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THE 1914 "MIRACLE" BRAVES
Lefty Tyler leads the Braves over the Pirates
July 20, 1914
... The Braves are coming into their own, for they
showed great stuff by sticking to a hard fought battle with the
Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. Through the excellent work of
Lefty Tyler, they defeated Pittsburgh by a score of 1 to 0 and moved
into sixth place with the defeat of the Dodgers at St. Louis.
Johnny Evers and company have the demoralized Pirates on the
run. Pittsburgh manager Fred Clarke showed that he was afraid of the Braves
today when he held the identity of his pitcher until the bell rang for the game
to begin. Conzelman was warming up along with Tyler and getting the kinks out
for the game. Josh Devore and Joe Connolly, left-handed hitters, were on the
scorecard and the instant that Stallings saw that Wilbur Cooper, a left-hander,
come from out of the dugout, he took back his list and substituted Oscar Dugey
and Ted Cather. The Pirates tried every method to win today's game, but the
Braves are fighting tooth and nail, and Pittsburgh never had a chance.
Mike Mowrey doubled in the first inning with two out, but the
next man was easily. Ed Mensor was hard to pitch to in the third inning, and he
walked, but the next three men could do nothing with Tyler. In the fourth, the
Pirates looked a little dangerous when, with two men out Jim Viox and Ed
Konetchy singled in succession. Viox got to third, but Mike Mitchell could not
hit the ball past the pitcher and ended the inning. Bob Coleman led off the
fifth inning with a base hit past second base, but was forced by Cooper, who
very foolishly tried to show catcher Bert Whaling up by stealing second and was
out by 10 feet. in the seventh, Viox was passed and on the second pitch to
Konetchy, Whaling saw a chance to nab Viox at first base and took advantage on a
quick throw down to Butch Schmidt,
At no other point did the Pirates come close to being in the
game, and while the score was close, the Braves had the upper hand all the way.
In the very first inning, Mensor robbed Dugey of at least a
triple and Honus Wagner stole a hit from Johnny Evers by running into the
centerfield to catch his Texas leaguer. Fielding like that stopped the Braves
from scoring, but in the ninth the crack came and the Stallings crew took
advantage of the opening.
With no score, Butch Schmidt was first up and started the
trouble with a single to center. Charlie Deal neatly sacrificed him to second,
and Leslie Mann slammed the ball to right-center between Mensor and Mitchell.
Both fielders were off in the direction of the ball at the crack of the bat and
both arrived at the same time with a long time to get to it, for it was hit very
high, but both ballplayers stopped and the ball dropped between them. Schmidt
held at second base, waiting to go to third after the catch and while he waited,
and eventually moved over to third, Mann made it to second base. Cooper then
intentionally passed Whaling to take a chance on pitching to Tyler. Manager
Stallings brought in Hank Gowdy to pinch-hit and Cooper had trouble getting the
ball over the plate, passing Hank, and allowing the only run of the game to
score. Devore, who ran for Schmidt, crossed the plate and the Braves were up 1
to 0. The Pirates raised a howl over umpire Rigler's decision on the fourth ball
but the run was enough to win for the Braves and tonight they rest happily in
sixth place.
Charlie Deal at some of his friends from Wilkinsburg,
Pennsylvania out to see him perform and though they gave him a hand, he did not
have a good day the plate, but his sacrifice in the ninth-inning was timely. He
also made a great play in the field of Wagner's ground ball in the sixth. |
