RACHEL GETTING MARRIED...AND HONEYMOONED

September 7, 1924

What's a hangover like with Jewish wine instead of the regular illegal stuff? A heckuva lot sweeter. Especially when you have this fuzzy memory of guys dancing you around while you're sitting in a chair.

The good thing was that I didn't have to know any yiddish to pull it off. We stood under this canopy thing while the rabbi blabbed away and then I had to smash a glass with my foot which only took three tries because the shoes Benny got me were pretty darn flimsy, and then it was just this big party in the next room forever and ever, and I got to dance with Rachel some even though she was mostly surrounded by girlfriends the whole night. Rachel's relatives were nice except there were too many of them and every one asked me how I spelled my last name. Cal Butterworth was there, but he was still messed up from his kidnapping and mostly just sat in a corner with his plate of food. Watching the bash I'm sure he was missing his family.

So I'm not anybody to brag or give details that are no one's business, but I did finally sleep in the same bed as Rachel and the love business went real good, considering my drunkenness. She had a big smile on her face when the morning light hit it so I guess that's what counts.

And then it was talk of where to go for our honeymoon, which we hadn't even had a chance to think about. Saul wanted us to hurry up in case he had to bring us to the train station or something because the Giants were at Ebbets Field today and he didn't want to be late for the game. Rachel gave me a goofy look when she heard that, I looked at her right back...and the spot for our pre-honeymoon was decided without a word.

Saul talked to his favorite ticket manager at the ballpark and got us seats by ourselves, thank God, that were right behind the Brooklyn dugout. He'd also talked to most every usher, too, because one after another came down to us with free peanuts, sausage rolls, lemonades and a spanking new Robins pennant just for Rachel. We felt like a king and queen.

Mule Watson was going against Bill Doak so you'd think Brooklyn had the advantage, but Watson has been as lucky a bad pitcher all year as Hal Carlson has been for the Phils. On top of that the Giants have been hot as Hades lately, as their four-game demolition of Baker Bowl just proved.

And they were at it again in the 3rd when the first six of them got on base with two singles, a walk, then a single-double-single, the rally not being worse only because Youngs got caught rounding too far off first after his hit. Wheat got the Robins one back with a double, but it was 5-1 New York all the way to the bottom of the 7th, and Rachel and me had plenty of time to talk about real honeymoon places. She brought up Niagara Falls, but seeing a bunch of pouring water seemed like a dumb way to spend a honeymoon to me. I thought we should go to Europe because neither of us had ever been there, but we both knew that was probably too expensive. As something in the middle we decided on French Canada, meaning Montreal and Quebec City. Neither of us knew French but we could take a train there and still eat get great food.

It was around the time we figured that out when Johnny Mitchell cracked a double down the right field line and knocked home two Brooklyn runs. "We're back in it!" yelled Rachel, leaping out of her seat. Someone should have told Doak that, though, because in the 8th he went back to pitching horrible. George Kelly started with his second double (geez, has that guy been hot!), Youngs singled, and after Wilson forced out, Irish Meusel doubled and it was 6-3 and Robinson finally yanked Doak off the hill. Ehrhardt whiffed Snyder to end the mess, and things looked bad.

The Mule got the Robins out in the 8th with just an Andy High single, and the Giants still had their three run lead going to the last of the 9th. Before Dick Loftus came out to bat for Ehrhardt, Rachel turned and gave me a big smooch. "Kiss me back," she said, "'cause we can't have our married life start this way." So I did, and Loftus walked on four pitches. Hmm. So we kissed again. And Neis singled Loftus to third. We grabbed each other's faces this time and Mitchell doubled to make it second and third! Harry Baldwin replaced Watson, and with the infield back, Wheat made it 6-5 with an infield grounder that scored Neis and sent Mitchell to third.

Ebbets Field was crazy and me and Rachel were crazier. I swear, with Fournier up we wanted to start undressing each other but Jack made us not have to by popping a fly deep deep enough to left to score Mitchell with the tieing run!

We had nobody decent for relief now so Jim Roberts got sent out there, but the Giants couldn't do a thing with him in the 10th. Brown singled to start our half, Stock bunted him over, and when Ernie Maun came on for a rare relief appearance, me and Rachel gave up the kissing act and just held hands so we wouldn't miss anything. Zack Taylor singled Brown to third, Tommy Griffith hit for Roberts, and we were all on our feet, and here came the pitch and there swung the bat and the ball was lined into right before we could even pray and Brooklyn had won the huge game 7-6!!

There's one more Giants-Robins battle over in McGraw's yard tomorrow, so this French Canada deal might get put off another day.
—Vinny

NYG 005 000 010 0 - 6 11 1
BRK 001 000 203 1 - 7 14 0

All other games today (with Butterworth still recovering):

at REDS 3-13-2, PIRATES 2-8-0
at REDS 7-12-0, PIRATES 0-5-3
I'd say this was a pretty good afternoon for us. Falling behind 2-1 in the 9th on the typical Charlie Grimm clutch triple, the Reds shock the Bucs with two in the last of the 9th off Yde and Adams, the winner scoring on a Critz single, after Hughie had helped Pittsburgh tie the game earlier when he kicked a grounder. In the second game, Pete Donohue throws an unbelievable and timely shutout, especially when the Pirates had worked their evil voodoo magic by getting FOUR Red players injured on the same day.

CUBS 6-6-2, at CARDINALS 1-10-2
Believe it or not, this isn't the strangest line score of the day. Pete Alexander has now won eight decisions in a row and 15 out of 16, making him the second best pitcher in the league who isn't Dazzy Vance or Eppa Rixey. Hack Miller puts the game away with a late 3-run smash off Dickerman.

at YANKEES 8-5-1, ATHLETICS
As I promised, the strangest line score of the day. The Yanks, just to prove how much "better" they're playing, score five runs on one single, six walks and a hit batter off Gray and Meeker in the 6th. For the day, Ruth singles and walks four times and New York is back to .500 after their final home game of the year.

RED SOX 6-8-1, at SENATORS 4-7-1
A two-base error in the 1st by Bobby Veach helps the Nats score three quick runs off Fullerton, but Curt shuts them down after that and Goslin returns the favor by kicking away a single in the 8th for an added 2-base error, and giving Boston three late runs off a real angry Mogridge to take the game.

at TIGERS 5-83, INDIANS 1-6-2
Yup, Ripper Collins is now 24-3 and a certain favorite to win the Best Pitcher award. The Tigers get closer to first place than they've been for a long while, and finish the season series with Cleveland by going 14-8.

at WHITE SOX 4-5-2, BROWNS 3-10-1
Another stupid line score. The Sox strand only three runners, the Browns 12, and Chicago takes this season series 14-8 also.

NATIONAL LEAGUE through Sunday, September 7
Pittsburgh Pirates	84	51	.622	—
Brooklyn Robins	79	58	.577	6
Cincinnati Reds	78	59	.569	7
New York Giants	77	59	.566	7.5
Chicago Cubs	68	68	.500	16.5
St. Louis Cardinals	65	70	.481	19
Philadelphia Phillies	55	82	.401	30
Boston Braves	39	98	.285	46
AMERICAN LEAGUE through Sunday, September 7
Washington Senators	83	51	.619	—
Detroit Tigers	76	61	.555	8.5
Chicago White Sox	71	65	.522	13
New York Yankees	67	67	.500	16
Boston Red Sox	66	69	.489	17.5
St. Louis Browns	65	73	.471	20
Cleveland Indians	59	80	.424	26.5
Philadelphia Athletics	57	78	.422	26.5