NLCS Game 1

A lovely afternoon at the West Side Grounds in Chicago, as 16,000+ jammed the park to watch the Cubs take on the Pirates. Ernie Banks' ceremonial first pitch was low and outside, but the Old Style was flowing and the crowd was in an excellent mood.

They did not like what they saw early on, however, as the Pirates jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on a single by batting champ Ginger Beaumont, a sacrifice bunt, and a single by Fred Clarke. Chicago responded off of Pittsburgh starter Jack Chesbro in the bottom of the 2nd with a 2-out rally. Jimmy Slagle singled, stole second, and scored on a single by Joe Tinker.

After that, a tight pitchers duel ensued between Ed Ruelbach and Chesbro. Or, it would have if not for the defensive miscues. The Cubs moved ahead on a walk by Johnny Kling, a hit and run single by Johnny Evers (who then stole 2nd), and a grounder by Slagle. Kling ran with contact, and beat the throw home. An error by Tommy Leach at 3rd led to another run, and before all was said and done in that inning Chicago held a 5-1 lead. Pittsburgh was unable to answer back, and that remained the final score.

In the end, Chicago only had 5 hits but made them count. Jimmy Sheckard collected two of them, driving in two of the Cubbies' runs. Game 2 pits Chicago's Carl Lundgren (17-7, 2.05) vs. Sam Leever (16-11, 2.86) of the Pirates.