June 2, 1920 proved to be another high scoring day in the majors, but with a very small spread. Teams played all eight scheduled games, including a doubleheader in New York between the Senators and the Yankees. The Reds beat the Cubs 5-3 in Chicago, while the Cardinals beat the Pirates 6-2 in Pittsburgh for the lowest scoring games of the day. The Indians beat the Tigers in Cleveland 8-5, while the Senators took the night-cap from the Yankees 7-6 for the highest scoring games of the day.

Babe Ruth takes best offensive game of the day honors, and overall best offensive day with three home runs in the double header. In game one, Ruth posts a three for four with two home runs and a stolen base for a game score of 81. He follows up in game two with a two for three with a home run and two intentional walks for a game score of 71, tied for fifth on the day.

Ruth now owns fifteen home runs on the season in just thirty give games played. He stands half way to breaking the record of twenty nine home runs set the year before. His 1919 home run log shows him not reaching 15 home runs until July 24. His career home run rate (HR/PA) coming into 1920 was 0.037, meaning if he reverted to that rate, he would need 408 PA in the Yankees remaining 113 games to break his own record. You can see why people were extremely excited by this.

This is similar to what happened in 1998 with Mark McGwire. He hit 27 home runs by the end of May. His career home run rate coming into 1998 stood at 0.069. So if he reverted to his career rate, he would need another 509 PA in the Cardinals remaining 108 games to break Roger Maris‘s record of 61 home runs in a season. Neither player slowed down, and both smashed the record. Until Ruth, of course, a challenger rose to McGwire, as Sammy Sosa hit 20 home runs in June of 1998.

Best pitched game of the day goes to Jack Quinn of the Yankees, who beat the Senators in game one. Quinn goes the distance, allowing one run on three hits and a walk, striking out five. Along with Bob Shawkey, the Yankees the Yankees employ two of the top three K per 9 pitchers in the AL. They are developing a power game on both sides of the ball.