- CARDINALS “PULL A BROOKLYN” AND MATTY BEATS SAL, 6-4
- Butler’s Rank Muff Gives Champions Three Runs and the Game in Eighth Inning.
- TWO HOMERS OFF BIG SIX
- Wilson and Wingo Hit for Circuit in Second Inning, but Lead Is Wasted.
June 7, 1914 Age 23
St Louis Post Dispatch
NEW YORK, June 6. The Dodgers can be so habitually depended upon to go to pieces in a pinch, that that little trick in a ball game is called “pulling a Brooklyn,” and that is what the Cardinals did today at the Polo Grounds, tossing off by a score of 6 to 4 a game they should have won, 4 to 8.
Butler, the shortstop, who has been playing an exceptional game here, was the main offender in breaking up as pretty a contest between two great pitchers as was ever staged. His downfall came in the eighth inning. Up to that time the Cards had had a tie or better from the start.
Doak started to pitch for St. Louis, contrary to expectations, as it was thought Huggins would send Sallee in to oppose Mathewson. Had he done so at the start, St. Louis would have one more victory to its credit this morning instead of a defeat, but he chose Doak. Doak had not pitched bad ball at all, but he didn’t pitch the gilt-edge ball which Sallee showed later in the contest.
Giants Get Early Lead.
The Giants jumped off with a two run lead in the opening inning. With two down, Doak passed Grant, who promptly stole second. Doyle slammed a three-bagger to left, sending Grant home, and trotted in himself a moment later on Murray’s solid rap to center for a base.
In the second, however, the Cards tore into Mathewson savagely. Miller got a lucky life on Stock’s error, and Wilson slammed it against the center field fence for a homer. Butler was an easy out, but Wingo put it in the right field stands for another four-timer.
Doak held the Giants in the second, and though Matty was touched for two successive singles in the third, he was not scored on. Burns, the first man up for New York in the third, doubled down the left field foul line, and Sallee, who had been sent out to warm up during the second inning, was called in. Grant scratched a lucky single out of an intended sacrifice, sending Burns to third, whence he scored the tying run on a single by Snodgrass after the next two men up had been retired.
Dolan’s Hit Scores Hug.
The Cards grabbed the lead again in the seventh when Huggins, with one down, doubled to left, went to third while Doyle was throwing out Magee, and scored on a smash by Dolan that was too hot for Stock to hold. It looked as though that would prove the winning run, considering the airtight pitching Sallee was doing, but Doyle started the eighth with a triple against the right field all that didn’t miss going into the stands by more than four or five inches, and then rebounded to deep center. Murray, next up, sent a hard smash straight at Butler. It came to him on a long, straight bound, the easiest kind of a ball to field, but he was over-anxious, tried to stop and throw the ball with one motion, with the result that it bounded out of his hands and Doyle scored. The next two men were easy enough, though Murray had reached second while Wingo was throwing Snodgrass out at first.
Then the board of strategy confabbed and decided to pass Meyers and either “get” Matty or force him out of the game. McGraw sent Matty in and it looked like the strategy worked, for he popped up and easy fly to Butler. Butler had to back up for it, but just as he grabbed the ball he fell over backward and it bounced out of his hands and Murray scored.
Passed Ball Nets Run.
Then came a passed ball, which went over toward the visitors’ bench. Umpire Eason said it went in, allowing each man on base two bags. Huggins said it didn’t, but Eason’s say went farthest and Meyers walked in with the final run of the game, Bescher going out on a long fly to center.
Many big-league ballplayers, notably Christy Mathewson, Chief Bender, John Henry and Heine Zimmerman have taken to golf.