In a game in which both catchers were perfect at bat, Ernie Lombardi won it for the Reds with his mitt.
On July 6, 1934, the Reds edged the Cardinals, 16-15, at St. Louis. Lombardi, the Reds catcher and future Hall of Famer who was nicknamed “Schnozz” because of his big nose, produced five hits in five trips to the plate. Cardinals catcher Spud Davis, a career .308 hitter, was 4-for-4 with two walks.
The game ended when Lombardi tagged out Leo Durocher at the plate.
Theatre of the absurd
Played on a Friday afternoon, a paid gathering of 1,100 came to Sportsman’s Park to see the last-place Reds (22-46) and second-place Cardinals (41-28).
The home team gave what the St. Louis Star-Times described as a “burlesque performance,” committing three errors, stranding 12 runners and allowing the Reds to score in six of the first seven innings.
Of the seven pitchers used by the Cardinals, three were future Hall of Famers (Jesse Haines, Dizzy Dean and Dazzy Vance), but the only one who didn’t give up a run was Tex Carleton, who worked the ninth.
The Reds led 8-0 in the second and 15-8 in the sixth, but their pitchers were as ineffective as those on the Cardinals.
More to come
Ahead by five, the Reds scored the decisive run in the seventh when Lombardi drove in ex-Cardinal Chick Hafey from second with a two-out single, extending the lead to 16-10.
However, an error by Lombardi in the bottom half of the inning gave the Cardinals a chance to create some drama.
The first batter, Jack Rothrock, hit a pop fly near the plate in fair territory. Lombardi called for it, but dropped the ball, and Rothrock was safe at first. Frankie Frisch flied out and Joe Medwick, on what should have been the third out, fanned.
Rip Collins then drove a pitch onto the pavilion roof in right for a two-run home run, getting the Cardinals within four, at 16-12.
The Cardinals scored again in the eighth, making it 16-13.
In the ninth, Tex Carleton “showed his pals how real baseball should be pitched,” the Star-Times noted, and retired the Reds in order.
Fantastic finish
In the home half of the ninth, the Cardinals had runners on first and second, two outs, when their eighth-place batter, Leo Durocher, came to the plate against Si Johnson, who was on his way to a 22-loss season with the Reds.
Durocher hit a pop-up in foul ground, but “got a break when a boy in a grandstand box prevented Lombardi from reaching over for a catch,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Given a second chance, Durocher drilled a double to right, driving in both runners and making the score 16-15.
Next up was the pitcher, Carleton.
Cardinals player-manager Frankie Frisch had used 20 of his 22 players, including five as pinch-hitters. Only pitchers Paul Dean and Bill Hallahan hadn’t appeared in the game. Deeming neither a better option than Carleton, Frisch let Tex bat.
(Carleton produced 100 hits in the majors, including 17 in 1934.)
Carleton hit a sharp grounder to the right of shortstop Mark Koenig, who fielded the ball, but his low throw to first wasn’t in time to nail the runner.
When Durocher, who rounded third, saw first baseman Jimmy Shevlin fumble the ball, he dashed for the plate, hoping to score the tying run.
According to the Star-Times, “Shevlin quickly recovered the ball but his throw home was bad. Lombardi reached out, pulled in the ball and wheeled around just as Durocher tried to slide under him. Umpire Bill Klem whipped off his mask and cap and shouted, ‘You’re out!’ “
Believing he was safe, an angry Durocher “wanted to throw a fistful of dirt” at Klem, “but resisted the impulse,” the Post-Dispatch reported. Boxscore
RetroSimba 
What a game! It’s amazing what catchers are capable of doing, squatting for nine innings and still having the strength to bat and in this case, both catchers banging out so many hits.
A bit off-topic, but after reading this post, I thought about that Cardinals/Cubs Saturday game of the week at Wrigley. I remembered that Sandberg hit 2 homers, both off Bruce Sutter so I looked it up to get a few more details and it was on June 23, 1984, a back and forth game that Chicago won 12-11 in 11 innings. Willie McGee hit for the cycle.
Good point about catchers, Steve.
Ernie Lombardi was amazing, twice leading the National League in hitting _ .342 in 1938 (the Cardinals’ Johnny Mize was second at .337) and .330 in 1942 (the Cardinals’ Enos Slaughter was second at .318).
According to the Society for American Baseball Research, “Although he was a smart baserunner, Lombardi was not a fast one; in fact, he is widely recognized as one of the slowest runners in baseball history. It was often said that Lombardi doubled to left and beat out a single. Lombardi hit rifle shots, and there were no cheap hits in his arsenal. Many times infielders would station themselves on the grass behind the dirt infield.”
Nice post Mark. The small crowd that showed up got their money’s worth. Too bad that there is no video of Ernie Lombardi turning around to put the game ending tag on Durocher. The most important thing though is that Ernie Lombardi overcame some personal struggles that he was dealing with. Even though he was eventually voted into the HOF, in many ways he still does not receive the recognition that he deserves. Without him behind the plate its possible that Johnny Vander Meer doesn’t have the two consecutive no hitters. Ernie Lombardi is also still the last NL catcher to win a batting title. And he is one of only a handful of players to be named mvp and batting champion in the same year.
I agree, Phillip, that Ernie Lombardi is a player who is underappreciated. I imagine it would have been entertaining to watch his matchups with Dizzy Dean. Lombardi batted .300 (24-for-80) versus Dizzy in his career.
So three Hall of Fame pitchers go for the same team in the same game and their opponents score 16 runs. Then a 22-game loser closes it out for the winners. There’s a story for the “you never know” file.
Yep, kind of reminds me of Roger Craig. A 24-game loser with 1962 Mets, he had three saves that season. In 1963, he was 5-22 for Mets but had two saves.
And he was the ace!