Most Spectacular CANADIAN SPORTSMEN
Baseball Match
By WARREN BROWN.
Ling somewhere against Bagby., baseball
(In the Cosmopolitan Magazine.) Then came the second shock.
by it
In describing the most specta- cular baseball game viewed
eyes, this particular pair of might be well to begin with a sen-
statemení, sational
Babe Ruth was not in it.
The game was the fifth of the
World Serics, 1920
played ol Cleveland on October 10 and won by the Cleveland team, 8 to 1. from Brooklyn.
Well, perhaps. But One-sided? down through the years it lingers as the hell-roaringest ball game; I've ever watched.
Brooklyn and Cleveland hi won a pair of games each, as they came into this critical th gagement.
(1)-
The Dodgers, led by that lov- able character, the late Wilber (Uncle Robbie) Robinson, and the Indians, managed by one of the greatest outfielders of all time, the Gray Eagle, Trix Speaker, were prepared to fire the best they
had into the battle.
As his convincer, Uncle Robbie chose Burleigh Grimes, who had topped the National League pitch- ers of the 1920 season. Not to be outdone, Speaker came back with Jim Bagby, American League pitcher leader, whose record of 31 victories seemed to fix his place in
the hurling sun. This game well might be the turning point in the Serios. Everyone sensed that.
Pitcher's Circuit Clout
In their half of the fourth, the Indians placed Johnston on third base, and the Dodgers decided in the interests of peace and quiet that it would be wise to walk O'Neill, the Cleveland catcher and a dangerous hitter, and pick Bagby, who was reputed no Ty Cobb with the flail.
01
That, too, was a good idea for the moment No longer!
All Bagby did was swing on the nest pitch and deposit it out in the temporary bleachers which filled part of right-centrefield.
A home run! A home "un with two on bases. A home run by pitcher!
with the devastating
effect to his own side as this effort.
Triple Play Unassisted
He took a free swing at one of Bagby's choicest, and the ball shot out on a line between Wambs- Wamby
ganss and second base. dashed over, stuck out his gloved
nir.
RESPOND TO CALL
CANADIAN SPORTSMEN, LIKE THOSE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, HAVE RESPONDED GALLANTLY TO THE CALL TO THE COLOURS, STATES A MESSAGE FROM OTTAWA.
EMPIRE
hand and speared the ball in the BOXING
AFTER
to second.
to
Kilduff, away with the crack of the bat, had no chance to get back Wamby's rush carried him the few steps necessary touch second. Two out! A double play! But the worst was yet to come.
The ponderous Miller, running toward second base with his head
more
man
THE WAR
Perhaps two of the best known, now both serving overseas, are Ross "Sandy" Somerville, six Amateur Golf times Canadian Champion and winner of the American Amateur title in 1932, and Johnny Learing, the Olympic and Empire Games runner.
Another Olympic athlete is Clif Bricker, and among the lawn, ten- nis players is Willard "Bill" Crec- ker, many times Canadian singles champion.
are
Taking what may seem Prominent Boxers down and as if his life depended an extremely long view, upon it, was unable to reverse
Among the more prominent himself, as a
agile
the National Sporting boxers who have joined up might have done. Wamby whirled, Club, looking to fu- Orville Drouillard (Windsor, On- prepared to throw to first base, and changed his mind, thereby ture boxing intends to lario). Billy Townsend (Vancou- ver), Tommy Bland (Toronto) moving himself into
Baseball's hold & tournament for the and Bobby Leitham (Montreal), Hall of Fame. Instead of throw-
You might imagine that this was the final blow to the Brook lyn cause It wasn't! In a sens", it was only a prelimary.
Up to the plate for their half of ing the ball, he went forth as a British Empire boxing the fifth stormed the Dodgers one-man reception committee to championships at the end
baseman, meet the uncoming Miller, tagged of the war. second
Miller, him, and the "Triple play,
Kilduff, thir
all former professional champions at their respective weights.
Ross Galloway, a former amat- eur champion, is in the Royal Canadian Navy, and a boxer who was favourite a
decade ago, Soldier Jones (Toronto), is in the Medical Corps.
Flying-Officer Montreal, who
banged a single to left. their catcher, ditto Two hits. Wamby, unassisted," went into John Harding, the N.S.C. man- Two men on Now, we're getting the scorebooks!
ager, stated that competitions somewhere!
Nothing like that had ever hap- would be held at all weights. The next batsman was Mitchell, pened before in a World Series. "A similar tournament was held of the last war," he
The first Canadian athlete re- who had replaced Nothing like that has ever hap-at the end the pitcher
said, "and it proved a great suc-
ported to have given his life for Grimes shortly
Bagby's pened since. after
It will be a golden oppor-
his country 18 All for the price of one admis-cess. homer had convinced Uncle Rob-
Richard Ball, of In tunity for our overseas troops to bie that this wasn't Burleigh'ssion. All in the same gome. Baseball fans have a fine sense
the most take part. Many of them have was in the R.A.F. day. Unlike most pitchers, Mit- World Series history. of values and are generally pre-
thrilling and most amazing game already proved their boxing skill pared for anything, but the wild-ch was no sucker hitter, but in
that this reviewer has ever seen, in minor competitions."-Reuter. est dream of any one of the fren- all his long curver he hit no other zied fans crowding into the Cleve- land Park that October day could hardly have fitted him for what he was soon to witness.
Baghy disposed of the Dodgers in jig time in the first inuing, and The home team came to bat, with the crowd, largely Cleveland par- tisans, whooping it up as Grimes began to pitch
of
Jamieson, the Indians' lead-off man, slashed away at one Grimes' tosses. The ball, sharply hit, was handled , it wasn't! by Konetchy, the lumbering first- baseman of the Dodgers.
A hit! One man ол Bil Wambsganss-Wamby for box- score brevity-swung and, swung, and fouled and fouled, But linally he lashed one past Sheehan, ' rookie filling in at third base for the Dodgers. Two hits! Two men on!
To the vocal uproar of the par- tisan crowd was added the noise of horns and rattles and cowbells. The Indians were coming! Grimes. the Dodger pitcher, Olson, the scrappy shortstop, and the young- ster Sheehan met in mid-diamond for a conference. Obviously Speaker, the next hitter, was go- ing to bunt to sacrifice the run- ners along. It was Grimes' idea to make Speaker bunt where the ball could be handled rapidly, not to first but to third, for the force- out.
Bases Loaded
The theory was grand, but the execution was 1 trifle faulty. Speaker bunted. Grimes rushed in and fielded the ball, but even as he did, his spiked shoes slipped and he sat down abruptly on the sod. From that ungraceful posi- tion the Dodger pitcher tried des- perately to throw out the flying Speaker. Too late! The bases were filled! And a man named Smith was advancing to the plate.
Any kind of hit would score a run. A fair-sized single would score two. Even a long fly would bring in one run, putting the In- dlans out in front.
The man named Smith, a left- handed hitter, flashed a ball. Smith's bat met it with a round- house wallop. Up, up and out sailed the ball. Far beyond the
· view of all of the 26,884 present. Over the fence! A home run! With the bases filled!
Nothing like that had ever hap- pened before in World, Series his- tory. Nothing like that was to happen again until 16 years later, When Tony Lazzeri of the New York Yankees hit a homer with all the sacks occupied in the. 1936 World Serles.
Wild seems a tame expression. for the condunt of that crowd as one, two, three,, four white-uni- formed Indians trotted around the bases, and the score stood 4 to 0, in favour of Cleveland. But as an Al Jolson might well have pre- dicted "You ain't seen nothin yet!!
*Elmer Smith's homer with the bases filled was 'n terrific blow to Grimes and the Dodgers. But they kept fighting back. In the fourth they were near normalcy and really looked as if they were go-
See the
New 1940
Buy the favourite...
He died in a German prison camp. Reuter.
FRIGIDAIRE
T
with the
METER-
MISER
Buy Frigidaire !
keeps food safer and freezes ice faster at the lowest current cost in Frigidaire history Sale Agents:- DODWELL CO., LTD.
1. Büllding. slephone 20088.