September 26, 1908: A Cubs pitcher makes baseball history.

There is no question in my mind that every September 26th at Wrigley Field should be celebrated as "Big Ed Reulbach Day."

Cy Young. Christy Mathewson. Walter Johnson. Sand Koufax. Bob Gibson. Clayton Kershaw.

None of those names listed above have done what Ed Reulbach did. And you can actually make that list as long as you want, because no pitcher is the history of major league baseball has done what Reulbach did today. Not before. Not after. Not EVER.

Chicago Cubs pitcher Ed Reulbach

So what did he do?

On September 26, 1908 Big Ed Reulbach became the fist (and only) pitcher in major league baseball history to throw a shutout in both games of a doubleheader. That's right ... the Cubs won today 5-0 and 3-0 and Reulbach pitched all 18 innings of the games.

In game one, Big Ed cruised to victory by pitching a five hitter and adding seven strikeouts, and he felt so good at the end of the game that he begged player-manager Frank Chance to let him pitch game two as well.

It wasn't the plan to let him go both games, the dude just felt THAT good. And really, you could argue he was even stronger in game two since he only gave up three hits in that one while adding four strikeouts and walking only one.

So yeah ... Don't you feel like Big Ed Reulbach Day has a nice ring to it? I know it was 108 years ago and you could argue it was a different game back then, but nobody back then managed to do what Reulbach did either, and for that I think he deserves a ton of recognition.

A bobblehead at the very least!!!

Bask in the glory of my total lack of Photoshop skills

Johnny Evers, Harry Steinfeld, and Johnny Kling all had solid days on offense for the Cubs, but we're celebrating Big Ed Reulbach Day around here, so they are merely an afterthought to the man of the hour.

With only seven games left in the season after today, these two wins were obviously huge no matter what, but they were even bigger because the Giants kept pace and swept their doubleheader against the Reds. Chicago still holds a slim half game lead in the standings, but things are still super close.

The 93-54 Cubs now travel to Cincinnati for their five game series against the Reds. Meanwhile, the Giants are off tomorrow before starting a whopping EIGHT game series at home against the Phillies.

I mentioned that the Cubs have seven games left, but the Giants actually have 12 remaining in their schedule thanks to some early season rainouts now being made up. So obviously the Cubs really need to run the table to hold on to first place in the National League.

Naturally, this is 1908 and the train ride from NYC to Cincinnati takes about 427 hours, so the Cubs don't play again until the 29th. Talk to you then!