Minnesota 3, Mathewson 1
There have been commentaries of late about Philadelphia’s sports drought. Of the cities with at least one team in all four major American team sports, the City of Brotherly Love has gone the longest — 25 years — without a championship. This has come up because the Phillies, of course, are trying to break the skid. Yet there was a time when Philadelphia was something of a Title Town. Ninety-five years ago this month the Philadelphia Athletics won their third World Series in a span of four years.
One of my favorite chapters (nineteen) from one of my favorite books chronicles the colorful 1913 World Series. During that series the A’s beat the New York Giants in six games and Charles Bender cemented his reputation as baseball’s premier clutch pitcher. Following the historic victory the Philadelphia Bulletin declared: “On Broadway they rave about Mathewson being the greatest ‘money pitcher’ in base ball — but only on Broadway. Right here in this town where we boast of the greatest ball club of all time we boast of the greatest money pitcher — the greatest of all. That hurler is Charles Albert Bender.”
Bender completed and won both of his starts in the series. Another A’s victory was delivered by a fellow Minnesota-born pitcher, Bullet Joe Bush. Meaning, Minnesota pitchers won three games as opposed to the great Christy Mathewson, who could manage only a single W.
Neither Bender nor Bush were born in Brainerd but newspapers often wrote that they were. And the town followed the pair’s exploits in the World Series as though they were native sons. “There was not a store in Brainerd that did a nickel’s worth of business after the returns began to come in,” said William McKenzie, a Brainerd resident in 1913. “The interest was so intense that everybody deserted business and flocked to the telegraph office to get the news hot off the wire.”
Note: The accompanying photo was taken during the 1913 World Series. Bender is pictured in the middle holding a bat, one of two wearing a mackinaw over his uniform.
This post was added on Thursday, October 23, 2008 by Tom Swift at 11:59 and is filed under Albert.
"Chief Bender's Burden" has won the 2009 Seymour Medal, which recognizes the best work of baseball history during the preceding calendar year. Thanks awards committee, Dorothy Seymour Mills, the Society for American Baseball Research, and readers!
