Firpo Marberry
 

Thanks to Val for keeping the candle burning. We now finish off Marberry, baseball's first "closer", with a card or a photograph, depending on who you ask:

Player #104A: Frederick "Firpo" Marberry Part 2. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1932. 148 wins and 99 saves in 14 MLB seasons. First prominent reliever; used as a closer. Important piece of the Washington team that won back-to-back AL pennants in 1924-1925. 1924 World Series champion. His most productive season was 1929 with Washington as he posted a 19-12 record with a 3.06 ERA in 250.1 innings pitched. He ended his career with Washington in 1936.

. . . Marberry was almost exclusively a fastball pitcher. He was nicknamed "Firpo" due to his resemblance to Luis Firpo, a heavyweight boxer from Argentina who had knocked Jack Dempsey out of the ring in a championship fight in September of 1923, though Dempsey recovered and won the fight. Schacht recalled how Marberry was always anxious to get into a game. "Sometimes Bucky would go to the pitcher's mound just to talk to the pitcher, unsure about whether to take him out. But he'd no sooner get to the mound, and there would be Marberry, out of the bullpen coming in."

Throwing nothing but fastballs with a high leg kick and a rock-and-fire style, Marberry never tried to finesse batters, but he did try to intimidate them. Warming up, he would stomp around the mound while kicking up dirt. Muddy Ruel played along. He caught every pitch in the center of his mitt to maximize the sound of the glove pop and staggered back as he caught each pitch.

"We had a great relief pitcher in Fred Marberry," Bucky said after the season. "I doubt there has ever been a better one. He had a great fastball and the heart of a lion. He relieved Johnson in nine games and saved seven. He relieved other pitchers 36 times and finished 31 games."

The word "saves" was not used then, but author Bill James believes Bucky's use of Marberry in 1924 was unprecedented. In his book Bill James' Guide to Baseball Managers, James wrote: "Marberry was the first pitcher aggressively used to protect leads rather than being brought in when the starter was knocked out. Thus, Marberry is in my opinion the first true reliever." (Sam Rice by Jack Smiles.)

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677491982

Wid Mathews
 

Player #105: Wid C. Matthews. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1924-1925. 188 hits and 19 stolen bases in 3 MLB seasons. He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1923. He had a career OBP of .348. He did not appear in the World Series. As a scout had role in Rickey's decision to sign Jackie Robinson.

Mathews' SABR biography: Matthews was back (in MLB) sooner than that (a prediction made when he was sent to Milwaukee after the 1923 season); six weeks into the 1924 campaign, the call came from the Washington Senators, who were off to a disappointing 19-20 start while Matthews was toiling in Milwaukee. Senators boss Clark Griffith thought “Spark Plug” might help push them past mediocrity. Matthews found himself playing the outfield between two future Hall-of-Famers, Goose Goslin and Sam Rice, and rubbing elbows with teammate Walter Johnson. It went beautifully for a while: In his first game, Matthews went two-for-four with a triple and a run scored, and the Senators climbed to .500. Over Matthews’ first 19 games as a Senator, he hit .382 and the team surged from fourth to first place. In late July, The Sporting News reported, “Ever since [Matthews] joined the Washington Senators the team has been sailing along with the ease of a fugitive toy balloon. Members of the Senators willingly admit that ‘Spark Plug’ has had a lot to do with generating the spirit and punch which carried the team to the top of the American League race. Matthews is an enthusiastic little fellow, bubbling over with enthusiasm and fire—his confidence in himself being irrepressible.”

He was an instant fan favorite, referred to as “Matty” by his “legions of local fans.” His initial success fell off slightly, though; according to Senators historian Tom Deveaux, Matthews got “most of his hits by pulling the ball into short right field. When defenses began adjusting, his success as a hitter diminished greatly.” Griffith loaned Matthews to Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League in early August 1924. Wid had played just 53 games with the Senators. The fans were not pleased: “Griffith could not have guessed the popular outcry which resulted from the move.” Matthews finished out the year in Sacramento, and missed out while his former teammates in Washington stormed to a World Series championship. “In an unusual gesture, the Nationals agreed that (World Series bonus) payments, albeit much smaller, should go to Wid Matthews, Wade Lefler” (another part-time player no longer with the team), “the team batboy, and the team grounds squad.”

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Earl McNeely
 

Player #106A: G. Earl McNeely. Outfielder with the Washington Senators in 1924-1927. 614 hits and 69 stolen bases in 8 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. His 12th-inning single drove in the winning run as Washington took Game 7 of the 1924 World Series from the New York Giants. His most productive season was 1926 with Washington as he posted a .373 OBP with 84 runs scored and 18 stolen bases in 503 plate appearances. He last played with the St. Louis Browns in 1928-1931.

Deveaux explains how McNeely became a National: Every team in the top half of the league, including the Nats, had a taste of first place during the first half of the (1924) campaign. Wid Matthews, a small, peppy player in center field hit .359 during his first three weeks after joining the club on June 5, but by the end of the season, Matthews would become Griffith's chief concern. Mathews had led the entire league in outfield errors as rookie with the A's in '23, and his hitting soon began to tail off. Later renowned as a scout, Matthews hit .302 for the Senators in 1924, but he'd been getting most of his hits by pulling the ball into short right field. When defenses began adjusting, his success as a hitter diminished greatly.

Griffith wanted someone with prowess at the plate who would be more surehanded between Goose Goslin and Sam Rice. Nemo Leibold, now 32, would not fill the bill, as his defensive skills were merely average at best. Scout Joe Engel was ordered to scan as far and wide as he had to in order to find a center fielder. The field got narrowed down to two players: Billy Zitzmann, of Newark, and Earl McNeely, of Sacramento. On Engel's recommendation, Griffith went to Buffalo to see Newark's Zitzmann, who had previously appeared in the big leagues briefly, and would resurface with Cincinnati the following season. The Old Fox was unimpressed.

Scouting McNeely would mean a lot of time and expense. Deciding he couldn't waste another two weeks in the heat of a pennant race, Griffith decided to rely on Engel's word and purchased McNeely, sight unseen. He did talk Sacramento down from the original publicized asking price of $75,000 to $35,000. In order to get McNeely, Griff gave up three lesser players, including loaning Wid Matthews for the rest of the season. (Mattews' big-league career would end following ten games with the Nats in 1925.) The fiery Mattews was a fan favorite, but Clark Griffith could not have guessed the popular outcry which resulted from the move.

The Old Fox tried to back out of it, but it was too late. His hesitation had more to do, however, with McNeely's condition when he reported to the Nats than with Wid Mattews' box office appeal. When McNeely joined the team, Clark Griffith reportedly greeted him at the club's Chicago hotel with a tongue-in-cheek comment to the effect that he was finally coming face to face with the man he'd paid so much money for. Griffith extended his hand, but McNeely was unable to take it. He told Griffith that he'd hurt his shoulder the previous week and that he couldn't raise his throwing arm above his hip. Griffith hit the proverbial roof. Right away, he was on the phone to Commissioner Landis, demanding that the deal be cancelled. But the deal stood. Barely given enough time for proper introduction to his new teammates, McNeely began asserting himself, batting .394 in his first ten games. In 45 games to the end of the season, he hit .330, and he had the range and speed of a top-flight center fielder. In a tight pennant race, Earl McNeely would make a difference for Washington. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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Earl McNeely's earliest cards are these Zeenuts:

George Mogridge
 

Player #93C: George A. Mogridge. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1921-1925. 132 wins and 21 saves in 15 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. He debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 1911-1912. His most productive season was 1921 with Washington as posted a 18-14 record with a 3.00 ERA in 288 innings pitched. He finished his career with the Boston Red Sox in 1926-1927. In 1917 he threw the first no-hitter in New York Yankee history. It was also the first no-hitter thrown in Fenway Park.

. . . Nineteen twenty-four was a banner year for the Washington Senators. They captured their first-ever American League pennant and World Championship. Hall of Famer Walter Johnson led the team with a 23-7 record, but the 34-year-old Mogridge made a significant contribution, going 16-11 in 30 starts. On August 14 he pitched a two-hit shutout beating Joe Shaute and the Cleveland Indians, 1-0. However, he struggled somewhat during the season with shoulder problems and was not as effective down the stretch as the Senators fought to hold off the Yankees and Detroit Tigers in the pennant race. Speculation was that Mogridge was “temporarily burned out” by the stretch run and would not be used at all in the World Series against the National League Champion New York Giants.

Manager Bucky Harris, however, chose him to start Game Four, with the Senators behind in the Series two games to one. Mogridge, described by one reporter as “a lean and hungry Cassius on the mound,” responded with 7 1/3 innings of three-hit, three-run (two earned) baseball in leading the Senators to a much needed 7-3 victory.

In Game Seven, with the series on the line, Mogridge again played a key role. Fearing left-handed hitting rookie first baseman Bill Terry more than any other Giants’ hitter (Terry was batting .500 for the Series coming into the game), Harris started right-hander Curly Ogden. The plan was to get Giants manager John McGraw to start Terry, who at this point of his career was a platoon player, so that Harris could counter with the lefty Mogridge in the first inning. The plan worked. Ogden pitched to only two batters, Freddie Lindstrom, who struck out, and Frankie Frisch, who walked. When left-handed hitting Ross Youngs strode to the plate, in came Mogridge. Mogridge pitched four 2/3 effective innings and retired Terry twice on a groundball and strikeout. With Terry scheduled to face Mogridge a third time, McGraw sent up right-hander Irish Meusel to pinch hit. Harris then countered with right-handed reliever Firpo Marberry. The ploy had worked. Terry was not a factor in the game and was on the bench by the sixth inning of a game that would go on for twelve. Washington won the game and the series when they got four innings of shutout relief from Johnson and a walk-off RBI double from rookie Earl McNeely in the bottom of the twelfth.

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More Mogridge:

Mogridge and Tom Zachary were the real pitching heroes for the Nationals in the 1924 World Series, bringing the Nats even with the Giants each time after Walter had lost his games. And in the seventh game, Mogridge and Fred Marberry held off a ferocious Giants lineup--almost to a man in the HOF--long enough for Johnson to come in with the game tied 3-3 in the top of the ninth inning, one of the most dramatic moments in baseball history and prelude to its greatest pitcher rising to his greatest challenge to win the series.

Curly Ogden
 

Player #107A: Warren H. "Curly" Ogden. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1924-1926. 18 wins in 5 MLB seasons. Served as "decoy" starting pitcher in Game 7 of the 1924 World Series. He was removed after two batters -- an early example of an "opener". He debuted with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1922-1924. His best season was probably 1924 with Washington as he posted a 9-5 record with a 2.58 ERA in 108 innings pitched.

Ogden's SABR biography sums up his time in Washington: Arm trouble limited Curly to 46⅓ innings in 1923. The next season started much the same. He was 0-3 with a 4.85 ERA when Mack tried to slip him through waivers and send him to the minors. Bucky Harris sent scout Joe Engel to take a look at Ogden, and, based on a positive report, Washington picked up the pitcher for the $7,500 waiver price on May 24.

Beginning on May 26, Ogden in seven starts went 6-0 with three shutouts and a 1.58 ERA. After a loss, he won two more. Four of Ogden’s 16 starts were in the second games of doubleheaders, when pitching staffs tend to be stretched thin. Ogden won all four, pitching complete games in three and eight innings in the other. In three of those twin bills, the Senators had lost the opener.

By the time Ogden won his final game, on August 26, he was 9-3 and helping himself at bat with a .302 average. He finally wore down after losing his next start, 2-1, to the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth. Had his teammates capitalized on their 11 hits and made the plays in field — one of the Yankees’ runs was unearned — Ogden’s five-hitter might have been enough.

Instead, he essentially was done for the season. Despite the excellent results, he had worked through arm pain all year. Ogden tried to start two more games, on September 7 and September 24, but didn’t retire a batter either time. “After each day’s pitching,” Shirley Povich wrote in his 1954 team history, “he would walk the floor of the hotel suite he shared with Harris and Muddy Ruel and hold his arm in pain and wonder if he could ever work again.” “He amazed me every time he won a game,” Harris recalled.
“Only Ruel and I could appreciate what Ogden went through. He pitched his heart out.”

Ogden’s last appearance in 1924 was as a pinch-hitter on September 30. So it’s doubtful he expected to be called upon in the World Series. Yet no contemporary accounts indicate that McGraw knew that Ogden wasn’t really capable of pitching for long.

Harris told Ogden the night before of his plan and got approval from owner Clark Griffith. Curly was to face just one batter, but after he struck out Lindstrom on three pitches, Harris motioned for him to stay in. When Ogden walked Frisch, Harris put his plan into effect and brought in Mogridge.

The game turned out to be one of the most memorable in World Series history, with bad hops aiding Washington twice and the well-loved Big Train holding down the Giants in relief until his teammates pushed across a run in the 12th to win it all.

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Interestingly, Warren "Curly" Ogden had an older brother, John "Jack" Ogden, also a pitcher, who had a 5-year MLB career, mostly with the Browns and Cincy.

This 1924 Diaz card of Warren Ogden shows him with the Athletics, from whom he was acquired via waivers in May 1924, as George mentioned above.

Roger Peckinpaugh
 

Great cards, Val! Thank you. I've always thought Peck's HC card was in the running for scariest portrait.

Player #95B: Roger T. Peckinpaugh. Shortstop for the Washington Senators in 1922-1926. 1,876 hits and 205 stolen bases in 17 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. His best season at the plate was probably 1921 as he helped the New York Yankees reach the World Series and posted a .380 OBP with 128 runs scored and 72 RBIs in 694 plate appearances. He debuted with the Cleveland Naps in 1910 and finished his playing career with the Chicago White Sox in 1927. He managed the New York Yankees in 1914 and the Cleveland Indians in 1928-1933 and 1941.

Peck's SABR biography gets us to the 1924 season: Roger Peckinpaugh was one of the finest defensive shortstops and on-field leaders of the Deadball Era. Like Honus Wagner, the 5’10”, 165-lb. “Peck” was rangy and bowlegged, with a big barrel chest, broad shoulders, large hands, and the best throwing arm of his generation. From 1916 to 1924, Peckinpaugh led American League shortstops in assists and double plays five times each. As Shirley Povich later reflected, “the spectacle of Peckinpaugh, slinging himself after ground balls, throwing from out of position and nailing his man by half a step was an American League commonplace.” The even-tempered Peckinpaugh was equally admired for his leadership, becoming the youngest manager in baseball history when he briefly took the reins of the New York Yankees in 1914. Described as the “calmest man in baseball,” Peckinpaugh’s steadying influence later helped the Washington Senators to their only world championship, and won him the 1925 Most Valuable Player Award, making him the first shortstop in baseball history to receive the honor.

In his first World Series in 1921, Peckinpaugh played poorly in the Yankees’ eight game loss to the New York Giants, as he batted just .194 and his crucial error in the final game allowed the Giants to win 1-0 on an unearned run. In the off-season Babe Ruth complained about the managerial skills of Miller Huggins (not for the first or last time) and said the Yanks would be better off if Peck managed them. Probably to avoid more conflict, New York traded Peck and several teammates to the Red Sox for a package that included shortstop Everett Scott and pitcher Joe Bush. However, three weeks later, Senators owner Clark Griffith, sensing that his team was one shortstop away from contention, managed to engineer a three corner trade in which the Red Sox received Joe Dugan and Frank O’Rourke, Connie Mack‘s Athletics received three players and $50,000 cash, and the Senators received Peckinpaugh.

The veteran shortstop teamed with the young second baseman Bucky Harris to form one of the best double play combinations in the American League. Everything fell into place by the 1924 season when owner Griffith appointed Harris the manager. Harris considered Peck his assistant manager, and together they led the Senators to back-to-back pennants in 1924 and 1925. Peck was the hero of the 1924 World Series, .417 and slugging .583, including a game-winning, walk-off double in Game Two. However, while running to second base (unnecessarily) on that hit, Peckinpaugh strained a muscle in his left thigh, which sidelined him for most of Game Three and all of Games Four and Five. But in what Shirley Povich called “the gamest exhibition I ever saw on a baseball field,” Peckinpaugh took the field for Game Six with his leg heavily bandaged and went 2-for-2 with a walk before re-aggravating the injury making a brilliant, game-saving defensive play in the ninth inning. Although Peckinpaugh had to sit out Game Seven, he had already done more than his share to bring the Senators their first world championship.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1677918359

These depict "Peck" in his earlier years with the Yankees:

And heck, speaking of Peck, here is a little W514 of him as a Yank, straight out of Brockelman's current auction.

Brian

Sam Rice
 

Player #74I: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 1. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

Carroll reports that the spring of 1924 found Rice in the middle of a battle between baseball and golf: After the tension he had dealt with playing for Bush in 1923, Rice seemed eager for an incident-free winter when he signed his contract without any degree of haggling for the following season.

But yet again, Bush found himself in the middle of a mini-controversy, and this time he wasn't alone.

Golf had become a very popular recreational activity for Americans in the 1920s, particularly among ballplayers. Rice was certainly among those smitten by the game, a love affair that would long outlast his baseball career. And he was actually a very skilled player, perhaps the top golfer among all major leaguers, as a matter of fact.

By this time eschewing Illinois/Indiana and their rough winters, never mind the constant reminders of his buried past, Rice had spent most of the winter of 1923 in Florida, taking advantage of the warm southern weather to work on his golf game during his down time. Reportedly, Rice was a good enough player to shoot even par.

"Rice, with a little luck, could enter the open golf championship and hold his own," the Post reported. . . .

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Thanks again to Doug G. (hi Doug) for gifting me this 1924 M114 Baseball Magazine poster of Sam Rice and to George T. (hi George) for trading me this nicer Witmor Candy card than the one I had. I'd really, really like to find Rice's Witmor Candy card with the vertical back,

Sam Rice
 

Great items from our Sam Rice master collector. Thanks for posting Val.

Player #74I: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 2. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

. . . A few baseball old-schoolers, led by Griffith and John McGraw, were opposed to players participating in the hobby (playing golf) during the baseball season. McGraw didn't even want his players to speak of golf once the baseball season began. . . .

. . . Following the lead of Griffith and McGraw, Yankees manager Miller Huggins instituted a golf ban of his own a few weeks before the beginning of spring training (in 1924). Detroit manager Ty Cobb actually went so far as to confiscate the clubs of his golf-playing Tigers. The reasoning given by the developing unified front was that golf, particularly when played on the morning before a baseball game, was an energy drain on players. . . .

. . . Tension between the two sports wasn't limited to baseball clubs' fears that star players would be affected in the field by too much time on the course. In fact, it's very probable that the stances of Griffith, Huggins and others was probably, at least in part, a sort of pre-emptive strike against a game that many in baseball feared was beginning to steal a piece of the national pastime's popularity.

For years, the arrival of baseball in the southern and western states in late winter and early spring had been a financial boon for small towns in those regions. But lately, promoters for professional golf tournaments had been approaching many of the same locales to pitch the idea of events in the out-of-the-way towns. They realized that hosting a baseball team in spring training gave locals entertainment for a few weeks, as well as the economic boost of hosting a franchise and its employees, along with their money, for that time. But while exhibition baseball might earn a town a mention in the newspapers of the team's home city, a high-profile professional golf tournament would likely earn publicity in almost every major newspaper in the country. Golf and baseball had been competing for the sports fan's summer dollar for a while. Now they were becoming combatants for the February and March discretionary income of customers, as well. Without a doubt, baseball saw golf as a potential threat. Players like Rice, pawns in this little ongoing power play, were paying the price. There was no way that men like Griffith, Huggins and McGraw wanted their star players populating America's golf courses all summer long, cast in the role of extremely effective endorsers for a sport eating into baseball's popularity as a spectator sport.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678097531

It appears that Sam Rice wasn't one to show much of a smile for photographers, not even for Mr. Conlon.

Sam Rice
 

Player #74I: Edgar C. "Sam" Rice Part 3. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1915-1933. 2,987 hits and 34 home runs in 20 MLB seasons. 1924 World Series champion. 1920 AL stolen base leader. He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1963. Led the Senators to three AL pennants (1924,1925, and 1933). Best known for controversial "over the fence" catch in the 1925 World Series. He had many excellent seasons, but one of his best was 1930 as he posted a .407 OBP with 121 runs scored in 669 plate appearances. He had 63 stolen bases in 1920. He last played in 1934 with the Cleveland Indians. His early life was marred by tragedy when his wife, two daughters, parents, and two sisters were all killed by a tornado in Indiana.

As early as 1918, Philadelphia manager Connie Mack, in a conversation with golfer Jim Barnes, expressed concern that golf was threatening baseball's future popularity. What was developing, it appeared, was a battle for the hearts and mind of America's youth. What particularly concerned baseball was the lure of caddying. While summer days on baseball's sandlots provided boys with hours of entertainment, exercise and some memories to bore their own children with in years to come, working as a golf course caddy put real money in their pockets. Two of the nation's top golfers, Walter Hagan and Gene Sarazen, had been introduced to the game through caddying, and now were among the nation's most successful and well-paid sportsmen. . . .

. . . A break in the thaw between the two sports came on March 3, when Cobb agreed to except his pitchers from his own no-golf rule. Cobb said he thought that golf adversely affected "the batting eye," but since most pitchers were poor hitters to begin with, he didn't see the harm. The ban remained in place for his position players, however.

By late July, Griffith, who actually did enjoy playing the game himself, apparently had relaxed his team's golf ban. Goslin and Rice were involved in a foursome at Washington Golf and Country Club, with onlookers marveling at Goslin's unorthodox left-handed swing -- more like a baseball swing -- while at the same time admiring Rice's less awe-inspiring yet more steady game. (Sam Rice by Jeff Carroll.)

Still not smiling, 35 years later.

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I'd sure like to obtain a nicer example of this Sam Rice card:

Allan Russell
 

Player #108A: Allan E. "Rubberarm" Russell. Pitcher with the Washington Senators in 1923-1925. 70 wins and 42 saves in 11 MLB seasons. He also pitched for the New York Yankees (1915-1919) and the Boston Red Sox (1919-1922). For his MLB career, in 345 appearances, he posted a 3.52 earned run average with 603 strikeouts. Russell played on the 1924 World Series champion Senators, making one appearance in the World Series, giving up one run over three innings of work. He was a spitball pitcher who was allowed to throw the pitch after it was banned following the 1920 season. He was one of 17 pitchers exempt from the rule change. His brother Lefty Russell also played Major League Baseball.

Russell's SABR biography puts his career in historical perspective: One of the tenets of the Puritan work ethic was that a man finished what he started. He did not quit when the going got tough. Not all baseball players in the 19th and early 20th centuries were Puritans, by any means, but most of them held the conviction that if a man started a game, he should finish it. Terms such as long relief, middle relief, set-up man, and closer were not in their vocabularies. But times changed. During the first two decades of the 20th century the number of complete games declined drastically, from nearly 90 percent of all starts to less than 60 percent, but the era of the relief specialist had not yet arrived. When the starting pitcher ran into trouble and had to be replaced, the usual response was to bring in a fellow starter to put out the fire.

Clark Griffith, manager of the Washington Nationals, was one of the first to try a new strategy—developing a full-time fireman. Although Griffith had completed more than 90 percent of his starts when he was a moundsman, the Old Fox recognized that the times called for a new approach. He converted his spitballer, Allan Russell, into a relief specialist. The experiment he started with Russell soon came to fruition with Fred Marberry. Baseball was changed forever. . . .

. . . On February 10, 1923, the Sox traded Russell and catcher Muddy Ruel to the Washington Nationals for catcher Val Picinich, outfielder Howard Shanks, and outfield prospect Ed Goebel. Many observers thought Boston got the better of the deal because of Goebel’s potential. The New York Times was particularly enthusiastic: “Harry Frazee swung another nice deal yesterday for his new manager, Frank Chance, and now it begins to look as if the task of rebuilding the Red Sox is on the rise. … This latest deal serves notice on the baseball world that Frazee and Chance mean business. …. It is hard to see where Frazee got the worst of this latest dicker.” The article went on to say that Russell had been of little use to the Red Sox and was nearly at the end of his string. The Times wrote: “Needing pitching badly, Clark Griffith, the Washington president, decided he could develop the right hander into a regular slabster, but Russell has shown little interest in his major league career.”

As it turned out, the highly touted Goebel never played a game for the Red Sox, while Ruel and Russell helped Washington win two American League pennants.

Although Russell had been used in relief occasionally throughout his career, the Nats made him an almost full-time relief specialist, one of the first in the history of baseball. His ability to go to the mound day after day earned him the nickname Rubberarm. During the 1923 season Russell appeared in 52 games, all but five of them in relief. He led the league in saves and relief wins, and had the circuit’s third best earned-run average.

In 1924 Russell ranked second in saves in the league with eight. In addition, he won five games in relief. (We'll return to this point when we next introduce Rubberarm.)

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As George mentioned in the above post, Allan (you will also see his first name spelled "Alan" and "Allen") Russell led MLB in saves for 1923. His total was 9 saves! I assume some of today's closers have recorded 9 saves in one month. Oh, BTW, Russell also led MLB in saves for 1919 with 5! Russell's total saves for his entire career is 42. I find it strange that Willard's Chocolate would picture Russell in a batting pose - his career batting average is .157!

Mule Shirley
 

Player #109: Ernest R. "Mule" Shirley. First baseman with the Washington Senators in 1924-1925. 21 hits in 2 MLB seasons. World Series champion in 1924.

Mule Shirley had exactly 100 at-bats in regular season play in the major leagues. He came up at the right time, playing as a rookie for the winners of the 1924 World Series, the 1924 Washington Senators managed by Bucky Harris.

In Game 1 of the 1924 World Series, he came in as a pinch-hitter in the 12th inning for Walter Johnson, reached on an error, and scored a run. In the third game, he came in in the 8th inning as a pinch-hitter for Joe Martina and hit a single. He also came in as a pinch-runner in the last game of the Series.

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BTW, "Mule" Shirley's 8th inning single in Game 3 of the 1924 WS knocked in a run, which would have been a crucial run if the Senators hadn't given up 3 unearned runs earlier in the game, a 6 - 4 loss to the NY Giants. So, with a 1924 (and career) WS batting average of .500 (1 hit in 2 ABs), Shirley had an achievement to boast about to his grandkids!

I believe this 1925 card is the only baseball card of Shirley that was issued during his brief career:

Tommy Taylor
 

Great card Val -- I wonder how many cards use the position description "utility man"?

Player #110: Thomas L. "Tommy" Taylor. Third baseman for the Washington Senators in 1924. 19 hits in 77 plate appearances during the 1924 season, his only year in MLB. 1924 World Series champion.

Taylor played for the Washington Senators in 1924, primarily as a third baseman. He played in 26 games in his one-year career. He had a .260 batting average, with 19 hits in 73 at-bats. He batted and threw right-handed.

Taylor was a member of the 1924 World Series championship team.

We will now enjoy a brief pause. Expected date for next post: 13 March.

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Clark Griffith acquired Tommy Taylor in June 1924 via a trade with Memphis, and in December 1924, Taylor was traded back to Memphis. He appeared in 3 games of the 1924 WS, and struck out in both of his at bats. Taylor did accumulate almost 1,700 hits over his 16-year minor league career, which concluded in 1935 with Greenville of the East Dixie League at age 42. As far as I have been able to determine, no cards of Taylor were issued during his playing career.

1924 World Series -- Intro (Part 1)
 

First in War, first in Peace, and now first in the American League, the Senators were honored with a victory parade when they got back to the capital -- open cars, police escort up Pennsylvania Avenue . . . the whole nine yards. The end of the line was the White House, where the ballclub was welcomed by President Calvin Coolidge, who promised to be on hand for the first game of the World Series at Griffith Stadium between the Senators and the New York Giants. The truth is that President Coolidge had absolutely no affinity with baseball -- he found the game a bore. Mrs. Coolidge, however, was a great fan of the game and just loved the Senators.

Three days later, on October 4, 1924, "Silent Cal" and his wife became the first President and First Lady to attend a Series opener. Secretary of State Charles Hughes, as well as the Secretary of War and the Speaker of the House were also in place in the presidential box. The United States Army Band entertained during the pregame ceremonies, and a military guard paid homage to the colors. Political and military bigwigs of all stripes had shown up for the occasion. To top things off, Walter Johnson and Roger Peckinpaugh were awarded shiny new automobiles.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678698488

George, I wonder how Bucky Harris felt about not also being awarded a shiny new automobile. Not only did the first-year player-manager lead the Senators to their first-ever pennant, but he and Peckinpaugh comprised one of the best, if not the best, Keystone Combos in the American League.

Has anyone ever seen another one of these?

That is so cool.

Thanks! Here's how Carry's Ice Cream was delivered back in the day:

1924 World Series -- Intro (Part 2)
 

I think Bucky was thrilled just to be the boy wonder. Johnson and Peckinpaugh were established national stars. The Carry's Ice Cream piece is unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. Thanks for the show.

A week before the World series, syndicated columnist and future American icon Will Rogers, who ranched about 40 miles from the Johnson family spread in Coffeyville, Kansas, wrote that if Walter Johnson had played for John McGraw's New York Giants all those years, he would have had to be incompetent to have lost even a single game. Johnson, Rogers declared, could be sure that he caried more good wishes than any man, let alone athlete, who'd ever entered any competition in the entire history of America. After a "diligent search" of 150 years, Rogers wrote, Washington had finally found an honest man.

Nonetheless, since Walter Johnson had waited this long for his first World Series, he now had a platform for exposure that the Series could not have provided previously. The world was changing at a pace like never before. The automobile was now affordable to most Americans -- the Ford Model T sold for $260 brand new. The first coast-to-coast airplane flight had taken place in 1923. By now, the radio receiver was commonplace in the average home. This World Series would be broadcast over the airwaves of WRC in Washington, which had opened as the city's first radio station that summer. The previous year the Series had been broadcast in its entirety for the first time by the team of Graham McNamee, who'd given up a professional singing career to become a radio announcer, and Grantland Rice. By the spring of 1925, all the Nats' road games would be broadcast on station WRC.

Two days before the Series began, Walter Johnson and Bucky Harris both spoke into a radio microphone for the first time. The gratitude they expressed to their fans across the country, and their promise of a World Championship victory, were broadcast across the nation over the NBC network. Western Union had strung 75,000 miles of cable to scoreboards in cities across the U.S., and wire services were available in approximately 200 other locations.

Nats fans wait in line for 1924 World Series tickets:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678786064

1924 World Series -- Intro (Part 3)
 

The day would be perfect if America's darling, Walter Johnson, could get his team off on the right foot with a victory over the Giants in the series opener. We get an idea of the type of opponent the Nats were up against when we consider that six of their members are today enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Those players are Bill Terry, George Kelly, Frank Frisch, Travis Jackson, Ross Youngs, and Hack Wilson. (Note: I don't know why Deveaux omits Freddie Lindstrom from this list. He was inducted in 1976 by the Veteran's Committee, but I believe Deveaux's book was issued in 2001.) Both Terry and Wilson were rookies, and Terry had seen limited action during the season due to Kelly's incumbency at the first-base position.

Ross Youngs had just won the National League batting title with a .356 average, the eighth straight year he'd batted over .300. George Kelly was tops in RBIs in both major leagues in 1924 with 136. Long George, who was 6'4", had the agility of a cat around the first base bag, and he could play the outfield, and even second base in a pinch. Team captain Frank Frisch was a recognized superstar, one of the acknowledged all-time best at second base. He'd hit .328 for the season and had tied for the league lead in runs with another of the great second basemen, Rogers Hornsby of the St. Louis Cardinals, who had hit .424, a mark never matched during the entire century.

Among the other regulars were the 18-year-old lead-off hitter, third baseman Fred Lindstrom, who would hit .311 for his career, and Emil "Irish" Meusel, Yankee Bob Meusel's older brother, who would post a .310 career mark. Needless to say, the Giants, who took the pennant by a mere 1 1/2 games over the Dodgers, had far and away the best offense in the National League in 1924. They were participating in their fourth straight World Series -- they had won two of the three previous Series, all against the Yankees, but their most recent memory was of a six-game defeat in 1923. They were led by the wiliest and toughest of baseball men, the antagonistic John McGraw.

Washington catcher Muddy Ruel would say years later that the Giants had seemed like a confident bunch on the other side of the diamond during the 1924 World Series. Apart from their offensive fire power, they had the reputation of being better defensively than any club in the American League. With John McGraw glowering at them all the while, it would have been easy for the Nats to have felt intimidated. But, as Ruel put it, those Washington Senators were a tough bunch too, and they wouldn't go down without a hell of a fight.

New York had no Walter Johnson or Firpo Marberry, and in Goose Goslin the Nats had a man with incredible power, a man who put as much into his swings as Babe Ruth. The proof was that when he missed, the Goose would do a pirouette which was pretty much just like the Babe's. But it was hard to deny that the Giants had more good hitters, and had more depth in starting pitching, and with only three days' rest following the end of the regular season and a World Series game scheduled every single day, these factors could turn out to be keys in determining the outcome. There was also the nagging fact that the Giants were taking part in their fourth consecutive World Series. On the Washington side, only Roger Peckinpaugh and Nemo Leibold had ever played in the postseason. Nevertheless, oddsmakers were calling it pretty much a toss-up, and the Nats were favored to take the first game, what with Bucky Harris having promised to start Walter Johnson.

1924 New York Giants wait to board train to Washington for Game 1:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678874183

Not me. The great memorabilia dealer Bob McCann unearthed this a couple of decades ago, sold it to me at a National, if memory serves correctly, then some time later it found the perfect home in your collection. One of the few items I've had I would put in the category of "condition irrelevant."

1924 World Series -- Intro (Part 4)
 

Umpire Billy Evans was of the opinion that at one time Walter Johnson could have won a World Series by himself, reasoning that a team from another league would not have had time, in one week, to adjust to Walter's legendary blazing fastball. However, when Evans came into the clubhouse prior to the start of the first game to get some baseballs autographed for friends, it was obvious to him that Walter Johnson, arguably the greatest pitcher in history, was very nervous. It had taken him 18 years to make it this far, the longest wait ever, incidentally, until Joe Niekro made it after 21 years, with the Minnesota Twins in 1987.

Walter Johnson admitted to Babe Ruth on the morning of the opener that he could hardly avoid the jitters, considering that everyone was expecting him to come through, everyone right up to and including the President of the United States. The first game, incidentally, would be only the second World Series game witnessed by the chief executive, President Wilson having been privy to the proceedings at a game in Philadelphia back in 1915.

Another sidebar to the 1924 World Series was the patching up of the strained relationship between two baseball legends, Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth. Cobb had recently been quoted as saying that he had gotten a real kick out of seeing the almighty Yankees fall to the Senators. The Babe had sarcastically commented to the press that Cobb, who would be doing some newspaper reporting of the Series, was probably also coming to Washington to collect some of the gate receipts as well, considering the impact he had had on deciding the pennant. Christy Walsh, ghostwriter for many a baseball star who purportedly analyzed ballgames but were in fact nowhere near the ballpark, somehow tricked Ruth and Cobb into the same cab. The two made up, acting like best buddies as they watched the proceedings from the press box throughout the week of the World Series.

While the Senators' first Series participation grabbed all the headlines, the Giants had been getting more than their share of ink. As their lead over Brooklyn dwindled in the late stages of the season, it had been alleged that Jimmy O'Connell, a spare outfielder with the Giants, had offered Philadelphia's shortstop, Heinie Sand, a sum of $500 if Sand would agree not to bear down too hard. When Sand reported the incident to his manager, Art Fletcher, the matter was brought to the attention of Commissioner Landis. The bribery plot was traced back to Giants coach Cozy Dolan, and both Dolan and O'Connell were eventually forever banned from organized baseball as a result. (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

Clark Griffith inspects progress adding bleachers to Griffith Stadium in advance of hosting the 1924 World Series:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1678957429

"Nevertheless, oddsmakers were calling it pretty much a toss-up, and the Nats were favored to take the first game, what with Bucky Harris having promised to start Walter Johnson."

George, I assume to only reason the oddsmakers considered the 1024 WS a toss-up is that they assumed that Walter would win at least 2 games. Had the oddsmakers known that Johnson would lose his two starts, I assume the Giants would have been prohibitive favorites.

1924 World Series -- Game 1 (Part 1)
 

I'm sure that's right, Val, Walter was viewed as a difference maker; Game 1 was probably the only game in which the Nats were favored, at least outside of Washington.

With the uproar from fans queuing for tickets plainly audible beyond Griffith Stadium's walls, the Nats practiced inside, in private, for two days prior to the start of the Series. Bucky Harris wanted it that way. He had his charges working on squeeze plays, bunting drills, and defensive positioning and execution. Temporary bleachers had been set up in left field to accommodate the anticipated overflow crowd, and they had an influence on the outcome of game one.

George Kelly's homer in those stands in the second inning was particularly galling, as it fell just beyond Goose Goslin's outstretched glove at the three-foot barrier. In the fourth inning, rookie Bill Terry reached the seats on the fly with a homer that would normally have been easily caught. Walter Johnson was on his game, though, and struck out the side in that inning. Travis Jackson became his fifth consecutive strikeout victim to open the fifth. Joe Judge, a lifetime .324 hitter during the season, got the Nats' first hit off of veteran southpaw Art Nehf of the Giants in the fourth, and in the sixth Earl McNeely broke the ice by doubling to left and coming around following consecutive ground-ball outs by Harris and Rice.

In the eighth, with the Giants still ahead 2-1, Ross Youngs doubled down the left field line with one out. He moved to third on a groundout, the second out, and Bill Terry was walked intentionally. Terry attempted to steal second, the idea being that if Ruel threw to second, he might make it and Youngs could come in on the second part of the double steal. But Ruel gunned the ball to third, and Youngs, who had strayed one step too far, was out. In the top of the ninth, with two out, pitcher Art Nehf singled to right with Hack Wilson on second. Sam Rice charged the ball, scooped it up cleanly and relayed it about five feet up the line so that Ruel was able to jam it right into Wilson's neck. The crowd of 35,000-plus was delirious.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1679045697

1924 World Series -- Game 1 (Part 2)
 

The place was abuzz but the score still stood at 2-1 when the Senators came up in the bottom of the ninth. After Judge struck out, Ossie Bluege, the regular third baseman since June who'd batted .281 for the year, singled to left. Roger Peckinpaugh followed him with a resounding double into left field to score Bluege. The ovation lasted several minutes, and hundreds of hats and cushions had to be cleared away from the field. President Coolidge was smoking cigars, constantly jumping out of his seat, and giving every indication that he was having the time of his life. When play resumed, Art Nehf got the last batters in the order, Muddy Ruel and Walter Johnson. Johnson had at this point pitched five scoreless innings, and Harris wanted to keep him in.

In the last of the tenth, with one out, Harris and Rice connected for consecutive singles. After Goose Goslin popped to short, Joe Judge hit the ball a ton, but it was caught in deep right by Ross Youngs. Johnson, who'd given up a single to Frank Frisch in the tenth, set the Giants down 1-2-3 in the 11th frame. Nehf similarly disposed of the Nats in the bottom of the inning.

The Big Train started the 12th by yielding a free pass to catcher Hank Gowdy. Then pitcher Nehf sent a low liner into center. Earl McNeely hesitated and then decided to come charging in. He got hold of the ball all right, but his knee hit the ground abruptly and the ball was knocked loose. When he tried to recover, he saw that Gowdy had stopped halfway between first and second. In his haste, McNeely threw wildly and the ball nearly ended up in the Giants' dugout. Gowdy took third and Nehf second. John McGraw then summoned pitcher Jack Bentley to hit. With a 16-5 ledger during the season, achieved almost exclusively as a starter, Bentley had also hit a respectable .265 in 98 at-bats. In 1923, he had hit .427, a major-league record for pitchers. Although his acquired middle name was "Needles," Jack Bentley was a big man. At one time, he amassed a record of 41-5 in three seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, the team Babe Ruth had played for in the minors. In 1922, Bentley also had hit .349, earning widespread acclaim as the "next Babe Ruth." A Maryland native, he had broken into the majors with the Senators as an 18-year-old back in 1913, but had only a 6-9 record to show for four seasons. He then played in the minors for six years before resurfacing with the New York Giants in 1923.

With no one out, Walter Johnson decided to walk Bentley intentionally. Next, Frankie Frisch, one of the best second baseman ever, grounded to Harris, who relayed accurately to Ruel to force Gowdy out at the plate. The next batter was outfielder Ross Youngs, a hitter of note. Youngs singled sharply to score Nehf. George Kelly then drove a long fly to left, bringing in a second run. The nightmare inning finally ended when Johnson got rookie Lewis Wilson to fly to left. (This was "Hack" Wilson, who in 1930 would set a still-standing major-league record of 190 RBIs in a single season.)

The bottom of the 12th, if anything, would prove even more electrifying. Bucky Harris had decided Walter Johnson had had enough. If this game was any indication, the Series could go long and Harris wanted to make sure his main guy would be in good form later on. The first Washington batter, reserve first baseman Mule Shirley, pinch hitting for Johnson, wound up on second base after Giant shortstop Travis Jackson muffed his fly ball. After McNeely flied out, manager Harris singled home Shirley. Sam Rice then also singled, sending Harris all the way to third. Unfortunately, Rice, hoping to avoid a double play which might have ended the inning, and in keeping with the baseball axiom that you don't make the first or third out on the basepaths, decided to try to stretch his hit into a double. He didn't make it. Two men out -- with Harris on third.

Goose Goslin, the man who'd come through all year, did not do so on this occasion. He hit a slow roller and George Kelly, now playing second, came up with it bare-handed. Harris had crossed home plate when umpire Bill Klem called the Goose out, and the Nats were going to contend that Harris's run had beaten the relay to first. Goslin, Harris, Nick Altrock and Joe Judge screamed blue murder and followed Klem off the field. President Coolidge walked right by Judge and Klem, who were still arguing, and went totally unobserved by the pair.

The frustrated Goslin, who had left men in scoring position three times in this game, called Klem "Catfish," a nickname everyone knew Klem couldn't stand. In fact, Klem would never forgive Goslin, even years later when the Goose tried to apologize. The bottom line, though, was that Walter Johnson had thrown 165 pitches in his very first World Series game, but all for naught. As things turned out, however, this enthralling game would not be as crucial as another 12-inning 4-3 ballgame that was still six days in the future.

Ossie Bluege homers and scores the tying run it the ninth inning of Game 1:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1679130493

1924 World Series -- Game 2
 

Bucky Harris chose 15-game winner Tom Zachary, who'd had one of his finest years and recorded a 2.75 ERA, to start the second game. For the Giants, it would be another lefty to follow Art Nehf. Jack Bentley, the pinch runner in the 12th inning the previous day, would get the call. John McGraw wanted to counter Washington's best batsmen, Goslin, Rice, and Judge, lefthanded hitters all, who'd hit .344, .334, and .324 respectively during the season.

The Nats struck quickly. After Zachary yielded two singles but got out of the top half unscathed, Rice singled to center with two-out in the bottom of the first frame and immediately stole second. He needn't have bothered because Goose Goslin then hammered a Bentley offering over the wall and into the bleachers in right. The third lefthanded hitter, Judge, followed with a single, beating out a slow roller to first. So much for McGraw's lefty strategy for the time being, but Judge was erased for the third out on a force-out following a Bluege grounder.

There was no more scoring until the fifth. The Senators threatened in the third, with both Harris and Judge having drawn walks and Harris having made it as far as third, but Judge had been caught trying to steal second. Tom Zachary was terrific, allowing only a single to Ross Youngs following his shaky first inning. With two away in the fifth, the Senators' boy manager came through with just his second home run of the season. He crushed a Bentley offering into the left-field bleachers, and the Senators led 3-0.
After an uneventful sixth, the Giants finally got on the board in the seventh. Zachary walked the first batter, George Kelly, and Irish Meusel followed with a single through short, moving Kelly over to third. Hack Wilson then bounced into a double play, scoring Kelly. The next three half-innings went 1-2-3. Zachary gave up only his third walk of the game, but also his third in four innings, to Frank Frisch to open the ninth. After inciting Ross Youngs to pop to short, Zachary surrendered a single to Kelly. Sam Rice's relay from right field was bobbled and by the time the ball got to the plate, Frisch, a very aggressive player, had beaten a close play and had made it all the way around. The next batter was Irish Meusel, and he forced Harris to make a great fielding play and was thrown out.

With Kelly advanced to second, the barrel-chested Hack Wilson (5'6", 195 pounds in his prime) singled to right to drive the last nail in Zachary's coffin, and Kelly scored the tying run. Firpo Marberry, who'd led the A.L. With 15 saves on his way to his 11-12, 3.09, 1924 showing, was summoned from the bullpen to get the last out, which he did promptly, striking out Travis Jackson. The deflated enthusiasm of the partisan crowd was quickly regained in the bottom of the ninth inning. Joe Judge walked on four pitches -- none of which came near the strike zone -- to lead off. Ossie Bluege sacrificed by bunting to Bentley. Roger Peckinpaugh then struck his second double in two days, and the Senators had the first World Series win of their history.

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Referring to the above post, it's interesting to me that starting pitcher Tom Zachary is credited with the Win and relief pitcher Firpo Marberry the Save for this game, even though Zachary was replaced by Marberry with the score tied and two outs in the top of the ninth. Nowadays, Marberry would be credited with the Win. Can someone tell me when this change in determining the winning pitcher came about?

1924 World Series -- Game 3 (Part 1)
 

(Val: I don't have an answer to your question. I believe, the "rules" for identifying "winning" pitchers evolved over many decades beginning with Chadwick in the 19th century and were still evolving in 1924. The "rules" for saves also evolved beginning in 1959 and were mostly settled by 1975. An answer may be that the identification of a winning pitcher was at the judgement of the official scorer; the save was "awarded" by historians sometime after 1959.)

These first two games were hotly, and evenly, contested. For the Nats, there was no time to bask in the day's victory. The cities of New York and Washington were in close enough proximity that the third game could be played the very next day at New York's Polo Grounds.

Roger Peckinpaugh suffered a charley horse on his game-winning hit and would have to be replaced. Harris would have liked to substitute Tommy Taylor for Bluege at third, moving Bluege to short. Taylor, however, was wearing a splint on his throwing hand, due to an injury he attributed to a fall down some steps. It was believed the real story was that he'd belted someone in the head on the night the Nats had sewn up the pennant in Boston. Instead of using Taylor, Harris had made the decision to start Peckinpaugh, who was in so much pain that he had to come out in the third inning. Harris then had to station the broad-shouldered Ralph Miller, an inferior fielder, at third. Miller had played in the field in only three games during the regular season, and these at second base.

Firpo Marberry, who'd gotten the last out the previous day, got the call from Harris. "Handsome Hugh" McQuillan, the Giants' perennial third starter, would be his mound opponent. Things did not go well for Marberry, as he yielded five hits, two walks, and three runs in the first three innings. Only one of the runs was earned. In the second, Bill Terry opened with a single. After fanning Hack Wilson, Marberry was victimized as a result of Peckinpaugh's absence. Travis Jackson hit the ball on the ground to new shortstop Bluege, whose relay to second to force Terry was dropped by Harris, who was charged with an error.

Instead of being out of the inning, Marberry was looking at men at first and second with still just one out. Hank Gowdy was the next batter. Gowdy was a World War I veteran who had, in June 1917, become the first big-leaguer to enter military service. He enlisted voluntarily, saw combat action in the trenches, and returned from the war highly decorated. Gowdy promptly delivered a sharp base hit that brought in Bill Terry. The Nationals ran Gowdy down between first and second for a second out, so there was a chance yet to get out with limited damage. Marberry next unleashed a wild pitch, and a second unearned run, which he had played a large part in bringing upon himself. The Giants scored a third run off Marberry in the third on a pair of singles and a Wilson double-play groundout, and it was 3-0 in favor of the Giants.

Altrock and Schacht warm up the crowd before Game 3 of the 1924 World Series:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1679304229

1924 World Series -- Game 3 (Part 2)
 

Hugh McQuillan was having his own problems with the Nationals, and Washington quickly got two runs back in the fourth, with Joe Judge, who had three hits and a walk on this day, supplying a double sandwiched between walks. Displaced third baseman Ralph Miller, who hadn't played the position in the majors since 1921, drove in the first run with a sac fly and, following another walk -- to Muddy Ruel -- McQuillan was gone, pulled in favor of another righthander, Rosy Ryan. Harris sent Benny Tate, an untried rookie catcher, to pinch hit for Marberry. The move paid off, as Tate earned a walk off Ryan, scoring a second run.

Rosy Ryan's presence in this game became even more of a factor when he strode to the plate with one out and nobody on base against new Nats reliever Allan Russell. To everyone's astonishment, including his own, Ryan clubbed a vicious home run into the upper deck of the distant right field stands at the Polo Grounds. Raloh Miller's suspect fielding skills resulted in a 5-2 Giants lead in the sixth. Miller stopped a ground ball off Gowdey's bat, but lost the handle on it. Lindstrom later doubled to bring Gowdey around.

Joe Martina, 6-8, 4.67 in 1924, his only season in the big leagues, pitched an uneventful seventh for the Griffithmen, as the Senators were sometimes called by the writers. The Nats pulled within two in the eighth. Bluege singled with one out, was helped along when Ralph Miller walked, and then scored on an infield single by Mule Shirley, who was pinch hitting for Martina.

In the bottom of the inning, Harris brought in underarmer Byron Speece, a 27-year-old rookie righthander who had pitched well on the 21 occasions Bucky called upon him during the regular season (2-1, 2.65). Speece just didn't have any luck at all on this day. He gave up just one clean hit, to Hank Gowdey, after Travis Jackson had beaten a slow roller to first. Rosy Ryan, who pitched 4.2 innings for the victory in this game, then grounded to Speece, bringing in the run. Speece then made a very nice play on a perfect bunt toward third by Frank Frisch, pouncing on the ball and making the play to Ruel at the plate to nip Gowdey and end the inning.

The Nats made a valiant effort in the ninth, scoring a run and loading the bases with one out. The Giants' third pitcher of the inning, Mule Watson, only 28 but making what would turn out to be his last appearance in the major leagues, got Miller to foul out to Lindstrom at third, and Ruel to ground into a force-out to wrap up the game, a 6-4 loss for Washington.

Kelly scores New York's third run in Game 3 of the 1924 World Series:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1679390743

Both Joe Martina and Byron Speece made their only 1924 World Series appearances in Game 3. Both had short Major League careers, but both had long professional baseball careers.

Joe "Oyster Joe" Martina's first minor league season was 1910, and his last was 1931 at age 41. He won 322 games during his 21-year minor league career. I think the two cards shown below are the only cards issued for Martina during his playing career.

Byron "By" Speece's first minor league season was 1922, and his last was 1945 at age 48. No, age 48 is not a typo! He won 229 games during his 20-year minor league career. I think the cards shown below are the only cards issued for Speece during his playing career, except for his 1945 Centennial Flour card which I am still seeking (the Centennial Flour cards shown below are Speece's 1943 & 1944 issues).

It's so interesting that players could have such amazing careers in the minor leagues, and get only a cup of coffee or not even that much in the majors in all that time. I'd like to see a listing, or even a book about, the longest and best careers in the minors by players who never got a pitch or at-bat in the bigs. To them, of course, playing in the bushes still beat working for a living! Another thing that occurs to me for the first time, Val, looking at your cards, is that in the ninth inning of game seven, although the pitching staff was exhausted from its seventh game in seven days, is that when Bucky brought in WaJo he had the two righthanders Martina, who had given him a shutout inning in the third game, and Speece, who been so successful during the season, completely fresh and ready to go against the Giants, now deprived of the lefty hitters he feared so much. It's actually amazing that The Boy Wonder brought in Johnson, with only one day's rest following his complete-game pounding at the Polo Grounds, instead of one of those one-year wonders. One more of the multitude of fascinating tidbits of that incredible game to ponder and be amazed by.

1924 World Series -- Game 4
 

Fantastic cards Val, thank you.

To Senators fans, game four of the 1924 World Series, on October 7, became known as the "Goslin Game." The exuberant, awkward Goose of earlier years was now one of the American League's most respected hitters, having just led the circuit in RBIs, outdistancing the likes of Babe Ruth. Ruth had dominated in that category for four of the previous five years, and would have done so in 1922 had his season not been curtailed by injury.

A much surer fielder than he'd once been, Goose Goslin had kept the same closed stance of his earlier years, somewhat reminiscent of the lefthanded carriage later adopted by Stan Musial. Goose showed only his back to the pitcher and peered at him over his shoulder. Goose had a protruding nose, and he was known to be able to joke about it. He would say that because of the way that he stood at the plate, he was not able to see past his nose with his left eye. Had he been able to keep two eyes on the ball, he would have hit, he figured, around .600 or so.

The Giants wasted no time scoring first in the fourth game, as Ossie Bluege's error contributed to a run off lefty George Mogridge, the veteran who had served Clark Griffith so well since being picked up from the Yankees in '21. Following the first game, Harris had decided that Walter Johnson would not start game four -- he wanted to give him one more days rest. His first choice for this game, Curly Ogden, had sacrificed too much down the stretch -- his arm was too sore -- so Harris had opted for Mogridge.

Goose Goslin, who had singled off Virgil Barnes to open the previous inning, started taking matters into his own hands in the third when he came up with two on and two out. He propelled the first pitch he saw into the lower tier of the right field grandstand, bringing in McNeely and Harris, both of whom had singled in front of him. Barnes, 16-10 for John McGraw in '24, was still around when Goslin next came to bat, in the fifth inning. McNeely and Harris had again both singled in front of him, and McNeely had already counted the fourth run when Barnes uncorked a wild pitch. With one out, Goslin drove in Harris with his third hit for a 5-1 lead. The Giants were never in it, although they kept pecking away at Mogridge with single runs in the sixth and eighth frames. Until the second run, Mogridge (who, incidentally, struck out four times in this game) had kept the Giants off the scoresheet for four straight frames.

The Nats countered with two runs of their own in the eighth inning. Goslin led off with another single, and he and Joe Judge came home when Ossie Bluege got his third single of the day for a 7-2 Washington margin. Earl McNeely also had three hits, including a double, in this game. The Giants did reply with a run charged to Mogridge in the eighth, after Ross Youngs was given a free pass and Mogridge had been replaced by Fred Marberry. Marberry surrendered another meaningless run in the ninth. The Senators had themselves a 7-4 win, thanks to the exploits of Goslin, who'd had himself a 4-for-4 outing, including a three-run homer and four runs driven in.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1679476944

Holland Creameries and W573 cards of Goose:

1924 World Series -- Game 5 (Part 1)
 

The Nats had regained home-field advantage, with Walter Johnson set to go the next day in the third and last game to be contested in New York. Concerned about Ralph Miller's two errors in two days and Bluege's miscue while playing out of position at short, Johnson himself approached Peckinpaugh and urged him to play. Peck assured him that he had no mobility at all and that he couldn't play, but Johnson felt that Peck would be of value if only because his presence in the lineup would allow Bluege to return to third. Peckinpaugh did not play, however.

Game five started off with a bang when lead-off hitter Earl McNeely bashed a rocket off the lefthander, Jack Bentley. The 18-year-old rookie third baseman, Fred Lindstrom, leapt and snared the missile -- a fantastic catch by all accounts. After Harris and Rice harmlessly made outs, Lindstrom, who was to hit .333 in this, his first World Series, led off in the bottom of the inning with a single to left off Walter Johnson. Barney recovered by first getting Frankie Frisch to foul out to third baseman Ralph Miller, who was starting his second consecutive game because of Peckinpaugh's injury. Miller had played partial seasons for the Phillies in '20 and '21, and the 1924 World Series would be his swan song. He logged only 26 official at-bats for the 1924 Washington Senators, and 11 of them came in the World Series.

The third-place hitter, Ross Youngs, flew out to McNeely in center field. Lindstrom then took off for second, but Muddy Ruel cut him down, ending the inning. After an uneventful second in which Goose Goslin's infield single was the only hit on either side, the dignified Walter Johnson approached the plate. Again he got an ovation -- many New York fans had stood when he took the mound at the start of the game. Eighty percent of New York, according to Grantland Rice, was rooting for this man.

The Big Train drove the ball all the way to the left field wall, but the locomotive broke down and fell as he was rounding first. Running was not Walter's forte, and it was often said that he ran as if he was still behind the plow back on the farm. Hack Wilson pegged the ball to Frisch at second, who then relayed to Terry to intercept the Big Train. Following the out, McNeely and Harris managed to get on, but were stranded. Johnson's difficulties intensified in the bottom of the inning when Travis Jackson, the good-hitting Bentley, and Lindstrom, all singled. And it certainly could have been worse. With still just one out, Sam Rice caught a liner in right field off the bat of Ross Youngs, and then threw the ball to Johnson. The pitcher's relay to the plate caught Bentley trying to score and put an end to the shenanigans.

The Senators, down 1-0, struck right back. Joe Judge banged a single off the right field wall behind Youngs and was sacrificed to second by Bluege. Judge took third when Muddy Ruel grounded to short, bringing up Ralph Miller, 1-for-7 in the Series so far. The harried Miller came through, singling along the right field foul line. He didn't stop at first, however, and he should have. But the score was now tied.

Opposing second basemen Frankie Frisch and Bucky Harris square off in the 1924 World Series:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1679556339

I believe this 1925 Holland Creameries card to be Ralph Miller's only card issued during his playing days, and it's card #1 in this 18-card set. Unsurprisingly, I'd love to obtain a nicer example of this card.

1924 World Series -- Game 5 (Part 2)
 

The 12 innings Johnson had thrown in the first game of the Series had no doubt taken their toll. Having struck out 12 in that game, Johnson could come back with only three in game five. He was lucky to get out of the fourth inning without surrendering the lead, as Bill Terrt had tripled to deep right with only one out. However, in the fifth, after giving up a single to catcher Hank Gowdey, Jack Bentley, the "not-quite Babe Ruth," rocked Johnson for a towering home run into the right field seats. It was estimated that the ball landed about a foot fair and a foot inside the upper-deck railing down the short right field line.

Shortstop Bluege, whom Johnson would have loved to have seen at his familiar spot at third, was in cahoots with Bucky Harris to turn a gorgeous double play to get Walter out of the inning without further damage. In the seventh, the Nats turned another defensive gem. Lindstron and Youngs, who'd both singles, stood on the corners with two out. McGraw called for another double steal, and this time Ruel went immediately to second with his peg, stopping Youngs, the slower of the two baserunners, dead in his tracks. As Youngs retreated and a rundown involving Harris and Joe judge ensued, Lindstrom broke for the plate. Harris made the right decision, gunning the ball home to prevent Lindstrom from scoring before the last out was made. It was a close play, but Ruel held on to the ball and the seventh inning ended with the score unchanged.

It was not until the eighth that the Nats closed the gap. With one out and still trailing 3-1, Goose Goslin hit his third home run of the Series, this one up against the upper tier of the grandstand in right. The Goose was coming through in a major way -- his infield single in the second inning was his sixth hit in a row in the World Series, a record which would still be standing at century's end. This home run also tied Babe Ruth's then record of three home runs in a single World Series. Joe Judge promptly followed Goslin's blast with a single to right to chase Bentley. John McGraw called upon Hugh McQuillan, the starter and winner in game three. McQuillan did the job, inducing both Bluege and Ruel to ground out to the infield, which got the Giants out of the inning hanging on to their 3-2 lead.

This all became academic in the bottom of the eighth, when Kelly singled and Terry was walked by Johnson. This was only the second walk allowed by Johnson on the day, but before it was over he gave up 13 hits and also hit a batter. With men on first and second, no one out, and the Giants looking to pad their lead, Hack Wilson bunted. Johnson picked the ball up but fumbled, loading the bases. The game turned on that play and the Giants pushed three runs across on a flyout, a bloop single, and Lindstrom's fourth hit of the day, for a 6-2 final.

As things turned sour for the Nats and Walter Johnson, the Polo Grounds crowd, behind Walter all day, was stunned. Is this what could befall a hero? Past his prime, the once great pitcher had not once but twice failed to make good on a shot at glory. Pressed by reporters during the train ride back to Washington, Bucky Harris defended his decision not to pull Walter from the game despite the 13 hits and only three strikeouts. Harris blared that he wouldn't have made Walter Johnson take the long walk back to the clubhouse even if it had meant winning all of the games of the World Series.

When the Big Train made the trek at the end of the game, he looked particularly haggard and discouraged. In the clubhouse, Johnson lamented his second straight failure despite the fact that he would have willingly cut off his right arm to win that day. Muddy Ruel tried to boost his morale, reminding the great one that the Series was still far from over. What may have counted more was the firm advice proffered by Clark Griffith on the train ride back to Washington. Clutching Johnson's pitching arm, Griffith told him to forget about trying to help his friends find tickets for the next day's game. There may be another opportunity for him yet.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1679648726

It might have seemed like mere fatherly consolation from Griffith after Johnson's disastrous defeat in game 5, but there's no doubt in my mind that Griff meant it 100% when he said, "Go home and get some rest, Walter. We might need you."

1924 World Series -- Game 6 (Part 1)
 

The fact remained that the Washington Senators were going home with their backs up against the proverbial wall, and their boy manager had better think of something smart real quick. Bucky Harris turned, in this time of desperate need, to Jonathan Thompson Walton Zachary, who'd won the second game of the Series and pitched to within one out of a complete game. The long-necked Southerner had made use of his elaborate handle when he had pitched in the major leagues under an assumed name. As a member of the Philadelphia A's in 1918, he had been known as Zach Walton. At the time, he had been intent on protecting his eligibility to play college ball.

McGraw's choice as starting pitcher for the sixth game was just as obvious as Harris's. He had Art Nehf ready to go. Nehf had been sitting since the 12-inning win over Johnson in game one. McGraw had kept him back one game to let him recover, and that could have been interpreted as a good move since the Giants had won the fifth contest anyway.

Five thousand fans greeted the sagging Senators at the train station upon their return to Washington, and the 34,254 fans who populated Griffith Stadium for game six numbered among them President and Mrs. Coolidge, who took their seats for the third consecutive game. The crowd's mightiest cheer was for Roger Peckinpaugh, who took the shortstop position after missing two games with a charley horse, which had caused him much pain in his left thigh for three days. Peck was saying he was ready to break a leg to get back in action. The limb was bandaged and strapped so tightly to keep it upright that Peck could hardly feel his foot touch the ground.

This game was very exciting right off the bat, as half the games had been so far. After Lindstrom led off with a bunt on which Bluege, back at his familiar position, made a nice play to throw him out, Frank Frisch crashed a solid double along the line in right. Zachary got Ross Youngs to bounce right to him and then cooly turned toward to catch Frisch in a rundown -- Youngs made it to second on the play. The crowd was immediately disquieted again when George Kelly singled off Zachary to bring in the first run. Sam Rice then had to make a fine running one-handed catch on a drive by Irish Meusel to end the first half-inning.

Zachary was never in any trouble in this game again. He allowed only five hits and just one runner to get to second the whole rest of the way. Not only were there no walks, Zachary never even got to ball three with any hitter during the entire game. But his mates weren't doing anything for him offensively. The Nats had gotten four different baserunners on in the bottom of the first inning, but Harris forced McNeely and then got himself picked off. Except for Peckinpaugh's single off Lindstrom's shoe in the second inning, the Nats went down 1-2-3 in each inning until the fifth.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1679737004

Another 1925 Holland Creameries card I'd love to upgrade:

1924 World Series -- Game 6 (Part 2)
 

Peckinpaugh singled for the second time to start things off (in the fifth), and then Ruel came through with the anticipated sacrifice to move him up to second. Zachary then grounded to Bill Terry, but this put Peck on third with two down. With the pressure on him, Earl McNeely, the late-season spark, drew a walk on four straight pitches. McNeely promptly stole second, Gowdy not risking a throw that could have resulted in the run coming in from third. This brought up the boy manager, Bucky Harris, who came through for his men. His single to right brought in both runs and the Senators were up 2-1.

The Nats stayed ahead as a result of Zachary's masterful pitching on this day. In the ninth, George Kelly singled past first base with just one out. Irish Meusel then slashed a hard grounder through the box which could well have signified the beginning of the end of the Senators' hopes for staying alive. Roger Peckinpaugh had been playing the righthanded Meusel in the hole and came back toward second, leaped, made a terrific stab, and then miraculously flipped to Harris. This forced pinch-runner Billy Southworth, but Harris's relay to first conked Joe Judge on the knee. Judge went down in pain, but it turned out that he was not seriously injured and would continue. After Judge fell, everyone noticed that Peckinpaugh was also on the ground -- and he wasn't moving.

Peckinpaugh was escorted from the field, bloodied and obviously in agony, his weight supported by his teammates. He would not be back during this World Series. Once again, Ossie Bluege moved over to short. With the Nats ahead, 5'8" rookie Thomas Livingston Carlton Taylor, a better fielder than Ralph Miller, was sent in to man the hot corner. This was the same Tommy Taylor who had hurt his throwing hand during the pennant-party festivities and had had it in a splint ever since. Harris, who didn't have much choice, decided to send the injured player into the fracas anyway.

With Meusel standing on first and two out, Zachary threw three pitches to rookie Hack Wilson. Wilson, who would strike out nine times in the Series, did what came naturally. Yes, Virginia, there would be a seventh game! A coin toss would determine where the deciding game of the first seven-game Series in 12 years would be played. Commissioner Landis presided, and just as they had won when a flip of the coin had decided where the Series would open, the Nats were lucky again.

We will now enjoy a pause. Expected next post: 16 April.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1679821358

The real pitching hero of the 1924 World Series!

The suspense is killing me! I look forward to your return to learn the outcome. Am enjoying this thread immensely.

Looking for some Id help. Anybody have a clue? Looks kind of like Harry Kelley But I don't think its him. Tried to date the uniform but its really hard to make out, thinking early 30s but definitely could be 20s as well. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...58af716cf2.jpg

Sorry to keep you hanging.
 

"The suspense is killing me!"

David: Thanks for the kind words and great photo. I am actually not leaving until Wednesday, but I didn't want the pause to fall in the middle of the seventh game, which will take a few days to unfold.

As George mentioned in his last post re Game 6 of the 1924 WS, Roger Peckinpaugh's injury, after he made a spectacular play to start a double play in the ninth inning to help ensure the Senators' victory, prevented him from playing in Game 7. This was a huge blow to the Senators, not only because of Peck's defense, but for his offense as well, as Peck hit .417 for the WS. I'm happy to have just picked up this card of Pack (his name is spelled incorrectly) in the Sterling Auction that just ended:

1924 World Series -- Game 7 (Part 1)
 

If there had been some interesting developments in the first inning of several of the games so far, they were nothing compared to the high jinks devised by Bucky Harris as the clincher got under way. Harris called upon Curly Ogden as his starting pitcher. This was the same Curly Ogden who had bombed with the A's earlier in the season and who had started 17 times for Washington in 1924. Curly Ogden of the perennially sore arm. Ogden struck out the pesky Fred Lindstrom and then walked Frank Frisch. His next move was to walk to the dugout, never to reappear.

Harris had hatched a plan which he'd revealed to Clark Griffith that morning. Going with the righthanded Ogden would incite John McGraw to start the rookie, Bill Terry, who, despite batting only 163 times during the season, was murdering Harris's pitchers. Terry had 6 hits in 12 at-bats, including a triple and a homer so far. McGraw generally only deployed the lefthanded-hitting Terry against righthanders.

Bucky Harris reasoned that in the first inning, he would lift Ogden and bring in lefty George Mogridge. Harris wasn't worried about Terry hitting Mogridge. If McGraw made more changes, like hopefully lifting Terry from the game, Harris would go to a righthander again -- probably Firpo Marberry. Griffith gave Harris his okay for the plan, and when the manager left, Griff telephoned Walter Johnson and told him to be ready -- he just might be coming in for late relief in the biggest game of his life.

Everything went according to plan, or just about, as the game got underway on the most beautiful day of the entire Series, the whole of which was played this year in particularly pleasant conditions. Ogden had been expected to pitch to the lead-off batter, Lindstrom, only, but when he got the rookie on three pitches, Harris motioned for Ogden to stay in. Maybe Curly's dead limb could bounce back for one more act of heroism, although it had given no indication of late. Ogden walked the next man, Frank Frisch, and the strategy was then implemented.

With the lefthanded Ross Youngs batting third and due up, Mogridge was summoned. He's been warming up out of view, under the stands. Mogridge struck Youngs out, and got Kelly to ground out harmlessly to Tommy Taylor at third, who was playing in what would turn out to be, simultaneously, his first World Series start and last major-league game. Two of the rookie's 75 official at-bats took place in the World Series.

Washington's 1924 "brain trust" -- the Old Fox and the Boy Wonder:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1681636450

George, I'm glad you are back and continuing your most interesting history of the Washington Senators.

These two approx. 4" x 5" photos by National Photo are part of a set of 30 photos (I have 29 of them - missing only the Ossie Bluege photo) that also appear in the Senators' 1924 World Series program. My guess is that sets were given to each player and member of team management. I think these photos would be seen more frequently if they were sold to the public.

AFAIK, no cards were issued of reserve infielder Tommy Taylor during his playing days. 1924, at age 31, was Taylor's only year in the Majors, and it was a partial year at that. But he did play for 16 years in the Minors, from age 27 to age 42, batting over .300 most years.

1924 World Series -- Game 7 (Part 2)
 

Thanks, Val. Great stuff!

Bill Terry grounded out to start the second (inning) and would leave the game in the sixth inning. By then, the Senators had a 1-0 lead thanks to their peerless leader, Harris, who hit a home run off screwballer Virgil Barnes for the Nats first hit, in the fourth inning. This was Bucky's second homer of the Series; it doubled his total for the season. In a 12-year career, Bucky would hit just nine regular-season home dingers. Hack Wilson, who had fallen clumsily into the temporary bleachers in left in an attempt at snaring Harris's homer, made a sensational belly slide moments later as he grabbed a sinking liner off the bat of Sam Rice.

Mogridge had been sailing along, with Lindstrom's double over Tommy Taylor's head in the fifth the only serious blow, until he got into big trouble in the sixth. Youngs walked to open the inning, and Kelly singled him to third. It was at this point that Tery was taken out of the game in favor of the righthander, Irish Meusel. Harris countered with the big, scowling righty, Fred Marberry.

Called" Firpo" (a nickname he hated) because of his resemblance to Luis Firpo, a boxer who had once knocked Jack Dempsey out of the ring, Marberry was himself knocked back by the Giants. President Coolidge had led a standing ovation as Marberry made the trek from the bullpen to the mound. Seconds later, there were more cheers for a player who was smiling and waving back at the crowd -- it was Walter Johnson, and he had left the dugout and was making his way to the bullpen.

Marberry gave up a long fly to pinch hitter Meusel to bring in the tying run. Hack Wilson then singled to send Kelly all the way to third. Then, two straight muffs in the field -- one by the excellent fielder Judge at first, and the other by the displaced Bluege at short -- brought in a second run. Judge bobbled Travis Jackson's hard grounder as he tried to hurry a throw home in a hopeless attempt to get Kelly. He couldn't decide what to do with the ball, and Wison and Jackson were both safe. Then Bluege let Hank Gowdy's roller right through the wickets, an error he would later refer to as the worst of his entire life. This scored Wilson, and pitcher Barnes then lofted a long fly to score a third run.

After Barnes retired the Nats again in the bottom of the sixth, Bucky Harris had been the only one of 19 batters to face him to even reach base. Could it be that Harris's carefully conceived plan had somehow backfired? In the seventh, the Nats' fielding showed a resurgence. Catcher Ruel reached far into the crowd to pluck out a Frankie Frisch foul. Tommy Taylor then made a great play, cutting in front of Bluege on a slow bouncer to just edge George Kelly at first. Marberry fielded a roller by Irish Meusel and applied the tag himself. The crowd was coming back to life.

Harris scores crucial run in Game 7:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1681722545

1924 World Series -- Game 7 (Part 3)
 

Finally, in the eighth, with the Nats still trailing 3-1, there was a rally. The veteran Nemo Leibold, a reliable .293 hitter during the regular campaign, came up with one out to pinch hit for Tommy Taylor and doubled down the left field foul line. This brought up catcher Muddy Ruel. He was the author of a steady .283 bat mark during the season, but had contributed zero offense during this entire Series with an awful 0-for-18 performance. Ruel made it 1-for-19, with a base hit that nicked Kelly's glove.

Leibold stopped at third and pinch hitter Bennie Tate, a rookie with 43 major-league at-bats under his belt, was called upon to bat for Marberry. As Tate ambled to the plate, Walter Johnson was seen emerging from the dugout again, this time seemingly in more of a hurry to get to the bullpen. Benny Tate walked for the third time in his third World Series plate appearance, filling the bases. The collective hopes of nearly 32,000 fans withered, however, when McNeely lifted a benign fly to left field.

Once again, the boy manager of the Senators would have to settle the issue. He settled it in his side's favor. Harris singled sharply over Lindstrom's head, tying the score when both Leibold and Ruel raced home. In the din that resulted, some spectators burst onto the field and were quickly rounded up by the police. The First Lady, Grace Coolidge, had by now worked herself into such a frenzy that she hardly ever sat down. The President, known as "Silent Cal," didn't make quite as much noise, but he did drop his cigar when the Nats tied the score.

Mule Shirley, who was in the game for Tate and who had an odd nickname for a pinch-runner, had stopped at second on Harris's hit. Manager McGraw summoned reliable Art Nehf, who'd thrown seven full innings the previous day, to pitch to Sam Rice. Rice grounded out to end the inning, but the Senators were back in it, the score knotted at three after eight.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1681808554

22-year-old Henry Bennett "Benny/Bennie" Tate was one of two seldom-used, back-up catchers to Muddy Ruel for the 1924 Senators. My favorite memorabilia item in my 1924 Senators collection is this huge team photo that I acquired in a 2012 auction. The LOA from the consignor states the he acquired this framed photo directly from the family of Benny Tate.

AFAIK, there were no cards of Tate issued during the 1920's and only a few during the 1930's. BTW, the bio info on the back of Tate's World Wide Gun card shown below is incorrect - Tate never player for the Browns - he played 6 years for the Senators, 2 years for the White Sox, and 1 year each for the Red Sox and Cubs.

1924 World Series -- Game 7 (Part 4)
 

Next came perhaps the most breathtaking moment in the history of the Washington Senators; it was perhaps the most breathtaking moment in all of baseball's illustrious story. In his deliberate, dignified gait, striding from the bench was Walter Johnson. Here was the opportunity for the 18-year veteran, participating in his very first World Series, to make amends for his two losses thus far. What a game to win!

The man many felt was the only pitcher who might have rivaled Johnson as the best of the early part of the century, Christy Mathewson, said at this precise moment in the press box that it was a shame to send Walter Johnson back into the fray -- "Poor old Walter," Mathewson called him. Mathewson would later state, incidentally, that this 1924 World Series was the best he had ever seen, and he had played in four himself.

Manager Harris got the distinct impression from Walter's five warmup pitches that the big guy had his stuff. Johnson got the Giants' lead-off man, Fred Lindstrom, who'd gone 4-for-5 against him two days earlier, to pop harmlessly to third baseman Ralph Miller to start the top of the ninth. Miller had just been inserted into the game, succeeding Taylor, who had (been) replaced (by) Leibold -- who had started the big comeback -- in the bottom of the eighth.

Frank Frisch woke everyone in spacious Griffith Stadium from their reverie with a monstrous triple over Earl McNeely's head in deepest center field, a blow of well over 400 feet. Ross Youngs was then walked intentionally, a textbook move in order to set up a double play. Walter Johnson then demonstrated to everyone that he still had that special something. Future Hall of Famer George Kelly went down on three straight swinging strikes. Heywood Broun would write in New York World the following day that whenever he wanted to reassure himself that the soul of man cannot die, he would remember how Walter Johnson had struck out George Kelly with one out and a man on third.

Irish Meusel, batting in Bill Terry's spot, then sent a ground ball toward 28-year-old Ralph Miller, who, unbeknownst to anyone, was, as indicated earlier, playing in his very last major-league game. Miller came up with the ball cleanly, but made a throw to first which forced Joe Judge to stretch his 5'8" frame to its limits. The Big Train was out of the inning.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1681896231

After being purchased from Reading of the Int'l League on July 15, 1924, utility infielder Ralph Miller, who had played in 154 games for the Phillies during 1920-21 and batted .251, played sparingly for the Senators. For the remainder of the regular 1924 season, Miller appeared in only 9 games, with 2 hits and a walk in 16 plate appearances. Miller appeared in 4 games of the 1924 ES, with 2 hits, a walk, and 2 RBIs in 13 plate appearances. AFAIK, this 1925 Holland Creameries card is the only card issued of Miller during his playing career.

1924 World Series -- Game 7 (Part 5)
 

With men on first and second and just one out in the bottom of the ninth, Ralph Miller hit into a double play. Walter Johnson headed for extra innings, as he'd done in the first game, and walked the first batter in the tenth, Hack Wilson. He then struck put Travis Jackson, who looked at strike three, and enticed receiver Hank Gowdy to bounce to the mound to start a double play. With one out in the bottom of the tenth, everyone's heart surged up to their throats -- Walter Johnson slugged a fly to left center that looked like it had a chance to go out. It didn't, as Hack Wilson pulled it in about ten feet in front of the fence.

After Earl McNeely struck out to send the Nats down in order, Johnson allowed a lead-off single in the top of the 11th to Heinie Groh, who was pinch hitting for starter McQuillan. After Lindstrom sacrificed, Johnson fanned Frank Frisch, one of the toughest men to strike out in baseball history, who took an off-balance swipe at a roundhouse curve which moved far out of the strike zone. To this day one of the all-time best hitters among second baseman, Frisch had struck out only 24 times during the regular season, the second-highest total of his 19-year career. After again walking Ross Youngs intentionally (Youngs' fourth walk of the game), Johnson then struck out the N.L.'s top RBI man, Long George Kelly, once again. Everyone in the park went batty.

Big Jack Bentley came in to try and stop the Nats in the bottom of the 11th. One run of course, and the Nats would be World Champions. The intensity was palpable, and the crowd remained on its feet. Harris and Rice, the first two batters, both flied out -- Rice hit the ball a long way, to Hack Wilson in deep left center. Goose Goslin then deposited a Texas Leaguer into right field for a double. In an odd bit of strategy, John McGraw then instructed his lefthander, Jack Bentley, to put lefty Joe Judge on intentionally in favor of righthander Ossie Bluege. With Bluege up with a chance to win it, the superior-fielding Ross Youngs moved to left, and Irish Meusel went to right. The maneuver had no bearing on what happened next, as Bluege hit the ball on the ground to short, and the potential insurgence was snuffed out.

For the third straight inning, the first Giant got on against Johnson, as Irish Meusel singled to right to open the 12th, and for the fourth straight inning, the Giants would not score, as Barney mowed them down. He registered his fifth strikeout against Hack Wilson. By this point, Walter Johnson conceded later, he'd gotten it into his mind that maybe this would be his day after all.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1681981698

1924 World Series -- Game 7 (Part 6)
 

After Miller led off the 12th with a groundout, catcher Muddy Ruel, 1-for-20 in the Series, fouled behind home plate. At this point, as Clark Griffith later put it, Giants catcher Hank Gowdy's mask came up to bite him. Gowdy's left foot came down squarely onto the mask and he tried to kick it off as he looked for the ball, which eluded him. Griffith had moved from his box seats to steps near the dugout in the eighth inning so as to be in a better position to escort President Coolidge and his wife from the stadium. When the Nats had come back to tie the game, he hadn't dared budge for fear of upsetting whatever karma might have been at work in favor of his men. He didn't move until the game ended.

With his second life, Ruel doubled past third base and down the line in left. Walter Johnson then of course came up to hit for himself and drilled the first offering to the right of shortstop. Travis Jackson, future Hall of Famer, booted it. Ruel held to his base, but the Senators were in business, with just one out and the top of the order coming up. With Earl McNeely next, the Nats expected Irish Meusel and Ross Youngs to switch places again, as the righthanded McNeely was a dead pull hitter, but they didn't.

McNeely sliced Bentley's second pitch in the direction of third base, just a few feet fair. Muddy Ruel, on second with a man on first, decided to go for third right away in order to attract a tag in hopes of keeping the inning alive by avoiding a double play. The wonderful rookie, Lindstrom, stood at the ready. All of a sudden, the ball bounced way up high. It was way over Lindstrom's head . . into left field.

Muddy Ruel, of all people, came bounding in all the way from second base. Irish Meusel, still in left field, had not planned on the unexpected, and this was costly. When Meusel finally got hold of the ball, with Ruel past third and on the way home, he did nothing and would get chewed out by John McGraw for it on the train ride home. Bedlam ensued as the winning run of the 1924 World Series crossed the plate. In the bottom of the 12th inning, the Washington Senators had won the world championship -- their first -- and in front of their long-suffering home fans at that.

(Editor's note: For all the shade that is thrown at Muddy Ruel's running ability and Muesel's lack of urgency on the final play of the 1924 World Series, it is worth noting that earlier in Game 7 it was Ruel who scampered home with the tying run on Harris' "sharp" single to left in the eighth inning. If Ruel stops at third or is thrown out in the eighth, the game never gets to extras.)

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https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682068402

"Muddy" Ruel and Earl McNeely helped Walter Johnson and the Senators win Game 7 of the 1924 WS in the 12th inning:

1924 World Series -- Game 7 (Part 7)
 

The field was engulfed by a sea of bodies. Walter Johnson took it all in from second base for a few seconds, and his eyes welled up with tears as he made his way through the crazed mob back to the dugout. Earl McNeely was the one who had the most difficulty making it back there. The crowd, in an enthusiastic show of its love for a hero, tore off his shirt before police could reach him and escort him to the clubhouse. The President and Mrs. Coolidge, less the focus of attention now than ever, were escorted out by the Secret Service. They passed several players on the way, including Walter Johnson. The First Couple shook hands with them and offered their congratulations.

After showering, Bucky Harris, high-strung and seemingly in a daze, was so excited that he forgot to put his clothes on. Walter Johnson came in and shook his hand, thanking him for having let him pitch. When Bucky was asked if Walter had insisted on pitching, Harris said that Johnson had been his best bet, and for anyone to have thought otherwise, would have been foolishness. Frank Frisch and Ross Youngs came over from the other side to congratulate Walter, whom Frisch called one of the greatest pitchers and one of the finest gentlemen ever associated with the game of baseball. In summing up the World Series for the Walsh Syndicate, John McGraw wrote that the game of baseball had been elevated by the great Walter Johnson and his ultimate triumph. The only thing better, the Little General declared, would have been for Johnson to have won the game himself -- to have hit that home run which had fallen just a little short in the tenth inning.

Those that were present in the hours that followed the thriller said that Clark Griffith could do nothing to stop the tears that flowed from his eyes. He embraced all his players, thanking them and telling them how proud they had made him. Walter Johnson was so happy that, he would say years later, winning the World Series in his 18th year had hardly seemed real. He had, following great tribulation, justified his place as America's darling, redeeming himself at the 13th hour (and 12th inning), and winning his first World Series game a month before his 37th birthday. As perhaps best expressed by the eloquent Grantland Rice in Collier's in January 1925: "Walter Johnson had come from a lone, dejected and broken figure in the shadows of a clubhouse to a personal triumph that no other athlete had ever drawn in all the history of sport."

Cannons, pistols, firecrackers, and the sounds of thousands of automobiles intermingled for a joyous celebration in downtown Washington. It seemed that no one wanted to miss this celebration -- the fire department of nearby Cherrydale, Virginia, showed up with all its vehicles and a banner which read "Let Cherrydale Burn!" It was to be a wonderful time. For a year, the Washington Senators would stand as champions of the world. Muddy Ruel, who'd hit .095 in the World Series, insisted he didn't mind when team owner Griffith had said Ruel had taken longer than anyone he had ever seen to come around the bases with the winning run. Ruel preferred to dwell on the positives -- a world championship, the role the Big Train had played, and how sweet it was to be victorious. Then there was the matter of the winner's share of the spoils for the World Series -- a check for $5,959.64 per man.

From the point of view of posterity, this would stand as one of the great World Series ever (at the time it was widely acknowledged as the most exciting since 1912), primarily because of its strange denouement . . . And the unlikely triumph of a man whose career may very well place him as the greatest pitcher in all of baseball history. At the end of the day, losing pitcher Jack Bentley said it best for all of America: "The good Lord just couldn't bear to see a fine fellow like Walter Johnson lose again."

For their sheer beauty, here are the words formulated by Bill Corum, as they appeared in the New York Times the following morning: To the victor belong the spoils. When future generations are told about this game they will not hear about Barnes, or Frisch, or Kelly, or even about Harris or McNeely. But the boy with his first glove and ball crowding up to his father's knee will beg: "Tell me about Walter Johnson." (The Washington Senators by Tom Deveaux.)

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I picked this up in the very recent Huggins & Scott auction. Now to figure out how to best display it.

Great multi-part writeup of Game 7 George...I really got into the baseball spirit when reading it.

Brian

Hi Folks, Purchased this Eddie Yost Photo a week or so ago. Patch on his arm dates it 1944-1947 (photos could of course be used at a later date). I was told it would be sent to fans who requested Eds Autograph in the mail. Doesn't really make sense for Ed to be the only one so I would guess there are more players in this picture pack style.

I know this doesn't fit the pre war focus but is very close, maybe somebody has an idea.
Would appreciate the help very much! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...bdb91b586b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e86823738c.jpg

Yost Photo
 

I can't help with the date or purpose of your Eddie Yost photo, although it is obviously very early in his career. The closest thing I have to it is his page in this 1949 Senators picture album:

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682241215

1925 Washington Senators Part 1
 

The 1925 Washington Senators won 96 games, lost 55, and finished in first place in the American League. Fueled by the excitement of winning their second AL pennant, the Senators led 3 games to 1 in the World Series before succumbing to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Senators team that took the field on opening day (1925) was exactly the same one that had won it all against the great New York Giants in October. Unlike the club of the year before, it was to discover it would no longer be the recipient of any underdog sentiment as it defended its title of champion of the American League. The Nats suffered a 5-1 loss at Yankee Stadium, with Mogridge getting the nod as starting pitcher. Babe Ruth, ailing from "the bellyache heard around the world" was noteworthy for his absence, replaced by an outfielder named Ben Pashal, who provided a reasonable facsimile of Ruth by slugging a home run.

As was customary, though, Walter Johnson got the start for the opener in Washington. It was business as usual. He opened his 19th year with a 10-1 win on April 22, with the only run off him unearned. . . .

. . . The A's were Washington's chief opposition as the first month of the season unfolded. Philadelphia had a great new outfielder, Al Simmons, and rookie catcher Mickey Cochrane was considered a true prospect and would not disappoint. The A's second-year lefthander, Lefty Grove, was throwing bullets and would lead the league in ERA. But the Senators got off to a fine start, embroiled in a battle for first with the A's and the Indians after the first month. Earl McNeely, however, was not getting on base, and Goslin had moved over to take his place in center. Joe Harris, a known quantity as a hitter, filled Goslin's spot in left.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682241447

Thanks George!

Way to go, Val! This makes the third one I've seen, unless yours was from Ron Menchine's collection, in which case there are two. Here's mine, purchased from Kent Feddeman, who had his framed with a pillow inside. One of the really fabulous vintage Washington pieces, IMO. My theory is that a D.C. department store sold these at some point after the Series, but who knows? There might be an ad lurking in one or more newspapers of the time that would prove that, but I've never checked.

1925 Washington Senators Part 2
 

At this time, the concrete wall in rightfield at Griffith Stadium was raised to a 30-foot height. Reminiscent of the Green Monster, the left field wall at Fenway Park in Boston, Griffith's right field fence was seven feet shorter but five feet farther. It is recorded that Phil Todt, a young first baseman with the Boston Red Sox, hit the first home run over the Griffith fence, on May 1, 1925. By then, the A's were solidifying their hold on first place. On the 27th, Walter Johnson, the recipient of some extraordinary offensive support this season, beat the A's 10-9. It was Barney's seventh straight win, during which the Senators' bats had provided him with 60 runs. While the A's were still clinging to their lead for the time being, over the next three months the two clubs would trade places at the top of the standings.

(Washington pitchers) Johnson, Coveleski, and Ruether were winning with great regularity. On June 1, Babe Ruth returned to action against Johnson and the Senators at Yankee Stadium but went 0-for-2 in a 5-3 Nats win. Less conspicuous than Ruth and Johnson on this day was another future inductee of the Hall of Fame. Twenty-two-year-old Lou Gehrig was brought up to pinch hit against Fred Marberry and began his streak of 2,130 consecutive games. It is quite a coincidence that the skein Gehrig would eventually surpass, teammate Everett Scott's 1,307 straight games, had ended the day before, when Scott had been replaced in the lineup by Pee Wee Wanninger. Within 2 1/2 weeks, Scott would be purchased by the Senators.

On June 8, George Mogridge and catcher Pinky Hargrave were traded to the St. Louis Browns for another veteran bat off the bench, 34-year-old catcher Hank Severeid, who'd been in the league ten years before coming into his own and batting over .300 during the last four campaigns. Severeid would bat at a .355 clip in 50 games for the Senators over the remainder of the season as backup catcher. On the same day he was acquired, Goose Goslin hit three home runs, to tie the then American League record. The third shot brought in the winning runs in the 12th inning. Bucky Harris was particularly hot, and everyone in the lineup but Ruel was at better than .300.

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1925 Washington Senators Part 3
 

Later in the month, on June 26, the Nationals, never lower than second in the standings, pulled into a tie with the A's for the American League lead when Goslin unloaded on rookie Lefty Grove with a three-run seventh-inning homer in a 5-3 win. Walter Johnson had shut the A's out after the third inning, in the first of three career matches between the two Hall of Famers (Johnson would win all three). Four days later, Barney spun a 7-0 two-hitter, with no walks, at Griffith Stadium against the same dangerous Athletics. Johnson had now blanked the A's, a team which would hit .307 for the season, for 15 consecutive innings.

The Big Train also equaled the A's in hits on this day. In fact, Walter would hit .433 this season, his first time over .300. On one occasion, on April 24, a Johnson pinch-hit appearance resulted in a rule change. The Big Train was in the clubhouse in the ninth inning when Bucky Harris, who'd used up all of his righthanded bats, summoned him back. The game was delayed ten minutes before Walter laced Herb Pennock's first pitch for a two-run single to win the game. In June, league president Ban Johnson announced that only players on the bench or on the sidelines could be deployed in a ballgame.

Johnson's two-hitter was the fourth win in five games against the Athletics and put the Nats in first place for the first time since early May. Dutch Ruether and Stan Coveleski were both winning nearly every time out, but the Senators were barely keeping up with the A's. The Nats lost their RBI champion, Goslin, who was suspended for the better part of a week. The Goose had lost his temper with Cleveland pitcher Bert Cole, who he thought had been throwing at him. Much more detrimental was the fact that Walter Johnson had been hit with the flu bug and wasn't getting better. He was out the entire month of July.

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Such a great photo, George!

I agree, and with that form Walter looks like a position player batting, not a pitcher batting. Take away his first four years, and his career batting average would have been .250, instead of .235.


Brian

Walter could hit, no doubt about it!

1925 Washington Senators Part 4
 

Thirty-five-year-old Stan Coveleski got a 13-game winning streak going until losing it to the White Sox in a blowout at the end of July. On August 2, Walter Johnson returned to the mound against the Tigers. His first appearance in over a month fell exactly on the 18th anniversary of his first big-league appearance, which had also involved Detroit. This time, though, unlike the first, Johnson won, allowing the Tigers, one of the league's stronger clubs, a measly two hits in a 5-1 Washington win.

On August 17, the Senators obtained the old Tiger outfield star, Bobby Veach, on the waiver wire from the Yankees. There can be no better indication of how good a team the Yanks were than the fact that Veach rang up a .353 batting average for them before they cut him adrift. Unfortunately, he only hit .243 for the Nats the rest of the way, and his career ended in Washington at age 37 with his career batting average resting ay a cozy .310.

The Senators stayed in second place for a month, but finally, on August 20, Tom Zachary and Firpo Marberry combined for a 12-inning 1-0 shutout of the Indians. That day, the Browns beat Philadelphia, and the Nats, as it would turn out, were on top for good. Washington lost 1-0 in 11 innings the next day, but the A's failed to capitalize, getting trounced 8-2 by Chicago. The Senators demolished Detroit 20-5 on the 22nd with nine extra-base hits, including a mammoth home run by Walter Johnson. They scarcely even gave Philadelphia an opportunity to get back on top over the next six weeks.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1682501041

Gorgeous pin!