October 2007 Archives

Happy Halloween from everyone here at the CCO.... With the Cubs organizational meetings taking place in Arizona this week and the General Manager's meetings in Orlando starting on Monday the Hot Stove League is beginning to heat up. The Yankees officially hired Joe Girardi on Tuesday, Grady Little resigned and Joe Torre appears to be heading west along with Don Mattingly. Some are wondering if Torre's former third baseman will make the trip as well.

Jason Kendall filed for free agency on Tuesday and a couple of new names entered the Cubs' rumor mill. Here is the latest and more from around the league....

Kerry Wood was one of 57 players to file for free agency on Monday with the MLB front office. The Cubs are expected to try to resign their former ace. Wood has been mentioned as a possible closer for next season and is also rumored to be interested in competing for a spot as a starter.

The other big name that will remain in the Cubs off-season discussion officially became a free agent on Monday as well. The 27th out of the World Series was not recorded when the announcement was made that the league's best player decided to opt out of the largest contract in the history of the game. A-Rod and his agent's timing was questioned by many on Monday, some even called the action "classless".

The Yankees stole more of the Red Sox thunder on Monday when reports surfaced they made an offer to Joe Girardi to manage the Bronx Bombers. The deal is expected to be made official on Tuesday and is rumored to worth around $6 million dollars for 3 years. Here is the rest from the Cubs rumor mill and the latest from around the league....

According to a report on SI.com by Jon Heyman and a report by the Associated Press carried by several outlets, Alex Rodriguez has opted out of his current contract with the New York Yankees and will test the free agent market this off-season. Ken Rosenthal broke the news during the World Series telecast on Fox and the Cubs were one of the teams brought up as a possible destination for Rodriguez.

The Chicago Cubs became the first back-to-back World Series Champions after Oval Overall won his second game of the series. Overall threw a 3-hit complete game shutout and a 1st inning RBI Frank Chance would prove to be the difference in the game. Overall worked around 4 walks and a wild pitch by striking out 10 and finished the 1908 World Series with a 0.98 ERA. Johnny Evers was 3-for-4 in Game 5. Evers was responsible for both of he Cubs runs in the game, he scored one and drove in the other with a 2-out double.

There were only 6,210 fans in attendance at Bennett Park when the Cubs won their last World Series, the lowest attended World Series game in history. Frank Chance was 3-for-4 in the final game and finished the series with a .421 batting average. There was only one home run hit in the 5 games, a 2-run homer in Game Two by Joe Tinker. The Cubs won Game 5, 2-0, in a game that lasted one hour and twenty-five minutes....

The Red Sox and their fans waited 86 years between World Championships and on Sunday night the once "cursed" franchise won their second World Series Title in 4 seasons. The current ownership group led by John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino took over 6 years ago and have turned the Red Sox into a model franchise built by signing quality free-agents, an excellent front office, a solid scouting department and most importantly they turned their Minor League system around and concentrated on player development.

A good model for the new ownership of the Chicago Cubs to follow....

Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown won his second game of the 1908 World Series with a complete game 4-hit shutout. Brown was 29-9 with a 1.47 ERA in 1908. Brown threw over 312 innings and recorded 27 complete games in 31 starts and he also made 13 appearances out of Frank Chance's bullpen that season. The Cubs RBI's came from Solly Hofman and Harry Steinfeldt.

The Cubs scored one of their three runs on an error in the 9th inning by Ty Cobb but it was a 2-run 3rd inning that was the difference in Game Four. All 3 of the Cubs runs in Game Four came with 2 outs....

The Tigers bounced back in Game Three at West Side Grounds in Chicago behind a complete game by George Mullin. The Tigers' right-hander was 17-13 in the regular season with 26 complete games. Jack "the Giant Killer" Pfiester took the hill for Frank Chance, the 12-game winner in 1908 led the NL in ERA in 1907, 1.15, and was 9th in the NL with a 2.00 ERA in 1908. Pfiester received his nickname because of his dominance of John McGraw's New York Giants, 15-5 lifetime record. Pfiester gave up 8 runs, 7 earned, on 10 hits in 8 innings in the Game Three loss.

Ty Cobb led the way in Game Three for the Tigers. Cobb was 4-for-5 with a double, 2 RBI's and 5 total bases. The Tigers won 8-3 despite committing 4 errors. The Cubs hit into three double plays and were caught stealing three times by Tigers' catcher Ira Thomas....

It's Travel Day before the World Series resumes on Saturday, while Major League Baseball does not like big announcements during the Fall Classic the rumor mill is starting to heat up as the season comes to a close.

Game Two of the 1908 World Series shifted to the West Side Grounds in Chicago and was dominated by both starting pitchers. Orval Overall made the start for Frank Chance a day after pitching a third of an inning in relief. Hughie Jennings went with 18-game winner Bill Donovan. Both pitchers threw a complete game and kept the opposition of the bases until later innings. The Cubs broke a scoreless tie with a 6-run 8th inning and the only run Overall allowed came on a RBI single in the 9th by Ty Cobb. The Cubs won the game 6-1....

The year was 1908 and it was the first time the ball was dropped in New York, the first time Mother's Day was celebrated and the last time the Cubs won the World Series. The year is embedded in the mind of every Cubs' fan but do you know how they won their second World Championship? The Cubs won the series 4 games to 1 over the Detroit Tigers and in the process became the first Back-to-Back Champions in World Series history. While the rest of the baseball world watches the 2007 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies, the CCO will take a look back at how the Cubs won their last championship with inning by inning recaps of all 5 games.

The 1908 World Series was a rematch of the 1907 series between the Cubs and the Detroit Tigers. The Cubs won the first game of the series at Bennett Park in Detroit behind a solid start by Ed Reulbach and a 2-inning win, after a blown save, by Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown. The Cubs were down 6-5 going into the 9th but scored 5 runs in the top of the inning to win Game One 10-6. Harry Steinfeldt, Solly Hofman, Joe Tinker and Johnny Kling each had 2 RBI's....