June 11, 1924
Well, what I was afraid would happen went and happened today. Word got around school pretty quick that sneaking out of the lunch room to go to Baker Bowl was not only a possible thing to do on the last week of classes but a sensible one. I thought I was doing it on my own this time but by the time I got off the streetcar there were already a dozen kids I knew who had gotten there ahead of me, and by the time Hal Carlson threw the first pitch we'd taken over the left field bleachers. All the punks from yesterday came back with a lot of their friends, and except for Billie Jean Smucker, most of the girls from Mrs. Crackerbee's room had even showed up. I figured Mrs. Crackerbee was probably having a good fainting spell over this, and I hoped Mr. Tuggerheinz was there to whisper in her ear that sneaking out to a ball game was a healthy and natural kid thing to do. After all, he had a motivation.
Lucky for us, the bleachers had a good villain to get riled up about. Carl Mays was throwing for Cincy, the same guy who killed Indian shortstop Chapman with a pitched ball four years ago. There were lots of people who wanted him kicked out of baseball for that, though not me. It was just an accident after all, and at the time umpires didn't even care how dirty the dumb ball got during a game. Mays was just doing his job throwing the thing sidearm and Chapman didn't see it in time.
But being part of a mob can be fun sometimes, so my Mays opinion didn't keep me from getting in on our razzing action, with good old Benny tossing out the first insult: "Hey Carl! Gimme a shave but watch the head!" Our kid-crowd was a little nastier. "Hey Mays! Your firing squad is outside Gate B!" was one of the nastier ones, along with "Murdering Mays! Murdering Mays!" and my favorite from one of the girls: "Oh Carl, PLEASE write me from death row!" The fact that the pitcher's mound was so far away that Mays probably didn't hear a word didn't seem to bother us, and when Mokan hit a sacrifice fly off him in the 2nd for the first run of the game, the ribbing got even louder.
If Mays didn't hear anything, his teammates sure did, because they started going nuts with the bats in the top of the 3rd. Lee walked with one out, Mays himself doubled, and then Walker, Boob and Rube all singled, Critz doubled and we were behind 4-1 just like that. Three singles, a Ford error and Rube triple the next inning made it 8-1 and shut us up for good. Carlson was so bad he made Whitey Glazner look like Ed Walsh in relief. In almost four innings the Reds couldn't get one hit off him, which makes me think Fletcher has found himself a new middle-of-game rescue man.
We got two runs back in the 7th on two singles and two walks with nobody out, but then Ford kept his horrible game going with his second double play grounder which finished off our rally. Mays walked off the with the complete win, a 7-2 record and a fantastic earned run average of 1.77 for the year. On top of that, Cincy is back in first place thanks to us!
The whole mob of us tried to squeeze into a nearby soda shop after and buy root beer floats, but the owner kicked us out for excessive hooligating. Tomorrow when the battling Bucs come to town I think I might just call in sick and sit on the other side of the park. Good night, reader-people!
—Vinny
Other National League games today:
at GIANTS 10-12-1, PIRATES 8-13-1
All kinds of amazing stuff happened in this one, starting with the fact that New York completed a four-game sweep of anyone, let alone the Bucs. Morrison and his 6-1 record seemed safe with a 4-1 lead after five innings, but the McGrawsters went to town on him from there, scoring nine runs in the enxt four innings. Frisch, O'Connell and Youngs all got big doubles, Irish Meusel put the Giants ahead for good with a 2-run homer off the foul pole in the 8th, and even Kelly chipped in with a scoring triple in the 8th. Can you believe New York is suddenly a half game behind Pittsburgh in the standings? I sure can't, but that's what happens when one team is 6-3 in June and the other 3-7.
ROBINS 12-16-1, at CUBS 7-12-1
Even Brooklyn has their big guns back to join the pennant party. Down 6-1 after five to Vic Keen, the Robins score eleven runs in the next two innings. Fournier is on base all five times and notches his 16h homer, and Zack Wheat bombs a grand slam in the 7th.
CARDINALS 8-12-4, BRAVES 4-5-1
Boston gets incredible luck to score all their runs, St. Louis makes four errors with their worst starter (Rhem) on the mound and the Cards still win by four,
| NATIONAL LEAGUE through Wednesday, June 11 | ||||
| Cincinnati Reds | 34 | 21 | .618 | — |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 32 | 20 | .615 | 0.5 |
| New York Giants | 32 | 21 | .604 | 1 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 31 | 25 | .554 | 3.5 |
| Brooklyn Robins | 27 | 25 | .519 | 5.5 |
| Chicago Cubs | 24 | 31 | .436 | 10 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 22 | 32 | .407 | 11.5 |
| Boston Braves | 13 | 40 | .245 | 20 |
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