A typical success story ends –
Willkie – Global citizen, Indiana farmer
Political blitzkrieg made U.S. history
…
A typical success story ends –
The amount of shit eating the IJN did after 1942 is amazing.
1 Like
Cards choose Lanier to clinch Series
Browns delegate Potter to ward off defeat in last-ditch sixth tilt
By Leo R. Petersen, United Press staff writer
Sportsman’s Park, St. Louis, Missouri –
Manager Billy Southworth of the St. Louis Cardinals sent Max Lanier, his star lefthander, to the mound today in an attempt to close out the first All-St. Louis World Series in six games just before the Cardinals, host team for the sixth game, began their batting drill. Lanier told his boss that he was “fit and ready.”
Nelson Potter, ace of Luke Sewell’s staff, carried the Browns’ hope of evening the series at three games each. Potter and Lanier met in the second game but neither was involved in the decision which the Cardinals took, 3–2, in 11 innings.
The sun broke through heavy clouds shortly before noon, but it was topcoat weather and the absence of lines outside the ticket windows led speculators to offer reserved grandstand and box seats at cost.
Cooper strikes out 12 to win, 2–0
But Mort Cooper finally got his blasting fast ball zipping over the corners yesterday as the Cards won, 2–0, to take the lead in the series for the first time and cut down 12 Brown batters on strikes.
His opponent, Denny Galehouse, who had beaten Cooper in the first game, 2–1, was almost as good, fanning 10, but he threw home run balls to Ray Sanders in the sixth inning and Danny Litwhiler in the eighth and that was the difference.
Their strikeout total of 22 set a new World Series record. The former mark for a single game was 21, made in the 1906 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox and tied in 1929 when Howard Ehmke of the Philadelphia Athletics set the World Series record for strikeouts in a single game, 13, while his opponent, Charlie Root, was setting down eight.
The 22 strikeouts yesterday also set a new mark for five games, the total being 78 against the former mark of 77 made in the 1929 World Series.
Cooper throttles Browns
Cooper, whose homerun ball has ruined him in three of his five World Series starts and two appearances against the American League in the All-Star game, kept the Browns throttled and wound up the game by fanning three pinch-hitters in the ninth. Only once was he in serious trouble – in the sixth inning when the Browns filled the bases with only one out – but his high, hard one pulled him through as both Al Zarilla and Mark Christman were called out on strikes.
Except for the fat ones he served up to Sanders and Litwhiler, Galehouse matched Cooper pitch for pitch but those home runs brought about his downfall, just like a homer by George McQuinn, with a man on base, had beaten Cooper on a two-hit performance in the opening game of the series.
The largest crowd of the series, 36,368, saw the Cardinals start off as though they were going to break the game open in the first inning when Litwhiler doubled. But Galehouse’s strikeout pitching pulled him out of that spot. He was sailing alone smoothly when Sanders came up with two men out in the sixth. Sanders worked the count to three and one and hit the next pitch over the right field pavilion roof.
Knew it was a homer
“I was behind on him and had to come down with the pitch,” Galehouse said in the clubhouse after the game. “I knew when he hit it that it was going out of the park.”
Both Galehouse and Sewell felt, however, that Litwhiler’s drive onto the pavilion seats would have been caught had not the wind swerved it over.
He allowed seven hits, one more than Galehouse, with Vernon Stephens getting three of them, but his control was perfect and his fast ball never had more zip.
The betting commissioners withdrew all prices on the series with the Cardinals needing but one victory and quoted the National League champions as 11–20 to take the sixth game if Lanier pitches. The Browns were short enders at 8–3.
Chilly breezes –
Daniel: Series to rate as vast exploit of strikeouts
By Dan Daniel
St. Louis, Missouri –
The baseball classic which is rapidly drawing to its immortal close here will go down in the imperishable records of the national pastime as the series of the strikeouts.
So vast has been the production of whiffing exploits in the five games thus far contested by the Cardinals and the Browns that the indigenous temperature has dropped some 20 points, from a torrid 8 to a comparatively shivery 60.
No fewer than 78 batters have fanned, with the American Leaguers showing a slight advantage, 40–38. That is unmatched by the past Johnny Hopp and Ray Sanders, of the Redbirds, between them have split 14 strikeouts.
Sneezes from bleachers
The epizootic of whiffing which, in the 2–0 shutout hung on the trailing Browns by Morton Cooper in the fifth game yesterday, caused the stands and bleachers to ring with sneezes. Handkerchiefs have gone on the local priority list.
You should have heard the lusty cheers of the Benzedrine and Argyrol lobbies as Mort Cooper climaxed his gorgeous shutout performance with a drug store flourish.
Tired of seeing his regular workers blown down, Luke Sewell swept up his bench in the ninth inning and presented Milton Byrnes, Chet Laabs and Mike Chartak as pinch-hitters. All three looked like competitors in an Indian club swinging tournament. They whiffed with a gusto that sent the customers rushing home for their heavy underwear.
Since Floyd Baker, whom Sewell for some reason as yet determined sent in to swing for Don Gutteridge in the seventh inning, also fanned, it is believed that if Mort did nothing else, he established a record for striking out four consecutive minute men.
Cooper’s work a joy
In only one inning, the sixth, was Cooper in serious trouble, and the way he sneezed the Browns out of that opportunity was a positive joy to the ephedrine and Copenhagen snuff section near the Cardinal dugout.
Mike Kreevich organized the revolt with a single to right. Then Mort made a peach of a play on Gene Moore’s bunt, and forced Mike out of the picture. However, Vernon Stephens, who tapped Cooper for three hits, singled to center and George McQuinn walked, loading the bases.
Now came one Allen Zarilla. He swung and he swung again, and out he went, one of the whiffing dozen. That was the ball game, chums. Then Mark Christman stepped to the plate and whiffed and whiffed and amid a thunder of “gesundheits,” ended the only real disturbance against Morton Cecil from Atherton, Missouri.
When you recollect that in the second game Max Lanier and Sylvester Ulysses Blix Donnelly struck out 13 Browns in 11 innings, you discover a two-contest World Series record lying under your very nose. Achoo!
Völkischer Beobachter (October 10, 1944)
Im Gefolge der Anglo-Amerikaner in Nordafrika:
Zum Hunger und Terror die Pest
vb. Wien, 9. Oktober –
Aus dem Mittelmeer-Hauptquartier meldet Reuters:
Die Stadt Algier ist jetzt für den alliierten Militärverkehr geschlossen wegen des Ausbruchs der Beulenpest. Zwar landen die alliierten Flugzeuge noch auf dem Flugplatz 50 Meilen von der Stadt entfernt, doch ist es den Passagieren und dem Personal nicht gestattet, Algier zu betreten. Die meisten britischen und amerikanischen Militärverbände wurden bereits aus Algier abgezogen, nachdem die alliierten Militärstreitkräfte ihr Hauptquartier nach Italien verlegt hatten und der Hafen Algier daher seine Bedeutung als militärische Nachschubbasis verloren hat.
Zu den Apokalyptischen Reitern von Hunger und Terror, die zwangsläufig im Gefolge der alliierten Truppen ziehen, hat sich nun auch, beginnend in Algerien, der dritte eingestellt: die Pest. Zwischen dem einst umjubelten Einzug der Anglo-Amerikaner in diese französische Provinz, von der aus de Gaulle Frankreich befreien wollte, bis zu dem Tag, an dem das alliierte Hauptquartier den Ausbruch der Pest in diesem Land melden mußte, liegt das typische Schicksal jener Länder, durch die der Krieg der Alliierten zog.
„Algerien zählt heute zu den am schlechtesten versorgten und teuersten Ländern der Welt,“ erklärte erst dieser Tagender Bürgermeister von Algier einem Vertreter der Madrider Zeitung Ya. über den katastrophalen Niedergang dieses Landes, das einst zu einer der geschütztesten Kolonien Frankreichs gehörte, liegen in Lissabon Berichte von Reisenden vor, die erst kürzlich aus Algier dort eingetroffen sind. Darin wird berichtet, daß seit der anglo-amerikanischen Landung eine immer stärker werdende Verknappung sämtlicher Lebensmittel eingetreten war, nachdem einerseits der Warenaustausch mit dem Kontinent vollkommen unterbunden worden, anderseits Algerien zum Opfer umfangreichster Zwangsrequirierungen sowohl durch die de Gaulleschen als auch die anglo-amerikanischen Armeen gemacht worden war.
Solange Algier alliiertes Mittelmeer-Hauptquartier und gleichzeitig das wichtigste Propagandazentrum dargestellt hatte, wären, so wird weiter aus Lissabon berichtet, wenigstens noch von Zeit zu Zeit Nahrungsmittel geliefert worden, die alsdann mit deutlicher Herkunftsbezeichnung und lautem Propagandageschrei verkauft worden waren. Diese Lieferungen sind vollkommen weggefallen, nachdem Algier den Anglo-Amerikanern sowohl als Propagandazentrum wie als Sitz des Hauptquartiers nicht mehr wichtig war.
Nicht zuletzt in dem oben bezeichneten Reuters-Bericht kommt diese völlige Gleichgültigkeit der Anglo-Amerikaner gegenüber der heutigen Rolle Algeriens und damit dem Schicksal der Bevölkerung in der kaltschnäuzigsten Form zum Ausdruck. Die erste Folge war der Ausbruch einer Hungersnot, die unter anderem auch zu umfangreichen Demonstrationen in allen algerischen Städten führte. Heute, so wird berichtet, ist die gesamte Eingeborenenbevölkerung auf dem Lande buchstäblich am Verhungern und auch nicht in der Lage, sich wenigstens das notwendigste Saatgut zu beschaffen. Der algerische Rindviehbestand sei durch Beriberi zerstört, und im Lande selbst läuft der sarkastische Witz um, wer Fleisch essen wolle, müsse sich Flöhe fangen. Gleichzeitig mache die Demoralisierung auch hier die gleichen Fortschritte wie im besetzten Süditalien, so daß sich sogar schon junge Mädchen und Frauen aus guten Familien für Brot und Fleisch den alliierten Soldaten und Kommissionsvertretern an den Hals werfen.
Algerien ist nur ein Fall in der Reihe der „befreiten Länder“ und der Verdammungsurteile, die über diese gesprochen sind. Der von der Feindseite zur „Befreiung“ gebrachte Krieg verwüstet sie. Haben sie jedoch ihre Rolle als Kriegsgebiet ausgespielt, folgt jene vielleicht noch schlimmere, in der sie hilflos nach Fortnähme ihrer Lebensquellen von der Feindseite sich selbst überlassen bleiben. Das Schicksal der hochzivilisierten Länder Frankreich und Belgien wuchs sich zu einer europäischen Kulturschande aus, herbeigeführt durch Völker, denen Europa im tiefsten Grunde gleichgültig ist. Das gleiche Schicksal „befreiter“ Völker erleben wir im Osten vom Bottnischen Meerbusen bis zur Ägäis. Das Leid Süditaliens wiederum hat in einem Notschrei nunmehr das in Rom erscheinende Blatt Il Popolo in 7 Punkten zusammengefasst, die es „die sieben Klagen“ nennt, und die lauten:
- Mangel an einer politischen Einheit,
- Mangel an Vertrauen in die Zukunft,
- Mangel an einer wirksamen Regierungsgewalt,
- Mangel an den notwendigsten Lebensmitteln,
- Mangel an einem Dach über dem Kopf,
- Mangel an Arbeit,
- Mangel an einer stabilen Währung.
Dies sind jene 7 Unabdingbarkeiten, die ein Volk als das Notwendigste fordern muß, wenn es am Leben bleiben will. Sowohl Italien wie allen anderen „befreiten“ Völkern fehlen sie.
Willkie gestorben
Der frühere US-Präsidentschaftskandidat Wendell Willkie ist gestorben. Er war am Samstagabend zur Behandlung in eine Sauerstoffkammer gebracht worden. Eine Streptokokkeninfektion hatte die Herzmuskeln befallen, so dass akute Herzschwäche vorlag.
Führer HQ (October 10, 1944)
Kommuniqué des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht
Der Schwerpunkt der Kämpfe in Holland hat sich seit einigen Tagen an unseren Brückenkopf südlich der Westerschelde und den Zugang zur Insel Süd-Beveland verlagert. Feindliche Angriffe am Leopolds-Kanal blieben vergeblich. Südöstlich Breskens stehen unsere Truppen in harten Kämpfen mit gelandetem Gegner. Vor dem Zugang zur Insel Süd-Beveland wurzle ein Einbruch der Kanadier abgeriegelt.
Im Raum von Aachen hat sich die Lage durch unsere Gegenangriffe gefestigt. Der Südrand der Stadt wurde wieder freigekämpft.
Nordöstlich Nancy hielten unsere Truppen beiderseits Nomeny weiteren amerikanischen Angriffen stand und vernichteten 31 feindliche Panzer und Panzerspähwagen. Im Parroywald und in den Vorhöhen der Westvogesen dauern die teilweise schweren und für den Feind verlustreichen Gefechte um die seit langem umstrittenen Waldstücke, Dörfer und Höhenstellungen an.
Von Dünkirchen und Saint-Nazaire werden starkes Artilleriefeuer und erfolgreiche Gefechte mit überlegenem Feind gemeldet. Die Besatzungen von La Rochelle und Gironde-Nord wiederholten ihre Ausfälle bis tief in das Vorfeld der Festungen.
In mehreren Nachtgefechten vor der niederländischen Küste versenkten. Sicherungsfahrzeuge der Kriegsmarine über den im gestrigen Wehrmachtbericht gemeldeten Erfolg hinaus drei weitere britische Schnellboote und beschädigten außerdem zwei Boote, von denen eins wahrscheinlich später gesunken ist.
Sicherungsfahrzeuge der Kriegsmarine und Bordflak schossen vor der südwestnorwegischen Küste neun von 22 angreifenden Flugzeugen ab.
Auch in der vergangenen Nacht lag der Großraum von London unter Störungsfeuer der „V1.“
Trotz Wetterverschlechterung haben die Nordamerikaner in Mittelitalien, vor allem östlich der Straße Florenz–Bologna, ihre Durchbruchsversuche fortgesetzt. Wie stets in dem schweren Ringen der letzten Wochen schlugen unsere Divisionen die feindlichen Angriffe vor unserem Hauptkampffeld zurück oder brachten sie vor Auffangstellungen zum Erliegen. Auch der weiter fortgesetzte Versuch der 8. englischen Armee, die Flanke unseres vorgeschobenen Frontbogens in den Bergen westlich der adriatischen Küste bei Rocca Casciano und am oberen Rubikon einzudrücken, scheiterte. Standhaftigkeit der Truppe und Wendigkeit der Führung verdienen höchste Anerkennung.
Auf dem Balkan kam es mehrfach zu Gefechtsberührung mit bulgarischen Truppen an der altbulgarischen Westgrenze. Sowohl im Raum von Zajecar wie vor Belgrad sind eigene Verbände, vor allem Gebirgsjäger des Heeres und der Waffen-SS, nach schweren Tagen der Abwehr zu erfolgreichen Angriffen übergegangen und haben stärkere sowjetische Kräfte zerschlagen.
In Südungarn gelang es den Bolschewisten, auf dem Westufer der Theiß an einigen Stellen Fuß zu fassen. Gegenangriffe deutscher und ungarischer Truppen beseitigten die Mehrzahl der feindlichen Brückenköpfe. Im Raum südwestlich Debrecen wurde in Angriff und Abwehr erbittert gekämpft.
An den Waldkarpaten scheitertet alle Anstrengungen der Sowjets zur Gewinnung der wichtigen Pässe.
Bei Nowograd und im Raum von Wilkowischken blieben zahlreiche feindliche Angriffe erfolglos. Nördlich der Memel fingen unsere zäh kämpfenden Divisionen den Feind vor der ostpreußischen Grenze auf. Südlich Libau, bei Moscheiken und am Rigaer Brückenkopf wurden starke Angriffe der Bolschewisten abgeschlagen.
Auf Ösel hielt die Besatzung der Halbinsel Sworbe den starken Angriffen der Sowjets stand und vernichtete im Nahkampf sieben Panzer.
In Finnland wurde südlich Rovaniemi ein finnisches Bataillon bei dem vergeblichen Versuch, in die Flanke unserer Absetzbewegung zu stoßen, vernichtet. Wirksam von der Luftwaffe unterstützt, wiesen Gebirgsjäger an der Eismeerfront sowjetische Umfassungsversuche ab.
An den Schwerpunkten der Ostfront bekämpften deutsche Schlachtflieger mit guter Wirkung Angriffsspitzen des Gegners und seinen Nachschubverkehr. In heftigen Luftkämpfen und durch Flakartillerie der Luftwaffe verloren die Sowjets 119 Flugzeuge, davon allein 85 im Raum von Petsamo.
Unter dem Schutz einer geschlossenen Wolkendecke führten anglo-amerikanische Terrorbomber bei Tage Angriffe gegen Schweinfurt, Mainz, Koblenz und in der Nacht gegen Bochum, Wilhelmshaven und mehrere Orte im rheinisch-westfälischen Industriegebiet. Trotz ungünstiger Abwehrbedingungen wurden 16 feindliche Flugzeuge abgeschossen.
Die rheinisch-westfälische 253. Infanteriedivision unter Führung des Ritterkreuzträgers Generalleutnant Becker hat sich in der Schlacht um die Ostbeskiden hervorragend geschlagen.
Bei den erbitterten Kämpfen in Ostserbien haben sich in Angriff und Abwehr die 1. Gebirgsdivision unter Führung des Ritterkreuzträgers Generalleutnant von Stettner und die 7. SS-Gebirgsdivision „Prinz Eugen“ unter Führung des Eichenlaubträgers SS-Oberführer Kumm in schwierigstem Gebirgsgelände durch vorbildliche Standhaftigkeit und schwungvollen Angriffsgeist besonders ausgezeichnet. Die Kämpfe wurden wirksam unterstützt durch Luftwaffenverbände unter Führung des Eichenlaubträgers Generalmajor Hagen.
Der vom Führer mit dem Eichenlaub mit Schwertern zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes ausgezeichnete Hauptmann Schnaufer, Gruppenkommandeur in einem Nachtjagdgeschwader, errang in der Nacht zum 10. Oktober seinen 100 Nachtjagdsieg.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (October 10, 1944)
FROM
(A) SHAEF FORWARD
ORIGINATOR
PRD, Communique Section
DATE-TIME OF ORIGIN
101100A October
TO FOR ACTION
(1) AGWAR (Pass to WND)
TO (W) FOR INFORMATION (INFO)
(2) FIRST US ARMY GP
(3) ADV HQ 12 ARMY GP
(4) FWD ECH (MAIN) 12 ARMY GP
(5) AEAF
(6) ANCXF
(7) EXFOR MAIN
(8) EXFOR REAR
(9) DEFENSOR, OTTAWA
(10) CANADIAN C/S, OTTAWA
(11) WAR OFFICE
(12) ADMIRALTY
(13) AIR MINISTRY
(14) ETOUSA
(15) SACSEA
(16) CMHQ (Pass to RCAF & RCN)
(17) COM Z APO 871
(18) SHAEF MAIN
(REF NO.)
NONE
(CLASSIFICATION)
IN THE CLEAR
Communiqué No. 185
Heavy fighting continues in the allied bridgehead over the Saint-Leenarts Canal. Enemy attempts to eliminate the bridgehead were repulsed. Our troops which made a landing early on Monday morning on the south shore of the Scheldt Estuary have made good progress.
North of Antwerp, local gains were made. There has been little change in position in the Aachen area. In the vicinity of Ofden, north of Aachen, we made an advance of about 600 yards and later contained a counterattack by enemy tanks.
Our forces advancing from the south, in the area east of Aachen, held their positions against several counterattacks near Verlautenheide.
In the Hürtgen area, we made slight gains southwest of the town against very heavy resistance.
Weather curtailed air operations over the battle area. A small force of medium bombers attacked a railway bridge at Euskirchen. Armed reconnaissance was flown by fighters and fighter-bombers.
North of Metz, an enemy counterattack was repulsed at Maizières. Advances in the area north of Nancy have reached Létricourt. The Bois de la Fourasse, two miles of Létricourt, is being cleared of the enemy. Several more towns in this sector including Sivry, Lixières and Serrières, have been liberated. In the Vosges foothills, our advance has freed more villages.
Hard fighting continues particularly in the Le Thillot sector where a number of strong points were overcome. Heavy losses were inflicted and several hundred prisoners taken.
East of Épinal, the enemy was forced from Laveline and Herpelmont.
More than 1,100 heavy bombers, escorted by very strong forces of fighters, yesterday, attacked military targets in southwest Germany. Most of the bombing was concentrated in the Frankfurt, Koblenz and Mainz regions. Bombing was by instrument, through heavy clouds. In the course of these operations, two enemy aircraft were destroyed. Five bombers and three fighters are missing.
Last night, Bochum, in the Ruhr, was strongly attacked by heavy bombers. Objectives in Wilhelmshaven were also bombed.
COORDINATED WITH: G-2, G-3 to C/S
THIS MESSAGE MAY BE SENT IN CLEAR BY ANY MEANS
/s/
Precedence
“OP” - AGWAR
“P” - Others
ORIGINATING DIVISION
PRD, Communique Section
NAME AND RANK TYPED. TEL. NO.
D. R. JORDAN, Lt Col FA Ext. 9
AUTHENTICATING SIGNATURE
/s/U.S. Navy Department (October 10, 1944)
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 146
Carrier‑based aircraft of the Pacific Fleet swept over the Ryukyu Islands in great force on October 9 (West Longitude Date). All naval and merchant ships that could be found were attacked and severe damage was done to shore installations. Preliminary reports indicate that the following damage was Inflicted on the enemy:
SUNK:
- 1 destroyer
- 1 minesweeper
- 1 submarine tender
- 2 medium cargo ships
- 2 small cargo ships
- 5 coastal cargo ships
PROBABLY SUNK:
- 2 medium cargo ships
- 4 small cargo ships
- 1 medium oil tanker
- 7 coastal cargo ships
DAMAGED:
- 3 medium cargo ships
- 6 small cargo ships
- 1 destroyer
- 2 small oil tankers
In addition to the foregoing, more than 20 luggers and other small craft were sunk or damaged.
Complete surprise was achieved in the attack. More than 75 enemy aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Fourteen enemy aircraft were shot down. Buildings and defense installations on the islands were severely bombed and strafed, and many were left burning. There was no damage to our surface ships, and our plane losses were light.
The carrier task forces which conducted the attack are part of Adm. Halsey’s Third Fleet, and the carriers are under the immediate command of VAdm. Marc A. Mitscher.
CINCPAC Communiqué No. 147
Garakayo Island in the Southern Palau Group which was occupied by elements of the 81st Division on October 8 (West Longitude Date) was completely secured by October 9. On Peleliu Island, several hillside and ravine caves were cleared of enemy troops and a small hill was occupied as Marines made some progress in reducing the last stubborn pocket of enemy resistance. On Angaur, sniper demolition teams of the 81st Division continued mopping-up operations. Corsair fighters of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing strafed four small boats and nine barges in a sweep over the east and northwest coasts of Babelthuap Island.
A single Navy search plane on the night of October 8‑9 bombed Nauru Island. There was no anti-aircraft fire.
Neutralization raids by our aircraft in the Marshall Islands continued on October 8 and 9.
The Pittsburgh Press (October 10, 1944)
Yanks close ring on Aachen; surrender or die, Nazis told
Gen. Hodges delivers ultimatum to garrison in doomed Reich city
By J. Edward Murray, United Press staff writer
…
Key to peace held by Stalin and Churchill
Political issues discussed at Moscow
By Edward P. Morgan
…
Browns’ fielding lapse loses Series
Cards cop sixth, 3–1, as keystone combine fails with chips down
By Leo H. Petersen, United Press sports editor
St. Louis, Missouri –
The 1944 World Series went down in the record books as a triumph for Billy Southworth and the Cardinals, but it should credit an assist to the second base combination of the Browns.
For the men of Manager Luke Sewell failed to reach the top in their rags-to-riches baseball climb because one of the major weapons in their last-ditch drive to their first American League pennant failed them when the blue chips were down.
Those weapons, reading from left to right, were the clutch hitting of Vernon Stephens and the fielding of Don Gutteridge, their chatterbox second baseman. In a manner of speaking, they struck out yesterday when they could have come up with the play which would have saved the ball game and the world championship hopes of the Browns.
The setting was the fourth inning with a $1,300 differential riding on every play. And the Browns failed to come through with the play that counted.
Southworth’s speedy Redbirds took advantage of the fielding miscue to beat the Browns out of their chances of making a Cinderella finish to their most successful season.
Browns had lead
The 1944 edition of the American League’s hitless wonders were sailing along under a 1–0 lead in the sixth game of the first all-St. Louis series when Stephens and Gutteridge let them down.
Nelson Potter, the Browns’ leading winner, had a one-run lead on Chet Laabs’ triple and George McQuinn’s single in the second inning. Then came the fourth and he started by getting Stan Musial on a fly ball to center field.
Although it has been around for a long time, he couldn’t find the plate when he pitched to Catcher Walker Cooper. Cooper walked after four pitches.
Ray Sanders, who turned in the most consistent hitting for the National League titleholders, came through with a single that sent Cooper to third. That set the stage for the play that meant the ball game.
The break
Whitey Kurowski, more or less of a series bust, stepped to the plate and sent a grounder down to Stephens. The Brownie shortstop threw the ball to second base in an attempt to force Sanders and start a twin killing. The idea was good – but the execution was faulty.
Stephens fielded the grounder cleanly and threw but the scorers decided his throw was wide and drew Gutteridge off the bag. A lot of others thought that Gutteridge, in his haste to complete the double play, took his foot off the bag.
But Stephens got the error and it led to two unearned Cardinal runs and that proved to be the difference – just like two unearned tallies in the second game kept the Cardinals in the running and enabled them to win out in 11 innings 3–2. So, in the final analysis, it added up to this – the Browns lost the series on their fielding.
More than enough
The failure to complete a double play permitted the tying run to come home. The failure to get even one man out led to the winning and extra tallies, for Emil Verban and Southpaw Max Lanier followed with singles that scored two runs, making it 3–1.
The Browns made their final dying gesture in the sixth when after one man had been retired. Laabs and George McQuinn walked.
Southworth walked out to the mound to confer with Max Lanier and decided to leave him in the game, but when his next pitch was a wild one which permitted Laabs to go to third and McQuinn to second. Billy the Kid decided to take him out.
Ted Wilks, who had been batted out of the box in the third game, came in, retired 11 men in order, and saved the ball game for the Cardinals.
Cards were stacked –
Williams: Browns fought but bowed to ‘inevitable’
By Joe Williams
New York –
There is much to say for the St. Louis Browns: They went about as far in the series as they figured to, and they got about as much out of their limited abilities as they could. They may not have been the weakest team ever to represent the American League in the championship but few knowing baseball men would care to argue to the contrary.
Yet facing practically the inevitable against the Cardinals, the only team of pre-war strength in baseball, the Browns, celebrating their first pennant victory in history, managed to make most of the games dramatically close and to impart to the series a competitive evenness which did not actually exist. They were finally beaten 4–2 in games and over a season’s stretch they would be beaten just as decisively.
There was no material department in which the Browns could match the National League champions. Only in nerve and resolution were they able to hold their own. The spiritual qualities which enabled them to overcome a fearful slump, regain the league lead and fight off one challenger after another down the stretch were still present in the series but these were not sufficient to offset obvious inferiorities.
Did have chance
In spite of all this they had a chance to win. Looking back, the turning point probably came in the second game when Potter failed to break fast enough for Morton Cooper’s pop bunt. This led to an unearned run which in turn cost the Browns a game they might well have won, and, succeeding, they would have won the first three games, a handicap which even the gifted Cardinals might not have been able to overcome.
In the net analysis, of course, the Cardinals carried too many guns. No matter how the breaks of the games might go they figured to wear the patched-up AL champions down in the end. Their overall superiority is clearly reflected in the figures; they had the hitting, the pitching and the fielding. And once they shook off the notion, dangerous but understandable, that they could call the score. Once they settled down to serious, determined play, they took full command.
Defense helps
A tight defense is not always the deciding factor in the series but it never hurts. The Yankee teams, when they were winning, were remarkably equipped for defensive play, a fact generally overlooked because of their more stirring and spectacular exploits at the plate.
The Cardinals, as a team, set a new fielding record this year, and they came close to perfection in the series when they committed only one error in the six games. As against this impressive performance the Browns made ten. This inequality helped to illuminate the difference between the two clubs as big-time workers, adroit play makers.
Just couldn’t hit
The Browns’ manager used pinch-hitters freely. This identified him as an optimist, for it had to be assumed his bestmen, even as hitters, were his regulars. In the last two games of the series, he used eight pinch-hitters and every one of them struck out. This further illuminated the mediocrity of his material, at least in contrast with that of the Cardinals. Moreover, it pointed up the shabbishness of the AL as a whole; it was additional proof the Browns, in winning the pennant, were no more than the best of a squalid lot.
Cards get $4,063 apiece, Browns $2,708
St. Louis, Missouri (UP) –
Winning the World Series netted the Cardinals a bonus of $4,063 each while the Browns got $2,708 each as their share from the first four games.
The players’ share, which is divided among the four teams finishing in the first division of each league, was $309,590, of which the Cards and Browns received a total of $216,713.
Of that amount, the Cardinals received $129,907 and the Browns $86,609.
Gracie Allen Reporting
By Gracie Allen
Hollywood, California –
Did you read abut the man who left his 12-month-old baby in a lower berth while he got off the train in Kansas City? When he came back, the train and baby were on their way to Chicago. Everyone says: “How could a man do a thing like that?” That’s what I want to know – how did he get that lower berth?
Have you tried taking he train lately? Last week, George and I asked the ticket seller if we could get space to San Francisco. He said., “Yes, if you can shovel coal.”
But we didn’t have to shovel coal. Goerge finally got a seat and I sat on his lap. Well, not directly on his lap… first came George – then a soldier – then a sailor – then me.