1919 NL Players of the Week - 29 June

The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the National League during the week of 23-29 June are as follows (boldface denotes a League-leading total) . . .

1919 NL - Games of Sunday, 29 June

Pirates 3, Cubs 2: Wilbur Cooper pitched eleven fine innings and Howdy Caton earned him a victory with a 12th-inning RBI single that ended a long afternoon in Chicago. The Cubs held a 2-1 lead into the 8th inning behind Hippo Vaughn, but Caton's two-out double scored Cliff Lee from second base to tie the game and eventually force extra innings. Chicago squandered Les Mann's one-out triple in the 11th, and the Pirates took advantage when they came up to hit. Cooper (9-3) drew a walk with two outs and Carson Bigbee legged out an infield single, before Caton hit a sinking liner to right that fell in front of Max Flack for a hit and allowed Cooper to come around to score for the lead. Having seen his horse expend himself on the bases, Fred Mitchell decided to lift him in favor of Earl Hamilton in the bottom of the 12th and this almost came back to haunt him. After two quick outs, the Cubs got two men on base before getting Flack to ground one to first base to retire the side. Mann had three hits for Chicago. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Saturday, 28 June

Phillies 8, Robins 3: Irish Meusel and Gavy Cravath had four hits apiece, as Philadelphia pounded out fifteen hits to back Eppa Rixey in a win at Brooklyn. The Phillies busted open a close game with four straight singles in a 5th-inning rally that scored four runs to give PHI a 5-2 lead. After the clubs traded singe runs in the 8th, Cravath launched his League-pacing eleventh home run in the 9th, with Meusel on first base, to give the fragile Philadelphia pitching some margin for error. Rixey (1-1), despite an uncharacteristic five bases on balls on the afternoon, waltzed through an uneventful 9th inning to finish off the complete game. [box] [broadcast]

1919 NL - Games of Friday, 27 June

Reds 2, Pirates 0: Ray Fisher twirled a two-hitter and Heinie Groh and Larry Kopf delivered runs that allowed Cincinnati to come out on top of a pitching duel at Forbes Field. The Reds got off to a bright start, as Jake Daubert tripled with one out in the 1st and Groh immediately followed with an RBI single. Greasy Neale started the Cincinnati 7th with a three-bagger, and Kopf pushed him across with a fly ball to medium-deep center field. Fisher (6-8), meanwhile, was giving nothing to the Pirate batters - he retired the first nine and the final eight men, and allowed a runner into scoring position only twice. Carson Bigbee led off the 4th with a single and was bunted to second, and Billy Southworth singled and stole second to start the 5th, but Fisher got two groundouts in the first instance and two popups in the second to thwart the visitors on his way to facing only two batters over the minimum. [box]

1919 NL - Games of Thursday, 26 June

Cubs 7, Cardinals 6: Chicago somehow overcame six errors in the field, scoring once in the 11th inning to prolong the game and once in the 13th to win and salvage a doubleheader split at home. The visitors led 4-1 through five innings, Austin McHenry doubling home a pair, before the Cubs started to come into the game. A two-out double by Charlie Deal and an RBI single from Tom Daly scored one in the 6th and then Les Mann roped a three-run home run (3) in the following frame to jump Chicago into the lead for the first time. But McHenry tripled in the 8th and pinch-hitter Cliff Heathcote tied the game with a two-out single. Neither team threatened in the 9th, and it was off to extra frames. Pickles Dillhoefer reached on the sixth Chicago error of the game to start the top of the 11th, advanced on a single by pitcher Bill Sherdel, and scored the go-ahead run on Milt Stock's base hit with two away. But Sherdel (1-5) couldn't hold the fort in the bottom of the inning; Bill Killefer led off with a PH single, moved to second on a comebacker, and scored when Charlie Pick singled. The 12th inning was quiet, but the Cards got a runner to second with two away in the top of the 13th before Paul Carter (1-2) retired Dots Miller on a sharp line drive to third base. Sherdel retired the first two Cubs in bottom half, but Pick singled to keep the game going before Mann lined a ball into RCF gap that went all the way to wall for a game-winning triple. Pick had four hits, Mann had four RBI, and Lee Magee made three errors at shortstop for Chicago. [box]