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BABE RUTH & ERNIE SHORE |
GAMBLING WITH HARRY FRAZEE ...
The Sox have a perfect sweep as
Ernie Shore
pitches a perfect game
after Babe gets ejected
June 23, 1917 ...
Modest Ernie Shore took a place in the Hall of Fame as a no-hit, no-run, no-man-reached-first base pitcher in the curtain-raider of the twin bill with the Griffmen at Fenway Park yesterday.
It was the best pitching seen in this city since 1904 when Cy Young put over a similar feat, the only difference being that Uncle Cyrus pitched to every batter, while the Carolina professor did not get into the exercises until after Babe Ruth, who had
walked Morgan, the first batter, had been removed for striking Umpire Brick Owens.
The final score was 4 to 0, and in the afterpiece the Red Sox applied the whitewash brush again, Dutch Leonard vanquishing Chain Lightning Johnson. The second score was 5 to 0. While Shore covered himself with glory, putting across something which
previously has been recorded only four times--Lee Richmond, John M. Ward, Cy Young and the late Addie Joss being the moundsmen who did it.
Babe with his temper beyond control went to the dugout under a cloud and undoubtedly will be severely penalized by Pres Johnson. His suspension will cripple the Red Sox badly as they need the big portsider very much. Babe pitched four balls to
Ray Morgan and accused Owens of missing two of them. “Get in there and pitch,” ordered Owens. “Open your eyes and keep them open,” chirped Babe. “Get in and pitch or I will run you out of there,” was the comeback of the arbiter. “You run me out and I will come in and bust
you on the nose,” Ruth threatened. “Get out of there right now,” said Brick.
Then in rushed Ruth. Pinch Thomas tried to prevent him from reaching Owens, who had not removed his mask, but Babe started swinging both hands. The left missed the arbiter, but the right struck him behind the left ear. Manager Barry and several
policemen had to drag Ruth off the field. All season Babe has been fussing a lot. Nothing has seemed to satisfy him.
With a brief warm-up Ernie Shore stepped to the hill and, after Sam Agnew had taken care of Morgan when the endeavor to annex second, Ernie just breezed along calmly. He fielded his position well and was ready for any of those cantankerous bunts that the
opponents might try to lay down. But strange to say the Griffmen were off that stuff, relying mostly on the slam-bang system.
The Carolinian is indebted to Scotty and Duffy Lewis for making his record. Shore robbed Jamieson of a hit in the first when a hard hit ball was deflected by Shore, Scotty being obliged to travel fast. However, he made a one hand pick-up and tossed out the runner. In the seventh “Duff” went
back to his own little cliff for a bang from Morgan and in the final frame came in like lightning and speared one that Henry had planted in short left.
Shore fanned only two and it did not seem as if he was working hard. He made a number of nifty plays himself. Barry closed the game with a grand play on a swinging bunt by pinch hitter Menoskey.
It was a big day for the Champions. They landed on Ayres and Johnson for nine hits each. Dutch Leonard only allowed four hits in the second game, three being in the first frame. The Red Sox had the punch yesterday and also resorted to the inside stuff, Barry engineering the double
squeeze perfectly in the seventh inning of the second game. Every man in the infield and outfield made at least one brilliant play. Lewis, Agnew, Scott, Barry and Thomas carried off the batting honors.
Agnew drove in the first run in the second inning of the curtain raiser. Gardner planted a single in right, went to second when Lewis dumped one down to Judge which he kicked outside, and after Walker moved them along with a sacrifice, Sam busted one at foster which he could not handle,
counting Gardner.
Ayres then went along in good shape until the seventh, when Walker opened by crashing a double against the fence in left, moving to third when Scotty sacrificed and tallying when Agnew larruped one down to the left field corner for two hassocks. Shore
hit to Ayres, and after the pitcher and Shanks had made an effort to run down Agnew between second and third Foster dropped the ball and Same was safe at third, Shore meanwhile scooting to second. Both scored when Hooper singled.
In the second game, Washington knocked out three hits off Dutch Leonard in the first inning yet went runless, thanks to a great throw by Harry Hooper to Larry Gardner that nailed Ray Morgan. Between the first inning and the ninth only one of the Nats got beyond first and in the last inning
Dutch had such a streak of wildness, he filled the bases but got away with it without any damage.
The Sox scored two runs in the third inning after two were out. Jack Barry singled to left and Hobby was hit by starter, Walter Johnson. Both scored when Larry Gardner's single slipped through Clyde Milan.
In the seventh inning the Sox added two more runs. Everett Scott opened the inning by driving a double over Charlie Jamieson's head in left field. Pinch Thomas singled to center, but Scotty only got the third as it looked like Milan might pluck the drive off his shoe tops. Leonard drew a
walk to fill the bases, and Scotty and Thomas both scored when Jack Barry engineered a suicide squeeze. It was a swinging bunt down between Joe Leonard at third and Howie Shanks the shortstop.
A final run was scored in the eighth-inning as Duffy Lewis singled, took second on Tilly Walker's sacrifice bunt, went to third on Scotty's infield hit and scoring on Pinch Thomas' line drive single, to make it 5 to 0.
Ernie Shore's no-hitter is the fifth one pitched this year. The others were by George Mogridge, Buddy Groom, Ernie Koob and Eddie Cicotte. |
