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Originally Posted by ballparks
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Terrific article, just what I was wondering about! My information came from "Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train," by Henry W. Thomas, Chapter 14, p. 236: "The 1924 world series was the first since the Red Sox/Giants classic of 1912 to come down to a last deciding contest. Just as they had won the coin toss deciding where the series would begin, Washington won again on a crucial second flip to determine the site of the finale. Judge Landis used a silver dollar given him by Clark Griffith, who had borrowed it from a long-time Nationals rooter for whom the coin had been a "good-luck piece." Harris called the flip correctly, and Griffith pocketed the dollar, which he carried with him for the rest of his life." Footnote 11 from that chapter credits "Morris Siegel, Washington Post, August 30, 1951" for the story, which presumably came directly from Griffith, Harris, or both of them, still very much active in the game at the time of Siegel's column. The toss coming after the fourth game explains how they were able to get tickets printed in time for game 7, of which I have seen many examples. I have always thought those ticket strips for games 1,2, and 6, by the way, to be fairly unique in the ticket collecting sphere for their size, beauty, and significance, and similar to the series and especially the 7th game in their underappreciation within the baseball history and collecting worlds. I always love to make the (very strong) argument that the 7th game of the 1924 World Series was the single greatest game played in the history of baseball. Thank goodness the Nationals decided to punch the tickets as fans walked in rather than tear them as originally intended based on the perforations. Somebody must have been thinking about what great souvenirs they would--and do--make.
12-04-2016, 10:36 PM
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