October 10, 1906: Ed Reulbach tosses one-hitter in Game 2 as Cubs even World Series

When Ed Reulbach was a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Notre Dame in 1902, he played as an outfielder against the Chicago White Sox in a preseason exhibition series on Notre Dame’s campus.1 Four and a half years later, the Detroit native got a chance to play against the White Sox again, this time as the starting pitcher for the National League champion Chicago Cubs in Game Two of the 1906 World Series. 

Reulbach may have been the youngest player on the Cubs’ World Series roster at age 23, but he had already established himself as one of the NL’s best pitchers. By the end of the 1906 season, Reulbach had amassed 37 wins and a 1.52 ERA over his first two major-league seasons. His 5.3 hits allowed per nine innings in 1906 were the fewest in the majors. 

Reulbach needed to be sharp for the Cubs in the second game of the World Series after the White Sox won Game One – a 2-1 pitchers’ duel between Nick Altrock and Mordecai Brown. 

Game One was somewhat of a surprise; the Cubs were heavy favorites to win the Series after finishing the regular season with a 116-36 record, 20 games ahead of the second-place New York Giants.2 The White Sox went 93-58, winning the American League by three games with their dominant starting rotation. Known as the Hitless Wonders for their AL-worst .230 team average, the White Sox still were third in the league in runs scored thanks to leading the league in walks, hit-by-pitches, and sacrifices.

While Game One was at the Cubs’ home field, West Side Grounds, Game Two was at the White Sox’ South Side Park. The cold weather, with temperatures in the 30s, from the first game of the Series carried over to the second, and some players reportedly wore sweaters while on the field.3

White Sox manager-center fielder Fielder Jones sent to the mound left-hander Doc White, who had led the AL in ERA (1.52) but  struggled with fatigue late in the season. White had thrown only eight innings in 18 days before Game Two. 

Other than the pitchers, both teams went with the same lineups as in Game One. 

After one inning it looked like another pitchers’ duel; both White and Reulbach retired the side in order. But then it all came apart for White and the White Sox defense in the top of the second. 

After Cubs first manager-baseman Frank Chance struck out, 1906 NL hits leader Harry Steinfeldt singled to left for the game’s first hit, and shortstop Joe Tinker reached on a bunt single. 

The White Sox had a chance to get out of the inning on a groundball to second by Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers. White Sox second baseman Frank Isbell fielded the ball and tried to toss it backward to second to start a double play, but shortstop Lee Tannehill was nowhere near the bag and the throw bounced away.4 It was the second of five errors for Isbell in the series.

Steinfeldt scored and Tinker and Evers advanced to second and third. After White intentionally walked Cubs catcher Johnny Kling, Reulbach successfully executed a squeeze bunt, scoring Tinker. 

Cubs center fielder Solly Hofman then reached on an infield single to short, bringing home Evers to make it a 3-0 ballgame. Kling tried to score from second on the play but was caught in a rundown between third and home to end the inning.5

Now with some run support, Reulbach stayed sharp in the second, walking one but holding the White Sox scoreless again. 

In the top of the third, White and the White Sox defense, which had the second-best fielding percentage in the AL in the regular season, had more trouble. With one down in the inning, Cubs right fielder Frank Schulte walked and Chance replaced him at first after hitting into a force at second. Chance then forced the White Sox into another error, stealing second and taking third when  catcher Billy Sullivan made an errant throw. Steinfeldt followed with his second hit in as many at-bats, scoring Chance to make it 4-0.

Babe Towne pinch-hit for White in the bottom of the third, ending the ace’s tough day on the mound. White finished with three innings pitched, four hits, two walks, and four unearned runs. 

Chicago Tribune columnist Charles Dryden wrote the following day, “The air was too keen for the doctor, who looked like a pallid icicle before he cut loose the first ball.”6

Towne, who had only 43 plate appearances in his career – all in 1906 for the White Sox – flied out to center in his only appearance of the World Series. Although his .395 on-base percentage would have led the team in 1906, Game Two of the World Series was the last time he appeared for a major-league team. 

In the top of the fourth inning, White Sox right-hander Frank Owen, who led the team with 22 wins in 1906, replaced White on the mound, throwing two scoreless innings to start his outing. 

The White Sox chipped away at their deficit in the fifth with the freezing crowd of over 12,000 hoping to see the home team get back in it. First baseman Jiggs Donahue got on with a walk. Left fielder Patsy Dougherty took his spot at first after hitting into a force and advanced to second on Reulbach’s wild pitch. 

Tannehill then grounded to short, and Dougherty, running to third, reportedly blocked Tinker from seeing the ball as it came closer. Tinker booted the ball into center, and Dougherty scored on the error to make it 4-1.

Reulbach, who still had not been hit hard all game, shook it off and got Owen to fly out, ending the inning. 

Apparently unfazed by the White Sox run, the Cubs added on in the sixth. 

Steinfeldt made it a 3-for-3 day with another single. He was forced out at second on a bunt by Tinker. Evers singled and he and Tinker successfully executed a double steal of second and third. Sullivan, who led qualified AL catchers in fielding percentage in 1906, made another poor throw, this time going into a crowd of ushers near the third-base foul line, bringing Tinker home.7 It was the fifth unearned run allowed by the White Sox and the sixth of the game between both teams.

In the bottom of the sixth, Reulbach had another three-up-three-down inning, this time with help from his catcher, Kling, who threw out Ed Hahn after he reached on a walk.

Through six innings, Reulbach still had not allowed a hit. It was not until Donahue smacked a groundball single to center in the seventh after a George Rohe walk that the White Sox got in the hit column.

 Reulbach regained his sharpness quickly and got out of the inning unscored on.

If the game was not already in doubt at 5-1, the Cubs added two more in the eighth for good measure. Chance singled and Steinfeldt passed up a chance to get his fourth hit of the day by bunting Chance to second. Chance stole third and scored on Tinker single’s to center. Tinker stole second – the Cubs’ fifth steal of the game8 – and eventually came around to score the Cubs’ seventh run on a wild pitch by Owen on the fourth ball to Kling. 

It was a mistake-filled day for the White Sox, who were so sharp in Game One. The Chicago Inter Ocean reported after the game that Frank Owen said his hands “felt like two cakes of ice” and that he was having a hard time holding the ball in position to pitch.9

The Cubs may have felt the cold too, but it clearly did not affect their play in the same way. 

Reulbach had some control problems in the final two innings, walking Jones in the eighth and hitting Rohe with a pitch in the ninth, but did not allow the White Sox to take advantage. When Sullivan flied out to center to end the game, Reulbach had the first-ever one-hit complete game in NL-AL World Series history. Through 2025, he was one of just five pitchers to allow one hit or fewer in an NL-AL World Series complete game.10

It was the second straight brilliant performance from a Cubs pitcher to open the 1906 World Series, but this time, it earned the team a win. 

After the Game Two victory, Frank Chance predicted a Series win for his club.

“I can’t see any other result to the Series but a victory for our team, and I am hopeful that Saturday’s game will wind things up,” Chance said.11

As it happened, the Cubs won only one game the rest of the Series, and the White Sox went on to take the 1906 title in six games.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

The author relied on Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and Stathead.com for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA190610100.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1906/B10100CHA1906.htm 

Notes

1 “Take Two From Notre Dame,” Chicago Tribune, April 18, 1902: 6.

2 Through 2025, the 1906 Cubs’ .763 winning percentage remained the best in the National or American League, and only the 2001 Seattle Mariners had matched their 116 wins. The 2001 Mariners went 116-46, a .716 winning percentage.

3 “Nationals Win, 7-1 in Second Game,” Chicago Tribune, October 11, 1906: 1.

4 “Nationals Win, 7-1 in Second Game,” Chicago Tribune, October 11, 1906: 2.

5 “Nationals Win, 7-1 in Second Game,” Chicago Tribune, October 11, 1906: 2.

6 Charles Dryden, “Sad Slaughter of Sox,” Chicago Tribune, October 11, 1906: 2

7 “Nationals Win, 7-1 in Second Game,” Chicago Tribune, October 11, 1906: 2.

8 Through the 2025 season, five team steals remain the record for a nine-inning World Series game, shared with the 1905 Giants, 1907 Cubs, 1987 St. Louis Cardinals, 1992 Atlanta Braves, and 2024 New York Yankees. The Cubs stole seven bases in their 12-inning tie with the Detroit Tigers in Game One of the 1907 World Series.

9 “Chances Killers Secure Revenge of Sox –  7-1,” Chicago Inter Ocean, October 11, 1906: 4.

10 Claude Passeau (1945), Bill Bevens (1947), and Jim Lonborg (1967) also recorded complete-game one-hitters in the World Series. Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

11 Ralph S. Davis, “Nationals Slaughter White Sox,” Pittsburgh Press, October 11, 1906: 14.