by Scott Fennessy
7/13/1905
New York, NY
The Cubs face the Giants in game three of this series, and it has been all Giants so far. Bob Wicker is subbing for the injured Jake Weimer and faces the very tough Joe McGinnity of the Giants.
Billy Maloney draws a leadoff walk and promptly steals second. Johnny Evers who has hit very well since coming off the DL slaps a pitch that takes a golf slice like curve into left and Mike Donlin has to chase this to the wall down the third base line. Maloney scores and Evers is in well ahead of the relay throw. Frank Schulte hits one on the ground to Sammy Strang at second and Evers moves to third. Frank Chance then does what he does best and draw a walk to set up the hit and run. Both runners are off with the pitch and Jimmy Slagle hits a soft floater into right field where Sam Mertes makes a great shoestring grab. He gathers himself and the quick throw to first and Chance is doubled off first. Oh no, the rally is suddenly extinguished, but the Cubs do put a run on the board. Wicker makes quick work of the Giants to end the first.
The Cubs keep pushing in the second as an opportunity presents itself early. Johnny Kling hits a routine grounder to Strang and he flat out boots it. Kling is on first and McGinnity pretty much ignores him so he’s off with the pitch a curve ball on the inside part of the plate and Joe Tinker ends up with this one in his ribs. He looks ok, and given the rash of injuries lately that would have been bad. Runners are on first and second and Jim Casey hits one at Strang again and this time he fields it cleanly, but runners move to second and third. Wicker strikes out and the Giants appear to be out of the inning, but Maloney then hits a solid single up the box. Both runners score and Maloney then steals second. McGinnity then ends the inning, but the Cubs now lead 3-0. Wicker gets another 1-2-3 inning and we head into the third.
McGinnity appears to finally hit his stride and gets a quick inning, and the G-Men respond. Bill Dahlen ends Wickers consecutive batter retired streak at 7 with a booming double into the right field gap. This is not a good sign as Bob has been hammered pretty badly before this this year and the trend unfortunately continues as McGinnity bloops a single into center and Dahlen is in well ahead of Maloney’s throw. Someone must have missed a sign as the slow footed McGinnity suddenly is off for second. Kling never expects this and his throw is not in time. Art Devlin pops up to Casey in foul ground and Wicker may get out of this, but unfortunately Mertes crushes his second pitch of the at bat over the wall in left for his third home run of the year and this game is tied!. Donlin grounds out but the damage is done.
The Cubs are again silenced in the 4th, but the Giants are starting to heat up now. George Browne gets a one out single and steals second. Mike Bowerman singles into center and Browne scores. Bowerman then takes second on the throw home. This was big as with two out Bowerman is off with the pitch, but Dahlen fails to make contact. Bowerman makes a baserunning blunder as he was not following the play and is gunned down at third for the caught stealing to end the inning. The Giants do extend the lead to 4-3 though.
The Cubs fight back in the 5th as this game is getting pretty crazy. Schulte hits a rope into right for a single. With two out the hit and run is on and Chance puts this over Browne’s head in center. Schulte is going to score all the way from first as Chance pulls into second with a standing double. Slagle flies out to end the threat however, but the game is tied again at 4. Unfortunately for Chance that lead would not last long. The Giants come right back in the bottom of the frame as Dahlen gets a leadoff single. The hit and run is on and McGinnity gets a single and yet again stuns the world with another steal. It is a case of a pitcher that just loves to run and does not realize he is slow. This is his 6th of the year now, although he will never catch Jim Callahan of the 01 White Sox who had 17. Devlin hits a fly to deep left field. Slagle is there for the catch and the throw comes home, Casey’s relay and the tag is just a bit high and Dahlen scores as the Giants retake the lead. McGinnity moving to third. Mertes hits another fly to Slagle but this is much deeper and Jimmy puts his arm out to feel for the wall and makes the catch as McGinnity scores the insurance run. Chance has seen enough and takes the ball from Wicker. It’s another tough outing for him as he allows 6 earned runs in 5.2 innings and has been a familiar story when he subs for the big three. Jeff Pfeffer now in to close the inning which he does on a 3 pitch strikeout. Giants retake a 6-4 lead.
For the first time today we have a scoreless inning as Pfeffer and McGinnity get 1-2-3 innings. Pfeffer is due to lead off and is a pretty good hitter so Chance is going to let him extend his day. Although neither team does anything in the 7th, Maloney does get his third steal of the day for the Cubs, and Bill Dahlen who is not the best contact hitter on the team gets his third straight hit.
The Giants get another scoreless inning, but the Cubs do put a runner on third. Unfortunately for the Cubs and Dan McGann’s RBI single will possibly cripple their comeback chances with an RBI single, and steals second . Pfeffer who has looked great today in relief gets out of the inning, ending his day by striking out Bowerman for the second time today giving him 4 in 3.2 innings of relief. McGinnity finishes strong with another perfect inning ending the day with 6 straight retired en route to his 19th win of the year. This was a game that was close most of the way, but again the Giants prove why they are the most dangerous team in baseball. They have now won all three games in this 4 game set. Carl Lundgren will try to avoid the sweep tomorrow.
Giants 51 14 .785
Cubs 44 22 .667
![[photo credit]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Joe_McGinnity_Baseball.jpg){kind=link}
Every time I think the Cubs are going to catch the Giants, the lead widens. Thanks for keeping me on the edge of my seat, Scott.
Also love the detail of your posts, I feel like I have been transported through time.
Hi Shawn,
It has been a very frustrating ride for the Cubs. Injuries and some hitters that have struggled, especially the bottom of the order are the reason the Cubs are not closer.
Honestly if you were to see the cards the Giants should be much further ahead as they are clearly the best team in the game.
The Pirates have underperformed much of the year, but as I feared for a long time that Wagner would start getting good dice rolls and they would give the Cubs a chase.
I looked at Baseball References site as I had forgotten the official standings and the Cubs had actually finished third that year, so I cannot complain too much.
Let’s hope that they can close the gap and catch them in the end.
Very Interesting stuff, thanks again
Scott:
Love dead ball era baseball, and this has been a very interesting post. Your descritive writing does put the reader in NY or Chi on a warm summer day in 1905…
Just bought 1904, and am considering replay of the AL race
Thank you for the comment. I admit it is hard to be neutral when playing a Cub game, but this has been so much fun for me as I am really enjoying the chase, and there are some other pretty interesting storylines for the other teams too.
I never played deadball era until a couple of years ago. I spent several years with my grandparents growing up and it was a pretty remote area so I learned to play APBA on my own, but while I was playing the 1978 season (still remember Dave Kingman’s 1-5-5-1 card) my grandfather would tell me all about the “glory days” of baseball so some of the names I am seeing now are proving how accurate his observations were.
I originally wanted to get the 1903 season when I got this to continue in order, but it was not ready so I am not sure how I will proceed once this one is completed. How do you like the 04 set so far? Wondering when/if APBA will get a 1902 set so I can get the whole decade in.
Also considering getting the new BBW so I can go all the way back and do them all eventually.