On May 13, 1929 — At Cleveland’s League Park, the Indians defeat the Yankees, 4 – 3, in the first game in major league history in which players from both teams wear numbers on the back of their jerseys. The numerals will become a permanent fixture on each club’s attire.
Enclosed is the game report, no mention of the numbers anywhere . . . .
Cleveland. May 14—This usually hospitable town gave the Yankees, a cold, cold welcome yesterday. But, as someone said, it was their own fault—that Is, the Yankees’ fault. They lost the opening game of the three-game series to the Cleveland Indians, 4-3, largely because of several booted balls that Rodger Peckinpaugh’s, men turned Into runs. Peckinpaugh, by the way, was not on the field to lead his men. He was In a box seat Just back of the dugout serving a five-day suspension.
The Yankees suffered from two maladies. One of them was errors committed at the wrong time and the other was a pitcher named Willis Hudlin. The Cleveland mound artist let down the Hugmen with six hits, well scattered and made quite harmless. Only once was he In anything like trouble. That was in the Yanks’ only rally in the ninth that was nipped before any serious damage was done.
The Yankees’ first run. which came in the sixth inning, was a homer by Mark Koenig over the high right-field fence, with not a soul on base. That was the tragedy. A bomer like that deserved at least two runs.
The Hugmen pushed another pair of runs across the plate in their final turn at the bat. Ruth, first at-bat, led off with a single. Gehrig smashed a screaming double, sending the Babe to third. Meusel, singled and Ruth scored Gehrig reaching third.
Lazzeri’s liner was good only for a sacrifice, and Gehrig scored. Bums were out on an infield fly and Dickey, who had massaged the ball hard in his other trips to the plate, couldn’t get his drive past Earl Averill. who threw him out.
The Indians did all their scoring in two innings, in the third, with Lind on second, Ruth played tiddle- de-winks with Averill’s double Jamieson and Lind scored. Again in the seventh, a pair of errors by Koenig and Meusel allowed two runs to score.
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