1912 World Series: Game 1

A century ago today the 1912 World Series began.  At the time it was considered the greatest World Series ever played and even today it is usually ranked as one of the top five.  Four of the games were decided by one run, another ended in a tie, two went into extra innings and the final game turned on one of the most famous plays in baseball history.  In the 1913 edition of Spalding's Official Baseball Guide, John B Forster wrote:

"No individual, whether player, manager, owner, critic or spectator, who went through the world’s series of 1912 ever will forget it. There never was another like it. Years may elapse before there shall be a similar series . . . "

It pitted two teams that had dominated their leagues from start to finish in the regular season - the New York Giants (103-48) and the Boston Red Sox (105-47).  We've previously covered two events of the 1912 regular season - Ty Cobb's exploration of the New York Yankees fan base (see Take Me Out Of The Ballgame) and the famed Joe Wood-Walter Johnson pitching duel (see Smoky Joe Versus The Big Train).  We'll wrap up the season with a game by game review of the series.

The Giants strength was in their infield (both offense and defense), Chief Meyers (C), Fred Merkle (1B), Larry Doyle (2B), Art Fletcher (SS), Buck Herzog (3B) and the pitching staff led by Christy Mathewson (23-12), Rube Marquand (26-11), who had won 19 straight decisions that season and rookie Jeff Tesreau (17-7).  The renowned John McGraw was the manager.

The Red Sox relied on an outstanding defensive outfield featuring Tris Speaker, Duffy Lewis and Harry Hooper.  Offensively they were led by Speaker, a .383 hitter who also led the league with 10 homers, and third-baseman Larry Gardner.  Smoky Joe Wood won 34 games during the season and was backed by two other 20 game winners, Buck O'Brien and Hugh Bedient.  Jake Stahl, who also played first base, was the Red Sox manager.(Jake Stahl)

Game 1 was at the Giant's stadium, The Polo Grounds.  The photo below was taken at that game.


McGraw startled Giants fans by starting Jeff Tesreau instead of Christy Mathewson.  McGraw wanted to hold out Mathewson until the second game in front of the hostile fans at Fenway where he thought the veteran Mathewson could better handle the pressure.

For five innings his strategy worked as Tesreau held the Red Sox hitless and the Giants moved out to a 2-0 lead.  Then in the 6th, Tris Speaker tripled after Giants outfielders Fred Snodgrass and Josh Devore failed to call for a fly ball.  Speaker scored on a grounder.  The Sox added three more in the 7th after the Giants second baseman muffed a potential inning ending double play.

The Sox carried a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth.  The Giants scored one run and had runners on second and third with one out.  A seemingly tired Smoky Joe Wood rallied and struck out the last two batters (giving him 11 for the day), leaving the Sox with a 4-3 victory and a 1-0 Series lead.


Box score from Baseball-reference.com

 Tuesday, October 8, 1912 at Polo Grounds V (New York Giants)

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    Boston Red Sox               0  0  0    0  0  1    3  0  0     4  6  1
    New York Giants              0  0  2    0  0  0    0  0  1     3  8  1

    PITCHERS: BOS - Wood
              NYG - Tesreau, Crandall (8)

               WP - Smoky Joe Wood
        LP - Jeff Tesreau
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: BOS - none
              NYG - none

  ATTENDANCE: 35,730