Duck Eye’s Debut

The 1927 “Murderer’s Row” Yankees are still considered by many to be the most dominant team in major league history. So when one looks at the Pintstripes’ roster from the season before – and sees that many of the players are the same – it might be natural to wonder how they didn’t win the World Series that year, too.

That Yankees team came close, of course. The 1926 Fall Classic contained several memorable moments from future Hall of Famers. There was Cardinals’ knuckleballer Jesse Haines’ masterful two victories, in which he allowed just two total runs to the Yanks’ potent lineup. Jim Bottomley and Rogers Hornsby combined for nine RBI. Thirty-nine-year old Grover Cleveland Alexander struck out Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in Game 7, and Babe Ruth was caught stealing to seal the series for St. Louis.

Though he pitched just five seasons in the big leagues, Thomas’ arrival in 1925 was received with fanfare. On Dec. 17 of that year, The New York Times wrote, “Good news for Yankees fans. Miller Huggins announced yesterday the purchase of one of the best minor league pitchers in the country, a young man named Myles Thomas.”

The prospect won over 60 games in the minors, prompting a bidding war between the Yankees and Detroit Tigers owner Frank Navin. The Times reported, “Colonel Jacob Ruppert removed several layers from his bank roll to get this lad.” Huggins reportedly saw Thomas try out back in 1921 and passed on signing him, however, leading The Times to opine, “That sniff may have cost the Yanks a large sum of gold.”

Thomas didn’t play in the Bronx Bombers’ 1927 and 1928 World Series triumphs, but he earned himself two rings for contributing to the team’s regular season successes. After his release from the Washington Senators in 1930, he put together an 18-6 season for the minor league Newark Bears and later coached for the Toledo Mud Hens. Myles Thomas passed away in Toledo, but his memory and that of the other participants in the classic ’26 Series are preserved in Upstate New York.