George "High Pockets" Kelly
Game 8 is played at the Polo Grounds, home for one more season after this of both the National League's New York Giants and the American League's New York Yankees. George "Highpockets" Kelly of the Giants hits a ball through the legs of Yankee shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh in the 1st, scoring a run. It is the 1st time Peckinpaugh has blown it in a Series game, but it will not be the last.
The game is still 1-0 in the 9th, when Aaron Ward draws a walk with 1 out. Frank "Home Run" Baker, previously a Series star for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics against the Giants, hits a line shot that Giant 2nd baseman Johnny Rawlings snares, and throws to 1st to get Baker with the 2nd out. Ward, thinking the ball had gone through, heads for 3rd base, and Kelly throws across the infield to Frankie Frisch, and Ward is out on the double play, a rare 4-3-5 double play.
That's the game, and the 1st "Subway Series" (although the term wouldn't be used until the Yankee-Giant Series of 1936 and '37), as the Giants win, 5 games to 3.
For the Giants, it is their 2nd World Series win, their 1st since 1905. For Giants manager John McGraw, it is proof that his scrappy, run-scratching, pitching-and-defense-leading style of baseball, is better than the Yankee style, which is to get guys on base and wait for someone (most likely Babe Ruth, who was ineffective in this Series) to hit a home run. For the Yankees, their 1st World Series ends in disappointment. They will, however, be back.
The last survivor of the '21 Giants was Kelly, who died on October 13, 1984, exactly 63 years after this triumph.
For the Giants, it is their 2nd World Series win, their 1st since 1905. For Giants manager John McGraw, it is proof that his scrappy, run-scratching, pitching-and-defense-leading style of baseball, is better than the Yankee style, which is to get guys on base and wait for someone (most likely Babe Ruth, who was ineffective in this Series) to hit a home run. For the Yankees, their 1st World Series ends in disappointment. They will, however, be back.
The last survivor of the '21 Giants was Kelly, who died on October 13, 1984, exactly 63 years after this triumph.
Frisch is justifiably in the Hall of Fame, but his presence, and those of later teammate Bill Terry and a couple of friendly sportswriters, on the Veterans' Committee led to the election of several of his teammates on the Giants, and the St. Louis Cardinals, who many consider to be unworthy.
Some fans use the term "the Frisch Five" to refer to his beneficiaries, although the list is not definitive: Among those included are Giants Kelly, Rube Marquard, Ross Youngs and Dave Bancroft; and Cardinals Jesse Haines and Charles "Chick" Hafey.
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October 13, 1921 was a Thursday. Also on this day, Lou Henry Saban was born. He is the only man ever to coach the Buffalo Bills in a season in which they went as far as the rules would allow them to go, winning the 1964 and '65 American Football League Championships. Typical Bills luck, these would be the last 2 AFL Champions who would not face the NFL Champions in a world championship game, a.k.a. the Super Bowl.
Lou died in 2009. You may know him best as the father of Nick Saban, winner of National Championships at Louisiana State and Alabama.
Lou died in 2009. You may know him best as the father of Nick Saban, winner of National Championships at Louisiana State and Alabama.
Also on this day, Ivo Livi is born. The family escaped Italy's fascist regime, and moved to Marseille, France. He began singing in music halls, under the French name Yves Montand, and was discovered by Édith Piaf. He became one of Europe's biggest actors, living until 1991.
Baseball season was now over. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season was still a few weeks away. So this was the only score on this historic day.
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