September 17, 1920: Bobby Veach becomes first Tigers player to hit for the cycle

With just a few weeks left in the 1920 season, the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers were both resigned to the fact that they were not going to play in the World Series. Boston was headed toward its second consecutive losing season, after winning the Series in 1918.1 The fifth-place Red Sox were in the midst of an 18-game road trip; they had lost eight of the first 12 games before arriving in Detroit for a three-game series. Meanwhile, the seventh-place Tigers had a 17-game homestand but had won only three of the first seven games before Boston came to town. It had been 11 seasons since the Tigers’ last World Series team.2

Detroit won the first game of the series, 7-6, in a 10-inning affair, played on Thursday, September 16. The next day, according to the Detroit Free Press, “a small crowd of fans sat in the stands at Navin Field on Friday and witnessed one of the most wretched games ever staged on the greensward.”3 Over 12 innings, spanning 3 hours and 27 minutes, eight pitchers allowed a total of 29 hits, 28 bases on balls,4 and 27 runs. The clubs combined for eight errors, leading to 13 unearned runs.

A total of 36 players got their names into the box score, and none distinguished himself more with the bat than Detroit left fielder Bobby Veach, who “smote the apple for six blows”5 – a home run, triple, double, and three singles – and added a sacrifice fly for a six-RBI day.

Five of what the Boston Globe labeled “recruit Tiger pitchers”6 shared the mound duties for the home team. Four were true rookies, and the fifth had gone more than four years between big-league appearances.7 Starting for Detroit and making his major-league debut, four days before his 20th birthday, was right-hander John Bogart, who had joined the Tigers after appearing in 37 games with two Class B minor-league teams.8

Opposing Bogart was Boston’s Sad Sam Jones. In 1918 Jones had won 16 games9 and started Game Five of the World Series, but he, like his team, had struggled since then. Jones had the unfortunate distinction of leading the American League in earned runs allowed in 1919 (102), while posting a 3.75 earned-run average.10 Coming into this game at the end of another season, Jones was 12-15, with a 3.74 ERA.

Detroit’s third and fourth hitters, Ty Cobb and Veach, began an afternoon-long rampage in the bottom of the first. With two outs, Cobb doubled, bringing up Veach.

The 32-year-old Veach was in his ninth season in the majors, all with the Tigers. In 1919 he led the AL in hits (191), doubles (45), and triples (17), while posting a .355 batting average. This mark was second-best in the AL to Veach’s teammate Cobb (.384).11 In 1920 Veach continued to produce, still the second-best batter on the Tigers after Cobb. Coming into this series, he had a six-game hitting streak and a .302 batting average.12

Veach singled, sending Cobb to third. Harry Heilmann’s RBI single drove in Cobb for a 1-0 lead.

The Red Sox tied the score in the top of the third. George Orme reached on shortstop Donie Bush’s error. Then Bogart walked the next three batters – Hob Hiller, Mike Menosky, and Ben Paschal – forcing Orme home.

Detroit drove Jones from the mound by scoring two runs in the third and five more in the fourth. Another Tigers run followed off reliever Harry Harper in the sixth.

Cobb and Veach continued to generate offense. In six plate appearances after his first-inning double, Cobb drew four walks, tying his single-game career high.13 He finished with four runs scored. Veach remained perfect at the plate.

At the end of six innings, the Tigers appeared to be cruising with a 9-1 lead. Then Boston scored five runs in each of the next two innings, fueled by walks. In the seventh, Paschal and Stuffy McInnis had hits, but the Tigers committed an error and Bogart walked five batters (including Orme twice) before being pulled for reliever Bill Morrisette,14 who recorded the third out. According to The Sporting News, Bogart’s wildness “was caused by stage fright.”15 In 6⅔ innings, the rookie was responsible for six runs allowed (two earned), on four hits and 11 walks.16

Detroit scored in the bottom of the seventh to push its lead to 10-6, but Boston rallied again in the eighth against Mutt Wilson, a rookie making the second appearance of his career.17

Menosky reached on first baseman Heilmann’s error to start the inning. Wilson then copied Bogart and walked three batters – Paschal, McInnis, and Ed Chaplin – to force in a run. Mike McNally doubled to left to clear the bases and drive in three runs; when Veach misplayed the ball in left field, McNally advanced to third. Red Sox rookie Cliff Brady lifted a fly to Veach in left, and McNally scored Boston’s 11th run.

A Tigers run in the eighth tied it up, and left-hander Cy Fried18 became Detroit’s fourth twirler in the ninth. This was Fried’s major-league debut, too. Menosky led off with a triple to center. Paschal walked. McInnis hit a comebacker to the mound, and Fried threw home in time to get Menosky. Wally Schang batted for Chaplin and drove an RBI double over third base, plating Paschal. McInnis scored on a sacrifice fly by McNally, giving Boston a 13-11 game.

The Red Sox were just three outs from victory after coming back from eight runs down and scoring 12 runs in the last three innings. Their luck had run out, though, as Veach tied the game with a ninth-inning, two-run homer. With Cobb on base, Veach “sailed the ball into the center field bleachers.”19 It was his 11th home run of the season.

The next two innings passed without incident, and the game remained tied, 13-13. Allen Conkwright, the fifth recruit pitcher, toed the rubber for Detroit in the top of the 10th. He had pitched six innings the day before, earning an extra-inning victory in the first game of the series. In the 10th and 11th, Conkwright kept the Red Sox off the scoreboard, while Benn Karr matched him with two scoreless frames for Boston.

On to the 12th. Brady led off with a walk. After Karr struck out, Harry Hooper doubled, putting two runners in scoring position. Eddie Foster pinch-hit for Hiller and popped out to second baseman Ralph Young. Menosky walked to load the bases. The rally ended, though, when Paschal, who had been 1-for-4 with two walks, flied out to right for the third out.

In the bottom of the inning, Conkwright reached on an error by shortstop McNally. He was sacrificed to second and scored the deciding run on Babe Pinelli’s single to left field.20 The Tigers had defeated the Red Sox, 14-13. The Red Sox were held to just nine hits in the 12-inning affair, but the 20 walks led directly to almost all of their 12 runs. The Tigers had banged out 20 hits to go with their eight bases on balls.

It was the second win in two days for Conkwright, who pitched three shutout innings and scored the deciding run. Neither he nor any of the other five Detroit pitchers appeared in a major-league game after 1920.21

Veach became the first player in the Tigers franchise history to hit for the cycle, and his six hits were a career high. Veach drove in six runs in a game for the second time in his career.22 Between Veach’s two runs scored, Cobb’s four, and two apiece from leadoff hitter Bush and second-place hitter Vitt, the top four hitters in the Tigers’ lineup contributed 10 of their 14 runs.

Coincidentally, another major-league left fielder hit for the cycle the same day as Veach. George Burns of the New York Giants was also perfect, going 5-for-5 (he had two doubles) in cycling against the Pittsburgh Pirates. A total of 88 seasons passed by before this daily double occurred again, when Stephen Drew of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Adrian Beltré of the Seattle Mariners both hit for the cycle on September 1, 2008.

Author’s Note

Game detail, including play-by-play, in Detroit and Boston newspapers was limited. “To give an accurate account of the brawl is impossible,” pleaded the Detroit Free Press.23 With no play-by-play available on Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org, and only sparce details in the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Detroit Free Press, and other relevant newspaper resources, the sequence and circumstances of most of Veach’s six hits are unknown.

The game turned out to be the major-league debut for Detroit’s third baseman Clarence Huber (no relation to the author). Although he was hitless in four at-bats, Huber did draw two walks and scored the first run of his big-league career. He finished the season playing in 11 games and batting .214 with five RBIs.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kevin Larkin and copy-edited by Len Levin. The author thanks John Fredland for his insights into Cobb’s career-high performance and the game’s limited play-by-play.

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org. Box scores were obtained from Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET192009170.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1920/B09170DET1920.htm

Notes

1 From 1919 through 1933, the Red Sox finished 15 consecutive seasons with losing records.

2 Detroit had made three consecutive trips to the World Series (1907-1909), but they had lost each time.

3 “Weird Brawl Won by Tigers,” Detroit Free Press, September 18, 1920: 13. Both Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet list the attendance at 4,000.

4 Although both Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet show that Detroit starter John Bogart issued nine walks, both the Detroit Free Press and the Boston Globe reported that he allowed 11 bases on balls. If Bogart walked only nine, then the total walks for the game are 26, not 28.

5 “Weird Brawl Won by Tigers.”

6 “Loose Tilt Is Won by Tigers,” Boston Globe, September 18, 1920: 5.

7 Bill Morrisette had pitched in four games in 1915 and one in 1916 for the Philadelphia Athletics. He appeared in nine games in 1917 but did not pitch in 1918. In 1919 he played for two minor-league teams, working to get back to the majors.

8 Bogart pitched in four games for the Tigers in 1920. After this start, he made one more against the St. Louis Browns a week later. He also had two relief appearances, earning the victory in both games.

9 Jones led the league with a .762 winning percentage (16-5).

10 The American League average ERA in 1919 was 3.22, while Boston’s team ERA was 3.20. Jones pitched 245 innings to lead all Red Sox hurlers.

11 In 1919 Cobb batted .384, the 12th and final time he led the American League in batting. In nine of those seasons, he led both leagues in batting average.

12 Coming into this game, Veach was batting .302, second to Cobb’s .333. Teammate Harry Heilmann was next, at .301. Heilmann heated up at season’s end, finishing the season batting .309, while Veach finished with a .307 mark.

13 Cobb had drawn four walks in a game in August 1910. He later drew four walks in a game in September 1925 and August 1927.

14 Morrisette was making his seventh appearance of the season. As stated in Note 6, he had pitched in five games spanning 1915 and 1916 for the Philadelphia Athletics, but then he didn’t pitch again at the highest level until the Tigers called him up from the Hamilton Tigers (Michigan-Ontario League) in August 1920.

15 “Detroit Fans Turn Toward the Future,” The Sporting News, September 23, 1920: 3.

16 Baseball-Reference charges Bogart with nine walks.

17 Wilson had been sold to the Tigers by Charleston (South Atlantic League) on July 15. His major-league debut occurred on September 11. He pitched a complete game, scattering seven hits, as Detroit defeated Philadelphia, 5-2. His second appearance accounted for one inning in this game, in which he allowed five runs (one earned). He pitched the very next day against Boston, going three innings and facing 14 batters. He took the loss as the Red Sox prevailed, 7-4. These were the only games in which Wilson ever appeared in the majors.

18 The Tigers acquired Fried from Newport News (Virginia League) in July.

19 “Weird Brawl Won by Tigers.” Newspaper box scores, as well as those from Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet, show each team scoring twice in the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings. However, the Detroit Free Press claimed that each team scored twice in the 10th inning, while all the box scores show 0’s in those innings.

20 “Weird Brawl Won by Tigers.” Here is another instance of a discrepancy with Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference, who do not give Conkwright credit for scoring the winning run.

21 Bogart made three more appearances (one start) in 1920 and never played in the majors again. Morrisette started on September 23, his last appearance in the majors. Wilson started the second game of this series but lasted only three innings, his final time on a major-league mound. Fried made a relief appearance on the 23rd, his second and final appearance in the majors. Conkwright made three starts in the next few weeks to finish his major-league career.

22 Veach also drove in six runs against the Washington Senators on July 30, 1917.

23 “Weird Brawl Won by Tigers.”