Sport: World Series

First Game. “Grove? No, I don’t think Mack will use him. He’ll save him, because of the effect it would have on the team if we beat Grove right at the start.” Most people agreed with this idea of

Gabby Street, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, yet perhaps Street felt after ward that he had been foolish in saying that and letting it come out in the papers where Mack could read it. While the crowd in Shibe Park, Philadelphia, was watching the teams at infield practice and President Hoover marched in with his party, Robert Moses Grove was warming up and a few minutes later the loudspeaker announced that he would pitch.

Pitcher Burleigh Grimes of the Cardinals was well aware that his job had been made no easier by the way Manager Mack had accepted Street’s dare. Other things being equal, Grimes would need a little luck to win. Luck came to him, but it was bad. In the second inning Foxx hit, low and long. In right field, Blades of St. Louis lunged for the hit as it bounced off the wall. He hurried his throw and dropped the ball. Foxx went on to third. Later, in the sixth, hard-hitting Third Baseman Dykes of the Athletics hit a two-bagger with a man on base. Center Fielder Douthit of the Cardinals had the ball in his hand, but Gelbert hesitated relaying it to home plate. The chance of catching Bishop was lost and the Athletics had another run.

Seldom is big-league baseball muddled by such amateurish errors. Both teams were overstrung, playing crazily in their eagerness to win. Before the game was over Mule Haas of the Athletics had tripped himself getting started to field a hit in centre field and Pitcher Grove had fallen on his face trying to pick up an easy bunt. Though zeal was the cause of the errors, the game resembled a sandlot final rather than a world championship; only the presence of the President of the U. S. through the whole nine innings and the crowded stands built on the roofs of houses beyond the right field wall contributed color. Only once did the game tighten into drama—the Cardinal’s half of the seventh—but the Athletics stopped that rally. Score: Philadelphia 5, St. Louis 2.

Second Game. The Cardinals again made two bad mistakes. The day before they had systematically annoyed the Athletics’ Mickey Cochrane, “greatest catcher in baseball.” When he came to bat the St. Louis henchmen had flapped their hands beside their heads, chanting softly “Mule ears. Mule ears.” Annoyed, Cochrane had knocked a homer. Now in the first inning they goaded him again. He made another homer.

Flint Rhem, pitching for the Cardinals —the same Rhem who recently said that he had been kidnapped, forced to drink hard liquor for two days—got through the first and second innings all right except for Cochrane’s drive and a run batted in by Foxx. But in the third and fourth the Athletics knocked him out of the box. By the time Street took Rhem out, the Athletics had four more runs. Relief Pitchers Jimmy Lindsey and Sylvester Johnson allowed no more hits, but the lead was safe. Score: Philadelphia 6, St. Louis 1.

Third Game. It was a hot, sunny day. Manager Street knew that the bleachers in St. Louis would be patched with white shirts, making it hard for the Athletics to hit a sidearm pitcher. Doubtless he would have started Wild Bill Hallahan even if the weather had been different for when Hallahan is good, he is superb, now that catcher’s signals simple enough for him to understand have been worked out. At first, in spite of the blind spots made by those white shirts, it did not look like Hallahan’s day. Bishop led off with a single and Hallahan walked Cochrane with one out. Bishop, Cochrane, Simmons— anyone who could beat these sluggers would make the Athletics harmless, but now Simmons was up with two on base. The crowd sat in dead silence, then roared for joy. Simmons had struck out. Foxx got on, but Hallahan struck out Miller, retiring the side.

After that crisis in the first inning Hallahan was in trouble again but equal to every emergency. Behind him, the Cardinals found their courage and hit as they had hit in the great spurt that won them the National League pennant. They knocked Rube Walberg out of the box in the fifth inning. In the seventh they hit some more, and Fielder Mule Haas let in a run by throwing to third instead of second on Watkins’ hit. Bottomley had stifled the only dangerous rally of the A’s by climbing over a row of box seats along the first base line to catch Foxx’s foul in the sixth. St. Louis 5, Philadelphia 0.

Fourth Game. St. Louis fans had been wondering what strategies Connie Mack was pondering on the huge scorecard with which, sitting in plain sight, he followed each day’s game. He had given Grove an extra day of rest to make sure he would be right, and Grove pitched well —but not quite so well as the Cardinal’s Jesse Haines. Third Baseman Dykes of the Athletics made a wild throw with two on base and the score tied in the fourth. This was bad luck for Grove, but Wilson’s hit a minute later would have scored Hafey with the winning run anyway. The game was won by Raines’s workmanlike performance in keeping the ball where each Athletic batter did not like to have it, and by Shortstop Gelbert who made two of the five St. Louis hits, great plays in the field. Cardinals 3, Athletics 1.

Fifth Game. Now came real drama. For eight innings a pitchers’ duel—Burleigh Grimes and his spitball against young George Earnshaw, neither letting a man get round the bases. In the eighth, with three Athletics dancing on the baselines, two force plays got Grimes out of trouble. With cowbells, rattles, and tin horns, the crowd asked for a score. But Grove, who had gone in for Earnshaw, retired the Cardinals. It was the ninth inning and the score was still oo, when Jimmy Foxx came up with Cochrane on base and knocked the first pitch into the stands for a home-run. Grimes slammed his glove on the ground as spectators in shirt-sleeves fought in the stands for the ball that had made history. Athletics 2, Cardinals 0.