Young Joe DiMaggio Fan
Now in St. Louis for a three-game series, the Yankees attracted a dismal Saturday “crowd” on June 7. Only 2,394 fans showed up. Despite The Streak. St. Louis was a Cardinals’ town—and besides, old Sportsman’s Park was a dump.
As the Yankees prepared for their first game, they bumped into each other while dressing, so small were the locker rooms. After a game, slime from the shower floors and stench from the drains made for an unsavory, if not unhealthy, getaway.
But once on the field, visiting-team hitters usually treated themselves to one of the finest banquets in baseball–the Browns’ pitching staff.
With a collective earned run average over five, St. Louis pitchers were either journeymen just happy to be playing, stars in their twilight years or rookies that the other 17 teams didn’t try to nurture.
Today would be not different. The Browns had Bob Muncrief on the menu, a lanky rookie right hander who would serve as the staff’s ace through the war years. Four times Muncrief won 13 games for St. Louis. On any other team, his efforts would have translated to 20-win seasons. But these were the orphaned Browns.
And Muncrief was far from his best.
As usual, the Yankees had their fill early, opening a 6-1 lead in the top of third. With three singles on the day, DiMaggio preserved The Streak safely at 22.
But New York starter Lefty Gomez didn’t have it either, and St. Louis rallied to go ahead 7-6 late in the game. New York was on a three-game losing streak. Was it about to drop a game to St. Louis, too? The Browns?
For dessert, the Yankees rallied for five runs in the ninth, the big blast coming from Charlie Keller. Keller was 3-for-4 on the afternoon with a double and the deciding grand slam homer. An 11-7 victory snapped the losing skein and filled the lineup’s statistical stomachs with hits, 15 in all.
DiMaggio’s 3-for-5 raised his average to .333.
The Yankees were quick to shower and exit the ballpark. There was a doubleheader tomorrow. Eat light tonight, the batters probably thought.
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