1922 BOSTON RED SOX ...
| Cap Anson | Sam Thompson | Tommy McCarthy | Jake Stahl | |||
| Died: April 14th | Died: Nov 7th | Died: Aug 5th | Died: Sept 18th | |||
| Alvin Dark | Mel Parnell | George Kell | Ralph Kiner | |||
| Born: April 23rd | Born: Jan 21st | Born: Aug 23rd | Born: Oct 27th | |||
| Hoyt Wilhelm | Carl Furillo | Johnny Lipon | Grady Hatton | |||
| Born: July 26th | Born: March 8th | Born: Nov 10th | Born: Oct 7th | |||
| Don Lenhardt | Sam Mele | Hank Bauer | Sam Dente | |||
| Born: Oct 4th | Born: May 20th | Born: July 31st | Born: April 26th | |||
| Sheldon Jones | Max Surkont | Buddy Kerr | Del Rice | |||
| Born: Feb 2nd | Born: June 16th | Born: Nov 6th | Born: Oct 27th | |||
| Charlie Sifford | Tom Fears | Ewell Blackwell | Gene Woodling | |||
| Born: June 2nd | Born: Dec 3rd | Born: Oct 23rd | Born: Aug 16th | |||
At the end of 1921, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee got busy. On December 20th, he traded his longtime shortstop Everett Scott, along with 23 game-winner Sam Jones, and Joe Bush to the Yankees. In return, he received shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh and three pitchers; veteran Jack Quinn and youngsters Rip Collins and Bill Piercy. Many of the Boston newspapers butchered Frazee, but the deal made sense because Jones and Bush were on the downside of their careers.
Jack Quinn pitched well but would never win more than the 13 games he won in 1922. Rip Collins led the Red Sox in games won and was the only Sox pitcher with a winning record (14-11).
A few weeks later later, on January 10th, Frazee turned around and traded Peckinpaugh to Washington for shortstop Frank O'Rourke and acquired Philadelphia A's thirdbaseman, Joe Dugan, in a three-way deal.
Stuffy McInnis was next to go. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians, for outfielder Joe Harris, firstbaseman George Burns and Elmer Smith. Smith had batted .290 and led the Indians with 16 home runs in 1921. It was another great deal for the Red Sox but again, none of the press saw it that way. They billed Frazee as the wrecker of championship baseball in Boston, but his intent was to rebuild and he dropped $23K to build up his minor-league prospects.
Burns had batted .361 against right-handed pitchers in part-time duty with Doc Johnston in Cleveland. With the Red Sox, Burns' career solidified. In the lineup every day, he batted .306 and reached a career-high 12 home runs, but led the league in errors with 20.
Joe Harris had hit .375 in 1919 and as the starting centerfielder, led the Sox with .316 BA. Mike Menosky also had a solid year in left field. He batted .283 with 32 RBIs and 61 runs scored.
There were those that speculated that Frazee was in financial trouble and was dumping salary. But Frazee squashed those rumors when he put up $350,000 to stage a fight between heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey and the black champion Sam Willis. He wanted to have the bout take place in Fenway Park, but that was turned down by the Massachusetts Boxing Commission, not wanting to take the chance that a black champion might be crowned in Boston.
For the third year in a row, the Red Sox surprised everyone and opened the season playing better than expected. But their success was short-lived. While they had plenty of offense, but they missed the steady pitching of Jones and Bush.
 |
They started the season hosting the Philadelphia Athletics at Fenway. The first game on April 12th was a 3-2 loss, because of two flagrant errors that cost the Sox the lead early in the game. Four errors were committed by the Sox infield the next game, but Elmer Smith and Bennie Karr made three hits each and Del Pratt came through with four hits, including two doubles. The result was a 6 to 2 win. The A's won the third game and then the Yankees came to town.
The first game with the Yankees on April 18th was an exciting one. The Yanks had a 9-4 lead when now-Yankee starter, Joe Bush was driven out of the game after five hits, including three doubles, good for four runs were given up in the eighth inning. Then Sam Jones was rushed in an held put out the fire started by his former mates, and the Yankees went on to win, 10 to 8.
 |
|
JACK QUINN |
On Patriot's Day the Sox and Yankees split a doubleheader. Ex Yankee, Jack Quinn out-pitched Carl Mays in the opener, 5 to 3. The Yankees came back in the next game, getting four runs in the first two innings, and going on to win, 6 to 1.
On the Sox first road trip down the coast, they won two games in Philadelphia. The first was a 15-4 bombardment of the A's on April 20th. George Burns slugged two homers, behind the great pitching of Herb Pennock.
Two days later, Joe Dugan knocked out a three run homer in the first inning, that beat his ex-team, 7 to 1. Bennie Karr pitched his second nice game, allowing seven hits.
But then the Sox traveled down to Washington and lost three straight games, followed by another one-sided loss in New York. Sox pitching had failed and allowed 47 runs in four games.
Finally the Sox won a 14 inning game by a 5 to 2 score, on April 27th at the Polo Grounds. Quinn had pitched brilliantly for 12 innings before leaving in favor of Alex Ferguson with the score knotted at 2-2. Yankee pitcher, Waite Hoyt, imploded in the 14th, giving up three runs and losing the game.
The next day Herb Pennock outpitched Bob Shawkey, 2 to 1. Del Pratt's eighth inning two-run homer into the right field stands was the difference. The Sox also won the following day, 5 to 2. Timely hitting gave Alex Ferguson a 4-0 lead, and the youngster held it easily, to gain his second win in New York. Joe Harris homered for the Sox in the ninth inning.
 |
Home, at Fenway, the Sox shut out Washington two straight games, 8-0 and 1-0. Quinn was masterful on May 3rd, not only pitching the first shutout, but also lined a double off the wall with the bases loaded. After two rainy days, Pennock took the ball and blanked the Nats, 1-0. He had bested Tom Zachary, each pitcher giving up just four hits.
The Sox were only 3 1/2 games out of first, when the Tigers showed up for four games at Fenway. The result was four straight losses.
The White Sox, still re-building without the exiled Black Sox players, then gave the Red Sox the opportunity to take three consecutive wins. Jack Quinn shut them out 5-0 on May 12th on four hits. Pennock allowed them just one run the next game, winning 3 to 1. And Rip Collins blanked them 2-0 in the third game.
The Red Sox overcame a three run deficit in the ninth inning, against the St. Louis on May 17th, to defeat the Browns, 4 to 3 at Fenway. Thanks to two errors by secondbaseman Marty McManus and a free pass, leading off the ninth, the Sox had the bases loaded. Elmer Smith brought in two runners with a single to center. Joe Dugan next advanced the runners to second and third with a bunt. Then two fly balls, one by Burns, and the next by Eddie Foster, allowed the runners to score the tying run and then the winning run for an unearned walk-off victory.
Next were the Indians and they beat the Sox in three of the four games they played. The only win was a 6-2 game on May 24th. Rip Collins allowed six hits and one earned run. He also brought home two runners with a pair of singles.
Eddie Foster's triple and a single by Muddy Ruel put the Red Sox over the top, beating the Philadelphia Athletics, 7 to 6 in 10 innings on May 26th.
Then on May 29th, Washington and the Red Sox split a doubleheader, with the home team being shutout in the first game 2 to 0, but winning the second game 9 to 8 in 11 innings. In the second game down a run, the Red Sox came up in the bottom of the 11th inning and Burns led off with a double. Del Pratt brought him home with a base hit and took second on the throw. Pinky Pittenger popped up but John Collins followed with a line drive that bounced off the scoreboard, putting Pratt over with the walk-off winning run, 9 to 8.
The Sox had won 10 and lost 14 in their homestand. By Memorial Day the Red Sox had dropped into last place and were 8 1/2 games behind the league-leading Yankees, as they headed out on a long three week road trip, to start the month of June.
 |
In the Polo Grounds on June 1st, the Sox blew a four run lead and lost to the Yankees, 5 to 4. Babe Ruth's triple with two men on base in the seventh inning, provided the two runs needed to erase the Sox lead. After a rain day, the two teams slogged their way in a rain-shortened contest, the Sox prevailing, 6 to 3 on June 3rd. It started as a pitching duel between Jack Quinn and Sam Jones. A triple by John Collins, with a man on, gave the Sox the lead and then a home run off the bat of George Burns put the Sox up by three runs. Nemo Leibold slugged another homer and Quinn had the backing he needed for the win when the rain started up.
In Washington, Alex Ferguson battled Walter Johnson and beat him 2 to 1 on June 4th. He allowed eight scattered hits and was never in serious trouble. John Collins provided the punch that scored Leibold in the first inning and Frank O'Rourke connected for a base hit that scored the second run.
In St. Louis, on June 9th, Mike Menosky collected three hits, but it was Elmer Smith's blast that won the game for the Red Sox. His grandslam homer in the second inning helped give the Sox five runs and they held on to a 7 to 5 win.
Six straight losses, four in Chicago, saw the Red Sox tumbled into last place. But the Sox staged a great comeback in a game during the series in Cleveland. On June 16th, they were down 6-5 in the ninth inning. George Burns started with a base hit. Del Pratt followed him with a double, putting runners on second and third. Joe Dugan's fly ball brought in Burns with the tying run. Elmer Smith, who had already homered, came up next and was intentionally passed to set up a force. That brought up John Collins who responded with a triple over Joe Evans' head in left, that cleared the bases and gave the Sox an 8 to 6 victory.
The final game of the road trip was played in Detroit on June 21st. The Sox had lost another four games and in this game had a 9-1 lead after the seventh inning. They had scored four runs in the third inning and added five runs in the fourth inning. Elmer Smith and Joe Dugan each had three hits and Dugan had 4 RBIs. But in the eighth, the Tigers got to Rip Collins for four runs. Allen Russell came in and the Tigers knocked him around in the ninth inning, scoring three more runs, falling one run short, 9 to 8.
The Sox had lost 12 of the 19 games on the road trip and were 12 games behind, in last place, when they came back to Boston to face the Yankees for five games.
The first game on June 22nd. Jack Quinn allowed his former team five hits and the Sox hitters roughed up their former teammate, Waite Hoyt, winning 6 to 2. Quinn had allowed just one hit thru the first six innings, while the Sox piled up a 5-1 lead. Dugan led the Sox hitters and was well supported by John Collins and Muddy Ruel.
The second game, the next day, June 23rd, saw the Yankees jump on Herb Pennock for a 4-0 advantage, going into the sixth inning. But Carl Mays couldn't hold the lead that was given to him. Del Pratt did some timely hitting getting a two doubles, driving in two runs and scoring two. George Burns was 2-for-3 against Mays. He singled in the sixth inning and it was followed by one of Pratt's doubles and a triple by Dugan, cutting the Yankees lead to 4-3. The next inning Mike Menosky tied the game after Pinky Pittenger and Elmer Smith had reached on base hits. That was the end for Mays who was replaced by Joe Bush. In the eighth, Pratt banged out his second double of the game, was sacrificed to third, and scored when Everett Scott's throw to home, trying to keep him from scoring on Ruel's grounder, got away from the Yankee catcher, Fred Hofmann. The final score was 5-4.
On June 24th, the two teams played a doubleheader and the Sox swept both games. Down 3-0 in the opener, the Sox scored six runs in the fourth inning and added five more two innings later, winning 12-7. Dugan, Muddy Ruel and Collins all had three hits. In the nitecap, the Sox jumped out front, 3-0, and held on to gain a 5 to 2 victory. The Yankees got only one hit off Bill Piercy in the first four innings, but scored on an error in the fifth, and two hits in the seventh.
A ninth inning home run by Yankee pitcher, Bob Shawkey, broke up a tie ball game with a two run homer, 6 to 4. Babe Ruth who had been out of the lineup in the first four games, slugged another home run about twelve rows up into the right field bleachers.
In Philadelphia, Bennie Karr threw a beauty, beating the A's 4-2 on June 28th. Seven scattered hits was all that Karr gave up and came through in the clutch time after time. John Collins had a perfect afternoon with two singles, a double and a triple.
The Red Sox (30-39) climbed out of the cellar into 7th place at the end of June, eleven games behind the league-leading Browns, as Bill Piercy stymied the A's, allowing only one hit in the last six innings, to win 4 to 1.
 |
On July 2nd, the Red Sox halted Walter Johnson's consecutive shutout innings streak at 30 innings and beat him 2 to 1. Alex Ferguson battled Johnson and pitched shutout ball himself for eight innings, allowing five hits. Dugan had three hits off Walter and it was John Collins, who knocked in Dugan in with the run that stopped the streak.
 |
|
GEORGE BURNS |
On July 7th, the Sox split a doubleheader with the first place, St. Louis Browns. Both games were exciting to watch. The first was a pitcher's duel between Urban Shocker and Herb Pennock which St. Louis won, 1-0. The afternoon game went back and forth, ultimately won in the 13th inning with a walk-off homer by George Burns.
The Browns and Red Sox split another doubleheader the next day, July 8th. Pratt drove in the winning run in the ninth of the first game, giving the Sox a 2-1 win. He slugged a homer in the second game, going four for nine in the doubleheader. The Sox lost the game, however, 10-6.
Playing their third doubleheader on July 10th, the Sox and Browns, once again, split the day. It took the Browns 13 innings to beat the Sox in the first game, 5 to 4. Burns slugged a might homer over the wall onto Lansdowne Street. But in the 13th, with runners on first and third, Browns pitcher struck out Joe Harris to end the game. In the second game, the Sox came from behind in the sixth inning, took the lead and held it for a 4 to 3 victory. And so, the two teams split the series and the Sox remained 12 games behind, in 7th place.
Then the Sox fell apart, losing four straight to the Indians and the first two games to Detroit, dropping back into the cellar. The Red Sox got a gift from the Chicago White Sox on July 20th. After letting Chicago tie the game in the ninth, the pale hose gave the game away in the 10th inning. Elmer Smith's grounder was fumbled by shortstop Eddie Collins and he later scored the winning run when Joe Dugan lined one down the third base line.
One of the best games of the season was played against the White Sox on July 21st. Three times the Sox came from behind and took the game into extra innings. John Collins made four clutch hits, driving in four runs, including the one that decided the game, 8 to 7.
On July 23rd the Sox played the Yankees at the Polo Grounds. In spite of Del Pratt getting three hits, including a homer, and Collins knocking out another home run, the Yankees prevailed 11 to 7.
 |
|
BABE RUTH & JUDGE LANDIS |
The Sox (38-53) had lost 12 of their last 18 games and Harry Frazee admitted he was disgusted by his team's play. Following the game, he traded starters thirdbaseman, Joe Dugan and outfielder, Elmer Smith to the Yankees for a couple of backup outfielders, Chick Fewster and Elmer Miller, shortstop Johnny Mitchell, and a player to be named later, along with $50K. (The player to be named later turned out to be Lefty O'Doul, who stayed with the Yankees until the end of the season)
The deal, which clearly was one-sided and benefited the more affluent Yankees in their race with the smaller market, St. Louis Browns was declared as regrettable by American League President, Ban Johnson. As a result, the idea of a trading deadline, was hatched. June 15th was the established trading deadline date by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis in 1923.
(The June 15th date remained in effect until 1986 Basic Players Agreement, following the 1985 players' strike. After that MLB had a separate waiver trade deadline from August 1-31. In that month, players were required to clear waivers before they could be traded. The waivers were revocable, meaning that a team could revoke the claim of another team on their player. The August 31st waiver trade deadline was later totally eliminated effective with the 2019 season, with August 1st being the trade deadline, period.)
Elmer Miller made his presence known on July 26th in Chicago. He hit two home runs, pacing his new team to a 3 to 1 win over the White Sox. Jack Quinn allowed just three scattered hit in the winning effort.
 |
In another of the road wins, the Sox cut loose in Cleveland and knocked the Indians over, 15 to 6 on August 8th. They clicked for 21 hits and 33 total bases which included two doubles and a triple from Joe Harris, two doubles and a triple by Chick Fewster, and doubles by Pratt and Charlie Mitchell.
But when their road trip ended, the Sox had lost 14 of the 17 games they played and were last place, 23 games behind. Back at home the Sox won four straight games but then lost six in a row.
Jack Quinn pitched a highlight game on August 25th however. He shutout the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park, 9 to 0. He allowed just two hits and in only two innings did the Indians not go three up and three down. Joe Harries banged out a double and a homer against his former team, while George Burns, singled, doubled and tripled. Newcomer Johnny Mitchell was 3 for 3 in his first three times up.
Back on the road, Del Pratt slugged a 10th inning home run in Philadelphia on August 30th, to make-up for the walk-off extra inning affair the Sox lost to the A's the day before. The final score was 5 to 4 and Burns had three hits including a homer.
August concluded with a 3-0 win in Philly. George Burns, again wielded his home run club, accounting for all the Sox runs with a three-run homer into the bleachers. The month however was not a good one for the Sox, with only nine wins and fifteen losses.
 |
Another highlight took place in Washington on September 2nd. The Sox shutout the Nats twice in a doubleheader, 3-0 and 1-0. John Collins dropped a bloop hit into left field in the first game the counted for the Sox first run, the eventual winning run. Then Del Pratt threw his bat at the ball in the ninth inning of the second game and dropped another blooper into right field, that scored the game winner in the second game. Alex Ferguson allowed Washington four hits in shutting them out in the opener. Bill Piercy gave up seven hits that meant nothing in the next game. Walter Johnson, his opposing pitcher, had Sox batters stymied until the ninth inning, when the Sox scored the game winner.
On September 5th, the Sox took two games from the Yankees in New York, by scores of 4 to 3 and 6 to 5. Babe Ruth gave the Yanks an early lead in the first game by driving out his 29th homer in the first inning, but the drive was neutralized when the Sox put three runs across in the third inning. Pratt's homer in the fifth inning of the second game, gave the Sox their margin of victory in the afternoon game.
The Red Sox and Philadelphia Athletics broke even in their doubleheader played September 9th at Fenway, with the Sox losing the first game, 3 to 1 and winning because of a ninth-inning rally, in the second game, 3 to 2. Down 3-1, with one out in the Red Sox half of the ninth, Burns dropped in a bloop hit to left. Pratt flew out and then Joe Harris singled to right. John Collins next connected for a single to left that scored Burns with the tying run. Frank O'Rourke followed with another single to left that brought home Harris with the walkoff game-winner.
In Washington, the following day, Alex Ferguson allowed the Nats only four hits while his teammates banged out 15 safeties. The Sox prevailed, 6-1, and Joe Harris led the attack, going 4-for-4. O'Rourke had three hits, bringing in three of the runs.
With the Browns and Yankees in a battle for the top spot in the American League, the Sox rolled in to St. Louis and beat the Browns, 3 to 1, in the first game of the series. The difference was a sixth inning home run from Burns that put the Sox ahead, 3-0. Burns ended up knocking in all three of the Sox runs. The euphoria was short lived as the Browns took the remaining two games and stayed 1/2 game behind the Yanks.
 |
|
RIP COLLINS |
Rip Collins (12-10) won his sixth straight game in Chicago on September 17th, beating the White Sox 3 to 2. Burns (318 BA) was again the hitting hero, connecting for three doubles in four times up and driving home two runs.
After losing four straight games in Cleveland, the Red Sox woke up on September 21st and turned on the Indians, winning 15 to 5. Mike Menosky had four hits. Burns had three hits and pitcher, Jack Quinn slugged a home run.
The Sox and Yankees finished the season at Fenway Park. Del Pratt's two doubles in the sixth and seventh innings caused a 3 to 1 setback, while Rip Collins allowed the Bombers only four hits. The Browns were idle and they were three games behind.
The next game saw Jack Quinn hold the Yankees to five hits and shut them out, 1 to 0. The Browns won and were now two games behind. With a 3 to 1 victory over the Sox, the Yankees clinched the pennant on September 30th.
The Red Sox finished the season with 61 wins and 93 losses, 33 games behind the Yankees. Attendance had plummeted again to 259,000, the lowest in the history of the Red Sox, apart from the war-shortened 1918 season.
As soon as the season ended, on October 2nd, Harry Frazee sold Del Pratt and Rip Collins to Detroit for $15,000. Three days later he used the money to buy the Arlington Street Theatre in Boston, where he knew he could make money. He was so fed-up, that he announced that the Red Sox were for sale and he would accept less than $1 million, as long as it was in cash.
