SIMMONS SNAGS AND SLUGS HARLEM TO 13-INNING WIN, 2-1
Game 1 of the 1937 World Series was everything anyone
could have hoped for, as Harlem's pitching outdueled
Milton's staff in a classic Fall match-up.
Mungo and Hubbell were just two of the clutch players
in a game that saw 3 hits by Rudy York, some great
relief work by Johnny Vander Meer and Bill Lee, and
some amazing defense by Charlie Gehringer.
But when it came down to it, the hero was the old man,
Al Simmons. Simmons, who was once the most feared
slugger in the DBS, came to Harlem last summer as he
was in the twilight of his career, and proved to the
Harlem faithful today that he is still a force to be
reckoned with.
Van Mungo took his DBS-best 20-3 record to the hill
against the Teetotalers, in their first World Series
since the DBS inaugural season in 1928.
Mungo made easy work of Milton in the first, setting
them down in order. His counter-part, DBS veteran Carl
Hubbell, held Harlem scoreless in the first despite a
two-out double by Rudy York.
Both pitchers went through the first three innings
without a run or real trouble.
Milton finally drew first blood in the fourth, with
two walks to Camilli and Hartnett. Moose Solters then
singled to left and Camilli scored on a close play at
the plate. Despite a third walk of the inning, Mungo
got out of trouble with only the one run allowed.
The 1-0 lead was short lived, as Harlem third sacker
Rudy York belted Hubbell's first offering of the
fourth into the left field seats to knot the game at
1-run apiece.
Both pitchers continued to dominate, and it wasn't
until the ninth that a real threat occured. Al Smith,
relieving for Mungo, gave up a lead-off hit to Pep
Young, who cam in to replace Roy Hughes earlier.
Frankle Pytlak, pinch-hitting for Hubbell, lined a
single to right to put runners at the corners with
none out. Harlem skipper Bob O'Farrell then went to
his bullpen for Eddie Smith.
Eddie got Hack to fly out to shallow left, and the put
the bat in the hands of Luke Appling. Appling chopped
one high up the middle. Charlie Gehringer, playing in
short, made a spectacular bare-handed grab and threw
it home to catch Young at the plate. Jo-Jo Moore then
grounded weekly to first to end the inning.
In the top of the 11th inning, Milton had another
chance at it. Stan Hack drew a two-out walk off of
Larry French. Appling then drilled a ball down the
right field line, and Hack headed for home. Dixie
Walker got the relay in to Gehringer who threw a
rocket to the plate to get Hack by about 4 steps.
In the top of the 13th, Al Simmons made an amazing
over-the-shoulder catch to rob Stan Hack of maybe the
game-winning RBI. Simmons, the 37-year old veteran of
many seasons, then lead off the bottom of the 13th
with a triple to the gap off of former Knight Fred
Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons then gave intentional passes
to York and Greenberg to face Dickey with none out but
a force at each base.
Dickey then hit a soft roller on a 1-1 pitch towards
second. Jim Bucher came in and went home with it, but
Simmons has already slid across the plate with the
winning run.
Harlem's 2-1 victory in 13 innings gives them a 1-0
lead in the series. The series continues tomorrow when
Cy Blanton takes the mound for Milton and tries to
even the Series against Harlem and rookie sensation
Cliff Melton.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 R H E LOB DP
1937 Teetotalers 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 10 0 15 1
1937 Knights 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 11 1 12 1
Teetotalers AB R H BI AVG Knights AB R H BI AVG
Hack 3b 6 0 2 0 .333 Gehringer 2b 6 0 0 0 .000
Appling ss 5 0 1 0 .200 Simmons cf 6 1 1 0 .167
Moore lf 5 0 0 0 .000 York 3b 5 1 3 1 .600
Camilli 1b 3 1 0 0 .000 Greenberg 1b 4 0 1 0 .250
Hartnett c 4 0 1 0 .250 Dickey c 6 0 2 1 .333
Solters cf 6 0 1 1 .167 Kreevich lf 5 0 1 0 .200
Demaree rf 4 0 0 0 .000 Walters p 0 0 0 0 .000
Lee p 0 0 0 0 .000 Cronin ss 5 0 0 0 .000
Jurges ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Walker rf 5 0 0 0 .000
Fitzsim'ns p 0 0 0 0 .000 Mungo p 3 0 2 0 .667
Hughes 2b 2 0 0 0 .000 ASmith p 0 0 0 0 .000
Whitney ph 1 0 1 0 1.000 ESmith p 0 0 0 0 .000
Young 2b 2 0 2 0 1.000 Ripple ph 1 0 1 0 1.000
Hassett pr 0 0 0 0 .000 French p 0 0 0 0 .000
Bucher 2b 1 0 0 0 .000 Goodman lf 1 0 0 0 .000
Hubbell p 3 0 0 0 .000 47 2 11 2
Pytlak ph 1 0 1 0 1.000
VanderMeer p 0 0 0 0 .000
Fox rf 2 0 1 0 .500
46 1 10 1
Teetotalers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Hubbell 8.0 7 1 1 0 4 100 64 1.13
VanderMeer 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 23 10 0.00
Lee 3.0 3 0 0 0 0 41 27 0.00
Fitzsim'ns L 0-1 0.0 1 1 1 2 0 12 3 99.00
12.0 11 2 2 3 5 176 104
Knights INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Mungo 7.0 4 1 1 6 3 123 70 1.29
ASmith 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 14 9 0.00
ESmith 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 9 9 0.00
French 1.0 2 0 0 2 1 23 11 0.00
Walters W 1-0 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 27 17 0.00
13.0 10 1 1 8 4 196 116
MIL: Whitney batted for Hughes in the 7th
Young inserted at 2b in the 7th
Pytlak batted for Hubbell in the 9th
Fox inserted at rf in the 10th
Hassett ran for Young in the 11th
Bucher inserted at 2b in the 11th
Jurges batted for Lee in the 13th
HAR: Ripple batted for ESmith in the 10th
Goodman inserted at lf in the 12th
E-York. 2B-Appling, York, Greenberg. 3B-Simmons. HR-York(1). CS-Hassett.
K-Hack, Solters, Hughes, Fox, Gehringer, Simmons, Greenberg, Kreevich, Mungo.
BB-Hack, Appling, Moore, Camilli 2, Hartnett 2, Demaree, York, Greenberg 2.
SH-Camilli. WP-Hubbell. GWRBI: Dickey
Pep Young was injured for this game and 2 more days
Temperature: 47, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: left to right at 16 MPH.