(Updated April 30, 2020)
Stan Musial had such respect for the arm of Andy Pafko he included the National League veteran as part of the best-throwing outfield he’d ever seen.
Because he didn’t use that arm, Pafko committed a blunder that literally handed the Cardinals a comeback victory against the Cubs.
Wild ninth
Pafko was in center field for a Saturday afternoon game, April 30, 1949, against the Cardinals at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.
Behind the pitching of starter Bob Rush, who threw what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described as a “crackling fastball and corner-cutting curve,” the Cubs entered the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead.
With Enos Slaughter on second base and two outs, Rush was on the verge of a victory until Eddie Kazak hit a pitch off his fists and looped a single to short left, scoring Slaughter and narrowing the Cubs’ lead to 3-2. Chuck Diering ran for Kazak and Rocky Nelson, a rookie first baseman, stepped to the plate for St. Louis.
With Pafko shaded toward right for the left-handed batter, Nelson lined the ball to left-center.
“Even though the ball was slicing away from him in a deep part of the park, his quick start and fleet legs enabled him to gain on the drive,” the Post-Dispatch reported. “Pafko lunged to his right, his gloved hand thrust outward in a bid for a backhanded catch.”
Pafko skidded across the grass before he “flung up his hand, clutching the ball, in a gesture of triumph,” the Post-Dispatch noted.
Umpire Al Barlick ruled Pafko trapped the ball, signaling with his hands extended and palms down in a safe call.
Diering and Nelson raced around the basepaths.
Great debate
According to The Sporting News, “Instead of throwing in the ball with his superb arm, Pafko, the ball still lodged in the webbing of his glove, came running in to second base to join the swarm of Cubs who were rushing toward Barlick.”
As Pafko held the ball, Diering scored the tying run and Nelson was waved toward the plate by third-base coach Tony Kauffman.
Pafko, unwilling to believe the no-catch ruling, waited too long before throwing the ball to the plate. The ball hit Nelson in the left shoulder as he was crossing the plate with the winning run.
Cubs fans protested by throwing objects, including cushions, fruit and vegetables, onto the field.
The stunned Cubs were retired in order by closer Ted Wilks in the bottom of the ninth and the Cardinals won, 4-3. Boxscore
The Sporting News summed up the game as probably the first in the history of big-league baseball “decided by what they describe not as an inside-the-park homer but as an in-the-glove homer.”
Two years later, June 1951, Pafko was dealt to the Dodgers, giving Brooklyn an outfield of Pafko in left, Duke Snider in center and Carl Furillo in right.
In his book “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial said with Pafko, Snider and Furillo “the Dodgers had the best-throwing outfield I ever saw.”
“Andy was a strong hitter, a strong-armed fielder and good defensively,” Musial said. “He was steady, gave you a good day’s work.”
Playing for the Cubs, Dodgers and Braves from 1943-59, Pafko batted .285 with 213 home runs and 1,796 hits. In 258 games against the Cardinals, Pafko hit .273 with 22 homers and 120 RBI.
RetroSimba 
[…] April 30: In 1933, Charlie Root wins a game thanks to the hitting help of newly acquired outfielder Babe Herman. He hit his first homer for the Cubs in the 7-5 win. In 1949, Andy Pafko allowed the Cardinals to win thanks to the “Inside the Glove Homer”. […]
April 30th 1949,my sister Elaine was getting married. While waiting for the family to go to the hotel,my brother Allen and I watched the Cubs game on WGN-TV. on our 10″ RCA Victor TV. It was a dark over cast day. Those days,all tv’s were black and white and there was no instant replay because video tape was not yet invented. Years later,I was involved in the stage play “Bleacher Bums” and that Pafko incident is featured. I met Andy on many occasions. He was one of my boyhood idols and I cried when he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers. I later became known as the Bleacher Preacher at the friendly confines.
Jerry: I really enjoyed reading your recollections. Thank you for sharing them here.
Thanks,even if you are a Cardinal fan! I was lucky as a kid who got to see so many Cardinal teams going back to Stan”The Man”Musial who looked like a Rodan Statue at the plate,4 sack Dusak,Marty”the octopus”Marion, Enos”Country”Slaughter,Harry”The Cat” Bracheen” and listen to Harry Caray and Gabby Street on KMOX coming out of St.Louis. I always enjoyed teasing the Red-Bird fans by asking Cardinal Questions.What’s Whity Herzog first name?(it’s Doral,and if that was my first name I would call myself Whitey,too,even if I was bald! What did Pete Whisenant do twice that no other Cardinal player did? He pinch hit for Musial! And of course what was unusual about Musial’s total hits 3,630 ? He had the same amount on the road that he had at home…1815!
Cheers,Jerry!
Jerry: Love your description of Stan Musial at the plate. Well done!