July 19, 1933: The Ferrell Brothers Hit Home Runs In the Same Game

July 19, 1933: The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. The Indians led 7-3 at the 7th inning stretch, but the Red Sox came back to tie it. An error doomed Boston in the top of the 13th.

Wes Ferrell and Rick Ferrell became the 1st brothers on opposing teams to hit home runs in the same game. In fact, they did it in the same inning, the 4th. In the top half, Wes hit a 2-run homer off Indian starter Hank Johnson. And in the bottom half, Rick hit a 3-run homer off the Sox' starter – Wes.
 
In a career lasting from 1927 to 1941, Wes Ferrell went 193-128, with a 4.04 ERA, a 116 ERA+ (meaning he was 16 percent better at preventing earned runs than the average pitcher in that hitting-happy time), a .280 batting average, and 38 home runs, a record for pitchers other than Babe Ruth and, now, Shohei Ohtani. He peaked at 7 homers in 1933 and 1935, by which point he had joined Rick on the Red Sox. He was named to the 1st All-Star Game in 1933, and again in 1937.
 
In 1935, in addition to his 7 home runs, he won 25 games, a combination that has never been matched by any pitcher. Only 3 other pitchers have won 20 or more games and hit 7 or more homers in a single season: Bob Lemon for the Cleveland Indians in 1949, Don Newcombe for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955, and Don Drysdale for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965. That's it. That's the list. No, Ruth never did it: By the time he started hitting home runs like crazy, he wasn't pitching anymore. (UPDATE: Ohtani won 15 games in 2022, to go with his 34 home runs. But 15 wins, while impressive, especially in the era of five-man rotations, is not 20 wins.)

The Ferrell brothers were from Guilford, North Carolina. Despite fine careers, their only Pennant was in 1938, when Wes was with the New York Yankees, but he was hurt, and he was not included on the World Series roster. He was pretty much done at age 30, and threw his last pitch at 33.
 
Rick batted .281 lifetime, from 1929 to 1947, and was regarded as the best defensive catcher of his time. He made 8 All-Star Games, including, as with Wes, the 1st. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, although a lot of people think the wrong brother was: That Rick falls short, and that Wes should have been the one. Despite being 3 years older, Rick outlived Wes by plenty: Wes died in 1976, Rick in 1995.

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July 19, 1933 was a Wednesday. These other baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 8-4 at Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth went 0-for-5. Lou Gehrig went 1-for-4. Dixie Walker, later to star across town with the Brooklyn Dodgers, hit a home run for them. And Joe Sewell went 4-for-5. But former Yankee "Sad" Sam Jones went the distance to beat them.

* A doubleheader was split at the Polo Grounds. In the opener, the New York Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1. The Giants won the nightcap, 7-3. Watson Clark had to leave the game in the 1st inning, and Carl Hubbell pitched 8 1/3rd innings of shutout relief. Over the 2 games, Giants player-manager Bill Terry went 2-for-8 with a walk, and Mel Ott went 1-for-8 with a walk and an RBI. For the Pirates, Paul Waner went 4-for-7 with a walk and an RBI, and Lloyd Waner went 3-for-9.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Redland Field in Cincinnati. The ballpark was renamed Crosley Field the next season.

* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. In the opener, The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-3. The Tigers won the nightcap, 10-5. Over the 2 games, Jimmie Foxx went 2-for-7 with an RBI. Pinky Higgins went 4-for-8. For the Tigers, Marv Owen went 7-for-11 with 2 RBIs, and Pete Fox went 4-for-9 with 3 RBIs.

* The Washington Senators beat the St. Louis Browns, 8-7 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Boston Braves and the Chicago Cubs were supposed to play at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but it was moved back to July 16, in the hopes of getting a bigger crowd for a Sunday doubleheader. The Braves won the 1st game, 2-1. The Cubs won the 2nd game, 3-1.

* The same thing was done with the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Cards won the 1st game, 4-2. The Phils won the 2nd game, 8-2.