CHUCK ESSEGIAN HE OF THE PINCH HIT HOME RUNS

One of my most memorable moments as a young Dodger fan was when Chuck Essegian hit a pinch -hit homerun in game two of the 1959 World Series, to tie the game.   I was only eight years old at the time, but I could tell from the excitement in Vin Scully’s voice that this home run was a very dramatic and important moment for the Dodgers.   I can also remember that watching him circle the bases gave me goose-bumps of excitement.   I thought that was so cool, and I began dreaming that I might too hit a dramatic home run for the Dodgers.  

Chuck Essegian’s time with the Dodgers was short-lived (he only played 76 regular season games for the Dodgers and, mostly, he is just remembered for those two pinch hit home runs in the 1959 Series.  I’ve come to learn, however, that there is much more to Chuck Essegian, and because today (Sunday when I write this) is his 89^th birthday, I thought I would share what I’ve come to learn about this remarkable man. 

Charles Abraham Essegian Jr., who is of Armenian descent, was born in Boston on August 9, 1931, in a family of five children.  When Chuck was 5 years old his family moved to Los Angeles, California.  Essegian attended Fairfax High School in Los Angeles. He was an All-City selection in both baseball and football at Fairfax.  After graduation, Essegian chose Stanford University from the many college offers he received.   He continued his athletic success for the Cardinal: In football he was a three-year starter at linebacker, and was named All Pacific Coast Conference twice.   Essegian also set an intercollegiate record with 13 home runs during his senior year at Stanford. 

While at Stanford, he played in the 1952 Rose Bowl, a game won easily by Illinois, 40-7.   Essegian was a linebacker on that team.  Essegian is one of only two players to have played in a Rose Bowl and World Series.  The other is Jackie Jensen, who starred for the University of California in the 1949 Rose Bowl and was a role player for the New York Yankees in 1950.  He pinch-hit in Game Three of the World Series against Philadelphia.

Essegian earned a degree in biology and considered pursuing a career as a doctor or dentist, but first tried professional baseball.  When Essegian graduated, he had the option of trying out for professional football or baseball; he decided on the latter because for one, it paid better, and also, the likelihood of injury was less in baseball. He figured that if he failed at that game, he could still attempt football, but if he got hurt playing football, it would also prevent a baseball career.

He signed with Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League in 1953.  From 1953-55, Essegian played mostly for unaffiliated minor-league clubs. In 1956, he led the Northwest League in hitting at .366 for Salem (Ore.).  Essegian, showed a propensity to hit the long ball at the minor-league level as well. He totaled 31 homers in 1954, 27 in 1955, and 28 in 1956, playing for multiple teams each season, mostly on the West Coast.  

Essegian asked the National Association, overseeing minor-league baseball, to declare him a free agent because of irregularities in the handling of his 1956 contract. They ruled in his favor. Essegian was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1956 minor league draft.   However, the following day, he was granted free agency and he then signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.  He would bat .355 with 20 home runs in 80 games for Schenectady of the Eastern League.   Two years later, Essegian was in the Phillies’ Major League Spring Training camp.   He was their starting left fielder on opening day. He hit a pair of doubles in that gam. Thirty-eight games later, he was sent down to the Phillies minor league affiliate in Miami.  In total, Essegian hit .246 for the Phillies, with five homers and 16 RBIs. 

“I really enjoyed my brief time with the Phillies,” recalled Essegian, “There were some great guys on the team, Robin [Roberts], Curt [Simmons], Stan [Lopata] and Solly [Hemus]. Harry Anderson was a young outfielder. He had a beautiful swing from the left side. I had a lot of respect for those guys.“

Solly Hemus was traded by the Phillies following the 1958 season. He was a player/manager with the Cardinals in 1959, then managed them from 1960-61.  “Solly and I became good friends in the short time we were together with the Phillies,” Essegian said. “When he became the Cardinals’ manager, he called and said he hoped to work out a trade for me.”  That trade did indeed happen.   Essegian was dealt to the Cardinals for a young shortstop, Ruben Amaro Sr., in December 1958.

Essegian’s time in St. Louis was shorter than his Phillies career, lasting only 17 games.  The Cardinals sent him to  Rochester, where he hit four home runs in 10 games. Then, he was traded again, this time to the Dodgers (for Dick Gray), who sent him to Spokane.  

“At that point I thought about going back to Stanford and getting my degree. Pre-med student and dentistry entered my mind. But I decided to go to Spokane,” he recalled.

After 48 games in Spokane, hitting 295, with nine home runs, because of injuries to Duke Snider and Carl Furillo, the Dodgers recalled Essegian in August.  He played in 24 games, with 50 at bats, hitting .304, with one home run and 5 RBI.   But alas, the Dodgers won the pennant, and Essegian found himself in a World Series.   A Dodger for only six weeks at the start of the World Series, Essegian was an unlikely October star.  

A Dodger for about six weeks when the World Series opened in Chicago, Essegian was an unlikely October star.   The Dodgers lost game one of the series 11-0 as the White Sox beat up on the visiting Dodger pitchers Roger Craig and Chuck Churn.   Essegian pinch hit for Clem Labine in game one and struck out.  

In game two, the Dodgers were trailing the White Sox 2-1 in the top of seventh inning.   With two outs, Manager Walt Alston sent the Essegian in to pinch hit for starting pitcher Johnny Podres.  Bob Shaw was pitching for the White Sox.  Shaw was finishing up a strong season wherein he went 18-6 and was very stingy in allowing homeruns.   Nevertheless, Essegian smashed a 3-and-1 breaking ball halfway up the left-center-field stands, starting a three-run rally that carried the Dodgers to a 4-3 victory.   Jim Gilliam followed with a walk and Charlie Neal then hit his second home run of the game, giving the Dodgers the lead, which Larry Sherry protected with three strong innings of relief.   

“We were a run behind, there were two out, and it was getting late,” said manager Walt Alston. “I wanted somebody who could hit the ball out of the park. I like the way Essegian swings a bat. He doesn’t hit very often but I thought he might hit one out.”

Essegian pinch-hit again in the ninth inning of Game 6, this time with the Dodgers leading, 8-3.   This time Essegian batted for future Hall of Famer, Duke Snider, who had hit a two-run home run in the third inning.   That can be an intimidating experience.  In a later interview, Essegian recalled; 

“On my way to the plate, Duke was walking back to the dugout and he said, ‘Not too many guys have ever pinch-hit for me, let alone in the World Series, so go hit another one.’” 

And so he did.  He broke his bat on the home run.  After the game, coach Pee Wee Reese bragged to the gathered reporters, 

“Hey! How about that bunch of muscles called Essegian? He broke his bat on that homer today, you know. How about that for power?”  

Just like that, Essegian jumped into the record books, becoming the first player ever to hit two pinch hit home runs in a World Series.   Bernie Carbo would later tie that record in 1975.

Apparently, not everyone was excited about his second pinch hit home run. 

“I can’t tell you how many letters I got from people all over the world chastising me because I changed their pool scores,” Essegian laughed. “They were counting their money, right? I thought, ‘Well, I’ll be darned.’ I got letters from Japan, from Canada, people all over the world, saying, ‘You didn’t have to do that. You had the series won and you cost me $100 in the pool.’”

While his two pinch-hit home runs helped the Dodgers defeat the Chicago White Sox, they also might have impacted his role as a player.

“I’m not sure,” said Essegian looking back on his career, “but I think those home runs probably hurt my career. You know, you kind of get labeled as a certain kind of player. If you’re a pinch-hitter, you’re a pinch-hitter because you’re not good enough to play every day….”

He may have a point.  Baseball-reference.com lists two positions for Essegian: left fielder and pinch-hitter.

Essegian spent 1960 season with the Dodgers playing in a very limited role.  He only hit 3 home runs and batted a paltry .215.  Of his 79 at-bats, 37 were as a pinch-hitter.  Ironically, he did hit another pinch hit home run on opening day that year.  After the season, his rights were sold to the Baltimore Orioles.   But after only appearing in one game for the Orioles, Essegian was on the move again.  He was traded, along with Jerry Walker, to Kansas City for Dick Williams and Dick Hall on April 12. Three weeks later, Essegian was sold to Cleveland.

Essegian found a much better role in Cleveland.  He started in all three outfield positions and was not looked on as just a pinch-hitter. He hit 12 home runs and drove in 35 runs while batting .289. In 1962, Essegian was named the s Indians’ starting left fielder.  Essegian responded with 21 home runs, tied for second best on the team.

“Everybody feels he should be a hitter,” Essegian said. “That’s part of the battle – your attitude. When I go up there, I’m just swinging a bat. I’m not choosy.”

But once again, Essegian was on the move.  In February 1963, the Indians traded Essegian back Kansas City for pitcher Jerry Walker.  Kansas City  manager Eddie Lopat gave Essegian the starting left-field job.  But after a half-season of hitting only five home runs, Essegian was back to his familiar position as a bench player.   The 1963 season was Essegian’s last in the major leagues. He finished with a career batting average of .255, 47 home runs and 150 RBI.   In 141 at-bats as a pinch-hitter, Essegian batted .248.   He would play one more year of professional baseball, with Kintetsu of the Japan Pacific League in 1964.

After baseball, Essegian went to work as a production trainee in a motion picture studio in Hollywood.   He had appeared in an episode of the Western Television show called “Sugarfoot” in 1960.   He decided that “Hollywood” was not in his future and instead went to school and obtained a law degree.  He graduated from Beverly Hills Law School in 1974.  As a lawyer, he started out as a prosecutor in Pasadena, and then opened a private practice in 1977.  After 30 years of practicing law he retired.   After his retirement from the practice of law, Essegian handled the occasional mediation or arbitration case “just to see if my brain still works.” A father of three and grandfather to five, he lives in Canyon Country with his third wife, Holly.

Couple of little known facts about Essegian are: He has been inducted into the Armenian American Sports Hall of Fame; and he was a roommate to Frank Howard and gave Howard his nickname “Hondo.”   Essegian was also a bit of a Renaissance man who played the violin, and initially studied to be a doctor. “If he could belt a tune the way he batters that baseball, the Philharmonic missed a hot bet,” the Los Angeles Times reported after he made his selection of which college he would attend. 

Essegian’s baseball career certainly epitomizes the many travels of a “non-star” players.   The demotions, promotions, and trades can add many stickers to one’s suitcase.   Essegian had many travels in a short career.   Nevertheless, his memory will live on in Dodger lore for many years to come.   I want to leave you with a link to an article written by the LA Times about Chuck Essegian and his relationship with a Brave’s fan.   Because of its length, I don’t want to cut and paste it here.   For me, it sums up a lot of who Chuck Essegian is as a man.  

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-12-sp-1580-story.html

I will quote a small portion of that article:

“In a world where every rock star is a genius and every neighbor’s child is gifted, the word hero is thrown around just as loosely. But Chuck Essegian would seem to be the genuine article.

He may be a piece of baseball trivia, but, ultimately, his contribution to baseball is anything but trivial.

He reminds us of something we’ve really known all along: that a heart of gold is more important than a Gold Glove, that simple gestures are more important than grand slams, that human contact is more important than a big league contract. And any ballplayer today who has forgotten that should remember–or turn–a Little Red.”

You’ll have to read the article to learn who Little Red is. 

Some Random Thoughts:

●          I strongly dislike watching the Dodgers lose to the Giants. Particularly when they look foolish against someone like Johnny Cueto.  Not saying he’s a bad pitcher, he’s not, but come on, even Badger says he can hit off of him.  

●          The Clayton Kershaw that serves up three home runs in a game, including two to Austin Slater, is not the Kershaw that I enjoy watching.  

●          Please raise your hand if you knew that Donovan Solano would be leading the majors in batting average at this stage of the season.   Why would the Dodgers ever let him go? 

●          Thanks to Jayson Stark, I learned that Mookie Betts is the first player to ever hit a home run that traveled over 300 feet(375) and throw out a runner on a throw that traveled over 300 feet(305) in the same game, since Statcast has been keeping those statistics.   We have him for another 12 years folks!   He is fun to watch.  

●          I’m hoping it’s not true, but it appears that the Dodgers left all of their offense in Summer Camp.   Other than Betts, Seager, Pollock and perhaps Rios, anemic comes to mind when I think of the other hitters.   I’m currently at the office “watching” the Dodger vs Giant game on Gameday, as I finish writing this article.  It doesn’t help my observation of the Dodger offense when I read “Cody Bellinger grounds out softly to first baseman Brandon Belt.”  

●          Injuries happen in baseball.   I don’t for a minute think that Seager is a “soft” player that is injury prone.  He’ll be back soon, and he will have a big year.  You can take that to the bank.   

●          I think it won’t be long before Gavin Lux is recalled.   The Dodgers need a spark to ignite them, and I think he is capable of being that spark.   I also look forward to Josiah Gray making his first start for the Dodgers real soon.   Why not, he can throw four innings just as easily as the other starters do.