Books and articles about Babe Adams

Except for a single game he lost for St. Louis in 1906, Adams pitched his entire major league career with Pittsburgh. After a brief stay with the Pirates in 1907, the quiet Hoosier rejoined the team as a 27-year-old rookie in 1909 and helped them win the pennant with a 12-3 mark. The Pirates went into the World Series against Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers with staff ace Howie Camnitz laid up with tonsillitis. Even though Adams ranked fifth on the club in wins, manager Fred Clarke chose him as the opening game pitcher on a tip that the righthander's style resembled that of Dolly Gray, an AL pitcher who'd handled the Tigers well during the season. Adams won Game One 4-1, Game Five 8-4, and, on two day's rest, clinched the series 8-0 to become the first pitcher to win three games in a seven-game series.

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Over the next half-dozen years, Adams was the Pirates' ace, winning 22 games in 1911 and 21 in 1913. A sore arm threatened his career in 1916, and he returned to the minors. He was 34-16 in less than two minor league seasons before the Pirates brought him back. In both 1919 and 1920 he posted 17-win totals. He led the NL with eight shutouts in 1920. In 1925, when he was a 43-year-old reliever, he made another World Series appearance, pitching one scoreless inning against the Senators.

Adams was never a hard thrower and his sore arm cost him what speed he had, but he could put the ball exactly where he wanted to. In 1920, he walked only 18 men in 263 innings. He allowed a mere 430 bases on balls for his career. (BC)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » October 8, 1909: The Pirates, winners of 110 games, face Detroit in the World Series, which pits the two leagues' top offensive stars, Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb. It is the first of three times that batting champs will face each other in the World Series (Al Simmons and Chick Hafey in 1931: Bobby Avila and Willie Mays in 1954 are the others) Pittsburgh manager Fred Clarke starts 27-year-old rookie righthander Babe Adams against Tigers P George Mullin. There are only 11 hits in the game, but one is a home run by Clarke, and the Pirates win 4-1 before a crowd of 29,264. » October 13, 1909: Babe Adams hurls his 2nd complete-game victory 8-4, despite a double and home run by Sam Crawford. Fred Clarke's 3-run home run breaks a tie and gives the Pirates a 3-2 Series lead. » October 16, 1909: Rookie Babe Adams comes through with a 6-hit, 8-0 win. It is his 3rd complete-game World Series victory and gives the Pirates their first World Championship. The two teams combine for a World Series record 34 errors, with Detroit contributing 19, also a record. » August 9, 1910: Pittsburgh's Babe Adams scatters 11 hits in shutting out Boston, 10–0. » August 30, 1910: The Giants beat Babe Adams and the Pirates, 5–2, to sweep the 3-game series with Pittsburgh. The Bucs batter Christy Mathewson for 12 hits, but he wins his 22nd. » April 12, 1911: The Reds suffer their worst Opening Day ever, losing to the Pirates, 14–0. Babe Adams tops Art Fromme. The Bucs 17-hit attack is led by Wagner, with three hits, Dot Miller with four hits and Bobby Byrne with five hits and five RBIs. Reds reliever Jesse Tannehill, pitching his first NL game since jumping the Pirates ship in 1902, gives up six hits and walks three in 4+ IP. The shock is so great that Tannehill retires after this game. » May 18, 1911: Babe Adams pitches the Pirates to a 6–1 win over the Giants. The Bucs gang up on Christy Mathewson for 10 hits in seven innings. » May 30, 1911: After one day at the top, the Cubs drop to 3rd, as the Pirates sweep a pair from Chicago, winning 1–0 and 4–1. But the first game is protested by Chicago, presumably for batting out of order, and the protest will later be upheld. All the records including Babe Adams 4-hit shutout (he'll still lead the NL with 7) and Honus Wagner's hitless game are tossed. Thanks to the successful protest, Wagner will end the season at a league-leading .334, one point ahead of Dots Miller. In the afternoon contest, Howie Camnitz tops Ed Reulbach, who is drilled for six hits and all four runs in two innings. Wagner has a pair of hits in the nitecap. » August 2, 1911: Christy Mathewson allows 15 singles, but his teammates help with four double plays and the Giants top the Pirates, 8–4. Babe Adams takes the loss. » September 22, 1911: Boston Rustlers Cy Young shuts out Pittsburgh and Babe Adams 1–0 for his final career victory, number 511. It is Young's 2nd shutout against the Pirates, who lost just three of 22 games to Boston in 1911. » August 24, 1912: Fred Merkle's 3-run homer off Babe Adams in the 7th to give the Giants a 3–2 lead over Pittsburgh, and Christy Mathewson pitches the last three innings to preserve Hooks Wiltse win over the Bucs. The Giants won a pair yesterday from the Bucs by one-run scores. » May 4, 1913: Pittsburgh's Babe Adams tosses a 2-hitter at the Reds, and drives home the game's only run with the Pirates' only hit of the game. » July 17, 1914: At Forbes Field, Rube Marquard and Babe Adams each go a marathon 21 innings before Larry Doyle's 2-run home run gives the Giants a 3–1 win over the Pirates. Adams yields no walks and 12 hits, the longest non-walk game in ML history. Marquard walks two (one intentional) and yields 15 hits. In the 6th, Honus Wagner goes from first to 3B on a hit by Jim Viox. When New York CF Bob Bescher throws to 3B Milt Stock, the ball bounces out of his hands and disappears. Wagner scores before it's discovered that the ball bounced up under his arm and stayed there as he ran home. Wagner is called out for interference, and the Bucs protest. Manager Clarke is then ejected by umpire Bill "Lord" Byron. In a fitting ending to this unusual game, Giants OF Red Murray is knocked unconscious by a bolt of lightning after catching a fly ball for the final out. Murray is uninjured. Marquard's win is his last in 1914. He will lose 10 straight on his way to a 12–22 record. » July 25, 1914: New York beats the slumping Pirates, 4–2, with Christy Mathewson topping Babe Adams. Bob Bescher and George Burns each tally two hits and score two runs. » September 26, 1914: Meanwhile, the Giants split with the Pirates, winning and losing by 4–2 scores. Babe Adams wins the nitecap for the Bucs, shutting out the Giants in the last eight innings. » August 27, 1915: Christy Mathewson wins his 8th and last game of the year edging the Pirates, 2–1. Babe Adams takes the loss. » April 13, 1916: Babe Adams, the Pirates bellwether, pitches a one-hit 4–0 shutout against the Cardinals, the only safety coming when a ball squirts out of 2B Joe Schultz' mitt. He will win only one more game this season, and the Pirates will release him in August. They will then re-sign him during the 1918 season. » September 26, 1920: In his last game of the season, Pittsburgh's Babe Adams walks one in an 8–0 loss to the Reds. He has walked 18 in 263 IP, making him the stingiest pitcher ever for one season. » August 24, 1921: The Pirates, in front by seven 1/2 games, drop a doubleheader to the Giants in New York before 35,000. Art Nehf wins the opener 10–2 handing Babe Adams his first loss in 10 games. Phil Douglas takes the nightcap, 7–0. » September 3, 1925: The Cardinals score five runs in the 9th to break the first-place Pirates 9-game win streak, winning 9–3. Rogers Hornsby, the majors leading hitter at .387, has three hits including his 37th homer of the year to pace the attack. Babe Adams, who takes over for Emil Yde in the 9th, is hammered for four hits and five runs, but the loss goes to Yde. Art Reinhart is the winner. » October 11, 1925: Before a home crowd of 36,000, Walter Johnson wins his 3rd straight World Series contest over two years. He blanks the Bucs on six hits, only two out of the infield, and fans just 2. A 3-run home run by Goose Goslin in the 4th followed by Joe Harris's round-tripper–the first back-to-back home runs in World Series history—give the Senators a 4–0 win and 3–1 Series advantage. Veteran Babe Adams gives up two hits but pitches a scoreless 9th for the Bucs: Babe's last World Series appearance was winning game seven in the 1909 World Series. » August 13, 1926: Pittsburgh players ask that Fred Clarke, assistant to owner Barney Dreyfuss, not be permitted to sit on the bench. Dreyfuss squelches the revolt by releasing Carson Bigbee and Babe Adams, and suspending Max Carey, who has slumped to .222. Carey is waived to the Dodgers.