Cubs historical sleuthing: Frank Frisch edition

The Hall of Famer managed the Cubs for parts of three seasons.

Frank (often called “Frankie”) Frisch was a legitimately great player for the Giants and Cardinals in the 1920s and early 1930s.

He had 2,880 hits, 419 stolen bases and was NL MVP in 1931, when he played in one of his eight World Series (four with the Giants, four with the Cardinals).

By 1933 he was managing the Cardinals, and led them to a pennant and World Series title in 1934. But after that, either his managerial talents declined or the players he had did, or both, and he managed the Pirates for seven undistinguished seasons from 1940-46.

Three years later he was hired, in mid-season 1949, to try to revive a floundering Cubs franchise, and in that he failed. Frisch’s Cubs teams went 141-196 (.418) and he was fired mid-season 1951, never to manage again.

Here’s the full photo, about which Getty Images says: “Umpire Augie Donatelli throws Manager Frankie Frisch of the Chicago Cubs out of the game circa 1950.”

The one Cub who’s identifiable, other than Frisch, is No. 39. Roy Smalley wore that number throughout Frisch’s time managing the Cubs, which is no help.

So what about the umpire, Donatelli? He began as a NL umpire in 1950, so that’s the earliest possible year of this image. Donatelli umpired 24 years in the league, and per his Retrosheet page, he ejected 124 players, coaches and managers during that time.

Donatelli ejected Frisch twice during Frisch’s time managing the Cubs, once in 1950, the other in 1951. So which one is this? The 1950 ejection was at at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, the 1951 tossing at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

The TV camera shown in the photo is a good clue, because only a handful of teams were televising games in 1951. That hinted to me that it was the Ebbets Field game, so I looked around for other images of the Ebbets Field dugout area during that time.

Paydirt:

That dugout and the area behind it are a match, and so the sleuthing photo here was taken Friday, July 13, 1951. The Retrosheet boxscore says Frisch was ejected sometime after the bottom of the first inning. Off to the Tribune archive! This is from Irving Vaughan’s recap:

Manager Frankie Frisch, who was bounced in the fourth inning last night, speeded up the operation today.

Frisch was chased by Umpire Augie Donatelli in the second inning when the Cubs’ chief arose from the bench and spoke sharply against Donatelli’s judgment in calling balls and strikes. The offended arbiter pointed to the tunnel leading to the clubhouse and Frisch disappeared for the day.

They don’t write ‘em like that anymore, that’s for sure. All told, Frisch was ejected 86 times in his career as a manager — as well as 11 times as a player.

The Cubs had lost seven straight entering this game and were in seventh place at 30-40, 17½ games behind the league-leading Dodgers. Frisch, as noted above, had also been tossed the night before, and everyone connected with the Cubs must have been about at the end of their ropes, because Frisch was fired only a week later with the Cubs at 35-45, replaced by Phil Cavarretta (who did worse, finishing the year with a 27-47 record). And, per Frisch’s SABR biography, he was almost asking for it:

According to first baseman Phil Cavarretta, who replaced Frisch, the firing was triggered when general manager Wid Matthews saw the disinterested Frisch sitting in the dugout reading a book during a game.

As for this game, it couldn’t have gone worse for the Cubs after Frisch’s ejection. The Dodgers scored eight runs in the first two innings and led 8-2 heading to the third. Despite the Cubs hitting five home runs (Smalley, Frank Baumholtz, Hank Sauer and two by Randy Jackson), they lost 8-6, their eighth straight defeat. It was the first time a Cubs team had hit five home runs in a game since 1936.

As for Frisch, he never managed in the majors again, but left a mark on the game — and not a very good one — when he became a member of the Hall of Fame’s Veterans Committee in 1967. He managed to push through the inductions of several of his old Giants and Cardinals teammates, many of whom had no business getting a plaque in Cooperstown. From Frisch’s SABR biography:

They included his double-play partner Dave Bancroft, Giants first baseman George Kelly, and St. Louis pitcher Jesse Haines. Some baseball historians have judged them to be among the least deserving players ever selected.

No doubt, this is true, but once you’re in Cooperstown, you’re in, you’re not getting removed. Frisch died in a car accident in 1973, aged 75.