The World Series champions from the Nation's Capital weren't expected to defend their AL crown.

• But the Yankees began the season without Babe Ruth, who suffered an intestinal abscess that kept him out until June. As a result, Miller Huggins' team endured a losing season (the franchise's last one for over 40 years) and a seventh place finish.
• So the Senators, with basically the same lineup as in '24 and with the oldest team in the league, won the pennant by 8.5 games over the Philadelphia A's. The main addition to Bucky Harris's club was veteran spitballer Stan Coveleski from Cleveland, who tied 37­year-old Walter Johnson for most wins on the club with 20. The Big Train would have had more but missed five weeks with influenza.
• Griffith also acquired another "old" hurler, Dutch Ruether, on waivers from the Brooklyn Dodgers. Ruether added 18 victories.
• But the MVP of the league was SS Roger Peckinpaugh, 34, who hit .294 and impressed the sportswriters with his versatility and leadership, the epitome of the "team player."

In the Senior Circuit, the Giants' four-year reign came to a halt.

• After his team lost to New York in '24, Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfus traded three popular regulars that he thought spent too much time partying, Rabbit Maranville, Charley Grimm, and Wilbur Cooper, to the Cubs for three players who were not their equals in talent but brought more serious attitudes. "I got rid of my banjo players," Dreyfus declared.
• Bill McKechnie's Pirates batted their way to the crown, with a team average of .307. Seven of the eight regulars hit .308 or better with the eighth one no slouch at .298.
• The pitching staff lacked a star but still racked up the second-best ERA in the league, 3.87.
• The Bucs' victory margin was the same as the Nats', 8.5.

 

• For Washington, that meant Johnson in Game One and again in Game Four with the possibility of pitching Game Seven if it went that far.
• For the Pirates, 19-game-winner Lee Meadows would oppose The Big Train with Vic Aldridge, 15 wins on his slate, toeing the slab for Game Two.

1. Wednesday, October 7 @ Pittsburgh: Senators 4 Pirates 1
   WP: Walter Johnson; LP: Lee Meadows
2. Thursday, October 8 @ Pittsburgh: Pirates 3 Senators 2
   WP: Vic Aldridge; LP: Stan Coveleski
   
3. Saturday, October 10 @ Washington: Senators 4 Pirates 3
   WP: Alex Ferguson; LP: Ray Kremer
4. Sunday, October 11 @ Washington: Senators 4 Pirates 0
   WP: Johnson; LP: Emil Yde
5. Monday, October 12 @ Washington: Pirates 6 Senators 3
   WP: Aldridge; LP: Coveleski
6. Tuesday, October 13 @ Pittsburgh: Pirates 3 Senators 2
   WP: Kremer; LP: Ferguson

• Heavy rain postponed Game 7 for a day.
• Harris wouldn't have hesitated to send his ace, The Big Train, to the hill for the deci­ding game after just two days off, but now Walter would enjoy his normal three days rest. After all, he had allowed only one run in two complete game victories. However, he still suffered from a charley horse he incurred running out a double in Game 4 and was still walking with a limp.
• Johnson's recovery was aided by a soaking rain that caused Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to postpone Game 7 from Wednesday to Thurs­day. He said, "I hate to call it off knowing that fully 15,000 of this crowd are from out of town and under heavy expense in staying over another day. At the same time, the field's condition is such that the players would be risking injury to go out there."
• The extra day allowed McKechnie to start his own two-game Series winner, Vic Aldridge, who got a second day of rest since winning Game 5.

Unfortunately, the weather did not improve by Thursday.

• Chilly rain again fell before the scheduled first pitch at 2:30. The grounds crew used sawdust to sop up puddles in the infield even before the teams took the field. Few in the assembled crowd expected the game to be played. But Landis didn't want to disappoint the fans yet again. So he let the game begin and continue even though conditions were worse than the day before.
• Fans milled in the hotel lobbies trying to decide if they should make the trip to Forbes Field. When it became clear that the rumor of postponement was false, they hurried to the park and pushed through the gates, many missing the long top of the first inning.
• Any hope that the rain would move out failed to materialize. It got worse as the game continued. With no lights on any major league field in that era, vis­ibility became an issue as the afternoon wore on until you couldn't see the outfielders from home plate. The field became a quagmire. The players were "vague and shadowy figures."
• New York Times writer James R. Harrison would call the setting "a perfect day for water polo."

• The crowd of 42,856, boosted by numerous temporary seats Dreyfuss had erected to satisfy demand, let out a big cheer when Aldridge strode to the mound. But whether it was difficulty gripping the wet ball or nerves or both, Vic was not the same pitcher he had been in Games 2 and 5.
  The ground booed Rice as he came to bat because of the disputed catch in Game 3. After hitting a hard shot foul down the left field field, he bounded a 0-2 single over second base.
  Bucky Harris flied out on the first pitch to Barnhart in left field.
  Vic's 3-0 delivery to Goslin went into the dirt and got away from C Smith, Rice taking second. After a called strike, The Goose walked.
  With Joe Harris at the plate, another wild pitch advanced Sam and Goslin. The Pirate infield gathered around Aldridge to try to calm him. But he walked Harris to fill the sacks.
  Harris was a "battle-scarred veteran of the First World War" whom Griffin signed to spell the 31-year-old Judge at 1st and play some outfield.
  McKechnie brought his infield to the edge of the grass. Judge scared the crowd with a long fly into right foul that went foul. He then walked, forcing home Rice.
  With the count 1-2, Bluege smacked a sharp single to left, Goslin scoring and the other runners advancing a base each.
  Johnny Morrison, making his third appearance in the Series, replaced Al­dridge. Peckinpaugh hit a grounder to SS Wright who threw to Moore at second base for an apparent out. But home plate umpire Barry McCormick ruled catcher's inter­ference to put Roger on first with all the runners advancing a base. Joe Har­ris crossed the plate to make it 3-0.
  The Pirates' woes continued as Moore juggled Ruel's grounder, Judge sco­ring. One writer explained the second sacker's woes like this: "If you ever tried to grasp a slippery piece of soap in the bathtub you have a faint idea of how Eddie Moore acted on Ruel's bounder ... The pill just wouldn't stay in Moore's hands."
  With the sacks still full, Johnson struck out swinging on an 0-2 wide curve.
  Johnson led the Senators with a .433 batting average, albeit on 97 at-bats in his illness-shortened season.
  Batting for the second time in the inning, Rice flied out to left field.
• The Pirates employed a strategy of bunting on the wet field to test John­son's bad leg. After fouling one off, Moore got one down on the second try, but Walter thew him out.
  Working slowly and in pain, the Big Train fired one to Carey, who smacked a double into right field to send the crowd into an uproar. Carey had more incentive that the other Pirates because Johnson had plunked him twice in Game One.
  Cuyler struck out on three pitches, the first one over his head.
  Barnhart also fanned on three straight.
  The crowd applauded Johnson as he left the field.

2nd inning

• Bucky Harris got a hold of a Morrison offering and drove it deep to right field, but Cuyler snagged it as it was about to go into the stands.
  Carey then made a nice catch of Goose's short fly to center.
  Displaying a wide curve ball, Morrison got Joe Harris to ground out to shortstop.
• Traynor bounced a full-count pitch back to Johnson, who threw high to first but Judge tagged the bag ahead of the runner.
  Wright singled to center as the rain began again.
  McInnis also got a base hit to center to excite the assemblage.
  But the mild threat ended when Smith grounded to 2B Harris who tagged McInnis, then threw to 1B Judge to complete the double play.

3rd inning

• With some reporters already wondering when the game would be called be­cause of darkness, Judge shot a single to right-center field.
  Bluege tried to sacrifice, but the ball went foul. He then popped out to Moore.
  Peckinpaugh hit a fly on which Cuyler made a sensational diving catch "into the swamps of right field" but threw wildly past first base in an attempt to double up Judge. So Joe took second.
  Ruel also hit the ball hard, but Carey raced back and gathered it in.
• Morrison hit for himself and hit a low liner to center that Rice could not get to.
  Moore followed with a long drive to left for a double, Morrison sprinting home all the way from first. Manager Harris came in from second and patted Johnson on the back.
  But Carey smacked the first pitch past Harris to score Moore as the crowd cheered wildly. 4-2
  On a hit and run, Cuyler grounded to Peckinpaugh who threw him out at first, Carey moving to second.
  Catching Ruel asleep, Carey, who stole 46 bases during the season, took third without a throw. Barnhart then dropped a Texas Leaguer into right field to make it 4-3.
  Traynor forced Barnhart, Peckinpaugh to Harris.
  Wright popped up to Harris.

4th inning

• It was still sprinkling and very dark, making it hard to follow the ball.
  Morrison continued twirling curves. Johnson flied to Carey in left-center field.
  With the crowd letting him have it again, Rice singled past 1B McInnis.
  Harris looked at strike three, then walked to the bench kicking.
  Morrison threw nothing but big drop curves to Goslin, who singled into left field to send Rice to third. Goose took second on the throw to third.
  Joe Harris drove a double to right to extend the Nats' lead to 6-3.
  Judge flied to Cuyler.
• Continuing the Pirates' strategy of swinging at the first pitch, McInnis rap­ped a single to left.
  Smith propelled what seemed like a sure hit to center, but Rice made a shoe­string catch, forcing McInnis to race back to first.
  George Grantham, hitting for Morrison, lofted a fly to Goslin.
  

5th inning

• Ray Kremer, the loser in Game 3 and victor in Game 6, took over the pitching duties.
  Traynor robbed Bluege of a hit by leaping high and spearing his bounder and throwing him out.
  Peckinpaugh grounded out 6-3 on the first pitch.
  Carey made a nice catch of Ruel's low fly.
• The crowd gave Carey a hand because of his two hits. He immediately lashed the first pitch into right-center field for two bases.
  Cuyler smashed a fast ball into left for a double to make it 6-4 as rain fell steadily.
  Barnhart struck out swinging.
  Traynor fouled out to Ruel.
  Bucky Harris caught Wright's pop-up.
  

6th inning

• Johnson hoisted a popup that Wright took in back of second.
  Rice hit a slow hopper to SS Glenn who threw him out.
  Harris struck out swinging for the second time in the game.
• McInnis crashed a long fly that Goslin gathered in.
  Smith also drove one to left-center, but Rice raced over to snag it.
  Kremer fouled out to Ruel.

7th inning

• The crowd put up umbrellas, and the bleacherites covered themselves with newspapers in the pouring rain.
  Goslin smashed one of Kremer's offerings back at him, but the hurler grab­bed it and threw him out.
  Joe Harris lifted a foul down the left-field line that Traynor pulled in by the boxes.
  Cuyler almost misjudged Judge's fly (easy to do in the gathering darkness) but caught it after a hard run.
• The fans took the occasion of the seventh inning stretch to cheer for a rally.
  But the inning started inauspiciously when Moore hit a high fly that Peckin­paugh settled under. But, with rain pelting his face, he muffed it, and Moore ended up on second base. It was Roger's seventh error of the Series. Unfortunately for Washington, he wasn't finished yet. Harris walked over from second base and patted his shortstop on the back.
  Carey made the Nats pay with his third double–and fourth hit–of the day, this one down the lelft-field line. Moore scored to make it 6-5 in favor of the visi­tors. LF Goslin would swear to his dying day that the ball landed foul and stuck in the mud. He suspected the umps lost track of the ball in the dark­ness.
  Cuyler sacrificed Carey to third, 1-4.
  With the infield in, Barnhart grounded to Harris, who held Carey at third and threw to first.
  Just when it appeared Johnson would strand the runner on third, Traynor whacked a triple to right but, with mud splashing from his spikes, was thrown out at the plate trying for an inside-the-park homer, 9-4-2.
  So the final game went into the 8th tied 6-6.
  

8th inning

• Traynor threw out Bluege.
  Peckinpaugh made amends for his error by smashing a homer into the left-field stands in front of the scoreboard. His mates carried him into the dugout and pum­meled him in their glee.
  Traynor robbed Ruel of a hit with a remarkable stop on a sharp grounder.
  Smith caught Johnson's foul near the plate.
• With the rain falling steadily, Traynor gave Wright a towel to wipe off his bat. Johnson walked in to confer with Ruel.
  Wright fouled out to Judge who made the catch despite the distraction of a fan tossing a paper ball into the air.
  
  Reporter Damon Runyan wrote: "The outfielders were outlines, vague and shadowy. Twice Walter Johnson asked for a delay that he might get sawdust to scatter around the pitching mound. The base lines were channels of mud." Rain was dripping from the Big Train's chin as he pitched.
  McInnis flied to Rice.
  With two outs and no one on and an 0-2 count on the batter, the Pirates started their winning rally when Smith doubled to right-center field. Emil Yde ran for Smith.
  McKechnie sent up Carson Bigbee to hit for Kremer. He delivered with a double over Goslin's head to tie the game.
  With the crowd in an uproar and Johnson clearly struggling, Moore drew a walk–the Bucs first free pass of the afternoon.
  Carey then grounded to Peckinpaugh who threw to second for the forceout, but the umpire ruled that Harris was off the bag - Roger's eighth error of the Series, a record that stands to this day.
  The game was held up again while more sawdust was spread around the pitcher's mound. Each batter wiped his bat as he came to the plate in the pounding rain.
  Cuyler worked the count to 2-2. He then took what Ruel and Johnson thought was strike three. But as the Nats started to walk off the diamond, McCormick yelled "ball three." So Johnson delivered again, and Kiki poled the horsehide into the crowd in right field. Everyone thought it was a grand slam, but the umpires ruled it a ground rule double. Still, the Pirates took their first lead, 9-7.
  Barnhart popped to 2B Harris.

9th inning

• Journeyman southpaw Red Oldham had not appeared in the major leagues in three years. He had spent most of the 1925 season with minor league teams. The Pirates called him up in August, mainly to help with doubleheaders down the stretch. He faced 233 batters, striking out only 10, and did not see action in the first six games in the Series. He now ascended the treacherous mound to try to seal the championship with his crossfire deliveries.
  Bigbee stayed in the game in left field, and Johnny Gooch took over behind the plate.
  "Water coursed off the brims of felt hats in gentle rivers," according to one writer.
  Rice tried to bunt but missed for strike two. He then took a sweeping curve for strike three, protesting that the ball was low.
  Bucky Harris popped up to Moore.
  Goslin complained about strike two as the crowd howled. Then he took strike three to end one of the most controversial games in World Series history.
  The crowd broke from the stands and swarmed onto the field as they did after a college football game.