RetroSimba

(Updated April 18, 2021)

On May 3, 1941, in his first major-league start, Hank Gornicki pitched a one-hit shutout for the Cardinals against the Phillies at Philadelphia.

It was the only start Gornicki ever made for the Cardinals. Less than a month later, he was returned to the minor leagues. Before the season ended, he was shipped to the Cubs.

A right-hander, Gornicki was a 30-year-old rookie with the 1941 Cardinals. He pitched with success in the Cardinals’ farm system for six years, posting double-figure win totals each season, before earning a spot with the big-league club.

At the time, his claim to fame was being dubbed the “wood chopper of the Great Smokies” because he kept fit during the off-seasons by cutting down trees on his father’s property in North Carolina.

After two relief appearances with the 1941 Cardinals, manager Billy Southworth gave Gornicki the start against the Phillies because Southworth decided the rookie should be given the chance, The Sporting News reported.

Before the game, Cardinals coach Mike Gonzalez “told visitors to the St. Louis bench that he didn’t think Gornicki had a good enough fastball to last nine innings,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

According to the St. Louis Star-Times, “Southworth was afraid to use him without keeping a veteran warmed up for emergency duty. Out of the corner of his eye, Gornicki could see Bill McGee toiling in the bullpen through most of the game, but Bill might as well have spent the afternoon at a movie.”

On a chilly Saturday afternoon at Shibe Park, Gornicki held the Phillies hitless until Stan Benjamin lined a single to center with two outs in the sixth.

Gornicki finished with five strikeouts and five walks in pitching the Cardinals to a 6-0 victory. He also contributed a RBI-single in the seventh. Boxscore

“He pumped the ball overhand with fine speed and a very sharp-breaking curve,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Gornicki “has a fine curveball, a good fastball and perfect poise on the mound. His only apparent weakness was his tendency to get the count to 3-and-2. With a good-hitting club, this might prove fatal.”

The victory was the eighth in a row for the pitching-rich Cardinals and it improved their record to 13-3.

Though Gornicki dazzled in his start, Southworth returned him to the bullpen because the Cardinals already had quality starters such as Lon Warneke, Ernie White, Mort Cooper, Max Lanier, Harry Gumpert and Howie Krist.

As Fred Lieb of The Sporting News wrote, “Like the old lady in the shoe, Billy Southworth had so many good young pitchers he didn’t know what to do.”

Gornicki didn’t appear in another game for almost two weeks. He pitched less than an inning in relief on May 15 against the Braves. Soon after that, he was sent to Rochester of the International League.

With Rochester, Gornicki was 12-9 with a 2.83 ERA in 26 games. On Sept. 2, the Cardinals sent Gornicki to the Cubs in a cash transaction. He appeared once in relief for the Cubs before baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided the deal, saying it had violated the waiver rule. The Reds had claimed Gornicki on waivers before the Cardinals had sent him to the Cubs.

Returned to the Cardinals, Gornicki was in no-man’s land, unwanted and unsure of where he belonged. In December, the Cardinals dealt him to the Pirates.

Gornicki spent three seasons (1942, 1943 and 1946) with the Pirates in a stint that was interrupted by two years of military service during World War II. He posted a big-league career record of 15-19 with a 3.38 ERA in 79 games, including 33 starts.