100 Years ago Cards Became World Series Champs by Besting Babe Ruth

One hundred years ago this weekend, when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Yankees 3-2 before 38,093 fans at Yankee Stadium in Game 7, the Cards won the first of their 11 World Series crowns in the unlikeliest of ways.

Babe Ruth, arguably the most celebrated slugger in the history of baseball, was thrown out by Cardinals catcher Bob O’Farrell while trying to swipe second base. When player/manager Rogers Hornsby applied the tag, it gave St. Louis its first-ever championship by a professional sports franchise.

Even today, 100 years later, it is the only World Series to end with a base runner to get caught trying to steal a base.

The Cardinals’ first World Series win ushered in an era of greatness for the franchise. Between 1926 and 1934, the Cards won five National League pennants and three World Series titles. Today, 100 years later, the Cardinals added eight more World Series trophies, and their 11 World Series crowns still rank as the most in National League history.  

Incredibly, there were 13 Hall of Famers who took part in the seven-game series, which was ranked by ESPN in 2020 as the 10th greatest World Series ever played. The Cardinals boasted Hall of Famers Gover Cleveland Alexander, Him Bottomley, Chick Hafey, Jesse Haines, Billy Southworth (inducted as a manager) and Hornsby, whose availability in the series was put in doubt when his mother died on Sept. 29. Reportedly, Hornsby was conflicted about playing and managing in the series, but a telegram from his uncle convinced him that his mother would have wanted him to play, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. Hornsby reported decided to play and manager when his mother’s burial was delayed until after the completion of the World Series.

The Yankees were led by Hall of Famers Earle Combs, Lou Gehrig, Waite Hoyt, Tony Lazzeri, Herb Pennock, manager Miller Huggins and Ruth, who smashed four home runs in the World Series.

Trailing 3-2 in the series, the Cardinals won Game 6 10-2 behind a 13-hit attack offensively and the pitching of Cleveland Alexander. Alexander was the choice to close out Game 7 as well, earning his first save in that deciding game.

Trailing 1-0 in Game 7 after Ruth’s blast into the right field bleachers, the Cardinals responded with three runs in the top of the fourth inning. The first run scored on an error by Yankees left fielder Bob Meusel. Then, infielder Tommy Thevenow lined a two-run single to Ruth in right field to put the Cardinals ahead to stay. Incredibly, all three Cardinals’ runs off Hoyt were unearned because of two Yankees errors.

After the Yankees got within 3-2, Hornsby made the decision to go to Cleveland Alexander, the Game 6 winner to close out Game 7. According “The Baseball Biography Project” published by the Society for American Baseball Research, Hornsby told Cleveland to limit his alcohol consumption following his complete-game outing in Game 6 because he might be needed to close out Game 7.

With two outs in the ninth inning, Cleveland Alexander wisely pitched around Ruth for the slugger’s fourth walk of the game. That meant he had to pitch to Meusel – the outfielder whose error kick-started St. Louis’ three-run fourth inning – even though the Yankees’ outfielder had doubled and tripled off Cleveland Alexander in Game 6. Gehrig, the famed “Iron Horse,” was in the on-deck circle.

Debate raged for years where Huggins put on a hit-and-run call that was missed by Meusel, but years later Ruth claimed he was just trying to get into scoring position, according to Jonathan Eig, author of Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig.

According to Glenn Stout, author of 100 Years of Yankees Baseball, Hornsby had this to say about tagging out Ruth to end the World Series: “(Ruth) didn’t say a word. He didn’t even look around or up at me. He just picked himself up and walked away.”