August 12, 1936: The Biggest Baseball Crowd -- In Berlin?

Bill Sayles. The "B" stands for "Brooklyn," not "Berlin."

August 12, 1936: What was definitely the biggest crowd in baseball history to that point, and may still be, sees a game in... Nazi Germany?

After having been a "demonstration sport," rather than an actual competition, at the Olympic Games in Paris in 1900, and again in Stockholm, Sweden in 1912, baseball returned to Olympic display, though still not yet joining Olympic competition, in 1936.

There was a single exhibition game, played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Since Olympic competitors had to be amateurs until 1992, all of the players in the game were Americans who had not yet played in the minor leagues, let alone in the major leagues. The umpire was Leslie Mann, whose 16-year major league career included playing as an outfielder for the 1914 World Series-winning "Miracle" Boston Braves. He had been among the leading advocates for putting baseball in the Olympics.

The "visiting team," the one batting 1st, was called the "U.S. Olympics." The "home team" was called the "World Champions." The game was set for 7 innings. The game was set for 8:00 PM, and for most of the players, this would be their 1st experience in a night game. (The 1st night game in MLB had been played the season before.)

Although the Olympiastadion was built for soccer and for track & field events, and didn't have room for a standard baseball field, I can find no reference to whether any accommodation was made for any "short fences."

The Berlin Olympiastadion

A crowd then estimated at 90,000 came out. Officially, the biggest crowd that had ever attended a single Major League Baseball game (rather than a doubleheader) was the 74,217 who were said to have attended the opening game of the original Yankee Stadium in 1923. (And that was almost certainly a lie, exaggerated by around 12,000 or so.)

But the Associated Press reported the crowd as being over 100,000, without getting any more specific than that. If so, then this remained a record for any baseball game until 2008, when 115,300 packed into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for an exhibition game. Regardless of the actual total, neither the Chancellor of Germany at the time, Adolf Hitler, nor any official of the Nazi Party, was said to have attended.

For the U.S. Olympics, 1st baseman Bill Shaw hit a 2-run home run in the 1st inning. At the end of 6 innings, the World Champions led, 5–4. The Olympics scored in the top of the 7th to tie the game, before Les McNeece hit a solo home run, what would now be called a walkoff home run, in the bottom of the 7th, to win the game for the World Champions, 6-5.

Bill Sayles was the starting pitcher for the World Champions. He was the only player in this game who would go on to play in the major leagues: He pitched in 5 games for the Boston Red Sox in 1939, 18 for the New York Giants in 1943, and 5 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943, with a record of 1-3, and an ERA of 5.61. He lived on until 1996.

Baseball would once again be a demonstration sport at the Olympics in Helsinki, Finland in 1952, and then occasionally, until finally becoming an official competition sport in Barcelona, Spain in 1992. After 2008 in Beijing, it was dropped. It was restored for Tokyo in 2020 (2021), but dropped again for Paris in 2024.

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August 12, 1936 was a Wednesday. Back in America, these major-league games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 11-7 at Yankee Stadium. Jake Powell hit a home run, Lou Gehrig went 0-for-2 with 2 walks, and rookie Joe DiMaggio went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Irving "Bump" Hadley went a shaky distance for the win.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 2-1 at Ebbets Field. Frank Gabler of the Giants and Van Lingle Mungo of the Dodgers each pitched 11 shutout innings. In the top of the 12th, Gabler himself tripled home 2 runs. But Gabler faltered in the bottom of the 12th, and had to be relieved by Carl Hubbell. He threw a wild pitch to get one of Gabler's runners home, but then shut the door for the Giants' win. Mel Ott went 0-for-5. Player-manager Bill Terry sent himself up as a pinch-hitter, but did not reach base.

* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox won the opener, 6-4 over the Philadelphia Athletics. Wes Ferrell pitched and won, and hit 2 home runs. That season, he went 20-15 with a 4.19 ERA; and, in 135 at-bats, batted .267 with 5 home runs and 24 RBIs. The year before, he went 25-12 with a 3.52 ERA, and in 150 at-bats, batted .347 with 7 home runs and 32 RBIs.

He, Don Newcombe in 1955, and Don Drysdale in 1965 remain the only players to have 20 pitching wins and 7 home runs in the same season. Babe Ruth, of course, did both, but not in the same season. He won 23 games in 1916 and 24 in 1917, but wasn't yet an everyday hitter, notching just 3 and 2 homers, respectively. In 1918, he won 13 and hit 11 homers; in 1919, he won 9 and hit 29 homers.

(UPDATE: Through the 2024 season, Shohei Ohtani's peak for pitching wins in a season is 15, in 2022, with 34 home runs.)

The A's won the nightcap, 6-0. Harry Kelley pitched a 3-hit shutout. Over the 2 games against his former team, Jimmie Foxx went 2-for-8 with a walk.

* The Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Paul Waner went 1-for-3 with a walk, and Lloyd Waner went 1-for-5.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-4 at League Park in Cleveland. Hank Greenberg was injured early in the season, and was out the rest of the way, including this game.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 8-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Frank Demaree went 4-for-5 for the Cubs, and Stan Hack went 3-for-5 with an RBI. But it was for nought, Joe Medwick and Johnny Mize hit home runs for the Redbirds.