1905 Chicago Cubs replay update: Cubs finish set against Wiltse and the Giants

by Scott Fennessy

West Side Grounds

Chicago, IL 6/14/1905

The Cubs and Giants finish their 4 game set. The stadium today is full of energy as expectations are high after yesterdays continued escalation of this now very bitter feud. For the Giants “Snake” Wiltse is on the hill, facing “Buttons” Briggs. Wiltse (right) has been pretty effective for the G-Men and Briggs has been shelled badly every time in relief so I have some big doubts about this idea to start him.

Art Devlin who was injured again yesterday is a bit hobbled, but in the lineup again. He is struggling lately so McGraw caught a bit of flak from the NY press. He slaps a soft single to center and despite the sore ankle he is off on the first pitch, but Chance was expecting this and the pitch out was on. Devlin never had a chance as Kling fires a bullet to the waiting Tinker for the tag. Briggs gets the next two batters and the side is retired. A 1-2-3 inning for Wiltse and to the second we go. The quietly solid Dan McGann gets a BP fastball and he crushed it over the left field wall for his 3rd homer of the year and his 2nd this week. Briggs is clearly rattled, but he settles down a bit after striking George Browne, but Evers boots an easy grounder and one out later walks the light hitting Bill Dahlen. Wiltse who is a very good hitting pitcher slices a curveball to right scoring Bowerman (who had reached on the error) and puts runners on the corners. Briggs who is still looking very uncomfortable on the mound throws a pretty good curve ball, but Devlin does keeps his hands back and gets good wood on the ball. It’s into the gap and Dahlen and Wiltse score while Devlin heads into third with his second triple of the year. Mertes pops to Casey at third and the damage is done. Giants on top 4-0.

Briggs has finally started to get into a rhythm and not much action until the bottom of the third. Doc Casey starts things with a solid double into the gap. It’s been a tough year for him between the slow start at the plate and the nagging injuries he now has a 2 game hit streak and with one out scores as Billy Maloney who is in a bit of a funk rips a triple into the right center gap scoring Casey. Evers who is also struggling a bit draws a walk, and they both score when Art Hofman who has had a down month so far puts a jolt in a Wiltse change up and Browne had been playing too shallow. It rolls to the wall and Hoffman is on with his 8th double of the season. That ended the scoring and suddenly it’s a 4-3 Giant lead.

Things are still the same until the 5th when Briggs gets a single to start the inning. Maloney moves him to second with a sac bunt and he is still there with two out when Hofman draws a walk. Chance who has been as tense as I have seen him all year strokes a single to left scoring Briggs. Tinker ends the inning with a grounder to Mertes and the inning ends in a 4-4 tie.

While Briggs has not been brilliant, he has certainly gotten the job done. The New York has had runners on in almost every inning but has come up short every time. Finally the Cubs get on top in the 7th. Evers hits a one hopper that bounces off of McGann’s shoulder and by the time Mertes and Wiltse converge Evers is on first. Hoffman gets a hit and run single putting runners on the corners and Chance at the plate. Once again the hit and run works perfectly with Chance driving in Evers and the inning ends 4-5 Cubs. The game also ends with no further scoring. Cubs win 5-4 and retake first place and split the series again.

Cubs 32-11 .744
Giants 31-11 .738

For the Giants it was a rare of’er for Mike Donlin who is still hitting .335. Devlin had two hits and has managed to keep above .200. McGann had an 8th inning single to go with the homer and is cruising at .272. For the Cubs the defense kept Briggs in the game all day with fielding one chances that would have been hits/errors on a lesser fielding team Despite the effort I want to go with “Big Jeff” Pfeffer. I just noticed he is a much better hitter and has an 11 and 10 on the card. Maloney has hits in two straight games after a pretty rough spell knocked 20 points off his average. Hofman now has a small 3 game spell and has really need this and he is back at .240 for the year. Kling went 1 for three and now has hits in 9 of his last 10 games. Unfortunately he was thrown out stealing twice. Tinker and Schulte went hitless and ended their streaks. Schulte had tied Kling’s team high 8 game streak that had just ended the day before.

[photo credit]