Top Tribe All-Star Performances #1: Mel Harder, 1934

by Ryan on Jul 15, 2011 2:00 PM EDT in History

Mel Harder had an outstanding career, highlighted by a record 13 scoreless All-Star innings.

The AL won the 1934 All-Star Game 9-7, the two teams combining for 22 hits, but, strangely enough, two pitching performances stood out in this game. First, NL starter Carl Hubbell struck out six batters in 3 innings, and all six of those strikeout victims were future Hall of Famers. After allowing the first two batters to reach in the first, Hubbell struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmie Foxx to end the first, and started the second with strikeouts of Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. He would also strike out AL starting pitcher Lefty Gomez in the top of the third.

Red Ruffing came in for Gomez to start the fourth, and ran into trouble in the fifth inning, allowing the first four runners to reach. With two runs in in the inning, Cleveland's Mel Harder was called upon to quell the rally. Harder was in the midst of his best season; in this era of high-octane offense, Harder would finish the season with a 2.61 ERA, which translated to a 173 ERA+.

Harder had his work cut out for him. There were runners on first and second, and future Hall of Famer Mel Ott was up. Ott lined a ball into the outfield, but the right fielder was able to throw to second in time to force the runner for the first out of the inning. Next up was Pittsburgh's Paul Waner, who would also later enter the Hall of Famer. Harder struck him out. With two outs and Bill Terry (also a future Hall of Famer) up, the NL pulled off a double steal, and both runners were safe. Harder would walk Terry, but get out of the inning by retiring Arky Vaughan (guess what? future Hall of Famer) on a fielder's choice. The NL had put three runs on the board, but the AL still led 8-7.

Harder would make that lead stand up. He finished the game, allowing one more walk and a ninth-inning double. Harder finished the game with this line: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 SO, 1 BB. He's only one of two pitchers to throw five shutout innings in an All-Star game, and the degree of difficulty in accomplishing that feat was high; Harder would faced 18 batters, 14 of them coming against Hall of Fame position players.

Harder would pitch in three more All-Star games, and didn't allow a run in any of those games. His career 13 scoreless innings is an All-Star record.

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Comments

First let me start off by saying I’m a huge, huge Mel Harder fan – huge. One of the biggest baseball thrills of my life was talking to Mr. Harder and Bob Feller in the old stadium for half an hour. Love the guy. And I think what you’re saying here is that Harder’s performance is the greatest not only for what he did but who he did it against. Perfectly logical.

But as an all-time Indians performance in an All-Star game I gotta go with Al Rosen – and for similar reasons. First off Rosen’s WPA for that game was .590 while Harder’s was .428. So both were major contributors to the AL win – but clearly Rosen’s performance was head and shoulders above Harder’s. Second, those weren’t a bunch of stiffs Rosen was batting against either. His first HR came offa Robin Robers a future HoFer and the second offa Johnny Antonelli , no slouch himself. Rosen’s other hit was offa Warren Spahn.

So Harder’s got one superior number – number of HoFer’s faced – while Rosen was the other – WPA. The push here for me – as an Indians fan – is that Rosen accomplished his feat here in Cleveland. Unfortunately for Harder, his performance was at the Polo Grounds.

Our best players wear suits.

by mauichuck on Jul 15, 2011 4:16 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t think there’s much of a difference between Harder and Rosen. I gave Harder the nod because his performance went against the grain of the game – throwing five shutout innings in a 9-7 game.

But I can see the reasoning for placing Rosen ahead of Harder.

by Ryan on Jul 15, 2011 6:44 PM EDT up reply actions

You and your pointy-headed metrics.

by Jay on Jul 15, 2011 11:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Harder got the win, fer chrissakes.

by YoDaddyWags on Jul 16, 2011 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Chucky Poindexter here doesn’t thinking winning is important. Too busy looking at his calculator.

by Jay on Jul 16, 2011 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions

You know of course that I’m a licensed engineer. Can’t get much more pointy headed than that.

And, oh yeah, I don’t use a calculator. I’m a slide rule man.

Our best players wear suits.

by mauichuck on Jul 16, 2011 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions

This was a nice series. Thanks.

by YoDaddyWags on Jul 16, 2011 9:00 AM EDT reply actions

Very nice series, Ryan. My only quibble was the absence of Len Barker somewhere along the line. But I learned a lot of Indians history here.

by TribeJay on Jul 16, 2011 12:09 PM EDT reply actions

I was at the ’81 All-Star game in Cleveland. Barker pitched two good innings and was “introduced” to Morganna. The game was on MLB network a year or two ago, and it was fun to watch it. It was the first game back after the 2-month strike and the thing I remember most was Dave Parker in that all-yellow Pirates “softball” uniform.

by kennesawmountainwahoo on Jul 17, 2011 5:46 PM EDT up reply actions