By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
In fall 1917, the National League champion New York Giants (98-56-4) managed by John McGraw met the American League champion Chicago White Sox (100-54-2) managed by Pants Rowland in the World Series.
The Giants were led on offense by Heinie Zimmerman (.297 BA, 100 RBI), Benny Kauff (.308 BA, 89 RS, 30 SB), George Burns (.302 BA, 103 RS, 40 SB, 13 3B) and Dave Robertson (12 HR).
Their pitching staff was led by Ferdie Schupp (21-7, 1.95 ERA), Slim Salee (18-7, 2.17 ERA), Rube Benton (17-7, 1.77 ERA), and Jeff Tesreau (13-8).
The White Sox were led on offense by Joe Jackson (.301 BA, 82 RBI, 91 RS, 17 3B), Happy Felsch (.308 BA, 6 HR, 99 RBI, 75 RS), Eddie Collins (.289 BA, 91 RS, 12 3B, 53 SB, 89 BB), and Nemo Leibold (27 SB).
Eddie Cicotte (28-12, 1.53 ERA), Red Faber (16-13, 1.92 ERA), Lefty Williams (17-8, 2.97 ERA) and Reb Russell (15-5, 1.95 ERA) anchored the White Sox pitching staff with Dave Danforth (11-6, 2.65 ERA) in the bullpen.
Game one was in Comiskey Park in Chicago with Cicotte opposing Slim Salee. In a tightly pitched game, both starters pitched complete games but a solo home run by Happy Felsh in the bottom of the fourth inning gave the White Sox a 2-1 lead and they went on to win and went up 1-0 in the series.
In game two, led by three hits each from Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver, Red Faber coasted to a 7-2 win to give the Sox a 2-0 lead in the series.
Cicotte again pitched a complete game in game three, but the Giants’ Rube Benton was better as he pitched a shutout and the Giants, playing at the Polo Grounds in the Manhattan Borough of New York City, won game three 2-0 to pull to within one game of the White Sox 2-1.
New York, behind a seven hit shutout by Ferdie Schupp and two home runs and three RBI’s by Benny Kauff, evened the series 2-2 with a 5-0 win in game four.
In game five, the White Sox back in Comiskey Park put together eight runs with the help of three hits each by Joe Jackson and Eddie Collins for an 8-5 win to go ahead in the series 3-2.
For game six, the teams switched to the Polo Grounds as the Sox sought to win the series. Three unearned runs in the top of the fourth by Chicago was all Red Faber needed as he held the Giants to two runs for a 4-2 complete game victory to win the World Series.
The Giants were back in the Fall Classic in 1921 while the White Sox returned in 1919.
White Sox owner Charles Comiskey and American League president Ban Johnson were instrumental in forming the American League in 1903. Before that, the Western League and the American Association were rival leagues to the National League.
Statistics for this article were from baseball-reference.com and sabr.org.
