he hit a 360-foot drive to left-center and could get no farther than first because Peanuts Lowrey had the ball winging toward second to quickly. If there was ever a longer single, no one here can recall it.

Two passed balls

By contrast, the Tigers were shaky, easily thrown into tantrums and sluggish.

Catcher Paul Richards had two passed balls, and Detroit’s outfield was so slow that you would have thought they were running with leg-cuffs. This latter fault was not an optical illusion, as your agent was careful to check with such as Bill McKechnie, Frankie Frisch and a few more who know their way around.

Is there an outfield in the National League that can run so long in the same spot? they were asked. All shook their heads. They thought not.

Roy Cullenbine allowed Bill Nicholson’s long but not uncatchable smash to drop over his shoulder for a triple, and failed to catch a foul ball hit not far over the line that should have been easy prey.

Johnson’s two-bagger in the third bore no resemblance to a hit but it was because Cramer appeared to have neglected to weigh anchor before setting sail.

Newhouser temperament

Newhouser, who intersperses his streaks of genius with unaccountable displays of temperament, fell in line with the general pattern by losing his calm in the first inning after his catcher had allowed a reasonably accurate pitch to escape him, while a run came pattering in.

Borowy, it must be recorded, pitched what was without doubt the worst shutout ever witnessed in a World Series.

It wasn’t so much that he walked five batters, and gave six hits, which sounds not too sloppy, but rather how near he came to passing a half dozen more and how frequently he was rescued by his defense. There was hardly a Detroit hitter who wasn’t able to run the count to two and two, and for the most of the distance, Handy Hank was hanging on by his fingernails.

But the man bears a charmed existence when he faces the Tigers. This was the 12th time in 15 starts he has whipped them in a dual role as an American and National League pitcher.

Borowy will be back later, perhaps for the fourth game in Chicago Saturday, but it hardly is important at this juncture. Unless the Tigers can do an about face, Grimm could pitch and the result wouldn’t be much different.

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Game 3

Friday, October 5, 1945, 1:30 p.m. CT
Briggs Stadium, Detroit

Broadcast (MBS):

Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago Cubs (2-1) 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 8 0
Detroit Tigers (1-2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
CHICAGO CUBS (NL):
Hitters AB R H PO A E AVG
Hack, 3B 5 0 2 1 1 0 .462
Johnson, 2B 5 0 0 1 1 0 .154
Lowrey, LF 4 1 2 4 0 0 .333
Cavarretta, 1B 2 0 1 10 1 0 .500
Pafko, CF 2 1 0 3 0 0 .300
Nicholson, RF 4 0 1 3 0 0 .364
Livingston, C 4 1 1 3 0 0 .375
Hughes, SS 3 0 1 1 4 0 .111
Passeau, P 4 0 0 1 2 0 .000
Totals 33 3 8 27 9 0 .242
Batting
2B P. Lowrey (1, off Overmire); M. Livingston (1, off Benton); S. Hack (2, off Benton)
SH P. Cavarretta (1, off Overmire); R. Hughes (1, off Benton); A. Pafko (1, off Benton)
TB S. Hack 3; P. Lowrey 3; M. Livingston 2; P. Cavarretta; R. Hughes; B. Nicholson
RBI C. Passeau (1); B. Nicholson (5); R. Hughes (1)
2-Out RBI R. Hughes
With RISP 2 for 11
Team LOB 8
Fielding
DP 1. Johnston-Cavarretta
Base Running
CS S. Hack (1, 2nd base by Benton/Richards)
DETROIT TIGERS (AL):
Hitters AB R H PO A E AVG
Webb, SS 3 0 0 2 3 1 .273
McHale, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Mayo, 2B 3 0 0 2 1 1 .200
Cramer, CF 3 0 0 4 0 0 .300
Greenberg, LF 3 0 0 1 0 0 .250
Cullenbine, RF 3 0 0 1 0 0 .000
York, 1B 3 0 1 12 0 0 .200
Outlaw, 3B 3 0 0 0 3 0 .182
Swift, C 1 0 0 2 0 0 .000
Borom, PR 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Richards, C 1 0 0 3 1 0 .000
Overmire, P 1 0 0 0 1 0 .000
Walker, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Benton, P 0 0 0 0 3 0
Hostetler, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 27 0 1 27 12 2 .037
Batting
TB R. York
GIDP H. Walker (1)
With RISP 0 for 0
Team LOB 1
Fielding
E E. Mayo (1); S. Webb (1)

Chicago Cubs

Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Passeau, W (1-0) 9 1 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
Team Totals 9 1 0 0 1 1 0 0.00

Detroit Tigers

Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Overmire, L (0-1) 6 4 2 2 2 2 0 3.00
Erickson 3 4 1 1 0 3 0 2.08
Team Totals 9 8 3 3 2 5 0 3.00

Balks: None
WP: None
HBP: None
IBB: None
Pickoffs: None
Umpires: HP - Passarella, 1B - Conlan, 2B - Summers, 3B - Jorda
Time: 1:55
Attendance: 55,500

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The Pittsburgh Press (October 5, 1945)

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CUBS WIN 3-0, LEAD SERIES 2-1
Passeau gives ‘mighty’ Tigers only one hit

Teams move tomorrow to Chicago

DETROIT – Behind the brilliant one-hit pitching of the veteran Claude Passeau, Chicago’s Cubs defeated the Detroit Tigers by 3-0 in the third game of the 1945 World Series at Briggs Stadium this afternoon.

The victory gave the Cubs a lead of two games to one over the American Leaguers. Series play moves to Wrigley Field in Chicago tomorrow.

The lone Tiger hit off Passeau came in the second inning when Rudy York, Tiger first sacker, dropped a single into left field. The heady Cub twirler was never in difficulty and not a Tiger baserunner got as far as second.

Mist over field

A mist that followed this morning’s cold, light rain, was so heavy that in the early innings fielders found it difficult to follow high fly balls.

Neither team got a man past second base in the first three innings as Passeau and Overmire gave up only one hit apiece.

The Cubs put two men on the paths in the opening frame when Lowrey singled and Cavarretta walked, but Pafko forced Cavarretta for the final out.

Lowrey’s second straight hit, a double against the left field screen, paved the way for two Cub runs in the fourth. He went to third on Cavarretta’s sacrifice.

Pafko drew a walk, and Nicholson’s looping single behind short sent Lowrey across, Pafko stopping at second.

Cubs tally again

After Livingston flied out to center, Hughes singled to score Pafko. Passeau struck out for the second time in the game to end the inning.

Overmire was taken out for pinch-hitter in the sixth and the Cubs got to his successor, Al Benton, for another run in the seventh.

Livingston greeted Benton’s entrance with a double off the right field wall. He went to third as Hughes laid down a sacrifice along the third base line.

Passeau flied to Cramer and Livingston scored after the catch. Hack then doubled along the left field foul line and Johnson was safe when Mayo tumbled his grounder for the first error of the series.

Both runners were left stranded as Lowrey grounded to the box.

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RAIN FAILS TO HALT WORLD SERIES
Overmire and Passeau go to mound

Stadium slow in filling up

DETROIT (UP) – Stubby Overmire, the Tigers’ chunky lefthander, and Claude Passeau, Cubs’ righthander, were the opposing pitchers as Detroit and Chicago met in the third game of the World Series today, all even at one victory each.

There was doubt until a half hour before the game started that it would be played because of a two-hour rain.

But after inspecting the diamond with the umpires, Baseball Commissioner A. B. “Happy” Chandler, who had been attending a political luncheon while the players and fans wondered what his ruling would be, decided to start the game on schedule.

Skip batting practice

Because the infield had to be covered with a huge tarpaulin, both clubs skipped batting practice but went through a snappy infield workout.

Although there were some soggy spots around home plate, the infield was in good shape. The outfield was slippery.

There was a heavy mist over Briggs Stadium at the cry of “play ball.”

The rain, which began about 10 a.m., stopped shortly after noon.

The Tigers and Cubs are scheduled to leave at 5:30 p.m. for Chicago, where the remaining games of the best four-out-of-seven series will be played starting tomorrow.

O’Neill gambles again

Overmire won nine for the Tigers while Passeau scored 17 triumphs for Manager Charley Grimm’s Cubs. Having more good on a big gamble yesterday when he sent Virgil Trucks to the firing line. Tiger Manager Steve O’Neill decided to take a chance with the little portsider in the hope that he would put the Tigers one up.

By using Overmire today, O’Neill planned to pitch Dizzy Trout in the first Chicago game and follow him with Hal Newhouser, who lost the first game, 9-0, to Hank Borowy.

Trucks, who yielded only seven hits in beating Hank Wyse 4-1 yesterday, will go again in the sixth game, if one is necessary.

Fans hold back

The park was slow in filling because of the rain. An hour and a half before game time the 10,400 general admission bleachers seats were only two-third full. The fans in the bleachers were using newspapers and umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain.

O’Neill decided to use Overmire because the Cubs have most of their power on the left side of the plate.

O’Neill figured that if he could find a pitcher to stop Stan Hack, Phil Cavarretta and Bull Nicholson, the Cubs’ power hitting lefties, he could still the thunder in the Cub bats as Trucks throttled them yesterday.

It was a long shot because Overmire was one of his second line pitchers during the hectic season in which the tired Tigers won the pennant on the final day.

Wears No. 1

Passeau, who insists on wearing No. 13, figured to give the Tigers plenty of trouble, despite some calcified bone in his right elbow, a condition which almost kept him off the mound this season.

Claude is a pitching master of the old school when it comes to control and is not likely to groove one as Indian Hank Wyse did yesterday to Hank Greenberg.

For Greenberg’s booming bat and Trucks’ pitching put Detroit back in the race just when gloom was settling over jampacked Briggs Stadium. Greenberg hit the home run which gave the Tigers the game just like he hit the ball that won the American League pennant, last Sunday.

Ex-servicemen star

That was the combination which carried the Bengals back into the thick of the fray – two servicemen home from the wars. Greenberg rejoined the Tigers July 1 after serving as an Air Force captain.

And Trucks for two years was a bell-bottomed trouser guy who had reached his peak two years ago by winning 16 games for these same Tigers before joining the Navy.

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Play-by-play: Chicago wins, leads series

First error made by Eddie Mayo

DETROIT (UP) – Play-by-play of the third game of the World Series follows:

FIRST INNING

CUBS – Hack lined to Greenberg. Johnson grounded out. Outlaw to York. Lowrey singled to left. Cavarretta walked. Pafko forced Cavarretta. Webb to Mayo. No runs, one hit, no errors, two left.

TIGERS – Webb grounded out. Hughes to Cavarretta. Mayo grounded out. Hack to Cavarretta. Cramer flied to Pafko. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

SECOND INNING

CUBS – Nicholson grounded out. Mayo to York. Livingston flied to Cullenbine. The mist was so heavy it was difficult to follow high fly balls. Hughes grounded out. Webb to York. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

TIGERS – Greenberg struck out. Cullenbine flied to Lowrey. York singled to left. Outlaw fled to Pafko. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.

THIRD INNING

CUBS – Passeau struck out. Hack grounded out. Webb to York. Johnson fouled to York. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

TIGERS – Swift popped to Livingston. Overmire grounded out. Passeau to Cavarretta. Webb grounded out. Passeau to Cavarretta. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

FOURTH INNING

CUBS – Lowry doubled against the screen in left field. Cavarretta sacrificed. Overmire to York. Lowrey going to third. Pafko walked. Nicholson dropped a Texas League single just out of Webb’s reach. Lowrey scoring and Pafko stopping at second. Livingston flied to Cramer. Hughes singled to right. Pafko scoring and Nicholson stopping at second. Passeau struck out. Two runs, three hits, no errors, two left.

TIGERS – Mayo grounded out. Cavarretta to Passeau, who covered first. Cramer fled to Lowrey. Greenberg flied to Lowrey. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

FIFTH INNING

CUBS – Hack flied to Cramer. Johnson also fled to Cramer. Lowrey popped to Webb. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

TIGERS – A light rain started falling as Cullenbine grounded out. Cavarretta unassisted. York grounded out. Hughes to Cavarretta. Outlaw lined to Hughes. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

SIXTH INNING

CUBS – Cavarretta grounded out to York unassisted. Pafko grounded out. Outlaw to York. Nicholson grounded out. York unassisted. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

TIGERS – Swift walked. Borom ran for Swift. Walker batted for Overmire and hit into a double play. Johnson to Cavaretta. Webb flied to Nicholson. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

SEVENTH INNING

CUBS – Benton went in to pitch and Richards to catch for Detroit. Livingston led off the right field wall. Hughes sacrificed. Outlaw to Mayo, who covered first. Livingston going to third. Passeau flied to Cramer. Livingston scoring after the catch. Hack doubled down to left. Johnson was safe at first and Hack took third when Mayo fumbled his grounder for the first error of the series. Lowrey grounded out. Benton to York. One run, two hits, one error, two left.

TIGERS – Mayo grounded out. Hughes to Cavarretta. Cramer flied to Nicholson. Greenberg flied to Lowrey. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

EIGHTH INNING

CUBS – Cavarretta singled to right. Pafko sacrificed. Benton to York. Cavarretta going to second. Nicholson struck out. Livingston popped to Webb. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.

TIGERS – Cullenbine flied to Nicholson. York flied to Pafko. Outlaw popped to Hack. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

NINTH INNING

CUBS – Hughes grounded out. Benton to York. Passeau struck out. Hack beat out a high bounder to Benton for a hit. Hack was safe in an attempt to steal second when Webb dropped Richards’ throw for an error. Johnson struck out. No runs, one hit, one error, one left.

TIGERS – Richards fouled to Cavarretta. Hostetler batted for Benton. Hostetler grounded out. Hughes to Cavarretta. McHale batted for Webb. McHale fouled out to Livingston. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

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Sport fans get wounded vets into series game

DETROIT (UP) – About 900 wounded veterans from Percy Jones Hospital will see the World Series game today, thanks to the generosity of sports fans.

No seats had been set aside for the veterans. But when his situation became known, Nate Shapero, Detroit sportsman, got busy with radio appeals, telephone calls and newspaper stories. Within a short time, hundreds of offers of tickers were made.

One of the first to respond was Mrs. A. B. Chandler, wife of the baseball commissioner. She said she would give her ticket and those of her two daughters to three wounded G.I.’s.

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‘Army’ and ‘Navy’ team up to even series for Detroit

Greenberg and Trucks lead the way as Detroit ‘general’ does some gambling
By Joe Williams

DETROIT – You can’t beat the Army and the Navy. Ask the powerless Axis Powers. Or the Cubs. Especially the Cubs. They have the fresher wounds.

It was Army-Navy teamwork of the sort Gen. Eisenhower talked about throughout the war that wrought the defeat of the Cubs and evened the series for the Tigers yesterday.

And this was done by the use of weapons no more lethal than a bat and a ball. Virgil Trucks, Navy, held the Cubs while Henry Greenberg, Army, kicked them. Perhaps this wasn’t very nice but they do say all is fair in love and in the World Series.

In any event, the Cubs were forced to retreat to previously prepared positions and now the series once more is up for grabs.

Tribute to O’Neill

It was a remarkable tribute to Steve O’Neill, the Tiger’s chunky boss, that he was able to reorganize his forces, rebuild their morale, sell them a pep and fight talk, and send them out in a resolute mood for the second game. This he managed to do, and, thanks to Trucks’ pitching and Greenberg’s hitting, the returns were more than satisfactory.

In one respect Trucks’ performance was unique. After 19 months in the Navy, he rejoined the Tigers a week ago, or just in time to see action against the St. Louis Browns on the final day. This was a game the Tigers needed to clinch the American League pennant by the way.

Trucks wasn’t able to finish. O’Neill took him out after 5⅓ innings during which he gave up three hits.

Keeps ball low

Trucks had pitching stuff but lacked stamina. Eventually, the Tigers won the game and the pennant, on a homer and you know whose homer it was. It had to be Greenberg’s, of course.

Trucks kept the ball low yesterday, which is the way to pitch to the Cubs. They are shoulder hitters. He might have had a shutout if Doc Cramer, the Tigers’ centerfielder, hadn’t played a single into a double in the NL champs’ only scoring inning.

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The Village Smithy

By Chester L. Smith, sports editor

DETROIT – This World Series was coming into better focus as it rolled into the third game today.

After the Cubs’ knockout victory in the opener, everyone was groping for some clue that would indicate that the Tigers belonged on the same field. This was not easy, for Detroit’s strongest pitcher, Hal Newhouser, had been roundly whipped, and the National Leaguers had shown so much more speed and defensive ability that all comparisons seemed futile.

Yesterday, however, the Tigers showed what they must do if they are to win (which still seems improbable) or at least make a fight out of it.

First, they will have to have the kind of pitching they got yesterday from Virgil Trucks, the Irish-Indian fresh out of the Navy.

Secondly, they stand desperately in need of the long hit at the opportune moment. This, in yesterday’s 4-1 decision that squared the series, was represented by Hank Greenberg’s stout home run off Henry Wyse.

It is unlikely that Stolid Stephen O’Neill’s club will be able to collect a lot of runs with singles, doubles, stolen bases, opponents’ errors and the like contributing. For one thing, they aren’t fast enough to be sure of catching the extra lift that comes from a runner getting from first to third on a single; for another, they have too many dead spots in their lineup; thirdly, the Cub defense is so sharp it allows no opponent to take any chances.

Two men beat Cubs

The Tigers have yet to steal a base or advance on any hit except one that is perfectly legitimate. They got their four runs yesterday on two rousing blows, a base on balls and Greenberg’s explosive smash. Both before and after the fifth inning, in which all this took place, they were something less than keen.

You might say that two men – Trucks and Greenberg – defeated the Cubs. As yet the Tigers have not displayed the co-ordination as a team that is so evident in their rivals, but the hopes that were still simmering on the back of the stove for the American League entry were centered in just such a performance again today – and tomorrow – and the next. If Trucks can repeat – if there are more home runs in Greenberg’s bat – or Rudy York’s – or Roy Cullenbine’s – well, then maybe the Bengals can do it.

Trucks had to be seen to be appreciated. He was blazing fast – “had as much as Feller ever did,” one Cub said afterward – but more important was his control. He would steam his first pitch down the middle for a strike, come back with another of the same, and more often than not he then had the batter on his heels.

It was a rough boat ride the ex-sailor, who came back to put on a Tiger uniform less than a week ago, gave Cholly Grimm’s landlubbers.

Tiger lapses noticeable

He might have had a shutout had it not been for another of those lapses in the Detroit defense which are so noticeable. Phil Cavarretta hit an ordinary single to center field in the fourth, or at least that was what Doc Cramer, who is posted in that area, thought about it. Cramer saw Cavarretta haul around first base, stop and eye the situation. Old Doc thought he knew a one baser when he saw one and took his own good time about throwing to second, but when Cavarretta saw it, he bolted for the bag.

That’s where he was when Bill Nicholson’s single fell behind second after a moment. It cost Trucks a run and put the Cubs out front.

Trucks didn’t need much of a helping hand from Lady Luck, but he did get a life in the seventh inning, precisely when it was appreciated most.

The base on balls he passed out to Roy Hughes in that round did him no harm for there were two out and he retired Pinch-hitter Frank Secory, but he looked to be tiring. The swifter he had been crashing into Paul Richards’ glove wasn’t quite what it had been. What he wanted more than anything else at this point was a rest.

Cubs help Trucks

The Cubs gave him a long breathing spell by sending Paul Erickson to the mound. The big blond was wild, working the count to three and two on no fewer than three of the five Detroit batters who came to the plate, giving up two singles and walking one man.

Although there was no score for Detroit, the long inning was worth even more to the home cause, for Trucks was himself again when he came out for the eighth. His control was not what it had been, but he had retrieved his fast ball. He was a powerhouse when he struck out Heinz Becker to end the game.

Andy Pafko is still the bird dog of the series. The little man in centerfield made an impossible catch of a 460-foot drive by York yesterday, and turned a two-bagger by Cramer into a single by rocketing the ball back into the infield so fast that few of the crowd sensed what a hit it was.

The Tigers fielding continued a study in inertia. Two of Stan Hack’s three hits were the kind of plays you might expect when the married men meet the single men behind the jelly factory for a keg of beer.

The aging third baseman beat out a tap to Skeeter Webb that Happy Chandler would have thrown in time for the putout, while later he got on again when York and Trucks got all balled up trying to decide in committee which one would field the ball and which would cover first.

It is these oversights on the part of Mr. O’Neill’s men that, as they pile up, heighten the suspicion that if the likes of Greenberg and Trucks can keep the series alive, the Cubs will still be able to run and throw their way to the championship.

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Tobin warms up in tavern bout for series scrap

DETROIT (UP) – Jim Tobin, Tiger pitcher, was involved in a tavern fight in Detroit early Tuesday morning, police records revealed today.

Tobin was slugged on the head with a beer bottle, knocked down and kicked, but escaped without serious injury, a police report said.

Tobin declined to give authorities the names of his assailants and said he would not prosecute.

The owner of the tavern said Tobin got into an argument with several men in the bar. They waited for him outside and caught him as he left, about 36 hours before he made an appearance on the mound in the first World Series game.

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Games in Chicago to start at 1:30

CHICAGO (UP) – Even though Chicago is in the Central Time zone, the World Series games will start at 1:30 p.m. EST when the Cubs and Tigers move their play here tomorrow.

Chicago, by a city ordinance, has daylight saving time until October 28, and therefore the city did not set its clocks back with the rest of the nation upon the end of war time.

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Game 4

Saturday, October 6, 1945, 1:40 p.m. ET
Wrigley Field, Chicago

Broadcast (MBS):

33

The Pittsburgh Press (October 6, 1945)

ws1945

Cubs, Tigers scoreless in two innings

Start of 4th game delayed by rain

Score by innings

1 2
Detroit Tigers 0 0
Chicago Cubs 0 0

Fourth game lineups

Detroit Tigers Chicago Cubs
Webb, ss Hack, 3b
Mayo, 2b Johnson, 2b
Cramer, cf Lowrey, lf
Greenberg, lf Cavarretta, 1b
Cullenbine, rf Pafko, cf
York, 1b Nicholson, rf
Outlaw, 3b Livingston, c
Richards, c Hughes, ss
Trout, p Prim, p

UMPIRES: Conlan (NL), plate; Summers (AL), 1b; Jorda (NL), 2b; Passarella (AL), 3b.

CHICAGO (UP) – Chicago’s Cubs and Detroit’s Tigers played scoreless ball in the first two innings of the fourth game of the 1945 World Series at Wrigley Field this afternoon.

Both teams were retired in order in the first two frames.

A hard rain, 30 minutes before the teams were to take the field, threatened to force a postponement of the first game here.

However, play started after an eight-minute delay for workmen to restore the field to playing condition.

Ray Prim, 39-year-old southpaw, who won 13 games for the Cubs in the regular season, was Manager Charlie Grimm’s pitching selection. He was opposed by Paul “Dizzy” Trout, a righthander, who won 17 regular games for the Tigers.

ws1945

CUBS SEND PRIM AGAINST TIGERS
Dizzy Trout goes to mound for Detroit

Batting drills halted by rain

CHICAGO (UP) – Threatening weather, which almost caused the postponement of the fame at Briggs stadium yesterday, greeted the Chicago Cubs and Detroit Tigers as they came to Wrigley Field today for the fourth game of the World Series.

A light rain fell an hour before game time and the weather forecast called for occasional showers.

The diamond, however, was in good shape. Both clubs were forced to forego batting drills, but they were in front of their dugouts limbering up.

Prim vs. Trout

Holding a two-to-one edge in the three games played in Detroit, Manager Charlie Grimm sent his 38-year-old southpaw, Ray Prim, who won 12 while losing eight this season, against the Tigers in the fourth game.

Manager Steve O’Neill countered with his workhorse righthander, Paul “Dizzy” Trout, who won 18 while losing 14 as Detroit won the American League pennant.

With tickets sold out a week ago, scalpers asked as much as $100 for seats. The crowd was estimated at 45,000.

Cubs cheered

This town was really going big for its first World Series in seven years and the bleachers pyramiding up into center field were jammed three hours before game time.

The bleachers erupted in a welcoming roar when the Cubs, in their special white World Series uniforms, first appeared on the field. The grandstand, with all seats reserved, was slow in filling.

O’Neill said he would pitch Hal Newhouser in tomorrow’s game while Grimm will come back with Hank Borowy, who won the opener from the Tigers’ star lefthander.

Crowd seeks shelter

As the ground crew removed the tarpaulin from the infield, the rain which had stopped for a time, fell heavily and that portion of the crowd which could find protection in the grandstand and bleachers left their seats for cover.

Despite the jubilant mood in which Claude Passeau, a cunning veteran, put Grimm yesterday when he pitched the best game in series history to beat the Tigers, 3-0, on one hit, Grimm still figured that the series would go six games, with the Cubs coming up on top.

O’Neill was just as confident that six games would go it for his club.

Passeau permitted only one hit, a second inning single by Rudy York, to match the feat which Ed Reulbach turned in for the Cubs back in the 1906 series against their intracity rivals, the White Sox.

But on that October day 39 years ago, Reulbach gave up six bases on balls and the Sox scored a run.

Passeau passed one

Passeau gave only one free ticket and permitted only two Tigers to get on base.

Just as in the opener, the Tigers again looked bad in the field while the Cubs played the same hell-for-leather bent baseball which put the St. Louis Cardinals on top three straight years.

The Tigers played the usual brand – hoping for a big inning which never materialized as Passeau pitching with all the cunning which 10 years in the big league has given him, set the Tigers down with machine-gun speed.

34

ws1945

Play-by-play of fourth game

CHICAGO (UP) – Play-by-play of the fourth game of the World Series follows:

FIRST INNING

TIGERS – The game was delayed by rain about 10 minutes to enable Ray Prim and Dizzy Trout to warm up. Webb grounded out. Hack to Cavarretta. Mayo lined to Pafko. Cramer was out. Prim to Cavarretta. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

CUBS – Hack grounded out. Webb to York. Johnson grounded out to York, unassisted. Lowrey flied to Cullenbine. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

SECOND INNING

TIGERS – Greenberg struck out. Cullenbine popped to Cavarretta. York grounded out. Johnson to Cavarretta. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

CUBS – Cavarretta struck out. Pafko grounded out. York to Trout, who covered first. Nicholson struck out. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

35

ws1945

Williams wants Newhouser, but O’Neill sticks to Trout

Manager Joe’s plan to ‘salvage’ series overruled by Manager Steve
By Joe Williams

CHICAGO – This is the first time I have attempted to take charge of a World Series. I just got off the train from Detroit. I had the pleasure of riding with Steve O’Neill, manager of the Tigers. But I’m not so sure pleasure is the right word.

Mr. O’Neill did see eye to eye with me on his pitching selection for today. He selected Dizzy Trout. My man was Hal Newhouser. It seems to me the Tigers’ situation in this series has reached the desperate stage. Having dropped yesterday’s game, they are now one down and time is running out.

Over the year’s play Newhouser has established himself as the best pitcher im the American League. True, he got his brains mocked out in the opening game with the Cubs, but that could have been just one of those things, as the boys in the dugout say. But no matter how you look at it, Newhouser is still the ace and the rules of the game say you must lead with your high card. The Tigers must win today or they are practically through.

This much Mr. O’Neill, stubborn as he is, admits… “But just the same I’m starting Dizzy Trout.”

“Please, Steve,” I say, on account I virtually grew up with him in Cleveland, “he’s your ace. Besides I have a few bucks riding on the Tigers.”

“I’m not interested in your bucks. I’m interested in the Tigers, the World Series. Trout is my man.”

“Why?”

“He’s just my man. All year long, he won the tough games and this is the real tough one. He is my man.”

“Trout can’t carry Newhouser’s glove.”

“I don’t want him to carry anybody’s glove. I just want him to win this game for me, and I’m sure he will.”

37

ws1945

Game 4

Saturday, October 6, 1945, 1:30 p.m. ET
Wrigley Field, Chicago

Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago Cubs (2-2) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 1
Detroit Tigers (2-2) 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 1
CHICAGO CUBS (NL):
Hitters AB R H PO A E AVG
Hack, 3B 4 0 0 2 2 0 .353
Johnson, 2B 4 1 2 1 3 1 .235
Lowrey, LF 4 0 1 3 0 0 .313
Cavarretta, 1B 4 0 0 10 1 0 .357
Pafko, CF 4 0 0 1 0 0 .214
Nicholson, RF 4 0 0 1 0 0 .267
Livingston, C 3 0 1 4 1 0 .364
Hughes, SS 1 0 0 3 3 0 .100
Becker, PH 1 0 1 0 0 0 .500
Merullo, PR-SS 0 0 0 1 0 0
Prim, P 0 0 0 0 1 0
Derringer, P 0 0 0 0 0 0
Secory, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Vandenberg, P 0 0 0 1 0 0
Gillespie, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Erickson, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 31 1 5 27 11 1 .161
Batting
3B D. Johnson (1, off Trout)
SH R. Prim (1, off Trout)
TB D. Johnson 4; M. Livingston; P. Lowrey; H. Becker
With RISP 0 for 5
Team LOB 5
Fielding
PB M. Livingston (1)
E B. Nicholson (1)
DETROIT TIGERS (AL):
Hitters AB R H PO A E AVG
Webb, SS 5 0 0 1 3 0 .188
Mayo, 2B 3 1 0 1 1 0 .154
Cramer, CF 4 1 2 4 0 0 .357
Greenberg, LF 3 1 1 1 0 0 .273
Cullenbine, RF 3 1 1 1 0 0 .091
York, 1B 3 0 0 10 3 1 .154
Outlaw, 3B 4 0 1 0 3 0 .200
Richards, C 4 0 1 7 0 0 .091
Trout, P 4 0 1 2 2 0 .250
Totals 33 4 7 27 12 1 .212
Batting
2B R. Cullenbine (1, off Prim)
IBB R. York (1, off Derringer)
TB R. Cullenbine 2; D. Cramer 2; J. Outlaw; P. Richards; H. Greenberg; D. Trout
RBI P. Richards (1); H. Greenberg (4); J. Outlaw (1); R. Cullenbine (1)
2-Out RBI P. Richards
With RISP 3 for 6
Team LOB 6
Fielding
E R. York (1)

Chicago Cubs

Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Prim, L (0-1) 3.2 3 4 4 1 1 0 10.80
Derringer 1.2 2 0 0 2 1 0 0.00
Vandenberg 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
Erickson 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 0.00
Team Totals 9 7 4 4 4 4 0 4.00

Detroit Tigers

Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Trout, W (1-0) 9 5 1 0 1 6 0 0.00
Team Totals 9 5 1 0 1 6 0 0.00

Balks: None
WP: None
HBP: None
IBB: P. Derringer (1; R. York)
Pickoffs: None
Umpires: HP - Conlan, 1B - Summers, 2B - Jorda, 3B - Passarella
Time: 2:00
Attendance: 42,923

38

The Pittsburgh Press (October 7, 1945)

ws1945

Tigers win, 4-1, to even series

The Detroit Tigers defeated the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago yesterday to square the 1945 World Series at two games apiece.

Paul “Dizzy” Trout handcuffed the Cubs with five hits. The Tigers collected seven, scoring all of their runs in the fourth inning off Ray Prim and Paul Derringer.

Today’s fifth game of the series, in Chicago, will be broadcast at 1:15 p.m. over Station KQV.

39

Tigers win, 4-1, and even series

Error by Rudy York keeps ‘Dizzy’ Trout from blanking Cubs
By Chester L. Smith, Press sports editor

ws1945

CHICAGO (Oct. 6) – Detroit’s Tigers stopped at the World Series pay window in the fourth inning today to collect four runs. they couldn’t come back for more, but the four proved to be all that were needed by Paul Trout to turn back the Cubs, 4-1.

The Tigers thus squared the series at two games apiece and wrecked the day for the 42,923 who came out in the rain and mist to welcome home the National League champions.

Delayed 10 minutes by a shower that started falling shortly after 1 o’clock, the game soon resolved itself into a personal triumph for Trout, who comes honestly by his nickname, Dizzy.

One of baseball’s characters, the big righthander stopped the Cubs five hits, struck out Phil Cavarretta and Bill Nicholson ach twice, fanned Pinch-Hitter Frank Secory in the fifth and chipped in with a lashing single of his own to help swell Detroit’s hit total to seven.

Cleans his spectacles

All the while, Dizzy performed in the manner that explains why no one calls him Paul.

Frequently he stopped to clean his spectacles with a large, white ‘kerchief. Once, after the glasses had been polished to suit him, he ceremoniously blew his nose.

The crowd must have intrigued him, for he was continually gazing into the stands as though he hadn’t a care in the world.

And, while the Bruins fretted and fumed in the ninth, he took so much time in the dugout that Umpire Jocko Conlon had to walk over and remind him that he still had work to do.

But Dizzy’s idiosyncrasies ended when he wound up and pitched. He had the better of no less than four Chicago moundsmen, starting with Ray Prim, the loser, and ending with Paul Erickson, who showed up in the eighth and finished.

Error costs run

Trout’s own teammates deprived him of a shutout when they opened a gift shop at third base in the sixth and gave the Cubs their single run.

Don Johnson had opened with a triple down the right field line, and when Peanuts Lowrey bounced to Jimmy Outlaw, Johnson dashed for the plate, stopped and found himself trapped. But Outlaw, for some
reason threw to Rudy York at first to retire Lowrey. Johnson, meanwhile, slid back into third and when York flung the ball into the stands the Cub second baseman scored.

However, Trout had his lead by that time and seemed little concerned at being given such shoddy treatment.

Walk starts it

The Tigers, after having gone 15 innings since the fifth round of the second game without a run, stormed out after Prim without warning.

The first 10 men to face the Bruin lefthander had been retired without a semblance of a hit when Prim walked Eddie Mayo, second to come to the plate in the fourth. Doc Cramer responded with a smoky single to right that planted Mayo on second and Hank Greenberg drove in the first run with a smash to left.

Roy Cullenbine’s two-bagger put Cramer across and ended the day for Prim. His replacement, Paul Derringer, purposely walked York to fill the bases.

Greenberg scores

Greenberg came tearing over while Jimmy Outlaw was forcing York at second. Paul Richards then singled in the fourth and last run.

The Cubs came back in their half as though they fully intended to wipe out at least part of the Tiger lead, Johnson and Lowrey singling in succession, but Trout was entirely capable of handling this situation. He struck out Cavarretta on a low curve, on which the Chicago captain protested he hadn’t swung, forced Andy Pafko to ground out and bent a third strike over on Nicholson.

It was Dizzy’s skill in keeping the Cub powerline under his thumb that meant the difference today.

Pinch-hitter singles

During the last three innings, when the sun had appeared for the first time all day, the Bruins could get only one hit, that a pinch-single by Heinz Becker with two out in the seventh.

Derringer, Hy Vandenberg and Erickson did well enough. But it was for a cause that grew more hopeless with each ball Trout pitched.

In the fifth, Cramer got as far as second when Nicholson allowed his hit to roll between his legs and Greenberg walked but there was no damage. Then, in the ninth, both Outlaw and Trout singled, again without result.

As was true in the first Tiger victory, the men of Stolid Stephen O’Neill were able to capitalize on a single prosperous inning.

40

ws1945

Play-by-play of fourth game

Trout stops Cubs, Prim is chased

CHICAGO (UP) – Play-by-play of the fourth game of the World Series follows:

FIRST INNING

TIGERS – The game was delayed by rain about 10 minutes to enable Ray Prim and Dizzy Trout to warm up. Webb grounded out. Hack to Cavarretta. Mayo lined to Pafko. Cramer was out. Prim to Cavarretta. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

CUBS – Hack grounded out. Webb to York. Johnson grounded out to York, unassisted. Lowrey flied to Cullenbine. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

SECOND INNING

TIGERS – Greenberg struck out. Cullenbine popped to Cavarretta. York grounded out. Johnson to Cavarretta. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

CUBS – Cavarretta struck out. Pafko grounded out. York to Trout, who covered first. Nicholson struck out. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

THIRD INNING

TIGERS – Outlaw grounded out. Hughes to Cavarretta. Richards fired to Lowrey. Trout lined to Hack. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

CUBS – Livingston singled to left, the first hit of the game. Hughes, attempting to sacrifice, forced Livingston at second. Trout to Webb. Prim sacrificed. York to Mayo, who covered first. Hack grounded out. Outlaw to York. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.

FOURTH INNING

TIGERS – Webb grounded out. Hack to Cavarretta. Mayo walked. Cramer singled to Mayo stopping at second. Greenberg singled to left. Mayo scoring and Cramer stopping at second. Cullenbine doubled to left. Cramer scoring and Greenberg going to third. Prim was taken out and Paul Derringer went in to pitch for the Cubs. York was purposely passed, filling the bases. Outlaw forced York at second. Johnson to Hughes. Greenberg scoring Cullenbine some to third. Richards singled to center. Cullenbine scoring and Outlaw stopping at second. Trout forced Richards at second. Hughes to Johnson. Four runs, four hits, no errors, two left.

CUBS – Johnson singled to center. Lowrey singled to right. Johnson stopping at second. Cavarretta struck out. Pafko grounded out. Mayo to York. Johnson going to third and Lowrey to second. Nicholson struck out. No runs, two hits, no errors, two left.

FIFTH INNING

TIGERS – Webb was called out on strikes. Mayo flied to Lowrey. Cramer singled to right and went to second when Nicholson let the ball go through for the first Chicago error of the series. Greenberg walked. Cullenbine grounded out. Cavarretta unassisted. No runs, one hit, one error, two left.

CUBS – Livingston filed to Cramer, who made a one-handed catch. Hughes walked. Secory batted for Derringer and struck out. Hack grounded out. York unassisted. No runs, no hits, no errors, one left.

SIXTH INNING

TIGERS – Hy Vandenberg went in to pitch for the Cubs. York flied to Lowrey. Outlaw popped to Cavarretta. Richards lined to Hughes. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

CUBS – Johnson tripled to right. Lowrey grounded out. Outlaw to York, and when York’s throw to third in an attempt to pick off Johnson was wild. Johnson scored. Cavarretta flied to Greenberg. Pafko flied to Cramer. One run, one hit, one error, none left.

SEVENTH INNING

TIGERS – Trout popped to Hughes. Webb grounded out. Hughes to Cavarretta. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

CUBS – Nicholson grounded out. Trout to York. Livingston flied to Cramer. Becker batted for Hughes and singled to left Merullo ran for Becker. Gillespie batted for Vandenberg and grounded out. York to Trout who covered first. No runs, one hit, no errors, one left.

EIGHTH INNING

TIGERS – Merullo went to short for the Cubs and Paul Erickson went in to pitch. Cramer popped to Merullo. Greenberg struck out. Cullenbine walked. York grounded out. Johnson to Cavarretta. No runs, no hits, no errors, one left.

CUBS – Hack grounded out. Webb to York. Johnson also grounded out. Webb to York. Lowrey struck out. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

NINTH INNING

TIGERS – Outlaw singled to left. Richards struck out. Trout singled off Hack’s glove. Outlaw going to second. Outlaw went to third on a passed hall. Trout holding first. Outlaw was trapped off third and was out. Livingston to Hack. Webb fled to Nicholson. No runs, two hits, no errors, one left.

CUBS – Cavarretta flied to Cramer. Pafko grounded out. Outlaw to York.

Nicholson fouled to Richards. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left.

41

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Borowy to face Newhouser again

Squeeze bust sign missed by Trout

CHICAGO (SHS, Oct. 6) – The pitching cast that opened the World Series in Detroit last Wednesday will repeat tomorrow in the fifth game, but in the case of the Tigers’ case, there will be hope that the result will be different.

Hank Borowy, who shut out the American Leaguers, 9-0, will climb on the mound for the Cubs. His opponent, Hal Newhouser, was the victim of the heaviest hitting the series has yet witnessed.

Had rain prevented play yesterday, Ray Prim would have been sidetracked. Manager Cholly Grimm said Borowy would be his Sunday pitcher no matter what happened. Steve O’Neill planned a change, however, he declared a postponement would switch Newhouser over to Monday.

The Tigers lost a probable run in the ninth when Dizzy Trout missed the sign for a squeeze bunt with Jimmy Outlaw on third.

Trout stood calmly by and watched Paul Erickson’s pitch sink into Mickey Livingston’s glove. Outlaw, moving plateward, tried to get back, but it was no dice. Livingston’s throw to Stan Hack nailing him by a yard.

Bullpen kept busy

The Cubs were taking no chances on not having a pitcher warmed up in case of trouble. Paul Derringer was at work in the bullpen as early as the first inning, and in the eighth three twirlers were cranking their arms.

To Bill Nicholson went the dubious honor of committing the Cubs’ first error of the series. Livingston added a passed ball to the National Leaguers’ defensive mistakes.

There was a general rush for sunglasses when the skies suddenly cleared, but Doc Cramer forgot his and almost lost a fly off Livingston’s bat in the fifth. The Tigers saw to it that the matter was rectified at once.

Cavarretta robs Webb

Phil Cavarretta’s third brilliant diving stop of the series was at Skeeter Webb’s expense. It happened in the seventh inning. If this keeps up, the Tigers may press for an investigation to find out if there is only one Bruin playing first base.

Defensively, the Tigers were keener on Wrigley Field than in any of the three games they played at home.