The Dynasty of the Dead Ball Era

There have been lively debates over the course of baseball history as to what franchise had the greatest team over a substantial period of time. Rarely are the turn of the century Cubs considered in this mix, but the evidence points strongly in their favor.

Much is made of the century of futility experienced by the Chicago Cubs. However, it was not always this way. At one time, the Cubs were the premier team in all of baseball. Just how good were they?

Perhaps the greatest team of all time, over a prolonged stretch.

In 1906, the Cubs won 116 games. No one has approached this mark, even with the increase of games played over the course of a season over the course of time. The In 1907, the Cubbies won 107 games, for a two year mark of 223, a MLB record for most wins in two seasons. In 1908 they won 99 games, for a total of 322, a record for three seasons. The next year the North Siders won 104, for a total of 426, an all time mark for four consecutive seasons. In 1910, the Boys in Blue won 104 games once again, for a five year total of 530, an all time mark that stands today. In 1911, the Cubs had a relative off year, winning a mere 92 games, for a total of 622, but this is the high-water mark for six years. The only other team, by the way, to win over 600 games in a six year period was not the vaunted Yankees of the twenties , fifties, sixties or nineties, but the Cardinals of the forties.

In 1912, the Cubs won 93 games, for a total of 713, also an all time record for seven years. Step back several years, now - from 1904 - 1911, the Cubs won 807 games. The Yankees of the DiMaggio years, thought by many scholars to be the greatest team of all time, won 799 games from 1936 - 1943, eight games short of the Cubs, who hold the record for most wins in an 8 consecutive seasons. They won 898 games from 1904 - 1912, also an all-time record for nine consecutive seasons. And finally, they won 986 games from 1904-1913, a record for a ten year period. All these records have stood for close to 100 years. In conclusion, the Cubs have the all time record for most wins in consecutive seasons for 1 year, 2 years, 3, 4, 5, 6,7,8,9, and ten years. An unbelievable stretch, which no team, ancient or modern, comes close to matching. During that period, their lowest win total was 88, highest being 116; they were in four world championship series, and won two of them. During these ten seasons, they never finished lower then third place.

Baseball's Sad Lexicon

by Franklin Pierce Adams

These are the saddest of possible words:

"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,

Tinker and Evers and Chance.

Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,

Making a Giant hit into a double-

Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:

"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

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The question remains - how did the Cubs pull off a decade of unparalleled excellence? The team had the most famous double play trio in the history of baseball, Tinkers to Evers-to Chance; baseball historians state not so much as a result of their skill level, but because Franklin Grant wrote the immortal and catchy limerick about them. They were, of course, very good, but the sports cognoscenti typically give them a grade of B to B PLUS in turning over the DP. All three were inducted simultaneously into Cooperstown, but there was and continues to be a great deal of debate about whether they deserved their bust reside side by side in Baseballs Hall of the Immortals, especially in regards to the hot-headed misogynist Johnny Evers, who was a borderline Famer at best.

Now, the mystery. Go back and look at their teams over that period of time. They had a Hall of fame pitcher, Three-fingered Mordecai Brown, and Johnny Kling, a superior but certainly never an elite catcher. They also had some other good pitchers; at times superior, but none worth serious consideration in the Hall of fame. For instance, Ed Reulback was an excellent hurler for three years, but otherwise his lifetime stats are inferior to, say, Andy Petite and by a considerable margin. Jimmy Sheckford and Harry Seinfeldt were very good, but not great players. In other words, there were no teammates who vaguely resembled a Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons, Mel Ott, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Derek Jeter, Reggie Jackson - no one even close. For the most part, they didn't have any ballplayers that competed in any of the power categories on a consistent basis. Outside of the infield, and Mordecai Brown, no other player rates very highly on Bill James all time list. There are many infields in baseball history that appear superior, and by considerable margins. The present Yankee infield, featuring Mark Texiera, Robbie Cano AROD and Derek Jeter seems far superior, as do the infield of the Big Red Machine, with Tony Perez, Joe Morgan,

Tony Conception, and Pete Rose. There are quite a few others that seem to be on a higher level then our legendary trio. Yet none of these team that these stars played for dominated baseball over such an extended period of time. So, the question remains - how exactly did the Cubs win at record levels?

The answer likely lies in team defense, especially infield defense, one of the more overlooked categories in baseball. Perhaps Tinker, Evers and Chance are now considerably UNDERATED; this group played as a trio on the Cubs for almost the entire decade of dominance. My supposition is that this team perhaps won more games with infield defense then any team in the history of the sport. Bill James has come to the same conclusion. How else explain how 17-19 pitchers who started on the Cubs during this period wound up with ERA's under 3:00; many of these hurlers were borderline talented at best, and all of them had their best years when they pitched for the Cubs.

Of course, there are none now alive who observed this team in action, nor is there any video representation of the Cubs. All recollection is by way of mouth, handed down through several generations. But until some other superlative franchise of the future breaks their record of cumulative brilliance, they will live on, especially in the hearts of Cubs fans, as perhaps the greatest club in the history of our National Pastime.

By: Paul Nebenfuhr
MLBCenter.com Guest Writer

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