Almost Heaven

Opening the season with a 5-game road trip, Detroit drops every one of them. I make the two-day walk from my Porter Street home to beautiful League Park for game number 5. Rookie Ernie Alten is pitching for the Tigers versus Cleveland. After toiling 6 years in the minors, Ernie finally makes his first big league start for Detroit. On the mound for the Indians is Ray Caldwell, the man struck by lightning in that game last August who, once he beat death and regained consciousness, recorded the final out in a 2 to 1 win. Knowing in advance the outcome of all 1911-1920 games, I rarely attend a Tiger defeat. But even on the occasions Detroit gets thumped, as they surely will this day, there are small moments within a game that thrill us. One such occasion takes place this afternoon in the top of the first… Leading off the Tiger first against Caldwell is Detroit shortstop Donie Bush, who rips a single to center. A sacrifice bunt by second baseman Ralph Young moves Bush into scoring position, the crowd beginning to stir with anticipation as Ty Cobb steps into the batter’s box. Cobb hits a grounder into the hole between short and third, where Ray Chapman makes a brilliant stop, saving a run, but Ty beats the throw to first, putting runners on the corners for cleanup man Bobby Veach. Fooled by a Ray Caldwell off-speed pitch, Veach can only get enough bat on the ball to hit a nubber towards the mound. Caldwell pounces on the ball, and fires to third where Donie Bush has strayed too far off the bag. Donie finds himself trapped in a rundown between third sacker Larry Gardner and catcher Steve O'Neill, two veterans with over 10 years of experience who should know better than to take their eye off Tyrus Raymond Cobb, the runner on 1st when the play began. As Gardner and O'Neill close the trap on Bush, the Detroit shortstop dances back 'n forth between the two along the third base line, while the Georgia Peach flies around second hellbent for third, at a speed putting the lie to his 33 years of age. In a split-second after catcher O'Neill lunges to make the tag on Donie Bush in the no-man's-land between third and home, he notices a blur flashing by him. By the time O'Neill can steady himself to turn for the throw towards Caldwell covering home, Cobb has begun his slide. Visible through the dust storm Ty creates, home plate ump Billy Evans extends both arms violently outward, palms down as he cries "SAFE!" The League Park cranks, caught up in the sheer audacity of their opponent's mad dash, jump to their feet to cheer Ty's brilliance.