Cuddles Marshall

Clarence Westly Marshall

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 200 lb.
• School Western Washington College of Education
• High School Bellingham High School
• Debut April 24, 1946
• Final Game September 30, 1950
• Born April 28, 1925 in Bellingham, WA USA
• Died December 14, 2007 in Saugus, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Twenty-one-year-old Cuddles Marshall of the New York Yankees was the starting pitcher for the club in the first night game ever played at Yankee Stadium, on May 28, 1946, before a crowd of 49,917 fans. The Washington Senators defeated the Yankees, 2-1. The opposing pitcher was knuckleball specialist Dutch Leonard.

"The biggest highlight of my career was pitching the first night game ever in the stadium," said Cuddles. "I had just won my first game up in Detroit. Then we got to Boston and came back home. Bill Dickey told me I was going to pitch the game that night. He caught the game, I was so nervous, I can't remember. I walked the first batter on four pitches and then I walked someone else." Dickey came out and said, "are you scared kid? I said yes, and he said so am I. He slapped me on the butt and I went back and pitched the game. We lost. Jake Wade relieved me in the 7th inning. We just couldn't hit Leonard and his knuckler."

The big right-hander was dubbed "Cuddles" by his roommate Joe Page. "He kind of tacked it on me," explained Marshall. "A lot of young girls would come into the hotel lobbies where we stayed and Joe said the newspapermen wanted to get a nickname for me, so he made a statement to them that I was cuddly, or something like that. Joe loved to play ball and he loved to party. He was a good roommate, except I had to be careful or he would get me into trouble."

Clarence divided his time in the late 1940s between the Yankees and their farm teams the Kansas City Blues and the Newark Bears. The native of Bellingham, WA was baptized in his major league debut at Fenway Park, entering the game in relief. His first assignment was simply to pitch to Ted Williams. "Boston had runners on first and second with one out," recalled Marshall. "Being a young kid and not knowing any better, it didn't bother me." It apparently didn't as "Cuddles" got the "Spendid Splinter" to ground into a double play.

Marshall, who began his organized baseball career with the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League right out of high school, went 3-0 with the Yankees in 1949 and made 19 relief appearances. Perhaps his finest hour came in a game against the Boston Red Sox when he came out of the bullpen and pitched four shutout innings to help defeat the BoSox, 6-4. The Yankees would go on from here and defeat this same Boston team by a one-game margin for the 1949 American League pennant and start their string of five straight World Series Championships. Clarence spent his final major league season with the St. Louis Browns in 1950 going 1-3 and closing out his four-year major league run at 7-7 with a 5.98 ERA.

Marshall spent his next two years (1951-1952) in the United States Military during the Korean War and returned to the mound in 1953, pitching for three different minor league teams and called it a career after going 2-4. He had spent five seasons in an up-and-down fashion during his minor league time and posted a record of 44 wins and 33 losses with a 4.32 ERA.

During his post-playing days he worked in finance for Douglas Aircraft before joining the data systems division of Litton Industries where he was employed for 25 years. Marshall died during his retirement on December 14, 2007 in Saugus, CA.

Notable Achievement

• Won a World Series with the New York Yankees in 1949 (he did not play in the World Series)

Sources

Baseball Players of the 1950s

Related Sites

• Cuddles Marshall at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Minors page