September 30, 1907: The Philadelphia Athletics and the Detroit Tigers play for 17 innings at Columbia Park in Philadelphia, before the game is called due to darkness. A rainout the day before meant that a doubleheader was supposed to be played. They almost got 2 full games' worth of baseball in, but no result.
The A's led 3-0 after the 1st inning, 7-1 after 6, 8-4 after 7, and 8-6 after 8. But Ty Cobb, still only 20 years old, hit a home run in the 9th to tie the game. Each team scored in the 11th, but that was it. Wild Bill Donovan went all 17 innings for the Tigers. Cobb finished the day at 3-for-8 with a home run, a walk, and 3 RBIs.
It was a 3-team race, and the 3rd team in it was the Chicago White Sox. But their game that day also couldn't find a winner: They played the Boston Red Sox at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston, and were tied at 3-3 after 14 innings, when this game, too, was called due to darkness.
The Tigers now led the A's by a game and a half, and the White Sox by two and a half. The Tigers and A's each had 7 games left, the White Sox only 5. The Tigers clinched the Pennant on October 3, with a 9-3 win away to the Washington Senators. Cobb finished the season batting .350.
In an interview for John P. Carmichael's 1945 book My Greatest Day in Baseball, Cobb named this game as his greatest day: "The Athletics made 20 hits that day to our 15, and we had 17 runners left on base to their 13. They made 6 errors, so during the long afternoon, there was just about everything to be found in baseball." In his 1981 book Baseball's 10 Greatest Games, John Thorn included this game as his 1st, chronologically.
For, at least, a majority of the 20th Century, Cobb held the career records for batting average, at .367; hits, 4,191; runs scored, 2,445; and stolen bases, 892. He also held the single-season record for stolen bases, 96, in 1915.
A later check of the record books would lead to an adjustment of Cobb's totals, to show 4,189 hits, a .366 average, and 897 steals; and that this steals total, while a career record for the American League, was not a career record for all of Major League Baseball. He still holds the MLB record for career batting average, and the AL records for hits and runs.
When the 1st election for the Baseball Hall of Fame was held in 1936, Ty Cobb got the most votes. That makes him not just the 1st member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the 1st member of any Hall of Fame in any sport. In 1999, The Sporting News chose their 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and ranked Cobb 3rd, behind only Babe Ruth and Willie Mays. In 2022, ESPN chose their 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and ranked Cobb 4th, behind only Ruth, Mays and Hank Aaron.
There are 2 marks against Cobb. One is his overall personality, which suggests that he was generally mean. Late in life, he admitted, "I would have done things differently. I would have had more friends."
The other is his racism, as someone who grew up in rural Georgia in the late 19th Century. By 1952, in an interview with The Sporting News, he said, "Certainly, it is okay for them to play. I see no reason in the world why we shouldn't compete with colored athletes as long as they conduct themselves with politeness and gentility. Let me say also that no white man has the right to be less of a gentleman than a colored man. In my book, that goes not only for baseball but in all walks of life... The Negro should be accepted, and not grudgingly, but wholeheartedly."
Ty Cobb was far from perfect, but the true record shows that it is long past time to get off his back.
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September 30, 1907 was a Monday. These other baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Highlanders lost to the St. Louis Browns, 4-2 at Hilltop Park in Manhattan. Willie Keeler, one of the best hitters of his generation, went 0-for-5 for the Highlanders. They became the Yankees in 1913.
* The New York Giants lost to the Chicago Cubs, 6-0 at West Side Park in Chicago. Ed Reulbach pitched a 3-hit shutout. The Cubs went on to beat the Tigers in the World Series. The rivalry between the Cubs and Giants got truly ugly the next season, but, again, the World Series would be the Cubs over the Tigers.
* The Brooklyn Superbas lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 6-3 at the Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati. The Superbas, named for their former manager, Ned Hanlon, and a popular circus troupe of the era, Hanlon's Superbas, became the Dodgers in 1911. After that season, the Palace of the Fans was torn down, and what became Crosley Field was built on the site.
* The Washington Senators beat the Cleveland Naps, 6-0 at American League Park in Washington. Hank Gehrig pitched a 4-hit shutout for the Senators, beating future Hall-of-Famer Addie Joss. Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, the 2nd baseman and manager for whom the future Indians and Guardians were then named, did not get any of those 4 hits. Bill Kay, the Senators' right fielder, got 4 hits all by himself, plus 2 RBIs.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner did not play for the Pirates in this game.
* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Doves, 5-1 at Robison Field in St. Louis. The Doves were named for their owner, George Dovey. In 1912, they became the Boston Braves.
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