Joe Lonnett's Miracle Month

In July 1957, this obscure backup catcher had a month to remember.

If ever a man was central casting for the role of back-up catcher, it was Joe Lonnett. Lonnett played in parts of four seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1956-1959, appearing in 143 games and compiling a microscopic .166 lifetime batting average. Throughout his injury riddled minor league career, Joe had shown he could be a solid .270 hitter. and he was a competent defensive backstop and popular guy in the clubhouse. On the major league level, however, he rarely got the consistent playing time that might have allowed him to get the timing he needed to be a better hitter. That is until one month in July 1957, when Joe enjoyed a kind of miracle month when he hit five of his career total of 6 home runs and flashed some of the talent of the player he might have been.

The month was set up by a June 28 right shoulder injury to regular Phillies catcher Stan Lopata. Lopata was a key member of a weak Phillies offense, and the injury appeared to many to be the death knell for the team's nascent pennant hopes. Into the pennant race stepped Joe, with a meager two dozen major league games worth of experience in his pocket, to fill the gap until Lopata could return. He responded well.

On July 1, with the Phils mired in a five-game losing streak and trailing the lowly Pirates by 4-0, Joe's double started a five run eighth inning outburst that gave the Phils the win. Three days later on July 4th at home in Connie Mack Stadium, Joe celebrated Independence Day with the first home run of his major league career, a two-run eighth inning shot off the Giants Al Worthington in a 6-2 Phils victory. The next day, Joe singled home a run in a 6-5 loss to the Dodgers and followed that one day later with an RBI double in a Phil's win over the Dodgers, this time 9-4.

On July 7, Joe raised his average to .200 going 1-for-3 with a single, but more importantly he saved the game with a defensive play. As Allen Lewis of the Philadelphia Inquirer described it, with Dodger runners on second and third, Lonnett took a throw from Granny Hamner at second base, blocked the plate with his left leg and tagged out the speedy Charley Neal with a sweep tag. He then wheeled and doubled up the slow reacting Duke Snider at first for a double play. The Phils eventually won the game 2-1.

Joe's second and third home runs came in the same series, July 11-13 against the Cubs. The Phillies won both games 3-1 and 5-2. His improbable 4th home run in ten days came off Larry Jackson of the Cardinals on July 14, another Phillies win, 11-4. Joe was 2 for 2 with 2 RBIs, a walk and a sacrifice fly in that game.

Towards the end of July, Lopata was healthy again and Joe returned to his customary place on the bench, but he had one more moment of glory up his sleeve. On July 29, while catching a Robin Roberts shut out of the Cubs in Wrigley Field, Joe hit his fifth home run of the month. This one was the most improbable of them all, an inside the park homer for the plodding catcher. Joe launched a long high drive down the left field foul line that fell fair as Cubs left fielder Lee Walls crashed into the ivy-covered wall. By the time Walls recovered and threw to relay man Ernie Banks, Joe was chugging home. His slide beat the ball by a whisper, knocking it away from catcher Charlie Silvera.

Thus, ended Joe's miracle month. Every one of his home runs came in Phillies victories. His catching and his surprising offense had helped the Phillies stay afloat in the tight National League pennant race. Joe would hit only one more home run in his major league career, two-years later, on July 12, 1959. July, it seems, was his month.

Lonnett went on to have a long and distinguished coaching career, mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he earned a World Series ring as the third base coach with the "We Are Family" Pirates of 1979. He is remembered by all as a good man and a good baseball man. Dick Allen remembered him as his favorite coach. Former Pirate pitcher and broadcaster, Jim Rooker, said of Joe, " There are people with big hearts, but Joe had a mega-heart. He was such a wonderful person." Joe died in 2011 at age 84.