HOME OF THE BROWNS AND CARDINALS AT GRAND AND DODIER

Cardinals batters popped out so much in the game.? Both notched complete games.9 Spahn, EARNS 20TH WIN WITH Spahn retired the next two hitters and stranded using only 95 pitches, allowed just one , and he Diering at second. That was the farthest a St. Louis walked one while striking out two. Brazle scattered ONE-HITTER IN RARE DAY-NIGHT, batter would get, as the left-hander pitched with pre- nine hits and three walks. The 37-year-old St. Louis THREE-TEAM cision and efficiency. left-hander struck out eight batters, including After the improbable first inning, Brazle also Torgeson four times. settled into a routine. He retired rz Braves in a row Spahn reached the zo-win plateau for the third Braves 2, September 13, 1951: Boston before Willard Marshall singled in an unusual fifth straight season and fourth time in his career.'° He St. Louis Cardinals 0, at Sportsman's Park inning that featured four straight hits by the Braves joined Maglie as the only pitchers but no runs. On Roy Hartsfield's single, Marshall at this point of the season with zo wins." Spahn's ac- BY MICHAEL HUBER tried for third but was gunned down by Cardinals complishment was the r3th one-hitter of the season. center fielder Diering. With two outs, Spahn singled, After the game he told reporters about the experi- N SEPTEMBER 13, 1951, hits and two walks figured in the Cardinals' splurge" putting runners at first and second. Sisti followed ence. "This is the one I wanted. I wasn't thinking in Sportsman's Park hosted an extremely against Maglie and reliever Monty Kennedy.5 Harry with the fourth consecutive single of the inning. terms of a no-hitter. I just wanted the 20th. Even rare event: a three-team doublehead- Walker, batting seventh in the St. Louis lineup, went However, Hartsfield fell rounding third base and when I was warming up, I felt as though I had it."'2 er. In the first game, the third-place 3-for-4 with a scored and a to lead Spahn, who had rounded second base too far, was For the season, 1951 featured four no-hitters: the 0 his team. Cardinals defeated the second-place New York tagged out at second before diving back to the base. ' Cliff Chambers (versus the Braves, Giants, 6-4. In the second game, the Boston Braves' At night, St. Louis sent to the mound to Four straight hits but no runs for the Braves. May 6), the ' (versus the Warren Spahn pitched a masterful one-hitter as the battle Boston's Spahn. Brazle had a rough start, yield- After Diering's walk in the third inning, Spahn Detroit Tigers, July —his third career no-hitter), Braves blanked the Cardinals, z-o. ing singles to Sibby Sisti and to start retired To batters in a row. But with one out in the and two by the ' Allie Reynolds This was the first time since June 25,1899, that a the game. Then, in what should have been the start sixth his no-hitter was broken up by, of all people, (versus the Cleveland Indians, July tz, and the Boston team had played two different rivals on the same day.' of a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out play, Earl his mound opponent. Jack Barry of the Boston Globe Red Sox, September 28). The Cardinals-Giants game scheduled for September Torgeson struck out. Jethroe was caught off first base wrote that "a soft hump-backed liner off the bat of With the conclusion of the unique three-team tz — the Giants' last scheduled game at Sportsman's but 's throw went past Alpha Brazle ... kept the Braves' Warren Spahn from doubleheader, the Cardinals had a record of 73-66. Park in r951 — had been rained out. The 13th had into right field. Sisti scored an unearned baseball glory tonight."' Brazle was stranded when The Giants fell to 84-57 and the loss dropped them originally been an open date for the Cardinals, but run on Rice's throwing error and Jethroe ended up the next two batters were retired, and Spahn finished to six games behind the league-leading the club had filled it by rescheduling a rained-out on third base. Cleanup batter Bob Elliott then hit the game by retiring II straight Cardinals. Dodgers. However, the Giants went 14-2 to close the game against the Braves. Horace Stoneham, owner a sharp grounder to second, and Brazle kept the Braves in check until the top of season, clinching the 1951 National League crown on of the Giants, objected to the unusual doubleheader, threw to Rice at home, nailing Jethroe at the plate. the ninth. With one out, former Cardinals catcher Bobby Thomson's legendary walk-off off but , the National League president, "gave Sid Gordon flied out to center field, and the wild first doubled and moved to third on a the Dodgers' Ralph Branca.13 Brazle and St. Louis his blessing to the arrangement because no other date frame had the Braves on top, i-o. groundout by Marshall. Hartsfield was intention- finished the season in third place and Spahn and the was available"2 to fit the New York-St. Louis game With the one-run cushion, Spahn set down the ally walked, bringing Spahn to the plate. The Braves' Braves ended in fourth. to into the two teams' schedules. So "novel scheduling"3 first six batters he faced. Chuck Diering walked hero singled to center, bringing home Cooper with ad- meant that the Cardinals hosted the Giants in the lead off the third inning for the Redbirds. He the Braves' second run. Spahn took the mound and The author thanks Lisa Tuite from the Boston Rice afternoon before 4,160 fans. The Cardinals-Braves vanced to second on a wild pitch by Spahn. retired the Cardinals in order in the bottom of the Globe for her valued assistance with sources. caromed game, played under the lights, brought a mere 4,706 sent a hard line drive up the middle that ninth, completing the one-hitter as Boston pre- the spectators to Sportsman's Park. off Spahn's pitching hand, but the snared vailed z-o. NOTES Torgeson for the out; In the afternoon opener, led the ball and threw to first baseman Facing only 2,9 batters, Spahn took just one hour According to Baseball-Reference.com, the National League's nger Giants' cause with a 3-for-3 day at the plate, scoring Diering remained at second base. Spahn's ring fi and 48 minutes to defeat the Cards and earn his 20th St. Louis Perfectos played the New York Giants in Game One "Oddly and the Cleveland Spiders in Game Two on June 25,1899. The two runs and driving in three, but it wasn't enough got the worst of it, but he shrugged it off. victory of the season. He helped his own cause with game.' Perfectos lost both games. as St. Louis prevailed, 6-4. The Cardinals had a bal- enough, it didn't bother me," he said after the a 2-for-3 performance plus a sacrifice and that RBI and it 2 Joseph M. Sheehan, "Cards Halt Polo Grounders, 6-4, Routing anced attack with six different batters driving in runs, "I hold it against my ball for my fast one — single for the insurance run in the ninth. Hartsfield threw Maglie in 6-Run Second," New York Times, September 14,1951. all in the second inning. The St. Louis lineup fea- was numb from the third inning on." Spahn and Sisti also recorded two hits each for Boston. tured seven left-handed batters in a row.4 New York's mostly fastballs in the game, mixing in an occasional 3 "Games of Thursday, September 13," The , September 26,1951. had won his previous five starts, but "six curve, and he said the numbness was the reason why