October 11, 1906: Ed Walsh throws gem, George Rohe delivers pivotal hit for White Sox in Game 3

Ed Walsh pitched just under 3,000 innings in the major leagues, finishing his 14-season career as the all-time ERA and FIP leader and getting inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. George Rohe totaled just 997 plate appearances in parts of four seasons in the majors and recorded a lifetime .561 OPS as a utilityman.

On October 11, 1906, the two White Sox teammates with far different legacies shared the spotlight as World Series heroes in the third game of the first-ever all-Chicago World Series.

The series started with a pitchers duel at the Cubs’ home park, West Side Grounds, between Nick Altrock and Mordecai Brown, with Altrock leading the White Sox to a 2–1 victory. That result came as a surprise to many, as the Cubs entered the series as favorites following their historic 116–36 season and .763 winning percentage—the best by an American or National League team as of 2026—while the White Sox finished with a strong but unhistoric 93-58 record on their way to their first AL title.

In Game Two, strong pitching from Ed Reulbach and a team effort from the Cubs’ offense gave Chicago’s NL representatives a 7–1 win at South Side Park to even the series.

The pitching matchup for Game Three, back at West Side Grounds, pitted the right-hander Walsh, who had a 1.88 ERA in 278⅓ innings in 1906, against Cubs left-hander Jack Pfiester, who posted a 1.51 ERA in 250⅔ innings that year.

Each half of the first inning played out similarly. In the top of the first, White Sox manager and center fielder Fielder Jones got aboard on a single but was thrown out by Cubs catcher Johnny Kling on an attempted steal to end the inning. In the bottom half, Cubs center fielder Solly Hofman singled and was caught stealing by White Sox catcher Billy Sullivan.

Cubs right fielder Frank Schulte doubled right after the play, but with a man on second and two down, Cubs manager and first baseman Frank Chance was unable to bring Schulte home, grounding out to end the threat.

The two hits Walsh allowed in the first were the only ones he gave up in Game Three.

“After that, Chance’s men were absolutely helpless before his perplexing benders, wide breaks and speed,” read an article in the Chicago Inter-Ocean the following day. 1

In the top of the second, the trend of failed stolen base attempts continued, as White Sox first baseman Jiggs Donahue was thrown out by Kling after reaching on a Pfiester error.

Chicago Tribune reporter and columnist Sy Sanborn noted more two defensive plays made by Cubs second baseman Joe Tinker in the middle innings. In the fourth, Tinker made an impressive catch near the right-field foul line on a bloop by White Sox right fielder Ed Hahn. Then in the fifth, Tinker made a difficult stop and throw on a hard-hit grounder by Rohe.2

Donahue followed that up with a smash to right that no one could get to as the ball trickled into the overflow crowd for a ground-rule triple. With just one out in the inning, the White Sox had a good chance to get him home, but Pfiester got Patsy Dougherty to pop out in foul territory and struck out Sullivan to keep the game scoreless.

After Pfiester escaped trouble, Walsh continued to cruise, setting down the Cubs in order in the fifth.

All of this built up to the sixth inning—the frame that decided the game.

White Sox shortstop Lee Tannehill started the inning with a single to left, and Walsh walked. Pfiester then hit Hahn in the face with a pitch to load the bases with no outs. John O’Neill entered as a pinch-runner.

With serious trouble looming, Pfiester did not give in easily. He got Jones to pop out in foul ground; several Cubs rushed to cover home in case Tannehill tagged up and headed toward the plate. 3

Pfiester struck out White Sox second baseman Frank Isbell for the second out and to put pressure back on the road team.

The White Sox needed Rohe—a backup infielder filling in for future Hall of Famer George Davis, who missed the first three games of the series with injury—to reach base to break the deadlock.

Although Rohe was never a star hitter, he had already proved earlier in the week that the World Series was not too big a stage for him. In Game One, he delivered a game-altering ground-rule triple and came around to score in the White Sox narrow 2–1 win.

With a chance to be a hero again, Rohe smacked Pfiester’s fastball to left field for a ground-rule triple into the overflow seats—a near replica of his Game One hit. This time, Tannehill, Walsh, and O’Neill all came around to score to give the White Sox a commanding 3–0 lead.

The weight of Rohe’s triple was certainly felt in the ballpark and its impact is backed up by modern statistics. The hit added 13.05 percent to the White Sox’s championship win probability—just above 3 percent more than the next most impactful play in the 1906 Fall Classic, according to Baseball Reference.

In the 125 career regular-season games Rohe had played up to that point, he had only tripled once. It took him just three World Series games to hit two triples.

“Such an opportunity as Rohe’s comes to one man in a thousand in private life—to leap in an instant to the highest pinnacle of fame and popularity,” wrote Sanborn. 4

Isbell was reportedly so excited about the hit that he hugged and kissed Rohe after he rolled into third base. 5

Although baseball’s spotlight shone on Chicago all series, several Cincinnati products played a large role in the 1906 World Series. The White Sox Game One pitching hero Nick Altrock hailed from Cincinnati, as did Rohe and Pfiester.

Former U.S. Congressman and Cubs minority owner Charles Taft was also from the Queen City.

“Owner Charles Taft of the Cubs was in the front room of the press box wearing a smile which wavered but did not quite come off when that other prominent citizen of Cincinnati, George Rohe, drove out the three-base hit that beat the Taft brigade,” read the Cincinnati Enquirer the day after the game. 6

Walsh retired 12 of the last 13 batters he faced to finish with a complete game shutout, allowing just two hits and one walk. His 12 punchouts broke the strikeout record for a World Series game that Bill Dinneen of the Boston Americans set in Game Two of the 1903 series with 11.7

As of 2026, Walsh was the only pitcher to toss a complete game while striking out at least 12 and allowing two or fewer hits in a World Series game.

While Walsh had a nearly spotless performance, Pfiester was a major challenge for the White Sox outside of their three-run sixth, as he finished his complete game with four hits and two walks allowed, to go with nine strikeouts.

Chicago Tribune columnist Charles Dryden wrote that the Cubs were “beaten by a nose,” referencing Hahn taking a pitch to the face that injured his nose in the sixth. 8

Following the game, it was reported that several members of the team were dealing with a virus during the win.

According to Dryden, Walsh said he had coughed up blood that morning before the game. 9

The spitballer was clearly undeterred.

Multiple news outlets documented the immense tension in the ballpark during the pitchers duel and into the pivotal sixth inning, where Rohe’s triple decided the game.

“It was one of the grandest battles I ever saw anywhere,” said American League President Ban Johnson. 10

The 1906 White Sox had been dubbed the “hitless wonders” due to their league-worst .230 team batting average but made up for it with great pitching and by leading the AL in walks, hit by pitches, and sacrifice hits.

Three games into the 1906 World Series the hitless wonders were on full display. As of 2025, the White Sox .105 team average is the lowest in history for a team in the first three games of the World Series, but they carried a 2-1 series lead nonetheless.

White Sox owner Charles Comiskey had already predicted a series victory after Game One and reiterated his belief in his club after taking Game Three.

“There’s nothing to it now,” said Comiskey before hurrying into his car to avoid the onslaught of White Sox supporters flocking to congratulate him. 11

Comiskey looked smart as the White Sox won two of the next three games, clinching the franchise’s first World Series title, four games to two.

Acknowledgements

This article was fact-checked by Carl Riechers and copy-edited by Keith Thursby.

Photo credit: Ed Walsh, Trading Card Database.

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.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1906/B10110CHN1906.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN190610110.shtml

Notes

1 “Walsh and White Win Third Fame for Sox — 3 to 0,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, October 12, 1906: 1.

2 Sy Sanborn, “Rohe and Walsh Win for Sox,” Chicago Tribune, October 12, 1906: 2.

3 Charles Dryden, “Beaten By Nose: Dryden,” Chicago Tribune, October 12, 1906: 2

4 “Rohe and Walsh Win for Sox,” 2.

5 “Here’s the Story of Tow-Headed Rohe and Ed Walsh, ” The Cincinnati Post, October 12, 1906: 6.

6 “Notes of the Game,” The Cincinnati Enquirer, October 12, 1906: 4.

7 Howard Ehmke of the Philadelphia Athletics broke Walsh’s record with a 13-strikeout performance in Game One of the 1929 World Series. Bob Gibson is the current record-holder after striking out 17 in Game One of the 1968 World Series.

8 “Beaten By Nose: Dryden.”

9 “Beaten By Nose: Dryden.”

10 “Rohe and Walsh Win for Sox.”

11 “Rohe and Walsh Win for Sox.”