1912 World Series: Game 8

The sour atmosphere from Game 7 lingers on at the start of the game.  The Boston morning papers savage the Red Sox management for their treatment of the Royal Rooters, who boycott the game.  The articles, the public boycott by the Rooters (who protest outside Fenway), the rumors of unsavory conduct in prior games and the loss of the last (Royal Rooters) two games mean that only 17,000 fans showed up to watch the final game of the 1912 seasons.

But what a game they see!

Christy Mathewson is making his third start for the Giants and Hugh Bedient, who pitched so splendidly in Game 5, takes the mound for the home team.

The Giants score first in the 3rd when Josh Devore walks and then a routine double play grounder by  Doyle is misplayed by Larry Gardner, his third error of the game (the Sox make five errors today).  Gardner recovers in time to throw out Doyle at first but Devore ends up at second.  Red Murray then strokes a double to drive in Devore.

The score remains 1-0 until the bottom of the 7th when Jake Stahl singles and Wagner walks.  After Hick Cady pops out, Olaf Henriksen pinch hits for Bedient.  Matty runs the count to 0-2 and then throws Henriksen (a left-handed batter) a low outside curve which fools Olaf but he still gets enough of his bat on it to hit a soft liner down the third base line which ends up as a double scoring Stahl, tying the game.

Smoky Joe Wood takes the mound, replacing Hugh Bedient.  Joe lacks his best stuff but manages to retire the Giants without a run in the 8th and 9th.  Matty does the same for his part and we go to extra innings.

In the top of the 10th, Red Murray doubles for the second time today and Fred Merkle follows with a clutch single giving the Giants a 2-1 lead.  It looks like Wood will be a loser for the second straight day.

We're now in the bottom of the tenth.  The great Matty is on the mound and the Giants are confident of victory.  Clyde Engle leads off the inning by hitting a lazy fly to center field.  Fred Snodgrass parks himself under the ball which nestles in his glove and then falls out.  Engle ends up on second.  Snodgrass would say later he dropped the ball "because of over-eagerness, or over-confidence, or carelessness".(Fred Snodgrass)

The next batter, Harry Hooper, smashes a hard liner to center which Snodgrass chases down, making a lunging grab to prevent an extra base hit.  Matty then walks Steve Yerkes.  He later writes:

"I was guilty of a mistake in the 10th inning myself, which proved costly.  I passed Yerkes trying to get him to bat at bad balls . . . It was not because I lacked control."

Tris Speaker, the most dangerous Sox hitter, strides to the plate.  Matty gets him to hit an easy foul pop up near 1st base.  The first baseman (Merkle), catcher (Chief Meyers) and Matty all converge on the ball.  Merkle is closest to the ball and the slow-footed Meyers is furthest away but Matty calls for him to catch it.  Meyers can't get there in time and the ball drops untouched to the ground.  The three players walk together towards the mound as Matty makes "angry gestures".  He's clearly rattled by the turn of events and given another chance, Speaker smacks a single, scoring Engle, and the game is tied.

McGraw directs that an intentional pass be given to Duffy Lewis, loading the bases and setting up a force out at each base.  The strategy doesn't work.  Larry Gardner lifts a fly to the outfield which is caught by Devore but it's deep enough to score Yerkes. 

The next day, Tim Murnane describes the scene in the Boston Globe:

"Words were never invented that could fully describe the outburst of insane enthusiasm that went thundering around Fenway Park yesterday afternoon as Steve Yerkes crossed the rubber with the winning run in the 10th inning.  Men hugged each other, women became hysterical, youths threw their caps in the air, one man in the bleachers fell in a dead faint, strong hearts lost a beat and started off again at double time."                                                                                                           (Larry Gardner)

"Mathewson, the baseball genius, was heartbroken and tears rolled down his sun-burned cheeks as he was consoled by his fellow-players."

"In its frenzy the crowd could only see the victors, and yet the defeated National League champions were no less worth of appreciation, considered the game fight they put up from first to last in the most remarkable series of games ever played."

The Red Sox win the game and the World Series.  It's the first time a team has come from behind when on the verge of elimination in the final inning and it does not happen again until the Kansas City Royals rally to beat the St Louis Cardinals in the sixth game of the 1985 World Series.(Boston Globe, Oct 17, 1912)

Christy Mathewson starts three games and loses two without a win despite posting an ERA of 0.94 (all six Sox runs in Game 2 are unearned) while Joe Wood appears in four games and has a record of 3-1 with an ERA of 4.50.

In 1913, Matty, nearing the end of a career that would see him win 373 games, leads the Giants back to the World Series where they lose again, this time to the Philadelphia Athletics.  He retires in 1916 as perhaps the player most admired by the fans and his fellow players (basically the anti-Ty Cobb, see Take Me Out Of The Ballgame).  Serving in WWI he is accidentally exposed to mustard gas during a training exercise and is in ill-health for the rest of his short life.  Sitting in the press box during the 1919 World Series he helps Hugh Fullerton identify suspicious plays by the White Sox who are throwing that year's Series.  He dies in 1925 at Saranac Lake, NY where he has gone to try to regain his health.
 
For 22 year old Joe Wood, the future looks limitless.  Including the Series he's won 37 games. But the next spring he breaks his hand trying to field a ball, hurts his arm when trying to rush his recovery and is never the same again.  Unlike Matty, he leads a long life, becoming the baseball coach at Yale for two decades and dying in 1985 at the age of 95 (see Smoky Joe Versus The Big Train).

The machinations of Jimmy McAleer do not go unnoticed in the American League front office where its powerful president, Ban Johnson, is already feuding with the Red Sox owner.  Johnson finally pressures McAleer to sell the Sox at the end of the 1913 season.

Fred Snodgrass takes the public blame for the loss even though the biggest mistake of the inning was the misplay on Speaker's foul ball for which Mathewson is to blame.  It was Matty's responsibility to call for a fielder to take the pop up and it should have been Merkle's ball.  The New York Times article on the game carries the banner headlines:

"SOX CHAMPIONS ON MUFFED FLY"

"SNODGRASS DROPS EASY BALL, COSTING TEAMMATES $29,514"

The story starts with these words:

"Write in the pages of world series baseball history the name of Snodgrass.  Write it large and black.  Not as hero; truly not."

After retiring from baseball, Fred Snodgrass returns to his native California and becomes a successful rancher, banker, city councilman and mayor in Oxnard.  But he is never allowed to forget his "muff". 

In 1940 Snodgrass relates (see SABR Baseball Biography Project):

“Hardly a day in my life, hardly an hour, that in some manner or other the dropping of that fly doesn’t come up, even after 30 years. On the street, in my store, at my home . . . it’s all the same. They might choke up before they ask me and they hesitate–but they always ask.”

When Snodgrass dies in 1974 at the age of 86 the headline on the NY Times obituary reads:

"Fred Snodgrass, 86, Dead.  Ball Player Muffed 1912 Fly."

Game Summary from Baseball-reference.com

Wednesday, October 16, 1912 at Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9   10     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -    -     -  -  -
    New York Giants              0  0  1    0  0  0    0  0  0    1     2  9  2
    Boston Red Sox               0  0  0    0  0  0    1  0  0    2     3  8  4

    PITCHERS: NYG - Mathewson
              BOS - Bedient, Wood (8)

               WP - Smoky Joe Wood
        LP - Christy Mathewson
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: NYG - none
              BOS - none

  ATTENDANCE: 17,034

1912 World Series: Game 7

We're back in Fenway.  Smoky Joe Wood is starting on three days rest and more than 32,000 fans are jammed into the ballpark anticipating victory and a World Series championship for the Red Sox.

The late edition of the Boston Evening Transcript tells the sad story.  Under the heading "The Slaughter of Wood" readers see:

"Smoky Joe failed to smoke"

Wood gives up six runs in the top of the first and is pulled from the game.  The Giants go on to win 11-4 and the series is tied and going to an unprecedented eighth game.  A coin flip determines the game will be played at Fenway tomorrow.

Like Game 6, the real story is off the field.

Rumors circulate that in order to recoup their gambling losses from the Game 6 and get revenge on their owner, a number of Red Sox players bet against themselves and throw the game.  It is alleged that Joe Wood's brother lost a lot of money betting on the Sox in Game 6 and sees an opportunity to get even.  It is impossible to say whether the Sox really threw the game but it was widely suspected at the time.

Another theory was offered in the October 17 edition of The New York Times:

"It was said that Wood on the train coming from New York on Monday had accused O'Brian of deliberately giving his game to the Giants and that they had engaged in a fight which accounted for the inability of Wood to win his third victory." 

In those days gambling was intertwined with baseball and the link was not severed until the scandal of the 1919 Black Sox became public in 1920.  Both at the time, and in retrospect, questions have been raised about the integrity of several of the Series during the 1910s.

Another school of thought is that Wood just had a bad day and that the incident described below contributed to his poor showing.

Red Sox management made a decision that further soured the atmosphere in Boston.  McAleer now had his opportunity for a big payday and tickets were sold on a first come first served basis.  But he made a big mistake according to Rob Neyer:

"But the club, through stupidity or arrogance, neglected to inform its most passionate fans, the Royal Rooters, of that fact. The Rooters, a contingent of approximately five hundred led by Mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, [grandfather of John F Kennedy] habitually arrived at games in parade formation, marching on to the field and into their reserved seats. But on this day the seats were already occupied, and the Rooters were herded into a standing room area. They took this badly. A riot ensued. Mounted police were eventually summoned to contain the infuriated cranks.

 All this occurred as Wood tried to warm up. He stopped and retreated to the dugout, resuming half an hour later. Fred Lieb would claim that Wood's arm stiffened in the interval. Maybe so, for he was buffeted about like a bush leaguer, aided by a defense that butchered every ball it came in contact with."
 

The repercussions from this incident would reverberate in Game 8.

Game Summary from Baseball-reference.com

  Tuesday, October 15, 1912 at Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    New York Giants              6  1  0    0  0  2    1  0  1    11 16  4
    Boston Red Sox               0  1  0    0  0  0    2  1  0     4  9  2

    PITCHERS: NYG - Tesreau
              BOS - Wood, Hall (2)

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

   HOME RUNS: NYG - Doyle
              BOS - Gardner

  ATTENDANCE: 32,694

1912 World Series: Game 6

This is the first "easy" game of the series.  The starters are a rematch from Game 3 - Rube Marquand and Buck O'Brien.

It's over in the bottom of the first.  O'Brien retires two of the first three Giants and there is a runner on first.  (Buck O'Brien)

And then:

- Murray singles.  Runners at first and third.
- O'Brien balks.  Runner on third goes home and runner on first to second.
- Fred Merkle doubles driving in another run.
- Herzog doubles driving in Merkle.
- Chief Meyers singles.  Runners on first and third.
- The Giants pull a double steal.  Buck Herzog is safe at home and Meyers ends up on third when the throw to second is wild. 
- Art Fletcher lays down a surprise bunt along the third base line and beats it out with Meyers scoring on the play.

Order is finally restored when O'Brien picks Fletcher off first base.

Giants lead 5-0.  O'Brien does not come out to pitch the second inning.

The Sox pick up two runs in the third and for a moment look like they'll make it a contest in the 4th.  Stahl singles and then Heine Wagner hits a drive to the deepest part of centerfield in the Polo Grounds (483 feet) but Fred Snodgrass runs it down making a spectacular catch.

The Giants win 5-2.  The Sox still lead the Series 3-2 with one tie.  We go back to Fenway for Game 7.

BUT the real story of this game is off the field.  The details are still shrouded in mystery a century later and they impact not just this game but very likely Game 7.  It is impossible to tell what the truth is but I'll lay out what a lot of informed observers thought at the time.

On the prior day, as the Sox took the train to New York, the players were overflowing with confidence that they'd wrap up the series the next day according to Fred Lieb (one of the best sportswriters of that age and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame).  Joe Wood would make his third start of the Series and even though he would pitch on two days rest again he'd dominated the Giants so far.  But Wood was not to be the starter.

The Red Sox owner was Jimmy McAleer, a former ballplayer and not independently wealthy.  In those days the players got their share of World Series revenue based on the first four games.  The owners received 35% of the revenues for those games with the rest going to the players.  After the first four games the owners got 90% of the receipts.  McAleer saw the chance to get the series back to Boston for another game and a big box office.  He ordered manager Jake Stahl to start Buck O'Brien instead of Wood which Stahl did after arguing with his boss.
                                                                                                                       (Stahl & McAleer)
This move, in turn, created a new set of problems:

The Sox players believed that McAleer pulled this for his personal gain.  The players were already upset (on both teams) because after the tie in Game 2 baseball's National Commission ruled that the gate from that game would not be part of the player's share since it was a tie so the players would only get the gate from three games instead of four.

It may also have been that a number of Sox players, confident of victory in Game 6, laid down substantial bets on themselves and ended up losing money.  Certainly Fred Lieb and Tim Murnane (The Boston Globe sportswriter) believed this.

Finally, O'Brien did not know he would be starting until the morning of the game and had gone out drinking the night before after arriving in New York and was heavily hungover.   

So the Red Sox went into the game with a pitcher who felt terrible backed up by a crew of disgruntled players.

They were still disgruntled when they took the train back to Boston that night.


Game Summary from Baseball-reference.com

Monday, October 14, 1912 at Polo Grounds V (New York Giants)

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    Boston Red Sox               0  2  0    0  0  0    0  0  0     2  7  2
    New York Giants              5  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  x     5 11  1

    PITCHERS: BOS - O'Brien, Collins (2)
              NYG - Marquard

               WP - Rube Marquard
        LP - Buck O'Brien
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: BOS - none
              NYG - none

1912 World Series: Game 5

It is Hugh Bedient's day to shine.

From The Boston Globe, October 13, 1912

Jake Stahl surprises the crowd at Fenway by starting Bedient, instead of Ray Collins who started game two.  The word is that the Sox were reluctant to pitch Hugh because of his wildness. [NOTE:  Bedient only walked 55 and threw two wild pitches in 231 innings that year so I can't pin down the source for this story].  McGraw counters with Christy Mathewson, throwing on two days rest.  They proceed to pitch a joint masterpiece.(Bedient)

But it doesn't start out that way.  Bedient walks the first batter on four pitches before getting out of the inning.  In the bottom of the first, Christy gives up singles to two of the first three Sox batters putting runners on 1st and 2nd.  Duffy Lewis hits a hard grounder down the left field line which looks like it could be a double but Buck Herzog knocks it down behind third base and forces out the lead Sox runner at the bag.   Mathewson strikes out Gardner to end the threat.

Then, in the bottom of the third, Harry Hooper hits a triple down the left field line off of Mathewson.  On the next pitch, Steve Yerkes hits a triple to deep center scoring Hooper.  On the next pitch, Speaker hits a grounder which goes through Larry Doyle's leg scoring Yerkes.  Mathewson settles down and retires the last 17 Sox batters in the game but the Giants now trail 2-0.

New York attempts a comeback in the 7th.  Fred Merkle hits a ground-rule double and then scores on an error in the outfield but Bedient shuts down any further Giants rally.

The game ends in a 2-1 Red Sox win.  Bedient gives up three hits and three walks.  Mathewson allows five hits and doesn't walk a batter.

It's all over in one hour and forty three minutes.  The Sox now lead three games to one and look on the verge of wrapping up the series.

After five consecutive days with games, tomorrow is a day off.  We'll resume on the 14th back at the Polo Grounds.

Saturday, October 12, 1912 at Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)

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

    PITCHERS: NYG - Mathewson
              BOS - Bedient

               WP - Hugh Bedient
        LP - Christy Mathewson
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: NYG - none
              BOS - none

  ATTENDANCE: 34,683

1912 World Series: Game 4

We're back at The Polo Grounds for today's game.  Both teams took the 6PM train out of Boston after yesterday's game ended arriving in New York well before midnight.

Yesterday, Tris Speaker received the 1912 version of the MVP for the American League.  Today it's the turn of Larry Doyle, the Giants second baseman, to receive the Chalmers Award as the most valuable player of the National League.

The pitching matchup is the same as for Game 1 - Joe Wood for the Sox and Jeff Tesreau for the Giants.  Both are pitching on only two days rest.

It's another close game with the key sequence occurring in the bottom of the 7th.

But at the start it is looking like Tesreau is in trouble.  The first two Sox batters reach base and the rookie looks shaky but he gets out of danger when Speaker grounds into a double play.

The Boston club strikes in the second when Gardner triples and scores on a wild pitch.

In the 4th the Sox add another run when, with two out and a runner on third, Hick Cady hits a ground ball past the diving Giants shortstop, Art Fletcher.  

(Across the nation, fans gathered to watch the pitch by pitch progress of each Series game on outdoor electric-mechanical scoreboards.  These are fans in Washington watching the progress of one of the series games courtesy of a board operated by the Washington Post)  Photo from Shorpy Archives

Entering the bottom of the 7th, the Sox lead 2-0 and Smoky Joe Wood is dominating, striking out six in the first six innings.  Buck Herzog singles and then, with two out, Art Fletcher doubles scoring Herzog and bringing the Giants within a run of tying the game.(Art Fletcher, John McGraw & Christy Mathewson)

Moose McCormick steps to the plate, pinch hitting for Tesreau.  He hits a ball up the middle which looks like it will reach the outfield but the diving Red Sox second baseman, Steve Yerkes, slows it down by getting a glove on it behind the base.  Nonetheless, John McGraw coaching third base, waves Fletcher around third towards home.  Yerkes makes a good throw to Hick Cady and Fletcher is clearly going to be out but with McGraw screaming at him, Fletcher slams into the catcher knocking him down.  Hick holds onto the ball for the final out of the inning and the Sox still lead 2-1.                                              (Hick Cady)

Cady goes after Fletcher and players swarm onto the field but order is restored.

In the top of the 9th, the Sox add an insurance run when Joe Wood hits an RBI single.

Red Sox wins 3-1 and lead the Series 2-1 with one tie.  Wood has won two games, striking out 19.

Now it's back to catch the night train to Boston for another game in Fenway tomorrow afternoon.

Game Summary from Baseball-reference.com

 Friday, October 11, 1912 at Polo Grounds V (New York Giants)

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

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

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

   HOME RUNS: BOS - none
              NYG - none

  ATTENDANCE: 36,502

1912 World Series: Game 3

Game 3 is the tale of a half-inning.

We're still at Fenway Park and before the game starts, Tris Speaker receives the Chalmers Award as the American League's most valuable player for the regular season.

There's another big crowd to see Rube Marquand (Giants) and Buck O'Brien (Red Sox) face off.  We need to bring the name Rube back into baseball.  In the early 1900s we had plenty of Rubes to go along with Marquand, like Bressler and Waddell.

The Giants score runs in the 2nd and 5th and going into the bottom of the 9th hold a 2-0 lead.  Rube  has been masterful, giving up only four hits.(Rube Marquand)

Tris Speaker pops out to start the 9th and things are looking good for the New York club.  Then Duffy Lewis hits a grounder to Merkle, who's behind first base.  Instead of running to the bag, Merkle waits and then flips the ball to Marquand who is running to cover but he's too slow and Lewis beats him to the base.

Next up is Gardner who doubles down the 1st base line scoring Lewis from first.  Many observers feel the 3rd base coach made a mistake stopping Gardner at second, believing he could have easily made it to third.  It's now a 2-1 ballgame.

Chick Stahl grounds to Marquand who catches Gardner who has incautiously tried to advance and is caught between second and third.  It's now two out with a runner on 1st. Stahl takes himself out of the game and inserts Olaf Henriksen as a pinch runner.

The next batter, Heinie Wagner, hits a grounder to shortstop for what looks like the third out but Merkle drops the throw at first base with Henriksen moving to third on the miscue.  Then Wagner steals second putting runners on 2nd and 3rd.

Hick Cady steps to the plate.  Cady is the second string Boston catcher who's batting because Stahl has earlier removed Bill Carrigan for a pinch hitter.  Hick laces a hard liner to right field where Josh Devore is playing.  It's over Devore's head and he turns to run after it, miscalculating its trajectory but then recovering to catch the ball with his bare hand.(Josh Devore)

Game over.  Giants win.  No sweat.

Series now tied 1-1 with one tie.

Game summary from Baseball-reference.com

(NOTE:  In addition to Baseball-reference.com, other major sources for these posts are Boston Globe, Seamheads.com., Wikipedia along with other sources used for some specific details)

Thursday, October 10, 1912 at Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)

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

    PITCHERS: NYG - Marquard
              BOS - O'Brien, Bedient (9)

               WP - Rube Marquard
        LP - Buck O'Brien
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: NYG - none
              BOS - none

  ATTENDANCE: 34,624

1912 World Series: Game 2

"In one of the most desperately fought games ever witnessed on a ball field, the champion teams of Boston and New York had scored six runs each, with the 11th inning over, when Umpire “Silk” O’Loughlin called off hostilities at Fenway Park yesterday, as it was growing quite dark." (TH Murnane, Boston Globe)

The second game of the World Series was the first series game played in Fenway Park which opened in April 1912.  This photo is of the left field grandstand (which today is covered).  You can also see the first version of Fenway's wall with fan sitting IN FRONT of it.

What was most surprising was seeing the Giants ace, Christy Mathewson, give up six runs.  As hard hit as he was the Globe still paid tribute to his skills:

 "Never were two teams more evenly matched. The veteran Christy Mathewson, for years the greatest pitcher in the game, with much cunning still left and with his nerve as strong as ever, went through the entire game, being always an inspiration to his fellow-players.

 Every Boston man was forced to hit the ball, not one being passed or hit by pitched ball. Although hit hard at times, Mathewson’s confidence was always supreme, showing a master mind, with his speed somewhat diminished, but his brain as clear as ever."

Less unexpected was the performance of young Ray Collins, the Sox pitcher who was "far from effective" according to the Globe.  Unusually for this era of baseball, the teams combined for 11 extra base hits.

The Giants fell quickly behind in the bottom of the 1st when two errors (including one by Mathewson) resulted in three Red Sox runs. The Giants got back a run in the second and the teams exchanged tallies in the middle inning.

Entering the top of the 8th the Sox still led by 4-2.  Then things started to unravel.  With two runners on and one out, Murray doubled for the Giants driving in a run.  The next batter, Buck Herzog, lifted a pop foul which was dropped by Bill Carrigan, the Boston catcher.  Given a reprieve, Herzog doubled on the next pitch driving in two runs and giving the Giants the lead for the first time.

The Sox scored a run in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game and when both teams failed to score in the 9th, the contest went into extra innings.  

Leading off the 10th, Fred Merkle (who's "boner" cost the Giants a crucial game in 1908 - see Pennant Races) hit a long triple to center field and then scored on a sacrifice fly.  It looked like the Giants had won.  And then in the bottom of the 10th, Tris Speaker hit what was described by the Globe as "one of the longest hits ever seen on the field".  Speaker was trying to make it a home run and would have been cleanly out at the plate but the Giants catcher dropped the ball and the game was tied again.(Tris Speaker)

The play generated some controversy.  According to one account, Speaker was interfered with by three of the Giants infielders during his trip around the bases.  According to the Globe it was the Giants third baseman, Buck Herzog, who was at fault. 

"Speaker hit to center, and as he turned third Herzog got in front of the runner and clearly blocked him off. It was a clear case of vicious interference, and it slightly injured the Boston man, who walked very lame after that.Umpire Rigler failed to take notice of the play, and O’Loughlin passed it up." (Buck Herzog)

 After Speaker was called safe he went out to third base to argue with Herzog and the two had to be separated.

The next batter, Duffy Lewis, hit another long drive to centerfield which missed being a home run by about two feet.  With Lewis know on second as the potential winning run, Mathewson regained his composure and retired the side.  

In the top of the 11th, two Giants baserunners were cut down while attempting to steal by Carrigan and the Sox failed to score in the bottom of the inning after which the umpires halted the game.

Murnane of the Globe captured the general feeling at the end of the game:

"Both teams had struggled as never before in their careers. More than 30,000 persons had seen a game never to be forgotten, and all were perfectly satisfied to see the contest called.

Both the Giants and the Red Sox displayed remarkable grit, coming across with timely drives that sent a thrill through the crowd, as first one team and then the other tied the score or took the lead."

 Box score from Baseball-reference.com

Wednesday, October 9, 1912 at Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9   10 11     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -     -  -  -
    New York Giants              0  1  0    1  0  0    0  3  0    1  0     6 11  5
    Boston Red Sox               3  0  0    0  1  0    0  1  0    1  0     6 10  1

    PITCHERS: NYG - Mathewson
              BOS - Collins, Hall (8), Bedient (11)

               WP - none
        LP - none
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: NYG - none
              BOS - none

  ATTENDANCE: 30,148

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