1905 World Series

Games 1 and 3 were played in Philadelphia; games 2, 4, 5 in New York.

Each of the five games was a shutout. Three of those, over a six-day span, were pitched and won by Christy Mathewson.

Summary

Before the Series began, the Athletics were already at a major disadvantage. For the Series, they were without the services of Rube Waddell, who was arguably their best pitcher that year. The reason for Waddell's absence was listed as a shoulder injury from some sort of 'wrestling match' with teammate Andy Coakley, though in years since some have speculated that Waddell was actually bribed or 'paid off' to fake the injury and thus not play in the Series.^[1] Philadelphia manager Connie Mack, however, refused to believe this theory, finding it ridiculous.

John McGraw, the Giants' manager, had previously referred to the Athletics as a "white elephant", which the club defiantly adopted as a symbolic mascot. At the conference at home plate before Game 1, A's team captain Lave Cross gave McGraw a wrapped package, which turned out to contain a toy white elephant. McGraw responded with a big grin, and the crowd laughed.[Philadelphia Inquirer, October 10, 2005, p. 10] McGraw and the Giants would have the last laugh, easily defeating the A's in the Series.

NL

The opening game was a

The A's called on Chief Bender to turn the tables on the Giants. His opponent was 21-game winner "Iron Man" Joe McGinnity. The game was scoreless until the top of the third. Ossee Schreckengost, leading off, reached on a Dan McGann's

Game 3

Christy Mathewson once again took the mound for the Giants in Game 3. Opposing him this time was Andy Coakley, who

Eddie Plank returned for the A's against Joe McGinnity for the Giants in Game 4. Both

The Giants looked to wrap up the series behind the perennial Christy Mathewson, who faced Chief Bender this time. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when Sam Mertes scored during a bizarre double play involving Bill Dahlen and Billy Gilbert; with one out, Mertes on third, and Dahlen on second, Gilbert hit a sacrifice fly that scored Mertes, but Dahlen was out attempting to advance to third, and this third out was recorded after Mertes had scored. In the eighth, the Giants got an insurance run when Mathewson scored on George Browne's ground out after Roger Bresnahan's double had sent him to third with less than two out. Mathewson then took the mound for the top of the ninth and induced three ground outs, thereby completing arguably the single greatest performance by any player in World Series history with his third complete-game shutout of the series.

Composite line score

1905 World Series (4–1):

• This was the first best-of-seven World Series, as opposed to the best-of-nine 1903 World Series.
• The Philadelphia Athletics became the first team to lose a World Series game 1–0 on an unearned run.
• It was the only World Series consisting entirely of complete-game shutouts.^[8] Only one reliever was used in the entire Series, Red Ames for Joe McGinnity in the ninth inning of Game 2.
• The
  New York Giants did not yield a single earned run in this Series, thereby setting a postseason record for lowest team ERA of 0.00 that was not matched until the Atlanta Braves had a team ERA of 0.00 during the 2020 National League Wild Card Series
  against the Cincinnati Reds.
• The first steal of home during the World Series occurred during the fifth inning of Game 3, by New York's Bill Dahlen on the front end of a double steal.
• Both managers and four of the five starting pitchers are now in the Hall of Fame. The exception is Andy Coakley, who started Game 3 for Philadelphia.

References