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The New York Giants scored 23 runs and had 38 hits in a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field, but all they managed was a split, winning the opener 19-2, but losing the second game 5-4 before a crowd estimated at 15,000.

The Giants were the defending NL and World Series champs under the generalship of John McGraw. He had Art Nehf and Rosy Ryan starting each game. The Pirates, under new manager Bill McKechnie, who had taken over on July 1, started Earl Hamilton and Hal Carlson.

New York got to Hamilton early in the first game, scoring three times in the first on a 2-run double by third baseman Frankie Frisch and a single by rightfielder Irish Meusel. In the second, centerfielder Bill Cunningham reached on an error and scored on a triple by catcher Frank Snyder. After that, McKechnie brought in Whitey Glazner, who took one for the team in this doubleheader.

In six innings of work, Glazner gave up 11 runs (just six of them earned) and 18 hits. Glazner gave up just one home run, to Meusel in the fourth, and that one bounced over the fence, which was a home run under the rules of the day, not a double.

Every Giants starter had a hit. Shortstop Dave Bancroft went 5 for 5, Frisch was 4 for 6, Snyder was 3 for 6 with 5 RBI, and even Nehf was 3 for 6. Meusel was 4 for 4 with six RBI. Nehf wasn't particularly sharp, giving up 11 hits, including a home run to Max Carey, but he had a big margin of victory. The Giants scored in every inning but the third and eighth and in both of those innings they had two hits.

In the ninth inning of the first game, the Pirates sent up 20-year old Art Merewether to pinch hit. It would be his first at bat in the majors. And it was also his last. Merewether grounded out to short. Merewether outlived all the players in this game by a wide margin though, passing away in 1997 in New York at age 94.

The Giants struck early in the nightcap, scoring a run in the second on an RBI double by centerfielder Casey Stengel to score rightfielder Ross Youngs. In the bottom of the second, Youngs robbed Pittsburgh rightfielder Ray Rowher of a home run by snatching his fly ball as it was going over the fence. The Giants led 4-2 going to the bottom of the eighth.

In the eighth, Carey led off with a walk and with one out, he stole second and came home on a triple by third baseman Clyde Barnhart, who was filling in for Pie Traynor this day. Second baseman Jewel Ens singled home Barnhart with the second run. Jewel was Ens's real first name. His middle name was Winklemeyer.

The Giants failed to score in the ninth. Pirates catcher Johnny Gooch led off with a single. Carlson, trying for a sacrifice, got a bunt single instead. But leadoff hitter, shortstop Rabbit Maranville grounded into a 6-4-3 DP. But Carey hit a grounder to Bancroft at short, who had no play on the speedy Carey at first and Gooch scored the winning run.

New York was in first place on this day and they would stay there, finishing 93-61 and beating out the Reds by seven games. The Pirates finished tied for third with St. Louis, eight games out. The Giants went on to win their second straight World Series, defeating the Yankees in five games, with the AL team managing only a tie.

The Giants had an excellent pitching staff, leading the NL in ERA at 3.45 and had three players in the top five in ERA in leader Phil Douglas (2.63), 2nd place Ryan (3.01) and 5th place Nehf (3.29).

Thanks in part to Frisch's long tenure on the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee, the 1922 Giants had a lot of Hall of Famers: George Kelly, Frisch, Bancroft, Youngs, Stengel (chosen as a manager), 18-year old rookie Travis Jackson, and pitcher Jesse Barnes. Manager John McGraw would also be inducted into Cooperstown. The Pirates had Hall of Famers in Traynor, Maranville, Carey, and manager McKechnie.

The 38 hits by the Giants in this doubleheader is not close to the major league record for hits in a doubleheader. That record is 47 and it was set by the Pirates later in the 1922 season. On August 8, the Pirates beat the Phillies at Baker Bowl, 19-8 and 7-3. Outfielder Reb Russell had eight hits that day.

Sources: Retrosheet, Baseball-reference.com, New York Times