1912 World Series - Aftermath

Aftermath

Fred Snodgrass's error went down in history as "the $30,000 muff", a reference to the difference in the winning and losering shares, $29,514.34. After the series Snodgrass tried to explain, saying "I didn't seem to be able to hold the ball. It just dropped out of the glove, and that was all there was to it."

Christy Mathewson later wrote that "As I look back upon the 1912 series, when we lost to the Boston Red Sox, I see it was the same. Pitchers, outfielders, the whole team collapsed under the strain." He had been ill-served by his team's defense. Five New York errors led to all six runs' being unearned in the Game 2 tie, an error scored the second run in Boston's 2–1 Game 5 victory and Snodgrass's $30,000 muff, along with the failure to catch Speaker's foul popup, resulted in the loss in Game 8. Mathewson started three games, completed all three and compiled a 0.94 earned-run average for the Series, but was charged with two losses and a no-decision for his efforts. The 1912 World Series was the second of three consecutive Fall Classic appearances for the Giants, all of which they lost, and Mathewson retired in 1916 with the 1905 championship the only one of his brilliant career, in which he pitched three complete-game shutouts for 27 scoreless innings, Series records that may well never be equaled.

After the Series was over, McAleer issued a statement apologizing to the Royal Rooters for selling their Game 7 seats out from under them. The Red Sox victory in 1912 marked the beginning of the most successful run in franchise history. Between 1912 and 1918, they played in four World Series and won all of them. But after star pitcher/outfielder Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees following the 1919 season, Boston had to wait 28 years for its next pennant and 86 years for its next World Series victory.

The 1912 World Series was the first to be decided in the last inning of the final game. It was also the first Series where a team within one inning of losing came back to win. The next time a team that close to elimination recovered to win was the 1985 World Series, when the Kansas City Royals rallied in the bottom of the ninth to beat the St. Louis Cardinals (aided and abetted by a blown call at first base putting the leadoff hitter on) in Game 6, then won Game 7 and the championship. Other World Series that have ended with a Game 7 (or in this case Game 8, due to the tie) going to extra innings include the Series of 1924, 1991 and 1997. Other World Series won by the home team in its last at-bat in a Game 7 include the Series of 1924, 1960, 1991, 1997 and 2001.

The 1913 Spalding's Official Baseball Guide said of the 1912 World Series, "No individual, whether player, manager, owner, critic or spectator, who went through the world's series of 1912 ever will forget it. There never was another like it. Years may elapse before there shall be a similar series and it may be that the next to come will be equally sensational, perhaps more so."