1914 World Series
1914 World Series | ||||||||||
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Dates | October 9–13 | |||||||||
Venue | Shibe Park (Philadelphia) Fenway Park (Boston) | |||||||||
Umpires | Bill Dinneen (AL), Bill Klem (NL), George Hildebrand (AL), Lord Byron (NL) | |||||||||
Hall of Famers | Umpire: Bill Klem Braves: Johnny Evers Rabbit Maranville Athletics: Connie Mack (mgr.) Frank Baker Chief Bender Eddie Collins Herb Pennock Eddie Plank | |||||||||
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The 1914 World Series was the
The "Miracle Braves" were in last place on July 4, then won the National League pennant by 10+1⁄2 games.[1][2]: 84 The Braves' relatively unknown starting trio of pitchers, with a combined career record of 285–245, outperformed the Athletics vaunted rotation (929–654) in all four games.[3]: 30 Hank Gowdy hit .545 (6 of 11) with five extra-base hits and also drew five walks for Boston in the series and was the difference maker in Games 1 and 3.
Adding to their supposed disadvantages, the Braves arguably lacked a notable home-field advantage. They had abandoned their 43-year-old home field South End Grounds in August 1914, choosing to rent from the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park while awaiting construction of Braves Field (1915). Thus their home games in this Series were also at Fenway.
This was the first four-game sweep in World Series history. The Cubs had defeated the Tigers four games to none in 1907, but Game 1 had ended in a tie before the Cubs won the next four in a row.
At least one publication, To Every Thing A Season by
Background
Because an AL team had won the last four World Series (the A's had represented the AL in three out of those four), the A's were heavily favored. That the Braves had been in last place in July before coming back to win the pennant contributed to the perception that the AL was simply superior to the NL. The A's roster boasted 5 future hall-of-famers[5] and many agreed they were the better team on paper. A story told about Connie Mack during the 1914 season reflects this attitude among the A's that the Braves would be pushovers. That year, Mack gave star pitcher Chief Bender the week off and told him to scout the Braves personally. Instead, Bender took a vacation. When asked to defend his actions, he replied: "Why should I check out a bunch of bush league hitters?"
Summary
NL
Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
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1 | October 9 | Boston Braves – 7, Philadelphia Athletics – 1 | Shibe Park | 1:58 | 20,562[6] |
2 | October 10 | Boston Braves – 1, Philadelphia Athletics – 0 | Shibe Park | 1:56 | 20,562[7] |
3 | October 12 | Philadelphia Athletics – 4, Boston Braves – 5 (12 innings) | Fenway Park | 3:06 | 35,520[8] |
4 | October 13 | Philadelphia Athletics – 1, Boston Braves – 3 | Fenway Park | 1:49 | 34,365[9] |
Matchups
Game 1
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Boston | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Philadelphia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
WP: Dick Rudolph (1–0) LP: Chief Bender (0–1) |
26-game winner Dick Rudolph scattered five hits while striking out eight as the Braves won the opener in convincing fashion against the Athletics ace, Chief Bender. Catcher Hank Gowdy had a single, double and triple as well as a walk in leading Boston's offensive attack. He was also on the back end of a double steal in the eighth inning, with Butch Schmidt's steal of home the Braves' final run.
According to Tom Meany's 1950 book "Baseball's Greatest Teams", with one chapter on each of the then 16 major league teams' one most outstanding season in the author's opinion, the chapter on the Boston Braves was naturally on their one world championship year, 1914. Meany recalled that manager Stallings and the Braves showed utter contempt for Connie Mack's heavily favored A's by spurning the Shibe Park visiting clubhouse for the one in the National League Phillies' deserted home park, Baker Bowl (the NL site of the next World Series, which again featured Boston defeating Philadelphia, but this time Red Sox 4, Phillies 1). Meany may also have been the source for the sensational sidelight that Stallings' motive for this may have been the rumor that the A's may have sabotaged the Shibe Park visiting clubhouse (with war clouds gathering in Europe as World War I was just beginning).
Game 2
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Boston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Philadelphia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Bill James (1–0) LP: Eddie Plank (0–1)
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Game 3
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | R | H | E | ||||||||||||||||||
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Philadelphia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
Boston | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) |
Game 4
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Philadelphia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Boston | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 3 | 6 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
WP: Dick Rudolph (2–0) LP: Bob Shawkey (0–1) |
Johnny Evers' two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the fifth broke a 1–1 tie and the collective backs of the heavily favored Athletics as the "Miracle Braves" completed their improbable sweep. Game 1 winner Dick Rudolph allowed only one base-runner after Evers' tie-breaking hit and struck out seven in notching his second win of the series. The powerful A's were held to a .172 team batting average and no home runs in the series.
Composite line score
1914 World Series (4–0):
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | R | H | E | ||||||||||||||||||
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Boston Braves |
0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 33 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
Philadelphia Athletics | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 22 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total attendance: 111,009 Average attendance: 27,752 Winning player's share: $2,812 Losing player's share: $2,032[10] |
Notes
- ^ "Baseball History 1914: The Miracle Braves". ThisGreatGame.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
- ISSN 0005-609X.
- ISSN 0005-609X.
- ISBN 9780691021041. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
- ^ "1914 Philadelphia Athletics Roster". Baseball Reference.
- ^ "1914 World Series Game 1 – Boston Braves vs. Philadelphia Athletics". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
- ^ "1914 World Series Game 2 – Boston Braves vs. Philadelphia Athletics". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
- ^ "1914 World Series Game 3 – Philadelphia Athletics vs. Boston Braves". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
- ^ "1914 World Series Game 4 – Philadelphia Athletics vs. Boston Braves". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
References
- Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990). The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 52–56. ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
- Reichler, Joseph (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2122. ISBN 0-02-579010-2.
External links
- 1914 World Series at WorldSeries.com via MLB.com
- 1914 World Series at Baseball Almanac
- 1914 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com
- The 1914 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) at Retrosheet
- History of the World Series - 1914 at The Sporting News. Archived from the original in May 2006.