Tag Archives: George Burns

October 11, 2020

This Date in 1920

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The Indians host the Dodgers for the sixth game of the best of nine World Series on October 11, 1920. It comes down to a pitching duel between Sherry Smith of Brooklyn and Duster Mails of Cleveland. Both go the distance, but Mails comes out on top 1-0 to give the Indians a 4-2 lead. They need to win just one of the remaining three games to take the crown.

Mails got into trouble in the second thanks to his defense. With two outs, he allowed one of the three Brooklyn hits to Ed Konetchy. That was followed by an error by the shortstop and one by the third baseman to load the bases. Pitcher Smith was up next, and he flew out to center, “which is no place to lift a pill when Tris Speaker is ranging the territory.”

The Indians scored in the sixth inning on a single by Speaker, who comes home to score on a double by George Burns. The best offensive game of the day goes to Joe Evans, the Indians lead-off hitter. He picked up three singles in four trips to the plate.

Grantland Rice notes that this series has been Mails’s revenge:

In the meanwhile Mail’s revenge is complete. In 1917 the Dodgers cast him aside as one unworthy of their select pitching society. Back in Booklyn last week, after Ray Caldwell had been hammered out, Mails held the Dodgers scoreless for seven innings. To-day he added nine more. For sixteen innings he has held his old mates dangling at the end of a wire, working them like mannikins made of wood.

It’s the old story of the cast-off returning to bite the hand that refused to feed him. Baseball is fairly littered with such examples, but few revenges have been more complete than that of Mails.

New York Tribune

The series has now taken in $480,880 on an attendance of 150,832.

October 5, 2020

This Date in 1920

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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 17, 2020

This Date in 1920

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The majors see action in all eight scheduled games on September 17, 1920. The Cubs win on the road, beating the Phillies 3-1 for the low scoring game of the day. At the high end of scoring, the Tigers walk off with a 14-13, twelve inning win against the Red Sox. It is one of two games on the day that result in at least 25 runs. At 12.88 runs per game, it is the sixth highest scoring day of the season.

It turns out to be a special day in terms of the best offensive games. Bobby Veach of the Tigers hits for the cycle in the extra-inning game, going six for six with three singles and a sacrifice hit. That’s good for an impressive Baseball Musings Game Score of 96. George Burns of the Giants, however, comes very close in the 4-3, ten inning win over the Pirates. Burns doubles in the bottom of the tenth inning to move the winning run to third, and that completes the cycle for Burns. He went five for five with two doubles for a game score of 91. It was the first time in major league history that two players hit for the cycle on the same day. It would be eighty eight years until it happened again.

The news stories for the games note the four types of hits for each player, but do not use the word “cycle” to describe them.

Leon Cadore of the Dodgers takes home best pitched game of the day as the Dodgers squeak by the Reds 3-2. He allows two unearned runs on five hits, and five walks, while striking out five. He’s now 4-1 in September, a big part of the Dodgers pennant drive.

Just so the cycle hitters didn’t take all the glory, George Sisler of the Browns goes four for five to raise he BA to .400. He now holds a nine point lead in the AL batting race over Tris Speaker of the Indians, who posts a one for three day.

The Indians win Speaker’s game, 9-3 over the Senators. The White Sox beat the Yankees 6-4. In that game, Bob Meusel comes under criticism for lack of effort leading to a number of triples against the Yankees. The White Sox hit four three-baggers, one by Joe Jackson who leads the AL with 19 triples. The Indians take a one-game lead over the Yankees, with the White Sox 1 1/2 games back.

With the Dodgers beating the Reds and the Giants winning, Cincinnati drops to third place in the standings. The Giants sit six games back, the Reds seven games back. Due to the Reds playing many fewer games, however, the Dodgers magic number is higher against the Reds; eight to eliminate Cincinnati versus seven for New York.

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.

June 3, 2020

This Date in 1920

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The majors saw seven of eight scheduled games played on June 3, 1920, including a double header between the Giants and the Braves, swept by New York. The 9-5 Giants victory in game two proved to be the biggest offensive game of the day. The low scoring game once again involved the Dodgers and a shutout, as Brooklyn beats the Phillies 2-0 in Philadelphia.

Hi Myers of Brooklyn posted the best offensive game of the day, two for two with a double, home run, and two walks. George Burns of the Braves had the best overall day at the plate, collecting four hits and three walks in the double header.

Myers may have been the last of the deadball power hitters. In 1919 he led the NL in triples with 14, RBI with 73, and slugging percentage with a .436 mark. In 1920 he improved his triples to 22, his RBI to 80, but his .462 slugging percentage fell far short of Rogers Hornsby, who led the league with a .559 mark. Hornsby quickly adapted to the power game of the rival American League, and left his small ball National League brethren in the dust.

Brooklyn also produced the best pitched game of the day, as Jeff Pfeffer tosses a seven hit shutout. He walked none and struck out four on the day. At that time, four strikeouts in a game represented a good total for a pitcher.

Pfeffer represents one of the reasons I enjoy this project. He pitched extremely well in his career, yet I know little about him. He does not rate a mention in the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, for example. Yet from 1914 through 1920 he posted a 33.3 rWAR, and in four of those seasons his rWAR stood well over three. He finished his career with a 158-112 record, a .585 winning percentage. A low walk rate represented his strength as a pitcher, issuing just 2.2 walks per nine IP in his career. That was slightly balanced by his propensity to hit batters, leading the majors twice in that category. A control pitcher who hits lots of batters conjures the image of intentional intimidation, which likely worked to Pfeffer’s advantage.

February 19, 2020