October 15, 1923: The 1st Yankee World Series Win

The 1923 World Champion New York Yankees.

Babe Ruth is in the top row, 2nd from the right.

October 15, 1923: The New York Yankees, managed by Miller Huggins, win Game 6 of the World Series, riding a 1st-inning home run by Babe Ruth and the pitching of "Sad" Sam Jones, to beat the New York Giants, 6-4 at the Polo Grounds, and clinch their 1st World Championship, in their 1st season of playing in Yankee Stadium in The Bronx.

This was not, however, the 1st title for many of the Yankee players. Some of them, including Ruth and Jones, had won titles with the Boston Red Sox in the 1910s. In fact, of the 25 men on the Yankee roster when they won their 1st World Championship, 12, nearly half, had been Red Sox sold off by Boston owner Harry Frazee.

This was also the beginning of the end for Giant manager John McGraw and his style of baseball: Finally, the Yankees had put together a team that did not have to simply rely on Ruth's home runs to beat McGraw's style of "inside baseball" – what would, today, be called "small ball." The Giants would win another Pennant the next season, but that would be their last under McGraw’s leadership.

Up until this moment, the Giants had won 11 Pennants and 3 World Championships, either through the World Series, pre-1900 postseason series, or the title of the only league then playing; the Brooklyn Dodgers, 6 and, by the means available to them to win a "world championship" at the time, 3, but none since 1900; the Yankees, 3 and none.

From the Yankees' 3rd Pennant in September 1923 until the end of the Giants' and Dodgers' last season in New York, September 1957, the count was: Yankees, 21 and 17; Giants, 7 and 2; and Dodgers, 7 and 1.

Lou Gehrig had made his major league debut on June 15, 1923, a 10-0 Yankee win over the St. Louis Browns at Yankee Stadium. But he only played 13 games at the major league level that 1st season, and was not included on the World Series roster.

The last active member of the 1923 Yankees was rookie 1st baseman Lou Gehrig. The last surviving member of the team was center fielder Ladislaw Waldemar Wittkowski, a.k.a. Lawton Walter Witt, a.k.a. Whitey Witt, who lived until 1988.

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October 15, 1923 was a Monday. Football was in midweek. Professional basketball barely existed. And the NHL season was 2 months away. So this was the only score on this historic day. 

May 12, 1955: The 1st Black Pitcher to Throw a Major League No-Hitter

May 12, 1955: The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Sam Jones of the Cubs pitched a no-hitter. This made him the 1st black pitcher to do so in the previously all-white major leagues.

It was far from a perfect game: He walked 7 batters. But he was also lucky. He walked Dale Long in the 2nd inning, but he was thrown out trying to steal 2nd base. He walked Toby Atwell to lead off the 3rd, but stranded him. He walked Long again to lead off the 5th, but got George Freese to ground into a double play.

The opposing pitcher, Vernon Law, nearly hit a home run to straightaway center field, but Eddie Miksis, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI on the day, caught it. Jones walked Long for a 3rd time, leading off the 8th, and gave up another long fly to center, to Freese, but Miksis caught this one, too. Then Jones got Toby Atwell to ground into a double play.

In addition to Miksis' heroics, shortstop Ernie Banks went 3-for-5 with an RBI, and right fielder Ted Tappe went 2-for-5, with a home run and 2 RBIs. Despite being a Cub and having an unusual surname, Ted was no relation to Elvin "El" Tappe, a teammate, and later part of the Cubbies' dumb "College of Coaches" experiment. El did have a brother, Melvin -- El and Mel -- who pitched professionally.

Then came the 9th. Jones walked Freese, and threw a wild pitch that got him to 2nd base. That ended up not mattering, because he walked Preston Ward. Then he walked Tom Saffell. Bases loaded, nobody out, and the next 3 batters were Dick Groat, a rookie named Roberto Clemente, and Frank Thomas. (Not the later Chicago White Sox "Big Hurt," but a powerful slugger in his own right.) Suddenly, not just the no-hitter, but the game was in doubt: Thomas represented the tying run.

Jones buckled down, struck Groat out looking, struck Clemente out swinging, and struck Thomas out looking. It was a brilliant comeback, and he had his no-hitter.

Jones was born in 1925 in Stewartsville, Ohio, near Steubenville, and also near Wheeling, West Virginia. Because of the earlier star Yankee pitcher with the same name, he, too, was nicknamed "Sad Sam." He was also known as "Toothpick Sam": Like 1970s stars Dusty Baker and U L Washington, he was frequently seen chewing on a toothpick.

Having gotten his start in the Negro Leagues, in 1952, he pitched for the Cleveland Indians, and his catcher was a former Cleveland Buckeyes teammate, Quincy Trouppe. This made them the 1st all-black "battery" in the American League, 3 years after Don Newcombe and Roy Campanella had been the 1st in the modern major leagues, and 75 years after George Stovey had pitched to Moses "Fleet" Walker.

Jones was named to the All-Star Game in 1955 and 1959. He led the National League in strikeouts in 1955 and 1956. In 1959, with the San Francisco Giants, he led it in strikeouts, wins and earned-run average, the Triple Crown of Pitching. Had the Cy Young Award then been given out to the best pitcher in each League, he would have won it for the NL. But it was given to the best pitcher in both Leagues from its 1956 inception until 1966, and in 1959, he finished 2nd in the voting to Early Wynn of the Chicago White Sox.

He pitched for mostly struggling teams, resulting in a career record of 103-104. And his timing was bad. He pitched for the Indians in 1951 and 1952, missing their 1948 and 1954 Pennants. He pitched for the Giants from 1959 to 1961, missing their 1962 Pennant. He pitched for the Detroit Tigers in 1962, a year after their best performance since 1945, although it's hard to imagine him making an 8-game difference. He pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1963, missing their 1964 World Series win. And his last major league season was 1964, finishing just 2 games behind the Yankees for the Baltimore Orioles, 2 years before their 1966 World Series win.

He pitched beyond 1962 despite having been diagnosed with cancer in his neck. He fought it bravely until it took his life in 1971, when he was only 45 years old.

In 2007, pitcher-turned-broadcaster Jim "Mudcat" Grant included Jones in his book Black Aces, about the 13 black pitchers, including himself, who had won 20 or more games in a major league season. Newcombe was the only one to accomplish the feat before Jones. Since the book was published, 2 more have done it: CC Sabathia, the only Yankee on the list, in 2010; and David Price, with the 2012 Tigers.

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May 12, 1955 was a Thursday. Leon "Kix" Brooks, of the country-singing duo Brooks & Dunn, was born on this day. There were 4 other baseball games:

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Milwaukee Braves, 2-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Gene Conley went the distance, 12 innings, for the win. Carl Erskine pitched 11 strong innings, but Ed Roebuck gave up a home run to Del Crandall, leading off the bottom of the 12th. Hank Aaron also hit a home run for the Braves, the 20th of his career. There would be more.

Jackie Robinson went 0-for-4 with a walk. The only Dodger run came on a home run by Sandy Amorós. Five months later, his catch would prove to be the key play in the Dodgers securing Game 7 and finally winning the World Series.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Athletics, 12-7 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams started the season injured, and didn't make his debut until May 28.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* And the Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Mickey McDermott pitched a 4-hit shutout.