Strat Madness: Babe Ruth Bracket Semifinals

The 1927 Yankees and the 1911 A’s made it to the finale of the Babe Ruth Bracket in the Press Room Pass Strat Madness Tournament.

Babe Ruth Bracket Results, Schedule and Round-Up

(1) 1927 Yankees 5, (12) 1922 Browns 4
(3) 1911 A’s 6, (2) 1941 Yankees 5
(3) 1911 A’s at (1) 1927 Yankees, championship

  • A three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth enabled New York to post a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Browns. Earle Combs knocked in the winning run off Ray Kolp. Eddie Collins started the uprising with a two-run homer. Babe Ruth led off the fourth with a homer and Bob Meusel added a RBI double. For the Browns, Jack Tobin had a solo homer in the third. Ken Williams gave the Browns a 4-2 advantage in the ninth to set the stage for the comeback by the Yankees. George Sisler led the Browns with three hits. Urban Shocker was the winning pitcher, while he added two hits at the plate.
  • Philadelphia’s Jack Coombs was able to hang on in the ninth inning as the A’s were able to get by the New York Yankees 6-5. After Home Run Baker‘s run-scoring single in the top of the ninth, the Yankees attempted to rally against Coombs. Joe DiMaggio led off with a homer. Bill Dickey added a sacrifice fly to close the gap to run before Coombs retired the final two hitters. Baker led the A’s with four hits as he scored three times and drove in a run. Jack Barry and Ira Thomas both added two hits and two RBI. DiMaggio had three hits to pace the Yankees. Lefty Gomez went the distance as he was tagged with the loss.

IN REAL LIFE:

Earle Combs may not be one of the famous members of the 1927 Yankees, but that certainly doesn’t diminish the outfielder’s importance to the squad. Combs led the American League with hits (231) and triples (23). As the lead-off man, he batted .356 and was third in the league in runs scored (137) behind Babe Ruth (158) and Lou Gehrig (149).

Combs played with the Yankees from 1924 to 1935 and had a career batting average of .325. He was a part of nine World Series victories with three coming as a player, while others came as a coach for the Yankees. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970 by the Veteran’s Committee.