1927 in Baseball - Events

Events

• January 27 – Accused of having fixed a game between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians during the 1919 season, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker are forced to resign from their respective teams by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

• January 31 - Tris Speaker joins the Washington Senators.

• February 8 - Ty Cobb joins the Philadelphia Athletics.

• February 9 - The Cincinnati Reds trade Edd Roush to the New York Giants for High Pockets Kelly.

• April 12
  • President Calvin Coolidge throws out the first ball in Washington, D.C. as the Washington Senators lost to the Boston Red Sox 6–2.
  • Future Hall of famer Lloyd Waner makes his major league debut in left field for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His brother, Paul, is in right field in the Pirates' 2–1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

• April 15 - Babe Ruth hits a bases-empty homer against Howard Ehmke of the Philadelphia Athletics in the first inning. It is Babe's first of the year. The Yankees win, 6–3.

• May 3
  • Jesse & Virgil Barnes become the first big league brothers to pitch against each other. Virgil and the New York Giants defeat Jesse and the Brooklyn Robins, 7–6.
  • The Pittsburgh Pirates score a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to come from behind and defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-10, and move into a tie for first place in the National League.

• May 7 - Lou Gehrig christened the new right field pavilion at Chicago's Comiskey Park by parking a ninth inning grand slam as the New York Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 8–0.

• May 10 - In Detroit, it's Ty Cobb day and more than 30,000 pay to see the Detroit Tigers legend in his first appearance at Navin Field in a Philadelphia Athletics uniform. With Eddie Collins on base in the first inning, Cobb drives a double into the overflow crowd to send home Collins for the first run of the game as the Athletics would eventually beat the Tigers 6–3.

• May 11 - For the second day in a row, a baseball legend faces his former team for the first time in his career. Rogers Hornsby leads the New York Giants to a 10–1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at the Polo Grounds with a home run and five RBIs.

• May 14 - Tris Speaker is held hitless by George Uhle in four at-bats in his first game against the Cleveland Indians.

• May 22 - The Yankees are in high spirits in Cleveland as they beat the Indians, 7–2, with Babe Ruth hitting his 10th home run of the young season. Ruth's homer is described as a popup that goes over the fence. The Yankees, who wear Indian headdresses during the game, now lead the Al by four and a half games.

• May 30 - In the first game of a doubleheader, Chicago Cubs shortstop Jimmy Cooney turns the sixth unassisted triple play in Major League history during the fourth inning of a 5–4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

• May 31 – For the first time in Major League history, an unassisted triple play is turned on consecutive days. This time the trick was turned by Detroit Tigers first baseman Johnny Neun, for the seventh time in history, in a 1–0 win over the Cleveland Indians.
  • Babe Ruth homers for the fourth consecutive game in the fifth inning of the nightcap in Shibe Park. Ruth, who hits his 15th against Jack Quinn and 16th off Howard Ehmke, finishes May with 12 round-trippers. They lose the opener, 10–3. The Athletics' Jimmie Foxx hits his first major league homer; it comes off Urban Shocker.

• June 11 - In Cleveland, Babe Ruth hits his 19th and 20th home runs against left-hander Garland Buckeye. The Yankees win, 6–4.

• June 12 - For the second day in a row, the Brooklyn Robins defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates by a score of 11–10.

• June 16 - The Chicago Cubs complete a twelve-game winning streak to move within a game of first place in the National League.

• July 4 - The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators 21–1, prompting Senators first baseman Joe Judge to say, "Those fellows not only beat you but they tear your heart out. I wish the season was over."

• July 5 - The Boston Red Sox defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 6–5, to end a fifteen-game losing streak.

• July 9 - Johnny Neun steals five bases in the Detroit Tigers' 14–4 victory over the New York Yankees.

• July 13 - The Detroit Tigers' Johnny Neun steals home in both games of a doubleheader with the Washington Senators.

• July 24 - Babe Ruth hits his 31st home run of the season and his first of 1927 at Comiskey Park; he now has homered in every AL park. The homer, off Tommy Thomas, breaks a 12-day drought for the Bambino. The Yanks win the game, 3–2.

• August 16 - At Comiskey Park, Babe Ruth hits a home run against Tommy Thomas. It is Ruth's 37th of the season, but he trails Lou Gehrig, who has 38. The Yankees win the game, 8–1.

• September 3
  • The New York Yankees are shut out for the only time all season by Lefty Grove and the Philadelphia Athletics.
  • Tied for first, the Pittsburgh Pirates sweep a two-game series from the St. Louis Cardinals. They maintain sole possession of first place for the remainder of the season.

• September 4 - At Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Babe Ruth hits his 400th career home run and his 44th of the year. The landmark homer comes against Rube Walberg in a 12–2 Yankees win.

• September 5 - The Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 12–11 in eighteen innings.

• September 6 - Babe Ruth and the Yankees come to Fenway Park for a doubleheader. In game 1, Ruth hits his 45th and 46th home runs of the year against Tony Welzer, and the Yankees win, 14–2. One of Ruth's round-trippers clears the center-field fence and is reputedly the longest ever hit at Fenway. In game 2, the Red Sox win, 5–2, despite Ruth's 47th home run, hit against Jack Russell.

• September 7 - Babe Ruth follows up on his three-homer day at Fenway Park with two more. Against Danny MacFayden, Ruth hits his 48th and later cracks number 49 against Slim Harriss. The Yankees win, 12–10, and Ruth now has 8 home runs at Fenway Park.

• September 11 - Back At Yankee Stadium, Babe Ruth continues his home run barrage. He hits number 50, this one against Milt Gaston of the Browns; the Yankees lose nonetheless, 6–2.

• September 13 - A big day for the Yankees and Babe Ruth. In a doubleheader against the Indians, Ruth hits his 51st home run against Willis Hudlin and his 52nd off Joe Shaute. The Yankees win both games by the score of 5–3 and clinch the AL pennant in their 139th game of the season. In addition, Waite Hoyt wins his 20th game.

• September 18 - At Yankee Stadium, New York sweeps Chicago in a doubleheader, 2–1 and 5–1. In the nightcap, against Ted Lyons, Babe Ruth hits his 54th home run of the year. Lou Gehrig weighs in with his third grand slam home run of 1927.

• September 22 - At Yankee Stadium, Babe Ruth homers against the Tigers Ken Holloway for his 56th of the season. Earl Combs hits three consecutive triples, and the Yankees win, 8-7.

• September 27 - Babe Ruth homers with the bases loaded against Lefty Grove of the Athletics. it is Ruth's 57th of the season. The Yankees win, 7-4.

• September 29 - Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hits two home runs to tie his own 1921 record of 59 home runs as the Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 15–4.

• September 30 - With the score tied 2–2 in the eighth inning, and a runner on third, Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season off Washington Senators pitcher Tom Zachary for a Yankees 4–2 victory. Ruth's 60-HR season-record would not be broken for 34 years.

• October 2 - Harry Heilmann goes seven-for-nine with a walk in a double header on the final day of the season to miss a .400 batting average for the season by .002.

• October 5 - Two errors by the Pirates lead to three unearned runs as the New York Yankees take game one of the 1927 World Series, 5–4.

• October 6 - Once again, sloppy play by the Pittsburgh Pirates helps the Yankees cruise to a game two victory as they score runs on an error, wild pitch and hit batsman.

• October 7 - A three-run home run by Babe Ruth caps off a six-run seventh inning as the Yankees cruise to a 8–1 victory in game three of the World Series.

• October 8 – The New York Yankees defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4–3, in Game 4 of the World Series, to win their second World Championship, four games to none. This was the first sweep by an American League team over the National League. Babe Ruth's fifth-inning home run gives the Yankees a 3–1 lead, but Pittsburgh ties the game later. In the top of the ninth inning, Earle Combs walks, Mark Koenig beats out a bunt, and Ruth walks to fill the bases. Two outs later, a wild pitch rolls far enough away for Combs to score the winning run.

• November 28 – Billy Evans quits as American League umpire to becomes business manager of the Cleveland Indians, following the purchase of the club by a group headed by Alva Bradley, to become the first General Manager in major league history. Evans, who worked as an AL umpire from 1906 to 1927, became, at age 22, the youngest umpire in major league history, and later became the youngest to officiate in the World Series at age 25.

• December 2 – OF Heinie Manush is traded by the Detroit Tigers along with 1B Lu Blue to the St. Louis Browns in exchange for SS Chick Galloway, OF Harry Rice and P Elam Vangilder. Manush, who batted .298 for Detroit in the regular season, will explode in 1928 with the Browns, batting .378 with 104 runs, 90 extra bases, 108 RBI, and a league-leading 241 hits.