1906  EOBHR REPLAY#38: DAY 7: A.L.

But John Godwin of the Sox rips a leadoff single RF... and then, as Godwin is swiping 2nd with one out, C Tubby Spencer's low throw gets by 2B Pete O'Brien (ruled an error for O'Brien as well as Tubby -- Tubby's bad throw eliminating the chance of nailing stealing Godwin, but 2B O'Brien at least should have been able to adjust his position and catch it, and preventing Godwin from winging on to 3rd). 

All this setting up a sac fly by star of the game, winning P Jesse Tannehill! 

And Jack Hoey (Who?  Hooie!) and slumping Moose Grimshaw keep the five out inning going, both singling with two out to make it 4-2....  while Jesse Tannehill jesse shuts Tubby Spencer and the rest of the Brownie Patrol dead down for the remainder of the contest!

'Tubby' in post-game interview with muckraking press:  'I am telling you it had nothing at all to do with my weight!!'

51  WN (3-4/T4th) 2-3-0

PA (3-4/T4th) 5-7-2

The 1906 actual 4th place A's (78-67 actual) tighten up the race for Tourney Positions (Top 4 teams in each league) with this win over the Nationals, which puts this game's two combatants into a tie for 4th place, the final EOBHR Tourney position for a standard 16-team league.  Of course, the Indians (7-0) and Highlanders (Yankees: 5-2) still hold down the top two A.L. hotshots slots with vehemence.

Our old pal from the Media. Pa. Courthouse, where slumping 4 for 27 Bris Lord  was a uniformed guard and guide for decades, when I and my other baseball-obsessed friends were youngsters, jacks a lordly, majestic 2-run lead-tripling homer to LF B8th, following a sub-2B Dave 'Bishop' Shean leadoff double. 

Normally good-hitting OF, Bris was a mere 4 for 28 in this '06 replay before his big, Nationally discouraging blast.  And, of course, we have to remember that this period was when MLB offense in general was near its all-time nadir....Soon to be improved by frequent replacement of the game ball, rather than waiting 'til it 'bust a seam'. and, even more importantly, placing a much livelier cork center in the MLB balls rather than the hard rubber center that was de rigueuer in these games of 1906.  

The Washington Nationals had taken an early one-run lead T1st against the great Native American Hall of Fame P 'Chief' Bender, but he bent only once more to the Nats, allowing another singleton run T8th in the easy 5-2 home A's victory.  And, speaking of bender, many give Chief the nod as the inventor of the slider, which has become one of the most relied-upon pitches in baseball... and been cursed as the cause of so many homers in the modern game!

As important in the final outcome as Lord's 2-run homer was slumping 3B and 8-hole-batting John Knight's lead-reversing A's single in the B1st after an Honest John Anderson sac fly had put the Nation's Capital ever so briefly ahead of the Quaker City.

Good Lord, Chief Reasons for Win

50  DT (2-5/7th) 4-8-1

NY (5-2/2nd) 6-8-1 in 5 1/2 innings (rain) 

RF Wahoo (not 'Yahoo'!) Sam Crawford (.320) lines a hard single over 2nd to put the struggling Tigers afead 1-0 T1st... But an RBI double by fancy-fielding Highlander 1st sacker 'Prince' Hal Chase with one out B3rd scores leadoff batting SS 'Little Joe' Yeager (double) to tie the game... Then add in the effects of a Tiger P George Mullin walk to Danny Hoffman just before Chase's 2-bagger, and a walk to Jimmy Williams walk right after it....plus a future umpiring great (but just a 3B in 1906) George Moriarty deep sac fly and a HOFer Wee Willie Keeler RBI single and it's 3-1 in a rain-shortened game the Highlanders will win 6-4 .

A 2-out 2-run single by Detroit 1B Pinky Lindsay cuts the New York lead to 6-4 T6th...But right after this hopeful turn for the Tigers, the rains put an end to any further clawback in a game where there was scoring in every inning but the 2nd... As a 3-run single by Jimmy Willams in the B4th is the game-decider. 

Yanks 'Jimmy' open door to victory, escape unscathed from win-starved Tigers

GAME 51

49 CL (7-0/1st) 6-15-0 

 CW (4-3/3rd) 5-6-3 in 12

One might look at the final line and say:  'How can a team (i.e., Sox) that collects only 6 hits and makes 3 bungles take a team (undefeated 7-0 Tribe) that collects 15 hits with no misplays into the 12th inning before succumbing?'

Of course, the obvious, almost circular or self-evident answer lies in the fact that the Indians left 11 men on base in the game, while the White 'Make the most with what you gots' Sox bitterly retched up only 3 men LOB!!!   

Perhaps the overconfident Indians (7-0) might not have taken the game seriously until the Sox posted a shocking 5-spot in the B7th, suddenly making it 5-5... A real shock to fine Tribe starter Otto Hess, who was theretofore pitching nearly perfect baseball.

Nonetheless, if you have one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Addie Joss, to relieve Hess, and who faces the minimum 12 Sox in his 4 innings of work, the bad moment becomes nothing more than a game-extending but otherwise harmless 'tempest in a teapot'.

Now Joss, in the history of real MLB, posted a career ERA (1.89) 2nd only to the great Ed Walsh... And Addie's real career WHIP (walks plus hits per 9 innings pitched) IS THE LOWEST OF ALL TIME IN MLB. 

So, one might say, if anyone can pull this game back from the sudden risk of defeat, it would be Addie.  And, in fact, it was 12 up, 12 down for the Highlanders during Joss' 4 innings of no-baserunner relief for the win... And in the T12th, fine C Billy Sullivan of the Sox staggers under but then loses hold of Indian 1B Claude Rossman's tightly spinning high pop in front of home plate.  Claude then swipes 2nd and scores on a Harry 'Deerfoot' Bay liner into LCF for the decisive run... and Joss completes his 12 up 12 down schtick B12th for the W.

Deerfoot and fancy free in12th