Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Watching the 1921 World Series

UPDATE: Rob Frost posted a much cleaner image on the Facebook group, Knoxville Tennessee History & Memories.  He lays out in his post why he believes that this photo was taken on October 6, 1921.  I have to agree with, and support, his analysis.  I've updated my story and links to correctly reflect his findings.  Thanks, Rob.

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Tonight is the first game of the 2015 World Series.  Many of us are watching the television or an app on our phone to follow the game.

94 years ago in Knoxville people thronged to So. Gay Street to keep up with the action.

1921 World Series baseball game reported at the Knoxville Sentinel
part of the Calvin M. McClung Digital Collection

In October of 1921 the Yankees and the Giants battled it out over eight games.  Knoxvillians seemed to be very interested in the results.

I don't know if that is a PlayOGraph scoreboard, but it was on the front of a building on the NW corner of South Gay and Main streets.  

The box score (and more) about the game shown can be found here.  A story about the game and the crowd gathered in Knoxville can be found here.

The Auto Tire Co.? That was actually the Tinsley Tire Co.

Knoxville, Tennessee, City Directory, 1925
Ancestry.com
U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Knoxville, Tennessee, City Directory, 1925
Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line].
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

So let's look at some maps to see where Tinsley Tire Co. was located.
from AmericanRoads.us

Zooming in a bit, I've added a bit of Google Maps.  This is just south of the Bijou Theatre.
from AmericanRoads.us

 And this is what that corner looks like today.

Google Maps

Times have changed.

The Giants won the 1921 Series.