Tommy Thevenow led all players in batting average and assists in 1926. There was little he couldn't do.
It was a World Series where guys named Ruth, Gehrig, Alexander and Hornsby grabbed the highlights, there were other guys who picked up the slack for both teams, too. It was a classic October Finale, one that went down to the wire.
If anyone had any doubt this World Series was a classic, then game one proved all the doubters wrong. Herb Pennock started the contest for the New York Yankees, Bill Sherdel for the St. Louis Cardinals. Now, Pennock seemed to be the better pitcher, but let's not forget that the Cards' had a pitcher with 165 wins to his name.
It was a nice, tight ballgame. The first game, played at Yankee Stadium, saw the visitors waste no time in taking the lead. But, this being the Bronx Bombers, one run meant nothing. Sherdel got one out, but loaded the bases in the bottom of the first on three walks. Lou Gehrig was up, and he sent a grounder to the shortstop, Tommy Thevenow. Thevenow got the ball, tossed to Rogers Hornsby for the force, and his first of seven assists in the contest. However, Gehrig beat the throw to first, Earle Combs scored, and it was 1-1.
Pennock, the Yankees' great, was in no mood to give St. Louis anything. He retired Thevenow all four times up, including a grounder in the top of the second, keeping the game 1-1.
In the third, though, Thevenow got his lone putout of the contest. But it was something worth talking about. The Yankees had a man on first, no one out, for Babe Ruth. Ruth, playing it smart, and for just one run, bunted. Bob O'Farrell, the catcher, got to it and forced Mark Koenig at second, with our boy making the putout. Ruth would advance to second as Bob Meusel grounded out. Lou Gehrig was then retired to end that.
O'Farrell himself gave it a ride to the left, at the start the top of the fifth, but it was just a long, loud out. Thevenow batted next, and tried his luck. Trying, that is, to bunt his way on. Better luck next time, kid. Herb Pennock was giving St. Louis one hard time. Bill Sherdel himself was out on a fly to Bob Meusel in left.
You didn't really need to blink to see the sequence that led to the winning run in the bottom of the sixth. Ruth, single. Bob Meusel, bunt. Ruth was on second. But not for long. The Iron Horse singled, and Ruth scored. That was all Herb Pennock needed.
The Yankees seemed destined for more. They got runners on the corners, before the inning ended on a "Thevenow to Hornsby" force at second.
The Cardinals tried to tie it in the eighth. Bob O'Farrell walked. Tommy Thevenow sacrificed him to second. Alas, Jake Flowers hit a comebacker. Herb Pennock spied the situation. O'Farrell was too far off second. A rundown ensued, and Bob was erased. St. Louis got another man on, as Taylor Douthit looked at ball one, two, three, and four. No strikes were thrown. Wattie Holm, with two on and two out, hit a sinking shot to centre, where Earl Combs made an excellent, charging catch from centre.
So, New York went on to a 2-1 win. But St. Louis had made them earn it. In game two, the Cards did most of the great things.
For one, Grover Cleveland Alexander started, and for two, Tommy Thevenow was awesome.
With two away in the top of the second, Bob O'Farrell singled off Urban Shocker. Tommy Thevenow followed with the first of three hits this afternoon, a single. The ball actually went off Shocker's glove. But Urban settled down, getting his mound adversary to pop out.
Thevenow had been a part of a double play in the first. But in the bottom of the second, the Yankees scored twice. Tommy tried his best to stop anything from the Bronx Bombers. The Yankees tried to pull off a double steal, and the Cardinals had the man (Tony Lazzeri) trapped in a rundown after Thevenow fired home to Bob O'Farrell. Brooklyn Robins' manager Wilbert Robinson, covering the World Series, thought Tommy's throw was great. It should have led to Lazzeri being a dead duck. "[Catcher Bob] O'Farrell got the throw down in fine shape to Thevenow, who did exactly right in forcing Lazzeri back to third by throwing the ball to O'Farrell."
That should have been the beginning of the end for Tony Lazzeri (Who'd singled home a run earlier in the frame) and the Yankees that inning. But leave it to Old Pete to throw wildly to third, and a run scored. It was the home team's second run of the inning. Alexander got it together after this, however.
It wasn't until the seventh inning that St. Louis got to the pitcher that had once pitched for their cross-town rivals, the Browns. Urban Shocker was one of the better pitchers of his era, and pitching one fine ballgame against a legend. Shocker, who would sadly pass away a few years later, got into trouble. Thevenow was big trouble for Shocker, though. Urban only retired him once all game. And Sad Sam Jones, on in relief of Shocker, really failed to stop Tommy Thevenow in the ninth inning.
Bob O'Farrell got it all going with a double. Our boy followed with a single. Shocker got the next two batters out. He needed to get Billy Southworth to extricate New York from a serious situation. But Southworth hit a big three-run home run to right, and St. Louis was ahead for good.
In the ninth, it was Tommy's turn. He hit a ball past Babe Ruth in right. It stayed in the park, but Thevenow didn't stay on second, he went past it. He didn't stop at third, he went past it. Tommy beat the throw home! An inside-the-park home run!
Maybe it was a bit of a fluke, like to Robinson, but a home run is a home run. "Thevenow's home run in the ninth was just one of those lucky things." Wilbert wrote, "He hit a fly right down the foul line. In fact, I thought it was foul."
Quite a surprise. A player with two career home runs to this point (And for all time), had just gotten one himself. And it went past a man known for hitting them.
It had been quite an afternoon for the St. Louis shortstop. He'd picked up a ball in the first that had deflected off Alexander, and combined with Rogers Hornsby and Jim Bottomley on a double play. He should have been rewarded for catching the Yankees in the double steal act, but it was not to be. Still, Tommy's big home run seemed to take the starch out of New York.
It carried over to the next game. Meet me and Tom in St. Louie, Louie.
The Cardinals won, 4-0, but Tommy had to have wanted to contribute more. He collected no hits, and only one putout to go along with two assists. Still, it was the St. Louis' day.
Tommy Thevenow came up in the bottom of the second. Chick Hafey had hit a one-out double. But Dutch Ruether got Bob O'Farrell to ground out. The go-ahead run in this scoreless ballgame was now ninety feet away. But Ruether, who'd you all know from 1919, got Thevenow to hit it hard, and to centre. And to Earl Combs for the third out.
The Sportsman's Park faithful would have to wait about half an hour in the fourth. After Babe Ruth led off with a single, the skies overhead threatened. Rain. When play resumed, Cardinals' pitcher Jesse Haines got the next three batters out. Haines was on his way to the Hall of Fame, and on this day, he needed just a run to win.
St. Louis got Haines his run in the fourth, with Thevenow playing a small part. Les Bell singled. Chick Hafey bunted Bell to second. Bob O'Farrell walked. When Tommy Thevenow grounded to second, it should have been an inning-ending double play. However, Mark Koenig's throw to first resulted in New York only getting the force at second. More importantly, Bell scored the game's first run. Thevenow then scored as Jesse Haines got into the home run act. The St. Louis pitcher was putting on quite a show.
But, Jesse needed some insurance, as Ruth and Gehrig were just looking for a mistake from Haines. The Cardinals tacked on their fourth and final run in the fifth, and Haines took over from there.
Thevenow, despite his quite day both at bat and on the field, was part of the only two double plays St. Louis turned, including the one that ended the game. Jesse Haines had himself a fine, five-hit shutout.
Bases on the score in game four, you'd think Babe Ruth was ready to settle this nonsense. The Bambino had a game that is the stuff of legend: 3-3, four runs scored, four runs batted in. Three home runs. Two walks his other two times up. He was the story of the Yankees' 10-5 win, which squared the 1926 Fall Classic, 2-2.
Thevenow, for his part, doubled home a man in the fourth. But by the time he came back up, in the sixth, the game was over. It was 9-4 for the visitors. Both Bob O'Farrell and Thevenold singled. It actually looked like it'd be a big inning, as there was two on, no outs. But Waite Hoyt retired the next three men without anyone touching home. St. Louis did pick up a run in the ninth, but was meaningless.
So game five was huge. However, Thevenow only picked up one hit, and New York won it in the tenth inning. The game ended with Tom on first after picking up the Cardinals' last hit.
Have no fear, the Cards won the sixth game for Pete's sake. And Old Pete was awesome. Alexander allowed just two runs all game. The man batting before him, Tommy Thevenow, wasn't about to let the Yankees carry off the World Championship in game six.
Not that the Cardinals' shorstop didn't have any frustrating moments. First time up, Tommy sent one towards right centre. But there was Earl Combs again.
But there was no denying Thevenow in the fifth. With his team up 3-1, it was time for some quality visiting insurance. Tommy led off with a single. Pete Alexander bunted him to second. Thevenow and company had Grover's back. Wattie Holm hit the ball to centre, and this time Combs could not get to it. It was 4-1, Cards.
So, the Bronx Bombers were getting a dose of their own medicine in this game. They'd scored ten times in game four, but now it was in the Cards for St. Louis to get that score.
And come the top of the seventh, it was St. Louis' shortstop that got it all going again. His leadoff single started the Cardinals to a five-run uprising, effectively guaranteeing a seventh game. Tommy didn't escape the game unscathed, as he was hit by a pitch next time up. Old Pete tried to get St. Louis more offence. He'd gotten Thevenow to second on a bunt last time, in which Alexander reached on an error. Here though, the Yankees' gloves quickly turned a promising inning into a harmless one. Alexander forced Thevenow at second, and then Wattie Holm hit into a double play.
Still, Rogers Hornsby drove home the tenth St. Louis run in the ninth, and it was a laugher for the Cardinals. But you knew game seven was going to be close.
It was almost like game one all over again. St. Louis would need their shortstop's glove and bat. Tommy was hitting .400 and had 23 assists.
The home team struck first, as Babe Ruth hit another home run. Tommy Thevenow helped get St. Louis back on track.
The writers were noting his heroics all game seven.
In the top of the fourth, the visitors got a run, and had the bases loaded. There was no one out, and guess who was up? To quote one scribe, “Tommy Thevenow, the Cardinals silent thunder, was at the plate. This 23-year-old kid likes the going when it is toughest.” And St. Louis would be going in front thanks to Thevenow. His single off Waite Hoyt plated Les Bell and Chick Hafey.
That was all the scoring from the visiting team, but the pitching and defence of St. Louis made the lead hold. In fact, New York looked poised to get at least one run back in their half of the inning. The Iron Horse was at third. The batter was Hank Severeid, and he sent a liner to left. The buck, and the ball, stopped at short. To hear it be told at the time:
“The former Brownie receiver [Severeid] hit a hard liner towards left centre and it appeared as though the score would be 3-2, in another instant, but silent boy, Tommy Thevenow, again jumped into the limelight. Jumped is a very appropriate word. Tommy jumped three feet and speared the drive with his glove hand.”
This was Hank's last major league game, and a fine play by Thevenow had denied him the chance to change the outcome of the ballgame. Still, when Severeid came back up in the bottom of the sixth, he cashed in Joe Dugan in with a two-bagger. Tommy Thevenow had come up in the Cardinals' half of the inning, only to see the third out as Chick Hafey was caught trying to pilfer second. The score was 3-2 after sixth, and there would be a photo-finish involving Babe Ruth.
Herb Pennock relieved Hoyt, and kept St. Louis at bay. He got Thevenold on a grounder to start the seventh, while Pete Alexander came on to strike out Tony Lazzeri in the Yankees' half of the frame. It's the most memorable moment of the 1926 World Series. But Thevenold would bat again.
The Cardinals' shortstop had started the game 2-2, pushing his batting average up to an astonishing .455. However, Pennock was conceding to nothing at this stage of the game. He survived a hit in the seventh, two more in the eighth, and now stared down the tough Tommy Thevenow in the ninth. Thevenow went out on a fly to Babe Ruth in right. It seemed fitting as the two were the big guns of this Fall Classic. Ruth had more to say in the Yankees' half of the ninth. Meanwhile, Pennock got the next two batters out to complete a 1-2-3 frame.
Alexander got the first two men, then walked Ruth. Amazingly enough, it was The Bambino himself who tried to steal second, and was thrown out. Combine that with Grover Cleveland Alexander's iconic K of Tony Lazzeri, and poor Tommy Thevenow is sort of the forgotten man of this World Series. It just wasn't in the Cards for him to overshadow the Yankee slugger or Cardinal hurler.
But when the Cardinals needed a big hit or fielding play, Tommy had more than come through in the 1926 World Series. When Rogers Hornsby applied the tag on Babe Ruth to end it, Tommy Thevenow went into the history books as having led all batters with a .417 average. And, not to overlook Tommy's glove, he topped all fielders with 26 assists.
References
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