Sid Hudson and Tom Ferrick team up to shut Cleveland out with three hits tonight and leave the Indians’ 30,612 admirers less admiring by pitching the Nats to a 2-0 victory. Hudson has gotten off to a rough start, but today he was on top of his game.
Player Profile – Sid Hudson
Sid was originally an infielder/outfielder. After arriving in Sanford, a Class D Club, Manager Bill Rodgers, a well known minor league skipper, looked over the raw recruit and told him that he couldn’t run well enough to make it to the majors. Rodgers told him his only shot was on the mound. Sid began pitching in the last past of the 1938 season. In 1939 he won 24 games and this led to his purchase by Washington. Griffith was said to have moaned when he paid the $5,000 for Sid. Not much now but it was the Old Fox’s biggest payout since he signed Joe Cronin. For those keeping score, Cronin got $7,500, Joe Judge $0, Cecil Travis $200 and Buddy Lewis $500. Sam Rice was picked up for a bad debt.
Washington boosters wonder if Sid can recapture the effectiveness he had before the war. Hudson is one of the smartest hurlers in the game. He has a quick shrewd brain and seems to know instinctively where and what pitch to throw. Bucky Harris assigned venerable Dutch Leonard to teach the young kid a lesson in holding men on base. After some time Leonard squawked to busy, “This kid’s teaching me things.”
But Hudson had to learn his craft and is quick to give credit. One Sid thanks is “Old” Ted Lyons. One day in Chicago while warming up, Lyons walked up to him. “Listen kid,” Lyons began, “your change of pace is lousy. Here’s the way you should do it.” Hudson then went out and beat the White Sox. Hudson credits Bucky Harris for developing his great sidearm delivery too. He also thanks Clark Griffith for keeping his spirits up after he had lost seven straight games at the start of one season. Griff even went on to give him two voluntary raises in pay, when he was going badly.
The 1948 Project
The 1948 Project
The 1948 Project will be a winter long project Karen and Kevin Flynn will be running in conjunction with a bigger project the folks over at DidTheTribeWinLastNight.com are running this winter.
Did The Tribe Win Last Night is a wonderful website that covers everything about the Cleveland Indians baseball club. Starting September 22, 2013 they are going to start winter project where they are retelling of the Cleveland Indians 1948 World Series Season.
