1917 World Series
A program from the 1917 World Series, depicting then U.S. presidentWoodrow Wilson
Team (Wins) Managers Season Chicago White Sox (4) Pants Rowland 100–54, .649, GA: 9 New York Giants (2) John McGraw 98–56, .636, GA: 10
Dates	October 6–15
Venue(s)	Comiskey Park (Chicago) Brush Stadium (New York)
Umpires	Silk O'Loughlin (AL),Bill Klem (NL) Billy Evans (AL),Cy Rigler (NL)
Hall of Famers	Umpires: Bill Klem Billy Evans Chicago White Sox: Eddie Collins Red Faber Ray Schalk Giants: John McGraw (mgr.)
← 1916 World Series 1918 →

The1917World Series was thechampionship series ofMajor League Baseball's (MLB)1917 season. The 14th edition of the World Series, it was abest-of-seven playoff between theAmerican League (AL) championChicago White Sox and theNational League (NL) championNew York Giants. The White Sox won the series in six games. The series was played against the backdrop ofWorld War I, which dominated American newspapers both that year and the next.

The strong Chicago White Sox club finished the1917 season with a 100–54 record, which remains their only 100-win season in franchise history to date. Their nextWorld Series-winning team in2005 finished the regular season with a 99–63 record.

The Sox won Game 1 of the Series in Chicago 2–1 behind a complete game byEddie Cicotte.Happy Felsch hit a home run in the fourth inning that provided the winning margin. In Game 2 the Sox beat the Giants 7–2 behind another complete game effort byRed Faber to take a 2–0 lead in the Series.

Back in New York for Game 3, Cicotte again threw a complete game, but the Sox could not muster a single run against Giants' starterRube Benton and lost 2–0. In Game 4 the Sox were shut out again 5–0 byFerdie Schupp. Faber threw another complete game, but the Series was even at 2–2 going back to Chicago.

Reb Russell started Game 5 in Chicago, but only faced three batters before giving way to Cicotte. Going into the bottom of the seventh inning, Chicago was down 5–2, but they rallied to score three in the seventh and three in the eighth to win 8–5. Faber pitched the final two innings for the win. In Game 6 the Sox took an early 3–0 lead and on the strength of another complete-game victory from Faber (his third of the Series) won 4–2 and clinched the World Championship.Eddie Collins was the hitting hero, batting .409 over the six game series while Cicotte and Faber combined to pitch 50 out of a total 52 World Series innings to lead the staff.

The decisive game underscored the Giants' post-season frustrations, featuring a famousrundown in which Giants'third basemanHeinie Zimmerman futilely chased the speedyEddie Collins towardhome plate with what would be the Series-winning run.CatcherBill Rariden had run up the third base line to start a rundown, expectingpitcherRube Benton orfirst basemanWalter Holke to cover the plate. However, neither of them budged, forcing Zimmerman to chase Collins while pawing helplessly in the air with the ball in an attempt to tag him. Two years before the issue of baseball betting reached its peak, Zimmerman found himself having to publicly deny purposely allowing the run to score, i.e. to deny that he had "thrown" the game. In truth, McGraw blamed Benton and Holke for failing to cover the plate. A quote often attributed to Zim, but actually invented by writerRing Lardner some years later, was that when asked about the incident Zim replied, "Who the hell was I supposed to throw to, Klem (umpireBill Klem, who was working the plate)?" Conventional wisdom has it that Collins was much faster than Zimmerman, but existing photos of the play show that Zimmerman was only a step or two behind Collins, who actually slid across the plate while Zim jumped over him to avoid trampling him. Zimmerman would eventually be banned for life due to various accusations of corruption.

The great athleteJim Thorpe, better known for football in general, made his only World Series "appearance" during Game 5, where he was listed in the lineup card as starting in right field; but for his turn at bat in the top of the first inning he was replaced by a left-handed hitting Dave Robertson.

The White Sox, who were essentially dismantled following the 1920 season by baseball commissionerKenesaw Mountain Landis due to theBlack Sox Scandal in the1919 World Series, did not make it to anotherWorld Series until1959, and did not win anotherWorld Series until2005.

ALChicago White Sox (4) vs. NLNew York Giants (2)

Fred McMullin drove in Chicago's first run, andHappy Felsch's homer made it 2–0. Giants pitcherSlim Sallee knocked in his side's only run with a single after aLew McCarty triple.

Shoeless Joe Jackson's two-run single capped a five-run fourth inning for the White Sox, who knocked out Giants starterFerdie Schupp in the second inning.

The home team won for the third straight time as the series moved to New York. The only runs of a snappy 1 hour, 55 minute game came on aDave Robertson triple,Walter Holke double and a single byGeorge Burns.

The first of a pair of homers by Giants center fielderBenny Kauff was an inside-the-park one that sailed over Sox center fielderHappy Felsch's head. The other came in the eighth off Chicago relieverDave Danforth.

Even thoughRed Faber would start Games 4 and 6, he was brought in from the bullpen to close Game 5. Taking no chances, the Sox yanked starterReb Russell after just three batters, all of whom reached base. A three-error third inning behindEddie Cicotte put the Giants up 4–1. But after a game-tying rally in the seventh, the Sox won it in the eighth as Happy Felsch greeted relieverPol Perritt with an RBI single. It was the fifth straight win by the home team in this Series.

A pair of errors proved costly to the Giants in a three-run fourth whenChick Gandil andRay Schalk followed with RBI hits. New York's hopes rose with aBuck Herzog triple in the next inning that made it 3–2. But with the workhorse Faber holding the Giants at bay the rest of the way, the Sox got an insurance run in the ninth on hits byBuck Weaver andNemo Leibold, and the Series was theirs. It would be their last championship until 2005.

1917 World Series(4–2):Chicago White Sox (A.L.) overNew York Giants (N.L.)

• Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990).The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 66–70.ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
• Reichler, Joseph (1982).The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2125.ISBN 0-02-579010-2.

• 1917 World Series atWorldSeries.com viaMLB.com
• 1917 World Series atBaseball Almanac
• 1917 World Series atBaseball-Reference.com
• The 1917 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) atRetrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1917 atThe Sporting News. Archived fromthe original in May 2006.

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