1919 AL Players of the Week - 21 September

The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the American League for the week of 15-21 September are (* denotes a League-leading total) . . .

1919 AL - Games of Sunday, 21 September

Indians 5, Nationals 2: Cleveland shocked Washington and hurler Jim Shaw with four runs in the 9th inning to turn the game on its head and avoid, at the last possible moment, the embarrassment of a four-game series sweep at the hands of the Nationals. The home team had taken a 2-1 lead in the 4th when two walks and a single loaded the bases for Joe Judge, who ripped a two-out, two-run single. But that was the end of the action as Shaw and Ray Caldwell (8-11), who struck out an AL season-high eleven men, were setting the batters down with regularity. That came to halt for Shaw (16-20) in the top of the 9th - Ray Chapman led off with a triple, Tris Speaker walked, and Joe Harris lined one of his two doubles to bring home the tying run. After Larry Gardner grounded out slowly to second to score Speaker to break the tie, Bill Wambsganss singled home another and Patsy Gharrity threw away Caldwell's dribbler in front of the plate to allow a fourth run to cross the plate. Caldwell was making no mistake in the home 9th, walking a man but inducing three routine groundouts to send the Griffith Stadium home with their brooms tucked under their arms. [box]

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

Player	Year	Team	GP	HR
Ruth, Babe	1919	Boston AL	122	36
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
Thompson, Sam	1889	Philadelphia NL	128	20

1919 AL- Games of Saturday, 20 September

Nationals 5, Indians 1: Four Cleveland errors were their eventual undoing, as a pile of unearned runs allowed 21-year-old Bill Snyder to earn a victory in his first big-league start. Snyder (1-1) was outstanding, allowing seven hits and walking none, while Stan Coveleski (15-16) was nearly as good for the Indians. The game was scoreless in the 7th when Larry Gardner's fumble kept the inning alive long enough for Joe Judge to smack his third home run of the season, and a Jack Graney misplay of Sam Agnew's single in the 8th allowed two more runs to score. Snyder's armor was finally pierced for a single run in the 9th but the young righty, who hadn't pitched an inning in pro ball before being signed by the Nats, finished up in style. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Friday, 19 September

Yankees 5, Tigers 3: George Mogridge recovered from a shaky start to pitch effectively into the 9th inning and knocked in the eventual deciding runs with a two-run single as New York edged Detroit. The Tigers whacked Mogridge around a bit in the 1st, with three doubles leading to a pair of Detroit runs, but New York squared things up in the 3rd behind a walk and three consecutive two-out singles from the top of the order. In the home 4th, a Donie Bush bobble put the leadoff man aboard, and a Ping Bodie single and a walk loaded the bases with Mogridge due up. The NY lefty failed to get a squeeze bunt down but then slapped a ground ball through the infield that scored two runs to put the Yanks in front. Mogridge (6-8) sailed through the middle innings on the hill, only having to survive one real threat when he walked two and hit a man to load the bases with two gone in the 6th, but he sagged in the final frame and was lifted after allowing an unearned runs and then walking two more to fill the bases with only one out. Bob Shawkey came into the game and struck out Bobby Veach and got Harry Heilmann to sky a ball to right field for the final out. [box]

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

Player	Year	Team	GP	HR
Ruth, Babe	1919	Boston AL	119	35
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
Thompson, Sam	1889	Philadelphia NL	128	20

1919 AL - Games of Thursday, 18 September

Tigers 5, Red Sox 4: Three 9th-inning walks proved fatal to Boston's chances as Detroit took advantage of the charity to score twice in the final inning and hold on for a narrow victory in The Hub. Babe Ruth extended his single-season home run record to 35 with a solo shot in the bottom of the 8th that tied the game at two runs apiece, but Sam Jones (11-17) didn't have the gas, or the support, to hold on in the 9th. Eddie Ainsmith led off with a little dribbler toward third base which the slick-fielding Ossie Vitt should have just eaten, but his wild heave to first allowed Ainsmith to take second. Jones then, unforgivably, walked pitcher Howard Ehmke to put himself in real trouble. Donie Bush sacrificed the runners into scoring position and, again, Jones issued four wide ones to one of the weaker hitters in the League (this time, it was Ralph Young) to load the bases with Ty Cobb, Bobby Veach and Harry Heilmann coming to bat. Ed Barrow came to the mound, and Jones left with him as Bob McGraw trotted to the slab to try to dig the Sox out of the big hole in which they found themselves. But McGraw walked Cobb to force in the go-ahead run and then Wally Schang let a bender get through him for a passed ball that provided an insurance marker for Detroit, before he managed to escape from the inning. Boston put Ehmke (13-15) under pressure in the home 9th, scoring once on Frank Gilhooley's pinch-hit double, but the tall Tiger right-hander got Vitt to tap back to the box for the final out. Veach had three hits for the Tigers, including his League-pacing 40th double, while Stuffy McInnis had two hits and two RBI for Boston. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Wednesday, 17 September

Yankees 26, White Sox 4: New York scored ten times in the the bottom of the 1st inning and that was only the appetizer, as they continued to circle the bases to the tune of twenty-six runs which embarrassed the League champions-elect at the Polo Grounds. "A top-flight ball club should just never put in a performance like that, regardless of whether the games mean anything towards the flag," said Kid Gleason. "Apparently, we've got a fair bit of work to do before the World's Series begins." The opening-inning explosion featured eight hits, two walks, a hit batsman and a Chicago error, with the crowning blow being Duffy Lewis' three-run homer to make the score 6-0. After two more runs in the 2nd, the floodgates were reopened in the 3rd - four bases on balls and five hits led to nine more runs, with Del Pratt administering the coup de grâce with a grand slam home run. Of course this was all plenty for Jack Quinn (19-11) who managed to allow four runs on only four hits, when all four Sox scores crossed the plate on something other than base hits, before setting down seventeen of the final eighteen men to face him. Among the gaudiest of boxscore numbers were Frank Baker's six runs scored and Pratt's seven runs batted in. [box]

1919 AL - Games of Tuesday, 16 September

Indians 4, Athletics 1: Joe Harris' two-run, two-out triple put some distance between Cleveland and Philadelphia. and Stan Coveleski made that edge last until the end at Shibe Park. The Indians led 1-0 through six on a two-out bases-loaded wild pitch by Bob Hasty (0-1) in the 4th, but the visitors immediately threatened in the 7th. Coveleski singled, and both runners were then safe when the As failed to force him at second on a sacrifice bunt by Jack Graney. Ray Chapman bunted them both into scoring position, but Tris Speaker popped out on the infield for the second out. This brought up the dangerous (.382) Harris, but Connie Mack decided to pitch to him with the veteran lefty Gardner on deck, and "Moon" drilled one beyond the reach of Frank Welch for three bases and a pair of runs. Coveleski (15-15) gave one back in the 8th on Ivy Griffin's three-bagger, and allowed singles to the first two batters in the 9th, but got Cy Perkins to bounce into a 6-4-3 twin killing to end the game. [box]