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Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
August 14, 1952

Introduction

My series of random games moves next into the early 1950s. The 1952 season was the 50th consecutive season in which the same 16 major-league teams played in the same eleven major-league cities. It was also the last such season as the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee before the 1953 season.

But this game doesn't involve the Braves. This game pitted the Cincinnati Reds against the Chicago Cubs in historic Wrigley Field. The Cubs entered the game in fifth place with a record of 56-55 while the Reds were mired in seventh place with a record of 48-65.

The Reds starting pitcher for the game was Ken Raffensberger, who entered the game with a record of 12-10 and a 2.57 ERA. Opposing him for the Cubs was Warren Hacker, who entered play with a record of 10-4 and a 3.06 ERA.

The Cubs entered the game a bit short-handed. The Cubs' regular left fielder in 1952 was Hank Sauer. In 1952, Sauer played 151 games (out of 155 Cubs games), led the National League in home runs (37) and RBI (121) and was voted National League MVP. Unfortunately for the Cubs, the August 14th game against the Reds was one of the four games in 1952 that Hank Sauer did not play. He missed this game (and both games of the doubleheader the day before) with a stiff neck.

First Inning

Hacker got two quick outs on fly balls to the outfield. Willard Marshall and Ted Kluszewski singled to put men on the corners. But Hacker bore down and struck out Joe Adcock to end the threat.

Raffensberger had an easy bottom of the inning, working around a one-out infield single by Hal Jeffcoat by getting Frank Baumholtz to foul out to the catcher and striking out Bill Serena.

Second Inning

Grady Hatton flew out to center field to open the top of the second inning. But Andy Seminick singled to left field. Roy McMillan was safe on an error by Cubs' shortstop Tommy Brown. A sacrifice by Ken Raffensberger moved both runners into scoring position with two outs.

Cal Abrams was intentionally walked to load the bases. With Bobby Adams at bat, Hacker threw a wild pitch that scored Seminick with the first run of the game. Adams flew out to right field, however, and the inning was over.

An error, a sacrifice, an intentional walk, and a wild pitch is about as cheap a run as you'll see. But it gave the Reds a 1-0 lead going to the bottom of the second inning.

The Reds lead did not even last for one Cubs batter. Randy Jackson led off the bottom of the second inning with a home run to left field and the score was tied at one. Harry Chiti followed with a single to center field. But Dee Fondy hit into a 4-6-3 double play and Gene Hermanski grounded back to the pitcher to end the inning.

Third Inning

The game did not stay tied at one for long. Willard Marshall led off the third inning by flying out to right field. But Ted Kluszewski homered to right field and the Reds led 2-1.

This was Kluszewski's 11th home run of the 1952 season. The 27-year-old Kluszewski ended the 1952 season with 16 home runs giving him 74 career home runs over his six-year major-league career (counting his 9-game debut season in 1947) with a career high of 25 in 1950.

• In 1952, Kluszewski hit 12 home runs on the road (including this one) and only 4 at home.
• "In 1953 [the Reds' home ballpark] Crosley [Field] added a slice of 700 seats in front of the 366-foot right-field fence that reduced the distance Ted Kluszewski had to hit a home run to 342 feet."
• In 1953, Kluszewski hit 17 home runs on the road but upped his home total to 23, giving him 40 home runs for the season.
• In 1954, Kluszewski hit 15 home runs on the road and 34 at home, giving him a league-leading 49 home runs for the season.
• In 1955, Kluszewski led the National League with 192 hits, including 47 home runs, 25 on the road and 22 at home.

Meanwhile, back on August 14, 1952, Hacker retired the next two Reds and the game moved to the bottom of the third inning with the Reds leading 2-1.

The Cubs tried to answer with back-to-back two-out singles by Jeffcoat and Baumholtz, which put runners on first and third. But Serena flied to left field and the inning ended with the Reds still leading 2-1.

Fourth - Seventh Innings

From here, the game settled into a nice quiet pitchers' duel. Raffensberger, in particular, was in complete control, retiring all twelve batters he faced over these four innings, four on strikes.

While Hacker allowed three baserunners - one of whom (Bobby Adams) was thrown out trying stretch his hit to a double - Hacker bested Raffensberger in the strikeout department with seven over these four innings.

Eighth Inning

Hacker got Marshall to ground out to lead off the top of the eighth inning. But Kluszewski singled with one out and Grady Hatton walked with two outs. But Andy Seminick popped out to the shortstop to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Raffensberger's string of consecutive batters retired ended at 14 when pinch hitter Bruce Edwards reached first base on an error by Reds' third baseman Bobby Adams. But Edwards was quickly eliminated as Tommy Brown hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

Ninth Inning

The Cubs used two pinch hitters in the bottom of the eighth inning so the ninth inning opened with a new left fielder, Bob Addis, and a new pitcher, Dutch Leonard.

Leonard was a 43-year-old knuckleballer in his 19th season in the big leagues. Leonard had a fine career. He won 20 games in 1939 and started the 1943 All-Star game for the American League. Leonard mostly pitched for bad teams through his career, leading his league in losses twice, for example. Despite this, he ended his 20-year major-league career with five All-Star selections and 191 wins in 3,218.1 innings pitched and received a smattering of Hall-of-Fame votes, earning at least one vote on seven ballots, maxing out at 1.8% (5 votes in 1968).

By this point in his career, Leonard was exclusively a relief pitcher. This was his 33rd appearance of the 1952 season, all in relief. He entered play with nine saves (although the save statistic hadn't been invented yet) and a 2.06 ERA.

Unfortunately for Leonard and the Cubs, this outing did not help the ERA. He retired the first batter he faced but back-to-back singles by Raffensberger and Abrams put runners on first and second and a passed ball (as I said, Leonard was a knuckleballer) put both runners in scoring position.

The next batter was Bobby Adams. He singled to left field to score Raffensberger. The Reds led 3 to 1. And Leonard's game was over.

The third Cubs pitcher, Bob Schultz, retired the next two batters, although Abrams scored on Marshall's fly out to center field.

And so, the game moved to the bottom of the ninth inning with the Cubs trailing by a score of 4 to 1.

Raffensberger had pitched five consecutive three-batter innings (an 8th-inning ROE being the only Cubs baserunner). He ended the game with six consecutive three-batter innings as Jeffcoat flied to right field, Baumholtz flied to left field, and Serena ended the game by popping out to the second baseman.

Game Summary

With the win, Raffensberger improved his record to 13-10 with a 2.49 ERA. He ended the season with a record 17-13, a 2.81 ERA, and a league-leading six shutouts. The loss dropped Hacker's record to 10-5. He finished the 1952 season with a 15-9 record and a 2.58 ERA.

The Cubs finished the 1952 season in exactly the same position as they finished this game, in fifth place with a .500 record. With their win and the Boston Braves' loss, the Reds pulled to within one-half game of sixth place. They matched the Cubs' record over the rest of the 1952 season, playing exactly .500 ball and passing the Braves to finish in sixth place with a 69-85 record.

Details of the game are shown below. First, I show Player won-lost records for all of the players who participated in the game. Baseball Player won-lost records are constructed so that the players on the winning team earn two pWins and one pLoss in the game while the players on the losing team earn one pWin and two pLosses. I also show expected wins and losses, eWins and eLosses, which are context-neutral. Full play by play details of the game are shown below the won-lost tables. My Player won-lost records are described in more detail in this article and throughout my website.

Retrosheet Box Score and Play-by-Play