Baseball History Podcast

Joseph Lowell “Joe” Gordon, nicknamed “Flash”, was born February 18, 1915 in Los Angeles, California.

The acrobatic Gordon would be remembered for his defensive skills alone, but he was also a powerful and timely hitter.  He holds the American League second basemen’s records for career Home Runs and Home Runs in a season.  After his playing days were over, he achieved some success as a manager, but may be better known for his involvement in one of the more bizarre trades in baseball history: one manager for another.

Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities.  I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.

This is game 38 of the 2010 baseball season

In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 3 week of September.

September 16

1952 Pacific Coast League’s Sacramento manager, former major league all-star second baseman Joe Gordon, pinch hits homers in both ends of a doubleheader. The first one, a grand slam, wins the game, 4-1.

He was nicknamed “Flash” after his favorite comic book character.

The New York Yankees signed Gordon to a contract in the spring of 1936.  He reported to the Yankees’ Oakland Oaks farm team in the Pacific Coast League for spring training. He made the team, but was relegated to the bench as the season opened.  Early in the year, the starting shortstop broke a finger and Gordon was inserted into the lineup to replace him.  In 143 games, he hit .300 with 6 home runs and 33 doubles.

Yankees second baseman Tony Lazzeri was entering his 12th year as New York opened spring training in 1937.  Lazzeri was showing signs of slowing down.  Gordon had arrived at spring training amid much fanfare.  Since Frank Crosetti had the shortstop position nailed down for New York, Yankees manager Joe McCarthy made Gordon a second baseman.  Lazzeri knew that the arrival of Gordon would spell his doom with the Yankees and did not want to be a bench player, feeling he had some good years ahead of him.  Some players may have ignored the person being groomed to take their job, but that was not Lazzeri’s style.  Soon after Gordon got to camp, Tony began showing him the tricks of playing the position, as well as giving him some batting instruction.  Lazzeri put it on himself to make sure that Gordon would not fail.

Still, Lazzeri kept his job in 1937.  Gordon was sent to the Newark Bears where he hit .280 and smacked 26 home runs while batting leadoff.  He continued to hone his skills at second base.  Newark manager Oscar Vitt told McCarthy that Gordon would be the best to play second base, ever.

At the end of the season, the Yankees released Lazzeri and handed the second base job to Gordon.  Lazzeri had hit a career-low .244, while an injury to his throwing hand in late August put him on the bench for most of the rest of the season.  Gordon stepped into the role in 1938, hitting .255 with 25 home runs and 97 Runs Batted In

The Yankees won the pennant and swept the Chicago Cubs in the World Series, becoming the first team to win three consecutive Series.

For the Yankees, the 1939 season went much the same way as 1938 had; the Bronx Bombers bested second-place Boston by 17 games and swept the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.  Gordon started at second base in the All Star Game, launching a streak of being selected for every All-Star Game from 1939 to 1949, except for 1944 and 1945, when he served in the Army during World War II.  Not counting those war years, the only two times he was shut out from All- Star consideration were his rookie year and his final year, 1950.  In 1939, Gordon raised his batting average nearly 30 points, to .284, hit 28 home runs, had 111 Runs Batted In and led the league’s second basemen in assists with 461.

The Yankees’ streak of winning the American League pennant ended at four in 1940, as Detroit took the flag, nipping Cleveland by one game and New York by two.  Gordon batted .281 with 30 home runs and 103 Runs Batted In.

Gordon plowed new ground in 1941.  Dissatisfied with the play of Babe Dahlgren the Yankees traded him to the Boston Braves in February and moved Gordon to first base.  New York brought up shortstop Phil Rizzuto and second baseman Gerry Priddy from their Kansas City farm team.  Under the tutelage of teammate Johnny Sturm, Gordon learned to play first base in short order.  But Priddy was having troubles at second base and in May he was benched.  After playing 30 games at first, Gordon was moved back to second base and Sturm was inserted at first base.

As the season progressed, New York pulled away from the rest of the American League and won the pennant by 17 games, propelled by Joe DiMaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak.

In the World Series, the Yankees disposed of Brooklyn in five games. Gordon was named outstanding player of the Series after hitting .500, with one home run, five Runs Batted In and seven walks.  In an inning that has gone down in baseball lore, the Yankees, trailing 4-3 in Game Four, scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning when, with two out and two strikes on Tommy Henrich, Dodgers’ catcher Mickey Owen mishandled the third strike on Henrich, who reached first base.  A single, two doubles, and a walk later, the Yankees had turned a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 win.  One of the doubles was hit by Gordon, and it drove in the final two runs of the epic rally.

Two months later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States was in World War II.  It took many months for the nation’s Selective Service machinery to get into full gear, and the draft affected relatively few players in 1942.  Gordon, in fact, remained with the Yankees in both 1942 and 1943.

The Yankees clinched the 1942 American League flag on September 14^th and Gordon walked away with the Most Valuable Player honors after hitting .322 with 18 home runs and 103 Runs Batted In.

The Yankees lost to St. Louis in five games in the World Series, and Gordon collected only two hits and hit .095, with no Runs Batted In.  In the ninth inning of Game Five, with the Yankees trailing, 4-2, he was picked off second base as potential Yankees rally fizzled and the game, and the Series, were over a few minutes later.

The Yankees won the pennant again in 1943 and met St. Louis again in the World Series.  This time the Yankees won in five games, exacting some revenge on the Cardinals for their defeat the year before.

Gordon, who was a licensed pilot and owned his own airplane, was accepted into the Army Air Force on March 17, 1944.  He was stationed mostly in Hawaii and San Diego, and played for the Seventh Air Force team, probably the best service team during World War II.

In 1946, with the war over, players returned from the service.  The Yankees were an aging team, and it showed early as the Red Sox jumped off to a huge lead and won the pennant.  The Yankees finished in third place, 17 games out.  The season was one to forget for Gordon.  Playing in a career-low 112 games, he hit just .210 with 11 home runs and 47 Runs Batted In.

He still was named to the All-Star team, mostly on past achievements. Injuries piled up, among them a torn tendon in his left hand,

After the season Gordon was traded to Cleveland.  Indians’ owner Bill Veeck said of the trade. “I don’t believe Gordon is through, despite a bad season…”

Gordon arrived early for 1947 spring training with the Indians.  He bounced back in 1947 hitting .272 with 29 home runs and 93 Runs Batted In.  He led all second baseman in assists with 466.  Still, the Indians finished fourth, behind the pennant-winning Yankees.

Larry Doby did not know what to expect as he arrived in Chicago in July 1947.  Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck had just purchased Doby from Newark of the Negro National League for $10,000.  This transaction made Doby the first African-American to join the American League, the second in the major leagues in the 20th century, after Jackie Robinson joined Brooklyn at the beginning of that season.  After meeting with Veeck, Doby made his way to the visiting clubhouse on the first base side at Comiskey Park.

Indians manager Lou Boudreau met with Doby and introduced him to his new teammates.  While most players were cordial, a handful refused to acknowledge Doby or even shake his hand.  Doby’s feeling of isolation continued after the team moved to the diamond to warm up before the start of the game. He later recalled the day, “I felt all alone.  When we went out on the field to warm up, to play catch, you know the way we always did, no one asked me to play.  I just stood there for minutes.  It seemed like a long time.  Then Joe Gordon yelled, ‘Hey kid, come on.  Throw with me.’  That was it.  Joe Gordon was a class guy.  He’d been a Yankee and the others looked up to him.  So when he reached out to me, it really helped.”

After his first season of playing mostly in the infield, Doby was moved to the outfield.  Often when Gordon ran out to the outfield from his second base position to retrieve a throw, he would yell to Doby where to play the next hitter or advise him on the speed of the baserunners.  Even though Doby played second base at Newark, Gordon still took the time to explain certain aspects of infield play to him.  Gordon took pride in taking many young players under his wing, on and off the field.  He never forgot the support and instruction he received when he was a young ballplayer, and wanted to pass that knowledge on to other teammates.

In 1948 Gordon had his best season at the plate, stroking 32 home runs, knocking in 124 runs and batting .280.  His defense was superb, with 330 putouts and 436 assists.  For most of the season, the pennant race involved four teams. Cleveland and Boston were tied at the end of the season, and the Indians won the pennant in a one-game playoff at Fenway Park.

Behind Bob Lemon’s two victories, and the hitting of Doby, Boudreau, and first baseman Eddie Robinson, the Indians toppled the Boston Braves in six games in the World Series. In the deciding sixth game, Gordon launched the Indians’ winning rally with a solo home run.

In 1949, the Indians finished in third place eight games off the pace.  The team was aging. Gordon’s batting average slipped to .251; he hit 20 home runs and had 84 Runs Batted In.

In 1950, the team played almost .600 ball but finished fourth, six games out.  By now, Gordon was the only surviving regular infielder from the 1948 world champions.  Manager Boudreau played in only 81 games and was released after the season.

For Gordon, 1950 was his last season in the major leagues.  He played in 119 games, batting .236 with 19 home runs and 57 Runs Batted In.  He played only 105 games at second base, giving way to Bobby Avila, a future American League batting champion.  Joe spent a lot of time with Avila.  Gordon said of Avila, “That kid knows more about pitchers and batters after two years on the bench than most of the 10-year men in the game.”  Avila had equal praise for Gordon.  Avila said. “I pattern myself after number 4, Joe Gordon.  I watch him all the time.  He teaches me everything.  There was never anybody like Joe Gordon.  He helps me all the time.”

Gordon was released after the season and quickly landed a job as a minor league player-manager.

Gordon returned to Cleveland in June 1958 as manager.  He directed the Indians to a 46-40 record for the rest of the season, as they finished fourth, 14 1/2 games behind the first-place Yankees.

In 1959 the Indians were steady all season long, chasing the league-leading Chicago White Sox.  On the strength of an eight-game winning streak, the Indians sliced the White Sox’ lead to one game as Chicago came to Cleveland for an important four-game series in late August.  The series drew over 165,000 fans to Cleveland Stadium, and the White Sox swept the Indians, virtually knocking them out of the race.  The Indians finished in second place, 4 1/2 games back.

By late September, Gordon had grown weary of what he considered Trader Frank Lane’s nitpicking and meddling.  On the 18th Gordon issued a statement saying, “I would not return to Cleveland as manager next year under any circumstances. … It is obvious that harmony cannot be achieved between Frank Lane and myself.”

Two days later, Lane told Gordon he was through managing.  When word got out in Cleveland that Gordon was out as manager, angry fans flooded the radio and television stations in protest.  More than 700 sent telegrams to Lane alone demanding that Gordon be reinstated.  Lane briefly reinstated Gordon, but after the White Sox clinched the title on September 22, Lane fired Gordon again.  On the morning of September 23, Lane and Gordon met.  Later in the day, Lane held a press conference to introduce the new manger, Joe Gordon.  Lane said, “I’ve decided that the best man to replace Joe Gordon was Joe Gordon.  It was just two strong minds in the midst of a hot pennant race.  We have ironed out our differences.”

Opening Day 1960 in Cleveland was scheduled for April 19. On Sunday morning, April 17, the Cleveland Plain Dealer listed the Opening Day batting order across its front page, complete with pictures. Batting fifth was right fielder Rocky Colavito, the reigning home run champion and the face of the Cleveland franchise. The ink on the newspapers was barely dry when Lane changed that, dealing

In 1960 the Indians and Detroit Tigers were involved in a few trades including Rocky Colavito for Harvey Kuenn and Norm Cash for Steve Demeter

Cleveland and Detroit were not finished dealing.  Lane and Detroit general manager Bill DeWitt talked about trading managers.  Yes, Gordon for Detroit skipper Jimmy Dykes.  But the Indians were only a game out of first place at the time, and Lane didn’t want to make the move.  However on August 3, 1960, the manager swap was made.  The trade was truly bizarre and one that helped neither team.  Dykes said of the trade, “I’m bringing no magic to Cleveland.  If I had any, I would have used it on the Tigers,”

Gordon resigned from the Tigers after the 1960 season to become manager of the Kansas City Athletics.  General manager Parke Carroll hired Gordon away from Detroit.  Soon after, Carroll was fired and was replaced by Lane, who had been fired in Cleveland.  Under Lane, and owner Charlie Finley, Gordon did not make it through the whole, year; he was replaced by Hank Bauer after a 26-33 record.

Gordon worked as a scout and batting instructor for the expansion Los Angeles Angels from 1962 through 1968.  His final job as a manager was back in Kansas City, with the Royals.  Working under a one-year contract, Gordon managed the Royals to a fourth place finish.  Gordon was through after the season, and spent 1970 and 1971 scouting for the Royals.

For the era in which he played, Gordon ranked high among second basemen in career home runs, games played at the position, assists, putouts, and double plays.

Joe Gordon died on April 14, 1978, in Sacramento at the age of 63.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.

A large part of this biography comes from the SABR Baseball Biography Project written by Joseph Wancho.  It can be found online at http://bioproj.sabr.org

In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary

Under the letter: D

Dead arm

The fatigued arm of a pitcher.

Mike Mussina told the Baltimore Sun, on Sept. 21, 1996, that he was going through a “dead-arm period.”

Colorado Rockies pitching coach Frank Funk, in the Aug. 24, 1998 Sports Illustrated, referred to dead arm as “a case of asking your arm to do more than it has ever done before, and it goes through a stage where it gets fatigued, but it’s not sore.  It just feels weak.  You try to throw the ball just as hard as you ever did.  It just doesn’t go that hard”

And now for the ninth inning…

Continuing our trip around baseball cities…

This short tour segment comes to you compliments of listener Alex Bayoff.

Hiroshima Toyo Carp of the Nippon Professional Baseball league:

Originally known as the Hiroshima Carp, they were founded and played their first year of baseball in the 1950 season.  During their first 25 years of existence, they never finished higher than 3rd.

They added the Toyo in time for the 1968 season.  However, in 1975, things finally went their way.  They were led offensively by Koji Yamamoto, who ended his career with 536 home runs, and Sachio Kinugasa, who played in 2215 consecutive games.  They finished in 1st place, won the Central League, but lost the Japan Series.

In their 35 years of existence, they have won 6 Central League titles and 3 Japan Series titles, the Japanese equivalent of the World Series.  They have played their home games in 3 different stadiums, Hiroshima Sogo Ground Baseball Park, Hiroshima Municipal Stadium, and, since 2009, Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima, often referred to as Mazda Stadium, with a capacity of 32,000.  They haven’t won a pennant since 1991 and a Japan Series since 1984.
Thank you Alex, and as promised “You get the credit.”

If you would like to a part of Baseball History Podcast, submit your written contribution for the tour segment.  I will only be doing the tour when one is sent in by a listener.  You can do the segment on any stadium or team; past or present; Minor League, Major League, Negro League or any league outside of the US.  Write about 1 page in a conversational tone, send it to me, I will record it, and you will get the credit.

You can email me at baseballhistory@gmail.com.

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Look for the new BHP web site at Baseball History Podcast at baseballhistorypodcast.com.

Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast.  I’ll see you later at the ballpark.