August 3, 1908: Cubs win, bunt like crazy, and a future President records his voice while his wife l

The Cubs picked up a 5-1 win today against Philly with lots of bunting. Also, a future President records his voice while his wife laughs.

The Cubs managed to kick off the difficult swing of their road trip with a win today in Philadelphia, 5-1 on the back of pitching ace Mordecai Brown. Brown scattered six hits and struck out four in a game that was put out of reach in the 5th when the Cubs scored four runs and took a 4-0 lead.

And how did they do it? Bunting!

It is truly amazing how much bunting was a part of the game back in 1908 vs. how little it is involved in 2016. In 1908, the Cubs had 270 sacrifice bunts on the season. In 2016? 32 ... Which also happens to be the same amount that Harry Steinfeldt had in 1908 to lead the Cubs. So one guy had as many as the entire 2016 team!

The 2016 leader, Jon Lester, had SIX the entire season. Conversely, on this day in 1908 the Cubs had three sacrifice bunts in one INNING in the fifth when they managed to score four runs and essentially put this game out of reach for good. And yes, the main reason is we have about a billion more home runs now than we did in 1908, but it's still interesting to see how much the game has changed since then. Steinfeldt was the #5 hitter for the Cubs and led the team in sacrifice bunts. Today, NO Cubs regular in the lineup has more than ONE sac bunt.

We love to bunt!

Regardless, it worked on this day in 1908 and the Cubs won easily 5-1. In other news, a future President recorded his voice for the first time, while his wife laughed at him. Much like 2016, there was a Presidential election in 1908. In '08, it was WIlliam Howard Taft who would eventually win the election, and this was new territory for just about any President back then in that they dealt with phonograph recordings for one of the first times in history.

So this week, candidate Taft prepared to record his speeches for the very first time while stumping in Hot Springs, VA. Naturally, Taft thought it was important to rehearse his speech, since it would be recorded for all of us to hear for ... well ... eternity. Meanwhile, his wife thought it was totally hilarious that he was practicing, and the Tribune pointed out that she pretty much laughed in his face while he rehearsed his words. Thanks for the support, honey!

The cool thing is that thanks to the power of the internet, it took me about 2 seconds to find Taft's exact speech he was rehearsing for, which ended up being recorded a few days later. So here's Taft's "Farmer and the Republican" speech from August 5, 1908. And yes, it's boring as hell after about 10 seconds, but that 10 seconds is pretty cool when you think about how you're hearing a President speak for the first time 108 years ago.

In summary, the Cubs win puts them at 56-37 on the year. Naturally, the Pirates won too, like they seem to always do, so the lead remains a game and a half. Game two of four with Philly is tomorrow.