100 Years Ago Today 9/17/1920: Brooklyn Robins Take Second Straight From Defending Champs

From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF DEM BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

Game #145: Friday, September 17, 1920 - BR
Cincinnati Reds vs. Brooklyn Robins
Ebbets Field

The Countdown Begins: Six Game Lead With Ten Games Left to Play

LEON CADORE WINS #15

Leon Cadore once again comes through for Uncle Robbie.  The 28-year old right-hander limits the defending champions to a pair of unearned runs on five hits and five walks with five strikeouts through nine innings.  He improves to 15-13 with a 2.62 ERA.  Trailing 2-1 in the home seventh, Ivy Olson leads off with a double then scores the tying run on Tommy Griffith's base hit to left.  Zack Wheat singles and Hi Myers drives in his 78th run of the season giving the Robins a 3-2 lead and final margin of victory.  That's two straight wins against the Reds and thirteen wins in their last fourteen games.  Brooklyn widens their lead to seven over the now third place Reds.  The New York Giants defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates in ten innings at the Polo Grounds.  They take over second place six games behind the Robins.

• RECORD: 86-58 (.597)
• 1st Place; 6.0 GA

EXTRA: BREAKING NEWS
EIGHT WHITE SOX TO BE SUSPENDED

Season long scuttlebutt and wild speculation is coming to a head.  A grand jury is being convened to investigate allegations that numerous White Sox players acted in concert to throw the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in return for monetary compensation from a known gambling syndicate.  Rumors have plagued the White Sox even while the series was in progress and ever since.  It is now being reported Mr. Comiskey will shortly announce the suspension of eight players allegedly implicated in the fix:

• Eddie Cicotte
• George "Buck" Weaver
• Oscar "Happy" Felsch
• Fred McMillan
• "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
• Charles "Swede" Risberg
• Claude "Lefty" Williams
• and Arnold "Chick" Gandil who never reported to the White Sox to begin with, electing instead to play semi-pro ball.  Looking back, Gandil's decision may very well have cost Chicago the pennant.  

That being said, today's unfolding events essentially leave the American League up for grabs between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.

Or does it?

When the White Sox took the field this afternoon at Comiskey Park, all suspected parties were present and in uniform.  Seemingly untroubled by outside disturbance, Eddie Collins and Shoeless Joe slash back to back triples and Happy Felsch drives home Jackson for a prompt 2-0 lead against the visiting New York Yankees.  Swede Risberg triples leading off the second inning and is driven home by Red Faber for a 3-0 lead.  A third inning error by first baseman Shano Collins leads to a pair of unearned runs for the Yankees.  Chicago then scores three runs in the sixth, two are unearned.  After which the Sox withstand two Yankees runs in the ninth for a 6-4 victory.  Chicago closes to within 1.5 games of first place, although their future appears bleak.