Trading deadline deals can sometimes make or break the fortunes of a player and his new team.
In 1945, the Chicago Cubs picked up a pitcher on July 27 for $97,000 that helped the team hang on for the National League pennant.
The move was controversial, but not in Chicago, which would reach to World Series only to fall in seven games to the Detroit Tigers as the Curse of the Billy Goat would begin, but that’s another story.
Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith was a tab grumpy and discussed the deal that had 1944 All-Star Hank Borowy going from the New York Yankees to the Chicago Cubs.
This was a waiver claim and Griffith met with Commissioner A.B. “Happy” Chandler according to a story that appeared in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle on July 29, 1945.
Yankees boss Larry MacPhail was quoted in the story with his opinion of Griffith’s frustration.
“Now he’s squawking. It’s strictly a matter of selfish interests and his protests, as far as I’m concerned, are falling on deaf ears.”
American League President Will Harridge offered his thoughts in a same article.
“The list lay on Griffith’s desk for four days. Now he yells about having the waiver rules changed and wants an investigation. Maybe he ought to have his eyesight investigated if he didn’t see something right under his nose for four days.”
Ouch. No holding back there.
At the time of the deal, the Cubs were four games ahead of the defending world champion St. Louis Cardinals and five up on the Brooklyn Dodgers.
In the AL, the Tigers led the Senators by three games. The Yankees were in fifth and would be in fourth by the end of the year. The Tigers would win the pennant by one and a half games over Washington. No doubt that Borowy would have made a difference.
Double-Digit Wins
In the history of major league baseball, there have only been two pitchers win at least 10 games for two teams in the same season.
Borowy was the first in 1945, while Bartolo Colon did it with the Cleveland Indians and Montreal Expos in 2002 whe he was 20-8. Colon was 10-4 with both teams.
When Borowy left the Yankees, he was 10-5 with an ERA of 3.13.
With the Cubs, he finished 11-2 with a NL best 2.13 ERA. Cubs teammate (13-8, 3.40 ERA) officially now has the ERA title. Overall, it was the best year of his career as he finished sixth the NL Most Valuable Player voting with a 21-7 record and 2.65 ERA.
He won six of his seven starts in September with a no-decision that the Cubs would eventually win. He also had a pair of 10-inning performances during that stretch.
The World Series
Borowy won a World Series with the Yankees in 1943 over after the team fell to the Cardinals in 1942 as the two team met in back-to-back Fall Classics.
With the Cubs, Borowy was 2-2 in the 1945 series against the Tigers. He tossed a 6-0 complete game win in the opener as he would beat AL MVP Hal Newhouser in Detroit. The two would hook up in the fifth game with Newhouser winning that battle 8-4.
The right-hander pitched the final four frames of the sixth game in Chicago’s 8-7 victory in 12 innings at Wrigley Field.
In the finale, Borowy started his third game. He didn’t record an out as he gave up three of Detriot’s five runs in the frame. The Tigers went on to a 9-3 win to take the series.
A Decade in the Bigs
Borowy spent 10 seasons in the majors beginning with the Yankees in 1942.
He left the Cubs prior to the 1949 season when he went to the Philadelphia Phillies where he stayed into 1950. He also played in Pittsburgh and Detroit in 1950, while ending his career the following season with the Tigers.
Born in New Jersey, Borowy was 108-82 in his career with a 3.50 ERA.