Casey Stengel gave Yankee Stadium it's Fall Classic christening. He hit the first home run ever hit there in the World Series.
It was 1923. The New York Yankees had lost the previous two Fall Classics to their cross-town rivals, the Giants. Old John McGraw never cared much for Babe Ruth and company, but one player he taught a lot was an outfielder. Charles Dillion Stengel.
So it was game one, at Yankee Stadium, of course. The Yankees wanted to give their new home a nice intro the the Fall Classic. Well, they scored the first run of the game, right there in the bottom fo the first, but the real drama would come later. The Giants were behind 3-0 at one point, but then scored four runs in the top of the third to take a 4-3 lead. Joe Dugan's triple in the bottom of the seventh tied things up. The Yankees were sending a message to the Giants: Not in our house!
The House That Ruth Built.
Or is a better title, at least for this game, "Casey At Bat"?
Well, that would be him striking out. And against who? The poem, if you can believe it, never identified the pitcher. On this day, the Yankee pitcher was Waite Hoyt, but he lasted just 2 1/3 innings. He retired Stengel on a fly ball in the top of the second.
It was Bullet Joe Bush who took over from their for the Giants from there. Did Stengel present a problem? Bullet was only 19-15 in 1923, but the previous year, he'd posted a 26-7 record to lead the American League in W%, .788!
Bush went the rest of the way for the New York Yankees and surrendered only four hits. As for Stengel, he drew a walk in the top of the fourth and was stranded. He got a single in the top of the seventh and was then erased via a double play. But when he came up in the top of the ninth, the score was still 4-4, two men were out and the bases were empty.
But Stengel hit a shot into the gap in left-centre. And he ran...And ran...And ran.
And he went from first, to second, to third, and then home. Where he beat the throw. Stengel had an inside-the-park home run. More importantly, he'd given the Giants a 5-4 lead.
Casey left the game in the bottom of the ninth for a defensive replacement, Billy Cunningham. Not to be confused with the Philadelpha 76'ers player / coach of the same name, years later. But Stengel sure was as fast as the Kangeroo Kid around those bases. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth.
Well, Stengel hit another home run that Fall Classic, in game three. The Giants won that game, too. But it was the Yankees, not the Giants, with the 1923 World Series win, four games to two.
When we think of the home runs that the greats of the Yankees have hit in the Fall Classic, it's guys like Ruth, Gehrig (Not there in 1923, by the way), DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Jackson, and more recently, Jeter and A-Rod. And there's been plenty of home runs hit by the opposition, as well, even in the Yankees neck of the woods. Stengel seems like an appropriate first to do it, as he's oversee home runs in his later DiMaggio (not at home, however) Berra and Mantle (On his way to a record 18). "Thee comes a time in a man's life, and I've have plenty," he once said. This had to be one of those, "Times in a man's life,"
References
Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York, 2005. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Nemec, David, and Scott Flatow. Great Baseball Feats, Facts & Firsts. Toronto: Signet (Penguin Group), 2010. 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.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
It was 1923. The New York Yankees had lost the previous two Fall Classics to their cross-town rivals, the Giants. Old John McGraw never cared much for Babe Ruth and company, but one player he taught a lot was an outfielder. Charles Dillion Stengel.
So it was game one, at Yankee Stadium, of course. The Yankees wanted to give their new home a nice intro the the Fall Classic. Well, they scored the first run of the game, right there in the bottom fo the first, but the real drama would come later. The Giants were behind 3-0 at one point, but then scored four runs in the top of the third to take a 4-3 lead. Joe Dugan's triple in the bottom of the seventh tied things up. The Yankees were sending a message to the Giants: Not in our house!
The House That Ruth Built.
Or is a better title, at least for this game, "Casey At Bat"?
Well, that would be him striking out. And against who? The poem, if you can believe it, never identified the pitcher. On this day, the Yankee pitcher was Waite Hoyt, but he lasted just 2 1/3 innings. He retired Stengel on a fly ball in the top of the second.
It was Bullet Joe Bush who took over from their for the Giants from there. Did Stengel present a problem? Bullet was only 19-15 in 1923, but the previous year, he'd posted a 26-7 record to lead the American League in W%, .788!
Bush went the rest of the way for the New York Yankees and surrendered only four hits. As for Stengel, he drew a walk in the top of the fourth and was stranded. He got a single in the top of the seventh and was then erased via a double play. But when he came up in the top of the ninth, the score was still 4-4, two men were out and the bases were empty.
But Stengel hit a shot into the gap in left-centre. And he ran...And ran...And ran.
And he went from first, to second, to third, and then home. Where he beat the throw. Stengel had an inside-the-park home run. More importantly, he'd given the Giants a 5-4 lead.
Casey left the game in the bottom of the ninth for a defensive replacement, Billy Cunningham. Not to be confused with the Philadelpha 76'ers player / coach of the same name, years later. But Stengel sure was as fast as the Kangeroo Kid around those bases. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth.
Well, Stengel hit another home run that Fall Classic, in game three. The Giants won that game, too. But it was the Yankees, not the Giants, with the 1923 World Series win, four games to two.
When we think of the home runs that the greats of the Yankees have hit in the Fall Classic, it's guys like Ruth, Gehrig (Not there in 1923, by the way), DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Jackson, and more recently, Jeter and A-Rod. And there's been plenty of home runs hit by the opposition, as well, even in the Yankees neck of the woods. Stengel seems like an appropriate first to do it, as he's oversee home runs in his later DiMaggio (not at home, however) Berra and Mantle (On his way to a record 18). "Thee comes a time in a man's life, and I've have plenty," he once said. This had to be one of those, "Times in a man's life,"
References
Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York, 2005. Print.
Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.
Nemec, David, and Scott Flatow. Great Baseball Feats, Facts & Firsts. Toronto: Signet (Penguin Group), 2010. 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.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment