Series! Recap of World Series of the 1910s

For this one, we set the time machine for the 1910s: in the deadball days, when Babe Ruth was still a Red Sox pitcher, the classic stadia like Fenway and Wrigley first appeared, and gambling threatened to destroy the game. The players are mostly obscure; even the teams seem unfamiliar (the White Sox, a power?) Still, it’s undeniably baseball.

1910

In the first Golden Age of the Philadelphia Athletics, Connie Mack had built the team around the Hundred Thousand Dollar Infield of first baseman Stuffy McInnis, second baseman Eddie Collins (later one of the clean players on the Black Sox), shortstop Jack Barry and third baseman Frank “Home Run” Baker (who hit 96 homers lifetime, but led the league four times). 1910 was their first pennant, winning 102 games. Facing them was a classic Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance Cubs team, managed by Chance, the Peerless Leader, and winning 104 games. Their pitching staff included Three Fingers Brown (the result of several childhood accidents) and the wonderfully named Orval Overall. The Cubs had their usual performance in the Series and were outscored 35-15 in five games.

1911

John McGraw,the Giants manager, had been a do-anything-to-win roughneck since his stint as a third baseman with tho old Baltimore Orioles. Pitcher Christy Mathewson, his best player, was so upright a man that umpires asked him the result of plays they didn’t see and got honest answers. But they were the best of friends on and off the field. In 1911, Mathewson won 26 games and the Giants won the pennant. In the Series, the Athletics led 3-1 after four close games, then capped it off with a 13-2 blowout.

1912

A red-hot Red Sox team won 105 games, led by Smoky Joe Woods’s 34 victories and Tris Speaker’s .383/.464/.567. They faced an almost-as-hot (103 win) Giants team and won a close Series 4-3-1 (one game called on account of darkness after 12).

1913

The Athletics led by Collins over the Giants led by Mathewson in five mostly close games. Their infield was spectacular, especially Collins(125 runs) and Baker(12 HR and 117 RBI) . Chief Bender (a Native American, hence “Chief”) won 21 and saved 13 for Philadelphia, leading the AL in both categories.

1914

The Boston Braves were in last place on July 16 at 35-43. They then went 59-16 to win the pennant by 10 games and swept the Athletics in the Series by a combined 16-6. That was it for this version of the Athletics. The rise in player salaries due to competition from the Federal League (a third major league that played in 1914 and 1915) drove Mack to break up the team: Collins sold to the White Sox, Barry to the Red Sox, Baker to the Yankees.)

1915

The Red Sox, led again by Speaker and Wood, face the other Philadelphia team, led by pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, who won 31, and outfielder Gavvy Cravath, who hit 24 home runs, a ton in those pre-Ruthian days. (Ruth was already a pitcher with the Red Sox, but not yet a power hitter.) “Gavvy” was short for “Gaviota”, Spanish for seagull, one of which he’d hit and killed with a line drive (shades of Randy Johnson). The Phillies won Game 1 before losing four one-run games to make it Red Sox in five. The Phillies wouldn’t win a championship until 1980.

1916

This year, representing the NL, Brooklyn, featuring Hall of Famers pitcher Rube Marquard, outfielder Zack Wheat, and manager Casey Stengel.though Stengel wasn’t a manager yet; he played in the outfield. They faced another fine Red Sox team, now starring Babe Ruth as a starting pitcher (1.75 ERA), not yet as a hitter. Sox in 5.

1917

The White Sox, with the same lineup they’ll have two years later, win the pennant by 9 games. Eddie Cicotte wins 28 games. Shoeless Joe Jackson and Eddie Collins lead the offense. In the other corner, the Giants, sill managed by McGraw, though Mathewson had retired from playing and was now managing the Reds. Chicago in six, with Red Faber winning three: two starts and one in relief.

1918

1918 was a shortened season because of the war, with the Series in early September. The Red Sox won the pennant again, starting to give Ruth time in the outfield; he hit .300/.411/.555 with 11 home runs in 95 games). They played a very good Cubs team, led by Hippo Vaughn with a league-leading ERA of 1.74 and 22 wins and Lefty Tyler at 2.00 and 19 respectively. The Cubs outscored the Sox 10-9 but still lost in 6 games.

1919

Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams won 52 games between them, but they, along with the rest of the Black Sox, took money from gamblers to throw the World Series. The result was Reds 5-3, but we’ll never know how Cincinatti would have done in an honest Series. Eight players were expelled from baseball after the scandal broke: those two pitchers, five(!) starting position players, ond one reserve infielder. (At least it made a good movie.) It doesn’t matter how long ago it was; Pete Rose deserves to be banned forever for breaching that wall. (And yes, MLB’s current cozying up to gambling is a disgrace too.)

This was a decade of American League dominance and dynasties. Eight victories and one Series thrown, all by the Athletics, Red Sox and White Sox. Totals: Red Sox 4-0, Athletics 3-1, White Sox 1-1, Braves and Reds 1-0, Giants 0-4, Cubs 0-2, and Phillies and Dodgers 0-1.