A little Cincinnati Reds history on a cold December night

The Jungle Cats: 1939 National League Champs

The revised and updated edition of “The Big 50: The Men and Moments That Made the Cincinnati Reds,” written by yours truly and my buddy Chris Garber, is available for pre-order now. Chris and I have rewritten a number of chapters, updated others, deleted some, and penned some entirely new ones.

We’re pretty pleased with the way it’s turned out (and even more pleased about the gorgeous Elly De La Cruz photo on the back cover; can’t wait for you to see it). Even if you read the first one — and it sold out completely, so some of you must have acquired it — I think the second edition is going to be well worth your time.

As we approach the release date of March 4, 2025, we wanted to give you a little taste of what you can expect, so I’m going to publish the chapters that fell to the cutting room floor in the new edition. We’ll start with this one, about the incredibly fun 1939 Reds.

I do have one request, Devoted Readers: if you’re inclined to purchase the book, it would mean everything to me if you’d pre-order it before March 4. Or better yet, now! Pre-orders mean everything to publishers, and they also encourage the algorithm to show the book to more potential readers. You want to make me happy, right?

Without further ado, a chapter that I really love and wish it could have made it into the new edition. But it’s yours now for free!

The Jungle Cats: 1939 National League Champs

Baseball in 1939 was a year of anniversaries. According to the popular myth, Abner Doubleday had invented the game a century earlier in Cooperstown, New York. Cincinnatians were celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the first professional Red Stockings, and were acutely aware of another anniversary -- it had been a long twenty years since the Reds had been to the World Series.

For most of that period, the team had been embarrassing. Over an eleven year stretch from 1927-37, the Reds finished last five times and never made it higher than fifth place in the eight-team National League. For that matter, they never even had a winning record.

But like the economy, the Reds’ fortunes were finally starting to look up by the late 1930s. Owner Powel Crosley had hired a new general manager for the 1937 season: Warren Giles, a promising young exec from the Cardinals system. One year later, after the Reds suffered through a 98-loss season, Giles and Crosley outbid three other teams for the services of well-respected manager “Deacon” Bill McKechnie. A kind, patient man -- today, we’d call him a “players’ manager” -- McKechnie had already won pennants with the Pirates (1925) and Cardinals (1928) and was the incumbent NL manager of the year, having led a lousy Boston Braves team to a winning record in 1937.*

*The Braves were lousy in part because they did things like let the manager of the year walk away. McKechnie was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. His 744 wins managing the Reds still ranks second only to Sparky Anderson.

McKechnie’s specialty was pitching and defense, and he brought that to a Reds team that already had good hitters in catcher Ernie Lombardi and right fielder Ival Goodman. Together, McKechnie and Giles added key pieces like middle infielder Lonny Frey and Bucky Walters. A high school-dropout signed from the Philadelphia sandlots, Walters had struggled for several years as a light-hitting third baseman for the Phillies. But on the mound with the Reds, Walters became the league’s most dominating pitcher, as well as its best-hitting and -fielding pitcher.

The Giles-McKechnie Reds had a balanced veteran roster, and were described by writer Bill James as “a fun organization to be a part of. . . a team of likeable, positive people who played together exceptionally well.” In 1938, that group finally broke the .500 barrier, going 82-68, led by Lombardi, who was named NL MVP. Entering 1939, Giles added veteran third baseman Billy Werber, a solid hitter with great speed and defense. The Reds were widely expected to contend for the pennant. They didn’t disappoint.

This club’s infield was perhaps the second best in Reds history.* After joining the club in spring training, Werber took the lead and named the agile, slick-fielding group, “the Jungle Cats,” to build camaraderie and encourage hustle. Werber was “Tiger,” shortstop Billly Myers was “Jaguar,” and second baseman Frey was “Leopard.” First baseman Frank McCormick, while graceful and the best defensive first baseman in baseball, didn’t hustle enough, in Werber’s view. After finally proving his worth and being admitted to the club as “Wildcat” (the 6’4” and 205 lbs. first sacker was initially led to believe he’d be the “Hippopotamus”), a giddy McCormick ran around the team hotel, proudly announcing the honor to every teammate and coach he saw.

*Behind the 1975-76 version of the Big Red Machine.

The Reds were never more than 1.5 games out of first, taking the lead for good on May 26. By the end of July, the Reds had opened up a 12 game lead over the Cardinals. But the season’s last two months saw an epic pennant race that brought out the best in both clubs. St. Louis went 44-19 over the season’s last two months, cutting the Reds’ lead to a mere 2.5 games by September 19.

The two midwestern rivals matched each other punch-for-punch. The Cardinals won seven straight from September 18-24; the Reds won eight in a row from September 20-26.

The battle came down to a four-game, Tuesday to Thursday matchup in Cincinnati, which the Enquirer billed the “pre-World Series.” The Reds needed to split the series in order to clinch the pennant. After winning the first game of Tuesday’s double-header, cutting their magic number to two, the Reds’ bats went silent. They were shut out in back-to-back games, and were riding a 24-inning scoreless streak into Thursday’s game. The Reds still controlled their own destiny, but just barely.

The Jungle Cats

McKechnie sent Paul Derringer to the mound on what was, to that point, the hottest September 28 in Cincinnati history.* A control specialist who relied on a ultra-high leg kick and deceptive windup, Derringer was the Reds second-best starter, but that doesn’t tell the entire story: Derringer was also probably the second-best pitcher in the National League.** Derringer had seen his personal fortunes rise as the Reds improved throughout the 1930s. He lost 27 games for the last place 1933 Reds, but averaged 19 wins a year from 1934-40. He entered this game having won nine consecutive starts. A tenth would clinch the pennant.

*The day’s high temperature was 92 degrees.

**Bucky Walters was not only the Reds’ ace, but the best pitcher in the NL and the league MVP. But from 1938-40, Derringer finished eighth, third, and fourth in NL MVP voting.

St. Louis sent 23 year-old Max Lanier to the mound. Lanier, a hard-throwing lefty who’d just been called up to the Cardinals in early September, had pitched very well (3-1 with a 2.10 ERA) in four starts plus a relief outing.

His hot streak ended quickly. Werber drew a walk to lead off the Reds half of the first, and reached second base on Frey’s groundout. One out later, first baseman Frank McCormick singled to left, bringing Werber across for the Reds’ first run in 25 innings. Lombardi followed with a four-pitch walk, and center fielder Harry Craft was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.

That was enough for Cards manager Ray Blades. Already questioning his decision to start the youngster in such a big game (the Cardinals bullpen was busy from Lanier’s first pitch), Blades pulled Lanier and called on Curt “Coonskin” Davis, a durable veteran (and the owner of one of the all-time great nicknames). The outing was Davis’ 49th of the season (31 starts plus 18 relief outings). He’d actually started the first game of the series two days earlier, and had lasted only an inning and two-thirds himself, after surrendering all three Cincinnati runs in the 3-1 Reds victory.

Ol’ Coonskin wasn’t a quick improvement over Lanier, issuing his own four-pitch walk to left fielder Wally Berger, forcing in the Reds second run, before retiring shortstop Billy Myers.

The Cardinals came right back in the top of the second, thanks to some uncharacteristically bad defense by the Reds. Myers dropped a Johnny Mize popup in shallow center (his second error of the short game), and Mize hustled his way into second. One batter later, Cardinals center fielder Terry Moore lined a homer over the left field wall to tie it. The score was 2-2, and the 17,421 in attendance were watching what was shaping up as a sloppy, but very exciting game.*

*The 1939 Reds smashed the team attendance mark, drawing 981,604 fans to Crosley Field. This was more than double the city’s population at the time.

That trend continued in the Reds half of the second. With one out, Werber tripled to right. Frey hit a hopper to to first, but Mize had trouble with it, and Coonskin Davis failed to cover the bag. Mize was charged with an error and Werber scored to make the score 3-2.

Neither team put another run across until the top of the fifth. St. Louis third baseman Don Gutteridge reached on Myers’ third error of the game, then moved to third on Enos Slaughter’s double to right. After an intentional walk to Mize, catcher Don Padgett lifted a sacrifice fly that, once again, tied the game, 3-3.

Berger led off the Reds half of the sixth inning with a double off his number on the scoreboard in left center. Myers atoned for his fielding miscues by pushing a bunt past the shortstop, reaching first and moving the go-ahead run to third with no outs. That brought up Derringer, whose fly ball to right field scored Berger and put the Reds ahead, 4-3. Davis managed to dodge further trouble, though. Werber fouled out, and then Myers was caught trying to steal second.

The Cardinals weren’t finished. With one out in the seventh, Joe “Ducky” Medwick launched a ball to deep center. As the ball bounced off the concrete wall, Medwick tore around second and headed for third. An alert Ival Goodman was backing up the play, sprinting over from his left field position on the crack of the bat. He played the carom after Craft was unable to make the catch, whirled "like a big cat,” and fired the ball to third. Werber took the throw a bit up the line, but managed a diving tag that nabbed Medwick by a step or two.

Medwick was likely even more upset after Mize and Padgett both singled, again putting the tying run in scoring position. The right-handed hitting Moore slashed a grounder over the first base bag. It looked like extra bases, and at least a tie game, but Frank McCormick was able to snag the ball behind the bag and hold Moore to a single. The bases were loaded for second baseman Stu Martin, who was 2 for 3 on the day. Derringer came through in the big moment, retiring Martin on a sky-high popout to short right.

The Cardinals again threatened in the eighth frame. Johnny Hopp, making only his third big league plate appearance, pinch hit for Davis to start the inning. He doubled to left. As leadoff man Jimmy Brown prepared to sacrifice Hopp to third, the Reds pitched out and Lombardi caught the rookie too far off second. Hopp was out, and Crosley fans exhaled. Brown then singled for his third hit of the day -- the Cards’ had gotten four consecutive hits without a run to show for it -- but Derringer erased him with a 4-6-3 double play.

Rookie Bob Bowman took the mound for the Cardinals in the bottom of the eighth, and was promptly greeted by a Harry Craft homer over the left field fence. Reds 5, Cardinals 3.

Through eight innings, Derringer had given up fourteen hits (including three doubles, a triple, and a home run) and a walk, and dealt with three Cincinnati errors. Yet the Cardinals had only scored three runs -- and only one of those was earned. But now, after dodging bullets all day, the tiring right-hander would face the heart of the Cardinals order: Slaughter, Medwick, and Mize, each a future Hall of Famer.

In front of an ever-more-crazed Cincinnati crowd, Derringer retired the three legends in order. Slaughter popped out to short, Medwick struck out looking, and Mize went down swinging on three pitches to end the game.

The Reds had finally won the pennant. Fans rushed onto the field, Derringer was carried off on the shoulders of his teammates, and nearby factories locked their whistles wide open.

The win was the Reds 95th of the season (they would finish the year 97-57), and Derringer and Walters had combined for 52 of those wins.

After such a long drought, the pennant-clincher alone seemed to satisfy most Reds fans. As one fan told The Sporting News, “I don’t care whether I see the World’s Series [sic] or not. I’ve seen more than the World’s Series possibly can have to offer.”

In fact, the 1939 Series didn’t have much to offer the Reds. They lost in four straight to the Yankees who, behind Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig, won their fourth consecutive World Series.

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INSIDE THE MOMENT

Despite his remarkable command of the strike zone, Derringer was known for a mirror-image inability to control his temper. He once reportedly knocked out a nurse after he woke up from surgery. A month after Derringer was traded to the Reds in 1933, he got into a pre-game, on-field brawl with former Cardinals teammate Dizzy Dean -- on Ladies Day at Crosley, of all days. The two had reportedly hated each other for years, perhaps dating to 1931, when the Cardinals general manager sent Dean to the minors to make room for Derringer -- meaning that Derringer won a 1931 World Champions ring, while Dean spent the summer sweating out 304 IP in the Texas League.

Derringer’s worst incident came after a 1936 game in Philadelphia, when he was accused of drunkenly forcing his way into a hotel suite full of American Legion officials and New York dignitaries, then beating the man who tried to throw him out. In the early summer of 1939, the victim secured an $8,000 judgment against Derringer, and until he paid up, Derringer faced the threat of arrest in New York City. Eventually, Derringer and the Reds settled the claim and Derringer was able to start for the NL at the 1939 All-Star Game in New York City. Six other Reds joined him on the NL roster.