Phil Masi gets to the Boston Bees on a strange technicality (1939)

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1938, 1939, 1944, April 27, Boston Bees, Casey Stengel, Phil Masi

Phil Masi

Phil Masi began his  baseball career when he was contracted in 1936 by the Cleveland Indians at the age of 20. In 1937 he played for the Wausau Timberjacks and demonstrated his versatility by playing as a catcher, outfielder, third baseman and as a first baseman. Masi became known as the Pepper Martin of the Northern League because of his head-first slides and prancing running style, while leading the league with 31 home runs and being named to the league’s All-Star team.

In 1938 Masi was then purchased by the Milwaukee Brewers who assigned him to play for the Springfield Indians of the Middle Atlantic League. Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis found this move to be in violation of baseball rules and allowed him to sign a non-reserve contract with Springfield, meaning that he would be a free agent at the end of the season. He played mostly as a catcher for Springfield in 1938 where his backup that year was the future All-Star catcher for the Cleveland Indians, seventeen-year-old Jim Hegan. Masi posted a .308 batting average with 16 home runs and 97 runs batted in for Springfield, earning a promotion to the major leagues when he was signed by the Boston Braves, then known as the Bees.

The Bees already had future Hall of Fame member, Al Lopez, as well as future All-Star, Ray Mueller and veteran Johnny Riddle as catchers going into spring training in 1939 however, Masi impressed Bees’ manager Casey Stengel so much that, Mueller and Riddle would be traded before the start of the season, leaving Masi as Lopez’s backup. He made his major league debut with the Bees on April 23, 1939 Boston Bees season at the age of 23. After his father died in 1942, he was given a 3-A draft classification exempting him from military duty as he was the sole support for his family.

Masi served as the Braves’ backup catcher first to Al Lopez, then Ray Berres, and finally to Ernie Lombardi. He began to develop his reputation as a good defensive catcher from his association with knuckleball pitcher Jim Tobin. The other Braves catchers shunned Tobin due to the unpredictability of the notoriously difficult to catch knuckleball and, Masi took over the job as his catcher. When Lombardi was traded to the New York Giants in 1943, Masi became the Braves regular catcher. His work with Tobin paid off on April 27, 1944 when Tobin pitched a no hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

 

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Awards
1939	23	BSN	46	124	114	14	29	1	14
1940	24	BSN	63	152	138	11	27	1	14
1941	25	BSN	87	199	180	17	40	3	18
1942	26	BSN	57	99	87	14	19	0	9
1943	27	BSN	80	269	238	27	65	2	28
1944	28	BSN	89	286	251	33	69	3	23
1945	29	BSN	114	421	371	55	101	7	46	MVP-29
1946 ★	30	BSN	133	463	397	52	106	3	62	AS,MVP-24
1947 ★	31	BSN	126	470	411	54	125	9	50	AS
1948 ★	32	BSN	113	422	376	43	95	5	44	AS
1949	33	TOT	85	275	240	29	59	2	19
1949	33	BSN	37	120	105	13	22	0	6
1949	33	PIT	48	155	135	16	37	2	13
1950	34	CHW	122	434	377	38	105	7	55
1951	35	CHW	84	262	225	24	61	4	28
1952	36	CHW	30	73	63	9	16	0	7
14 Yrs			1229	3949	3468	420	917	47	417
162 Game Avg.			162	521	457	55	121	6	55
BSN (11 yrs)			945	3025	2668	333	698	34	314
CHW (3 yrs)			236	769	665	71	182	11	90
PIT (1 yr)			48	155	135	16	37	2	13
NL (11 yrs)			993	3180	2803	349	735	36	327
AL (3 yrs)			236	769	665	71	182	11	90

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/17/2016.

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Jim Tobin helps the troubled Bees (1940)

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1940, 1941, Boston Bees, Casey Stengel, Jim Tobin, Knucleball

Jim Tobin

Jim Tobin came to the Boston Bees in 1940 as a knuckler. He was a great one at that. But he was also a slugger who could hit with power. While Tobin played only one major league game at a position other than pitcher, he pinch-hit over 100 times in his major league career. The fine-hitting hurler batted .230/.303/.345 in the majors. He totaled 35 doubles, 17 homers and 102 RBI in 796 at-bats. Not bad for a pitcher.

It wasn’t a great time to come to Boston. Those were dark times to our beloved Braves. Tobin came to us from Pittsburgh. It was an off season trade right before the 1940 season. It would be the last season we would use the name “the Bees”.

In 1941, the great Casey Stengel, our manager, began using Tobin more and more. He hoped he could boost the moral of the club with some winning ways. It didn’t help the team. They continued to stink. Tobin excelled and became the most reliable starter we had. He led the club in wins and shutouts from 1941 to 1945.

1940 Boston Bees season

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1940, Boston Bees, Casey Stengel

Boston Bees 1940 Season

The new trend in baseball in the 1940’s was to install lights for night games. The Braves (then known as the Boston Bees) had not invested yet. Probably a good thing. They played their first night game at the Polo Grounds. It was May 24, 1940. They lost 8-1. The next week they lost in the lights at Forbes Field. There were only two teams that year without lights.

It really didn’t matter in 1940 whether they played in the lights or not. They ended the season, under Casey Stengel as manager, in 7th place. They were 34 1/2 games behind with a 65-87 record.

Not a club to belong to (1924)

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1907, 1924, Bill Cunningham, Billy Southworth, Brooklyn Robins, Casey Stengel, Dave Bancroft, Fred Tenney, Joe Oescher, New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies

Dave Bancroft – Boston Braves

Is there a club for managers who loose 100 games? Probably not and if there is, you don’t hear a lot about it.

Loosing 100 games as a manager is devastating. Doing it twice in row is inviting disaster. Somehow Fred Tenney did it as the Boston manager in 1907. Fred Mitchell, however, couldn’t do it after 1922 – 23.

So, in came Dave Bancroft in 1924. How did he do? Lost 100!! Yep, he was 53-100 finishing eight and 40 games behind. Go figure.

Dave was known for being a pretty bright guy. He came to us from the Giants. Who did he bring with him? Well, a pretty eccentric outfielder. Casey Stengel was the man. Bill Cunningham came with Casey. Out went Billy Southworth and Joe Oeschger.

Nicknamed “Beauty” for his penchant for calling good pitches “beauties”, he played from 1915 to 1930, for the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, Boston Braves, and Brooklyn Robins.

Dave Bancroft proves a great player may not make a good manager (1924-1927)

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1891, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, April 20, Casey Stengel, Dave Bancroft, Hall of Fame

Dave Bancroft – Boston Braves

Dave Bancroft was a shortstop with the Braves (then in Boston) from 1924 – 27. He was born in Sioux City, Iowa on April 20, 1891. He was a righty in all ways.

Dave helped shape a theory that “great players don’t make good managers”. He was an amazing shortstop. He could also hit very well with 2004 career hits.

But no matter what, the Hall of Famer couldn’t make it as a manager in his four year run as a player/manager.  But we probably ought to be fair. The two managers before him couldn’t do it either for seven years. Nor could a host of managers after him for 20 years including Casey Stengel.

Dave Bancroft scores a go ahead run in the 13th (1920)

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Casey Stengel, Dave Bancroft, Philadelphia Phillies, Zack Wheat

In Brooklyn‚ the Phillies win in 13 innings on May 2, 1920‚ 4-3. Zack Wheat’s homer in the 9th ties the match‚ and Dave Bancroft (a Brave from 1924-27) scores the go ahead run in the 13th.

Casey Stengel’s sensational catch of Mitchell’s long fly prevents another tie.

It would get worse (1938)

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1938, Boston Bees, Casey Stengel

Casey Stengel

It was Casey Stengel‘s first year as manager of the Boston Bees (now known as the Atlanta Braves) in 1938. They did not improve too much from the year before. They ended up in fifth place, 12 games behind with a 77-75 record. Just a little bit better than .500 ball.

It would get worse however for Casey.

The Braves snag Billy Southworth (1921)

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1921, 1923, Bill Cunningham, Billy Southworth, Boston Braves, Casey Stengel, Dave Bancroft, Rabbit Maranville

Billy Southworth

In January of 1921, the Boston Braves finally snagged Billy Southworth — one of three Pirates traded to Boston, with $15,000, for Rabbit Maranville. Billy wasn’t happy to be moving from a winning team to a loser. But he wound up signing a contract a few days later and was named captain of the team.

Southworth hit .308 for Boston that year. He was limited to 43 games in ’22 due to a dislocated knee, but in 1923 he accumulated a career-high 611 at-bats and hit for a .319 average. After the season, however, he was part of a trade with the Giants. It was a multiplayer deal, with Casey Stengel coming to Boston along with Dave Bancroft and Bill Cunningham in exchange for Southworth and hurler Joe Oeschger.

John McGraw had coveted Southworth since 1921, according to New York Times sportswriter Arthur Daley. But he waited until Billy had demonstrated that he had recovered from his knee injury.

The Three Little Steam Shovels (1944)

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1944, Bob Coleman, Bob Quinn, Boston Braves, Casey Stengel, Guido Rugo, Joseph Maney, Lou Perini

Casey Stengel

The war continues. 1944, however, brought new life to the Braves (then in Boston). Lou Perini, Guido Rugo and Joseph Maney purchased the Braves. Bob Quinn who headed the previous syndicate move on to be President of the club. The new owners were known as the “The Three Little Steam Shovels.” OK, they were contractors in real life.

So, they “shoved” Casey Stengel out as the manager. Did it really take all three of them to do that?

They brought on Bob Coleman. He had some minor league experience but none in the bigs. He did about as good as Casey had the previous year which wasn’t too good. The Braves ended up 40 games behind the leader. That was “good” enough for a sixth place finish with a 65-89 record.