The battle for the 1907 American League pennant had been fierce all season long. The four contenders - White Sox, Indians, A's, and Tigers - were neck and neck into the homestretch. Finally it was Philadelphia and Detroit battling for the crown and the Bengals wrested away the lead from Mack's Athletics in the opening game of the season-ending series. Then came a day of rain and a doubleheader was scheduled for September 30, 1907. Philadelphia's Columbia Park could seat 18,000 but 25,000 jammed their way into the venue, with another 5,000 watching from the windows and rooftops overlooking the field.
It may have been a nervous occasion for the 20-year old Ty Cobb who was just completing his first full season as a Detroit regular. But based on his performance that day, he was far from nervous. Manager Hughie Jennings selected Wild Bill Donovan to face the A's, and Mack picked spitballer Jimmy Dygert, holding "Gettysburg" Eddie Plank in reserve for the second game.
Jennings showed his faith in Donovan, leaving him on the mound despite the A's 7-1 lead after 5 innings. The Tigers nibbled away, plating four runs in the seventh to climb back into the ballgame. The Athletics were not done, as they picked up a run in the same frame, only to have the Detroiters bounce back with another in the next inning.
So it was 8-6 in favor of Philadelphia going into the ninth. Sam Crawford opened the session with a single and up stepped Cobb. At that point in his career Cobb was strictly a punch hitter, a slasher who choked up on the bat. But this time he held it down at the end as reliever Rube Waddell made ready to throw. Cobb swung and the ball rocketed over the rightfield fence for a home run which tied the score.
That clout not only stunned the A's crowd, but it signaled the end of the day for Waddell. Mack abandoned his plan of saving Plank for game two and rushed him to the rubber. The future Hall of Famer retired the next three batters without incident.
The next inning and a half saw the teams scoreless and thus they found themselves in the 11th, the A's teetering on the brink of elimination, Detroit poised for their first AL title. Detroit's big first baseman Claude Rossman singled and Cobb once again proved clutch - slapping a two-out shot into the crowd on one bounce for a double - scoring Rossman with the go-ahead tally.
Yet Detroit was unable to hold their advantage, a wild pitch allowing Philly to tie the score again at 9-9. By this time, Jennings faith in Donovan was paying off. The raucous Wild Bill was mowing down the Athletics with great precision and the two clubs remained deadlocked through 13 innings.
In the 14th fate and a bit of honesty worked for the Tigers. The great slugger Harry Davis belted a long drive that Sam Crawford seemed to settle under in center field. But at the last instant "Wahoo" Sam misplayed the ball at the brink of the overflow crowd over his shoulder. Davis wrapped himself around the bag at third. But the visiting team cried "interference!" and soon the two umpires were huddled in deliberation. For many minutes nothing was called, and the crowd began to scream their approval of the runner at third.
Finally, Silk O'Laughlin, the crew chief, asked his partner Tom Connolly (a future Hall of Fame arbitrator) what he saw. "There was interference from the crowd," the umpire responded.
A moment later Danny Murphy singled - which would have scored the winning tally but for the gutsy call by Connolly to make Davis out. The game moved on before being called a tie after 17 innings. In those days tie games and rainouts weren't necessarily required to be replayed. And thus the second game of the twinbill was unneeded as the Tigers won the pennant by a game and a half. Later, Cobb would remember his 9th inning homer and extra-inning double as his greatest thrill in baseball. And it all happened before he turned 21 years old.
» DAN HOLMES is a Detroit Tigers fan, who longs for the days of Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey ("the voice of God"), the "Bemo-Potato Chips Home Run," Mark Fidrych, George Kell, and Tiger Stadium. He's disturbed by the shrinking strike zone, the wild card, the tax code...well, he's just disturbed. Dan is the Web Manager for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He has been published in several newspapers and magazines. He is also a baseball contributor on WJAB radio in Portland, Maine, where he can be heard each Tuesday morning at 7:45 AM.
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Posted November 19, 2001.
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