October 10, 1926: Grover Cleveland Alexander vs. Tony Lazzeri

October 10, 1926: For the 1st time, Yankee Stadium hosts a Game 7 of the World Series. The Yankees trail the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 in the bottom of the 7th inning, but Cardinal starter Jesse Haines, a future Hall-of-Famer, develops a blister on his hand, and can’t pitch any further.

Rogers Hornsby, the great-hitting 2nd baseman who doubles as the Cardinal manager, brings in another future HOFer, Grover Cleveland Alexander. Old Alex (also nicknamed "Pete") had pitched and won Game 6 the day before, but celebrated afterward, and legend has it that he was really hungover.

Even if he wasn't, he had gone the distance the day before. And he was 39 years old, and an alcoholic, and also suffered from epilepsy, and was troubled by what he had seen in World War I (which, along with his epilepsy, he tried to treat with his drinking.)

He was, and nearly 100 years later he remains, one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He would retire with a total of 373 victories, tied for 3rd all-time with Christy Mathewson (sharing 1st all-time in National League wins, as Walter Johnson's 417 were all in the American League and Cy Young's 511 were split between both Leagues). But in the Autumn of 1926, he was a shadow of his former self.

And he comes in with a 1-run lead, the bases loaded, and a dangerous hitter at the plate, Tony Lazzeri. Although just a rookie at the major-league level, the nearly 23-year-old native of San Francisco had hit 60 home runs in a Pacific Coast League season, and would have been the American League's Rookie of the Year had the award existed in 1926.

Italians in New York loved how his hits would "push up" baserunners, and, in their accent, he became known as "Poosh-em-Up Tony." Aside from Babe Ruth, he was probably already the 2nd-most popular player on the Yankees, ahead of Lou Gehrig. (He would not remain so, as Gehrig's 1927 season allowed him to surpass all ballplayers except Ruth in popularity.)

Lazzeri hits a long drive down the left-field line, but just foul. That brings the count to 0-and-2.  Alexander fires in, and Lazzeri swings and misses. He's out.

It is the most famous strikeout in baseball history -- unless you want to count the one by "the mighty Casey" in Ernest Thayer's poem "Casey At the Bat" -- and, according to legend, it ended the World Series, turning Alexander into a bigger hero than ever.

Except it didn't end the game. There were 2 more innings to play. Alexander got through the 8th, and with 1 out to go in the 9th, he walked Babe Ruth. Then, for reasons known only to him -- Yankee manager Miller Huggins said he hadn't given him the signal to try -- the Babe tried to steal 2nd base. Catcher Bob O’Farrell threw in, and Hornsby slapped the tag on him.

The Babe was out, the game was over, and for the 1st time in 40 years -- since the Cardinals, then known as the Browns, won the 1886 American Association Pennant and defeated the Chicago team now known as the Cubs in a postseason series -- a St. Louis baseball team was World Champions.

This was also the 1st time the Yankees had played a Game 7 of a World Series, and they lost it. Actually, the Yankees' record in World Series Game 7s isn't especially good. They've won in 1947, 1952, 1956, 1958 and 1962; and they've lost in 1926, 1955, 1957, 1960, 1964 and 2001, for a record of 5-6. At home at the old Yankee Stadium, it was even worse: 1-3. But they've still won more World Series in a Game 7 than all but 6 franchises have won Series regardless of how long they've gone – and the number drops to 4 if you only count the Series they've won in their current cities.

Alexander was a hero all over again. But it was a last stand. He helped the Cards back into the World Series in 1928, but, that time, the Yankees knocked him around. He spent much of his retirement walking into bars, and trading his story of how he struck out Lazzeri for drinks.

In 1945, interviewed for John P. Carmichael’s book My Greatest Day In Baseball, he told of meeting Lazzeri on the street in New York, and telling him, "Tony, I'm getting tired of fanning you." And Lazzeri told him, "Perhaps you think I'm not." Alexander's health problems killed him in 1950, aged only 63.

Incredibly, he outlived Lazzeri. Poosh-em-Up Tony would rebound from this strikeout to help the Yankees win 5 World Series, bridging the 1920s Ruth-Gehrig Yankees to the 1930s Gehrig-DiMaggio Yankees. But he, too, had epilepsy. In 1946, he suffered a seizure at his home, fell down the stairs, and broke his neck. He was just 43.

And, unlike Alexander, he did not live long enough to see his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was finally elected in 1991, 53 years after Alexander was so honored. Sadly, for all each man did, each had a hard life, and each is still best remembered for that one at-bat.

This is due in large part to the 1952 film The Winning Team, starring Ronald Reagan as Alexander, Doris Day as his wife Annie, and Frank Lovejoy as Hornsby.

Reagan as Alexander

Bob Lemon, still in the middle of a Hall of Fame career as a pitcher at that point, played Jesse Haines. Also playing players were real-life players Harry "Peanuts" Lowery, George "Catfish" Metkovich, Irv Noren, Hank Sauer, Al Zarilla, and future managing star Gene Mauch. But the actor playing Lazzeri is not credited.

The last survivor from the 1926 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals was infielder George "Specs" Toporcer -- so nicknamed because he was one of the few players to wear glasses on the field in that era -- a Manhattan native who died in 1989 on Long Island, age 90.

UPDATE: The Cardinals have a team Hall of Fame. From their 1926 World Champions, they have inducted team owner Sam Breadon, general manager Branch Rickey, 2nd baseman and manager Rogers Hornsby, 1st baseman Jim Bottomley, left fielder Charles "Chick" Hafey and pitcher Jesse Haines -- but, oddly, through the 2025 season, not pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Bottomley and Hornsby were elected to the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame. Rickey and Hornsby were elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Tony Lazzeri is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but has never been honored with a Plaque in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. When the Yankees began wearing uniform numbers, he was given 6. The Yankees have retired that number, but for later manager Joe Torre.

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October 10, 1926 was a Sunday. Obviously, this was the only baseball game of the day. And basketball and hockey were out of season. These NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Chicago Bears, 7-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Brooklyn Lions beat the Hartford Blues, 6-0 at Ebbets Field.

* The Providence Steam Roller (for some reason, never written with an S on the end) beat the Columbus Tigers, 19-0 at the Providence Cycledrome.

* The Pottsville Maroons beat the Dayton Triangles, 24-6 at Minersville Park in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

* The Akron Indians and the Canton Bulldogs, neighbors and arch-rivals, played to a 0-0 tie at League Park in Akron.

* The Detroit Panthers beat the Kansas City Cowboys, 10-0 at Navin Field in Detroit. (It was renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938, and Tiger Stadium in 1961.)

* The Duluth Kelleys beat the Hammond Pros, 26-0 at Turner Field in Hammond, Indiana, outside Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Badgers beat the Racine Tornadoes, 13-2 at Horlick Field in Racine, Wisconsin.

* The Chicago Cardinals beat the Green Bay Packers, 13-7 at Green Bay City Stadium.

This was also the season of the 1st league to be named the American Football League. But it only played 2 games on this day:

* The Brooklyn Horsemen lost to the Los Angeles Wildcats, 23-0 at Commercial Field in Brooklyn. Both teams were named for their star players: The Horsemen had Harry Stuhldreher and Elmer Layden, two of "The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame"; while the Wildcats had George "Wildcat" Wilson, star back of the University of Washington.

* And the Rock Island Independents, formerly a team in the NFL, beat the 1st sports team named the Chicago Bulls, 7-3 at Browning Park in Moline, Illinois. Moline and Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, on opposite sides of the Mississippi River, are known as the Quad Cities. After this season, it became clear that the Quad Cities, even all put together, were way too small to host a major league sports team -- even if the NFL wasn't really "major league" at this point, and the original AFL certainly wasn't.

That year, there were 22 teams in the NFL, and 9 teams in the AFL. The market was overestimated, and saturated: It was too much, even in the prosperous "Roaring Twenties." A total of 31 professional football teams wouldn't be matched again until 1999.