"WORST GAME OF THE YEAR" MAY SIGNAL GIANTS DEATH KNELL
Hubbell, Phillies Administer Embarrassing Whitewashing
NEW YORK, Sept. 28 (AP) - The Giants picked a bad time to play what manager John
McGraw described as the club's "worst game of the year by far."
With seemingly half the roster injured or ill, New York absorbed a humiliating
12-0 defeat at the hands of Philadelphia starter Bill Hubbell (9-12) and the
rest of his Phillies teammates. The loss effectively puts the Giants at
the gates of elimination; league-leading Pittsburgh has now clinched at least a
tie for first place and with one more Pirates victory or New York loss the
National League flag will fly at Forbes Field. The Pirates play the
Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field later this afternoon.
McGraw tried everything, shuttling in a major league nine-inning season high
seven pitchers, but never could find an answer as the Phillies pounded out 16
hits and drew seven walks. The Giants also committed a trio of errors,
which led to three unearned runs, and also played several balls poorly that
weren't officially categorized as errors, which cost the club at least two more
runs.
Not that the piling of runs allowed really mattered in the end since New York
didn't score a run. In fact, the Giants never had a runner past first base
in the entire contest, despite facing a pitcher who entered the game with an ERA
of 5.82, one of the worst marks among qualifying hurlers in all of the big
leagues.
Given the depth of the slaughter it was difficult to emphatically place the
blame on the team's health. Nevertheless, the Giants continued to miss
starting third baseman Heinie Groh and starting second baseman Frankie Frisch,
both of whom were have missed multiple games. Starting left fielder Irish
Meusel was back to pinch hitting duty only as his pulmonary malady has
resurfaced. If that wasn't enough, George Kelly--who had been moved to
second base to fill in for Frisch--reported to the Polo Grounds with flu-like
symptoms and spent the entire game in a corner of the dugout coughing so
violently he was unable to stand up. McGraw resorted to placing Jimmy
O'Connnell--normally a reserve outfielder--at second base, where he filled in
admirably--and stuck Buddy Crump in to make his season's debut in center field,
with far less positive results. Finally, Grover Hartley, the club's third
string catcher, was forced to start as both Frank Snyder and Hank Gowdy were
nursing injuries that made it nearly impossible for them to put catcher's mitts
on their hands.
And yet, none of it seemed to matter as even the stable of established
regulars--Ross Youngs, Hack Wilson, Travis Jackson--scarcely seemed to show up.
McGraw started Kent Greenfield on the mound, a whimsical move at best, and
Greenfield was almost immediately let down by his defense. With Heinie
Sand at second base and one out in the top of the first inning, Bill Terry
booted Cy Williams easy grounder, putting runners at first and third.
Freddy Leach singled to center and Crump misplayed the ball, allowing everyone
to advance a base. Russ Wrightstone's weak grounder to first scored the
second unearned run of the inning.
After a scoreless second, the Phillies took firm control of the contest in the
third, chasing Greenfield in the process. With one out, George Harper
singled and stole second, then scored on Cy Williams' home run into the upper
deck in right. After Leach walked and Wrightstone singled, McGraw pulled
Greenfield and replaced him with Harry Baldwin, but the Phillies kept right on
hitting. Jimmie Wilson doubled past Freddie Lindstrom at third, scoring
Leach and moving Wrightstone to third to give Philadelphia a 5-0 lead.
Two more runs scored in the top of the fourth. Sand doubled, which ended
Baldwin's day. McGraw brought in left-hander Artie Nehf to face the slew
of Phils' portside swingers, but it did limited good. Harper sacrificed
Sand to third and Williams walked. Leach then hit a sacrifice fly to
center to score the sixth run. Wrightstone reached on an infield hit and
Wilson followed with a single through the middle to score Williams put
Philadelphia on top 7-0.
The game was essentially over and everyone appeared to know it. The crowd
at the Polo Grounds, announced at better than 18,000, began to drift toward the
exits before the end of the fourth inning.
The Phillies ultimately scored five more run off a series of Giants pitchers
before the contest came to a merciful end. New York, meanwhile, never
mounted anything that even looked like a threat against Hubbell, who recorded
his first shutout of the year and Philadelphia's second complete game in as many
contests in this series. The Phillies entered the series with 46 complete
games, the lowest mark in all of major league baseball and by far the fewest in
the NL.
At this point the Giants and their fans can do little more than hope that the
Pirates somehow lose their remaining three games and that the Giants win their
season finale tomorrow.
9/28/1924, PhN24-NYN24, Polo Grounds 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 1924 Phillies 2 0 3 2 0 1 3 0 1 12 16 1 12 2 1924 Giants 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 4 0 Phillies AB R H BI AVG Giants AB R H BI AVG Sand ss 5 3 2 0 .229 Lindstrom 3b 3 0 0 0 .244 Parkinson 2b 1 1 1 0 .185 Meusel ph 1 0 0 0 .281 Harper rf 4 2 2 1 .297 O'Connell 2b 3 0 2 0 .297 Williams cf 4 5 2 3 .315 Youngs rf 4 0 0 0 .341 Leach lf 4 1 4 3 .586 Crump cf 4 0 0 0 .000 Mitchell pr 0 0 0 0 .235 Terry 1b 3 0 0 0 .221 Schultz lf 0 0 0 0 .263 Wilson lf 3 0 0 0 .319 Wrightstone 3b 3 0 1 2 .314 Jackson ss 3 0 1 0 .298 Woehr ph 2 0 1 0 .223 Hartley c 3 0 0 0 .200 Wilson 1b 6 0 2 2 .219 Greenfield p 0 0 0 0 .000 Ford 2b 4 0 0 0 .248 Baldwin p 1 0 1 0 .182 Metz ss 1 0 0 0 .000 Nehf p 0 0 0 0 .292 Henline c 3 0 0 0 .289 Ryan p 0 0 0 0 .138 Hubbell p 4 0 1 0 .200 Southworth ph 1 0 0 0 .244 41 12 16 11 Maun p 0 0 0 0 .000 Huntzinger p 0 0 0 0 .375 Bentley ph 1 0 0 0 .235 Barnes p 0 0 0 0 .162 30 0 4 0 Phillies INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Hubbell W 9-12 9.0 4 0 0 1 2 115 71 5.52 9.0 4 0 0 1 2 115 71 Giants INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Greenfield L 0-1 2.1 5 5 3 1 3 59 37 11.57 Baldwin 0.2 2 1 1 1 1 22 10 2.56 Nehf 2.0 3 2 2 3 0 48 23 2.97 Ryan 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 7 3.59 Maun 0.1 3 3 3 0 0 14 8 5.79 Huntzinger 1.2 1 0 0 0 0 18 11 5.19 Barnes 1.0 2 1 0 1 0 15 8 3.18 9.0 16 12 9 6 5 187 104 PhN: Woehr batted for Wrightstone in the 7th Parkinson inserted at 2b in the 7th Woehr moved to 3b in the 7th Metz inserted at ss in the 7th Mitchell ran for Leach in the 9th Schultz inserted at lf in the 9th NYN: Southworth batted for Ryan in the 6th Bentley batted for Huntzinger in the 8th Meusel batted for Lindstrom in the 9th E-Wilson, Crump 2, Terry. 2B-Sand(25), Harper(30), Leach 2(3), Wilson(15). HR-Williams(32). RBI-Harper(72), Williams 3(89), Leach 3(8), Wrightstone 2(59), Wilson 2(22). SB-Harper(12). K-Sand, Ford, Henline, Hubbell 2, Hartley 2. BB-Williams 2, Leach, Wrightstone, Henline 2, O'Connell. SH-Harper 2, Leach, Hubbell. GWRBI: Leach Temperature: 62, Sky: cloudy, Wind: right to left at 2 MPH. Attendance: 18,409 Game Time: 2:43