1926 World Series: Alexander in the Rain

The Teams
National League: St. Louis Cardinals (89-65) - First World Series
American League: New York Yankees (91-63) - Fourth World Series (Won in 1923)

What Happened
Lou Gehrig tossed the bat aside and jogged to first. The Yankees would have probably much preferred to have Gehrig swing the bat, but the Cardinals were having none of it, not with Game 7 of the World Series on the line. So Gehrig went to first, and the bases were loaded, and Tony Lazzeri walked to the plate. 1926 was Lazzeri's rookie season, but he hit the ground running, hitting 18 home runs, driving in 114 runs, and finishing 10th in the MVP voting. He wasn't Ruth or Gehrig, but he was a feared hitter.

So the Yankee fans roared to life. They were still down 3-2, with two outs in the seventh, but they had all the momentum. Cardinals manager Rogers Hornsby walked slowly in from his position at second base to the mound to speak to pitcher Jesse Haines. Haines, a knuckleballer, had thrown a great game, capping off a great series, but he couldn't go on. All those knuckleballs had popped blisters on his finger tips; he was bleeding, and it was raining to boot, so he couldn't grip the ball. So with the crowd still roaring, Hornsby pointed out to the bullpen beyond the outfield.

The bullpen door swung open, and out walked a tall, lanky figure, walking slowly, deliberately through the mist. The man walking toward the mound had seen it all, done it all, except win the World Series. Now here he was, 39 years old, alcoholic and epileptic, coming in for the most important appearance of his career. And at the sight of him, the Yankee fans fell deathly silent.

Grover Cleveland Alexander, often known as Old Pete, had already won 327 games when he walked toward the Yankee Stadium mound that day. More importantly, he had beaten the Yankees twice in that World Series, including a complete-game victory the previous day. Because of those nine innings, nobody expected him to see the mound in Game 7, most of all, probably, Alexander himself. But there he was, taking the ball from Hornsby and preparing to save the Cardinals' season. And the Yankee fans fell silent, because they knew what he could do.

Hornsby asked Alexander how he wanted to pitch to Lazzeri. Alexander wanted to start him with a high and inside fastball. Hornsby wasn't sure, but Alexander said "Sure, he'll swing, but he'll never be able to keep it fair." Hornsby nodded and jogged back to his position. Alexander turned toward the plate to face Lazzeri, one epileptic to another, and fired a high and inside fastball. Lazzeri swung and blasted it high and deep to left, and for a moment, Yankee fans had hope. But just like Alexander had predicted, the ball started drifting, eventually landing safely foul in the seats in deep left. Strike one.

Having shown Lazzeri the fastball, the wily Alexander now had the rookie right where he wanted him. The next two pitches were breaking balls, starting in the middle of the plate and breaking hard away. Lazzeri had no chance, flailing at both of them to strike out and end the inning.

Alexander's strike out of Lazzeri was the biggest out of the series, but it wasn't over yet. Alexander retired the next five Yankees, bringing up Babe Ruth with two out in the bottom of the ninth. It was a potentially great moment, the Hall of Fame pitcher against the greatest player of all time with a World Series on the line. But Alexander and Hornsby wanted nothing to do with it. Ruth had already homered four times in the series, and Alexander wasn't going to make it five. He walked Ruth, officially not intentionally, but it might as well have been. And just as Alexander settled in to face Bob Meusel, Ruth inexplicably broke for second.

Maybe he was frustrated at the Cardinals refusing to pitch to him, as his ninth inning walk was his fourth of the game and his 11th of the series. Or maybe he thought he could catch the Cardinals napping and put himself in scoring position. Whatever he was thinking, most observers agreed that Ruth's decision to try to steal in the 9th inning of Game 7 was by far the worst decision of his career, maybe even the only mental mistake he ever made. He was thrown out by a mile. The Cardinals were World Champions.

MVP
Had Haines been able to finish Game 7, he might have had an argument. But Alexander won the MVP award the moment those bullpen doors opened in Game 7.  (Well, there wasn't an official MVP award back then, but you get the idea). Along with his Game 7 save, Alexander won Games 2 and 6 and gave up only four runs on 12 hits while striking out 17 in 20 innings pitched. And while he pitched in four more seasons after 1926, the World Series title was the fitting cap to a brilliant career.

Random Fact
The Cardinals were the last National League team to make it to a World Series. By 1926, the only team that hadn't made it were the Browns, the Cardinals' landlords, who wouldn't break through until 1944.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

St. Louis	1	6	4	5	2	10	3
New York	2	2	0	10	3 (10)	2	2

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

13. 1926 - St. Louis (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
14. 1995 - Atlanta (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-2
15. 1960 - Pittsburgh (N) def. New York (A) 4-3
16. 1952 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
17. 1997 - Florida (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-3
18. 1993 - Toronto (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-2
19. 1956 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
Numbers 20-29
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

Game 7s
Simultaneously, I'll rank all the Game 7s. The ones that have appeared in my countdown so far:

3. 1960: Pittsburgh 10, New York (A) 9
5. 1997: Florida 3, Cleveland 2
7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
10. 1926: St. Louis (N) 3, New York (A) 2
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
14. 1952: New York (A) 4, Brooklyn 2
15. 1971: Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 1
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 2
23. 1973: Oakland 5, New York (N) 2
24. 2002: Anaheim 4, San Francisco 1
26. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
28. 1965: Los Angeles (A) 2, Minnesota 0
29. 1964: St. Louis 7, New York (A) 5
30. 1957: Milwaukee 5, New York (A) 0
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago (N) 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0
34. 1934: St. Louis (N) 11, Detroit 0 
35. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0
36. 1956: New York (A) 9, Brooklyn 0

1915 World Series: Stadium Games

The Teams
American League: Boston Red Sox (101-50) - Third World Series (Won in 1903, 1912)
National League: Philadelphia Phillies (90-62) - First World Series

What Happened
There were lots of curious decisions in World Series games in the early part of the 20th Century. Some, like the continuous, almost obsessive sacrifice strategies, were simply a sign of the times. Others, like putting your best player on the bench for most of the series, made no sense whatsoever.

Two other common ones from that era were to let in as many fans as possible for big games, then have the extras stand behind ropes strung along the edge of the outfield. Yah ... that wouldn't happen now. The other was switching stadiums for big games. This could only happen in cities with two Major League teams, but it happened. It was really a Boston thing - when the Braves won the National League pennant, they rented out Fenway Park for the World Series because Fenway had more seating than the Braves' South End Grounds. The Red Sox made the World Series in 1915, and they copied their neighbors, renting out the brand-new Braves Field to take advantage of a larger capacity.

Like their Boston counterparts, the two Philadelphia teams made the World Series back-to-back in 1914 and 15, but they weren't about to switch stadiums. The Phillies of 1915 built their team to take advantage of the short right-field fence of the Baker Bowl. They had powerful lefthanded hitters who seemed born to play there, and the result was the first pennant in franchise history.

A big reason for their league title was the pitching of Pete Alexander. Alexander won pitching's triple crown in 1915, including the jaw-dropping numbers of 31 wins and a 1.22 ERA. Alexander beat the Red Sox in Game 1, giving up only 1 run while getting some help from the weather; three Philadelphia grounders got stuck in the mud, turning into hits when they should have been easy outs. The Red Sox won Game 2 when pitcher Rube Foster gave up only three hits while getting three hits on his own, including one that drove in the game-winning run in the 9th.

After splitting in Philadelphia, Boston went to their home away from home in Braves Field, where they took full advantage of their borrowed home. While Braves Field had a larger capacity than Fenway Park, it also had much a much larger outfield, which played right into Boston's hands. Boston's outfield of Duffy Lewis (lf), Tris Speaker (cf), and Harry Hooper is still considered the best in baseball history, and with the wide open fields in the Braves Field outfield, they had plenty of opportunity to show off their stuff.

Taking full advantage was Lewis, who turned the rest of the series into his own personal highlight reel - you know, if there had been television back then. With a run already in and two on in the third, Philadelphia slugger Gavvy Cravath blasted one deep to left field. In Fenway Park, it would have bounced off the wall, making it 3-0. In Braves Field, though, it turned into an out in Lewis' glove, as he ran it down in front of the wall. Then in the bottom of the 9th, with the game tied at 1 and runners on second and third, Alexander chose to pitch to Lewis rather than walk him to set up a force play, and Lewis responded with a single up the middle to win the game. In Game 4, he made two great running catches - again, both on balls that would have been doubles in Fenway, and drove in yet another run in a 2-1 win.

Leading the series 3-1, the Red Sox traveled back to Philadelphia, where the Phillies had oversold tickets for Game 5. This required fans to stand behind a rope in the outfield, cutting down on the Baker Bowl's already small dimensions. And while the Phillies owners' made some extra cash, the Red Sox took full advantage. The ground rule was that the rope would then become like the outfield wall, and Boston hit three balls into the crowd for their only three home runs of the series (one of them bounced into the crowd, but back then, balls we know as ground rule doubles were ruled as home runs). It was when the home runs were hit, too, that hurt the most; Lewis tied the game with a two-run home run in the 8th, and then Hooper won it with a solo shot in the top of the 9th. The Red Sox had won their third championship, and would win two more before the decade was up. It would take the Phillies 35 years to even win an NL pennant, and 65 years to win a World Series.

MVP
Lewis would have been an easy choice, as he drove in 5 runs (out of only 11 that Boston scored) and saved at least three with his glove (in games the Phillies only scored 1). He also batted .444.

Random Fact
Babe Ruth played for this Red Sox team. A full-time player, even. And yet, I'm only mentioning him now. Why? Because he had but a single pinch-hitting appearance in the series. No starts as a pitcher, just one single at bat as a hitter. I mean, I don't even know what to say.

Scores (Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Philadelphia	3	1	1	1	4
Boston	1	2	2	2	5

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

24. 1915 - Boston (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-1
25. 1971 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Baltimore (A) 4-3
26. 1918 - Boston (A) def. Chicago (N) 4-2
27. 1988 - Los Angeles (N) def. Oakland (A) 4-1
28. 1946 - St. Louis (N) def. Boston (A) 4-3
29. 1925 - Pittsburgh (N) def. Washington (A) 4-3
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

October 10, 1926: Caught stealing

BRONX, N.Y. - It remains the most improbable ending to a World Series yet, a play so baffling that it seems like a misprint in the decades-old play-by-play: Ruth caught stealing second, c-ss. Seriously, a game 7 of a World Series ended on that. It doesn't seem right.

It's not too surprising that Ruth was on base in that situation. He came to the plate with the Cardinals leading 3-2 with two outs in the ninth inning, and he had already homered in the game. Considering his other three plate appearances ended in walks, there was a better chance he'd see Bigfoot playing right field than there was of him getting anything to hit in that at bat. The Cardinals simply weren't going to let Ruth beat them.

Instead, they let him beat the Yankees.

Sure, Ruth had stolen 11 bases during the season, which isn't a terrible number, but how do you steal in that situation, where getting thrown out meant the end of your season, unless you know you're going to make it? With Bob Meusel, a very good hitter, batting and Lou Gehrig on deck? How do you steal? Unless you're trying to catch the Cardinals off-guard - which I suppose he did, because really, why would Ruth steal? But if Bob O'Farrell behind the plate was surprised, the feeling didn't last long, because he easily threw Ruth out.

The Cardinals were a bit fortunate to even be in that situation. After Ruth's third-inning home run, the Cardinals scored three in the top of the fourth - helped by a dropped fly ball by Meusel - then held on for dear life. See, the Yankees weren't quite the offensive juggernaut they would become the following year, but they still had Ruth and Gehrig and Meusel and Tony Lazzeri. A two-run lead likely wasn't going to be safe for long.

New York got a run back in sixth, then went into the bottom of the seventh trailing 3-2. With one out and a runner on second, the Cardinals intentionally walked Ruth, violating the old baseball adage of never putting the go-ahead run on base because, well, he's Babe Ruth. Meusel grounded out, beating the relay to prevent a double play, and then Gehrig walked, loading the bases with two outs. Instead of sticking with starter Jesse Haines, the Cardinals went to the bullpen to bring in Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander to face Lazzeri.

It was quite a surprise that Alexander was coming in. Though he was still one of the best pitchers in the National League and would eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame, the 39-year-old Alexander had pitched a complete game the day before and was thought to be unavailable for game 7. Also, he was in no physical condition to pitch, either because he was drunk, according to some people, or because he had suffered an epileptic seizure earlier in the day, according to others.

So the inning came down to future hall-of-famer Alexander pitching to future hall-of-famer Lazzeri with the bases loaded, two outs, and the Cardinals up by one run. And Alexander struck out Lazzeri on three pitches, completely blew him away, keeping the Cardinal lead intact.

That was pretty much the game there. Alexander pitched the rest of the way, and the only other Yankee to reach against him was Ruth in the ninth. It could have been a tense situation, but Ruth decided to steal, and the Cardinals had won their first World Series.