The 1912 World Series: Part Four

In the fourth part of this series on the 1912 World Series, I will recap the 7th game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants.

For the New York Giants to come back and win the World Series, they would have to win the final two games of the series on the road, in Boston. An even harder struggle for New York would be trying to stave off elimination in Game 7 against Red Sox ace, Joe Wood. Wood, as he had in his previous two starts in the series, would face off against Jeff Tesreau.

Before the first pitch could even be thrown, the game was delayed by the Royal Rooters, one of the Red Sox biggest fan organizations. When the Royal Rooters arrived at the game, they found their usual seats down the left-field line to be occupied. The Red Sox claimed they had simply made a mistake and double-sold the seats, but that didn’t satisfy the group. They stormed the field and refused to leave until they got their seats back. Finally, a compromise was agreed upon by all parties and the Royal Rooters were allowed to stand down the foul line.

After the delay, Wood finally strolled to the mound, looking to end the series. However, the first inning was an absolute nightmare for Wood and the Sox. Josh Devore and Larry Doyle led off the game with back-to-back singles, and then worked the double steal to perfection as they both moved into scoring position. The next batter, Fred Snodgrass, doubled into right, scoring both of them to give New York a 2-0 lead.

After getting sacrificed to third, Snodgrass scored on a single by Fred Merkle, a hit that could be credited to the gusting winds at Fenway Park that blew the ball away from Duffy Lewis in left field. Merkle recorded the second out of the inning at third base on a double by Buck Herzog but the Giants just didn’t stop scoring. Chief Meyers and Tesreau drove in the 4 ^th and 5 ^th runs of the inning, and Art Fletcher scored the final run of the inning on an attempted double steal. When Tesreau was tagged out on the front end of the aforementioned double steal, the inning finally ended, with the Giants hanging a big, crooked six on the scoreboard.

The Red Sox couldn’t plate anyone in their half of the first and manager Jake Stahl closed the book on Wood, replacing him with Charley Hall. Once again, Devore and Doyle led off by reaching base, this time via the walk. Hall watched the speedy Devore at second closely and attempted to pick him off various times before finally getting him leaning off the bag for the first out. During the same at-bat, Snodgrass singled, sending Doyle to second. Once again, Hall went to his pick-off move, trying to get the second out the same way he did the first. This time, though, the ball flew by Wagner into center field, where it somehow managed to get by Tris Speaker; Doyle scored to make it 7-0 Giants.

Boston got a run back in the bottom of the second. Larry Gardner led off the inning for the Red Sox and hammered the ball into right where it hopped on the warning track and went into the bleachers. According to the ground rules at Fenway Park, this was considered a home run, so Gardner touched all four bases for Boston’s first run of the game.

Both pitchers got into and worked their way out of trouble in the 3 ^rd . Once again, the first two Giants hitters, this time Herzog and Meyers, reached base to lead off the inning. The inning went sour from there for New York, as Fletcher couldn’t advance the runners on a sacrifice and Devore left two runners in scoring position to end the inning.

The Red Sox had their first two batsmen lead off with singles as well but Tesreau regained his composure and got Steve Yerkes to strike out. With runners on the corners, Speaker came to bat and drove one into deep right. Devore made the catch and made a strong throw to the plate, where Hall, the base runner at 3 ^rd , was tagged out. Hall should have scored easily on the fly out, but he hesitated for a second before tagging up, costing his team a run.

While Hall calmed the Giants’ bats, Tesreau stayed on the ropes. In the 5 ^th , Boston loaded the bases with only one away and their 4-5 hitters coming up. Again, the Red Sox could not cash in. Duffy Lewis popped out into foul territory near first base and Gardner dribbled one back to Tesreau and Boston failed to score some much needed runs. Through five innings, the Sox had stranded seven runners on base.

The Giants added even more insurance in the 6 ^th . With one out and Devore on first, McGraw put on the hit-and-run, looking to capitalize on Devore’s speed and Doyle’s contact ability. While Devore ran, Doyle did the hitting part to perfection, driving one deep into right field, where it one hopped over the fence. Thanks to the ground rule, Doyle had his first home run of the series and the Giants took a commanding 9-1 lead.

After Boston stranded two more in the sixth, the Giants reached double-digits in the seventh, thanks to a single off the bat of Tesreau. However, Boston got a few runs back after the seventh inning stretch. With one out and Speaker on first, Duffy Lewis knocked a double off the wall in left and Speaker halted at third. Then, while Gardner was in the process of grounding out to short, Speaker strolled home for the 2 ^nd Boston run. The next run shouldn’t have counted as Stahl hit an easy ground ball to Doyle at second base. Doyle, though, let the third out roll through his legs into right field, allowing Lewis to score, making it 10-3 Giants after seven complete.

Terrible defense by New York would allow the Red Sox to count on the scoreboard in the eighth. Once again, it was Doyle, who this time mishandled Hick Cady’s pop-up near the pitchers mound to begin the eighth, allowing Cady to reach first. Hall followed that up with a sharp single into right, where Devore juggled the ball, allowing Cady to scoot to third while the scorekeeper marked down an ‘E9’. Cady later scored on a Harry Hooper sac fly to make it 10-4. Tesreau managed to escape the inning without any further damage, sending the Giants to bat one more time.

Tris Speaker’s defense was on display for the better and for the worse in the top of the ninth. After Herzog walked to lead off the inning, Art Wilson stepped to the plate for his first at-bat of the World Series ( Wilson came in as a defensive replacement for Meyers in the 7 ^th ). Wilson singled hard into center and Herzog rounded second and headed for third. Speaker’s throw to third was high and the ball flew into the bleachers, allowing Herzog to score and Wilson to move to second.

Speaker redeemed himself on the very next play with a defensive rarity. The next hitter, Fletcher, hit a hard, shallow line drive into center field where Speaker made a nice running catch. Wilson, who thought the ball was going to fall, was standing at third as he watched Speaker himself run in and touch second base for the awfully unusual unassisted double play by an outfielder.

With the score 11-4, Boston had a long way to go for a comeback and they didn’t put up much of a fight. Tesreau walked the lead off batter but didn’t allow him to advance, finishing off a complete game victory for himself, and the Giants would survive another day. Tomorrow, one team would be World Champions.