Why There Was No 1904 World Series

Reviewing a dark time in the game's history

Why There Was No 1904 World Series

I mentioned the other day that I spent some time rewatching this old documentary:

The part dealing with the cancellation of the 1904 World Series is problematic, to say the least. They imply that John McGraw was some sort of villain, and only note that he had played with the Baltimore Orioles at one point in time. There’s nothing in there about contraction, the death of the old Orioles, McGraw’s numerous run-ins with Ban Johnson, and a whole ton of other things.

I’ve written about some of that before, including articles like this:

But what I haven’t touched on yet is why there was no 1904 World Series. So let’s see what we can find.

One thing is clear. There were initially plans to hold the 1904 World Series.

For example, this comes from early May 1904:

From The Washington Post, May 1, 1904, page 32

In fact, newspapers were making references to the coming World Series as late as late June:

From The Cincinnati Enquirer, June 27, 1904, page 3

Interestingly enough, McGraw apparently referred to a possible World Series in early July when speaking to reporters:

From The Evening World (New York, New York), July 9, 1904, page 7

Note that the “Tammanyites” referred to Tammany Hall, the famous corrupt political organization in New York City at the time. The papers often made reference to the connections between the Giants and those politicians in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

McGraw’s threat was clear, and was repeated around the country:

From The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), July 10, 1904, page 17

The statement was made formal only a few weeks later:

From The Meriden Daily Journal (Connecticut), July 22, 1904, page 8

Now, McGraw was trying to lay the blame on Brush, but everybody in the press believed it was McGraw who wanted to avoid an all-New York World Series:

From The Chicago Sunday Tribune, July 24, 1904, part 2 page 1

It’s a bit off the subject, but you should check out this amazing picture of League Park just above that editorial commentary:

The estimated attendance for this game was 25,000. Note that official attendance figures for regular season games were not routinely kept in those days.

And now it becomes hazy.

In late July, the blame was placed back on Brush’s shoulders:

From The Cincinnati Post, July 28, 1904, page 6

And by August it looks like the peace between the two leagues might be off:

From The Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL), August 1, 1904, page 5

As it turned out, of course, the Giants won the pennant in 1904, and by a large margin. That led to a lot of speculation, such as this:

From The Washington Post, September 11, 1904, page 3

As late as late September, it seemed that there was a way to get the series played:

From The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), September 29, 1904, page 6

In early October, the press really started to come out against the Giants:

From The Chicago Tribune, October 2, 1904, page 14

And, before the American League season was even over, McGraw and Brush doubled down on their statements:

From The Boston Globe, October 7, 1904, page 4

Boston won the American League pennant, of course — and yet there was no World Series in the end.

From The Minneapolis Journal, October 11, 1904, page 14

Both from The Courier Journal (Louisville, KY), October 12, 1904, page 6

It seemed even in early 1905 that the World Series would never return:

From St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 11, 1905, page 14

In fact, there were rumors that the Giants would refuse to play in the 1905 World Series as well:

From The Pittsburgh Press, August 19, 1905, page 8

Fortunately, though, the World Series was played again.

It’s interesting to note in hindsight that Brush’s role in preventing the 1904 World Series from happening was almost completely swept away. McGraw got the blame, though in all honesty both men should have taken the fall.