Books and articles about Dutch Leonard

Emil "Dutch" Leonard was one of the first pitchers to rely heavily on the knuckleball. Pitching almost exclusively for losing teams during his 20 years in the ML, he nevertheless won 191 games. His success with what was until then considered a trick pitch inspired a whole generation of knuckleball specialists, including Hoyt Wilhelm.

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After his 14-11 year with the Dodgers in 1934, a sore arm threatened Leonard's career. Eventually he was sent to Atlanta of the Southern Association where, with the help of the knuckleball, he posted two strong seasons. He returned to the majors with Washington in 1938 and the next year enjoyed a 20-8 year with the sixth-place Senators.

Although Leonard occasionally mixed in a fastball or slip pitch to keep hitters off-balance, the knuckler was his primary out pitch. He had exceptional control of all his pitches, averaging only 2.06 walks per nine innings pitched.

After an 18-13 season in 1941, Leonard missed almost all the next year with a broken ankle, but he came back to post double-digit win totals for the Senators through 1946, including a 17-7 mark in 1945. An oddity that season, aside from Washington's uncharacteristic second-place finish, was that three other regular Senator hurlers - Roger Wolff, Mickey Haefner, and Johnny Niggeling - were knuckleballers.

Leonard was sold to the Phillies after the 1946 season and was traded with Monk Dubiel to the Cubs for Eddie Waitkus and Hank Borowy two years later. Though he had always been a starting pitcher, he became an outstanding reliever with the Cubs. He once cited as one of his greatest thrills a game in which he was called in against the powerful Dodgers to protect a one-run lead in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and no outs. He retired Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, and Roy Campanella without a run scoring. (BC)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » June 11, 1913: With the score tied 5–5, Ivy Olson of Cleveland steals home in the top of the 15th for the winning run over the Red Sox. Jack Graney then steals home for an insurance run, marking the only time teammates would steal home in extra innings in the same game. Dutch Leonard watches on the mound for Boston. » May 18, 1914: In a 2–0 Boston win, Detroit's Ty Cobb is hit in the ribs by a pitch from Boston's Dutch Leonard, but stays in the game. In Cobb's next at-bat, he drags a bunt down the first base line and spikes Leonard when the pitcher tries to field the ball. In a few days, Cobb will leave the lineup because of a broken rib, the result of the pitch. » September 6, 1915: Babe Ruth holds the Yankees hitless till the 8th, before weakening and giving up three hits. Dutch Leonard relieves and the Red Sox win, 5–2, sweeping the doubleheader. Ruth is 2-for-3 at the plate. » September 17, 1915: Dutch Leonard allows three hits as the Red Sox top Detroit, 7–2. » October 11, 1915: In Boston, an unprecedented 42,300 are on hand for game three and see another 1–1 duel, which is decided in the 9th when Duffy Lewis singles home Harry Hooper for a 2–1 hometown win. Dutch Leonard walks none, yields three hits, and sets down the last 20 Phils to face him. » May 1, 1916: Lefty Babe Ruth loses his first game after five wins, as the Nationals beat Boston, 5–3. Ruth allows just five singles in seven 2/3 innings, but walks 9. The Babe walks the bases loaded in the 8th, and reliever Dutch Leonard serves up a 3-run double to Washington catcher John Henry. » May 4, 1916: Red Sox pitcher Dutch Leonard shuts out the Yankees, 3–0. The Yanks will take the next three games to drop Boston below .500. » May 9, 1916: The Red Sox and Dutch Leonard stop the Indians, 5–1, ending the first-place Tribe's 8-game win streak. The game marks Tris Speaker's return to Boston, and 15,000 cheer his every move. After one inning Speaker inadvertently heads into the Sox dugout, much to the crowd's delight. » June 24, 1916: The Red Sox sweep two from the A's, winning 3–2 and taking the night cap, 7–3 behind Carl Mays. Mays also saves the opener for Dutch Leonard. » July 12, 1916: With the temperature at Fenway near 100 degrees, Boston sweeps the White Sox behind complete game wins by Ernie Shore, 2–1, and Dutch Leonard, 3–1. » August 23, 1916: Babe Ruth picks up his only save of the season, relieving Dutch Leonard in the 8th with Boston leading the Indians, 6–3. Babe strikes out three in the 8th and doubles and scores in his trip to the plate. He shuts out Cleveland in the 9th as Boston completes a 4-game sweep of the Tribe. » September 24, 1916: Marty Kavanagh, Indians utility man, hits the AL's first pinch-hit grand slam for Cleveland in a 5–3 win over the Red Sox. The ball rolls through a hole in the fence and cannot be retrieved in time for a play at the plate. Kavanagh's blast comes off Boston's Dutch Leonard and ends Boston's 7-game win streak. » September 30, 1916: Red Sox CF Tilly Walker, imitating Tris Speaker, his predecessor, dashes in for a low line drive and beats the runner back to 2B for an unassisted DP. It is an important play, as Dutch Leonard defeats Nick Cullop of the Yankees 1–0 in the 10th on Harry Hooper's sacrifice fly. The win clinches a tie for the pennant for Boston. Cleveland will beat Chicago tomorrow to give the flag to Boston. » October 11, 1916: Rube Marquard, Larry Cheney, and Nap Rucker yield 10 hits as the Red Sox win Game Four easily 6–2. The Brooklyn Robins score twice in the first, but Larry Gardner's 2nd home run, an inside-the-park blast, scores three in the 2nd and puts Boston ahead to stay. Dutch Leonard holds his foes to five hits. » April 24, 1917: In front of 3,219 fans, Yankee lefty George Mogridge pitches a no-hitter in Fenway Park for a 2–1 New York win. It is the 2nd of what will be an AL record five no-hitters. The Yankees score on two walks, an error, and a sacrifice fly off Dutch Leonard. Not until Dave Righetti's no-hitter in 1983 will another Yankee lefty toss a no-hitter. » May 15, 1917: In Cleveland, P Babe Ruth is lifted with one out in the 6th and the Red Sox leading 6–5. Dutch Leonard then shuts down the Indians to preserve the victory, and he is awarded the win by the official scorer. The decision is eventually reversed, giving Ruth his 8th straight win. The White Sox will stop his streak on the 18th. » May 29, 1917: The visiting Red Sox sweep two from the Senators, winning 2–1 behind Dutch Leonard, and 9–0 behind Babe Ruth. The Sox will sweep two more tomorrow. » June 23, 1917: In the first of two games at Boston, Babe Ruth starts for the Red Sox and walks the leadoff man, griping to plate umpire Brick Owens after each pitch. On ball 4, Ruth plants a right to the umpire's jaw and is ejected. Ernie Shore hastily relieves. The runner Ray Morgan is then caught stealing, and Shore retires all 26 men he faces in a 4–0 win, getting credit in the books for a perfect game. Ruth is not fined, but draws a 10-day suspension. Boston's Dutch Leonard then beats Walter Johnson, 5–0, in the nitecap. Ruth is suspended for his actions, a ban that will last nine days. He also is fined $100. » September 11, 1917: Walter Johnson allows just two hits to beat Dutch Leonard to give the Nats a 4–3 win over the Red Sox. All the runs are unearned for Boston. » October 2, 1917: At Boston, the Red Sox and Senators divide a doubleheader, Washington winning 9–7 in 10 innings, then losing 2–1 in eight innings. Howard Shanks has four of the 15 Nats hits off Dutch Leonard in the first game as Doc Ayers wins in relief. Ayers and Carl Mays, both after bonus money, duel in the 2nd game, with Mays emerging the richer. » December 3, 1936: The Dodgers "sell" Frenchy Bordagaray, Dutch Leonard, and Jimmy Jordan to the Cardinals. The exchange is understood to be a continuation of the September 7th transaction, which brought the Dodgers Tom Winsett and Eddie Morgan from the Cards' AA farm team. » May 4, 1938: At Washington, the Indians and Senators match zeroes for 12 innings before the Zeke Bonura scores in the bottom of the 13th to win, 1–0. Dutch Leonard goes all the way for Washington and walks none while allowing six hits. Feller pitches the first 10 innings for the Tribe. » August 26, 1940: Bob Feller rescues Mel Harder in the 7th and the Indians top the Senators, 4–3. Hal Trosky's two-run homer off Dutch Leonard is the big blow for the Tribe. Cleveland leads the idle Tigers by three games. » June 29, 1941: Joe DiMaggio singles against Washington knuckleballer Dutch Leonard in the sixth inning in the first game of a doubleheader to tie George Sisler's AL consecutive-game hit record of 41. In game two he collects a seventh-inning single off of Walt Masterson to set the record at 42 games. » March 15, 1944: In Maryland, the Senators start training with five knuckleballers likely to make the staff: Dutch Leonard, Roger Wolff, Mickey Haefner, John Niggeling, and Bill Lefebvre. Pity C Rick Ferrell, who will have to corral the flutterballs. » October 1, 1944: In Detroit 45,565 watch 27-game winner Dizzy Trout, pitching on one day's rest, lose to Washington knuckleballer Dutch Leonard 4-1. Prior to that, Leonard had lost 7 straight to Detroit in 1943-44. Years later, Leonard reports he had received a phone call offering him $20,000 to throw the game. » November 23, 1944: Five groups totaling 23 players, managers, umpires, and writers visit war theaters as part of the USO program. Included are Mel Ott, Dutch Leonard, Frankie Frisch, Bucky Walters, Harry Heilmann, Carl Hubbell, Freddie Fitzsimmons, Bill Summers, Beans Reardon, Johnny Lindell, Tuck Stainback, Steve O'Neill, Leo Durocher, Joe Medwick, Nick Etten, Dixie Walker, Paul Waner, and Rip Sewell. » May 11, 1947: In front of 41,660 at Shibe Park—the largest crowd to date to watch a baseball game in Philadelphia—the Phils take two from Brooklyn to take three out of four in the series. The Jays win 7–3 and 5–4. In the first game, the Phils score all their runs in the 3rd and 4th to give knuckler Dutch Leonard his 5th win against a defeat, and his 2nd win in three days against the Bums. Del Ennis's first homer of the year scores 3. Schoolboy Rowe, with relief help from Ken Heintzelman wins the nitecap. He also bangs a homer, and wins his 9th straight over two seasons. Harry Walker raises his average in a Phils uniform to .406 and "closes out the nitecap with one of the most spectacular catches of the season, a catch that would have made the immortal Dode Paskert of 30 years ago doff his hat." (Philadelphia Inquirer) » May 2, 1948: The Phillies and Dodgers divide a doubleheader, Brooklyn outslugging the Blue Jays 9–6 in the opener, then losing, 2–0, to Ken Heintzelman. Furillo has a home run, triple and single in the opener, while Duke Snider hits his first two ML homers—the first, inside-the-park—a triple and a single, good for four RBIs. Ben Chapman starts Dutch Leonard but after one out brings in Curt Simmons against the lefty Dodger lineup. In the nitecap, Carl Furillo's 2-out single in the 7th is the first hit off Heintzelman, who pitches a 4-hitter. » December 14, 1948: The Cubs send Eddie Waitkus and Hank Borowy to the Phillies in exchange for pitcher Monk Dubiel and Dutch Leonard. Leonard, the veteran knuckleballer, led the National League in losses this past season with 18. » August 25, 1950: The Cubs win 7-6 over Braves, as reliever Dutch Leonard tops Warren Spahn. » August 28, 1950: At Wrigley Field, Hank Sauer socks three consecutive home runs, off Curt Simmons, as the Cubs edge the Phillies 7–5 in game 1. Sauer will connect for three homers off Simmons once more, in 1952. Knuckleballer Dutch Leonard, in his only start of the year, is today's winner. The Phils then take the nitecap, 9–5, to move five 1/2 games ahead of the Dodgers. » May 20, 1951: Before 42,088 at Wrigley, Dutch Leonard wins a pair, beating the Braves, 4–3 and 5–4. Dutch tosses two innings in each game as the Cubs beat Chet Nichols and Vern Bickford. The Cubs are now a game back of the front-running Dodgers. » June 22, 1951: Willie Mays, 20, hits a 10th-inning HR, the first of his 22 extra-innings HRs, off 42-year-old Dutch Leonard of the Cubs. It is a 3-run shot that gives the Giants a 9–6 win. » August 27, 1951: The Giants win two more from the Cubs, including a 5–4, twelve-inning complete game victory for Larry Jansen. It is his 17th win. The Cubs score in the top of the 12th, but the Giants score two off Dutch Leonard to win. Behind Al Corwin's pitching and homers by Stanky and Irwin, the Giants take the nitecap, 6–3.