April 20, 1924: The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The South Siders scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th, including a home run by Earl Sheeley. For the Indians, player-manager Tris Speaker went 0-for-2 with an RBI.
Eddie Collins went 2-for-4 for the White Sox. In so doing, he played in his 2,130th career game at the position of 2nd base. That surpassed Bid McPhee, making him the all-time leader at the position.
John Alexander McPhee was called "Biddy," a term at the time for a fussy old woman or a busybody, because, as a boy, he spent so much time helping out in the kitchen of a hotel run by his uncle. It got shortened to "Bid." He starred for the Cincinnati Reds from 1882 to 1899, lived until 1943, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.
Eddie Collins started, 1906 to 1914, and ended, 1927 to 1930, his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. In between, he was with the Chicago White Sox. He had a lifetime batting average of .333, 3,315 hits, and 745 stolen bases. He played on 6 World Series-winning teams: In 1910, '11, '13, '29 and '30 with the A's, and 1917 with the White Sox. He was with the White Sox when 8 of their players threw the 1919 World Series, but the conspirators suspected that he was too goody-goody to go in on the fix, and didn't let him in on it.
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him 24th on its list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. In his 2002 book Win Shares, Bill James ranked him as the greatest 2nd baseman of all time.
Collins raised the record for most games played at 2nd base to 2,650. The closest any player has come to breaking this record is Joe Morgan, with 2,527.
There is one possible black mark on his record: From 1933 to 1947, he was general manager of the Boston Red Sox, and he may have been responsible for instituting a policy of refusing to consider black players, although this is not conclusive. He died in 1951, and, a few weeks later, a plaque in his memory was affixed to the front entrance of Fenway Park. In 2018, in a possible gesture of reconciliation, Collins' plaque, along with one installed for team owner Tom Yawkey following his death in 1976, was removed.
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April 20, 1924 was a Sunday. Actress Nina Foch was born. And these other baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Senators 12-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Walter Johnson outpitched Bob Shawkey. George "Showboat" Fisher went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs, Leon "Goose" Goslin went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and 4 RBIs, and player-manager Bucky Harris went 3-for-5. For the Yankees, Babe Ruth went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and a walk.
* The New York Giants beat the Boston Braves, 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. Frankie Frisch went 0-for-4.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers were trailing the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 after 6 innings, when the game was called on account of rain, making the result official.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Redland Field (later Crosley Field) in Cincinnati.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 9-2 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Tigers player-manager Ty Cobb went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. George Sisler went 0-for-4.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Rogers Hornsby went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Harold "Pie" Traynor went 1-for-4.
* And the 2 remaining American League teams were the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics, both played in States where playing professional sports on Sundays was still illegal -- in Massachusetts until 1928 and Pennsylvania until 1933. So neither one played on this day.
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