1923 was a historic season for the New York Yankees. Yankees Stadium opened and drew over a million fans. While this was a touch down from their seasons at the Polo Grounds in 1920 through 1922, the Yankees were still the only to team to ever draw a million fans, and this was their fourth year in a row doing so.
Babe Ruth also had another historic season. He set the single season walk record with 170 (which has only recently been broken by Barry Bonds). He also won his first and only Most Valuable Player award (despite deserving several more). He hit a career high .393 and he also had his best ever OBP with .545, the fifth best mark of all time. Throw in his fifth homerun title in six years along with a single season record of 379 times on base (which still stands), and you have a historic season by most standards. For the Babe, it was one of many.
The Yankees also had a top notch pitching staff. With a rotation that was five deep, Bob Shawkey, Joe Bush, Waite Hoyt, Sam Jones and Herb Pannock all threw over 235 innings. The Yankees led the league in ERA (3.62), complete games (101), and strikeouts (506).
And once again, they had to square off against their World Series arch-nemisis, the New York Giants. The Giants beat the Yankees to win the crown in 1921 and 1922 and Yankee fans all hoped to get this monkey off their back once and for while while bringing home a title to the Bronx.
Game 1 Highlights
Giants 5, Yankees 4 Giants Lead Best of Seven Series 1-0
The first ever playoff game at Yankees Stadium was a dramatic one as the Yankees hosted the Giants’ in their own stadium for the first time. Waite Hoyt got the start for the Yankees and Mule Watson went for the Giants.
The Yankees didn’t waste much time as they got to Watson early. In the bottom of the first, Whitey Witt led off the inning with a lineout and then Joe Dugan drew a walk. Babe Ruth forced out Dugan and then Bob Meusel doubled home Ruth to make it a 1-0 game.
The Yankees put a couple more runs on the board in the second inning. Aaron Ward and Wally Schang led off the inning with back to back singles and Everett Scott moved them both over with a bunt. Hoyt struck out but then Witt singled to drive both Ward and Schang home.
Through the first two innings, the Giants managed only a single against Hoyt, but in the third inning the wheels fell of the wagon. Four hits and a walk turned into four runs and the rally was capped off by Heinie Groh’s two run triple. Hoyt was pulled with only one out in the inning in favor of Bullet Joe Bush, and by the end of two and a half innings, the Yanks were down by a run.
Both pitchers settled down and the middle three innings were basically a pitchers dual. It wasn’t until the bottom of the seventh until either team mounted any kind of rally. Bush singled and then scored on Dugan’s one out triple to tie the game. Babe Ruth then hit a hard grounder to the first basemen and Kelly went home and got Dugan out at the plate to effectively end the rally.
That run would be critical because in the top of the ninth, the Giants put a run on the board to take the lead again. The Yankees went down quietly in the bottom of the ninth as the Giants took the first game of the series.
Game 2 Highlights
Yankees 4, Giants 2 Best of Seven Series Tied 1-1
Herb Pannock took the mound in game two for the Yankees as he went head to head with Hugh McQuillan. Like in game one, the Yankees got on the board first. In the second inning, Aaron Ward hit a solo homer to put the Yankees up 1-0.
Unfortunately, the lead was short lived. In the bottom of the second, Irish Meusel took Pannock deep for a solo shot to tie the game.
Both teams went down quietly in the third, but in the top of the fourth, the Yankees busted the game open. Babe Ruth led off the inning with a solo shot to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Bob Meusel struck out, and then Wally Pipp singled. Ward popped out to make it two outs, but Wally Schang kept the rally going with a single. Wally Pipp moved over to third on right fielder Ross Youngs error, and then Everett Scott singled home Pipp to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.
They’d add an insurance run in the fifth on another Babe Ruth solo homerun, but it wouldn’t be neccesary. Pennock cruised through nine innings of work. The Giants scattered nine hits against him, but only two of those were for extra bases and he walked only a single batter.
Game 3 Highlights
Giants 1, Yankees 0 Giants Lead Best of Seven Series 2-1
This game was all about pitching. Yankees starter Sad Sam Jones squared off against Art Nehf and the two had a masterful pitchers’ duel. Through the first six innings, neither team had put a run on the board. The only real threat came in the bottom of the fifth when the Yankees had runners at first and second with one out, but the rally was summarily squashed when Jones failed to help out his own cause by hitting into an inning ending double play.
In the top of the seventh, the Giants finally put themselves ahead. The future Hall of Fame manager and backup centerfielder, Casey Stengel hit a solo homerun to put the Giants ahead 1-0. Stengel would later make up for it by leading the Yankees to seven World Series wins as a manager.
And that was it. Jones and reliever Bullet Joe Bush held the Giants to four hits, but one of them was the Stengel homerun. On the other side, Nehf held the Yankees to six singles, and none of those runners crossed the plate.
Game 4 Highlights
Yankees 8, Giants 4 Best of Seven Series Tied 2-2
This game was over pretty quickly. In the top of the second, the Yankees put six runs on the board and by the end of the fourth, they had an 8-0 lead. The Giants tried to mount a comeback in the later innings but they fell short and lost 8-4.
Whitey Witt, Bob Meusel and Everett Scott all drove in two runs while Babe Ruth went one for three with two walks and two runs. Bob Shawkey walked away with the win despite giving up twelve hits and four walks in 7 2/3 innings of work.
Game 5 Highlights
Yankees 8, Giants 1 Yankees Lead Best of Seven Series 3-2
The Yankees won a very important game five by once again blowing out the Giants. The Yanks put three runs on the board in the first inning in front of their home crowd, and they added four more in the bottom of the second to make it a 7-1 game. For the final seven innings, only the Yankees put a lone run as both pitching staffs settled down.
Joe Dugan and Bob Meusel had huge games for the Yankees. Dugan went four for five with a homerun, three RBIs and three runs. Muesel went three for five with three RBIs and a run. Babe Ruth went one for four with two runs and walk.
Starter Bullet Joe Bush held the Giants in check by holding them to only one run on three hits. He walked two and struck out three.
Game 6 Highlights
Yankees 6, Giants 4 Yankees Win Best of Seven Series 4-2
The Yankees won their first ever World Series in an exciting game six. Herb Pannock took the mound against Art Nehf at the Polo Grounds.
The Yankees got on the board in the top of the first inning on Babe Ruth’s third homerun of the series. The solo shot gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead, but it was short lived as the Giants tied the game up in the bottom of the first.
The Giants proceeded to chip at Pannock and they scored a single run in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to give the Giants a 4-1 lead. Things appeared to be heading towards a game seven, but the Yankees ended up having something to say about that in the eighth inning.
Aaron Ward led off the inning with a pop out, and then Wally Schang and Everett Scott had back to back singles to put runners at the corners. Fred Hofmann pinch hit for Pennock and he drew a walk to load the bases. Pitcher Bullet Joe Bush pinch hit for Whitey Witt and he drew a walk to drive in a run. Joe Dugan then drew a walk to drive home another run and to shave the lead to a single run.
Then Babe Ruth came to bat. You’d expect some kind of game changing homerun, but Ruth struck out in a key moment. Fortunately his teammates picked him as Bob Meusel singled home Hinkey Haines (who pinch ran for Hofmann) and Ernie Johnson (who pinch ran for Bush). Meusel also scored on the play due to Bill Cunninghams error in centerfield.
At the beginning of the inning, the Yanks were down by three. By the end of the eighth, they were up by two runs. Reliever Sad Sam Jones held the Giants to one hit in the final two innings as the Yankees wrapped up the first of many World Series victories.
