1909 World Series

1909 Pittsburgh Pirates on a boat

"The 1909 World Series featured the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Detroit Tigers. The Pirates won the Series in seven games to capture their first championship of the modern Major League Baseball era and the second championship in the club's history. They had won the pennant in 1909 behind the brilliant play of Honus Wagner, who led the league with a .339 batting average and 100 RBI. Detroit returned for their third consecutive Fall Classic determined to erase the memories of their previous efforts. The Tigers were also backed up by the heavy bat of Ty Cobb (who had just won his third consecutive American League batting title) and a formidable pitching staff. They might have finally won the Series in their third try had it not been for Pirates rookie Babe Adams. Manager Fred Clarke started him, on a hunch, in Game 1. Adams won that game and two more, setting a World Series record."
Wikipedia

Honus Wagner 1909 ball

"The Pittsburgh Pirates, a regular Series contender, won their seventh National League championship in 1909, behind the brilliant play of veteran superstar Honus Wagner. (He would add his eighth and final title two years later) Wagner had hit .339 for the Buccos and Pittsburgh's pitching staff was just as dangerous. Howie Camnitz and Vic Willis won twenty-five and twenty-two games, respectively, for the Pirates and Lefty Leifield posted nineteen victories. Detroit returned for their third consecutive Fall Classic determined to erase the memories of their previous efforts. The Tigers were also backed up by the heavy bat of Ty Cobb (who had just won his third consecutive American League batting title) and a formidable pitching staff featuring Mullin, Willett and Summers who had a combined seventy victories. None of this mattered though as the Pirates big three were unable to win a single game in the Series and only one Detroit standout, Mullin, performed as predicted by chalking up two victories."
Baseball Almanac

Pittsburgh’s Babe and the 1909 World Series
"Five days ago, the Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 1909 World Series, in which both team took part. The Pirates won the series in seven games but the result might have been different if it wasn’t for Pirates rookie pitcher Babe Adams. Babe Adams was an unlikely hero, a rookie who rose from the minor leagues at the beginning of the season. He started his big league career off with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1906, but that only lasted one game, when he surrendered eight runs across four innings of play. He was soon sent down to the minor league ranks and he spent the remainder of the year between Class AA and Class A. In 1907, he led the Class A Western League in victories with 23 and was noticed by a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates scouting staff, who purchased his contract off the Cardinals in September."
Seamheads

Pirates VS Tigers: 1909 World Series Match-Up
"The 1909 World Series pitted the NL champs, Pittsburgh Pirates(110-42) against the AL champs, Detroit Tigers(98-54). The Pirates played in the first modern day World Series back in 1903 but had not been back since. The Tigers went to the WS in both 1907 and 1908, losing both times to the Chicago Cubs. The secondary match-up of interest in this series was the one between Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner, each considered by many to be the best hitter in their respective leagues. Both of these great hitters led their leagues in batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage in 1909. ... The Tigers, as mentioned above, won their third straight AL pennant in 1909. Cobb was the catalyst to their offense but they also had a pretty good second fiddle to Cobb, Hall of Fame outfielder Sam Crawford. They went heavy with three starters all season. George Mullin, Ed Willitt and Ed Summers started 101 of the team’s 158 games. The rest of the pitchers on the team had a 29-27 record, so these three really carried them throughout the season. The Tigers were in first place all season but they never had a comfortable lead. On July 25th they had a 7.5 game lead but that disappeared in just 15 days when they fell back into a tie with the Philadelphia A’s. The two teams were tied as late as August 24th and the Tigers never pulled further than five games ahead the rest of the way, finishing the year 3.5 games up in the standings."
Pirates Prospects

Babe Adams: 463 Kisses For The 1909 World Series Hero
"Pittsburgh Pirates manager Fred Clarke readily admitted that he followed a hunch when choosing rookie hurler Charles 'Babe' Adams to pitch Game One of the 1909 World Series against the Detroit Tigers. Clarke was hesitant to go with staff ace Howard Camnitz who was under the weather with quinsy or feeling the effects of numerous drinking excursions; depending on which story seemed more plausible to Pirate baseball fans. Clarke used strange psychological techniques to prepare Adams for his moment in the sun. Pittsburgh's manager needled and criticized Adams for a week prior to the Series opener. By the time he took the hill against Ty Cobb and the Tigers for Game One at Forbes Field on October 8, Adams was so angry that he was ready to pop."
goodreads

When Cobb Met Wagner: The Seven-Game World Series of 1909
"The 1909 World Series featured Hall of Fame players Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner and was the first championship to extend to Game Seven, the final and deciding game. This work examines the entire regular season of both the Tigers and the Pirates but pays special attention to the seven games of that World Series. Includes 60 photographs, complete club statistics, biographical and career thumbnails, box scores for each series game, and tables on the acquisition of each player as well as information on how they departed."
amazon

1909 World Series Footage
YouTube: (Video)