THE KANSAS CITY BLUES
With only 44 wins in 1918, the Kansas City Blues absconded with first place in the American Association for the first time in the team’s tenure in the league. Due to World War I, the season was terminated in July of that year. With 30 losses, the Blues posted a winning percentage of .595 under manager John Ganzel. Kansas City topped the league in hitting with a .267 mark, and out-doubled the seven other teams with 93 two-baggers.
Outfielder Wilbur Good was the team’s batting leader during the truncated season, hitting .321 in 73 games (271 at-bats). Pitcher Charlie Adams put up 14 wins against 3 losses (.824), and there’s no telling how far he could have gone were it not for the national emergency.
Only five seasons later, the Blues would return to their ascendancy in the American Association, capturing the top spot with an amazing record of 112-54 (.675) under player-manager Wilbur Good in 1923. This amassment of victories represented the second-highest total in the history of the American Association (St. Paul racked up 115 wins in 1920 under Mike Kelley).
Good did his team an abundance of good with his impressive hitting. Posting a .350 batting average in 662 at-bats, the outfielder’s performance presented a solid case for league MVP. First-sacker Dud Branom wasn’t far behind with his .348 in 379 at-bats, and catcher Bill Skiff’s .335 helped lend balance to the Blues’ terrific hitting attack.
But the most noteworthy player on Good’s Blues squad was hitting hero Bunny Brief. Aside from his 29 home runs and league-leading 164 RBI, Brief posted a splendid .359 batting average in 640 at-bats while playing the field at three different positions.
Right-handed hurler Jim Zinn had the Association’s top winning percentage at .818 after posting a superlative record of 27-6. Zinn absorbed 297 innings of work across 43 games for the Blues, striking out 99 while walking 60. Moundmate Ferdie Schupp’s record was 19-10, but his strikeout total of 173 was a huge plus for Good’s boys. Schupp also walked 142 through 268 innings, so the silver finish was a bit tarnished. Roy Wilkinson also performed at the top of his game, finishing the season with a record of 18 wins against 6 losses.
Meeting the Baltimore Orioles in the Junior World Series, the Blues stuck it out through nine games and brought the coveted JWS prize home to their fans in Kansas City.
The KC faithful waited only a handful of season before the Blues would again take the league by storm. In 1929 they won 111 games against 56 losses (.665) under Dutch Zwilling, nearly Smalling their fabulous 1923 performance. By this time Bunny Brief and Wilbur Good were gone, but a new host of heavy stickers took their place.
First-baseman Joe Kuhel was the core of the lineup. With 649 at-bats, Kuhel posted a .325 average while leading the league with 26 triples. Outfielder Denver Grigsby’s .345 in 499 at-bats provided the second punch, while fellow outfielder Ollie Tucker posted a solid .336 in 447 at-bats while walloping 20 homers, a team high.
In the pitching department, Marion Thomas, who never made the majors, put up 18 wins, leading the Blues in ‘29, against 11 losses (.621) through 50 appearances and a total of 231 innings. His 3.11 ERA gave the Blues an edge. Leading the team in the ERA department were Lynn Nelson (2.99) and Clyde Day (2.98). The two hurlers combined for a record of 27-11.
The Blues went on to defeat the Rochester Red Wings of the International League in the Junior World Series, five games to four, to bring home the JWS title for the second time in seven seasons.
They’ve been called the most powerful American Association team in two decades. In 1939 another generation of Bluesmen captured the American Association crown. With veteran Association catcher Bill Meyer at the helm, the Kansas City Kids brought 107 wins into their basket, while losing only 47 games (.695). But the blues overcame their fans during the play-offs when their team was defeated by Indianapolis in the second round.
Meyer’s Blues were led on offense by second-baseman Jerry Priddy who slapped a league leading 44 doubles on his way to a .333 batting average. His 24 home runs pales next to the grand total of 46 long-balls walloped by outfielder Vince DiMaggio whose previous major league experience was a great asset to Meyer and his Blues. DiMaggio hit .290 but also struck out a league-high 123 times.
Three pitchers won 17 games each: Tom Reis (17-4, .810), John Babich (17-6, .739) and Marv Breuer (17-6, .739). Ernie Bonham’s 143 strikeouts was a team high, but his 10-9 record was a disappointment. Along with Breuer’s attention-getting 2.28 ERA, his 4 shutouts made him an invaluable member of the pitching staff. Babich also posted 4 shutouts, along with an ERA of 2.55. Clearly, the Blues were all set on pitching. Why they couldn’t make it past Indianapolis in the final round of the play-offs is a question worth further investigation.
Meyer’s club took another whack at it the following season. In 1940, they again rose to the top, with a record of 95-57 (.625). This time the Blues were defeated in the final round of the American Association play-offs by the Colonels of Louisville who had finished in fourth place under Bill Burwell with a record of 75-75.
Despite this defeat, the Blues had had yet another fabulous season under their belts. Shortstop Phil Rizzuto proved he was ready for big-league pitching by hitting .347 in 579 at-bats, appearing in all 154 games. The “Scooter” stole a league-topping 35 stolen bases, walloped 10 home runs, 10 triples and 28 doubles. 30-year old outfielder and major league veteran Frenchy Bordagaray was the team’s top batsman with his .358 batting average in 598 at-bats while appearing in all 154 of his team’s games in 1940.
On the pitching end, Johnny Lindell, yet to appear in the majors, put up 18 wins to lead the Association. Suffering only seven setbacks, Lindell’s sterling ERA of 2.70 and three shutouts proved his value to the club. Along side him were Charlie Stanceu (15-8, 2.69 ERA), Don Hendrickson (16-7, 3.02 ERA), Ernie Bonham (10-4, 2.32 ERA) and Charlie Wensloff (13-8, 3.19 ERA). Again, the Blues had the guys, but couldn’t take their stamina far enough to make an entry in the Junior World Series.
Johnny Neun led the Blues to their next first-place finish in the American Association in 1942. The team’s record of 84-69 (.549) allowed them to squeak past Milwaukee’s Brewers by a slender 1.5 game margin.
Led by the bats of first-baseman Ed Levy (.306, 503 at-bats), outfielder Eric Tipton (.305, 318 at-bats), third-sacker Don Lang (.289, 470 at-bats) and keystone-sacker Mike Milosevich (.286, 511 at-bats), the Blues had a balanced, if unimpressive, offensive core. Not one hitter led the league in any particular category.
Pitcher Charlie Wensloff returned to post a league-leading 21 wins against only 10 losses, and his performance from the mound can only be described as stalwart. In 244 innings of work, Wensloff put up some awfully nice numbers. Starting with a sparkling ERA of 2.47, Wensloff pitched a league leading 25 games, tossed four shutouts and put together a strikeouts-to-walks ratio of 104-64. Tom Reis had another nice season as well, winning 13 against five losses and posting a 2.83 ERA.
Funny thing was, the Blues were defeated in the first round of the Association play-offs by the Columbus Red Birds. Not even Johnny Neun could bring the Blues to the Junior World Series.
Finally, in 1947 the Blues perched again at the top of the American Association heap with their snazzy 93-60, again under manager Bill Meyer who had returned after a lengthy hiatus.
The ‘47 season was marked by the first perfect game in the history of the league. It was thrown by Minnesota-born Carl DeRose who defeated the Minneapolis Millers by a score of 5-0 on June 26 at Kansas City’s Ruppert Stadium. Due to arm problems, DeRose was just about through with his season at that point, and it’s a wonder he ever got that far, the pain was so great in his throwing arm. He finished his season with a record of 4-2 and an ERA of 5.48. (See Vol. 2, No. 5 of The American Association Almanac for a complete account of this historic game.)
As a team, the Kansas City Blues batted a league-second .279 in 1947. Here’s what helped them along.
Outfielder (and occasional third-baseman) Ed Stewart put up some dandy numbers for Meyer’s Blues. Hitting a rotund .358 in 528 at-bats, Stewart led the Association in triples with 17, striking out 33 times while walking 52. His 102 RBI was good for second on the squad. In addition, he posted 16 stolen bases while scoring 107 runs, a team high along with fellow outfielder Cliff Mapes.
Outfielder Hank Bauer’s .313 in 457 at-bats was second on the club (300+ at-bats), a solid stepping-stone on his way to an excellent major league career. His 16 homers and team-leading 32 doubles was a bonus.
Mapes’ .308 batting in 542 at-bats was overshadowed by his propensity to strikeout, as he recorded a league-high 104 K’s that season. But his team-topping 21 homers, along with 27 doubles and 117 RBI (a more advantageous league-topper) did the Blues a world of good.
First-baseman Steve Souchock hit .294 in 528 at-bats to assist the team, and his team-leading 19 stolen bases along with 17 long-balls was an added benefit.
From the mound, Bill Wight’s 16-9 record and 2.85 ERA through a team-high 199 innings were substantial contributions to the 1947 Blues’ efforts. He recorded 5 shutouts in 17 complete games. Fellow moundsman Frank Hiller put up a sterling 15-5 record through 175 innings, also posting 5 shutouts along with a 3.45 ERA. And Fred Bradley did his part by earning 13 wins against 4 losses in 157 innings of work, along with his crisp 2.98 ERA.
Meyer’s men had the tools, but again they faltered in the league play-offs for yet another heartbreaking finish to another great season.
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