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This photo was sent to our friend Don Stokes. It’s a photo from Ted Williams’ (standing 8th from the right) rookie year in the Yankee Stadium visitors’ dugout. Very neat, right? What makes it even neater is that there might be more to this photo than we realize.
In fact, it dawned on me that this might be a historic photo taken of Ted Williams before his very first Major League game!
I noticed that the people in the stands were dressed for a very chilly day. So when I looked at the Boston Red Sox 1939 schedule, I found they did indeed open the season with a 2-0 loss up in the Bronx on April 20 with temps in the 40’s. Better yet, it was just a one-game series. That was still not enough to support the contention that this was the Splendid Splinter’s debut. The Red Sox could have come back in early May when the weather in the New York City area might still have been a bit chilly. So back to their schedule we go. The next time the Red Sox made a visit to “Ruth’s House” wasn’t until July.
Now we’re getting warmer, much warmer. In fact, as warm as July. There’s no way a July game would’ve seen fans dressed in such heavy coats and hats. That effectively rules out the July date.
Next I looked at the top left of the photo to see bunting hanging from the Yankee Stadium facade. Very significant! As we know, bunting is usually reserved for big event games, such as World Series, All-Star games, and, yes, Opening Day. Early indications are we might indeed be looking at the first game of the season. But I felt we still needed more.
Then Don noticed the third person from the right was Herb Pennock, the Hall-of-Fame pitcher now retired. From his biographies, we know Pennock was the Red Sox’ first base and pitching coach from 1936-1938. In 1939 he supposedly took a position in the Red Sox organization as Assistant Supervisor of Boston’s minor league system. That raises the question as to just why he was in the dugout still serving as team coach. In some cases, this might throw a “monkey wrench” into everything; but I was thinking maybe he started the season as a coach and then part way into it he took the new job. I asked Don to do what he does best: dig through old newspaper clippings and see what you can find.
Sure enough, Don found a clipping from the Philadelphia Enquirer from April 30th, ten days after Opening Day. It stated that Pennock was replaced by 72-year-old Hugh Duffy as first base coach: “He took Herb Pennock’s place as Boston coach when the Kennett Square man was promoted to Bill Evans’ assistant in the Boston chain system.”
And that did it! The article places Pennock in the dugout with Ted Williams in Yankee Stadium on April 20, 1939. Ten days later, on April 30th, Pennock moved into a front office position. There’s no doubt anymore that the tall lad and future baseball legend standing in the dugout with his hat slightly askew was waiting to take the field for his first Major League baseball game – a boyhood dream about to come to fruition, and a baseball immortal in the making.
As for the game, I mentioned Boston fell to 2-0. Ted Williams faced Hall-of-Famer Red Ruffing, in his first major league at-bat in the second inning and struck out. But in his next plate appearance in the fourth, Williams got his first major league hit: a double in the gap. He went hitless in his final two appearances finishing the day one-for-four.
My partner Gary was also able to ID some of the other players, standing second right is Joe Vosmik and the player to Williams right is Jim Tabor.
A big shout out to my friend Don Stokes, whose research help was invaluable in cracking this photo.
This would have been the only game that Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig appeared in together, wouldn’t it?
Is that Tom Yawkey in the fedora in the front row at far right?
I believe Ted’s first putout was a Lou Gehrig fly out.