Washington DC Baseball

[ValKehl]

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).

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

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.

[GeoPoto]

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

[ValKehl]

Holland Creameries and W573 cards of Goose:

[GeoPoto]

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:

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[ValKehl]

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.

[GeoPoto]

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.

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