July 23, 1924
There was a knock on my hotel room door at eight this morning, and I knew it was too early for Heinie. When I asked who it was I heard "room service!" so I opened the door and two big carts filled with breakfast food came rolling in, pushed by Harper, Wrightstone, and the rest of the Havana Grit Faction, with Heinie and Hod Ford bringing up the rear! Even Cy Williams was there, and at first I thought it was some kind of late birthday present, but it wasn't."Russ has something to say," said Williams, who I realized for the first time was probably the quiet spokesleader of the club house. Wrightstone walked up, shook my hand with me still in my night shirt, and said, "Sorry for everything I said to you, Vinny." After the Cards scored five late runs to beat us yesterday the second I was booted up in the stands, Cy and some of the other players believed it had given the team bad luck, and that I had to be apologized to if we were ever going to turn that stuff around. So here they all were.
We had a huge breakfast in my small room for the next half hour, even had time to play some cards before we had to pack up and get to the ball park. It was the last game of the long road trip and in two days we'd be back at Baker Bowl to play the Cubs. All anybody wanted was a nice, normal game and hopefully a win to board the train with.
Benny showed up in the seats behind our dugout before game time to tell me he was sticking around in St. Louis and Chicago for a while to try and get Roy and his brother and some people with money to set up a Phillies vs. colored players exhibition game. I wished him luck with that, but there was no way I was going to bring this up with anybody on the team after what's happened the last few days with this colored business.
Bottomley booted Harper's grounder to start things, and Holke blasted a 2-run homer to put us all in a good mood already. A Harper triple and Holke single in the 3rd made it 3-0, and it was 3-1 when we started throwing the ball in weird directions. Errors by Holke and Wrightstone helped the Cards tie it in the 4th, and after Bottomley homered off Carlson to put us behind 4-3, Ford flubbed one, Max Flack doubled, and Carlson was called for a balk by the home umpire for sneezing as he was throwing a pitch.
So we were suddenly down 5-3, and Cy Williams walked by every player sitting in the dugout to punch his arm. I had no idea he had anger like this in him. Wherever it came from, it sure worked. He picked out a Flint Rhem fastball to start he 6th and creamed it over the pavilion in right. Wrightstone then got plunked, and Wilson hit one out to Douthit in center, who dropped the ball. Mokan singled in two. Carlson doubled with one out, Harper tripled in two more, and Johnny Stuart took over on the mound for them.
It didn't help. Heinie singled, the Incredible Holke bombed another homer, and we had eight runs and an 11-5 lead! There was lots of huzzahs in the dugout, and everyone was looking forward to the train party tonight, but Fletcher reminded us we still had a game to win.
Boy, was he ever right. The Cards got two runs back right away and one in the 7th, and the score was then 11-8. Ray Blades tripled to start the St. Louis 8th, and Steineder took over for Huck Betts, who had relieved Carlson. But Ray was worse then awful. Hornsby walked right away, and Bottomley sent his second smash of the game over the fence for three runs and an 11-11 tie!
Jesse Fowler came in for the Cards, and people haven't been hitting him all year. Sure enough, a Ford double was the only thing we got off him four the last four innings. Steineder did his best for us, but it was a lost battle. With one out in the 11th, he walked Fowler, and Toporcer and Douthit singled to give them the exciting and sickening win.
Lucky for us, Mokan had bought some gin bottles from someone in town, so we were deep into those before the train pulled out of Missouri. It'll be nice to have a full train day tomorrow, because after going a crummy 6-14 on this trip we all could use one.
Good night, reader-people!
—Vinny
PHI 201 008 000 00 - 11 13 3
STL 001 222 130 01 - 12 19 2
Other National League games today:
ROBINS 8-14-1, at PIRATES 6-12-0
Tiny Osborne isn't any good, but Wilbur Cooper is much worse, and the Brooklyns have taken two of three so far at Forbes with Dazzy Vance going tomorrow. The Robins pile up seven runs on nine hits in the 5th, and it's just enough to win.
GIANTS 6-10-0, at REDS 0-7-1
Pennant race lockjaw continues, as even Carl Mays has no chance of a win with the Pirates already going down. Art Nehf hurls a rare shutout, but the Giants' club house toilet cleaner could have thrown one the way this curse is going.
at CUBS 5-10-0, BRAVES 3-10-0
Well, at least we just have 60 losses instead of the 70 the Braves now have. Hartnett's 20th homer is the game-decider and Jacobs gets the win with a save from Wheeler.
| NATIONAL LEAGUE through Wednesday, July 23 | ||||
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 59 | 32 | .648 | — |
| Cincinnati Reds | 56 | 40 | .583 | 5.5 |
| New York Giants | 54 | 39 | .581 | 6 |
| Brooklyn Robins | 55 | 40 | .579 | 6 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 49 | 45 | .521 | 11.5 |
| Chicago Cubs | 43 | 51 | .457 | 17.5 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 36 | 60 | .375 | 25.5 |
| Boston Braves | 25 | 70 | .263 | 36 |
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