Cheering from San Francisco:
A local link to Washington’s 1924 championship.
The ball bounced into left field, and Muddy Ruel came streaking around third to score the winning run in the 12th inning of Game 7.
It marked the first and only time a majorleague team from Washington won a World Series. The Washington Senators beat the New York Giants four games to three. That was 95 years ago. Now we’re possibly on the cusp of a repeat performance, finally. The Washington Nationals, after taking the first two games of the World Series in Houston, lead the bestofseven event 21 and could claim the first championship in franchise history as early as Sunday.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said San Francisco’s Dennis Ruel, son of Muddy, the Senators’ catcher who scored from second base on Earl McNeely’s single to end the 1924 World Series.
“It’s not something that puts me in a cloud somewhere, but it’s a great story, and all of us remaining in the family — including two sisters and me — are just enjoying the hell out of it. It’s just nice, very neat to enjoy.”
Ruel, 77, was born in 1942, eight years after his father’s 19year playing career ended, so he has no memories of his dad playing for the Senators or Yankees (as Babe Ruth’s teammate) or Red Sox or Tigers or White Sox or St. Louis Browns.
Ruel’s most significant baseball memories stem from Cleveland, where his dad was a coach, and Detroit, where he served in the front office, including as general manager.
So excuse Ruel if he’s not rooting hard for the Nationals these days.
“That’s a hard one because I love that (Jose) Altuve,” Ruel said of the tiny second baseman whose walkoff homer won the pennant for the Astros.
Muddy Ruel, who hit .275 in 1,468 games, was known for more than scoring the deciding run in the World Series. He was Washington’s catcher the day Ruth hit his 60th home run in 1927 and the Yankees’ catcher when Carl Mays threw the fateful pitch in 1920 that hit Ray Chapman, leading to Chapman’s death.
Ruel was an exceptional defensive catcher and a favorite of the great Walter Johnson, his close buddy who played his entire Hall of Fame career with the Senators.
Johnson was 36 in 1924, in his 18th season and without a championship to his name, but won his second MVP award after leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts. He lost Games 1 and 5 in the World Series, and the Senators won Game 6 to set up the decisive Game 7.
The finale might as well have been played in 2019 considering how the Senators’ 27yearold playermanager, Bucky Harris, orchestrated the game. Harris used an opener. And his best starter in relief. So anyone thinking modernday teams were the first to do this stuff, including in the postseason, is misguided.
The Senators tied it 33 in the eighth, and Johnson pitched scoreless ball in the ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th innings. In the bottom of the 12th, Ruel hit a foul popup to the catcher that should have been caught, but Hank Gowdy stepped on his mask and dropped the ball. Given another chance, Ruel doubled.
Johnson reached on an infield error, and up stepped McNeely, whose walkoff grounder past third scored Ruel, igniting a massive celebration in the nation’s capital, as seen in a newsreel of the World Series preserved by the Library of Congress. It’s still the most innings in a Game 7 in World Series history.
“That was my dad,” Dennis Ruel said. “It’s just nice to know that was him, and he
“Most of my friends are baseball fans, and some are awestruck by it.”
Dennis Ruel, on father scoring the winning run in 1924 World Series
was my father. It’s a lot of fun to talk about. Most of my friends are baseball fans, and some are awestruck by it. I’m just glad I knew him.”
Herold Dominic “Muddy” Ruel got married at 42 and died in 1963 at 67. Dennis was 21. Baseball wasn’t a common topic of conversation within the family, especially regarding Muddy’s playing days, even the 1924 World Series.
“I don’t think he ever mentioned that to me. Ever,” Ruel said. “He didn’t sit and chat about his life in baseball. I got the impression family life was a completely separate part of his life.
“I learned most of the things about my father reading about them. I do remember going out in the backyard and playing catch with my dad, just an incredibly spiritual kind of connection.”
The family settled in Palo Alto, and Ruel attended San Jose’s Bellarmine High and USF and became a lawyer, then a real estate agent. Long after his father died, Ruel did extensive research and honored his dad with tributes by writing an essay and producing a video.
“I don’t have any connection at all with Washington, emotional or otherwise,” Ruel said. “But it happened to my father. All of a sudden, the Nationals got in the playoffs a few years ago, and stuff started bubbling to the surface.
“It became obvious over the years that my dad wasn’t only a great baseball player, but was wellrespected and wellliked in the community, just a wonderful guy. We knew it and didn’t think anything of it. It was nice figuring out a way to appreciate it.”