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.