By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
In fall 1912, the New York Giants (103-48-3) managed by John McGraw met the Boston Red Sox (105-47-2) managed by player/manager Jake Stahl in the World Series.
The Giants were led by Jack Meyers (.358 BA), Fred Merkle (.309 BA, 11 HR, 88 RBI, 82 RS, 37 SB), Larry Doyle (.330 BA, 10 HR, 91 RBI, 98 RS, 184 H, 36 SB), Buck Herzog (37 SB), Red Murray (38 SB, 88 RBI, 82 RS), Fred Snodgrass (91 RS, 43 SB) and Beals Becker (30 SB).
Their pitching staff was led by Christy Mathewson (23-12, 2.12 ERA), Rube Marquard (26-11, 2.67 ERA), Jeff Tesreau (17-7, 2.46 ERA), Hooks Witse (9-6) and Doc Crandall (13-7) in the bullpen.
Boston was led on offense by Jake Stahl (.301 BA), Heinie Wagner (21 SB, 75 RS), Larry Gardner (.315 BA, 86 RBI, 88 RS, 25 SB), Duffy Lewis (.285 BA, 109 RBI, 85 RS), Harry Hooper (98 RS, 29 SB) and Tris Speaker (.383 BA, 10 HR, 90 RBI, 136 RS, 52 SB, 222 H).
Their pitching staff was anchored by Joe Wood (34-5, 1.91 ERA), Buck O’Brien (20-13, 2.58 ERA), Hugh Bedient (20-9, 2.53 ERA) and Charley Hall (15-8).
Game one was at the Polo Grounds in New York City with Joe Wood facing Jeff Tesreau pitching for the Giants. The Red Sox broke the game open with three runs in the top of the seventh inning highlighted by Steve Yerkes singling in Harry Hooper with the winning run as Boston won 4-3 to take a 1-0 series lead.
The second game ended in a tie as with the Giants leading 6-5 in the bottom of the tenth and Christy Mathewson pitching, Tris Speaker tripled and scored on an error to tie the game 6-6. After the eleventh inning the game was called because of darkness.
In game three in Fenway Park in Boston, Rube Marquand pitched a complete game allowing only one run and Art Fletcher singled in Buck Herzog with the winning run as the Giants tied the series 1-1 with a 2-1 victory.
Game four had Joe Wood back who pitched another complete game limiting the Giants to one run while Forrest Cady singled in Jake Stahl with the winning run as Boston won 3-1 to take a 2-1-1 series lead.
Hugh Bedient pitched a complete game allowing only one run in game five and helped by an error on a Tris Speaker ground ball in the second inning on which the Red Sox scored, went on to a 2-1 win and 3-1-1 series advantage.
In game six, the Giants scored five runs in the first inning and Rube Marquand pitched his second complete game win of the series for a 5-2 victory to bring New York to 3-2-1 in the series.
The Giants continued their first inning scoring in game seven with six first inning runs on their way to an 11-4 victory to tie the series at 3-3-1. Larry Doyle had a home run for New York and Larry Gardner had one for Boston, which were the first only round trippers of the series.
In the eighth game, Christy Mathewson was back against Hugh Bedient for the Red Sox. Both pitched well and the game was tied 1-1 after nine innings. The Giants scored a run in the top of tenth for a 2-1 lead and all Mathewson and the Giants had to do was get the Red Sox out in the bottom of the inning without scoring a run and the World Series title was theirs.
But with one out, a fly ball was dropped in centerfield and the Red Sox ended up getting two unearned runs to win the game 3-2 and the World Series title.
The series was a story of two pitchers. Christy Mathewson pitched 28.2 innings, allowing only three earned runs for a 0.94 ERA and an 0-2 record while Joe Wood pitched 22 innings for the Red Sox and allowed 11 earned runs with a 4.50 ERA but he finished with a 3-1 record.
The Red Sox were back the next year in the Fall Classic while the Giants returned in 1917.
Statistics for this article were from baseball-reference.com and baseball-almanac.com.
