World Series: Did You Know?

Babe Ruth's "called shot" (What he meant, whether he did or didn't, will never be fully known) ended up being his last ever World Series home run!

It was in game 3 of the 1932 World Series.

The Yankees had tried everything they could to push the Cubs' away in this game. But the Cubs came back again and again. Ruth took Chicago's Charlie Root out of the park in the top of the 1st. It was a 3-run blast.

The Cubs came back with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. But The Iron Horse had an answer for that!

Gehrig then hit a home run of his own in the top of the 3rd. Back to a lead of three runs. Comfortable. The old New York Yankee firepower was sizzling today!

But Kiki Cuyler, who drove in the Cubs' first run of the game, hit a home run of his own in the bottom of the 3rd. Chicago tacked on another run in that inning for good measure. That 3-run lead was down to 1! The very next inning, the Cubbies tied it. Something had to be done. Something had to be done by someone named Ruth.

The Bambino came up with 1 out in the top of the 5h. As to what he did? Do I want to spoil the legend? If the legend is entertaining, print it. Okay.

In any event, Ruth hit a dramatic shot following the gesture. As to what gesture, well...

And Gehrig, not to be overlooked, followed with a home run. The two big boys went back-to-back for the last time, as well!

It was also Charlie Root's last pitch. But when he retired in 1941, Root had racked up 201 wins. This was no pushover pitcher, you know! The Yankees added another run in the top of the 9th. Another 3-run lead!

It didn't quite last as the Cubs got a leadoff home run by Gabby Harnett in the bottom of the frame. Billy Jurges got his third hit of the day for the Cubs. Tying run at the plate!

New York's George Pipgras (enough run support?) was done for the day on the mound. Herb Pennock was in. Jurges eventually stole second, but Pennock did not let him or any other Cub score.

The Yankees, with this win, were up 3-0 in the Series. And New York wrapped it up in game 4, 13-6.

And the Yankees did hit 2 home runs in that game. But none of them were hit by Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig. I mean, what are the odds? But Ruth's homerun in game 3 (his 15th in World Series play) proved to be his last. But what a last blast it was!

References

Baseball's Greatest Moments. Prod. Major League Baseball Productions. Perf. Warner Fusselle. Major League Baseball, 1991. Videocassette. Narrated by Warner Fusselle.

Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. 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. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.  <www.retrosheet.org>

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

World Series: Did You Know?

The Philadelphia A's twice won two straight World Series. And they almost became the first team to win three straight.

Funny, we don't think of this team as one of the all time greats. That is, of course, is because of how bad Philly was from the mid 30s until the 1970s.

I guess is was a sort of irony that they did win 3 in a row from 1972-1974. It was now the Oakland Athletics, though!

But in the early years of the World Series, it appeared as if they would win many. New York won over 100 games (102) and took the World Series over a Chicago Cubs team that won 104.

The Athletics were back the next year!

The dipped to 101 wins. But in the World Series, they stormed past the New York Giants, 4 games to 1.

So what happened to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912? Going for the three-peat! No team had ever done that before! They won a very good 90 games. But the Red Sox, with 105 wins, trumped that. So to, did the Washington Senators, with 91 wins.

The A's sort of faded for the rest of that decade. The Red Sox sort of surged. Indeed, Boston was to win a World Series in 1915, 1916 and 1918. Having a guy like Babe Ruth around does wonders!

But then the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees. It was then New York (Yankees and Giants) that sort of became a dynasty in the 1920s. With Ruth around, it was the Yankees with back-to-back World Series wins in 1927 and 1928. Their National League counterparts, the Giants, had made it back-to-back in 1921 and 1922.

But still no team had a three-peat.

It looked liked like Philly would do just that, as back-to-back World Series wins in 1929 and 1930 gave the Athletics another instance of repeating as winners. Could they make it three straight?

Winning 107 games in 1931, they took on a great St. Louis Cardinals team. The Cards, it should be noted, won 101 games of their own.

It was a great World Series, but Philadelphia came up a little short. St. Louis took it in 7 games. It was also a well pitched World Series. The Cardinals posted a team ERA of 2.32 and the Athletics had a 2.66 mark of their own.

The Philadelphia Athletics would never play in another World Series. And it was the Yankees back the next year. In 1936, the Yankees started a stretch of not three, but four straight World Series triumphs.

References

Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. 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. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.  <www.retrosheet.org>

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.