1925 Pittsburgh Pirates: Tremendous Response

1925 Pittsburgh Pirates: Tremendous Response

1925 Pittsburgh Pirates: Tremendous Response

Even after the days of Honus Wagner the Pittsburgh Pirates remained a formidable opponent to any team in baseball, though they weren’t always in position to contend for a World Series Championship. However, in 1925 the Pirates played baseball at such a high level that they would receive another chance of securing a championship. The Pirates featured a collection of great talent that compete with any team that got in their way.

The Pirates went 95-58 in 1925 to win the National League pennant by 8.5 games over the New York Giants. The Pirates went 12-10 against the Giants in head-to-head play. The Pirates went 52-25 at their home ballpark of Forbes Field and went 43-33 on the road. The Pirates fared well from month to month as they went 16-9 in May, 18-8 in June, 17-11 in July, 21-10 in August and 17-11 in September. In blowout games that ended in margins of 5 runs or more the Pirates went 31-14.

Outfielder Hazen “Kiki” Cuyler batted .357 with 18 home runs and 102 RBI’s off 220 hits, 43 doubles, 26 triples and 41 stolen bases. Outfielder Max “Scoops” Carey batted .343 with 186 hits, 39 doubles, 13 triples and 46 stolen bases. First baseman George Grantham batted .326 with 117 hits, 24 doubles, 6 triples and 14 stolen bases in 114 games. Outfielder Clyde Barnhart batted .325 with 114 RBI’s, 175 hits, 32 doubles, 11 triples and 9 stolen bases. Third baseman Harold Joseph “Pie” Traynor batted .320 with 106 RBI’s, 189 hits, 39 doubles, 14 triples and 15 stolen bases. Catcher Earl Smith batted .313 with 64 RBI’s, 103 hits and 22 doubles in 109 games. Shortstop Glenn Wright batted .308 with 18 home runs and 121 RBI’s off 189 hits, 32 doubles and 10 triples.

Starting pitcher Lee Meadows went 19-10 with 87 strikeouts and a 3.67 ERA, recording 20 complete games, 1 shutout and 1 save. Ray Kremer went 17-8 with a 3.69 ERA, recording 14 complete games and 2 saves. Emil Yde went 17-9 with 13 complete games. Johnny Morrison went 17-14 with a 3.88 ERA, recording 9 complete games and 4 saves. Vic Aldridge went 15-7 with a 3.63 ERA, recording 14 complete games and 1 shutout.

Relief pitcher Charles Benjamin “Babe” Adams, at the age of 42, went 6-5 with 3 complete games and 3 saves. Tom Sheehan went 1-1 with 2 saves and a 2.67 ERA. Red Oldham went 3-2 with 3 complete games, 1 save and a 3.91 ERA. Bud Culloton recorded a 2.57 ERA from the bullpen.

The 1925 World Series pitted the Pittsburgh Pirates against the defending World Series Champion Washington Senators, a team that had one of the best pitchers in baseball history. In Game 1 on October 7 at Forbes Field the Pirates witnessed a pitching clinic courtesy of Walter Johnson as the Senators beat the Pirates 4-1. Johnson pitched a complete game, giving up 5 hits, 1 walk and 1 run while recording 10 strikeouts. In the top of the 2nd inning right fielder Joe Harris hit a solo home run, and in the top of the 5th center fielder Sam Rice had a 2-run double. In the bottom of the 5th Pie Traynor hit a solo home run. In the top of the 9th third baseman Ossie Bluege had an RBI single.

The Pirates bounced back to win Game 2 on October 8 by the score of 3-2. Vic Aldridge pitched a complete game, giving up 8 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs while recording 4 strikeouts. In the top of the 2nd inning first baseman Joe Judge hit a solo home run. In the bottom of the 4th Glenn Wright hit a solo home run. In the bottom of the 8th Kiki Cuyler belted a 2-run home run. In the top of the 9th pinch hitting left fielder Bobby Veach had a sacrifice fly to score outfielder and first baseman Earl McNeely, but it wouldn’t be enough for Washington.

The Senators then beat the Pirates 4-3 in Game 3 on October 10 at Griffith Stadium. In the top of the 2nd inning Wright had a sacrifice fly to score Traynor. In the bottom of the 3rd Judge had an RBI double. In the top of the 4th Clyde Barnhart had an RBI single, and in the top of the 6th Ray Kremer had an RBI single. In the bottom of the 6th left fielder Leon Allen “Goose” Goslin hit a solo home run, and in the bottom of the 7th Judge had a sacrifice fly to score McNeely.

Game 4 on October 11 was a forgetful experience for the Pirates as they got blanked by the Senators 4-0. Walter Johnson pitched a complete game, giving up 6 hits and 2 walks while recording 2 strikeouts. In the bottom of the 3rd inning Goslin smacked a 3-run home run, and then Harris followed by hitting a solo home run.

Down 3 games to 1 and facing elimination, the Pirates had to battle back, and they ended up providing a tremendous response to the adversity they were facing. In Game 5 on October 12 the Pirates beat the Senators 6-3. In the bottom of the 1st inning Goslin had an RBI double. In the top of the 3rd Barnhart had an RBI single, and then Traynor had a sacrifice fly to score Cuyler. In the bottom of the 4th Harris hit a solo home run. In the top of the 7th Cuyler and Barnhart both had RBI singles. In the bottom of the 7th Rice had an RBI single. In the top of the 8th first baseman John “Stuffy” McInnis had an RBI single, and in the top of the 9th Wright had an RBI single.

Returning to Forbes Field for Game 6 on October 13, the Pirates won 3-2. In the top of the 1st inning Goslin hit a solo home run, and in the top of the 2nd shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, who committed 8 errors on the field in the World Series, had an RBI double. In the bottom of the 3rd Barnhart had an RBI groundout, and Traynor followed with an RBI single. In the bottom of the 5th second baseman Eddie Moore hit a solo home run.

In the deciding Game 7 on October 15 the Pirates narrowly beat the Senators 9-7 to reclaim the throne as baseball’s best team. In the top of the 1st inning Joe Judge drew a bases loaded walk to score Goose Goslin, Ossie Bluege had an RBI single, Roger Peckinpaugh reached due to catcher’s interference to score Joe Harris, and then catcher Harold “Muddy” Ruel reached on an error to score Judge. In the bottom of the 3rd Eddie Moore had an RBI double, and then Max Carey and Clyde Barnhart both had RBI singles to follow. In the top of the 4th Harris had a 2-run double. In the bottom of the

5th Kiki Cuyler had an RBI double.

The bottom of the 7th was the key turning point of the game as Carey had an RBI double and Pie Traynor had an RBI triple to tie the game at 6-6. This was made possible because of an error committed by Peckinpaugh to start the Pittsburgh rally. Peckinpaugh would hit a solo home run in the top of the 8th to out Washington back on top 7-6, but that would lead would be short lived. In the bottom of the 8th left fielder Carson “Skeeter” Bigbee had an RBI double, and then Cuyler delivered the final blow with a 2-run ground rule double.

This tremendous response in the 1925 World Series proved to be the last positive moment in the history of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball as the Pirates returned to the World Series in 1927 but failed to win it. The Pirates would have to wait all the way until 1960 to claim another World Series Championship.