Consider the Sox starting rotation in the 1946 Series:
Game 1, October 6, in St. Louis: Red Sox's Tex Hughson vs. Cardinals’ Howie Pollet. Hughson went 8 innings, gave up 2 runs, and relief pitcher Earl Johnson got the win got the win when the Sox scored in the 10th.
Game 2, October 7, in St. Louis: The Red Sox start Mickey Harris, who goes 7 innings, gives up three runs (one earned). Harry Brecheen of the Cards is even better, throwing a complete game shutout. Cards win, series tied 1-1.
October 8 is a travel day
Game 3, October 9 at Fenway: Sox start Boo Ferriss, who throws a complete game shutout, besting Knuckleballer Murry Dickson, who gives up three runs in seven innings. Sox up 2-1.
Game 4, October 10, at Fenway: Sox go back to Hughson and he gets chased in the second inning, Cards romp 12-3, with Red Munger getting the complete game win for the Redbirds. Series tied 2-2.
Pause here: Sox manager Joe Cronin, using the travel day, had shortened his rotation (Hughson, Harris and Ferriss, then back to Hughson). Cards Manger Eddie Dyer had run out four starters – Pollet, Brecheen, Dickson and Munger. Munger wasn’t even their 4th starter during the season, he’d been a bullpen arm and gave the 1946 Cards only seven starts. In essence, both managers had two superb starters (Cronin had Hughson and Ferriss, Dyer had Pollet and Brecheen) and then there was significant drop off in starters 3-5 on both teams.
Note this was a 2-3-2 format, so games 3, 4, and 5 were all in Boston.
Game 5, October 11, at Fenway: Red Sox start Joe Dobson (their normal #4 starter) and the Cards go with Pollet. So now the rotations are off-kilter. Cronin has gone 1-2-3-1-4, Dyer has gone 1-2-3-X-1. In a reverse of Game 4, in Game 5 it is a St Louis starter who gets chased, and the Sox go on to win 6-3. Sox up 3-2 in the series.
October 12 was a travel day
Game 6, October 13, in St. Louis. Here’s the controversy. If the Sox win, the close out the series in 6. Ferriss is rested, having last pitched on October 9. Harris is also rested, having last pitched on October 8. Even Hughson is quasi-available, since he’d only faced 12 batters in his loss on October 10. Cronin starts Harris, and here’s how Arthur Daley of the New York Times characterized the decision at the time:
“There is an old baseball axiom that you should meet strength with strength, conceding nothing. But Cronin virtually conceded the sixth game to the Cardinals by refusing to risk using his best pitcher, Dave Ferriss, against Harry (The Cat) Brecheen. He’s saved him for the seventh fray when he might have eliminated the need for a seventh by employing the big Mississippi pitcher in the sixth” (NYT 10/15/1946).
Harris lost game 6, giving up three runs in 2 and 2/3 innings before Cronin used a quick hook to bring in Hughson, who stabilized the game with 4 shutout innings in relief. But it didn’t matter—Brecheen cruised with another complete game, giving up only one run. Cards won 4-1, and the Series was tied 3-3.
October 14 there was no game. This is important, because it meant that had Cronin not used Hughson in relief on Oct 13 the Sox ace would have been able to start or relieve on October 15.
Game 7, October 15, at St. Louis. Cronin starts Ferriss, Dyer responds with Dickson, so this is a rematch of Game Three. Boo scuffles, giving up three runs in 4 1/3, whereas Dickson lasts seven innings, also giving up three runs. The difference is that the tireless Brecheen comes in out of the bullpen again, and the Card win 4-1. This is the famous Enos Slaughter game.
The odd thing is that there was a full week between the end of the season and the start of the World Series, so Cronin could have set up his rotation any way he wanted to. I think a modern manager would have gone Ferriss, Hughson, Harris, and gotten Ferris starting in Games 1, 4, and 7 on full rest and Hughson starting games 2 and 5 (four days rest) or 2 and 6 (five days rest).
Maybe it didn’t matter, with Brecheen being unhittable, and Ferriss didn’t have it in Game 7 anyway, but if Ferriss coughed it up in game 6, a fresh Hughson could have started game 7. Did Cronin mismanage his rotation?
Game 1, October 6, in St. Louis: Red Sox's Tex Hughson vs. Cardinals’ Howie Pollet. Hughson went 8 innings, gave up 2 runs, and relief pitcher Earl Johnson got the win got the win when the Sox scored in the 10th.
Game 2, October 7, in St. Louis: The Red Sox start Mickey Harris, who goes 7 innings, gives up three runs (one earned). Harry Brecheen of the Cards is even better, throwing a complete game shutout. Cards win, series tied 1-1.
October 8 is a travel day
Game 3, October 9 at Fenway: Sox start Boo Ferriss, who throws a complete game shutout, besting Knuckleballer Murry Dickson, who gives up three runs in seven innings. Sox up 2-1.
Game 4, October 10, at Fenway: Sox go back to Hughson and he gets chased in the second inning, Cards romp 12-3, with Red Munger getting the complete game win for the Redbirds. Series tied 2-2.
Pause here: Sox manager Joe Cronin, using the travel day, had shortened his rotation (Hughson, Harris and Ferriss, then back to Hughson). Cards Manger Eddie Dyer had run out four starters – Pollet, Brecheen, Dickson and Munger. Munger wasn’t even their 4th starter during the season, he’d been a bullpen arm and gave the 1946 Cards only seven starts. In essence, both managers had two superb starters (Cronin had Hughson and Ferriss, Dyer had Pollet and Brecheen) and then there was significant drop off in starters 3-5 on both teams.
Note this was a 2-3-2 format, so games 3, 4, and 5 were all in Boston.
Game 5, October 11, at Fenway: Red Sox start Joe Dobson (their normal #4 starter) and the Cards go with Pollet. So now the rotations are off-kilter. Cronin has gone 1-2-3-1-4, Dyer has gone 1-2-3-X-1. In a reverse of Game 4, in Game 5 it is a St Louis starter who gets chased, and the Sox go on to win 6-3. Sox up 3-2 in the series.
October 12 was a travel day
Game 6, October 13, in St. Louis. Here’s the controversy. If the Sox win, the close out the series in 6. Ferriss is rested, having last pitched on October 9. Harris is also rested, having last pitched on October 8. Even Hughson is quasi-available, since he’d only faced 12 batters in his loss on October 10. Cronin starts Harris, and here’s how Arthur Daley of the New York Times characterized the decision at the time:
“There is an old baseball axiom that you should meet strength with strength, conceding nothing. But Cronin virtually conceded the sixth game to the Cardinals by refusing to risk using his best pitcher, Dave Ferriss, against Harry (The Cat) Brecheen. He’s saved him for the seventh fray when he might have eliminated the need for a seventh by employing the big Mississippi pitcher in the sixth” (NYT 10/15/1946).
Harris lost game 6, giving up three runs in 2 and 2/3 innings before Cronin used a quick hook to bring in Hughson, who stabilized the game with 4 shutout innings in relief. But it didn’t matter—Brecheen cruised with another complete game, giving up only one run. Cards won 4-1, and the Series was tied 3-3.
October 14 there was no game. This is important, because it meant that had Cronin not used Hughson in relief on Oct 13 the Sox ace would have been able to start or relieve on October 15.
Game 7, October 15, at St. Louis. Cronin starts Ferriss, Dyer responds with Dickson, so this is a rematch of Game Three. Boo scuffles, giving up three runs in 4 1/3, whereas Dickson lasts seven innings, also giving up three runs. The difference is that the tireless Brecheen comes in out of the bullpen again, and the Card win 4-1. This is the famous Enos Slaughter game.
The odd thing is that there was a full week between the end of the season and the start of the World Series, so Cronin could have set up his rotation any way he wanted to. I think a modern manager would have gone Ferriss, Hughson, Harris, and gotten Ferris starting in Games 1, 4, and 7 on full rest and Hughson starting games 2 and 5 (four days rest) or 2 and 6 (five days rest).
Maybe it didn’t matter, with Brecheen being unhittable, and Ferriss didn’t have it in Game 7 anyway, but if Ferriss coughed it up in game 6, a fresh Hughson could have started game 7. Did Cronin mismanage his rotation?
Last edited:
