1908 World Series

Lore & Background

The 1908 World Series was significant for being the last World Series championship the Cubs would win until 2016 (108 years later). That became the longest World Series championship drought for any team in North American sports history. Before the 2016 series, the team would go on to appear in seven World Series; in 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945, losing each time. The Cubs had been one of baseball's most dominant teams in the early 1900s. This was the year of the infamous 'Merkle's Boner' play that allowed the Chicago Cubs to reach the World Series after beating the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants) in a one-game 'playoff', actually the makeup game for the tie that the Merkle play had caused.

In Their Own Story

The air in Detroit grew still on October 8th as the final out was recorded at Navin Field. Frank Chance, managing from first base, watched Joe Tinker field a ground ball to close the game—a moment where history settled into the present without modern fanfare or confetti cannons. In the dugout, 'Three Finger' Brown wiped the dirt from his glove, knowing he had secured a title for a city that would wait over a century to see it again. The handshake with Ty Cobb was brief, a silent acknowledgment between rivals before the long train ride home to Chicago.

Reader's Guide

The Series was anticlimactic after tight pennant races in both leagues. Ty Cobb had a much better World Series than in the previous year, as did the rest of his team. The final two games, held in Detroit, were shutouts. This was also the most poorly attended World Series in history, with the final game drawing a record-low 6,210 fans. Attendance in Chicago was harmed by a ticket-scalping scheme that fans accused the club's owner of participating in, and the World Series was boycotted to some degree. For the first time, four umpires were used in the series, in alternating two-man teams. Games 1, 4, and 5 were played in Detroit, while Games 2 and 3 were played in Chicago. Had the series continued, Game 6 would have been played in Chicago, and the home team for Game 7 would have been decided randomly, 'by lot'. This was also the first World Series with a defending champion and the first to feature a team that won back-to-back titles.

Did You Know?

• This was the first World Series to feature a team that won back-to-back titles, though it was not the first with a defending champion (the 1906 and 1907 Series also had defending champions).
• The final game drew a record-low 6,210 fans, the smallest crowd in World Series history.
• This was not the first errorless World Series game; Game 5 of the 1908 Series had errors.
• The Cubs did not win another World Series title until 2016, a drought of 108 years, which remains the longest in MLB history.