The Chicago Cubs win back to back World Series Titles
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 three hits, walking four and striking out 10 for his second win of the series. In 18.1 innings, he allowed only seven hits and two runs for an ERA of 0.98. Boss Schmidt, who made the last out of the 1907 Series with a popup to short, also made the last out of this Series with a feeble catcher-to-first groundout.
According to the Chicago Tribune, after the final out was secured, “the band of Cub rooters gathered in the grand stand and let out a wild and prolonged yell, while the Tiger adherents folded their banners and hid their megaphones under their coats.” The Cubs were “twice champions of the earth,” and according to the Detroit Free Press, “the players may now go home to hibernate.” Evers and Chance provided the offensive spark Chicago needed, each going 3-for-4 with a run batted in. Evers scored the game-winning run in the first inning. The time of the deciding contest was a mere hour and 25 minutes.
After the game, Cubs skipper Chance remarked, “Our team is the greatest that I ever saw on a baseball field. I firmly believe that no team in the world could have beaten us with the kind of ball we played during the world’s championship series.” Game Six was to be played in Chicago on October 16, if needed. The Tribune’s Sanborn wryly observed, “Those who hold reservations for tomorrow’s game in Chicago can retain them for the 1909 series. They will need them.” But Sanborn put a slight damper on his prediction: “Not in a thousand years has a team been compelled to fight as hard for its titles as the Chicago team.”
You Can Read on the SABR Games Project
This was also the first World Series game in which neither team committed an error. The Cubs would not win another World Series for 108 years, they appeared 7 times losing each time and did not appear in the fall classic from 1945 until 2016, when they would win a classic 7 game series vs Cleveland.
Upset over their seating arrangements, a formative gathering of sports scribes from New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, and Cincinnati that occurred at the National League offices in New York in August, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America holds its first meeting with forty-three founding members in attendance in Detroit. The mission of the BBWAA will be to improve working conditions for writers, promote uniformity of scoring methods, and to limit the press box to working reporters, telegraphers, and other professional personnel with a need to be there.
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World Series Game 5 Played on Wednesday, October 14, 1908 (D) at Bennett Park
CHI N 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 2 10 0 DET A 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 0
PITCHING
Chicago Cubs IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP Overall W(2-0) 9 3 0 0 4 10 0 34
WP: Overall (1).
Detroit Tigers IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP Donovan L(0-2) 9 10 2 2 3 3 0 35
Umpires: HP - Jack Sheridan, 1B - Hank O'Day
Time of Game: 1:25 Attendance: 6210
Play by Play
CUBS 1ST: Sheckard popped to second; Evers singled to center; Schulte singled to right [Evers to second]; Chance singled to center [Evers scored, Schulte to second]; Steinfeldt flied out to center; Hofman forced Schulte (third unassisted); 1 R, 3 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Cubs 1, Tigers 0. TIGERS 1ST: McIntyre walked; O'Leary struck out; Crawford singled to center [McIntyre to second]; Cobb struck out; Rossman struck out but McIntyre advanced to third and Crawford advanced to second and Rossman advanced to first on a wild pitch; Schaefer struck out; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 3 LOB. Cubs 1, Tigers 0. CUBS 2ND: Tinker grounded out (third to first); Kling popped to catcher in foul territory; Overall grounded out (first to pitcher); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 1, Tigers 0. TIGERS 2ND: Schmidt struck out; Coughlin grounded out (shortstop to first); Donovan walked; Donovan stole second; McIntyre flied out to center; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Cubs 1, Tigers 0. CUBS 3RD: Sheckard popped to first; Evers popped to shortstop; Schulte flied out to left; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 1, Tigers 0. TIGERS 3RD: O'Leary grounded out (third to first); Crawford grounded out (second to first); Cobb flied out to left; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 1, Tigers 0. CUBS 4TH: Chance flied out to right; Steinfeldt walked; Steinfeldt was caught stealing second (catcher to second); Hofman struck out; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 1, Tigers 0. TIGERS 4TH: Rossman struck out; Schaefer walked; Schmidt struck out; Schaefer was caught stealing second (catcher to shortstop); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 1, Tigers 0. CUBS 5TH: Tinker popped to shortstop; Kling walked; Overall out on a sacrifice bunt (catcher to first) [Kling to second]; Sheckard walked; Evers doubled to center [Kling scored, Sheckard to third]; Schulte grounded out (shortstop to first); 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. TIGERS 5TH: Coughlin singled to left; Donovan struck out; McIntyre doubled to right [Coughlin to third]; O'Leary flied to center; Crawford struck out; 0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. CUBS 6TH: On a bunt Chance singled; Steinfeldt out on a sacrifice bunt (first unassisted) [Chance to second]; Hofman flied out to left; Tinker lined to center; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. TIGERS 6TH: Cobb walked; Rossman forced Cobb (shortstop to second); Schaefer struck out; Schmidt popped to second; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. CUBS 7TH: Kling flied out to center; Overall singled to center; Sheckard was credited with a single when a runner was hit by the batted ball [Overall out at second (second unassisted)]; Sheckard was picked off first (pitcher to first to second); 0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. TIGERS 7TH: Coughlin grounded out (third to first); Donovan grounded out (shortstop to first); McIntyre flied out to left; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. CUBS 8TH: Evers singled to first; Schulte out on a sacrifice bunt (catcher to first) [Evers to second]; Chance singled to left [Evers to third]; Steinfeldt struck out while Evers was caught stealing home (catcher to second to catcher); 0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. TIGERS 8TH: O'Leary popped to first; Crawford grounded out (second to first); Cobb grounded out (shortstop to first); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. CUBS 9TH: Hofman struck out; Tinker singled to right; Kling hit into a double play (shortstop to first) [Tinker out at third (first to third)]; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. TIGERS 9TH: Rossman grounded out (second to first); Schaefer grounded out (third to first); Schmidt popped to catcher in foul territory; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Cubs 2, Tigers 0. Final Totals R H E LOB Cubs 2 10 0 6 Tigers 0 3 0 7