Thanks again to rc for posting a rare Rice card. Some competition for Val, who recently showed off his Leader Theatre rarity in another thread.
Player #87F: Herold D. "Muddy" Ruel. Catcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1930. 1,242 hits and 61 stolen bases in 19 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. He debuted with the St. Louis Browns in 1915. He was the Yankees catcher in 1920 when Ray Chapman was hit and killed by a Carl Mays fastball. He scored the tying run in regulation and then the winning run in the 12th inning of game seven in the 1924 WS. His best season was 1923 with Washington as he posted a .394 OBP with 54 RBI's and 63 runs scored in 528 plate appearances. His final season as a player was 1934 with the Chicago White Sox. He was manager of the St. Louis Browns in 1947. He was GM of the Detroit Tigers in 1954-1956.
We'll go to Ruel's SABR biography to reprise his glory days in Washington: In Ruel’s own words after clinching the Series, with his boyish excitement coming through:
“Don’t tell me the breaks of the game don’t either make you or break you. If Gowdy had caught my foul—an easy one—in the twelfth, I’d never have gotten a change to double and later bring in the winning run. But he did, and I did, and that’s why we’re champs. Hot doggie.”
Through the years, Ruel marked this day as his greatest day in baseball. Scoring the winning run in extra innings in Game Seven of the World Series does make for a fond memory.
Almost as soon as the Series was over, Ruel left for a tour of Europe with a team of American League barnstormers traveling with and competing against a team of National Leaguers headed by John McGraw, the manager of the recently-vanquished Giants.
In 1925 the Senators were back in the Fall Classic but this time the glory went to their opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Series again went a full seven games and Muddy Ruel again caught in all seven contests.
On September 30, 1927, Ruel was again present for one of baseball’s famous historic moments. Ruel was the catcher for the Senators in the eighth inning when Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season.
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1691831270