Ruth & Huggins arguing with umpire Tom Connolly – Meusel listening to the umpires’ explanation. August 1, 1920 – Ruth hit a ball overflow crowd at Comiskey Park, Shoeless Jackson said he caught the ball, the Yankees believe he’s lying. Joe would later admit he never caught it
1920 – Babe Ruth becomes the first player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs in one season. The shot off Dickey Kerr of the White Sox breaks his record of 29 from the previous year. He added a second home run later in the game, but the Yankees lost at the Polo Grounds, 8-5. Ruth finished with an astounding 54 homers in 1920, outhomering every other MLB team except the Phillies (64).
Babe Ruth ties his 1919 record of 29 home runs with a game-winner in the 13th to beat the St. Louis Browns, 13 – 10. Two days later, he will break it by hitting two off Chicago White Sox P Dickie Kerr.
The fans are flocking to see the mighty Babe Ruth hit home runs (12 in June). A twin bill with the Browns draws a Polo Grounds record of 38,823, the third record-breaker of the year.
The Yankees score 14 in the fifth and beat Washington, 17 – 0. It’s the biggest inning ever until the Red Sox score 17 in a 1953 game.
Leaving Robison Field in mid-season, the Cardinals make their debut as the home team at Sportsman’s Park, also the home of the American League’s St. Louis Browns, bowing to the Pirates, 6 – 2. After signing a ten-year lease for $20,000 annually with Browns’ president Phil Ball, the team moves six blocks to be able to play its home games in a modern ballpark.
6/30/1920 – The Dodgers were playing a doubleheader against the Giants at the Polo Grounds. In the bottom of the seventh inning of game 1, Lew McCarty pinch hit for Jesse Winters in the ninth place in the batting order and singled. Al Lefevre ran for McCarty and stayed in the game playing second base. The new pitcher, Bill Hubbell, entered the game in the seventh spot in the lineup. In the ninth inning, Lefevre, actually in the ninth spot, batted in the seventh spot out of order but struck out. Frank Snyder, the eighth-place hitter, then came to the plate out of order and grounded out. The next hitter should be Lefevre in the ninth-hole in the order. Benny Kauff was sent up to pinch hit for Hubbell even though it was not his turn to bat. Kauff cannot be considered as batting out of order since he is a pinch hitter. Officially, he is hitting for Lefevre not Hubbell. Kauff singled in a run but none of this matters as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 7-3.
1920 – Lou Gehrig gets his first national mention when, as a high school junior for New York City’s School of Commerce, he steals the show in a high school championship game against Lane Tech in Chicago. His grand slam home run in the 8th gives the New York team a 12 – 8 victory. Scouts sit with open mouths as the ball sails out of the National Leaguepark (later known as Wrigley Field).
The Cardinals play their last game at Robison Field (renamed Cardinal Field in 1917), their home field since 1893, beating the Cubs, 5-2. One of Sam Breadon’s first decisions as the team’s new owner will be to agree to a ten-year lease for $20,000 annually, allowing his team to move six blocks to share Sportsman’s Park with the Browns, and allowing him to use the money from the sale of the aging ballpark to finance Branch Rickey’s idea of establishing a farm system by investing in a club affiliation with a minor league team in Houston, Texas.
Citing the abolition of the spitball as the reason for the dramatic increase of home runs, Tom Shibe denies the baseballs are livelier this season. The A’s vice president is also a member of the company which makes the baseballs.
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