We’ll call today’s post: “The Roos win the Pennant! The Roos win the Pennant!”
Back in the day, MLB clubs would spend spring training in a location chosen by the team. And for years after 1905, John McGraw’s New York Giants would come to Texas to start the season. Their preparation often involved exhibition games against local teams.
The 1908 squad included Christy Mathewson, one of the game’s best known pitchers. 373 career wins, 3rd on the all time list. And a resident of Cooperstown. It also included a rookie picked up in 1907 named Fred Merkle. The Giants had last won the World Series in 1905, and were working to get back.
Before departing back to the Polo Grounds for opening day, the Giants scheduled a game with our beloved Roos in Sherman. The Houston Post has a fairly positive recap of the Giants win.
Mathewson did not pitch that day, but he was likely present. He’s mentioned a week later pitching in another exhibition game in Dallas. Instead Crandell was on the mound, with Roger Bresnahan catching. Bresnahan is also in Cooperstown.
How did the Giants fare in 1908? Mathewson had a career high 37 wins, and the club finished with 98 victories. But they ended 1 game back of the Chicago Cubs in the NL, due in part to the famous late season Fred “Merkle’s Boner”:
The Cubs would win the 1908 World Series, and we’ve been waiting for 108 years for another one.
Pictured is Mathewson at the Polo Grounds, plus a somewhat famous 1913 photo taken of the Giants by Mathewson in Texas. Kind of awesome to imagine Mathewson on campus watching the Giants face the Roos.
Light posting for a while, but more good stories to come!
