TRAVIS' MISCUES ALLOW HARLEM TO ROUT ST LOUIS, 8-1
Cecil Travis made two costly errors in the fifth
inning and Lefty Grove was incredibly strong for the
Knights as Harlem beat St Louis in Game One of the
1938 World Series, 8-1.
It was a beautiful afternoon for the first game of the
World Series. Harlem fans got to Potter’s Field early
and cheered loudly during batting practice, eagerly
awaiting the defense of last year’s championship.
Lefty Grove (16-6 in the regular season) took the hill
for game one. Grove has a perfect 3-0 record in World
Series play, starting seven games over 4 different
Series. He was facing former Knights pitcher Danny
MacFayden, who was also a 16-game winner on the year.
This game started exactly as you would have written
it. After 1-2-3 innings for both hurlers, Jimmie Foxx
homered to lead off the second inning for St Louis.
Not to be outdone, his counterpart Hank Greenberg
homered to lead off the bottom of the frame, tying the
game 1-1. It stayed that way until the bottom of the
fourth.
After loading the bases with a walk and two singles,
Pinky Higgins legged out a weak grounder to the right
side, allowing York to score and giving Harlem a 2-1
lead.
Then, it all fell apart for MacFayden and St Louis in
the fifth. After MacFayden retired Gehringer, Walked
reached base when is grounder went between the legs of
Cecil Travis. Ival Goodman then walked, and Greenberg
hit a ground ball the Travis booted again, his second
error of the inning. After Rudy York singled home a
run. Al Simmons hit a deep fly ball that Ben Chapman
caught against the fence, allowing another run to
score and upping the lead to 4-1. Joe Cronin then
doubled to score to more and to chase MacFayden. New
pitcher Johnny Allen gave up a double to Pinky Higgins
before we got the third out, and Harlem had a 7-1 lead
after five, courtesy of five unearned runs.
In the top of the seventh, Harlem’s catcher Rudy York
has bowled over at a play at the plate by Tony
Lazzeri. York held on to the ball for the third out,
but had to leave the game with a nasty gash on his
forehead. This is noteworthy because York’s back-up,
Frankie Hayes, is out for the season with a broken
arm. This forced Bob O’Farrell to put Mike Kreevich in
center and move Ival Goodman behind the plate, the
first time he’s been behind the plate since playing
for Skokie in the 3-I leagues.
St Louis never got anything else going against Grove,
who continues to be perfect in World Series play, as
Harlem won 8-1.
Game two will be tomorrow afternoon in Harlem, when
Harlem’s Luke Hamlin (9-9) will go up against Whitey
Moore (3-4).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
1938 Plague 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 2 7 1
1938 Knights 0 1 0 1 5 1 0 0 x 8 15 1 10 2
Plague AB R H BI AVG Knights AB R H BI AVG
Travis ss 3 0 1 0 .333 Gehringer 2b 5 0 0 0 .000
Myer 2b 4 0 2 0 .500 Walker rf 5 2 1 0 .200
Dickey c 4 0 1 0 .250 Goodman cf 4 1 0 0 .000
Foxx 1b 4 1 1 1 .250 Greenberg 1b 5 2 3 2 .600
Johnson cf 4 0 1 0 .250 York c 3 2 1 1 .333
Chapman rf 4 0 1 0 .250 Kreevich cf 1 0 1 0 1.000
Radcliff lf 4 0 0 0 .000 Simmons lf 4 0 3 1 .750
Rolfe 3b 3 0 0 0 .000 Benton p 0 0 0 0 .000
MacFayden p 2 0 0 0 .000 Cronin ss 4 1 4 2 1.000
Allen p 0 0 0 0 .000 Higgins 3b 3 0 2 2 .667
Lazzeri ph 1 0 1 0 1.000 Grove p 4 0 0 0 .000
Bauers p 0 0 0 0 .000 Bordagaray lf 0 0 0 0 .000
33 1 8 1 38 8 15 8
Plague INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
MacFayden L 0-1 4.2 9 7 2 2 1 81 50 3.86
Allen 1.1 3 1 1 0 0 20 13 6.75
Bauers 2.0 3 0 0 1 1 36 26 0.00
8.0 15 8 3 3 2 137 89
Knights INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Grove W 1-0 8.0 7 1 1 2 5 123 76 1.13
Benton 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 9 4 0.00
9.0 8 1 1 2 5 132 80
STL: Lazzeri batted for Allen in the 7th
HAR: Kreevich inserted at cf in the 8th
Goodman moved to c in the 8th
Bordagaray inserted at lf in the 9th
E-Travis 2, Cronin. 2B-Walker, Greenberg, Cronin 2, Higgins, Kreevich.
HR-Foxx(1), Greenberg(1). K-Myer, Dickey, Foxx, Johnson, Radcliff, Greenberg,
Higgins. BB-Travis, Rolfe, Goodman, York, Higgins. SF-Simmons. PB-York.
GWRBI: Higgins
Rudy York was injured for this game only
Temperature: 69, Sky: clear, Wind: in from right at 14 MPH.