June 2, 1952 – Sal Maglie heads for the visitors clubhouse at Sportsman’s Park after being pinch hit for in the 6th inning on 6/2/52 with the Giants trailing St. Louis 5-4. The Cards held the one-run lead, handing Sal his first loss after 9 straight victories.
Sal Maglie wins his 20th game to give the Giants a 2 – 1 win over the Dodgers’ Ralph Branca. Monte Irvin’s two-run homer in the 4th gives New York all its scoring, The Dodgers score in the 8th on a double by Duke Sniderand a triple by Jackie Robinson. But 3B Bobby Thomson snags a ground ball, tags Robby, and throws to first for a double play.
In a day-night doubleheader the Dodgers sweep a pair from the Giants, taking the first game, 7 – 2, behind the solid relief of Carl Erskine. Gil Hodges, Duke Snider and Carl Furillo homer. Brooklyn takes the nitecap, 6 – 5, in 10 innings, after jumping on Sal Maglie for a 5 – 1 lead. Snider and Furillo homer again, while Bobby Thomson goes deep for the Giants. Billy Cox’s RBI single wins it, giving the Dodgers an 11 1/2 game margin, the greatest lead in Brooklyn history.
In game one at Cincinnati, Willie Mays steals the first of 338 bases. Then pitcher Willie Ramsdell picks him off second base. But the Giants win, 3 – 1, behind Sal Maglie. New York takes the nitecap as well, 6 – 4, as Monte Irvin (2) and Mays both swipe bases.
In a wild doubleheader featuring a double ejection of manager Charlie Dressen, the first-place Dodgers sweep the Giants, winning 6 – 5 in 11 innings, and 4 – 2. The Dodgers drive out Sal Maglie in the opener after the Giants build a lead on homers by Don Mueller and Willie Mays. Brooklyn counters in the 8th with a pinch homer by Roy Campanella, a homer by Pee Wee Reese, and a tying single from Gil Hodges. Bobby Thomson’s homer in the 11th puts the Giants ahead by one, but Preacher Roe wins it with a squeeze bunt. Ralph Branca wins the nitecap with homer help from Hodges and Duke Snider. Dressen is tossed in the 2nd inning of the second game for protesting pitch calls; after he takes a seat behind the dugout umpire Scotty Robb tosses him a second time. The victories put Brooklyn 6 1/2 games up.
1950 – Sal Maglie’s string of scoreless innings ends at 45, but he beats the Pirates, 3 – 1, in a rain-shortened seven-inning game. Pirate Gus Bell’s 257-foot fly ball barely clears the RF wall at the Polo Grounds. For Maglie, it is his 11th straight win.
When Eddie Stanky gets his fourth base-on-balls off Pirates’ southpaw Lefty Chambers in a 4-0 victory at Forbes Field, the Giants’ leadoff hitter ties a major league record by drawing a walk in seven consecutive plate appearances. The second baseman, known as the ‘Brat,’ will be the league leader in walks (144) and OBP (.460) this season.
On June 5, 1949, Commissioner Happy Chandler lifts the five year ban on major league players who had jumped to the Mexican League. One of the main reasons was the result of the players’ plan to sue for reinstatement on the grounds of an antitrust violation, a courtroom challenge the owners do not want to…
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