The Race: 1908 American League

The 1908 National League pennant race was one of the greatest ever. The American League race in 1908 was equally exciting yet is often overlooked.

Four teams — Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis — remained in contention for most of the season. In the final six weeks, two no-hitters and a perfect game were pitched by contending teams. Three teams went into their final series of games with a chance at the pennant. The league champion was not decided until the Tigers beat the White Sox at Chicago in their final game of the season. While the pressure-packed pennant race did not result in a league president committing suicide, under slightly different circumstances it might well have resulted in the murder of an umpire!

Underway

The Naps lost their opener 2-1 in ten innings to St. Louis. Two days later, they dropped their second straight ten-inning encounter 6-2. Glenn Liebhardt, Naps hard-luck loser, had a no-hitter through seven innings. The loss of these opening two games in effect cost the Naps the 1908 pennant as they eventually lost out by only one-half game. The Naps finally won their first game by spoiling Detroit’s home opener 12-8 in eleven innings.

In late April, Dusty Rhoades pitched Cleveland temporarily into first place by defeating St. Louis 6-3 with the help of a slow ball that ought to have been “pinched for loitering.” Dusty probably also used his “merry widow” curve — “it’s a beauty, a fooler and a teaser.” Dusty’s roommate, Addie Joss, had five of Cleveland’s first nine victories.

Back and Forth

Despite having dropped to fifth place with a 19-18 record in early June, the naps put together a three-game winning streak that moved them all the way back into first place — indicative of the closeness of the race.

But the White Sox were hot also and they gained first place with the help of a 13-game winning streak. On June 24, Cleveland opened an important four-game series with Chicago. Addie Joss won the opener 6-0. The next day Glenn Liebhardt defeated Nick Altrock 3-2. The naps won the third game of the series 4-2 as Dusty Rhoades defeated Ed Walsh.

Charlie Check won the fourth game for the naps 6-3. But despite starting in second place and sweeping the first place Chisox, Cleveland did not move into first as St. Louis won more games in the same time period.

After losing two 3-2 games at new York, the naps dropped back to fourth but were still only three games behind St. Louis and Detroit. After a game was lost to rain, Cleveland swept a doubleheader from the Yankees 16-1 and 3-2. Detroit’s bats were also booming. Two days after Cleveland’s 16-1 win, the first place Tigers beat the A’s 21-1 while collecting 25 hits.

The Naps then fell into their biggest slump of the season, winning seven and losing twelve through July 27. It was this stretch of games that really cost them the pennant.

On August 6 it was announced that Wilbur Goode, a hard hitting outfielder, had been acquired by the naps from Akron where he was hitting .372. Goode broke into the lineup in the ninth inning of a 7-2 loss to Boston. He delivered a pinch hit single off the old master, Cy Young. Two days later, Goode misplayed two grounders in the outfield in a 8-7 loss to the A’s.

After losing a double header to Washington, the Naps faced a crucial series with the first-place Tigers. Rhoades won the first game of the series 9-1, and Chech won the next 7-3, while Goode had a home run, a stolen base and scored twice.

Addie’s Tune-Up and Rhoades’ No-Hitter

On September 1, Addie Joss pitched the fifth one-hitter of his career, to win 1-0 over George Winter of Detroit. Ty Cobb delivered the Tigers only hit in the first inning. Cleveland’s run was the result of a single by Birmingham. Joe had been sick in bed all morning with a high fever and at noon there was even a discussion about allowing him to return to Cleveland. As good as this performance was, Addie was just warming up for a game versus Chicago a month later.

On September 18, Dusty Rhoades pitched a no-hitter, but the Naps had to rally to beat Boston 2-1. Boston took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. In Boston’s fourth, Speaker was safe on Bradley’s error. Gessler was safe on a fielder’s choice and Heinie Wagner walked to load the bases. But Rhoades managed to get out of it. One Cleveland paper attributed his good luck to a $2 Egyptian amulet Rhoades had purchased the night before and had in his pocket while pitching. Wilbur Goode singled in the eighth and eventually scored the winning run on a passed ball.

Two days after Rhoades’ no-hitter, Frank Smith of Chicago pitched a 1-0 no-hitter over Ed Plank and the Philadelphia Athletics. The winning run scored in the ninth inning.

On September 22, headlines proclaimed “Best Work Ever” as “Plucky Fighting Puts Naps at Top.” ‘Cleveland had regained first place by defeating New York 5-3 while Detroit was losing to Boston 4-3.

Joss kept the Naps in first with a 7-0 shutout of New York. The game was tied 0-0 after five. Deacon McGuire took over coaching at first base in the sixth and Cleveland went on to score five runs in the inning.

The Naps won their next game over New York 9-3. The game was tied 1-1 until the sixth inning when the fans clamored for McGuire to take the coaching lines. He did and the Naps promptly scored two runs and six more in the seventh.

Detroit declared itself back in the race as they regained second with a double-header sweep of Philadelphia 7-2 and 1-0. While the Naps were idle, Detroit went back into first place with a 5-2 victory over Philadelphia.

On September 29, all four contenders swept double-headers from second division opponents.

Perfection

On October 2, 1908, Addie Joss pitched a perfect game against the Chicago White Sox in what is arguably the greatest clutch pitching performance of all time. Pitching for Chicago that day was Ed Walsh, who struck out fifteen Cleveland batters (in eight innings) and surrendered only four hits and one unearned run himself.

Walsh’s statistics for the 1908 season were amazing: 66 games, 49 starts, 42 complete games, 464 innings pitched, 269 strikeouts, 40 wins against only 15 losses, twelve shutouts and a 1.42 ERA. Walsh came into his confrontation with Joss having just defeated Boston three times within 48 hours. Boston managed only one run in the three games. (In the last nine games the Sox played in 1908, Walsh pitched seven times and won six.)

But on October 2, Big Ed me this match in Addie Joss. Chisox manager Fielder Jones summed it up best when he said, “The only kind of pitching that would have beaten Ed Walsh today was exactly the kind of pitching that Addie Joss showed us.”

How great of a pitcher was Joss? Consider these facts: Forty-five of his lifetime 160 wins were shutouts. His lifetime ERA of1.88 is the second best of all time. His nine lifetime low hit games (two no-hitters and seven one-hitters) is exceeded by only Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan.

Addie’s perfect game still left the Naps in second place, one-half game behind the Tigers who beat St. Louis 7-6.

The following day Ed Walsh got his revenge. The Naps were playing their final home game of the season before a huge crowd of 20,000 people. Walsh came on in relief in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and only one out. After getting Hinchman to ground into a forceout, Walsh struck out Napoleon Lajoie to retire the side. He then went onto wrap up a 3-2 victory.

Concluding Games

On Sunday, October 4, the Naps were in St. Louis for a key series with the Browns that would seal their fate in the race. Umpire Jack Egan was 20 minutes late in reaching the ball park for the first game. Had he remained away altogether, the Naps might have won the game. Dusty Rhoades started for Cleveland and gave up three runs in the first four innings. Once again, it was left to Addle Joss to keep the Naps alive. After walking the bases full, Joss fanned Bobby Wallace to end the threat. The game finally ended an eleven-inning 3-3 tie. Joss pitched the final six and 2/3 innings and allowed only two hits.

But the real story of the game was Cleveland’s ninth inning and Umpire Egan’s decision. Joss was on third base and Bill Bradley was on second and two were out. Bill Hinchman hit one out over second base for what looked like the lead runs. But shortstop Bobby Wallace somehow got to it, knocked it down and threw to first. Joss had already scored and Bradley had rounded third base. The St. Louis players immediately tried to run Bradley down between home and third. After Bradley had slid back to third, Egan “surprised everybody” by announcing he had declared Hinchman out.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s respected sports reporter Henry P. Edwards called it “the most raw decision by an umpire I have ever witnessed.”

The following day Bill Dinneen officially eliminated the Naps from the race with a four-hit 3-1 victory. Umpire Egan quickly reminded the Naps he was still in charge. Hanzell of St. Louis had singled and stolen second base. Hofman singled to left but Hinchman made a “grand return” of the ball and Bemis had Hartzell “blocked off the plate by yards” Egan called him safe and “the Naps seemed to go completely in the air.”

Meanwhile, on October 4 and 5, the White Sox were winning two straight from Detroit in a last-ditch attempt to win the race themselves. On the 4th, Chicago scored three times in the first inning and held on to win 3-1. Chicago won this game despite only getting one hit. The next thy Ed Walsh stopped Detroit 6-1.

On October 6, Detroit clinched the pennant in their last game of the regular season with a7-0 two-hit shutout of the White Sox by Wild Bill Donovan. The game was played at Chicago and a Sox victory would have given them the pennant.

Cleveland finished second by defeating St. Louis 5-1. Hughie Jennings, the manager of the pennant-winning Tigers, put Cleveland’s season in the proper perspective when he said: “The Naps have made one of the grandest fights in the history of the game.” His comment is still valid today, long after their grand fight has been forgotten.