Part 13 – Five-Tool Stars and Middle America Baseball
Artie Wilson had come from the Yankees to the Giants as a minor leaguer in the Johnny Mize trade. The Giants, who had that great pennant winning game before a thrilling comeback against the Yankees in the World Series, had sent the infielder to St. Louis in exchange for reserve outfield help early in ’51 and the Cardinals had penciled in at third, where he could hit for a decent average and not have to range as far as he would at short. Wilson is remembered for hitting for a good average and playing all four infield positions, but otherwise as one of those players Busch was using to integrate his club and yet build around a white superstar.
St. Louis’ new superstar’s name was Mickey Mantle.
They signed him after seeing him in a summer league days after his graduation.(1) Mantle and his family had been Cardinal fans, and while the Yankees had interest, the Cardinals had known about him first. Their scout had chosen to wait till after he graduated, but Busch’s front office people said to get him – they knew he was a switch hitter and had real power.(2) Plus, he was much more insistent on getting such a star than others might have been.
Mantle was up and down in ’51 but soon Musial could go to first full time, with Pennington as the fourth outfielder and Joe Black as a surprisingly really good starter and reliever on that Cardinals club, though they signed Satchel Paige in ’51 as well as a mop-up man not knowing he’d have a very good 1952, also.
Interestingly, were it not for this deal, Busch’s GM was looking at another one – the White Sox got Minnie Minoso from the Indians, but the Cardinals had him on their radar, too. As it was, the ’50-‘51 White Sox would continue dealing after the Jethroe trade to New York.
“It just happened to work well and give us just enough to be real close, till Wally Westlake’s 3 RBIs for Cleveland beat us in that playoff game in 1953,” one Chicago player later said. “Frank Lane sometimes made trades just to make them.” One of the White Sox’s black players who helped them stay ahead of quite a few other teams was Wilmer “Red” Fields. Fields, part of the outfield rotation in 1954 after a down year in ’53 –as Sam Mele was traded in yet another of Frank Lane’s many trades – helped the ’54 White Sox finaly get over the hump and win the pennant after two straight by Cleveland.(3) The Indians had won the World Series in ’53 as well, and would come within a game of the ’56 pennant, losing to the Red Sox.
Boston’s Red Sox had their own five-tool star. A man John Quinn insisted on signing. When he brought manage Casey Stengel out to see him as the team had an off day June 13 of 1953, Stengel’s first reaction was, ‘That kid’s got the quickest wrists I ever saw, and he don’t even hold the bat right. We gotta teach him to hold the bat right and he might really be something!” Stengel elicited from the playher a promise – if they signed him - after their class C season in Eau Claire to sharpen his skills in “Puerto Rico or someplace where you can get better practice batting. You’re something else now but you’ll really be something else then.” Quinn also hatched a plan to keep the Birmingham AA franchise in the Southern Association to keep the man away from the draft in a year or two by saying they were going to integrate it with him.
The man’s name was Hank Aaron.(4) He wasn’t thrilled about possibly having to play in Louisville, but it was relatively north, and other players had skipped leagues. Single-A Albany looked good for 1953, at least, and he figured if he did well enough, like Willie Mays, he might not spend much time in AAA.
Tom Yawkey was hesitant to spend the extra money, but a few things pushed him. First, he was bidding against the Giants. Second, Quinn and Stengel had given glowing reports; Quinn had pulled out all the stops on a man he thought was worth $100,000. And, he knew his club was getting old in places. While he wasn’t thrilled, he’d given his word that – if it was a “can’t miss” player – he’d trust his baseball people. He just planned to keep the number of black players for down – others could be traded. Indeed, at times where was a shuttle between Fields and Brown in the minors in ’48 and ‘49, or Marv Williams was sent down if Fields was needed.
“Quinn may have really been on the hot seat if Aaron hadn’t panned out, but [the owner] had been influenced by the right baseball men to someone they thought could be a star and then take the spotlight off of himself; Yawkey didn’t want to be the one asked all the questions That’s what he loved about Casey; Stengel was a very cerebral manager – Boston’s media enjoyed him because it took them a while to unpack everything Stengel said, especially when he rambled, but he was usually right,” one Boston writer said later of that era.
He later wrote of a different aspect of that era.
“Ted Williams trade rumors were still around, and Yawkey wondered, what if he traded a few younger players – including Bill Bruton, who was much faster, for Williams? Casey had worked this youngster, Whitey Ford, mostly on the road after aa few disasters in Fenway in 1950. He thought it was just rookie jitters, but it was just as bad in ’53, if not worse, after his 2 years of military service. George Kell had a good year or two left after ’53, but it looked like the deal might get done after all, and someone else could get Kell and help out in case New York wanted to ship some of the black players out.” That someone would be the White Sox.
As one New York writer famously put it, “Williams’ hitting counts as two tools from a normal person.” Williams was a fan favorite, but he’d gotten on fans for booing him if he didn’t hit, and while he hadn’t totally been blamed for the ’51 loss, he had been for 1946, and while he’d hit better in the ’51 Series, some said a faster outfielder would have kept that third run from scoring on Willard Brown’s double or even caught it, though it would have required just the right placement.
“Stengel had ridden Parnell hard in ’49 along with Reynolds and Raschii because they hadn’t had a lot of depth, and Parnell did well, winning25 games. Still, Spec Shea had numerous arm troubles, so once Ford came up in ’50, and again in ’53, he’d begun to be more careful with all the hurlers, use them more in relief and such if it was a bad matchup for them. I guess you could say there was method to his madness – but, that’s why he gets called the ‘Nutty Professor’ at times, when others would have just ridden that foursome of Reynolds, Parnell, Raschii, and Shea a lot harder – but maybe worn their arms out earlier. Shea was still a competent reliever, though in the back of the bullpen, in ‘56,” that same writer said.
If the trade was going to get done, it would be in ’53 – Ford was back from the war but not doing well in Fenway. Parnell helped him some – he himself had said the short left-field wall looked really daunting, being so high – but this was more of a difference in pitching styles.
“There was so much going on in Boston,” one writer noted, “even with the middle of the country having such good baseball for a while. Williams for Bruton, Ford, and some others sounded like a good deal – the question had been how many years did he have left himself, now he wasn’t going to retire in ’54 like he talked about, he told Yankee brass he was going to, but that if they could arrange a trade to a place he like better, he would stay.”(5) Williams had struggled to stay above .280 for a couple months and finish only at .308 in ’51, a year after his broken arm, so trade rumors as well as retirement ones had been there for a while.(6)
If the Yankees got Bruton, it’d give them two black starters, with Elston Howard a full-time starter in ’54. George Weiss didn’t mind too much, but he considered that he might get Boston to take a back player in a trade – the Athletics wanted Vic Power, but would Boston take him?
No, it wasn’t likely. Boston, too, wanted black players who “didn’t make waves,” as Weiss put it. Never mind that Weiss himself was on thin ice for not winning a World Series yet. He had found some good players. Besides, he had a plan to possibly get the Milwaukee AAA franchise from the Red Sox for the ’54 season in exchange for their own, and now if he could get Arnold Johnson of Chicago to buy the Athletics, he could then get Milwaukee as sort of a pipeline for the Yankees.
There were plenty of other suitors for the Athletics, though, including the Carpenter family of DuPont Industries fame and even Bill Veeck.
Veeck had been hunting for a club to buy. Grace Comiskey was an older woman and doing okay as owner, and Veeck, tired of waiting after having sold his Indians after 1949 to pay for his divorce, chose to help his native Chicago. When Chuck Comiskey resigned in a huff as team president in January of 1952, Veeck offered himself for the position for even less pay but a small share of the club. When Comiskey came back in June after his media endeavor went bankrupt, Veeck gave him a part-time job and began discussions on how he could buy the team if the kids couldn’t agree – and it was looking like they might have trouble.
He’d encouraged Mrs. Comiskey about building up a good roster. He didn’t like Frank Lane’s constant trading, and meddled some, like getting George Kell before the ‘54 season in that trade with New York and Boston and signing Satchel Paige – though Paige was released at the end of spring training. He planned to build an exploding scoreboard as well, and he could become sole owner once she died.
However, he was getting flak from other Comiskeys. If he sold his share back to them, he could buy the Athletics – so he told President Harridge his plans, and that he’d sell his share if he could get enough money along with that to buy them.(7)
While this went on, Weiss – whose Yankees had slipped since losing the World Series to 4th at 82-72 in ’52, then only two games better and still in 4th in ’53 – decided that, while he had the chance, he needed to trade Williams, who was becoming unhappy as a Yankee. Williams was back from Korea, anxiouis to play several more years, and so had m ore value than he would anytime later in his career.
Whitey Ford – who looked marvelous on the road – Bil Bruton, and Bob Cerv – to replace Williams and Dom DiMaggio – were the keys. Elston Howard could move to catcher to back up Sammy White or stay in the outfield if Jackie Jensen’s offense didn’t pick up like it had in ’52; it would, though. Someone could be moved to first if need be. Weiss did guess right that Collins was a year away from really getting old – he had one more good year at first and that would be it. And, Johnny Mize was retiring, too, though when the Giants were in first in July they coaxed him out of it since he really wanted that Series ring – he’d get a few at bats and then get a ring as a coach mostly.
However, a fourth team was also needed. Boston wanted to give the Yankees Wes Covington, so New York took him and sent him to the N.L.’s Angels for Bob Boyd, and then sent Boyd to Boston for Dick Gernert, hoping he could play first if Moose Skowron didn’t work out. Boston planned on Boyd as a stopgap for Harry Agganis and a good pinch-hitter, though he’d have to play first full time again after the young star’s tragic death in 1955.
Elston Howard, upon learning of this trade, joked, “I’ll learn to play first now, too – maybe I can be a backup everywhere.” Although Gernert would also be traded, it would be because Moose Skowron was up part time in ’54 and full time in ’55, Howard would still spell all 3 outfielders in ’54 and ‘55as well as Sammy White, then be the full-time starting catcher by 1956. Other minor leaguers were also involved, mostly coming to Boston, though some to the others, too.
Thus, while the Yankees would have an outfield of Bruton, Jensen, and Cerv for ’54, with several other men (and even Billy Goodman) spelling Bruton at times, the Red Sox had Williams, Bauer, and a man who by June had forced his way up from AAA Louisville and into the Red Sox’ starting lineup – Hank Aaron. They struggled for outfield depth but would have it by 1955 when they won their first of 2 straight pennants. Williams felt rejuvenated, and hit better than he had since ’49 the next couple full seasons before injuries hurt him in ’56.
Weiss’s Yankees would improve, but he was let go after 1955, as was the manager.
While Yogi Berra, the more established Boston star, won MVP honors in 1956, Hank Aaron finished 2nd, and won Series MVP award in 1956 when he hit .400 while the rest of the club hit only about ..250.(8) Aaron would capture MVP honor in 1957, then, as the Red Sox were only a game behind the pennant-winning White Sox at the end. Williams hit .400 on the nose in ’57, because Aaron was often hitting behind him, but Williams missed quite a few games, especially in early September, and barely qualified for the battle crown. Plus, he'd already won three MVP awards.(9) He kept touting Aaron, in fact, though Aaron was very modest about whether he deserved such an award
Instead, Hank Aaron had his eyes set on records if he could make them. Aaron won a Triple Crown in 1959 – he hit .368, with Tito Francona his main challenger in batting average in the upper .350s.(10) Some started saying he could break Tris Speaker’s all-time record for hits, though few wanted to admit it(11). That same year, Williams had his worst year, and Red Sox fans had begun to embrace Aaron, though they realy loved the job Teddy Ballgame was doing, but were glad that Aaron gave proper due to Williams as aa hitter. It was often said that, “Aaron is remembered for the career, Williams for the moments – that .400 in ’57, or the home run in his last at bat of his career in ’60. Aaron was just let him soak in the fame.”
In 1958, New York finally won their first World Series since 1936 with a somewhat more integrated team. Elston Howard even won the 1958 A.L. MVP with his second highest batting average - .327 – and second highest home run total – 21 – along with being the clear team leader in the outfield and at catcher, where he played most of the time.(12)
“Some thought Bob Cerv should win(13),” one scribe noted, “and he had a very good year. Yankees finished in the top three, and they swept Pittsburgh, after losing a close race the year before where any of three teams could have won with breaks. But, Howard was a catcher, and with Campanella’s 3 in the early to middle ‘50s and Berra’s in 51, ’55, and ’56 – and a close loss to Minoso in ’54 – there was this string of love for catchers and how they handled pitchers as part of the equation.”
Veeck’s work on the White Sox would result in a new GM by ’54, one determined to keep the team intact after winning the pennant. “They were been allowed to get old,” one writer noted, “Connie Johnson and George Kell weren’t traded for younger talent like some might have – but then who knows what Frank Lane would have done. Instead, they were kept and prospects were sent for pitcher Jim Wilson, who wound up with Billy Pierce, Dick Donovan, and Johnson in an excellent pitching staff that played a great 7-gme Series against Mantle’s Cardinals in 1957 before losing.” It hadn’t been the first club with more than half a dozen black players on their roster, but Veeck’s influence certainly helped. Grace Comiskey had died, and he’d bought out the others’ shares bit by bit as they haggled over the will. Veeck was still a showman, but he didn’t have to be as big of a one. Chicaago’s 2 pennants in the ‘50s, Boston’s 3, New York’s 2, and Cleveland’s 3 meant it was a very good year for balnce among the top 4 teams, anyway, in the American League, and for baseball in Middle America joining the East Coast as a special place for the game.
Of course, Cleveland’s pennant in ‘59(14) was followed by more East Coast drama, as Kansas City fans were forced to lament the Yankees pulling the strings on a deal for the MVP of the next 2 years, Roger Maris, in the middle of the 1958 season once it became apparent that Jackie Jensen was having trouble dealing with air travel; he had an immense fear of flying, and Maris was available from the Indians. He also led them to a pennant in 1960 before losing the World Series. It would be part of how Kansas City fans grew to hate the Yankees for quite a while.(15)
This was especially when tutoring helped to improve his swing and give him a magical season that – while it didn’t quite get them the pennant – did give him admiration and applause from Yankee fans throughout the season as he chansed a record held by the hated Giants. While some fans disliked his breaking Babe Ruth’s home run mark, Yankee fans saw it as finally getting their moment in the sun.(16)
However, Boston was aging, and it would be 1967 when they would win another pennant, losing the pennant to the Cardinals. The world of baseball had changed greatly by then. Because, the greed of one man finally brought baseball back to one city and caused a chain reaction of events that would expand the season to 162 games and cement legacies while starting new ones.
-------------------------------------------------
(1) The Cardinals knew about Mantle first OTL. Yankee scout Tom Greenwade wasn’t totally sold on Mantle at first, as shown here.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-convinced-of-mickey-mantles-future-greatness Johnny Sturm asked him to come see him a second time and Greenwade didn’t recall him; Sturm had played for the Yankees in 1941. He wouldn’t have been on the Red Sox – they still had Jimmie Foxx. It’s unknown if he was signed by Barrow’s scouts, but Sturm was from St. Louis, and it’s also possible that the inclusion of Johnny Hopp in a trade - so Stan Musial could eventually play first full-time – means Sturm is acquired by the Cardinals in ’41. Needless to say, there are several ways the Cardinals could get Mantle TTL given that things are different than OTL.
(2) One article notes that the scout who signed him OTL didn’t know he was a switch-hitter till the second time he saw him, and that’s partly what sold him on Mantle. It’s not just a less aggressive Greenwade – Busch is pouring money into this club, but Fred Saigh wasn’t as much OTL when Mangle turned 18. His scouts would look harder. They could sign Mantle days after his graduation versus the day he graduated; and it could even be the day of if need be.
(3) TTL, the Indians haven’t been in second three straight years, so they don’t feel the need to focus their best pitchers on the worst teams in an effort to win the pennant after 5 straight Yankee wins. Their manager, of course, could be different since Al Lopez stays with Pittsburgh so is never with the Browns to be sent to Cleveland as he was OTL, but he was back with a Pirates’ minor league club in 1948 so likely still comes to Cleveland. The White Sox’s Pythagorean Win total was 98 OTL, with the Indians at 101.
(4) With the OTL Braves in San Francisco, they have the San Jose team, so Boston uses Eau Claire. Quinn had the idea of telling the draft board they might be ready to integrate with Aaron in Atlanta even though they didn’t, so since Birmingham is a Red Sox club in ’52, it doesn’t go to being a Yankee club like it did starting in ’53, when Boston had no Double-A club for a while, just the American Association Louisville AAA club.
(5) OTL, Williams did retire for a time in 1954 but called it off. Here, while it’s not as spacious as OTL’s Old Yankee Stadium, it is bigger than Fenway in left, and the press a bit worse. He first pondered it after 1950’s broken arm and injuries in ’51, so with that and likely his first divorce happening earlier TTL, if he marries the same person, he likely announces ’54 will be his last year even before ’53 ends. OTL he sat out the first weeks of ’55 before being lured out of retirement, but in a new city here he chooses not to.
(6) Even OTL, they swirled some, with Williams for Joe DiMaggio perhaps invented but when the Red Sox didn’t repeat, after the team was built up to be so good, there were rumblings. Here things \get worse, and it’s easy to imagine some saying he’s starting to get washed up. Boston’s Park Factor is a lot more favorable to hitters in the 1949-1955 era than it was the late ‘30s and early ‘40s, where it wasn’t much better than Yankee Stadium overall, though Fenway is more favorable for DiMaggio because he’s lefthanded.
(7) TTL he’s not in hot water over the wild schemes of the St. Louis Browns. He has a moderately successful franchise he is helping with which had over 1 million in attendance, 3rd OTL though likely 4th here behind Boston as well.
(8) The Braves had a similar series in ’57 against the Yankees; with Boston getting older, at it being Rizzzuto’s last year, it’s very plausible that Aaron would have this kind of year. The Yankees probably would fire Weiss if they didn’t have the success expected- this is still a very tough town to come up short in.
(9) OTL Williams won in ’46 (they won the pennant) and ’49 (close but DiMaggio played far fewer games) – here, he gets New York media voting more for him so that narrow loss in ’47 is a win, he still takes the Triple Crown. Meanwhile, Aaron likely hits about .340-.345 with 47-49 home runs and over 150 RBIs, given he had 132 OTL and would have Williams hitting ahead and walking a lot. He also wins MVP in ’59 as you’ll see.
(10) The White Sox, having just won the pennant, refuse to make the Early Wynn and Al Smith for Minnie Minoso deal, so Francona gets a few more at bats that Minoso would have gotten, with Smith getting the rest; enough to just qualify for the batting crown, though not as high as .363 – and Aaron hits about 15 points higher than OTL in Fenway anyway. Even OTL’s totals would be good enough in 2 areas, and he’d easily get 3 more home runs batting in Fenway Park half his time, rather than County Stadium in Milwaukee.
(11) Speaker is the leder without Cobb. Without the gambling thing forcing him away from Cleveland, he might play some more there and in ’28, so give him 25-30 more hits, but he still hits .345 with about 3550 hits. If you’re wondering about Joe Jackson, OTL he had just over 1700 hits and while playing in Boston helps, he was 32 in 1920, a year older than Speaker, and even figuring the lively ball era and Fenway boost his stats some, he’d still suffer a decline, too, and Speaker was lucky not to have many injuries. Jackson likely has in the 3200-3300 range in hits with perhaps a .350 career average, second only to Rogers Hornsby all time.
As for Reds fans – sorry, I did consider Aaron for the Reds but I have plans to get Frank Robinson to the Reds in time for 1961 anyway, involving something similar to an OTL incident, and also, I put Babe Ruth on the Reds in my timeline “Bit Win for the Little Guy,” so it’s sort of been done, though with the Bambino being the Reds’ superstar instead.
(12) Howard isn’t blocked by Berra and the Yankee outfielders of OTL, of course. 1958, is a likely year for him to win; Jackie Jensen (who started with the Yankees even OTL) is still pretty good but didn’t have as good of a season even OTL as other candidates, even with Fenway as a home park. And, it’s easier for voters to give the MVP to Howard – who has at least fifty percent more at bats TTL in 1958 – than a pitcher, Bob Turley, though Turley is likely second. Jensen won MVP OTL with Boston, but after a string of 4 Yankees voters likely wanted to give it to someone different OTL. Howard’s counting numbers would show a career year, plus Jensen would start dealing with his fear of flying by this time, forcing the Yankees to make a much more even trade than OTL for a rightfielder named Roger Maris during the season.
(13) He had a very good year OTL for Kansas City.
(14) Early Wynn doesn’t beat them in a few close games – he was 5-1 against them after being traded 2 years earlier – and Al Smith and 100 more Francona at bats, plus perhaps a different centerfielder help make up for Minoso not being there. However, also, Gil McDougald is with San Francisco, being from out west, so there is no line drive to hit Herb Score TTL. While his elbow also played a key role in his downfall, he was okay the 1st half and when he slips more in the 2nd half Gary Bell can simply enter the rotation to replace him rather than have to be a starter from the beginning. So, Chicago has 1-2 less wins, but Cleveland has about 5 more, just enough to barely win the pennant.
(15) No Arnold Johnson controlling the Kansas City A’s here, though; just the same frustration of OTL’s late ‘70s and barely missing out on a couple pennants.
(16) No Mantle or a few others (or Berra, who had a decent year yet) means Detroit overtakes them for the pennant. No, he doesn’t have Mantle to protect him in the lineup, but with Ruth not being the Yankees’ darling, New York media can at least sell it as one shining moment for the team that still seems to be a bit of a second banana in New York. Plus, the fans will be much more behind him, which will mean a lot. Actually, Foxx or Greenberg, with a couple breaks, probably tied it anyway, and the Babe may have only had 59 in 1927 in a different park. But, the big thing here is, less pressure balances things out.
Besides, OTL the Yankees’ 154th game was in Baltimore, and he had 3 balls crushed, 2 of which were held up by8 the wind or he’d have had 61 that day. Here… you’ll see.