The 1924 Washington Nationals

[varoadking]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/128gNQ3bbkJ/?mibextid=D5vuiz

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/128gNQ3bbkJ/?mibextid=D5vuiz

I don't do Facebook. Is that Bucky Harris's account?

[alanmiley]

Is that Bucky Harris's account?

There are five Bucky Harris accounts on Facebook.  But none of them mention the 1924 season.

[welch]

This does show Bucky Harris hitting a home run. Somewhere around Youtube there is a video of highlights from Walter Johnson's four innings of relief. In one scene, Johnson throws his "wrinkle", his curve, to get a strikeout to end an inning. The right-handed batter swings across the plate and nearly falls on his face. Looks something likke what is being called a "sweeper" today.

[welch]

The Nationals took the train to Boston, and played the Red Sox on Friday, September 26, where the teams were watched by about 12,000 fans. They wanted the Senators to win, to take the pennant from the Yankees.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS192409260.shtml

Here, thanks to Andy Clem, is Fenway Park. The dimensions in 1924 were pretty much the same as tody: 324 down the LF line, ending at a 25 foot wall; 421 to CF; 353 to right. http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/FenwayPark.html#diag

Bucky Harris started Walter Johnson, who was going for his 24th win of the year. Lee Fohl, Boston's manager, countered with Alex Ferguson, a decent pitcher but nothing close to anybody's ace.

Starting Lineups

Nationals

1   Earl McNeely   CF
2   Bucky Harris   2B
3   Sam Rice   RF
4   Goose Goslin   LF
5   Joe Judge   1B
6   Ossie Bluege   3B
7   Roger Peckinpaugh   SS
8   Muddy Ruel   C
9   Walter Johnson   P

Red Sox

1   Denny Williams   CF
2   Bill Wambsganss   2B
3   Bobby Veach   LF
4   Ike Boone   RF
5   Joe Harris   1B
6   Homer Ezzell   3B
7   Dud Lee   SS
8   Steve O'Neill   C
9   Alex Ferguson   P

This has become Washington's regular lineup. Muddy Ruel has only had three days off this season; he is tired, so Harris has dropped him to hit 8th.

Ferguson and Johnson are going three-up, three-down. Joe Judge drove a double to left in the second inning, but was stranded. In the bottom of the 4th, Boston got a run on three singles, and a second run and followed on another single. Boston 2, Washington 0.

In the 8th, Wade Lefler, pinch-hitting for Earl McNeely, drove in what would be Washington's only run. Boston 2, Washington 1.

That was the final score.

Standings:

1. WSH: 90-61 (.596)
2. NYY: 89-62 (.589; 1 GB; beat PHA 7-1)

[Natsinpwc]

Just go 1-0 tomorrow.

[welch]

Just go 1-0 tomorrow.

And they did...but that['s for tomorrow.

[welch]

Bucky Harris: "Three wins for a flag". It did not happen yesterday, but Harris hands the ball to his number three starter, George Mogridge. Boston countered with their best, Howard Ehmke. It is Saturday, September 27, and 22,000 fans will cheer for the Red Sox but hope Washington wins.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS192409270.shtml

Starting Lineups

Nationals

1   Nemo Leibold   CF
2   Bucky Harris   2B
3   Sam Rice   RF
4   Goose Goslin   LF
5   Joe Judge   1B
6   Ossie Bluege   3B
7   Roger Peckinpaugh   SS
8   Muddy Ruel   C
9   George Mogridge   P

Red Sox

1   Denny Williams   CF
2   Bill Wambsganss   2B
3   Bobby Veach   LF
4   Ike Boone   RF
5   Joe Harris   1B
6   Homer Ezzell   3B
7   Dud Lee   SS
8   Steve O'Neill   C
9   Howard Ehmke   P

With two out Sam Rice got the Nationals going in the first. He doubled, and Goose Goslin doubled. Joe JUdge triple to left, and the Senators had two runs. WSH 2, BOS 0. However, Boston jumped on Mogridge, who was erratic. Bill Wambsganss singled, and, with two outs, Joe Harris walked to load the bases. Homer Ezzell singled, driving in Wambsganss and Boone. Tie score, but Boston was not finished. Dud Lee singled, driving in Harris and advancing Ezzell to third. Ezzell then stole home. Ugh. Bucky Harris had seen enough. BOS 4, WSH 2.

Bennie Tate pinch-hit for Mogridge in the second, but nothing came of it except that a "fresh" Firpo Marberry pitched again.

But in the 5th, the Nationals took the lead. Goslin led off with a single to center and Joe Judge followed Goose with a bunt down the first-base line. He was safe for a single. Ossie Bluege bunted again and moved the runners. Ehmke hit Muddy Ruel to load the bases. Bucky Harris sent up Wade Lefler to pinch-hit for Marberry, Lefler lined a double to RF, clearing the bases. However, Lefler was thrown out ar third. WSH 5, BOS 4.

Who was Wade Lefler?

Wade Lefler clipped Lou Gehrig by one percentage point in 1924 to repeat as the Eastern League batting champion. In the same month of September, Lefler contributed three clutch pinch-hits, helping catapult the Washington Senators to the 1924 American League pennant. The rookie then argued that he was short-changed for his late-season heroics, receiving but one-fifth of a share of the Senators’ World Series championship haul. A year later, the budding counselor made the law his life-long profession. Lefler’s nine total major-league at bats only tell a small part of his story.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/wade-lefler/

Allen Russell replaced Firpo Marberry. In the bottom of the 5th, Ike Boone tripled to center and Homer Ezzell singled him in to tie the score at 5. But in the top of the 6th, the Griffs struck for a pair. Nemo Leibold, getting a rare start, led off with a walk. Bucky Harris tried to lay down a sac bunt, but Ehmke could not play his part. Instead, Ehmke threw the ball away, so far that Leibold scored and Harris got to third. Bucky scored when Goose Goslin singled on a line-drive to right-center. WSH 7, BOS 5.

Russell retired the side in order in the 6th and the 7th. It got rougher in the 8th, but Bucky Harris was ready to tap another of his aces. No matter what, the Nationals were going all-out for the pennant. With one out, Joe Harris and Homer Ezzell walked. Dud Lee grounded out, Bluege to Judge. Steve O'Neill walked, and the managers showed the way to modern managers, who will do anything to get the right matchup. Lee Fohl, Boston's manager, pinch-hit lefty Danny Clark for Ehmke. Bucky Harris replaced Russell with the Griffs' south-paw slabster, Tom Zachary. Fohl pinch-hit Howie Shanks for Clark. In spite of that, Shanks grounded out. Zachary had been complaining about a sore arm for about two weeks, write Gary Sarnoff in his matchless Team of Destiny. No matter: Zachary closed out the win with no more Boston threats.

Final: Washington 7, Boston 5.

"The cheering made one think he was in Washington today, and especially when the scoreboard showed that the Athletics had beaten the Yankees in Philadelphia, wrote Frank Young in the Washington Post. (Gary Sarnoff, Team of Destiny, p. 141)

Standings

1. WSH: 91-61 (.599)
2. NYY: 89-63 (.586; 2 GB; Future umpire Eddie Rommel and the A's beat the Yankees, 4-3)

[welch]

Two great Nats fans, JCA and CALZGR8, have sent me a souvinir bobblehead honoring the 1924 World Champion Senators. It has arrived, just in time as the team reduced their Magic Number to one. Yesterday, one hundred years ago, with the number down to three -- "Three for the flag" -- the Yankees lost and Bucky Harris threw everything and everyone the Nationals had to beat Boston. He started Geoge Mogridge, got three good innings from Firpo Marberry, and used number two starter Tom Zachary for the save.

One more win, or one more Yankke loss, and Washington has its first pennant. And that goes back to the Nationals and Senators teams that played in the old National League and the 19th Century leagues that preceded the NL.

Both the Senators and the Yankees were off on Sunday, September 28, because Sunday baseball was forbidden at Fenway and in Philadelphia.

[welch]

Monday, September 29, 1924. This could be the game. Bucky Harris has pitched right through his starting pitchers, using Tom Zachary on Saturday to close a 7-5 victory over Boston that reduced Washington's magic number to one. George Mogridge, pitching with a sore arm, had lasted only an inning in that game. Harris had leaned on relief specialist Firpo Marberry yet again, and when Marberry tired, he had pitched Allen Russell until Russell lost his control in the 8th. Young Curly Ogden, who has sparkled since being DFA's by Connie Mack and signed by the Old Fox, Clark Griffith, is out, another pitcher with a sore arm.

At Fenway Park, 15,000 fans want to cheer a Washington pennant over the arrogant Yankees. Harris will start Tom Zachary, whether the lefty is tired or not. Boston will counter with Curt Fullerton...not very good, but fresher than Zachary.

According to Gary Sarnoff, in his magnificent Team of Destiny, a Wasgton fan named Walter Kerr drove Bucky Harris, Roger Peckinpaugh, and Walter Johnson to his farm in Cohasset; Johnson was fascinated by the workings of the farm, but Peckinpaugh and Harris enjoyed the quiet of a day without baseball.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS192409290.shtml

Starting Lineups

Nationals

1   Nemo Leibold   CF
2   Bucky Harris   2B
3   Sam Rice   RF
4   Goose Goslin   LF
5   Joe Judge   1B
6   Ossie Bluege   3B
7   Roger Peckinpaugh   SS
8   Muddy Ruel   C
9   Tom Zachary   P

Red Sox

1   Denny Williams   CF
2   Bill Wambsganss   2B
3   Bobby Veach   LF
4   Ike Boone   RF
5   Joe Harris   1B
6   Homer Ezzell   3B
7   Dud Lee   SS
8   Steve O'Neill   C
9   Curt Fullerton   P

Sam Rice singled and stole second. When catcher Steve O'Neill threw the ball into CF, Rice kept right on running, and scored. WSH 1, BOS 0. However, Boston came right back in the bottom of the inning. Denny Williams led off with a signle and scored when Bill Wambsganss singled. When Vech singled and Ike Boone walked, it looked like Zachary would not last long. Still nobody out and bases loaded. But Zachary struck out Joe Harris grounded into a double play, Peckinpaugh to Harris to Judge.

The Griffmen began the second inning with two groundouts, sadly. Then Roger Peckinpaugh popped a texas-leaguer into CF, and Muddy Ruel singled to right, Peckinpaugh taking third. Then, slugging Zachary -- .300 hitter -- singled to left, scoring Peckinpaugh and advancing Ruel to third. Nemo Leibold, starting in place of Earl McNeely, drove in Ruel on a single, but was thrown out trying to stetch it do a double. WSH 3, BOS 1. 

Boston picked up a run in the third, on a single, a hit bitsman, and a groundout. WSH 3, BOS 2.

In the fourth, Tom Zachary got another single, and Bucky Harris called on a pinch-runner. Firpo Marberry took over, giving up two singles in the 5th, but no runs.

In the 8th, Bucky Harris led off with a double to keft and Sam Rice lined a single to center, scoring the manager. WSH 4, BOS 2.

Marberry pitched steadily and well, and was declared the winning pitcher.

Final: WSH 3, BOS 2.

And the Washington Senators have clinched the Pennant!

[welch]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS192409300.shtml

The Nationals plpayed the last game of the season as a "joke game". They lost 16-1, but Ralph Miller played 2B, Tommy Taylor played most of the game at 3B, starting pitcher "Oyster Joe" Martina got 2 ABs while playing short, and was replaced by pinch-hitter Curly Ogden. Byron Speece pitched six innings of 12-hit baseball, although he gave up only 3 earned runs.

And I wish I could have seen 47-year-old Nick Altrock pitch two innings. Altrock came up with Louisville in the NL in 1898, and had been a coach, and a Clark Griffith favorite, since 1912. He had pitched a few innings a season until 1918. Career: 16 seasons, 83-75, 2.67 ERA.

Since nobody took this game seriously, we might as well read Altrock's SABR biography:

Nick Altrock

This article was written by Peter M. Gordon

For three years at the turn of the last century Nick Altrock was arguably the best left-handed pitcher in the game. His talent, pitching smarts, and extraordinary fielding ability helped him win 62 games for the Chicago White Sox from 1904 through 1906 and beat Mordecai Brown in Game One of the 1906 World Series. However, Altrock’s baseball prowess was overshadowed by his second career as one of the most-popular and longest-working baseball clowns of all time. At his clowning peak, Altrock enjoyed a salary that rivaled Babe Ruth‘s.

Nicholas Altrock was born in Cincinnati on September 15, 1876. He used to joke, “the country was born in 1776 and Nick Altrock was born in 1876. But somehow my parents slipped up. I should have been born on the Fourth of July.” Nick’s parents were part of Cincinnati’s burgeoning German population, and like many children of immigrants in the city’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, Nick took up America’s game. As a young man in Cincinnati he established a reputation as a good pitcher in the semi-pro leagues around the city while working as an apprentice cobbler. Altrock soon realized that getting paid for baseball was more fun than getting paid to fix shoes, but his father initially disapproved of the boy’s priorities. “I thought he was a hopeless case the way he stuck to baseball,” Christian Altrock later told the Chicago Tribune. “I was discouraged and thought he would never amount to a row of pins.”

In 1898 Altrock got his first job in organized baseball pitching for Grand Rapids (Michigan) in the Inter-State League. He won 17 games against just three losses, leading Barney Dreyfuss of the Louisville Colonels to purchase the lefthander’s contract. Nick went 3-3 for the Colonels but spent more time drinking and partying than preparing for games. Manager Fred Clarke sent him back to Grand Rapids in 1899.

From 1899 to 1902 Nick knocked around the minors, pitching and partying. He threw for Oswego and Binghamton in the New York State League, Syracuse and Toronto in the Eastern League and Los Angeles in the California League. With Milwaukee of the American Assocation in 1902 Altrock finally put it all together, finishing the season with a 28-14 record in 338 innings of work. Impressed, the Boston Americans acquired him near the end of the season. Despite posting an ERA of 2.00, Altrock lost both his starts.

Boston was the best team in the league in 1903, but manager Jimmy Collins preferred his veteran aces Cy Young and Bill Dinneen to the young Altrock. Collins sold Nick to the White Sox early in the 1903 season, and though the trade cost him an opportunity to pitch in that year’s World Series, Altrock quickly established himself in the Chicago rotation, going 4-3 with a 2.15 ERA to close out the season. The following year he was even better, posting a 19-14 record in 307 innings of work, second most on the staff.

The White Sox under fiery Fielder Jones were one of the best teams in the new American League, and in 1905 Nick almost pitched them to a pennant with a fine 23-12 record with a 1.88 ERA, the fifth best in the American League. Altrock’s 315⅔ innings pitched were a career high, and Chicago finished in second place, two games behind the Philadelphia Athletics.

The following year Chicago stormed to the top of the league, winning 93 games and holding off a late charge by the New York Highlanders to capture the American League pennant. Altrock was once again a key factor in the club’s success, as he finished the year with a 20-13 record and 2.06 ERA in 287⅔ innings of work. Due to their .230 team batting average, few observers gave the “Hitless Wonders” much of a chance in that year’s World Series against the powerhouse Chicago Cubs, but manager Fielder Jones remained confident in his team’s ability to compete. In any clutch situation, Jones said, “I would send Nick Altrock to the slab, and show me any pitcher in the league who is better acquainted for just such an emergency.”

Nick rewarded Jones’ faith by tossing a four-hitter to beat Cubs’ ace Mordecai Brown in the first game, 2-1. Brown took the honors in their Game Four re-match 1-0, but Nick posted a 1.00 ERA for the series. In the second game Altrock set a Series record for chances handled by a pitcher in one game with 11 – 8 assists and 3 putouts. Nick also set a record for most chances in a six-game Series with 17. Hippo Vaughn later tied that mark in the 1918 series, except Vaughn pitched three games to Nick’s two.

It was a fitting accomplishment, given Altrock’s reputation as one of the finest fielding pitchers of his or any other generation, thanks in large part to an extraordinarily deceptive pickoff move. In 1901, while Altrock was pitching for Los Angeles in the California League, Nick reportedly walked seven men intentionally and picked off six of them. Altrock still holds the record for most chances accepted by a pitcher in a nine-inning game (13).

Despite his considerable talent and success on the mound, Nick never took his playing very seriously. His contemporaries described him as “carefree” and “eccentric” as much as “tough.” Nick was known to take a drink or three after a game, and some writers blamed Nick’s love for malt brew for his decline after the 1906 Series. Altrock himself once said, “I never took but two things seriously in my life. My clowning and my golf.” In February 1908 Altrock married Hannah Weddendorf, but she soon grew weary of Nick’s late night habits and the couple was divorced in 1912. Two years later, he married Eleanor Campbell.

Nick’s inattention to training may have contributed to his poor 1907 season. He hurt his arm and his record fell to 7 wins and 13 losses as the Sox fell to third place. In 1908, Altrock’s record was only 5-7, and the Sox lost the pennant on the last day of the season to the Tigers. In May of 1909 Chicago owner Charles Comiskey traded Altrock, outfielder Gavvy Cravath, and first baseman Jiggs Donahue to the Washington Senators for Bill Burns. Nick didn’t pitch well for Washington, and later that year found himself back in the minors playing for the Minneapolis Millers. Nick’s career as a major league pitcher may have been finished by 1909, but his second career was just beginning.

Altrock barely hung on in the minors for three years pitching and coaching. Then one day in 1912 when Nick was coaching third base for Kansas City in the American Association, he decided to imitate a film he had seen the previous night of a shadow boxing exhibition featuring featherweight champion Johnny Kilbane. Altrock opened with a roundhouse right to his own chin and fell to the ground. Then he picked himself up and went at himself again, as the crowd roared in bemused delight. Nick finished by knocking himself out to raucous applause.

Unfortunately, Nick’s comic routine didn’t amuse Kansas City’s owner, Patsy Tebeau. Altrock later liked to tell the story of how Tebeau, called Nick into his office to say that he was releasing him. “Don’t worry about me, Mr. Tebeau,” Nick told the owner. “Why, with my face, I might break into movies.”

And what a face it was. With a big wide nose spread out to his cheeks and two jug handles for ears, his face looked like an iron had flattened it. With his cap sitting sideways and slightly askew on his head and usually with a big grin on his face, Altrock looked like a born comic. He always enjoyed fooling around, and now Nick was about to make a career of it.

Nick took his release from Kansas City in stride because he already had an offer from manager Clark Griffith to join the Washington Senators as a “comedy coacher.” The Senators already enjoyed the services of Germany Schaefer, one of the most colorful eccentrics ever to play baseball. However, in his first few days with the club Nick was buried deep on the bench. Then one day the Senators were losing to a strong Cleveland pitcher named Vean Gregg. Griffith turned to his rubber-faced acquisition and said, “What good are you?”

Nick said seriously, “I’m the king’s jester.” Then he asked, “Do you really want to win this game?”

Griffith said, “With your pitching I suppose?”

Altrock said, “No. With my coaching.” Altrock talked Griffith into sending him to the first base coaching box. The next time Griffith looked out to the field he saw Nick in a heap on the ground finishing a pantomime of a man who spiked himself with his own shoe. Gregg was laughing so hard he started heaving the ball over the middle and the Senators starting hitting. Altrock morphed the routine into a full wrestling pantomime, pinning himself for a victory. Finally, home plate umpire Silk O’Loughlin, himself doubled over with laughter, ordered him to stop.

Naturally the newspapers reported this strange behavior and more fans started to turn out for Senators games. American League President Ban Johnson attended one of Nick’s early games, and decided to allow his antics so long as they didn’t interrupt play. Nick was funny enough by himself, but his routines really began to soar when he added a partner. At first he did routines with Schaefer, until Schaefer signed with Newark of the Federal League in 1915. Then Altrock teamed with reserve Carl Sawyer for two seasons, then worked solo for two seasons until 1919, when the Senators acquired another washed-up pitcher, Al Schacht.

Altrock and Schacht became the Martin and Lewis of baseball comedy. They created a series of pantomimes that they performed at games, including bowling, juggling, golf tricks, rowing boats during rain delays, mocking umpires, and other tricks. The two of them regularly headlined vaudeville bills, and became part of the eagerly anticipated entertainment for the World Series and All-Star games. Altrock made more money at his peak in the 1920s than almost any other ballplayer. His salary from all his various appearances was reported in the $180,000 range.

Ironically, in the midst of this success Altrock and Schacht stopped speaking to each other in 1927. Although Altrock never spoke about the specific reasons for it, their rift was often attributed to a fake prizefight routine that got a little too real. The story is that Schacht thought it would be funnier if he actually hit Nick and so punched the older comic unexpectedly and knocked him to the ground. Altrock got revenge a few days later during a routine where he would normally fire a hard baseball at Schacht for him to dodge and follow it with a soft baseball that Schacht took on the head. Altrock switched the baseballs, and Schacht took a hard blow to the skull and hit the turf.

They continued their successful performing partnership until 1934, when Schacht joined the Red Sox. Nick continued as a coach and clown for the Senators until 1957, when he was 81. Until the 1930s, the Senators would often let Nick play in one of the games at the end of the year. Nick remains the oldest player ever to hit a triple, doing it in 1924, when he was 48. The newspaper accounts claimed the outfielders weren’t running very fast after the ball, but Nick still whaled it a long way. He hit a clean single in 1929 at the age of 53, and made his last appearance in 1933 at the age of 57. That makes Nick the third oldest man to appear in a major league baseball game, with the only older players being Satchel Paige, 59, and Minnie Miñoso, 57. Altrock is also one of the few major leaguers to play in five different decades.

Nick spent his baseball seasons in Washington, DC and his winters in Sarasota, Florida. He passed away on January 20, 1965 in Washington at the age of 88. After Nick’s death Al Schacht said of his former partner, “Nick was a great comedian … I have never seen anyone with better facial expressions. And we should all remember that he was a fine big league pitcher as well as an exceptional entertainer.” He was survived by his wife of 50 years, Eleanor, and was buried in Vine Street Hill Cemetery, in Cincinnati.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Nick-Altrock/

Altrock and Al Schachte were a comedy team, nicknamed "the clown princes of baseball". Altrock also coached the Nationals forever; I remember himas a coach way back in the early 1950s, when Bucky Harris managed the team for his third and last time.

[welch]

World Series, Game 1, October 4, 1924, and, of course, Bucky Harris starts Walter Johnson. Clark Griffith has added five or ten-thousand extra seats, so Griffith Stadium holds 35,760 fans. The NY Giants win with two runs in the 12th, 4-3. Giants lead the Series, 1-0. According to Shirley Povich, who had begun covering sports for the Post, the entire country was sad. Except, of course, Giants fans. After all these years, Johnson finally get to start a World Series game, and he loses such a close one. Art Nehf goes all theway for the Giants.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS1/WS1192410040.shtml

Starting Lineups

Giants

1   Freddie Lindstrom   3B
2   Frankie Frisch   2B
3   Ross Youngs   RF
4   George Kelly   CF
5   Bill Terry   1B
6   Hack Wilson   LF
7   Travis Jackson   SS
8   Hank Gowdy   C
9   Art Nehf   P

The Giants manager, John McGraw, started four future Hall of Famers: Frankie Frisch, George "High Pockets" Kelley, Bill Terry, and Hack Wilson.

Nationals

1   Earl McNeely   CF
2   Bucky Harris   2B
3   Sam Rice   RF
4   Goose Goslin   LF
5   Joe Judge   1B
6   Ossie Bluege   3B
7   Roger Peckinpaugh   SS
8   Muddy Ruel   C
9   Walter Johnson   P

Harris started his regulars in their regular order, or what had become the regular batting order ever since Muddy Ruel had become run down.

Kelley led of the top of the second with a home run deep into the bleachers in LF. In the 4th, Bill Terry added another run, on another homer, also a fly to deep left. NYG 2, WSH 0.

The Nationals finally got as run in the 6th, when Earl McNeely led off with a double to left and Bucky Harris moved him to 3rd on a groundout to SS travis Jackson.  NYG 2, WSH 1.

In the 9th, with one out, Ossie Bluege singled on a line-drive between 3B and SS. Roger Peckinpaugh doubled to left, what the ply-by-play calls "a line drive to deep LF", scoring Bluege and tying the score. WSH, NYG 2.

Johnson and Nehf pitched on into the 10th and 11th, neither giving up a run. In the 12th, Hank Gowdy led off with a walk. Nehf singled to center, and Gowdy advanced to third on an error by McNeely. Jack Bentley pinch-hit for Freddie Lindstrom and drew a walk, loading the bases with no one out. Frankie Frish grounded to Bucky Harris, who threw home to get the force on Gowdy. One out, runners on second and third. Ross Younges hit a short popfly to left-center, scoring Nehf and moving Billy Southworth to third. Then High Pockets Kelly hit a sacrice fly to left, scoring Southworth. NYG 4, WSH 2.

The Senators immediately threatened in the 12th, as pinch-hitter Mule Shirley reached first because Travis Jackson could not handle a popup behind SS. Shirley took second on the misplay. Shirley scored when Bucky Harris singled. Sam Rice singled, moving Harris to third, but Rice was out trying to stretch his single to a double. Goose Goslin grounded out to end the game.

[welch]

The Senators evened the series the next day, 4-3, on a brilliant start by lefty Tim Zachary and a save by Firpo Marberry. Play-by-play calls it that, but I read the details as showing that Marberry got the final out in the top of the 9th, and that Washington won it on a walk-off double by Roger Peckinpaugh. Another standing-room-onoy crowd saw the game, this time counted as 35,932. Both Zachary and the Giants Jack Bentley gave up 6 hits. Incidentally, the Nationals had had three umpires throughout the season: HP, 1B, and 3B. The series was played with four: HP - Bill Klem, 1B - Bill Dinneen, 2B - Ernie Quigley, 3B - Tommy Connolly.
 
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS1/WS1192410050.shtml

Starting Lineups

Giants

1   Freddie Lindstrom   3B
2   Frankie Frisch   2B
3   Ross Youngs   RF
4   George Kelly   1B
5   Irish Meusel   LF
6   Hack Wilson   CF
7   Travis Jackson   SS
8   Hank Gowdy   C
9   Jack Bentley   P

Nationals

1   Earl McNeely   CF
2   Bucky Harris   2B
3   Sam Rice   RF
4   Goose Goslin   LF
5   Joe Judge   1B
6   Ossie Bluege   3B
7   Roger Peckinpaugh   SS
8   Muddy Ruel   C
9   Tom Zachary   P

The Griffmen opened the scoring on a two-run homer by Goose Goslin the in the first. Sam Rice singled to center and stole second, but the steal did not matter because Goose lined into the temporary seats in deep right-center. WSH 2, NYG 0.

Zachary and Bentley battled into the 5th, when Bucky Harris homered to deep left-center. WSH 3, NYG 0.

In the top of the 7th, the Giants had runners on first and third, with no outs, when Hack Wilson hit into a diouble-play that scored High Pockets Kelly from third. WSH 3, NYG 1.

Lots happened in the 9th, however. Frankie Frisch led off with a walk, Ross Youngs popped out to Peckinpaugh at short. George Kelly singled, and Frisch must have been running on the play, because he scored. Irish Meusel, brother of the Yankees' Bob Meusel, grounded out, but this let Kelly take second. He scored when Hack Wilson singled to right; Wilson took second on the throw home. In came Firpo Marberry, with the score tied. Marberry struck out Travis Jackson, swinging. Score tied, WSH and NYG 3.

Joe Judge walked to open the bottom of the 9th. Ossie Bluege bunted, advancing Judge to second. Then Roger Peckinpaugh doubled, and the Senators won!

Final: WSH 4, NYG 3

[welch]

(Family emergency last week interrupted the World Series)

By now, we know Bucky Harris's preferred lineup. During the season, he and Clark Griffith searched for a CF, trying two or three who did not hit much, and finally finding Earl McNeely. Recall that McNeely had hurt his shoulder making a diving catch the day before The Old Fox bought him. "So you're the young man that I paid all that money for", said Griff when McNeely got to the hotel where the Nationals were staying. And McNeely replied, "Sorry, Mr. Griffith, but I can't shake your hand because I can't raise my hand above my waist". Washington's trainer found that McNeely just needed a day or two of rest, and then McNeely played a fine CF and hit over .300 as Bucky's leadoff man.

The other problem spot was 3B. Harris tried Doc Prothro, a dentist who impressed scouts playing for his town's semi-pro team. With no minor league experience the doctor was signed and hit well for the Senators. Unfortunately, he was not a good fielder. Griffith traded him to Memphis for a utility infielder named Tommy Taylor. While Prothro was hitting .333 with an .860 OPS, Taylor hit .260 and .618 OPS. Griffith and Harris gave the 3B job to Ossie Bluege, who hit a moderate .281 with a .711 OPS, which would probably be enough to hold down an infield job with the 2024 Nats, but was no great shakes compared to Sam Rice, Goose Goslin, or Joe Judge, or Earl McNeely. But Bluege was a spectacular fielder, someone who set a gold-standard for 3B that Brooks Robinson came close to matching but not exceeding.

However, the Griffmen's had a thin bench. Bucky Harris had ridden hard his starting position players, and, for that matter, his pitchers. Muddy Ruel had lost weight catching nearly every game, so Harris dropped him to 8th in the order but could not afford to give Ruel the days off that a modern catcher gets. Roger Peckinpaugh, the fine SS, was 34 and moved up to hit 7th, but Peck never got a day off. The stats say that he played 155 games in the 154 game season. (I'm not sure how that was possible). Goose Goslin and Sam Rice both played 154 games. Goslin was a 23-year-old kid, but Rice was 34, and had gotten to the majors only after a stint in the Navy during WW1. Further, Rice was a classic "player to be named later", and Griffith got him as a pitcher.

In August, Harris had decided to go, as much as possible, with his four best pitchers: starting pitchers Walter Johnson, Tom Zachary, and George Mogridge, plus swing-man Firpo Marberry. Firpo was the first dedicated relief pitcher in baseball, but Harris also used him as a starter. Curly Ogden, a sparkling young pitcher, had come down with a sore arm in late August. He coul;d still be useful, though.

Of the other pitchers, Oyster Joe Martina and Paul Zahniser had pitched their way out of the rotation by late season. Allen Russell was an older guy, a veteran spit-baller grand-fathered past the ban on the spitter. By Speece had not started, but was paired up with Russell in relief.

For quick reference, here is the 1924 roster and stats:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WSH/1924.shtml

[welch]

The Senators faced the Giants, a team loaded with future Hall of Famers, and managed by the great John McGraw. The Giants had had some trouble at the very end of the season, as they fought to win the pennant over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The Giants were playing a final, do-or-die, series against the Philadelphia Phillies when Giants outfielder Jimmy O'Connell offered $500 to Philadelphia SS Heinie Sand if the Phillies would "play soft" against New York. O'connell seems to have been told, by coach Cozy Dolan and by Giants stars Frankie Frisch, High Pockets Kelly and Ross Youngs, to offer Phillies players anything. However, Sand reported the bribe-offer to his manager, who reported everything to Judge Landis, the commissioner of baseball. Landis called O'Connell to his office and O'Connell admitted offering the bribe, saying that his coach and the other players had agreed and had encouraged him. When called in, and confronted with O'Connell's testimony, all denied it.

Landis banned O'Connell and Dolan from baseball. 

Here is a quick reference for the Giants. Note that they have four rweliable starting pitchers, although none is as accomplished as Walter Johnson.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYG/1924.shtml

[welch]

On October 6th, Washington faced the Giants at the Polo Grounds, packed with 47,608 fans. The Senators started Firpo Marberry, and the Giants started Hugh McQuillan, their number three starter.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NY1/NY1192410060.shtml

Since this is our first time at the Polo Grounds, it is worth a look. Nothing like today's ballparks, but it was a classic.

http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/PoloGrounds.html#diag

Starting Lineups

Nationals

1   Nemo Leibold   CF
2   Bucky Harris   2B
3   Sam Rice   RF
4   Goose Goslin   LF
5   Joe Judge   1B
6   Ossie Bluege   3B
7   Roger Peckinpaugh   SS
8   Muddy Ruel   C
9   Firpo Marberry   P

Giants

1   Freddie Lindstrom   3B
2   Frankie Frisch   2B
3   Ross Youngs   RF
4   George Kelly   CF
5   Bill Terry   1B
6   Hack Wilson   LF
7   Travis Jackson   SS
8   Hank Gowdy   C
9   Hugh McQuillan   P

The Senators (my name for the old team, even though they were officially the Nationals) start sport atarter, long relief man, and closer Firpos Marberry, which says that the three-man rotation has hit dead-end. Call this a bullpen game, since Bucky Harris, before this, has started Firpo, brought in Allen Russell, and finished with By Speece. That will be tough, here, since the Giants are loaded with hitting stars.

Firpo slipped in the bottom of the second. Bill Terry led off with a line drive single to RF. Travis Jackson grounded to Bluege at third, who threw to Bucky Harris covering second. BUcky dropped the throw. Everyone was safe. Hank Gowdy singled to left, scoring Terry, but Gowdy was thrown out trying to stretch his singe to a double. With pitcher McQuillan at the plate, the rookie Marberry tossed a wild pitch that scored Jackson. Marberry walked McQuillan, then walked Freddie Lindstrom, and then hit Frankie Frisch. With the bases loaded, he srtruck out Ross Youngs to end the inning. NYG 2, WSH 0.

The Griffs got nothing, although Bucky Harris juggled his infield. Peckinpaugh came off, replaced by Ralph Miller, who moved to third as Ossie Bluege moved to SS. In the third, a pair of New York singles put runners on 1b and 3b, and Hack Wilson hit into a double-play, but a third run scored. NYG 3, WSH 0.

In the top of the 4th, the Nationals got back in the game. Sam Rice walked and Joe Judge doubled, putting runners at second and third with one out. Bluege walked, loading the bases. Ralph Miller hit a sac fly, scoring Rice. McGraw put Rosy Ryan in to replace McQuillen, and Bucky Harris countered by having Bennie Tate pinch-hit for Marberry. Tate drew a walk, forcing in a second Washington run, but Nemo Leibold (why is Leibold playing?) popped out. NYG 3, WSH 2.

Allen Russell went in for Firpo Marberry. Unfortunately, John McGraw had chosen a relief pitcher who could hit, and Rosy Ryan homered to right. End of 4 innings: NYG 4, WSH 2.

The Giants picked up another run in the 6th, as Ralph Miller bobbled a ground ball, Rosy Ryan laid down a sac bunt to move the runner, Hank Gowdy, to second, and Freddie Lindstrom doubled Gowdy home. Remember those names: catcher Hank Gowdy and 3B Freddie Lindstrom. End of 6: NYG 5, WSH 2.

In the 7th, Bucky Harris turned to Joe Martina, who pitched a 3-up, 3-down inning. In the top of the 8th, Washington put runners on second and third, with two outs. Harris sent up Mule Shirley to pinch-hit for Oyster Joe, and punched an infield hit between SS and 3B. Ossie Bluege scored. NYG 5, WSH 3.

By Speece replace Martina, and quickly gave back the run on two singles, a stolen base, and a groundout. NYG 6, WSH 3.

In the top of the 9th, the Senators loaded the bases and dug up a run when Giants pitcher Claude Jonnad walked Ossie Bluege. However, Ralph Miller and Muddy Ruel did nothing.

Final: NYG 6, WSH 3.

NYG lead the series 2 games to 1. Next game will be played, again, in New York's Polo Grounds.

[Chelsea_Phil]

Nice story on Wade Hampton Lefler, an unsung hero that reminded me of that great confederate cavalry general.  Not sure many people would name their boy’s first and middle names Wade Hampton today.

[welch]

Next game: Tuesday, October 7, 1924
Start Time: 2:05 p.m. Local
Attendance: 49,243
Venue: Polo Grounds V
Game Duration: 2:10
Day Game, on grass

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NY1/NY1192410070.shtml

Gary Sarnoff reminded me not to give up hope, because Goose Goslin was about to hit. And Goose sure did, going 4-for-4 with 4 RBIs, and scoring 2 runs himself. Earl McNeely is back in CF, and going 3-for-5. Roger Peckinpaugh did not play, so Bluege is back at SS, but Ossie had his own 3-for-4 day.

Harris started George Mogridge, his number 3 starter.

The Giants started Virgil Barnes, who had won 16 games in the regular season with a 3.06 ERA.

Starting Lineups

Nationals

1   Earl McNeely   CF
2   Bucky Harris   2B
3   Sam Rice   RF
4   Goose Goslin   LF
5   Joe Judge   1B
6   Ossie Bluege   SS
7   Muddy Ruel   C
8   Ralph Miller   3B
9   George Mogridge   P

Giants

1   Freddie Lindstrom   3B
2   Frankie Frisch   2B
3   Ross Youngs   RF
4   George Kelly   1B
5   Irish Meusel   LF
6   Hack Wilson   CF
7   Travis Jackson   SS
8   Hank Gowdy   C
9   Virgil Barnes   P

The game started badly for the Nationals. Freddie Lindstrom walked and a groundout moved him to 2B. Lindstrom scored on a bad throw by Bluege to Joe Judge at first. NYG 1, WSH 0.


Otherwise, Barnes and Nogridge were giving up nothing.

In the third, however, McNeely singled on a popfly to LF. Bucky Harris singled on a line drive to RF. Sam Rice grounded out, moving McNeely and Harris to third and second, but with two outs. Goose Goslin homered on a line drive to deep RF, and the Nationals had the lead. WSH 3, NYG 1.

In the bottom half, Mogridge struck out Ross Youngs and George "High Pockets" Kelley, both looking. He got Irish Meusel, brother of the Yankee slugger Bob, to fly to left.

Mogridge set the Giants down in order in 4th.

In the top of the 5th, the Griffmen struck again. Earl McNeely singled, again, and Bucky Harris singled, again. McNeely took third. He scored when Barnes uncorked a wild pitch, which also let Harris get to second. After Sam Rice popped out to Lindstrom at 3B, Goslin singled t left, scoring Harris. Goslin was caught stealing second to end the inning. WSH 5, NYG 1.

Young Bill Terry pinch-hit for Barnes, but the Giants could not touch Mogridge until the bottom of the 6th, when George Kelly doubled and two geround outs scored him. WSH 5, NYG 2.

By the top of the 8th, McGraw had put in Wayland Dean to pitch. Goslin and Judge singled, advancing a base on an error by Hack Wilson in CF. That set up runners on second and third for Ossie Bluege, who singled to left-center, scoring both runners. WSH 7, NYG 2.

In the bottom of the 8th, Mogridge walked two batters around a flyball to deep LF. Bucky Harris chose Firpo Marberry (who else!) to pitch to Hack Wilson, but Wilson doubled to score Ross Youngs, but Irish Meusel was out at the plate, Sam Rice to Bucky Harris to Muddy Ruel. WSH 7, NYG 3.

The Giants got another run in the 9th, but did not come close to tying the game. WSH 7, NYG 4

Final: WSH 7, NYG 4

The series is tied, 2 - 2 wins.

[alanmiley]

Could you say that their Goose was cooked (by our Goose).

[welch]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NY1/NY1192410080.shtml

With the Series tied at two games each, Bucky Harris taps his best pitcher, baseball's finest, Walter Johnson. Johnsons has a bad game, and the country -- outside NYC -- weeps.

Wednesday, October 8, 1924
Start Time: 2:03 p.m. Local
Attendance: 49,211
Venue: Polo Grounds V
Game Duration: 2:30
Day Game, on grass

Starting Lineups

Nationals

1   Earl McNeely   CF
2   Bucky Harris   2B
3   Sam Rice   RF
4   Goose Goslin   LF
5   Joe Judge   1B
6   Ossie Bluege   SS
7   Muddy Ruel   C
8   Ralph Miller   3B
9   Walter Johnson   P

Giants

1   Freddie Lindstrom   3B
2   Frankie Frisch   2B
3   Ross Youngs   RF
4   George Kelly   CF
5   Bill Terry   1B
6   Hack Wilson   LF
7   Travis Jackson   SS
8   Hank Gowdy   C
9   Jack Bentley   P

Roger Peckinpaugh is still out, so Ralph Miller plays third. We should remember Peck:

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.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/roger-peckinpaugh/

The Senators began a rally in the top of the third, with three straight singles, or would have if Walter Johnson, leading off, had not tried to stretch huis single into a double. Johnson was thrown out, Hack Wilson to Frankie Frisch to Bill Terry. Three future Hall of Famers combine to thrown out the future Hall of Famer Johnson.

The Giants got a run in the home half on a pair of singles and what the play-by-play calls a single to "weak 3B". NYG 1, WSH 0.

The Griffmen came right back and tied the score in the top of the 4th. Joe Judge singled on a line drive to right, and Ossie Bluege did what the book said to do: he bunted,  and judge took second. Muddy Ruel grounded out, and Judge took third. Ralph Miller singled to right, driving in Judge, but Miller was out trying to reach second. WSH 1, NYG 1.

Johnson pitched and threw around Bill Terry's triple in the bottom of the 5th as Hack Wilson bounced back to Johnson, who threw out Terry to Miller covering home. As I imagine the play, Muddy Ruel ran to back up Joe Judge at first, but Johnson threw home.

In the fifth, pitcher Jack Bentley hit a two-run homer. A double play, Bluege to Harris to Judge, saved Johnson from more damage. NYG 3, WSH 1.

Then, in the 8th, Goose Goslin homered deep to RF. NYG 3, WSH 2.

The Giants scored three runs in the bottom of the 8th, and that was the ballgame. Kelly singled, Terry walked, and Hack Wilson, who bunted, reached on Johnson's error. Bases loaded, no outs. Travis Jackson scored Highpockets Kelley on a sac fly, Hugh McQuillan singled, and Freddie Lindstrom singled. NYG 6, WSH 2

Final: NYG 6, WSH 2

New York leads the series 3 wins to 2, as the World Series shifts back to Washington.

[welch]

Could you say that their Goose was cooked (by our Goose).

I would also say that the current Nationals would be in fine shape if they had an OF who could hit like Goose Goslin! Goose was hitting .368 with a 1.053 OPS through the first four games of the Series. having hit .344 with 129 RBIs and a .937 OPS during the regular season.