Yankees go 81-69 .540 (1st)
Combs .262/.322 3 38
Koenig .228/.283 1 46
Ruth .302/.533 31 109
Gehrig .282/.413 9 82
Meusel .273/.333 0 104
Lazzeri .231/.285 4 77
Collins .224/.279 3 60
Dugan .214/.240 1 58
Schulte .277/.382 4 74
Chance .326/.479 8 97
Steinfeldt .336/.497 6 95
The teams play at West Side Grounds in Chicago (1906) and Yankee Stadium (1927). Both ballparks are huge. Both pitching staffs are historic. And by all accounts the ball used in 1906 was a lump of mushy oatmeal. All of these factors combine to put a clamp down on scoring… a season dominated by the men on the mound.
Consider:
Urban Shocker pitches a two-hitter (game 12)… and comes away empty when he is pinch-hit for in the 10th inning of a 0-0 tie… a game the Cubs win in the 10th, 1-0. Shocker loses 1-0 (game 23) because Jack Pfiester throttles the mighty Murderer’s Row – just three singles. The very next start Pfiester does it again – no runs, six singles. Finally in game 35, Shocker himself lays a masterpiece on the Cubs, a two-hitter – both singles! He beats Jack Pfiester! Shocker would pitch a 3-hitter later in the season.
Waite Hoyt throws a 2-hit gem himself (game 14), outdueling fellow Hall-of-Famer Mordecai ‘Three Finger’ Brown, who loses his 1st game despite allowing only seven hits and two earned runs himself. It is Brown who twirls the gem of the season (game 144), defeating Waite Hoyt. The three-fingered wonder holds the Yankees hitless until the 7th inning, where with two out, the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig hits a one-hopper to deep short. Joe Tinker dives to his right, snares it and fires to Frank Chance. Gehrig, running hard as always, beats the throw on a bang-bang play – SAAAAAAAFE! It would be the Yanks’ only hit.
Mordecai’s performance is not only brilliant; it is clutch. It comes as the Cubs are staving off elimination. The West-siders win that day and the next to go 68-77 on the season – before finally losing their 78th game (game 146), the toughest fight any team gives the mighty ’27 champions – thus far.
No comments:
Post a Comment