World Series: Did You Know?

Ty Cobb got his first Fall Classic hit in the second tilt of the 1907 Fall Classic. But his Detroit Tigers still lost the game. The Chicago Cubs had a reputation, you see, of getting to the World Series a lot back then, and they weren't about to let a brass young man deny them. Even someone with the highest lifetime batting average of all time.

Having stopped The Georgia Peach from even getting it out of the infield in game one, all the Cubs could show for that was the first World Series tie. A tie for Ty despite not good wood on the ball?

So in game two in Chicago (Playing at the West Side Grounds), the Cubbies sent Jack Pfiester to the hill. Jack The Giant Killer, as he was called. And it seemed like a good choice. That year, he led the National League in ERA with a microscopic 1.15.

Things didn't start out well, however. Detroit put two on with only one out in the top of the first on a pair of singles. Now, here's where guys like Cobb come through, right? Wrong. Ty hit into a double play. That was rough. Things would get rougher for Cobb, later.

Tied1-1 in the top of the fourth, and Cobb led off the inning. The right way! He singled. When Claude Rossman followed suite, it looked like the Tigers had a big inning on their hands. They could take the lead, and get some insurance! They did neither, however!

Cobb made it to third on the play, no doubt pleased with how fast he was. But Rossman decided to try for second. He was gunned out. The next two men were also retired, leaving Ty at third. Ty tied in game one. Ty on third in game two. Tied in game two, as well. Ty, Ty, Ty!

Ty's third at bat ended in failure as he grounded out in the top of the sixth. Detroit needed him now, you see. Chicago had taken a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth, and were running out of time. Time for Ty an co. to take over! But they did not do that.

Davy Jones led off the top of the eighth with a single. He took second as the next batter grounded out. Sam Crawford was out on a fly to right, Jones holding. Cobb came to bat as the tying run. Time to get one for the team, Ty!

Instead, he took one for the team. Pfiester hit him. I don't know if that was a good move. Was it intentional? Odds are, yes! Did Detroit make him pay? No. Jones decided to try for third on an attempted steal. He was gunned out!

Detroit, still down 3-1, got the side out in the bottom of the eighth. In the top of the ninth, it was Rossman, atoning somewhat for his earlier mistake, with a single. However, a double play and a groundout ended the game. Chicago, had drawn first blood in the 2007 Fall Classic.

The Cubs went on to win the next three games for good measure, so Detroit had to settle for the opening game no-decision as their only salvation. Cobb had little to be happy about. Not only did his team fail to win a game, but he ended the five games with just four hits for a batting average of just .200.

The greats do fail. And it's always painful to see them not come through on the big stage. Look at Ted Williams in 1946, along with Stan Musial for that matter. Cobb would have two more cracks at a World Series win, but Ty did no accomplish that. He batted .368 in 1908, but Detroit lost again. When he hit .231 in 1909 and the Tigers again came up short, Cobb had played in his last Fall Classic. He was only 22 years old.

World Series: Did You Know?

Boss Schmidt was the last out of both the 1907 and 1908 Fall Classic. That made him the first player to make the last out of a World Series twice.

Schmidt had a very short career, 1906 to 1911. All were spent with the Detroit Tigers. That made him a teammate of Ty Cobb. But it also made him the last man standing at the plate when the last out of the Fall Classic was recorded. They say it's a lonely feeling up there, at bat.

Boss struggled in the 1907 World Series, hitting just .167 with no RBIs. The Chicago Cubs pitching put the screws to him and Cobb. After an opening game tie, the Cubbies were on their way to a sweep of the Tigers in the next four games.

Instead of going out with a roar, it was the Detroit that went out with a wimper. Game 5, saw Three Finger Brown in dominating form for the Cubs. George Mullin, a 228 game winner lifetime, didn't pitch too badly himself. But it was not enough.

Brown limited the Tigers to just 7 hits. Mullins also held the Cubs to 7 hits. But Chicago scored twice and the Tigers, zero.

The Cubs scored in the top of the 1st and 3rd, and then Mullins settled down. The Tigers had chances to tie it. Mullins himself would have to survive a triple by the Cubs Harry Steinfeldt in the top of the 3rd.

But the Tigers had a glorious opportunity in the bottom of the 4th. Sam Crawford hit a double. Ty Cobb fanned, but a single to center by Claude Rossman sent Crawford to third. Rossman then stole second, but the Tigers stranded both runners!

With 2 outs in the bottom of the 5th, Davy Jones singled and then stole second. Germany Schaefer then grounded out.

With one out in the bottom of the 6th, the immortal Cobb singled. Following the pattern of "single, steal second", Cobb tried that and was out! The ended that threat.

It was actually the Cubs who blew their own brains out in the top of the 7th. With 2 outs, Jimmy Slagle singled. And then he tried to steal second, like Cobb. And like Cobb, he was thrown out at second.

Billy Coughlin singled and stole second in the bottom of the 7th for Detroit. There was nobody out. But, if you can believe it, the Tigers again failed to get the man home!

In the top of the 9th, the Cubs had a chance to put this game out of reach. With 2 away, Frank Schulte connected for a single, which was the last hit off Mullins. But George then walked the next batter. Three Finger Brown then reached on an error. In a blink of an eye, Chicago was looking at the bases loaded! Slagle was the batter, but Mullins got the clutch strikeout. Every boy dreams of coming to bat with the bases loaded and two outs in the World Series. But no one dreams of fanning in that situation!

Detroit was not done in the 9th. Cobb fanned, but Rossman singled. Fred Payne came in to pinch run, but this time, no attempted steal of second base occured. Coughlin then popped out to second. Boss Schmidt was sent up to pinch hit for Jimmy Archer. But he popped up and the Cubs were World Series Champions!

The Tigers were back the next year. And so were the Cubs. The Tigers dropped the first two games before taking the third. Brown then shutout the Tigers in game 4, and Detroit had their back against the wall.

Game 5 was Omar Overall of Chicago against Bill Donovan of Detroit. Donovan scattered 10 hits over 9 innings on the day.

In the top of the 1st, the Cubs' Frank Chance singled home a run. In the 5th, it was another member of the famed double play three that drove home a run. Johnny Evers hit a double to score Chicago's second run. The Cubs would not touch home again in this game.

In the bottom of the 1st, Overall K'd 4 batters. But he also gave up a single to Crawford, plus a walk and dropped third strike for an error. Bases loaded and two outs. Overall then set a World Series record for K's in one inning when he fanned Germany Schaefer.

In the bottom of the 5th, the Tigers had runners on second and third via a single and double. There was only one out, but the Cubs failed to score either man. The Tigers would not get another hit off Overall in this game.

Ty Cobb drew a walk in the bottom of the 6th, but he was forced out at second. Then the next two Bengals batters were retired.

In the 7th, Overall got the side 1-2-3. Two of the batters grounded out. In the 8th, it was a 1-2-3 inning again. Both Cobb and Sam Crawford grounded out. In the 9th, Claude Rossman grounded out. Germany Schaefer grounded out. Boss Schmidt, who had fanned twice on this day (Overall finished with 10 K's) and ended the Series with an average of .071, was the last batter. He grounded out.

The Cubs had beaten the Tigers for the second straight World Series, while Boss Schmidt again had to take that long slow walk back to the dugout.

Lost amidst all this was the Chicago Cubs' last World Series triumph to date.


References


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.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.