Great PCL Series: 1944

In 1944, the Pacific Coast League’s Governors’ Cup championship series would be an all-California affair between the regular season pennant winning Los Angeles Angels (99-70) and the San Francisco Seals (86-83). The two teams advanced to the Governors’ Cup following victories in their semi-final series. Los Angeles defeated the Portland Beavers four games to two while the Seals advanced over the Oakland Oaks in five games.

The regular season pennant was the second consecutive for Los Angeles, but the team had unfinished business. Despite winning 110 games in ’43, the club didn’t even advance to the Governors’ Cup after being eliminated in the semi-finals by the Seattle Rainiers. Leading the Angels was 37 year old southpaw Bill ‘Pop’ Prim, who had been with the team from 1937-42, before leaving in 1943 to join the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen. Upon his return in ’44, Prim had regained his title as one of the league’s best pitchers, going 22-10 with a 1.70 ERA.

Meanwhile, the Seals were the PCL’s defending champions, having beaten the Rainiers to win the ’43 title in six games. The Seals featured a triple-headed mound threat, having three starters who posted 20 or more wins in 1944. Leading the way was 33 year old lefty Tom Seats (25-13, 2.36), who was in his seventh PCL season. Seats would be looking for his 4 ^th Governors’ Cup, having won with the Seals the previous year and with Sacramento in 1938 and 1939.

Both teams would be without a key member of their outfield. With the ongoing developments of World War II, Angels outfielder Cecil Garriott, who led the team with a .408 OBP, was summoned away by his local draft board to serve in the war. Meanwhile, San Francisco would be without outfielder Neill Sheridan. Sheridan was productive down the stretch for the Seals, but since he was not on the club’s roster by the August 1 ^st postseason deadline, he would be ineligible to participate in the Governors’ Cup.

San Francisco’s Bob Joyce (21-20, 2.81) would oppose Los Angeles’ Don Osborn (15-13, 3.25) in game one, being held at Seals Stadium in San Francisco. The Seals opened up the scoring in the first inning when Hank Steinbacher scored on an infield groundout and that would be all the runs Joyce would need. He pitched a complete game shutout, surrendering eight hits, leading San Francisco to a 4-0 game one victory. Angels second baseman Rip Russell had a single, double, and triple in a losing cause.

Los Angeles’ offensive troubles continued the next day in game two. It was a matchup of the aces, as Seats and Prim opposed each other on the hill. Like game one, the Seals struck in the opening frame. With two outs, San Francisco stringed together four consecutive hits, including RBI singles by Ben Guintini and Del Young that gave the Seals a 2-0 edge. The score remained that way until the seventh, when Willie Enos, already with a double in the game, lifted a 420-foot triple off the wall in center to score another run. Guintini would cash him in two batters later to make it 4-0 Seals. They would add one more in the seventh and took a quick 2-0 series lead with a 5-0 victory.

Los Angeles had put themselves in a hole in the series mainly due to their inability to score a run. The Angels had led the PCL in various offensive categories, including runs per game, batting average, and on-base percentage. To add to that fact, their opponent in San Francisco had surrendered 3.93 runs per game, which only ranked 6 ^th in the 8-team PCL.

The series remained in San Francisco for game three and the Angels would send Jorge Comellas (18-14, 2.61) to the mound in hopes of steering the team back on track. The Seals would oppose Comellas with another one of their 20 game winners, right-hander ‘Cowboy’ Roy Harrell (20-18, 2.61).

Like the first two games of the series, the Seals jumped on the Angels in the first frame. Gus Suhr’s triple highlighted a two-run opening inning for San Francisco to grab a 2-0 lead. A Del Young RBI single in the fourth and a sacrifice fly, scoring Frenchy Uhalt, in the fifth doubled San Francisco’s lead to 4-0. In the top of the sixth, Los Angeles finally broke out of their scoring drought on a Johnny Ostrowski RBI triple. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Young would bring home another run on his third hit of the game to get the lead back to four.

That’s the way it would end. San Francisco won 5-1 and stunned many PCL followers by grabbing a 3-0 stranglehold over the heavily-favored Angels in the best-of-seven Governors’ Cup series. Despite breaking their 22 inning scoring drought, Los Angeles’ offensive woes continued, as they only mustered six hits off Harrell, who won his second postseason game. The Seals had yet to use a reliever in the championship series.

Following an off-day, the series shifted to Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field for a Sunday doubleheader. Game one starter Bob Joyce would look to seal the series for San Francisco while Red Adams (10-7, 3.58) was sent to the mound for Los Angeles, looking to extend the series. Once again, a terrible start looked to crush the Angels, as the Seals opened up with one in the first and two more in the second to take a 3-0 lead. Adams was given the hook after the third and was replaced by Jodie Phipps.

The outcome became to look even bleaker for the 12,000+ Angels fans at Wrigley when Ben Guintini added to his impressive championship series resume with a solo shot off Phipps in the sixth to extend the lead to 4-1. However, the Angels would rally for the first time in the series, adding two runs in the sixth and one more in the eighth to tie the game up at fours. With the series hanging in the balance, Angels’ manager Bill Sweeney put his ace Ray Prim out in the ninth and Prim shut down the Seals. Then in the bottom of the ninth, Johnny Ostrowski ensured one more game with Los Angeles’ 16 ^th and final hit of the game, crushing a ball over the fence for an impressive comeback, walk-off win.

In the second half of the doubleheader, Don Osborn pitched a very impressive game for the Angels. Despite allowing an unearned run in the first inning, Osborn held San Francisco’s bats in check for only three hits in a 2-1 Los Angeles win, in a game that was called in the seventh due to darkness. Catcher Bill Sarni, filling in for the injured Ed Fernandes, scored the go-ahead run in the fifth on a Rip Russell double. All of a sudden, the Angels were back in the series and, in the face of a 3-2 series deficit, had momentum at their backs.

Game six went the next day in Los Angeles. After his game four relief appearance, Prim would be sent out to start for the Angels. He would oppose San Francisco’s Bill Werle (14-19, 4.05). Like they had in ever game so far in the series, the Seals started off the scoring in the first inning. This time, Frenchy Uhalt scored on a Gus Suhr sacrifice fly to give San Francisco the 1-0 lead.

Los Angeles would respond in the fifth inning. With Rip Russell standing on base, game four hero Johnny Ostrowski hit a ball into the outfield. Outfielder Willie Enos made a good attempt but the ball bounced off his glove and Ostrowski was awarded a triple. Russell scored on the play to tie the game up.

The score would remain 1-1 until the bottom of the tenth. Prim, still in the game pitching for Los Angeles, would kick start the offense with a single off Werle. Guy Miller’s sacrifice would advance Prim to second base when, who else but Johnny Ostrowski came up with another clutch hit. Ostrowski singled to center to bring home Prim, giving him his second walk-off hit in as many days. Los Angeles had now battled back for a 3-0 series deficit to force a winner-take-all game seven the next day in Los Angeles. In addition to scoring the game-winning run, Prim allowed ten hits over ten innings for the hard earned win. Werle took the loss, allowing nine Angel hits.

‘Cowboy’ Roy Harrell would face Jorge Comellas in a game three pitching rematch in the series finale. Once again, the Seals led off the game with a first inning run but the Angels quickly responded when Rip Russell hit his first home run of the series to tie it up. In the third, it was again Johnny Ostrowski. This time, he hit a solo home run off Harrell to give the Angels a rare early inning lead.

San Francisco would try to respond in the fifth. Down 2-1, Hank Steinbacher and Gus Suhr led off the inning with singles. Then, Ben Guintini squared around and laid down a sacrifice bunt. Comellas fielded the ball and attempted to get the force out at third. As the ball sailed towards third, Angels’ third baseman Stan Gray stumbled and fell. The ball carried on into leftfield and both Steinbacher and Suhr came around to score on the error. Guintini would score another unearned run in the inning and the error, charged to Gray, gave San Francisco a 4-2 lead.

The score remained into the ninth when Ray Prim would come into the contest for his 4 ^th appearance of the series. Once again, he did his job and gave the Angels one more chance in the bottom of the frame. With their championship hopes hanging the balance, Los Angeles would load the bases with one out. Gray stepped to the plate in hopes to amend for his error but Harrell fanned him for the second out. Sweeney would send up 42 year old Johnny Moore to pinch hit, but his pop-up sealed the Angels fate. San Francisco would win game seven 4-2 and take the Governors’ Cup after a wildly entertaining series.

San Francisco would three-peat the next season, winning the Governors’ Cup beating Seattle in six games. In 1946, they would become the first ever team to win the PCL’s top prize four seasons in a row. Meanwhile, Los Angeles slipped to a 76-107 record the following year. They would reappear in the Governors’ Cup in 1947, beating Oakland in five games.