“DUCKY”

Joseph Michael Medwick was born on November 24, 1911, in Carteret, New Jersey. He was the 4th child of Joesph and Elizabeth Medwick. He was of Hungarian decent. His parents immigrated to the US in 1893. His obituary stated that he was a four-sport star in high school, track, football, basketball, and baseball. He won all-state honors as a half-back in football and had many offers from colleges to play football. But he preferred baseball and was signed off of the sandlots by the St. Louis Cardinals.

He was 18 when he made his professional debut at Scottsdale, Pennsylvania. They were a Class-C team. He played under the name Mickey King to protect his amateur status. 5’10” and 187 pounds, he batted and threw right-handed. And boy could he hit. In 75 games, he smashed 22 homers and hit .419 with a .750 slugging pct.

That performance led the Cards to have him skip B-level ball completely. Instead, he went to the Class A Houston team of the Texas League in 1931. He led the league in total bases, but 1932 was the year he really began to shine. He slugged .611, which led the league, and was second in BA at .354; his 342 total bases were only two behind the league leader Hank Greenburg. While playing for Houston, he acquired the nickname “Ducky,” which would stay with him for the rest of his career. It was said his teammates thought he waddled like a duck. Some would call him “Ducky Wucky” and he hated that. He preferred to be called “Muscles.” He induced some of his teammates to call him that. But Ducky caught on with the reporters, and that was that.

With close to three years of minor league experience behind him, the Cardinals called him up in September, and he made his MLB debut on the 2nd. He was hitless but drove in a run and scored one after getting on base with a force out. But he had a great month slashing .348/.517/.905. He was on his way.

Over the next four seasons, Medwick twice led the league in total bases and once each in hits, doubles, triples, and runs batted in. In 1936 he led the National League in doubles with 64. As of 2022, no one in the NL has beaten that mark. The closest was Todd Helton in 2000 with 59. He also got married that year to Isabelle Heutel. In 1937, Joe had a magical year. He led the league in batting, HRs, RBIs, doubles, hits, OBP, slugging, and runs scored. He won the MLP award that season, and by winning the Triple Crown, he became the last NL player to do that. It has been done eight times since then in the American League. Only one MLB player has ever done it twice, Ted Williams. So let Juan Soto win a couple of those before any comparison to the Splendid Splinter is made. Two Negro League players did it twice in the negro leagues, Josh Gibson and Oscar Charleston.

The Cardinal owner was notoriously tight-fisted with his money. Salary was always a sore spot for Medwick. He felt he was the best player in the league and should be paid accordingly. After 1938 things would get testy between him and ownership.

The Gas House Gang

To really understand the Cardinals and the Gas House Gang, you have to go back to the year 1934. That season, led by their fiery manager, Frankie Frisch, and a bunch of hard-nosed players like Medwick, Durocher, Pepper Martin, and Frisch, who was the 2nd baseman and manager, the Cards won the pennant and then played the Tigers in the World Series. They were led pitching-wise by their ace, Dizzy Dean, who won 30 and lost 7, Tex Carlton, 16-11, and Paul Dean, aka Daffy, Dizzy’s brother, 19-11. Five of their regulars hit over .300, and none was below .260. They went 85-58, beating the Giants by two games. Also, a member of that team, for a little while anyway, was former Dodger Dazzy Vance.

The series was a see-saw affair. The Cards won game one in Detroit and lost the second; then they won game 3 in St. Louis. But the Tigers won the next two, sending the series back to Detroit with a 3-2 advantage. Paul Dean started game six and outdueled Schoolboy Rowe, and the series was tied. This set up a game seven matchup with Dizzy Dean facing Elden Auker, who had won game 4. The Cardinals would cruise to an 11-0 win, but the game was not without some drama.

In the 6th inning, the Cards were ahead, 7-0, but they wanted more. Martin led off with a single to left that was misplayed by Goose Goslin, and Martin advanced to second. Rothrock and Frisch both flied out, bringing up Medwick with two outs. Joe slashed a hard drive to right field, scoring Martin. The ball caromed off of the wall, and Medwick headed into third. As he slid in, Tigers’ third sacker, Marvin Owen, dug his foot into Medwick’s leg. The hot-tempered Medwick, still lying on the ground, kicked Owen in the stomach with both spikes. For a moment, it looked as though a fight was going to break out, but the umpires and players quickly separated the two combatants, and the game continued.

Collins scored Medwick with a single, and it was 9-0. Bill Delancy then struck out and was thrown out at first after the catcher missed the ball. As the Cards took the field for the bottom of the 6th, the irate Tigers fans started pelting left field with fruit, pop bottles, and a resounding chorus of boos. The three Cardinal outfielders started playing catch with the fruit, further incensing the crowd. The Umps halted play and sent people out with burlap sacks to clean up the mess. The umpires and Manager Mickey Cochrane tried to restore order to no avail. The fact that Medwick remained unfazed by all of this made the crowd madder. After about a 17-minute delay, Commissioner Landis called Medwick, Owen and the two managers to his box. He asked Medwick why he had done it, and Medwick replied, “it was just one of those things that happens in a ballgame.” Landis immediately removed him from the game.

He was escorted off of the field by five policemen. Landis said he did it to protect the player and allow the game to continue.

As I said, by 1938, Medwick was pretty fed up with ownership. He felt baseball was all about base hits and Buckerino’s. he took a pay cut from 20 to 18 thousand for 1939. He felt he delivered the base hits, and the club should deliver the bucks. But baseball back then had the reserve clause, so no player had any leverage when the season after a great season was not as good. They could not even sit out and move to another team.

Joe was not the most pleasant person, and owner Sam Breadon had little patience with impudent hired help. So he convinced Cardinal GM Branch Rickey that Medwick was expendable, and on June 12, he traded Medwick and Carl Davis to the Dodgers for four players and a sum variously reported at 120 to 200 thousand dollars.

Six games into his Dodger career, he faced his former team. Once again, he was in the middle of an incident that was almost worse than the one in the 1934 series. With two runs in and a runner on, Medwick faced former teammate Bob Bowman. Bowman’s first pitch was high and inside and hit Medwick in the head, knocking him unconscious. The Dodgers roared out of the dugout, intent on wreaking revenge on Bowman, who they felt had hit their teammate on purpose. Some tried to punch him, and Dodger president Larry McPhail got in a swing, knocking off his cap.

Medwick was taken to a hospital. Bowman sat in the dugout with 5 of New York’s finest there to protect him. By the end of the game, there were over 100 officers present. McPhail tried in vain to get Ford Frick to ban Bowman for life and then to get the NY DA’s office to charge him with assault. No luck. Medwick had a concussion but no fracture. He tried to get out of his hospital bed to go after Bowman. One reason the Dodgers were so irate was that the day before at the hotel, Bowman had told Medwick and Leo Durocher that he would take care of them.

Medwick was back on the field four days later. He made the All-Star team. One result of the beaning was the slight movement by some of the players towards the idea of using batting helmets. Most wanted to look tough like the fans wanted them to be. But you can’t cheer for a player who is in the hospital with a fractured skull. Medwick would play for eight more seasons after the beaning. Helmets were not mandatory until 1971. Medwick was not the same hitter he was before the beaning, but he still hit .300 several times, including .337 in 1944.

He played for the Dodgers for parts of Five seasons, 40-43, and 41 games in 1946. He slashed .303/.347/.455 with 38 homers and 293 RBIs. He would finish up with the Cardinals in 1948. His career mark was .322/.362/.505. He had 205 HRs and 1383 RBIs. He continued playing baseball in the minors in 1948 after being released by the Cardinals in July. From 1949-1951 he was a player-manager in various minor leagues.

In 1966 he became a hitting instructor for the Cardinals, and he held that position until 1975. Joe was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1968, his last year on the ballot. About his long wait, he said, ” that was the longest slump of my life. I have gone 0-20 before, but never 0-20 years.” Joe Medwick died of a heart attack in St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 21st, 1975. He was working with the Cardinals at the time.

One of the reasons cited for his long wait to be enshrined in the hall was the contentious relationship he had with members of the press and some of his own teammates. But the man could hit. And he did it his way.

Side note. My ex-girlfriend is related to Pepper Martin. I thought that was so cool.

Future Dodgers Down on the Farm by MT

• OKC blanked Salt Lake 13-0
  • OKC is now 62-41
  • Edwin Rios was 1-4
  • James Outman was 1-4 with a HR
  • Mike Busch was 1-5 with a double
  • Yadier Alvarez pitched one inning, allowed 1 Hit, and walked 1
  • Carson Fulmer pitched a perfect 9th inning, striking out 1 (1.45 ERA/1.06 WHIP, 51 K’s in 43 IP – He has also walked 22, but of late, his walk rate has come down. I think he should get a shot at the Show!
• Tulsa beat NW Arkansas 12-9
  • Tulsa is 55-43
  • Kyle Hurt again could not get out of the first inning. In 1/3 of an inning, he allowed 4 Hits and 4 ER. Ouch! They are working on something…
  • Andy Pages was 2-4 with his 19th HR. He may have plateaued for a while, but I bet he ends the season with 30 HR and close to .900 OPS. He is still just 21!
  • Kody Hoese was 2-4
  • Brandon Lewis was 2-5 with a Grand Slam (his 14th HR). He is s fringe prospect who was a former Fat Boy who lost 75 pounds or more. He struggled this year at Tulsa, being at around 1.80 all year, but he has started to “get it.” He can play 1B or 3B. I root for him, but his odds are not great of making the Show.
• Great Lakes was beaten by Lake County 6-5
  • Great Lakes is now 60-40
  • Damon Keith and Diego Cartaya were a combined 0-10
  • Eddys Leonard was 2-5 with his 11th HR
• Rancho Cucamonga lost to IE 8-5
  • RC’s record is now 52-48
  • Yunior Garcia was 3-4 with 4 RBI on his 10th HR
  • Ronan Kopp went 3/1 innings and allowed 5 Hits, 3 ER, 3 BB, and 7 K’s – his ERA rose to 2.29. Don’t worry about him.

Last Night’s Game by MT

• Do you remember before the trade deadline where people were making up all this stupid $hit and saying that Cartaya and a bunch of Dodger prospects would be treated to the Nats for Sota and Kaybear? Morons is all I can say!
• Fernando Tatis, Jr. would have made all the difference last night and hit two grand slams to win the game. YEAH… RIGHT! Bring on the Padres! They fear the Dodgers – the Dodgers don’t fear them!
• The Padres added Soto, Drury, and Bell at the deadline and were able to generate ONE WHOLE RUN!
• Who said to DFA David Price? What a dumbass. Well, I confess: I said it too.
• Tony G did not have great control last night (even though he only walked one) – he was missing his spots, but he allowed just three hits and blanked the Clowns from Sand DIego. He might win 20 along with Anderson.
• Cody Bellinger is still at that .200 BA area, but it seems like he makes things count. Along with great defense, he drove in two runs with a double.
• Tell me why Will Smith was not an All-Star? He’s the best Cather in the NL. PERIOD!
• I am going to start calling them the Sand Diego Clowns. It’s appropriate!
• Let’s see what Andrew Heaney can do with these Clowns.