In another great see-saw battle, the Harlem Knight
scored three times in the ninth to defeat the Milton
Teetotalers, 10-8, to win the 1937 World Series in 5
games.
The Knights, winning their first World Series since
1931, had 17 hits while their opponents, in their
first World Series since 1928, managed 11.
Harlem grabbed the lead quickly when Al Simmons
homered in the first inning. Milton got to 20-game
winner Van Mungo in the bottom of the first as Mungo
walked 5 men. Milton batted around, heading into the
second inning with a 3-1 lead. Carl Hubbell then
cruised through the next three innings. Mungo settled
down, and matched Hubbell's goose-eggs over the same
stretch.
Harlem has been a resilient team through the whole
season, and as we have seen in the past few games, are
never down and out. Hubbell retired Dixie Walker and
Mungo to start the 5th. However, Charlie Gehringer and
Al Simmons both singled. Rudy York then drilled a 2-0
pitch just out of Hubbell's reach into centerfield,
scoring Gehringer. Hank Greenberg then followed with
his own RBI single, scoring Simmons to tie the game at
3. Hubbell faced Bill Dickey, and Dickey responded
with a three-run home run down the right field line to
make the game 6-3 and chasing Hubbell. Johnny
VanderMeer allowed two men to reach base before
finally retiring Walker.
Mungo, like Hubbell, started the fifth by retiring the
first two he faced, but gave up singles to Gabby
Hartnett and Moose Solters. When Mungo's curveball to
Frank Demaree skipped past Dickey, Hartnett scored to
make it 6-4. After Demaree walked, Roy Hughes singled
into right to make it a one-run game. Pinky Whitney
hit a drive into the gap, scoring Demaree and Hughes,
but Whitney was thrown out trying to stretch it into a
double. However, the damage was done, and Milton had
regained the lead, 7-6.
In the top of the sixth, Al Simmons doubled home
Charlie Gehringer, who had double, to tie the game at
7. But Moose Solters drew a bases-loaded walk in the
bottom of the sixth to return the lead to Milton.
Heading into the ninth with the lead, Buck Ross thruck
out Bill Dickey. However, clutch-hitting Mike Kreevich
hit Ross' first offering into the seats to tie the
game at 8. Ross then hit Cronin on the forearm, and
Ross was replaced with Fred Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons,
a former Knight, got Jimmy Ripple to fly out to center
before George Selkirk tripled to score Cronin and give
Harlem the 9-8 lead. Now, instead of being 2 outs from
heading back to Harlem, the Teetotaler were not 3 outs
away from the end of their season.
Al Simmons singled home Selkirk to give Harlem a 10-8
lead. Johnny Murphy was called on to shut the door in
the botoom of the inning, and set Milton down in order
to give the championship to Harlem. Veteran Al
Simmons, who had some clutch defense and hit .458 with
one home run and 4 RBI, was selected MVP of the World
Series.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
1937 Knights 1 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 3 10 17 0 11 1
1937 Teetotalers 3 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 8 11 0 10 0
Knights AB R H BI AVG Teetotalers AB R H BI AVG
Gehringer 2b 5 2 3 0 .444 Hack 3b 4 1 1 0 .286
Simmons cf 6 2 5 3 .458 Appling ss 4 2 1 0 .417
York 3b 6 1 2 1 .250 Moore lf 5 0 1 0 .063
Greenberg 1b 5 1 1 1 .250 Camilli 1b 4 1 2 0 .333
Dickey c 5 1 1 3 .368 Hartnett c 3 1 3 2 .400
Kreevich lf 4 1 3 1 .438 Solters cf 3 1 1 1 .250
Cronin ss 3 1 1 0 .143 Fitzsim'ns p 0 0 0 0 .000
Walker rf 3 0 0 0 .077 Demaree rf 4 1 0 0 .143
ASmith p 0 0 0 0 .000 Hughes 2b 3 1 1 2 .200
ESmith p 1 0 0 0 .000 Hassett ph 1 0 0 0 .500
Ripple ph 1 0 0 0 .667 Hubbell p 2 0 0 0 .000
Murphy p 0 0 0 0 .000 VanderMeer p 0 0 0 0 .000
Mungo p 2 0 0 0 .400 Whitney ph 1 0 1 2 .444
Selkirk rf 3 1 1 1 .333 Ross p 1 0 0 0 .000
44 10 17 10 Fox cf 1 0 0 0 .385
36 8 11 7
Knights INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Mungo 4.2 7 7 7 6 5 108 57 6.17
ASmith 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 9.00
ESmith W 1-0 3.0 3 1 1 3 3 61 35 1.35
Murphy S 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 0.00
9.0 11 8 8 9 8 175 97
Teetotalers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Hubbell 4.2 8 6 6 1 3 92 52 4.97
VanderMeer 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 10 4 2.25
Ross BS 1, L 0-1 3.1 6 3 3 0 2 48 30 9.00
Fitzsim'ns 0.2 2 1 1 1 0 15 7 27.00
9.0 17 10 10 3 5 165 93
HAR: Selkirk inserted at rf in the 5th
Ripple batted for ESmith in the 9th
MIL: Whitney batted for VanderMeer in the 5th
Fox inserted at cf in the 9th
Hassett batted for Hughes in the 9th
2B-Gehringer. 3B-Selkirk. HR-Simmons(1), Dickey(1), Kreevich(1).
SB-Hughes(1). K-Simmons, Dickey 2, Cronin, Mungo, Appling, Moore 2, Camilli,
Solters, Demaree, Hughes, Ross. BB-Gehringer, Kreevich, Cronin, Hack,
Appling, Camilli, Hartnett 2, Solters 2, Demaree, Hughes. HBP-Cronin.
HB-Ross. WP-Mungo. GWRBI: Selkirk
Temperature: 60, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 23 MPH.