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THE SOX CAN'T STAY
April 10, 1913 ... The Philadelphia Athletics had the satisfaction of beating the World Champion Red Sox in the first game of the season, by a score of 10 to 9. The 20,000 fans remained glued to their seats until the final out. It was a sunny day, but with a cold chill in the air. There was music provided by a band named "River Shannon" and Mayor Fitzgerald posed in the pitcher's box for the cameramen and then threw a loop-de-loo to the plate that to Philadelphia players laughed and struck out on. The crowd was good-natured all the way through and saw a long and drawn out game, filled with all sorts of great baseball. There was a marvelous one-handed stop and a quick throw to first by Jack Barry of the Athletics, there was great fielding by Steve Yerkes and a string of five straight hits in succession by the clever Eddie Collins. There were sharp line drives it by Duffy Lewis and Yerkes, and at times Joe Wood looked like a million dollars. There were some high-class ball playing and also very poor throws, and on one occasion when Hick Cady didn't know the rules of baseball. Furthermore, Joe Wood allowed Amos Strunk to steal home with two outs. In fact, the victory won by the Athletics was a result of carelessness, and not the lack of playing ability by the Red Sox. Cady has learned by now an important rule of baseball that he should've already known. With Jack Lapp at third and Jack Coombs at second, Eddie Murphy hit a ground ball to Heinie Wagner at short. Lapp started for home and Wagner took his time throwing the ball. When he threw to Cady, he ran down the third base line and tagged Lapp, who had already gotten back to third base and was standing on the bag along with Coombs, as Eddie Murphy advanced to second base. Thinking Lapp was out because there were two men on the bag, Cady tossed the ball back to pitcher Charley Hall. Coombs ran back to second base and Murphy ran back to first. Players on the Boston bench yelled to Hall to throw the ball to first before Murphy could get back, which he did, but the throw went high and Hal Janvrin was only able to knock it down. The Red Sox figured their chances were good with Joe Wood on the mound, but found out he wasn't on his game. Charley Hall took over for Joe in the sixth inning and was hit freely. Philadelphia scored two runs in the first inning. With one out, Rube Oldring hit a grounder to Heinie Wagner, who threw a shade low to first and drew Hal Janvrin off the bag. Eddie Collins then singled and Frank Baker had a smash to the left centerfield fence scoring two runs. The Red Sox tied the game in the fourth inning as Speaker worked a base on balls and Duffy Lewis drove the ball against the left-field fence for a double. Larry Gardner singled, scoring Speaker and Janvrin's sacrifice fly to center scored Lewis. Then came the fifth inning and the floodgates opened for Philly. Eddie Murphy singled, Wood hit Oldring with a pitch, Collins singled to score Murphy. Stuffy McInnis hit a smash that Larry Gardner at third, could only block and two runs came in. Then a line drive to right-center by Amos Strunk, good for three bases, scored Baker and McInnis to make it 7 to 2. Not a hit was made off Jack Coombs in the first three innings and only three in the five innings he pitched, but he was a bit wild and was relieved by Chief Bender in the fifth inning when the Athletics up by a score of 10 to 5. Heinie Wagner, pinch hitter Olaf Henriksen, Steve Yerkes and Tris Speaker all hit lone drive singles, scoring four runs and sending Bender to the showers. Eddie Plank, the great left-hander, was brought in and closed the door for the A's. The final score was 10 to 9. Both teams seemed to be a bit overanxious and neither played a sharp game. Philly was just as much in the air as were the Red Sox. |
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