From nationalpastime.com:
May 23, 1901 "Scoring nine runs in the bottom of the ninth at Cleveland's League Park, the Blues, later known as the Indians, stun the Senators, 14-13. The incredible comeback, consisting of six singles, two doubles, a walk, a hit batsman, and a passed ball, comes after two outs.
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May 23, 1901: Cleveland Blues turn hopeless defeat into glorious victory
https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-...rious-victory/
Excerpts from the sabr.org article:
"The newly-minted American League was barely a month old on May 23, 1901, when the Cleveland Blues rallied for one of the greatest ninth-inning comebacks in baseball history."
"Cleveland’s previous major-league team, the National League Spiders, had achieved ignominy two years earlier, in 1899, when they infamously lost 134 games, a record that may never be broken. When the National League reduced its roster of franchises from 12 to eight in 1900, the Cleveland team was, not surprisingly, one of the four teams that were disbanded."
"A minor-league version of the American League was born in 1900 and Cleveland, with a completely revamped roster of players, was awarded one of the eight franchises. When American League President Ban Johnson declared the AL a major league in 1901 (major league because the league added franchises in the “major” cities of Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington), the Cleveland franchise was one of the four retained from the 1900 minor-league version. (Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee were the others.) This time, though, a handful of the hometown players stayed in Cleveland, most notably veteran first baseman Candy LaChance, right fielder Ollie Pickering, and pitcher Bill Hoffer."
"The 1901 Cleveland team came to be known as the Blues because of their all-blue uniforms, and they played their games in League Park, the same wooden ballpark in which the Spiders had played. The ballpark was at the northeast corner of what was then Lexington and Dunham Streets (now Lexington and East 66th Street) in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood. It had a capacity of about 9,000."
"The...game, played on Thursday, May 23, looked as though it would end in the more expected result of Cleveland losing yet again. By the middle of the fifth inning, the Senators were leading 9-0. The Blues came back a bit in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four runs, but by the middle of the ninth and final inning, the Washington lead had ballooned to 13-5."
"Starting pitcher Hoffer, who had been the ace pitcher of the famous NL champion Baltimore Orioles of the mid-1890s (winning 78 games over a three-year span), but then faded into relative obscurity, had been pounded by the Washington batters, giving up 14 hits in his nine innings on the mound. Seemingly set up to add insult to injury, Hoffer led off the bottom of the ninth. The few remaining fans could be heard making such sarcastic remarks as “Hit her out, Hoffer, and run around nine times – then you’ll win.” Continuing his miserable day, Hoffer struck out."
"Leadoff hitter Pickering was next. Although he is now unknown by most fans, Pickering actually had quite a few claims to baseball fame. He was the starting center fielder for the NL Louisville Colonels for the first half of the 1897 season, but on July 19 of that season he sat on the bench to make room for the major-league debut of all-time great Honus Wagner. Pickering never again played center field for the Colonels and was sold to the minor-league Syracuse team two weeks later."
"Another claim to fame of Pickering’s is that a month before this game against Washington, back on April 24, in the American League’s first-ever game, when Cleveland visited Chicago to play the White Sox, Pickering was the first batter in American League history. (He flied out to center field.)"
"And finally, Pickering is credited with making famous the Texas Leaguer-type hit, back in his debut with Houston in the Texas League in 1892. Pickering’s career in baseball spanned 30 years, from his debut as a player in 1892 until his last year as a manager in 1922."
"Pickering followed Hoffer by grounding to Washington second baseman Joe Quinn for the second out."
"With only one out remaining before the Blues would be put out of their misery, veteran left fielder Jack McCarthy came to the plate for Cleveland...McCarthy hit a clean single to right field. “The spectators were offended. It seemed like a useless delay.”
"Up-and-coming 23-year-old third baseman Bill Bradley...then got another hit."
"Next up was cleanup hitter LaChance...He swung and missed on Senators left-handed pitcher Casey Patten’s first pitch, then missed the second one, too. Down to his last strike, LaChance pounded a single to deep left, scoring McCarthy and Bradley to make the score 13-7...Thirty-five-year-old catcher Bob Wood...was then plunked by a tiring Patten."
"Shortstop Frank Scheibeck, at 5-feet-7 and 145 pounds the shortest and lightest of Cleveland’s players, was next in the order...The 36-year-old journeyman...came through, though, when he doubled off Patten to drive in a couple more runs, cutting the deficit to four runs, 13-9."
"Center fielder Frank Genins...followed with a sharp single, sending Scheibeck home: 13-10. “The crowd became frantic. Hats and coats were thrown up in the air, and the Cleveland players were dancing all around the field. LaChance, working like a Trojan on the coaching lines, kept the crowd yelling so as to rattle the pitchers.”
"Washington’s manager, Jim Manning...told his team captain, Bill Everitt...to remove Patten from the game...Young southpaw Watty Lee...was called on..."
"The first batter Lee faced was Blues second baseman Truck Eagan...Lee walked Eagan on four pitches to put men on first and second and bring the tying run to the plate."
"With pitcher Hoffer scheduled to bat again, Cleveland’s manager, Jimmy McAleer...didn’t hesitate for a second to pinch-hit for his beleaguered pitcher."
"Young Erve Beck...was called off the bench and smashed a hit so close to the left-field fence that Senators left fielder Pop Foster, who stood on his tip toes to reach for it, but could only touch the ball, could not catch it and Beck ended up on second base with a double, having driven in two more runs to cut the lead to one, 13-12."
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I mistakenly omitted the following in my original post. My thanks to HelloNewman & ymike673 for making that clear in their reply posts.
Pickering came to bat again and was hoping he would fare better than he had so far, having made outs in each of his first five plate appearances against Patten. This time, though, he was facing Lee, and he hit a clean single just outside of shortstop Billy Clingman’s reach, scoring Beck from second, tying the game at 13 runs apiece.
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"“By this time the audience gave a life-sized picture of pandemonium let out for recess. A crowd of Indians on a red-hot warpath could not have been more demonstrative. They roared, they jumped, they shouted. They threw everything within reach in the air. Hats, umbrellas, canes, cushions went up as if a cyclone had struck that part of the landscape. They rushed on the field and came close to losing the game for Cleveland by forfeit.”
"It took a few minutes to clear the field, then the game resumed, with McCarthy coming to bat once again. Lee’s first pitch to McCarthy passed right by catcher Mike Grady, allowing Pickering to take second base. McCarthy then lined a clean single to left, allowing Pickering to race home ahead of Foster’s throw with the unlikeliest of winning runs. The “crowd rushed onto the diamond” and the “Cleveland players were carried to their dressing rooms by the jubilant crowd.”
"The Cleveland Press began its report of this “remarkable” game by quoting “from the proverbs of ‘Rube’ Waddell: ‘A game of base ball hain’t ever over until it is over. Don’t ever forgit this.’” (So it appears that Yogi Berra wasn’t the one who coined this phrase!)"
"...being down by eight runs with the bases empty and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the probability of Cleveland winning the game was 0.0332 percent, the second most unlikely comeback in modern baseball history."
================================================================
History of the Blues
https://sportsteamhistory.com/cleveland-blues/
Excerpt from the sportsteamhistory.com article:
"The Cleveland Blues of 1901-1902 were among Major League Baseball (MLB) 's most successful teams. The team was founded as a charter member of the American League in 1901 and won three consecutive pennants from 1902-1904. During this time, they also had some impressive individual accomplishments: Nap Lajoie won back-to-back batting titles; Addie Joss threw a perfect game; and Cy Young became baseball’s all-time leader in wins with his victory over Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Rube Waddell on October 2nd, 1904."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1901 Cleveland Blues AL MLB Baseball Season!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn8myux5xIU
================================================================
10 biggest single-game comebacks in MLB history
https://franchisesports.co.uk/best-mlb-comebacks/
================================================================
Tom Ruane, “Perhaps the Most Improbable Comebacks From 1901 to 2018,” Retrosheet.org, (accessed December 1, 2019)
Perhaps the Most Improbable Comebacks From 1901 to 2018
https://www.retrosheet.org/Research/...n5.htm#A190513
May 23, 1901 "Scoring nine runs in the bottom of the ninth at Cleveland's League Park, the Blues, later known as the Indians, stun the Senators, 14-13. The incredible comeback, consisting of six singles, two doubles, a walk, a hit batsman, and a passed ball, comes after two outs.
================================================================
May 23, 1901: Cleveland Blues turn hopeless defeat into glorious victory
https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-...rious-victory/
Excerpts from the sabr.org article:
"The newly-minted American League was barely a month old on May 23, 1901, when the Cleveland Blues rallied for one of the greatest ninth-inning comebacks in baseball history."
"Cleveland’s previous major-league team, the National League Spiders, had achieved ignominy two years earlier, in 1899, when they infamously lost 134 games, a record that may never be broken. When the National League reduced its roster of franchises from 12 to eight in 1900, the Cleveland team was, not surprisingly, one of the four teams that were disbanded."
"A minor-league version of the American League was born in 1900 and Cleveland, with a completely revamped roster of players, was awarded one of the eight franchises. When American League President Ban Johnson declared the AL a major league in 1901 (major league because the league added franchises in the “major” cities of Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington), the Cleveland franchise was one of the four retained from the 1900 minor-league version. (Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee were the others.) This time, though, a handful of the hometown players stayed in Cleveland, most notably veteran first baseman Candy LaChance, right fielder Ollie Pickering, and pitcher Bill Hoffer."
"The 1901 Cleveland team came to be known as the Blues because of their all-blue uniforms, and they played their games in League Park, the same wooden ballpark in which the Spiders had played. The ballpark was at the northeast corner of what was then Lexington and Dunham Streets (now Lexington and East 66th Street) in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood. It had a capacity of about 9,000."
"The...game, played on Thursday, May 23, looked as though it would end in the more expected result of Cleveland losing yet again. By the middle of the fifth inning, the Senators were leading 9-0. The Blues came back a bit in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four runs, but by the middle of the ninth and final inning, the Washington lead had ballooned to 13-5."
"Starting pitcher Hoffer, who had been the ace pitcher of the famous NL champion Baltimore Orioles of the mid-1890s (winning 78 games over a three-year span), but then faded into relative obscurity, had been pounded by the Washington batters, giving up 14 hits in his nine innings on the mound. Seemingly set up to add insult to injury, Hoffer led off the bottom of the ninth. The few remaining fans could be heard making such sarcastic remarks as “Hit her out, Hoffer, and run around nine times – then you’ll win.” Continuing his miserable day, Hoffer struck out."
"Leadoff hitter Pickering was next. Although he is now unknown by most fans, Pickering actually had quite a few claims to baseball fame. He was the starting center fielder for the NL Louisville Colonels for the first half of the 1897 season, but on July 19 of that season he sat on the bench to make room for the major-league debut of all-time great Honus Wagner. Pickering never again played center field for the Colonels and was sold to the minor-league Syracuse team two weeks later."
"Another claim to fame of Pickering’s is that a month before this game against Washington, back on April 24, in the American League’s first-ever game, when Cleveland visited Chicago to play the White Sox, Pickering was the first batter in American League history. (He flied out to center field.)"
"And finally, Pickering is credited with making famous the Texas Leaguer-type hit, back in his debut with Houston in the Texas League in 1892. Pickering’s career in baseball spanned 30 years, from his debut as a player in 1892 until his last year as a manager in 1922."
"Pickering followed Hoffer by grounding to Washington second baseman Joe Quinn for the second out."
"With only one out remaining before the Blues would be put out of their misery, veteran left fielder Jack McCarthy came to the plate for Cleveland...McCarthy hit a clean single to right field. “The spectators were offended. It seemed like a useless delay.”
"Up-and-coming 23-year-old third baseman Bill Bradley...then got another hit."
"Next up was cleanup hitter LaChance...He swung and missed on Senators left-handed pitcher Casey Patten’s first pitch, then missed the second one, too. Down to his last strike, LaChance pounded a single to deep left, scoring McCarthy and Bradley to make the score 13-7...Thirty-five-year-old catcher Bob Wood...was then plunked by a tiring Patten."
"Shortstop Frank Scheibeck, at 5-feet-7 and 145 pounds the shortest and lightest of Cleveland’s players, was next in the order...The 36-year-old journeyman...came through, though, when he doubled off Patten to drive in a couple more runs, cutting the deficit to four runs, 13-9."
"Center fielder Frank Genins...followed with a sharp single, sending Scheibeck home: 13-10. “The crowd became frantic. Hats and coats were thrown up in the air, and the Cleveland players were dancing all around the field. LaChance, working like a Trojan on the coaching lines, kept the crowd yelling so as to rattle the pitchers.”
"Washington’s manager, Jim Manning...told his team captain, Bill Everitt...to remove Patten from the game...Young southpaw Watty Lee...was called on..."
"The first batter Lee faced was Blues second baseman Truck Eagan...Lee walked Eagan on four pitches to put men on first and second and bring the tying run to the plate."
"With pitcher Hoffer scheduled to bat again, Cleveland’s manager, Jimmy McAleer...didn’t hesitate for a second to pinch-hit for his beleaguered pitcher."
"Young Erve Beck...was called off the bench and smashed a hit so close to the left-field fence that Senators left fielder Pop Foster, who stood on his tip toes to reach for it, but could only touch the ball, could not catch it and Beck ended up on second base with a double, having driven in two more runs to cut the lead to one, 13-12."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I mistakenly omitted the following in my original post. My thanks to HelloNewman & ymike673 for making that clear in their reply posts.
Pickering came to bat again and was hoping he would fare better than he had so far, having made outs in each of his first five plate appearances against Patten. This time, though, he was facing Lee, and he hit a clean single just outside of shortstop Billy Clingman’s reach, scoring Beck from second, tying the game at 13 runs apiece.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"“By this time the audience gave a life-sized picture of pandemonium let out for recess. A crowd of Indians on a red-hot warpath could not have been more demonstrative. They roared, they jumped, they shouted. They threw everything within reach in the air. Hats, umbrellas, canes, cushions went up as if a cyclone had struck that part of the landscape. They rushed on the field and came close to losing the game for Cleveland by forfeit.”
"It took a few minutes to clear the field, then the game resumed, with McCarthy coming to bat once again. Lee’s first pitch to McCarthy passed right by catcher Mike Grady, allowing Pickering to take second base. McCarthy then lined a clean single to left, allowing Pickering to race home ahead of Foster’s throw with the unlikeliest of winning runs. The “crowd rushed onto the diamond” and the “Cleveland players were carried to their dressing rooms by the jubilant crowd.”
"The Cleveland Press began its report of this “remarkable” game by quoting “from the proverbs of ‘Rube’ Waddell: ‘A game of base ball hain’t ever over until it is over. Don’t ever forgit this.’” (So it appears that Yogi Berra wasn’t the one who coined this phrase!)"
"...being down by eight runs with the bases empty and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the probability of Cleveland winning the game was 0.0332 percent, the second most unlikely comeback in modern baseball history."
================================================================
History of the Blues
https://sportsteamhistory.com/cleveland-blues/
Excerpt from the sportsteamhistory.com article:
"The Cleveland Blues of 1901-1902 were among Major League Baseball (MLB) 's most successful teams. The team was founded as a charter member of the American League in 1901 and won three consecutive pennants from 1902-1904. During this time, they also had some impressive individual accomplishments: Nap Lajoie won back-to-back batting titles; Addie Joss threw a perfect game; and Cy Young became baseball’s all-time leader in wins with his victory over Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Rube Waddell on October 2nd, 1904."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1901 Cleveland Blues AL MLB Baseball Season!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn8myux5xIU
================================================================
10 biggest single-game comebacks in MLB history
https://franchisesports.co.uk/best-mlb-comebacks/
================================================================
Tom Ruane, “Perhaps the Most Improbable Comebacks From 1901 to 2018,” Retrosheet.org, (accessed December 1, 2019)
Perhaps the Most Improbable Comebacks From 1901 to 2018
https://www.retrosheet.org/Research/...n5.htm#A190513
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