1949 Cardinals vs Phillies and Athletics vs Senators

 My next two APBA baseball series I would like to recap come from the year 1949. This is the year that NATO was formed and we saw the rise of communist China and Mao Zedong rise to power. In baseball the Brooklyn Dodgers played against the New York Yankees in the world series.

I'm focusing on a national league matchup of the St. Louis Cardinals versus the Philadelphia Phillies using the Master Game.

GAME 1: Location Shibe Park, Philadelphia PA.

This game turned out to be a pitchers duel between Howie Pollet for the visiting Cardinals and Russ Meyer from the Fightin Phillies. St Louis scored 3 in the first and 1 in the seventh which accounted for all the scoring. The Phillies were only able to get two base runners on singles from Richie Ashburn and Eddie Miller. Pollet hurled a 2 hit shutout while fanning 5. Stan Musial drove in the first run with a double which plated Red Schoendienst who had walked to leadoff the game.Final 4 - 0 Cardinals.

GAME 2: Location Sportsman's Park, St. Louis MO.

This game turns out to be another shutout. This time it is the Phillies pitching combination of Ken Heintzelman seven innings and Jim Konstanty finishing the final two innings. For the visiting Phillies Andy Seminick homered and walked three times. The Phillies racked up 12 hits on their way to a 5 to 0 win. They held Stan the Man hitless in four at bats. A rare play occurred when Buddy Blattner for the Phillies misses third when trying to score and he was out on the appeal. Final 5 - 0 Phillies

GAME 3: Location Shibe Park, Philadelphia PA.

Another pitchers duel between Al Brazle of St Louis and Robin Roberts of Philadelphia. Roberts only gave up two hits but ended up losing the game. The Cardinals' first run came on a Nippy Jones solo homerun in the 5th. Two innings later Enos Slaughter came home on a Sac Fly by Eddie Kazak. the Philllies scored their only run on back to back doubles in the 9th. Final 2 - 1 Cardinals

In the series Musial was 1 for 10. I just can't roll for that guy.

My next 1949 series was an American League tilt between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators using the basic game.

GAME 1: Location Griffith Stadium, Washington DC

This was all the visting team from Philadelphia with Alex Kellner hurling a 2 hit shutout. It was a close game for 8 innings with the Athletics scoring single runs in the 3rd and the 6th. But in the ninth off reliever Dick Welteroth the Atheletics scored four times to make it 6 - 0. The Athletics banged out 12 hits and Wally Moses drove in 3 for the game. Final 6 - 0 Athletics

GAME 2: Location Shibe Park, Philadelphia PA

Another spectacular pitching performance but this time by Sid Hudson of the Senators who only gave up two hits to the Athletics. Washington scored single runs in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd to take a 3 -0 lead. The first run coming on a Bud Stewart leadoff homer. In the 8th the Atheletics score two on a double by Ferris Fain. The only other hit the Athletics got was a single by Nellie Fox. Hudson did walk 6 however. Washington scored one more in the 9th off reliever Bobby Shantz. Final 4 - 2 Senators.

GAME 3: Location Griffith Stadium, Washington DC

This game was close until the fifth inning when the Athletics had a five run outburst. The Athletics scored 1 iun the first, five in the 5th, two in the 7th and one in the 8th. The Senators scored single runs in the 5th and the 9th, they were only able to muster 5 hits off Joe Coleman.The Athletics had 10 hits but also aided by 4 walks and 3 errors. Hitting stars for the Athletics were Eddie Joost who had a homerun and drove in 3, Elmer Valo had two doubles and scored twice, and Pete Suder had a solo shot. Final 9 - 2 Athletics.

Next up will be 1944.

1954 Baltimore vs New York and St. Louis vs Pittsburgh

 Today I'm going to give you a two-for-one. I'll summarize two 1954 APBA series I played. The first was a three game series using the Master game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees.

This series was all Yankees. Winning game 1 5 - 0 on a complete-game three-hit shutout by Bob Grim. Interesting highlight of game 1. Bottom of the first Gil McDougald, Andy Carey, and Mickey Mantle all walk. Berra grounds into a double play; McDougald scores. Joe Collins walks, men on 1st and 3rd. Enos Slaughter gets on on an error, Carey scores. Gene Woodling gets out. They score two runs without a hit or an RBI. The Yankees walked 10 times in Game 1.

Game 2: Sees the visiting Yankees winning 4 to 2 on a complete game by Harry Byrd. Yankees score all their runs in the 2nd; the Orioles tally single runs in the 1st and 9th. Still no homeruns by either team through the first two games.

Game 3: Sees the visiting Yankees winning 7 to 4. Yankees score all 7 runs in the 2nd, culminating with a three-run shot off the bat of Yogi Berra. The Orioles had a solo homer from Jim Fridley. The Orioles scored single runs in the 5th and 7th and put up a two-spot in the 8th.

The second series was played between the St Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates using the APBA basic game.

Game 1: Sees the visiting Cardinals winning 9 to 7. St Louis had 17 hits, scoring 2 runs in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th and a single run in the 7th. Homeruns for St Louis came off the bats of Joe Cunningham who was 4 for 5 with 3 runs 3 RBIs and a triple and a homerun, he was double shy of the cycle and Rip Repulski who was 3 for 5 with 2 runs, 2 RBIs and the homerun. Amazingly in the 17 hits Stan Musial never got one. The Pirates racked up 14 hits of their own with a homerun off the bat of Sid Gordon. In the 9th inning of this game two pirates got injured, Jake Thies injured 10 games and Curtis Roberts injured 5 games.

Game 2: Sees the hometown Cardinals winning 8 to 1. The cardinals rack up another 14 hits off Pirate pitching. No long balls by the Cardinals but Red Schoendienst was 3 for 5 with a double, 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Harvey Haddix pitched a complete game for the Cardinals. The lone Pirate run was a homerun from Jerry Lynch.

Game 3: The visiting Cardinals win 6 to 2. They score 5 of their runs in the 1st and drop Dick Littlefield's grade from a C to a D. He still made it through 5 innings before being relieved. No homeruns in this game but Stan the Man finally got his first hit of the series in that 1st inning 5 run outburst. Gordon Jones pitched a complete game for the Cardinals.

Next Up will be the 1949 season.