1918 World Series

From SoSH

The 1918 World Series featured the Boston Red Sox, who defeated the Chicago Cubs four games to two. The Series victory for the Red Sox was their fifth in five tries, going back to 1903.

The 1918 Series was played early in September due to the World War I "Work or Fight order." It was marred by players threatening to strike due to low gate receipts. There were also rumors of a "fix", but there was no solid evidence and, with the war dominating the news, nothing came of it.

The Chicago home games in the series were played at Comiskey Park, which had a greater seating capacity than Weeghman Park, the prior home of the Federal League Chicago Whales that the Cubs were now using and which would be rechristened Wrigley Field in 1925. The Red Sox had played their home games in the 1915 and 1916 World Series in the more expansive Braves Field, but they returned to Fenway Park for the 1918 series.

This was the last Red Sox Championship until 2004. The subsequent drought of eighty-six years was often attributed to the Curse of the Bambino. The alleged curse came to be when the Red Sox traded the superbly talented but troublesome Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for cash after the 1919 season.

Managers: Ed Barrow (Boston), Fred Mitchell (Chicago)

Umpires: Hank O'Day (NL), George Hildebrand (AL), Bill Klem (NL), Brick Owens (AL)

For the first time in the Series, all four umpires worked in the infield on a rotating basis. In previous Series from 1909 through 1917, two of the four umpires had been positioned in the outfield for each game, in addition to the standard plate umpire and base umpire.

1 Summary
2 Matchups
3 Players
4 Trivia
5 External links

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Summary

AL Boston Red Sox (4) vs. NL Chicago Cubs (2)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Red Sox – 1, Cubs – 0	September 5	Comiskey Park	19,274
2	Red Sox – 1, Cubs – 3	September 6	Comiskey Park	20,040
3	Red Sox – 2, Cubs – 1	September 7	Comiskey Park	27,054
4	Cubs – 2, Red Sox – 3	September 9	Fenway Park	22,183
5	Cubs – 3, Red Sox – 0	September 10	Fenway Park	24,694
6	Cubs – 1, Red Sox – 2	September 11	Fenway Park	15,238

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Matchups

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Game 1: September 5, 1918 at Comiskey Park

Game 1 of the Series, played in Chicago on September 5, 1918, went to the Red Sox, 1-0, with Babe Ruth pitching the shutout before 19,274 fans. Stuffy McInnis knocked in the game's only run, driving in Dave Shean with a fourth-inning single off Hippo Vaughn.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
Chicago Cubs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
W: Babe Ruth (1-0) L: Hippo Vaughn (0-1)

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Game 2: September 6, 1918 at Comiskey Park

The Cubs rebounded to knot the Series with a 3-1 victory in Game 2 the next day, behind Lefty Tyler's six-hit pitching. Tyler himself had a two-run single in the second inning to make the score 3-0, and he carried a shutout into the ninth inning.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	1
Chicago Cubs	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	3	7	1
W: Lefty Tyler (1-0) L: Joe Bush (0-1)

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Game 3: September 7, 1918 at Comiskey Park

The series remained in Chicago for Game 3 due to wartime restrictions on travel. On September 7, the Red Sox emerged victorious, 2-1, as Carl Mays scattered seven hits. Wally Schang and Everett Scott had back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth inning. Vaughn lost his second game of the series.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	0
Chicago Cubs	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	7	1
W: Carl Mays (1-0) L: Hippo Vaughn (0-2)

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Game 4: September 9, 1918 at Fenway Park

Sunday the 8th was a travel day. The teams arrived in Boston on September 9, and the Cubs tied Game 4 in the eighth inning, breaking Ruth's World Series scoreless inning streak (going back to 1916) at 29 2/3 on hits by Charlie Hollocher and Les Mann. But the Red Sox won it in the home half of the inning on a passed ball by Killefer and a wild throw by relief pitcher Phil Douglas scoring Schang for a 3-2 victory and a 3-1 series lead.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago Cubs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	7	1
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	X	3	4	0
W: Babe Ruth (2-0), S: Joe Bush, L: Phil Douglas (0-1)

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Game 5: September 10, 1918 at Fenway Park

Vaughn finally earned a Series victory on Tuesday in Game 5, tossing a five-hit shutout as the Cubs rallied back for a 3-0 victory. Dode Paskert's two-run double in the eighth sealed the matter for the Chicagoans, after Mann had knocked in a first-inning run.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago Cubs	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	7	0
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
W: Hippo Vaughn (1-2) L: Sam Jones (0-1)

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Game 6: September 11, 1918 at Fenway Park

Attendance for Game 6 at Fenway on Wednesday, September 11, was down from over 24,000 on Tuesday to a mere 15,238, but the Red Sox went home happy. Max Flack committed a third-inning error that allowed two Sox runs to score, and the Red Sox held on for a 2-1 victory and the World's Championship of 1918, as Carl Mays won his second game of the series.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago Cubs	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	2
Boston Red Sox	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	X	2	5	0
W: Carl Mays (2-0) L: Lefty Tyler (1-1)

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Players

Boston Red Sox Roster - 1918 Boston Red Sox
Chicago Cubs Roster - 1918 Chicago Cubs

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Trivia

As of 2005, the Cubs are still waiting to win their next World Series. The Cubs, who last won in 1908, won the National League but lost the Series in 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945. The Red Sox, who had won the American League but lost the Series in 1946, 1967, 1975, and 1986, finally won the World Series in 2004.

Lefty Tyler was the first hurler in World Series history to allow eleven (11) base on balls in a six-game series; a record that has since been tied twice (Lefty Gomez in the 1936 World Series & Allie Reynolds in the 1951 World Series), but never surpassed.

During the 1911 World Series Giant's ace Christy Mathewson (1-2) pitched 27.0 innings. Six (6) years later Red Faber (3-1) tied the six-game series record in the 1917 World Series and in this series Hippo Vaughn (1-2) tied the mark as well.

The 1906 World Series, 1907 World Series, and 1918 World Series are the only three (3) Fall Classics in Major League history where neither team hit a single home run.

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