1912 World Series Game 1

Another Great One

1912 World Series Game 1

Smoky Joe Wood was no slouch.

The Red Sox were leading this game 4-2 going into the bottom of the 9th inning.

Wood got New York leadoff hitter Red Murray to fly out harmlessly to right field to start the inning. However, consecutive singles by Fred Merkle, Buck Herzog, and Jack Meyers produced a run, turning it into a 4-3 game and presumably causing wild celebrations in the Polo Grounds.

There were now runners on second and third with only one out. Beals Becker, who we know from the 1908 Pirates, came in to run for catcher Meyers.

Up next for New York was the 8th hitter in the lineup, Art Fletcher. He would be followed by pitcher Doc Crandall, who you’d figure John McGraw would lift for a pinch hitter.

Wood struck out Fletcher — and then struck out Crandall, who McGraw inexplicably decided not to pinch hit for.

And that ended that.

But was this one of the best World Series first games of all time?

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The Buildup

Just like we did last time, let’s look at the buildup for this game first. For the sake of brevity, we’ll look only at articles from The New York Evening World and The Boston Globe. If I have more time, I might explore a few other sources in the future.

First, The World:

Above from The New York Evening World, October 7, 1912, page 1

From The New York Evening World, October 7, 1912, page 4

From The New York Evening World, October 7, 1912, page 10

Above from The New York Evening World, October 7, 1912, page 11

Please let me know if you happen to know whatever happened to Mrs. Smith!

Now let’s look at The Boston Globe:

Above from The Boston Globe, October 8, 1912, page 1

Above from The Boston Globe, October 8, 1912, page 6

Above from The Boston Globe, October 8, 1912, page 7

From The Boston Globe, October 8, 1912, page 8

From The Boston Globe, October 8, 1912, page 10. I’ve got no idea why there are swastikas on this page.

From The Boston Globe, October 8, 1912, page 12

Above from The Boston Globe, October 8, 1912, page 15

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The Game

Now let’s look at coverage of the game itself. I’m particularly interested in seeing if anybody was upset that McGraw didn’t pinch hit for his pitcher with two out and two on in the bottom of the 9th.

We’ll start with New York.

Above from The New York World, October 8, 1912, page 1

Above from The New York Evening World, October 8, 1912, page 2

From The New York Evening World, October 8, 1912, page 16

From The New York Evening World, October 8, 1912, page 18

And now on to The Boston Globe. We’ll look first at the extra edition on October 8:

Above from The Boston Globe World Championship Baseball Extra, October 8, 1912, page 1

Above from The Boston Globe World Championship Baseball Extra, October 8, 1912, page 7

From The Boston Globe World Championship Baseball Extra, October 8, 1912, page 8

And now comes the “proper” coverage:

Above from The Boston Globe, October 9, 1912, page 1

From The Boston Globe, October 9, 1912, page 2

From The Boston Globe, October 9, 1912, page 6

Above from The Boston Globe, October 9, 1912, page 7

Above from The Boston Globe, October 9, 1912, page 8

Above from The Boston Globe, October 9, 1912, page 9

Above from The Boston Globe, October 9, 1912, page 11

Above from The Boston Globe, October 9, 1912, page 20

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Closing Thoughts

I don’t think this game was quite as close or competitive as that crazy 1907 game. However, there is something to be said for Wood’s performance, particularly when things looked bleak at the very end.

It’s also interesting that nobody seemed to notice that McGraw made a tactical error by not pinch hitting for his pitcher. McGraw had used Harry McCormick in the 7th inning to no avail. I’ve got to wonder, though, why McGraw allowed his 8th and 9th hitters to swing away (note that neither attempted to bunt) when he had Josh Devore and Tillie Shafer on the bench.

It is true, though, that Doc Crandall wasn’t exactly a slouch at the plate:

Still, though, I suspect that the newspapers paid a bit of deference to McGraw, who had been so successful over the years. You’ve got to believe that the news outlets today would be all over a manager who let the pitcher bat in a key situation like that.