September 29, 1908: Cubs win and hold a tiny lead. Also, the biggest theft in the world.
The Cubs returned to action today after a couple days off to travel westward to Cincinnati to face the Reds, taking game one of the four game series relatively easily by a score of 6-2. It was a chilly fall day in Ohio, the Tribune noting the “sun shone OK but gave off no more heat than a street car stove,” which I guess is 1908-speak for “it’s cold today.”
Meanwhile, the Giants beat Philadelphia yesterday to pull even with the Cubs in Chicago, but split a doubleheader with the Phillies today to again fall just behind the Cubs. And when I say “just behind,” I totally mean it … the Cubs led the National League by ONE percentage point. And as if that wasn’t enough, the Pittsburgh Pirates weren’t far behind in third place, trailing by only four points.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that this one is going right down to the wire, and any of these three teams could win the pennant.
Fortunately for the Cubs, they at least controlled their own destiny today and rode some timely hitting and a decent game on the mound by Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown to victory. Joe Tinker gave the Cubs an early 2-0 lead with a two-run homer to center field in the top of the second inning.
I smash baseball!
The Cubs then added three more in the 4th. Harry Steinfeldt got things started with a single, and then advanced to third on a Tinker single. From there, an error by Reds first baseman Dick Hoblitzell allowed the third run of the game, followed by a two run single from the pitcher Brown to blow the game wide open.
Three Finger was solid for the first six innings, giving up only two hits, but ran into trouble after that and gave up seven more hits in the last three innings. Four of those hits came in the 7th inning and resulted in the Reds’ two runs on the day, but Brown managed to minimize the damage and cruise to a 6-2 victory from there.
Funny little tidbit from the game … Reds pitcher Ralph Savidge came in to pitch the last two innings of the game, and the Tribune noted it was his first appearance in a week since a freak “accident” he had while the team was in Philadelphia. The Tribune referred to Savidge as a “finger nail pitcher,” which I’m guessing is either some kind of knuckleball or curve ball pitcher.
The knuckleball actually did exist in 1908, with some accounts crediting White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte (later of 1919 Black Sox infamy) with developing it this season. That said, in the early days the pitch was thrown almost exclusively from the knuckles, so I think Savidge was more of a curve ball guy, but ultimately I have no clue because Google was no help.
Anyway, Savidge got a haircut while he was in Philly and fell asleep in the barber’s chair. While asleep, the manicurist in the shop trimmed all his precious fingernails, and also gave them a lovely pink polish to go along with it.
[Editor’s note: I’m not making this up! Though I’m kind of questioning if the Tribune did or not.]
This is all you get of Ralph
In other news, you know that Bible that sits in the drawer of every hotel room you go into? Well that got it’s start in 1908! Today the Christian Commercial Travelers’ Association … aka the Gideons … announced that they would spend 18 cents a head to place Bible in every room in every hotel in the country.
This led to the Bible eventually becoming known as “the most stolen book in the world,” by people who took it from the room, but the Gideons themselves were totally cool with that, saying “if any man steals one of our Bibles from a hotel room, so much the better.”
So basically, the biggest theft ring in the history of the modern world began today in 1908. Sweet!
In summary, the Cubs win put them at 95-54, giving them that razor thin lead of one percentage point over the Giants. Game two of the four game series with the Reds is tomorrow … six games left on the season.
