A Baseball Story: Chapter 4: The Cubs Set the Standard

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As America steamrolled through the 20th century, the country became immersed in the ideals of modernization and progressive reform. In the 19th century, as America became more and more industrialized, and cities grew well beyond their means, there was an increase in wealth and opportunity; but also increased poverty, and hazardous means of living. Whereas prior to the 20th century, when America was a predominantly rural, agricultural based society, the 20th century became all about urban life. The real America, lies in its cities. 

Where New York, Boston, and Philadelphia had been the predominant cities of the country since its colonial days, America had grown even beyond what those megaplexes could handle. As America grew, west it went, forming new large cities, like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, and the grandest of all, Chicago. Up until the 1950s, there was no major league baseball on the west coast, and for the cities of St. Louis and Chicago, they were the west. But Chicago was the biggest of them all, rivaling the industrial growth of New York and Pittsburgh, as well ushering in the new waves of immigrantion like New York and Boston did. Chicago was booming, and both leagues knew a successful club in Chicago could bring about great financial success to their respective organizations. After the Giants won the 1905 World Series, New York became the center of the baseball world, attracting more and more fans, at record numbers. Success in a major American city, would lead to the sustained health of the sport. Whereas New York would become the heart of the baseball world, Chicago became the backbone that would stabilize the sport, by bringing the game to the far reaches of the country. 

Which is why you find Cubs fans especially, in places like Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, the Dakotas and White Sox fans, while in smaller numbers, in similar places. While those states, and many others like it, did not have the urban settings needed to produce their own major league club, they would attach their fandom to what the closest team they could read about in the papers, or years later, listen to constantly on the radio. While fans of the New York clubs were in the millions, in tight packed communities in the Boroughs of New York, Chicago clubs could boast the same numbers spread out over thousands of miles.  

Success in Chicago is what both leagues coveted, so when 1906 approached, both Chicago clubs (the Cubs and White Sox) had reasons to be optimistic about their future. One could even argue that after the success of the Giants in 1905, and the thousands of fans that poured into the stadium for the World Series, that both the Cubs and the White Sox, if they were to ever make one of their own, would have similar or even more success. In 1906 however, no one could have imagined that both of them would have been there at the same time. 

Sometimes, things just click when we least expect it. Every team has talent, from one extent to another, but when all of the talent is able to peak at the same time, and at the right time, it makes for something special. That was the Cubs, starting in 1906. While the Giants were running things in the National League for the past two seasons, and the Pirates before them, the Cubs were quietly climbing up the standings each season. In 1906 the Pirates, while still talented, had never quite recovered from the heartbreak of the 1903 World Series. However, the Giants, while boasting the game’s best pitcher in Christy Mathewson, and the best manager in John McGraw, and with the full support of New York behind them, after their magical run in 1905, the Giants could never seem to figure out how to beat the Cubs. Because in 1906, everything came together for the North-siders. 

Rise of the Cubs

In the 1880s, when the Cubs were called the White Stockings, and these Chicago White Sox were the pinnacle of excellence in the sport. It all started with their star pitcher turned business tycoon Albert Spaulding and then it was amplified by his successor Cap Anson. During those years Chicago had great players, and great teams that embedded a passion for baseball in the midwest. But during those tumultuous years of players jumping leagues, and the National League’s financial constraints of the 1890s, Chicago went from the best in the bigs, to the lowest of lows (Now that’s by 19th century standards, not even they could imagine how bad it would get for the Cubs post 1908). In 1901, Chicago hit one of those lows, but not as the Cubs, but as the Orphans (as they were called), a fitting name for a franchise looking for better days. The Orphans went 53-86, good enough for sixth place in the National League, and far away from their glory days of the 1880s. 

The next season, the Orphans debuted three new players, playing together for the first time. They showed promise, but they would become part of the bedrock of a dynasty, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Franck Chance, and the well known double play combinations in the history of the sport, Tinkers to Evers to Chance. While the trio never broke any records for turning double plays, the saying, Tinkers to Evers to Chance represented more the consistency and efficiency that all three players were known for. Frank Chance, by far the best of the three, became the manager of the Cubs in the 1905 season, and while the Cubs finished in third place that season, they were coming off back to back 90 win campaigns. But the biggest part of their success rested on the shoulder of their ace, Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown. 

Mordeaci “Three Finger'' Brown, who was given that nickname after a couple of horrific accidents, one involving a primitive weed eater/lawn mower, that left his right hand severely maimed and disfigured. While most would look at it as an unfortunate accident, the injuries gave Brown a unique ability to grip the baseball, and put some extra spin on his pitches. Most notably his sinker which would induce countless double plays in the Tinkers to Evers to Chance interactions. Since joining Chicago in 1904, Brown would put together a seven year stretch where only once his ERA would creep above 2.00. He walked a few batters, made tons of relief appearances but became primarily known as the Cubs ace, an ace who could go head to head with any great, including Christy Mathewson. 

Entering the 1906 season, the Cubs were a rising stock, but it was the 1906 season that made them truly elite. 

The 1906 season saw the Cubs win a record, 116 games, twenty games more than the second place Giants. They had a run differential of 2.1, they were a staggering 85-24 against teams with a .500 record or better, and they lead the league in runs scored and runs allowed. The Cubs were also the first modern team to commit fewer than 200 errors in a season (and considering the ‘fielding technology’ available during these times, it was possibly the greatest feat at that point in baseball history. Even more than the 116 wins). There was just no apparent weakness at all in the Cubs team of 06’, and since they operated in the ‘superior’ National League, and had discarded the back to back champs in the Giants, there was no reason to believe any team in the American League could come close to their excellence. Whether it was Cy Young’s Red Sox, or Connie Mack’s A’s, none seemed to compare to the juggernaut the Cubs had turned into. But it wouldn’t be the Red Sox nor the A’s in 06’ who would stand toe to toe with the Cubs, it was another team, who was nowhere near as highly regarded. Instead it would be the second hottest team in baseball, who shocked the world, and they did it, right in the Cubs backyard. 

Commie’s ChiSox

Ever since the inauguration of the American League, Charles Comiskey and league president Ban Johnson were a duo consumed with the success of their new league. Especially in its earlier years, there was no guarantee that despite; the players they were able to covet, and the cities that provided the setting, that the American League would not suffer the same fate as previous ‘major leagues’. During the 1880s the American Association had its years in the sun, including Charles Comiskey’s St. Louis Browns that not only won four titles in the American Association but also won a ‘world series’ type contest against the National League’s Chicago White Stockings managed by Cap Anson. But despite the success of Comiskey’s clubs, the American Association, as previously discussed in the first episode, could not be sustained. 

So despite the rousing success of the first World Series in 1903, the league surviving McGraw’s protest in 1904, and then McGraw’s lashing in the 1905 World Series, the road to longevity for the American League still looked somewhat hazardous. When the 1906 World Series matchup was set, the National League boasting quite possibly the best team ever assembled, it was important that whomever represented the American League could, at the very least, make it somewhat of a contest. On July 1st it appeared that the AL’s defending champs, the Philadelphia A’s were in route to a second consecutive World Series appearance. While July 1st is a long way off from postseason play, it was fathomable based on the standings and the pedigree of the A’s, that Philadelphia would return. However, on July 1st, the team that would end up fighting off the A’s and go on a torrid run towards the pennant was barely a game above .500 on that day. Nevertheless, the Chicago White Sox would go on a run of historic proportions, and set up the first inner-city World Series matchup in baseball history.

 The Turnaround in 1906 

At the beginning of August, Chicago was slowly moving up the standings after their mediocre start to the season. But when you looked at the White Sox roster, there was little to suggest that this team could of taken off, like a supernova. 

On paper, the White Sox looked far from a World Series caliber team. They batted only .230 as a club for the season, their best hitter was second baseman Frank Isbell, who had the highest batting average (.279). Their eldest player in the starting nine, shortstop George Davis led the team with 80 RBIs and the next closest on the team was Isbell and first baseman Jiggs Donahue with just 57. While it was ironic the three biggest threats on the White Sox was their own double play trio, it paled in comparison to the Cubs. Plus, Davis to Isbell to Donahue, just doesn’t have the same ring to it. 

On the pitching side, the White Sox did have a couple of aces in the hole. The White Sox had 8 pitchers who made appearances in the 1906 season but their best four were all approaching their prime in Frank Owen, Nick Altrock, Doc White and future hall of famer and at just 25 years of age, Ed Walsh. Altrock and White were their southpaws in the rotation, and the White Sox ability to go right-left-right-left was a significant advantage that baffled lineups throughout the season. While Walsh would go down to be the best of this ‘fantastic four’ it was believed that the Cubs Mordecai Brown, was the superior pitcher in the World Series matchup. But the White Sox had serious depth with their pitching that gave them a puncher's chance in the matchup. If the White Sox pitching could duplicate the same success in the World Series, perhaps it wouldn’t be the bloodbath it was supposed to be. 

But while Comiskey did not have a crew that would headline any kind of All-Star affair, he had built a team that knew how to win. From 1904-1905, the White Sox averaged 90 wins as a club, and even though Boston and Philadelphia appeared to be in a class of their own, the White Sox were always in the mix. But that was the way ‘Commie’ liked it. Without having any stars, or ‘high priced’ talent, he didn’t have to worry about paying someone their worth. By the time Comiskey became the owner of the White Sox, his manager/playing days were long gone. Comiskey’s priority was two fold, build a winner in Chicago to the benefit of American League and to make a profit. The ability to win but keep salaries down is something Comiskey would master, and because of that, he was the face of the franchise, the way Wagner was for the Pirates, McGraw/Mathewson was for the Giants and so on. Connie Mack was the closest comparison being a part owner and manager of the Athletics but at least he had a large impact on the outcome of the game, and the production of the team. Comiskey was a tycoon, a shrewd businessman, who became the face of a franchise without having to step foot in the dugout. Owners have become some of the greatest characters to the story of baseball. We know all about Charlie Finley and of course George Steinbrenner. But long before them, there was Commie and his White Sox. This begins the story of Comiskey, the White Sox, and the up and coming anticlimax that nearly destroyed the sport. But that is a story for another time...

The White Sox slow start in 1906 seemed to be an anomaly, but when August rolled around, the White Sox took off. They began a 19-game winning streak that vaulted them to the top of the standings. A slight fall back in September and a 15-game winning streak by the New York Highlanders, nonetheless, could not deter the White Sox, and their 93 wins was good enough to win the pennant. 

The 1906 World Series

After the first four games of the series proved to be a back and forth affair, with the White Sox and Cubs alternating wins (White Sox won games 1 and 3 and the Cubs won games 2 and 4) it came down to a best of three between the two Chicago clubs. Up until game 5, it had been, what many had already predicted, all about the pitching. Nick Altrock pitched a complete game in Game 1 holding the Cubs to 1 run on 4 hits. In Game 2, the Cubs bats came to life as they put a 7 spot behind Ed Reulbach’s complete game 1 hit-shutout to even the series. In Game 3, Ed Walsh took his turn to demonstrate his dominance on the mound by twirling a 3 hit shutout and in Game 4, Mordeaci Brown one upped the White Sox ace by throwing two hit shut-out to even the series yet again. 

So after the first four games, one would assume, it would come down to who's pitching could be the closest to perfection. In three of the four games a starter from either team flirted with a no-hitter, and it seemed the only way either team was going to put up any offensive flurry, it would have to be because of a complete lapse on defense by the opposing team. 

But then again, we are reminded of the beauty of postseason baseball, sometimes what should happen, or at the very least, what we expect to happen, doesn’t happen. And what was once a pitchers duel series, turned into a run scoring frenzy that even more unpredictably, went in favor of the White Sox. 

Game 5 was the craziest of the series. After the White Sox took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first off of Ed Reulbach (who was untouchable in Game 2), the White Sox completely fell apart in the bottom of the first. The Cubs put up 3 runs off of Ed Walsh, 2 off of an error, the first of six errors the White Sox would make behind their ace that day, and the Cubs took a 3-1 lead. But then the White Sox started to pound Reulbach and Pfiester who replaced him in the 3rd after back to back doubles to make 3-2. The White Sox got George Davis to 3rd and Patsy Doughtery on first, when manager Fielder Jones called for a double steal with two outs, both runners, including Davis slid in safely and the game was tied at 3. From that point on it was all White Sox, they added four more in the fourth, and one more in the 6th, and despite the Cubs chipping away at Walsh, they just were not going to post the same numbers against him. The White Sox won 8-6, despite committing 6 errors to take the lead in the series 3-2. 

In Game 6, with Mordeaci Brown taking the hill for the Cubs, the Cubs must have felt confident that their own ace would force a Game 7. Brown had been brilliant in the series, like he was all year long, and if the White Sox were going to kick the ball around the infield like they did in Game 5, it was almost a certainty that Game 7 would take place. The White Sox did commit 3 errors that day, and the Cubs once again were flawless in the field, but the White Sox jumped all over Brown. Brown didn’t last a full two innings, as he gave up 8 hits, and 7 earned runs. The 7 run cushion was more than enough for Doc White (who gave up 3 runs of his own) and the White Sox went on to win the 3rd ever World Series, making it one of the greatest World Series upsets in baseball history. 

1907-1908 Seasons 

In 1907, the Chicago Cubs had one thing on their collective minds, redemption. And while I tell a lot of stories, about a lot of various developments of baseball history, this one I can keep short and sweet. In 1907, the Cubs won 107 games, good enough for a 17 game cushion over the second place Pittsburgh Pirates, then went on to sweep the upstart Detroit Tigers in the World Series for their first ever World Series title. There is plenty to discuss such as the Cubs winning their first title and the debut of Ty Cobb and his first World Series appearance, but it's what would take place in the 1908 season that truly captivated the entire country. 

1908 would become one of the most compelling baseball seasons in the history of the game. Six teams would be vying for their respective pennants. In the National League you had the three stalwarts of the 20th century thus far, the Cubs, Giants and the Pirates being separated by just one game by season’s end. In the American League, there were the defending champs, the Detroit Tigers, the Cleveland Indians led by Nap Lajoie and the Chicago White Sox. While it wasn’t as close as the NL race, the victor won by just a half game, while the third place team finished 2 ½ back. It was baseball’s first true great pennant race. Possibly the greatest.

Even with the absence of Boston and Philadelphia (the Phillies were the only team out of the four between them, the Athletics, the Red Sox and the Boston Braves to finish above .500), baseball had every major market invested in this race. New York and Chicago were key, the Giants were right back in the thick of things, breaking attendance records throughout the summer. Chicago was once again the place to be in the summer of 1908, because no matter who was in town, the race was a day by day affair (The White Sox actually outdrew the Cubs). 

Pittsburgh, who had been the best team in the National League the first few seasons of the decade, was back in an intense pennant race, however their ticket sales did not show it . Pittsburgh was not like other cities because many patrons of the city were still deeply affected by the economic panic of 1907. Whereas the other cities recovered quickly from the economic downturn, at least in terms of attending ball games, Pittsburgh did not, and sometimes could only draw a couple of thousand fans, even when the Giants or Cubs were in town. But they were a big draw in opposing parks, thanks to Honus Wagner who would receive a standing ovation in the heart of the pennant race in New York, of all places. Chicago, New York and Pittsburgh were all veterans of the baseball fever, but two new cities would enter the fray. 

Cleveland, a fast developing industrious city, and it was known as the “Sixth City” for having the sixth highest population in the country. It’s position on Lake Erie and the Cayuga River allowed it to become a hot spot for trade in the 18th and 19th centuries and a major hub for both immigrants and African Americans migrating from the south in the 20th century. In 1890, Cleveland had a population of just over 260,000 people, by 1920, it was over 900,000. In the summer of 1908, Cleveland would become a baseball destination as well. Nap Lajoie being not only the biggest baseball star in the city, but the biggest celebrity. Afterall, in 1908, Cleveland was still called the Naps after their star/manager and even though Lajoie hit a slightly above average of .289, the Naps battled until the bitter end (mostly due to their towering ace, 6’3’’ Addie Joss who had a 1.16 ERA in 1908).

Detroit, popped onto the scene a year earlier in 1907 taking the AL pennant by narrowly beating out the Athletics by game and a half. However their inexperience was on display against the Cubs, and they were swept in four short games. But Detroit also became an epicenter for baseball fever two years before Henry Ford would develop the assembly line. But even before the industrial explosion that would take place in the city, Detroit was already a manufacturing hub that attracted thousands of immigrants and African Americans to the most northern point on the baseball map. Where industry would attract thousands, and soon to be millions of people to the city, it would be one player who attracts thousands upon thousands. But he wouldn’t be a hero, or even someone to admire. He would become the most accomplished baseball player in history. Yes, in all history, on and off the field. He became baseball’s first millionaire, and he would break hundreds of records. He would also become the most hated player on the diamond, he was a incredibly vocal, hostile, and racist, he was verbally and violently abusive to all around him, including his family, he would even be wanted for assault, and attempted murder. He was baseball’s demon, he was Ty Cobb.

The 1908 American League Race

The American League race was far different from the N.L. because as the Giants, Cubs and Pirates were stalwarts of the National League, the Tigers albeit the defending champs from the previous season were far from a staple organization, the White Sox miracle run in 1906 were good but not elite, and the Cleveland club while having one of the game’s best players in Lajoie never finished above 3rd place in the standings. But Cleveland had their own magical ride in 1908 that made the race for the pennant even more intriguing. 

Entering June, the Naps were only a game above .500, but in June, things began to click, and after going 8-1 against the White Sox and Tigers, the Naps found themselves 11 games above .500 and right in the middle of the race. The White Sox were also struggling when they entered June as they were two games below .500 entering the month, but then won 15 out of 17 until losing seven straight against the Tigers and Naps. The Tigers got off to their own slow start going just 3-9 in April, but once the weather started warming in May the Tigers became the hottest team in the American League. When they ended June they were 34-29, and despite being in third place the Tigers were on the verge of repeating as American League Champs. Every year a baseball season provides a team or two that start off slow then erupts and is immediately vaulted into contention. In 1908, we had three, in one league, that all popped, virtually at the same time. 

The National League Race 

In 1906 and 1907, the Chicago Cubs were far and beyond the best team in the National League, and would go on to prove they were the best in the world in the 1907 World Series. But in just NL comparisons, there were no comparisons. As great as the 1905 Giants were, and make no mistake, they had good teams in 1906 and 1907, they never finished within 20 games of the Cubs in the final standings. The Cubs just had their way with the Giants, much of it due to the fact that Mordecai Brown owned the Giants. At the close of the 1905 season, the Giants were on top of the world, for two years, the Giants were untouchable, and their own ace, Christy Mathewson was nearly un-hittable. But in 1906, that all changed, and no matter how many tricks John McGraw had up his sleeve, or how brilliant Mathewson was, the Cubs had their number. From 1906-1907, the Cubs were an incredible 33-14 against the Giants, and Brown was an even more impressive 10-2 against the Giants. If New York was going to have any chance at all of at least competing with the Giants, they had to figure out Brown.

But heading into their first matchup of the 1908 season, the Giants had a lot to figure out, period. They were 14-15 when they travelled to Chicago on Sunday, May 25th, and based on how they had played the Cubs in the past two seasons, one bad four game stretch against the defending champs could have ended the Giants season early. But the Giants won 3 out of 4, losing of course to Mordeaci Brown naturally, but winning the three games went a long way in showing McGraw’s club that on any given day, they were just as good as the Cubs in 1908. When the Cubs came into town a month later, the Giants were only 26-23, but once again they took 3 out of 4, which featured a 3 hit shutout by Christy Mathewson on Saturday’s sold out affair.In 06 & 07’ the Cubs were a superior team, but in 1908 things were different, and it was going to be a tight race to the bitter end. 

And then, there were the Pirates, who after the 1903 World Series debacle, had never regained their moxy. But in 1908 they were once again in the thick of things. But the Pirates have a hard time finding consistency both on the field and in the stands. The economic crisis in 1907 hit some baseball cities harder than others. As the White Sox would go on to set attendance records, even more than the defending champs and cross-town rival Cubs, cities like Pittsburgh and Detroit, another contender, have a hard time bringing fans in. While there are a myriad of reasons why it happened in those two cities, the economy being the driving force behind it all, the Pirates and the Tigers stayed in one of the greatest pennant races in history, while only bringing in about 2-3,000 fans per game. 

It was a neck and neck race in both the American and National League all season, with one of the six teams getting hot at different times throughout. When one would lose 3 straight, another would win 3 straight, and so on and so forth until the end of September. But what was remarkable about the race, was not just the number of teams that were vying for a place in the World Series, but the players who were propelling them to get there. 

This era has been characterized as the ‘Deadball Era’ and rightfully so. Throughout the decade hitting was a luxury that not all teams had. The ‘batting race’ became an interesting subplot to every season, much like the ‘home run race’ would become in the 1960s with Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth’s record, then again in the 1990s and early 2000s with McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds following suit. In the Deadball Era, fans would closely follow, who was the leader for the highest batting average very closely. Whomever had the highest batting average, would be deemed the best hitter, and could also be used to argue who the most valuable player was (the MVP award did not debut until 1911). In 1908, Honus Wagner had the highest batting average in all of baseball with a .354 batting average, which is outstanding no matter what era you are in, but it is an even greater feat considering the era Wagner played in. Cobb won the batting race in 1908 (.324), his first batting race title of his career as he would go on to win 11 more (a record still to this day) throughout his career, and it was a title Cobb took very seriously. But Wagner and Cobb were 2 of only 9 players who would hit above .300 in 1908. The league batting average was way below .250, which by modern standards may not be as big of a deal, but with the rarity of the home run in the day, (Tim Jordan of Brooklyn led the league with 12, Wagner was second with 10), offense was hard to come by. 

Pitchers dominated, and dominated often. Which is why in 1908, the contenders boasted the best pitchers in the league, and for a while, the best pitchers of all-time. 

Cleveland was named after their superstar Nap Lajoie, who many would have figured that if the Naps were going to be contending for the AL Crown, Lajoie would have been the primary reason for it. But that was not the case in 1908. Lajoie hit a career low .289, which was still for the time, a more than respectable average, it just was not his typical year of greatness, for a guy who would have a career .338 batting average. Lajoie struggled throughout the year, primarily because his managerial responsibilities were becoming too much for him. His split focus caused him to struggle at the plate, although he remained to be one of the Naps offensive threats (George Stovall, the Naps first base man, hit .292, the next highest on the team was .243). 

Cleveland's best player in 1908 wasn’t Nap or Stovall, instead it was their young fireballer 28 year-old, Addie Joss. Addie Joss, was one of the game’s hardest throwers. While other pitchers relied on deception, like Mathewson with his screwball, Brown with his sinker and Ed Walsh with every illegal pitch imaginable, that is by today’s standards, Joss relied on the heat. He was one of the game’s first ever power pitchers. In fact, there was only one other pitcher in all of baseball who could match Addie’s velocity, but he played on one of the worst teams in the American League. That guy was also just a second year player, and despite having an ERA below 2.00 in his first two big league seasons, he never really factored much into the pennant race, or any pennant race for the next 15+ seasons, despite reports that he could throw over 100 mph. That guy was Walter Johnson. But I will get into his story another time…

Addie Joss would go on to have one of the greatest seasons in baseball history. He would win 24 games, have an ERA of 1.16, and strike out 130 batters. Joss was un-hittable that year in Cleveland, and with the Naps being able to match any ace that came their way, Addie gave them a chance to secure their spot in the World Series. 

In Chicago, it was all about their pitching, and that started with Ed Walsh once again. In 1908, Walsh won 40 games, had a 1.42 ERA, struck out 269 and for the second straight year he pitched in over 400 innings (469, a personal best). Walsh was the horse the White Sox would ride to the very end, but would they be able to generate enough offense to support Walsh? Outfielder Patsy Dougherty would be their best hitter, hitting a mere .278, so if Chicago was going to get back to the World Series, it would be on the back of Ed Walsh. 

The Addie Joss-Ed Walsh Duel, Friday October 2nd 

And with that the best day of the American League race of 1908 came on a Friday, October 2nd in Cleveland. Cleveland had a one game lead over the White Sox and Tigers, but on this day, Chicago trotted out Ed Walsh and the Indians would match them with Addie Joss. It would become known as the greatest pitching contest of the generation as both hall of farmers would baffle batter after batter in a title battle. 

Ed Walsh threw a nine-inning beauty, striking out 15 and holding the Naps to one run. Addie Joss was just a little bit better, he went on to pitch a perfect game. The Naps won one to nothing. In a normal season, a win like that, in such a closely contested race could have and should have catapulted the Naps to the Pennant. But this was no ordinary season, and while the pennant would not be in the cards for Cleveland this day offered a nice secondary prize. 

Cleveland would unfortunately lose on another thriller, this time going in the ChiSox favor with Ed Walsh, coming in from relief to strikeout Nap Lajoie to end it. But even though it is the last week, Cleveland remains in the hunt, as they are scheduled to take on the St. Louis Browns and Chicago were scheduled to play Detroit. If the Naps sweep the Browns and Chicago wins 2 of three against Detroit, Cleveland goes to the pennant. If the Tigers win two games, they are in, and if Chicago sweeps Detroit and Cleveland loses two, the White Sox are back in the World Series. 

Let’s deal with Cleveland first. After all, I did already say they would not win the pennant in 1908, but the way it ended was not without a little irony. On October 4th they started their three game set with the Browns, who had a good year by Browns standards but because of how well the Tigers, Naps and White Sox played in 08’ they never sniffed the pennant. But they had two pitchers who kept them competitive throughout the year, Bill Dinneen, the former hero from the 1903 World Series, along with Cy Young, who pitched every game from Game 3 on to give the Americans the first ever World Series title and the incomparable Rube Waddell. Dineen joined the Browns mid year in 1907 as the Red Sox were in the middle of a rebuild, and no longer needed his services. Dineen enjoyed his last great year in St. Louis in 1908, going 14-7 with a 2.10 ERA. Waddell also had one of his final great years winning 19 games with a sub 2 ERA. But Waddell was not exactly reliable throughout the 1908 season, one game in Boston he had to skip out on because several warrants were waiting for him from several of his ex-wives. In the first game of the series, the game was tied at 3-3 heading into the ninth inning, with the winning run at third base, the Naps believed left fielder Bill Hinchman beat out the throw at first, but he was called out and the game ended in a tie due to darkness. The next day the two teams played in a makeup game and the Naps could not figure out Dineen who showed the same brilliance he did in the 1903 World Series. The Browns won, and the Naps season was over. 

When the White Sox and Tigers square off, it ultimately is for the AL Pennant. Detroit had been one of the hottest teams in the American League since August. Large in part due to Ty Cobb who hit ‘only’ .324 but led the league in RBIs, triples, doubles, slugging percentage, hits, stolen bases and total bases. The Tigers lost just 6 games in the entire month of July, and despite a 6 game losing streak at the end of August and another 4 game skid in the middle of September, the Tigers went on a ten game winning streak prior to their matchup against the White Sox. With Cleveland’s loss to St. Louis, the Tigers just have to win one game and the pennant is theirs. 

But this is the White Sox, and this is Ed Walsh in front of the home crowd, winning one game in this environment is as tough as winning 10 in a row. 

As September rolled around, like the American League, the National League came down to three teams; the Giants, the Cubs, and the Pirates. 

Merkle Game & The Wild Card 

When the Cubs come to New York on September 22nd, they are trailing the rival Giants by two and a half games. The Giants had been on a tear since August, and by mid-September many New York publications were beginning their preparations for postseason baseball all but writing off the Pirates, and the Cubs as well. But on the 22nd, the Cubs and Giants are playing a doubleheader and then one game on the 23rd. The Giants just have to win one of those games to hang onto the NL Pennant and return to the World Series.

But the doubleheader does not go as planned. They got swept on the 22nd as the Cubs rode the three fingers of Brown as he won one game and recorded a save in the other. Once again, bringing the Giants lead to just ½ game over the Cubs. The 23rd could decide it. The 23rd of September, 1908 will become known as the Merkle game. 

Fred Merkle arrived with the Giants at the end of the 1907 season but it was his play during Spring Training in 1908 that solidified his spot on the team (another player who showed up to Spring Training at the Giants site in Texas, was a native Texan, who tried to ‘walk on’ to the Giants, he pleaded with McGraw that he could help the team win, but the Giants were very talented and McGraw had to tell the kid ‘sorry, I don’t have a place for ya’ and sent the kid home. That kid was Tris Speaker. We will learn more about him later, and his revenge on McGraw). Merkle only played 38 games that season, but it would be his play in this game that would make him notorious, and one of the most stellar footnotes in baseball history. 

But before we dive into the game there are some important things to know. First off, Merkle was a good player. Merkle played 16 seasons in the big leagues, with a very respectable .273 batting average. He had over 1500 hits, almost 300 career doubles, and was an adequate first base man. Truth be told if it wasn’t for September 23rd, Merkle would of been relatively unknown even by the most hardcore of baseball historians. But it was because of September 23rd that he will be remembered forever. 

The morning of September 23rd, the Giants' everyday first baseman, 37-year old Fred Tenney woke up with terrible back pains, and could hardly drag himself out of bed. It was a huge loss for the Giants, as Tenney, while not a huge threat with the bat (hit .256 that season) he was one of the most reliable Giants as he played in 156 games that year. But not for this game on September 23rd. So Merkle filled the spot of Tenney and while he did not have the same experience or reliability (particularly in the field) the Giants felt confident he could soften the blow. It doesn’t take long for Mekle presence to be felt, in the top of the first, Joe Tinker is facing Christy Mathewson (who he bats .400 against Matty during his career) and Tinker hits a screaming line drive to Merkle who made a spectacular catch to retire the Matty Killer. Merkle’s first moment of the game is a good one. 

The game enters the 9th inning all tied at 1-1. Christy Mathewson has been, well Christy Mathewson and his opposing battery mate Jack Pfiester has been equal to the task. In the bottom of the ninth, the Giants are able to get a runner on first with two outs and Fred Merkle comes to plate. He has done his job in the field, but he, like many other Giant hitters on the day, is hitless. With two strikes on him, Merkle hits a line drive down the right field line, the runner on first gets to third, but no further, and Merkle doesn’t try to stretch his hit into a double (which is smart considering how short right field is). Merkle has done his job. The winning run is on third, because he batted him there, and he hadn’t committed a single error on the day, not bad for a rookie. 

With runners on first and third and two outs, it now came down to Al Bridwell to put on his hero’s cape and sure enough, Bridwell took Pfister’s pitch up the middle, and the runner on third came trotting home with the winning run. The Polo Grounds went nuts! Fans started to storm the field to congratulate their heroes and perhaps rub in it to their foes. Everyone was jumping for joy, fans were hugging, fans and players were hugging like a scene taken from any kind of March Madness buzzer beater we are so accustomed to seeing. Usually when that happens you will see the losing team wander off the court, or field, dejected, heads down just trying to find a clear path back to the locker room. But there was a great commotion behind second base, and Joe Tinker was seen, in the commotion, standing on the bag at second, with a baseball in his hand.

With two outs and runners on first and third, the runner on third was the winning run, but only if the batter, Bridwell, and the runner on first reached their bases safely, that runner being Merkle. When Bridwell hit the line drive up the middle, Merkle started to celebrate halfway between first and second base, and when the fans started pouring onto the field, Merkle took off for the dugout, to celebrate with his teammates. Joe Tinker saw that and he tried to rescue the ball from his outfielders to go and tag second base to complete the force out. 

Giants pitcher Joe McGinnity ‘The Iron Man’ (before Lou Gehrig and Robert Downey Jr.) saw exactly what took place, he scurried into centerfield and wrestled away the ball from the Cubs outfielders and threw the ball into the stands. It wasn’t much of a fight as McGinnity had a reputation for being one of the nastiest players in the game. If he wasn’t throwing at a player, sometimes with the intent to injure, he was fighting other players and sometimes umpires which resulted in multiple suspensions. On a side note, he is a Hall of Famer, and one of the best pitchers of this generation as he had a career 2.66 ERA, and led the league in wins 5 times. But even though McGinnity discarded the evidence, Tinker was still on second, with ‘a’ ball in his hand. 

Manager/First baseman Frank Chance began to plead with the umpires to try and gain control of the situation, but the 25,000+ fans were all over the field, and nothing short of the national guard would control the pandemonium. The game had ended as a Giants win, but the question would become, would it stay that way? 

Following the game, and the week that followed, the Cubs would protest the game to the league office. President of the league, Harry G. Pulliam asked the umpires what had taken place, and what he received from both umpires that day (back then a game would typically feature just one umpire, but for the big games, like the matchups between the Cubs and Giants they would call in a second) both umpires wrote letters to Pulliam that in fact Merkle never touched second base and therefore was ruled out (which regardless of Tinker was holding ‘the’ ball or ‘a’ ball was irrelevant because they could rule Merkle out for running outside the baseline, when he turned around and ran back to the dugout). The game was ruled a tie, and the Giants and Cubs would square off one more time, to decide the pennant. 

In that ‘Wild card’ game Mathewson once against squared off with Jack Pfister, but Mathewson who had pitched over 400 innings that season, admits to his wife the morning of the game, that his arm is dead, and he begrudgingly tells McGraw, ‘I’ll go as long as I can’. In the third inning the Cubs staged a four run rally, and when Chance replaced Pfister with Brown, the three finger sensation had a 4-1 lead, which against the Giants might as well be a 40-1 lead. The Cubs would win the game, and the pennant. 

It would be the third consecutive pennant for the Cubs, and it came in the most dramatic of fashions. The Cubs would go on to face the Tigers in a 1907 World Series rematch, but the World Series failed to live up to the same dramatic expectations that regular season had set. The Cubs would go on to defeat the Tigers in five games, Cobb was terrific, hitting .368 with 4 RBIs and 2 stolen bases, but he was one of the few bright spots for the Tigers who were once again overmatched. The Tigers were the hottest team in baseball heading into the matchup, but were not in the same class as the Cubs. 

From 1906-1908, the Cubs averaged 107 wins a season and since their upset loss to the White Sox in the 06’ fall classic, lost just one World Series game since then. The Cubs became the first dynasty since the AL & NL came together and it would appear the Cubs winning ways would not end. Mordecai Brown would continue to be one of the best pitchers in the game, the Cubs would enjoy a few more good seasons of Tinkers to Evers to Chance and Chicago became the new epicenter of baseball. However, as many baseball fans would note, it would be the last time the Cubs would win a world series for the next 108 years, the greatest, or really, the most notorious, title drought in American sports history. They would come close again, but never had the same magic that the 06-08’ teams had.

As for the Giants, the Merkle game was treated as an apocalyptic day of their history. Like when Rome fell, or when  the Turks seized Constantinople, or the bombing of Pearl Harbor, September 28th would be a day that would live in Giants infamy, all due to ‘Merkle’s Boner’ as it would become to be known. Fred Merkle had to live with the day in, day out abuse from fans all throughout the country about his mistake, time and time again (and unfortunately for him, it wouldn’t be his last). Even after retirement, life was sometimes miserable for the infielder whose fate was turned so quickly on that September afternoon. It wouldn’t be until years later did he receive any kind of vindication. On an old-timers day at the Polo Grounds in the 1950s, the Giants brought Merkle back, and when the P.A. the announcer announced his name, the Giants crowd went wild, cheering for the beleaguered base runner. Merkle was so moved by the crowd’s forgiveness he began to cry in front of the crowd. But going back to the end of 1908, McGraw was left still scratching his head about what could have been. 

At the end of the 1908 season, while Ty Cobb was still a young and just considered ‘brash’ he was coming off of two straight World Series appearances, but both of them were losses. He played well in the 1908 World Series, but still amounted to little. In two World Series appearances the Tigers won just one game against the Cubs. The Tigers were humiliated and Cobb was right in the thick of it. 1908 would prove to be an important year in baseball history, because it would be the last time the Cubs would win a World Series for the next 108 years. But it also served as a small turning point. The Cubs dynasty was over, and 1909 wouldn’t be about great franchises, or great managers. It would be a face-off between two great players.

In 1909, Ty Cobb and his Tigers would return for the third straight time, and this team was believed to be his best. Without having the Cubs to worry about, it seemed the absolute perfect opportunity for Cobb to secure his first World Series win. And at the time, what many would assume to be the first of many for the best player in the game. However, like baseball has proven to us so many times, it's never that simple. Because his 1909 counterpart, who was also considered one of, if not the best in the game, had redemption on his mind. In 1909, Ty Cobb’s Tigers would square off against Honus Wagner’s Pirates, in the first World Series that would be pushed to the max. And next time we will talk about the first ever 7 game World Series.