August 15, 1941: Red Sox win game (by forfeit) despite Nationals scoring twice as many runs

On August 16, 1941, newspapers reported on the previous day’s 6-3 Washington Nationals’ win over the Boston Red Sox at Griffith Stadium. Boston had a 3-1 lead when heavy rain began to fall in the bottom of the fifth. The Red Sox gave up three runs in the fifth and solo runs in both the sixth and seventh, and then the umpires called the game.

But that was not the final word on the day’s action. On August 27, 12 days after the Nationals’ apparent win, the American League upheld Boston’s protest that Washington had failed to comply with league rules on groundskeeping—and the Red Sox won a game despite the Nationals scoring twice as many runs as they did.

Entering play on August 15, the New York Yankees led the AL, 16 games ahead of the second-place Cleveland Indians. Boston was a half-game behind the Indians. Washington was in last place, 30 games behind the Yankees.

Starting pitcher for Bucky Harris and the Nationals was right-hander Alex Carrasquel, who two years earlier had become the first native Venezuelan to play in the major leagues. Lefty Earl Johnson started for the Red Sox and manager (and shortstop) Joe Cronin.

Neither team scored in the first inning, but Boston took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Carrasquel walked first baseman Jimmie Foxx, who was thrown out trying to go first to third on second baseman Bobby Doerr’s single to left. Doerr advanced to second on the play. Catcher Johnny Peacock doubled down the left-field line, scoring Doerr. Johnson singled through the box, scoring Peacock.

In the top of the third, Cronin hit a one-out solo home run, his 12th of the season, into the bleachers in left-center.

Johnson stranded five Nationals in the first three innings, but Washington scored its first run in the bottom of the fourth. Third baseman George Archie doubled off the left-field wall to lead off the inning. With one out, catcher Al Evans singled to left, driving in Archie. It was 3-1, Red Sox, after four innings.

The Nationals took the lead in the fifth. With one out, and perhaps rushing to try to get through the fifth with a lead as showers had begun, Johnson walked three batters in a row – center fielder Doc Cramer, right fielder Buddy Lewis, and shortstop Cecil Travis.1 First baseman Mickey Vernon singled off Doerr’s glove and into center field, driving in both Cramer and Lewis to tie the game.

After Mike Ryba replaced Johnson on the mound, Archie grounded to third, with Vernon forced at second. Travis scored on the play, but Archie apparently thought the force at second was the third out and so after he rounded first, as the Boston Globe reported, he “appeared on the way to take up his fielding position [in right field.]” Foxx called for the ball and tagged out Archie to complete the double play.2 The Nationals had, however, taken a 4-3 lead.

The Red Sox got two runners on base in the top of the sixth but were unable to score. In the bottom of the inning, Washington made it 5-3 when left fielder George Case doubled to left, driving in second baseman Jimmy Bloodworth.

Carrasquel retired Boston in order in the top of the seventh. The Senators scored their sixth run on a sacrifice fly; after Lewis tripled to the base of the wall in right field, Vernon hit a one-out fly to Ted Williams in left. The throw home was close, but Lewis scored. Washington led after seven full innings, 6-3.

The rain was strong enough that after Cronin had walked to start off the eighth, umpire George Pipgras called time. The umpires ordered Harris to have the infield covered but were reportedly told that there wasn’t a sufficient crew to comply with their request. After 40 minutes, even though the rain had completely stopped, the grounds were too wet to resume play.

Boston Globe writer Gerry Moore commented, “Any chance of continuing had been cagily prevented by the Griffith Stadium ground help, who at no time made an effort to put a covering of any kind on the diamond.”3 The Boston Globe account didn’t suggest anything nefarious; though noting that the grounds crew made no effort to cover the field in any way, the account said the umpires hadn’t been seen to order protection.4

Cronin filed a protest immediately after the game, saying that Washington had been “negligent in failing to have the field covered.”5 Harris argued that it was the responsibility of the umpires, not the Washington ball club.6

The Nationals may have outsmarted themselves; on August 27, AL President Will Harridge upheld Cronin’s protest and forfeited the game to Boston. The Associated Press story explained: “Washington violated a rule which provides that the home team must have a groundskeeper and assistants on hand and under the control of the umpires. The report to Harridge said that the umpires were unable to find the grounds crew and that failure to cover the field with canvas made resumption of play impossible.”7

The Nationals had scored six times, and the Red Sox had scored thrice, but the win was awarded to Boston. Appropriately, no pitcher was credited with a win nor tagged with a loss, though all individual stats counted.8 For the second time in three seasons, Carrasquel had a decision wiped from the record books because of a protest; in September 1939 his loss to the Chicago White Sox was expunged after Harridge concluded that the umpires had misapplied a rule prohibiting outfielders from turning intentionally dropped fly balls into double plays. Ted Williams’ 0-for-2 day lowered his batting average to .405.

The outcome didn’t really matter in the long run; Boston finished the season 17 games out of first place and Nationals were 31 games out. As of 2025, the Red Sox have had two games in franchise history that ended in forfeits. Besides their 1941 forfeit win over the Nationals, they beat the AL’s original Baltimore Orioles by forfeit on June 28, 1902, when Baltimore manager John McGraw refused to leave the field after a dispute. A third game, against Yankees on September 3, 1939, was first ruled a forfeit in favor of New York when fans at Fenway Park threw debris onto the field, apparently seeking to delay play long enough that a Sunday curfew would apply. On appeal, however, Harridge overruled the forfeit and declared the game a tie.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Troy Olszewski and copy-edited by John Fredland.

Photo credit: Joe Cronin, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS1/WS1194108150.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1941/B08150WS11941.htm

Notes

1 Johnson lost his control while “attempting to complete the inning in a hurry,” wrote Fred Knight in “Nats Down Six, 6-3 in 7 Innings,” Boston Herald, August 16, 1941: 9. In facing the trio, Johnson threw 12 balls and only two strikes. He’d only walked one in the preceding four innings.

2 Gerry Moore, “Carrasquel Hamstrings Sox in Rain-Shortened Tilt, 6-3,” Boston Globe, August 16, 1941: 6.

3 Moore, “Carrasquel Hamstrings Sox in Rain-Shortened Tilt, 6-3.”

4 Moore, “Carrasquel Hamstrings Sox in Rain-Shortened Tilt, 6-3.”

5 Shirley Povich, “Carrasquel Stops Red Sox, 6-3, for Nats,” Washington Post, August 16, 1941: 12.    

6 Povich, “Carrasquel Stops Red Sox, 6-3, for Nats.”

7 Associated Press, “Red Sox Protest Upheld; Senators Lose by Forfeit,” New York Times, August 28, 1941: 25.

8 “Ground Crew’s Neglect Costs Senators Game,” Chicago Tribune, August 28, 1941: 24.