Mordecai Brown by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Mordecai Brown

Page 104

In 1907, Chicago repeated with 107 wins, finishing an extremely comfortable 17 games up on the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs took over first for good on May 28, and on July 4 already held an 11½ game lead. In 1906 and 1907, the team had a streak in which it won 122 of 154 contests.

In 1908, Chicago fought a three way pennant race for the ages-maybe the greatest ever; winning by one game over arch rivals New York and Pittsburgh. From there, Frank Chance's men captured what is famously their second and last World Series. August had ended with the Cubs and Giants tied and the Pirates down by a mere half game. Despite starting September 14-6, the Cubs found themselves in second place, 4½ games behind the Giants, on the eighteenth. With only 16 games remaining, the deficit seemed so difficult that even firebrand second baseman Johnny Evers doubted their chances of winning a third straight pennant. Undaunted, and helped by Fred Merkle's rookie "boner" on September 23 of failing to touch second base on a game winning hit, the Cubs won 14 of their last 16, with two ties, to end the season in a dead heat. They eked out the pennant in a one game, in effect, playoff with the Giants, tired ace Mordecai Brown coming in relief in the first inning, to chalk up the win. At 99 wins, this was the only year of the five the Cubs failed to win 100.