Today in sports history

On this date 90 years ago, future Hall of Famer Stan Coveleski pitched a complete game for the Cleveland Indians in a 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees. Sure, in 1918, pitchers went the distance all the time. But this game went 19 innings. Smoky Joe Wood, a former pitcher who'd become an outfielder after he hurt his arm, won the game with a home run in the 19th.

Stanislaus Coveleski was one of the best pitchers of the dead-ball era, winning 215 games with a career ERA of 2.89. He spent most of his career in Cleveland, and would have been the MVP of the 1920 World Series, had such an award existed at that time. Coveleski won three games in that series (out of the five the Indians won against the Brooklyn Robins; they played a best-of-nine in those days), and only gave up two runs in the 27 innings he pitched, for a 0.67 ERA. That's what you call pitching dominance, ladies and gentlemen. He would not fare so well in the 1925 Series, in which he lost two games as his Washington Senators fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Coveleski was the No. 2 man in that rotation, behind a fellow named Walter Johnson.

Wood, incidentally, is about the nearest historical approximation to Rick Ankiel, who is having a fine year as the Cardinals' center fielder, after Steve Blass disease forced him to give up pitching. Babe Ruth, of course, is the classic pitcher-turned hitter, but he became an outfielder because he was such a great hitter, not because he couldn't pitch anymore. Obviously, neither Ankiel nor Wood was as good a hitter as Ruth -- very few men have even been close. But it's also worth mentioning that neither was as good as Ruth on the mound, either. Ruth could possibly have been a Hall of Famer if he'd never hit a home run in his life.

Speaking of Babe Ruth, in 1918, he was still playing for the Red Sox, and still pitching, though he started playing a lot of outfield that year. No one had any idea he'd ever play his home games in New York. And the Yankees team that Coveleski and Wood's boys beat had never won a World Series. How I yearn for those days.

The Indians would win their first championship in 1920, and the Yankees would follow them to the winner's circle in 1921. Since then, the Indians have won one more World Series (1948) and lost three (1954, 1995 and 1997). The Yankees? Let's not talk about that.