June 10, 1924
A couple of the punkier kids in school cornered me today before I escaped from the lunch room and asked me where the heck it was I go every day. I made up something about a sick cousin, but then Mucky Hoag told me he had a friend whose father owned a German Luger, and that got me to spill the truth in no time.
I suppose it's always better to not fib, but maybe not in this case because suddenly there were half a dozen kids in the lunch room who wanted to go to the ball park with me. Heck, I said, it's the last few days of school and Tuggerheinz is looking the other way on purpose so come on.Benny was sure shocked to see me hop off the Lehigh streetcar with a gang of boys, and it all worked out because the Tuesday tickets were always half price, the weather was beautiful and the game was exciting from start to finish. Bill Hubbell was lousy for a change and the Reds got four hits in the first three innings off him, with Rube Bressler (see picture) whacking two doubles. We jumped right back in the 4th with four singles and an error by Boob Fowler, who me and the bunch serenaded with "boob-calls" for the rest of the inning.
Then the Phils set up a good picket fence, scoring single runs in the next three innings, including the go-ahead score on a homer just to the left of us by Mokan. Lefty Clarence Mitchell came in with the first two Reds on base in the 7th to get Roush on a liner, and then Steineder wiped up the rally when Hugh Critz hit his first pitch for a ground ball double play!
Mucky and his friends hadn't been to a game all season and made more noise than me and Benny as we went to the 9th inning. They just didn't understand that a lead at Baker Bowl at the end of the game is practically useless. Sure enough, Boob singled to begin things, and then Bressler crashed one over the center field wall to tie the game with his fifth hit. Steineder gave up a Roush single, but then got the next three guys to keep us all from weeping.
Jakie May, one of Cincy's three great relievers, gave up singles to Harper and Cy to start our 9th, and wild-pitched them around to second and third. Parkinson grounded into a home plate force, but the second Pedro Dibut came in, Jimmie Wilson skied a fly out to Roush, and the throw was too wide and too late as Cy slid in with the winning run! Mucky jumped so high he snapped a suspender, and I almost wished the Over-the-Rhine-Boys were there to get rough because this time we had a fighting force to take care of them.
It felt great to beat the Reds again, and we have one more with them tomorrow before the big bad Bucs come to town. I made it pretty clear to Mucky that him and his pals would have to sneak out on their own next time, because I had a reputation to protect, whatever the heck that was.
Good night, reader-people!
—Vinny
Other National League games today:
at GIANTS 4-9-0, PIRATES 3-8-0
As much as I hate the Giants, it's sure good to see a pennant race again. Meadows has them down 3-1 after four, but Youngs singles back a run in the 5th and New York cooks a 2-run rally in the 9th with an O'Connell single, Bill Terry double and winning fly from Gowdy.
at ROBINS 9-13-2, at CUBS 3-11-0
Grimes is all shaky again in the 1st, giving the Cubs two, but Brooklyn scores three right away off Aldridge, then adds four more off him with two outs in the 5th. Zack Wheat even homers again after a long dry period as the Robins try to climb back in this thing.
at BRAVES 5-11-0, CARDINALS 0-4-2
Nope, you ain't seeing things. Rube Marquard throws the shutout against Dickerman, getting Hornsby out all four times which is even more of a miracle. Boston will have to wait another day for their 40th loss.
| NATIONAL LEAGUE through Tuesday, June 10 | ||||
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 32 | 19 | .627 | — |
| Cincinnati Reds | 33 | 21 | .611 | 0.5 |
| New York Giants | 31 | 21 | .596 | 1.5 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 30 | 25 | .545 | 4 |
| Brooklyn Robins | 26 | 25 | .510 | 6 |
| Chicago Cubs | 24 | 30 | .444 | 9.5 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 22 | 31 | .415 | 11 |
| Boston Braves | 13 | 39 | .250 | 19.5 |
Things are really tightening up!
ReplyDeleteI would say so, now that the Giants are playing the way they're supposed to. For the record, here are the won/lost game differentials between the actual 1924 records at this point and mine. As you can see, the Bucs and Cards are playing out of their minds.
ReplyDeletePittsburgh +17, St. Louis +15, Cincinnati +9, Philadelphia +4, New York -2, Brooklyn -4, Chicago -14, Boston -25