October 8, 1927. Bottom of the ninth, Yankee Stadium, a crowd of 57,909 making enough noise to rattle the iron girders. Score tied 3-3. Johnny Miljus -- a burly Pittsburgh right-hander they called "The Big Serb" -- stood on the mound in the middle of the worst inning of his career, having already uncorked one wild pitch, having already watched the bases fill through a walk, an error, and an intentional pass to Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig had just struck out swinging. Bob Meusel had just struck out looking. Tony Lazzeri fouled one deep into the left-field bleachers for strike one.
Then Miljus threw again.
The ball bounced past the catcher. Earle Combs sprinted home from third. The New York Yankees were World Series champions, and the series had just ended in a fashion that had never happened before and hasn't happened since: a walk-off wild pitch.
It was a fitting end to a season that had broken every rule about what a baseball team could do.
The Machine
The 1927 Yankees went 110-44-1, winning the American League pennant by 19 games over the Philadelphia Athletics. They batted .307 as a team. They slugged .489. They scored 975 runs and outscored their opponents by 376. Numbers like that don't tell you how dominant the club was -- they tell you the numbers failed to capture it.
The lineup that ran out for Miller Huggins every day went by a name that had floated around the organization since the early part of the decade: Murderers' Row. Earle Combs in center, Mark Koenig at short, Ruth in right, Gehrig at first, Meusel in left, and Lazzeri at second. Ruth hit .356 with 60 home runs (breaking his own record) and 165 RBI. Gehrig hit .373 with 47 home runs and 175 RBI. They combined for 107 home runs. The bottom of the lineup wasn't a free out.
Pittsburgh was no slouch. The 1927 Pirates went 94-60, led the National League in runs, hits, batting average, and on-base percentage, and won their pennant by 1.5 games over the defending champion Cardinals. Paul Waner -- "Big Poison" -- won the NL Most Valuable Player Award hitting .380 with 131 RBI. His younger brother Lloyd, a rookie, hit .355 and scored 133 runs. Pie Traynor, one of the best third basemen of the era, batted .342. This wasn't a team afraid of October.
The Legend That Isn't Quite True
The famous story goes like this: the Yankees took batting practice at Forbes Field before Game 1, and Ruth and Gehrig hit ball after ball over the right-field stands while the Pirates watched from the dugout, slack-jawed and defeated before a pitch had been thrown.
It's a great story. It's almost certainly fiction. The myth traces back to a ghostwriter working for Christy Walsh, Ruth's financial advisor -- a man with every reason to make his client sound terrifying. No Pittsburgh player, when historians went looking, ever confirmed watching that batting practice. And the actual series scores -- 5-4, 6-2, 8-1, 4-3 -- show a Pittsburgh club that pushed the Yankees in three of four games before the world's greatest baseball team found a way to win each one.
Game 1: The Ball Pittsburgh Kicked Away
October 5. Forbes Field. 41,467 fans. Waite Hoyt, 22-7 during the regular season, against Ray Kremer, 19-8, in a matchup between two quality pitchers on a blustery Pittsburgh afternoon.
What Grantland Rice wrote in the Boston Daily Globe afterward said it plainly: "It was a ball game that Pittsburg kicked away, a ball game that Pittsburg should have won by 4 to 3, with just an ordinary defense." Yankees shortstop Mark Koenig reached on an error by second baseman George Grantham -- a fumbled ball on a slow roller -- that helped set up the Yankees' scoring. Hoyt developed a blister on his pitching hand in the fourth; Huggins let him work until the eighth, then called for Wilcy Moore to close it. Moore did. Yankees 5, Pirates 4.
Game 2: Pipgras Pitches Pittsburgh Into a Hole
October 6. Still at Forbes Field. George Pipgras threw a complete game, allowing two runs on seven hits. The Pirates scored first -- Lloyd Waner tripled to center in the first inning and scored on a Clyde Barnhart sacrifice fly -- but the Yankees pushed across three in the third and three more in the eighth. Aldridge took the loss after Pittsburgh ran through three pitchers. Yankees 6, Pirates 2. The series moved to New York with the Yankees up two games to none.
Game 3: Pennock's Almost-Perfect Game
October 7. Yankee Stadium. Herb Pennock walked to the mound and proceeded to throw the most dominant World Series game anyone had seen -- a game that wouldn't be topped until Don Larsen went all the way in 1956.
Pennock retired the first 22 Pittsburgh batters he faced. Not a hit, not a walk, not an error. Twenty-two men up, twenty-two men down, while the Yankees piled on. Gehrig tripled to the warning track in the first inning, scoring two. Ruth launched a three-run shot into the right-field seats in the seventh. The Yankees led 8-0 going into the bottom of the eighth. (The 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates hit .305 as a team during the regular season. Pennock was making them look like they'd never seen a left-hander.)
With one out, Pie Traynor -- the one Pirate who'd given the Yankees fits all series -- lined a single to left to break up what would have been the first perfect game in World Series history. Pennock retired the next two batters, finished with a three-hitter, and strolled off the mound with a complete-game 8-1 victory. No walks. No fuss.
One game from the championship.
Game 4: The Wild Pitch Heard 'Round Baseball
October 8. Yankee Stadium. 57,909 fans who would spend the next several decades telling everyone they knew they were there.
Through eight innings, the Pirates actually led 3-1 before the Yankees tied it with two runs in the home half. Wilcy Moore -- 30 years old in his rookie year, the lowest ERA in the American League at 2.28 (yes, a 30-year-old rookie had the lowest ERA in the league) -- held the Pirates in order in the ninth. Then Huggins sent his lineup to the plate for one last chance to sweep.
Miljus walked Combs to open the inning. Koenig bunted to third, and Traynor -- who'd been solid all series -- fumbled the ball, unable to throw. Runners at first and second. On the first pitch to the next batter, Miljus uncorked a wild pitch, sending both runners to second and third. With first base open, manager Donie Bush called for an intentional walk to Ruth. Bases loaded.
Gehrig stepped in. Struck out swinging.
Meusel stepped in. Struck out looking.
Lazzeri stepped in. Fouled one deep to left. Strike one.
Then Miljus released the ball -- and it skipped away. Combs never broke stride coming home.
It remains the only World Series ever won on a wild pitch. Ruth batted .400 for the series with two home runs and seven RBI. Gehrig hit .308 and knocked in four. Pennock was untouchable. And that 1927 club -- the best regular-season team in the history of the game to that point -- was exactly as good as advertised when it actually counted.
| Series Result | Yankees 4, Pirates 0 (sweep) |
| Ruth Series BA / HR / RBI | .400 / 2 HR / 7 RBI |
| Gehrig Series BA / RBI | .308 / 4 RBI |
| Pennock Game 3 (CG) | 9 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB |
| Consecutive Batters Retired (Pennock) | 22 |
| Series-ending play | Wilcy Moore wins on Miljus wild pitch (only in WS history) |
| 1927 Yankees Season Record | 110-44-1 (.714) |
Ruth Hits 60th Home Run
Babe Ruth connects off Tom Zachary at Yankee Stadium for his record-breaking 60th home run of the season -- a mark that stood until Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961.
Game 1: Yankees 5, Pirates 4 (Forbes Field)
Waite Hoyt and Wilcy Moore hold off Pittsburgh. Key errors cost the Pirates a game they controlled. Attendance: 41,467.
Game 2: Yankees 6, Pirates 2 (Forbes Field)
George Pipgras throws a complete game, allowing just two runs. Yankees lead series 2-0.
Game 3: Yankees 8, Pirates 1 (Yankee Stadium)
Herb Pennock retires the first 22 batters before Pie Traynor singles to left in the 8th -- the closest thing to a World Series perfect game until 1956.
Game 4: Yankees 4, Pirates 3 -- Wild Pitch Ends It (Yankee Stadium)
Tied 3-3 in the 9th, Johnny Miljus uncorks his second wild pitch of the inning. Earle Combs scores from third. The only World Series in history to end on a wild pitch. Attendance: 57,909.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who did the 1927 Yankees beat in the World Series?
The New York Yankees defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates four games to none in a sweep. The Pirates were the NL champions and a legitimate powerhouse -- Paul Waner won the NL MVP that year -- but the Yankees were on another level entirely.
How did the 1927 World Series end?
On a wild pitch -- the only time in World Series history that's happened. In the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4, with the score tied 3-3 and the bases loaded, Pirates reliever Johnny Miljus uncorked his second wild pitch of the inning. Earle Combs scored from third to end it.
Did the Pirates watch the Yankees' batting practice and get demoralized?
Probably not. The story is widely repeated but almost certainly a myth, traced to a ghostwriter working for Babe Ruth's financial advisor. No Pittsburgh player ever confirmed watching that batting practice in historical accounts. The actual series scores -- three games decided by two runs or fewer -- show the Pirates competed.
How did Herb Pennock pitch in the 1927 World Series?
He was outstanding. In Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, Pennock retired the first 22 Pittsburgh batters before Pie Traynor singled to left with one out in the eighth -- the closest thing to a World Series perfect game before Don Larsen in 1956. He finished with a complete-game three-hitter, allowing one run with zero walks.
How did Babe Ruth perform in the 1927 World Series?
Ruth batted .400 with two home runs and seven RBI in the four-game sweep. He was intentionally walked with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of Game 4 -- a tactical decision that loaded the bases for Gehrig and Meusel (who both struck out) before Combs scored on the wild pitch.