It was the ‘greatest comeback’ in World Series history. And they trained for it in Paso Robles
While it might not feel like spring yet, baseball spring training is underway.
California has a special connection to major league baseball.
Hall of Fame players like Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams were from California. And though the sport originated in the eastern states, the West Coast’s mild weather allowed the sport to be played year-round.
When the railroad opened the West, winter barnstorming teams like those lead by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig gave fans a taste of what East Coast major league baseball looked like.
San Luis Obispo County even got in on the action.
A century ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates began what would be a World Championship season in Paso Robles. From 1924-34, the Pittsburgh Pirates trained in Paso Robles before the Major League season began.
The Chicago White Sox had also trained at Paso Robles previously in 1913-15.
The Hot Springs Hotel was their spring training home, and the spa was likely a major attraction.
Another connection, Hal Rhyne, was born in Paso Robles in 1899 and played shortstop for the Pirates in 1926-27.
There is even a historical marker at 6th and Spring streets where Athletic Field used to be.
The Paso Robles History Museum recently finished celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the Pirates arriving in Paso Robles in 1924. Janice Cannon has generously shared some of their photos.
The 1925 Pirates had three future Hall of Famers in their starting lineup.
Max Carey was a fleet-footed center fielder, who lead the league in stolen bases ten times.
He got four hits in the decisive fourth game of the World Series, including three doubles, against the Senators’ future-Hall-of-Famer “Big Train” Walter Johnson.
Carey stole home 33 times in his career, second only to Ty Cobb.
Hazen “Kiki” Cuyler was a right fielder who also lead the league in stolen bases four times.
He quit West Point to pursue a baseball career.
On June 4, 1925, Cuyler hit for the cycle. Later that year in August, he hit two inside-the-park home runs — in the same game. He had 369 total bases that year including 26 triples.
Cuyler had an up-and-down career due to injuries but was named to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1968.
Harold “Pie” Traynor, meanwhile, was a slick-fielding third baseman who often lead the league in putouts, double plays and assists. He set a record for career double plays that stood until it was broken by Eddie Matthews.
His 2,289 putouts is still the best career mark in the National League, and he was considered the greatest third baseman of his era, the first elected to the Hall of Fame.
All with a mitt that looked like sausage fingers.
In 1925, Trayner hit .320 with 106 runs batted in.
He also hit a homer off of Walter Johnson in the World Series and stole home in an All-Star game.
The Senators took the series lead, winning the first game behind the pitching ace Walter Johnson.
Famed sportswriter Damon Runyon said in a syndicated column:
“The pitching sorcery that is the mighty right arm of Johnson held them spellbound, befuddled —aye, and blinded, until the game had passed into baseball history as a 4 to 1 victory for the American Leaguers.”
The Pirates lost the first three of four games to the Senators and faced elimination during each of the next three games.
Author Ronald T. Waldo called it “the greatest comeback in World Series history.”
A language note for younger readers: Being called a goat was an abbreviation of scapegoat in the parlance of 1925, not an acronym for greatness as it is today.
The goat of the 1925 series set a record for errors.
The Senator’s shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh had been a star the previous year’s World Series helping the Senators beat the Giants and was the American League’s most valuable player in 1925, but errors included a key throwing error in the final game that blew the lead.
This is the story of the final game from the Oct. 15, 1925, Daily Telegram with a four-deck headline (the inning by inning recap is omitted here.)
Pittsburgh Victorious in Series
Pirates Win Final Game and Title
Come from behind In Hectic Fight And Cop Pennant From the Senators, Hard Contest Is Played in Sea of Mud
Score tied in Seventh when Cuyler Socks out Two Bagger And Three Men Manage to Swim To Home Plate And Victory
FORBES FIELD, PITTSBURGH, OCT. 15 — (United Press) The Pittsburgh Pirates won the world baseball championship today by defeating the Washington Senators in the seventh and deciding game of the 1925 series, 9-7.
The game, perhaps, was the most thrilling ever seen in a World’s Series, rain was falling steadily in semi-darkness. Fighting from behind after the Senators had scored four runs in the first inning, the Pirates battled Walter Johnson to all corners of the field and overtook the Senators, then won the game in the eighth inning.
Carson Bigbee, pinch hitter, supplied a two-base blow that scored the tying lrun. It was “Kiki” Cuyler’s double that won the game. Vic Aldridge started for Pittsburgh, then Ray Kremer went in and held the Senators. He is credited with the win.
Wild scenes of celebration, such as were enacted in Washington last year, were staged on Forbes Field when old man Oldham got the home run champion out of the World Series on strikes for the third out of the game. Fans stormed on the field and threw hats away in the rain.
Going into the Washington clubhouse after the game, Walter Johnson showed he was almost crushed. Roger Peckinpaugh, goat of series, was in tears. Pek earned the unenviable record of making eight errors in the series, one more than any player made before, his two errors, factors helping Pittsburgh to win today.
Johnson was in trouble from the start. His difficulties increased when the rain developed from a light drizzle into a downpour He lost control and his fastball was too wet to handle.
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SLO County history museum hosts new Mexico exhibit
The Paso Robles History Museum is currently hosting an exhibit “With Our Own Eyes-A Living Connection Across Borders.“
It explores the human relationship between the greater Paso Robles area and San Juan Nueveo Parangaricutiro, Mexico where many North County farmworkers come from.
The photographic project was funded by the California Council for Humanities.
