1926

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This site is dedicated to the memory of my Dad, Robert H. "Bob" Knell, Sr., the greatest Cardinal fan ever!!!

 

 

 

1926 World Champions

versus

89-65       

     91-63

The Story | Season Highlights | W.S. Opponent | Game Summaries | Series Box Score | Series MVP | World Series Program

 

The Story of the 1926 Championship Season

On the first day of Spring Training, held in San Antonio, manager Rogers Hornsby called a team meeting.  "I'll never forget it," Les Bell said.  "He got us all together and in that blunt way of his said, 'If there's anybody in this room who doesn't think we're going to win the pennant, go upstairs and get your money and go home, because we don't want you around here.' "

Despite Hornsby's confidence and resolve, the Card's started slowly.  By early June, they had struggled to fifth place.  Then the club engineered a couple of deals that were going to make a difference.  On June 14, the eve of the trading deadline, St. Louis obtained outfielder Billy Southworth from the Giants in exchange for outfielder Heinie Mueller.  The 33-year-old Southworth, a good journeyman player, coughed up a .320 batting average as he took over right field, giving the club, along with Hafey in left and Douthit in center, an excellent outfield.

Eight days later, the club made another transaction, one that would lead to one of baseball's pinnacle moments that October.  For the waiver price, the Cardinals acquired Grover Cleveland Alexander from the Cubs.  Successor to Christy Mathewson as the league's premier pitcher, the now 39-year-old Alex had been fighting a sad and losing battle with epilepsy and alcoholism.  When the no-nonsense Joe McCarthy took over the Chicago Cubs as manager that spring, he quickly lost patience with the genial but often erratic and unpredictable Alexander.  "Alex could still pitch," McCarthy said, "but he insisted on going by his own rules and that wasn't very good for the rest of the team.  So I had to let him go."

With Alexander contributing nine victories (including a 4-hit shutout of his former team in his Cardinal debut on June 27), right-hander Flint Rhem fastballing himself to a 20-7 record, and Sherdel and Haines pitching winning ball, the Cardinals began moving up through the standings, battling doggedly with Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.  The Cards whipped the Pirates in a double-header on August 31 and went into September in first place, faced with an unfortunate schedule oddity - their entire September schedule was on the road (and you thought we had scheduling problems in the modern era).

For two weeks the Cardinals bobbed in and out of first place, then went into Philadelphia for a six-game series with the last-place Phillies.  "It was like an oasis to us," Les Bell remembered.  "We'd just had some tough series in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Boston, and we just plowed through the Phillies."

Hornsby's boys took five out of six from the Phillies, edged into first place, and this time stayed there.  On September 24, St. Louis clinched the pennant at the Polo Grounds when they defeated the Giants, 6-4.  The final margin was two games over the Reds.  Their 89 wins were the lowest for a National League pennant winner, up to that point.

For the city of St. Louis, it was the first championship since Chris Von Der Ahe's Browns had finished on top in the old American Association in 1888.  Accordingly, the city broke into a celebration which newspapers compared to the municipal binge which marked the Armistice of November 11, 1918.

That spring, a gravely ill Mary Dallas had told son Rogers Hornsby:  "Your team is going to win the pennant this year.  I'll live until you win it."  On the night the Cardinals secured their spot in the World Series, Hornsby returned to the Almanac Hotel in New York to learn that his mother had died that afternoon.  She had left him a message:  "Tell Rogers that after he wins the pennant to go on and win the World Series.  I know he'll be able to do it."  It meant beating Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and all of the New York Yankees.

An early-season collision at second base had dislodged several vertebrae in Hornsby's back and interfered with his swing all summer, holding the skipper to an uncharacteristic .317 batting average.  The team's top hitter was Bell (.325), followed by Hornsby, Southworth (.317 as a Cardinal), Douthit (.308), outfielder Ray Blades (.305), and O'Farrell (.293).  Bottomley hit .299 and led the league with 120 RBI's and 40 doubles.  Hafey, playing just half the season, batted .271.  The team's 90 homeruns led the league.

Rhem's 20 wins tied him for the league lead; no other Cardinal pitcher ranked high in any significant category.  The club received a financial break when Phil Ball, expecting his Browns to contend for the pennant, expanded Sportsman's Park's seating capacity from 18,000 to 34,000.  The benefit was reaped by Breadon, whose Redbirds drew a new team record 668,428, while the Browns, who disappeared into seventh place, pulled under 300,000.

Awaiting the Cardinals in the World Series were the New York Yankees, the team of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig (completing his second full season), Earle Combs, Bob Meusel, and rookie Tony Lazzeri - one of the most lethal lineups ever banded together.  New York also had a well-stocked pitching staff in Waite Hoyt, Urban Shocker, Bob Shawkey, and left-handers Herb Pennock and Dutch Ruether.  And given the often ironic byways of baseball, managing the Yankees was former Cardinal skipper Miller Huggins, having just won his fourth pennant is six years.

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1926 Regular Season Highlights


Manager: Rogers Hornsby
Coaches: Bill Killefer, Otto Williams

 

Road to the Pennant

Date Won Lost Pct. Position
May 1 8 9 .471 5 of 8
May 15 13 17 .433 6 of 8
June 1 23 25 .479 5 of 8
June 15 30 26 .536 3 of 8
July 1 39 31 .557 2 of 8
July 15 46 39 .541 3 of 8
August 1 53 47 .530 3 of 8
August 15 62 50 .554 2 of 8
September 1 76 54 .585 1 of 8
September 15 82 60 .577 2 of 8
Final 89 65 .578 1 of 8

 

 

Typical Lineup

1. Douthit, CF
2. Southworth, RF
3. Hornsby, 2B
4. Bottomley, 1B
5. Bell, 3B
6. Hafey, LF
7. Thevenow, SS
8. O'Farrell, C
9. pitcher

Regular Season Offensive Performances

Pos.

Name

AVG

OBP

SLG

HR

RBI

Runs

SB

Notables

1B

Bottomley

.299

.364

.506

19

120

98

4

Led NL with 40 doubles & in RBI

2B

Hornsby

.317

.388

.463

11

93

96

3

 

SS

Thevenow

.256

.291

.311

2

63

64

8

 

3B

Bell

.325

.383

.518

17

100

85

9

 

LF

Hafey

.271

.311

.427

4

38

30

2

Only 225 AB’s

CF

Douthit

.308

.375

.377

3

52

96

23

 

RF

Southworth

.317

.364

.488

11

69

76

13

Began year w/NY-N (.328 overall)

OF

Blades

.305

.409

.462

8

43

81

6

 

C

O’Farrell

.293

.371

.433

7

68

63

1

 

Team

 

.286

.348

.415

90

 

817

83

 

Regular Season Pitching Performances

Pos.

Name

W-L

Pct.

G

GS

CG

SHO

ERA

Notables

SP

Rhem

20-7

.741

34

34

20

1

3.21

20 Wins led NL

SP

Sherdel

16-12

.571

34

29

17

3

3.49

 

SP

Haines

13-4

.765

33

21

14

3

3.25

 

SP

Keen

10-9

.526

26

21

12

1

4.56

 

SP

Reinhart

10-5

.667

27

11

9

0

4.22

 

SP

Alexander

9-7

.563

23

16

11

2

2.92

Partial season

RP

Johnson

0-3

.000

19

6

1

0

4.22

 

Team

 

89-65

.578

154

 

90

10

3.67

 

Team Accomplishments

League Leaders: Runs (817), Hits (1541), HR (90), BB (478), Most SO (518), SLG (.415)
League Leaders: CG (90), H/G (9.2), OAVG (.269)

Individual Accomplishments

Runs Hits Doubles Home Runs
3rd - Southworth (99) 4th - Bell (189) 1st - Bottomley (40)

2nd - Bottomley (19)

4th - Bell (17)

5th - Southworth (16)

Total Bases

RBI

Runs Produced

Bases on Balls

1st - Bottomley (305)

1st - Bottomley (120)

3rd - Bell (100)

4th - Southworth (99)

1st - Bottomley (199)

4th - Southworth (182)

5th - Hornsby (178)

5th - Blades (62)

Batting Average

On Base Pct.

Wins

Win Pct.

4th - Bell (.325) 2nd - Blades (.409) 1st - Rhem (20) 2nd - Rhem (.741)
Complete Games Hits per Game BB per Game Opp. Batting Avg.
4th - Rhem (20) 3rd - Rhem (8.41) 2nd - Alexander (1.39)

2nd - Alexander (.250)

2nd - Rhem (.250)

Opp. On Base Pct.

1st - Alexander (.275)

Back to Top

 

World Series Opponent


Manager: Miller Huggins

 

Typical Lineup

1.

Combs, CF

2.

Keonig, SS

3.

Ruth, RF

4.

Meusel, LF

5.

Gehrig, 1B

6.

Lazzeri, 2B

7.

Dugan, 3B

8.

Severeid, C

9.

pitcher

 

1926 Murderer's Row

The Yankees of 1926 welcomed back Babe Ruth, who had missed most of the  1925 season due to health problems and suspension.  They proceeded to lead the league in slugging and runs scored, just like the Cardinals.  

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Game Summaries

[Scorecards of each game are available by clicking NYY or STL in the line scores]


Game One

October 2 at New York (attendance: 61,658)

Cardinals Starter: Willie Sherdel (LHP), 16-12

Yankees Starter: Herb Pennock (LHP), 23-11

 

BOX SCORE

 
STL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   1 3 1
NYY 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 X   2 6 0

Homeruns: none

WP: Pennock (1-0)

LP: Sherdel (0-1)

Yankees lead Series 1-0

Highlights:

Pennock pitched a 3-hitter in the series opener.  After allowing a single run in the first, he completely shut down the Cards until allowing a hit in the ninth.

The Cardinals' Sherdel also pitched quite effectively, except for three walks in the first inning, and a hit, sacrifice, hit sandwich in the sixth that brought in enough runs to beat him.

 

Game Two

October 3 at New York (attendance: 63,600)

Cardinals Starter: Grover Cleveland Alexander (RHP), 9-7

Yankees Starter: Urban Shocker (RHP), 19-11

 

BOX SCORE

 
STL 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 1   6 12 1
NYY 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   2 4 0

Homeruns: Southworth - St. Louis, Thevenow - St. Louis

WP: Alexander (1-0)

LP: Shocker (0-1)

Series tied 1-1

Highlights:

After falling behind 2-0 in the second inning, Alex settled down and began displaying the form that had earned him his own special pew in the history of pitching.  From the third inning on, he completely dominated the Yankees, striking out a total of 10 and allowing only one single after the 2-run second.  Snapping off his sharp-breaking curves with immaculate precision, he retired the last 21 batters he faced.  With the score tied in the 7th, Southworth hit a three-run homer.  Shortstop Tommy Thevenow also homered.

 

Game Three

October 5 at Saint Louis (attendance: 37,708)

Yankees Starter: "Dutch" Ruether (LHP), 14-9

Cardinals Starter: Jesse Haines (RHP), 13-4

 

BOX SCORE

 
NYY 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 5 1
STL 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0   4 8 0

Homeruns: Haines - St. Louis

WP: Haines (1-0)

LP: Ruether (0-1)

St. Louis leads Series 2-1

Highlights:

For their first home game since August, this was the Cardinals' triumphant homecoming, and in honor of their hero's return the city again turned on the emotional faucets.  The front page of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat included these resounding headlines: "Tumultuous Thousands Welcome Cardinals," and "Greatest Demonstration in City's Baseball History as Frenzied Multitudes Lionize Baseball Heroes Amid Bedlam of Noise and Joyous Enthusiasm."  The outpouring occurred during an open-car ticker-tape parade.  "Remember now," Les Bell said, "this was right in the middle of things.  I asked Sherdel what would happen if we son the Series."  " 'The whole city is going to jump into the Mississippi,' he said."

Clutch performances don't get much bigger than Jesse Haines' Game 3 performance.  He pitched a gem of a game, throwing a 5-hit shutout.  But that wasn't enough.  He added a 2-run homerun during the 3-run fourth inning.

 

Game Four

October 6 at Saint Louis (attendance: 38,825)

Yankees Starter: Waite Hoyt (RHP), 16-12

Cardinals Starter: Flint Rhem (RHP), 20-7

 

BOX SCORE

 
NYY 1 0 1 1 4 2 1 0 0   10 14 1
STL 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1   5 14 0

Homeruns: Ruth (3) - New York

WP: Hoyt (1-0)

LP: Reinhart (0-1)

Series tied 2-2

Highlights:

New York's big bats finally awoke in Game 4.  Five Yankees doubled, and Babe Ruth hit three homeruns (still a World Series record), in a 10-run shellacking of five different Cardinal pitchers.  The Cards also recorded 14 hits, all off Hoyt, but 12 were singles so only five runs scored.

 

 

Game Five

October 7 at Saint Louis (attendance: 39,552)

Yankees Starter: Herb Pennock (LHP), 23-11

Cardinals Starter: Willie Sherdel (LHP), 16-12

 

BOX SCORE

 
NYY 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 9 1
STL 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 7 1

Homeruns: none

WP: Pennock (2-0)

LP: Sherdel (0-2)

New York leads Series 3-2

Highlights:

Game 5 was an amazing pitcher's duel, a re-match of Game 1.  Both pitchers had given up two runs in nine innings.  But in the top of the tenth inning, rookie Tony Lazzeri's sacrifice fly gave New York a 3-2 lead.  Pennock successfully pitched the tenth inning to preserve the victory.

 

Game Six

October 9 at New York (attendance: 48,615)

Cardinals Starter: Grover Cleveland Alexander (RHP), 9-7

Yankees Starter: Bob Shawkey (RHP), 8-7

 

BOX SCORE

 
STL 3 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 1   10 13 2
NYY 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0   2 8 1

Homeruns: Bell - St. Louis

WP: Alexander (2-0)

LP: Shawkey (0-1)

Series tied 3-3

Highlights:

The Cards called on their seasoned veteran Alexander again, and boy did he deliver.  He held the Yanks to 2 run, while Les Bell drove in four runs with a first-inning single, and a seventh-inning homerun.

Game Seven

October 10 at New York (attendance: 38,093)

Cardinals Starter: Jesse Haines (RHP), 13-4

Yankees Starter: Waite Hoyt (RHP), 16-12

 

BOX SCORE

 
STL 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0   3 8 0
NYY 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0   2 8 3

Homeruns: Ruth - New York

WP: Haines (2-0)

LP: Hoyt (1-1)

St. Louis wins the Series 4-3

Highlights:

The 40-year-old Alexander had pitched nine innings the day before; nevertheless, with the team facing the season's critical moment, not even Rogers Hornsby could resist the allure of Grover Cleveland Alexander.  There were younger and stronger pitchers available to him, but the skipper wanted Alex.

The moment has come down to us wreathed in mists of legend:  Alexander had been drinking the night before and been sleeping in the bullpen when the call came; Hornsby walked out to short left field to meet him, to see if the old boy's eyes were clear; Alexander was hung over.  Bell denied that the legend is true, instead saying "...Alex wasn't hung over - he stood there and told us exactly how he was going to pitch Lazzeri and his mind was sharp as a tack."

The plan was to tempt Lazzeri with an inside fastball, which Tony would pull foul; and then Alex would throw un-hittable curves low and away.  And this is exactly what happened.  Lazzeri pulled the fastball foul, then went down swinging on two sharp, back-breaking curveballs, just as Alexander the craftsman supreme had planned.  The tense confrontation had more than drama in it, it also had romance and symbolism:  the hard-hitting Lazzeri was a rookie - one writer described Tony as "pawing nervously at the dirt with his toe" and then "taking muscular practice swings" as he waited for Alexander to complete a long, deliberately slow walk from the bullpen to the mound.  For Alexander, battered by alcoholism and epilepsy, his spirit shattered and tormented by World War cannon fire, it was the theft of a moment from time just as his career had begun to slide over the horizon.

But after the crucial strikeout, Alex still continued on.  He got through the 8th unblemished, then retired the first two batters in the ninth, but then came to Ruth, who in a one-run game was pure menace.  Pitching carefully to Ruth, Alex walked him.  With Alex pitching to Meusel, Ruth, in what has been described as "the only mistake he ever made on a baseball diamond," inexplicably tried to steal second base.  O'Farrell's on-the-money peg to Hornsby shot down the great man and the Cardinals were world Champions!

St. Louis' euphoria lasted for just two months; to be precise, until December 20.  That was the day Roger Hornsby was traded to the New York Giants.

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Series Composite Box Score


STL (N)

PLAYER- POS

AVG

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RB

BB

SO

SB

Pete Alexander, p

.000

3

7

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

Hi Bell, p

.000

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Les Bell, 3b

.259

7

27

4

7

1

0

1

6

2

5

0

Jim Bottomley, 1b

.345

7

29

4

10

3

0

0

5

1

2

0

Taylor Douthit, of

.267

4

15

3

4

2

0

0

1

3

2

0

Jake Flowers, ph

.000

3

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

Chick Hafey, of

.185

7

27

2

5

2

0

0

0

0

7

0

Jesse Haines, p

.600

3

5

1

3

0

0

1

2

0

1

0

Bill Hallahan, p

.000

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Wattie Holm, of-4

.125

5

16

1

2

0

0

0

1

1

2

0

Rogers Hornsby, 2b

.250

7

28

2

7

1

0

0

4

2

2

1

Vic Keen, p

.000

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Bob O'Farrell, c

.304

7

23

2

7

1

0

0

2

2

2

0

Art Reinhart, p

.000

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Flint Rhem, p

.000

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

Bill Sherdel, p

.000

2

5

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

Billy Southworth, of

.345

7

29

6

10

1

1

1

4

0

0

1

Tommy Thevenow, ss

.417

7

24

5

10

1

0

1

4

0

1

0

Specs Toporcer, ph

.000

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

TOTAL

.272

-

239

31

65

12

1

4

30

11

30

2

PITCHER

W

L

ERA

G

GS