Our next AC story has four Chapters:
Chapter 1: The Team
Chapter 2: The Manager
Chapter 3: The Player
Chapter 4: The Series
Chapter 1: The Team
I’ve always been a Red Sox fan. A little bit during the Luis Tiant days. A bit more after Bucky Dent. And a lot after Buckner. I was fortunate to study and work in Boston from 1993 to 1999, enjoying many trips to Fenway.
Today is a good time to be a Red Sox fan. The curse was broken in dramatic fashion in 2004. A second title came in 2007. And a World Series was clinched at Fenway in 2013 for the first time in 95 years.
But it was not always thus. Before 2004, there was “the curse”. After the trade of Babe Ruth, Red Sox suffering began in earnest. And not just the futility of Chicago Cub suffering. We are talking about a lot of almost-pull-it-out, break-your-heart near misses for 86 years. Not a single championship since 1918.
Pedro blows a 3 run lead in the eighth, and an Aaron Boone extra inning homer wins it for the Yankees in game 7 in 2003.
Failed playoff runs in 1999, 1995, 1990, and 1988.
One strike away in Game 6 of the 1985 Series. One. Strike. Away. But three hits, a wild pitch, and Bill Buckner led to a Game 7 and an inevitable loss. 1986 would be unjust for any team. It was catastrophically unfair for the Red Sox to endure.
The greatest game in baseball history? Arguably Game 6 of the 1975 Series in Fenway against Cincinnati. A late game tying home run by Carbo and an historic Fisk shot over the monster were not enough, however, to carry over into a Game 7 win against the Reds.
The Impossible Dream pennant of 1967? Not dreamy enough to overcome the dominance of Bob Gibson, whose 3 wins in Games 1, 4, & 7 doomed the Sox to yet another 7 game World Series loss.
The Red Sox have twice ended the AL regular season tied for first, requiring a one game playoff to decide the division/pennant. In 1978, they lost a one game series to the Yankees & Bucky Dent, who would eventually win the World Series. In 1948, they lost a one game series to the Cleveland Indians, who would eventually win the World Series. Who writes this stuff?
The 1949 AL pennant race would come down to a 3 game series on the last weekend against the Yankees in New York. Boston lost the series 2-1. The Yankees would win the World Series. As I said, who writes this stuff?
But the first of many heartaches was 1946. The war was over, and the Sox were cruising to an inevitable World Series win over the St. Louis Cardinals. It was not to be however, as the Cardinals would win in dramatic and (for Boston) painful fashion…………….in yet another 7 game series. Seriously, who writes this stuff?
86 years of heartache. 86 years of “the curse”. 86 years of New England pain, dramatically lifted by the Idiots, Ortiz, the Schilling bloody sock, and Johnny Damon in 2004.
We are all aware of the Curse of the Bambino. And guess what? Austin College plays a role. Stay tuned.
Chapter 2: The Manager
Eddie Dyer was a star. From 1919 to 1921 at Rice University, Dyer was All Southwest Conference in track, football, and baseball. Of these three, baseball was his first love. His success on the diamond was so impressive that he was lured away by Branch Rickey and the St. Louis Cardinals organization in 1922. By 1923, he was a valued reliever on the Cardinals squad.
His Rice baseball coach, Pete Cawthon (more on him later), was probably disappointed to see him go. But Cawthon had his own plans. He left Rice to become head football coach at Austin College in 1923. Cawthon would become a legend in Sherman, coaching the Roos through the 1927 season. Today, the Pete Cawthon award is given to the most outstanding Austin College male athlete every year.
Head coaches need assistance coaches. Back in the day, it was common for professional baseball players to return home for the fall & spring to assist with football coaching. And in 1923, Cawthon convinced Dyer to assist him with Roo football during the fall, after the conclusion of the National League season in St. Louis. Dyer would later add Athletic Director to his list of AC responsibilities. See articles from the December 1926 Bryan Daily Eagle and the February 1927 Corsicana Daily Sun.
An earlier story mentions the Roos traveling to Houston in 1924 and defeating John Heisman & Rice football, one week after the Owl upset of the Longhorns. This AC football team was coached by Cawthon, and ably assisted by Rice alum Eddie Dyer.
Dyer was a member of the 1926 St. Louis Cardinals, winners of the World Series that year. The ties with Austin College were so strong that the city of Sherman declared “Eddie Dyer Day” and threw a parade in his honor. See photo from Dr. Light Cummins’ book on the history of Austin College.
Cawthon & Dyer were such a team that they both parted with Austin College at the same time, after the conclusion of the 1927 football season. Cawthon would move on to other coaching jobs, including Texas Tech. Dyer left Sherman at the end of his playing days in St. Louis in 1927, and would embark on a successful managerial career.
After two decades of managing in the minors, Dyer got his big break after WWII and was called up to manage the Cardinals in the majors. His five year tenure included a Manager of the Year award………and a dramatic World Series victory.
Eddie Dyer Day in Sherman, 1926. Photo from Dr. Light Cummins’s Campus History Series on Austin College.
Articles in 1926 & 1927 on Eddie Dyer, Austin College athletics, and St. Louis Cardinal baseball.
Chapter 3: The Player
Fannin County lies just east of Sherman. It’s not known for many star athletes. But Tom McBride certainly was one. A high school standout in football, baseball, and track, McBride accepted a scholarship to play football for the Austin College Kangaroos in 1934. McBride was a member of the 1935 Kangaroos as well, a team which would become Texas Conference champions.
But Tom’s first love was baseball, and the minor leagues awaited. By 1936, McBride was in the Chicago White Sox farm system (again! AC and the White Sox!). Injuries would lead to his release by Chicago, but the Boston Red Sox would benefit from the White Sox’s short sightedness. By 1941, he was producing within the Red Sox farm system. And in 1943, he was called up to the majors as a regular Fenway contributor.
Tom’s performance during the war years was so strong that he was retained when the war ended and the stars returned. His 1945 batting average of .305 with 375 plate appearances earned him a consistent role as regular pinch hitter and frequent starter in right field in 1946. That’s right Roo fans. Any given home game at Fenway in 1946 would see Ted Williams in left field, Dom DiMaggio in center, and AC Roo Tom McBride in right field. Not. too. shabby.
McBride would spend 6 years in the majors, 4 years starting in 1943 with the Red Sox, and 2 years with the Washington Senators. He would finish his major league career in 1948 with a lifetime batting average of .275 over 1299 plate appearances. Although not a home run hitter, he would end up with 2…….one at Comiskey against the White Sox, and another a grand slam at Griffith Park in D.C. against the Yankees.
On August 4th, 1945, McBride drove in 6 RBIs in a single inning for the Red Sox against the Senators. By doing so, he joined Bob Johnson and Fred Merkle as the only Major Leaguers in history to have 6 RBIs in a single inning. This record would be matched 16 times over the next 54 years, until Fernando Tatis belted two grand slams in a single inning in 1999 and took the record entirely for himself. McBride continues to hold the major league record for most putouts by an outfielder, when 12 opposing batters at Fenway sent popups to right field.
After the majors, Tom continued playing in the minor leagues before finally retiring. He would return to North Texas and spend most of his time refereeing high school football and coaching baseball at Midwestern State.
He had a fantastic career in the majors, one that anyone could look back on and be proud of. But………Tom McBride also had one at bat that would frustrate him for a lifetime……..
Tom McBride at Fenway (far left), AC Roo Class of 1936 and Boston Red Sox right fielder.
An AC Roo held the record for major league RBIs in an inning until this guy in 1999….
Chapter 4: The Series
