An amazing pitcher, Murry Dickson was one of the top hurlers in the 1940s and the 1950s. Although the 5 ft 10.5 inch right-hander weighed just 157 pounds he was one of baseball most durable pitchers. He worked over 200 innings eight straight years including a career-high of 288.2 in 1951 when he posted a 20-16 record for a Pittsburgh Pirates team that finished the year with a 64-90 record. Murry Dickson won at least 10 games 11 straight seasons, 12 times in all. He competed 149 of 338 starts. He began his pro career in 1937 with Grand Island of the Nebraska League, worked his up to the St Louis Cardinals for one game in 1939 and one game in 1940, then after a full year in the minors where he paced the American Association with 21 victories, he joined the Cardinals again. As a rookie in 1942 he had a 6-3 record, with a 2.91 earned run average, and in 1942 he had an 8-2 record with a 3.58 ERA, and was drafted into the US Army right before the regular season ended. He got a 10-pass so as he could pitch in the World Series, and did pitch 2/3 of inning with no runs allowed. After proudly serving in the military Murry Dickson returned in 1946 and led the NL in winning percentage with .716 for a 15-6 record, a 2.88 ERA, and completed 12-of-19 starts, plus 28 relief appearances to help the Cardinals win the NL pennant. In the 1946 World Series he started and pitched 7 innings, allowed 3 runs, on a 3-run homer by Rudy York, and lost Game 3 to the Red Sox as Dave ‘Boo’ Ferris shut the Cards out 4-0. Murry Dickson started Game 7 and was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the 7th inning with a 3-1 lead. However the Red Sox tied the game up off Cardinals Harry The Cat Brecheen, then scored and won the Series when Enos Slaughter scored all the way from first base on a single. Harry Breechen getting the win, his third of the season. In January 1949 Murry Dickson was sold to a lousy, usually cellar dwelling Pittsburgh team and pitched there 5 full seasons. In 1951 he posted his only 20 game win season. In 1952, he led the majors with 20 losses (10-20 record), for a Pirates team that finished with a 42-112 record. Murry Dickson was in 44 games with the Pirates in 1950 and had a 12-14 record. A good-hitting pitcher he batted .231 lifetime with 253 hits 3 homers in 638 games. Ex-Pirates catcher Joe Garagiola said on NBC television, ‘We used to call him Thomas Edison because he had so many pitches. He even had a good knuckleball. And another thing about him was, even if the batter knew what pitch was coming, he still had to figure out if it was going to be sidearm or three-quarter or overhand. But the big thing about him was that he was one of those guys that always wanted the ball and it more than having a rubber arm. He was the kind of guy you wanted out there when things were tight.’ Baseball History |
