1909 Postseason Walk Offs

From SoSH

In 1904, the New York Giants of the National League refused to play the American League champions of that season for the world's championship. Manager John McGraw was the impetus behind the decision, citing the AL's inferiority at the time, but in truth it was McGraw's personal vendetta against AL President Ban Johnson that ensured there would be no World's Series in '04.

The losers in this scenario were the reigning World's Champions and the repeat American League Champion Boston Red Sox. Although they would stake their claim on the 1904 World Title, history would not remember them as Champs. Just as history would forget the circumstances around the 1909 Postseason matchup of the two organizations.

Both Boston and New York finished 3rd in their respective Leagues in '09, with NY finishing 18.5 games behind 110-42 Pittsburgh. The Red Sox ended the season 8.5 games behind 98-54 Detroit. Interestingly though, the Giants and Red Sox decided to match up in a best of seven series that would be played at the same time as the World's Series between the Pirates and Tigers.

Boston lost the first game at the Polo Grounds on October 8th but came back to win the next four games to win the forgotten Postseason Series of 1909. Unsurprisingly, Tris Speaker was the star of the series, factoring in every contest. The highlight of the series came in Game 3 off the bat of Speaker.

• October 12, 1909: Boston 5, New York 4

Leading 4-1 going into the 9th, the Red Sox seemed to have the game in hand. They relinquished the advantage however and allowed the Giants to knot the score. The affair then seemed destined for extras when the first two batters of Boston's 9th were retired quickly. What happened next in no way would resemble the Walk-Off wins of today. Tris Speaker scorched a liner towards right field, bounding over Moose McCormick's head and on towards the fence. Moose was unable to relay the ball towards the infield in time to put Speaker out at the plate, and the Red Sox took a 2-1 advantage in the series. This would quite possibly have been the fastest trip around the bases of any walk-off homerun in history.

The series served as preview of the brilliance that Speaker would display during his Red Sox tenure.