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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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FENWAY'S FIRST TEAM August 28, 1912 ... A crowd of 20,000 fans gathered at Fenway Park to see the Speed Boys sweep a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox. The first game was a thriller, with the Red Sox completing a doubleplay in the ninth-inning, with men on first and third and only one out to maintain a 5 to 3 score. In the second game Joe Wood shut out Chicago to the tune of 3 to 0. He was only in the hole once, in the eighth-inning, when he was touched up for three singles with one out, filling the bases. But then Wood got the batter to hit into a valuable doubleplay. In the first game it was Buck O'Brien who started out strong. Not a hit was made off him until two were out in the fifth inning. In the sixth, with two gone, Chicago smashed out three drives that included a double that scored two runs. Boston was then leading 5 to 3 and Hugh Bedient began to warm up. O'Brien got away in the next inning, but the visitors came back again in the eighth, once more turning in three hits including a double. Thanks to some superb fielding however, no one runs were able to score. Shano Collins burned one over Tris Speaker's head to the centerfield bleachers in that inning. Speaker hustled after the ball and made a perfect throw to Steve Yerkes in short center field. He threw it over to Larry Gardner, who got Collins as he slid over the base. Ping Bodie and Rollie Zieder singled, but Buck Weaver struck out to end the threat. There was more trouble for the Red Sox in the ninth when O'Brien hit Ray Schalk the first player up. The next man grounded out to Larry Gardner but then Morrie Roth singled and Wally Mattick was thrown out by Heinie Wagner. On the play Schalk loafed in from third only to find Bill Carrigan blocking him off at the plate, having gotten the ball from Engle to tag him out. Had he scored, and with Rath at second, it would have been up to Harry Lord to bring home the tying run. In the first inning Gardner saved one run with a marvelous one-handed running stop and got his man at first for the third out, with a White Sox player tearing for home at the time. The White Sox earned two of their three runs and got the other on a fumble by Steve Yerkes and a poor throw to first by O'Brien. The Red Sox runs were kept from scoring in the first four innings. Joe Benz held them to one hit in the last four innings. The first run was made by Hooper in the first inning, who led off with a triple, and scored on Speaker's sacrifice fly. In the third inning after the White Sox and scored a run to tie the game at 1 to 1, O'Brien and Harry Hooper were both walked. Yerkes missed two tries for sacrifice bunt and then hit a ground ball that forced Hooper at second. Speaker came up next and hit one to the bank for two bases, that scored O'Brien. Duffy Lewis hit one to Morrie Rath and Yerkes was thrown out at the plate. But then Larry Gardner doubled to score Speaker and Engle ended the scoring by being thrown out at first. Two more runs were added in the fourth inning on free passes to Heinie Wagner to Carrigan. O'Brien sacrificed them along and Hooper hit one down to Weaver who threw home to Ray Schalk in an attempt to cut off the run. But Schalk muffed the throw and the ball rolled behind him, allowing both Carrigan and Wagner to score. On the play, Hooper tried for third, but Schalk threw him out. With the score 5 to 1 against them in the sixth inning, the White Sox scored two runs with two outs. Ping Bodie singled and Rollie Zieder lined one to centerfield that Speaker fumbled, allowing Bodie to scamper to third. Weaver followed and smashed one off the left-field wall that scored the two runners. In the ninth-inning, O'Brien started by hitting Schalk with a pitch. After pinch-hitter Ted Easterly popped out, Rath singled. Mattick then hit a ground ball down to Wagner who threw to Clyde Engel at first, who in turn threw to Carrigan, as Schalk was making a run for home. However Carrigan was blocking the plate and Schalk was out in a doubleplay that ended the game. In the second game, not a visitor reached second base until the eighth-inning and they had only gotten three singles up until that time off Joe Wood. The Red Sox got all their three runs in the fourth inning when with one out, Speaker worked a pass, Duffy Lewis singled to center and Speaker went to third. Gardner then lashed one out for two bases to score Speaker and sent Lewis to third. Engle came up next and dropped in a Texas leaguer to short right field, to score Lewis and Gardner for the three runs. Hick Cady was the only Red Sox runner to reach first until the seventh inning, and he was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. In the ninth-inning for Chicago, Harry Lord flied out to center and then Wood ended the game by striking out both Shano Collins and Ping Bodie, thereby earning his 28th win of the year with a 3 to 0 shutout. |
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