[jksander]

APRIL 13, 1954 . . . It’s a beautiful day for baseball in St. Louis, and we’re ready to get this season started!

Willie Mays had our first hit of the season, but Ernie Banks had to one-up him, hitting a homer to center to put us up 2-0 in the top of the first! Gene Baker had a hit in his first major league at-bat in the second inning, a double, and he reached third on a wild pitch. Woody Smith hit a sac-fly to center to drive him home, and just like that we’re up 3-0! But Warren Hacker gave up a two-run homer to Bill Sarni in the bottom of the second, getting St. Louis on the baord in a big way. Hacker struggled in the third inning, loading the bases on just one out, allowing the tying run to score on a sac-fly to center before getting the final out. Elton Howard got his first major leageue hit in the top of the fourth inning, but Gene Baker hit into a double play to snuff out the rally. Hacker got through the fifth inning with the game still knotted at 3-3, but I was going to have to keep an eye on his pitch count as we ease into the season.

Howard took a walk to start the top of the seventh, followed by a Gene Baker hit. Phil Cavarretta came in to pinch hit for Woody Smith, but he struck out, at which point Clyde McCullough came in to hit for Hacker, and HE struck out. And Dee Fondy completed the trifecta by groudning out to first and ending the inning as something of a letdown, squandering the man in scoring position. Robert Diehl came in to start the bottom of the seventh for his major league debut, and he got his three outs, working nicely around a pair of walks to get out of the inning unscathed. And in the top of the eighth, Willie Mays hit a solo homer to left, giving us a 4-3 lead! Ernie Banks singled and then got to second on a bad pick-off attempt at first, but we weren’t able to add more insurance and we went into the bottom of the eighth with a one run lead. Robert Diehl came out for more in the eighth, giving up one hit but then getting three quick outs to hold the lead, Kenneth Chapman came in to pinch hit for Diehl in the top of the ninth, taking a walk to put two men on, but Fondy hit into a double play again to end the inning and send Consuegra out to close for the first time this year. He gave up a risky pair of hits but did the work to get out of it and we were able to preserve the win, 4-3! What a great team effort on a sunny St. Louis afternoon.

Warren Hacker lasted six innings on just six hits, but he gave up three runs with a strikeout and a walk through 100 pitches and it’s way too early to be leaving a guy out there beyond that in such a situation. I was very pleased with Robert Diehl, who came in for two innings and only gave up a single hit, walking two and striking out one to remain unblemished through 30 pitches, taking the win in the process! Consuegra saved his first game in his season debut, giving up two hits through 19 pitches but doing no damage. Mays and Sauer each had their home runs, and both hit twice as well, with Banks batting in two runs with his moonshot. Fondy and Baumholtz went hitless, but Gene Baker was impressive with three hits in four tries, scoring a run. Welcome to the Cubs, kid!
 
APRIL 15, 1954 . . . More than 20,000 fans packed Wrigley for our first game of the new season, under clear skies and with decent temperatures for Chicago in mid-April, welcoming the Cincinnati Redlegs to the Windy City. Herb Score took today’s start, as the 20-year old rookie made his major league debut, and he had to overcome some early jitters, allowing the first run of the night to score on a wild pitch to put the Redlegs up 1-0 with a man on second and a single out. It was definitely an adjustment, and by the time he got out of the inning Cincinnati had a 2-0 lead on us. But everyone starts somewhere. You don’t win the pennant or make the All Star game in your first innings. Woody Smith got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second with an RBI single, Elston Howard had a leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth, and then Baker and Smith walked, loading the bases for Herb Score who came up with no outs. His ball didn’t get out of the infield, allowing the Redlegs to get our batter out at home while keeping the bases loaded, but Cavarretta then hit into a double play, ending the inning that had begun so successfully without a single run scored. And in the top of the fifth Score gave up a solo homer to Johnny Temple, making the score 3-1 Redlegs. His control remained an issue but he got out of the fifth with a pair of strikeouts, at least giving us a chance to still come back.

Robert Diehl came in for the top of the sixth with two outs and a man on first, and he got us safely out of the inning with the deficit still at two runs. He got two outs quickly in the seventh but then surrendered a 400-footer over the center field wall by Gus Bell, giving Cincinnati the 4-1 lead with time starting to run out. Jim Greengrass hit a solo over the exact same spot moments later to make it 5-1, and this game just wasn’t going the way we’d hoped. But Diehl got the third out and got us out of the inning. And he hit a single to right that opened the bottom of the seventh on a good note, but we couldn’t string hits together and the rest of the lineup left him stranded. Diehl’s arm was still fresh, so we kept him out there to build his confidence. Unfortunately the wind kept carrying their balls out and blowing ours in, the strange brew of air currents in Wrigley that, at least for today, had no interest in helping us. And it didn’t help either that our fielders seemed to constantly be out of position for fly balls. Either way, by the end of eight we were down 6-1, and barring a comeback in the last two innings this one was looking like a wash.

Diehl struck out the side in the top of the ninth, but we still trailed by five runs. Kenneth Chapman came in to pinch hit for Howard, and he wound up reaching second on a throwing error at first! Clyde McCullough flew out to center field and Chapman held back at second. Ron Northey then pinch hit but flew out to left, and again Chapman stayed conservative and held at second. That brought in Dee Fondy, pinch hitting for Cavarretta, and he grounded out to first. Ho, hum, this one was a forgettable 6-1 loss that hopefully we can learn from. It’s hard for our pitchers to survive a game like this without any run support, and we’re not going to get run support until the lineup gels ... too many young players at the end of the lineup card means we have to account for growing pains.

Herb Score took the loss, starting out at 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA thanks to seven hits and three earned runs in 5.2 innings of play. He had four strikeouts, which was good, but also five walks, which shows he needs work on his control while under pressure. Robert Diehl threw 3.1 innings with five hits and three earned runs, but he impressed me when he volunteered to stay out once the game got out of control, taking one for the team. His temporary sub-5.00 ERA says nothing of how good a pitcher I sense he’s going to be for us this year. That’s a rare trait for a kid who’s also just 22 years old.

I’ve decided to waive and designate Max West and Jack Graham for assignment, freeing up a spot on the 40-man roster for Russ Snyder, who I am also promoting to the major league roster. So far in 10 games at AA Cedar Rapids he’s been hitting .349/.378/.581 with 15 hits, two doubles a triple and two homers. And we’re incredibly weak right now at left field so I’m taking the risk of bringing him up quickly. I’m planning to use the following lineup for the next few games and see if we start hitting better:

1. Dee Fondy (1B)
2. Phil Cavarretta (RF)
3. Willie Mays (CF)
4. Ernie Banks (SS)
5. Russ Snyder (LF)
6. Kenneth Chapman (2B)
7. Elton Howard (C)
8. Woody Smith (3B)

For now the lineup is a work in progress, just like our team. But I think we’ll get to the level we should be soon enough.

APRIL 17, 1954 . . . Johnny Klippstein took to the mound today and immediately was a victim to the capricious wind and some abysmal fielding as we spotted our opponents from St. Louis a two run lead in the top of the first. Elston Howard hit a run scoring double in the bottom of the second to get us one back, and with the bases loaded a moment later, Johnny Klippstein hit a deep shot to center, reaching third and scoring three -- that’s what I’m TALKING ABOUT! We went into the top of the third leading 4-2, and Klippstein settled down and struck out the side, quickly sending us back up to the plate for more. Ernie Banks hit a two-run shot to right, his second homer of the year already, to make it 6-2 at the end of three. Willie Mays added a two run blast in the bottom of the fifth and we led 8-2. Elton Howard then hit into a double play with the bases loaded, but still drove in a run since we had no outs. By the time Klippstein came up and struck out to end the inning we led 9-2. Dee Fondy made it 10-2 with a solo blast of his own in the bottom of the sixth, and we gave Klippstein the hook so he could rest his arm after throwing 120 pitches in six innings.

I brought in Karl Drew to pitch in the top of the seventh -- our pitching coaches have decided that Drew will be a better fit in the bullpen, while Robert Diehl has the arm to handle starters’ innings so I’m going to defer to their judgment. He gave up a single run in the top of the seventh off a dropped ball by the catcher, and in the bottom of the seventh rookie Russ Snyder picked up his first major league hit to start the inning. Moments later he got his first major league steal, but he was tagged out at home trying to reach from second on a single to center. Clyde McCullough got a single batting for Drew in the bottom of the eighth, and we quickly loaded the bases with no outs, bringing up Willie Mays who sent the crowd into paroxysms of joy with a grand slam to right! Steve Nagy came out in the top of the ninth with us ahead 14-3, and he shut them down quickly to ice it. What a great win in front of our home crowd! I’d say the bats woke up in style this afternoon.

Klippstein got the win, starting his season out with a 1-0 record and a 3.00 ERA with eight hits and two runs in six innings, alongside eight strikeouts and four walks. Drews lasted two innings with just one hit one strikeout and one walk, giving up a single run to give him a 4.50 ERA. And Nagy was perfect in his one inning debut, with no hits a strikeout and a walk. Willie Mays had a juggernaut of a day, getting three hits and two homers for three runs scored and six RBIs, while Ernie Banks’ homer heroics netted him three runs and two RBIs on three hits. Russ Snyder picked up two hits in four tries and Kenneth Chapman added three hits for a run scored.

With the win we improved to 2-1 on the young season, and through the three games we’ve seen a little bit of everything. This isn’t going to be a team that wins easily right away, but I think we’re going to win a lot once we get going.

Tomorrow’s our first double-header of the young season, with the Cardinals still in town.