October 8, 1930: The "Year of the Hitter" Ends

Al Simmons

October 8, 1930: The Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1 in Game 6 of the World Series, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. George Earnshaw outpitches Bill Hallahan thanks to home runs by Hall-of-Famer Al Simmons and Jimmy Dykes.

The A's thus take their 2nd straight World Series. They have now won 5, all in a span of 21 years. It will be 42 years, and 2 franchise moves, before they win another.

The last living player from the Athletics' last Philly title team was Jimmy Moore, Simmons' backup in left field, who lived until 1986.

This game concluded "The Year of the Hitter." It's hard to explain what happened. Some people believed that the "lively ball," introduced in 1920, was getting its inner yarn wound more tightly, with the stitches getting low, preventing pitchers from getting a good grip. Sportswriter Ring Lardner called it "a leather-covered sphere stuffed with dynamite."

But having such a ball reach peak distance in 1930 doesn't explain why there weren't as many hitting feats in 1929 or '28, or why only New York Yankees stars Babe Ruth (60) and Lou Gehrig (47) had more home runs than the 30 that both Hack Wilson and Cy Williams had in '27.

The various "doctored pitches" that fell under the umbrella term "spitball" had been banned, but that had also happened in 1920, taking effect the next year. That, alone, helped, but it should have produced a big year sooner if that was the only reason.

There were right field foul poles closer than 300 feet in all 3 New York ballparks, and also in Fenway Park in Boston, Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, and League Park in Cleveland. But there were also center field fences at least 475 feet away in some ballparks, including both Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds in New York, so that would seem to cancel out a lot of the cheap home runs. Nor would it, by itself, explain higher batting averages.

But check out these odd stats:

* The National League, as a whole, batted .303. Of its 8 teams, 7 batted .303 or higher, topped by the New York Giants at .319. The American League, as a whole, batted .288.

* Bill Terry of the Giants batted .401. No NL player has topped .400 since. Babe Herman of the Brooklyn Robins (who went back to the Dodgers name in 1932 after Wilbert Robinson was fired as manager) batted .393. Chuck Klein of the Philadelphia Phillies batted .386. Lefty O'Doul of the Phillies batted .383. Terry also collected 254 hits, tying the NL record that O'Doul set the year before, which still stands.

Bill Terry

* Al Simmons of the A's led the AL with .381, barely beating Gehrig with .379.

* Hack Wilson of the Chicago Cubs hit 56 home runs, setting an NL record that would stand until 1998 (and only 2 NL players since have topped it without using steroids), and set a major league record that still stands with 191 runs batted in. Klein had 170 RBIs, a shocking total by today's standards, and still didn't come close to Wilson's total.

Hack Wilson

* Ruth led the AL with 49 homers, and Gehrig led in RBIs with 173.

* Klein hit 59 doubles. Johnny Hodapp of the Cleveland Indians hit 51. Kiki Cuyler of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit 50. Ruth hit 49.

* Baker Bowl and its 280-foot right field pole, even with a 60-foot-high wall to discourage cheap home runs, hurt the Phillies' pitchers more than it helped their hitters: They set a record for highest team earned run average of all time, with 6.71. They finished 52-102, 40 games behind the Pennant-winning Cardinals. There was an ad for Lifebuoy soap on the wall, with the brand name in huge letters that could be easily seen all over the park. The sign read, "The Phillies use LIFEBUOY." The joke was, "And they still stink!"

See all the puddles on the field? A common way of drying it up back then

was to pur gasoline on it, and burn the water off. It was bad for the field.

* The Cardinals' entire starting lineup batted over .300: Right fielder George Watkins, .373, with 17 homers and 87 RBIs; 2nd baseman Frankie Frisch, .346 with 10 homers and 114 RBIs; right fielder Charles "Chick" Hafey, .334, with 26 homers and 107 RBIs; catcher Jimmie Wilson, .318; 3rd baseman Earl "Sparky" Adams, .314; 1st baseman "Sunny" Jim Bottomley, .304, with 15 homers and 97 RBIs; shortstop Charlie Gelbert, .304; and center fielder Taylor Douthit, .303.

But they were defeated in the World Series by the A's, whose lineup was, overall, even more fearsome: Left fielder Al Simmons, .381, 36, 165; 1st baseman Jimmie Foxx, .335, 37, 156; right fielder Edmund "Bing" Miller, .303, 9, 100; catcher Gordon "Mickey" Cochrane, .357, 10, 85; 3rd baseman Jimmy Dykes, .301, 6, 73; center fielder George "Mule" Haas, .299, 2, 68; 2nd baseman Max Bishop, .252, 10, 58; .shortstop Joe Boley, 276, 4, 55. Those weak spots were more than made up for by the big bats.

And the Cards didn't have a better pitcher than Bill Hallahan, 15-9. The A's had Lefty Grove, 28-5; and George Earnshaw, 22-13. The A's were better where it mattered, and won the title.

The next year, the Cards had made some adjustments, and beat the A's in 7 games, ending Connie Mack's bid for 3 straight World Series wins.

*

October 8, 1930 was a Wednesday. Despite that day of the week being unusual for football, there were 2 NFL games on the day. The Chicago Cardinals beat the Newark Tornadoes, 13-0 at City Field in Newark, New Jersey. Built in 1925, and later renamed Newark Schools Stadium, it was replaced in 2011. The Tornadoes grew out of the Orange Athletic Club, and joined the NFL for the 1929 season as the Orange Tornadoes, played 1930 as the Newark Tornadoes, and then played in minor leagues until 1970.

And the Portsmouth Spartans beat the Frankford Yellow Jackets, 39-7 at Universal Stadium in Portsmouth, Ohio. Built in 1928, it still stands, as Spartan Memorial Stadium. The Spartans moved in 1934, becoming the Detroit Lions. The Jackets lost their Northeast Philadelphia stadium in a fire in 1931, and went out of business, opening the path for the Philadelphia Eagles to begin play in 1933.