Rogers Hornsby Day: A 1926 St. Louis Newspaper Special Edition

Special Edition - Coverage from the Saturday May 22, 1926 editions of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, St. Louis Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. On this date Rogers Hornsby was honored for winning the 1925 NL MVP. This post shows a glimpse into how the event was covered in the morning, afternoon and evening.

In This Edition

• Hornsby Will Be Honored as Most Valuable Player Today
• HORNSBY RECEIVES PLAYER AWARD
• Hornsby Receives 1925 Player Award Today
• Cardinals Open Barrage Late in Game to Smother Phillies, 12 to 4
• Yanks Defeat Browns, 7-2, for Tenth Straight and Season’s Record
• Hugmen Win 11th Straight Contest
• Advertisements

Hornsby Will Be Honored as Most Valuable Player Today

Published in the May 22, 1926 St. Louis Globe Democrat

Baseball dignitaries, mayor, clubmen, Boy Scouts, Knot-Hole Gang to join in acclaiming Cardinal pilot.

President John A. Heydler of the National League arrived in St. Louis yesterday, tendered a banquet to St. Louis friends, officials and newspaper men at the Missouri Athletic Association last night, and will be on hand this afternoon with a thousand dollars in gold for Rogers Hornsby. President Heydler says the gold will be in the form of five dollar gold pieces, which is appropriate, seein’ as how Hornsby won the dough in the National League’s golden jubilee year.

Hornsby will receive the money as part of the material honors bestowed upon him for being voted the most valuable player in the senior circuit last season by a committee of baseball writers. In addition, Rog also will be awarded a gold medal, emblematic of his title. This presentation will be made by James M. Gould, president of the Baseball Writers’ Association, which conducts the National League award each year.

Dignitaries to Help Honor Rog.

Conspicuously present at these ceremonies will be baseball’s commissioner, the white-thatched Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis; Mayor Victor Miller, and C. F. G. Meyer, president of the Chamber of Commerce. Landis will reach the city in the morning.

Prior to the presentation, which will be made immediately before the start of the fourth game of the St. Louis-Philadelphia series, there will be a parade from the Fairgrounds to Sportsmans Park. In the parade will be members of civic clubs and of the Municipal Athletic Association and boys’ drum corps and scout troops. Members of the Knot Hole Gang also will be in the line of march, as well as veteran ball players.

Batting Punch Couldn’t Be Defiled.

Earning the most valuable player award in 1925, Hornsby batted .403 and led the National League batters for the sixth straight time. It was the third time Hornsby had batted over .400. Only two other players hold that joint honor with him. Hornsby also led in home runs last year, with 39, three fewer than his National League record of 42, which he made in 1922. Then, too, Hornsby paced in total bases, with 381, and drove in the most runs, with 143, his fourth such success since 1920. Hornsby led the sluggers with a .726 percentage. He has held this title since he started winning it in 1920, the year he also started winning batting championships.

Hornsby accomplished these feats, despite the fact that he had the managerial responsibility of the Cardinals on his hands after Memorial Day. When Hornsby took over the reins, the club was in last place, 12 games below the .500 level. When the season closed, the Cards were in fourth place, one game above .500. In other words, the Cardinals of 1925 won 64 games and lost 51 under Hornsby’s leadership.

Jake Grosse, president of the Municipal Athletic Association, announced last night the Real Estate Exchange and the Down Town Improvement Association will take part in the celebration.

HORNSBY RECEIVES PLAYER AWARD

Published in the May 22, 1926 St. Louis Star

Above photo shows President James M. Gould of the Baseball Writers' Association presenting Rogers Hornsby, manager of the Cardinals, with the National League's "most valuable player" trophy, which he won last year, prior to today's game at Sportsman's Park. Players of the Cardinals and Philadelphia teams are gathered round the plate, witnessing the presentation.

Hornsby Receives 1925 Player Award Today

Notables to Be Present at Celebration — Cards Can Reach .500-Mark With Victory.

By Jack Alexander. Published in the May 22, 1926 St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Rogers Hornsby, Cardinal manager and for six consecutive years leading batsman of the National League, will this afternoon at Sportsman's Park receive the gold medal emblematic of the title of "most valuable player" in the league for 1925, together with $1000 in gold, which will be presented by President John A. Heydler.

James M. Gould, president of the Baseball Writers' Association which decides the recipient of the honors by vote of its committee, will present Hornsby with the medal. Among the dignitaries on hand will be Kenesaw M. Landis, commissioner of baseball; Mayor Miller and Carl F. G. Meyer, president of the Chamber of Commerce.

A parade, in which the various civic clubs, Boy Scout organizations and drum corps will participate, will precede the presentation ceremonies, assembling at Fairground and proceeding over Grand boulevard to the ball park.

Hornsby, in earning his award last year, finished the season with a batting average of .403, breaking .400 for the third time. He also led the league in home runs with 39, three less than the 42 he made in 1922 for the senior circuit record. In total bases he topped the league with 381 and with runs driven in, his number being 143.

Team Can Reach .500.

This record was made in the face of the tribulations of a manager which he assumed after Memorial day when the club was in the cellar, 12 games under the .500 mark. He achieved immediate success in his added job and at the close of the season had the team in fourth place, one game above .500. While he was manager the Cardinals won 64 and lost 51 games.

Besides being a time set aside to honor one of the outstanding figures of baseball, "Hornsby Day" will be signaled by a determined effort on the part of the Cardinals to achieve a .500 percentage for the season. To date they have won 17 games and lost 18. Sherdel and Mitchell are the probable hurlers.

Yesterday, after taking a stiff three-run jolt from the Phillies in the first inning, the Cards felt around cautiously until they found the button on Clauds Willoughby in the seventh and hammered it with a right good will for seven runs, taking the third game of the series and making their average for the Quaker visit .667. The score was 12 to 4.

Incidentally it was the seventh victory in eight starts for Charles Flint Rhem who hurled a great game, holding the visitors hitless after the third inning. Rhem didn't look so good in the first when Harper hit a home run into the right field bleachers after Sand had doubled and Leach had walked, but he showed a return to form in the second by fanning Friberg and Willoughby for the last two outs.

Mueller Hits in Pinch.

They got to Rhem again in the third, when Bentley, after Harper had been passed, drove in Sand with a single to left. The Cards meantime had not been idle, but seemed to be fighting against the current. The first started off promisingly with singles by Blades and Douthit, but Hornsby hit into a double play. One run was scored in the second on Mueller's double and Thevenow's long sacrifice fly to center, and two more were added in the third when the "Gentleman from the Gravois" socked his second double, this time with the bases full, Douthit and Hornsby scoring.

Then Rhem got a toe hold and held the Phillies hitless, and Hornsby's men dug in and waited for their opportunity. The breaking point came in the seventh. Douthit walked and Hornsby beat out a bunt down the first-base line, or at least Umpire McLaughlin thought he did and nobly stuck to his decision. Bottomley fouled out but Mueller, he of the hefty bat, was passed, filling the bases. Bell fouled out to Wilson, but Bob O'Farrell crashed out a double to left, scoring Douthit and Hornsby, and Mueller also counted when Harper mishandled the ball.

O'Farrell came in on Thevenow's single, and Rhem sent Thevenow to third with another single. Blades lashed out with a triple to deep center, scoring Thevenow and Rhem. Blades counted the final run of the inning when Douthit beat out a hit to Sand.

Willoughby stuck out the barrage, but was replaced by Dean in the eighth. Dean was likewise pounded, O'Farrell tripling after Bottomley's walk.

Cardinals Open Barrage Late in Game to Smother Phillies, 12 to 4

Rhem, No-Hit Pitcher for Last Six Innings, Gives Only Four in All

Victory Marks 'Seventh in Eight Starts for Knot Holer's Lanky Right-Hander—Hornsboys in More Bitter Battle Than Score Indicates.

By MARTIN J. HALEY. - Published in the May 22, 1926 St. Louis Globe-Democrat

Baseball scores sometimes are misleading. Take an eyeful of yesterday's 12-to-4 outcome at the North Grand nest and you'd figure the Red Birds spent an enjoyable afternoon primping the feathers for the banquet "thrown" last night by the National League president, John Arnold Heydler, but twasn't so. Of course, it was enjoyable at the finish, but there was many a heartache before the Phils were buried under those seven runs in the seventh inning.

The Cardinals had to fight a bitter uphill battle even to get into the contest. They opened by spotting the Quakers a three-run cheerio in the getaway chapter, then spent six innings catching up. They had several chances to go on past the visitors in the infant paragraphs, but they "shot" them. For moments, too, it appeared as if they were going to kiss the seventh-inning opportunity so long, when Bottomley and Bell fouled out with base runners waiting to crash the deadlock, but burly Bob O'Farrell saved the day by renovating the crowded runways with a double down the left field line.

Clout Crowns Day.

That clout crowned the day. From then on it was just a romp over Artie Fletcher's hammered down, right-hand rookie, Cloud Willoughby, late of Waterloo, Iowa, who had curved the Cards into somewhat of a frenzy earlier in the day.

Contrasting the recruit's work was the lanky Cardinal star northwing, Flint Rhem, who was hanging up his seventh victory in eight trips to the barrier. There were black visions temporarily after George Harper hit that home run deep into the right field pavilion with two men on in the first and the outlook was not any better when the Phils got two more hits for another run in the third, but after that it was simply a question of the Cardinals getting some runs.

Rhem had found the stride which had permitted him to win his first three starts of the season and the three games he worked prior to yesterday. Flint had given the Phils four hits and as many runs in three innings, but in the final six innings the Phils not only went hitless, but placed only one man on the runways. This was Huber, who walked with two gone in the sixth and died at first base.

What a master Rhem was in those last safe sessions. He had experienced trouble locating the striking zone corners with his shiny speed and crooked curves in the first and third innings, but his customary good control came back to him at the start of the fourth. Then started the Phils' funeral march. They died orderly in the fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth, same as they had in the second.

Beautiful pitching that, and only twice in those last six innings did Rhem need help above the ordinary to prevent a hit. In the sixth, Bentley leaned his 220 pounds against a liner on which Blades, after misjudging, had to turn three-ring expert to catch, and in the eighth, Thevenow worked like lightning to take a hit away from Harper in front of the keystone.

Douthit came close to turning a nifty play right at the outset of the game. Taylor did turn a couple of somersaults trying, but he just missed Heinie Sand's fly ball and Heinie got a double out of it. Mokan sacrificed and Leach walked. Here was the setting for Harper, when the latter pumped the ball into the pavilion. Zowie! The Cards were trailing by three runs.

At the start of the Cardinals' first it appeared as if the Phils were not destined to retain their lead long enough to brag about it. Blades greeted Willoughby with a single to center and Douthit followed with a single to left. What a prelude, what with Hornsby, Bottomley and the gang on the way up, but, hark ye, Hornsby tapped into a double play and Bottomley popped to Sand. That was the first heartache.

There was one run for the Birds in the second on Mueller's double to left center and sacrifice flies by Bell and Thevenow, but the Phils came back in their third to make it 4 to 1 on Sand's single, Mokan's sacrifice, Leach's infield out and Bentley's pop single to left field.

In their third, the Cards counted twice and suffered another dirge on the cardiac cords. Blades, first up, walked. Douthit beat out a bunt to Huber. Hornsby walked, congesting traffic for Bottomley, whose best was a bounce to Huber to force Blades at the plate. On the next pitch, Heinie Mueller again doubled, this time down the right field mark, Douthit and Hornsby scoring. Great work, but here's a little bitter to mix with the sweet: Bell went down swinging in vain at curve balls and O'Farrell grounded to Sand.

Not until the sixth were the Cards able to get the run which brought them on evens. In this round, O'Farrell doubled to right center and scored on Thevenow's single to left. That was O'Farrell's first of three extra-base hits.

In the seventh, prior to O'Farrell's second double, Douthit walked and Hornsby bunted safely down the first-base line to Willoughby. The Phils protested Umpire McLaughlin's decision on the play. They declared that Willoughby had tagged Hornsby, but the protest went the way of all protests and Bottomley stepped to the plate. Jim tried to sacrifice and the fans moaned when he fouled to Catcher Wilson.

Then Willoughby obliged by making a wild pitch, moving the runners to third and second for Mueller, who was purposely passed, filling the bases. Bell was up. He got Willoughby in a three-two groove, then fouled to Wilson. Three on and two out. Bang! O'Farrell doubled. What a sigh through the stands. Then Thevenow drove in O'Farrell with a single and Rhem also singled, after which Blades tripled to the flagpole. Douthit, up for the second time, scored Blades on an infield out and Hornsby lined deep to Leach in center.

Annexing the final run in the eighth, Bottomley walked and cantered home on O'Farrell's triple against the right center wall.

Fourth game of the series today.

Sherdel’s Turn Today

Bill Sherdel will take the slab in the Hornsby Day game with the Phils. Clarence Mitchell, the left-handed spit-baller, is on deck for Fletcher’s assignment.

The last four of Flint Rhem’s seven victories have been in succession.

Right-handed Clauds Willoughby, Philadelphians’ starting pitcher yesterday, joined the Phils late last season and won two out of three games. He beat the Reds, 4 to 1, after the Phils had failed to win a game in Cincinnati, and also beat Brooklyn, 4 to 4. He was beaten by the Pirates, 2 to 1. He came up from Waterloo, Ia., of the Mississippi Valley League. Yesterday’s was his first start this year. He is 25 years old.

President Heydler viewed the Cards’ second straight victory from Sam Breadon’s box.

The Cards now have won five of their last six games. If they win today, they will be back at the .500 mark for the first time in weeks.

O’Farrell’s three hits yesterday were good for seven bases. Two were doubles and one a triple. They accounted for six of the Cards’ twelve runs. Heinie Mueller almost duplicated the first three by hitting doubles in the second and third innings.

Yanks Defeat Browns, 7-2, for Tenth Straight and Season’s Record

Pennock Keeps 10 Hits Well Scattered to Earn 7th Victory of Year

Hugmen Obtain Only Seven Bingles Off St. Louis Pitching, but Wingard Issues Eight Passes in Less Than Seven Rounds.

By Leased Wire from the New York Bureau of the Globe-Democrat.

NEW YORK, May 21.—The Yankees grabbed their tenth straight victory today by imposing a 7-2 defeat on the St. Louis Browns. As every bright little schoolboy knows, this constitutes a season's record in the American League for successive wins, the old record having been nine. Herbert Pennock, leading pitcher of the American League at this writing, hung up his seventh success of the season today, as against one defeat. True, he was hammered for ten hits, but the catch to it was that the Browns made only two runs.

On the other hand, the Yanks hatched seven runs out of only seven hits. The reason for this was that Ernie Wingard, the St. Louis pitcher, issued eight bases on balls in less than seven innings. This striking generosity resulted in Ernie's taking the air in the middle of the sixth after Manager George Sisler had grown tired of watching him throw the ball everywhere but over the platter or pan.

Ruth Without Home Run.

The most remarkable feature of the entertainment, if there was anything remarkable about this stale pastime, was the fact that Babe Ruth did not hit a home run. Mr. Wingard's pitching strategy was like that of another pitcher in the long-ago days of baseball. This twirler, so the story goes, kept a small book in which he had catalogued the weaknesses of the various batters. The first time Honus Wagner came to bat against him, he pulled the book out of his pocket, scanned it closely and then smiled:

"I've got this bird's weakness, all right," he said. "A base on balls."

Which was the sound and unbeatable tactics employed by Mr. Wingard, who walked Ruth three times straight without giving him two good balls to hit at. Elam Vangilder was more courageous in the seventh and Ruth smote him for a single, giving the slugger a perfect batting average for the afternoon.

One of Wingard's walks to Ruth, followed by singles by Meusel and Gazella, coined a run in the second. Lazzeri was out trying for third on Gazella's hit and the rally died aborning.

Koenig, not Pennock, was culpable in the fourth, when the Browns tied the score. Williams singled, with one down, and took second on Gazella's boot of McManus' grounder. Ken stole third and Marty second, and Jacobson then popped to Koenig at the edge of the grass. Williams ran away from third, and when Koenig trotted in instead of throwing, Kenneth broke for home. A good peg would have finished him, but Koenig's was high.

It didn't matter. The Yanks scored two more in the fifth. Gazella and Koenig drew passes from philanthropic Mr. Wingard. Combs basked a hit to right center, scoring Gazella. Trapped between first and second on the throw-in, Earl went safely to second and Koenig scored when Sisler's toss bounced off Combs' shoulder.

Wingard Is Withdrawn.

Ruth hiked again in the sixth and came the remainder of the distance on Lazzeri's double to right center. Out with Wingard. Claude Jonnard took the helm for the Browns and finished the inning in fairly capable style.

The Browns crowded Pennock for their second and last run in the seventh on a single by Dixon, a force-out, Hargrave's double and Rice's single, which Lazzeri pinned down with his bare hand, saving a run. With Brownies on first and third, Melillo struck out and Sisler grounded to Lazzeri.

Vangilder was still pitching when the Yanks nailed two more runs in the eighth on Lazzeri's hit, Collins' walk and Koenig's distant triple to right center.

Hugmen Win 11th Straight Contest

Sisler Steals Home

Published in St. Louis Star

Huggins Uses Five Pitchers — C. Robertson Fans Ruth Twice — Crowd of 30,000 at Contest.

At New York

Paschal batted for Jones in sixth.
Adams batted for Hoyt in eighth.
Ward batted for Adams in eighth.

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