November 9, 1912: Carlisle Upsets Army

Jim Thorpe. In this case, the C doesn't stand

for his college team, the Carlisle Indians,

but for his pro team, the Canton Bulldogs.

The picture is colorized, but otherwise real.

November 9, 1912: The biggest upset that college football had ever seen to that point takes place. In hindsight, though, it shouldn't have been considered an upset.

The football team at the United States Military Academy, at West Point, New York, usually called just "Army" in the newspapers, played their home games on The Plain, essentially a parade ground, which it still is. It would take until 1924 before they built a proper football facility, Michie Stadium.

But they were one of the top teams in the country, along with Ivy League schools Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania; and Midwestern schools Michigan, Minnesota, and the University of Chicago.

Not considered one of the top teams in the country was the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, established in 1879 as America's top boarding school for Native American teenagers. One of these was a member of the Sac and Fox tribe of Oklahoma, named Wa-Tho-Huk. No, that doesn't mean what it sounds like. It means "Bright Path." His "white man's name" was Jim Thorpe.

Thorpe was the greatest athlete in America. He had already showed his prowess on the football field at Carlisle, taking them to an 11-1 record in 1911, their only loss a 12-11 defeat away to Syracuse. They had beaten Harvard, Penn, Brown, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Before the 1912 season, he went to Stockholm for the Olympic Games, and won the Gold Medal in the decathlon and the pentathlon. When the Games' host, King Gustav V of Sweden, gave him his medals, he said to Thorpe, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world." Thorpe said, "Thanks, King." Ever since, the winner of the Olympic decathlon has been granted the unofficial title of "the world's greatest athlete."

In 1912, Carlisle went into their game away to Army at 10-0-1, having beaten Pittsburgh again, avenged their defeat to Syracuse, and come away with just one blemish on their record, a 0-0 tie against Washington & Jefferson University.

No one expected them to beat Army at West Point. But they did, 27-6. Thorpe scored 3 touchdowns, and kicked 3 extra points, missing 1.

It was called the biggest victory of Indians over the U.S. Army since the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

Legend has it that Dwight D. Eisenhower, later the leading General of World War II and the 34th President of the United States, broke his leg trying to tackle Thorpe in this game. It's not true: He played in Army's next game, against Tufts University, and that's when he sustained the injury that ended his playing career -- though, fortunately, not his Army career.

Ironically, just 7 days after their greatest victory, Carlisle would suffer their greatest defeat, losing their undefeated season by losing to Penn 34-26 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Army would also lose at Franklin Field that season, to Navy, and had already done so the previous season.

Thorpe, already the greatest track & field athlete in the world, became the 1st great player in pro football. He also played Major League Baseball, famously getting the only hit in the only MLB game whose 1st 9 innings had no hits, the "double no-hitter" by Fred Toney of Cincinnati and Jim "Hippo" Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs in 1917, won as Thorpe singled home a run for the Reds in the top of the 10th inning. And he played in an early pro basketball league.

But it was discovered that he had played minor league baseball under an assumed name, and the International Olympic Committee took his medals away. In 1950, the Associated Press named him the greatest athlete of the 1st half of the 20th Century. He died in 1953. In 1982, the IOC restored his medals to his family.

The Army would get its revenge on Carlisle in only 6 years. In 1918, with America having gotten into World War I, the federal government, which already ran the school, closed it, and transferred control from the U.S. Department of the Interior, which since its creation has run "Indian Affairs," to the U.S. Department of War (renamed the Department of Defense in 1947). The property is now part of the U.S. Army War College.

How good a football player was Jim Thorpe, by today's standards? Hard to tell, although the college award for the best defensive back is named the Jim Thorpe Award. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him 88th on its list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.

In 2010, 57 years after his death and 82 years after he last played so much as a down in the pro game, the NFL Network ranked him 37th on the list of the 100 Greatest Players. I don't know what happened in the ensuing 11 years to make him jump 57 places in spite of new players making the list. Maybe some old film was discovered, providing previously lost insight.

*

November 9, 1912 was, naturally, a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. Basketball was still a new sport, and not played professionally. Hockey was at the dawn of its professional era, and its season usually started in December. Football had begun to go professional, but it usually played on Sunday so that it wouldn't interfere with the college game on Saturday. So it was all college football on the day:

* Did I mention that Franklin Field in Philly was a tough place to play? On this day, Penn beat Michigan, 27-21. That version of Franklin Field was built in 1895, and the site has hosted America's greatest track meet, the Penn Relays (the University of Pennsylvania Relay Carnival) ever since. The current stadium on the site was built in 1922.

* Harvard beat Vanderbilt, 9-3 at Harvard Stadium in Boston. Both teams came in with 6-0 records, and Vanderbilt had outscored its opponents 342-3. Two weeks later, led by star runner and kicker Charley Brickley, Harvard beat Yale to complete its undefeated season. When National Champions were retroactively named for the pre-poll era (1869 to 1935), Harvard were named the 1912 National Champions.

* In a "crosstown" matchup, the University of Chicago beat Northwestern University, 3-0 at Marshall Field in Chicago. Yes, it was named after the leading department store in Chicago, which was named after its founder, Marshall Field. I suppose they could have called it "Marshall Field Stadium," but they didn't.

* In another North vs. South matchup, Wisconsin wrecked Arkansas 64-7 at Randall Field, in Madison, Wisconsin. Camp Randall Stadium would be built on the site in 1917.

* Princeton University hosted New York University, and beat NYU 54-0.

* Rutgers College beat Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York, 21-0 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey. What became Rutgers University moved across the river to Rutgers Stadium in 1938. In 1953, the school's main library was built on the site of Neilson Field.

* Fordham beat Albright College of Reading, Pennsylvania, 13-6 at Fordham Field in The Bronx.

* For a reason I can't find, Columbia University did not play football between 1906 and 1914.

And Woolwich Arsenal lost to West Bromwich Albion, 2-1 at The Hawthorns in West Bromwich, outside Birmingham in England's West Midlands. The 1912-13 campaign remains the worst season in the history of the team that would become simply Arsenal Football Club, the one and only season in which they have ever been relegated. 

October 28, 1913: Christy Mathewson vs. Walter Johnson

Walter Johnson (left) and Christy Mathewson

October 28, 1913: In the only time the 2 greatest pitchers of their time face each other -- baseball would have no All-Star Game until 1933, and no Interleague Play until 1997, and they never faced each other in a World Series -- Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson square off, at South Main Park in Tulsa‚ Oklahoma.

Normally, Johnson pitched for the Washington Senators. This time, he is backed by the Chicago White Sox‚ with the addition of another superstar, Boston Red Sox center fielder Tris Speaker. Johnson wins the battle‚ as the White Sox beat the New York Giants, 6-0. Johnson went the distance, striking out 8, while Matty exited after 4 innings.

Speaker and White Sox regular Buck Weaver did the hitting for the Pale Hose‚ while Oklahoma native, Sac and Fox Indian, and fan favorite Jim Thorpe got 2 hits for the Giants off Johnson. 

The game had been delayed for nearly 2 hours when the stands collapsed‚ injuring 52 people and killing a soldier. Governor R.L. Williams of Oklahoma narrowly escaped injury in the tragedy.

This was part of a world tour undertaken by the Giants and White Sox from late October 1913, after the Giants lost the World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics, until February 1914, through the Western United States, then to Asia, Australia, Egypt and Europe, although some of their intended games were rained out.

Mathewson won more games in the 1900s (1900 through 1909) than any other pitcher: 236. Johnson was the winningest pitcher of the 1910s: 265. Each would be among the 1st 5 inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, along with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner. Unfortunately, both men would die too soon: Mathewson from tuberculosis in 1925, at the age of 45; Johnson from a brain tumor in 1946, at 59.

*

October 28, 1913 was a Tuesday. Football was in midweek. Professional basketball barely existed. And it was too early for hockey season. So this was the only score on this historic day.

September 21, 1912: College Football's Modern Rules

Carlisle beating Georgetown, 34-20,

at Georgetown Field in Washington,

on October 26, 1912.

Somewhere in the middle of that is Carlisle's Jim Thorpe.

September 21, 1912: A new season begins for college football. It contains some key rule changes:

* Teams were given 4 downs, instead of 3, to gain 10 yards.

* The value of a touchdown was increased from 5 points to 6 points.

* The length of the playing field was reduced from 110 yards to 100 yards, and end zones of 10 yards were added.

* Kickoffs were to be conducted from the kicking team's 40-yard line, rather than at midfield, the 50-yard line.

It's hard to tell what kind of a difference this made, as college football had already become a big business. Certainly, over the next few years, it became a bigger one. But these rules were a major step in making American football recognizable as the game we know today.

*

September 21, 1912 was a Saturday. As for the actual games played under these new rules, on this season-opening weekend, there were only 3:

* The Carlisle Indian School, led by Jim Thorpe, beat Albright College, 50-7 at Indian Field in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, outside Harrisburg. The year before, Carlisle went to Boston and upset Harvard. Just 7 weeks after this, they would pull a bigger upset, beating Army at West Point. Despite their success, the school folded after the 1917 season.

* Cornell beat Washington & Jefferson College, 3-0 at Percy Field in Ithaca, New York.

* And Dartmouth beat Bates College, 26-0 at Alumni Oval in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Albright is in Reading, Pennsylvania; Washington & Jefferson is in Washington, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh; and Bates, is in Lewiston, Maine. All of them downgraded their programs in the 1950s, and now compete in NCAA Division III.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Highlanders lost to the Cleveland Naps, 5-4 at League Park in Cleveland. Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, the manager and 2nd baseman for whom the home team was named, went 1-for-4. Shoeless Joe Jackson went 2-for-5. The Highlanders became the New York Yankees the next season. The Naps became the Cleveland Indians in 1915, and the Cleveland Guardians in 2022.

* The New York Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. Red Murray went 3-for-4 with a home run. Honus Wagner went 1-for-4.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 12-0 at Washington Park in Brooklyn. George Napoleon "Nap" Rucker pitched a 7-hit shutout. The Dodgers played just 9 more games at Washington Park. The next season, they moved into Ebbets Field.

* The Boston Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 13-3 at the South End Grounds in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 and 5-3 at National League Park (later Baker Bowl) in Philadelphia.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-4 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Tris Speaker went 2-for-3 with a home runs, 2 walks and 2 RBIs. Ty Cobb went 0-for-4.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Eddie Collins went 2-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* And the Chicago White Sox and the Washington Senators were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Senators swept, 6-3 and 4-1. Walter Johnson was the winning pitcher in the opener.

And in English soccer, Woolwich Arsenal went to Yorkshire, and beat Sheffield United, 3-1 at Bramall Lane. However, the 1912-13 season would be the worst in the team's history, as they were relegated for what remains the only time. They then moved across the River Thames, from South-East to North London, opened the stadium that became known as Highbury, and returned to Division One in 1919.

June 15, 1912: Jim Thorpe, the Greatest Athlete In the World

June 15, 1912: Jim Thorpe wins the Olympic decathlon, and is proclaimed the greatest athlete in the world.

The 24-year-old native of Oklahoma, a member of the Sac and Fox tribe of Native Americans, had already starred in football for the Carlisle Indian School, outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He made the U.S. track & field team for the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden. He competed in the penathlon, a 5-contest even that consisted of the long jump, the javelin throw, the 200-meter dash, the discus throw, and the 1,500-meter run. (Not to be confused with the "modern pentathlon.") He won 4 of the 5 events, to take the Gold Medal.

He then entered the decathlon, a 10-contest, 2-day event. The 1st half was contested on Saturday, June 13. Thorpe finished 3rd in the 100 meters, 3rd in the long jump, and won the shot put to take the overall lead. He won the high jump, and finished 4th in the 400 meters. At the end of the 1st day, in the unusual scoring system for the decathlon, he was over 400 points ahead of the competitor in 2nd place, Swede Charles Lomberg. Another Swede, Hugo Wieslander, was also being cheered on by the home crowd.

The 1912 Olympiastadion, Stockholm. It is still in use.

The 14th was a Sunday, so there was no competition. On Monday, June 15, they resumed. Traditionally, the 6th event is the 110-meter high hurdles, and the 7th is the discus throw. This time, the events were reversed. Thorpe finished 3rd in the discus, and won the hurdles. Unless he dropped out for some reason, he was no longer catchable.

He finished tied for 3rd in the pole vault. He finished 4th in the javelin throw. And he won the 1,500 meters. The final totals: Thorpe 8,412 points, Wieslander 7,724, Lomberg 7,413. Another Swede, Gösta Holmér, finished 4th. A pair of Americans, James Donahue and Eugene Mercer, finished 5th and 6th, respectively.

Thorpe was presented with his Gold Medal by the Games' host, King Gustav V of Sweden. The King was overheard saying to Thorpe, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world." To this, Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King." Ever since, the winner of the Olympic decathlon has been called "the world's greatest athlete."

But in 1913, the International Olympic Committee discovered that, prior to having competed in those Olympics, Thorpe had played baseball professionally. The fact that it wasn't the same sport made no difference, and the IOC stripped Thorpe of his medals.

A Gold Medal was given to 2nd-place finisher Wieslander, who had gone on to work with his country's cartography agency. He was uncomfortable with this, but it would not be until 1951 that he gave the Medal up -- not to Thorpe, but in a donation to the museum at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences.

In 1950, the Associated Press named Thorpe the greatest track and field performer, the greatest football player, and the greatest overall athlete of the 1st half of the 20th Century. Their other honorees: Babe Ruth for baseball, George Mikan for basketball, Howie Morenz for hockey, Jack Dempsey for boxing, Bill Tilden -- despite his recent scandal -- for men's tennis, Suzanne Lenglen for women's tennis, and Man o' War as the greatest racehorse.

Thorpe died of cancer in 1953, having been hailed as the greatest athlete of the 1st half of the 20th Century for his achievements in track, football and baseball, but without having his Medals restored. The next year, the Medal that Wieslander donated was stolen, and it has never been recovered. Wieslander died in 1976.

In 1982, the IOC ruled that Thorpe's disqualification had been improper -- not because he was innocent, as had freely admitted at the time that he wasn't, but because no protest against his eligibility had been brought within 30 days. Whether the original rule was fair is a separate debate (it really wasn't, especially since he hadn't turned professional in the sport in question), but he was reinstated on a technicality. and reinstated Thorpe's Medals. Copies were made, and sent to Thorpe's children.

*

June 15, 1912 was, as I said, a Monday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Highlanders lost to the St. Louis Browns, 2-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Highlanders had already been called the Yankees for a while, and made the name change official the next season.

* The New York Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at the Polo Grounds. Honus Wagner went 2-for-5.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 in 11 innings at Washington Park in Brooklyn. Zack Wheat went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Braves, 6-3 at the South End Grounds in Boston.

* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-1 at Navin Field in Detroit. That ballpark was renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938 and Tiger Stadium in 1961. Frank Baker lived up to the nickname he'd earned in the previous season's World Series, hitting a home run, part of a 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs day. Ty Cobb went 0-for-4.

* And the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at Comiskey Park. Future Hall-of-Famer Ed Walsh left due to injury after 2 innings. Tris Speaker went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

May 2, 1917: Baseball's Only Double No-Hitter

Fred Toney

May 2, 1917: For what remains the only time in the history of Major League Baseball, both starting pitchers in a game pitch no-hitters.

The game was played at Weeghman Park in Chicago, renamed Cubs Park in 1920 and Wrigley Field in 1926. The Chicago Cubs hosted the Cincinnati Reds. The opposing pitchers were Jim Vaughn, at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds known as "Hippo," for Chicago; and Fred Toney for Cincinnati.

Weeghman Park, later known as Wrigley Field

Vaughn had already won 21 games in 1914, and 20 in 1915. Toney was also a good pitcher, going 17-6 in 1915 before slumping to 14-17 in 1916.

There were several good hitters in this game, including the Cubs' Cy Williams; and the Reds' Hal Chase and Heinie Groh. Edd Roush would make the Baseball Hall of Fame, as a .323 lifetime hitter and perhaps the best defensive outfielder of his generation, but did not play in this game.

Two Reds who did play in this game would go on to make their mark in football: Right fielder Jim Thorpe, also the 1912 Olympic decathlon Gold Medalist; and center fielder Earle "Greasy" Neale, who would coach the Philadelphia Eagles to the 1948 and '49 NFL Championships.

The home plate umpire was Al Orth, a former major league pitcher, including for the New York Highlanders, the team that became the Yankees. Despite being known as "The Curveless Wonder," he led the major leagues in wins in 1906 with 27, and went 204-189 for his career.

Vaughn began the game by striking Groh out. In the 2nd, Toney walked Williams, but stranded him. Groh led off the 4th with a walk, but was erased on a double play. Then Neale reached on an error, but was caught trying to steal 2nd. Vaughn struck out the side in the 5th. In that inning, Toney again walked and stranded Williams. Vaughn walked Gus Getz to start the 7th, but got a double play.

In the top of the 9th, Vaughn got Manny Cueto to line out to 2nd, and struck out Emil Huhn and Toney. He had his no-hitter. But the Cubs still hadn't gotten a hit of their own. More importantly, they hadn't scored a run, which doesn't necessarily need a hit. He led off the bottom of the 9th, so he could have helped his own cause, but popped up to 3rd. Rollie Zeider grounded to 3rd, and Harry Wolter popped up to 3rd.

Toney had his no-hitter. But the Reds still hadn't gotten a hit, or a run, of their own. For the 1st time, both pitchers had thrown no-hitters. The game went on.

Vaughn began the 10th by getting Getz to pop up to his catcher, Art Wilson. Then, Hippo's luck ran out, as Kopf hit a line drive to right field, for a base hit. He got Neale to fly to center fielder Williams. But Williams misplayed the next ball that came his way, hit there by Chase. Now, there were men on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs.

Up to bat came Jim Thorpe, the Native American known for his 1912 heroics as "The World's Greatest Athlete." Baseball wasn't his best sport (track & field was), or his 2nd (football was), and might not even have been his 3rd (he was also one of the earliest professional basketball stars). But, over 6 major league seasons, he batted .252, and topped out at .327 in 1919 -- and then quit the game, to concentrate on football.

Thorpe hit the ball up the middle, and Vaughn proved too big to bend over and pick it up. With his great speed, Thorpe got to 1st base, and Kopf scored. The ball got into center field, and Chase tried to score as well. Williams threw him out at the plate, for the last out of the inning, but it was too late: The Reds were ahead.

Toney finished the job. He struck out Larry Doyle, the man who once said, "It's great to be young and a Giant," but was no longer young, and no longer a Giant. The next batter was another ex-Giant, still with the disgrace of a 1908 late-season baserunning "boner" and a 1912 World Series fielding blunder: Fred Merkle. He flew out to left. Finally, Toney struck Williams out.

Reds 1, Cubs 0. Toney had pitched 10 innings and kept a no-hitter. It had only been done once before: On July 4, 1908, George "Hooks" Wiltse did it for the New York Giants against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Vaughn bounced back from the experience, winning a career-high 23 games in 1917, a National League-leading 22 in 1918 to help the Cubs win the Pennant, 21 in 1919, and 19 in 1920. But he hurt his arm in 1921, and had to retire, with a career record of 178-137. He died in 1966.

Toney went on to win 24 games in 1917, but was traded before the Reds could win the 1919 World Series. He won 21 for the New York Giants in 1920, and pitched for them in the 1921 World Series, which they won. He also had to retire too soon due to injury, finishing at 139-102. He died in 1953, just 17 days before Thorpe did.

In 1965, another Reds pitcher, Jim Maloney, pitched a no-hitter for 10 innings against the New York Mets, but lost it and the game in the 11th. Later in the season, he pitched another 10-inning no-hitter, and kept it. Like Toney, he did it against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

In 1959, Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitched not just a no-hitter, but a perfect game against the Milwaukee Braves for 12 innings, but lost all of it -- perfect game, no-hitter, shutout and win -- in the bottom of the 13th inning.

In 1991, Major League Baseball changed the rules so that only no-hitters that were completed would count as no-hitters. In other words, if you pitched a perfect game for 9 innings, allowed a hit in the 10th, and were still on the mound in the 19th inning (Brian Cashman is going to have a stroke if he reads this), and hadn't allowed another damn baserunner, basically having pitched 2 perfect games in 1 night, you still would get credit only for a one-hitter.

For this reason, the aforementioned achievements of Hippo Vaughn, Harvey Haddix, and (in 1 of the 2 cases) Jim Maloney do not count as "no-hitters." But the other achievement of Maloney, and the achievement of Toney, do count.

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

*

May 2, 1917 was a Wednesday. Football, basketball and hockey were out of season. These other games were played in baseball that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 2-0 at National Park in Washington. (It was renamed Griffith Stadium in 1922.) Ray Fisher pitched a 4-hit shutout to defeat Walter Johnson.

* The New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers played at the Polo Grounds, and it was tied 2-2 when it was called due to darkness after 14 innings.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Braves, 2-1 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. In his 1st season, Rogers Hornsby went 1-for-4 with an RBI for the Cardinals. In his last season, Honus Wagner did not appear in this game for the Pirates.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3 at League Park in Cleveland. Shoeless Joe Jackson was replaced due to injury after going 0-for-2. Tris Speaker did not appear in this game for the Indians.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Browns, 2-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Ty Cobb went 1-for-4 for the Tigers, while George Sisler went 3-for-4, but with no RBIs, for the Browns.

* The Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics were supposed to play at Fenway Park in Boston, but the game was postponed for being too cold. It was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 5. The Red Sox won both games, 4-3 and 4-2. Babe Ruth was eligible to play for the Red Sox in either game, but played in neither of them.