BROOKLYN - September 8, 1924
I’ve been making virtual trips back to 1924 to see how long the Brooklyn Dodgers winning streak will last.
In my last article I informed you the Dodgers win streak had reached 13 games thanks to their unprecedented quadruple double - 4 doubleheader victories in 4 days (all on the road).
Thanks to this win streak, the longest in Dodgers history, they had completed an all-time classic comeback from 13 games back on August 9th to a tie for 1st place with the 3-time defending National League champion New York Giants.
You can read or listen to the story about the quadruple double at this link:
The Brooklyn Dodgers Quadruple Double
The Quadruple Double was completed on September 4th in Boston.
The Dodgers had 3 more games against the Boston Braves - one on September 5th and yet another doubleheader on the 6th (their 5th double header in the first 6 days of September).
They won the game on the September 5th when Rube Ehrhardt threw a 4 - 0 shutout to extend the win streak to 14 games.
The 29 year old Ehrhardt has been brilliant since he was brought up to the majors for the first time in mid-July. He is now 4 - 1 with a 2.00 ERA. But he’s getting better and better. 3 of his last 4 games have been complete games in which he didn’t allow an earned run.
Then on September 6th, Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson sent Bill Doak to the mound for the first game of the doubleheader. The 33 year old Doak is pitching his best in years. He had won 6 straight games coming into the contest including a 2 hit shutout just 3 days ago in Philadelphia.
Pitching on just 2 days of rest, Doak did it again, pitching another 2 hit shutout against the Braves. The Dodgers won the game 1 - 0. The lone run came on a triple by veteran right fielder Tommy Griffith who was then called out attempting to turn it into an inside-the-park home run.
The game took just 1 hour and 20 minutes.
The victory ran the Dodgers’ streak to 15 games. And even more important they now had a half game lead on the Giants. It was the 1st time the Dodgers had sole possession of 1st place in September since their last pennant season of 1920.
In the 2nd game of the doubleheader the Dodgers and Braves were tied after 9 innings.
In the top of the 10th, the Dodgers’ Zach Wheat, who is batting .377, singled to drive in the go ahead run.
The Dodgers took a 4 - 3 lead into the bottom of the 10th. Relief pitcher Art Decatur was on the mound. He had entered the game in the 7th inning. Decatur was not one of Brooklyn’s star pitchers. He had a 4.32 ERA coming into the game, but he had several solid recent appearances including a start in the first game of the quadruple double in which pitched 7 innings and allowed just 3 hits and 2 earned runs. Decatur was also rested since that last outing was back on September 1st - 5 days earlier.
But Decatur immediately got into trouble as the Braves put runners on second and third on a single and an error.
Up to the plate came Casey Stengel. Casey is 33 years old and in his 12th season in the majors. He posted batting averages of .368 and .339 in the past 2 seasons, but this year he’s under .300, and in the 6th inning his single off Dodgers’ starter, Tiny Osborne, had snapped an 0 for 17 slump.
In this at bat there was joy in Mudville as mighty Casey came through with a game tying single.
Now the Braves best hitter, Stuffy McInnis came up and Decatur gave him first base to load the bases with no outs. Decatur then got the 1st out with a pop up by Cotton Tierney.
Next up was Mickey O’Neil who had hit a run scoring triple in the 1st inning. O’Neil lifted a fly to center. Ed Brown caught the ball for the 2nd out. Now he threw to home plate to try and catch Frank Wilson who had tagged up from third base.
If Dodgers’ catcher Zack Taylor could apply the tag the side would be retired and the game would go on to extra innings and the winning streak would still be alive.
Thomas Meany in the Brooklyn Daily Times captured the play in his article on the game, “Ed made a fair throw but Wilson slid in a fraction of a second ahead and the Dodgers winning streak was history.”
The Braves had won the game 5 - 4 ending the greatest winning streak in Dodgers history at 15 games.
NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler™
The 15 consecutive wins by the Dodgers remains the franchise record 100 years later.
The loss was a hard one to take. Both the tying run and the winning runs had been unearned.
And what a loss it was.
In this tight National League pennant race, the Dodgers actually slipped from 1st place to 3rd place, as late afternoon victories by the Giants and the Pirates put both clubs ahead of the Dodgers.
On the bright side, the Dodgers were finally done playing away from New York.
Due to the way schedules are created here in 1924, the Dodgers won’t have to leave New York City for the final 17 games of the season.
Yesterday the Dodgers got to come home to Ebbets Field after 10 straight games on the road.
Their opponent would be the 1st place Giants.
A win would put the Dodgers back in front.
The Homecoming
There has perhaps never been a homecoming quite like this one in baseball history.
The Dodgers had been 13 games back on August 9th.
They had just come off a 15 game winning streak, the last 10 of which had been on the road.
And as part of that road trip they had won an unprecedented 4 doubleheaders in 4 days.
And now they were going to play their crosstown rivals in a battle for 1st place.
What did it look like here in Brooklyn at Ebbets Field?
It was bedlam! It was completely insane!
At least 50,000 fans came out to see the Dodgers host the Giants. But only about 30,000 can possibly fit inside Ebbets Field.
When no more tickets were available that didn’t stop the rabid fans.
Here’s how the Brooklyn Times Union described the scene OUTSIDE Ebbets Field:
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle had a picture of what it looked like as fans scaled the brick wall to get inside Ebbets Field:
Game time was 3pm, but after 2pm, those who had tickets and every right to gain admittance to Ebbets Field, found it nearly impossible to get into the stadium, including the umpires, as this clipping from the Brooklyn Daily Times indicated:
The Greatest Crowd that Ever Saw a Ball Game in Brooklyn
For all the lucky fans that made it inside the park, many of whom had entered illegally, there were not enough seats or even standing room to accommodate them.
Here is a picture that appeared on the back page of the New York Daily News today (September 8, 1924).
The caption on the photo reads, “There was no more room in bleachers and stand for the greatest crowd that ever saw a ball game in Brooklyn, so fans who had no place to park fled across field, as photo shows, to the outfield and remained there to watch play.”
Giants vs. Dodgers at Ebbets Field - September 7, 1924
The game lasted an extraordinary 3 hours and 9 minutes.
And it was filled with intrigue due to the crowd that was on the playing surface in the outfield during the game.
The New York Times described the playing conditions:
Here was an account of the strange things that took place in the middle of the game that could have resulted in a protest, as reported by the Brooklyn Times Union:
The Giants took an early 2 - 0 lead in the game. The Dodgers came back and led 3 - 2 after 5 innings. Then the Giants tied it up in the 7th and scored 5 unearned runs in the 8th to take a commanding 8 - 3 lead.
Going into the bottom of the 9th the Dodgers were still down 8 - 4.
Leadoff batter Jack Fournier singled.
The next Dodgers’ hitter, Eddie Brown, hit a deep fly to centerfield.
Giants’ center fielder, Hack Wilson, raced back, but there was a crowd of fans he had to contend with.
Brown wound up on second base with a double and Fournier moved to third.
But Hack Wilson claimed he caught the ball in the crowd.
A melee ensued.
The Brooklyn Daily Times reported on the incident:
The New York Daily News had a little bit different account:
When play resumed, the Dodgers had runners on second and third and no outs and they had knocked the Giants starting pitcher out of the game.
Giants’ relief pitcher Hugh McQuillan immediately gave up a single to Milt Stock scoring Fournier and putting runners on first and third.
Now the Dodgers had the tying run at the plate and nobody out.
Tommy Griffith then lifted another fly ball to center field, but Wilson was able to catch this one cleanly. However another run scored as Brown tagged up from third.
That made it Giants 8 Dodgers 6 with one out, a runner on first and the tying run still at the plate.
The Giants got a break when the next batter, Zack Taylor flew out to left.
Now the Dodgers were down to their last out and the batter was their starting pitcher, the spitballer, Burleigh Grimes. But Grimes is an excellent hitter, and was batting over .300 for the year. He stepped in and singled.
Now the Dodgers had men on first and second base, and the winning run at the plate with 2 outs.
Second baseman Andy High, a .320 hitter, came up and he doubled scoring a run and sending Grimes to third base.
It was now Giants 8 Dodgers 7. There were 2 outs but the tying run was on third and the winning run was on second.
The next scheduled hitter was the shortstop, Johnny Mitchell. Mitchell was 2 for 3 in the game and had reached base 2 other times on walks. He was a right handed batter and would be facing the righty Giants’ pitcher, McQuillan.
Dodgers’ manager Wilbert Robinson made a strategic move that must have surprised many fans. He took Mitchell out so he could send in a lefty batter. But since the Dodgers don’t carry many non-pitchers on their bench, he didn’t have many options. He decided to send up a left handed hitting pitcher, Dutch Ruether.
Ruether was an average hitter, batting .250 on the season. And he hadn’t pinch hit since June 18th.
He struck out on 3 pitches.
And the ball game was over.
Giants 8 Dodgers 7 - FINAL SCORE.
WHY WAS RUETHER SENT IN TO PINCH HIT?
I can’t figure out why Robby made this move instead of letting Mitchell hit with the game on the line. And there was no discussion about it in any of the newspapers.
Today’s Game
Today the Dodgers played their last away game of the year. It was on the other side of the East River at the old Polo Grounds. And the Dodgers had their ace, Dazzy Vance, on the mound.
Vance was at his near best allowing just 6 hits and 2 runs as the Dodgers beat the Giants 7 - 2.
Vance improved his record to 25 - 4 on the season.
The Dodgers victory moved them back to just a half game behind the Giants.
And the Dodgers final 15 games of the season will all be at Ebbets Field.
The Sports Time Traveler will be making several more virtual trips to Brooklyn to see this pennant race to the finish.
Thanks for reading.
What Does Pennant Fever Look Like in 1924?