September 3, 1908: Cubs sweep doubleheader to keep pace with first place Giants. Also, I don't

The Cubs finished off the St. Louis series in style, taking both games of a doubleheader against the Cardinals as they now prepare for what is essentially a "home and home" series with the second place Pittsburgh Pirates .... two games in Pittsburgh to start, and then two more back here at the West Side Grounds.

But before that goes down, Chicago made pretty easy work of the last place Cardinals. Cubs pitcher Orval Overall fired his second shutout in a row (and third in four starts) as the Cubs took game one 5-0. Things were actually close for most of the game, with the Cubs only leading 1-0 after seven innings, but they tacked on four runs in the 8th for plenty of insurance.

Frank Chance led the offensive charge for the Cubs, going a perfect 4-4 in game one, including a two run home run in the 8th to put the game out of reach. Solly Hofman, Joe Tinker, and Johnny Evers were the stars on defense behind Overall as he worked his way to a four hit, six strikeout whitewashing of the visitors.

I crush baseball!

Game two saw another 33% of the legendary Tinker to Evers to Chance trio ... Johnny Evers ... as the offensive star. The scrappy second baseman delivered a double and two triples in the second game as the Cubs cruised to an 8-2 victory.

Gee boss ... I crush baseball too!

The Giant Killer Jack Pfiester only had one bad inning, surrendering both Cardinal runs in the 6th, but otherwise pitched a clean game for the Cubs while striking out five in the win. Meanwhile, his mound counterpart on the other side, Bugs Raymond, wasn't so lucky. After already trailing 3-0, Raymond then gave up another three runs to the Cubs in the bottom of the sixth and then proceeded to simply walk off the mound and remove himself from the game.

A somewhat flabbergasted manager John McCloskey was then forced to call upon some dude named Fred Gaiser who pitched one game in his ENTIRE career ... this one right here. Makes you wonder if he didn't just pull the guy out of the stands or something as an act of sheer desperation, doesn't it? Gaiser gave up two runs in his 2 2/3rds innings of work and then sadly for poor Fre,d was out of baseball for good and actually passed away at the young age of 33 in 1918.

At least I had more at bats than Moonlight Graham!

OK ... pep talk over on that! Instead, let's explore the phenomenon of thrill-seeking, because I just don't get it.

Some people LOVE thrill-seeking ... dangerous adrenaline rush activities like skydiving, rock climbing, or whatever. Me? No thanks!

For me, "thrill-seeking" is waking up fifteen minutes late for work and scrambling to still try and make it to the office on time. Or if I manage to find something on sale at the grocery store while also having a coupon for the item ... Now THAT'S a rush!

But you'll never catch me base jumping or anything insane like that. Just the other day I saw some headline about a young base jumper who died. How'd he die? BASE JUMPING OF COURSE!!!

Anyway in 1908, a guy named Charles O. Jones put on a display at the Maine State Fairgrounds to show off his amazing flying dirigible balloon. The only problem? The balloon malfunctioned and 25,000 spectators watched this dude plunge 500 feet to his death ... INCLUDING HIS OWN WIFE AND CHILD! I feel bad for the guy, but he's really got nobody to blame but himself.

The moral of the story? Rest comfortably on the couch! Here's what a dirigible looks like if you're crious ...

Hi. I'm a death trap.

In summary, the Cubs wins send them to 74-48 on the season. The first place Giants also swept their doubleheader with Boston, so the Cubs still trail by a game. Chicago now hops the train to Pittsburgh for a huge series that has the first two games in Pittsburgh and the following two back in Chicago.