The World Series (2 page)

Game seven was scheduled to be played the following afternoon in Pittsburgh. But Barney Dreyfuss postponed the game after
receiving reports of sixty-mile-an-hour winds at Exposition Park. He believed that such winds could put the players at risk.

Boston players protested loudly. They thought that Dreyfuss had put off the game so that his team could recover from its two
recent losses. If so, the strategy failed. Boston thrashed Pittsburgh 7–3 the next day.

The two teams returned to Boston for game eight. Once again, Bill Dinneen was masterful, sending the first eleven batters
back to the dugout without a hit. He allowed Wagner a hit in the fourth inning, but Wagner died on base. Boston, meanwhile,
racked up two runs that same inning, and then added another in the sixth.

The Pirates were still scoreless when they came to bat in the top of the ninth. The first two batters flied out, bringing
up Wagner. Two pitches later, the count was 0 and 2.

A third strike would end the game and the Series. A hit would keep things alive for the Pirates. An article in the next day's
Boston Post
tells what happened next:

“Slowly [pitcher Bill Dinneen] gathered himself up for the effort, slowly he swung his arms above his head. Then the ball
shot away like a flash toward the plate where the great Wagner stood, muscles drawn tense waiting for it. The big batsman's
mighty shoulders heaved … as he swung his bat with every ounce of power in his body, but the dull thud of the ball, as it
nestled in Criger's waiting mitt, told the story.”

With that final strike, the Boston Red Sox won the first-ever World Series. There was no World Series in 1904 due to ongoing
tension between the NL and the AL. But in 1905, the two organizations officially adopted the World Series as baseball's championship.
That year, and the years that followed, the World Series saw play by some of the sport's best-known athletes. Cy Young, Honus
Wagner, Ty Cobb,
Christy Mathewson, Rube Marquard, Frank Baker, Babe Adams, and their talented teammates all delivered outstanding performances
that contributed to their teams' victories and helped the World Series become a world-class sporting event.

But even the most skilled athletes and teams have off days. The 1912 World Series proved that.

That year, the New York Giants faced the Boston Red Sox. The Giants had had a stellar year, with a final record of 103-48.
The Sox were even better, posting 105 wins and 47 losses, a season record that went unmatched until 1931.

Strong pitching was a big reason for the two teams' successes. The Giants' Christy Mathewson won 23 games that season, and
teammate Rube Marquard won 26, including an amazing 19 in a row. Rookie Jeff Tesreau led the league with an ERA of 1.96. Boston's
staff wasn't as deep, but it boasted the rocket arm of twenty-two-year-old “Smokey Joe” Wood. Smokey Joe — who got his nickname
after a teammate observed that his fastball “sure could smoke 'em!” — had won 34 games, 10 of which were shutouts.

Game one was played at the Polo Grounds in New York on October 8. Tesreau, jittery in front of such a large and vocal crowd,
walked the first batter. Then he settled down and got the next three out. Smokey Joe retired the Giants without giving up
a hit. The second inning went scoreless for both teams, too, but in the bottom of the third, Red Murray belted out a single
that gave the Giants a 2–0 lead.

That's how the score stayed until the top of the sixth. Then, with one out and no one on base, Boston slugger Tris Speaker
approached the plate. Tesreau toed the rubber and threw.

Crack!
Speaker blasted a line drive to left center field.

Outfielder Fred Snodgrass moved to make the catch. So did Josh Devore. A moment later, Devore stepped aside. Snodgrass lifted
his glove.

Bloop!
The ball glanced off Snodgrass's glove and bounced away! What should have been an easy out was instead a stand-up triple.
And when Duffy Lewis sent a grounder to second, Speaker raced home to give Boston its first run.

The Sox added three more runs in the top of the
seventh to go ahead 4–2. That was where the score remained until the bottom of the ninth.

Smokey Joe was still on the mound for Boston, but he was looking tired. He got one runner out but then gave up two singles
and a double. With the score now 4–3 and runners on second and third, the Giants just needed a solid hit to take the game.

They didn't get it. Smokey Joe blasted his fastball by the next batter for his tenth strikeout of the game. He kept things
tense by working the next batter, Doc Crandall, to a 3–2 count. Then, on the next pitch, Crandall swung — and missed. Wood
had his eleventh strikeout and the Red Sox had their first win of the Series!

New York hoped to tie the Series in Boston the next day. But after going eleven innings, the match was called on account of
darkness and ended in a 6–6 tie.

Darkness played a part in game three as well, but in a different way. The score was New York 2, Boston 1, in the bottom of
the ninth. Boston had two outs and runners on second and third when Hick Cady socked a high fly ball into deep center field.
The runners on second and third charged home. The Sox won the game 3–2.

Or did they? What few people realized was that Josh Devore had caught Cady's hit for the game-ending third out! Devore had
all but disappeared into darkness when he made the catch, and then, confident the out had been noted, he'd trotted off the
field into the clubhouse. The final score was actually 2–1!

The Series was knotted at a game apiece. By the end of game three, it was 2–1 Boston, thanks to Smokey Joe and his eight strikeouts.
Boston's lead was sweetened to 3–1 the following game, despite the best efforts of Christy Mathewson, who gave up only five
hits. Those five were enough for the Sox to push across two runs, however, one better than the Giants.

But the next game, New York fought back and racked up five runs in the first inning! Although those were the only runs the
Giants would get, they were enough to give them the victory.

Game six was played in Boston. As usual, the stands were full of Red Sox fans — too full, as it turned out. When the Royal
Rooters, Boston's most
faithful and intense fans, entered the park, they discovered that their usual seats were already occupied. Somehow, duplicate
tickets had been sold.

The angry Rooters burst onto the field to protest. It took more than half an hour for order to be restored. During that time,
Smokey Joe Wood sat on the bench. When the game finally started, his pitching arm was so cold that he gave up six runs in
the first inning! The Giants took the game 11–4 to tie the Series at three games each.

The deciding game took place on Wednesday, October 16, at Fenway Park. Mathewson was pitching for the Giants. Hugh Bedient,
a young but skilled pitcher, was on the mound for the Red Sox. The two had last battled in game five, with Bedient emerging
as the winning pitcher. Whether he could best Mathewson again was anybody's guess.

Neither team scored in the first two innings. Then, in the third, Bedient walked leadoff batter Josh Devore, bringing up Red
Murray. Murray blasted a drive toward left center field. Tris Speaker rushed back to make the catch but missed, putting the
socre at Giants 1, Red Sox 0.

The Giants nearly scored again in the sixth inning,
when Larry Doyle slugged the ball to right center field. It looked like a surefire home run until outfielder Harry Hooper
hurled himself over a low wall and snagged the ball out of the air.

The score was still 1–0 when Jake Stahl of the Red Sox came up to bat. There was one out. Stahl rapped a short fly ball to
left center field. The Giants' shortstop, left fielder, and center fielder all headed toward it, gloves outstretched. But
somehow, none of them made the catch! The ball fell to the ground, and Stahl was safe on second.

Mathewson appeared rattled by the flubbed play, for he walked the next batter to put runners at first and second. He worked
pinch hitter Olaf Henriksen to a full count, and then threw a fadeaway pitch.

Pow!
Henriksen connected with a searing blast past third base. Stahl scored and the game was tied.

The score was still 1–1 at the end of the ninth, forcing the game into extra innings.

The Giants took the lead in the top of the tenth, when Murray reached home after Speaker missed a pickup. The next batter,
Chief Meyers, then blazed a line drive right at Wood, who had been brought in to help Boston to a win. Wood nabbed the ball
with
his pitching hand and threw Meyers out at first to end the inning.

Unfortunately, the catch injured Smokey Joe's hand. He took a seat on the bench and pinch hitter Clyde Engle took his turn
at bat. Engle was a decent hitter, but not great. He connected for a floater toward center field, an easy out.

Fred Snodgrass held up his glove to catch the ball — and missed! Engle was safe at second.

Mathewson walked the next batter, Steve Yerkes. When Speaker popped up a foul between home and first, the second out — and
possibly a game-ending double play — looked in the bag.

First baseman Fred Merkle, catcher Chief Meyers, and Mathewson all rushed for the catch. Merkle was closest, but for some
reason, Mathewson bellowed for Meyers to take it. Meyers dove — and missed.

“That's gonna cost you this ball game!” Speaker yelled gleefully as he headed back to the plate. He backed up his bold words
with a line drive to right. Engle scored, Yerkes went to third, and Speaker stood grinning at second. It was a tied game,
and there were still two outs to go.

Mathewson walked the next batter to load the
bases. Then Larry Gardner came up to the plate with one intention in mind: to hit the ball far enough so that even if it was
caught, Yerkes could tag up and beat the throw home.

Mathewson threw. Gardner connected. The ball flew toward right field. Devore got under it — and caught it!

Yerkes took off from third as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Devore hurled the ball to Meyers. Meyers stretched out his
glove. The ball came fast, but Yerkes came faster. He hit the dirt in front of home plate and slid in under Meyers' glove!
The Red Sox had their winning run — and their second World Series championship!

The
New York Times
would later report that the tenth inning of game eight was “the most stirring finish of a world championship in the history
of baseball.” Fortunately for baseball fans, there would be many more such finishes in the decades to come.

CHAPTER TWO
1920s

The Giants returned to the World Series in 1913, hoping this time to come out on top. They didn't. The Philadelphia Athletics
beat them four games to one. The following year, the Boston Braves swept the A's in four straight games. The Red Sox, led
by the pitching and batting skills of a young Babe Ruth, were victorious in 1915 and 1916, and again in 1918. In 1917, the
White Sox took the championship away from the Giants. All these Series had memorable plays, but it was the 1919 World Series
that found a place in the history books — for all the wrong reasons.

From 1914 to 1918, many countries, including the United States, were embroiled in World War I. Peace was finally declared
at the end of 1918 and with it a
return to life's normal routines. For many, that routine included baseball and the World Series.

That year, the Chicago White Sox were the heavy favorites to win the newly expanded, best-of-nine Series. Their opponents,
the Cincinnati Reds, were a talented team but nowhere near as strong as the Sox. Yet to the amazement of many, the Chicago
squad lost to Cincinnati, five games to three!

The reason for the stunning upset was revealed a year later. Several of the White Sox players, it turned out, had been paid
by gamblers to throw the Series. The scandal rocked the baseball world; the disgraced players were banned from the sport and
the team became forever known as the Black Sox.

Fortunately, the World Series of the early 1920s did much to restore baseball's good reputation. And in 1924, fans witnessed
one of the best competitions the sport had yet seen.