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The Red Sox win their last World Series for 86 years |
ON THIS DATE (September 11, 1918) ... Boston is again the capital of the baseball world, history repeating itself yesterday when the Red Sox, who have never faltered in this great classic, defeated the Cubs, 2 to 1. Max Flack’s muff of a liner from George Whiteman in the third inning, with two out and Sox runners on third and second, made possible the Red Sox victory that carried with it the world’s title. Only 15,238 saw the farewell battle. Of course the weather was far from ideal, but the disagreement between the National Commission and the contesting players, which held up the starting of Tuesday’s game, was the thing that kept the public away yesterday. Money differences and further strike talk were forgotten yesterday and the teams fought valiantly, “Right-Eye” Mitchell, who realized that it was do or die, trotting out southpaw George Tyler again, while Ed Barrow pinned his hopes on Carl Mays. But for Tyler’s wildness, Red Sox run-making in that third inning would not have been possible. The New Hampshire boy franked two men to first just before Flack failed to hold Whitney’s slam. It was a ball game that nobody who was present will forget. It left too many lasting impressions. True enough it was lost through a muff, but there were so many sensations plays before the contest was finally decided that maybe in the day to come the fan family, taking a look back, will not dwell too long on how little Flack faltered, but will recall how Whiteman, the sun-kissed and sincere Texan; Jackie Thomas and the somewhat elastic Stuffy McInnis thrilled them in the last act. Carl Mays, the blonde Adonis with the submarine service, held the Cubs to three hits and they assembled two of these in the fourth when they produced their run. They hit Carl, but not safely after the fourth. His control was good, while Tyler’s aerial stunts betrayed his cause. The Sox had men on in every inning except the eighth, but this is how they tallied in the third: Mays was passed and romped to the midway when Tyler was looking after Hooper’s sacrifice. Then Shean strolled and Carl and Dave skipped along a peg when Strunk was being tossed out by Pick. The boys were on the wing when Whiteman lammed to Flack, who muffed, Whitey stopping at first. He was retired trying to go from first to third on Stuffy’s single to Hollocher, Merkle pegging to Deal for the put out. The last play of the final professional combat went from Shean to McInnis, Stuffy holding up the ball, which was hit by Mann with glee, as the fleet Les was running it out for all he was worth. Then Hooper, Ruth, Mays, Shean, Schang, Scott and others did a fadeout, down came the curtain and from out of the stillness that swept over the battleground came a lone voice, piping up, “Those Red Sox were always a lucky bunch.”
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