As modern-day Yankees followers, we revere the Yankees’ custom of excellence and profitable and take as a right their being probably the most storied franchise in all of sports activities. Twenty-seven championships. Forty pennants. In a world the place groups nonetheless change uniform colours, the Yankees found out their pinstriped branding way back.
However that was not the case in 1923. That yr, the Yankees have been enjoying in newly-built Yankee Stadium, only a stone’s throw over the Harlem River from the New York Giants, their crosstown rivals. After sharing the Polo Grounds with the Giants, Yankee Stadium was a welcome new residence. And the 1923 World Series was a chance for the Yankees to show themselves on their new residence turf within the Bronx.
On October 15, 1923, Sport Six of the World Sequence unfolded on the Polo Grounds. The Yankees trailed the Giants by three runs for a lot of the sport, and it even seemed as if the Giants have been going to power a deciding Sport Seven. However the Yankees scored 5 runs within the eighth inning to clinch their first World Sequence Championship. It was the primary of many extra to return.
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Photograph by NY Every day Information Archive by way of Getty Pictures
Whereas the 1923 World Sequence was the Yankees’ first championship win, there have been a number of particular person gamers on the Yankees—Babe Ruth and “Unhappy” Sam Jones amongst them—who had received World Sequence titles with the Boston Red Sox within the 1910s.
They usually did it by counting on Babe Ruth’s residence runs. The Yankees and their highly effective bats had beat Giants supervisor John McGraw and his group’s “inside baseball” fashion of enjoying (what could be referred to as “small ball” in the present day). Who knew the talk between sacrifice bunts and dingers was alive and nicely in 1923? Some issues don’t change!
Enjoyable details concerning the 1923 World Sequence:
- The house subject alternated every sport, a marked distinction from the present 2-3-2 format. After all, Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds have been positioned lower than a mile away from one another, and the proximity made it simpler to alternate stadiums every day.
- The Yankees confronted the Giants within the 1921, 1922 and 1923 World Sequence. The three straight matchups are the one time that three consecutive World Sequence have featured the identical two opponents.
- Giants outfielder Casey Stengel hit game-winning residence runs in every of his group’s two wins. In Stengel’s trademark idiosyncratic fashion, considered one of them was an inside-the-park homer, and in keeping with baseball lore, Stengel’s shoe got here free whereas he was working across the bases. Stengel, in fact, would finally lead the Yankees to a lot of World Sequence wins.
- The 1923 Sequence was the primary to exceed 300,000 in complete attendance (301,430) and to internet over a million {dollars} ($1,063,815.00) in gate receipts. Adjusted for inflation, that’s equal to $16,175,905.08 in 2020.
- Lou Gehrig, who was a rookie in 1923, didn’t play or seem in any of the six video games.
1923 New York Yankees roster
| Participant | Pos. | Bats | Throws ▾ | Start Date | Peak | Weight | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participant | Pos. | Bats | Throws ▾ | Start Date | Peak | Weight | Hometown |
| Whitey Witt | CF | L | R | September 28, 1895 | 5’7″ | 150 | Orange, MA USA |
| Aaron Ward | 2B | R | R | August 28, 1896 | 5’10” | 160 | Booneville, AR USA |
| Elmer Smith | RF | L | R | September 21, 1892 | 5’10” | 165 | Erie County, OH USA |
| Bob Shawkey | P | R | R | December 4, 1890 | 5’11” | 168 | Sigel, PA USA |
| Everett Scott | SS | R | R | November 19, 1892 | 5’8″ | 148 | Bluffton, IN USA |
| Wally Schang | C | B | R | August 22, 1889 | 5’10” | 180 | South Wales, NY USA |
| Oscar Roettger | P | R | R | February 19, 1900 | 6’0″ | 170 | St. Louis, MO USA |
| George Pipgras | P | R | R | December 20, 1899 | 6’1″ | 185 | Ida Grove, IA USA |
| Bob Meusel | LF | R | R | July 19, 1896 | 6’3″ | 190 | San Jose, CA USA |
| Mike McNally | SS | R | R | September 13, 1893 | 5’11” | 150 | Minooka, PA USA |
| Carl Mays | P | L | R | November 12, 1891 | 5’11” | 195 | Liberty, KY USA |
| Unhappy Sam Jones | P | R | R | July 26, 1892 | 6’0″ | 170 | Woodsfield, OH USA |
| Ernie Johnson | SS | L | R | April 29, 1888 | 5’9″ | 151 | Chicago, IL USA |
| Waite Hoyt | P | R | R | September 9, 1899 | 6’0″ | 180 | Brooklyn, NY USA |
| Fred Hofmann | C | R | R | June 10, 1894 | 5’11” | 175 | St. Louis, MO USA |
| Harvey Hendrick | LF | L | R | November 9, 1897 | 6’2″ | 190 | Mason, TN USA |
| Hinkey Haines | CF | R | R | December 23, 1898 | 5’10” | 170 | Crimson Lion, PA USA |
| Mike Gazella | SS | R | R | October 13, 1895 | 5’7″ | 165 | Olyphant, PA USA |
| Joe Dugan | 3B | R | R | Could 12, 1897 | 5’11” | 160 | Mahanoy Metropolis, PA USA |
| Bullet Joe Bush | P | R | R | November 27, 1892 | 5’9″ | 173 | Ehime, MN USA |
| Benny Bengough | C | R | R | July 27, 1898 | 5’7″ | 168 | Niagara Falls, NY USA |
| Babe Ruth | OF | L | L | February 6, 1895 | 6’2″ | 215 | Baltimore, MD USA |
| Wally Pipp | 1B | L | L | February 17, 1893 | 6’1″ | 180 | Chicago, IL USA |
| Herb Pennock | P | B | L | February 10, 1894 | 6’0″ | 160 | Kennett Sq., PA USA |
| Lou Gehrig | 1B | L | L | June 19, 1903 | 6’0″ | 200 | New York, NY USA |
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We thank Baseball-Reference and Nationalpastime.com for offering background data for these posts.