Consoling Dizzy

I'd never seen this photo until last week.  Taken on September 27, 1938 it portrays a distraught Dizzy Dean being comforted by two of his Chicago Cubs teammates after being relieved with two outs in the 9th inning as he held a 2-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the midst of a torrid pennant race.

On September 3, the Cubs lost a doubleheader to the Reds leaving them in third place in the National League, seven games out of first.  Since then the Wrigley squad had won 18 of 21 and only 1.5 games behind league leading Pittsburgh as they began a three game set against the Bucs on September 27.

The Pirates starting lineup contained three future Hall of Famers, brothers and outfielders Paul and Lloyd Waner and shortstop Arky Vaughn, while a fourth future HOFer, Heinie Manush would enter the game as a pinch hitter.

Dizzy Dean, while also a future HOFer, was a shadow of the pitcher he'd been only 15 months before.  From 1932 through 1936, Diz was the ace of the St Louis Cardinals staff, winning 120 games while also amassing 30 saves.  1937 started off the same.  On July 4 he blanked the Cincinnati Reds, allowing only 7 hits and striking out 8, leaving him with a 12-7 record and a 2.41 ERA.  He was also one of baseball's greatest characters, always quotable by the press which adored him and he, in turn, played up his self-created image as a rube from the Ozarks.  The nickname Dizzy was appropriate.

On July 7, Dizzy started the All-Star game, held in Griffith Stadium, home of the Washington Senators, with President Franklin Roosevelt throwing out the first ball.  Dean held the AL scoreless in the first two frames.  With two out in the 3rd, Lou Gehrig hit a two-run homer.  Next up was Earl Averill (another future HOFer).  Averill lined a shot that hit the big toe on Dizzy's left foot with the ball ricocheting to second baseman Bill Herman who tossed it to Johnny Mize at first for the final out.

Dizzy's toe was broken but he insisted on returning quickly to the Cards rotation, making his next start on July 21 against the Boston Braves.  Dean later said it was a big mistake.  A right handed pitcher strides with his left foot using it as a lever in his pitching motion.  Because of the pain, Dizzy altered his motion and hurt his arm, causing permanent damage.  He made three starts in the regular rotation (including one that lasted 10 1/3 innings!) and didn't pitch badly, but something was clearly wrong.  Trying to pitch on three more occasions that season he finally gave up after a September 8 start.  He'd lost his fastball; in 150 innings prior to the All-Star contest, Dean whiffed 110 batters in 150 innings or 6.6/9 innings; after the injury only 10 in 47 innings or 1.9/9 innings.

His arm still aching, the Cards traded Diz to the Cubs on April 16, 1938 in return for pitchers Curt Smith and Clyde Shoun, outfielder Tuck Stainback, and $185,000 (a very large sum at the time).  The Chicago club immediately inserted Dean into their starting rotation and he made four appearances before arm trouble derailed him and he missed the next two months.  In those four appearances, Dean pitched well, going 3-0 with an ERA of 1.05 but his fastball was still missing in action, whiffing only 6 in 25 2/3 innings.

Returning to the mound on July 17, Dean became a once a week pitcher for the rest of the season.  As of the morning of September 27, he'd appeared in only twelve games but pitched remarkably well in that limited action, with a 6-1 record and ERA of 1.91.  In nine starts Diz allowed 0,1, or 2 earned runs seven times and in the other two, 3 and 4 runs.  Since August 20 he'd been used exclusively in three relief appearances, allowing only two hits and no runs in 6 1/3 innings.  Even without a fastball Dean remained an effective and savvy pitcher.

The atmosphere must have been electric that afternoon with 42,238 fans crowding into Wrigley.  Against the Pirates, Dean's fine pitching continued.  Over the first 8 innings, the Steel Town team managed only six hits, all singles, while none walked and Dean struck out one batter.  Meanwhile, the Cubs scratched out two runs and held the lead going into the top of the 9th.  Lead off batter Arky Vaughn was hit by a pitch and then Gus Suhr popped out to second.  One out.  Pinch hitter Woody Jensen grounded back to Dizzy who whirled and threw to shortstop Billy Jurges covering second to get the force out on Vaughn.  Two out.  The next batter, Lee Handley, whacked a double to left field, advancing Jensen to third.

Catcher Gabby Hartnett, who'd replaced Charlie Grimm as Cubs manager in midseason, came out from behind the plate, walked to the mound and called in Bill Lee to relieve Dizzy.  Lee was the Cubs ace, winning 22 games that year and 169 in his career.  A bitterly disappointed and upset Dean went to the dugout leading to the picture above.  He must have been even more upset when Lee promptly threw a wild pitch to batter Al Todd, allowing Jensen to score and advancing Handley to third but the reliever salvaged things by then striking out Todd, preserving the win for Dean and the Cubs and bringing them with 1/2 game of the Pirates.  The game only took 98 minutes to play.

The next day contained even more drama.  The Cubs and Pirates were tied 5-5 going into the bottom of the ninth when the umpires announced that encroaching darkness would make this the last inning; if the Cubs failed to score the game would be declared a tie and need to be replayed in full.  It had already been a nerve wracking contest for fans.  After the Cubs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second, the Pirates scored three in the 6th, while the Cubbies then responded to two in the bottom of the frame to knot the game 3-3.  The Pirates scored two more in the 8th and once again the Cubs pushed two runs across in the bottom to retie.  With two outs in the inning, player-manager Hartnett came to the plate.  With an 0-2 count he smacked the next offering from Mace Brown into the left center bleachers winning the game and propelling the Cubs into first place, a position they never relinquished.  As Hartnett rounded the bases, Cubs fans stormed the field.  The four-bagger became known as The Homer in the Gloamin'.

For Dizzy Dean the game of September 27 was the final highlight of his career.  He struggled on for three more seasons with the Cubs, making occasional appearance and going 9-7, flashing sporadic moments of brilliance, including two shutouts in 1939.  The photo is particularly poignant because we are used to seeing photos of Dizzy pitching, smiling and entertaining.  Here he is a vulnerable, broken down and still fiercely competitive pitcher making his last stand.  He was only 28 years old.