1908 – In a rain-shortened game, Christy Mathewson throws his mitt on the field and defeats the Cards, 3 – 0, in six innings, with Harry Sallee taking the loss. With the Giants at bat in the 5th, John McGraw signals Cy Seymour to steal home – even though Cards C Bill Ludwig has the ball. Shad Barry, the next batter, then strikes out on three pitches, as the Giants race to beat the downpour.
1908 – The Cardinals deal a blow to the Giants’ pennant hopes by defeating them twice in St. Louis. With Christy Mathewson refusing to pitch on Sundays, Red Ames and Joe McGinnity take the losses.
1908 – The Nationals’ Walter Johnson hurls a 1 – 0 victory over the White Sox, allowing just two hits, the first a 9th-inning single by Sox P Doc White.
1908 – Cy Young Day is celebrated by 20,000 in Boston. He pitches briefly against an All-Star team that includes Jack Chesbro, Hal Chase, Willie Keeler, Harry Davis and George Mullin. The game is interrupted several times for presentations to the great hurler, including a great loving cup from the American League for all his accomplishments.
1908 – Twenty thousand fans, the largest ever to watch a Monday game, crowd the Polo Grounds to see the matchup of Christy Mathewson and the Cubs’ Orval Overall. Matty doesn’t disappoint, winning, 3 – 2.
A scheduled doubleheader in Brooklyn with St. Louis is washed out after five innings of the first game, but lefty Johnny Lush, with a one no-hitter over Brooklyn under his belt, allows no Brooklyn hits in his outing. The Cards win 2 – 0, on two unearned runs, as 1B Tim Jordan drops a fly ball with the bases loaded.
The Nationals’ Otis Clymer and Jim Delahanty draw indefinite suspensions for abusing umpire Silk O’Loughlin in Cleveland. Delahanty, a Cleveland native, is later fined $50 and barred from the Cleveland ballpark for one year for his unbecoming conduct.
The Giants take two from Cincinnati, winning 4 – 3 in 12 innings, and 4 – 1. Christy Mathewson wins both, relieving Joe McGinnity in the 9th inning of the opener and tossing nine innings in the nitecap; Andy Coakley loses both. New York moves into 2nd place, five percentage points behind the Pirates. Despite the two losses, it is a relief for the Reds to score runs. Cincy had endured four straight shutout losses: 5 – 0 on July 30; 3 – 0 on the 31st; 6 – 0 on the 1st and 3rd.
In Brooklyn, the last-place Cardinals blank the Brooklyn Superbas (Dodgers), 3-0. The entire Washington Park contest is played with just one ball.
After successfully swiping second, Fred Tenney decides to return to first base on the next pitch, because Dummy Taylor had remained at third during their attempted double steal. Hoping this time to coax a throw from the Cardinal catcher to give the runner on third an opportunity to score, Tenney steals second base for the second time in the inning, but his teammate still stays put in the Giants’ 9-2 victory over St. Louis at the Polo Grounds.
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