2003 was the 100 year anniversary of the first official World Series, in which the Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was commemorated with a historic series of its own, as the Florida Marlins upset the New York Yankees in 6 games, giving veteran manager Jack McKeon his first World Series after managing several teams for many years. Obviously, ever since then, there has been and always will be a 100 year anniversary of a World Series being played (for the exception of 1904 and 1994 when no World Series was played). When I say the Athletics beat the Giants 4 games to 1, it is not a prequel to the Bay Series of 1989 between Oakland and San Francisco. The Philadelphia Athletics, led my manager Connie Mack, beat John McGraw's Giants for their 3rd World Series Championship.
The games were umpired by a 4 man umpiring crew, something still uncommon in those days. The crew included future Hall of Famers Bill Klem and Tom Connolly. If the series was not considered well pitched, the games outside of game 3 were close. But, experts say that it seemed the Athletics were the superior team as they won the World Series for the 3rd time in the last 4 seasons. The Giants, who won in 1905, lost its 3rd straight Series. While the Athletics had beaten the Giants in 1911 as well as 1913, the Athletics were the ones the Giants beat in 1905. The Athletics improved to 3-1 in the fall classics while the Giants fell to 1-3.
The historical aspect of this series was highlighted by the fact that each team had two starters that would become Hall of Fame pitchers. Christi Mathewson and Rube Marquard of the Giants and Eddie Plank and Chief Bender of the Athletics faced off in the first two games of the series. Frank "HomeRun" Baker went deep in the first game and had three hits total, as the Athletics, behind Bender, beat the Giants 6-4 in the Polo Grounds.
Game 2 was a beaut, held in Philadelphia's Shibe Park. Mathewson and Plank matched 9 scoreless innings. In the bottom of the 9th, the Athletics had two runners thrown out at home on infield grounders. The Giants broke through with three in the 10th off Plank, with Mathewson finishing off the bottom half of the inning for the win.
The Athletics would score 5 runs in the first two innings in game 3 to pace themselves in an 8-2 victory. Game 4 was the interesting one. With the Athletics up 2-3 and going back home, Mack decides to go back to Bender to pitch game 4. McGraw counters with Al Demaree, who pitches just the first 4 innings. The Athletics come out to a 6-0 lead, and hold on, winning 6-5, as Fred Merkle, who was to blame for the Giants losing the 1908 NL Pennant, hit a HR for New York.
Down 3-1, even Mathewson potentially pitching in his last ever MLB game could not bring the Giants back. Eddie Plank would finish the Giants, and Mathewson, off by beating them 3-1. The Athletics scored 3 in the first 3 innings and Plank made it stick. Bender won 2 games in the series.
In addition to the before mentioned starting pitchers (Bender, Plank, Mathewson and Marquard), Baker and managers (McGraw and Mack), two others became part of baseball's Hall of Fame. 2B Eddie Collins, who as a veteran was on the 1919 Black Sox team and LHP Herb Pennock. Collins was not part of the fix in Chicago and was known for being a winner in Philadelphia. Pennock was in the beginning of his career and was battling an illness for the balance of the season, so he did not play in the World Series. The Athletics and Giants would only play the three times in their history, in 1905, 1913 and 1989.
The games were umpired by a 4 man umpiring crew, something still uncommon in those days. The crew included future Hall of Famers Bill Klem and Tom Connolly. If the series was not considered well pitched, the games outside of game 3 were close. But, experts say that it seemed the Athletics were the superior team as they won the World Series for the 3rd time in the last 4 seasons. The Giants, who won in 1905, lost its 3rd straight Series. While the Athletics had beaten the Giants in 1911 as well as 1913, the Athletics were the ones the Giants beat in 1905. The Athletics improved to 3-1 in the fall classics while the Giants fell to 1-3.
The historical aspect of this series was highlighted by the fact that each team had two starters that would become Hall of Fame pitchers. Christi Mathewson and Rube Marquard of the Giants and Eddie Plank and Chief Bender of the Athletics faced off in the first two games of the series. Frank "HomeRun" Baker went deep in the first game and had three hits total, as the Athletics, behind Bender, beat the Giants 6-4 in the Polo Grounds.
Game 2 was a beaut, held in Philadelphia's Shibe Park. Mathewson and Plank matched 9 scoreless innings. In the bottom of the 9th, the Athletics had two runners thrown out at home on infield grounders. The Giants broke through with three in the 10th off Plank, with Mathewson finishing off the bottom half of the inning for the win.
The Athletics would score 5 runs in the first two innings in game 3 to pace themselves in an 8-2 victory. Game 4 was the interesting one. With the Athletics up 2-3 and going back home, Mack decides to go back to Bender to pitch game 4. McGraw counters with Al Demaree, who pitches just the first 4 innings. The Athletics come out to a 6-0 lead, and hold on, winning 6-5, as Fred Merkle, who was to blame for the Giants losing the 1908 NL Pennant, hit a HR for New York.
Down 3-1, even Mathewson potentially pitching in his last ever MLB game could not bring the Giants back. Eddie Plank would finish the Giants, and Mathewson, off by beating them 3-1. The Athletics scored 3 in the first 3 innings and Plank made it stick. Bender won 2 games in the series.
In addition to the before mentioned starting pitchers (Bender, Plank, Mathewson and Marquard), Baker and managers (McGraw and Mack), two others became part of baseball's Hall of Fame. 2B Eddie Collins, who as a veteran was on the 1919 Black Sox team and LHP Herb Pennock. Collins was not part of the fix in Chicago and was known for being a winner in Philadelphia. Pennock was in the beginning of his career and was battling an illness for the balance of the season, so he did not play in the World Series. The Athletics and Giants would only play the three times in their history, in 1905, 1913 and 1989.
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