Fall Classics
by Bill Littlefield and Richard A. Johnson
EXCERPT
1903
Pittsburgh a Winner in the First Clash
Tim Murnane
Boston Beaten By a Score of 7 to 3
"Cy" Young Is Off Edge And Is Bumped Hard
More Than 16,000 Persons See Opening Contest
Boston the favorite in the Game Scheduled for Today
With Cy Young in the box and more than 16,000 persons looking on, the Pittsburgh club won from Boston by a score of 7 to 3 in the first game in the series for the world's championship at the Huntington Avenue grounds yesterday.
The crowd, which encircled the field, was held well back by ropes and a small army of policemen, and the best of order prevailed. Both teams received liberal applause for good work.
The Boston players evidently were a little nervous, as is usually the case with teams on the home grounds in an important series. As the game progressed, however, Collins' boys got into their stride, and played grand ball when it was too late to overtake the Pirates.
Cy Young was hit hard. He fell considerably short of his best work, lacking speed, his winning ingredient. With Young off edge, the home players were carrying a big handicap.
Phillippe was in rare good form, but weakened perceptibly as the game drew out, withering under a brace of triples by Freeman and Parent, and finishing at a much slower clip than the one at which he started, although he had no trouble with O'Brien and Farrell, who were sent in to bat for the Boston battery in the ninth when there were two men on bases.
Pittsburgh had all the luck and a shade the better of the umpiring, as Connolly favored Phillippe on strikes, while O'Day had no close plays on the bases.
The Boston infield outplayed Pittsburgh's. Ferris, after making two bad fumbles and giving the visitors four runs at the start, pulled himself together, and, with Collins and Parent, put up a superb article of baseball.
Criger, who's probably the greatest catcher living, had a bad day, making two poor throws to second and having a passed ball on a third strike.
But for the misplays of Ferris and Criger and the bad piece of fielding by Freeman in allowing a line hit to pass under him for three bases, the Pittsburgh men would have another story to send home.
Because the Boston boys failed to play up to their natural gait from start to finish, and slipped a shoe in the first game, it need not be assumed that it will occur again.
Fred Clarke carried off the honors of the day in left field. He covered ground like a cyclone, and three times pulled in line drives that were marked for three bases. His marvelous work cut off at least three runs, and the chances are that not another man playing ball today would have connected with any one of the three great running catches made by him. It was ground covering with a vengeance. He was off with the swing of the bat besides pretty nearly calling the turn on the batsman.
Beaumont and Stahl made clever catches, but outside this work of Clarke and Beaumont, and two pretty plays by Ritchey the visitors were not offering anything sensational in the way of fielding.
Ferris, Parent and Collins played fast ball, one play by Criger to Ferris and back to the plate, where they got their man was a classic.
Phillippe apparently took things easy, as he well might, with the start of four runs in the first inning. These runs were started after two men were out and Cy had two strikes on Tommy Leach. The latter and Sebring did the hitting for the Burgers, the little third base man clipping off four safe ones, which is pretty good work for a light batsman.
Sebring got in one clean hit and two lucky ones. LaChance failing to go out and stop his first grounder, and his home run coming from a Texas leaguer; Stahl thinking the ball would roll into the crowd and failing to go after it, thus making a gift of a run.
The crowd had little chance to cheer until "Buck" Freeman lined one up against the right fence in the seventh, and Parent followed with one into the crowd in left field for three bases. The cheering was like the roll of thunder, and was tuned up for business when shut off by one of Clarke's great running catches clear over in center field.
After the game one club looked just as good as the other, the difference yesterday was in the pitchers' box, and it's not often that Uncle Cyrus fails to send the money, even if he is a bit fat.
Excerpted from Fall Classics by Bill Littlefield and Richard A. Johnson, Copyright© 2004 by Bill Littlefield and Richard A. Johnson. Excerpted by permission of Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.