Ganzel Wins It

Doves at Reds, May 12, 1908

Ganzel Wins It

Sadly, John Ganzel was never really much of a player.

His claim to fame was leading the National League in triples in 1907 — and, well, that’s about it.

His OPS+ was ordinary, he didn’t have any great standout seasons at the plate, his small bit of power wasn’t particularly unusual, and he played chiefly on second division clubs that didn’t do much.

But he sure did well in this one.

The Doves and Reds are both pretty bad. Neither one of these teams are going to do much in the National League.

Sometimes, though, the worst teams give you the best games. This one was a real doozy, going into extra innings tied at 1.

Ganzel’s moment to shine came after Mike Mitchell doubled for Cincinnati in the bottom of the 11th. Rudy Hulswitt moved Mitchell over:

And that brought up Ganzel:

It wasn’t anything fancy — just a single up the middle to win it. But sometimes that’s all it takes.

It’s interesting to note that neither team hit a single extra base hit. Cincinnati had more hits overall, but the winning run simply took forever.