On This Date in Sports July 26, 1948: Nice Guys Finish Last
Leo Durocher returns to Brooklyn as the New York Giants manager just ten days after the Dodgers allowed him out of his contract. The Brooklyn Dodgers had been suffering through a disappointing first half after winning the pennant with Burt Shotton as manager, while Durocher served a suspension in 1947. With Shotton once again leading the way, the Giants would beat the Dodgers 13-4.
Leo Durocher was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on July 27, 1905. After playing with the Murderer’s Row New York Yankees and Gashouse Gang St. Louis Cardinals, he got his first chance to manage with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1939 while still an active player, primarily playing shortstop. Durocher was a firey aggressive hard-nosed player who carried the same attributes into his managerial career as he helped the Dodgers turn around after struggling through the 1930s to win the National League Pennant in 1941.
Before the 1947 season, Leo Durocher was suspended for a year by Commissioner Happy Chandler for conduct detrimental to baseball that included hanging out with known gamblers and having an affair with actress Laraine Day, who was still married to another man. After Day’s divorce was finalized, she and Durocher would get married. While Leo Durocher was sitting out the entire season, the Dodgers, helped by the debut of Jackie Robinson, won the pennant under the leadership of Burt Shotton.
While the Dodgers became one of the top teams in the National League, the New York Giants had a rough stretch in the 1940s. In 1942 Mel Ott, the Giants' star slugger, became their new manager. During Ott’s tenure, the Giants were stuck in mediocrity. While the Giants were lingering in last place in 1946, Leo Durocher remarked, “Nice Guys Finish Last,” about Mel Ott’s laidback approach as a manager.
Neither the Brooklyn Dodgers nor New York Giants played well in the first half of the 1948 season, as the Dodgers appeared to be in the doldrums all season after the heartbreaking loss to the New York Yankees in the 1947 World Series. The Dodgers went into the All-Star Break holding a record of 35-37 as they stood in fifth place after a 3-2 loss to the Giants at Polo Grounds. During the break, Giants owner Horace Stoneham approached Dodgers President Branch Rickey about allowing Durocher out of his contract. A deal was made, and Leo Durocher went from the Dodgers to the Giants as the second half finished. The Dodgers responded well to the return of Burt Shotton, who, after serving as an interim manager in 1947, had been hired full-time, going 10-2 as they sat to host their old manager’s new team. The Giants, meanwhile, had a record of 37-38 under Mel Ott and went 6-5 in Durocher’s first 11 games.
Sheldon Jones made the start for the Giants at Ebbets Field, while Preacher Roe made the start for Brooklyn. Roe did not last long, recording just one out as the Giants scored five runs on six hits in the first inning. The Giants added two more runs in the fourth on a two-run blast off the bat of Johnny Mize and extended the lead to 9-0, with a Buddy Kerr leading a two-run rally in the fifth. The Dodgers finally broke through in the sixth thanks to an RBI double from Jackie Robinson which sparked a three-run inning. The Giants answered quickly as Bobby Thompson led off the seventh with a home run. Thompson added another RBI on a groundout in the eighth to make it 11-3 in favor of the Giants. Jackie Robinson added another RBI in the eighth, but the Giants attack was unrelenting, with Bill Rigney tripling home Sheldon Jones and later scoring the 13th run in a 13-4 blowout win.