The 1912 World Series: Part Five

In the fifth and final part of this series on the 1912 World Series, I will recap the 8th and deciding game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Giants.

Both the Boston Red Sox and New York Giants had won three games apiece in the 1912 World Series, and thanks to tie in the second game, the two teams would decide the world championship in an eighth game. The pitching match-up was the same as it was in Game 5; Christy Mathewson for the Giants against Hugh Bedient of the Red Sox. It was Bedient who came away a winner on that afternoon over Mathewson in a tight, 2-1 contest.

However, a diminutive crowd of 17,000 would witness Game Eight, which would transpire to be a memorable finish to an unforgettable series. The Royal Rooters, one of the Sox’s biggest fan organizations, boycotted outside of Fenway Park during the game due to a ticket mix-up that happened the previous day. The boycott reduced the crowd inside the park by almost half and the two teams would play in a stadium that would be half-empty.

The defense of the Red Sox came close to damaging them early in the game. Having already made an error in the first, the defense faltered again in the second. Bedient retired the first two Giants hitters and appeared to have gotten the third out when Chief Meyers hit an easy ground ball to Boston third baseman Bill Gardner. Gardner picked it up cleanly but dropped the ball while transferring the ball between his glove and his throwing hand, allowing Meyers to reach first safely on the error.

Art Fletcher singled to put two men aboard but Meyers appeared to be a dead duck again when Bedient picked him off second. Once again, the culprit was Gardner, dropping an on-the-money throw from shortstop Heinie Wagner, which beat Meyers to the bag by 10 feet. Instead, the Giants had two runners in scoring position with Mathewson at the plate. With his pitching opponent at the plate, Bedient collected himself and got him to hit an easy fly to Tris Speaker in center field and Boston got out of the jam.

The Giants drew first blood in the next half inning. Josh Devore led off with a walk, getting on base like he had throughout the series. Bedient induced a surefire double play ball off the bat of Larry Doyle, but again, it was Gardner who blotched the play. The ball was hit hard to third where Gardner fumbled it, picked it up again and made a strong throw across the diamond to get Doyle, but Devore ran into second safely. He moved to third on another groundout, and Red Murray would drive him home the next at-bat on a double to left-center, the ball just eluding Speaker for the first run of the game.

Both pitchers pitched brilliantly to that point, despite shaky defense behind both of them. Mathewson pitched like the younger version of himself, not allowing Boston any chance of a rally until the seventh, when the Red Sox finally broke through. With one out, player-manager Jake Stahl singled, and Wagner reached on a base on balls. When Mathewson got the next hitter, Hick Cady, to pop up to short, it appeared he would escape the inning with the pitcher’s spot due up.

Stahl went to his bench, ending Bedient’s fine day by sending up Danish-born Olaf Henriksen to hit for him. Henriksen came up with an aggressive game plan against Mathewson and he swung and missed at the first pitch, a fastball over the plate. Mathewson challenged Henriksen with another fastball and the Dane came up empty again, giving Christy a comfortable 0-2 count to work with. Mathewson decided not to fool around and went for the strikeout, throwing a fading, sharp breaking curveball to the outside corner.

Henriksen was fooled and flailed at it, but he still made solid contact with the ball, which shot right over Buck Herzog’s head at third base and landed fair, scoring his manager from second to tie up the game. Had the ball been six more inches to the left, it would have landed in foul territory. Instead, the Red Sox had tied the game up at one after seven.

Stahl made a gutsy call in the top of the eighth, placing Smoky Joe Wood on the vacant mound. Wood had been the ace of the staff all season long and had been spectacular during the series until the day before. Starting Game Seven for Boston, Wood lasted only one inning, the Giants having scored six runs against him. Now, one day later, Wood would step in, hoping for better success against New York. Despite a late single, Wood shut the door on the Giants in the eighth. Mathewson matched him in his half of the eighth and it appeared neither team would score another run.

With the score still deadlocked in the bottom of the ninth, Stahl tried to get things started. With one out, he doubled sharply into right field, waking up the quiet crowd, who knew the World Championship stood only 180 feet away. Christy would have none of that, though, and got the next two hitters to go down in order, stranding Stahl at second.  This game would require extra innings.

Wood stayed in the game for the tenth and got Snodgrass out on a grounder back to the mound for the first out of the inning. But, just as they had the previous day, the Giants started to hit Wood’s hard stuff. First, it was Red Murray who drove a high fastball over Speaker’s head in center field for two bases. With the go-ahead run in scoring position, it was up to Fred Merkle to cash it in. Giants’ hitters, who had left 10 men on base throughout the game, were hoping that Merkle wouldn’t make Murray the eleventh.

Wood again came in with a hard fastball, but it didn’t fool Merkle, who sent the ball flying through the middle on a frozen rope. The ball was hit so hard that Speaker couldn’t field it cleanly and Murray, who was racing home to beat a potential throw from center, was allowed to slow up and mildly celebrate as the Giants took the lead in the top of the tenth, 2-1.

Merkle stood on second with one out, having taken the extra base on the error, but he was stranded there by the next two hitters. Wood first got Herzog to swing through his fastball for the second out, and then followed that up by inducing a ground ball back to the mound from Meyers. Wood flipped it to Stahl at first for the third out; however, the Giants had taken the lead in the tenth.

Mathewson strolled to the mound in the bottom of the tenth, seeking to finish what he had started. He was confident and showed no signs of nervousness as Clyde Engle stepped to the plate. Two days before, Engle came off the bench and hit a double that scored two Boston runs in Game Six. This time he chased a curveball out of the zone and lofted it high into right center field.

Snodgrass waved Murray off from right and settled under it himself. The play looked like a routine play but it turned out to be far from routine. Somehow the ball hit Snodgrass’ glove and managed to descend to the outfield grass. Snodgrass quickly recovered and fired a dart into second base, but Engle was standing there already. The Giants 16 ^th error of the series came at a critical time and the game-tying run was standing at second for Boston, with nobody out.

Mathewson stood on the mound stunned for a second, and then he swung his arm down violently to show his emotions. He seemed okay but appeared shaken a bit as he fell behind Red Sox leadoff man Harry Hooper. Christy located a good pitch in the strike zone but Hooper hit a hard line drive into shallow center. Snodgrass, eager to redeem himself for the earlier error, tracked the ball down at full speed and made a catch at his shoelaces for the first out. The out didn’t bring back Mathewson’s control, though, as he walked the next batter, Steve Yerkes, to put runners at first and second with one out.

Next up was Tris Speaker, a tough out for any pitcher to get. Nonetheless, Mathewson got him to chase and Speaker popped it up high near first base in foul territory. Three Giant fielders – Mathewson, Meyers, and Merkle – all converged on the ball but none of them ever called for it. As all three looked at each other, the ball fell foul and Speaker was given a new life. As he retreated to the batters box, Speaker yelled at the three Giant fielders, “Well, that’s gonna cost you the ball game!”

They might not have heard what Speaker said because they were yelling amongst themselves. Mathewson wanted Meyers, the catcher, to take the ball and he let his voice be heard, although Meyers was the furthest away from the ball and probably could not have made the play. New York Times reporter Hugh Fullerton believed it was Merkle’s ball. Whether it was Mathewson or Merkle who had a better play on the ball, the fact remained the same, and Speaker was still alive.

Mathewson was now clearly rattled and losing all of his control. Speaker made good on his promise and hit a fastball hard into right field, allowing Engle to cross the plate and tie the game at 2-2. Yerkes and Speaker each wisely moved an extra 90 feet while Devore desperately threw home to try and throw out Engle. Giants’ manager John McGraw ordered Mathewson to walk Duffy Lewis to set up the force-play anywhere and the pitcher obliged. With one out and the game tied, Boston had gotten the bases loaded against Mathewson and it was Gardner who would look to become a World Series hero.

Gardner looked at a couple pitches and then put all of his weight into his swing, launching the ball into right. Devore made the catch as Yerkes tagged up from third and raced towards the plate. The throw from Devore in right was hard and on target, but he was far too deep. Yerkes beat the throw easily and crossed the plate as Boston won their second world title.

Game Eight wrapped up the series nicely, showcasing everything that had been on display throughout the series and in the end, the Giants’ biggest weakness throughout the series, their defense, ended up costing them. While Snodgrass’ error in the 10 ^th is known as the $30,000 muff (the difference between the winners’ and losers’ World Series share), the bigger blunder came on Speaker’s foul ball, which should have been the second out of the inning. Nonetheless, however unfairly, Snodgrass was labeled the goat of the 1912 World Series, a true classic display of the great game of baseball.