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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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FENWAY'S FIRST TEAM July 4, 1912 ... Fifty five thousand fans watched the Boston Red Sox and the World Champions play two intensely interesting games at Shibe Park in Philadelphia today. The Athletics managed to pull out the morning game by a score of 4 to 3 with the veteran Eddie Plank opposing Joe Wood. Wood had it a little bit better than Plank, and if not for a wild pitch that allowed the home team to score one run and a dumb piece of baserunning by Duffy Lewis, that cost the Red Sox the game. Duffy was doubled at first on a long fly to center and Tris Speaker failed to score from third on the play, taking it easy. Except for those two mistakes the Red Sox would've made it a sweep. The afternoon game went to the Speed Boys by a 6 to 5 score, after the Athletics had made three runs in the first inning. They hit Hugh Bedient easily and Charley Hall came into pitch with two on in the first, two runs in and nobody out. He held Philly to just two runs for the rest of the game, disposing of Frank Baker several times, when he could've meant trouble. For the Athletics, Carroll Brown lasted five innings and with the score tied at 4 to 4, Chief Bender took up the burden and was touched for two runs, with a triple by Speaker. The morning crowd number 28,000 sat around the outfield grounds, with the ground rule stating that everything hit into the crowd would only be good for two bases. There were 27,000 people at the afternoon game and the crowd was allowed to sit in the left side of the outfield only with the ground rules being the same for that area. The Red Sox went after the morning game very hard as a figured that Joe Wood would win easily. The 12 year veteran, Eddie Plank who was usually a tough customer for the Boston pitched very well, but it was the bad breaks that saved the day for him. Nothing even close to a base hit was made off Wood for four innings, while Boston scored one run on Wood's double and Steve Yerkes' single in the third inning. The Athletics cracked out four base hits in the fifth, and along with a free pass, turned in two runs to take a 2 to 1 lead. They then scored their third run in the sixth after Frank Baker laced out a double with two outs. Wood then uncorked a wild pitch that landed in front of the plate and bounded over Hick Cady's head, allowing Baker score. The Sox had a bad break in the sixth. Speaker led off with a double and Lewis was safe on a wild throw to first. With Speaker on third, Jake Stahl hit the ball hard to center and Speaker stayed on the bag until the ball was caught, then started for home but was several feet short of the plate when Stuffy McInnis had the ball thrown in from Rube Oldring and was able to double up Lewis. If Speaker had hustled he would've scored before they got Lewis out. The Red Sox scored one in the seventh on an error and Harry Hooper's single, to put them within one run, but in the bottom half of the inning Philly got the run back on a single by Jack Lapp, a double by Harry Lord and a sacrifice fly. Speaker led off with a single in the eighth and then stole second and Lewis was walked. Gardner moved them along with a sacrifice, but Stahl hit one back to the pitcher and Lewis was run down. Speaker was able to score from second on Larry Gardner's out at first to make the score 4 to 3, but the Red Sox were shutdown in the ninth-inning and a 4 to 3 score was the final. Brown and Bedient were picked to pitch in the afternoon. The Red Sox started off by scoring a run in the first inning on Hooper's single and a fumble at short by Claud Derrick. But then the Athletics opened up on Bedient quickly in the bottom of the inning. Lord singled and Oldring banged the ball to center. Eddie Collins beat out an infield hit and then Baker lined one out to Harry Hooper who dropped the ball, letting two runs in. Charley Hall then came in and McInnis grounded out to Larry Gardner. Collins was nipped at the plate on the play to save a run, but Amos Strunk singled and Baker scored. McInnis tried to score on the play, but was thrown out at the plate and then Carrigan whipped the ball to second where Heinie Wagner got Strunk at the other end of a doubleplay. The A's scored their fourth run in the third on singles by Oldring and Collins and Frank Baker's smash down to Stahl, who made a remarkable stop but threw late to the plate. The Red Sox tied the score in the fifth by scoring three runs on singles by Yerkes, Speaker and Stahl with a fumble by the shortstop Derrick. Bender then came into pitch and shutout Boston down in the sixth. With the score tied in the seventh, Speaker hit one to the fence in right-center for three bases and scored on a long sacrifice fly by Duffy Lewis. They scored once more and was just enough to win the game on a single by Wagner, Carrigan's out, Wagner's steal of third and a single by Charley Hall to make it 6 to 4. From the third inning up until the ninth, Hall had the big hitters at his mercy. But in the ninth Strunk doubled and scored on a single by Lapp. Hall then struck out the next two batters and forced Lord to roll an easy one to Stahl to end the game with a 6 to 5 win and a split of the day. After the game in the evening, manager Stahl gave his players a treat with an automobile ride through Fairmount Park. Because the day was extremely hot and the players were weary from playing the two hard games, they thoroughly enjoyed the routing. Tris Speaker is hitting at a remarkable pace, fielding, throwing and running bases as good as anybody in the league. He is confident that the Red Sox will hold the lead throughout the rest of the season. |
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