The Three Little Steam Shovels (1944)

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 Stingel 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.

Can you hit this? (1944)

The Braves have had some great knuckleballers over the years. The story of the 1944 season was the 31 year-old knuckleball expert Jim Tobin. He was also a pretty good hitter. But clearly he became one of the most un-hittable pitchers of his time. If you have ever faced a decent knuckleballer, you know how a great one could lock you out.

So let's take nine days in April of 1944. Tobin on gave up 4 hits. So how many games did he win? How about 2 of 3. Here is how it worked out. It started with a 3 hitter he lost against the Giants. So, back to mound on his next start. He beat Philadelphia this time. It was a one-hitter. So, four days rest and back at it. So oh my goodness, the sixth no-hitter in the Braves history. It hadn't happened since 1916. Down went Brooklyn, losing 2-0. He allowed 2 walks.

Here is the kicker. In the eight inning he hit a home run. He was the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter and hit a home run. Not a bad day.