In a wild and crazy day on the diamond, Harlem rallied
back from a disasterous 6-run inning to defeat Milton,
10-9, to take a 3-1 lead in the 1937 World Series.
Harlem got to work quickly. Al Simmons had a one-out
single in the first. After retiring York, Elden Auker
gave up a deep drive to left-center. Hank Greenberg
chugged around for a triple, scoring Simmons.
Greenberg scored one batter later as Bill Dickey
signled Hank home.
Milton began chipping away at the lead as Dolph
Camilli homered to lead off the 2nd. An inning later.
Auker himself lead off the inning with a home run to
tie the game at 2 runs apiece.
Auker homered again in the 4th, giving the Teetotalers
the lead. Then, in the sixth inning, Ival Goodman's
sacrifice fly tied the game up for Harlem.
But then the wheels fell off for the Knights.
Moose Solters was hit by a pitch from starter Luke
Hamlin. Frank Demaree singled, and Roy hughes walked,
loading the bases. The dangerous (at least as far as
today is concerned) Elden Auker struck out, but Hamlin
then walked Stan Hack, forcing home Solters. Al Smith
came in to relieve, and Dickey dropped the second
offering from Smith, allowing Demaree to score. Up 5-3
with two men on, Appling then hit a 2-2 pitch down the
left-field line giving the Teetotalers a 8-3 lead.
After Jo-Jo Moore was retired for the second out,
Camilli tripled, followed by a Gabby Hartnett single
that gave Milton a 9-3 lead.
But Harlem would allow an inning like that to go
unanswered. Mike Kreevich lead off the 7th with a
triple. Charlie Gehringer singled him home, cutting
the lead to 5. Dixie Walker, pinch-hitting for Al
Simmons, single to center, chasing Auker for rookie
Johnny VanderMeer.
After York grounded weekly to the mound, forcing
Gehringer at third, he got Greenberg to fly out to
left. He then walked Dickey on four straight pitches,
loading the bases for George Selkirk. Selkirk took the
first pitch before homering to deep right center, and
the grand slam brought Harlem back to within one run,
9-8. Jimmy Ripple, pinch-hitting for Al Smith, doubled
to left but VanderMeer got Cronin to end the inning.
In the top of the 8th, with Buck Ross on the mound for
Milton, Mike Kreevich lead off with a single, followed
by a single from Gehringer that moved Kreevich to
third. Bill Lee relieved Ross, and Doc Cramer flied
out to center, scoring Kreevich to tie the game at 9.
In the top of the ninth, Kreevich got his third hit,
and RBI single off of Bill Lee to give Harlem a 10-9
lead going into the bottom of the ninth.
Johnny Murphy kept Milton from scoring in the bottom
of the ninth as Harelem held on for the 10-9 victory.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
1937 Knights 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 1 1 10 16 0 9 1
1937 Teetotalers 0 1 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 9 14 0 9 1
Knights AB R H BI AVG Teetotalers AB R H BI AVG
Gehringer 2b 6 0 2 1 .409 Hack 3b 4 1 1 1 .300
Simmons cf 3 1 2 0 .333 Appling ss 5 1 2 3 .450
Walker ph 1 1 1 0 .100 Moore lf 5 0 0 0 .000
ESmith p 0 0 0 0 .000 Camilli 1b 3 2 3 1 .286
Cramer ph 0 0 0 1 .000 Hartnett c 5 0 1 1 .294
Murphy p 0 0 0 0 .000 Solters cf 3 1 0 0 .235
York 3b 5 1 0 0 .214 VanderMeer p 0 0 0 0 .000
Greenberg 1b 4 2 1 1 .267 Ross p 0 0 0 0 .000
Dickey c 4 1 3 1 .429 Lee p 0 0 0 0 .000
Selkirk rf 3 2 1 4 .333 Whitney ph 1 0 0 0 .375
Goodman lf 2 0 1 1 .200 Demaree rf 5 1 3 0 .176
ASmith p 0 0 0 0 .000 Hughes 2b 3 2 0 0 .167
Ripple ph 1 0 1 0 1.000 Hassett ph 1 0 1 0 1.000
Cronin ss 5 0 1 0 .111 Auker p 3 1 2 2 .667
Hamlin p 2 0 0 0 .000 Fox cf 2 0 1 0 .417
Kreevich lf 3 2 3 1 .333 40 9 14 8
39 10 16 10
Knights INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Hamlin 5.1 8 7 7 3 4 119 65 11.81
ASmith 0.2 3 2 2 0 0 14 12 10.13
ESmith 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 9 7 0.00
Murphy W 1-0 2.0 2 0 0 1 0 26 13 0.00
9.0 14 9 9 4 4 168 97
Teetotalers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Auker 6.0 10 6 6 2 2 91 58 9.00
VanderMeer H 1 0.2 0 1 1 1 0 7 3 2.45
Ross H 1 0.1 4 2 2 0 0 8 6 10.80
Lee BS 1, L 0-1 2.0 2 1 1 0 1 32 20 1.80
9.0 16 10 10 3 3 138 87
HAR: Kreevich inserted at lf in the 6th
Walker batted for Simmons in the 7th
Ripple batted for ASmith in the 7th
Ripple moved to cf in the 7th
Cramer batted for ESmith in the 8th
MIL: Fox inserted at cf in the 7th
Whitney batted for Lee in the 9th
Hassett batted for Hughes in the 9th
2B-Ripple, Auker. 3B-Greenberg, Kreevich, Camilli. HR-Selkirk(1), Appling(1),
Camilli(1), Auker(1). K-York 2, Greenberg, Hack, Appling, Solters, Auker.
BB-Greenberg, Dickey, Selkirk, Hack, Camilli 2, Hughes. SH-Ripple.
SF-Goodman, Cramer. HBP-Selkirk, Solters. PB-Dickey. HB-Hamlin, Lee. GWRBI: Kreevich
Temperature: 46, Sky: clear, Wind: out to left at 20 MPH.