Ferkovich: The 1916 New York Giants’ 26-game win streak
From SABR member Scott Ferkovich at The National Pastime Museum on December 8, 2014:
You can blame it on the uniforms.
Having discarded their old pinstriped garb with the interlocking “NY” on the sleeve, the 1916 New York Giants introduced new check-patterned regalia, complete with red sanitary stockings and a large “NY” on the chest—“The last word in baseball sartorial invention,” according to team secretary John B. Foster.
The Giants may have looked better, but after a 6–2 loss to the Boston Braves at the Polo Grounds on Monday, May 8, their record stood at 2–13. They had lost eight straight at one point. They were buried in last place, 8.5 games behind the National League–leading Brooklyn Robins.
But at Forbes Field the next day, after trailing 4–2 through five innings, the Giants scored six in the sixth, and four more in the seventh, to run away with a 13–5 victory. Thirty-five-year-old Christy Mathewson, in only his second appearance of the season, pitched the final 3⅔ innings, giving up only a solo home run to pinch-hitter Walter Schmidt.
Read the full article here: http://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/1916-new-york-giants-26-game-win-streak
Originally published: December 9, 2014. Last Updated: December 9, 2014.