Drama in Detroit
Naps at Tigers, April 17, 1908
Home Opener
Welcome to opening day at Bennett Park!
Aren’t old newspapers cool? Nothing puts me in the mood for a game like this quite like an old newspaper account. And the 115-year-old photo just makes it that much better.
Of course, this is from back in the days when a home opener could mean front page coverage:
Interesting that the crowd of 14,051 was a record at the time. That seems a bit small, but Bennett Park was pretty small in those days. The Tigers were defending American League champions, of course, and were unsurprisingly the most popular event in town.
Here is more evidence of that record crowd:
And, of course, it wouldn’t be a pre-World War I sports section without a great cartoon:
Anyway, enough memories.
Pitcher’s Duel
Have I ever mentioned that 1908 was a great season for pitching?
Well, this game was certainly evidence of that. Detroit got out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th on a single by Red Downs with a runner on second base. And it looked like that was going to be enough for Ed Killian.
7th Inning Drama
Things started to get interesting in the top of the 7th, however.
Bill Bradley reached on an error by third baseman Bill Coughlin to lead off the inning. And that brought up Joe Birmingham:
Birmingham was obviously up there to bunt. The bunt went straight to Killian, but he simply couldn’t handle it. Now there were runners on 1st and 2nd for the Naps with nobody out - and up came George Perring to bunt:
There was now one out with runners on 2nd and 3rd. After careful consideration, I decided to walk the next batter, catcher Harry Bemis, to get to pitcher Heinie Berger:
It looked like Detroit’s gamble was going to pay off. Berger’s bunt went over to first baseman Claude Rossman, who promptly threw to catcher Ira Thomas to make the force out at the plate. There were now two outs, and none other than Napoleon Lajoie was up for Cleveland:
Downs, who had driven in the only run of the game to this point, made the big play on Lajoie, taking away a sure base hit with a leaping catch.
Another Chance
Cleveland had another golden opportunity in the top of the 8th.
Josh Clarke led off the inning with a single, and promptly stole second base. That brought up George Stovall:
Stovall got the base hit, but the fleet-footed Clarke was thrown out at the plate by Matty McIntyre, who made a great throw from left field to nail him. And that crowd of 14,000+ was going wild!
Cleveland was unable to score Stovall, despite his subsequent steal of second base, and it looked like Detroit might pull it out after all.
Third Chance
Terry Turner came up to pinch hit for Cleveland with two out in the top of the ninth, representing their last hope:
That triple was certainly a shock. The crowd went silent. Up strode Lajoie again, the most feared hitter in the entire American League. Larry was 0 for 3 to this point, and was eager to make something happen:
Now we were tied, and it was Clarke’s turn. Josh, like Napoleon, had one of those rare chances to redeem himself for an earlier failure:
Never mind the fact that Clarke was caught stealing after this! The Naps had the lead.
And, in the end, Detroit didn’t have it in them to come back.
Cobb has been quiet so far, though this will change. Killian’s 4 walks hurt him. But nothing hurt quite as much as that error by Rossman, who had made that key play in the 7th to keep the Tigers in the lead.