1946 Negro World Series
From BR Bullpen
Contents |
[edit] Negro World Series
Negro World Series (4-3): Newark Eagles (47-16, NNL) over Kansas City Monarchs (43-14, NAL)
[edit] Introduction
The 1946 Negro World Series marked the last Negro World Series appearance by the Kansas City Monarchs and the only title for the Newark Eagles. With Organized Baseball having begun to integrate that year, scouts were in the stands to take a look at some of the top black talent in baseball.
[edit] The Teams
[edit] Kansas City Monarchs
The most famous and accomplished team in Negro League history, the Monarchs had dominated the Negro American League with a 43-14 record under manager Frank Duncan. The club did not miss Jackie Robinson as the load was carried by Hall-of-Fame OF Willard Brown (.348/~.364/.565), back from a year in the military, to lead the NAL in homers. 1B Buck O'Neil had a career year and won the batting title; he batted .350/~.388/.497. 2B Hank Thompson (.226) tied for fourth with 4 HR and 3B Herb Souell (.316) was 4th in average and second with 14 steals. On the hill, Connie Johnson (9-3) led the league in wins, Satchel Paige (5-1, 1.32 RA) led in RA and Hilton Smith (5-2, 3.30) was 4th in RA, while batting .431 as a part-time position player.
[edit] Newark Eagles
Biz Mackey was the manager of a team that had a star double-play combination of 2B Larry Doby (.360) and SS Monte Irvin (.349). Doby was 4th in the Negro National League in average, fifth in homers (5), led in triples (6) and tied for fourth in doubles (6) while Irvin was 5th in average, second to Josh Gibson with 9 homers and second to Gibson with 11 doubles. OF Johnny Davis (.301) and 1B Lenny Pearson (.257) tied for third in the NNL with 7 homers. Rufus Lewis (15-1, 2.79 RA) led the league in wins and tied for fifth in RA. He was barely above team average, though, as the staff had a cumulative RA of 2.80. Leon Day (14-4, 2.53) led the league with 65 strikeouts, tied for second in wins and was third in RA. Max Manning (13-1, 2.79) tied for fifth in RA and was fourth in wins. Lemuel Hooker (8-3, 2.12) led in RA. Doby, Irvin and Day had all spent the prior year in the US military and their return was a major aid to the team.
[edit] The Games
[edit] Game One
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Monarchs | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| Newark Eagles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 |
Hank Thompson scored the first run of the Series off of Day. In the bottom of the sixth, Doby walked and stole second. Paige relieved Hilton Smith, the starter, and allowed a game-tying single to Davis, but gave up nothing further. In the 7th, Lewis allowed an RBI single to the light-hitting Paige to give K.C. the opening win.
[edit] Game Two
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Monarchs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Newark Eagles | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | X | 7 | 12 | 2 |
Boxer Joe Louis threw out the first pitch, which honored 90-year-old Ben Holmes, a participant in a black World Series in 1888. Despite only two hits, Kansas City scored four and led after six behind a fine effort from Ford Smith. Then Paige relieved Smith and again offered poor "relief". Pearson hit one over the left field fence but umpire Bullet Joe Rogan called it foul. Lenny then singled off of Satchel and a six-ran rally ensued to tie the series. Doby and Brown both homered, while Manning went the distance for Newark.
[edit] Game Three
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newark Eagles | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| Kansas City Monarchs | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | X | 15 | 21 | 1 |
Jim LaMarque threw a complete game for Kansas City, which feasted on Hooker, Cotton Williams and Manning in a 15-5 rout. Hank Thompson had four of their 21 hits and Ted Strong went deep.
[edit] Game Four
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newark Eagles | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 0 |
| Kansas City Monarchs | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
After their explosive performance of a day earlier, Kansas City reverted to game two form with only four hits and a run against Lewis, a solo homer by Brown the sole highlight. Ted Alexander took the loss and Satchel was smacked around for the third time in three relief appearances, allowing a 3-run homer to Irvin, one of 4 hits he had. Doby doubled and tripled to tie the series again.
[edit] Game Five
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newark Eagles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | ? |
| Kansas City Monarchs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | X | 5 | 9 | ? |
After three scoreless by Manning and Hilton Smith, Kansas City began to get to Dr. Cyclops, handing him only his second loss of the year as Newark squandered hits - for the fourth time in five games, they had more hits than KC, but they were now facing elimination as Kansas City just needed one more victory to put it away.
[edit] Game Six
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Monarchs | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 2 |
| Newark Eagles | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | 9 | 10 | 3 |
The series moved back east and the visitors routed Day for five runs in the first inning. Hooker relieved him and did a fine job the rest of the way. LaMarque was off the mark this time and Newark had the lead for good by the bottom of the second inning to tie the series yet again. Irvin hit his 2nd and third home runs of the Series, Brown hammered his third, Pearson went yard twice and even O'Neil (who had hit one homer all year) hit one out in the high-scoring contest that kept the Series alive.
[edit] Game Seven
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Monarchs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 |
| Newark Eagles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | X | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Kansas City lost two of its star sluggers when Strong and Brown left to play in the Puerto Rican Winter League. Paige also did show up, which might not have been a loss given his performance in the Series. Ford Smith quickly took his place and did a fine job but an error and a hit by Irvin scored one in the first for the Eagles. In the sixth, O'Neil surprisingly homered once again to tie the score. Kansas City went ahead against Lewis in the 7th, but in the bottom of the eighth inning, Doby and Irvin were walked by Ford Smith. Johnny Davis then smacked a game-winning, two-run double, his third hit of the contest.
[edit] Summary
Kansas City had 14 errors in the six games for which error totals were counted, a poor sign. Their top performer was backup infielder Chico Renfore (.414), while Brown (.241) had provided his three homers and Souell (.344) and O'Neil (.333, 2 HR) had done well. Strong (.133) had been struggling even before he left the country. Hilton Smith (1-1, 1.29) was their one effective pitcher while Paige (1-1, 8.00) was far from a success story.
For Newark, Irvin (.462, 3 HR, 8 RBI) and Pearson (.393, 2 HR) had provided plenty of punch, but they wouldn't have won it without the big last hit from Davis (.292). Doby had the team's lowest average at .227 but scored the game-tying run in the finale. Lewis (2-1, 1.64) had been their top pitcher while Hooker (1-1, 6.00) had struggled the most.
