I've discussed the great pennant race performances of pitchers over the last 50 years. It's time to look at some of the legendary pennant race performances from long ago. These performances help to explain why certain pitchers with conspicuously thin career qualifications for the Hall were nonetheless inducted into the Hall of Fame. They also help to explain why some pitchers who were never seriously considered for the Hall are nonetheless revered by the oldtimers. Some names will be very familiar, others less so. But each of these pitchers put together performances in the heat of pennant races that lifted their teams to glory.

Dizzy Dean, 1934

Let's start with Dizzy Dean. Everybody knows about Dizzy's 30-win season for the Gashouse Gang in '34.They might not recall however that it was Dizzy's performance in August and September of '34 that made him a national figure and a baseball legend, as Dizzy led the Cards comeback to catch the defending World Champion Giants.

After briefly leading the NL in late May the Cards had fallen behind the Giants and remained between 5 and 7 games behind the defending World Champs for most of July and August. The Cards kept pace with the Giants throughout August and early September but failed to make up much ground. They were still 4.5 games back on September 16th when Dizzy squared off againt the Giants. Dean and the Cards beat the Giants 5-3 to close to 3.5 games back with 14 left to play. With time running out, the Cards decided to hitch their fortunes to Dean's arm and began pitching him virtually every other day in an effort to catch the Giants. Dean pitched a three-hit shutout against the Dodgers on Sept. 21, pitched in relief in both ends of a doubleheader two days later on the 23rd, pitched a complete game victory on Sept. 25, pitched a complete-game shutout on two days rest on the 28th, and then pitched a complete-game shutout on one day's rest on the 30th. All in all, Dizzy pitched in six of the Cards' last 11 games as they caught and passed the Giants.

From August 1 to the end of the season, Dizzy went 12-3 with 3 saves, posting an incredible 1.48 ERA in 155.1 innings and winning his last nine starts in a row. Dean's fast finish not only brought a pennant to the Gashouse Gang, it permitted him to win 30 games - the last time a National League pitcher would ever accomplish that feat.

Dean topped off his dream season by winning two of his three starts against the Tigers in the World Series, including the clincher in game seven. There is no question that Dean's superhuman achievements during the Cards dash to the NL pennant in '34 form the bulk of the Dean legend and was a significant part of his elevation to the Hall. Without that performance, and the 30 win season that resulted from the Cards decision to pitch Dean every other day down the stretch, it's likely Dizzy wouldn't be in the Hall.

Jesse Haines, 1928

The Cardinals were perennial contenders in the mid and late-20's, and Jesse Haines was their ace. After spending most of 1926 as the Cards' No. 3 starter, Haines came to the fore in the legendary World Series matchup with the Yankees of the Murderers Row era, pitching a complete-game shutout in game 3 and winning the decisive 7th game with a 6.2 inning, two run effort against Ruth, Gehrig and Co.

Haines was the unquestioned ace of the Cards staff in 1927, going 24-10 as the Cards narrowly missed winning another NL pennant. Haines pitched brilliantly in August, helping the Cards keep pace with the Pirates and Giants in a torrid three-way race, but stumbled in September and the Cards came up short. Haines redeemed himself in 1928, however, putting together a pennant race performance that ranks among the best in baseball history.

The Cards were just half a game in front on August 24th when Haines took the mound against the Phillies. Haines' shutout against the Phils triggered a five-game winning streak that extended the Cards' lead to 5.5 games by August 28th. But the lead slowly dwindled through early and mid-September and remained between one and two games for much of the last two weeks of the season. As the Cards were trying to hang on, Jesse Haines was the Cards' personal life preserver. Beginning with his win against the Phils on August 24th, Haines reeled off eight consecutive complete game victories, compiling a 1.38 ERA over that stretch. Three of Haines' last four starts came with the Cards up by one game or less. Haines didn't allow as much as three earned runs in any of those eight starts until the last one, when he beat the Boston Braves to keep the Cards up by one with three games to go.

The Cards held on to win the NL pennant but were swept by the Murderers Row Yankees in the World Series. Haines started and lost game 3 of the Series, after two errors on one play by Cards catcher Jimmie Wilson led to three Yankees runs that broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth. Even with this loss, however, Haines' numbers against the great Yankee lineups in the '26 and '28 World Series are impressive: in four appearances against Murderers Row in those two World Series, Haines won two of his three starts and put up a 1.99 ERA. Haines added a complete-game four-hitter against the A's in the 1930 World Series, and finished his World Series career with a 3-1 record and 1.67 ERA, World Series stats virtually identical to Ron Guidry's.

Jesse Haines 210 career wins and .571 winning percentage didn't much impress the BBWAA during the '50s and early '60s, but Jesse finally made the Hall in 1970 because enough Veterans Committee members remembered Jesse Haines' central role on those Cardinals teams that fought Murderers Row to a draw in the '26 and '28 World Series.

Big Bill Lee, 1938

Big Bill's remarkable stretch drive in the great NL pennant race of 1938 has been largely overshadowed by Gabby Hartnett's legendary "homer in the gloamin'" that gave the Cubs a crucial victory over the Pirates just as umpires were preparing to call the game due to darkness. Hartnett's homer, however, wouldn't even be a footnote to history but for Lee's astounding September performance because the Cubs would have already been eliminated.

The Pirates entered September with a fairly comfortable lead over the Cubs, Giants and Reds, who appeared to be in a tight race for 2nd place. The Pirates faltered in early September, however, and by September 14 the four teams were separated by just 3.5 games. Lee began September by shutting out the Pirates. He then pitched shutouts against the Reds and Giants, helping to move the Cubs into 2nd place just 2.5 games behind the Pirates. Lee pitched a fourth consecutive shutout on Sept. 22nd against the Phillies, but the Cubs were still 3.5 games back with 13 to play. Lee's scoreless streak was finally snapped by the Cardinals on Sept. 26, but Lee pitched his fifth straight complete-game victory. The Pirates arrived in Chicago the next day  with a 1.5 game lead to begin a three game series with the 2nd place Cubs. The stage was set for one of the most remarkable finishes in NL history.

A diminished but still formidable Dizzy Dean was tapped by the Cubs to pitch the first game against the Bucs. Dean's arm was no longer what it was, damaged as a result of his attempt to compensate by overthrowing after a line-drive in the '37 All-Star game broke a toe on his landing foot and restricted his ability to follow through. Dizzy was only a once-a-week pitcher for the Cubs in '38, but when he pitched he was spectacular, taking a 6-1 record and 1.91 ERA to the mound to face the Pirates. Dean pitched brilliantly against the Pirates and took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Dizzy had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs in the ninth when Hartnett, the Cubs manager, waved in Bill Lee. Lee promptly through a wild pitch that allowed the runner to score from third, but with the tie run just 90 feet away Lee struck out Pirate catcher Al Todd to end the game. The Cubs were just half a game behind the Bucs.

The next day the Cubs and Pirates were tied 3-3 when the Pirates scored two runs in the 8th inning off Cub pitcher Larry French to take a 5-3 lead. Hartnett brought in Big Bill with no one out in the 8th to stem the rally and Lee managed to finish the inning without permitting further damage. It was Lee's third appearance in three days. The Cubs responded with two runs in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game 5-5, and Lee, who was slated to start the next day's game, was replaced by Charlie Root to pitch the top of the 9th. Root held the Pirates scoreless in the 9th, and the rest is history. Hartnett's bottom of the 9th shot in the gathering darkness at Wrigley Field remains one of the most famous home runs in baseball history.

The Cubs were now in first place for the first time since early June. Lee took the mound to make his fourth appearance in four days; his last start had been just three days prior. The Cubs, perhaps conscious of the fact that Lee was running on fumes, scored three runs in the bottom of the first to take a quick lead. By the end of the fifth inning the Cubs had an 8-1 lead, having pounded the Pirates pitching trio of Bauers, Brandt and Blanton. The Cubs won the game 10-1 to finish the series with the Bucs with a 1.5 game lead. Lee recorded his sixth complete game victory in September. For the month, Lee was 6-0 with two saves and a microscopic 0.64 ERA. He had started four games against the other contenders in the NL race and won them all, with wins over the Pirates bookending his month. The Cubs held on to win the pennant, maintaining their lead over the Pirates for the last three games of the season.

Lee started the first and fourth games of the World Series for the Cubs against the Yankee juggernaut manned by a roster of Hall of Famers. Lee pitched well but to no avail, surrendering just three earned runs in 11 innings against the likes of Gehrig, Dimaggio, Dickey, Gordon and Henrich, but losing both games. Ruffing and Gomez were too much for the Cubs batters, and the Yankees swept the Series.

When one considers Lee's iron-man performance against the Pirates in late September and the fact that three of his four September shutouts came against other contenders, Big Bill's pennant race performance for the Cubs in '38 might be the most spectacular in National League history.