Shoeless Joe Jackson, despite being involved in the 1919 World Series scandal (Although there is evidence both ways), actually won a Fall Classic. His great rival Ty Cobb wasn't so lucky in his three consecutive trips to the postseason from 1907 to 1909.
Cobb, in his first season playing over 100 games in '07, wound up in the World Series with the Detroit Tigers vs. the Chicago Cubs. However, they sort of didn't show up. The Tigers failed to win a game.
It looked like they would in game one, as they overcame and early 1-0 lead by the home team. Detroit scored three times in the top of the eighth. Chicago went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame. But in the bottom of the ninth, they loaded the bases on a hit, a hit by pitch and an error. There was one out. Detroit got the second out on a grounder that narrowed the margin to 3-2. But now, all the Tigers needed was one more out to steal game one on the road. They did not get it, alas.
The next batter was Del Howard. Bill Donovan, the Tigers' pitcher, fanned him. But the ball wasn't caught! It continued on to the backstop. Poor Boss Schmidt, the Detroit catcher, was charged with an error. He stopped an attempted theft of home by Johnny Evers to end the inning, but Detroit could not regain the lead. The National Leaguers also failed to score from there, and the contest was ruled a tie as darkness prevented play following the twelve inning.
The Cubs eventually took advantage of the reprieve and gave Ty Cobb's team no chance to win the remaining four games. Ty hit only .200. In 1908, he recovered to hit .368. And having failed to collect even a single RBI the year before, Ty knocked home four runs. But, it was a Fall Classic rematch against Chicago with the same result. Actually, Detroit managed to win a game this time. But again, it was over in just five games.
It would be Pittsburgh that faced Detroit in 1909. More accuratley, it was Ty Cobb vs. Honus Wagner. Wagner's team won in seven games. Cobb had his moments, stealing two bases early, and knocking home five runs this time. But Wagner outhit him .333 to .231, and collected six RBIs himself. Cobb was 0-3 in World Series play. Although only 22 years old at the time, The Georgia Peach had played his last Fall Classic. How about his rival?
Well, Joe Jackson arrived in the bigs in 1908, the year that Cobb played in his second World Series. Joe, however, was not a regular at the major leagues until 1911, losing out narrowly to Cobb in a tight race for the batting title that year. Cobb hit .420. Jackson, .408. Jackson lead the league in on-base-percentage, though, .468.
Joe had to wait until 1917 to play in the postseason. It was Jackson's seventh full season. Although he batted .304, he didn't seem to do much as his Chicago White Sox beat the New York Giants. In the six game Fall Classic, Joe collected seven hits. But three of them were in game two and three more were in the fifth contest. He also got only two RBIs, both in the second game.
So ironically, two seasons later, in the ill-fated 1919 World Series, Jackson improved on his performance. He scored the only run the Sox scored in the opening contest, but it didn't matter. It was all Cincinnati, who were appearing in their first World Series ever.
In game two, Jackson collected three hits. He was stranded at third twice and second once. His team, with six other players (Not Eddie Cicotte, who pitched in game one) playing that were suspected in the fix, lost 4-2. Amazingly enough, they outhit the Cincinnati 10-4. But now it was off to Chicago, with the White Sox down 2-0 in the best-of-nine affair.
Chicago won game three, 3-0. Joe singled and eventually scored in the bottom of the second. It was not all fine and good with Jackson this game, however. The next time he reached, on his second hit of the game, he was out at second on an attempted steal.
Jackson doubled his first time up in the fourth game, as Chicago was looking to square things. Chicago loaded the bases that inning, the bottom of the second. They failed to score as Jackson made it ninety feet away from tallying.
In his next plate appearance, Jackson was credited with a single. That moved Eddie Collins to third. The hit, however, was later changed to an error. The White Sox didn't get hits in the game. When it was over, Chicago had only three, and Cincinnati had a 3-0 win on the road.
And the next game seemed to spell the end as the Reds won 5-0. Heading home, and needing only one more win, it seemed all over. Playing like they wanted it right there right, now, the Reds stormed out of the gates. The fiftth game at home saw the home team build a quick 4-0 lead. Jackson was doing nothing. He was 0-2. Chicago finally scored in the top of the fourth. Jackson singled home Buck Weaver the next inning. It was crucial as Chicago scored twice more to tie it. Jackson later beat out a bunt in the top of the tenth. It did knock home a run, nor did Jackson score that frame. His team, however, did get that fifth, tie-breaking run. And the White Sox held on in the bottom of the inning to win, 5-4.
The White Sox then made it look easy in game six, again in Cincinnati. The Reds played like they didn't want it any more. It didn't make any sense that they should lose, but Cincinnati sure did. Committing four errors to Chicago's one, Eddie Cicotte finally won a game (After two losses). Jackson singled in the top of the first to get it going as Shano Collins scored. Two innings later, Joe collected another RBI. The Reds got only one run on seven hits. It was a 4-1 win by Chicago when it was all over. Cincy still led the 1919 Fall Classic, four games to three.
The Reds went back to the White Sox home in Comiskey Park. And they wanted it. They were up 5-0 before Joe Jackson hit a home run in the bottom of the third. Undeterred by that, the Reds went on another rampage and scored five more runs to make it a 10-1 ballgame after seven and a half innings. Chicago rose again, however. Jackson doubled home two runs to make it 10-3, and the White Sox kept it going. Chick Gandil hit a triple to score Jackson. 10-4. The Reds made their second error of the game, leading to Gandil scoring. 10-5. The inning finally ended as Ray Schalk grounded out to second. Cincinnati failed to score in the bottom of the frame.
And Chicago again was looking for more in the ninth. Eddie Murphy was hit by a pitch. Eddie Collins singled him to second with one out. Buck Weaver flied out, Murphy taking third. Collins, with Jackson up, swiped second. Two runners in scoring position. But Jackson grounded out to end the 1919 World Series.
References
Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York, 2005. Print.
Frommer, Harvey. Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball. Dallas, TX: Taylor Pub., 1992. Print.
Gropman, Donald. Say It Ain't So, Joe!: The True Story of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Revised Edition. New York, NY: Carol Pub. Group, 1992. Print.
Kalb, Elliott. The 25 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All Time: Ranking Sports' Most Notorious Fixes, Cover-ups, and Scandals. New York: Skyhorse Pub., 2007. Print.
Kendall, Brian. Great Moments in Canadian Baseball. Toronto, Ont., Canada: Lester Pub., 1995. Print.
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.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
Cobb, in his first season playing over 100 games in '07, wound up in the World Series with the Detroit Tigers vs. the Chicago Cubs. However, they sort of didn't show up. The Tigers failed to win a game.
It looked like they would in game one, as they overcame and early 1-0 lead by the home team. Detroit scored three times in the top of the eighth. Chicago went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame. But in the bottom of the ninth, they loaded the bases on a hit, a hit by pitch and an error. There was one out. Detroit got the second out on a grounder that narrowed the margin to 3-2. But now, all the Tigers needed was one more out to steal game one on the road. They did not get it, alas.
The next batter was Del Howard. Bill Donovan, the Tigers' pitcher, fanned him. But the ball wasn't caught! It continued on to the backstop. Poor Boss Schmidt, the Detroit catcher, was charged with an error. He stopped an attempted theft of home by Johnny Evers to end the inning, but Detroit could not regain the lead. The National Leaguers also failed to score from there, and the contest was ruled a tie as darkness prevented play following the twelve inning.
The Cubs eventually took advantage of the reprieve and gave Ty Cobb's team no chance to win the remaining four games. Ty hit only .200. In 1908, he recovered to hit .368. And having failed to collect even a single RBI the year before, Ty knocked home four runs. But, it was a Fall Classic rematch against Chicago with the same result. Actually, Detroit managed to win a game this time. But again, it was over in just five games.
It would be Pittsburgh that faced Detroit in 1909. More accuratley, it was Ty Cobb vs. Honus Wagner. Wagner's team won in seven games. Cobb had his moments, stealing two bases early, and knocking home five runs this time. But Wagner outhit him .333 to .231, and collected six RBIs himself. Cobb was 0-3 in World Series play. Although only 22 years old at the time, The Georgia Peach had played his last Fall Classic. How about his rival?
Well, Joe Jackson arrived in the bigs in 1908, the year that Cobb played in his second World Series. Joe, however, was not a regular at the major leagues until 1911, losing out narrowly to Cobb in a tight race for the batting title that year. Cobb hit .420. Jackson, .408. Jackson lead the league in on-base-percentage, though, .468.
Joe had to wait until 1917 to play in the postseason. It was Jackson's seventh full season. Although he batted .304, he didn't seem to do much as his Chicago White Sox beat the New York Giants. In the six game Fall Classic, Joe collected seven hits. But three of them were in game two and three more were in the fifth contest. He also got only two RBIs, both in the second game.
So ironically, two seasons later, in the ill-fated 1919 World Series, Jackson improved on his performance. He scored the only run the Sox scored in the opening contest, but it didn't matter. It was all Cincinnati, who were appearing in their first World Series ever.
In game two, Jackson collected three hits. He was stranded at third twice and second once. His team, with six other players (Not Eddie Cicotte, who pitched in game one) playing that were suspected in the fix, lost 4-2. Amazingly enough, they outhit the Cincinnati 10-4. But now it was off to Chicago, with the White Sox down 2-0 in the best-of-nine affair.
Chicago won game three, 3-0. Joe singled and eventually scored in the bottom of the second. It was not all fine and good with Jackson this game, however. The next time he reached, on his second hit of the game, he was out at second on an attempted steal.
Jackson doubled his first time up in the fourth game, as Chicago was looking to square things. Chicago loaded the bases that inning, the bottom of the second. They failed to score as Jackson made it ninety feet away from tallying.
In his next plate appearance, Jackson was credited with a single. That moved Eddie Collins to third. The hit, however, was later changed to an error. The White Sox didn't get hits in the game. When it was over, Chicago had only three, and Cincinnati had a 3-0 win on the road.
And the next game seemed to spell the end as the Reds won 5-0. Heading home, and needing only one more win, it seemed all over. Playing like they wanted it right there right, now, the Reds stormed out of the gates. The fiftth game at home saw the home team build a quick 4-0 lead. Jackson was doing nothing. He was 0-2. Chicago finally scored in the top of the fourth. Jackson singled home Buck Weaver the next inning. It was crucial as Chicago scored twice more to tie it. Jackson later beat out a bunt in the top of the tenth. It did knock home a run, nor did Jackson score that frame. His team, however, did get that fifth, tie-breaking run. And the White Sox held on in the bottom of the inning to win, 5-4.
The White Sox then made it look easy in game six, again in Cincinnati. The Reds played like they didn't want it any more. It didn't make any sense that they should lose, but Cincinnati sure did. Committing four errors to Chicago's one, Eddie Cicotte finally won a game (After two losses). Jackson singled in the top of the first to get it going as Shano Collins scored. Two innings later, Joe collected another RBI. The Reds got only one run on seven hits. It was a 4-1 win by Chicago when it was all over. Cincy still led the 1919 Fall Classic, four games to three.
The Reds went back to the White Sox home in Comiskey Park. And they wanted it. They were up 5-0 before Joe Jackson hit a home run in the bottom of the third. Undeterred by that, the Reds went on another rampage and scored five more runs to make it a 10-1 ballgame after seven and a half innings. Chicago rose again, however. Jackson doubled home two runs to make it 10-3, and the White Sox kept it going. Chick Gandil hit a triple to score Jackson. 10-4. The Reds made their second error of the game, leading to Gandil scoring. 10-5. The inning finally ended as Ray Schalk grounded out to second. Cincinnati failed to score in the bottom of the frame.
And Chicago again was looking for more in the ninth. Eddie Murphy was hit by a pitch. Eddie Collins singled him to second with one out. Buck Weaver flied out, Murphy taking third. Collins, with Jackson up, swiped second. Two runners in scoring position. But Jackson grounded out to end the 1919 World Series.
References
Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York, 2005. Print.
Frommer, Harvey. Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball. Dallas, TX: Taylor Pub., 1992. Print.
Gropman, Donald. Say It Ain't So, Joe!: The True Story of Shoeless Joe Jackson. Revised Edition. New York, NY: Carol Pub. Group, 1992. Print.
Kalb, Elliott. The 25 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All Time: Ranking Sports' Most Notorious Fixes, Cover-ups, and Scandals. New York: Skyhorse Pub., 2007. Print.
Kendall, Brian. Great Moments in Canadian Baseball. Toronto, Ont., Canada: Lester Pub., 1995. Print.
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.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
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