The Dramatic 1951 AL Pennant Race

 

Second in a four-part series

 

By Glenn Guzzo

 

            All but forgotten in the shadow of the historic National League pennant playoff, the American League staged the better pennant race for the first five months of 1951.
Even in September, the AL race was a three-team drama until the final week of the season. And when all was over, the AL’s champion won the World Series.

 

            Strat-O-Matic veterans anticipating the release of the 1951 season as the game company’s latest historic re-creation will recognize the AL’s familiar combatants from the era: the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. They battled dramatically in 1948, 1949 and 1950 and they were at it again in ’51.

 

            This time, add the upstart Chicago White Sox, who led the league from late May through early July with youthful enthusiasm that rekindled fan interest on the South Side of Chicago.

 

            Rookie manager Paul Richards proved to be one of the shrewdest field minds in the game, backed by a front office that helped him build a substantially new club based on speed, defense and pitching.

 

            Richards helped young 2B Nellie Fox blossom offensively (.313) and defensively. Richards found lumbering LF Gus Zernial’s power unnecessary in homer-snuffing Comiskey Park and allowed him to be traded for higher-average, better-fielding, better-running Al Zarilla. Richards installed speedy rookie Jim Busby in CF to chase down flies in spacious Comiskey and at the top of the batting order to hit singles and steal bases (26 second best in the AL).

 

            Another early-season trade with Cleveland brought swift and daring rookie Minnie Minoso, who hit .324 with 14 triples and an AL-best 31 SB. Adding to his on-base ability l by leading the league in getting hit by pitches (16 times), Minoso constantly unnerved opponents with his base running the way Jackie Robinson had as a rookie in 1947.

 

            In one display of game-changing speed, Minoso scored from third on a shallow fly just 30 feet beyond second base, sliding in ahead of the tag on a throw from the strongest-armed outfielder in the league, Boston’s Dom DiMaggio. In another, he turned Busby’s popout to Yankees infielder Gil McDougald into a sacrifice fly.

 

            One more early-season trade with Detroit brought veteran right-handed pitcher Saul Rogovin, who wound up leading the AL in earned-run average.

            Richards drew upon each of his players’ skills like an artist. At one point, Chicago won 15 straight road games. With every move working, the White Sox were the talk of baseball and a hit at the box office. But like the racehorse that surges to the early lead in a distance race, the White Sox almost literally ran out of gas in mid-July, when their depth and endurance were tested under extreme circumstances.

 

             The White Sox were first in the AL on July 6. On July 12, Rogovin pitched a 17-inning complete game – and lost to Boston. The next day, the two teams went 19 innings. Exhausted, the White Sox then dropped the next three and capped a 3-9 stretch by losing four straight to Washington, a team they had beaten 10 straight.

 

            Meanwhile, Cleveland had won 22 of 27 and the standings now showed the Yankees percentage points ahead of Boston and Cleveland, with Chicago 2 ˝ games behind.

 

            The White Sox suffered another crushing loss July 27. Rain interrupted their three-run rally in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium that put them on top, 4-3. When the game was called an hour later, it reverted to last complete inning – Yanks win, 3-1. Two days later, the White Sox dropped a doubleheader in Yankee Stadium and as August began, the White Sox were doomed to fourth place.

 

Boston’s Bid

 

            Despite a colossal sophomore flop by 1950 rookie star Walt Dropo and devastating injuries to 2B Bobby Doerr and 3B Vern Stephens, Boston entered September only 5 ˝ games behind first place. Though he hit only .232 on the road, a .403 mark at Fenway Park left Ted Williams as one of the top hitters in AL again (.318-30-126 with 144 walks). Pitchers Mel Parnell, Ellis Kinder and lineup mates Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and – when healthy – Doerr and Stephens – formed a strong supporting cast.

 

            The Red Sox thrived in July thanks to the best three weeks of RF Clyde Vollmer’s career. En route to career highs in homers and RBIs, the journeyman began a career-best 16-game hitting streak on July 4. His three homers in a 13-10 win on July 26 gave him 12 since July 6. In that 19-game span, he drove in 32 runs. Two days later, he drove in the tying run in the 15th inning, and followed with a walk-off grand slam in the 16th.

 

            On Sept. 19, the Indians and Yankees were tied for first and the Red Sox were only 2 ˝ games behind. The turning point came Sept. 21-23. New York, which had been 0-8 in Boston, won two of three at Fenway Park, while Cleveland, which had been 16-1 against Detroit, lost three straight to the Tigers. The standings order did not change again, though the Red Sox were not eliminated until Sept. 26 and the Indians not until Sept. 28.

 

 

Cleveland’s Contenders        

 

            Cleveland, dealing with nagging injuries all season to hitting stars Larry Doby, Luke Easter and Al Rosen, thrived on its pitching. Bob Feller threw a no-hitter and won an AL-best 22 games. Early Wynn and Mike Garcia won 20 each. Their pitching was stellar and consistent until the highly disappointing Tigers literally squeezed the Tribe pitchers to death in the pivotal late-September series.

 

            The disastrous three-game series began when Feller blew a 5-0 lead on Sept. 21. The next day Detroit beat Bob Lemon, 9-4, including two successful squeeze bunts. The Tigers completed the sweep on Sept. 23, scoring their first three runs on successful squeeze bunts vs. Garcia – all singles in a 9-1 shellacking.

 

 

The Bombers (and Their Wing Men) Win Again

           

            In the end, the Yankees had better balance and depth, a better blend of youth and experience in winning their third straight pennant (in a string of five). When they reached September tied for first, the Yankees had 20 home games in the final month to help them to the finish line.

 

            The lineup had its pedigree: MVP Yogi Berra (.294-27-88), Rookie of the Year Gil McDougald and rookie sensation Mickey Mantle, plus veteran leaders in SS Phil Rizzuto (the AL MVP in 1950) and Joe DiMaggio (in his final season). But these were not the slugging Yanks of the 1920s, 1930s, the 1960s or even the later 1950s.

 

            New York’s calling card was its starting pitching. Ed Lopat and Vic Raschi won 21 games each. And 17-game winner Allie Reynolds had a remarkable season:

 

n      Fighting arm trouble that surfaced in spring training and persisted all season, Reynolds and the Yankees postponed surgery – essentially, as Manager Casey Stengel said, because “If Reynolds cannot pitch, we’re sunk.”

n      Reynolds responded by throwing a team-best seven of the Yanks’ league-leading (and club-record) 24 shutouts, including three straight without issuing a walk June 17-27. “In all my life, I’ve never thrown a complete game without issuing a pass,” he said after his consecutive innings streak without a walk reached 34. Ironically, he said bone chips in his elbow meant he couldn’t bend his arm as much, resulting in better control.

n      On July 12, Reynolds beat Feller, 1-0 for his first no-hitter.

n      His five-hitter beat Feller again Sept. 13, putting the Yankees percentage points ahead of the Indians.

n      Reynolds’ second no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader Sept. 28 against Boston assured the Yankees of at least a tie for the pennant. For the final out, Reynolds had to get Ted Williams to foul out to the catcher – twice. Berra dropped the first, then caught the second on the next pitch. The Yankees clinched the pennant by winning the nightcap.

n      With the Yankees down to the Giants two games to one in the World Series and desperately needing to win, Reynolds won Game 4.

           

From DiMaggio to Mantle

 

            The 1951 season was Joe DiMaggio’s last and Mickey Mantle’s first. There was an ever-present tension in the transition because neither DiMaggio nor Mantle was able to play up to DiMaggio’s customary standards. It seemed hard to accept DiMaggio in decline or that a 19-year-old making the unprecedented jump from Class C to the Yankees could take his place.

 

            When Casey Stengel bubbled in the spring over Mantle’s power and speed, he said that while it would take at least two years to turn him into a top-flight shortstop (Mantle’s position in the minors), it wouldn’t take long for him to be a fine outfielder. DiMaggio, offering no help to the kid, disagreed.

 

            When DiMaggio announced in March that this would be his final season, he did so to the press, not his front office. The proud DiMaggio, seeing and hearing the Yankees’ plans to groom Mantle as his successor, likely by 1952, said he could play longer, but did not want to just hang on. When General Manager George Weiss said he hoped DiMaggio would return in 1952, Stengel did not discourage the idea of DiMaggio’s retirement.

 

            As it turned out, DiMaggio and Mantle helped the Yankees, but neither was a primary reason for the team’s championship. Both started slowly. DiMaggio blamed a bum leg for a poor spring, then a sore neck for a bad start. When DiMaggio did not place highly in the fan voting for the AL All-Star team, Stengel selected him anyway, then did not use him in the game. Rested more often, DiMaggio missed all 13 games of a road trip in July because of a torn leg muscle.

 

            Mantle was not his immediate replacement, Jackie Jensen was. Mantle started awkwardly in right field, but soon earned raves for his fly-catching. At the plate he struck out often and struggled mightily against left-handed pitching. With Mantle in a 0-for-23 slump in early June, Stengel suggested he hit left-handed exclusively. Mantle resisted, saying he was a natural right-hander who could and would hit lefties.

 

            When the Yankees sent Mantle to the minors on July 15, he was hitting an unremarkable .260-7-45 in 246 AB. Stengel said Mantle needed to learn to bunt. But there was another motive: His manager at minor-league Kansas City was instructed to play Mantle in center field every day. The Yankees had concluded DiMaggio could not be counted on as a regular in ’52, retirement or not.

 

            At Kansas City, Mantle hit 11 homers and drove in 50 runs in 40 games. He was timed from first base to third on his own triple in 6.0 seconds, one-tenth of a second faster than the Braves’ Sam Jethroe, considered the fastest man in the majors.

 

            Fans saw the best of both men as the Yankees made their move for the pennant. Three times DiMaggio faced an indignity he had never suffered before 1951: Opposing pitchers preferring to pitch to him than other Yankees in clutch situations. Twice with the pennant at stake in September, he made his foes pay for those indiscretions. On Sept. 7, the Senators pitched to DiMaggio with first base open and Berra on deck. DiMaggio doubled in two runs that made the Yankees winners. Nine days later, Feller walked Berra intentionally to pitch to DiMaggio. The Yankee Clipper stroked a two-run triple.

 

            Soon after Mantle’s return from the minors on Aug. 20, writers gushed over his improvement at bat and in right field, where he stayed while DiMaggio patrolled center. But Stengel, quoted after the season in The Sporting News, insisted that “one of my big mistakes was sending Mantle down for the middle third of the season. He should have been with us all through the campaign. He would have made things a bit easier for me.”

 

            After another World Series victory, Stengel had nothing but praise for DiMaggio, telling The Sporting News his veteran star “won many a game for us with his fielding and his base-running. Next to his brother Dom he’s still the best fielder in the league. I don’t know how many times I was ready to yank a pitcher and he got him out of a hole with a great catch.”  Stengel declared that DiMaggio had “radar in his glove” and “on base, he’s the best.”

 

            Even Ty Cobb, notoriously stingy with praise for current ballplayers, declared that DiMaggio had another good year or two left. “In the World Series, he was still the standout center fielder in baseball and in the last three games at bat, he proved he still had it,” Cobb told The Sporting News.

 

            A Brooklyn scouting report, prepared in vain for a World Series against the Yankees, had a different view. It encouraged the Dodgers to run on DiMaggio and disdained his base-running, stating flatly, “he can’t run and won’t bunt.”

 

            DiMaggio bowed out gracefully, saying he’d felt in decline since 1948 and that he was no longer pleased with himself, especially in the outfield.

 

            Within a week of DiMaggio’s Dec. 11 retirement announcement, the Yankees announced that Mantle would be the team’s center fielder in 1952.

           

 

M & Ms (Mantle & Mays, Minoso and McDougald)

           

            While Mantle’s every move earned scrutiny and hype all spring, three rookies who outshined him in 1951 earned almost no attention until May and later.

 

            In contrast, the first noteworthy word in The Sporting News about Willie Mays was a short, May 23 article on the minor-league pages describing “one of the most productive two weeks at bat ever in organized baseball” – over 14 games in his first year at AAA, Mays hit .607 with 13 extra-base hits (four homers) and 13 RBIs in 56 at-bats.

 

            It turns out that when the struggling Giants called regularly for updates on players at its Minneapolis farm team, the team officials there tried to avoid mentioning Mays, in hopes of keeping him longer.

 

            That lasted only until May 24. Mays was hitting .447 by then and the Giants were one game under .500. He debuted as a big-leaguer the next day and became a permanent fixture in center field, triggering a series of lineup changes that helped the Giants surge to the National League pennant.

 

            Mays and Mantle often were compared throughout their spectacular careers. The similarities were evident in 1951, including a slow start and a slow finish.

 

            Mays began 0-for-12, homered May 28 against Philadelphia for his first Major-League hit, then went 0-for-13. Then he went on a 15-for-37 tear (.405) over his next 10 games.

 

            Mays debuted with jersey number 14, switching to 24 after reserve outfielder Jack Maguire’s trade to Pittsburgh May 28. The rookie earned his “Say Hey” nickname almost immediately – Mays quickly acquired the reputation for not being able to remember teammates’ names. He would approach them with, “Say, Hey”

 

            In their first World Series, Mantle and Mays did nothing to help their teams win. Mantle tripped on a sprinkler head in right field during Game 2 and suffered what all feared could be a career-ending knee injury. He finished the Series 1-for-5. Mays managed just four singles in 22 trips to the plate (.182), scoring one run and driving in one.

 

            The better rookies were Minoso and McDougald.

 

            Minoso recharged the White Sox, terrorized opponents with his bat and speed and finished fourth in the AL Most Valuable Player voting. His statistics (.324-10-74 with league-leading 14 triples and 31 SB, plus 32 doubles, 71 walks, 109 runs) clearly topped McDougald (.306-14-68, 23 doubles, 14 SB, 56 walks, 72 runs).

 

            But McDougald won AL Rookie of the Year honors, reflecting the preference of contemporary voters for players on championship teams. McDougald played no small part in the Yankees’ success, solidifying the infield by playing both second base and third base – only Rizzuto topped McDougald’s 131 games for the Yankees. He fielded well at both, hit reliably, ran the bases well. Some considered him the Yankees’ true MVP.

           

 

                         

 

           

           

 

           

 

 

 

 

Next in Part 3: The Times and Troubles Facing Baseball in 1951