The Great Cubs - Cardinals Rivalry
May 2, 1908
The Great Cubs - Cardinals Rivalry
I don’t think the Cubs - Cardinals rivalry was actually all that big in 1908.
I wasn’t able to find many references to any rivalry in original newspaper articles about this game. However, I was able to find this interesting section in The Chicago Sunday Tribune:
It’s interesting to see the things that fans at the time cared about. It also goes to show you how difficult it was to find statistical records at the time. And did you know that the 1903 Cubs - White Sox City Series ended at 7 wins each?
Classic
This one was a real classic.
It was scoreless all the way to the 9th inning. Cubs starter Orval Overall then gave up a leadoff walk to Bobby Byrne. Bill Ludwig sacrificed Byrne to second, and up came Joe Delahanty:
That walk brought up Billy Gilbert. One look at his card will tell you that I was going to bunt with him:
And that set things up for pitcher Johnny Lush, who we decided to leave in the ballgame:
Lush got the big hit, improving his batting average and giving himself a 1 run lead with only 3 outs to go. Delahanty was thrown out trying to score the second run, but it didn’t matter. St. Louis had the lead, and that is what was most important.
The Cubs almost made it happen in the bottom of the 9th.
Jimmy Sheckard walked with one out. Jimmy Slagle then advanced him to second base on a ground out to the right side.
That brought up Joe Tinker with a chance to be the hero:
Sometimes it just isn’t your day.
St. Louis had only 2 hits in this game, one of which came in the top of the 9th.
This one really felt like 1908.