Washington DC Baseball

[GeoPoto]

It rained in Washington on October 9, 1925, and game three of the World Series was put off for a day. It would be well worth the wait. When play resumed the next day for the Nats' first home game, President Coolidge and his Secretary of State, Frank Billings Kellogg, were among the many dignitaries on hand to witness the Pirates score the first run for the first time in the Series. Bucky Harris had elected to go with righthanded forkballer Alex Ferguson, 9-5 with an atrocious 6.18 ERA in '25. Twice traded during the season, Ferguson had nonetheless managed a 5-1 ledger in seven games since being acquired from the Yankees in a cash deal on August 19.

The previous year, Ferguson had been 14-17 with the hapless Boston Red Sox, but here he was starting in the World Series. He got out of trouble despite walking the first batter of the game and hitting the second one with a pitch. The Pirates scored the first run off Ferguson when, in leading off the second inning, Pie Traynor hit a low shot at Bucky Harris, who let the ball get through him and into the gap in right center for a triple. Glenn Wright followed with a sacrifice fly to left. The Senators were facing Ray Kremer, a tough man and hard drinker who had just completed the second year of a fine seven-year stretch with the Pirates. Kremer was known for destroying Pullman cars and tossing teammates' shoes out of train windows in fits of temper. He would go on to win 20 games in 1926 and 1930, 19 in 1927, and 18 in 1929.

The Senators came right back in the third inning against Kremer, with Sam Rice looping a single over second base to start things off. Bucky Harris sacrificed, and Goslin, going for more than a sacrifice, hit a shot to deep right. The catch was made, but Rice was into third easily. He scored moments later when Joe Judge doubled inside first base. The Nats nearly took the lead when Judge tried to score on a scratch hit by Joe Harris that shortstop Glenn Wright had nearly thrown into the dirt. First baseman George Grantham, a second baseman by trade, made a major-league play, picking the peg out of the dirt and throwing Judge out at home to preserve the tie for the Pirates after three innings.

The very first batter in the top of the fourth, Kiki Cuyler, doubled to the gap in left center, and then came home on a single to left by the next batter, Pittsburgh left fielder Clyde Barnhart. Ferguson walked the next batter, and then ended up yielding an intentional pass to load the bases. Nonetheless he muddled through without giving up another run in the inning, striking out his opposing number, Ray Kremer, to extinguish the fire. Ferguson gave up another double in the fifth, to Max Carey, but got out of the inning without further damage.

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