Monday, December 12, 2016

Sure Could Have Fooled Me!

Ed Reulbach is the only pitcher to throw shutouts in both games of a doubleheader. While not the best pitcher on those great Chicago Cubs teams of 1906-1910, he was right up there.

But Ed posted W% of .826, .810 and .774 from 1906 to 1908, and Chicago was there in the Fall Classic all three years. Despite posting ERA's of 1.42, 1.65, 1.69, 2.03 and 1.78 from 1905 to 1909, he did not lead the league in that category any of those seasons. He never lead the league in wins or ERA at all, although he ended up winning many games.

But it was on September 26, 1908 that his big day came. Reulbach looked like he was ready for a no-hitter (X 2) as it was Chicago vs. Brooklyn.

The Cubs were just on fire. They were 91-54 on the season. Brooklyn? They finished with just 53 wins and 101 losses. They were still, "The Robins" at this point. Chicago beat 'em 5-1 on the 25th.

Reulbach was gonna remind 'em that there was a lot to choose between the two teams. In the opener, he pitched a complete game shutout, winning 5-0. It took Ed just 100 minutes to do that. His team pounded out 10 hits in the nine innings. Brooklyn managed just 5. Reulbach walked but one batter.

And he'd told his manager, Frank Chance, to count him down for the nightcap.

And Reulbach was even better there!

The Cubs got only five hits. The Robins, though, managed just three. Again, Ed walked just three. The games was a little closer, but it was the visiting Chicago team that won, 3-0. The Cubs commited an error, but the Robins committed four in the first game and another two in the second. Ed Reulbach over Jim Pastorius in just 82 minutes!

Chicago lost only one more game the rest of the season. Coming up short to Cincinnati, 6-5 on September 30th, it proved to be a mirage. They finished the year 9-1, winning their last four contests. But they still needed a 4-2 win over the New York Giants on the season's dramatic end. Chicago, you see, appeared to have lost a game on the 23rd of September to New York. Fred Merkle had forgotten to touch second in a force play in the last inning, thus nullifying the winning run. Chicago had never looked back despite losing the very next game. In the World Series, they were even better, beating Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers in just five games. Reulbach won the opener and even made what had to be a surprising relief appearance in an 8-3, game three loss. Chicago pitched back-to-back shutouts from there to win it all for the second straight year.

When it comes to pitchers on even that Cubbies team, you probably wouldn't remember Ed. The truth is, only Modecai "Three Finger" Brown was better than him. Brown was 29-9 that season, while Reulbach was right there with a 24-7 record. I guess Reulbach being nowhere near Brown's 1.47 ERA is the reason for his legendary status. Actually, three others starters, Orval Overall, Jack Pfiester and of course Mordecai had better ERA's than Ed Reulbach in 1908. But Orverall and Pfiester won just 108 and 71 games, respectively.

Reulbach ended up with 182 wins, nowhere near enough for Hall Of Fame consideration. Brown ended up winning 239, losing just 130 and posting a career ERA of 2.06. But, then again, Reulbach lost just 106 games of his own and his lifetime ERA was 2.28. Shutout were not his specialty despite pitching two on the same day and 40 overall for his career. Brown finished with 55, leading the league twice. So here again, perhaps he wasn't that far off Brown after all.

Ed ended up bouncing around the bigs. By 1914, he was in the Federal League with the Newark Pepper, winning 21 games after being just 11-18 with Brooklyn of all teams the previous year. Ed ended up with the Boston Braves in 1917, winning just one game in five appearances before being released on July 17th. And while he isn't as well remembered as he should be, that never-to-be-forgotten pennant race of 1908 was clinched in no small part due to Ed Reulbach. 

No comments:

Post a Comment