1920 World Series
Team (Wins) Managers Season Cleveland Indians (5) Tris Speaker (player/manager) 98–56, .636, GA: 2 Brooklyn Robins (2) Wilbert Robinson 93–61, .604, GA: 7
Dates	October 5–12
Venue(s)	Ebbets Field (Brooklyn) League Park (Cleveland)
Umpires	Bill Klem (NL),Tommy Connolly (AL),Hank O'Day (NL),Bill Dinneen (AL)
Hall of Famers	Umpires: Bill Klem Tommy Connolly Hank O'Day Indians: Stan Coveleski Joe Sewell Tris Speaker Robins: Wilbert Robinson (mgr.) Rube Marquard Zack Wheat Burleigh Grimes
← 1919 World Series 1921 →

The1920 World Series was thechampionship series forMajor League Baseball's1920 season. The series was abest-of-nine format played between theAmerican League (AL) championCleveland Indians and theNational League (NL) championBrooklyn Robins, with the Indians defeating the Robins five games to two. The only World Seriestriple play, the first World Seriesgrand slam, and the first World Serieshome run by apitcher all occurred in Game 5 of this series. This was also the first World Series and firstBig Four championship series to feature two brothers on opposing teams, withDoc Johnston playing for Cleveland andJimmy Johnston playing for Brooklyn.^[1]

The Indians won the series in memory of their former shortstopRay Chapman, who had been killed earlier in the season when struck in the head by a pitched ball.

In Game 5, Cleveland second basemenBill Wambsganss turned an unassistedtriple play. He caught a line drive off the bat ofClarence Mitchell, stepped on second base to put outPete Kilduff, and taggedOtto Miller coming from first base. It was the second of 15 (as of 2022)unassisted triple plays in major-league baseball history, and it remains the only one in postseason play. Mitchell made history again in the eighth inning by hitting into a double play, accounting for five outs in two straight at-bats.

The fifth game also saw the firstgrand slam in World Series history (hit by Cleveland'sElmer Smith) and the first Serieshome run by a pitcher (Cleveland'sJim Bagby, Sr.). And in that same game, Brooklyn outhit Cleveland but lost 8–1.

Cleveland had won theAmerican League pennant in a close race with theChicago White Sox and theNew York Yankees. The Sox's participation in theBlack Sox Scandal the previous year had caught up to them late in the season, and their star players were suspended with three games left in the season, when they were in a virtual tie with the Indians. The Yankees, with their recently acquired starBabe Ruth, were almost ready to start their eventual World Series dynasty.

This was the second of three consecutive World Series to use a best-of-nine format, instead of the usual best-of-seven. To reduce travel during the Series, the 2-3-2-2 format that was used in 1919 was changed to 3-4-2. Notably, all seven games of the 1920 World Series were won by the team who scored first. In fact, Game 4 was the only game in which the losing team scored a run before the winning team had scoredall of its runs. The lead never changed hands in any game.

This would be the last World Series until1980 to feature two franchises that had not previously won a championship.

ALCleveland Indians (5) vs. NLBrooklyn Robins (2)

Game 1 took a mere 1 hour, 41 minutes.Steve O'Neill supplied RBI doubles in the second and fourth innings in support ofStan Coveleski, who won it for the visiting Indians with a five-hitter.

A first-inning run on aJimmy Johnston single andZack Wheat double would be all Dodger pitcherBurleigh Grimes would require in a complete-game shutout.

Brooklyn scored twice in the first on hits byZack Wheat andHi Myers that chased Cleveland starterRay Caldwell from the game. The only run winning pitcherSherry Smith gave up in a three-hitter came whenTris Speaker came all the way around on a double that was misplayed in left field.

Brooklyn starterLeon Cadore didn't make it past the first inning. His relievers didn't fare much better,Al Mamaux being removed in the third andRube Marquard greeted by aGeorge Burns two-run double.Stan Coveleski cruised with a five-hitter for his second win of the Series.

TheCleveland Times ran the following article on Monday, October 11, 1920, recounting Game 5 and Wambsganss' triple play:

Wamby Makes Unassisted Triple Play

• CLEVELAND, Sunday Oct 10, 1920 –Bill Wambsganss'unassisted triple play highlighted the most unusual game inWorld Series history today and helped theCleveland Indians to a wild 8–1 victory over theBrooklyn Robins.Elmer Smith hit agrand slam andJim Bagby alsohomered as the Indians took the lead in games three to two. Thetriple play and grand slam had never happened before in World Series history and Bagby became the firstpitcher to homer in a World Series. "I've been in baseball 40 years", RobinsmanagerWilbert Robinson said, "and I never saw one like this." The first Indian to faceBurleigh Grimes was Charlie Johnson, whosingled. He stopped at second on Wambsganss' single. Then Grimes fell fieldingTris Speaker'sbunt, loading the bases. Then Smith hit a 1–2 pitch over the right field screen for a 4–0 lead. In the home fourth,Doc Johnston singled to center and moved up on apassed ball. After Grimes putSteve O'Neill on, Bagby homered into the center field stands.Pete Kilduff began the top of the fifth with a single to left center. WhenOtto Miller singled to center, Speaker's quick throw to third drove Kilduff back to second. That brought up relieverClarence Mitchell, who went six for sixteen as apinch-hitter thisseason and sometimes fills in atfirst base and in the outfield. A left-handed hitter, he drove the ball toward right center. Second baseman Wambsganss moved slightly to his right, tipped onto his toes, sprung a little bit and grabbed the ball with his gloved hand. Never hesitating, he continued to second base, easily doubling Kilduff. Then when Wamby turned to throw to first base he saw Miller frozen directly in front of him. Reaching out, Wamby tagged Miller easily. The crowd was silent momentarily, then, realizing what had happened, broke into thunderous applause. In the Brooklyn eighth,Ernie Krueger singled to center. But Mitchell grounded to first baseman Johnson, who started a double play. Thus, Mitchell accounted for five outs in two at-bats.

Even faster than Game 1, this one was done in just 94 minutes.Duster Mails twirled a three-hit shutout, and the lone run came in the sixth on aTris Speaker two-out single, followed by aGeorge Burns double.

The Robins didn't score in the last two games. Their pitcher,Burleigh Grimes, committed an error on a Cleveland double steal that resulted in the game's first run.Stan Coveleski needed no more, but got one in the fifth from aTris Speaker run-scoring triple and another in the seventh onCharlie Jamieson's RBI double.Spitball pitcher Coveleski won for the third time and the Indians celebrated before their home fans.

1920 World Series(5–2):Cleveland Indians (A.L.) overBrooklyn Robins (N.L.)

• Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990).The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 82–86.ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
• Reichler, Joseph (1982).The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2128.ISBN 0-02-579010-2.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to1920 World Series.

• 1920 World Series atWorldSeries.com viaMLB.com
• 1920 World Series atBaseball Almanac
• 1920 World Series atBaseball-Reference.com
• The 1920 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) atRetrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1920 atThe Sporting News. Archived fromthe original in May 2006.

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