1951 (12-6)
The 1951 Tigers played well enough to end up in second place in the Conference. The early season was marred by numerous cancellations due to inclement weather, but the team came on strong in May, posting a 9-2 record from April 30th through the final game on May 26.
One unique feature of the season was a home-and-away series against the team from Fort Leonard Wood in southern Missouri. They won the first contest and lost the second against this team made up of several professional players - some with Major League experience - doing their stint in the army.
1951 was dominated by the war in Korea, both in the headlines and on the playing fields. Many college teams were decimated by the fact that many of their prospective players were in the armed services, just as the pro teams were.
This team was led by an excellent pitching staff, which won several games for them.
While the 1951 Tigers finished with a respectable 12-6 record for this shortened season, Coach John "Hi" Simmons, with this squad, was beginning to lay the foundations for the highly succesful teams of the 50's, including the National Champion 1954 squad. The 1954 seniors would have been freshman in 1951.
The season's results for 1951, as posted here, is based on research done in newspaper articles from 1951. My listing differs significantly from the one in the annual Missouri Baseball pressbook. I have begun to wonder, as I research and compile these glimpses at Mizzou Baseball History, what the sources were for the All-Time Results posted in the official books, since this is now the third year (out of just five I have so far completed) in which I have found evidence that the "official" record is in error. This year's records are most egregiously in error, however. This is evident from the fact that the overall MU record is listed as 12 wins and 6 losses, and yet the results of only 13 games are listed.
The following chart reflects the records of the Columbia Daily Tribune:
| 4/17 | 2 | Washington University | 0 | | 4/18 | 8 | Fort Leonard Wood | 5 | | 4/19 | 4 | Oklahoma | 5 | | 4/20 | 5 | Oklahoma | 9 | | 4/23 | 1 | Rockhurst | 4 | | 4/27 | 12 | Kansas State | 1 | | 4/28 | 7 | Kansas State | 9 | | 4/30 | 8 | Kansas | 0 | | 5/4 | 5 | Iowa State | 1 | | 5/5 | 7 | Iowa State | 3 | | 5/8 | 5 | Fort Leonard Wood | 18 | | 5/12 | 5 | Kansas | 2 | | 5/12 | 14 | Kansas | 0 | | 5/15 | 4 | Nebraska | 3 | | 5/17 | 2 | Washington University | 0 | | 5/21 | 2 | Colorado | 0 | | 5/25 | 0 | Kansas State | 0 | | 5/26 | 5 | Kansas State | 0 |
Tiger Nine to Open Season on Saturday
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, April 2, 1951)
The University of Missouri baseball team opens is season against Washington university at St. Louis Saturday, but Coach John Simmons is still in a dither over who will be in his starting lineup.
The weather has given Simmons few opportunities to see his squad under game conditions, since most of the workouts have been confined to Brewer Fieldhouse. A scheduled intra-squad game had to be canceled Saturday because of wet grounds. | Simmons to Use 3 Hurlers Against Bears
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, April 5, 1951) The University of Missouri baseball team will get its first taste of competition Saturday against Washington university's Bears at St. Louis and the return to Columbia for a series of four games in six days next week.
Tiger Coach John Simmons will have to take it easy on his pitching staff, which has been hampered by a lack of outdoor work. Simmons plans to work three hurlers three innings each in the Washington game, provided the Bears are co-operative. Floyd Eberhard, a letterman, will lead off for the Tigers, followed by sophomore Don Boenker and junior Dick Atkinson.
In addition to Eberhard, there probably will be only two other lettermen in the Missouri lineup -- Kent Kurtz at second base and Captain Bob Harting in left field.
After the Bear opener, Missouri comes home for a two-game set with Rockhurst College on Monday and Tuesday, then Bradley moves in for another non-conference series on Friday and Saturday.
To Face Rockurst
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, April 7, 1951) Floyd Eberhard, left, and Gene Crenshaw have been named by Tiger baseball coach John Simmons to face Rockhurst college in a two-game series here on Monday and Tuesday. Eberhard was originally scheduled to start against Washington university in St. Louis today, but wet grounds forced postponement of the game to April 17.
| Big 7 Baseball Campaign Gets Underway Today
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, April 13, 1951)
Kansas City, April 13 (AP) -- The weather put a crimp in the opening of the Big Seven conference championship baseball race today.
A two-game series at Lawrence between Iowa State and Kansas was postponed because of wet grounds. The first contest had been scheduled for this afternoon.
Kansas Sate and Oklahoma had hopes of sufficient sunshine to open their two-game slate at Norman today.
The weather forced cancellation of a two-game series between Missouri and Bradley.
Cold weather, rain and snow has limited most of the teams to indoor practice thus far. Only Oklahoma has been able to go ahead with its early season and Coach Jack Baer's Sooners fared poorly, dropping their first six games.
Practically all of the teams start the season with revamped lineups from 1950. Graduation and calls to the armed forces have taken heavy tolls.
Missouri, which battled Nebraska to the wire last year, suffered the loss of its top pitchers, including Bob Smith, who won five of six starts. | Tigers Blank Washington in Opener
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, April 18, 1951)
Coach John Simmons will have few complaints against his Tiger pitching staff if today’s game with Ft. Leonard Wood turns p anything like the performance of a trio of hurlers against Washington University of St. Louis yesterday.
Floyd Eberhard, Don Boenker and Dick Atkinson chipped in three goose eggs each to blank the Bears, 2-0. So effective was the Tiger pitching that not a single putout was made by Missouri outfielders.
Washington threatened in the ninth, getting the first two men on with nobody out. After Don Schneeberger led off with a single, Kent Kurtz gave Adelstein’s grounder a losing battle but Atkinson turned on the steam, fanning pinch0hitter Ted Likes and Joe Kalbac and forced Paul Niehaus to ground out.
Tigers Beat Fort Wood; Play Sooners Next
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, April 21, 1951)
The University of Missouri baseball team was on its way to Norman today for a two-game series with the Oklahoma Sooners after handing Ft. Leonard Wood an 8-5 defeat on a muddy field here yesterday.
Dick Welk, former Cleveland Indian right-hander, pitched the first four innings for Ft. Wood, gave up six runs and was charged with the loss.
| Tigers Drop Double-Header to Oklahoma, 5-4, 9-5;
Play Rockhurst Here Tomorrow (From The Columbia Daily Tribune, April 22, 1951) The Tiger baseball team made ready to face Rockhurst college in a non-conference game here tomorrow afternoon after an unpleasant weekend in Oklahoma.
Not only did the Bengals drop a double-header to the Oklahoma Sooners, 3 to 4 and 9 to 5, but they also lost the services of shortstop Don Lamb, who was beaned in the first inning of the opener. Lamb was knocked unconscious by a pitch from Jack Shirley and seven stitches were required t mend a torn left ear. He did not return with the team, but was discharged from a Norman hospital yesterday afternoon. |
Kansas State Falls Before Tigers, 12-1
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, April 26, 1951) Timely hitting and a wobbly Kansas State defense gave the Missouri Tigers their first Big Seven Conference victory, 12-1, at Rollins Field yesterday afternoon.
The Bengals lost no time in going to work on Jim Iverson. They shoved across three runs in the first inning on doubles by Jack Patchett and Bud Heineman, a walk to Bob Harting and Junior Wren’s single. Four singles, two errors and some Babe Herman outfielding produced three more tallies in the third.
Tigers Win On Loschke’s 4-Hitter, 8-0
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, May 1, 1951) Bob Loschke was a shutout pitcher yesterday as the University of Missouri baseball team sparkled in an 8-0 victory over the University of Kansas in the opening of a two-game series.
Loschke permitted but one Jayhawk to reach third and another second as he holed out four hits, with the Tigers staging a double-play in the fifth after two successive Kansas batters smacked singles.
Carl Sandefur, the Kansas hurler, was given poor support as only three of the Missouri runs were earned. The Jayhawks made nine errors, including a comedy in the fourth when a double-play ball hit to Sandefur ended with Bud Heineman and Ross Boeger both crossing the plate instead of being erased on the basepaths. Sandefur threw to center field trying to double Heineman, and the return throw got by Curtis Harris at third as Boeger was sliding in, and then he hopped to his feet and trotted home.
Tigers Seek 4th Straight at Fort Wood Tomorrow (From The Columbia Daily Tribune, May 7, 1951) The Missouri Tigers will be out for their fourth straight victory tomorrow at Ft, Leonard Wood after copping the finale of a two-game series with Iowa State, 7-3, at Ames Saturday.
After a wobbly first inning, Dick Atkinson turned in another sturdy pitching performance. The Cyclones did all their scoring in the first, sending over three runs on a pair of singles, an error, a walk, and an infield out.
The Tigers came back with one in the second, then scored five in the third on only two hits combined with four walks and an error.
Tigers Get 18-5 Drubbing At Ft. Wood
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, May 9, 1951) A revenge-minded Fort Leonard Wood team gave the Missouri Tigers a lesson in baseball at the army post yesterday, scoring 13 runs in the sixth inning for an 8 to 5 victory.
The GIS, in better condition and with sharper eyes than when they lost to the Bengals here on April 18, clubbed four Missouri pitchers for 13 hits during the disastrous sixth, including home runs by Preston Ward and Herb Finnegan, both former major leaguers. Tigers Take Double Header From Kansas
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, May 14, 1951) Missouri made only three hits off Kansas’ Carl Sandefur in the first game Saturday, but eight bases on balls and two errors paved the way to victory.
In the nightcap, it was Missouri all the way. The Tigers banged 14 hits as Kansas committed eight bobbles in the field. Dick Atkinson pitched shutout ball as he held the Kansans to four hits.
BIG SEVEN STANDINGS:
| Oklahoma | 6-1 | .857 | | Nebraska | 4-2 | .667 | | Missouri | 6-3 | .667 | | Kansas | 4-5 | .444 | | Iowa State | 3-5 | .375 | | Kansas State | 2-7 | .222 | | Colorado | 0-2 | .000 | | Tigers Beat Nebraska in Tenth, 4-3
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, May 16, 1951) The University of Missouri baseball team took over sole possession of second place in the Big Seven Conference yesterday by defeating Nebraska, 4 to 3, in ten innings at Lincoln.
Outfielder Bob Harting played a major role in the Tiger victory. Harting’s single in the tenth drove in the winning run after he had saved the game in the last of the ninth by reaching over the top of a snow fence that bounds the outfield to pull down a long drive off the bat of Ray Miadovich. He fell through the fence but held on to the ball.
Tigers Win, But Are Out Of Title Race
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, May 22, 1951) Southpaw Bob Loschke pitched his second shutout of the season yesterday as the Missouri baseball team downed Colorado, 2-0, on a slippery, rain-soaked diamond at Rollins Field, but the Tigers will have to settle for second place in the Big Seven conference. Oklahoma won the pennant by defeating Kansas, 4-1, at Norman.
Loschke, who was never in serious trouble, had his hands full yesterday as the Tigers got only five hits off Colorado’s Jack Anderson. Missouri’s first run somewhat tainted, came in the fourth inning. Bud Heineman’s drive to right field bounced over the fence for a ground rule double after Joe Nix slipped and fell going back after the ball.
Loschke had retired eight straight batters when Dick Corbette singled with two out in the ninth, but Tom Brookshier grounded out. Kurtz slipped and fell fielding the ball and Heineman did likewise in taking the throw, but got his man and the game was over.
Tigers Blank K-State, 5-0, in Season Finale
(From The Columbia Daily Tribune, May 23, 1951) The Missouri Tigers rang down the curtain on the 1951 baseball season with a 5-0 victory over Kansas State at Manhattan Saturday as Dick Atkinson set the Wildcats down on four hits for his fourth Big Seven conference victory without a defeat.
It was Missouri’s sixth shutout victory of the year, and gave the Tigers an overall won-lost record of 12 and 6, with a conference mark of 9 and 4 for second place.
Missouri scored its final run in the fifth without a hit. Bob Harting walked, stole second and third and scored on Holder’s second error, after Barbour also had walked. | |
The excerpts on this web page are from The Columbia Daily Tribune files for 1951, found on microfilm at the Columbia Public Library.
Truman Is Reported To Have Decided Not To Oust MacArthur
April 4, 1951
"The average U.S. farmer owns about $2,200 worth of machinery, implements, and motor vehicles."
| Truman Fires MacArthur, Rocking World’s Political, Diplomatic and Military Fronts By His Action
April 6, 1951 |
Musial Tops Lists of Players Hit By Wage Controls
Last season Musial, the Cards’ highest paid player, received a reported $50,000. This season, he reportedly got a $35,000 raise. But under the rules, Musial would lose his pay hike.
Gore Calls For Atomic Wrath Against Reds Representative Albert Gore (Tenn.) indicated today that the United States has perfected “cataclysmic” new atomic weapons to spread deadly radioactivity. He urged President Truman to order their use in Korea.
Gore urged President Truman to use some of “these immense weapons” to “dehumanize” a belt across Korea – making it unfit for all life and thus a barrier to all military ground operations.
Morgan and Mantle Shine As Top Rookies The success of rookies Tom Morgan and Mickey Mantle for the New York Yankees highlighted the Grapefruit League that ended yesterday.
Half Million Reds Smash Hole in Middle of UN Line, Invade S. Korea Third Time
The University of Texas baseball team has won 54 consecutive Southwest conference games on its home field.
Sports Roundup, by Hugh Fullerton, Jr.
12 College Cage Players Are Indicted
Thirteen indictments charging fixing of college basketball games were returned today by a New York county grand jury. The indictments named 12 college players.
| K.C. Monarchs and Clowns Will Play Here Tonight The Indianapolis Clowns, champions of the Eastern division of the Negro American league, and the Kansas City Monarchs, Western Division Champs, will play tonight in Columbia. |
Dewitts May Be Forced To Move Browns
The controlling owners of the St. Louis Browns said today that poor attendance might force the transfer of the club to another city. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that there is a good possibility the Browns will be moved to Milwaukee before the opening of the 1952 season.
| Rollins Field Bleachers Are Condemned V.L.Spurling, business manager of athletics, said university officials notified him this morning that consulting engineers have declared the 40-year-old bleachers at Rollins Field unsafe for any use.
The Rollins Field bleachers were the first modern concrete football stands constructed by a Middle Western university, and were the pride of the university at the time of their construction in 1920. They seated 3200 persons, and were the only permanent seats available for M.U. football until Memorial Stadium was built in 1926. |
US Casualty Total is Up to 141,955
Tilt-a-Whirl Tilts Gun Out of Rider’s Pocket A carnival ride at Centralia last night ended in the arrest of an 18-year-old Columbian. When Johnson climbed aboard the Tilt-a-Whirl, he forgot what centrifugal force can do. In this case it whipped a .32 calibre pistol from his pocket. He was arrested by City Marshal Ed Owens for carrying a concealed weapon.
Now Showing at the Varsity Theatre:
Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, and Celeste Holm in
All About Eve
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