A Serious Man.
Friday, September 16, 1927: New York
Miller Huggins was quoted in the papers near the end of our last Western trip as saying he wouldn’t smile until after we clinched the pennant. At the time Huggins made his proclamation, we were 16 games up with fewer than 30 games remaining in the season. To put it mildly, Miller Huggins is a serious man.
Even after we clinched on Tuesday — Schoolboy was on the mound for all nine innings, getting his 21st win of the season, against only six losses — Huggins’s face relaxed for the first time this year, but I still wouldn’t call it a smile.
This afternoon, Wilcy Moore started the game and got his 18th win, and the team won our 100th, with 12 games still to go in the season. But the big event happened during Cy’s second at bat. That’s when the Oklahoma cotton farmer walked up to the plate looking for just his fourth hit of the season.
“Go get ’em, Plow!” Ruth hollered for everyone in the Stadium to hear.
Ever since Moore took $300 off of the Babe by winning a bet they had between them that Cy wouldn’t get three hits all season, Ruth’s become Cy’s most bombastic booster.
In the fourth inning, while Wilcy was standing at the plate, the White Sox pitcher, Ted Blankenship, by accident hit Cy’s bat with a fastball that ricocheted into the short porch in right field for a home run. For a second, Moore just stood at the plate looking to see which direction the ball had flown. Since Cy bats with his eyes closed, at least at the point of contact, he honestly had no idea.
As the ball floated over the wall, our dugout erupted like Lindbergh had just landed in the goddamn outfield. Benny Bengough feigned having a heart attack, while Little Julie Wera waved a towel over him to try and revive him.
And that’s when Miller Huggins smiled for the first time this season — though it was still the smile of a serious man.
As Cy circled the bases, Ruth shouted, “Watch him! Watch him! When he gets to second, Plow’s gonna have to ask for directions!”
After everybody finished treating Cy like he was Odysseus having finally returned from the war, Schoolboy took measure of the moment, leaned over and said, “Wow. The home run race just tightened up considerably. Ruth now leads Gehrig by eight homers, and Cy by only 52.”
- THE DETROIT NEWS, August 27, 1927: “Hit Costs The Babe $300 And Tigers A Ball Game”.
- September 13, 1927: “Ruth Hits 51st, 52nd; Yanks Clinch Flag”. New York Times article and Box Score.
- September 16, 1927: “Yanks Annex 100th As Ruth Hits №53”. New York Times article and Box Score.
