5. GAME 6, 1918 WORLD SERIES, CHICAGO AT BOSTON
This wasn't a great Series, and Game 6 wasn't a great game. In fact, everything about the season, the playoffs, and the series, well, kind of sucked. America had been thrust full force into World War I in 1918, and baseball lost many players to war duty, forcing the season to be shortened to 126 games. Particularly decimated by the war, the Sox survived by buying four Philadelphia veterans, mixing up their lineup, and playing their best pitcher in left field on his days off: Babe R-, well, you know who we're talking about.
That Guy.
That Guy won 13 games, hit a league-leading 11 home runs, and won two more games in the World Series.
Hmmm.
The Series was further tainted when both teams threatened to strike before Game 5 because of a dispute over World Series shares, which angered everybody in the country (some of the shares were pegged to aid America's wartime costs until the players objected). So it was in this climate that the Red Sox won their sixth and last World Series, beating Chicago in Game 6 as pitcher Carl Mays tossed a complete game for the 2-1 victory. With the war going strong, people didn't care much about baseball all that much. In Boston, only 15,238 fans showed up at Fenway Park for Game 6.
Little did they know.
POSTSCRIPT:Once again, even feel-good Red Sox moments have a dark side. Carl Mays later became the only player ever to kill another baseball player during a game. While pitching for the Yankees in 1920, Mays beaned Cleveland's Ray Chapman, killing him instantly.
