By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
In September 1918, the Boston Red Sox (75-51) managed by Ed Barrow met the Chicago Cubs (84-45-2) managed by Fred Mitchell in the World Series.
Because of the U. S. entry into World War I, the regular season baseball season ended at Labor Day and the World Series took place immediately afterwards so players could enter the military.
The Red Sox were led on offense by Babe Ruth (.300 BA, 11 HR, 61 RBI, 11 3b), Harry Hooper (.289 BA, 81 R, 13 3b, 24 SB), Stuffy McInnis (56 RBI) and Amos Strunk (9 3b, 20 SB).
Their pitching staff was led by Carl Mays (21-13, 2.21 ERA), Sad Sam Jones (16-5, 2.25 ERA), Babe Ruth (13-7, 2.22 ERA) and Dutch Leonard (8-6, 2.72 ERA).
The Cubs were led on offense by Fred Merkle (.297 BA, 65 RBI, 21 SB), Charlie Hollocher (.316 BA, 72 R, 161 H, 26 SB), Dode Paskert (.286 BA, 59 RBI, 69 R, 21 SB), and Les Mann (.288 BA, 55 RBI, 69 R, 21 SB).
The Cub pitching staff was anchored by Hippo Vaughn (22-10, 1.74 ERA), Lefty Tyler (19-8, 2.00 ERA), Claude Hendrix (20-7, 2.78 ERA) and Phil Douglas (10-9, 2.13 ERA).
Game one took place at Comiskey Park in Chicago which was not the Cubs’ home park but because it was bigger than Weeghman Park (later to become Wrigley Field) it was used.
Game one featured Babe Ruth opposing Hippo Vaughn and in a game in which both starters pitched complete games, the victory went to Boston as Stuffy McInnis singled in Dave Skean in the top of the fourth inning for the game’s only run and Boston won 1-0 to go up 1-0 in the series.
Game two was also close as the Cubs’ Lefty Tyler limited the Red Sox to one run and drove in two with a single in the second inning for a 3-1 Chicago win to tie the series at 1-1.
In game three, Hippo Vaughn was back and again had no luck as, despite allowing only three runs in two games, he was saddled with his second loss with a 2-1 score and the Red Sox led 2-1 in the series.
Babe Ruth was back in game four and helped his own cause with a two-run triple in the fourth to get his second win of the series, 3-2, with help from Joe Bush in the ninth inning and Boston took a 3-1 series lead.
Hippo Vaughn was back for his third series start in game four and again pitched a complete game. But won this time 3-0 with the help of a Dode Paskert two RBI double in the eighth inning and the Cubs pull to within one game at 3-2.
Carl Mays started for Boston in game six and got his second series’ victory, 2-1, to win the World Series for Boston. The Red Sox scored two unearned runs off of Lefty Tyler in the fourth inning and that was all they needed.
That series was a low scoring one as the winning Red Sox scored only nine runs and the Cubs ten in the entire series. Game four was Babe Ruth’s last World Series start as a pitcher. He extended his scoreless inning streak to 29 2/3 in that game-a record that lasted until Whitey Ford surpassed it in 1961.
The Red Sox were back in the World Series in 1945 but in what was termed “the curse of trading Babe Ruth,” did not win another one until 2004. The Cubs returned in 1932 and again Ruth was on the opposing team but that time the Babe was an everyday player for the Yankees.
Statistics for this article were from baseball-reference.com, baseball-almanac.com and baseballhall.org.
