SOMETHING SENSORY THIS WAY COMES

By C. Jedediah Butterworth
Base Ball Freescriber

September 9, 1924

A most extraordinary thing has happened to me.

It begins early this morning, while I lie in bed in a modest Brooklyn hotel room, nearly recuperated from my recent kidnapping ordeal. For some odd reason visions of Navin Field swirl through my head, and then I hear the voice of my pilot friend Dean C. Smith, as he announces "I knew I could track you down!" Now from what I gather, Smith was also cold-cocked with that young criminal's sap in the Pittsburgh hotel, so why I'd even hear his voice is beyond me.

Minutes later, I rise to a knock on the door, and there stands Smith himself, bandage affixed to his temple and a devious smile on his face. "Ha!" he proclaims, I knew I could track you down!" Good lord, have I just experienced a moment of precognition? He asks if I'm ready to report baseball again, because his plane is fueled and ready at a nearby air field, and both pennant races are beginning to tighten, and—

"Detroit!" I cry. "Fly us there, and we'll see the game at Navin Field!" He asks why, and all I can say is that the Tigers' field has been in my thoughts, and something is compelling me to be there.

And so we depart right away under clear skies, and make it to the ball park just in time for the 2 p.m. start. The gritty third-place White Sox are in town, and Whitehill is throwing, the Earl being nothing but mediocre of late. Then the score board shows Washington trailing at Shibe Park again by a 4-1 count, and this game is suddenly monstrous for my boys.

Unfortunately, Ted Lyons chooses the same day to stage one of his finest pitching acts all season, holding the Bengals to a mere two singles in the first five innings. Safeties by Mostil and Falk and a scoring grounder from Sheely have given Chicago a 1-0 lead, and the Navin nabobs squirm with unease.

Leave it to Tyrus Raymond Cobb to fire up our diesels. With one out in the 6th, the Peach singles and pilfers second base under Grabowski's throw. Lu Blue singles him in, Heilman follows with a single knock, and Heinie Manush doubles into the gap past Hooper to puts us ahead 2-1.

It is then three solid innings of murderous tension, as the White Sox get runners aboard but the Earl continues to cement them to the bags. With Archdeacon and Collins out there in the 9th and the crowd on its feet, Mostil skies out to Cobb, Falk fans, and believe it or else, the Tigers are a mere seven games from the top.

Smith follows me home for a long-awaited reunion dinner with Bonnie and the children, and then she asks where I am headed next. I turn to Smith, who is also awaiting my answer. It is apparent that the blow to my head the other day has given me an extra-sensory talent.

"Wherever the most important game of the day will be played," I say, "And I will know in tonight's dream."

CHI 000 010 000 - 1 7 0
DET 000 002 00x - 2 6 1

Only other American League games today:

at ATHLETICS 5-11-0, SENATORS 3-8-1
Shocking. Positively shocking. The Nats take their 16-2 record vs. the Mackmen into Shibe Park and play like guttersnipes from the Piedmont League for the second straight day, losing the game on a bases-filled triple by Al Simmons off Marberry in the 5th. A seven-game cushion at this juncture is still to their advantage, but their magical digit has been frozen at 11 for many days in a row, and they arrive in Detroit for three critical contests on Saturday the 13th.

YANKEES 4-7-0, at RED SOX 1-7-0
Sad Sam Jones spins his happiest pitches, Wally Pipp turns in a 4-for-4 show with two singles, a double and triple off the tough Ehmke and New York is back at the .500 level. For at least twenty-four hours.

AMERICAN LEAGUE through Tuesday, September 9
Washington Senators	83	53	.610	—
Detroit Tigers	77	61	.558	7
Chicago White Sox	71	66	.518	12.5
New York Yankees	68	68	.500	15
Boston Red Sox	67	70	.489	16.5
St. Louis Browns	65	73	.471	19
Philadelphia Athletics	59	78	.431	24.5
Cleveland Indians	59	80	.424	25.5