1946 – The Indians send young OF Gene Woodling to Pittsburgh for veteran receiver Al Lopez. Lopez will play just 61 games next season‚ before taking over as manager of Indianapolis for three seasons. He will return to skipper the Indians in 1951.
On July 9, 1946, At Fenway Park in Boston Ted Williams, playing in the All-Star Game, homers on the famed blooper pitch thrown by Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Williams finishes the game with two home runs, two singles, and a record-setting five RBIs in the American League’s 12-0 win. With the AL up…
On June 9, 1946, at Forbes Field Mel Ott is involved in a strange “daily double.” The New York Giants’ mild-mannered skipper becomes the first manager ejected from both ends of a doubleheader because of arguments with umpires Tom Dunn and George Magerkurth. To make matters worse, the Giants lose both games to the Pittsburgh…
On March 22 in 1946, the Pittsburgh Pirates released pitcher Russ Bauers. As a rookie in 1937, Bauers went 13-6, 2.88 in 187.2 innings. He followed that up with 13 wins in 1938, while posting a 3.07 ERA in 243 innings. Despite not being released until eight years later, Bauers won just three more games…
1946 – Pirate southpaw Preacher Roe suffers a brain concussion in an altercation with a referee in a high school basketball game in Arkansas.
Dodger shortstop Tommy Brown becomes the youngest player (17 years, 8 months, and 14 days) in major league history to hit a home run. The round-tripper by ‘Buckshot’, who started his career as a 16 year-old high school student, will be the only run Brooklyn scores off 30 year-old Pirates southpaw Preacher Roe, who goes the distance in the 11-1 rout of the home team at Ebbets Field.
At Pittsburgh, Pirate catcher Bill Salkeld is 5 for 5, including hitting for the cycle, and drives in all five runs, but his Bucs lose, 6 – 5 to Cardinals reliever Harry Brecheen. Salkeld hits his only triple of the year in the cycle, half his career total. His offensive effort offsets a curious defensive stat: he has no putouts or assists in the game.
With World War II travel restrictions still in effect, the Brooklyn Dodgers open spring training at Bear Mountain, New York, with 15 players in camp. Seven teams – the St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox – are training in Indiana, the most of any state. The Boston Red Sox are at Tufts College while the Boston Braves are prepping at the Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut.
1943 – Happy New Year to a couple of Babes that swap places. The Philadelphia Blue Jays (Phillies) send much-traveled first baseman Babe Dahlgren to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for catcher Babe Phelps and cash considerations. A former Yankees first baseman, Dahlgren gained most of his notoriety after replacing Lou Gehrig when the “Iron Horse’s” playing streak ended in 1939.
On June 1, 1943, Truett “Rip” Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates debuts his “eephus” or “blooper ball” pitch, which travels as high as 25 feet above the ground before dropping into the strike zone. Sewell will use the pitch on his way to a 20-win campaign.
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