On April 22, 1945, angry fans at Forbes Field, disappointed with their Pittsburgh Pirates, showered the field with seat cushions and more. The Pirates, preseason favorites to win the National League pennant, were in the process of losing a doubleheader to the Chicago Cubs by scores of 3-0 and 5-2. In the two games, the Pirates amassed a total of eight hits.
1945: Cushions, Bottles and Fruit Rained Down on Pirates and Cubs
In 1944, under manager Frankie Frisch, the Pirates finished 90-63. It was good for second place in the NL, albeit 14½ games behind the pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals. The Pirates pitching staff was led by 37-year-old Rip Sewell, who was 21-12 with a 3.18 ERA while leading all NL pitchers with a 6.0 WAR, although at the time, the only war anybody knew about was raging overseas.
Fritz Ostermueller, a 36-year-old left-hander, was 11-7 with a 2.73 ERA. Third baseman Bob Elliott led Pittsburgh with 108 RBI. Right behind him was Babe Dahlgren with 101 RBI. Dahlgren led the Pirates with 12 home runs. Speedy outfielder Johnny Barrett led the majors with 19 triples and the NL with 28 stolen bases. Four Pirates made the NL All-Star team and five received consideration for the Most Valuable Player Award in 1944.
The reasons for the optimism about the 1945 Pirates concerned the war referred to above. The Cardinals would be without the services of their future Hall-of-Famer Stan Musial, pitcher Max Lanier, and catcher Walker Cooper, all of whom were drafted into the military. It was expected that Chicago Cubs All-Star slugger Bill Nicholson would similarly be snatched away to battle the Axis Powers. These two teams were believed to be the biggest threats to the Pirates’ chances in the NL. The Pirates, on the other hand, weren’t expected to suffer any losses from the draft, and if they did, the consensus was that they had the depth to cover them.
Pirates Trade All-Star Over $4.50
One player the Pirates lost from their 1944 squad was center fielder Vince DiMaggio, an All-Star despite hitting just .240/.307/.401 and leading the NL by striking out 83 times. In 1944, the Pirates were on what the papers described as an “eastern trip” when DiMaggio became hungry for a midnight meal. All he could find open at that late hour was a hotel restaurant that had a floor show going on. The price tag for the meal and the cover charge ran to $9. (The tragically unhip Harvey J. Boyle of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the cover charge by noting that the “salaries” of the musicians and dancers were “included in the price of the food.” One doubts that the entertainers were on salary. Get around much, Harvey?) According to custom for players on the road, DiMaggio signed for the charge and the Pirates were on the hook for it.
Wine, Women, and Song
The problem? The charge exceeded the Pirates’ daily meal money allowance of $4.50. (DiMaggio claimed it was $4.25.) As Pirates treasurer Sam Watters explained to the media, the $4.50 allowance was higher than most teams allowed, and the Pirates also provided $1.50 for late-night snacks after night games and usually didn’t question “reasonable” overcharges. However, DiMaggio’s late-night splurge was too much for the Pirates, who were willing to pay for wine, but not women and song. The Pirates deducted $4.50 from DiMaggio’s pay. DiMaggio went public with the matter in August, and an amusing controversy ensued.
We’ve heard the expression “play me or trade me,” but “feed me or trade me” was a new one. DiMaggio said the Pirates could trade him if they were unwilling to spend what was necessary to please his palate. When, still angry over the incident, he didn’t report for spring training in 1945, the Pirates traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Al Gerheauser.
It baffles the mind that DiMaggio would possibly jeopardize his baseball career over $4.50 (in today’s dollars, $79.79). In 2000, brother Joe DiMaggio’s biographer, Richard Ben Cramer, would chronicle Joltin’ Joe’s legendary frugality at length. Perhaps it ran in the family. In any event, Frisch didn’t mind. He wanted more run production from his center fielder anyway.
World Series Hopes Dashed Already?
The Pirates entered that April 22 Sunday doubleheader having lost three of their first five games of the 1945 season. In the first game, the Cubs knocked out Ostermueller with three quick, early runs in 1 1/3 innings. Ostermueller may have been distracted by having received a draft notice the previous day ordering him to report for induction on Friday. Those runs were all Cubs left-handed starter Bob Chipman needed. He shut out the Pirates on three hits, although he also surrendered six walks. However, the Pirates squandered opportunities by hitting into two double plays and leaving seven men on base.
The second game began with the Cubs getting a first inning run off starter Gerheauser. Finally, the fans at Forbes Field had something to cheer about in the fourth. Dahlgren crushed a two-run homer over the scoreboard and into Schenley Plaza to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately, the lead didn’t last long, as the Cubs touched up Gerheauser for three runs in the sixth before Ostermeuller relieved and cleaned up the mess. The Cubs added one more run in the top of the ninth. Many of the 27,690 Pirates fans, envisioning their World Series dashed despite the season’s early date, became unruly.
Cushion Fight Breaks Out
If it were 2025, those angry Pirates fans would have logged onto their favorite Facebook group and begun trolling one another. However, that outlet wasn’t available to Pirates fans in 1945. Therefore, as the Pirates batted in the bottom of the ninth, fans tossed the seat cushions that were provided as a courtesy to the ladies, along with assorted fruits and bottles, onto the field. Police at Forbes Field did nothing to stop the deluge.
From the Cubs dugout, manager Charlie Grimm ordered the umpires to forfeit the game to the Cubs. That wasn’t necessary, however, as the Cubs got three quick outs, the last out on a fly ball to left fielder Nicholson, who wasn’t drafted after all, with “dozens of cushions flying around his head,” according to Charles J. Doyle of the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. After the game, fans stormed the field and threw cushions, fruit, and bottles at one another. Luckily, no player or fan was injured.
That is, except for the stress felt by Myron O’Brisky, the Forbes Field caterer responsible for supplying the cushions. Because of rationing in effect during World War II, he was unable to repair or replace the cushions.
The Last Word
The 1945 Pirates finished 82-72 in fourth place. Frisch cited the regressions of pitchers Sewell and Max Butcher, a season-long batting slump by Dahlgren, and the failure of pinch-hitter Frank Colman to come through in key situations. Perhaps it was unreasonable to expect Sewell to continue to dominate hitters at age 38. Dahlgren, too, at 34, was old by the baseball standards of the time. He played one more year in the majors. Miraculously, Sewell lasted four more years but didn’t perform at his previous level. However, the criticism of Butcher made no sense. He was 10-8 with a 3.03 ERA in 1945, compared to 13-11 and 3.12 in 1944.
Photo Credit: © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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