Sunday, July 19, 2015

World Series: Did You Know?

The Cincinnati Reds of 1919 ended up committing one more error than the White Sox. Or Black Sox. Or whatever.

The White Sox may have not been giving it their all, but the Reds were guilty of some dumb stuff, too. In the first game, it looked like the White Sox bad play payed off as they lost 9-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. For all their bad play, the White Sox commited just one error. Would you believe that Chicago's only run was made possible by an error. The Reds had taken a 1-0 lead after one. In  the top of the second, Joe Jackson of all people, hit a grounder to short. Larry Kopf made a bad throw to first and Joe made it. Would it cost the Reds? Jackson made it all the way to second because of the wild throw, you should know. Not a man out. A sac bunt and there was an out, but Jackson was now on third. Then, in another "Of all people" moments in the 1919 Fall Classic, Chick Gandil drove home Jackson with a single. Chick had to make sure nothing more came of this. The game was tied and Chicago had better not take the lead. Gandil was out on an attempted steal. That proved to be the only run of the game for Chicago, and the Reds ended up with nine. Gandil made the only White Sox error, but it did not figure into the scoring.

In game two, it's as if Chicago did everything to try and tie it up. Not only did they out-hit Cincy, they made two less errors. The White Sox collected ten hits and made only one error, history will show. Joe Jackson had three of those ten.

The Reds made some real dumb mistakes in this game. Had they lost, suspicion might have fallen on the. Slim Sallee did not commit an error on the mound, but in addition to giving up ten hits and two runs, he committed a balk. That was in the top of the sixth. He had just fanned Jackson (The only time Joe was retired), with Buck Weaver on second. Weaver had a nice free pass to third but was subsequently stranded as Happy Felsch flied out to deep centre.

It was 4-0, Reds after six. The White Sox finally broke the shutout in the top of the seventh when Ray Schalk singled home a run. The Reds then made not one, but two throwing errors on the base hit and Schalk scored as well. The lead had been sliced in half. The next inning, Jackson hit the ball to Jake Daubert at first. He stopped the ball, and had to hurray to try and get it to Sallee covering. The throw went wild, and Joe reached second. It was scored a single and an error. Joe was stranded in scoring position for the third time in the game. The game ended 4-2 for the Reds.

The Fall Classic moved to Chicago, where the White Sox got it together and won the third contest 3-0. The White Sox didn't play a perfect game as they were 0-3 in attempted steals. The game's only error was by Red pitcher Ray Fisher. It was bad timing as it was in the bottom of the second. Cincinnati was trying to nail Joe Jackson at centre on a force play. Jackson was not only safe, but he would later score the only run White Sox pitcher Dickie Kerr would need.

The Reds got it all back together the next game, as they won 2-0. Eddie Cicotte made the two errors for Chicago and it cost them the game. The Reds, however, despite a 3-hitter from Hod Eller, made two errors of their own. In the bottom of the third, Jackson came to the dish with a man on second and two outs. It should have been out number three as Jackson hit a grounder to Morrie Rath. But Rath committed an error and the White Sox suddenly had runners on the corners. Both were stranded, however. Another error by Heinie Groh later in the game was the last of the afternoon mistakes by either team.

The Reds won game five, 5-0, and made sure to made no errors. Chicago made three. It was best-of-nine and Cincy needed just one more win. In game six, however, the White Sox won despite making another three errors. Eddie Cicotte got the job done for Chicago in game six as he spun a seven-hitter. The White Sox pounded out ten hits of their own. This was the game of errors from Cincinnati. They made four errors. Right off the bat in the top of the first, as Jackson singled home a run, the Reds had him as he scampered back to first on the single. But the Reds messed that up. The home town team looked bad all game long. Buck Weaver and Jackson both reached on errors in the top of the fifth. Chicago took advantage of it, and pretty much put the game out of reach. The Reds still led, but only four to three. Game eight was back in Chicago.

The Reds couldn't keep from making errors. They made two to Chicago's one. However, by the bottom of the second, it was already 5-0 for Cincinnati. But Ray Schalk was given a reprieve on a pop up behind the plate. He then singled. It did not figure into any scoring.

Schalk himself made the only Chicago error, and he was not in on the fix. But it was a bad time to commit it. Having finally scored a run on a Jackson home run in the bottom of the bottom of the third, the White Sox faded. The Reds tacked on another run of their own in the top of the fifth. When Schalk fielded a bunt by Daubert in the top of the sixth, Ray's throw was wild. The Reds made Chicago pay by touching home three more times. Now up 9-1, the countdown was on. It looked like it was going to be the same score in game one and eight. Start and finish the same.

Chicago started the bottom of the frame with a single from Weaver. Jackson gave it quite a ride to centre, but that was all. The next two men went down. The Reds threatened in the top of the seventh, but nothing came of it. The next inning saw Cincinnati reach double figures in runs. Then, in the bottom of the frame, Chicago came back with offence of their own. The Reds helped the cause, though!

Eddie Collins singled with one out. Buck Weaver doubled. Jackson knocked 'em both in with a double. It was still 10-3, however. Happy Felsch made the second out of the inning, and Cincinnati seemed safe. Chick Gandil hit a triple to score Jackson, however, and the inning was still not over. Swede Risberg  hit a fly ball to short right-centre and that seemed like the third out. Gandil ran home, but it was not going to count if it was caught. However, the ball was dropped by Edd Roush, so the run did count after all. Schalk grounded out to end that. But Chicago had scored four times. As you can see, it was poor Cincinnati fielding that cost them the last two runs. The error by Roush was the Reds' thirteenth of the 1919 World Series. The White Sox would finish with twelve.

The Reds got a single from Morrie Rath to start the ninth, and Daubert moved him to second with a bunt. The next two Cincinnati batters went down. The White Sox came at the Reds again in the bottom of the ninth. Eddie Murphy (Not the actor) was hit by a pitch. With one out, Eddie Collins singled. Buck Weaver flied out to right, but Murphy took third. With Joe Jackson up, Collins swiped second. Another hit here by Jackson and it's 10-7!

But Jackson grounded out, ending the tainted Fall Classic. The Reds sort of got this one gift-wrapped, but it's not as if the White (Black) Sox didn't benefit a little from some bad fielding on the opposition's part, eh?


References


Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Informationhttp://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 19 Jul. 2015.

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