October 10, 1924: The Washington Senators Win the World Series

Bucky Harris

October 10, 1924: With the score tied at 3-3 and one out in the bottom of the 12th in Game 7 of the World Series at Griffith Stadium in Washington, Muddy Ruel, catcher for the Washington Senators, lifts a high catchable foul pop-up, which New York Giants catcher Hank Gowdy misses when he stumbles over his own mask.

Given a second chance, Ruel doubles. Earl McNeely then hits a grounder that strikes a pebble, and soars over the head of rookie Giant 3rd baseman Freddie Lindstrom, and drives home Ruel with the winning run making the Senators World Champions.

Walter Johnson, who had brilliantly toiled 18 seasons for a team known as "Washington: First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League," and had lost Games 1 and 4, pitched the 9th through 12th innings in relief, and not only had finally won a World Series game, but had won a World Series.

Walter Johnson

President Calvin Coolidge, running for a term in office in his own right after succeeding the late Warren Harding the year before, and his wife Grace were in attendance. He didn't like baseball, but Grace did.

Left to right: Grace Coolidge, Calvin Coolidge, Secretary of State Frank Kellogg

The Senators had their 1st World Championship in 24 years of trying. Outfielder George "Showboat" Fisher was the last survivor of the 1924 Senators, living until 1994, age 95. It took 95 years for another Washington baseball team has won another postseason series, but Nationals, having squandered National League Eastern Division titles in 2012, '14, '16 and '17, won the 2019 World Series.

In 1981, baseball historian John Thorn published Baseball's 10 Greatest Games. He included this game as one of them.

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October 10, 1924 was a Monday. There were no other baseball games. The NHL season hadn't started yet. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NFL played the previous day.

But there were other scores on this historic day, 2 of them, in college football. Kansas State beat Emporia State, 19-6 at World War Memorial Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. And Southern Methodist University (SMU) beat Austin College, 7-0 at Fair Park Stadium in Dallas. (The Cotton Bowl would be built on the site of Fair Park Stadium.)

And film director Ed Wood was born on this day.