From the Archives: September 25, 1954 Scorecard

by Ryan on Jan 28, 2009 2:15 AM EST in History Comment 41 comments

Several months ago, I received an unexpected treasure trove of Indians history. My grandmother's cousin had passed away at her home in Texas, and my aunt, while going through some of her possessions, came across some Indians memorabilia. Remembering that I was a huge Indians fan, she saved it and sent it up to me.

This relative, whom I never met, grew up in Painesville, and judging by what she left behind, was also a huge Indians fan (it must run in the family). The centerpiece of her Indians collection was a scrapbook detailing the 1948 World Champions, complete with souvenir programs and lots of newspaper clippings.

Also included was a separate score card. At the time, this was set aside in favor of the scrapbook. Only later did I look at it closely, and realize why the score card was saved.

On September 25, 1954, the Indians played the Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Stadium in front of 8,647 fans. Early Wynn was making his last start of the regular season, and going for win #23. The Indians had long ago clinched the American League pennant, but now each win set an American League record. This day they were going for their 111th victory.

This is a scan of the score card from that game. There's some writing in the margins, some I could make out, some I couldn't. Here's the Tigers' half of the score card...

(click on the picture to expand)

and here's the Indians' half:

The final score of the game was Cleveland 11, Detroit 1 - here's the box score. Wynn threw a complete game, and went into the ninth three outs from a no-hitter. Fred Hatfield broke up the no-hitter with a single with no outs, and Bud Souchock ended Wynn's shutout bid by driving Hatfield in with a triple.

On the offensive side, both Al Smith and Bobby Avila reached base four times, and Jim Hegan was the only starter not to reach via a hit or a walk.

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There’s no boxscore online…

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1954/B09250CLE1954.htm

by Stinky McDingus on Jan 28, 2009 3:34 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

And I also never, ever want to drink “Gold Bond” brand beer.

by Stinky McDingus on Jan 28, 2009 3:37 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

+1000

Carmona for Cy Young 2009

by danvail on Jan 28, 2009 9:51 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I stand corrected – I’ve added the link.

by Ryan on Jan 28, 2009 8:56 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That’s really awesome, thanks for posting that Ryan. The old ads are a lot of fun to read too.

by Pronk33 on Jan 28, 2009 8:30 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I got a kick out of the Stouffer’s ad. It looks like they had just started to sell frozen food.

by Ryan on Jan 28, 2009 8:57 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

You know it was a long time ago when “the label of Cleveland’s well dressed man” was still a viable sales pitch. Higbee’s used to be like the place to shop downtown, right? I think it was like Cleveland’s version of Macy’s.

by Pronk33 on Jan 28, 2009 10:46 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yep. You’d been able to buy frozen items at the Shaker Square restaurant for a while, and the family opened the first processing plant in 1954. Link.

by FredOx on Jan 28, 2009 1:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This is great. I was visiting my mother last week and she was reminiscing about things, and she mentioned Leisy’s beer and talked about working in the Society for Savings building.

Anybody can have a Feller autograph, but you have John B. Lambert.

by SuddenSam on Jan 28, 2009 8:39 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Agreed. Especially the Society and Higbee’s ones. My first bank account (dog walking $) was with Society. My first christmas in Cleveland involved a trip down to see the Higbees holiday display.

by APV on Jan 28, 2009 8:53 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

oops…this was meant as a reply to Pronk

by APV on Jan 28, 2009 9:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This is really interesting.

Anyone notice the head umpire was a Runge? His son and grandson became umpires. Does umpiring run in the blood, or does the elder umpire somehow clear a path for his offspring?

by RD74 on Jan 28, 2009 10:40 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I would think it makes it seem like a more reasonable career path. It’s a weird thing to try to get into just on your own. I knew a guy who became a D1 level basketball official. He was an odd duck.

I mean, who wants to be a ref? Do you just really like rules?

by afh4 on Jan 28, 2009 10:45 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think a lot of refs/umps just love the game, and being a great ref/ump is one way to be a part of it.

I think also, like a lot of things, it’s something where you might suddenly discover, hey, I’m really good at this … and maybe I should be in the big leagues. It might seem funny, but there’s nothing really funny about someone doing his best to be great at his job. I think a lot of those guys are.

by Jay on Jan 28, 2009 12:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I can see just sort of waking up one day and being like “Hey, I kinda liked reffing yesterday.”

But, it’s weirder than a lot of things in that I’m not sure more than 1% of the sports watching population could really tell you how you reach the higher levels of officiating in a given sport. Hence, familial connections mattering.

by afh4 on Jan 28, 2009 6:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Most of the population can’t tell you anything about advancing in any field, other than their own. I don’t know how much familial connections matter in umpiring compared with anything else. I gather it has gotten a lot more professionalized, especially after the union imploded and was replaced, and they put Sandy Alderson in charge of revising the supervision.

by Jay on Jan 28, 2009 6:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I actually have a friend who has long dreamed of becoming a professional umpire. You can read a little bit about what it takes to become an ML ump here.

by Roger Dorn on Jan 28, 2009 7:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I would saying that having a father or grandfather as an umpire would at least make you knowledgable about the profession and know what it takes to become a major league ump, not that it would necessarily help you advance in any way. If you’re not good at it, I don’t think they’re going to promote you no matter what your family connections are.

Umpiring is a rather unusual job, not something that most kids think about as a profession when growing up, so I’d assume having a family member as an umpire would make you more likely to at least consider it as a profession. I’d also imagine many umpires are kids who grew up loving baseball but weren’t good enough to play after high school so they thought about umpiring as a way to stay involved in the game.

The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay

by Buckeye Brad on Jan 28, 2009 7:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I would think that, just as with working in baseball in general, fathers could provide a lot of introductions for sons. It seems like a field that many could do competently and that is very difficult to evaluate and has very, very few jobs that actually pay enough to be full time.

by afh4 on Jan 29, 2009 10:47 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I toyed with a career as an ump for maybe a week in high school. Has anyone read “Centerfield Is on Fire?” It’s an okay read.

Steel Nick

by nickjs21 on Jan 28, 2009 2:50 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Man, I’d love to be a big-league ump. I’d call strikes all day on A.J. Pierzynski. And run him every game.

by odradek on Jan 29, 2009 9:41 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

“One more smirk and you’re out of here, P.J.”

And it would be fun to ump Tribe games, if you know what I mean.

by odradek on Jan 29, 2009 9:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

“Don’t take another step, Gardy. He was out by a mile.”

by odradek on Jan 29, 2009 9:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I want to go to there.

"Lotta heart in Cleveland." - Ian Hunter

by Denver Tribe Fan on Jan 28, 2009 1:23 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

hahaha

Carmona for Cy Young 2009

by danvail on Jan 28, 2009 1:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Boy, this brings back a lot of memories. My Dad took me to my first game in ‘55 (I think – may have been ’56). That starting lineup is pretty much the same as the one I remember from my first game – except that Roger Maris was in right field, not sure who was in left (Gene Woodling??), and I’m pretty sure Lemon pitched. However, the name that jumps out at me is “Harvey Kuenn”. Anybody care to guess why??

by CaptainPenny on Jan 28, 2009 3:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

this is cool

Anti-Ben Fran before it was cool.

by Gradyforpresident on Jan 28, 2009 3:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That pretty much sums it up for me too.

-Erik

by drerikbrady on Jan 29, 2009 12:18 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Does anyone else find it interesting that the lineup is pre-printed? Was that just a “standard” batting order that was going to be used most of the time?

I imagine in the pre-computer age that they weren’t printing those daily (especially since the SP isn’t printed on there).

by JulioBernazard on Jan 29, 2009 8:47 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

That’s an interesting question. I’d guess that they printed these on the day of the game, but the lineups would had to have been released farther ahead of time.

by Ryan on Jan 29, 2009 8:52 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This link was posted on Baseball Think Factory, and some people there had the same thoughts. Here was one comment about the pre-printed scorecards.

That was nearly always the case up through the mid-50’s, and then the practice seemed to disappear almost overnight. I’ve even seen a couple of examples of scorecards where the starting pitcher’s name was printed, though that was a very rare occurrence.

The best thing probably is to hit [Grady] 2nd -- Jay

by Buckeye Brad on Jan 29, 2009 11:33 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That’s what made me think it WASN’T printed that day — the SP’s name wasn’t on there.

Thanks for the link.

by JulioBernazard on Jan 29, 2009 2:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Any chance you’ll post snippets of the scrapbook every few weeks, Ryan?

by afh4 on Jan 29, 2009 10:48 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I’ll try to post some images every week or so.

by Ryan on Jan 29, 2009 12:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I never knew there was a Stouffers at Westgate. Westgate, the first true Mall in the Cleveland area, opened in 1954.

I wonder if Lee Fisher is related to the Fisher Foods family, and I have a vague and probably apocryphal recollection of the Heinens in Rocky River being one of their stores.

Anyway, in 50 years—maybe I’ll be around to see it—everything being advertised at the Jake (excuse me, the Prog) will be transformed or gone. Sugardale Hot Dogs, Sherwin Williams Paint, Cub Cadet lawn tractors—all gone.

by jhon on Jan 29, 2009 1:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Does Office Max still exist? Or was is just the Sandusky location that went bankrupt?

by Ryan Kelsey on Jan 29, 2009 2:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Pretty sure the one at River Plaza is still around. Several years ago an Office Depot was opened nearby. It lasted about 5 minutes before a Big Lots took its place.

by jhon on Jan 29, 2009 2:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs