Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Pittsburgh Pirates at Philadelphia Phillies, Baker Bowl, Philadelphia, PA
August 27, 1929

Introduction

After being stuck for a bit in the 1980s, my series of random game stories moves back for the earliest game thus far in the series, to 1929. The Roaring 20's. The economy was soaring. Flapper dresses; jazz; bootleg moonshine. Good times all around! And baseball was booming! Perhaps nowhere more than in Philadelphia where Connie Mack had put the finishing touches on his second great dynasty. The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics would win 104 regular season games and the World Series.

Alas, while this story takes place in Philadelphia in 1929, it does not involve the A's, but instead involves the other Philadelphia baseball team. The 1929 Philadelphia Phillies did not win 104 games. Not to spoil things too much, but the Phillies entered play on Tuesday, August 27, 1929 in seventh place in the National League with a record of 50-69 (with one tie). Their opponent that day, the Pittsburgh Pirates entered play with a record of 67-50 (and one tie), in second place - but 13-1/2 games behind the eventual NL pennant winning Chicago Cubs.

This was the era where you couldn't shake a stick without hitting a Hall of Famer - not all of whom look like great selections in retrospect - and this game was no exception. Four Hall-of-Famers played in this game. The Pirates batted Hall-of-Famers 2-3-4 in their lineup: center fielder Lloyd Waner, in right field, his brother Paul, and batting cleanup, third baseman Pie Traynor. The Phillies had only one Hall-of-Famer in their regular lineup, cleanup hitter and right fielder Chuck Klein.

The pitching matchup for August 27th was second-year right-hander Erv Brame for the Pirates, who entered play with a record of 12-8 with a 4.76 ERA (the league ERA for the 1929 National League was 4.71), versus rookie left-hander Harry Smythe, who entered play with a record of 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA in eight relief outings. This was the first start of Smythe's major-league career.

First Inning

Dick Bartell got things started for the Pirates with a single to left field. Lloyd Waner hit into a force play and big brother Paul flied out. But Pie Traynor shot a single to center field putting Little Poison on third base. Smythe should have gotten out of the inning, however, as he got Adam Comorosky to hit a ground ball to second baseman Fresco Thompson. But Thompson booted the ball, and Lloyd Waner scored the first (unearned) run of the game.

Thompson tried to atone for the error by leading off the bottom of the first inning with a single. But he got no farther than first base.

Second - Fourth Innings

Neither offense did much over the next three innings and both Smythe and Brame pitched well: Smythe allowed two singles while Brame allowed a single, a double, and a walk.

Fifth Inning

Smythe continued his dominance for the first two batters of the fifth inning. With two outs, Lloyd Waner hit a tough ground ball that was coralled by second baseman Thompson. But he threw the ball away in his haste to try to get Waner and Waner reached second base. The play was scored a single and Thompson's second error of the game (Thompson led NL second basemen in errors in both 1928 and 1929). Paul Waner blooped a fly ball into shallow right field for a hit and Lloyd scored the second (unearned) run of the game.

Meanwhile, Erv Brame continued his strong outing with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth inning.

Sixth Inning

The top of the sixth inning looked uncomfortably like the top of the fifth: two quick outs, but then a two-out single and the batter found his way to second base - in this case, Sparky Adams stole second base. As in the fifth, the next batter - Roland Hemsley in this case - also got a hit, but shortstop Tommy Thevenow was able to knock the ball down and keep Adams from scoring. Smythe then got Erv Brame to hit a ground ball to Fresco Thompson and unlike in the first and fifth innings, Thompson handled this one cleanly and the inning was over.

In the bottom of the sixth, Lefty O'Doul singled with one out (he would lead the National League in 1929 in hits - 254, batting average - .398, and on-base percentage - .465), but could get no farther.

Seventh Inning

Harry Smythe pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning. Through 6-1/2 innings, neither starting pitcher had allowed an earned run, but the Pirates led 2-0 thanks to Fresco Thompson's two errors.

Erv Brame's fine work continued in the bottom of the seventh inning as the first two batters were retired on infield pop-ups.

But so far, both runs in the game had scored via two-out rallies by the Pirates. Could the Phillies mount their own two-out rally?

• Walt Lerian singled to left field.


• Harry Smythe helped his own cause with a single to left field, Lerian going to third base.


• Fresco Thompson singled to right field, scoring Lerian with the Phillies' first run. Smythe went to third and Thompson took second on the throw.


• Bernie Friberg walked to load the bases.


• Lefty O'Doul singled to right field, scoring Smythe and Thompson.


• Chuck Klein doubled to center field, scoring Friberg and O'Doul.


• Pinky Whitney beat out a single to shortstop, Klein getting to third base.


• Don Hurst also beat out a single to short, scoring Klein with Whitney taking third on the play.


• Tommy Thevenow singled to center field, the ninth consecutive Phillie to reach base, scoring Whitney.


• Walt Lerian, who started it all with his two-out single, finally ended the inning by fouling out to the catcher.

And the Phillies led 7-2.

Eighth Inning

Pie Traynor led off the top of the eighth winning with a single to right field. Adam Comorosky hit a fly ball to center field. Phillies center fielder Bernie Friberg dropped the ball. Traynor scored from first base with the Pirates' third (unearned) run with Comorosky ending up on second base.

But Smythe bore down and struck out the next two batters before ending the inning by getting Roland Hemsley to ground out to third base.

Despite having allowed seven runs the previous inning, Erv Brame came out to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning. The complete game was still the goal of every pitcher every time out - Brame completed 19 of his 28 starts in 1929 and 62 of his 91 career starts. Brame seemed none the worse for wear, working a scoreless inning, allowing only a two-out walk to Friberg.

Ninth Inning

Speaking of complete games, Harry Smythe came out for the top of the ninth inning hoping to complete his first major-league start.

It looked a bit sketchy as pinch hitter Ira Flagstead opened the inning with a booming triple to left field. Still, the Phillies led 7-3. Flagstead scored as Dick Bartell grounded out - the first earned run allowed by Smythe - a tradeoff the Phillies were happy to make. Lloyd Waner flew to center field. Paul Waner flew to left field. Game over.

Game Summary

And so, one hour and fifty minutes after the game started (yes, games were really played that quickly in the days before television and stadium lights), the Phillies had a 7-4 win.

Harry Smythe earned the first win of his major-league career. He would go on to add only four more, three of them later in the 1929 season. Despite his relatively solid performance in this game, he ended up with only 12 career starts in MLB and this was one of only two complete games in his career. The win pushed the Phillies into sixth place, one-half game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds, with a record of 51-69. This was the Phillies third consecutive win. That win streak grew to an eight-game winning streak. The Phillies also put together a seven-game winning streak later in the season and improved to a final record of 71-82, good for fifth place, the Phillies' best finish since 1917.

The Pirates, meanwhile, who had been in first place in the National League as recently as July 23rd, bounced back from their loss here to win their next four games (all against the first-place Cubs). They finished the season relatively strongly, finishing in second place at 88-65, although that still left them 10-1/2 games behind the Cubs.

Details of the game are shown below. First, I show Player won-lost records for all of the players who participated in the game. Baseball Player won-lost records are constructed so that the players on the winning team earn two pWins and one pLoss in the game while the players on the losing team earn one pWin and two pLosses. I also show expected wins and losses, eWins and eLosses, which are context-neutral. Full play by play details of the game are shown below the won-lost tables. My Player won-lost records are described in more detail in this article and throughout my website.

Retrosheet Box Score and Play-by-Play