It all started when there were bad feelings between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers that had developed as a result of a mid-season trade that sent future Hall of Fame outfielder Joe Medwick to Brooklyn.
Six days after the trade, on June 18, the two teams met at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. It happened that Medwick and Dodgers' manager Leo Durocher were staying at the same hotel as St. Louis’ starting pitcher, Bob Bowman.
The three happened to meet in an elevator. Durocher and Medwick taunted Bowman, who responded by screaming that he would take care of both of them.
In the bottom of the first inning Bowman’s first pitch hit Medwick in the head. Medwick collapsed and the Dodgers' dugout, lead by Durocher, emptied as all the players went after Bowman.
The Dodger team owner, Larry MacPhail, seeing his new player unconscious in the dirt, raced onto the field and challenged the whole Cardinals team to fight him. There was a huge brawl and the police ended up escorting Bowman out of the ballpark.
MacPhail demanded that Bowman be banned from baseball for life and he also took the case to the Brooklyn District Attorney urging him to prosecute Bowman, but nothing came of either demand.
As a result, the Brooklyn Dodgers inserted protective liners into their caps as a safety precaution, but they were unpopular and that year several players suffered serious injury and hospitalization.
All players are familiar with the famous tournament of 1938 that was sponsored by the Dutch broadcasting company AVRO which is short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep (General Association of Radio Broadcasting). In another bit of ugly business, on May 21, AVRO Chairman, Willem Vogt fired all Jewish employees.
I posted about the 1940 US Championship HERE. It was the event in which the following intensely interesting game and complicated games was played. In this game, another one in which the wrong player won, the players should not be criticized too harshly for the oversights.
Weaver Adams–Albert Simonson0–1C24US Championship, New York29.04.1940Tactical Analysis 4.3 (10s)
Bishop's Opening 1.e4 e5 2.c4 Adams was an odd character...
he published opening variations that he believe were the best and then
followed them move for move, despite the advantage that gave his opponents.
One such opening was the Bishop's Opening which he advocated for years before
switching to the Vienna in 1943. f6 The Berlin Defense in black's most
popular move because it forces ahite to decide how to defend the e-Pawn. 3.d3 This, too, is the most popular reply. c6 4.f4 White transposes into a kind
of King's Gambit Declined. Better is 4.Nf3. d5 4...exf4 5.xf4 d5 6.exd5 xd5 7.f3 e6 8.d2 e7 9.e2 0-0 Katapodis,A (2050)-Lengyel,B (2258)
Budapest 2011 is equal. 5.exd5 This move, turning the game into a kind of
Falkbeer Countergambit, is the best move. Less effective is 5.fxe5 5.fxe5 xe4 6.dxe4 h4+ 5...e4 5...cxd5 6.b5+ d7 7.fxe5 xb5 8.exf6 xf6 9.c3 b4 10.d2 xc3 11.xc3 d4 12.d2 Now black should play 12...Qh4+ then
castle and he would then stand slightly better. Kristensen,K (2295)-Jorgensen,
P (2310) Taastrup DEN 1994 5...exf4 is black's best even though it helps
white develop a piece. 6.xf4 xd5 with equal chances. 6.dxe4 xe4
The only good move. 6...cxd5 7.xd5 xd5 8.xd5 xd5 9.exd5 is good for
white. 7.f3 7.e2 This move was tried in Koehler,A (1886)-Narings,N
(2263) Amsterdam 2005, but against correct play (7...cxd5) it should yield no
more than equality. cxd5 Now white needs to play 8.Nd2 with equal chances.
Instead he quickly fell into serious trouble. 8.b5+ c6 9.f3 c5 10.e3 b6 with the advantage. 7...c5 This assault on f2 looks far more
dangerous than it is! 8.bd2 f5 8...f2 favors white after 9.e2+ e7 10.xe7+ xe7 11.f1 cxd5 12.xd5 with much the better of it. 8...f2+ 9.f1 xd2+ 10.xd2 c5 11.e2+ followed by Re1 and white is practically
winning. 9.e2 Adams characteristically prefers to play for the initiative.
9.xe4 xe4 10.g5 xd5 11.e2+ e7 12.xd5 cxd5 is equal. 9.dxc6 xc6 10.xe4 xe4 11.xd8+ xd8 and white should play 12.Bd2 with equal
chances, but he must avoid 12.g5 xg2 13.xf7 d4 14.b3 f8 and black
is winning. For example... 15.g5 15.g1 e4+ wins. 15...xh1 etc. 9...cxd5 10.xe4 Well played. 10.g5 is met by 0-0 11.dxe4 dxc4 12.xc5 a5+ 13.f2 xc5+ 14.e3 with equal chances. 10...xe4 10...dxe4
is an error. 11.g5 0-0 12.xf7+ h8 13.g4 with a strong attack. 11.e3 xf3 12.gxf3 0-0 The only correct move. 12...xe3 13.xe3+ e7 14.xe7+ xe7 15.xd5 and white stands very well. 13.0-0-0 13.xc5 gives black
the advantage. e8 14.e3 dxc4 white is in an awkward situation on the
e-file. 13...d4 An inaccuracy. 13...xe3+ is also unsatisfactory
because after 14.xe3 c6 15.xd5 white has a significant advantage. 13...e8 keeps the chances equal after 14.xd5 d7 15.hd1 xe3+ 16.b1 xf4 14.c3 Very aggressive. More accurate was 14.Kb1. The text exposes his
K, but at the same time gives him active play in the center. c6 15.cxd4
d6 A tame retreat from an aggressive player! 15...xd4
remains equal. 16.xd4 xd4 17.e4 c7 18.xd4 b5 16.b1 f6 17.d5 b4
In this complicated and tricky position both sides begin making inferior moves
and the advantage seesaws. 18.hg1 18.d4 would have given white a
decisive advantage. viz... xf4 19.a3 fe8 20.g2 e5 with complications
galore although in the end with accurate play white's advantage should prove
decisive. For example... 21.xe5 xe5 22.g4 xg4 23.fxg4 a6 24.d6 f8 25.he1 xe1 26.xe1 e8 27.f1 f6 28.g5 c5 29.gxf6 e4 30.fxg7+ xg7 31.f7+ g6 32.c7 xd6 33.d5 The fireworks have fizzled out and white is
left with a decisive positional advantage in the ending. e2 34.d7 f5 35.xb7 xh2 36.xa7 18...fe8 18...f5+ equalizes. 19.d3 xd3 20.xd3 xd3+ 21.xd3 19.d4 ...and wins...or should have! f5+ 20.d3 xd5 This allows a mate in 9, but after the better 20...Qxd3+ he would
still be, theoretically at least, positionally lost, but there is still a lot
of play in the position. 20...xd3+ 21.xd3 xd3 22.xg7+ f8 23.xd3 e1+ 24.c2 e2+ 25.b3 xh2 26.g5 21.xh7+ A phantasam! 21.c4 this is a promising looking move, but it only results in equality
after f5+ 22.d3 xd3 23.xg7+ f8 24.xd3 xd3+ 25.xd3 e1+ This
position is identical to the position afetr 23...Re1+ in the note to black's
last move, but with the big difference that here whire does not have a P on d5.
21.xg7+ This forces mate. f8 22.g8+ xg8 23.g1+ f8 24.g7+ g8 25.f6+ f8 26.g8+ xg8 27.g2+ g5 28.xg5+ f8 29.g7# 21...xh7 21...h8 Perhaps this is the move Adams had reckoned on black playing. In
that case he would have had a fantastic finish. 22.xg7+ xh7 23.xd5 f5 24.g2 e1+ 25.xe1 xd5 26.d4 e5 27.xe5 g8 28.h3+ g6 29.g1+ f7 30.xf5+ e7 31.xg8 c3+ 32.bxc3 a6 33.f6+ d7 34.d8# 22.xg7+ h6
Adams resigned. There is no defense against 23...Qxa2. In fact, black has a
mate in 14. 22...h6 23.e5 xa2+ 24.c1 ac8+ 25.d2 c2+ 26.e1 xe2+ 27.xe2 xe5 28.fxe5 xb2+ 29.f1 xg7 30.e1 d3 31.e2 c1+ 32.g2 f4+ 33.g3 xe2+ 34.f2 xe5 35.g2 g1+ 36.h3 h5# 0–1
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