Word: meer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1930-1939
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...picked National League players were five Cincinnati Reds, an unprecedented number for the league's perennial tail-enders and a larger representation than that of any other club. Even more unprecedented was the fact that two of them were rookies, and one, 22-year-old Johnny Vander Meer, who had skyrocketed to fame a few weeks earlier when he won two no-hit, no-run games within five days, was to pitch the first three innings...
...young Vander Meer, who proved he was no flash in the pan by continuing his winning streak until he had nine victories in a row, was by last week accustomed to the spotlight. With more poise than many a seasoned oldtimer, he stood up to American League sluggers like Jimmy Foxx, Charley Gehringer, Joe Di Maggio, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, faced only ten batters, required only 31 pitches, allowed only one hit (single). With Pitcher Bill Lee of the Cubs, the National Leaguers, who scored a run in the very first inning, continued to humble the highly favored Americans...
While the front office was counting up the gate receipts ($38,000), most of which goes to indigent ballplayers, Cincinnati's townsfolk were heaping praise on the grizzled head of William Boyd McKechnie, mild-mannered manager of the amazing Reds. Not only was Starting Pitcher Vander Meer credited with the victory, but Catcher Ernie Lombardi, rookie First Baseman Frank McCormick and Outfielder Ival Goodman turned in creditable performances...
...Cincinnati townsfolk went wild. For the first time since 1919 there was talk of a National League pennant for the Reds (in third place and only four games behind the League-leading Giants). The club front office was stampeded for tickets. A sportswriter suggested that a statue of Vander Meer replace that of onetime U. S. President James A. Garfield in Garfield Square. In special session at Columbus, the Ohio Senate passed a resolution in "tribute to the newly crowned king of the baseball world...
Meanwhile, there was great moaning in Brooklyn when its baseball fans read the life story of young Vander Meer in the newspapers. They were not stirred by the fact that he had pitched five no-hit, no-run games in one season when he was 16 (for New Jersey semi-pro teams), nor the fact that he had played the role of "the typical American boy" in a movie short, nor the fact that he had struck out 295 batters two years ago during the twelve weeks he was pitching for the Durham Bulls (a Red farm)-for an average...