A Tough Shortstop
“We had to play because if you didn’t someone else would get your job.”
-Billy Rogell, Detroit Tiger shortstop
Billy Rogell, the scrappy and slick shortstop for the Detroit Tigers, had broken two fingers on the same hand as the runner slid into second base. “I’ll never forget it. It was in 1934 season when everything happened at once. I went down to make the tag and bam, my fingers were mangled.” A picture of Billy’s right hand shows two fingers with one pointing east and the other pointing west. Today he might have been out for weeks, but back then baseball was tough and so was Rogell. Billy taped his fingers, and continued to play ball. “We had to play because if you didn’t someone else would get your job.”
William
“Billy” George Rogell was part of the Tigers infield of the 1930’s called
the “Battalion of Death. Billy
recently died at the age of 98 of pneumonia as the oldest Tiger player, the
second oldest major leaguer, and oldest survivor member of the Boston Red Sox
franchise. He teamed with Hall of
Famer second baseman Charlie Gehringer to make up one of the best keystone
combinations of all time, and half of the Tigers infield that was called both
“The Battalion of Death” and “The Infield of Dreams.”
The two others were Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg at first and third
baseman Marv Owen.
Rogell was born on November 24, 1904 in Springfield, Illinois, but spent much of his early years on the south side of Chicago after his both parents died. He was the fifth of eight siblings, and lived wherever he could as an orphan. “There was a time when I had bread and water for breakfast and bread and water for dinner.” That’s when his days of fighting and love of baseball started. He played in high school, but left at 14 to work and play sandlot and semi-pro ball. A former major leaguer came by one day to see the game, and told Billy that he was a “good prospect.”
His professional baseball career began in 1923 with the Coffyville, Kansas team in the Southwestern League. The legendary Walter Johnson lived in the same area, and when they happened to meet on the street Billy said, “I’ll see you in the major leagues.” Rogell signed with the Boston Red Sox in 1925, and did play against the Washington Senators and pitcher Johnson. Billy entered the game in the fifth inning, and when he came up to bat, Walter walked towards the Sox player and said, “Young man, you made it.”
Rogell spent three years with the Red Sox as a part-time player before he was sent down to St. Paul in the American Association league. Although Billy was a switch-hitter the Red Sox wanted to change him to a right-hander, and all they did was “screw me up.” After hitting .336 for St. Paul a number of teams showed interest in him, but he eventually signed with the Detroit Tigers. Rogell continued as a back-up player throughout 1930 and ’31, and then took over as the regular Tiger shortstop where he remained until the end of the 1938 season.
By 1933 the Detroit club had not won a pennant since 1908, and an uninspired team had finished in the second division for almost the past ten years. Then came first baseman Hank Greenberg, pitcher Tommy Bridges, outfielder Pete Fox, outfielder Goose Goslin, relief ace Fred Marberry, pitcher Schoolboy Rowe, and catcher Mickey Cochrane – the beginning of a great Tiger era.
From fifth-place and 25 games behind in 1933, the Detroit Tigers won the American League pennants in ’34 and the World Championship in ’35. The 1934 Tigers’ infield set an all-time RBI record of 462 runs with Greenberg, 139; Gehringer 127; Rogell, 100; and Marv Owen, 96. Billy was one of the top shortstops in the 1930’s, and led all American League shortstops in fielding during the years of 1935-193. He and quiet Charlie Gehringer developed into one of the best double-play combos for much of the decade.
Detroit met the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1934 World Series, and lost in seven games. Rogell had played the last month of the season plus the entire Series with a broken ankle, and had four RBIs in Game 4. Billy was involved in a bizarre incident in Game 4 won by the Tigers 10-4. The Cardinals’ colorful pitching star, Dizzy Dean, was on first base as a pinch-runner with Leo Durocher on third with no out. The batter hit the ball to Gehringer who threw to Rogell at second to force Dean coming from first. Diz came in standing up, and was conked on the head by Billy’s double-play relay to first base. The ball bounced into right field as the unconscious pinch runner crumbled to the ground. When asked if he had any remorse about hitting Dizzy, Billy responded, “If I’ve had known his head was there, I would have thrown the ball harder.”
Dean was carried off the field on a stretcher and taken to the hospital for treatment. A St. Louis newspaper printed one of baseball’s most priceless quotations, X-RAY OF DEAN’S HEAD SHOWS NOTHING. Diz was back in uniform the next day as the starting pitcher. He went eight innings, but lost to Detroit’s hurler Tommy Bridges 3-1.
The hard-nosed, 5’10 and 163-pound Rogell was called combative, tough, and feisty among others. Ben Chapman was not only bigger, but considered one of the dirtiest players in the game. Once when he was on first base Chapman called down to Billy, “I’m going to knock you into left field.” The Tiger shortstop tagged Chapman in the face for the third out. Billy trotted off the field as the runner lay stunned on the ground.
After the 1938 season Rogell hurt his arm while playing handball, and was traded to the Chicago Cubs in December of 1939 for Dick Bartell that was described as, “One worn-out shortstop for another.” Rogell was done with major league baseball after one unproductive season with the Cubs, played in the minors, served on the Detroit City Council for 38 years, and chairman of the committee that was responsible for the building of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.