1930 World Series

https://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1930_WS.shtml

It's all come down to this. The 1930 Philadelphia A's were a little slow out of the chute in the regular season but they got going before mid-season and they easily rolled to the American League pennant. The 1930 St. Louis Cardinals were in a bit more of a dogfight in the National League, but they got healthy late and got hot with a month to go in the season and roared down the stretch to capture the NL pennant.

These two teams were clearly the best in their respective leagues and now it was time for the fall classic. No multiple rounds of playoffs, just the two best teams going at it, and getting started quickly. The last day of the regular season was on a Sunday, the first game of the World Series coming on a Wednesday. A two-day respite will come in handy for both teams as they will meet in Philadelphia to get things started. Let's Play Ball, and may the best team win.

Wednesday, October 1, 1930

St. Louis (NL) 5 at Philadelphia (AL) 0 (Game 1) (No-Hitter)

Burleigh Grimes not only shut-out the powerful A's but threw a No-Hitter! A's center fielder Mule Haas walked twice but was erased on a double play on both occasions, meaning Grimes faced the minimum 27 batters for the outing. The Cardinals regular catcher, Jimmie Wilson, was still unable to play due to an ankle injury, but it was backup catcher Gus Mancuso that got the scoring started with a solo homerun off Lefty Grove in the top of the second. Grove was not at his best today, as the Cardinals scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, Mancuso adding a double and a single to his day.

With a five-run lead the outcome might have been pretty much assured, but everyone stayed glued to their seats as Grimes continued to work his way through the Philadelphia lineup. The first walk came in the sixth, but a double play soon dispatched the baserunner. Out by out it continued, and then the second walk of the game in the ninth and then another double play and it was over and history was made.

Thursday, October 2, 1930

St. Louis (NL) 7 at Philadelphia (AL) 1 (Game 2)

Gus Mancuso

The A's got their first hit of the World Series on a Mickey Cochrane single in the first, and then Philadelphia took the lead when Mule Haas followed a Jimmie Foxx double with a run-scoring single. That was all the runs Cardinal starter Flint Rhem would give up today though, as A's starter George Earnshaw pitched had a shut-out through the first five innings, but wilted down the stretch.

Earnshaw opened the door with a fielding error to open the sixth, but it was catcher Gus Mancuso coming through again with a two-run single to give the Cardinals the lead. With the A's offense still silent St. Louis added a run in the eighth and then opened the ninth by loading the bases and knocking Earnshaw from the game. The Cardinals eventually scored four times in the ninth, and Mancuso plated the last run on a double play to further his hot series.

Saturday, October 4, 1930

Philadelphia (AL) 14 at St. Louis (NL) 9 (Game 3)

After a travel day, the two teams arrived in St. Louis to continue to World Series. The hometown Cardinals were looking to lock this series up by taking game three and opening a 3-0 lead in the series and after Philadelphia scored once in the top of the first they immediately scored eight times in the first and knocked A's Starter Rube Walberg from the box. Gus Mancuso continued his super series by driving in two of those first-inning runs, giving him five RBI's for the World Series.

The A's knew the consequences of falling behind 3-0 in the series and began to mount a comeback by scoring four times in the second to make the score 8-5. Cardinals starter Bill Hallahan has had a problem with wildness all season and he had to be pulled in the middle of the third when the A's scored again, Hallahan having given up six hits and five walks in his 2.1 innings of work.

The A's were now back within two and could smell the blood in the water, and they wasted no time in regaining the lead with three in the fourth. Normally reliable reliever Hi Bell gave up a homerun to Al Simmons to draw the A's to within one, then Jimmie Foxx doubled and then Bing Miller homered, giving the A's a 9-8 lead, and the Cardinals wouldn't recover.

With A's reliever Bill Shores keeping the Cardinals bats quiet, the A's blew the game open with a five-run sixth to take a 14-8 lead, Mickey Cochrane joining the homerun parade. The Cardinals scored once in the ninth, but it was too little too late and the A's had their first win of the series.

Sunday, October 5, 1930

Philadelphia (AL) 6 at St. Louis (NL) 5 (GM 4)

This series has not been Lefty Grove's shining moment. After losing game one the A's gave Grove a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Cardinals came right back with one in the bottom of the inning, and that set the tone for the rest of the game. The A's took a 3-1 lead after the second and a 5-1 after the fifth, but the Cardinals just kept putting men on base and Grove kept slipping out of danger.

Grove eventually gave up seventeen hits, including seven doubles, but he never gave up the lead. The Cardinals scored twice in the sixth to cut the lead to 5-3, but then both teams scored one more time, setting up the ninth inning. After two outs Chick Hafey doubled and was then singled home by Ray Blades to make the score 6-5. Catcher Jimmie Wilson, making his first start of the series, doubled into deep left center, but the A's defense gunned down Blades trying to score from first with the tying run, giving Grove the win and allowing Philadelphia to tie the series at 2-2.

Monday, October 6, 1930

Philadelphia (AL) 3 at St. Louis (NL) 6 (GM 5)

St. Louis came home with thoughts of maybe being able to end the series in front of their home fans, but now know they are going to have to back to Philadelphia and are hopeful of having a lead in the series when they do. The hometown fans don't think Burleigh Grimes is going to throw another no-hitter, but he has been the Cardinals ace down the stretch and they are hopeful of a victory.

The A's scored first when Jimmie Foxx doubled with one out in the second and then scored when he was singled home by Mule Haas. The Cardinals quickly responded when Chick Hafey hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the second to tie the score back up, and then St. Louis began to nick away at A's starter George Earnshaw. In the third Frankie Frisch doubled home Sparky Adams to give the Cardinals the lead and then Hafey drove home Frisch to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Both teams scored one run in each of the fourth and the fifth innings, and with a 5-3 lead, Grimes went to work, shutting down the A's offense the rest of the way. Earnshaw made way for Lefty Grove, but Grove gave up a pinch-hit triple to Ray Blades in the seventh and Blades was pushed home by a Jimmie Wilson squeeze bunt, expanding the Cardinals lead to 6-3.

Philadelphia mounted one last attempt at a comeback, getting two runners on base in the top of the ninth, but Grimes struck out Max Bishop to end the rally and end the game. St. Louis now leads the series 3-2 as both teams board a train to head back to Philadelphia for the World Series finale.

Wednesday, October 8, 1930

St. Louis (NL) 4 at Philadelphia (AL) 3 (13) (GM 6)

In a bit of gamesmanship, Connie Mack has chosen to go with game five starter George Earnshaw in game six. There was a day off for travel and Earnshaw has pitched on (very) short rest before, but he is likely a better option than Rube Walberg and it saves Lefty Grove for a potential game seven. The Cardinals are going with Bill Hallahan, who squandered a big lead in game three. With the exception of Burleigh Grimes, this has been a rough world series for the pitchers.

As has been their wont the A's scored first, two in the first and then one more in the third, to take an early 3-0 lead. Then disaster struck for the A's in the fourth - first baseman Jimmie Foxx and catcher Mickey Cochrane got their legs tangled when chasing a pop-up near the first base dugout and both had to come out of the game. The A's did have the lead though and had hopes of being able to get through this one without them.

The Cardinals had other plans though and began their comeback with one in the fifth when Chick Hafey doubled and then scored on a Jim Bottomley double. In the sixth Frankie Frisch drove home Sparky Adams with the Cardinals second run to cut the A's lead to one run. With two outs in the eighth St. Louis tied it up at 3-3 when George Watkins singled in Taylor Douthit with a two-out single, Douthit just beating the throw to home in a cloud of dust.

With the score now tied the game settled down into a game of relievers, Lefty Grove for the A's and Hi Bell for the Cardinals. No one scored in the ninth and the game headed into extra innings. The A's had a chance to win it in the tenth when with two outs  Mule Haas singled with Bing Miller on second, but George Watkins gunned down Miller to preserve the tie. No one scored in the eleventh or twelfth, but then the Cardinals got on the scoreboard with one in the thirteenth. George Watkins came through again for the St. Louis, singling home Sparky Adams who barely beat the throw home from right fielder Bing Miller.

Now with a 4-3 lead St. Louis brought in Flint Rhem to pitch the bottom of the thirteenth and he promptly gave up a single to Bing Miller, but Rhem quickly settled down and the A's went down 1-2-3 after that and the Cardinals had their 1930 World Series victory.

Picking a World Series MVP was not an easy task as St. Louis had contributions from several different players. Burleigh Grimes threw a no-hitter and won a crucial game five, third baseman Sparky Adams hit .370 while picking up ten hits, five of which were doubles, and of course, Gus Mancuso provided the spark in games one and two that got the Cardinals their early series lead. After much discussion, the voting was taken and the MVP was awarded to George Watkins who hit .533 for the series, drove in the game-tying run in game six, threw out a runner at home that would have ended game six in a loss, and then drove in the eventual game-winning run in the same game six that gave the Cardinals the World Series victory.

Of course, the Philadelphia fans were not happy with the loss and you can still hear comments about the common practice of the day of leaving bats on the field that led to the twin injuries of Mickey Cochrane and Jimmie Foxx in game six. In a cruel twist of baseball fate, it was Lefty Grove that was branded as the goat of the world series. Grove finished the series with a 4.26 ERA, almost three times higher than his regular season ERA, and he took two of the losses. It is fair to point out though that Grove's first loss came when the other pitcher threw a no-hitter, in his next start he pitched poorly (he gave up seventeen hits) but he did get the win regardless, and then Grove got his second loss only after having pitched four+ innings of scoreless relief before allowing the series-winning run. On the other hand, the A's scored first in each of the final five games but simply couldn't hold those leads as the Cardinals fought their way back into every game.

All in all, it was a great World Series with two great teams. This time the hits just managed to fall the St. Louis way, but both teams knew it could have gone either way with a little luck here and there. I am certain if I replayed this World Series a hundred times it would come out very close to 50-50 as these teams were very closely matched.