'08 and '98: The 90 Year Difference Between the Greatest Baseball Years

Bleacher Report Jan 16, 2009

Baseball has a very illustrious history. Nobody clearly knows who the inventor of the past time is, there is a lingo as long as the dictionary and there are legends that will live on forever. Names that will never be forgotten. Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Mordecai Brown, and many, many more.

In the many years of baseball history, there have been countless World Series heroes, goats and epic finishes. There have been many fantastic years in baseball. The best one? To me and many others, it has to be 1908.

1908 was the year of the pitcher. In the American League and National League, the batting average was a feeble .239. The best offensive team, the Detroit Tigers, averaged 4.2 runs per game. Milestones were reached. Heroes were made. 1908 was a breakout year for baseball. Cy Young posted a 1.26 ERA and threw his third and final no-hitter. Ed Walsh won 40 games. Christy Matthewson won 37 games, Addie Joss posted a 1.16 ERA. It was that great pitching that produced two pennant races that were down to the wire.

In the American League, Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford led the Detroit Tigers to a pennant. But it wasn't easy. They finished just 1/2 game ahead of the Cleveland Naps and a game and a half ahead of the Chicago White Sox. In the National League, the Cubs came out with it. They edged the Giants and Pirates - by a combined total of a single game!

League leaders were the slightest of anyone's concerns. That year in baseball will likely never be surpassed. And it was known right away. The rivalries were much more intense. The Yankees/Sox storied history has nothing on the Giants/Cubs of the 1908 season. In the battle between the two teams, the Giants went 11-11-1, as did the Chicago Cubs. It calls for a never ending debate of who was the better team in 1908.

However, the Giants outscored Chicago in those games by a whopping total of 85-70. The Cubs and Giants each had four future Hall of Famers on the roster, but it is very arguable that the Cubs only had two deserving Hall of Famers. They had Frank Chance, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Mordecai Brown bound for the Hall. In my opinion, only Brown and Chance deserved it.

Half the reason Tinker, Evers and Chance got in was their defensive prowess. And the reason they got famous for that was "Baseball's Sad Lexicon", a great poem by Franklin Pierce Adams. During the era, they didn't turn any more double plays then anybody. But this wasn't a year of overrated double play trios.

As if that wasn't enough, let me introduce September 23, 1908. It was a tight game between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Giants. The Giants had a favorable situation, with runners at the corners and just one out. Al Bridwell singled, scoring what appeared to be the game winning run.

However, the runner on first, rookie first baseman Fred Merkle, did not touch second base on his way to the dugout. Alert Cub infielder Johnny Evers retrieved the ball and tagged the base and Merkle was called out. The game was declared a tie. If the Giants and Cubs ended up tied at the end of the year, it would be played over.

Days later, on October 2, the Naps would play the Chicago White Sox in the thick of a tight AL race. In the game, the aces would be on the hill.

In case you didn't know, it would be Ed Walsh for Chicago and Addie Joss for Cleveland. Ed Walsh, who won 40 during the season, was masterful. He struck out 15 batters. Addie Joss, who won 24 during the year and posted a 1.16 ERA, pitched a perfect game and the Naps won, 1-0. It is probably the best pitchers duel in baseball history. Four days later, Ty Cobb and the Tigers beat the White Sox, 7-0, on the last day of the baseball season, clinching the pennant.

Two days later, the Giants and Cubs were still tied. Therefore, the makeup Giants/Cubs game would be played. The Cubs won, 4-2 and Fred Merkle's name would forever be known - in a bad way, of course. Six days later, the Cubs defeated the Tigers, four games to one - in the World Series. The Cubbies have not won a title since.

Knowing this and reading this, I don't think 1908 will ever be surpassed. Not even by the great year of 1998. Now the year 1998 is a great difference from 1908. Of course the dead-ball era passed, Babe Ruth saw to it that it happened. There were night games, steroid monsters, 100 mile per hour pitchers, and a more advanced playoff system. But the crazyness and the hecticism was very similar.

The New York Yankees were off the charts in 1998. They were just ridiculous. They won 114 games, led by first baseman Tino Martinez (28 HR, 123 RBI), a young Derek Jeter (84 RBI, .324 AVG) and the ace of the staff, 20 game winner David Cone. But they were definitely not the highlight of 1998. The highlight was, without a doubt, the home run chase between Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire and Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa. They both smashed past Roger Maris 1961 record of 61 home runs. Sosa smashed 66, but McGwire outdid him, with 70 homers.

On September 8, McGwire hit the famed 62nd homer and reached home plate to Roger Maris children and had an emotional moment with them. He hit eight more and had 70 on the season—only to be broken three years later by Giants slugger Barry Bonds.

While McGwire did edge Sosa, Sosa's Cubs were overall, a better team. They finished 90-73, but were swept by the Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series. But McGwire's Cardinals were just 83-79 and were home to watch it.

There were some other underrated performances that summer. Juan Gonzalez had 157 RBI and was in the conversation to break Hack Wilson's record of 190 runs batted in all year. Ken Griffey Jr. had 56 home runs for the second consecutive season. Despite those being absolutely phenomenal seasons, they were lost in the shadow due to unforgettable seasons by McGwire and Sosa.

A young Manny Ramirez stroked 45 home runs and 126 RBI. Because of the great baseball season we know as 1998, he was sixth in MVP voting. Also, legendary announcer Harry Caray died. His voice was very much missed in Wrigley.

A young man named Alex Rodriguez made his mark. He hit 42 homers and stole 46 bases, becoming one of the first to smash 40 home runs and also swipe 40 bags in a season.

But let us not forget Kerry Wood. Fifth career start. May 5th, 1998. Another day at the ballpark for the Chicago Cubs. But not for Wood. He had something else on his mind. And the Houston Astros couldn't stop him. What do I mean by this? He struck out 20 Astros. It was a boost in his Rookie of the Year campaign where he finished 13-6 despite missing the last month of the 1998 season.

Along with that, speedy outfielder Rickey Henderson scored his 2,000th run, becoming just the fifth in the great history of baseball to do so. Cal Ripken started his 2,500th consecutive game in an 8-2 O's victory over the Oakland Athletics.

In the playoffs, the Yankees quickly made a joke of the Texas Rangers, sweeping them, three games to none, rolling on to the AL Championship Series. Also in the ALDS, the Red Sox fell short to Cleveland. Cleveland's happyness didn't go on forever, as they bowed to the Yankees. The Yankees went on to the World Series.

In the NLDS, the Braves easily handled the Cubs and the Padres easily handled the Houston Astros. But what happened next? The Braves would play the Padres in a very exciting NLCS matchup. The Padres won, four games to two and would play the Bronx Bombers in the Fall Classic.

The Yankees, as they had done all year, won. They swept San Diego and the MVP was Scott Brosius.

Did 1998 have the close races or the unforgettable blunders that 1908 did? No, not by any means. The closest was in the uncompetitive AL West, where the Angels finished thee games ahead of the 85-77 Texas Rangers. The Yankees finished 22 games ahead of second place Boston, who had a fine year, at 92-70.

It took ninety years, but the second best year in baseball history was delivered and no one seemed to care that it was tardy.

1908 League Leaders:

Batting average: Honus Wagner, .353

Home runs: Tim Jordan, 12

RBI: Honus Wagner, 109

Wins: Ed Walsh, 40

ERA: Addie Joss, 1.16

Strikeouts: Ed Walsh, 269

1998 League Leaders:

Batting average: Larry Walker, .363

Home runs: Mark McGwire, 70

RBI: Sammy Sosa, 158