Harry Greb "runs the gauntlet" - part two

With Greb rounding into form, he moves on to face some legendary middleweight champions from the first half of the twentieth century . . .

Harry Greb "runs the gauntlet" - part one

“Red” Mason was probably engaged in grandstanding for the sake of selling tickets, but the manager’s optimism when the papers were first signed for his fighter to “Run The Gauntlet” against the lineal Middleweight champions of the world was unbridled. “Harry [Greb] is the best that ever tied on the gloves at this weight, and there’s not a one of these chumps that can stand up to him inside the ropes,” Mason opined at the pre-series presser. “There wasn’t anything like him then, and there ain’t anything close now, and you’ll see that in the ring.”

Suffice it to say that, shameless shilling or not, neither Mason nor Greb himself would have anticipated how things played out as the series got underway . . .

1919 AL - Ruth's chase for the all-time home-run record

Player	Year	Team	GP	HR
Williamson, Ed	1884	Chicago NL	107	27
Freeman, Buck	1899	Washington NL	155	25
Pfeffer, Fred	1884	Chicago NL	112	25
Cravath, Gavvy	1915	Philadelphia NL	150	24
Ruth, Babe	1919	Boston AL	94	23
Dalrymple, Abner	1884	Chicago NL	111	22
Anson, Cap	1884	Chicago NL	112	21
Schulte, Frank	1911	Chicago NL	154	21
Thompson, Sam	1889	Philadelphia NL	128	20

1919 AL - Games of Tuesday, 20 August

Yankees 7, Indians 5: A 7th-inning fielding error by Bill Wambsganss was the key play as the Yankees rallied to win in the late innings in Cleveland. A four-run Indian 3rd inning that featured doubles from Elmer Smith and Ray Chapman and a triple from Tris Speaker had been cancelled out by single NY runs in each of the 2nd through 5th innings, but the home team had taken the lead once again when Smith hit his 8th home run of the year to lead off the 6th. In the Yankees' next at-bat they got two singles, but also two outs, when Wally Pipp knocked one to Wambsganss that kicked off the heel of the secondbaseman's glove to load the bases. Del Pratt (three hits, three RBI) then made the miscue count when he lined a single to right field that scored two runs and put New York in front. Jack Quinn (15-10), who had settled down nicely after the early four-spot, shut the Indians down on one hit over the final three innings and retired the last five men in order. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Monday, 18 August

Indians 10, Yankees 2: Ray Chapman and Tris Speaker each drove home three runs as Cleveland used a five-run 4th inning outburst to run away from New York in The Forest City. The teams each scored twice in the 3rd, with Sammy Vick and Frank Baker knocking RBI extra-base hits for NY and Speaker singled home a pair with two outs for CLE. In the following inning, however, it went pear-shaped in a big way for Yankees starter Carl Mays (1-3); he plunked Jack Graney to load the bases with two outs and Chapman then drilled one over the head of Ping Bodie and to the CF wall for a three-run three-bagger, and Speaker and Gardner (three hits) followed with RBI hits that chased the surly right-hander from the game. Jim Bagby (12-12) was in complete control from that point, retiring sixteen of seventeen at one stretch and then setting down the final four Yanks while his teammates were piling on in the late innings. [box]

1919 AL Players of the Week - 17 August

The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the American League for the week of 11-17 August are (* denotes a League-leading total) . . .

1919 AL - Games of Sunday, 17 August

White Sox 11, Athletics 3: Buck Weaver hit a three-run homer, in addition to a pair of singles, as Chicago ran the accounting into double figures against Philadelphia at Comiskey Park. The Sox already led 5-1 when Weaver followed Eddie Collins' two-run base hit with a drive into the left-field seats, his second four-bagger of the year, to cap a five-run 5th inning. Grover Lowdermilk (5-4) was the beneficiary of all of this Chicago clouting, holding the A's to one run on five hits before wilting a bit in the 9th inning on a warm Midwest afternoon. Collins had four RBI and Nemo Leibold scored three times, while Cy Perkins had two hits and two RBI for the visitors. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Saturday, 16 August

Red Sox 8, White Sox 2: Boston scored five times in the late innings to distance themselves from Chicago at Comiskey Park. Leading only 3-2 after the first four inning, the Red Sox got singletons in the next three frames and then a pair in the 8th to put the game away. Wally Schang had two walks and a single in the last five innings, and Everett Scott collected three of his four hits while scoring one run and driving home another. Sam Jones (8-13) pitched shutout ball other than a two-run 3rd helped along by his only two free passes of the day, and he set down the final twelve South Siders with only two balls leaving the infield. [box]

1919 AL - Statistical Leaders through 15 August

 Statistical Leaders in the American League at the at the midpoint of August . . .

1919 AL - Games of Friday, 15 August

White Sox 3, Red Sox 0: Lefty Williams allowed only four Boston batters to reach base, and became the circuit's first twenty-game winner in fine style with a complete-game shutout. Chicago scored twice in the 5th when the top three men in the order went double-triple-double against Waite Hoyt (5-2), and that was more than enough for Lefty. He had a no-hitter through the first six innings, retiring fifteen in a row at one stretch, and struck out Babe Ruth for the final out of the contest. Nemo Leibold and Eddie Collins had three hits apiece for the winners. [box]

1919 AL - Ruth's chase for the all-time home-run record

Player	Year	Team	GP	HR
Williamson, Ed	1884	Chicago NL	107	27
Freeman, Buck	1899	Washington NL	155	25
Pfeffer, Fred	1884	Chicago NL	112	25
Cravath, Gavvy	1915	Philadelphia NL	150	24
Ruth, Babe	1919	Boston AL	89	22
Dalrymple, Abner	1884	Chicago NL	111	22
Anson, Cap	1884	Chicago NL	112	21
Schulte, Frank	1911	Chicago NL	154	21
Thompson, Sam	1889	Philadelphia NL	128	20

1919 AL - Games of Thursday, 14 August

Browns 8, Athletics 1: Hank Severeid had four hits and a pair of runs knocked home as St. Louis piled up fifteen hits in an easy win over Philadelphia. Severeid's RBI triple helped to fuel a three-run 5th that stretched the Browns' lead to 7-1 and put the game out of reach, and Bert Gallia (8-7) - despite control problems that led to six walks - held the A's to only three base hits, all singles. [box]

The Dempsey-Tunney Experiment

It's been awhile since I've (actively) played any of my numerous boxing sims, and that's a shame - I've got a strong interest in the history of boxing, and we are fortunate to have a number of really well-done sims available to us these days. So I decided to take a short break from the 1919 Season Ticket Baseball project and re-familiarize myself with what I feel are the three best cards-and-dice boxing simulations available today: Championship Boxing, Glory Days Boxing and Legends of Boxing 2. (Apologies to those of you who are Title Bout II fans - in my opinion the current iteration of the game is not up to the standard of the original TB, which for many years I felt was the best sports sim ever invented.)

1919 AL - Games of Tuesday, 12 August

Indians 5, Yankees 3: Larry Gardner had three hits and Stan Coveleski and George Uhle combined to make an early Cleveland lead stick as the visitors came out on top in Manhattan. The Indians led 4-0 after batting in the 6th inning, but the New Yorkers got half of those back in the bottom half of the inning when Duffy Lewis homered (10) and Muddy Ruel singled home Wally Pipp after the first-sacker reached by taking a Coveleski offering in the ribs. Gardner's single following Joe Harris' 7th-inning double extended the lead, but New York took that one back immediately when Lewis was plunked and came around to score on Del Pratt's single. When Coveleski (10-13) walked PH Aaron Ward to load the bases with Yanks with two out, he was lifted in favor of George Uhle; the local Clevelander came good by inducing Chick Fewster to tap back to the box, and then retired the Yankees in order in the the 9th. Pratt had three hits for New York. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Monday, 11 August

Athletics 3, Tigers 0: Rollie Naylor spun a five-hitter and Philadelphia broke open a scoreless tie late in the game to win at home. The game was nothing but zeroes for five innings as Naylor and Hooks Dauss matched wits, but the A's got on the board in the 6th when Merlin Kopp's leadoff double set up George Burns' RBI single with two outs. Cy Perkins doubled home a second in the 7th and Tillie Walker hit a solo home run (9) in the 8th while Naylor was slicing through the Tigers lineup. Detroit only had two hits after the 4th inning, and Naylor sent the last eleven men back to the Detroit dugout with the bat in their hands. [box]

1919 AL Players of the Week - 10 August

The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the American League for the week of 4-10 August are (* denotes a League-leading total) . . .

1919 AL - Games of Sunday, 10 August

White Sox 5, Nationals 0: Eddie Cicotte dominated Washington to win his eighteenth game of the campaign and got help from Nemo Leibold's two-hit, two-walk, three-run showing at the top of the Chicago lineup. Leibold singled to start the game and scored the first run when Buck Weaver tripled; he walked to lead off the 5th and scored on a wild pitch and Eddie Collins single that put the White Sox up by a score of 3-0; then he singled and scored in the 9th on Happy Felsch's single. Cicotte got stronger as the day warmed up in the Nation's capital, only allowing two Washington safeties after the 3rd inning and retiring eleven in a row until permitting two to reach in the bottom of the 9th. Joe Jackson had two RBI to take over the League lead from teammate Felsch with 84. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Saturday, 9 August

Browns 9, Red Sox 0: St. Louis rapped out seventeen hits (six for two bases), five of them from pitcher Lefty Leifield (2-1), and the 35-year-old southpaw held Boston off the board completely in front of a quiet gathering at Fenway Park. Leifield's hitting exploits included four singles, a double, two runs scored and a run batted in and, with the ball in hand rather than the bat, he held the Red Sox to eight hits while issuing only a single free pass. The Browns got all the scoring they would need with four runs in the first two innings and then piled on with five late inning runs to run up the final score. Jimmy Austin and Hank Severeid each had three hits and Babe Ruth reached base three times for Boston. [box]

1919 AL - Ruth's chase for the all-time home run record

Player	Year	Team	GP	HR
Williamson, Ed	1884	Chicago NL	107	27
Freeman, Buck	1899	Washington NL	155	25
Pfeffer, Fred	1884	Chicago NL	112	25
Cravath, Gavvy	1915	Philadelphia NL	150	24
Dalrymple, Abner	1884	Chicago NL	111	22
Ruth, Babe	1919	Boston AL	83	21
Anson, Cap	1884	Chicago NL	112	21
Schulte, Frank	1911	Chicago NL	154	21
Thompson, Sam	1889	Philadelphia NL	128	20

1919 AL - Games of Friday, 8 August

Red Sox 5, Indians 4: Boston capped a late-inning comeback by scoring twice in the bottom of the 9th inning to pip Cleveland. Larry Gardner tripled home two runs in the 1st, and singled in another in the 3rd, to push Cleveland to a 3-1 lead after the first three innings. The score stayed in that state into the 7th, when Boston began to mount a resurgence. Babe Ruth doubled to start the inning and scored on a Stuffy McInnis single and, in the 8th, Harry Hooper singled home Everett Scott to tie the game but two doubles in the top of the 9th put Cleveland clear once again. Trailing by a run in the home half of the 9th, Ruth led off against Stan Coveleski (9-13) with his 21st home run, Wally Schang doubled and McInnis again delivered the RBI base hit, this time to win the game and give the decision to Sam Jones (7-12). Ray Chapman and Gardner each had three hits for the Indians. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Thursday, 7 August

Tigers 2, Nationals 1: Detroit strung together four straight hits in the top of the 1st inning, and Howard Ehmke made sure that was enough at Griffith Stadium. With two outs in the 1st, Ty Cobb doubled and then Bobby Veach, Harry Heilmann and Chick Shorten each singled to produce two Tiger runs. Ehmke (11-12) allowed the Nationals to score once in the 3rd when he gave up a leadoff hit to hard-luck loser Jim Shaw (11-13) and then drilled Joe Judge in the ribs to set up a run-scoring ground out, but after that he was nearly impregnable, allowing only two hits over the final six innings. Cobb's double and single raised his League-leading average to .399. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Wednesday, 6 August

Tigers 9, Nationals 6: Ty Cobb had five hits and scored three runs, but it was the Washington defense that decided the game as two 11th-inning errors led to three unearned runs that handed the Tigers the decision. Detroit trailed 5-2 after only three innings, but their first four men reached in 5th (including Cobb, who had already recorded his third hit of the game) and a single, two RBI groundouts, and a wild pitch followed to produce four runs to put the Tigers in the lead. When the Nationals answered with one in the 6th to tie the score again it looked like this might be a "last-team-to-hit-wins" sort of afternoon, but quality relief from Eric Erickson and Doc Ayers put a lid on the scoring into extra frames. Cobb started the 11th with a base hit then, with one away, Harry Heilmann hit a bounding ball to second which Hal Janvrin couldn't come up with and Ira Flagstead hit a fly ball to medium-deep left which rebounded off the heel of Patsy Gharrity's glove for a two-base error the pushed across the tie-breaking run. The damage was fatally and immediately compounded when Bob Jones ripped a double that scored both of the men who had reached on miscues; Ayers stumbled a bit in the bottom half, loading the bases on two singles and a walk, but he struck out the unfortunate Gharrity and got Sam Agnew to ground into a game-ending force play. Bobby Veach and Joe Judge each had three hits. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Tuesday, 5 August

Indians 11, Red Sox 2: Cleveland erupted for nine runs in the middle innings behind Bill Wambsganss' four hits and Larry Gardner's three RBI. Cleveland led by a slim 1-0 margin as they came to bat in the top of the 5th against the young Boston hurler Waite Hoyt (4-1, but a double and two walks after one man was out loaded the bases and then Ray Chapman and Tris Speaker whacked two-run singles to finish off a five-run inning. There was more to come in the 7th as Gardner doubled with the bases loaded and Wambsganss doubled him home as part of a four-run outburst. One the other side Jim Bagby (11-11) was slicing through the Sox - Boston scored twice in the 8th with the assistance of Gardner's throwing error, but were held otherwise hitless over the final five innings. Wambsganss had a busy day in addition to his four base hits, being caught twice attempting to steal and making an error in the field. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Monday, 4 August

Athletics 10, Browns 9: A back-and-forth tussle in which no lead appeared safe was settled when Philadelphia scored five times in the bottom of the 7th and that lead turned out to be one bridge too far for St. Louis. The score was 5-4 in favor of the Athletics after six, and there had already been three lead changes, when the Browns came back to go on top again. Ken Williams' three-run homer (4) in the top of the 7th turned the score around once more but, unsurprisingly, given both the way the day had gone and the state of the back end of the Athletics pitching staff, this was not fated to last. In the bottom half, Dave Davenport was chased after allowing two of the first three men to reach base and a run to score on Whitey Witt's triple. Bert Gallia took his place atop the slab but Witt beat the throw home from third on a ground ball to Wally Gerber at shortstop to tie the game, Gallia walked Cy Perkins, and Walt Kinney singled in the go-ahead run for the A's. They weren't done quite yet, as Merlin Kopp walked and Tillie Walker delivered a big two-run double to make the score 10-7. This turned out to be barely enough, as Cleveland scored twice in the 8th Kinney, but the young lefty held on for dear life, putting two Browns aboard in the 9th before escaping on Hank Severeid's game-ending groundout to short. Five players had three hits in a game that featured twenty-none total safeties, eight of which went for extra bases. [box]

1919 AL Players of the Week - 3 August

The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the American League for the week of 28 July - 3 August are (* denotes a League-leading total) . . .

1919 AL - Games of Sunday, 3 August

Indians 3, Nationals 1: Washington went hitless in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position, and Ray Chapman had three hits, a run batted in and a stolen base to lead Cleveland to a win away from home. A groundout by Bill Wambsganss scored Larry Gardner from third after the thirdbaseman's triple in the 4th and gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead against Jim Shaw (11-12), and Washington would then squander a number of golden opportunities to close the score in the late innings. In the 6th a single and a sacrifice put the tying run at second with one out, but Stan Coveleski got Patsy Gharrity to ground out and then fanned Howie Shanks. In the bottom of the 9th, with the Indians now up by a pair, Buzz Murphy led off with a triple and it seemed (to the Griffith Stadium crowd, at least) as if the Nats were well on their way to a comeback - but Coveleski (9-12), 6th in the AL in strikeouts, but with only one in the contest thus far, whiffed Gharrity, Shanks and pinch-hitter Joe Leonard in succession to slam the door shut in style. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Saturday, 2 August

Results of the games played on the 100th day of the 1919 American League season . . .

Indians 6, Nationals 4: Despite being outhit by a count of thirteen to seven, Cleveland took advantage of their opportunities (and some help from the Nationals) to outscore Washington in front of their home crowd in D.C. The Indians scored twice on Eric Erickson (4-6) wild pitches in the 4th, and pushed across runs in both the 6th and 7th that initially reached base due to fielding errors. Elmer Myers was in regular difficulty on the hill for Cleveland, but Washington struggled to come up with the big hit and Myers (8-1) somehow survived thirteen hits and five walks, loaded the bases with one out in the 9th for drama, to pitch a complete game. Buzz Murphy had three hits for the Nationals. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Friday, 1 August

Yankees 5, Tigers 2: Wally Pipp stroked three singles and crossed the plate each time, and George Mogridge tap-danced around twelve Tiger hits as New York won at home. Pipp singled and scored on Muddy Ruel's grounder in the 2nd, on Ping Bodie's grounder in the 4th, and on Bodie's triple in the 6th, with the latter extending the Yankees' lead to 5-1. Mogridge (2-5) put two men aboard yet held Detroit off the board in the 4th, 5th and 6th, limiting the Tigers to one hit in nine attempts with runners in scoring position. Eleven of the twelve DET hits were singles, with Harry Heilmann's RBI triple in the 7th their only long hit; Heilmann and Eddie Ainsmith each had three of those safeties. [box]

1919 AL - Statistical leaders through 31 July

Statistical Leaders in the American League at the close of the season's third month, with two left to play . . .

1919 AL - Games of Thursday, 31 July

Red Sox 2, Tigers 1: Ossie Vitt's two-out single in the bottom of the 11th scored an unearned run that ended a tense affair at Fenway Park. Doc Ayers and Waite Hoyt (making his first major-league start) had spent the afternoon locked up in a tight game that saw each man repeatedly wriggle free of tight spots as they stranded a combined twenty-five base runners, with one DET run in the 3rd and one BOS run in the 4th the only blemishes on their ledgers. Boston loaded the bases in the 6th and 7th, and Detroit put two aboard in each of the 5th, 6th and 7th, but there was to be no further scoring into extra innings, with both starters continuing to carry the mail. The Tigers had the go-ahead run gunned down at the plate from left field by Babe Ruth with two away in the 10th, and Boston drew two walks in the bottom half, but the 11th inning came along with the score still tied at one. The 19-year-old Hoyt pitched a perfect inning, but Ayers got into trouble with one away in the bottom of the inning - Everett Scott reached when his grounder snuck through the legs of Bob Jones at third base and Hoyt then grounded a ball up the middle and into center field to push Scott to second. That was enough for Ayers, said Hughie Jennings, and George Cunningham came on to get Harry Hooper to ground out to second base with the runners moving up 90 feet. This brought up Vitt, hitless on the day and only hitting .230 on the season, but Ossie roped one over the second-base bag and onto the outfield grass and Scott skipped home to end the game. Bobby Veach and the young Hoyt had three hits apiece in what will surely be a memorable day for the young Schoolboy out of Brooklyn. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Wednesday, 30 July

Indians 5, Athletics 4: Today it was Cleveland's turn to pull the rug out from under Philadelphia at the very end, scoring three times in the 9th inning to reverse the outcome at the final hurdle. Hi Jasper (3-3) and Walt Kinney (4-10) pitched scoreless ball for four innings before Ray Chapman's two-run single in the 5th put the Indians ahead, but the A's answered with one in the 5th, on four straight singles, and two in the 7th on Tillie Walker's 7th home run to take their turn in front. It remained 3-2 PHA until the last inning, when two doubles and two Athletic errors sparked a three-run rally; Joe Harris' two-out, two-run double jumped the Indians in the lead again, and George Uhle came on to pitch a hitless final inning to make that edge stick. Harris had four hits on the day, three of them going for two bases, and Cy Perkins collected three safeties for Philadelphia. [box]

1919 AL - Ruth's chase for the all-time home run record

Player	Year	Team	GP	HR
Williamson, Ed	1884	Chicago NL	107	27
Freeman, Buck	1899	Washington NL	155	25
Pfeffer, Fred	1884	Chicago NL	112	25
Cravath, Gavvy	1915	Philadelphia NL	150	24
Dalrymple, Abner	1884	Chicago NL	111	22
Anson, Cap	1884	Chicago NL	112	21
Schulte, Frank	1911	Chicago NL	154	21
Ruth, Babe	1919	Boston AL	78	20
Thompson, Sam	1889	Philadelphia NL	128	20

1919 AL - Games of Tuesday, 29 July

Red Sox 5, Tigers 2: Paul Musser continued his fine run of form as a stopgap starting pitcher, and Babe Ruth hit his 20th home run of the season to lead Boston to victory over Detroit. Since coming into the rotation ten days ago to help pick up the slack from the missing (and now traded) Carl Mays, Musser has made three starts, winning all of them, and has tossed 18.2 innings with a 2.41 ERA. On this afternoon, Musser (3-0) pitched into the 7th, allowing just one earned run while striking out seven Tigers, and also tripling in a pair of runs in the 2nd to give the Sox the lead for good. Ruth became just the ninth man in big-league annals to reach twenty homers in a season, and the first in the history of the American League (Socks Seybold having previously set the AL high-water mark with 16 for the Athletics in 1902). The young slugger needs just eight long balls to break the major-league mark of 27 set by Ed Williamson of the Chicago Nationals in 1884, although many experts consider that record to be suspect due to the peculiar home field dimensions at Lake Front Park in those days, and point instead to Buck Freeman's 25 four-baggers for the 1899 NL Senators as the rightful total of record. [box]

1919 AL - Stalemate over, Mays dealt to Yankees

After a protracted feud with the Boston club that dates back to salary squabbles in the offseason, Carl Mays has gotten his wish and been moved to a new home. He was traded to New York today in exchange for right-handed pitchers Allen Russell and Bob McGraw as well as $40,000 cash. The 28-year-old submarining right-hander, who has long carried a reputation as an unpopular and abrasive personality, bickered with club owner Harry Frazee over salary demands into the spring of this season and then walked out on the club two weeks ago after telling scribes "I am getting out. … maybe there will be a trade or a sale of my services. I do not care where I go.” Frazee had been working the telegraph lines to find a deal that suited the Red Sox, and after AL President Ban Johnson's concerns over the precedent set by the trade were overruled by the other owners in the circuit, a swap was finalized with Jacob Ruppert's club.

1919 AL - Games of Monday, 28 July

Red Sox 7, Yankees 6: Harry Hooper singled home Del Gainer in the bottom of the 12th inning, and Babe Ruth homered for the fifth time in six games, as Boston pipped New York at Fenway Park. The late-game heroics overshadowed the two-homer performance of Wally Pipp for the Yankees, the 7th multi-homer game of the season in the American League. Boston led 4-0 after five innings on the strength of Ruth's three-run blast for his 19th home run of the year, but Pipp went into the seats for two runs in both the 6th and the 7th, the latter giving New York a 5-4 lead. Red Shannon tripled home a pair in the Boston 7th to take back the advantage, and Ping Bodie singled home a run in the top of the 8th to send the game to the end of regulation with the score tied at six. New York had two on and nobody out in the 10th, but failed to score, and then the Red Sox found themselves in the same situation in the 12th. Everett Scott sacrificed the runners to second and third and pinch-hitter Stuffy McInnis was intentionally walked to put the force play in order, but this was all for naught as Hooper was next to the plate and he stroked one into left field to end the game in favor of the home side. Braggo Roth had three hits, and Shannon drew three walks, for Boston. [box]

1919 AL Players of the Week - 27 July

The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the American League for the week of 21-27 July are (* denotes a League-leading total) . . .

1919 AL - Games of Sunday, 27 July

Indians 13, Tigers 12: Donie Bush had a hit and three walks, and scored five times, but Cleveland scored four times in the bottom of the 9th to clip Detroit in a wild affair at League Park. The game began rather sedately, as Detroit led 1-0 after three innings on the strength of Ty Cobb's 1at-inning RBI base hit. But the faucet opened up in the middle innings, with the clubs scoring a total of eleven runs in the 4th and 5th innings behind home runs by Eddie Ainsmith and Earl Smith. With the game tied at six runs apiece, Detroit took the initiative by scoring one in the 6th and three more in the 7th (two of those scoring on Ray Chapman's bases-loaded throwing error) but the Indians answered with one in the 7th and two in the 8th to close to within 10-9 heading into the final inning. The Tigers scored two times in the 9th behind doubles from Ralph Young and Bobby Veach and appeared to have put the game in their back pockets, but Slim Love could not survive the bottom of the 9th. With one out he allowed a single and then back-to-back doubles to Steve O'Neill and pinch-hitter Joe Harris; after a second out, Chapman joined the parade of two-baggers to tie the game. Tris Speaker took four wide ones, and Smith (4-for-5, 5 RBI) then singled to score Chapman with the improbable winning run. Chapman and Doc Johnston each had four of Cleveland's nineteen hits. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Saturday, 26 July

Nationals 6, Athletics 0: The Philadelphia season has gotten to the point where opponents must be circling dates on their calendars. Even after breaking their 11-game skid yesterday, fourteen-game loser Harry Harper of Washington came to Griffith Stadium looking forward to a chance to face the crumbling Athletics, and he took full advantage. Holding the A's to five singles while striking out 8, Harper pitched the Nats to a win while Patsy Gharrity collected four hits on his behalf. As has often been the case on this losing skein, matters were largely decided early in the contest, as Washington scored four times on five hits in the 2nd off of Jing Johnson (5-9) with Eddie Foster delivering the big two-run double. Harper (4-14) was on cruise control, meanwhile, only allowing one Athletic to reach scoring position after the 2nd inning. Sam Rice chipped in with three hits and a stolen base. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Friday, 25 July

Athletics 3, Nationals 0: Perhaps the only way that Philadelphia was going to break its eleven-game losing string was to get a superhuman effort on the mound and that's what it took. Scott Perry tossed a three-hitter at the Washingtons and his teammates waited until the last possible moment to make it count for a win in the Nation's capital. Perry (4-13) and Eric Erickson (3-5) hooked up in a tight one with neither team really threatening, in fact Perry allowed but a Sam Rice single over the first six frames while Erickson was striking out ten Athletics. With the game still scoreless into the 9th, and the A's increasingly looking like they would waste this golden opportunity to break into the win column, they finally broke through. With one away, Amos Strunk and George Burns singled to put runners at the corners and then Cy Perkins and Terry Turner delivered doubles to score three runs. That left it up to Perry, who put two runners on base in the bottom of the 9th but held the Nats off the board to earn the shutout. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Thursday, 24 July

Browns 8, White Sox 5: Six different Browns batsmen had a pair of hits on the afternoon as St. Louis outlasted Chicago in a busy affair at Comiskey Park. The clubs combined for twenty-seven hits but, despite all of the action, the score was still tied at five runs apiece heading into the 9th inning. Dickey Kerr (8-5) put the first two Brown aboard and then, after retiring one man, Ken Williams delivered the go-ahead blow with a single to center and Wally Gerber followed up one out later with a two-run double. The White Sox got the tying run to the plate in the bottom half, but Allen Sothoron (9-9) persevered until the end, racing to first base to retire pinch-hitter Chick Gandil on a bouncer to first for the final out. Williams reached base three times, scored twice and drove home two, and Buck Weaver had there RBI for Chicago. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Wednesday, 23 July

Results of the games played on the 90th day of the 1919 American League season . . .

Red Sox 12, Tigers 5: Babe Ruth had four hits, including a pair of home runs which brought him to within ten of Ned Williamson's single-season big-league record, and knocked in six runs to drive Boston past Detroit at Navin Field. The Tigers led 4-2 after five innings before the slugging young phenomenon went to work - Ruth homered to lead off the 6th, singled and scored in a four-run 7th that gave Boston the lead, and hit a grand slam in the 8th to seal the outcome. It was the fifth time this season in the AL that a batter compiled more than five RBI, two of which have come off the bat of the Babe in the month of July. Sam Jones (5-11) was the beneficiary of the Babe's batting bonanza, earning a complete-game win despite allowing thirteen Tiger hits, including three each by Ty Cobb and Bobby Veach. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Tuesday, 22 July

Yankees 6, White Sox 2: Frank Baker's three-run home run keyed an 8th-inning outburst that propelled New York to a road win over the first-place Chicagoans. Jack Quinn and Dickey Kerr had arm-wrestled to a draw over the first seven frames, with the home club scoring single runs in 2nd (Joe Jackson double, Swede Risberg ground out) and 7th (Ray Schalk walk, Nemo Leibold single), and the Yankees tallying a pair in their half of the 7th (Ping Bodie triple, Chick Fewster single). In the top of the 8th, with one away, Kerr (8-4) walked Roger Peckinpaugh and Wally Pipp singled him to third base. That brought Baker to the plate, second in the circuit in circuit clouts so far this season, and he drove Kerr's second pitch down the right field line and into the seats to break open the game in favor of the Yanks. This was all of the breathing space that Quinn (9-9) needed, as he set six Sox down in quick succession over the final two innings to polish off a fine four-hit performance. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Monday, 21 July

Tigers 26, Red Sox 2: Detroit broke the American League record for runs scored in a single game as they beat Boston into submission, and then some, on a long day at Navin Field. The previous AL scoring mark had been set by the 1912 Athletics. who had scored 24 times against (ironically) the Tigers at Shibe Park, but that record was surpassed during a four-run 7th inning that closed out the scoring today. There was a hint of record-breaking in the air as early as the 3rd inning, when Detroit scored ten times with the help of three of Boston's seven errors (leading to a total of ten unearned runs), but the hits and runs kept on coming: after one in the 4th, there were four in the 5th, six in the 6th and four more in the 7th as the Red Sox could not find an arm capable of stopping the bleeding after Babe Ruth (2-6) lasted only two innings on the mound. The box score is replete with stat-stuffing performances from Tiger batters: Harry Heilmann had six hits and scored four times, pitcher Howard Ehmke (8-12) had five RBI, and Donie Bush had four hits and three runs batted in. [box]

1919 AL Players of the Week - 20 July

The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the American League for the week of 14-20 July are (* denotes a League-leading total) . . .

1919 AL - Games of Sunday, 20 July

Nationals 7, Browns 6: Sam Rice had four hits and knocked in five runs to carry Washington to a win that salvaged a split of the doubleheader in St. Louis. The Browns had looked intent on sweeping the pair of games when they plated three men in the bottom of the 1st behind a pair of walks and an Earl Smith triple, but Eric Erickson (3-4) found his legs on the hill and his teammates. led by Rice, set to work. Joe Judge reached on an error to start the 3rd and Rasty Wright (2-2) then walked the next two men to begin Rice to the plate with three men aboard. A few deliveries later, there were none aboard as Rice drove a ball into the seats for a grand slam that jumped the visitors into the lead. In the 7th, Rice was at it again as he capped an eight-batter rally with an RBI single that pushed the WAS advantage to 7-3. All the work was not done, however, as Jack Tobin and Ken Williams hit home runs in home half of the 8th to close the game to within a run, and Molly Craft had to be summoned to take the ball from Erickson and record the final four outs. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Saturday, 19 July

Nationals 1, White Sox 0: Walter Johnson pitched a one-hit shutout and needed every last ounce of that dominance to enable Washington to nip Chicago at Comiskey Park. Johnson and White Sox spot starter John Sullivan engaged in an epic pitchers' duel whose spell was only broken by a key fielding miscue by Chicago. When the Nationals came to bat in the 7th, not only was the game scoreless but Chicago had yet to register a hit and Washington but two. That latter total doubled when, with one away, Sam Rice and Buzz Murphy singled to put two men aboard. Sullivan (0-1) fanned Val Picinich and then got Howie Shanks to beat one into the ground at Fred McMullin, but the White Sox third sacker threw the ball wildly to first and Rice scampered home with the game's first run. Chicago failed again in the 7th to dent Barney, but finally broke the spell in the 8th when Swede Risberg hit a dribbler along the third base line which everyone could only watch roll to a stop for an infield hit. When Ray Schalk then coaxed a walk with two outs Chicago had their chance, but Johnson (14-5) got dangerous pinch-hitter Eddie Murphy to bounce to Joe Judge at first to end the inning. Two Washington errors made matters interesting again in the bottom of the 9th, but the fireballing right-hander from Kansas retired Joe Jackson and Happy Felsch with the tying and winning runs aboard. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Friday, 18 July

Browns 10, Yankees 1: Jack Tobin had four hits, including his ninth homer of the season, and three different Browns had two RBI as St. Louis put a pounding on New York in The Mound City. The Yankees actually led this one - briefly - when they scored in the top of the 1st on a walk, a single and Duffy Lewis' RBI force out. But then it was aa St. Louis - four hits, two walks and a Del Pratt error led to five runs in the bottom of the 1st against Allen Russell (5-5) and a double, triple and Tobin's homer provided three more in the 3rd. Carl Weilman (12-3), meanwhile, was dancing through the New York order pitching to weak contact  - the six New York hits were all singles and he put an exclamation point on the affair by getting all three NY hitters in the 9th to tap weakly back to the mound. Herman Bronkie scored three runs out of the leadoff spot for the Browns. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Thursday, 17 July

Tigers 11, Athletics 0: Once again, Detroit used the big inning to crush Philadelphia - this time it was seven runs in the 6th as the A's pitching and defensive woes continue to mount. The Tigers had pushed across a single run in the opening frame on a single, sac bunt, ground out and wild pitch, but it was quiet from there for both Walt Kinney (4-7) and Slim Love until the dam burst for the Tigers in the 6th. Three fielding errors amplified the pain of four hits, a walk, and two stolen bases as Ralph Young and Harry Heilmann each delivered two-run hits. Detroit piled on three more runs in the 8th and Love (4-3) waltzed to victory on a five-hit complete-game whitewash of the circuit's cellar dwellers. Heilmann knocked in three runs (putting him over the 50-RBI mark for the season) and Donie Bush scored three times. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Wednesday, 16 July

Yankees 13, Browns 4: Wally Pipp had four hits and Frank Baker had two homers and four RBI as New York got out quickly and then buried St. Louis for good under a pile of late-inning runs. Four runs in the 4th inning (Bob Shawkey 2-run double) had put the Yankees on top 6-2, and then three in the 7th, two more in the 8th (Pipp two-run homer) and one for good measure in the 9th completed the damage. Ken Williams has three hits for the Browns, and Hank Severeid a pair of two-baggers, but otherwise Shawkey (10-9) had all of the help he needed. [box]

1919 AL - Statistical leaders through 15 July

Statistical Leaders in the American League at the mid-point of July . . .

1919 AL - Games of Tuesday, 15 July

Tigers 8, Yankees 7: In what could only be described as a crazy day at the ballpark, Detroit survived six fielding errors (the last of which put them behind in the 12th inning) to beat New York. The Tigers' adventures with the glove began in the 3rd when Chick Shorten muffed a fly ball for three bases and Ben Dyer kicked a grounder, leading to two runs. Detroit had rallied to lead 5-4 when Donie Bush's second fumble of the day allowed Sammy Vick to score the tying run in the 8th, and Dyer's second error helped had NY the lead in the 9th. But the home team got a gift of their own when Allen Russell's wild pitch brought in the tying run with two outs in the bottom half. In the 12th, Bush committed his third error to put two Yanks aboard before Wally Pipp singled for the lead run, but a pair of walks by Pete Schneider (1-1) and consecutive RBI singles by Bush and Ralph Young brought Detroit back from the dead. Bush, who won't soon forget this afternoon, had five hits, three RBI, as walk and a steal, and Young had two doubles among his three hits. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Monday, 14 July

Indians 5, Nationals 4: In a wild affair at League Park, Washington took the lead in the top of the 13th and then gave back the lead and the ballgame in the bottom half without recording a single out. The Nationals had scored three times in the 6th and the 7th (Hal Janvrin with an unlikely home run!) to take a 3-1 lead behind Harry Harper into the last of the 9th, but it wouldn't stick. The first three men singled to score one run and Doc Johnston then hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game. In the 13th, the light-hitting Janvrin - who reached base SIX times - singled to start it off. After a sacrifice and a groundout, Eddie Foster doubled to score Janvrin with the go-ahead run but, again, Washington would be unable to reach the finish line. The first two Indians singled off Eric Erickson (2-3), which brought Jim Shaw off the bench. But Elmer Smith stroked a pinch-hit double to tie the score and, after Steve O'Nell was walked intentionally to set up the force play at home, Joe Harris singled through the infield to win the day for Cleveland. Patsy Gharrity and Bill Wambsganss had three hits each. [box]

1919 AL Players of the Week - 13 July

The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the American League for the week of 7-13 July are (* denotes a League-leading total) . . .

1919 AL - Games of Sunday, 13 July

Results of the games played on the 80th day of the 1919 American League season . . .

Nationals 5, Indians 4: Sam Rice collected four hits and Washington held off Cleveland in the late innings to win one on the road. The Nats built an early 3-0 lead on Rice's RBI single and Menosky's two-run homer (3), but Cleveland scratched two of those back in the 6th against Molly Craft (3-1) on a run-scoring triple by Steve O'Neill and a single by Stan Coveleski. Washington scored single runs off of Coveleski (6-10) in the 8th and 9th to give themselves a cushion, but two walks and a double in the bottom of the 9th forced a pitching change and PH Joe Harris drilled a Walter Johnson offering into center field for a two-run single that cut the WAS lead to just one run. But Johnson got matters under control to retire the final two men and earn the save. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Saturday, 12 July

Indians 4, Nationals 1: Guy Morton allowed only three Washington hits and the Indians cobbled together four runs to clinch a sweep of the doubleheader in Cleveland. Of the Indians' four tallies, only one came as a result of a hit - a double play grounder, a wild pitch and an error produced the other three scores - and Morton (6-9) didn't allow a hit until the 7th inning and then pitched himself free of bases-loaded challenges in the 7th and 9th innings to bring home the win. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Friday, 11 July

Tigers 6, Nationals 5: Babe Ellison came off the bench to deliver a game-winning base hit in the bottom of the 12th in front of an adoring throng at Navin Field. Washington held leads of 4-2 and 5-3 before Detroit knotted the score in the 7th with the assistance of errors by Sam Rice and Howie Shanks and then Jim Shaw (8-9) and Doc Ayers (1-1) held down the fort until the 12th. Eddie Ainsmith led off the inning with a deep drive beyond Rice's reach which he stretched into a triple, and Ellison followed his call from the bench with a liner into left field that ended the game. Eddie Foster drove in four for the Nats while Ty Cobb had four hits for the Tigers. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Thursday, 10 July

White Sox 4, Athletics 3: Nemo Leibold was the late-game hero for the second straight day, singling home Chick Gandil with two outs in the home half of the 9th to give Chicago a last-gasp victory. The White Sox trailed 3-2 when Eddie Collins led off the 8th with a double, stole third, and scored on Joe Jackson's one-out single. The A's went down in order in the top of the 9th against Lefty Williams (14-5), and Gandil started the home half off against Rollie Naylor (3-4) with a base hit. Fred McMullin sacrificed home to second, and Ray Schalk was issued an intentional walk to bring up Williams with the double play in order. He bunted as well, and the runners moved to second and third with two outs to bring up Leibold, who grounded his third hit of the day up the middle and into center field to win the game. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Wednesday, 9 July

Indians 5, Yankees 2: Bill Wambsganss was the man of the day in Cleveland with three hits, and two RBI in a five-run 2nd inning that was enough to overcome New York. The second baseman came up with two outs and the bases loaded in the 2nd and drilled a two-run single that gave the Indians a 3-0 lead, and then scored on Tris Speaker's two-run triple. Stan Coveleski (6-9) retired the first sixteen Yankees, and twenty-two of the first twenty-three, before allowing two runs on Sammy Vick's bases-loaded single in the 8th. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Tuesday, 8 July

Browns 10, Indians 4: George Sisler hit for the cycle, scoring three runs and driving in five, to power St. Louis to a big win over the Indians. Sisler, who ran his batting average to a sizzling .380 with the day's performance, tripled in a run in the 1st; hit the second of back-to-back homers with Jack Tobin in the 3rd; singled in a run in the 6th; and doubled home two more in the bottom of the 8th to complete the rare feat. (The last cycle in the American League came off the bat of Bert Daniels of the Highlanders in 1912.) Ken Williams and Jimmy Austin each had two hits for the Browns and Ernie Koob (1-0) pitched 7.2 solid innings in a spot start to earn the win. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Monday, 7 July

Red Sox 6, Athletics 5: Bill Lamar had five base hits, the last of which drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 8th to earn a doubleheader split for Boston. The Sox led 3-0 early in the game, before Philadelphia erupted for four runs off Herb Pennock in the 6th, George Burns driving in one and Merlin Kopp a pair. But Pennock led the fightback himself by doubling to start the bottom of the 7th and scoring the tying run when Lamar singled. After a single and a walk to Babe Ruth loaded the bases, Stuffy McInnis bounced into a force play that scored the go-ahead tally. The teams exchanged runs in the 8th, with Lamar delivering a two-out single that plated Everett Scott with the decisive run. Pennock (3-6) pitched a routine 9th and Scott Perry (3-10) took his tenth loss for the A's. George Burns had three hits for the visitors. [box]

1919 AL Players of the Week - 6 July

The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the American League for the week of 30 June - 6 July are (* denotes a League-leading total) . . .

1919 AL - Games of Sunday, 6 July

Indians 7, Browns 1: A tight pitching matchup blew apart when Cleveland scored five times in the 8th inning to sprint past St. Louis at Sportsman's Park. Elmer Myers and Carl Weilman had been largely untroubled by the batsmen for seven innings, with George Sisler and Joe Wood exchanging RBI singles, but the 8th was a different story. Harry Lunte drew a leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second, then Myers hit a dribbler down the third-base line for an infield single. Steve O'Neill singled to score Lunte and Myers followed him with another base hit. When O'Neill beat the throw home on Elmer Smith's grounder to the right of the mound, the Indians led by two and the wheels were coming off for the Browns. Bill Wambsganss singled in another run and then the next two men reached on fielding errors to score another. Larry Gardner concluded the damage with a two-run single and Myers (4-1) put away the final ten Browns to curtail any sense of suspense. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Saturday, 5 July

Red Sox 11, Athletics 1: Babe Ruth blasted a double, triple and two home runs - missing the cycle by a single! - and drove home seven men in a one-man demolition of Philadelphia at Fenway Park that gave Boston a doubleheader sweep. The Babe tripled in a run and scored in the 1st; doubled in a run and scored in the 3rd; hit a three-run homer in the 4th; added a two-run homer in the 6th; and walked in the 7th. Meanwhile, Bill James (5-3) was scattering seven Athletic hits in a complete-game effort. Harry Hooper scored four runs batting in front of the Babe and Whitey Witt made three errors - giving him four on the day - for Philadelphia. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Friday, 4 July

Nationals 11, Yankees 4: Joe Judge had four hits, including a triple and a homer, and drove in three runs as Washington buried New York under an avalanche of late runs. The Yankees had built an early 3-0 lead on Frank Baker's two-run single and Sammy Vick's RBI triple while Bob Shawkey pitched five shutout innings. But the Nationals scored once in the 6th on Val Picinich's 5th homer, and then the floodgates opened in the 7th as four straight hits led to three runs that put WAS in front, and four hits and two walks in the 8th resulted in five more scores that put the game away. Picinich had three hits and four RBI and Baker had three hits for the Yanks. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Thursday, 3 July

Results of the games played on the 70th day of the 1919 American League season . . .

Athletics 9, Red Sox 6: Philadelphia scored seven times in the bottom of the 8th inning to turn what looked like an impending defeat to Boston into a victory in front of the home crowd. The Red Sox had taken a 4-2 lead in the 4th when Harry Hopper singled with runners at the corners and Tillie Walker mishandled the ball in centerfield, and had added what seemed to be an important insurance marker in the 8th when Red Shannon singled, was bunted to second, and scored on Ossie Vitt's two-out hit. But Sam Jones (4-7), who had been sharp through six innings (one earned run), lost control of proceedings in a hurry in the bottom of the inning. Two singles and a base on balls filled the sacks before anyone had been retired and a groundout produced the first run. When Everett Scott muffed a ground ball to let a second run score and cut the Sox lead to one, panic set in. Pitcher Rollie Naylor hit a grounder on the infield, but Merlin Kopp beat the throw home to score the tying run; Jones then uncorked a wild pitch and a walk to fill the bases again before Walker singled home two more to put the A's in front. Naylor (2-3) allowed a couple of hits and a run in the 9th, but reared back to record the final two outs via strikeout. Dick Burrus had four hits, and Amos Strunk had three safeties and scored twice against his former club; Red Shannon, also part of the deal that involved Strunk, had three hits for Boston against his old team. The two teams combined to commit six errors leading to eight unearned runs. [box]