[10/6/12] Relative calm of final week enshrouds makeup chaos

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

ALLEGHENY NATIONAL FOREST, Pa. (Sunday, Oct. 6, 1912) — The regular season of major league baseball drew to a close for most teams this weekend; none of the four division winners or runners up played one another.

The Cleveland Indians took the White Sox to the penultimate day, losing Saturday as the White Sox won to clinch the division.

“Final” Regular Season Standings

National League East: New York (103-48) over Philadelphia (73-79)
National League West: Pittsburgh (93-58) leads Chicago (91-59)
American League East: Boston (105-47) over Washington (91-61)
American League West: Chicago (78-76) over Cleveland (75-78)

National League Slate Not Over

Neither Pittsburgh nor Chicago completed their 154-game schedule during the regular season, with the Cubs missing four games and the Pirates three. Because the margin between the teams, one and a half games, is small enough that finishing the schedule can affect the winner, the Office of the Commissioner has ordered the teams to finish their regular-season schedules.

The two teams are missing a game with each other at Pittsburgh. The Cubs are also short a doubleheader at Philadelphia and a home game against Cincinnati, while the Pirates are missing a doubleheader at New York.

In order to facilitate the most games in the shortest amount of time, each team will begin with its doubleheader on Monday. The Cubs will travel tonight from Chicago to Philadelphia and the Pirates from Cincinnati to New York.

If, after the doubleheaders, the margin between the teams is two games or larger, the playoffs will begin in New York on Wednesday, one day later than planned.

Should additional games be required, the Cubs will play at home against Cincinnati on Tuesday and will travel to Pittsburgh on Wednesday. If 154 games are still not enough, a playoff between the two teams will be hastily arranged beginning Thursday in Chicago.

American League Side Much Simpler

Cleveland’s loss to St. Louis on Saturday clinched the American League West for the Second City’s other side, with the Pale Hose holding a 2½ game margin with all said and done.

In recognition of the chaos unfolding in the senior circuit and with Sunday available for baseball in Chicago, the Office of the Commissioner has announced that the American League championship will not begin until Wednesday. Following games would be played Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Umpires Set For Additional Affairs

Bill Klem and Al Orth will handle the Cubs-Phillies twinbill today. Jim Johnstone and Mal Eason will take the plate and bases, respectively, in New York. Brick Owens would pair with Cy Rigler for the additional game Tuesday, if it is needed.

Klem and Emslie would be the umpiring crew for any and all Cubs-Pirates games, regular season or playoff.

American League Announces Playoff Blues

Tom Connolly and Rip Egan will serve as the impartial arbiters for the American League championship series, matching one of the league’s senior umpires with a playoff debutant.

Connolly, a 15-year veteran, was the league’s primary World Series umpire last season. He has called playoff games in each of the last 11 seasons, including World Series games in 1902, 1903, 1908, 1910 and 1911.

Egan is a seven-year league veteran.

Umpires for the National League championship series will not be set until the close of the regular season.

Upcoming Schedule

Monday, Oct. 7, 1912 – Aug. 26, 2019
Cubs at Phillies, two games, 1 o’clock
Pittsburgh at Giants, two games, 1 o’clock

Tuesday, Oct. 8, 1912 – Aug. 27, 2019
Cincinnati at Cubs, 3 o’clock central time

Wednesday, Oct. 9, 1912 – Aug. 28, 2019
Cubs at Pittsburgh, time to be announced
OR West champion at Giants, 2 o’clock
White Sox at Red Sox, game one, 2 o’clock

Coverage Plans
As the American League series will commence in Boston, the easternmost port of call in the big leagues, it stands to reason that western correspondent Pete Peters will not be there.

Peters will handle the Cubs-Phillies games Monday and the National League tilt Tuesday, while I will be in New York Monday before traveling to Boston.

Please do not ask about the permutations for later in the week. To my friends at the railroad box office, see you sooner or later.

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[10/25/11] New York comes from behind to finish Series sweep

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

NEW YORK (Wednesday, Oct. 25, 1911) — Ready the Canyon of Heroes. Larry Doyle had three hits and Christy Mathewson retired 15 consecutive batters at one point as the New York Giants scored three unanswered runs and broke a tie in the seventh inning to finish a World Series sweep of the Detroit Tigers with a 5-4 win at Brush Stadium.

Art Fletcher was named series MVP after a .531 average in the postseason and Doyle scored the go-ahead run after a seeing-eye single through the left side. Mathewson allowed 9 hits and struck out 4 in 9 innings of work.

The Giants scored first, getting a single from Doyle to drive in Josh Devore with no outs in the first inning, and added another run on John Meyers’ hit in the second inning.

Detroit came back with a vengeance in the third inning, getting infield hits from Davy Jones and Ty Cobb before Sam Crawford plated a run with a single and Jim Delahanty lined a three-run homer to left-center. The jack made it 4-2 after 2½ innings.

But Mathewson went to work, not allowing another hit until the eighth inning, and the Giant offense hunkered down and got to work. Devore cut the hole in half with a solo shot down the right-field line leading off the fifth. A hit batter and a single later, there were runners on the corners with one out: Fred Snodgrass hit into a force play at short but beat the relay to first as Art Fletcher came home with the tying run.

In the seventh, Doyle scored from third on a Red Murray hit: he had singled, stolen second and tagged up on a red Merkle fly ball.

The Tigers did load the bases in the ninth, getting hits from Oscar Stanage and George Moriarty, but were 0 for 2 in their chances to bring the tying run home from third.

Detroit starter George Mullin allowed 13 hits and 5 earned runs with 2 strikeouts in 8 innings. Cobb and Moriarty had 2 hits each.

The win marks the end of the 1911 Playoff of Dreams. Information on the 1912 edition will be posted in due course.

[10/24/11] Merkle’s granny sinks Tigers in 12-3 Game 3 rout

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

NEW YORK (Tuesday, Oct. 24, 1911) — The New York Giants didn’t need a late-inning rally this afternoon, but they got one anyway, scoring four times in each of their last two turns at bat to top the Detroit Tigers 12-3 in game three of the World Series at Brush Stadium.

Red Murray had three hits, including the go-ahead triple in the fourth inning. Four players had two hits apiece and three scored at least two runs. Fred Merkle led all players with five runs batted in after a grand slam in the eighth.

Detroit had 13 hits of its own, led by two-hit showings from Ty Cobb, Jim Delahanty and Oscar Stanage.

The Tigers, who are 1-5 since taking a 2-0 lead in the American League championship series, struck first with singles by Sam Crawford and Delahanty to take a 1-0 lead before the Giants ever batted. Starter Ed Summers did his part as well, retiring the New York offense in order in the first for the first time all series.

The Giants pulled ahead with four straight hits in the fourth as triples by Larry Doyle and Murray bookended singles by Merkle and Fred Snodgrass. They would add another run on back-to-back doubles in the fourth before getting four singles and two walks in the sixth.

Louis Drucke allowed 2 walks and struck out 5 in a 133-pitch complete game for New York. Summers went 6 2/3 innings for Detroit, giving up 10 hits and 8 runs. Clarence Mitchell, Pug Cavet and Ed Willett all threw in relief.

Game four of the series is set for Wednesday afternoon at the same time and place with Detroit’s George Mullin facing New York’s Christy Mathewson in a game one rematch.

 

10’ 4:01

[10/22/11] Giants bludgeon way to 2-0 series lead

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

DETROIT (Sunday, Oct. 22, 1911) — Art Fletcher recorded 4 hits and Larry Doyle had 3 this afternoon as the New York Giants took a 2-0 World Series lead with a 6-4 win over the Detroit Tigers at Bennett Park.

The Giants scored in the first inning before coming back to tie the game with two runs in the third and taking the lead for good with a picket fence of runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Jim Delahanty and Charley O’Leary each finished with two hits for Detroit with Crawford and Cobb each recording triples.

The Giants opened the scoring with three straight hits in the first inning, only to watch Detroit get a triple from Cobb and a double from Crawford to pull ahead 2-1 on Delahanty’s base hit. The hosts opened a 3-1 lead in the second on singles by O’Leary and Davy Jones.

New York, which put a man on base in all nine innings, leveled the score in the fifth inning when Fletcher opened the inning with a single and Doyle followed that with a three-bagger of his own, scoring two batters later on a groundout.

The Giants pulled in front in the fourth, getting a Devlin double and a Josh Devore single, and added an insurance run in the fifth when Fred Merkle tripled in Doyle. A Doyle sacrifice fly made it 6-3 through six innings.

The Tigers had their share of chances in the seventh and eighth innings, loading the bases in the former on a walk, hit batter and error. One force play scored a run, but the next ended the inning in a hole that was, appropriately, 6-4. In the eighth, Oscar Stanage’s single was followed by two force plays and a single but the inning ended on a groundout.

Red Ames went the distance for the win, throwing 146 pitches and allowing 12 hits and 4 runs with 4 strikeouts. Bill Donovan pitched the first 6 innings for Detroit, allowing 6 runs on 11 hits with 5 Ks, before Jack Lively, Ed Lafitte and Ralph Works were enlisted for an inning each.

The teams will be off Monday as they travel to New York, where Brush Stadium will host its first World Series games after being rebuilt earlier this season. First pitch is set for 2 o’clock on Tuesday between Detroit’s Ed Summers and New York’s Louis Drucke.

 

13’ 5:10

[10/21/11] Mathewson strokes winner, strikes out Tigers in opener

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

DETROIT (Saturday, Oct. 21, 1911) — Christy Mathewson pitched 10 innings of 12-hit baseball to get the win and ensured there would be no 11th inning with his bat today in game one of the 1911 World Series at Bennett Park.

Donie Bush laced a two-out, two-run double into the right field corner to tie the game in the ninth inning, but the Tigers could not scratch out another run in the 10th inning and lost 4-3.

Art Fletcher and John Meyers had three hits apiece for the Giants, who recorded at least one hit in every inning. Murray scored three times and Meyers drove in two runs.

Jim Delahanty went 3 for 5 for Detroit and Bush added a pair of hits.

George Mullin started for the Tigers, allowing 11 hits and 3 runs over 9 innings before being lifted for a pinch-runner.

The Giants opened the scoring in the second, getting a double from Red Murray to lead into a Meyers single, before Detroit answered with a Cobb double and a Delahanty base hit in the fourth.

New York worked more one-out magic in the eighth inning when Murray singled and Meyers ripped a triple into left-center field. Devlin squeezed him home for an insurance run two pitches later.

Even down, the Tigers were not out. George Moriarty led off the ninth with a base hit and pinch-hitter Delos Drake moved him to second after legging out a one-out single. Bush doubled two batters later.

With reliever Ed Lafitte on the mound in the 10th, the Giants pushed out an unearned run. Red Murray reached base on a throwing error, prompting manager Hughie Jennings to call for the intentional walk to set up a force play. Art Devlin bunted both runners into scoring position for the inning’s first out.

Mathewson singled through the right side of a drawn-in infield to plate the go-ahead run, then erased the Tigers in order in the 10th. He finished with 4 strikeouts and 3 runs allowed.

Game two of the World Series will be played here at 2 o’clock local time (3 o’clock east coast time) on Sunday afternoon. Louis Drucke will pitch for the Giants against Bill Donovan of the Tigers.

[10/18/11] Tigers need extras but advance to World Series

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

PHILADELPHIA (Wednesday, October 18, 1911) — Donie Bush hit the go-ahead single with two outs in the top of the 10th inning to allow the Detroit Tigers to advance to the World Series with a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park today.

The Tigers got four hits from Ty Cobb, three from Jim Delahanty and two from Bush as they tied the game in the ninth inning and held off Philadelphia in the 10th against the backdrop of a late-afternoon blue-gray October sky. Ed Summers worked into the 10th inning on the mound and Ed Lafitte got the save.

Eddie Collins, Rube Oldring and Bris Lord each had two hits for Philadelphia, which posted four doubles and had Eddie Plank pitch the entire game on the mound.

The Athletics sought to finish their comeback from two games down early, scoring in the first and fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead. Danny Murphy’s sacrifice fly to center opened the scoring and Oldring singled to knock in Lord and double the lead.

Detroit had hits in each of the first five innings before breaking through for the first time in the eighth. Delahanty led off with a single and took second on a wild pitch, allowing him to score on Cobb’s hit.

In the ninth, Oscar Stanage singled and scored on a throwing error to tie the score, with Charley O’Leary’s single providing the conduit between those.

Detroit pulled ahead for the first time in the 10th inning when Delahanty started the inning with a single and Cobb doubled to put both men in scoring position. An intentional walk to Sam Crawford loaded the bases, setting up a double play, and Stanage struck out before Bush singled on a 2-2 pitch.

The Athletics got one run back on Collins’ double and two singles, with Lord driving in the run and moving Frank Baker to second as the tying run, but a flyout by Amos Strunk ended the season.

Summers threw 149 pitches and allowed 10 hits to go with 6 strikeouts while Plank gave up 13 hits, 3 walks and 10 punchouts. Each man threw more than 140 pitches. Plank topped out at 165.

The Tigers will return to Bennett Park now and await the arrival of the New York Giants to begin World Series play. The Fall Classic will start Saturday at 3 o’clock east coast time, which is 2 o’clock in Detroit.

[10/17/11] Giants win pennant again behind Doyle’s eighth-inning blast

BY JOHN JOHNSON / Grand National Tribune

NEW YORK (Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1911) — Larry Doyle homered and Art Fletcher doubled as part of a five-run eighth inning for the New York Giants, who won the pennant in the minimum three games with a come-from-behind 8-7 win over the Chicago Cubs at Brush Stadium.

Doyle drove in three runs and Fletcher two while Frank Schulte went 3 for 4 with a double and a home run on the losing side of the coin. Jim Doyle and Jimmy Sheckard each posted two hits for Chicago.

The Giants took the initial lead with a third-inning run before Schulte’s 3-run homer put the Cubs up 3-1 in the top of the fourth. Chicago would go on to score single runs in the fifth and sixth innings and hang a 2-spot in the seventh for a 7-3 lead at the stretch.

New York had more than enough artillery to answer in the bottom of the eighth, though. John Meyers was hit by a pitch, Art Devlin walked and Al Bridwell singled to load the bases with one out. Josh Devore hit into a force play, beating the relay throw to first to let Meyers score, before Fletcher doubled to bring in Devlin.

Doyle’s three-run fly ball down the right field line made the score 8-7.

The Cubs loaded the bases on a Sheckard single, an error and a walk in the top of the ninth, but Rube Marquard got three flyouts to end the threat.

Red Ames took the win for New York, allowing 10 hits and 4 earned runs with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks in 8 innings. Orlie Weaver started for Chicago and allowed 4 runs in 7.1 frames; Ed Reulbach took the loss and King Cole recorded the final out of the eighth in cleaning up the mess.

With the sweep, New York will have three days off before traveling to either Philadelphia or Detroit to begin the World Series on Saturday. The Giants will host games three, four and five of the Fall Classic next week with exact dates to be determined after the opponent is set.