WEDNESDAY AUGUST 24, 1921
A 'GRAND' GAME FOR RUTH BUT REDS LOSE AGAIN
Babe Ruth hit a towering grand slam homerun in the ninth inning but it was not enough as his Cincinnati Reds fell just short, losing 10-9 to Brooklyn for their second straight loss. Ruth (.411,46,138), who leads the league in all three triple crown categories, went 2-for-4 and homered for the 3rd time in the past two games. The fourth place Robins are now within 9 games of Cincinnati for the National League lead. Second place Pittsburgh and third place St Louis both lost today so they remain 5 and 6 games back respectively.
The big story remains Ruth, who has shattered the previous homerun record of 38 he set two years ago, and appears to be on his way to 60 or perhaps even more homeruns this season.
The New York Yankees moved a game ahead of Philadelphia atop the American League standings. The Yankees scored 4 times in the top of the ninth to beat St Louis 10-9. Cy Williams (.321,17,75) led the way for the Yankees with 4 hits and 4 rbi's on the day. Ty Cobb had 2 hits in a losing cause for St Louis to extend his consecutive game hitting streak to 25. Meanwhile, Philadelphia fell 4-3 in 12 innings at Detroit. Tigers third baseman Marty McManus (.320,2,78) delivered the game-winning rbi single to send the crowd at Navin Field home happy.
FEDERAL LEAGUE
Little has changed atop the Federal League although the first place Brooklyn Tip-Tops did drop 3 straight to the Chicago Whales. Brooklyn still has a very comfortable 19 game lead on second place Pittsburgh. The surging Whales are a game and a half behind the Rebels for the wildcard spot with Newark sandwiched in between them, 1 game off the pace. St Louis has struggled a bit of late and the Terriers are in 5th, 2 games out of the wildcard spot.
PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE
John Merritt (19-11, 3.68) won his 19th game of the season to lead the San Francisco Seals to 5-3 win in Seattle over the Rainiers in Pacific Coast League action. The win moves the second place Seals to within a game of the league leading Seattle ballclub. The contest was the opener of a 3-game series between the two PCL front-runners.
San Francisco is the hottest team in the league right now, with 3 straight wins and 9 victories in their last 10 games.
VETERAN LAPORTE RETIRES
Rather than accept a demotion to the Central League, 41 year old second baseman Frank Laporte has decided to call it a career. A 4-time major league gold glove winner, Laporte is one of the very few remaining active players who played prior to the turn of the century. He made his major league debut with the Boston Braves in 1898 and played 2461 major league baseball games for the Braves, Athletics and Tigers before joining the St Louis Terriers this year. Laporte never played a minor league game in a career that saw him bat .258 and win a World Series title with the 1915 Athletics.
In real life Laporte played 913 major league games primarily with the New York Highlanders(Yankees) but also with the Red Sox, Browns and Washington. A stocky man, Laporte played 2B, 3B and the outfield. Like in this sim Laporte also finished his career playing in the Federal League.