The End of Ed Walsh
The 1912 Cubs - White Sox City Series
The End of Ed Walsh
You would have to really be a dyed-in-the-wool baseball geek to even know who Ed Walsh was these days.
It used to be different. It used to be that kids knew about the famous spitballer because of his unapproachable record: 40 wins in 1908.
Okay, okay, maybe he wasn’t a household name. I knew that he won 40 in 1908 back when I was a kid, though. Yeah, I was a bit atypical: other kids played with Ninja Turtles figures, and I sat in my room memorizing the World Series winners and losers of every single season (I still know them all). Some people were born to socialize, to wine, to dine, and to get rich. I was born to write about William Hogan Chappelle.
Anyway, back to Walsh.
Walsh’s career was impressive, to say the least. Well, through 1912, that is:
Of course, Big Ed (who actually was taller and heavier than me, and in an era of relative shortness) was the sort of pitcher who was good at the stuff that we’ve decided you shouldn’t be good at. The 1.82 ERA, for example, might be an all-time career record, but nobody cares about ERA these days. His FIP is also an all-time career record, which should make up for it — but who uses FIP?
Anyway, he spat his way to 40 wins in 1908 for a team that barely missed the pennant, one that faded in historical obscurity behind the exploits of the Tigers, Naps, Giants, Pirates, and, of course, the hated Cubs.
And then, out of nowhere, his career seemed to fall apart after 1912.
What happened?
The City Series
There was a Twitter post a while ago that claimed that Walsh threw his arm out during the 1912 World Series.
I didn’t screenshot or save the post, and I’m too lazy to go find it again. It was a mistake, I know. I probably replied to it. I mean, we all make mistakes: that’s how it goes.
The interesting thing, though, is that Walsh did pitch in a postseason series that year: the annual City Series between the Cubs and White Sox.
Retrosheet has boxscores of all those 1912 City Series games, if you’re curious. You can find them here if you want to follow along.
The City Series was A Big Dealâ„¢. I mean, it was huge. Check this advertisement out:
That’s right: the Tribune Building showed results of both the World Series game and the City Series game — ostensibly at the same time.
The first game of this series, originally scheduled for October 9, was called off due to rain:
And, when it was finally played, this is what the first game of that series looked like:
That’s right — The Chicago Daily Tribune led off its sports section on October 10th with a photo of the City Series game, not a World Series game. That’s how big this series was.
Now, in all seriousness, there was more coverage of these games than I have the time or space to present here. We’ll just cover the highlights.
The first game ended in a scoreless draw — one that was controversial in the eyes of the White Sox:
Walsh threw a complete game, giving up only one hit and no runs.
The next game was postponed due to wet grounds:
And, as crazy as this sounds to modern ears, there was talk of starting Walsh on only a single day’s rest:
Walsh did pitch in the next game, which also wound up a tie, this time due to darkness.
Of all the photographs of this game, this one was the best:
And this cartoon was just great:
The Cubs finally prevailed in the third game, 5-4 — a game that Walsh did not pitch in.
And then, in the next game, Walsh was at it again, after only a single day’s rest:
This cartoon said it all:
The Cubs won the third game in a route, taking a 3-0 lead in the series.
And, you guessed it, Big Ed was back out there for the fourth game, pitching, once again, on one day’s rest:
Here’s your old time baseball photo:
And here, of course, is the lead cartoon, which I still think was the highlight of the paper in those days:
Walsh had his requisite day of rest in the next game, which the White Sox won again:
There was a rumor that Big Ed might come out to start the next one, which would have been crazy.
This 7 game series turned quickly into a 9 game series due to the two postponements. Walsh had started and finished the first game, pitched the last three innings in the second, started and finished the fourth, started and finished the sixth — and was seriously expected to start the eighth? Doesn’t that sound like a bit much?
Well, Big Ed didn’t start the 8th game, but he did pitch in it, coming on in a relief role in the 9th inning.
And that set things up for that 9th and deciding game.
And, well, you know who was starting that one for the White Sox:
Now, the truth is that Big Ed didn’t need to start that game, as it turned out. The Sox won in a laughter:
Now, these were certainly not the days of load management and pitch counts.
But you’ve got to wonder whether the sacrifice was really worth it.
None of the papers mention Walsh’s fatigue, though it must have been obvious. After throwing over 350 innings in the regular season for three consecutive years, Walsh started and finished 4 games in this 9 game series, and came in to relieve 2 others.
Is there any wonder that Walsh fell apart in 1913?
