Series! Recap of World Series of the 1920s

Having done the 1930s, why not go back to the Roaring 20s, the age of flappers, bathtub gin, and the Babe? It was 100 years ago now, but that hardly matters in baseball. Once again, there are lots of unfamiliar faces (with one big exception); let’s meet them.

1920

Cleveland, in their first-ever World Series (the second won’t come until 1948) faces Brooklyn in their second (the third will be in 1941.) Cleveland was led by the Gray Eagle, center fielder Tris Speaker, and their pitchers, Jim Bagby and Stan Coveleski, who won 55 games between them. They also featured Ray Chapman at shortstop, until one day in August when he was hit in the head by a pitch, fell into a coma, and died. (As a result of this tragedy, Major League Baseball started putting new, still shiny balls in play more frequently, which probably contributed to the increase in home runs.) Brooklyn’s outstanding player was pitcher Burleigh Grimes (23-11, 2.22 ERA). This was during the best-of-9 experiment, Cleveland winning 5-2 in almost all low-scoring games, Coveleski and Bagby winning 4 of them.

1921

New York had acquired Babe Ruth after the 1919 season and converted him to a full-time outfielder. He responded by hitting 54 and then 59 home runs and in 1921 led New York to the first of many pennants. They also had 27-game-winner Carl Mays (the pitcher who’d hit Ray Chapman). Facing them were the other New York team, the National League Giants, managed by the fierce John McGraw, who’d been known to reduce umpires to tears. Their top players were shortstop Dave Bancroft and third baseman Frankie Frisch, both Hall-of-Famers. In the Series, the Giants fell behind 2-0 and then 3-2 but caught up and then won on 2-1 and 1-0 squeakers.

1922

More of the same. This time the Giants swept 4-0-1 (one game tied when ended by darkness) in five close games. This is the last time the Giants won a World Series at home (though both teams played at the Polo Grounds that year, so even the away games were more or less at home.)

1923

The Yankees move into Yankee Stadium this year and play the Giants in the Series again, the only time the same two teams have faced each other three years in a row. The Yankees won 4-2 in mostly close games.

1924

The first pennant for the Washington Senators. Their ace Walter Johnson gets the MVP and outfielder Goose Goslin has a monster year, going .344/.421/.515 with 129 RBIs. In the NL, the Giants win the pennant for a record fourth time in a row (eventually to be tied and then outdone by the Yankees.) They alternate Series wins, but Johnson comes into game 7 in the ninth to win it in 12 (Madison Bumgarner echoes this in 2014.) Senators, 4-3.

1925

The first Pirates pennant since the days of Honus Wagner. Their star was outfielder Kiki Cuyler. Things to know about his nickname:
1) It’s pronounced Kai-kai (long i’s) like the first syllable of his last name.
2) it made fun of his stutter. Baseball players were not known for their kindness,
In the other corner, the Senators, led again by Johnson and Goslin, and now Stan Coveleski, who’d been so good with Cleveland back in 1920. A close series of low-scoring games until the Pirates won a 9-7 slugfest in game 7.

1926

The Yankees now feature their classic lineup, with Gehrig at first, Tony Lazzeri at second, and Ruth, Combs, and Muesel in the outfield. Against them, the St. Louis Gas House Gang, named for their rough appearance, and led by MVP catcher Bob O’Farrell and hitter extraordinaire second baseman Rogers Hornsby (this year a mere .317/.386/.463). Also famed pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, now 39. Alexander won two games in the Series amd saved a close game 7 to give the Cardinals their first championship. The Cards had mostly been a second division team, but now would be an NL power for forty years.

1927

The ’27 Yankees were one of the greatest teams of all time, going 110-44. Their lineup was known as Murderer’s Row for what they did to pitching. This is the year Ruth hit 60 home runs, a record that stood until Roger Maris’s 61 in ’61. Facing them was a pretty good Pirates team, including the Waner brothers, Paul and Lloyd, known as Big and Little Poison, in the outfield. (Whence the nicknames? Think a Brooklynite explaining that one is a big person and one little.) But there wasn’t much Pittsburgh could do. Yankees in 4.

1928

This year’s Cardinals had Frankie Frisch at second, and Rabbit Maranville, one of the few members of the Hall of Fame there purely for defense at shortstop. And they still had Alexander. None of it helped: another Yankee sweep, by a combined 27-10.

1929

Connie Mack had put an awesome team together in Philadelphia; it would win the next three pennants, featuring (as I mentioned in the 1930s recap) “slugger Jimmy Foxx (lifetime 534 HRs) and noted sourpuss Lefty Grove (lifetime 300 wins), who is in the conversation for best pitcher of all time, but also included Hall of Famers catcher Mickey Cochrane, and outfielder Al Simmons.” Facing them were a good Cubs team led by Rogers Hornsby, who this year hit an otherworldly .380/.459/.679. But the Athletics were too much and took it in 5.

Recap: Yankees 3-3, Giants 2-2, Pirates, Senators, and Cards 1-1, Indians and Athletics 1-0, Cubs and Dodgers 0-1.