[jksander]

1916 World Series
Brooklyn Robins (101-53) vs. Chicago White Sox (93-61)

Brooklyn is playing in their first ever World Series, and they have the home field advantage. But Chicago has been there before, with appearances in 1901 and 1906, with the title won for the south side of the “windy city” in 1906. Will that experience help them overcome Brooklyn’s advantages?

October 8, 1916: Game one of the World Series pitted Chicago’s Reb Russell (23-9, 2.47 ERA, 309.2 IP, 114 K’s, 1.14 WHIP) against Brooklyn’s Walter Johnson (23-15, 2.00 ERA, 351.1 IP, 203 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) ... Johnson having come to Brooklyn after being traded at the deadline from Washington in a deal that got the Senators second-rated national prospect Hack Miller (CF) among others. The move definitely gave Brooklyn a boost in a tight pennant race, Chicago took an early lead, thanks to a two-run single by Buck Weaver in the top of the first, but Irv Olson got Brooklyn on the board with an RBI single in the bottom of the second to keep this one tight. The White Sox got that run back in the fourth with a double by Shano Collins, but Brooklyn went off in the bottom of the inning, getting an RBI single from Terry Turner and a bases loaded walk from Casey Stengel to tie the score, two more coming home after a single by Hi Myers to give the Robins a 5-3 advantage. They added on with a solo homer for Zack Wheat in the bottom of the fifth, but Chicago wasn’t done by any stretch ... in the top of the seventh Buck Weaver got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, driving home a run, Ray Schalk tied it up with a two-run single (coupled with an E7 error), and Buck Weaver tagged up and scored off a sac-fly by Zeb Terry to rocket theWhite Sox back into the lead 7-6 as the game went into the stretch! Terry Turner tied it up in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single, but Happy Felsch hit an RBI double to get Chicago back on top in the eighth ... the fireworks continued in the bottom of the frame when Ivy Olson hit a solo homer to tie it 8-8, and this one went into extra innings! In the top of the 10th with two outs, Happy Felsch batted in the go-ahead with a triple, and that did the trick as Chicago stunned Brooklyn 9-8, stealing home field advantage!

Left fielder Joe Jackson of Chicago had a hit and three walks, scoring FOUR RUNS, setting an AL playoff extra innings record for run production in the process, while Shano Collins hit three times with two walks, two runs and an RBI and Buck Weaver added two hits, a run and three RBIs. In a game that came down to the bullpens, Red Faber won the game for Chicago with two innings of two-hit baseball, walking one and allowing no runs to score. Chicago was actually outhit 13-10, with five Brooklyn hitters notching a pair apiece, but they weren’t able to get one when it counted.
 
October 9, 1916: Chicago pitched Joe Benz (21-10, 2.13 ERA, 283.2 IP, 124 K’s, 1.18 WHIP) against Brooklyn’s Larry Cheney (20-8, 1.75 ERA, 277.2 IP, 200 K’s, 1.00 WHIP) in game two, and on a rainy afternoon Brooklyn took the lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI double by Casey Stengel and a groundout by Hi Myers, giving them a 2-0 head start. They added on with an RBI single by Ivy Olsen in the fourth, but Chicago woke up big time in the top of the fifth -- Eddie Collins walked in a run with the bases loaded, and then Shano Collins ripped a three-run double into left, giving the White Sox a sudden 4-3 lead as the Robins’ fans looked stunned in the grandstands. Casey Stengel tied the game with a clutch leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth, and the game looked like it was going to head into extras yet again, when Jimmy Johnston managed to walk it off for Brooklyn with a wingle into right, winning the game for the home team 5-4! Brooklyn outhit Chicago 8-5, led by Stengel who had two hits, a run and two RBIs. Cheney made it through seven innings with just three hits, but six walks had helped Chicago score four runs on him, so it was reliever Rube Marquard who got the win, pitching two innings with just two hits against him. Shano Collins led the way for Chicago with a hit, a walk and three RBIs, but without any help from the rest of the lineup he couldn’t do it on his own.

October 11, 1916: With the series tied 1-1, we now head to Chicago, where the White Sox have a chance to do some real damage. Bullet Joe Bush (13-13, 1 SV, 2.84 ERA, 253.2 IP, 132 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) pitched for Chicago, having turned his season around following his trade from our roster back in July, and he’d go up against Brooklyn’s Jeff Pfeffer (26-9, 1.91 ERA, 329.0 IP, 115 K’s, 1.02 WHIP) in what was expected by many in the press to be a mismatch that heavily favored the Robins. Chicago didn’t care about any of that nonsense. In the bottom of the first they took the lead off a Joe Jackson groundout, and in the second Zeb Terry hit a sac-fly to make it 2-0. Ray Schalk hit an RBI single in the fourth to extend their lead to three runs, and “Bullet Joe” hit an RBI double in the sixth to pile on! Brooklyn’s bats were held completely silent all day as this one ended as a brilliant 4-0 shutout win for the White Sox, with Bush pitching a complete game six hit shutout, walking three and striking out four. The White Sox were led by Eddie Collins’ three hits and a run, outhitting Brooklyn 10-3.

October 12, 1916: The White Sox are firmly in control of this series right now, and they went into game four with Reb Russell getting his second start of the series, against Brooklyn’s Walter Johnson. Neither pitcher had lasted long enough in game one to get a win, but Russell had a stronger performance individually. Brooklyn struck the first blow in this one, scoring off an RBI single by Jake Daubert to go up 1-0 in the top of the fourth. But Chicago struck back in the seventh, tying the score off a double by Reb Russell, who scored off a single by Eddie Collins to give his team a 2-1 lead heading into the top of the eighth. Brooklyn had no answer, and the White Sox took a comanding 3-1 lead in the series with a 2-1 victory. Russell pitched a complete game eight hitter, with a walk, four strikeouts and one (unearned) run, while his team outhit Brooklyn 10-8. Eddie Collins has put himself in position for series MVP if his team can pull it out, hitting twice with two walks and the critical RBI, and Buck Weaver added two hits and a run. So far Weaver is hitting .462 in the series, while Collins has batted .467!

October 13, 1916: It’s a winner-takes-all game for the White Sox ... take them down in front of the home crowd here in game five or risk letting them kick the door back open with a chance to bring the series back to Brooklyn. Joe Benz, with his 3.38 ERA from game two, took on Larry Cheney who had a 5.14 ERA, as nearly 19,000 southsiders helped pack the grandstands. They let out a mighty roar in the bottom of the first when Happy Felsch batted home Eddie Collins with a single, giving the home team a 1-0 lead. But Brooklyn answered with an RBI double by Ivy Olsen, and when Jake Daubert reached on an E4 error, Olson came in to score the go-ahead run as the Robins took a 2-1 lead midway through the second. Unfazed, the White Sox rallied, scoring two off a Joe Jackson double to give them the lead back, extending it to 4-2 with an RBI single by Felsch. The fans became positively apoplectic when a sac-fly by Eddie Collins was followed by an RBI double for Shano Collins (no relation) in the bottom of the fifth to extend the home team’s lead to four runs, and the place erupted when they piled on in the eighth, Zeb Terry batting home Buck Weaver with a single and Eddie Collins grounding out to score Ray Shalk, making it an 8-2 lead for the home team. Brooklyn was cooked, and they never made a peep from there as the White Sox won the World Series with the 8-2 victory!

The crazy thing was that Joe Benz was pulled from the game after one inning with “dead arm,” so it was Jim Scott, a reliever who threw just 48.2 innings all season (with a 4-3 record and a 2.96 ERA) who pitched the last eight innings to win this game! “Death Valley Jim” allowed just four hits, walking two and striking out three with one (unearned) run, as he became a Chicago legend for life. The White Sox absolutely plucked the hapless Robins, outhitting them 16-5, and six White Sox players had a multi-hit game. Happy Felsch led the way with three hits and a pair of RBIs, while Eddie Collins hit and walked once, scoring twice and batting in a pair as well. He and Buck Weaver (two hits, two runs) each hit .444 in the five-game series, but Eddie Collins was indeed named World Series MVP, which he told the Chicago Tribune “means even more to me than the MVP I won in 1914 because this time it means I was able to bring the title back to the south side!”