October 6
1924 World Series
Washington at NY Giants, Game 3
With the first two hotly contested games in the books, the World Series moves to the Polo Grounds for the third game. John McGraw summons “Handsome” Hugh McQuillan, a 14 game winner, as his starter. Bucky Harris taps Firpo Marberry as a surprise starter. Neither starter would factor into the decision.
Marberry runs into some bad luck in the 2nd. Bill Terry ropes a single to lead off. After Marberry fans Hack Wilson, Travis Jackson hits what appears to be an inning ending double play. 3B Ossie Bluege‘s relay throw to 2B Harris is dropped for a crucial error. New York C Hank Gowdy brings Terry home with a sharp hit to left. When Gowdy is thrown out in a rundown between first and second, Marberry has a chance to escape the inning with just 1 Giant run. With P McQuillan at the bat, Marberry unleashes a wild pitch that scores Jackson for a 2-0 New York lead, both runs unearned. Sens SS Roger Peckinpaugh departs in the 3rd inning with a charley horse, while New York makes it 3-0 when Terry gallops home on a Wilson double play.
In the top of the 4th, McQuillan would promptly give two of those runs back. Sam Rice opens the frame with a walk. Rice reaches third on a Joe Judge double and, after Bluege receives another walk, Rice comes home on Ralph Miller‘s sacrifice fly. Muddy Ruel earns the third free pass of the inning to load the bases. John McGraw has enough of “Handsome” Hugh and brings in righthander Rosy Ryan. With Marberry’s spot due up, Harris elects to pinch hit untested rookie Bennie Tate for Marberry. The youngster gets the job done by working the fourth Giant walk of the inning to move to the Sens to within one run at 3-2.
The Giants regain the momentum from the most unlikely source in their half of the 4th. Facing new Washington pitcher Allan Russell, Rosy Ryan, a career .190 hitter, picks the best time to hit his first big league home run. Ryan’s right field upper deck shot makes it 4-2 for the home team. It becomes 5-2 in the 6th when Nats 3B Ralph Miller, subbing for the the new SS Bluege, muffs a Gowdy grounder. One out later, 18 year old Fred Lindstrom doubles Gowdy in.
The two teams exchange runs in the 8th on Washington’s Mule Shirley‘s pinch, RBI single and Ryan’s RBI groundout. The Senators try to rally in the 9th. One run is bought home on a bases loaded walk to Bluege. With 1 out and the bases still loaded, Miller fouls out to 3B Lindstrom and Ruel taps into a fielders choice to give the Giants a 6-4 win and a 2-1 lead in the series.
1933 World Series
NY Giants at Washington, Game 4
Giants 2 Senators 1 (11)
Giants lead series 3-1
The Senators face a difficult task in their quest to tie this series. As manager Bill Terry stated before the World Series. Carl Hubbell would get the nod for the fourth game. Opposing “King” Carl is Monte Weaver, winner of only 10 games this year due to arm woes.
No Senator reaches bases through the first three innings off Hubbell. Weaver matches the Giant’s ace by yielding only one baserunner, a leadoff walk to New York’s Jo-Jo Moore to start the game. In the top of the 4th, Terry rockets a long home run to the center field bleachers to stake the Giants to a 1-0 edge.
Offensively, the Senators cannot get untracked against Hubbell. In the 4th, the Nats allow Hubbell to wiggle out of a jam. Goose Goslin and Heinie Manush bunch together back-to-back singles with one out. The inning ends on a Joe Cronin fly out to right and Fred Schulte‘s fielder’s choice that forces Manush.
It’s more of the same in the Senator 6th. Buddy Myer starts the inning with a single. Goslin advances Myer to second on a sacrifice bunt. Manush smashes a screaming grounder in the hole that 2B Howie Critz makes a sensational grab on and nabs Manush on a bang-bang play. When National League umpire Charley Moran indicates that Manush was out, the entire Senators bench comes charging onto the field to dispute the call. Manush brushes Moran on his way back to the dugout and gets ejected. Instead of first and third with one out, it is now only Myer at third with two away. Cronin, much like in the first two games in New York, fails to deliver when Hubbell strikes him out.
Thanks to Hubbell, the Nats even the score in the 7th. Hubbell commits an error on a Joe Kuhel bunt attempt with one down. Ossie Bluege sacrifices Kuhel into scoring position and Kuhel comes home on a game-tying single from C Luke Sewell.
Weaver, pitching gallantly, is still on the mound as the 11th inning begins. Travis Jackson stuns the Nats by bunting for a base hit to open the inning. A sacrifice bunt and one out later, another Ryan, this time Blondy, scores Jackson with a single to left to break the deadlock. After Hubbell singles, Weaver departs after 10.1 innings. While Jack Russell gets Moore and Critz for the last two outs, the Giants have the all important 2-1 lead needing only three outs for a commanding 3 games to 1 advantage.
The bottom of the 11th would leave Cronin open to more second guessing from his critics. The Washington crowd comes alive when Schulte and Kuhel lead off with singles off the tiring Hubbell. Schulte and Kuhel are quickly moved into scoring position on Bluege’s 2nd sacrifice bunt of the day. Hubbell walks Sewell intentionally to create a force at every base. With Russell set to be pinch hit for, it would make sense for Cronin to send a righthanded bat in to face the lefthanded Hubbell. Cronin seems to have forgot that Sam Rice is still on the team and chooses to pinch hit Cliff Bolton, a left handed batter. With the one out and the bases juiced, Bolton laces a Hubbell pitch right to SS Ryan, to start a game-ending, 6-4-3 double play. Giants win, 2-1, and now have a seemingly insurmountable 3-1 lead in this World Series .
Senators Birthdays
Paul Leo Emile Calvert B Oct. 6, 1917 D Feb. 1, 1999
Originally signed by the Cleveland Indians, pitcher Paul Calvert would appear in 1 game with the Indians in late September of 1942. After another 5 games in 1943, Calvert would stay with Indians for a full season in 1944, pitching in 35 games, working 77 innings, and posting a 1-3 record with a 4.56 ERA.
After another solitary appearance with the Indians in 1945, where his ERA swelled to 13.50 in just 1.1 IP, Calvert would not return to the majors until 1949 when he was signed as a free agent by the Washington Senators.
With the Senators in 1949, Calvert would have his most active season, appearing in 34 games, pitching in 160.2 innings, posting a 6-17 record with a 5.43 ERA.
Released by the Senators, Calvert would be signed by the Detroit Tigers for the 1950 campaign. Calvert would go 2-2 in 32 games with a 6.31 ERA that year. He’d pitch in one last game for the Tigers in 1951, pitching in 1 inning in early May to end his carer.
Kendall Fay Chase B Oct. 6, 1913 D Jan. 16, 1985
Ken Chase, another pitcher, began his major league career with the Senators in 1936. He’d make his debut in late April, appearing in just 1 game, pitching 2.1 innings, surrendering 2 hits and 4 walks while striking out 1, departing with an ERA of 11.57.
Chase would not return to the Senators roster until 1937. For the next 5 years, 1937 through 1941, Chase would be used regularly. Perhaps his “best” season was 1940 when he went 15-17 with a 3.23 ERA in 35 games.
After the 1941 season, Chase and Johnny Welaj would find themselves headed to Boston, traded for the Red Sox Stan Spence and Jack Wilson.
Chase would earn a 5-1 record in 13 games with the 1942 Red Sox.
1943 would be Chase’s last year in the majors. After 7 games with the Red Sox, where he’d go 0-4 with a 6.91 ERA, Chase would finish his final season with the New York Giants, going 4-12 in 21 games.
John Wesley Knight B Oct. 6, 1885 D Dec. 19, 1965
Philadelphia native John Knight began his major league journey with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1905. A utility infielder, the light hitting Knight would play for the A’s in 1905, 1906 and a portion of 1907 before being traded to the Boston Americans, later known as the Red Sox.
Knight would spend the 1908 season with the Baltimore Orioles, then of the International League.
Purchased by the New York Highlanders, later known as the Yankees, Knight would spend 1909 through 1911 in a New York uniform. The normally light hitting Knight would see his BA jump to .312 in 117 games during the 1910 season, his best career year at the plate.
Traded to the Senators in 1912 for Gabby Street, Knight’s BA would decrease dramatically. He’d play in just 32 games for Washington, hitting a mere .161.
One last season, 1913, where he’d play in 70 games back in a New York uniform would round out Knight’s career.
Thomas Francis Padden B Oct. 6, 1908 D Jun. 10, 1973
Tom Padden qualifies as another “Senators Short Timer” for although he played in 399 games during his 7 year career, only 3 of those games were in a Senators uniform.
Starting his playing days with the 1932 Pittsburgh Pirates, Padden was a member of the Steel City’s team from 1932 to 1937. He’d hit .321 in 82 games in 1934. 1935 would be his most active season, when he’d play in 97 games, hitting .272.
Padden would disappear from the major league scene after the 1937 season, being shuffled through the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and New York Yankees organizations, before reappearing in the majors in 1943 with the Philadelphia Phillies, playing in 17 games.
Padden would move from Philadelphia to Washington during the 1943 season, appearing in 3 final games with the Senators that year, where he’d go 0-3 at the plate, his last major league game coming in mid-July.
