1900 – 1909

• 1900

JANUARY

10^th The New York Giants purchase pitcher/outfielder Win Mercer from the disbanded Washington franchise. Mercer will go 13-17 in his one season in New York, hitting .294. Mercer hit .299 last season with 73 runs scored. He will jump back to Washington when the American League starts in 1901.

12^th  John McGraw threatens that if the NL drops Baltimore, which is controlled by the owners of the Brooklyn Superbas, he will form an AL team. Two weeks later the NL Circuit Committee recommends buying out Baltimore, Washington, Cleveland, and Louisville and going to an 8-team league. McGraw then organizes a Baltimore club in the AL.

19^th  Marty Bergen, Boston’s regular catcher, murders his wife and two children, then takes his own life. Bergen, 28, had suffered an apparently career-ending broken hip during a game last season.

24^th  The NL Reduction Committee has a secret meeting in Cleveland, supposedly to discuss dropping Louisville, Baltimore, Washington, and Cleveland from the league roster.

The A.L. Reach company is granted a patent for protective headgear known as the “Reach Pneumatic Head Protector.” It won’t gain acceptance, though a few players, notably Roger Bresnahan, will occasionally wear it.

February

3^rd Rival forces fight for control of the Union Park ball grounds in Baltimore. McGraw’s men camp around a fire at 3B. Ned Hanlon, his former manager in Baltimore in the 1890s, now manager of Brooklyn and still president of the Baltimore club in the NL, has forces camped around 1B.

A writer for the New York Clipper, reflecting the anti-immigrant feelings spreading across the United States, asks, “What is baseball coming to? For nearly half a century things ran smoothly enough until they began to rope in a few ringers, such as [Eddie] Abbaticchio, [Louis] Sockalexis, [Ossee] Schreckengost and now Accorsini.”

7^th  John B. “Brewery Jack” Taylor, three-times a 20-game winner and 20-game loser, including 29 losses in 1898, dies of Bright’s disease at 26.

15^th  Unable to get backers in Philadelphia, John McGraw withdraws Baltimore from AL, ending prospects for the league as a rival to the NL. Two weeks later McGraw will sign to manage Baltimore (NL).

16^th  Washington sells 8 players, including HR king Buck Freeman and P Bill Dinneen going to Boston, then disbands. Baltimore players are to be transferred to Brooklyn and syndicate baseball will be ended.

17^th  Mary Hamilton Von Derbeck is to become owner of the Detroit AL franchise and Bennett Park in lieu of unpaid alimony. However, her ex-husband George Von Derbeck files the required bond with a Michigan court to cover the alimony due, regains ownership of the club, and sells it to Tiger manager George Stallings on March 6^th.

28^th John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson both sign contracts with Baltimore. When the long-rumored move by Baltimore to disband occurs, the two players are supposed to report to Brooklyn, but they will refuse and sit out the first third of the season instead, Finally, they are traded to St. Louis.

March

8^th  At the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York, the NL meets and votes to go with 8 teams. They pay the Baltimore owners $30,000 for their franchise, with Ebbets and Hanlon reserving the right to sell the players. Cleveland, Louisville, and Washington receive $10,000 each (one report has Cleveland receiving $25,000 and Washington $39,000). Louisville seems to be the big winner, since they have already received $25,000 from Pittsburgh for the transfer of most of their players. The circuit will remain the same for 53 years, until the Boston Braves move to Milwaukee in 1953.

9^th  Popular Buck Ewing, a .303 hitter in his 18-year career (and the only 19^th-century catcher in the Hall of Fame), is named bench manager of the Giants. He’ll last until July 13^th when he quits the team and George Kelly takes over.

The NL votes the following rule changes: a single umpire will work a game, reverting back after an experiment with 2; a balk rule allows only a base runner to advance, not the batter; a change in the shape of home plate to 5-sided to eliminate the corners of the old one-foot by one-foot plate. There had been arguments with pitchers who wanted strikes called when balls went over the corners. With no corners to kick about, owners figure there will be no further arguments over strike calls.

Bid McPhee, 2B for the Reds for 18 years, retires. ending a career equaled in the 19^th century only by Buck Ewing and Cap Anson. His lifetime record of 6,545 putouts is still untopped. McPhee is the last position player to go gloveless.

16^th  At an AL meeting in Chicago Ban Johnson announces that an AL team will be placed in the Windy City, ensuring the stability of the league. Other franchises are in Kansas City, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo. In an agreement with Chicago NL officials, the AL club will be situated on the south side of the city and will be permitted to use the nickname “White Stockings,” formerly used by the NL team. However, the White Stockings will not be able to use the word “Chicago” in their official name.

23^rd  John McGraw, Wilbert Robinson, and Bill “Wagon Tongue” Keister, an infielder, are sold by Brooklyn to St. Louis for $15,000. McGraw and Robby refuse to report. The good-hitting but horrible fielding Keister will be back in Baltimore next year, then go to Washington in 1902 and the Phillies in 1903, making it six different teams in six years.

April

2^nd  American Federation of Labor president Samuel Gompers announces that his organization plans to form a baseball players’ union. He feels that with the NL’s reduction to 8 teams—and the subsequent loss of income by many players on the 4 disbanded teams—players might overcome their reservations and join the union.

12^th NL umpire supervisor John Day issues a notice to players to “refrain from endless kicking and fault finding with the umpires. as umpires are only human and just as liable to make errors as players.”

13^th  At the request of club owners in Cincinnati and New York, the NL bans umpire Tim Hurst, considered the most colorful, cantankerous ump, from working in cities whose club owners “object to having a man of that type associated with their grounds, where ladies and gentlemen watch the games.”

19^th  In the NL opener at Boston, 10,000 fans watch the Phils win 19–17 in 10 innings, the highest scoring season opener in history. Boston scored 9 runs, including a ML record (since tied) three by pinch hitters, in the bottom of the 9^th to tie the game at 17 apiece. Pinchhitter Jack Barry establishes a record with two hits in the inning. At one point, Philadelphia led 16–4. The record of 3 pinch runners will be matched 4 times in the 20^th century, all in the 9^th innings. Buck Freeman and Lave Cross match homers. Al Orth goes all the way for the Phils, while Vic Willis starts for Boston with Kid Nichols in relief.

In the Opener at Cincinnati, Chicago outslugs the Reds, 13–10. Jock Menefee is the winner over Ed Scott.

On Opening Day in Detroit, Charlie Bennett throws out the first ball in the Detroit park named for him, but his presence fails to rouse the Tigers, who fall to the no-hit pitching of Buffalo’s Morris “Doc” Amole, 8–0. In his 2-year NL career, which ended in 1898, Amole compiled a record of 4–10.

20^th Rube Waddell causes a sensation when he punches out a “masher” in a theatre.

21^st The American League entry in Chicago opens with the Chicago White Stockings losing to the Milwaukee Brewers, 5–4. Chicago will win tomorrow, 5–3, behind the pitching of Roger Denzer.

25^th In Cincinnati, Honus Wagner cracks 3 doubles but the Pirates still lose, 9–8.

26^th  The American League opener in Cleveland draws 6,500, a higher mark than the NL team drew there for the entire 1899 season. Cleveland edges Indianapolis, 5-4.

The Pirates score 7 runs in the 9^th inning, but still lose their home opener, 12–11, to the Reds. Cincy scores 8 runs off starter Rube Waddell in 5 innings, and 4 more off reliever Jack Chesbro. Attendance today is 11,000.

On their way to the Polo Grounds, New York Giants George Davis, Kid Gleason, and Mike Grady spot smoke rising from an apartment building and rush to help with the rescue. Davis climbs a fireman’s ladder to rescue a woman who fainted in the heat, and Gleason and Davis help a woman and child down a fire escape. Forty-five families are left homeless from the major blaze. Then the trio, with Davis stroking a triple, help the Giants against Boston, scoring 5 in the 9^th to tie, 10–10. Boston then scores 3 in the top of the 10^th and the Giants answer back by stalling, waiting for darkness. One batter lights a newspaper and uses the torch to search for a bet, causing fans in the stands to light newspapers as well. At 6:55 the game is called, and the score reverts to a 10-10 tie. Giants Jack Doyle, Mike Grady, and Al Gelbach are fined $5 each, but no forfeit is called.

28^th  Make that Hitter Jones. Fielder Jones hits a grand slam to lead Brooklyn to a 10-1 victory over Boston. It will be the lone grand slam in the NL this season, something that will not happen again in the league until 1920.

30^th  Brothers Joe, Jim, and Tom Delahanty, playing their 3^rd year together with Allentown, open the Atlantic League season by banging out a family total of 11 hits for 20 bases.

May

4^th Elmer Flick of the Phils has 2 homers and a double to pace Philadelphia to a 12–4 win over Boston. Flick will hit .367 this year, not good enough for the batting title. He’ll win it in 1905 with a .306 average, the lowest average to lead a league until Yaz in 1968.

5^th Chicago’s Jimmy Ryan leads off against Cincinnati Reds pitcher Noodle Hahn by lining a home run, the 20^th time he he’s hit a leadoff round tripper. The Colts win, 4–3.

6^th  The Detroit Tigers play their first Sunday home game at a new park just beyond the city limits. They will use this park for Sunday games for 3 years.

8^th  John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson end their holdout and sign with the Cardinals. Both contracts have the reserve clause crossed out, freeing McGraw to return to Baltimore in the AL in 1901.

11^th At Cincinnati, the Reds and Phils total 35 hits and 14 errors in a 20–11 Phils win. The New York Times calls it “an old-fashion game, in which runs, hits, and errors are plentiful.”

16^th Detroit’s Ducky Holmes and Chicago White Sox Dick Padden get into a fistfight on the field. and Padden is struck with a bat wielded by a Detroit player. Chicago wins, 7-4.

20^th  Fire breaks out at the Pittsburgh park for the 3^rd time in 2 weeks. Police speculate the arsonist is a disgruntled stockholder left out of the new Dreyfuss regime.

Detroit manager Hugh Duffy is suspended for 10 days by the AL for abusing umpire Joe Cantillon.

26^th  At Chicago, the Colts beat the Superbas 1–0 in 1 hour, 35 minutes. Nixey Callahan tops Frank Kitson.

28^th  A fire in Cincinnati nearly destroys the grandstand. The new grandstand will not be built until 1902, and the Reds are forced to play on the road for a month.

New York pitcher Cy Seymour, a former 20-game winner, combines with Ed Doheny to walk 9 Pirates and plunk 4 in a 14–0 loss to Pittsburgh. Seymour hits Wagner with a pitch today and plunked him two days ago as well.

29^th The Brooklyn team is notified by a Brooklyn building inspector that the center field bleachers at Washington Park are unsafe. They are removed.

30^th After beating Chicago, 5–2 and 13–3, in a Memorial Day doubleheader, the Phillies record is 21–10, giving them a 3 ½ game lead over Brooklyn and St. Louis.

31^st  The Phillies’ Nap Lajoie suffers a broken thumb in a fistfight with teammate Elmer Flick. Nap is sidelined and suspended without pay for 5 weeks. The Phils beat the Chicago Colts, 3–0, but will go 12-17 in Nap’s absence.

In the Detroit-Baltimore game, Detroit’s Ducky Holmes hits a homer to tie the game in the 9^th. But Baltimore is so furious at the call that they cause enough ruckus to get the game forfeited to Detroit.

June

2^nd Boston wins the season’s best slugfest, scoring 4 in the 9^th and one in the 10^th to beat St. Louis 17–16. Eight pitchers are used and there are 37 hits and 13 errors, including one by John McGraw. McGraw doesn’t finish the game as he gets tossed after arguing a play at 3B too strenuously. Turkey Mike Donlin has 5 hits including a game-tying homer in the 7^th for the Cardinals. Herman Long has 4 hits, including a homer, and scores 4 for Boston. Long will hit 12 homers this season, all at home.

4^th Fielder Jones, who will hit 20 homers in his 15-year career, hits the first homer of the year at Washington Park. But Brooklyn loses, 7-4, to Chicago.

7^th Cy Seymour scatters 10 hits and issues 11 walks, but manages to beat St. Louis, 10–3. Despite the win, the Giants farm out Seymour to the Worcester Farmers (Eastern League) after the game. Pitcher Seymour, who led the NL in walks 1897-99, will return to the majors as an outfielder. This is Seymour’s last pitching decision (61-56), though not is last appearance on the mound. Since Seymour, only Babe Ruth has more hits and pitching wins. The Babe will collect 2873 hits and 94 pitching wins. Cy will total 1723 hits and 61 victories.

8^th  In a 6-5 loss to Boston, Chicago’s Sam Mertes leads off with a homerun on the first pitch from Bill Dinneen, sending the ball into “the cab of a passing train engine” (as noted by Steven V. Rice). In the 7^th he connects again off Dinneen, this time with two men on base. He’ll hit a leadoff homer tomorrow to tie a record. He also collects two doubles in the two games.

10^th  The New York Times publishes a letter to the editor from Joseph Mann regarding Cap Anson’s book A Ballplayers’s Career, reviewed a week earlier. Anson’s is the first autobiography by a ML player. According to Mann, Anson’s book credits him, while a pitcher at Princeton, as the first pitcher to throw the curve ball, and the pitcher writes to expand on that. He says it was he who should receive credit, not Candy Cummings or Avery of Yale, who he beat 3-0 on May 29, 1875, allowing no hits. He relates that in 1874 the Philadelphia team played at Princeton and, before the game and between innings Candy Cummings would stand at home plate and throw overhand down to second base curving the ball. Cummings also pitched that day and Mann says that Candy’s catcher said that sometimes Candy’s pitches curved, but not always. Mann says that day he got “two base hits and three singles against Cummings. “and that he saw no curves, but was intrigued by the throws to second base. Mann says he worked on the curve that fall and over the winter unveiling it that spring. Mann ends his letter with: “I think I’ve said enough to establish the fact that I was the one who initiated the movement and revolutionized the pitching department of baseball.” A Mr. Rankin will answer Mann’s claims with a September 26 letter citing newspaper accounts of Alphonse Martin and Candy Cummings throwing curves in 1870.

Delegates from each ML team in the National League meet at the Sturtevant House in New York to consider a plan of organization submitted by President Samuel Gompers of the AF of L. At the meeting the League Players’ Protective Association is organized with Charles Zimmer, president; William Clarke, treasurer and Hugh Jennings, Secretary. Ex-player Harry Taylor of Buffalo is elected attorney for the association. Later the American League and Eastern League players will be organized into separate branch organizations.

13^th After shutting out the Cardinals on June 10 and the Colts on June 11, Giants’ pitchers fire their 3^rd straight shutout. Pink Hawley, purchased from the Reds in March, faces 29 batters in blanking the Colts, 5–0.

19^th  In the year’s best pitching duel, Clark Griffith of the Chicago Colts and Rube Waddell of the Pirates match shutouts for 13 innings, before Griffith’s double in the last of the 14^th drives in the only run. Waddell strikes out 12.

20^th  One day after Brooklyn moved into the NL lead for the first time all year, Philadelphia regains first place with a 5–4 win over the Superbas. Elmer Flick hits a 3-run HR in the win.

21^st  Brooklyn rallies for 5 in the 9^th to beat host Philadelphia 8–6 and take over first place. They will hold the lead for the rest of the season. Despite the NL lead, Brooklyn is averaging only 1,100 fans per game and a concerned NL president Ned Young floats the idea of the franchise moving to Washington D.C.

22^nd In what looked like a promising matchup between Joe McGinnity and Bill Bernhard of the Phillies, each 12-1, turned into a slugfest at Philadelphia. Brooklyn scores 7 runs in the top of the 11^th to take a 20–13 lead. The Phillies prolong the Brooks’ rally, hoping for darkness to cancel out the half inning, though there are 45 more minutes of sun. They deliberately walk batters and make little effort to put runners out. Umpire Hank O’Day finally calls a halt and awards a forfeit to Brooklyn. There will not be another matchup this century of two pitchers with such stellar records, Bernhard will slip and finish the year at 15-10. Next year he’ll pitch for the A’s. McGinnity will top the NL again with 28 wins. A matchup of two pitchers with at least a .900 winning percentage will not occur again until the 21^st century, when the Yankees’ Phil Hughes squares off against the Mets’ Mike Pelfrey on June 19, 2010. McGinnity is near th end of a 10 game winning streak.

25^th Jack Powell, who will rack up the 4^th highest total of losses in history (255), pitches a 2-hitter for the Cardinals, beating the Reds, 2–0. Powell will have 246 career wins. The loss goes to the Reds pretzel battery of Breitenstein and Peitz.

27^th In a New York State League game, Binghamton tops Oswego, 2–1. Playing for Binghamton is Heavyweight boxing champ James J. Corbett, making the last of 37 appearances in the minors. He is 0 for 3.

29^th The Colts Clark Griffith and Brooklyn’s Frank Kitson match 4-hitters in a 1–0 Chicago win. Griffith’s 4 shutouts for the year tie him for the league lead.

July

3^rd  Owen Wilson hits for the cycle to pace the Pirates to a 10–2 win over the Reds.

4^th In Chicago, the Colts sweep Philadelphia, winning 10–4 and 5–4, in 12 innings. A number of fans fire pistols to celebrate the holiday but no injuries occur.

At Cincinnati, in the 3^rd inning of game 2, Giants 1B Jack Doyle slugs ump Robert Emslie after being called out on a steal attempt. Fans jump from the stands as the two get into it and players finally separate the two fighters. Two policemen chase the fans back into the stands and then arrest Doyle and take him to the York street station. He’ll be fined for the assault. The Reds lose the nitecap, 6–3, after winning the opener, 8–1.

In what is (incorrectly) called the first baseball game ever played in Paris (The Literary Digest, August 1918), a team of John Phillips Sousa plays against a team led by his trombonist Arthur Pryor.

5^th At Cincinnati, Jerry Nops of the Superbas pitches a one-hitter, beating the Reds 2–0. Tomorrow his teammate Frank Kitson also pitches a one-hitter, winning 10–0, the first instance of back-to-back one-hitters in the 20^th century. The last time it happened was June 17, 18, 1884.

7^th  Boston hurler Kid Nichols notches his 300^th career victory, beating Chicago 11–4. The win comes 2 months before his 31^st birthday, making him the youngest to ever reach the magic figure. Nichols has 2 of the 19 hits off Nixey Callahan.

8^th For the 4^th time in his career, St. Louis star Jesse Burkett hits two inside-the-park homers in a game. It is all the scoring St. Louis can muster as Brooklyn wins, 8–2.

9^th the Reds edge the Phillies, 5–4, with the aid of a hidden ball trick. Third baseman Bob Wood, with the help of C Heinie Peitz, catches Elmer Flick. Phils captain and star Ed Delahanty doesn’t play because of a hangover and will sit out tomorrow as well.

12^th  Frank “Noodles” Hahn of Cincinnati twirls a 4–0 no-hitter over Philadelphia as the Reds sweep the four-game series. The Reds lefty gives up 5 walks to the visiting Quakers who are playing without Nap Lajoie. Hahn strikes out 7, including the first two batters in the 9^th. The last batter Roy Thomas is thrown out on his two-strike bunt. Philadelphia’s Bill Bernhard allows 7 hits, including a homer by Sam Crawford in the 7^th.

13^th  Harry Wolverton of the Phillies hits 3 triples and 2 singles in an 8-inning 23–8 victory at Pittsburgh. With the Pirates down, 20-4, manager Fred Clarke brings in his RF Honus Wagner to pitch the last three innings. He gives up 3 hits and 3 unearned runs. Jimmy Williams has a 1^st-inning single, then severely sprains his ankle. The injury will keep him out of action for a month, depriving him of any chance of winning the triples crown this year.

Buck Ewing resigns as manager of the last-place Giants and is replaced by SS George Davis. The Giants respond, as it seems they do with each managerial change, with a win over Brooklyn, 14–1.

14^th Chick Fraser fires a one-hitter for the Phillies in a 1–0 win over Boston. It is the only shutout of the year for the righty, who will become part of the first big lawsuit challenging the reserve clause in the 20^th century.

Back home, Brooklyn scores just one run again, but Bill Kennedy allows just 6 hits in beating the Giants, 1–0.

15^th  At Detroit, Tigers manager Tommy Burns, afraid the crowd would injure umpire Joe Cantillon after the previous day’s hostilities, refuses to let him work, and the game is forfeited to Cleveland. But Indians manager Jim McAleer agrees to play using reserve player Sport McAllister as the ump, and Detroit wins, 6–1.

The Reds Noodles Hahn follows up his no-hitter with a 9-hitter, but still shuts out St. Louis, 9–0.

Billie Barnie, veteran manager in the AA and the NL, dies of pneumonia in Hartford at the age of 47. ”Bald Billie” last managed Brooklyn, in 1898. He will be buried in Brooklyn’s Green-wood cemetery.

17^th  At Brooklyn’s Washington Park, the Superbas tie the score against the Giants in the 5^th. With 2 men on base and the score tied, New York captain George Davis takes out pitcher Ed Doheny and brings in rookie Christy Mathewson, just brought up from Norfolk where he was 20–2. He hits 3 batters, walks 2, and gives up 6 runs in a 13–7 loss, charged to Doheny. The New York Times says, “Matty has lots of speed and gives promise of making his way.” Doheny also plunked a batter, while Brooklyn’s Joe McGinnity hit 2 for a combined 6 in the game, a record, since tied. McGinnity will hit 40 batters this year.

21^st In the last of the 9^th at Brooklyn, with 2 outs and the score tied at 5–5 with the Reds, an intentional walk to Deacon Maguire goes awry. Maguire reaches out and taps a Noodles Hahn pitch, but the catcher picks it up, then drops it, and the winning run scores.

25^th  The Boston Beaneaters score 13 runs in the first inning against the Cardinals on 10 hits, including 2 triples by Buck Freeman, and 4 errors. Hughey and Weyhing are equally hit hard by the Boston batters, all of whom score at least one run apiece. The game is shortened by rain after 6 innings and Boston wins, 18–5. The 13 runs in one inning nearly equals the mark set by Chicago in the 19^th century, but sets a 20^th century mark for the first inning. It is the first of four times this century the Cards will allow 13 runs in a frame.

Mathewson makes his 2^nd appearance, relieving in the 3^rd against the Pirates with the score 3–1. The Bucs rattle the rookie for 6 runs in the inning to lead 9–1. Matty gives up another run in his 7 innings, as Pittsburgh coasts to victory.

26^th  Gus Weyhing, hit hard yesterday, is released by the Cardinals but does not get the 10 days pay he’s entitled to. He gets a deputy sheriff to seize the St. Louis share of the gate at Brooklyn, but it comes to less than the $100 he’s claiming. Weyhing will pitch briefly in 1901 before calling it quits, the last gloveless pitcher in the majors.

29^th  With all the NL teams in the East, and no Sunday games allowed, 100 players gather in New York City. Their demands are: release of players who are not going to be used rather than farming them out, and players to share in the purchase price when they are sold. Says veteran Hughey Jennings, “We are not out to fight the owners, but to resolve injustices in the contracts.”

31st At Chicago, the Giants batter the Orphans, 9-4, but lose catcher Jack Warner in the 6^th. Warner grabs a foul pop up by Greene, but smashes into the stands and sustains a compound fracture of his left arm. His elbow is shattered. He is rushed to Wright Hospital and his arm is wired back up. Miraculously, he returns to action next year.

At Brooklyn, the Pirates collect 26 hits in handing the Superbas their worst thrashing of the year, 17-1. Jesse Tannehill wins his 6^th in a row as he will win 10 straight before losing. He also has 3 doubles and a single, as Claude Ritchey has 4 hits, Tom O’Brien has 5 and Ginger Beaumont has 4 hits, including a double and triple.

August

2^nd  Following a disputed call in a 7–6 loss to Chicago, New York manager George Davis leads the crowd in an assault on umpire Terry. Clark Griffith emerges with the win for Chicago.

3^rd  At Milwaukee, Cleveland pitcher Ed Scott homers in the top of the 10^th off Bill Reidy to win his own game, 8-7. It comes in his last ML at bat (as noted by Bill Deane).

4^th  The Cardinals blow a 4–1 lead to the Giants, but come back against reliever Christy Mathewson, pitching his 3^rd straight game in relief, to take another lead 8–7 in the 7^th. St. Louis wins, 9–8, with John McGraw scoring the winning run in the 8^th, handing Matty his first career decision. Matty will go 0–3 as a Giant before returning to Norfolk when the Giants decide not to pay $1500 for him.

8^th  At Chicago, the Phillies top the Orphans, 5-3, overcoming 4 stolen bases by Jimmy Ryan.

11^th The Giants tally 4 singles, a double, and triple in the first 2 innings against the Reds, but get only a run out of it. It’s enough as they win, 1–0.

13^th A mechanical pitching gun is used in a game between the Memphis Chicks and the Nashvilles. The invention of Princeton professor Charles Hinton, the early pitching machine strikes out 2 and allows 3 hits in two innings.

17^th  Reds pitcher Bill Phillips punches Phillies batter Roy Thomas after Thomas fouls off a dozen pitches in the 8^th inning. Phillips is ejected but the Reds win in the 11^th, 5–4. Reportedly (as noted by Art Ahrens), Thomas fouled off 22 straight on another occasion. According to Bill James, it is Thomas and John McGraw who are chiefly responsible for the NL adopting the foul strike rule next year.

18^th  Veteran manager Pat Tebeau resigns from the Cards. When 3B John McGraw refuses the job, the Robison brothers, the St. Louis owners, pick Louie Heilbroner, the 4’ 9” Cardinals business manager, to run the team for the remainder of 1900. Many of the players refuse to take orders from the diminutive Heilbroner, and it will be John McGraw who is really in command. will return to the front office the following year and in 1910 he will begin publishing The Baseball Blue Book.

19^th Milwaukee’s Rube Waddell and Chicago White Sox hurler Roy Patterson go 17 innings before Rube wins, 2–1 in the first game of a twinbill. Three days earlier, the two squared off for 12 innings with Waddell winning, 3–2. When Connie Mack offers Rube a few days off to go fishing if he’ll pitch the nitecap, Rube allows just one hit and wins in 5 innings, 1–0.

Patsy Tebeau quits as the Cardinals manager. John McGraw, possibly looking ahead to a possible Baltimore club in the new league, turns down the job. Louis Heilbroner replaces Patsy.

20^th  In the Reds 15–7 pasting of St. Louis, Cy Young, coping with a bruised rib after a collision with the Giants’ Ed Doheny, is knocked out of the box for the 2^nd consecutive game. This is a first in his career. The usually taciturn Young charges into the stand after a heckler who accused him of quitting on the team. The heckler apologizes. Young will finish 32 of his 35 starts in compiling a 19–19 record.

25^th  The Athletics Danny Murphy hits for the cycle in a losing cause as the Browns win, 9–6.

Emmet “Snags” Heidrick is 0-for-3 but swipes 4 bases—including stealing third twice with two outs—in St. Louis’s 2–0 win over Chicago. Cy Young is the winner.

Criticism of administration in the NL continues. The Sporting News offers the new AL some editorial encouragement: “An organization opposed to the National League will be welcome because it will mean the elevation of the game if it is successful.”

30^th Matching Buck Freeman’s feat of five weeks ago, Brooklyn’s Bill Dahlen laces 2 triples of the three triples hit in the 10-run 8^th inning as his team beats Philadelphia, 14–3. Ex-Brooklynite Dunn takes the beating.

31^st  Brickyard Kennedy, en route to his 4^th 20-win season for the Dodgers, walks 6 Phillies in a row in the 2^nd inning of a 9–4 loss.

September

5^th  While riding on the steps of a crowded streetcar in Philadelphia, Phils 3B Harry Wolverton is struck in the head by a pole beside the tracks, suffering a possible skull fracture. He recovers and will play next year.

6^th At the Polo Grounds, the Cardinals jump on Giants starter Ed Doheny, scoring 8 runs in the first 3 innings. Christy Mathewson makes his first appearance in a month, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits in 5 innings of relief. St. Louis wins, 11–4.

The Philadelphia Phillies gang up on Chicago Colts Nixey Callahan, scoring 20 runs on 25 hits, both a Chicago club record. Philadelphia wins, 20–5. Nixey will have another bad outing on the 11^th.

11^th  The Giants batter P Nixey Callahan for 23 hits in a 14–3 win over the Chicago Colts. In the 2^nd game, a 3–3 tie called because of darkness after 9 innings, Chicago rookie C Johnny Kling debuts with 3-for-4 at the plate.

12^th  Sammy Strang, a rookie 3B, breaks in with 7 hits for the Chicago Colts in a doubleheader against the Giants. Chicago catcher Johnny Kling and Giants pitcher Win Mercer collide at the plate in the 7^th inning of the 2^nd game, and Mercer is carried off the field unconscious. Chicago coasts, 9–1 in the opener, with Mercer the loser to Jock Menefee. New York takes the nitecap, 7–6, when Dummy Taylor fashions a 7-inning win over Jack Taylor.

The Chicago White Stockings roll by Cleveland, 12–4 and 9-1, to clinch the AL’s first pennant.

In the AL, Milwaukee takes 2 from Detroit by 2–1 scores, each game taking 1 hour, 20 minutes, the fastest time of the year.

The Reds commit 17 errors in a doubleheader at Brooklyn, losing 7–2 and 13–9, the most errors in one day by any team in the 20^th century. Iron Man McGinnity closes both games for Brooklyn; he has worked in every game for a week.

13^th At the Polo Grounds, Christy Mathewson makes his first start, pitching a complete game loss to the Colts. Chicago wins, 6–5, scoring 4 runs in the first, thanks to an error by 1B Jack Doyle.

The Reds manage to make 17 errors in a doubleheader loss to Brooklyn, and they should be thankful game 2 is called after 6 ½ innings on account of darkness. Brooklyn wins the opener, 7–2, then loses 13–9. In game 1, Reds Eustace ‘Doc’ Newton sets a NL record for pitchers with 4 errors. It will be tied, but no one will top Ed Doheny’s 5 errors, set in 1899. For Doc, it is a warm-up for next year’s season when he makes an NL-record 18 errors.

14^th At the Polo Grounds, the Giants pull off the first triple play of the 20^th century in a 5–1 win. With Chicago’s Johnny Kling behind the plate, and Virgil Garvin pitching Jack Doyle, George Davis and Kid Gleason do the deed (one historian has Mike Grady as the third runner). It’ll be another 10 years before a trifecta is pulled off in the NL.

15^th In New York, the last place Giants edge the Pirates, 2-1, when Charlie Hickman leads off the 9^th inning with a walkoff homer.

17^th  In one of the most blatant sign stealing acts in history Reds SS Tommy Corcoran, coaching at 3B in a doubleheader at Philadelphia, uncovers a wire in the coaching box that leads across the outfield to the Phils’ locker room. There, reserve C Morgan Murphy reads the opposing catcher’s signs and relays them to the Phils’ 3B coach ‘What’s the Use’ Chiles by a buzzer hidden in the dirt. Something must work as the Reds lose both games, 4–2 and 4–1. The Phils owner will take several weeks before replying to the spy charges.

18^th  The AL season ends with Chicago 4 games in front. Says the Reach Guide: “Effective pitching and sharp fielding were the rule as only 17 batters hit over .300. There was less disorder in the field than the other league, owing to the vigilance of Ban Johnson in protecting umpires.”

19^th As noted by Joe Dittmar, the furor mounts over the Phillies’ use of a buzzer device to steal signs and prompts Petie Chiles to get the ball park early and plant a dummy device under the 1B coach’s box. Chiles coaches 1B rather than his customary 3B, and his suspicious actions prompt the Reds players to start digging there. They find the device, but there are no wires attached. The Phils win again, 8–7.

St. Louis C Wilbert Robinson objects to the ump’s calling a Brooklyn runner safe at home. He throws the ball at the ump and jabs him in the chest, and the umpire reacts by swinging his mask at Robby and throwing him out of the game. Cards captain McGraw refuses to put in another catcher, claiming one is injured and the other suspended. The ump forfeits the game to Brooklyn. The Brooklyn fans object to the stoppage of play and President Ebbets refunds money to those who want it.

20^th In a 10–4 8-inning win over St. Louis, Pittsburgh’s Honus Wagner steals 4 bases. Jesse Tannehill is the victor, scoring 2 runs, one on a steal of home.

26^th At Boston’s South End Grounds, Giants reliever Christy Mathewson walks 6 and fails to hold a 7–4 lead, and Boston wins, 8–7. It is Matty’s 3^rd loss. The Giants will return the rookie to Norfolk rather than pay $1500, and Mathewson will be picked up by Cincinnati for $100.

Cy Young and Rube Waddell match 4-hitters, but Cy’s St. Louis team wins over Pittsburgh, 4–1.

October

3^rd  Brooklyn virtually clinches the NL pennant by winning 2 at Boston, 6–4 and 3–1. For manager Ned Hanlon, it is his 5^th pennant in 7 years.

8^th  The Chicago Colts and the Cincinnati Reds set a record for ragged fielding that still stands for errors in a doubleheader. Host Chicago boots 17—tying a record—and Cincinnati 8 as the Reds win both ends of a doubleheader 13–4 and 9–1 before 700 fans, with the 2^nd game called with 2 outs in the top of the 9^th because of darkness. In fact, Chicago pitcher Jack Taylor is hit in the chest by a line drive off the bat of Tommy Corcoran and needs to be helped to the bench. With no pitcher warmed up, and darkness descending umpire Hank O’Day calls the game.

11^th  The AL announces that in 1901 it intends to put a team in Baltimore led by John McGraw, and one in Washington. But they pledge to stay out of Philadelphia and St. Louis unless the NL starts a fight.

Rube Waddell of Pittsburgh strikes out an NL season-high 12 in a 2–1 win over Chicago. He will lead the league with 130 strikeouts and a 2.37 ERA.

13^th  Ban Johnson promises to put the following provisions in all player contracts in the AL: no suspensions for more than 10 days; clubs to pay doctor bills for injuries occurring during a game; if a club abandons the league, its players become free agents after 10 days; no farming or selling without the player’s written consent; no reserve clause for more than 3 years or for less salary than the current year; and binding arbitration for disputes.

Brooklyn edges the Giants, 1–0, behind the pitching of Harry Howell. Jennings and Cross double in the 6^th for the lone run. The Giants (52-85) finish in 7^th place, a game ahead of the Reds (52-87).

15^th  The Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph World Title series between first-place Brooklyn and 2^nd– place Pittsburgh begins with a 5–2 win for Joe McGinnity over Rube Waddell. The Superbas win the series, the Cup given by the newspapers, and half the gate receipts 3 days later. For his efforts, which include a league-leading 29 wins and 347 innings pitched, McGinnity is given permanent possession of the trophy and a $100 bonus.

20^th  The Cardinals withhold the final month’s pay on all but 5 players, including John McGraw and Wilbur Robinson, citing late hours, dissipation, and gambling as reasons for the poor showing of the team, which finished tied for 5^th.

31^st  Ban Johnson writes a letter to NL president Nick Young seeking peace, based on parity as a major league for the AL.

November

14^th  The NL rejects the AL as an equal, declaring it an outlaw league outside of the National Agreement, thus inaugurating a state of war. This follows the AL’s announcement 2 days ago that it has made arrangements to go into Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Two weeks later the AA makes it a 3-way battle.

19^th At an AL meeting at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago, Ban Johnson says the AL chose not to renew the National Agreement with the NL, but sees no need for friction between the two.

21^st Given a 10-year contract to control the Baltimore franchise, John McGraw says he intends to be in baseball a long time, and wants to lease grounds in Baltimore where he can stay. He’ll be in baseball 32 more years, but not in Baltimore. Nick Young says the NL wishes success to the AL, but does not consider it a major league.

In New York, national guardsmen are playing an active schedule of indoor baseball at the New York Armory. The games between regiments teams are widely covered in the press.

December

10^th  At the NL meetings at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York, rumors fly. Ban Johnson says the AL has signed a lease on a park in Detroit. The Players Protective Association says its members will not sign with the NL.

11^th  A rumor that the PPA leaders have gone to Philadelphia to meet with Ban Johnson causes NL owners to “have something closely resembling a fit,” says the New York Times. Players later admit the meeting took place.

12^th  The NL considers going back to 12 teams to counter AL moves into some cities. They invite Ban Johnson to come to the NL meeting, but change their mind about compromise and leave the AL head outside the meeting room. The NL awards the AL’s Minnesota and Kansas City territories to the new Western League, even before the AL officially abandons them. The NL agrees to hear the players in a public meeting, but rejects all their demands.

14^th  Suffering from a drop in attendance in 1900, NL owners vote to cut costs with a 16-player limit after May 1. The PPA claims the move is aimed at pressuring players into signing by shrinking the number of jobs.

15^th  Amos Rusie, out for the past 2 years with arm problems, is traded to the Reds by the Giants for young Christy Mathewson. Though only 30, Rusie, a future Hall of Fame pitcher, will not have the ability that brought him 8 straight 20-game seasons, and he will not add to the 245 wins he collected in 9 seasons. Appearing in just 3 games in 1901, he will finish with an 0–1 record. Mathewson, 0–3 with the Giants but 20–2 with Norfolk (Virginia League), is much coveted by Cincinnati owner John T. Brush, who is currently negotiating to buy control of the Giants from the unscrupulous Andrew Freedman. Before he takes over, Brush wants Mathewson in place as a Giants’ starter, rather than the “pitched out” Amos Rusie.

 

• 1901

JANUARY

4^th  The Baltimore AL club incorporates, with John McGraw as manager and part owner.

11^th  In Chicago, former pitcher Frank Brill (Detroit, 2-10 in 1884) wins the first ever American Bowling Congress title with a total of 648. Brill will remain a top bowler for decades and will be inducted in the Bowling Hall of Fame in 1996.

18^th  The New York Giants trade Jack Doyle to the Chicago Orphans for Virgil Garvin, Sammy Strang (called William in the newspapers) and John Ganzel. Speculation in the papers is that Doyle will be named captain,

22^nd  Connie Mack, Philadelphia A’s manager-GM, signs a 10-year lease on grounds at 29^th and Columbia to be called Columbia Park. A contract is set for construction of single-deck stands to hold 7,500.

28^th  The AL formally organizes: the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Athletics, and Boston Somersets are admitted to join the Washington Nationals, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Chicago White Stockings. Three of the original clubs—Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Buffalo—are dropped. League power aggregates in Ban Johnson as trustee for all ballpark leases and majority stockholdings, and with authority to buy out refractory franchises, and the schedule will be 140 games. AL contracts give the Players Protective Association what it asked for, with 5-year limits on the rights to player services.

29^th  Newly named Rules Committee of Connie Mack, John McGraw, and Charles Comiskey, after rejecting a proposal to ban the bunt, recommends no changes at this time.

FEBRUARY

8^th  News leaks out that Napoleon Lajoie, the Phillies star second baseman and leading NL hitter, has jumped to the new Philadelphia AL club, along with pitchers Chick Fraser and Bill Bernhard.

9^th Giants and Pirates outfielder Tom O’Brien, 28, dies in Phoenix. A popular player with the Giants, O’Brien played for the Pirates in 1900, then accompanied the Giants and Superbas last fall on a trip to Cuba for a series of exhibition games. On the boat trip over, he was told that if he drank enough sea water he’d be sick, but would then be cured of any sea sickness. Both O’Brien and Kid Gleason became violently ill following the prescription, but O’Brien was so affected that all his internal organs were damaged, and he never recovered.

26^th  NL officials meet with Charles “Chief” Zimmer, Pittsburgh catcher and the president of the PPA, and agree to contract concessions granted by the AL for NL players who will agree not to sign with AL clubs. Zimmer promises suspensions for PPA jumpers to the AL.

27^th  The NL Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes, except after 2 strikes. To cut the cost of balls fouled and unrecovered, the committee urges that “batsmen who foul off good strikes are to be disciplined.” The AL will not adopt this rule for several years. Other new rules: catchers must play within 10 feet of the batter; a ball will be called if the pitcher does not throw to a ready and waiting batter within 20 seconds; players using indecent or improper language will be banished by the umpire. One rule stating that a ball will be called when a batter is hit by a pitch but, in a mail vote, the owners will rescind this in April, and a HBP will earn a batter first base.

MARCH

2^nd  Jimmy Collins, Connie Mack’s choice for the all-time best third baseman, leaves the Boston NL club to manage the AL’s new Boston Somersets. The Beaneaters also lose OF Hugh Duffy, who will manage Milwaukee (AL), and C Billy Sullivan, who signs with the Chicago White Stockings. More than half the AL rosters—a total of 185—will be filled by NL players.

5^th  The American League approves a 14-player limit to go into effect 14 days after the start of the season. As noted by Cliff Blau, the limit is changed at the last minute, the deadline postponed for two weeks, and the limit increased to 15 by Ban Johnson, after 6 teams request the change.

11^th  The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Baltimore manager John McGraw has signed a Cherokee Indian named Tokohoma. It is really black 2B Charlie Grant, who McGraw is trying to pass off as an Indian, but the ruse does not work.

28^th  Phillies owner John Rogers files for an injunction prohibiting Nap Lajoie, Bill Bernhard, and Chick Fraser from playing for any other team—the most serious legal test of the reserve clause to date.

APRIL

3^rd  Connie Mack accuses Christy Mathewson of reneging on a Philadelphia contact signed in January. The young pitcher had accepted advance money from Mack, but jumped back to the Giants in March. Mack considers going to court, but eventually accepts the loss of the pitcher.

18^th  At Baker Bowl, Brooklyn’s Jimmy Sheckard has 3 triples against the host Phils to lead his team to a 12–7 Opening Day win. The loser is Jack Dunn, who will have more success in the 20s as the owner of the Baltimore Orioles. Three other NL openers are rained out.

19^th At the Polo Grounds, the Giants open a day late, losing 7–0 to Boston. Dummy Taylor is hit hard and takes the loss.

In an exhibition game in Detroit, the Tigers beat Grand Rapids, 8–0. It is the first game ever between a National Agreement club and an American League team.

20^th Under new manager Bid McPhee, the Reds open at home with a 4–2 loss to Pittsburgh, with Sam Leever winning over Noodles Hahn. The game was originally scheduled for the 18^th.

24^th Three rainouts give Chicago the honor of hosting the new AL’s first opener. Cleveland 2B Erve Beck hits the first HR in AL history, off Chicago’s Roy Patterson, and adds a double. But the White Sox prevail, 7–2. Veteran Tommy Connally is the lone umpire of the game.

With a partially flooded outfield at League Park, the Reds edge Chicago, 10-9, scoring 6 in the 2^nd inning. Improvised ground rules are put into effect and any ball hit into the pond in flooded left center or center is a ground-rule double. Nine doubles are splashed. The New York Times reports, “Batting was terrific, the water catching more ball than the fielders. The locals were more familiar with the wet conditions and excelled at aquatic fielding by which they won easily.” The Reds score a run in the last of the 9^th to win easily. Tomorrow’s scheduled game is called off and the Cubs leave town for Chicago.

At St. Louis, Cowboy Jones weakens in the 9^th inning and serves up a 2-run homer to Ginger Beaumont as Pittsburgh beats the Cardinals, 5-4.

25^th  In its AL debut before 10,023, Detroit scores the greatest Opening Day rally ever with 10 runs in the bottom of the 9^th for a 14–13 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Detroit spots the Brewers a 13–3 lead—7–0 after 3 innings—by making 7 errors, including three by SS Kid Elberfeld. No team this century will score 10 runs in the bottom of the 9^th to win; the Indians will score 9 runs in the bottom of the 9^th next month to win and Rockies in 2010 will come close with a 9-run winning rally. Tiger 1B Pop Dillon hits 4 doubles, tying the ML record, including a pair in the record 9^th inning, the last is the game-winning 2-run double off reliever Bert Husting. Dillon’s four doubles is an opening day record that will be matched by Jim Greengrass in 1954.

26^th  Eight days after the Phillies’ opener before 4,593, the Athletics twice delayed home opener at Columbus Park draws 10,547 for a 5–1 loss to the Washington Nationals. Chick Fraser is the winner as the A’s help with 7 errors on the waterlogged field. Nap Lajoie has a groundout then 3 hits for the Athletics, and will go 3-for-3 tomorrow on the way to an AL-record .422 batting average.

For the second day in a row, the Tigers beat Milwaukee with a walkoff run in the 9^th. Today’s score is a more modest, 6-5. The Tigers won’t open with two walkoff wins again until 2014.

After 6 postponements, the New York Giants down the Brooklyn Superbas 5–3 for their season’s first win and Mathewson’s first ML victory. Matty allows 4 hits and strikes out 8.

The visiting Boston Americans play their first game, losing to Baltimore, 10–6. Iron Joe McGinnity strikes out 9 in the win, and Mike Donlin cracks two triples off losing pitcher Win Kellum.

27^th The Cleveland Blues (AL) record their first victory, beating Chicago, 10–4, behind the pitching of Bill Hart. The vet Hart will lose his stuff and finish the season as an AL umpire.

Behind Sam Crawford’s 5 hits, including a triple and a HR, the Reds beat host Chicago, 9–2. Jack Taylor surrenders the hits and loses. Crawford will lead the NL in homers with 16.

At Baltimore, the Orioles jump on Cy Young for 12 runs as the Red Sox fall, 12-6. Jimmy Williams, who jumped from the Pirates to the Orioles last month, has his first two AL hits.

28^th  Veteran SS Hugh Jennings, teammate and roommate of John McGraw in Baltimore’s great days, will play for Mack’s Athletics after getting his law degree at Cornell. McGraw persuades him to play for Baltimore instead, touching off a battle royal with Connie Mack and Ban Johnson. The result is ill feelings that never heal. Jennings winds up playing for the Phillies.

Cleveland’s rookie pitcher Charles “Bock” Baker gives up an AL record 23 singles in a 13–1 loss to the White Stockings. Bock will pitch only one other game, also a loss, in the ML, and that will be in 2 weeks with the Athletics. Bock’s 23 singles allowed is short of the ML-record of 28, set by Jack Wadsworth in 1894.

29^th  Admiral George Dewey, the Spanish American War hero, throws out the first ball. Then he and other prominent guests watch Washington defeat Baltimore, 5–2, in the AL opener in the nation’s capital. Joe McGinnity is the loser to Bill Carrick.

At Philadelphia, the Athletics beat the Boston Americans, 8–5, behind Nap Lajoie’s continued hot hitting. Nap has 2 singles and 2 triples to run his consecutive hit to 10 straight. He was 3-for-3 on the 28^th in an 8–5 loss to Washington.

30^th At Baker Bowl, the Giants edge the Phils, 3–2, behind Mathewson’s 3-hitter.

At Philadelphia’s Columbus Park The Boston Americans beat the Athletics, 8–6, in 10 innings, the AL’s first extra-inning game. Nap Lajoie grounds out in his first at bat, ending his consecutive hitting streak of 10-for-10. Tris Speaker will top this AL record in 1920 (as noted by Trent McCotter).

Thomas “Dude” Esterbrook, a star in the 1880s with the Mets, dies in a fall from a moving train. Esterbrook is on his way to a mental hospital in Middlebrook, NY, when he squeezes through a lavatory window and falls to the rail bed below.

MAY

1^st  An AL first: 2 homers in one game, and both grand slams—by Herm McFarland and Dummy Hoy in the White Sox’ 19–9 win over Detroit. The Tigers’ 12 errors—10 by the infield—sets another AL record, which the White Stockings will tie May 6, 1903, against the Tigers.

2^nd Under overcast skies at Chicago, the Tigers score 5 runs in the top of the 9^th to take a 7–5 lead over the Sox. Clark Griffith then decides to stall, hoping that rain will wash out the last inning out and the score will revert to the 8-inning total. Umpire Tom Connolly is in no mood for the slowdown tactics and forfeits the game to Detroit, the first forfeit in the AL. Detroit will win a forfeit against Baltimore on May 31^st.

Against the Philadelphia Athletics and their untested rookie pitcher Pete Loos, the visiting Boston Somersets score a pair in the first inning, explode for 9 runs in the 2^nd inning, then do better in the 3^rd by scoring ten runs, a ML record scoring spree of 19 runs for consecutive innings. The aptly named Loos walks the first 4 hitters in the 2^nd, then exits after going 2–0 on the 5^th batter. Vet Bill Bernhard relieves with little effect. The final score is 23–12, with a record 9 players scoring two or more runs. The A’s have four players scoring twice for 2-team ML-record 13, a mark not tied until the same two teams match it in 1950. For Pete Loos, it is his only major-league appearance. Parson Lewis is the winner.

The Pirates sell Rube Waddell’s contract to the Chicago Orphans. Despite an NL best 2.37 ERA last year, Rube was 8-13 and was 0-2 in 7+ innings this year. Rube will go 14-14 for the mediocre Chicagoans before he jumps ship at the end of August to appear with a number of semi-pro teams in Wisconsin.

3^rd In a matchup of future Hall of Famers, the Giants beat Boston, 2–1, as Christy Mathewson wins his 3^rd straight, beating Kid Nichols, on a 3-hitter. Bobby Lowe, who has all of Boston’s hits, scores the Beaneater’s only run on a passed ball.

4^th  Fire destroys the wooden grandstand at League Park in St. Louis and halts St. Louis and Cincinnati with a 4–4 tie in the 10^th inning. The 6,000 fans, a third in the 35-cent grand stands, beat a leisurely retreat. The city refuses to permit a duplicate park to be reconstructed, but wants a steel or fireproof grandstand instead.

5^th At Milwaukee, the White Sox jump to a 4–1 lead over the Brewers before the hosts roar back against Bob Patterson, scoring 8 runs in the 4^th on their way to a 21–7 win. The Sox make just three hits. Patterson, meanwhile faces 57 batters, 53 official at bats—both 20^th C major league records for 9 innings—and is pasted for 25 hits. Patterson, the pitcher who won the first AL game two weeks ago, will give up 345 hits this season, a distant 2^nd to Baltimore’s Joe McGinnity.

6^th Christy Mathewson wins his fourth straight game, blanking Philadelphia, 4–0, on 5 hits. It is Matty’s first career shutout. He is also 3-for-4 at the plate.

7^th The Orioles and A’s set an AL record in Philadelphia when the two teams score in 14 half innings as Baltimore prevails, 14-10. The Orioles score in every inning but the 4^th. This record will be tied in 1927 and again in 1940, but not topped this century.

8^th  Amos Rusie, onetime Hoosier Thunderbolt, makes his first start for the Cincinnati Reds after a two-year layoff and is bombed 14–3 by the Cards. Emmett Heidrick makes 5 singles off Rusie. After 2 more appearances, he goes back to digging ditches, having won 245 games, mostly for the Giants, in 9 years.

At New York, the Giants edge the Phillies, 9–8, using a hidden ball trick to end the game. 1B Jake Ganzel applies the tag to Harry Wolverton for the 3^rd out in the 9^th.

In their long-delayed AL home opener, Boston defeats Philadelphia’s Bill Bernhard, 12–4, behind Cy Young, who jumped from the St. Louis NL team and signed in the second week in March. Boston is led by Buck Freeman, who has a single, triple and homer. Young complains that he does not like the rule against pitchers warming up but he will still lead the AL with his 1.62 ERA. His 33 wins are 41.8 percent of his team’s 79 victories, a post-1900 record. It will stand until Steve Carlton wins 45.8 percent of the Phils’ 59 wins in 1972. Young also complains about catchers. “I do not like the league rule compelling the catcher to stand behind the bat all the time. It handicaps a pitcher. I cannot extend myself as I would like.”

In a letter to AL team owners, Ban Johnson says that the rule requiring clubs to cut their players to 14 will not be enforced until May 20^th.

9^th In Cleveland, rookie P Earl Moore, purchased from Dayton for $1,000, allows two unearned runs but no White Sox hits through 9 innings. Cleveland matches the White Sox with 2 runs of their own in the 3^rd inning. In the 10^th, with rain coming down, the Sox use singles by Sam Mertes and Dutch Hartman off Moore, “The Steam Engine in Boots”, to score 2 runs and win, 4–2. The threatening weather keeps the crowd to 400 at League Park. For years this will be considered the AL’s first no-hitter, but in 1991 Moore will lose this accolade.

The Pirates beat Chicago, 8–1, as Deacon Phillippe tops Jock Menefee. It is the 8^th game in 9 days between the 2 teams, half in Pittsburgh and the last four in Chicago.

11^th The largest NL crowd of the year so far (8,500) fills Brooklyn’s Washington Park to view the Boy Wonder from Bucknell, Christy Mathewson. Matty doesn’t disappoint, topping Brooklyn’s William Kennedy, 7–0, as Brooklyn manages just 2 hits off the Giants budding star. New York moves into 3^rd place with the win.

12^th The Reds Noodles Hahn cooks the Pirates, 6–1, allowing 9 hits, one to each batter.

13^th Bock Baker, just acquired from Cleveland, goes the first 6 innings for the A’s before concluding his short major league career (2 games) with another loss. Two appearances, 2 losses. Eddie Plank makes his first ML appearance and pitches the last 2 innings giving up 3 runs in the 14–5 loss at Baltimore.

In New York, Brooklyn and the Giants square off and at the end of 8 innings, the Giants leading 7–6. Brooklyn loads the bases with 2 outs in the 9^th and Dahlen strokes a hard single resulting in a forceout of Daly at 2B. Brooklyn then takes the field confident that 2 runs scored, but umpire O’Day answers the crowd’s questions by saying just “one.” When the Brooklyn players confront him and continue their argument, O’Day declares a forfeit, 9–0, in the Giants’ favor.

14^th Roger Denzer fires his only career shutout as the Giants stop Chicago, 3-0.

15^th Mathewson (6–0) tosses his third straight shutout outpitching Jack Taylor to beat the Colts, 4–0. The Giants move into first place with the win over Chicago.

Washington beats the Boston Somersets, 4–0, to record the AL’s first shutout. Watty Lee is the winner on a 3-hitter.

17^th  The Philadelphia Common Pleas Court rejects the Phillies’ suit against Lajoie, Fraser, and Bernhard. The decision is appealed to the State Supreme Court, but the trio remains with the Athletics all season. Lajoie will hit .422, while Fraser wins 22 and Bernhard 17 for the 4^th-place Athletics.

21^st  Giants fractious owner Andrew Freedman accuses umpire Billy Nash of incompetence and bars him from the Polo Grounds. Pirate Chief Zimmer and the Giants John Warner are forced to officiate. Mathewson then wins his 7^th straight, 2–1, but his scoreless streak stops at 39 innings when the Bucs score an unearned run in the 9^th.

22^nd At Cincinnati, Reds ace Noodle Hahn strikes out 16 Boston batters en route to a 4–3 Reds win. He strikes out the side in three innings and his 16 K’s will stand as the club record until it is matched by Jim Maloney in 1963.

Boston takes a pair from the St. Louis Nationals by 5-4 scores. In game 2, a triple play in the 2^nd inning helps though Cupid Childs scores on the play. St. Louis also scores in the 1^st inning of game 2 when Jesse Burkett leads off with a homerun. He’ll do the same thing tomorrow to tie a ML mark.

23^rd  In Chicago, the A’s score 2 in the 9^th to close to an 11–7 deficit with the White Stockings. Sox manager Clark Griffith relieves with the sacks filled and no outs and pays the supreme compliment to Philadelphia’s Nap Lajoie—he issues him an intentional walk with the bases loaded, bringing Sock Seybold to the plate followed by Harry Davis and Morgan Murphy. Griff then gets 3 ground outs and Chicago wins. Not until (possibly) Mel Ott, on the last day in 1929, and Swish Nicholson in 1944, will a batter be passed intentionally with the sacks filled. Del Bissonette (1944), Barry Bonds (1998) are the others this century who have received intentional passes with the bases loaded. Abner Dalrymple (1881) received the first intentional pass with the sacks full.

At Cleveland’s League Park, the Blues score a ML record 9 runs with 2 outs in the 9^th inning to defeat the Washington Nationals 14–13. Cleveland is down to one strike, on Jack McCarthy, but they put the next ten men on base, winning the game on an error. Winning pitcher Bill Hoffer, who had given up the 13 runs, is carried off the field by the delirious crowd. Patton and Watty Lee pitch for Washington. The scoring (as noted by Bill Kirwin) occurs as follows: Hoffer strikes out, Pickering grounds out, McCarthy singles, Bradley singles, LaChance with two strikes on him) singles scoring McCarthy, Wood is hit by pitch, Scheibeck doubles (Patton, replaced by Lee), Egan walks, Beck (batting for Hoffer) doubles, Pickering singles Beck home to tie the game, and then moves to 2B on a passed ball. McCarthy, who started the whole thing, singles him home for the win. The 9-run rally is one shy of the 10-run outburst that took place on April 25^th.

24^th At the Polo Grounds, Christy Mathewson wins his 8^th straight, beating Cincinnati’s Bill Phillips, 1–0. Matty gives up just 3 hits.

Reversing yesterday’s 9^th inning rally, the Washington Nationals, down 5–0 at the end of 8 innings, score 5 runs to tie the Blues. When Cleveland fails to score in the 9^th, the game ends at 5–5.

27^th  3B Jimmy Burke of Milwaukee makes 4 errors in the 4^th inning, a post-19^th century ML record tied by Cleveland’s Ray Chapman in 1914 and the Cubs Len Merullo in 1942. The A’s score 7 times in the frame and Eddie Plank coasts home with an 8–3 win. Burke’s 4 errors in a game sets the AL record for third basemen that will be tied numerous times, but never topped.

28^th Behind the shutout pitching of Jack Powell, St. Louis hands Christy Mathewson his first loss, 1–0. Matty’s lone walk, in the 2^nd inning, results in the games only run. Matty is now 8-1.

30^th  An NL record crowd of 28,500 sees St. Louis beat the Giants, 6–5, in 10 innings in the afternoon game of a split holiday doubleheader at New York. Christy Mathewson takes the loss in relief, after coming on in the 7^th with the game knotted at 5 apiece. A passed ball with a runner on 2B and a sacrifice fly is Matty’s undoing. New York wins the a.m. game, 6–4 in front of 2,500 fans.

The Boston Americans play their first doubleheader, dropping both to Chicago, 8–3 and 5–3.

JUNE

1^st  At the Polo Grounds, the first-place Giants top Boston Somersets’ Kid Nichols, 2–1, behind Christy Mathewson’s 5-hitter. Matty fans 10 Boston batters, much to the delight of the overflow crowd. He strikes out Gene DeMontreville in the 6^th and when the bat sails out of the DeMontreville’s hands on the 3^rd strike, Matty tosses it to 1B to complete the play.

In Chicago, Boston American pitcher Fred Mitchell makes his first ML start and nerves and errors allow the White Sox to score 5 runs in the 1^st inning. As Mitchell recounted the game to the Chicago Tribune in Bill Nowlin’s profile of Mitchell, “There was one fellow on the club at that time who was my friend, and that was Buck Freeman. He came in from right field after the inning and I remember just what he said to Jimmy Collins. ‘You’re not going to take the kid out, are you, Jim?’ ‘Not on your life,’ answered Jim. I went back and had my head with me from then on and stopped the White Sox.” Freeman hits a 2-run homer in the 4^th and connects for a 3-run homer in the 6^th as Boston wins, 10-5.

In the Reds 4-3 win at Pittsburgh, umpire Cunningham calls out Kitty Bransfield at 1B on disputed call in the 9^th that would’ve tied the game. 2,000 fans then chase the ump who is shielded and escorted to safety by manager Fred Clarke and Hans Wagner.

2^nd  Milwaukee P Bill Reidy surrenders 10 consecutive hits to the Boston Somersets with two outs in the 9^th inning to set a ML record. Nine runs score, a ML-record-tying number set a week ago, as Milwaukee loses 13–2. Boston pitcher Charlie Beville, who took over at 1B in the 5^th after Jimmy Collins and Buck Freeman are tossed by umpire Haskell for arguing and kicking dirt, contributes two doubles—the only hits of his career—in the big inning.

4^th In a 7-3 victory over the host Reds, Brooklyn’s Jimmy Sheckard is called out at 2B by umpire Cunningham—who is definitely having a bad week—and curses him so vehemently that he is slapped with a $5 fine by the ump. Cunningham returns to home plate and Sheckard follows, spitting in his face. Cunningham calls the cops and Sheckard is removed by the police. Cunningham later says, “I don’t know what kept me from pitching into Sheckard but if a player ever does that to me again I’ll pick up a bat and smash him. That’s the limit and the players can take warning.” Brooklyn’s win is helped by the pitching of the Reds rookie Barney McFadden who gives up 11 hits and 11 base on balls. Barney will pitch in just 9 games.

8^th At Cincinnati, the 2^nd place Reds beat up on New York’s Christy Mathewson, clubbing him for 9 hits and 6 runs to win, 6–4.

The Senators down the White Sox, 8-3, behind the pitching and hitting of Watty Lee. Lee goes 4-for-4 with a pair of triples (as noted by Tom Zocco).

9^th  Overflow crowds ringing the outfields of small parks is a frequent occurrence. At Cincinnati on this Sunday afternoon, the first-place Giants lead 15–4 after 6 innings before 17,000 fans. Ground-rule doubles multiply, and 19 more runs score in the next 2 1⁄2 innings. When the crowd edges onto the infield with two outs in the 9^th and the Giants leading 25–13, umpire Bob Emslie forfeits the game to New York, the 2^nd of 2 forfeits this year. The Reds make 18 hits. The Giants register a 20^th C. record 31 hits, led by the outfield: Kip Selbach is 6-for-7, and “Piano Legs” Hickman and George Van Haltren have 5 hits apiece for a NL record 16. Hickman and Van Haltren score 5 runs apiece as the outfield score a record 14 runs. The Giants also set a ML record for most runs without a HR, a mark that will be tied by Cleveland in 1930. The two teams combine for a NL record 36 singles, 22 by New York. Only one Giant will return to the team in 1902: 5 will go to the AL, and 3 will retire. The win today stops a 3-game loss streak, but the Giants will drop their next 3 and drop out of 1^st place.

10^th  The Brooklyn-Colts game draws only 450 fans in Chicago as the visitor win, 9-1.

In Cincinnati, Boston’s Vic Willis is victorious over the Reds, 9–5. Willis hits his only career homer, off Doc Newton, to help his win. His batterymate Kittredge also homers. Noteworthy at the game is AL prexy Ban Johnson, who is the guest of Reds owner John Brush.

At Washington, the Washington Nationals overcome an 8-run deficit in the 8^th to tie the game at 10–10 with the White Sox. Clark Griffith pops out as a pinch hitter in the 9^th but stays on to pitch for the Sox. In the top of the 10^th, Hoy, who earlier homered, singles to start the inning. Two outs later Frank Isbell walks and Fred Hartman homers to end the scoring, 13–10.

11^th In Pittsburgh, the Pirates score 4 runs in 4 innings off Christy Mathewson to beat New York, 4–0. The game is called because of rain after the Giants bat in the 5^th.

14^th At Boston, the Americans snap a 7-7 tie with the Tigers by scoring 9 runs in the bottom of the 8^th to win, 16-7. Detroit pitcher Joe Yeager hits his first ML homer, a grand slam, off starter Win Kellum. Yeager will switch to third base for the Tigers in ‘03.

15^th After two losses to the Giants, Chicago gets back on track, 9–2, behind the 10 strikeout twirling of Rube Waddell. The Colts trample Christy Mathewson for 9 runs and 13 hits and hand the phenom his 4^th loss in a row.

At Boston, Gettysburg College grad George Winter wins for the Americans, 12–4, over the Tigers. The rookie will win his next 6 in a row.

16^th In an exhibition game at Weehawken, the West New Yorks beat the AL Detroit Tigers, 4-3, scoring a run in the last inning off Frank Owen.

At St. Louis, the Cardinals beat up on Bill Donovan to whip Brooklyn, 11-5. Burkett, Hendrick and Padden each go 4-for-5, while weak-hitting Lefty Davis has 4 hits for the Superbas.

17^th The Boston Somersets sweep a Bunker Hill day twinbill, 11–1 and 10–4, part of 5-game sweep over the White Sox. Chicago relinquishes 1^st place to Boston. Buck Freeman has a homer and triple in the two games to back Fred Mitchell and Cy Young.

Detroit vetoes Washington, 10-6, with the help of a six-run 6^th inning. Ducky Holmes finishes the scoring with a 9^th inning grand slam, off Watty Lee.

18^th  Trailing its AL rival the Somersets in attendance, the Boston NL club reduces its admission price from 50 cents to the AL’s 25 cents. The Somersets will outdraw the Beaneaters by 200,000 this season.

Baltimore downs Milwaukee, 11-4, as Jimmy Williams hits a grand slam for the Orioles. It comes in the 3^rd inning, off Tully Sparks (as noted by David Vincent).

20^th  Pittsburgh’s Honus Wagner has 3 stolen bases, including stealing home twice, as Jack Chesbro blanks the Giants, 7–0.

21^st  Right-hander Harley ‘Doc’ Parker of the Reds gives up 21 runs and 26 hits to Brooklyn in his first start of the season—his first appearance in five years. “The next time I get in the box, I hope to give a better account of myself” says Doc Parker after the game, but this will be his ML farewell appearance. The 26 hits is a post-1900 record, tied by Al Travers in 1912, and by the A’s Hod Lisenbee in 1936. The 21 runs allowed is an NL mark. Doc also faces a soon-to-be-topped NL record 49 (The Sporting News says 53) batters in the game. Led by Keeler’s 5 hits, including a HR and a double, the Superbas win, 21–3. Keeler also scores 5 runs for a ML record 5^th time in his career.

24^th  After Cincy loses 8–0 in the opener of a twinbill, the Reds Bill Phillips sets several records in game two as he gives up 19 runs and 22 hits at Philadelphia, losing, 19–1. In 8 innings he faces a record 55 batters, with 49 official at bats—both NL records for the 20^th century. Phils pitcher Doc White has 4 hits, including an inside-the-park homer.

The Chicago Nationals lose 2–1 to Brooklyn when Bill Dahlen hits a sac fly to bring home Brooklyn’s Wee Willie Keeler. Brooklyn C Deacon Maguire throws out 5 Chicago runners.

The Giants edge St. Louis, 3–2, when Sammy Strang singles home Piano Legs Hickman in the bottom of the 9^th. Christy Mathewson allows 6 hits in beating Willie Sudhoff, though the Cards’ pitcher hits a two-run homer, his only major league round tripper.

Turkey Mike Donlin is 6-for-6 with 2 singles, 2 doubles and 2 triples, and scores 5 runs as Baltimore trounces Detroit, 17–8. The other 2 outfielders total 6 hits to set an AL record of 12 two weeks after the NL mark for hits by an outfield is set. Roscoe Miller toils the whole game for Detroit.

At Philadelphia, the A’s and White Sox battle for 14 innings before Chicago pushes across 3 runs to finally win, 7-5. Callahan and Fraser are the starters and finishers for the two teams. Socks Seybold has a triple and HR for the A’s.

26^th Boston arrives in Philadelphia for an expected game against the A’s, unaware that the schedule had been changed and they are supposed to be in Baltimore. The Orioles squad and 4500 fans wait for an hour and a half in 90-degree heat for Boston to arrive. The AL umpire assigned to the game showed up in Philley as well. The Athletics read the revised schedule and play in Washington, losing 5–4.

New York’s Christy Mathewson scatters 9 hits in coasting to a 6–2 win over the visiting Reds. Dick Scott takes the loss.

At Brooklyn, the Pirates lose 16–3. Tommy Daly has 5 hits including 4 long hits for Brooklyn—3 doubles and a triple. He adds a stolen base, one of 7 in the game. In September he’ll have another 5 hit game.

30^th In an AL game in Milwaukee, Cleveland Blues Pete Dowling stops the Brewers, 7-0, on what is described as a no-hitter by three of the four Milwaukee papers. The fourth paper called it a one-hitter. A disputed play in the 7^th inning is the difference.

JULY

1^st  Colts 1B Jack Doyle, harassed by a Polo Grounds fan, jumps into the stands and hits him once with his left, reinjuring his hand, which he had broken several weeks before. The Giants’ “Dummy” Taylor trims Chicago’s Jack Taylor, 6–4.

The Phillies hand the Pirates a 1–0 loss, for Pittsburgh’s only shutout of the year in 139 games. This is a 20^th century NL record that will hold up; the 1894 Boston and Philadelphia teams went through the 132-game season without being shut out.

At Washington, the Athletics take a 13-7 lead in the top of the 8^th, scoring six runs with the help of a Nap Lajoie grand slam, off Bill Carrick, his second serving of salami in two weeks. The Senators score 4 in both the 8^th and 9^th innings to manage a 13-13 tie.

With Boston leading 5–2 over the Orioles in the 6^th inning, the O’s score 2 runs off starter George Cuppy, and he leaves with 2 runners on base. Reliever Ted Lewis allows the runs to score, and Baltimore goes on to win 7–5. Lewis is charged with the loss under the existing rules.

2^nd The Colts (aka the Remnants—the Chicago Tribune, aka the Orphans) lose to New York, 6–3, to run their current road trip record to 2–13. Both wins occurred in a doubleheader against Brooklyn.

4^th In Pittsburgh, the Giants split a doubleheader, winning the a.m. game 5–3, then lose to the Bucs, 12–0, in the afternoon game. Christy Mathewson is the winner in the morning, scattering 11 hits, striking out 10 and walking 6.

5^th Cy Young notches his 300^th win in the Boston Americans 5–3 win over the Philadelphia Athletics. Cy gets relief help from Bernhard in topping McPherson.

6^th NL president Nick Young accedes to a protest regarding umpire Harry Colgan and allows the Giants and Pirates to officiate their own game in Pittsburgh. New York’s Charlie Buelow and Pirate Jack O’Connor call the game, won by the Bucs, 6–2.

7^th The last-place Milwaukee Brewers release Irv Waldron, who will be signed tomorrow by the Washington Senators. The Sporting News (10/12/01) says he was released by Milwaukee because he didn’t hit or field, ran bases poorly and most of all was devoid of good judgment. “He batted not better than .250 (sic), and to say there was not a redeeming feature about his work is just the plain truth.” (as noted by historian David Nemec) Waldron, hitting .297, set a ML mark with 28 hits in his first 15 games. Not until Joe DiMaggio in 1936 (27 hits) will anyone tally 27 hits in 15 games. Joltin’ Joe will be matched by Terry Pendleton (27 in 1984) as the only players this century to do it. Bo Hart (28 in 2003) and Yasiel Puig (27 in 2013) will join the list. The diminutive Waldron will hit .311 with Washington and finish his year with the most at bats and games played in the AL. Noteworthy, this will be his only season [he did play with minor-league Milwaukee in 1897].

8^th  An 8^th-inning decision favoring the Brooklyn Superbas infuriates St. Louis fans. When the 7–5 Brooklyn win ends, they rush umpire Hank O’Day, who suffers a split lip before St. Louis players and police can rescue him.

At Chicago, the Orphans and Phils both score in the 9^th and Chicago plates a run in the 10^th to win, 2–1. After the game, Chicago releases veteran Cupid Childs, who went hitless today.

Player-manager George Davis leads the Giants to a 9–3 win over Cincinnati with four hits, including 2 inside-the-park homers, and four runs. Mathewson beats Dick Scott for the 2^nd time this year, though Matty’s control is off. He walks 4 batters and hits two, including Cincy 1B Jake Beckley, who is hit in the head with the pitch and knocked out for 5 minutes.

10^th  The Boston Nationals rap out 15 hits in 12 innings against Pittsburgh, but fail to score. The Pirates finally push over a run to win, 1–0. Boston sets a ML record for most hits, no runs, in an extra-inning game; They’ll tie the record against the same Pirates in 1918 in a 21-inning game.

Harry Davis hits for the cycle to lead the A’s to a 13–6 victory over Boston.

At a secret meeting, the NL Board of directors votes to abrogate the National Agreement that has governed organized baseball, effective September 30.

12^th The host Cardinals edge the Giants, 3–2, in 11 innings, beating Mathewson on an error.

Boston Somersets’ Cy Young scatters 7 hits in beating the Athletics, 5–3, for his 300^th victory.

13^th At Detroit, Bill “Doc” Nance has 6 hits—5 singles and a double—off 4 Cleveland pitchers to pace Detroit to a 19-12 win. Giving up the hits are Gus Weyhing (soon on his way to the Reds), Pete Dowling, manager Jimmy McAleer, in his only pitching appearance (0.1 IP, 2H, 3BB), and 3B Bill Bradley, in his only pitching appearance (1IP, 4H).

The Reds release Doc Newton (4-13, 4.06 ERA) but the lefty will find a new home in Brooklyn on the 16th, going 6-5 with a 2.83 ERA for the rest of the year. He will also continue his sub-.900 fielding average and finish with a NL-record 18 errors for the season.

14^th The White Sox top Milwaukee, 4-0, and are prevented from further scoring by a bases-loaded triple play, the first in the AL, when umpire Joe Cantillon rules that Dummy Hoy left 3B before a catch. 1B Jiggs Donahue, catches a line drive to retire the Sox, Frank Isbell, then steps on first to double up runner Sam Mertes. Jiggs throw to second baseman Billy Gilbert, in an effort to nail Fielder Jones, but Jones was on the base. Meanwhile, Hoy crosses the plate. Gilbert throws to the 3B Bill Friel, who touches the bag, and Cantillon’s rules that Hoy is out for leaving third base early on the line drive.

15^th Christy Mathewson, 22-years-old, of the Giants pitches a no-hitter, blanking St. Louis 5–0 at League Park. Matty saves his own no-hitter in the 6^th when an Otto Krueger hit caroms off 1B Chick Ganzel’s glove to Mathewson, who throws back to 1B for a 3–1–3 putout.

16^th In Cleveland, Boston’s Cy Young notches his 12^th straight win, staggering to a 10–8 victory over the Blues. Buck Freeman has 3 hits including a triple off losing pitcher Moore.

18^th In Boston’s 6–5 loss at Cleveland, 1B Buck Freeman injures his foot chasing a foul ball. Lou Criger replaces Freeman, leading the AL with 7 HRs. Buck will be back in the lineup July 27.

19^th In Chicago, Jack Taylor allows 10 hits to the Giants, but is unscored on until the 9^th. The Orphans paste Mathewson for 12 hits to win, 5–2. Chicago has now won three in a row over the visiting New Yorkers.

Cleveland edges Boston, 2-1, in 10 innings, snapping the 12-game winning streak of Cy Young.

21st At Chicago, the Giants lose their 5^th straight to the last-place Orphans, who sweep the series with the 5-2 win. New York manages just 4 hits off Jock Menefee.

Led by star Jesse Burkett, the Cardinals pummel the Reds Archie Stimmell, winning, 15-2. Burkett has 5 hits, including a homer.

22^nd At St. Louis, the Orphans blow a 5–0 lead and the Cardinals win, 6–5, scoring a run in the 8^th against reliever Rube Waddell. Pete Childs, recently acquired from St. Louis to take over 2B from veteran Cupid Childs, scores the last Chicago tally after hitting a triple in the 5^th.

The A’s are victorious in Chicago over the first-place White Sox, winning, 2–1, in 12 innings. Eddie Plank wins over Roy Patterson, the St. Croix wonder, as all 3 runs are the result of errors.

23^rd Brooklyn batters a wild Christy Mathewson for 6 hits in two innings, knocking him out of the game in the 3^rd, the first time this season Matty has not finished a start. The Giants lose, 8–3.

Jack Chesbro stops the visiting Reds, 9–2, and Fred Clarke backs him up by hitting for the cycle.

24^th  In a baseball rarity, the Pittsburgh Pirates score in every inning, a ML record of course, defeating the Reds 11–2. Deacon Phillippe is the winner over Jess Tannehill.

Milwaukee’s Pink Hawley beats Boston, 4–3, and beans C Lou Criger with a pitch. Criger is unconscious for 5 minutes before being taken away. Ossee Schreckengost moves from 1B to C and Dowd moves to 1B.

25^th Brooklyn righty Frank Kitson outpitches Christy Mathewson, allowing just one Giant hit in beating New York, 5–0. Four of the Brooklyn runs are unearned. Algie McBride has the only safety, a single, for NY.

29^th At the Polo Grounds, Boston’s Kid Nichols and Christy Mathewson square off for a ten-inning shootout, with Boston prevailing, 5–4. Matty gives up 11 hits in bringing his record to 15–11.

30^th  Ban Johnson says the AL will place a team in St. Louis in 1902. The Milwaukee franchise is seen as the most likely to be transferred. New York will likely have a franchise while Cleveland and Baltimore will likely lose theirs.

Paced by Nap Lajoie, who hits for the cycle, the Athletics roll by Cleveland, 11–5. It is the second A’s cycle this month. Lajoie’s homer is a grand slam, his second of the month. It comes in the 7^th off Earl Moore.

31^st In Cincinnati, the Reds take 14 innings to subdue the Chicago Colts, 5–4. Reds pitcher Noodle Hahn strikes out 11 in the win, while Chicago pitcher Tom Hughes records 15 strikeouts.

AUGUST

1^st Kid Nichols, in relief, and Christy Mathewson face each other for the 2^nd time in 3 days, with Matty winning this outing. Nichols relieves in the 7^th with the score, 5–5, but New York scores 4 runs to take a 9–5 lead. Boston retaliates with 3 runs to put Matty on the ropes, but he escapes with a 9–8 win.

2^nd Collecting 22 hits, the Boston Americans coast to a 16–0 win over the A’s behind the pitching of Cy Young. It is Cy’s 20^th win of the year versus 5 losses. The A’s help with 8 errors.

3^rd  Cleveland pitcher Ed Scott goes all the way against Milwaukee and hits a solo HR in the top of the 10^th to win 8–7. It is the last game of Scott’s career. Bill Reidy serves up the homer in the loss.

4^th  Before the Pirates 6-3 win at Cincinnati, Reds and Pirates players are clocked while running from home plate to 1B. The fastest time for the 90-foot sprint is 3 seconds flat, by Pirates OF Ginger Beaumont.

5^th In the first of two in Philley, Giant OF Ike Van Zandt makes an 11^th inning error and Philadelphia goes on to score 3 runs and win, 6–3. Van Zandt came on in the 9^th after starting LF Kip Selbach is tossed for protesting strike calls. Christy Mathewson takes the loss for New York.

At Cincinnati, Topsy Hartsel strokes two inside-the-park homers, but they are not enough as last-place Chicago loses to the Reds, 10–7. Whitey Guese takes the decision over Jock Menefee.

In Baltimore’s 9–0 win in game 2 against Boston, Oriole 1B Burt Hart is called out at 3B on his long hit, and punches umpire John Haskell. George Winter takes the loss, which follows a 3–1 Boston victory.

7^th  Ban Johnson suspends Baltimore 1B Burt Hart for striking umpire John Haskell yesterday, stating “This is the first time a player in the American League has struck an umpire, and it is an offense that cannot be overlooked.” The suspension is never lifted and the 31-year-old Hart will never play again.

The hits keep coming. In Cleveland, Milwaukee manager Hugh Duffy hits umpire Al Mannassau when a fly ball nicking the foul line is called fair, scoring the winning runs in a 5–4 win for the Blues. Duffy is suspended indefinitely.

In Boston’s 10–5 win in game 1 at Baltimore, the Bostons pull off a triple play. Pitcher Lewis starts the TP, which goes to Jimmy Collins (3B), Schreckengost ©, Ferriss (2B), and Parent (SS). The Orioles take game 2, 10–4.

8^th At the Polo Grounds, the Giants and Brooklyn split two. Brooklyn wins the opener, 3–0, despite hitting into a 6^th-inning triple play, before losing the nitecap to Christy Mathewson, 4–1. Brooklyn threatens in the 6^th, putting two on with no outs, but Matty K’s Cozy Dolan, allows a single, then strikes out Tom Daly and Bill Dahlen to end the threat.

9^th  In a split at Boston, Baltimore 3B Jack Dunn is knocked out in game 1 by a foul ball off his own bat. He will be out of action for a week.

10^th   In the 2^nd game of a DH, Washington National’s P Dale Gear gives up an AL record 41 total bases in losing 13–0 to the Athletics. The 23 hits include 4 doubles, 4 triples, and 2 HRs; the 10 extra base hits allowed also establishes an AL mark that will be tied by Luis Tiant in 1969 and later by Curt Schilling. Philadelphia A’s pitcher Snake Wiltse, brother of Hooks, has 2 doubles and 2 triples, still an AL record, and “could’ve had another base if he had run hard.” (Washington Post) He is just one of 3 hurlers in history to collect 4 extra-base hits in a game, and his 10 total bases is a since-topped 20^th C. ML record for a pitcher. For Snake, acquired last month from the Pirates, it is his 2^nd shutout over Washington in a week. Snake’s batterymate, Doc Powers, also has 4 hits including a triple and homer. In the opener, a 9-4 Washington win, Nats’ pitcher Win Mercer becomes the first AL hurler to steal home. Lajoie has a pair of homers for the A’s in game 1, his second game in a row with 2 homers, but then gets tossed in the 7^th for arguing a call. He hit 2 homers in yesterday’s game 2 victory. He will lead the AL with 14, drive in 125 runs, and hit .422 to win the Triple Crown.

In St. Louis, Sam Crawford hits a home run as the Reds beat the Cardinals in 10 innings, 8-5. Crawford will lead the NL in homers with 16, 8 on the road, with 3 coming in the Mound City.

Before a crowd of 5,000 in Cleveland, the AL-leading White Sox cannot overcome a 7-0 lead and fall, 11–7. Frank Isbell sets an AL record for LOB by leaving 11 on base for the Sox.

13^th  In the first of two at the Polo Grounds, Kid Nichols and Christy Mathewson face each other again and both throw shut out ball for 9 innings. Boston finally scores 3 in the 10^th to win, 3–0, when Duff Colley hits a 3-run double. Matty’s record in the past month is 3–7.

14^th With little-used Roger Denzler starting game 2, the Giants use the strong arm of the law to win, 3-0, over Boston. Player-manager George Davis laces a long drive down the left field line and, with two policeman standing in the corner, the ball strikes one of New York’s finest on the shoulder and caroms away. Umpire Bob Emslie rules it a homer over the usual Boston protests. The Giants drop the opener, 8-3.

15^th Boston takes the opener of two against the Giants, winning, 3-2. Christy Mathewson and Kid Nichols go at it again in game 2, which ends in a 5-5 tie in 11 innings. Matty strikes out 9. Algie McBride hits one over the ropes for a 1^st inning homer off Nichols, and Jimmy Slagle has 5 hits for Boston. Kip Selbach has 5 hits, including 3 doubles for New York.

17^th At St. Louis, the Orphans win, 6-3, over the Cardinals behind the pitching of Rube Waddell. Waddell also hits a homer.

At Pittsburgh, the Pirates beat the Reds, 5-0, behind Jack Chesbro. Honus Wagner homers for the Pirates.

19^th Kid Nichols and Christy Mathewson square off the 3^rd time in 7 days, with Nichols winning easily, 11–6. New York makes 4 errors, but a tired Matty is pasted for 13 hits while striking out just one.

At Cincinnati, Long Tom Hughes strikes out 12, but the Reds beat last-place Chicago, 2-0, behind Archie Stimmel’s lone career shutout. Archie will finish the year at 4-14.

At St. Louis, the Pirates knock out the NL’s leading pitcher Jack Harper (21–8) in the 3^rd en route to a 9–5 win. Harper, 21–7 at the start of the day, will end up at 23–13.

20^th  Umpire Bob Emslie becomes ill before the 2^nd game of the Superbas-Phils twin bill and Phils P Al Orth and Superbas C Jim McGuire fill in for him. However, it is a close game, and Orth is needed as a PH in the 9^th. Doc White then becomes the 2^nd umpire as Orth hits a single and scores a run. Brooklyn holds on for a 3–2 win.

In Washington, the White Sox pound the Senators, 9-3, as both pitchers hit homeruns. Clark Griffith hits a four-bagger for the Sox and Casey Patten matches suit for the Nats. It is a first in the AL and won’t be matched until 1927.

At Boston, Cy Young pitches a 6–0 shut out over visiting Milwaukee. Boston (59-40) is a game behind the White Sox (60-39), but will lose 12 out of their next 17 to drop out of contention.

21^st   At Washington, umpire John Haskell is involved in another violent incident during the Washington–Sox game when Sox SS Frank Shugart punches Haskell after a disputed ball four call, followed by a Nationals bases-loaded triple. Teammate John Katoll tries to add his two cents, and a fan jumps in punching Shugart. The police intervene and both players are arrested. Shugart will be expelled from MLB, then reinstated with his penalty reduced to a 23-game suspension. However, he will never play after the 1901 season. The incident starts in the 4^th inning with the score 1–0 when Haskell calls a ball four to load the bases. Clingman then triples and the battery of Sugden and Katoll start berating the ump for the ball 4 call. Sugden then lets a pitch go by him that strikes the umpire, and Haskell waves in Clingman from third. Katoll then fires a pitch at Haskell that strikes him on the leg. At the start of the next inning Shugart follows Sugden at the plate and the two start in on it. Washington’s Win Mercer lives up to his name with an 8–0 win. Haskell will not eject any more players this season, his last, but the 17 thumbed so far will lead the circuit.

In Baltimore, Orioles pitcher Joe McGinnity is tossed for spitting in the face of umpire Tom Connally. When Detroit’s Kid Elberfeld intervenes, he is decked by Baltimore’s Mike Donlin. Bill Keister also gets involved, as do some fans, and the police, who arrest the players and a fan. Judge Harry Goldman, a part-owner of the O’s, releases the players and fines the fan a $100. McGinnity is suspended for 10 days for the spitting, which he says was not spitting but throwing his tobacco quid at him. Ban Johnson will reduce the suspension after meeting with McGinnity and John McGraw (source: Terry Simpkins). The Orioles win in a forfeit.

Reds pitcher Gus Weyhing, in his only appearance for the Reds, goes the distance against Chicago, but loses, 9-1. Weyhing, picked up after Cleveland released him, will get his walking papers in two days. Weyhing is one of the last players not to use a glove (as noted by historian Steven King from a 1901 article on Weyhing).

22nd At Boston, the Phillies lose 5-4 to the Beaneaters and also lose 3B Harry Wolverton when he breaks his collarbone in a collision with Boston first sacker Fred Tenney. While he recovers at home, rumors start about his possible defection to the American League’s Washington club. When asked by the press if he had signed a contract, Wolverton replies, “I defy you to prove it.” That was enough for the Phillies’ management. Team treasurer John Rogers will suspend Wolverton and fine him $600, the amount of his salary from the time of his injury to the end of the season. “The majority of players are ungrateful, deceitful and liars and cannot be trusted for even their words,” Rogers said. Wolverton will sue the Phillies and signed a two-year contract with Washington at $3,250 per year regardless of whether or not he played any games (as noted in his SABR biography). Wolverton will tire of Washington and return eventually to the Phillies.

The Giants Charlie Hickman, tired of playing the outfield and every infield position, takes to the mound and loses to Brooklyn, 7-1. Hickman was 6-0 for Boston in 1899. Every player but two on the Giants makes an error.

24^th Irate Boston fans jump on umpire Joe Cantillon after a call goes against the Somersets. Chick Stahl and Parson Lewis rescue the umpire. Cleveland prevails over Boston, 4–2.

Rookie Frank Dupee puts the White Sox in a hole by giving up 3 runs in the 1^st inning without retiring a batter and Baltimore goes on to win, 10-4. For Dupee, this is his ML career as he retires with an ERA of infinity.

26^th New York’s Christy Mathewson allows just 3 hits in beating the Phils, 3–1.

27^th At Boston, Cy Young goes 15 innings to defeat Detroit, 2–1, for his 25^th win of the year.

28^th The Pirates score 5 in the 1^st and another run in the 3^rd, then pretty much sit back and watch the Cardinals come back to win, 9-7. The loss leaves Pittsburgh in first place by 3 games.

30^th The Phillies move into a tie for 2^nd place with an 8-0 pummeling of the Giants. Bill Duggleby allows 6 hits and strikes out 8 while his teammates reach Christy Mathewson for 15 hits.

SEPTEMBEr

2^nd Detroit sweeps a Labor Day doubleheader from Washington, picking up an AL record 21 infield assists in a game 2, 7-4 victory. This is still the AL record. SS Kid Elberfeld has 12 assists to back up rookie Roscoe Miller. The Tigers take game 1, 5-2.

3^rd  Baltimore P Joe McGinnity hurls two complete games against Milwaukee, winning 10–0 and losing 6–1. The Brewers manage 15 hits on the afternoon off McGinnity, who will set a 20^th-century record for most hits allowed during a season (401).

Jack Doyle collects five hits as the Colts drub the Giants, 10–4, putting New York in last place. New York will next play first-place Pittsburgh, hosting the Pirates in three straight doubleheaders. Pittsburgh will win all 6, scoring not less than 10 runs in each game. Not until the year 2000, when the Mariners lose 7 straight from August 13-20, all by 9 or more runs, will a team allow 9+ runs in 7 straight games.

Cleveland rookie Bill Cristall debuts with a 4–0 gem over Boston, a first in the fledgling AL. Cristall allows 5 hits in the game 2 win. Teammate Earl Moore shuts out faltering Boston on 2 hits in the opener to win, 1–0, over Ted Lewis. Little-used Ed Scott homers in his final ML at bat in game 2.

4^th Pitching for Dayton (Western Assoc) Clarence Wright hurls his second consecutive no-hitter, beating Grand Rapids, 2-0. On September 1, Wright beat Columbus, 9-0, allowing no hits.

5^th In the first of two in Detroit, Tiger ace Roscoe Miller puts on a disgraceful exhibition against the A’s. lobbing the ball in, grinning as the A’s batters hit it, and throwing a bunt into the stands to allow 3 runs to score. Miller settles down in the last 3 innings, allowing only a single, but the Tigers lose, 11–9. His performance is explained by writers in that he is in one of his sulks. The A’s light up rookie Yip Owen in game 2 to win, 9–3.

The first-place Pirates have an easy time in New York, beating the Giants, 15-1 and 15-7. Larry Hesterfer makes his only ML appearance in game 2, going the distance and allowing all 15 runs. Only 5 are earned. Hesterfer also makes one or two remarkable records (as noted by historian Bill Lamb). In his first at bat, with the bases loaded and none out, he hits a line drive that is speared by Honus Wagner and turned into a triple play. He is the only major leaguer to hit in a triple play in his first at bat and the only player to do so in his only game.

In Brooklyn, the Reds lose, 3-2, in 10 innings when George Magoon and Bill Fox make errors in the fading light. A peculiar play occurs in the 8^th when a wild pitch bounds in the stands and back out again enabling Brooklyn catcher Duke Farrell to nab Harry Steinfeldt at the plate.

In the bottom of the 9^th in Boston, Gene DeMontreville hits a two-out, three-run homer to give the Nationals a 6-5 win over St. Louis. Boston comes back from a five-run deficit after 7 innings. St. Louis is led by Jesse Burkett who has a single, triple and homerun. The St. Louis Post Dispatch notes of his 2^nd inning homer, “Burkett hit one, stood still and watched it clear the left field fence and then trotted around the bases after Magee.”

In Chicago, the heads of seven minor leagues meet to set guidelines. Attending are Pat Powers (Eastern League), Tom Hickey (Western League), John Farrell (NY State League), Michael Saxton (Three-I League) William Myer, Jr. (Western Assoc), W. H. Lucas (Pacific NW League), and T.H. Murnane (New England League). Proxies of compliance are sent by 4 other leagues as well. The meeting sets roster sizes, fines, and a reserve clause. Importantly, it also establishes the league classifications of A, B, C and D.

6^th  In Detroit, with the Tigers leading the A’s 8–0 in the 6^th, word comes that President McKinley has been mortally wounded by an assassin and, at the request of the two managers, the game is called. Joe Yeager is the winner. He’ll finish the season at 12-11, his only winning year.

The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues is formed to help the minor leagues protect their interests.

7^th The first-place White Sox dispose of slumping Boston by beating them, 4–1, in a Saturday game at South Side Park. Nixey Callahan, enjoying his switch from the North side to the South side, is the victor over Ted Lewis.

Thankful to be back in New York after losing 3 straight doubleheaders in Pittsburgh, the Giants play a solo 5–2 win over the Cardinals. Dummy Taylor is the winner.

8^th  The Players Protective Association instructs members to sign one-year contracts only, and not recognize the reserve clause.

In a rare Sunday game (Sunday games are not outlawed in Chicago) before an estimated 20,000 fans, the largest AL crowd of the year, White Sox OF Dummy Hoy laces a 2-run single in the bottom of the 9^th off Boston’s Cy Young to give Chicago a 4–3 win.

9^th The White Sox sweep a doubleheader—and the 4-game series—with Boston by topping the Somersets, 4–3 and 6–4. The Sox rack up an AL record six triples in the opener, and will match it within a week. Boston’s Buck Freeman belts his 12^th homer of the year. Chicago (75–46) now has a seven game lead over Boston (67–52).

10^th  The 6^th-place Chicago Orphans top Brooklyn, 4-1, as Topsy Hartzel ties a NL record for most putouts by a left fielder with 11. Dick Harley set the record in 1898 and it won’t be matched again in the 20^th century by an NL left fielder.

12^th  Baltimore’s Joe McGinnity hurls 2 more complete games, winning over Philadelphia 4–3 and losing 5–4. The O’s win the opener by scoring a pair in the bottom of the 9^th. The A’s reach the tired McGinnity for 10 hits in the nitecap. Rube Waddell, in 1904, will be the next pitcher to start three straight games.

13^th The Baltimore Orioles edge the A’s, 12–10. In the 9^th, the A’s have the tying runs on base with 2 out when Connie Mack sends up pinch hitter Doc Powers to bat for Nap Lajoie, who was sulking and refused to hit. Powers flies out to end the game.

14^th Boston’s Cy Young records his 30^th win of the year, beating the visiting Washington Nationals, 12–1.

1. A. Phelon, Jr., writing in today’s issue of Sporting Life reports: “Noiseless umpiring is to be attempted at the South Side park Monday [the 16^th] afternoon. Impossible as this may seem at first hearing, it is to be attempted, and there are even bets that it will be a go. George W. Hancock, famed in Chicago as the man who invented indoor base ball, will be responsible for the success or failure of the scheme. The umpire is to wear a red sleeve on the right arm and a white one on the left. For a strike he will raise the right arm, for a ball the left; for an out he will hoist the right arm, for a ball [sic] the other. People at the far end of the park, unable to hear even that human buffalo, Sheridan, can see the colors, and there seems a good chance for the trick to make a hit.” There is no report that this was put into effect.

15^th  In the 2^nd of 2 games with Milwaukee, the White Stockings hit a ML record 5 triples in the 8^th inning against Milwaukee. Their total of 6 (Hoy, McFarland, Shugart, Sullivan, Mertes, Hartman) in the game ties an AL record they set a week ago and will not duplicated until White Sox reach that number on September 17, 1920. Chicago wins 9–4 after taking the opener, 5–4, and hitting 4 triples. Chicago with 9 and Milwaukee with one will go into the ML record books for most triples by two teams in a doubleheader (10). In 2004-05 researchers will confirm that that the record is 12, set in a July 4, 1907 doubleheader by the Browns and Detroit.

It could’ve been worse. The Detroit Tigers roll over Cleveland behind Ed Siever with the most lopsided score in AL history: 21–0 (equaled on August 13, 1939). Cleveland pounds out 24 hits off rookie Jack Bracken as Pop Dillon leads the way with 4 hits. The game is mercifully called after 7 1⁄2 innings to allow Cleveland to catch a train. Bracken’s ERA is not helped by this outing and he will end this season, his only one in the majors, with a 6.21 mark, the highest in the Deadball Era.

19^th  All games are canceled out of respect for the funeral of President William McKinley, who died September 14^th from gunshot wounds.

20^th The first-place Pirates run their record to 81-44 with a pair of wins over the Phillies. The Bucs win 10-1 and 7-2. Jesse Tannehill is the winning pitcher in game 1, helping out with a 2-run home run. Honus Wagner has a grand slam in game 2, against Doc White. The Phillies are now tied with Brooklyn for second place, 9.5 games back.

Boston sweeps a pair from Chicago, winning 3-1 and 7-0. Vic Willis tosses the shutout beating rookie Charlie Ferguson in his lone start and appearance as a player in the majors. He will resurface as an umpire a decade from now.

21^st  Tom Hughes of Chicago and Boston Beaneater Bill Dinneen pitch 16 scoreless innings before the Colts’ Dexter scores in the 17^th on an error, hit batter, force-out, and a single by Cupid “Pete” Childs, his fourth hit of the game. Each pitcher gives up 8 singles. This will stand as the longest shut out ever by a Cub pitcher. Hughes fans 13 in 17 frames. The 17 innings sets the ML record for the longest game [at 60’ 6”]. The record will be broken a number of times.

An AL record that still stands is set when Cleveland and Washington make 22 errors in a doubleheader, 16 by Cleveland. Washington wins both games, 18–7 and 11–3.

In Cincinnati, Christy Mathewson allows just 3 hits in beating the Reds, 5–1. It is Matty’s 20^th win.

22^nd The Reds Noodles Hahn shuts out the Giants, 13-0, in game one of a doubleheader at League Park. Fortunes change in the second game as John Ganzel hits a grand slam in the first inning off Archie Stimmel and New York rolls to a 10-2 victory.

23^rd At League Park, Brooklyn ties their highest score ever (May 20, 1896) in blasting the Reds, 25–6. These are the most runs they will score this century. Jimmy Sheckard (2^nd inning) and Joe Kelley (5^th) both connect for grand slams off Archie Stimmel, with Kelley adding a 2^nd homer. Jim Hughes collects 4 hits and a win while Tom Daly scores 5 runs. Starter Stimmel (4-14 for the season), who did not last long as the starter yesterday, gives up 18 runs in 5 innings. He’s now given up three grand slams in two games, a record he’d like to forget. Sam Crawford of the Reds triples in the 8^th inning but pulls up lame at 3B, missing an inside-the-park homer. Brooklyn generously allows a courtesy runner, Heinie Peitz, to score a run for him. Crawford returns to finish the game (courtesy of Retrosheet). Brooklyn’s total of 16 runs in the 5^th and 6^th innings is a post-1900 NL record; the league record of 21 runs in consecutive innings was set in 1894 by Pittsburgh.

Doc McJames, who pitched for Brooklyn last year (5-6), dies after he falls out of a carriage in Charleston, SC. He was 28.

24^th  Jimmy Sheckard becomes the first 20^th-century player to hit grand slams in two consecutive games, as Brooklyn pounds Cincinnati 16–2. Sheckard connects off Bill Phillips in the 4^th. Frank Kitson homers and takes the victory. The 41 runs in 2 games is a franchise record. Sheckard’s mark won’t be tied until 1937. He will finish the year with a .354 average, 104 RBIs and a .534 slugging percentage, tops in the NL.

25^th The first-place Pirates jump on Christy Mathewson for 3 runs in the first inning on their way to a 10–5 win over the Giants. The Bucs tally 14 hits off Matty to whip the visiting Giants.

At St. Louis, the Cardinals Bill Richardson belts an inside-the-park homer in the 11^th to give St. Louis a 2-1 victory over Boston.

At Boston, Cy Young wins his 33^rd, beating the White Stockings, 5–2. Nixey Callahan takes the loss.

26^th The Reds are glad to not be playing Brooklyn, and whip Boston, 7–2, behind Noodles Hahn. Bill Dinneen takes the loss, though he hits his lone ML career homer today.

At Baltimore, the Orioles pull off a triple play in the 9^th inning against the Cleveland Blues and then score 2 runs in the bottom of the frame to win, 10-9.

27^th Boston (AL) rookie George Wilson, purchased from Albany (NY State League) tops Milwaukee 7–2 in his first game. Next year he’ll play under the name George Prentiss.

Behind Deacon Phillippe, Pittsburgh defeats the Superbas, 5–4, to clinch the NL pennant. Except for a few hours on July 4, the Pirates have been in 1^st place since June 15.

At Philadelphia, the A’s beat Cleveland, 14–6, behind Snake Wiltse. Nap Lajoie has 3 hits including his AL-leading 14^th HR, off Bracken.

28^th In the 2^nd game of a doubleheader, Boston rookie Jake Volz walks 9 Brewers, but still wins, 10–9, in a game called after 7 innings. Manager Jimmy Collins has 2 homers and Hobe Ferris wins the game with a 2-run triple in the bottom of the 7^th. This is the season finale for Boston and it is the 3^rd doubleheader in a row shortened because of darkness. Boston takes the opener, 8–5.

Detroit finishes its season with a 5-2 win over the Orioles in Baltimore, called after 7 innings. Rookie Roscoe Miller (23-13) is the winner, completing his still-standing AL-record 35 complete games. He finishes the year having thrown 332 innings, an American League rookie record for innings pitched. Scott Perry will match it in 1918. Miller will throw just 149 innings next year and 74 the year after and will not have another winning record.

29^th  The AL season ends with the White Stockings in first place by 4 games over Boston. Jimmy Williams of the Baltimore Orioles leads the AL in triples, with 21, two years after leading the NL with 27. This feat will be topped by Sam Crawford in 1902–1903.

30^th The visiting New York Giants drop a pair to the Cards, as McGraw uses position players on the mound. Heinie Smith, primarily a second baseman, makes his only career start in game one and completes a 12–4 loss to the Redbirds. He bats 7^th and hits a HR. Jim “Sheriff” Jones also makes his only career start in the second match and loses, 6–5, in a game called in the 6^th inning because of darkness. Jones bats 2^nd in game 1 and plays RF, and bats leadoff in game 2 going 0-for-4 in each.

OCTOBER

5^th The Brooklyn Superbas sweep two from the Giants, 8–0 and 4–2. Wild Bill Donovan pitches the opener, allowing 3 hits, in winning his NL-high 25^th game. He does it in 45 appearances, starting 38. Christy Mathewson umpires the first game, then loses the 2^nd game, also umpired by a ball player.

6^th The Chicago Orphans close out their season with a 9-5 loss to the visiting Pirates. Tom Hughes allows just 4 hits for Chicago, but his teammates kick in with 9 errors, 4 by first baseman Jock Menefee to set a since-tied record (post-1893). This was only Menefee’s second game at 1B; he is normally a pitcher.

20^th  Seven Cardinals, including the 3 top hitters—Jesse Burkett, Emmet Heidrick, and Bobby Wallace—and half the pitching staff, jump to the new St. Louis AL team.

30^th  The Chicago Nationals hire Frank Selee as their new manager to replace Tom Loftus. Selee was recently fired as manager of Boston after 12 years at the helm. Selee will be inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1999.

NOVEMBER

5^th  Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis is leased for 5 years by Ban Johnson and Charles Comiskey for an AL team; 2 weeks later the Milwaukee franchise is officially transferred.

DECEMBER

3^rd  At the league meeting, the Milwaukee franchise is officially dropped from the AL and is replaced by the St. Louis Browns. “Messrs. Comiskey, Shibe and Postal were appointed a committee to perfect the transfer of the Milwaukee club and franchise to St. Louis.” Second day – “. . . the greater part of the time was consumed in adjusting the various details connected with the transfer of the Milwaukee team and franchise to St. Louis, with the Killilea brothers, of Milwaukee, as the principal owners of the new club” (1902 Reach Baseball Guide).

The Reach Guide of 1902 also states, somewhat contradictorily, “In St. Louis also there was an important shift, the Killileas, of Milwaukee, disposing of their entire holdings to a local syndicate of wealthy business men, composed of Messrs. R.L. Hedges, Ralph Orthwein and R. Gardner. The club was then reorganized as the ‘St. Louis American League Base Ball Company,’ with $50,000 capital, and with Messrs. Orthwein, Hedges, McDiarmid, Bruce and Gardner as Directors.” Ralph Orthwein, President of the new St. Louis team is described as the youngest (“not yet 30”) and possibly the wealthiest (“rated a millionaire in his own right and the son of a millionaire”) of the league’s presidents.”

4^th  Kip Selbach jumps the Giants to sign with John McGraw’s Baltimore squad.

10^th  In St. Louis, lefty pitcher Ted Breitenstein breaks his right arm and sprains his left when his carriage rolls over after his horse bolts.

14^th  Suffering from too much infighting and no leadership, 4 NL clubs elect A. G. Spalding as president. Two days later, a court voids the election and enjoins him from serving, and he will eventually quit.

• 1902

JANUARY

4^th  Bill Dinneen, winner of 36 games for the Beaneaters (NL) in the past 2 years, signs with the rival Boston Somersets (AL), for whom he will win 20 or more for the next 3 years.

26^th  Lulu Ortman, a recently jilted girl friend of Boston’s Chick Stahl, is arrested in Fort Wayne, IN, after an unsuccessful attempt to shoot him.

30^th  Dashing Tony Mullane, the first player to have jumped the reserve rule by signing with the St. Louis Unions of the Union Association in 1883, signs a contract with Toledo, of the new American Association (AAA).

FEBRUARY

20^th  Nick Young remains as NL president when A. G. Spalding bows out of the battle, but the league will have no effective leadership until 1903.

MARCH

12^th  Cincinnati OF “Turkey Mike” Donlin is arrested for assaulting actress Minnie Fields and her escort. Donlin will plead guilty and serve a 6-month sentence.

27^th The Chicago Daily News uses the name “Cubs” (both with and without the quotes) in print, but the Colts moniker will occasionally be used for another three years.

APRIL

3^rd  The NL names club owners Arthur Soden, John T. Brush, and James Hart as an interim committee to run the league.

17^th  After the playing of “The Star Spangled Banner” before infield practice at the Polo Grounds, Christy Mathewson tosses a four-hit shutout over the Phillies. New York wins, 7–0, beating Harry Felix, before a crowd of 24,000. It is the first win for Giants manager Horace Fogel since July 11, 1887 when he went 20-49 as the skipper of the Indianapolis team.

According to the NY Evening Telegram, the Superbas also have a band in Brooklyn, and the music is “On a Sunday Afternoon,” a curious choice for a Thursday home opener. Bill Donovan beats Boston, 2-1.

The Reds open a new ball park called “the Palace of the Fans” and inaugurate the occasion by losing to Chicago, 6–1. John Taylor wins his 2^nd straight opener.

The Pirates edge St. Louis, 1–0. when Tommy Leach scores in the 3^rd inning. Deacon Phillippe, on his way to his 4^th 20-game season in a row, is the winner. Going the other way, Stan Yerkes loses his first of 20.

19^th  Righthander Bob Ewing, 29, makes his ML debut with the Reds, and ties a NL record by walking 7 batters in the 4^th inning. The Chicago Cubs get 5 runs on one hit in the inning. Ewing adds another 3 walks en route to a 9–5 loss.

At Boston’s Huntington Avenue Grounds, 15,000 watch Boston defeat Baltimore, 7–6, in the AL Opening Day game. Cy Young Cy Young is the winner. John McGraw sets the tone for his season by being tossed out of the game.

The Cardinals fumble their way to 10–4 loss against Pittsburgh, setting a since-tied NL record with 11 errors. Pittsburgh adds 4 errors for a 2-team 20^th C. NL record, which will be matched just once, in 1904.

20^th  In an exhibition match in Chicago, the Milwaukee Brewers top the White Stockings, 3–2. Chuck Comiskey scheduled the tune-up with the American Association squad after the Brewers took three straight from the Cincinnati Reds.

21^st  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, reversing a lower court’s decision, grants a permanent injunction (effective only in Pennsylvania) barring jumpers Nap Lajoie, Chick Fraser, and Bill Bernhard from playing for the A’s, or any team but the Phillies. Not mentioned, but covered by the decision, are: Elmer Flick, Monte Cross, and Bill Duggleby of the A’s; Ed Delahanty, Al Orth, Harry Wolverton, and Jack Townsend of Washington; Ed McFarland (White Stockings) and Red Donahue (Browns).

Mathewson gives the Giants its 2^nd victory, winning his 2^nd by topping Boston, 6–3.

23^rd  St. Louis Cardinals owner Frank DeHaas Robison offers to put up $10,000 that the Pirates will not repeat as NL champions. Pittsburgh players accept the challenge with a matching pool, and go on to win the pennant by 27 1⁄2 games.

The White Stockings open the season at home by marching in from the outfield accompanied by Thompson’s American Band. After unfurling the AL pennant, the Chicagoans then stop the Detroit Blues, 12–2 behind Nixey Callahan.

Let the injunction wars begin: The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia issues a restraining order returnable May 3 against the National Baseball League stopping that organization from interfering with the 4 Washington AL ball players. In Chicago, Charles Comiskey comes to the defense of Eddie McFarland saying the White Stockings just won’t play him in Pennsylvania. In St. Louis, lawyers for the NL Cardinals initiate proceedings in the circuit court of St. Louis to restrain Harper, Wallace, and Heidrick from playing with the St. Louis American League team. All three have signed contracts with the Cards. In Philadelphia, President Shibe of the AL Athletics says, according to his lawyers, the Supreme Court ruling applies only to Lajoie and has no reference to any other player.

The Senators open with a 7-3 home victory over the Boston Americans.

In front of nearly 13,000 at Baltimore, the Athletics beats the Orioles and Joe McGinnity, 5–1. In the 8^th inning, when Connie Mack hears about the injunction affecting Nap Lajoie, he pulls him from the game.

24^th The Giants lose 8–4 to Boston when RF Jim Delahanty lets a bases loaded single skip by him and three runners score. New York scores 3 in the bottom of the 9^th, but Boston still beats Mathewson.

Brooklyn scores 5 in the 9^th and wallops Philadelphia, 16-6. Willie Keeler scores 5 runs for a ML record 6^th time.

Cy Young pitches Boston to an 11-3 win over Washington. Buck Freeman has 4 hits, including 3 doubles, while Jimmy Collins and Hobe Ferris homer. Lew Drill, a rookie from Georgetown University, drills 2 singles and a homer in his first 3 at bats before Young finally strikes him out.

25^th In a 9–8 win over the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cards Homer Smoot smites a pair of inside-the-park homers. In a related note, the president of the Worcester club of the Eastern League orders Smoot to report to their team or he is going to sue the Cardinals. Smoot played for Worcester last season in the first year of a two-year contract, before jumping to St. Louis.

Cleveland’s Erwin Harvey collects 6 hits of the 21 hits off Bill Reidy in a 10–0 win over St. Louis.

26^th  In his ML debut, Cleveland’s Addie Joss fans 4 of the first 6 batters and hurls a one-hitter against the Browns to win 3–0. The only hit is a scratch single by Jesse Burkett, which RF Zaza Harvey claims he caught. Ump Bob Caruthers calls it a hit, a ruling that will irk Joss for years.

Boston and Washington combine for 17 extra base hits, with Washington winning, 15-7. The Nationals have 3 homers, 4 doubles and a triple off Bill Dinneen and Pep Deininger, making his pro debut. Pep will appear in one more game before departing the majors.

27^th  Cubs 18-year-old rookie lefthanded pitcher Jim St. Vrain, batting righthanded at the urging of manager Selee, grounds to Pittsburgh SS Honus Wagner. But then, the confused St. Vrain runs toward 3B as the astonished Wagner throws him out at 1B. Pittsburgh wins, 2–0, as Deacon Phillippe is the winner. The Pirate infield records all the putouts with 16 made at 1B. The Cubs now return to Chicago for a 25-game homestand. This story about St. Vrain was related by Davy Jones in The Glory of Their Times, and Jones said he witnessed it. It supposedly happened on April 27, 1902, but Jones wasn’t with the Cubs then. It is possible it could have happened on May 30, 1902, according to historian Al Yellon.

In a 9–0 whitewash over Cleveland, White Sox hitter Sam Strang draws 5 walks. He is the first to do it in the league, setting the AL mark. Jimmie Foxx will break it in 1938 with 6.

28^th Outfielder Jimmy Sheckard of the AL Baltimore Orioles jumps the team and returns to the NL after 4 games, the first American Leaguer to jump to the NL. In his short stay in the AL, Sheckard had been constantly razzed by fans about his contract jumping. White Sox president Comiskey says, “We don’t want Sheckard in our league. He has broken too many contracts.” President Tom Daly of the Ball Players’ Protective Association echoes the sentiments. “Our organization is unalterably opposed to such tactics as Sheckard has made use of. I am glad he has gone back to Brooklyn, for while he is a great ball player and a nice fellow personally we do not countenance violating a written contract as he has done. I suppose (Ned) Hanlon scared him into jumping.” With Sheckard (and his $1,000 signing bonus gone) Orioles manager John McGraw will play third base with Kelly moving to center field.

In Chicago, Cleveland’s Dummy Taylor shuts out the White Stockings, 2–0. Many of the Cubs players are on hand to watch the former Giant pitcher beat the locals.

In the A’s 12-0 victory over Washington, Monte Cross has a pair of homers. Snake Wiltse is the winner.

President Mautner of the Ft. Wayne team gets papers ordering the arrest of P George Mullin for obtaining money under false pretenses. Mullin, now with Detroit, played for Ft. Wayne last year.

29^th Brickyard Kennedy, a member of the Brooklyn Superbas for 10 years, makes his second start as a New York Giant and shuts out his old team, 6–0, on 4 hits. The game goes 6 innings before a heavy shower forces umpire Tom Brown to call the game. Two of the hits are by Sheckard, now in LF after jumping back to Brooklyn from the Baltimore AL team. It will be Brickyard’s only win of the year and his only win as a Giant. The loser is John McMakin. The Giants also announce the release of Jim Delahanty, who hit .231 in 7 games. He’ll reappear in the majors in 1904 and play another 11 years.

Four days after he got lit up for 15 runs by Washington, the Red Sox sell 24-year-old pitcher Bert “Pete” Husting (0-1) to the A’s. Husting will go 14–5 for Philadelphia in this his last ML season before retiring to practice law in Wisconsin.

MAY

1^st Mathewson pitches his 2^nd shutout of the year against Philadelphia, this time allowing just two Quaker hits while striking out 8. Matty also has 2 hits and cracks his first ML homer, off Cy Vorhees, to win 3–0.

Boston beats Baltimore, 6-4 and John McGraw is tossed in the 9^th after being hit on the butt with a pitch only to have umpire Sheridan say he didn’t try to avoid the pitch. Sheridan also upsets the crowd with a foul call on a ball. After the game a fan heaves a brick at the ump but hits a policeman instead.

At Washington, Sock Seybold hits a 6^th inning grand slam as the A’s beat the Senators, 6-3.

An article in the Washington Post states the following: “The new rule adopted by the National League which prohibits a player from taking first on being hit by a slow pitch is bound to add to the trouble of the umpires.”

2^nd At Boston, the Orioles tag Cy Young for 6 runs in the first inning and the ace is folded. Baltimore scores another 8 runs off reliever George Prentiss (who pitched as George Wilson last year) to win 14–6. Baltimore likes Prentiss so much they will purchase him in June.

4^th  The AL suspends John McGraw for 5 days for rowdyism on the field May 1^st. To show how evenhanded the AL is, Detroit catcher Fritz Buelow is suspended for 5 days for the same reason. McGraw will use the time to go scouting.

George Schultz, manager of the Ermine club in the Syracuse city league, is electrocuted when he touches a grandstand fence that had accidentally been charged by an electrical wire.

6^th  A circuit court in St. Louis rules that the NL reserve clause is unfairly restrictive on 3 defectors. who jumped to the Browns. The injunction brought by the NL is denied, thus allowing Wallace, Harper and Heidrick to stay as Browns. Inability to retrieve jumpers gives the NL a strong push to reconcile differences with the AL.

7^th  Elmer Flick signs with Cleveland. Sporting Life says that A’s officials “presumably consented” to the move. The presumption is cash.

The Cubs Jack Taylor beats Christy Mathewson 4–0 at Chicago’s West Side Grounds. Taylor gives up just 2 hits, while Matty allows five. Following a Giants’ protest tomorrow that Taylor was pitching from in front of the rubber, this game will later be ruled invalid and all the records will be thrown out, including Taylor’s win and Matty’s loss.

8^th Chicago again tops the Giants, winning 10–4. Cubs manager Frank Selee comments that the distance from the pitcher’s mound to the plate looks short. Horace Fogel, the Giants manager, measures the distance and finds the lane is 15 inches short. New York protests and it is upheld on June 3^rd. The two games are ordered replayed and the Giants will win them both.

Bill Dugglesby, the first jumper to return to the Phillies, loses, 2–1, to St. Louis. Dugglesby, who made $1200 last year and jumped to the A’s for $2200, jumped back for $24000. Dummy Taylor rejoins the Giants after jumping to Cleveland (AL) and will go 1–3. Returnee Chick Fraser will win his first start on May 23^rd, 5–2 over Chicago. Harry Wolverton will return after 59 games with the Washington Nationals. All others will remain with their new teams. Of all those that the Athletics acquired, only Monte Cross stays.

At Detroit, the Browns beat the Tigers, 5-0, behind the 2-hit pitching of Jack Powell. Both hits are by opposing pitcher Ed Siever.

13^th The Reds roll over the visiting Phillies, 24–2, with each of the 9 players in the lineup collecting at least 2 hits. Winning pitcher Bill Phillips has 4 as Cincinnati totals 28 hits. It is the highest score in the ML this year. Just 400 fans watch.

Chicago defeats Brooklyn, 2–0, though they make only one hit off Bill Robinson. Miller’s single in the 6^th is part of a rally that includes a walk and two errors. Jock Menefee, the winning pitcher, scores one of the runs after he is safe on an error by Donovan. Chicago 3B Charlie Dexter pulls off a hidden ball trick in the 7^th inning on Bill Dahlen.

Arthur Hall, 23-year-old shortstop for St. Joseph (Western League) is struck by lightning while leaving the field when the game is called on account of rain. He is expected to recover.

14^th New York batters Cardinal pitcher Mike Joyce for 14 hits sending the Irish-born hurler to a 10–7 loss. St. Louis manages 9 hits off Christy Mathewson, the winning pitcher. New York is a distant third to the leading Pirates (19–3).

Without a goodbye to his St. Louis teammates, Davy Jones jumps the Browns for a better offer from the Chicago Nationals. He takes a train from St. Louis in the morning and plays in the 3-2 win over Brooklyn. Jones was hitting .224 for St. Louis and will improve to .305 this year in Chicago.

15^th Bill Dahlen has had better days. Besides making 4 errors, one good for 3 bases, he gets tripped in the 12^th inning by Cubs third baseman, Charlie Dexter, and has to stay at 3B. There is only one umpire, Bob Emslie, who didn’t see the play. Brooklyn fails to score and in the bottom of the inning Jack Taylor, pitching in relief, singles in the winning run and Chicago wins, 8-7. Each team scores 3 runs in the 9^th. Newly added CF Davy Jones, who jumped from the Browns, has a single and a run scored.

16^th   Two deaf-mutes face each other for the first time and only time when Dummy Hoy leads off for the Reds against Dummy Taylor of the Giants. Leadoff batter Hoy greets Taylor with “I’m glad to see you” in sign language. The Giants win 5–3 with a 5-run rally in the 9^th. Hoy goes 2-for-4, the only Reds batter to collect 2 hits.

The Browns Dick Padden has the lone hit against White Sox hurler Wiley Piatt as Chicago wins, 2-1.

Boston’s Tenney and Pittsburgh manager Clarke get into a fight in the 8^th inning of Pittsburgh’s 5-1 win. Both are ejected. Pittsburgh also releases pitcher George Merritt, 3-0 last year. His release is not a result of threats to enforce the 16-man rule, but rather that Clarke did not need him.

17^th The Reds take one from the Giants, defeating Christy Mathewson, 6–1. Bill Phillips scatters 6 hits to win.

The Boston Americans drop a 7-4 decision to the visiting Athletics in 10 innings. The A’s smack 4 consecutive singles in the 10^th off Bill Dinneen to score 3. Lave Cross is 5-for-5 while Harry Davis has 2 doubles and triple.

Ban Johnson says the AL is no longer trying to retain Lajoie, Bernhard and Fraser but is letting them return to the NL. “We are willing to fight their battles for them, but they were afraid to take any chances in the courts. All we can do is let them go.”

18^th White Sox pitcher Nixey Callahan has 5 hits against St. Louis, the 2^nd of a ML-record 3 times he’ll do it. But his White Sox don’t follow suit in a 17-inning 2–2 tie, the AL’s longest game to date. Callahan knocks in both runs for Chicago.

At Detroit, Cleveland follows yesterday’s 14-0 whitewash by scoring 11 runs, but Detroit wins 19-11 in a game called with 2 outs in the 7^th because of a storm. Cleveland scores 5 in the 3^rd on 4 errors and 3 hits but Detroit gets on the board by scoring in the 4^th on Deacon McGuire’s grand slam, then plating 5 runs in each of the next three frames.

Cy Vorhees, who pitched earlier this year for the Phillies, makes his AL debut with Washington and allows 11 hits in a 6-2 loss to the Philadelphia A’s. Bert Husting and Eddie Plank combine to hold the Nationals to 5 hits. For Vorhees, it is his last ML game as it is as well for Husting. The 24-year-old Husting got married on August 27^th and took his wife on a honeymoon trip to Chicago and St. Louis with the team. Unimpressed, she urged Husting to quit baseball for a more stable life, which will be being a lawyer in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Husting was 14-5 with the A’s this year.

19^th The board of control of the NL decides to indefinitely postpone the enforcement of the 16-man limit rule.

21^st At Pittsburgh, the Giants top the leading Pirates, 5–2, with Christy Mathewson winning in relief. Matty takes over for Dummy Taylor in the 7^th, allows a tying run to score, then scores the winning run himself in the 8^th.

22^nd In a 6–0 loss to Pittsburgh, Giants’ star George Van Haltren, age 36, snaps a small bone near his right ankle while stealing second base. Van Haltren is done for the season, and will play only 80 more big league games.

23^rd Cleveland financier Charles Somers, who is also the president of the Boston club, meets with Lajoie in Philadelphia and guarantees him a 4-year contract at $7,000 per year no matter what the legal outcome of his case. Lajoie had played one game, then sat in the stands. In 1903, Cleveland fans will vote to rename the club the Naps in honor of Lajoie.

In Pittsburgh’s 7-2 win in Chicago, Wid Conroy gets into a fistfight with Chicago’s Joe Tinker, in the 4^th inning after the shortstop pushes Conroy off the bag at 2B. Both players land blows. The fight continues the ill will of yesterday when Conroy spiked one Chicago player and blocked Tinker on the base paths. League president John Brush hands Tinker a three-game suspension and slaps Conroy with a 20-game suspension. Owner Barney Dreyfuss appeals the ruling, but the prexy brushes off the complaint.

24^th  In a 15–9 slugfest win against Philadelphia, Bill Bradley, Cleveland 3B, is the AL’s first to hit a homer in 4 consecutive games, a record not matched until Babe Ruth does it June 25, 1918. Last-place Cleveland scores 6 runs in the top of the 11^th for the victory. The Athletics (14-11) are in 5^th place, but just a half game out of 1^st.

In a 6-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers, Baltimore’s John McGraw is severely spiked by Dick Harley and will miss five weeks of action.

30^th In front of a Polo Grounds crowd of 26,000, the Phillies sweep two from the Giants, winning 5–3 and 6–0.

Baltimore’s Roger Bresnahan connects for two inside-the-park homers in the opening 12–4 win against Cleveland. He’ll repeat the performance with the Giants in 1904. Baltimore wins the 2^nd game the same way, 10–7.

The Cleveland Blues send Candy LaChance to the Boston Americans for Charlie Hickman.

31^st Cleveland signs pitcher Bill Bernhard, who was granted free agency in early April. Bernhard won 17 for the A’s last season. Like Lajoie, Bernhard was prohibited from playing in Philadelphia after jumping from the Phillies to the A’s.

JUNE

2^nd  Baltimore scores 9 runs in the 3^rd inning of a 14–1 victory, as Cleveland kicks in 6 errors, the most boots in one inning by any club in the 20^th century.

In a 12–0 win, the Senators unload 3 homers in the 3^rd inning against the White Sox P Clark Griffith as Ed Delahanty, Bill Coughlin and George Carey belt the Old Fox, though not consecutively. After Wyatt Lee doubles, Griffith takes himself out. According to the Chicago Daily Tribune, a Washington fan had offered each member of the Nationals an expensive panama hat for their first shutout and a $50 bonus to whichever pitcher performed the feat. With little chance to win in the 9^th, Chicago “allowed themselves to be put out without effort” so that the Washington players could win their prize (as noted by Greg Beston).

After the team loses 14 of the last 15 games in May, the Giants strip Jack Doyle of his captain’s role and give the job to George Smith. Doyle will be released in late June.

3^rd  The Cardinals’ Mike O’Neill, primarily a pitcher and one of 4 ML brothers, hits the first pinch grand slam ever in the majors, against Boston Beaneater Togie Pittinger. It is an inside-the-park HR in the six-run 9^th at Boston and scores his brother Jack as the Cardinals win, 11–9. O’Neill becomes the first pitcher in the NL to hit a grand slam this century.

The Giants manager Horace Fogel leaves the team because of his father’s death, and he will not return. The Giants will replace him with 2B George “Heinie” Smith on the 11^th. The change lasts 6 weeks before Smith goes back to the infield and John McGraw takes over.

4^th The Boston Americans buy two pitchers—George Prentiss and Bert Husting—from the Baltimore Orioles, and waste no time putting Prentiss to work. He starts today in a 4–3 loss to Cleveland. Prentiss played under the name George Pepper Wilson last year.

6^th       At New York, the Pirates pull off triple play in the 9^th inning versus the Giants on a hotly disputed catch by 2B Claude Richey. The game ends in a 4–4 tie.

7^th At Cleveland, Bill Bernhard (2–0) makes his first start for the Blues and beats Baltimore and Iron Joe McGinnity, 7–3, his first win for Cleveland. Bernhard was just acquired from the Philadelphia Athletics for Frank Bonner and Ossee Schreckengost. He will go 17-5 for Cleveland, to lead the AL in win percentage, the only pitcher to do so for a 2^nd division team (5^th).

8^th At Dayton, Ohio, 4,900 fans turn out to watch Baltimore top Cleveland, 6–2. The winning battery is Tom Hughes and Wilbert Robinson.

At St. Louis, the Boston Americans Cy Young (13–1) wins 7–1 for his 10^th win in a row.

10^th  Bobby Wallace, slick-fielding St. Louis SS, handles an AL record 17 chances in a 9-inning game while losing 5–4 to Boston. Wallace, whose 25-year career will place him in the Hall of Fame, has 11 assists and 6 putouts, but makes 2 errors.

Led by Erve Beck, the Reds roll over Bill Duggleby and the Phillies, 10-1. Beck has 5 hits, including a pair of triples. Ewing is the victor.

11^th  Chicago’s Clark Griffith beats the Boston Americans, 3–2 snapping Cy Young’s win streak at 10 games.

Connie Mack signs Rube Waddell, who was pitching in the Pacific Coast League. He will go 24–7 during the remainder of 1902.

15^th Corsicana (Texas League) shows no mercy in beating Texarkana, 51–3. Due to Sunday laws forbidding baseball, the game is shifted to a smaller park in Ennis, where the RF fence is only about 210’. The team’s 53 hits include 21 HRs, mostly over the short RF fence. Nig Clarke, later to play in the ML, is perfect going 8-for-8—all home runs, collecting 16 RBIs and 32 total bases, all organized baseball records. Clarke is a switch-hitter but bats lefty against a righty pitcher, who is not one of the regular players but the son of part-owner C. B. DeWitt. Allegedly, at the urging of the crowd, the Texarkana pitchers lay it in for Nig in his last 3 at bats. He collects $185 from the appreciative fans. Two others are 8-for-8, including 2B William Alexander who has 3 home runs and a double. Manager Michael O’Conner is 7–for–8 with 3 HRs. Corsicana still strands 15 runners while scoring in every inning. Despite leading 17-1 after 3 innings, Corsicana steals 5 bases and “as was the custom of the day, took their last at bats even though they were the home team.” They score 8 more times in the final inning. The game is detailed in The Man Who Stole First Base by Eric Nadel & Craig R. Wright. This is the 9^th straight win since June 8, and it will culminate in a 27-game winning streak. It will last through July 5.

In Canton, Ohio, Cleveland loses to Boston, 5–2, before a crowd of 6,000 ringing the outfield. Balls hit into the crowd are doubles, and 10 are collected today. Buck Freeman has a pair. Here are capsules of games played in non-major league cities in 1902-05.

16^th At the Polo Grounds, the Reds rattle Mathewson for 12 hits to beat the Giants, 6–4. Matty strikes out just one.

At Boston, the Pirates are leading 4–0, in the 4^th inning when the Boston hurler attempts to stall by holding on to the ball longer than the 20 seconds allowed. The fans run out of patience before the ump does and they rush the field. A forfeit is called against Boston.

17^th At Boston, the Giants lose two and also lose Libe Washburn for a month. Boston wins 6–3 and 13–2, while backup Washburn sustains a broken nose when hit by a pitch, He’ll miss a month.

22^nd Cleveland plays its 3^rd straight Sunday game in a minor league park, this time in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Cleveland beats Washington, 6–4, behind Addie Joss.

At Chicago, the locals tie the first place Pirates with a run on a hit and 2 errors in the 9^th, then the two teams battle 19 innings before Chicago wins, 3–2. Kling singles and, 2 outs later, scores on Bobby Lowe’s single. Both pitchers hurl the entire game: Jack Taylor for Chicago and Deacon Phillippe for Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner wears the collar, going 0-for-8.

At Cincinnati, rookie Henry Thielman wins his 5^th straight game, 7–2, beating the Cardinals battery of the O’Neill brothers: pitcher Joyce, as listed in the box score, and catcher Jack. It is the first loss in almost a month for the O’Neill battery (according to the New York Times). Thielman was acquired earlier in the year from the New York Giants and, despite his modest winning streak, he’ll finish the year at 8–15.

23^rd  In a 7-2 Pittsburgh win, Wid Conroy and Joe Tinker get into a brawl. Conroy gets a 20-game suspension for it while Tinker gets just 3 games.

24^th  Baltimore downs the A’s, 6-4, behind the bat and glove of Kip Selbach. The acrobatic left fielder grabs a sinking line drive by Hartzel in the 7^th and starts a remarkable 7-4-3 triple play. He also drives in 3 runs with a single, double and triple.

At Cleveland, Nap Lajoie has a grand slam in the 6^th inning, the third AL slam of his career, as Cleveland is victorious over the Browns, 12-4.

25^th  A federal court judge rules that Brooklyn has no claim on C Deacon McGuire, who jumped to Detroit. Two weeks later, another U.S. judge denies jurisdiction to stop Lajoie from playing for Cleveland, thus ending the Phillies’ chances of regaining him legally.

The Phillies beat New York and Christy Mathewson, 3–1. The Quakers SS Rudy Hulswitt kills a New York rally in the 8^th inning by tagging out Steve Brodie with a hidden ball trick.

Who’s the patsy. For the second time this month and the third time this season, Shortstop Bill Coughlin catches a runner with a hidden ball trick (as noted by Bill Deane). Patsy Dougherty is the 1^st-inning victim today in Washington’s 4-3 victory over visiting Boston.

26^th The Giants use a triple play—6-4-3-2—against the Phils but still lose 4–1. The Phillies use a courtesy runner when their catcher Fred Jacklitsch is hit in the head by a pitch from Roy Evans in the bottom of the 8^th. Feeling better Jacklitsch returns to play in the 9^th.

Enticed back from the L.A. Looloos (California League), Rube Waddell pitches his first game of the year for the A’s, a 7-3 loss to the Orioles. Philadelphia is just 26-25, but Waddell will go 24-7 to spark the team to the AL pennant.

28^th John McGraw returns to action following a May 24^th spiking and picks up where he left off by tormenting Tom Connolly. The ump finally tosses McGraw out of the game in the 8^th and when Muggsie refuses to leave, Connolly forfeits the game to Boston. Baltimore was losing 9-4 in the 8^th when the forfeit is called.

New Giants manager Heinie Smith starts Christy Mathewson at first base against the Phillies. Matty has 13 putouts and an error in the 9-8 12-inning loss.

30^th  At least he keeps the score in single digits. Jim Jones, Giants LF, throws 3 base runners out at home in an 8–0 loss to Boston. His three assists ties the ML record set by Dummy Hoy on June 19, 1889. It’ll be tied again in 1905. Christy Mathewson plays 1B and makes 2 errors.

Cleveland is the first AL team to hit 3 consecutive HRs in one inning as Nap Lajoie, Piano Legs Hickman, and Bill Bradley connect in the sixth off St. Louis, with all the hits ending in the LF bleachers at St. Louis. The last 2 come on the first pitch thrown. Jack Harper tees up the gopher balls in the 17–2 loss. It was last done on May 10, 1894. Game 2 ends in a 3–3 tie in 15 innings. Neither team scores after the 8^th.

JULY

1^st  Rube Waddell (1-1) wins his first game for the Athletics, blanking Baltimore on 2 hits, 2–0. He fans the side 3 times, once on 9 pitches in the 3^rd, and faces only 27 batters, as C Ossee Schreckengost throws out the 2 base runners. In fanning the side in the 3^rd, 6^th, and 9^th, Waddell strikes out the same 3 men each time: Billy Gilbert, Harry Howell, and Jack Cronin.

2^nd In the International League, Buffalo stomps Providence, 33-6. The George Stallings-led Bisons score 31 of their runs from the 4^th to the 8^th innings. Myron Grimshaw leads the way with 6 hits, while his teammates contribute 2 walks and 15 stolen bases.

4^th At Exposition Park the Pirates literally splash their way to a doubleheader shutout over visiting Brooklyn, winning 3–0 and 4–0 behind Jesse Tannehill and Jack Chesbro. Tannehill allows 3 runners to reach 1B in an errorless game for the Bucs. Because of heavy rains and flooding from the Alleghany River, a portion of the first game and all of the second are played with part of the field under water (according to Ed Luteran). The water is about thigh deep in center and right fields, and about head deep in deep center field, where any ball hit is a single. Players occasionally catch a ball and dive under the water.

Cause for celebration. In the first game of a doubleheader at Dallas against Ft. Worth, Hamilton of Dallas throws a no-hitter, winning, 3-0. It is the first no-hitter in Texas League history.

5^th At St. Louis, the Cards win their third straight from the Giants, beating New York, 1–0. The Cards lone run comes in on a wild pitch by Christy Mathewson.

Corsicana of the Texas League wins its 27^th game in a row, beating Waco, 3-0, and topping Charlotte’s record of 25 set earlier this year. Corsicana will finish the year with a 57–9 record.

6^th  In a Sunday game at Waco, Dad Ahorn of Waco stops Corsicana, 3-1, ending the visitors record winning streak of 27 games. Waco manager Emmett Rodgers, a veteran of the Texas League’s first season of 1888, drives in 2 runs in the 5^th inning with a triple off Lucky Wright.

7^th  At Chicago, Elmer Flick and Nap Lajoie have three hits apiece as Cleveland beats the White Sox, 6-2. Flick has 3 triples in 4 at bats to set the AL record for triples.

8^th  John McGraw, accused by Ban Johnson of trying to wreck the Baltimore and Washington clubs, negotiates his release from the Orioles and officially signs to manage the Giants at $11,000 a year, although he’d already secretly signed a contract several days earlier brought to Baltimore by Giants secretary Fred M. Knowles. McGraw says, “I wish to state that I shall not tamper with any of the Baltimore club’s players.” But conspiring with NL owners Brush and Andrew Freedman, McGraw swings the sale of the Orioles their way, enabling them to release Orioles Dan McGann, Roger Bresnahan, Joe McGinnity, and Jack Cronin for signing by the Giants. Joe Kelley and Cy Seymour go to Brush’s Cincinnati Reds. Both the Orioles of the AL, and the Giants of the NL will finish in last place, the only time a manager has skippered both last-place teams in the same year.

In the first of two, the Giants snap a 13-game losing streak by edging Chicago, 1–0, with Christy Mathewson outpitching Bob Rhodes. Chicago wins the nitecap, 2–0, in 7 innings.

A rough outing as Boston righthander Doc Adkins faces an AL-record 16 batters (matched twice in 1923) and gives up 12 hits and 12 runs in the 6^th inning of a Philadelphia A’s 22–9 win over the Somersets. Five players—Hartsel, Davis, Lave Cross, Seybold, and Murphy—collect two hits apiece in the frame. The A’s new 2B Danny Murphy does not arrive until the 2^nd inning and takes over for Lou Castro in the field with no batting practice. He has 6 hits, 6-for-6, including a three-run inside-the-park homer off Cy Young, while handling 12 chances flawlessly in a sensational AL debut (he played briefly in the NL last year). Teammate Harry Davis adds a grand slam. The 45 hits—27 by the A’s—by the two teams sets an AL record that will be tied in 1928. Rube Waddell picks up the win, facing just three batters in one inning of relief, while singling in the big inning.

9^th The A’s Rube Waddell and Boston’s Bill Dinneen battle for 16 innings before the visiting Philadelphians push across two runs in the 17^th to win, 4–2. Shortstop Monte Cross hits a 2-run HR in the 17^th.

11^th Bid McPhee is released as Reds manager and is replaced by interim manager Frank Bancroft.

In a 6–3 win against the Giants, the Pirates’ Lefty Davis, 26, in stealing second “broke his leg in the same manner Van Haltren did two months ago on the same spot,” according to The Sporting Life. Davis, a .287 hitter with 45 steals in 171 big league games so far, is out for the season. He’ll return, but bat only .234 with 20 thefts in 177 more games.

12^th Overcoming poor Buc baserunning, Pirates star Jack Chesbro pitches a 5-hit shutout and strikes out 11 Giants to beat Christy Mathewson, 4–0. As noted by Clifford Blau, the Buccos lose 5 straight runners via baserunning errors. With 2 outs in the third, Ginger Beaumont is on 2B, with first base empty, and he is put out trying to advance to third on a grounder. In the 4^th, Hans Wagner leads off with a triple, but is out at the plate on Kitty Bransfield’s grounder to first. Bransfield is then thrown out trying to steal 2B. Claude Ritchey draws a walk, but is picked off first. Jimmy Burke leads off the fifth with a double, but tries to stretch it into a triple, and is tagged out by Matty, covering the bag.

14^th At Philadelphia, Highball Wilson, who pitched a game for Cleveland in 1899, makes his AL debut a good one for the A’s by defeating Boston, 4-3 in 10 innings. Cy Young is the losing pitcher.

15^th At Cincinnati, Christy Mathewson starts a triple play in the 2^nd inning by catching a pop bunt, but Matty then exits trailing, 6–0. The loss leaves the Giants pitcher with a 6–8 record.

16^th Giants owner Andrew Freedman announces he has purchased controlling interest in the Baltimore club and releases Dan McGann, Roger Bresnahan, Joe McGinnity, and Jack Cronin to sign with New York. Mike Donlin, Joe Kelley and Cy Seymour go to the Reds, where Kelley will take over as manager.

17^th  Left with only 5 players available to play, the Orioles forfeit a game to St. Louis and their franchise to the league, which borrows players from other teams and operates the club for the balance of the season. The Tigers loan utility infielder Sport McCallister to the Orioles. The good Sport will return to the Bengals on July 22, having played two positions in three games for the O’s. On August 13, he will umpire a game.

18^th At a meeting of the AL Board of Directors in Baltimore, the league votes to resolve that the Baltimore franchise is forfeited. The Baltimore papers are supportive of the AL and denounce the “despicable sell out” of the team by McGraw, Kelley, and “Sonny” Mahon.

In Cleveland’s 14-4 victory over Boston, Elmer Flick has 5 walks.

19^th  The last-place Giants lose their first game under new manager John McGraw 4–3 to the Phillies. They will end the season in last place. In part to make room for the four new Orioles who have landed in New York, McGraw releases 9 Giants. He keeps second baseman Heinie Smith, who went 5-27 as manager, but Heinie will be gone before next season.

Pittsburgh, running away with the NL pennant, whips Chicago, 5-0, behind Jack Chesbro’s 12^th straight win.

Snake Wiltse, sold by the A’s to Baltimore, leaves Philadelphia today to join his new team. Snake’s younger brother Hooks will join the Giants in 2 years.

21^st At Brooklyn, the Superbas maul the Phillies, 10–1, nicking Doc White for 14 hits. Doc gets his due in the 4-run 5^th inning when he strikes out 4 batters, the first pitcher to strike out 4 in an inning since 1888 and the first to do it at 60’6” (the record books list Wiltse in 1906 as the first this century). The Brooklyn Eagle reports tomorrow, “White had the unusual record of four strikeouts in one inning yesterday. It happened in the fifth when the Superbas scored their second cluster of four runs. Dahlen and Irwin fanned while two runs were being scored. Then Wheeler came up and slashed at a bad pitch on his third attempt, the ball slipping through Dooin’s hands to the fence. Wheeler got first on the error and Ahearn (now listed the record books as Hearne) scored. Then after Kitson had singled, White retired Sheckard on strikes. The Philadelphia twirler is credited with four strikeouts in the records.” The New York Times notes only the first 3 strikeouts, saying that Wheeler stole second and Dooin’s wild throw allows McCrory to score. “Wheeler got in with the last run made in the game on Kitson’s single to left field,” ends the Times story. White fans 5 in the game.

The Athletics spot visiting Cleveland 6 runs, then tie it in the 7^th on three errors and a home run by Topsy Hartsel. Hartsel scores the winning run in the 9^th to win, 11–10. Rube Waddell, with a scoreless two innings of work, gets the decision.

The New York Herald writes that “Harry Wolverton is a Quaker,” noting that their former third baseman had “informed the ‘Phillies’ he had tired of his job with the Washington American League club and had decided to go back to his first love. He will meet the ‘Phillies’ when they return home.” Wolverton hit .249 for the Senators this year.

22^nd Jack Pfiester beats Doc Scanlan to give Chicago (NL) a 6–3 win over Brooklyn.

The A’s Rube Waddell beats Addie Joss and the visiting Clevelanders, 9–4. With 2 outs in the 9^th inning, and with two strikes on Harry Bay, Waddell gestures to the crowd to go home. He then strikes out Bay to end the game, his 2^nd win in 2 games with Cleveland. Rube will end the night by refereeing the Grif Jones-Jimmy Farren lightweight fight.

23^rd John McGraw has his first win as the Giants manager, when New York downs Brooklyn, 4–1.

Baltimore, McGraw’s old team, downs the visiting White Sox, 7–5, behind rookie Charlie Shields. Shields pitched the last 4 innings of yesterday’s game against Detroit without giving up a hit or a run, and does the same in the first 7 innings today. After 11 straight no hit innings, he allows 5 runs in the 8^th but holds on for the win. Baltimore will think so much of Shields, they’ll sell him to the Browns in September.

In front of a “big crowd” (Philadelphia Inquirer) in Atlantic City, the locals beat the Cuban X Giants, 2–1, in 11 innings. Chick Hartley’s 11^th inning homer over the RF fence is the winning blow.

Both Boston teams are at home. The Boston Americans whip the Browns, 3–2, in 13 innings, taking an hour: 55 minutes to do it. Bill Dinneen is the winner in front of 5,046. The Boston Nationals win, 3–0, in front of just 600 fans.

24^th At Washington Park, the Giants win their 2^nd in a row under McGraw, beating Brooklyn, 2–0. Christy Mathewson strikes out 11 to even his record at 8–8. Matty will top Brooklyn by the same score on the 28^th, in a rain-shortened game.

Feeling the heat from the new AL, the Cubs host the first scheduled Sunday doubleheader ever played (as noted by Charlie Bevis) against Brooklyn. The Superbas take both games, winning, 7-2, in the opener and, batting second, 8-5, in game 2. Despite the wins, the second-place Superbas are 20 games behind the Pirates.

25^th At Chicago, the Reds Cy Seymour sets a ML record by hitting 4 sac flies in a 6–1 win over the Chicago Colts. Seymour’s mark will be tied but never topped.

At Boston, Jimmy Collins hits a 4^th inning grand slam to give the Americans a 6-0 lead over the Browns. Boston holds on for a 6-3 victory.

AUGUST

1^st  At the Polo Grounds, the Cards and Giants split a pair, St. Louis topping Joe McGinnity in the opener to win, 4–3, then losing 4–2. Christy Mathewson scatters 11 hits in beating Alex Pearson. In the opener, the Giants have 3 runners thrown out at home in just 2 innings, and 6 runners thrown out trying to steal or take an extra base. Showing their wide-open style, Bresnahan scores from 2B on a bunt.

Washington’s Jack Townsend walks 12, an AL record, in a 13–0 loss to Detroit. His record will stand for just three years.

2^nd  Brooklyn edges the visiting Reds, 2-1, as players Wild Bill Donovan and Billy Maloney, acquired during the season from the Browns, do the umpiring when the regular umps fail to appear.

3^rd  Before a Sunday crowd of 4,500 in Columbus, Ohio, Cleveland loses to Washington, 5–2.

The Nationals plays two exhibition games in New Jersey. Chicago beats Newark, 4-2, getting all their hits in the first three innings. At the St. Georges Cricket Grounds in Hoboken, a local nine beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2, for the 2^nd time this season.

4^th  At Philadelphia, Frank Chance hits a grand slam in the 12^th inning, off Phils starter Doc White, and the Cubs win, 7-2. It is “The Peerless Leader’s” only career four-run homer.

5^th  Rookie Otto Hess, who made his debut two days ago after being signed during an open tryout, wobbles to a 7–6 ten-inning win in Cleveland over the visiting Washington Nationals. The Nats test the rookie by laying down 14 bunts, three of which are misplayed by Hess, four are hits, and seven go for sacrifices. Cleveland SS Johnny Gochnauer breaks his finger in the 3^rd inning when he tries to flag down a line drive hit by Ed Delahanty. Gochnauer stays in the game and doubles in the tying runs in the 8^th inning and doubles home the winner with one out off Casey Patten in the top of the 10^th.

The first place Pirates whip New York, 3–0 behind Jesse Tannehill’s 2-hitter. Mathewson strikes out 11 Bucs in the loss.

6^th The Pirates shut out the Giants for the 2^nd day in a row, as Jack Chesbro beats Dummy Taylor, 2-0. Jimmy Jones assaults umpire Bob Emslie over a call, and will be suspended for the season and then released by the Giants.

7^th  For the 2^nd time this year, Boston’s Cy Young gives up 6 runs in the first inning and is lifted. This times the Browns bomb him en route to a 12–4 victory in St. Louis. Young will complete 41 of 43 starts this year. Former teammate Emmet Heidrick is a pain for Boston, scoring 4 times on 4 long hits—2 doubles and 2 triples.

8^th  The Athletics drop a 5-4 decision to Cleveland despite 4 stolen bases by Dave Fultz.

9^th John T. Brush sells the Cincinnati Reds to Julius and Max Fleischmann, George B. Cox, and August “Garry” Herrmann for $150,000. Brush then buys control of the Giants from Andrew Freedman.

Brooklyn SS Bill Dahlen makes three straight errors in the 1^st inning, but Jim Hughes overcomes that with steady pitching as Brooklyn beats St. Louis, 4–1. Smoot smites the only hit for St. Louis. Hughes helps with a triple and single.

10^th  At Chicago, Boston tops the White Sox 5–4 in 11 innings as Cy Young records his 25^th win.

11^th  In Detroit, the A’s Rube Waddell and Detroit’s Ed Siever battle for 12 scoreless innings before Waddell drives in a run in the 13^th on a triple. Philadelphia wins, 1-0. Not surprisingly, Siever comes up with a sore arm and will appear in just two more games this season, finishing with an 8-11 record and a league-leading 1.91 ERA. On the other hand, Waddell comes back in two days to toss an 8-0 shutout.

12^th  Giants owner Andrew Freedman announces the appointment of John T. Brush as managing director of the Giants and transferred day-to-day control of club operations to him. Freedman will retain the title of team president but give it up in September when he sells controlling interest in the team to Brush for approximately $200,000, a purchase that the clothier Brush finances through the sale of his Cincinnati team.

13^th  In the 6^th inning of a game with the Tigers, Harry Davis of the A’s attempts a double steal with Dave Fultz, who is on 3B. But Davis does not draw a throw as he goes into 2B. On the next pitch he “steals” 1B without a throw by pitcher George Mullin. The next time he steals 2B he does draw a throw and in the rundown Fultz scores and Davis then reaches 2B, with both getting credit for a steal. This double steal maneuver will be attempted in later years by Fred Tenney (July 31, 1908), and Germany Schaefer (August 4, 1911), though the details are contradictory. The Athletics plate 17 runs in the twinbill sweep, while the Tigers never score. Rube Waddell and Bert Husting apply the calcimine.

In the 2^nd game of a doubleheader in Boston, Pirate Honus Wagner steals 2B, 3B, and home in the 7^th inning. Wagner also did it in 1899. Honus has 4 steals in the game as Pittsburgh splits, losing 8–6 and then winning, 6–1.

14^th  Little Tommy Leach of Pittsburgh, never considered a long-ball threat, hits 2 HRs over the fence at Boston in a 6–1 win. He will close out the season with only 6, but it is enough to give him sole leadership of the NL, which totals only 99 homers. Leach’s leading number is the lowest since Paul Hines hit 4 in a 60-game schedule in 1878.

16^th  The Athletics move into first place to stay as 18,675, the largest crowd of the year, see them beat Chicago 2–1. Rube Waddell strikes out 11 in topping Clark Griffith.

18^th  The first unassisted triple play since Paul Hines disputed one 21 years ago is executed by 1B Hal O’Hagan of the Rochester Broncos (IL) against Jersey City in a 10-6 win. O’Hagan catches a bunt attempt tags 1B and runs to 2B to complete the TP.

Mathewson shuts out Chicago, 5–0, on 4 hits to give last place New York its 4^th straight win over the host Windy City squad. Jack Taylor takes the loss.

19^th  Baltimore outfielder Al “Kip” Selbach sets the post-1900 mark in the AL by making 5 errors (one source says 4; The Sporting News says 5). Baltimore loses to St. Louis, 11–4. Three of the errors come on fly balls, and another hit goes through his legs. Thanks to Kip, it gives the O’s a ML record for OF errors.

The front-running Pirates edge the Giants, 5–4, when Ginger Beaumont plates the winning run, scoring from 1B on a single. Jack Chesbro, on his way to a 28-6 record is the winner.

21^st  Sam Leever hurls a two hitter to give the first-place Pirates a 2–0 win over the Giants and Mathewson.

22^nd The first-place Athletics triple the Browns, winning 12-4, to stay three games ahead of the pack in the AL. Danny Murphy, who was married in the morning to 17-year-old Catherine Moriarty, has two hits in the afternoon game.

23^rd Brooklyn collects a record-tying 4 triples in the 3^rd inning, all in succession, and all are needed. The Brooks win, 9–8, over Pittsburgh.

Snake Wiltse, purchased from the A’s by Baltimore last month, hits a grand slam in the seven-run 6^th as the Orioles outslug the visiting White Sox, 14-8.

24^th  In Chicago, the Brooklyn Superbas and the Cubs split a doubleheader. The Superbas take the opener, 7-2, and Chicago, choosing to bat first, is the winner in game 2, 8-5. In game 2, Chicago takes the lead in the 3-run 4^th when Joe Tinker singles home John Dobbs and Dad Clark doubles in Johnny Kling and Tinker. In Kling’s 3^rd inning at bat he was recorded as reaching on an error by Dahlen, but further research by Trent McCotter in 2009 credits Kling with a single. Both the Chicago papers and ICI records show a base hit. Kling, therefore, goes 4-for-4 in this game to start a ML record-tying 12 straight hits. He’ll finally force out a runner on the 28^th.

25^th  At Baltimore, the Orioles pummel the Chicago White Sox, 21–6. The O’s are led by Jimmy Williams, who collects 6 hits—4 singles, a double and a triple—off Clark Griffith and Dummy Leitner. With 21 triples, Williams will lead the AL for the 3^rd time in 4 years, and be the first player to amass 80+ triples in four straight years (Sam Crawford, twice, and Earl Combs will also do it). Herm McFarland scores 5 runs for the O’s. Winning pitcher Snake Wiltse has 4 hits, including a pair of triples, and scores 3 runs. It is the second time Wiltse has collected two triples in a game; Otis Crandall will set the mark with three games in which he collects two triples, but Wiltse is the only other pitcher to accomplish it more than once.

At West Side Grounds, Johnny Kling is 5-for-5 to pace the Cubs to a 12-inning 5-4 victory over Boston.

Washington sweeps a pair from the Tigers, winning 8-6 and 10-7. The Tigers get a grand slam from Boom-Boom Beck in the second game, hitting it off Al Orth in the 5^th.

Ban Johnson announces the AL’s intention to have a New York team in 1903, with Clark Griffith as manager. The Baltimore franchise will be moved.

26^th At Cincinnati, Mathewson tosses his 7^th shutout of the year, beating the Reds, 6–0. Henry Thielman loses his 3^rd encounter of the year with Matty.

28^th Wid Conroy’s lone homerun of the year helps the host Pirates beat the Cubs, 11-3. Conroy’s blast, a grand slam in the 3^rd, is served up by Dummy Taylor. Johnny Kling goes 4-for-5, with 2 triples, but his consecutive hit streak ends at 12. The first-place Pirates lead runner-up Brooklyn by 23 games.

29^th At Philadelphia, the 7^th-place Phils whip the last-place Giants, 6-2. Phils rookie Frank Maher is injured warming up but plays one inning in his ML debut before being replaced in LF by Henry Krug. It’s Maher’s only ML inning.

In the Athletics 10-6 win over the host White Sox, Topsy Hartsel steals four bases.

31^st In Ft. Wayne, Indiana, a Sunday crowd of 3,500 watch a matchup of Cleveland’s Addie Joss and Boston’s Cy Young. Boston pushes over 2 runs in the 11^th to win, 3–1.

SEPTEMBER

1^st  In today’s split with the Phillies, Tinker, Evers, and Chance appear together in the Chicago Cubs lineup for the first time, but not in the positions that will earn them immortality. Johnny Evers, a New York State League rookie, starts at SS, with Joe Tinker at 3B, Frank Chance at 1B, and veteran Bobby Lowe at 2B. Philadelphia takes the opener, 11–3 behind White, while Chicago is victorious in the nitecap, 6–1, behind Jack Taylor’s pitching.

Earl Moore and Bill Bernhard throw back-to-back shutouts as Cleveland downs Washington, 10-0 and 8-0.

At the Polo Grounds, the last-place Giants follow a successful road trip (7–4) by dropping two games to the Cards. St. Louis wins, 6–4 in game 1 as 5 of the first 6 batters in the 2^nd inning lay down bunts. 3 runs score. The Cards then pummel Mathewson for 12 hits in the nitecap to win, 8–2.

2^nd With Harry Bay and Bill Bradley scoring 5 runs each, Cleveland pounds the Orioles, 23–7, collecting 23 hits off Bird pitcher Jack Katoll, a 10-game winner with the White Sox last season. Katoll goes the route.

3^rd In New York, Reds rookie pitcher Henry Thielman, who started the year with the Giants, beats them, 2-1, allowing 3 hits, 2 to Bowerman. Cy Seymour scores both runs for the Reds.

Mal Eason walks 13 and hits one batter as Boston loses, 12-5, to Pittsburgh. The Pirates score 5 runs in the 7^th on one hit.   Eason’s teammates don’t help much, making 8 errors, 4 by Herman Long.

4^th  Dave Fultz steals 2B, 3B, and home in the 2^nd inning against Detroit, as the A’s romp 13–3. Fultz adds one more steal, the second time in a month that he’s stolen 4 bases in a game.

Only one run is scored in a doubleheader between Boston and Pittsburgh, as Togie Pittinger wins, 1-0, beating Pirate hurler Jack Chesbro. Boston’s Jack Malarkey and Pitt’s Sam Leever then battle to a 0-0 tie.

5^th The St. Louis Browns roll by visiting Boston, 12-3, helped by John Anderson. The veteran, known as the “Terrible Swede” (he was born in Norway) hits a grand slam in the 8^th.

6^th The New York Giants borrow catcher Jack Robinson from Bridgeport and he makes his debut catching Christy Mathewson. As noted by Cliff Blau, Robinson, in just 7 innings, lets 5 pitches get by him resulting in runner advancement. Blau notes that the Evening Telegram and the Times, disagree on the scoring, one giving Robinson 4 passed balls, while the other blamed only 2. He also allows 4 stolen bases in as many tries. The last place Giants tie the champion Pirates with a run in the 5^th, but Mathewson gives up 13 hits and allows 8 runs in the last 4 innings, for a 9-3 finale. The game is enlivened a bit when in the 4^th inning a small fire starts behind the Giants bench but it is quickly extinguished by buckets of water handed to the fans by the players.

Boston defeats St. Louis 6–5 as Cy Young wins his 30^th of the year.

10^th In Philadelphia, 17,291 see the Athletics beat Baltimore twice, 9–5 and 5–4, while 172 watch the Phils play Pittsburgh. With the A’s 1902 attendance almost 4 times that of the Phillies, and the AL planning to oppose the weak Giants in New York, pressure mounts among NL directors for peace talks. The A’s bring Rube Waddell in for 8 innings of relief in the opening win. Rube comes back to pitch another two innings of relief in the nitecap to pick up his 2^nd win for the day. It won’t happen again until 1915.

Herm McFarland starts the Orioles scoring with a 2^nd inning grand slam but Baltimore falls to the A’s, 9-5. The host A’s win the second game, 5-4.

Billy Wolfe, half brother of the Reds Bill Phillips, makes his only ML appearance pitching for the Phillies. He loses to Pittsburgh and Jesse Tannehill, 5-1.

11^th And that’s no malarkey. At Boston, Boston Nationals pitcher John Malarkey hits a game-ending homerun, off the Cardinals Mike O’Neill in the 11^th inning, to win, 4–3. It’s Malarkey’s only ML homer. Game 2 ends in a 2–2 tie.

13^th  Tinker, Evers, and Chance play their first game as a SS-2B-1B combo for Chicago. Germany Schaefer is at 3B as Chicago clips St. Louis, 12–0. Tinker starts a DP, but it goes to Evers and then to P Jock Menefee covering 1B.

Cleveland beats the St. Louis Browns twice, 4–1 and 2–1. In game 2, Nap Lajoie strikes out against Willie Sudhoff, just the 6^th time this year that he’s K’ed.

The Superbas top the Giants’ Christy Mathewson, 7–2, with the help of 5 New York errors, three by 3B Bill Lauder.

14^th As noted by Gil Bogan, Tinker, Evers, and Chance pull off their first DP in a 7–4 win over the Reds. Alex Hardy beats Bill Phillips. This date is one day earlier than that generally used for the trio’s first DP.

15^th Chicago’s infield combo of Tinker, Evers, and Chance pull off another double play to back up Carl Lundgren’s 6–3 win over the Reds.

Christy Mathewson signs a $4,000 contract with the Giants for the 1903 season, making him one of the highest paid pitchers in the NL. Matty had taken a $500 advance to sign with the St. Louis Browns for 1903, but on the orders of McGraw will return the advance.

20^th  In the first of two games, OF-P James “Nixey” Callahan of the White Stockings pitches a no-hitter against Detroit, winning 3–0. The Sox plate 3 in the first for the win. Game 2 is called after 7 innings with the score tied at 3 apiece. John Joseph O’Connell plays in his final game for Detroit (4-for-22). O’Connell played 8 games for Detroit and played 8 games in 1891 for the Baltimore Orioles—the only man to play ML ball in both the American Association and the American League without ever playing in the National League (as noted by David Nemec). He played SS in his debut for Baltimore, was John McGraw’s (then a second baseman) first keystone partner in the majors, and finished his career with the Tigers at first base.

21st  The Browns and Cleveland Broncos split a pair with St. Louis taking the opener, 2-1, before losing 4-1 in 10 innings. Bill Bernhard wins his 10^th straight for Cleveland and finishes at 18-5; one of the wins was for the A’s.

23^rd Boston beats the Giants, 2–1, with both runs scoring on wild pitches by Christy Mathewson.

Cy Young eases to his 32^nd win as Boston pounds the A’s, 14–1.

27^th  At Baltimore, Boston sweeps a pair, winning, 9-8 and 4-2. Ike Butler starts game 2 and finishes the year with a 1-9 record for Baltimore. Pitching for Portland (PCL) next year, Butler will set a league record with 31 losses, then come back the following year and match it.

At soggy Washington Park, the New York Giants split a doubleheader with Brooklyn, winning the opener, 4-0, behind Joe McGinnity’s three-hitter. Brooklyn takes game 2, 12-4, behind Jim Hughes. Big Jim is supported by Sheckard’s homer and Keeler’s 4 hits. For Hughes (15-10) this is his final ML victory after 4 seasons in which he racks up an 83-40 record. He will return to the PCL and his wife who refuses to leave California for the rainy East coast. In 1903, playing for the Rainiers (PCL) Hughes will tie for the league lead in wins with 34, including 12 in a row from September 8 through November 4.

28^th  The Browns and White Sox split a season-ending doubleheader with St. Louis winning the opener, 10-9, by scoring a run in the 9^th. The Brownies overcome an 8-run 4^th by the Sox. Chicago takes game 2 by a 10-4 score as Chicago OF Sam Mertes starts behind the plate with first baseman Frank Isbell on the mound. Isbell gives up 2 runs in the 1^st, but goes 4 innings and then switches positions with Mertes, who goes 4+ innings. He is the recipient of the Sox rally and earns the win in his only pitching appearance. The loser is St. Louis OF Jesse Burkett who gives up 4 runs in his one inning. He last started a game in 1890 in the NL before today. There won’t be two position players getting decisions in the same game the rest of this century: it will occur again in 2012.

In a 3-2 loss to the Reds, Pittsburgh’s Honus Wagner cracks a homer and scores his 100^th run, the first player to hit the century mark. Wagner will lead the NL in runs with 105, followed by three Pirate teammates: Fred Clarke (103); Ginger Beaumont (100); Tommy Leach (97). The four tops in runs is a record that the Pirates will match in 1909.

29^th  In the final game played in Baltimore’s Oriole Park, Boston wins, 9–5.

Brooklyn edges the Giants, 5–2, pushing the last place New Yorkers 52 games behind Pittsburgh. Frank Bowerman scores one New York run when his routine ground ball is fielded by SS Bill Dahlen and thrown into the stands behind 1B. The rules state the ball is still in play and Bowerman circles the bases.

The AL season ends with the Athletics five games in front of St. Louis Browns. Philadelphia’s Socks Seybold hits 16 HRs for the highest total to lead the AL until Babe Ruth’s 29 in 1919.

OCTOBER

2^nd In the Giants 2-1 loss at Boston, there is one stolen base but eight runners are caught trying to steal (as noted by Cliff Blau). In addition, three runners are picked off base (although one manages to advance thanks to an error) and two more are thrown out at the plate. Ed Gremminger scores the winning run in the 14^th inning, beating the throw from the Giants’ third baseman, Billy Lauder, who had fielded Pat Moran’s grounder. Roger Bresnahan is ejected from the game for arguing after he was caught trying to steal third with two outs. With all these lost runners, and with the help of three double plays, Luther Taylor nearly gets away with yielding 9 walks.

4^th  When Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss demands a game be played despite a rain-soaked Exposition Park field, Cincinnati plays most of its team out of their normal positions. The Pirates insist on playing for a record 103 wins so the Reds show their displeasure when Kelley, Seymour and Donlin all smoke cigarettes while playing in the field. First sacker Jake Beckley starts on the mound for the only time in his career, pitching four innings and giving up 8 runs, 4 earned. Outfielder Cy Seymour follows. This is Seymour’s last pitching appearance as the versatile player finishes his pitching career with a 63-56 mark. Turkey Mike Donlin finishes up. Reds rookie pitcher Rube Vickers tries his hand at catching, and sets a modern ML record with 6 passed balls to help Pittsburgh win 11–2 [It is also a record for both teams in a game. Vickers makes no effort to retrieve wide pitches, and it’s a surprise he only has six passed balls.] But Dreyfuss refunds the fans’ money and the Reds return their share of the gate to keep the irate fans (not for nothing were they call ‘cranks.’) from wrecking the stadium.

At Boston, the Nationals splits a doubleheader with New York, beating Christy Mathewson, 5–2. It is Matty’s 17^th loss of the year. Iron Joe McGinnity wins the nitecap for New York, 5–1.

7^th  At Pittsburgh, Sam Leever and the Pirates beat a team of American League all-stars, 4-3. Cy Young takes the loss.

12^th  At Chicago’s South Side Grounds, the NL all-stars down the AL all-star squad, 7-3. Joss declines to start on the mound and plays LF instead. Donovan and Mercer are the opposing hurlers.

19^th  In Omaha, the AL all-star team loses to the NL all-star squad, 7-5. Donovan and Mercer are the opposing pitchers.

In practice before a game between Racine and host Kenosha, WI, former Chicago hurler Fred Pfeffer, 42, fractures his arm attempting to throw from 2B to home. Doctors say he will never pitch again.

U.S. sailors from the S.S. Marietta defeat a Venezuelan squad, Team Caracas, 16-13, in the first game played between a local Venezuelan team and a foreign club. Emerito Argudin, a Cuban playing for Venezuela, hits two homeruns. A week later, he will hit another two homers as Venezuela defeats the sailors, 27-17.

November

8^th The Sporting Life today reports a bizarre death of a scorekeeper during a town game at Morristown, Ohio on November 28. Stanton Walker was keeping score and, needing to sharpen his pencil, borrowed a knife from the person next to him. He was sharpening a point when a foul ball struck his hand, driving the knife blade into his heart, killing him.

DECEMBER

9^th  The AL announces purchase of grounds for a stadium in NY, and the next day the NL declares its readiness to make peace. Led by Ban Johnson, the AL decides that foul balls will be strikes, except for a 3^rd strike will not be called on a foul ball. This is to speed up the game.

12^th  Harry Pulliam is elected president of the NL.

23^rd John A. Hillerich, owner of J. F. Hillerich and Sons in Louisville, is granted a patent for improvements in baseball bats involved the hardening of the surface of the bat.

28th Popular star Kip Selbach signs a two-year contract with the Washington Senators.

 

• 1903

JANUARY

10^th  At Cincinnati peace talks, the NL proposes a consolidated 12-team league, which the AL rejects. An agreement is reached to coexist peacefully if the AL promises to stay out of Pittsburgh. In the awarding of disputed contracts, the most hotly contested case is that of Sam Crawford, Reds OF who batted .333 and led the NL with 23 triples in 1902. The future Hall of Famer, signed for 1903 by both Detroit and the Reds, is awarded to the Tigers, having signed with them first. He will lead the AL in triples this year with 25.

Despite attempts by John Brush and Andrew Freedman to use their political influence to prevent the AL from finding suitable grounds in New York, Ban Johnson, aided by baseball writer Joe Vila, finds backers. He also finds a ballpark site at 165^th Street and Broadway. Frank Farrell and Bill Devery pay $18,000 for the Baltimore franchise and will build a wooden grandstand seating 15,000 on the highest point of Manhattan. The team, logically, will be called the Highlanders. Eighteen players are assigned to the New York team, including players who had moved with the team from Baltimore, and former NLers.

12^th  Detroit pitcher Win Mercer, winner of 15 games in 1902, commits suicide by inhaling gas in San Francisco’s Occidental Hotel. Mercer had recently been named the Tigers manager. The 28-year-old had been suspected of embezzling gate receipts from the California winter league games to cover gambling debts. Mercer, very popular with lady fans, leaves an enigmatic note: “A word to friends: beware of women and a game of chance.” On the recommendation of Ban Johnson, Tiger owner Sam Angus will hire Toronto manager Ed Barrow as the new skipper.

FEBRUARY

5^th  The Cubs and White Stockings, the first to play an inter-league series, announce a 15-game preseason City Series.

6^th  Former ML P and umpire Hardie Henderson is run over and killed by a trolley in Philadelphia.

24^th At a meeting of the joint rules committee in Chicago, the NL’s foul strike rule is adopted for use throughout the country.

28^th  A syndicate headed by Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfuss and James Potter buys the Philadelphia Phillies from John Rogers and A. J. Reach for $170,000. It will be another 7 years before ownership interest in more than one team is prohibited.

A columnist in The Sporting News suggests that a number be pinned to each player so that spectators will know immediately who is playing and “will not be obliged to yell out to reporters.” Sometimes players are substituted for and “this change is not known for several innings.” The writer also thinks it “is a good plan to prohibit building up the pitcher’s box. The pitcher should deliver the ball from a level with the position taken by the batsman, but if the box is built up he has a big advantage, for he is pitching down. This was only a little fault at first but it has grown tremendously, so that on some grounds the box is several inches higher than the rest of the diamond.”

MARCH

1^st Baseball rules committee chairman Tom Loftus of Washington proclaims that the pitcher’s box must not be more than 15 inches higher than the baselines or home plate.

7^th  In the first trade under the peace treaty, the Giants send their 1902 part-time manager Heine Smith to Detroit for 2B Kid Gleason, who is immediately moved to the Phils where he will end a 20-year playing career.

8^th  Chicago Colts president James Hart and White Sox president Charles Comiskey announce that the two teams will play a city-series championship after the 1903 season. The best-of-15 series will start October 1 and will end when one team has won eight games. Only players who appeared in 20 regular season games (10 for pitchers and catchers) will be eligible (Vineline).

12^th The New York Highlanders are officially approved as members of the AL.

20^th  The 2 Major Leagues agree to blacklist future contract jumpers.

21^st  Sporting Life, the nation’s oldest baseball publication, begins its 21^st year. It will close during WW I.

APRIL

4^th  The Philadelphia Athletics threaten to strike unless they share in the receipts of last fall’s City Series. They don’t get the money, but they don’t strike.

14^th  Ed Delahanty, one of 5 ML brothers, and the greatest natural hitter of his time, rejoins the Washington Nationals in accordance with the peace terms. A 3-year contract with the Giants at $8,000 a year, signed during the winter, is canceled. The Nationals reimburse the Giants for the $3,000 advanced to Big Ed.

15^th San Francisco’s Jimmy Whalen blanks Los Angeles, 6–0, on 3 hits, ending the Angels’ 15-game winning streak since the start of the season.

16^th The Reds open the season before 12,000 fans and lose to the Pirates, 7–1, the first of four straight losses to the Bucs. Deacon Phillippe allows just 2 Cincy hits for the win.

17^th At the Opener at the Polo Grounds, Brooklyn scores 4 in the 1st against Christy Mathewson, but New York counters to take a 5–4 lead. Matty allows another 5 runs as his teammates contribute six errors. Brooklyn wins, 9–7, behind rookie Henry Schmidt. The 30-year-old Schmidt, who was 34-21 last season with the Oakland Dudes (California League), will win 23 games with Brooklyn this season. When they send him a contract for 1904, he will return it unsigned along with a note: “I do not like living in the East and will not report.” He’ll go 26-28 for Oakland (PCL) in 1904.

19^th Joe McGinnity wins his first game as a Giant, beating Brooklyn, 6–1, and allowing just one hit, by Doyle.

20^th  Since yesterday was Sunday, today is both Opening Day and Patriot’s Day in Boston, resulting in an unusual Opening Day doubleheader. The Boston Americans play an a.m. game before 8,376 fans beating the A’s Rube Waddell, 9–4. The Athletics take the afternoon contest, 10–7, watched by 27,658, behind Eddie Plank and rookie Chief Bender. Cy Young and Long Tom Hughes pitch for Boston. Duke Farrell, 16-year veteran, is given a diamond ring by his Boston teammates in the 2^nd inning of the opener. He collects 3 hits for the afternoon.

The NL doubleheader at Boston’s South End Grounds draws just 6,700. Boston takes the morning game, 4–3, behind Togie Pittinger, then lose the p.m. game to Philadelphia, 10–7.

21^st  At Brooklyn’s home opener at Washington Park, Mrs. Charles Ebbets throws out the first ball and then Henry Schmidt and the Giants’ Christy Mathewson keep the ball low as a NL-record 43 total chances are taken by two clubs. The Superbas have 23 assists, including 8 by Schmidt; the Giants have 21. Catcher Jack Warner drives home the winning run for a 2–1 New York victory. The total chance record will be tied by the Giants and Reds, May 15, 1909.

22^nd At Washington, before 11,950, the New York Highlanders play their first game under manager Clark Griffith, losing 3–1. Washington elects to bat first, but the New Yorkers score in the bottom of the opening inning to take a 1–0 lead. Each starter gives up six hits with Jack Chesbro, the NL’s top winner last year (28-6) taking the loss. Al Orth, in his second season with Washington, is the winner.

For the second time in 4 days, New York’s Iron Joe McGinnity tops Brooklyn, this time winning, 7–2.

In the AL’s formal Opening at Philadelphia before 13,578 fans, AL President Ban Johnson presents the 1902 championship pennant to the A’s. The Athletics then top Boston, 6–1, as Rube Waddell bests Bill Dinneen. Rube finishes with a flourish in the 9^th inning. Waddell calls in his outfielders to play infield and then strikes out Buck Freeman, Chick Stahl and Jimmy Collins without allowing even a foul tip (this according to an account by Jake Stahl that appeared in the Boston Globe of January 22, 1913, and noted by historian Bill Nowlin in Day By Day With the Boston Red Sox).

23^rd  Behind the pitching of Harry Howell, the New York Highlanders (1–1) win their first game, 7–2, over Washington.

Butte (Pacific Coast League) makes 2 triple plays in one game against Los Angeles.

24^th Against the Pirates, the Cardinals go into the 9^th with a 7-6 lead, in part due to three errors by SS Honus Wagner. Honus atones for the miscues by tripling in the 9^th and scoring on a Kitty Bransfield single. With 2 outs in the 11^th, Wagner walks, steals 2B and scores the winner on another Kitty bingle, and the Bucs win, 7–6. Wagner finishes with 2 triples among his 4 hits, 4 RBIs, and 3 stolen bases.

27^th Christy Mathewson keeps New York in 1^st place with a 10–7 win over Boston. Matty gives up two homers, including a grand slam by 2B Frank Bonner.

Three days after Boston OF Chick Stahl injures his leg sliding, teammate catcher Duke Farrell fractures his leg while stealing 2B in a 6–3 loss against Washington. This leaves Boston with Lou Criger as its only catcher.

The Tigers (4-0) remain undefeated, topping the White Sox, 8-1, behind the pitching and hitting of George Mullin. Mullin hits three doubles setting a record for AL pitchers next matched by Walter Johnson in 1917.

28^th New York plays host to the Phillies and wins, 12-7. Roger Bresnahan has a grand slam for the Giants connecting in the 5^th off Jack McFetridge.

29^th The Americans Norwood Gibson is the main cause of Boston’s 9–5 loss to Washington as the pitcher issues nine walks and Washington collects 8 stolen bases.

30^th  The new AL park opens in New York with an estimated crowd of 16,000 watching the home team beat Washington 6–2. Jack Chesbro, who lost to the Nats on Opening Day, is today’s winner.

At St. Louis, the Pirates stay tied for first with a 13-4 win over the Cardinals. Tommy Leach has a grand slam for Pittsburgh off Three Fingered Brown.

MAY

2^nd At Pittsburgh, Jack Taylor matches up with the Buccaneers’ rookie Cy Falkenberg for the second time in a week and again Chicago wins. This time, 10–5: on the 26^th of April, it was 9–6.

In a battle of future Hall of Famers, Eddie Plank bests Cy Young as the A’s top host Boston, 3-0. Adding insult to injury, Plank also hits his first ML homer off Cy, a solo shot.

5^th  At New York, the Highlanders down the Athletics, 11-3, thanks to 8 errors (NY Times) by the A’s, five by the unrelated Lave and Monte Cross. The A’s mount a threat in the 9^th when the first two batters reach base but a line drive by Harry Davis results in a 3-6 triple play to end the game. It is the Highlanders first ever triple play.

6^th  The White Stockings commit 12 errors, a team record, and the Tigers commit 6, for a modern ML record by 2 teams in one game. Thirteen of the E’s are by the infields, another AL mark. Sox shortstop Lee Tannehill leads the way with 4 errors, while 3^rd sacker Frank Isbell and Patsy Flaherty check in with 3 apiece. Another AL mark is set when 12 batters on the two teams reach first on errors. Trailing 9–7 in the 9^th inning, Chicago salvages a 10–9 victory for Patsy Flaherty over Mal Eason.

The Pirates Deacon Phillippe, en route to 25 wins, lets one get away when the Cubs score 9 runs on 9 hits in the top of the 9^th for an 11–4 triumph at Exposition Park. Dick Harley leads off the 9^th with a single, the first hit off Phillippe since the 2^nd inning. Doc Casey drills a bases-loaded single to make the score 6–4, and Evers follows with a two-run triple. The scoring ends when Chance is forced at 2B. Jack Taylor is the winner, the third time in 11 days he’s beaten the Bucs.

7^th At the Polo Grounds, Giants 1B Dan McGann steals four bases to lead New York to an 8–4 win over the Phillies. Mathewson beats the Phils for the 2^nd time in a week, scattering 9 hits. Teammate Iron Joe McGinnity, a bench spectator, is tossed in the 8^th inning by umpire August Moran for mouthing off too much.

For the 2^nd time in his career, Fred Clarke hits for the cycle and adds a walk, sacrifice and stolen base, but the effort comes up short as the Reds beat the Pirates, 10–8. The Pirates also lose Honus Wagner after a play at 2B with Reds infielder Jack Morrissey. When Wagner threatens to punch Morrissey, umpire Bug Holliday restrains him and the two clinch. Wagner is suspended for 3 games.

8^th  White Stockings pitcher Nixey Callahan gets 5 hits for the 3^rd time in his career (also June 29, 1897 and May 18, 1902), a ML record for pitchers, but the 11-inning loss to the St. Louis Browns is the final game he will pitch in the major leagues. He will play other positions until 1913. Nixey is the only pitcher ever to garner five hits three times.

9^th The Boston Americans top the visiting Highlanders, 12–5, with a little help from umpire Bob Caruthers, who tosses out New York pitcher Tannehill and 2B Williams for a ball call at home. When they refuse to leave the field, he pulls out a stop watch. After pleading by teammates the tossed two exit the field.

10^th Chicago take two from the Cards, winning 6–3 and 13–8. In game 2, Chicago’s Jake Weimer fires 3 wild pitches in the 4^th inning to set a NL mark that will be oft tied.

12^th Mathewson is a stingy host to the Reds, holding them hitless through 7 innings and scoreless through 8 innings. But the Reds score 4 in the 9^th off Matty to beat the Giants, 4–1.

14^th At Corsicana (Texas League), the Paris club connects for 9 homeruns against Lucky Wright, Clyde “Sis” Bateman hitting 4 and Roland Wolfe 3, to win 13-7. Before the next day’s play, Corsicana moves the left field fence back.

15^th At Detroit, the Tigers pick on Boston American outfielder Pat Dougherty and collect 5 triples and two homers in winning, 8–6. Dougherty misjudges a number of fly balls.

16^th  A record 31,500 at the Polo Grounds see the Giants beat Pittsburgh, 7–3, behind Christy Mathewson. Matty allows 8 hits in beating William Kennedy, who is bricked for 13 safeties. The first-place New Yorkers will soon fade, and the Pirates, now in 3^rd place, will win their 3^rd straight pennant.

17^th  Ed Doheny outpitches Joe McGinnity, allowing just 6 Giants hits to give the Pirates a 3–2 win. Doheny also earns a 3-day suspension when, after hitting a popup in front of the plate, tosses his bat at Frank Bowerman while the big catcher is attempting to catch the fly.

With Sunday baseball banned in Cleveland, the Blues and Highlanders play at Columbus, Ohio. with Cleveland’s Addie Joss defeating Clark Griffith, 9–2. Dave Fultz is not in New York’s lineup today because he opposes Sunday baseball.

19^th Mathewson, in relief of Dummy Taylor in the 8^th inning, earns a 3–2 over Pittsburgh. New York comes back to score solo runs in the 7^th and 8^th for the victory.

Nineteen strikeouts are registered by both teams in Boston’s 3–2 win over Detroit.

20^th After beating the Pirates in a relief effort yesterday, Mathewson allows 6 hits in shutting out the defending NL champs, 2–0. Sam Leever takes the loss. New York takes three games in the series and Mathewson wins them all.

Willie Sudhoff beats the Boston Americans, 4–3, but Boston stops the St. Louis pitcher’s three-game shutout skein.

23^rd Boston evens its record at 14-14 with an 8-2 victory over the visiting Reds. Duff Cooley hits a grand slam for the Beaneaters.

24^th  The Tigers avoid Detroit’s Sunday ban on baseball by playing Washington at Grand Rapids, in a game that draws 6,000. Detroit wins, 5–4, behind George Mullin, with John Deering in relief.

26^th The first place Giants (22-9) top Chicago, 4–3, at the Polo Grounds, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 9^th. Mathewson is the winner over Jack Taylor.

28^th At Boston, the Pirates edge the Nationals, 7–6. Debuting for Pittsburgh is outfielder Reddy Grey, brother of writer Zane Grey. He goes 1-for-3 in his only ML appearance (Macmillan Encyclopedia has him 1-for-3 in another game).

At Boston, Buck Freeman scores the winning run in the 9^th inning after hitting a triple off Highball Wilson and the Americans win, 5-4, over Washington. Highball has a pair of triples himself.

29^th At the Polo Grounds, Mathewson tosses his 2^nd shut out of the year, blanking Boston, 3–0, to keep New York in first place. A split with Boston tomorrow will drop them a half game off the pace.

30^th in game 2 of a doubleheader in St. Louis, Bill Donovan of the Tigers loses, 5–0 to the Browns Bill Reidy. The Tigers had scored 62 runs in Wild Bill’s first 7 starts, but he better get used to the goose eggs. He’ll start 5 games in which the Tigers lose, 1–0, lose another by a 2–0 score, and win a 1–0 game. Not until September 3 will the Tigers be shut out in a non-Donovan game.

31^st  At Chicago’s West Side Grounds, the Cubs collect 17 hits—all singles—to beat the Cardinals, 17–4. St. Louis helps winning pitcher Jake Weimer with six errors.

JUNE

1^st At Pittsburgh, Christy Mathewson wins his 10^th of the season, and his 4^th over Pittsburgh, as the Giants prevail, 10–2. Ed Doheny is the loser. With the Cubs idle, the second-place Giants are a game behind Chicago. As noted by historian Gordon Hylton, in 2016, this is the first usage of the Cubs nickname (Washington Post) he could find in a data base of The Washington Post, NY Times, LA Times and Chicago Tribune.

2^nd  With Honus Wagner filling in for ailing manager Fred Clarke, reportedly recuperating from a nervous breakdown, the Pirates beat the Giants, 7–0. Deacon Phillippe goes all the way, striking out 8 batters, including the side in the 5^th. Wagner is 3-for-5 for the Buccaneers. Frank Bowerman is tossed out for protesting calls.

3^rd Pirate pitching shuts out the Giants for the 2^nd day in a row with Sam Leever applying the whitewash, 5–0. Pittsburgh scores their first run on a double steal, with Claude Richey on the front end. Richey tallies 4 hits off Joe McGinnity to pace the offense. Ginger Beaumont adds a HR to deep CF in the 5^th inning, the same inning in which 3B coach Christy Mathewson is tossed for kicking dirt on umpire James Johnstone.

4^th  Against Boston, Pittsburgh’s Kaiser Wilhelm throws a 5–0 shut out, allowing five hits and walking none. Manager Fred Clarke goes 2-for-4 in his return to the lineup and Wagner scores a run after going from 1B to 3B on a sacrifice bunt.

At West Side Grounds, the Giants shell Carl Lundgren for 11 hits in beating Chicago, 9–1. Mathewson allows 4 hits in winning easily. The Giants will win the next three with Chicago to move into first place.

5^th  The Pirates rack up 17 hits against Boston’s Togie Pittinger and pitcher Ed Doheny coasts to a 9–0 victory, Pittsburgh’s 4^th shutout in a row, setting a new major-league record. Clarke is 5-for-5 and Ginger Beaumont goes 4-for-5, connecting for his 2^nd homer in a week. It is an off day for Claude Richey, who strikes out 3 times, makes two errors, and is picked off base. For Pittinger, the 17 hits will help him set a NL record for hits allowed in a season (396). Togie will also lead in losses (22), runs allowed (196), earned runs allowed (136), home runs allowed (12) and walks (143). No pitcher this century will lead in as many negative categories.

The Boston Americans, led by Hobe Ferriss’ grand slam, defeat Chicago, 10–8, at the Huntington Avenue Grounds.

6^th  In a rain-shortened 6-inning game, the Pirates keep their whitewash streak alive at 5 games as Deacon Phillippe shuts out the 6^th-place Beaneaters, 4–0. The game ends after Honus Wagner leads off with a triple in the 7^th inning, a hit that stays in the record books according to the rules.

In Boston, the Americans score ten runs for the 3^rd day in a row, beating Chicago, 10–2. The scoring is helped by special ground rules instituted because of the overflow crowd of 10,000.

8^th  Boston beats visiting Detroit, 6–1, in a game called after 5 ½ innings. Detroit scores its only run when Long Tom Hughes issues four straight walks. The win is Boston’s 11^th in a row.

Pittsburgh’s Sam Leever shuts out the Phils, 2–0, beating Tully Sparks to keep the scoreless streak alive. It is Leever 2^nd shut out during the Bucs’ skein of 56 straight innings, and he will lead the NL with 7 shutouts. Wagner is 2-for-3 and saves the shutout with a game-ending snag in left center of a line drive by pinch hitter Klondike Douglass.

9^th  At St. Louis, the Giants win easily, 11–2, over the Cards. With the game in hand, Mathewson (12-2) is lifted in the 7^th for Roscoe Miller.

Kaiser Wilhelm, the 29-year-old rookie for Pittsburgh, holds the Phils scoreless for 3 innings before they score a run in the 4^th breaking the Pirates’ ML record run of 6 straight shutouts and 56 scoreless innings. The Pirates score 6 runs in the first three innings off Bill Duggleby and win, 7–3.

10^th Detroit SS Kid Elberfeld, suspended for abusing an umpire, is traded to the New York Highlanders for veteran infielders Herman Long, 37, and Ernie Courtney. The Highlanders’ first trade is a good one as “The Tabasco Kid”, currently hitting .341, will be a key ingredient in New York’s rise as contenders in 1904. Elberfeld had also been accused by Tiger manager Ed Barrow of deliberately throwing games recently as a ploy to get himself traded, and he had been suspended on June 2 for “loaferish conduct.”

11^th  Following a win by Ed Doheny, Pittsburgh gets back on the shutout track when Deacon Phillippe throws his 3^rd straight whitewash, defeating Brooklyn, 9–0. His batterymate Ed Phelps is 3-for-3 with a stolen base: as noted by Joe Elinich, Phils’ manager Chief Zimmer calls Phelps, “the best catcher in the game” and “a coming star.”

Joe McGinnity stops the Reds, 2-0, in Cincinnati in the opener of a four-game series. The Giants might’ve scored more but a 9^th inning triple play by the Reds stanches the threat. It is Cincinnati’s 2^nd triple play in a month.

13^th At League Park, Joe Kelley’s first-inning triple is the lone hit off Mathewson, who whitewashes the Reds, 4–0. Noodles Hahn takes the loss. It is the 3^rd shutout in a row for the Giants’ staff.

15^th Following two rainouts, the Pirates notch another shut out when Sam Leever beats Chicago, 3–0, on his 3^rd straight shutout. Leever allows just one hit, garnered by Chicago hurler Jack Menefee.

16^th Against the White Sox, player-manager Clark Griffith tosses a 1–0 shutout to give the New York Highlanders their first shutout ever.

Phillies pitcher Chick Fraser hits a game-ending home run in the 12^th inning to give the Phils a 2–1 win over the Giants.

At St. Louis, the Athletics beat the Browns, 9-3, and take over first place in the AL race. Rube Waddell wins his 10^th straight for Philadelphia. Boston trails by a game.

18^th Opening a home stand at the Polo Grounds, Christy Mathewson and Chicago’s Jake Weimer battle with Matty taking the loss, 1–0. A walk to Jimmy Slagle with the bases loaded in the 6^th provides Chicago with the needed margin. It is Matty’s first loss in his last 10 decisions and it knocks the Giants out of first place. They won’t be in first the rest of the year.

21^st In a Sunday match in Canton, Ohio, Boston outslugs Cleveland to win 12–7. Buck Freeman is 5-for-6, including the cycle, with 6 RBIs, while Nap Lajoie is 3-for-5 for Cleveland.

22^nd At the Polo Grounds, a crowd of 19,000 is on hand for the twinbill with Chicago; Iron Joe McGinnity wins the opener, 5–4, in 10 innings, over Jack Taylor. But Chicago takes the nitecap, scoring 6 runs against Mathewson in the 9^th inning to enable Jock Menefee to pick up a win, 10–6. Matty gives up 13 hits and 10 runs in losing his 4^th game of the year.

In St. Louis, Highlander manager Griffith suspends catcher Jack O’Connor for insubordination. O’Connor, a St. Louis native, missed the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader and was on hand for the 2^nd game but refused to catch saying he wasn’t in shape.

23^rd  The Boston Americans take—and hold—the AL lead, as Cy Young beats Detroit and Bill Donovan, 1–0. They will finish 14 1⁄2 games ahead of the Philadelphia Athletics. Donovan will complete all 34 of his starts to tie for the lead with Young and Waddell.

25^th  Boston Beaneater Wiley Piatt becomes the only 20^th-century pitcher to lose two complete games in one day, falling to Pittsburgh 1–0 and 5–3. Piatt allows 14 hits in the 2 games while striking out 12. Pirate player-manager Fred Clarke takes a pitch in the stomach, and will take a couple more hits tomorrow. Pittsburgh now leads the NL by 2 ½ games.

At Chicago, the White Sox bat first against the Highlanders and the two teams battle to an 18-inning tie at 6 apiece. The two teams total 30 hits, but neither score in the overtime.

26^th  Before the start of the Giants-Pirates showdown, Giants catcher Frank Bowerman starts a fight with Pirates player-manager Fred Clarke in the Giants office. While the cause of the brawl is unclear, Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss reports it to the NL offices and Bowerman is fined $100. Clarke gets no fine, but does take home a black eye. Mathewson then pitches his 5^th victory over Pittsburgh, defeating them 8–2, and beating Sam Leever. Sam Mertes, who jumped from the AL and will lead the NL in doubles and RBIs, doubles home 3 runs in the 5^th.

Veteran SS George Davis, 1900–1901 Giants manager who played for the White Stockings in 1902 and was awarded to them as part of the peace treaty, gets the approval of NL president Harry Pulliam to play for the Giants. After Davis plays in 4 games, including today, for the Giants, Chicago’s owner Charles Comiskey gets an injunction preventing Davis from playing. On July 20^th the NL directors vote that Davis cannot play for any team except the White Stockings. Davis sits out the rest of the season but rejoins Chicago in 1904 and finishes a 20-year career with them in 1909.

27^th The Pirates crush 15 hits off Iron Joe McGinnity, including 4 hits by Honus Wagner, but it takes the Bucs 11 innings to cut down the Giants. In the Pirates’ next game, on the 30^th against Brooklyn, Wagner will collect another 4 hits.

28^th Detroit travels out of state for a home game—a Sunday match in Toledo, Ohio against the A’s. Chief Bender tops the Tigers’ Joe Yeager, 7–3, before a crowd of 4,500. For Yeager, it is his only start of the year and the last of his career. He has been the Tigers regular third baseman this year, a position he will play in the AL for the next five years. Pitching for Brooklyn in 1898 he was 12-22 and 12-11 for the Tigers in 1902. Yeager will be credited in his obit for inventing the squeeze play (as noted by historian Peter Morris).

At St. Louis, Cy Young shuts out the Browns in the opener, 1–0, pinning a tough loss on Red Donohue. Boston righty Long Tom Hughes follows with a 3–0 win over in the nitecap. Jack Powell takes the loss.

30^th The Cards bunch 3 hits and a George Davis error in the 6^th for 3 runs and beat Christy Mathewson, 4–2. Davis will appear in just 4 games in 1903, all for the Giants, before White Sox owner Charles Comiskey secures an injunction to keep him off the field. He’ll be back with the Sox next season.

At Chicago, the White Sox jump on Boston starter Nick Altrock for 8 runs in the 1^st inning. Chicago has 7 hits and 3 walks. Altrock finishes the game, a 10–3 Chicago win, for his only complete game in a Boston uniform. Chicago must like what they see: they purchase Altrock on July 2^nd.

JULY

1^st Pitcher Cy Young drives home the only run in the 10^th inning as the Boston Americans beat Chicago, 1–0.

2^nd  Seeing that George Davis is playing for the Giants, Ed Delahanty decides to jump to New York too. Leaving the Nationals in Detroit, he boards an eastbound train. He is put off the train for rowdy, and possibly drunken, behavior at Niagara Falls. When he tries to walk across the railroad bridge over the Niagara River, he falls to his death. His body is found 7 days later at the base of Horseshoe Falls. He had a 16-year, .346 batting average, and has a 16-game hitting streak at the time of his death.

Pitcher Jack Doscher, making his debut with the Chicago Cubs, is the first son of a former ML player to also play in the ML. Father Herm was a third baseman with Troy, Chicago, and Cleveland before the turn of the century. Jack loses today at Philadelphia, 7–2, and will end the season with the Brooklyn Superbas.

4^th The first place Boston Americans sweep two from the visiting St. Louis Americans, winning 4–1 and 2–0.

The Pirates win a pair from the Phillies, 7–4 and 7–1, but lose player-manager Fred Clarke when he tumbles after fly ball and separates his shoulder. He will be out 4 ½ weeks.

6^th At West Side Grounds, Mathewson gives the Giants their 2^nd win in three games with Chicago, beating the Cubs, 5–1. Jock Menefee takes the loss.

7^th In a game with the New York Highlanders, White Sox OF Danny Green is called out at 1B by John Sheridan, and after returning to the bench continues to yell at the ump. Sheridan finally rushes the bench and hits Green with his mask, who then belts the umpire. The umpire is taken from the grounds and locked up on charges of disorderly conduct. An hour later he is released after bail is posted by Highlander president Joseph Gordon.

8^th Chicago’s Nick Altrock, pitching against the Boston Americans, loses to his former team, 6–1. For the second game in five days, pitcher Cy Young is pressed into duty as an umpire. He umped a Boston win in the first game on July 4.

9^th In St. Louis, the Giants score 3 in the 9^th to beat the Cardinals, 4–2. Mathewson gets the win with relief help in the 9^th from Joe McGinnity. Three Fingered Brown is the loser.

In Chicago, the Nationals use an error, sac, 2 stolen bases, and 5 singles to score all their runs in the 7^th and beat the Phillies, 6–1. Frank Chance is named team captain of Chicago.

11^th In Cincinnati, the 2^nd place Giants edge the Reds, 8–6, although the Reds pile on McGinnity for five runs in the 7^th. Mathewson then relieves and a pickoff by C Jack Warner of a napping Harry Steinfeldt at 3B prevents further scoring.

At Boston, Jimmy Collins collects 5 hits, including a triple and homer, to pace the Americans to an 8–5 win over Chicago. It is Boston’s 45^th win of the year.

15^th In a showdown game at Pittsburgh, the Giants score 3 runs in the top of the 9^th to take a 3–2 lead, but the Bucs tie it up against Mathewson. No runs are scored again till the 14^th when New York scores 3 off Ed Doheny to give Matty his 6^th win of the year over Pittsburgh. Matty strikes out 11 and scatters 10 hits.

With ground rules limiting hits into the crowds to three bases, Cy Young drives home Lou Criger in the 10^th inning for a 4–3 win over visiting Cleveland. Addie Joss takes the loss.

16^th Roger Bresnahan, playing center field for the Giants, starts a triple play against the Pirates with the bases loaded. The future Hall of Fame catcher snags a line drive and his throw to home holds the runner at 3B. Catcher John Warner throws to 2B to get the runner advancing and the return home nabs the runner from 3^rd. But Pittsburgh gets two inside-the park-homers from Ginger Beaumont, who scores five runs, and wins easily, 16–4.

The Boston Americans score 7 runs in the first inning, four coming after a 3^rd out is disallowed because the umpire had turned to the bench to ask for new baseballs. Boston rolls to an 11–4 win over Cleveland.

17^th  Rube Waddell is arrested for climbing into the stands and assaulting a fan who had criticized his pitching. The spectator is a know gambler who had been heckling Rube. Connie Mack bails him out of jail, but Ban Johnson gives Rube a 5-game suspension. The A’s win today, 4–1, over the visiting Browns.

Dan McClelland of the Cuban X-Giants spins the first perfect game in black baseball history, blanking the Penn Park Athletic Club of York, 5–0.

Boston pushes across a run in the 9^th to beat the Tigers, 1–0. Norwood Gibson is the victor over Bill Donovan.

Cleveland knocks Jack Chesbro out of the box in the 6^th to easily beat the host New Yorkers, 11–4. Lajoie, Flick and Conroy have triples, with Bill Bradley connecting for a home run, over the LF fence, “the longest hit made at the new grounds.” (New York Herald). Howell pitches the last three innings for the “Invaders”, holding Cleveland without a run.

21^st At Washington Park, Brooklyn tips the Giants and Mathewson, 4–1. Ned Garvin picks up the win, blanking New York for the first 8 innings.

23^rd In a doubleheader with New York, Cy Young wins the opener, 6–1, in a match that takes one hour: 35 minutes. New York wins the nitecap, 4–2.

24^th At Baker Bowl, Bill Duggleby holds the Giants to 5 hits and the Phils hand Mathewson his 2^nd loss in 4 days, winning 3–0.

25^th At New York, the Boston Americans bang seven doubles and beat the Highlanders, 7–5. Freeman and Parent each have two doubles.

26^th Sue for non-support. In game 1 against the White Sox, Detroit’s Bill Donovan emerges with a 1–0 win. He’ll lose an AL record five 1-0 games this year, a mark only tied in the loop by Jack Warhop in 1914, and no ML pitcher will lose six 1–0 decisions. Frank Owen takes the loss for Chicago, giving up a run in the first. Detroit loses the nitecap, 4–2.

28^th Boston’s Vic Willis outpitches Mathewson to beat the Giants, 5–3. Third sacker Ed Gremminger solves Matty, banging out a single, double, homer and sacrifice to lead Boston.

In Cleveland’s 10-2 win over St. Louis, Bill Bradley laces three triples to tie the AL mark set by teammate Elmer Flick last year, a record that will be tied many times, but never broken.

29^th Pittsburgh’s Ed Doheny (12-6) jumps the team to return home because he is convinced he is being followed by detectives. The Pittsburg Post headlines Doheny going AWOL with a headline: ‘His Mind is Thought To Be Deranged.’ He will return on the 15^th of August.

Cy Young goes all the way as Boston loses to the Highlanders, 15–14. The New Yorkers had been shut out in their two previous matches in the series. Patsy Dougherty leads the Boston offense by hitting for the cycle, but Cy gets little defense as Boston makes 8 errors behind him. New York starter Jack Chesbro is lifted in the 6^th for Harry Howell, while Willie Keeler has 4 hits to lead the Highlander offense. The game lasts 2 hours: 10 minutes. The 29 runs is the most these two rivals will total against each other this century: they’ll top it in 2009.

30^th In what the New York Herald describes as “the greatest pitchers’ battle of the year” St. Louis Browns pitcher Willie Sudhoff beats Detroit’s Bill Donovan, 1–0 at Detroit. Both teams play “sensational ball.”

At Cincinnati, the Reds easily defeat Chicago, 15–0, before 1,300 fans. Ed Poole records his first shutout of the year, while rookie Jake Weimer stays till the end for Chicago. Despite this pounding, Weimer will end the year with a 2.30 ERA and a 21-9 record.

The Athletics win a doubleheader from the Washington Senators, 12–1 and 6–5. Rube Waddell is knocked out of the box in the 6^th of game 2, but Connie McGeehan takes his place and shuts out the visitors without a hit as the A’s score one in the 7^th and 2 in the 8^th. For Connie, brother of Dan, it is his lone win in 3 career appearances. The two teams conclude 9 straight games between them with the A’s emerging with six wins, two losses and a tie. 78

31^st A tired Christy Mathewson loses his 4^th in a row as Boston clips him for 6 hits and 4 walks to win, 4–1. Pop Williams, recently acquired, allows just 3 Giant hits.

At Chicago, the Cleveland Blues down the White Sox, 5-2, in 12 innings. Nap Lajoie singles with the bases loaded in the 12^th for 2 runs.

AUGUST

1^st  Rube Waddell no-hits the Highlanders, except for Kid Elberfeld, who has 4 singles. These, plus a lavish 6 walks, down the A’s 3–2, with the win going to Jack Chesbro. Waddell, who struck out 13, observes afterward, “If I would have walked him 4 times, I would have pitched a no-hitter.” Elberfeld sets a ML record for most hits in a game where his teammates have no hits (matched next by Billy Williams in 1969).

The Giants, losers of 11 of 13 games, get a big boost today as Iron Joe McGinnity asks to pitch both ends of a doubleheader. He lives up to his name, winning both from Boston, 4–1 and 5–2, giving up just 6 hits in each game. Five Giants (The Sporting News says 8: SABR says 5) are nicked by pitches in the two games, while the two teams combine to plunk six (The Sporting News lists 11).

Washington’s Highball Wilson outpitches Cy Young to win, 1-0, in the first of two games. A pair of singles in the 5^th plate Washington’s lone run in a game that takes just 1 hour and 5 minutes. The second contest takes an interminable 1 hour: 45 minutes Boston scores in the 5^th on Jake Stahl’s triple—his brother Chick goes hitless—and 4 runs in the 6^th, led by Buck Freeman’s 2-run homer to RF, said to be the longest ball hit in Washington. Boston is victorious, 5-1, ending their 3-game losing streak (yesterday’s game was a 4-4 tie). Boston is 3.5 games ahead of the Athletics.

3^rd The Giants edge Boston, 4–1, in 11 innings with Mathewson outpitching Vic Willis. Each pitchers allows 9 hits, but Matty fans 11, including three in the 11^th.

6^th At Philadelphia, the A’s top the Boston Americans, 4–3, in a game called after 8 innings because of dark clouds. Boston manager Jimmy Collins protests to no avail.

7^th The Giants sweep the Phillies at the Polo Grounds, taking the opener, 7–5, behind Christy Mathewson. Matty surrenders 5 hits, but fans 10. Dummy Taylor wins the nitecap, 6–2, to put the Giants back into 2^nd place.

Reds SS Tommy Corcoran sets a ML mark when he records 14 assists in Cincinnati’s 4–2 regulation win over the Cardinals. Lave Cross, in 1897, racked up 15 assists in a 12-inning game.

8^th  An overhanging gallery atop the LF bleachers at Philadelphia’s NL park collapses at 5:40 p.m. during a doubleheader with Boston, killing 12 and injuring 282 (one source puts the injured at 232). The second game is canceled and Philadelphia’s remaining home games are played at the AL’s Columbia Park.

Before a crowd of 31,647, “Iron Man” Joe McGinnity pitches the 2^nd of 3 doubleheaders he will win this month, beating Brooklyn 6–1 and 4–3; he also is credited with a steal of home in the 2^nd game while Brooklyn was arguing a disputed call of Iron Joe at 3B. Brooklyn P Henry Schmidt is so upset about the steal that he throws the ball out of the park, a toss that gets him tossed from the game. On August 31, Iron Joe will beat the Phillies twice. He has now done double work 5 times, including 2 losses on each of the 2 occasions at Baltimore in 1901. The combination of his 434 innings pitched and 31 wins, with Mathewson’s 366 IP and 30 wins, will make them the century’s most productive one-season duo.

Furious when an old black ball is put into play when Cleveland is at bat in the last of the 11^th and his objections are ignored by umpire Tommy Connolly, Blues manager Nap Lajoie hurls the ball over the grandstand, suffering the loss of the game to Detroit by forfeit. Detroit was leading 6–5.

10^th Brooklyn’s Henry Schmidt drops his 2^nd game in 3 days to the Giants, this time losing 3–1 to Christy Mathewson. Matty wins his 20^th and loses his shutout in the 9^th on a passed ball by Jack Warner. Schmidt, 29, will win 21 games in this his only season in the Majors. A westerner, he will return his 1904 contract unsigned with the note, “I do not like living in the East and will not report.”

At Boston’s Huntington Grounds, Cy Young tosses no-hit ball for 7 innings, and beats the A’s, 7–2.

11^th A crowd of 10,600 cheer as the Boston Americans Tom Hughes defeats the A’s ace Rube Waddell, 5–1.

12^th Giant outfielder Sam Mertes walks five times and scores 4 as New York eases to a 14–4 win over St. Louis. Dummy Taylor is the winner, allowing 15 hits. Losing pitcher Jack Dunleavy allows 11 hits, but hits 2 batters, and walks 9, forcing in 3 runs.

In the 2^nd game at Boston, Boston Nationals Joe Stanley clouts his first major league homer, a grand slam off Chicago’s Jock Menefee. Stanley will hit his second career homer in 1905, again a grand slam. Pat Moran also hits a grand slam off Jock Menefee as Boston wins, 11–10, with Pop Williams beating Menefee. Chicago wins the opener, 7–4, with slow Bob Wicker outpitching Togie Pittinger.

13^th New York wins its 3^rd doubleheader in a week, clipping St. Louis 6–2 and 9–7. Mathewson strikes out 10 in the opener as he outpitches Three Fingered Brown.

14^th In Detroit, Cy Young picks up his 20^th win as Boston wins, 6–3.

15^th In a doubleheader win over the Cards, Brooklyn pitcher Henry Schmidt steals home in game 2. Brooklyn wins 7–0 and 4–3.

Baltimore manager Hugh Jennings prevails upon 35-year-old Sadie McMahon, who last pitched for Brooklyn in 1897, to pitch for the Orioles and sends the Wilmington native in against Newark in game 2 of a doubleheader. Word of the popular McMahon’s appearance lures a crowd of 8,947, the Eastern League’s largest this year, and for the first time this season ropes are stretched to accommodate the overflow crowd in the field. Sadie doesn’t disappoint, winning 7-6 and driving in the winning run. McMahon then disappears. Days later, Jennings receives a letter from Sadie thanking Hughie for giving him the chance but saying that the one game had taken too much out of him that he had decided to retire for good (as noted by Al Kermisch).

16^th Toledo native George Mullin, pitching for the Tigers, helps the attendance today (6,000) as the Tigers take on New York in a Sunday game in Toledo. Mullin is racked for 8 runs, but Detroit scores 12, led by the hitting of Sam Crawford, who is 5-for-6.

The Boston Americans roll over visiting Cleveland, 14–7, scoring in all 8 innings.

17^th  The Boston Americans continue their scoring spree, beating Cleveland again, 14–3. Boston sets a ML record by scoring in 17 consecutive innings: 8 yesterday, the last 3 on September 15 in a 12–3 win over New York, and in the first 3 innings today.

Brooklyn wins a pair from St. Louis, 6-3 and 4-3. Jimmy Sheckard contributes a grand slam in game 1, off Clarence Currie.

Ban Johnson orders betting suppressed at all AL parks, a noble but futile gesture.

18^th Behind Jack Chesbro’s pitching the Highlanders defeat Detroit, 1–0. Hard luck Bill Donovan takes the loss.

19^th In Chicago, the first-place Boston Americans beat the White Sox, 4-3, scoring the winning run on a wild pitch. Chicago ties it 3-3 in the 7^th when Frank Isbell hits a scratch homer. His ground ball down the first base line rolls under the stands and Isbell rambles around for a 3-run homer.

20^th  The NL-leading Pirates set an NL mark for an inning of inept fielding, making 6 errors in the first inning, giving the Giants 7 runs toward a 13–7 win in the first of two games. Leach and Bransfield each make 3 errors in the game as the Bucs fumble 8. Mathewson, with relief in the 6^th inning, coasts to his 23^rd win. Deacon Phillippe wins the nitecap, 4–1, for the Pirates to keep the Giants 5 games in back. Fred Clarke belts a homer over the ropes in the 5^th of game 2.

At Chicago, Boston’s Buck Freeman is the first to hit a ball over the RF score board, but the Boston Americans lose to the White Sox, 9–5.

The Phillies, who have been idle with a ML record 9 straight games postponed due to the tragic collapse at their home field on the 8^th, resume their losing ways with an 8-5 loss to the Cardinals. The game is played at the Athletics home park.

21^st  Ducky Holmes, White Stockings OF, has 4 assists in a game, tying the ML record. But his team still loses, 11–3, to Cy Young and the Boston Americans.

In a singular effort, Philadelphia’s Rube Waddell allows 3 hits in edging the Tigers 1–0 in the opener of a doubleheader. Detroit starter Wild Bill Donovan, who sets the AL record this year by losing five 1–0 game, has one of the three hits. Waddell then pitches the nitecap as well, giving up 8 hits before losing 2–1. With 13 K’s in the DH Rube boosts his strikeout total to a record 302 for the season in these two games, the last he’ll pitch this year. Donovan will be 2^nd in the AL with 187. With his two complete games today, the overworked Rube finishes the year with 34, which will tie him with Cy Young and Donovan. He won’t start another game this year.

In their 2^nd straight doubleheader, the Pirates and Giants again split, with the Bucs taking the opener, 5–0, behind Sam Leever. Mathewson wins the nitecap for New York, 9–5, the 8^th time he’s whipped Pittsburgh this year. Matty scatters 10 singles and Ginger Beaumont’s double.

22^nd In Boston, the Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6–1. St. Louis manager Patsy Donovan is taken to his home in Lawrence to rest up from malaria.

23^rd Before 21,400 in St. Louis the Americans sweep St. Louis 5–3 and 4–2. Boston executes a triple play in the nitecap. Hughes and Young are the winners for 1^st place Boston.

24^th The Cubs split with the Giants at the Polo Grounds, beating Joe McGinnity 7-3 in the opener. Iron Joe is not helped by 8 Giant errors, including 5 by SS Charlie Babb. The nitecap is called after Chicago’s at-bats in the 7^th with the score 8–1. Mathewson picks up the victory for New York over Jock Menefee.

Behind the pitching of Addie Joss, the Cleveland Americans win over the visiting Athletics, 3–0. Eddie Plank takes the loss. In the 2^nd inning, Joss needs just 3 pitches to retire the side (as noted by Bill Deane), and allows just one hit in the game—a triple by Hartsel—in winning. Hickman hits a HR into the RF bleachers.

25^th The White Sox beat Detroit, 2–0, as Bill Donovan absorbs his 7^th loss in which his Tigers are shut out. Five are by an AL record 1–0 scores.

Rube Waddell fails to appear in Cleveland for his start against the Naps and Connie Mack suspends him for the rest of the season. The two will patch up their differences and a chastened Rube will pitch for the A’s next season. Waddell started the ’03 season going 13-3 but slowed to a 21-16 record. He does strike out an AL record 302 batters.

26^th The Boston Beaneaters drive Mathewson from the mound with 5 runs in the 6^th to take a 6–5 lead over the Giants and hold on to win by that score. When Roger Bresnahan is called out at home in the 9^th New York and John McGraw and Gilbert lead the argument against August Moran. Moran tosses them for their troubles. New York wins the nitecap, 3–2, in 10 innings.

27^th In Philadelphia, Boston pitcher Tom Hughes goes long over the LF fence to win his own game against the A’s, 4–2. Boston leads the AL by 9 games.

Phillies pitchers manage to walk 17 Brooklyn batters but lose by only one run, 11–10.

28^th  Cleveland and St. Louis (AL) players escape serious injury when their train derails near Napoleon, OH.

At South End Grounds, New York outhits the Beaneaters to win, 12–6. Mathewson wins his 26^th, allowing 3 runs in the first and 9^th innings. John Malarky is the losing pitcher for Boston.

31^st Joe McGinnity wins his 3^rd doubleheader this month, stopping the Phils twice, 4–1 and 9–2 and handing losses to Chick Fraser and Bill Duggleby. Iron Joe strikes out 9 batters in the opener to win. The two games total 3 hours: 3 minutes.

In St. Louis, the Pirates trim the Cardinals, 9-6. Jimmy Sebring has a grand slam for the winners, connecting off Clarence Currie. It is the second helping of grand slam that Currie has served in two weeks.

SEPTEMBER

2^nd Mathewson walks 3 Superbas in the first inning and all score as Brooklyn beats their cross-town rivals, 4–1. Bill Reidy allows no Giants to score until the 9^th.

The Chicago Cubs sign veteran Jack McCarthy, released 4 days ago by Cleveland. McCarthy played for Chicago and had one of his best seasons.

3^rd  Cleveland P Jesse Stovall hurls an 11-inning shutout in his first ML start, defeating Detroit 1–0. It is the longest shutout ever in a pitching debut. For the first time this year, Detroit is shutout without Bill Donovan on the mound. George Mullin is the hard luck loser and will lose his next start by the same score.

Boston (AL) beats the A’s, 6–5, in 12 innings as Cy Young earns his 25^th win of the year.

On the heels of a string of rain-outs, Hudson sweeps Poughkeepsie (Class-C Hudson River League) in the 20^th century’s only quadruple header, winning by scores of 2-1, 6-4, 3-1 and 4-2. [As pointed out by several historians including Bill Deane, there was one in 1889] Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers is a member of the Poughkeepsie team in that 1903 through 1905.

5^th In a game stopped by rain after 5 innings, Christy Mathewson beats Brooklyn’s Bill Reidy, 3–1, allowing just one hit and striking out 5. The only Superbas score comes in the 4^th when RF George Browne makes two errors.

At Boston, the Americans trounce the Athletics, 12–1 in 8 innings. Patsy Dougherty leads the way with 3 triples and two singles.

6^th In Chicago, Doc White spins a 10-inning one-hitter to give the White Stockings a 1–0 victory over Cleveland. Bill Bradley breaks up the no-hitter with a one-out double in the 9^th. Billy Sullivan, with 2 of the 3 hits against Martin Glendon, reaches on an error in the 10^th and comes around to score the winning run.

In Chicago, the Pirates beats the Colts, 5–1, then catch a 5:30 train for Pittsburgh. Menefee and Smith serve as umpires. President Pulliam sends 2 umps—O’Day and Moran—to officiate the Boston –Phillies game in Providence, but leaves the Chicago game to the players.

7^th The Giants and Superbas split an odd a.m. – p.m. doubleheader, with Brooklyn losing the first game at home, 6–4, then dropping the afternoon game at the Polo Grounds, 3–0. The morning contest almost degenerates into a brawl when batter Jimmy Sheckard interferes with a throw to 2B by Giants catcher Frank Bowerman by sticking his bat in front of it. The ball deflects off the bat but umpire Tim Hurst refuses to call interference. While the runner circles the bases, the Giants ignore the ball and heatedly berate the ump’s call. While no interference is called, Sheckard is tossed out of the game.

8^th New York’s Christy Mathewson and Brooklyn’s Bill Reidy hook up for the 3^rd time in a week, and the rubber game ends in a tie, 4–4. The match is called by ump Tim Hurst after 8 innings because of darkness.

10^th  The Giants sweep a pair in Philadelphia, winning 5–3 and 3–1. Dan McGann has a grand slam in the opener.

11^th  The Cardinals Kid Nichols beats the Reds 4–2 in the first of two games. Encouraged, Nichols pitches the nitecap as well, but the Reds reach him for 14 hits to win 8–5. As manager, Nichols keeps himself in the game rather than waste another pitcher.

A new National Agreement signed by the National Association of minor league clubs officially organizes professional baseball under one comprehensive set of rules.

12^th In St. Louis, Roger Bresnahan’s 10^th inning sacrifice fly scores Jack Warner with the game winner, as New York wins 4–3. Despite giving up 12 hits, Mathewson is the winner over Jim Hackett.

Boston’s Tom Hughes defeats the Highlanders, 10–1, for his 20^th win of the year.

14^th  The Giants take the opener, 8–2, of a doubleheader in St. Louis. In the nitecap, Giants rookie Red Ames begins his 17-year career with a 5-inning 5–0 no-hitter, striking out 7 Cards. The game is called in mid afternoon due to darkness caused by an impending storm.

15^th In Cincinnati, the Reds knock out Mathewson after 5 innings and beat the Giants, 8–0.

16^th The Boston Americans whip Cleveland, scoring in each of the 8 innings in which they bat to win, 14–7. Boston collects 23 hits to Cleveland’s 12.

17^th  The Boston Americans clinch the AL pennant, beating Cleveland, 14–3, but their record of scoring in 17 consecutive innings is stopped in the 7^th inning. George Winter coasts to a win today, helped by homers from Hobe Ferriss and Jimmy Collins.

18^th  In the absence of official sanction, the presidents of the pennant-winning clubs sign an agreement to meet in a best-of-9 series for the championship. The Pirates clinch the pennant tomorrow.

The Cubs beat the Phils, 6–5, in the first game of a twinbill. In the second game, Chick Fraser no-hits Chicago 10–0 for the Phils. Peaches Graham, normally a catcher, is the loser in his only major league decision, while Fraser K’s 5 and walks 4.

Christy Mathewson relieves Dummy Taylor with the score knotted at 5-5 in the 7^th. The Giants then push across 2 runs off Jack Sutthoff and Matty wins his 29^th of the year.

Bill Dinneen wins his 20^th as Boston defeats Cleveland, 7–6.

19^th Jake Weimer picks up his 21^st victory, allowing just 4 New York hits in beating the Giants, 3-0. Mathewson allows just 4 hits as well, but 4 walks and 2 errors helped him to lose his 13^th. The Cubs are a game behind the Giants.

It’s a long time between wins—13 years. After losing game 1 to Cincinnati, 17–7, the Phillies come back to win game 2, 10–4, behind John McFetridge (1–10). The win breaks his 10-game losing streak and is his first since he won his only appearance for the Phils in 1890. McFetridge has one more loss to go in this his final year.

Cleveland’s Ed Killian loses to the Red Sox when he gives up a homerun to Freddy Parent. Killian will pitch 1001 innings before serving up another roundtripper, to Socks Seybold, on August 7, 1907.

In Pittsburgh’s split with Brooklyn, the Pirates Otto Krueger is hit in head by Bill Reidy pitch and hospitalized for a week. Pittsburgh wins game 1 by a 12–10 score, then loses 8–2.

20^th  In front of a packed house of 25,000+, the Cubs miss taking over second place from the Giants by losing to New York, 6–2. Jack Taylor loses to Joe McGinnity, with umpire Emslie getting blamed for “frequent and inexcusable blunders” (The Chicago Inter Ocean). Pittsburgh leads by 9 games.

21^st Christy Mathewson, pitching for the 3^rd time in 4 games, keeps the Giants in 2^nd place by beating Chicago’s Clarence Currie, 8–3. For Matty, it is 30^th win of the year, the first of three successive 30-win seasons.

In Cincinnati, the Reds make 14 errors in a twinbill with the Phils, losing 11–2 and 14–13. The second game is called after 6 innings.

In Boston, the Americans edge the White Sox, 4-3, when Buck Freeman lines an inside-the-park homer in the 12^th inning.

Brooklyn sweeps a pair from Pittsburgh, winning 9–4 and 7-3. Pitt pitcher Lave Winham helps with 4 errors in game 1. This ties the NL record set in 1900, and no pitcher in the NL has done it since.

22^nd The last-place Cardinals start local college pitcher Harry Betts against Boston, but he gives up 11 hits and walks 5, while losing 10–1. Betts’ next and last appearance in the majors will be in 1913 with the Reds.

In Cincinnati, Reds OF Mike Donlin hits 4 consecutive triples in a doubleheader split with the Phillies. Donlin’s first triple comes in his last at bat in the opener, a 12–7 loss, and three more triples in the nitecap 8–1 win. Donlin is 6-for-7 on the afternoon.

Catcher Fritz Buelow hits his only homer of the year, a grand slam, to help the Tigers to a 7-4 victory over the A’s.

Pittsburgh’s 16-game winner Ed Doheny, still suffering from bouts of paranoia, leaves the team and is escorted home to Massachusetts by his brother. During the World Series, Doheny will be committed to the Danvers Insane Asylum after knocking his male nurse unconscious. At the age of 26, his major league career is over.

24^th  In a 12-2 win over Washington, Bill Bradley of Cleveland hits for the cycle and adds an extra double for 12 total bases.

At New York, the Highlanders take a pair from the St. Louis Browns, winning 6–2 and 8–6. Jack Chesbro is the victor in the opener with a bit of help from the Browns John Anderson (as noted by Peter Morris). The Browns make 4 straight hits in the 8^th, and an error by Kid Elberfeld on Anderson’s grounder loads the bases. With Bobby Wallace hitting, Anderson inexplicably takes off for 2^nd base and is thrown out trying to scramble back to 1B, a play that will be referred to in the early part of the century as a “John Anderson play.” Wallace strikes out on the play. Anderson explains that “I got too far off first base and couldn’t get back.” To which his manager McAleer responds, “Tell me, you big bum, where did you think you were going?” After the game Clark Griffith brings up the possibility of a trade again and finds that the price had gone down. “Give me an old bat bag or anything,” says McAleer, “and take the big stiff.” Anderson will be swapped to New York next month.

26^th  In a doubleheader split with the Highlanders, Detroit’s switch hitting Billy Lush lashes 3 triples in the game 1 victory, 13-8. New York takes game 2, 5-1.

27^th  In a battle of bottom dwellers in St. Louis, the Phillies and the Cardinals split a pair, with the Phils taking the opener, 6-3, and the Cardinals, 5-3. It is the last appearance for Phils pitcher Jack McFetridge who finishes the season 1-11. McFetridge had a 1-0 record in 1890, then appeared in 14 games for Philadelphia this year, a gap of 13 years.

28^th Deciding to end the season a day early and make it a doubleheader, Boston (AL) tops St. Louis 8-7 and 6–0 for their 20^th shutout of the year. Bill Dinneen wins his 21^st, applying the calcimine for his sixth shutout.

Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfuss announces that, despite rumors to the contrary, the Pittsburgh- Boston world’s championship will be played as scheduled. A party of Pittsburgh fans will leave for Boston on the 28^th.

30^th The seasonal contracts for Boston players expire and owner Killilea offers a two week extension to cover the World Series. This offer is later increased to head off a players’ strike.

OCTOBER

1^st  The first modern World Series game, also called “Championship of the United States,” is played at Boston’s Huntington Street park before an overflow crowd of 16,242. Deacon Phillippe pitches Pittsburgh to a 7–3 win over Cy Young. Pittsburgh RF Jimmy Sebring hits the first HR and adds three other hits. 3B Tommy Leach has 4 hits, including 2 triples for the Pirates and winds up with four three-baggers, a Series record. The first of his triples goes into the RF crowd and he is allowed 3B by the ump.

In the first City Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Nationals, Jack Taylor shuts out the Sox, 11–0, on 3 hits at the West Side Grounds. The Colts win the next 2 games, but Taylor will lose his next three starts and the series will end tied at 7 apiece on October 15. Sox owner Charles Comiskey is willing to play it out but the Colts Jim Hart is not (according to historian Benton Stark). Hart is convinced that Taylor lost his games deliberately for money and will trade the star in 2 months.

2^nd  The Boston Americans Bill Dinneen blanks Pittsburgh 3–0 on 3 hits and 11 strikeouts to even the Series. His 4 starts will give him 3 victories, making this the only WS to produce two 3-game winners. Boston LF Patsy Dougherty hits 2 HRs; in 14 WS games they are the only HRs he will hit. With Boston electing to bat first, Patsy’s first homer is a leadoff blast against Sam Leever.

3^rd  Deacon Phillippe comes back on one day’s rest to beat Boston 4–2 before 18,801, the biggest crowd of the Series. Jimmy Collins has half the Boston hits with a single and double. There are 7 ground-rule doubles in the game, 4 of which go into the crowd.

6^th  A travel day and rainout enable Phillippe to pitch and win again 5–4, before 7,600 at Pittsburgh. Boston rallies for three runs in the 9^th but it is not enough. Ginger Beaumont and Honus Wagner have 3 hits, but Honus will manage just .222 for the WS.

The Highlanders trade vet C Jack O’Connor to his hometown St. Louis Browns for another veteran, Norwegian born John Anderson.

7^th Cy Young, who will also pitch in 4 games, stops the Pirates 11–2 on 6 hits. The 36-year-old righthander drives in 3 runs. Pittsburgh’s Brickyard Kennedy, pitching on his 35^th birthday, is ahead 4–2 in the 6^th when Wagner makes 2 errors, and Boston scores 6 runs. After giving up another 4 runs in the 7^th, Kennedy is gone, and will not pitch in the majors again. Patsy Dougherty has a single a two triples, while Chick Stahl and Jimmy Collins add three baggers. There are 6 triples in the game.

8^th  Bill Dinneen evens the Series with a 6–3 win over Pittsburgh’s Sam Leever, who was 25–7 during the season. Ginger Beaumont leads the offense with 4 hits and two steals. The attendance in Pittsburgh is 11556.

9^th The World Series is postponed because of cold weather.

10^th  Three days rest are apparently too much for Phillippe, who gives up first-inning triples to Boston’s Jimmy Collins and Chick Stahl for a 2–0 lead. Five of the first 11 hits are triples, as the ground rules call for any balls hit into the crowds to be three baggers. Cy Young wins, 7–3.

13^th  An overworked Deacon Phillippe pitches his 5^th complete game of the Series, losing to Bill Dinneen 3–0 in game 8. Only 7,455, the smallest crowd of the Series, see Boston win the championship. Deacon’s 5 decisions and 44 IP are still WS records, as are his starting 2 straight WS games, twice. Hobe Ferriss’ 4^th inning single drives in the first of two runs in the inning.

14^th  Pittsburgh P Ed Doheny is committed to an insane asylum in Massachusetts after assaulting his nurse with a poker. Doheny had compiled a 16–8 mark.

15^th  With Pirates owner Dreyfuss putting his club’s $6,699.56 gate receipts into the players’ pool, the 16 Pirates receive $1,316 each, more than the victorious Boston players’ $1,182. Deacon Phillippe receives a bonus and 10 shares of stock in the Pirates for his heroic efforts.

Behind Nick Altrock’s 4-hitter, the White Sox top the Cubs, 2-0, to conclude an ambitious 14-game Chicago City Series with each team winning 7 games. A deciding 15^th game had been agreed to when the series was scheduled, but the Cubs’ contracts with the players expires today and they refused additional offers to play the deciding game, which would have been held at a neutral site.

Just got to scatter ‘em, Skip. Jim St. Vrain of Seattle (PCL) walks 14 batters but still notches the win, 13-10, over San Francisco.

26^th  In the PCL, Dolly Gray of Los Angeles beats Seattle, 7-5, handing the Siwashes their first loss in October. Seattle won 19 games in a row with one tie. Jim St. Vrain is the losing pitcher. Los Angeles will match in 1939 with a 19 game win streak, no ties.

NOVEMBER

8^th Los Angeles (PCL) lefty Doc Newton tosses the first no-hitter in PCL history as he beats Oakland, 2-0. The former National Leaguer will be selected by the New York Highlanders after his 1904 season when he will win 39 games.

11^th  Jimmy Collins signs a contract to manage the Boston Americans for 3 years. They will be called the Red Sox during his tenure.

17^th Chicago Cubs SS Joe Tinker tells an interviewer that it is “impossible to fix” a ML baseball game.

DECEMBER

12^th  During the post-season City Series in Chicago, the Cubs veteran Jack Taylor is chided for losing 3 games to the White Stockings and Cubs president John Hart is convinced that gambling was involved. Taylor is quoted as saying, “Why should I have won? I got $100 from Hart for winning and $500 for losing.” Taylor, who refused to pitch the last game of the city series, is traded to the St. Louis Cardinals with rookie C Larry McLean for pitcher Mike O’Neill and a righthander who was 9–13 in his first season, Mordecai “Three Fingered” Brown. Ironically, charges will surface in the fall of 2005 that Taylor threw another city series, the Mound City series between the Browns and the Cardinals.

Continuing efforts to build a winner in New York, John McGraw acquires 34-year-old SS Bill Dahlen from Brooklyn in exchange for pitcher Jack Cronin and iron-fingered SS Charlie Babb. McGraw says this is the trade that makes the Giants into winners. In 1904, Dahlen will top the NL with 80 RBI. When he retires in 1911, he will have fielded more chances than any other SS.

18^th  At the league meeting, Ban Johnson is reelected AL president and given a raise to $10,000. Also, the AL votes to allow coaches at 3B and 1B at all times: till now, only one coach was permitted except if there were 2 or more base runners. The AL also institutes the “foul strike” rule, used by the NL since 1901: a foul will be counted as a strike unless there are already 2 strikes.

20^th  After a two-year absence from the majors, pitcher Kid Nichols signs as player/ manager of the Cardinals. He will win 21 himself, but the team will finish 4^th.

In an unpopular trade in Boston, the Americans send Long Tom Hughes to the Highlanders for lefty Jesse Tannehill. Hughes, 20–7 for the champs, had jumped to the AL from the NL Chicago team in 1902. Hughes will come up short in New York and be shipped to Washington in July, while Tannehill will win 20 for the Hubmen.

• 1904

JANUARY

4^th The Highlanders announce plans to play on Sundays at Ridgewood Park on Long Island, but the Brooklyn club objects. Sunday games are legal in Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, and Cincinnati.

22^nd  William H. Yawkey, the 28-year-old heir to a lumber and mining fortune, buys the Detroit Tigers from S. F. Angus for $50,000. New money and Frank Navin’s shrewd management will bring 3 straight pennants to the franchise within a few years.

FEBRUARY

1^st  The Cards purchase veteran first baseman Jake Beckley from the Cincinnati Reds. The future Hall of Famer will have 4 decreasingly productive years in St. Louis before retiring.

21^st The Highlanders purchase 40-year-old Deacon McGuire from the Detroit Tigers.

March

5^th The Boston Rustlers sign Kaiser Wilhelm, recently released by the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1903, Wilhelm’s rookie year, he posted a 5-3 record for the Corsairs, by far his best season in the majors.

21^st The New York Giants beat the host Birmingham team, 9-3, as Mathewson makes his first appearance of the spring. Dahlen has 4 hits in the game.

22^nd The U.S. Patent Office grants a patent to James E. Bennett for his unique invention of a “baseball catcher,” a rectangular wire cage attached to the catcher’s chest. The purpose is to protect the catcher’s hands. The catcher would not use a mitt to catch a pitch but rather it would go through the open front of the cage, which would then snap shut. Springs on the back of the cage would protect the catcher’s chest. The catcher would then retrieve the ball through an opening at the bottom of the cage and return it to the pitcher. Mr Bennett makes no mention of wild pitches or plays at the plate.

23^rd Ban Johnson sells the Washington Nationals to newspapermen Thomas Noyes and William Dwyer. Negotiations had begun last fall. The new owners have secured a lease on a park at Florida and 7^th that was formerly the home of the NL team.

26^th Chesbro and Griffith share the pitching as the Highlanders shut out Southern League Atlanta, 16-0.

30^th In New Orleans, the New York Highlanders pummel New Orleans, 14-4, jumping on starter Elmer Stricklett, purchased from the White Sox. Stricklett hits the game’s only homer.

APRIL

7^th At Richmond, the Highlanders shut out Montreal (EL), 11-0, for their second straight whitewash over the Canadian team. Jack Powell goes the distance. At Norfolk, Brooklyn has a harder time, defeating the local team, 7-5.

10^th A large Sunday crowd estimated at 10,000 is at Ridgewood Park for two games. The Ridgewood Parks, a group of amateurs, loses to the Negro Philadelphia Giants in the opener, 6-3, then lose again to the New York Highlanders, 14-2. Monte Beville has three triples for the New York squad.

11th The Giants open a newly renovated Polo Grounds, beating Jersey City, 7-1. The field sports a new grandstand in right field and another new one in CF expressly for the 25 cent patrons. The new clubhouse building has offices, a club house locker room, small heated pool and electric lights and electric bells in every room.

14^th At Brooklyn’s Washington Park, a record 15,000 fans are on hand for the Opener, delayed until 4:00. John McGraw’s Giants then take the field and bang out 10 hits to beat Oscar Jones, 7–1. Mathewson allows 3 hits to win.

At chilly Hilltop Park, each spectator is given a small American flag as he enters the park for the Highlanders—Boston game. Ex-Judge Olcott tosses out the first ball and then Jack Chesbro pitches and bats New York to an 8–2 victory. He scatters six hits and scores two runs on two hits, including a homer. Both Boston runs come on inside-the-park homers, by Buck Freeman in the 7^th, and in the 9^th by Freddy Parent. New York scores 5 in the first inning off Cy Young to put the game away.

15^th After 5 straight opening day losses, the Reds finally win, beating the visiting Chicagoans, 3–2. Jack Sutthoff is victorious over Jake Weimer.

16^th St. Louis Nationals player-manager Kid Nichols, out of the major leagues for 2 years, celebrates his return by pitching his team to a 7–5 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates. The Kid will win 21 games this year as the Cards finish 5^th.

The A’s Rube Waddell coasts to a 12–2 win over Washington as the A’s amass 20 hits off Happy Townsend. Happy is on his way to a not-so-happy 5–26 season.

17^th  The Brooklyn Superbas play their first Sunday game at home, beating the Boston Beaneaters, 9–1, behind Oscar Jones. To circumvent Sunday Blue Laws, no admission is charged, but fans must buy scorecards to enter the grandstand and box seats.

18^th At Baker Bowl, the Giants win their 4^th in a row, with Joe McGinnity picking up the win in relief. Mathewson is ineffective, but he escapes without a loss as the Giants rally to win, 7–6.

21^st In the Giants home opener, more than 32,000 fans crowd the Polo Grounds for the match against the Phillies. The visitors fail to cooperate, hammering Mathewson for 6 hits and 7 runs in the 5^th inning. Rookie Hooks Wiltse relieves, but Philadelphia coasts to a 12–1 win.

22^nd The Highlanders’ Jack Chesbro allows one hit, by Kip Selbach, in beating the Washington Senators, 2–0.

At New York, the Giants, scoring in every inning but the 2^nd, and pummel the Phillies, 18–3 behind Dummy Taylor and one reliever. Art Devlin has 4 hits, including his first ML homer, an inside-the-park grand slam in the 4^th off John Brackenridge to pace New York. He also has 2 of New York’s 8 stolen bases; Bill Dahlen has 3. John Lush, 18, takes over in relief for Breckenridge, but is no more effective. He’ll go 0-6 this year but hit .276 in 369 AB while playing first base, the youngest regular ML player of the 20^th Century.

25^th In Philadelphia, Boston’s Cy Young pitches 8 innings and allows 6 hits in losing to the A’s Rube Waddell, 2–0. Young allows no hits in making the last 6 outs, the start of a record 25 1/3 hitless inning skein.

The Giants run their record to 7–1 with a 9–2 win against Brooklyn. New York makes 16 hits to back Mathewson’s 6-hitter through 7 innings, when Billy Milligan relieves him.

26^th  Ty Cobb makes his professional debut for Augusta (South Atlantic League), hitting a double and HR in an 8–7 loss to Columbus.

30^th With the score 3–1 in favor of Boston over Washington, Cy Young relieves starter George Winter with no outs in the 3^rd after Winters gives up 3 hits in the frame. Young then tosses 7 full innings of hitless ball as Boston wins, 4–1. Young has now thrown 9 straight innings without a hit. For Washington, they finish the month with an 0-10 record.

Mathewson wins his 3^rd, as the Giants dump Boston, 10–1. Matty is again removed after 6 innings, with the score 8–0, as McGraw saves his ace.

MAY

1st Despite the Cardinals playing at home, the Browns draw 10,000 for their game against the White Sox. The Comiskeys take a 7-0 lead, then ice it with 6 runs in the 9^th to win, 13-0. Nick Altrock coasts to the win as the Sox play errorless ball.

2^nd At Huntington Grounds, the A’s Rube Waddell stops Boston on one hit, a spoiler by Patsy Dougherty, in beating Jesse Tannehill, 3–0. Rube taunts Cy Young to face him and suffer the same fate, and the two aces will square off on the 5^th.

3^rd The Chicago Nationals beat the Pirates, 15-3, as Davy Jones scores 5 runs. It could’ve been worse but the Pirates pull of a 3-3-6 triple play in the 1^st inning.

4^th  At Detroit, Cleveland starter John Hickey loads the bases in the 5^th and is lifted for Addie Joss, who gives up a bases-clearing triple. Addie holds the Tigers scoreless after that, but the 3–2 loss—according to the ruling at the time—goes to Joss [this loss will bounce back and forth between the two pitchers].

A jury in Welland, Ontario rules that the widow and daughter of Ed Delahanty are entitled to $3000 and $2000 respectively from the Michigan Central Railroad because Delahanty had been put off a train last year for rowdy behavior and then had fallen to his death.

Justice Gaynor rules in favor of Brooklyn players arrested for playing baseball on Sunday at Washington Park. In an appeal, Sunday baseball will again be ruled illegal on June 18^th.

5^th  Boston Pilgrim Cy Young pitches the 2^nd of 3 no-hitters, a 3–0 perfect game against the Philadelphia Athletics and Rube Waddell. After Waddell flies out for the final out, Young yells at him, “How do you like that, you hayseed!” Waddell had earlier in the week challenged Young to pitch against him. For Waddell it is one of his 18 losses this year, the most of his career, against 25 wins. He will strike out 349, a record until Sandy Koufax fans 382 in 1965. Today, he strikes out 6 while allowing 10 hits. Young stretches his hitless inning skein to 18.

The Giants break a 5–5 tie with Boston by scoring 5 runs in the 9^th to pin the loss on Togie Pittinger. Mathewson is the recipient of the offense, winning his 4^th.

At New York, the Washington Nationals notch their first win of the year beating the Highlanders, 9–4, to snap their 13-game losing streak. This is an AL record to start the season. The Highlanders help immensely as they commit 9 errors and have two runners nabbed by the hidden ball trick in successive innings. Each time, shortstop Charles Moran takes the throw in from the outfield when runners Jimmy Williams and Monte Beville reach 2B. “All sight of the ball seems to have been lost by manager Griffith, who was coaching his men from the sideline at first base. When [pitcher Davey] Dunkle feigned to pitch, the runners left second base and all Moran had to do was touch them (The New York Times).” Another sloppy play occurs in the 5^th inning when ”Ganzel ran into [Barney] Wolfe while the latter was in the act of catching a fly ball that really belonged to him, knocked him down, and spiked him.” Wolfe was unhurt but, nevertheless, was replaced by pitcher Ambrose Puttmann.

6^th The Senators fall to 1-14 with a 16-6 loss to the A’s at Philadelphia. Harry Davis has a grand slam for the A’s, off Del Mason in the 8th.

7^th In St, Louis, the first-place Giants provoke a protest in winning, 2–1, with a pair in the 9^th off starter Jack Taylor. John McGraw, pinch running after a single by Jack Warner, scores on a single by Roger Bresnahan. As McGraw rounds 3B, with 1B coach Gilbert following him, the entire Giant team collects along the 3B line yelling. St. Louis 1B Jake Beckley complains to the ump about it and, when one of the Giants dashes to home from the coach’s box, Beckley fires to an uncovered home plate, thinking it is Bresnahan trying to score. Which he then does for the win. St. Louis manager Kid Nichols protests the game, claiming, correctly, that the players left the bench in violation of rule 56, section 17. The rule states: “if one or more members of the team at bat stand or collect around a base for which a base runner is trying, thereby confusing the fielding side and adding to the difficult of making such play, the base runner shall be declared out for the interference of his teammate or teammates.” NL president Pulliam rejects the complaint and many fans and writers agree, saying the protest is unmanly (as noted by historian Benton Stark in The Year They Called off the World Series).

9^th New York’s Joe McGinnity wins his 2^nd game in 3 days against the Cardinals, beating St. Louis 5–1. Iron Joe is now 7–0 on the year.

Chicago’s Jake Weimer allows just 2 hits in beating the Boston Nationals, 6–0.

Following a 6–3 loss to the host Athletics, the 1-16 Washington Nationals replace manager Mal Kittridge with Patsy Donovan. No Patsy, Donovan’s team will win his first game, 7–3, against the Browns on April 11. The New York Times (May 10) reports that Kittridge and Kip Selbach are traded to the Highlanders for Beville and Anderson, but no such trade transpires. Both go to Boston. Kittridge is sold in June, and Selbach is traded July 4 for Bill O’Neill.

10^th The Cards beat up Christy Mathewson, scoring 5 runs and knocking him out after the first inning. St. Louis continues the shelling to win 14–1. Matty, now 4–2, will not lose to St. Louis in his next 24 decisions.

The Reds use a 7-run second inning to beat visiting Brooklyn, 9-7. Miller Huggins’s inside-the-park grand slam, off Ed Poole, is the big blow in the frame. In attendance is future President Warren G Harding, a guest of owner Garry Herrmann.

11^th Against Detroit, Cy Young pitches no-hit ball until the 7^th inning, when Sam Crawford hits a one-out single to break his consecutive streak of no hit innings at 24 1/3 (76 batters without a hit) still the record (for years, the record book had Young at 23 1/3 innings arguing his relief of Winters occurred with men on base). Young and Tiger starter Ed Killian battle for 15 innings before Boston finally scores a run to win 1–0. Young will throw 45 shutout innings in a row, a record broken by Don Drysdale’s 58 in 1968.

In the opener of a 4-game series with the visiting Cleveland Blues, the New York Highlanders prevail, 4–2, on a 2-run HR by Kid Elberfeld and a pair of run-scoring singles by Deacon McGuire. The New Yorkers will take 3 of the 4 games to move into a tie 2^nd place.

12^th For his second game in three days, Mathewson is shelled in the first inning, as the Reds tally 4 runs. Umpire Bob Emslie adds some fireworks of his own, tossing McGraw for too much lip. The Giants tie it in the 3^rd, but the Reds make 13 hits off Matty while the Giants contribute 6 errors. The Reds win, 13–7.

14^th  In Chicago’s 12–4 win over visiting Philadelphia, Chicago uses two bases-loaded triples to win. This ties the NL record and is the first time this century that it has happened. Chicago OF Jack McCarthy sprains an ankle by stepping on the umpire’s long-handle broom at home plate. NL President Pulliam orders arbiters hence forward to use pocket-sized whisk brooms for housekeeping at home. The AL will comply next year.

16^th The Pirates overcome a 5–0 deficit against Mathewson by scoring a run in the 5^th and 5 more in the 6^th for a 6–5 win.

19^th A week after he makes his ML debut in a mop-up loss, Ed Walsh hurls a 2-hitter in his first ML start. He beats host Washington, 5-0.

20^th Chicago scores 2 in the 9^th to beat Mathewson, 3–2, and knock the Giants out of first place. For Matty, it is his 4^th straight loss.

23^rd Chicago’s Jake Weimer and Christy Mathewson duel for 11 innings before the game is a called a 1–1 tie. Ump Bob Emslie calls the game at the West Side Grounds so the Giants can catch a train for New York. Matty allows 6 hits, one less than Weimer.

21^st Boston (AL) SS Bill O’Neill puts himself in the record books by committing 6 errors in a 13-inning game, a 5–3 loss to the Browns. O’Neill makes errors in the first inning on the first three balls hit to him, and a 4^th straight error with a misplay in the 2^nd frame. His final error is on an easy grounder in the 13^th inning and allows two runs to score. O’Neill is only 20^th century player to record 6 errors.

In front of 16,000 in New York, the White Sox belt Jack Powell and the Highlanders, 11-2. Frank Owen goes the distance for the Sox and hits his first ML homer. Chicago will have 14 homers this year, two by Owen, will all of them coming on the road.

Despite 10 fielding errors, “seven battery errors” (The Sporting News), and 9 base hits, neither the Tigers nor Senators manage to score a run in 11 innings. The game ends in a scoreless tie for pitchers George Mullin and Happy Townsend.

The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the visiting Boston Nationals, 5-3, as Honus Wagner steals 4 bases for the third time since 1900.

24^th The Tigers play a Tuesday game against the Washington Nationals in Grand Rapids, Michigan, winning 5–4.

At Brooklyn, the Superbas jump on Joe McGinnity for a 3–0 lead after 2 innings, but the Giants tie it in the 3^rd and go on to a 5–3 win. Iron Joe is now 11–0.

27^th  At the Polo Grounds, the Giants Dan McGann steals 5 bases in a 3–1 victory over Brooklyn, a feat not duplicated in the NL until August 24, 1974, by Davey Lopes. Otis Nixon will steal 6 for the record. Mathewson (5–5) is victorious over Ned Garvin. The win gives the Giants (21–10) a tie with Chicago for first place, with the Reds in 3^rd place by .001.

28^th The Superbas score a run in the 10^th against the Giants to take a 3–2 lead at the Polo Grounds, but the Giants answer with a pair for a 4–3 win. After a walk by Billy Gilbert, Jack Warner lines a pitch down the RF line into the stands, 258 feet away for the dramatic win, Joe McGinnity’s 12^th straight.

29^th In a Sunday game in Brooklyn, Hooks Wiltse makes his first ML start a good one, beating the Superbas, 5–3. Hooks adds 2 hits as the Giants sweep all 5 games from Brooklyn to remain in a tie for 1^st place with Chicago.

30^th  In an a.m.–p.m. doubleheader in Cincinnati, the first-place Cubs take on the 3^rd place Reds, with just a few percentage points separating the team. The two split the holiday twin bill, the Reds taking the opener 7–4, despite a 9^th-inning grand slam by Davy Jones. The Reds then lose, 5–2. Frank Chance of the Cubs is the real loser as he is hit 3 times by P Jack Harper of the Reds in the morning game, once reportedly losing consciousness when hit in the head. He continues to play and in the 2^nd game, he is hit once by Win Kellum, giving him a record 4 hit by pitched balls for the day. Carl Lundgren loses the opener, while the deliberate Bob Wicker takes the night cap. Historian Joe Dittmar notes that beginning in the 7^th inning the Reds fans begin counting aloud “1, 2, 3, 4. . . “ when Wicker receives the ball. The Enquirer reports that the count would sometimes reach 15 before he would pitch.

JUNE

1^st Frank Owens fires a 2-hitter to beat the visiting Washington Senators, 1-0. The Chicago ace drives in the lone run in the 5^th with a single off rookie Beany Jacobson.

2^nd The Giants score 2 unearned runs in the 7^th against the Reds to win, 2–1. Mathewson wins his 7^th.

4^th At the Polo Grounds, the largest baseball crowd ever (37,223) cheers Iron Joe McGinnity, trying for his 14^th straight win, against Cincinnati’s Joe Harper. The game ends in a 2–2 deadlock after 11 innings.

The White Sox fire manager Nixey Callahan, replacing him Fielder Jones.

Against Kansas City (AA), Toledo hits into two triple plays. The Blues’ Loewe and Ryan pull off the 1^st and Loewe and Sullivan turn the 2^nd.

5^th Under their new manager Fielder Jones, the White Sox pound Rube Waddell out of the box in the 3^rd inning and trounce the Athletics, 14-2. Manager Jones leads the way for the Sox going 4-for-4 with 5 runs scored. Waddell allows 7 hits and 3 runs. Bender and Barthold finish up the game, allowing 14 more hits. According to the Philadelphia Record, Waddell “asked permission of Manager Mack to pitch the entire 4 game series, thereby establishing for himself a record that would stand for a long time unequaled.”

6^th New York scores 6 runs in 3 innings against Pirates’ P Roscoe Miller and coasts to an 11–0 win. The Giants are led by Browne, with 4 hits, Gilbert, with a homer and 3 hits, and Roger Bresnahan, with two homers, both inside-the-park. With the game safely in hand, Mathewson departs after 5 innings. Miller will be 7–8 with the Pirates before incurring a severe injury in a carriage accident on the way to the ball park in Philadelphia. The injury ends his career.

Rube Waddell starts again for the A’s this time winning, 6-3, over the White Sox, allowing 8 hits and 2 walks. He strikes out 5.

7^th Rube Waddell starts his third straight game, all against Chicago, but the White Sox reach him for 10 hits to beat him, 6-1. Waddell strikes out just one. He is the first pitcher since Iron Joe McGinnity to start three straight. Connie Mack will give Rube a rest in game 4, going with Eddie Plank as his starter (and loser).

8^th Iron Joe McGinnity nails his 14^th straight win, beating the Pirates, 2–0. With the win, the Giants move into 1^st place over Chicago.

10^th In the opener of the battle for first place at the Polo Grounds, Christy Mathewson pitches a brilliant one-hitter to beat Chicago, 5–0. The lone hit is Johnny Kling’s 4^th-inning single. The other action is provided by ump Charlie Zimmer, who ejects Mertes on a strike call. He also thumbs John McGraw, coaching at 3B, to the bench, and sends Dummy Taylor, the 1B coach, to the clubhouse. One wag said later that Taylor was making too much noise.

It is Ladies Day in Boston, and the Pirates start Patsy Flaherty, recently re-acquired from the White Sox, where he led the AL in losses in 1903 (25). Patsy wins his first start with the help of Honus Wagner, who is 3-for-5 with two doubles, three runs, and two steals.

11^th  Before a record-breaking crowd of 38,805 at New York’s Polo Grounds, Iron Joe McGinnity pitches 9 innings of scoreless ball against Chicago. The Colts Bob Wicker goes one better, tossing 9 innings without allowing a hit before former Cub Sam Mertes singles with one out in the 10^th to break the no hitter. Chicago wins it in the 12^th, 1–0, when Johnny Evers’ 2-out single off McGinnity scores Chance. It is Iron Joe’s first loss after 13 straight wins. Wicker is near flawless, allowing one hit and striking out 10, and the appreciative crowd carries the Cubs pitcher off the field on their shoulders.

At Detroit, the Tigers beat the Senators, 8–3, behind Wild Bill Donovan. Donovan, batting 8^th, hits a 2-run homer, while his teammate Ed Gremminger clubs his only homer of the year, reportedly (Chicago Tribune) the first homer in 7^th years to be hit over the fence.

13^th At the Polo Grounds, Chicago tops the Giants, 3–2, as Three Fingered Brown outduels Christy Mathewson for the win. Frank Chance leads the Chicago offense by hitting for the cycle. The loss drops New York back into 2^nd place, one-half game behind Chicago.

15^th Fred Glade of the St. Louis Browns strikes out 15 batters to set a new AL and ML record. Glade’s effort results in a 6–1 win over the Highlanders, but he’ll only hold the ML record until October 3 when it will be broken by Christy Mathewson. There is some contention, most notably by Browns secretary Sidney Mercer, that Glade’s number is 16, but the box score says otherwise.

16^th  The Giants score the winning run against the Cards in the bottom of the 9^th when St. Louis 2B Dave Brain drops a toss for the inning-ending force. New York wins, 4–3. With the win, Christy Mathewson starts a 24-game winning streak against the Cardinals that will not end until 1908. His 33 victories and McGinnity’s 35 will be the most victories by 2 teammates since 1900. For the Giants, it is the start of an 18-game win streak.

At St. Louis, John Ganzel hits a grand slam in the Highlanders six-run 7^th and New York is victorious over the Browns, 10-3.

17^th In a swap greatly criticized in Boston, the Boston Americans send OF Patsy Dougherty to the Highlanders for weak-hitting rookie Bob Unglaub, who will play in just six games before being hospitalized with blood poisoning (one report says alcohol poisoning). The Boston Herald, in one of the first uses of the nickname, headlines “Dougherty as a Yankee.” Dougherty is not the only Patsy changing uniforms this month; For $750, the White Sox release Patsy Flaherty (1–2) to Pittsburgh where he will win 19 more games. This will be his only winning season, but his feat of winning 20 games while pitching for two teams in a season will be matched only by Joe McGinnity, Hank Borowy and Rick Sutcliffe.

The Giants Ed Poole allows 3 Brooklyn hits in beating the Superbas, 2–0, in the opener of a 4-game series.

18^th Joe McGinnity breaks his 2-game losing streak and beats Brooklyn, 5–1. The Giants are 11–1 against Brooklyn.

19^th Despite yesterday’s ruling by William Gaynor of the Brooklyn Supreme Court prohibiting Sunday baseball, there are no arrests today at Washington Park. Brooklyn should’ve arrested Giants pitcher Hooks Wiltse, who allows just 3 hits in collaring the Superbas, 11–0. Oscar Jones is the loser on his way to a NL-high 25 losses. In his second year, Jones is en route to a more admirable ML record of pitching 5 or more innings in the first 51 starts of his career. Next Sunday, however, Brooklyn’s battery of Jones and Frank Jackitsh, along with a program seller, will be arrested on misdemeanor charges and taken to the police station.

Patsy Dougherty makes his first appearance for the Highlanders, collecting 2 hits in a 4–3 win over St. Louis. New York loses the 2^nd game, 1–0.

20^th New York coasts to a 12-4 win over Brooklyn, pounding out 13 hits to beat Bill Reidy. Mathewson picks up his 11^th win. Reidy’s cause is not helped by 9 Brooklyn errors, including 5 by ex-Giant SS Charlie Babb.

In a doubleheader split with Philadelphia Phillies, Boston’s Duff Cooley hits for the cycle. Boston wins, 9–0, after losing 6–3.

22^nd Phillies pitcher Jack McPherson (career 1-13) makes his lone win a dandy as he pitches a 13-inning shutout over Brooklyn. The 25-year-old allows 6 hits and strands 11 runners. Superbas starter Ned Garvin walks Red Dooin in the 13^th and Red comes around to score on Rudy Hulswitt’s single as the Phils win, 1-0.

23^rd The first-place Giants run their win streak to 8 games, beating Boston, 6–2. Mathewson allows 9 hits, strikes out 9, and drives in 2 runs with a 6^th inning single.

24^th At Washington, the Highlanders take the final game in the series with the Senators, 4-2, in 10 innings. Deacon McGuire has one of the 4 hits in the 10^th off Patten but is caught off 3B by Bill Coughlin with a hidden ball trick (as noted by Bill Deane), the third trick of the month. For Coughlin, it is his 5^th recorded HBT. The New York Times notes that “The suspension of Selbach by President Johnson for listless work in the previous day’s game aroused his team and they played with lots of life.” Selbach will be traded before the month is up.

25^th In Boston, the Highlanders Jack Chesbro wins his 12^th straight, besting Cy Young, 5–3. Patsy Dougherty has 3 hits against his former teammates.

In a New England League, Lowell edges visiting Concord, 5–4. When Concord 2B Clark is ejected in the sixth inning, Concord is left with 8 players. To avoid a forfeit, the club then puts 9-year-old mascot George Diggins, son of the catcher, in the game.

27^th Dougherty has another 3 hits as the Highlanders beat their old teammate Jesse Tannehill and Boston, 8–4. Boston leads the AL by just a half game. Long Tom Hughes will win tomorrow to stretch the lead to 1 ½ games.

The White Sox roll by the Tigers, winning, 18-6. Jiggs Donahue scores 5 runs.

30^th Mathewson blanks Boston, 3–0, despite allowing 8 hits. The Giants have now won 14 in a row.

The Boston Americans send reserve infielder Bill O’Neill and cash to Washington for 11-year vet Kip Selbach. Selbach almost went to the Highlanders in early May, but the deal was nixed by then-new Washington manager Patsy Donovan, who then suspended Selbach a week ago for indifferent play. Kip holds the AL record for outfielders with 5 errors in a game (August 19, 1902) and last month made three errors on three successive plays.

JUly

1^st In chilly Chicago, Nick Altrock throws a 2-hitter as the White Sox beat the Browns, 5-0. The second hit for St. Louis doesn’t come until the 9^th when Charlie Hemphill singles with one out. When the next batter lifts a pop up to Fielder Jones in center field, Hemphill heads for the dugout thinking there are 2 outs. Jones catches the ball behind 2B and tags out Hemphill for an unassisted DP.

2^nd Highly touted rookie Walter Clarkson, the top college (Harvard) pitcher and the brother of 2 major leaguers, makes his ML debut before 8,000+. He limits the Senators to 8 hits, but they score 2 in the 9^th and his Highlanders lose, 3–2, in the first of 2. New York wins the second contest, 11-6.

4^th  Jack Chesbro, the New York Highlanders spitballer, wins his 14^th in a row, an AL record until Walter Johnson wins 16 straight in 1912. The A’s lose both today, 9-3 and 5-2, as the Highlanders sweep the 3-game series.

At the Polo Grounds, the Giants sweep a doubleheader from the Phils to run their win streak to 18 games. This ties the record of the 1894 Orioles. New York wins the opener, 4–1, behind Dummy Taylor then take the nitecap, 11–3, behind Christy Mathewson. Matty leaves after 7 innings, leading 11–1. The streak of 18 games matches one rung up by the 1885 White Stockings and the 1894 Baltimore Orioles: the record is 20 games, held by the 1884 Providence Grays.

In Pittsburgh, the Colts and Pirates celebrate the holiday by racking up a record 9 triples in the afternoon end of a doubleheader. Pittsburgh has 6 of the triples and wins, 11–6. Chicago takes the morning game, 7–2. Chicago infielder Davy Jones breaks his leg in a collision with Pirate catcher Harry Smith.

5^th  At Philadelphia’s Huntington Park, the Giants 18-game winning streak ends when the Phillies prevail, 6–5, in 10 innings. Rookie Bob Hall’s bloop single off reliever Dummy Taylor scores Red Dooin. The Giants record is now 53–18, effectively ending the NL race. By September 1, they will lead the Cubs by 15 games.

Cleveland takes an 8-2 lead over St. Louis after two innings en route to a 14-4 shellacking of the Browns. Piano Legs Hickman has a grand slam for Cleveland.

6^th The Giants pound the Phillies, 12–3, as Mathewson wins his 15^th. Again, Matty is lifted after 6 innings, having given up no runs, and Red Ames finishes. Chick Fraser takes the loss for Philadelphia.

7^th Jack Chesbro’s winning streak of 14 games comes to an end as Boston beats the Highlanders (called “Greater New Yorks” by the New York Times), 4–1. Chesbro will win 41 games this year, to set a ML record. Newly acquired Kip Selbach drives in 3 runs for Boston.

8^th In the fight for first place in the AL, Boston continues to roll, beating New York, 12–3, Kip Selbach has a single and triple for Boston and Freddy Parent contributes a grand slam.

Eddie Plank tosses a one-hitter as the Athletics beat Washington, 2-1. Jake Stahl has a hit in the 5^th for the Nationals.

Nick Altrock pitches the White Sox to a 1-0 win over the host St. Louis Browns. It is the second straight 1-0 win for the Sox over St. Louis: Frank Owen won on July 7.

9^th The Giants Iron Joe McGinnity wins two today, both in relief. In the opener Joe takes over for Mathewson in the 8^th with the Giants ahead, 2–1. The Cards tie it in the 8^th, but New York scores 3 in the 9^th to win, 5–3. Bresnahan has 4 hitd in the game. It’s deja vu all over again in the nitecap, as McGinnity relieves Hooks Wiltse and the Giants score 2 in the 9^th to win, 5–2. McGinnity’s record is now 22–2.

Boston wins their 3^rd in a row over New York, beating Jack Chesbro again, 2–1.

An ironman try fails in the Texas League as Galveston’s Balso Luitich splits with San Antonio, winning 6-3 before losing, 7-8. Both games go 9 innings. Harry Ables will pull off the first in the Texas League next year.

11^th The Highlanders salvage the last game of the series with the Americans, 10–1, but Boston leaves New York with a 2 ½ game lead in the AL. Patsy Dougherty has 4 of New York’s 17 hits.

At Cleveland, the White Sox whip the Naps, 11-1, in 8 innings doing all their scoring in the first five frames. Bill Bernhard allows 8 runs in his 3 innings. Nipsy Callahan has 3 doubles for Chicago.

12^th Mathewson wins his 16^th, beating the Reds at League Park, 7–4 in 10 innings. Matty triples home a run in the 7^th and scores, but the Reds tie it in the 9^th. Noodles Hahn is the loser.

13^th  With Napoleon Lajoie lining a ML record-tying three triples, Cleveland rolls past the Highlanders, 16–3. For the second time in his career, Bill Bradley scores 5 runs.

14^th The St. Louis Browns trade Frank Huelsman and Hunter Hill to the Senators for Charles Moran. The Senators will be Huelsman’s 4^th team this year, a first in the AL; the White Sox sent him to the Tigers on May 30^th and Detroit sold him to St. Louis on June 16^th. Huelsman has only two fingers on his left hand (as noted in the Washington Post, February 15, 1909).

15^th Sam Mertes drives in 4 runs on 4 hits, including a HR, to lead the Giants to a 5–2 win over the Reds’ Bob Ewing. Mathewson, with relief help from McGinnity, is the winner.

16^th At New York, Highlander’s P Jack Chesbro swipes home in the bottom of the 10^th against Detroit to win his own game, 9–8.

19^th  The Pirates push across two runs in the 9^th against Christy Mathewson to edge the first-place Giants, 2–1.

20^th The Yankees trade pitchers Long Tom Hughes (7-11) and Barney Wolfe (0-3) to the Senators for Al “the Curveless Wonder” Orth (3-4). Orth will regain his form in New York, going 11–6 this year and will win 27 games in 1906.

The Cubs trade pitcher Frank Corridan to Philadelphia for versatile Shad Barry, a deal that favors the Phils. The Cubs will sell Barry over the winter to the Reds, while Corridan will win 71 games in five seasons with the Phils.

21^st Mathewson picks up his 1^st relief win of the season, as the Giants clip the Cubs, 4–3. Matty relieves McGinnity in the 6^th as the Cubs score twice. In the 7^th, Frank Chance belts a game-tying inside-the-park homer, but Roger Bresnahan retaliates with a 9^th inning drive that gets by Jim Slagle for a homer. Jake Weimer takes the loss.

22^nd Okay, let’s call it. After 13 inning with no score, Washington and Detroit declare a scoreless tie. Ed Killian, for Detroit and Casey Patten are the starters. The one result of the match is a ML record for longest game with no base on balls issued.

23^rd At Chicago, more than 25,000 see Christy Mathewson and the Giants best the Cubs Three Fingered Brown, 5–1. Matty allows 6 hits while whiffing 6.

Following a doubleheader split with Washington, Detroit manager Ed Barrow resigns. The Tigers are 32-46.

At Philadelphia, the A’s drop a doubleheader to Cleveland, losing 3-2 in 11 innings, and 4-1. Rube Waddell strikes out 9 in the opener, including 3 in the 11^th, as he takes the loss.

After losing 3–1 to Boston in the opener, the Reds unload for a 15–1 win in game 2. Leading the offense in Cy Seymour, who goes 5-for-5, with 2 doubles and a triple, and 5 runs scored.

25^th Before 1,522 in New York, vet Al Orth makes his first start for the Highlanders and matches zeroes with Chicago’s Yip Owen. In the bottom of the 9^th Patsy Dougherty leads off with a triple and scores on Willie Keeler’s bouncer through the infield.

27^th John McGraw and John T. Brush say they have no intention of playing a post-season series with the AL champions. “The Giants will not play a post season series with the American League champions. Ban Johnson has not been on the level with me personally, and the American League management has been crooked more than once.” says McGraw. “When we clinch the NL pennant, we’ll be champions of the only real major league,” Ban Johnson fires back, “No thoughtful patron of baseball can weigh seriously the wild vaporings of this discredited player who was canned from the American League.” As the New York Highlanders battle for the AL pennant, local pressure mounts, but Brush, still angry over the inter-league peace treaty, and McGraw, who despises Ban Johnson, are adamant.

The Tigers purchase C Monte Beville from the Highlanders to replace Bob Wood, who dislocated an elbow yesterday when he slipped trying to field a bunt against the A’s (as noted by Lyle Spatz).

29^th In the first of two, Brooklyn’s John Cronin outpitches Mathewson to beat the Giants, 1–0. Brooklyn scores in the first inning when Matty walks two with two runners on base. The Giants come back in game 2 to win, 2-0, behind McGinnity. New York manages just 3 hits off Garvin, but score with the help of a passed ball and an error. Three Giants are tossed in game 2 for arguing plate calls. One of the players is SS Bill Dahlen, whose place is taken by manager McGraw.

In front of a paid crowd of 6,922 in Boston, the White Sox edge the Americans, 1-0, in 10 innings when pitcher Frank Owen homers off Bill Dinneen. It is his second homer of the year: Fielder Jones will lead the Sox with 3 homers. It is also the second 1-0 win in which Owen hasa driven in the lone run.

30^th Cardinal pitcher Jack Taylor walks 7 and tosses 3 wild pitches to help the host Pirates beat St. Louis, 5–2. The outcome will be viewed suspiciously because several local gamblers bet heavily on Pittsburgh before the game, but the real reason is Taylor and Jake Beckley’s late night public drinking.

The Highlanders sweep a pair from the visiting Browns, winning 3-2 in 10 innings, then 9-2 in the second game. Dave Fultz has a grand slam in the six-run 3^rd inning.

31^st Pitching in the New Egland League, Jake Volz hurls two complete games for Manchester in beating Nashua, 3-0 and 3-1 (as noted by Bill Nowlin). He allows 5 hits in each game. Volz won the last game of the season in 1901 for the Boston Americans, his only AL appearance, and he will pick up his second win in 1908 for Cincinnati. He will also notch a couple of losses for the Boston Natioanls in 1905.

AUGUST

1^st Pittsburgh Pirate hurler Charlie Case gives up 11 hits but shuts out Chicago, 4–0.

2^nd Pitcher Frank Owen of the Chicago White Sox, steals home against the Nats in the 3^rd inning of a 5–1 win.

Prompt action by Boston Americans players Bill Dinneen, Norwood Gibson, Freddy Parent, and Hobe Ferris prevents a tragedy in a Cleveland hotel. Returning to their rooms at the Euclid Hotel following the game, a 4-1 win over Cleveland, the players are confronted by a fire sweeping through the 5^th floor. They extinguish the blaze and are toasted as heroes.

3^rd Mathewson takes a 4–0 lead into the 9^th against the Cubs, but after an out, he is rattled for 4 hits, and a error to make the margin, 4–3. Shad Berry, on 1B with 2 out, then tries to steal and is gunned down by Frank Bowerman to end the match. The Giants are now 63-24.

4^th In New York, the Cubs split with the first-place Giants, winning, 3-2, before falling to Dummy Taylor, 2-0. Joe Tinker has 4 stolen bases in the opener.

5^th The Highlanders beat Cleveland, 5–0, to send the AL into a virtual three-way tie. New York is first (.614) with Chicago (.613) and Cleveland (.611) close behind.

6^th  Lefthander Nick Altrock of the White Sox (their new nickname), en route to the first of three 20-win seasons, handles 13 fielding chances—the modern ML record for pitchers—in an 8–1 victory over the Athletics. He will finish the year with 49 putouts, an AL record for pitchers.

At the Polo Grounds, 20,488 watch the Giants roll over St. Louis, 8–1. Mathewson, the winner, exits after 6 innings, and is replaced by Red Ames.

7^th The Giants swap outfielders sending rookie OF Moose McCormick (.266) west to the Reds who in turn send him to Pittsburgh for Harry Sebring (269). The Reds ship Mike Donlin (.356) to the Giants. Turkey Mike, sitting out a month’s suspension for drunken behavior in Chicago, will enjoy the New York life style and being reunited with John McGraw, for whom he starred at Baltimore, in 1901. He’ll help the Giants win two straight pennants.

8^th Christy Mathewson wins his 2^nd in 3 days, beating St. Louis in relief, 4–3. Matty enters in the 9^th, fans two of the three outs, and New York then tallies a run off Charles McFarland to win.

In Cleveland, with the Blues ahead of New York, 7–1 in the 4^th, Dave Fultz and manager Griffith argue a strike call with umpire Silk O’Loughlin. When they refuse to go the bench, Silk orders a policeman to escort them off the field. Tomorrow, Silk will throw out pitcher Jack Powell and have the police escort Jimmy Williams off the field. Griffith and Williams will receive suspensions from the AL, and (according to The Year They Called Off the WS) Highlander owner Frank Farrell vows O’Loughlin will not be allowed to enter Hilltop Park. He will, however.

9^th AL president Ban Johnson suspends Washington manager Griffith for 3 days for ‘umpire baiting.’

Washington, Philadelphia and Milwaukee (American Association) make a three-way deal that sends star outfielder George Stone from the Brewers to the Senators, but the deal falls through when the A’s refuse to send Ollie Pickering to Milwaukee. Stone, who will set an AA-record with a .406 batting average this year will then be swapped to Boston, but he will refuse to report. The Browns will then trade Jesse Burkett and cash in December for Stone, and he will lead the AL next year in hits and total bases. His .358 batting average in 1906 will top the circuit, the only AL batting champion between 1901 and 1928 not to make the Hall of Fame.

10^th  Jack Chesbro is knocked out by the White Sox after pitching 30 complete games in a row. For the year he will win 41 games, pitching 48 complete games out of 51 starts for the Highlanders. All are post-1900 records. His 455 innings pitched will be topped only by Ed Walsh’s 464 in 1908.

11^th At the Polo Grounds, the Giants paint the Reds, 5–2, with Mathewson striking out 11. Bob Ewing is the loser.

The Cardinals player-manager Kid Nichols strikes out 15 Brooklyn hitters in a 17-inning, 4–3, victory.

12^th At Philadelphia, Joe Tinker’s bunt in the 7^th inning scores Johnny Evers when John Lush fails to cover first base as the Cubs edge the Phillies, 2-1. During the game Tinker receives a telegram that his mother has died.

Detroit beats the Nationals, 3-2, as Ed Killian strikes out 10 batters and Charlie Hickman has 3 hits. For Hickman, they are his first safeties for the Tigers since being joining them on August 7 in a trade the Cleveland. The Naps got Charlie Carr.

14^th New York’s Big Jack Powell tops Harry Howell as the Highhlanders score 2 in the 8^th to beat the Browns, 2-1. Willie Keeler is 3-for-3 with three well-placed singles and Powell allows just 3 hits as he beats the player he was traded for in March.

In today’s only other game, Boston tops the Chicago White Sox, 5-2, in front of 30,178 fans. The win leaves Bostm New York and Chicago separated by 002 percentage points for 1^st place.

15^th With Jimmy Williams back in the Highlanders lineup followup his “indefinite” suspension by AL head Ban Johnson, the New Yorkers beat the Browns, 3-1, behind Jack Chesbro. Williams has 2 hits. The one down note is a pitch from Barney Petty that breaks a finger on catcher John Ganzel’s right hand. Boston’s loss to the White Sox drops them into third place, a game back.

16^th The Pirates disappoint 23,000 at the Polo Grounds by sweeping two from the Giants, 7–2 and 4–1. The Bucs jump on Mathewson for 5 runs in two innings of the opener. It’s the first doubleheader loss for New York this year.

17^th  Jesse Tannehill, a lefthander who will win 20 games or more 6 times, pitches a no-hitter for Boston against the White Sox, 6–0, Jesse’s brother Lee, playing 3B for Chicago, swings no better than his teammates. Ed Walsh is the losing pitcher.

Mathewson starts his 2^nd in a row against the Pittsburgh and again the host Bucs rough him up, collecting 13 hits and 6 runs. But New York counters with 13 hits and 9 runs against Charlie Case, to win, 9–6. Honus Wagner gets thrown out of the game after objecting to John McGraw’s interference with a throw from the Bucs 3B Bobby Leach.

After a 6-3 loss to Boston in game 1, the Cubs rebound to win, 6-4, in game 2 at Boston. Jack O’Neill hits a 3^rd inning grand slam, off Tom Fisher, to start the Cubs scoring.

The A’s and the Tigers battle to a 12-inning 3-3 tie, one of ten tie games the Tigers play this season. Six of them will be replayed, allowing the durable Jimmie Barrett to play in a ML-record 162 games this season, a level that won’t be reached until 1961.

20^th In a rain-shortened game in Pittsburgh, the Giants win 3–0, as Christy Mathewson allows just 3 hits.

22^nd With the help of a grand slam by Dave Brain, the Cardinals hand the visiting Superbas a 13-3 spanking.

Cy Young and Norwood Gibson team up to shut out the Browns, 3-0 and 8-0. Last year Young and Boston teammate Tom Hughes shut out the Browns in a doubleheader. With the two wins, and two losses to the Highlanders by the White Sox, the Bostonians move into 2^nd place in the AL. Chicago drops from 1^st to 3^rd.

24^th  The Highlanders Willie Keeler collects 2 roundtrippers against the St. Louis Browns in a 9–1 win at New York. Both drives are inside-the-park homers. New York leads Boston by a half game.

In Chicago, Mathewson blanks the Cubs on 3 hits and the Giants defeat Herb Briggs, 3–0. The 2^nd game is called after 10 innings with the score 2–2. Chicago fans show their feelings towards McGraw’s Giants by tossing bottles onto the field. RF George Browne is hit on the leg and is almost hit in the head while chasing a fly ball. McGraw tells ump Bob Emslie that he will not allow his team to continue play until all the broken glass is cleared, and by the time that occurs it is too dark to continue play.

25^th In Chicago, the Giants score 3 runs in the 10^th to beat the Cubs, 4-1, behind Joe McGinnity. The Cubs try changing their luck in game 2 by batting first but they lose 12-1 to Hooks Wiltse in 8 innings, ended by darkness. Bill Dahlen contributes three hits including a homer to the scoring to help Hooks.

27^th At Robison Field, the Giants score 7 runs in three innings off Jack Taylor and Mathewson eases to a 9–3 win over the Cards.

29^th Bill Dinneen drives in a run in the bottom of the 9^th to win his own game as Boston prevails over Detroit, 1-0. Dinneen allows just 2 hits in brsting Bill Killian. Boston is now in first place.

30^th Mathewson and the visiting Giants top the Reds, 3–1 beating Noodles Hahn. Matty drives in one of the 3 runs scored in the 8^th with a single and improves his record to 28-9.

At Boston, the Americans rack up 18 hits to defeat Detroit, 13–0, behind Cy Young, who goes 3-for-4 at the plate. Boston plates 7 in the 7^th.

31^st  In a rowdy 3–2, 11-inning Giants win in Cincinnati, ump Charley Zimmer tosses McGann and Dahlen for arguing a safe call for the Reds. The high point comes in the 6^th when New York catcher Frank Bowerman slugs a fan, a music teacher named Albert Hartzell, who has been heckling him. Police escort the catcher from the field. Bowerman will be released from custody tomorrow when the fan drops the charges. The Giants win the 2^nd game as well, 4–1, in 7 innings, with the game shortened to allow the Giants to catch a train for New York. The Giants leave Cincinnati with a 15-game lead over Chicago in the NL.

SEPTEMBER

3^rd  Syracuse (Eastern League) beats Scranton 3 times in a tripleheader.

5^th In front of 37,000 fans the Giants sweep the Beaneaters, beating Boston 6–1 and 4–3. Mathewson wins the opener, beating Irv Wilhelm, and is not scored upon until the 9^th when Jim Delahanty and Tom Needham triple. Red Ames wins the nitecap. Following the Giant sweep, excited fans hoist John McGraw up to carry him to the Polo Grounds field house. But McGraw gets dropped during the excitement, sustaining a sprained ankle.

6^th In the first of two, Boston beats the lowly Washington Nationals, 4–1, the 16^th straight victory the year for the Americans over the Nats. They have now beaten Washington in 22 straight games (6 in 1903: 16 in 1904) over 2 seasons. The Nats take the nitecap, 6–3, to snap the streak. The Sox have won a ML-record 20 straight home games at Boston against Washington—10 in 1903 and 10 in 1904.

7^th Rookie George “Hooks” Wiltse records his 10^th straight win without a loss, and the Giants 12^th in a row, as he beats the Phillies, 6–3. Wiltse allows 8 hits.

8^th The visiting Phillies stop the Giants win streak at 12 when they beat up Dummy Taylor to win, 9–8. Bill Duggleby is the victor. New York then wins the nitecap, 4–1 as Mathewson notches his 30^th victory, over Tom “Tully” Sparks. Darkness ends the game in the 7^th inning.

9^th Cold weather keeps the crowd to 1,844 in New York as the Giants Joe McGinnity allows 12 Philley hits but wins his 31^st, 6–4. The nitecap is called after 5 innings and no score.

10^th Before 14,404 fans the A’s Eddie Plank and Boston’s Cy Young face each other, with the Athletics ace winning, 1–0, in 13 innings. It is his third 1–0 win this season, a mark he will match next year. Young strikes out 12, including the side in a late inning on 9 pitches without a foul (this is not listed in the record books but historians Bill Nowlin and Ed Walton each report it). But Plank prevails, winning his own game with a 2-out drive over first base that goes to the wall. Murphy scores the winning run. The A’s pitchers will throw 26 shutouts this year, tied for high in the AL with the White Sox.

A crowd of 15,250 cheers the first-place Giants to a pair of one-run wins over the Phillies. Bresnahan’s 9^th inning triple scores 2 in the opener, as Hooks Wiltse earns his 11^th straight win. Dummy Taylor wins the nitecap, 6–5, as the Giants finish 4 straight doubleheaders with 5 victories, a loss and a tie. New York leads the 2^nd-place Colts by 17 games.

12^th Boston wins its 2^nd of 19 games against the first-place Giants, and top Christy Mathewson in the process, 3–1.

The White Sox beat Cleveland, 1-0, as Doc White fires the shutout.

14^th The Boston Americans, with a half-game lead over New York, send Bill Dinneen to the mound. Patsy Dougherty leads off with a single off Dinneen and Willie Keeler follows with a bunt that C Lou Criger fires into the crowd to allow Patsy to score. Keeler scores a play later. Boston’s only tally comes in the 9^th on a 2-base error and a wild pitch. New York wins, 3–1. The nitecap is called after 5 innings and a 1–1 score.

In Chicago, the White Sox take two from Cleveland, winning 3-1 behind Frank Owen and 6-2 behind Patterson.

15^th  Giants rookie Hooks Wiltse wins his 12^th straight game, beating Boston, 3–2 at the Polo Grounds. Hooks sets a ML mark for consecutive games won at the start of a career, a record that will be tied by relief hurler Butch Metzger, in 1976. He’ll end up at 13–3. The Giants end their season series with Boston having won 20 out of 22 games.

Boston edges New York, 3–2, to move back into first place in the AL and drop the Highlanders into 2^nd place. Jesse Tannehill allows 9 hits in besting Al Orth while Freddy Parent drives in all three runs. The nitecap is called after 7 innings with the score 1–1.

Brooklyn and Philadelphia split a doubleheader with the Phillies winning the opener, 5-2, before losing the second game, 14-7, in 7 innings. Phils first sacker John Lush contributes 4 errors in game 2 to tie the post-1893 record set by John Menefee in 1901. For Lush it is his second 4 error game this year (June 11), a record no one has matched.

16^th The Giants sweep two from Brooklyn as Mathewson wins the opener, 2–1, allowing just 4 hits. Two of the hits, a triple and homer, are by rookie Emil Batch. McGinnity wins the nitecap, 5–3.

Doc White pitches his second 1-0 shutout in a row, a one-hitter, as the White Sox beat the Browns. A triple by Tim Jones is the lone hit.

17^th More than 23,000, reputedly the largest crowd in Boston history, show up for the showdown twinbill with the New York Highlanders. New York scores 3 runs in each of the first 2 innings against Bill Dinneen. Jack Chesbro (35-8) holds on for a 6–4 win, his 7^th win in a row. But Cy Young tops New York, 4–2, in the nitecap, beating Ned Garvin, recently acquired from Brooklyn. The 2 teams split their three doubleheaders and at the end of the day New York (80-50) has a half game lead over Boston (81-52).

In Chicago the Reds Tom Walker and the Cubs Button Briggs each go 17 innings before Jack McCarthy drives in the winning run with a bases-loaded single to give the Cubs the 2-1 decision. McCarthy also drove in the first run.

19^th Danny Murphy hits a grand slam in the Athletics five-run 8^th against Boston, as the A’s win, 6-1. The loss, coupled with the Highlanders win over Washington, leaves Boston a game and a half behind New York.

Chicago’s Doc White pitches his third shutout in a row, beating the visiting Tigers, 3-0.

21^st The Reds sweep the Giants, winning 6–4 and 2–0 to stall the Giants clinching of the flag. The Reds rough up Mathewson in the opener and Jack Harper scatters 5 hits for the shutout. New York has lost 3 in a row for the first time this season.

The Boston Americans sweep a pair from Philadelphia, winning 5-1 and 4-3 to move a half game behind the leading Highlanders, losers to Washington, 4-2.

22^nd  In the opener of a twinbill with the Reds, the Giants win, 7–5, behind Joe McGinnity. Their 100^th win, it clinches the NL pennant for New York. In the final game of his 19-year career as an OF/C, future Hall of Famer Jim O’Rourke, 54 years ten months old (according to research by historian Bill Carle), catches for McGinnity. It is O’Rourke’s first ML game since 1893 (Benton Stark writes that O’Rourke hit .358 in 1900, but it was not in OB) and he is 1-for-4 and scores a run. He is the oldest to hit safely, with Minnie Minoso, at 53 years 10 months, in second place when he hits safely in 1976. He’ll be elected to Cooperstown in 1945. The Reds come back in the nitecap to win, 7–3, in 7 innings, beating Hooks Wiltse.

The Giants .262 will lead the NL in team batting, 31 points below the 1900 leaders. Team batting averages have dropped since then, mainly due to: the change from a diamond-shaped, 10-inch home plate to the 5-sided, 17-inch plate after 1901; the foul-strike rule adopted in 1901; and the introduction of the spitball and other doctored pitches in 1903.

23^rd The Giants sleepwalk against the Pirates (“Pittsburg Plays All By Itself” is the NY Herald headline) as Red Ames allows 3 runs in 8 innings before John McGraw pulls him. His replacement is Frank Bowerman who gives up 4 runs in his only ML inning. The Pirates win, 7–0.

24^th Cubs P Bob Wicker, who pitched a 12-inning one-hitter in June, allows just one hit in regulation in beating Brooklyn, 4–0. Lumley hits a grounder to Chance who throws high to Wicker covering 1B for a scratch hit. Chicago also takes the nitecap, 7–4, in 7 innings.

At the Polo Grounds, Mathewson wins his 32^nd, defeating the Pirates, 3–1. Matty allows just 4 hits—two each to Ginger Beaumont and Tommy Leach—in beating Joe Robataille.

The Shreveport Pirates and the Atlanta Crackers complete their Southern League game in a record 44 minutes (The Atlanta Journal lists the time as 42 minutes). This mark for brevity will hold up for just six years.

25^th At Chicago, Doc White pitches his 4^th consecutive shutout as the White Sox beat the Athletics, 4-0, the same score that they beat them yesterday.

26^th  In Philadelphia, Connie Mack correctly predicts the AL finish saying, “It certainly looks like the Plymouth Rocks will take the bunting,” because of all the postponed games the crippled Highlanders have to make up. The New York Highlanders then lose a pair to Cleveland, 4-3 and 6-2. Jack Chesbro loses the opener, his first defeat in 10 games, when Stovall hits a bases-loaded triple in the 8^th. Powell struggles to the loss in game 2 after Turner hits a double off his knee. The Browns’ Dick Padden, Joe Sugden and Jesse Burkett pull off a triple steal (Sporting Life, October 8, 1904). Meanwhile, Boston sweeps Detroit, 2-0 and 5-3, and now leads the AL race by 2 games. Bill Dinneen applies the calcimine in the opener and Cy Young in relief of Winter (one inning) takes game 2.

After Chicago’s Jake Weimer shuts out Brooklyn, 4-0, rookie teammate Alex Hardy debuts with a 1–0 shutout victory, and becomes the first 20^th century NL pitcher to toss a shutout in his first game. It’s happened twice already in the AL.

27^th  Dusty Rhoads, Cleveland righthander, holds Boston hitless for 8 2⁄3 innings before Chick Stahl singles. Cleveland wins, 3–1, scoring 2 in the 8^th on a homer by Nap Lajoie, off Norwood Gibson. With the fast Flick on 1B, Gibson throws a pitchout, but Lajoie reached across the plate and hits it into the RF bleachers.

In St. Louis, the Browns Willie Sudhoff and the A’s Chief Bender face off for 10 innings without either team scoring. The game ends in a tie.

29^th Chicago scores 5 unearned runs in the 2^nd inning and rattles Mathewson for 13 hits to beat New York, 7–3. The series-bound Giants will lose 6 in a row as they stroll towards the end of the season.

White Sox rookie Frank Smith shuts out Washington, 1-0, his second win over the Nationals in three days. He also sets an AL mark, since tied, of 9 wins over one team in one season. Washington has beaten him once.

30^th  Doc White, White Sox lefthander, pitches his fifth shutout in 18 days, defeating New York, 4–0. He strikes out 8 of the visitors and allows just 3 hits. Of his 7 shutouts for the year, 6 have come in September. He has now thrown 45 consecutive scoreless innings.

OCTOBER

1^st The last-place Phillies split with the visiting Pirates losing the first of two, 11-3, before winning, 10-3, in a game called after five innings on account of darkness. The Phils score 6 runs in the 5^th inning with Red Dooin’s grand slam the highlight. Red leads the team with 6 homers, as the Quakers crack just 23.

2^nd Doc White’s scoreless streak ends at 45 innings, when the New York Highlanders score in the first; White then pitches another 8 shutout innings to win, 7–1, for Chicago. New York takes the second game, 6-3, in 7 innings.

At St. Louis, Cy Young allows 5 hits as Boston shuts out the Browns, 2-0. The win, combined with the Highalnders split with Chicago, leaves the Americans in first place by a half game.

3^rd  Christy Mathewson of the Giants strikes out 16 Cards in a 3–1 Giants victory. Big 6’s sixteen strikeouts establishes a new ML record as he finishes the game in one hour and 15 minutes. Matty’s 16 K’s is one better than St. Louis Brownie Fred Glade’s 15, recorded on June 15. A crowd of just 300 is on hand in New York.

The second place Chicago Colts make 5 errors, but coast to a 16-5 win over the Beaneaters as Boston fumbles 10 times. The 15 errors ties the NL mark for 2 teams and will not be matched this century.

At Philadelphia, the Phillies edge the Pirates, 2-1, behind the pitching of Bill Duggleby. Sherry McGee helps with his second homer of the year. In game 2, the Pirates erupt to win 16-4 in 5 innings, doing all their scoring off Jack Sutthoff, and handing the Phils their 100^th loss of the year. Patsy Flaherty wins his 20^th and helps with a homerun. He is the first pitcher to win 20 games while pitching for two teams in a season.

In Brooklyn, the Reds sweep two as Jack Harper wins his 23^rd game of the year in the opener, beating Oscar Jones, 5-0. Jones loses for the 25^th time this year, high in the NL, and his 387 hits and 175 runs allowed are also league highs. His 377 innings pitched will take their toll and next year will be his last. Jones drove in 13 runs last year while hitting a respectable .273. This year, however, he has 150 plate appearances (137 at bats) without an RBI, a NL record that will not be topped this century.

In Chicago, the Boston Americans beat the White Sox, 4-1, and keep their hold on 1^st place. The Highlanders win as well, beating the host Browns, 3-0.

4^th  In the first of two at New York, the Giants loses to the Cardinals 7–3 despite Sam Mertes contribution of 4 hits for the cycle. New York drops the 2^nd game in a forfeit in the 4^th inning. With New York losing 2–1, three Giants are tossed out by umpire James Johnstone, a Giants nemesis. John McGraw is slow in replacing them on the field, and the ump declares a forfeit to St. Louis. One paper states tomorrow that McGraw didn’t have enough players left on the bench to field a team and refused to substitute after Billy Gilbert and Art Devlin were thumbed out.

In Chicago, the Americans top the White Sox, 5-2, in 8 innings.

At St. Louis, the Highlanders hand the Browns another shutout, winning 6-0.

John A. Hillerich, owner of J. F. Hillerich and Sons in Louisville, makes a patent application for a bat to decrease the hitting of foul balls by the batter and to increase the number of fair balls hit. Hillerich proposes modifying the hitting surface of the bat with regular indentations.

The Yankees select Doc Newton, PCL work horse from Los Angeles, in the draft. Newton, who pitches 4 years in the NL, pitched nearly 900 innings in the past two seasons, setting a PCL record with 39 wins this season. Rube Vickers of Seattle will match it this coming season.

6^th  In the Cardinals 10–1 loss to Pittsburgh, St. Louis P Jack Taylor hurls his 39^th consecutive complete game of the season—a modern ML record. His streak started on April 15^th and totals 352 innings pitched.

7^th  Jack Chesbro pitches the Highlanders to a 3–2 win over Boston for his 41^st victory. The win moves New York ahead of Boston by a half game. Chesbro’s 41–12 record will top the AL in wins and percentage; in 1902 with Pittsburgh, his 28–6 topped that league, making him the only pitcher to lead both leagues in winning percentage.

In Cleveland’s sweep of a pair, 8–1 and 9–0, from host Detroit, George Stovall of Cleveland hits his first HR, and it comes off his older brother Jesse, pitching for Detroit in his last game. It marks the first time one brother gives up a HR to another, a feat which will be duplicated by the Ferrells in 1933, and the Niekros in 1976.

Pirates 3B Tommy Leach’s 3 putouts and 2 assists help the Pirates beat the Cubs, 6–1, in 8 innings. He will finish with 643 total chances, the highest of any 3^rd sacker in the 20^th Century. Only Pirates third sacker Jimmy Williams, whom Leach replaced, had a higher total (671 in 1889).

8^th  Despite a 154-game schedule, Detroit OF Jimmy Barrett becomes the first to play in 162 games, as the 7^th-place Tigers close their home season, splitting with the Cleveland Blues before 400 spectators. The Tigers set a season record with 10 tie games, 8 of which are replayed.

In a 7-inning nitecap, called on account of darkness, the Reds Miller Huggins lashes three triples against the Cardinals. The Reds win, 8–1. They also win the opener, 6-0.

The Phillies and Boston play 18 innings of baseball to finish the season with Philadelphia sweeping, 3-2, in 11 innings and 4-0 in 7 frames. Sherry McGee finishes the opener by legging out an inside-the-park homer.

9^th Cincinnati pitchers Tom Walker and Noodles Hahn each throw a shutout against St. Louis. Walker allows 6 hits in winning, 3–0, while Hahn allows one hit in winning, 1–0, in 7 innings. The nitecap was called because of darkness.

10^th  On the final day of the season, a doubleheader split will give the leading Boston Americans the AL pennant over the Highlanders. 30,000 are on hand in New York for the contests. With the score 2–2 in the top of the 9^th and a man on 3B, Jack Chesbro has a spitball get away from him for a wild pitch, and Lou Criger scores Boston’s winning run. Bill Dinneen then stops New York in the 9^th, hurling his 37^th consecutive complete game of the season for an AL mark. New York wins the 2^nd game, chilling George Winter who goes the route in a 1–0 loss to the Highlanders, but Boston triumphs by 1 1⁄2 games. The Boston pitchers achieve 148 complete games—an AL record—Both leagues set marks for total complete games: AL 1,098, NL 1,089.

John McGraw issues a statement saying that he, not president John Brush, was responsible for refusing to play the AL winner in a post season series. The Sporting News will declare the Boston Americans champions by default.

28^th  After a 4^th-place finish, the Cleveland Blues release Bill Armour and name Nap Lajoie manager. Armour takes over the Tigers, where Ed Barrow and Bobby Lowe split the season, as Detroit falls to 7^th.

NOVEMBER

8^th  Umpire Silk O’Loughlin runs for a state assembly seat as a Democrat and loses.

24^th San Francisco beats Oakland, 2–1 behind James Whalen (32–23). Whalen ends the game with two shutout innings starting a 47 consecutive shutout inning streak through next season. The Oaks scored their lone run in the seventh inning. San Francisco wins the nitecap, 3–0.

25^th Blame it on the long season. In a 6-4 loss to Los Angeles, Seattle SS Russ Hall commits 2 errors, his 118^th and 119^th of the year, a PCL record for most errors at any position. In two days, Seattle teammate George Van Haltren will go 1-for-3 in the season ender against Los Angeles. The veteran Van Haltren will end the year with 941 at bats, an organized baseball record.

December

14^th The Phillies send RHP Chick Fraser and 3B Harry Wolverton to Boston (NL) for RHP Togie Pittinger (Retrosheet lists this trade as December 20).

20^th  The last-place Phillies send minor-league 1B Del Howard to Pittsburgh for Moose McCormick, Otto Kruger and 1B Kitty Bransfield.

26^th  The Red Sox trade George Stone to the Browns for veteran Jesse Burkett and cash. Stone, the American Association batting champ (.406), had been traded by the Brewers to the Sox after a three-way deal with Washington and Philadelphia fell through. Stone, however, who pinch hit twice for the Sox in 1903, refused to report to Boston. He’ll have two great years in St. Louis.

• 1905

JANUARY

14^th  Giants owner John T. Brush, who refused to play the AL pennant winners in 1904, proposes rules governing future World Series.

FEBRUARY

2^nd  Hugh Jennings, now managing Baltimore in the Eastern League, is admitted to the Maryland bar after completing law studies at Cornell. In two weeks Yankees OF Dave Fultz, a Columbia graduate, passes the New York bar exam. Fultz will suffer a late September collision with teammate Kid Elberfeld, breaking his nose and jaw, and retire at 31. In 1912 he will organize and lead the Players’ Fraternity.

7^th  In Lynn, MA, Rube Waddell prevents a fire by carrying a burning stove out of a store and throwing it into a snow bank. Three days later he flees nearby Peabody to escape charges of assaulting and injuring his wife’s parents.

15^th  Accused of throwing games, Cardinals righthander Jack Taylor is acquitted by the NL Board of Directors in New York, but he is found guilty of bad conduct and fined $300.

25^th  While most clubs go south or stay close to home, the Cubs go to Santa Monica, CA, for spring training.

MARCH

17^th  In an exhibition game, the New York Giants beat the Birmingham Coal Barons, 12–5. Mathewson and Wiltse share the pitching duties and newly reacquired Sammy Strang, subbing at second, has 2 hits and fields brilliantly. The Giants, undefeated in last year’s exhibition season, will next play in Memphis.

The National Commission drops charges against pitcher Jack Taylor because of insufficient evidence. In 1904, Taylor had been branded a “crook” by August Herrmann, chairman of the National Commission, and accused of betting against his team in a game against the Pirates. He was fined by the league for misconduct.

29^th  A committee of Washington writers votes for “Nationals” as the AL team nickname, but “Senators” continues as the general favorite.

APRIL

9^th At San Francisco, the Seals (PCL) sweep a pair from visiting Portland, 19–3 and 2–0. Seals pitcher James “The Whale” Whalen throws his 5^th consecutive shutout and his 4^th consecutive shutout of the season. He has now thrown a record 47 consecutive shutout innings. On the 13^th, Tacoma will score 5 first inning runs off Whalen to stop his streak and beat him, 6–1.

10^th  A New York magistrate rules Sunday baseball legal, but the battle will continue in the courts.

12^th  The Washington owners offer the players a $1,000 bonus if they finish higher than 8^th and $500 for each position higher. They will finish 7^th, 11 games above St. Louis.

14^th  Wait Till Next Year: Boston’s Kaiser Wilhelm loses to the Giants’ Joe McGinnity, 10–1, in the opener at the Polo Grounds before an enthusiastic estimate of 40,000. He will finish the year 3–23, one of 4 Beaneaters who will lose 20 or more this year. The other 3 are Irv Young, Vic Willis, and Chick Fraser. The only other team ever to have a quartet of 20-game losers will be the Beaneaters again in 1906.

Before a local-record crowd of 15,118 at the Opener in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh defeats the Reds, 9-4, scoring 6 runs in the 6^th off Charlie Chech. Chech is making his ML debut as is umpire Bill Klem.

At Washington’s American League Park, Jimmy Williams’s two-run homer, an inside-the-park shot in the first inning, helps New York to a 3–0 lead against lefty Case Patten. An unearned run in the 5^th pins the 4–2 loss on Patten, winner of 14 of Washington’s 38 victories last season. Jack Chesbro wins his second straight opener.

The Cleveland-Detroit game is postponed due to snow.

15^th The Giants continue to beat up on the Beaneaters, riding Dick Harley for 16 hits, and winning 15–0. Mathewson allows just 3 hits and is lifted after 6 innings in favor of Hooks Wiltse. He becomes the first pitcher in 106 years to allow 10 or more runs in his first start of the season and then no runs in his next one, without a relief appearance between those 2 games. Rookie Dick Harley turned the trick for the 1905 Boston Beaneaters.

At Cincinnati, the Reds lose to the Pirates, 9–4, with Pat Flaherty beating Jack Harper.

18^th By George. At Washington, Boston pitcher George Winter pitches a one hitter and loses 1–0. George Mullin’s questionable single is the only Nat safety.

19^th The Beaneaters sweep a pair from Brooklyn, winning 2-1 and 1-0. Dick Harley tosses the shutout, after losing his first ML start four days ago to the Giants, 15-0. He is the only pitcher in the 20^th century to allow 10+ runs in his first start of the season, and no runs in his next start, without a relief appearance in between (Fausto Carmona will match this in 2011). Alas, the shutout will prove a high point for Harley, and Boston will release him August 5^th.

20^th  Due to the late Easter this year, games are played on Good Friday for the first time. At Philadelphia, the Phils top the Giants, 8–1.

22^nd  Having failed to give out rain checks the day before when a storm stopped the game, the Highlanders open the gates for free admission, and 30,000 people jam the park for the clash with Washington. It ends with a 5–3 Highlander victory. This is the first time that fans can take the new subway to the ball game.

In a 10-2 win over the host Phillies, Dan McGann is thrown out at the plate by outfielder Sherry Magee, and punches catcher Fred Abbott, who hits McGann in the back with the ball (as noted in SABR Bioproject). The umpire ejected both players (McGann will lead the NL in rejections this year) and fans started tossing cushions on the field, then elevate the caliber to bricks and stones. When there is more rowdiness after a Phillies-Giants game, one Philley newspaper asks, “How long will the National League stand for the hoodlum tactics of this New York team both on and off the field. During a game McGraw and his men are fighting umpires all the time, questioning every decision against them and resorting to all the dirty tactics known to baseball in order to win. McGraw and his crowd are intolerable during a game to all decent, self-respecting people in the stands.”

23^rd  In St. Louis, the Browns Harry Howell and Cleveland’s Otto Hess go head to head for 11 innings before the Browns emerge with a 1-0 victory. The Browns outfield accepts no fielding chances, the only time in the 20^th century this has happened. It happened once in the NL in 1899.

24^th At Baker Bowl, Giants manager John McGraw lets Mathewson hit with two on in the 9^th, and the ace promptly singles in two runs to give the Giants a 5–4 lead. Matty then checks the Phils in the bottom of the 9^th for the win over Bill Duggleby.

Bugs Raymond, the workhorse of the lowly St. Louis Cardinals staff, shuts out the Pirates, 3–0. Bugs will lose a league high 25 games this year, but win 15. Homer Hillebrand finishes up with a shutout inning for the Pirates, in his last ML appearance. In his short career for the Bucs, Hillebrand also played the outfield, first base and was a lefthanded catcher for three games in 1905.

26^th  Jack McCarthy ties the ML record when he becomes the second outfielder to start 3 DPs (Candy Nelson in 1887, started 3 DPs, but only 2 were completed at home, in a AA game; George Van Haltren, 1897, one at home) in one game, preserving the 2–1 Chicago Cubs victory over the Pirates. All three DPs, including the game-ending DP, are at home plate to catcher Jack O’Neill, who sets a ML record for participating in 3 double plays: the record will be broken by Chris Hoiles. McCarthy will play just 37 games in the OF. The last to throw three out at home was Jim Jones on June 30, 1902. The AL record for 3 DPs started by an outfielder in one game will not be set until Ira Flagstead on April 19, 1926.

Detroit beats Cleveland, 5-0, but loses the services of Jimmy Barrett who twists his knee while batting in the 9^th. He will return to the lineup in July but re-injure the knee and the Tigers will call up young Ty Cobb. Barrett will sit out most of 1906 and play as a backup the next year for Boston.

Barney Dreyfuss, claiming the fans want to see more hitting, calls for abolishing the spitball. But it will remain legal until 1920.

29^th During the Giants 10–3 victory in Philadelphia, Christy Mathewson is razzed by a teenager selling lemonade and responds by belting the boy in the teeth. The crowd turns ugly but the Giants emerge unscathed.

30^th  Over 30,000 attend a Sunday game between the Giants and Superbas in Brooklyn. To get around the law, fans make “contributions” for admission. The Giants win, 5–3.

At Shreveport (Southern League), Harold Smith makes a strikeout-HR against Memphis, when the catcher misses the ball and it goes into the grandstand. No ground rules limit the runner’s advance.

At Evansville, IN, future ML umpire Cy Rigler begins the practice of raising his right arm to indicate strikes, so that friends in the outfield can distinguish calls.

San Francisco pitcher Joe Corbett, brother of heavyweight boxing champ James J Corbett, defeats Oakland, 3–1.

MAY

1^st Cold weather holds the crowd to 1,500 at South End Grounds, as Mathewson and the Giants freeze the Beaneaters, 8–2. For Matty, it is his 100^th career victory.

3^rd  After a 5–4 win over the Athletics, Washington leads the AL, the highest position it has attained in any race since 1893. In 3 days it will be supplanted by the Cleveland Naps (formerly the Blues).

After a 5–4 win versus visiting Pittsburgh, the Cardinals fire Kid Nichols as manager. Nichols guided St. Louis to a 5^th place finish last year and they were 5–9 under him this season. Nichols will sign with the Phillies as a pitcher, while Jimmy Burke will take over as manager for the next 90 games before he too will be let go.

6^th At the Polo Grounds, Boston’s Irv “Little Cy” Young wins a duel with Christy Mathewson, beating the Giants, 2–1. New York (13–4) keeps its hold on first place.

8^th In the 2–1 Pirate win over the Reds at Pittsburgh, OF Otis Clymer gets into a fight with Reds 1B Cliff Blankenship. The bad feelings started several days ago when Blankenship bumped Honus Wagner on the basepaths and Clymer tries to retaliate by spiking Blankenship at 1B today. Blankenship twice punches Clymer as both are tossed from the game. The first sacker is pelted with bottles and a thrown knife by fans.

9^th The last place Cardinals edge the first place Giants, 8–7. Josh Clarke, brother of Fred, hits a solo homer off Iron Joe McGinnity to help St. Louis.

10^th John Lower of Waco (Texas League) tosses a 15 inning one hitter, which ends in a scoreless tie. (as noted by Art Schott). The only hit comes in the first inning.

11^th Christy Mathewson strikes out the side in the first inning and whitewashes the Cardinals, 4–0, on 5 hits. Jack Taylor takes the loss for St. Louis.

In Brooklyn, the Superbas attempt to change their bad luck by batting first against the Reds and take advantage of hitting a clean ball. “They like the new ball,” observes manager Ned Hanlon. The Reds win it in the bottom of the 10^th—an unusual occurrence—when Admiral Schlei hits an RBI single. Undaunted, Brooklyn will bat first tomorrow and beat the Reds, 2–1.

13^th   At New York, Dummy Taylor shuts out Chicago, 1–0, beating the Colts Carl Lundgren in the first of three straight collars by Giants pitchers.

15^th   Joe McGinnity and the Giants edge the Chicago Colts (Cubs), 4–0. Three Fingered Brown is the loser.

16^th Red Ames stops Chicago, 4–0, on 2 hits, the 3^rd shut out in a row over Chicago by the Giants. His opponent is Ed Reulbach, making his ML debut and allowing just 5 hits. Reulbach, called “the greatest of all college pitchers” after a stellar season at Notre Dame in 1904 before switching to the University of Vermont for 1905. Reulbach set a college strikeout record in 1904 and beat Syracuse University, 1–0, on May 12. Despite missing a month he will finish this year at 18–14 (Total Baseball numbers).

17^th  Waseda University of Tokyo defeats Los Angeles High School 5–3 in the first game of an American tour. It is the first baseball game ever played by Japanese outside Japan. Waseda starts a powerhouse tradition at Japan’s Big Six universities that continues today.

18^th The Pirates smack Mathewson for 9 hits and beat the host Giants, 7–2.

19^th  Banished yesterday for brawling with Pittsburgh manager Fred Clarke, John McGraw roams the Polo Grounds before today’s game with the Pirates, shouting insults at Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss. McGraw accuses him of controlling the NL umpires through league president Harry Pulliam and welching on gambling debts. McGraw is again ejected during the game. Dreyfuss will files a formal protest with the league about McGraw’s behavior, his swearing, and his shouting “Hey, Barney” at Dreyfuss from the field. He also contends that the Giants manager offered to wager $10,000 that the Giants would win the game. McGraw responds to Dreyfuss’ complaint by stating that NL President Pulliam could not “forget his former role as the secretary to Dreyfuss.” A meeting of the Leagues directors results in a $150 fine and 15-day suspension for McGraw, but John Brush immediately gets a Superior Court injunction blocking the suspension and further hearings exonerate McGraw. Today’s match is won by New York, 7–1, as Dummy Taylor bests Chick Robitaille.

20^th  The Reds purchase former Reds catcher Shad Barry from the Cubs.

21^st Frank Smith of the White Sox has a one-hitter in beating Washington, 2-1. Jake Stahl has the only hit, and will do it again to Smith on August 31^st.

22nd  Red Ames of the Giants wins his 7^th straight, striking out 11 and driving in the winning run in the 12^th with his first hit of the year. New York beats the 2^nd-place Pirates, 2-1. Ames tosses two wild pitches.

23^rd Paced by Bill Dahlen’s two home runs, the Giants scrub Orval Overall for a 7–0 win over the Reds. Christy Mathewson strikes out 8 and allows just 3 singles for the win.

27^th Pulliam levies a $150 fine and a 15-day suspension. McGraw files for an injunction against the fine and suspension, which the judge eventually grants. On June 1^st the NL board meets in Boston and clears McGraw of the Dreyfuss charges, then censures Dreyfuss for engaging in a public altercation with McGraw. The “Hey, Barney” line will follow Dreyfuss for years.

At the Polo Grounds, Mathewson stops Brooklyn, 4–1, beating Oscar Jones. Except for a poor throw by Roger Bresnahan, Matty would’ve had his 3^rd shutout.

28^th New York City’s police commissioner instructs his policeman to stop any Sunday baseball until the issue is resolved in the courts. The edict stops the Giants-Brooklyn game scheduled today at Washington Park, and almost gets Giants’ ace Iron Joe McGinnity arrested. McGinnity is asked to pitch in a semi-pro game at a field at 46^th and 2^nd Avenue, but upon arriving gets into an argument about money and refuses to put on a uniform. The police moved and arrest all the players except Joe, who is in street clothes.

29^th At Pittsburgh, Dave Brain hits 3 triples to pace the Cardinals to a 6–3 win over the Pirates. He’ll match that mark on August 8.

30^th  Both leagues post record attendance figures for the Tuesday Memorial Day holiday. Thanks to morning-afternoon doubleheaders, 80,963 attend 8 AL games, 67,806 see 7 NL games. At Chicago, Detroit wins a pair from the White Sox, 1–0 and 3–2. In Cleveland, the visiting Browns are edged twice, 1–0 and 6–5.

The Giants split an a.m.-p.m. twinbill with Brooklyn, winning the morning game 7–2 and dropping the nitecap, 4–3. Elmer Stricklett, an early proponent of the spitball (some account have him introducing the spitter to the NL), allows just 5 Giant hits in the win.

The Yankees sell veteran OF John Anderson to Washington.

31^st The Reds use late rallies to sweep a pair from the visiting Cubs. In the opener, they score 3 in the 9^th to win, 11–10. P Jack Harper drives in the winning run with a single off Three Fingered Brown. In the nitecap Admiral Schlei hits a sac fly in the 9^th for a 3–2 win.

JUNE

1^st Mathewson tops Boston, 8–2, scattering 11 hits in beating Irv Wilhelm. The Giants (31-9) are now 7 ½ games ahead of the Pirates.

2^nd Red Ames walks 8, strikes out 12 as he toils 12 innings for the Giants. New York wins it, 8-3 in 13 innings as Donlin hits a bases-clearing triple in the final frame. He also has a 2-run double in the 5^th.

5^th Before 17,486 fans in Chicago, the White Sox and Naps battle for 16 innings before Cleveland wins, 4-2. The loss drops the Sox into 3^rd place, 3 games behind Cleveland. Nick Altrock should have won in regulation, having scattered just 3 hits, but a dropped fly ball by RF Frank Isbell lets in a run. The Sox score in the top of the 16^th, but an error by 2B Gus Dundon opens the door. The Naps get 10 hits in overtime. Also going 16 frames is WP Addie Joss. The Sox are playing without Ducky Holmes, who is suspended.

6^th In a courtesy trade, the Reds send little-used (2 at bats) C Gabby Street to the Boston Nationals. Boston will only play Street in 3 games before sending him back to Cincinnati on July 30.   One of the games he plays is tomorrow when he sets a post-1900 NL record for most errors in a game (4).

7^th At Pittsburgh, Mathewson beats Patsy Flaherty, 5–3, for the Giants. Matty drives in an insurance run in the 9^th with his 2^nd hit of the game.

8^th  Red Ames, 22-year-old righthander, loses to Pittsburgh after winning 9 in a row. A surprise winner for the Giants, Ames will have the best season of his 19-year career, 22–8.

9^th The Giants score 5 runs in the top of the first against Sam Leever, but the Pirates come back with 6 runs off Joe McGinnity in the bottom of the inning. Mathewson relieves in the 2^nd but 6 Giant errors help sink the visiting New Yorkers. Pitt wins, 12-6.

The A’s lose, 3-2, to the White Sox, who move into a second-place tie with Philadelphia. Both teams are 4 games behind the Naps. The loss goes to Rube Waddell, winner of 11 straight to start the season.

10^th The host Highlanders defeat the last-place Browns, 9-3. Rookie George Stone’s first ML homer, an inside the park drive in the 5^th off Jack Powell, accounts for 2 St. Louis runs.

The host Athletics outslug the Tigers, 15–8, collecting 19 hits off two pitchers. Ossie Schreckengost has 3 doubles to back his batterymate Chief Bender.

13^th At the West Side Grounds, Christy Mathewson and the Zephyrs’ (Cubs) Mordecai “Three Fingered” Brown almost matches Matty for 8 innings, allowing just 2 hits, but 4 straight hits in the 9^th score the winning run for Giants, 1–0. Matty tosses his 2^nd no-hitter and his 31–8 record and 1.27 ERA, with 9 shutouts, will mark his 3^rd straight 30-win year.

During a 7–0 White Sox win over host Washington, Frank Owen of the Sox, steals home in the 8^th inning. It is the second double steal of the game for the Sox against the Stahlwarts, and it is Owen’s 2^nd steal of home, both against the Nats.

14^th The White Stockings keep stealing in Washington, as veteran George Davis swipes 4 bases in a 5–3 win. Ed Walsh is the victor. The 4 bases is a club record that will be tied but not topped this century.

In one of the earliest example of using eye black to prevent glare, Giants outfielder Sam Mertes uses black circles around his eyes against Chicago. When he strikes out in the 5^th inning, his teammates razz him about looking like an owl, and he rubs the circles off. In the 7^th he misplays a triple and Chicago wins, 1–0 (as noted by Frank Vaccaro). Ty Cobb will popularize the fashion in two years by smearing patches of mud across each cheek. “An old Apache trick” he notes.

16^th At St. Louis, Red Ames strikes out 10 and fires 3 wild pitches as the Giants beat the Cardinals, 9-4.

17^th At Robison Field, Mathewson wilts in the heat, but Hooks Wiltse relieves to preserve the Giants, 7-2, win over St. Louis. Charlie McFarland takes the loss.

In Philadelphia, Eddie Plank and the A’s stop the Browns, 3-1. The only run for St. Louis is George Stone’s third homer in a week.

At Boston, the Tigers and Americans split a pair with Detroit winning 7-2 before losing 6-5. Sam Crawford has a grand slam for the Bengals.

19^th  The Giants lose to Cincinnati when New York P Hooks Wiltse accidentally swallows a quid of chewing tobacco that upsets his stomach and his pitching. The Reds roll to a 17–7 win, the 8^th win in a row for the Reds. In the 3^rd inning, Giants RF George Browne chases down an overthrow behind first bases and is greeted by several bottles tossed at him. One hits him on the leg, and both managers and a “swarm of coppers” (Cincinnati Enquirer) converge. Browne will file charges against a fan, but when the case appears in court the only testimony is given by Reds President Garry Herrmann and the case is dismissed.

Cleveland clubs the Highlanders, 12–3, behind Nap Lajoie’s 5-for-6 hitting.

20^th  A young woman sues the Giants for injury suffered when a foul ball hit her. Judge M. Laughlin rules that patrons attend baseball games at their own risk.

21^st The Giants score 4 in the first against the Reds and Mathewson scatters 7 hits and coasts to a 6–3 victory. Tom Walker is the loser. It is the Reds second loss in a row after winning 8 straight.

In a PCL game between Portland and Seattle, second baseman Larry Schlafly pulls off an unassisted triple play, the first in the league.

24^th  Chicago Cubs rookie righthander Ed Reulbach wins an 18-inning marathon duel with the Cards’ Jack Taylor 2–1 in St. Louis. Billy Maloney drives in Wildfire Schulte, who had tripled. First baseman Frank Chance has 27 putouts and 2 assists for Chicago. Three years ago, Taylor went 19 innings against Pittsburgh.

At the Polo Grounds, the Giants beat Boston, 2–1, in 12 innings, with Mathewson getting the win. With 2 outs in the 12^th, Matty hits a fly ball to CF Rip Cannell, who drops the ball. Catcher Frank Bowerman, on 1B, chugs around with the winning run. Irv Young is the unfortunate loser.

25^th  At West Side Grounds, light-hitting Billy Maloney hits a grand slam in the nine-run fifth inning for the Cubs as they roll to an 18-2 victory over the Reds. Jack Harper, who won 23 games last year for Cincy, serves up the homer and takes the loss.

29^th At Brooklyn, the Giants tally 7 runs in the first 3 innings off Mal Eason to coast to an 11–1 victory. Mathewson leaves after 5 innings of shutout ball, and Claude Eason tosses the last 4 innings. Dan McGann paces the offense with a triple and homer, while Moonlight Graham, in his only game in the majors, takes over in right field as a late inning replacement. Graham will have no at-bats but will be made famous in W. P. Kinsella’s Field of Dreams.

30^th  Nap Lajoie is sidelined by blood poisoning from neglect of a spike wound. He will play in only 65 games, losing a chance to lead the AL in batting for the 5^th straight year.

At New York, Eddie Plank is removed with no outs in the 9^th inning and the A’s leading 7–4. Rube Waddell comes in and retires the side to preserve the A’s victory.

JULY

1^st  White Sox P Frank Owen narrowly misses becoming the first to pitch a doubleheader shutout as the Browns score two runs off him in the 2 games. The Sox win 3–2 and 3–0.

3^rd In the first successful iron man performance in the Texas League, Dallas pitcher Harry Ables twice shuts out Ft. Worth, winning 6-0 and 8-0. Ables sets a Texas League record for scoreless innings in one day’s play. It will be tied next year by Hickory Dickson.

4^th  In an a.m.-p.m, doubleheader between Boston and Philadelphia, the A’s take the morning game 5–2, using pitchers Eddie Plank, Coakley and Rube Waddell on the mound to beat Jesse Tannehill. The afternoon contest proves a classic as Philadelphia’s Waddell bests Cy Young in a 20-inning marathon, when the Athletics prevail, 4–2. A jubilant Waddell perform a cartwheel off the mound. The game is an AL record that will last just a year. Boston outhits the A’s, 15 to 13, but the 38-year-old Young loses on an error, hit batsman and two hits. Young walks nobody in the 20 innings, while 1B Bob Unglaub records 31 putouts. Philadelphia C Ossee Schreckengost works 28 innings in one day, a ML record. Supposedly, Waddell barters the game ball for drinks with a friendly bartender.

At Baker Bowl, the Phillies split with the Giants, winning the first game 2–0 as Jack Sutthoff outpitches Christ Mathewson. Sutthoff allows just 3 hits. Joe McGinnity earns the split in the nitecap with a 6–3 victory. The Giants are now 7 games ahead of the Pirates.

The Cardinals trade INF Dave Brain, hitting .228, to Pittsburgh for George McBride, who is hitting .218.

Bugs Raymond of Charleston, SC (South Atlantic), pitches the morning and afternoon games of a doubleheader, throwing a no-hitter in each game.

5^th  At Cincinnati, 36-year-old Tommy Corcoran hits an inside-the-park grand slam off Jack Taylor in the 3^rd inning to pace the Reds to a 9–5 win over St. Louis. Appreciative fans give Corcoran two pairs of shoes, a bat, and a 5-pound box of candy.

8^th In an AL doubleheader split at Philadelphia, Boston has ML record 14 doubles and the A’s 12. The 26 doubles is also a ML record. Boston’s Hobe Ferris has 5 doubles as Boston wins the opener, 11–8, and loses game 2, 11–4.

In a PCL game in Seattle, Charles Shields strikes out 19 Portland batters to set a league mark. Seattle wins, 5-1.

12^th  Chicago’s Three Fingered Brown scores the first of 9 straight wins over Christy Mathewson 8–1 as he allows just 2 New York hits. New York’s lone run scores on an error by Billy Maloney. Matty gives up 12 hits while his teammates commit 5 errors. Of 28 matches over their careers, Brown will win 14.

The Detroit Tigers beat New York, 6–3, with the help of 2 errors by Highlander 1B Jack Doyle. The vet Doyle was signed yesterday and this will be his only appearance for New York.

At Boston, the Reds score 7 runs in the 6^th to beat the Braves, 15–3 in the first of 2. Rookie Charley Malay hits his only career homer, a-3-run HR, off Patsy Flaherty. Because of the intense heat, Reds manager Joe Kelley wants game 2 to be limited to 7 innings, but Boston manager Fred Tenney insists on 9: the Braves win, 3–2. Tomorrow, however, game 2 of the DH will be postponed till August.

13^th The Philadelphia A’s “sell” catcher Mike “Doc” Powers to the New York Highlanders. Powers will be sold back to the A’s on August 7. As noted by Lyle Spatz, Powers was needed to replace back up C Red Kleinow, injured yesterday in a game with Detroit. Powers will catch tomorrow but play mainly at 1B, replacing Hal Chase whose nose was broken in the Detroit game. The New York Times (July 22) will note that New York needed Powers to replace Patsy Dougherty, out with a finger injury.

14^th With runners on 1B and 3B and no outs in the 9^th, Boston’s Ed Abbaticchio lines to SS Corcoran in a game-ending triple play against the Reds Bob Ewing. The play preserves the Reds’ 4–3 win and is the second triple play in a Reds-Boston game in a week. The other Reds’ game-ending TP was on June 22, 1882: the next won’t come until May 30, 1967. In the 6^th Fred Odwell, who will lead the NL in home runs, hits a homer over the RF wall, one of the longest blows hit at South End Grounds.

15^th In New York, the Giants open a four-game series the 2^nd place Pirates by staking McGinnity to a 6–0 lead. But the Bucs score 2 in the 6^th and 5 runs in the 7^th inning before Iron Joe is lifted. Mathewson shuts out Pittsburgh over the last 2 2/3 inning and New York scores a deuce in the 9^th on a 2-run homer by George Browne. Browne is carried off the field by the ecstatic fans after the 8–7 win. Pittsburgh takes the nitecap, 3–0, behind Deacon Phillippe’s four-hitter. Honus Wagner secures the victory with a 2-run homer onto the elevated tracks in the 8^th inning.

Buttons Briggs fashions an 8-0 shutout for the Cubs over last-place Brooklyn. As noted by historian Peter Morris (A Game of Inches), the Cubs pull off the first recorded occurrence of a double squeeze in the 5^th when Joe Tinker bunts with the bases loaded. Catcher Bill Bergen throws out Tinker at 1B, but the runner on 3B (Jimmy Slagle) and the runner on 2B (Billy Maloney) both score.

The double squeeze is also used in the first game of the Tigers-A’s twinbill. With runners on 2B and 3B, Detroit’s Germany Schaefer bunts. A’s first sacker Harry Davis quickly gets to the ball but, seeing that the runner from 3B (Tom Doran) had scored, turns and fires to second baseman Danny Murphy covering 1B. Dick Cooley, the runner on 2B, continues running and scores on the play. Detroit beats Eddie Plank in the opener, 5-2, and Philley takes the second game, 9-1.

16^th The Pirates edge the Giants, 2–1, overcoming the pitching of Christy Mathewson, who is knocked over by Fred Clarke in a play at 1B. Six Giants are tossed out of the coaching box during the game. Pittsburgh now trails New York by 6 games.

17^th Reds rookie Orval Overall tosses a one-hit 10-inning 1–0 win over Philadelphia. The only hit is a weak grounder in the 6^th by Red Dooin, who is safe when Overall is late covering the bag. Overall ignites the 10^th inning rally with a single off Tully Sparks. Harry Steinfeldt’s RBI double is the winner.

Red Ames strikes out 8 but is the 3-0 loser to Deacon Phillippe and the Pirates. In the 8^th, Honus Wagner hits a 3-2 pitch for a 2-run homer.

18^th The Pirates tally 8 hits including a HR, over 7 innings against Mathewson, to win, 2–1. The game is briefly stopped by ump Johnstone after a Giants fan tosses a pop bottle at Pirate RF Otis Clymer while he’s chasing down a single.

19^th The Pirates pull to within 5 games of New York by overcoming a 5–2 deficit and beating the Giants, 8–5. Bill Klem provokes a barrage of garbage from the New York fans by tossing Dan McGann and Mike Donlin out of the game for abusive behavior.

20^th SS Phil Lewis has a busy afternoon at Washington Park in the Brooklyn 2–1 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Lewis has 18 chances and comes up with 7 assists, 6 put outs and 5 errors, the latter tying the NL record. Winning pitcher Stricklett makes 2 errors. The attendance for the last place Brooklynites is 1500; they had 330 for a recent game.

21^st At the Polo Grounds, the Giants score 6 runs in the 2^nd inning against St. Louis, with Sam Mertes’ grand slam providing the big blow. Mathewson is given the afternoon off after 5 innings, with New York in command, 10-2. New York wins, 14–2, pinning the loss on Jack Taylor.

In Chicago, Sox manager Comiskey protests when the Highlanders use Doc Powers. Powers joined the New York squad in Cleveland July 14 after the A’s loaned the first baseman as a replacement for Patsy Dougherty, who injured his finger (see entry July13, 1905). Powers is to return to the A’s tomorrow when Fred Curtis is expected to join the Highlanders from the Copper League. Orth and Altrock battle each other and the White Sox score with 2 out in the 9^th to tie at 1-1. Another run in the 12^th gives the White Sox the victory.

22^nd  Weldon Henley of the Athletics, who will win 4 games all year, fires a no-hitter against the 7^th place St. Louis Browns winning 6–0. Harry Davis and Lave Cross each have 3 hits off Barney Pelty. St. Louis cops a split by defeating Rube Waddell, 3–2, in the nitecap.

23^rd Behind Cy Young Boston beats Detroit, 6–1, and would’ve scored more except for 5 DPs started by SS Charley O’Leary, an AL record that will be tied but never topped this century.

The Philadelphia Athletics edge the White Sox, 1-0. Sox SS George Davis pulls off a hidden ball trick in the first inning nabbing Topsy Hartsel.

24^th Giant LF Sam Mertes makes an unassisted double play to help New York stop the Reds, 4–3, at the Polo Grounds. In the 2^nd inning, the Reds have one out and a runner on 3^rd, outfielder Cy Seymour, once a wild pitcher for the Giants. Mertes catches a short fly off the bat of George Schlei and continues running to double off Cy.

Detroit and Boston play their 2^nd straight game in Columbus, Ohio. Boston won yesterday, 6-1, behind Cy Young, and today Boston wins again, 7-1. Bill Dinneen is victorious over Detroit workhorse George Mullin. Boston 2B Hobe Ferris was 3-for-4 yesterday, and today chips in with a homer.

25^th Mathewson wins his 16^th, defeating the Reds, 7–2. The game was close until Frank Bowerman belts a 3-run homer in the 8^th for the Giants. Cincy fans get a scare in the 1^st inning when Reds C Ed Phelps is knocked unconscious when he struck by the back swing of Sam Mertes. Phelps is rushed to a hospital.

26^th Against the Reds, the Giants pull off a triple play and need it as they win, 6-5. Red Ames is knocked out of the box in the 8^th as the Reds total 10 hits against him. The Reds have been involved in 5 triple plays this year, 4 against them.

29^th The Giants increase their lead to 7 ½ games by shutting out the Reds, 3–0. Mathewson scatters 6 hits in defeating Orval Overall.

31^st  Charles P. Taft, owner of the Cincinnati Times-Star and brother of a future president, finances Charles W. Murphy’s purchase of the Chicago Cubs for $125,000.

AUGUST

1^st  The Giants win their 12^th in a row, and 11^th straight against Cincinnati, 10–5. They are 8 out of 8 in their last 8 games, half at home. And half in Cincinnati. The Pirates will end the streak at 13 on August 3^rd, but the Giants will win the pennant easily, 9 games ahead of Pittsburgh.

Cubs manager Frank Selee resigns and is replaced by Frank Chance, who is elected manager in a narrow vote among the players. Selee, suffering from tuberculosis, had not been making road trips, and Chance has been serving as road manager. Selee, who fashioned the team that will dominate the second half of the decade, retires to Colorado. The visiting Phillies overcome a 5–0 deficit to down Chicago, 7–6, in 11 innings.

Cleveland’s cross-firing Earl Moore is hit on the foot by a line drive and limps to a 3-2 loss to the Highlanders in New York. He will limp to a 2-8 record the rest of the season, finishing at 15-15 and win just 9 games in the following three seasons. Meanwhile, Cleveland “loans” catcher Nig Clarke to Detroit. He’ll be returned to Cleveland, August 11 after going 3-for-7. He’s the 3^rd catcher this year to be sold, then returned to his original team.

The Reds release sore-armed Noodles Hahn, 26. In six seasons Noodles won 122 games and led the NL in strikeouts three times.

2^nd  The Athletics go into first place as Rube Waddell beats the White Sox, 4–3, fanning 14. He will lead the AL with 287 strikeouts, the 4^th of 6 straight seasons when he tops the league.

At Pittsburgh, the Giants win their 13^th game in a row, beating the Pirates, 3–1, to take a 10 ½ game lead over the Pirates. Mathewson is the winner over Deacon Phillippe. Bucs star Honus Wagner is thrown out at first in the 4^th inning on a close play, then shows his displeasure by firing a ball near umpire George Bausewine during warm-ups the next inning. Bausewine responds by thumbing Honus out of the game. Wagner will be suspended for 3 games and fined $40.

3^rd  The Reds Charley Chech tosses a 5–0 shutout over Brooklyn. 1B Shad Berry helps with a successful hidden ball trick on rookie Charley Malay.

4^th  Is there a doctor in the house? The Highlanders field a unique battery: Doc Newton pitching and Mike “Doc” Powers catching, but only Powers is a physician. The Highlanders beat St. Louis, 7–3.

At Boston, Harvard Eddie Grant makes his ML debut, collecting 3 hits for Cleveland as he substitutes for the ailing Nap Lajoie. But Boston wins, 7–5. Grant will go hitless tomorrow in an 8–4 loss to Cy Young, and be sent down to the minors. He’ll resurface with the Phillies in 1907.

5^th  Highlanders 1B Hal Chase has a record 38 putouts in a doubleheader sweep versus the visiting Browns. The Highlanders win 3–1 and 6–5. Jack Chesbro loses his shutout in the opener when George Stone hits a 9^th inning inside-the-park homer to left field.

Umpire George Bausewine is once again in the middle of controversy. He forfeits a game to the Pirates with the score tied 5–5 in the 9^th when the Giants argue too long over his safe call at 3B. New York will appeal the forfeiture, but on August 26^th President Pulliam will uphold the ump’s decision. By an erroneous interpretation of the rules of the day, Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson is charged with the loss, depriving him of a run of 16 straight wins. Matty had 4 wins going into today and will reel off another dozen straight victories.

The Reds score 8 runs in the 1^st en route to a 19–6 win over Brooklyn. Miller Huggins scores 5 runs for Cincinnati.

6^th  At Cincinnati, the Reds and Brooklyn split a twinbill. Brooklyn wins the opener, 6–3, and the Reds take the nitecap, 2–0, behind Bob Ewing’s 2-hitter. The two teams tie the ML record by handing out just one walk in the 2 games.

Kid Nichols, fired in May as the player-manager of the Cardinals, pitches the Phillies to a 2–1 victory over his old team. The Kid will go 10–6 with the Phillies this year.

7^th  The host Highlander run their consecutive-win streak to 12 games with a 14-4 win over the St. Louis Browns. George Stone has an inside-the-park homer for St. Louis off Jack Powell, the second IPHR he’s hit in three days against the Highlanders. New York has beaten the Browns 8 times during the 12-game winning streak.

8^th   Dave Brain, who hit 3 triples in a game in Pittsburgh for St. Louis on May 29^th, repeats the performance for Pittsburgh against visiting Boston. The Pirates win in 10 innings, 5–4, on Brain’s game-winning single. He is the only major league player to perform the feat of three triples in a game twice in one season. The two performances also ties the career ML record: no one else in the 20^th century will have two three-triple games in his career.

In Chicago, the Cubs notch 6 hits and 3 runs off Dummy Taylor, but the Giants still lead 4–3 in the bottom of the 4^th, when McGraw lifts the pitcher for Christy Mathewson. Matty shuts out Chicago over the last 5+ innings, but the win goes to Taylor. By today’s standards the win would go to Mathewson, since Taylor did not last through the first 5 innings.

9^th  In Pittsburgh, Bill Klem narrowly escapes a beating at the hands of gamblers. The heavily favored Pirates are down 5–2 in the 9^th inning against Boston when a number of Pirates start mocking Klem’s flamboyant calls. The rookie umpire chases them down and fines each $10, thereby incurring the wrath of the gamblers, who go looking for Klem. He wisely hides in the ladies’ room.

In Chicago, the Giants lose to the Cubs, 7-2, as reliever McGinnity gives up 3 runs run in the 8^th one on an out at the plate. Coming in for Ames, Iron Joe gives up a single to Slagle and a walk to Wicker, followed by a bunt single by Maloney to load the bases. Manager Chance, with 3 singles already, hits a long drive to RF that Strang chases. Wicker and Slagle keep to their bases, but Maloney advances almost to 2B. When the ball falls safely, Wicker trots home and Slagle and Maloney begin a foot race scarcely a yard apart. Strang chases the ball down, relays to Dahlen who fires to Bresnahan as Slagle slides into home. A split second later, Maloney slides under Slagle. The Giants argue that Bresnahan tagged both runners; the Cubs argue he missed both. Umpire O’Day rules Slagle out, Maloney safe. Chance reaches 3B on the play and scores on a sac fly.

Following a 5–4 loss to Brooklyn, the 6^th-place St. Louis Cardinals fire their manager Jimmy Burke and put in Matt Robison. Robison is the 3^rd manager this year for St. Louis, and he’ll be replaced at the end of the year by John McCloskey.

Mistaking her husband for a burglar, Ty Cobb’s mother shoots and kills him, and incident that will be cited as the reason for Cobb’s intense desire to succeed. The Georgia Peach will make his ML debut with the Tigers later this month.

10^th Catchers are not expected to hit triples, but Boston Beaneater backstop Pat Moran legs out a trio of 3-base hits against the Pirates in Boston’s 7-4 win.

In a great pitching duel, New York ace Christy Mathewson allows 3 Chicago hits, while the Giants manage just 4 off Ed Reulbach. New York tallies an unearned run in the 6^th for the games only score.

11^th  The Highlanders garner just two hits, but beat Chicago, 2-1. With a man on 2B in the 7^th, Willie Keeler is walked intentionally by Doc White, then both runners score on Kid Elberfeld’s triple. Al Orth allows 5 Chicago hits, 3 of them infield singles.

At Pittsburgh, the Pirates score in the 11^th to beat Philadelphia, 1-0. With 2 outs, Honus Wagner reaches 1B on an error, steals 2B, and advances to 3B on an error, and scores on Del Howard’s hit off Tully Sparks. Deacon Phillippe is the winner.

14^th At New York, the Tigers lose, 7-1, as Highlanders pitcher Doc Newton operates with efficiency. Detroit rookie Herby Jackson, in his second and final ML appearance, allows 7 hits and walks 4 in the first 3 innings, as the Highlanders do all their scoring. With no AL umpires showing up, New York’s Deacon McGuire and Detroit’s Bobby Lowe fill in adequately.

15^th The A’s Rube Waddell is the whole show today as he hurls a 5-inning no hitter over the Browns. The A’s are ahead 2–0, when the rain starts pouring after the A’s bat in the 5^th. Waddell strikes out 9 batters, and three more bounce out to Waddell. The one runner reaches on Rube’s error.

17^th Christy Mathewson pitches his 2^nd straight 3-hit shutout against Chicago, this time beating Bob Wicker, 3–0.

Bill Bradley takes over for Nap Lajoie as manager of Cleveland and guides the Brads to a 2–1 loss to New York. Bradley will be 21-20 as manager before Lajoie retakes the reins for the last 56 games. Cleveland, just 3 games out of 1^st place at the start of play today, will go 8-18 this month as they slide to a 5^th place finish.

20^th The A’s Rube Waddell strikes out 12 batters in 7 innings, but the effort is wasted as the Browns and A’s go 16 innings before the game is a called at 3-3. Bobby Wallace has 5 hits.

21^st The Giants run past the Pirates, 10–2, with Mathewson defeating Deacon Phillippe. New York swipes 5 bases including a steal of home by Art Devlin.

Washington’s Long Tom Hughes shuts out Cleveland, 9-0, for his second whitewash over them in 4 days. He beat them, 5-0, on the 18^th.

22^nd Umpire John Sheridan forfeits a game to Washington in the 11^th when the Tigers refuse to resume play after a lengthy dispute. Washington is ahead 2–1 at the time of the forfeiture.

24^th  Chicago’s Ed Reulbach defeats Philley starter Tully Sparks in a 20-inning 2–1 Colts marathon win over the Phils, exactly 2 months after Big Ed topped the Cards by the same score in 18 innings. Frank Chance’s single drives in Jack McCarthy with the winning run. The game ties the existing ML mark for the most innings played in a game. A high point in the game, as recounted in Johnny Evers Touching Second, is when OF Jimmy Slagle, in the 18^th, shoves his hand in his back pocket to get a plug of chewing tobacco just as the batter cracks a long line drive. Slagle starts after the ball and discovers that he can’t get his hand out of his pocket. He makes a leaping one-handed catch with his gloved hand, then stops, pulls the tobacco out, bites off a piece and bows to the crowd. Sparks scatters 19 hits in the loss, and allows just one walk, an intentional base on balls.

The Giants win their 12^th straight over the Reds, as Mathewson wins easily, 8–0. Matty allows 2 scratch hits. McGraw is tossed from the game and fined $10, his third straight ejection. The 2^nd game is called on account of darkness, 6–6, after 9 innings.

26^th  The Giants beat up on the Reds again, winning 2–0 and 6–5. McGinnity wins the opener, allowing 5 hits in the shutout. New York scores 4 runs in the nitecap on wild pitches by Orval Overall, but when the Reds load the bases with no outs in the 9^th, Mathewson relieves Dummy Taylor and gets 3 straight outs.

28^th The Giants beat the Cards, 8–1, with Mathewson outpitching Jake Theilman. New York leads the Pirates by 8 ½ games.

29^th At the Polo Grounds, the Giants edge the Cardinals, 5-4, behind Red Ames. Red has two hits and scores 2 runs, but his wild pitch and a homer by McBride in the 7^th allows 3 runs to make it interesting.

After losing 14 out of 15 games with the other ending in a tie, the Reds finally win, beating Brooklyn, 7-3. Huggins has 4 hits and Seymour and Odwell hit homers.

30^th  Ty Cobb makes his ML debut, doubling off Jack Chesbro, as Detroit defeats New York, 5–3. The 2-bagger is the first of his 4,191 hits, a record topped by Pete Rose with 4,256 in 1986.

31^st White Sox ace Frank Smith throws a near-perfect game, beating the Washington Nationals, 2–0. Jake Stahl’s single accounts for the only Nat baserunner. This is the second time this year that Stahl has the only hit for the Nats against Smith, and it is the third time in Stahl’s career he’s had the only hit for Washington.

The A’s Rube Waddell tosses his third shutout in a row, besting Cleveland ace Addie Joss, 2-0. The A’s lead the AL by 2.5 games.

SEPTEMBER

1^st At the Polo Grounds, Mathewson allows 3 hits, strikes out 9 and allows no earned runs as New York whips the Phillies, 4–1.

Hillerich & Bradsby signs a contract with Honus Wagner to produce the first autographed model bat.

2^nd In Cleveland, White Sox infielder Gus Dundon is severely injured during pregame practice when he is hit by a flying bat from Lee Tannehill. Dundon has his jaw broken and several teeth are knocked out. Dundon is hitting just .193 this year. The Sox beat Cleveland, 6-3.

3^rd Pittsburgh’s Deacon Phillippe and Chicago’s Bob Wicker hook up in an 10-inning scoreless duel, each allowing just 3 hits, before Chicago pushes across a run to win. In the nitecap, Lefty Leifield makes his ML debut and fires a 1–0 win over Chicago in a game stopped after 6 innings.

4^th In a rain-delayed doubleheader, the Giants trip the Phillies twice, 7–1 and 11–6. The opener doesn’t start till 3:00 p.m. but Joe McGinnity wins easily. Mathewson wins his 25^th in the nitecap, despite spotting the Phils 5 runs in the 2^nd inning. The Phillies match the gift in the 5^th and 7^th innings.

5^th  When Boston beats the Athletics 3–2 in 13 innings, they score the first runs off Rube Waddell in 44 innings. Waddell strikes out 17.

6^th  After 6^th-place Detroit beats the White Sox 4 times in 2 days, Chicago turns the tables by whitewashing the Tigers twice today. The Sox win the opener, 2–0, behind Doc White, then spitballer Frank “Piano Mover” Smith, who threw two one-hitters earlier in the year, tosses a 15–0 no-hitter in the 2^nd game. This is the most lopsided no-hitter in history and also the second time that the Sox have no-hit the Tigers: Jimmy “Nixey” Callahan accomplishing the feat in 1902. Callahan plays LF and bats cleanup in today’s gem, collecting 2 hits as the Sox score 8 runs in the 1^st. The two wins today keep the Sox 4 games in back of the leading A’s.

7^th The Beaneaters and Giants trade shutouts, with Boston beating Joe McGinnity in the opener, 1–0, and Christy Mathewson returning the favor, 3–0 in the nitecap. The game is scoreless until New York scores a run in the 7^th off Vic Willis.

8^th  Pittsburgh tallies 15 hits and 8 walks against the Reds, but the Pirates leave a still-standing NL record 18 runners left on base. The Reds win, 8–3, behind Charley Chech, who allows 15 hits and 8 walks.

At Boston, Rube Waddell beats Cy Young again, 5-3, and the A’s maintain their 3 ½ game lead in the AL. But on the way back to Philadelphia after the game, the team changes trains in Providence and Waddell and teammate Andy Coakley engage in a friendly scuffle over a straw hat. Waddell falls and injures his shoulder and his season is over except for two short appearances on the last two days. He will not appear in the World Series and Connie Mack believes Rube’s effectiveness is impaired.

11^th The Highlanders sell workhorse pitcher Jack Powell (8-13) to the Browns. Powell won 23 games in 1904, pitching 390 1/3 innings.

After losing game 1 by a 6-3 score, the Washington Senators roll to a 14–0 score over Boston in a game 2 win, setting a club record for runs in a shutout that will be tied but never topped. The game ends after 7 innings, with darkness, not the mercy rule, as the reason. Freddy Parent has the lone hit in the shutout by Cy Falkenberg.

12^th Pittsburgh takes the first of two, winning 8-2 behind Mike McFarland. Cards pitcher Jack Taylor allows just three Pirate hits—all by Honus Wagner—and teammate Harry Arndt swipes home in the bottom of the 9^th with two outs to give St. Louis a 2–1 victory in game 2. Wagner will spoil two more no hitters by collecting the only hits: against Art Fromme on May 27, 1911 and facing Phil Douglas on October 2, 1914.

At the Polo Grounds, the Giants and Brooklyn split a twinbill. Mathewson wins the opener, 3–2, when Bill Dahlen singles home the winner in the 9^th. The 2^nd game is called after 7 innings with Brooklyn leading, 8–5.

13^th Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers engage in a fist fight on the field during an exhibition game in Washington, IN, because Evers took a taxi to the park, leaving his teammates in the hotel lobby. Allegedly, this is the incident that will cause the pair to not speak to each other ever again. Years later Evers will point to a hard throw from 10 feet away that bent his finger in 1907. When he complained to Tinker, he laughed, according to Evers.

The A’s Eddie Plank outduels Boston’s Jesse Tannehill to post his third 1–0 victory of the year.

14^th  In Detroit’s 6–0 win, pitcher Bill Donovan swipes home in the 4^th inning.

16^th  The Highlanders find themselves a little short on infielders so RF Willie Keeler, who is lefthanded, plays 2B in both games against visiting Washington. The talented Keeler played two games at shortstop for New York in 1893. New York splits, winning, 5–2, and losing, 3–0.

At Boston, the leading Giants sweep two from the Beaneaters, winning, 3–1 and 7–1. In the opener, Mathewson wins his 10^th straight, beating Irv Young, who allows just 3 hits. Boston notches 8 off Matty.

Former pitcher and former manager Nixey Callahan swipes 4 bases to pace the White Stockings to a 12–2 win over the St. Louis Browns. He’s the 2^nd Chicago player to swipe 4 bases in a game this year: George Davis did it on June 14.

18^th  Nearly fifty years before Eddie Gaedel makes his appearance, midget Jerry Sullivan pinchhits in an Eastern League game for Buffalo. Bison manager George Stallings, who met Sullivan, a vaudeville performer, in their Baltimore hotel the night before, invites him out to the game against Baltimore. He even provides a small uniform. Sullivan takes pre-game practice and coaches at 3B for two innings, as Baltimore takes a 10–2 lead into the 9^th inning. After C Frank McManus singles for Buffalo, Sullivan goes in as a pinch hitter. Fred Burchell’s first pitch is high and his second is a lob that the diminutive Sullivan loops for a single. Jake Gettman then singles and Burchell fires a wild pitch advancing both runners. Frank LaPorte singles and Sullivan scores on a crowd-pleasing head first slide. The final is 10–6, and Sullivan ends his pro career hitting 1.000.

19^th  At Philadelphia, the Phils stop the Giants, 3–2, then manage just 2 hits in losing 2–1 to Christy Mathewson. For Matty, it is his 11^th straight win.

20^th  Cleveland makes 7 errors in the 8^th inning, a major-league record for an inning, giving the White Sox 8 runs and a 9–6 victory.

Chicago President Charles Comiskey orders a houseboat built for the express purpose of transporting and housing the team during spring training.

Boston Beaneater lefty Irv Young beats Brooklyn, 6–5, for his 20^th win. He’ll lose his 20^th in 10 days.

22^nd   At Cincinnati, the Reds smack Brooklyn spitballer Elmer Stricklett, winning 11–1.

23^rd  Detroit rookie Ty Cobb, 18, hits his first HR, off Cy Falkenberg, an inside-the-park blow, in an 8–5 loss at Washington.

In Chicago, Mathewson and Carl Lundgren hook up in a tight pitchers’ duel, decided in Chicago’s favor on a mental error by Giants SS Bill Dahlen. With two on and two out in the 5^th inning, Dahlen bobbles a grounder and touches 2B as the runner arrives. Dahlen, thinking that he has the 3^rd out, rolls the ball to the mound. But ump Bob Emslie calls the runner safe. Johnny Evers the runner on 3B, alertly scores on the play for the game’s only run. The loss stops Matty’s win streak at 11 games.

24^th In his first two at bats, Cy Seymour lines two inside-the-park home runs to pace the Reds to an 8–3 win over visiting Brooklyn. The Reds win game 2 by an 8–7 score. Seymour will finish the season with a NL-high .377 average, and lead the league in hits (219), doubles (40), triples (21), total bases (325), SA (.559) and RBI (121). He’ll be 2^nd in homers to teammate Odwell.

25^th After losing 3 in Chicago, the Giants open a critical series in Pittsburgh by winning, 10–4 behind Mathewson’s 30^th victory. The Giants score 5 runs in the 1^st inning on just one hit. Deacon Phillippe hits a record-tying 3 batters in the frame and Honus Wagner adds a throwing error. New York now leads by 6 ½ games.

The New York Highlanders outslug the visiting St. Louis Browns to win, 13-10, as the Browns’ sloppy play gives the hosts 9 runs in the 1^st and 2^nd. Losing pitcher Cy Morgan makes 3 of the 7 Brownie errors. George Stone makes it close with a 3-run inside-the-park homerun in the 8^th inning off Al Orth, Stone’s 4^th IPHR against New York in 1905, all in Gotham. His 4 homers by a visiting rookie sets a New York record that won’t be topped until 2017. Stone will lead the AL in total bases this year with 260 (one record book has 259, another 261), the lowest total ever for a leader in the AL. Honus Wagner will set the record for the NL next year.

26^th  Chicago White Sox P Ed Walsh hurls two complete-game victories over Boston, winning by scores of 10–5 and 3–1. When Doc White leaves the first game after giving up a single to Freddy Parent in the first inning (Doc says the wind was blowing and his curve ball would not break), Walsh comes in without warming up. He gives up 5 runs in the first, then blanks Boston the rest of the way to win. The second match goes 8 innings before darkness falls. The Sox score a pair in the 8^th.

At Philadelphia, A’s starter Andy Coakley pitches 7 innings and is behind 4–2 against the Tigers when he departs. The A’s knot the score up with runs in the 7^th and 8^th, and reliever Jimmy Dygert tosses the last three innings. When Tigers score 2 in the 10^th to win, the scorer pins the loss on Coakley for pitching badly [later revisions will give the loss to Dygert, and Coakley’s record of 20–7 will be the AL’s best winning percentage].

The Giants top the Pirates, 9–5, with the help of 8 walks and a hit by pitch in six innings by usually steady Mike Lynch. Red Ames goes six innings to pick up the win, and Mathewson tosses the last 3 innings of shutout ball.

In a twinbill split with Cleveland, Washington’s Joe Stanley hits his second and last career homer and like his first, it’s a grand slam inside-the-park. He did it with the Boston Nationals in 1903 making him the first player to slam in both the NL and AL. Washington loses game 1, 2–0, then wins, 13–6.

27^th  Boston’s Bill Dinneen, who had not thrown this month because of a sore arm, pitches the 4^th no-hitter of the season. The White Sox have 26 official at bats against him in the 2–0 Boston win, their first loss to Boston after 10 straight wins. Chicago gets revenge in the nitecap, whipping the Americans, 15–1. Dinneen’s no-hitter is the 2^nd that Boston pitchers have thrown against the White Sox in successive years: it is the only time this century that that will occur. With the A’s losing yesterday to the Tigers, Chicago now heads for Philadelphia, trailing by 3 percentage points. The Boston Americans will play 11 twinbills this month, winning 2, losing 2, and splitting 7.

Washington’s Tom Hughes shuts out Cleveland, 6–0, his ML record 5^th whitewash over the Naps this year. His mark will be tied twice in the NL, by Alexander in 1916 and Larry Jaster in 1966.

28^th  In a game that helps decide the pennant, the A’s beat the White Sox 3–2, as LF Topsy Hartsell scores from 2^nd base with the winning run in the 7^th inning. Harry Davis’s RBI single to short left hits Hartsell’s own mitt, which the left fielder had left in the outfield at the end of the inning, providing just enough delay that Topsy scores.

29^th In St. Louis, the Giants sweep two from the Cardinals, winning 6–5 and 5–1. Trailing 4–1 to Mathewson in the 9^th the Cards knot the opener when Danny Shay belts a bases-loaded triple to send the game to extra innings. New York scores 2 in the 11^th to win, 6–5. Shay will miss next season because of an amputated finger and his comeback in 1907 with the Giants will be short lived.

In Philadelphia, the A’s beat the White Sox for the second day in a row, winning 11-1 behind Chief Bender. The Sox use 3 pitchers, with the A’s collecting 7 runs off Ed Walsh, the second pitcher. Only once before has an opponent scored 10 runs or more on the Sox this year.

30^th  The Athletics lose today, 4–3, but take 2 of 3 from Chicago at home to all but end the White Sox’ pennant hopes. The final margin is 2 games. The series draws 64,620, a ML record, with thousands more turned away each day.

In a doubleheader split with Cleveland, the host New York Highlanders lose both shortstop Kid Elberfeld and CF Dave Fultz when the two collide chasing a fly ball off the bat of Bill Bradley. Both are knocked unconscious. Elberfeld is eventually helped from the field suffering from a broken nose and cuts above the eye, but he is done for this season. Fultz’s injuries are more severe. He is carried to the clubhouse and does not regain consciousness for two hours, awakening in Washington Heights Hospital with a broken jaw and other lacerations. This is the last game for the former Brown University football and baseball star, who played 129 games this year, never once playing on Sunday. His 44 steals are second in the AL to, who the A’s and Connie Mack will trade to the Highlanders next April for the rights to Fultz.

OCTOBER

1^st In the first game of a twinbill, the Giants beat the Reds, 5–4, to clinch the NL pennant.

2^nd  The Washington outfield has no putouts or assists in a 3–2 win over Chicago.

3^rd  The National Commission establishes the rules for a World Series and names Hank O’Day and John Sheridan (both NL umps) to umpire it.

Brooklyn hurler Doc Scanlon hurls 2 complete-game victories over host St. Louis, winning by scores of 4–0 and 3–2. Doc gives up 12 hits in his 18 innings.

The Reds win the opener of 2 from the league-champion Giants, and pull off a triple play. With the bases loaded and no outs in the 7^th, RF Cy Seymour catches a line drive, fires home to nab the runner from 3B, and the throw back to 3B gets the advancing runner. An 8-2-5-6 TP. Bob Ewing wins his 20^th, 4–2, with the nitecap ending in a 4–4 tie. Seymour has 4 hits in the twinbill and will lead the NL in hitting with .377.

In the first of two games, Mike Lynch of Pittsburgh beats Boston, 10–2, handing Irv Young his 20^th loss. The Beaneaters lose game 2, 4-3, behind Vic Willis. Young (20-21), Willis (12-29), Fraser (14-21) and Wilhelm (3-23) set a ML record as the first 4 pitchers on one team to all lose 20 games in a season. A Beaneater quartet will match it next season.

4^th  Boston’s Chick Fraser, with 20 losses on his record, pitches his second straight shutout, beating the host Pirates, 1-0, in 13 innings.

5^th  Athletics P Chief Bender has 3 hits, including a triple with 3 on, in an 8–0 victory over Washington. He relieves Andy Coakley in the 2^nd game and wins 9–7. Overall, he has 2 wins, 6 hits, and 8 RBI for the day.

Trying for his 32^nd win, Mathewson is beaten 4–1 by the Phillies. With the bases full in the 2^nd inning Matty beans opposing P John Lush, knocking him out. Kitty Bransfield, who earlier in the inning made an out, courtesy runs for Lush, who returns to pitch in the 3^rd. (courtesy of Retrosheet) New York takes the nitecap, 5–3.

Last-place Brooklyn sweeps a pair from Boston, winning 11-5 and 2-1. Both teams are now over the 100-loss mark. Kaiser Wilhelm takes the loss in game 1 to run his record to a dismal 3-23 and the Beaneaters will sell him to Rochester next month.

6^th  The Athletics clinch the pennant while losing to the Washington Nationals, 10–4, as St. Louis defeats the White Sox. Elmer Flick of the Cleveland Naps leads the AL in batting with a .306 mark.

7^th  In a doubleheader split, Cincinnati’s Fred Odwell lines an inside-the-park homer, off St. Louis rookie Buster Brown, to edge out teammate Cy Seymour for the NL home run title. Odwell leads the NL with 9 round trippers, but will never hit another homer. The Cardinals win game 1, 7–3, and the Reds take the 2^nd match, 6–3.

At Boston, the Red Sox sweep the Highlanders, winning the first game, 7-6, and 12-9. For Boston, it concludes a sweep of a 4-game series with New York and end the season with an 8-game winning streak. Jesse Burkett concludes his Hall of Fame career by hitting in his last 13 games (as noted by Bill Deane), while rookie Frank LaPorte has a grand slam for New York in game 1, off Jess Tannehill. It is his first ML homer.

After winning the opener, 10–4, and clinching 7^th place, the Boston Beaneaters start OF Jim Delahanty on the mound in game 2. He gives up 5 hits in 2 innings but doesn’t get a decision as the Beaneaters lose, 11–7. Eighth place Brooklyn and Boston are 11-11 against each other. Beaneaters 1B Fred Tenney has one assist in the season’s final game, giving him an NL record of 152. The mark will be topped by Sid Bream of Pittsburgh, with 166 in 1986.

8^th  Didn’t get the name. At Idora Park, Pacific Coast League game between the Oakland Oaks and Portland Beavers is attended by one fan. According to newspaper reports, the home-plate umpire, whose job it is to announce lineups, addresses the crowd, “Dear sir…” Portland wins, 3–2.

9^th  At Philadelphia, in the first game of a World Series under a 7-game format, two Pennsylvanian rivals square off: Bucknell’s Christy Mathewson outpitches 26-game-winner Eddie Plank (Gettysburg Academy) to win 3–0 in the first game of the all-shutout World Series. Matty allows 4 hits and walks none.

10^th  In Game 2 of the WS at New York, Philadelphia’s Chief Bender gives up a mere 4 hits for a 3–0 win.

11^th Today’s game in Philley will be canceled because of wet grounds, though the press speculates that the real reason is poor gate receipts. At game time, the crowd was just 4,000, as threatening weather keeps many away.

12^th   With 2 days rest, Mathewson allows his first and only walk in 27 innings, in a 4-hit 9–0 romp at Baker Bowl. The Giants cook Andy Coakley for 9 runs on 8 hits and 5 walks. The A’s add 4 errors, 3 by 2B Danny Murphy. The Giants now lead the WS, 2–1.

In a PCL game in San Francisco, Seattle loses, 4-3, when their pitchers walk 7 batters in the 9^th inning. Reliever Sea Lion Hall, a 23-game winner, walks 4 straight for the loss.

13^th  Joe McGinnity surrenders 5 hits, and Plank 4 hits, but 2 errors deal the A’s a 1–0 loss.

14^th  Mathewson pitches his 3^rd shutout in 6 days, giving up 6 hits to Bender’s 5. The Giants win 2–0. The A’s .161 team BA is the lowest ever for a WS; the teams’ combined .185 is also the lowest. Each winning share is worth $1,142. The A’s receive $382 each, but the club owners donate their share of the gate, raising the players’ checks to $832.22.

In the Boston city series at the Huntington Grounds, the Boston Americans beat their National League rivals, 8–2. The only win in the 7-game series, all at Huntington, for the NL Beaneaters came on the 9^th when they won, 5–2, behind Vic Willis.

At South Side Park, the Cubs and White Sox conclude their Chicago city series with the Cubs winning today, 10-5. They take the series 4 games to one. Joe Tinker has 4 hits, drives in 3 runs and scores 3.

18^th  Tacoma pitcher Bobby Keefe tosses a no-hitter, whipping Oakland, 3-0, at Cycler’s Park in San Jose. As noted by John Spalding, this is the only PCL no-hitter ever played in a neutral park. Because of poor attendance at home, Tacoma played its last half of the season on the road and next year will relocate in Fresno.

22^nd Los Angeles (PCL) beats visiting Portland, 3–2 in 11 innings. Bill Tozer (22–15) of Los Angeles ends his PCL record 48 consecutive shutout inning streak when Portland scores 2 unearned runs in the third inning.

DECEMBER

5^th  The Washington Senators trade Happy Jack Townsend to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Frank Kitson. Townsend led the AL in losses in 1904 with a 5-26 record, but had improved this past year to a 7-16 record with a 2.63 ERA.

8^th  The Senators trade pitcher Beany Jacobson to the Browns for Willie Sudhoff.

15^th  After losing a record 29 games this year, veteran righthander Vic Willis is traded by 7^th-place Boston NL to Pittsburgh for 3 players: Del Howard, infielder Dave Brain, who the Pirates acquired from the Cardinals in mid-season, and Vive Lindaman. Willis will rebound with 4 straight 20-win seasons.

Boston (NL) continues trading, sending C Pat Moran to the Cubs for C Jack O’Neill and P Big Jeff Pfeffer.

16^th  The Cubs trade OF Jack McCarthy and Billy Maloney, 3B Doc Casey, and pitcher Buttons Briggs and $2000 to Brooklyn for Jimmy Sheckard, who will take over LF for the NL champions of the next 3 years.

23^rd  Lave Cross, 38-year-old 3B, is sold to Washington by the Athletics. Cross set a ML record in 1902 by driving in 108 runs without hitting a home run. Cross was 2-for-19 in the recent World Series and will be the oldest player to debut in the post season in the 20^th century.

24^th Merry Christmas, Happy. The Detroit Tigers trade Happy Jack Townsend to the Cleveland Naps in exchange for Red Donahue. Happy had been acquired by the Tigers less than three weeks ago.

• 1906

JANUARY

5^th  John McGraw and jockey Tod Sloan open a billiard parlor at 34^th Street and Broadway, which soon becomes a popular and profitable hangout for New York’s sporting life.

12^th  The owners of the Boston Beaneaters reject a $250,000 offer for the team, which is destined to finish last again.

20^th  The Giants sign Christy Mathewson’s untalented 19-year-old brother Henry.

25^th The Reds trade SS Al Bridwell to Boston (NL) for OF Jim Delahanty.

At the PCL owners meeting, Angels owner Jim Morley vetoes the request by Tacoma owner Mike Fisher to move his franchise to Pasadena. Fisher was desperate to get out of Tacoma because of poor attendance, and he actually  re-scheduled a couple of late season series out of Tacoma to Spokane, San Jose and Los Angeles.  After the veto, Fisher then choses Fresno as a home. (as noted by PCL historian Dick Beverage).

February

8^th  Several Giants players assault passengers aboard a train from New York City to Troy where the players are to receive an award. Ring leader Mike Donlin is charges with assaulting a conductor and pulling a pistol on a porter. The New York Times reports that the players were drunk and started throwing baseballs.

MARCH

6^th  Rookie owner Charles W. Murphy puts the last pieces of a Cubs dynasty in place, trading rookie infielder Hans Lobert and lefthander Jake Weimer to the Cincinnati Reds for 3B Harry Steinfeldt. Not known as a heavy hitter, Steinfeldt completes the Tinker-Evers-Chance infield.

18^th In New Orleans, a crowd of 3,000 watch the Chicago White Sox drub New Orleans, 9–1. The Sox will sweep the rain-interrupted 3-game series with New Orleans, the first ML team to sweep the Southern League champs in 3 years.

25^th Washington shortstop Joe Cassidy dies of typhoid fever. Cassidy, just 23, had been a starter the past two seasons.

APRIL

1^st After a week of rain, the White Sox finally play an exhibition game in Memphis, beating the minor league team, 3–2. Meanwhile, the Sox “B” team loses to Kansas City, 2–0.

10^th Promising Reds rookie John Siegle breaks a small bone directly above his left ankle while sliding into second base in a spring training game. He won’t appear in a game until June 23 (a fruitless pinch-hitting effort, in which he supposedly stepped up to the plate with the aid of a cane), or return to the lineup until July 10. After limping to a .118 average in 22 games, Siegle will disappear from the majors for good (as noted by Bill Deane).

12^th  Boston (NL) OF Johnny Bates becomes the first modern player to hit a homer in his first ML at bat when he connects in the 2^nd inning against the Brooklyn Superbas’ Harry McIntire. Boston hurler Irv Young allows only one hit—a double by Lumley—and wins, 2–0.

With Mathewson sidelined with diphtheria, Red Ames pitches the Opener for the Giants, a 3–2 win over the Phils at Baker Bowl. The loser is 20-year-old Johnny Lush, the youngest ML pitcher so far to start an Opener. Chief Bender was five months older when he won for the A’s last year.

14^th Little-used Jack Doscher makes his only start of the year for Brooklyn, but loses to Boston, 1–0. Doscher is the first lefty to start a game for Brooklyn in 4 years. Used mostly for batting practice, Doscher will shortly jump the team in a salary squabble. Jack Doscher, along with his father Herm, are the first father-son duo in the major leagues. The win goes to Vive Lindaman, making his first major league start. Vive better get used to the lack of support; he’ll lose 23 games this year, eight by shutouts. No rookie will have it worse.

At Hilltop Park, former player John Montgomery Ward throws out the first ball before the start of the Highlanders—Boston Americans opener. Veterans Jack Chesbro and Cy Young struggle to a 1–1 standoff through eleven innings before New York pushes across an unearned run in the 12^th.

15^th  Brooklyn plays a Sunday game against Boston, charging no admission. Fans are asked to drop contributions in a box at the gate. Deputy police commissioner Arthur O’Keefe, in referring to last year’s ploy of selling programs as a way around admission charges, states: “If the Sunday games at Washington Park are to be free games, in the literal sense of the word, Mr. Ebbets may be right in assuming that they will not constitute a violation of the law. If, on the other hand, an admission fee is exacted in any manner we will consider the law violated, and act accordingly.” Boston tops Brooklyn, 5–3, with no arrests reported.

Chicago’s Ed Reulbach beats the Reds, 8–5 to start a streak of 16 straight wins over Cincinnati. The streak will conclude August 18, 1909.

16^th In Cincinnati, the Cubs lose 3–2 as Johnny Evers and Frank Chance get ejected. Following the game, Joe Tinker gets into a fight with a fan to complete the circuit.

Phillies pitcher John Lush records a double-double, walking 10 batters and striking out 11 in beating the Giants, 4–2.

17^th At Detroit, the Tigers drop their home Opener, 5–3, to the White Sox and Frank Owen. A crowd of 13,875 is on hand at Bennett Field, which holds just 7,000. Crowds pack along the foul line.

18^th Eleven days after the start of the PCL season, a great 70-second earthquake in San Francisco and the fire which follows destroys Recreation Park, home of the San Francisco Seals as well as the offices of the PCL. The Seals (9-2) are leading the league. Oakland C Pat Donohue reportedly breaks both his legs when he jumps from a hotel window during the quake (Spalding’s PCL Date Book), but he will recover to debut with the Boston Red Sox in May.

LA Angels (PCL) owner James Morley, who had made several unsuccessful attempts to wreck the league, disbands his team without the consent of the league. His lease at Chute Park is up on May 15, and the owners had refused to extend it; he will and up selling the team to local businessmen a day before the expiration. With telegraph service down, PCL president Bert cannot immediately inform the Angels’ players that Morley acted without the consent of the league, and several players leave for the East. Fresno and LA will resume play on April 26 and will play each other in one of two cities for the next three weeks.

19^th The Tigers win their 2^nd in a row over the White Sox, 3–1, as Sam Crawford homers over the RF fence.

White Sox pitcher Doc White request permission to leave the team until May 15 in order to coach the baseball team at his alma mater, Georgetown. Comiskey reluctantly gives him till May 1^st (as noted by Irv Stein).

20^th At the Polo Grounds, the Giants win their home opener, 8–2 over the Brooklyn Superbas. Red Ames is the winner for the defending world champions.

The White Sox win their home Opener, 6–1 over the Tigers. Again, Nick Altrock is the winning pitcher.

22^nd A new rule puts the umpire in sole charge of all game balls. The home team manager previously had some say as to when a new ball was introduced.

24^th Boston makes 20 hits in trouncing the Washington Nationals, 19–2.

26^th Immediately following the Giants 4–3 win over Philadelphia, John McGraw slugs a fan who had made a derogatory remark about the Giants. Then the manager proceeds on to the clubhouse. When a policeman arrives he refuses to arrest McGraw on the grounds that he had not witnessed the altercation.

At Brooklyn, the Boston Nationals Johnny Bates hits for the cycle, but his teammates go flat and lose 3–1.

Ivy Tevis of Galveston (South Texas League) pitches a no-hitter and loses, 1-0, against Houston. The one man Tevis walks, Joe Mowry, Sr. (whose son later plays in the Texas League) scores and no one else reaches base. With the game at Houston, Tevis did not pitch in the 9^th.

28^th  It’s the only time two managers steal home on the same day. Cubs pilot Frank Chance steals in the 9^th to give Chicago a 1–0 win over the Reds in game 1, and Fred Clarke matches it in the Pirates’ 10–1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. In game 1, Chance is on 2B and Joe Tinker on 1B when Pat Moran hits a DP ball to short, but Tinker blocks the play at 2B preventing the throw. Miller Huggins comes out to argue with umpire Bill Klem alleging interference and, Chance rounding 3B, seizes the opportunity to make it home (as noted by Jan Larson).

In arguably the best pitched game in Texas League history (certainly the best opening day game), Houston (South Texas League) P Peaches Nelson pitches a 1-0 no-hitter over visiting Galveston. Opposing pitcher Ivy Tevis gives up just one hit who comes around to score. Each pitcher walks a batter.

29^th The New York ban on Sunday baseball is temporarily lifted and the Highlanders and Philadelphia A’s play a benefit game for the victims of the San Francisco earthquake, raising $5,600. The two teams also work out a deal: the Highlanders get speedster Danny Hoffman in exchange for the rights to OF Dave Fultz, who was injured on September 30^th last year. The two finished first and second in stolen bases in ‘05. But the 31-year-old Fultz, his body beat up from playing football as well as still suffering from the September collision, quits to practice law and will stay quit. Hoffman, who lost his job to Bris Lord, will stay with the Highlanders for two seasons.

Harry Lumley hits the first pitch for a leadoff homer and the game’s only score as Brooklyn beats the Phillies, 1–0. Bill Duggleby serves up the homer and takes the loss. Lumley will lead the NL in homers (9) and triples (18), matching the feat of Tommy Leach two years ago. Jim Bottomley, in 1928, will be the next to do it.

In the first game in the Bay area since the earthquake, the Seals beat the Oakland Oaks, 7–3, in a benefit exhibition for the earthquake relief fund. The game is at the Oaks’ Idora Park. The two teams head north and, by May 2, all PCL teams will be in action.

30^th  Boston C Jack O’Neill, the eldest of the 4 ML O’Neill brothers, suffers through a long day as the Giants rack up 10 stolen bases in beating the Beaneaters, 8–2.

MAY

1^st Johnny Lush, 20, posts a 6–0 no-hitter over Brooklyn for the Phils, striking out 11. He is the youngest ever to throw a no-hitter. Mal Eason takes the loss. The Philadelphia Inquirer states, “The trolley dodgers were triumphantly baffled by Lush’s drop curve.” Joe Ward, who had cleared waivers by all 15 teams, has 4 hits for the Phils, and has 7 in his last 2 games.

At New York, the Boston Americans drop an 8–0 decision to the Highlanders, the first of 20 in a row. The next 19 will be at home. Bill Hogg allows one hit in the win, a single by Freddy Parent. OF Jesse Burkett is released by the Americans to manage the Worcester team, which he owns. Burkett will be voted in to the Hall of Fame in 1946 by the Vet’s committee.

The Cubs top the Cardinals, 5-1, handing Jack Taylor his 11^th straight loss to Chicago stretching back to 1897.

2^nd Behind Carl Lundgren, the Chicago Colts clip the St. Louis Cardinals, 5–1. It is Lundgren’s 10^th straight win over St. Louis stretching back to May 25, 1904.

3^rd  In New York, Frank LaPorte lines a 10^th inning inside-the-park homer to give the Highlanders a 6-5 win over the Athletics.

5^th Christy Mathewson makes his first mound appearance of the year for the Giants. The New York ace is still weak from a case of diphtheria contracted before the season. Matty pitches 7 innings against Boston and allows 7 hits before being relieved by Joe McGinnity, who allows 3 runs in the 9^th to turn a 4–3 margin into a 6–4 defeat. The Giants (15–5) stay in first place in the NL.

6^th  At Pittsburgh, the Cubs top the Pirates, 5–1, for their 9^th straight win. During the game the Pittsburgh ground crew uses a tarp to cover the entire infield, the first time a ML team has done this. Fred Clarke, the Pirates manager, will file for a patent on June 7 for a “diamond cover,” and the patent will be approved on February 2, 1911. Previously, some club owners protected only the pitcher’s slab or the home plate, while others covered the bases as well. “One club owner, George Tebeau of Louisville, is said to have a circus tent with which he covers the whole infield when it rains” (Chicago Tribune, September 30, 1906).

At Brooklyn, the Phillies top the Superbas, 10-2. The Phils play without rookie infielder Joe Ward, who said he missed his train. According to the Reading Eagle (May 19) Ward was secretly married today to a “young woman, who lives in Manayunk.” The paper reports that Ward went into a slump immediately thereafter and lost his regular job at third base (he will hit .295 for the year).

7^th  During the New York Americans 7–2 win over visiting Washington, umpire Tim Hurst strikes New York manager Clark Griffith in the mouth after Griffith accidentally steps on his shoe during a 10-minute argument following a close play in the 5^th inning. Griffith is tossed today but Hurst will be suspended for 5 days.

The Cubs win their 10^th straight topping the Pirates, 3–2, and move into first place in the NL as the Giants drop to 2^nd.

The Giants get shut out at Washington Park by Brooklyn’s Jim Pastorius, 6–0. Harry Lumley crack a long drive near the CF fence for a triple and “Hoboken” Tim Jordan follows with his first ML homer, off Hooks Wiltse. The rookie Jordan will lead the NL in homers this year with Lumley second. John McGraw, sore from a car accident yesterday that occurred while returning from an exhibition game in Newburgh, watches the game from a box seat.

Detroit Tigers P Bill Donovan steals second, third, and—on the front end of a double steal—takes home, all in the 5^th inning of an 8–3 victory over Cleveland. He also slugs a triple. Donovan swiped home against Cleveland last year as well. He is one of just 2 pitchers (Red Faber, 1915) who will swipe 2B, 3B, and home in a game.

Boston (NL) acquires P Gus Dorner from the Reds for P Chick Fraser.

8^th  Shorthanded because of injuries, Connie Mack puts pitcher Chief Bender in LF in the 6^th inning in a game against the Boston Americans. Bender, who banged his first homer on May 5, responds with 2 roundtrippers, both inside the park, off Jess Tannehill, in the A’s 11–4 win. Bender will hit just 3 more homers in his 16-year career.

A PCL game in Los Angeles is postponed when the Fresno team can’t make today’s game because of a tunnel collapse delayed their train. In six days, LA owner James Morley will forfeit his franchise to the league, paving the way for the team to be taken over by a group of businessmen.

9^th  The Tigers sell outfielder Jimmy Barrett to the Reds. Barrett had injured his leg in an April 26, 1905 game and reinjured it attempting to return to action too soon. Barrett will go 0-for-12 for Cincinnati and they will hand him his release on May 20. The hobbled Barrett will hook on for a couple of years with the Red Sox.

10^th At Cleveland, the Americans drub the White Sox, 15–1, scoring 8 runs off starter Ed Walsh.

11^th  Tom Jones, St. Louis Browns 1B, has 22 putouts—an AL record that will be tied by the Highlanders’ Hal Chase on September 21, and not again until July 20, 1987, by Don Mattingly. His Browns beat Boston, 8–3.

13^th The Reds sell pitcher Gus Dorner (1-1) to the Boston Beaneaters, where he will go 8-25 to join three other 20-gamne losers, tying last year’s ML record by Boston.

14^th Mathewson wins his first game of the season, scattering 9 hits and walking an uncharacteristic 7 batters, but still beats the Reds, 6–3. The game is 1–1 after 8 innings, but the Giants jump on Orval Overall for 5 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks in the 9^th to put the game away.

In Boston, the Browns beat up on the Red Sox, winning, 11-1. George Stone drills an inside-the-park homer in the 9^th, off starter Cy Young, to pile on. Boston has now lost 11 straight.

15^th  Hooks Wiltse of the Giants becomes the 2^nd pitcher of the modern era to fan 4 batters in a single inning [he is credited as the first; however, Doc White fanned 4 batters in an inning on July 21, 1902.] fanning the side after the first Cincinnati batter, Jim Delahanty, in the 5^th inning reaches base on Roger Bresnahan’s 3^rd-strike error. Wiltse also fanned the side in the 4^th inning to total 7 batters punched out in just two innings, the first and only time this happens in ML history. Hooks K’s 12 Reds overall en route to a victory, 4–1. However, the Giants suffer a major loss when Turkey Mike Donlin, after getting 3 hits, breaks his leg sliding into 2B.

16^th  The visiting Giants, clad in their new all-black uniforms, are sliced up by the Pirates, 11–0. The Bucs tally 15 hits to back sinkerballer Vic Willis, obtained from Boston last December. Willis will toss shutouts in his next two outings.

Boston’s Gus Dorner (2-1), sold 3 days ago by the Reds, beats his old team, 6–5.

17^th  Detroit’s Ty Cobb’s bunt single spoils Rube Waddell’s no-hit bid. The Philadelphia A’s win 5–0.

Pittsburgh’s Sam Leever faces just 27 Giants batters, allowing 3 singles, to top New York, 3–0.

Washington starter Charlie Smith hits his lone ML homer in a losing cause as the White Sox win, 6-2.

18^th  Christy Mathewson, weakened from a bout of diphtheria, is pounded for 14 hits by the Pirates and loses, 7–6. Honus Wagner paces the attack with 2 singles and a triple and also picks off Bill Dahlen off 2B in the 9^th inning with the hidden ball trick. Dahlen, intently watching Lefty Leifeld on the mound, misses Wagner who gently touches him with the ball. McGraw is so furious with Dahlen that he slaps him with a $100 fine, later rescinded (according to Bill Deane). The Pirates have now won 3 in a row from New York.

At Washington, the 6^th place White Sox sock the Nationals, 10–0. Fielder Jones has a 3-run homer, just the 2^nd Chicago 4-bagger this year. The Sox will total 7 on the season. The game is interrupted in the 6^th when the Nats Tom Hughes goes into the stands after a fan who had been “kidding him.”

19^th After managing the first 3 games from the bench, Fred Clarke leaves town to attend to his injured right shoulder, Honus Wagner skippers the Pirates to a 5–1 to over the Giants. The Bucs are now 5 ½ games in back of Chicago.

The Boston Beaneaters begin a record four straight shutout losses, losing today to the Reds, 15–0. For the Beaneaters, it’s 8–0 on 21^st; 1–0 on 22^nd; 5–0 on 23^rd. The team’s losing streak will end at a NL-record 19 games, a mark that will be tied by the 1914 Reds and broken by the Phils. Chick Fraser does the pitching today for the Reds, while Jim Delahanty hits a grand slam. The Reds record their biggest score of the year and will reach double digits in just nine games. Reds catcher Oscar Stanage has a debut one at-bat but will be sold to Newark. Oscar will anchor the Tiger backstop position for a decade starting in 1909.

Behind Andy Coakley, the A’s edge the Tigers, 2-1, to run their win streak to 11 games. Rookie Jack Hannifin has a hit in his only AL at bat. He’ll be sent to the minors in June and be purchased by the Giants in August.

20^th Arriving in Chicago in first place by percentage points, the Giants lose the opener of the series, 10–4, to drop to 2^nd place. The game is delayed 30 minutes when the gates are broken down and hundreds of fans pour into the park as the police battle to control the crowd. Several thousand fans remain outside when the game starts, while an estimated 25,000 fans are inside, the Cubs largest crowd of the year.

21^st  An 11-game win streak by Philadelphia is stopped by Cleveland, 2–1, in 13 innings. The Athletics, Cleveland Naps, and New York Highlanders juggle the top spot in AL standings.

The White Sox win their 5^th in a row, 7–6, over the Highlanders. The win goes to Doc White, his first since returning from coaching the Georgetown College team.

Before a packed house in Chicago, the Giants Hooks Wiltse, with relief help from Mathewson, stops the leading Cubs, 6–4. Mathewson allows one run in his 4 innings. The Giants will win tomorrow as well.

22^nd Miss Marjorie Bell, a Chicago high school senior, sets a women’s record for the longest throw of a baseball when she hurls a ball 204 feet. The distance was measured by the University of Chicago football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, according to an article in the Ottawa (IL) Free Trader (July 13, 1906). This broke the previous record of 195’3” set by Alice Belding of Vassar College on May 7, 1904. (as noted by baseball historian J.G. Preston).

23^rd With an off day, Chicago city officials close the gates at West Side Grounds in the middle of the series with the Giants. The reason is that city ordinances state that no fans are allowed to sit or stand in the aisles.

In Oakland, the San Francisco Seals play the first PCL game in the Bay Area since the earthquake, beating the Fresno Raisin Pickers, 4–3. Their new park will be ready for the Seals by the start of next season.

24^th The Cubs overcome a 5–2 Giants lead to tie the game at 5-5, but a Johnny Evers error in the 8^th gives New York a 6–5 win. Mathewson, who pitches just 2 and 1/3 innings is credited with the win, since he left the game with the Giants ahead. Wiltse pitches the last 7 1/3 innings. By taking three out of four in Chicago, the Giants increase their hold on first place.

25^th  Jesse Tannehill snaps the Boston Americans’ 20-game losing streak–19 at home—with a 3–0 2-hit win over the White Sox. Jesse’s batterymate Bob Peterson drives in all the runs in a game that takes 1 hour and 15 minutes. Both of these loss streaks by Boston are AL records until Baltimore drops 21 in a row in 1988. The A’s in 1916 will lose 20 in a row. Both Boston teams will finish last, while both Chicago teams finish first. It’s the first time 2 cities have had 2 winners and 2 cellar-dwellers, and it won’t happen again until 1921, when New York has the winners, and Philadelphia the last-placers.

26^th At St. Louis, George Browne drives in 2 runs in the top of the 9^th to give the Giants a 5–4 lead over the Cards. McGinnity pitches a scoreless 9^th to preserve the win for Christy Mathewson.

27^th Five fans are killed and 25 injured by a bolt of lightning that strikes a crowd watching a game near Mobile, Alabama.

30^th Chicago Cubs pitcher Jack Pfiester fans 17 Cardinals, but loses, 4–2, in 15 innings at St. Louis. Chicago also loses the nitecap, 6–1, to Carl Druhot.

At Washington Park, the Superbas split with the Giants, winning the first game, 2–0, behind the 4-hit pitching of Harry McIntire. Dummy Taylor takes the loss. Mathewson gets a win for New York in the nitecap, beating Bill Scanlan, 5–2.

31st At Pittsburgh, the Cardinals Chappie McFarland pitches 7 scoreless innings before being replaced by Wish Egan, who promptly allows 3 runs to lose, 3-0, to Leever. This shutout start for McFarland is his last for St. Louis; in his next start, for Pittsburgh, Chappie will shut out the Phils, the only pitcher this century to throw two shutouts in a row for two different teams in the same season.

JUNE

1^st  Women appear at the Polo Grounds ticket windows for the first time. Coincidentally, new ticket-selling machines are also introduced. Ticket holders today watch the Giants beat the Phillies, 6–0.

2^nd  Only 3 games separate the Cubs from the 4^th-place Phillies, and Cubs owner Murphy again goes to Cincinnati for help. This time he comes back with Orval Overall, a 6 foot 2 inch, 225-pound righthander who is 4–5 for the Reds. The price: pitcher Bob Wicker, winner of 50 games the past 3 seasons, and $2,000 (some contemporary accounts have the Cubs receiving the $2,000). Orval will go 12–3 overall for the Cubs and will help pitch them into 4 World Series in 5 years, while Wicker will wind up his career this year.

3^rd At Washington Park, the Superbas successfully challenge the Sunday Blue Laws by playing under a new voluntary payment plan. Instead of dropping money in a box, fans hand it to an attendant who seats them in the proper section. Brooklyn then defeats the Beaneaters, 3–1.

The Cardinals trade pitcher Chappie McFarland to the Pirates for rookie pitcher Ed Karger.

4^th  Unable to shake the effects of diphtheria contracted in the spring, a frustrated Christy Mathewson throws a rare tantrum after giving up 4 runs to the Phils on 2 hits and 6 walks in the first inning, and umpire Bill Klem in turn throws him out of the game. Hooks Wiltse relieves and picks up a victory as New York rallies to win, 9–6.

Bill Coughlin is the 2^nd Tiger within a month to steal 2B, 3B, and home in a game; he does this in the 7^th inning against Washington during a 13–4 romp. Pitcher Bill Donovan did it on May 7^th. Washington ties the game at 4 apiece, but the Tigers score 9 in the last 2 innings to win. O’Leary has a homer for Detroit.

5^th With a 1 ½ game lead, the Cubs Three Fingered Brown stops the Giants on 3 hits and no runs while his mound rival Joe McGinnity allows 6 runs.

Doc White pitches a one hitter, as the White Sox beat the Athletics, 7–1. A walk, a double by Bris Lord, and a balk give the A’s their score. Rube Waddell takes the loss and also suffers a broken thumb on his non-pitching hand. After 5 straight 20-win seasons, the injury will slow Rube down to a 15–17 year.

6^th Jack Harper, making his first pitching appearance for the Cubs after being traded by the Reds for Chick Fraser, retires all three Giants batters he faces, but is hit on his pitching hand by a line drive off the bat of the 3^rd hitter, Dan McGann. Harper is lifted for pinch hitter Johnny Kling in the 2^nd inning and never pitches again. Harper also pitched for the losingest team, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. The Cubs, on their way to a record 116 wins, top the host Giants 11–3 scoring 7 in the 8^th, with Schulte collecting 5 hits. Orval Overall is the winner.

The White Sox buy the contract of Patsy Dougherty from the Highlanders. Dougherty has been playing independent ball but will sign with the Sox.

7^th  The Cubs score 11 runs in the first inning off Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity en route to a 19–0 cakewalk in New York. Matty gives up 6 walks, retiring one batter leaves after giving up a double to Joe Tinker. Iron Joe leaves after the 2^nd inning. Jack Pfiester allows just three hits as he coasts to the win, the worst beating in Giants history.

In Washington, Rear Admiral Evans announces that as a result of the actions by Provincetown, Mass. Selectmen, who have banned Sunday baseball, he is moving the battleships Maine and Missouri and the cruiser Yankton of the Atlantic fleet to Rockport Maine for the summer. The selectmen had initially endorsed Sunday baseball and then relented because of pressure from preachers who denounced the practice. A total of 10,000 crew members are involved.

8^th The Giants redeem themselves with a 7–3 victory over the Cubs, their first win in 4 games with Chicago. Brown, on short rest, gives up 7 hits and walks 3. The Cubs now lead by 3 ½ games.

9^th  A NL record 19-game losing streak ends for the Boston Beaneaters (NL) with a 6–3 win over the Cardinals.

Under threatening skies, the host Phillies take the field in the 8^th inning holding a 1–0 lead over the Pirates. As the Pirates rally the Phils stop trying for outs, hoping that umpire Bill Klem will call the game and declare them 1–0 winners. But after 7 runs cross the plate, Klem declares a forfeit and the fans erupt. In two weeks the NL will instruct all clubs to provide dressing areas for visiting teams, so they do not have to change in their hotel.

10^th The White Sox manage just one hit off Al Orth but still beat the visiting Highlanders, 1–0, on an unearned run. In the 3^rd inning, 2 errors and a HBP score the run. Jones has the lone hit, a 6^th inning single.

In Memphis on a scouting trip, Connie Mack says that Christy Mathewson’s ineffectiveness can be traced back to a ligament sprain in his last game pitching against the A’s. In the latter part of the game, Matty grasped his arm after unleashing a fastball. Mack said players on the coaching lines heard the snap of something resembling the crack of a toy pistol. Mack’s offer of $1700 to Memphis for SS Simon Nicholls is refused but Mack will sign him later in the year for $2,500. Nicholls will play three positions his rookie year, put together a 20-game hitting streak, and finish with a .302 average.

11^th At Boston, the Boston Nationals Dave Brain makes a ML record 5 errors at 3B, and his teammates makes another 6 to help the St. Louis Cardinals post an 8–1 win. The 11 errors ties the NL record set by the Cardinals on April 19, 1902.

The Cubs beat Brooklyn, 8–3, as Frank Schulte hits a homer over the RF fence. Chicago will split the next 2 in Brooklyn.

13^th  Recently acquired Chappie McFarland makes his first start for the Pirates and shuts out the host Phillies on 6 hits to win, 3-0. Chappie chips in with three hits. McFarland’s fortunes will fall and the Pirates will release him August 1 for one appearance wuth Brooklyn.

14^th  The Brooklyn Superbas record 27 putouts and 27 assists in beating the Pirates, 6–1. This will stand as the record until Pittsburgh totals 28 on June 7, 1911.

The White Sox win their 3^rd straight from Washington, 2–0, as Ed Walsh, pitching on 2 days rest, allows 5 hits. The Sox will lose to the Nats, tomorrow, ending their 7-game win streak. Sox prexy Comiskey hires H.B. Conibear, the trainer for the University of Chicago teams, to help with the Sox players.

15^th The Cubs beat the host Phillies, 1–0. In writing up the game tomorrow the Tribune will call the team the Cubs (as noted by Irv Stein) a first for the paper. The paper had been referring to the team as the Spuds, a name pinned on them in 1898 because of the number of young players: the ball park was called the “potato patch.” (other nicknames for the Cubs were Colts, Orphans, and Recruits).

17^th  In another test of Sunday baseball in Brooklyn, Superbas prexy Charles Ebbets comes up with a twist—patrons will pay after the game is played, placing contributions in convenient boxes. ‘Nice try’ say the police who arrest Ebbets, manager Ned Hanlon, the visiting Reds’ manager Joe Kelley, and starting P Mal Eason. The case is dismissed as no admission was charged. In addition to the visit to the police precinct, the Reds whip Brooklyn, 3–0.

At the Polo Grounds, Mathewson appears in old form, yielding 8 hits in beating the Cardinals, 2–1. Jack Taylor takes the loss when 2B Pug Bennett bobbles Roger Bresnahan’s grounder in the 8^th and a run scores.

19^th  At Cleveland, the Naps take a pair from New York, 5-0 and 3-2, and switch places in the standings as a result. New York drops to 3^rd. The wins are costly though as Bill Bradley has his arm fractured when hit by a Bill Hogg pitch in game 2. He will miss nearly half the season. Hogg reportedly says, “That big Frenchman (Lajoie) is next on my list.” Taking over at third for Bradley is Jap Barbeau, at 5’5” the smallest man in the league.

NL directors pass a resolution urging all clubs to provide dressing rooms for visiting teams because the spiked shoes were causing damage and upsetting hotel managers. Even those teams that do comply, however, offer such primitive facilities that most teams on the road continue to dress at their hotels. Another resolution moves the batting practice from in front of the grand stand to the diamond. A third resolution is passed donating $500 to the Pacific Coast League, suffering from the damage caused by the San Francisco earthquake.

20^th At Exposition Park, Honus Wagner clubs one of the longest hits in park history, but only makes it to 3B. Rounding first he is clipped by 1B Kid Gleason, and Wagner limps his way to a triple. A courtesy pinch runner, Harry Smith, scores for the Pirates on a fly. The Giants generously allow Wagner to return to SS in the game, a 15–2 win for Pittsburgh, but the injury will force him to miss 3 games.

21^st At the Polo Grounds, umpire Bob Emslie tosses John McGraw in the 4^th inning, but his fellow ump Hank O’Day goes one better, banishing Joe McGinnity and first sacker Dan McGann in the 5^th. Down 4–2, Mathewson relieves for the Giants and shuts out the Pirates over the last 4 innings. The Giants load the bases in the 9^th and Chappie McFarland relieves a tired Sam Leever. A single scores one and with two outs, Doc Marshall singles to score the winning run. Mathewson wins, 5–4.

23^rd At the Polo Grounds, the Giants whip the Phils 5–0 in a match that takes 1 hour: 20 minutes. Mathewson allows 6 hits in outpitching Lew Richie.

The Browns Harry Howell allows 11 hits in shutting out Cleveland, 9–0.

24^th At Chicago, with one on and the Tigers down 2–1 with two outs in the 9^th, pinchhitter Germany Schaefer calls his homerun shot (according to Davy Jones in Glory of Their Times). He announces to the crowd: “Ladies and Gentlemen, you are now looking at Herman Schaefer, better known as ‘Herman the Great,’ acknowledged by one and all to be the greatest pinch hitter in the world. I am now going to hit the ball into the left-field bleachers. Thank you.” Facing White Sox starter Doc White, Germany then hits the first pitch into the LF bleachers for a game-winning homer. He supposedly slides into every base, announcing his progress along the way. At second base it is “Schaefer leads at the half.” After sliding into home, he jumps up and calls out, “Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes this afternoon’s performance. I thank you for your kind attention.” Newspaper accounts confirm the bare facts but not all of Jones’s story. The loss drops the White Sox back into 5^th place.

25^th In Chicago, Ed Reulbach beats the Cardinals, 2–1, allowing one hit.

26^th At South End Grounds, the Giants roast the Beaneaters, 6–4, as Mathewson wins his 8^th game. The game is interrupted when fans charge onto the field after 2 spectators are arrested for gambling. The players “watch the exertions of the police who had to beat off many would be rescuers. . . “ (Chicago Tribune).

The Cubs Orval Overall allows 3 hits, 2 by Beckley, and K’s 11 in beating the Cardinals, 1–0. Buster Brown takes the loss.

In an Iowa State league game at Waterloo, Herbert Whitney, catcher for the Burlington (Iowa) Pathfinders, is beaned by a pitch from Fred Evans and his skull is fractured. He dies from the injury (as noted by Tim Rask).

27^th The Giants take another from Boston, winning, 4–2, and moving in 2^nd place in the NL, just 2 games behind the front-running Cubs.

30^th At the Polo Grounds, the Beaneaters score 4 runs in 7 innings off Mathewson to beat the Giants, 4–3.

JULY

1^st  Righthander Jack Taylor, 8–9 with the St. Louis Cardinals, returns to the Cubs in exchange for 2^nd-string C Pete Noonan, rookie P Fred Beebe, and cash. New Chicago owner Murphy is not as apoplectic on the subject of Taylor as his predecessor Hart, and the acquisition denies the Giants of Taylor’s services. Taylor will help the Cubs by going 12–3 the rest of the year. The New York Telegram will accuse Reds owner Herrmann of syndicate baseball, saying he put Murphy in as owner of the Cubs and is backing the St. Louis Cards. Hence, the swap of Taylor from the Cards, Steinfeldt from the Reds, and Sheckard from Brooklyn—all in an effort to deny the Giants the pennant. The Cubs win today, 1-0, over Bob Wicker and the Reds. Ed Reulbach is the winner.

2^nd In a battle of the tailenders, Boston beats Washington, 4-3, behind Cy Young in game 1, and Washington then whips them, 17-3 in game 2 in a game called after 7 innings so the Americans can catch a train. Dave Altizer scores 5 runs for the Senators in game 2 and Jones has a triple and double.

In a pair of 1-0 games, the Reds Chick Fraser beats the Cubs, while Boston beats the Phillies on rookie Johnny Bates’s homerun in the 9^th off Togie Pittinger.

At Philadelphia, the Highlanders and Athletics split a pair. The A’s take the opener, 5-4, with a bases loaded walk in the 9^th. In game 2, the New Yorkers are leading 5-1 in the 9^th with 2 outs in the bottom of the frame when a forfeit in declared when fans surge onto the field.

The Reds president Hermann, furious at the charge of Barney Dreyfuss of the Pirates, declares that the Pirates can have Ed Phelps for nothing. Dreyfuss had charged that Phelps was awarded to the Reds because of Hermann’s $6000 wager against the Pirates as a pennant winner. Phelps is now the property of the Boston Americans, but Hermann will pay the $1500 to get his release.

3^rd At Cleveland, the Naps top the Tigers, 5–0, in game called after 6 innings on account of rain. To underscore the soggy conditions, Detroit outfielder Germany Schaefer plays the last few innings wearing a raincoat over his uniform. Little-used Happy Jack Townsend records the shutout.

4^th At Pittsburgh, the visiting Cubs and Pirates deal aces today with Chicago coming out on top in both games by 1–0 scores. In a classic match, Three Fingered Brown beats Lefty Leifield, 1–0 in the lid lifter with both pitchers firing one-hitters. It is just the 2^nd double one-hitter in history, the first occurring on August 20, 1886. Leifield collects the only Buc shot off Brown while holding Chicago hitless until Jimmy Slagle’s safety in the 9^th inning. Slagle scores on a sacrifice, error, and ground out. Brown will toss 9 shutouts this year. In the 2^nd game, Carl Lundgren tosses another 1–0 shutout for Chicago, beating Vic Willis. When Brown and Leifield face off on September 6, Brown will again allow just one hit.

After the White Sox beat the Browns yesterday, 5–3 and 8–0, St. Louis retaliates by winning, 8–0, before losing 5–3. The Sox attendance is 10,000. Major league attendance for today’s holiday games has the AL with 75,000 and the NL at 68,000.

5^th  Jack Coombs, the A’s rookie righthander from Colby College, makes his ML and pro debut, blanking Washington 3–0 for the Athletics. He allows 7 hits and strikes out 6.

At the Polo Grounds, Boston’s Jeff Pfeffer and Christy Mathewson match zeros for 8 innings before the Giants finally score in the 9^th on a single by Sammy Strang. Matty allows 6 hits in the 1–0 win.

In Boston, the Red Sox make 9 errors to help the Highlanders win, 8–3.

6^th After winning yesterday, the Cubs (51–22) lose the 4^th game of the series with Pittsburgh, 3–2, in 10 innings. Jack Taylor pitches his first game for Chicago.

At Boston, the Highlanders Jack Chesbro and Doc Newton both throw shutouts, beating the Red Sox, 4-0 and 8-0.

The White Sox sign OF Patsy Dougherty. The former Highlander had been playing with Lancaster (Tri State) after a salary dispute with New York. Dougherty will be immediately suspended by the AL for jumping his contract, then pay a $175 fine. He’ll hit .233 for the Sox in 75 games.

7^th The first-place Cubs take the 5^th game in the series at Pittsburgh, 5–0, scoring all their runs in the 9^th. Three Fingered Brown is the winner, allowing 4 hits. They will lose the last game of the series, on Monday in Chicago, 3–1.

9^th  At League Park, the Giants trim the Reds, 5–3.

10^th  The Reds reach Mathewson for 5 runs before Red Ames relieves in the 5^th. Bob Wicker, the ex-Cub, holds New York in check for a 5–3 Cincy win.

12^th  The Reds sell star Cy Seymour to the New York Giants for $12,000. Seymour was hitting just .257. Reds manager Ned Hanlon claims the move will strengthen the team, a notion scoffed at in Pittsburgh. The Sporting News surmises, “Will the lads in Cincinnati stand for the sale of Seymour? Wonder if the Pittsburg fans would stand for the sale of Wagner to the Chicago club? Do you think so, gentle reader?”

In St. Louis, the Phils lose to the Cardinals, 7-6, despite four stolen bases by Sherry Magee.

14^th  At Robison Field, the Giants clip the Cardinals 5–1 and 4–0 with the help of two additions to the lineup. Cy Seymour, last year’s near triple-crown winner, is a new addition from the Reds for $12,000. Seymour was with the Giants from 1896 to 1900 as a pitcher and outfielder, and in 1905 led the NL in batting, RBIs, slugging percentage, and 2^nd in homers (8). Cy has 4 hits for the Giants today. The other addition is Spike Shannon, who moves over from the Cardinal dugout in exchange for Sam Mertes and Doc Marshall. Spike has 3 hits and 2 runs in the opener. Mathewson wins the nitecap, shutting out the Birds on 6 hits. The Giants will win the next two to sweep the 4-game series.

16^th At New York, the White Sox score 3 off Doc Newton and Jack Chesbro in the 10^th to beat the Highlanders, 7–4, dropping New York to 2^nd place behind the A’s. Yesterday, they won with 2 runs in the 9^th. New York did most of their damage in the 3^rd, when Wid Conroy hits a 3-run homer to CF off Frank Owen. Conroy has 3 hits. When Doc White relieves he allows 2 hits in 7 innings. Newton, on the New York side, is touched for 12 hits.

17^th The Cubs beat back the Giants, 6–2, as Three Fingered Brown tops Christy Mathewson. Joe Tinker’s 2-run homer in the 6^th is the big blow for Chicago. The loss drops the Giants to 6 games behind the Cubs.

18^th Ty Cobb, suffering stomach cramps, leaves the Tigers and returns to Detroit. He will undergo an operation for ulcers, and be out of the lineup until September.

Washington pitcher Fred “Cy” Falkenberg bangs the century’s first grand slam by a ML pitcher, connecting in the 6^th inning off White Sox ace Frank Owen. The lanky Falkenberg’s Texas League drive in the 6^th hits a stone and bounces, rolling under the stands for an inside-the-park grand slam. Washington wins, 6–3, over the 4^th-place Sox. It is the only homer of his career.

19^th The Giants, behind Iron Joe McGinnity, beat Chicago’s Ed Reulbach, 5–2. Reulbach (7–4) will win his next 12 games to finish the season at 19–4 with an ERA of 1.65.

20^th  Brooklyn righthander Mal Eason, the victim of John Lush’s no-hitter in May, no-hits the Cardinals 2–0 at St. Louis. Eason walks 3 and strikes out 5. This will be Eason’s last season as an active player: he will become an NL umpire.

Against Christy Mathewson, the Cubs overcome a 3–2 deficit with 4 runs in the 8^th inning to win, 6–3. Harry Steinfeldt’s 2-run triple puts the Cubs ahead to stay.

23^rd The White Sox and A’s exchange shutouts, with Chicago taking game 1, 4–0, and the A’s winning the nitecap, 3–0. After losing 2 to Philadelphia on the 25^th, the Sox trail the 3^rd place Athletics by 9 games.

In a Texas League marathon at Ft. Worth, Cleburne and Ft. Worth battle to a 0-0 tie in 19 innings, the longest scoreless game in league history. Hickory Dickson for Cleburne and Alex Dupree for Ft. Worth each go the distance.

24^th At Boston, the last-place Red Sox spank Cleveland twice, winning 5-1 and 9-2. Cy Young tops Addie Joss in the opener and the Cleveland ace comes up with a sore shoulder that will limit his mound appearances to two games in August.

25^th In Pittsburgh, Mathewson salvages the final game in the 4-game series by shutting out the Pirates, 3–0. Matty allows 8 hits in beating Deacon Phillippe.

27^th At St. Louis, Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Dinneen allows only a Pete O’Brien single in beating the Browns, 1–0. O’Brien’s single could easily have been ruled an error.

At Philadelphia, Lefty Leifield stops the Phillies, 10-2, for Pittsburgh, while Ginger Beaumont hits a grand slam off Johnny Lush in the 7^th.

28^th At Galveston, the Sand Crabs win the opener from Austin, 4–1 (South Texas League). In the 2^nd game, Galveston, down 2–0 in the 8^th, forfeits the game when management has umpire Wright arrested for using foul language. “The language said to have been used was such as to offend even the blase old rounder, to say nothing of the many ladies in the audience. The action of the management in having Wright arrested, even at the expense of the forfeiture of the game, was commended by all present when the reason of it all became known.” (Galveston Chronicle)

30^th  A State Supreme Court judge rules that, despite “voluntary contributions” instead of paid admissions, Brooklyn is conducting a business enterprise and thus violating the law prohibiting Sunday baseball in New York. Sunday baseball in Brooklyn will not be legal until 1919.

At the Polo Grounds, the Giants jump on Cincy’s Bob Wicker, lighting him up for 17 hits to win, 9–1. Christy Mathewson and Cy Seymour each have 3 hits, with Matty exiting the game after 6 innings. The umps call the game after 8 innings on account of darkness.

Boston American rookie Joe Harris stops St. Louis, 5-3, to snap his losing streak of 14 straight losses.

AUGUST

1^st Brooklyn’s Harry McIntire tosses a no-hitter through 10 innings before Claude Richey singles in the 11^th. McIntire allows no more hits through 12 innings, but he is matched by Pirates P Lefty Leifield, who scatters 9 hits through 12 innings. McIntire, who faced 31 batters through the first ten innings, finally weakens in the 13^th and allows 3 hits and a run to lose, 1–0.

The lowly Phillies stop the Cubs, 3–1. Chicago will lose just 7 more games all year.

2^nd  While the Athletics, crippled by injuries, falter, Doc White launches the White Sox on a 19-game winning streak (longest in AL history) with a 3–0 win over Boston. The streak, interrupted only by a 0–0 tie with New York, catapults Chicago from 4^th place to first in 10 days. Doc White wins 6 of the 19; Ed Walsh, 7. Boston, too, starts a more dubious streak of four straight shutout losses. They lose tomorrow, 4–0, 1–0 on the 4^th, and 4–0 on the 6^th. This ties the mark set earlier in the year by the Boston Nationals, and no team will top them.

3^rd  Tom Hughes of the Washington Nationals and Tom Glade of the St. Louis Browns enter the 10^th with a scoreless tie. Hughes decides he will have to do it on his own and goes long for a 1–0 win. He is the first pitcher to win a 1-0 extra-inning game with a homer. Red Ruffing will do it in 1932.

The Cubs shut out the Phillies twice, beating them 1–0 and 7–0. Ed Reulbach and Three Fingered Brown are the winners. For Brown, it is his second doubleheader shutout in a month. For the second time in a month, the Phils Sherry Magee has four stolen bases in a game.

4^th The Giants slow the Chicago express, stopping the Cubs 7–4 behind Mathewson and Hooks Wiltse. New York is just 4 ½ games behind Chicago, but the Cubs will go 50-8 from August 1^st to outdistance the pack.

5^th In St. Louis, George Stone lines a 4^th inning inside-the-park homer for the Browns against New York’s Doc Newton as St. Louis edges the Yankees, 2-1. It is Stone’s second IPHR off Doc in a month. Stone has hit 11 career homers, six against New York and all have been inside the park (according to homer guru David Vincent). Today’s was his first IPHR against New York at home.           The Cubs play a Sunday exhibition in Troy, NY before 5,000, beating a local team, 6–0.

6^th  In New York, Art Devlin and John McGraw are tossed for abusing umpire James Johnstone during a 3–1 loss to Chicago. The two will be suspended. Three Fingered Brown is the winner over Joe McGinnity, who is making his first appearance after being suspended for 10 days and fined $100 for an altercation with Peitz in Pittsburgh.

Despite two homeruns by Branch Rickey, both off reliever Walter Clarkson and one inside-the-park, the Browns fall to the visiting Highlanders, 8-6, when New York rallies for 3 in the 9^th. It is the first two-homer game by a Browns’ player. Rickey hit the first of his three career homers four days ago.

At Cleveland, the Red Sox are shut out, 4-0, for the fourth consecutive game to set an AL record not topped in the century. It will be tied next month, however, by the Athletics.

7^th  On McGraw’s orders, umpire Johnstone is refused admittance to the Polo Grounds, and the ump, standing outside the Polo Grounds, forfeits the match to the Cubs. McGraw insists the game go on with a player from each team umpiring. McGraw picks reserve Sam Strang, but Cubs manager Frank Chance refuses to go along, pointing out the game has already been forfeited. Strang then forfeits the game to the Giants and Emslie, the appointed ump from the Cubs, then forfeits the game to the Cubs.

8^th  NL President Harry Pulliam upholds the forfeit to the Cubs of yesterday’s Giants game stating: “I uphold the action of the umpires absolutely, and if I am not sustained by the NL Board of Directors I will not only resign my position as President of the NL, but I will quit professional baseball forever.” Giants owner John Brush then allows Johnstone to officiate, and the Cubs win 3–2 behind Three Fingered Brown and Ed Reulbach. At the month’s end, the Cubs will have a 15-game lead.

The White Sox edge the A’s, beating Eddie Plank, 1–0, in 10 innings. Dougherty’s hit in the 10^th, just the second allowed by Plank, drives in Davis with the run. Roy Patterson is the winner.

At Cleveland, the lowly Boston Americans sweep a pair, winning 3-1 behind Cy Young and 1-0 behind Joe Harris. Harris had a losing streak of 14 straight this year, eight by shutouts. The two wins snap a four-game streak of shutouts for Boston. They score 3 runs today in the 3^rd inning to stop a scoreless innings streak of 40 innings. Next month the A’s will go even longer without scoring.

9^th The Cubs’ Jack Taylor beats Brooklyn 5–3 and posts his 187^th consecutive straight complete game, a major league record. The streak will end in 4 days when he again pitches against Brooklyn.

The Giants stop the Pirates, 6–0, with Mathewson and George Ferguson combining for the shutout. Lefty Leifield takes the loss.

In a New England League game, Lynn (MA) outfielder Tom Burke has his skull fractured when he is hit by a pitch thrown by Fall River’s Joseph Yeager. In two days, Burke will die from the beaning.

10^th In Chicago, the Sox edge the Highlanders, 2–1, managing just 4 hits off Jack Chesbro. Ed Walsh is the winner.

11^th Before 15,000, the White Sox whip the Highlanders, 8–1. New York 3B George Moriarty gets into a fight with a fan in the 8^th inning before police break it up.

12^th A Sunday crowd estimated at 30,000 are on hand in Chicago to watch the red-hot White Sox beat the Highlanders, 3–0. The gates are closed an hour before game time, locking many fans outside. The Sox win puts them in first place, with the Athletics, losers today to the Browns, a half game behind, and the Highlanders now a game back. Tomorrow, the 2 teams will battle to a scoreless tie. Frank Smith secures the win today with his only shutout of the year. Unable to reliably control his spitball, Smith will make only 13 starts this season and will not appear in the WS. Highlanders twirler Al Orth is effective as a fielder, handling an AL record 11 assists. It will be tied but never topped/

13^th  The Cubs’ Jack “Brakeman” Taylor is knocked out by Brooklyn in the 3^rd inning, breaking a string of 187 complete games and 15 relief appearances in which he finished each game. The ML record run began June 20^th, 1901. In 10 years he will fail to finish only 8 of 286 starts. With relief help from Orval Overall, Chicago wins, 11–3.

The host Giants sweep the Pirates, winning 6–1 and 2–1. Hooks Wiltse is the winner in the opener, while Mathewson matches him in the nitecap. Spike Shannon’s 9^th inning single off Lefty Leifield brings home the game-winner in the 2^nd game.

14^th  In Cincinnati, the National Baseball Commission issues a list of palyers who are barred from playing for National Agreement teams. Some names are marked with the notation “violated contract” and reportedly will never be reinstated. The others can be reinstated by paying a fine. Brooklyn leads with 10 players listed out of 19 NLers. The AL has 5.

Ginger Beaumont and Fred Clarke each have 4 hits as the Pirates win over Boston, 4-0. Pittsburgh scores 3 of their runs in the 8^th. Boston manages just 4 singles off Leever.

15^th  At Chicago, the Cubs build up a 10-0 over Brooklyn, and lift Three Fingered Brown after 7 innings for reliever Lundgren. Helped by a Tim Jordan homer in the 9^th, Brooklyn scores 7 to make the final, 10-7. Johnny Evers has 4 hits, including a pair of triples.

In the first of two at Pittsburgh, Boston pushes across 2 runs in the 11^th to beat starter Mike Lynch. Lynch has 4 hits in the game off Irv Young. Pittsburgh collects 18 hits in the second game to win, 10-4.

16^th  At Boston, the White Sox win, 9-4, for their 13^th straight victory. Billy Sullivan has a single, triple and homer for Chicago.

17^th  Red Donahue shuts out the Highlanders as Detroit prevails, 6-0. Poor fielding by New York third baseman Frank LaPorte, who makes 4 errors, tying an AL record, is the biggest factor, but New York fails to capitalize on key scoring situations: Hal Chase is 0-for-4, making an out each time with men on base, and leaving 8.

The White Sox score a run in the 9^th off Cy Young to edge the Red Sox, 4-3. It is their 14^th straight victory. Doc White is the winning pitcher with 7 innings of relief. Frank Owen started and pitched 2 frames.

18^th  After winning 14 out of 16 on the road, the Cubs turn back the visiting Giants, 6–2 behind Three Fingered Brown. Mathewson has an off day for New York, allowing 12 hits, three by his nemesis Joe Tinker. The Cubs have now won 11 straight.

The Phillies down the host Cardinals, 11-2, as Kitty Bransfield hits a grand slam in the 5^th inning off Art Hoelskoetter.

Wee Willie Keeler is struck out for only the second time this season, both times by spitballer Ed Walsh of the White Sox, as Chicago steamrolls over New York, 10–0, for their 15^th straight win (one tie). Chicago scores 9, all unearned, in the 9^th, sending 12 men to the plate and collecting 5 hits. Frank LaPorte, who drops an easy fly ball in the 7^th when he is bumped by Kid Elberfeld and allows the first run to score, makes 2 more errors in the 9^th. Elberfeld makes another error, as does Thomas. LaPorte has now made 7 errors in two games (the ML record of 9 was set New York’s Tom Esterbrook in 1883). For Walsh, it is his third shutout in a row and his 4^th in 5 games. He will lead the AL in that category with 10.

20^th White Sox OF Patsy Dougherty leads the offense with a homer to CF as Chicago beats New York, 4–1, for their 16^th straight win. New York is in 4^th place in the AL, 5 games behind Chicago.

21^st In the first of two against Cleveland, the Senators load the bases with no outs before Cleveland turns a triple play, the first by Cleveland’s AL team. It’s the closest to scoring the Nationals will come as they lose, 2-0, but they take the second game, 2-1.

22^nd The Pirates edge the Giants and Mathewson, 2–1, plating both runs on walks.

The Sox win a pair from the Highlanders, 6–1 and 11–6 to stretch their winning streak to 18 games. Ed Walsh wins his 10^th in a row.

23^rd White Sox pitcher Roy Patterson beats Washington, 4–1, giving Chicago its 19^th straight win, an AL record. The streak will be tied by the 1947 Yankees. Chicago now leads by 5 ½ games.

24^th  The Reds’ Jake Weimer pitches a 7-inning no-hitter against Brooklyn, winning 1–0, when a run scores with 2 outs in the 7^th. Brooklyn takes the first game, 6–4, behind Jim Pastorius.

The Cubs sweep a pair from the Phillies, winning 5–0 and 7–3. In the first game, they win despite making only 2 hits. They score 3 in the 6^th on no hits. Ed Reulbach allows 4 hits.

With a rainout today, White Sox manager Fielder Jones, is quoted in the Tribune, “Bet on the Sox to win the world’s championship against the Spuds.” (as noted by Irv Stein).

25^th The Giants, trailing the Reds 3–2 after 6 innings, jump on Bob Wicker for 6 runs in the 7^th and win going away, 8–3. One of the 6 hits in the 6^th is a double by Christy Mathewson, the winning pitcher.

Washington sweeps a doubleheader from the White Sox, 5–4 and 4–3, to end Chicago’s win streak at 19 games. In the opener, Ed Walsh, who relieves in the 7^th, blows a 4–2 lead in the 9^th by giving up 5 straight hits and 3 runs. Charles Smith is the winner. The Sox jumped from 4^th to first on the streak.

New York Highlanders rookie Slow Joe Doyle debuts with a 2–0 shutout against Cleveland. Walter Clarkson follows in game 2 with another 2-0 whitewash.

27^th The Cubs win their 9^th in a row, beating the Phils, 5–2, and taking a 12 ½ game lead.

In a 6-inning game ended by rain, Ed Walsh strikes out 9 and allows one hit to beat the A’s, 1–0, for his 11^th straight win.

29^th After Boston Americans manager Jimmy Collins takes a vacation without permission, he is suspended. Chick Stahl is named acting manager. Boston beats Cleveland today, 6–2.

The A’s Jim Dygert and Rube Waddell combine for a 5-inning no hitter against the White Sox. The Athletics barely win, 4–3, when rain washes out 3 Sox runs in the top of the 6^th. Ed Walsh loses for the first time after 11 straight wins. Despite the win streak, Walsh will finish 17-13.

30^th  Righthander Slow Joe Doyle of the Highlanders sets a ML record as the first 20^th century player to start out with 2 shutouts when he beats the Washington Nationals, 5–0. These are his only 2 wins this year as he goes 2–1. Of his 23 lifetime victories, 7 will be shutouts. He is nicknamed “Slow” because of his time-consuming pace on the mound. Behind the hitting of Hal Chase, who has a ML record tying 3 triples and a double, the Highlanders take the nitecap as well, 9–8, in 10 innings to begin a sweep of 5 doubleheaders in 6 days. They’ll outscore their opponents 76–31. Charlie Jones has an inside-the-park grand slam for Washington in the nightcap, connecting off Bill Hogg in the 2^nd.

At Baker Bowl, the Phils and Giants swap shutouts. The Quakers win the opener, 2–0, when Tom Sparks allows just 3 hits to outpitch Christy Mathewson. Iron Joe McGinnity then blanks the hosts, 1–0, to hand Bill Duggleby the loss.

31^st Beset by injuries, the Tigers call 46-year-old Sam Thompson out of retirement; he plays RF and bats cleanup driving in 2 runs in a 5–1 win over the Browns. Thompson, who last played in the majors in 1898, appears in 8 games and bats .226. When the regular umpires fail to appear, players Wild Bill Donovan and Barney Pelty do the umping. Donovan umped once before, in 1902.

In the great tradition of his late brother Ed, Frank Delahanty of New York hits two HRs, a triple, and single, and knocks in 7 runs in a 20–5 rout of Washington. George Moriarty adds 2 triples as 8 players score 2 or more runs. The game is called after 6 innings because of darkness and the mercy rule. New York takes the opener as well, 7–5, behind the pitching of Jack Chesbro.

SEPTEMBER

1^st  The AL’s longest game to date takes place in Boston before 16,000. Rookies Jack Coombs and 24-year-old Joe Harris go the route in a 24-inning struggle, ending with a 4–1 Athletics victory after 4 hours and 47 minutes. It sets the ML record, later broken, and is still the AL mark for two pitchers. Two singles and then Socks Seybold and Danny Murphy hit triples with two outs to end the contest. Philadelphia’s Jack Coombs faces 89 batters, striking out ML record 18 (broken in 1962) and giving up 14 hits, while the Americans’ Harris fans 14 and yields 16 hits. Harris drops his record to 2–21, and will start next year at 0–6 before exiting the majors for Providence, holding the distinctions of the worst winning percentage (.091 for a 3-30 record) and the fewest wins for any pitcher with 300 innings pitched. The 24 innings pitched will only be exceeded this century by the 26-inning battle on May 1, 1920 between Oeschger and Cadore. There won’t be a longer game in the AL until May 9, 1984.

Like a rented mule. The Highlanders win their 6^th game in 3 days from Washington, sweeping their 3^rd straight doubleheader, 5–4 and 5–3, for an AL record. Three days later, they will move into first place, sweeping Boston 7–0 and 1–0 for their 5^th straight doubleheader sweep, a ML record.

With the regular umpires sick from food poisoning, Cub P Carl Lundgren and Cardinal C Pete Noonan are picked to umpire at the West Side Grounds. The Cubs, behind Mordecai Brown’s 5-hitter, win 8–1 for their 14^th win in a row. The streak will end tomorrow, 5–2, with Lundgren again umpiring.

Tom Fisher, former NL pitcher, pitches a perfect game for Shreveport in a win over Montgomery. He strikes out 14.

2^nd In Chicago, the Sox edge Cleveland, 2–1, but lose C Sullivan when he is hit on the thumb with a foul tip. The Sox will journey to Cleveland, losing a twinbill there tomorrow.

Ty Cobb is back in the Detroit lineup for the first time in 6 weeks. He has a single and a steal, but he misplays a Charley Hemphill fly ball into a home run, and the Tigers lose 1–0 to the Browns Barney Pelty. Rain stops the game after 7 innings.

In a crucial series for the Texas League pennant, Cleburne pitcher Walter “Hickory” Dickson twice blanks Ft. Worth, winning each game 2-0. He ties a league mark for shutout innings in one day’s play.

3^rd  The Philadelphia Giants win the Negro Championship Cup on Labor Day in Philadelphia before 10,000 fans, black baseball’s largest crowd ever. Rube Foster pitches them to a 3–2 victory over the Cuban X-Giants, who have John Henry Lloyd in the lineup.

At Philadelphia, Brooklyn shuts out the Phillies twice, winning 8-0 behind Doc Scanlan and 10-0 behind Harry McIntire.

Kid Elberfeld, the hot-headed Tabasco Kid, assaults umpire Silk O’Loughlin and is forcibly removed by police in the first game of New York’s 4–3 win over the Athletics. In the 2^nd game, New York base runner Willie Keeler collides with SS Lave Cross trying to field a ground ball, and 2 runs score. O’Loughlin sees no interference, a call so hotly disputed by A’s captain Harry Davis that, after 8 minutes of arguing, the umpire forfeits the game to New York. For New York, it is a ML record 5^th straight doubleheader sweep in consecutive days, and the streak puts them back atop the AL. Elberfeld will be suspended for just 8 games for his brawl with Silk.

The White Sox drop out of first place by losing a pair to the host Cleveland Naps, 10-3 and 4-3. The victor in the morning game is Otto Hess who gains his first win over Chicago after 11 starts in four years. The Sox lose Lee Tannehill in game two when he is hurt in a collision at 3B on an attempted double steal. He is sent back to Chicago and feared lost for the season. The p.m. game draws 13,000.

At the Polo Grounds, the Giants flatten the Beaneaters twice, 4–0 and 3–2. Mathewson wins his 17^th in the opener, beating a wild Jeff Pfeffer. Cy Seymour completes the scoring with a solo homer in the 8^th inning. Hooks Wiltse, in relief of Red Ames, wins the nitecap.

At Detroit, St. Louis takes a pair from the Tigers, winning 5-2 and 5-0. In game 2, Detroit 3B Bill Coughlin pulls off a hidden ball trick nabbing George Stone in the first inning.

4^th The Highlanders win their 5^th doubleheader in a row—a record—and their 5^th in six days, as they tally a double shutout of Boston, 7–0 and 1–0. Their win streak will go through September 8 and will stretch to 15 victories, propelling New York to a 1 ½ game lead in the AL. Walter Clarkson and Al Orth are the winning pitchers today. It is the third doubleheader in two months that both New York pitchers have thrown shutouts.

6^th At Washington Park, Christy Mathewson strikes out 14 Brooklyn batters to win 6–2. The Giants score 4 runs in the first on two errors and two walks by Harry McIntire.

At Chicago, Mordecai Brown, who threw a one-hitter at Pittsburgh on July 4^th, does it again in beating Lefty Leifield, 2–0. The only hit is Tommy Sheehan’s 5^th inning safety. The Tribune reports that Cubs prexy Murphy has sold a tenth interest in the team to manager Chance in appreciation for Chance breaking a late inning tie in a game against the Reds. Chance stole second and then stole home all the way from second base.

7^th The Cubs continue to roll, beating Pittsburgh, 9–1. Ed Reulbach allows one hit in the win.

8^th Brooklyn blanks the Giants in two games, winning 6–0 and 1–0 at Washington Park, as Mal Eason and Doc Scanlan throw the shutouts. It is the second doubleheader shutout that Doc has operated on in five days. All the NL games result in a shutout today.

Boston Nationals Irv Young acts like Cy, allowing just Sherry Magee’s safety in a 4–0, one-hitter against the Phillies. Magee will do it 3 more times before he’s finished.

10^th At Chicago, the Tigers down the White Sox, 2–1. A potential Sox rally is stopped in the 9^th when leadoff batter George Davis seemingly bunts safely but is called out by ump Billy Evans. Evans’ call is greeted with a shower of bottles.

11^th In Boston, New York’s Christy Mathewson (19–9) shuts out the Beaneaters, 3–0, striking out 9. Today’s game is the last one in which John McGraw, playing 3B, appears in the lineup.

At New York, the Boston Americans take it on the chin, losing 11–3. Frank LaPorte hits an inside-the-park grand slam off Boston starter Ed Barry in the 6^th and when the inning ends Boston second baseman Hobe Ferris punches teammate right fielder Jack Hayden for not pursuing the short fly ball more actively. After they are separated, Hayden goes to the bench and Ferriss runs after him and kicks him. Umpire Hank O’Loughlin ejects both of them, but Ferris refuses to go. Two policemen escort him to the clubhouse and he is arrested for assault (as noted by Clem Conly). Ferriss is suspended for the remainder of the season by Ban Johnson.

12^th The White Sox drub the Browns, 13–5, to move to a game behind the Highlanders in the AL. Chicago scores 9 runs in the 2^nd inning. Tomorrow’s match ends at 0–0 in 10 innings.

In the Washington-Philadelphia game, A’s rookie pitcher Mike Cunningham hits an RBI-single and is injured in a collision at 1B with Jake Stahl in the 4^th inning (courtesy of Retrosheet). The injury dislocates his left, or non-pitching shoulder, which he had previously injured in a football game. A courtesy runner (pitcher Hack Schumann in his ML debut) is selected by Stahl (according to the Philadelphia Inquirer). But a gutsy Cunningham returns to the mound to finish the game, a 5–1 A’s victory.

13^th At St. Louis, Chicago tops the Cardinals, 6–2, as Mordecai “Three Fingered” Brown wins his 11^th straight.

14^th The Superbas sweep the Giants for the 2^nd time in a week. Red Ames loses the opener for New York, 5–3, and Harry McIntire outpitches Mathewson for a 1–0 win in the nitecap.

15^th The White Sox win their 4^th straight from the Browns, 6-4, to move back into first place. New York splits with Washington.

16^th Against the Pirates, the Cubs win their final home game, 5-1, extending their winning streak to 14 games. And ending the match with a muff. A 2-out grounder to Joe Tinker looks like the final out as he throws to Chance and the crowd surges to the field. But Chance drops the ball, grabs it late for the out, but sprints for the clubhouse with his team and fans following. Ump Conway throws up his hands and calls the game over.

17^th  Playing as “Sullivan,” at the suggestion of Connie Mack, Columbia University junior Eddie Collins makes his debut at SS with the Athletics. He gets one hit, a bunt single, off Ed Walsh and strikes out twice, as the White Sox win, 5–4. Collins will play 25 years in the ML, bat .333, and become a member of the Hall of Fame. Walsh strikes out 12 in the win, while loser Rube Waddell whiffs 11 in 11 innings.

The Giants roll over the Phillies’ rookie Walter Moser, 13–2 to make Mathewson’s 20^th victory an easy one. Matty leaves after 7 innings with a 10–2 lead. Mike Donlin makes his first appearance for the Giants since breaking his leg in May, striking out in his only at-bat.

In a 7–2 loss to Boston at Detroit, pitcher George Mullin pinch hits for Ty Cobb, and triples. This is the 3^rd time that Cobb has been pinch hit for (4-24, 5-30) this season, and each time the batter has hit safely.

18^th  In Boston, William Soden says, “The Boston National League club is still on the market. We have made no changes at all in our stand on the sale of the club. Our price is $75,000 cash. We would have made a deal with president Pulliam of the National League had we cared to make it.”

19^th  At Boston, Chicago clinches the NL pennant by topping the Beaneaters, 3–1, leaving the Giants 16 games back. Ed Reulbach is the winner. Reulbach will end the year with a 12-game winning streak.

20^th The 2^nd-place Giants split two in Pittsburgh, winning the opener 10–4 behind Joe McGinnity. In the 5-inning nitecap, called on account of darkness, the Pirates reach Mathewson for 7 hits to win, 3–2.

21^st  At Chicago, the White Sox lose a pair to New York before 20,000, their largest Friday afternoon crowd. Forty policemen are on hand to control the crowds. Hal Chase has 22 putouts at 1B in the first game, a 6–3 win, tying the ML record. New York takes game 2, 4–1, to move back into first place.

22^nd With an ailing battery of Doc White and Sullivan, returning after a 3-week layoff due to an injured thumb, the White Sox thrash the Highlanders, 7–1, and move back into a tie for first place. Fielder Jones has 3 hits, including a triple and fence-clearing HR.

23^rd St. Louis Browns twirlers Jack Powell and Harry Howell both throw shutouts against the Athletics, but only Powell comes away a winner, 5-0. Howell’s matchup with Jimmy Dygert is a 0-0 tie in 9 innings.

Before a Chicago crowd estimated at 25,000, Ed Walsh allows a first-inning run, and that is all the Highlanders Bill Hogg needs as he buffaloes the White Sox, 1–0, on 2 hits. A rain of bottles interrupts the game in the 8^th as ump Silk O’Laughlin is the target of the fans’ wrath.

At Detroit, Big George Mullin starts and wins both ends of a doubleheader against Washington, as Detroit wins 5-3 and 4-3.

24^th  In the 2^nd game of a DH, Cardinals hurler Stoney McGlynn tosses a 7-inning no-hitter against Brooklyn. The game ends in a 1–1 tie.

The Cubs pound the Giants twice to complete a 3 game sweep in New York. Chicago wins the opener 6–2, then jump on Mathewson for 16 hits and 10 runs to win, 10–5 in 8 innings. Jimmy Sheckard has 4 hits off Matty.

25^th The Cubs Jack Pfiester allows just one hit—a 2-out 8^th inning single by Bergen—in beating host Brooklyn, 1–0, in 10 innings. Elmer Stricklett, “the expert of the salvitory slings” (Chicago Tribune), matches scoreless innings until Schulte’s hits a 2-out double in the 10^th and scores on Hofman’s single.

Cleveland beats the Athletics, 4-0, handing the Philadelphians their fourth consecutive shutout (one game ended in a tie). This ties the AL mark set last month by Boston. St. Louis will tie it in 1913.

With the Highlanders losing, 6-5, to Detroit, the White Sox take over sole possession of first place with a 3-2 win over Boston. Nick Altrock, who won yesterday, is the winner with 6 innings of relief today. Altrock has won 6 games since September 9^th (9^th, 12^th, 14^th, 16^th, 24^th, 25^th).

26^th  Rookie OF John Cameron of Boston, after one relief appearance, gets a starting assignment against the Cardinals. Leadoff batter Tom O’Hara beats out an infield single. Al Burch’s line drive hits Cameron in the head, and caroms back on a fly to C Jack O’Neill, who throws to Fred Tenney at 1B, doubling off O’Hara. Cameron retires with one assist and a headache as Boston loses, 6–3. Cameron will play one more ML game, the finale on October 5.

In the 2^nd shortened no-hitter in 3 days, Lefty Leifield of Pittsburgh hurls a 6-inning no-hitter against Philadelphia, winning 8–0. Pittsburgh wins by a shutout, 5–0, in the first game as well. Vic Willis is the victor.

The Athletics finally score after being shut out for a ML record 48 consecutive innings, dating back to 7 innings on the September 22^nd. Harry Davis breaks the long drought with a 2-run double against Cleveland in the 6^th, but the A’s still lose, 5–3. The 1968 Cubs will tie this record.

The White Sox beat visiting Boston, 2–0, to sweep the 3-game series. The Highlanders lose by the same score to Detroit, which sweeps its 3 game series, effectively dampening the Highlanders pennant hopes. They now trail by 2 games.

28^th At New York, the Giants pepper Fred Beebe while Christy Mathewson coasts to an 8–1 lead. With the game in hand, Christy leaves after 8 innings, and his brother Henry Mathewson makes his ML debut. Henry allows an unearned run in the 9^th and the Giants win, 8–2.

After losing and tying yesterday in Cleveland, the Highlands split today, winning 2–0 and losing, 2–1. Cleveland is just a game behind the Highlanders.

30^th Boston American pitcher Floyd Kroh shuts out the Browns, 2–0, in his first ML start. He’ll win but one more game as a Sox pitcher, going 1-4 next year.

OCTOBER

1^st  Hugh Jennings resigns as Baltimore manager to take over at Detroit for 1907. Infusing the Tigers with aggressive Baltimore spirit, he will win pennants the next 3 years, and stay at the helm for 14.

The Series-bound Colts sweep two from the Phillies, winning the first game 4–0 behind Carl Lundgren’s 2-hitter. They then take the nitecap, 4–3 in a six inning contest called because of darkness, as Ed Reulbach wins his 12^th straight. This tops Mordecai Brown’s 11-game winning streak snapped earlier this month. Reulbach will win 14 in a row in 1909, a 20^th century Cubs record. Lundgren finishes the year with a 2.21 ERA, the only one of 6 pitchers on the staff over 2.00. It is led by Brown’s 1.04.

The Cardinals get whitewashed twice today, losing 3–0 and 2–0 to the Giants. Red Ames wins the opener and George Ferguson takes the nitecap victory.

Nick Altrock pitches the White Sox to a 1–0, 13-inning win over the Browns. Altrock has 6 assists to help him win his 20^th of the season. Tannehill’s RBI single scores Patsy Dougherty with the lone run. Frank Owen will toss another shutout tomorrow for the Sox.

2^nd  In St. Louis, the White Sox shut out the Browns, 6-0, behind Frank Owen’s 7^th shutout of the year. It is the 32^nd shutout for the White Sox, a ML record that will not be topped. The Cubs will tie it in 1907 and again in ’09.

3^rd  The smallest crowd in Polo Grounds history—300—watches the Phils beat the Giants 3–1. The Giants will attract about 400,000 over the season and be outdrawn by the Highlanders by about 20,000.

At Boston, the Beaneaters lose their 100^th game, as Brooklyn wins, 13-4. Rookie Johnny Bates gets Boston off the schneid when he hits a 9^th inning grand slam off Doc Scanlon.

The White Sox clinch the AL pennant during a rainout at St. Louis. Chicago achieves the lowest team BA ever for a pennant winner with .228. Hence, the “Hitless Wonders.”

After losing the opener, 7-5, the Athletics beat New York, 3–0, to end the pennant chase. While being given an intentional walk in the 3^rd inning, Harry Davis pops a 3-run homer for all the scoring. With two RBIs in game 1, Davis finishes the season with 96 runs batted in to lead the AL. Nap Lajoie is second with 91; no one else is over 80.

A syndicate headed by Art Soden sells the last place Boston Beaneaters (NL) to George and John Dovey for $75,000. The Dovey brothers will change the name of the team to the Doves, but retain manager Fred Tenney, who helped with the sale.

4^th  The Cubs score their record 116^th win of the year, beating the Pirates 4–0 in Pittsburgh. The winner is Jack Pfiester, who notches his 20^th victory. The win gives Chicago a 60–15 road record, an .800 percentage mark that has never been equaled.

Boston (NL) hurlers Vive Lindaman and Irv Young lose 3–2 and 2–1 to Brooklyn. The Beaneaters finish last with 102 losses. Four hardworking hurlers bear the brunt: Young and Gus Dorner each lose 25 games; Lindaman, 23; and Frank “Big Jeff” Pfeffer, 22.

At the Polo Grounds, the Giants light up Tully Sparks for 6 runs in the first inning with the big blow a grand slam by Sammy Strang. Christy Mathewson coasts to a 7–6 win over the Phils. Matty ends the season at 22–12.

5^th  The Giants give Christy Mathewson’s brother Henry Mathewson a starting chance against Boston and he promptly puts his name in the record books. Henry establishes a modern NL record by walking 14. He also hits one batter, allows just 5 hits, but completes the 7–1 loss. He’ll pitch another inning next year, but this is his only ML decision. Big Jeff Pfeffer is the winner, but he still finishes 13–22. He combines with Young, Lindeman, and Dorner as four 20—game losers, matching the ML record set last year by Boston. Irv Young is the only repeater from last year’s staff.

6^th  Chick Stahl, Boston Americans player-manager, closes out the season and his career last at-bat with an 8^th-inning two-run homer off New York’s Tom Hughes. But Long Tom emerges with a 5–4 win.

In St. Louis, the Browns sweep a pair from Detroit, winning 7-3 and 4-2. In game 1, Germany Schaefer swipes 4 bases for Detroit, none of them being first base, while George Stone hits an inside-the-park homer for the Browns off Ed Siever. Stone finishes with a AL-best .358 average and leads in slugging with a .501 percentage.

Finishing with a 3–3 tie against the Cardinals, Chicago is the first team to finish with fewer than 200 errors; their pitching staff has a combined 1.76 ERA.

7^th The White Sox end the season with a 6–1 loss to Detroit, the only team not to lose a season series with the Sox. Each team won 11 games from the other.

Cleveland finishes the year with a 7–3 win over the Browns, good for a 3^rd place finish. Nonetheless, Cleveland leads the AL in hitting, fielding, total bases, has three 20-game winners, five .300 hitters, and the AL’s top run scorer and base stealer.

9^th  Snow flies at the West Side Grounds as the first one-city World Series opens with the Cubs heavy favorites over the AL’s “Hitless Wonders.” Neither ballpark can accommodate the crowds, so the Chicago Tribune recreates the games on mechanical boards displayed at theaters. White Sox starter Nick Altrock and Cubs starter Three Fingered Brown give up 4 hits each, but Cubs errors produce 2 unearned runs for a 2–1 White Sox victory.

10^th  The Cubs jump on Doc White early, and run (5 SBs) to a 7–1 victory. The highlight of the game is Ed Reulbach’s no-hit bid broken up by Jiggs Donahue’s single in the 7^th. The next WS one-hitter will come in 1945, by another Cub—Claude Passeau.

11^th  Pitching continues to dominate as Ed Walsh stops the Cubs on 2 hits. The Sox manage just 4 off Jack Pfiester, but one is a triple by George Rohe, with 3 on in the 6^th, for a 3–0 win. Walsh fans 12, the record until 1929.

12^th  It’s Brown’s turn to throw a 2-hit shutout, besting Altrock 1–0 and evening the Series. Frank Chance reaches base in the 7^th on a Texas Leaguer that drops in front of the late-breaking Hahn, and two (!) sacrifice bunts get him to 3B. Johnny Evers then lines a single for the only run.

13^th  Mound magic disappears as both Walsh and Reulbach are knocked out. Paced by a WS record 4 doubles by Frank Isbell, the White Sox win the slugfest, 8–6.

14^th  The Sox jump on Three Fingered Brown for 7 runs in the first 2 innings, and coast behind Doc White to a 7–1 Series-ending victory. The Cubs’ losers’ share is $439.50, the lowest ever. The Sox players take home $1874 each. On Monday night, the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols tied the record with 3

NOVEMBER

1^st  Pitcher John McCloskey, 3–2 with the Phils, has better luck off the field. An investment in the Cripple Creek, CO, mine pays off with a rich gold strike.

4^th  In a 4-2 win over Los Angeles, Seattle pitcher Rube Vickers strikes out 9 to reach a PCL-record 402 K’s for the season. He also reaches a record 526 innings pitched and ties the PCL record with his 39^th win. Doc Newton of Los Angeles set the mark in 1904. His effort will earn him a return ticket to the majors.

DECEMBER

11^th  Harry Pulliam is reelected president of the NL at a salary of $10,000.

In a good trade for Boston (NL), they acquire lefty Patsy Flaherty, 2B Claude Ritchey, and OF Ginger Beaumont from the Pirates for good-fielding 2B Ed Abbaticchio. Abbaticchio will lead the NL in fielding in 1908, but Ritchey will lead in ‘07, and the other pair will be mainstays.

12^th  The AL gives Ban Johnson a raise to $15,000 for the remaining 4 years of his contract.

13^th  The Athletics sell P Andy Coakley to Cincinnati. A 20-game winner in 1905, he had slipped to 7–8. He will be an effective but hard-luck pitcher for the next 2 years before starting a 37-year career as baseball coach at Columbia University.

26^th  NL umpire Hank O’Day suggests that the batter’s box be outlined with white rubber strips rather than chalk, making it impossible for hitters to obliterate the lines with their spikes.

 

• 1907

JANUARY

10^th  John McGraw stops a runaway team of horses in Los Angeles, saving 2 young women from injury.

27^th  A bill is introduced in the Illinois legislature that would prohibit baseball games within 800 feet of a public hospital. The bill would affect the Cubs, since the West Side Grounds are close to the Cook County Hospital, but it is defeated. (Vineline, Jan 2007).

28^th  In an effort to reduce playing-date conflicts between their leagues, presidents Pulliam and Johnson meet to plan schedules. Conflicting dates are reduced to 27.

February

26^th The Browns trade Pete O’Brien to Cleveland for C Fritz Buelow.

27^th The Yankees acquire catcher Branch Rickey from the Browns in exchange for INF Joe Yeager. As noted by Lyle Spatz, Rickey will not play on Sundays, while Red Kleinow will do the bulk of the catching. Yeager, a pitcher-turned-infielder, had been acquired from Montreal in September 1904.

MARCH

4^th  A judgment of $52,000 is awarded to the Baltimore club from Brooklyn. When Baltimore left the NL in 1903, Brooklyn agreed to pay $40,000 for the franchise but never did. The award includes interest.

6^th  The first suit for damages resulting from the Phillies’ 1903 ballpark disaster ends with the acquittal of club owners A. J. Reach and John Rogers.

28^th  Popular Boston Americans OF Chick Stahl, who replaced his best friend Jimmy Collins as manager of the now named Red Sox at the end of the 1906 season, commits suicide in West Baden Springs, IN as the team is barnstorming their way back from Little Rock, Arkansas. After breakfast he returns to his room, which he shared with Collins, and drinks 4 oz. of carbolic acid. There are various accounts for the reason he committed the suicide ranging from suggestions of a homosexual relationship, Stahl’s fragile personality given to depressions, and a blackmailing pregnant girl friend of the recently wed Stahl. Cy Young reluctantly agrees to start the season as Boston’s manager and has a 3-3 record when he steps down, replaced by scout George Huff. He skippers the team to a 2-6 record before realizing he’d rather be scouting and in a few months will sign Tris Speaker for $750. Huff will later go on to coach at the University of Illinois. Boston will have two other managers during the year.

29^th  Boston OF Cozy Dolan, who played the full schedule of NL games in 1906, dies of typhoid fever in Louisville. The Doves cancel the remainder of their spring training schedule.

30^th The Sporting Life reprints an article from the Chicago Tribune on hand signals: “The Tribune’s’ agitation for a system of umpire’s gestures to indicate decisions seems to be as far-reaching as popular. Chief Zimmer has been using signs for balls and strikes and delighting New Orleans patrons. Today Collins, who officiated here, adopted the same system and used it successfully, with the result the crowd forgave him for not calling everything the local twirler pitched a ‘strike.’ To date Hank O’Day appears to be the only opponent of the idea.”

APRIL

9^th The St. Louis Cardinals whip the St. Louis Browns 9–1 to take the Mound City series 4 games to 3. The two teams will reprise the rivalry in the fall, and the Cards will also take that one, 5–2.

Wellington Titus receives a patent for the first portable batting cage. The Athletics will be one of the first pro teams to use the Titus cage.

11^th  On a cold day in New York, the Giants open against the Phillies before 16,000. Dan McGann, not playing because of an injured wrist, is the manager for New York, filling in for his pal John McGraw. A late snowstorm has to be cleared, but there are large piles of snow surrounding the field. In the 8^th inning, with Frank Corridon pitching a one-hit 3–0 shutout over the Giants, fans, who have been pelting the players and opposing teams’ fans with snowballs, begin jumping from the stands and running around the outfield. There are no police on duty at the park, as required by the league, so umpire Bill Klem, in his ML debut, forfeits the game to the Phils. Seymour has the only hit for New York. New York C Roger Bresnahan appears wearing shin guards for the first time in a ML game, although the Phils’ Red Dooin had worn papier-mâché guards under his stockings in 1906 while catching and at bat. It will be a few years before detachable guards are adopted by all catchers.

At Philadelphia, Cy Young leaves in the 9^th inning for a pinch hitter with Boston ahead 4–3. Lee Tannehill relieves, gives up a tying run in the 9^th, but shuts outs the A’s for another 5 innings before Boston scores 4 in the 14^th to win. The write up of the game gives the victory to Young, stating that Tannehill didn’t pitch well enough to win.

At Washington, a record crowd of 12,902 watch the Highlanders’ Al Orth beat his old team, the Nationals, 3–2. Long Tom Hughes, one of the players New York traded for Orth, is the losing pitcher. Hal Chase skips the opener because of a salary disagreement, and George Moriarty plays 1B for New York.

The Reds open at the Palace of the Fans and rally for 2 runs in the 9^th to beat Pittsburgh, 4–3. John Ganzel’s 2-run single is the big blow. Reds rookie Mike Mitchell, the PCL batting champ last year, is 3-for-4 with a triple. The Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune will note tomorrow that umpire “Hank O’Day used the arm signals yesterday and they were satisfactory. He raises his left hand for a ball. In case he raises neither hand, it is a strike.”

13^th The New York Times reports that Giants secretary Fred Knowles “said that a number of uniformed men from the Pinkerton Detective Agency had been employed to preserve order on the grounds during the remainder of the season.” This was following a riot at the Polo Grounds on the 11^th that resulted in a forfeit.

14^th At Chicago, the Cubs beat Fred Beebe of the Cardinals, 2–0, with Carl Lundgren tossing the shutout. For Beebe, it is the first of 11 straight losses to the Cubs.

The Chicago Tribune again wades in today on the topic of hand signals: “There is nothing but this habit of looking at baseball matters through the umpire’s eyes to explain the failure of the big league presidents to answer the public’ demands by instructing their umpires to adopt a simple code of signals to indicate doubtful decisions on pitched balls, the same as on base decisions. The umpires objected to being overworked by the necessity of moving an arm to indicate a ‘strike.’ Consequently the public must continue to guess, until electric score boards are installed and perfected, and then miss some of the play while studying the score board.” The next day, the Tribune noted that umpire Carpenter had been a big hit with the fans by raising his right hand to indicate a strike. (as noted by Peter Morris)

15^th  Brooklyn’s Nap Rucker makes his ML debut, and rookie mistakes give him a 3–2 loss to Boston. All 3 runs against him come in the 2^nd inning when he makes 2 wild throws and 2 wild pitches. Claude Ritchey scores the 3^rd run, stealing home as Rucker holds the ball. Rucker’s 3 wild pitches in his debut will set a since-tied record, that Steve Hargan will top in 1965.

The Cleveland club takes out a $100,000 policy to insure its players against injury in railroad accidents.

17^th The Boston Americans hire George Huff as manager, replacing player-manager Cy Young. The team was 3-3 under Cy. Huff will last two weeks before Bob Unglaub takes over.

18^th At Pittsburgh, the Pirates Lefty Leifeld tops the Cubs Three Fingered Brown, 1-0, on an unearned run. Phelps reaches 2B when Slagle drops his fly ball, then scores on two sac bunts.

19^th  Ed Walsh has his sinker working as he fields 11 assists and 2 putouts during a 1–0 win over the Browns. His total of 13 chances ties the ML mark Nick Altrock set in 1906 and his 11 assists ties the AL mark of Al Orth set last year. Walsh will post another 11-assist game on August 12.

20th at Boston, the Giants knock Cy Young out of the box in the 3^rd inning and continue to hit against two successors as they beat Boston, 13-2. Cy Seymour leads the offense with a homerun, two triples and two singles.

Addie Joss tosses a one-hitter as Cleveland beats Detroit, 4-1. Sam Crawford has the lone hit and run for Detroit.

22^nd At Boston, New York’s Mathewson gives up 8 hits, but no runs, in shutting down Boston, 1-0. Bill Dahlen singles home the winner off Patsy Flaherty in the 9^th.

Ed Reulbach, winner of his last 12 games in 1906, makes his first start of the year for the Cubs, but gets no decision. Chicago scores in the 9^th against the Reds, and Jack Pfiester wins in relief, 3–2.

24^th The Sporting Life reports that the Reading (PA) Roses are the first to heed the publication’s suggestion and the team will put numbers on its uniforms. There are 14 players on the team and they will be issued numbers 1 through 15, skipping 13.

25^th At New York, the Yankees break a 2-2 tie with Washington by plating 9 runs in the 8^th inning to win, 11-2. Al Orth is the victor.

26^th At soggy Baker Bowl, Mathewson scatters 9 hits to beat the Phils, 4-3, in 8 innings. The Giants tally 14 hits, led by Spike Shannon’s four. New York bats in the 9^th without scoring, and the Phils put tying run on 2B before the rain pours down. Umpire Charles Rigler then calls the game. The Giants have now won two in a row, but the streak will grow.

Boston OF Johnny Bates hits for the cycle to lead his Nationals to a 4–2 win over Brooklyn.

27^th The Giants edge Brooklyn, 2-1, helped by a nifty double play in the 8^th inning. Cy Seymour snags Jordan’s long line drive by the fence, relays the ball to second baseman Corcoran who fires to McGann at 1B in time to nab the runner Batch trying to scamper back.

28^th In St. Louis, Chicago sweeps a pair from the Cardinals to move a game ahead of the idle New York Giants. The Cubs win 3-2 in game 1, then win 1-0 when Chick Fraser hurls a one-hitter, allowing just Jake Beckley’s double. Art Fromme, who lost to the Cubs on Opening Day, is the game 2 loser.

30^th Al Orth pitches and bats the Yankees to a 3-1 win over the Red Sox. His homer to the RF fence in the 6^th ties the game and his double and run scored in the 8^th breaks the tie.

MAY

2^nd Making his first pro start, Willie Humes of Bloomington (Three I) hurls a no-hitter, beating Springfield, 12-1.

3^rd  Dilatory tactics of the Highlanders’ Joe Doyle, whose well-earned nickname is “Slow Joe,” lengthens a 10-inning game with the Athletics to a record 3 hours, 7 minutes. New York wins, 4–3.

At the Polo Grounds, Brooklyn’s Elmer Stricklett allows just 3 Giant hits but Christy Mathewson goes one better, and the Giants win, 1–0.

4^th Hooks Wiltse shuts out Brooklyn, 10–0, allowing just one hit in 8 innings. Henry Mathewson, Christy’s brother, mops up in the 9^th in his final ML appearance.

In Chicago, Pirate pitcher Vic Willis allows just two hits—both by Solly Hofman—in losing to the Cubs, 1-0. Hofman’s RBI single in the 4^th provides the only run Carl Lundgren needs as the Cubs remain a half game behind the first-place Giants.

The White Sox crush the Highlanders, winning 15–0, setting a New York team record for biggest opponent’s score in a whitewash. On July 15^th, the two teams will repeat the score.

7^th  The Phillies Frank Corridon pitches a 10-inning one hitter to beat Boston’s Cy Young, 3–1. Corridon’s triple in the 10^th drives in 2 runs to win. The only hit Corridon allows is a 4^th inning single to Frank Burke.

8^th  Frank Pfeffer of the Boston Doves pitches a 6–0 no-hitter against the Reds, striking out 3 and walking 1. He will be known as “Big Jeff” until his younger, and bigger, brother Ed “Jeff” Pfeffer becomes a star hurler for Brooklyn in 1913.

Christy Mathewson tosses his 2^nd straight shutout, stopping the visiting Pirates, 4–0, on 4 hits. Lefty Leifield takes the loss. First-place New York has now won 10 in a row and holds a slim lead over Chicago.

9^th  Detroit loses to Boston, 3-2, and also lose their starting left fielder re when he shatters his ankle sliding into 2B. McIntyre, the leader of an anti-Cobb faction on the club, will play just 20 games this year. He might’ve continued in the outfield today as the Detroit flycatchers record no putouts. Vet Davey Jones takes McIntyre’s place. With the change on the field and in the locker room, the 10-9 Tigers will go on a tear.

10^th In Cleveland, Elmer Flick hits a leadoff homer for the Naps, who go on to beat the Highlanders, 5-1. The score could have been much higher but New York catcher Red Kleinow throws out 5 would be base stealers.

11^th John McGraw deals three aces today against the Pirates, and emerges with a 9–6 win. Starter Joe McGinnity lasts one inning, Hooks Wiltse pitches until the 7^th when he is given the hook in favor of Christy Mathewson. The Giants score 4 runs in the bottom of the 7^th off Mike Lynch with the victory going to Matty.

14^th  The flagpole at the White Sox ballpark breaks during the pennant-raising ceremonies celebrating the 1906 championship. At Boston, the Pirates outslug the Braves to win, 14-11. Ginger Beaumont has 4 hits for the locals while Honus Wagner collects 5 for the winners, including a homer and a double.

16^th The Highlanders swap P Walter Clarkson and OF Frank Delahanty—both siblings of future Hall of Famers—to Cleveland for P Earl Moore. New York is hoping that Moore will return to the form he showed before a Highlander line drive injured his foot in August 1905. But after making just six appearances this season, New York will waive him to the Phillies where he will regain his form in 1909. New York loses to Detroit today, 1–0.

17^th  Pirates P Lefty Leifield’s shutout over Brooklyn is preserved by a great catch by RF Goat Anderson. Leifield wins 1–0.

At the Polo Grounds, the Giants sweep two from the Cards by the scores of 2–1 and 4–0. Christy Mathewson wins the opener, allowing just 3 hits in 12 innings, while striking out 11. Matty’s single in the bottom of the 12^th off Fred Beebe provides the winning score. Joe McGinnity’s shutout in the nitecap is New York’s 16^th victory in a row.

18^th  Hooks Wiltse pitches the Giants to a 6–2 win over the Cardinals. For New York, it is their 17 straight win to run their season record to 24–3. Despite the run, the Giants are in first by just one game over Chicago.

20^th  A 17-game winning streak started by the Giants comes to an end in a 6–4 loss to St. Louis.

Today’s Nashua Telegram reports that the Lowell Mail newspaper objects to the throwing of lemons at ball games, and says it is an old gag that should be stopped (as noted by Clifford Otto).

In the Highlanders’ 4–1 win over Boston, Kid Elberfeld accounts for half the total tallies with 2 steals of home, the first American Leaguer to accomplish that feat.

21^st  NL president Pulliam dismisses the Opening Day protests of Pittsburgh manager Fred Clarke over Bresnahan’s shin guards. As yet, Bresnahan is the only catcher using them.

Three Fingered Brown and Christy Mathewson hook up in a pitching duel, with the Chicago ace emerging the winner, 3–2. Matty’s batterymate Roger Bresnahan makes 2 errors to cause Christy Mathewson to lose his 1^st of the year. Mobbed at the Polo Grounds after the loss, umpires O’Day and Emslie require police protection. The crowd is egged on by McGraw, who will be thrown out of games 7 times this year. The next day AL ump Billy Evans needs a police escort after argumentative Hugh Jennings incites a riot. Jennings will be suspended.

22^nd The Giants move back into first place over Chicago with a 7–1 win against the Cubs.

23^rd Before a packed house of 23,000, McGraw uses his entire pitching staff of six against the Cubs, but Chicago still wins, 5–2 to move into first place over New York. Wiltse lasts just one inning, giving up two Chicago runs. Jimmy Sheckard’s three-run homer in the 5^th off Mathewson, pitching on a day’s rest, seals the win for Chicago.

24^th At the Polo Grounds, Boston pitcher Patsy Flaherty clubs the first grand slam by an NL pitcher when he connects in the 2^nd inning off Hooks Wiltse of the Giants. Boston wins, 7–5.

25^th The Giants bust Irv Young for 6 runs in the 8^th inning to beat Boston, 9–1. McGinnity in relief of Mathewson, now 7–1, gets a save.

Following a doubleheader loss to the Phillies, veteran Jack McCarthy hangs up his cleats, possibly discouraged by the Superbas record of 7-25. McCarthy finishes his ML career with a respectable .287 batting average with 8 homers. All his four baggers come in the 19^th Century: McCarthy has a ML post-1900 record of 2736 at bats without a homer.

26^th  Chicago’s Ed Walsh hurls a rain-shortened 5-inning no-hitter against New York. In a steady drizzle, New York is down 4–1 when Manager Clark Griffith lifts starter Al Orth and inserts himself. Hoping to have the game washed out, Griffith loads the bases and then serves a cripple to Walsh, who drives in 2 runs. The Sox figure two can play that game and Billy Sullivan, who was on first with a walk, loafs home from 3^rd and is tagged out. Umpire Sheridan threatens a forfeiture if the shenanigans continue. Chicago scores 2 more in the 6^th before rain washes out the game and the Sox win 8–1.

30^th In an a.m.-p.m. doubleheader, The Phils edge the Giants in the morning contest as Lew Moren bests Hooks Wiltse, 5–2. The afternoon match attracts 25,000 to the Polo Grounds, Mathewson scatters 8 hits to beat the Phillies, 6–1.

In Cleveland, the Tigers and Cleveland trade shutouts with Detroit taking the A.M. opener in 10 innings, 1-0, behind Bob Rhoads (spelled Rhoades in the New York Times). Rhoads bases-loaded walk in the 10^th brings in Lajoie with the run. The Naps lose game 2, 6-0, as Addie Joss sustains his first loss after 10 straight wins to start the season. Ty Cobb has a homer to back Mullins, who tosses a 3-hitter.

The Yankees purchase Frank Kitson from the Nationals. The veteran will go 4-0 for New York, but they will sell him to Kansas City in August.

31^st   The Highlanders beat Boston, 4–1, behind Frank Kitson, making his first appearance for New York. Kitson was 0-3 for the Nationals this year, but will go 4–0 in New York. Kid Elberfeld of the Highlanders has a steal of home, and Hal Chase has 2 steals.

JUNE

3^rd The Cards Stoney McGlynn pitches both games in a doubleheader with the Reds, winning a 1–0 five-hitter in the opener. The Reds then rock Stoney for 7 hits to win the nitecap, 5–1.

5^th At Chicago, Christy Mathewson loses his 2^nd game of the year, this one again to Three Fingered Brown. The Cubs scorch Matty for 16 hits to beat the Giants, 8–2. Brown has now topped the Giants ace their last five meetings.

7^th Boston (AL) ships former player-manager Jimmy Collins to the Athletics for infielder John Knight. Collins guided the team to two pennants but was suspended last August after he left the team without permission. Boston buys 43-year-old Deacon McGuire from the Yankees and make him manager.

8^th The National Police Gazette lists “Honest John” Kelly and Tim Hurst among its great boxing referees. Both are former ML umpires, with Kelly also playing and managing.

The Red Sox trade veteran pitcher Bill Dinneen to the Browns for Beany Jacobson and $1500. Boston considers Dinneen’s best years are behind him, but there is still some life left.

9^th Throwing the only perfect game of his career, Weiser (Idaho) P Walter Johnson beats Emmett, 11–0. He strikes out 14, and the game helps bring him to the attention of the Washington Nationals.

10^th The Philadelphia Phillies trade lefty Johnny Lush to the St. Louis Cardinals for Buster Brown. Lush was the regular first baseman for the Phils at age 18, the youngest regular in the majors in the 20^th Century, before switching to pitching. Brown will go 9-6 this year in Philley, his only decisions, before he is traded to Boston in 1908.

11^th At St. Louis, the Giants use three pitchers to beat Stoney McGlynn, 8–7. Mathewson, the 3^rd pitcher, picks up the victory. Ex-Card Spike Shannon provides a key triple to give New York the win.

12^th The Highlanders make it easy for the Tigers by committing 11 errors in the 14–6 win by Detroit. Shortstop Kid Elberfeld leads the bobble gang with 4 errors; 1B Chase, 3B LaPorte, 2B Williams, LF Conroy, and pitchers Orth and Hogg each add a miscue. Following the game, New York manager Clark Griffith gets into a fracas with a fan who was complimenting Ty Cobb on the game and is charged with assault. Griffith later argues self defense and receives a fine.

13^th  The Boston Red Sox play an exhibition game at Providence, raising $3,140.50 for Chick Stahl’s widow. The clubs and players also contribute.

14^th At Boston, the Browns knock Cy Young for 3 runs in the first and George Winter comes in for the last 8 innings. The Sox rally for 4 runs to win 4–3.

At Pittsburgh, Mathewson is hit in the stomach by a Lefty Leifield pitch in the 9^th, but the two battle until the 12^th when the Pirates push over the winning run. Pittsburgh wins, 2–1.

15^th Making his first pro start, Maury Kent of Marshalltown (Iowa State) hurls a no-hitter, but loses to Keokuk, 2-1.

16^th In Chicago, the Superbas beat the Cubs, 11-1. Johnny Evers has 4 stolen bases for Chicago.

Portland pitcher Bob Groom fires a 1-0 no-hitter over Los Angeles (PCL), the first in franchise history. The game takes an hour and half. Groom has two of the three hits for Portland. Groom will finish with a 20-26 record for the last-place Beavers and lead the PCL in walks (158), hit batsmen (28) and wild pitches (22).

17^th The Red Sox sign their 4^th manager this season when Deacon Jim Maguire takes over for Bob Unglaub. Unglaub’s record was 9–20 after winning 4 of his first 5 games.

18^th  In a Giants 4–3 win, Roger Bresnahan is hit in the head by a pitch from Andy Coakley of the Cincinnati Reds and is given the last rites while he lays on the field. Hospitalized for 10 days, he will develop a primitive headgear for batters during his convalescence. Teammate Dan McGann is also hit by a Coakley pitch in the same inning (4^th), breaking his arm, and will be out of action until the 1^st of August. Possibly as a result of the wildness, Reds C Admiral Schlei puts on shin guards for the 9^th inning, the first Cincy backstop to do so.

Detroit beats host Philadelphia, 6-2, using a 5-run 5^th to beat Rube Waddell. Ty Cobb has a single and triple and throws out two runners at 1B from right field.

19^th  Miller Huggins, diminutive 2B of the Reds, leads off the game against New York with a HR off Christy Mathewson. The rare occurrence (he hits only 9 in his career) astonishes the home town fans and they celebrate by presenting him with a pair of shoes, a gold watch, a 5-pound box of chocolates, a scarf pin, and a Morris chair. The Reds win in the 9^th when Larry McLean drives home 2 runs for a 3–2 win.

21^st The Cubs top the Cardinals 2–0 as C Johnny Kling throws out all 4 would-be St. Louis base stealers. Three Fingered Brown wins his 10^th straight game.

22^nd At New York, the Beaneaters blow Mathewson out of the game after 4 innings with 10 runs on 8 hits. But the Giants claw back to win 11-10 in 12 innings.

23^rd In Chicago, the Cleveland Naps down the league-leading White Sox, 7-5, and move a game in back of the leaders. Jiggs Donahue doesn’t help the Sox cause as he strands an AL-record tying 11 runners.

24^th In a Tri-State League at Williamsport, a game with Altoona ends in the 4^th inning when a bolt of lightning sets fire to the grandstand. Williamsport pitcher Vickers is so stunned by the ordeal that he needs medical attention.

27^th At Baker Bowl, Mathewson and Hooks Wiltse combine to beat the Phillies, 2–0. Lew Moren pitches a fine game but loses. The Giants, playing .625 ball, are still 10 games in back of the Cubs. New York buys the contract of Larry Doyle for $4500 from Mattoon (Kitty L.).

At Chicago, Lefty Leifield tosses a 4-hitter as the Pirates beat the Cubs, 4-0. The loss snaps the Cubs 7-game winning streak and stops Three Fingered Brown’s 10-game win skein.

28^th  The last place Washington Nationals steal a ML record 13 bases off C Branch Rickey in a 16–5 win over New York. Rickey, acquired last February from the Browns, is pressed into service despite a bad shoulder because of the injury to starter Red Kleinow. Rickey’s first throw to 2B ends up in right field and the subsequent tosses are not much better. He almost nips Jim Delahanty on a steal of 3B. In his 8 innings, relief pitcher Lew Brockett helps Washington with a deliberate windup, nine walks, and allowing 15 hits. Only pitcher Tom Hughes and 2B Nig Perrine are steal-less, while Hal Chase swipes one for New York.

Boston’s Jimmy Barrett hits his first homer in 4 years, a 12^th-inning game-ender, to beat the Athletics, 4–3.

29^th The Pirates top the Cubs 2–1 as CF Tommy Leach cuts down Harry Steinfeldt at the plate in the 9^th inning. Deacon Phillippe is the winner over Ed Reulbach, who loses his first to stop a winning streak of 17 games over 2 seasons, 5 of them this year. The 17 straight wins is a NL record for the 20^th century that will be topped by Rube Marquard in 1912.

At Cincinnati, the Reds edge the Cardinals, 4–3, in 14 innings. The Cards versatile Art Hoelskoetter hits his first ML homer, off Jake Weimer, but it is not enough. In 4 seasons in St. Louis, Hoelskoetter plays at least 15 games at every infield position, including pitcher, and another 20 in the outfield.

In a 12–2 win over Cleveland, Ty Cobb has 4 hits and two steals of home. Heinie Berger and Howard Wakefield are the battery. His swipe in the 6^th is on the front end of a double steal, and it is Cobb’s first career swipe of home. He will have two steals of home against the Browns on July 5.

JULY

4^th The Cubs pin a pair of holiday losses on the visiting Cincinnati Reds, beating them 5–1 and 2–0. Three Fingered Brown wins the opener and Orval Overall shuts out the Reds in game 2, beating Bob Ewing. For Ewing, it is the first of a string of 10 straight losses to the Cubs.

The Browns and Tigers have the offensive outing of the holiday as they combine for a ML record 12 triples between them (until 2005 the record was thought to be 10, set on September 15, 1901). Seven triples were hit in the morning game, with Detroit winning, 9-4. Claude Rossman is the only one with 2 triples. The afternoon game, a 7-6 Detroit win, has another 5 triples hit to combine for the record.

5^th At Philadelphia, the Tigers jump on reliever Rube Waddell for 4 runs in the 8^th and 2 in the 9^th to upend the Athletics, 9-5. Ty Cobb has 3 hits and twice steals home.

At Cleveland, Nap Lajoie hits his first homer in two years to give the Naps a 2-1 victory over the Highlanders. His drive in the 8^th jams into the wire screen in back of CF and, despite the frantic efforts by Danny Hoffman to pry it out, Lajoie trots around with the winning run before the ball is freed. The homer is reminiscent of a game-winner hit under the wire screen in 1902 by Cy Young.

8^th  Bombarded by pop bottles in Brooklyn, irate Cubs manager Frank Chance throws one back into the stands where it cuts a boy’s leg. Chance is mobbed and leaves the park in an armored car with a police escort after the Cubs’ 5–0 victory. Three Fingered Brown emerges with the shutout win.

Boston shuts out the Reds twice, winning 3-0 and 1-0 behind the pitching of Vive Lindaman and Irv Young.

9^th In New York, the Giants pluck two from the Cardinals, winning 5–3 and 6–5. Mathewson takes the opener and Joe McGinnity the nitecap. The Giants Danny Shay, who missed last season because of an amputated finger, hits his 2^nd and last career homer.

12^th  After an absence of 24 days, Roger Bresnahan returns to the lineup and collects 2 hits in a 3–2 win for the Giants against Coakley, the same hurler who hit him with a pitch on June 18^th. Bresnahan does not wear the headgear he developed. When a fan keeps a foul ball during the game rather than tossing it back, Giants team secretary Frank Knowles warns that “in the future he will not be so lenient about anyone stealing a ball.”

13^th The Reds manage 11 hits off Christy Mathewson, but no runs, and the Giants win 4–0.

15^th The White Sox pound the Highlanders, 15–0, the second time this season they’ve beaten New York by that score. They’ll beat them in 1950 by the same score, the Yanks’ team record for most runs by an opponent in a shutout.

16^th  Ed Walsh sets another ML record for fielding chances for pitchers, handling 12 assists and 3 putouts in a 13-inning 3–2 White Sox win over visiting New York. His 12 assists (extra innings) will be matched by Nick Altrock in 1908 and Leon Cadore in 1920.

17^th Battling for 2^nd place, the Pirates defeat the Giants, 2–0, pinning the loss on Mathewson. The Giants announce that Tommy Corcoran, the 38-year-old vet whom the Giants picked up before the season started, has been handed his release.

The last-place Senators down the Tigers, 13-2, as Bob Ganley scores 5 runs.

19^th At the Polo Grounds, the visiting Cubs beat up on the Giants, winning 12–3.

20^th Chicago’s Carl Lundgren and New York’s Mathewson are stingy today with the Cubs twirler allowing just 4 hits while the Cubs scratch 3 off Matty. The Giants score in the 4^th when Cy Seymour parks a drive in the bleachers with two on. Prevailing rules make the hit a single, with just one run scoring: it is enough as Matty wins, 1–0. Joe Tinker is hitless against Matty, the only time this year that Mathewson shuts down his nemesis.

In St. Louis, George Stone belts a 4^th inning 3-run inside-the-park homer off Slow Joe Doyle as the Browns beat the Highlanders, 6-2. On August 11, Stone will hit another three-run IPHR off Doyle.

22^nd  Cincinnati righthander Bob Ewing has the Phils popping up all day; the Reds have no assists in a 10–3 seven-inning win.

In the Giants 2–1 loss to the Cubs, Larry Doyle debuts a 2B for New York. The Giants manage just 4 hits off Cubs ace Ed Reulbach, but Doyle has 2 of them.

23^rd  The Washington Nationals conclude a 31-game road trip, the longest in AL history, losing to Cleveland, 3-1.

At Austin (Texas League) the hosts beat San Antonio 44-0 in a 9-inning second game. San Antonio forfeits the first game in the 8^th inning because of disagreements with the umpire Schuster. They started the second game but did not play it, then starting playing and making a farce of it. Fielders refused to catch fly balls and infielders refused to handle grounders. Parson McGill pitched the shutout while nearly all the players for San Antonio end up pitching. There were so many position changes that the official scorer does not report an official box score to the newspapers.

25^th The Giants beat the host Reds, 4–3 as Mathewson outpitches Bob Ewing. But the host Reds will take the next 3 games from New York. New York C Roger Bresnahan returns after being out from a beaning and he wears a pneumatic head gear while batting. The early batting helmet is a ML first.

Red Sox manager Deacon Maguire belts a pinch-hit solo homer off Detroit’s Ed Siever. At age 43, McGuire is the oldest player to ever hit a pinch homer. His first round tripper came back in 1884.

26^th Cleveland wins a pair over the New York Highlanders, 7–5 and 8–3, to move a half game behind the league-leading Chicago White Sox. The Sox lose today, 4–3 to the A’s. Highlander’s Hal Chase has his 33-game hit streak stopped in game 1. It began on June 24. It is the AL-record until Cobb will top it.

28^th The Reds make it three straight from the Giants, winning 8–3 and 3–1. In game 1, winning pitcher Jake Weimer adds insult to injury with a swipe of home. An incensed John McGraw gets into a fight with a park security man and belts him. Police break it up and no arrests are made.

29^th At St. Louis, the Giants edge the Cards 4–3 in 11 innings. New York blows a 2–0 lead in the 9^th when Mathewson makes a wild throw to 1B. A triple by Cy Seymour, sandwiched between 2 hits, gives the Giants a pair of runs, and Matty holds on to win.

30^th  Cincinnati manager Ned Hanlon, whose managing days began in 1889 at Pittsburgh, announces this will be his last season. His record includes 5 pennants—4 at Baltimore, one at Brooklyn. The boys win one for him today scoring 7 runs in the 3^rd to beat Chicago, 8–0.

AUGUST

1^st The Red Sox collect 22 hits in defeating Cleveland, 14–1.

2^nd  Manager Hugh Jennings, known for his gyrations on the coaching lines and “Eeyah” war cry, is suspended for 10 days for insisting on using a tin whistle while coaching at 3B for the Tigers.

Walter Johnson, 19, debuts with Washington and loses to Detroit. The first hit off him is a bunt single by Ty Cobb, who also helps Detroit’s cause by throwing out 3 runners from RF, two of them at home plate. Sam Crawford’s inside-the-park HR is the margin in Detroit’s 3–2 win. Johnson exits in the 8^th, trailing, 2–1. Detroit also wins the 2^nd game of the doubleheader and moves into first place.

Three Fingered Brown tops Mathewson for the 3^rd time this season, allowing just 4 hits in shutting out the Giants, 5–0. The first-place Cubs paste Matty for 9 hits, and will take 4 out of 5 games in the series with New York.

3^rd Before 17,000 in Philadelphia, A’s ace Rube Waddell loses to a weakened Cleveland team, 5–3. It’s his 2^nd successive Saturday loss before a big crowd. The newspapers blame his poor performance on his visits to Atlantic City where he, “in finishing up his prolonged spree in this city, making, as usual, a sad spectacle of himself.”( The Sporting News).

4^th Light-hitting Pat Moran bangs his only homer of the year, in the 12^th inning, to give the Chicago Cubs a 2–1 win over the New York Giants.

7^th  Washington’s Walter Johnson wins the first of his total 416 victories, 7–2 over Cleveland. Cleveland manages just 4 hits.

The A’s Socks Seybold socks a homer off Ed Killian to help beat the Tigers, 4–2. Killian had not given up a homer since September 19, 1903—1001 innings. He lost that game as well, and will tee up just 9 homers in his short career.

At Boston, Cy Young goes 14 innings as the Red Sox beat Chicago, 2-1. Ferris scores the winning run after reaching base on a single.

8^th At Pittsburgh, the Giants sweep two from the Pirates, 4–3 and 7–0. Mathewson wins the opener, with relief help from McGinnity, and Hooks Wiltse slams the door in the nitecap. The Giants move a half game behind Pittsburgh for 2^nd place.

10^th  In New York, the Browns are victorious over the Highlanders, 7-5, before playing to a 6-6 tie in game 2. George Stone of the Browns completes a hit streak of 9 straight in the second match. One of the hits is an 8^th inning 3-run inside-the-park homer off Slow Joe Doyle. He did the same thing to Doyle in St. Louis three weeks ago.

11^th  Following a 5–4 win in game 1 of a doubleheader, St. Louis Cardinals’ Ed Karger pitches a perfect game 4–0 against the Boston Doves in a game shortened to 7 innings by prior agreement.

Just enough to win. The first place Cubs beat the visiting Phillies twice by scores of 1–0. Orval Overall and Jack Pfiester apply the calcimine.

12^th The Giants’ Christy Mathewson wins his 17^th, topping the Pirates 5–3 on 8 hits as New York moves into 2^nd place in the NL.

At Chicago, Ed Walsh loses to the Red Sox and George Winter, 5–3, but ties the AL record for assists by a pitcher in a game with 11. It is the 2^nd time this year he’s had 11 assists.

15^th  Chief Bender wins his 11^th straight for the Athletics, 4–2, over Cleveland, to tighten the pennant race with the Tigers. The Chief is helped by right fielder Socks Seybold who pulls off an unassisted double play. He’ll pull off another on September 10^th against Boston to set a since-tied AL record for UDPs by an outfielder in a season.

At the Polo Grounds, Hooks Wiltse edges the Reds for a 4–3 Giants win. Mathewson preserves the win with a scoreless 9^th.

16^th At Brooklyn, the second place Pirates beat the Superbas, 7-4, as Tommy Leach hits a grand slam for the visitors.

The Washington Post reports that Browns SS Bobby Wallace is the highest paid player in either league at a salary of $6,500.

17^th Pittsburgh CF Tommy Leach leads the Bucs to a 5–1 win over Boston with 3 great catches and a steal of home.

A matchup of Three Fingered Brown and Christy Mathewson attracts a crowd of 20,000 at the Polo Grounds. Matty is unhittable for 8 innings, with only a bunt single for the Cubs. But Chicago scores 2 in the 9^th to tie as reliever Jack Pfiester matches Matty for the last 3 innings. Johnny Kling wins it, 3–2, for the Cubs in the 12^th with a drive into the LF bleachers.

18^th  Detroit’s first Sunday game at home since 1902, and the first at Bennett Field, is a 16–3 win over New York. Claude Rossman has 4 hits. Wild Bill Donovan, en route to a 25-4 record, is the easy winner.

Boston’s Rube Kroh wins his only game of the year, a complete game 2–1 victory over the Browns.

19^th Red Sox’s Chick Stahl must wonder why he’s managing. Jack Knight gets caught at 3B in the 12^th inning when Detroit 3B Charley O’Leary pulls the hidden ball trick on him. Detroit wins, 4–3.

Washington’s Sam Lanford, 21, in an ignominious debut, walks 2 Chicago batters, hits 2, throws a wild pitch, and balks—all in the first inning. He gives up 4 runs in the 1^st and 7 in the 3^rd, as the Senators fall to the White Sox, 16-2.

20^th Boston uses a killer B lineup consisting of 7 players whose name begins with a B (Boutles, P; Brown, C; Brain, 3B; Bridwell, SS; Burke, LF; Beaumont, CF; Bates, RF; Tenney, 1B; Richey, 2B) The B’s prevail, beating the Pirates, 9–8.

22^nd The Pirates cut up a trio of Giants pitchers including starter Christy Mathewson, to win 20–5 in a game mercifully called after 8 innings. The Bucs notch 20 hits, gather 8 walks, and the Giants add 4 errors. George Ferguson, the 2^nd pitcher, gets the loss, having allowed 11 of the runs.

Wild Bill Donovan lives up to his nickname by walking 3 in the 9^th with Detroit clinging to an 8-7 lead over the Red Sox. Siever relieves and gets the last batter on a ground out. Heinie Wagner hits his first two ML homers off Donovan, both inside-the-park liners to deep left-center. They are Heinie’s only homers this year. Detroit loses its third catcher in two days when Jimmy Archer breaks his finger.

23^rd The Pirates top the Giants 4–2 in 10 innings, then win the 2^nd game, 1–0, when Howie Camnitz spins a 5-inning no-hitter. The Bucs score when Ed Abbaticchio singles home Honus Wagner, who had singled and stolen 2B. The Giants also lose Frank Bowerman, hit on the head by Jack Camnitz pitch. The doctors predict that the burly catcher will miss the season, but he is back in action in 3 days.

24^th Mathewson pitches for the 3^rd day in a row, beating the Pirates, 7–4. Matty allows just one hit over the last 6 innings.

27^th Christy Mathewson fashions a 3-hit shutout over the Cardinals and driving in the only run with a double. Ed Karger takes the hard luck loss.

At New York, Boston’s Cy Young stops the Highlanders, 5–1. Jack Chesbro takes the loss.

28^th  Highlander pitcher John “Tacks” Neuer, begins baseball’s most successful short career by besting the Red Sox 1–0 in his first start, the nitecap of a DH. In one month he will pitch 6 complete games, win 4, including 3 shutouts, and then disappear from the ML scene. In the first game, Boston’s other Cy—Cy Morgan—wins over the Highlanders, 5–3.

29^th  The Senators sweep a pair from the Red Sox, winning 2–1 and 3–2. Walter Johnson, 19, wins the opener. It is his third straight game without giving up a walk.

At Cleveland, the Naps beat the White Sox, 4–1, on Nap Lajoie’s third inning 2-out grand slam. It is the only grand slam in the AL this year—a league record that will be matched in 1909 and 1915 (No AL grand slams are hit in the war-shortened season of 1918)

SEPTEMBER

1^st  Cubs P Ed Reulbach, who will be 17–4 with a 1.69 ERA, goes into the 9^th with a 2–0 lead over the Cardinals at Chicago. He gives up 8 straight hits, 7 runs, and loses the game. The nitecap is stopped after 7 innings. Still shell-shocked, the Cubs are shut out twice tomorrow by the last-place Cards, losing 6–0 and 9–0.

In the major league draft, the Brooklyn Superbas select Kaiser Wilhelm from Birmingham (Southern Association). Kaiser last season was with the Boston Beaneaters in 2005, when he posted a 3-23 record. He’ll lose 22 for Brooklyn next season.

2^nd Detroit’s Ty Cobb has 3 steals in a 6–5 win in an a.m. game. Detroit loses the 2^nd game, 4–2. Boston’s Cy Young coasts to his 20^th win at New York, beating the Highlanders, 12–1. It’s his 2^nd win in 5 days over the New Yorkers.

Behind Art Fromme and Johnny Lush, the Cardinals twice shut out the Cubs, 6-0 and 9-0. Chicago still leads the NL by 16 games.

The Giants and Dodgers play a scoreless 12 innings on a wet ball field. Red Ames and George “Farmer” Bell are the pitchers. They play 2 tomorrow.

3^rd The Giants and Superbas split a doubleheader. New York takes the opener, 2–0, behind Dummy Taylor, then Brooklyn takes the nitecap 1–0, in 7 innings, behind the 8-hit pitching of Jim Pastorius. The Superbas score on a single, two walks, and a wild pitch by Mathewson.

4^th  For his 32^nd birthday tomorrow, Cleveland fans give manager Nap Lajoie a wagon load of gifts, including a live black sheep. The Naps then hand their captain another gift, a 6–5 win over Detroit.

5^th  Cleveland downs Detroit, 3-0, as Addie Joss fires a one-hitter. He’ll match it in three weeks.

6^th At Baker Bowl, the Giants sweep the Phillies, winning 6–5 and 2–0. McGinnity relieves in the opener with runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with no outs in the 9^th and retires the side to preserve Taylor’s win. Mathewson then beats Lew Moran in a 7-inning nitecap for his 20^th win. Moran’s wild throw in the 3^rd accounts for the scores.

Boston sweeps a pair from the Nationals, beating Washington in game 1, 9–2, behind Cy Young’s 21^st and last win of the year. Game 2 is a 3-2 Boston victory.

7^th In Boston, Walter Johnson tops the Red Sox and Cy Morgan, 1–0, for the first of his 38 career 1–0 wins. On the 12^th, he will shut out the Highlanders 2–0. Washington takes the 2^nd game, 4–1 to avenge yesterday’s Boston sweep.

9^th Boston’s Cy Young and the A’s Rube Waddell battle to a 13-inning scoreless tie. Neither pitcher walks a batter.

New York’s Tex Neuer and Jack Chesbro both toss shutouts against the Washington Senators, winning 10-0 and 2-0

The Giants play their 5^th doubleheader in a week, splitting shutouts with Boston. New York takes the opener, 10–0, then Irv Young outpitches Christy Mathewson, 1–0, in the 7-inning nitecap.

10^th In a Bowler’s Day contest on an off day for the Reds in Cincinnati, a field day event draws long throwers from around the country, but none top Johnny Hatfield’s 19^th Century mark set in 1872. Sheldon LeJeune of Springfield (Central L) wins the long toss with a throw of 399 ft., 10 ¾ inches. Art Hostetler of the St. Louis Cardinals is 2^nd with a throw of 385’8”. The Bucs George Gibson wins the throwing to 2B competition. Jack Thoney of Toronto wins the ‘beating out a fair bunt’ competition in 3.15 seconds. Mike Mitchell of the Reds wins the fungo-hitting contest with 413 feet, 8 ½ inches. Harry McIntire is 2^nd with 411’1”; Ed Walsh, with a travel day for the White Sox, is 3^rd at 385 feet. Walter Clements of Jersey City circles the bases in 14.15 seconds.

At Boston, the Americans split a twinbill with the league-leading A’s, with Boston winning the opener, 5-0, behind Winter, and Philadelphia taking the second game, 3-0, behind Eddie Plank. The split leaves the A’s in first place by a game. A’s right fielder Socks Seybold has an unassisted double play in game 1, his second of the year, to set an AL record.

11^th  Chicago’s Doc White blanks the St. Louis Browns 2–0. However, his one base on balls ends his AL record run of 65 1⁄3 IP without issuing a walk. He will win a career-high 27 games and walk only 38 in 291 innings pitched.

12^th Boston loses to the Athletics, 7–1, and though they’ll tie 6-6 tomorrow it is the start of a 16-game losing streak. Tris Speaker makes his ML debut going 0-for 2 against spitballer Jimmy Dygert. (TB erroneously has Speaker’s debut date as 9/14)

In a 2–0 win against the Yankees at Hilltop Park, Washington’s Walter Johnson strikes out 5 batters, though it’ll be recorded as 4 K’s. Researcher John Schwartz, in the 1990s, will find the extra K, resulting in Johnson’s lifetime total of 3,509. The issue crops up again on Opening Day, 2001, when Clemens ties (or beats) the mark.

13^th At Washington Park, Mathewson tops Jim Pastorius, 2–1, striking out 11 Superbas batters. Dan McGann is 4-for-4 for New York, while teammate Jack Hannifan collects a single, double, triple and two walks in his 5 at bats.

Pittsburgh’s Nick Maddox makes his ML debut and tosses a nifty 4–0 shutout over the St. Louis Cards.

On closing day of the Ohio State League, Walter “Smoke” Justis of Lancaster pitches a 3-0 no-hitter against Marion. It’s his fourth no-hitter of the year. The others came July 19—6–0 against Mansfield, August 2—6–0 against Portsmouth, and September 8, 5–0 over Lima. Justis pitched in 2 games for the 1905 Tigers.

14^th At the West Side Grounds, Chicago beats the visiting Reds, 12–5. The Cubs collect 19 hits to the Reds 10 hits—all 29 are singles.

St. Louis plays the first of four straight doubleheaders, hosting the Tigers who are just a game out of first place. The Browns drop them to third place, 3 games back, sweeping 4-1 and 4-3.

15^th  At the Browns-Tigers doubleheader in St. Louis, a soda bottle thrown by a fan, Hugo Dusenberg, fells umpire Billy Evans. The crowd beats up Hugo before the police come to his rescue; he is fined $100. Evans is carried from the field and hospitalized, but is not very seriously injured. Immediately following the beaning, Ban Johnson announces he has hired an attorney and will prosecute the 17-year-old Dusenberg. But Evans refuses to press charges, saying the youth’s parents were nice people and the youngster was sorry. The Browns lose two, 6–3 and 3–2, and will split tomorrow with the Tigers.

16^th In a doubleheader sweep, 3–1 and 3–2, of the Giants, Boston slugger Dave Brain hits his 10^th homer, off the Giants Red Ames. Brain’s ten round trippers will lead the NL this year, but he will never hit another. The same fate befell Fred Odwell two years ago. Brain will be sold to the Reds in May, the same route that will taken by the 1910 NL homer champion, Fred Beck.

17^th The Giants drop their 3^rd straight in Boston, losing 6–3 at the South End Grounds. Losing 3–1 to Christy Mathewson, Boston makes 5 hits, including a triple by Fred Tenney, off Matty in the 7^th, and scores 5 runs. Pittsburgh lead in the NL is now 4 ½ games.

20^th  Every player but one is hitless in the Pittsburgh-Brooklyn game, won by the Pirates, 2–1. Twenty-year-old rookie Nick Maddox, making his 3^rd appearance, allows no Superbas hits for the first Pittsburgh 9-inning no-hitter. Pirate manager Fred Clarke gets the only two hits given up by Elmer Stricklett, but neither safety figures in the scoring: all three runs in the game are unearned. Earlier in the year, Maddox hurled two no-hitters while at Wheeling (Central League).

21^st Against the Reds, New York jumps to a 6–0 lead against Charlie Smith, and Mathewson coasts to a 6–2 win. Fred Merkle makes his first appearance for the Giants, playing 2B.

22^nd  The Reds’ Bob Spade makes his pitching debut in a 1–0 shutout over the Giants. He outduels Joe McGinnity, allowing just 4 hits. New York’s Roger Bresnahan is tossed by Bill Klem and will need the consent of the league president to next play.

23^rd At the start of the Giants match in Pittsburgh, John McGraw hands Bill Klem the lineup card with Bresnahan’s name in the lineup. The two argue about whether the catcher can play after yesterday’s ejection and then when Klem turns away he is hit in the face with a glass of water. No culprit comes forward but Klem gets his revenge in the 6^th inning by ejecting McGraw and Art Devlin for arguing a call. The Pirates win, 2–1.

In Chicago, the Cubs clinch the pennant by beat the Phillies, 4–1. The game is washed out after 7 ½ innings with Ed Reulbach winning in relief of Three Fingered Brown. Chicago pulls off a triple play in the 5^th inning to help seal the win.

In a field day at Ponce de Leon park in Atlanta, Dyer wins the 100-yeard-dash in 10 seconds flat, and Dode Paskert wins the circling bases (14.15 seconds) tying a mark set by Walter Clements in Cincinnati. Cobb will top it next year. Paskert also wins the long throw with a heave of 368 feet. Paskert, who was eliminated in the 100-year-dash, runs an exhibition in 10 seconds flat.

24^th Mathewson shuts out the Pirates, 2–0, while Bill Klem continues his battle with the Giants by tossing 4 more, including McGraw.

25^th Pittsburgh’s Honus Wagner steals four bases, including 2B, 3B, and home in the 2^nd inning against the Giants. Not to be outdone, his teammate Fred Clark also swipes 4 bases for the only time in his career. The Pirates blow out the Giants, 14–1.

26^th. After Cleveland’s Addie Joss fired a one-hitter in a 3–1 win over the Highlanders yesterday, teammate Heinie Berger matches him today, also against hapless New York. This is the 2^nd time so far this century that teammates will throw back-to-back one-hitters, though it will happen six more times before 2000. Cleveland wins, 6–0, as Kid Elberfeld, batting for Chesbro in the 9^th, hits a clean single.

27^th  After leading the AL most of the month, the Athletics (83-54) are beset by pitching problems as Detroit (86-56) comes into Philadelphia for a three-game showdown. Detroit win the first game, 5–4, to take over 1^st place.

Pirate star Honus Wagner is hit on the hand by a pitch from Rube Dessau, and will miss the last 12 games of the year. He’ll still lead the NL in batting average (.339) and total bases (237). His TB total is the lowest ever for a league leader. The game with Boston ends in a 5–5 tie.

28^th In Boston, the White Sox hand the Americans their 14^th straight loss as Nick Altrock outduels George Winter to win, 2-1.

Well, blame yourself. Red Ames forces 4 runs across the plate in the 7^th as the Giants lose to the Cardinals 6-0. The game is called after 8 on account of darkness.

At Philadelphia, the Tigers edge the A’s, 5-4, and drop Philadelphia to a game and a half behind Detroit. Bill Donovan escapes two bases-loaded jams to win.

The Pirates and Boston Doves split a pair with Pittsburgh taking the first game, 7-3. The battery of Knott and Boultes prevails to win a tight one in game 2, 6-5.

29^th In a 1–0 game 1 victory, Phillies rookie George McQuillan completes a ML-record string of 25 consecutive shutout innings at the beginning of his career. The streak began on May 8 with an inning of relief. McQuillan’s first start, in game 2 of a doubleheader against the Cardinals, resulted in a 0-0 tie; in his second start, in the second game of a doubleheader on September 25, he shut out Chicago. The Reds take the 2^nd game, 4–3. In 1908, A’s submariner Brad Ziegler will top McQuillan.

30^th  An overflow crowd lines the outfield at Philadelphia’s Columbia Park for the showdown Monday doubleheader between the A’s and Tigers. In the first game, the home team gets off to a 7–1 lead against 25-game winner Bill Donovan. But Rube Waddell, who relieves in the 2^nd for the A’s, fails to hold the lead. A 2-run HR by Ty Cobb ties it 8–8 in the 9^th. Both teams score once in the 11^th; an umpire’s ruling costs Philadelphia the game in the 14^th: Harry Davis hits a long fly into the crowd in left CF, ordinarily a ground-rule double. As Tiger CF Sam Crawford goes to the crowd’s edge, a policeman stands up and moves, either to interfere or to get out of the way. Home plate umpire Silk O’Loughlin says there is no interference, then reverses his ruling when base umpire Tom Connolly offers a different opinion. When play resumes, the Athletics’ Danny Murphy hits a long single that would have scored Davis. The game is called because of darkness in the 17^th, a 9–9 tie, with ace Bill Donovan pitching the entire way for the Tigers. The 2^nd game is never played. The Tigers, in first place, leave for Washington. In an interview with Bob Wolff decades later, Cobb will say that this game catapulted the Tigers to the pennant. “Our pitcher, Bill Donovan, pitched the full 17 innings, and of course the Athletics used about five of their pitchers, relieving and so forth. Well, it took the edge off the Athletics pitching staff, so our remaining pitchers were fresh. We breezed through and won the rest of the games” [ed note: they lost the final days’ doubleheader to St. Louis.].

Cardinals 1B Ed Konetchy steals home twice in St. Louis’ 5–1 win against Boston. St. Louis sets a ML record with 3 steals of home in the game as Joe Delahanty also scores in the 8^th.

Al Orth and the Yankees lose to the Browns, 4-2, giving the “Curveless Wonder” his 21^st loss of the season, high in the AL. He is the first pitcher to top the league in wins one year and lead in losses the next. Orth is also the first pitcher to win 100 games in each league (100 in the NL; 102 in the AL).

Behind Ed Reulbach, Chicago shuts out the Giants, 6-0. It is Chicago’s 32^nd shutout win of the year, tying the ML mark set by the White Sox last year. The Cubs will match it again in 1909.

OCTOBER

1^st The Cubs score one run in the 9^th against Mathewson to tie the score at 1–1, then push across the winner against a tired Matty in the 11^th to beat the Giants, 2–1. Chick Fraser and Carl Lundgren allow just 2 Giant safeties in 11 frames.

“Before the largest crowd the local park had ever contained” (NY Times) in Washington, the Tigers rally with 3 runs in the 6^th against Walter Johnson to beat the Senators, 5-3. Cobb starts the rally with a double. He adds a stolen base and combines with Rossman at 1B for a 9-3 double play.

2^nd  Detroit sweeps a pair from Washington, winning 9–5 and 10–2. Ty Cobb’s 200^th hit earns him a $500 bonus; he will get 212 for the year. He also steals 4 bases in the game: Cobb will lead the AL with 49 this year.

At Pittsburgh, rookie George McQuillan pitches the Phils into 3^rd place in the NL with a 4-1 victory. The Pirates score comes in the first inning, the first tally off McQuillan after 25 straight scoreless innings. The New York Giants drop to 4^th place with a 13-7 loss at Chicago.

3^rd  Before the start of the Nationals-Tigers game in Washington, friends of Hughie Jennings present him with a congratulatory floral wreath, though the Tigers have not yet clinched the pennant over the A’s. But today’s contest will help as the paste the Nationals 9-3 to sweep the 4 game series. Bill Donovan (25-4) coasts and, with a 9-1 lead, starts lobbing the ball in. Ty Cobb continues his hot hitting—he is 13-for-18 in the series—with 3 hits and 3 stolen bases. He leaves in the 8^th after twisting his ankle on a slide into 2B.

The Red Sox end their 16-game losing streak by nipping the Browns, 1–0. Cy Morgan is the victor over Harry Howell.

4^th The Senators and the A’s split a year-end doubleheader. Rookie Walter Johnson beats Eddie Plank, 2–1, to finish at 5-9. Spitballer Jimmy Dygert wins his 21^st for the A’s, beating Tom Hughes, 8–0.

26-year-old Reds pitcher Frank Leary dies following an operation for appendicitis when he fails to come out of the anesthesia. Leary (0-1) pitched in 2 games in 1907 with a 1.13 ERA.

5^th  In the last game of the year for the Athletics, hurler Rube Vickers hurls a 5-inning 4–0 perfect game against Washington. He also wins the 15-inning first game of the twin bill, 4–2, with a spectacular 12-inning relief effort, allowing 8 hits. The two wins are the only ones for Vickers this year. Starter Charlie Fritz falter after three innings and Rube Waddell tosses just one pitch, hit for a single. It is Waddell’s last pitch for the A’s as Mack will pedal Rube to the Browns over the winter.

In St. Louis, the Tigers clinch the AL pennant with a 10-2 win over the Browns, their 10^th win in a row (one tie). Ty Cobb’s triple in the 4^th starts the scoring and he adds a homerun in his other official at bat.

In the first of two games, the Cubs, leading the Cardinals 2-0 in the 4^th, find themselves on the losing end of an argument with umpire Rigler, who called Evers out at 3B. After a number of Cubs squawk at the call, Rigler orders them to their positions and then forfeits the game to the Cardinals. With that, Chance, Pfester and Overall leave the park and head over to watch the Series-bound Tigers play the Browns. The Cards take game 2, 4-3.

In Philadelphia, the Phillies complete a three-game sweep by winning a pair from the Giants, 7-3 and 3-2. Rookie George McQuillan (4-0) beats Christy Mathewson in game 2, called after the Giants bat in the 7^th. Mathewson finishes at 24-12.

6^th The first-place Cubs finish the season with a split at St. Louis, winning the first game, 7–1 and losing game 2 by a 1–0 score. The Cubs finish the year with a remarkable 1.73 team ERA, .57 points better than the runner-up. This .57 difference will not be matched until the 2003 Dodgers do it with their 3.16 ERA.

The Reds and Pirates split the finales, with the Bucs winning the opener, 4–3 and the Reds taking game 2, 13-1, in 7 innings. The Reds collect 16 hits off young Babe Adams (0-2). Mike O’Neill finishes his ML career with a triple off Babe for his second hit of the year. The first was also a triple. Adams will spend the next season in the minors before returning in 1909 with a rookie-record 1.11 ERA and a 12-3 mark.

In St. Louis, 18,000 turn out with a reported 5,000 turned away to see the local Browns top the Series-bound Tigers, 10-4 and 10-3. The stars sit for Detroit as manager Hugh Jennings start game 1 at short, but finding the throw too long, switches to 2B. Cobb attends the Cubs-Cards game.

In Chicago, the Leland Giants end the season with a 3-2 win over Milwaukee as Rube Foster pitches a complete game for the win.

8^th  The Tigers have game one of the World Series against the Cubs in their grasp—or in C Charlie Schmidt’s glove—but it gets away from them. Leading 3–2 in the 9^th, Bill Donovan faces pinch hitter Del Howard with 2 on and 2 outs. He fans Howard, but the ball gets away from Schmidt, and the tying run scores. Darkness ends the game after 12 innings.

9^th  In game 2, the Tigers score just once against Chicago’s Jack Pfiester and lose 3–1. They will not score more than once in any of the remaining games in the WS. The Tigers take advantage of the aggressive baserunning of Jimmy Slagle by nabbing him in the first inning with a hidden ball trick, the only one in WS history. Yesterday, Slagle had two steals and was caught stealing once. The play goes Germany Schaefer to Bill Coughlin (according to Bill Deane). Slagle redeems himself in the 4^th by driving in the go-ahead run and then scoring on Sheckard’s double.

10^th  Ed Reulbach coasts to a 5–1 win over the Tigers, as the Cubs hit 5 doubles in game 3.

11^th  Orval Overall gives up a triple to Cobb, but the Tigers are tamed again 6–1 in game 4.

12^th  It’s Three Fingered Brown’s turn to shut down the Tigers 2–0. Each side has 7 hits, but the Cubs steal 4 bases for a total of 18 for the 5-game World Series. Just 7370 fans turn out for the game in Detroit.

In Boston, the AL Americans dominate their NL neighbors, just as they did in their City Series in 1905. Today’s match ends, 4–3, the Americans’ 6^th win in 6 games. The final game will end in a 3–3 tie. The two teams won’t meet again in a City Series match until 1925.

13^th In a three-way trade, the Highlanders receive 1B Jake Stahl from the White Sox and send infielder Frank LaPorte to the Red Sox. Boston sends SS Freddy Parent to Chicago, opening the shortstop spot up for Heinie Meinie.

November

5^th The Yankees trade 2B Jimmy Williams and OF Danny Hoffman to the Browns for P Fred Glade, speedy 2B Harry Niles, and OF Charlie Hemphill. Glade will pitch just 5 games in 1908 before retiring.

16^th The National Commission rules against the ‘farming’ of ML players to the minors. A new statute says in part: “whenever a major league club disposes of the services of any player by sale to a national association club, with an option to repurchase such player, such option can be exercised only on the 20^th of August of the same year in which the sale is made.”

18^th Charles Murphy, owner of the Cubs, says he was misquoted in the Tribune yesterday. He in fact is advocating extending the World Series from a 4 out of 7 game series to a 7 out of 9 series. He is not in favor of the best 9 out of 11 series as stated in the newspaper.

21^st F. De Haas Robison. President of the St. Louis Cardinals, takes an opposite stand to that of President Harry Pulliam on the topic of doubleheaders. Quoted in the Atlanta Constitution, he says, “There is a suggestion I intend to make at the NL meeting next month and the adoption of which I think will be of benefit to the game, and that is the playing of doubleheaders on holidays and Sundays. Saturday has become a universally observed half holiday in this country. Now, I am in favor of playing doubleheaders on every Saturday afternoon and doubleheaders on Sunday as well, where Sunday ball is allowed. When a man goes to a ball game he wants to get there early. He doesn’t want to be sitting around and watching players practice. He wants baseball and I believe that if the two major leagues, as well as the minor leagues, would get together and agree to do this, the game would increase in popularity. Don’t let me cast this impression that baseball is losing interest. It is the one game that the public enjoys year in and year out. They want to read about it; the want to see the games. It is certainly a grand game, and one that will never die.”

23^rd Former Brooklyn pitcher Henry Schmidt, 34, who won 23 games in his lone ML season of 1903, is arrested in Nashville’s Ruby Theatre after slashing the neck of Alice Applewhite. The two were scheduled to be married after Applewhite obtained a divorce. Appearing later in court, Schmidt is fined $20 for assault and $50 for carrying a concealed weapon.

DECEMBER

13^th Friction between his catchers and the need to strengthen the Giants infield prompt John McGraw to trade Frank Bowerman, along with Bill Dahlen, Dan McGann, George Browne, and Cecil Ferguson to Boston for young SS Al Bridwell, veteran 1B and recently fired manager Fred Tenney, and reserve C Tom Needham.

30^th The Spalding Commission reports that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. The Commission is convinced by the testimony of Abner Graves, who claimed to be a childhood companion of Doubleday’s. Grave’s story is later “verified” when an old, rotting ball is found among his personal effects: The ball is now in the Hall of fame. The Commission ignores the fact that Doubleday did not graduate from West Point until 1842.

• 1908

JANUARY

6^th  PCL owners agree not to expand the league beyond four teams—San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Oakland—the same teams they had in 1907. In 1906 Fresno and Seattle also had franchises. In 1909 the PCL will return to six teams with the additions of Sacramento and Vernon, a suburb of Los Angeles.

9^th  Frank Navin is named president of the Detroit club. Bennett Field will be renamed Navin Field.

FEBRUARY

3^rd  Chris Von der Ahe, flamboyant former owner of the Browns, files for bankruptcy, claiming $27,000 in debts, and $200 in assets.

7^th  Exasperated Connie Mack sells his talented but eccentric and unreliable hurler Rube Waddell to the St. Louis Browns for $5,000.

27^th  The sacrifice fly rule is adopted. No time at bat is charged if a run scores after the catch of a fly ball. The rule will be repealed in 1931, then reinstated or changed several times before permanent acceptance in 1954.

In Fullerton, CA, Walter Johnson, Washington’s young phenom, is operated on for an infection of the mastoid area behind the right ear. The doctors remove a section of the bone, and the recuperation will keep Johnson sidelined until late May.

MARCH

7^th Near Lexington, Kentucky, the train carrying the Cleveland Naps is struck by two bricks shattering windows. Elmer Flick, Bill Bradley, and Harry Bay are hit by the flying glass while playing euchre, but no injuries occur. Tomorrow, the team will arrive safely in Macon, Georgia, for spring training.

16^th  Pittsburgh’s Honus Wagner, 34, announces his retirement. An annual rite of spring, it will not keep him from playing in 151 games, more than in any of the past 10 years, and leading the league in hitting (for the 6^th time), hits, total bases, doubles, triples, RBI, and stolen bases. He will miss the Triple Crown by hitting 2 fewer HRs than Tim Jordan’s 12.

21^st  Ty Cobb signs for $4,000 and an $800 bonus if he hits over .300. He will collect the bonus with a league-leading .324, one of only 3 AL regulars to top .300 (the NL has 5) in 1908.

APRIL

2^nd  After a 2-year investigation, the Mills Committee, formed on the recommendation of Al Spalding and headed by the former NL president A. G. Mills, declares that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, NY in 1839. Overwhelming evidence to the contrary is ignored, but the designation makes James Fenimore Cooper’s town the most likely site for a Hall of Fame and museum when these establishments are conceived some 30 years later.

7^th  The St. Louis clubs play a benefit game, raising $5,000 for the beleaguered Chris Von der Ahe.

13^th  Dove’s infielder Dave Brain, a holdout, issues the following statement: “Misleading statements have appeared in various papers regarding the situation between Mr. Dovey and myself. The facts are that I asked him for a raise in salary last year, but as he had just invested in the Boston club, he asked me to continue at the salary I had been getting, and promised to give me an advance for the season of 1908. I was much surprised, therefore, when he sent me a contract this year at a reduced salary. I returned it to him reminding him of his promise, and offered to accept a raise of $400 for the season. Mr. Dovey replied that that was too much, but said nothing more. After waiting for nearly two weeks I wrote Mr. Dovey that I understood he did not intend having me on his team and asked him to give me a release so that I could secure a position on some other team. This he refused to do, and there the matter rests.” Brain, last year’s homerun king, will be sold to the Reds in mid-May, then be sold to the Giants in mid-July, hitting a collective .125 in his last ML season (as noted by Dennis Auger).

14^th At Hilltop Park, Slow Joe Doyle scatters four hits in edging the A’s, 1–0 in 12 innings. The first hit is by A’s left fielder Topsy Hartsell, who has his nose broken by an errant pitch during pre-game warmups. Nick Carter, making his major-league debut, matches Doyle for 11 innings, but in the 12^th, a ground rule double into the crowd, and a single put runners at the corners. A line drive to RF Jack Coombs then scores Red Kleinow with the winner.

Before 17,000 in Philadelphia, Mathewson scatters 4 Phillies hits and drives in 2 of the Giants runs. New York wins, 3–1 over George McQuillan.

At Boston, Boston plays their first game under their new nickname “Red Sox” defeating Washington, 3–1.

16^th Pittsburgh’s Sam Leever tosses a 3-hit shutout over the Cardinals as Pittsburgh sweeps the 3-game series. But the big news for the Pirates is the signing of Honus Wagner for another year. The star SS ends his holdout and will play on the 19^th in a 4–3 loss to the Reds.

17^th At Detroit’s Bennett Field, Cleveland scores 2 runs in the 11^th and 4 in the 12^th to beat the host Tigers, 12-8. Cleveland collects 20 hits. Cobb leads the Tiger attack with three hits and 2 RBIs, while Germany Schaefer has 5 hits.

At Chicago, the Browns Rube Waddell makes his first start of the year, shutting out the White Sox, 1–0, on one hit, a single by Jake Atz that bounces off Ferris’ glove. Only one ball is hit out of the infield. Owen is the loser with 8 innings of work.

At Cincinnati, Chicago beats the Reds, 1–0. After the game the police escort Reds LF Hans Lobert off the field after a fan charges him with spitting on him and hitting him twice. Lobert was criticized for missing one ball and misjudging another.

At New York, the A’s German battery of Schlitzer and Schreckengost beats the Yankees, 8–2. Simon Nicholls hits his first ML homer to pace the attack.

18^th In Brooklyn’s home opener, the Superbas manage 6 hits against Mathewson and strike out 12 times. Newly acquired 1B Fred Tenney has two hits and a RBI as the Giants win 4–0.

19^th  The National Commission reinstates Jake Stahl and Mike Donlin after fining them $100 each for playing with teams outside organized ball in 1907.

20^th “The Father of Baseball,” Henry Chadwick, the leading reporter, commentator, scorer, and indefatigable promoter of the game, dies in Brooklyn at age 85.

Bugs Raymond throws a one-hitter or the Cardinals, but loses to the Cubs, 2–0. Harry Steinfeldt has the only Chicago hit in the 2-run 6^th inning. Lundgren is the winner.

At Chicago, the White Sox knock the Browns Rube Waddell out of the box with a 5-run 6^th and a 2-run 7^th to win, 7–1. They would have plated more in the inning but Al Shaw’s single results in a double play at the plate as two runners are tagged out on the same play, RF Danny Hoffman to C Tubby Spencer.

22^nd  In the Giants home opener, 25,000 fans watch Brooklyn take a 2–1 lead into the 9^th inning against Christy Mathewson. With Fred Tenney on 1B, Mike Donlin, a hold out all of last year, then homers to give the Giants a 3–2 win.

27^th At Boston, Mathewson twirls a one-hitter, walking none, to beat Irv Young, 2–0. Claude Ritchey reaches base on a single and one other runner reaches on an error.

At St. Louis, White Sox pitcher Frank Owen steals home on a double steal against the Browns in the 9^th inning to help himself in a 6–5 win. It is the 3^rd time Owen has stolen home, a ML record for pitchers.

The A’s trip the Senators, 2-1, with the help of a triple steal in the 2^nd inning to break a 1-1 tie. Harry Davis scores on the trifecta when Tom Hughes’ throw is too high to catch him. Coombs and Oldering steal on the play. Rube Vickers is the winning pitcher.

At Boston, the Highlanders edge the Red Sox, 1-0, behind Jack Chesbro. “The once famous moist ball artist was at his best” (New York Times) scoring the lone run and beating George Winter.

29^th The Braves rally to tie the Giants in the 5^th, then score runs in the 10^th and 11^th to beat Malarkey, 7–6. Winning pitcher Irv Young scores the winning run when former Brave Fred Tenney drops a perfect throw at 1B.

30^th In the 9^th inning at Boston, the Braves are tied 2–2 with the Giants. With runners on 1B and 2B, Boston’s Frank Bowman hits a Doc Crandall pitch into the stands, but is credited with only a double in the 3–2 win.

The Pirates game in Pittsburgh against the Reds is cancelled because of snow.

MAY

1^st In New York’s 9-4 win over the Washington Nationals, Kid Elberfeld is severely spiked in the foot by Bob Ganley, essentially ending his season. He’ll go to bat just 56 times this year.

Former Red Sox pitcher Floyd Kroh tosses a 10-inning no-hitter for Johnston (Tri-state league) beating Wilmington, 1–0. Kroh will make it to the Chicago Cubs late this season.

4^th The Giants jump on Tully Sparks for 5 runs in the first inning and coast to a 12–2 win over the Phillies. Mathewson leaves with a 9–0, lead and runs his record to 5–0.

7^th Torrential rains washed out every AL and NL game, a first since there have been two leagues. The only professional game played on the eastern seaboard was an Atlantic League game in Portland, Maine. A 40 mph nor’easter flooded the switches in the Manhattan-Brooklyn subway tunnel stopping trains for an hour.

8^th On a muddy field in Boston, the Yankees top the Red Sox, 3-0, behind Walker Manning’s first appearance of the year. AL President Ban Johnson reinstates Clark Griffith, who will lead the first-place Yankees.

Washington beats the Philadelphia Athletics, 3-2, with the aid of a triple steal by Bob Ganley, Dave Altizer and Jerry Freeman.

9^th Art Devlin cracks a 1^st inning double with the bases loaded and the Giants score 7 runs off Irv Young in the 1^st two innings. Mathewson scatters ten Braves hits in coasting to a 7–3 win.

11^th In Pittsburgh, Honus Wagner leads the Pirates to a 5–2 win over the Giants with a triple, 2 walks, 2 runs and 2 RBI. His delayed break to 2^nd allows Fred Clarke to score the 5^th run on the front end of a double steal.

12^th  Orval Overall of the Cubs absorbs his first loss since August 11, 1907, as the Phils end his 14-game winning streak, 6–2. George McQuillan is the winner for the visiting Phillies.

13^th At Pittsburgh, the Pirates knock out Christy Mathewson in the 5^th inning and top the Giants, 5–1, behind Howie Camnitz. It is Matty’s first loss of the year. The game takes just 85 minutes to complete.

16^th Andy Coakley gives up 6 hits in beating the Giants in Cincinnati, 6–1. Mathewson lasts just 2 innings and McGraw pinch hits for him in the 3^rd.

17^th Reds player-manager John Ganzel hits his only homer of the year, a grand slam off Hooks Wiltse of the Giants. The blow comes in the 6-run 8^th inning and propels the Reds to a 7–2 win over the visiting Giants.

Chicago’s Three Fingered Brown fires a near-perfect game, allowing just a 5^th inning single to Brooklyn’s Bill Bergen. Bergen, one of the worst hitting regulars of all-time, will finish the year at .175.

18^th Coming back against the Reds, Mathewson is treated poorly again. The Reds pound him for 15 hits and 9 runs in 7 innings to win 9–5, handing Matty his 3^rd loss in a week.

21^st Pitching for Kansas City (Western Association) Smoky Joe Wood hurls a 1–0 no-hitter against Milwaukee.

23^rd  Giants 3B Art Devlin ties a record by handling 13 total chances as the Cards beat New York 6–2. Two errors cost him a new record.

Chicago Cubs pitcher Carl Lundgren beats the Boston Nationals, 6–4, his 10^th straight win over them in 4 years. Lundgren will post an 18–7 record this year, allowing no homers.

25^th  Detroit scores an unearned run in the 3^rd against Washington lefty Bill Burns, but not until 2 are out in the 9^th does a Tiger collect a base hit. Germany Schaefer singles to center off “Sleepy Bill” for the only Bengal hit as Detroit wins, 1–0. Washington will lose 29 games this year by shutouts, an AL record.

At Chicago, the Cubs treat Mathewson rudely, roughing him up for 7 hits and 5 runs in 2 innings. The Giants rally but lose in 10 innings, 8–7, as Hooks Wiltse takes the loss.

26^th  Against the Reds, Brooklyn’s Nap Rucker strikes out 12, but errors do him in and he loses, 4–2.

29^th At Ebbets Field, Christy Mathewson rights himself and shuts out Brooklyn for a 1–0 Giants win. Matty gives up 4 hits, K’s 8, in beating Nap Rucker.

30^th In the first of two Memorial Day games at Boston, Cy Young throws a near-perfect game, beating Washington, 6–0. Jerry Freeman’s 5^th inning single is the only hit and runner. Jesse Tannehill, making his first appearance since last August, starts for the Sox in game 2, but he leaves in the 5^th inning with a 2–2 score. The Sox later today suspend him without pay. Tex Pruiett relieves and is less effect than Jesse, taking the loss in a 7-4 game.

In St. Louis, the Cubs sweep a holiday doubleheader with the Cardinals, winning 10-2 and 11-2. The Cubs won’t win another doubleheader on the road by 8-run margins until 2008.

31^st In Chicago, Jack Pfiester pitches the Cubs to a 6–3 win over the Pirates, but Pittsburgh will win the next 3 games with Chicago by blitzing 33 runs. The Pirates will win the finale, 13–3, when Wagner connects for a homer and 2 doubles to drive in 6 runs.

JUNE

1^st The first-place Cubs fall to the Pirates, 8-6, as Veach scores 4 runs on 4 hits, including a triple and homer. Veach will lead the league in both triples and homers, the first of just five players this century to do so (Harry Lumley, in 1904, will be the next).

The first-place Highlanders trip Ed Cicotte and the visiting Red Sox, 2-0. Jack Chesbro allows just 4 hits in the victory. But the Highlanders, 20-15, will win just 31 more games to finish in last place with a 51-103 record.

2^nd In an argument before a game with the Pirates, Heinie Zimmerman throw a bottle of ammonia that explodes in the face of Cubs outfielder Jimmy Sheckard. Only prompt action at nearby Cook County Hospital saves his eyesight, but the injury will cause Jimmy to miss 40 games and his average will drop to .231. Manager Frank Chance confronts Zimmerman and the two start scuffling before Cubs players pile on and separate the two. Zimmerman is injured in the melee and will miss a month of play. The Cubs lose, 12–6, and are now two games in front of Pittsburgh.

3^rd Mathewson fans 11 in whipping the Braves, 3–0. Matty is 8–3 but the Giants are in 5^th place.

6^th  The Athletics hold first place for the last time this year. Tomorrow, the Cleveland Naps will replace them, and the next day the White Sox will take the lead for the first time. They jump from 7^th to first in 4 days, as a 13-game winning streak puts them into the race, despite being just three games over .500.

At Boston, the Cubs win, 14-0, behind the pitching of Chick Fraser and Ed Reulbach and a grand slam from Johnny Kling in the 3^rd off Irv Young. Hofman also contributes a homer and Wildfire Schulte has 4 hits.

At the Polo Grounds, Mathewson beats the Cardinals, 3–2, for his 20^th straight win over St. Louis stretching back to June 16, 1904. Art Fromme takes the loss. Matty allows 4 hits and strikes out 8, including Joe Delahanty 3 times. He also walks two in a row, an unusual occurrence.

7^th  The Detroit Tigers turn a triple play against the Boston Red Sox for the 2^nd day in a row, but Boston wins, 9–5. The two tri-killings in two games are a unique ML-record.

In Chicago’s 2–1, 10-inning win over the Washington, Sox pitcher Nick Altrock has 12 assists to tie the AL mark for extra innings set by teammate Ed Walsh.

8^th Iron Joe McGinnity rights himself and tosses a 4–0 six hitter against the Cards. Joe’s name had been in the trading mills.

10^th In the New York Globe writeup of yesterday’s 8–2 Giants win over Pittsburgh, reporter Peter Morris uses the term cup of coffee in referring to a player “It isn’t often that Hank O’Day is caught napping, but a young player just getting his cup of coffee in the league put one over on Hank and Mr. Klem yesterday”. According to Paul Dickson, this is the first use of the term.

In St. Louis, leadoff hitter George Stone lines an inside-the-park homer to left field off Eli Cates in the Browns 4-2 victory over Washington.

11^th In his first start since his February operation, Walter Johnson is hammered by the St. Louis Browns in leaves in the 4^th inning. He won’t pitch again until the 23^rd.

Vic Willis pitches Pittsburgh to a 5–2 win over the Giants. Mathewson loses his 4^th of the year.

Fort Worth (Texas League) manages just one hit in 18 innings as they lose to Waco, 3-1 and 1-0. Frank Browning throws a one-hitter in the opener and Pep Hornsby follows with a no-hitter.

13^th Chicago’s Three Fingered Brown pitches a 2-hit victory over the Phillies, with both hits coming off the bat of Sherry Magee.

In Chicago’s 5–1, 10-inning win over the Yankees, Sox pitcher Ed Walsh swipes home in the 7^th.

The St. Louis Browns purchase land adjacent to Sportsman’s Park to build additional stands.

14^th He’s got Moxie. Chicago beats the Yankees, 5–4, with a late rally that puts Moxie Manual in the record books. Moxie, pitching in relief, is lifted in the 8^th inning and his Sox score to go ahead. AL President Ban Johnson will rule that Moxie is the winner, not the pitcher who succeeds him, this establishing a precedent about awarding victories.

With his White Sox in first place, pitcher Frank Smith, a 23-game winner last year, deserts the team and returns to his home in Pittsburgh. “Piano Mover” is offended by the criticism from Charles Comiskey and manager Jones about his work habits—he often skipped morning practices—and his drinking. He won’t return till late July.

15^th With the Giants ahead, 7-3, at the Polo Grounds, umpire Jim Johnstone calls the match in the 4^th inning due to rain. He had already tossed Dummy Taylor out of the game for showing up on the coaches sideline wearing boots. Dummy is fined $10. During the game, it is announced that McGraw is suspended for three games for language he used in a game on the 13^th. When asked by a reporter if he cared to state the exact language he used which resulted in his suspension by Pullium who acted on complaints of umpire Johnstone, McGraw replied, “Willingly. I remember the speech perfectly. ‘Mr. Johnstone, you are a piece of cheese.’ I was very careful not to specify the brand nor to indulge in exaggeration.”

17^th The Giants sweep two from the visiting Reds. Mathewson takes the opener, 2–1, over Andy Coakley, and the Giants take the nitecap, 4–2.

18^th The Pirates and Braves swap Youngs: Pittsburgh acquires P Irv “Cy the second” Young from Boston (NL) in exchange for Harley Young and P Tom McCarthy. Irv Young, who averaged 330+ innings the past three seasons, will pitch just 175 this year, and fewer the next 2 seasons, his last, with the White Sox.

20^tht The Reds win game 1 of a twinbill against the host Phillies, 1–0, behind Andy Coakley. It is their 3^rd shutout in a row. The Phillies win the 2^nd game, 7–0 behind Frank Corridon, but not before the Reds set a club record for consecutive shutout innings at 32.

22^nd  Honus Wagner gets hit No. 2,000 in the 8^th against Jake Weimer of the Reds, who wins 4–0 over the Pirates. Wagner makes an error when he is struck on the finger in the 1^st inning. For the Reds, it is their 4^th shutout in 5 games.

The Phils lose 1–0 at Brooklyn. Nap Rucker shuts out the Quakers, the 4^th whitewash in 5 games for the Phillies.

23^rd The Braves and Giants split a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, with the Giant taking the opener 6–3 and the Braves winning the nitecap, 9–7. Mathewson preserves Joe McGinnity’s win in game 1, pitching a perfect 9^th inning; in the nitecap, he relieves Dummy Taylor in the 9^th with the score 7–7, but the Braves score twice for the win. Fred Merkle cracks his 1^st ML homer, against Patsy Flaherty, in the nitecap.

In Detroit’s 6–1 win over the White Sox, Ty Cobb starts the scoring by swiping home in the first inning with Ed Walsh on the mound. Billy Sullivan Sr. is the catcher.

24^th  Charging the Highlander owners with refusing to spend money to build the team, manager Clark Griffith resigns. His Highlanders are 24-32 after being in 1^st place on June 1. Kid Elberfeld replaces him following today’s 6–6 tie with the A’s. New York fades fast and will finish last with 103 losses.

At Detroit, the Browns Rube Waddell refuses to heel and whips the Tigers, 7-1. Waddell, known as an animal lover, ignores the two dogs that the Tigers have in the dugout and is not distracted when Tiger manager Hughey Jennings brings one out to the third base coach’s box.

Honus Wagner does it all today, smacking a home run and double, then breaking a 3–3 tie with an 8^th inning single. He ends his scoring with a steal of home as the Pirates win 5–3 over the Reds.

The Giants sweep 2 games from Boston to move into 3^rd place. Hooks Wiltse tosses a 2-hit shutout to win, 4–0, and Mathewson follows with a 7–1 victory over Irv Young in the 2^nd match. Matty leaves after 7 innings.

25^th The Cincinnati Reds debut two college twirlers, Jean Dubuc of Notre Dame and Bert Sincock from Michigan. Dubuc starts and Sincock relieves him. Unimpressed by the degrees, the Cubs trounce the pair by the score of 7–0 (as noted by Richard Thompson).

At the Polo Grounds the Doves and the Giants split a pair, Boston taking the first game, 14-10, on 17 hits, then losing 7-4. Peaches Graham has 4 hits in game 1 for Boston, while in game 2 Claude Ritchey and Harry Smith hit back to back homers in the 6^th. New York also tallies in the 6^th with 4 runners scoring on three bases-loaded walks and one HBP by Vive Lindaman.

The first-place Cubs win at home, defeating the Reds, 7-0, behind Three Fingered Brown.

At Brooklyn, the Phillies shut out the Superbas, 6-0. Kitty Bransfield hits a grand slam over the right field wall in the 4^th inning off Jim Pastorius.

In a 15–0 win over Los Angeles (PCL), Portland’s Johnson has 3 doubles and 2 triples.

27^th At Brooklyn, the Giants win two from the Superbas, 4–3 and 5–2. Mathewson preserves Wiltse’s game in the opener by relieving in the 9^th and fanning the side. Matty then pitches the 2^nd game, picking up his 13^th win, beating Irv Wilhelm.

28^th The 4^th-place Tigers top the White Sox, 10-5, in Chicago. Germany Schaefer hits a grand slam off Ed Walsh for the Bengals.

30^th  Cy Young’s 3^rd career no-hitter is an 8–0 Boston win over host New York. Cy almost duplicates his perfect game of 1904, walking just one batter—leadoff hitter Harry Niles. Niles is then caught stealing and the next 27 batters make out. Cy also tallies 3 hits and drives in half the Americans’ runs off Rube Manning. At 41 years and 3 months, he is the oldest pitcher to turn the no-hit trick. Nolan Ryan will beat him in 1990 at the age of 43. Young had a near-perfect game exactly a month ago.

JULY

1^st Jimmy Dygert of the A’s shuts out the Nationals, 2-0, as Washington concludes a 30 game road trip winning 8. Last year they played 31 straight on the road, an AL record.

2^nd The Giants rally for two runs in the 7^th off Phillies starter Bill Foxen, and win, 4–3. Christy Mathewson wins his 14^th.

Well, they didn’t get him to beat Chicago. Pittsburgh’s Irv Young, acquired two weeks ago from Boston, loses his 11^th straight to Chicago, 3–0, in game 1. His streak dates back to August 6, 1905. The Pirates claw back in game 2, winning, 9–4, to stay a half game behind first-place Chicago.

4^th  Lefthander Hooks Wiltse pitches a 10-inning no-hitter for the Giants over the Phillies 1–0. He loses his bid for a perfect 9 innings when, with 2 outs, he hits Phils P George McQuillan with a pitch on a 1-and-2 count. Ump Charles Rigler calls the pitch earlier a ball, to the dismay of Hooks and the fans, who thought it a strike. In between games McQuillan will agree that he thought it a strike as well. Art Devlin scores the winner in the 10^th after singling off McQuillan and coming around on two errors. New York wins the afternoon contest more easily, 9–3, behind Dummy Taylor.

In Chicago, the first-place Browns split a pair with the White Sox, putting the Sox in 4^th place, two games out. The Sox take the opener, 8–4, as reliever Ed Walsh paces the offense with a homerun, one of just three the Sox will collect all year (Frank Isbell and Fielder Jones each hit one), an all-time low. Walsh starts game 2 but doesn’t last as the Browns win, 8–1.

With suspended manager Kid Elberfeld in a front row box seat at Washington, the Highlanders take the morning game, 6-1, with a 4-run uprising in the 7^th inning. Washington loads the bases in their half of the 7^th with one out and Joe Lake comes in to put out the fire. After issuing two balls to Otis Clymer, Elberfeld stands and start waving and shouting to his team to bring in Doc Newton. Umpire Egan ignores the calls to ban the suspended manager and Newton trots in to strike out Clymer and end the threat. In the afternoon game, Elberfeld is banished to the clubhouse and Washington wins, 6-2, behind Walter Johnson.

In Pittsburgh, an a.m.-p.m. doubleheader with the Cubs draws 50,000 fans. Three Fingered Brown wins the morning game, 2–0, for his 4^th straight shutout. Ed Reulbach takes the afternoon affair, 9–3. The Cubs and Bucs play 5 games in 3 days with the Cubs winning three: Three Fingered Brown cops 2, tossing two shutouts—a 6-hitter and a 2-hitter.

While every team is playing a doubleheader today, the Cardinals host the first single-admission doubleheader on Independence Day, according to Charlie Bevis (Doubleheaders). The Birds split with the Reds, winning 3-2, before losing, 6-3.

At Newark, Jersey City and Newark play a 19-inning scoreless tie called after 3 hours: 40 minutes on account of darkness. Lew Brockett, who started the year with the Highlanders, allows 6 hits while Ed Laffitte gives up 3 safeties.

6^th In Cincinnati, Christy Mathewson stops the Reds, 2–1, beating Andy Coakley for a Giants win. He’ll beat them again by the same score on the 9^th. The 3^rd place Giants are now 1 ½ games behind the first-place Pirates. John McGraw misses the game to scout 19-year-old prospect Rube Marquard, pitching in Columbus.

8^th Despite 5 hits by Honus Wagner, the host Pirates drop a doubleheader to their cross-state rivals, the Phillies, 4–1 and 8–5. They will split the next two games, but lose Deacon Phillippe for the year when he is hit on his pitching hand by a Red Dooin line drive.

9^th Mathewson spins another 4 hitter over the Reds, beating them again, 2–1. The losing hurler is Bob Ewing.

The Cubs win their 2^nd in a row from Brooklyn, this time in 10 innings, 4–3. Three Fingered Brown tops Nap Rucker.

10^th At Pittsburgh, the Giants (43-30) take a 4-0 lead, but the Pirates claw back on back-to-back triples by Wagner and Clarke. Tommy Leach wins it for the Bucs with a 9^th inning home run to deep center.

The Red Sox purchase 1B Jake Stahl from the Highlanders.

11^th  The White Sox play their 2^nd 16-inning game in 2 days, beating Philadelphia 5–4.

Vic Willis gives the Pirates their 2^nd win in a row over the Giants, winning, 6–2. Mike Donlin’s triple is the only New York hit.

13^th  New York sweeps the Pirates, beating Lefty Leifeld, 7–0, on a 3-hitter by Mathewson, then taking the nitecap 7–4. Pittsburgh racked up 3 homers—by Wagner, Chief Wilson and Alan Storke—but to no avail. McGinnity wins the nitecap with relief help from Hooks Wiltse.

15^th In Chicago, the Giants pound Three Fingered Brown and 2 relievers to win, 11–0, and move into 2^nd place. The Cubs drop two places to 3^rd.

The Pirates tie the Braves in the 9^th and win in the 10^th, 3–2, when Fred Clarke is hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The Bucs take the NL lead by a half-game.

16^th At Chicago, manager Frank Chicago figures to rattle Giants rookie Otis “Doc” Crandall and elects to bat the Cubs first (this option rule for the home team was changed in 1950). But Crandall is a rock and nurses a 4-1 lead into the last of the 9^th. After one out, Christy Mathewson, warming in the bullpen, decides the game is well in hand and goes into the clubhouse to shower. Crandall promptly walks three straight, wherein McGraw looks in vain for Matty. The Giants ace quickly dries off, throws on a uniform, and puts his street shoes on. By the time he arrives on the mound, reliever Joe McGinnity has walked in a run. Matty gets a ground out, then a strikeout, and the Giants win, 4-3. Ed Reulbach takes the loss for Chicago.

17^th In another classic matchup, Three Fingered Brown and Christy Mathewson pair off with Brown winning, 1–0. The Cubs pitcher allows 6 hits, with Matty giving up 7. The only run comes on a 5^th inning inside-the-park home run by Matty’s nemesis, Joe Tinker, who runs through the arms of 3B coach Heinie Zimmerman to score. In the 12 matchups between the two pitchers, Brown has won eight. A tragic occurrence happens during Tinker’s home run dash when a boy, standing on the roof of a nearby building to view the game, falls 50 feet to his death.

It is Honus Wagner Day in Pittsburgh, as players from both teams line up to pay homage. Wagner’s tribute was originally scheduled for the 16^th, but Honus asked that it be moved a day so it would not conflict with the annual benefit picnic for orphans. Wagner is presented with a $700 gold watch. Pittsburgh beats Boston, 4–0 to cut the Giants lead to a half game over the Bucs.

Despite hitting no home runs, first-place Detroit rolls over the Athletics, 21–2. Germany Schaefer scores 5 runs.

18^th The Cubs win by a run, beating the Giants, 5–4, behind Orval Overall. Hooks Wiltse takes the loss as Joe Tinker once again wins the game, this time with a two-run double in the 9^th inning. Tinker also had a 6^th inning triple off Hooks.

Danny Murphy hits a grand slam off Ed Willett to lead the A’s to an 11-5 win over Detroit.

19^th Walter Justis, pitching for Lancaster (Ohio State L), hurls the first of his four no-hitters this season, beating Mansfield, 6-0. He strikes out 5.

21^st  In St. Louis, the Cards split with the Giants, with Harry Sallee losing the opener, 4–2. Mathewson wins his 21^st straight over St. Louis, though he gives up 11 hits in the victory. The Cards beat Dummy Taylor in the nitecap, 3–1, in 12 innings.

According to a Chicago newspaper contest, the Giants’ Mike Donlin, the NL’s leading hitter, is baseball’s most popular player. Turkey Mike tops Honus Wagner by a wide margin and will be awarded a trophy cup. Donlin was involved in a car accident on the 18^th when the car he was riding in on Michigan Avenue collided with another vehicle driven by Chicago Mayor Fred Busse.

22^nd In Pittsburgh, Brooklyn first sacker Tim Jordan hits an over-the-fence HR, the first in 9 years, but its all the scoring his team can muster. The Pirates prevail, 2–1.

24^th At the Polo Grounds, the Giants edge the visiting Pirates, 2–1, behind Hooks Wiltse. Larry Doyle leads the offense with a single, double and RBI triple.

The first-place Tigers stop off in Cleveland for a one game set, their last game of the year with the Naps. Detroit wins, 4-0, as Ed Summers bests Addie Joss.

25^th With the Highlanders leading the Tigers 3–2 in the 8^th, Detroit scores 2 runs on a Ty Cobb triple. With lefty Claude Rossman the next hitter, New York’s new manager Kid Elberfeld moves righty pitcher Jack Chesbro to 1B and replaces him with first baseman Hal Chase. Chase allows a fly ball that scores Cobb, then goes back to 1B and Chesbro resumes his spot on the mound. It is Chase’s only pitching appearance as the Tigers win 5–3.

Before an overflow crowd of 30,000 in New York, the Pirates Lefty Leifield tops the Giants and Christy Mathewson, 7–2. The loss drops New York to 3^rd place. Two errors by Larry Doyle—he’ll add another—in the 7^th open the gates for 5 Pirate runs. Pittsburgh is lead by Honus Wagner who goes 5-for-5 to take over the batting lead from a hitless Mike Donlin. After each hit, Wagner holds up a finger to show the number of safeties to the RF Donlin.

The Chicago Tribune reports on star White Sox pitcher Frank Smith, missing in action since June 14, that “according to the dope, Mr. F. Smith, the prodigal piano mover is about to burst upon the job once more. He was to have met the team at Cleveland with his mouth wide open for a feed of the justly celebrated husks. Smith so often declared he never would return that Jones applied reverse English to the declaration and told Smith to come on as far as Cleveland, anyhow. Moving the kind of pianos they have at Allegheny, Pa., sounds poetical and all that, but, strong as he is, the esteemed Smithy couldn’t kick in $125 per week at the job. Moving a baseball with saliva on it is much easier, the distance is shorter, as a rule, and there is no expense on the side for horse feed and axle grease.” (as noted in Deadball Stars of the American League). Smith will win 11 games upon his return to the Sox.

Future Red Sox pitcher Hugh Bedient, pitching for a semi-pro Falconer, NY team, strikes out 42 batters in what is heralded as a world’s record. He does it 23 innings against Corry, PA, finally winning, 3–1. He is matched all the way by Charles Bickford. When the wire services pick up the story, Bedient will receive 19 pro offers.

27^th Following the Sunday off, Wagner hits doubles in his first 2 at bats to again lead the Pirates to a 4–3 win over New York. Nick Maddox, with relief help from Irv Young, is the winner over Doc Crandall. Both Maddox and Young plunk two Giant batters.

28^th Hooks Wiltse and Vic Willis lock horns and the Giants and Pirates duel for 16 innings before the game is called, 2–2, because of darkness. Wagner is 0-for-6 but drives home a run with a “sacrifice fly.”

Walter Johnson’s (1–5) recuperation from his operation seems complete as he pitches 15 innings against the Browns with neither team scoring. Washington pulls out a 2–1 victory in the 16^th as Johnson K’s 15, Big Train’s highest strikeout total for his career. He will win 11 of his next 13 decisions.

In a 4–2 win at Boston, Bob Ewing of the Reds hits a homer that travels 3 miles (as noted by Rhodes & Snyder). The ball goes over the LF at South Street Grounds and lands in a passing mail car railroad train. The train travels 3 miles before reaching its destination.

29^th  Mathewson defeats the Cardinals again, beating Harry Sallee, 1–0. Sallee allows 4 hits, but the one run scores on an error and passed ball.

Rube Waddell continues to haunt Connie Mack, fanning 16 A’s in a 5–4 win for the Browns.

John McFarland of Helena (Arkansas State) loses his perfect game when the 27^th batter refuses to bat, resulting in a 9–0 forfeit.

31^st  Behind Wiltse and McGinnity, the Giants beat the Cardinals, 4-3 in 10 innings, and 4-3 in regulation.

AUGUST

3^rd The 2^nd-place Cubs stay a half game ahead of New York and 1 ½ games behind Pittsburgh, by beating the Phillies, 5–1. Mordecai Brown is the winner picking up his 10^th straight win over the Phillies.

4^th  The Giants take 2 from Cincinnati, winning 4–3 in 12 innings, and 4–1. Christy Mathewson wins both, relieving McGinnity in the 9^th inning of the opener and tossing nine innings in the nitecap; Andy Coakley loses both. New York moves into 2^nd place, 5 percentage points behind the Pirates. Despite the two losses, it is a relief for the Reds to score runs. Cincy (48-50) had endured four straight shutout losses: 5–0 on July 30; 3–0 on the 31^st; 6–0 on the 1^st and 3^rd.

At Brooklyn, the Superbas and St. Louis Cardinals play an entire game with one ball. Brooklyn wins 3–0.

In a 7-5 loss to Cleveland, the Nationals’ Otis Clymer and Jim Delahanty draw indefinite suspensions for abusing umpire Silk O’Loughlin. Delahanty, a Cleveland native, is fined $50 by Ban Johnson and barred from the Cleveland ballpark for one year for his unbecoming conduct, though he denies that the language he used could be heard all over the park. Washington manager Joe Cantillon then declares that he will not put the other contenders at an unfair advantage and he benches Delahanty for games in Detroit, St. Louis and Chicago. Delahanty will miss an additional 13 games because of this but the ban will be lifted at the beginning of the 1909 season.

6^th A scheduled doubleheader in Brooklyn with St. Louis is washed out after 5 innings of the first game, but lefty Johnny Lush, with one no-hitter over Brooklyn under his belt, allows no Brooklyn hits in his outing. The Cards win 2–0, on 2 unearned runs, as 1B Tim Jordan drops a fly ball with the bases loaded.

In a surprise ceremony in Augusta, Georgia, Ty Cobb marries his fiancé 17-year-old Charlie Lombard. It is an off day for the first-place Tigers, two games ahead of the Browns. Playing without Cobb, the Bengals will split their next two.

8^th Detroit does not miss Cobb as they collect 22 hits off Burt Keeley in whipping the visiting Senators, 18-1. They lead the Browns by two games.

9^th Ty Cobb returns from his short honeymoon with his wife and hits a single and triple in a 5–2 Detroit win over Washington.

The Browns beat the Red Sox with an 8-run 8^th inning to win, 8–2. Pitcher Rube Waddell helps with a homer and Hobe Ferris belts a grand slam in the 8^th, off Cy Morgan.

10^th Twenty thousand fans, the largest ever to watch a Monday game, crowd the Polo Grounds to see the matchup of Christy Mathewson and the Cubs Orval Overall. Matty doesn’t disappoint, winning 3–2, but Overall allows just one hit in the loss. Roger Bresnahan’s double in the 3-run 1^st is the lone safety.

11^th The Cards fall to Boston, 2–0, as Boston pitcher Tom Tuckey gets his only shutout in his first major league game.

Ft. Worth steals itself a couple of Texas League records in a win over Galveston. They steal 16 bases, paced by 3 by Ike Pendleton. Another record comes with five double steals off pitcher Heider Brown and catcher Ed Lauzon. Four of the twins thefts are of 2B and 3B and one is 2B and home.

13^th  Cy Young Day is celebrated by 20,000 in Boston. He pitches briefly against an All-Star team that includes Jack Chesbro, Hal Chase, Willie Keeler, Harry Davis, and George Mullin. The game is interrupted several times for presentations to the great hurler, including a great loving cup from the AL for all his accomplishments. This is Keeler’s last appearance this season, as he returns home to Brooklyn, partly in protest to Highlander manager Kid Elberfeld’s surly managerial style (as stated in Jim Reiseler’s book Before They Were Bombers)). Keeler quits without pay saying, “I cannot give you a run for your money”. He had been ill and muffed a flyball in left field, but he will return next season to play under manager George Stallings.

The Giants drop the Superbas, 5–3, behind Red Ames and Mathewson. Mathewson pitches 7 innings of shutout ball for the win.

The Cubs lose 1-0 to the host Pirates, when Ed Reulbach walks the leadoff batter Roy Thomas, who comes around to score. Reulbach had an 0-2 count on Thomas but throws 4 ball wide to put him on. The superstitious Reulbach believes that if he strikes out the first batter he faces, he will lose the game ((as noted by John Snyder).

14^th The National’s Walter Johnson hurls a 1–0 victory over the White Sox, allowing just two hits, the first a 9^th inning single by Sox P Doc White.

Cleveland tops the Yankees, 4-2, pinning the loss on Al Orth (2-13). The last-place Highlanders will pin a release notice on the veteran and he will return to Lynchburg, VA where he plans on being player-manager of his hometown team. But the Highlanders bring him back next year, not for his pitching, but his hitting. He will appear in one game as a pitcher and the rest as a pinch hitter and second baseman. He’ll finally hang it up in 1909 having won 100 games in each league and compiling a 15-year career batting average of .298.

15^th At League Park, the Reds edge Brooklyn, 2–1, with the scoring coming on a 9^th inning homer by John Kane and a 10^th inning inside-the-park HR by Mike Mitchell. It is his only homer this season. The Reds will total just 14 homers for the year.

16^th The last-place Cardinals deal a blow to the Giants’ pennant hopes by defeating them twice in St. Louis, 6–5 and 3–2. With Mathewson refusing to pitch on Sundays, Red Ames and Joe McGinnity take the losses. Matty will toss a shutout tomorrow for New York.

17^th In a rain-shortened game, Christy Mathewson throws his mitt on the field and defeats the Cards, 3–0, in 6 innings, with Harry Sallee taking the loss. With the Giants at bat in the 5^th, McGraw signals Cy Seymour to steal home—even though Cards C Bill Ludwig has the ball. Jack Barry, the next batter, then strikes out on 3 pitches, as the Giants race to beat the downpour.

19^th The Highlanders Jack Chesbro allows 11 hits, but shuts out Detroit, 7–0.

20^th Brooklyn collects 15 safeties off three Pirates pitcher and Harry McIntire allows just 4 Buc hits for the 6–1 win. He follows Kaiser Wilhelm’s 4-hitter against the Buccaneers yesterday. Pittsburgh is now tied for first with New York.

The A’s Danny Murphy hits his second grand slam in a month as Philadelphia beats Doc White and the White Sox, 6-1.

In Chicago, the Colts down Boston, 10-2, as Joe Tinker steals 4 bases.

New York tops the Reds, 2–0, as Mathewson hurls an 8-hit shutout. The Reds Andy Coakley allows just 4 Giant safeties in the loss. For Matty, it is his 25^th win. The Giants will sweep three games from the Reds, with the only negative being Fred Snodgrass sustaining a broken thumb. The rookie catcher, who played just 6 games, will return next year to play mostly in the outfield.

21^st Pittsburgh regains first place as Nick Maddox (15–5) beats Brooklyn, 2–1 for his 8^th win in a row. Maddox drives in both runs as well. Maddox, who won his last 5 games of 1907, has now won 20 games in 30 appearances, the quickest twenty-game winner ever (This mark will be tied by Russ Ford, in 1910; Boo Ferriss in 1945; and Cal Eldred in 1993).

Nationals catcher Gabby Street stands at the base of the Washington Monument and catches the 13^th ball dropped from the top, 555 feet up, duplicating the feat performed by Pop Schriver of the Chicago Colts on August 24, 1894. Billy Sullivan of the Chicago White Sox will repeat the catch on August 24, 1910. Street gets a $500 prize for his morning’s efforts, then spends the afternoon behind the plate catching Walter Johnson’s 3–1 win over Detroit.

22^nd At League Park, veteran Joe McGinnity, in relief of Ames who walks the first two batters, stops the Reds, 5–1, beating Buck Ewing. Earlier in the day, the Reds turned down McGraw’s offer for McGinnity.

23^rd  In Chicago, the 3^rd-place Cubs shut out Brooklyn twice, winning by 2-0 scores. Orval Overall, with a 2-hitter, and Ed Reulbach apply the whitewash.

24^th  The Giants gain the NL lead by winning two at Pittsburgh, after first refusing to play a doubleheader. McGraw protests that only one game was scheduled and he was not given 24 hours notice about the 2^nd match. But after polling the players, he relents. Hooks Wiltse then tops Willis, 4–1 and Mathewson beats Lefty Leifield, 5–1. Willis tires in the 8^th, giving up a 2-run triple to Roger Bresnahan, followed by a Mike Donlin homer. In the nitecap, Donlin and Larry Doyle each drive home a pair. The doubleheader is watched in New York on electric diamonds known as “Compton’s Baseball Bulletin” at Madison Square Garden and the Gotham Theatre. Bulletins will display all remaining games.

Smoky Joe Wood, purchased from KC (AA), debuts for Boston. But the White Sox are the winners, 6–4.

25^th The Giants win their 3^rd in a row from Pittsburgh, stopping Nick Maddox, 5–3. Maddox had won 8 in a row. Doc Crandall is the winner. Larry Doyle triples in the 3^rd inning, then steps off the bag while chatting with Buc third sacker Tommy Leach. Gibson’s throw from home nails Doyle.

26^th The Giants sweep, scoring a run in the 8^th and 2 in the 9^th to trip Irv Young and the host Pirates, 4–3. Mathewson, in relief, is given the win, though by today’s scoring he would receive a save. New York’s 8-game win streak puts them ahead of Pittsburgh and Chicago by 3 ½ games.

27^th  With electric bulletin boards also showing the action in Chicago, the Colts arrive back home for a three-game sweep to move within one-half game of the lead. Behind Jack Pfiester, Chicago wins today over New York, 5–1, then takes the day off tomorrow.

28^th The Senators give some support to Walter Johnson, scoring 8 runs against Cleveland to win 8–0. Johnson’s last outing was a 1–0 loss to the Tigers on the 24^th. In game 1, Long Tom Hughes tops Cleveland, 2-0. Hughes was also involved in a doubleheader shutout with Boston in 1903.

In the first of two games, Detroit beats the Athletics, 1–0, in 11 innings, then loses, 11–2 in game 2. The Tigers set an AL record by not collecting a walk in 20 innings.

The Red Sox replace manager Deacon Maguire with Fred Lake.

29^th In Chicago, the Colts beat the Giants again, 3–2, to record their 7^th straight win. It is Three Fingered Brown besting Mathewson again, allowing 5 Giants hits and giving up 6 walks.

30^th Jack Pfiester, “the Giant Killer”, beats New York, 2–1, for his 2^nd win in 4 days and his 3^rd straight over the Giants. After the game a cushion fight takes place between some 3,000 happy fans in the stands and the 5,000 fans who crowded onto the field. “Many women were injured and their hats demolished, “wrote the New York World. Chicago wins its 8^th straight to pull to a half game over first-place New York, with Pittsburgh is a game in back of the Giants.

The Red Sox invade the Connecticut League and lose to last-place Waterbury, 3–2. Sillery’s spitball tames the Boston club.

31^st The Pirates and Cubs both win by shutouts, Chicago beating St. Louis, 2–0 for its 9^th straight win, and the Pirates whitewashing the Reds, 5–0. The Giants are traveling today.

SEPTEMBER

1^st  The month starts with the Giants in 1^st in the NL with a 69-45 record, followed by Chicago (70-47) and the Pirates (69-47). New York shakes off its 3 losses to Chicago by beating up on Boston, winning two at South End Grounds. Hooks Wiltse takes the opener, 4–1, and Mathewson coasts home in the 2^nd game, 8–0, allowing 3 hits. Dummy Taylor pitches the 9^th against the Doves.

The Colts lose to the Cardinals, 5-4, to snap their 9-game winning streak. They’ll bounce back with 3 straight wins over St. Louis, two by shutouts.

2^nd  In Philadelphia, Frank Corridon goes all the way to defeat Brooklyn, 2–1, in 17 innings. Corridon does not walk a batter.

Pittsburgh’s Lefty Leifield pitches a complete game victory, 8–2 over the Reds to leave the 2^nd place Pirates just percentage points behind New York. The Bucs steal 6 bases including Fred Clarke’s steal of home.

4^th  In a game, the significance of which will not be recognized for another 3 weeks, the Pirates and Cubs are tied 0–0 in the last of the 10^th at Pittsburgh. With 2 outs and the bases loaded, Pittsburgh’s Owen Wilson singles to CF, scoring Fred Clarke with the winning run. Warren Gill, on 1B, does not get to 2B but stops short, turns, and heads for the dugout, a common practice. The Cubs’ Johnny Evers calls for the ball from Jimmy Slagle, touches 2B, and claims the run does not count as Gill has been forced. The lone umpire, Hank O’Day, has left the field. When queried, he rules that Clarke had already scored, so the run counts. The Cubs protest to league president Pulliam, but are denied. This is the first time the Cubs try this tactic, but not the last.

The Giants sweep two more from the Doves, beating Boston 3–0 and 8–5. Joe McGinnity wins the first game, while 3 pitchers combine for the 2^nd win. Red Ames is the victor.

In New York, Walter Johnson opens a series against New York by besting Jack Chesbro, 3–0, allowing 6 hits in the Washington win.

In the nitecap of a twinbill in Boston, Frank Arellanes tosses a one hitter and the Red Sox collect 13 hits to defeat the A’s, 10–1. Light-hitting Simon Nicholls clubs his 4^th homer, inside-the-park, to deep center for the only A’s hit. Boston takes the opener as well, 7–1, behind Cy Young. Neither Sox pitcher allows a walk.

5^th  Nap Rucker pitches a no-hitter for Brooklyn against the Boston Doves 6–0, striking out 14 and walking none. Three runners reached 1B on errors. The Doves send up 3 righty pinch hitter in the 9^th to no avail. The 14 strikeouts tops the previous NL high this season of 12, held by Rucker and Mathewson.

Washington and Walter Johnson top the Highlanders, 6–0, as the New Yorkers manage just 4 hits. It is the 20-year-old’s second shutout of New York in two days.

Ed Reulbach allows just 4 Pittsburgh hits as Chicago romps, 11–0.

The first-place Giants roll over the Phils, 5–1, for their 7^th straight win. Mathewson is the winner over George McQuillan.

6^th Several thousand are turned away as the Browns lose 6–4 to the visiting Tigers and drop to 3^rd place. Ten doubles are hit, including three by Matty McIntyre. Detroit’s Wild Bill Donovan takes the loss. The Tigers stay a game ahead of the White Sox and 1 ½ games ahead of St. Louis. The Browns take 2 out of 3 from the Tigers, and draw crowds of 12,000 (9/4), 20,000 (9/5) and today’s crowd of 26,652. Browns president Hedges announces that today’s Sunday crowd “is the largest crowd ever to witness a ball game,” surpassing the crowd of 21,902 to watch game 2 of the 1905 WS at the Polo Grounds.

At Chicago, the Pirates and Cubs split a Sunday twinbill before 20,000. Pittsburgh takes the opener, 3–0 and the Cubs win game 2 by an 8–7 score. The Pirates stay a game and a half behind the idle first-place Giants, and the Cubs are two back. New York fans are not idle as more than 2,000 enthusiasts crowd the arena at Madison Square Garden to watch the game reproduced on two boards 15 feet high and 20 feet wide. Lightbulbs show the exact positions and players and each pitch and hit is relayed by telegraph.

7^th  On Labor Day, Manager Joe Cantillon starts the Big Train in place of one pitcher who is sick, and another who returned to Washington to be with his sick wife. Only 3 Senators’ pitchers made the trip to NY, but one of them is Walter Johnson. Johnson shuts out the New York Highlanders for the 3^rd time in 4 days, 4–0, topping Jack Chesbro and allowing just 2 hits and no walks. In the three straight starts, Walter allows 12 hits, walks one, and strikes out 12. Johnson will pitch 130 shutouts during his career, 23 more than runner-up Grover Alexander. This is one of a ML record (tied in 1942, topped in 1972) 7 shutouts tossed today, out of 16 games. Johnson declines to pitch the second game and Hughes wins, 9-3, to give the Nationals four straight.

Brooklyn loses a pair to Boston by 1–0 shutouts. Vive Lindaman and Bill Chappelle are the winning pitchers, while Pastorius and McIntire are the hard-luck losers.

Bob Spade gives Chicago a split by winning game 2, 4–0, over Andy Coakley of the Reds. In game 1, Jean Dubuc pitches a 2-hitter as the Reds beat host Chicago, 6–0. Tinker and Evers have the only singles. In 1919, Dubuc will be banned for life when he fails to report he had prior knowledge of the WS fix.

The Pirates sweep an a.m.-p.m. doubleheader against the Cardinals. Honus Wagner is 5-for-5 in the morning game, a 9–7 win, and 1-for-2 in the afternoon, a 7–1 victory.

8^th  The Pirates set a couple of records today against the Cardinals. They set ML fielding record by making only 2 assists, both by 2B Charlie Starr and set a NL record with only 21 at bats in 8 innings. The Bucs win, 2–0, with Wagner driving in both runs.

Mathewson’s 30^th win is a gem—an 11-inning 1–0 win over the Superbas, Nap Rucker. A single by Bridwell drives home Cy Seymour with the winning tally. New York stays a half-game ahead of Pittsburgh.

Boston’s Cy Young defeats Washington, 3–1 for his 20^th win.

Walter Justis, of Lancaster (Ohio State L), pitches his third no-hitter this season, beating Portsmouth, 6-0. He strikes out 10.

9^th  In a 7–3 New York win, the Giants steal 9 bases off Brooklyn’s Billy Maloney, an outfielder pressed into service as a catcher. That’s enough to make him quit the game. Following the game John McGraw makes his stage debut in a show at the Hippodrome. He has a small part in the show “Sporting Days.”

10^th Detroit takes its 2^nd straight extra-inning game from the White Sox, 6–5 in 11 innings, and the Indians beat the Browns, 5–2. The AL race leaves Detroit 75-52, Chicago 72-57, St. Louis 71-57.

Louie Durham of the Indianapolis Browns pitches and wins both ends of a doubleheader against the Toledo Mud Hens. Historian Fred Schuld notes that this is the 5^th doubleheader this season that Durham has accomplished this feat. Previously he beat the Milwaukee Brewers (June 14), Columbus Champs (July 18), St. Paul Saints (July 25), and the Louisville Night Riders (Aug 8).

12^th  In the dogfight for the AL pennant, the White Sox play their 4^th straight extra-inning game at Detroit, a total of 43 innings. The White Sox win their 2^nd straight, 2-1, while the Browns lose their 2^nd in a row to Cleveland. The four extra-inning games in a row against the same team sets an AL mark that will be matched in 1943 by the Red Sox and Browns. The NL mark of 3 in a row will be set in August 1917.

A day after beating the A’s Eddie Plank, 2–1, Washington’s Walter Johnson is forced to start again, this time replacing sore-armed Charley Smith. Remarkably, Johnson records his 5^th complete game victory in 9 days.

In St. Louis, Johnny Kling hits a 12^th-inning grand slam off Johnny Lush to give the Cubs a 7-3 victory of the Cardinals. It is Kling’s second grand slam of the season; only one other NL slam is hit this year. The Cubs are in 3^rd place, two games behind the Giants and a half-game in back of Pittsburgh.

New York tops the Superbas, 6–3, for a sweep of the 5-game series with Brooklyn. The Giants score 4 in the 8^th, including a long triple by Christy Mathewson, to put the game away.

13^th  Browns pitcher Rube Waddell gives up a Detroit run in the first when Ty Cobb triples home Matty McIntyre, but he ties the game when he singles a run home in the 2^nd. Waddell allows nothing after that and the Browns win, 2–1, when Syd Smith singles in the winner in the bottom of the 11^th. For the Tigers, this is their 5^th straight extra-inning game for an AL record total of 54 innings. This will not be topped and in the 20^th Century. No NL team will even play five straight extra-inning games.

An error by Pitt’s Charlie Starr accounts for all three Reds’ runs as the Pirates lose 3–2. The loss drops the Pirates to 3^rd place.

Lancaster (Ohio State League) P Walt “Smoke” Justis hurls his 4^th no-hitter of the season, defeating Marion 3–0. His other gems came on July 19^th, August 2^nd, and September 8^th. Justis had no record in 2 ML appearances with Detroit in 1905.

14^th  Former ML outfielder Ike Van Zandt, age 31, commits suicide by shooting himself.

15^th  The Cardinals rattle Red Ames for 5 hits in the 8^th inning to tie the Giants at 4–4. Cardinal killer Christy Mathewson relieves and when Bridwell scores the go-ahead run, Matty stops the Birds for his ML record 24^th consecutive win over St. Louis.

In the Pirates 6-5 win over the Phillies, Honus Wagner steals four bases for the 5^th time since 1900.

The Highlanders Pete Wilson makes his major league debut by shutting out Boston, 1–0.

18^th  Cleveland’s Bob Rhoads pitches a no-hitter against the Red Sox 2–1, beating Frank Arellanes, the only Mexican-American pitcher in the ML.

The White Sox stay close to the top when Ed Walsh tops Walter Johnson to win 1–0. The Sox manage just 3 hits off the Senators’ ace.

The largest crowd in the history of the NL—35,000—cheer as the Giants shove the Pirates to 5 games off the pace by sweeping a doubleheader. Christy Mathewson shuts out the Bucs in the first game, 7–0, for his 11^th shutout and his 33^rd win. Then the Giants collect 18 hits to take the nitecap, 12–7, as Wiltse and McGinnity combine for the win. The other hitting occurred in the first game when Mike Donlin tired of a heckler and punched him in the eye. Police quickly moved in.

The Reds tally 11 runs in the 4^th inning to beat host Boston, 13–6 for their only double-digit score of the year.

19^th Ed Reulbach pitches 10 innings in the 2^nd game of a doubleheader against the Phils before the 0–0 game is called on account of darkness.

More than 30,000 fans in New York watch the Pirates snap a 2–2 tie in the 10^th by scoring 4 runs. Lefty Leifield picks up the win for Pittsburgh.

20^th  in St. Louis, Rube Waddell strikes out 17 Washington Nationals in 10 innings to beat Walter Johnson 2–1.

Frank Smith pitches a no-hitter for the White Sox against the A’s, winning 1–0 and giving up just one walk. It is Smith’s 2^nd no-hitter. The winning run scores in the bottom of the 9^th when Freddy Parent, whom Eddie Plank is walking intentionally, reaches out and pokes a sacrifice to short RF.

21^st  Cleveland takes the AL lead, beating New York, while Detroit takes two at St. Louis. With 2 weeks to go, 3 1⁄2 games separate 4 teams.

In New York, Christy Mathewson allows just 3 hits—all in the 3^rd inning—and no walks, but the Pirates win 2–1. Vic Willis goes one better, allowing just 2 New York hits for the victory.

Floyd Kroh, in his first game for the Cubs, pitches 9 innings against the Phils in a 3–1, 10-inning triumph. Orval Overall pitches the last inning for the win.

22^nd  The Cubs sweep a doubleheader at New York, 4–3 and 2–1, giving them a 90–53 record versus the Giants’ 87–50.

The Pirates move to 1 ½ games in back of Chicago and New York by edging Brooklyn 3–2 in 11 innings. Al Storke triples home Wagner, then scores on an error. Tom Catterson then follows with a homer.

23^rd  Giants P Mathewson and Cubs P Three Fingered Brown battle in the most controversial game ever played. The score is 1–1, with 2 outs in the last of the 9^th. The Giants’ Harry McCormick is on 3B, and Fred Merkle (19, and making his first start of the year, is subbing for the sore-legged veteran Fred Tenney), on 1B. Al Bridwell singles, scoring McCormick. Halfway to 2B, Merkle turns and heads for the clubhouse in CF. Johnny Evers secures a ball (Joe McGinnity swears he picked up the ball that was in play and threw it into the stands. Many credit Floyd Kroh with wrenching the ball from a fan’s hands and giving it to Evers) and touches 2B as the crowd overruns the field. Umpire O’Day at 1B claims he didn’t see the play, but that evening he rules the run does not count, and the game ended with a tie score. (Years later, in an interview, Merkle will describe it this way: “When Bridwell shot that long single, I started across the grass for the clubhouse. Matty was near me. When Evers began shouting for the ball, he noticed something was wrong. Matty caught me by the arm and told me to wait a minute. We walked over toward 2B, and Matty spoke to Emslie. ‘How about this, Bob, is there any trouble with the score of the play?’ ‘It’s all right,’ said Emslie. ‘You’ve got the game. I don’t see anything wrong with the play.’ Matty then took me by the arm and we walked to the clubhouse confident that we had won the game.”)

The Pirates win their 7^th victory in 10 games by topping Brooklyn 2–1 behind Lefty Leifield. Wilhelm takes the loss. Pittsburgh is now a game in back of first place.

Cleveland wins its 10^th straight game, defeating the Yankees and Jack Chesbro, 9–3. The Naps score 5 runs in the 7^th, while Rhoades pitches strong ball until the 9^th, when he allows 2 runs. Nap Lajoie has no official at bats, getting hit by pitched balls 3 times, tying a AL record, and walking his other time up.

24^th  President Pulliam upholds O’Day’s delayed decision and declares the game a tie, a decision nobody likes. The Cubs demand the game be forfeited to them as the crowd prevented play from continuing, although darkness would have soon ended it. Both teams appeal. Pulliam sees no inconsistency with the September 4^th incident and claims he has merely upheld his umpire on a question of fact in each case. Meanwhile, the Giants beat the Cubs 5–4, after almost blowing a 5–0 lead. Hooks Wiltse is relieved Mathewson, and the official scorer awards the W to Matty. The L goes to Three Fingered Brown, his first loss to Mathewson since June 13, 1905.

Washington’s Walter Johnson three-hits Cleveland to win, 2–1. The loss stops Cleveland’s win streak at 10.

New York Yankee Joe Lake allows just one hit, a single by Patsy Dougherty, in beating the White Sox, 1-0. Ed Walsh loses for the first time this season to New York.

25^th  Detroit’s Ed Summers pitches two complete-game wins over the A’s, winning the opener 7–2 The 2^nd game is a 10-inning battle with another rookie Bill Schlitzer that ends 1–0 on a Claude Rossman drive for an inside-the-park home run. Summers allows just 2 hits. With the White Sox idle, the Tigers move to a half-game out of first.

The Senators score 5 runs in the 9^th inning off Cleveland righthander Charlie Chech and beat the Naps, 6–1. Former Cleveland owner Frank DeHaas Robison, listening on the telephone to a friend’s play-by-play account of the Washington rally collapses with a heart attack. He dies several hours later.

At the Polo Grounds, Rube Marquard makes his ML debut and the Reds rough up the Giants $18,000 rookie for 7 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings. The Reds win, 7–1.

26^th  With the Cubs just a half game in back of New York, Chicago’s Ed Reulbach shoulders a ML record by becoming the only pitcher to throw two shutouts in one day, blanking host Brooklyn 5–0 and 3–0. Big Ed allows 5 hits in the a.m. game, and is even stingier in the afternoon, yielding 3 hits and a walk. He finishes the afternoon contest in 1 hour: 12 minutes. Kaiser Wilhelm and Jim Pastorius are the losing pitchers. It is Brooklyn’s third doubleheader shutout in five weeks as they finish with a NL-worst .213 batting average.

Vic Willis tosses a 6-hit shutout over Boston for a 5–0 Pittsburgh win.

The Giants sweep the Reds, 6-2 and 3–1, behind victories by Mathewson and Red Ames. For Matty, it is his 35^th win.

Detroit’s Wild Bill Donovan stops the A’s, 3–2, as Philadelphia pushes across 2 runs in the 9^th, after not getting a runner past 1B through the first 8 frames. The A’s scores end their ML-record streak of 48 innings without a run: the Cubs will match this in 1968. Donovan registers 7 strikeouts in the first 3 innings, including 6 in a row.

The White Sox trounce the Highlanders, 12–0. Frank Smith has no trouble with the Yankee hitters, while Yankee pitchers help the score by walking 13, throwing 2 wild pitches and hitting 2 Sox batters. Chicago leaves 11 on base.

Washington’s Walter Johnson loses 5–4 to Cleveland when he makes a throwing error.

27^th At Detroit, the Tigers take over first place with a Sunday 5–2 win over the A’s behind righty George Mullin. Ty Cobb swipes home in the 3^rd inning with Jack Coombs on the mound and Mike Powers catching. He did in the 1^st inning on Thursday to the same pair in a 4–4 tie. All three steals of home this season for Cobb have come on the front end of a double steal.

Ed Walsh blanks the Red Sox, 3–0 for a Chicago win. Only 4 percentage points separate the top three AL teams.

In the 3^rd inning of game 1, the Reds’ Hans Lobert steals 2B, 3B, and home against St. Louis. But the Cardinals win 7-4 before losing game 2, 6-1. Lobert will steal 47 bases this year.

28^th  Phils C Red Dooin is offered—and rejects—a bribe to lose the final series with the Giants. The incident is not made public until 16 years later. Nothing is proved.

Boston and Chicago play to a 2-2, 10-inning tie.

In near-cyclone conditions, the Tigers wrest a victory from Washington, winning 4-1 behind Killian. The win puts Detroit in the AL lead by a half game ahead of Cleveland and a game ahead of Chicago.

29^th Chicago White Sox ace Ed Walsh is the 3^rd pitcher within a week to pitch and win both ends of a doubleheader, beating Boston. Walsh gives up just one run and 7 hits, while fanning 15 in winning 5–1 and 2–0. Walsh did the same thing to the Red Sox in 1905. Walsh has now beaten Boston 9 times this season to tie the AL mark. He’s also beaten the Highlanders 9 times (with one loss, on September 24), a mark no other hurler has reached.

The Pirates sweep a doubleheader against the Cardinals at Exhibition Park, 7–0 and 6–5. In the opener, Howie Camnitz loses a no hitter in the 9^th inning on a single by Champ Osteen. The Bucs win game 2 leaving them a half-game in back of New York, tied for 2^nd with the Cubs. For the Cardinals, this is their ML-record 33^rd shutout of the year.

At the Polo Grounds, the Giants split with the Phils, winning 6–2 and losing 7–0. Mathewson wins the opener, despite giving up 9 hits. Philadelphia then operates on Doc Crandall for a 2^nd game win.

In Cincinnati, the temporary light towers at the Palace of the Fans contribute to a home run by Chicago’s Joe Tinker (as noted in Redleg Journal). Tinker hits a fly ball that lodges in a tower and he circles the bases before CF Dode Paskert can extricate the ball. Authors Rhodes and Snyder note that the Cincinnati Enquirer speculates that Paskert would have nabbed the fly except for the tower structure. Chicago wins, 6–2.

At St. Louis, the Browns sweep a pair from the fumbling Yankees, winning 6-0 and 2-1. St. Louis has just 4 hits in the opener, but New York makes 6 errors. Howell gets the whitewash. Four straight hits in the 1^st inning of game 2 nets the Browns 2 runs. Bill Dinneen wins his 14^th with 9 of those coming in a row.

30^th The Pirates top the Cards at home, 7–5 as Sam Leever wins in relief of Vic Willis. The win puts the Pirates all alone in 2^nd place, .004 points behind the Giants.

OCTOBER

1^st Ed Reulbach shuts out the Reds for a 6–0 Cubs win, and Reulbach’s 4^th straight shutout, tying a mark set by Three Fingered Brown earlier in the year. Big Ed will complete 44 consecutive scoreless innings, an NL record until Carl Hubbell’s 46 in 1933, and the 4 straight shutouts will not be tied until another Cub, Bill Lee, does it in 1938.

With one day’s rest, Mathewson pitches the first of two games, outlasting Frank Corridon, 4–3. Matty is peppered for 10 hits, but allows no runs after the 5^th. It is Mathewson’s 37^th win of the year. The Phils take the 2^nd game 6–2, but New York is still in 1^st place.

2^nd  In a great pitching duel, Ed Walsh is almost perfect, giving up 4 hits and striking out 15 in 8 innings, but Cleveland’s Addie Joss is perfect, setting down 27 straight White Sox for a 1–0 victory. The only run scores on a passed ball by Ossee Schreckengost. It is the high point of Joss’s career. He will finish 24–12 with a 1.16 ERA. For Walsh, it is the third straight game he has started. He’ll do that again in 1912, the only pitcher in the 20^th century to accomplish the feat.

In Detroit, the Tigers score two runs in the 9^th to edge the Browns, 7–6. Cobb scores the winning run, but is practically carried across the plate by Hugh Jennings. Cobb had been held at 3B by the umpire who believed Rossman’s double had gone into the crowd. Cobb argued that it had not, and Jennings later reminded Cobb to, “score first, argue later.” The Tigers remain in first by a half-game.

Otis Clymer hits for the cycle to pace the Washington Nationals to a 12–2 pasting of New York.

In cold Philadelphia, the Giants do all their scoring in the 1^st inning as they whip the Phillies, 7-2. Six walks, three singles and two errors net the runs. Only about 300 fans brave the weather.

The Pirates take over first by a half game by sweeping the Cardinals in St. Louis. Lefty Leifield wins the opener, 7–4, and Howie Camnitz wins the nitecap, 2–1, on homers by Honus Wagner and George Gibson. Only 2 points separate New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh, as each team takes a turn on top during the final week.

3^rd  The incident of September 23^rd would have become just another odd event in baseball if the Giants had been able to handle the 4^th-place Phillies. But rookie lefthander Harry Coveleski, just up from the minor leagues, earns the nickname “Giant Killer” by beating them 3–2, for the 3^rd time in 5 days. Mathewson takes the loss.

At a hearing on the September 23^rd incident, Pulliam does not call Merkle or any other players as witnesses, saying he was at the game and saw the events himself. He affirms his earlier decision. Two days later, NL directors meet in Cincinnati and order the game replayed on October 8^th.

The Tigers roll to their 10^th straight win when Wild Bill Donovan shuts out the Browns, 6–0 while Cleveland loses, 3–2, to the White Sox. Detroit leads the AL by 1 ½ games.

In the finale at Philadelphia’s Columbia Park, the A’s split with Boston, losing 8–7, but winning the nitecap, 5–0, in 6 innings. Wood allows just a single to Coombs.

4^th  The Cubs and Pirates play their last game of the year before 30,247, the largest crowd ever at Chicago’s West Side Grounds. The Cubs win, 5–2, behind Three Fingered Brown to eliminate the Pirates. Chicago ends the year at 98-55 while the Pirates finish at 98-56. Then they await the results of the 3 Giants games with Boston. Back in Pittsburgh, 50,000 people watch the progress of the Cub’s game on temporary scoreboards. Fans fill New York’s Polo Grounds to watch the action in the same way. Men with megaphones announce each pitch.

On Chicago’s South Side, 22,000 fans jam the grounds for the showdown between the Tigers and the White Sox. The Sox manage to score 3 runs in the 1^st inning without a hit, and tally just a lone single, in the 4^th inning, off Ed Killian to win, 3–1. Frank Smith is the winning pitcher.

In St. Louis, Cleveland ends up with a frustrating 3–3 tie with the Browns when umpire Jack Egan makes a controversial out call against the Naps at 1B. Most observers thought that Hinchman beat the 9^th inning throw, but Egan’s call results in a tie game.

5^th  Ed Walsh of the White Sox tops Detroit 6–1 for his 40^th victory and forces the AL pennant race to the final day. Detroit’s 24-game winner Eddie Summers takes the loss. Walsh leads the league in games (66), IP (464), K’s (269), complete games (42), saves (6), shutouts (11), and winning percentage (.727). His ERA is 1.42.

The Browns end the Naps’ pennant hopes with a 3–1 win the opener of two. Cleveland takes the 2^nd game, 5–3, to end the season with a 90–64 record. If the Tigers win tomorrow, their 90–63 will top Cleveland, whereas if the White Sox win, their 89-63 record will be 4 points ahead of the Naps.

Boston’s King Brady makes his only AL appearance a good one, shutting out the Highlanders. 4–0. King had fashioned 1–1 records for both the Phillies and Pirates in the NL, and will go back to the NL with Boston over the winter. Today’s shutout comes in Brady’s last ML start.

6^th  Having been in 13 of the last 16 games, Ed Walsh does not start the White Sox finale against Detroit. Doc White is hit hard in the 7–0 loss that gives the pennant to the Tigers. Bill Donovan pitches a two hitter.

Detroit OF Sam Crawford leads the AL with 7 HRs. Having led the NL with 16 in 1901, he becomes the first player to lead both leagues in that department. The Cardinals have scored 372 runs, the lowest season’s total ever.

7^th  The Giants complete a 3-game sweep in Boston, winning the final, 7–2, with two wins going to Red Ames and a victory to Joe McGinnity. The season ends with New York and the Cubs each 98–55, and Pittsburgh 98–56. The Giants sweep Boston in all three games, New York ends tied with Chicago: a playoff game will be held tomorrow.

The last-place New York Highlanders close out the season losing 1–0 in 11 innings to Walter Johnson and the Senators. Johnson, who missed 10 weeks , ends up at 14–14, with a 1.65 ERA.

8^th  According to published reports, nearly 250,000 fans show up at the Polo Grounds to watch the disputed replay of the September 23 game between the Cubs and Giants. The gates were closed at 1:30 for the 3:00 game, but still fans tried to storm the gates. Fireman with high pressure hoses knocked down fans that tried to scale the walls. Nearly 40,000 fans watched from Coogan’s Bluff, telephone poles and other vantage points. Two fans are killed when they fall from a pillar on the elevated subway platform. Later admitting he had nothing on the ball, Mathewson loses, 4–2, to the Cubs, giving way to Hooks Wiltse in the 8^th. Three Fingered Brown, relieving Jack Pfiester in the first, gets the win. The Giants played to a record 910,000 in attendance for the year, a figure that will be unmatched until 1920.

10^th  In the WS Opener, Ed Reulbach, coasting with a 5–1 lead, tires in the 7^th. Brown is unable to stop the Tigers from taking a 6–5 lead in the last of the 8^th. But the Cubs jump on reliever Ed Summers, a 24-game winner, for 6 straight hits and 5 runs in the 9^th, and Brown gets the win 10–6. For umpire Bill Klem, it is the first of 15 WS he will officiate. Detroit’s Ira Thomas, batting for Charley O’Leary, hits the first WS pinch hit when he singles in the 9^th. There had been 12 previous pinch-hit attempts in WS play, including the batter before Thomas.

11^th  In Chicago for game 2, Orval Overall doles out 4 hits, and the Cubs break a scoreless deadlock with 6 in the 8^th off Bill Donovan for a 6–1 win.

12^th  Tiger bats roar for the last time, as Jack Pfiester proves an easy target, 8–3. Ty Cobb is 4-for-5.

13^th  In game 4, Three Fingered Brown is in command all the way in a 3–0 four-hit Cub victory.

14^th  Before the smallest crowd in WS history—6,210—the host Tigers are tamed on 3 hits by Overall, who fans 10 in a 2–0 win. The Cubs win the series in 5 games.

Upset over seating arrangements at the WS, sports reporters form a professional group that will become the Baseball Writers Association of America.

18^th  Four days after the finish of the World Series, the two teams meet again in Chicago for an exhibition game (as noted by historian Al Kermisch). The game outdraws the last series game in Detroit, as 6,864 watch the Tigers win, 7–2. In a pregame field day, Ty Cobb wins all three sprint events: he bunts and runs to 1B in 3.2 seconds, beating Evers, Mordecai Brown, and Del Howard. He circles the bases in 13.8 seconds and, clad in uniform, wins the 100-yard dash in 10.4 seconds, beating Jones and Solly Hofman in the latter. Hofman wins the long throw with a toss of 338 feet, besting Sam Crawford. The teams will play another game in Terre Haute, Indiana.

24^th  Singing sensation Billy Murray hits the charts with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the second, and most popular, of 3 versions to be released within a five-week period. Ironically, Murray’s 1903 hit, “Tessie,” is quickly adopted by Boston’s Royal Rooters as their official theme song, much to the chagrin of Red Sox’ opponents.

NOVEMBER

1^st In the PCL, San Francisco loses to Oakland, 6-0, as Rollie Zeider notches his 93^rd stolen base of the year. The Seals will zell Zeider to the White Sox next August and in 1910 Rollie will swipe 49 bases for Chicago. The PCL record for steals will be set by James Johnston in 1913 with 124.

3^rd  An all-star team leaves San Francisco for a tour of Japan, China, Hawaii, and the Philippines. It will play 40 games before returning on February 15.

12^th In Havana, the Cincinnati Reds beat a local club, 3–1. The Reds are the first ML team to play in Cuba. The game is the first of 12 the team will play during their month-long stay in Cuba. The Reds will finish 6–5 against the Cubans, and lose a game to the Brooklyn Royal Giants, a Negro team touring the island.

16^th Julia Stahl, widow of Chick Stahl, is found dead in the doorway of a Boston tenement house. Chick Stahl, the Boston manager, committed suicide last year during spring training.

21^st In Cuba, the Cincinnati Reds get trounced by the Brooklyn Royal Giants, 9–1. Harry Buckner is the pitcher for the Royals. The Royals team includes some black Americans who play for Havana.

22^nd  The Reach All-Americans defeat Waseda University in Tokyo 5–0, in the first game between a Japanese team and American professionals.

December

3^rd Cuba’s 21-year-old Jose Mendez of Almendares shuts out Cincinnati, 3–0, to complete 25 straight shutout innings against the Americans.

12^th  The Cardinals are busy. First they get C Admiral Schlei from the Reds for pitchers Ed Karger and Art Fromme. Then they pack off Schlei, along with P Bugs Raymond and OF Red Murray, to the Giants for veteran catcher Roger Bresnahan. Bresnahan, a future Hall of Famer, will be the player/manager of the Cardinals for the next 4 years. Raymond lost 25 games in 1908, but a ML-record 11 of them were by shutouts (he won 5): Bugs was blanked by Chicago (3); Brooklyn (2); Philadelphia (2); and one each by the Reds, Braves, Giants, and Bucs.

 

• 1909

JANUARY

11^th  The National Commission approves owner Charles Murphy’s payment of a $10,000 bonus to his Cubs for their 1908 WS triumph.

14^th With the National Commission approving the reinstatement of Hal Chase, who jumped from the Highlanders when he didn’t get the manager’s job, New York feels free to sell 3B/1B George Moriarty to the Detroit Tigers (as noted by Lyle Spatz in Yankees Coming, Yankees Going)

15^th  Minor leaguer Nicholas Mathewson, brother of Christy, commits suicide by shooting himself at age 22.

27^th Lou Criger sends a telegram to Boston fans expressing his regrets on being traded by the Beaneaters to the St. Louis Browns.

FEBRUARY

4^th  John Clarkson, a 326-game winner of the 19^th century, dies at Belmont, MA, at age 47.

7^th  Billy Sullivan, White Sox catcher, is granted a patent for a new chest protector, nicknamed the snowpad protector, to replace the inflatable protector. Sullivan made plans for the manufacture of the new protector last fall before leaving to vacation in Ireland.

17^th  The NL deprives umpires of the power to fine players and decrees that relief pitchers must retire at least one batter before being relieved.

The Yankees sell veteran Wid Conroy to the Washington Senators, opting to go with a younger player at third base. Conroy played 797 games for the Yankees, including their first ever in the AL.

18^th  NL president Harry Pulliam, in ill health, is granted a leave of absence. The league secretary, John Heydler, assumes his duties. The NL abolishes Ladies Days, and sets a 25-player limit from May 15 to August 20.

The Boston Red Sox trade Cy Young, who won 21 games at age 41 last season, to the Cleveland Naps for righty pitchers Charlie Chech and Jack Ryan, and $12,500. Young pitched for Cleveland in the 1890s.

26^th Alfred Reach and John Rogers sell the Phillies to a group headed by Israel Durham. Durham will become president.

27^th  Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity, released by the Giants, will pitch in the minor leagues for another 13 years, winning 20 or more in 6 of them. He finished his ML career with 247 wins. The Giants also release another veteran pitcher, Dummy Taylor, whose ML career is finished as well.

MARCH

20^th Cubs catcher Johnny Kling wires the manager Joe Tinker in Shreveport that he is quitting, citing the need to take care of his business interests in Kansas City. Teammates speculate that he is still upset at president Murphy, who he blames for preventing him from buying a billiard establishment in Cincinnati last spring. Murphy accused Reds owner Herrmann of tampering with the catcher and the deal fell through. Kling owns a two floor billiard parlor in Kansas City and also plans to play semi-pro baseball there.

26^th Charles Comiskey fails in his attempt to lure Fielder Jones back as manager of the White Sox, rejecting Jones’ offer to have an option to buy between 40-50% of the team’s stock. Billy Sullivan will manage the team.

31^st  The National Commission rules that players who jump contracts will be suspended for 5 years. Players joining outlaw organizations will be suspended for 3 years as punishment for going outside organized baseball.

APRIL

1^st  The National Commissioner awards P Ben Henderson to the Indians. Both the Boston Nationals and Cleveland had claimed the pitcher.

3^rd Eddie Plank pitches the A’s to a 5–4 win over the Phillies to even the Philadelphia series at one game apiece.

8^th  While at spring training, Hal Chase of the Highlanders contracts smallpox. The entire team is vaccinated and quarantined while traveling north.

12^th  Philadelphia’s Shibe Park is dedicated as a record crowd of 31,160 sees 18-year-old John “Stuffy” McInnis make his ML debut at SS. Eddie Plank pitches the A’s to an 8–1 win over Boston, allowing 6 hits. A’s catcher Mike “Doc” Powers injures himself going after a foul pop, and after the game complains of intestinal pains (other versions have the pain due to a sandwich or twisting himself in an unusual fashion). The 38-year-old will be operated on tomorrow, but will not survive the month, the first ML death this century caused by an on-field injury.

At Washington, the Yankees open the season under new manager George Stallings, losing to the Senators, 4–1. The Nationals score three runs in the first off journeyman Doc Newton to pave the way for Charlie Smith. Smith allows just 4 hits and strikes out 10. Joe Ward opens at first base for New York, taking over for Hal Chase, who is recuperating in Georgia after contracting small pox in spring training.

14^th On Opening Day in Detroit, Detroit’s George Mullin, slimmer by 40 pounds from last year, pitches a one-hitter, beating the White Sox, 2–0, and setting a record for fewest base runners in an opener. Gavvy Cravath singles and walks, the only Sox to reach base. Mullin will set a Detroit team record by winning his first 11 decisions, one in relief. Billy Sullivan, the White Sox catcher in the first AL game, and who replaced Fielder Jones as manager, is the skipper. The Sox will drop their next two games at Detroit for Sullivan.

15^th  With Christy Mathewson sidelined with a bruised hand, the result of a line drive off the bat of Moose McCormick (according to historian Ronald Mayer. Frank Vacarro says that Matty was hit in the chest by a loose bat from Larry Doyle during pre-game practice today. In either case, Matty does not make his first appearance until May 4), Red Ames gets the call. Before an Opening Day crowd of 30,000 at New York, Ames pitches a no-hitter for 9 innings against the Brooklyn Superbas, loses the no-hitter with one out in the 10^th, then loses the game 3–0 in the 13^th. Kaiser Wilhelm matches Ames by not allowing a hit until the 8^th inning. The Giants outfield has no putouts.

In the Browns 4–1 win over visiting Cleveland, Brownie Danny Hoffman bangs the first homer ever hit at Sportsman’s Park. In 1956, Willie Mays will collect the last.

18^th  The Tigers announce plans to build a new concrete and steel stadium. The Pirates name their million-dollar ballpark Forbes Field in honor of the English general who founded Pittsburgh.

The Tigers edge the Naps, 3-2, managing just four hits off rookie Lucky Wright in his ML debut. The deciding run scores in the 5^th inning when George Moriarty takes advantage of Wright’s big windup to steal home. Catcher Jay Clarke drops the high pitch which might have made it closer. Wright almost hits a double against George Mullin as “Ty Cobb had to go into the standing room only crowd in deep right field to make the catch.”

The Pirates edge Chicago, 1–0, in 12 innings, handing the loss to ace Three Fingered Brown.

In an exhibition game between the New York Highlanders and the Jersey City Skeeters, the two teams are concerned about violating the Sunday “Blue Laws.” Worried about arrests, the Jersey management passes out cards to spectators asking them to keep quiet.

20^th  The National Commission learns that an effort to bribe umpires Klem and Johnstone was made before the Giants-Cubs playoff game in 1908. The identity of the alleged briber is not disclosed, but all clubs are notified of the results of the investigation. Klem reveals that the alleged briber was Dr. Joseph Creamer, a well-known New York physician, who served at many cycling and boxing events. Creamer, who served as the Giants’ team physician last season, denies the charges but he will be barred for life from all major league ball parks.

After winning their first five games, the Tigers drop a 12-2 decision to visiting Cleveland. The Naps score in each of the last 7 innings.

23^rd  In the 6^th inning of the Reds-Pirates game in Pittsburgh, Honus Wagner steps across the plate to the other batter’s box as Reds P Harry Gaspar delivers the ball. Umpire Bill Klem refuses to call him out because he felt Gaspar was trying to walk Wagner intentionally. The Pirates win 2–1, but Reds manager Clark Griffith protests and acting NL president Heydler backs Klem. But the league will override Heydler and Klem and order the game replayed September 10^th. The Pirates will win again, by a score of 4–3, with Vic Willis again the victor.

24^th  Sidelined much of April with the flu, Walter Johnson makes his first appearance of the year. He should’ve stood in bed as the Highlanders rough him up for 6 runs before he’s lifted in the 3^rd. Behind Joe Lake, New York rolls to a 17–0 win over Washington, a club record shutout loss for the Nationals. It’ll be tied by New York in 1920.

Let’s call him Home Run. At Boston, the A’s Frank Baker hits his first homer, a grand slam off Frank Arellanes, as the Athletics win, 4–1. This is the only grand slam hit in the AL this year tying the mark set two years ago. There will only be two hit in the NL, a ML record.

25^th Great Scott! White Sox rookie Jim Scott debuts with a 1–0 win over the visiting Browns, striking out 6. Chicago Tribune reporter Ring Lardner calls the conditions “arctic weather.”

26^th  A’s popular C Doc Powers dies at the age of 38. He developed intestinal problems sustained when he ran into a wall during the Shibe Park opener on April 12^th.

27^th  The White Sox win their 3^rd 1–0 game from St. Louis in 3 days, setting the AL mark for consecutive 1–0 wins. Hits by the two teams in the three games total only 18.

28^th  Washington rookie Bob Groom chalks up his first major league victory beating Philadelphia in 10 innings, 3-2. But beginning in early July through late September, Groom will lose 15 straight games, with Washington scoring a grand total of 19 runs during the streak, and setting the ML mark for consecutive losing games (as John Stahl notes, this was once thought to be 19 games but the 15 total was established in 1991 by Frank J. Williams’ careful look at the records), Groom will also pitch two tie games during the streak.

MAY

2^nd  On consecutive pitches, Honus Wagner steals his away around the bases in the first inning of the nitecap against Chicago It is the 3^rd time he has performed this feat, an NL record. On the swipe of home, the Chicago Tribune says he stole so quickly that he beat the pitch to the plate. The Pirates take both games in Chicago, winning 5–2 and 6–0, swiping 2 bases in the opener and 6 steals in first inning of the nitecap.

In a 6–5 Detroit win over the White Stockings, Ty Cobb is thumbed out of a game for the first time. He tries stretching a double and is called out at 3B. Then he is tossed out by Silk O’Loughlin.

3^rd The Pirates top Chicago, 9–2, as Wagner again steals 3 bases, including home. Wagner, who was 5-for-6 yesterday, duplicates that today.

In a 7–1 Boston win over Washington, Tris Speaker hits his first ML homer, off Dolly Gray.

4^th The Pirates sweep Chicago, winning their 4^th straight by edging Three-Finger Brown, 1–0, in 11 innings. Dots Miller drives in the lone run. It is the 2^nd time in three weeks that the Pirates have beaten Brown, 1–0, in extra innings.

Christy Mathewson makes his first appearance of the year, giving up 9 hits, 4 walks and 3 runs in 7 innings against the Phillies. Philadelphia wins, 5–2, to complete a 3-game sweep of the cellar-dwelling Giants.

Red Sox hurler Cy Morgan allows just 2 hits but loses, 1–0, to Washington. Tannehill allows 3 hits for the Nationals.

5^th The Pirates move into first place to stay in the NL. The Tigers will lead all the way in the AL, except for one week in May and 2 in mid-August.

In a 5–2 win over the Reds, the Cubs Harry Steinfeldt drives in 3 runs on 3 sac flies.

Highlanders pitcher Lew Brockett records 9 assists in his 2–0 win over the Boston Americans.

9^th  The St. Louis Cardinals take out a $50,000 life insurance policy on manager Roger Bresnahan for reasons having to do more with publicity than concerns about his health.

Led by Harry Steinfeldt and Heinie Zimmerman, the Cubs beat the Reds, 5–2 in the 1^st of a 4-game series in Chicago. Zim scores 3 runs, each one on a sac fly by Steinfeldt (as noted by Ernie Lanigan). The Cubs will sweep the series.

10^th Organized baseball’s longest no-hitter takes place in a Blue Grass League contest between the Lexington Colts and the Winchester Hustlers. Fred Toney, later to pitch in the only double no-hitter, throws a 17-inning no-hitter for Winchester, winning 1–0. He fans 19 opponents and walks only one, in beating Lexington’s Baker, who allows 7 hits. A squeeze play ends the game.

The White Sox edge the Senators 1–0 in 11 innings, handing Walter Johnson his 2^nd straight 1–0 loss on his way to a 20^th century record ten losses by shutouts. For the Nationals, it is their 3^rd straight 1–0 loss, tying a mark set by the Browns two weeks ago.

Eddie Plank outpitches Rube Waddell to give the Athletics a 5–1 victory over the Browns. The Browns also lose George Stone, the AL’s leading hitter, when he sprains his ankle sliding into 1B trying to beat out a grounder to Collins. Stone will end up with a .256 average in this, his last, season.

Bob Harmon of Shreveport (Texas League) pitches a near-perfect game shitting out Galveston, 6-0. The only runner to reach first was due to an error.

12^th The first use of wireless to transmit baseball results is made by the Columbia University Wireless Club. The proceedings of the game between the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia were relayed from the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia to New York’s Waldorf Astoria, where students took the messages. Penn prevails, 11–0.

13^th At the Polo Grounds, New York ace Christy Mathewson tosses a 4-hitter, to beat the Cubs Ruby Kroh, 4–1.

The Red Sox jump on former teammate Cy Young for 17 hits—4 by Harry Hooper—in an 8–1 win over Cleveland. Cleveland 3B Bill Bradley makes 7 put outs, tying his own team mark set in 1901.

16^th With two outs in the 9^th, Detroit’s George Moriarty tries to steal home but is tagged out by Boston catcher Bill Carrigan to end the game, a 3-2 Boston win. Carrigan then spits tobacco on Moriarty, saying, “don’t try that and pull that on a smart guy.” Moriarty then flattens Carrigan and the two of them will be suspended by the AL for fighting.

NL President John Heydler calls a meeting with the league’s umpires to discuss ways that the new two-umpire system can prevent fighting by the players. A serious incident occurred several days earlier in Boston when Reds catcher Frank Roth attacked umpire Steve Cusack after a play at home. Several other Reds players threatened the umpire with baseball bats.

The White Sox ship good-fielding first baseman Jiggs Donahue, Nick Altrock and Gavvy Cravath to the Senators for Bill Burns. Donahue, a starter from 1904-07, appeared in just 2 games this year. He will die of syphilis in four years. The veteran Altrock will become a fan-favorite coach for the Senators. Gavvy will have a cup of coffee with Washington, then reappear as a Phillie in 1912, where he will star. Burns will win 7 games in Chicago before the Sox sell him to the Reds.

17^th After giving up a leadoff triple to Dick Egan, Christy Mathewson shuts down the Reds and the Giants paddle Dick Rowan to win, 6–0.

18^th The Yankees sell infielder Neal Ball to the Cleveland Naps. Ball led the AL shortstops in errors last season with 81.

20^th  In New York, Honus Wagner is given a silver trophy for winning the 1908 NL batting crown. The Giants then edge the Pirates, 2–1.

After 5 losses, Walter Johnson picks up his first win, outdueling Cleveland’s Addie Joss 3–2. Johnson strikes out 10 and drives in the winning run.

21^st In Boston, Cubs P Orval Overall (8–2) allows 2 hits and strikes out 8 in beating Boston, 7–0. His batterymate Pat Moran has a triple and a homer off losing P Al Mattern, one of 20 losses he’ll have this year.

23^rd The Browns eke out a 1-0 win over Boston’s Frank Arellanes, scoring in the 9^th inning on a sacrifice fly. Three Red Sox runners are thrown out at home.

24^th Under new manager Roger Bresnahan, the Cardinals finally beat Christy Mathewson after losing to the Giants ace 24 consecutive times. Matty allows just 6 hits to his former battery mate’s squad, but the Giants score once off John Lush to lose, 3–1.

At Brooklyn, the Cubs beat the Dodgers, 4-3, on Solly Hofman’s inside-the-park homer in the 11^th inning. Brooklyn CF Tom Catterson attempts a shoestring catch on the liner but misses.

25^th  Righthander George Mullin wins his 9^th in a row for Detroit 7–4 over Washington, on his way to a league-leading 29–8 record.

Orval Overall, in relief of Jack Pfiester, picks up the win in Chicago’s 4-3 win over Brooklyn. Harry McIntire takes the loss.

The Reds Bob wing fires a 2-hitter in shutting out the Phillies, 1-0. Dick Hoblitzel, 20-year-old first baseman, hits a 5^th inning homer, his ML first, off Tully Sparks.

26^th At Brooklyn, Cubs ace Orval Overall pitches a complete game and beats George Bell, 2–0, to stretch his winning streak over Brooklyn to 11 straight games. The streak began in 1906.

27^th In a game featuring a AL record-setting 44 assists by both teams (as noted by historian Joe Dittmar), the Naps nip the Browns, 5–2. The NL high assist marks of April 23, 1903 and May 15, 1909 (NY vs. Cin) fall short of today’s record. Addie Joss for Cleveland and Barney Pelty for St. Louis are the pitchers as each team records 22 assists.

28^th At the Polo Grounds, the Giants and Phils split two. The Phils win the opener, 11–1, then lose to Christy Mathewson 3–0 in a rain-shortened 6 inning affair.

29^th At Pittsburgh’s Exposition Field, President William Taft and his half brother Charles, a part owner of the Cubs, are among the overflow crowd of 14,000 on hand for the Chicago-Pirates game. The visitors break open the 3–3 game in the 11^th by scoring 5 runs to win for Three-Fingered Brown and move Chicago just percentage points behind the Bucs. Both teams leave immediately to play two games tomorrow in Chicago.

The Yankees prevail, 4-2, over host Washington and the Senators Otis Clymer steals four bases.

The A’s sweep a doubleheader from the visiting Red Sox, 6–2 and 6–4. In game 1 the A’s Frank Baker belts the first homer ever hit over the RF wall at the new Shibe Park. His drive comes off Red Sox hurler Frank Arellanes.

30^th  The Pirates come from behind to beat Chicago, 5–4 in the first game of a DH. In the nitecap, Honus Wagner breaks up a 2–2 tie with a 9^th inning double off Jack Pfiester and the Pirates prevail, 4–2. Pittsburgh now leads the Cubs by 2 games, and will not lose for another 13 games.

The Cardinals score 11 runs in the first inning against the Reds and win, 12–2.

31^st  The Giants sweep an a.m.-p.m. twinbill. Hooks Wiltse wins the morning game, 3–2 and Mathewson thrills the crowd of 35,000 with a 5–4 victory over Lew Moren in the p.m. game. Matty wins the game with an 8^th inning HR into the LF bleachers.

Pitchers Otto Burns of Decatur and Ed Clarke of Bloomington (Three I League) both go the distance in a 26-inning game won by Decatur 2–1.

JUNE

1^st At Philadelphia, the 2^nd place A’s and the 4^th place Red Sox split a pair, each winning, 1–0. Harry Krause, who will lead the AL in ERA with 1.39, wins the opener for Philadelphia, beating Jack Ryan. The A’s score with 2 outs in the 9^th to win. It’s one of 7 shutouts Krause will throw this year. Fred Burchell returns the favor in the nitecap, beating Eddie Plank as the Sox score their lone run of the day in the 8^th. Boston CF Tris Speaker pulls off an unassisted DP in game 2, the first of a ML record 6 he’ll make. He’ll do it again next April. Speaker will lead the AL outfielders this year with 12 double plays, the first of 6 season he’ll lead the AL flycatchers in this category.

3^rd Down 8-1 to the last place Doves, Pittsburgh storms back with a six-run 4^th inning, highlighted by a grand slam by Honus Wagner off Al Mattern. The first-place Pirates prevail, 9-8.

5^th  St. Louis admirers give Roger Bresnahan a diamond ring and give the rest of the team silk umbrellas, then Cardinal errors give the Giants 6 runs and the game, 8–7. John McGraw and Larry Doyle are tossed by umpire Charlie Criger.

The Red Sox ship off pitcher Cy Morgan one day after he turns gun shy on a tag at the plate on Ty Cobb. The Sox get pitcher Biff Schlitzer in exchange. Cobb, on 2B when Morgan tossed a wild pitch, never slowed rounding 3B and headed home. Morgan had the ball in plenty of time for the tag at home, but preferred to stand aside and execute a Veronica instead of blocking the plate. Cobb easily avoided the tag.

7^th The Phillies bring back INF Joe Ward for a 2^nd tour of duty, buying him from the Yankees.

8^th  At Chicago, the Cubs score two runs off Mathewson in the first inning with the help of two errors, but tally just one hit in the next 8 innings. Matty emerges with a 3–2 win over Three Fingered Brown, his first win against Brown since 1903.

San Francisco (Pacific Coast League) hurler Cack Henley tosses a 24-inning 1–0 shutout over Oakland, surrendering only 9 hits and one walk in the 3-hour and 35-minute contest. Jimmy Wiggs matches Henley for 23 frames before Nick Williams drives home the winner with a single in the 24^th. In the only other game scheduled in the league, Portland and Sacramento play an 18-inning 1–1 tie.

9^th Benjamin Shibe, of Bala, Pennsylvania, obtains a patent for a cork-center baseball. Spalding will license the idea and manufacturer a ball.

The Red Sox edge the Browns, 3–2, scoring the winning run in the 8^th inning. Ed Cicotte, relieving for Jack Ryan, pitches the last 3 innings for the victory. (In most record books, Cicotte is erroneously listed as pitching just one inning and is credited with a save. Researcher Dix Tourangeau noted the error).

10^th  George Mullin’s winning streak reaches 11 with a 2–1 win over New York. On the 15^th, he will finally lose to the Athletics 5–4.

11^th At the West Side Grounds, Boston wins over Chicago, 4–2, for their only win against the Cubs this year. Rookie Kirby “Red” White walks in a run but at the plate drives in two Doves with a triple. Boston will go 1–21 against the Cubs and 1-20 versus the Pirates.

12^th At Cincinnati, the Giants edge the Reds, 2–0, as Mathewson bests Bob Ewing. The Reds manage 4 hits off Matty.

16^th  New York’s Christy Mathewson capsizes the Pirates, 8–2, ending Pittsburgh’s 14-game win streak. The Pirates garner 10 hits off Matty, Lefty Leifield is peppered by the Giants.

Jim Thorpe makes his baseball pitching debut for Rocky Mount (Eastern Carolina League) with a 4–2 win over Raleigh. It is the professional play in this year that will cause him to lose the medals he’ll win in the 1912 Olympics.

At Philadelphia, Chief Bender and the A’s beat Detroit, 5-4, handing George Mullin his first loss after 11 straight wins.

18^th At Cincinnati’s “Palace of the Fans” a night game is played between a local amateur team and one from Newport, Kentucky. The lighting is provided by George Cahill who is moving from city to city demonstrating his lighting system on five towers.

19^th  Walter Johnson has a strange day beating the New York Highlanders, 7–4. He gives up just 3 hits, but is unusually wild, issuing 7 walks, uncorking 4 wild pitches, and hitting one batter, while fanning 10.

The Phils make only 2 hits but beat the Reds, 2–0.

Boston Doves co-owner and president George Dovey, 48, dies suddenly while on a scouting trip in Ohio. His brother John takes over the presidency.

An exhibition night game featuring two amateur teams is played in the Reds’ park before 3,000 spectators, including the Cincinnati and Philadelphia teams, which had played there earlier. The hometown Elks win, 8–5.

20^th  Cleveland and Chicago exchange shutouts, with Ed Walsh winning the first, 4-0, on a one-hitter. Terry Turner’s safety is the lone hit. Heinie Berger wins for Cleveland in game 2, 5-0.

22^nd  The Detroit club buys the rest of the vacant Bennett Field grounds as the site for a new park.

The National League postpones its games for today because of the funeral of George Dovey, co-owner of the Boston Nationals with his brother John. Pittsburgh owner Barney Dreyfuss is one of the honorary pall bearers for the funeral in Philadelphia.

Christy Mathewson pitches 4 innings for the Bucknell alumni against the varsity, as the undergrads win, 13–12. Matty also plays 3B and chips in with 3 hits.

23^rd At the Polo Grounds, Christy Mathewson wins a doubleheader against Boston. Matty relieves Marquard in the opener with the score tied 4–4 in the 9^th. After shutting down Boston, the Giants score a run for the 5–4 win. Matty then coasts in the nitecap to an 11–1 win. Mathewson leaves after two innings with a 4–1 lead, and Doc Crandall operates the rest of the way, The official scorer awards the game to Christy. In game 1, shortstop Bill Dahlen is ejected in the 8^th for arguing a play at 3B and Jack Coffey, lately of Fordham University where he teamed with future Cardinal Frankie Spellman at 2^nd, takes over. Coffey’s error in the 9^th allows the winning run. Coffey makes another error but scores the only run in game 2.

Frank Browning of San Francisco wins his 5^th in a row on his way to setting a PCL record of 16 wins in a row. Browning beats Los Angeles, 5-4, in 19 innings, pinning the loss on starter Walter Nagle. It will be Nagle who stops Browning’s skein on August 15.

24^th At Philadelphia, the Highlander’s Birdie Cree hits his first ML homer, off Cy Morgan, as New York beats the A’s, 5-3. The homer is the first ever hit out of Shibe Park by a right handed hitter. Cree later recalls, “I drove that ball over the right field wall and into Matt Kilroy’s saloon on the corner of Twentieth Street and Lehigh Avenue. I know it bounced into the barroom because that is where I got the ball. I still have it.” (as noted by historian Paul Sallee)

25^th The Giant sweep their 3^rd DH in a row, beating Brooklyn 4–2 and 9–1. Hooks Wilts wins the opener and Mathewson takes the nitecap, leaving after 5 innings with a 7–0 lead.

The Cubs beat Cincinnati, 7-0, with Mordecai Brown tossing the shutout over Jean Dubuc. Brown has not lost to the Reds since 1906 and will end a streak of 13 straight victories on September 14.

26^th In Detroit, the Tigers bid a fond goodbye to the Browns by whipping them and Rube Waddell, 6-2. It is the 8^th straight game between the two teams, in St. Louis and Detroit, and the Tigers win all eight.

Chicago’s Ed Reulbach stops the Reds, 4-0, allowing just one hit, a 3^rd inning grounder by Mike Mowrey that bounces off the pitcher’s mitt.

28^th Phillies president Israel Durham dies four months after taking over the team.

29^th Pitching against the Yankees in game 1, Walter Johnson gives up a solo homer to Ray Demmitt in the 7^th, the first home run he’s allowed since his debut in 1907, Demmitt’s shot is the only score for New York, as Johnson beats them, 3-1, for the 2^nd time in 10 days. New York rallies in game 2 for an 11-3 victory.

Playing their last game in Exposition Park, the Pirates score 4 runs in the first inning off Mordecai Brown and sail to an 8–1 win over Chicago. Lefty Leifield is the winner. Tomorrow, the Pirates will move to Forbes Field, named after British General John Forbes, who captured Ft. Duquesne during the French and Indian Wars.

In Boston, Harry Krause stops the Red Sox on 5 hits as the A’s thump Boston, 9-0. Boston also loses Jack Thoney who snaps a bone in his leg sliding in to first base (New York Times). He’ll be out most of the season.

30^th  Chicago’s Ed Reulbach spoils Pittsburgh’s dedication of Forbes Field before 30,338, allowing 3 hits and beating Vic Willis, 3–2. A parade of old-time players precedes the game. The Pirates will draw 98,000 fans, including 41,000 on July 5, in their first five home games.

At Washington Park, the Superbas gaff the Giants, 7–2, beating Hooks Wiltse in the opener. The Giants come back in the nitecap, 3–0, behind Mathewson. Matty strikes out 9 and allows 4 hits.

JULY

1^st Baseball historian John Thorn notes the possible first use of the term grand slam in print, in an article from the Cincinnati Post:
“Wyoming is one of the wealthiest and most exclusive suburbs of
Cincinnati. Ordinarily, bridge whist, ball dresses and all that sort of
thing occupy the pretty heads of the two teams. Now they are poring over
the rules as laid down in the Book of Spalding. By a process of
comparison they have learned that a home run is equal to a no-trump
make. A home run with three men on bases, is fully as valuable as a
‘no-trump’ grand slam on the rubber game.”

2^nd  The White Sox steal 12 bases in the course of a 15–3 win over St. Louis. Three are steals of home, including one by P Ed Walsh in the 6^th inning, for a modern ML record.

After the Phils take game 1 over Boston, 5-4, Boston pitcher Al Mattern pitches a 2-hit, 4-0 win over the Quakers. Mattern will allow a league-high 322 hits in 316.1 innings this year.

3^rd  Seventeen Cardinals errors in a doubleheader loss to the Reds, 10–2 and 13–7, tie a modern ML record. Eleven come in game 2.

At a packed Washington Park, the Giants beat up Brooklyn, winning 5–3 and 2–1 in a total of 23 innings. In the opener, Mathewson relieves Bugs Raymond with the score knotted at 3–3 in the 9^th. Matty shuts out the Superbas in the next 6 innings, and the Giants score 2 in the 14^th off Harry McIntire for the win.

The Browns Bill Dinneen allows 2 hits in shutting out the White Sox, 4-0.

5^th The Giants sweep the Phillies, winning 3–0 and 3–2 in 15 innings. The nitecap is the longest game in the NL this year. Bugs Raymond wins the marathon, relieving Mathewson with the score 2–2 in the 9^th.

In a twinbill in Boston, the Nationals win the a.m. game with the Red Sox, 7-7, before a crowd of 9,926, while the Red Sox bounce back in the afternoon to win, 8-1 before 14,600. In game 1, hard-luck Nats pitcher Bob Groom relieves in the 3^rd inning and allows just 3 hits as Washington rallies with a winning run in the 6^th off reliever Smoky Joe Wood. Groom strikes out 6 including the side in the 8^th. Clyde Milan has 2 hits and 3 runs as the Nats take advantage of 4 errors by SS Heinie Wagner. In the afternoon contest, the Nats make just three hits off Fred Burchell while the Sox jump on Walter Johnson.

6^th Red Sox rookie Larry Pape makes his debut with a 2–0 win over the Nationals.

7^th In the Giants 3–1 win over the Phils, New York collects 6 straight walks in 6^th. This is a ML record since tied in the NL, but will be broken in the AL next month.

Inventor George Cahill brings his portable lights to Grand Rapids, Michigan for a night game with the Zanesville Infants (Central L). The host team wins 11–10 in 7 innings, with the only complaints coming from the outfielders, who had trouble seeing balls hit above the lights.

12^th The Pirates split with the Giants, dropping the opener 3–0 when Christy Mathewson limits the Bucs to 4 hits. Mathewson (13–2) has won 11 straight. Pittsburgh wins the nitecap 9–0.

13^th At Nicollet Park in Minneapolis, Irv Young puts on “the greatest single-day mound performance in the history of the Millers” (historian Stew Thornley). In the first game of a doubleheader with the Milwaukee Brewers (AA), Young holds the Brewers to 4 hits to win, 1-0. Young homers in the fifth for the game’s only run. So impressive is Young that he pitches the nightcap, holding the Brewers hitless until the 9^th and finishing with a one-hit, 5-0 victory. The double shutout puts the Millers two games in front of Milwaukee. The 2 teams will fight for the AA lead for the next 2 months, before fading in the final week, allowing Louisville to sneak into first.

15^th Ty Cobb has 2 inside-the-park homers to lead the Tigers to a sweep of the Nationals. Detroit wins, 9–5 and 7–0.

The Phillies sweep a pair from the Cardinals, winning 6–4 and 7-6 in 14 innings. Game 2 heroics are provided by Eddie Grant, who has a game-ending steal of home in the 14^th with Fred Beebe on the mound (as noted by Jan Larson). It comes on the front end of a double steal with Magee. Both teams scored in the 10^th and 13^th innings.

16^th  At Bennett Field, Detroit and Washington play the longest scoreless game in AL history—18 innings. Ed Summers pitches the complete game, holding the Nationals to 7 hits, two walks (one intentional), while fanning 10. The Nationals’ 30-year-old rookie, Dolly Gray, allows only one hit before leaving with an injury after 8 innings. He is replaced by Bob Groom. Dolly, named after the Spanish American War ballad “Goodbye, Dolly Gray”, will put another entry in the record books next month when he walks 7 straight batters. Detroit’s two stars Cobb and Crawford each go 0-for-7.

With the Nationals on the road, their home field is host to the first Congressional baseball game. The Democrats beat the Republicans, 26-16 in 7 innings.

The Giants sweep the Reds, winning the last game, 2–1, behind Mathewson. Jack Rowan takes the loss for Cincy.

The Phillies send righthanded pitchers Buster Brown and Lew Richie and 2B Dave Shean to the Boston Nationals for OF Johnny Bates and INF Charlie Starr.

17^th Red Sox reliever Smoky Joe Wood fans 10 Cleveland batters in just 4 innings, as visiting Boston wins, 6–4.

Brooklyn and Chicago swap shutouts, with George Bell topping Chicago’s Orval Overall, 1–0, in the opener. Ed Reulbach comes back in the 2^nd game to beat Kaiser Wilhelm, 4–0. Bill Bergen’s hitless streak of 45 at bats (Elias has always had this record 45 at bats. Although SABR’s Joe Dittmar originally had it at 46, first researched in 1998, with subsequent research, he has revised tis to conform with Elias’ 45 at bats ) finally ends. Bergen’s hitless streak started after he singled in his first at bat against the Giants on June 29, 1909. It ends in the second game today when, after sitting out the first game, he had a fourth inning infield single against Ed Reulbach. The catcher will hit just .139 this season, not a yearly low.

18^th  Harry Krause of the A’s loses, 5–4, in 11 innings to the Browns, ending his 10-game winning streak.

19^th  Cleveland SS Neal Ball executes the 20^th century’s first unassisted triple play in the top of the 2^nd against the Red Sox. With Heinie Wagner on 2B and Jake Stahl on 1B, Amby McConnell hits a line drive to Ball, who steps on 2B and tags Stahl coming down from 1B. In the last of the 2^nd, Ball hits his first AL homer, an inside-the-park shot, and adds a double. Cleveland wins 6–1 behind Cy Young, but Boston wins the nitecap, 3–2.

20^th New York suffers two losses against the Cards. The first is a line drive in the 7^th off the bat of Joe Delahanty that breaks a finger on the left hand of Christy Mathewson. Matty leaves the game and the Cards win, 4–3, in 11 innings. The Giants load the bases in the 11^th with no outs but fail to score. Matty’s broken finger turns out to be “mashed.”

22^nd   Ty Cobb steals 2B, 3B, and home in the 7^th inning, doing it against Red Sox pitcher Harry Wolter. The Tigers beat Boston 6–0, as Ty has 3 hits and 4 steals. Killian is the winning pitcher.

Pitching for Portland, Alex Carson pitches a 10-inning no-hitter against LA, winning 1–0. It is the first extra-inning no-hitter in PCL history. He allows one walk and another runner, who reaches in the 8^th on an error. Two balls are hit to the outfield. National Baseball Commission head Garry Herrmann is in attendance.

23^rd Three days after pitching a 1–0 shutout, Grover Cleveland Alexander of the Galesburg (IL) Boosters, tosses a no-hitter against Pekin. He strikes out 10 and walks one. On the 26^th he will beat Macon, 1–0, in 18 innings, not allowing a hit until the 10^th inning.

24^th Brooklyn ace Nap Rucker strikes out 16 Cardinals in a 1–0 win. In the first game of a doubleheader. Rucker will fan 201 batters this year, just 4 behind Orval Overall, the NL leader. Brooklyn teammate George Bell then follows with another 1-0 win.

26^th The Red Sox acquire pitchers Ed Karger and Charley “Sea Lion” Hall from St. Paul for pitchers Charley Chech and Jack Ryan.

27^th At Boston the 3^rd place Giants split with the Doves, losing the opener, 7–4, then taking the nitecap, 6–2. In the 2^nd contest, Mathewson wins for the 13^th straight time, beating Forrest More.

The Phillies sweep a pair from Brooklyn, winning 7–0 and 3–2. Light hitting Eddie Grant collects his first ML homer, off Deacon Phillippe.

Star minor league pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander is hit in the forehead with a ball while running the bases and is knocked unconscious. Alexander will recover but his vision will be affected for months and he will not pitch again for Galesburg. The Indianapolis Indians purchase his contract.

28^th Brooklyn’s Jim Pastorius no-hits the Phillies until pinch hitter Marty Martel, pinch-hitting for John Titus, laces a one-out triple in the 9^th inning. Pastorius wins, 4–0.

29^th  NL president Harry Pulliam, despondent over his inability to handle the problems and controversies of the league, dies after shooting himself in his room at the New York Athletic Club yesterday. Pulliam had been suffering from a nervous breakdown.

30^th  After winning 13 in a row, Christy Mathewson loses to Pittsburgh 3–1, giving up 4 hits and 3 runs in the first inning. Red Ames relieves in the 2^nd. Mathewson’s record is now 15–3.

31^st  For the 2^nd time in 2 years—the first was on May 25, 1908—Bill Burns has a no-hitter broken up with two outs in the 9^th, when Washington’s Otis Clymer singles. But Burns and the White Sox win 1–0, besting Walter Johnson in the first of two games. Burns is the only pitcher to suffer this fate twice, until Dave Stieb of Toronto does on September 24 and 30, 1988. For poor Walter Johnson, it is his 5^th loss by a shutout this month. In game 2, it is Frank Smith’s turn to shut out the Senators as he wins, 4-0.

AUGUST

1^st In Chicago, Three Finger Brown pitches a one-hitter in beating the Phillies 3-0 in the first of two. Kitty Bransfield’s single is the only safety. The Cubs sweep by winning game 2, 7-6.

2^nd Harry Pulliam is buried in Louisville. For the first time in history, both NL and AL games are postponed in tribute. After the funeral, a special meeting of the Board of Directors appoints John Heydler to succeed Pulliam.

3^rd Despite allowing 15 hits and 6 runs, Christy Mathewson tops the Reds 7–6 in 10 innings. The Giants bail Matty out by hammering Bob Spade and Billy Campbell.

The A’s sweep a pair from the visiting White Sox, winning 2-1 and 10-4, though the scores take a backseat to an incident between umpire Tim Hurst and A’s Eddie Collins. Doc White and the Sox take a 4-1 lead into the 7^th, but the A’s score 6 runs for the lead. White is removed for Louis Fiene and the A’s continue to score in the 8^th. With runners on, Collins singles and goes to second where he appears to be safe when the throw is dropped. When Hurst calls him out, Collins is furious and follows the up around the infield using words like “yellow”, “crook” and “blind bat.” Hurst then turns and spits in the face of Collins before teammates pull the two apart. After the game, police battle with fans for 20 minutes as Hurst is hit by cushions and bottles. Hurst will be suspended by Ban Johnson tomorrow.

5^th The Washington Nationals complete a marathon run of eight straight doubleheaders, a ML record until the National League Braves top it in 1928. The marathon started on July 27^th and 28^th with Philadelphia; Chicago on July 29^th, 30^th, and 31^st; and Cleveland for the 3^rd, 4^th and today’s twinbill with Cleveland. The Nats lose 9–4 and win game 2, 2–0.

The Cubs sweep a pair from the visiting Doves, winning 2–1 and 4–0, and are now 2 ½ games behind the Pirates, losers today. Mordecai Brown wins the opener, as Johnny Evers stakes him to a lead with a first inning steal of home. Jack Pfiester shuts out Boston on 4 hits in the second game.

6^th Behind Harry Gaspar, the Reds edge the visiting Giants, 1-0, in 10 innings. Rebel Oakes scores the lone run, bunting for a hit and circling the bases on two New York errors.

7^th In St. Louis, the Giants shell Fred Beebe for 6 hits and 4 runs in the first inning, and Christy Mathewson coasts to a 7–1 win.

8^th In a 3–0 Giants win at St. Louis, outfielder Bill O’Hara swipes 2B, 3B, and home in the 8^th inning.

11^th  John McGraw puts 49-year-old Giants coach Arlie Latham at 2B in a 19–3 romp over St. Louis. Latham goes hitless but handles 2 assists. Cy Seymour scores 5 runs.

12^th In Chicago, the Giants sweep a doubleheader with the Cubs to inch closer to 2^nd place. New York wins the opener, 5–2, then Mathewson sets down the Cubs, 3–0, for his 18^th win.

Umpire Tim Hurst is dropped by the American League following an investigation into the spitting incident in the August 3 game between the A’s and White Sox. His replacement is Mike Thompson, a former Georgetown University football player who has been a well-known football ref. Thompson tried to join the NL umping staff last year but the roster was filled.

San Francisco pitcher Frank Browning defeats Los Angeles, 10-2, to run his win streak to a PCL record 16 victories. Buck Newsom, Frank Shellenback and Jim Wilson will come close, with 15 straight, but Browning’s mark will not be matched this century.

13^th The Tigers trade Germany Schaefer and Red Killefer to the Senators for Jim Delahanty. Delahanty will be a solid performer down the stretch and star in the WS.

14^th  Chicago pitcher’s Ed Reulbach’s 14-game winning streak is stopped by the Giants 5–2. It is Reulbach’s second streak of that length, the only 20^th century pitcher to reach that mark (as noted by Cappy Gagnon). During this streak he defeated every NL team, including Brooklyn 5 times. A November 1913 article in Baseball Magazine will judge Reulbach’s streak the most impressive in history; in 14 games he surrendered only 14 runs, giving up three on one occasion, while pitching five shutouts and five one-run games. New York has now won 9 in a row, but Chicago will stop that tomorrow.

15^th  Los Angles pitcher Walter Nagle beats San Francisco, 2-1, and stops the PCL record win streak of Frank Browning. Browning won 16 straight, beating Nagle on August 12^th.

16^th New York and Pittsburgh play to a 2–2 tie, stopped after 8 innings because of a drenching downpour. Off Christy Mathewson, Ham Hyatt hits his 3^rd pinch triple of the year, a record that won’t be matched till 1970. Outfielder Red Murray prevents a loss for Matty with one of the greatest catches ever seen at Forbes Field. With two outs and two on, Dots Miller belts a long line drive off Matty into the growing darkness. With everyone straining to follow the ball, a bolt of lightning flashes and Murray is seen making a bare-handed grab on the dead run to end the inning. Bill Klem then calls the game.

The A’s jump on Walter Johnson, scoring 6 runs in 5 innings, before relief comes in. The A’s win, 6–1 over Johnson, but he’ll come back tomorrow to beat them. Before exiting, Johnson hits his first ML homer, off Harry Krause, who will lead the A.L. in ERA with a sparkling 1.39. The homer, just the 3^rd hit over Washington’s LF fence, goes through a window of an adjoining building.

The Browns-Indians game is rained out in Cleveland, but St. Louis pitcher Rube Waddell still sees some action. While walking around he hears a gas explosion, part of a warehouse fire that injures eight people, and hurries to the fire. Forcing his way through the barrier ropes, Rube spots some firemen attempting to secure a rope around a wall. He shouts that they are using the wrong knot, then climbs up and knots the rope himself. Several spectators recognize the pitcher and cheer him on.

17^th  Nap Lajoie resigns as Cleveland manager with the team in 6^th place, but he remains as a player.

Walter Johnson gives up 4 hits in topping the A’s Chief Bender in 12 innings. Red Killefer’s RBI-single drives in the run as the Nats win 1–0. The overwork will take its toll on the young Walter Johnson. He will develop a sore arm and in his next two outing he will give up 27 hits.

18^th  Giants player-coach Arlie Latham steals 2B in the Giants’ 14–1 laugher over the Phillies. At 49, he is the oldest player to swipe a base.

Cubs P Ed Reulbach wins his 16^th consecutive game from one opponent, beating the Reds, 1–0. Chicago scores a run in the bottom of the 9^th off Bob Ewing, who allows just 3 hits. It is the 3^rd shutout in a row for Chicago hurlers. Reulbach’s streak against Cincinnati (according to historian Ed Hartig) started on April 15, 1906.

19^th  The Phils end a series of rainouts with a split with the Giants. Doc Crandall slices the Phillies, 6–4, but the Quakers come back to beat Mathewson, 1–0. Sherry Magee scores the only run in the bottom of the 9^th to tag Matty with the loss.

The St. Louis Cardinals trade Bobby Byrne to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jap Barbeau and Alan Storke. The light-hitting Byrne will up his game in Pittsburgh and finish tied for 3^rd in runs in the NL.

20^th  The Browns and Tigers trade first baseman: Tom Jones goes to Detroit for Claude Rossman. Jones will hit .281 for the defending champs.

21^st The Giants edge the Reds, with Mathewson winning this one, 1–0. Jack Rowan takes the loss when Larry Doyle walks in the 1^st, goes to 3B on a ground out and scores on another grounder.

Jack Taylor, former iron man pitcher in the NL, hurls two complete games in the Central League. On the mound for Dayton, he shuts out Terra Haute on 2 hits to win 4–0 in game one, then wins 1–0 in 11 innings in game 2. On June 4^th, pitching for Grand Rapids in the same league, Taylor threw a 1–0 no-hitter over Fort Wayne.

In a Texas League game at San Antonio, William Mitchell strikes out 20 Galveston batters. Mitchell gives up 4 hits in the 8-0 shutout.

22^nd Deacon Maguire is named as Cleveland’s manager, replacing Nap Lajoie. The Deacon has previously managed Boston and Washington.

23^rd  With lefthander Jim Pastorius pitching, Brooklyn C Bill Bergen throws out 6 (erroneously listed as 7) of 8 base-stealing Cardinals in a 9–1 St. Louis victory. Bergen’s mark is a 20^th century high, tied twice in 1915 by Schang and again by 3 A’s catchers on June 18. In the first game of the doubleheader today, it was Brooklyn’s turn as they swiped 6 bases in a 7–0 win. The Cards steal 2 bases.

It’s a day for thievery as the Cubs steal home 3 times in a game at Boston, tying a ML mark. They waste no time, as Johnny Evers and Del Howard do it in the first inning, and Solly Hofman in the 9-run 2^nd. All three are on the front end of double steals. Chicago wins, 11–6.

The first place Giants outslug the visiting Reds, 12-9, using a 7-run 4^th to do it. Seymour, McCormick and O’Hara each have two hits in the 4^th.

24^th The Giants split with the Pirates, taking the first game 4–3 behind Hooks Wiltse, then losing the 2^nd. Bug Raymond toils the whole 9 innings for the Giants and gets clobbered 11–3. McGraw leaves the high-living pitcher in the runaway to teach him a lesson.

At Detroit, A’s catcher Paddy Livingston throws out Ty Cobb trying to steal 3B during an intentional walk to Sam Crawford. Cobb intentional spikes 3B Frank Baker on his bare hand during the play, prompting howls of protest from the Athletics. The Tigers win, 7–6, and A’s manager Connie Mack will complain to Ban Johnson about Cobb’s dirty play. Cobb gets a warning from the AL president.

25^th Christy Mathewson stops the Pirates, 3–2, on five hits to notch his 20^th victory of the season. It is the 7^th season in a row that Matty’s hit 20 wins. Nick Maddox takes the loss for the leading Bucs.

Led by a grand slam from Joe Delahanty off Lew Richie, the visiting Cardinals jump to a 5-0 lead in the first inning at Boston, but Boston claws back to win, 9-8. Joe is the last of the four Delahanty brothers to hit a grand slam.

27^th  Still pitching doubleheaders, Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity wins a pair for Newark over Buffalo in the Eastern League.

28^th  In the first of two games at South Side Park, Dolly Gray of Washington enters the record book by walking 8 White Sox in the 2^nd inning, with 7 of the walks in a row (both ML records). The Washington Post describes the inning “it looked like a military drill. Each batsman went to the plate. . . and then sedately marched to first.” (as noted by James Kaufman in his book). The 6 runs scored are enough for a 6–4 Chicago win, although they manage only one hit against Dolly. Leading off the 2^nd, Patsy Dougherty logs the only hit, and when he bats again in the inning, manager Billy Sullivan suggests he go to the plate without a bat. For Dougherty, this is the 3^rd of 4 times he’ll have the only hit in a game. Washington cops the second game, 2–1.

In New York, the matchup between Three Fingered Brown and Christy Mathewson fizzles when the Cubs score 4 runs in the first two innings. Matty is lifted and Brown wins the game, 6–1.

The first six New York batters reach base safely, and though two cross the plate, only one counts as the Yankees lose, 2–1, to Detroit. Engel hits a leadoff single and stays on 1B when Chase chops a ball in the air and Engel thinks it is a pop up. Engle is tagged out. Four more singles plate one run and the Knight is called back to 3B when a hit ball touches an umpire. Cobb has a single, double and triple for the Bengals.

The Milwaukee White Sox and the Leland Giants square off at Auburn Park with the Sox winning, 1–0, in 11 innings. Pederson hits a 2-out single that scores Matt, who was on with a double. Till then, Dougherty had given up 2 hits. Ernie Groth is the winner.

29^th The Pirates trade 3B Jap Barbeau, 2B Allen Storke, and cash to the Cardinals for 3B Bobby Byrne.

30^th The Cubs and Giants swap shutouts in this Monday doubleheader. Chicago wins the opener, 2–0, in 11 innings, and Mathewson outpitches Ed Reulbach in the nitecap to win, 5–0, on 5 hits.

In a 5–0 shutout, A’s pitcher Eddie Plank swipes home on the front end of a double steal against the White Sox in the 2^nd inning. Plank allows 3 hits and strikes out the side in the 8^th.

31^st  The A. J. Reach Company is granted a patent for its cork-centered baseball, which will replace the hard rubber-cored one. This change will be particularly apparent in the NL in 1910–11. Less than three months ago, Shibe was granted a patent for his version of a cork-centered ball.

SEPTEMBER

1^st In Detroit, the Tigers edge the Red Sox, 5-4, in 11 innings. Ty Cobb scores the winning run, his third of the game. He contributes two stolen bases and a 2-run homer.

2^nd  Detroit beats Boston, 8–5, and completes a sweep of every series against visiting Eastern teams, winning their 14^th in a row. The Tigers regain first place by a half game en route to their 3^rd straight pennant.

Boston’s Cliff Curtis pitches his first ML game and beats the Pirates, 1-0, to give the Doves their only win against Pittsburgh this year. The Pirates win the nightcap and will finish the season 20-1 against Boston.

For the 2^nd day in a row, Giants outfielder Bill O’Hara is a pinch runner and swipes two bases. Today’s thefts come in the 9^th inning of a 5–2 loss to the Cardinals: yesterday he did it in the 6^th of a 9–6 win over the Cards. He is the first to accomplish this ML record, and he is the only one this century to do it twice.

4^th Sigh! After tying Cleveland yesterday, the visiting Tigers lose two games today to end their 14-game winning streak. All of the wins were at home. Cy Falkenberg shuts out the Tigers, 4-0, and Cy Young then wins, 4-3. The Bengals will win 3 more back at home to run their home winning streak to 17 games (1 tie).

George Stone hits a leadoff homer, his only roundtripper this year, and the Browns score 2 runs in the 1^st off Chicago’s Fred Olmstead. Bill Bailey makes it hold up in a 2-1 win over the Sox.

6^th In the holiday doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, the Boston Doves take the opener, 2–0, and New York wins the nitecap, 5–4. Mathewson wins his own game for the Giants with a 10^th inning triple to score Admiral Schlei.

The Cubs sweep a pair from the visiting Pirates, winning 3–1 and 6–1. The Bucs get a little solace as Adams strikes out 6 Cubs in a row, one short of the record set by Wiltse in 1906.

7^th  Pitcher Addie Joss hits his only career HR, off Detroit’s Ed Summers, in a 6–4 Cleveland loss at Detroit. It is Detroit’s 17^th consecutive win at home, an AL record.

9^th  The Pirates beat the Reds, 3–1. Charles “Moon” Gibson of Pittsburgh catches his 112^th consecutive game, breaking Chief Zimmer’s 1890 record. His streak will end at 140.

Chicago’s Orval Overall tops the St. Louis Cardinals, 2–1 for his 15^th straight win over the Birds. He started the streak on June 6, 1906. It is the second longest Cub winning streak by one pitcher over a single team.

Bill Dinneen, winner of 3 games in the first WS, is released by the St. Louis Browns and becomes an AL umpire, a position he will hold through 1937.

Prior to the game between the Senators and the Red Sox, Boston swaps Doc Gessler to the host Nationals for pitcher Charlie Smith (and $2500) with the proviso that the trade become effective after the game. Gessler comes off the bench and, in his first at bat, drives in the go-ahead run in the 10^th inning and then scores a run four batters later as Boston wins, 3-1. Tomorrow’s Boston Globe headline blares: “Thanks for the little loan, Mr. Cantillon.”

11^th The Athletics and Red Sox split a doubleheader, each team winning, 1–0. The Red Sox also pick up pitcher Jack Chesbro (0-4) on waivers from the Highlanders. The future Hall of Famer will pitch and lose one game (to New York) for Boston before calling it quits at 199-131.

Christy Mathewson and catcher Chief Meyers are all that the Giants need in the opener against Brooklyn. Matty allows 3 hits in shutting down the Superbas, and the Chief clubs his first major league homer in the 2^nd inning, a grand slam to score all the runs. New York wins, 4–0, beating Elmer Knetzer. The Superbas take the nitecap, 10–1, behind Bugs Raymond. Rookie Zack Wheat has his first 2 ML hits in the nitecap, after being collared in the opener by Matty.

13^th  Ty Cobb clinches the AL HR title with his 9^th round-tripper in a 10–2 Detroit win over the Browns. It is an inside-the-park drive. In fact, all his 9 HRs this season are inside-the-park, including 2 on July 15^th. He is the only player in this century to lead in HRs without hitting one out of the park. Only Crawford (12 in 1901) has hit more inside-the-park homers in a year than Cobb.

The last-place Doves host a pair with the Giants, winning the opener, 6-1, as Beals Becker hits a second inning grand slam off Hooks Wiltse. Game 2 ends in a 4-4 tie after 13 innings.

14^th Cubs ace Three Fingered Brown shuts out the Reds, 4–0, for his 13^th straight win over Cincy. The streak started on August 28, 1906.

John Heydler announces that the NL will use 2 umpires per game in 1910.

In the dimming light of the second game of a doubleheader between the Dayton Veterans and the Grand Rapids Wolverines (Class B Central League) 21-year-old Vets 2B Cupid Pinkney is hit in the head by a pitch thrown by Kurt Hageman. Pinkney is knocked out but will be recover enough to speak in the hospital before going into a coma and dying. Dayton cancels its last two games of the season.

16^th  President Taft attends a Cubs-Giants game in Chicago and players are introduced to him before the game. Giants ace Christy Mathewson then outdeals Chicago ace Three Fingered Brown, 2–1, with each allowing 7 hits. Taft downs popcorn and lemonade during the match, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The University of Wisconsin baseball team arrives in Tokyo to begin a series of games against Japanese schools.

17^th  In Washington, two rookie starters debut in the same game as Bill McCorry of the Browns faces Dixie Walker, Sr., of the Senators. Dixie fairs better as the Senators score in each of the first 4 innings to win, 10-1. The Yankees will beat up on McCorry on the 29^th in his second and last game.

18^th  Before 35,409, the largest paid baseball attendance ever, Chief Bender beats Bill Donovan and the Tigers 2–0 at Philadelphia to keep the A’s in the pennant race. The A’s are 14–8 against Detroit this year, setting an AL record for most wins against the pennant winner. Ty Cobb is the Triple Crown winner with a .377 BA, 9 home runs (all inside the park), and 107 RBI. He also will lead the AL with 216 hits, 116 runs, and 296 total bases. His 76 stolen bases make him the only player ever to win a quadruple crown.

In Pittsburgh, Vic Willis stops Brooklyn on just one hit, a topped roller in the 3^rd inning by Zack Wheat. It will be the closest ever to a no-hitter by any pitcher at Forbes Field. Pittsburgh wins, 6–0.

20^th  The A’s beat the Tigers, 4-3, and take three out of four games with the league leaders. Philadelphia is just two games behind Detroit with 14 to play.

21^st Rest seems to have cured Walter Johnson’s sore arm, as the Nats’ ace shuts out Detroit, 2–0, his first appearance since August 29^th. He will finish the season at 13–25, 10 of the losses coming in shutouts. Five of the shutout losses were to the White Sox. Detroit takes the first game, 3-1, behind Ed Willett’s 21^st victory. The Nationals manage just 2 hits. With the A’s losing, Detroit now leads the AL by 2.5 games.

The first-place Pirates are inhospitable to Boston as they shut them out in a doubleheader, winning 2-0 and 5-0. Babe Adams and Howie Camnitz are the winners.

22^nd  Jimmy McAleer, one of the AL’s original managers, resigns from the Browns after 8 years, switching to Washington.

At Robison Field, the Cardinals collect 12 hits off Christy Mathewson, but still lose to the Giants, 4–3. Fred Beebe takes the loss. It is Beebe’s 14^th straight loss to the Giants, establishing a ML record that’ll be tied in the 20^th century by 7 pitchers.

25^th  The White Sox sweep a pair from the Nationals, 2–1 and 2–0. In game one, Washington rookie Bob Groom loses his 15^th consecutive game, an AL record that will be surpassed by Jack Nabors (1916) and Mike Parrott (1980) He will lead the AL with 26 losses. Walter Johnson is the loser in game 2 as Bill Burns shuts out the Senators, handing Washington its AL-record 30^th shutout. The Cards were shut out last year 33 times, a record.

At Philadelphia, the A’s tally two shutouts over Cleveland, winning 5-0 behind Chief Bender and 3–0 behind veteran Cy Morgan. The A’s stay 2.5 games behind Detroit and will get no closer.

The Yankees’ eight-game winning streak comes to a halt against the visiting Tigers pitcher Ed Summers, 2–1, in game 1. They also lose game 2, 10-4. The Yanks hit Summers freely in the first 3 innings with the help of a sign-stealing scheme. A hat advertisement in CF has the crossbar in “H” cut and painted white on one side and black on the other. Using a telescope, a man spotted the catcher’s signal and used a handle to flip the crossbar to indicate fastball or curve. Detroit trainer Tuthill, sent by a suspicious manager Hughey Jennings to investigate, discovers the scam and destroys the crossbar. Jennings was possibly tipped off to the scam; Chicago White Sox manager Billy Sullivan, whose team lost in New York, was quoted [later] as saying he had his suspicions, but couldn’t prove anything. Joe Cantillon, manager of the Senators, said later he knew of the scam, but didn’t complain because his team was out of the race. He identified the man in CF as former pitcher Gene McCann. Later, at the winter meetings the AL Board of directors will issue a statement saying that “after their investigation, they found no evidence of a signal tipping plan had been in effect.” (as noted by Kevin Kerr). They went on to say that “if such a plan was discovered from any team in the league the manager or player responsible would be banned from the league for all time.” A rule prohibiting signal tipping will be implemented the following year.

At Chicago, Cubs P Jack Pfiester beats Boston, 7–4, for his 11^th straight win over them stretching back to August 26, 1907.

27^th  The first-place Pirates set an NL record with their 16^th victory in a row, winning, 6-1, before the Giants stop them, 8–7, in the 2^nd game of a doubleheader.

28^th Before the start of the game in Pittsburgh, Fred Clarke is feted by the fans. He is awarded more than $600 in gold and receives a watch from Pittsburgh mayor William Magee. Against the Giants, Clark walks twice before removing himself, and Wagner collects two doubles and a single. But the Giants outslug the Pirates to win, 13–9.

29^th At Chicago, the Cubs take a pair from the Phillies, 5–4 and 6–3. Phils rookie Fred Luderas debuts and goes 4-for-4 with a HR and double in the nitecap.

At Boston, pitcher Ed Killian (11-9) pitches both games for Detroit against the Red Sox, and nails down the pennant with two wins. He takes a no-hitter into the 8^th inning of game 1, winning 5-0, and then captures the second game, 8-3.

30^th At Pittsburgh, the Giants agree to move up tomorrow’s game and New York and the and Pirates split a twinbill; New York takes the opener, 6–2, then loses 9–1. In the game 2 laugher, 49-year-old coach Arlie Latham makes his last ML appearance, and his 4^th this year. Latham first played ML ball in 1880, for Buffalo. George Gibson catches both games for the Bucs and establishes a ML record for consecutive games caught at 133. The old record was held by McGuire of Cleveland.

The White Sox finish off any hopes that the Athletics have for the pennant, beating them 8-5 and 6-4. Detroit loses in Boston, but wins his third straight pennant.

OCTOBER

2^nd  Eddie Grant of the Phils has 7 hits against the host Giants as the Phils sweep two, 9–2 and 2–1. Harvard Eddie has 5 hits off Marquard in game 1, adding a steal of home on a double steal, and goes 2-for-4 against Christy Mathewson in game 2. Marquard is clobbered in the opener, allowing 16 hits—7 straight in the first inning­­—and 9 runs. Kitty Bransfield hits a 3-run shot into the bleachers for his only homer of the year. Quaker catcher Red Dooin pulls off an unassisted DP, nabbing Myers between 3B and home and then touching the following runner on the other side of 3B. George McQuillan throws the final 3 innings of game 1 and then outpitches Mathewson in the nitecap for a 2–1 victory. Mathewson ends the season with an ERA of 1.14 and a career-high winning percentage of .806.

In the first game of a season-ending doubleheader against Washington, Jim Curry plays second base for the Athletics and goes 1-for-4 against Walter Johnson. At 16 years, six months, and 22 days, Curry is the youngest player in American League history and the youngest major league position player in the 20^th century (his birth year is reported as both 1889 and 1893): Carl Scheib will debut at 16 years of age in 1943. Walter Johnson’s 6–5 loss in the opener seals the last-place finish for Washington with 110 losses—Johnson and Bob Groom suffering 51 of them. The A’s take the nitecap as well, 7–2. Three years later, when Washington rises to 2^nd place, Johnson and Groom will combine for 56 wins. Today, Groom and P Dolly Gray play the outfield for the Nationals. The last place finish costs Pongo Joe Cantillon his job. The new manager is Jimmy McAleer.

In Kansas City, former Cubs catcher Johnny Kling wins the world championship of pool, defeating Cowboy Weston, 800 to 789. Kling was ahead in each of the four days of play. He runs 198 straight balls today while Weston, the defending champion, runs 208 straight.

In an exhibition game in Chicago, the NL Colts lose, 7-3, to the colored Leland Giants at Gunther Park. Merz, with no ML record, is the loser as all the regulars rest. In the second game, the Giants play the Gunthers, winning 8-4.

3^rd  Pitching for the Reds, manager Clark Griffith makes his last career start and his first since 1906, losing, 8-3, to the host Cardinals. He gives up 11 hits as the game is called after 6 innings because of darkness.

4^th The Colts close out their home season with a 8-2 victory over the first-place Pirates. Three Fingered Brown gives up a pair in the 1^st inning while Sam Frock holds Chicago scoreless until the 8^th before the locals defrock him with 8 runs. Six hits, 2 errors and 2 HBPs score the 8. Brown finishes his year with a career-high 342.2 innings pitched and an NL-high 27 victories.

At the Polo Grounds, the Phillies score 5 in the 8^th against New York to take the lead but the Giants plate 2 in the 9^th to win, 6-5. The second match turns ugly in the 4^th inning when three complaining Quakers—Knabe, Doolan and pitcher Moren—are tossed out of the game by umpire Mullen. They refuse to leave and the ump gives the Phillies 5 minutes to take the field. When they decline his invitation, he forfeits the game to the Giants.

5^th After losing two out of three to the Colts, the Pirates end their season with a doubleheader victory over the Reds, winning 5-4 and 7-4 at Cincinnati. Pittsburgh reaches 110 victories while Chicago is in 2^nd place with 104. For the second time this decade, and the last time this century, the Pirates have to top four leaders in runs scored: Tommy Leach (126); Fred Clarke (97); Honus Wagner and Bobby Byrne (92 each). Byrne scored most of his runs with the Cardinals.

6^th Chicago Cubs King Cole makes his major league debut a royal one by stopping the Cardinals, 8–0, the first shutout for the Cubs in three weeks. It is the Cubs 32^nd shutout of the year tying the ML mark set by the 1906 White Sox and the 1907 Cubs. Chicago wins the 2^nd contest, 5-1, pinning the loss on Fred Beebe. It is the 11^th straight loss for Beebe to the Cubs. Rudy Schwenck, who debuted two weeks ago, is the winner in his final ML appearance.

Before 6,000 in New York, the Yankees and Tigers play a game for the benefit of Sam Crane, a former Tiger and presently ailing sportswriter in New York. Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity, currently part owner of the Newark team, are the opposing starters, with Matty going 3 frames. The season is over for the Yankees but Matty pitches even though his Giants are still playing. The game is interrupted in the 8^th inning to allow the auctioning of a bat used by Ty Cobb and a ball used in one of his games. In spirited bidding, the ball goes to former Police Chief Devery for $275 while the bat goes for $50.

7^th On the last day of the season, Brooklyn beats the Giants, 7–5.

8^th  The Pirates, winners of 110 games, face Detroit in the WS, which pits the 2 leagues’ top offensive stars, Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb. It is the first of three times this century that batting champs will face each other in the WS (Al Simmons and Chick Hafey in 1931: Bobby Avila and Willie Mays in 1954 are the others) Pittsburgh manager Fred Clarke starts 27-year-old rookie righthander Babe Adams against Tigers P George Mullin. There are only 11 hits in the game, but one is a HR by Clarke, and the Pirates win, 4–1, before a crowd of 29,264.

Before 4,573 at the Polo Grounds, the Boston Americans defeat the Giants, 4-2, behind Smoky Joe Wood. Christy Mathewson is the loser. The exhibition grosses $2956 with $1596 going to the players.

In the windy city series opener, the Cubs defeat the White Sox, 4-0.

9^th  The Tigers win the 2^nd WS game behind Bill Donovan 7–2. Cobb’s steal of home highlights a 3-run 3^rd. Detroit has been defenseless against stolen bases in the past 3 WS, giving up 16 in 5 games to the Cubs in 1907, 15 in 5 games to the Cubs in 1908, and 18 in 7 games to the Pirates this year, for a total of 49 in 17 games, and the highest SB totals in all of WS history.

11^th  Paced by Honus Wagner’s 3 hits, 3 RBI, and 3 stolen bases, the visiting Pirates take game 3, 8–6. Nick Maddox is the winner over Ed Summers, who is recovering from dysentery. Hughie Jennings will be roundly criticized for starting Summers and ignoring Ed Killian and 21-game winner Ed Willetts, neither of whom throw an inning.

12^th  George Mullin’s 5-hitter, 5–0 victory evens the Series again, as Cobb drives in 2 runs with a double. Mullin strikes out 10 batters, as Lefty Leifield takes the loss. Lefty is not helped by 6 Buc errors.

13^th  Babe Adams hurls his 2^nd complete-game victory 8–4, despite a double and HR by Sam Crawford. Fred Clarke’s 3-run HR breaks a tie and gives the Pirates a 3–2 Series lead.

14^th  George Mullin outlasts 3 Pirates pitchers for a 5–4 win that sends the Series to a 7^th game in Detroit. This is the first WS to go the limit.

In a series between the two leagues’ third-place finishers, the Red Sox defeat the Giants and win the series, 4 games to 1.

16^th  Rookie Babe Adams comes through with a 6-hit, 8–0 win. It is his 3^rd complete-game WS victory and gives the Pirates their first World Championship. He is the only rookie this century to win a game 7 in the WS: The next to do it will be John Lackey, in 2002. Fred Clarke has five plate appearances and no at bats as he walks 4 times and has a sacrifice, and Wagner and Miller each drive in 2 runs. The 2 teams combine for a WS record 34 errors, with Detroit contributing 19, also a record.

18th At the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition in Seattle, Lizzie Arnold of Bellingham, Washington sets a women’s record for the long toss of a baseball when she throws a ball 209’5”. The 16-year-old is the first woman to throw a baseball over 200 feet. Future articles will give her 1/8” to ½” on her record. (as noted by Michelson’s Book of World Records and historian J.G. Preston).

NOVEMBER

1^st The Red Sox hire former Washington skipper Patsy Donovan as manager, replacing Fred Lake. Lake will move across town to manage the Braves next season.

18^th In Cuba, righty Bombin Pedroso no hits the AL champion Detroit Tigers for 11 innings, finally winning, 2–1. The only run for Detroit comes on an error in the 7^th. A squeeze bunt against Bill Lelivelt in the 11^th scores the winner. A collection is taken up for Pedroso and fans, including several Tigers, contribute $300. The Tigers, playing without Cobb and Crawford, win 4 of 12 games against Havana and Almendares.

26^th  The Phils are sold for $350,000 to a group headed by sportswriter Horace Fogel. Because of his dual roles, Fogel will become the only executive barred from a league meeting.

DECEMBER

14^th  Kid Elberfeld, who helped make the Highlanders a winner, is sold to Washington for $5,000.

St. Paul (AA) sells John Flynn to the Pirates for $4,000. The Bucs should have kept their money.

16^th  The Browns accommodate Lou Criger and trade him to the New York Highlanders in exchange for Joe Lake and Ray Demmitt. According to The Sporting News, Criger “could not keep his health” in St. Louis and said he would not report to them next spring. “His system is full of malaria,” states the newspaper. The vet has not hit over .200 since 1904.