1921 in baseball explained
See also: 1921 Major League Baseball season.
Headline Events of the Year
- First radio broadcast of the World Series.
- Babe Ruth breaks Roger Connor's All-Time Home Run record of 138.
Champions
New York Giants over New York Yankees (5–3)
Statistical leaders
1 Negro National League
Triple Crown batting winner
Major league baseball final standings
National League final standings
Negro leagues final standings
All Negro leagues standings below are per Seamheads.[1]
Negro National League final standings
This was the second overall season of the first Negro National League. Chicago repeated as pennant champion.[2]
West (independent teams) final standings
A loose confederation of teams were gathered in the West which were not in the Negro National League. These teams did not organize a formal league.
East (independent teams) final standings
A loose confederation of teams were gathered in the East to compete with the West, however East teams did not organize a formal league as the West did.
Playoffs
Chicago, the best team of the "West" and Hilldale, the best team of the "East Coast", engaged in a "postseason series" that was played over eleven days in three states (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey). It was the first postseason series between two Negro league teams in eight years and it would be the first of six held in the 1920s. Hilldale won three games to Chicago winning two while Game 4 ended in tie.[3]
Events
January
- January 23 – The Chicago Cubs release First Baseman Fred Merkle.
- January 25 – The Chicago Cubs released infielder Buck Herzog. Herzog never again played in the major leagues.
March
April
May
- May 15 – Goose Goslin makes his MLB debut for the Washington Senators, going 1 for 3. Goslin would go one to become one of the few star players for the franchise and eventually be inducted into the baseball hall of fame.
- May 22 – In their first meeting of the season, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the New York Giants 8–6 at the Polo Grounds, to improve their record to 25–6 and to increase their lead over the second place Giants to 4.5 games. After trailing for most of the game, the Pirates scored twice in the eighth and six times in the ninth.
- May 30 – There are eight doubleheaders on the major league schedule, with all four NL contests resulting in a sweep; the Pittsburgh Pirates sweep the Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field, the New York Giants sweep the Philadelphia Phillies at the Polo Grounds, the St. Louis Cardinals sweep the Cincinnati Reds at Redland Field and the Boston Braves sweep the Brooklyn Dodgers at Braves Field. Meanwhile, in the American League, the Boston Red Sox are swept by the A's in Philadelphia, and the St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox split a pair at Comiskey Park, the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers split a pair at Navin Field, and the New York Yankees and Washington Senators split a pair at Griffith Stadium. Highlights of the doubleheaders include a two-hitter by the Senators' George Mogridge, and a sixteen inning marathon between the Braves and Dodgers.
June
- June 13 – Babe Ruth pitches the first five innings and hit two home runs in an 11–8 victory over The Detroit Tigers.
July
- July 8 – Tigers right fielder Harry Heilmann hits a 610-foot home run
- July 12 – Babe Ruth hits his 33rd and 34th home run of the season. His 33rd home run gave him 136 career home runs, tying Roger Connor's all-time mark. His 34th home run makes him the all-time home run king, a title he will hold until .
August
- August 9 – The St. Louis Browns defeat the Washington Senators 8–6 in nineteen innings. Dixie Davis pitches all nineteen innings for St. Louis.
- August 12 – Philadelphia Phillies pitcher George Smith gives up twelve hits and still hurling a shutout as the Phillies beat the Boston Braves 4–0.
- August 19 – Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers becomes the fourth player with 3000 career hits.
- August 27 – With a 3–1 victory at the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants complete a five-game sweep of the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates to move within 2.5 games of first place Pittsburgh. The Giants out scored the Pirates 27–6 in the series.
September
- September 9 – The Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox lock up in a slugfest at Comiskey Park. The Tigers collect twenty hits and six walks on their way to scoring fifteen runs. However, the White Sox score twenty runs on 22 hits, including a home run by Earl Sheely.
- September 16
- In the first game of a crucial three-game series for first place in the National League, the New York Giants' Fred Toney holds the Pittsburgh Pirates to two hits in the Giants' 5–0 victory.
- Hall of Famer Goose Goslin makes his major league debut in the Washington Senators' 2–0 loss to the Cleveland Indians.
- September 17 – The New York Giants complete a ten-game winning streak that sees them go from a half game back of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League to first place, 4.5 games up.
- September 20 – With a 4–2 victory over the Detroit Tigers, and a 7–4 loss by the Cleveland Indians at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees capture first place in the American League, and hold it for the remainder of the season.
- September 25 – The New York Yankees defeat the Cleveland Indians 21–7. Surprisingly, none of the 21 runs scored are driven in by Babe Ruth, who goes on to compile one of the greatest single seasons of batting in Major League baseball history by hitting 59 home runs, driving in 171 runs, scoring 177 runs with 204 hits for a .378 batting average in only 540 At-Bats. His On-base percentage for the season is .510 and his slugging percentage is an astounding .846 mark. Ruth's 59 home runs are more than the other seven American League team home run totals combined.
- September 29 – Future Hall of Fame outfielder Kiki Cuyler makes his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is held hitless in three at-bats by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bill Sherdel.
October
- October 2 – The Philadelphia Athletics lose 11–6 to the Washington Senators for their 100th loss of the season, giving both Philadelphia teams 100 losses for the season.
- October 5 – The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants 3–0 in the first World Series game in franchise history. The Series is the first to be broadcast on radio. Announcer Thomas Cowan recreated the game over Westinghouse-owned WJZ in Newark, listening to phoned-in reports from the stadium.
- October 6 – The Yankees defeat the Giants in the second game of the World Series by the same score of the first game, 3–0.
- October 7 – After having been outscored 10–0 in the World season, and falling behind 4–0 to the Yankees in game three, the Giants explode for thirteen runs, and defeat the Yankees 13–5.
- October 9 – The New York Giants even the 1921 World Series at two games apiece with a 4–2 victory. Babe Ruth homers in the bottom of the ninth.
- October 10 – Babe Ruth catches the New York Giants' infield off guard as the Yankee slugger bunts his way on to lead off the fourth inning. The strategy works, as Ruth scores the winning run in the Yankees' 3–1 victory.
- October 11 – The New York Giants battle back from 3–0 and 5–3 deficits to beat the Yankees 8–5 in game six of the World Series.
- October 12 – A costly error by second baseman Aaron Ward on a Johnny Rawlings ground ball leads to an unearned run, and is the difference in the Giants' 2–1 victory in game seven of the World Series.
- October 13 – The New York Giants defeat the New York Yankees, 1–0, in Game eight of the World Series to capture their second World Championship, five games to three. For the first time in World Series play, all games were held at one site: the Polo Grounds in New York, with the home team alternating. The Yankees sub-leased the Polo Grounds from the New York Giants from through .
December
Births
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Deaths
January–February
March–April
- March 10 – Pete Harrison, 36, English-born umpire who worked in the National League from 1916 to 1920.
- March 21 – Tom Vickery
- March 24 – Larry McLean
- March 25 – Harry Arndt
- March 30 – Frank Bancroft, 74, manager who won 1884 championship with Providence Grays, also managed six other teams; introduced baseball to Cuba in 1879, and was Reds executive for 30 years.
- March 31 – John Fitzgerald, 50, pitcher for the 1891 Boston Reds.
- April 3 – Pop Corkhill
- April 3 – George Bechtel, 72, outfielder/pitcher for the 1876 Louisville Grays, one of the inaugural franchises in the National League; previously played for five years in the NL's predecessor, the National Association.
- April 9 – Kid Butler
- April 21 – Edmund C. Converse, 71, industrialist, financier and chief shareholder in 1880s Pittsburgh Alleghenys who served as club president in 1883 and 1884.
- April 21 – Tom O'Brien, 60, utility who played in each position except shortstop, while batting a .231 average for five different teams between 1882 and 1890.
- April 27 – Hal Mauck
May–June
July–August
September–October
- September 3 – Jim Clinton, 71, outfielder for 10 seasons; 1872–1876, 1882–1886.
- October 2 – Ed Carfrey
- October 20 – Jack Hardy
- October 24 – Jimmy Barrett
- October 27 – Bill Kuehne, 63, German third baseman for the Columbus Buckeyes, Pittsburgh Alleghenys & Burghers, Columbus Solons, Louisville Colonels, St. Louis Browns, and Cincinnati Reds during the 19th century.
November–December
- November 4 – Levi Meyerle, 76, infielder who won National Association batting titles in 1871 and 1874, later playing in the first major league game.
- December 9 – Charlie Morton, 67, player, manager, and later a minor league president.
- December 15 – Joe Weber
- December 22 – Socks Seybold
Notes and References
- Web site: 1921 Season- Seamheads Negro Leagues Database . 2024-04-26 . www.seamheads.com.
- Web site: 1921 Negro National League Season Summary.
- Web site: 1921 Championship Series.
