This Wouldn't Happen Today (60 Years Ago, Sept. 19, 1956)

As if pitching in five games in six days between September 12 and 17 wasn't enough as the Cincinnati Reds fought to stay close to the National League front-runners with the 1956 season rapidly approaching its end, Brooks Lawrence pitched each of the next two days as well, both times in relief. In fact, from the first day of September, when he pitched a complete game victory, to the 19th, Lawrence started 3 games and relieved in 7 others for a total of 10 appearances on the mound in the space of 20 days. 

This Wouldn't Happen Today

(60 Years Ago, September 19, 1956)

When Brooks Lawrence walked off the mound having given up Carl Furillo's 10th inning walk-off at Ebbets Field on September 17, Cincinnati's pennant prospects looked bleak indeed. Since winning three of four against the first-place Braves at Milwaukee in the beginning of September to get to within 1½ games of the top as of September 5, the Redlegs had won just 3 and lost 6, including that heart-breaker against the Dodgers—the new first-place club in the National League—that seemed quite possibly to be a season-ender.

There were only 11 games left to play, and they were in third place, 4 games behind, and now the Reds faced back-to-back doubleheaders in Philadelphia the next two days. The Phillies, however, were a fifth-place club with a losing record whose pitchers and defense had given up 39 more runs than any other team in the National League. The Dodgers, meanwhile, would play two over the next two days against the fourth-place Cardinals, a team with a winning record. The Braves over the next two days had one against the sixth-place Pirates. If the Reds could win all four of their games and the Dodgers lost both of theirs, they could move within a game of Brooklyn. It would be a real three-team race again.

Instead, they lost the first game of their September 18 doubleheader, 4-3. Not a good opening. Lawrence did not pitch in that game. In the nightcap, the Phillies took an early 5-0 lead behind their ace, Robin Roberts. But a 3-run homer by Ed Bailey capped a 4-run top of the 8th, and with his team now in striking distance of a possible victory, Cincinnati manager Birdie Tebbetts once again called on . . . Brooks Lawrence to hold the Phillies in place.

Including the 6⅓ innings he had thrown in his start on September 15, it was the fourth consecutive day that Lawrence had to pitch for his team. After striking out Roberts, he walked Richie Ashburn, gave up a double to Solly Hemus, and intentionally walked Stan Lopata to load the bases with just one out and the dangerous clean-up hitter Del Ennis at bat. And Lawrence got him to hit a double play grounder, 6-to-4-to-oops . . . second baseman Johnny Temple's relay to first turned into a two-base throwing error. Two runs scored, the first of which was earned. Cincinnati lost, 7-4, dropping both games of the doubleheader.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee moved into a first-place tie with Brooklyn, who lost, and the Reds were now 4½ games behind with just 9 left on the schedule. Still not impossible, but not looking good.

The next day, the Reds scored 4 in the top of the 1st and took a 6-1 lead into the 8th when their starter, Johnny Klippstein, faltered. The score was now 6-3, runners on first and third, and Granny Hamner at the plate representing the tying run when, once again, Tebbetts called on Brooks Lawrence to get the Reds out of the inning. Even though he was not yet 30, Hamner was no longer the Whiz Kid he had been when the Phillies unexpectedly won the 1950 pennant. He was nearing the end of his career. Hamner was hitting only .224, but had a hot hand—he already had two hits in the game, one a triple, and had two hits off the Reds the previous day. 

Lawrence was taking the mound for the fifth day in a row. For the fourth day in a row, Tebbetts was asking his ace starter to get outs as a reliever in a high-stakes situation. He was exhausted. He should have known Lawrence was exhausted. Tebbetts could have called on Hersh Freeman, his relief ace. 

As poorly as he pitched in August, giving up 9 earned runs and 17 hits in 8⅓ innings, Freeman was throwing well in September. He had appeared in 10 games so far in the September stretch and given up just 3 earned runs in 20⅔ innings. But he had also pitched in each of the four previous days, totalling 5⅓ innings, compared to Lawrence's 9. Notwithstanding a run he gave up to the Dodgers in the game Lawrence ultimately lost, Freeman was pitching more effectively. That was the only run he had given up in his four straight days of work, compared to Lawrence having surrendered seven, six earned.

But Lawrence was who Tebbetts wanted. His stalwart right-hander walked Hamner to load the bases, and then Tebbetts decided to bring in Freeman. Freeman got the final out of the inning and pitched a scoreless 9th for his 14th save, and Cincinnati's four-game losing streak had come to an end.

The Reds also won the second game of the September 19 doubleheader, a 3-hit shutout thrown by rookie Tom Acker who was making just his 6th major league start. Even though the Dodgers won their game that day, by winning two, the Reds were able to pick up a half-game on Brooklyn. They now trailed first-place Brooklyn by 4 and were 3½ behind second-place Milwaukee. Cincinnati had played 147 games, however. There were just 7 to go.

Brooks Lawrence had pitched in 7 games in 8 days dating back to September 12, totaling 10⅓ innings, given up 9 earned runs on 14 hits, four of which were homers, and had walked 5. He would get the next five days off.

Paging Brooks Lawrence, Again (60 Years Ago, September 17, 1956)

Just as he had two weeks earlier, Cincinnati manager Birdie Tebbetts called on his front-line ace Brooks Lawrence to save the day in relief  just two days after he had started and won a critical game in a tight pennant race, this time against the new first place club—the Brooklyn Dodgers. Once again, a must-win game in the other team's ballpark. How did it go?

Paging Brooks Lawrence, Again

(60 Years Ago, September 17, 1956)

The Cincinnati Redlegs had been hanging close in the National League pennant race all summer, but had not been on top since the first day after the All-Star break. They had some close calls that could have dropped them from realistic contention earlier than this.

Up till now, the Reds' most important series of the season was in the beginning of September when they took three of four against the Braves in Milwaukee to stay relevant in the pennant race. As readers will recall from an earlier post, Brooks Lawrence arguably saved their season with 7 strong innings in relief for his 18th win on September 3 by coming into a bases-loaded, no-outs situation in the 3rd inning, his team's lead in jeopardy, and retiring Hank Aaron on a short fly out and getting Eddie Mathews to hit into a double play. That was just two days after he had pitched a complete-game victory against the Cubs. His aborting a Braves' rally may have meant a two-game difference in the standings—between the 3½-game deficit they in fact ended the day with, or a 5½-game deficit had they lost.

Lawrence had started twice and relieved twice since his pitching heroics against the Braves. Given four days of rest after pitching 16 innings in three days, Lawrence lost his next start on September 8 in St. Louis, failing to make it out of the 3rd inning. Both of his next two appearances on back-to-back days, in New York at the Polo Grounds and in Pittsburgh, were in relief. Against the Giants on September 12, he came into the game in the 6th inning with the Reds already behind 6-0 and gave up three runs in one-third of an inning. And against the Pirates on September 13, manager Birdie Tebbetts called him into the game with the score tied 3-3 in the 7th. Pitching just the one inning, Lawrence gave up the tie on a home run to Frank Thomas, but Cincinnati scored twice in the 9th to win.

Two days after that, on September 15, Lawrence was back on the mound against the Pirates, making his 30th start of the year. He won his 19th, but left in the 7th inning after surrendering back-to-back homers to Bill Mazeroski, a two-run shot, and Hank Foiles that narrowed the Reds' lead to 6-4, the final score. He had given up 18 hits and 11 earned runs in 9⅔ innings since rescuing, at least temporarily, the Reds' season in Milwaukee back on September 3. The Reds had not been home since, and their next two series were also on the road.

Lawrence's victory in Pittsburgh kept the Reds within two games striking distance as they went to Brooklyn's Ebbets Field for exactly two games with the first-place Dodgers. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Braves, who were tied with the Dodgers in first, were also in New York for two games, against the Giants at the Polo Grounds.

For the Reds, this was their new most critical series of the season. Thirteen games were all they had left on the schedule. They trailed both the Dodgers and the Braves by two games. These were the last games they had left on their season-schedule against the Dodgers. If they were to make their move towards first place, this was the time. Winning both would put them in a tie with the Dodgers. There was nothing they could do about the Braves, but should the Braves lose twice at the Polo Grounds, all three teams—Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati—would be tied for first place.

With Sal Maglie on the mound, the Dodgers won the first of the two games,     3-2. Lawrence, the very day after pitching 6⅓ innings in his start against the Pirates, was called in to get the Reds out of the 2nd inning with runners on second and third and one out; he did so, retiring Roy Campanella and Maglie  without giving up a run. His job done successfully, and the pitcher's spot due up first in the 3rd, he left the game for a pinch-hitter. 

The Reds' loss left them three behind the now first-place-all-by-themselves Dodgers with just 12 games remaining on their schedule . . . making the second game of the series—and their season finale against the Dodgers on the schedule—one they REALLY HAD TO WIN. Clem Labine started for Brooklyn. Hal Jeffcoat started for Cincinnati. After the Reds scored three times in the 9th on a two-run homer by catcher Ed Bailey and a solo shot by pinch-hitter Ray Jablonski to tie the score at 4-4, it was Brooks Lawrence who Tebbetts once again called upon . . . this time to win the game.

Lawrence was pitching for the fourth time in five days, which included his 6⅓-inning start just two days before. What was Birdie Tebbetts thinking? Especially since the overworked Lawrence hadn't exactly been pitching very well? Perhaps that he had used his putative relief ace, Hersh Freeman, in the 8th (he gave up a run) and pinch hit for him in the top of the 9th? And that, at 19-9, Lawrence was the best pitcher he had available, despite his recent struggles and no rest, and with their pennant chances on the line . . . he had no choice but to go with his best?

Lawrence gave up a single and a walk in the 9th, the runners advancing to second and third on a passed ball with two out, but he got Sandy Amoros on a pop up to short to end the inning and the game went into extra innings. The Reds got their first two batters on in the 10th, but Carl Erskine came in to retire the side without giving up a run.

The first batter in the Dodgers' 10th was Carl Furillo, who was batting .298 and had already driven in two runs in the game. Furillo sent the Ebbets Faithful home happy with his 20th home run of the season over the left-center field wall. Instead of winning his 20th, Lawrence lost his 10th. And for the Cincinnati Redlegs—

—With 153 games down and just 11 to go, times were now desperate. They now trailed Brooklyn by four games and Milwaukee by three. Their next stop   . . .  Philadelphia. For four games. In back-to-back doubleheaders. Perhaps now, Brooks Lawrence would get some rest. Perhaps.

  

Catching Up on the '56 Home Run Chase (60 Years Ago, Sept 13, 1956)

On September 13, 1956, at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium, Mickey Mantle's 3rd inning home run—his 48th of the year—not only proved the margin of victory in the Yankees' 3-2 win over the Athletics, but ended a drought of 10 games and 35 at bats in which he had not hit a home run. With slightly more than two weeks left to the season, he was no longer likely to match, let alone eclipse, Babe Ruth's iconic 60 homers hit in 1927. Meanwhile, both the Cincinnati Redlegs collectively and their spectacular first-year left fielder, Frank Robinson, remained poised to set new single-season records for home runs by a major league team and by a rookie. 

Catching Up on the '56 Home Run Chase
(60 Years Ago, September 13, 1956)

When last we left Mickey Mantle in 1956, his 47th homer of the season had led the Yankees to victory on the last day of August. He was then well ahead of Babe Ruth's pace for 60 home runs. But no more. The Yankees had played 10 games in the first 12 days of September and won 6 of them to run their American League advantage up to 10 games over Cleveland. They had scored 58 runs and hit 13 homers, but Mantle, despite playing the entirety of all 10 games, had none.

It was, of course, inevitable that the best baseball player on the planet in 1956 was bound to hit a wall. He had just 5 hits in those 10 games and went hitless in 6 games. His only extra-base hit was a double, and he had exactly zero—that's "0"—runs batted in. It was not, however, the Mick's first extended long ball drought of the season. From June 22 to July 1, Mantle also went 10 games (and, ultimately, 33 at bats) without going deep, but he did hit .344 with 3 RBIs as the Yankees went 5-5. And from August 15 to 23, he went 9 games without a homer and hit just .121, striking out 10 times in 33 at bats, for the worst stretch of his season. He did drive in 2 runs. The Yankees were 4-5 in those games. Despite those slumps, he was still ahead of Ruth in his quest for 60, or even 61, going into September.

Mantle's 3rd-inning homer off KC's Tom Gorman on September 13 may have ended his latest homerless stretch of games, but it left him with little chance of out-homering the Bambino in a single-season. With the Yankees having played 140 games, they had just 14 remaining in which Mantle, now with 48 homers, would have needed 12 more just to tie the Babe with 60. Through the Yankees' first 140 games in 1927, Ruth had hit 52. It wasn't impossible for Mantle—just nearly so.

Even so, Mickey Mantle was still the Triple Crown leader in the American League. Besides having hit by far the most homers in baseball, his 119 RBIs were the most, and nobody had a higher qualifying batting average than his .353. 

The home run record that seemed almost certain to be broken was the 38 for a rookie set by Wally Berger in 1930. Frank Robinson started the month with 35, hit his 36th off the Braves' Lew Burdette in the first game of a September 3 doubleheader; hit his 37th in the 10th inning the next day off Braves' reliever Ernie Johnson to win the game; and his 38th on September 11 off the Giants' Steve Ridzik at the Polo Grounds to tie Berger's rookie record. 

Robinson went 1-for-4 against the Pirates in Pittsburgh on September 13, without a home run, but his 9th-inning single off Pirates' relief ace Elroy Face drove in the winning run in another must-win game for Cincinnati. With an 82-58 record, the Reds were 3½ games behind the first-place Braves, and 1½ back of the Dodgers. With 140 games down—(they had actually played 141, one game having ended in a tie because of rain)—and just 14 to go, Cincinnati was running out of time to catch Milwaukee. For Frank Robinson, however, there seemed to be plenty of time for him to send one going-going-gone at least once more to set the new record for home runs by a major league rookie.

While Robinson did not go deep in Cincinnati's victory over Pittsburgh, George Crowe, pinch hitting, did. It was the 202nd home run of the year for the Redlegs in 141 games. The 1947 Giants, whose team record of 221 was in sight, had 204 through their first 141 games (also one of which had ended in a tie, same as for the '56 Reds), so the Redlegs were now slightly behind the Giants' pace . . . But not by much. They still had 14 games to hit 20 more homers to set a new record—

—And, of course, hopefully win the pennant for the honor of facing Mickey Mantle and the Yankees in the 1956 World Series.

Final '56 Showdown, Braves at Dodgers (60 Years Ago, Sept 11 & 12, 1956)

The 1956 Milwaukee Braves came to Brooklyn for one final series with the Dodgers on September 11 and 12, sixty years ago, with a slim one-game lead and the season winding down to just 17 games remaining for both. For the Dodgers, who were last in first place (tied) way back on May 20, this was a critical series, and they had their two aces in line in their effort to send the Braves out of town in second place. Don Newcombe, already with 23 wins, was to pitch the second game. Pitching the first game would be Sal Maglie. The Dodgers surely would not have been in contention without Big Newk's extraordinary season. But just as certainly, they would not have been in contention without Maglie, who once upon a time—when he was younger and a Giant—was a despised arch-enemy.

Final '56 Showdown, Braves at Dodgers
(60 Years Ago, September 11 & 12, 1956)

At 39 years old, Sal Maglie was thought to be over the hill as the 1956 season got underway. After pitching just five innings in two games for the Cleveland Indians through the first four weeks of the season, the Dodgers paid a nominal sum to procure his services. They were 12-9 at the time, the season was still young, and there was no compelling reason why they would need Sal Maglie, but the Dodgers knew exactly what they were doing. They had a history with Sal Maglie. It was not a pleasant one for them, which was precisely why they wanted him.

Sal Maglie had been a nasty thorn in their side pitching for their arch-rivals, the New York Giants, through the first half of the 1950s. Nicknamed "The Barber" for his aggressiveness in giving close shaves to opposing batters, Maglie's high-and-tight reportoire provoked numerous contretemps, as in players-on-the-field confrontations (ugly words, pushing, shoving, sometimes worse), with Dodgers batters taking exception to his pitching philosophy. 

When he walked into the Dodgers' clubhouse for the first time in mid-May, Maglie had a career record of 104 wins and 48 losses. More than a fifth of his wins were against Brooklyn; he had beaten the Dodgers 23 times as a hated Giant and lost to them just 11 times. He had thrown more innings against the Dodgers (302) than against any other team, and Maglie pitches had hit 8 Brooklyn batters—a modest number, given both his reputation and the ferocity of the two teams' rivalry. 

And the Dodgers no doubt had painful memories of his 5-1 record against them in 1951—a year that lives in Brooklyn infamy because of the huge August lead they blew and Bobby Thomson's "Giants win the pennant! Giants win the pennant!" home run. Maglie started that game for the Giants, and would have been the losing pitcher, but for that home run. Three of Maglie's 8 wins during the Giants' miracle surge to the pennant in August and September to force a playoff series for the pennant came against the Dodgers. He was 23-6 in 1951, which turned out to be the only 20-win season he'd have in his career.

Since coming to the Dodgers, Maglie was giving the Ebbets faithful lots of love, not hate. His first victory for the Dodgers came on June 5 when he shutout the Braves in Milwaukee on 3 hits. He had made three starts against them since then, all without a decision, but pitched well. As he took the home-town mound in the top of the 1st against the Braves on September 11, 1956, Maglie's record stood at 9-4, he had won 7 of his last 8 decisions, and his earned run average in his 11 starts in that time was 2.33. Against the Braves, Maglie was only 1-0 in four starts, but he had given up just 7 earned runs on 20 hits in 29⅓ innings for a 2.15 ERA.

Maglie gave up solo home runs to Eddie Mathews in the 2nd and Joe Adcock in the 9th. They were the only two runs the Braves scored. Maglie's single in the 3rd off Braves' starter Bob Buhl gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead, and in the 8th, Jackie Robinson, still a menace on the bases at 37, scored from second base when, reacting to Jackie's dancing off the bag, reliever Ernie Johnson's pickoff attempt went awry, and Gil Hodges followed with a homer of his own. The Dodgers and Braves were now tied for first place.

The next day, it was a matchup of each team's pitcher with the most wins. For the Dodgers, Newcombe took the mound with a 23-6 record; Newk was 13-1 with a 2.18 ERA in his 16 starts since July 4th. For the Braves, it was Lew Burdette, who was 18-9 and had a 2.37 earned run average so far for the year. Burdette was 6-3 with a 1.55 ERA in 9 starts since July 5. 

Both had a terrible day. Burdette failed to make it out of the 1st inning, giving up 3 runs, and Newcombe, after having retired the side in order in the first and now with a 3-0 lead, could not get a single batter out in the second. He left after giving up a walk, a pair of singles, and a triple that tied the score, and Bill Bruton, the guy who hit the triple, scored after he left. The Dodgers, trailing 7-4 in the 7th, scored three times to tie the game, but the Braves won in the 8th on a single by Hank Aaron, a walk, and an RBI single by Bruton. 

Milwaukee left Brooklyn with the same one-game advantage they came to Ebbets Field with. At the close of the day on September 12, 1956, for both the Braves, at 84-55, and the Dodgers, at 83-56, it was 139 games down and 15 to go. It was also 139 down and 15 to go for the Cincinnati Redlegs, who were still hanging around at 3 games behind. The Dodgers had two games left against the Reds at home. The Braves had just one left against the Reds, in Cincinnati. For the Braves and the Dodgers, their season series was over—Milwaukee had won 12, Brooklyn 10—unless, of course, a playoff between them would be required should they have identical records at the end of the 154-game schedule.

Maglie might come in handy then.

POSTSCRIPT:

In case you were wondering why Braves' ace Warren Spahn was not lined up to start in this all important series . . . It was because the Dodgers totally owned Warren Spahn. Since 1948, Spahn was 6-18 in 27 starts against Brooklyn. He did not pitch a single inning against them in 1955. In 1956, the Braves decided to see if maybe a year of not pitching at all to Brooklyn batters might have made a difference and gave Spahn a start against them on June 5 in Milwaukee. The Dodger curse plaguing the great Spahn continued; he gave up 2 runs on 4 hits while getting just 4 outs before being removed from the game. He did not get another chance against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

For more on Warren Spahn's troubles with the Dodgers, see the following post on Baseball Historical Insight from July 21, 2015 (last year), "No Spahn Sighting in Brooklyn" (: http://brysholm.blogspot.com/2015/07/60-years-ago-no-spahn-sighting-in.html

Brooks Lawrence to the Rescue (60 Years Ago, Sept. 3, 1956)

To those who might have said that Brooks Lawrence's failure to win any of his six starts in August may have cost the Cincinnati Reds the 1956 pennant: if it was not for his gutsy performance against the Milwaukee Braves on September 3rd, the Reds' pennant chances could well have ended right then and there, and it would have been a two-team Milwaukee vs. Brooklyn race to the end, instead of a three-team duel also involving Cincinnati.  

Brooks Lawrence to the Rescue
(60 Years Ago, September 3, 1956)

Trailing the Braves by 3½ games and tied with the Dodgers in second place, the Redlegs traveled to Milwaukee for a critical four-game series that would start with a doubleheader on September 3. This was their chance to cut into the Braves' lead, or it could have been the death knell to their season. That second scenario looked more plausible when their loss in the first game of their doubleheader on a walk-off win by the Braves dropped the Reds 4½ back, especially since they failed to hold onto a 2-0 lead because Hank Aaron hit home runs in the 4th and 7th innings to tie the game, then doubled and scored the winning run on Joe Adcock's single in the 9th. 

In the second game, the Reds held a 5-2 lead in the 3rd when the Braves loaded the bases with nobody out in the last half of the inning. Due up next were Aaron and Eddie Mathews, followed by Adcock. Aaron had 23 home runs, including his two in the first game, 78 runs batted in, and was batting .327. Mathews had 37 homers and 86 RBIs, and had been red-hot since the end of July, having belted 15 round trippers and driven in 38 runs in 39 games since August 1. Adcock had 34 homers, 93 RBIs, and was batting .305.

Did I mention the bases were loaded and there were no outs? Even with a 3-run lead, Cincinnati manager Birdie Tebbetts had no choice but to remove starting pitcher Larry Jansen from the proceedings, because that 3-run lead was looking very precarious. And the reality was: if the Reds hung on to win, they'd be back to a manageable 3½ games behind. But should they lose, they would be 5½ back. That potential two-game swing in the standings could make all the difference going forward. A 3½-game deficit with just 23 games left to play after this one was not too large to overcome, but 5½ games behind just might be.

So, who was he gonna call? Hersh Freeman was the Reds' relief ace, but Tebbetts probably thought it was too early in the game to call on him. Freeman rarely came into games before the 7th inning, and just once as early as the 5th. Art Fowler had often come into games in the early and middle innings and was rested, having last pitched four days ago, 6 innings of shutout ball to get a win against the Giants. There were a few other options, too, but—

—With the bases loaded, nobody out, Aaron and Mathews up next, Birdie Tebbetts wanted Brooks Lawrence, even though Lawrence had pitched a 9-inning complete-game victory just two days before. That was his 17th win of the year, but his first as a starting pitcher in more than a month (since July 29, to be precise).

In fact, Lawrence would not look back kindly on August 1956. He had won his first 13 decisions of the season, although four them were in games he came in to relieve. He ended the month of July on a high note with a complete-game victory in Pittsburgh in which he allowed just 4 hits. He was 15-2 at the time. His earned run average was 3.32. 

Then came August. Brooks Lawrence made 6 starts in August and lost them all. His earned run average for the month was a rather unsightly 5.89. Lawrence's one win was in relief, on August 9 against the Cubs; he entered a tie game in the top of the 9th with a runner at second and one out, retired Ernie Banks and Monte Irvin, pitched a scoreless 10th, and came out a winner on Gus Bell's walk-off homer. 

Two of Lawrence's August losses were against the Braves, the team out front in the National League. On August 12, pitching in Milwaukee where a victory would have cut the third-place Reds' deficit from two games behind to one, Lawrence gave up six runs before being sent to the showers in the third inning. Eight days after that, Lawrence gave up only 3 runs in 8 innings against the Braves, but was the losing pitcher because the Reds' offense was limited to a solo bottom-of-the-9th home run by Frank Robinson. All three runs Lawrence surrendered scored on homers—a two-run shot by Mathews, who was due up after Aaron in our game in question, and a solo shot by Adcock, due up after Mathews.

Lawrence's most recent engagements with the Braves didn't matter to Tebbetts. Neither did his very bad month of August. What mattered was that the bases were loaded, there were no outs, the Reds' 3-run lead was in jeopardy, the Braves three most dangerous hitters were next up, a loss could be devastating to Cincinnati's pennant chances, AND Brooks Lawrence, for all his August struggles, was his best pitcher.

Brooks Lawrence retired Aaron on a short fly to left and got Mathews to hit into a double play. End of inning. He left the mound with the Reds' 5-2 lead intact. Then he pitched the remaining 6 innings of the game. He gave up 3 runs, but not until after Cincinnati had taken a 5-run lead. And he pitched those 7 innings against the Braves in a must-win game on just one day of rest after pitching a 9-inning complete game. Lawrence was now 18-8, and the Reds were back to 3½ games behind the Braves.

Their season rescued by Lawrence, the Reds won the next two games against the Braves and left Milwaukee in second place, 1½ games behind and half-a-game up on the Dodgers. As of that date—September 5, 1956—there were 134 games down for the Cincinnati Reds and 20 to go. 

Pitching on the three days of rest that were typical for pitching aces back then, and assuming he would get them after this intrepid performance, Brooks Lawrence could still to make as many as 6 starts in those 20 games, not taking into account the times his manager might want to use him—as he did on September 3 in Milwaukee—to pitch critical innings as a reliever in a must-win game. 

Problem was, Lawrence had now pitched 204⅓ innings, and there were still maybe those 6 starts and some relief appearances to go. The most major league innings he had pitched before this was 158⅔ in his rookie season of 1954 with the Cardinals, a total he exceeded in the first week of August, explaining perhaps why August 1956 was not kind to Brooks Lawrence. 

Chasing Ruth and Berger and the Giants (60 Years Ago, August 31, 1956)

On the last day of August sixty years ago, the Cincinnati Reds belted two homers to run their major league-team-leading total to 191, which included the 35th of the year hit by rookie sensation Frank Robinson, and Mickey Mantle hit his major league-leading 47th home run. This meant that as the 1956 season turned to its final month, three single-season home run records were under assault—the 1947 New York Giants' team record off 221; Wally Berger's rookie record of 38 set in 1930; and Babe Ruth's famous 60 set in 1927. The first two were little remarked on, but Mantle's run at the Babe's record was a BIG deal.  

Chasing Ruth and Berger and the Giants
(60 Years Ago, August 31, 1956)

The score was tied at 4-4 at Washington's Griffith Stadium when Mickey Mantle came to bat with one out in the 7th inning against Camilo Pascual on the last day of August in 1956. He was batting left-handed against the Senators' 22-year-old Cuban-born right-hander, who was 6-13 so far in the 1956 season—his third year in the majors. Mantle proceeded to knock out his 47th home run of the year, giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead they would not relinquish.

Another day, another game, another Yankee victory. That was even though Washington outfielder Jim Lemon outdid Mantle by hitting three home runs in the same game . . . off Whitey Ford, no less. Jim Lemon hit 164 homers in his 12-year major league career, 7 of them off Whitey Ford. In all his years of pitching, no other batter touched Ford for more home runs than Lemon, and Lemon is the only player to have hit three in one game against the Hall of Fame master lefty. It was also the only time in the 1,010 games he played that he hit three homers in a single game. (Too bad it was in a losing cause.)

The New York Yankees entered the final month with an 83-46 record, 8½ games ahead of second-place Cleveland. It was 129 games down and just 25 to go for the Yankees. It would take a monumental collapse for the Yankees not to win the American League pennant for the seventh time in eight years, especially with the Indians having just two games left to challenge them head-to-head, the only circumstance under which they could assure a victory by them would mean a gain on the Yankees, since the Yankees could otherwise negate a Cleveland win against anybody else with one of their own.

Instead, the September drama for the Yankees would be whether Mickey Mantle would win the Triple Crown, and even more pertinent, whether he could break the record of 60 home runs belted by Babe Ruth in 1927. So far, the odds looked good for both quests. In addition to his 47 homers, Mantle was well ahead in batting average (.366) and runs batted in (118) for the Triple Crown crown. 

As for chasing the Babe? In 1927, Ruth had 43 home runs at the end of August in the 127 games the Yankees had played. In 1956, Mantle had 47 in 129. The Babe reached 60 by hitting 17 in September; Mantle would need 14 to break his record.

Meanwhile, at Cincinnati's Crosley Field, the Reds' Frank Robinson toed in at right side of the plate to lead off the bottom of the 9th against Cubs righty Bob Rush, his team down 3-2. Rush was the ace of the Cubs' staff and working towards his 13th victory of the year. That came to an end when Robinson crashed his 35 home run of the year to tie the score. The Reds went on to score another run that inning for a walk-off win that left them in third place, 3½ games behind the Braves and 1 behind the Dodgers, going into the final month.

Unlike for the Yankees, the September drama in Cincinnati would actually be a pennant race. With 128 games down and their record at 75-53, the Reds still had 26 games to go—more than enough for them to leapfrog both teams ahead of them, especially since they still had five games left against first-place Milwaukee, the first four of which would be their very next series beginning on September 3, and two against Brooklyn.

Paling in comparison, and quite likely little thought about, was the fact that Frank Robinson was comfortably ahead of Wally Berger's pace when he hit 38 home runs as a rookie outfielder for the Boston Braves in 1930. Both of their teams had played 128 games through the end of August. Berger entered September 1930 with 31 homers, and 26 years later, Robinson now had 35 and would need to hit just 4 more in September to set a new major league rookie record.

Hitting a home run earlier in the game for Cincinnati was catcher Ed Bailey, his 24th of the year. Big Klu—slugging first baseman Ted Kluszewski—had 33 and was aiming for a fourth consecutive 40-homer season. Outfielders Wally Post and Gus Bell had 27 and 25, respectively. Including Robinson, five of the Reds' eight core position players had at least 24 home runs. This was a club with long ball power, and it was that power that had them contending with the Braves and Dodgers for the National League pennant.

Cincinnati's 191 home runs going into September was ahead of the 182 the New York Giants had hit when they set the major league team record of 221 nine years earlier in 1947. The '47 Giants had played 127 games through August, compared to the '56 Reds' 128. The 1947 Giants ended up with four players hitting more than 20—Johnny Mize, who tied with the Pirates' Ralph Kiner to lead the league with 51, followed by Willard Marshall (36), Walker Cooper (35), and Bobby Thomson (29), who were the next three players on the 1947 NL home run leader board.

So heading into the home stretch of the 1956 season, Mickey Mantle—who was leading the league by healthy margins in all three Triple Crown categories—Frank Robinson, having a sensational rookie year, and the Cincinnati Reds as a team were all poised to challenge major league home run records. 

The only home run chase anyone was really paying attention to, however, was whether the Mick could catch and pass the Babe. The kind of year Mantle was having, as of September 1, 1956, it would have been foolish to bet against him.

'56 Yankees Going For 7-and-6-in-8 (August 25, 60 Years Ago)

When last we left Phil Rizzuto, he was jogging back to the dugout after being forced out at second base as a pinch runner in the 9th inning of a game at Yankee Stadium on August 16, 1956. That turned out to be the last time he appeared on the diamond as a player, because on August 25, he was unceremoniously released—no grand farewell tour of American League ballparks or a fond send-off before the home-town fans for the Scooter—so the Yankees could bring on board the former Cardinals' star, Enos Slaughter. It didn't seem like a necessary move since they held a safe-and-secure 8-game lead at the time, but Casey Stengel and the Yankees had bigger ambitions. They were out to match the 1936-43 Yankees' mark of seven pennants and six World Series championships in eight years. No other team in history had done that.

But unlike the original 7-and-6-in-8 Yankees who relied almost exclusively on their deep farm system to fill whatever their needs happened to be, the Stengel-era Yankees frequently dealt with other teams—including in August waiver deals—to acquire the players they felt were necessary to fly another World Series banner over the Stadium. Did they really need Enos Slaughter? Probably not. But they had visions of Johnny Mize dancing in their head. 

'56 Yanks Going For 7-and-6-in-8
(60 Years Ago, August 25, 1956)

Casey Stengel biographer Robert Creamer describes a poignant scene about Rizzuto's last day wearing No. 10 for the Yankees in Stengel: His Life and Times (Simon & Schuster, 1984). General Manager George Weiss and Stengel called Rizzuto into the manager's office, told them they had a chance to sign Slaughter off waivers, that a Yankee player would have to be cut to make room for him, and asked who he—the Scooter—thought that player should be. Rizzuto pondered the roster, suggested some names, presumably including hardly-ever used third-string catcher Charlie Silvera (he could not name seldom-used infielder Tommy Carroll, because he was a bonus baby required to stay on the major league roster for being paid the big up-front bonus money), and was told by Stengel why each of the players he named the manager needed.

Until, perhaps not considering at first what Weiss's presence in the meeting actually meant, it finally occurred to him . . . he was supposed to suggest . . . himself. We're not sure if Rizzuto thought it ironic that Enos Slaughter, whose rookie season was three years before his, was a year and a half older than he was. 

Phil Rizzuto was the Yankees' last link to the great Joe DiMaggio Yankees managed by Joe McCarthy, unless we also count Frankie Crosetti, who Rizzuto displaced as the Yankees' shortstop 15 years earlier but was now one of Stengel's coaches. 

When he made the team as a rookie in 1941, the Yankees were coming off the one year since DiMaggio's rookie season in 1936 that they did not go to the World Series. Before that, they had been to four in four years and won all four. When they assembled for spring training in 1941, McCarthy had already come to the conclusion that had the Yankees called up Rizzuto from their American Association farm club in Kansas City in the summer of '40, they would have won five in a row and would be working on six straight. That's because Crosetti, their long-time shortstop, had an abysmal year in 1940, hitting just .199 with a .299 on-base percentage. And he was McCarthy's lead-off batter for most of the year.

The Yankees won pennants in each of Rizzuto's first two years with the club, the World Series in 1941 but not/not in 1942, and then won both another pennant and Series without him and DiMaggio and Tommy Henrich in 1943 while that trio of Yankee stars were already serving their country in World War II. That gave the Yankees 7 pennants and 6 World Series in 8 years.

Now, here were Stengel's Yankees trying to match that. They had won five pennants and World Series in Stengel's first five years as manager (1949-53), with Rizzuto a major reason why in several close-fought pennant races; they did not/not win the pennant in 1954; and won the pennant again in 1955—but lost/lost to the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series. So they were at 6-and-5-in-7 and counting.

With their 8-game lead on August 25, and 123 games down with just 31 left to go, winning their 7th pennant in 8 years was not the issue. Winning the World Series, going for their 6th championship of the baseball world in those 8 years, well . . . that was.

When McCarthy's Yankees won 7-and-6-in-8 they did so with virtually an entirely home-grown ball club besides core veterans whose acquisitions were from before McCarthy won his first pennant in 1932. That was because it was not until 1932 that the Yankees had their own network of minor league affiliates. With the exception of DiMaggio, whose contract they purchased from San Francisco in the Pacific Coast League, every new regular on the DiMaggio Yankees who made the team after 1936 came up through their farm system. 

The Newark Bears were the crown jewel of the Yankee system. Their best prospects were sent to Newark in the top-tier International League to prove their major league worth before being promoted to New York. Aggressive and excellent scouting backed up by Yankee dollars helped make the Bears such a formidable club it was said they were better than most major league teams with losing records, and even some with winning records. And in 1937 they had two top-tier minor league affiliates, including Kansas City, where Rizzuto mastered his craft.

The Stengel-era Yankees were still able to call up high-quality players from their minor league affiliates, but were also much more aggressive in the trade market for the players they believed could fill specific needs that would mean the difference between winning another World Series, or not. 

Most famously, on August 22, 1949, they purchased veteran power-hitting first baseman Johnny Mize from the New York Giants to bolster their bench. Mize had led the NL in homers four times, including the previous year, but was in his mid-30s and nearing the end of his career. He became a terrific role-player for the Yankees in each of the next five years, when the Yankees went 5-and-5-in-5. He platooned at first base and was a valuable bat off the bench. And he was a star of both the 1949 and 1952 World Series.

Other such acquisitions by the Yankees were in August 1951 for Johnny Sain—he of Boston Braves' Spahn-and-Sain-then-pray-for-rain fame—who would be their relief ace the next three years; Jim Konstanty, baseball first reliever to win the MVP Award with the Phillies in 1950, who they picked up in August 1954; and Bob Turley and Don Larsen, both of whom the Yankees acquired in a block-buster trade with the Orioles in 1955. All were significant contributors to Yankee pennants.

And now the Yankees wanted Enos Slaughter, who had played for them for one year in 1954 but was traded to the Kansas City Athletics early in the '55 season. Sure, he was old—older than Rizzuto—and no longer the outstanding player he had been in his 13 Cardinals years, but he was a professional hitter and the Yankees coveted his bat. Of course, that meant somebody had to go.

So, good-bye, Phil.