THE WORLD SERIES—AMERICA’S TRADITION OF UNPREDICTABILITY

By Edwin Cooney

As excited San Franciscans and Dallas/Arlingtonians wrap themselves in the passion of the 106th World Series, they’re merely carrying on a tradition -- and tradition is as American as cherry pie.

Teddy Roosevelt was President when the Boston Americans (now known as the Red Sox) took on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first modern fall classic. The date was Thursday, October 1st, 1903. The place was the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston, Massachusetts.

Boston’s starter was Cy (Denton True) Young who would retire with a career record of 511 wins and 316 losses. His opponent was Deacon (Charles Louis) Phillippe whose career totals would be a mere 186 wins and 108 losses. One would naturally expect that the great Cy Young would win the first World Series game, except that Deacon Phillippe was the unpredictable 7 to 3 victor. The series would go for eight games and be determined when Boston clinched their fifth win in the best five out of nine series. Again, it wasn’t Cy Young who brought the glory to Boston, but “Big Bill” William Henry Dinneen who picked up three of Boston’s triumphs—Young getting the other two. The series would conclude on Tuesday, October 13th. In case you wondered, Bill Dinneen would actually have a losing career record of 170 wins and 177 losses.

On the opening day of the 1918 World Series, baseball spontaneously began a tradition. In the middle of the seventh inning, a military band played “The Star Spangled Banner.” Ever since that Thursday, September 5th (the earliest ever date for a World Series opener), the “Star Spangled Banner” hasn’t missed a major league game. That day’s tribute to Americans fighting and dying on the battlefields of World War I might well have been a factor in the decision by Congress and President Herbert Hoover to make Francis Scott Key’s poem and John Stafford Smith’s British men’s social club drinking song the National Anthem for America. Once again tradition and unpredictability became World Series partners.

As this is written, the San Francisco Giants appear to have a solid 2 games to nothing grip on the series outcome, but then again, numerous times teams down 2 games to nothing have triumphed as “World Champs.” For example:

The 1955 World Champion Brooklyn Dodgers were down 2 games to nothing before beating the Yankees for their first World Series triumph after eight tries. They’d lost to the Red Sox in 1916; to the Indians in 1920; and to the Yankees in 1941, 47, 49, 52 and 53.

The 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers had to come back from a 2/zip deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins in seven games.

The 1971 Pirates and the 1996 Yankees dropped their first two games to their opponents (the Orioles and the Braves, respectively) before bringing home the World Series bacon.

Then there are the sideline unpredictabilities about the World Series: how about the 1989 earthquake series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s? The A’s would sweep the Giants, but it would take two weeks rather than five days. At 5:04 p.m. on Tuesday, October 17th, Candlestick Park was rocked by a 6.9 earthquake resulting in a loss of power to the stadium and a shaken community. Ten days later, on Friday, October 27th,, the series resumed and the A’s completed their sweep.

Who’d have predicted the “impossible dream” Red Sox of 1967? They never expected to get into the series and yet they took the favored Cardinals to seven games. Who would have predicted “The Miracle Mets of 1969” who, after losing the opener to the heavily favored Orioles, would win the next four in a row.

Then there was the spectacle in the 2002 World Series with Giants’ first baseman J. T. Snow, scooping up the team’s tiny bat boy, Manager Dusty Baker’s 3 year-old son, as he scored from second base on an extra base hit. The little fellow had wandered from the dugout onto the field while his father was otherwise occupied. Had there been a violent play at home plate consisting of a throw from the outfield and a home plate collision, there could have been a disaster.

Sports writers and fans will attempt to balance Giants’ pitching against the speed and power of the Rangers. Home field advantage will be weighed against momentum—which many insist doesn’t exist in baseball. Some will anguish for the Giants who haven’t won a World Series since they left New York 52 years ago. Others insist that justice requires a Rangers’ victory because they’ve never even been in a World Series. (Besides, in Texas, The Texas Rangers always get their target!) Therein lies the heart of the World Series story, Baseball’s traditional unpredictability. It’s about hope and disappointment. If “underdogs” only occasionally win (like the 1960 Pirates over the Yankees exactly 50 years ago), it’s all the sweeter to their fans.

Victory brings hope for more victory, yet loss is never quite strong enough to quench hope.

As for hope, it’s as traditional to Americans as the World Series and cherry pie!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY