[jksander]

APRIL 11, 1955 . . . Today we got things going in Cincinnati, with Saul Rogovin making his long awaited return to the majors up against Bobby Shantz, who won 22 games for the Redlegs last year with a 2.91 ERA, 127 K’s and a 1.30 WHIP through 297.1 innings. After discussions with my bench coaches, we decided to give Roy Sievers the start today at 1B, batting him sixth, and we put Maris in the two spot, batting Kaline / Maris / Mays / Banks / Rosen / Severs / Crandall / Lynch. First base is our weakest spot right now defensively, and I expect Sievers and Jones to trade off starts early in the season until we get a sense of who is stronger overall. But post-Cavarretta, I’m open to a trade or free agency move if it means shoring up the position as the season progresses.

Kaline got a hit in his first at-bat of the season, and Ernie Banks blasted a homer to deep left, giving us a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning! Sievers and Crandall got back to back hits in the top of the second, and Saul Rogovin got a grounder into right, scoring two more runs quickly, sending us into the bottom of the second with a 4-0 lead in front of the audibly frustrated home crowd. Things settled down from there, but we were clearly in control, our lineup clicking as though last season had never ended. Rogovin got into his first jam in the bottom of the sixth, giving up hits to put runners on the corners, but Whitey Lockman popped up to Crandall to get our first out. Back to back hits scored three runs combined for the Redlegs, however, pulling Cincinnati to within one, with a runner on third and just the one out. He pitched to contact, getting a flyout to right that was not deep enough for the runner at third to move, but a grounder to center field allowed the tying run to score, Rogovin getting us out of the inning but with the score knotted now 4-4. We’re going to go to the bullpen in the seventh to protect his arm, being so early in the season, but at least they didn’t get the lead -- and we had the top of our lineup batting to start the next inning.

Still tied 4-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh, we brought in rookie phenom Sandy Koufax for his major league debut. He walked his first batter, then made an excellent double play, easily getting the third out off a grounder and throw from Lynch to Sievers, keeping us in this one. Del Crandall got a hit into left with two outs in the top of the eighth, and Deacon Jones came in to pinch hit for Danny Lynch, but he flew out to left to end the inning. Koufax came back out for the bottom of the eighth, with Harry Dorish warming up in the bullpen, and he got two quick outs, Dorish coming in to close things out from there. Harry walked a batter but then Robert Broome popped one up to Del Crandall to end the inning still knotted 4-4. Top of the ninth, three quick outs for us and it was going to come down to shutting them down and taking this one to extras. A grounder to third with a quick throw to Sievers got us out number one. Grounder to Banks with a throw to Sievers, out number two. Dorish walked Bob Elliott, bringing up pinch-hitter Wayne Terwilliger, who grounded it to Baker who made the easy throw to Sievers for the third out -- we’ve got ourselves extra innings in our first road game of the season!

In the top of the 10th, Willie Mays got us a triple right off the bat, a deep shot into the left corner, and Ernie Banks drove him home with a grounder into right field, giving us a 5-4 lead! Rosen flew out to left, but Roy Sievers blasted a homer into the right field bleachers, driving in a pair to make it 7-4! Crandall and Baker got hits to prolong the inning, but Al Kaline batted out to third for our third out, sending us into the bottom of the inning with Sandy Consuegra coming in for his first save opportunity of the season. Leadoff man Nelly Fox beat out an infield blooper to reach first safely, but Frank Robinson batted into a double play, at which point Consuegra struck out Ted Kluszewski swinging to end the game as a 7-4 victory for your Chicago Cubs!

Saul Rogovin did well in his first game back, throwing 61 pitches through six innings, giving up seven hits and four earned runs with just one walk against three strikeouts, giving him an inflated 6.00 ERA to start the year. We could have kept him in longer but he and I were both concerned about not overworking his shoulder when we could give our bullpen arms a shot and stay in this one -- no need to put everything on the line in our first game of the season. Sandy Koufax was excellent in his debut, throwing 1.2 innings without a hit, with just a single walk through 22 pitches, setting up Harry Dorish very nicely. Dorish took the win, throwing 1.1 innings without a hit while walking two, and Consuegra got his first save of the year with one hit and one strikeout. It’s good to know I have a bullpen I can trust in games like these -- four innings of relief work and no one gave up a run!

The game never should have been so close -- Rogovin’s sixth inning collapse gave them most of their hits and all of their runs -- but we did outhit the Redlegs 15-8, and we dominated in the 10th inning when it counted. Banks, Sievers and Crandall each had three hits, with Banks scoring twice and driving in three! Sievers scored twice and batted in two, and Kaline and Crandall, Mays and Kaline each scored a run on the ground. It’s early in the year but I can tell we have a brutal hitter’s lineup here in Chicago, and teams are going to fear us. With so many guys who can hit at any time, it should be possible for us to survive any individual slumps.

So hey, 1-0 and we’re heading into opening day at Wrigley! Let’s keep ‘em coming!

APRIL 12, 1955 . . . Opening day at Wrigley is like Christmas for me. This year we have St. Louis in town for the occasion, with a healthy crowd of 23,971 in the stands despite it being cloudy, 47 degrees and with a stiff 13 mile breeze blowing in from the right making the air feel incredibly chilled. Hy Cohen is taking the mound for us, facing down St. Louis’s Bob Grim, who went 10-16 last year with a 2.95 ERA through 265.2 innings for the Cardinals. Deacon Jones, batting second, and Gene Baker, batting eighth, will be making their first starts this season.

Kaline again got a hit in his first at-bat, but he got picked off at second on a fielder’s choice that put Willie Mays on first with two outs in the top of the first. Roger Maris hit one deep into center field, safely reaching first while allowing Mays to move to third, but Ernie Banks batted out to first so we did not score right away like we did in Cincinnati. Hy Cohen gave up a solo homer over the left field wall in the top of the second, Ray Jablonski going deep for a solo run to put St. Louis up 1-0. But Gene Baker hit a blooper into the outfield, the wind dropping it early and forcing the fielders to run for it, allowing him to beat out what should have been an easy out and loading the bases in the process. Kaline got a hit into center left moments later, driving in the tying run, and Deacon Jones walked in the go-ahead run to keep the bases loaded with just one out! Willie Mays BARELY missed out on a grand slam, hitting it off the wall at center to drive in three with a double, and this one was opening up for us. Maris and Banks batted themselves out, but we still went into the top of the third with a sudden 5-1 lead.

Cohen struck out the side in the top of the third and continued to dominate from there, giving up just the one hit through the first five innings of work. Homers are his weak link, however, and in the top of the sixth he gave up another solo blast that barely stayed in at left, giving Frank Bolling HIS first homer of the season as the Cardinals pulled within three runs. He gave up another run on an infield single, but got two strikeouts to end the inning with us ahead 5-3. And Cohen proved he’s one of the best young pitchers in baseball by staying true to his gameplan and holding the Cardinals scoreless in the seventh and eighth to maintain our 5-3 lead! AL Rosen got a hit in the bottom of the eighth, stole a base, and then made it to third on a single by Del Crandall. Gene Baker hit into a fielder’s choice, making it to first and scoring Rosen to make it 6-3. With two outs, Al Kaline hit his first homer of the season deep into the bleachers at left, making it 8-3, and Cohen stayed in to finish what he’d started, giving up a run on a two-out double but getting the final out via a flyout to left as we beat St. Louis in our home opener 8-4!

Hy Cohen pitched a nine inning six-hitter, giving up four earned runs while striking out eight and walking no one through 103 pitches. We got 10 hits to their six, led by leadoff man Al Kaline who had three hits with two runs and three RBIs. Willie Mays hit twice and batted in three as well, and Gene Baker hit twice for two runs on the ground and one batted in.

See you next week, Wrigley! For now we have a road game at Cincy on Thursday, followed by a three-game set in St. Louis on Saturday and Sunday. We then have two games at Milwaukee on Monday and Tuesday.