1929 World Series

This was the first World Series game ever played at Wrigley Field.

The 35-year-old Ehmke's first-game appearance was no sentimental move by Mack even though he was considered "over the hill", having won only seven games for the slugging A's, pitched only two complete games and worked a scant 55 innings in the regular season. Mack chose Ehmke over Grove or George Earnshaw because he thought Ehmke's pitching technique would surprise the hard-hitting Cubs, and that his sidearm delivery would make it hard for them to pick up the ball against the white-shirted "bleacher bums" of Wrigley Field. He proved his shrewd manager right, striking out 13 Cubs for a Series record that would stand until 1953. Mack had rested Howard's arm by sending him to scout the Cubs for the last few weeks of the season, with both the A's and Cubs far ahead in their respective standings.[6][7]

Attending Game 1 was 9-year-old John Paul Stevens, who would grow up to become a Supreme Court Justice. A lifelong Cub fan, Stevens later said, "And that was my first game, a tragic game for a young boy to go and see in person!"[8]

Jimmie Foxx became the first player to homer in his first two World Series games. Simmons also homered and had four RBI's. The A's now had a 2-0 lead in the series.

President Herbert Hoover attends a game at Shibe Park

Game 3 was a pitcher's duel. It also featured many tense moments. Guy Bush won this game for the Cubs only victory, holding the A's to one run despite allowing nine hits and two walks.

Sticking to his right-handed-pitchers-only policy, Mack again made a risky move in Game 4 by starting 46-year-old Jack Quinn. Unlike Ehmke, however, Quinn was no challenge to the Cubs hitters, who hit 7 runs off him before Mack pulled him in the sixth inning, setting the stage for the "Mack Attack" in the bottom of the seventh.

After Wilson's miscue on Haas's hit, an unknown fan wrote new lyrics to "My Old Kentucky Home", beginning with "The sun shone bright into poor Hack Wilson's eyes..." and ending "For we'll sing one song for the game and fighting Cubs, for the record whiffing Cubs far away."[9] After seeing his seemingly safe 8–0 lead disintegrate to a 10–8 loss after the A's record seventh and a scoreless last two innings, Cub manager Joe McCarthy was anything but jovial. When a boy came by after the game asking for a baseball, "Marse Joe" muttered, "Come back tomorrow and stand behind Wilson, and you'll be able to pick up all the balls you want!"[10] That eight-run deficit overcome by the A's on that Columbus Day in Philadelphia is still the largest in playoff history, and Mule Haas's 7th inning inside-the-park home run was the last in a World Series game for 86 years.[11][12]

Art Nehf's relief pitching appearance in this game was his last in the Major Leagues.[13]

Mack gave Ehmke his second start of the Series, but without the advantage of surprise and without the white shirts in Wrigley's bleachers he was ineffective, touched for two runs and taken out in the fourth inning. The A's rallied for their only three runs in the bottom of the ninth to come from behind for the second time in the series and win it at home, 3–2. Haas suddenly tied the game up with a two-run homer; and after a double by Al Simmons and an intentional walk to Jimmie Foxx, Bing Miller's double scored Simmons to give the A's their first World Series Championship in 16 years.[7]