August 19, 1908: Cubs bounce Boston, the invention of night baseball, and meat and jelly salad ...

The Cubs make relatively easy work of the Boston Doves, picking up a 5-1 win. Also, the (sort of) invention of night baseball and ... gulp ... meat and jelly salad.

I have to imagine the Cubs were happy to see Philadelphia leave town after the Phillies managed to take eight of 11 games on the year at the West Side Grounds. In their place we have the Boston Doves, 6th place in the league and losers of four of their last five games. That was just what the Cubs needed ... their ace Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown on the mound, and a slumping 6th place team in the visitor's dugout.

Brownie fired a five hitter while striking out seven. Really his only blip on the radar was the third inning where he gave up four of those five hits and Boston's lone run.

[Side note: If Three Finger Brown played in the era of social media, can you even fathom the sheer amount of "give her the shocker!" memes with his picture on them that he would've had to deal with? Yeah ... me neither.]

I won't give in to the meme temptation!

On offense, the Cubs hit Doves pitcher Patsy Flaherty hard pretty much all day, but didn't have any runs to show for it until the sixth inning when Joe Tinker laced a two run double that scored Johnny Evers and Harry Steinfeldt. Interesting tidbit about Flaherty ... he played a couple seasons for the cross-town rival White Sox, including the 1903 season where he lost a staggering 25 games on the year. Not surprisingly, 1908 was Flaherty's last full season in the majors and he only makes a couple appearances in the next two seasons.

I lose a lot

The Cubs added three insurance runs in the 8th, but Brown was already cruising to victory by then anyway. Joe Tinker and Jimmy Sheckard both went 3-5 on the day to lead the offensive charge for the Cubs.

In other baseball news, talk of the "invention" of night baseball is already brewing a few hours down the road in Cincinnati by Reds President Garry Herrmann. Working with Philadelphia inventor George P. Cahill, Herrmann plans to erect a series of light towers while the Reds are on their next road trip, with hopes of having night baseball soon after. Here's the wild part ... the Reds do become the first MLB team to play a night game, but it's in 1935! So what essentially sounds like a done deal in the newspaper in 1908, doesn't take place for another TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS!

The first night game in MLB history in 1935

OK finally ... I've made fun of some bad 1908 recipes in the past, but this one might be the worst ... meat and jelly salad. Wait ... WHAT??????

Yup ... you basically add some gelatin to a big bowl of stock, and when it cools into ... gulp ... jello ... you cut it into adorable little meat jelly squares. Oh but the deliciousness doesn't stop there!

Next ... mix the meat jelly squares with chopped chicken, celery, and mayonnaise, throw it on top of some lettuce, and then ... (I'm getting a tummy ache) ... splooge some more mayonnaise on top. DEAR GOD NO!!!!!!

Well this is helping my diet, because my appetite is GONE!

I'm just thankful that this recipe has since died away. Though I am now also fearful that Guy Fieri is gonna read this, slap some of his awful donkey sauce on top of it, and then start serving it at one of his yucky restaurants.

I created a monster

In summary, the Cubs win moves them to 60-46 on the year. Pittsburgh lost today, so Chicago picks up a game in the standings and now trails by four and a half. Game two of the four game series with Boston is tomorrow.