Flashback Friday: Game five, 1942 playoffs
Flashback
Friday wraps up the look at the 1942 Wisconsin State League playoff series
between the Appleton Papermakers and the Green Bay Bluejays with a look at Game
Five.
The best-of-five series was tied and Game Five, scheduled for Labor Day, had
been rained out once. The game would
be played on Tuesday, September 8 at Spencer Street Field.
Dick Davis has the details from the September 9, 1942 edition of the Appleton
Post-Crescent.
Season Ends as Papers Bow to Green Bay, 1-0
Bluejays Win Right to Meet Sheboygan After Thrilling Tilt
The 1942 Appleton baseball
season came to a close last night as the Papermakers bowed to Green Bay in a
thrilling 1 to 0 game at Spencer park. The
victory put the Bluejays into the finals of the Shaughnessy playoff system after
an elimination series which went the full five games.
The Sheboygan Indians, champions of the Wisconsin State league, won their
way into the 4-out-of-7 title series by disposing of Fond du Lac, 7 to 1, in
another "rubber" battle last night. The
one-two teams of the regular season will begin the deciding playoff games at
Sheboygan tonight.
Appleton, which finished fourth in a last-minute drive, did very well in
extending Green Bay to five games and only the failure to capitalize on breaks
last night kept the Papermakers out of the championship series.
It was a dandy ball game. Probably
the best one of an interesting season which saw the Papers start like a house
afire and then crumple into a losing slump in which they dropped 12 out of 13
games. Manager Eddie Dancisak
resigned and Dutch Zwilling took over the reins.
Dutch pulled the boys out of it and fashioned a winner out of a young,
inexperienced squad. Zwilling left
town this morning but not without some kind words for the team, the baseball
club and the fans. He enjoyed
himself immensely and thinks that all from the bat boy to the most casual of
fans were "just swell."
The series came as an unexpected windfall for the Appleton Baseball club because
it shaved to some extent a large deficit confronting the Appleton Baseball club.
Appleton fans were red hot and 2,800 paid to see the three games here.
About 800 saw the two games at Green Bay for a total of 3,600.
Five per cent of the gate receipts went to the league while Appleton and
Green Bay divided the rest equally.
Hurling Duel
The Papermakers were up against
a tough pitcher in Milo Johnson last night who bested Mike Garcia in a tight
hurling duel despite shaky support. Appleton's
popular Mexican hurler had perfect fielding behind him but at times had trouble
with his control. Both pitchers game
only five hits, keeping them well spaced, while the Green Bay ace fanned 11 and
walked 3 and Garcia whiffed 8 and issued 5 walks.
The only tally of the game came in the eighth when Gillespie walked, stole
second and came in on a clean hit to center by Raddant.
Catcher Red Squier was about a foot short of becoming an Appleton hero in
the ninth when he connected for what looked like a circuit clout.
It was just below the top of the snow fence, however, and he was left
stranded on second.
The air was electric before the game because it was not known whether Pepper
Chapman, who was nearly mobbed Sunday night, would again umpire.
The appearance of several policemen indicated that Chapman would work the
council game and an announcement over the public address system citing heavy
penalties for crowd disturbances confirmed it.
The announcement, incidentally, was prepared by Chapman and was read only
at his insistence. He threatened to
forfeit the game unless directors of the baseball club gave their consent.
Needless to say, Chapman was booed lustily when he finally did walk out
onto the diamond. Chapman handled
the game unusually well and there could be little criticism.
Miss Opportunity
Both pitchers walked the first
man up and then got two strikeouts in the first inning.
Appleton had a golden opportunity in the second inning when Bill Pardon
doubled and Ken Manarik singled to center to put two men on base with nobody
out. Pardon got to third but
couldn't score on Manarik's safety because of a "slow track."
Squier then popped foul to first while Russ Adams and Garcia went down
swinging.
Squier slid into the concrete base of the stands going after a foul fly in the
third but after anxious moments was found to be unhurt.
A double play slowed up Green Bay in the fourth.
Appleton loaded the bases on two Green Bay errors in the fifth but failed
to cash in as Dick Bixby, shortstop recruited from Oshkosh, batted into a double
play. Bixby's fielding during the
evening was little short of sensational.
Grant Dunlap got a life in the sixth when he hit a long, high one to Perthel in
center field and the stellar Green Bay player dropped it for what is probably
his first error this season. Dunlap
got to second on the miscue but Pardon and Manarik both struck out.
Questionable Call
Appleton pulled another twin
killing in the seventh. With two
away, Gillespie walked in the eighth and stole second.
Garcia then had two strikes on Raddant and put one in which looked pretty
good and could have been called for either the third strike or a ball.
Chapman chose to call it a ball and Raddant hit instead of becoming the
third out.
The Papermakers threatened in
both the eighth and ninth innings but it just wasn't their night.
Romple led off with a double in the eighth and Bixby layed down a
beautiful sacrifice down the third base line.
Appleton fans then saw the unusual sight of a runner being called out
with the first baseman practically standing in the coaching box.
Romple was whisked to third and was held there as Anderson grounded to
short. Dunlap drew an intentional
walk to give Appleton position for a double steal but they didn't attempt it
and Pardon grounded out.
A mild argument developed in the ninth when Dunlap made a diving catch of a
liner by Hendrichs to center. Base
umpire Smogolesky was letting the play go but Chapman ruled that it was a fair
catch.
After Manarik flied to short right in the ninth, Squier smacked his near home
run. Adams ran the string out to 3-2
but then went down swinging. Ed
Kowalski pinched hit for Garcia and grounded out to ring down the curtain on the
1942 season.
Amen.
BOX
SCORE
APPLETON - 0
AB R
H PO
A
Romple, lf
2 0
1 2
0
Bixby, ss
3 0
1 2
3
Anderson, 3b
4 0
0 1
3
Dunlap, cf
3 0
0 2
0
Pardon, rf
4 0
1 1
0
Manarik, 2b
4 0
1 2
2
Squier, c
4 0
1 7
1
Adams, 1b
4 0
0 9
1
Garcia, p
3 0
0 1
2
*Kowalski
1 0
0 0
0
GREEN BAY - 1
AB R
H PO
A
Swittel, 3b
3 0
0 1
3
Gillespie, 1b
3 1
0 9
0
Raddant, c
4 0
2 12
1
Timm, lf
3 0
1 0
0
Oddo, 2b
4 0
0 0
2
Hendrichs, rf
2 0
1 1
0
Delsing, ss
4 0
1 3
2
Perthel, cf
4 0
0 1
0
Johnson, p
3 0
0 0
2
*Batted for Garcia in ninth
GREEN BAY 000 000
010 - 1
APPLETON 000 000
000 - 0
Errors - Raddant, Delsing, Perthe. Runs batted in - Raddant.
Two base hits - Pardon, Romple, Squier. Stolen bases - Romple, Timm,
Gillespie. Sacrifices - Bixby.
Double plays - Manarik to Bixby to Adams, Oddo to Delsing to Gillespie,
Anderson to Manarik to Adams. Left
on bases - Appleton 9, Green Bay 7. Base
on balls - off Garcia 5, off Johnson 3. Struck
out - by Garcia 8, by Johnson 11. Hits
off Garcia, 5 in 9 innings for 1 run; off Johnson, 5 in 9 innings for 0 runs.
Wild pitches - Johnson. Winning
pitcher - Johnson. Losing pitcher
- Garcia. Umpires - Chapman,
Smogoleski. Time of game - 1:59.
NOTES:
Green Bay would lose to Sheboygan in the 1942 Wisconsin State League
Championship Series. Sheboygan won
the series in six games.
It would seem that Appleton fans got riled up over umpire Pepper Chapman and he
bristled at them throughout the series.
The Wisconsin State League halted play for World War II after the 1942 playoffs.
The league resumed play in 1946.
The Papermakers did not make the playoffs again.
Their best season after 1942 was a 63-60 record in 1952.
There are many things that I have enjoyed about this look back at this 1942
playoff series. But my favorite is
that the Papermakers were allowed to recruit shortstop Richard Bixby from
Oshkosh to fill in for injured Appleton players.
Imagine if a team could do that now.
In the words of Dutch Zwilling, that's "just swell".
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