Lunte’s time passes

Retelling the 1920 Indians’ story

Not much baseball history happens in the morning and Harry Lunte didn’t have much history to make.

Lunte was the good-fielding, poor-hitting shortstop who replaced Ray Chapman after he was hit in the head by a pitch and died the next morning. He had only six plate appearances before the Chapman incident with just one hit.

His best game was on August 27, a 15–3 win over the Athletics.

“One of the pleasing features was the work of Harry Lunte,” a Plain Dealer reporter write. “This kid has a tough job to fill and has been worrying about it. He never could hit very well but today he stepped up in a pinch early in the game and delivered. Two were on and one out and he bunted a nifty single which sent the runners homeward. In the third he again put over a telling punch and scored another counter.

“Lunte will be greatly benefited by this work and that means the team also will be stronger.”

Perhaps there was veiled meaning in the phrase “bunted a nifty single” because the play-by-play explains that his hit went into center field, hardly a bunt by modern standards.