October 3
Washington at NY Giants, Game 1- Giants 4 Senators 2
Giants lead series 1-0
The pre-Series talk centered on the “boy managers” for the two teams, Joe Cronin of Washington and Bill Terry of the Giants. While the press concerns itself with the “youth” of the two skippers, Cronin refrains from naming his opening game starting pitcher until the last minute. Instead of starting 22 game winner Earl Whitehill, Cronin plays a hunch and taps Lefty Stewart. To counter Washington’s predominantly left handed lineup, Terry chooses his ace, screwball specialist Carl Hubbell. Terry boldly predicts that Hubbell will win the first and fourth games of this series.
A bad omen for the Senators occurs before the game. On his way to the park, 2B Buddy Myer is a witness to a traffic accident that kills one person. Emotionally shaken, Myer strikes out to lead off the game. Hubbell also wiffs Goose Goslin and Heinie Manush to strike out the side. In the bottom of the 1st, Myer boots a grounder of the bat of New York’s Jo-Jo Moore. Two outs later, Mel Ott makes the Nats pay by launching a 2-run homer to right to put the G-Men on top, 2-0.
Terry’s boys strike again in the 3rd inning. Stewart allows consecutive singles to Hughie Critz and Terry. Ott steps to the dish and strokes a RBI single. Cronin, his hunch incorrect, lifts Stewart after 2 plus innings. Jack Russell relieves for Washington and gives up an inherited run on a Travis Jackson ground ball that scores Terry. At the end of 3, it is 4-0 Giants.
The Sens miss a golden chance in the 4th. Myer starts things off with a single. After Myer advances to second on a Goslin ground out, Manush reaches on an error by Giants 2B Critz. With runners at the corners, with one out, the best hitting SS in the AL comes to the plate in the person of Cronin. Hubbell gets Cronin to tap into a fielders choice that scores Myer to cut into New York’s lead. Fred Schulte follows Cronin with another single to put Senators on first and second. Hubbell escapes the inning by getting Joe Kuhel to harmlessly ground out to second.
No scoring occurs for either squad until the top of the 9th. Trailing 4-1, Washington loads the bases with nobody out. 1 run crosses the plate on Kuhel’s ground out to halve the Giants lead to 4-2. With the tying run in scoring position, Hubbell bears down to strike out Ossie Bluege for the second out. The Sens last hope, Luke Sewell, ends the game on yet another ground ball. Final score: Giants 4 Senators 2.
For the winning National Leaguers, Hubbell strikes out 10, allows 5 hits and generally bewilders Washington’s lefty hitters with his screwball. Mel Ott goes a then World Series record 4-for-4 with 3 RBI. On the Nats ledger, starter Lefty Stewart surrenders 4 runs on 6 hits in 2 plus innings. Myer commits a World Series record tying 3 errors in this contest. Fred Schulte and Joe Cronin lead the punchless offense with 2 hits each.
Other Senator events on this day:
1912 Their highest finish to date, Washington clinches 2nd place with a 3-2 victory in New York. Walter Johnson wins his 33rd.
1965 Rookie Joe Coleman 5-hits Detroit in the final game of the season, winning 3-2, at D.C. Stadium. Willie Kirland, Eddie Brinkman and Jim French supply the Nats 3 RBI. The expansion Senators compile their best season record to date with a 70-92 mark under Gil Hodges.
Senators Birthdays
Charlie Letchas B Oct. 3, 1915 D Mar. 14, 1995
Charlie Letchas played in just 136 major league games in 4 seasons. A utility infielder, Letchas arrived on the major league scene with the Philadelphia Phillies in mid-September of 1939. He’d play in 12 games, hitting .227.
Letchas would return to the majors with the Washington Senators in 1941 playing in just 2 games at second base, going 1 for 8 at bat.
After that short stint in 1941, Letchas wouldn’t find himself back in the majors until 1944, when he returned again with the Phillies.
Letchas would play in 116 of those 136 games during the 1944 season, hitting .237 with 8 doubles.Another 6 games in a Phillies uniform in 1946 would mark the end of Letchas’ career.
John Ludy Riddle B Oct. 3, 1905 D Dec. 15, 1998
Catcher John Riddle played in just 98 games, during parts of 7 seasons in the major leagues, which spanned 19 years. First appearing with the Chicago White Sox in 1930 as a 24 year old rookie, Riddle would appear in just 25 games for the Pale Hose. That would turn out to be the most active season in his career.
Riddle would not appear in a major league uniform again until 1937 when he played in 8 games for the Washington Senators, going 7 for 26 at the plate.
Traded to Indianapolis of the American Association, Riddle would be picked up by the National League Boston Bees, appearing in 2 games late in the 1937 season.
Returning with the Bees in 1938, Riddle would play in just 19 games before being traded again, this time to the New York Yankee organization in mid-August.
Purchased by the Cincinnati Reds from the Yankees in 1941, Riddle would see his next major league action in 1941, playing in 10 games for the Reds. Riddle would play in just 1 game for the Reds in 1944 and another 23 in 1945 before being released in mid-September.
Picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Riddle would play in 10 last games with the Pirates in 1948, at 42 years of age, before being released at the end of the season.
