George Davis Saves the Day

White Sox at Naps, April 21, 1908

George Davis Saves the Day

We’ll jump straight into the top of the 6th in this one. The score was tied, 1-1.

Catcher Billy Sullivan came up for the White Sox with two outs, Freddy Parent standing on second, and Jiggs Donahue on at first:

That made the score 2-1 White Sox.

Cleveland caught up, though, in the bottom of the 7th.

With one out, Bill Bradley singled. Joe Birmingham then singled, sending Bradley to third. And that brought up George Perring:

That finished up the scoring for the time being.

Late Drama

If you haven’t noticed yet, it wasn’t easy to get runs and hits in 1908.

Glenn Liebhardt, the pitcher, led off the bottom of the 8th of this 2-2 ballgame with a single. He was followed by Napoleon Lajoie, who singled as well, sending Liebhardt to second.

In a normal season, you’d think that Cleveland would be sure to score, especially with the heart of the order coming up. But this is 1908.

Josh Clarke, the next hitter, flew out to center. But then George Stovall reached on an error by Donahue, the first baseman, which loaded the bases.

Up came right fielder Bill Hinchman:

A sacrifice fly isn’t necessarily the most exciting game winning RBI in the world, but it’s something.

But, unfortunately, that wasn’t quite enough.

Pinch hitter Jake Atz led off the top of the 9th with a single for the White Sox. After Fielder Jones flew out to right, Ed Hahn came up:

That brought up Patsy Dougherty:

It seemed here that Liebhardt was losing his touch. Still, I decided to leave Liebhardt in to pitch to George Davis:

And that did it. Cleveland put up no real fight in the bottom of the 9th, and this one ended 4-3.

Liebhardt pitched well, but not quite well enough.