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| RED SMITH |
THE 1914 "MIRACLE" BRAVES
The Braves' lose Red Smith
for the rest of the season in Brooklyn
October 6, 1914
... On the eve of the World Series, the Braves lost
their starting third baseman, Red Smith, who broke his leg sliding in
the second base in the ninth-inning of the first game of the
doubleheader with the Brooklyn Robins. The club loses the services of
one of its stars in the postseason series with the Philadelphia
Athletics starting next Friday. Charlie Deal will now play at third
base, and as far as fielding goes the undoubtedly will fill the
position, but Smith has been hitting well since he joined the Boston
team. It seems too bad that so good a
player should be injured in an unimportant game. The score was 3 to 2 in favor
of Brooklyn and the Braves did not wish to lose even an unimportant game. Smith
singled to right with Butch Schmidt on first base. Schmidt went around to third
and Casey Stengel threw the ball over as Smith went down the second. Gus Getz
relayed the ball over to George Cutshaw the secondbaseman. Smith saw that there
was going to be a play made on him. He appeared to be between two minds as
whether he would take a chance on sliding into second, and as it happens too
often with players who are indecisive, he did not make a natural slide. He
finally slid in, rather awkwardly, being blocked off by Cutshaw. He raised
himself to a sitting position and said to the secondbaseman that he thought his
leg was broken. Cutshaw rushed over to him and he and umpire Bill Hart called
for the doctor. Butch Schmidt and Lefty Tyler ran onto the field and took one
look at the injured leg and turned away. Schmidt threw his cap on the ground,
picked it up and then walked over to the Boston bench in a brokenhearted manner.
The spectators realized from Schmidt's action that Smith was badly hurt and
there would be no World Series for him. The doctor ran in from the stands and
made a superficial examination of the injury and told the Brooklyn players to
take Smith into the clubhouse. Pitcher Ed Ruelbach grabbed his car and took
Smith to St. Mary's Hospital, where Doctor Herbert Casey began to work on Smith.
Boston lost that first game of the doubleheader by
a score of 3 to 2. George Davis pitched a good game but Jeff Pfeffer pitched a
little bit better. The only runs scored off the Brooklyn pitcher were homers by
Johnny Evers and Joe Connolly. Evers was thrown out of the game in the third
inning for arguing over a decision made by umpire Hart, who called Getz safe on
an attempted steal of second base.
Both teams scored in the first inning. The Evers
sent the ball far over Jack Dalton's head in center field for a home run.
Dalton, the first batter up for Brooklyn in the first inning, was hit by a pitch
and was safe when he attempted to steal second base as Rabbit Maranville dropped
the ball after touching him. Then with two outs, Zach Wheat singled to short
left to score Dalton.
In the third inning Brooklyn added another run and
in the fifth made the score 3 to 1. The Braves got a run back in the sixth as
Joe Connolly smashed the ball over the right-field fence for a home run, making
the score 3 to 2. After Whitted had popped out to Getz, Schmidt singled to
right. Smith also singled to right and Schmidt went to third, drawing the throw
as Smith tried to take second. It was on the play that Smith broke his leg.
The second game was played by the second stringers.
The Braves jumped out to a quick 3 to 0 lead in the first inning. Leslie Mann
drew a base on balls, Oscar Dugey singled to right and Ted Cather singled to
left to score Mann. Whitted then singled to left scoring Dugey and putting
Cather on third. Josh Devore drew a base on balls but was forced at second by
Charlie Deal, as Cather scored with Brooklyn failing to complete the
double-play. Billy Martin, the Georgetown University product, playing in his
first game, popped out to John Hummel at first base.
In the fourth inning Josh Devore laced a home run
between center and left to make it 4 to 0. Brooklyn came back with another run
in their half of the inning with Nap Rucker, Jack Dalton and Hummel getting
successive singles. Rucker scored when Oscar Dugey fumbled Casey Stengel's
ground ball. Paul Strand then retired the next three men in order.
The Braves put over three more runs in the seventh
on singles by Strand and Mann, a triple by Cather and a single by Whitted. The
Robins got two back in their half of the inning making the final score, 7 to 3.
At that point darkness was falling and the game was called after seven innings
as the Braves gathering their last victory of the regular season. |
