A little guy with a big heart, Stubby Overmire pitched for one of baseball’s weaklings and beat up the league’s biggest bully.
Seventy-five years ago, on Dec. 15, 1949, the St. Louis Browns obtained Overmire from the Tigers for the waiver fee of $10,000.
Frank Overmire got the nickname Stubby because he was short (5-foot-7, or less) and stout, and, as Joe Falls of the Detroit Free Press noted, he barely could wrap his stubby fingers around a baseball.
Relying on a dinky curve and a knuckleball, Overmire joined a cast of misfits on the 1950 Browns, a team that finished 58-96 in the American League. Against the first-place Yankees, the Browns were 5-17. Overmire won three of those _ and nearly earned a fourth.
Tigers territory
A Michigan native, Overmire went to high school in Grand Rapids and to college at Western Michigan. Even then, “I never had much of a fastball,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I was winning with the curve.”
Signed by the Tigers for $500 after earning a bachelor of science degree in physical education in 1941, Overmire spent two seasons in the minors. Shortly before he turned 24 in 1943, he made his big-league debut in a start at Cleveland and completed a five-hitter for the win. “The chunky Grand Rapids youth pitched with poise and finesse,” the Free Press noted. Boxscore
Overmire followed that with a four-hitter for a win against the Browns. Boxscore
The rookie’s first shutout came against the Yankees on the Fourth of July at Detroit. In four starts versus the 1943 Yankees, who went on to prevail against the Cardinals in the World Series, Overmire crafted a 2.70 ERA. It was the start of many impressive performances in his career against the league’s top franchise. Boxscore
Championship season
Overmire won 11, including his last six decisions, in 1944, when the Tigers finished a game behind the league champion Browns. The next year, he contributed nine wins and four saves for the pennant-winning Tigers.
In the 1945 World Series with the Cubs, Overmire was the smallest player on either roster _ shorter than even Cubs left fielder Peanuts Lowrey. Getting the start in Game 3, Overmire stood tall, allowing two runs in six innings, but his counterpart, Claude Passeau, was better, pitching a one-hit shutout for the Cubs. Boxscore
“Overmire had little speed, but he was a smart pitcher,” The Sporting News noted.
He also was a likeable teammate. The Free Press deemed Overmire “hands-down winner of any popularity contest among Tigers players.”
Overmire, 28, reached a peak in 1947, with an 11-5 record, then never had another winning season. By 1949, the Tigers lost confidence in him. He totaled a mere 17.1 innings that year and had a 9.87 ERA.
Change of scenery
Being sent to St. Louis suited Overmire fine. “I’ll be glad to pitch for the Browns,” he told the Associated Press. “I certainly wasn’t being overworked in Detroit.”
Manager Zack Taylor picked Overmire to start the Browns’ 1950 home opener against Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians, but the newcomer wasn’t up to the task. Overmire got knocked out in the second inning. Boxscore
Moved into a relief role, he was ineffective. Though his ERA for the season was 9.11, Overmire was given another chance to start on June 11 at Yankee Stadium.
What figured to be a mismatch instead was a thriller. Overmire and Vic Raschi put on a pitching clinic. Though he didn’t strike out a batter, Overmire limited the Yankees to one run, but he was a tough-luck loser. Raschi pitched a three-hit shutout for a 1-0 win.
The Yankees scored when a pair of pop flies, one by Cliff Mapes; the other by Hank Bauer, plopped in front of Browns fielders for hits in the same inning.
Joe Trimble of the New York Daily News wrote, “Runty Overmire was an amazing fellow to the Yankees … His soft stuff usually means improved batting averages, but he had the sluggers away off in their timing and the champs were mighty lucky to get the run.” Boxscore
Slow and steady
A week later, Overmire started against the Yankees again. Played before 2,824 on a Saturday afternoon at St. Louis, it was an unusual game. Yogi Berra stole a base. Joe DiMaggio went hitless and Ralph Houk got his only hit of the season.
Expertly mixing his pitches, Overmire baffled the batters, keeping the Yankees scoreless through eight. As the Post-Dispatch noted, “Overmire’s curve and tricky slow stuff succeeded where the fastball pitchers failed.”
Entering the ninth with a 7-0 lead, Browns outfielders got him trouble.
After the Yankees scored twice, they had Jackie Jensen and Jerry Coleman on base, with two outs, when Ralph Houk lifted a routine fly to left-center. Rookie Don Lenhardt and ex-Yankee Jim Delsing collided going after the ball and it fell safely for a fluke double, scoring Jensen. After Overmire walked Phil Rizzuto to fill the bases, another ex-Yankee, Duane Pillette, relieved and retired his former road roommate, Gene Woodling, on a grounder to second, ending the drama. Boxscore
On a roll
Overmire had a string of other impressive wins for the Browns in the second half of the 1950 season:
_ July 25: Starting against the Yankees at St. Louis, Overmire took a 4-0 lead to the ninth, gave up a home run to Johnny Mize and held on for a 4-3 win. Referred to by the New York Daily News as “roly-poly’ and “a little left-hander with an oversize waistline,” Overmire also drove in two runs with a single versus Vic Raschi. Boxscore
_ Aug. 5: Though he allowed seven hits and walked six, Overmire shut out the Athletics in a 4-0 win at St. Louis. Boxscore
_Aug. 20: In his first appearance at Detroit since being traded, Overmire beat the Tigers and his former road roommate, future Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser. Using an assortment of pitches described by the Free Press as “slow, slower, slowest,” Overmire gave up nine hits, walked four and threw a wild pitch, but allowed one earned run in a 6-2 triumph. Boxscore
In describing his approach to batters, Overmire told the Post-Dispatch, “When I get them looking for the curve, I slip them the knuckler, or I sneak over what I call my fastball … I am using the knuckleball a lot more this season.”
In the book “We Played the Game,” catcher Les Moss said, “No one liked catching knuckleballs, but, luckily, I didn’t think Stubby’s was that difficult to catch.”
_ Sept. 10: In a rematch with Bob Feller, Overmire prevailed in a 2-1 win at Cleveland. Feller drove in the Indians’ lone run. Boxscore
_ Sept. 17: Overmire beat the Yankees for the third time in 1950. He gave up the tying run in the ninth, but the Browns rallied against Joe Page in their half of the inning. The Yankees had five doubles (two by Johnny Mize) and a home run (by Yogi Berra) but Overmire held them to three earned runs. Boxscore
_ Sept. 24: Overmire shut out a White Sox lineup that had future Hall of Famers Nellie Fox and Luke Appling, plus slugger Gus Zernial. Boxscore
After losing nine of his first 12 decisions, Overmire won six of his last nine, finishing 9-12 for the 1950 Browns. His ERA in 19 starts was 3.13.
Fitted for pinstripes
Back with the Browns in 1951, Overmire was 1-6 but his 3.54 ERA convinced the Yankees he still was effective. On June 15, they acquired him from St. Louis for Tommy Byrne and cash.
Overmire’s lone win for the Yankees came at home against the Athletics when he started in place of sore-armed Allie Reynolds. Overmire looked shaky in the beginning, allowing singles to the first two batters. Then Allie Clark tore into a high curve.
“His towering poke looked like a certain triple,” the New York Times reported. “However, (Joe) DiMaggio was off with the crack of the bat and, sprinting with his back to the plate, snagged the ball over his shoulder just a step short of the running track in deepest left-center.”
Overmire settled down and pitched a complete game, a 3-2 Yankees victory. Boxscore
Returned to the Browns in 1952, Overmire pitched his final season with them.
Talent developer
Overmire went on to manage in the Tigers’ farm system for 16 seasons. Jim Bunning, Mickey Lolich and Mark Fidrych were among those who pitched for him in the minors.
Promoted to the staff of Tigers manager Chuck Dressen in June 1963, Overmire was Denny McLain’s first big-league pitching coach.
Years later, McLain told the Grand Rapids Press, “Stubby and I got along fine … Stubby was a heck of a guy. You could talk to Stubby off the record, and he would talk to the manager for you on your behalf. He was a trustworthy guy.”
McLain (16 wins in 1965; 20 in 1966) and Lolich (18 wins in 1964; 15 in 1965) developed into top starters with Overmire as pitching coach. When Mayo Smith became manager in 1967, he chose Johnny Sain to replace Overmire, who returned to managing in the minors.