A crowd of 49,243 tops the preceding day's record attendance to see what turns into Goose Goslin Day, the Senators' top batter rapping out three singles and a home run for four RBI in a 7-4 victory to tie up the series at two games apiece, and guarantee the championship's deciding game to be determined in Washington.
"Courage, met face to face and transformed from an abstract theory into a living thing," explains Post sports editor Norman Baxter, "today enabled the Washington team to fight its way around the slough of a possible defeat which developed across its path this morning and capture the fourth game of the 1924 World Series from the New York Giants, 7 to 4. The count is two-all in games, and the sixth game in Washington is a certainty.
"Baseball's Valhalla gained three new members in the course of the battle which might easily be classed with those gallant stands which have snatched victory across almost foreordained defeat in other years and times and inspired men to become sagas.
"Leon Goslin.
"Stanley [Bucky] Harris.
"George Mogridge.
"There stand the three that threw the pessimism of their critics and the weakness of their own team into the teeth of fate with as gallant a gesture as was ever made by brave men and true. Even had they failed, they must still have been admired. They succeeded, hence they must be praised. ... Leon Goslin (4-4 with two runs scored) -- 'come on Goose' Goslin -- by the savage power that he put behind his bat today, alone accounted for as many runs as the entire Giants team was able to drive across the plate. Four times he came to bat, and on not a single occasion did he fail to hit. In the third inning he answered what has come to be the injunction of the present series, 'Give us this day our daily home run,' by hitting a terrific home run into the rightfield lower stands that brought in [Earl] McNeely (3-5 with two runs scored) and [Bucky] Harris (2-5 with two runs scored) as his advance couriers.
"The blow was the mighty punch of all those that have been launched in the current postseason games. It shot like a bullet on its course and was at rest even before the shout of the multitude had more than become the feeble infant of the air. It was to this music, as the youthful shout grew into barbaric manhood and frantic old age, that Goslin, 'come on Goose' Goslin, pirouetted around the bases, elevated by his mighty effort to the security of the series slugger."
Related headlines:
BUCKY HARRIS' FIELD WORK AND GOSLIN'S BATTING STAND OUT
"The more one sees of baseball the more he is convinced that this 'dope' stuff means nothing at all," writes the Post's Frank H. Young. "But it does run true to form occasionally and the fine hurling of George Mogridge (W, 1-0), Nationals southpaw, who turned in a 7-4 victory over the Giants here today in the fourth battle of the series, coupled with Tom Zachary's triumph of [two days ago], proves that pre-series guessers were right in one respect, at least -- that unorthodox hurling is one thing that the [John] McGraw men like 'everything else but.' A glance at the records will show that the only two Washington victories have been credited to hurlers built wrong.
"But George (three hits in 7-1/3 innings) does not get all of the glory for the win, even from a pitching angle, as Fred [Firpo] Marberry (three hits in 1-2/3 innings) had to relieve him with one dead in the eighth and so come in for a share of the praise. In landing this game, the Nats put themselves back in the running with a capital 'R,' as it was a most important one. Had they lost, the series standing instead of being a deadlock would have been: Giants three, Nats one, which means that the men from the Capital City would have been up against it for fair, with their only hope being three straight wins -- no small job."
MARBERRY GREATEST RELIEF PITCHER IN BIG LEAGUES TODAY, BUCKY HARRIS SAYS
"Gothamites got their first glimpse of Freddy Marberry today and it no doubt reminded them of the days when they used to look at Otis Crandall, the Giant relief pitcher. Freddy Marberry today stands as the greatest relief pitcher in the big leagues. Outside of Otis Crandall, there never was another like him. If anything happens tomorrow he will be right back there in the box pitching his shirt sleeves off to give Washington another victory. When through in the pinches, both at bat it comes to saving a situation, Freddy Marberry is as dependable as a life guard at Atlantic City. In the last inning, with two men on bases, the Giant rooters no doubt had hoped that Kelly would tie the score with a home run. It could have been done. Also, it was very noticeable that he was swinging hard to get on. In plain words, that was just meat for Marberry. Anytime they start swinging hard on him, Freddy laughs the laugh of laughs."
"For the country at large the eagle may remain the national bird, but for the National Capital the greatest bird that flies is the goose. It was Mr. Goose Goslin who figured most conspicuously in the current World Series which resulted in a 7-to-4 victory for the Nationals and the utter confusion of the mastermind which directs the troop movement of the Giants.
"The victory of the Nationals seemed to have virtually the unanimous approval of all of the customers at the Polo Grounds. When Goslin drove out his second hit, a home run into the rightfield stands, the customers rose as one man and one woman and cheered until Coogan's Bluff rocked like Al Reich after the first sock on the chin."
PLAYERS TO DIVIDE $331,092 OF GATE IN BASEBALL CLASSIC
"Washington and New York players will divide a fund of $331,092.51, it was announced today after the fourth World Series game, the last from which the players receive a share of the receipts. The winners will get $148,991.63 [2004 equivalent: $1,638,908] and the losers $99,327.75 [$1,092,605]. The Giants have 26 eligible, the Nationals 23. Exact figures for each man cannot be computed now because of the practice of donating lump sums to certain ineligible players and attaches, but the approximate shares follow:
"Each Washington player will receive about $6,477 [$71,247] if the team wins the series, but only $4,319 [$47,509] if it loses. If the Giants win, each player will be entitled to about $5,731 [$63,041], and $3,821 [$42,031] if [John] McGraw’s team fails."
This Day in Washington Baseball History
1908: The last-place New York Highlanders close out the season losing 1-0 in 11 innings to Walter Johnson and the Senators. Johnson, who missed 10 weeks , ends up at 14-14, with a 1.65 ERA.
1914: The Senators and the Red Sox wind up the season in a meaningless game in Boston. Washington manager Clark Griffith, 45, makes his final mound appearance, while Boston's star outfielder Tris Speaker does the only pitching of his career, giving up a run in an inning. Babe Ruth, in relief of starter Hugh Bedient, pitches three innings for Boston.
Number of days since the Washington Senators last played: 12,060
Number of days till 2005 Opening Day at RFK Stadium: 189
Compiled from various sources, including The Washington Post, "The Baseball Timeline" and BaseballLibrary.com.
