Kornacki: The Triumph and Legacy of Michigan's 1953 NCAA Baseball Champions
10/26/2017 4:36:00 PM | Baseball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
It was a hot, humid night in Omaha, Nebraska, and it was made even more unbearable by the flannel uniforms that baseball teams wore back in 1953.
The Wolverines were dripping with perspiration, and then there was something else to sweat about. The University of Texas had already scored one run in the top of the ninth inning of the NCAA championship game to cut Michigan's lead to two runs, and the bases were loaded with one out.
Wolverines coach Ray Fisher, in his 32nd season, came to the mound to make his second pitching change of the inning. He called on Jack Ritter, the sophomore left-hander from Toledo, Ohio, who had beaten the Longhorns by going the distance just three days prior, to put out the fire.
Paul Mohr and his .388 batting average awaited Ritter.
"Jack had a Major League curveball," said Michigan first baseman Bill Mogk. "A St. Louis Cardinals scout tried to sign him right after that game because of his curveball. But on his warmup pitches to (catcher) Dick Leach, he did not hit Leach with a single one. He was in the dirt, up here, over there.
"Jack could not throw a strike, and so Dick Leach came out to the mound with a helmet on, a mask on top of his head, dirty and grubby, and just said to Jack in no uncertain terms, 'Hit the glove!'"
Mogk, on the mound with the other infielders, said Leach then told a quick joke to emphasize his point.
"It just broke us up and we all laughed," said Mogk. "The umpire came out and said, 'What are you guys doing?' And it really loosened us up."
Rick Leach, Dick's son, became an All-America quarterback and outfielder for the Wolverines and went onto a 10-year career in the majors after the Detroit Tigers drafted him in the first round in 1979.
"It was absolutely special to watch Rick do what he did," said Mogk.
Mogk returned to describing the ninth inning of the deciding game: "So, Paul Mohr, their big first baseman, steps up, and he's from Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is right across the (Missouri) River from Omaha, and so half of that town is there at the game. Mohr never took his bat off his shoulder. All he saw was curveballs from Jack Ritter and he was called out on strikes."
Wolverines starting and winning pitcher Marvin Wisniewski added, "Jack threw three of the most fabulous curveballs that I had ever seen or have seen since."
It all came down to Ritter and pinch-hitter Randy Bisenbach, a catcher who had been Mogk's teammate four summers prior in the prestigious Hearst Sandlot Classic, a high school all-star game played at New York's Polo Grounds.
"Jack, again with that curveball, jammed him on the handle," said Mogk. "He hit a ball that was coming to me and it wasn't a shot. It was one of those that you have time to think about, and when you think in baseball, you're in trouble. All I knew was that ball was not going to go through me. You know Billy Buckner?"
He recalled Buckner, the Boston Red Sox first baseman whose fielding error helped the New York Mets to a 1986 World Series triumph.
"I could've invented that play," said Mogk, "but I chose not to. I just went down and fielded it like a regular ground ball. I picked up the ball and stepped to my left with one stride, stepped on the base, and that was it. The ballgame was over.
"It was surreal, and we hadn't really comprehended what we'd done. But it sunk in a little bit later. We all ran to the mound and were jumping up and down. We didn't do all of that piling on one another they do now, but we were in a zone.
"Ray announced the bus for Ann Arbor was leaving at 7 a.m., and said not to stay up all night. We drove straight through that next day and got home the following day at three in the morning."
Michigan captain Bill Mogk accepts the NCAA District 4 championship trophy after the Wolverines beat Ohio University, 7-0, in Ann Arbor to advance to the 1953 College World Series. It's presented by local businessman Harold Kleis. Coach Ray Fisher and Notre Dame coach Jake Kline, an NCAA district commissioner, are to the right.
The Wolverines became the Big Ten's first national champions in baseball, but the dog-pile that has become customary for winning college titles, as well as the enormity of the College World Series, was decades down the road.
They played at Rosenblatt Stadium before 5,303 fans in the 1953 title showdown, and the 2017 College World Series championship game had 26,607 attend at state-of-the-art TD Ameritrade Park, while attracting a significant TV audience on ESPN.
"We look at that and we just marvel at it," said Mogk.
All-America left fielder Paul Lepley, who doubled and scored a run in the 7-5 victory, recalled: "I remember how hot it was that day. It was extremely hot and humid, and we were the underdogs, a dark horse. But we beat Texas and it was a thrill to be part of that team.
"It was surreal to me, to win the championship."
Wisniewski added, "When Bill stepped on the bag, Katy bar the door, history was made."
Wisniewski pitched well headed into the ninth inning, and picked up his third consecutive postseason victory. He threw a two-hit shutout to beat Ohio University to advance to Omaha, and then hurled another complete-game shutout in the Series opener against Stanford, winning, 4-0, in 94-degree heat and changing uniforms twice during the contest.
Most of those 18 Michigan players who triumphed back on June 16, 1953, remained friends. They stayed in one another's lives.
They will be honored Saturday (Oct. 28) at the Homecoming football game with Rutgers on the 65th anniversary of their triumph being celebrated this school year. Mogk and outfielder Paul Fancher, who lives in Ann Arbor, are scheduled to represent their team. The majority of those players are deceased, while many of the others are in their late 80s and have difficulty traveling long distances.
What do they cherish most about winning that championship?
"The relationships we had with our teammates," said Mogk. "And then, when guys got married, the wives came in and we became a social group. Most of us live in different places, but whenever we get together it's just so special."
Mogk, before one team reunion, put together a scrapbook of the season from newspaper clippings his mother saved and presented copies to every teammate.
Lepley concurred: "What I cherish most are the other players. We've stayed close all these years."
Wisniewski, 83, said they all take great pride in one another. He has three daughters and has been married to his wife, Joanna, for 62 years. They live near Denver, and he only recently retired from sales and management positions in pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. He loves telling you about both his grandchildren and the guys who ended up being his lifelong friends.
"The one thing that came out of the whole thing was the camaraderie," said Wisniewski, who also pitched in the minors for the Baltimore Orioles organization before a rotator cuff injury ended his career. "We were fortunate that we had leaders on the team like Mogk and (Bruce) Hayman, who had been the captain in '52."
Mogk said one of the reasons they bonded tightly was that Fisher focused on coaching the pitchers "and we coached each other." Matt Pattinelli, an assistant basketball coach, joined Fisher as an assistant in Omaha, Mogk recalled.
"One of the reasons we were so close was the sense of self-preservation we had for one another," said Mogk.
1953 Michigan baseball team at 60th anniversary celebration in 2013: (left to right) Garby Tadian, Ray Pavichevich, Paul Lepley, Marvin Wisniewski, Dan Cline, Bill Mogk, Dick Leach, Paul Fancher, Jack Ritter, Jack Corbett.
Lepley noted that third baseman Don Eaddy and center fielder Frank Howell were the first African-American players on the Wolverines to make a season-opening Southern swing that season. They were told they could get box lunches to go and nothing more at one restaurant in Virginia, and the rest of the team insisted on getting the same meal to go rather than dining inside.
"We were shocked by traveling to the South and experiencing that kind of thing with Don and Frank," said Lepley. "I was totally shocked, without question."
After winning those four World Series games in Omaha, Fisher -- who was voted national college coach of the year and would coach five more seasons and finish with a school-record 636 victories -- was quoted by Mill Marsh of The Ann Arbor News:
"We did far better than I really expected. We had a wonderful bunch of kids this year, and they reached their peak during the tournament.
"I was especially pleased by the pitching performance turned in by sophomore Jack Ritter, and of course the mound work of Marvin Wisniewski and Jack Corbett."
Michigan led the Big Ten in batting (.288), doubles (24), triples (nine), hits (123), runs (94) and walks (74) in conference games. They also were tops with 15 double plays turned.
Shortstop Haynam, a 5-foot-6 fielding whiz whom Mogk termed "a Phil Rizzuto-type who could go in the hole like nobody else," was voted All-America first team by coaches. Lepley, a third-team All-America and first-team All-Big Ten pick, hit .396 and had the most hits in Big Ten play that season with 21 and shared the conference lead in triples (eight) and RBIs (16) with Howell, a second-team All-Big Ten selection.
Haynam (.360) and Eaddy also were first-team all-conference. Mogk led the Big Ten with 16 runs scored and Corbett (.375), who also played outfield, was tops with five doubles.
Eaddy was the only member of the team to reach the majors, "getting a cup of coffee" with the 1959 Chicago Cubs. He died in 2008.
Lepley signed with the Detroit Tigers and got as far as Triple-A Buffalo, one step from the majors. He became a teacher and coached college baseball at Castleton (Vermont) University, while also getting a master's degree at Penn State and a doctorate from Temple before becoming an administrator and counselor at several colleges.
"I broke my leg when I was playing in Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) in the Eastern League," said Lepley, who now lives near Boston. "I always tell everybody that was the best break I ever had. My wife, Virginia, was a student nurse at the hospital there and I met her, and we got married. We're still married 62 years later."
Bruce Haynam slides and beats the tag during the 1953 College World Series.
Both Lepley and Mogk have four children, and Mogk has been married to his second wife, Lynne, for 35 years.
Mogk was heavily scouted by his hometown Tigers, but the amateur draft was a dozen years away and he didn't end up signing after college. He was a high school and middle school teacher, counselor and principal in Grosse Pointe, and volunteered as an assistant baseball coach at Grosse Pointe South High for 10 seasons after retiring.
Mogk was selected for the Michigan Hall of Honor in 2002, joining teammates Haynam and outfielder Dan Cline.
"That is unbelievable for me," said Mogk. "Bruce, yes! Danny Cline, who went on to have a good senior year and did really super in the World Series, yes. My stats are OK and I was the captain, but when I look at the people who are in there…"
Chris Getz, who went onto Michigan and then a major-league career, was the star of Grosse Pointe South's state championship team that won it all on June 16, 2001.
"That was 48 years to the day after we won it all in Omaha," said Mogk, shaking his head. "I'm very proud of my two championship rings won on the same date."
The trophy from their NCAA championship, which capped a Big Ten co-championship season that finished with a 21-8 overall record, is now housed at Fisher Stadium, which was known simply as the Ferry Field ballpark back in their day. It didn't have offices, luxury suites or an elevator back then.
"When I look at the trophy now," said Mogk, "there's a sense of pride for all of our guys: 'We did it! We did it!' And there wasn't anybody on the team that did it for themselves. We were a chemistry team.
"There was something else our team took pride in. We all graduated on time. Coach (Rich) Maloney was the first coach who really embraced our team about 15 years ago. During one of our reunions, he had us come back after practice and talk to his team. He wanted us to tell them what we did with our degrees, and you could've heard a pin drop because we have doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, college professors."
Mogk reached into a folder and shared a photo taken of an inspirational plaque the heroes of '53 put up in the team's locker room at Maloney's request. Mogk combined with Fancher to write their message.
"I think this is what we are most proud of," said Mogk, noting that current coach Erik Bakich also has adopted their team. "It represents the heart of the '53 team."
The plaque is titled, "Words of Inspiration and Encouragement from Coach Ray Fisher and the 1953 Wolverines," and reads:
"Experience success on the diamond and in the classroom.
Contribute positively to the history of the M Baseball Program.
Represent the M Baseball Program honorably on and off the field.
Support your teammates and the M Baseball Program in the future.
Benefit from your total M experience throughout your lifetime."
In closing, it recalls Fisher's pet phrase ("A Rayism," noted Mogk.) that the players still use with one another:
"When we are ready to act, we still hear Coach Ray Fisher saying, 'Let's we go.' Now it is your turn to be a champion.
"Let's we go."
Michigan Alumnus article on U-M winning championship | Michiganensian story from 1954 edition
