Ruth Homers Twice, But Nats Rally into First Place

Thursday, August 28, 1924: Nationals 11, Yankees 6

NATS BEAT YANKS BY 8-RUN RALLY; NOW LEAD LEAGUE

Game 128: at New York

A straight flush beats a pair today as the Senators wrest away the American League lead from the defending-champion Yankees, Babe Ruth's two home runs being more than negated by Goose Goslin's walk, single, double, triple and home run with two runs and six RBI to show for his cycle. And an eight-run eighth inning didn't hurt Washington's chances, either.

As the Post's Frank H. Young reports: "'The trouble with your Washington team is that it hasn't any punch,' was the way New York fans and scribes greeted the Capital entry on its arrival last night. But it would take more than the lawyers in the Leopold-Loeb case, with their 'wise' witnesses and all, to convince any of the 25,000 who saw this afternoon's game, in which the Nationals turned in an 11-6 victory and took the leadership from the Yankees in the Ban Johnson handicap, that this is the case.

"Maybe some new terms could be used -- coined for the occasion -- but they would not make anyone forget the Nats' whale of an eighth, when three Gotham pitchers were knocked out of the box, 13 Nats came to the tee, seven of them hit and eight scored. The Nats have staged many rallies in their young lives, but that of today was the daddy of 'em all.

"In the early part of the game the Nats found conditions almost unbearable, and it is a wonder they did not lose their ambition entirely. Twice after overcoming alien leads, the Yankees passed them again, and when they took the field starting round eight it looked as though they were whipped, for they were trailing, 6 to 3.

"Half of these markers were due to a brace of home runs by Ruth, while Bob Meusel came through with another. With [Miller] Huggins' trained Bambino up to his old tricks (AL-leading .393 average and 42 HRs) and with the rest of the Yankee crew doing its bit, things surely looked drab for the Washington cause.

"But, as things turned out, Ruth and his cohorts were through before the slow-starting Nats had properly gotten underway. It was Goose Goslin (4 for 5; .332), Sam Rice (5 for 6 with two runs scored; .328) and about seven others who were the heroes, despite the fact that Ruth had taken the occasion to manufacture homers numbers 41 and 42.

"All Goslin did to liven up the afternoon was to crash out a circuit clout, triple, double and single and to coax a walk once. Six, or over half of the Washington runs were propelled over the counting block by Goose's big stick, while Rice's five safeties, including a pair of doubles, did not hurt the Capital City cause any, either (though they stranded 12 men on base).

"It started off as a southpaw battle between Herb Pennock (season 21-9 with three saves, 2.83 ERA) on one hand and Tom Zachary (15-9 with two saves, 2.75 ERA) on the other. 'Pen' had only beaten the Nats once this year out of four starts, while 'Zach' had turned in two victories and been beaten twice by the Yankees. Their battle will have to be continued some other time however, for neither lasted the route. [Bucky] Harris (1 for 5 with two runs scored; .267) had to drag his starter out of the box after both Ruth and Meusel had homered off him in the fourth, [Wally] Pipp had skied out and [Wally] Schang and [Aaron] Ward had singled. Allan Russell (W, 4-0) then stepped in and stopped the onslaught. [Nemo] Leibold (0 for 1; .309) hit for him (twice) in the eighth, which brought Fred [Firpo] Marberry (8-11) to the hill to hurl the last two frames.

"Although Pennock lasted longer than Zach, he got no more credit out of his work, for he was caught in that flood of hits which poured from the Washington willows in the eighth, as were Milton Gaston (season 5-3 with a save, 4.50 ERA) and 'Sad Sam' Jones (season 9-6 with three saves, 3.63 ERA). Al Mamaux (season 1-1, 5.68 ERA) finally stopped the deluge and continued on until the end."

With the Yankees ahead 6-3 after seven innings, "more happened in the upper half of the eighth than is generally crowded in a whole ballgame, and before it ended, three of the Yankee pitchers had gotten theirs and the game was beyond the Huggmen's reach.

"[Ossie] Bluege (2 for 4 with two runs; .256) who opened the frame, singled twice and scored as many runs before the third out was made. [Earl] McNeely (1 for 6 with a run; .338), [Joe] Judge (2 for 6 with a run; .313) and [Roger] Peck[inpaugh] (2 for 5; .262) also singled during the excitement, while [Muddy] Ruel (1 for 5 with a run; .286) doubled and Goslin tripled. The Goose's blow cleaned the sacks, which were crowded at the time. Aside from all this, the usually reliable [3B] Joe Dugan picked this frame as a setting for a pair of fumbles, both of which were naturally costly. All in all, it was a very juicy inning for the Nats.

"Marberry . . . had little trouble finishing out the game in good order, fanning Babe Ruth as a fitting finish to a mighty nifty victory.

"'Watch us from now on,' said manager Bucky Harris after the game. 'The Yankees will have Walter Johnson to beat tomorrow, and I don't think there is a team in the world that can beat him in the form he is in now.'

"All of which bodes ill for the world's champions."

In other headlines:

FRATERNAL PARLEY HEARS T. ROOSEVELT URGE ALL TO VOTE

"'For every 100 citizens who voted in the presidential election of 1920, there were 96 qualified voters who did not go to the polls. In 1896 there were only 25 who did not vote for each 100 who did. This indicates slow retrogression by our country. There is only one way for America to last and that is for an intelligent electorate to realize and exercise the responsibilities of their franchise," according to former president and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt.

RADIO FILM MARKINGS DOUBTED AS MARTIAN

"Though scoffing at the idea that he was face to face with 'Martian signals,' William F. Friedman, code expert of the War Department, set to work nevertheless yesterday to try to decipher the weird markings recorded on the film which was exposed here to radio reception during [five and six nights earlier] when the planet Mars was within its near approach of 34,600,000 miles."

GEORGETOWN U. OPENS CHLORINE GAS CLINIC

"Successful cures of whooping cough are being effected at Georgetown University Hospital through application of chlorine gas, it was announced yesterday in connection with work of the free dispensary at the hospital. . . . Since President Coolidge recently popularized the use of chlorine gas for treating his cold, the Georgetown hospital has been giving free treatment to hundreds of residents of the city."

PRINCE OF WALES' WHITE HOUSE STAY A 'FAMILY PARTY'

"The prince will be entertained at luncheon by President and Mrs. Coolidge in a strictly 'family party,' it was made known at the White House yesterday. The arrangement follows the example set by King George and Queen Mary, who entertained Secretary of State and Mrs. Hughes 'en famille' a few weeks ago at Buckingham Palace. At that time it was made clear that the British regarded this as more of a compliment than a state dinner. The prince will be in Washington only four hours."

This Day in Washington Baseball History:

1908: Walter Johnson gets some run support as the Nats outscore Cleveland, 8-0. Four days earlier, Johnson lost to the Tigers, 1-0.

1909: Washington's William "Dolly" Gray sets MLB records by walking eight White Sox in the second inning, seven of them in a row. The six runs scored supply a 6-4 Chicago win, though Gray gave up only one hit, which Patsy Dougherty led the inning off with. When he bats for the second time in the second, manager Billy Sullivan suggests he go to the plate without a bat. The game marks the third of four times that Dougherty manages the only hit in a game.

1913: Though it takes Boston 11 innings to do it, the Red Sox stop Walter Johnson's winning streak at 14-straight games, edging the Nats, 1-0. Between singles by Steve Yerkes in the second and 11th innings, no Red Sox reach base as Johnson strikes out 10 (five in a row) and walks none on the day.

1940: In Negro League action, Homestead Grays pitcher Ray Brown earns his 27th-consecutive victory over a two-year span by shutting out the Baltimore Elite Giants, 5-0, by pitching a three-hitter. His season record improves to 12-0. Throughout WWII, the Grays split homestands between Pittsburgh and Washington, where they often outdrew attendance for the Senators.

1961: Tigers Rocky Colavito and Al Kaline belt first-inning homers in Washington as Detroit wins, 7-3, to cut New York's lead to 1-1/2 games. Jake Wood adds a sixth-inning grand slam to complete the scoring for Detroit.

Number of days since the Washington Senators last played: 12,019

Estimated attendance at the Montreal/San Juan/Monterrey Expos' last home game: 18,520 (August 26, 2004)