Before there were pitch counts and one-inning relief “specialists,” there was Jim Konstanty. Before there were workhorse relief pitchers like Mike Marshall and Kent Tekulve, there was the Philadelphia Phillies’ Konstanty, the National League Most Valuable Player in 1950.
Konstanty, a right-handed pitcher, was the first relief pitcher ever to win the MVP Award in either league. The Cy Young Award wasn’t instituted until 1956; otherwise, he surely would have won that as well. Leading the Phillies to the NL pennant, Konstanty made a then-record 74 appearances, all in relief, pitching 152 innings while posting a 16-7 record, a 2.66 ERA, and a major league-leading 22 saves in 26 opportunities, while being worth 4.7 WAR.
Today, broadcasters nearly fall out of the booth every time a team’s closer is summoned to pitch 1.1 innings. They’d suffer strokes if they had to witness Konstanty’s 1950 workload. Six times that season, he relieved in both games of a doubleheader (kids, ask your parents). On May 14 at Shibe Park against the New York Giants, Konstanty pitched two innings in the first game and three in the second, earning a win. He reversed that feat at Forbes Field against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 11, pitching three innings in the first game and garnering another win, then pitching two innings in the nightcap. On August 25 in Pittsburgh, he pitched 9 innings in a 15-inning game, chalking up another win. Konstanty actually surpassed that accomplishment on September 15 at home versus the Cincinnati Reds, when he pitched 10 innings in an 18-inning game. Amazingly, he was back on the mound just two days later, recording a one-inning save against the Pirates.
The Phillies Win the Pennant
Meanwhile, the 1950 pennant race was going right down to the wire. At the close of action on September 29, the Phillies sat in first place at 90-62, two games ahead of the Brooklyn Dodgers at 88-64. The teams faced off in a two-game series at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field to close the season. The Phillies needed one victory to clinch the pennant. The Dodgers needed a two-game sweep to force a playoff between the two teams. Brooklyn took the first game, 7-3, on September 30. Konstanty relieved losing pitcher Bob Miller and pitched 3.1 innings, but was unable to keep it close. He surrendered four runs, thanks to home runs by Duke Snider and Roy Campanella.
The next day, the season concluded with a classic pitching duel between Philadelphia’s Robin Roberts and Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe. The game was tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, when Brooklyn’s Cal Abrams led off with a walk. The next batter, Pee Wee Reese, singled Abrams to second base. Snider followed with a line drive single to center field. Dodgers third base coach Milt Stock waved Abrams home, where he was thrown out by center fielder Richie Ashburn. Dodgers fans pilloried Abrams, who they felt should have scored easily, but took too wide a turn rounding third. In later years, Abrams blamed Stock for giving him a confusing, half-hearted wave. Roberts wriggled out of the jam, sending the game to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Dick Sisler hit a three-run homer off Newcombe, and Roberts preserved the 4-1 victory.
Beginnings
In the beginning, nobody could have foreseen that Konstanty would one day win an MVP Award. Born Casimir James Konstanty, a name that sounds more suitable for the United States Ambassador to Poland, the pitcher went by “Jim” professionally. At six-foot-one and 202 pounds, the bespectacled Konstanty looked more like an ambassador than a pitcher, too. The Reds acquired him from Springfield of the Eastern League before the 1942 season. In the midst of his third season with Double-A Syracuse, the Reds called him up to make his major league debut on June 18, 1944, at age 27. He posted a 6-4 record and 2.80 ERA with the Reds. However, in 1945, Uncle Sam had other plans for him, and no, he wasn’t appointed Ambassador to Poland. Konstanty was drafted into the Army instead. When he returned home in 1946, the Reds traded him to the Boston Braves for first baseman/outfielder Max West.
Konstanty began the 1946 season with a 5.28 ERA in 10 games. Despite these gaudy numbers, he unwisely approached Braves manager Billy Southworth and tried to parlay an offer from Mexico into a raise. Instead, Southworth sent him across the other border, to the Triple-A Toronto Maple Leafs, who had a working agreement with the Braves. Somehow, the Maple Leafs changed working agreements the way Elizabeth Taylor changed husbands. They began working with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1946 and the Boston Red Sox in 1947. Konstanty pitched without distinction as a starter in both seasons and never got a promotion to either the Athletics or the Red Sox. He considered retiring to become a teacher.
In 1948, the working agreement changed again, and Toronto was working with the Phillies. Toronto’s manager was Eddie Sawyer, who never played in the majors but was considered somewhat of a pitching guru with an eye for talent. Sawyer suggested that Konstanty move to the bullpen. There, Konstanty developed a screwball and a slider and began to thrive. Meanwhile, the Phillies hired Sawyer as their manager with 63 games left in the 1948 season. That September, needing relief help, Sawyer recommended a promotion for Konstanty as well.
“Just a Lot of Junk”
Across 1948-49, Konstanty had a 3.04 ERA and nine saves in 59 games out of the Phillies’ bullpen. He was baffling hitters with an array of soft pitches, with a curveball and a palm ball in his repertoire in addition to his slider and screwball. In the 1950 All-Star Game, he retired all three batters he faced, striking out two. Playing behind him at second base was Jackie Robinson of the rival Dodgers, getting a different perspective on Konstanty’s pitches. At one point, Robinson hollered at Konstanty, “That’s the pitch you always get me out on! What is it?” Konstanty replied, “Oh, that. That’s just a lot of junk I throw.”
Without diminishing Sawyer’s role in his career, Konstanty credited an undertaker for his spectacular 1950 season. Whenever Konstanty’s slider wasn’t working, he called on a friend simply known as “the undertaker” to come to Philadelphia, catch his pitches, and determine what he was doing wrong. In a confusing interview with Ed Pollock of the Philadelphia Bulletin, Konstanty identified his mysterious friend. “His name’s Andy Skinner,” revealed Konstanty, “and he’s called the undertaker because that’s his business. He’s an undertaker at home in Worcester, New York, and a great friend of mine. . . He never played ball, but he knows all about the slider and how it should be thrown – or how I should throw it.” So, who taught the undertaker all about the slider? “I did,” said Konstanty, laughing. Whatever works, right?
The World Series
The World Series began on October 4 at Shibe Park against the New York Yankees. Sawyer had a problem. His best starting pitcher, Roberts, who was 20-11, wasn’t available to start Game 1 after pitching 10 innings in the regular season finale. The Army had taken his No. 2 starter, Curt Simmons, who was 17-8. His other starters were hurting. With nobody else to turn to, Sawyer tabbed Konstanty to start the opener. The newspapers questioned the decision, calling Konstanty “tired” and an “old man.” He was 33.
Konstanty pitched well against the Yankees’ starter, Vic Raschi. In the fourth inning, the Yankees’ Bobby Brown led off with a pop-fly double off his fists and came around to score on two deep fly balls. It was the only run of the game, as the Yankees won, 1-0. Konstanty pitched eight innings, giving up four hits and four walks. He relieved in Game 3 and was charged with a blown save when a run scored on a two-out error. He tossed another 6.2 innings of relief in Game 4, as the Yankees swept the Series. All told, Konstanty pitched 15 innings in the Series, giving up four earned runs.
Aftermath
From 1951-54 with Philadelphia, Konstanty was 25-27 with a 4.15 ERA. On August 22, 1954, he went to the Yankees on a waiver claim. “I don’t blame the Phillies for giving up on me,” Konstanty told Edgar Williams for the September 1955 issue of Baseball Digest. “Over those four years, they gave me plenty of chances. I’m surprised they kept me as long as they did. But the ironic thing is that it was just a few days before they got waivers on me that I realized I was getting back into the groove at last.” Indeed, as a Yankee, he posted ERAs of 0.98 in 1954 and 2.32 in 1955. He politely declined Williams’s overtures to discuss the specifics of pitching, lest he tip off the opposition. “Ball players read,” he explained. (They do?)
Things didn’t go as well in 1956, and the eventual World Series champion Yankees released Konstanty on May 18. He finished the 1956 season with the St. Louis Cardinals, who released him thereafter. He gave it one more try with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League in 1957. After four games, he retired at the age of 40.
Konstanty passed away on June 11, 1976, at age 59, after a long illness. The funeral was held – where else? – at the Skinner Funeral Home in Worcester, New York. The undertaker was with him until the very end.
