Orval Overall
As the Chicago Cubs progress through the postseason in 2016, many people are reflecting on the history of the franchise in hopes of another appearance in the World Series.
There are so many disappointments through the years because the club hasn’t been to the World Series since 1945 and hasn’t won since 1908.
Back in 1908, the Cubs were a dynasty. They won four of the five National League pennants from 1906 to 1910. They won their World Series title in 1907 and added a second the following season.
Those teams featured the legendary names of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance. That trio along Mordecai Brown would eventually be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
As talented and famous as those four were, there is a relatively unknown player who is the answer to the trivia question, “Who was the winning pitcher in the game when the Cubs clinched their last world championship?”
Orval Overall is the answer. He tossed a three-hit shutout over the Detroit Tigers in the fifth game to spark the celebration in the Windy City that would be prove to be the last for a very long time.
The 27-year old Overall struck out 10 Tigers as he won his second game of the series. The right-hander also became the first pitcher to fan four batters in one inning during the World Series.
After Chance gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with a RBI single, Overall got out of a jam in the bottom of the frame.
He struck out Charley O’Leary, Ty Cobb, Claude Rossman, who reached first on a wild pitch to load the bases. Overall ended the threat as he struck out Germany Schaefer for his fourth of the inning.
Chicago scored the last run of the game in the fifth when Evers doubled home a run. Overall retired Boss Schmidt on a grounder for the final out of the series to earn his place in history.
Started with the Reds
Overall began his seven-year big league career with the Cincinnati Reds in 1905. He joined the Cubs in 1906 and was with them until 1910. After two seasons out of baseball, he returned to the Cubs in 1913.
The California native was 108-71 in his career as he won at least 15 games in five of his seasons. His best year was in 1907 when he was 23-7 with a 1.68 ERA. In 1908, he was 15-11 with an ERA of 1.92. He was 20-11 with a career-best 1.42 ERA in 1909, when the Cubs finished second in the NL behind the Pirates.