1920 Stan Colveleski Game 7 Indians 3 Dodgers 0 Game Score 78
1921 Art Neft Game 8 Giants 1 Yankees 0 Game Score 77
1922 Jack Scott Game 3 Giants 3 Yankees 0 Game Score 80
1923 Bullet Joe Bush Game 5 Yankees 8 Giants 1 Game Score 78
1924 Tom Zachery Game 6, Senators 2 Giants 1 Game Score 72
1925 Walter Johnson Game 1 Senators 3 Pirates 1 Game Score 82
1926 Pete Alexander Game 2 Cardinals 6, Yankees 2 Game Score 82
1927 Herb Pennock Game 3 Yankees 8, Pirates 1 Game Score 78
1928 Waite Hoyt Game 1 Yankees 4, Cardinals 1 Game Score 80
1929 Howard Ehmke Game 1 Phil 3, Cubs 1 Game Score 81
For those of you who missed part one, I’m going through every World Series and trying to pick the best pitched game. Then I let the guys from Bill James online pick the best pitched World Series game of the decade. Here are comments on the games I selected.
1920 Stan Colveleski Game 7 Indians 3 Dodgers 0, I wanted to give the award to Colveleski as he won three games. A couple of games might have been slightly better, but I also favorite games in the series. The thing that kept him down was he struck out only one batter, but more importantly he gave up no walks. Also, all 5 hits were singles.
1921 Art Neft Game 8 Giants 1 Yankees 0 I picked this as it was the final game of a 5 of 9 series. The Giants scored a run in the first inning and both pitchers were equally good. Waite Hoyt has a game score of 76. Hoyt won his other 2 games in the series and gave up just two unearned runs.
1922 Jack Scott Game 3 Giants 3 Yankees 0 He held the Yankees to 6 baserunners.
1923 Bullet Joe Bush Game 5 Yankees 8 Giants 1 The series was tied at 2 games each, so this was an important game. Bush only allowed 5 base runners in the game.
1924 Tom Zachery Game 6, Senators 2 Giants 1 It kept the Senators alive so they could win game 7. This was the best game score of the series as the starters really didn’t pitch great in the series.
1925 Walter Johnson Game 1, Senators 3 Pirates 1 It certainly wasn’t game 7. Johnson also had a shutout in game 4, but in this game he struck out 10 and gave up 1 walk. The Pirates would get their revenge on Johnson in game 7 to win the series.
1926 Pete Alexander Game 2, Cardinals 6, Yankees 2 Like Johnson in 1925 Alexander had 10 strikeouts and 1 walk. He had a bad second inning giving up 3 hits and the two runs he gave up. He only gave up one more hit the rest of the game. Tony Lazzeri was caught stealing home but was safe on an error by Alexander. I don’t know how that play went. Alexander would get his revenge in game 7.
1927 Herb Pennock Game 3, Yankees 8, Pirates 1 There wasn’t a great game pitched in this series. This game rather stands out.
1928 Waite Hoyt Game 1, Yankees 4, Cardinals 1 I am giving Hoyt his due after pitching so well in 1921 as the Yankees sweep for the second year in a row.
1929 Howard Ehmke Game 1 Phil 3, Cubs 1 Game Score 81, A very famous game. Ehmke struck out 13. His best performance was in the third with the game still scoreless. With men on second and third with only one out Ehmke struck out Rogers Hornsby and Hack Wilson to end the inning.
The winner for the 1920s is Howard Ehmke’s great game 1 in 1929. He gave up 1 run to a team that scored 982 in the regular season. The lineup had Rogers Hornsby batting third and Hack Wilson in his prime hitting fourth. They went 0 for 8 with 4 strikeouts. In the bottom of the third, Ehmke had men on second and third and only one out in a scoreless game. Hornsby and Wilson were the next two batters. Ehmke struck then both out.
I always thought Ehmke was the fourth starter. He was just a spot starter who started 8 games and pitched 3 in relief. He was effective in the games he pitched, but there were four starters and two relievers ahead of him in innings pitched. Bill Shores who is designated as the closer by Baseball Reference also started 13 games as well as relieving in 26.
The four starters were Lefty Grove, George Earnshaw, Rube Walberg and Jack Quinn in that order of quality based on my opinion. What is interesting is how Mack used his stuff for the rest of the series.
In game two he started Earnshaw. Things were going great as Philadelphia had a 6-0 lead going into the bottom of the 5th. Then Earnshaw allowed 5 singles to seven batters and the Cubs had 3 runs to get back into the game. Grove came in and struck out Gabby Hartnett to end the inning. Then he pitched excellent baseball to shut down the Cubs the rest of the way for a 9-3 victory. Even though Earnshaw didn’t pitch 5 innings he was credited with the victory, so I’m assuming that the rules were different back then.
Then two days later with one days rest Earnshaw starts again. He pitched decently but lost to Guy Bush 3-1. Jack Quinn started game 4 and didn’t have a good day giving up 5 runs in 5 plus innings. I have Quinn as the fourth starter. Rube Walberg who I have as the third starter, but baseball reference has had the second most WAR of the pitchers comes in relief giving up 2 more runs but finishes the 6th. Eddie Rommel who was basically the second relief pitcher, pitched the 7th and give up another run.
Down 8-0 the A’s rally for 10 runs in the bottom of the seventh for the most amazing comeback in World Series history. George Burns who pinch hits for Rommel made 2 of the 3 outs in the inning. To make sure they hold the lead, Mack puts his ace Grove in to pitch the last 2 innings. Grove is perfect and strikes out 4 of the six batters he faces in those two innings to get his second save of the series.
For game 5 up 3 games to 1, Mack starts Ehmke again. This makes since because he did well in game 1, he is well rested, and it would give his other starters rest if it doesn’t work out. Ehmke starts off well but loses it in the fourth after getting the first two batters. Four Cubs in a row get on base and 2 runs score. Rube Walberg is bought into the game. Walberg pitched great. In 5.1 innings he gives up 2 hits, no walks and strikeouts six. However, the A’s don’t score. Well, they don’t score until the ninth. The A’s rallied in the bottom of the ninth for 3 runs to win the series. You have to feel sorry for Pat Malone who pitched 8 scoreless innings and lost it in the bottom of the ninth.
