Although he lost game five of 1919, 2-0, Eddie Cicotte faced just three batters in all but one inning. He was still one of eight players banned for life after the 1920 season. And this game was lost by Cicotte himself despite those five hits.
The Chicago White Sox, his team, had lost the first two games in Cincinnati against the Reds. Cicotte was routed 9-1 in the first contest. After also losing game two, there was a change of scenery. Chicago then won game three, 3-0. The home team was 3-3 in games on their own turf. That was, sadly, about to change.
Morrie Rath was the game's first batter and singled. But a double play and a groundout ended that. Jimmy Ring, the Reds starter, didn't need a double play in the bottom of the first. He retired the side in order. Cicotte went out in the top of the second and did the same.
The White Sox then looked to score first. Joe Jackson led off the bottom of the second with a double. Happy Felsch got the bunt down, and now there was a runner on third with less than two outs. Chick Gandil popped out, however. Swede Risberg walked. As did Ray Schalk. Ray was the only base runner who was not a suspected or proven fixer. But it did not matter at this point to Ring. The bases were loaded.
But Cicotte himself could only ground out. And the pitcher had some problems of his own in the top of the third. Ivy Wingo, who'd end up the leading hitter in the 1919 World Series (Not Joe Jackson), singled. Foolishly, he tried to steal second. He ended up out as the inning ended. The cather nailed the other catcher to end that!
Again Chicago looked to have it. Eddie Collins was hit by a pitch. Two down and Jackson's grounder is muffed. That put runners on the corners for Felsch. But Happy Days were not about to arrive as Felsch grounded out.
Six batters batted in the fourth inning. All six were sent back to the dugout. Retired. Quite a performance from both pitchers so far, you must say. Cicotte the better. But how about his fielding. Ah!
Cicotte fielded Pat Duncan's grounder in the fifth with one out. But instead of two outs, Eddie Cicotte threw wide of Chick Gandil at first for a two-base error. A single to left was fielded by Jackson, who cut lose a throw home. That's where the White Sox pitcher made his second error. Mishandling the throw, Cicotte made another big mistake. Duncan scored as a result. A double then scored a second Red tally. Both runs were unearned, but Cicotte had written his own obituary with those two bad plays. The pitchr did, however, get the next two batters out, stranding a runner at third in the process.
To tell you the truth, Cincy wasn't about to get another man home. But what about the Chicago firepower? There was something really wrong here. One run in the first game. Just two (Both unearned, coincidentally) in the second game despite ten hits (To Cincinnati's four). Just three runs and numerous missed opportunities via three times caught stealing in game three. Even there, the great White Sox team managed just seven hits. How many here?
Well, just Jackson's double in the bottom of the second. Gandil singled with one down in the last of the sixth for the second Chicago hit of the afternoon. Cicotte, by this point, was back to amazing on the hill. 1-2-3 sixth. 1-2-3 seventh. But down 2-0, somehow. Well, whose fault were those two runs?
So it was sort of deserved.
So one on in the bottom of the sixth. Time for Chicago to make a move. But there were two down, and Risberg at the dish. He was retired on a fly to right.
The seventh inning, the top of it, was an easy inning for Cicotte as mentioned earlier. Buck Weaver, who was supposedly at some of the meetings between the gamblers and the players, made a fine play on a grounder for the second out. So the inning could have been a tad longer. Ray Schalk, catching Cicotte, took one for the team to start the bottom of the inning. However, whatever pain he felt from getting hit by a pitch must have felt even worse when the next three batters went down.
Schalk watched as Cicotte fielded Greasy Neal's grounder to start the eighth. Would he make the play? Yes. Wingo, a tough out, singled. That brought Cicotte's mound opponent, Ring, to the dish. Ring hit into an inning-ending double play.
Weaver got under one to start the bottom of the eighth. Would it make it? Rath, the second basemen, raced for it and made the catch, right about where the foul line was along first. Jackson fanned. Felsch kept the inning going with the third Chicago hit, however. Gandil fanned.
Rath fouled to Schalk in foul territory. Jake Daubert flied to Jackson. Heinie Groth, as Rath had, fouled to Schalk. Another 1-2-3 inning for Cicotte, who was the third scheduled batter as Chicago batted for the last time.
Risberg grounded back to the mound. Jimmy Ring was showing Eddie Cicotte how you pitch and field. But the pitching battle, at least, was fairly close. It was just the fielding of the two men that had made the difference.
Schalk, who caught the who game, didn't get hit this time. But he did his job. His walk brought the tying run to the plate. Not Cicotte, of course. Eddie Murphy hit for him. Not the actor, of course.
Mruphy flied to Edd Roush in centre. Roush, along with Daubert, Duncan, Groth and Ring had failed to get a hit off Cicotte in this game. But with the putout, Roush had recorded the second out of the frame. And when Nemo Leibold lined to Morrie Rath at third, the game was over. Cincinnati had game four, 2-0.
Cicotte surprisingly won game seven, 4-1. Now, normally, that's a good thing. Here, though, not as much as you would think. It was best-of-nine, and Chicago had found themselves down 4-1 after five games. Wins in games six and seven did not win the 1919 World Series for Chicago. It was still 4-3, Cincinnati. A 10-5 win by the Reds in game eight ended it.
References
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. PP. 88-91.
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. PP. 76-81.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 23 Aug. 2016.
Ward, Geoffrey C., et al. Baseball: An Illustrated History. Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.
The Chicago White Sox, his team, had lost the first two games in Cincinnati against the Reds. Cicotte was routed 9-1 in the first contest. After also losing game two, there was a change of scenery. Chicago then won game three, 3-0. The home team was 3-3 in games on their own turf. That was, sadly, about to change.
Morrie Rath was the game's first batter and singled. But a double play and a groundout ended that. Jimmy Ring, the Reds starter, didn't need a double play in the bottom of the first. He retired the side in order. Cicotte went out in the top of the second and did the same.
The White Sox then looked to score first. Joe Jackson led off the bottom of the second with a double. Happy Felsch got the bunt down, and now there was a runner on third with less than two outs. Chick Gandil popped out, however. Swede Risberg walked. As did Ray Schalk. Ray was the only base runner who was not a suspected or proven fixer. But it did not matter at this point to Ring. The bases were loaded.
But Cicotte himself could only ground out. And the pitcher had some problems of his own in the top of the third. Ivy Wingo, who'd end up the leading hitter in the 1919 World Series (Not Joe Jackson), singled. Foolishly, he tried to steal second. He ended up out as the inning ended. The cather nailed the other catcher to end that!
Again Chicago looked to have it. Eddie Collins was hit by a pitch. Two down and Jackson's grounder is muffed. That put runners on the corners for Felsch. But Happy Days were not about to arrive as Felsch grounded out.
Six batters batted in the fourth inning. All six were sent back to the dugout. Retired. Quite a performance from both pitchers so far, you must say. Cicotte the better. But how about his fielding. Ah!
Cicotte fielded Pat Duncan's grounder in the fifth with one out. But instead of two outs, Eddie Cicotte threw wide of Chick Gandil at first for a two-base error. A single to left was fielded by Jackson, who cut lose a throw home. That's where the White Sox pitcher made his second error. Mishandling the throw, Cicotte made another big mistake. Duncan scored as a result. A double then scored a second Red tally. Both runs were unearned, but Cicotte had written his own obituary with those two bad plays. The pitchr did, however, get the next two batters out, stranding a runner at third in the process.
To tell you the truth, Cincy wasn't about to get another man home. But what about the Chicago firepower? There was something really wrong here. One run in the first game. Just two (Both unearned, coincidentally) in the second game despite ten hits (To Cincinnati's four). Just three runs and numerous missed opportunities via three times caught stealing in game three. Even there, the great White Sox team managed just seven hits. How many here?
Well, just Jackson's double in the bottom of the second. Gandil singled with one down in the last of the sixth for the second Chicago hit of the afternoon. Cicotte, by this point, was back to amazing on the hill. 1-2-3 sixth. 1-2-3 seventh. But down 2-0, somehow. Well, whose fault were those two runs?
So it was sort of deserved.
So one on in the bottom of the sixth. Time for Chicago to make a move. But there were two down, and Risberg at the dish. He was retired on a fly to right.
The seventh inning, the top of it, was an easy inning for Cicotte as mentioned earlier. Buck Weaver, who was supposedly at some of the meetings between the gamblers and the players, made a fine play on a grounder for the second out. So the inning could have been a tad longer. Ray Schalk, catching Cicotte, took one for the team to start the bottom of the inning. However, whatever pain he felt from getting hit by a pitch must have felt even worse when the next three batters went down.
Schalk watched as Cicotte fielded Greasy Neal's grounder to start the eighth. Would he make the play? Yes. Wingo, a tough out, singled. That brought Cicotte's mound opponent, Ring, to the dish. Ring hit into an inning-ending double play.
Weaver got under one to start the bottom of the eighth. Would it make it? Rath, the second basemen, raced for it and made the catch, right about where the foul line was along first. Jackson fanned. Felsch kept the inning going with the third Chicago hit, however. Gandil fanned.
Rath fouled to Schalk in foul territory. Jake Daubert flied to Jackson. Heinie Groth, as Rath had, fouled to Schalk. Another 1-2-3 inning for Cicotte, who was the third scheduled batter as Chicago batted for the last time.
Risberg grounded back to the mound. Jimmy Ring was showing Eddie Cicotte how you pitch and field. But the pitching battle, at least, was fairly close. It was just the fielding of the two men that had made the difference.
Schalk, who caught the who game, didn't get hit this time. But he did his job. His walk brought the tying run to the plate. Not Cicotte, of course. Eddie Murphy hit for him. Not the actor, of course.
Mruphy flied to Edd Roush in centre. Roush, along with Daubert, Duncan, Groth and Ring had failed to get a hit off Cicotte in this game. But with the putout, Roush had recorded the second out of the frame. And when Nemo Leibold lined to Morrie Rath at third, the game was over. Cincinnati had game four, 2-0.
Cicotte surprisingly won game seven, 4-1. Now, normally, that's a good thing. Here, though, not as much as you would think. It was best-of-nine, and Chicago had found themselves down 4-1 after five games. Wins in games six and seven did not win the 1919 World Series for Chicago. It was still 4-3, Cincinnati. A 10-5 win by the Reds in game eight ended it.
References
Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
2005. Print.
Frommer,
Harvey. Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball. Dallas, TX: Taylor Pub., 1992.
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. PP. 88-91.
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. PP. 76-81.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 23 Aug. 2016.
Ward, Geoffrey C., et al. Baseball: An Illustrated History. Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.
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