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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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FENWAY'S FIRST TEAM July 27, 1912 ... In a ten round bout here in Chicago, Buck O'Brien got the decision over big Ed Walsh by a score of 5 to 3. The Red Sox and White Sox teams finished the ninth round neck and neck with Larry Gardner tying up the score in that inning after his great triple had been supplemented by Jake Stahl's long sacrifice fly. Then came the 10th inning and two were gone when Steve Yerkes drove a sharp single to center. Tris Speaker must have felt that another single would be a waste of power, so he took a firm toehold and dug in his spikes. Manager Jimmy Callahan was coaching from the back in the bench and signaled Walsh to pass Speaker. That would bring up Duffy Lewis, who early in the game had delivered a timely hit after Speaker had been passed. But Walsh refused to listen to the command of his manager. Speaker was anxious and acting like a thoroughbred pulling for the reins to be off. Walsh looked around and his outfielders moved back. He had a very high regard for Speaker's ability to hit, and he set about to show the Texan up in front of the big crowd. He cut a fast one over the outside corner. Speaker swung in perfect form for all he had and the ball went tearing out to right-field. Matty McIntyre was on the dead run down close to the bleachers, but stopped short as he saw the ball sail by over his head into the crowd. It was remarkable drive and good for two runs and the lead. The crowd, forgetting their loyalty, cheered the Boston player, as he jogged around the bases for his dramatic blow. There was nothing to the game after that for Heinie Wagner made two clever assists to first and O'Brien struck out the last man to end the wonderful comeback. O'Brien pitched a masterful game and should have scored a shutout, while the Sox hit Walsh hard and but for poor baserunning, they would have landed the game long before the 10th inning. As usual, the power of the Boston team and their ability to make long drives, pulled them out after getting into a bad position. Boston lost a fine chance of scoring in the first inning, when with men at third and first, Duffy Lewis struck out and Harry Hooper was nailed at the plate. Then the White Sox scored two runs without a hit, to give them the lead. Morrie Rath walked and was sacrifice by Rollie Zieder. Eddie Collins was hit on the shoulder with a passed ball and Harry Lord hit one down to Heinie Wagner for a force out. Lord tried for the delayed steal but was caught between bases as O'Brien ran toward him and threw to third, keeping Rath back. Lord took a lead off second and passed Wagner as then Carrigan threw a strike to cut him off. Rath took off for home and Wagner threw back to Carrigan but the ball went over his head and two runs resulted without a hit. The Red Sox came back and tied the score in the third inning, when with the bases full, Speaker walked on for wide ones and then Lewis banged one into left field. The home team came back and scored another run to take the lead on a triple by Rath and a short fly on which Speaker made a poor throw to the plate. Carrigan made a bad blunder during the game that cost the Red Sox at least one run in the seventh inning. Wagner singled and went to third on Bill's base hit to left. Carrigan kept on going to second with no earthly chance of getting there and was easily thrown out. Wagner could have scored, as next Hooper hit a long fly ball, but instead there were now two outs. There were some brilliant fielding by Buck Weaver and by Heinie Wagner at shortstop, by Zieder at first and both Carrigan and Sullivan behind the plate. The Red Sox in taking three of the last four games from Ed Walsh made the old jinx now look like a punctured toy balloon. As the scoreboard showed when Washington had won the opener Cleveland, the Red Sox looked relieved when the game here was over. With Walsh out of the way they figure on more than an even break here in Chicago. |
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