An arduous journey from New York to Cincinnati for a group of Cardinals ended in a madcap taxi ride with Stan Musial behind the wheel and the cab driver on the hood of the speeding vehicle.
On May 24, 1946, a national railroad strike caused the Cardinals to alter their travel plans and find a way to get to Cincinnati for a game that night against the Reds.
The Cardinals got it done, but it wasn’t easy.
Rough road
In New York on Thursday afternoon, May 23, the Cardinals played the Giants at the Polo Grounds. Afterward, they planned to depart by train at 7:30 p.m. for Cincinnati, but while the game was under way, railroad workers went on strike.
The strike wasn’t the only jolt the Cardinals got that day. They also learned that three of their players, pitchers Max Lanier and Fred Martin and infielder Lou Klein, left the club, accepting offers to play in Mexico.
Cardinals traveling secretary Leo Ward arranged for the team to spend the night in New York and take a 9 a.m. flight the following day from New York to Dayton, The Sporting News reported. From Dayton, the Cardinals planned to take a bus to Cincinnati for an 8:30 p.m. game against the Reds at Crosley Field.
To the Cardinals’ dismay, the plan unraveled when the federal Office of Defense Transportation, in need of alternatives because of the railroad strike, appropriated the plane the team was going to use, the St. Louis Star-Times reported.
The Cardinals had to scramble to find another way to get to Ohio.
Reds derailed
Meanwhile, the Cardinals’ scheduled opponent was having its own travel woes.
The Reds played a night game against the Braves at Boston on Wednesday, May 22, and planned to travel to Ohio by train on May 23. They got as far as Buffalo when the railroad strike hit.
Reds officials rented taxicabs to take the team from Buffalo to Cleveland, The Sporting News reported. The Reds arrived in Cleveland at 1:30 a.m. on May 24 and slept on cots in a hotel banquet room. After daybreak, they chartered a bus and set out for Cincinnati.
Baseball odyssey
Back in New York, the Cardinals located a plane to take them to Cincinnati. The TWA plane had room for 21 Cardinals. The others would have to take a bus.
Leaving New York in the afternoon, the flight carried manager Eddie Dyer, coach Mike Gonzalez, catchers Ken O’Dea and Del Rice, infielders Jeff Cross, Whitey Kurowski, Red Schoendienst and Dick Sisler, outfielders Buster Adams, Erv Dusak, Terry Moore, Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter and Harry Walker, and pitchers Red Barrett, Al Brazle, Harry Brecheen, Ken Burkhart, Blix Donnelly, Howie Krist and Ted Wilks.
Boarding a Greyhound bus in New York were 11 Cardinals: coach Buzzy Wares, pitchers Johnny Beazley, Murry Dickson, Johnny Grodzicki, Howie Pollet and Willard Schmidt, catchers Joe Garagiola and Clyde Kluttz, and outfielders Bill Endicott, Danny Litwhiler and Walter Sessi. The bus was headed to Washington, D.C. From there, the Cardinals chartered another bus to complete the trek to Cincinnati, expecting to arrive on Saturday, May 25.
Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion refused to travel by plane, and team officials didn’t think his aching back could handle the long bus rides, so he remained in New York, waiting for the railroad strike to end.
Waiting game
The Cardinals’ charter flight was scheduled to arrive in Cincinnati at 5:30 p.m., the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, but storms grounded the plane in Columbus.
Meanwhile, the bus carrying the Reds from Cleveland got to Cincinnati at 3:10 p.m., according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
By the time the Cardinals left Columbus, it was clear they wouldn’t arrive in time for the scheduled start of the game. With a Friday night crowd of 26,190 arriving at Crosley Field, the Reds decided to wait. The fans were given a fireworks show to help them stay patient.
It was about 9 p.m. when the Cardinals arrived at Cincinnati’s Lunken Airport. Located on the east side of town near the Ohio River, the airport was about nine miles from Crosley Field.
A fleet of taxicabs and a police escort awaited the Cardinals when they got off the plane. Outfielders Musial, Moore, Slaughter and Adams climbed into one of the cabs and the convoy roared off toward the ballpark.
On the way, the hood of the cab carrying Musial and his group sprang up and wouldn’t stay down.
In the driver’s seat
In his book, “Stan Musial: The Man’s Own Story,” Musial recalled, “The cabbie, desperate, finally suggested that one of us players ride on the hood to keep it in place.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Musial responded. “You ride the hood, cabbie, and I’ll drive.”
Musial took the wheel and the cabbie got atop the hood.
“Man, that was something,” Musial said. “With my head out the side window so I could see around the cabbie, I drove at high speed and we managed to keep up with the caravan. When we wheeled into the Crosley Field parking lot, I was laughing, but some of the guys with me were a little white.”
Show must go on
According to The Sporting News, the Cardinals got from the airport to the ballpark in 14 minutes.
The game started at 9:42 p.m. one hour and 12 minutes later than scheduled, but less than 45 minutes after the Cardinals landed at the airport, the Dayton Daily News reported.
The Cardinals’ starting lineup was Red Schoendienst, Terry Moore, Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter, Whitey Kurowski, Dick Sisler, Ken O’Dea, Jeff Cross and Harry Brecheen.
Reds pitcher Ewell Blackwell took advantage of the weary Cardinals, pitching a four-hitter in a 5-1 win. Boxscore
Getting it done
The Cardinals and Reds had a scheduled off day on Saturday, May 25. The bus carrying the remaining Cardinals got to Cincinnati at 7:15 that night, according to The Sporting News.
On Sunday, May 26, the Cardinals and Reds split a doubleheader. Afterward, with the railroad strike ended, the Cardinals boarded a train to Chicago to open a series the next afternoon with the Cubs. They were joined there by Marty Marion, who took a train from New York to Chicago.
Undeterred by their trying travels, the Cardinals went on to win the 1946 National League pennant and World Series championship.
RetroSimba 
Incredibile story. Stan Musial driving the cab with the cabbie on the roof reads like a scene from a good comedy. I’m curious to know if Jorge Pasquel and the Cardinal defectors made it out the States in time before the strike.
After skipping out on the Cardinals’ May 23 game vs. the Giants at New York’s Polo Grounds, Lou Klein, Max Lanier and Fred Martin met that day with Mexican officials in New York, the Associated Press reported. The national railroads went on strike that day. Lanier and Martin (and possibly Klein) made their way from New York to Baltimore the night of May 23, according to the Associated Press. The Sporting News reported all 3 players took a flight from New York to Baltimore.
Klein wanted to travel by airplane to Mexico City. Lanier and Martin wanted to get to St. Louis and then drive by car to Mexico City.
The Sporting News reported that Klein got a flight from Baltimore to his home in New Orleans. From there, he traveled by plane to Mexico City.
According to the St. Louis Star-Times, Lanier and Martin took a flight from Baltimore to Chicago and then took a taxi ride from Chicago to St. Louis.
Klein arrived in Mexico City by plane on May 26, the Star-Times reported. Lanier and Martin departed St. Louis for Mexico City by car on May 27, the Star-Times reported.