Giants v. Yankees

To get the honor of buying the first $1.10 seat, one Tony Albano planted himself at the head of the line 12 days before the ticket window opened, slept in a swivel chair, ate food brought to him by a colored friend with whom he ungraciously refused to be photographed. To reporters he proudly announced that he had been fourth in line in 1933, that he would not sell his place for $50, that he was an unemployed truck driver who had been living on $60-a-month relief for three years and that, while waiting, he had been told that Mrs. Tony Albano had given birth to a son, their seventh. Said Mrs. Albano: "We're up to our necks in debt. I can't interfere with Tony but what I couldn't do with that $50! I'm not interested in baseball but Tony's crazy about it. His one ambition is to have enough sons to make a ball team. . . ."

In the first game of last week's World Series between the New York Giants and the New York Yankees, Pitcher Carl Hubbell of the Giants made just one mistake. That was a pitch which Yankee Outfielder Selkirk knocked into the right-field stands in the third inning for a home run. In a cold rain that started in the second inning, kept up throughout the game, Giant batters slowly ground out runs against Yankee Pitcher Ruffing--one in the fifth on Bartell's homer, another in the sixth, four more in the eighth when the Yankee infield blundered. Giants 6, Yankees 1.

Zooming through Harlem, two days later, between dark rows of its populace drawn up along the sidewalks of Seventh Avenue, President Roosevelt, in the back seat of an open Pierce-Arrow, waved his tan felt hat. At the entrance to the Polo Grounds, the car crossed the sidewalk, went through a gate usually reserved for groundkeepers' trucks, rolled across the outfield, stopped at a box near the Giant dugout. The President threw out the first ball of the second World Series game, postponed 24 hr. on account of rain.

The game he had chosen to see turned out to be the longest (2 hr. 49 min.) and one of the most spectacular in World Series history. When it was over, 18-to-4 for the Yankees, the Giants had used five pitchers. Every Yankee including Pitcher Lefty Gomez had made at least one hit and one run. Baseball statisticians had compiled an even dozen new records. It was the biggest score and the worst beating in World Series history. Most brilliant individual performance was that of Second Baseman Tony Lazzeri. He duplicated a feat accomplished only once before in a World Series when, in the third inning, he made a home run with the bases full. Later, he shared with Catcher Bill Dickey the honor of equalling another all-time record, by driving in a total of five runs. Feeblest of the Giant pitchers was Alfred J. ("Al") Smith. When he had failed to retire three of the four batters to whom he pitched in the third inning, a spectator squealed: "Take out Al Smith and put in Roosevelt."

Fat Freddy Fitzsimmons of the Giants is considered a great fielding pitcher. In the third Series game, he proved himself also one of the best pitching pitchers, by allowing the Yankees only two hits in seven innings. In the eighth inning, with two out, two men on base and the score 1-to-1, Yankee Crosetti dribbled a feeble grounder. Pitcher Fitzsimmons fumbled the ball while Yankee Powell scored the run that won the game 2-to-1. Only record at the third game was the crowd at the Yankee Stadium--64,842, biggest in World Series history.

The record did not last long. Next day, 66,000 people saw the Yankees win the fourth game, 5-to-2. Yankee First Baseman Lou Gehrig, who had failed to get a hit in the first game, made his second home run of the Series in the third inning. Giant Pitcher Carl Hubbell was taken out for a pinch-hitter in the eighth. Players' share of World Series receipts comes from the first four games. To be split up 60-40 between winners and losers last week was a pool of $297,000. Said Giant Manager Bill Terry, whose water on the knee was so severe that he spent the time between games in bed getting treatment: "How much do the losers get?"

The Yankees, by now 8-to-1 favorites to win the Series, started the fifth game inauspiciously. The Giants got five hits and three runs in the first inning. What followed was a pitchers' battle between Giant Hal Schumacher, who had been knocked out of the box at the start of the second game, and Yankee Red Ruffing, who has only six toes. In the tenth inning, with the score 4-to-4, Giant Leftfielder Joe Moore hit a double down the left field line, went to third on a sacrifice, scored on Manager Terry's fly with the run that won the game, 5-to-4.

The sixth game started under lowering skies, with Fitzsimmons pitching for the Giants, Gomez for the Yankees. After Rightfielder Ott had driven home two Giant runs in the first inning, Leftfielder Powell tied the score for the Yankees by hitting a home run with a man on base. As both teams acquired more runs, the Yankees kept ahead of the Giants and Fitzsimmons and Gomez were replaced by relief pitchers. In the ninth inning the Yankees broke loose in a batting spree, won the game, 13-to-5, and the World Series, four to two.

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