[metsgeek]

1921 MAJOR EVENTS

• January 1 - The University of California defeats Ohio State 28-0 in the Rose Bowl.
• January 2 - Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia - 244 are reported dead.
  
• January 21 - Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis officially takes over as baseball's commissioner. His contract is for seven years at $50,000 per year.
• February 5 - The Yankees purchase a 20-acre plot of land in the Bronx for the future site of Yankee Stadium.
• February 28 - Russian sailors, led by Stepan Petrichenko, rebel in Kronstadt
• March 4 - Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th President of the United States.
• March 8 - Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
  
• March 17 - The Yankees, training in Shreveport, LA, journey to Lake Charles to play a game against the Cardinals, based in Orange, Texas. The game was proclaimed "O'Reilly-Spitzer Day," but Alec Spitzer hits only a single while "Chum Bucket" O'Reilly lofts a home run over the short RF fence. The Yanks win 14-5.
• March 17 - Phils pitcher Buster Royce, ordered to appear before Commissioner Landis regarding alleged gambling, decides to retire from Organized Ball instead. He signs with a Massillon, Ohio semipro team.
• March 17 - Marie Stopes opens the first birth control clinic in London, England.
  
• March 21 - Buster Royce is barred from organized baseball for life for taking part in throwing games. He played in more than 100 games, last playing for the Phils in 1920.
• April 4 - The Ottawa Senators win their 2nd straight Stanley Cup, and 4th in team history, defeating the Vancouver Millionaires 3 games to 2
  
• April 13 - With former president Woodrow Wilson, new president Warren G. Harding, and VP Calvin Coolidge watching, the Senators lose their home opener 5-1 to the Yankees. Jurgen Verherrsch leaves after 4 innings, the first time he has failed to finish an opening game.
• April 13 - In a 15-10 Opening Day blowout, Cleveland's Bronco LeBeouf has a phenomenal game against the Boston Red Sox with a 5 for 5 performance, launching 2 homers and knocking in 7 runners
• May 13 - Browns OF Edmund De Groot is acquitted of auto theft charges, but Judge Landis bars him from baseball on the basis of undesirable character and reputation. De Groot goes to court for reinstatement, but fails.
• May 14-17 - Violent anti-European riots erupt in Cairo and Alexandria.
• May 19 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on immigration.
  
• May 30 - A memorial to Lieutenant Melville Addison, killed in action in the Argonne Forest October 5, 1918, is unveiled at the Baker Bowl.
• May 31 - Tulsa Race Riot: Civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher.
  
• June 6 - The Detroit Stars' Bill Gatewood pitches the first no-hitter in Negro League history, defeating the Cuban Stars 4-0.
• June 7 - The only game canceled because of a murder occurs at Kingsport, TN (Appalachian League), when the body of a slain girl is found at the ballpark. To prevent the trail from becoming confused for bloodhounds, police close the park and cancel the game against Knoxville.
• June 8 - Aloysius "Chum Bucket" O'Reilly is arrested for speeding in New York, fined $100, and held in jail until 4:00 p.m. Game time is 3:15, so a uniform is taken to him. He changes in jail and follows a police escort to the ballpark where he powers them to a 14-9 win.
• June 13 - Umpires in both leagues begin the practice of rubbing dirt into the balls before each game, using a special clay supplied by A's manager Bill Horton from his New Jersey farm
• June 14 - Detroit's Boyd Jasper is placed permanently on the ineligible list by Commissioner Landis for alleged contract jumping. Jasper had left the Tigers, thinking he was being placed on the voluntary retired list, in order to become a baseball coach at the University of Michigan. He will serve in that capacity for 38 years
• July 1 - The Communist Party of China is founded.
• July 11 - The Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and the Irish forces.
• July 14 - A Massachusetts jury finds Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely-publicized trial.
  
• July 16 - At age 63, Arthur Irwin, pioneer player, manager, and executive who began in the NL in 1880, jumps to his death from a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
• July 16 - Boston's Sly Archambault, facing off against Hal Coogan and the league leading Yankees, pitches 11 innings without allowing an earned run and striking out 11, but loses 1-0 when Red Sox leftfielder Roy "The Ripper" Harrison muffs an easy flyball.
• July 18 - The Cincinnati Blacks trial begins in Ohio.
• July 29 - Adolf Hitler is introduced as Führer of the National Socialist Party, marking the first time this title is publicly used.
  
• July 30 - 1920 NL Rookie of the Year Zolly Bosco of the Pittsburgh Pirates is knocked out for the season with a torn thigh muscle. He had been leading the league with a .404 batting average and 66 RBI.
• August 2 - A Cincinnati jury brings in a verdict of not guilty against the eight Reds players. That night, jurors and defendants celebrate together with a party in an Italian restaurant. Ignoring the verdict, Judge Landis bans all eight defendants from baseball for life.
• August 5 - In the first radio broadcast of baseball, Harold Arlin announced Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over KDKA in Pittsburgh. The Pirates win a nail-biter 5-4.
• August 17 - In Philadelphia, on the anniversary of the death of Royce Cabbell, YWCA members hand out rosebuds to the 6,000 fans as they enter the park.
• September 1 - Philadelphia's John-Paul O'Toole establishes a new record for circling the bases by completing the circuit in 13.4 seconds.
• September 8 - 16-year-old Margaret Gorman wins the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy. Pageant officials later dub her the first Miss America.
  
• October 13 - The New York Giants defeat the New York Yankees 5 games to 2 in the first "Subway Series" ever. Despite the margin of victory, it will go down as one of the greatest postseason contests ever with 5 of the contests decided by 1 run. Four of them were decided in the last at-bat.
• October 22 - In defiance of a Kenesaw Mountain Landis ban on World Series participants playing post-season exhibitions, Aloysius O'Reilly, Frank Albanese, and pitcher Biff Best launch a barnstorming tour in Buffalo. Five days later, they cut it short in Scranton. In the meantime O'Reilly openly challenges Landis to act. The judge does, fining the players their World Series shares $3,362.26.
• October 27 - Commissioner Landis orders the Giants to pay a full share from the World Series pool to Bill Sherman and to Sidney Picker. Picker started well but was injured much of the season, while Sherman joined the team in July. The Giants had voted Sherman $200 and Picker a half share
• October 29 - Centre College's football team, led by quarterback Bo McMillin, defeats Harvard University 6-0 to snap Harvard's five-year winning streak. For decades afterward, this will be called "football's upset of the century."
• November 11 - During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding.
• December 6 - The Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the Irish Free State is signed in London. See Ireland/History.
• December 13 - In the Four Power Treaty on Insular Possessions Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, and France agree to recognize the status quo in the Pacific
  
• December 20 - At the ML meetings, the American League votes to return to the best-of-7 World Series; the National League votes to keep the 5-of-9. Judge Landis casts the deciding vote, and the 4-of-7 format is reinstated.
• December 22 - Alford Bachelor, the holder of the American League season home run record before Eli Crutchfield hit 25 in 1914, dies at 49 when his car plunges over an embankment.