bad. In the bottom of the first inning, Pete Fox doubled with one out. Allen got the next hitter, bringing Hank Greenberg to bat. Entering the game, the big first baseman already had a spectacular year with an incredible 182 RBIs. Allen delivered and Greenberg hit a ground ball toward Sammy Hale. It appeared to be a routine play, but somehow Hale could not get his glove down, and the ball slowly rolled into left field. Fox scored with what proved to be the only run of the entire ball game. The up-and-down Wade stopped the Indians on one hit, depriving Johnny Allen of win number sixteen and an undefeated season.
Allen would lead all Major League starting pitchers with an unreal winning percentage of .938. In 173 innings of work, he allowed only four home runs and posted a career-best ERA of 2.55, good for third place in the American League. In two years of pitching for Cleveland, Allen had an impressive record of thirty-five wins and only eleven losses. One can only wonder what might have happened if he had not suffered the two attacks of appendicitis.
Throughout the victory streak, Allen kept his outbursts and combative personality under control. But after losing his final appearance of the season and a chance to tie the American League record, Allen reportedly let it all go. Franklin “Whitey” Lewis, at that time a writer for the Cleveland Press, later claimed that Allen went after Sammy Hale at least twice. Round one occurred in the visitors’ locker room, where the two had words and the fight was on. Several players and Manager O’Neill had to step in and separate the two. In the dining car on the train back to Cleveland, Allen supposedly had more choice words for Hale, initiating round two. Once again O’Neill had to get between the angry ballplayers and stay there until the train reached Cleveland. None of the other Cleveland reporters mentioned the incidents. Either it was a case of what happens in the locker room stays there, or the confrontation may have been exaggerated. In any event, it was an attention-grabbing story and something that fit right into Johnny Allen’s mode of behavior.
The Indians finished the year fourth in the standings, with eighty-three wins versus seventy-one losses. Their inspired play in September, featuring twenty-three wins and thirteen losses, enabled them to remain in the first division. The Yankees swept everybody away, winning 102 games while losing only 52. They would cruise through the World Series, needing only five games to put away their cross-town rival the New York Giants.
Alva Bradley and his group of shareholders had now completed ten seasons running the ball club. In all these years they were never a serious threat to win a pennant. Bradley had gone through three different managers in that time period, each with similar results. With the 1937 season concluded. he had to mull over the status of current manager Steve O’Neill.
In early October the Cleveland newspapers floated rumors that Bill McKechnie might be willing to manage the Indians. The veteran was highly regarded by most Major League owners and front office people. A former player, McKechnie had seventeen years of National League managing experience with Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and recently Boston. While Alva Bradley did not comment on the speculation, the will-he-or won’t-he grew until days later, when McKechnie signed on to pilot the Cincinnati Reds. Bradley then issued a statement saying that O’Neill was staying unless someone decidedly better came along.
On October 20, apparently Bradley did find someone he deemed worthier. He announced that O’Neill had been fired and Oscar Vitt, currently the manager of the Newark Bears, had accepted the job. O’Neill was generously offered a job in the Indians organization as a scout, but the deposed manager rightly asked for and received permission to look for other jobs. Bradley told the papers, “Changing managers is the most unpleasant feature of my job. It’s just one of those things that have to be done. The show must go on.”
The decision to replace O’Neill was a debatable one. It speaks of impatience by Bradley in his efforts to field a top-flight ball club. He seemed to overlook the fact that his two best pitchers had missed large portions of the season. That in itself ruined the Indians’ chances of finishing any higher in the standings. Certainly O’Neill had made some mistakes during the season. He gave his players a lot of leeway and expected them to respond accordingly. He kept an even temperament when the team struggled and Bradley wanted specific answers. Perhaps had he shouted a few more times or shown some frustration to Bradley, he might have kept his job.
Be that as it may, O’Neill had no control of Johnny Allen’s appendix issues or Bob Feller’s sore elbow. The two pitchers, counted on to lead the rotation, won only twenty-four games between them. The remaining staff of the All-Star Harder, Hudlin, Galehouse, and Whitehill went 44–45. Had some of those guys, particularly the last three, stepped up, a change in managers might not have taken place. Bradley did not follow his usual motto that “The owner hires the manager, the fans fire him.” In this instance he listened to nobody, informing the press the show must go on. Indeed it would, with Oscar Vitt running that show—or circus, depending on how one looked at it.
Chapter 4
ROLLICKING ROLLIE
In what was hopefully not an omen of things to come, Indians general manager Cy Slapnicka suffered a heart attack just before the start of the annual Major League meetings in early December. While attending a banquet in Milwaukee, he became uncomfortably ill but attributed the chest pains to a simple case of indigestion. At 3 a.m. he realized the pain had gone far beyond indigestion. He reached for the phone and called the room of Indians scout Bill Bradley to tell him to get a cab and rush him to the hospital. The doctors confirmed that Slapnicka had experienced a heart attack and restricted him to a cumbersome oxygen tent. He would be out of action for an extended period of time. Alva Bradley’s right-hand man usually had an active role in talking trades and ideas with the other team representatives. Now Bradley only had Oscar Vitt with him, who was not expected to have much of an impact due to his unfamiliarity with the club.
The team did formally announce that they had completed a deal with Milwaukee of the American Association, sending three players to the club for highly touted third baseman Ken Keltner. The Indians had actually bought Keltner’s contract at the end of August; however, the transaction was not complete until the three players were sent. Keltner had emerged as a star player for the Brewers, batting over .300 and handling third base at a Major League level. He would report to spring training and be given a legitimate shot to win a starting job.
The most unexpected proposal of the meetings came from none other than Alva Bradley. He announced a revolutionary plan to bring night baseball to Cleveland. Bradley cited the recent success of the Cincinnati Reds, who had held seven games at night, which drew a total of 130,000 fans. The Cleveland owner firmly believed the time had come to play ball games under the stars, and he was stepping forward to lead the charge. He had done a thorough study and was preparing to invest $75,000 at Municipal Stadium to install the proper lighting.
The standing rule on night baseball stated, “Any club desiring to play night baseball must apply to the other seven teams for permission which if granted at all would be granted for one year only.” Bradley would have quite a chore on his hands in convincing a majority of American League owners to support his innovative plan.
The owners reserved the right to decline a request if the club had been operating at a reasonable profit by daylight. Only for a club in financial straits might the owners consider endorsing an emergency measure. Bradley’s did not fit that description.
The owners politely listened to Bradley’s arguments, then adjourned to discuss the proposal. In a short time they returned a one-sided vote of five against the lights and just two, Chicago and St. Louis, in favor. The other owners still believed baseball should be played in the daytime, and did not consider that fans might embrace the idea of playing ball after sundown. The Cleveland boss told reporters, “Naturally I’m disappointed. Night baseball in Cleveland would have meant a lot to the club and new fans.” Bradley took some solace in the ball club netting a profit of $190,000, the highest amount during his tenure.
The
