I thought it would be fun to reenact the 1927 World Series with Strat-O-Matic. For those of you who don't know the 1927 New York Yankees, also known as murders row, are considered one of the greatest teams in baseball history. The Pittsburgh Pirates definitely had their work cut out for them. In the real series, the Yankees easily won in 4 games.
If you have never played Strat-O-Matic click here for my review of the board game or here for the computer game.
One of the things Strat-O-Matic always say is that the cards are very accurate so I thought I could have some fun as well as a test this statement. I'm not expecting each player to have an identical batting average to what he hit in real life, I'm interested in a more generalized comparison so I'm going to go by the pitcher's stats. With a batter I could roll lucky and have him hit two home runs in the game and it would make his stats go way off from his actual stats but the pitchers pitched the majority of the games back then unlike now and they would still be pitching to the same players they did in real life so I think I'll be using the pitchers stats as well as a few additional things here and there.
I'm keeping the same lineups that played in the real games. Each pitcher that started I had pitched for the same game. The only changes I made was when a player was injured and some pinch-hitting/relief pitcher swaps. I did this to keep the game as close to accurate as I could.
Game 1 of the 1927 World Series was played at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania between The Pirates and the New York Yankees. The Lineups for each team are as follows.
New York Yankees
1. CF Earle Combs
2. SS Mark Koenig
3. RF Babe Ruth
4. 1B Lou Gehrig
5. LF Bob Meusel
6. 2B Tony Lazzeri
7. 3B Joe Dugan
8. C Pat Collins
9. P Waite Hoyt
Pittsburgh Pirates
1. CF Lloyd Waner
2. LF Clyde Barnhart
3. RF Paul Waner
4. SS Glen Wright
5. 3B Pie Traynor
6. 2B George Grantham
7. 1B Joe Harris
8. C Earl Smith
9. P Ray Kremer
Top Of The First
To start off the game Combs pops out to center field then Koenig grounded out to third. Babe Ruth walked followed by Gehrig getting a single. Meusel struck out to end the top half of the first.
Bottom Of The First
In Pittsburgh's first at-bat of the series, Lloyd Waner popped out to second and was injured on the play. In this Strat series, he will miss the next 4 games which didn't happen in real life but that's the way the dice roll. Next up was Barnhart struck out followed by Paul Waner walking and Wright ended the inning with a ground out to second.
Top Of The Second
Lazzeri started the second with a single and Dugan hit a single as well. Collins hit a line drive to first and the pitcher Hoyt ground out into a double play.
Bottom Of The Second
Traynor led off the bottom of the second with a strikeout. Grantham flew out to Ruth in right field and Harris grounded out to second.
Top Of The Third
Combs led off the third with a strikeout. Koenig hit a single and Babe Ruth was walked again. Gehrig hit an RBI single, Meusel hit an RBI double and Dugan hit an RBI single. Next Collins grounded out to third. Hoyt ground out to shortstop to end the Yankees at-bat but not before scoring 3 runs.
Bottom Of The Third
The catcher Smith struck out followed by the pitcher lining out to third. Kiki Cuyler, who replaced Lloyd Waner in the first after he was injured, hit a single and Barnhart grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.
Top Of The Fourth
Combs starts off the Yankees at-bat again and grounds out to second. Koenig grounds out to short. Babe Ruth walks for the third time and Gehrig flies out to right for a quick half.
Bottom Of The Fourth
Paul Waner flies out to center field, Wright grounds out to third and Traynor flies out to right to end the fourth.
Top Of The Fifth
Meusel strikes out, Lazzeri lines out to third and Dugan grounds out to second for another quick Yankee at-bat.
Bottom Of The Fifth
The second baseman starts off with a single. Harris grounds out to short and Smith hits a single and Grantham advances to second. The pitcher ends the inning by hitting into a double play.
Top Of The Sixth
Collins leads off by popping out to second, Hoyt grounds out to the pitcher. Combs hits a single but Koenig fouls out.
Bottom Of The Sixth
Cuyler strikes out, Barnhart hits a single. Paul Waner grounds out to first but the runner advances to second. Wright ends the inning by lining out to short.
Top Of The Seventh
Babe Ruth grounds out to first, Gehrig slams one into the outfield and legs out a triple. Meusel grounds out to the pitcher and Lazzeri flies out to center field stranding Gehrig at third.
Bottom Of The Seventh
Pie Traynor hits a single for his first hit of the series. Grantham hits a weak grounder to the second baseman who throws him out with the runner advancing to second. Harris flies out to center and Smith grounds out to first.
Top Of The Eighth
The bottom of the order start the eight, Dugan flies out to left. Next Collins flies out to right and Hoyt grounds out to the third baseman.
Bottom Of The Eighth
Kremer game ends as Heinie Groh pinch hits for the pitcher and grounds out to second. Cuyler hits next and grounds out to short and Barnhart ends the inning by grounding out to third.
Top Of The Ninth
Combs leads off with a walk followed by Koenig striking out. Babe Ruth gets his first hit of the series by smashing one over the right-field fence for a 2 run home run!
Gehrig follows Ruth by grounding out to second. Meusel hits a single as does Lazzeri behind him but Dugan fouls out to end the Yankees ninth.
Bottom Of The Ninth
Paul Waner hits first in the Pirates last chance to score and he grounds out to first. Wright hits a single and Pie Traynor hits an RBI triple for the Pirates first run of the series ending Hoyt's shutout. Grantham gets an RBI single and Earl Smith ends the first game by grounding into a double play.
Summary
In real life, the Yankees won game one with a score of 5 to 4 compared to Strats' 7 to 2. To make it easier I'm going to compare all the pitcher's stats and each individual pitchers to make it easy. The Yankees pitchers in real life had 2 strikeouts and only walked 1, in Strat they had 4 strikeouts and 1 walk so strikeouts were close and walks were right on. For Pittsburgh's pitchers had 4 strikeouts and 4 walks and in Strat had 4 strikeouts and 4 walks so Strat nailed both.
Overall real-life and Strat were pretty close but the most important thing is that I had fun. If you've got a favorite series or team pull out your game and see how well you can do compared to what they did in real life.
For game 2 you can click here.
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