September 30, 1934: Baseball's regular season comes to a close. Among the games played on this day, the Detroit Tigers sweep a doubleheader from the St. Louis Browns, 10-6 and 6-2 at Navin Field in Detroit. The ballpark will be renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938, and Tiger Stadium in 1961. The Tigers played in it from 1912 to 1999.
The game doesn't mean much: The Tigers won the American League Pennant by 7 games over the New York Yankees, while the Browns, as was usually the case, were far in the other direction, 6th place, 33 games out of 1st.
But in the top of the 6th inning, Charley O'Leary pinch-hit for Browns pitcher George Blaeholder, and singled off Elden Auker. Following a single by Jake Garms and a double by Jack Burns, he scored.
At first glance, this doesn't seem all that remarkable. But it was: O'Leary had just become the oldest player in Major League Baseball history, the oldest to bat, the oldest to get a hit, and the oldest to score a run.
In 1934, Rogers Hornsby, his former Cardinal and Cub teammate, was managing the Browns, and brought him onto his coaching staff. On that last day of the season, Hornsby sent him up to bat, at age 58, 15 days shy of his 59th birthday. He remained on the Browns' staff until Hornsby was fired in 1937. He died on January 6, 1941, at age 65.
On September 25, 1965, the Kansas City Athletics activated legendary Negro League pitcher Leroy "Satchel" Paige, and he pitched the 1st 3 innings, without allowing a run. He came to bat, but didn't get a hit. At 59, he became the oldest player to play, the oldest to pitch, and the oldest to bat.
On September 12, 1976, the Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the California Angels at Comiskey Park, 2-1 (in 10 innings) and 5-1. Minnie Miñoso, age 53, a coach for the White Sox and once a great player for them, batted 9th as the designated hitter, and went 1-for-3, singling off Sid Monge in the 2nd inning, making him the oldest player in major league history to get a hit.
Or so everybody thought. At the time, O'Leary was believed to have been born in 1882, so Miñoso got credit for breaking his record. Later, it was discovered that O'Leary was born in 1875. So, while Miñoso's achievement was remarkable, it was not unprecedented. In 1980, White Sox owner Bill Veeck sent him up to bat again, making him a 5-decade player (1940s to 1980s), but he did not get a hit. So O'Leary remains the oldest player to come to bat, the oldest to get a hit, and the oldest to score a run.
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September 30, 1934 was a Sunday. These other baseball games were played.
* The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Senators, 5-3 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, despite a home run from Lou Gehrig. Babe Ruth goes 0-for-3, and it turns out to be his last appearance for the Yankees.
The Yankees finished 2nd in the AL, 7 games behind the Tigers. This is in spite of having players winning both the batting and the pitching Triple Crown. Gehrig batted .363, with 49 home runs and 165 runs batted in. Vernon "Lefty" Gomez won 26 games (against just 5 losses, and no Yankee has matched those 26 wins since), had a 2.33 earned-run average, and struck out 158 batters. All of those figures led the League. Gehrig and Mickey Mantle remain the only Yankees to win batting Triple Crowns.
So why didn't the Yankees win the Pennant? Yes, the Tigers had a great team, but that didn't usually stop the Yankees between 1921 and 1964. Part of the problem was injuries. Center fielder Earle Combs hit his head on an unpadded outfield wall on July 24, played only 63 games, and was never the same. In addition, 3rd baseman Red Rolfe played only 89 games. And while Gomez and Charles "Red" Ruffing were, as usual, the best lefty-righty combo in AL pitching, there wasn't really a good 3rd starter, let alone a 4th.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, 8-5 at the Polo Grounds. The Giants' 3rd-best pitcher, "Fat" Freddie Fitzsimmons, noted for his usually beating the Dodgers, did not pitch well, although he helped his own cause with a home run. In the top of the 10th inning, neither the Giants' starter and 2nd-best pitcher, Hal Schumacher, nor their ace, "King" Carl Hubbell, could hold off a Dodger rally.
The preceding January, a sportswriter had asked Bill Terry, the 1st baseman who had also managed the Giants to win the previous year's World Series, who would be their top challengers in 1934. He said, "Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Chicago will be the teams we'll have to beat. I don’t think the Braves will do as well as they did last year. I was just wondering, Is Brooklyn still in the league?"
Over the last 3 games of the regular season, the Dodgers proved that, yes, Brooklyn was still in the National League. That sweep of a doubleheader on Saturday and the single game on Sunday cost the Giants the Pennant. Had the Giants won 2 out of 3, they would have finished in a tie for the Pennant, and forced a best-2-out-of-3 Playoff with St. Louis.
For Dodger fans, who hated the Giants even more than Red Sox fans would eventually hate the Yankees, it was a rare moment in the Sun. In 1941, they won their 1st Pennant in 1920, with their ace being... a 40-year-old Freddie Fitzsimmons.
I have a separate entry for this event.
* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox won the opener, 5-0. George Hockette allowed 8 hits, but kept the shutout. The Philadelphia Athletics won the nightcap, 4-2. Over the 2 games, Jimmie Foxx went 1-for-6 with 3 walks and an RBI.
* The Chicago White Sox won the 1st game of a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians, 9-5 at League Park in Cleveland. Ted Lyons was the winning pitcher, and former Athletics star Al Simmons went 5-for-5. The Indians were leading the 2nd game, 5-3 after 5 innings, when the game was called due to darkness.
* The Boston Braves swept the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3 and 5-4 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The 1st game went 10 innings, and the 2nd was called due to darkness after 7. (This was the day the U.S. switched from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time.)
The Braves finished 78-73, in 4th place, 16 games out of 1st. But the next year, they had one of the worst seasons in baseball history, going 38-115, the most losses of any MLB team between 1916 and 1962. For the 1936 season, as would be said today, they "rebranded": They became the Boston Bees, and Braves Field became National League Park, a.k.a. the Bee Hive. Neither name caught on, and in 1941, they went back to "Boston Braves" and "Braves Field."
* The Chicago Cubs swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-2 and 7-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The next season, Crosley Field in Cincinnati became the 1st major league ballpark with lights. From 1948 to 1988, Wrigley was the last one without lights. Yet, on this day, despite the doubleheader and the early sunset, they got a full 18 innings in. (Well, 17, as neither game needed a bottom of the 9th.)
* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Cards needed a win, or a Giant loss, to clinch the Pennant on this final day. They got both. Jay "Dizzy" Dean pitched a 7-hit shutout, to advance to 30-7 on the season. No NL pitcher has won 30 games in a season since. Only 1 has won 28, and only 1 other has won 27.
Like the Giants, they had a player-manager. Like Fitzsimmons would in 1941, he was an ex-Giant who came back to haunt his former team: Frankie Frisch, the graduate of Fordham University in The Bronx who was nicknamed "The Fordham Flash." On this day, he went 3-for-5. The Cards got home runs from Bill Delancey and James "Ripper" Collins.
The Cardinals went on to beat the Tigers in the World Series. They are remembered as "The Gashouse Gang," but that nickname wouldn't come until the next season.
There were 4 games played in the NFL:
* The football version of the New York Giants lost to the Green Bay Packers, 20-6 at City Stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
* The football version of the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Redskins, 10-6 at Ebbets Field.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Cincinnati Reds, 21-3 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.
* And the Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Cardinals, 6-0 at the University of Detroit Stadium.
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