Books and articles about Lon Warneke

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Warneke won an even 100 games in his first tour with the Cubs, starring for pennant winners in 1932 and 1935. He was traded to the Cards in 1937, where his singing and guitar picking gained him a place in the Mudcat Band, a clubhouse hillbilly combo. He no-hit the Reds on August 30, 1941. The next year, the Cubs paid $75,000 to get him back but soon lost him to military service. After WWII he worked his way back to the NL as an umpire. (JK)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » August 23, 1929: The Cubs buy Lon Warneke, 20, from Alexandria (Cotton State League) for $100. » May 2, 1933: Lon Warneke shuts out the Giants, and the Cubs beat up on Hal Schumacher to win, 11–0. Billy Herman is 4-for-4 and Gabby Hartnett drives in five runs on two homers. » September 15, 1933: The Giants sweep a pair from the Cubs at Wrigley Field, winning, 5–1 and 4–0. Reliever Hi Bell helps apply the whitewash in game 2, besting Lon Warneke. Starter Tarzan Parmalee is leading 3-0 when he hits Tuck Stainback on the arm breaking it. He walks the bases full and Bell comes in. » April 17, 1934: Both leagues open with full schedules and draw 180,000 in attendance. The Cubs Lon Warneke gives up a 9th-inning single to Adam Comorosky, winning 6-0 over the Reds. He strikes out 13 in the one-hitter. » April 22, 1934: Lon Warneke pitches his 2nd straight one-hitter, beating Dizzy Dean, as the Cubs romp over the Cards 15-2. » May 2, 1934: Heine Meine outpitches Lon Warneke to give the Pirates a 4–2 win over the Cubs. Chicago drops to 2nd place with the loss. » July 17, 1934: Lon Warneke, Cubs mound ace, intentionally walks a batter in the seventh to load the bases and bring up the Giants P Roy Parmelee. He hits a grand slam for a 5-3 win. » June 29, 1935: Gabby Hartnett goes 4-for-4 and drives home the game winner in the Cubs 2–1 victory over the Pirates. Chuck Klein's homer accounts for the other score to back Lon Warneke's win over Red Lucas. Chicago moves into 2nd place with the victory. » September 2, 1935: With the Cubs splitting two with the 7th-place Reds at Wrigley, Chicago is just two 1/2 in back of the Cards. Chicago wins 31 in the opener as Lon Warneke tops Tony Freitas, then lose 4–2 to Gene Schott. Bill Lee takes the loss. » September 6, 1935: The Cubs, again led by Galan, take their 3rd straight from the Phils. Augie triples and scores the tying run in the 8th, then hits a leadoff homer in the 10th to win it, 3–2, for Lon Warneke. » September 16, 1935: In the opener of a critical 4-game series in Chicago, the Giants lose 8–3 to Lon Warneke. The Cubs have now won 12 straight. » September 25, 1935: In a showdown series with the 2nd place Cardinals in St. Louis, the Cubs edge the Cardinals 1–0. Paul Dean strikes out the first four Cub batters before young Phil Cavarretta. drives a home run on top the roof in RF for the only score of the game. Lon Warneke gives up just two hits and walks none in winning his 20th game. It is the Cubs' 19th straight win, and they are now assured of at least a tie for the pennant. » October 2, 1935: The WS opens in Detroit and Lon Warneke, the Cubs ace, shuts out the Tigers and Schoolboy Rowe 3-0. » October 6, 1935: Lon Warneke keeps the Cubs alive with 6 innings of shutout ball for his 2nd win. Bill Lee relieves in the 2-1 victory. » April 14, 1936: In a 12-7 loss to Cubs, Cardinals rookie Eddie Morgan pinch-hits and drives the first pitch he sees from Lon Warneke for a home run, the only one he'll hit in a 39-game career. He is the first to hit a pinch home run in his first at bat. Billy Herman leads the Cubs with three doubles and a homer. » May 28, 1936: At Wrigley Reds pitcher Al Hollingsworth stakes himself to a 4–0 lead by belting a grand slam off Chicago's Lon Warneke in the top of the 2nd. He then surrenders seven runs in the bottom of the frame and eventually loses, 11–5. » July 7, 1936: The National League, having lost the first three All-Star Games, wins 4–3 at Boston's National League Park with four different Cub players (Galan, Herman, Hartnett, and Demaree) scoring runs. After Dizzy Dean and Carl Hubbell each pitch scoreless 3-inning stints, Curt Davis is hammered by the American League, including Lou Gehrig's home run, but Lon Warneke shuts the door. Meanwhile, the NL is helped by Joe DiMaggio's loose fielding and error and Augie Galan's home run. DiMag is the first rookie to play in an All-Star game. NL plays its starting lineup except for two late-inning pinch hitters. Local favorite and 3-time starter Wally Berger doesn't appear. Missing from the NL roster are Dolph Camilli and Buck Jordan, co-leaders at .348, as well as the eventual batting champ Paul Waner. » July 16, 1936: Braves C Al Lopez reaches first three times on errors, the 3rd player to do so. It is little help though as the Cubs edge the Braves, 1–0, in 10 innings. Lon Warneke is the winner over hard luck Ben Cantwell. » September 27, 1936: When Johnny Mize is thrown out in the 7th inning for arguing, rookie 1B Walt Alston subs. In his only ML game, the future Hall of Fame manager makes one error in 2 chances and is fanned by Lon Warneke in his only at bat. » October 8, 1936: The Cardinals trade 1B Ripper Collins and P Roy Parmelee to the Cubs for Chicago's star P Lon Warneke. » May 13, 1940: In a replay of their washed-out game of April 23rd called on account of darkness, the Reds and the Cards neglect to inform the league office, and no umpires are assigned to Crosley Field. Coach Jimmy Wilson and P Lon Warneke are pressed into service as umpires before umpire Larry Goetz, at home in Cincinnati on a day off, arrives to officiate. Warneke will later become a full-time umpire, while Wilson will return to active duty at the end of the year and star in the World Series. Johnny Mize of the St. Louis Cardinals hits three home runs, and the Reds Bill Werber has five hits and collects four doubles in a 14-inning, 8–8 tie with the Reds. Mize's is his 3rd 3-homer game, breaking the tie for the National League record he shared with George Kelly. After 1910, there will be only five games this century in which active players umpire: Besides today these are: 1912: Ham Hyatt (Pit-N) and Ed Phelps (Bro-N); 1935: Jocko Conlan (Chi-A); 1941: Johnny Cooney (Bos-N) and Freddie Fitzsimmons (Bro-N); and 1978: Don Leppert (coach, Tor-A) and Jerry Zimmerman (coach, Min-A). (as noted by historian Wayne McElreavy) » August 30, 1941: The Cardinals Lon Warneke no-hits the Cincinnati Reds 2-0 with only three balls hit to the outfield. It is Warneke's 15th victory of the season and, with the Dodgers' doubleheader loss to the Giants, puts St. Louis in first place by two percentage points. » August 23, 1942: Cub pitchers Claude Passeau and Lon Warneke each toss 3–0 shutouts against the Reds while Red Sox hurlers Tex Hughson and Joe Dobson whitewash the A's, winning 2–0 and 7–0. » May 2, 1943: Behind the strong pitching of Wally Hebert and Bob Klinger, the Pirates twice shut out the Cubs, winning 3–0 and 1–0. In the second game, Cubs hurlers Dick Barrett and Lon Warneke combine on a hardluck one-hit loss: Vince DiMaggio's hit in the 4th is the only safety. » August 12, 1950: The Giants Eddie Stanky is banished by umpire Lon Warneke for refusing to stop waving his arms in an attempt to distract Phillies batter Andy Seminick. In the fourth, Stanky moves over behind 2B and goes into a windup the same time as the pitcher. Giants manager Leo Durocher had agreed to await a league ruling on the tactic, but after Seminick knocks Hank Thompson unconscious in a collision at 3B, Durocher turns Stanky loose. In the fourth, Seminick reaches base on an error, then on a force at 2B he puts a linebacker block on Bill Rigney, Stanky’s replacement, and both dugouts empty for a brawl. The Phils go on to win 5–4 in 11 innings, on Stan Lopata's triple and a sac fly by Waitkus. The Giants protest Stanky’s ouster to no avail.