There were plays on the field which simply lifted the spectators out of
their seats in frenzy. There were others which caused them to wish to
sink through the hard floor of the stand in humiliation. There were
stops in which fielders seemed to stretch like india rubber and others
in which they shriveled like parchment which has been dried. There were
catches of fly balls which were superhuman and muffs of fly balls which
were "superawful."
There were beautiful long hits, which threatened to change the outcome
of games and some of them did. There were opportunities for other
beautiful long hits which were not made.
No ingenuity of stage preparation, no prearranged plot of man, no
cunningly devised theory of a world's series could have originated a
finale equal to that of the eighth and decisive contest. Apparently on
the verge of losing the series after the Saturday game in Boston the
Giants had gamely fought their way to a tie with Boston, and it was one
of the pluckiest and gamest fights ever seen in a similar series, and
just as the golden apple seemed about to drop into the hands of the New
York players they missed it because Dame Fortune rudely jostled them
aside.
As a matter of fact the New York players were champions of the world for
nine and one half innings, for they led Boston when the first half of
the extra inning of the final game was played. Within the next six
minutes they had lost all the advantage which they had gained.
It was a combination of bad fielding and lack of fielding which cost the
New York team its title. And if only Mathewson had not given Yerkes a
base on balls in the tenth inning the game might not have been won, even
with the fielding blunders, but Mathewson was pitching with all the
desperation and the cunning which he could muster to fool the batter and
failed to do so.
Such sudden and complete reversal on the part of the mental demeanor of
spectators was never before seen on a ball field in a world's series.
The Boston enthusiasts had given up and were willing to concede the
championship to New York. In the twinkling of an eye there was a muffed
fly, a wonderful catch by the same player who muffed the
ball--Snodgrass--a base on balls to Yerkes, a missed chance to retire
Speaker easily on a foul fly, then a base hit by Speaker to right field,
on which Engel scored, another base on balls to Lewis and then the long
sacrifice fly to right field by Gardner, which sent Yerkes over the
plate with the winning run.
Before entering upon a description of the games it is appropriate to say
that the umpiring in this series was as near perfection as it could be.
It was by far the best of any since the series had been inaugurated. The
umpires were William Klem and Charles Rigler of the National League and
Frank O'Loughlin and William Evans of the American League.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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