May 8, 1926: Another day in the Cobb and Gehrig feud as Tigers beat Yankees in New York

When 39-year-old Ty Cobb and 22-year-old Lou Gehrig met during the first series of the 1926 season between the Cobb’s Detroit Tigers and Gehrig’s New York Yankees, it appeared that their feud was going to carry through another season.

The feud began back in September 1924, when during an important game between the Yankees and Tigers in Detroit, Cobb made an insulting remark after tagging the Yankees first baseman during a rundown. Furious about the insult, Gehrig yelled back at the Tigers’ player-manager and kept yelling after he returned to the Yankees’ dugout. Following a warning from the umpire, Gehrig continued to holler until the umpire banished him from the game.1

Another interaction between the two ballplayers happened during a game at Yankee Stadium in August 1925, when Cobb decided to spend a rare moment in the first base coach’s box. Rather than coach the baserunners, Cobb opted to accuse Gehrig by pantomime of trying to walk over the feet of his ballplayers.2

On May 8, 1926, the Yankees hosted the Tigers at Yankee Stadium in the second game of a four-game series. The Yankees, seventh place in the American League in 1925, got off to a red-hot start in 1926 by winning 13 of their first 16 games, then lost four in a row. The New Yorkers had snapped the losing streak in the series opener against Detroit, as they squandered a 5-1 lead but won in 11 innings.

The Tigers had been content for the last few seasons, but team morale was reported to be low.3 Perhaps because of this, Detroit was off to a slow start, and after their 7-6 loss to the Yankees, they were 9-12 and in sixth place.

On the mound for the Yankees was “Sad Sam” Jones. In the top of the first, Jones retired a batter, issued a walk, retired another batter, and allowed a long drive to left-center by Cobb, which left fielder Bob Meusel ran after and gloved for the inning’s third out.

The Yankees went down in order in their half of the first, as did the Tigers in the top of the second. In the bottom of the second, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out against Tigers starting pitcher Earl Whitehill but didn’t score. Whitehill entered the game with a 2.18 ERA; he’d completed his three previous starts, though he’d won only one.

In the top of the third, a Detroit single and two walks loaded the bases with two outs for Cobb, who hit the first pitch for a sharp two-run single into right field; when catcher Pat Collins dropped Ruth’s throw at the plate, Cobb advanced to second base. Harry Heilmann was intentionally walked to reload the bases. Like Cobb, the next batter, shortstop Frank O’Rourke, hit the initial pitch down the right-field line for another two-run single, giving the Tigers a 4-0 lead.

At this point, Yankees manager Miller Huggins called on left-hander Garland Braxton, who walked the first two batters he faced to make it a five-run Detroit rally.

Johnny Neun and Charlie Gehringer began the Tigers’ fourth by hitting back-to-back triples over Meusel that nearly landed in the same spot and rolled to the left-field fence. After an out, Cobb lifted a fly ball to center field that was deep enough to score Gehringer.

Meusel began the Yankees’ fourth with a single, but he was left on base when the next three Yankees were retired. Four innings were now in the books, and the Yankees trailed, 7-0.

In the fifth, Babe Ruth, who had injured his leg when colliding with Tony Lazzeri two days earlier, limped to the plate with two on and two out. With the count two balls and no strikes, Whitehill threw a lukewarm slow curve that Ruth timed perfectly and drove on a high arc into the right-field stands, the ball landing three-quarters up in the bleachers. It was Ruth’s seventh homer of the season, the most in the American and National Leagues.

In the bottom of the eighth, with the Yankees trailing 7-3, Lazzeri lifted a fly ball to right field that looked like a sure out. But right fielder Heilmann lost the ball in the sun. From his position in center, Cobb sprinted toward Heilmann in hopes of making the catch, but he wasn’t even close.

“It was quite a sprint for an old fellow like Tyrus,” joked New York Times sportswriter James Harrison.4

With Lazzeri on second after his routine fly ball resulted in a double, Joe Dugan hit the first pitch into the left-field bleachers for his first home run of the season, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 7-5.

The Yanks were still trailing by two when Gehrig came to the plate as their last hope. There were two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the ninth when Whitehill threw an inside pitch. According to Detroit News sportswriter Harry Salsinger, the ball hit Gehrig’s bat and bounced into foul territory.5

Gehrig claimed the ball hit him. Whitehill shouted something from the mound, which angered the Yankees’ first baseman. Gehrig walked toward the pitcher, ready for a fight. Umpire Bill McGowan got in front of Gehrig and briskly pushed him in the chest.

“Come under the stand after the game and I will attend to you,” shouted Gehrig at Whitehill.

“I’ll be there on the dot,” answered Whitehill, known for his fiery temper.6

The ruling on the play was hit-by-pitch, and Gehrig was awarded first base. The next batter was Babe Ruth, representing the tying run.

“Ruth trudged to the plate, adjusted his blue cap, took a few preliminary swings, and dug his cleats deeper into the soil,” described New York sportswriter Marshall Hunt. “Seldom did a crowd ever plead louder and more earnestly for a home run, for there was a possibility that the Bambino might oblige.”7

Ruth fell behind in the count and then tapped a feeble grounder to second baseman Gehringer, who threw to first base to end the game.

As the two teams headed to their dressing rooms, Gehrig trailed Whitehill. “Reports of what happened under the stand are confused,” wrote Harrison.8 According to Hunt, Cobb and Gehrig crossed paths.

“You told Whitehill to hit me!” shouted Gehrig. “He done it on purpose. You’re always picking on me ever since I’ve been in baseball!”

“Whereupon the wrath of Cobb was kindled and it burned furiously,” reported Hunt.9

The two men went at it, and Gehrig swung so hard that he lost his balance and butted his head against a concrete post. They exchanged blows until Gehrig toppled onto Cobb. Bystanders then pried the two apart and pushed them to their dressing rooms.

When Ruth received word of the altercation, he became incensed. He bolted out of the dressing room, only partially dressed, and entered the Detroit clubhouse. When he stepped inside, he was pushed out and someone slammed the door.10

In his book, My Life in Baseball,11 Cobb claimed he knew that Gehrig and Whitehill were going to meet after the game, so Cobb hurried to the scene. “In the dark player’s tunnel leading from the field, I came across two tangled up bodies on the ground, and the top one was Gehrig’s,” wrote Cobb. Thinking the body under Gehrig was Whitehill’s, Cobb reached down, grabbed a leg, yanked with all his might, “and out popped Babe Ruth,” wrote Cobb.

“For criminy sakes, what are you doing there?” asked Cobb.

“Trying to stop it, dammit!” yelled Ruth. “Lou doesn’t know what he is doing.”

“Sorry, I thought you were my pitcher,” said Cobb. When Ruth went to the New York clubhouse, his teammates baited him, telling him how Cobb shoved him around. “You gonna let Cobb get away with that?” they asked Ruth.12

Ruth charged into the Tigers clubhouse to confront Cobb. The Tigers’ manager explained that he was just trying to stop a fight, just like Ruth was trying to do, and he ordered Ruth to leave the locker room. Ruth, seeing that Cobb was sincere, retreated.13

According to an eyewitness, Gehrig and Whitehill met under the stands as agreed upon. Both players threw a punch and missed. Then Ruth appeared and pulled Gehrig away with so much force, the first baseman hit his jaw against a concrete post, and the two ballplayers fell to the ground. Just then Cobb, on his way to the Detroit clubhouse, appeared. He saw the two bodies on the floor and tried to step over.14

Yankees player-coach Fred Merkle, who was right behind Cobb, thought that the Detroit player-manager was going to kick Ruth and threw his arms around him. As Ruth scrambled to his feet, he was informed that Cobb tried to kick him, and Ruth responded by demanding an explanation. After a wordy exchange, in which Gehrig interposed with a ringing challenge to Cobb, the Tigers’ manager satisfied the two Yankees that he was not trying to kick anyone. Peace was restored, and all parties went to their respective dressing rooms.15

Perhaps inspired by the happenings following the game, in the Tigers’ 14-10 win a day later, Cobb went 4-for-4 and hit two homers and Gehrig knocked out two hits, including a triple.16

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Harrison Golden and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Photo credit: Ty Cobb, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA192605080.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1926/B05080NYA1926.htm

Notes

1 Jonathan Eig, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005), 61-62.

2 Harry Cross, “Johnson’s Muff Cost Yanks a Game,” New York Times, August, 8, 1925: 7.

3 “Races to Start Tuesday,” New York Times, April 12, 1925: Section 10, 1; Richard Vidmer, “Baseball Season to Open on Tuesday with Giants and Robins at Polo Grounds,” New York Times, April 11, 1926; Section 10, Page 3.

4 James R. Harrison, “Yankees Shower Hits on Tigers, but Lose,” New York Times, May 9, 1926: Section 10, Page 1. 

5 Harry Salsinger, “Only Two Homers Mar Whitehill’s Pitching Performance,” Detroit News, May 9, 1926: Part 4, Page 1. 

6 Harrison.

7 Marshall Hunt, “Babe and Dugan Hit Homers but Yanks Lose, 7-5,” New York Daily News, May 9, 1926: 52.

8 Harrison.

9 Marshall Hunt, “Gehrig and Ty Cobb in Fist Fight,” New York Daily News, May 9, 1926: 52. 

10 Hunt, “Gehrig and Ty Cobb in Fist Fight.”

11 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-knife-in-ty-cobbs-back-65618032/

12 Ty Cobb with Al Stump, My Life in Baseball: The True Record (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, 1961), 217-218.

13 Ty Cobb with Al Stump, 218.

14 Harrison.

15 Harrison.

16 The Yankees went on to win the AL pennant with a 91-63-1 record before losing the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. The Tigers were sixth, at 79-75.