First Place On July 4

The old tradition

First Place On July 4

The age old baseball tradition had it that a team in first place on July 4th was more than likely going to win the pennant.

This was spelled out in an old issue of Time magazine:

From Time, July 9, 1934, page 34

Of course, July 4, 1934 is kind of cheating, considering how close the pennant races were:

From St. Louis Star-Times, July 5, 1934, page 1

The Giants and Yankees both faltered in the end.

But there never was quite a season like 1914. The standings after play on July 4th looked like this:

From The Boston Globe, July 5, 1914, page 17

The headline that day told the story:

And so did that day’s cartoon:

Nobody would have guessed on July 5th that the final standings would look anything like this:

From Boston Globe, October 7, 1914, page 7

Going from playing .394 on July 4th to .614 by the end of the season is quite a feat, no matter what league you’re in.