website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Chapter on Watertown Baseball
1915
Chicago Cubs
vs.
Watertown Goslings
Washington Park
1915
07 01 CHICAGO CUBS COMING SEPT. 10
Roger Bresnahn
will lead his National league team, the Chicago Cubs, to Watertown on September
10, which promises to be one of the biggest days in the history of Watertown,
for it will be the last day of the Watertown Inter-County Fair of 1915, which
is to exceed all the other fairs in the history of the association.
The date is a sure one. The Cubs
regular lineup will appear on the Washington Park diamond, provided weather
conditions make a game possible. With Shulte, Saier, Zimmerman and the
rest of the Cub bunch romping over the green, it will be THE big baseball day
in this section of the state.
Hundreds of fans from twenty
counties will be here to greet the great team that is today leading the
National League with three and a half games to spare.
Paddy Ryan has been flirting with
the Cubs and it was soon evident from written and spoken messages to “Watertown’s
new tailor” that the fans favored the Cubs by 4 to 1.
Paddy even tore away from his
duties as manager of the west side clothing emporium long enough to make a trip
to Chicago, where he was closeted with President Thomas and made partial
arrangements to secure the Cubs for their only remaining open date.
Home again and Paddy took up the
matter with the directors of the fair association, for he desired that
everything be harmonious. After
considering the matter at a special meeting, the directors concluded that if
the game was scheduled at 3:30 o’clock, it would help more than it could
possibly hurt the closing day of the fair, drawing hundreds of fans here who
would take a peek at the fair during the earlier hours of the day. It will be arranged to start the races an
hour earlier and have them over by 3 o’clock.
Interurban cars will run from the fairgrounds directly to the ball park
at that hour.
No team in the country is so much
in the limelight at present as the Cubs.
They won their way to the top by a daring dash and are holding their
place by the same means. Heine
Zimmermann, laid up for several days on account of an injury, went into the
game as a pinch hitter Thursday, and smashed out a two-bagger, driving in two runs
that tied the count, and turned into victory when he pulled the unexpected and
stole home.
Incidentally Cy
Williams, the giant center fielder, was presented with a gold watch and chain
and some other knick-knacks at the game, the gifts being from his neighbors at
Park Ridge. Shulte
and Good occupied the other two gardens in spectacular style, while Saier grabbed everything that came his way at the first
sack, with Phelan at third, McLarry at second, Fisher
at short and Archer in the catcher’s box.
It is this same lineup which
President Thomas has agreed to put in the field against Pete Kronitz’ birds. If
there are not at least 3000 fans on the grounds when “play ball” is called,
then the “guessers” of the wise fans will be officially declared out of order. WG
_________________________________________________
Article by
David J. Stalker
On September 10, 1915, the Watertown Goslings of the Central
State League played host to the Chicago Cubs at Washington Park. The Watertown
Daily Times stated that there had never been as much excitement created in
this part of the state. That included
the Chicago White Sox game, when they visited two years earlier, with area
natives Billy Sullivan and Frank Lange playing for the Sox. Against the Cubs, the Watertown fans got more
than expected, as the home team was leading going into the last inning.
Watertown
almost cancelled the game due to the wet conditions from the overnight
rainfall, but the Cubs business manager did not receive Watertown’s message in
time. The team boarded the train in
Chicago, the grounds crew at Washington Park prepared to lay bundles of
shavings across the infield. When the
train arrived in Watertown, eager fans greeted them, and together they headed
to Washington Park. The game started on
time as scheduled.
The
Goslings jumped on Cub’s pitcher Karl Adams in the first inning, taking a 3 to
0 lead with hits off the bats of Schumann and Hornickle. The Cubs answered back with a pair of runs in
the third inning, and then tied the game with an additional run in the fourth,
off Watertown pitcher Kiepert.
Wasting
no time the Goslings regained the lead in their half of the fourth, after Hornickle tripled and Henke drove him in with a
single. In this seesaw battle, the Cubs
tied it up in the fifth. The Goslings
took the lead back in the fifth by adding one more run to take a 5 to 4
lead. This lead would last going into
the ninth inning, with Watertown fans hopes running high, to pull off a major
upset.
In
the ninth, a wild pitch hit the Cubs McLarry, and
Kinsley followed with a single. The
Gosling shortstop Dohr, denied Zimmerman a hit with
an outstanding stop and throw to first base. Vic Saier,
who was the Cubs first baseman through 1917, until the Watertown native Fred Merkle took his
place, was next at bat. Saier lifted the ball to right field, Henke miss-judged the
fly ball by coming in first, and when he realized his mistake the ball flew
over his head and two runs scored. The
Cubs barely pulled out a victory, wining 6 to 5.
The
Goslings certainly played an honorable game.
Kiepert kept the Goslings in the game with his
pitching and defense. Hornickle and Henke each had two hits, and Hornickle and Schumann scored twice. The fans were proud of their team, knowing
that besides a miss-judged fly ball, the Goslings could have beaten the Chicago
Cubs.
Watertown
has always had a large Cub fan base, and still does today. For many years, they were the closest major
league team to Watertown. Milwaukee had
a team named the Brewers in the inaugural season of the American League in
1901, but after one season moved to St. Louis and became the Browns, and later
the Baltimore Orioles. Not long after
this, the Cubs became one of the most dominate teams ever, playing in four
World Series between the years of 1906-1910, and becoming the first team to win
back to back World Series in 1907 and 1908.
Playing against Watertown, were two members of the back-to-back champions,
they were Heinie Zimmerman and Frank “Wildfire”
Schulte.
The
players listed in the Watertown
Daily Times are as follows:
|
|
|
|
Chicago
Cubs |
Watertown
Goslings |
|
|
|
|
Murray rf |
Powers lf |
|
McLarry 2b
|
Nowack 2b |
|
Knisely lf |
Kohli cf |
|
Zimmerman ss |
Schumann 3b |
|
Saier 1b |
Hornickle c |
|
Morse cf |
Henke rf |
|
McCarthy 3b
|
Dohr ss |
|
Hargrave c |
Koenig 1b |
|
Adams p |
Kiepert p |
|
Standridge p |
|
|
*Schulte ph
*Batted for Adams in the eighth inning |
|
|
Umpire: Frank Lange |
|
|
|
|
There was a pitcher from Columbus, WI named Frank Lange, he
played for the White Sox for four years, and pitched for them when they played
Watertown in 1913. Prior to his short
career with the White Sox from 1910-1913, Frank pitched briefly for Watertown.
It is very possible that this umpire was that same person.
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin