The 1911 BBW Replay World Series promised to be a real barn burner. Philadelphia had won the AL by 23.0 games in a dominating performance and while Pittsburgh only won the NL by 3.0 games, they held off a very strong New York Giants team in a challenge that went down to the last week of the season. Philadelphia hadn't played since last Sunday, Pittsburgh hadn't played since Monday, so with the first game on Saturday both teams were rested, had their pitching rotations set, and were healthy and ready to play.
Game One: Philadelphia (AL) at Pittsburgh,
Saturday, October 14, 1911
This cross-state series started off with a
bang as Jack
Coombs (1-0, 0.00) outdueled Babe Adams
(0-1, 0.00) in a tight 1-0 Philadelphia victory. Coombs limited Pittsburgh to
two hits while Adams only allowed three hits, but in the top of the fourth gave
up the game's only run on two Pirates errors.
In the fateful fourth, second baseman Eddie
Collins reached first on an error by first baseman Bill
McKechnie, and then Collins advanced to second on an infield grounder. A's
right fielder Danny
Murphy hit a long fly ball to right that was muffed by Pirates right
fielder Owen
"Chief" Wilson, which allowed Collins to score from second. The
well-rested Coombs took over from there and held off the powerful Pirates the
rest of the way for the Game One win.
Note: Wilson is the only OF3 in the set.
A pair of lefties went in Game Two but the
Pittsburgh hitting woes continued as Eddie Plank
(1-0, 0.00) threw another shutout, this time only allowing one hit, a one out
double in the bottom of the eighth to Owen
"Chief" Wilson. Lefty
Leifield (0-1, 2.00) pitched well, but three Pirates errors behind him
opened the door for the visiting A's.
The A's scoring started when Danny
Murphy led off the top of the seventh with a triple, first baseman Stuffy
McInnis walked, and then Murphy was successfully squeezed home by shortstop
Jack
Barry. With a runner now on second, catcher Ira Thomas
popped up for the second out, but then Plank floated a liner to left that
player/manager and leftfielder Fred Clarke
misplayed, allowing McInnis to score the second run of the inning.
In the top of the seventh Murphy was the hero again as his two out double drove home center fielder Rube Oldring from first base with a much-needed insurance run. With a sufficient cushion now in place, Plank mowed down the Pirates batters the rest of the way, making Wilson's lone hit otherwise inconsequential.
Up 2-0 and heading home after only allowing
three hits and no runs while in Pittsburgh, the A's fans were looking for their
team to close this one out quickly and painlessly. Charles “Chief”
Bender (1-0. 0.00) didn’t disappoint
as Pittsburgh could only manage two hits and lost their third consecutive game,
all shutouts. Howie
Camnitz (0-1, 1.29) gave up nine hits but managed to navigate troubled
waters and hold the A's to only two runs.
Pittsburgh got their two hits in the top of
the third, but the Athletics took the lead in the bottom of the third when
Bender's designated catcher, Ira Thomas,
flicked a lead-off single, was sacrificed to second by Bender, and then scored
on a double off the bat of left fielder Bris Lord.
Camnitz was lifted for a pinch hitter in the
top of the eighth and relief pitcher Jack Ferry
was brought in and he allowed the A's to add an insurance in the bottom half of
the inning. Eddie
Collins got things started when he was hit-by-pitch to lead off the inning,
was sacrificed to second by Frank
"Homerun" Baker, and then scored when Stuffy
McInnis doubled. Bender then finished what he started, sending the Pirates
home quietly.
Game Four: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia (AL), Wednesday, October 18, 1911
Down three games to none, the Pirates threw
out their ace, Babe Adams,
in hopes of stopping the bleeding. The A's countered with Jack Coombs
and hoped that Coombs could replicate his Game One performance.
Pittsburgh third baseman Bobby Byrne
led the game off with a triple and then two batters later scored on a sacrifice
fly off the bat of Fred Clarke,
the Pirates first run of the series. The A's got that run back in the bottom of
the second when Danny
Murphy singled and was then doubled home by Stuffy
McInnis. On the play Pittsburgh center fielder Max Carey
bounced off the outfield wall and had to be removed from the game, his place in
the lineup taken by Tommy Leach.
The Pirates regained the lead in the top of
the fourth when second baseman Dots Miller
hit a two-out double and then immediately scored when Frank
"Home Run" Baker couldn’t handle a hot smash to third by Bill
McKechnie. Now with a 2-1 lead, Adams (1-1, 0.50) held off the A's attack
the rest of the way, with the Pirates adding one more run in the top of the
ninth when Miller walked, was sacrificed to second by McKechnie, and then two
batters later catcher George
Gibson came through with a key two-out single to bring home Miller for a
3-1 Pittsburgh lead.
Coombs (1-1, 1.50) took the loss in this one,
although he only allowed five hits in the game while he himself went 3-for-3 at
the plate.
Game Five: Pittsburgh at Philadelphia (AL), Thursday, October 19, 1911
Another close one and another shutout for
Philadelphia (AL) as Eddie Plank
(2-0. 0.00) throws his second shutout and the team fourth shutout of the
series, all the A's wins coming by of throwing zeroes. Lefty
Leifield (0-2, 2.12) took the loss, but no one was blaming the Pirates
pitchers for this outcome.
The A's got on the board in the bottom of the
first when Eddie
Collins smashed a two-out double and was then quickly driven home by a
single from Frank
"Home Run" Baker. Collins scored again in the third when he
singled, advanced to second on an infield out, and then scored on a single off
the bat of Danny
Murphy.
With his lead now set, Plank held the Pirates
hitless until the seventh, and finished the game with only two hits allowed,
completing the four wins/four shutouts perfecta for the World Champion
Philadelphia Athletics.
World Series Summary
Most prognosticators picked the A's to defeat
the Pirates, but no one picked them to do so by throwing four shutout victories
in five games, finishing the series with a team ERA of 0.60. Pittsburgh
collected only twelve hits in the series and hit a poor .083 (12-for-144) as
a team. The A's pitching simply overpowered the hapless Pittsburghers and gave Connie Mack
and his A's their second consecutive World Series title.
If you had told a Pittsburgh fan that their
pitchers would finish with a 1.47 ERA and would only allow nine runs in the
five games, you would likely have a happy fan with visions of pennants waving in
their eyes. Alas, it was not to be as the Philadelphia didn't do much, but they
did enough to capture the wins when they had the opportunity.
The MVP votes were split between Eddie Plank
who threw eighteen scoreless innings and only allowed three hits and right
fielder Danny
Murphy, whose 10-for-19 (.526) performance repeatedly sparked the A's
offense, as beleaguered as it might have been. A's hitters only collected six
walks in the five games, at least partially explaining some of their offensive
futility.
Conclusion
So that wraps it up for the 1911 BBW replay. All in all, it was great fun. The replay itself went well with no issues, so it is time to start work on my next project: 1941. It will likely be a few months before actual gameplay kicks off, so in the meantime keep rolling and go have fun.
