Читать книгу No Money, No Beer, No Pennants. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Great Depression онлайн

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The ceremonies came to an upbeat conclusion and all that was left was to play a baseball game. What a game it was! At this point in the season, the two clubs were fighting hard for second place.

Grove and Harder were untouchable inning after inning. Reporters noted that the center-field bleachers were filled with several thousand men wearing white short-sleeve shirts. They claimed the batters were distracted by the white background and could not see the ball leaving the pitchers’ hands. Another factor in the lack of hitting might have been the sizzling fastballs thrown by Grove and the razor sharp curves of Mel Harder.

The Indians lineup did not quite match up to the hard-hitting Athletics. On the other hand, the outfield—local hero Joe Vosmik, Earl Averill, and Dick Porter—could more than hold its own. First baseman Eddie Morgan could hit fairly well, along with shortstop Johnny Burnett. Luke Sewell, the younger brother of former Indians shortstop Joe Sewell, was catching.

With both pitchers on top of their game, the innings piled up with neither team able to score. At one point Harder struck out the side, setting down the A’s sluggers Cochrane, Simmons, and Foxx in order. The game would go seven full innings before the Athletics put a run on the brand new center-field scoreboard. In the top of the eighth, Max Bishop led off with a walk. Mule Haas sacrificed him to second. Then Mickey Cochrane hit a shot up the middle that just got by Harder’s outstretched glove and Bishop raced home for the only run of the game. In the bottom of the ninth Eddie Morgan launched a drive to deep right field, but Bing Miller glided back and made the play to end the game. The newspapers would mention that Morgan’s drive would have easily cleared the short right-field wall at old League Park.