Sandwiched between center fielder Johnny Hopp and first baseman Johnny Mize in the No. 3 spot in the Cardinals’ lineup, 20-year-old Musial had two hits, including a two-run double, in the Cardinals’ 3-2 win over the Boston Braves.

The native of Donora, Pennsylvania, originally signed with the Cardinals as a pitcher in 1937. Upon graduating high school, he began his minor-league career and soon impressed his coaches with his hitting talent. That prompted them to play him in the outfield between his starts on the mound. A shoulder injury suffered in the outfield in 1940 made him a full-time outfielder, and in 1941 Musial hit .359 with 29 home runs between Class C Springfield and Class AA Rochester.

On September 15, the St. Louis Star and Times, Globe-Democrat, and Post-Dispatch all reported that the Cardinals had called up three players from the minors: Stanley Musial and George Kurowski from Rochester and pitcher Ed Beazley from New Orleans.[1][2][3] The following day, the Post-Dispatch added two more names to the newcomers: outfielder Walter Sessi from the Cardinals’ minor-league team in Houston and another Rochester outfielder, Irving Dusak.[4]

Musial joined a Cardinals team in the thick of the pennant race. With an 89-51 record, the Cardinals were 1 ½ games behind the Dodgers, who entered September 17 with a 92-51 mark. Despite their success, the Cardinal were slumping, hitting just .218 as a team over their previous 15 games.[5]

Due to an August rainout, the Cardinals and Braves were slated to play two. In Game 1, manager Billy Southworth started an outfield of left fielder Johnny Hopp, center fielder Terry Moore, and right fielder Estel Crabtree in a 6-1 win. The game was tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth, when the Cardinals rallied for five runs thanks to two Braves errors.

For Game 2, Southworth moved Crabtree to left field, Hopp to center, and inserted Musial in right for his big-league debut. The Cardinals squared off against Jim Tobin, a right-handed knuckleballer from Oakland, California, who came into the game 12-9 with a 3.03 ERA. Opposing Tobin was Max Lanier, a 25-year-old right-hander who was 8-8 with a 3.14 ERA.

Musial’s first at-bat came with no one on and two outs in the first inning, and Tobin’s knuckleball got him to fly out to Braves third baseman Sibby Sisti. In his 1964 autobiography, Musial said it was the first time he’d ever seen a knuckleball.

“It fluttered up to the plate, big as a grapefruit but dancing like a dust devil,” Musial said. “Off-stride, fooled, I popped up weakly.”[6]

Musial’s next at-bat would go much better. In the third inning, Lanier reached on an infield single and Tobin walked Hopp. With two outs, Musial doubled into the right-field gap, scoring both base runners to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.

The Braves tied the game in the seventh when Eddie Miller hit an RBI triple and Gene Moore followed with an RBI single.

The game remained tied going into the ninth. Bama Rowell led off the top of the inning with a double into the left-field gap. John Dudra attempted a sacrifice bunt, but Rowell was unable to advance and the next hitter, Frank Demaree, grounded out to the shortstop. Lanier intentionally walked Miller and the Braves countered by sending pinch-hitter Johnny Cooney to the plate for Moore. The strategy didn’t work for the Braves, however, as Lanier got Cooney to ground out to second base to keep the game tied.

The Cardinals’ half of the ninth was brief, as Crabtree ended the game with a walk-off home run over the right-field wall. Tobin had retired the 10 previous batters he faced.

With the win, the Cardinals pulled within one game of the Dodgers, though they would finish 2 ½ games behind Brooklyn. Musial’s two hits (he singled in the fifth inning) led the Redbirds’ offense, which finished the day with six hits. Lanier allowed one earned run on five hits and a walk. He struck out three over nine innings as he improved to 9-8 on the season.

In the next day’s St. Louis Star and Times, W. Vernon Tietjen wrote that, “Southworth was greatly impressed with the hitting power of rookie Stan Musial, a big, rangy lad … Musial appeared nervous in right field, and didn’t play Miller’s triple too well in the seventh inning of the second game, but then what kid wouldn’t be?”[7]

The game marked just the beginning of a Hall of Fame career. Six days later, Musial hit his first home run in a 9-0 Cardinals win. In 47 at-bats in 1941, Musial hit .426 and drove in seven runs. It marked the beginning of a 22-year career with the Cardinals that included three World Series championships, three National League MVP awards, seven batting titles, and 24 all-star selections. Musial was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1969.

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[1] “Cardinals Call Up Three Stars From Minor League Clubs,” St. Louis Star and Times, September 15, 1941.

[2] Martin J. Haley, “Cardinals Nip Giants Twice And Cut Dodger Lead,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 15, 1941.

[3] W.J. McGoogan, “Dodgers 0, Reds 0 (8 ½ innings); Cards Idle, 1 ½ Games Behind,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 15, 1941.

[4] J. Roy Stockton, “Ernie White Draws Hal Schumacher As Rival On The Hill,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 16, 1941.

[5] “Good Pitching Helps Birds Win Twin Bill From Braves,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 18, 1941.

[6] Stan Musial and Bob Broeg (1964), Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story as Told to Bob Broeg, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 49.

[7] W. Vernon Tietjen, “Cards, Game Behind, To Start Cooper Today,” St. Louis Star and Times, September 18, 1941.

The post September 17, 1941: Stan Musial makes his debut first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

There was his season-opening game with the Chicago Cubs in 1934, when Adam Comorosky singled to center field with one out in the ninth. Five days later, he threw another one-hitter, holding the Cardinals to a fifth-inning double by Ripper Collins. In 1939, now a member of the Cardinals, Warneke was a step slow in covering first base and the scorekeeper awarded Stan Hack a seventh-inning single to keep Warneke from perfection.

Earlier in the 1941 season, Warneke allowed a leadoff single to Philadelphia’s Heinie Mueller before holding the Phillies hitless the rest of the way.

On August 31, 1941, however, Warneke was, as Bob Considine of the Cincinnati Enquirer documented, “a perfect pitching machine, not too fast, but smooth and sharp.”[1]  The Reds managed just two hits out of the infield the entire day – a fly ball to center field by Lonny Frey in the first inning and a drive by Frank McCormick in the seventh that forced Cardinals left fielder Don Padgett to the left-field fence.

“I gave them a little of everything I had, mixing up everything I knew how to throw, and not forgetting a change of pace,” Warneke said.[2]

Warneke only struck out two batters on the day, instead relying on his infield defense to record outs. Cincinnati didn’t get its first baserunner until the bottom of the fifth, when Frank McCormick reached on an error by Cardinals second baseman Creepy Crespi. Warneke struck out the next batter, Jim Gleeson, and catcher Walker Cooper caught McCormick stealing for a double play.

In the top of the seventh, the Cardinals finally got Warneke the offensive support he needed for the win. With two outs, Jimmy Brown walked and Johnny Hopp followed with a single. Cincinnati center fielder Harry Craft missed a line drive by Padgett into the right-field gap to score the game’s only two runs. The play was ruled an error, but his postgame recap, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter J. Roy Stockton wrote that the play should have been ruled a double.[3]

In the bottom half of the inning, Warneke worked around a two-out walk to Frey, and in the eighth he benefitted from a 4-6-3 double play after Jim Gleeson reached on an error by Brown.

In the ninth, Warneke retired pinch hitters Lloyd Waner and Ernie Koy before getting Billy Werber to fly out to Johnny Mize at first base for the game’s final out. Mize tossed the ball to Warneke as his teammates congratulated the veteran right-hander affectionately known as the “Arkansas Hummingbird.” As the Associated Press reported, “there was no uproarious celebration – instead the quiet satisfaction of a job very well-done” and many of Warneke’s teammates simply stopped by his locker, shook his hand, and said, “nice going.”[4]

Warneke said that even though the Cincinnati faithful began to cheer for him in the late innings, he wasn’t thinking about the possibility of a no-hitter.

“It never crossed my mind,” he said. “When I’m pitching, I’m concentrating on my next pitch.”[5]

Center fielder Terry Moore, who missed the game while he was in the hospital recovering from a pitch to the head earlier that month, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a phone interview that Warneke’s accomplishment was wonderful “just when so many people thought he was all washed up.”

“As soon as the weather turns a little cool, Lon always does better,” Moore said. “He’ll be a great pitcher for us right down the stretch.”[6]

Enos Slaughter, who also missed the game due to injury, was visiting Moore in the hospital. He said that while a few of Warneke’s sliders have “slid right out of the park,” they have become the veteran’s best pitch.[7]

The win marked Warneke’s 15^th of the season and improved the Cardinals to 80-45, two percentage points ahead of the 81-46 Dodgers for first place in the National League.

“Well, we won the game and recaptured first place,” Warneke said. “That’s all that matters to me.”^[8]

Cincinnati’s Elmer Riddle took the tough-luck loss, scattering five hits and five walks without allowing an earned run. His record fell to 15-3 even as he lowered his ERA to 1.99.

Later that week, Warneke told the St. Louis Star and Times that he would undergo surgery on his knee to repair a bone growth that had developed on his left kneecap and was “sore as a boil most of the time.”[9]

Though the Dodgers wound up capturing the National League title, Warneke finished the season with a 17-9 record and a 3.15 ERA. He started 12 games for the Cardinals in 1942, going 6-4 with a 3.29 ERA, before he was sold to the Cubs for $7,500. He went 5-7 for the Cubs the remainder of the season despite a 2.27 ERA, and went 4-5 for the Cubs in 1943 before missing the 1944 season due to military service. After serving about a year and a half as the civilian director of recreation at the Shumaker Naval Ammunition Depot near Camden, Arkansas,[10] Warneke returned to the Cubs for nine games in 1945, all but one game of which came in relief.

He retired after the season with a 192-121 career record, five all-star appearances, the 1932 ERA title, and one no-hitter.

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[1] Bob Considine, “Those Nasty Giants Knock Brooks Out Of League Lead,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 31, 1941: Page 14.

[2] “Main Thing Is We Won – Warneke,” Des Moines Register, August 31, 1941: Section 5, Page 1.

[3] J. Roy Stockton, “No-Hit Game for Warneke as Cards Regain League Lead By Defeating Reds While Dodgers Lose Twin Bill to Giants,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 31, 1941: Page 8A.

[4] “Main Thing Is We Won – Warneke,” Des Moines Register, August 31, 1941: Section 5, Page 1.

[5] “Main Thing Is We Won – Warneke,” Des Moines Register, August 31, 1941: Section 5, Page 1.

[6] “Just the Tonic Lon Needed, Say Moore and Slaughter,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 31, 1941: Page 8A.

[7] “Just the Tonic Lon Needed, Say Moore and Slaughter,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 31, 1941: Page 8A.

[8] Bob Considine, “Those Nasty Giants Knock Brooks Out Of League Lead,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 31, 1941: Page 14.

[9] “Warneke to Undergo Operation on Knee After Season Ends,” St. Louis Star and Times, September 2, 1941: Page 11.

[10] Don Duren, “Lon Warmeke,” Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/lon-warneke/, Accessed September 28, 2020.

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