Unquestionably, all of Chicago was abuzz over the World Series pairing. The South Side Sox against the West Side Cubs. (The National Leaguers’ move to the North Side was another decade away.)
Manager Fielder Jones’ White Sox played true to form in the first four games of the Series (Games 1 and 2, incidentally, were played amid periodic snow flurries), collecting only six runs and 11 hits in those games. But the Hitless Wonders also showed their opportunistic nature, managing a 2-2 tie in games despite the meager offense.
After the White Sox won the Series opener, 2-1, behind Altrock, the Cubs rebounded for a 7-1 victory that featured the one-hit pitching of Reulbach and the timely hitting of Harry Steinfeldt and Joe Tinker. A wild pitch and an error led to the White Sox’s run in the fifth inning, but the AL titleists didn’t collect their lone hit of the day until Jiggs Donahue singled in the seventh. Third baseman Steinfeldt, the “other” member of the Cubs’ infield and a .327 hitter for the NL kingpins in 1906 after his off-season acquisition from Cincinnati, went 3-for-3 and Tinker had two hits and scored three runs.
In Game 3, Walsh allowed a single to Solly Hofman and a double to Frank Schulte in the first inning, then held the Cubs hitless the rest of the way. The White Sox emerged as 3-0 winners, with Walsh striking out 12 batters and George Rohe tagging Pfiester for a bases-loaded triple in the sixth inning. Brown drew the Cubs even the next day, denying the White Sox a hit for the first 5 2/3 innings on the way to a two-hit, 1-0 triumph.
Wonder of wonders, White Sox bats came alive in Games 5 and 6. In the fifth game, the Hitless Wonders drove Reulbach from the mound in the third inning, broke loose for four runs in the fourth and held on for an 8-6 victory. Frank Isbell paced the Sox’s 12-hit attack with a Series-record four doubles, while George Davis knocked in three runs. In the sixth game, the American Leaguers chased Brown in the second inning and, led by another three RBIs from Davis and three RBIs by Donahue, cruised to a stunning and Series-deciding 8-3 victory that was spiced by 14 White Sox hits.
The Sox had pulled off an upset of gigantic proportions despite only .198 in the Series. Three regulars — Patsy Dougherty, Billy Sullivan and Jones, the team’s playing manager — combined for only four hits in 62 at-bats. Nevertheless the Sox outhit the Cubs, who batted only .196. Frank Chance epitomized the National Leaguers’ futility at the plate. The cleanup hitters for the Cubs, first baseman Chance, failed to drive in a run in the six games.
Little-known players had impact I this Series. Rohe, thrust into the White Sox’s starting lineup because of an injury to shortstop Davis (regular third baseman Lee Tannehill took over at shortstop at the outset of the classic and Rohe manned third), was instrumental in his team’s triumph. Besides delivering the decisive hit in Game 3, Rohe tripled and scored the first run in the opening-game pitchers’ duel, went 3-for-4 in the fifth game and tacked on two more hits in Game 6. The 31-year-old utilityman and first baseman Donahue led the White Sox with .333 batting averages.
The Cubs’ top hitter was center fielder Hofman, who had appeared in only 64 games during the regular season. He played every inning of the Series and batted .304.
This article was originally published on TSN
Game Recaps from Retrosheet
1906 World Series Stories
The 1906 Post-Season Games
World Series: Chicago White Sox (4) defeated Chicago Cubs (2)
World Series Game 1 Played on Tuesday, October 9, 1906 (D) at West Side Grounds
CHI A 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 - 2 4 1 CHI N 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 1 4 2
BOX+PBP WP: Altrock (1-0) LP: Brown (0-1)
World Series Game 2 Played on Wednesday, October 10, 1906 (D) at South Side Park III
CHI N 0 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 - 7 10 2 CHI A 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 1 3
BOX+PBP WP: Reulbach (1-0) LP: White (0-1)
World Series Game 3 Played on Thursday, October 11, 1906 (D) at West Side Grounds
CHI A 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 - 3 4 1 CHI N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 2 2
BOX+PBP WP: Walsh (1-0) LP: Pfiester (0-1)
World Series Game 4 Played on Friday, October 12, 1906 (D) at South Side Park III
CHI N 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 1 7 1 CHI A 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 2 1
BOX+PBP WP: Brown (1-1) LP: Altrock (1-1)
World Series Game 5 Played on Saturday, October 13, 1906 (D) at West Side Grounds
CHI A 1 0 2 4 0 1 0 0 0 - 8 12 6 CHI N 3 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 - 6 6 0
BOX+PBP WP: Walsh (2-0) LP: Pfiester (0-2) SV: White (1)
World Series Game 6 Played on Sunday, October 14, 1906 (D) at South Side Park III
CHI N 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 - 3 7 0 CHI A 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 x - 8 14 3
BOX+PBP WP: White (1-1) LP: Brown (1-2)
