[jksander]

October 4, 1929
Cardinals (85-66) vs. Pirates (85-66) -- Forbes Field, 2:05 p.m. CT

Bill Sherdel pitched well in this one, allowing us to come back from a 1-0 deficit to take a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning. From there we dominated the Pirates in a mostly meaningless game ... Sherdel lasted seven innings with seven hits, a walk, two strikeouts and an earned run, and Clarence Mitchell pitched the rest of the way, as we beat the Pirates 5-3. Andy High, our third baseman , hit three times for two runs and an RBI, and we outhit them 15-10 so the low score was somewhat surprising.

October 5, 1929
Cardinals (86-66) vs. Pirates (85-67) -- Forbes Field, 2:05 CT

Paul Derringer got the start today in our final game against the Pirates, so I knew going in that I’ll be starting tomorrow in Cincinnati. Our batters went to town on them in the top of the third, scoring six quick runs, and by the time Hi Bell came out to take the ball in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and a man on first, we held an 8-3 lead on them. They got a run back in the bottom of the ninth with a bases loaded walk by Paul Waner, but Bell got the final out to end the game as an 8-4 victory, ensuring we’ll finish second in the National League. We outhit them 12-10, and Derringer got his 11th win, finishing his season at 11-7 despite a 5.77 season ERA. He and I are the team’s top pitching prospects, so I expect to be workikng with him a lot through the winter.

October 6, 1929
Cardinals (87-66) vs. Reds (67-86) -- Redland Field, 2:05 CT

It was a big day for me, getting my chance to start my first major league outing, even if it was against a mediocre Reds team in a completely meaningless game. My first batter faced, Ethan Allen, got a double off a line drive to center, when Douthit hit the cutoff man instead of going for second ... but I got him out moments later on a sac-bunt attempt by Hughie Cruz, and took Cruz out at second on a fielder’s choice to keep the game scoreless in the first. The strong defense from my infielders helped me get into a groove, and this game turned into a pitcher’s duel pretty quickly. I got into a hot spot in the bottom of the fifth, with runners on first and second with no outs, but I struck out Billy Jurges and Eppa Rixey swinging and Ethan Allen popped out to right to end the inning still scoreless for both teams. That’s when our offense unleashed ... in the top of the sixth, Douthit scored off an RBI double by Jim Bottomley, and then Charlie Gelbert hit a triple that drove home three runs! Andy High finished off the deluge with an RBI single, and just like that I came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning leading 5-0! In the bottom of the seventh with two outs they broke the shutout with an RBI double by Eppa Rixey, and a single by Ethan Allen cut the lead to three. That’s when I started to sweat, with Berly warming in the pen ... they got a third run across moments later, but I got the out to get us into the eighth still leading 5-3, and I knew that was it for me today. But we picked up two more runs in the top of the eighth and Berly got cold, so I went out long enough to get one out in the bottom of the eighth at which point he took over. He got us through the inning with just one run scoring against us, and Fred Frankhouse took over in the bottom of the ninth, and he got us through the rest to finish the 7-4 victory!

I earned my first major league win, pitching 7.1 innings with eight hits, a walk, two strikeouts and three earned runs, giving me a 4.86 ERA through 16.2 innings this September. Not a bad start to my career, though I know I have plenty of work to do if I’m going to be able to handle a full season of this and still produce at a solid level. We finished the season at 88-66, and though it is a disappointment not to be heading for the World Series as a team, even a few weeks at the top has shown me what a great team our owner has been building for us. I think they’ll have a hard time keeping us out of the Series next year.

 
I celebrated the end of the season by buying a used Ford Model A and, with Jack Berly and Paul Derringer we made the drive to Philadelphia to catch the first two games of the World Series, between the Athletics, who had won 97 games, and the Robins, who had won the National League pennant with 93 wins. The Robins lost game one 6-1, as Philly’s Al Simmons and Bing Miller each homered while Brooklyn ace Watty Clark gave up all six runs in a brutal performance. But on the 10th, Brooklyn evened the series, Dazzy Vance pitching a complete game 11-hitter with three strikeouts and two runs (only one earned) as the Robins hit back 7-2, Babe Herman going 3-4 with a walk, two runs and four RBIs. It was a great time had by all ... I’d never been to Philadelphia before, having spent most of my time with the team playing at Sportsmans Park, and it was great to spend time seeing the sights while building up a rapport with players in my situation, just finding our way in the big leagues.

We drove back to St. Louis slowly, stopping at a speakeasy outside Cincinnati on the 12th to listen to game three on the radio while drinking skunky beers ... I’ll be glad if we can ever get this prohibition thing to come to an end, but we’d heard about this place from some guys on the Reds, so we knew nobody was going to hassle us. Brooklyn lost a game three shootout 8-7, getting outhit 14-10 as Rube Bessler went 3-4 with a run and five RBIs, including two that came off a two-run blast in the fourth. We made it back home the next day in time to catch game four, as Brooklyn nearly choked it away in the final inning but escaped with a 7-6 win to tie things up two games to two. Val Picinich had three hits for two runs and two batted in, and Doug McWeeny pitched 7.1 innings with just five hits, three walks, four strikeouts and an earned run -- though their bullpen stopper, Cy Moore, gave up five runs (three earned) to damned near blow the whole thing. They then took the series’ lead in game five, blasting the Athletics 9-2, an excellent hitting performance that saw four players with two hits each (and five runs and eight RBIs between them). That sent the series back to Philly for a potentially decisive game six if the Robins could pull it off!

Most of the team got together at a local restaurant to listen to game six, which saw Brooklyn overcoming a 3-1 deficit after four innings to end up forcing extras! Tied up 5-5 after nine innings, what should have been a complete game 10-hitter for Dazzy Vance, they wound up having to bring out closer Johnny Morrison from the pen to handle the additional baseball action. In the bottom of the 11th, with two outs and Max Bishop on first due to an E4 error, Al Simmons hit a run scoring double to walk it off as the Athletics evened the series to three games each.

There would be a game seven, and though all of us wished we were the team playing it, nobody wanted Philly to win it ... we all hate the American League and would relish if the National League could win every World Series.

Game seven featured Brooklyn’s Jumbo Elliott, a 12-game winner with a 5.26 ERA, going up against Philly’s George “Moose” Earnshaw, who won 15 of his starts with a 4.21 ERA and 123 strikeouts. The radio broadcast said Shibe Park was a total madhouse, as thousands had to be turned away at the gates due to the fire marshal insisting the stadium was too far over capacity as it was. Brooklyn hit them hard in the top of the third, getting on the board with a two-run homer by Babe Herman, adding on with an RBI triple, an error and an RBI single to lead 5-0! The Athletics got a run each in the fourth and sixth, but Brooklyn got them both back in the top of the seventh thanks to a two-run homer by Val Picinich to lead 7-2 heading into the stretch. But Brooklyn choked once again ... the Athletics picked up three runs each in the seventh and ninth innings, tying the score at 8-all as the game went into extras, with both teams at 13 hits apiece, and despite the Athletics’ two errors in the game. Babe Herman put up a heroic effort, hitting an RBI single at a critical moment in the top of the tenth for the lead, but in the bottom of the inning with one out and two men on, Al Simmons scored the tying run off a double by Bing Miller, and with runners on the corners moments later Homer Summa, a pinch hitter who had just 21 hits all season, earned his place in World Series lore when he hit a line drive into left, walking this one off with a single. Robins lose this one in a heartbreaker, 10-9.

The Robins walked Jimmie Foxx four times to tie the AL playoff record for bases on balls, and he scored three times off those, never getting a hit. Herman and Picinich did their part with two runs off each man’s dinger, but as they proved several times in this series the Athletics are just a really difficult team to stop in a shootout. Philly left fielder Al Simmons won the World Series MVP award in the 27-year-old’s first playoff run, getting 17 hits in 31 at-bats for a .548 average, knocking in two doubles and a homer for six runs batted in. He hit .387 this year with 53 doubles and 23 homers, and his performance in the series should get him on some MVP ballots I’d bet.


A couple weeks passed after the end of the series, before I got called into Helmut Fischer’s office on October 30th. He told me he’d decided to give me a raise to $3,500 for the coming season, an increase from the league minimum $3,000 I earned because I got called up from the minors in September. And I’m grateful to get it, because there’s a lot of fear going around about the state of our nation’s economy. The stock market has plummeted several times over the last week, and it sems like every day we’re hearing about another bank failing. I’ve been lucky so far that the bank here in St. Louis that the team works with has stayed above water ... I’m told Fischer owns it, and he’s not a “cut and run with all the money” kind of guy, so I’m not too worried, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to get a pay raise for just 16.1 innings of work.

But he said it was my whole season that won him over:

MLB -- 1-0, 4.86 ERA, 16.2 IP ... 20 hits, a homer, six walks and three strikeouts
AAA -- 6-1, 2.47 ERA, 51.0 IP ... 49 hits, a homer, 18 walks and 23 strikeouts
AA -- 8-12, 3.34 ERA, 156.1 IP ... 174 hits, seven homers, 53 walks and 66 strikeouts

“You’re the top prospect in the league now for a reason, Jochen, and we’re going to make you put in the work like one this offseason,” he told me. “I want you to work this winter with our new pitching coach, Cy Young, to get yourself better control over your arsenal. You’re already good at avoiding giving up homers, but you walk too many batters and don’t strike out enough. I want you pitching deep into games, and if you hand out walks, you won’t make it far.”

I’m definitely ready for the challenge. He didn’t say anything about whether I’ll be up at the major league level in the spring ... I suppose it’s meant to be the carrot I spend the winter working toward, knowing that top prospect or not there’s always someone else ready to take your spot if you don’t earn it.