THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL
OCTOBER 13, 1937: WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES GAME FIVE
THIS IS NEXT YEAR!
KINGS END 45 YEAR OLD CURSE WITH FIRST WCS TITLE
The Brooklyn Kings have done what many of the Flatbush faithful feared was impossible. The have finally won baseball's World Championship Series ending 45 years of failure and putting to rest forever the Curse of Ferdinand Hawkins. The Kings held on to beat a gutsy Pittsburgh Miners squad 6-5 to win the first World title in team history, taking the Miners in 5 games. The official attendance at Kings County Park shows 31,725 of Flatbush's finest were on the premises but years from now you can bet thousands more will claim they were on hand, and many were as Flatbush Avenue became a sea of people dancing from tavern to tavern, some crying tears of disbelief and others in wild celebration as Brooklyn finally joined the other 15 FABL clubs in owning a World Championship Series banner.
In typical Kings fashion the outcome was fully in doubt until the very moment Brooklyn center fielder Bill May wrapped his glove around Cy Bryant's final fly ball out with the tying run perched just 90 feet away from sending the game in extra innings. You would expect nothing less from a Kings team that, while immensely talented, has been incredibly inconsistent and suffered what felt like far more than it's share of bad luck the past three years. Maybe there was something to all the talk of former pitcher Ferdinand Hawkins cursing the club, but that matters no more as the curse has undeniably been lifted but not before giving many long suffering Kings fans plenty more heart palpitations.
It looked like a slugfest right from the get go as George Cleaves, who played for Pittsburgh despite nursing a sore knee after being hit by a pitch the previous game, got the visitors off to a quick start with an rbi single off Brooklyn ace Tom Barrell that plated Bryant, who had previously legged out a 1-out triple.
Brooklyn answered very quickly with 4 runs of their own in the home half of the opening stanza. Joe Perret and Al Wheeler set the table with walks but all the damage came with two out courtesy of a bases loaded 3-run double off the bat of John Langille and then a Fred Barrell two-bagger.
Brooklyn never does anything easily so it should have come as little surprise when the Miners came right back with 2 runs of their own in the top of the second stanza to cut the Kings lead to 4-3 but after that Tom Barrell, who has had his ups and downs in big games in the past, settled enough to retire 13 in a row and get Brooklyn through the middle innings. The Kings even added some insurance, and sent the crowd into a frenzy with 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th to go up 6-3. John Langille, the 26 year old Canadian, was again the instigator of the assault on Pittsburgh pitching, delivering a run scoring single for his 4th rbi of the game and scoring for the second time himself.
Up 6-3 with Tom Barrell cruising everything seemed to be leading to a storybook ending, but those who have read the final pages of the many previous chapters in the story that is the Brooklyn Kings of the past four years knew it felt too good to be true. And it almost was. Pittsburgh scored twice in the top of the 8th inning with all-star catcher George Cleaves again in the center of the action and sent Barrell to the showers. Enter Del Lyons, who has carved out a niche for himself as some kind of relief specialist. The 32 year old is a two-time all-star and has saved 45 games over the past three seasons for the Kings including yesterday's game four. Lyons made in 46 but not without some more drama as while he quickly fanned pinch-hitter Ray Cochran to end the 8th inning, the ninth became an adventure. The Miners lead-off man Henry Clayton hit a pinch-hit single and moved to second on a bobble by the normally sure-handed May in centerfield. Lyons induced two ground ball outs but the second one was sufficient for Clayton to scamper to third. Joe Owens worked Lyons for a full count walk to put runners on the corners bringing Cy Bryant to the plate.
Bryant had a pretty good track record vs Lyons - he was 14-for-46 lifetime against the Brooklyn lefthander. Bryant wasted no time, swinging at the first pitch and many in the crowd, trained from so many heartaches over the years, gasped as the ball sailed out to centerfield. Fortunately for the Kings Bryant got under it just a little bit and it settled in May's glove setting off a celebration 45 years in the making.
There will be plenty of second guessing on the Pittsburgh Miners part. It certainly turned out that the decision in Game Two by Miners skipper Dan Andrew to pull Charlie Stedman, who had been tossing an incredible game, and insert Lou Ellertson, who proceeded to surrender 3 walks, 5 hits and 7 runs, was the turning point in the series. Andrew might also draw some criticism for his decision to start Bill Ketterman over Walker Murphy in the third game especially considering how solid Murphy looked in relief of Stedman in game five. The multitude of managers at home or in the stands always have the benefit of hindsight at it is usually in possession of 20-20 vision so that fact must be remembered and Pittsburgh upper management immediately went on record saying Andrew will be back in the dugout next season. He was recently rewarded with a 3-year contract which was in no small part earned for his terrific job with tape, spit and glue putting a lineup together amidst all the injuries the Miners dealt with during the season.
Brooklyn will also have a number of questions with most centered around Al Wheeler's failure to be the same player in October he has been during the regular season. It is not just this year, Wheeler struggled last season and in his WCS appearance with the Detroit Dynamos. Despite getting 3 hits including a pair of game winning rbi's it seemed time and again Wheeler had a chance to carry the Kings to victory but he failed to do so. Wheeler does have 2 homeruns in 16 career WCS games but he is batting just .179 and was the center of many trade deadline rumours just a few months ago. Could the 4 time Whitney Award (and possibly 5 time if he wins this year) winner be on the move? It seems unlikely, but perhaps more due to the Kings likely being unable to get a suitable piece in return for the slugging outfielder more than any hesitation the club might have in moving Wheeler, who was wildly inconsistent this season.
It was a bad regular season for many of the Kings as much of the club struggled at times during the season but a few of them such as Fred and Harry Barrell atoned for it with solid post-season showings. In fact the entire contingent of Barrell's did very well with Tom not only winning 2 games but also hit .429 in the series and Dan has accomplished so much more with really just one good leg over his career than most players do with two. Dan Barrell always was a natural athlete, even competed in the Olympic decathlon many years ago before a devastating football injury nearly forced the amputation of one of his legs. He became a pet project of Powell Slocum and against the odds worked his way to the major leagues. Brooklyn even nearly lost him when the New York Stars selected him in the rule V draft only to return him to the Kings that spring. Dan went 8-for-16 in the series, delivering several key hits and would have been the MVP were it not for John Langille.
Langille will likely never have to pay for a pint of Prescott Breweries famous Pilsner again in Brooklyn watering holes after he was involved in all 6 Kings runs in the decisive game, driving in 4 and scoring the other two. Langille had at least one hit in each of the 5 games including a big homerun in the 2-0 victory in game four. In all he hit .389 with 5 rbi's and 5 runs scored to claim the Series MVP award. Most of all, he was the major force in lifting the weight of 45 years of frustration and failure off of the franchise.
Enjoy the off-season but the pause will be brief as next year's races have the potential to be even better than the crazy ride that was 1937.