The Wilmington morning star., 1940-09-28
TTGERS WIN AMERICAN PENNAN1
HOME RUN
BEATS CLEVELAND
NuIIitles Three-Hit Pitching
Of Bob Teller And Gives
Tigers Tilt, 2 To o
BY JUDsON BAILEY

Rudy York, the pale-ldSeu A
nullified the courageous three-hlt
hurting of Bobby Teller today with
one lofty home run that cllnched
the American league pennant LOT
the Detroit Tigers.
The homer came with on IN
the fourth inning and beat tn e
cleveland Indians 2 to 0 while a
riotous crowd of $3.50, a third OF
them women, demonstrated its nos
tility to the Tigers with frequent
showers of fruit vegetables ana
eggs.
One fan dropped a basket OF
green tomatoes out of the upper
deck of the grandstand and MT
catcher Birdie Tebbetts on TN e
head. knocking him out but not IN
turing him seriously. This incident
came after chief umpire Bill Sum-
mers stopped the game to warn
the crowd that every Cleveland
PLAYER who hit a fly ball would be
out if Detroit fielders were inter-
fered with by the fruit throwing.
Late Starting
The game was late starting be-
cause Of the crowd demonstrations
and frequent Interruptions caused
it to drag on for two hours and ~
minutes while a cold. gloomy dusk
enveloped Cleveland's huge con-
crete stadium.
It needn't have taken so long,
for nothing counted after York's
33rd round trip ticket of the season
after Charley Gehringer had walk
ed.
A short time later the big score
board in c%enterfeld ran up the
6 to 2 final score of the New York
Yankees beating at Philadelphia
and everybody knew the Tigers
were in as soon as they went
through the rest of the motions.
They did-with 26-year-old rookie
Lloyd Giebeu, who isn't even eigi-
BILE for the World series, checking
Cleveland every time the Indians
threatened.
1t was a surprise bit of strategy
by which Manager Del Baker en-
trusted the vital task of clinching
the pennant to the slender, blond
right handler who spent all summer
with Buffalo in the International
league, winning Is games and los
ing II.
Keeps Hits Scattered
He kept six hits scattered, struck
out six-including Ben Chapman
three times-and gave only two
walks.
Four times the Indians got two
runners on base in an inning and
left them stranded as Giebell and
his cohorts battened down the
matches.
Giebell showed a fast ball only
occasionally, but he kept working
the corners inside and out and had
the Clevelanders batting frantically
at all kinds of pitches. For the
games final out Jeff Heath, pinch
hitting for Teller, fouled off five
pitched before he finally grounded
out to first baseman York.
Feller was a gallant figure in
defeat. He never quite got the
game under control. Although he
famed four, he was frequently be-
hind the batters and walked eight
men. Double plays pulled him out
of jams in three innings.
One of these came in the first
after he walked leadoff man Dick
Bartell, another in the second
when Hank Greenberg led off with
a double and B e Campbell
walked, and the other in the fifth
when the Tigers made their last
serious threat. Pinky Higgins
walked and Billy Sullivan singled,
but Gieben grounded to Shortstop
Lou Boudreau, causing Higgins to
be trapped on the third base line.
Then Bartell hit into a double kill
ing.
Free Passes
Feller walked two in the sixth,
one in the seventh and another in
the eighth. However, Barney Nc
Cosky in the sixth and Campbell
in the seventh we're wiped out steal
ing. Bartell got as far as third in
the eighth when Boudreau failed
to cover second base on Bartell's
steal and catcher Rollie Hemsley's
throw went into center field.
But the whole game was
wrapped up into York's homer,
which came with two out and Geh-
ringer on first. The count was two
balls and one strike when the big,
round first baseman reached his
war club out for one of Feller's
high balls and sent it as high as
Cleveland's famous Terminal tower
but barely into the third row of
the grand stand in the left field
corner, 800 feet from home plate.
Even Giebell relaxed after that.
He had wake Chapman in the
first inning but Boudreau had
popped to York for an unassisted
double play. In the third inning
Bartell had bobbled an easy
grounder by Ray Mack and Hens
ley had advanced him to third with
a Texas league single back of first
base while the hit and run sign was
up. But Giebell put on the pres
sure and famed Teller and Chap
man and forced Weafher1Y to fly