Rube Waddell vs. Cy Young

By Daniel O’Brien

When it came to selecting his greatest game ever, pitcher Cy Young had a bunch from which to choose. But the all-time leader in wins, starts, and complete games surprised few, if any, baseball fans when he zeroed in on the perfect game he pitched at home against Rube Waddell and the Philadelphia Athletics on May 5, 1904, when Young’s Boston Americans bested the A’s 3-0—the first perfect game of the modern era.

However, when it came to choosing the greatest game in which he participated, Young's choice was not another of his 511 career victories though it did involve the same teams (the Athletics and Americans) and the same opposing pitcher (Waddell). That contest, which celebrates its centennial anniversary this Independence Day, was one of the best and most talked-about games in early American League (AL) history. On July 4, 1905, the AL clubs from two of America's most historic cities squared off in a doubleheader at Boston's Huntingdon Avenue Grounds—the site of Young's perfect game the previous May. Young and Waddell got the starting nods for the second game of the twin bill.
With the possible exception of a pennant- or World Series-clinching victory, a Hollywood screenwriter couldn't have created a more dramatic scenario: a pair of future Hall of Fame hurlers for two of the young league’s best teams (the AL was founded in 1901, and the A's and Americans won four of the first five pennants) matching up in the city of Paul Revere on our nation's birthday.

Not only did the game last 20 innings, but so did the two star pitchers. It was like Ali-Frazier, Russell-Chamberlain, or Borg-McEnroe standing toe-to-toe, shot-after-shot, or point-per-point for extra rounds, overtimes, or extended tie-breaker. Granted, unlike today, complete games were hardly unusual. Complete game statistics weren't even mentioned; it was simply understood that a pitcher would finished what he started. From 1900 to 1909, major league pitchers as a whole completed nearly 80 percent of their starts, including extra-inning affairs.

Young and Waddell were in the upper echelon of pitchers. During his first four seasons in the American League (1902-05), Waddell completed nearly 87 percent of his starting assignments. Young was even harder to knock out during the same stretch, finishing 146 of 152 starts for a whopping 96 percent completion rate. However, no moundsmen had lasted for 20 innings in a single game at the modern pitching distance, much less two in the same game. Waddell didn't take any warm-up tosses prior to the second game of the double-header. He had relieved for the last two outs in Philly's 5-2 morning game win over the Americans. In the afternoon contest, Waddell shut out Boston batters over the last 19 innings. He also drove in the winning run in the Athletics' 4-2 victory.
All Young did was pitch 13 consecutive scoreless innings before yielding a pair of unearned runs in the 20th inning. Old Cy didn't allow a base-on-balls throughout the ordeal. "For my part, I think it was the greatest game of ball I ever took part in," Young wrote a week later.

Despite the long scoring drought, the game was packed with drama. ". . . the two teams kept at it with the excitement at fever beat until three hours and a half had been consumed, suppers forgotten, engagements neglected, trains and boats missed," reported the Philadelphia Inquirer, "for very few would allow anything to interfere with their presence at the finish of such a game.”

The 20-inning marathon was the longest completed game in major league history to that point. The presence and performances Waddell and Young significantly enhanced the mystique, as did the date. "The fact that it was the Fourth of July kept me going," Waddell noted. "I guess the shooting of revolvers, and the fireworks, and the yelling made me pitch better." Waddell estimated he "must've pitched about 250 balls in the 20 innings." Young figured he averaged about four pitched balls per batter (the A's recorded 74 official at-bats). Neither seemed the worse for wear.

"I can say honestly that I did not feel the strain until it was all over," Young reported.
Waddell, according to legend, used the game's notoriety to quench his notorious thirst.
"Often he'd go into saloons, triumphantly flourishing a baseball as the one which he had used in defeating Cy Young," Athletics' manager Connie Mack remembered. "It was a different ball every occasion, but it always was good for a few drinks."

The game didn't begin in classic fashion. Waddell gave up two runs in the bottom of the first. But Philadelphia pulled even in the sixth inning on a two-run homer by A's first baseman Harry Davis. Though Boston didn't score again, the Americans threatened several times. Shortstop Freddie Parent opened the bottom of the eighth inning with a triple, but Waddell struck out the next two batters and retired another on a routine fly ball. Boston runners reached second and third in the tenth inning, but Waddell again pitched himself out of the jam. " . . . whenever danger threatened he (Waddell) put on the speed and the Boston batsmen might just has well been trying to hit his curves with toothpicks," opined a dispatch to the Philadelphia North American. Waddell even seemed to improve as the game progressed. Only three Bostonians reached base in the last six innings.

The game wasn't without controversy, albeit a mild one. In the bottom of the twelfth, Boston manager/third baseman Jimmy Collins reached second base. Catcher Lou Criger followed with sinking fly to right field. A charging Socks Seybold made a running, close-to-the-ground catch and then doubled Collins off second. The Boston fans weren't convinced the A's rightfielder made the catch. Even Young wasn't so sure at the time.

"I couldn't tell whether he caught the ball or not," Young wrote. "But he said the next day that he did and he is one of those kinds you believe when he makes a statement."

Young's support, characterized as "superb" for most of the game, finally broke down in the twentieth inning. Collins booted Danny Murphy's ground ball to start the inning.

Young followed with one of his few errant pitches of the day, hitting A's shortstop John Knight in the head. Athletics' catcher Osee Schreck lofted a floater between Young and second baseman Hobe Ferris, which neither could field. The A's had the bases loaded with no outs. Waddell had a chance to win his own game. The Rube didn't exactly crush the offering from Young, sending a slow roller to shortstop. When Parent fumbled the ball, Murphy scored with the go-ahead run. A single by Hoffman drove home Knight to give Waddell a two-run cushion. Boston didn't go down without a fight. With one out, first baseman Bob Unglaub doubled. But Waddell retired the next two batters on easy pop-ups to finally put an end to it.

Waddell celebrated with a few cartwheels across the diamond. "It didn't take a feather out of me," claimed Waddell. "I felt just as good after the game was over as I did during the game." Schreck, Waddell's catcher, was probably less energetic. Schreck not only caught every inning of the 20-inning afternoon tilt, he caught the entire morning game as well. Schreck's record for innings caught in a single day remains unequaled.

Waddell went on to his finest full season in the big leagues. He led the American League in wins (26), strikeouts (287) and ERA (1.48). The flaky southpaw missed the final month of the season with a shoulder injury after a scuffle with teammate Andy Coakley over a straw hat. Despite Waddell's absence, the Athletics' held on to win the American League pennant. They lost in five games to the New York Giants in the World Series.

The Independence Day marathon was indicative of Young's hard luck season. He finished among the league leaders in ERA (1.82), complete games (32), strikeouts (210), and fewest walks per 9 innings (0.84), but struggled to an 18-19 record, his first losing season in the majors. Boston finished in fourth place, 16 games behind the A's, to end the Americans' two-year reign as AL champions.

Waddell’s and Young’s one-game record for combined innings pitched lasted only a year. On September 1, 1906, Philadelphia's Jack Coombs and Boston's Joe Harris each pitched every out in the A's 24-inning, 4-1 victory at - where else? – Boston’s Huntingdon Avenue Grounds. Coombs and Harris still hold the AL record. Brooklyn's Leon Cadore and Boston's (Braves) Joe Oeschger battled to a 26-inning, 1-1 deadlock on May 1, 1920 to claim the still-existing National League record.

Waddell and Young seemed to bring out the best in each other. Waddell's marathon win and Young's perfect game weren't the only classic match-ups between the two Hall of Famers. The pair started 14 games against each other with six ending in shutouts. In their initial meeting in 1900 - their only in the National League - Young's St. Louis squad blanked Waddell's Pittsburgh team, 1-0. Their final dual - another Huntingdon Avenue Grounds classic on September 9, 1907 - ended in a scoreless tie after 13 innings. In 1906, Waddell suffered through his only losing season in Philadelphia, but still shut out Boston in his only two starts against Young. "And I'd like to say that beating Rube anytime was a big job," Young would say years later. "I never saw many who were better pitchers."

The 1905 Philadelphia Athletics pitching staff.

From bottom center: Rube Waddell, Chief Bender, Eddie Plank, and Andy Coakley.