Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

. . . Over the last four days of August, the Nats were to play the Yanks (who they were neck-and-neck with in the pennant race) a single game each day at one-year-old Yankee Stadium. In the opening match, Babe Ruth socked a pair of home runs and Bob Meusel another, but that wasn't enough for the Yankees to reclaim first place. The Nats slaughtered the pitching of Herb Pennock, Goose Goslin hit for the cycle, and Washington scored eight in the eighth, prevailing 11-6. All of a sudden, the Senators were in first place. What's more, the New York fans had cheered Washington's victory unabashedly. It became obvious on this day that the nation truly stood behind the capital's team, and everyone knew why.

When Walter Johnson struck out Babe Ruth to end the first inning the following day, there was bedlam. Barney was good enough on this day to keep New York off the scoresheet for seven innings, working out of a bases-loaded jam and two situations with baserunners on the corners. Twice he snuffed out potential rallies by striking out the dangerous Bob Meusel with two men on. All the while, his mates were amassing a healthy lead off Joe Bush. Goose Goslin, who would end up eclipsing Ruth, Meusel, Pipp, and the rest, to lead the league in runs batted in (129, to go with a .344 average), was on a tear. He went 3-for-4 with a home run and scored three times. Washington won again, the final score 5-1.

In the eighth, everyone got a scare when Johnson reached for a Wally Schrang liner and had the ball bounce off his pitching hand. Bucky Harris decided to not take a chance and immediately pulled the living legend from the contest. One writer described the ovation that followed as the loudest ever accorded any baseball player in New York City.

The third game was a setback, particularly since the Nats got 11 hits off Waite Hoyt, while Curly Ogden gave up just five. The Yankees won 2-1. The finale was a classic. George Mogridge, who would finish the season at 16-11, 3.76, got into plenty of trouble early but held New York to two runs until the eighth, when Firpo Marberry came in to relieve. Joe Judge hit one of his three homers this season, off Sam Jones, setting up some tenth-inning heroics by Sam Rice, who doubled to drive in two runs for a 4-2 decision. Rice led the league in hits (216) and at-bats, and hit .334. The pesky Nats had taken three out of four; within four weeks, their 13-9 overall record against the Yankees in this campaign was to prove of the utmost significance. . . .

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