Tag Archives: Ed Konetchy

October 5, 2020

This Date in 1920

The World Series begins on Oct. 5, 1920 in Brooklyn, and Cleveland takes game one by a score of 3-1. Catcher Steve O’Neill of the Indians hits two doubles and draws a walk for the best offensive game of the day. Stan Coveleski goes the distance for the Indians, allowing five hits and one walk, striking out three.

Defense played a huge part in the game. Grantland Rice pens a story on the exploits of Cleveland centerfielder Tris Speaker and shortstop Joe Sewell.

A gale out of the barren lands came howling across the field, twisting and warping the trajectory of fly balls into puzzling deviations, but these deviations were not puzzling enough to baffle the defensive art of Speaker, who romped back and forth across he field like a ball-playing centipede in action.
New York Tribune

According to the article, Speaker prevented a pair of triples and Sewell prevented two hits as well. The wind was not as kind to the Dodgers. In the second inning, George Burns of the Indians hits a pop fly that is blown by the wind and drops between the first and second basemen. First baseman Ed Konetchy of the Dodgers then throws the ball to second as Burns tries to advance, and it rolls all the way to the leftfield corner as Burns scores the first run. The sports page shows a photo of Burns scoring.

That page also contains an article on the Indians voting Ray Chapman‘s wife a World Series share. Sewell replaced the late Chapman after a pitch ended his life.

September 22, 2020

This Date in 1920

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The only games scheduled on September 22, 1920 all take place in the National League. Five contests play to completion, including a doubleheader between the Reds and Pirates in Pittsburgh. Game one, a 2-0 Pirates victory, stands as the low score of the day. The Giants 7-2 defeat of the Cubs in New York produced the most runs.

While the AL saw no game action, the news of the day would begin the destruction of one of the league’s great teams. The headline reads “Seven Chicago Players Accused, Says Prosecutor.” Those seven are accused of throwing games in the 1919 World series, as the grand jury in Chicago continues to hear testimony. AL president Ban Johnson testified:

The investigation was secret, but President Johnson said afterward he had given testimony which he “believed indicated throwing of games last year by certain players.”
New York Tribune

No names appeared in the story, however.

Ed Konetchy of the Dodgers and Dave Bancroft of the Giants tie for best offensive game of the day. Konetchy goes two for three with a double, home run, and a walk as the Dodgers beat the Braves 3-1. Bancroft posts a four for five day with a double in the Giants win.

Down in Pittsburgh, Babe Adams of the Pirates wins best pitched game of the day for his shutout of the Reds in game one. Adams’s teammate Elmer Ponder comes in third, as he holds the Reds to one run in game two, the Pirates winning 3-1. Adams allowed five hits and one walk, but Ponder gave up an unearned run on eight hits and two walks. Adams now leads the NL in shutouts with eight, and owns the lowest BB per 9 IP at 0.59.

That ends Cincinnati’s chance at a repeat. They go 3-12 in their last 15 games, eliminated on the same day they find out their World Championship might be tainted. The Dodgers still lead the Giants by five games, with Brooklyn’s magic number standing at three.

July 12, 2020

This Date in 1920

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All seven scheduled games in the majors saw action on July 12, 1920. The White Sox win an extremely close game against the Athletics, the one run scored in the top of the ninth inning on an Eddie Collins home run. At the high end of scoring, the Dodgers trounce the Cubs 13-4 in game one of a doubleheader on the north side. The Dodgers won game two easily as well, 10-2, for a 23 run day.

Ed Konetchy of the Dodgers posts the best offensive game of the day. In game two of the doubleheader he goes three for four with a triple and a walk for a Baseball Musings game score of 71. He also has the best overall day in the majors, going five for eight in the double header with the triple and walk.

Dickey Kerr of the White Sox posts a game score of 82 and takes home the best pitched game of the day. He records the shutout against the Athletics, allowing three hits and one walk, all singles.

Kerr’s experienced a short but eventful major league career. In his rookie year of 1919, he went 13-7 for the White Sox, and more importantly, 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in the World Series. He proved to be one of the clean players, as events later in this 1920 season will show.

He consistently held out in contract negotiations, however. As one of the few good players left on the White Sox after the Black Sox scandal, Kerr took full advantage of his position. When the White Sox could not reach an agreement with him for the 1922 season, he jumped to Chicago’s semi-pro club, and earned an indefinite suspension from commissioner Landis. He did not pitch again in the majors until 1925. He proved ineffective at that point, and his MLB career was over.

Stay tuned for Kerr’s start one week from today, as he will be part of a momentous event.

With the Yankees and Indians idle, the White Sox gain 1/2 game in the AL pennant race on the two leaders, and now sit 3 1/2 games behind both clubs.

The Dodgers doubleheader sweep nets them a half game in the standings, as the Reds beat the Phillies 4-3 in ten innings. Brooklyn now leads the NL by 1 1/2 games over the Reds, with St. Louis 6 1/2 games back in third place. Pittsburgh wins 3-2 over the Braves in eleven innings to move into fourth place, seven games back, and the Cubs drop under .500, 7 1/2 games out. This was a tight, five-team race a few days ago, but now it seems down to the Dodgers and Reds.

Here are the league leaders for the day.

July 1, 2020

This Date in 1920

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All seven scheduled games played to completion on July 1, 1920. The Yankees continued the month long pounding of the Athletics with a 9-5 victory in Philadelphia for the high scoring game of the day. Two contests finished 1-0. The Cubs beat the World Champion Reds by that score in Cincinnati. In Boston, a very special 1-0 game took place, won by the Senators.

Walter Johnson of Washington beat the Red Sox in the first no-hitter of The Big Train’s career. It easily leads as the best pitched game of the day. Johnson pitched masterfully. He did not walk a batter while striking out ten for a game score of 97! Harry Hooper of the Red Sox reached base on an error by second baseman Bucky Harris in the seventh inning. The news story, in describing the result of the error, was not familiar with the phrase “perfect game”:

This spoiled a no-man reach first base game for Johnson.
New York Tribune

Years later, Don Larsen would say he did not know he threw a perfect game until after the fact. He knew it was a no-hitter, but due to there being no perfectos thrown in the majors since the 1920s, the term wasn’t used often.

Johnson takes over the league lead in shutouts and strikeouts with his no-hit performance. He also leads the AL in saves.

On the batting side, the best offensive game of the day belonged to Ed Konetchy of the Dodgers. He collected four singles in five plate appearances, driving in two runs in the 8-1 defeat of the Giants. The veteran first baseman, in the penultimate season of his career, still showed speed. He legged out a dozen triples that season, his tenth and final year reaching double digits in three baggers. He finished his career with 182 triples, which is tied for fifteenth all time.

The Yankees take advantage of an off-day by the Indians to move into first place by 1/2 game. The White Sox split a double header with the Browns on the day Chicago hoists their 1919 AL Pennant. Chicago wins the first game 3-2 and the Browns win the second 4-1, putting Chicago five back in the AL race.

The Cubs and Dodgers win, gaining on the Reds and moving past St. Louis. The Reds find themselves up two games, the Cardinals back three games. Pittsburgh and Boston are tied for fifth place, both five games out.

June 24, 2020

This Date in 1920

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The major leagues saw action in all five scheduled games on June 24, 1920. The Polo Grounds featured the low score of the day as the Giants defeated the Cubs 3-1. At the high end, the Cardinals came back late for a 7-4 win over the Braves in Boston.

George Burns of the Giants and Ed Konetchy of the Dodgers tied for best offensive game of the day. Burns recorded a two for three day with a home run and a walk, while Konetchy used a three for three day with a walk to help beat the Pirates 6-2. There were two players named George Burns, both with long careers that overlapped. This is the outfielder who played most of his career for the Giants. The other spent his career in the AL as a first baseman. To make matters worse:

There is a baseball reference at about 5:00.

On the pitching side Art Nehf of the Giants and Red Oldham of the Tigers tie for best pitched game of the day. Oldham tosses an eight-hit shutout against the Browns, walking one and striking out one. Nehf allows one earned run on six hits, walking three and striking out three. It’s a good game for Nehf, who is among the leaders in hits and runs allowed, but also owns one of the lowest walk rates in the NL.

Oldham pitched a very up and down career, with separate stints in the majors in 1914-1915, 1920-1922, and 1925-1926, usually with a very high ERA.

The news of the day reports George Sisler reaching 100 hits, the first player of the season to do so. The Day by Day Database has him with 99, however, as the record of games and the data collection was not what it is today.

The top AL teams took the day off, so Cleveland remains 1 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees. In the NL, the Reds continue to hold a 1 1/2 game lead over the Dodgers, while the fifth place Pirates fall five games back in a close race for the NL title. The Cubs and Cardinals are now tied for third place, both three games back.