August 24, 1919: Ray Caldwell Is Struck By Lightning -- and Wins

Ray Caldwell, 1920. The mourning band

was for teammate Ray Chapman.

August 24, 1919: A major-league baseball player is struck by lightning during a game. If this were to happen today, even if the player survived, the umpires would suspend the game immediately.

They did not do so on this occasion. The player lived -- and won the game.

A native of Salamanca, New York, Ray Caldwell pitched for the New York Yankees from 1910 to 1918. In 1919, the Cleveland Indians acquired him. On August 24, he started against the Philadelphia Athletics at League Park in Cleveland. The Indians scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 4th, and the A's pulled 1 back in the top of the 5th. In the 8th, Caldwell helped his own cause with a hit, but was stranded.

Storm clouds rolled in, but it looked like Caldwell would finish the game off before the rain started. He got the 1st 2 outs in the top of the 9th. Joe Dugan, later to be the shortstop on the Yankee Pennant-winners of the late 1920s, was the batter. Suddenly, Caldwell was struck by a bolt of lightning, knocking him unconscious.

Incredibly, he wasn't hurt. He regained consciousness, and got Dugan to ground out to 3rd to end the game: Indians 2, Athletics 1.

He did not miss a start. On August 29, he went the distance in a loss to the Chicago White Sox. After that, he missed a start, but on September 10, he pitched a no-hitter against the Yankees at the Polo Grounds. In a span of just 17 days, he went from getting struck by lightning to pitching a no-hitter. And managers and general managers "baby" today's pitchers.

Lightning didn't stop Ray Caldwell. Alcohol did. He helped the Indians win the 1920 World Series, going 20-10, but had a poor season in 1921, and was released, having pitched his last major league game at age 33. Because of his reputation as an unreliable boozer, no major league team would sign him.

He hung on in the minor leagues until he was 45 years old, famously pitching the Birmingham Barons to the 1931 Southern Association Pennant, and then, at 43, outpitching Dizzy Dean, then the 21-year-old ace of the Texas League Pennant-winners, the Houston Buffaloes, to win the Dixie Series. In the major leagues, his career record was 134-120; counting the minors, his pro record was 293-267.

He became a bartender at a country club, marrying the cook, and lived until 1967.

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August 24, 1919 was a Sunday. At this time, in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, home to 5 major-league baseball teams between them, it was still illegal to play professional sports on a Sunday. These other games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 4-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Lefty Williams won his 20th game of the season. Shoeless Joe Jackson went 2-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Both would be involved in the upcoming World Series fix. Eddie Collins, not involved but an all-time great, went 1-for-2 with a walk.

* The New York Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0 at the Polo Grounds. Fred Toney, who had pitched one side of MLB's only double no-hitter with the 1917 Reds, and Hal Carlson both pitched goose eggs into the bottom of the 10th. That's when Heinie Zimmerman led off with a double off Carlson. Frankie Frisch grounded to Pirate 1st baseman George Whitted, who made a bad throw to Toney covering, that Zimmerman scored the winning and only run.

* The Brooklyn Robins -- as the Dodgers were known when Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931 -- beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-1 at Ebbets Field.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-7 at Navin Field in Detroit. (It would later be renamed Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium.) The Tigers led 5-4 going into the 9th, but the Sox tied it. The Sox scored 3 in the top of the 11th, and the Tigers could only come back with 2 in the bottom half. Babe Ruth went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs, including the winning run on a single in the 11th. Ty Cobb went 1-for-5.

* The Washington Senators beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Tom Zachary pitched the 1st 6 2/3rds innings, allowing 6 hits, for the win. Walter Johnson went the rest of the way, allowing 2 hits, and earning the save, not that anybody knew what a save was at the time. George Sisler was available for the Browns, but did not play.

* The Boston Braves and the Chicago Cubs interrupted their series at Braves Field in Boston, because it was Sunday. And the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies interrupted their series at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, for the same reason.