Thriller!
Browns at White Sox, April 17, 1908
Thriller!
Before we get into today’s game, I just had to share the lead cartoon in the sports section of The Chicago Tribune:
Can somebody please explain to me why newspapers don’t use cartoons like this anymore?
Walsh vs Dinneen
This was always going to be a classic pitching duel. Ed Walsh, who needs no introduction, hosted Bill Dinneen, a turn-of-the-century (the other century) pitching star you might not be all that familiar with.
Dinneen is a familiar name to anybody who has done deep dives into seasons like 1900 or 1904. He was near the end of his career in 1908, however, and had one last major effort in him before finally leaving the sport halfway through the 1909 season to become an umpire.
Walsh may be more famous because of his 40 wins, but Dinneen held his own early in this game. The Browns got to Walsh first, scoring a quick first inning run on an error, followed by George Stone’s mad dash for home after Jimmy Williams’ single.
The White Sox answered back in the bottom of the third. Fielder Jones walked with one out, and I decided to call for a hit and run with Ed Hahn at the plate.
Now, if you’ve been following along, you know that the hit and run can be precarious in NPIII. Hahn rolled a “14,” which sometimes can spell a caught stealing. Not in this case, however: Jones was safe at second.
And then this happened:
And now we were tied, 1-1.
Trading Blows
Walsh found himself in a tricky spot in the top of the 6th.
Rallies in 1908 always seem to take a while to explain. This one started off innocently enough, with a Danny Hoffman ground ball to third base. Lee Tannehill, normally a good infielder, had trouble with it, and Hoffman reached on the error.
Roy Hartzell came up next, and promptly singled, sending Tannehill to second.
That brought up Tom Jones, and now it was time to bunt. Jones got down a beautiful bunt to Walsh, who could only throw it to first base. There were now runners on second and third with only one out.
Jim Stephens, usually the St. Louis backup catcher, came up next. I told him to bunt. He fouled one off, and then surprised me by being hit by the next pitch, loading the bases.
Up came none other than Dinneen to help his own cause:
Walsh was able to strike out Stone to end the inning, but the damage had been done.
In the bottom of the 6th, however, Chicago struck back.
Hahn promptly singled, and stole second base right afterwards. And then came Patsy Dougherty in a clutch situation:
Doughtery was caught stealing right after this base hit, but it didn’t matter. Even though St. Louis did get out of the inning without any further damage done, the score was now 2-2, and it was getting late.
Extra Innings
We stayed tied until the bottom of the 10th.
Tannehill came up with a chance to redeem himself for his earlier fielding miscue. He made good on that chance, hitting a clean single to lead off the inning. Lee then stole second base, putting himself in scoring position right off the bat.
That brought up Billy Sullivan in an obvious bunting situation:
I decided at this point to take the sacrifice off. I figured that the White Sox had 3 chances to get the run in, and I didn’t want to run the risk of a bad roll resulting in Tannehill being caught stealing at the plate.
It worked:
Now came Walsh.
First of all, I decided to leave Ed in there instead of pinch hitting for him. There was no reason to take him out; he wasn’t all that fatigued just yet. He also wasn’t such a horrible hitter in 1908 — not compared to the rest of the American League, at least. I also didn’t want to lose Chicago’s best pitcher in case the Browns got out of the jam.
Second, I decided not to bunt with Ed. And I know that will be more controversial.
I was worried about that potential play at the plate, more than anything else. Tannehill doesn’t have an (F) rating, which is always dangerous. He also doesn’t have any first column “11” results on his card. I decided that a suicide squeeze would have been foolish in this situation since the runner on third was not all that fast.
You might disagree. You might feel that the right answer here absolutely has to be to bunt. I still think it’s a judgment call.
Anyway, in the end, I was right:
Man, what a thriller!
Dinneen walked 5, showing that his control had started to desert him by 1908. Walsh, meanwhile, looked awesome at times, striking out 8 and getting out of numerous jams.
Despite my reluctance to bunt with Sullivan and Walsh at the end, I do want to call attention to the 4 successful sacrifices that took place in this game.