Player notes: Muddy Ruel caught for 20 years in the American League, and was widely admired as a shrewd handler of pitchers. His best years came with the Washington Senators, where he caught the great Walter Johnson (among others) and played on the Senators' World Series teams of 1924 & 1925.

In the book My Greatest Day in Baseball (1951), Ruel called Game Seven of the 1924 World Series as his greatest day, and described scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 12th:

Miller started our 12th going out at first. I hit a high foul over the plate, and everybody said, "two outs," but Hank Gowdy, the Giants' catcher, stepped on his mask, stumbled, dropped the ball, and on the next pitch, like a sinner forgiven, a lifer pardoned, I doubled - my second hit of the whole series.

Walter hit sharp to Jackson's right and I made as if to run past Travis, then turned and scuttled back to second. Jackson fumbled the ball. Two on, one out. The fans were really giving tongue now. They couldn't believe things like this happened.

McNeely up. Ho bounced one sharply but straight to Lindstrom, who was about 12 feet from third base. Running hard, I figured all I could do on a sure out like that was to throw myself to the left, into the diamond in front of Freddie and try to get him to tag me instead of throwing to first. I saw Freddie hold his hands ready at his chest for the ball, then I saw him jump up. The ball had hit a pebble and bounced away over his head. I swerved back into the base line, tagged third and came home with the winning run. Meusel had no chance to get me. It was over. We were in!

After his 20 year career as a player was over, the soft-spoken and scholarly Ruel, who had earned a law degree while a player, became a lawyer and an expert in baseball law. He served as an assistant to Commissioner Happy Chandler, managed the St. Louis Browns in 1947, and served a number of years as a scout, coach, and general manager for various American League teams.

Ruel died in 1963 of a heart attack.