» October 5, 1901: The Brooklyn Superbas sweep two from the Giants, 8-0 and 4-2. Wild Bill Donovan pitches the opener, allowing three hits, in winning his NL-high 25th game. Christy Mathewson umpires the first game, then loses the 2nd game, also umpired by a ball player.
» April 17, 1902:
According to the NY Evening Telegram, the Superbas also have a band in Brooklyn, and the music is "On a Sunday Afternoon," a curious choice for for a Thursday home opener. Bill Donovan beats Boston.
» May 7, 1906:
Detroit Tigers P Bill Donovan steals 2B, 3B, and-on the front end of a double steal-takes home in the 5th inning of an 8-3 victory over Cleveland. He also slugs a triple. Donovan swiped home against Cleveland last year as well.
» June 6, 1906:
Bill Coughlin is the 2nd Tiger within a month to steal 2B, 3B, and home in a game; he does this in the 7th inning against Washington during a 13-4 romp. Pitcher Bill Donovan did it on May 7th.
» September 30, 1907: An overflow crowd lines the OF at Philadelphia's Columbia Park for the showdown Monday doubleheader between the A's and Tigers. In the first game, the home team gets off to a 7-1 lead against 25-game winner Bill Donovan. But Rube Waddell, who relieves in the 2nd, fails to hold the lead. A 2-run home run by Ty Cobb ties it 8-8 in the 9th. Both teams score once in the 11th; an umpire's ruling costs Philadelphia the game in the 14th: Harry Davis hits a long fly into the crowd in left CF, ordinarily a ground-rule double. As Tiger CF Sam Crawford goes to the crowd's edge, a policeman stands up and moves, either to interfere or to get out of the way. Home plate umpire Silk O'Loughlin says there is no interference, then reverses his ruling when base umpire Tom Connolly offers a different opinion. When play resumes, the Athletics' Danny Murphy hits a long single that would have scored Davis. The game is called because of darkness in the 17th, a 9-9 tie. The 2nd game is never played. The Tigers, in first place, leave for Washington where they will win 4. They will finish one 1/2 games in front.
» October 8, 1907: The Tigers have Game One of the World Series against the Cubs in their grasp—or in C Charlie Schmidt's glove—but it gets away from them. Leading 3–2 in the 9th, Bill Donovan faces pinch hitter Del Howard with two on and two outs. He fans Howard, but the ball gets away from Schmidt, and the tying run scores. Darkness ends the game after 12 innings. Jimmy Slagle of the Tigers is nabbed in the 1st by Bill Coughlin after Germany Schaefer pulls a hidden ball trick on him, the first in Series history.
» September 26, 1908:
Detroit's Wild Bill Donovan stops the A's, 3-2, while the White Sox are trouncing the Highlanders, 12-0. The A's scores end their ML-record streak of 48 innings without a run: the Cubs will match this in 1968.
» October 3, 1908:
The Tigers roll to their 10th straight win when Wild Bill Donovan shuts out the Browns, 6–0 while Cleveland loses, 3–2, to the White Sox. Detroit leads the American League by one 1/2 games.
» October 6, 1908: Having been in 13 of the last 16 games, Ed Walsh does not start the White Sox finale against Detroit. Doc White is hit hard in the 7–0 loss that gives the pennant to the Tigers. Bill Donovan pitches a two hitter.
» October 11, 1908: In Chicago for game 2, Orval Overall doles out four hits, and the Cubs break a scoreless deadlock with six in the 8th off Bill Donovan for a 6–1 win.
» September 18, 1909: Before 35,409, the largest paid baseball attendance ever, Chief Bender beats Bill Donovan and the Tigers 2-0 at Philadelphia to keep the A's in the pennant race. The A's are 14-8 against Detroit this year, setting an AL record for most wins against the pennant winner. Ty Cobb is the Triple Crown winner with a .377 BA, nine home runs (all inside the park), and 107 RBI. He also will lead the AL with 216 hits, 116 runs, and 296 total bases. His 76 stolen bases make him the only player ever to win a quadruple crown.
» October 9, 1909: The Tigers win the 2nd World Series game behind Bill Donovan 7-2. Ty Cobb's steal of home highlights a 3-run 3rd. Detroit has been defenseless against stolen bases in the past three World Series, giving up 16 in five games to the Cubs in 1907, 15 in five games to the Cubs in 1908, and 18 in seven games to the Pirates this year, for a total of 49 in 17 games, and the highest SB totals in all of World Series history.
» December 31, 1914: Ban Johnson's efforts to strengthen the New York Yankees succeed when he arranges the purchase of the team by Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston for $460,000 from Bill Devery and Frank Farrell. After Detroit owner Navin refuses to let Hugh Jennings go, the new Yankee owners will name longtime Detroit pitcher Bill Donovan as manager. Donovan was recently manager of Providence (IL).
» June 25, 1915: In Boston, Babe Ruth blasts his 3rd homer of the year, off Ray Caldwell, and is the 2nd player to hit a ball into the RF seats at Fenway. Ruth strikes out eight in pitching a complete game, 9–5, win, and adds a single off reliever Bill Donovan, Yankee skipper and his former manager.
» December 9, 1923: Traveling to Chicago for the ML meetings, Wild Bill Donovan, New Haven manager, is killed in a train wreck. Donovan was a pitcher for Detroit and ML manager for the Yankees and Phils. New Haven president George Weiss had swapped berths with Donovan and escapes with a minor injury. Phils owner William F. Baker is also on the train, but he is unhurt.
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