October 6, 1909: Christy Mathewson pitched for the Yankees? Not officially. The New York Highlanders -- already being informally called the Yankees, but the name change wouldn't be official until 1913 -- and the Detroit Tigers oppose each other at Hilltop Park, the Highlanders' home in Upper Manhattan.
It was a postseason benefit game for Sam Crane, a popular sportswriter and a former big-league 2nd baseman, who had recently recovered from a severe illness, and had been unable to pay his medical bills.
Mathewson pitched for the Highlanders, while his former Giant teammate Iron Joe McGinnity came out of retirement to pitch for the Tigers. This was likely arranged by Hughie Jennings, the Tiger manager, who was a teammate of Giant manager John McGraw on the 1890s Orioles and Brooklyn Superbas (forerunners of the Dodgers).
Jennings, for the last time in a brilliant baseball career, played shortstop, a position at which he was so good that he might have gotten into the Hall of Fame had he never managed a game. He had just clinched the Tigers' 3rd straight Pennant, and probably viewed this as not just a good deed for an old friend, but as a good warmup for the World Series.
The Tigers won the game, 8-4. Money raised: $7,000, equivalent to about $225,000 in 2022 money. Alas, the Tigers' luck ran out: They lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 7 games.
Jennings, for the last time in a brilliant baseball career, played shortstop, a position at which he was so good that he might have gotten into the Hall of Fame had he never managed a game. He had just clinched the Tigers' 3rd straight Pennant, and probably viewed this as not just a good deed for an old friend, but as a good warmup for the World Series.
The Tigers won the game, 8-4. Money raised: $7,000, equivalent to about $225,000 in 2022 money. Alas, the Tigers' luck ran out: They lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 7 games.
Crane's playing career ended in 1890, when he was arrested after having an affair with the wife of a fruit dealer and stealing $1,500 from the husband -- about $48,000 in today's money. But he became a better writer than a player, and lived until 1925, age 71.
A few years later, there would be another infielder named Sam Crane, and his own amorous difficulties got him in even hotter water. This one was a shortstop who played for 4 teams, including the Brooklyn Dodgers, from 1914 to 1922. "Red" Crane (he was a redhead, and the accusations against him do not include Communism) was convicted of the jealous murder of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend on August 3, 1929, and was sentenced to 18 to 36 years in prison.
He proved to be a model prisoner. His former manager Connie Mack argued for his parole for 15 years, and Crane finally got it in 1944. He then lived in comparative tranquility until 1955.
*
October 6, 1909 was a Wednesday. There were still regular-season baseball games to be played, and 6 of them were played on this day:
* The National League's New York City arch-rivals split a doubleheader at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Superbas won the opener, 4-1. The New York Giants won the nightcap, 8-4.
* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Boston Doves, 2-1 in 12 innings and 7-1 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The Doves were named for their owners, the brothers George and John Dovey. It would be 1912 before they became the Braves.
* And the Chicago Cubs swept the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-0 and 5-1 at Robison Field in St. Louis.
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