1908 - The Giants and the CubsBy David Marasco One of the traditions that has been stripped away from baseball is the thrill of the pennant chase. A few years ago we had mighty teams battling it out to see who would go on to the post season. Dramatic late-season showdowns between great teams have been replaced by a pack of .500 teams trying to grab the wildcard slot. The last great pennant race took place when the Giants came up one win short against the Braves in 1993 There were other great races that involved the Giants, one of them came near the dawn of this century - the 1908 campaign against the Cubs. It involved controversy, death, and great baseball. Recounted here are the 23 games played between the Giants and Cubs in 1908, the year of Merkle's Boner. May 25-28: The Giants visit 1st place Chicago
Records of the Giants and Cubs, morning of May 25 The first game between the two teams featured New York's deaf-mute pitcher Dummy Taylor against Chick Fraser of the Cubs. The Giants got on the board right away. Spike Shannon led off the game with a walk, was sacrificed to second, and then stole third. "Turkey Mike" Donlin doubled to left to score Shannon and then came in on a single by Cy Seymour. The Cubs got out of the inning on a strike-out-throw-out double play. The Giants bunched together some hits and added single runs to their lead in the fourth and sixth innings. Then it was the Cubs' turn to rally. Up until that point Dummy Taylor had held them to but two hits. It looked as if he was going to be able to get out of the sixth without any damage, Johnny Evers was on second with two outs. But then secondbaseman Larry Doyle bobbled a Frank Schulte grounder, and Frank Chance plated Evers for the lone run. The Giants got the run back in the seventh, but the real fireworks were in the eighth. Larry Doyle was on second with one out when Taylor poked a single to right. Schulte nailed Doyle at the plate. After a Shannon single Fred Tenney put another ball into right, and once again Schulte cut down the runner at the plate. After a Roger Bresnahan homer in the top of the ninth, the Giants were but three outs away from 6-1 victory. The first batter of the ninth was the thirdbaseman Steinfeldt (familiar to baseball aficionados as the man who completes the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance infield). He drew a walk. Taylor all of the sudden fell apart. A single by Slagle was followed by a walk to Kling, and bases were loaded with no outs. A foulout by Tinker must have made John McGraw happy, but when Taylor walked in a run by putting Howard on first, McGraw had seen enough. He replaced Taylor with his ancient warrior, "So unexpected was the blow up that he did not even have a twirler in the stewpen," recounts the Chicago Tribune, "McGinnity was rushed to the rescue in tepid condition..." Evers was the next man to bat and he put a short flare into left that dropped when Shannon lost it in the sun. McGinnity then walked Sheckard, bringing the Cubs to within two. The heart of the Cubs lineup was due up next. But Schulte flewout to Mike Donlin, and then Frank Chance, the Peerless Leader, did the same to Seymour. The Giants had dodged a bullet and taken the first game. The second game of the series served as an eerie harbinger for the end of the season. The Cubs would win in extra innings, with look at the rulebook necessary and an angry John McGraw. As would the season's climax, it would see Mathewson face "Jack the Giant Killer" Pfiester, with Mordecai Brown in relief. A light rain fell on West Side Grounds that morning, and carried through the game. This may have played a part in the fielding error that lead to a Giants run in the first. It was in the home half of the first that the craziness began. Mathewson had not been effective early in the season, and would be hit hard on this day also. The leadoff man Evers singled and was sacrificed to second. Frank Schulte then hit a drive to center, and with the fence at a distance of 580, had an inside-the-park homerun. After an out by Chance, the Cubs kept the line moving with a single and a bunt. Joe Tinker was then retired to end the inning, but it was not noticed at the time that he was batting out of order. The Giants could accomplish nothing in the second, so the Cubs once again went to work on Matty. Moran, now batting in Tinker's spot, led off with a single. In short order the Cubs had bases loaded with one out. Then an outside pitch caught Giant Hall-of-Fame catcher Roger Bresnahan on the wrist. A bone in his wrist splintered and the wound later abscessed. Incredibly, Bresnahan played a large part of the 1908 season with the injury. Bresnahan was removed from the day's game, and a second out followed. Frank Chance's two-out double drove in three runs, and the Cubs probably would have kept scoring on Mathewson had not Chance been cut down at the plate on the next hit. Five runs had been scored off of Mathewson in two innings, though had the Giants noticed that the Cubs had batted out of order the three runs in the second probably could have been avoided. They later discovered their error, but at that point it was far too late. Mathewson did not return for the third inning, the Giants favoring Malarkey on the mound. With the exit of Bresnahan due to injury, John McGraw's ejection in the 2nd meant that the Giants had lost three Hall of Famers. The New York Times claims that McGraw was tossed because he told umpire Bob Emslie to buy a "box of hairpins to hairpins to hold his wig on." One would hope that the fiery McGraw said instead something that the New York Times deemed not fit to print. With Mathewson out of the game the Giants decided to rally against Pfiester, scoring three runs in the third. With runners still on the bases, Chance decided not to blow a four-run lead and sent Pfiester to the showers in favor of Brown. Three Finger and Malarkey (sounds like a bad cop movie) then managed put zeroes on the board until the seventh inning. Brown had a man on second with two outs when a single was put into right. As on the previous day, Schulte got the ball to the plate before the runner, but today the catcher missed the tag, allowing the tying run to score. A pair of runs also came in before the Cubs were able to stop the bleeding. In the bottom half a leadoff walk to Evers came around to score, and before the inning was over the game was tied at seven. Wiltse then came in to replace Malarkey. The game progressed to the tenth. With darkness quickly approaching, Slagle drew a walk to lead off the Cubs' half of the frame. He was sacrificed to second and came around to score on Tinker's hit to center. In a wild crazy game, the Cubs had won extra innings. The third game continued the high scoring of the first two. With his rotation in tatters, John McGraw turned to rookie Doc Crandall. The Cubs countered with Ed Reulbach, who got off to a rocky start. In the first inning he gave up only one run despite two hit batsman, a walk and a double. Crandall wasn't much better, walking the first two men on eight pitches. Two outs were parleyed into a run, and then a triple brought in another. After but one inning the score was 2-1 Cubs. It went back and forth and the score stood tied at three after three. A Giants homer in the fifth put them ahead to stay. The teams exchanged runs in the eighth and the Giants got a pair of runs in the ninth when they got three hits instead of three outs due to a sun-blinded left fielder. With a final of 7-4, the Giants were assured of at least a split.
The high scoring games of the previous three days must have tired out the two teams. George Wiltse got the nod for the Giants while the Cubs once again trotted out Jack Pfiester. It seemed as if neither team wanted to score. Despite many chances neither team had scored up through six. In the seventh the Giants got Devlin on to start the frame. Larry Doyle then tried to sacrifice him, but forced him at second instead. Doyle made up for this by swiping second, putting so much effort into the slide that he broke his belt. John McGraw gladly gave him his own. A sac fly to center moved Doyle up to third, bringing the pitcher Wiltse to the plate. Incredibly, Wiltse put a liner past third for a double, scoring Doyle. This would be the only run of the game. While they were not as sharp as their numbers, Wiltse tossed a three-hitter and the Cubs allowed but five. Small Cub uprisings were suppressed in the seventh and the eighth, and the Giants left town winners three out of four.
June 18-22: The League-Leading Cubs come to New York
When "Casey at the Bat" was first published in 1888 it went almost totally unnoticed. It was only when orator De Wolf Hopper took to performing it on stage that it gained the recognition that it has today. Hopper was a fan of the National Pastime and he spent June 18, 1908 at the Polo Grounds, enjoying a game between the Giants and the Cubs. Chicago sent Ed Reulbach against Wiltse, both of whom quickly collapsed. Wiltse was the first to go. After setting down the side in order in the first two frames, he imploded in the third. It started off fine, the leadoff man grounding back to the pitcher. But then Tinker singled to center, and Reulbach, helping his own cause, drew a walk. Evers then smoked a drive to right, and when the dust settled the Cubs had a run in and men on second and third. After a sacrifice fly to score Reulbach, the Chicago aced another single. A double steal set the table for Chance and two runs came in on his double. When Wiltse was finally able to end his ordeal he was down by four runs. All of the excitement on the basepaths must have rattled Reulbach. He walked the first two men he faced. John McGraw was under suspension at the time, but he ran the show from underneath the grandstands. Smelling blood, McGraw elected to pinch hit Herzog for Wiltse. Reulbach started Herzog off with a pair of balls and Chance made a move of his own. Carl Lundgren came in to pitch to the Giants. After completing Herzog's walk, he faced bases loaded with no outs. A Fred Tenney single to center plated two Giants runs. Then, in a classic display of Dead-Ball Era tactics, the Giants bunted Herzog to third and brought him in on a sacrifice fly. With the bases now empty Turkey Mike Donlin let fly with a deep drive to right that was corralled by Frank Schulte. The catch brought cheers from even the partisan Polo Grounds crowd. The Cubs were out of the inning, but the Giants had crept back into the game 4-3. The two teams would go on to trade single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Dummy Taylor, brought in to replace Wiltse, was also ineffective. The Cubs used a walk and a double in the top of the 8th to push their bulge to 2, and this seems to have taken the wind from the Giant's sails. They went down in order in the 8th and 9th to give the Cubs a 7-5 victory. Eight decades before the coming of PC, the New York Times closed their article with the following passage: "Without wishing to foment racial discord at a crucial time in the Nation's history, it must be pointed out that on the losing team appeared such names as Bresnahan, Malarkey, Devlin, Shannon, Donlin and Doyle; whereas the victors included Hoffman, Schulte, Steinfeldt, Slagle, Reulbach, and Lundgren. You can't beat the Germans." The following day John McGraw was done with his suspension and once again prowled the Polo Grounds. However, Frank Chance was doing some managing of his own. Jack Pfiester had been dogged by a string of bad luck and Chance offered to buy him a $60 suit if he won the day's game. Pfiester did not bring home a new set of threads. Pfiester's troubles started in the second. After giving up a walk, Pfiester got the next batter to hit the ball back to the mound. Jack botched the play, "...the ball fell out of Jack's hands over his head, and before he could locate it (ball, not his head) both runners were safe, instead of the double play that would ordinarily would have come off." This would lead to a run. The Giants got a pair of honest tallies in the third, but the Cubs got one back in the fourth. The following inning would feature a great play in the outfield. With a man on second and two out Circus Solly Hofman hit a blast over the head of Cy Seymour in center. Cy went back on the ball and at the last possible moment reached out with his bare hand to snag the drive. The inspired Giants then took advantage of sloppy Chicago play and scored a pair of runs. They would cruise to a 6-3 victory. That night the Giants and the Cubs enjoyed the play "The Merry Go-Around" The play starred Mabel Hite, otherwise known as Mrs. Turkey Mike Donlin. Contrast this comradeship with the actions of Ty Cobb, who that day paid $75 to settle with an African-American asphalt worker whom Cobb had beaten. "I would act again in a similar manner under the same conditions," said Cobb. "When a man is insulted it is worth $75 to get satisfaction." The Polo Grounds were filled to capacity for the Saturday game. The crowd stood several deep in the outfield, held back by a rope. For the Giants it was the great Mathewson, for the Cubs the spit-baller Chick Fraser. Both were on their games. Mathewson had a perfect game when he faced Johnny Evers to start off the fourth. "...[Evers] had no more idea of what Matty was doing than Dummy Taylor has of the ventriliquist's [sic] turn over on the roof garden yonder." Evers, unhappy with Klem's call of a third strike, complained long and hard. Klem promptly chased him from the game. Klem would also be the center of attention in the seventh. The Giants had loaded the bases, and with two out were looking for a way to break a 0-0 tie. Laughing Larry Doyle went to the plate looking to get hit. After Doyle tried to duck into the first pitch the Cubs' catcher brought it to Klem's attention. The next offering would have been a strike, but Doyle spun into the path of the ball and it bounced off of his hip. Klem sent Doyle to first despite the protests of the Cubs. The Chicago Tribune accused Klem of being afraid of mob action from the large crowd. In any case, after the run was forced in the Cubs went to pieces, giving up three more runs. Mathewson would pitch a three-hitter, allowing only one man to second. The Giants took the day by a final of 4-0. No game was played on Sunday, at least not on the field. In the mean time Bill Klem has suspended Johnny Evers for three games due to comments made in the row on Saturday. Frank Chance was going to call League President Pulliam to protest Klem's actions in both the Evers affair and Saturday's game, but decided not to do so while he was still in a pennant race.
The finale of the series was played on the following Monday, and it was a dog. Lundgren faced Wiltse, and the game went out of the Cubs' control in the second. After a leadoff hit the Giants attempted a sacrifice bunt. Kling tossed the ball into right field. This opened the door and by the time it was closed the Giants put four runs on the board. The Cubs got a solo back in the third, but when the Giants got three more in the fifth the game was on ice. The Cubs took the fast mail train back to Chicago after dropping 3 of 4 to the Giants.
By the time the Giants came to Chicago in July there had been some movement in the standings. The Pirates now occupied the top spot in the National League, followed by the Cubs and the hard-charging Giants. So far the Giants had taken 6 out of the 8 games played between the two clubs. They enjoyed that same level of dominance in the first game of the July Series as they used the Cubs for batting practice. Hooks Wiltse started for New York and, outside of Evers who went 4-for-4, baffled the Cubs. It didn't look like it would be that way in the first. Wiltse's first eight pitches all missed and there were two men on. McGraw quickly sent McGinnity to warm up in the pen. Del Howard was the next man to face Wiltse. Howard hit a sharp grounder to second that bounced off of Larry Doyle and landed in Bridwell's glove. The shortstop quickly turned the double play and a possible Chicago rally was squashed. The Giants first victim was Mordecai Brown. In the top of the first they touched him for a double and a triple that lead to a pair of runs. Three Finger Brown just didn't have it that day. He was chased in the fourth after giving up five runs. Jack Pfiester replaced Brown and the first thing he had to do was face Wiltse. Wiltse fouled out after fifteen pitches. Wiltse would end up with a pair of hits for the day, as every Giants player would hit safely. Pfiester didn't fare much better than Brown, he was smoked for five hits and three runs in the next inning. A single run in the seventh pushed the bulge to 9-0. Orval Overall was brought in by the Cubs to handle the ninth. Another triple, a pair of walks and a single spelled two more runs. The only bright spot that the Chicago Tribune could find is that 11-0 couldn't be mistaken for a forfeit like a 9-0 game could. By dropping the game to the Giants, the Cubs fell into third place. The next day brought the fans a much better game. It was Reulbach against Crandall and the Giants jumped on Ed for a pair of runs in the first and the fifth. The Cubs came back for a run in the seventh, and when the door opened on a rainy bottom of the ninth, they were on the short end of a 4-1 score. Crandall had pitched well up until that point, but then the wheels fell of the wagon. Johnny Evers started it off with a roller to short and was able to take second when Bridwell threw the ball away. Moran followed with another ball to short and Evers was eliminated in a run-down. Moran was able to take second on the play. Tinker walked, and when Danny Durbin took one on the chin the Cubs all of the sudden had bases loaded. The Giants sent for Christy Mathewson. He was nowhere to be found in either the dugout or the bullpen. He was in the clubhouse taking a bath. Joe McGinnity took the mound instead. Slagle put down a bunt to reach first and plate a run. Second-sacker Larry Doyle then got into an argument with the umpire over the call at first. They went at it long and hard with the eventual result of Doyle being tossed from the game. But the man they called Laughing Larry had the last laugh. His little tantrum had bought the Giants some time. There was now a new pitcher, "...[It] was none other than Matty, newly bathed and talcumed, and with his hair combed. He had his clothes on." Mathewson's first act was to get Sheckard to ground out to first. It got the Cubs a run, but cost a valuable out. Del Howard came to the plate with the tying run at third and the winner at second. Howard fouled off the first pitch for strike one. He was fooled on a low ball for strike two. A swing at a ball in the dirt was all she wrote for Howard and the Cubs. They would have to come back another day. One aspect of old time baseball that is missing from today's game is the great matchups. Now if two great pitchers face each other in the regular season, it is merely an accident of the schedule. In the old days, teams knew they could maximize attendance by advertising showdowns. So, on July 18, Mordecai Brown went up against Christy Mathewson. Brown had been bombed in the first game of the series, and hence pitched on one day's rest. Matty had enjoyed a nice bath and a couple of batters the day prior. But did it matter? No. This was one of those games where you wish that you had a time machine to take you back to see it. Brown shut down the Giants while Mathewson made but one mistake. This would translate into a 1-0 Cubs victory. The Giants only real opportunity came in the third inning. Three hits had loaded the bases with no outs. A foulout followed with by a double play got Brown off the hook. Mathewson made a bad pitch to Tinker in the fifth. Joe laced a line drive over the shortstop that got past the centerfielder. As Tinker rounded third, the third base coach raised his hands to hold him up. The coach had lost the ball in the sun, and didn't want Tinker to run into a no-win situation. Joe ignored the coach and chugged in to score easily. The Cubs had taken one back. With their victory, the Cubs could salvage a split and push the upstart Giants back into third. The matchup was Reulbach and Wiltse, a little less exciting than the previous day's fare. The Giants started hot, scoring single runs in the first two innings. In the third they loaded the bases with no out. The Peerless Leader decided that he had seen enough, Reulbach was out and Jack Pfiester came in to pitch. Jack walked the first man and another Giant run came in to score. A 1-2-3 double play eased the Cub's worries greatly, and when Wiltse popped up, the Cubs were out of the jam.
Chicago put up a run in the sixth which the New Yorkers matched in the eighth. A Cubs rally in the eighth account for two more runs. Orval Overall came in and pitched a scoreless ninth for the Cubs. With the score 4-3, the stage was set for a Cubs comeback. Johnny Evers was able to coax a walk from Wiltse, and Moran lined a double over third to bring Tinker to the plate. "...the Cubs were in position for Mr. T to apply the match. Joseph leaned his faithful pestle against the first pitch and - bingorino! Away went the ball between left and center. McCormack and Seymour approached each other, but the bounding pill passed a given point long before they reached said point." Evers and Moran would score easily, making Tinker the hero two days in a row.
When the Cubs came to New York they were reeling. They had lost three straight and fallen into third behind Pittsburgh and New York. The citizens of New York turned out in great numbers to witness the first game of the series. The Cubs were paid their share of roughly 25,000 tickets sold, a number that set a new record for the Polo Grounds, exceeding even the crowds of the 1905 World Series. The New York Times noted people perched on the bleacher wall and on the elevated train tracks and estimated that nearly 30,00 saw the game. The overflow from the grandstand took the outer reaches of the playing field, held behind a rope as was the practice in those days. Mordecai Brown would face Wiltse. As Wiltse was a lefty, Frank Chance decided to replace Slagle in centerfield with the right-handed Hofman. After a quiet Cub first, Tenney led off the bottom half with a full-count single to left. Brown struck out Doyle and then got Bresnahan to ground sharply up the middle. Brown was able to get just enough glove on the ball to deflect it to short, setting up a possible double play. But Tinker let the ball bounce through his hands and Tenney, showing a bold streak, flew around second headed for third. Hofman, the replacement centerfielder, was the first to the ball. In a valiant attempt to cut down Tenney, Hofman threw the ball into the crowd along the thirdbase side. Tenney scored and Bresnahan was awarded third. Donlin then hit an easy grounder to Evers at second. Bresnahan took off for the plate and Evers threw the ball home. Roger realized that he was hung up to dry, so he headed back to third hoping that Donlin could take second in the ensuing run down. After a few tosses between the infielders Donlin was on second and Kling was chasing Bresnahan back to third. Bresnahan won the race of the catchers with a slide and the Giants had runners on second and third. Cy Seymour would bounce a ball over first to score the runners. While the Giants would go on to load the bases, they would not score again that inning. Sloppy play had put the Cubs down in the hole 3-0. They never recovered. The Giants got an extra run in the fourth when they landed a ball in the outfield crowd. The Cubs got a run back when the Giants' shortstop threw a ball into the stands, but Wiltse threw a four-hitter and was able to take the game by a final of 4-1. Again the Giants and the Cubs skipped Sunday (Sundays as a day of rest were more closely observed at the turn of the century). The following Monday the Giants had slated Mathewson to take the mound. The Cubs' situation was a little more complicated. Earlier in the day Orval Overall had received a telegram informing him that his ailing wife's health had taken a turn for the worse. Frank Chance told his hurler to take the first train back to Chicago, Pfiester would pitch instead. As Overall was leaving the hotel for the train station he got good news. His wife had stabilized. Knowing that the next day's double header would be hard on Chicago's arms, Overall went back to Chance and asked if he could pitch in the day's game and take a later train. Chance, after examining the second telegram, agreed to the revised plan. Once again the Cubs would have their problems in the first. In the home half the troubles would start with one out. Herzog, playing in the place of the injured Doyle, drew a walk on a questionable ball four. Roger Bresnahan followed with a blazing drive that was but inches inside the line at third. A member of the security personnel who was helping with the crowd of 20,000 ran up to the ball and tossed it back to the infield. He had not realized that the ball was in play, and hence it became a ground-rule double. Herzog, who had scored easily, was escorted back to third. Needless to say, McGraw was not happy. Turkey Mike Donlin was the next man to the plate, and sent a high chopper in Overall's direction. Orval opted to attempt to nail Herzog at home. Umpire Rigler declared "Safe!" on a very close play. Donlin had taken a wide turn around first and the quick-thinking Kling fired the ball to Chance, trapping Turkey Mike off of first. During the run down Bresnahan decided to try to score from third. Evers came through with a throw that was described as "Hofmanesque," meaning that it went into the crowd. Bresnahan scored and Donlin took third. Seymour then flew to center and Slagle sent a rocket back to the plate. Donlin was ruled out until the umpire noticed that Kling had dropped the ball. Orval pitched his way out of the inning, but his teammates had stuck him on the wrong end of a 3-0 score. Overall had the misfortune of facing Mathewson. They matched zeros for inning after inning. Overall was setting down the side in order, while Matty was maintaining his shutout. Towards the end of the game Mathewson began to tire. In the eighth he gave up a lead-off triple that came in to score. The Chicago Tribune credits Overall with a one-hitter, while the New York Times claims that the Giants were able to score a pair of safe hits. In either case, Overall simply dominated the Giants after the first inning. It looked as if the Cubs might break through for their man in the ninth. Sheckard started the frame with a double and was sacrificed to third. Evers laid down a bunt to bring in Sheckard and the Cubs had the tying run on at first. But then Matty bore down and struck out both Steinfeldt and Howard to win the game 3-2. A huge crowd turned out for Tuesday's double header. "No one knows how many people would have been there if it had not been necessary to lock the gates early in the day. The attendance far exceeded all expectations, and only a meager bunch of special police had been provided, consequently, when the mob, which looked bigger that Saturday's, began to get unruly, threatening to invade the field so completely as to prevent playing at all, the gates were barred and thousands were locked out, while every substitute Giant was pressed into service to hold the throng in check. " Only on this day the fielding demons that had haunted the Cubs would torment the Giants. In the second inning Evers was able to take second when Herzog threw the ball into the fans lining the infield. Steinfeldt then hit a ball that bounced into the crowd in the outfield. With Evers in and a man on second Del Howard reached first safely on a wild throw by Devlin. Steinfeldt would score when the next man hit into a double play. When the inning was over the score stood at 2-0 Chicago. In the third the rain began to fall.
What had started as a beautiful day quickly turned nasty. Very few of the crowd had come prepared for poor whether, and there were many unhappy faces. McGraw himself bowed out in the fourth, getting tossed by the umps. The New Yorkers weren't too pleased with their team in the sixth when more sloppy play accounted for two more Cub runs. Finally, in the seventh, the man in blue had seen enough. The game was called on account of rain, Cubs 4, Giants 0. The second game was rescheduled for September.
The first place Giants were coming to town. The city was so consumed by baseball fever that the Chicago Tribune set up an electronic scoreboard at the intersection of Madison and Dearborn. Thousands gathered to watch the reproductions of the games. That was nothing compare to the crowds at the park. 25,000 were at the first game, the line for standing room tickets stretched three blocks long. The crowd came to within ten feet of the foul lines on the infield. The first matched placed Wiltse against Pfiester. The Cubs did all of their damage in the middle innings. With one out in the fourth Evers lined into the on-field fans for a ground-rules double. When Steinfeldt put a ball into right that Turkey Mike just barely missed, Evers came in to score. After a Howard foulout, Tinker singled. John Kling then sent a blast to the outfield. Before the dust had settled he and the rest of the Cubs had scrambled around the bases for three runs. A livid John McGraw stormed out of the dugout. He claimed that it should only be a ground-rule double as a woman had interfered with the play. "There was no question about it on the face of the evidence, for an ever curious daughter of Eve had picked up that ball, perhaps thinking it was another apple from the garden of Eden, and her act left no doubt that the ball had gone into the crowd. If she can be identified that woman will be barred from the park forever, as relentlessly as her primeval ancestress was shut out from that other paradise." Kling and Evers were sent back to second and third and would not score. In the fifth the Giants got Barry on with a lead-off single. Bridwell grounded to third, but Evers dropped the relay from Steinfeldt and there was no force at second. A botched pickoff moved both runners up one base. Wiltse brought the lead runner in on a short fly to center, but it would have been a double play had Kling held on to the ball. The wheels really fell off of the Giants in the fifth. Hofman started it with a liner that Bridwell dropped. Wiltse then walked Sheckard, bringing Chance to the plate. The Peerless Leader dropped down a bunt, but Wiltse's throw to first was wide of the mark. The result was a collision between Larry Doyle and Chance. Laughing Larry was a little loopy after the hit, and while he was dazed Hofman came in to score and Sheckard moved up to third. Time was called in order that Doyle clear the cobwebs from his skull. Evers then laid down a sacrifice, but couldn't get the run home, only Chance to second. Steinfeldt then came through with a two-run single. Wiltse got his act together and pitched himself out of the inning. He didn't let a Cub reach after the sixth, and retired the side on three pitches in the eighth, but it was too little too late. The Cubs' big innings combined with good pitching from Pfiester spelled a 5-1 Chicago victory. The second game started off with some excitement. A near record turnout had gathered for a showdown between Mordecai Brown and Christy Mathewson. There were so many people on the grounds that police were needed to clear a warm-up area for the two pitchers. Tenney opened the game with a bouncer over the head of Steinfeldt, who had been playing in for a possible bunt. After an out by Doyle Bresnahan singled Tenney to third. Turkey Mike then sent a ball into the crowd for a double and a run. It looked as if the New Yorkers were hitting Brown at will. Then Cy Seymour sent a flare into short right field. Evers raced out and caught it on the fly, turned and sent a hard throw to the plate. Bresnahan had held up at third, but Donlin had thought that the ball had dropped in for a hit and was easily doubled off of second to end the inning. The squelched rally would come back to haunt the Giants. Mathewson had been pitching some good ball, but was hit hard in the fourth. A leadoff double was sacrificed to third, and the game was tied after Chance singled to left. Evers then got on to put men on first and second. Steinfedlt singled in a run and both runners took an extra base on the throw home. Howard put a liner down the line at first that landed fair but took a strange bounce and fell into the crowd in foul territory. By the ground rules that counted as a single. Instead of two runs scoring, only one would come in. Mathewson righted his load and took care of the Cubs, but was behind 3-1. He gave up only two hits outside of that ill-fated fourth, but Brown was up to the task. He gave up only one more run and the Cubs won 3-2.
The final game would be between Jack Pfiester on two day's rest and young Doc Crandall. It was a well pitched game and there aren't too many offensive or defensive highlights. Both teams parlayed lead-off walks into runs in the early stages of the game, but the Cubs were able to push across a man in the bottom of the fifth to record the final score of 2-1. The Giants had come to Chicago with first place firmly in their grasp, but as they took the train to Boston they enjoyed only a 1/2 game lead due to the Chicago sweep. By winning a pair of those games, Pfiester strengthened his claim on the moniker "Jack the Giant Killer." On top of the nearly 25,000 at the park, an estimated 20,000 fans followed the game on various electronic billboards set up by the Tribune throughout the city. There was one strange happening; after the game a fan brought his goat to the Cubs, thinking it might bring them luck as a mascot. Given the place of "lucky goats" in Cubs history, this detail caught the eye.
Before the story of the Cubs and Giants in 1908 can be rejoined, we must take a very important detour to Pittsburgh. On September 7 a key event took place that would alter the pennant race down the road. With New York on top of the league, Pittsburgh and Chicago were battling it out for second place, with the Pirates a mere half game in front of the Cubs. Mordecai Brown and Vic Willis had pitched nine scoreless frames and moved on to extra innings. After the Cubs were shut out in their half, the Pirates managed to load the bases with one out. Three Finger Brown was able to strike out the next man he faced, and it looked as if the game might go to the eleventh.
The following batter hit a shot into center. The man from third scored easily and the crowd started for the exits. So did the runner on first, Warren Gill, and the only umpire on the playing field, Hank O'Day. Warren Gill would play only 27 games in the Major Leagues, but would be part of its great lore. When Johnny Evers saw Gill heading for the clubhouse he called to Slagle in the outfield. Slagle relayed the ball back to the infield, Evers took the ball and stepped on second, forcing Gill. That would be the third out of the tenth, and since it occurred on a force play, the run that crossed the plate should not count. Evers knew his rulebook, and made the correct play. Evers caught up with O'Day and demanded that the eleventh be played. O'Day rejected his argument, and the Cubs filed a protest with the league office. The National League rejected the Cubs' motion. To defend O'Day, it should be pointed out that the forced-third-out rule had been ignored regularly in situations similar to this one. For Evers to ask O'Day to enforce it would be like a current manager asking an umpire to change the results of a play because the catcher had blocked the plate while he didn't have the ball. What was in the books simply didn't follow what was practiced by umpires in the league. Still, O'Day realized that technically Evers was correct. This would loom large by the end of the season.
When the Cubs returned to New York they were in second, once again looking up at John McGraw's Giants. On September 22 they played a doubleheader to make up the rained out game in August. The first game matched Orval Overall against the Giants' Red Ames. It was Overall who opened the scoring when he laced a one-out double to left in the third. He was sacrificed to third and scored when Bridwell mishandled a routine grounder. The next inning proved fatal for the Giants, but they had only themselves to blame. The Cubs started the inning with a single, but he was forced at second on a blown sacrifice. Joe Tinker singled to center to put men on first and second. Hofman, the runner of second, promptly stole third. Kling bounced a grounder to second, but the throw to first went wild and the Cubs had a run and men at the corners. Tinker scored when Overall hit a sacrifice fly to deep center. Hayden then sent another ball to the outfield. Either Cy Seymour or Turkey Mike Donlin could have caught the ball, and both assumed that the other would. When the dust settled Hayden was on second and the Cubs had scored again. Evers closed out the inning with a grounder to second, but the damage had been done. The Cubs were up 4-0. The game went on with both teams squandering good opportunities. The Giants finally broke through in the seventh. Devlin put one into the crowd for a ground-rule double. Seymour's single put runners on the corners. Mike Donlin doubled, scoring Devlin and pushing Seymour to third. Frank Chance went to his bullpen and replaced Overall with Mordecai Brown. McCormick was the next batter and he hit the first pitch he saw for a double, scoring both runners. Bridwell tried to sacrifice McCormick to third, but McCormick was trapped in a run down instead. Bridwell made it to second. Barry batted for Ames, but he popped out to short. The last man fouled out, but the Giants had crept up and the score stood at 4-3. But that would be it. Iron Man McGinnity and fellow Hall-of-Famer Mordecai Brown would shut out the two sides for the remainder. The first game belonged to the Cubs. Brown was not yet done for the day. In the second game he was slated to face Doc Crandall. The Giants only touched him up once, and then only for a single run. In the fourth Herzog got a crowd-induced ground-rule double to start the inning. A wild pitch moved him to third and he scored on Bresnahan's ground-rule double. The Giant's catcher was sacrificed to third. Cy Seymour then bunted towards second, but Evers was too quick and got the ball home. Bresnahan turned back for third. He never made it, but Seymour got to second. Devlin flew out to end the inning. In the sixth the Cubs had a pair of men on due to a sudden loss of control on the part of Crandall. Steinfeldt would score one of them on a ground-rule double. A sacrifice fly would bring in the other. When it was done, the Cubs would be on top 2-1. Crandall faded towards the end of the game and the Iron Man made a return appearance, tossing in the last two innings. McGinnity gave up a single run in the ninth to make it 3-1. The Giants simply couldn't get the job done against Brown, "Brown was a master workman at all hours, saving the first combat and winning the second, and the chances are the Giants would have eaten out of his mangled hand had he asked them." While the native fans left the Polo Grounds in an unhappy state after the double header sweep, they were much more joyous when they left the next day. Little did they know that they had not just seen a thrilling come-from-behind victory, but instead had witnessed one of the most infamous blunders in the history of baseball. Giants first baseman Fred Tenney had been scratched due to a bad back. So nineteen-year-old Fred Merkle would get his first Major League start. He had to face Jack Pfiester, who was sent to face Mathewson. Both pitchers were on that day, and going into the bottom of the ninth, the score was tied at one. Cy Seymour started the home-half with an easy grounder to second. Mike Donlin was able to place a single to center, but was erased when McCormick forced him at second. With two outs Fred Merkle came to bat, hitless on the day. Merkle scorched a ball into right and McCormick took third on the play. The next man was Al Bridwell, and he hit the first pitch cleanly into centerfield. The all Hell broke loose. McCormick crossed the plate easily. The large crowd assembled at the Polo Grounds, convinced that they had just seen a thrilling New York victory, rushed the field. Merkle, seeing the oncoming crowd, headed for the dugout BEFORE he touched second. As he had done weeks ago in Pittsburgh, Evers called for the ball. Iron Man McGinnity, realizing what was about to transpire, raced from his third base coach's position and intercepted the relay throw. He tossed it into the crowd. The Cubs then managed to produce a ball from somewhere and touched the bag, and hence forced Merkle at second. The umpire in charge was Hank O'Day, and this time he was on top of the situation. He ruled that Merkle was out and the score would revert to 1-1. Seeing the thousands of people on the field, he correctly reasoned that the game could not be completed and declared the game a tie. Merkle's Boner would come back to haunt the Giants. The Giants went to League President Pulliam and demanded the win, feeling that Merkle had just done what any ballplayer would have done in the same situation. The Cubs went to Pulliam and pointed out that McGinnity had interfered on the play, and on top of that declared since the Giants hadn't been able to clear their own field (O'Day had not requested this action), the Giants should forfeit the game to Chicago. Both side lobbied hard, but to Pulliam's credit he made the fairest possible decision: the game would remain a tie, and would be replayed at the end of the season if need be. A small but angry crowd witnessed the last scheduled Cubs-Giants game of the year. Despite tossing two-days prior, Mordecai Brown got the starting nod. His opposition was George Wiltse. Brown started off poorly, walking the first two men he faced. Donlin would score the lead runner on a double, and another would come in on Seymour's infield hit. After one, the Giants were up 2-0. In the fifth they would tack on three more runs when sloppy defense was combined with a Donlin triple. It would be the last inning that Brown would pitch, and he would leave down 5-0.
The Cubs would make a run at it in the seventh. Steinfeldt led off with a single to left. An error at third got Hofman to first. Joe Tinker sent a ball to right, scoring Steinfeldt and putting runners on the corners. Kling tripled to plate two more runs. McGraw had seen enough of Wiltse and inserted the previous day's starter, Christy Mathewson. The first man he faced put a single to left, scoring Kling. Hayden then hit into a double play, and Evers ended the inning by grounding out to second. The Cubs had narrowed the gap to 5-4, but Mathewson cruised the rest of the way to a Giants win.
When the Giants beat the Braves on the last day of the season it pulled them into a first place tie with the Cubs. Had the Merkle game counted as a win instead of a tie, they would have won the title outright and would be facing the Tigers in the World Series. This was certainly in Rube Marquard's mind. When he had been bought from Indianapolis late in the season he made sure that he would get a full World Series share if the Giants went all of the way. Upon hearing of the Giants win, the Cubs boarded the Twentieth Century Limited headed for New York City. They had unfinished business. Jack "The Giant Killer" Pfiester faced Mathewson in front of the largest crowd ever to witness a ballgame at the time. By 10:30 five thousand people were gathered at the gates of the Polo Grounds. It was a mere taste of the crowd to come. "The police were swept aside like corks before a torrent, and the horses of the mounted men were pushed and jammed against the high walls surrounding the grounds." Somewhere between thirty-five and forty thousand were in attendance. Many paid, some climbed a fifteen-foot fence topped with barbed wire. Hundreds sat on the roof of the grand stands. The train tracks that towered over the streets of New York were also crowded with spectators. Fireman Henry McBride climbed the tracks to see the game, but fell to his death. It is noted that his place was quickly taken. Fans even climbed to the tops of subway cars to get a better view, "Those who had clambered the tops of were quickly disposed by having the trains moved away from the neighborhood, carrying the fans, wildly gesticulating and screaming protests." If forty thousand saw the game from inside the Polo Grounds, at least that many saw portions of the game from assorted perches in the vicinity. The police had to unleash the firehoses for crowd control, and nearly every precinct in New York City sent reinforcements. The fans even took the pressbox, an act that would spark the creation of the Base Ball Writers of America for the next season. The crowd went wild in the bottom of the first when Pfiester hit Tenney, sending him to first. Herzog then drew a walk. Bresnahan struck out, but Kling dropped the ball. Herzog, the runner at first, misunderstood the situation and left the bag. Kling threw to Chance and Herzog was tagged out. Somehow it doesn't seem fair that history doesn't remember Herzog's Boner. Donlin then hit a ball down the line to score Tenney, and when Seymour drew a walk Chance decided not to let his team's season go down the tubes. He called for his mightiest warrior, Three Finger Brown. He struck out Devlin to end the Giants' first. The New Yorkers had a run on the board. Matty then faltered in the third. Tinker slammed a pitch to center for a triple, and came in on Kling's single to left. The score was tied. Brown sacrificed Kling to second and Evers was intentionally walked. Schulte then hit a ball into the crowd for a ground rule double, scoring Kling. Chance doubled in both Evers and Schulte, and with the pitching mastery of Mordecai Brown the Giants' season was over. New York had one last chance in the seventh. Devlin and McCormick both singled, and when Bridwell walked New York had bases loaded with no outs. Doyle came in to bat for Mathewson (Wiltse would finish the game), but the pinch hitter fouled out to the catcher. Tenney hit a sacrifice fly to score the man on third, but Herzog would end the inning with a grounder to short. The spirit left the Giants and Brown retired them in order in the eighth and ninth. The Cubs were the champions of the National League.
But the victory would be hollow, 1908 would have no true winners. The Cubs would go on to beat the Tigers in the World Series, but it would be their last World Series title. Fred Merkle would go down in sports history as the ultimate goat, despite the fact the John McGraw never placed the blame on him. In fact, McGraw arranged for Merkle to get a $500 raise for the next year. The saddest victim of the 1908 debacle was League President Henry Pulliam. He had been caught in the middle of the entire Merkle affair. His solution to the puzzle had angered both sides, and many in baseball lost their faith in him. The end result is found in Noel Hynd's The Giants of the Polo Grounds, "Brady opened Pulliam's door to find him lying on a divan, clad only in his underwear, with a gunshot wound in the head. By his side, not far from his hand, lay a five-shot revolver with only one chamber discharged. A self-inflicted bullet to the right temple had travelled through Pulliam's brain. Both of his eyes had been blown out of his head. Incredibly, he was still breathing and semiconscious." Pulliam would not die until the next morning. A tragic ending to the story of 1908.
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