World Series: Did You Know?

Roger Peckinpaugh made an error in the eighth game of 1921. And he made some more costly ones in game seven four years later.

Peckinpaugh, looking to help the New York Yankees win their first ever World Series in '21 against the New York Giants, had Babe Ruth and another slugger, Home Run Baker. But after game five in this best-of-nine affair, the Babe wasn't in the starting lineup. He had some knee problems, and an infected arm on top of that. The Yankees led 3-2, but dropped game six 8-5, and game seven 2-1.

Not that the Yankees were any pushovers. They were the designated home team in this Fall Classic, which took place exclusively at the Polo Grounds. Waite Hoyt, 2-0, was on the hill for the American League team. Ruth would make an appearance, later.

So could they send it to a ninth and deciding contest?

The Giants got two on with two outs in the top of the first, and then disaster struck as High Pockets Kelly sent one to short, Peckinpaugh's spot. The ball got through him for an error, and Dave Bancroft scored.

How about Peckinpaugh at the dish? He walked in the bottom of the frame, and the home team soon had runners on second and third with just one out, Roger 90 feet away from crossing the dish. That didn't happen as Bob Meusel popped out and Wally Pipp.

Peckinpaugh gunned out a runner at home in the second, keeping it 1-0. The Yankees played well the rest of the way, and Roger's error was the only one they'd commit. Hoyt pitched well, but so did Giant Art Neft.

The Yankees loaded the bases against him in the last of the fourth on two singles and a walk. All this happened with two outs. But again, no one scored. Peckinpaugh drew a two-out walk the next inning, but was also stranded.

Hoyt retired the last nine man to face him in the game, but the Yankees came to bat in the bottom of the ninth down 1-0. Babe Ruth made a dramatic appearance, batting for Pipp, but grounded out to first. The next batter, Aaron Ward, coaxed a walk from Art Neft. Home Run Baker could win the game with a home run. He hit it well to second basemen Johnny Rawlings. Rawlings made an excellent play, throwing out Baker at first. Ward kept running, and ended up out at third. The Giants won, 1-0, and were the World Series winners in 1921.

Peckinpaugh's team looked like they were going to win four years later. His Washington Senators had won in 1924, and were up three games to one. Back-to-back for Washington? No. The Pittsburgh Pirates, the National League pennant winners that year, won game five at Griffith Stadium, 6-3. Then, at home in Forbes Field, they eked out a 3-2 win. It all came down to game seven.

Washington, with Walter Johnson on the hill, started out fast. They crossed home four times in the top of the first, Roger Peckinpaugh himself with an RBI when he hit into a force. That out, however, was taken away as catcher Earl Smith interfered Roger as he was on his way to first.

Peckinpaugh then got a hit taken away via a great catch by Kiki Cuyler in the top of the third. The Pirates made their move in the bottom of the frame, scoring three times to cut it to 4-3. But only temporarily was it a one-run game. Joe Harris knocked home two runs in the top of the fourth for the Senators with a double, and it was 6-3. And with The Big Train on the hill, it was looking all over!

The Pirates got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on two doubles. Peckinpaugh made a critical error in the seventh, and the Pirates scored two more to tie it. Pie Traynor was nailed at the dish to keep it that way.

Roger hit a home run in the top of the eighth to give Washington the lead again, and Walter Johnson needed just six more outs. Soon, Pittsburgh was down to four outs. Johnson got the first two batters out in the bottom of the frame, and then the wheels came off the chariot.

Earl Smith doubled, Carson Bigbee then was sent up to hit for Earl Smith. Smith doubled and the game was tied, 7-7. A walk brought Max Carey to the plate. Carey sent a ball to short, where Peckinpaugh tried for the inning-ending force. The throw was bad, and all hands were safe. Cuyler hit a ground-rule double to right, and Pittsburgh got two more runs. Washington went down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth.

The two errors by Roger Peckinpaugh were too many. He'd made six in the previous six games, and the Pirates were World Series champions. At bat, he'd hit just .250 after hitting .417 in the 1924 World Series (Roger hit poorly in 1921, just .179). He'd have to shoulder at least some of the blame for his teams losing in 1921 and 1925.


References


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.

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. 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. 10 Jan. 2017.

Common Denominator

"Pinch hit for by Babe Ruth in The Bambino's first World Series game. Later relieved Ruth and pitched a no-hitter."

That would be Ernie Shore. The Babe wasn't the only pitching star in his early Boston years. The Red Sox had a team good enough to win without Ruth on the team in 1912. Shore actually go into a game in the regular season that year, for Giants. It was Boston over New York in the Fall Classic of '12.

Two seasons later, Ruth arrived in Boston. It was a tough team to make if you were a pitcher. The starting rotation consisted of Ray Collins, Dutch Leonard, Rube Foster, and Smokey Joe Wood. Wood, with his arm injury in 1913, was able to pitch only pitch in only 18 games. He was still good enough to win 10 games.

However, the Red Sox debuted two more pitchers that year, both with some talent. Shore joined the rotation and won 10 games himself despite pitching in just 20 games (16 starts). His ERA was 2.00. Ruth made it to the bigs in July of that year. Pitching in only 4 games (3 starts) he was 2-1.

Boston did not make it to the World Series that year. But the next year, Ruth and Shore contributed more. Shore won 19 games to go along with an ERA of 1.64. The Babe went 18-8. And he hit four home runs to lead the team. He also batted .315. Was there anything this guy couldn't do?

Wood also recovered enough to win 15 games and post an league-leading ERA of 1.49. It was back to the Fall Classic for the Red Sox. Pull up your socks, Red Sox.

Indeed, Boston won. But would you believe it, Ruth didn't get to pitch! So much for that impressive rookie year.

But Shore lost game one of the Fall Classic to the Philadelphia Phillies. He gave up only five hits and three runs over eight innings. But the great Grover Cleveland Alexander limited Boston to just one run, going to distance. With one on and one out in the top of the ninth, Ruth batted for Shore. But all The Babe could do is ground to first.

Shore won game four, however, putting Boston up 3-1 in the best-of-seven affair. A 5-4 win by the Red Sox in game five gave Ruth and Shore their first World Series rings. They'd win it all again the next season. Ruth lead the American League in ERA, 1.75.

Ruth sort of lost his cool as he was ejected from a game in 1917. Here's where it was Shore to the rescue.

It was June 23rd of that season. Boston was facing the Washington Senators at home. Walter Johnson did not pitch the first game of a double-header, but Ruth sure did. To just one batter. After walking the leadoff hitter (And very first batter of the game), Ruth got so mad, he slugged umpire Brick Owens. That got him a nice ejection.

Shore took over. The man on first was Ray Morgan. Foolishly, he decided to test the arm of new catcher Sam Agnew, who'd come in as Shore did. Agnew fired a perfect throw to get him.

Shore took over from there. Looking every bit as good as lefties like Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson and now Clayton Kershaw, he motored through the lineup. 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 went Washington as Shore just hummed along. By the time retired pinch hitter Mike Menosky to end the game, Boston had scored four runs on nine hits.

Ernie had needed only the Red Sox tally in the bottom of the second. He'd retired all 26 men that faced him after Morgan was a dead duck at second back in the first. The Babe nearly had a no-hitter of his own on July 11th after returning. Washington (With Walter Johnson throwing a fine 7-hit shutout and picking up 3 RBIs himself) actually beat The Bambino on the last day of the season, but Ruth finished 24-13 for another masterful season on the mound.

The Red Sox finished behind the other Sox that year. The Chicago White Sox (Themselves twice a no-hit victim that year. But not by Ruth) would win the pennant and World Series. Boston won it all in 1918, although Shore was not there.

Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore finished as teammates in 1920 on the New York Yankees. The 1917 season was not only their last season together in Boston, but Shore's last good year (13-10, 2.22 ERA). However, the two hold a special place together in two memorable moments in baseball history.


References

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.

Sports Reference LLC.  Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.

Retrosheet. Web. 10 Mar. 2016.  <www.retrosheet.org>

World Series: Did You Know?

The Pittsburgh Pirates were the first team to come back from a 3 games to 1 deficit (in a best of seven format) to win the World Series. It was 1925, and the Washington Senators were looking for a repeat! And their side-arming righty was awesome here!

Long before the days of Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Sidney Crosby breaking Washington's hearts again and again in the NHL playoffs, the Sens took a 3-1 lead in the 1925 Fall Classic. Walter Johnson looked unhittable. In winning his first two starts (game 4 was a shutout gem) he certainly added to his status as one of the game's all-time greats! But baseball was about to repeat what I saw in hockey from 1992 on between Washington and Pittsburgh: Pitt on the brink, and coming back to win!

In game 5, it was back-and-forth, with each team touching home twice after 6 innings. In the top of the 7th, the Bucs finally broke through with a lead of more than a run when they scored twice. But Sam Rice's single in the bottom of the frame brought Washington back to within a single run, 4-3.

The Pirates were not to be denied, however. Stuffy McInnis singled home a run in the top of the 8th to restore the two-run lead. Another run in the top of the 9th meant this thing was heading back to Steeltown for game 6. And maybe, game 7!

Game 6 was a great pitcher's duel, and Washington looked ready to win it. They scored a run in the top of the 1st and the top of the 2nd. The way unheralded Alex Ferguson was pitching, it looked like curtains for the Pirates. Fergie had beaten Pittsburgh 4-3 in game 3, as the Senators must have had a lot of faith in him. Why not? It was a fine 6-hitter over 7 innings there. Here, the Pirates couldn't touch him in the first 2 innings.

But in the bottom of the 3rd, the Pirates tied it. Pie Traynor drove home the second run with a single. Fergie bore down after than, and Pitt got just one more run on a solo home run by Eddie Moore in the 5th. That made it 3-2 for the Bucs. Alex finished the game going 7 strong innings. He allowed 7 hits, but just 3 runs and 2 walks. He fanned 6. Win Ballou came in for Washington and easily retired the Pirates in the bottom of the 8th. Washington had gotten the pitching they needed to win this game.

But what the Senators didn't have was the hitting. Ray Kremer did not allow another run after the second inning. He finished the game by going all 9 innings. Washington managed just 6 hits, 2 runs and 1 walk. Ray fanned only 3 but also faced just 33 batters in the game. This thing was going the distance.

With Walter Johnson on the hill for the Nats, game 7 should have been a cinch for the Sens. But it was not to be.

The game never should have been played. It was raining hard. There was fog. But the game was played, anyway. Everyone might as well been blind!

The Senators lost 9-7 despite having leads of 4-0, 6-3 and even 7-6 in after 7 1/2. Johnson went the distance, gave up 15 hits, but only 5 of the runs were earned. He walked only 1, but could fan only 3.

Ray Kremer won this game too, but it was in relief. No one really pitched well, but given then conditions, it would be a tall order to do that. No one could see anything, including the umpires.

I guess you could point the finger at the Senators' Roger Peckinpaugh. He made 2 errors on the day and 8 overall in the Series. He did, however, hit a home run to give the Sens a 7-6 lead. That was Washington's last lead of the game. In the first inning, Roger reached first on a rare occurrence: catcher's interference! That, too, led to a run. As you can see, no one could see what was going on out there!

But my favourite Walter Johnson story (ever) is The Big Train, having watched some real tragedy unfold in the bottom of the 8th (with the Senators but 4 outs away from winning the 1925 Fall Classic), show such great character. With two outs, the Pirates tied it. Peckinpaugh's second error (Roger's first was in the 7th, and Pittsburgh scored twice that inning to pull within a run, 6-5) allowed the Bucs to score twice more and conclude the scoring. The Big Train waited for Peckinpaugh, and in one of the game's most touching moments, put his arms around him. Can you imagine doing that for someone who sort of cost you the game and the Fall Classic with his fielding?

The Senators were retired 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th. The Pirates had come back all the way from 3-1 down!

World Series: Did You Know?

The Big Train then won his first two starts of the 1925 World Series. He almost brought the Senators back-to-back World Series. But it was not quite to be.

Taking the hill in game 1 of the 1925 Fall Classic against Pittsburgh, Walter made sure the Pirates didn't have a chance!

The Washington Senators got a run in the top of the 2nd on a Joe Harris home run. Then the Nats tallied two more in the top of the 5th on a 2-run single by Sam Rice. Pie Traynor then took away Johnson's shutout bid in the bottom of the frame with a 4-bagger. But it was still 3-1, Washington.

But that would be the only run the Bucs got!

Settling down into clutch mode, it was a 1-2-3 6th and 1-2-3 7th for Johnson. In the 8th, the Pirates got a 1-out single. Then they sent pinch hitter Stuffy McInnis to the plate. But The Big Train fanned him and got Eddie Moore to ground out.

In the top of the 9th, the Senators plated another man to make it 4-1. The, in the bottom of the frame, Pittsburgh got two men on when Johnson hit a batter and gave up a single. There was only 1 out, but Johnson retired the next two batters. Johnson had looked so masterful out there: 5 hits, 1 walk, 10 K's!

And Johnson was not done.

In game 3, with the Senators up 2 games to 1 in the Series, Johnson was even better. The Senators scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd. The Pirates' pitchers managed to hold the Nats at bay the rest of the way. But Walter Johnson was just too good here. Johnson gave the Senators' fans a World Series moment they would not soon forget.

He gave up a walk in the top of the first. In the top of the 2nd, it was 2 hits by Pittsburgh. In the 7th, the Bucs got 2 more. They would end the day with 6 hits. But none of them would lead to any scoring and neither did anything else. Johnson, despite only 2 K's this time, had blanked the Pirates. He was 37 years old at the time.

The Senators were up 3-1 in the Series. But it was not quite to be. The Pirates came back and took game 7 away from Johnson and Washington. But the Big Train had pitched nearly 2 shutouts and brought the Senators so much respectability with his pitching.

World Series: Did You Know?

Walter Johnson lost his first two World Series starts.

The Big Train and his Senators finally made it to the Fall Classic in 1924. But John McGraw's New York Giants were ready to pounce on anyone. For a while, it was a question of whether Washington could finally win a World Series and if Walter Johnson could win one crummy game!

Having given their cross town rivals The Yankees all they could handle in 1921, '22 and '23, here the Giants were again. Walter Johnson seemed to be a little less than overpowering in his first two outing of this Fall Classic. Here's someone who drove fear into men like Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe Jackson and even Babe Ruth. Now on the big stage, Johnson seemed to be unable to be up to the task!

Johnson didn't pitch too badly in game 1. But it was Art Neft who opposed him. Neft just had a knack for being clutch in the World Series.

In any event, the Giants quickly build and early 2-0 lead. Washington rallied with single tallies in the bottom of the 6th and 9th. The Sens were lucky to get that second run because they were 2 outs away from losing. But a clutch hit by Roger Peckinpaugh tied the game.

The game went to the 12th inning. There, 3 hits and 2 walks gave Neft a 4-2 lead. Washington scored once in the bottom of the frame, but lost 4-3. Johnson gave up 14 hits and 6 walks in 12 innings. He also fanned 10.

New York and Washington alternated victories in the first four games. And with the Series tied at 2, Johnson took the hill in the crucial game 5. The Series lead was at stake!

And Johnson came up short again!

He managed to go the distance, but gave up 13 hits, 6 runs and 2 walks. Only 4 of the runs were earned, but Johnson only managed to K only 3 batters. Something was wrong here. Washington lost, 6-2. The Giants were once again being, the Giants when it came to the World Series.

But the Nationals dug deep and won a narrow game 6, 2-1 over Neft. It was on to game 7. Johnson did not start.

The Senators, at home, trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th when Bucky Harris tied it with a clutch hit. Walter Johnson took the hill in the 9th. He almost lost it right there!

The Giants got runners to second and third before the Big Train dug down deep and ended that. New York got the leadoff man on in the 10th before a strikeout and double play ended the danger. The Giants also got a runner on in the 11th before The Big Train came through. Again, in the 12th, it was a hit by the Giants' Irish Meusel that looked like trouble. But once again, the ageless Johnson escaped. The Sens also seemed to be unable to score all awhile. So close! Would Walter and Washington be denied?

In the bottom of the frame, two Senator doubles and two costly Giant errors brought to an end one of the most exciting World Series games and Series. Johnson finally had his first World Series win. Johnson had gone 4 innings, given up 3 hits and 3 walks (5 K's), but ended up the winning pitcher. The Big Train had finally brought the Washington Senators to the promised land!