The 1940 Cincinnati Reds and the 1931 Philadelphia Athletics saw the home team win all four games, including a walk-off, extra-inning victory for the Reds in the finale of their season-opening series.
The Reds hit just .164 as a team and their top starter was Harry Craft with a .286 average (4-for-14). The Athletics were slightly better at .214, though their stars fared poorly. Dib Williams batted .571 (8-for-14) with five extra-base hits and Lefty Grove tossed a one-hit shutout in game two.
Game #1: Philadelphia 3, Cincinnati 2
The Reds struck first, but the Athletics went up for good in the fourth when Mule Haas led off with a solo homer, and Bing Miller later drove in a run with a single. Philadelphia’s Jimmy Dykes added a solo homer in the seventh to make it 3-1. Pinch-hitter Morrie Arnovich cut the deficit to one with an RBI single in the eighth, but Athletics starter Rube Walberg finished off an impressive performance for the opening day win.
1940 CINCINNATI REDS AB R H BI 1931 PHILADELPHIA AT AB R H BI
Billy Werber 4 0 0 0 Max Bishop 4 0 1 0
Lonny Frey 4 0 0 0 Mule Haas 4 1 2 1
Ival Goodman 4 0 0 0 Mickey Cochrane 4 0 0 0
Frank McCormick 4 0 0 0 Al Simmons 4 1 2 0
Ernie Lombardi 4 0 0 0 Jimmie Foxx 4 0 1 0
Harry Craft 3 0 1 0 Bing Miller 3 0 1 1
Mike McCormick 3 1 2 0 Jimmy Dykes 3 1 1 1
Billy Myers 2 1 0 0 Dib Williams 3 0 1 0
Bucky Walters BY 1 0 0 0 Rube Walberg BY 3 0 0 0
Morrie Arnovich 1 0 1 1
TOTALS 30 2 4 1 TOTALS 32 3 9 3
1940 CINCINNATI REDS 001 000 010 -- 2
1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS 000 200 10x -- 3
LOB--1940 CINCINNATI REDS 3, 1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS 5.
ERR--Dib Williams. 2B--Harry Craft. HR--Jimmy Dykes, Mule
Haas. SACB--Bucky Walters BY.
1940 CINCINNATI REDS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Bucky Walters BY [L] 7.00 9 3 3 0 2 2
Joe Beggs BZ 1.00 0 0 0 0 0 0
1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS
Rube Walberg BY [W] 9.00 4 2 2 1 4 0
Game #2: Philadelphia 2, Cincinnati 0
Lefty Grove gave as dominant a pitching performance as we’ve seen in GTOP, tossing a one-hit, 10-strikeout masterpiece. He gave up a single in the first inning and a walk in the fourth inning, but that was it. Both runners were stranded on second base. Grove retired the game’s final 17 batters. The A’s offense did just enough. The fifth and seventh innings were identical — Dib Williams doubled and then scored on Max Bishop singles.
1940 CINCINNATI REDS AB R H BI 1931 PHILADELPHIA AT AB R H BI
Billy Werber 4 0 0 0 Max Bishop 3 0 3 2
Lonny Frey 4 0 1 0 Mule Haas 4 0 1 0
Ival Goodman 2 0 0 0 Mickey Cochrane 4 0 0 0
Frank McCormick 3 0 0 0 Al Simmons 4 0 0 0
Ernie Lombardi 3 0 0 0 Jimmie Foxx 2 0 0 0
Harry Craft 3 0 0 0 Bing Miller 3 0 0 0
Mike McCormick 3 0 0 0 Jimmy Dykes 3 0 0 0
Billy Myers 3 0 0 0 Dib Williams 3 2 2 0
Paul Derringer BYZ 2 0 0 0 Lefty Grove ACKZ 1 0 0 0
Morrie Arnovich 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 28 0 1 0 TOTALS 27 2 6 2
1940 CINCINNATI REDS 000 000 000 -- 0
1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS 000 010 10x -- 2
LOB--1940 CINCINNATI REDS 2, 1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS 5.
2B--Dib Williams (2). SACB--Lefty Grove ACKZ (2). SB--Lonny
Frey.
1940 CINCINNATI REDS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Paul Derringer BYZ [L] 8.00 6 2 2 2 1 0
1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS
Lefty Grove ACKZ [W] 9.00 1 0 0 1 10 0
Game #3: Cincinnati 6, Philadelphia 4
The Reds’ offense finally got going. Harry Craft drove in two runs with a single in the bottom of the first, though the Athletics tied it in the third. In the fifth, the Reds’ Ival Goodman slugged a three-run homer and Ernie Lombardi added a solo shot. Philadelphia scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings, and had the bases loaded in the ninth before the Reds got the final out.
1931 PHILADELPHIA AT AB R H BI 1940 CINCINNATI REDS AB R H BI
Max Bishop 4 1 2 1 Billy Werber 3 2 1 0
Mule Haas 4 1 1 0 Lonny Frey 3 2 1 0
Mickey Cochrane 5 0 1 1 Ival Goodman 4 1 1 3
Al Simmons 3 0 0 1 Frank McCormick 4 0 0 0
Jimmie Foxx 4 0 0 0 Ernie Lombardi 4 1 3 1
Bing Miller 4 1 1 0 Harry Craft 4 0 1 2
Jimmy Dykes 3 0 0 0 Mike McCormick 4 0 0 0
Dib Williams 4 1 3 1 Billy Myers 3 0 0 0
George Earnshaw BXYZ 2 0 0 0 Gene Thompson BX 3 0 0 0
Eric McNair 1 0 0 0
Doc Cramer 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 34 4 8 4 TOTALS 32 6 7 6
1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS 002 000 011 -- 4
1940 CINCINNATI REDS 200 040 00x -- 6
LOB--1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS 8, 1940 CINCINNATI REDS 4.
ERR--Dib Williams, Lonny Frey. 2B--Mickey Cochrane, Dib
Williams, Billy Werber. 3B--Dib Williams. HR--Ernie
Lombardi, Ival Goodman. SACF--Al Simmons, Max Bishop.
1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS IP H R ER BB SO HR
George Earnshaw BXYZ [L] 6.00 7 6 4 2 7 2
Waite Hoyt CR 2.00 0 0 0 0 0 0
1940 CINCINNATI REDS
Gene Thompson BX [W] 8.00 6 3 3 2 3 0
Joe Beggs BZ [S] 1.00 2 1 1 1 2 0
Game #4: Cincinnati 3, Philadelphia 2 (10 inn.)
The Athletics looked poised to take the series, as they led 2-1 going to the ninth thanks to solo homers from Bing Miller and Dib Williams. But in the bottom of the ninth, the Reds’ Harry Craft led off with a double and scored on Billy Myers’ single. Then, in the bottom of the 10th, Cincinnati’s Billy Werber sent the first pitch over the wall for a walk-off home run.
1931 PHILADELPHIA AT AB R H BI 1940 CINCINNATI REDS AB R H BI
Max Bishop 4 0 0 0 Billy Werber 5 1 1 1
Mule Haas 4 0 0 0 Lonny Frey 3 0 0 0
Mickey Cochrane 4 0 0 0 Ival Goodman 3 0 1 0
Al Simmons 3 0 1 0 Frank McCormick 4 0 0 0
Jimmie Foxx 3 0 0 0 Ernie Lombardi 4 1 1 0
Bing Miller 4 1 1 1 Harry Craft 4 1 2 0
Jimmy Dykes 4 0 0 0 Mike McCormick 2 0 1 1
Dib Williams 4 1 2 1 Billy Myers 4 0 1 1
Roy Mahaffey CYW 1 0 0 0 Jim Turner BZ 2 0 1 0
Eric McNair 1 0 0 0 Morrie Arnovich 0 0 0 0
Joe Boley 1 0 0 0 Willard Hershberger 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 33 2 4 2 TOTALS 32 3 8 3
1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS 010 010 000 0 -- 2
1940 CINCINNATI REDS 000 100 001 1 -- 3
LOB--1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS 5, 1940 CINCINNATI REDS 7.
2B--Ernie Lombardi, Harry Craft, Jim Turner BZ. HR--Bing
Miller, Dib Williams, Billy Werber. SACB--Roy Mahaffey CYW,
Mike McCormick.
1931 PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Roy Mahaffey CYW 7.00 5 1 1 3 2 0
Eddie Rommel BRZ 2.00 2 1 1 1 0 0
Hank McDonald CW [L] 0.00 1 1 1 0 0 1
1940 CINCINNATI REDS
Jim Turner BZ 7.00 3 2 2 2 4 2
Johnny Hutchings C 2.00 1 0 0 1 0 0
Whitey Moore CXW [W] 1.00 0 0 0 0 1 0
ROGER SPORTS & GAMES 