As Cardinals, pitchers Murry Dickson and Howie Pollet were beneficiaries of the productive hitting of Enos Slaughter. As Pirates, they were victims of the same.
In September 1952, Slaughter delivered walkoff wins for the Cardinals in consecutive games versus the Pirates.
One of those game-winning hits came against Dickson. The other occurred an inning after Slaughter tied the score versus Pollet.
Six years earlier, Dickson (15 wins) and Pollet (21 wins) were two of the top starters for the 1946 World Series champion Cardinals. Slaughter led the National League in RBI (130) that season and made a daring dash from first to home to score the winning run in Game 7 of the World Series.
A lot had changed by 1952. The Cardinals no longer were a consistent contender, and Dickson and Pollet were pitching for one of the all-time worst teams.
Getting it done
At 36, Slaughter still had a prominent role with the 1952 Cardinals as their right fielder, cleanup hitter and team captain. Though not a classic power hitter, Slaughter was a challenge for any pitcher. He led the 1952 Cardinals in RBI (101) and triples (12), and hit .300.
Slaughter was in his usual lineup spot for the Cardinals against the Pirates on Saturday night, Sept. 6, 1952, at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. With 20 games left to play, the Cardinals were 77-57, but nine behind the first-place Dodgers.
Starting for the Pirates was Murry Dickson. The year before, he had 20 wins for the Pirates. In 1952, he would suffer 21 losses. The Pirates entered the game with a 39-98 record on their way to a 42-112 finish. The Pirates’ catcher was another former member of the 1946 Cardinals, Joe Garagiola.
Dickson and the Pirates took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth. Red Schoendienst led off for the Cardinals and singled. Stan Musial followed with a sharp grounder to first baseman Tony Bartirome, who threw to shortstop Dick Groat, covering second, for the force out of Schoendienst. Groat’s relay throw to Bartirome nearly completed a double play, but umpire Babe Pinelli ruled Musial safe at first.
(Pinelli’s call peeved the Pirates. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted, “Joe Garagiola sounded off quite freely with Pinelli after the game on the trip to the clubhouse. Both exercised the freedom of speech article in the Constitution.”)
Instead of batting with the bases empty, Slaughter came up with Musial on first and laced a double off the screen in right field. Musial raced home, tying the score at 4-4.
Dickson still was pitching in the 10th when Solly Hemus led off with a double. After Schoendienst popped out, Musial was walked intentionally, bringing up Slaughter. (Musial in his career batted .419 with 52 hits versus Dickson. Slaughter batted .267 with 27 hits against him.)
Slaughter hit Dickson’s first pitch onto the right field roof for a three-run walkoff home run and a 7-4 Cardinals victory. Boxscore
The home run was Slaughter’s 1,900th career hit. He would finish with 2,383.
(Slaughter hit four walkoff home runs in the majors, three for the Cardinals and one for the Athletics.)
Encore performance
The next day, before what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described as a “slender Sunday crowd” of 9,298, Howie Pollet started against his former team.
Pollet shut out the Cardinals for seven innings, limiting them to two hits, but in the eighth, with the Pirates ahead, 3-0, the Cardinals loaded the bases with none out. Musial struck out, but Slaughter followed with a triple high off the screen in right-center, tying the score.
“Came the ninth and now defeat was inevitable,” The Pittsburgh Press noted. “It always is with the Pirates.”
Pirates manager Billy Meyer sent Jim Waugh, an 18-year-old rookie, to pitch the bottom of the ninth against the Cardinals. After retiring the first batter, he walked the next three.
Another rookie, Cal Hogue, relieved, facing Slaughter with the bases loaded. Hogue’s best pitch was “a jagged overhanded curve,” according to Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch.
Working the count to 3-and-1, Slaughter sent a fly into medium right-center. Dick Hall, the Pirates’ 6-foot-6 rookie center fielder, loped over to the ball, then turned away and shielded his eyes from the sun.
The ball fell a few feet in front of him for a single as Solly Hemus streaked home from third with the winning run.
Unlike his game-winning home run the night before, Slaughter’s walkoff single wasn’t crushed but the result was the same. Martin J. Haley, covering the game for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, described it as a “sun-kissed single.”
(St. Louis native Dick Hall eventually was converted from an outfielder to a pitcher. He became a successful reliever, pitching in three World Series for the Orioles and earning 93 wins and 71 saves in the majors.)
According to the Globe-Democrat, even if Hall had caught the ball, Hemus “undoubtedly would have scored” from third on the sacrifice fly.
“The sad sack Buccos walked off the field as though trailing a funeral procession,” The Pittsburgh Press reported. Boxscore
Jubilant Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky told Broeg that “all the adjectives in the world can’t describe” Slaughter.
“I didn’t expect him to do nearly what he’s done this season,” Stanky said. “I didn’t think he’d come close to driving in 100 runs.”
RetroSimba 
That’s some great STL Cardinals’ history! Thanks for sharing it with us all!
Thanks for reading and for commenting!
Setting aside Mark Mcguire, I think that only Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter had a 100 rbi season at the age of 36.
Thanks, Phillip. That helps put the achievement into perspective.
Unfortunately, I only know of Enos Slaughter as a guy who intentionally spiked Jackie Robinson.
On Aug. 20, 1947, Jackie Robinson was playing first base when he was spiked by Enos Slaughter. Whether it was intentional remains a subject of debate 75 years later. It was one of multiple controversial incidents involving the Cardinals with Robinson in his first year in the majors: https://retrosimba.com/2012/04/15/jackie-robinson-propelled-dodgers-over-47-cardinals/
this might sound a bit trivial, but i can only think of one better baseball name than Slaughter as in Slaughter the ball and that would be Herb Score as in getting some weed.
You mentioned a couple of times about him hitting triples. I took a look at his career stats and he hit quite a few of them. He musta been an exciting player to watch.
Thanks, Steve. I always thought it was impressive how Bob Walk overcame his name to become a successful pitcher in the majors. In 14 seasons with the Phillies, Braves and Pirates, Walk was 105-81. He also had a win for the Phillies in the 1980 World Series. Walk had more career strikeouts (848) than walks (606).
Headline writers in Philadelphia had a field day when John Boozer and Bobby Wine were Phillies teammates in the 1960s. One favorite headline, on a story about the Phillies’ double play combination of shortstop Bobby Wine and 2nd baseman Cookie Rojas, was: “The Days of Wine and Rojas.”
Enos Slaughter had an extra-base hit in each of his first five regular-season games in the big leagues for the 1938 Cardinals. Only Stan Musial (177) and Rogers Hornsby (143) have more career triples as Cardinals than Slaughter (135).
Days of Wine and Rojas. Excellent! I think I’ll drink to that. A couple of my other favorites are Homer Bailey and Grant Balfour.
I had no idea Slaughter played for the Athletics. Another little-known fact…so did Ty Cobb.
Enos Slaughter, 39, had a remarkable season for the 1955 Kansas City Athletics.
On May 11, 1955, the Yankees traded Slaughter and pitcher Johnny Sain to the A’s for minor-league pitcher Sonny Dixon and $15,000. The Yankees unloaded Slaughter and Sain because they needed to open roster spots for 2 prospects. The A’s were willing recipients.
At 39, Slaughter was younger than A’s manager Lou Boudreau, 38.
Slaughter hit .322 in 267 at-bats for the 1955 A’s and had a .408 on-base percentage with them. He batted .469 (15-for-32) as a pinch-hitter for the A’s that season.
The Yankees came to regret trading Slaughter. He had a .500 on-base percentage against them in 1955 (11 walks and 10 hits in 42 plate appearances).
A’s coach George Susce told the Kansas City Star, “Here is a player 39 years old who still picks on the fastballs and pulls them. Slaughter still has the good snap to his wrists and he still is more dangerous against the fastball than any other pitch. That to me is rather extraordinary.”
In 1956, Slaughter hit .278 for the A’s before the Yankees claimed him on waivers in August that year.
Pujols also had back to back walkoffs in consecutive games during Jun 2015…I saw the 2nd walkoff live…easily the most memorable homerun I’ve seen in person.
Thanks for sharing your remembrance.