History of the World Series – 1920
When Brooklyn and Cleveland squared off on Sunday, October 10, the Series — another best-of-nine test — was tied at two victories apiece. Indians righthander Stan Coveleski had throttled the National Leaguers on five hits in both Games 1 and 4, winning 3-1 and 5-1 decisions (in the latter contest, Leon Cadore, who had pitched the distance for Brooklyn in a 26-inning, 1-1 tie with Boston five months earlier, lasted one inning in his lone Series start). Brooklyn sandwiched 3-0 and 2-1 Series triumphs between the Cleveland victories, with Burleigh Grimes tossing a seven-hit shutout and Sherry Smith stifling the Indians on three hits.
It didn’t take long for the theatrics to begin in Game 5, which featured a rematch of second-game starters Grimes and Jim Bagby of Cleveland. In the bottom of the first inning, the Indians’ Charlie Jamieson and Bill Wambsganss touched Grimes for singles and Tris Speaker, Cleveland’s playing manager, bunted for a hit. That brought Elmer Smith to the plate and the 28-year-old outfielder proceeded to write his name into the record books and send the Cleveland crowd into a frenzy by smashing the first grand slam in Series history.
The score remained 4-0 until the fourth when Bagby became the first pitcher to homer in the Series. And Bagby made it a particularly meaningful shot, connecting off Grimes with two runners on base.
Riding the landmark homers by Smith and Bagby to a 7-0 lead, Cleveland seemingly was in a position to coast. But the Indians left the record-keepers little time to regroup.
Pete Kilduff led off the Brooklyn fifth with a single and moved to second on Otto Miller’s hit. At this point, Bagby had yielded eight hits in four-plus innings but hadn’t been scored upon. Relief pitcher Clarence Mitchell, who had entered the game in the fourth, was Brooklyn’s next batter. Mitchell, sometimes used as a pinch-hitter and as an outfielder or first baseman, lined to second baseman Wambsganss for one out. Wambsganss then stepped on second base, doubling off Kilduff, and wheeled around to tag Miller (who had broken for second) to complete a triple play. Never before had a triple play been pulled off in Series competition, and Cleveland’s “Wamby” had accomplished it unassisted.
Manager Wilbert Robinson’s Brooklyn club clearly was up against it this day. Mitchell, for one, could vouch for that. In his second and last trip to the plate in Game 5, he grounded into a double play. In two at-bats, Mitchell had accounted for five outs.
With one out in the ninth, Robinson’s team had collected 12 hits — and still hadn’t scored. Hit No. 13, a single by Ed Konetchy, finally cashed in a run. Bagby retired the side without further damage, though, and Cleveland emerged an 8-1 winner. The triumph proved the only victory of the Series for Bagby, who had won 31 games during the season.
Suitably inspired, Cleveland then dusted off the National Leaguers in Games 6 and 7, with late-season acquisition Waiter (Duster) Mails and Coveleski throwing shutouts. Mails, a Dodger briefly in 1915 and 1916 and a minor-leaguer for most of the 1920 season, blanked Brooklyn on three hits in a 1-0 decision and Coveleski, pitching his third five-hitter of the Series, won the decisive game, 3-0. Cleveland pitchers had held Brooklyn to two runs in the final 43 innings.
For the second consecutive season, a first-time World Series entrant had made off with the title. Again, the champion hailed from Ohio as the Cleveland Indians supplanted the Cincinnati Reds as baseball’s kingpins.
And Cleveland had to overcome incredible adversity — the death of a teammate. In the heat of the pennant race, 29-year-old shortstop Ray Chapman was struck by a pitched ball in an August 16 game at New York and died the next day. Chapman was hitting .303 and, as usual, supplying excellent defense and leadership.
Cleveland battled on, with newcomers mails and Joe Sewell proving valuable additions. Mails, after posting an 18-17 record at Sacramento, went 7-0 in nine appearances with the Indians. Shortstop Sewell, obtained from New Orleans to replace Chapman, batted .329 in 22 games. Speaker hit .388 in the 1920 season and was ably supported by catcher Steve O’Neill (.321), outfielders Jamieson (.319) and Smith (.316) and third baseman Larry Gardner (.310). Coveleski backed Bagby’s big season with 24 victories and Ray Caldwell won 20.
The Indians won the AL pennant by two games over the Chicago White Sox, who suffered in the late going from suspensions meted out to players implicated in the fixing scandal surrounding the 1919 World Series. Those suspensions came at the end of September 1920, when named finally were named and misdeeds exposed in the Black Sox episode of the previous year. The New York Yankees finished three games back.
This article was originally published on TSN
Game Recaps from Retrosheet
1920 World Series Stories
The 1920 Post-Season Games
World Series: Cleveland Indians (5) defeated Brooklyn Robins (2)
World Series Game 1 Played on Tuesday, October 5, 1920 (D) at Ebbets Field
CLE A 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 5 0 BRO N 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 1 5 1
BOX+PBP WP: Coveleski (1-0) LP: Marquard (0-1)
World Series Game 2 Played on Wednesday, October 6, 1920 (D) at Ebbets Field
CLE A 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 7 1 BRO N 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 x - 3 7 0
BOX+PBP WP: Grimes (1-0) LP: Bagby (0-1)
World Series Game 3 Played on Thursday, October 7, 1920 (D) at Ebbets Field
CLE A 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 3 1 BRO N 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 x - 2 6 1
BOX+PBP WP: Smith (1-0) LP: Caldwell (0-1)
World Series Game 4 Played on Saturday, October 9, 1920 (D) at Dunn Field
BRO N 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 1 CLE A 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 x - 5 12 2
BOX+PBP WP: Coveleski (2-0) LP: Cadore (0-1)
World Series Game 5 Played on Sunday, October 10, 1920 (D) at Dunn Field
BRO N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 13 1 CLE A 4 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 x - 8 12 2
BOX+PBP WP: Bagby (1-1) LP: Grimes (1-1) HR: Smith (1), Bagby (1)
World Series Game 6 Played on Monday, October 11, 1920 (D) at Dunn Field
BRO N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 0 CLE A 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 x - 1 7 3
BOX+PBP WP: Mails (1-0) LP: Smith (1-1)
World Series Game 7 Played on Tuesday, October 12, 1920 (D) at Dunn Field
BRO N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 2 CLE A 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 x - 3 7 3
BOX+PBP WP: Coveleski (3-0) LP: Grimes (1-2)