October 15, 1917: Game 6 of the World Series is played at the Polo Grounds. The Chicago White Sox can win the Series with a win. If not, they will play the New York Giants there again in a Game 7.
After the White Sox' Urban "Red" Faber and the Giants' Rube Benton matched 3 scoreless innings in Game 6‚ the Sox' Eddie Collins led off the 4th, and hit a grounder to Henry "Heinie" Zimmerman at 3rd base. Collins took 2nd when the throw got past 1st baseman Walter Holke. "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's fly to right field was dropped by Dave Robertson‚ and Collins went to 3rd.
When Oscar "Happy" Felsch hit one back to the pitcher‚ Collins broke for home. Benton threw to 3rd to catch Collins‚ and catcher Bill Rariden came up the line. But with Zimmerman in pursuit, Collins, one of the game's greatest all-around players, and particularly known for his speed, kept running, and slid home. Home plate umpire Bill Klem called him safe, without dispute.
Zimmerman will be blamed for chasing the runner‚ becoming a Giants "goal" on the level of Fred Merkle in 1908. But, as with Merkle, it was unfair, in his case because nobody was covering home plate, so he didn't have anybody to whom he could throw.
Zimmerman had helped the Chicago Cubs win the 1907 and 1908 World Series, and had won the National League's Triple Crown in 1912.
A quote often attributed to him, but actually invented by writer Ring Lardner some years later, was that, when asked about the incident, Zimmerman replied, "Who the hell was I supposed to throw to, Klem?"
The Giants came back with 2 runs on Buck Herzog's triple in the 4th‚ but Faber, a future Hall-of-Famer, won his 3rd game of the Series 4-2, and the White Sox took the Series.
This turned out to be the last World Series won by a Chicago team for 88 years – partly due to the fault of at least 6 and possibly 7 White Sox, including Felsch and Jackson, "throwing" the Series 2 years later.
A letter signed by 24 members of the White Sox and manager Clarence "Pants" Rowland contained complaints concerning not receiving their full winners' share after beating the Giants. The written request, which will be discovered as a tattered document more than 40 years later in boxes stored at the library of the Baseball Hall of Fame, may explain the Black Sox' motivation for fixing the Fall Classic the 2 years later.
Zimmerman would also be accused of throwing games, and retired after the 1919 season, rather than take any punishment. He died in 1969.
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October 15, 1917 was a Monday. This was the only score on this historic day. But it wasn't the most historic event: This was also the day that Mata Hari was executed. I have a separate entry for that event.
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