Tuesday, October 6, 2015

World Series: Did You Know?

It was in 1920 that siblings faced off for the first time. Brooklyn and Cleveland were the two pennant winners and the Fall Classic was trying to recover from the Black Sox scandal of the year before. Would this World Series be entertaining enough to make 'em all forget?

Certainly seemed like it. You had the first grand slam, you had the first pitcher to go yard. You also had, to date, the only triple play, and it was unassisted for good measure. Being a Jays fan in 1992, I know that they turned one, too. But it did not count.

But we're talking about 1920, and not 1992. And before all that above, there was the matter of game one in Ebbets Field. Brooklyn's starting third basemen was Jimmy Johnson. Cleveland had his brother, Doc Johnson. But Doc was in the dugout for this one.

Not that he was anything but a plus on the field. Doc got into 147 games that year, hit .292, and drove home 71 runs. Pretty good. But his position in this game, first base, was taken by George Burns.

And Burns drove scored the games first run in the top of the second when he singled. How did he score? On the play an error on a throw to second saw him get all the way around. With fate nodding at Cleveland, they added another tally before the third out.

Cleveland pulled ahead in the game 3-0 before Brooklyn got on the board. And Jimmy on the home side was not doing much. Finally, with two outs in the top of the ninth, the moment came for Johnson. But not Jimmy.

Two were down and Smokey Joe Wood, the ex-pitching star of the Boston Red Sox, now an outfielder, was due to bat. But Jimmy's brother Doc batted for him. All Doc did was ground out to pitcher Leon Cadore. Doc took over at first for the bottom of the ninth. Jimmy did not get to bat as Cleveland pitcher Stan Covelski got Brooklyn 1-2-3 to finish off a complete-game five-hitter. The 3-1 win was just the start for Cleveland, who went on to win it all.

Neither of the two brothers ever returned to the Fall Classic, despite Jimmy finishing with a batting average of .294 and Doc hitting .289 his last four seasons. However, the each have a unique niche in Fall Classic history, as they were the first brother act.


References


1992 World SeriesPerformance by Len Cariou, Major League Baseball Productions, 1992. DVD.

Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Gamester, George, and Gerald Hall. On Top Of The World: The Toronto Star’s Tribute To The ‘92 Blue Jays. Doubleday Canada, 1992. Print.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.

Retrosheet  www.retrosheet.org. Web. (06 Oct., 2015).

Snyder, John S. World Series!: Great Moments and Dubious Achievements. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1995. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. (06 Oct., 2015).


Sugar, Bert Randolph, editor. "World Series." The Baseball Maniac's Almanac. 3rd ed., Sports Publishing, 2012. Print. pp. 198.

Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/. Web. (06 Oct., 2015).

Guerrieri, Vince. "Brothers Face Off for First Time in 1920 Series" Did The Tribe Win Last Night. 27 Jan. 2015. http://didthetribewinlastnight.com/blog/2015/01/27/brothers-face-off-for-first-time-in-1920-series/Web. (06 Oct. 2015).

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