1960-61 NHL Replay - week ending 5 November 1960

A couple of top-of-the-table matchups highlight the first week of November . . .

1919 NL - Games of Thursday, 3 July

Phillies 4, Braves 3: Philadelphia scored twice in the 9th inning after being down to their last remaining out, and once on the 10th to snatch a victory from the grasp of the Bostons at Braves Field. After the Phillies had scored the opening run in the 2nd on two singles and a passed ball, the home nine built an early 3-1 lead behind RBI singles from Tony Boeckel and Walter Holke, and a run-scoring wild pitch by George Smith. Jack Scott held that lead for the Braves through eight innings, and retired the first two batters in the Philadelphia 9th as the home fans began to celebrate. But Bevo LeBourveau drew a pinch-hit walk to prolong matters, and Leo Callahan and Harry Pearce followed with singles that Philled the sacks with baserunners and the one final out still yet to secure for Boston. Doug Baird (1-for-3 with a walk so far) was next to bat, with the dangerous heart of the Phillies lineup on deck, so Scott was forced to deal directly with the PHI third baseman; Baird poked a blooper into shallow left field which no Brave could reach, and two runners came around to score and tie the ballgame at three. Larry Cheney (0-2) came on in relief of Scott to escape further damage, but he would not be so fortunate in the 10th. Gavy Cravath walked to start the frame, and stole second, but Cheney appeared to have rendered that moot when he put away the next two batters. Late-game catching replacement Hick Cady struck the big blow, however, in his first at-bat of the game when he drove a ball over Ray Powell's head in right field and up against the fence for three bases and a Philadelphia lead. Gene Packard (3-8) set Boston down in order in the home half of the inning and what was left of the crowd departed in stunned silence having been deprived of their anticipated win in shocking fashion by the League's cellar dwellers. [box]

1985 World Series replay

In preparation for the impending delivery of the 1920 season set for Box Seat Baseball, I got out the 1985 cards to shake off some Box Seat cobwebs with a replay of the famous Royals-Cardinals Fall Classic. My re-do of the Series was not nearly the cliffhanger that we experienced in real life . . .

1981-82 NHL Co-Op Replay - QUE at BOS (4-1-82)

1 April 1982: In an April Fool's Day tilt that certainly featured more than its share of the bizarre, the Nordiques and Bruins put on display everything that was wild, wacky and wonderful about early-1980s hockey. 

1919 NL - Games of Wednesday, 2 July

Reds 4, Cubs 0: Slim Sallee pitched his second shutout of the season and Heinie Groh and Larry Kopf had three hits each as Cincinnati topped Chicago. Kopf knocked in all four Reds runs of the game, grounding out after Greasy Neale's triple in the 2nd, singling home Groh in the 6th and then lacing a two-run single in the 8th. Sallee, meanwhile, allowed one hit in the first four innings, and was only ever in any difficulty when he allowed two one-out singles in each of the 5th and 9th innings. The Reds' veteran lefty didn't allow a free pass, running his streak of frames without issuing a walk to twenty-one in a row. Lee Magee had four of the seven Cub hits. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Tuesday, 1 July

Pirates 2, Cardinals 1: On a day when the two teams could combine for only a total of four hits, and starters Bill Doak and Erksine Mayer both flirted with immortality, it was untimely defensive lapses that relegated St. Louis to a painful defeat at home. Mayer set down twenty of the first twenty-one, an error producing the only baserunner, while Doak had allowed just a walk through the first seven frames. Thus the game headed to the 8th with neither side having recorded a safe hit, and the Forbes Field crowd was buzzing with expectation that one (or both!) of the pitching men might record an historic feat. But Rogers Hornsby led off the STL 8th with a double and, two outs later, scored the game's first run on Frank Snyder's single. Perhaps the visitors relaxed after finally getting on the scoresheet, and with Doak (5-8) looking dominant, but Billy Southworth singled as the first man up for the Pirates and shortstop Doc Lavan then threw the ball into the stands behind first base on a grounder off the bat of Hooks Warner. There were now two men in scoring position with none out, and the crowd's thoughts of tomorrow's legacy were now quickly turning to panic over today's outcome. Vic Saier kept the suspense to a minimum by immediately following Warner with a single to center that scored both runners after Cliff Heathcote fumbled the pickup and denied himself any chance to cut down the go-ahead run at the plate. Mayer (6-4) said "thank you very much" to his teammates and retired the top three in the Cardinal batting order in the 9th to secure the win for Pittsburgh. [box]

1960-61 NHL Replay - week ending 29 October

It's the return engagement between the two League leaders and Boston continues the chase for its first win of the season . . .

1960-61 NHL Replay - week ending 22 October

Things begin to shake out amongst the early contenders as the Hawks and Habs meet for the first time, and the two Canadian teams clash in Toronto . . .

The Splendid Splinter Project - 26 July 1941

(This game was played as part of The Splendid Splinter co-op project to replay Ted Williams' .406 season of 1941.)

Bob Feller and the Indians somehow outlast an epic spell of command issues to ride an Oscar Grimes home run to a 7-2 win over the Sox at Fenway.

1919 NL - Pitching Leaders through 30 June

Pitching leaderboards in the National League through the games of Monday, 30 June . . .