Home
Home |
Washington came to New York on August 31 to play three consecutive days of doubleheaders with the Highlanders. Slow Joe Doyle pitched a 5-0 shutout in the first game for New York and the Highlanders held on for a 9-8 win in the nightcap. New York then swept both games of the second doubleheader by scores of 7-5 and 20-5 and completed the six-game sweep on September 1 by winning 5-4 and 5-3 games. Suddenly, having won ten of eleven, they now trailed the White Sox by only 1½ games.
Labor Day found Philadelphia visiting New York for a doubleheader. In the first game, won by New York 4-3, Highlanders shortstop Kid Elberfield, nicknamed the “Tabasco Kid” for his hot temper, assaults umpire Silk O’Laughlin and is forcibly removed by police. In the second game, Willie Keeler collides with A’s shortstop Lave Cross trying to field a ground ball and two runs scored, tying the game at 3-3. O’Laughlin sees no interference, a call so hotly disputed by A’s captain Harry Davis that after 8 minutes of arguing, the umpire forfeits the game to New York, giving them their fourth straight doubleheader sweep and putting them in a virtual tie with Chicago.
Traveling to Boston for a brief three-game road trip, the Highlanders sweep their fifth straight doubleheader, blanking the Red Sox in both games by scores of 7-0 and 1-0. Bill Hogg completes the sweep the next day, beating Boston 6-1 and putting the Highlanders alone in first place.
Returning home for their final home stand of the season, the Highlanders edged Boston 6-5 on September 6 and swept Philadelphia 3-2 and 11-4. The Highlanders had now won 19 of their past 20 games, including the last 15 in a row to take a game-and-a-half lead over Chicago. Cleveland had fallen to seven behind and the A’s trailed New York by eight and a half games. Boston snapped New York’s streak at 15 with a 4-1 win at Highlander Grounds and went on to take two of three in New York’s last home series of the year.
On September 12, the Highlanders held a one game lead over the White Sox. Unfortunately, their last 25 games were to be on the road while Chicago now had 22 of their final 24 games at South Side Park. Over the next week New York went 4-3 in games at Washington and St. Louis, while the White Sox put together a six-game winning streak to retake a one game lead over New York.
In the most crucial series of the season, New York visited Chicago for a four-game set. In a Friday doubleheader that drew 20,000 fans, the Highlanders score 3 in the 9th inning to put away the Sox behind Jack Chesbro to propel New York back into a tie for first. The Highlanders then went a game ahead in the nightcap as Bill Hogg led them to 4-1 victory called after 6 innings due to rain. The Sox knotted the standings the next day as Doc White pitched them to 7-1 victory over Al Orth, likely the best pitcher in the AL in 1906. In the finale, the Highlanders would score the only run of the game in the first as Kid Elberfield walked, Hal Chase hit a ball into left that was misplayed to put runners at second and third. Jimmy Williams then hit into an unusual double play in which Chase was thrown out at third as Elberfield scored. Bill Hogg made the run stand up, out dueling Ed Walsh as approximately 27,000 people watched on.