[Scott Garner]

I picked up a great early baseball ticket today. This scarce dated Boston Americans ticket from 1909 between the Bostons and their opponents the Detroit Tigers is historic for quite a number of reasons.

The pitching matchups of the day were Boston's Smoky Joe Wood and Detroit's ace hurler George Mullin. Smoky Joe was just beginning his pitching career; 1909 was his first season as a regular starter for Boston. George Mullen was completing his career season in which he won 29 games en route to the Tigers appearing in their 3rd consecutive World Series.

Smoky Joe and the Bostons prevailed in this game 9-7, beating the AL's top hurler Mullen in a season that he lost very few.

Not to worry for the Tigers faithful though, as the Tigers CLINCHED their 3rd consecutive AL pennant, backing into a championship because the Chicago White Sox eliminated the 2nd place Philadelphia A's on Sept. 30, 1909. For the year, Detroit led the AL by 3 1/2 games as the Philly A's faded down the stretch...

The Tigers won 98 games in 1909 riding the backs of the heroics of 29 game winner Mullen and the Triple Crown year of Ty Cobb. The Georgia Peach's historic Triple Crown season included batting .377, driving in 107 and hitting a whopping 9 homers- all inside the park. Interesting note: In actuality, Cobb was the only player to ever win the QUADRUPLE CROWN as he also led all baseball in stolen bases in 1909!