1909 World Series
Program from the series
Team (Wins) Managers Season Pittsburgh Pirates (4) Fred Clarke (player/manager) 110–42, .724, GA:6+1⁄2 Detroit Tigers (3) Hughie Jennings 98–54, .645, GA:3+1⁄2
Dates	October 8–16
Venue(s)	Forbes Field (Pittsburgh) Bennett Park (Detroit)
Umpires	Jim Johnstone (NL),Billy Evans (AL),Bill Klem (NL),Silk O'Loughlin (AL)
Hall of Famers	Umpires: Billy Evans Bill Klem Pirates: Fred Clarke Honus Wagner Vic Willis Tigers: Sam Crawford Ty Cobb Hughie Jennings (manager)
← 1908 World Series 1910 →

The1909World Series was the championship series inMajor League Baseball for the1909 season. The sixth edition of the World Series, it featured theNational League championPittsburgh Pirates^[a] against theAmerican League championDetroit Tigers. The Pirates won the Series in seven games to capture their first championship of the modernMajor League Baseball era and the second championship in the club's history. This Series is best remembered for featuring two of the very best players of the time, PittsburghshortstopHonus Wagner, and DetroitoutfielderTy Cobb.

Sites: games 1, 2 in Pittsburgh; games 3, 4 in Detroit; game 5 in Pittsburgh; games 6, 7 in Detroit.

The Pirates had won the National League pennant in 1909 behind the brilliant play of Honus Wagner, who led the league with a .339batting average and 100runs batted in.

Detroit returned for their third consecutive Fall Classic, determined to erase the memories of their previous efforts. The Tigers were also backed up by the heavy bat ofTy Cobb (who had just won his third consecutiveAmerican League batting title) and a formidable pitching staff. They might have finally won the Series in their third try, had it not been for Pirates rookieBabe Adams. ManagerFred Clarke started him, on a hunch, in Game 1. Adams won that game and two more, setting a World Series record for rookies. The Tigers thus became the first AL team to win three consecutive pennants and the first team to lose three straight World Series (theNew York Giants would lose three straight Series from 1911 to 1913).

The Pirates ran at will against the weak Detroit catching corps, stealing 18 bases in seven games.

For the first time, four umpires were used at the same time, with the standard plate umpire and base umpire along with two outfield umpires.

On June 14, 2009, the series' 100th anniversary was celebrated, when the Tigers and Pirates played each other in Pittsburgh. Both teams wore throwback uniforms similar to those worn in 1909. The stadium's public address and sound systems were also turned off, simulating the game conditions in 1909. The Pirates won the game, 6–3.^[1]

Honus Wagner andTy Cobb displayed onT206baseball cards

Ty Cobb had a fairly quiet Series, going 6-for-26 with two stolen bases and one caught stealing. There is a long-standing legend that Cobb, standing on first base, called the German-ancestoredHonus Wagner a "krauthead", told him he was going to steal second, and was not only thrown out but that Wagner tagged him in the mouth, ball in hand, drawing blood from Cobb's lip. However, an examination of the play-by-play does not indicate that such a play occurred. In the one "caught stealing" charged to Cobb, during the first inning of Game 4, he was actually safe at second due to a throwing error by first basemanBill Abstein. This story is largely attributed to the creative press at the time, and Wagner and Cobb were actually on good terms.

NLPittsburgh Pirates (4) vs. ALDetroit Tigers (3)

I'll never forget the look on Adams' face when I told him I wanted him to pitch the opener.

Rookie Babe Adams, who had compiled a 12–3 record during the regular season, unexpectedly drew the start for Game 1. He responded with a six-hit, 4–1 victory sparked by Clarke's game-tying home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Tigers began their 7–2 comeback win (after a two-run Pirate bottom of the first) with three runs in the top of the third, tying the Series at one game apiece. Ty Cobb stole home to start the rally.

Honus Wagner had three hits, three RBI and three stolen bases as the Pirates regained the lead in the Series, two games to one.

The win-swapping continued with Detroit taking Game 4. Tiger aceGeorge Mullin threw a five-hit shutout while striking out 10 Pirates, again evening the Series at two games apiece.

Babe Adams threw another six-hitter, for an 8–4 triumph and a 3–2 Series lead for his Pirates.

Mullin, after being roughed up for three first-inning runs, surrendered only one more and wound up with the win, knotting the Series at three games apiece.

With the Series coming down to a climactic seventh game (the first to go the distance), Pittsburgh's Fred Clarke went with two-game winner Babe Adams as his pitcher, while Detroit ManagerHugh Jennings decided on Bill Donovan, a complete-game winner in Game 2.

Donovan got off to a miserable start. He hit the first Pirate batter and went on to walk six in the first two innings. He was pulled after three with Adams confidently holding a 2–0 lead. Pittsburgh never looked back, as Babe nailed his third six-hitter and third win of the Series for an 8–0 championship victory.

Honus Wagner continued to prove his Cooperstown worthiness by hitting .333, with seven RBI and six stolen bases (the latter total standing as a Series record untilLou Brock surpassed it in1967). On the other side, Ty Cobb did not fare as well. Appearing in what would be his last Series (although he would remain active through 1928), Cobb batted only .231 although he did lead the Tigers, losers of their third Series in three years, with six RBI.

No two professional sports teams fromDetroit andPittsburgh would play for a major professional sports championship again until the2008 Stanley Cup Final between theDetroit Red Wings andPittsburgh Penguins.

This would be the last World Series appearance for the Pirates until1925 while the Tigers would not play in another Fall Classic for25 years.

It was the first time that one team won the odd-numbered games; the other, the even; it did not happen again until1962.

1909 World Series(4–3):Pittsburgh Pirates (N.L.) beatDetroit Tigers (A.L.)

The championship was recorded byEssanay Co., and sold double the expected number of copies. Studio manager A. M. Kennedy speculated that the film would set a world record for sales.^[10]

• 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. 27–31.ISBN 0-312-03960-3.
• Reichler, Joseph (1982).The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan Publishing. p. 2117.ISBN 0-02-579010-2.

• 1909 World Series atWorldSeries.com viaMLB.com
• 1909 World Series atBaseball Almanac
• 1909 World Series atBaseball-Reference.com
• The 1909 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) atRetrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1909 atThe Sporting News. Archived fromthe original in May 2006.

• 1909 Major League Baseball season
• Detroit Tigers postseason
• Pittsburgh Pirates postseason
• World Series
• 1909 in sports in Michigan
• 1909 in sports in Pennsylvania
• 1909 in Detroit
• 1900s in Pittsburgh
• October 1909 sports events in the United States
• Baseball competitions in Detroit
• Baseball competitions in Pittsburgh

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2013
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using multiple image with auto scaled images