The “Hitless Wonders”

With the 2005 White Sox steaming towards their first World Series’ Championship in 88 years, the media has been writing quite a bit lately about the 1917 ChiSox (the last time they won the World Series). We have also been treated to a lot of fanfare about the 1959 White Sox (the last time they made it to the Series). Then there is the 1919 White Sox coined the Black Sox after infamously  throwing the World Series that year. They made a movie about that team and many Southsiders believe that their team has been cursed ever since. So, what else is there to write about when it comes to the White Sox and their World Series’ history. Well, I haven’t read much lately about the ChiSox of 1906, the team known as the "Hitless Wonders". In the third World Series ever and in what might have been the greatest upset in World Series’ history, the White Sox of ’06 beat their crosstown nemesis, the fabled "Tinker to Evers to Chance" Chicago Cubs in six games. This was the first and other than 1917, the only White Sox team to ever win a World Series.

In 1906 the Cubs won 116 games, a Major League record that stands to this day (The Mariners tied this record in 2001, but played in ten extra games). They were considered such overwhelming favorites that many Chicago bookies refused to take money from bettors tapping the Cubs to win the Series. Hall of Famer, Mordecai "Three Fingered" Brown led a fierce Cubbies staff with a 26-6 record and a 1.04 ERA. The entire staff had a 1.75 ERA for the season, an outstanding mark even in the "Deadball" era.  Franklin Pierce Adams hadn’t yet penned his famous poem, but shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers and first baseman Frank Chance joined third baseman Harry Steinfeldt to form a slick fielding infield and lead a lineup that led the Majors in Hitting. In contrast, the Southsiders hit a paltry .230 as a team and did not have a regular hit above .279 for the regular season. The ChiSox’s World Series fate would rest upon a pitching staff almost as dominant as the Cubbies’ staff. Led by Hall of Famer, Ed Walsh, 1906 AL ERA champ Doc White (1.52), and 20 game winners Nick Altrock and Frank Owens, the "Hitless Wonders" reeled off a 19 game winning streak in August—eight of them by Shutout— and won their second AL pennant by three games.

The format for the first Series between teams from the same town was best of seven with each game alternating between the Cubs’ West Side Grounds and the White Sox’s Southside Park. Game 1 was played at the West Side Grounds. The "Hitless Wonders" lived up to their nickname in the first four games- scoring a total of six runs, but thanks to a complete game four-hitter (one run allowed) by Nick Altrock in Game 1 and a complete game two-hit shutout by Ed Walsh (twelve K’s) in Game 3, the Chisox were tied 2-2 going into Game 5. Led by second baseman Frank Isbell’s World Series’ record four doubles, the ChiSox defied their nickname and pounded out eight runs and Walsh, pitching on one days rest, hung tough as the Sox defeated the Cubbies 8-6. Up to this point neither team had won a home game and with Mordecai Brown coming back on one days rest after pitching a two-hit shutout of his own in Game 4, the Cubbies looked destined to take this Series to a seventh game. But, Doc White, who had Saved Game 5 with three shutout innings the day before, one-upped Brown and came back on no rest to pitch a complete game, while the suddenly hot-hitting White Sox ripped Brown for seven runs in an inning and two-thirds and coasted to an 8-3 victory at home. The "Hitless Wonders" were World Series’ Champs. Despite hitting only .198 for the Series, the vaunted ChiSox staff had held the Cubbies to a .196 average and became the first baseball darlings of Chicago.

• The White Sox won the first ever AL pennant in 1901 before there was a World Series.

                                                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                      Carl The Cabbie