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It
was February 1st, 11 days until pitchers
and catchers reported to spring training. The 2008
baseball season was about to start and for most fans
winter had been too long. Amy was sitting at her
desk smiling, but she wasn’t smiling at the fact
that baseball season was around the corner – she was
smiling because of him.
True, they weren’t officially dating, but both of
them weren’t seeing anybody else and most of their
evenings had been spent with each other. Amy was the
only friend he had in the city after accepting the
position at the law firm and moving to Chicago and
he was the only person that she wanted to spend time
with. Of course they were attracted to one another,
but they had really started to like each other as
well – it was the beginning of as romance even if
they couldn’t see it.
The sports editor walked over to Amy’s
desk and commented on her smiling and the fact that
she was happier than usual. She said it was because
of baseball season and her brother would get a
chance to be on the team, but he knew better than
that because he knew her way too well. They were
good friends and good friends always know if you’re
hiding something, but he didn’t press the issue. He
said to her.
“Well I guess you know what time it is?”
“11 days until pitchers and catchers
report and spring training starts.”
“Just making sure you can still keep up
with a calendar.”
“Jim it’s me Amy Larson…I would know
when baseball seasons starts without a calendar. I’m
like an Indian; I feel it in my bones.”
“Fair enough! You already know that
we’ll be sending you down to spring training in
Arizona for a few days, but I have another
assignment for you. I want you to write a piece
about your Great-great grandfather.”
Amy gave him a serious look and said.
”You’ve never asked me to write something about them
before, why now?”
“Because it’s the hundredth anniversary
of the Cubs last championship and he was on the
team. I thought it would be nice to write a human
interest piece on it.”
“You don’t think it’s a bit of bad luck
for me to write about him and that team?”
“For god’s sake this is not going on the
cover of Sports Illustrated. Other news outlets will
probably be writing about it as well. Anyway we’re
the news, not a sports team; we shouldn’t have to
believe in superstition.”
Amy smiled at the comment and said.
“Alright, but if we jinx the Cubs this year, I’m
hunting you down.”
He smiled at her and said. “Ok, that’s
fair. By the way I already have a title for it…The
Last Great Championship Team.”
“Somehow I’m not surprised.”
Amy thought about it for a while.
Normally she wouldn’t do something like this because
it was considered taboo for a family member to write
about their own family in the news – they wouldn’t
be objective enough. But the thing is there was
nobody better to write this story and she knew the
history of the team better than anybody. So she
started to try and write it. All she had was a title
on a page and it wasn’t even her own. After staring
at the blank word document for an hour she finally
gave up and went home. Chris was cooking her dinner
anyway and it was a good way to get her mind off the
subject. Then again it was good to tell this story
to someone that had never heard it and or didn’t
know anything about the subject
seeing as Chris was a
Texan who loved football. Later that night as
Chris was cooking dinner, Amy was staring at a blank
page on her laptop with only a title on the page.
She still couldn’t figure out what to say. Chris
asked her what she was supposed to be writing about.
She replied.
“I have to write about the last great
championship team or better put the last time the
Cubs won a world series.”
“That was a hundred years ago,” he
asked. “This year to be exact, right?”
“Ah, you’ve been paying attention.” She
smiled and winked at him. “Yeah, this is the
100-year anniversary of their last championship and
my paper wants me to write about it or to be more
exact to write about my great-great grandfather
being on that team. I don’t know where to start.”
“Well, why don’t you start at the
beginning? After all I don’t know the story and
maybe telling me will help.”
Amy smiled. She knew he was right. She
had to go back to 1907 and start with the facts.
The same team that played for the Cubs in 1906
returned and they were just as good. Paul Larson had
gotten better after his rookie year. The season was
no contest – the Cubs pretty much rolled by
everybody. While they did not win 116 games again,
they did win 107 and finished 20 games ahead of the
New York Giants. They
were just as superb at defensive play. The pitching
staff was just as dominant and in fact had
four of their pitchers go 1-2-3-5 in pitching
categories when it came to numbers in all pitching
categories. There wasn’t any team that could really
compete. Paul Larson started playing regularly – he
played in 120 games that year batting .290 for the
season. He was a star and would be considered the
best hitter on most teams in the National League and
American League. There were even some other teams
that inquired about trading for him, but no way was
Frank Chance going to let the young kid go. He could
hit cleanup in the bottom of the lineup – not an
easy feat. Paul also had a rocket for an arm and
could throw anybody out from the outfield if they
were heading for home, which he had done 18 times
during the season…another great feat in baseball.
At the end of the season the only team
close to being as good as the Chicago Cubs that year
was the Detroit Tigers who the Cubs would face in
the World Series. The Tigers were led by the
virtually invincible Ty Cobb who led both leagues in
batting – his average was .350 for the year. He also
led the American league in defense, but none of
those same numbers appeared in the series with Cubs.
The Cubs would shut the tigers down with pitching.
The first game of the series was the only time the
Tigers even gave the Cubs some competition in the
series. The Cubs scored three runs and then the
Tigers came roaring back and tied the game - it was
eventually called on account of darkness. They
didn’t have lights back then and when it got too
dark to see the ball baseball games would be called
because of darkness – sometimes they would be
replayed if there was a tie and sometimes who was
ever leading at the time would win the game. Amy
looked at Chris with a serious look and told him
that this was before they started putting lights up
at sports stadiums so they could play night games.
Chris gave her a sarcastic smile and replied.
“Yes I know the history of outside lighting when it
comes to playing college or professional sports. We
do have history books in Texas.”
“I just wanted to be sure; I never know
what you may be lacking below the Mason Dixon Line.”
“Hey we’ve had electricity for a long
time, at least forty years…Civil Rights saw to that
because we just couldn’t be a bunch of rednecks
living in wooden shacks.”
“Sarcasm…it’s a little attractive even
in a Texas boy like you.”
Chris laughed, walked over and kissed
Amy as she was still sitting at her desk in front of
the laptop. It was still on the blank page with the
title on it. He said to her. “I hear Danish Girls
are quite devilish.”
Amy smirked. She replied. “We can be but
only in certain areas…maybe one day you’ll find
out.”
Chris smiled at her and then she
continued her story. Amy and Chris were already
getting into that playful banter that comes with a
new relationship – the trick is can two people keep
it or just get annoyed at each other. Most often not
it’s the latter, but for Chris and Amy there was a
connection. They didn’t know what it was exactly,
but they knew it was there and for now that was good
enough.
Although
the first game ended in a tie the Cubs
completely dominated the Tigers for the rest of the
series. It was all done by pitching and even the
great Ty Cobb batted only .200 for the series. The
Cubs would win the next four games with scores 3-1,
5-1, 6-1, and 2-0. Three-Finger Brown shut the
Tigers out in the last game using only one pitch
most of the time – the “screwball” and the Tigers
would later claim that it was the most devastating
pitch they had ever seen, so the legend goes.
Baseball is full of those and it’s what adds to lore
and mystery of the game, but the one thing that
never lies are the numbers. With all the stories and
all the tall tales, they can never make the numbers
in the game a farce and that’s also what makes it
beautiful because the numbers in the game are a
beautiful symmetry between man, stick, and ball as
they point to the truest object of the game – to get
home.
Chris smiled at Amy as she finished the
last part. She was being poetic. He said to her.
“You just had to throw that last part in didn’t
you?”
“Maybe I did,” she replied. “A story
like this deserves a little fairy dust on it.”
“It kind of does, actually.”
Amy was about to continue the story when
Chris spoke up again and asked. “You told me one
time that Paul almost never came back after the 1906
season, why was that?”
“There was a family tragedy back in Iowa
and for a while he didn’t think that he was going to
play baseball again.”
“What happened?”
Amy began to tell the story
almost forgetting that
the back story even existed. After the 1906
season was over Paul went back to Iowa. He was
getting married to his childhood sweetheart Sonja,
but before he got home he got word that his brother
George has been killed in an accident. Part of the
barn had caved in during a terrible storm. He was
caught in the barn trying to get the animals settled
when lightning struck the roof and caved it in –
part of the roof fell on him and crushed his skull.
When Paul got home he wasn’t just returning home to
get married, he was coming home to lay his brother
to rest. After the death it was only Arthur that was
left to work the family farm and he had taken to
drinking more than usual since Paul got called up to
the big leagues and he hadn’t. The drinking was his
way of forgetting and he was well on his way to
being a full blown drunk. Paul and Arthur’s parents
needed help on the farm and so Paul was asked to
stay.
He almost did, but it was a conversation
with his brother Arthur that changed his mind. Of
course the conversation is just hearsay, being
passed done through the generations, but this is
what was said. It was about a week before Paul was
to leave for Spring Training. He had been married
for about a month and was settling in nicely for a
quite life on a farm and was having to deal with the
fact that he had given up his dreams for family. He
and Arthur were working on the new roof to the barn.
Arthur said to him as they were working.
“It’s getting close for you to leave, or
least supposed to leave. You may feel sad now, but
you’ll get over it. You’ll see that you made the
right decision.”
Paul looked at him angrily and replied.
“You don’t know what the right decision for me is.
You’re usually too drunk to know anything.”
“Bastard…you don’t need to be playing
baseball anyway. Family’s more important. You should
have never gone last year anyway.”
Paul stopped what he was doing and
grabbed the Arthur’s arm. He said. “You’re still
jealous that it was me that went and not you.”
“You’re right…it should have been me.
I’m the better player anyway.”
“Maybe, but they didn’t choose you. I’m
the one that got the shot and if you were half the
man you’re supposed to be then you would be happy
for me.”
Arthur hit Paul with the back of his
hand cutting open his lip. Paul wanted to hit him,
but stopped. He knew Arthur was mad and throwing him
off the roof wouldn’t settle anything. He just
looked at his brother and said. “You’re a no-good
drunk. You don’t deserve any chance you could get at
the big leagues. You’re not good enough.” Arthur
tried to hit Paul again and Paul caught his arm
stopping him from making contact. He stared at his
brother and said. “I’m done with you and this farm.”
The next day he and his wife Sonja left.
He wasn’t going to retire, he still wanted to play
baseball and it was the fight with Arthur that in
some strange way showed him that he couldn’t stay
home anymore. Paul had gotten a taste of the big
city and Iowa wasn’t what he needed anymore. That
would change in the years to come, but he was only
20 years old and a world that he had never seen was
waiting for him. Paul Sr. wasn’t happy about the
decision, but his mother simply hugged him before he
left and said that she loved him. So that was it,
Paul returned to Cubs and he would play professional
baseball for the next 14 years.
Chris being curious about her family,
believed there was
something more to the story so he asked if
there was. Amy said that was all that she knew, but
she reckoned there were deeper reasons for leaving
Iowa. Maybe he felt guilty or ashamed that he wasn’t
there when it happened. Perhaps Iowa and the family
farm served as a reminder of the tragedy and that’s
why he left. But Paul never forgot about his brother
George. Paul would have a son in 1916 and he would
be named George Larson II. Also, Paul would never
return to the family farm after that day. His
parents would die a few years later, both getting
sick from a disease that most people didn’t know
anything about. Today we call it cancer. Arthur
would sell the dairy farm and move away playing for
whatever semi-pro team would have him. Paul was the
luckier one – he would go on to be a star during the
1907 season. That’s where she ended since dinner was
ready.
Chris and Amy ate dinner and talked
about other things. Because Chris saw her more than
a huge Cubs fan with a unique family history – he
saw her as a beautiful woman that could make him
laugh and have an intelligent conversation with. And
while all of that was fine with him her story was
still very much a baseball story, but it was also
family story. After dinner Chris asked Amy about the
famous 1908 season. He had read a little bit about
it on the internet. So Amy picked up right where she
left off.
1908 for the Cubs was a tough and
unusual year. They weren’t as dominant as they were
the previous two years. All year long it was a tight
race in the National League between the Cubs, New
York Giants, and Pittsburg Pirates. In fact the
National League wouldn’t be decided until the last
day of the year. For the entire season the Cubs,
Giants, and Pirates stayed a game or two within each
other as all three teams battled for first place.
However, for the Cubs, a controversial game on
September 23, 1908 against the Giants at the Polo
Grounds in New York would be the reason why the
season ended the way it did that year. The Cubs had
not been that dominant during the year because of
injuries. Paul Larson, however, had a great year as
a starter in the outfield and batting .290 for the
year, second place in batting behind Frank Chance
for the 1908 season.
The game in question on September 23,
1908 became known as the “Merkle Game” or “Merkle’s
Boners.“ The game was tied in the 9th inning 1-1.
There were two outs in the bottom of the 9th
and the Giants had two men on base – one on first
and one on third. Merkle was on first. Al Bridwell
hit a single into the outfield and the runner on
third scored ending the game with a Giants victory.
The only thing is as 10,000 New York fans rushed the
field Merkle forgot to touch second base; he just
stopped, turned around and headed into the dugout,
which was customary at the time. But the rule book
said different, the runner on first had to touch
second base for the run to count or he could still
be counted out therefore making the scoring run
void. Johnny Evers, the Cubs second baseman, saw
that Merkle had not touched base and called for the
ball from the outfield. In all fairness, it was the
first game Fred Merkle ever started and it would be
the one game he would never live down.
It was Paul who saw what was going on alongside the
other outfielder, Steinfeldt and got the ball from
spectators who had rushed the field to throw to
Evers and then Evers, after catching the ball from
the outfield in the middle of Giant’s fans swarming
the field, touched second base getting Merkle out.
But before he did that Evers was able to get Hack
O’Day, the umpire, over to second base so he could
see what he was doing. O’Day counted Merkle out.
Normally the game would have gone into extra
innings, but since the field was filled with fans
the game could not continue. Also by that time fans
were fighting with Cub players – the rivalry between
the Giants and the Cubs was a brutal one. Paul had
to punch many fans in the outfield to even retrieve
the ball and get it to Johnny Evers. Then he had to
punch fans again just to get off the field. This was
the same for all the Cubs as the field was turning
into a mob scene.
The game would end in a tie and would later have to
be played again if the Cubs, Giants, or Pirates
ended the season in a tie. The controversy was just
beginning for the Cubs because John McGraw, the
manager of the Giants would contest the game and a
decision over the result of it would have to be made
by a meeting of the owners in the league. The
controversy surrounding the game actually became a
nationwide controversy as people all over the
country picked their sides, Cubs or Giants. The
Sporting News which was coming into its own at that
time had a field day with the events and blew the
story up to where it gripped the nation. John McGraw
would say to reporters in New York that the Giants
were robbed and Frank Chance, adding fuel to the
fire, would go on to say that the Cubs really won
the game by forfeit because the Giants refused to
take the field in the 10th inning.
Technically, Frank Chance was right. The Owners of
the leagued decided to stand behind Hack O’Day’s
decision and if the Cubs and Giants ended the season
with a tied record then they would play one game to
decide who won the pennant. As luck would have it
the Cubs and Giants ended the season in a tie and
they replayed the Merkle Game October 8, 1908.
Amy commented that Paul had said in later years that
the championship game for all the marbles was never
the World Series against the Tigers – it was that
one game against the Giants at Polo Grounds in New
York. Paul would also say that the team felt like
Daniel walking into the Lion’s Den and it wasn’t
exactly untrue. There were 25,000 fans who attended
the game that day in a stadium that only sat 10,000.
The New York Giant fans were loud and violent, much
like Yankee fans. There were even death threats by
fans on Cub players if they scored so New York
police officers were called in full force as added
security for the game. In fact, it was the first
time that a baseball game would be played with
security present. Frank Chance commented to his
players that having New York police didn’t make him
feel much better –they could still get beat even if
they won the game on the field. New York fans have
never been known to be the friendliest of fans, even
back then.
Now, the game should have gone in favor the Giants
that day, but it didn’t work out that way. It did
start off that way after Jack Pfiester, who was the
Cubs starting pitcher, gave up a first inning run.
The Cubs started the third inning off of with a Paul
Larson double scoring the first of four runs that
inning. They would never lose the lead after
Three-Finger Brown came in to relieve Jack Pfiester
in the first inning. Brown simply shut the Giants
down, masterfully pitching the game and allowing
only one more run. The Cubs won 4-2 and won the
pennant the third year in a row. It was the greatest
game they played all year and as the Cubs ran for
their lives off the field before a swarm of angry
Giants’ fans could hurt them, they celebrated the
victory as if they had already won the World Series.
It was already evident who would win the Series as
the Cubs faced the Tigers again three days later.
Unlike in 1906 against the White Sox, this time it
happened to be true. The Cubs won the World Series
in 5 games. They shut the Tigers down just like they
did the year before with superb pitching and great
defense. The only game the Tigers could muster a win
in was game 3 when Ty Cobb had four hits that game,
but in game 5 Orval Overall shut Cobb down along
with the other Tigers with his flawless pitching.
The Cubs were champions that year, but it would be
the last time they would ever win the World Series.
Paul once said to his son George and grandson Jack
before he died that those years from 1906-1908 were
the greatest teams that he ever played on.
Amy looked away after saying that and then smiled.
She told Chris that it was from her grandfather Jack
that she heard the 1908 Cubs described as the last
great championship team -he had heard that
description from Paul. Then Amy commented that
perhaps her boss was right; it’s the perfect title
because it was true about that team. If there was
any better way to describe the great defense of that
team then maybe it was best said in a poem – the one
about Tinkers, to Evers, to Chance. Chris had never
heard it before and he asked Amy to say it out
loud. She recited it by heart, like every Cubs
fan.
“These are the saddest of possible words:
‘Tinker to Evers to Chance.’
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
‘Tinker and Evers and Chance.’
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double –
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
‘Tinker to Evers to Chance.’"
Chris smiled, for he had never heard something like
that before. Someone once told him that baseball was
poetry in motion and after hearing that poem and the
way Amy described the Cubs and their players for the
first time he believed it. Amy leaned back on the
couch smiling; she knew the words to say for her
article. Chris saw her smiling and said.
“Your writer’s block is gone now isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is.”
Chris chuckled to himself and then said. “You know
my grandfather used to say that best way to know the
story is to tell someone else because that’s when we
know truth.”
“It’s funny you should say that because my mother
had a saying too. The only way we know the truth
about our family is when we tell their story.”
“Well, there you go…I guess if you continue telling
someone like me the story of the Cubs and your
family you’ll start to see more truth than you
realize.”
Amy smirked at the comment and then replied. “That’s
what I’m afraid of.”
“It won’t be as bad as you think. When we come face
to face with the sins and the lies wrapped up in the
hypocrisy that is our family, that’s when we finally
get set free.”
“I think I heard something like that about truth
before, but what they never tell you is how far you
have to travel down into the abyss before you can be
set free.”
“No one said it would be easy…It wasn’t for me with
my father, but I am the better man for it. Going
through what I did with him has made me the better
man.”
Amy leaned over and kissed him. Chris asked her what
it was for. She said it was for listening. Amy knew
that what he had said was right. In telling any
story about the Cubs she would have to tell her
family story and it wouldn’t be easy. There were
things that she would like to forget and then there
were things that she didn’t want to know. Perhaps
finding out would make her a better person – maybe
she would finally understand all of the “whys.” Why
hadn’t the Cubs really won a World Series since
1908? Why did her father throw his career away when
he was so good? Why did her grandfather, as great of
a pitcher as he was, never get a World Series Ring
when the teams he was on were so deserving of one?
Why could the Cubs come so close only to have it end
in failure? But perhaps the most important “why “
for Amy was, why she was afraid to tell this story.
She wondered, could it really have a happy
ending?
As Chris started to clean up the kitchen
Amy went back her computer. She stared at the white
piece of paper on the computer screen with the title
The Last Great Championship Team
and then she started to write. The first line of the
article read, “Will there ever be another great
championship team like the Cubs of 1908?” As fans we
have been asking ourselves that for a hundred years
and we could very well be asking that for another
hundred.”
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