[jksander]

MAY 25, 1953 . . . Dick Brodowski made his Cubs debut this afternoon in front of 9,500 of our most faithful fans, on a clear 65-degree day where the wind was blowing out and everything seemed possible. Not necessarily the best recipe for a young pitcher’s success, but in Wrigleyville we take what positivity we can find. But Brodowski was great through his first three innings, keeping it scoreless and starting off the bottom of the third inning by getting his first hit as a Cub to hopefully help break things open. Fondy singled, and then Cavarretta hit a frozen rope to center that drove Brodowski and Fondy in for runs! Willie Mays was hit by a pitch but Sauer grounded into a double play to end the third inning with us leading 2-0 -- and the fans were really starting to get behind Brodowski!

Randy Jackson singled into a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the sixth, with Cavarretta being thrown out but Mays and Banks advancing to third and second, bringing up Clyde McCullough with two outs. He got a solid single to deep right, allowing Jackson to advance to second while sending both Mays and Banks home to score, making it a 4-0 ballgame! Miksis then walked to load the bases, and Brodowski promptly doubled to score Jackson and McCullough! This guy was born to wear a Cubs uniform! We went into the top of the seventh leading 6-0. Brodowski stayed in to finish the game, leading 6-0 at the top of the ninth, and two K’s and a pop-fly out to the infield later and he’d closed out a complete game shutout in his Cubs debut!

Brodowski got the win by throwing 113 pitches and giving up only seven hits, with six strikeouts and a walk, keeping a perfect ERA. And he kept several rallies going by hitting twice himself in four at-bats, scoring one and driving in a pair! Cavarretta hit once and walked once, driving in two runs, and Willie Mays hit once and walked once to score a run and keep his average at .387/.479/.746 on the season.

Our GM has called up reliever Joe Hatten from AAA Los Angeles, designating Randy Gumpert for assignment. Hatten threw 50.1 innings for us last year in the majors, going 4-4 with a 6.08 ERA, but this year he’s gone 3-5 at AAA with a 3.38 ERA in nearly 70 innings.

MAY 26, 1953 . . . Hacker gave up a solo homer in the top of the second, and gave up an RBI single in the top of the fifth to put us in an 0-2 hole. In the bottom of the fifth, however, Fondy hit a grounder up the middle to score Atwell and Miksis, while Hacker (who had successfully bunted to load the bases) advanced to second as the score was tied 2-2. Cavarretta singled up the gap to load the bases again with still no outs, and Mays tripled all the way to the deep corner, scoring three more runs, sending us out of the inning with a 5-2 lead on the Cardinals! Cavarretta belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 7-2 lead, and by the end of the inning we had increased our lead to seven runs. And Warren Hacker, pitcher extraordinare, nailed a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 10-2 game, making every fan in the place go completely insane! Hacker would wind up completing his game on 127 pitches, ensuring we won this one 10-2 and completing the home sweep against the Cardinals.

In nine innings Hacker only gave up eight hits for two earned runs, striking out seven while only walking two. His record overall improves to 7-2, with a stellar 2.37 ERA. He has pitched 79.2 innings in 10 starts so far this year, striking out 41 batters so far. He also hit once in three at-bats, scoring two runs and batting in another via sacrifice bunt. Cavarretta had five hits in five at-bats, scoring twice and driving in two while improving his average to .376/.452/.556. Mays is hitting .388 so far this year, adding two hits in five at-bats today for a run scored and three batted in, giving him 35 RBIs on the year and a .748 slugging percentage.

And with that we say goodbye to Wrigley until mid-June ... let the epic road trip begin! We open the road stand with a single game at Milwaukee tomorrow, so just a quick drive up into Wisconsin, followed by a day off for travel to play three at Cincy (including a Saturday doubleheader) and a single Sunday game at St. Louis. We then will play three against Pittsburgh on the road July 2-4, four against the Giants July 5-7 and three against Philly July 8-10 before getting a day off to drive to Brooklyn for three games July 12-14. It’s going to be a long hard stretch of games which will be critical to whether we risk our GM going into selldown mode before the All Star break.

MAY 27, 1953 . . . We opened the game today with a double and an RBI single, allowing Fondy to score almost immediately with no outs while Cavarretta advanced to first, though we were unable to do any further damage. Mays committed a rare fielding error in the bottom of the inning, but we were able to get out of it without the Braves scoring. In the top of the third, Cavarretta singled again, this time to load the bases with no outs, and pitcher Bob Rush, who had reached first on a fielding error, gave us a 2-0 lead despite Willie Mays hitting into a double play. Rush gave up an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, but we went into the top of the seventh still leading 2-1. Brand new reliever Joe Hatton gave up a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth with two outs, blowing the lead, and we brought Klippstein in to get us out of the inning and to hopefully pull us through if we could rally in the top of the ninth, but we couldn’t get anything going and wound up losing this one in a hearbreaking fashion, 2-4, after having led most of the night.

Bob Rush pitched very well on short rest, lasting 6.2 innings and giving up seven hits and only one earned run, with two strikeouts and two walks. But Hatten took the loss and the blown save in one inning of relief, giving up two critical hits and a walk, with three earned runs leading to an inauspicious season debut. Klippstein got the final out on one pitch, bringing his ERA under 5.00, but I’ll be smacking myself that he was the one who should have come in to close. Losses like this are going to sting more than most. Cavarretta had three hits in four at-bats along with a walk, batting in a run, while Bob Rush scored a run in the game as well. Hank Sauer is struggling ... he got a hit today but was stranded, and was only one for four, with his average sitting at .199 for the year.

Minner, Brodowski and Hacker are expected to be our three starters for the coming series against Cincinnati which starts on Friday -- so far this year we’re 4-1 aginst the Reds, who sit at 17-29 (7th NL, 12 GB) while we’re now 22-20 and in a two-way tie for 4th with the Giants at five games back.