June 2, 1908, Jimmy Sheckard nearly lost the use of his left eye as a result of a fistfight with teammate Heinie Zimmerman. During the melee Jimmy threw something at the young infielder. Infuriated, Zimmerman picked up a bottle of ammonia and hurled it at his assailant. The bottle broke as it hit…
1908 STANDINGS National League Chicago Cubs 99 55 .643 — New York Giants 98 56 .636 1 Pittsburgh Pirates 98 56 .636 1 Philadelphia Phillies 83 71 .539 16 Cincinnati Reds 73 81 .474 26 Boston Doves 63 91 .409 36 Brooklyn Superbas 53 101 .344 46 St. Louis Cardinals 49 105 .318…
1908 – The Cardinals are busy. First they get C Admiral Schlei from the Reds for pitchers Ed Karger and Art Fromme. Then they pack off Schlei, along with P Bugs Raymond and OF Red Murray, to the Giants for veteran catcher Roger Bresnahan. Bresnahan, a future Hall of Famer, will be the player-manager of the Cardinals for the next four years. Raymond lost 25 games in 1908, but a record 11 of them were by shutout.
1908 – In the first game between a Japanese and an American professional team, the Reach All-Americans defeat Waseda University in Tokyo, 5 – 0.
1908 – Julia Stahl, widow of Chick Stahl, is found dead in the doorway of a Boston tenement house. Stahl, the Boston Red Sox manager, committed suicide last year during spring training.
Cuban pitcher Jose Mendez one-hits the visiting Reds, 1-0. During the remainder of the 14-game barnstorming trip, the 21 year-old Almendares right-hander will throw another seven shutout innings in relief in two weeks, and then four days after that tosses a second complete-game shutout, recording an amazing 25 consecutive scoreless innings against the first major league club to ever play on the island.
1908 – A major league All-Star team leaves San Francisco for a tour of Japan, China, Hawaii, and the Philippines. It will play 40 games before returning on February 15, 1909.
Baseball’s anthem, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, is introduced by Bill Murray. The songwriting team of Albert Von Tilzer (music) and Jack Norworth (words), who created the immortal tune, has never seen a game.
On October 16, 1908 At Bennet Park in Detriot, Game 7 of the 1908 World World Series, the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates, behind the complete-game shutout thrown by Rookie Babe Adams, beat the Tigers, 8-0, in the seventh and deciding game of the World Series. Adams won 3 games in the series, Honus Wagner tripled in the 6th to…
On October 14, 1908 The Chicago Cubs, lead by Hal Chase, appearing in their third straight world series, in front of the smallest crowd in World Series history, behind the strong pitching of Orval Overall, beat the Tigers, 2-0 in just 85 minutes to capture the Fall Classic, 4 games to 1. Overall allowed only…