Thursday, February 18, 2016

Common Denominator

"Led the league in home runs four years in a row. Teammates on the world champion 1911 Philadelphia Athletics. Each with 5 RBIs in the six games."

That would be Frank, "Home Run" Baker and Harry Davis. But it was Davis who beat the Baker to the oven! Davis was a red-hot hitting long ball machine. For his time. Modest totals by today's standards. And when George Herman Ruth showed up a few seasons after Baker, it was a whole new ballgame in the long ball department.

So back to Davis. Harry had been a relic from the late nineteenth century, playing with the old New York Giants in his first season in 1895. But it wasn't until a few years after the turn of the century that he really began to knock the cover off the ball.

Not that he didn't in 1901. He did not play in the bigs the year before, but, now on the Philadelphia A's, Davis smacked 8 home runs that season. From there, his total was only six, six, the next two seasons. But from 1904 to 1907, he led the American League in round-trippers, reaching a high of 12 in 1906.

Davis was only 32 in '06, from there, he began to decline. In 1911, he batted just .197 and hit only one long ball. That he only got into 57 games was a sign his time was up. Nonetheless, Davis was there on the postseason roster as Philly faced the might New York Giants.

His World Series experience up to that point had been of little contribution. In 1905, the Giants had handled the Athletics in five games via Chirsty Mathewson's three shutouts. Davis hit .200. When the A's won five years later, Harry hit .353 in another series that went five games. This time, Philadelphia won over the Chicago Cubs. But, Davis drove in only two runs. He managed two RBIs. In the 1905 Fall Classic, Davis had zero RBIs. 1911, however, would be different. For Davis, his old friends from 1905 were waiting for him in the grand finale. Waiting to win again. But this was one Athletics' team to be reckoned with.

One of the differences in 1911 was the A's third basemen, Frank Baker. Baker topped the junior circut in home runs with 11 that year. This was the first of four straight years that Frank would be atop the home run mountain in the American League. And somehow, even the presence of the great Mathewson seemed to offer little hope that the Giants could win the Fall Classic that year.

But the great ones rise to the challenge.

Christy went out to the hill in game one against Chief Bender like he had something to prove. Well, he didn't have to prove anything to anyone with a long memory. However, he left a lasting impression on the A's again.

Pitching at home at the Polo Grounds, Matty went the distance and out-pitched Bender 2-1 despite an RBI from Davis. In game two, there was no Mathewson on the hill for the Giants. But the Athletics had to win. They did just that despite more terrific pitching from the Giants. The A's got six hits in game one. In game two at home, against New York's Rube Marquard (And reliever Doc Crandall), they got only four. One of them was a home run by Baker which accounted for two runs. Eddie Plank, Philadelphia's starter, gave up only one run, meaning Baker did the job for him.

It was back to New York and back to face Mathewson in game three. Matty was terrific again. This time, though, Baker added him to the list of long ball victims. Davis also drove home a run. The A's needed extras to prevail 3-2, and were now up 2-1 in the Fall Classic of 1911.

Rain postponed the World Series a week, meaning the home team at Shibe Park would have to face The Immortal Mathewson. The Chief got the better of him in this crucial game. Baker and Davis did not hit a home run, but each again picked up an RBI. And the Philadelphia A's were a game away from bringing it all home! Baker had four RBIs at this point, Davis, three.

Rube Oldring got into the home run trot for the visiting Athletics in game five, as they looked for the kill. But the Giants found a way to survive, winning 4-3 in extra innings at home. New York didn't want to lose it at home.

But the A's did win it after all. And in decisive fashion. The final score in the series-clinching game six was 13-2 as Bender picked up his second win of this Fall Classic. Oh, the RBI total of our two boys? Baker picked up one for a total of five. Davis picked up # 4 and 5 in this game. That made them the co-leaders in RBIs in the 1911 Fall Classic.

From there, though, the two men's careers went in opposite paths. Davis only made a few spot appearances in the next six years, never hitting another home run or returning to the World Seires. His final career total of 75 has been bested many times since. Baker, just 25 years old in '11, was just getting going. He reached double figures in home runs again in 1912, 1913, 1916, and finally, 1919. He played in one last World Series with Philly in 1914. His last two Fall Classics were in 1921 and 1922 with the Yankees, and some chap named Ruth. Baker finished with 96 home runs and the nickname, "Home Run."


References

Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Nemec, David, and Scott Flatow. Great Baseball Feats, Facts & Firsts. Toronto: Signet (Penguin Group), 2010.

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

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. 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.

Retrosheet. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.  <www.retrosheet.org>

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 18 Feb. 2016 .

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