1939-1940 1947-1949

Denny Galehouse was born on December 7, 1911, in Marshallville, Ohio. After graduating from Doylestown High School in 1928, he pitched for several local semipro teams before being signed by the Cleveland Indians. 

He began his professional career in 1930 and spent two seasons with Johnstown in the Mid-Atlantic League, improving dramatically in 1931. He pitched for the Fort Wayne Chiefs of the Central League in 1932 and his 136 strikeouts led the league, earning a promotion to the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association in 1933 and emerging as a top-flight pitching prospect.

During spring in 1934, Denny earned a spot on the Cleveland roster. He made his major league debut in April against the White Sox in Chicago, and after that single appearance, he was returned to New Orleans. He had a slightly better earned run average and again emerged as a postseason star for the Pelicans.

Before the start of the 1935 season, he was loaned to Minneapolis of the American Association, where he was 15-8, and later got into five games for the Indians. In the spring of 1936, he was out of options and reached the major leagues for good. 

In December 1938, Denny was traded to the Red Sox. It was the first of his two stints as a member of the Red Sox. He went 9-10 in 1939 and 6-6 in 1940, before being sold to the St. Louis Browns. In St. Louis, he put together the best seasons of his career. 

In 1943, he had a career-low 2.77 ERA and after the 1943 season, he went to work six days a week at the Goodyear Aircraft plant in Akron, Ohio, earning a deferment from the draft because he was over the age of 26, married with a child, and his job was classified as essential to the war effort. He kept in shape by serving as pitching coach for the Cuyahoga High School baseball team and made an occasional appearance pitching for a local semipro team. 

In High School baseball mid-May of 1944, the Browns, in need of pitching, persuaded him to become a so-called “Sunday pitcher.” So, for the next three months, he left Akron after his Saturday shift, traveled all night by train to wherever the Browns were playing, pitched the first game of the Sunday doubleheader, then immediately returned to Akron and put in another full six-day work week at the factory before repeating the process the following weekend. 

In July, when it became clear that the Browns had a chance to win the pennant, Denny learned that if he quit his job at the Goodyear plant he was unlikely to be drafted until the fall. He joined the Browns full time for the balance of the season and helped St. Louis capture the pennant and earn the right to play the Cardinals in an all-St. Louis World Series.

He was indeed drafted into the Navy in April of 1945 and spent most of 1945 pitching for the Great Lakes Naval team in Chicago.

He rejoined the Browns in 1946 and after a slow start was purchased by the Red Sox in June 1947. Over the next three months, he was terrific, going 11-7 with a 3.32 ERA.

In 1948, Denny resumed his accustomed role at the back of the rotation for the Red Sox, making 26 appearances and 14 starts. But when the Red Sox and Indians ended the regular season tied for first place, he was destined to pitch one more game.

One day after the end of the regular season, the Red Sox and Indians met in a one-game playoff in Fenway Park to decide the American League pennant. Mel Parnell, who had three days’ rest, was 15-8 for the season and had already beaten the Indians three times in 1948.  When he arrived at Fenway that day he expected to pitch, only to be told by manager Joe McCarthy that he had decided to pitch Denny Galehouse, something that was a total surprise to Denny. Whatever led McCarthy to make his decision, Sox fans know what happened next.

Then, just a few weeks into the 1949 season, the Red Sox, as if trying to erase the memory of the loss, released Denny. He pitched the remainder of the 1949 season with Seattle in the Pacific Coast League and then retired in 1950.

Denny was hired by the Red Sox as a scout covering the Midwest, a position he held for the Red Sox, Tigers, Mets, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Padres for the next 48 years.

Denny Galehouse passed away from heart disease, at age 86, on October 12, 1998, in Doylestown, Ohio.