August 22, 1928: Mule Haas home run ends 17-inning marathon

The climate in the American League was changing. From 1921 to 1927, the New York Yankees claimed five pennants and two world championships. Only the Washington Senators (1924-25) were able to break the Yankees’ stranglehold on the league.

The Yankee roster had names that rolled off the tongue and were familiar to baseball fans across the land. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Joe Dugan, Mark Koenig, Bob Meusel, Earle Combs, Herb Pennock, Urban Shocker, Waite Hoyt. They were a formidable bunch and one of the greatest monikers in all of sports was bestowed upon them: Murderer’s Row.

But as the Yankees were seemingly headed toward their third consecutive pennant in 1928, they couldn’t help but notice that a new foe was gaining ground. The Philadelphia Athletics, or the Mackmen as they were known in honor of their owner-manager, Connie Mack, were building quite a club of their own. The Athletics had not been a prominent team in the AL since the Deadball Era. The A’s, under the direction of the venerable Mack, won six pennants and three world championships between 1902 and 1914.

As Mack sold off stars, they hit rock bottom, finishing in the basement of the AL from 1915 to 1921. Then they began their return to prominence. They slowly made their way up through the division, finishing in the top half from 1925 to 1927, and now they were brandishing their own household names: Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, Sammy Hale, Bing Miller, Lefty Grove, Rube Walberg, Eddie Rommel, Jack Quinn.

The end of August was rapidly approaching with just over two-thirds of the 1928 schedule in the books. The race for the AL pennant was between two teams, New York and Philadelphia. Thus far, they had hooked up 18 times and the New Yorkers won 13 games, which might partially explain the 5½-game lead the Yankees held over the Athletics.

Cleveland was in Philadelphia beginning August 21 for a four-game set at Shibe Park. The Indians, who only two years before had finished in second place, were now considered an also-ran in the AL. At the start of the series in Philadelphia, Cleveland was in fourth place, a whopping 25½ games in back of the Yankees.

In the opener, the A’s clubbed the Indians, 12-4. A six-run first followed by three more over the next two innings was more than enough for Jack Quinn to win his 16th game of the season.

The second game featured a matchup between Cleveland’s George Uhle (11-16, 3.98 ERA) and Philadelphia’s George Earnshaw (5-6, 4.51 ERA). Uhle led the AL in wins 1923 and 1926, but he was not pitching as well currently. Uhle had a five-game losing skid from July 23 to August 7, and had just broken the streak with a five-hit, complete-game win over Boston on August 14.

Earnshaw was in his rookie season after pitching for four-plus seasons with Baltimore of the International League. In that time, Earnshaw made 126 starts and posted a 78-48 record with a 4.01 ERA.

For the first six innings, there was little excitement for the estimated crowd of 6,000. The Athletics scored the only run of the game in the bottom of the second. Foxx reached first base via a single, but was he erased on a force-play grounder by Miller. Mule Haas followed with a double to left field, and Miller scored when Indians left fielder Sam Langford threw wildly to the infield.

Cleveland knotted the score at 1-1 in the top of the seventh inning. Then the Indians’ bats came alive in the top of the eighth when they put a four-spot on the board. The uprising began when Luther Harvel singled to left field. Luke Sewell followed with a bunt to the pitcher; Earnshaw’s throw to first baseman Ossie Orwoll was dropped and everyone was safe. Uhle followed with another bunt for a single and the bases were loaded. Langford laced a single to center field to plate Harvel and Sewell. Carl Lind laid down yet another bunt, although this time Cochrane pounced on the ball and threw him out, but the runners moved up a base. Joe Sewell doubled home Uhle and Langford and the Indians were out in front, 5-1.

Philadelphia was down, but the A’s were certainly not out. Max Bishop led off the bottom of the eighth with a single. After Orwoll flied out, Cochrane doubled to right field and Bishop took third. After a Simmons fly out, Foxx singled home Bishop and Cochrane. Walks to Miller and Haas loaded the bases and ended the day for Uhle. He was replaced by John Miljus. The young right-hander was known to throw a slow ball to keep batters off balance.

Mack went to his bench as well and sent Eddie Collins to pinch-hit for shortstop Joe Boley. The old pro Collins showed ’em how it’s done and bounced one of Miljus’s slow balls past the pitcher’s mound for a single that scored Foxx. Walt French batted for Earnshaw and flied to left for the third out.

The score was now 5-4 in favor of Cleveland. But they could not extend their lead in the top of the ninth against Rommel, who replaced Earnshaw on the mound. The A’s were down to their last at-bats, and the situation looked promising when Bishop led off with a single to right field. Orwoll sacrificed him to second base. Cochrane walked but Simmons fouled out. With two down, Foxx hit to short, and when Joe Sewell’s throw soared over first baseman Ed Morgan’s head, Bishop raced home with the tying run.

To extra innings the game went, and each team had opportunities to get the all-important one run across the plate.

In the bottom of the 10th with two outs, Rommel and Bishop singled. But Orwoll grounded into a force play to end the threat. In the top of the 11th, Joe Sewell led off with a single and went to second when center fielder Haas fumbled the ball. Sewell took third base when Johnny Hodapp sacrificed him over. Homer Summa followed and grounded to first base. Orwoll scooped up the grounder and fired home. Sewell was coming home all the way and was tagged out in a rundown.

And on it went as both Miljus and Rommel pitched splendidly in relief. Mule Haas stepped into the batter’s box leading off the home half of the 17th inning. He got a hold of a pitch from Miljus and sent it out onto 20th Street for a game-ending home run. It was his fifth of the year.

Surprisingly, the game took just 3:15 to play. Rommel (9-4) got the win while Miljus (5-9) was tagged with the loss.

The Athletics would have to wait another year to make it to the postseason. Although they finished strong, they fell short to the Yankees by 2½ games. New York won 16 of the 22 games between the two teams. New York went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

The Athletics won the AL pennant three years in a row (1929-1931). In 1929 they defeated the Chicago Cubs and in 1930 they topped the Cardinals for back-to-back World Series championships. The Cardinals got even the following year, beating Philadelphia in seven games.

It was the last year the franchise would make it to the fall classic until 1972, when the team had relocated to Oakland from Kansas City.

SOURCES

The author accessed Baseball-Reference.com for box scores/information and other data, as well as Retrosheet.org.

The author also used game stories in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.