Ross Middlebrooks Youngs was born on April 10, 1897 in Shiner, Texas, outside Houston. His father moved the family to a ranch outside San Antonio. Although he had offers to play college football, he preferred baseball. He flopped playing for the Austin Senators of the Texas League in 1914, and had to work his way back up. Batting .342 in Class D, the New York Giants heard about the young right fielder, and signed him.
After batting .356 with the Rochester Hustlers of the International League in 1917, Giants manager John McGraw called him up at the end of the season. He played his 1st major league game on September 25, 1917, the same day that another New York baseball legend, Phil Rizzuto, was born. Liking his hustle, McGraw gave him the nickname "Pep." Though Youngs was just 20, McGraw saw a future manager in him, maybe even his own successor.
His 1st full season, 1918, would be the 1st of 7 straight seasons in which he batted at least .300. In Game 3 of the 1921 World Series, Youngs became the 1st player to get 2 hits in 1 inning of a World Series game. The Giants won the Series that season and the next, but lost in 1923, all to the New York Yankees. In 1924, they became the 1st team to win 4 straight NL Pennants, but lost the World Series to the Washington Senators.
In 1925, Youngs batted just .264. He was diagnosed with Bright's disease. Though treatable now, at the time, this was a death sentence. McGraw hired a nurse to travel with him, and in just 95 games in 1926, he batted .306. But after August 10, 1926, he never appeared in another game.
He did, however, manage to teach a teenager from Louisiana how to play right field. His name was Mel Ott, and, unlike Youngs, he did go on to have a long major league career, and to manage the Giants. (But he didn't live a full life, either, killed in a car crash in 1958, only 49.) Youngs was bedridden for most of 1927‚ and died within days of the end of the season.
For years, McGraw had no pictures of former players in his office. Two years earlier, when Christy Mathewson died, he became the 1st player so honored by McGraw. Youngs would become the 2nd. Since he died before uniform numbers were worn, there is no number to retire for him.
As with Mathewson, Youngs received a plaque that was put on the wall of the center field clubhouse at the Polo Grounds. It would later be joined by plaques for McGraw; for Al Blozis and Jack Lummus, football Giants who were killed in World War II; and for former Mayor Jimmy Walker, a Giants fan whose corruption was legendary, but whose work also helped professional sports in New York.
In 1972, after years of lobbying by members Bill Terry (McGraw's eventual successor as manager, and himself succeeded by Ott) and Frankie Frisch, the Baseball Hall of Fame's Committee on Veterans elected Youngs to the Hall of Fame.
This was considered "cronyism" on behalf of a player who didn't belong. Indeed, having played the minimum of 10 seasons to qualify -- and only 7 games in his 1st and 95 in his last, he barely qualified there -- Youngs is often cited as a player in the Hall who does not deserve it. The lineup of "The Frisch Five," players in the Hall due to Frisch's insistence, varies, but usually includes Youngs.
He had a lifetime batting average of .322. Of all players eligible for the Hall of Fame, with at least as many plate appearances as he has, 5,337, only 1 players is not in: Babe Herman, at .325. And, unlike Herman, who was said to be the worst defensive outfielder of that era, Youngs was considered the best, at least in the National League. And he played on 4 Pennant winners and 2 World Champions. He belongs.
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October 22, 1927 was a Saturday. Baseball season had ended 2 weeks earlier, with the New York Yankees sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NHL season wouldn't start until November 15.
One game was played in the NFL, and it was by the NFL version of the New York Giants. Not surprisingly, it was in Pennsylvania, where professional sports on Sundays wouldn't be legalized for another 6 years. Specifically, it was at Frankford Stadium in Northeast Philadelphia, and the Giants beat the Frankford Yellow Jackets, 13-0.
Given the earliness of the football season, a surprising number of college games that are now, or once were, considered major rivalries were played:
* Penn State beat Syracuse, 9-6 at Archbold Stadium in Syracuse.
* The University of Pittsburgh beat their next-door neighbors, Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon), 23-7 at Pitt Stadium.
* Michigan beat Ohio State, 21-0 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
* Illinois beat Northwestern, 7-6 at Dyche Stadium in Evanston, Illinois, outside Chicago.
* Minnesota beat Iowa, 38-0 at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis.
* Virginia beat Virginia Tech, 7-0 at Lambuth Field in Charlottesville, Virginia.
* Georgia beat Auburn, 33-3 at Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Georgia. (It was a neutral site, about halfway between their campuses.)
* Washington beat Washington State, 14-0 at the original Husky Stadium in Seattle.
In other games:
* Yale beat Army, 10-6 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.
* Navy beat Duke, 32-6 at Thompson Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.
* Alabama beat Sewanee, 24-0 at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
* Notre Dame beat Indiana, 19-6 at the old Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.
* The University of Chicago beat the University of Pennsylvania, 13-7 at Stagg Field in Chicago.
* Among New York City teams: Columbia beat Williams, 19-0 at Baker Field in Upper Manhattan; Fordham lost to George Washington University, 13-0 at Central High School Stadium in Washington, D.C.; New York University beat Rutgers, 60-6 at Yankee Stadium; City College of New York beat Rhode Island State, 20-19 at Kingston, Rhode Island; and Manhattan College beat the New York Aggies, 78-0 at the Jasper Oval in The Bronx. The Aggies are now the State University of New York (SUNY) at Farmingdale, on Long Island.
* And while Rutgers were getting clobbered at the House That Ruth Built, the other New Jersey team, Princeton, beat Cornell, 21-10 at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York.
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal traveled to Yorkshire, and played the team then known as "The Wednesday" to a draw, 1-1 at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. They would rename themselves "Sheffield Wednesday" in 1930.
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