October 14, 1906: The Chicago White Sox' "Hitless Wonders"

October 14, 1906: Chicago wins the World Series -- but not in the way that anybody suspected.

The Chicago Cubs had won the National League Pennant, winning 116 games, still a major league record (tied by the 2001 Seattle Mariners), losing only 36. They were 20 games ahead of the defending World Champions, the New York Giants.

Frank Chance was their manager, known as "The Peerless Leader," despite having just turned 30 on September 7. He was also their 1st baseman. The 2nd baseman was Johnny Evers, known for both his ability to move to either side and for his disposition as "The Crab." The shortstop was Joe Tinker, and he appears not to have had a nickname.

They were all good players. Had there been an All-Star Game at the time, they all would have made it multiple times. But in 1946, they were all elected to the Hall of Fame together. None was good enough to make it to the Hall of Fame as a player, although Chance was as a manager. So, why?

Because of "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," a poem by Franklin Pierce Adams, a newspaper columnist from Chicago, but living in New York. He didn't write it until 1910, by which point the Cubs were on their way to their 4th Pennant in 5 seasons. He wrote it from the perspective of a Giants fan, sad that the Cubs always seemed to beat them. Keep in mind that a "gonfalon" is another name for a flag, or a pennant:

These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double –
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

Maybe somebody should have written a poem for the 1984 Detroit Tigers, so that Lou Whitaker could join Alan Trammell in the Hall of Fame, and both could have gotten in years sooner.

The 3rd baseman was Harry Steinfeldt, a decent player, but not even on the level of the other 3. The outfield was Jimmy Sheckard in left, Arthur "Solly" Hofman in center, and Frank "Wildfire" Schulte in right. Johnny "Noisy" Kling was the main catcher. A backup was Pat Moran, who would manage both the Philadelphia Phillies (in 1915) and the Cincinnati Reds (in 1919) to their 1st NL Pennant.

But it was pitching that was the key for the Cubs. Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown -- named "Centennial" because he was born in America's Centennial year of 1876, although that didn't become part of the same-age Chance's name -- lost a finger and wrecked another in a farming accident as a boy in Indiana. This changed the way he held a baseball, and it gave him the best curveball of his era. He became known as "Three-Finger" Brown, and a Hall-of-Famer much worthier than either Evers or Tinker. Chance would frequently pitch him against Giants ace Christy Mathewson, the greatest pitcher in the NL in that era. They faced each other 26 times, and Brown went 14-12.

Jack Pfiester also seemed to beat the Giants more often than not, and, with a nod to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, became known as Jack the Giant Killer. There was also Orval Overall, a name that sounds like it was made up by Charles Dickens. Ed Reulbach was also a good pitcher.

But, as fate would have it, the American League Pennant was won by the Chicago White Sox, who took their name from the original name of the Cubs, the Chicago White Stockings. They went 93-56, finishing 3 games ahead of the New York Highlanders (forerunners of the Yankees), and 5 ahead of the Cleveland Naps (named for their superstar 2nd baseman and manager, Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, and they became the Cleveland Indians in 1915).

They won despite being known as "The Hitless Wonders." Was that fair? 2nd baseman Frank Isbell batted .279 for the season; shortstop George Davis, .277; 1st baseman John "Jiggs" Donahue .257, reserve outfielder Bill O'Neill .248; outfielder Patrick "Patsy" Dougherty, .233; center fielder and manager Fielder Jones (yes, that was his real name), .230; right fielder Ed Hahn, .227; catcher Billy Sullivan, .214; and 3rd baseman Lee Tannehill, .183. In the spacious South Side Park, the entire team hit only 7 home runs all season long. Even in baseball's "Dead Ball Era," this was ridiculous.

And yet, they were 3rd in the AL in runs scored. They had the fewest runs allowed, gave up the fewest walks, had the best strikeout-to-walk ratio, had the 2nd-lowest ERA (by just 0.04), had the 2nd-best fielding percentage (by just .004), and committed the 2nd-fewest errors -- in each of those 2nd-place finishes, behind the Naps. Still, Davis was the only batter they had who was headed for the Hall of Fame, and that was at least partly due to what he did before he got to the White Sox.

So the key was pitching and defense. Frank Owen went 22-13. Nick Altrock, later to be known as one of the sport's great "clowns," went 20-13. Big Ed Walsh went 17-13 -- and, by his standards this was a down year. And Guy "Doc" White (a dentist, so it wasn't just a nickname) went 18-6.

Walsh and White would both be elected to the Hall of Fame. At one point that season, White pitched 45 consecutive scoreless innings that year. That record would be surpassed by Walter Johnson and eventually Don Drysdale. White would live to see both occurrences, dying in 1969, making him the last survivor from the 1906 White Sox.

So, for the 1st time, the World Series would be between 2 teams from the same city. The games would alternate: The odd-numbered games would be played at the West Side Grounds, home of the Cubs; while the even-numbered games would be played at South Side Park, home of the White Sox. (In 1910, the White Sox would move a few blocks north, to Comiskey Park. In 1916, the Cubs would move to the North Side, to what would become Wrigley Field.)

Altrock and Brown started Game 1. Each allowed only 4 hits. But a pair of sacrifice bunts in the top of the 6th inning gave the White Sox a 2-1 win. The Cubs scored 3 runs in the top of the 2nd in Game 2, and coasted from there, winning 7-1.

Pfeister allowed just 4 hits in Game 3. But one of them was a 6th-inning bases-loaded triple by George Rohe, starting at 3rd base in place of Tannehill. Walsh allowed 2 hits in the 1st, and then didn't allow another, striking out 12, setting a World Series record that would stand for 23 years. It was probably the best-pitched World Series game until Don Larsen 50 years later. The White Sox won, 3-0.

Altrock and Brown were again the starters in Game 4. This time, Brown took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, and Evers singled Chance home in the 7th. That would be the only run, as Brown stranded the tying run on 2nd in the 9th. The Series was now tied.

Game 5 would not be a pitcher's duel. It went back and forth, and Isbell's 4 doubles backed Walsh up, as the Pale Hose won, 8-6. The White Sox now led, 3 games to 2. And the visiting team had won every game. Good news for the White Sox, if that pattern held, as the Cubs stood to have home-field advantage in Game 7.

But they would rather have finished the Cubs off at home in Game 6, and they did. They jumped on 

Brown for 7 runs in the first 2 innings‚ and coasted behind Doc White to a 7-1 Series-ending victory. Despite winning 116 games in the regular season, the Cubs had lost to the "Hitless Wonders."

But they would be back. They won the 1907 World Series, beating the Detroit Tigers. They held off the Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates in a furious 1908 Pennant race, and then beat the Tigers again to win back-to-back World Series. They actually won more games in 1909 than they did in 1907, '08 or '10, but fell short to the Pirates. In 1910, they won another Pennant, losing the World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics.

The Cubs rebuilt after the Chance generation got old, and won a Pennant in 1918. They rebuilt again, and won the Pennant every 3 years: 1929, 1932, 1935 and 1938. They won another in 1945 -- and then, for reasons both administrative and, seemingly, supernatural (the alleged "Curse of the Billy Goat"), they didn't make the postseason again for 39 years. In 2016, they ended a Pennant drought of 71 years and a World Series-winning drought of 108 years, both major league records.

The White Sox fell a little short in 1908, despite Walsh having one of the greatest seasons any pitcher has ever had. A rebuilt team won the World Series in 1917, and another Pennant in 1919. But they lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, and 7 of their players were accused of "throwing" the Series, losing it on purposes. An 8th was accused of knowing about the scam but not reporting it. All 8 were banned from baseball for life, crippling the White Sox.

They didn't win another Pennant for 40 years, until 1959. Despite some close calls in 1964, 1967, 1972, 1977 and 1990, and Division titles in 1983, 1993 and 2000, they didn't win another Pennant until 2005, finally winning the World Series that year.

There has never been another all-Chicago World Series. In fact, they've only both made the postseason in the same season 3 times: 1906, 2008 and 2020.

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October 14, 1906 was a Sunday. Game 6 of the World Series was the only baseball game. There was pro football, but not a major league. Same with basketball. Hockey had leagues, but only amateur ones. So there were no games on this historic day.

Hannah Arendt, a writer who fled Nazi Germany to live in America, was born on this day. She once wrote, "The most ardent revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution." All too often, she has been right.