August 26, 2020

This Date in 1920

All nine scheduled games see action on August 26, 1920, including a doubleheader between the Tigers and Senators in Washington. Two games, both won by the home team 2-1 come in for the low scoring contests of the day; the Pirates beat the Braves and the Cardinals beat the Giants. At the high end of scoring, the White Sox crush the Yankees 16-4. Babe Ruth hits home run 44 in the game, as Ruth keeps adding to his single season home run record.

Shano Collins of the White Sox wins best offensive game of the day. He collects three hits in five plate appearances, doubling twice and adding a triple. Collins was one of the White Sox players from 1919 not involved in the cheating scandal, including the winning pitcher of this game, Dickey Kerr.

Collins’s biography has a short mention of how he received his nickname:

As for Collins’s nickname, most sources agree that “Shano” (sometimes spelled “Shauno” because it was pronounced that way) came about as a clubhouse corruption of Sean, the Gaelic equivalent of John and a nod to his Irish heritage.

SABR.org

Not mentioned, although I believe likely, is that a comic strip named Knocko the Monk started a craze where people added O to the ends of their names to serve as a nickname. The most famous story involving this use of the O revolved around the Marx Brothers. (The naming just happened to have been preceded by a baseball game!)

On the pitching side, Bill Hubbell of the Phillies takes home the honor of best pitched game of the day. He shuts out the World Champion Reds behind a seven run out burst by his teammates. Hubbell allows just one hit and one walk, striking out three as he gets defensive support as well.

Hubbell received a cup of coffee from the Giants in 1919, but 1920 served as his rookie year. He pitched well as a swing man, making eighteen starts and twenty relief appearances for 180 innings. He was not wild, walking 57 batters in that season, but his game was unusual in that he struck out more than he walked. He finished the year with 34 K. He never really improved on that in his seven year career. This would be his only shutout of the season.

George Sisler of the Browns extends his lead in the AL batting race. He goes two for five to maintain his .401 BA, while Tris Speaker of the Indians picks up one hit in four at bats to drop to .394.

In the NL pennant race, the Dodgers take advantage of both the Reds and Giants losing. Brooklyn beats the Cubs 5-3 in Chicago to move into a virtual tie with Cincinnati. The Reds remain two games up in the loss column. The Giants remain three games back in third place. The Reds suffer another loss as shortstop Larry Kopf breaks his thumb. I suspect that the injury was a bit exaggerated, as Kopf returns to the lineup on Sept. 11.

The Athletics beat Speaker’s Indians 3-2 as the team continues to slide since the death of Ray Chapman. The White Sox now lead Cleveland by 3 1/2 games and the Yankees by four games, as it is starting to look like a repeat for the 1919 AL Champs.

Indians manager Tris Speaker put no blame on Yankees pitcher Carl Mays for the death of Ray Chapman. The rest of the Indians, however, were not so kind and they drew up a petition to boycott games pitched by Mays. According to the article, the Browns and Senators joined in, and this will be tested as Mays’s next start will be against he Browns.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *