1932 World Series
Yankee starter Red Ruffing pitched a complete game, striking out 10 Cubs but walking six and giving up six runs, only three of which were earned.
In Game 2, Chicago scored first in the top of the first on Riggs Stephenson's sacrifice fly with runners on first and third off Lefty Gomez, but in the bottom half, after two leadoff walks, RBI singles by Lou Gehrig and Bill Dickey off Lon Warneke put the Yankees up 2–1.
Roughly 50,000 Cubs fans showed up for Game 3, a very large crowd for the time made possible by the construction of temporary bleachers fronting Waveland and Sheffield Avenues.
The first two Yankees reached base on a walk and error, and Babe Ruth followed with a home run into the right-center-field bleachers to put the Yanks up 3–0.
In the bottom half, Billy Herman drew a leadoff walk off George Pipgras and scored on Kiki Cuyler's double.
Next inning, Billy Jurges doubled to left after Ruth's futile dive for the ball and scored on an error to tie the game.
Though Gabby Hartnett hit a leadoff home run in the bottom half and Billy Jurges singled off Pipgras, Herb Pennock retired the next three batters to end the game and leave the Yankees one win away from the championship.
In the bottom half, after two singles, Frank Demaree's three-run home run off Johnny Allen put the Cubs atop 3–1.
The Yankees took the lead in the sixth on a two-run single by Gehrig off Jakie May, but in the bottom half, two errors allowed the Cubs to tie the game.
The Cubs extended their World Series victory drought to 24 years with their humiliating loss, their fourth consecutive in the Fall Classic after 1910, 1918 and 1929 (to the A's, Red Sox and A's again respectively).
No verbal punches were ever pulled, but the jockeying was supposedly taken to new heights (or depths) in this Series stemming from Yankee disrespect for the way the Cubs treated their former teammate, shortstop Mark Koenig, after his acquisition from the Detroit Tigers' Triple-A Mission Reds of the Pacific Coast League on April 25, 1932.
[7] Adding spice to the verbal stew was that Yankee manager Joe McCarthy had been fired by the Cubs a year or two after leading them to the 1929 NL pennant.
Guy Bush, Cub starter in Game 1, led the verbal attack on Ruth, calling him "nigger" (a common bench-jockey slam against the Babe for his broad nose and thick lips despite his German origin), and banter like this went on for most of the Series.
Though neither fully confirmed nor refuted, the story goes that Ruth pointed to the center field bleachers, supposedly predicting he would hit a home run there.
