RetroSimba

During the 1940s, no baseball rivalry was more intense than the one between the Dodgers and Cardinals. The player who perhaps best exemplified that fervor was Joe Medwick.

From 1941-49, seven of nine National League pennants were won by either the Cardinals or Dodgers. Medwick, a power hitter and left fielder, had been a force for the Gashouse Gang Cardinals of the 1930s. After he was traded to the Dodgers in 1940, he helped them win the pennant in 1941.

In 1942, the Dodgers appeared headed to a successful defense of their title. They were 4.5 games ahead of the second-place Cardinals entering a five-game series against St. Louis at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field.

In the series opener, on June 18, 1942, Medwick set the tone by targeting one of the Cardinals’ most popular players, shortstop Marty Marion, for a skewering.

Medwick’s roughhouse antics sparked a melee between the teams.

Vicious slide

A pair of effective left-handers, Max Lanier of the Cardinals and Larry French of the Dodgers, were the starting pitchers in Game 1.

With the Cardinals ahead, 2-1, Medwick led off the Dodgers’ half of the sixth inning and drew a walk.

Lanier’s pitch to the next batter, Dolph Camilli, eluded catcher Walker Cooper. The ball rolled about five feet from the plate, but Cooper got to it quickly. Medwick broke for second and Cooper threw a laser to Marion, who was covering the bag.

The ball got to Marion well before Medwick reached the base. As Marion prepared to apply a tag, Medwick slid with spikes high and crashed hard into the shortstop.

Medwick “tried to carve his initials on Marion’s Adam’s apple,” said John Kieran of the New York Times.

Medwick’s spikes gashed Marion’s arm.

As Medwick attempted to rise, Marion pushed down Medwick’s spikes with his glove and said something to him.

Medwick came up swinging and motioned for Marion to fight.

Wild fury

As Medwick squared off with Marion, Cardinals second baseman Frank “Creepy” Crespi tackled Medwick from behind and knocked him to the ground.

With Medwick on his back, Cardinals players piled on top of him.

Camilli and Dixie Walker were the first Dodgers to come to Medwick’s rescue.

Camilli grabbed Crespi and put a strangehold on him.

Walker threw a flying block at Cardinals third baseman Whitey Kurowski “that would have delighted the heart of the late Knute Rockne,” The Sporting News reported.

Ump’s delight

The fighting lasted for about two minutes. Though brief, the brawl was “as exciting as has been seen in the National League this season,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Walker injured his ankle in the melee, limped off the field and was removed from the game.

Medwick and Crespi were ejected by umpire Babe Pinelli.

Though Pinelli later blamed Medwick for instigating the incident by sliding with spikes high, the old-school arbiter added, “I like to umpire games like that … There is too little of that in baseball today.”

When play resumed, Camilli walked and the next batter, Johnny Rizzo, was sent sprawling by a brushback pitch from Lanier.

No other incidents occurred, but the free-for-all appeared to benefit the inspired Dodgers. They rallied and beat the Cardinals, 5-2. Boxscore

Afterward, Medwick said Dodgers manager Leo Durocher had told him not to discuss the incident, according to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

“I can’t talk,” Medwick said. “That’s my orders … Some time, I’ll tell you my side of that rumpus at second base, but meanwhile Leo is the skipper.”

The Dodgers won four of the five games in the series, extending their lead over the Cardinals to 7.5 games. The Cardinals, however, finished strong and won the pennant with a 106-48 record. The Dodgers ended two back at 104-50.