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CHRISTY MATHEWSON |
FENWAY'S FIRST TEAM
1912
WORLD SERIES, GAME #2
Game ends in a tie, called because of darkness
October 9, 1912
...
The
second game of the World Series was one of sloppy fielding at times, and
clean fielding and hard hitting at other times. At the end of the
day, the score was 6-6, as the game was called after the eleventh inning,
because the umpire deemed it getting too dark for a good, clean ball game.
Under the rules, Game #3 will be played in Boston tomorrow.
Ray
Collins pitched for the Red Sox and faced Christy Mathewson for New York.
Both pitched fine games up until the eighth inning. Had he been
given good support in the field, Matty would have walked away a winner.
Time and again, the Red Sox were at his mercy only to have fumbles and
misplays ruin an inning.
The
Giants won the game twice, only to have the Red Sox cling doggedly to
their coat tails. Through it all, Matty stood firmly amid the wreck of his
collapsing support and twice witnessed a hard earned lead dribble away.
Near the end, the players’ nerves were wrought up to the breaking point.
As the Red Sox took the field in the eleventh, Speaker and Wagner nearly
came to blows with Buck Herzog over an incident when Herzog stole second
in the seventh. Heinie Wagner tagged him late and then sat on him.
To get even, when Speaker had tripled in the tenth, Herzog blocked him
trying to keep him from trying to score. Larry Doyle got into the
middle of the potential fight and the tempers were calmed down.
Single
tallies in the second and fourth by the Giants cut the Red Sox lead to
3–2. Another error by Fletcher, who failed to tag out Harry Hooper on a
stolen base attempt, led to Boston's fourth run in the fifth inning when
Yerkes followed the error with an RBI triple.
In the
eighth the drama truly unfolded. With the score tied 4-4, hits by
Doyle and Red Murray had put two runners on for the Giants. Herzog
lifted a high pop up near the stands which Bill Carrigan dropped.
Herzog put the next one out toward Duffy Lewis in left, who tripped going
up the hill, putting the Giants in the lead 5-4. In the bottom of
the eighth, Duffy Lewis laced one toward the left field crowd. Red
Murray fell over the fence trying to grab the ball and Lewis had to stay
on second. Gardner followed and smacked one through Art Fletcher’s
legs, scoring Lewis with the tying run on Fletcher’s third error.
Fred
Merkle opened the tenth with a triple to right, and scored on Moose
McCormack’s sacrifice fly, giving the Giants a 6-5 lead once again.
It was short lived however. Christy Mathewson came back to the mound
in the tenth, and Tris Speaker opened with a triple to center. Catcher Art
Wilson then juggled Tillie Shafer’s cut-off throw to home, allowing
Speaker to tie up the game. Duffy Lewis followed with a double, but
Matty buckled down retiring Gardner and Stahl, Lewis finding himself
stranded at third.
In the
eleventh, Hugh Bedient hit Fred Snodgrass. Snodgrass tried for
second and was caught by a mile by Bill Carrigan. Beals Becker
followed suit with a walk, again getting nailed at second by Carrigan.
In the bottom of the eleventh, Tillie Shafer made two great plays at
shortstop to calm the hearts of the Giants. Herzog threw out Bedient
to end the inning and that was enough. Umpire O’Loughlin deemed it to dark
and called the game. Final score 6-6.
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