Charlie Pick | baseballmusings.com

The major leagues saw all nine scheduled games played on July 2, 1920. On a fairly high scoring day in the majors, two games came in at the low end with three runs each. The Dodgers defeated the Phillies 2-1 while St. Louis downed the Pirates 3-0. At the high end, the host Red Sox beat the Senators 10-9 in ten innings, one of four extra inning games on the day, and one of three walk-off wins.

Larry Doyle of the Giants earns best offensive game of the day as he hits well in game two of the double header against the Braves, won by the Giants 13-4. Boston won the first game 9-7 as Polo Grounds fans were treated to two slugfests. Second baseman Doyle went four for four with a double and a home run, scoring three times and driving in one run. He also singled and homered in game one. Doyle was a bit of a slugger in his youth. In 1911, at seasonal age 24, he led the majors with 25 triples, also hitting 25 doubles and thirteen home runs for a slugging percentage of .527. In 1915, he led the majors with 40 doubles. The 1920 season would be his last, and his two home run day accounted for half the long balls he hit that season.

Honorable mention goes to Charlie Pick of the Braves, who doubled, tripled, and homered in game one, then added two single in game two for a cycle in a double header.

The best pitched game of the day goes to Jeff Pfeffer of Brooklyn. He goes the distance, allowing the Phillies one run on seven hits and a walk, striking out six. It is his second outstanding performance in a row against the Phillies.

Sam Rice sees his hit streak climbs to seventeen games, with Babe Ruth right behind him at 16. Although the Cy Young Award was still a gleam in the eye of major league baseball, Pete Alexander leads the majors in Tom Tango Cy Young Points. Less than halfway through the season, he already accumulated 171 innings. He dominates the NL leader board.

In the AL pennant race, both New York and Cleveland win, the Yankees holding a 1/2 game lead on the Indians. The White Sox fell to the Browns and fall six games back in the standings.

The NL race remains close. A 6-5, eleven inning Reds win over the Cubs keeps Cincinnati two games in front of Brooklyn and drops Chicago three games back. The Cubs and Cardinals are now tied for third. Boston at 4 1/2 games back and the Pirates at five games back round out the contenders.

Here is the New York Tribune sports page for the day. Grantland Rice’s column wonders if George Sisler can break Ty Cobb‘s single season hit record. Sisler is batting .421 at this point with 115 hits. Cobb collected 248 hits in 1911.

The majors leagues saw three postponements and five games played on April 26, 1920. It was a great offensive day for Boston, as the Braves beat the Phillies 10-3 in the highest scoring game of the day, and Red Sox downed the Athletics 9-0 in the highest scoring AL game. Two games saw just five runs scored, including the Yankees beating the Senators 3-2. The newspaper account of that game attributes somewhat magic powers to Babe Ruth. A rib injury kept Ruth on the bench, but he pinch hit in the ninth. According to the story, “His presence, like that of a somewhat over-fed Banquo’s ghost, so startled the Senators that they tossed the game right back at the Yankees.” Ruth hit a long fly ball that advanced runners to second and third. That was followed by a walk, an error, a walk, an error, and the Yankees win the game.

The best offensive game of the day goes to Charlie Pick of the Braves. Pick singled four times in four trips, scoring a run and driving in a run. Pick was a journeyman second baseman, playing as a 32-year-old in 1920. He was a perfectly serviceable player, but bounced between the majors and the minors. He broke his ankle sliding in August of 1920 and never returned to the majors. He finished his career in the Pacific Coast League as a player-manager.

There were a number of excellent starts on the day, the highest game score going to Herb Pennock of the Red Sox. He pitched a shutout, using his fielders extensively. He allowed seven hits with no walks and just one strikeout. He was in the second year of a ten year run in which he would average 4.4 rWAR per season, helping him to an eventual Hall of Fame election. Pennock had the fifth lowest K per 9 after games of the day, while Elam Vangilder, who also pitched well that day, had yet to strikeout a batter in 15 1/3 innings.

Turner Barber led the league in RBI with 11, but his hot start would not last. He drove in 50 runs for the season.

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This Date in 1920

This Date in 1920