By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
In fall 1911, the New York Giants (99-54-1) managed by John McGraw met the Philadelphia Athletics (101-50-1) managed by Connie Mack in the World Series.
The Athletics were led on offense by Stuffy McInnis ( .321 BA, 77 RBI, 76 RS, 23 SB, 10 3B), Eddie Collins ( .365 BA, 73 RBI, 92 RS, 38 SB, 13 3B), Home Run Baker ( .334 BA, 11 HR, 115 RBI, 96 RS, 38 SB, 14 3B, 198 H), Bris Lord ( .310 BA, 92 RS, 11 3B), Rube Oldring (.297 BA, 84 RS, 14 3B, 21 SB) and Danny Murphy (.329 BA, 104 RS, 11 3B, 22 SB) and Jack Barry (30 SB).
Their pitching staff was led by Jack Coombs (28-12), Eddie Plank (23-8, 2.10 ERA), Cy Morgan (15-7, 2.70 ERA), Charles Bender (17-5, 2.16 ERA) and Harry Krause (11-8).
New York was led offensively by Jack Meyers (.332 BA), Fred Merkle (.283 BA, 12 HR, 84 RBI, 80 RS, 10 3B, 49 SB), Larry Doyle (.310 BA, 13 HR, 77 RBI, 102 RS, 25 3B, 38 SB), Josh Devore (.280 BA, 96 RS, 10 3B, 61 SB), Red Murray (.291 BA, 78 RBI, 15 3B, 48 SB), Fred Snodgrass (.294 BA, 77 RBI, 83 RS, 10 3B, 51 SB) and Art Fletcher (.319 BA.)
Their pitching staff was anchored by Christy Mathewson (26-13, 1.99 ERA), Rube Marquard (24-7, 2.50 ERA), Red Ames (11-10, 2.68 ERA), Hooks Witse (12-9) and Doc Crandall (15-5, 2.63 ERA).
The series opened at the Polo Grounds in the Manhattan Borough of New York City with Christy Mathewson going to the mound for the Giants and Charles Bender for the Athletics. In a tightly pitched game, tied 1-1 after six innings of play, Josh Devore singled in Jack Meyers with what proved to be the winning run as the Giants won 2-1 and took a 1-0 series lead.
Game two was in Shibe Park in Philadelphia with the Athletics’ lefthander Eddie Plank starting agasint the Giants’ Rube Marquard. The game was tied 1-1 after five innings until Home Run Baker homered off of Marquard with Eddie Collins on base. Plank held the Giants scoreless the rest of the game as the Athletics tied the series at one game each with a 3-1 win.
Christy Mathewson was back in game three to face Jack Coombs in a game which both pitchers pitched all eleven innings for their respective teams. Mathewson led 1-0 going into the ninth inning until Home Run Baker tied the game with a solo home run.
The game went to the eleventh inning in which the Athletics got two unearned runs and a 3-2 victory to gain a 2-1 series lead.
Due to a week-long rain delay, game four had Mathewson back in his third start in the Giants’ first four games of the series. He had a 2-0 lead but the Athletics got three runs off of him in the fourth inning on their way to a 4-2 win and 3-1 advantage in the series.
On the verge of elimination, the Giants used three pitchers to eke out a 4-3 win in which Fred Merkle hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Larry Doyle with the winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning to pull within 3-2 in the series.
In game six, with Charles Bender back for his third start, the Athletics unloaded on the Giants’ pitching for thirteen runs on their way to a 13-4 win in the game and the World Series title.
Both teams were back the next year in the Fall Classic.
Four of the starting pitchers in this series ended up in the Baseball Hall of Fame, including Christy Mathewson and Rube Marquard for the Giants and Charles Bender and Eddie Plank for the Athletics.
Statistics for this article were from baseball-reference.com and baseball-almanac.com.
