1908 WORLD SERIES

Chicago Cubs (4) vs Detroit Tigers (1) | Baseball Almanac

The fourth official World Series marked the third consecutive postseason championship appearance of the Chicago Cubs. After losing to their cross town rivals, the White Sox in 1906, the reigning National League champs made amends by sweeping Detroit in the 1907 Series. The Tigers had learned a hard lesson and were also determined to make a repeat appearance. They met their goal by winning the American League pennant on the last day of the regular season. The press played up the rematch on both sides as Chicago papers were filled with words like "repeat" while the Detroit papers used "revenge".

Game 1 recalled memories of the previous year's opener as the Tigers held a surprise lead going into the ninth inning. Once again, the Tigers watched their advantage fade away, although this year the game would not be called at a tie. Detroit pitcher, Ed Simmons continued to look strong going into the ninth as he retired Johnny Evers to open the inning. The twenty-four game winner was two outs away from Series leading victory, when suddenly everything folded. In what must have seemed like a recurring bad dream, Simmons yielded six consecutive hits resulting in five runs. Chicago snatched the lead and never looked back en route to a 10-6 triumph, using Orval Overall and Mordecai Brown in relief roles behind Ed Reulbach.

Chicago's Orval Overall was given the start for Game 2, having only served in a relief role in the Series opener and was paired up against the Tiger's ace Bill Donovan. Both pitchers went head-to-head for four innings straight with neither allowing a single hit in a 0-0 standoff. Three innings later, the Tigers had managed three hits and the Cubs had one. The game remained scoreless going into the eighth inning with both teams waiting for the other to blink. Donovan blinked first and ran into trouble in the bottom of the inning. Joe Tinker started the rally with a two run homer to right field and before the inning was over, the Cubs had four more hits and four more runs. Ty Cobb tried to generate some momentum with a run-scoring single in the ninth, but once again, Chicago prevailed, winning 6-1. The Cubs were on a roll and won their sixth consecutive Series game against the Tigers.

Detroit was finally able to break Chicago's post-season winning streak in Game 3 with a stellar performance on the mound by George Mullin. The Tigers' ace dominated the Cubs line-up allowing only seven hits in an 8-3 victory. The win appeared to breathe some life back into the perennial losers, but their renewed fervor didn't last long. In Game 4, they recorded a miserable four-hit effort in a 3-0 loss against Brown and they would never recover. Overall, who had performed so magnificently Game 2, was even better in Game 5. The twenty-seven year-old right hander allowed only three hits and struck out ten batters in the 2-0 triumph and back-to-back Series winner. The Tigers' embarrassment was dulled by the lack of witnesses in the stands as only 6,210 fans witnessed the finale in Detroit, the smallest crowd in Series history.

The Cubs became the first team to record three consecutive World Series appearances and two consecutive World Series victories with both championship wins coming off the heels of a record one-hundred sixteen victory season of 1906. In 1908, Chicago's West Side franchise was more than just a winning baseball team, they had just become sports first official "dynasty".

Baseball Almanac Top Quote

"Baseball was one-hundred percent of my life." - Hall of Famer (who batted .368 in the1908 World Series) Ty Cobb

1908 World Series

1908 World Series Program, Detroit Tigers Version

1908 World Series Official Program
Detroit Tigers Version

1908 World Series Program, Chicago Cubs Version

1908 World Series Official Program
Chicago Cubs Version

1907 | Chicago Cubs (4) vs Detroit Tigers (1) | 1909

Game 1 Date | Box 10-10-1908
Location Bennett Park
Attendance 10,812
Game 2 Date | Box 10-11-1908
Location West Side Grounds
Attendance 17,760
Game 3 Date | Box 10-12-1908
Location West Side Grounds
Attendance 14,543
Game 4 Date | Box 10-13-1908
Location Bennett Park
Attendance 12,907
Game 5 Date | Box 10-14-1908
Location Bennett Park
Attendance 6,210
1908 World Series History

Game 1 of the 1908 World Series

Line Score | Game 1

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 5 10 14 2
Detroit 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 6 10 4
Ed Reulbach
  Orval Overall (7th)
  Mordecai Brown (W, 8th)
Ed Killian
  Ed Summers (L, 3rd)
  -
None None

Game 2 of the 1908 World Series

Line Score | Game 2

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 1
Chicago 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 x 6 7 1
Bill Donovan (L) Orval Overall (W)
None Joe Tinker (8th)

Game 3 of the 1908 World Series

Line Score | Game 3

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Detroit 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 2 0 8 11 4
Chicago 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 7 2
George Mullin (W)
  -
Jack Pfiester (L)
  Ed Reulbach (9th)
None None

Game 4 of the 1908 World Series

1908 WORLD SERIES GAME 4 TICKET

* 1908 World Series Game 4 Ticket

Line Score | Game 4

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 10 0
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1
Mordecai Brown (W)
  -
Ed Summers (L)
  George Winter (9th)
None None

Game 5 of the 1908 World Series

Line Score | Game 5

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 10 0
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Orval Overall (W) Bill Donovan (L)
None None

1908 World Series

Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs 1908 World Series Composite Hitting Statistics

Mordecai Brown
Frank Chance
Johnny Evers
Solly Hofman
Del Howard
Johnny Kling
Orval Overall
Jack Pfiester
Ed Reulbach
Frank Schulte
Jimmy Sheckard
Harry Steinfeldt
Joe Tinker
p
1b
2b
of
ph
c
p
p
p
of
of
3b
ss
2
5
5
5
1
5
3
1
2
5
5
5
5
4
19
20
19
1
16
6
2
3
18
21
16
19
0
8
7
6
0
4
2
0
0
7
5
4
5
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
4
5
2
0
2
0
0
0
4
2
3
2
0
2
2
4
0
2
0
0
0
2
1
3
4
.000
.421
.350
.316
.000
.250
.333
.000
.000
.389
.238
.250
.263
0
3
1
1
0
2
0
0
0
2
2
2
0
2
1
2
4
0
2
1
2
1
1
3
5
2
0
5
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
1
2

1908 World Series

Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers 1908 World Series Composite Hitting Statistics

Ty Cobb
Bill Coughlin
Sam Crawford
Bill Donovan
Red Downs
Davy Jones
Ed Killian
Matty McIntyre
George Mullin
Charley O'Leary
Claude Rossman
Germany Schaefer
Boss Schmidt
Ed Summers
Ira Thomas
George Winter
of
3b
of
p
2b
ph
p
of
p
ss
1b
2b-3,3b-2
c
p
c-1
p
5
3
5
2
2
3
1
5
1
5
5
5
4
2
2
2
19
8
21
4
6
2
0
18
3
19
19
16
14
5
4
0
7
1
5
0
1
0
0
4
1
3
4
2
1
1
2
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
2
0
1
1
0
2
1
2
3
0
0
0
0
0
4
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
3
0
1
1
1
0
.368
.125
.238
.000
.167
.000
.000
.222
.333
.158
.211
.125
.071
.200
.500
.000
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
3
1
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
2
1
2
1
2
1
0
2
0
3
4
4
2
2
0
0
2
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
1908 World Series Composite Batting Statistics

1908 World Series

Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs 1908 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics

Mordecai Brown
Orval Overall
Jack Pfiester
Ed Reulbach
2
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
3
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
11.0
18.1
8.0
7.2
0.00
0.98
7.87
4.70
6
7
10
9
5
15
1
5
0
2
7
4
1
7
3
1

1908 World Series

Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers 1908 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics

Bill Donovan
Ed Killian
George Mullin
Ed Summers
George Winter
0
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
2
0
2
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
0
2
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
17.0
2.1
9.0
14.2
1.0
4.24
11.57
0.00
4.30
0.00
17
5
7
18
1
10
1
8
7
0
8
3
0
7
0
4
3
1
4
1
1908 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics
baseball almanac flat baseball

baseball almanac fast facts

Did you know that the home run hit by Joe Tinker during Game 2 was the first one in a Fall Classic since Game 2 of the 1903 World Series?

* The World Series ticket pictured in the Game 4 linescore clearly says Game 2, but it is actually the second game played at the American League venue (Bennett Park).

The attendance during Game 5 (6,210) of the 1908 World Series was the smallest World Series crowd in Major League Baseball history — through 2024.

No World Series MVP Award was given until 1955. Who do you believe would have won? How about Mordecai Brown who pitched two of the Cubs four wins and had an ERA of 0.00? Perhaps Frank Chance who managed his Cubs and hit .421 while playing first base? Please share your opinion on our message board.