Pat Ahearne
Mel Rojas
Luis Polonia
Dalton Jones
Jack Feller
Leo Cristante
Floyd Giebell had a career record of 3-1 in the majors which
was the only team he played for in the majors.
Now you might ask “Floyd who?” and no one would blame you. Floyd was 30 years old in 1940. He started his professional career in 1938
with Evansville. As a 27 year old
rookie, he went 18-6 for Evansville, with a 1.98 ERA. In 1939 he played in Toledo where he was 1-10
(Yes, that is not a typo. He was 1-10.)
with a 3.58 ERA, and at Beaumont he was 6-6 with a 2.37 ERA. He had two big league wins under his
belt. In 1939 he came into a game in
relief and beat the St. Louis Browns 9-5 before a huge Browns crowd of
729. His second win was his only major
league appearance in 1940 prior to “The Game.”
He pitched a 13-2 complete game victory against the A’s in Detroit in
front of a crowd of 10,493. So apart from
the 729 fans in St. Louis, and the 10,493 in Detroit, no one has seen Floyd win
a major league game. Below is a synopsis
of “the game” Floyd pitched at the end of 1940.
In the game, Giebell will give up
six hits and walk two. He will also
strike out six and hold the Indians
scoreless for a complete game victory.
The jubilant Tigers carried Giebel off the field and promptly voted him
a share of their upcoming World Series money.
Floyd was not eligible for the World Series. Floyd
would spend three seasons in the navy and never win another game in the major
leagues, although he would continue to play in the minors until 1948 mainly in
AA. Here is “the game”.
Friday September 27, 1940.
A Day Watching The Indians.
For Cleveland and Detroit, the
whole 1940 season boils down to this series.
These two teams have battled all season.
They have changed the lead six times in the last month alone! There is no greater drama in baseball. The American League pennant comes down to the
wire in Cleveland. The standings after
the games of September 26 are as follows:
GB
Now you might ask Floyd who and
no one would blame you. Floyd is 30
years old. He started his professional
career in 1938 with Evansville . As a 27 year old rookie, he went 18-6 for Evansville , with a 1.98
ERA. Last year he played in Toledo where he was 1-10
(Yes, that is not a typo. He was 1-10.)
with a 3.58 ERA, and at Beaumont
he was 6-6 with a 2.37 ERA. He has two
big league wins under his belt. Last
year he came into a game in relief and beat the Browns 9-5 before a huge Browns
crowd of 729. His second win was his
only major league appearance this year before today, when he pitched a 13-2
complete game victory against the A’s in Detroit . So apart from the 729 fans in St. Louis , no one outside of Detroit has seen Floyd win a major league
game.
It is a Ladies Day crowd of
45,553 (32,553 paid and 13,000 additional “ladies”) who have come to see this
contest. However, the genteel crowd is
not so genteel. They remember the abuse
the Tigers fans gave their Indians in Detroit
with all the “crybaby” antics. They have
taken a different approach then the Tiger fans.
The 13,000 women have been good naturedly throwing “vintage vegetables”
at the Tigers since before the start of the game from the left field
stands. The Tigers are egging them on,
in an effort to deplete their ammunition.
Earl Averill and Hank Greenberg have been throwing some of it back into
the stands. This demonstration of
produce is the cause for the start of the game to be delayed.
In the Indians warm ups, rookie
pitcher Millard Howell runs into a wall and is knocked unconscious. He is taken to the clubhouse and
revived. Thankfully he has no lasting
injuries other than his pride.
In the bottom of the first it is
determined that the Tigers efforts to deplete the crowd of their load of
produce have failed. Stormy Weatherly
hits a fly ball to Greenberg in left field.
As the ball comes down to Greenberg, so does a barrage of garbage. Some of those at the game are amazed that
Greenberg actually catches the ball and not an orange! Weatherly is out. The game has to be stopped
for ten minutes to clean up the field.
But the Ladies Day crowd continues with its assault. Greenberg can’t take the field. The umpire Bill Summers finally addresses the
crowd over the PA system and announces that if the crowd doesn’t settle down that
every ball hit to the outfield by Cleveland
will be declared an out. The fans settle
down and Giebell retires the Indians in the first with the score 0-0.
In the second inning, Ray Mack
gets a lead off single. He moves to
third on Rollie Hemsley’s single. But
there he stays. Feller strikes out. Chapman strikes out. And Weatherly flies out
to Soupy Campbell.
In the fourth inning Charley
Gerhinger gets a walk. Hank Greenberg
strikes out. But Then Rudy York hits a
long fly ball to Chapman. Chapman backs
up to the wall and makes a leap. But
the ball slips off his glove for a two run home run. In the Indians half of the fourth, they get
two runners on base again. But it is
with two outs and the Indians can’t bring them in. On the scoreboard the score is put up that
shows Philly ending the Yankees shot at a fifth straight pennant by beating
them 6-2.
Somewhere in this mess of a game
is a tribe fan in the upper deck with a basket of empty bottles and
veggies. He gets to the front row of the
upper deck above the Tigers bull pen and takes aim at Schoolboy Rowe. The fan drops the basket from 60 above the
pen and misses his target of Schoolboy.
However, he does hit catcher Birdie Tebbetts square on the head. Birdie is knocked out cold. The police swarmed around the Tigers to
protect them and help direct the chase for the bomber in the upper deck.
The bomber is finally caught and
taken into custody. The police happen to
take him into the Tiger locker room and along the way, protect the fan by
preventing Tiger pitcher Fred Hutchinson from taking a poke at him. However, that is where the fans luck runs
out. For in the locker room is a now
conscious Birdie Tebbetts. Birdie lands
a right to the jaw that sends the fan back.
Then Birdie lands a flurry of punches on the fan and drives him to the
ground. At this point the police finally
decide to take the fan to the nearest clinic before taking him to the
booking!
In the fifth and seventh innings
the Indians get the first two batters on base.
Both times Ben Chapman strikes out and the Indians fail to bring in a
single runner. On Chapman’s last at bat
Giebell shakes off catcher Billy Sullivan and gets Chapman on his best pitch, a
curve right over the plate. As Chapman
walks back to the dugout a fan, who still has some ammo left, tosses an egg at
Chapman. It, like the Indians pennant
hopes, is dashed on the ground. Jeff
Heath comes in, in the bottom of the ninth with two out, to pinch hit for
Feller. He fouls off five pitches before
he hits a grounder to Rudy York at first.
The tribe becomes the first team to lose the pennant after leading on
September 1. The Tigers have won the pennant for the first time since
1935. The jubilant Tigers carry the
rookie pitcher Floyd Giebel off the field and promptly vote him a share of
their upcoming World Series money. Only
two Indians made the walk over to congratulate the Tigers, Ossie Vitt and
former Tiger Harry Eisenstat.
Earl Cook
Bots Nekola
Art Griggs
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