HARLEM OUTSLUGS AND OUT-RALLIES MILTON, 10-9

In a wild and crazy day on the diamond, Harlem rallied back from a disasterous 6-run inning to defeat Milton, 10-9, to take a 3-1 lead in the 1937 World Series. Harlem got to work quickly. Al Simmons had a one-out single in the first. After retiring York, Elden Auker gave up a deep drive to left-center. Hank Greenberg chugged around for a triple, scoring Simmons. Greenberg scored one batter later as Bill Dickey signled Hank home.

Milton began chipping away at the lead as Dolph Camilli homered to lead off the 2nd. An inning later. Auker himself lead off the inning with a home run to tie the game at 2 runs apiece.

Auker homered again in the 4th, giving the Teetotalers the lead. Then, in the sixth inning, Ival Goodman's sacrifice fly tied the game up for Harlem.

But then the wheels fell off for the Knights. Moose Solters was hit by a pitch from starter Luke Hamlin. Frank Demaree singled, and Roy hughes walked, loading the bases. The dangerous (at least as far as today is concerned) Elden Auker struck out, but Hamlin then walked Stan Hack, forcing home Solters. Al Smith came in to relieve, and Dickey dropped the second offering from Smith, allowing Demaree to score. Up 5-3 with two men on, Appling then hit a 2-2 pitch down the left-field line giving the Teetotalers a 8-3 lead. After Jo-Jo Moore was retired for the second out, Camilli tripled, followed by a Gabby Hartnett single that gave Milton a 9-3 lead.

But Harlem would allow an inning like that to go unanswered. Mike Kreevich lead off the 7th with a triple. Charlie Gehringer singled him home, cutting the lead to 5. Dixie Walker, pinch-hitting for Al Simmons, single to center, chasing Auker for rookie Johnny VanderMeer.

After York grounded weekly to the mound, forcing Gehringer at third, he got Greenberg to fly out to left. He then walked Dickey on four straight pitches, loading the bases for George Selkirk. Selkirk took the first pitch before homering to deep right center, and the grand slam brought Harlem back to within one run, 9-8. Jimmy Ripple, pinch-hitting for Al Smith, doubled to left but VanderMeer got Cronin to end the inning. In the top of the 8th, with Buck Ross on the mound for Milton, Mike Kreevich lead off with a single, followed by a single from Gehringer that moved Kreevich to third. Bill Lee relieved Ross, and Doc Cramer flied out to center, scoring Kreevich to tie the game at 9. In the top of the ninth, Kreevich got his third hit, and RBI single off of Bill Lee to give Harlem a 10-9 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.

Johnny Murphy kept Milton from scoring in the bottom of the ninth as Harelem held on for the 10-9 victory.

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
1937 Knights           2  0  0  0  0  1  5  1  1    10 16  0     9  1
1937 Teetotalers       0  1  1  1  0  6  0  0  0     9 14  0     9  1
 
Knights              AB  R  H BI   AVG    Teetotalers          AB  R  H BI   AVG
Gehringer         2b  6  0  2  1  .409    Hack              3b  4  1  1  1  .300       
Simmons           cf  3  1  2  0  .333    Appling           ss  5  1  2  3  .450       
 Walker           ph  1  1  1  0  .100    Moore             lf  5  0  0  0  .000       
 ESmith           p   0  0  0  0  .000    Camilli           1b  3  2  3  1  .286       
 Cramer           ph  0  0  0  1  .000    Hartnett          c   5  0  1  1  .294       
 Murphy           p   0  0  0  0  .000    Solters           cf  3  1  0  0  .235       
York              3b  5  1  0  0  .214     VanderMeer       p   0  0  0  0  .000       
Greenberg         1b  4  2  1  1  .267     Ross             p   0  0  0  0  .000       
Dickey            c   4  1  3  1  .429     Lee              p   0  0  0  0  .000       
Selkirk           rf  3  2  1  4  .333     Whitney          ph  1  0  0  0  .375       
Goodman           lf  2  0  1  1  .200    Demaree           rf  5  1  3  0  .176       
 ASmith           p   0  0  0  0  .000    Hughes            2b  3  2  0  0  .167       
 Ripple           ph  1  0  1  0 1.000     Hassett          ph  1  0  1  0 1.000       
Cronin            ss  5  0  1  0  .111    Auker             p   3  1  2  2  .667       
Hamlin            p   2  0  0  0  .000     Fox              cf  2  0  1  0  .417       
 Kreevich         lf  3  2  3  1  .333                         40  9 14  8             
                     39 10 16 10                                      
              
 
Knights                          INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Hamlin                           5.1  8  7  7  3  4 119  65 11.81
ASmith                           0.2  3  2  2  0  0  14  12 10.13
ESmith                           1.0  1  0  0  0  0   9   7  0.00
Murphy           W 1-0           2.0  2  0  0  1  0  26  13  0.00
                                 9.0 14  9  9  4  4 168  97 
 
Teetotalers                      INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Auker                            6.0 10  6  6  2  2  91  58  9.00
VanderMeer       H 1             0.2  0  1  1  1  0   7   3  2.45
Ross             H 1             0.1  4  2  2  0  0   8   6 10.80
Lee              BS 1, L 0-1     2.0  2  1  1  0  1  32  20  1.80
                                 9.0 16 10 10  3  3 138  87 
 
HAR: Kreevich inserted at lf in the 6th
     Walker batted for Simmons in the 7th
     Ripple batted for ASmith in the 7th
     Ripple moved to cf in the 7th
     Cramer batted for ESmith in the 8th
MIL: Fox inserted at cf in the 7th
     Whitney batted for Lee in the 9th
     Hassett batted for Hughes in the 9th
 
2B-Ripple, Auker. 3B-Greenberg, Kreevich, Camilli. HR-Selkirk(1), Appling(1), 
Camilli(1), Auker(1). K-York 2, Greenberg, Hack, Appling, Solters, Auker. 
BB-Greenberg, Dickey, Selkirk, Hack, Camilli 2, Hughes. SH-Ripple. 
SF-Goodman, Cramer. HBP-Selkirk, Solters. PB-Dickey. HB-Hamlin, Lee. GWRBI: Kreevich
Temperature: 46, Sky: clear, Wind: out to left at 20 MPH.