Crazy Thriller
Giants at Pirates, May 14, 1908
Crazy Thriller
Get settled under a blanket with a cup of hot cocoa for this one: it’s a wild ride.
The Pirates have been pretty bad so far in 1908. The Giants have played much better. But can the Pirates turn things around in this one?
This one was a real thriller. Both teams scored in the first inning, and then the bats simply ran dry. It’s not really until the bottom of the 10th inning that we have much of a highlight.
Honus Wagner came up with Lefty Leifield on at first base and one man out:
It looked absolutely certain that the Pirates would win the game at this point. There were runners on second and third with only one out. Up next was Tommy Leach, and I decided that the most obvious thing to do was to intentionally walk him:
That set up a force at every base, as well as a possible double play.
Up next was Fred Clarke:
Clarke’s fly ball to left field simply wasn’t deep enough to score the slow Leifield. There were now two men out, and it was all up to Ed Abbaticchio:
And on we marched to the 11th.
11th Inning
Larry Doyle started the top of the 11th off for the Giants with a double column smash:
Doyle quickly found himself perched in scoring position after stealing second. Nobody was out.
And that was it for Leifield. I looked around and decided that Harley Young was the best reliever.
Young’s first task was to take care of Spike Shannon. Harley wanted to make sure that Doyle didn’t move up to third:
Well, that’s one way to keep the runner at second.
Up next was Al Bridwell:
Doyle went up to third on the ground ball, but there were now two men out.
Up next was Cy Seymour:
And that was the end of that threat.
Pittsburgh did manage to get a runner on in the bottom of the 11th, but he didn’t go far. And on we went to the 12th.
12th
It all started with an error.
Tom Needham, who has a card no pitcher would envy, started the top of the 12th off with a wild roll:
Charge that error to Harley Young. And up next was Malarkey, the New York pitcher:
I originally wanted to bunt with Malarkey, but he managed to foul three pitches off in a row.
With one out, here came Mike Donlin again:
Donlin did his job, moving Needham up to second. There were two men out now, and it was up to Art Devlin:
Devlin’s infield hit kept the inning alive, setting things up for Fred Tenney:
Doyle followed Tenney with a single of his own, and suddenly the Giants had a 3-1 lead.
On we went to the bottom of the 12th. Warren Gill came up as a pinch hitter for the Bucs, who were now down by two with little time remaining:
Honus Wagner hit into a fielder’s choice, replacing Gill at first. There was now one out for Tommy Leach:
It was another key error, this time charged to Al Bridwell. A potential double play turned into a first and third situation with only one man out. New York was still up by 2, but it wasn’t looking so sure.
Up came Fred Clarke:
This error was charged to Art Devlin — and we now had a 3-2 game.
And now it was Ed Abbaticchio’s turn. Ed wanted to redeem himself:
Abbaticchio got the big hit, scoring one. Clarke was thrown out going for third base.
Owen Wilson, the next man up, flied out. However, the damage had been done — the game was now tied. And on we went to the 13th.
13th
Cy Seymour came up for the Giants with one out:
This time it was Sam Leever making the error. The Pittsburgh pitchers were having a particularly poor fielding game.
That brought up Tom Needham again for an obvious bunt:
And then came the pitcher’s spot. Fred Merkle came up to hit for Malarkey:
Cy Seymour stole third, as you can see above. And Merkle got it done:
The Pirates went down quietly in the 13th. Merkle was the hero, and this game was in the history books.
There were only two successful sacrifice bunts in this game. We did have 4 stolen bases and 3 men caught stealing. 8 errors and 19 hits made for an exciting game, one with tons of base runners and all sorts of action.