1908 Chicago Cubs season

1908 Chicago Cubs
1908 World Series Champions
1908 National League Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Chicago, Illinois (since 1871)
Other information
Owner(s) Charles Murphy
Manager(s) Frank Chance
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The 1908 Chicago Cubs season was the 36th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 33rd in the National League and the 16th at West Side Park. It involved the Cubs winning their third consecutive National League pennant, as well as the World Series. The Cubs have not won a World Series since then. This team included four future Hall of Famers: manager / first baseman Frank Chance, second baseman Johnny Evers, shortstop Joe Tinker, and pitcher Mordecai Brown. In 1908, Brown finished second in the NL in wins and ERA.

Regular season

Season summary

The Cubs started the season in Cincinnati. Orval Overall was the Cubs' Opening Day starting pitcher. Overall gave up five hits and committed an error in the first inning as the Reds take a 5–0 lead.[1] The Cubs tied the game in the sixth and won the game in the ninth. Cubs pinch hitter Heinie Zimmerman drove in Johnny Evers. Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown pitched in the ninth and gets a save for the Cubs.[2]

The home opener was on April 22. Owner Charles Murphy had added several new seats to the stadium. Long-time Cub player-manager Cap Anson threw out the first pitch. Tinker, Evers and Chance turn their second double play of the season as the Cubs beat the Reds by a score of 7–3.[3]

On June 30, the Pirates took first place, as the Chicago Cubs lost to the Cincinnati Reds.[4] Starting on July 2, the Pirates started a critical five game series against the Cubs.[5] In the first game, Three Finger Brown threw a six hit, no walk shutout, winning the game 3–0. Brown was 10–1 on the season.

On September 26, starting pitcher Ed Reulbach became the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to pitch two shutouts on the same day. That day, the Cubs played a doubleheader against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Reulbach pitched both games to completion, which the Cubs won by scores of 5–0 and 3–0.[6]

The Merkle Game

On Wednesday, September 23, 1908, while playing for the New York Giants in a game against the Cubs, 19-year old Fred Merkle committed a base-running error that later became known as "Merkle's Boner" and earned him the nickname of "Bonehead."

In the bottom of the 9th inning, Merkle came to bat with two outs, and the score tied 1–1. At the time, Moose McCormick was on first base. Merkle singled, and McCormick advanced to third. Al Bridwell followed with another single, and McCormick trotted home to score the apparent winning run. The New York fans in attendance, under the impression that the game was over, ran onto the field to celebrate.

Meanwhile, Merkle, thinking the game was over, ran to the Giants' clubhouse without touching second base (a gesture that was common at the time). Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers noticed this, and after retrieving a ball and touching second base, he appealed to umpire Hank O'Day to call Merkle out. Since Merkle had not touched the base, the umpire called him out on a force play, and McCormick's run did not count. The run was therefore nullified, the Giants' victory erased, and the score of the game remained tied.

Unfortunately, the thousands of fans on the field (as well as the growing darkness in the days before large electric light rigs made night games possible) prevented resumption of the game, and the game was declared a tie. The Giants and the Cubs would end the season tied for first place and would have a rematch at the Polo Grounds on October 8. The Cubs won this makeup game, 4–2, and thus the National League pennant.

Season standings

National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago Cubs 99 55 0.643 — 47–30 52–25
New York Giants 98 56 0.636 1 52–25 46–31
Pittsburgh Pirates 98 56 0.636 1 42–35 56–21
Philadelphia Phillies 83 71 0.539 16 43–34 40–37
Cincinnati Reds 73 81 0.474 26 40–37 33–44
Boston Doves 63 91 0.409 36 35–42 28–49
Brooklyn Superbas 53 101 0.344 46 27–50 26–51
St. Louis Cardinals 49 105 0.318 50 28–49 21–56

Notable transactions

Roster

1908 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Kling, JohnnyJohnny Kling 126 424 117 .276 4 59
1B Chance, FrankFrank Chance 129 452 123 .272 2 55
2B Evers, JohnnyJohnny Evers 126 416 125 .300 0 37
3B Steinfeldt, HarryHarry Steinfeldt 150 539 130 .241 1 62
SS Tinker, JoeJoe Tinker 157 548 146 .266 6 68
OF Sheckard, JimmyJimmy Sheckard 115 403 93 .231 2 22
OF Schulte, FrankFrank Schulte 102 386 91 .236 1 43
OF Slagle, JimmyJimmy Slagle 104 352 78 .222 0 26

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Hofman, SollySolly Hofman 120 411 100 .243 2 42
Marshall, DocDoc Marshall 12 20 6 .300 0 3

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Brown, MordecaiMordecai Brown 44 312.1 29 9 1.47 123
Reulbach, EdEd Reulbach 46 297.2 24 7 2.03 133
Pfiester, JackJack Pfiester 33 252 12 10 2.00 117
Overall, OrvalOrval Overall 37 225 15 11 1.92 167
Fraser, ChickChick Fraser 26 162.2 11 9 2.27 66
Lundgren, CarlCarl Lundgren 23 138.2 6 9 4.22 38
Coakley, AndyAndy Coakley 4 20.1 2 0 0.89 7

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Kroh, RubeRube Kroh 2 12 0 0 1.50 11

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO

1908 World Series

Main article: 1908 World Series

NL Chicago Cubs (4) vs AL Detroit Tigers (1)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Cubs – 10, Tigers – 6October 10Bennett Park10,812
2Tigers – 1, Cubs – 6October 11West Side Park17,760
3Tigers – 8, Cubs – 3October 12West Side Park14,543
4Cubs – 3, Tigers – 0October 13Bennett Park12,907
5Cubs – 2, Tigers – 0October 14Bennett Park6,210

Notes

  1. ↑ Crazy ’08:How a cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, p. 61, by Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books, a Division of Harper Collins, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-088937-1
  2. ↑ Crazy ’08:How a cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, p. 62, by Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books, a Division of Harper Collins, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-088937-1
  3. ↑ Crazy ’08:How a cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, p.63, by Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books, a Division of Harper Collins, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-088937-1
  4. ↑ Crazy ’08:How a cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, p. 95, by Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books, a Division of Harper Collins, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-088937-1
  5. ↑ Crazy ’08:How a cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, p. 99, by Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books, a Division of Harper Collins, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-088937-1
  6. ↑ Baseball Almanac (2010). "Shutout Records". Archived from the original on July 1, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  7. ↑ Doc Marshall page at Baseball Reference

References