August 6 1914, 100 years ago today: Braves 5 Pirates 4
While still in 4th place and 6.5 games out of first but riding a nine game winning streak, the Braves Hall of Fame short stop Rabbit Maranville had his best game of the year going 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs. But it was his 10th inning walk off home run, his 3rd of the year, hit off of Pirates starter Babe Adams that gets him the “Historical Hitter” award.
From this date the Miracle Braves went 45-14, winning both the Pennant and the World Series.
Maranville later claimed that he never saw the pitch, and his manager George Stallings was noted as saying, “You go back to choking up; you are no home-run hitter.”
The colorful character and of course questionable role model generations before Charles Barkley, Maranville the baseball hero played the entire game even though he was suffering from a severe hangover from drinking too much champagne at a dinner party the night before.
(Quotes courtesy of Dick Leyden, SABR Biography Project)
Maranville also won the ugliest player award from Bill James, but we still wanted to show his image.
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