by Scott Fennessy
Chicago, IL
9/22/1905
Today the New York Giants come to town in with a .004 percentage point lead in the National League. This is the first of what is the final three scheduled games between the two top teams in the league. George “Hooks” Wiltse faces off against Jake Weimer in what Giants manager John McGraw described as a “tone setting game” in an interview while traveling to Chicago.
I am curious to see how this new look Cub lineup will do today as they have mercilessly pounded the lower ranked teams and now they get their biggest test to date. The Giants have always managed to come out on top for the most part and the Cubs have managed just enough head to head wins to keep themselves in the race. We begin what may be the most critical series of the year. If either team gets swept it will hurt their changes badly and winning just one game will at least keep them close.
Art Devlin draws a walk to lead off and this is not a good sign. Art Devlin and Sam Mertes have been somewhat less than spectacular hitters against the rest of the league, but always seem to find a way to hurt Chicago pitching and I am hoping Jake can work out of this one. Devlin steals second on the 3rd pitch and sure enough Mertes gets a fastball to his liking and he drills this into center for an RBI single. Weimer does settle down, and Art Hofman makes a terrific shoestring catch to end the inning off a George Browne fly ball. That said the visitors have a 1-0 lead. Wiltse gets a scoreless bottom of the inning and the pitching takes over for a while.
The score was still 1-0 New York when Jim Casey rips a one hop double into left field. Frank Schulte and Frank Chance both come up empty and with two out Art Hofman hits a floater just out of Sammy Strang’s range at second that puts Casey across the plate to tie the game. Johnny Evers grounds out to end the inning.
Weimer has not had his best stuff, and although the Giants keep putting runners on he manages to work his way out of the inning. The score remained tied in the bottom of the 5th when Joe Tinker draws a leadoff walk. Joe steals second just ahead of Strang’s tag and the lead run is now in scoring position. Johnny Kling, who has really struggled offensively at the plate, then delivers a run scoring single to left. Moving to second on a ground out when Casey hits what appears to be a routine fly to Mertes in right but he drops the ball and Kling scores all the way from first. Chance sends the runner and Schulte delivers with an RBI double scoring the third run of the inning. Chance grounds out and the inning is finally over, but the Cubs now have a 4-1 lead.
The Giants continue to peck away at Weimer, and Mike Donlin rips a double into the left field corner with one out. Dan McGann, who has really been on a tear comes through with a line drive over Schulte’s head in right. McGann slides into third with a triple that cuts the lead in half. Weimer bears down and McGann is stranded at third, but the Giants are not going away quietly and the score is 4-2 Cubs.
Again pitching keeps the runs off the board until the bottom of the 8th when the Giants defense lets them down again. Chance hits a grounder that eats up Strang at second to start the inning. Chance steals second and one out later scores on Johnny Evers single. Evers, who had been thrown out by Mike Bowerman earlier in the game is successful this time and with two out Johnny Kling slips a grounder just past a diving Art Devlin at third to score the second run of the inning. A furious McGraw visits the mound and Wiltse is done for the day. Leon Ames will try to get the final out of the inning.
Weimer hits a soft single to left that scores Kling and advances to second on the throw home. Billy Maloney then walks, but Casey strikes out and the inning is over, but the Cubs are now up 7-2 going into the 9th inning.
Bowerman singles to start the 9th and with Strang at the plate it appears that Bowerman or Strang missed a sign as the New York catcher is off for second and is gunned down easily by Kling. McGraw’s face is a deep shade of red as he yells at his catcher as he returns to the dugout. Strang grounds out for the second out and Bill Dahlen singles and then steals second. With Ames due up and two out McGraw himself comes to the plate and Weimer fans him to end the game. The game is over and the victorious home team heads to their dugout while the visitors make their way to the clubhouse and Mike Bowerman is keeping a big a gap between himself and McGraw as possible.
The Cubs now find themselves on top by one game. They are tied in the loss column, but have two more victories. Now game two is even more critical to New York than this first game was.
Peaking at just the right time maybe? Looking forward to the next game(s). Thanks for posting Scott.