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1924 World Series Photo Gallery
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Let’s Revisit the Last Time Washington Had a World Series Championship: 1924
With the 2019 World Series tied at three games apiece, we await the conclusion of this exciting Series between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros.
As a National League fan, I have to admit I’m pulling for the Nationals, but I’ll quickly add: “May the best team win!” And let’s hope there aren’t any goats, as there were in 1924, the first and only time the city of Washington had a World Series winner.
In the featured photo above, we see the Senators and the Giants lined up before the start of Game One at Griffiths Stadium.
The 1924 World Series was won by the Washington Senators four-games-to-three over John McGraw’s New York Giants, making their fourth straight appearance in the Fall Classic. Game Seven, played on October 10, 1924, went 12 innings and is considered by many to be the most exciting Game Seven ever. It holds the record as the longest Game Seven (by innings) in World Series history.
“It was Fate, that’s all…Fate and a pebble!”
That’s how the Giants’ Heine Groh described the unusual events that transpired to place his 18-year old teammate, rookie third baseman Freddie Lindstrom, at the wrong end of two of the most infamous plays in World Series history.
There were actually two unlucky players from this World Series: Lindstrom and catcher Hank Gowdy, although Lindstrom should be more accurately described as simply the victim of baseball misfortune. Gowdy’s miscue actually played a more significant role in handing the World Championship to the Senators. Fortunately for him, his critical Game Seven error is largely overshadowed by the travails of Lindstrom; and the game has gone down in baseball lore as the “Freddie Lindstrom Pebbles Game.” Hank rarely gets a mention anymore. Here’s what happened:
We know World Series Errors can be magnified!
The Giants were leading 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth when Washington loaded the bases with two out. Washington player-manager Bucky Harris hit a sharp but routine ground ball toward third baseman Lindstrom. It apparently hit a pebble and took a high hop over his head, sailing into left field. Two Senators scored to tie the game at 3-apiece.
The great Walter Johnson was brought in to pitch the ninth and stayed in through the extra innings. Johnson was exhausted, having started and lost Games One and Five. He allowed runners in every inning from the ninth through the 12th, but he kept the Giants from scoring, so it was still 3-3 when Washington came up in the fateful bottom of the 12th.
Hank Gowdy had caught every inning of every game in this Series and was still behind the plate as the game moved into the 12th. With one out, Washington catcher Muddy Ruel, a dreadful 1-for-19 in the Series, hit a high foul popup right behind the plate. Gowdy tracked the ball – as a catcher does a thousand times over his career – and tossed his mask aside. But he didn’t toss it far enough; and, as luck would have it, he stepped on the mask, trapping his foot. He struggled under the ball attempting to make the catch, but, unfortunately, he dropped it for what would soon prove to be a very costly error.
Don’t Give a Major Leaguer a Second Chance!
As so often happens when a major leaguer is given a reprieve, Ruel then drove a double down the left-field line. McGraw must have been thinking “It’s Deja Vu all over again!” recalling the 1912 World Series. That time the great Tris Speaker came through with a critical hit after a Giant misplay, also on a foul ball, gave him a second chance.
The next batter then reached on another error, Ruel holding at second. Center fielder Earl McNeely came to the plate and drove an identical grounder straight at Lindstrom who was visualizing an inning-ending double play. But instead, this ball too hit a pebble and hopped over his head into left field!
Irish Meusel Holds the Ball!
Ruel, one of the slowest runners in the game, chugged around third while Giants’ left fielder Irish Meusel fielded the ball; and then, for some unexplained reason, Meusel decided he had no play. Instead of throwing home in an attempt to prevent the Series-winning run from scoring, Meusel tucked the ball away and trotted to the dugout. Ruel crossed home plate with the run that gave the Washington franchise its only World Series championship during its time in the Nation’s capitol.
Newspaper accounts the next day focused on the bizarre coincidence of two ground balls hopping over Lindstrom’s head. A day later, though, the focus changed, as the Daily News now observed, “Gowdy’s failure to catch an easy foul prolonged Ruel’s time at bat and gave him a chance to hit the double that subsequently blossomed into the run that won the Series.” Sports history picked up the line and that became the series narrative, although in recent decades it’s rarely mentioned.
Hank Gowdy’s error and Lindstrom’s fateful travails were costly indeed, proving that errors made in the World Series can be greatly magnified. They are hard to overcome and can tarnish the reputation of a good ballplayer. Let’s hope with this year’s Game Seven we won’t be adding any “goats” to the list!
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Gary Livacari
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