The first World Series game between the
Tigers and Giants will occur tonight, more than a century after it almost did.
The Tigers won the American League pennant
in 1908. They didn't meet the New York Giants in that year's World Series
because of a combination of the most infamous baserunning mistake in history,
the inability of a great pitcher to win the biggest game of his best season,
and the fortitude of the defending world champions: the Chicago Cubs.
With two weeks left in that season, the
Cubs and Giants were tied for first when they met in New York.
The Giants appeared to win on a
tie-breaking single in the bottom of the ninth.
But 19-year-old Fred Merkle, the runner on
first, never touched second base as the apparent winning run scored. He bolted
for the Giants clubhouse in centerfield at the Polo Grounds as fans came on the
field.
Chicago second baseman Johnny Evers saw his
chance. He called for the ball in the bedlam, got one and stepped on second,
claiming to the umpire that he forced out Merkle and the inning was over and
the run didn't count.
Eventually, the authorities saw it Evers'
way. The game was declared a tie.
The Giants had plenty of time left in the
season to overcome Merkle's mistake and finish first and advance to the World
Series. (This was six decades before a team had to prevail in the playoffs to
go to the Series.) But when the schedule ended, the Giants and Cubs remained
tied for first.
So the teams had to make up the Merkle
game, the one the Giants apparently had won and, all other things being equal,
would have given them the pennant by a game.
The replay of the Merkle game -- one game
for the pennant and the right to play the Tigers -- occurred Oct. 8, 1908, in
New York.
The Giants pitcher was Christy Mathewson,
who Babe Ruth later called "the great Mathewson." He was finishing
his fourth season of at least 30 wins, and he entered this game against the
Cubs with a career-high 37 wins.
In that '08 season, Mathewson walked 42 and
struck out 259. The 28-year-old right-hander pitched 390 2/3 innings and 11
shutouts -- both of which remained his career highs.
But he lost this game and the pennant to
the Cubs, 4-2.
Merkle soon became a regular and remained
one for a decade. He played in five World Series (his team lost all five). But
because he didn't touch second base in 1908, he remains locked in infamy.
He has since been joined there by the Cubs,
who have won't another World Series since they won their second straight from
the Tigers of Ty Cobb in 1908.
Mathewson and Cobb were elected to the Hall
of Fame in the first year of voting, 1936. This overwhelming pitcher and
magnificent hitter never faced each other in a game that counted. They could
have done so in the 1908 World Series, but Merkle didn't touch second, and
Mathewson couldn't beat the Cubs.
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