Читать книгу Bad Boys, Bad Times. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Prewar Years, 1937–1941 онлайн

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Allen would lead all Major League starting pitchers with an unreal winning percentage of .938. In 173 innings of work, he allowed only four home runs and posted a career-best ERA of 2.55, good for third place in the American League. In two years of pitching for Cleveland, Allen had an impressive record of thirty-five wins and only eleven losses. One can only wonder what might have happened if he had not suffered the two attacks of appendicitis.

Throughout the victory streak, Allen kept his outbursts and combative personality under control. But after losing his final appearance of the season and a chance to tie the American League record, Allen reportedly let it all go. Franklin “Whitey” Lewis, at that time a writer for the Cleveland Press, later claimed that Allen went after Sammy Hale at least twice. Round one occurred in the visitors’ locker room, where the two had words and the fight was on. Several players and Manager O’Neill had to step in and separate the two. In the dining car on the train back to Cleveland, Allen supposedly had more choice words for Hale, initiating round two. Once again O’Neill had to get between the angry ballplayers and stay there until the train reached Cleveland. None of the other Cleveland reporters mentioned the incidents. Either it was a case of what happens in the locker room stays there, or the confrontation may have been exaggerated. In any event, it was an attention-grabbing story and something that fit right into Johnny Allen’s mode of behavior.