Earliest smiles in baseball cards

[ValKehl]

Yes, George, Muddy Ruel also had a big reason to smile because of his role in the outcome of the 7th Game of the 1924 WS as you probably know, and not only because he was WaJo's catcher. In the bottom of the 12th, Ruel hit a pop up behind home plate that Giants catcher Hank Gowdy failed to catch because he tripped over his discarded face mask. Given new life, Ruel doubled to left field (for Ruel, who batted .283 during the regular season, this was only his 2nd hit in 21 ABs in the 7 WS games), moved to third base when Travis Jackson fumbled WaJo's grounder, and then scored the winning run on Earl McNeely's hit.

It really is amazing that the Senators beat the Giants in the 1924 WS the more one thinks about it. The Giants were managed by John McGraw who had already won 10 NL pennants and 3 WS, including consecutive WS wins over the Yankees in 1921-22. The Senators were managed by rookie manager Stanley "Bucky" "Boy Wonder" Harris who was also their regular 2nd baseman. Of the Giants 8 position players, 7 are in the HOF - Fritsch, Jackson, Kelly, Lindstrom, Terry, Wilson & Youngs - and the 8th, Hank Gowdy was no slouch. Of the Senators 8 position players, only 2 are in the HOF as players - Goslin & Rice. The big difference in this WS was the pitching. The Giants had no HOF pitchers, while the Senators had WaJo, but he lost his 2 starts before coming through in relief in Game 7. It was the other Senators pitchers who really shined. The Senators WS ERA was 2.42, versus a 3.11 ERA for the Giants.