Winning the Triple Crown is one of the great achievements in baseball. According to the record book, Joe “Ducky” Medwick won the honor in 1937. He led the league with a batting average of .374. He led the league in runs batted in, with 154. The only blemish on the record is that he was tied with Mel Ott of the New York Giants in home runs, with 31.
The strange thing is that Medwick actually hit 32 homers, but he got credit for only 31. On Sunday, June 6, Medwick’s team, the St. Louis Cardinals, played a doubleheader in Philadelphia against the Phillies. A city curfew law stated that a ball game had to be finished by 6:30 P.M. If too few innings were played, the game would be postponed and played at a later date.
Early in the second game Medwick hit a home run. As curfew time neared, the Cardinals were leading. Phillies manager Jimmy Wilson knew what time it was. He also knew that if he stalled long enough, the umpires would be forced to call the game. The maybe the Phillies could win when it was replayed.
When the Phillies came up, a batter walked out of the dugout swinging two bats then tossed one way. He walked slowly toward the plate, stopped, and decided he had the wrong bat. Ever so slowly he ambled back to the bat rack and spent a couple of minutes selecting the “right” one. Then he walked slowly back to the plate. He brushed the dirt around with his feet and dug in.
The pitcher threw the ball. The batter stepped out and peered toward the third-base coach as if to get the sign. He nodded, wiped his hands on his pants, then dug in again.
Another pitch. Again the batter stepped out and looked for a sign. He reached down and picked up a handful of dirt, stared thoughtfully at the coach, and nodded.
Now the umpires took a hand in the proceedings. They knew what manager Wilson was up to and they warned him against delaying the game. Wilson began to argue.
The umpires called the game and walked off the field. Philadelphia had forfeited the contest to St. Louis.
In forfeited games, the victory counts in the standings of the clubs, but individual accomplishments do not. Officially no one comes to bat, no one gets a hit. So Medwick’s home run was never entered in the record book.
The stalling tactics of Jimmy Wilson had cost Joe Medwick undisputed possession of baseball’s coveted Triple Crown.
From The Giant Book of Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
1937 MVP and Triple Crown Winner, Joe “Ducky” Medwick!
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