[jksander]

APRIL 23, 1955 . . . Big news this morning, just in time for the early editions -- Sandy Koufax has signed an extension destined to keep him in Chicago for the long haul as we work to develop him into the mound leader we know he can become. This year he’ll earn the league minimum of $9,900, but he’s signed a ten year extension worth $825,000 over the life of the contract -- $20,000 next year, rising in $15,000 increments through the 1960 season ($80,000) at which point it rises to $100,000 in 1961 and 1962 and then $125,000 for 1963, 1964 and 1965. He also has a no trade clause, and will receive $25,000 bonuses when he wins a Cy Young. Since taking over as General Manager in the fall of 1953, I’ve made it clear I believe in bringing in players the fans are going to love, building the team of the future, and paying those players to stick around, and I think this deal puts our money where my mouth is. And if all goes well, by the end of the deal he’ll be at the top of his game and we’ll have a bargain on our hands at $125,000. It also puts him in the league of Maris, who is also signed long term. With this core, including Willie Mays, Elston Howard, Maris and Al Kaline all signed at least into the start of the new decade, I think we’ve laid a solid foundation for the team’s winning future. Ernie Banks has chosen not to sign long term at the moment, but is likely to soon sign a one year extension at $83,000 to stay through next year, at which point I am hopeful we can finally hammer out a deal that keeps him here long term as well.

This afternoon we have Saul Rogovin (1-0, 3.43 ERA, 21.0 IP, 16 K’s, 0.96 WHIP) pitching against Redlegs starter Alex Kellner (1-0, 1 SV, 1.74 ERA, 10.1 IP, 8 K’s, 1.06 WHIP). Still cold, still clear, brisk April wind still blowing in at 10 miles an hour. Al Kaline completely ignored the wind, just choosing to hit the first good pitch he got as hard as he could, slamming a homer into the bleachers to put us up 1-0, his second homer of the season, in the bottom of the first. But Cincinnati tied it up with an RBI double in the op of the second, and Roy Sievers took one all the way into the bleachers to put us back up 2-1 in the bottom of the second -- pitcher’s weather be damned -- with his second four-bagger of the season. Maris and Mays got hits to start the bottom of the third, and then Ernie Banks blasted one out of the park to right, his fourth homer this year, to put us up 5-1 and break this one open. And Banks wasn’t done by a long shot -- in his next at bat, in the bottom of the fifth, he hit a solo shot to center, his second of the game and fifth of the year as we increased our margin to five runs! His pace this year, even in cold weather, has been incredible. We loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth and Willie Mays walked in a run to make it 7-1. Banks struck out and Al Rosen flew out to right or this could have gotten blisteringly ugly. Rogovin hit a blast into left field, the ball rolling into the corner and giving the pitcher an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to add to the carnage. Ernie Banks doubled to start the bottom of the eighth, and Roy Sievers drove him home for our 9th run with an RBI double. Del Crandall doubled to drive in a 10th run, at which point Rogovin came in to finish his game. He did it with two flyouts and a strikeout, as we crushed the Redlegs 10-1.

Rogovin improved to 2-0 with a five hit seven strikeout one walk outing, throwing 122 pitches and bringing his ERA down to 2.70. We outhit the Redlegs 17-5 in this one, a complete and total bloodbath. Ernie Banks dominated with three hits for three runs and four RBIs -- with his two homers today he’s now on pace for a staggering 70 homers this year ... look out Bambino! Kaline, Maris, Mays, Sievers, Baker and even Rogovin hit twice -- the pitcher is batting .364/.417/.455 through 13 plate appearances, with four hits and a double alongside a walk and just three strikeouts!

Interestingly, Willie Mays and Roger Maris are the two players on our main lineup who have yet to hit at least one homer. Maris has been interesting this year, hitting for average significantly better than last year at .267, but his slug has all but disappeared. It could be interesting when the outdoor temperatures warm and he starts hitting for contact AND power.
 
APRIL 24, 1955 . . . Today’s a double-header afternoon at Wrigley, with the 6-5 Redlegs here for two more shots at the apple. We’re now 9-2 and our offensive output has been significant, a league high +48 Run Differential keeping us ahead of the Phillies, who are on a five-game winning streak with a 10-3 record, essentially tied with us for the NL lead. The Tigers and the Guardians lead the AL at 7-3 apiece, with the Boston Red Sox at 7-5 and the New York Yankees holding a 6-6 record.

In the first game of the afternoon, Hy Cohen (2-1, 2.16 ERA, 25.0 IP, 16 K’s, 0.76 WHIP) pitched against George Susce (1-1, 4.80 ERA, 15.0 IP, 7 K’s, 1.07 WHIP). Ernie Banks committed a throwing error on the first hit of the game, turning an out into a double, which you could tell set Cohen’s teeth on edge, but he got out of the inning with three quick outs and no hits or unearned runs on his tally. AL Kaline got hit by a pitch, and wound up getting picked off while leading off too far, a crazy turn that distracted Willie Mays, who batted out to end the inning. That was a fun ten minute stretch, did you all have time to get your beers? Susce hit Maris in the bottom of the second, and if the umpires don’t get him under control, the next one’s gonna start a brawl I fear. By the end of the second inning we’d had, combined, an error accounting for two bases, two hit by pitches, three baserunners, no hits. It’s been crazy here at Wrigley and I feel like we’re just getting started!

You like pitching? This one had pitching! Cohen gave up his first hit in the top of the fifth, a blooper of a grounder by a guy with the unfortunate name of Dick Groat. Groat was slow as hell, so on a fielder’s choice we got him out at second, letting Hal with Hal Keller safely at first, and a simple groundout to short sent us into the bottom of the inning knotted still 0-0. Incredibly, Susce hit Ernie Banks to send his third runner to base on a hit by pitch, and somehow the umps STILL haven’t warned or pulled him. But Al Rosen got the last laugh, hitting a two-run homer out into the bleachers to put us up 2-0 while spoiling Susce’s no hitter at the same time! It was his second homer of the year, and you could see it on his face the whole time how glad he was to draw first blood. Duncan Jones took a base on balls to start the bottom of the sixth, and Willie Mays got a hit into the outfield to drive Jones to second. But Ernie Banks batted out to the second baseman and ended the inning without a score. Elston Howard hit his first homer of the year, a solo slam into center field, to make it a 3-0 game in the bottom of the seventh, and Cohen stayed in to complete the game, a popup to Banks at short preserving the 3-0 shutout as we earned our 10th win of the season!

This game was tightly fought and almost led to a few boxing matches, each team getting four hits. But Susce got pulled after seven innings, and though former Cub Paul Minner kept us from adding to the damage, he couldn’t un-Cohen Hy Cohen, who pitched a complete game shutout four-hitter, with five strikeouts and no walks, bringing his ERA down to 1.59 as he improved to 3-1 on the year. Mays, Rosen, Baker and Howard got our hits today, with Rosen getting a run and two RBIs, while Howard’s homer gave us insurance for the stretch run. Howard has only played in two games this year, but he’s hitting .571 through seven plate appearances.

The second game got going just after 3:00, with Robert Diehl (2-0, 1.62 ERA, 16.2 IP, 10 K’s, 0.90 WHIP) taking on Corky Valentine (0-0, 5.14 ERA, 7.0 IP, 5 K’s, 1.57 WHIP). Roger Maris hit a double that drove home a run from Willie Mays to give us a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Diehl gave up a pair of hits in the top of the second but we came out of it unscathed. And though he gave up what should have been an RBI double in the top of the third, Elston Howard made an incredible catch-and-tag at home plate to keep them scoreless and end the inning. This game wasn’t as low on hits as the first game of the day, but the game stayed at 1-0 into the seventh inning, with both pitchers having solid outings. Cincinnati got a solo homer out of Gus Bell in the top of the seventh, however, knotting things at 1-1 and getting the fans on edge. Diehl got a strikeout to end the inning, and we warmed up Harry Dorish, planning to send him in for the eighth inning to close this one out.

Mays beat out an infield throw to reach first safely, but Maris and Banks flew out to center. Mays stole his first base of the year, taking second, but Al Rosen struck out and sent us into the eighth inning knotted still at one run each. We brought Dorish in to start the inning, and he set all three batters down quickly, but Valentine did the same to us in the bottom of the inning. Dorish loaded the bases in the ninth but got us out of the jam without anyone scoring, and we went into the bottom of the ninth with a chance to walk it off, with Koufax and Consuegra warming up in the bullpen in case of extras. And that’s where we went, as Kaline and Jones batted out to third and first respectively, and Mays struck out swinging.

Koufax came in for the 10th inning, and he got through it admirably, with a strikeout, a caught stealing and a groundout through an economical ten pitch count. Roger Maris got a hit to lead off the bottom of the inning, but Ernie Banks hit into a double play, and Al Rosen batted out to left. Koufax got a quick out, then gave up a double and we brought Consuegra in with the one out and a man in scoring position. Flyouts to center and left ended the top of the 11th, with the bottom of our order up. With one out, Elston Howard got a hit into left, but was only able to get a base out of it. Roy Sievers came in to hit for Consuegra, with Joe Dobson warming up in the bullpen, and he got a slow grounder just into right field, giving us a man in scoring position with Kaline at the plate and just the one out! He got the ball deep into center, and that did it! Elston Howard came home to score and we pulled the win out 2-1 in the 11th inning!

Three bullpen pitchers, four full innings pitched, and we STILL are perfect in relief this season! Sandy Consuegra took the win, improving to 1-0 with two outs, giving him 2.2 perfect innings this year. Robert Diehl pitched seven excellent innings, giving up seven hits but only one earned run along with seven strikeouts and no walks, bringing his ERA down to 1.52 on the season. Harry Dorish came in for two innings, giving up two hits a walk and two strikeouts. And Koufax gave us 1.1 innings under pressure, giving up two hits and notching a strikeout, now having thrown 10.1 innings of no-run baseball in six appearances. We outhit the Redlegs 11-10, led by Mays who had three hits with an RBI. Kaline hit twice, scoring one and batting in another, while Maris hit twice and was unable to score. Elston Howard hit and scored the winning run, giving him two great moments in today’s doublehader.

With the win we maintained our tie with the Phillies in the standings. But now the tough part of our schedule begins. Starting on Tuesday we have a long road stretch: two games at Pittsburgh (7-7), three at Brooklyn (5-8), three in two days at Philly (12-3), three at the Giants (4-10) in New York, and then four in three days at Cincinnati (6-7) before we return to Chicago on May 10th for a nine game stretch. Hy Cohen was the NL’s player of the week for his 10 K’s and two wins in 17 innings without an earned run.