Robin Roberts And The Whiz Kids Collapse, Philadelphia Phillies at New York Giants, September 28, 1950 (Recreation)

The Philadelphia Phillies were meant to have the 1950 National League sewn up. With two weeks left in the regular season, they were seven and a half ahead of the Red Sox and nine ahead of the Dodgers. Then they collapsed.

In the second-last series of the season, the Phillies travel to the Polo Grounds to take on a rampaging New York Giants who have won 15 of their last 25 games. The Phillies? Just three wins in the last ten games. The Giants are one win away from the sweep, which would force the Phillies into a win-or-go-home deciding series against the Dodgers.

Things are going no better for pitcher Robin Roberts. This is the third game he has started with nineteen wins. No Phillies pitcher has won 20 games since 1917, and Roberts can’t get himself over the line. He lost 1-0 to Chicago, then 3-2 to the Dodgers. 

Roberts is running out of starts, the Whiz Kids are running out of time, and Philadelphia is running out of patience.

Ewan Spence and the Classic Baseball Radio team bring you this recreated radio broadcast from September 28, 1950. This should not be considered a complete or fully accurate historical record. Nevertheless, this is our story of the game.

We thank Retrosheet, Sports Reference, Sports Logos Net, Tom R Audio, and  Crafting The Call.

(Editor's note: Our commentary notes listed the Giants as winning 20 of the preceding 25 games; it is, in fact 15 from the last 25).

LINKS

Boxscore:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN197306190.shtml 

Philadelphia Phillies in 1950

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_Philadelphia_Phillies_season

New York Giants in 1950

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_New_York_Giants_(MLB)_season 

Robin Roberts profile:

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/robin-roberts/ 

The Whiz Kids

https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/whiz-kids/ 

The Whiz Kids at 75

https://ballnine.com/2025/06/19/whiz75/ 

The Ballparks: Polo Grounds

https://thisgreatgame.com/ballparks-polo-grounds/ 

The colorful career of Wes Westrum, Bemidji State’s only World Series winner

https://bsualumni.org/the-colorful-career-of-wes-westrum-bemidji-states-only-world-series-winner/ 

Eddie Stankey profile

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/eddie-stanky/  

Bobby Thompson at the Scottish Sports Hall Of Fame

https://sshf.sportscotland.org.uk/inductees/bobby-thomson/index.html