World Series Did You Know?

Rosy Ryan of the Giants is the only relief pitcher to hit a home run. And you have to go all the way back the New York Giants of 1924. While he hit it against Washington in that year's Fall Classic, it was not off Walter Johnson. The Cubs' Travis Wood is the only reliever to go yard is the postseason, in fact.

The Washington Senators of '24 were still looking for their first World Series title, even though they had Johnson. But Walter unable to win the first game, which was decided in extras. The Senators had to pull it out in the bottom of the ninth inning in game two, sending this thing to the Polo Grounds for games three, four and five.

And in game three, it was the home team winning to take a 2-1 Series lead. The big blow was a home run from a relief pitcher.

New York was batting in the bottom of the fourth, and ahead 3-2. The pitcher was Allen Russell. With one out, it was the pitcher's spot due up. The Senators had driven out starter Hugh McQuillan with a two-run uprising in the top of the frame.

But Ryan surprised everyone. He'd gotten the last two in the top half of the fourth. Now, in the bottom half, he took Washington's Allen Russell out of the park to right. 4-2, Giants. Ryan's heroics didn't stop there, as he stopped the Nats cold until they finally scored off him in the top of the eighth. But it was 5-2 for the home side when that happened. Ryan grounded out in the bottom of the frame to restore the three-run cushion.

The Sens still had some surprising fight in them, as they scored a run in the top of the ninth to close to 6-4. Rosy was knocked out of the game, and the rallied continued until Mule Watson got the last two outs, leaving the bases loaded,

Ryan had given up 7 hits over just 4 2/3 innings. Under today's rules, he would have been the winning pitcher. McQuillan got the win despite lasting just 3 2/3 innings. Ryan made just one more appearance in the 1924 World Series. He didn't get a decision in that, either.

Rosy won just 51 games over the course of his short 10 year career. He was not a good pitcher, despite leading the league in ERA in 1922. He's one of many obscure players to accomplish a rare, never duplicated feat in the Fall Classic. But that's what make the World Series so much fun to watch; Even the no-so-good players get a chance to do something truly amazing.


References


Boeck, Scott. "Cubs Reliever Travis Wood Makes History With Playoff Home Run." USA TODAY: Latest World And US News - USATODAY.com. N.p., 9 Oct. 2016. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/10/09/cubs-reliever-travis-wood-makes-history-playoff-home-run/91815888/>

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.

Retrosheet. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.  <www.retrosheet.org>

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

World Series: Did You Know?

Honus Wagner, one of the all-time greats in baseball, was the first batter to end the Fall Classic by fanning. It happens. Ironically, it was the very last out of the very first World Series.

Wagner's Pittsburgh Pirates met the Boston Americans in 1903, the first World Series. The American League team was ready. It was, however, Pittsburgh that beat Boston and Cy Young in game one. But, the Americans stayed around.

By winning game seven, Boston was up four games to three in the best-of-nine finale. However, the Americans still needed one more win, unlike today with it best-of-seven.

Bill Dinneen opposed Deacon Phillipe in game eight. Both pitched very well. It was Dinneen with more K's, however. He allowed just four hits.

Hobe Ferris knocked home all three Boston runs, and that was all the scoring. Pittsburgh tried to get a run themselves in the top of the sixth. Phillipe started the inning himself with a single. The visitors had a promising start. However, a double play erased that. The Pirates, however, got another life as Fred Clarke singled to keep it going. Tommy Leach, however, flied out to left. The next inning saw Boston make an error to give Boston another life, but they could not take advantage of it.

Dinneen was in cruise control in the top of the eighth. How bad was it for Boston? They didn't even get it out of the infield. Pittsburgh was also retired 1-2-3 by Phillipe, who finished the game with an eight-hitter. But time was running out.

Clarke got the ball to the outfield to start the ninth, but it was merely to left fielder Patsy Dougherty. Another fly, this time by Leach, was caught by right fielder Buck Freeman. Honus Wagner was the last batter.

Back in the fourth inning, The Flying Dutchman, had singled Tommy Leach to second with two down. Leach had walked. Nothing came of it. The game was scoreless at the time. Dinneen ended up with just two walks the entire game. He'd also collect seven strikeouts.

And Wagner was the seventh in the ninth. That ended the Fall Classic. Boston had won. The great Wagner finished the World Series with just a .222 batting average and 3 RBIs. Don't feel too bad for him. Sure, his team had lost this first Fall Classic of the decade, but he'd be back.

In 1909, Honus and Pittsburgh faced the Detroit Tigers, who had someone named Ty. As in Ty Cobb. It was Wagner who completely outplayed him. The Pirates made sure to win that one in seven games.


References

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.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 03 Sept. 2016.

World Series: Did You Know?

In the very first Fall Classic, The immortal Cy Young was there in person. To throw out the first pitch of the ball game. Alas, he had to throw a lot in the top of the first. Cy ended up with a long day.
The first World Series featured Cy Young's Boston Americans vs. The Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Americans changed their name to the Red Sox in 1908, but the 1903 World Series would prove to be the only World Series (so far [2014]) to feature a team from Boston and a team from Pittsburgh.

So, Ginger Beaumont stepped in against Young and flied out to centre fielder Chick Stahl. But this was not going to be an omen. And, after the second out, the Pirates woke up.

Tommy Leach hit a triple for the first World Series hit, and Honus Wagner scored him with a single. Wagner then got the first ever World Series steal. Then an error on a grounder put runners on the corners. Cy was in big trouble.

Kitty Bransfield, on first, made a break towards second. And the Americans would be guilty of a throwing error on the play, which allowed Wagner to come home. 2-0, Pittsburgh. Later in the inning, two more runs scored on Jimmy Sebring's single.

Sebring would be a pest all day long for Young. He singled home another run in the top of the third to make it 5-0.  Later, he added a home run to make it 7-0, Pittsburgh. Boston scored three meaningless runs late in the game to make it a bit more respectable.



Boston did recover from this setback, and went on to win this best-of-nine appear, 5-3. But couldn't we have all expected more from Cy? He had to go nine since relief pitchers only came in when the pitcher developed a sore arm or was hurt by other means, back then. Cy Young has the record for most regular season wins. Amazingly enough, he also has the record for most loses, with some chap named Nolan Ryan second. Cy just had to be there when the first Fall Classic was played. But I'm a little stunned he was there to take the loss!


References

Baseball Almanac, Inc. “Baseball Almanac: Baseball History, Baseball Records and Baseball Research. Baseball Almanac, Inc. Web. 10 May 2015, <http://www.baseball-almanac.com/>.

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

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. 10 May. 2015.  <www.retrosheet.org>

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 10 May. 2015.

World Series: Did You Know?

Bucky Veil was the first relief pitcher in the Fall Classic. It was from the very first World Series. Boston vs. Pittsburgh.

After the opening tilt of the 1903 World Series went into the books with two complete games, the second one was different. Veil had only pitched twelve games that season, half the time as a starter.

But after the Pirates' Sam Leever was rocked for two runs in the bottom of the first inning, there was Veil in to try and hold the fort. It would not prove to be an easy task. After getting the first batter out in the bottom of the second, he walked the next batter. Then, he hit one! Was some early Moneyball time about to doom Buck? Fortunately, he got Jimmy Collins and Chick Stahl out to escape that.

But the next two innings were also tough. Veil allowed a single in the bottom of the third. In the fourth, he surrendered another walk, and then Collins singled with two outs. Again, he get Stahl out to end the threat. But things had looked rocky. And the worst was still to come, if you can believe it!

Bucky Freeman led off the bottom of the fifth with a single. When Freddy Parent drew Veil's third walk, things were looking hopeless. A bunt by Candy LaChance not only moved 'em both into scoring position, but Veil could not field it. The bases were loaded for Boston. Not a man out. And still 2-0 for the Americans. The wheels were ready to come off the chariot.

Hobe Ferris hit into a force at home, but the bases were still loaded. Then, it was time for some twin killing! Lou Criger hit a ground ball to second that Claude Ritchey combined with Honus Wagner to turn into an inning-ending double play. But the next inning, Veil would not be so lucky.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, Patsy Dougherty hit a home run to right with one out to make it 3-0, Boston. Collins drew Veil's fourth walk. And he made 'em pay for that by swiping second. Stahn went down on strikes. Bucky Freeman popped up four to first. But the damage had been done. Actually, there was no room for error in this game, period, by Pittsburgh.

Bill Dinneen, with the shutout in his back pocket, had thrown a 1-2-3 top of the 6th. In the 7th inning, he and Veil combined to retire all six batters. Dinneen retired the side in order in the top of the 8th. Veil walked the leadoff man, Criger, to start the bottom of the frame. Dinneen got him to second with a sac bunt. Dougherty did not get this one out of the infield, but he beat out a hit to third. Criger stayed put. Collins ended that by hitting into a double play.

Ed Phelps batted for Veil in the top of the 9th and Dinneen fanned him. Ginger Beaumont popped out to Parent, in short. Parent then took Fred Clarke's roller and threw him out to make it a 3-0 final. Pittsburgh had managed a grand total of three hits this afternoon. None by Wagner.

Dinneen had gone the distance for this masterful performance. While the game was pretty much in the bag from his first pitch, the Pirates did get an pretty good performance from an unlikely source.

Bucky Veil was out of the bigs after the 1904 season (a year where there was no World Series). He never took the mound again in the 1903 Fall Classic, so this was his sole appearance. His major league career was just two short seasons. So, chalk this up an another World Series first by an obscure player!

World Series: Did You Know?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been involved in three Fall Classics where the team up three games to one came home empty handed!

In the very first World Series, the National Leaguers looked poised in ready to take the best-of-nine affair. Taking three of the first four games, the Bucs needed just two more wins. Their opponents, Boston then went on a tear thanks to some great pitching. And they took over the World Series from there! The 1903 Fall Classic would not go to the senior circut!

The immortal Cy Young stopped Pittsburgh in game five with a 6-hitter to pull Boston to within a win of squaring the World Series. Boston exploded for 11 runs in the game.

In game 6, the Americans (as Boston was called then) tied it at 3, as Bill Dinneen won his second game of the Series. Boston only scored six runs this time, but the Pirates were held to just 3 themselves. Now, the first Fall Classic was down to best two-out of-three!

And it would be Boston that took the Series lead in game 7. Cy Young gave up 10 hits and 3 runs, but Boston got 11 hits and 7 runs of their own. Now, one more win and the Americans would have it all! Boston would have two cracks at it and they would take the first opportunity.

Bill Dinneen won game 8 and the Series for Boston with a 4-hit masterpiece. Boston had come all the way back. Long before Boston Strong, came Boston, Young And Restless And Relentless!

The Pirates would find themselves down 3-1 to the Washington Senators in the 1925 World Series. This was only a best-of-seven affair. They would need 3 straight wins. They got them!

In game 5, the Pirates won 6-3, but the score was closer than that. Each team had a 1-run lead. Then tied at 2 in the top of the 7th, Pittsburgh scored twice. Washington got one run back in the bottom of the frame, but would get no closer. It was back to Pittsburgh for game 6.

And game 6 was even closer. The Senators took an early 2-0 lead before the Pirates came back and squared things with a pair in the bottom of the third. A run in the bottom of the 5th by the Bucs concluded the scoring. There would be a winner-take-all game 7 in the 1925 World Series.

But it was Walter Johnson on the hill for the Senators. Washington quickly got ahead 4-0 in their first at-bats. The Pirates clawed back to 4-3 in the bottom of the 3rd. Two more runs by Washington in the top of the 4th seemed to spell the end for the Pirates. But Pittsburgh got one back in the bottom of the 5th and scored five more times to Washington's one to take it, 9-7.

Most recently, it was 1979, and Baltimore looked dangerous to the Pirates. The Orioles pitching staff and bats of the had kept Pittsburgh off-guard for the first four games. Even when the Bucks scored some, like 4 runs in game 3, plus 6 more in game 4, it was the O's that had the last word.

In game 5, the Pirates won at home 7-1. But they trailed 1-0 through 5 before they scored twice in the 6th, two more times in the 7th and finally 3 more times in the 8th. The Pirates were within a game, 3-2. But game 6 was in Baltimore.

And the Orioles' Jim Palmer, as he so often did in the postseason, tied up the Pirates' bats in knots. Through 6 innings, the Pirates were looking down and out. But Pittsburgh's John Candeleria matched Jimmy's 0's with 6 of his own. In the top of the 7th, as had happened in game five, the Pirates scored twice. Then, two more runs in the 8th, plus some fine relief work by Ken Tekulve, and Pittsburgh had squared the Series at 3 with a 4-0 win.

In game 7, the O's struck first as Rich Dauer hit a solo home run in the bottom of the bottom of the third. Again, the Pirates' offence just wasn't there. But again, it would pick up. I guess the Pirates of 1979 just needed a few innings to get the old motor up and going.

Willie Stargell erased that lead and put Pittsburgh up for good with a 2-run dinger in the top of the 6th. Inspired by that blast, the Pirates plated two more runs in the top of the 9th to salt away a 4-1 win. But once again, you wouldn't know who was going to win until the last out. But no matter! The Pirates had again overcome a 3-1 deficit in the World Series again. Now if only they hadn't botched that lead in the first World Series! I wonder how many fans of the Bucks ever bring up blowing a 3-1 lead in '03 when they talk about the comebacks of '25 and '79?

References

Burns, Ken, director. Ken Burns' Baseball. PBS, 1994.

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

Seaver, Tom, and Martin Appel. Great Moments in Baseball. New York, NY: Carol Pub. Group, 1992. Print.

Snyder, John S. World Series!: Great Moments and Dubious Achievements. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1995. Print.

World Series: Did You Know?

Candy LaChance was the first switch hitter in the World Series?

In game 1 of the very first World Series in 1903, he batted in the second inning. The Boston star, faced Decon Phillippe of Pittsburgh Pirates. Decon fanned not only him, but the entire side.

The Americans (not yet the Red Sox) were behind 4-0 at this point, despite the presence of the immortal Cy Young on the hill!

The Pirates weren't through as they added a run in the top of the 3rd and another in the top of the 4th. The game was pretty much over!

In the top of the 7th, Jimmy Sebring's inside-the-park home run made it 7-0 for the Pirates. It was becoming a real laugher.

But a pair of triples in the bottom of the frame brought home a run. LaChance then hit a sacrifice fly to make it 7-2.

In the bottom of the 9th with 2 on and nobody out, LaChance hit another sacrifice fly to score a run. It would prove to be the last run of the game. Phillippe got Duke Farrell, another switcher who was batting for Young, to ground out and end the game.

LaChance ended up hitting just .222 for the Series, but had 2 more RBIs for Boston. Farrell failed to get a hit in two tries, although he ended up with an RBI.

The Pirates also had a switch hitter, Claude Ritchey, but he hit just .148 in this first World Series!

World Series: Did You Know?

In addition to meeting in the very first World Series, The Pirates and Red Sox have something else in common?

Most Batting Titles by Team, AL: Boston, 24

Most Batting Titles by Team, NL: Pittsburgh, 25

I knew about Williams and Yaz, but I was thinking, "Who won it all those times in Pirate territory? Clemente and Stargell all those times? At the same time, who won all those other ones for the Red Sox?

By comparison, the Mets, Astros, Diamondbacks, Brewers, A's (There Oakland chapter) and Devil Rays have combined for zero batting titles in their history.

The Pirate that I seemed to have forgotten about was Honus Wagner. How many batting titles? Try 8. This was in the early days of baseball. His first came right at the turn of the century, 1900.

Paul Waner, whose brother Lloyd was pretty good hitter in his own right, won 2 in the 30s. But here is something interesting: another Pirate won that season whose names escaped me!

Arky Vaughan won the batting crown in 1935. Waner's two were in the surrounding years.

It would be a while before the Pirates had another winner.

I'm surprised to find it wasn't Roberto Clemente! It was actually Dick Groat, who won it in 1960. The Pirates won it all that year.

Clemente won it the next year and 3 more times in the decade.

Dave Parker, who in '91 was on my Jays (and on the Brew Crew above), won back-to-back in 1977 and '78. Another Pirate, Bill Madlock, won 2 in the early 1980s. Then came a dry spell.

Freddie Sanchez won it in 2006. He is the last Pirate to date to do that!

Boston was a little easier. Look in left field. Duffy, Williams and Yaz, Rice. No problem, right?

I was wrong about Duffy. He played for an earlier Boston team in the National League, which is now the Braves!

In an event, the first Red Sox to win the batting crown (solely in Boston) was Jimmy Foxx. Double X himself! It was 1938.

Now, Dale Alexander won it in 1930, but he only played 101 games for the Red Sox that year. He played 23 with the Tigers. Should we count that? Hard to say. A first of sorts!

Williams' 1941 (.406, but actually .411 if you count the 5 sacrifice flies he hit that year) was his first. Then he won it again the next year. In all The Splendid Splinter took home 5 batting titles. How many more would he have won had he not missed 1943-1945 in WW2 about half of 1950 and 1955. Plus 1952 and 1953 were lost to Korea. Even 1954 was not enough, as he broke his collarbone and missed 37 games. Under today's rule, he would have had enough plate appearances to win. But under those rules, he didn't have enough at bats. Williams finished with 386 ABs. He needed 400.

Pete Runnels edged out Williams for the crown in 1960, then won it again 2 years later. 1963 brought us Carl Yastzremski's first of three. But his 1968 one always makes me smile: .301 (batting averages were just that far down that season)

Fred Lynn, despite injuries that plagued him in his career, took home the crown in 1979. Then came a surprise 2 seasons later, as Carney Lansford won it.

Most recently for Boston, Wade Boggs won it five times from 1983 to 1988.

Norman Garciaparra got the Red Sox on the board in the 1990s for batting titles. But it took him until 1999 to do so. But he made sure to win one the next year, making the Red Sox the first team to win batting titles in the 20th and 21st century!

Manny Ramirez and Billy Mueller combined to give Boston another instance of back-to-back batting titles in 2002 and 2003.

Boston has been shutout of the batting titles since, as of this writing. But one World Series 110 years ago, brought together two teams that produced the most batting titles won for each league!