On this day in 1924 in Yankee stadium Goose Goslin hit for the cycle and lead his Senators to victory. It would be the only time the Hall of Famer would do so. In fact 1924 was the greatest year in the Senators history and Washington DC sports – The Senators won their only World Series.
He was one baseballs best hitters, he was not one of its best fielders- the exceptional unusual manner in which he covered or not covered fly balls was the reason for him being called Goose. Another manager called his style of fielding as a “roller skating fly catcher.” He batted from the left side which helped in both in Griffith Stadium and Yankee stadium, and was noted for denting the right field wall with hits. His absentmindedness, unique mannerisms and amiable attitude helped make him a fan favorite.
Goose went 4 for 5 with 6 RBI the day. In typical Goose Goslin fashion he was not the hit leader of the team, fellow outfielder and Hall of Famer, Sam Rice went 5 for 6. The Senators needed those performances as the Yankees as a team hit for the cycle: Babe hit two home runs, Wally Pipp hit a triple, Joe Dugan a double, and Wally Schang two singles, as well as others. After the dust settled, the final score was Senators 11, Yankees 7.
When he walked to the plate he was greeted with the chant of “Come On-n Goose” He earned the reputation of a powerful clutch hitter, and led 5 of his teams to the American League Pennant, in the midst of Yankee dynasties. His lifetime stats are quite remarkable, his batting average was .316, his total was 2735 and overall OPS+128. He hit more than .300 and had more than 100 RBI eleven different seasons. He was the only person to play in all the Washington Senators World Series games as well. The year he led the league hitting at .374 he finished only 6th in the MVP vote. He also hold the record for hitting into 4 consecutive double plays, He won the batting title that year by getting a hit in his final at bat for season. Despite his hitting and leading the Senators to the World Series, he was passed over by the Voters, not getting into the Hall of Fame by a unanimous vote of the Veterans Committee in 1968.
John Thorne posted a marvelous story about the Goose and the day he was inducted into the Hall recently titled “The Day Goose Goslin Made It to the Hall of Fame”. It’s a great story, the link is http://ourgame.mlblogs.com/2014/07/24/the-day-goose-goslin-made-it-to-the-hall-of-fame/.
The SABR BioProject posting, by Coty Vitty, on Goose is full of Goose Goslin anectodes and is well worth looking at as well. My favorite was that in 1931 he attempted to bat with a Zebra striped colored bat, but it was ruled illegal by the home plate Umpire. That did not matter as Goose went 3 for 4 that day.
This day is also significant because in the history of Baltimore-Washington baseball, the teams have almost the same record and the big deal both are in first place. This has never happened before. (In 1914 the Baltimore Terrapins of the Federal League and the Original Senators both finished in 3rd Place. In 1969 the Orioles finished first and the Senators had their best season finishing 10 games above .500 and finished 4th. In 2012 the Nationals won their division and the Orioles finished second.) Interestingly the other two franchises who wore the Senators uniform are in last place in their respective divisions. It’s just one of those baseball meaningless occurrences.
Here is the box score of the day Goose hit for the Cycle.
Game Played on Thursday, August 28, 1924 (D) at Yankee Stadium I
WAS A 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 8 0 – 11 19 0
NY A 0 1 0 2 1 0 2 0 0 – 6 12 1
BATTING
Washington Senators AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
McNeely rf,cf 6 1 1 0 0 1 3 0
Harris 2b 5 2 1 0 1 0 2 3
Rice cf,rf 6 2 5 0 0 0 3 0
Goslin lf 5 2 4 6 1 0 4 0
Judge 1b 6 1 2 1 0 0 10 1
Bluege 3b 4 2 2 0 1 0 1 2
Ruel c 5 1 2 0 0 0 3 2
Peckinpaugh ss 5 0 2 3 0 0 1 6
Zachary p 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Russell p 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Leibold ph 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Marberry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 46 11 19 10 4 2 27 16
FIELDING –
DP: 1. Harris-Peckinpaugh-Judge.
BATTING –
2B: Rice 2 (29); Goslin (25); Ruel (18).
3B: Goslin (17).
HR: Goslin (8,5th inning off Pennock 1 on).
Team LOB: 12.
BASERUNNING –
CS: Harris (8).
New York Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Witt cf 5 0 1 0 0 0 4 0
Dugan 3b 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 4
Ruth rf 4 2 2 3 1 1 3 0
Meusel lf 3 1 1 2 0 0 1 0
Pipp 1b 4 1 1 0 0 0 12 2
Schang c 3 0 2 1 0 1 3 0
Ward 2b 4 0 2 0 0 1 2 3
Scott ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 4
Pennock p 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 3
Gaston p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jones p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mamaux p 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 35 6 12 6 2 3 27 16
FIELDING –
E: Dugan (16).
BATTING –
2B: Dugan (24).
3B: Pipp (16).
HR: Ruth 2 (42,4th inning off Zachary 0 on 0 out,7th inning off Russell 1 on);
Meusel (7,4th inning off Zachary 0 on 0 out).
SH: Meusel (12); Schang (12).
Team LOB: 6.
BASERUNNING –
CS: Schang (5).
PITCHING
Washington Senators IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP
Zachary 3.1 6 3 3 0 0 2 16
Russell W(4-1) 3.2 5 3 3 2 0 1 16
Marberry SV(10) 2 1 0 0 0 3 0 7
Totals 9 12 6 6 2 3 3 39
New York Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP
Pennock 7 11 5 5 3 2 1 34
Gaston L(5-3) 0.1 1 2 1 1 0 0 4
Jones 0.1 5 4 4 0 0 0 6
Mamaux 1.1 2 0 0 0 0 0 6
Totals 9 19 11 10 4 2 1 50
Umpires: HP – Ducky Holmes, 1B – Dick Nallin, 3B – George Moriarty
Time of Game: 2:35 Attendance: 25000
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