Our man in New Jersey, USA
The eleventh annual All-Star Game pitting the American League All-Stars against the National League All-Stars is played in the 33,000-seat Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of the Philadelphia Athletics and Philadelphia Phillies. This is the first night All-Star Game and the American League is the home team. Many of the stars of 1942 are now in the military, e.g., the American League's Dom DiMaggion, Johnny Pesky and Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox; Les Fleming of the Cleveland Indians; Al Benton of the Detroit Tigers; Joe DiMaggio, Tommy Henrich and Phil Rizzuto of the New York Yankees; Phil Marchildon of the Athletics; Walt Judnich and Glen McQuillen of the St. Louis Browns; and Sid Hudson of the Washington Senators. The National League lost Nanny Fernandez, Johnny Sain and Max West of the Boston Braves; Hugh Casey, Pee Wee Reese and Pete Reiser of the Brooklyn Dodgers; Johnny Mize and Babe Young of the New York Giants; and Johnny Beazley and Enos Slaughter of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The starting pitchers for tonight are Mort Cooper of the National League St. Louis Cardinals and the American League's Dutch Leonard of the Washington Senators. The National League scores 1-run in the top of the 1st inning but the American League comes back with 3-runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning on a 3-run home run by Boston Red Sox second baseman Bobby Doerr. The American League scores singles runs in the 3rd and 5th innings and the National League scores single runs in the 7th- and 9th innings.
Final score is American League 5-3. The Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Vince DiMaggio, brother of Dom and Joe, had a single, triple and home run. Mort Cooper, the losing pitcher, pitched 2-1/3rd innings and was relieved by the Cincinnati Reds' Johnny Vander Meer who tied a record with 6-strikeouts. Rip Sewell,of the Pirates, relieved Vander Meer in the 6th inning and followed by Al Javery of the Boston Braves in the 7th inning. Dutch Leonard pitched 3 innings and was the winning pitcher; he was followed by Detroit Tigers' Hal Newhouser (3 innings) and then Tex Hughson (3 innings) of the Red Sox. The American League now leads this series 8-3.
The 1943 World Series is a repeat of the 1942 series with the American League's New York Yankees playing the National League's St. Louis Cardinals. The 1st game is played in the 71,000-seat Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. This is the Cardinals seventh appearance in a World Series and the Yankees thirteenth. The Yankees, managed by Joe McCarthy, had a 98-56 record for the year and finished 13-1/2 games ahead of the second place Washington Senators. The top hitter was catcher Bill Dickey who batted .351; the top pitcher was Spud Chandler who was 20-4 with a 1.64 ERA. The St. Louis Cardinals, under Billy Southworth, were 105-49 on the season and finished 18 games ahead of the second place Cincinnati Reds. The top hitter was right fielder Stan Musial who batted .357; the top pitcher was Mort Cooper who was 21-8 with a 2.30 ERA.
The starting pitchers for the first game are Max Lanier (15-7 with a 1.90 ERA) for the Cardinals and Spud Chandler for the Yankees. The Cardinals score first with one run in the 2nd inning; the Yankees go ahead in the 4th inning with 2 runs; and the Cardinals tie it up in the 5th inning with another run. The Yankees break the game open in the 6th inning with 2-runs on singles by shortstop Frankie Crosetti, rookie third baseman Billy Johnson and catcher Bill Dickey plus a wild pitch by Lanier. The only home run in the game is hit by Yankee second baseman Joe Gordon. Chandler pitches a complete game and is the winning pitcher; Lanier is the losing pitcher and was relieved in the 8th inning by Harry "The Cat" Brecheen. The Yankees lead the series 1-0.
Game 2 of the 1943 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees is played in Yankee Stadium in New York City. The Yankees lead the series 1-0. The starting pitchers are Mort Cooper for the Cardinals and Ernie Bonham (15-8 with a 2.27 ERA) for the Yankees. The Cardinals jump off to a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning on a home run by shortstop Marty Marion and score 3 more runs in the 4th inning on singles by right fielder Stan Musial and third baseman Whitey Korowski and a home run by first baseman Ray Sanders. The Yankees come back with 3-runs, 1 in the 4th inning and 2 in the 9th inning but the Cardinals win 4-3. The winning pitcher is Mort Cooper who pitched a complete game. The losing pitcher is Ernie Bonham who was relieved in the 9th inning by Johnny "Fireman" Murphy. The series is now tied 1-1.
The 3rd game of the 1943 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees is again played in Yankee Stadium. The series is tied 1-1. The starting pitchers for the game are rookie Al Brazle (8-2 with a 1.53 ERA) for the Cardinals and Hank Borowy (14-9 with a 2.82 ERA) for the Yankees. The Cardinals go ahead in the 4th inning with 2-runs and the Yankees score 1-run in the 6th inning. In the bottom of the 8th inning, the Yankees explode with 5-runs, 3 of them on a triple by rookie third baseman Billy Johnson with bases loaded. The Yankees win the game 6-2 and take a 2-1 lead in the series. The winning pitcher is Hank Borowy who was relieved by Johnny Murphy in the 9th inning. In the 8th inning, Al Brazle, the losing pitcher, was relieved with 1-out by Howie "Spud" Krist who did not retire anyone and he was relieved by Harry "The Cat" Brecheen.
Game 4 of the 1943 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees is played in the 34,000-seat Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, Missouri. The starting pitchers are Marius "Lefty" Russo (5-10 with a 3.72 ERA) for the Yankees and Max Lanier, the losing pitcher in Game 1, for the Cardinals. The Yankees score 1-run in the 4th inning and the Cardinals tie it up with an unearned run in the 7th inning. In the 8th inning, Russo wins his own game when he doubles and scores on a long fly by shortstop Frankie Crosetti. The final score is Yankees 2-1 and the Yankees now lead the series 3-1. Russo, the winning pitcher, pitched the entire game. Max Lanier pitched 7 innings and was relieved by Harry "The Cat" Brecheen who was the losing pitcher.
The 5th game of the 1943 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees is again played in Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Yankees lead the series 3-1. The starting pitchers are Spud Chandler, the winning pitcher in Game 1, for the Yankees and Mort Cooper, the winning pitcher in Game 2, for the Cardinals. The only scoring occurs in the 6th inning when Yankee right fielder Charlie "King Kong" Keller singles and Yankee catcher Bill Dickey drives him home with a home run making the final score 2-0 Yankees. The Cardinals had 10 hits and left 11 men on base. Spud Chandler, who pitched a complete game, is the winning pitcher. Mort Cooper is the losing pitcher. Cooper was relieved by Max Lanier in the 8th inning and Murry Dickson came in with 1-out in the 9th inning.
Jack McKillop