The Washington herald., 1921-09-30
Cleveland Pennant Light
Dimmed to.Amost In
visible Glow.
FIGHT ALMOST OVER
Speakers Chance for Second
Flag in Row Now Verges
On the Impossible.
BY JAMES l.. KILGALLEN.

COMISKEY PARK, CHICAGO.
Sept. 29.-Tris Speaker watched
Sheely, the White Sox drst base
man. deftly scoop up O'Neill's
pop-up. stick the ball in his
pocket and dash for the clubhouse.
Cleveland. world champions;
had lost, s to o. Practically white
washed out of the pennant!
There wasn't a cheer as the
game ended-hardly a sound.
The 5000 or 1000 fans in the big
tomb-like stadium mechanically
drilled out.
The players of both clubs disap-
peared on the run. All but Speaker
Another Waterloo.
The gray-haired Cleveland man.
ager, veteran of 1000 diamond
clashes. sat on the bench. alone.
his head bowed. Presently he got
up, slowly, and with limping gait
made his way across the diamond.
carrying a little yellow satchel in
his hands. Just before he reached
the dugout exit he stopped and
glanced again at the centerfield
scoreboard. There was written. 1t
Is almost snfe to say, "finis" to the
Cleveland pennant hopes-the story
of another game: New York, s:
Philadelphia, 0. Speaker slowly
shook his head and disappeared.
He died game" remarked an old
timer in the press box
No one who had witnessed the
game would question that fact He
had batted 500 for the day. max
ing two hits in four times up. and
had accepted six difficult chances
in the field.
But even the great Speaker could
not deny the White Sox or Wee
Dickie" Kerr, their pitcher, a shut
out today.
The Sox. with nothing at stake,
played cool. Il, careful baseball
Everything they tried turned out
just right. In contrast to the Sox
the Indians were on edge. nervous.
their backs to the wall. fighting a
losing fight. Throughout the game
the SoN/substitutes Iolled comfort
ably in the empty seats in the left
field stands, while every man in
Cleveland uniform huddled near
Speaker. on the bench. all of them
strained, tense. eager.
Tribe Threatens But Once.
Kerr. himself a world series vet
eran. shot sweeping drops across
the plate, mixing in occasional fast
ones. Not an Indian player got
past second base and only six hits
were made off his delivery. And
1t was Kerr Day at the park. gifts
at the plate and all that.
Only once did Cleveland threaten
in the sixth. The score was
then to o against them. And 1t
was Speaker who started II.
Speaker, first up. strode grimly
to the plate. He waited Kerr out,
bringing the count to three balls
and two strikes. Then he poled a
long single to right center. Come
on. Joe" yelled the Cleveland play
ers from the bench as Wood went
in to bat 1t looked like the break"
for Wood can hit. Smokey Joe"
picked one out and sent IL on a
line toward the left field fence. 1t
was labeled home run" but Strunk
made a wonderful one-hand catch
against the screen. Then, on the
next play Sheely made a dazzling
one-hand pickup of a slow infield
hit and. turning quickly, threw
Speaker out at second by an eye
lash.
At that moment the scoreboard
recorded the New York victory.
The combination of events broke
the Indians backs. They never
threatened again.
1t seemed they knew they had
lost the pennant. Score: