It’s been said that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and to Detroit residents in April of 1896, the barely finished wood bleachers and uneven, soggy field of Bennett Park seemed beautiful. On Opening Day, when the Detroit franchise of the Western League (already informally called the Tigers, and already sporting an old English D on their blue-gray home uniforms1) beat the Columbus Senators 17-2, it seemed that Detroit baseball was on its way back.

Detroit had previously been a member of the National League, and as such had become used to being a “major-league city.” When the Detroit Wolverines won the 1887 postseason championship series against the American Association’s Browns of St. Louis, Detroiters were sure of their status in the baseball world.2 But the Wolverines folded the following season, and Detroit became a minor-league town, left without any meaningful professional baseball in the early 1890s. George Van Derbeck started a new Western League franchise in Detroit in 1894, playing for two years at Boulevard Park, an undistinguished, rickety,hastily-built wooden structure similar to most of that era.3

Van Derbeck’s club had succeeded in the last two years despite the skepticism of many, and by October of 1895, he had announced his intention to construct a new field in town for the Tigers.4 A new site was obtained on the northwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Street, on the site of the former hay market.5 Van Derbeck boasted that the site was so close to downtown that he “couldn’t do much better unless Mayor Pingree would close up Woodward avenue and give us Grand Circus park.”6 The site was oddly-shaped, and because of this, home plate (still diamond-shaped in 1896) was in the southeast corner of the site, and the left-center-field fence was quite deep. The wooden stadium had a covered grandstand running from beyond third base around to about first base, with uncovered stands down the left- and right-field lines. It was partly constructed from wood from trees cut down to clear the site, though for some reason, several trees were allowed to remain standing, and in play.7

Construction of the stadium was significantly hampered by the weather; more than four weeks of construction time were lost, and the field was not in playable condition just a few days before the scheduled exhibition opener. Even so, 600 people came out to the unfinished site the day before the first scheduled exhibition, just to see the team practice.8 That first exhibition game — scheduled for April 12against the team from the University of Michigan — had to be canceled because additional rain had turned the field into a swamp.9 The park’s informal opening thus occurred on April 13, with a game against the Athletics, a local club, in a game won by Detroit, 30-3. A few other exhibitions followed, as warm-ups to the season.

Detroit then went on a five-game road trip to start the Western League season. The Tigers returned to Detroit for their April 28 home opener carrying a record of 3-2. Just the previous day, Detroit and Columbus had played a very tight game, filled with drama throughout, with Detroit emerging the victor, 8-7.10Facing the same team for the home opener, the Detroit partisans were thus expecting an interesting game against a tough opponent to inaugurate the new park.

Bennett Park had an official stated capacity of 5,000, making it one of the smaller parks in the Western League,11 but that capacity was certainly exceeded — perhaps by as much as 3,000 — on Opening Day of 1896, when eager spectators filled the stands, and then began to move into the field of play. The players on the bench were pushed into service to keep the spectators back, because the solitary police officer present was clearly insufficient to the task.12Indeed, in the first inning, Frank Butler, the regular left fielder for Columbus, went back to track a long fly ball and ran full-speed into a member of the grandstand crowd who had wandered onto the field. Butler was knocked out cold for close to 10 minutes, and had to leave the game. More officers arrived shortly thereafter to keep the crowd in check.13

With the stands full to overflowing, the crowd was eager for the contest to begin. But before there could be a ballgame, there were celebrations to attend to. Tigers owner Van Derbeck had arranged that earlier in the day, trolleys would carry the players of each team as well as several dignitaries through the streets of Detroit before finally delivering them to the field for the 3:30P.M.game. A cannon was fired “every few minutes to let the natives know it is a day to celebrate, even if it is not the Fourth of July.”14As game time approached, the two teams lined up on either side of home plate, and County Treasurer Alex McLeod, standing in for Detroit Mayor Hazen Pingree, strode to the mound, received the ball from the umpire, and spoke briefly. He then threw the first pitch to Detroit baseball legend Charlie Bennett, the much-admired catcher for the 1887 National League champion Detroit Wolverines, for whom Bennett Park was named.15 Bennett’s career had come to an unceremonious end in 1894 when a railroad accident led to the amputation of both his legs, though he remained well-regarded around the country.16With a roar of the crowd for Bennett, the ceremonies concluded, and the game could begin.

Unexpectedly, the game itself proved not to be very exciting, as Detroit took an early lead, and Detroit’s pitcher, Fifield, “was a mystery to the Senators, and only when he began lobbing them up, late in the game, did they do any team hitting”17 Nonetheless, “in spite of the one-sided game the people were yelling loudly all through and seemed as deeply interested when the last hit was made as when the guiding spirit of the team [player-manager George Stallings] infused life by cracking out a homer [the first in the new park] in the first inning.”18

Detroit went first to bat, and scored four runs in the first inning on a single by Parson Nicholson, a triple by Sam Dungan, a double by Lew Whistler, and the home run by player-manager Stallings (the play on which Butler of Columbus was knocked out). Columbus hoped to get back in the game when Thomas Campbell, their leadoff hitter, hit a single, but he was doubled off base on the next play when right fielder Joe Cantillon’s fly ball was caught, much to Campbell’s surprise. Cantillon, seeing the catch, bumped hard into Detroit first baseman Whistler to disrupt the play at first, but the umpire saw the tactic, and declared Campbell out in returning to the base due to Cantillon’s interference. After a walk to Peck Sharpe and an error on a fly ball by Detroit shortstop John Corcoran, Columbus first baseman Tom Morrissey lined out to Detroit’s third baseman, Sam Gillen, to end the first. Detroit scored three more in the second, then went silent until they put up eight runs in the sixth against Columbus twirler Bumpus Jones, and then two more in the seventh. Columbus scored one each in the seventh and the ninth. After 2 hours and 26 minutes, the first official game at Michigan and Trumbull was done.

There were criticisms, to be sure — the field was not yet in good shape (and, in fact, never really would be throughout the history of Bennett Park, with cobblestones from the earlier hay market occasionally pushing up through the infield).19Additionally, the Free Press noted that “there was enough kicking on both sides to cause the umpire to toss fines around like a drunken sailor his coin,”20and a separate column that same day stated, “Mr. Snyder [the umpire], you cannot enforce the ‘conduct’ rules too strictly.”21Some of that kicking may have been because Snyder had negated Detroit pitcher Jack Fifield’s second home run of the day when Snyder said he did not see the Columbus third baseman, Jim Collopy, blatantly interfered with Fifield as he rounded the base, allowing Fifield to be thrown out at home. But in general, the crowd went home happy (Columbus left fielder Butler being a likely exception).22

Detroit would go on to finish the 1896 season in third place, 10 games behind the Minneapolis Millers, with a record of 80-58.23 Popular player-manager George Stallings left Detroit at the end of the season to take over the National LeaguePhillies.24 As the 1896 season ended, owner Van Derbeck scheduled a September 24 exhibition doubleheader at Bennett Park against Cincinnati to raise money for the players, including a night game under electrified lights– the last Tigers night game in Detroit until 1948.25

But on April 28, 1896, all of that was in the future — as were over 100 more years of baseball to be played at “The Corner.” That day’s unexpected 17-2 win was an auspicious start to professional baseball at Michigan and Trumbull.

This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich. To read more articles from this book, click here.

Notes

The largest crowd ever to attend a baseball game in Detroit1 streamed into Bennett Park to see the Tigers make their major-league debut against the Milwaukee Brewers. A parade complete with bands, city officials in carriages, local fraternal organizations, and the players from both teams had traveled up Michigan Avenue, while at Bennett Park a crowd of 10,023 — some 1,500 greater than seating capacity — was spilling over from the stands into the outfield.

A band of heavy rain that lingered for days across the Northeast provided the upstart loop with an inauspicious start, causing postponement of three of the four season openers scheduled for April 24, including the game in Detroit. But the next day offered a bright, clear sky and a modest breeze, and although the field was still wet and the basepaths muddy, a fine day for a ballgame.

Pregame ceremonies began with the visiting Brewers marching onto the field, followed by the Tigers, who paraded before the grandstand in bright red wool coats and doffed their caps to the cheering crowd. “Oom Paul,” the club’s unofficial mascot and good-luck charm since the previous year, when the Tigers won 21 of 22 with the dog in attendance, was brought out to home plate to a roar of delight from the stands. There were a handful of speeches and the presentation of an oversized cup to team owner James Burns and manager/co-owner George Stallings. Finally, City Council President Jacob J. Haarer, filling in for Mayor William Maybury, tossed out the ceremonial first pitch to Charlie Bennett, the beloved catcher for the old National League Detroit Wolverines. The Wolverines had folded 13 years ago, but Detroit baseball fans still held the heroes of the 1887 world champions in high regard.

The umpires, in consideration of a rope stretched across the outfield to corral the fans standing or sitting on the outfield grass, informed both clubs that a ball hit into the crowd would be ruled a double. As the band struck up “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight,” the Tigers sprinted onto the field. Roscoe Miller, a 24-year-old right-hander who had won 19 games the previous year in Detroit’s final season as a minor-league club, took the mound.

Whether it was the sodden field, the team’s inability to practice for a week due to the unrelenting weather, or simply Opening Day jitters, from the moment the game began the Tigers hardly looked to be ready for the major leagues. Kid Elberfeld, who’d played two seasons in the National League, for Philadelphia and Cincinnati, made a “gorgeous fumble”2 on a ball hit to short by the first Milwaukee batter, Irv Waldron, and was charged with an error. Although Detroit managed to escape the opening frame without surrendering a run, three more errors in the second inning handed Milwaukee a 2-0 lead. The Tigers, for their part, couldn’t get anything going against Pink Hawley, who had jumped to the new league after compiling an 18-18 won-lost record for the last-place New York Giants in 1900.

The third inning saw the Brewers score five runs on an error, four hits, a walk, and a sacrifice. This was the end for Miller, who was replaced by Emil Frisk during the inning. Miller had not pitched particularly well, but five errors behind him, including three by Elberfeld, had also let him down. The inning ended with the Brewers up 7-0.

Detroit finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth on an error followed by a ground-rule double into the crowd by Frank “Pop”Dillon. Elberfeld drove Dillon home with another ground-rule double. The Tigers added another run in the fifth when Doc Casey scored on a Kid Gleason double.

After six innings the score stood at 7-3, but the Brewers struck again in the seventh, scoring three more runs on two doubles and a single after two men were out.

At this point Milwaukee player-manager Hugh Duffy, perhaps thinking the game was safely in hand, took out Hawley, replacing him with Pete Dowling. Hawley had been pitching well, having surrendered only five hits and walking one in his six innings on the mound, but Dowling had been “Detroit’s Jonah all last season,”3 beating the Tigers four times, twice by shutout. Dowling retired the Tigers without a hit in the seventh inning.

Milwaukee continued its assault in the eighth, plating three more runs on two walks, three hits, and another Detroit error. The Tigers stirred a bit in their half of the inning, as Dowling gave up four hits and one run, thanks to another ground-rule double by Pop Dillon.

The Brewers were retired in order in the top of the ninth, and with the score now 13-4 the Tigers came to bat for a final time. Many in the grandstand were already heading for the exits, “growling profanely,”4 as Doc Casey stepped into the batter’s box.

Casey drove the ball into the overflow crowd in the outfield for a ground-rule double. Jimmy Barrett followed by beating out a slow roller to third. Kid Gleason then singled to center, scoring Casey. Renewed enthusiasm swept the stands, and the roar of the crowd increased in volume with each successive blow by the Tigers. Ducky Holmes followed with a double, scoring Barrett. Dillon hit his third double of the game, scoring Gleason and Holmes. Kid Elberfeld stroked another double to right field, pushing Dillon across the plate. Five runs had now scored with none yet out.

Hugh Duffy came in from center field and removed Pete Dowling in favor of Bert Husting. Husting immediately uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Elberfeld to advance to third, before retiring Kid Nance on an infield grounder for the first out of the inning.

The charged crowd in the outfield pressed closer toward the diamond. The game was delayed a few minutes as the Detroit players ran out to push the throng back behind the ropes to afford the Milwaukee outfielders a fair chance at getting to long drives. When the game resumed, Husting walked the next batter, Fritz Buelow. Pitcher Emil Frisk followed with a single to left, scoring Elberfeld for the Tigers’ 10th run and sixth of the inning.

“Hats were being thrown in the air, coats were flying and everyone was yelling themselves hoarse. One man in the bleachers threw up his coat and when it came down it was in two sections, but he didn’t care so long as Detroit was hitting the ball, and the chances are that he forgot he ever had a coat.”5

Doc Casey, batting for the second time in the inning, laid down a bunt, reaching first just ahead of the throw by diving head-first into the bag. With the bases now loaded, Jimmy Barrett came to bat but went down on strikes for the second out. Kid Gleason then hit a savage grounder that Brewers third baseman Jimmy Burke fumbled, allowing Buelow to score and keeping Detroit’s improbable rally alive. The Tigers pulled within one run when Ducky Holmes beat out a slow roller to Burke that scored Frisk.

It was now up to Frank Dillon. The first baseman already had three ground-rule doubles, including one earlier this inning. With the count at two balls and two strikes, Dillon drove a pitch down the left-field foul line and into the crowd, while Casey and Gleason raced home with the tying and winning runs.

With Dillon’s hit, pandemonium broke loose at Bennett Park. “Roaring, howling and screaming,”6 the crowd poured out of the stands onto the field. “The crowd almost tore [Dillon] to pieces, and finally he was picked up and carried around the field on the shoulders of some of the excited spectators.”7

The Detroit Tigers were winners in their American League debut by the virtue of, as one account described it, “the most magnificent batting rally ever seen.”8

This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich.

Sources

Books

Bak, Richard, A Place for Summer: A Narrative History of Tiger Stadium  (Detroit: Wayne State University Books, 1998).

McCollister, John, The Tigers and Their Den: The Official Story of the Detroit Tigers (Boulder, Colorado: Taylor Trade Publishing, 1999).

Newspapers

Detroit Journal.

Detroit News.

Detroit Tribune.

Evening Wisconsin (Milwaukee).

Milwaukee Daily News.

Milwaukee Journal.

Milwaukee Sentinel.

Minneapolis Journal.

Sporting Life.

The Sporting News.

Notes

Yet, a certain anxiety can stalk fans of a winning team, and it may have been evident in the stands that warm, sunny afternoon. Detroit had lost three of four games to Philadelphia immediately before the Senators arrived, and the Athletics had closed to within a half-game of the lead on July 11. The Tigers could not let up against the second division; 11 games with Philadelphia remained.

All the more reason the bugs focused on Ed Summers as he warmed up. As a rookie, in 1908, he had paced the Tigers’ staff with 24 victories. Yet by midseason 1909 his rheumatic knees threatened to shut him down. Summers had started only two of the Tigers’ previous 15 games, and had not looked particularly good in either. But one of these, on July 10, was the sole victory Detroit managed against Philadelphia in the previous series.1 Manager Hughie Jennings considered Summers his chief weapon against the Athletics; in the right-hander’s year and a half of major-league service, he had compiled a 9-1 record against the Mackmen.

Meanwhile, as badly as the Senators had stumbled, they weren’t lying down. At the end of the 1908 season, after the Tigers edged out the Naps (and the White Sox) for the pennant, ugly rumors surfaced from Cleveland. Namely, that the Senators, per the direction of manager Joe Cantillon, had not put forth their best efforts in a final series at Detroit.2In early July 1909, Cantillon announced “that for the balance of the season he will lose no opportunity to try out promising young players.”3 But wisely, the Senators’ skipper would not experiment in Michigan. The only non-regular in the Washington lineup that afternoon was rookie Speed Kelly, called up to replace an injured Wid Conroy at third base.

Granted, Washington’s offense was anemic: in 1909 the team finished dead last in the major leagues with 2.45 runs scored per game. (Combined, the leagues averaged 3.54 runs per game.) But their pitching staff showed some promise, and the Tiger faithful must have looked out with some concern at the two rookies Cantillon had throwing on the sidelines. Both came from the Pacific Coast League, changed speeds well, and could hit corners with biting curves. Right-hander Bob Groom, after losing 7-4 at Detroit on May 25, beat the Tigers 6-2 in Washington on June 12. Southpaw Dolly Gray had emerged as Cantillon’s first choice to counter the strong Detroit left-handed bats. Although he had won only once in his four starts against Detroit, Gray pitched well in each, including the 3-0 Tiger victory that opened the series three days earlier.4

Cantillon went with Gray. At approximately 3:30, with Tigers catcher Oscar Stanage and umpire John Kerin behind the plate, Senators left fielder George Browne stepped into the box to face Summers.

Browne flied out. Speedy Clyde Milan bunted his way on, and Jack Leliveltfollowed with a single. Detroit right fielder Ty Cobb made a “sensational catch” of Bob Unglaub’s “long foul, almost out of sight behind the first base bleachers,” with Milan and Lelivelt advancing.5Summers struck out Jiggs Donahue to retire the Senators.

Washington threatened again in the third. Leading off, Gray doubled past left fielder Matty McIntyre. Shortstop Donie Bush caught Browne’s liner. Gray had started to third, but Tigers second baseman Germany Schaefer wasn’t near his bag. “Bush started after Gray, made a flying dive and reached him, and had a double play all alone.”6 Milan grounded out to finish the half-inning.

After these early-inning hiccups, the fast-working Summers settled into an efficient groove. Although famed for his “fingernail” ball, a modern-day knuckleball under a different name, Summers didn’t throw the pitch exclusively, instead mixing it among his fastballs and curves.7

Gray was equally impressive. The only real threat he faced that day occurred in the bottom half of the first inning. McIntyre led off with a single, and was sacrificed to second by Bush. Sam Crawford followed with “a smash that threatened to be a home run” before going “just foul.”8 He then grounded out to second baseman Unglaub, and Washington catcher Gabby Street threw out Ty Cobb trying to bunt his way aboard.9

As the two pitchers cruised along, Summers started each inning by digging a hole on the slope of the pitcher’s mound for his front (left) foot to land in. Then Gray would kick dirt into the hole and stamp it down. “But in the ninth,” the Senators pitcher recalled, “I neglected to do this, and as he has a shorter stride than me, my right foot, after the first ball I pitched, landed right square in Summers’s pitching space, and I felt a sharp pain in my left side and thigh.”10

Gray managed a couple more pitches to leadoff hitter McIntyre, but after the third, “reeled and would have fallen, but for first baseman Donahue, who caught him in the arms.” After initially joshing the pitcher, but then seeing the legitimacy of his injury, “the Detroit fans rose in a body and cheered Gray” as he was assisted off the field.11 In his eight innings of work, the only hit Gray surrendered was McIntyre’s single in the first.

Groom took over, and promptly walked McIntyre. Bush bunted to move him to second, and Donahue couldn’t handle Street’s throw to first. Bush was safe, and Detroit had runners at first and second with none out. Crawford sacrificed the two runners over. Cobb hit a comebacker to Groom, who threw to home plate, where Street tagged out McIntyre. Groom then struck out Claude Rossman.

The affair thus moved into extra innings, and Summers continued to mow down the Senators. Only in the 12th inning did real difficulty arise. With two out and the fast Lelivelt on first, Donahue smashed a line drive to right. “Cobb tore in, staked all on a desperate plunge, and came up with the ball.”12

But Groom found himself in almost continuous trouble. In four of the five frames after the eventful ninth, Detroit runners got into scoring position. The finest opportunity came in the 15th inning. Stanage led off and singled, and Jennings sent Red Killefer in to pinch-run. Summers bunted, Groom picked up the ball and, aiming for the lead runner at second, unleashed a wild throw past the bag. Killefer scampered to third. Summers reached first.

With the bases loaded and none out, Bush popped up weakly to Kelly. Crawford grounded to Groom. The pitcher was a bit slow on the play and by the time he threw to the catcher, Killefer had apparently crossed the plate safe. Street, believing the game at last over, headed for the clubhouse. The Washington infielders and the Detroit baserunners also started off the field. But umpire Kerin stayed put “and when asked by the incoming players what was the matter, replied tersely, ‘Runner’s out.’”13 Everyone scurried back to their positions, the infielders unable (or unthinking) to double up any baserunner. Then “Cobb took three jerky, hectic swings” at Groom’s offerings, “and walked to the field, his head hanging.”14

As a “colossal joke” to cap the inning, one of the Detroit dailies was alerted to the winning run that wasn’t, and an extra edition proclaiming the Tigers 1-0 victors flew off the presses.15

In the next inning Detroit threatened yet again, with Rossman and Schaefer singling and standing on first and second with one out. Nothing came of it. The 17th and 18th innings were uneventful. By this point the fans, accustomed to seeing their high-octane offense bully opposing pitchers out of the box, saluted Groom’s resilience by cheering him when he came to bat.

After the 18th inning, and 3:15 of play, Kerin called the game. It was near 7 P.M., with enough light still to accommodate one, maybe two, more innings. Players from both sides were upset with the decision, probably none more than Summers, who had pitched the entire game for Detroit with nothing to show for it.

Washington’s Bob Unglaub spoke for many when he said, “Why do they want to keep us out here so long and then not let us have a chance to finish the game?”16The crowd of 3,078 streamed out of the park, back home towards cooling dinners, abuzz with talk of what they had seen. One of them, the great Sam Thompson, who starred for the Detroit Wolverines a generation earlier, remarked, “I never saw anything like it.”17

This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich. To read more articles from this book, click here.

Notes

The Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics began a fierce rivalry in 1907 as Detroit rose from mediocrity and became a league force. The Tigers played some tense games with the Athletics that season, including a memorable 17-inning tie in late September during a tight pennant race. Detroit captured its first American League pennant by 1½ games over the Athletics. Cobb also emerged as the league’s biggest star, winning his first batting title and leading the junior circuit in hits, RBIs and stolen bases.

The enmity between the teams extended into 1909. Detroit set out to capture its third straight pennant while Philadelphia kept pace in the standings. By late August, the Athletics had a one-game lead over the Tigers when they began a three-game set in Detroit. Sportswriters anticipated a tense series and felt its outcome would have a major impact on the pennant race. At that point in the season, Detroit had won just four of 15 games against Philadelphia.

The Athletics arrived with a five-game winning streak and rookie third baseman Frank Baker. He had already earned a reputation as a powerful hitter by socking the first home run to clear the fence in Philadelphia’s Shibe Park.

Sparks started flying in the first inning of the series’ first game, played on August 24 before a near-capacity crowd of 9,711 at Bennett Park.

Philadelphia scored two runs off Tigers starter Ed Summers in the top of the first. Detroit tried to counter against Athletics left-hander Harry Krause in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, Cobb walked, stole second, then attempted to steal third as batter Sam Crawford took ball four.

Athletics catcher Patrick “Paddy” Livingston threw Cobb out to end the inning. The play wasn’t close, but Cobb spiked Baker while sliding into the base. Cobb’s spikes cut Baker on his inner forearm about three inches below the right elbow. The Detroit Free Press mentioned the play briefly:

“Cobb spiked Baker’s right forearm in sliding into third back in the first inning. Baker was aggrieved, regarding the injury as premeditated. Cobb was out easily, but went into the bag feet first, only to be tagged.”1

The Detroit News simply stated: “Cobb was easily thrown out. There was no doubt about his being out.”2

The Tigers scored four runs in the seventh to take a 7-5 lead. Cobb tied the game with a two-run double that exemplified his no-holds-barred playing style. As the throw came in from the outfield, Cobb knocked second baseman Eddie Collins head over heels while sliding into the bag. The Detroit Free Press noted that Collins was in the baseline while receiving the throw. He made no appeal to the umpires.3

The Athletics added a run in the ninth and loaded the bases with one out. But Tigers right-hander Bill Donovan retired the final two batters to seal the 7-6 victory for Detroit. Fans rushed onto the field in joyous celebration after outfielder Crawford caught an easy fly for the final out.

While Tigers fans enjoyed the thrilling victory, protests from Athletics manager Connie Mack overshadowed the outcome. Mack angrily criticized Cobb, claiming he deliberately spiked Baker in the first inning:

“Cobb is the greatest ball player in the world, but he is also one of the dirtiest. He boasted before the game that he would get some of the Athletics before the game was over, and he made good by spiking Baker and all but cutting the legs off Collins. … Such tactics ought to be looked into by the American League, and I intend to see to it that the matter is taken up. … [Cobb] may be a great player, but he is a pinhead in this respect. Organized base ball ought not to permit such a malefactor to disgrace it.”4

Cobb fired back, stating that the spiking was unintentional:

“Mack knows that I have never spiked a man deliberately, and he also knows that the runner is entitled to the line, and if the baseman gets in his way, he is taking his own chances. When I slid I made for the bag. If the man with the ball is in the way he is apt to get hurt. But that is his lookout, he has no business on the line.”5

Baker’s injury seems to have been minor, as he remained in the game with a small plaster dressing over the wound and played every inning of the series. However, American League President Ban Johnson weighed in on the matter, implicating Cobb directly:

“There’s been altogether too much of this sort of game at Detroit, and somebody is going to be made a shining example of if I hear of another such affray. Cobb seems to be the chief offender, and a word of advice should go a long way. He must stop this sort of playing or he will have to quit the game.”6

Controversy swirled for several days as the Tigers swept the Athletics to take a two-game lead in the standings. Would Johnson banish Cobb from baseball? Or was Cobb’s slide clean?

Then a serendipitous photograph surfaced. Detroit News photographer William Kuenzel had been stationed near third base with his camera during the series’ first game. He wasn’t aware of the debate surrounding Cobb’s slide until the sports department asked if he had a photo of the play. Kuenzel didn’t, but retrieved an undeveloped glass plate negative he set aside because it was scratched.7

The photo first appeared on the front page of the August 27 Detroit News. It shows Cobb in the baseline sliding feet first into third with his right leg extended about 10 inches above the ground toward the base. Baker is reaching across the bag to tag Cobb with the ball in his bare hand. The News presented the image as evidence that Cobb attempted to avoid Baker’s tag and reach third safely. Cobb added:

“This picture plainly shows that I did not spike Baker intentionally. … Baker is mighty nice about it and said yesterday that he did not think I tried to spike him intentionally. He looks at it as an accident and lets it pass at that. Connie Mack, naturally sore at losing to us, is inclined to look at the matter more seriously as he naturally would, being a hard loser.”8

Johnson backtracked after reviewing the image, stating that if Cobb had violated the rules of the game the umpires would have settled the matter promptly.9

Kuenzel’s photo is one of the most widely reproduced images from Cobb’s career, appearing in countless publications through the years. Cobb, Baker and Mack came to terms about the incident. But the play became a notorious part of the Cobb legend, seemingly gaining embellishments with each passing decade, much to his chagrin.

In a 1953 article, former player Al Schacht said Cobb spiked Baker so badly, he had to be carried off the field.10 When Baker was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955, Cobb was present at the induction ceremony. According to New York Herald Tribune sportswriter Tommy Holmes, an attendee wondered aloud if Cobb would “slide across the dais in front of [Baseball Commissioner Ford] Frick, spike Baker again and start another riot.”11

As late as 1961, the year of his death, Cobb defended his actions, maintaining in his autobiography that he slid away from Baker in order to hook the base with his foot.12

Was Cobb completely innocent, or was Mack right in his assertions? Regardless of intent and photographic evidence, the Cobb-Baker incident remains one the most controversial and widely discussed plays of the Deadball Era.

This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich. To read more articles from this book, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the notes, the author also consulted:

Alexander, Charles C. Ty Cobb (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984).

Baseball-reference.com.

Cobb, Ty, ed. William R. Cobb. My Twenty Years in Baseball (Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2009).

Jones, David, ed. Deadball Stars of the American League (Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, Inc., 2006), 546-550, 620-624.

Lieb, Frederick G. The Detroit Tigers (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1946).

Macht, Norman L. Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2007).

Sparks, Barry. Frank “Home Run” Baker: Hall of Famer and World Series Hero (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006), 28-33.

Notes

Pittsburgh needed only one more victory to wrap up the title, leading the series three games to two, as the Pirates were coming off a dominating 8- 4 win in their hometown on Wednesday. The Detroit weather forecast for Thursday, October 14 called for possible snow flurries. A crisp morning saw the temperature hover around the freezing mark, but by the 2 o’clock game time it had soared to 47 degrees. The skies eventually cleared and it would have been a “perfect autumn day” if it weren’t for the high winds that buffeted the players and fans at Bennett Park.2

The weather played a role in keeping the attendance to just over 10,000 fans, about half of the Series average, and also as to who would pitch for Detroit that day. Manager Jennings went with his Midwestern-born George Mullin over his other pitching star, Wild Bill Donovan. Mullin had a reputation as a cold-weather pitcher, and had proved it in 1909 when he ran off 11 straight victories to begin the season.

Demonstrating a workhorse mentality, Mullin had pitched a complete-game victory on Tuesday and tossed eight innings in the Series opening loss just six days earlier. Before the game, Jennings had asked Mullin if he was strong enough to go again. “The arm feels fine,” Mullin replied. “I think I can tie that Series up for you.”3 Pittsburgh started the considerably fresher veteran Vic Willis, a 23-game winner, who in this series had pitched only once in long relief in the Game Two loss to Detroit.

Manager Jennings’ upbeat personality and his motto “Today is the day, boys,” had been a recurring theme throughout the 1909 season.4 It did look as though it would be Detroit’s day when Mullin fired a strike from his right arm with the game’s first pitch. But, quickly, Jennings’ words rang hollow. The partisan Detroit fans sat by nervously as the visitors racked up four straight hits to begin the game, including two that narrowly evaded Tigers fielders. When cleanup batter Wagner laced a two-run double, and Pittsburgh raced to a 3-0 lead, they appeared to be on their way to a World Series championship.

According to one scribe, when the Tigers managed to score in the bottom of the first inning, “that one run changed the whole outlook.”5 Wahoo Sam Crawford drilled a double to center field that scored Donie Bush from second and cut the Pirates’ lead to two runs. Mullin settled down on the mound, holding Pittsburgh hitless and scoreless until the sixth inning. In the meantime, Detroit managed to tie the game with a pair of scores in the fourth and then took the lead with a run in the fifth inning. When Cobb managed a two-out double into the right-field corner in the sixth, fellow outfielder Davy Jones crossed home plate and the Tigers saw their margin grow to 5-3.

The fact that Cobb was still playing in the World Series became a story in and of itself. Earlier that summer, while the team was in Cleveland for a series with the Naps, the short-tempered superstar had allegedly stabbed a hotel worker during an argument. Secret grand-jury testimony had been leaked and the plan was that when Cobb traveled with the Tigers through Cleveland to Pittsburgh, he would be arrested and charged with a felony.

So, Detroit’s management put Cobb on a different train than the team, one that chugged through Canada to Buffalo and then south to Pittsburgh.The same tactic was employed for his return trip to Game Six in Detroit. While controversy surrounding Cobb was nothing new, he’d showed up considerably late for Game Five in Pittsburgh, leading to some anxious moments.

A couple of head-turning defensive plays highlighted the game’s middle innings. While Detroit managed to tally twice in the fourth inning, a rifle throw from Pirates right fielder Chief Wilson to Wagner covering third base cut down a Tiger and helped to limit the scoring damage. For Detroit, catcher Boss Schmidt, who had seen the Pirates run at will so far in the Series with 13 stolen bases, turned a neat double play in the Pittsburgh sixth.

The Pirates had broken Mullin’s stranglehold with a one-out single by rookie Dots Miller. Then, Bill Abstein hit a towering foul ball behind home plate. Schmidt had a long run in foul territory and, with his back to the infield, corralled the pop up in front of the grandstand. Miller, sensing that the Tigers’ catcher had forgotten about him at first base, dashed for second. Schmidt wheeled and fired high to Bush covering second. Bush jumped and snared the errant throw and while coming down, dropped a tag on Miller, who was attempting to slide under the airborne shortstop.

The next inning, after Pittsburgh had advanced a runner to second base with two outs, Bobby Byrne hit a line drive on the left side of the infield. The “screecher”was nearly past shortstop Bush, but he lunged and stabbed the ball out of the air, ending a Pittsburgh threat.6 These three plays had the Bennett Park crowd buzzing, but it was simply a hint of what was to come.

The ninth inning was “perhaps the most spectacular inning of any World’s Series game ever played,” according to Malcolm Bingay of the Detroit News.7 Mullin needed three more outs to get his second victory of the Series and force a deciding Game Seven at Bennett Park. Pittsburgh and Detroit had exhibited “plain cold nerve” throughout the day and the visitor was ready to play “right up to the death of the last Pirate.”8

Pittsburgh began the ninth with Miller singling to right, while Abstein followed with a base rap to center. On Wilson’s bunt, Schmidt scampered from behind the plate and chucked the ball errantly to first base. First baseman Tom Jones reached for the wild toss near the baseline, just as Wilson arrived at first. The collision jarred the ball loose, knocking Jones unconscious, and he dropped like he’d been “shot.”9 Some feared that Jones, having landed on his head, was killed on the play. As Tigers’ second baseman Jim Delahanty scrambled for the rolling ball, Miller scored and Abstein raced to third, while Wilson, remained at first base. Jones was so badly injured that a doctor dashed from the crowd to render aid, while the Tigers trainer sprinted from the dugout, and players from both sides surrounded the prone Jones. To add insult to injury, he was charged with an error on the play. He was carried off the field by his teammates, and manager Jennings had to replace the slick-fielding first baseman with outfielder Crawford.

Jones’s right arm and experience were seen as strengths of the infield, far outstripping the skills of Crawford, a veteran of less than a season’s time at first base, over his lengthy career. As luck would have it, however, the next batter, Pittsburgh’s George Gibson, hit a Mullin curveball to the newly planted Crawford. In one elegant motion, the left-hander scooped the ball up and fired a strike to home. Catcher Schmidt dropped down on both knees to block the plate, as Abstein crashed into the burly Tiger. Despite inflicting a 6-inch gash with his spikes on Schmidt’s thigh, Abstein was out.

With runners now on first and second, relief pitcher Deacon Phillippe was scheduled to bat, but Pittsburgh manager Fred Clarke sent Ed Abbaticchio to pinch hit. Fans back home crowded the streets in front of the Pittsburgh newspaper offices, following posted game updates, and yelled, “Get a hit, Abby!”10 Abbaticchio battled with Mullin and managed to reach a full count. On the payoff pitch, both baserunners were off with the delivery. Abbaticchio swung and missed for the second out and the inconsistent Schmidt was called on again to throw to a base. He fired to third baseman George Moriarty, who sprawled to catch the peg, block the bag, and attempt to tag Wilson. Both men dove for the base and crashed into each other. Out of a cloud of dust umpire Bill Klem waved his arms and signaled the game’s final out. Detroit had won 5-4 and lived to play a Game Seven.

Postscript

On Saturday, October 16, the Tigers lost Game Seven, 8-0, and the World Series title to Pittsburgh. Detroit hurler George Mullin made yet another appearance and pitched six innings of relief.

This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich. To read more articles from this book, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com were also accessed.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET190910140.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1909/B10140DET1909.htm

The first game to be played at Navin Field was scheduled for Thursday, April 18, 1912, with the Detroit Tigers hosting the Cleveland Naps. To commemorate this special Opening Day of the season, many activities were scheduled, all to take place on the 18th. A parade featuring both teams was to work its way from the middle of downtown Detroit to the new ballpark at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues. After the game the Tigers and Naps were to attend a banquet in their honor at the elegant Hotel Pontchartrain, sponsored by the Detroit Board of Commerce. However, once again, the best plans did not occur as planned. It rained hard on April 18 and the game was postponed.

The baseball park the Tigers had played in in 1911 was called Bennett Field. Immediately after the last game of the 1911 season, the small wooden structure was demolished, and Navin Field was erected on the same plot of ground. Made of steel and concrete, a new construction concept at the time, it was reported to have cost around $300,000 to build.

The rain started during the evening of Wednesday, April 17, and lasted most of Thursday, causing the rainout. On Friday the game was also postponed; officially the reason was unplayable grounds. This was plausible, considering that the field was so new and had taken on a lot of water. This was largely the result of the park’s new tarpaulin: It was hailed as a perforation-type (rather than a solid sheet), which was supposed to make it less vulnerable to wind. Unfortunately, excessive amounts of rainwater drained through the perforated tarp’s holes, causing a muddy field. But another possible reason for the postponement (which was never listed as official) was that Frank Navin was a superstitious gambler who did not want to start the season on Friday, which he referred to as the hoodoo day of the week.

There was some talk that the game would be shifted to Cleveland, which had a dry field. In fact Ban Johnson, president of the American League, had bought off on this idea. The opening game was originally scheduled as the start of a four-game series with the Naps. It turned into a two-game series. If these games had been shifted to Cleveland, the first game at Navin Field would have been pushed back until April 27, another reason for trying to play the games in Detroit.

Despite the delays, the banquet went off as originally scheduled on Thursday evening. The parade and game took place on Saturday. The first pitch was thrown out by Mayor William Barlum Thompson of Detroit, who threw it to Charley Bennett, a popular ex-Tiger catcher from the 19th century, and the namesake of old Bennett Park.

The starting lineups were, for Cleveland:

1. Jack Graney, LF
2. Ivy Olson, SS
3. Joe Jackson, CF
4. Nap Lajoie, 2B
5. Buddy Ryan, RF
6. Eddie Hohnhorst, 1B
7. Terry Turner, 3B
8. Ted Easterly, C
9. Vean Gregg, P

And for Detroit:

1. Ossie Vitt, LF
2. Baldy Louden, 3B
3. Ty Cobb, CF
4. Sam Crawford, RF
5. Jim Delahanty, 2B
6. Del Gainer, 1B
7. Donie Bush, SS
8. Oscar Stanage, C
9. George Mullin, P

As can be seen, the starting lineups included three future members of Baseball’s Hall of Fame: charter member Ty Cobb, Wahoo Sam Crawford, and Nap Lajoie. Many might argue that a fourth player, Shoeless Joe Jackson, should be in the Hall of Fame, too.

Detroit manager Hughie Jennings — himself a future Hall of Famer — gave right-hander George Mullin the game ball. Mullin was starting his ninth home opener in 10 years.

The first pitch by Mullin was a called strike to Jack Graney, the game was finally started, and the history of Navin Field had begun.

Cleveland wasted little time scoring the first run at the new park, although the Naps did get help from the Tigers. The game’s third batter, Shoeless Joe Jackson, reached first on a base on balls, immediately stole second, and raced home on an error by Tigers second baseman Jim Delahanty on Nap Lajoie’s grounder. The run was unearned.

Left-hander Vean Gregg, 23-7 with a league-leading 1.80 ERA the year before, was Cleveland manager Harry Davis’s starter. In the first inning, Ossie Vitt singled and was sacrificed to second by Baldy Louden. On the very first pitch he saw at Navin Field, Cobb rapped a base hit, scoring Vitt. The Georgia Peach went to second on Crawford’s single. Then it got exciting. Cobb and Crawford performed a double steal as Delahanty struck out. While on second and third, Cobb and Crawford performed yet another successful double steal. The aggressive baserunning produced Cobb’s first run at Navin Field — on his steal of home.

The game went back and forth for the next seven innings. Cleveland scored two in the third on an infield single and a bases-loaded hit batsman to take a 3-2 lead, but Detroit came back in its half to tie it up, and might have scored more but the bold and daring Cobb was thrown out at home plate trying to score from second base on Delahanty’s grounder back to the pitcher.

In the fifth Cleveland went ahead by two runs on a single, a double, and a bad error by second baseman Delahanty. The score stayed 5-3 until the bottom of the eighth, when Detroit tied the game on Cobb’s single, Crawford’s double, and Delahanty’s two-run single past third baseman Terry Turner.

The game went into extra innings. In the top of the 11th, Cleveland put runners at second and third with just one out, thanks to an error and Joe Jackson’s ground-rule double into the overflow crowd in center field. Because of the huge throng in attendance (according to the turnstile count it was 24,382, but estimates put it at closer to 26,000), many hundreds of fans had to stand in the nether reaches of the outfield in a cordoned-off area. This had resulted in five ground-rule doubles, four by Cleveland and one by Detroit. The Cleveland Plain Dealer said that Jackson’s drive would likely have gone for a triple had it not been for the ground rule that held him at second — and more importantly, held Olson at third.

Mullin issued an intentional walk to Lajoie, which loaded the bases. The strategy paid off: The next two batters grounded out without a run being able to score.

In the Detroit half of the 11th, Del Gainer grounded out, but Donie Bush singled and Oscar Stanage followed suit. Bush went to third as Stanage was out at second trying to take an extra base. That made it two outs with Bush on third. Even though Mullin had already given up 13 hits and walked four, Jennings elected to let him hit for himself — he was a good hitter, having batted .286 in 1911. Mullin came through. He singled to left, scoring Bush with the winning run.

It was quite a way to inaugurate a new ballpark.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, Retrosheet.org was also accessed.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1912/B04200DET1912.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET191204200.shtml

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Detroitathletic.com

Detroit Times

Myfoxdetroit.com

Retrosheet.org

SABR BioProject

Sporting Life

An aging veteran, who had battled weight problems all season and was placed on waivers a few weeks before was an unlikely choice to hurl the Tigers’ first no-hitter. But that is what George Mullin did on his birthday, no less, as he redeemed himself and mowed down the St. Louis Browns to make Detroit baseball history.

The Wabash Mauler was a long-time pitching star for the Tigers. In consecutive trips to the World Series in 1907 and 1908 against the Chicago Cubs, Detroit won only one game, Mullin earning that victory. He almost single-handedly led Detroit to the 1909 AL pennant, then won two games in a World Series the Tigers lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates. But by three years later his right arm and his body were showing the wear and tear of baseball.

In June 1912 the team waived Mullin and pitcher Eddie Summers, blaming them in part for the Tigers’ lackluster fifth-place standing. With the waiver request, players were in limbo and waited for a club to claim them. Reportedly, Mullin had his eye on the Cleveland team, which would keep him near his home in Toledo, Ohio.

The 1912 season had already begun to unravel for the Tigers. With the team mired well out of first place, the fans accustomed to the three straight World Series appearances a few years earlier began to show their displeasure. Star outfielder Ty Cobb was publicly critical of the fans, saying the players hadn’t quit on each other, but that the fans had quit on the team. To make matters worse, a few days later Cobb left the dugout during a game and took off his uniform, only to see his batting spot in the line-up make it up to the plate. Manager Hughie Jennings summoned Mullin, also known for his slugging, to pinch-hit for Cobb. Detroit owner Frank J. Navin was very critical of Jennings, saying the team wasn’t motivated and had lost confidence in the skipper. It was against that backdrop that Mullin returned to the team and fired the franchise’s first no-hitter.

While in waiver limbo Mullin worked out to lose weight. When no team claimed him, the Tigers activated him and returned him to the starting rotation. The Tigers won the morning game of the July 4 doubleheader against the Browns, and Mullin was the starter for the afternoon contest. It was his 32nd birthday, according to baseball-reference.com.

Sportswriters covering the game described Mullin as effectively wild. In the first inning he walked a batter and then encountered trouble in the second inning. With runners on first and second and none out, after an error and another walk, the Browns threatened to score. A sacrifice by Willie “Happy” Hogan was foiled when Mullin snared the airborne bunt and fired to Tigers first baseman George Moriarty, hoping to double off the runner. Moriarty then fired a strike to shortstop Donie Bush covering second base, as the Tigers attempted a triple play. However, the base-runner returning to first was called safe, though the runner going back to second was out, for a nifty double play. An infield popout ended the threat.

The third, fourth, and fifth innings were uneventful as the last-place Browns were set down in order. By the end of the fifth inning, the Navin Field crowd sensed that history was being made and became much louder. In the sixth inning the Browns’ Burt Shotton walked. But he was thrown out at second trying to steal and that ended any Browns’ threat. Mullin then retired the Browns in order in the seventh inning.

Earlier that spring, Mullin had told a reporter that he would be the “happiest man in baseball” if he could throw a no-hitter.1 He had come close in the 1909 season, when he tossed a one-hitter against Chicago on Opening Day,the first of 11 straight wins to open the season. In that game the only hit was a bloop single that narrowly evaded an infielder. Mullin had clearly been the ace of the staff in the team’s World Series appearances, but that was far from the club’s mind when they tried to dump him in mid-June.

In terms of mound artistry, this was not a perfect pitching performance for the hurler, but his “lack of control was an advantage rather than a defect. The big curve was just wild enough to keep the aliens guessing and hitting at bad balls,” wrote E.A. Batchelor, the Detroit Free Press sportswriter, who also doubling as the game’s official scorer.2

Between innings, Tigers trainer Archie Tuthill worked on Mullin’s arm, massaging it to keep it loose and ready for more pitches.

The final two innings saw the tenor of the game change. Until then, the Browns had not managed any good swings against Mullin. To lead off the eighth, Mullin threw Jimmy “Pepper”Austin three balls that “were too high, wide or low.”3 Then he sent two down the middle that Austin didn’t even flinch at, for called strikes. The full-count pitch was a “trifle off,” and Austin got a base on balls.4 Pinch hitting for Hogan, Pete “Bash”Compton worked Mullin into a full count. The payoff pitch was a fastball and Compton hit one hard. His blast was headed into the gap between right fielder Sam Crawford and Ty Cobb. “After a hard run” into “far” center field, Cobb caught up with the ball and out number one was recorded.5 Browns catcher Jim “Little Nemo”Stephens then followed Compton’s effort with “another tough fly” that Cobb also ran down for the second out.6 Player-manager George Stovall pinch-hit for the pitcher and got himself out to end the inning.

In the meantime, Mullin was also doing damage with his bat. He wound up with three hits in four at-bats, including an RBI double in the second inning. The Tigers scored single runs in the first three innings off rookie Willie Adams. They exploded for four runs in the eighth inning to lead 7-0, and aDetroit victory was no longer in doubt. Strolling to the mound to begin the crucial final inning, Mullin yelled, “Hey Batch,” and put up three fingers in an effort to confirm that his last at-bat had been ruled a hit and not an error.7 When Batchelor, the official scorer, nodded in agreement, Mullin took his place on the mound for the ninth inning.

The crowd sat quietly, but burst into applause as the outs were recorded. Mullin faced Shotton to begin the final inning.The Browns’ leadoff hitter was considered the fastest man in the league and some feared that any type of ground ball might wreck the no-hit bid. Mullin wasn’t even close with his pitches and the Browns speedster walked on four straight balls. Then rookie Heinie Jantzen hit a rocket to right-center field that Cobb ran down for the first out.

Next up was slugger Joe Kutina, who had hit .374 the previous summer for the Saginaw Krazy Kats of the Southern Michigan League. He was known for being inconsistent, but “hammering the ball” when he did connect.8 The first baseman put up a weak foul ball that Tigers catcher Oscar Stanage corralled in front of the grandstand for out number two. After that grab the crowd erupted like “Niagara,” Batchelor wrote.9

The Browns’ last gasp was rookie shortstop Del Pratt, who took the first two pitches outside for balls. Mullin then laid one over the plate and Pratt took a mighty cut. The ball rocketed off his bat and streaked on a line to left-center field. The Georgia Peach, as he had done twice in the eighth inning, robbed the Browns one last time that afternoon. He snagged Pratt’s drive and Mullin had the Tigers’ first no-hitter.

Mullin was far from perfect that day, walking five while striking out five. But he was good enough for the Tigers to forget about releasing him, or assigning him to the minor leagues. Wabash George, the birthday boy, was for one day, at least, again, the ace of the Tigers’ staff.

This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich. To read more articles from this book, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, Retrosheet.org was also accessed.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1912/B07042DET1912.htm

Detroit News Tribune

New York Times

The Sporting News

Notes

Almost immediately, Howard Ellsworth “Smoky Joe” Wood, in his fourth full AL season at age 22, had a streak reach 13. As a result, strong interest built for a game on September 6 when it was announced that he would start a day ahead of schedule and counter none other than Johnson. “On September 6 a circus-like crowd estimated at 35,000 packed every crevice of Fenway Park — filling the stands, outfield and even foul territory along the right- and left-field foul lines — and cheered wildly with every strike Joe burned across,” wrote Michael Foster, Wood’s SABR biographer. “In the end, Joe prevailed 1-0, a victory made possible when back-to-back fly balls by Tris Speaker and Duffy Lewis (which would have been playable under ordinary circumstances) fell untouched into the crowd and were ruled doubles. Nine days later, Joe tied Johnson’s record with a 2-1 victory over St. Louis.”2 That game against the Browns also impressed. “Wood won in one of the greatest pitching engagements ever staged in any ball park,” The Sporting News enthused.3

Many fans across America would be eager to learn the outcome of Wood’s next start, in Detroit on Friday, September 20. The big game’s crowd of 3,115 was about 2,000 below the average for the new Navin Field, though a day earlier just 558 watched the Tigers defeat New York.4 Boston arrived two days after clinching the pennant. The Tigers began play with a record of 67-75.

Detroit manager Hughie Jennings had recently been starting pitchers who made their major-league debuts that month. The assignment opposite Wood went to William Wilkes “Tex” Covington, 25. His major-league career began in 1911 with a record of 7-1. He had already started eight games for the Tigers in 1912 and earned a complete-game victory six days earlier. Jennings’ lineup included four regulars in the first six slots, plus Bobby Veach, at the start of a 14-year career.

Boston was retired in order in the first inning. Donie Bush started the bottom of the inning by beating out a ball hit to 23-year-old rookie Marty Krug at shortstop, who was subbing for Heinie Wagner. Red Corriden then grounded to Krug to begin a double play, and Sam Crawford was retired for the third out.

Boston’s first baserunner came with two out in the second when Covington walked Clyde Engle, who was subbing for player-manager Jake Stahl at first base because Stahl was serving a three-game suspension after a dustup with an umpire in Cleveland the day before. However, Covington picked Engle off to end the inning. In the bottom of the second, Ty Cobb grounded out to Wood and the next two hitters struck out.

Boston was again retired in order in the third inning. In the bottom half, Wood struck out Eddie Onslow and retired Eddie’s older brother Jack on a grounder. That brought up Covington with the bases empty. After having had no trouble with the first eight batters, Wood walked four in a row — the opposing pitcher and the next three batters — forcing in a run. This set the stage for a pivotal moment. As a Boston reporter put it, “Krug muffed a puny fly raised by Cobb and two more runs came across.”5 Wood was finally able to induce a groundout by Veach.

Leadoff man Harry Hooper started the fourth frame for Boston by beating out an infield hit. Covington caught Hooper napping at first base but his pickoff throw got past Eddie Onslow and the runner took second. Hooper advanced to third on a groundout; another by future Hall of Famer Tris Speaker enabled Hooper to score. One more groundout ended the inning. Wood retired the Tigers in order in the bottom half, notching another strikeout in the process.

In the top of the fifth inning, bases on balls again led to a run, this time enabling Boston to battle back. Larry Gardner drew the first walk. He moved to second on a passed ball and then Engle walked. That brought up Krug. Soon enough, Covington complained loudly enough about a call by umpire Frank “Silk” O’Loughlin on a pitch to Krug and was ejected (by the first umpire ever to eject Cobb, in 1908). Jennings had to bring in a new hurler, and chose veteran Joe Lake.

On Lake’s first offering, Krug singled to center, though Gardner stopped at third. Catcher Hick Cady came up with the bases full and none out. He hit sharply to Bush, who stepped on second to force Krug but threw wildly to first when trying to double up Cady. That allowed the two lead runners to score and tie the game, 3-3. Wood batted next, and singled to left. Hooper followed by hitting a ball that drew Eddie Onslow away from first but neither Lake nor Louden covered that bag so the bases were loaded again with just one out. After a popup for the second out, up strode Speaker. He grounded to Louden at second but a poor throw drew Onslow’s foot off the bag, and the Red Sox had taken the lead. Lake succeeded in striking out Gardner to end the rally.

Lake then started the bottom of the inning with a single. Wood retired Bush on a popup to Krug, but Corriden singled to center and Lake advanced to third as Speaker had trouble controlling the ball. Corriden then stole second. Crawford followed by singling right up the middle to plate both runners and put the Tigers back on top, 5-4. Crawford took second on Speaker’s throw homeward and stole third while Cobb batted, but Wood ultimately struck out Cobb and retired Veach.

Except for a two-out walk to Krug, Boston went quietly in the top of the sixth. Louden led off the bottom half by walking, but Eddie Onslow grounded to Krug, who started another double play. Wood then struck out Jack Onslow. In the top of the seventh, the Red Sox were retired in order. In the bottom half Lake again led off by singling. He was bunted into scoring position but Wood struck out Corriden and Crawford popped out to Krug.

Speaker began Boston’s eighth by drawing a free pass. Lake struck out Lewis. Gardner then worked the count full, and Speaker took off for second just before Gardner knocked a fly toward Crawford in right field. Whether a coach or Speaker was to blame, Crawford made the catch and easily doubled Speaker off first to end the inning.

Cobb led off the bottom of the eighth by beating out an infield hit but he slid into first and hurt his ankle. Thus, when Veach smashed a line drive over Speaker’s head, Cobb only reached third and Veach settled for a double. Smoky Joe secured the first out when Louden hit a fly right back to him. Next up was Eddie Onslow, who grounded to Gardner at third. Gardner may have been overconfident about Cobb’s ankle, and threw to first only to have Cobb suddenly sprint for home. With a skillful slide, Cobb gave the Tigers an insurance run before Wood recorded the third out.

Boston was retired in order in the ninth, and the contest ended with Wood on deck. “American league (sic) history will have to struggle along without the immediate establishment of any new records,” began the story in the Detroit Free Press the next day by Edward A. Batchelor.6

Under the scoring standards of the time, Tex Covington was credited with the victory. The game would prove to be Covington’s major-league finale, so his career concluded with an ejection. Wood made two more regular-season starts and won both, for a record of 34-5. He then won three of the eight World Series games as Boston defeated Marquard’s Giants.

Wood never enjoyed such success again. His pitching career went downhill after he broke his thumb at Navin Field on July 18, 1913, after slipping on wet grass while fielding a ball. Wood was sold to Cleveland in 1917 and converted to the outfield, which extended his career through 1922. The record shared by Johnson and Wood was tied in 1931 by Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics and in 1934 by the Tigers’ Schoolboy Rowe.

This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich. To read more articles from this book, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com were also accessed.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET191209200.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1912/B09200DET1912.htm

Notes

On May 23 General Enoch Crowder, provost marshal and director of the draft, decreed that by July 1 all eligible men aged 21 to 30 employed in “non-essential” occupations must apply for work directly related to the war effort or be prepared to be called into military service.

Despite the fervent pleas of team owners for an exemption, Secretary of War Newton Baker agreed with Crowder, announcing on July 20 his decision that playing baseball qualified as “non-essential” employment. On July 26 Baker agreed to delay the “work or fight” deadline for Major League Baseball by two months, to September 1. With no decision yet on the American and National Leagues’ petition for a further extension to allow the playing of a World Series, a sense of urgency had fallen over the August schedule.

For all practical purposes, the season was already over for the Detroit Tigers. When the Washington Nationals arrived in Detroit on Friday, August 2, for a four-game weekend series, the Tigers were in sixth place, 43-53 and 16½ games behind the league-leading Boston Red Sox. Outside of Ty Cobb’s league-leading .388 batting average, the team had been punchless all season and their pitching poor. “They [can’t] quit any time too soon to suit me,” Tigers owner Frank Navin scoffed to the press.1

Washington, on the other hand, was enjoying a competitive season. After putting up a 74-79 record in 1917, the Nationals found themselves this season in a bona-fide pennant race with a 52-44 record, good enough for third place, 7½ games out of first and a scant two games behind Cleveland for second place. A first pennant for the club did not seem to be out of reach.

Washington’s improved fortunes rested almost exclusively on the phenomenal pitching arm of Walter Johnson. Johnson’s 18-11 won-lost record scarcely reflected his formidable presence on the mound. Coming into the series with the Tigers, Johnson had completed his last 29 starts, including all 23 so far in 1918. His earned-run average for the season was a microscopic 1.30, and had been as low as 0.76 on June 30. On May 15 Johnson had pitched all 18 innings of a 1-0 shutout of the defending world champion Chicago White Sox, one of seven extra-inning complete games the Big Train had pitched already this season. His most recent, a 15-inning, 1-0 shutout of the St. Louis Browns and a 10-inning, 3-2 win over the New York Yankees, had come in his last two starts.

Friday’s series opener saw the Nationals rough up George “Hooks” Dauss for 14 hits in eight innings in taking the game 5-0 behind a six-hit shutout by Harry Harper. Detroit’s bats continued their slumber on Saturday as the Nationals pummeled the Tigers 10-1, the loss dropping the hapless Tigers into seventh place behind the Browns.

Nonetheless, nearly 10,000 fans2 passed through the turnstiles at Navin Field on the brutally hot afternoon of August 4 for a Sunday doubleheader. In the first game, the Nationals scored six runs in the first three innings off rookie right-hander Rudy Kallio and coasted to a 7-0 victory. But the day’s big attraction was the opportunity to see the extraordinary Walter Johnson pitch in the nightcap.

The Tigers’ sacrificial lamb, so to speak, was right-hander Carroll “Deacon” Jones, making his first start of the season after 14 games of mostly mop-up work, which included a scoreless sixth inning in the previous day’s Nationals rout. Curiously, the Tigers had announced Jones’s unconditional release, along with that of pitcher Harry Coveleski, after Friday’s game, but quickly retracted Jones’s release the following day.3

Whether Johnson, having pitched 26⅔ innings in the past eight days (including a short relief appearance on July 29), was just off his game, or the Tigers had called upon some heretofore untapped collective resolve in taking on the most renowned hurler in baseball is uncertain, but the Tigers appeared to find the immortal Johnson decidedly human that afternoon. Detroit’s bats were as hot as the weather, hitting Johnson hard; even more uncharacteristically, Johnson was walking more batters than he struck out. The Tigers reached Johnson for three runs on three hits and a walk in the third inning and, after spotting Washington two runs in the sixth, added three more runs in the seventh on five singles, an error, and a wild pitch. The scrappy Nationals pushed across two more runs in the eighth to narrow the gap to 6-4.

Jones, who walked two batters in the eighth, may have been tiring — his longest outing of the season had been 5⅓ innings of relief in a game back in June — but manager Hughie Jennings allowed him to take the mound in the top of the ninth inning. Howie Shanks promptly opened the inning with a single and the next batter, Doc Lavan, followed with another base hit. Jennings pulled Jones and sent in Hooks Dauss.

Dauss had fared badly in his start against Washington on Friday, but seemed sharper this day, retiring the first two Washington batters he faced. But when Burt Shotton drilled a triple to tie the score and put the go-ahead run on third, the sweltering crowd might have been forgiven a sense of despair. Dauss retired Eddie Foster for the third out, but the damage had been done, and when Detroit failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, the game, knotted now at 6-6, went into extra innings.

What followed from that point seemed to those in the stands and the press box to be an entirely different game. The Tigers, “seem[ing] to have finally become ashamed of themselves,”4 began to play some very fine baseball. On the mound, Dauss was almost unhittable, setting down Washington batters inning after inning. Back in the game, Johnson had recovered from his poor start and was now mowing down the Tigers, matching Dauss scoreless frame for scoreless frame.

Although their offense had suddenly been stalled, Detroit’s defense was keeping the Tigers alive in spectacular fashion. A mighty heave by Cobb in the 13th inning, “one of the best throws from the meadows ever made,”5 cut down the speedy Clyde Milan attempting to score from second on a single by Lavan. In the 14thinning, shortstop Donie Bush threw two runners out at the plate on balls batted directly at him with the infield drawn in.

Finally, after Dauss had set the Nationals down scoreless for the ninth straight inning, the Tigers came to bat in the bottom of the 18th. “In the golden mellow of the setting sun,”6Donie Bush led off with a single. Bob Jones moved Bush to second with a sacrifice bunt. Into the batter’s box stepped Cobb, who lined Johnson’s final delivery of the afternoon off the glove of Eddie Foster at third for a two-base hit, scoring Bush and giving the Tigers an improbable 7-6 win over the greatest pitcher in baseball.

Johnson’s pitching line for the afternoon: 17⅓ innings, 16 hits (only five of them after the eighth inning), eight bases on balls, five strikeouts, and seven runs, all but one of them earned. Hooks Dauss, the winner in relief, had pitched 10 innings, surrendering but five hits and three bases on balls to go with six strikeouts and no runs scored. It was, in the words of one sportswriter, “one of the prettiest duels between pitchers that it has ever been the good fortune for patrons of Navin Field to witness.”7

Amazingly, all eight position players for Washington played all 27 innings of that day’s doubleheader. The same was true for Detroit, except for the catching position: Oscar Stanage started the first game behind the plate, while Tubby Spencer spelled him in the finale.

“For an exhibition of the national pastime in which the ultimate winners had nothing to gain but a worthless victory and the losers were hysterical to win,” according to one lyrical account of the game, “the contest was, without question, the greatest ever for the edification of Detroit fandom.”8

This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich. To read more articles from this book, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com were also accessed.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET191808042.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1918/B08042DET1918.htm

Books

Devereaux, Tom, The Washington Senators, 1901-1971 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2001).

Kavanagh, Jack, Walter Johnson: A Life (South Bend, Indiana: Diamond Communications, 1995).

Thomas, Henry W., Walter Johnson: Baseball’s Big Train (Washington, D.C.: Phenom Press, 1995).

Newspapers

Flint Daily Journal.

Jackson (Michigan) Citizen Patriot.

New York Times.

Saginaw (Michigan) News.

Washington Herald.

Washington Post.

Notes

Charlie Robertson had compiled a mostly uneventful career up to then. He made his debut in 1919, starting one game for the White Sox and lasting only two innings. Robertson spent 1920 and 1921 in Minneapolis, going 18-16 and 17-15 and pitching more than 300 innings each year. This performance earned him an invitation to training camp the following spring, and Robertson pitched so well that White Sox manager Kid Gleason put the 26-year-old in the starting rotation. Robertson’s assignment against the Tigers on April 30 was only his fourth start, and fifth appearance, in the major leagues.

The contest started uneventfully, with the crowd hooting its usual insults at the White Sox in general and the rookie pitcher in particular. Robertson ignored the commotion and breezed through the first, striking out Lu Blue, getting George Cutshaw on a popup, and retiring Detroit’s player-manager Ty Cobb on a grounder to third. The next three innings followed the same script, with the ever-dangerous Cobb ending the fourth with a weak fly to Johnny Mostil in left. The rookie pitcher had retired the first 12 batters.

Detroit’s Herman Pillette, who like Robertson was pitching in his fifth major-league game, gave up two runs in the second when he walked Harry Hooper, watched Mostil beat out a bunt, and retired Amos Strunk on a sacrifice. Earl Sheely then drove a shot off the glove of Bob Jones at third, scoring both Hooper and Mostil and giving the White Sox a 2-0 lead. There would be no more scoring in the game.

Staked to a lead, Robertson kept the hard-hitting Tigers off the bases. Said Robertson to a reporter several weeks later, “I never was going better in my life than that day. Everything worked properly. I was able to put the ball right where I wanted it. … You see, it was just perfect concentration of mind and body.”1 Robertson did not know the hitters, but catcher Ray Schalk, who had already caught three no-hitters in his 11-year career, did. He gave the signals and Robertson hit the mark, pitch after pitch.

In the fifth, the trouble started. Robertson disposed of Bobby Veach for his 13th out in a row, but the next batter, Harry Heilmann, protested to home-plate umpire Frank Nallin that Robertson was either discoloring the ball or using some foreign substance. Heilmann demanded that Nallin inspect the ball, but the umpire found nothing wrong. Heilmann went out on a weak bounder to the pitcher, which only made him complain louder. One inning later, Cobb stalked to the mound to examine Robertson’s clothing, but once again Nallin and first-base umpire Billy Evans saw no cause for concern. “The irrepressible Tyrus inspected all parts of Robertson’s uniform,” wrote Irving Vaughan in the Chicago Tribune. “He was foiled again, but even after it was all over he still insisted there was something wrong. To a spectator it sounded like the squawk of a trimmed sucker.”2 The Tigers continued to argue, and in the eighth the Detroit manager demanded that Evans check the glove of first baseman Sheely. Evans found nothing and the game resumed, though Cobb took a ball out of play to send to the league office for inspection.

The mood of the Detroit crowd changed markedly by the start of the eighth inning. Until then the fans had booed the rookie pitcher with their usual lusty exuberance, but after the Chicago right-hander had retired the first 21 Tigers in succession, they did an about-face. Now the Detroiters started pulling for Robertson to complete the rarest of pitching feats. When Veach opened the eighth by taking a called third strike and Heilmann rolled a weak grounder to Eddie Collins at second, the crowd became strangely quiet. Jones drove a grounder to Sheely at first to end the inning, bringing an excited cheer rolling from the stands. The fans had shifted their allegiance to Robertson, and waited impatiently for Pillette to retire the White Sox in the top of the ninth.

Cobb, anxious to break the spell, sent two left-handed pinch-hitters to the plate in the ninth. Danny Clark, batting for shortstop Topper Rigney, struck out, Robertson’s sixth whiff of the game. Clyde Manion popped out to Collins, and then Johnny Bassler, batting for Pillette, stepped to the plate.

Robertson said later that he did not fully realize that he was one out from perfection until Bassler stepped in. “It suddenly dawned on me,” Robertson said, “that I was standing right on the brink of the thing. … I turned and walked over to [Eddie] Mulligan, who was playing on the infield in that game. ‘Do you realize that that funny little fat guy is the only thing between me and a perfect game?’”3 Mulligan turned the pitcher around and gave him a push back to the mound. “I went in and served one up,” he said, “the fat guy swung and the ball sailed into Mostil’s hands in the outfield.”4 The fifth perfect game in major-league history was complete.

Onlookers claimed that they had never heard such a roar for an opposing player. Some of the Detroit fans gave Robertson the ultimate honor when they caught up to the pitcher before he had crossed the first-base line on the way to the dugout. They hoisted Robertson on their shoulders and carried him off the field.

Most no-hitters require at least one spectacular fielding play to keep the streak of hitless batters alive, but Robertson’s effort did not. Only six balls were hit to the outfield, and the only mild threat came in the second inning, when Mostil reached into the roped-off section of the crowd in deep left and snagged a fly off the bat of Bobby Veach. Many later game accounts credit Mostil with a spectacular catch, but as Harry Bullion of the Detroit Free Press reported, “The crowd in that sector spread to make the Sox left fielder’s feat easy to perform.”5 Fifteen batters were retired on the infield, and six Tigers struck out, including Cobb. According to Irving Vaughan of the Chicago Tribune, “When Cobb was at bat in the seventh, he did a lot of talking about the alleged soiled ball, and he was so centered on that subject that he neglected to connect when the third strike went floating by.”6

Unofficially, Robertson threw only 90 pitches, and as Bullion wrote, “He never was in the hole to a batter and consequently did not feel obliged to groove a pitch to avoid passing a man.”7 Though Cobb, still complaining to anyone who would listen, delivered some game balls to the league office, the baseball world celebrated the rookie’s feat. Robertson’s total dominance led historian John Thorn to call his performance “perhaps the most perfect game ever pitched.”8

Robertson ended his rookie season with a 14-15 record for the fifth-place White Sox. He never came close to matching his one spectacular game, and by 1924 a chronic sore arm spelled the eventual end of his career. He struggled for several years, bouncing from the majors to the minors, and after losing 19 games for Milwaukee in 1930, Robertson left the game and returned to his native Texas. He ended his major-league stay with 49 wins and 80 losses, easily one of the least impressive career logs of any perfect-game pitcher.

Thirty-four years went by before another major leaguer matched Robertson’s feat. When Don Larsen threw his perfect game in the 1956 World Series, fans naturally wondered whatever became of Charlie Robertson. A reporter for the New York Times located Robertson in Texas, where the ex-pitcher was self-employed as a pecan broker. Robertson, then 60, had long since left baseball behind. “My game didn’t make much of a lasting impression on me,” he said. “If I had known then what I know now it would never have happened to me. I wouldn’t have been in baseball. … There’s nothing wrong with professional athletics as such, you understand. But when they get through with an athlete he has to start over at an age when it’s the wrong time to be starting.”9

Charlie Robertson, who threw major-league baseball’s fifth perfect game, died in Texas in 1984 at the age of 88. Five weeks later, Mike Witt of the California Angels threw baseball’s 11th perfect game, against the Texas Rangers.

This article appeared in “Tigers By The Tale: Great Games at Michigan and Trumbull” (SABR, 2016), edited by Scott Ferkovich. To read more articles from this book, click here.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com were also accessed.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET192204300.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1922/B04300DET1922.htm

Chicago Baseball Museum (chicagobaseballmuseum.org)

Notes