Chronicling the 1918 Cubs, Part 2: Losing An Ace and Sweeping the Giants

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Image courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Photo Archives

Welcome to part two of our offseason series covering the 1918 Chicago Cubs. In part one, we briefly recapped the 1917 season, examined the influence that World War 1 was potentially going to have on the 1918 season, and took a look at some of the big personnel changes the Cubs made. You can check that out here. 

Today, we’ll kick-off the season by checking in with the Cubs’ early results in both April and May. 

A Slow Start and a Major Loss

The Cubs won their last four games of April to recover from a 2-3 start and finish the month at 6-3. Despite that hot streak, they were looking up in the standings at the 11-1 New York Giants, who scored 80 runs in those 12 games. 

The 6-3 start was of little concern when Grover Cleveland Alexander’s name was called in the draft. Alexander, who figured to be the team’s best starting pitcher, was set to serve in the United States Army and fight in World War I. According to the New York Times, he left to report to Camp Funston in Kansas on April 30.

The star pitcher’s loss had a tremendous impact on the Cubs. He was only able to make three starts, posting a 1.73 ERA in limited duty.. However, I want to take a second to acknowledge the human impact this had on Alexander. He would not make his way back to the United States until almost exactly one year later, in April of 1919, when, according to the New York Times, he wanted to spend two weeks with his mother, and then two weeks to rest. 

Remarkably, Alexander was able to return to form following his reintroduction to baseball en route to his eventual Hall of Fame induction. He managed to collect 181 of his 373 career wins following his year in service, though he never managed to strike out as many guys as he did previously.

This is particularly incredible when you consider this passage from the Hall of Famer’s Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) biography:

”Alexander spent seven weeks at the front under relentless bombardment that left him deaf in his left ear. Pulling the lanyard to fire the howitzers caused muscle damage in his right arm. He caught some shrapnel in his outer right ear, an injury thought not serious at the time, but which may have been the progenitor of cancer almost thirty years later. He was shell-shocked. Worst of all, the man who used to have a round or two with the guys and call it a day became alcoholic and epileptic, a condition possibly caused by the skulling he’d received in Galesburg. Alex tried to cover up his epilepsy using alcohol in the mistaken belief that it would alleviate the condition. Living in a world that believed epileptics to be touched by the devil, he knew it was more socially acceptable to be drunk.”

Harrowing and disturbingly human, no? Some things truly are bigger than baseball.

The 1918 Cubs thus had to move on without their best starting pitcher, but that impact simply pales in comparison to the impact that was felt by Grover Cleveland Alexander himself. 

A Win Streak and a Productive May

The Cubs, who had Claude Hendrix starting games in place of Alexander, won their first five games of May, giving them a nine-game win streak, and an 11-3 record. Hendrix, however, struggled. After a two-run complete game to end April, he allowed six runs in each of his first two starts in May. He would settle down after a brief stint in the bullpen to finish the month with a 3.13 ERA. 

It all felt for naught. The New York Giants persisted, with the New York Times writing on May 6, 1918 that “the runaway race which the Giants are making the National League has the other clubs worried, and as each day passes it looks more and more as if there was no club East or West which would be able to stop McGraw’s juggernaut.” 

They enjoyed a 18-1 start to the season and a 4.5- game lead over the second-place Cubs on May 9. To make matters worse, Larry Doyle, who the Cubs had traded for Lefty Tyler that offseason, was a major factor in the Giants’ success. He posted a .426/.483/.722 batting line with two home runs through May 4. Unfortunately, he fell ill not long after, with the New York Times reporting on May 16 that he had to have surgery for an intestinal issue. Doyle wouldn’t play again until July 2. 

Having lost one of their most productive hitters up to that point, the Giants would lose five of six, and the Cubs had ample opportunity to cut into their deficit when they hosted the Giants for three games at Weeghman Park at the end of May. 

The Cubs went on to sweep that three-game set by the final scores of 7-4, 5-1, and 7-3. The team enjoyed four RBIs from new outfielder Dode Paskert in the opening contest, a complete game from Hippo Vaughn in the second game, and a four-hit game from Les Mann in the finale. 

This put the Cubs in a much better position to end the month of May. At 23-12, they were still 1.5 games behind the Giants, but that number seemed small compared to the 4.5-game lead it was just a few weeks earlier. Charlie Hollocher, Fred Merkle, Mann, and Paskert all had batting averages above .300. Vaughn was providing stability to a starting rotation that sorely needed it, posting a 1.34 ERA through the month of May. 

Led by Merkle, Mann, Paskert, and Hollocher, the offense was rolling, and despite the loss of Grover Cleveland Alexander, the pitching staff had allowed just 104 runs, which was second-lowest in baseball behind the Giants at 103. They were also due for some reinforcements. According to his SABR biography, Phil Douglas, who had pitched to a 2.55 ERA in 1917, missed the first couple of months of the season with appendicitis, but was due to return to pitching for the Cubs in June. There was plenty of reason for optimism going forward.

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