1904 Highlanders

The pitch left Jack Chesbro's hand and sailed over catcher Red Kleinow's head. Lou Criger trotted home from third base. Boston won 3-2. The pennant was gone. It was October 10, 1904, and Chesbro had just thrown the most famous wild pitch in baseball history -- or, if you believed manager Clark Griffith, the most famous passed ball. Either way, the Highlanders' season ended on the final play of the final game, 1.5 games behind the Boston Americans, with 35,000 fans watching the dream die at Hilltop Park.

The Spitball Changes Everything

Chesbro's 1904 season shouldn't be remembered for how it ended. It should be remembered for what he did across 454 and two-thirds innings -- a workload so staggering that modern baseball can't conceptualize it. He started 51 games, completed 48 of them, and won 41. That number still stands as the modern-era record, more than 120 years later.

It almost didn't happen. Chesbro had struggled early, pitching without the spitball that would become his signature. Manager Griffith and catcher Deacon McGuire both opposed the pitch. But after a rough stretch, McGuire relented. On May 14, Chesbro unleashed the spitter for the first time in a game, and the results were immediate -- a 14-game winning streak with a 1.40 ERA over 129 innings. Opposing hitters posted a .463 OPS against him during the streak. He'd learned the pitch by watching Elmer Stricklett throw it in spring training and mastered it faster than anyone thought possible.

The Pennant Race

The Highlanders rode Chesbro's arm into a legitimate pennant fight. By September 8, they were tied with Boston. The race stayed tight through a rain-soaked mid-September stretch that produced tied games on three consecutive days -- September 13, 14, and 15. By September 20, the Highlanders trailed by just two games and still had a clear path to the pennant.

On October 7, Chesbro won his 41st game, beating Boston 3-2 and putting the Highlanders into first place with four games remaining. The franchise that had finished fourth in its inaugural season was now on the doorstep of a championship. The pennant was theirs to lose.

Then they lost it -- in the most bizarre way imaginable.

The Columbia Football Game

Team owner Frank Farrell had rented Hilltop Park to Columbia University for a football game on Saturday, October 8. When the agreement was signed, the pennant race was theoretical. Now it was real, and the rental meant the Highlanders had to travel to Boston for two critical games instead of hosting them with 35,000 fans behind them.

Chesbro pitched the first game on no rest after his October 7 start. Boston won 13-2 -- a blowout that exposed how exhausted Chesbro's arm had become. Jack Powell took the mound for the nightcap and pitched well enough, but Cy Young threw a shutout on the other side. The doubleheader sweep knocked the Highlanders back, and when they returned to Hilltop Park for October 10, they needed a doubleheader sweep just to force a tie.

The first game went to the ninth inning tied 2-2. Then came the pitch.

The Pitch

Wild pitch or passed ball, it didn't matter for the score. Criger came home. Boston won 3-2. The Highlanders' season -- 92 wins, 41 from Chesbro alone -- was over on one pitch that sailed six inches too high. Griffith blamed Kleinow. The official scorer blamed Chesbro. The 35,000 fans at Hilltop Park blamed the universe.

No World Series

Even if the Highlanders had won the pennant, they might not have played in the World Series. Giants owner John T. Brush and manager John McGraw -- the same McGraw who'd sabotaged the Baltimore Orioles -- announced in March that they wouldn't play the AL champion. Brush called the Highlanders a "minor league" operation. The boycott stood even after the Highlanders lost the pennant to Boston, and no Series was played in 1904.

The public outrage was immediate. Players lost their Series bonus money. Fans felt cheated. Over the winter, the backlash forced the two leagues to negotiate a formal agreement making the World Series an annual institution. Brush's petty boycott, intended to diminish the Highlanders, instead created the structure that made October baseball permanent.

The Record That Won't Break

Chesbro's 41 wins will never be touched. Modern starters throw 200 innings and call it a heavy workload. Chesbro threw 454. He appeared in 55 games, started 51, and completed 48. Ed Walsh got within one with 40 in 1908, but nobody's won even 30 since Denny McLain's 31 in 1968. The gap between 41 and 31 is a chasm that no pitcher in the era of five-man rotations and pitch counts will ever cross.

What makes the record bittersweet is the ending. Chesbro won more games in a single season than any pitcher alive, and the season is remembered for the one pitch that got away. He bore the blame quietly, even as Griffith insisted it was Kleinow's fault. Forty-one victories, overshadowed by one pitch. The 1905 Highlanders would try to build on what Chesbro started, but no season in franchise history would match the concentrated brilliance -- or the concentrated heartbreak -- of 1904.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many games did Jack Chesbro win in 1904?

Chesbro won 41 games with a 1.82 ERA, throwing 454.2 innings across 51 starts with 48 complete games. The 41-win total remains the modern-era record (since 1901). The second-highest total is Ed Walsh's 40 wins in 1908, and nobody's won 30 since Denny McLain's 31 in 1968.

What happened on the last day of the 1904 season?

On October 10, 1904, the Highlanders needed to sweep a doubleheader against Boston at Hilltop Park to force a tie for the pennant. In the ninth inning of the first game, with the score tied 2-2, Chesbro's spitball sailed past catcher Red Kleinow, allowing Lou Criger to score from third. Boston won 3-2 and clinched the pennant. It was scored as a wild pitch, though manager Clark Griffith always insisted it was a passed ball.

Why was there no World Series in 1904?

Giants owner John T. Brush and manager John McGraw refused to play the American League champion, calling the Highlanders a "minor league" team. The boycott announcement came in March 1904 and stood even after the Highlanders lost the pennant. Public outrage over the cancellation forced the leagues to formalize the World Series as a permanent annual event during the following winter.

What was the 1904 Highlanders' record?

The Highlanders went 92-59 (.609), finishing second in the American League, 1.5 games behind the Boston Americans. They were in first place as late as October 7, when Chesbro won his 41st game, but lost a doubleheader in Boston on October 8 (forced to travel because Hilltop Park was rented to Columbia for a football game) and the pennant-deciding game on October 10.