IN THE NEWS: Mel Ott hits the 500th home run of his career, a total exceeded only by Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx. He will hit 10 more this season and one on Opening Day of 1946 to finish with 511. Ott leads the Giants to a 92 win over the Braves at the Polo Grounds.
IN THE NEWS: Tom McBride of the Boston Red Sox drives in ML-record tying six runs in the 4th inning of the 2nd game of a doubleheader against the Senators, as the Sox score 12 runs. He doubles and triples off Santiago Ullrich and Joe Cleary, each time with the bases loaded. The Sox bat around against Cleary, who gives up seven runs on five hits and three walks. Cleary, the last major leaguer born in Ireland, gets one out, on a strikeout, but this is his only ML appearance and he'll finish with a 189. ERA. The Senators then call on Bert Shepard, who remarkably pitches five 1/3 innings giving up one run on three hits. For Shepard, who was wounded in WW2 and lost a leg, this too will be his only major league appearance. The Sox win, 154.
At Pittsburgh, Pirate catcher Bill Salkeld is 5-for-5, including hitting for the cycle, and drives in all five runs, but his Bucs lose 65 to the Cardinals reliever Harry Brecheen. Salkeld hits his only triple of the year in the cycle, half his career total. His offensive effort offsets a curious defensive stat: he has no putouts or assists in the game.
IN THE NEWS: The Cubs bang out 22 hits in Game One of a pair to overwhelm the Reds, 125. Stan Hack has three doubles and a single, and Phil Cavarretta has four hits. The Cubs take the nitecap, 21, behind Claude Passeau's 6-hitter. Chicago has won 17 of their last 18 games.
IN THE NEWS: The Tigers split a pair with the Red Sox, winning 52 before losing 74 in 12 innings. In the 10th frame of the 2nd game, a line drive off the bat of Detroit's Hank Greenberg fractures the head of Boston Red Sox rookie pitcher Jim Wilson, necessitating a 2-hour operation. Wilson will return to pitch 11 more years, but won't win another ML game till 1951.
IN THE NEWS: Chicago's Claude Passeau limits the Braves to two hitsboth coming with two out in the 8thas the Cubs win, 80. The Cubs score six in the 9th after starter Logan is lifted.
IN THE NEWS: Mel Ott leads the Giants to a pair of wins over the Reds, 32 and 65. Ott hits a pinch 3-run homer in the 8th of the nitecap after his homer and another by Danny Gardella leads the way in opener. The Reds Bill McKechnie, desperate for hitting, selects P Joe Bowman to pinch-hit for Vern Kennedy in game 1. Bowman is 0-for-42. He will hit .088 for the season.
Phils baserunner Fred Daniels collides with Cubs 1B Phil Cavarretta, sidelining the Cubs star for 25 of the next 27 games. The Cubs manage to win two from the Phils, 43 and 126.
In the lid lifter at Briggs Stadium, pitcher Jim Tobin, acquired on waivers, pitches three scoreless innings against New York and clubs a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 11th to win, 96. Another former Brave, Jim Turner, serves up the homer. The Tigers win the nitecap, 82, behind Hal Newhouser's 18th win.
IN THE NEWS: Branch Rickey becomes the principal stockholder of the Dodgers. He and associates Walter O'Malley and John Smith acquire the 50 percent interest of the Ebbets estate for a reported price of $750,000.
IN THE NEWS: Cleveland's Lou Boudreau suffers a broken right ankle in a collision at 2B with Dolf Camilli, but the Tribe beats the Red Sox, 30 behind Jim Bagby's 3-hitter.
Giants rookie Sal Maglie makes his first ML start, beating the Reds, 52. It is Cincy's 11th straight loss. They'll lose a pair tomorrow before winning.
IN THE NEWS: The Cubs rack up 19 hits, including two homers by Gillespie, one with the bases full, to swamp the Dodgers, 206. Chicago scores eight in the 4th inning with the first eight batters reaching base before an out is recorded. Hank Borowy coasts to the win.
Commissioner Happy Chandler sells World Series radio rights for $150,000 to Gillette. Ford had been the World Series sponsor since 1934, paying $100,000 annually.
Umpire Ernie Stewart is canned by American League President Will Harridge for "disloyalty." Stewart had complained about the pay and taken his case to Chandler. Bill McGowan is the top-paid umpire in the league at $9,000.
IN THE NEWS: In game two of a doubleheader against the Reds, 37-year-old slugger Jimmie Foxx makes his first ML start pitching, the first seven innings for the Philadelphia Blue Jays. He leaves with a 41 lead, and Andy Karl saves Foxx's only ML decision, a 62 final. Double X's ERA in 10 ML appearances is 1.52. The lidlifter goes the Phils as well, 50, though they are mathematically eliminated from a 1st place finish.
The Yankees win the first of two with the White Sox, 42, to break their 9-game losing streak, the longest under McCarthy. Chicago takes the nitecap, 20, as Lefty Grove gives up just five hits, three by Metheny.
IN THE NEWS: At the age of 17, SS Tommy Brown of the Brooklyn Dodgers is the youngest player to hit a ML home run. Brown belts his homer off Pirates southpaw Preacher Roe into the upper LF section at Ebbets Field. Seven Dodger errors make it easy for Pittsburgh to win, 11-1.
Detroit's Hal Newhouser shuts out the A's 40 for his 20th win of the year. Greenberg has his 15 game hitting streak stopped, but Roy Cullenbine and Doc Cramer add home runs.
IN THE NEWS: Cleveland ace Bob Feller returns from the Navy and attracts a home crowd of 46,477, who watch him strike out 12 and yield only four hits in a 42 win over Detroit's Hal Newhouser. He will get nine starts during the remainder of the year, and his five wins will include a one-hitter and two 4-hitters. With the war now over, fans are clamoring for entertainment and it is clear Feller is still baseball's number one ticket seller.
IN THE NEWS: The Tigers Joe Hoover will swipe only 19 bases in his career, but the most valuable one comes today. On the front end of a 3rd inning double steal, Hoover steals home against the Browns for the game's only run.
IN THE NEWS: Against the Phillies, Brooklyn's teenage SS Tommy Brown hits a triple and then steals home sliding under a high pitch by Rene Monteagudo. At 17, he is the youngest to pull off a home steal. The Dodgers win, 71, for their 13th win in 14 games.
IN THE NEWS: Stan Hack of the Cubs becomes No. 82 in the 2,000-hit club when he collects a first inning single off Pirate pitcher Preacher Roe. Earlier in the season the Senators' Joe Kuhel and Red Sox OF Bob Johnson made the list. Hack scores after his safety, but the Pirates win, 64 over the first-place Cubs.
Yankees rookie Floyd Bevans, 28, retires the first 18 Red Sox batters before giving up a walk and a double to Bob Johnson, the only hit for the Sox. Bevans wins 71, defeating Boo Ferriss who was trying for his 21st win.
IN THE NEWS: The Senators again muff a chance to go into first place, dropping a pair to the Yankees, 32 and 31. In between games, Nats pitcher Bert Shepard receives the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in WW2. Shepard lost his leg in battle.