IN THE NEWS: In the Labor Day afternoon game at Boston, won by the Red Sox 8–2, the Yankees outfield makes a American League-record five assists, four by Bob Meusel. Meusel, with one of the strongest arms in baseball, will lead the AL in assists in 1921 and 1922.
Walter Johnson breaks Cy Young's career strikeout mark by fanning seven Yankees to run his total to 2,287.
Browns pitcher Urban Shocker takes his first loss after winning nine in a row. Elmer Smith's two home runs pace a 10–5 Indians win in a morning game to back Guy Morton's pitching. In the afternoon game, a 12–8 St. Louis win, Smith starts off with another one. Having hit one in Detroit the day before, Smith has seven straight extra base hits in three games—a ML record—for 22 total bases (3 doubles, four home runs + two walks). Earl Sheehy, in 1926, will seven long hits in just two games—a ML record—but he will sandwich those around a sac fly.
At Los Angeles; the Angels (PCL) win a pair from Portland, 8-4, 9-3. The teams complete a 13 game series in seven days, with the Angels taking the last seven games in a row to win the series 10-3. The Angels outscore the Beavers in the series 72-36. The series started the day after the purchase of the Angels by William Wrigley, Jr.
IN THE NEWS: Catcher Wally Schang has five of the Yankees' 21 hits as the New Yorkers wallop the A's 19–3. A ML record-tying five Yankees collect two hits in the 9th inning: Schang, Mays, Miller, Peckinpaugh, and Ruth. Ruth's 2nd hit, a single, hits Peck for the 3rd out. Winning P Carl Mays gives up 13 hits to Philadelphia in winning his 16th straight over them.
IN THE NEWS: Washington's Walter Johnson gives up three hits but still faces just 27 batters in edging the Browns 1–0. Following two singles in the 4th, George Sisler's line drive is turned into a triple play. Jack Tobin singles in the 7th, but Johnson picks him off. Tobin will set a American League record this year with 179 singles, a mark that Sam Rice will top in 1925.
IN THE NEWS: Four A's pitchers help the Indians win 17–3, by contributing 16 walks. Among them is the starting pitcher Arlas Taylor, appearing in his only ML game. He fans one batter—Joe Sewell, the hardest batter to strike out in ML history.
Babe Ruth hits home run No. 55 in New York's 10–6 win over the Browns. The Yanks take game 2, 13–5.
IN THE NEWS: The Giants win their 10th in a row over the Pirates, and their 10th straight, 6–1. They will go on to finish four in front of the Pirates.
Spitballer Allen Sothoron runs his record to 12–4 as Cleveland beats Washington, 8–4. Sothoron, with his 3rd American League team this year, pitches 178 innings allowing no homers, the only post-dead ball pitcher to accomplish that. The Reds Eppa Rixey almost matches him, allowing one homer in 301 innings.
IN THE NEWS: Brown's pitcher Dixie Davis pitches both ends of the doubleheader against the Red Sox, scattering nine hits and losing the opener 2–1, then coasting to an 11–0 win in the nitecap.
Harry Heilmann is 3-for-4 against Walter Johnson, but Washington wins the game over Detroit, 5–1. Ty Cobb is so incense by the umpiring of Billy Evans that he challenges him to a fight. The two future Hall of Famers go at it with Cobb getting the best of Evans. George Hildebrand, the 2nd ump assigned to the game, reports the incident to American League prexy Ban Johnson. When Johnson fails to act, Commissioner Landis steps in and suspends Cobb, but allows him to continue as a non-playing manager.
IN THE NEWS: At the Polo Grounds, the Yankees thrash the 2nd place Indians 21–7 to move a full game ahead of the Tribe. The Yanks knock out Caldwell in the 2nd and dust Mails for 10 runs in his two innings. Carl Mays goes the distance for the win.
IN THE NEWS: Babe Ruth hits Nos. 57 and 58 plus a double and a walk to beat the Indians 8–7, and the Yankees take a two game lead. George Burns adds a triple and three singles for New York in the come-from-behind win. The Indians load the bases in the 9th inning but Steve Neill strikes out on a Carl Mays fastball in the dirt to end it.
IN THE NEWS: The Browns Urban Shocker stops the Yanks, 2–0, racking up his 5th win in nine decisions against NY this year. It is his 27th win of the year.
In the first of two at Boston, Braves C Ray Powell hits three triples, tying the ML mark, in an 8–5 win over Brooklyn. Dana Fillingim is the winner over Burleigh Grimes.
IN THE NEWS: The Bucs drop a doubleheader to the Cardinals allowing the idle Giants to clinch the National League pennant, their 7th under manager McGraw.
With New York in 1st place by one 1/2 games over Cleveland, and facing the Indians in the 4th game of the series, Miller Huggins polls his players to find out who they'd like to see start. The team elects to go with veteran Jack Quinn, but the spitballer comes up dry giving up three runs in the 1st inning before Waite Hoyt relieves. Ruth hits a 1st inning home run, adds an RBI double in the 3rd and a 2-run home run in the 5th to give the Yankees the lead. Carl Mays, who took over in the 5th, strikes out Steve O'Neill with two on in the 9th to end it 5–4. The win increases New York's lead to two 1/2 games. The four-game series at the Polo Grounds draws a record 147,000 people.
IN THE NEWS: It is Rogers Hornsby Day at Sportsman's Park, and the Cardinal star celebrates by pounding out a home run and two doubles against Pittsburgh to lead the third-place Cardinals to a 12–4 win. Hornsby will go hitless in the last two games, dropping his final average to .397 for the year, still the best in the N.L. Teammates Austin McHenry and Jack Fournier will be 2nd and 3rd in hitting in the National League.
Prior to the Braves-Giants game, the Giants Old Timers take on the Giants regulars in a 5-inning contest. Twenty thousand fans cheer as former stars, Christy Mathewson, Roger Bresnahan, George Wiltse, Art Devlin, Larry Doyle and Fred Tenney whip the current Giants, 2–0. The regular game is called because of rain after one inning, but only 4,000 fans ask for a refund.