EOBHR

George Winter, dashing Red Sox winning P: 'I create an offensive winter for the other team's offense...it's very simple.'

1903 EOBHR REPLAY#34: DAY 12 OF 16

92  SB (5-7/T6th) 0-3-0  PA (6-6/T4th-2g) 4-13-0

These two teams enter the game tied for 5th, and when it ends, the A's are tied for 4th, the last Tourney slot, only 2 games out of 1st....while the Browns are now tied for 6th, one game out of last...in the tightly bunched 1903 EOBHR AL.

Along with 3-0 Clark Griffith of tied-for-2nd New York, and 3-0 Cy Young of the 1st place Red Sox, Chief Bender has been one of the AL's undefeated, 3-0 pitchers who each can be the chief benders of the outcome of a game... in their team's favor.  In terms of ERP, the Cy Young Award measure, though, Clark 'Kent?' Griffith (9.1 ERP) has been the most amazing of the three, outdoing the CYA namesake, Cy Young himself (6.2), and the game-modifying Bender (5.1).

The Chief is aided and abetted in the victory by two of his position players, one already hot and the other mired in a deep slump.  Slumping cleanup man, LF Socks Seybold, a mere 3 for 31 with one double and 2 RBI in ten prior games, scores SS Monte Cross with the go ahead run with a ground single through deep short with two out T3rd, and and he Socks another two-out run-producing hit -- an RBI double -- with 2 out B7th to make it 3-0, A's.

8-hole batting C Ossie Schrecongost is already 11 for 33 entering the game, but picks up three more safeties in this one, alternating with Seybold on RBI production within the game, driving in the A's 2nd and 4th runs: a 2-out ribbie single into LF scoring Harry Davis B6th, and no-out RBI bingle B8th, after a Danny Murphy broken bat leadoff single and a Lave Cross hit & run single through the right side.

The talented Willie Sudhoff (2-2/2.06) takes the loss for the endangered Browns.

Wiliie:  As a pitcher, it's the spectre of that C Schrek'n Ghost rising out of nowhere from the 8-hole to destroy me, that gives me the most nightmares and waking heebie-jeebies!!

91  WS (4-8/8th) 5-12-1  DT (7-5/T2nd-1g) 2-7-0

The Nationals were an actual awful 43-94 in realworld '03, and started off as expected, 0-7, in the replay... But the Wshingtonians now have won four of their last five contests. 

In this game, they deprive the Tigers of a share of 1st place with the Bosox (whom the Nats nipped 3-2 in their prior game), and instead knock the Bengals back into a tie for 2nd with the surging Highlanders (7-5), who have won three in a row.

The Tigers' starter from deep on the bench was Klondike Kane (0-2/8.50 in real '03), so the Nats had the edge with Edward Perks 'Davey' Dunkle, a much more credible 8-13-1/4.16 as a regular starter for Washington.  However, the Tigers led 2-0 after four innings, as it looked like the Nats weren't going to get themselves coordinated offensively.  Kane retired the first nine Nats in order, and faced only four men in a scoreless 4th.

But in the T5th, 1B-C Boileryard Clarke and 3B Bill Coughlin led off with hits, then a beautiful sac bunt by C Kittridge moved the tying runs into scoring position with one out.  On a slowly hit Jack Hendricks groundout, the Tigers have to take the out at 1st, putting the Nats on the board.  Then a two out bloop single by Nat P Dunkle ties the game 2-2!

There is no further scoring until the B8th, when the big explosion occurs against Tiger reliever John Skopec, theoretically a much better hurler than starter Klondike Kane.  But P Dunkle leads off the B8th with his second hit of the game, leadoff man Charlie Moran tops a single, and, with one out, the dangerous Jimmy Ryan lines a single over 2nd to pack the sacks. 

Up steps Kip Selbach, a kind of mini-Ruth (5-7/190 outfielder with lots of pop for the deadball era) and a guy of whom I am fond from prior experiences, dating back even to my dice-rolling days, given his reliability as a true offensive threat.  Sure enough, Kip tomahawks a bases loaded double to deep RCF, and a Boileryard Clarke groundout adds a final insurance run: 5-2 Nats!!

Dunkle DoNot Turn into Pitching Hitters' Candy like Kane   

90  NY (7-5/3rd-1g) 3-4-0  CW (6-6/4th) 0-3-1

The 34-year-young 'Old Fox', Clark Griffith (3-0/0.00**), has now pitched three shutouts in a row, and opposing batters are hitting just .071 against him.... As the Highlanders take a page from the future Yankees and move within a game of 1st place.  Chicago;s Harris 'Doc' White pitches a 4-hitter to Griffith's 3-hitter, but he also walks five and fires a costly wild pitch in the midst of the New Yorkers' T8th rally.  In contrast, 'The Old Fox' fans five and walks none.

Big-for-the-era 6-1/195 1B John Ganzel (.395) has a nice game, singling in the game's 1st run T4th -- his 17th hit of the replay and 8th RBI.  he also has an AL-leading 12* runs scored and 4 hit-by-pitch's.  But Jimmy Williams enables Ganzel's go-ahead heroics by hitting a towering triple RF, that Sox RF Danny Green apparently loses in the high sky, to lead off the T4th. For the game, 3-hole hitter Williams (.241) is a perfect 1 for 1 with 2 runs, 3 walks, and 2 steals.

Williams is also in the midst of the 2nd Chicago rally T8th, leading off with a walk, stealing his 2nd base of the game, advancing on a Doc White wild pitch, and then scoring on a routine groundout to short by Ganzel.

Take a Ganzel at Big John's nice game!

89  CL (5-7/7th) 1-5-0  BR (8-4/1st+0.5g) 8-15-1

With this blowout, the Bosox (8-4) move half a game ahead of the now-2nd place Tigers (7-4), temporarily taking sole ownership of 1st place in the AL.  The Indians, who were 3rd place finishers in reality, sink to 7th, just a game ahead of the hapless Senators (3-8).

Unreliable Cleveland starter Bob Rhoads is requested ro 'please hit the road' (head for the showers) by manager Bill Armour by one out in the B3rd.  Rhoads faces 18 Red Sox batters, allowing 9 hits and 2 walks -- a sure recipe for disaster.  A cleanup-batting Tribe SS Freddy Parent single drives in the go-ahead run with one out B1st, then hot-hitting RF  Patsy Dougherty (.362: 3-5/2R/3RBI/SB) provides what proves to be the winning base hit, driving in the Bosox' 2nd run in a game where their P, George 'Offensive Nuclear*' Winter (2-0/1.00), only allows one tally.  1B Candy LaChance drives in a 3rd run B1st with a sac fly.

*Make that 'Sassfras' 

In the B3rd, the Bosox offense  starts up again, and little-used but semi-competent Alex Pearson is called on with one out....Boston ends up with two runs in the B3rd and then three more B4th..... Then Pearson settles down, or Boston is tired and has had their fill, and Alex pitches shutout ball in the second half of the game.  No matter, the Indians tally only one run anyway in the entire game against Winter -- on a sac fly T5th by SS John 'Gotcha Now' Gochnaur (my nickname). 

The two teams exhausted from all the early action, the outcome a given, there is no more scoring after the Gochnaur sac fly.

Rhoads ridden into bowels of stadium early

Mal Eason, ejected for MalfEasance

Cleveland Shortstop John Gochnaur, staring, staring, trance-like at Browns warming up before game, thinking, thinking: 'Exactly how are we going to 'get' these guys? We've got to get these guys.... in the way they'd least expect...''

Howard 'Highball' Wilson: EOBHR fans... I invite you all to share a highball with me, now that the game is over and the victory is ours! We also have some sarsaparilla on hand for you tee-totallers

Wilson adds: 'Sarsaparilla drinkers: Don't feel embarrassed.... You'll be feeling much better tomorrow than these other yoyo's.'

George Magoon: 'Don't believe this rot... I'm a nice-looking human being, although some say my looks and demeanor change a little, like most other players' do, during the game, when we're bearing down..

Maggie during game?

Strang days have found us

Strang days have tracked us down

1903 EOBHR REPLAY#34: DAY 11 OF 16

88  SC (2-9/T7th) 1-2-0  PT (8-3/T1st) 3-10-0

Despite the wide difference in standing (Cards tied for last, Bucs for first after finish of game) this is a close, competitive game.  It helps that the Birds have the 26 year old rookie version of HOFer Mordecai 'Three Finger' Brown (9-13/2.60 actual '03) on the mound, their best pitcher...But that is neutralized by Sam 'Deacon' Leever's presence (25-7/2.06 actual '03) on the mound for Pittsburgh. 

In 1906-10, Brown was actually 25-6/1.04*/9*SH-O, 20-6/1.39, 29-9/1.47, 27*-9/1.31, and 25-14/1.86/6*SH-O... 1908-11, 'Three Finger' averaged around 50 appearances per season, and led the NL in saves each year as well as posting 21-29 wins! 

Then came the advent of the cork-centered ball in 1911, replacing the 'dead ball', and Brown was a combined 16-18 in 1912-13, his ERA 2.64-2.91 in 1911-13...and even higher thereafter.  Of course, the poor guy was 34 when the lively new ball was introduced in '11....

But it wasn't until 1920 that the umpires began replacing damaged balls as soon as there was sign of wear, keeping the offense depressed.

That reminds me, along with the use of taped-up badly broken bats of the baseball games my pals and I would play practically every day with bad equipment.  We would literally continue (because no one had any dough and no one could drive to go to the nearest town) playing with baseballs as they gradually fell apart, even until they became 'spxrm balls; named such due to the long trailer or streamer of string or baseball guts that streamed backwards out of the ball when it was hit or pitched, and put a heavy drag on the ball in flight, which signalled the end of any significant offense for that game!!!  The team that was ahead could relax almost completely -- although catching the devilish things was an adventure! 

At times, the pitcher would actually unleash his offerings holding the afterbirth of the ball, rather than the spheroid itself... making for a very difficult wobbling, bolo type pitch to hit!

Back when we were playing... in 1918....no, I mean 1957-65.

In today's EOBHR game, the Pirates score first when Tommy Leach doubles and Claude Ritchey singles B3rd.   There is no more scoring until Brave SS Dave Brain's hit & run single sets up the only Boston run T7th.  But Fred Clarke smashes the game-winning double the B7th, as he is now 18 for 44 with 4-1-2-13 power and a replay-leading 14 runs scored.

Meanwhile, Sam Leever two-hits the Cards, and has an insurance 2-out RBI single B8th as well.

Bucs wisely use Leeverage to multiply their  winning efficiency in this game

87 NG (6-5/T4th) 2-6-0  CN (6-5/T4th) 5-15-0

I wouldn't want to have been in the Giant locker room after this listless Giant loss to the Reds, putting the two teams into a tie for the one final Tourney slot in the 1903 NL.  And I wouldn't have wanted to be in the dugout T1st, when, amazingly, overly pumped Cincy starter Jack Harper walks the first three Giants to open the game, no doubt to player-manager John McGraw's maniacal glee... Then NL Replay RBI leader, Giant cleanup man and LF, Sam Mertes (14* ribbies), grounds to the Reds fine 3B Hap Steinfeldt, who starts a 5-2-3 GDP....and Giant C Jack Warner grounds out....Just another routine scoreless T1st for the New Yorkers as McGraw probably considers tearing the rest of his remaining hair out.

To rub it in, the Reds then go ahead and immediately show the Giants 'how it's done by true professionals'.  Leadoff man Cy Seymour (.326: 4-5/3R/D) doubles versus Giant bottom of the rotation starter Jack Cronin B1st, Cozy Dolan singles LF, and 'Turkey Mike' Donlin skies a long sac fly to quickly put the Reds ahead, 1-0.  Defensive hero of the T1st, Steinfeldt, then draws a walk off Cronin,and 'Eagle Eye', stocky 1B Jake Beckley bangs a single RF to load the sacks... Finally, a 2B 'Tido' Daly FC up the middle makes it 2-0 Redlegs B1st.

Poor Cronin, deep in McGraw's dog house, recoups a bit with a 2-out RBI triple T2nd, but Cincy comes back to score two more B2nd on hits by P Harper, Seymour, a Donlin RBI FC, and a Steinfeldt RBI infield hit.... 4-1 after 2 innings! And so it went...

Game stuck in McGraw's craw, Giants try to quietly crawl away after game    

86  PH (2-9/8th) 1-7-1  BK (5-6/6th) 2-9-2

An almost laughably uneventful game...except it kind of made me sleepy and depressed instead....  The Phils' Bill W. Hallman (an actual .212 hitter in '03, not to be confused with the Bill H. Hallman who was born in Philly, but played for the Chisox (an actual .208 hitter -- that's a good way to keep them straight, that Bill H. hit .004 lower in '03))... Anyhow, .212 actual hitting Hallman grounds a single against (relatively) superb Superba P Ned Garvin, whom I believe later pitched for the woeful Kansas City A's in the late 1950's.... Then the Phils' C Red Dooin is just doin' his duty as usual and lays a weak little sac bunt down the 3B line, Hallman into scoring position.   Then up steps slugging Phillie 3-hole hitter John Titus, who smashes one to 3B Sammy Strang, recently off the injury list, who comes home with it... but with 5-8/160lb Hallman barrelling down the line like a very small freight train at him, Dodger C Lew Ritter (who thinks: 'You know, honestly, I'd Ritter makey the error than be pelverized tryin' to holdie onto the ball for dear lifey'), shaking in his booties, drops the throw home, diving out of Hallman's way at the same time, as if trying to retrieve the ball, and the Phillies, who have lost four straight and 8 out of their last 10 grab the lead, 1-0!!!! 

After this wild start, things settle down and the ushers are able to get most of the crazed fans back in the stands until the B3rd, when this time Bill W. Hallman knocks down Bad Bill Dahlen's grounder and flips it to 1B Bill H. Hallman -- check that, 1B Klondike Douglass...the names are so similar I mixed 'em up....and Hallman is on... No wait, Hallman's the guy who threw the ball to 1st... Bad Bill Dahlen is now on 1st.  Again: Correction: Dahlen on 1st, 2 out B3rd.  Bad Bill then challenges Red Dooin's famed cannon, and makes 3rd as Dooin's throw rolls into CF (manager Chief Zimmer, a catcher who for real later substitutes himself for Dooin, having looked away, comments: 'Now what's that ball dooin' rolling into CF?').  Jimmy Sheckard follows with a single up the middle:  Tie game.... or as my son used to say when he was little, tight game... a mistake on his part, but a logical one. I just reminded him of that when he came to borrow my car keys.....

Finally, to resolve this high stakes contest, some of the characters we've already introduced -- but not the Hallman twins -- are reprised in the B5th resolution of the game, so you don't have to expand your brain capacity any further to accomodate the cast of this tale.  With two out B5th, Strang singles and steals 2nd, then Bad Bill Dahlen hits a grounder to SS Rudy Hulswitt, who fires annoyedly to 1st, realizing he hasn't been part of our cast so far, scoring Strang with the deciding run as the curtain falls on today's re-enactment. 

There are four more innings, but they are uneventful, so the curtain has officially fallen, to save you from the uneventfulness.  We're not even going to show you stuff like the crxp from the T9th with one out, when potential tying run Phillie PH Harry Wolverton, his sharp fangs flashing in the afternoon sun, has reached 3rd base on a) a no out error by the ubiquitous 3B Sammy Strang, b) steals 2nd, c) moves to 3rd on Hulswitt's bunt pushed down the 1B line, and d) star hitter PH Roy Thomas' one out looping liner LF, where Superba LF 'Doc' Gessler makes a superba shoestring catch, then fires home to retire tying run Wolverton, fangs beared, growling ferociously as he speeds downhill towards home plate... and whimpers, his tail between his legs (but certainly due to no fault of his own, let's be fair!) as he shuffles off the field after hearing the call.... The Superba fans chuckle quietly at the classic scene, respecting his fangs...       

Strang Days have found us, Strang Days have tracked us down

85  CC (7-4/3rd) 0-5-1  BB (8-3/1st) 3-9-0

The Beaneaters entered 20th Century baseball with a great 19th century tradition behind them.  They finished first (as the Red Stockings, even though they are NOT the precursors of the Red Sox) in 1877 (42-18), 1878 (41-19), were 2nd in 1879, then back to 1st in 1883, now renamed the Beaneaters (63-35...a team immortalized by APBA's great 1883 card and disk set for that fantastic year), 2nd in 1884, 2nd in 1889, 1st in 1891-92-93 (in '92 winning the postseason series with the American Association champ 5-1 in games), 1st in 1897-98, 2nd in 1899....And of course in the fairly near future loom the Miracle Braves of 1914, who were in last place at the season's halfway mark, only to come back and win the NL -- and sweep Connie Mack's mighty 1914 A's in the World Series.  The Bravos also finished 2nd in 1915, both 1914-15 unusual years, with AL and NL rosters weakened by player attrition to the new, third,  Federal League.

In this game, HOF P Vic Willis and slugging C Pat Moran TCB with an easy win over the Cubs, who were an actual 82-56 in real 1903.  Part-time Boston OF Tom McCreery bruises a bases loaded go-ahead single T3rd against Cub loser Clarence Currie for the game's 1st run -- then another run scores T3rd on a LF Pat Carney bases loaded FC.  In the T5th, the game's final run is scored, as slugging C Pat Moran, who was HBP on the elbow to help support the T3rd rally, proves his elbow is fine by blasting a leadoff triple over fleet, kangaroo-like Cub CF Davy Jones, then scores on an RBI line single by slumping, bad-luck-gremlin-plagued starting 3B Ed Gremminger....Ed's very 1st RBI, batting #5, in this, the 11th Boston contest.

Meanwhile, shutout winner Vic Willis (3-0/0.62) continues to be near the very pinnacle of the replay's pitching standings, just 0.1 behind #1 Joe McGinnity in the CYA measure of ERP. 

Braves Pat Moran for fine performance

84 CW (6-5/T3rd-1g) 7-9-0 PA(5-6/3xT5th-2g) 2-4-2

In the claustrophobically tight EOBHR 1903 AL, the Chisox (6-5) move into a tie for 3rd, one game behind the 1st place Bosox and Tigers (both 7-4).  But the win is anything but claustrophobic, as the Pale Hose quickly take the lead with one out T1st on a 3B Jimmy 'Nixie' Callahan (.279) hot RBI double down the LF line, and expand that lead to a commanding 4-0 one out later a bases loaded three run double by 5 for 33 hitting 2B George 'Maggie' Magoon, some say a prehistoric throwback to an animal that was half man and half goon, as the hairy Maggie lopes around the bases, grunting gibberish at players and coaches he passes, his back bent, his knuckles scraping the infield dirt...  Then to really hype the belief that Maggie is more than just standard order human, he loops a 2-out 2-run single into RF T5th, to extend winning P Roy Patterson's (2-0/3.09; 4-hitter today) cushion to 6-2.   

Wake up Maggie, I think I got somethin' to say to you

It's late September and you've got 100 RBI

But you really should be back in zoo

83  NY (6-5/3rd-1g) 5-14-1  DT (7-4/T1st) 3-6-3

The replay A.L. continues to be as tight as an overweight witch's bodice.  A nere two games separate the 1st place Red Sox and Tigers (7-4) from the 6th place Indians and Browns (5-6)... Even the last place Nats (3-8) have won 3 out of their last four, giving them an outside chance of making the Tourney (top four teams in each league after the 16 game replay schedule).

A double by 1 for 7 sub OF Dave Fultz (29 steals in 295 actual '03 at bats) caps a 2-run T1st rally, and the Highlanders keep a small lead until the B6th, when Detroit 1B Charlie Carr lines a game-tying sac fly to make it 3-3.  Carr started the Tiger comeback with a leadoff triple B2nd, followed by a C Deacon McGuire RBI groundout.

But in the T7th, New York HOFer 'Wee' Willie Keeler bloops the winning triple down the RF line, making it 4-3 in a game with a final 5-3 tally.

Losing P Mal Eason of the Tigers is ejected with two out T9th, after closer Ambrose Puttmann singles in the 5th Highlander run, and Eason then peevishly hits his 3rd Highlander of the game, the productive Kid Elberfeld (.404: 3-5/T/2R/HBP).

Mal Eason's ejected for Mal Feasance

82  SB (5-6/T6th) 0-3-0  CL (5-6/T6th) 3-10-0

Cleveland pulls into a tie for 6th with the Browns in this pitchers' duel, as Addie Joss faces only two more Brown batters (29) than the minimum of 27.  Opposing hurler 'Big Gene' (6-2/185) Wright, a traitorous Cleveland native who pitches for St. Louis, fans 10 and walks 2, allowing only 3 Cleveland runs.

The first two runs of the game are the product of a 2-out B4th double by the previously RBI-less (35 at bats) Naps (after superstar Lajoie: team name in '03 by popular usage... they were officially the Cleveland Broncos) SS John Gochnaur (.263: 2-4/D/2RBI).   Rarely used Nap sub OF Jack Hardy pulls an RBI down the LF line with 2-out B6th for the game's 3rd and final run. 

Twice, Kentucky-born SS 'Bullet' Jack Thoney (for his arm or his speed or because of a bullet lodged in his brain?  I couldn't get the answer...) singles and scores, coming in on both the Gochnaur double and the Hardy single.

John 'Gotcha Now' Gochnaur surprises tough opponents like Addie Joss when least expected!

81 WN (3-8/8th) 3-9-0  BR (7-4/2nd-0.5g) 2-11-1

This is perhaps the biggest upset of the replay so far.  This game 'matches' the last place Washington Nationals (2-8/8th in EOBHR, 43-94/8th in realite'), playing in unfriendly Boston against the tied-for-first (replay) Bosox, who were 91-47 in actual '03.   The Bosox won the first ever World Series that/this year against the Pirates

In the game, the Nats start 7-18/3.31/56K Howard 'Highball' Wilson against Boston's actual 20-game-winner 'Long Tom' Hughes (20-7/2.57/112K actual). Remarkably, tthe Nats not only take the lead once but twice to win this very close game, thereby knocking the Red Sox out of 1st in the EOBHR replay.  But with their incoming 2-8 record in EOBHR 1903, it will take the Nats more than one win to escape from the cellar... So despite the upset, they remain in the AL basement.

Highball Wilson is heroic in more ways than one.  He allows 11 hits, yet holds the Sox to just two runs.  Highball also lines the two out single T2nd that gives the lowly Gnats their first lead, a run aided greatly by an error by opposing pitcher Long Tom Hughes (a towering 6-1/175; Wilson a more normal 5-9/164).

Washington's 2nd rally, T4th, plus a great fielding play T9th, are the keys to the outlandish victory.

In the T4th, capable Senator CF Kip Selbach pokes a leadoff single to RF off Hughes, then is replaced on the bases by a 3B Bill Coughlin FC.  This proves opportune, as Coughlin, a better base stealer (30 in real life compared to Selbach's 20) steals 2nd with 2 out, his 3rd SB of the replay. 

And weak-hitting (6 for 35 in replay, .213 in actual 1903) C Malachi Jeddidah 'Kit' (no wonder!) Kittridge lines the go-ahead single by 2B Hobe Ferris.  Next, sub OF Jack Hendricks (even worse hitting than Kittridge in reality: .179 with 4 RBI in 32 games, 112 at bats) shocks the Beaneaters and their loyal fans so badly that numerous unsightly, slippery, pungent cases of bean barf have to be cleaned up during and after the game... But, don't blame the r/loyal rooters: it was just a 'gut reaction' to the impossible things unfolding before their used-to-winning eyes!

Still, the Red Sox respond with a catch-up run with 2 out B4th, on CF Jack O'Brien's 5th RBI of the replay... A line single over 2nd, scoring Patsy Dougherty (one out IF hit, Candy LaChance groundout).

But the event that really has the Royal Rooters crying in their beans is what happens B9th, with Boston down 3-2.  Powerful Jake Stahl (who will lead the real AL in homers with 10 in 1910, while also striking out 128 times: a man before his time) pinch hits to lead off the last chance B9th and triples deep into the RF corner.  Tying run on 3rd, no one out... and great old-time slugger, 208lb C Duke Farrell, then steps up. 

In reality, Farrell hit .404 as a part-timer for the Sox in '03, with an OPS of 1.004, and led the American Association (a pre-1900 major league) in homers and RBI in 1891 with 12HR/110RBI... 

Duke Farrell smokes one towards RCF -- but a leaping 2B Barry McCormick makes a circus catch, preventing it from reaching the gap.... Then Barry jumps to his feet and fires to 3rd, doubling up Jake Stahl, who was more than halfway home before he realized hey whut huppened?? 

 Long Tom Hughes, who had an actual .280 BA and .707 OPS, making him a better choice than any unused beantown remnant on the bench, keeps the game alive with a gutzy single, but Red Sox HOF 3B Jimmy Collins grounds out to end the exciting affair. 

Duke out in Boston

'The 'Bald Eagle', White Sox 1B Frank Isbell: His soaring, bases clearing double is the game's decisive poke!

Note the hints in the photo of the haughty pride of Ed Abbaticchio, the first man in baseball (alphabetically) for much of its history!

1903 EOBHR REPLAY #34 DAY 10 OF 16

80  CN (5-5/5th) 16-18-0  PT (7-3/3xT1st) 5-12-3

While technically speaking, this game should be one of interest -- the upset of the actual best NL team by a score of 16-5, dropping them(the Pirates) into a 3-way tie with the actual 6th place Braves, and also the actual 3rd place Cubs (the actual 2nd place Giants are at 6-4, one game behind these three clubs)... 

I consider the contest more of an abomination, a horrible, repulsive blowout, a game out of control, a trashy game, like a backyard wiffleball game with my brother when the wind is blowing like a hurricane towards the LF fence, or one when the wind is blowing in like a hurricane plus the only wiffleball you have has a major crack in it! 

This game spins out of control when the Reds kayo the Bucs' weakest starter, Brickyard Kennedy, before he has completed 3 innings of work, which means that George Merritt, an OF who pitched a little, is called in for 'yeoman's duty'.  Starter Kennedy has really stunk it up, allowing 7 runs in his 2 2/3 innings of work, while, per-inning, emergency hurler Merritt pitches relatively more meritoriously than Brickyard, allowing 9 runs in 6 1/3 frames.... Or maybe the winning Reds just begin to get tired of the lengthy, ridiculous game themselves. 

And to make things even odder, the Bucs start a rarely used OF named Joe Marshall, who is the kingpin of whatever offense they have, going 4 for 5 with a triple, 3 RBI, and a run scored.  The other famed regulars suxh as Honus Wagner and Tommy Leach and Kitty Bransfield and Ginger Beaumont and 'Circus Solly' Hofman and Claude Ritchey fight over the other two measly RBI.

For Cincy, Red leadoff man RF Cy Seymour (.268) is 4 for 7 with a double, 2 runs, and 2 RBI; slugging LF 'Turkey' Mike Donlin (.278) is 2 for 4, with a triple, 3 runs, and 2 walks. Solid 3B Harry Steinfeldt (.286) is 3 for 5 -- all 3 hits doubles -- driving in 3 runs, scoring 2 runs, and walking twice....Then, some unknown guy named Jack Morrissey is 2 for 3 with 3 walks, 2 runs, and 2 RBI.  Even winning P Ed Poole (1-1/4.76), who fires an incredibly sloppy 4-walk 12-hitter, still winning by an easy 11 runs, is 2 for 6 with a tally and two ribbies!

Tied 4-4 with 2 out T3rd, it is Poole himself who delivers the killing blow.  With the bases loaded and two out, winning Poole lines one that LF George Merritt (ultimately the Buc P for most of the game) tries to catch in a diving fashion.... But the ball lands in front of him, caroms off his chest, and 3 runs score on his crappy play, properly ruled an error and a hit.  So, fittingly, since Georgie-Porgie has some pitching experience, and allowed the score to change from a 4-4 tie to a 7-4 Red lead on one really bad play, he is given the misery of pitching the last six innings: of brutal sweat shop struggle and pounding.

Poole shot puts the game ball in the Bucs' hip pocket

79 BB (7-3/T2nd-0.5g) 7-12-3  PH (2-8/T7th) 6-8-2

In 1903 reality, the Beaneaters (58-80) weren't that much better than the woeful Phillies (50-86)...  But in this replay, Boston has won four straight and are just a half game behind the 1st place Pirates, who were actual '03 NL Champs (91-49).  The Bucs have won 7 straight in the EOBHR replay, while the Cubs, who are tied with the Bostonians, have won five straight.  Along with the 4th place Giants (6-4) who have won two straight, it is like this head pack is drafting each other and just pulling away, leaving the lapped second division cars in their swirling dust and debris.

The Phillies do lead this game from 2 for 13 CF John Titus' RBI triple one out B1st until the Braves' RF Joe Stanley's game-tying groundout T3rd which ties the game 3-3....Then LF Tom McCreery's RBI single puts the New Englanders ahead for an inning....but a 2-out error by Boston 3B Ed Gremminger ('I swear, a gremlin did it that doesn't like my long name') ties it 4-4 B4th.

The contest stays tied for a full inning, but then in the T6th, the Braves move ahead, thanks to the results of Phillie starter Frosty Bill Duggleby's (not a friendly guy?) wildness (6 walks by the 6th) plus a hit by opposing Brave P Wiley 'Coyote' Piatt, and a C Pat Moran go-ahead single through deep short: 5-4, Boston.

This lead too is short-lived, ending when Phillie PH Bill Keister's high fly pops embarrassingly out of RF Joe Stanley's glove (E9)... Then an unexpected T7th single from 4-30/.133/4TB/0RBI Phillie OF Shad Barry falls in front of suddenly goatish-looking RF Stanley (was he really hustling on the play, or just going through the motions, too busy pouting about his last fielding bungle?) and it's 6-5 Quakers.

But the Braves' C Pat Moran delivers his second big RBI hit in a row T8th, tying the game 6-6.... Then in the T9th, Boston PH Duff Cooley leads off by drawing a walk off lefty reliever Fred Burchell, McCreery rips another hit RF.... But CF Pat Carney (.273), who generally been an asset for Boston in the replay, tries to move the runners up with his bunting expertise -- But instead he plunks into a GDP! 

This leaves just Cooley on 3rd and two out, with poor-hiiting 8-hole-hitting 2B Ed Abbaticchio, or some spell it APBAticchio at the plate, the man who was listed first in baseball encyclopedias (until the Hank Aarons and so forth came along) -- a non-descript, deadball player... especially since the first encyc just gave you BA and games played for batters, and games and win-loss for pitchers!!

Still, I always wanted to know more about Ed and the men below him on the list....But there was no more to be found anywhere!

Anyhow, one-time First Man in Baseball Abbaticchio (.184) parachutes the decisive Texas League single into RF as Phillies' RF Roy Thomas and 2B Kid Gleason sprint towards the hit's landing spot....but do not reach there in time.

Attateachyouall not to play me so deep....

78  SC (2-8/8th) 3-6-1  CC (7-3/2nd-0.5g) 5-8-1 

The Cubs win their 5th in a row, the longest such streak currently running in either league of this 1903 replay, while the Cardinals (2-8) lose their 3rd in a row, as the Redbirds and the Phillies (2-7, also 3 straight L's) are truly 'In a league of their own' at the bottom of the NL barrel.

Joe Tinkers with this game scientifically, at two critical moments, to manufacture an efficient win.  His Tinkering consists of a two out go-ahead single B1st, to quickly establish the Cub's lead and superiority, and also another one-out go-ahead single B3rd after the Phils rallied to tie the game in the T2nd.... As if to say to the weak opponent -- 'Every single time you tie us or even get close to us, I will quickly erase your improvement, so don't even bother.... Instead, consider moving your franchise to Missouri-Pennsylvania Grade C Penn Misery League....'

But the Cardinals are undaunted.  Even though a Jimmy Slagle sac fly in the B3rd and a Johnny Kling ribbie single B5th extend the Chicago gap to 4-1, the Phils stubbornly come back with two runs T6th, largely due to a goofy misplay by Cub OF Jim Cook (who had only four hits all season in real '03 as a permament anchor at one end of the bench), cutting the Chicagoans' advantage to a razor thin one run.

The Baseball Gods, as Formidable and as Unpredictable as any known deities, give the Cubs an important insurance run while also harshly punishing poor Jim Cook for his lousy fielding T6th. C Johnny Kling (perfect 1 for 1 with 3 walks) walks to open the B8th, then a couple of batters later, 'home villain' Cook is hit on the elbow by a McFarland fastball, and is writhing in the dirt in agony when I turned my head away, until I heard the usual polite clapping for an enemy warrior being carried off the field, lost to his team for 31 games, which just might into forever in his case... Then future star 3B George Moriarity singles to give the Cubs an insurance run in this hard-fought 5-3 victory.

Cub's Tinker sprays key hits all over the field

77 NG (6-4/4th-1.5g) 9-13-0  BK (4-6/6th) 1-5-0

The absolutely overwhelming tandem of the over-the-top slugging of CF Roger Bresnahan (.615: 3-5/D/HR/3R/4RBI) and the over-the-top strating pitching of Joe 'Iron Man' McGinnity (3-1/1.07: 9IP/5H/1R/9K/3BB) is far more than the plummeting Brooklyn Dodgers can take, dropping their 6th straight decision after winning their first four games in a row to be, for a brief, crazy, cockeyed moment, the early NL frontrunner.

The die is set with the score 1-0 Giants T5th, but Bresnahan at the plate with the bases loaded -- and he crushes a bases clearing double to deep RCF which gives (when Roger also tallies on a subsequent Lauder single) the New Yorkers 4 more runs in a game where the Bums will only score one.

Roger also homers to lead off the T9th against Brooklyn relief pitcher Jack Doscher, who otherwise pitches quite competently in his relief stint.  This raises Bresnahan's BA to .613** (19-31) with accompanying 4-2-1-7 power stats, and given his 3-hole batting position, 13 runs scored in just 10 games.

McGinnity's shutout is ruined B9th thanks to a Dirty Jack Doyle triple followed by a super-sub Walt McCredie single.... McCredie is now a Bresnahan-like 9 for 16 for the 6th place Dodgers with a double and two steals.

A Bresnahan is worth two in the....

76 NY (5-5/4xT3rd-2g) 15-19-2  WN(2-8/8th) 7-14-3

The 2-7, actual last place (43-94!!) Nationals jump ahead 5-0 against the much better Highlanders (4-5) after four innings, and the town (1st in War, Ist in Peace, Last in the American League) begins to buzz with the possibility of a game winning celebration...Al 'The Curveless Wonder' (he was a master of changing up on his fastball, reportedly never threw a curve) Orth seems to have the Yankees/Highlanders number, as they enter the T6th behind 5-1.

John Ganzel, 1B, in the dugout before the T6th:  'Guys...Lissen up!!  I just figgered  Orth out...I get it now, guys.  He's just changing speeds, not arm angle, not rotational axis or even spin diameter inflection.  We need to just wait for the speed we want, and then hammer the fxxxin' ball.  Everybody on board with that strategy?  Okay, fists together....LETS' GO GET AL AND KNOCK HIM ALL THE WAY TO THE  ORTHER PLACE!!

However, this strategy fails, at least at the very outset.  After leadoff man and instigator 1B John Ganzel is hit with Al's super fast fastball for inciting a comeback (but how did Al know?  Is there a spy behind the false back wall in the Away dugout??), SS Kid Elberfeld beats out a squibber, then 3B Wid Conroy chops one weakly to short, but Nat SS Charlie Moran throws wildly to first (E6), OF Dave Fultz loops a weak single into LF -- and Nat LF Jack Hendricks makes a wild throw home (E7) -- as all three baserunners end up scoring while Washington C Malachi Jeddiddah Kittridge runs around looking for the ball.  Thus the Nat lead is cut from 5-1 to 5-4 on this play...Not necessarily because the Highlanders have understood and internalized Ganzel's wisdom....  They were not hitting Orth any harder than before, they were just hitting him luckier...

Thus....the errors.....the injury to Watty Lee....the stupid question about what appeared to be a significant boogie in the 2nd curve... Suddenly Grandpa Luck has moved his seat over to where  the small group of out of town Highlanders fans, perhaps visiting Washington on official business, are sitting, drinking imported Ballantine Beer or sipping wine, rather than gorping glass after glass of the watered down National Bo served in the park. 

Gandpa Luck:  'Please pass me a Ballantine and goblet of vino blanc.... Merci!'

And, indeed, in the T7th, N.Y. SS Kid Elberfeld spanks a game-tying single through the right side of the infield, then 3B Wid Conroy adds a long RBI single to RCF.... Nat C Kittridge makes a wild pickoff throw to 1st in a heroic but ill-advised try to cut the rally down to size...producing another run for N.Y. and Grandpa Luck.... and EOBHR (as wildly popular in 1903 as it is now...not at all) replay men-left-on-base  leader Monte Beville changes his stripes and scorches an RBI double down the LF line for what is the 8th -- and what proves in the final analysis to be the deciding -- Highlander deposit in the run bank.

But, just to be sure, after their 4-run T7th, 1B Ganzel (.429: 4-4/D/3R/3RBI/HBP/SF) rips a 2-run double into the RF corner T8th  and then Elberfeld (.381: 4-6/2R/2RBI) singles IF mate Ganzel home, etc.  2B Jimmy Williams adds a one-out bases loaded triple T9th, etc., etc.  Just what the Highlanders eventual descendents, the Yankees, will be like.

Take a Ganzel at this turnaround!

All player personalities and quotations in this writeup are completely fictional...duh

75  BR (7-3/T1st) 10-13-0  SB (5-5/T4th) 3-8-3

The actual 1903 AL CHAMPION, the Boston Red Sox, are rightly charged with Assault by Battery in this game.  It is strong but erratic-hitting but rifle-armed C Lou Criger whose 2-out 3-run HR T2nd, plus his intimidating defense, that helps the Bosox to jump out to a big lead.... 

A lead that they just keep building and building, to a mountainous 9-1 by the T6th, as P 'Big Bill' or 'Orator Bill' (after switching from hurling to umpiring in 1909, Dineen was considered one of the greatest umpires in the pre-1950 MLB era*) keeps this Bosox win completely under his ultimate control.  Dineen not only eases to a win with his 8-hitter, but is 2-3/2R/BB/SH.

*In memory of his great performance in the '03 World Series (Bill pitched the first two shutouts in World Series history in real 1903), Dineen threw out the first ball in the Game 2 of the classic 1953 World Series between the Dodgers and the Yankees.

 And when Brown CF Charlie 'Eagle Eye' Hemphill homers early in the game, it is with two out and no one on, rather than a 2-run one out blast... Since C Lou '3 Run Homer T2nd' Criger had just picked off careless opposing P Ed Siever, who had reached on a Dineen free pass!

Yes, it was a truly assault by battery in this one.  It was reported to the police, who decided that whatever evil the battery of Dineen and Criger had done to the home team, it was within the rules of the game, and the city of St. Louis would therefore press no charges.

Browns players: 'Personally, we found dis game very Dineening, leaving us as a city and as a baseball team representing this city, feeling less self-dignity, more dishonor, lowered standing, and debasement... but actually, we're still in 5th, we're not yet in de basement....' 

74 PA(5-5/T4th-2g) 8-7-1 DT(7-3/1st) 9-17-2 in 11 

Despite blowing an 8-1 lead, the Tigers (7-3) pull this one out in 11 innings, and now have a half-game edge over the 2nd place Red Sox (6-3).

Detroit explodes for six runs B4th, only to have the A's respond with five of their own T5th!  In the B4th, the Tigers' Billy Lush (bases loaded double), 'Little Joe' Yeager (2-run triple), and Sam Crawford (2-run HR) score 6 runs with one out B4th, knocking A's starter Weldon Henley so far out of the game that the team couldn't find him afterwards.

No problem, though.  The A's make the prior rally seem commonplace, by scoring five runs of their own T5th.  3B Lave Cross tomahawks a bases loaded double and Danny Hoffman smashes a 2-out, 2-run triple to account for most of the scoring... And in the T7th with two out, Hoffman's hard 2-out grounder is misplayed, tying the game 8-8 -- since the A's C Ossie Schrecongost had smashed a 2-out double by LF Lush right before Tiger 2B Heinie Smith's game-tying error.

Sam Crawford picks up his 3rd single to open the B11th, but then erases himself for the 3rd time in the game by getting nabbed trying to steal.  So Tiger 1B Charlie Carr has to start a new rally with two out B11th, lining a two out base hit B11th, then stealing 2nd.... and C Deacon McGuire follows with the walkoff single, looped into RCF!

Tiger: Some of the Crawford stuff was just a subterfuge, because we knew we could Deac 'em to win the game...

73  CW (5-5/5th - 1.5g) 7-13-2  CL (4-6/7th) 6-13-0

As my father used to say excitedly based on an old beer slogan, 'This game is/was a Thriller from Miller!', thereby chatising me for playing real baseball outside with my friends in the fresh air, rather than sitting inside, his ciggy smoke burning my eyes, watching the Phillies with him... (But, boy, wouldn't I give a lot for that opportunity now, ciggy smoke and all!!) 

And although my Dad was not very interested in the NBA (guys too good for the game trading baskets and not playing defense for 48 minutes), I must comment that today's simulated game had that NBA-like feel to it to me.  (I was a big, big NBA fan until wave after wave of expansion unglued my interest.... Now, I only closely follow MLB, partly because you can skip all the TV ads with MLB.com and the newspaper box scores and standings and leader boards and player stories are always so fascinating to me.) 

The NFL and NHL are way too violent and the games take way too long for me...plus they lack a way of adequately capturing their game and the player performances with box scores and statistics -- an essential for this fan... same with NASCAR.  European soccer, though...I actually watch that more than baseball nowadays. It's the only varsity team sport I personally played in high school and college. so I may be able to more closely identify with the action.... Their stats aren't very good either, I just love the aesthetics and the flow and how hard it is to score. 

(Plus I spend so much time doing this project...is it really well-balanced for me to go watch a 3+ hour baseball game with 100 beer and car ads after I've already invested half my life in this project???)

But back to this thriller from Miller (Associates?).... 8-hole batter C Jack Slattery of the White Sox surprises everyone with a 2-out solo homer T2nd, and losing P Gus Dorner serves up another gopher ball a little later.  1-0 Sox

But, in the next inning (B3rd),  after aforesaid P Dorner is hit by a Frank 'Yip' (maybe from the squeal of his hit batsmen?) Owen kinda-fastball, Bill Bradley, who is every bit as good as his NBA namesake (Knicks with Bradley, Monroe, Reed, Frazier, Cazzie, etc. were my favorite sports team of all time), lines a lead-reversing HR down the 290' RF line. 2-1 Tribe

Not to be concerned, though.  In the Sox' next at bat T4th, 4 for 30/one double 2B George 'Maggie' Magoon pulls a game tying HR LF. 2-2

Not to be concerned, though.  In the Tribal half of the 4th (B4th), the Indians load the bases for the coup de gras -- a 'Bullet Jack' Thoney double play grounder to 2B Magoon...4-6-3, but Cleveland goes ahead nonetheless, 3-2!

Not to be concerned, though, because 1B Frank 'Isabel' Isbell smashes a bases loaded 3-run lead-re-reversing double with one out T5th... This brings in solid reliever Martin Glendon, who yields a walk to the 'dangerous' 2 for 32 Bill 'Long' Hallman (remember the inane and insane old adage that the guys with the worst stats are the ones you have to be most careful with, because they're due??), and Lee Tannehill tans a long single to expand the lead to 3.... Then, after the omnipresent, perhaps temporarily omnipotent Magoon walks to re-load the bases. RP Glendon misplays Slattery's grounder in a rush to get the force at the plate and possibly a 1-2-3 GDP....and has to take the play at first, scoring another run: a whopping 7-3 Chisox advantage.

Not to be concerned, though, as, thanks to a costly error by Chicago 3B Lee Tannehill and a Glendon sac hit, little-used Tribal Member Jack 'Idiot' Iott singles scoring 'Hardy' Jack Hardy B7th -- then A.L. batting leader 'Cheerful Charlie' Hickman (15 for 30, 2-1-2-11 power stats) homers over Sox CF Davy Jones and into his locker where it gets lost among all the skeletons and rusty treasure chests to add two more runs....7-6 ChiHose

And then, with runners on 1st and 3rd with two out B9th, our very talented Indian friend 3B (not SF) Bill Bradley hits a long fly that slugging LF Danny Green, playing in close to the infield, has to run back to catch... But he nonetheless catches it, then runs and falls forward about three somersaults worth from all the mustard he puts on the throw....and just (at least according to the ump, Red Holtzman) Billy Clingman barely is tagged out, ending the game....as Billy clings to the plate, as if his hands on it prove he was safe....  Meaning you can put another W in the win column for the Fightin' Indians!  The W H I T E  S O X  Win the Game... Thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh WHITESOXwintheGame!! 

22 YR OLD 5-11/188 'BIG GEORGE' MULLIN, 19 WINS, 170 K'S IN '03...MULLIN'...I DID HAVE 3 HITS, SCORED 3, DROVE IN 2, BUT I HAD TO FACE 37 INDIANS TO BEAT 'EM, I HAD 5 K'S & 3 BB'S...I GOT REAL SHAKY, GAVE UP 2 RUNS B9TH, I'M 2-1/2,33 NOW...I GUESS I'M DOIN' OKAY....

Jack, staring at Cy: 'Chees, Bro!! Lighten up on me some, huh??'

Princeton's first full time baseball coach was none other than Boileryard Clarke!

Winning Brave C and #3 batter Pat Moran: A hit and 3 walks. 'I try to deliver what the team needs, not what will get me headlines.'

'Uncle' Charlie Moran: 'Yep...after spending time on that lousy Cardinal club as a SS-P, I figured this would be a better, more secure job...But I ain't nobody's 'uncle' no more, in my new job....'

1903 EOBHR REPLAY #34: DAY 9 OF 16

72 BB (6-3/T2nd-1g) 10-15-0 SC (2-7/T7th) 7-14-3 

Perhaps I was just in a very receptive mood, but this was to me one of the most entertaining games of the year...albeit between the actual '03 6th place Braves and the actual '03 8th/last place Cardinals.  The Braves continue to play way over the heads (tied for 2nd with the Cubs), although defeating the lowly actual 43-94 Cardinals was to be expected.

Cardinal 3-hole batter Homer Smoot (.333) makes a patented 'Smoot point' when he doubles as St. Louis jumps ahead B1st. 

But it is Braves starting P 'Togie' Pittinger who lines a 2-out lead-reversing single T2nd, 2-1, Braves.

With two out, Smoot makes another 'Smoot point' by singling home red-hot leadoff man Patsy Donovan (18* hits & 6 walks hits so far, .500 BA, .571 OBP) to tie the game 2-2 B3rd.

However, can he?  YES!! 1B Fred Tenney belts a 3-run HR over the RF fence (290' down the line) T4th, scoring occasional starter and SS Frank 'Human Flea' Bonner, who had ripped a single, and P Pittenger, who reached on a walk versus Cardinal hurler Warren 'War' Sanders.  'Now, this means all-out War,' Sanders mutters as he walks off the mound at the end of the inning. 

And the Cardinals indeed quickly neutralize most of the damage of the 3-run homer by scoring two in the B4th.  5-4. Braves

Things quiet down then, the fans relax, a puffy cloud covers the glaring sun for a while, and everyone enjoys the concessions and the nice day, until George 'Deerfoot' Barclay, running so fast he passes by a long drive struck by opposing hurler Pittinger  and has to reach back to get it.... and misses... one of Deerfoot's two, deadly OF errors in the contest (yet, aesthetically everyone is still impressed by his pure velocity and deerlike grace -- I mean, you can't really expect a deer to catch a fly ball can you??  Fan: "Why can't we have a human in LF instead of a 'Deerfoot'??), and thus P 'Togie' Pittinger, provides his Braves with a comforting insurance run.  To further fan dismay, we also have to report that subsititute SS Leon DeMontreville boots a grounder by the Braves' 2b Ed Abbaticchio earlier in this shabby rally.

Then 0 for 34 2-hole batter Charlie Dexter finally collects his first hit by singling off relief P Ed Murphy's leg, and slugging C Pat Moran draws a bases loaded walk to give the Braves a nice 3-run cushion, 7-4.

But with walks, passed balls, squib hits and such filling the air, Cardinal 2B John Farrell consumates a 3-run rally with an exciting (to the home crowd anyway) 2-run bases loaded game-tying single wide of 1st B8th!!!  7-7 tie

Of course, that is not the end of the back and forth.... and resting cleanup man Duff Cooley is called on given the close-game-emergency and pokes a 2-out go-ahead single T9th....8-7, St. Louis

Yet, the never-say-die until the very, very end Cardinals load the bases B9th.  Finally, tireless if not that effective starter Pittinger fans emergency relief pitching hard-hitting Tennessean combination relief P/SS, 'Uncle Charley' Moran for the final out, Uncle Charley probably not a relative of  3-hole batting winning Beaneater C Pat Moran (.216), who singles, draws 3 walks, and steals a base in the wild contest.

More and more Morans keep surfacing as '03 game-deciders...

71 NG (5-4/4th-2g) 5-11-1  PH (2-7/8th) 0-2-1

This game matching the great Christy Mathewson against the pathetic Phillies produces a highly predictable outcome... Mathewson fans a whopping 13 Phillies, widely scatters two singles, and sprinkles in five walks as well, with the predictable result of no Phillie runs.  Phillie starter Fred Mitchell can feel pretty good about holding the Giants to five runs -- but what a contrast; Fred fans one Giant while Matty fans 13 Phils.

The Giants jump ahead immediately with two runs T1st, as cleanup man Sam Mertes picks up his replay high 14th RBI.  The New York offense is very balanced, with leadoff man, RF George Browne (.439), perhaps having the best all-around day (1-4/2R/RBI/BB).  George now leads the replay with 18 hits, and his .439 BA is 5th in the replay.  The AL has only one man over .400 (the Indians Charlie Hickman, .423) while the NL still has seven .400 batters, led by Giant C Roger Bresnahan (.615).

Matty pahty  

70  CN (4-5/T5th-3g) 1-4-0  CC (6-3/2nd)-1g) 2-5-0

A classic deadball era game, so it's no wonder they introduce the livelier cork center ball in 1910.  The big run-scoring plays in this game are:

T1st: An exciting bases loaded GDP by C Heinie Peitz to put the Reds ahead

B4th:  A Frank Chance game-tying bouncer (out at 1st) to short ties it up!!  Whoa, I almost fell out of my rhetorical chair with feverish excitement!!...  Although admittedly there was the more legit leadoff excitement of a HOF 2B Johnny Evers' triple (the Cubs' 1st hit off the game against 'Happy Jack' Sutthoff) lined by charging LF 'Turkey' Mike Donlin (who did look like a turkey on the play)....1-1 Tie B4th

B9th: And let me now open the final envelop and see......Wow!!  The coup de gras is a ground single by Doc Casey, just squeaking (and squealing sarcastically as it does so?) past Red SS Tommy Corcoran, bringing in the walkoff run, as the crowd heads for home overjoyed (the game probably only took an hour and a half, so they're not exhausted, still pretty fresh and sharp).... But giving credit where it's most due, the run was set up Jimmy Slagle's one out single RF, followed by his daring steal of 2nd.

So it's a 2-1 final in this nail-biting, corn-chip-chomping (me) thriller.  Jack Taylor's (1-2/5.54) 4-hitter upstages maybe 'Not-So-Happy'  Jack Sutthoff's (0-2/5.09) 5-hitter, with the majority of the hits coming late in the game in a late-arriving crescendo of polite offense. 

Loser Sutthoff 'pitches to contact', fanning no one in his CG loss.

Seriously, though, overall, I really have great affection for these old-timers and find the games quite enjoyable.  This is the stuff that was legendary when I was a kid, not Denny McLain winning 31 games in 1968 or Maris hitting 61 in 61... And thank goodness not Sammy Sosa hitting 65 homers and driving in 150 runs several years in a row.... Where were baseball's set of values??  A classic case of corruption by illegitimate power and money.

Cincy pundits:  How much more can Sutthoff shut off  an offense and still lose???

69  PT (7-2/1st+1.5g) 6-10-0  BK (4-5/6th) 5-10-2

In this EOBHR 1903 replay, the Brooklyn Superbas won their first four games in a row to charge to the front of the pack; now they have lost five in a row to fall into 6th place (they actually finished 5th).  With #5 Pittsburgh starting P Kaiser Wilhelm, (whose namesake was) later chased out of Germany when his 'New Course' in foreign affairs turned out to be a disaster, then ended up in exile in the Netherlands,  on the mound against the Brooklyn's #1, Oscar 'Flip Flop' Jones, the home fans must have been thinking this is the win they've been craving to end their losing streak.

But while the Dodgers indeed do rough up and ultimately oust  #5 starter Kaiser Wilhelm, who then heads for exile in the bowels of the dugout complex, the Pirates mistreat Superba #1 Jones the same way.  There is scoring in six of the first seven innings,  as first the favored Buccos jump to a 4-0 lead by the T4th, but then by the B6th, it is 5-4, Brooklyn in front, to the delight of the home fans.

However, Kaiser Wilhelm, who was already treading in deep water, gives up the ghost B6th, as 3B Sammy Strang leads off with a walk, Bad Bill Dahlen doubles over 3rd, Jimmy Sheckard loops an RBI single into RF, Dirty Jack Doyle rips a game-tying single down the LF line, and a Lew Ritter walk plus a 2B Tim Flood RBI groundout cap the 3-run rally: 5-4, homeys.

But switch-hitting Pittsburgh 2B Claude Ritchey has the final say, with his two-out two-run, lead-re-reversing, game-deciding bases loaded single T7th.  A CF Ginger Beaumont (.381) leadoff single for a replay-leading 9-game hitting streak starts this decisive rally, then Dodger P Flip-Flop Jones flip-flops a bad throw to first after fielding a Fred Clarke one hopper back to the mound, and HOFer Honus Wagner draws a walk to load the bases and set up the big Ritchie safety, which gives the hard-hitting 2B a .359 BA and 12 RBI (just one less than replaying-leading Giant CF, Sandow Mertes).

Starter Ed Doheny (now 3-0/2.63) is forced into the game in relief of ineffective Pirate starter Wilhelm, and pitches 3+ terrific innings of one hit, one walk ball to win the game and perhaps give the Kaiser another chance at mound leadership.

Kaiser ousted, exiled, but Ed Doheny, who says I'll Doheny thing to help the Pirates to win, does 

68  PA (5-4/T3rd-1g) 4-15-0  WN (2-7/8th) 5-11-2

This is a big upset for Rube Waddell and the A's, who lose to the last place Nationals and mediocre Nat workhorse (11-22/3.60/11HR/133K/80BB actual '03) Casey Patten.  Patten pitches a remarkable game, trailing until the B6th, but never giving up, then the Nationals put a big 4-spot on the board.

The A's continue to rally in the last three frames, getting plenty of men on base, but failing to score against the courageous, imspired Patten.  Casey allows 15 hits, but he fans 10 versus just one walk, and only one of the 15 A's safeties is an extra base knock, a C Ossie Schrecongost double T4th.... on which A's 3B Lave Cross is thrown out at the plate trying to score by Capitol hitting star, LF Jimmy Ryan.

Ryan rips doubles in both the Nats' B4th rally that puts them on the board, albeit down 4-1, and also in the Nat's B6th 4-run lead-reversing rally.

But 1B-C Boileryard Clarke (.306: 3-4/R/2RBI/SB/CS) is the #1 hero, along with P Patten, in this game.  Clarke singles home Ryan (double) for the Nats 1st run B4th, and bloops the game-tying single with two out B6th.... Then the Boileryard rumbles into 2nd with a SBs -- and scores the go-ahead tally on Washington 3B Scranton Bill Coughlin's (no relation as far as we know to past PA governor Bill Scranton) single RF.

Patten also walks on fire, as he fans two A's with one out and Athletics on 1st and 3rd (i.e., tying, go-ahead runs) T8th.  And Casey keeps his K-thang going T9th, fanning the first two A's batters in their last chance inning, Monte Cross and slugger Socks Seybold....Before the game ends on slugger Harry Davis' hopper to 2B Barry McCormick!

Pretty Picture: Case Pattin' Clarke on his Boileryard after win consummated

67  CW (4-5/3xT5th) 0-2-0  SB (5-4/4th) 2-7-0

Three years from now, the .230-batting 'Hitless Wonders' version of the White Sox will stun the Crosstown Cubs in the 1906 World Series... But it is very hard to imagine this Pale Hose squad doing many heroics.  

The Browns' Jack Powell (1-2/2.78) faces just one Sox batter (28 in total) above the minimum of 27, widely scattering their two singles, one by 1B Frank Isbell, the other by catcher Jack Slattery who, I noted before the game, while thoroughly engrossed in his player card, that he scored only 9 runs all season as the Sox' #1 catcher in '03!!  Jack batted .207 in 67 realworld games.  His backup, Ed McFarland, hit a similar.209, but scored a whopping 15 runs and actually hit one homer, in his 61 games.     

Loser Pat Flaherty himself faces only 31 Browns, as winner Powell allows the game's only walk.

In the 2nd, the Browns' HOF hitter, Jesse Burkett (.378) lines a one out single RF.... Then he is forced at 2nd on a grounder by next batter 2B Dan Padden, who steals 2nd, and scores on Brown LF Snags Heidrick's (.250) single down the RF line.  

In the B8th, Burkett briefly awkakens the somnolent crowd by blasting a HR to RF to provide winner Powell with an insurance run.

Bank it on Burkett

66 BR (6-3/T1st)+0.5g) 9-16-0  NY (4-5/T6th) 2-8-0

When was the last time you saw a starting pitcher:

1.  Pitch a CG win with no walks

2.  Line the game's lead-reversing, momentum-reversing  two out single

3.  Blast two towering triples, plus steal a base

4.  Have the best record in the organization (3-0), plus a 1.36 ERA

Sigh.  Not the kind of thing you're apt to see at an MLB ballpark in this day and age.... And most of you readers are probably a little too Young to remember real-life Cy in his heyday, like in this 1903 season... To have gone to the park early to get his autograph, etc.  Or been a member of the baseball-cap-reversed Knothole Gang who watched him pitch through a hole in the stadium's wooden fence... 

But it's all True.... I mean Denton True 'Cy' Young.  511 lifetime realworld wins.  Five realworld seasons of 32+ wins.  Two sub-2.00 ERA championships, plus four other seasons where he was sub-2.00, including his amazing 21-11/1.26 season in 1908 at age 41.  And in fact, Cy was generally athletic and did collect 35 lifetime triples, 29 lifetime steals, 87 lifetime doubles, 18 lifetime homers.

But while it was Cy who permanently reverses the lead in this game, it is not he who drives in the winning margin (3rd) Bosox run...... Although, had this run not occurred, socking Cy's first  towering 2-out RBI triple of the game, T4th, would in fact have been the winning margin knock, as it scores slugging Buck Freeman who had doubled (.297), and scores three times himself in this laugher.

Now the real surprise is the legendary nature of the man they are drubbing... Namely, HOFer 'Happy Jack' Chesbro.  In the season following this one/1903, where Chesbro was a mediocre (for him) 21-15/2.77, Jack happily puts it all together in real 1904, pitching 454 innings and winning an outrageous 41 games: 41-12/1.82 with 239K's in a slap-hitting, contact-hitting era! 

Remarkably, EOBHR-wise, Happy Jack now falls to 0-3/5.04 in this EOBHR '03 replay...perhaps wiping a bit of the smile off the chronically happy face of his EOBHR simulacrum.... who now has the worst win-loss record (0-3) in this replay as of this moment.

Jack to Cy Young: Chees bro!!......  Lighten up on me a little, huh, pretty please???

65 DT (6-3/1st+0.5g) 8-15-2  CL (4-5/7th) 3-6-1

The regular season crosses the great divide and heads downhill into the 2nd Half with this 65th regular season game.  There are numerous hitting stars for the victorious Tigers, now in 1st, but by just a half-game ahead of the dangerous Red Sox and A's....  #3 Tiger batter Sam Crawford (.381) is 2-3/T/R/2RBI/2BB, and #4 batter and Detroit RF, Jimmy Barrett, who is 2 for 36 in the replay when he teams up with Crawford for BTB RBI triples T3rd, finishes the game 2-5/T/3RBI/.100. 

C Deacon McGuire is (.375) 4-5/D/T/R/RBI (plus a GDP and a caught stealing and two passed balls, one costly!!...as the Deacon both giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other).  And, maybe especially importantly, winning P 'Wabash' George Mullin, 3-4/D/3R/2RBI plus Mullin (2-1/2.33) pitches a fundamentally sound six-hit CG: 6 hits, including a double and a triple, most of them coming late in the game after the Tigers have already established 6-0 and 8-1 leads, five strikeouts, 3 walks... Plus, it is George Mullin himself, not some imposter or fan who runs out on the field and bats in George's place, who powers the sacred winning margin 2-run double into the LCF gap T6th!!

Amazingly, in a two-pronged event rarely seen, like a two-headed man walking down the street talking to himself, Detroit 1B Charlie Carr (.282) and C Deacon McGuire smash BTB one out triples T2nd to take the lead, and IN THE VERY NEXT INNING, with two out, Sam Crawford and 2 for 36 Jimmy Barrett blast BTB triples T3rd. 

The Tribe's starting and losing P 'Red' Donahue reports: 'It was amazing....I had triple vision for hours after the game...I was worried it was permanent!'

Feeling down 'n' dirty, feeling kinda mean
I've been from one to another extreme
This time I had a bad time, ain't got time to wait
I wanna stick around and play ball 'till I can't see straight

Clear my eyes of that triple vision
Give a disguise to  that triple vision
Ooh, when it gets through to me, it gives the blues to me
My triple vision gets the best of me

Never do more than I, I really need
My mind is racing, but my body's in the lead
Tonight's the night, I'm gonna push it to the limit
I'll pick up all 20 wins in a single minute

Clear my eyes of that triple vision
Give a  disguise to that triple vision
Ooh, when it gets through to me, it gives the blues  to me
My triple vision will always get the best of me, the best of me, yeah

Handsome and beloved Davy Jones of the Monkees

Handsome and beloved Davy Jones of the 1903 of the Cubs

Not so handsome and beloved deep sea locker owner, Davy Jones

Davy 'Kangeroo' Jones jumping to the Federal League in 1914

1903 EOBHR REPLAY#34 DAY 8 PT2 

64 CN (4-4/3xT4th) 7-10-0  SC (2-6/2xT7th) 3-15-3

The tied-for-last Cardinals out-hit the winng Reds 15-10, but nonetheless lose the game handily, 7-3.  Down 7-0 by the T6th, their 3 'comeback' runs came in the 7th and 8th.  Three St. Louis errors are responsible for four of the seven Cincy runs, i.e., St. Louis' unearned runs determine the game's outcome, along with the pitching and hitting of Reds starter Noodles Hahn.

The error problem surfaces on the first play, when St. Louis 2B John Farrell charges dynamic Cincy leadoff batter Joe Kelley's roller, and throws wildly to 1st.  And in an even more grave bungle T6th, Card SS Dave Brain bobbles Kelley's two out grounder and then throws wildly to first.  Given a fourth out to play with, the Reds' star 2B Tido Daly walks to load the bases, then Harry Steinfeldt (soon to become the 'forgotten' member of the famed Tinker to Evers to Chance infield) drives a 3-run triple to deep left to extend the Red lead to 7-0.  

Winning P Frank 'Noodles' Hahn, who is the actual N.L. strikeout leader 1899-1901 (145*, 132*, 239*; and also holds the 20th century N.L. record with 41 complete games in 1901), gets by with a 15-hit victory, even walking a couple of Cardinals, aided by three Corcoran-Daly-Beckley DPs and poor St.Louis hitting in the clutch, when Hahn is really 'bearing down'...  All this happening here in 1903, two seasons away from the year where Noodles blows out his arm, essentially ending his meteoric career. 

Also, Hahn has a hahnd in several of the Cincinnati rallies.  Noodles leads off the T3rd with a walk off Mike O'Neill, later scoring on a Steinfeldt ground out,  After a rain delay, Hahn celebrates the re-initiation of play with a leadoff single LCF T5th, scoring on a Daly single... Then, in the T6th, a Noodles two out liner over 2nd is the single that drives home the Reds' winning margin run; their 4th run in a game where Hahn and the Reds' defense only allows three tallies to St. Louis. 

 No need to noodle how this win occurred.... it is simply a honey of a performance by Hahn

The Giants shuffle off the field in defeat, shaking their heads, many of the making the seething accusation, 'What a lotta Malarkey!!'

But a closer look and listen reveals that they are accurately talking about nondescript, slight Beantown 5'-11" 155lb starting P John Malarkey, a 31 year old  Ohioan (Springfield).  John is now 2-0/0.50 in this 1903 EOBHR replay, trailing only the Giants' own Iron Man Joe McGinnity in the EOBHR CYA measure of Earned Runs Prevented.  John has prevented 7.0 ER in 18 innings of work, Joe 7.9 in 24 2/3 innings of work....Thus Malarkey, inning per inning, has been even better than Iron Man Joe!

What a lotta Malarkey that is!

The Beaneating pitcher also helps out on offense.  When Fred Tenney (3-5/D/3RBI: .452) lines a 2-out 2-run double over fleet RF George van Haltren T2nd, those 2 runs are easy to score, since P Malarkey had just laid down, prior to Fred's at bat, a beauty of a sac bunt, moving Boston runners Pat Carney and Ed Abbaticchio up to 2nd and 3rd, in apparent preparation for Tenney's decisive double!

Meanwhile, it takes opposing P Dummy Taylor to finally get the process started of actually scoring a run against against Malarkey, with Dummy's leadoff single B3rd, the Giants already trailing 4-0, in a deep hole from which Malarkey's pitching doesn't give them much chance of escaping!

And to round out his day, winning P John Malarkey celebrates with a triple T9th after a Pat Carney squib leadoff hit, to bring in the first run in a pile-it-on 3-run 9th for the Braves.  But George Browne (3-4/R/RBI/BB: .459) pulls a last gasp RBI single down the RF line off John M. B9th to cut the final deficit to a still-embarrassing 7-3 home loss to the actual 58-80/6th place Bravos!! 

In a final, more Boston Brave-ish note, Beaneater 2-hole hitter SS Charlie Dexter fanned twice but also walked and manage to score his 1st run.  The Braves may be only half a game out of 1st, but their 2-hole batter Dexter now stands at 0 for 30 (.000) at the plate!!

This writeup is a lot more Malarkey than most Giants fans/readers will probably be able to tolerate!

61  BK (4-4/5th) 2-9-1  CC (5-3/2nd) 6-14-0

The Brooklyn Superbas (the Dodgers' actual team name back in '03) slip out of the 1st division into 5th place with this loss, their actual finish in '03 (70-66/5th). Superba starter 'Ready' Bill Reidy, as usual, has great control, not walking anyone (Reidy only walked 21 in 18 games started, 2 in relief, a total of 147 innings in actual '03!).  But being around the plate all day, Reidy also did yieldy 14 hits and 6 runs, 4 earned. 

The Cubs jump ahead with two runs in the B1st, then score what proves to be the decisive 3rd run B2nd.  

Leadoff man Davy 'Kangaroo' Jones sparks the go-ahead run with a soft line single over the infield, then steals 2nd.  One out later, HOF 6'/190lb 1B Frank 'Husk' Chance smashes a hot grounder to inexperienced Superba 2B Matthew Broderick (this M.B. was a little too old to play Ferris Bueller in 1986...), who makes a bad throw to 1st, plating Davy Jones, who somehow hops all the way from 3rd to home without touching the ground on the way... almost like a....  then C Johnny Kling (3-4/.387) completes the rally with an RBI single RF.

(You might think Davy was a 'Kangeroo' because he jumped high to avoid oncoming baserunners when making the pivot on a DP....but it was actually because he jumped so many baseball contracts!).

But Brooklyn responds immediately T2nd -- C Lew Ritter triples by diving 1B Chance down the RF line, then rings the run register when RF John Dobbs follows with a double.  2-1, Cubs

The Cubs return the favor in their turn B2nd, in NBA style back-and-forth up-and-down action, as Doc Casey (3-4/2R/.313) sneaks a single through the right side, red-hot LF Jack McCarthy (2-4/.467) chops a hit & run single through the left side with Casey on the move, and our friend Davy Jones hits what proves to be the winning margin sac fly... And for good measure, Davy adds another sac fly in the very next inning, giving 'Kangaroo' twice as many sac flies (4) as any other player in the replay!  Somewhat monotonously (as is typical of unscripted reality), it is again a Doc Casey single plus a McCarthy hit & run single that set up this Jones' sac fly for a 4th insurance run.

To cut to the chase and even beyond it, P Lundgren (2-0/1.00) keeps his pitch count low (one punchout, two walks) in his 9-hitter for the 6-1 win.  Cleanup man Chance takes a chance and swings real hard at a Reidy offering right down the pipe B7th, and thus picks up his 1st RBI and his 1st extra base hit of the replay with a B7th HR just over the RF fence.   

Chance happenings lead to methodical victory

• 
• NOW EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE OKAY, BUT EOBHR HAS EXPERIENCED A TERRIFYING, ABOMINABLE, NEFARIOUS, SUSPICIOUS  COMPUTER CRASH!!  WE HAVE HAD MANY BEFORE AND WILL HAVE MANY MORE IN THE FUTURE, GOD-WILLING I DON'T PERISH FROM THE WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS OF NOT HAVING MY BASEBALL  PROJECT TO OBSESS ON TO BLOCKOUT SOME OF THE OTHER PARTS OF MY LIFE....AND ALSO FROM THE EXTREME ANNOYANCE OF USING A DIFFERENT KEYBOARD.  I SWEAR., EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT ON THIS KEYBOARD!!  THE GAMES ARE ALWAYS BACKED UP ON EXTERNAL BACK-UP DRIVE... BUT SO FAR I HAVE NEVER HAD TO RELY ON THAT.... I WAS ABLE TO LOAD THE GAME BACK ON THIS SHXTTY BORROWED PC SUCCESSFULLY, BUT NOT YET ABLE TO TRANSPLANT MY 1903 REPLAY ONTO THIS MACHINE...BUT MY FIXER, BRUNO, JUST STOPPED BY LATE AT NITE, STILL WEARING HIS SHADES, TO TAKE IT AND GO FIX IT.  BRUNO KNOWS HOW BAD MY BASEBALL REPLAY ADDICTION IS.... AT LEAST I HOPE HE DOES!!  I'M JONESING ALREADY...I BETTER CALL HIM AND REMIND HIM!!   MAYBE A FIFTH OF SCOTCH WILL TAKE OFF SOME OF THE EDGE, OR MAYBE A BAG OF..... GIRLIE MAGAZINES....NO:  I'M JUST AS ADDICTED TO THOSE THINGS, MAYBE MORESO... I MIGHT AS WELL TRY TO SWEAT IT OUT, LIKE I MEAN I HAVE TO WRING THE SWEAT OUT OF MY PILLOW CASE INTO A LARGE BUCKET I LEAVE NEXT TO MY BED!  I TRY TO JUST CALMLY  LAY THERE AND LISTEN TO A LATE NIGHT MLB GAME ON MY XM RADIO... PRETENDING THEY'RE ACTUALLY REPORTING ONE OF MY SIMULATIONS............WHICH IS SOMEWHAT SATISFYING, BUT ALSO BRINGS OUT MY URGE TO DO IT MYSELF....WITHOUT ALL THE ADS, THE CORNY ANNOUNCERS, THE GUYS STEPPING IN AND OUT OF THE BATTERS' BOX TO TAP THE CLODS OUT OF THEIR CLEATS, OR OFF THE MOUND TO RUB UP THEIR BALLS, GET THE SHINE OFF OF THEM.  HOPEFULLY .WE'LL BE FULLY BACK TO BUSINESS ON 1903 TOMORROW... IT'S A LOT BETTER THAN BEING STUCK FULLTIME IN UNLUCKY 2013!!

Chief Bender, winning P from Crow Wing County, MN

1903 EOBHR REPLAY#34:DAY 8 of 16

59 DT (5-3/3xT1st) 4-9-1  SB (4-4/3xT5th-1g) 2-6-2

So now all those AL 4-3 teams after Day 7 have had time to play each other, and have separated themselves neatly and of course equally into two piles:  three 5-3 teams (Red Sox, Tigers, A's) and three 4-4 teams (Chisox, Highlanders, and Browns)...Plus there are the 4-3 Indians who are about to play the 0-7 Nationals, to see whether they will fall into the 5-3 bucket or the 4-4 one (odds would say the 5-3 bucket, given how awful Washington is!).

Tiger starting P Frank Kitson, who was forced into Game 2 in relief when Bill Donovan departed with a minor injury after 7 innings of work, then, since he couldn't pitch 9, also was called on for relief in Day 3 and Day 4,  finally gets his 1st start, and 6-hits the Browns.  

Kitson now has the unique distinction of having a 3-1 record, or half of the Tigers' decisions, to go with an excellent 1.02 ERA -- and could possibly stand a chance to be EOBHR's first 7-win pitcher (in one season's replay) ever.  Eddie Cicotte '17, Burleigh Grimes '28, and Robin Robert '54 have each had 6-0 replays.  

Tiger leadoff man, heavy partier (just kidding) Billy Lush continues to be a lush provider of offensive production.  In this game, with one out T3rd, Billy Lines one RF that great hit, not so great field HOF RF Jesse Burkett drops, scoring SS Herman 'Germany' Long, who had lined a long leadoff single.  Lush then swipes 2nd and takes 3rd on a bad throw by C Joe 'I sugged on that play' Sugden, giving Billy a lush total of four steals already, and setting Billy up at 3rd base, where he can score on Sam Crawford's weakly hit infield safety.

Burkett quickly makes an amend for his fielding boo-boo by looping an RBI single B2nd to cut the Tiger lead to 2-1.  But in the T4th, big 6-2/195lb Charles Carbitt 'Charlie' Carr bounces his 2nd hit up the middle... Then, with the big Carr roaring towards 2nd like a freight train, little used sub 5-8/150lb 'Patsy' Greene lines what proves to be the decisive hit, a double, over 1st.  SS Long (.125) follows with his 2nd hit of the game and the replay, making it 4-1.

Tiger manager, Ed 'Big Wheel' Barrow, future HOF Yankee power broker, 'I felt like kissin' Kitson after this win!'

58  PA (5-3/T1st+0.5g) 8-13-0  NY (4-4/T6th) 2-9-2

The logjam of all the 4-3 teams in the AL continues to break up, of necessity, as the many 4-3 teams play each other.  Thus, after this game, we now have the A's and the Red Sox tied for first with 5-3 records at this moment -- and ironically or 'as expected with such a great simulation', they were the actual top two teams in the realworld 1903 standings.  And when Detroit (4-3) plays St. Louis (4-3) -- one of the two remaining AL games in Day 8 -- one of those teams will join the Elephants and the Bosox in first, at least momentarily.

The decisive blow in this game is a 3-run HR by A's OF Danny Hoffman versus  the Highlanders' struggling starting P 'Handsome Harry' Howell.

 Howell, who lasts only 3 innings, is kayoed by the Hoffman HR no out T4th that makes it 5-0, A's.

Meanwhile, HOFer and Native American Chief Bender (2-0/2.00), from Crow Wing County, Minnesota, hums along to his 2nd victory, fanning 5 and walking one, and also going 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI....

'Snake' Wiltse, the brother of the better known 'Hooks' Wiltse, does a nice 6 inning job in relief for the New Yorkers, pretty much shutting down the A's after they bomb 'Handsome Harry' for six quick tallies.

'Hooks' was 139-90/2.47 in his 12 year career, while 'Snake' was but 29-31/4.59 in a 3 year career that is completed in this year of 1903.  His downfall was perhaps his 15-19/5.13 '02, where he led the AL with an outlandish 397 hits (226 runs) allowed in 302 innings pitched....in this otherwise offensively compromised era.

Bender chief reason for win, ugly performance by Handsome Harry

57  BR (5-3/1st) 17-26-2  CW (4-4/7th) 3-5-0 

As a few of you might recall, the 1903 EOBHR AL is the organization where practially all the teams are tied for 1st, with a record of 4-3.  In this game, the actual 1903 World Champion Red Sox seem to be making a strong statement: We're not just like those other pretenders!

Trailing 2-0 after three innings, tied 2-2 after five, they outscore the Chisox 15-1 in the last four innings.  Boston's starting P Norm Gibson helps the White Sox stay in the game for a while with his generous free passes, walking nine in total in his start.  But oherwise, Gibson is stingy, allowing only four singles and a double, plus he also makes an error.

In contrast, Chicago collects 26 hits, including 3 doubles, a triple, and 3 homers, plus 4 walks and a hit batsman.  Regarding the hit batsman...  Losing P Nick Altrock, 'The Clown Prince of Baseball', who pitches all nine innings of the ugly loss, is not so hilarious when he drills star Bosox OF Chick Stahl, and injures him  for at least the rest of the regular season and part of the Tourney.  What makes the beaning seem almost certainly intentional is that it happens on the next play after winning P Gibson rips a bases loaded triple into the LF corner to make the score 10-3, Boston, T8th. 

Undeterred -- or maybe better yet: incited, the Red Sox pour on seven more runs with two out B9th, on a P Gibson two run dinger (personal revenge), a SS Fred Parent grand slam, and one last ribbie on a Jack O'Brien double by diving 1B Frank Isbell for the Bosox' 26th hit.

Winning P Gibson has an especially memorable day with a 5-hit win, plus a single, triple, homer, and 7 RBI!?!  But given that leadoff man, injured Chick Stahl, had reached base safely five times in five plate appearances in this game before he was 'gunned down' for the rest of the season, Chick's loss could be costly to the team! 

Chick - Feel - Aargh!!

Big Bill Dineen to opponents: 'Well, you guys ready to lose one?'

Dave Brain: 'Really! I'm not that smart... It's just a name that seems to run in our family...'

After the game, Ed Phelps beaming: 'I knew what I wanted to with Iron Man's pitch, and I did it!'

Iron Man: 'I can't believe I let this happen to me... I just can't believe it.... Maybe this is just a fantasy I'm having, and the real thing is just happening in some old geezer's head, as he rolls dices...'

1903 EOBHR REPLAY #34: DAY 7 OF 16

56 NG (4-3/4xT2nd) 10-15-0  PT (2-5/T7th) 11-15-2 in 10 

This is just one of those games that seems to float above the 'laws' of logic and probability, following its own internal logic or plot. 

Rationally, you could say that the factor that most tipped the scales was the Giants' risky use of starter Roscoe 'Roxy' Miller, who had only 8 starts and 7 relief appearances in real '03, with a 2-5-3/4.13 log.  Maybe they felt they had little hope against the great Pirate starting P Deacon Phillippe, so they might as well rest the important members of the staff for this game. 

Of course, that doesn't explain why 25-9/2.43 actual '03 Deacon Phillippe (best actual NL WHIP/1.03, BB9/0.9, K/BB:4.24) was hit equally hard to lowly Roscoe...Although, after this game, the Giants (7.3) and the Bucs (7.4) were leading the replay in runs/game by quite a margin, so these teams do pour on the runs in general.

In the T2nd, Giant leadoff man, unusually speedy C Jack Warner, is drilled by the humane and cautious Phillippe (a total of 4 hit batsmen in 289 actual innings '03)... Then, with Warner on the move, 19th century star, 37 year old George Van Haltren, in his final season of 17, lines a go-ahead double over 2nd.  To make things worse, one out later, the HOF OF Fred Clarke drops P Roscoe Miller's fly, making it 2-0, Giants.  The New Yorkers pile on with three more tallies in the T3rd, Sam Mertes (double for replay leading 12th RBI...later also notching his 13**th), Warner RBI single and another RBI hit for Van Haltren make it 5-0.

But the Pirates nearly tie it with 4 runs B4th, as P Phillippe himself has a 2-run single.  5-4 Giants

An amend-making Fred Clarke has a big hit in both the aforesaid B4th rally and the Bucco 4-run lead-reversing rally B5th, which features a sub SS Otto Krueger 2-run bases loaded single.  With the score 6-5, Pirates, the Giants pull P Roscoe Miller in favor of Iron Man Joe McGinnity, who made 48 starts and 7 relief appearances in the Giants' 139 actual '03 games!!

But the Buc momentum is rolling, and even Iron Man Joe gets touched for a 2-run double by a 21 year old phenom, Hans Lobert.  8-5 Bucs

No problem, say the Giants T8th, as these non-stop offenses keep pouring it on against good pitching, excluding Roscoe Miller (who was still hardly bottom of the barrel).  The Giants double up their five runs with another five T8th  -- all with two outs -- off a tiring, incredulous Deacon Phillippe ('Where have I sinned?  Where must I be even purer in my behavior and pitching release going forward??')... The big blow being 'Dangerous' Dan McGann's lead-reversing triple into the RF corner. 10-8 Giants, T8th

And with two out B8th, Ginger Beaumont re-ties the game, and thus delivers Deacon Phillippe from the loss with a 2-run single to RF, placing him in limbo...as this game will need extra frames!  10-10     

With Bucs having to use frontline P Ed Doheny due to Deacon Phillippe's fatigue and ineffectiveness, allowing him release to go pray and try to determine just where he has gone astray....But with the superlative McGinnity hanging in there for the Giants, full of energy because he had two days rest from his prior start before this relief job....the least likely of all candidates, unknown sub C Ed Phelps (who appears again much later in the story of baseball, with the Mariners, I believe), drives a mysterious two out B10th double LCF.... and Doheny, sick of this marathon, wanting some after-game refreshment in the very worst way, rises to the occasion by looping a single RF....with the lumbering, laboring Phelps just barely safe on the closest of plays at home...then disappears into the future!

'Phelps helps!' yelps relieved fan

55  PH (2-5/T7th) 1-4-1  CC (4-3/3xT3rd) 2-6-0

Baseball was a much less stable product back in 1903.  In 1894, after the pitching distance was extended to the current 60' 6", OPS (on base % plus slugging average) reached its all-time high of .814 -- higher than even the rabbit-ball season of 1930, when the moguls really juiced the ball to keep interest high in the game during the depths of the Depression, producing the second highest OPS (.790), and where the balls were rumored as so lively that they would bounce around by themselves in a quiet, empty room, without being hit, thrown, kicked etc. -- followed by the apex of juiced players in 2000 (OPS = .782). 

So, from 1894 (.814) to 1908 (.599), OPS quickly crash-dived from its all time high to its all-time low -- excluding the primitive years of 1876-80, where they would simply use a rock or round chunk of concrete or a hornet's nest for the ball (just kidding, but I mean, players weren't even using gloves or catcher's masks or cups back then... a very different game, probably lots of masochists in the ranks and sadists in the stands).

This replay season of 1903 actually wasn't that odd, being most similar in OPS to modern seasons 1967 (the year before 'The Year of the Pitcher', 1968, Denny McLain 31-6/1.96, etc.) and 1972 (when Steve Carlton won 27 games with a sub-2.00 ERA... but on the other hand guys like Johnny Bench proved their transcendance, or that all was not lost, compared to fellow players, with 40HR/125RBI, Billy Williams still hitting .333).  All three of these offensively compromised seasons plus ('03, '67, '72) still averaged more than 8 runs per both sides (e.g., a 5-3 game score) for the average game (currently 8.0 in this EOBHR replay for '03)...

So this particular kind of 2-1 game, Cubs defeating the Phillies, was commonplace but still not the norm or average.  And boy am I glad, because this was one boring, futile game!! 

When Phillie losing P Chick Fraser (0-2/5.79) pitches a CG loss, facing only 28 Cub batters, when the game went 9 innings, you know not much of anything happened but one out after another.

All of the scoring is done by the middle of the 2nd.  The Cubs' Doc Casey opens the B1st against Chick Fraser (0-2/2.50) by looping a single, then red-hot OF Jack McCarthy (.462) hooks a wicked double down the RF line, arguably the game's big moment....Johnny Evers deliberately grounds out to the right side (How do I know?  I asked him after the game!  Don't you have that kind of intimate rapport with your players?  You need to get it, pal...(just don't let your wife or love interest hear you talking to them), then Worthville PA's Jimmy Slagle lines the winning margin double into the RCF gap: 2-0 Cubs.

The Phillies respond quickly T2nd.  'Fighting Harry' Wolverton, a real tough guy who accidentally fractured his skull on a wooden pole by the Philly streetcar tracks (apparently extending his head too far out to catch the breeze as the streetcar zoomed by said pole and WHHAACCCKKKKK!!!) triples and scores on a Kid Gleason sac fly T2nd, as I all got all excited about a game that looked like there would be some exciting ACTION in it....

But the offenses were stone dead from there on, under the control of loser Fraser, and Cubbie winner Bob Wicker (2-0/2.50), who pitches a 4-hitter. 

Wicker turns Phillie batters into basket cases

54  SC (2-5/8th) 9-11-0  BK (4-3/T3rd) 2-7-3

Now here's an upset of sorts, as the actual 43-94/8th Cardinals soundly defeat the 70-66/5th Dodgers.  Needless to say, when the Cards start 26-year-old future HOFer Mordecai 'Three-Finger' Brown, they become much more like a first division team with first dimension probabilities than a dead last club. But the Dodgers' Ned Garvin (the near-grandfather of more modern P Ned Garver?) is not easy pickings, with 15 wins, 154 punchouts to 84 walks, and an ERA just above 3.00. 

And the whole team seems to perk up as a result... especially after Dodger starting 3B 'Dutch' Jordan collides with solid-rock-like slugging C Fred Jacklitsch T2nd pursuing a pop up lifted by Cardinal C Jack O'Neill, and 3B Jordan is out for the rest of the replay, except perhaps the Tourney.  Brooklyn had already lost valuable leadoff man and starting 3B Sammy Strang to an injury, but he should back soon, to replace the man (Jordan) who got injured while replacing Sammy. 

Thus the odds become better and better for lowly St. Louis in this game.

And St. Louis leadoff man Pat Donovan, who is now a maniacal17** for 30 (.567), contiunes to lead the Redbird offense with 3 hits and a walk! Patsy's second hit of the game, leading off the T3rd, becomes the go-ahead run, when 2B John Farrell (.300) forces him, then steals 2nd, and scores on a cleanup man Homer Smoot (.313) single down the RF line. Then Smoot steals 2nd, his 4th, tying him for the NL lead, and 3B 'Sunset Jimmy' Burke's (what's happened to the colorful nicknames like that in modern baseball?  risk of lawsuits for the coiner of the nickname?) grounder is fumbled by renowned/notorious Dodger SS Bad Bill Dahlen, and Dave Brain says 'I have a brilliant idea!' and pulls a 2-run triple down the LF line to make it 3-0... As it turns out, enough to win this one!

Back in the 1950's, when I was playing my wooden baseball game, I remember Dave Brain was on my Boston Braves team (along with other greats in Braves history pre-Aaron), since I found his name in a listing of the annual MLB HR leaders.  Brain led the NL with a staggering (for that era) ten homers in 1907, and he also hit quite a few homers in my wooden baseball league, where I managed to be both the home and away teams, rolling the marble to myself with one hand and hitting it with my little wooden bat controlled by my other hand. 

Of course, pictures of players like Dave, or more details than their year by year BA and games played, which is what the original Baseball Encyclopedia had, and any league leaderships they attained, were absolutely unavailable to a poor little slobs like me..... Unless they were rich enough to buy expensive old magazines from that era that had a little more player by player info.  I certainly wasn't, my father a victim of TB and in the hospital/sanitarium or in bed at home for most of my early years.

Dave Brain also beats out a slowly hit grounder T5th to make it 5-0, with Jimmy Burke also picking up a ribbie in this inning.  Three-Finger Brown even smashes a 2-run HR in the 8th to make it 9-1, but a Tim Flood double for the Dodgers in the B8th cuts the final advantage to 9-2.

Brainy plays characterize today's Cardinal effort

53  CN (3-4/6th) 3-5-2  BB (4-3/4th-0.5g:1st) 5-8-2

Speaking of parity, which SABRmetricians claim, I'm sure correctly, increases with the recency of the season, there is an ungodly amount of parity in this 1903 replay so far.  Not only is there a 7-way tie for 1st place in the AL, but the NL has six of its 8 teams (3 of them tied for 1st at 4-2, one at 4-3, one at 3-3, and one at 3-4) between 4-2 and 3-4.  Just doing coin flips with eight different coins you might expect more dis-parity.....

Anyway, in this game the actual 58-80 Braves defeat the actual 74-65 Reds to move half a game out of 1st, albeit still just in 4th place, while the Reds slip to 6th in the tightly bunched race with their 3-4 log.  The 7th and 8th place teams both 110 years ago and in this replay are the Phillies (2-4; 49-86) and the Cardinals (1-5; 43-94). 

HOFer Vic Willis dominates this game.  Willis was renowned in real life for winning 249 games and pitching an amazing 50 shutouts in just 13 MLB seasons.  He does allow 3 runs in this EOBHR win, but pitches a 5-hitter against the actual 4th place Reds (74-65) for the actual 6th place Braves (58-80), defeating one of their aces, Long Bob Ewing (2.49 realworld career ERA).

But Vic also doubles to lead off the B3rd, scoring when next batter 1B Fred Tenney doubles as well, to tie the game 1-1.  Then, in his next at bat B4th, Willis rockets what proves to be the game's 'winning margin' or decisive hit down the RF line, scoring 2B Ed 'APBA' Apbaticchio -- well, really Abbaticchio, who for decades was the first listed player, and a quite undistinguished one at that, in baseball reference books... You know, before the Aaron brothers or Andy Abad or David Aardsma, who is the current #1. 

Anyhow, Ed A. walked and stole 2nd to set up the winning margin hit situation that P Willis brought to fruition.

In the T5th, another notable situation occurs when Cincy C Bill Bergen drills a leadoff triple in response to the Braves' rally and Reds' P Ewing follows with his own 3-bagger, BTB triples by the battery.  Assault and battery, I mean assault by battery. 

No, but the amazing thing about this is that C Bill Bergen triples....As you may know, Bill is generally regarded the worst hitter in the history of MLB -- but this season of '03 is the one and only bright, shining spot in his dreary offensive career, when he hit a remarkable (for him) .227. 

The rest of his BAs in Bergen's eleven year career as a 'defensively oriented' catcher were: .179, .180, .182, .190, .159, .159, .175, .139, .161, and his coup de gras: .132 in 1911, when the cork-centered ball had its first full season as the pellet of choice for MLB.

You probably are thinking: Sure, but he's just another all-or-nothing power hitter, arriving on the scene too early.... But no, I don't think so, although he was a healthy 6'/184lbs...  in an average season of 300 at bats, Bill averaged only 4 or 5 doubles, 2 triples, and 0 homers (he had 2 in his career in 947 games).  He didn't even strike out very much (about 40 times per season), meaning he must have been a grand master of the pop up and routine grounder... and probably quite slow (23 career steals, 138 career runs in 947 career games).

Vic-tory OR Vic's-story! 

52  SB (4-3/7xT1st) 4-9-1  WN (0-7/8th) 1-11-0

The Nationals outhit the Browns 11-9, a kind of moral victory for them, but still are defeated soundly, 4-1... And only one of their 11 hits is actually even a partial cause of their one run scored (lowly sub Champ Osteen bloop single, St. Louis HOF SS Bobby Wallace error, a wild pitch winning P Roy Evans -- unrelated as far as we know to Dale Rogers -- in the B2nd). 

By the time Washington gets their singleton, the Brownies are already ahead 4-0, and this fluky run is the end of the game's scoring, in one of the least interesting and competitive contests in recent memory.

Charlie Hemphill (game leadoff double), RF Jesse Burkett single, 1B 'Honest' John Anderson single, 2 for 19 2B Bill Friel bases loaded walk against Nat P 'Highball' Howard Wilson, who probably had a few before the game....Then a 3B Hunter Hill long bases loaded single gives the Browns a 4-0 lead before the 0-7 Washingtonians even bat!

Seven of the eight AL teams now 4-3, one 0-7...how very weird. 

National disgrace 

51 CW(4-3/6xT1st)3-6-0 DT(4-3/6xT1st)1-11-2 in 15

There have been quite a few of these EOBHR replays, but I can't remember a six-way tie for 1st in an 8-team league ever happening, especially with the replay nearing the halfway mark!  Plus the 7th place Browns are 3-3, and if they beat the 0-6 Nationals in the next game, there will be a 7-way tie for 1st, while the Nats will be 0-7, 7 1/2 games behind each of the seven other teams.  Eerie.

Of course, it points to the abject horribleness of the '03 Senators, whose closest loss of the seven was a 6-3 defeat by the St. Louis Browns!!

This contest is about as uneventful as one can be, until PH Billy Hallman triples home Frank Isbell (leadoff single past 2B Heinie Smith) and Lee Tannehill (1B Charlie Carr error) with one out in the 16th inning. 

Another irony of this contest is that the losers (Tigers, 11 hits) almost double up the winning Sox (6 hits) on safeties!  So losing hurler Charlie Kisinger pitches a 16 inning 6-hitter, allowing only one earned run (2 unearned), and allowing just one unintentional walk!

The costly Detroit errors include 1B Carr's fumble mentioned above, as well as a dropped grounder by occasional SS 'Sport' McAllister, who led the losers with 3 hits, including an instrumental one in the B4th when the Tigers scored their only run.  It's good Ty Cobb wasn't managing these guys, or they might have gotten beaten in more ways than one!

Billy:  I ought to be put in the Hall, man, for ending that game the way I did....(of course the 'Hall' didn't exist yet)

50  NY (4-3/4xT2nd) 5-10-0  CL (4-3/4xT2nd) 0-1-3

We have our second straight one hitter, as Clark Griffith pitches his replay-leading 2nd straight shutout and faces only 28 batters (one more than the minimum) in this easy Highlander win. 

Theoretically, Earl 'Crossfire' Moore is just as wicked to hit as Griffith, but the future Yankees knock Moore around for ten hits, including three extra base knocks by leadoff man 5-6/150 CF Herm McFarland.  The mighty mite triples over LF 'Deerfoot' Bay to open the contest, scoring when next batter HOFer Wee Willie (5-5/140, wee-er even than Herm!) Keeler doubles off the RCF wall. (These are not the Murderers' Row New Yorkers yet).

Winning P Griffith himself singles in a two out insurance run T4th to make it 2-0, then Keeler walks and eventually scores in the 2-run T5th, which also features a two out Lefty Davis ribbie single: 4-0, NY.   

The wonderful 3-hole-batting 2B, 5-9/175 Jimmy 'Buttons' Williams, lofts a triple over Cleveland RF 'Bullet Jack' Thoney and comes in to score the final N.Y. run T9th.

Herm sends three deep into 'Mc Far Land'

49  PA (4-3/T3rd) 0-1-0  BR (4-3/T3rd) 2-5-0

Yes, this is the deadball era.  Here we have the top A.L. finishers of actual 1903 tied for 3rd place, despite having two of the worst offenses in either league in this replay so far.  The A's are batting .186, and have scored 2.3 runs per game, while the Bosox are batting .204, and averaging 2.6 runs per contest.  The A's have won all four games where they scored 2+ runs, but have (not surprisingly) lost all three where they scored one run or less.  The Red Sox are a little more normal, for instance having won 5-1 (Nats) and 5-2 (Indians) and also lost 7-0 (Tigers) and 2-0 (Browns).

With the A's managing to come up with only one single, by Harry Davis, and three scattered walks in the entire 9 innings off Dineen, they are never even close to scoring, and 'Big Bill' does truly seem to tower over the cowering midget-like A's today.  On the other hand, the Red Sox actually score in two separate innings against HOFer Eddie Plank!  Buck Freeman, Freddy Parent, and 2 for 27 Candy LaChance all collect singles as they produce a run B4th... And in the B6th Sox rally, a Buck Freeman leadoff double plus a ground out and a 2B Hobe Ferris (7th RBI) sac fly produces the unnecessary but comforting insurance run.

Winner Dineen really makes his own day easy, facing just 29 A's batters in his seemingly effortless CG win.

Big Bill Dineen:  Yes, I'll never forget those 29 A's....what a bunch of losers

Wild Bill Donovan?

Perhaps, but this is baseball's Wild Bill Donovan

Jimmy 'Rabbit' Slagle, 5'7" 144lb Cub OF

1903 EOBHR REPLAY #34: DAY 6 OF 16

48  SC (1-5/8th) 7-12-3  PH (2-4/7th) 8-14-0 

A seesaw battle to avoid falling into last place.....The Phillies take the early lead on a 2-run B1st double by C Frank Roth, his 3rd extra base hit of the replay.  But 2B John Farrell triples to lead off the T3rd and scores the tying run on a CF and eventual-goat-to-be Homer Smoot ground out.  In the B3rd, Roth rather unglamourously (this time) puts the Phils ahead again with a GDP after a 2-base error by SS Dave Brain sets up a scoring opp.  3-2 Phils

Time passes, and now it's the 6th inning, where the Phils mount a 2-out 2-run rally to extend their lead to 5-2.  'Rascally' RF Roy Thomas, CF Bill Keister, and 3B Harry Wolverton all contribute singles in the uprising.

But with their wings against the wall T9th, the Cardinals score five big runs to reverse the lead in a shocking, decisive fashion.  Occasional pitcher and shortstop, the somewhat portly PH 5-8/180 'Uncle Charlie' Moran ties the game with a long single after a number of of other redbird safeties.  But since there's only one out, the Cardinals, based on past experience, don't stop there.  Patsy Donovan raises his BA to 14 for 26 (.535) with a long go-ahead single, making it 6-5 St. Louis T9th, 2B John Farrell (.269) singles to re-load the bases, and goat-to-be Homer Smoot grounds into an RBI FC to make it 7-5 St. Looie entering the B9th.

In the B9th Cardinals have the same problem as the Phillies T9th, i.e.,, getting anyone out.  LF Shad Barry fists a leadoff single for the Phils' 12th hit, 6-0/200 1B Klondike Douglass smashes one to 2B Farrell that he does a good job just knocking down, unable to make the throw, then SS Rudy Hullswitt (Hulls witt being a hero, I just wants to hep the teem, he thinks)  walks to loads the bases against relief pitcher  'Uncle Charlie' Moran, hero in the T9th at the plate, but now not looking so hot B9th on the mound. 

The renowned Phillie batting threat 'Silent John' Titus is announced as a PH, as the announcer goes:  'Now batting for Philadelphia' -- then silence, indicating who it in fact it is (he was not a mute, just had an unusually quiet demeanor).

Titus (also known as 'Tight Axx' for his tightness with a buck -- for real), when he senses the next pitch is going to be a hittable strike, moves his toothpick from the corner of his mouth to the center, and then lines a sinking single to CF on which Homer Smoot tries to make a diving catch.... his try is a failure, as the ball hits the ground and bounces a way.... Smoot seems confused about which way the ball went.....Where the hxll is the damn thing?  And all three runners score. making the location of the ball a Smoot point... i.e., only of interest to Smoot, no one else in the park, who are either rejoicing as Phillie fans or players, or dejectedly walking off the field if they are Cardinal personnel.

That were one of thuh closess, Titus games I ever did seen

The Tigers easily prevail in this contest with the actual '03 World Champion Red Sox (91-47 actual '03), mauling them 7-0, and moving within a half game of the first place A's (4-1).  The Sox appear completely baffled by the offerings of Tiger starter Wild Bill Donovan, who has pitched 16 innings so far in this replay without allowing a run, earned or unearned.  On the other hand, Sox starter Long Tom Hughes comes up a little short against the Tigers, who score on him early and often.  'Little Joe' Yeager and Sam Crawford (.429: 4 for 5, run, RBI) lace singles T1st, then slumping  (2 for 24 by game's end) Jimmy Barrett (.083) drives in the go-ahead run with baseball's second most thrilling play, the ground RBI FC!

In the T4th, 6-1/185lb C Jim 'Deacon' McGuire bashes a 2-run double deep LCF, and Sam Crawford loops his 3rd hit of the game T5th to make it 4-0.     

'Nuff said.

Donovan Sunshine Superman in this day game in Boston

Joss with the 15-inning CG loss

1903 EOBHR REPLAY #34: DAY 5 OF 16

40  NG (4-1/T1st) 18-19-1  SC (1-4/T7th) 5-10-1

Last game it was the actual 7th place, 49-86 Phillies being hammered 9-4 (9-1 until a 3-run B9th). 

This game, actual last place 43-94 St.louis is hammered even worse: 18-5.  The New Yorkers declare war on Cardinal starting P War Sanders, and attack him for 7 runs T1st, capped by a George Browne bases clearing double (George's leadoff double starts the rally as he is both the alpha and the omega B1st). 

Browne (.500) ends the day 5 for 6 with 2 doubles, a homer, 2 singles, a sac fly, 4 runs, and 6 ribbies.  CF Roger Bresnahan continues to be an ungodly offensive presence, going 3 for 5 with 3 runs and 2 walks.  He is batting 14 for 20 (.700) with 4 walks, for a .750 OBP. 

And, batting 5th after the above fellows, it is no surprise that LF #5 batter Sam Mertes (.500) leads the replay with 11 RBI.  In this game, 'Sandow' is 3 for 5 with a walk, a run and 3 RBI. 

Somehow, Giant starting P Jack Cronin slogs through all nine innings off this marathon, facing 40 St. Louis batters to pick up the easy (well, in some ways) 18-5 victory.

When St. Louie reliever Charlie Moran hits valuable starting 2B Charlie Babb in the leg T3rd, and knocks him out for 13 days, it seems to incent the Giants to turn this into a real massacre, which they do.  We will see how the loss of 2-hole batter Babb affects the Giants' performance going forward...

Giants ride Charlie-horse to victory

39  CN (2-3/T5th) 9-17-0  PH (1-4/8th) 4-9-1

The final score understates the magnitude of this blowout, as the Phillies enter the B9th trailing 9-1, and score three meaningless runs, two of them on a two out last dying gasp B9th double by Phillie 8-hole-batting, poor-fielding SS Rudy Hulswitt.  A leadoff B9th leadoff triple by CF Bill 'Wagon Tongue' Keister starts this far-too-little-too-late, but statistics-building rally off the great 'Noodles' Hahn. 

5-9/160 Hahn was a model of incredible consistency, winning either 22 or 23 games in all but one of his first five MLB seasons (he won only 16 in his sophomore season, when his ERA ballooned to 3.27).  

But Noodles pitched no less than 296 innings in any of his first six seasons... then was diagnosed with a 'dead arm'... (-- My father, normally the CF,  pitched a couple of high-school team no-hitters throwing a sumarine ball...and I know what 'dead arm' is, from when I was trying to outdo Dad by being the starting side-arming, fastball-throwing, pitcher every day in summer sandlot games in my early teens; I still have dead arm to this day, plus a permanently crooked right elbow!!  (I found, howver, that I could still bring on the heat in wiffleball up into my 30's, for some reason...)

Hahn's pinnacle of misuse (although he may have been happy to do it, I don't know all the details) was in 1901, when Noodles completed 41 of 42 starts, leading the league with 375 innings pitched.

In this EOBHR game, given Hahn (1-1/4.00 in this '03 replay so far) was late in his brief career, but still with a 'live arm', he let his batters do the work, and minimized his pitch count by fanning one and walking none.

Phils' Losing P Jack McFetridge (actually 1-11/4.89 in '03 with 31 K's to 49 walks in his 13 starts), on the other hand, faces 50 batters in taking the 9-4 loss.  Plus when Reds' SS Tommy Corcoran punches one back to him T2nd, P McFetridge fires the ball way over 6'/200lb 1B 'Klondike' Douglass' head, bringing in the game's first two runs.

Cozy Dolan (.375/4 for 6 in game) keeps the pressure on McFetridge by knuckling a triple over CF Keister T3rd, and scoring on a Mike Donlin single to make it 3-0, Reds.  Then solid 3B Hap Steinfeldt walks, still no out, and with two down, clutch-hitting C Heinie Peitz, who is 3-5/D/R/3RBI in the game, singles home Donlin with two out. 

Aside from his T3rd RBI double, the irrepressible Heinie a) doubles to start the 2-run Red rally T2nd, b) brings in what proves to be the deciding, 5th Cincy run, with a FC groundout T7th, and caps the Reds' 3-run T8th with a seeing eye single through the right side.

P Jack McFetridged-up with himself after this erratic performance 

38  PT (3-2/T3rd) 8-10-0  CC (2-3/5th) 7-12-1

Both the Pirates and the Cubs of this era were storied teams, and they team up today to produce a memorable contest. 

For most of the game, Pirate spot-starter Kaiser Wilhelm (5-3/3.24 actual '03) does a good job of keeping the Cubs in check, while Cub #1 starter Jack Taylor (21-14/2.45 actual '03) has somewhat surprisingly allowed 5 runs by the 7th, as the big blows are a Buc LF Jimmy Sebring 2-run double (.292) to cap a 3-run go-ahead T3rd, and a Fred Clarke two-run HR sliced over the RF fence, just missing the foul pole,  making it 5-2 T7th.

But in the surprising B8th, the Cubs make a withering 2-out 4-run lead-reversing assault on starting P Taylor and the Bucs, as red-hot 8-hole batter LF Jack McCarthy (.524) lines a lead-reversing two-out triple in the midst of this shocking uprising.... all the more surprising when the legendary Deacon Phillippe, normally a starter, is brought in to quash the Cub onslaught... but ends up being hit as hard or harder than Wilhelm!

Highly esteemed Cub starting P Jack Taylor, who looked like he was about to take a surprisingly bad loss, even gets some revenge, singling in the Cubs 4th run of the B8th rally with his 4th hit of the game!

So the Cubs leapfrog the Pirates with 5 B8th runs and lead 7-5 entering the T9th, 4 for 4 batting Jack Taylor still in charge of their hurling.  He faces the top of the Pirate order.

True leadoff man, stocky but speedy 5-8/190 CF Ginger Beaumont, walks to start the crucial frame.  This brings up slumping 5-7/150lb 'small in stature but big in heart' offensive machine Tommy Leach, who many believe should be in the HOF... but so far in this EOBHR replay, Leach is just 3 for 22.... Coming through when it counts most, per his reputation,Tommy takes an RBI triple into the RF corner to cut the Cub nouveau lead to 7-6....  Still no one out, and HOFer Freddie Clarke, in one of the weirder events in my admittedly imperfect APBA memory, slices another 2-run HR down the RF line, where it was 340' in Chicago's old West Side grounds... his 2nd 2-run homer in 3 innings, both going out in the same spot, opposite field slicers, in this, the Deadball Era! 

Then Deacon Phillippe ends all this improbable, credibility-straining late-inning nonsense by fanning HOFer Johnny Evers, retiring HOFer Frank Chance on a routine fly out, and fanning clutch-hitting C Johnny Kling.

Leach takes free ride on last train from Clarksville and arrives victorious!

37 BB (3-2/3rd) 4-13-0 BK(4-1/1st+0.5g) 3-12-2 in10

And so, in this interesting contest, the last undefeated team (4-0 Dodgers) is defeated by the surprising actual 6th place Braves (3-2), who are now in 3rd place.  Brave 1B Fred Tenney opens the game with a HR high & deep RF, where it is only 295' down the RF line in Brooklyn's Washington Park Stadium.  But 295' with a deadball era ball is still a mighty blow.

The Dodgers' offensively strong 3B Sammy Strang has a rough 1st inning, first making an error that helps the Braves to score a 2nd run, and then turning away from a 'Togie' Pittinger inside fastball -- but not enough, being hit in the lower back with it (3 day injury for Sammy, star leadoff man of the Bums).

The scoring continues in the T2nd when Boston LF Pat Carney doubles and eventually scores on a sac fly by ultimate winning P Pittinger (1-1/1.89).  3-0 Braves

But the Dodgers are actually the better team, by 12 wins, in 1903, and they of course come back.  In the B5th, dynamic CF Jimmy Sheckard draws a 2-out walk, picks up his 2nd steal of the game, then scores on cleanup man Dirty Jack Doyle's long double LCF.  In the B7th, fine Brooklyn SS Bad Bill Dahlen cranks that rarity, an over-the-wall HR to cut the Brave lead to one... and later in this inning, Doc Gessler pulls a game-tying triple into the RF corner.

But in the final reckoning, this is a Bostonian day.  John Stanley, playing for injured SS 'Chub' Aubrey, opens the T10th with a double to RCF off pitcher Oscar Jones, still in the game, and then Pat Carney ends the affair with a drive over CF Sheckard, rolling merrily towards the distant deep CF wall, 550' away!!

Pittinger somehow manages to survive to win despite 12 hits, including 2 doubles, a triple, and a HR, plus 6 walks and a HBP -- as the untimely Dodgers strand 13 runners plus hit into two DPs.

No Oscar for Jones, due to Braves' Pat solution     

In this Deadball Classic, the actual 1903 World Series Champion Red Sox defeat the Indians 5-2 in 15 innings, to create a two-way tie for 2nd between these two clubs, a game and a half behind the 1st place A's (4-0).

The opposing hurlers, Boston's Cy Young (28-9-2/2.08/176K:37BB in actual '03), and Cleveland's Addie Joss (18-13/2.19/120K:37BB '03) are both in the HOF.  Addie is so sensational in his brief career (he died of meningitis at age 30), that he was named to the HOF despite not meeting the 10+ year career criterion, due to his untimely death and incredible talent.  Topped by Joss' 24-11/1.16ERA 1908 campaign ( he died April 14, 1911), Addie's lifetime record is 160-97, with a sub-2.00 -- to be precise,1.89 -- career ERA!!  Only the more venerable Ed Walsh (1904-17), who himself is a so-so 40-15/1.42ERA/42CG/269K:56BB in Addie's top season of '08, has a lower career ERA (1.82) than Addie (1.89)!

The teams trade 2-run rallies in the 2nd inning of this game, then there is no more scoring until the 15th frame.... in classic deadball style*.

Boston CF Jack O'Brien (.190: 3-6/D/2R), who was the game's hitting star, bounces a single up the middle T15th.  Then Boston pitching great Cy Young advances O'Brien with a weakly hit groundout.  HOF 3B Jimmy Collins is given an intentional walk by Joss -- but Bosox 2B Hobe Ferris (not to be confused with later Red Sox pitcher Boo Ferriss) bloops the go-ahead double down the RF line.. which slugging Buck Freeman follows with a hard RBI insurance single over leaping Cleveland HOF 2B Nap Lajoie.

Cy Young (15 inning four hitter) is the true star of the game.  After fine 3B Bill Bradley's triple in the Indians' 2-run B2nd, Young does not allow another hit until a single by opposing P Joss B8th -- who then is thrown out trying to steal on a broken hit & run play.  Cy also drives in the Bosox' 2nd run T2nd with a ground out, and his ground out T15th moves winning run O'Brien into scoring position.