On July 21, 1945, At Shibe Park the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers play 24 innings and settle for a 1-1 deadlock. Les Mueller hurls 19 and two-thirds innings. Mueller allowed 13 scattered hits, walked five, struck out six and allowed just the one, unearned run, in the four-hour and 48-minute marathon. Here is a great…
On July 12, 1945, At Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs stop Tommy Holmes’s modern-day National League-record hitting streak at 37 games, beating the Boston Braves, 6 – 1, behind Hank Wyse, for their 11th victory in a row. The Braves take game two, 3 – 1, as Claude Passeau loses his first after nine straight wins. Holmes hit .433 during the streak and will…
Aaron Robinson, Yankees C, returns from the military. Red Ruffing is back too, and so are Hugh Mulcahy and Buddy Lewis. Charlie Keller will follow, and a couple of dozen former major-league players will be in uniform before the season is over.
On July 10, 1945, the All-Star Game scheduled for Fenway Park is canceled because of travel restrictions imposed by World War II. Several teams do play inter-league exhibitions designed to raise money as part of the war effort. The All-Star Game will resume in 1946.
On July 10, 1945, ten new members are inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The inductees are catcher Roger Bresnahan, first baseman Dan Brouthers, outfielder Fred Clarke, third baseman Jimmy Collins, outfielders Ed Delahanty and Hugh Duffy, shortstop Hughie Jennings, outfielder King Kelly, first baseman Jim O’Rourke, and catcher Wilbert Robinson. Roger Bresnahan…
The All-Star Game at Fenway Park is canceled because of travel restrictions. During the break in the schedule, 7 inter-league games are played for war charity. Plans for a USO-sponsored all-star game in Europe do not materialize, although the war in Germany is over and fighting in the Pacific will be over in 6 weeks.
Filling wartime rosters requires going deeper into the bag. The Dodgers bring back Babe Herman from California. He pinch-hits twice against the Cardinals, tripping over first base on a hit. Guy Bush, Clay Touchstone and Hod Lisenbee, contemporaries of Herman in the 1920s, will get their chances on the mound. The Babe will go 9 for 34, mostly as a pinch-hitter, sock one homer, and be a popular gate attraction in Brooklyn.
The Cubs take the National League lead by winning two from the Phillies, 12 – 6 and 9 – 2. They never relinquish first place, despite losing 16 of 22 games to the Cards.
The Braves sweep the Pirates, 13 – 5 and 14 – 8, as Butch Nieman hits a pinch grand slam in the opener. In the second game, Tommy Holmes hits in his 34th consecutive game to pass Rogers Hornsby’s modern National League record of 33 in 1922; Willie Keeler had 44 in the 19th Century.
P Phil Marchildon rejoins the Athletics. In the Canadian Air Force, he was shot down during World War II and was in a German prison camp for nine months.
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