GETTING OUR HEADS SMASHED IN WAS BETTER THAN THIS

RECENTLY, IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE: Vinny out of school, hooray!... Pirates pile up 30 runs in two days on us...Robins stay hot against Cards and Vinny starting to miss Rachel...

June 14, 1924

I knew something strange was up when I hopped off the streetcar. The bleachers were sold out already and the grandstand ticket line was around the block. Then Benny found me and clued me in. It was Saturday, it was Flag Day, and because the Pirates had murdered us 15-3 and 15-2 the last two games, every fan who had never seen a team score 15 runs before had shown up.

But I wasn't gonna accept that. Heck, summer was officially here, I was a school graduate, and I'd had enough of these dumb Bucs making us look bad. We can certainly do that on our own.

We got pretty good grandstand seats just past first base, and when speedy Max Carey beat out a single to start the game off Johnny Couch, the crowd said oh geez here we go again. But then he took off for second, Butch Henline rifled a throw and Sand tagged Carey on the hat for the first out of the game! Of course Moore tripled and Cuyler was hit by a pitch with two outs, but Earl Smith flied out and it looked like we had a chance.

It looked more that way with two outs in our 1st. Holke singled off Lee Meadows and Cy Williams clubbed one onto the train tracks past the right field fence. Yowsa, we are up 2-0! A Hod Ford error helped the Bucs get one back in the 3rd, but then the Great Kiki really messed up a fly for them in the 4th. Cuyler dropped and then kicked Henline's ball like it was a football, and Butch got all the way to third, where he scored on a Mokan double.

Everyone was nervous the whole game because we knew how dangerous the Buccos are. Benny went through four lemonades and even ate some peanuts without taking off their shells. Wright tripled and scored on a Rabbit sacrifice fly in the 6th, and because we couldn't get anything else going off Meadows, the game stayed 3-2 us going into the 9th.

Couch has been a great plug for our starting rotation leaks, and he was real tough again here, getting Rabbit and pinch-hitter Bigbee out to begin the Pirates 9th. But if there was any cheering going on at Baker Bowl, it was the quiet, teeth clenching type. Sure enough, down to their last strike, that crumb-head Carey banged a double off the fence in right that just missed being a homer. Pie Traynor ripped a single and the game was tied, and it got so quiet in the stands it was like fifteen thousand people just died. Sure it was tied and we had last ups, but who the hell thought we had a chance?

We did get Ford to second with a two-out double, but with our relief team a tired mess and no good hitters on the bench, Couch batted for himself and grounded out. In the 10th Glenn Wright made a 2-base error with two outs, but the chicken faces walked Cy on purpose and Parkinson lined out.

Top of the 11th, reliever Babe Adams singled and Carey walked him to second. Moore singled and Huck Betts came on to face Cuyler. Who walked. And Smith walked. And that, sad reader-people, was that.
—Vinny

PIT 001 001 001 02 - 512 2
PHI 200 100 000 00 - 3 9 1


Other National League games today:

REDS 9-15-4, at GIANTS 6-10-0
Anyone playing Cincy these days needs to get a rabies shot at the doctor first because Edd Roush is just a mad dog right now. Off Bentley he triples in two runs in the 1st inning, triples in another in the 3rd, doubles to start another rally in the 5th, triples in two more in the 6th, then singles for the sheer heck of it in the 8th. The Reds make four errors and Dolf Luque is pretty lousy, but that don't matter. The Giants lose to the Reds for just the second time in seven games.

at ROBINS 6-10-1, CARDINALS 2-11-1
The Cards grabs a quick 1-0 lead, but Brooklyn's on the warpath again, and Brown smashes a 2-run homer to put them up 3-1 before long. Grimes cruises along to his seventh win and Hornsby only gets two hits for a change.

CUBS 9-9-0, at BRAVES 1-5-3
W-Aldridge L-Every Poor Soul at Braves Field

NATIONAL LEAGUE through Saturday, June 14
Pittsburgh Pirates	35	20	.636	—
Cincinnati Reds	36	22	.621	0.5
New York Giants	33	23	.589	2.5
Brooklyn Robins	30	25	.545	5
St. Louis Cardinals	31	28	.525	6
Chicago Cubs	27	31	.466	9.5
Philadelphia Phillies	22	35	.386	14
Boston Braves	13	43	.232	22.5