Rivalries: Jackie vs. Leo

Don't forget to check out the other articles in our rivalry series:  Christy Mathewson vs Three Finger Brown, Ty Cobb vs Babe Ruth, and Joe DiMaggio vs Ted Williams.

"Listen up!"  The words were angry, vicious and worst of all at this time of the morning, loud.

It was late.  Half of those present were pulled out of bed.  Some of them may have just snuck into bed.  None of them had experienced anything like this spring training.  First of all, it was in Havana.  What the hell were a bunch of white guys, many of them southerners, doing in Cuba? Then of course there was Jackie Robinson.  What the hell was an African American from California  doing in Cuba with all these white southerners?

"Listen up!"  He said it again but the first one was probably enough.  When the Lip told you to listen you listened.  "I hear some of you guys got a problem with Robinson."  Leo knew exactly who the players were who had the problem.  "I don't care if the guy is yellow, or black or has stripes like a f***ing zebra.  I'm the manager of this team and I say he plays."

Photo of Jackie Robinson and Leo Durocher Courtesy of Washington Post

The problem became this: when the 1947 season opened and Jackie Robinson jogged out to first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Leo Durocher was sitting at home, suspended by the commissioner for his involvement with less than savory characters and his association with a married woman.  So in the end, he had no say over who played for 1947. 

While Leo sat out for the season, Burt Shotton and Jackie Robinson took the Dodgers to their first pennant since 1941, Durocher's third year as manager.  He had been through a lot since then.  The Dodgers had fought with the Cardinals for first place.  The Cardinals were Leo's former team, Branch Rickey's former team and Pete Reiser's former team.  Durocher had seen Pete Reiser, the natural, the leader, the one man that had more talent (it was whispered) than even DiMaggio.  Reiser ran himself into a wall, literally, and fractured his skull.  The doctors told him to stay out or risk his life.  Durocher needed him in uniform for moral support but promised not to use him.  He couldn't keep the promise and Reiser's health was forever ruined.  Durocher saw many of his stars, Reiser, Reese and more, shipped off to war and miss the prime of their careers.

Photo of Pete Reiser Courtesy of ESPN

Durocher saw the same talent, or more, in Jack.  He couldn't wait to see what he could do.  He saw what Jackie could do, lead the team like few had done before, but Jack did it for Shotton and the Dodgers reached the World Series.  Durocher would need to wait for 1948 to get the advantages out of Jack's talent.  But if the Dodgers front office thought Jack's success the year before would mean immediate acceptance they were wrong.

The Dodgers bus pulled up to a Florida stadium in Spring Training 1948, overflowing with a record crowd to see the Dodgers.  Dodger Pitcher Rex Barney told the story of a big security officer stopping Jack at the entrance and questioning Jack's intelligence and literacy.  Durocher immediately spoke up.  "He can't go in there?  He can't go in that entrance?  Then we are not going in there.  Do you know what that means?"  In Barney's story the security guard relented knowing the overflow crowd would likely riot.  It was a rare moment of camaraderie between Jackie and Leo.

Photo of Leo Durocher Courtesy of Bleacher Report

Like most award winning players, especially one as spectacular as Robinson, everyone wanted a piece of him.  Four off season months and lots of rubber chicken dinner speaking engagements later, Jack appeared at Spring Training twenty pounds above his 1947 playing weight.  Durocher was appalled.  Robinson wasn't the only over weight star.  Pete Reiser and Jack were forced to run for hours in rubber sweat suits to work off the excess fat.  While they were running laps in tropical heat Durocher was yelling at them "C'mon fatso!  Get moving."  It was humiliating for the players and Jackie resented it.

The difference between Shotton and Durocher was night and day.  Shotton had told the Dodgers that he would stay out of their way and that they could win despite him.  Durocher drove them relentlessly and let them know who was boss.  The pressure on Shotton was non existent.  If he had lost it would have been what everyone expected.  For Durocher the pressure was ever-present.  He was terrified that if the Dodgers struggled he would be blamed and fired.  The season was a disaster.  The team struggled.  Robinson struggled.  As the pressure mounted Durocher took it personally.

On Sunday, June 11, the Dodgers lost 3-2 to the Giants and fell to 35-37.  It was Durocher's last game as a Dodger manager.  On July 15, the Giants split a double header, bringing their record to 37-38.  Their manager, Giant legend Mel Ott, was fired and replaced with none other than Leo.  If the Dodger's Giants rivalry had been dormant for a few years it was about to erupt.

Photo of Jackie Robinson Courtesy of Bleacher Report

Durocher's style of managing caused quite a bit of resentment to the remaining Dodgers.  Two players in particular, Jackie and Carl Furillo, hated Leo.  Leo was from the old school.  The school that thought if you can distract your opponent they won't focus on the job.  Durocher would stand in the coaching box and mimic a person with a swollen head and point to Jack. 

After a tight pitch from Sal the barber, Jackie bunted the next pitch foul down the first base line and ran straight through Maglie.  Durocher yelled to Jackie.  "That's bush league Robinson."  Jack yelled back "You should know.  You taught me to do it."

Durocher was a master taunter but Jackie could give it right back.  Russ Meyer, a former Giant who was traded to the Dodgers said "He (Jackie) hated Durocher with a goddamn passion.  He used to taunt him." According to Meyer Robinson yelled taunts like "Hey Leo, who you gonna marry next?  Is Laraine taking good care of you?"

The funny thing about rivalries is that once the years go by the anger usually fades.  At the end of their careers both had won World Series.  Both ended in the Hall of Fame and both were remembered as successful.

Jackie himself reflected on the rivalry with clarity.  He remembered the spring training from hell in his auto biography.  "To get me in shape, Leo put me through some furious physical paces.  They were humiliating because rookies, reporters and teammates were all onlookers.  Leo also kept after me verbally, and as the world knows, he is a magnificent tongue lasher.  At the time I thought he was being too excessive, but later I realized he was only doing what was necessary, and even though his comments hurt, I could not forget that Durocher had done all he could the previous year to help ease my way into the majors...I think that Leo felt I had not given him my best effort and was working harder for Shotton.  That wasn't true but on the playing field Leo and I got into a number of hassles that were picked up by the press.  Leo and I were alike in so many ways, and that could have been part of our problem.  But no matter how many verbal insults were exchanged, I believe we never lost the respect we had for each other's abilities."

TRIVIA QUESTION:

Current Dodger Manager Don Mattingly has asked for a three year contract as a reward for his success.  It has been a long time Dodger organization policy to only give Dodgers' managers a one year contract (this dates back to long before the move from Brooklyn).  In fact, legendary Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda never had a contract longer than one year.  Mattingly's demand for a three year contract is eerily similar to the demand of Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen back in 1953.  Dressen had led the Dodgers to a three game playoff against the Giants in 1951, followed by back to back National League Championships in 1952 and 1953.  Dressen wrote a letter to Walter O'Malley demanding a three year contract.  O'Malley did not deal well with demands from others so he replaced Dressen.  Who replaced Dressen as Dodgers manager?


Answer to Last Week's Trivia Question:
In games 1 & 2 of the 1951 World Series the Yankees started a young outfielder in his first full year in the Major Leagues.  The right fielder went 0-3, with 2 walks in Game 1.  In Game 2 the young player went 1-2 with a run and strikeout.  He only played part of the second game.  In the top of the 5th inning, Willie Mays led off the Giants' 5th inning with a fly ball to right-center field.  Joe DiMaggio moved over to track down the fly ball, invading the right field territory.  The young right fielder had started to track the ball himself but when he saw DiMaggio tracking it he attempted to move into a back up position.  When he changed his course Mickey Mantle caught his spike on an exposed drain pipe and severely damaged his knee causing pain for the rest of his life.

"...if you were the last batter in a perfect game or no hitter?"

He threw the last pitch of the 8th inning. He let it go, followed through and felt the sweat fly off his hand as the ball twisted towards the plate.  Watching Joe Collins, the big Yankee first baseman, swing through the pitch he heard the "tick" of the foul tip and the "smack" of the ball hitting Campanella's glove. Sal Maglie walked off the mound toward the visitors dugout.  He had done his job and it was a hell of a job.  8 innings pitched, 5 hits allowed, only 2 runs allowed, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts.  Giving up only 2 runs to the powerful Yankees with the reigning World Champs backing him should have been enough to win, now he trusted they would do their job.

Maglie may have reflected on the oddity of being in this position. It had been an odd season, truly surreal. It started in Spring Training when he was told he wasn't good enough to be a starter for the Cleveland Indians. He did his best to convince them he was good but try being sharp when you only  pitch once a month.  He begged Hank Greenberg, the General Manager, to play him, trade him release him, anything.  Just give him a chance.  So he got his chance.  An exhibition  game against a minor league team.  Fortunately for Maglie he pitched great and fortunately for Greenberg, the Dodgers saw the performance.  Looking for one last pitcher to help shore up the staff, the Dodgers took a chance and bought Maglie's contract.  There was only one problem:  Maglie hated the Dodgers with a passion and the feeling was mutual.  Maglie pitching for the Dodgers would be today's equivalent of Jeter wearing red socks, a grey jersey and Boston written on the chest or Chipper Jones pulling on a red pin striped Phillies' uniform. 

Photo Courtesy of:  Bleacher Report

Once, while pitching for the Giants, Maglie threw a fastball at Carl "the Reading Rifle" Furillo's head.  The next thing you know Furillo's in the Giant's dugout with Leo Durocher in a headlock.  Durocher's turning purple, Giants players are telling Furillo to stop and the umpire's begging Furillo to kill Durocher.  Total chaos and it all happened on the "Game of the Week" for the world to see. The Dodgers players nicknamed Maglie "the Barber" because he would pitch so close to your chin that he would give you a trim.  The professional "do your job" culture that dominated the Brooklyn Dodgers of that era kept Furillo from killing Maglie when he walked into the Dodgers clubhouse and the 13-5 record he posted after arriving didn't hurt.

He wouldn't have questioned that his day was done as he left the mound.  That's the thing about being a pitcher late in the game.  If your spot in the order is due to bat the announcers refuse to even acknowledge you as an option.  They'll say "the pitcher's spot is due up third" and you know late in the game your manager won't allow a .129 hitter to come to the plate when someone who is actually allowed to take batting practice can take your place.  He had done his job and now his teammates had to do theirs.

This series was a crossroads moment in baseball history.  It put the final stamp of historical interpretation on the era of to franchises.  Since 1941 these two teams had met repeatedly in the World Series. In 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953 it was always close, usually went six or seven games and provided some of the greatest World Series memories in history.  This series would stamp the Dodgers as "lucky" to have finally gotten the 1955 win or stamp them as the new dynasty, defeating the aging, beaten, crumbling Yankees.

The top of the 9th started with Furillo, a consistent .300 hitter, flying out to right field.  Campanella grounded to second for the second out and then came "the pitcher's spot".  There was really no thought to the process.  As unpredictable and random as this game can be this was inevitable and well planned out.  There was one choice that made sense.  The Dodgers needed a pinch hitter.  A right handed batter was needed to face Don Larsen, the left handed pitcher.  Preferably someone who had faced the pitcher before and knew his pitch pattern and his motion.

By about the 5th or 6th inning Dale Mitchell likely would have been thinking his name would come up if things kept going the way they were going.  Sitting on the bench leaves a lot of time for thinking and observing and "what if...?" 

The "what if" was here.  Top of the ninth, 2 out the team is down 2-0, Game 5 of the 1956 World Series and, oh yeah, Don Larsen is pitching a perfect game.  Mitchell likely thought "Don Larsen, of all people, is pitching a perfect game.  For God's sake, they call him 'Googly Bird', and somehow not a single Brooklyn Dodger had reached base.  If Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges and Roy Campanella can't get a hit off this guy, what do they expect me to do?"

Mitchell was a professional.  He was in his tenth major league season and had told the Indians at the beginning of this year that it would be his last.  It had been a great career:  he had been on the Indians World Series champs team of 1948, had made great contributions to the 1954 juggernaut Indians that were shocked by the Giants, had made two All Star Games and had received MVP votes in 4 different seasons.  Mitchell was a professional, a good one, and he knew what was coming.  Go up there and start a rally.

Photo Courtesy of: Bleacher Report





Dale Mitchell struck out looking...and argued to the day he died that the pitch was high and outside.  Replays are difficult to tell but he was probably right.

This morning my friend asked me "if you were the last batter and the opposing pitcher is pitching a no hitter or perfect game, would you give up and let the guy have a no hitter, would you try to get a hit, or would you lay down a bunt and try to sneak a hit in there?"  Basically, "If you were Dale Mitchell...?"

A no hitter or perfect game is a rare and amazing thing, but only if the pitcher earns it.  Dale Mitchell may have struck out looking to give Don Larsen a perfect game but he didn't "GIVE" it to him.  Mitchell's at bat was a 5 pitch struggle that ended on a questionable strike call.  He didn't think "this guy is going to pitch a perfect game in the World Series" he thought "if I find a way to get on base I have the most powerful lineup in the world behind me and this guy will have forgotten about the 26 guys in a row he retired."  I am also fairly certain that Sal Maglie wasn't thinking "I hope this guy gets it."  He was thinking "if we can just get one guy on base we are still in this thing."

I'm not a pitcher so I can't say for sure but I doubt any pitcher would want to be given the last three outs of a no hitter.  They would want to earn that achievement.  In 1988 Dave Stieb, a pitcher for the Blue Jays took a no hitter into the 9th inning and with 2 strikes on the last batter gave up a hit.  Devastating.  It gets worse.  One start later the same thing happened.  It gets worse.  In 1989 it happened again.  Finally in September of 1990 Stieb got a no hitter.  Imagine how great it must have felt for him to finally get that accomplishment and have earned it as opposed to having someone give it to him.

Photo Courtesy of: Sports Net

As a batter your job is to go from a batter to a base runner and help your team win the game.  If you are lucky you will get four or five chances a game to make that happen and you can't give those chances up.  Pitchers are creatures of habit and rely on a rhythm to be effective.  If a pitcher is getting into a rhythm your best bet is to step out of the box as he is getting set to throw, take as much time as you can in between pitches and bunt.  Make him come off the mound and force him to get out of rhythm.  If you want a chance to win your best bet is to get him out of his rhythm early, by the third or fourth inning.  If you're being no hit early in the game lay down a bunt.  Rafael Furcal of the Cardinals is the best at this right now.

I can't tell you how many times I've watched a game where a pitcher is rolling along through the lineup and hitter after hitter is up there hacking at the first pitch popping up or grounding out.  No one steps out of the box and makes the pitcher think a little.  No one takes a pitch and makes the pitcher work to get you out.  These situations in the 4th, 5th or 6th innings are where the pitchers really earn the no hitter or perfect game.

"If I were the last batter in a no hit game..." I'd fight to get a solid hit but I'd be screwed because my team didn't get the pitcher out of rhythm earlier in the game.