TIGERFAN'S SPORTING DAILY : WEDNESDAY APRIL 25, 1947
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
VETERAN MARTIN GIVES CARDS WIN IN 13 INNING MARATHON
In the late 1930's Stu Martin played a key role on 3 World Series winning St Louis Cardinals teams. However, he has spent most of the past 6 seasons in the minors and was actually released twice including once by the Cardinals in 1945. After the A's cut him lose last season St Louis resigned Martin to a minor league contract. He had a strong enough spring that the Cards decided to bring the 33 year old north at the conclusion of spring training.
That move paid huge dividends yesterday as Martin delivered his first major league RBI in nearly a year in a clutch situation. Martin's double in the bottom of the 13th inning scored Hoot Evers with the winning run in a 5-4 St Louis victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Earlier the Cards had rallied from a 4-2 deficiet and tied the game on a 2-out rbi single from Frank McCormick in the bottom of the ninth inning. Enos Slaughter had scored the tying run and also had a pair of rbi's in the game for St Louis. Bobby Estalella led the Phillies with 2 hits and 3 rbi's.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had another strong offensive day, scoring 7 runs on 11 hits, but this time it was not enough as the Bucs fell 8-7 in Brooklyn. Pee Wee Reeese led the Dodgers with 3 hits while Pete Reiser added a homerun. Neither starting pitcher survived long as Pirates hurler Ken Heintzelman was chased in the second after allowing 5 runs. Rex Barney gave up 5 earned runs in 4 innings for Brooklyn.
In other National League action rookie Earl Torgeson had 4 hits including a homerun and drove in all 3 runs as the Boston Braves topped the Reds in Cincinnati 3-1. Braves starter Warren Spahn allowed just 5 hits in 8 innings work for his first win of the season.
In New York, Phil Rizzuto drove in a pair of runs to lead visiting Chicago past the Giants 5-4. Giants shortstop Mickey Haslin hit a 3 run homer but that was one of the few mistakes Cub starter and winning pitcher Johnny Welch made in his 8 innings of work. After 4 years as a starter Hank Wyse moved to the Chicago bullpen this season and pitched a scoreless 9th inning for his first career save. Giants outfielder Mel Ott had one hit in the game to increase is career total to 2847, just two shy of Lou Gehrig for 19th alltime.
AMERICAN LEAGUE ROUNDUP
Is there no stopping the defending World Champions? Johnny Babich tossed a complete game 5-hitter as the Cleveland Indians beat Washington 7-1 to improve to 7-0 on the season. Third baseman Oscar Grimes paced the Indians attack with 2 hits and 3 rbi's while first baseman Mickey Rocco drove in a pair of runs. Babich improves his record to 2-0 with a 1.02 era.
Elsewhere the visiting Chicago White Sox scored once in each of the first three innings off of Detroit starter Virgil Trucks and that was enough to allow the Chisox to hang on for a 3-2 victory at Tiger Stadium. Dick Wakefield had 3 hits in a losing cause for the Tigers to improve his batting average to .458, second in the American League behind Tiger teammate Red Kress. Ferris Fain led the White Sox with a solo homer and an rbi double. Gene Schott is 2-0 after earning the win while White Sox closer George Maltzberger earned his 4th save of the young season.
The Red Sox woes continue as Boston fell to 1-6 with a 6-3 loss at Fenway against St Louis. Archie McKain became the first 3 game winner in the American League after pitching 8 innings and allowing 3 earned runs. McKain also helped his own cause with a pair of hits including a 2 run triple. Dom Dimaggio had 3 hits including his first homer of the season for the Red Sox.
In the other game the Yankees scored 6 runs in the final 3 innings at Philadelphia to rally past the Athletics 9-8. The Yankees hit 4 homeruns off of A's pitchers in the game including 3 against starter Les McCrabb. McCrabb was forced to leave the game in the 8th inning with back spasms.
Code:
AMERICAN W L PCT GB
CLEVELAND 7 0 1.000 x
CHICAGO 5 3 .625 2.5
ST LOUIS 6 4 .600 2.5
NEW YORK 4 5 .444 4.0
DETROIT 3 4 .429 4.0
WASHINGTON 3 5 .375 4.5
PHILADELPHIA 3 5 .375 4.5
BOSTON 1 6 .143 6.0
NATIONAL W L PCT GB
PITTSBURGH 7 3 .700 x
PHILADELPHIA 4 3 .571 1.5
ST LOUIS 5 4 .556 1.5
NEW YORK 4 4 .500 2.0
CINCINNATI 4 4 .500 2.0
BOSTON 3 5 .375 3.0
BROOKLYN 3 5 .375 3.0
CHICAGO 3 5 .375 3.0
TUESDAY'S RESULTS
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Chicago 3 Detroit 2
St Louis 6 Boston 3
New York 9 Philadelphia 8
Cleveland 7 Washington 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
St Louis 5 Philadelphia 4 (13 inn)
Brooklyn 8 Pittsburgh 7
Chicago 5 New York 4
Boston 3 Cincinnati 1
TODAY'S GAMES
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Chicago (F Biscan 0-2, 7.84) at Detroit (F Hutchinson 0-1, 3.63)
St Louis (A Williams 0-1, 2.40) at Boston (A Karl 0-1, 3.60)
New York (T Bonham 1-1, 2.00) at Philadelphia (F Caliguiri 1-0, 2.75)
Washington (J Haynes 1-0, 2.76) at Cleveland (B Lohrman 2-0, 0.53)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Philadelphia (H Mulcahy 0-1, 8.03) at St Louis (A Jurisch 1-1, 4.00)
Pittsburgh (P Roe 2-0, 3.86) at Brooklyn (L Webber 0-1, 11.81)
Boston (B Donovan 0-0,0.00) at Cincinnati (A Carter 1-1, 1.06)
Chicago (V Olsen 1-1, 2.37) at New York (D Koslo 0-1, 6.57)
Code:
AMERICAN LEAGUE LEADERS NATIONAL LEAGUE LEADERS
BATTING BATTING
R Kress Det .478 G Scharein STL .467
D Wakefield Det .458 P Reese Bkn .441
D Lodgiani Pha .440 R Kiner Pit .438
HOME RUNS HOME RUNS
F Crosetti NYY 4 A Vaughan Pit 4
T Williams Bos 3 C Workman Bsn 3
D Walker NYY 3 E Torgeson Bsn 3
RBI'S RBI'S
D Litwhiler Cha 12 A Vaughan Pit 16
P Cavaretta Wsh 9 B Elliott Pit 12
F Crosetti NYY 8 R Kiner Pit 12
WINS WINS
A McKain SLB 3-0 C Melton Pit 3-0
B Lohrman Cle 2-0 P Roe Pit 2-0
H White Det 2-0 C Schanz Phi 2-0
STRIKEOUTS STRIKEOUTS
A McKain SLB 13 E White StL 16
F Hutchinson Det 12 R Barney Bkn 15
T Baker SLB 12 W Spahn Bsn 14
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE AWARDS
RICHARD NAMED NHL MVP
On the strength of a league record 62 goal season, Maurice 'Rocket' Richard of the Montreal Canadiens has been named the National Hockey League's Most Valuable Player. For his 62 goal, 85 point effort this season Richard collects the first Hart Memorial Trophy of his career. He narrowly edged out Chicago scoring star Max Bentley and Toronto's Ted Kennedy for the award.
Bentley did not come away empty handed. In addition to winning his second straight NHL scoring title with 89 points, the Chicago center also was named the winner of the Lady Byng Trophy for gentelmanly play. Bentley had just 10 minutes in penalties this past season and wins the Byng for the second time in his career.
The Calder Memorial Trophy named after former league President Frank Calder was presented to Toronto winger Howie Meeker. The award is given annually to the top rookie. Meeker finished just ahead of teammate Vic Lynn with Detroit's Gordie Howe coming in third. Meeker topped all newcomers with 23 goals and played a key role in the Leafs march to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Vezina Trophy may need to be renamed the Durnan Award. Montreal goaltender Bill Durnan won it for the fourth straight season as he once again led all goaltenders in goals-against-average. Durnan played all 60 games between the pipes for the Habs and had a 2.19 gaa with 7 shutouts. Chuck Rayner of the Rangers and Detroit's Harry Lumley tied for second with a gaa of 2.46.
The NHL has announced a new trophy for next season. The scoring leader will now receive a trophy named after longtime Boston Bruin manager/coach Art Ross.
HART MEMORIAL TROPHY - Maurice Richard Montreal
SCORING LEADER - Max Bentley Chicago
VEZINA TROPHY - Bill Durnan Montreal
LADY BYNG TROPHY - Max Bentley Chicago
CALDER TROPHY - Howie Meeker Toronto
FIRST ALL-STAR TEAM
G Bill Durnan Montreal
D Bill Quakenbush Detroit
D Butch Bouchard Montreal
C Max Bentley Chicago
RW Maurice Richard Montreal
LW Toe Blake Montreal
SECOND ALL-STAR TEAM
G Chuck Rayner New York
D Kenny Reardon Montreal
D Pat Egan Boston
C Ted Kennedy Toronto
RW Grant Warwick New York
LW Ted Lindsay Detroit
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION FINALS
GAME 3 TONIGHT IN DALLAS
The Dallas Chaparrals look to do the same thing the Baltimore Bullets did Monday night - follow up a terrible outing with a dominating performance. After Dallas easily took the opener in the best of seven final 97-77, the Bullets humiliated the Chaps in Monday's second game.
The key for Dallas will be having the starters stay out of foul trouble. Rookie center John Layton was a force in game one, leading all scorers with 25 points and hauling in 11 rebounds. In game two, Layton got into foul trouble early and played just 18 minutes. As a result the Bullets controlled the boards, outrebounding Dallas 52-28 and dominating every facet of the game.
NBA FINALS
BALTIMORE BULLETS VS DALLAS CHAPARRALS
GAME 1 Sunday Apr 22 at Baltimore : Chaps 97-77
GAME 2 Monday Apr 23 at Baltimore : Bullets 130-78
GAME 3 tonight at Dallas
GAME 4 Friday Apr 27 at Dallas
GAME 5 Saturday Apr 28 at Dallas
GAME 6 Tuesday May 1 at Baltimore (if necessary)
GAME 7 Wednesday May 2 at Baltimore (if necessary)
GOLF
PGA TOUR LANDS IN NEW ORLEANS
After a week off following the Masters, the PGA tour heads to the Bayou this weekend for the New Orleans Invitational. The event will once again be held at the par 72 City Park Golf Club.
Here are the previous winners and runners-up of the event:
Code:
GREATER NEW ORLEANS OPEN INVITATIONAL
WINNER RUNNER-UP
1938 Harry Cooper 285 Harold McSpaden 289
1939 Henry Picard 284 Dick Metz 289
1940 Jimmy Demaret 286 Ralph Guldahl 287
Harold McSpaden
Sam Snead
1941 Henry Picard 276 Ben Hogan 278
1942 Lloyd Mangrum 281 Lawson Little 282
Sam Snead
1943 No Tournament
1944 Sammy Byrd 285 Byron Nelson 290
1945 Byron Nelson 284 Harold McSpaden 284
1946 Byron Nelson 277 Ben Hogan 282