1908 World Series

**The World Series**
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The 1908 World Series matched the defending champion Chicago Cubs against the Detroit Tigers in a rematch of the 1907 Series. In this first-ever rematch of this young event, the Cubs won in 5 games for their second consecutive title.

The 1908 World Series is significant for being the last World Championship for the Cubs to date. The Cubs would go on to appear in the World Series in 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945 losing the Series all seven times, and being swept in 4 straight by the Yankees in 1932 and 1938. Phil Cavarretta is the only living Cub (or Yankee) to appear in the 1938 World Series. The Cubs had one of baseball's most dominant teams in the early 1900s, but unbeknownst to their fans in 1908 (the year "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" debuted) this would be the end of it, for more than a century so far.

This was the year of the infamous "Merkle Boner" play that allowed the Chicago Cubs to reach the World Series after beating the New York Giants in a one-game "playoff", actually the makeup game for the tie that the Merkle play had caused.

The Series was anti-climactic after tight pennant races in both leagues. Ty Cobb had a much better Series than in 1907, as did the rest of his team. The final two games, in Detroit, were shutouts. This was also the most poorly attended Series in history, with the final game drawing a record-low 6,210 fans. Attendance in Chicago was harmed by a ticket-scalping scheme that fans accused the club's owner of participating in, and the Series was boycotted to some degree.

Records: Chicago Cubs (W: 99, L: 55, Pct: .643, GA: 1) - Detroit Tigers (W: 90, L: 63, Pct: .588, GA: ½)

Managers: Frank Chance (Chicago), Hughie Jennings (Detroit)

Umpires: Jack Sheridan (AL), Hank O'Day (NL), odd-numbered games; Bill Klem (NL), Tommy Connolly (AL), even-numbered games
For the first time, four umpires were used in the series, in alternating two-man teams.

Summary[]

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

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Cubs - 10, Tigers - 6	October 10	Bennett Park	10,812
2	Tigers - 1, Cubs - 6	October 11	West Side Park	17,760
3	Tigers - 8, Cubs - 3	October 12	West Side Park	14,543
4	Cubs - 3, Tigers - 0	October 13	Bennett Park	12,907
5	Cubs - 2, Tigers - 0	October 14	Bennett Park	6,210

Matchups[]

Game 1[]

October 10, 1908 at Bennett Park in Detroit, Michigan

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago (NL)	0	0	4	0	0	0	1	0	5	10	14	2
Detroit (AL)	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	2	0	6	10	3
W: Mordecai Brown (1-0) L: Ed Summers (0-1)

Game 2[]

October 11, 1908 at West Side Park in Chicago, Illinois

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit (AL)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	1
Chicago (NL)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	x	6	7	0
W: Orval Overall (1-0) L: Bill Donovan (0-1)
HR: CHC – Joe Tinker (1)

Game 3[]

October 12, 1908 at West Side Park in Chicago, Illinois

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit (AL)	1	0	0	0	0	5	0	2	0	8	12	4
Chicago (NL)	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	7	0
W: George Mullin (1-0) L: Jack Pfiester (0-1)

Game 4[]

October 13, 1908 at Bennett Park in Detroit, Michigan

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago (NL)	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	10	0
Detroit (AL)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
W: Mordecai Brown (2-0) L: Ed Summers (0-2)

Game 5[]

October 14, 1908 at Bennett Park in Detroit, Michigan

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago (NL)	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	10	0
Detroit	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
W: Orval Overall (2-0) L: Bill Donovan (0-2)

The attendance during Game 5 (6,210) was the smallest World Series crowd in history.

Boss Schmidt, who made the last out of the 1907 Series with a popup to shortstop, also made the last out of this series by grounding out catcher to first.

Composite Box[]

1908 World Series (4-1): Chicago Cubs (N.L.) over Detroit Tigers (A.L.)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago Cubs	1	0	6	3	1	0	1	6	6	24	48	3
Detroit Tigers	2	0	0	0	0	5	3	4	1	15	32	9
Total Attendance: 62,232 Average Attendance: 12,446
Winning Player’s Share: – $1,318 Losing Player’s Share – $870

Reference(s)[]

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series. 1st ed. New York: St Martins, 1990. (Neft and Cohen 23-26)

External links[]

Modern Major League Baseball World Series

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