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By
Larry Napolitano
On June 17, 1952, the Holy Cross baseball team put the final
exclamation point on a season that is widely considered to
be one of the greatest of all time. The small school from
New England shocked the bigger schools of Texas, Missouri,
Western Michigan and Penn State to capture the NCAA Championship.
The Crusaders outscored their opponents, 52-17, in the seven
games to become the first, and only, team from New England
to win the College World Series.
The 1952 season was a magical one for the Crusaders under
the direction of fiery skipper Jack Barry. The team featured
a dominating pitching staff and explosive offense that enabled
the Purple and White to outscore its opposition, 189-92.
Holy Cross opened the season in the middle of April, and
after its exhibition game with major league baseball's Boston
Braves was rained out, the Crusaders squared off against
a tough Dartmouth squad. The Crusaders defeated the Big Green,
4-2, and went on to win its first eight games before falling
in 15 innings to the same Dartmouth squad. That loss would
prove to be one of only two setbacks during the regular season
for Holy Cross, as the Crusaders quickly rebounded to knock
off the Crimson of Harvard and the Bantams of Trinity College
by the combined score of 25-10. After a hard-fought 16-inning
5-4 win over arch-rival Boston College, the Crusaders outlasted
both Providence (16-14) and Yale (8-4). On June 7, Holy Cross
dropped a 10-7 decision to Amherst College. The three runs
proved to be its largest margin of defeat for the College
that year. The Crusaders again showed great resiliency by
completing a season sweep of Boston College, defeating the
Eagles, 6-4 and 13-3. The victories gave the team exactly
what it was looking for—its first appearance in the
NCAA Tournament.
In the sixth annual double-elimination tournament played
at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, which is still the site of
the College World Series, Holy Cross played the school's
first-ever night games and saw a number of heroes step up
their play and lead the team to the gold. In game one against
Western Michigan, the Crusaders dominated as hurler Jim "Shuffles" O'Neill
'52 pitched a masterful five hitter, while striking out six.
The Crusaders scored two runs in the second inning and three
more in the third to shock the Broncos, 5-1.
In its second game, Holy Cross met up with a powerful Missouri
squad which it would get to know quite well in the days to
come. Despite a wonderful one-hit pitching performance by
third-year player Jackie Lonergan '53, who had a no-hitter
heading into the seventh inning, the Tigers capitalized on
a seventh inning error to score the game's lone run and push
the Crusaders into the losers bracket. Holy Cross' shot at
tying the game failed to come to fruition as Missouri executed
a perfect relay which cut down Frank Matrango '52 at the
plate in the ninth inning.
Now facing an incredible uphill climb, Holy Cross' fate
seemed dire in that its next opponent would be two-time NCAA
champion and perennial baseball power, University of Texas.
With every game possibly being its last, Holy Cross showed
its true heart and soul and fought on. In that first elimination
game, the Longhorns got on the board first with a run in
the second inning but that was all the powerful Texas attack
could muster against the crafty pitching of Ronnie Perry
'54. Johnny Turco '52 refused to let his season end as he
helped lift his Crusader teammates on his back by driving
in Fran Dyson '53 with the first run of the contest and then
scoring what proved to be the game-winner in the bottom of
the eighth. Holy Cross had survived, and the mighty Longhorns
were sent packing.
On June 15, the Crusaders would play a tough double header
which would prove that the team was not only talented, but
that fate was on their side. In game three, Holy Cross met
Western Michigan for the second time in three days. The Broncos
scored two runs in the top of the first inning and carried
a 3-1 lead into the fourth before the Crusaders exploded
for 14 unanswered runs to capture a 15-3 win. Holy Cross
hammered out 17 hits and Artie Mossmann '53 and Peter Naton
'53 each connected on home runs. O'Neill won his second game
of the tournament, scattering nine hits in the complete game
win.
Despite playing in the blazing Omaha sun, the Crusaders
used some local help to rebound quickly from the Western
Michigan game and battle Penn State in the nightcap. The
squad went to a nearby Jesuit school, Creighton University,
and stood in water up to their necks to try to cool down
between games. Fortunately for Holy Cross, the pool did not
cool down the Crusaders' bats as they connected on a 1952
tournament high of 19 hits and scored another 15 runs in
a 15-4 win over the Nittany Lions. Turco again proved to
be the hitting star, going 5-for-5 at the plate, while the
lefty Lonergan evened his NCAA Tournament record at 1-1 with
a complete game victory. The win eliminated Penn State from
the tournament and set the stage for the Crusaders' rematch
with the tournament's lone undefeated team, Missouri.
Holy Cross avenged the earlier setback to the Tigers and
forced a one-game Championship with a 7-3 win on June 16.
Perry pitched his second complete game in a little more than
30 hours to capture the win. He scattered seven hits, allowing
just three runs, and was helped out by the clutch hitting
of Matrango and Dick Hogan '53. With the score tied at one,
the Crusaders exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth
inning to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Missouri added one
run in the bottom of the sixth and one more in the bottom
of the eighth, but that was all they could muster as Perry
and Crusaders held the Tigers at bay. In the tournament championship
game, Holy Cross again proved how strong it was both on and
off the field. The Crusaders, playing their seventh game
in six days, jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after two innings
of play. Missouri answered back with two runs in the fifth
and two more in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead and seemingly
take control of the contest. The Tigers were just nine outs
away from the National Championship, but they did not count
on the heart of these Crusaders. Holy Cross responded with
three runs in the top of the seventh, sparked by a bases-loaded
single by Matrango, which plated two runs. Matrango's hit
came after Missouri walked Crusader shortstop Jack Concannon
'52. The Crusaders continued to keep the pressure on and
after a scoreless eighth inning, Holy Cross added two more
runs in the top of the ninth to secure the victory and its
place in collegiate baseball history. O'Neill continued to
display his masterful pitching as he picked up his third
win of the tournament, all complete games, in six days.
O'Neill earned Tournament Most Valuable Player honors with
his remarkable three-win pitching performance, allowing just
eight runs in 27 innings of work. Turco joined O'Neill on
the All-America Team while Crusader coach Jack Barry was
named National Coach of the Year. The Crusaders' resiliency
was no more evident than in the fact that Barry used just
11 players during the entire series, including three pitchers,
who pitched a record seven complete games.
Some may say that the 1952 Holy Cross baseball team was
one of destiny, fighting off elimination and setting a NCAA
World Series record by winning six games and becoming one
of just two independent teams (Miami, 1982, 1985) to win
the NCAA Tournament. But this team was about more than destiny,
it was about a group of young men who epitomized Crusader
athletics. They fought hard and would accept nothing less
than leaving every ounce of energy they had on the field
and were awarded with a championship. The '52 season needs
to be remembered as one of great pride for the College because
it was in that season that the rest of the baseball nation
saw what it meant to be a Crusader.
Larry Napolitano is the coordinator of athletic media
relations at Holy Cross.
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