1919 NL - Games of Thursday, 1 May

Reds 2, Cardinals 0: Edd Roush doubled in a pair of runs and Hod Eller whitewashed the punchless Cards on four hits as Cincinnati won for the sixth time in seven games to start the season. Bill Sherdel put in a fine performance on the mound for St. Louis, despite four errors behind that included a pair by Rogers Hornsby, but he couldn't hold back the red-hot (.393, League-leading ten RBI) Roush; the Reds' center-fielder hammered one over the head of RF Jack Smith with two men on and two out in the 5th to score the only runs of the contest. Meanwhile, the Cardinals were helpless against Eller - they stroked singles in each of the first two innings, and stolen bases that put those runners into scoring position, but failed to score on both occasions and then managed just two hits over the final seven frames. Eller set down twelve men in a row at one stretch and fanned six while walking only two. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Wednesday, 30 April

Giants 15, Braves 8: New York erupted for nine runs in the 8th inning to turn a narrow deficit into a comfortable win in Boston. The Braves scored four times in the 1st behind two singles, two walks and a three-run triple by Walter Holke, but New York closed to within 6-5 by scoring twice in the 7th when they started the inning with four straight singles. In the 8th, a single and double started the frame and then, after a strikeout, three straight singles scored four runs; two batters later, Lew McCarty delivered the coup de grace with a bases-loaded triple that made it an eight-run inning. George Burns had four hits and scored three times, Hal Chase had three RBI and McCarty had four. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Tuesday, 29 April

Cubs 3, Cardinals 2: Dode Paskert's sacrifice fly sent Max Flack home with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning as Chicago outlasted St. Louis after escaping defeat at the last regulation hurdle. The winless Cards got out front first, scoring twice in the 2nd when Gene Paulette and Joe Schultz singled and later scored on Jakie May's two-out triple. But that was the last noise that St. Louis would make against Hippo Vaughn, and Chicago had room to work its way back into the game. Les Mann homered to lead off the 4th to cut the deficit in half, but May matched Vaughn's zeros through the middle innings; he pitched out of a bases-loaded mess in the 8th, but would not be so fortunate in the 9th. After a walk, a single and a sacrifice, the Cubs had the tying and winning runs in scoring position with one out and Branch Rickey decided to walk Mann to load the bases and set up the force at any base. But May could not keep the ball over the plate, and Paskert worked a walk that tied the game. One batter too late, perhaps, May got Fred Merkle to bounce into a 5-2-3 twin killing to send the game to extra frames. St. Louis got two on with two outs in the top of the 13th without scoring and the home team got to work quickly in the bottom of the inning. Max Flack drew a walk to start, and stole second base immediately. Charlie Hollocher singled him to third and, one out later, Paskert lifted the ball to deep center field and the Cardinals could only watch as the winning run tagged for home. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Monday, 28 April

Braves 5, Giants 4: Buck Herzog's single capped a two-out bases-empty rally in the bottom of the 9th inning as Boston brought the city to its feet with the climax to a game that saw them trail early, take a mid-game lead and then throw that away in the late innings.  The Giants scored twice before the Braves even touched their bats, with a walk, stolen base, single and double leading to a pair of 1st-inning runs. It was tough sledding in the early innings for the Boston hitters against Red Causey, but they finally made a mark in the 5th when Walter Holke led off with a free pass, stole second and took third on a wild throw, and scored on Art Wilson's base hit. It was in the next inning, though, that the Braves really figured Causey out - Herzog started the inning with a triple and and Ray Powell singled him across, then a walk and Jim Riggert's knock scored another. When Larry Doyle failed to corral Rabbit Maranville's grounder with two outs and Bostons on second and third, another run crossed the plate and it appeared as if the home side were in the clear behind Dick Rudolph, who had held the Giants scoreless since the opening inning. But, in the 8th, NY struck back after the first three men reached on safe hits and Benny Kauff hit a run-scoring fly ball that tied the game. Fred Toney retired the first two Braves in the 9th, but pinch-hitter Johnny Rawlings singled, as did Joe Kelly, and a wild pitch moved the runners up by ninety feet. With Rawlings dancing off of third base, Herzog rapped one down the line and off the first-base bag into shallow right field to end the game. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Sunday, 27 April

Cubs 2, Cardinals 0: Max Flack drove home the Cub's first run, and scored their second, as Lefty Tyler shut out the winless Cardinals at Weeghman Park. Flack's two-out single scored Bill Killefer from second in the 3rd inning, and then he singled, stole second and went to third on Frank Snyder's wild throw in the 8th before Charlie Hollocher brought him across with a two-out base hit. Tyler scattered six hits and two walks, allowing a runner into scoring position with fewer than two outs only once and retiring ten of the final twelve Cards to close out the game. [box]

What If? 1930 Athletics vs 1977 Phillies

The 1930 Philadelphia Athletics won 102 games, and the second of three consecutive American League pennants, but this was probably the least dominant of those teams; they may not have even been the best club in the AL that season, as Washington actually had a better Pythagorean record despite finishing eight games back. They still had peak Cochrane (137 wRC+), Simmons (171 wRC+) and Foxx (157 wRC+) in the middle of the lineup, and Lefty Grove (185 ERA+) had one of his greatest seasons, but the supporting cast wasn't quite as good in 1930; Grove, especially, was left on an island when the pitching staff got much less quality from George Earnshaw and Rube Walberg.

The 1977 Philadelphia Phillies won 101 games, but were denied the franchise's first trip to the World Series in almost thirty years by the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. Those 101 wins were a franchise co-record until 2011 and, while the the 1976 team might have been a little better, this was still one of the all-time great Phillie teams. They had the best offense in the NL that year behind Mike Schmidt (155 wRC+) and Greg Luzinski (157 wRC+), and big platoon seasons from Bake McBride (152 wRC+) and Richie Hebner (130 wRC+), but the pitching relied on Steve Carlton (153 ERA+) and a deep, effective bullpen that pitched almost 400 innings of sub-3 ERA baseball while bailing out the rest of a mediocre starting rotation.

So What If these two clubs met for Philadelphia bragging rights? Would the A's roll behind Grove and their Hall of Fame hitters, or would the Phillies use the long ball and their pen to weather the storm  . . .

1919 NL - Games of Saturday, 26 April

Pirates 1, Cubs 0: Fritz Mollwitz singled home George Cutshaw in the 5th inning to give the Pirates the lead, and Babe Adams made it stand up by holding Chicago to five hits and retiring nine of the final team men to face him. Adams and Phil Douglas locked up in a pitcher's duel from the outset, with Douglas allowing only one Pittsburgh hit over the first four innings while Adams was giving up but two. In the 5th, though, Cutshaw led off the inning with a double down the right-field line and moved to third base on a groundout before Mollwitz hit a shot towards first base that caromed off the bag and into shallow right field for an RBI single. Pittsburgh would get just one safe hit against Douglas the rest of the way, but that would be enough as the Cubs failed to place a mark against Adams; Charlie Pick doubled with one out in the 5th, and Charlie Hollocher tripled with two away in the 6th, but in neither case could the Chicagos find a way to push the runner across home plate. Adams got six straight ground balls to skip through the 7th and 8th, and when Hollocher was caught trying to steal second after singling with one gone in the 9th that was the final gasp for the home club.  [box]

1919 NL - Games of Friday, 25 April

Cubs 2, Pirates 1: After ten innings of scoreless baseball, the two clubs traded blows in the 11th with Chicago having the final say on Pete Kilduff's two-out RBI triple. Erskine Mayer and Speed Martin were insoluble for the better part of two hours in front of a tense Chicago crowd; double play grounders erased an early threat for each team and Pittsburgh left the tying run at second in the 9th while Mayer was setting down ten Cubs in succession over the late innings. The pitching protagonists were still plying their trades as the 11th inning got underway, and the Pirates cracked Martin's code first - with one out, George Cutshaw walked, stole second, and scored on Tony Boeckel's base hit. But Les Mann led off the bottom half with a two-bagger and Chicago was still in the hunt. He was bunted to third by Dode Paskert and scored the tying run when Fred Merkle lofted fly ball to medium-deep left field. Charlie Pick singled to keep the line moving, and Kilduff laced one over the head of Southworth which the Pittsburgh outfielder could not chase down before Pick had scampered home as Kilduff was sliding safely into a cloud of dust at third base. Merkle and Boeckle each had three hits. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Thursday, 24 April

Giants 10, Phillies 0: New York rapped seventeen hits and took advantage of four Philadelphia fielding errors, yet Rube Benton needed almost none of it as he spun a two-hit shutout at the Phillies. The home team managed only singles in the 1st by Davey Bancroft and the 7th by Gavy Cravath, and could coax only two free passes from the hard-throwing left-hander while sending just four men over the minimum 27 to the plate. Although they didn't quite know it yet, the Giants put the game away with two-spots in the 2nd and 3rd, Benton chipping in with an RBI single and Hal Chase hitting for three bases and scoring a run. The Phils began to phail in the phield in the late innings, making errors in the 5th, 7th and 8th that led to five unearned runs as NY piled on to reach double digits on Heinie Zimmerman's two-run single in the penultimate inning. George Burns had four of the Giant hits, and Zimmerman, Larry Doyle and Art Fletcher had three apiece. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Wednesday, 23 April

Phillies 5, Giants 4: Gavy Cravath blooped a game-winning hit into left field with one away in the bottom of the 9th as Philadelphia avoided an epic collapse in its home opener at the Baker Bowl. The Phillies held a 4-1 lead into the 9th inning behind the fine pitching of Elmer Jacobs, six stolen bases and a two-run home run by Cy Williams but Jacobs couldn't finish off New Yrok. Art Fletcher led off the final inning for the visitors with a home run and Lew McCarty followed with a single to bring the tying run to the plate. That run was represented by pinch-hitter George Kelly, and "High Pockets" drove a ball into the left-field sets to tie the game before Jacobs had recorded an out in the inning. The young right-hander retired the next three men, and then his teammates went to work. With Jean Dubuc taking the mound in relief of Jesse Barnes, Phils backstop Bert Adams drilled a one-out triple past to outstretched glove of CF Bennie Kauff and the slugging Cravath was called upon to hit for Jacobs. The long ball was not the biggest worry for the NY outfield, but they were paying deep enough for the five-time home run king that his dying quail fell onto the grass well in front of the charging George Burns and Adams skipped home with the winning run. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Saturday, 19 April

Robins 5, Braves 1: In the first game of the season-opening Patriot's Day doubleheader, Leon Cadore sent ten Boston batters back to the bench having failed to connect with his varied offerings, and Ernie Krueger's two-run single was the key blow in a four-run 2nd inning that represented almost the entirety of the afternoon's plate-crossing while powering the visiting Brooklyns to victory. Dick Rudolph ran into difficulty as soon as he toed the slab in the top of the 2nd, as Zack Wheat walked and stole second, and then scored on a base hit by Hi Myers. But the Beantown hurler wasn't off the hook yet - Ivy Olson singled, and then Myers beat the throw to third when Ollie O'Mara bunted to first and Walter Holke threw across the diamond looking for the force. That loaded the sacks for Krueger, who grounded one sharply off the glove of Rudolph and into center field to score two runs; the frame's fourth tally later hit the books on Jimmy Johnston's groundout. This would be more support than Caddy would need on a 50-degree afternoon in the Hub, as he allowed but one Brave safety in the first six innings and coasted home looking as if his year away from the game on the front lines in France had done nothing to diminish the promise he had shown in his first big-league season in 1917. Ivy Olson had three hits to pace the Robins.  [box]

Uniforms of the 1919 National League

For a little visual background, here are the uniforms worn by the clubs in the 1919 AL (courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Uniform Database) . . .

1919 National League preview

Let's take a brief look at how the eight contending clubs shape up for the 1919 season in the National League, in order of their 1918 finish . . .

World Series Time Machine: 2003

During the 2003 baseball season, Roger Clemens won his 300th game and notched his 4000th strikeout (in the same contest!), three players (Palmeiro, Bonds and Sosa) joined the 500-homer club, and Bill Mueller became the first player to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in the same game. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion New York Yankees (101-61) face off (again) against the National League Champion Florida Marlins (91-71) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 1970

During the 1970 baseball season, the Seattle Pilots franchise hurriedly decamped to Milwaukee, Tom Seaver whiffed 19 Padres including ten in a row, and three venerable National league ballparks (Forbes Field, Crosley Field, Shibe Park) closed their gates for the last time. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion Baltimore Orioles (108-54) face off (again) against the National League Champion Cincinnati Reds (102-60) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 1942

Playing under the shadow of US military participation in World War II for the first time after FDR had issued a "Green Light" letter to the game in January, Paul Waner joined the 3000-hit club, Branch Rickey was named president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Babe Ruth took Walter Johnson into the stands at Yankee Stadium in an August exhibition to raise money for the Army-Navy relief fund. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion New York Yankees (103-51) face off (again) against the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals (106-48) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 2011

During the 2011 baseball season, MLB took over operations of the Dodgers as the franchise teetered on the edge of bankruptcy proceedings, Mariano Rivera became the first pitcher in MLB history to make 1000 appearances with one team, and Tony La Russa became only the second man to manage in 5,000 big-league games. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion Texas Rangers (96-66) face off (again) against the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals (90-72) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 1985

The 1985 baseball season saw Pete Rose (4192 hits), Nolan Ryan (4000 Ks) and Rod Carew (3000 hits) reach legendary milestones, Von Hayes become the first player in MLB history to homer twice in the 1st inning of a game, and Tibetan fireballer Sidd Finch fool the baseball world. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion Kansas City Royals (91-71) face off (again) against the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals (101-61) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 1966

The 1966 baseball calendar saw Ted Williams elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (despite being left off of twenty ballots!), Willie Mays pass Mel Ott to become the National League's all-time home run leader and, in one of the most consequential developments for baseball in the second half of the century, the election of Marvin Miller to lead the Major League Players Association. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion Baltimore Orioles (97-63) face off (again) against the National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers (95-67) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 2002

The 2002 baseball season saw Shawn Green become the 14th player to hit four home runs in a major-league game (with a record 19 total bases), Mike Bordick set the all-time record for consecutive errorless games and chances by a shortstop, and the sudden, tragic death of pitcher Darryl Kile. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion Anaheim Angels (99-63) face off (again) against the National League Champion San Francisco Giants (95-66) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 1923

The 1923 baseball season saw the opening of Yankee Stadium, the 100th career shutout for Walter Johnson while Ty Cobb was taking the top spot on the all-time runs scored list, and the recently-proud Philadelphia Athletics suffering the dual indignities of being no-hit twice in a span of four days and being defeated for the twenty-fourth consecutive time by pitcher Carl Mays. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion New York Yankees (98-54) face off (again) against the National League Champion New York Giants (95-58) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 1959

The regular season of 1959 ended a bit late, as it required the fourth pennant tiebreaker in the game's history, but there was certainly enough going on to justify a few extra days on the schedule: the White Sox scored eleven runs in an inning, on a single hit; a record 93,000 fans (a mark which would stand for almost fifty years) packed the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles for "Roy Campanella Night"; Harvey Haddix pitched perfect ball into the 13th inning; and the Red Sox became the last big-league team to break the color barrier when Pumpsie Green appeared in a game in July. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion Chicago White Sox (94-60) face off (again) against the National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers (88-68) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 1993

The final season of two-division play brought expansion to Denver and Miami (and almost 4.5 million fans through the turnstiles in the former), a four-homer 12-RBI game from Mark Whiten, a record-tying four five-hit games from Tony Gwynn, saw Dave Winfield become the first player to reach the 3000-hit club at an indoor venue and witnessed a legendary NL West divisional race. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion Toronto Blue Jays (95-67) face off (again) against the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies (97-65) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 1937

Joe Medwick became the game's fourth Triple Crown winner in five seasons, Augie Galan became the first NL player to ever homer from both sides of the plate in the same game, and Carl Hubbell completed a streak of 24 consecutive winning decisions that had begun the previous season. Less auspiciously, the Cincinnati Reds ended the season with a fourteen-game losing streak, and on May 6th the airship Hindenburg flew over ballgames at Ebbets Field and Polo Grounds just hours before exploding in Lakehurst, New Jersey with the loss of 36 lives. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion New York Yankees (102-52) face off (again) against the National League New York Giants (95-57) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 1925

The game continued its transition from the dead ball to the live ball and, boy, had things become lively - overall batting averages had climbed above .290 in both Leagues and teams were now averaging more than five runs per game (despite Babe Ruth missing the first quarter of the season following an emergency ulcer operation). In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion Washington Nationals (96-55) face off (again) against the National League Pittsburgh Pirates (95-58) . . .

World Series Time Machine: 2010

The 2010 baseball season was something of a "Year of the Pitcher", with six no-hitters (including two perfect games, and one that should have been), the most shutouts in forty years, and a record-tying fifteen pitchers notching at least 200 strikeouts. In the Fall Classic, the American League Champion Texas Rangers (90-72) face off (again) against the National League Champion San Francisco Giants (92-70) . . .