The Pecan Park Eagle

Zach Taylor, Manager
1948 St. Louis Browns

An Ode to Zach Taylor

The Brownies looked suspicious – ‘gainst Washington that day

With all the bases full of Sens – and three 1st outs to play

Perhaps their pitcher – Kennedy – had early eggs to lay

And in the first base dugout – Zack Taylor’s mind did sway

Would this be one more time he failed – to keep the beasts at bay

As head man of the lowly Browns – he could not rightly say

Instead he made a private pact – if one more hit did hasten

All those nightmare next-pitch thoughts – of no more time to chasten

Bill Kennedy was coming out – there’d be no conversation

Then whack it came – the ball struck hard – McBride was off and running

Time to act – and Zack arose – to saunter through Sens funning

To get Bill out – and try anew – another pitcher’s cunning

In trance-like pace – Zack’s eyes stayed down – he didn’t want to see it

If this hit meant – two quick Sens runs – that’s how it was – so be it

Brownie pain was season long – no manager could flee it

But when he reached the first base line – Zack raised his eyes in wonder

The Browns were all hand-slapping glad – their voices roared with thunder

What they had done – and Zach had missed – shred sadness to asunder

The Browns had forged a triple play – to string the three-out weenie

A carom drive – off Bill’s big glove – was caught by Pellagrini

A toss to third – a flip to first – had served up sweet linguini

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Footnote: Here’s another great story from “Aunt Minnie’s Scrapbook” by A.K. (“Rosey”) Rowswell, made available to The Pecan Park Eagle by Houston Astros Baseball Icon Larry Dierker. Our local fun is turning the poetic muses loose upon the heart of such stories whenever the gods of baseball will punch their green cards for entry into the creative publication process. – For the sake of future brevity here, we may stop thanking you for each specific use of materials you’ve brought to us here, but rest assured – we shall never cease to be grateful for them. Stuff like this just makes the business of baseball joy sort of like the fun some of us used to derive from shagging fly balls. ~ The Pecan Park Eagle

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Baseball Almanac Box ScoresSt. Louis Browns 13, Washington Senators 2
Game played on Saturday, July 24, 1948 at Griffith Stadium
St. Louis Browns ab   r   h rbi Dillinger 3b 4 1 0 0 Zarilla lf 5 0 2 0 Priddy 2b 4 2 2 3 Lehner cf 5 0 2 2 Moss c 5 0 2 1   Fannin pr 0 0 0 0   Partee c 0 1 0 0 Kokos rf 5 4 4 1 Stevens 1b 3 1 1 1 Pellagrini ss 5 2 3 1 Kennedy p 2 1 1 1   Garver p 4 1 3 2 Totals 42 13 20 12	Washington Senators ab   r   h rbi Yost 3b 4 0 2 0 Kozar 2b 2 0 1 1 Coan lf 4 1 2 0 McBride rf 2 0 0 0   Stewart ph,rf 2 0 1 0 Christman ss 3 0 1 0   Fleitas ss 1 0 0 1 Vernon 1b 4 0 0 0 Wooten cf 4 1 3 0 Okrie c 4 0 1 0 Wynn p 0 0 0 0   Ferrick p 1 0 0 0   Hudson p 1 0 1 0   Robertson ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 33 2 12 2
St. Louis 0 1 1 3 0 2 1 2 3 – 13 20 1 Washington 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 – 2 12 1   St. Louis Browns IP H R ER BB SO Kennedy  W(2-4) 4.2 7 1 1 3 1   Garver  SV(4) 4.1 5 1 1 0 0 Totals 9.0 12 2 2 3 1   Washington Senators IP H R ER BB SO Wynn  L(7-11) 3.1 6 5 5 3 0   Ferrick 3.0 7 3 3 5 1   Hudson 2.2 7 5 5 2 0 Totals 9.0 20 13 13 10 1 E–Pellagrini (8), Okrie (1).  DP–St. Louis 3. Pellagrini-Priddy-Stevens, Dillinger-Priddy-Stevens, Pellagrini-Priddy-Stevens, Washington 2. Kozar-Fleitas-Vernon, Okrie-Vernon.  TP–St. Louis 1. Kennedy-Pellagrini-Dillinger-Stevens.  3B–St. Louis Kokos (1).  SH–Dillinger (6); Stevens (18).  Team LOB–14.  Team–7.  SB–Priddy (5); Yost (1).  CS–Pellagrini (1); Vernon (9).  U–Eddie Hurley, Bill Grieve, Charlie Berry.  T–2:42.  A–7,059.
Game played on Saturday, July 24, 1948 at Griffith Stadium
Baseball Almanac Box Score |

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 Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas