Sox Century: Aug. 8, 1917

On the schedule, Washington was the fourth of five cities on a 23-game road trip.

Thanks to an impromptu attempt to cash in on a Sunday with a make-up game in Detroit, it turned out to be the fifth of six cities, and the Sox started looking the part of a road-weary crew.

They opened a four-game series against the Washington Senators by getting three-hit by Hackensack junkman Harry Harper in a 2-0 loss, and I.E. Sanborn of the Chicago Tribune pointed to a rough night on the train.

The White Sox were dead on their feet and not at all alert at bat, but they had an alibi because the rattler which transported them here from Philadelphia last night developed an epidemic of hot boxes and was so late the athletes could not hit the hay much before 2 a.m. On top of their previous wildcat journeyings it was at least disconcerting.

While Sanborn opened and closed with the Sox’ travel woes, Irving Vaughan of the Chicago Examiner didn’t cite them at all. Vaughan was the less charitable of the writers -- or maybe it was the editors, based on the headline above. Even when Vaughan did entertain an extracurricular excuse, little sympathy was offered:

The trouble with the Sox is that they are worrying mor eabout the draft than about baseball. As a result of this they can’t play their usual game. For the past three days they have looked like anything but a first division ball club.

Eddie Cicotte suffered the loss due to the lack of support, as he allowed just one earned run over eight strong innings. However, he also contributed to the misfortune. His wild throw on a pickoff attempt — followed by a bad throw by Buck Weaver — allowed Washington to strike first with an unearned run in the second inning. Still, that ended up being the only run the Senators needed, because the Sox could only manage there singles, and Vaughan said only one of them was clean. Sanborn said the best Cicotte could have hoped for was a no-decision in “a runless draw till dark.”

Record: 66-40 | Box score