It's May 24, 1928. The defending World Champion #Yankees roll into Philadelphia for a SIX-game showdown with the 2nd-place A's: back-to-back doubleheaders, followed by 2 more games. The Yanks are off to a hot start, with a 3-game winning streak running their record to 26-6. 1/
The Yankees haven't pulled away, though, as the A's are just 3 1/2 games back. If the A's can take 5 of 6 in the series, they'll take over first place. The A's starter for Game 1 is Lefty Grove, riding a six-game winning streak, including 2 shutouts. 2/
Backing up Grove in the outfield: Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, both playing their final @MLB seasons. Cobb is hitting .333, not bad for an 41-year-old, though it's 33 points below his lifetime average. Speaker, 40, is hitting just .268 after a dreadful April. But that's not all. 3/
Grove's catcher is Mickey Cochrane, the 4th #HallOfFamer in the starting lineup. Pretty loaded team.
The Yankees have that many HOFers in the first 4 slots in the batting order. 4/
OK, that's cheating a little, because the shortstop and No. 2 hitter is rookie Leo Durocher, who's not in the Hall for his .247 average, nor even for his flashy glove. On this day, though, he's among the league leaders at .375, with Ruth and Gehrig coming up behind him. 5/
Hall of Fame CF Earle Combs is the leadoff man. And if you think including Durocher is a cheat, the Yankees' starting second baseman is another HOFer, Tony Lazzeri. So that's 9 Hall of Famers in the starting lineups, five of them no-doubters. 6/
The Yankees strike first with a 2-run single from the Babe. The A's tie it in the fifth when the two ancient outfielders, Cobb and Speaker, deliver back-to-back singles, and Cobb scores on Lazzeri's error on a Cochrane grounder. Lazzeri atones in the 6th with an RBI single. 7/
Grove himself singles and scores in the bottom of the 6th, but the Yankees' HOF contingent gets him in the 7th. Combs and Durocher walk. Gehrig singles for one run. Lazzeri's 2-run single makes it 6-3.
And that's when things, for our purposes, get interesting. 8/
The Yankees' starter is rookie Al Shealy, who so far this season has posted 5 of what will be his 8 career wins. Speaker leads off the 7th with a single, his second hit of the game. After another single, Cochrane's fielder's choice leaves HOF runners at the corners. 9/
Connie Mack, speaking of HOFers, goes to his bench, pinch-hitting with...Al Simmons, the 10th Hall of Famer to appear in the game. His single scores Speaker to make it 6-4. After another fielder's choice, Mack pinch-hits again, with another 41-year-old HOFer: Eddie Collins. 10/
Collins, the game's 11th Hall of Famer, flies to left to end the inning. Grove goes out again for the 8th and retires the Yankees, including Combs, in order. He's due up first in the bottom of the inning, and comes out for a pinch-hitter.
Jimmie Foxx. HOFer No. 12.
11/
Foxx grounds out, but after a walk to 2B Max Bishop, Cobb doubles to right, his second double and third hit of the game.
Again: Cobb is 41 YEARS OLD.
Speaker grounds out to score Bishop and make it 6-5 heading to the ninth. 12/
Two Philly relievers promptly load the bases, and Lazzeri clears them with a triple, giving him 6 RBIs in the game and stretching the lead to 9-5. But the A's aren't done.
13/
Wilcy Moore, the Yankee relief ace the year before, had replaced Shealy after the Cobb double. He gives up a leadoff single to Cochrane. With a 4-run lead, the Yankees ignore Cochrane as he takes second, then third. A wild pitch scores him. It's 9-6.
14/
Moore gets one out, but after issuing his second walk of the inning, his day is done. With the tying run at the plate, Miller Huggins, the game's OTHER HOF manager, brings in:
Waite Hoyt, the AL leader in wins the previous year, and the 13th HOFer to appear in the game. 15/
Hoyt walks the first man he faces to load the bases, then gets a groundout for the second out. A run scores on the play, making it 9-7 and putting the tying runs in scoring position.
For Ty Cobb. 16/
Anticlimax. Cobb bounces it back to Hoyt to end the game. Saves aren't an official statistic at the time, but historians will retroactively find Hoyt the league leader in saves that year; this game is one of his 8. Grove takes his 2nd loss of the year but will finish 24-8.
17/
Besides Hoyt and Grove, the other 11 Hall of Famers in the game go 17 for 40 (.425), and score and drive in 11 runs, 6 driven in by Lazzeri.
18/
The Yanks would go on to run their league lead to 13 1/2 games before a late charge by the A's put Philadelphia a half-game in front with 18 to play. The Yankees recovered at that point and ended up winning their third straight pennant by 2 1/2.
The A's won the next 3. /end
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