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.