Babe Herman: Born to Be a DH

Image credits: BB Classic Replays

If ever a man was born 50 years too soon, it was Floyd Caves Herman.

The 6-foot-4, 190-pound right-hander could hit any pitcher.

But as an outfielder, he was slow, prone to misjudging fly balls, and far from sure-handed when he got to them. He sometimes played first base to keep his bat in the game.

Over 16 years, he batted .324, reaching a high of .393 in 1930.

Having picked up the nickname “Babe” in the minor leagues, it stuck with him when the Brooklyn Robins (formerly and later the Dodgers), bought him. He broke in with Brooklyn in 1926, batted .326, and immediately became a Brooklyn hero.

“They had a lot of foreign-born fans,” he later recalled, “and they spoke Brooklynese. They called me 'Baby da Hoim'.”

The Robins were named for their popular longtime manager Wilbert “Uncle Robbie” Robinson, who had won two pennants with them before sinking into mediocrity with a cast of characters that picked up the reputation of daffiness that defined them in the 1930s.

Babe Herman played a leading role in two of their daffiest incidents, one long remembered and one long forgotten.

Three Men on Third

First, let's set the record straight: it was never a triple into a triple play; it was a double into a double play.

On Sunday, August 15, 1926, the Boston Braves were at Ebbets Field for a doubleheader. In the seventh inning of the first game, Babe Herman came up to bat with the bases loaded and one out. DeBerry was on third, Vance on second and Fewster on first. Herman hit a line drive off the right field screen. DeBerry scored.

Vance held up, thinking the ball might be caught. When it hit the screen, he rounded third and started for home. Then he heard the third base coach hollering, “Back! Back!” Vance put on the brakes and dove back to third. But the coach had been yelling at Herman, who was running with his head down and about to pass Fewster. Too late. Fewster and Herman slid into third base at about the same time.

When the umpires sorted it all out, Vance was entitled to third base, Fewster, who had reached second successfully, was tagged out, Herman was credited with a double, but was called out for passing Fewster.

The Rookie’s Debut

Alta Cohen, a native of Newark, New Jersey, across the river from Brooklyn, had been purchased from Macon by the Robins in the fall of 1930. In 1931 the 22-year-old rookie outfielder was with the Robins when they opened the season in Boston on April 14. The next day, he made the most unusual debut ever recorded in the major leagues. 

The Robins were playing a ragged game, trailing by several runs in the early innings.  Babe Herman was in right field for the Robins. At one point in the game, Uncle Robbie attempted to signal Herman to move for the next Braves batter, Herman, an indifferent outfielder at best, ignored the manager's signs. When the half-inning ended, Robinson lit into Herman in the dugout. Herman responded, “If you don't like it, send somebody else out there.”

Robinson said, “I will,” and turned to part-time outfielder Ike Boone. “Take over for Babe.” But first he sent Boone up to pinch-hit for the pitcher. When the inning ended, Boone ran out to right field and was announced as Herman's replacement.

But the Boston outfield was spacious, and Boone was no gazelle, Uncle Robbie immediately realized he had made a mistake, Before the first pitch, he called time out, looked down the bench and spotted the rookie, Alta Cohen. 

“Take over for Boone,” he barked. Cohen picked up his glove and headed for right field. This made Cohen a replacement for Boone, who had batted for the pitcher, not Herman. But when the Robins batted next, Cohen, thinking that Boone had replaced Herman in the batting order instead of the pitcher, batted in Herman's cleanup spot and lined a single to right.

Nobody on either team noticed that he had batted out of order. Five batters later, when the pitcher's spot came up, Cohen was reminded that he was due up to bat.  So the rookie marched up to the plate and lined his second hit. He wound up going 2-for-3.

After the game, when reporters visited the Robins' clubhouse, the rookie mentioned to Quentin Reynolds, the Dodgers' beat writer for the New York World-Telegram, “Do you think there will be anything in the paper about my two hits? I'd like my mother in Newark to know about it.”

Reynolds, later an acclaimed war correspondent and feature writer, sensed an angle. He wrote his story in the form of a letter to Mrs. Cohen at her Newark address and filed it with Western Union. In the middle of the night, his editor called him looking for his game story. Insisting he had filed it, Reynolds raced to the Western Union office where he learned that the telegrapher had glanced at the lead, saw Mrs. Cohen's name and address, and sent the 800-word telegram to Mrs. Cohen. 

The next day Alta Cohen was farmed out to Hartford for the rest of the season, leaving a .667 BA for his rookie year. He had five hits in nine games with the Robins in 1932, was released in May 1933 and signed with the Phillies, where he had six hits in 19 games, finishing his big league career with a .194 BA.

Cohen spent several more years in the minor leagues, became a successful business owner, and died at the age of 94.