IN THE NEWS: Reds P Bucky Walters stops the Dodgers, 2–1 in 11 innings. The Dodgers load the bases in the 11th, but Leo Durocher and Babe Phelps strike out to end the game. Curt Davis takes the loss.
IN THE NEWS: The Dodgers snag veteran 2B Billy Herman from the Cubs for OF Charlie Gilbert, IF Johnny Hudson, and $65,000. Herman, the premier 2B in the league, is hitting just .194, but will replace the journeyman Pete Coscarart. In his first game as a Dodger, Herman is 4-for-4 to lead Brooklyn to a 7–3 win over visiting Pittsburgh.
The newly renamed Braves beat the Cards, 5–4, to snap the Redbirds 10-game win streak (12 on the road). All the runs come in the 5th and are unearned. It's the Cards first loss away from St. Louis since losing in spring training March 29th. Since then they'd won 25 straight—exhibition and regular—away from home.
Playing in his last game before induction into the Army tomorrow, Hank Greenberg hits two home runs to lead Detroit to a 7–4 win over the Yankees. Each time he teams with Bruce Campbell to go back-to-back, the 2nd time in his career he's done it. Rudy York and he teamed up. A few days later OF Joe Gallagher of the Dodgers is drafted. No other regular ML player will be drafted during the season, but several others on training rosters will, as contemporary writers phrase it, "join the colors."
IN THE NEWS: At Philadelphia, Cubs pitcher Bill Lee cracks a pair of homers while pitching Chicago to an 11–2 win over the Phils. Bill Crouch takes the loss.
At the Polo Grounds, Reds SS Eddie Joost accepts a record 19 chances as Cincinnati edges New York, 1–0. In addition to his 10 assists and nine putouts, Joost has a throwing error and the game's only stolen base. Ernie Lombardi's homer accounts for the only run as Bucky Walters is the winner over Prince Hal Schumacher in a battle of veterans. Both pitchers keep the ball down and each outfield accounts for a single flyout, tying the ML mark for fewest chances by two teams.
The Pirates send veteran Lloyd Waner to the Braves, where he will be reunited with his brother, in exchange for P Nick Strincevich. Waner will play just a month in Boston before being swapped to the Reds for Johnny Hutchings.
IN THE NEWS: Love that home cooking. At Boston, it's Lefty against Lefty as Lefty Grove stops the Yankees' Lefty Gomez, 6–4 for the southpaw's 20th straight win at Fenway Park. It is his 295th career victory. Jimmie Foxx helps with a 2-run homer.
IN THE NEWS: Browns hurlers walk 19 Athletics. Starter Bob Harris issues eight of the passes, but the Browns win anyway 10–5.
The Cubs finally give up on Dizzy Dean. Diz gets his release the same day that brother Paul Dean is sent to the minors by the Giants. Diz will sign on as a coach.
The Giants sell Ernie Koy to the Reds and send P Harry Gumbert to the Cardinals for P "Fiddler Bill" Bill McGee. Gumbert will go 11–5 for the Cards in 1941 and pitch another 10 years.
IN THE NEWS: Joe DiMaggio gets a single in four at bats against Ed Smith of the Chicago White Sox to start his 56-game hitting streak. Joe D's hit goes unnoticed as the Yankees lose, 13–1. Taffy Wright homers and drives in four White Sox runs, the 8th straight game he's driven in a run.
A single by Jimmie Bloodworth in the 7th is the only hit for the Senators as they lose to the Browns Denny Galehouse, 7–0.
Rip Radcliff, one of the top American League batters in 1940 for the Browns, is waived to the Tigers as a result of a sudden batting decline.
IN THE NEWS: The Yankees bench Phil Rizzuto and Jerry Priddy, putting back Joe Gordon and Frankie Crosetti. New York then rally in the 9th to beat the White Sox, 5–4.
IN THE NEWS: The city of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania declare a legal holiday to honor the A's manager on Connie Mack Day at Shibe Park. Connie declines to agree to a name change for Shibe Park to Connie Mack Stadium. George M. Cohan sings a new baseball song and then the Tigers put a damper on the day's festivities with a 6–5 come-from-behind win. Frank Croucher has three hits, including a triple, for Detroit.
IN THE NEWS: The Cards rally to beat the Phils, 6–5, but they lose rookie C Walker Cooper who fractures a scapula bone and dislocates a collar bone. Cooper is bowled over by Hal Marnie, who scores in the 5th.
IN THE NEWS: Cubs pitcher Claude Passeau hits a grand slam off Hugh Casey as the Cubs score nine runs in the 2nd inning. Chicago coast to a 14–1 win at home. Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher protests the game claiming the Cubs are over the 25-man limit, but the protest is tossed out. The Cubs will be fined $500 for the infraction. Brooklyn also protests that the mound is several inches over the 15 inch height allowed: at the suggestion of the umps, Casey pitches from several inches in front of the rubber, but it doesn't help.
IN THE NEWS: OF Taft Wright of the Chicago White Sox doubles to drive in a run and sets an American League record by driving in at least one run in 13 consecutive games. Wright has 22 RBI in the streak, although in six of the games he knocked in a run without a hit.
With the Phils down 4–0, the Phils George Jumonville hits a pinch homer, his only home run in the majors, and the Phils come back to top the Cards in 11 innings, 6–4. It is Jumonville's last ML at bat.
At Crosley Field, the Reds score six runs in the 9th to defeat the Braves, 9–6. Frank McCormick finishes the scoring with a 3-run homer.
IN THE NEWS: A smart play by the Reds Lonny Frey helps Cincy to a 6–4 win over the Giants. With one out and the sacks full in the 1st, Chuck Aleno hits a DP grounder to short. Frey, running from 2B, allows the ball to hit him for an out, stopping play and putting Aleno on 1B. Ernie Lombardi then hits a grand slam. Frank McCormick adds a 2-run home run in the 3rd.
IN THE NEWS: Selma Cloverleaf (Southeastern L) pitcher Hal Toenes relieves in the top of the ninth inning against the Jackson Mississipians with a runner on 1B and two out (as noted by historian Bill Hickman). Without throwing a pitch, he picks the runner off 1B. Selma, four runs down, scores six runs to give Toenes the pitchless win.
IN THE NEWS: Ted Williams raises his batting average over .400 for the first time during the season. His run to be the first since Bill Terry in 1930 to exceed the magic number will be marked in newspapers throughout the season, although it will often give way to the batting streak by Joe DiMaggio. DiMag singles today, off Boston's Lefty Grove. Grove thus joins two of baseball's most famous streaks—Joe's current hitting streak and Ruth's 60 homers in 1927. Lefty served up a gopher on September 27, 1927.
Pete Reiser hits his only career grand slam to pace the Dodgers to an 8–4 win over the Phils. Reiser's home run comes off Ike Pearson, who had beaned him just a month earlier.
IN THE NEWS: At the Polo Grounds the score 1–1 between the Giants and Braves when umpire Jocko Conlan calls time in the 7th. The crowd and the two teams then listens for 45 minutes while President Roosevelt's radio message about the war in Europe is heard on the loudspeakers. When play resumes, the Braves lift Jim Tobin for Manny Salvo, while the Giants take out starter Hal Schumacher, replacing him with Carl Hubbell. Hubbell's single wins it for New York, 2–1.
Joe DiMaggio is 4-for-5 with three runs and three ribbies to pace the Yankees to a 10–8 win over the Senators.
IN THE NEWS: The New York Yankees edge the Washington Senators, 6–5, before 25,000 in the first night game at Griffith Stadium. George Selkirk twinkles with a pinch grand slam, and Joe DiMaggio triples against Sid Hudson.
IN THE NEWS: The Cards nip the Reds 10–9 for their 10th straight win. The last five are one run victories. The Reds almost pull the game out, scoring three in the 9th, but Marty Marion snags a Ernie Lombardi line drive and doubles up Ernie Koy at 2B.
IN THE NEWS: With Brooklyn three games in back of the Cards, 59,487 jam the Polo Grounds to watch the Dodgers and Giants. Whitlow Wyatt shuts a out the Giants to win the opener, and Brooklyn overcomes a 2–1 deficit in the nitecap to score five runs in the 9th and win 6–2.
The Red Sox and Yanks split, New York winning the opener and Boston trouncing New York in the nitecap, 13–0. The Sox cap it off with a triple steal. Ted Williams laces six hits in the doubleheader, while Joe DiMaggio hits in both games to run his streak to 16. It is not a good day for the DiMag, suffering from a cold, as he commits an error in the opener and three more in the nitecap.
The Cards run their win streak to 11 in a row by defeating the Reds, 4–1, in the opener. The Reds win game two by a 3–2 score.
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