October 14th, 1905 World Series Game 3: New York Highlanders (1-1) @ Chicago Cubs (1-1)
CHC: Jim McAndrew (14-10; 3.08) v NYY: Kirk McCaskill (17-9; 2.64)
No respite in this already epic Series, with Highlanders young gun Kirk McCaskill squaring off against the underrated Jim McAndrew as the action moves to Chicago. The Cubs were 56-21 at home in the regular season and see West Side Park as a fortress, so the lads from New York will have to be at their very best during their time here if they even want to make it back home.
The visitors get a huge early lift as Hod Ford gives them a 2nd inning lead with an inside-the-park home run, the first four-bagger of the Series, and it seems to rattle the hosts, with a poor error by Jay Johnstone in right leads to them scoring a second run on a Doug Glanville two-out single.
But Chicago is a professional and disciplined unit, and they shake it off and hit back immediately. Charlie Gelbert keeps the inning alive with a two-out single, steals second and then scores on another hit by Woody Woodward.
Both sides waste good scoring chances in the third and the Cubs seem intent to give the game away, committing 4 errors thru 6 innings but the Highlanders fail to cash in on any of them, so it almost seems against the run of play when they manage to tie it up in the home 6th with Dunwoody scoring on a Gelbert fielder’s choice after he’d got aboard with a one-out double. That causes the Highlanders to fall apart a bit, as McCaskill loads them up on walks with two out and 2B Danny McConnell then bungles a routine grounder to gift Chicago the 3-2 lead. A lead that doesn’t last a half-inning as an RBI single by Frank Schulte ties it straight back up again.
Despite the many twists and turns that transpire over the next 2 innings, it almost feels inevitable when this game goes into extra frames still knotted at 3.
Then the first batter for New York – Frank Schulte, who had 6 homers in the regular season – silences the parochial home crowd with a monster blast into the right field seats. Two hitters later, Frank House deposits one in almost the exact same seat.
Ron Herbel is summoned from the Highlanders bullpen to lock down the win, which he duly does with a 1-2-3 inning.
I doubt either pitcher will be happy with their game tonight, and Chicago’s defence needs to spend some time in the fungo cage because they were dreadful in this one. That said, it was another fascinating contest with those two huge 10th-inning home runs sure to be etched into the annals of Highlander folklore.
FINAL SCORE: New York 5, Chicago 3 (10 innings)
BOX SCORE