By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
In what was the last of the nine game World Series, the New York Giants (94-59) managed by John McGraw met the New York Yankees (98-55) managed by Miller Huggins in the Yankees’ first World Series.
The Giants were led on offense by Frank Snyder (.320 BA), George Kelly ( .308 BA, 23 HR, 122 RBI, 95 R), Dave Bancroft ( .318 BA, 121 R, 193 H, 15 3b), Frankie Frisch (.341 BA, 100 RBI, 121 R, 211 H, 49 SB, 17 3b), Ross Youngs ( .327 BA, 102 RBI, 90 R, 21 SB, 16 3b), George Burns ( .299 BA, 111 R, 19 SB) and Irish Meusel ( .329 BA).
Their pitching staff was led by Art Nehf (20-10), Jesse Barnes (15-9), Fred Toney (18-11), and Phil Douglas (15-10) with Slim Sallee (6-4) in the bullpen.
The Yankees were led on offense by Babe Ruth (.378 BA, 59 HR, 168 RBI, 177 R, 204 H, 17 SB, 16 3b, 145 BB), Wally Schang (.316 BA), Wally Pipp (.296 BA, 103 RBI, 96 R), Roger Peckinpaugh (128 R), Home Run Baker (.294 BA), Bob Meusel (.318 BA, 24 HR, 138 RBI, 104 R, 16 3b) and Elmer Miller (.298 BA).
Carl Mays (27-9), Waite Hoyt (19-13), Bob Shawkey (18-12), Rip Collins (11-5) and Bill Piercy (5-4, 2.98 ERA) led the pitching staff with Jack Quinn (8-7) in the bullpen while Babe Ruth appeared in two games with a 2-0 record.
Game one was played at the Polo Grounds in the Manhattan Borough of New York City as was all the games of the World Series as the Yankees were waiting for their new stadium, Yankee Stadium, to be built.
The Yankees’ Carl Mays held the Giants to five hits and no runs in pitching a complete game as the Yankees won 3-0 to take a 1-0 series lead.
Game two was similar to game one as Waite Hoyt pitched a two hitter and drove in one run as the Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the series with a 2-0 win. In the first eighteen innings of the series, the Giants did not score a run.
But led by four hits each by Frank Snyder and George Burns, the Giants scored thirteen runs on ten hits for a 13-5 victory in game three and the series was 2-1.
Game four featured a complete game seven hitter by the Giants’ Phil Douglas in a 4-2 win. George Burns delivered a two-run double in the top of the eighth inning to score the winning run and the series was even at 2-2.
Game five was a closely pitched game between Waite Hoyt and the Giants’ lefthander Art Nehf. Tied 1-1 in the fourth inning, Bob Meusel doubled in Babe Ruth and Aaron Ward singled in Meusel for the winning runs as the Yankees took a 3-2 series lead with a 3-1 win.
In game six, the Giants bounced back with an 8-5 win with the help of home runs by Irish Meusel and Frank Snyder to even the series as 3-3.
Chick Fewster added a home run for the Yankees as game six featured the first home runs by either team in the series.
In game seven, the Giants took a 4-3 series lead with a 2-1 win with Phil Douglas pitching a complete game and Frank Snyder driving in the winning run with a double in bottom of the seventh inning to score Johnny Rawlings. The Giants needed just one more victory to clinch the World Series title.
Game eight had no earned runs as the Giants got a first inning run off of Waite Hoyt on two walks and an error on an infield play which proved to be the only run of the game. Art Nehf held the Yankees to four hits for a 1-0 win in the game and the World Series.
Both teams were back the next season in the Fall Classic.
That was the Yankees first pennant but not their last as they went on to win a total of forty pennants and twenty-seven World Series titles.
Statistics for this article were from baseball-reference.com.
