Flaherty vs McQuillan

Doves at Phillies, April 18, 1908

Doves at Phillies

This was one of those games that you normally skip through. Neither of these teams have played well so far this season. Boston came into this one with 1 win and 4 losses; the Phillies, at 2 and 2, were only a hair better.

And, well, we had one of those 1908 specials.

8th Inning

We’ll jump straight to the 8th inning, the game scoreless up to this point.

Patsy Flaherty and George McQuillan had gone blow for blow to this point, neither man giving up a single run. Boston had managed only 5 hits off McQuillan. Flaherty, in contrast, had given up only one hit to the hometown Phillies — a first inning single to Kitty Bransfield.

In the top of the 8th inning, Boston catcher Frank Bowerman managed to lead things off with a single, only the 6th hit for Boston to this point. That brought up Flaherty, in an obvious bunting situation:

McQuillan couldn’t find the strike zone, and Flaherty worked the walk. That brought up Claude Ritchey with a chance to do at least something. I let Ritchey swing away; after all, he hits leadoff for Boston.

After that flyout, up came Ginger Beaumont:

It wasn’t a bunt, sure, but it was just as good as a bunt. Nobody likes to talk about “productive outs” these days. However, if you play around with 1908 enough, you’ll quickly develop an appreciation for hitters who know how to move baserunners over.

Up came right fielder Johnny Bates with two outs and two in scoring position:

The intentional walk here was obvious. Bates had the ability to do real damage. I decided it would be better to go after veteran Dan McGann instead.

And, well, I guess you can start second guessing now. This put the Doves up 2-0, and set up an exciting bottom of the 9th.

9th Inning

The Phillies had managed only a single hit up to this point. McQuillan was scheduled to lead off the inning. I decided to pinch hit, settling on Roy Thomas:

Up came leadoff man Sherry Magee with a chance to do something:

Remember what I said earlier about appreciating batters who know how to move runners over?

Up next was Fred Osborn, the center fielder:

That was only Philadelphia’s second hit of the game. Flaherty was now a “D,” as you can clearly see. Up came Bransfield with a chance to do something memorable:

Not only did Bransfield fly out to right field, but Osborn was then caught off first base. I thought that I’d force the issue by playing hit and run, and, boy, it sure came back to haunt me.

There were only 9 hits in this ballgame, and only a single error. There was also only one sacrifice bunt, which is rare for 1908. Of course, there was only one bunt because there weren’t a lot of bunting situations. It’s hard to bunt with nobody on base.