World Series
Game 1
Red Sox 1, Cubs 0
Comiskey Park, Chicago, September 5
From the beginning, there was only lukewarm interest in the 1918 World Series. With the war on, with baseball hit with the taint of slackerism and with the Red Sox and Cubs not really seen as legitimate champions, fans did not show up in droves the way they had in the previous year’s World Series. It didn’t help that there was rain on September 4, the originally scheduled date to start the series. Still, the Cubs were hopeful that the series would attract a large walk-up crowd, and decided to hold the Chicago portion of the series at Comiskey Park, which could accommodate more fans than Weeghman Park.
Red Sox manager Ed Barrow was coy about his starting pitcher, but at the last moment, he tabbed Babe Ruth. For Cubs manager Fred Mitchell, there was no mystery—he would start ace lefty Hippo Vaughn. No surprise that the game was a pitcher’s duel. In the fourth inning, with no score, Dave Shean walked and, with one out, George Whiteman lined a single to left. That put Shean on second. Stuffy McInnis hit a hard, one-hop single to Les Mann in left field, and Shean broke for home without stopping, sliding in just ahead of Mann’s throw. That would be the only run of the game, and the Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the series. Only 19,274 fans showed up.
Game 2
Cubs 3, Red Sox 1
Comiskey Park, Chicago, September 6
Game 2 featured a pitching rematch from the 1914 World Series, when Lefty Tyler, then of the Braves, faced Bullet Joe Bush, then of the A’s. The Braves won that game in extra innings, but Tyler was not on the mound and didn’t get the win. He was out to finally win a World Series game.
Tyler looked nervous to start the game. He walked Harry Hooper and got two strikes on the next batter, Dave Shean. Hooper called for a hit-and-run. Shean struck out, though, leaving Hooper scurrying toward second base with the strong arm of Cubs catcher Bill Killefer ready to throw him out. So Shean leaned over the plate to block Killefer. Shean and Killefer tussled, and Killefer’s throw sailed over second base. Hooper was called out because of interference, but Shean and Killefer had some dirty looks for each other. The tone of the game was set. It was going get physical.
The Cubs put up three runs in the second inning, which, evidently, aggravated the Red Sox further. When coach Heinie Wagner trotted to the third-base coaching box between the second and third innings, Cubs coach Otto Knabe let fly with a zinger that ticked off Wagner, who was nursing a broken finger. Still, he approached the Cubs dugout, where Knabe suggested they could go under the grandstand to settle the matter. They did. The fight took place out of public view, and the details are contested (Wagner would later claim that he was punched by multiple Cubs) but some Red Sox charged across the field to the Cub dugout. By the time they got there, though, the umpires had taken notice, and the fracas had been defused. Thereafter, a policeman was stationed outside the dugouts.
Given a lead, Tyler settled in. He allowed a walk to start the third, but gave up just one hit in the next four innings. The Red Sox rallied, though, starting the ninth inning by rattling Tyler with back-to-back triples from Amos Strunk and George Whiteman. But Tyler got Stuffy McInnis to 
In the 1918 World Series, it was tough luck on the mound for Hippo Vaughn, who allowed just three runs in three games, yet lost twice. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.) hit a harmless grounder back to the mound, and Barrow followed with an odd choice—he sent pitcher Jean Dubuc, who was 1-for-6 at bat all season, to pinch-hit, rather than Babe Ruth. Sure enough, Dubuc struck out. Wally Schang popped out. The Cubs won, 3-1, and evened the series.
Game 3
Red Sox 2, Cubs 1
Comiskey Park, Chicago, September 7
Submarine pitcher Carl Mays got the call for Boston in Game 3, a challenge for the Cubs because there were no submariners in the National League. Mitchell, meanwhile, made a bold decision for the Cubs—he would come back with Hippo Vaughn, even though he had pitched just two days earlier. Mitchell’s reasoning was sound. If he went with a lefty, the Red Sox would play Whiteman in left field and keep Ruth on the bench. “A right hander would have had Ruth coming up to hit,” Mitchell said, “and if he got hold of one, good night. He is a wonderful natural ballplayer, and nobody I’ve seen takes the cut at a ball he does. He is liable to knock any kind of pitch anywhere.”
Vaughn pitched well, holding the Red Sox scoreless until the fourth inning. Whiteman was hit by a pitch, followed by two singles, which scored Whiteman. Everett Scott then dropped down a perfectly placed squeeze, and when Vaughn got to the ball, he was unable to make a play, allowing another run to score. Down by two, Killefer stroked an RBI single in the fifth, and the Cubs kept pressure on Mays, putting runners in scoring position in five of the final six innings. The game ended when, in the ninth inning, Cubs runner Charley Pick broke from second base when one of Mays’ pitches got away from catcher Wally Schang. As he slid in, spikes high, Pick got tangled with third baseman Fred Thomas and the ball skidded away. Pick attempted to score, but Thomas nailed him with a perfect throw home, ending the game at 2-1.
Game 4
Red Sox 3, Cubs 2
Fenway Park, Boston, September 9
After three games in Chicago, the series moved to Boston, with players, reporters and even umpires all crammed onto the same train heading east. There was some concern that, after the fisticuffs in Game 2, putting the Cubs and Red Sox on the same train might not be a good idea. But, once aboard, the players found they had something more important to deal with—the gate receipts were terrible, and rather than getting $2,000 for the winners’ shares and $1,400 for the losers’, as they expected, the shares were likely to be half that. The players were not happy, and there were rumblings of a strike. The players demanded a meeting with the National Commission. But the Commission successfully stalled them until after Game 4.
After three well-played games in Chicago, Game 4—with Ruth on the mound against Tyler—was sloppy. Flack was picked off twice in the game, and remains the only player in World Series history to be twice picked off in the same game. He also made a tactical error on one of the game’s most crucial plays when, in the fourth inning with Ruth at bat and Tyler waving at Flack to move back, he stayed put. “Flack was in too close,” the Chicago Herald-Examiner reported. “Tyler waved him back. Flack did not pay attention to the command. Once again Tyler motioned him, but Max was obstinate.” Sure enough, Ruth hit a triple over Flack’s head, scoring two runs.
The Cubs rallied to tie the game in the eighth inning. In the bottom of the eighth, though, Mitchell turned to Phil Douglas as a reliever. He gave up a single to Schang and, when Harry Hooper attempted a sacrifice bunt, Douglas collected the ball and flung it over Merkle’s head at first base. Schang scored the game-winning run, putting the Red Sox ahead, 3-1, in the series.
Game 5
Cubs 3, Red Sox 0
Fenway Park, Boston, September 10
After more delays, a small group of players finally got their meeting with the National Commission on the morning of Game 5 at the Copley Plaza Hotel. They were, essentially, shooed away, told that there was no way the Commission could change the rule on player payouts (which wasn’t really true). The players wanted the $2,000 and $1,400 player shares that they felt they were promised, but were willing to compromise down to $1,500 and $1,000. The Commission wouldn’t budge. When the players got together to meet before the game, they decided they had no choice but to go on strike.
So while the commissioners remained at the hotel, drinking, the players were in street clothes in the locker room, striking.
Just after 1 p.m., with the game slated for a 2:30 start, Johnson, Heydler and Herrmann, got word of trouble. They were not well-equipped for trouble at the moment. They were drunk. They did not show up at Fenway until 2:35 p.m., according to the Boston American’s Nick Flatley. Upon arriving, Johnson’s speech, according to the Herald-Examiner, was, “replete with repetitions, bubbles and strange Oriental spices.” The commissioners gathered in the tight umpires’ quarters. They were joined by Hooper and Mann, while a horde of writers and fans tried to see what was happening. The players, again, made their cases. But, after seeing the condition that Johnson, Heydler and Herrmann were in, they could see it was no use. Hooper later recalled that Johnson, “came over to me [and said], ‘Harry, you know I love you. Go out and play the game.’ He put his arm around my neck and wept on my shoulder, repeating, ‘I love you. For the honor and glory of the American League, go out and play.’ Heydler never opened his mouth. It was apparent we had no one to talk to.”
Finally, at 3:30, the teams took the field. And, finally, the Cubs had an easy time, beating Sam Jones, 3-0, behind a five-hitter from Vaughn. The series was now 3-2.
Game 6
Red Sox 2, Cubs 1
Fenway Park, Boston, September 11
It was chilly in Boston on the day of Game 6, and the weather, combined with the ugliness of the player strike in Game 5, limited the crowd to just 15,238 showed for Game 6, the smallest World Series crowd since 1909. During warm-ups, according to the Chicago Herald-Examiner, “The Red Sox took a horrible chance. They posed for a picture as champions of the world half an hour before play started. … Money worries and strike problems have escaped athletes to forget their natural superstitions. It must be due to the war.”
In the bottom of the third inning, the Cubs’ defense gave out. Tyler walked Mays and Shean, who were moved up on Amos Strunk’s ground out. With two outs and runners on second and third, Whiteman sent a line drive to right field and Tyler, sure he had escaped the jam, began walking to the dugout. But, as the New York Times reported: “Flack came running in to make an easy catch. He caught up to the rapidly descending ball and had it entirely surrounded by his hands. Tyler was offering thanksgiving for crawling out of a bad hole when the ball squeezed its way through Flack’s buttered digits. As the ball spilled in a puddle at Flack’s feet, both Mays and Shean were well along their way home before Flack’s alarm clock went off and woke him up.”
Flack’s muff allowed two runs to score. The Cubs came back with one in the fourth—Flack atoned for his mistake somewhat, scoring that run—but could not crack Mays beyond that. The series closed in the ninth with les Mann rolling a harmless grounder to Shean, who tossed to McInnis.
The New York Times summed up the reaction: “Baseball’s valedictory this afternoon should have been played to the weary strains of Chopin’s Funeral March. The smallest gathering that ever saw the national game’s most imposing event sat silently about, and watched Boston win and Chicago lose. There was no wild demonstration of joy when the last man went out, and Stuffy McInnis, with the ball in his hand, led the scramble of the players to the clubhouse. No hero was proclaimed, no player got a ride on anyone’s shoulders, no star was patted on the back or madly cheered to a niche in baseball’s temple of fame. The finish was as uneventful as the last moment of a double-header in Brooklyn.”
