G45: Cubs 9, Red Sox 3

Cubs    - 001 000 080 - 9  9  1
Red Sox - 000 201 000 - 3  9  3

David Ortiz hit a two-run home run - his ninth of the year and 300th in a Boston uniform - and Jacoby Ellsbury knocked in Carl Crawford two innings later. The Red Sox were six outs from a win that would lift them into sole possession of first place in the AL East.

Matt Albers came out for the eighth with a 3-1 lead - and everything went to hell. Albers faced six batters: single, single, walk, walk (3-2), double (3-4), E6. Franklin Morales made his Red Sox debut: double (3-5), K, walk, F9-E5-E7 (3-7), double (3-8), P3.

Marlon Byrd was hit on the left side of his face under his eye with a pitch from Aceves (5-3-1-2-2, 86) in the second inning. Byrd walked off the field with a bloody cut under his eye and was taken to the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, where he will spent the night.

Carlos Zambrano / Alfredo Aceves

The uniforms both teams will wear tonight will be similar to the ones worn during the 1918 season. Many teams, including the Red Sox, have worn replica uniforms over the last few decades, but I'm especially excited to see the Red Sox wearing 1918 uniforms.

After years of imagining Red Sox players wearing the white shirt, white pants, and white hats -- no lettering, no "B"*, no names, no numbers, no nothing! -- at Fenway Park, I am actually going to see a game played with them! (On the left, we have a photo from 2000 of your faithful correspondent, modeling the white 1918 cap. I ordered it while in Cooperstown on one of my first research trips (1995 or 1996). At that time, there were no big companies selling replica shirts and caps. This was a small company - and the cap was sewn by hand! If I recall correctly, it took about a month until I received it. (Photo credit: Laura.))

The Red Sox began using numbers in 1931, two years after the Yankees and Cleveland began doing it.

Here is a open letter published in one of the Boston newspapers in January 1918 by a "great admirer" of the Red Sox:

I suggest that the Sox have some kind of lettering on the shirtfront of their play-at-home uniforms this season instead of nothing at all, as it is at present.

I think a great many fans from out of town, happening to see the Sox play for the first time, would hardly know the home team if they appeared on the field first. Another thing I notice is that the Sox are the only team in the league without some kind of lettering on their shirtfront. ... I suppose I'll get a good bit of criticism for making a suggestion as foolish as this appears to be, but I'll wager a good many fans would like to see the Sox uniforms lettered, at that. ...

Hoping that the Red Sox win the flag this year, and that you will not be bored reading this, I remain,

Yours truly,

Joseph E. Kelley

Their home uniform pants of the late teens (or at least one of those years) may have had very thin blue pinstripes. In 1999, Barry Halper put his massive memorabilia collection up for auction, and I snagged a pair of pitcher Carl Mays's uniform pants from his Boston years (1915-19). Those pants have very light blue pinstripes. (The Red Sox road uniforms had "RED SOX" across the chest.)

The Red Sox issued a statement about tonight's uniforms:

The Red Sox home uniform will be a blank button-up with no lettering and a slight off-white or ivory color. The hat will also have a blank off-white tint, and the socks will be a three-part white/red/white composition. The Red Sox used this uniform and hat combination as their primary home look for most of the 1910s, and did not have any lettering on the front of their uniform for the bulk of that decade and the entire 1920s. The team did not wear the familiar blue cap with a red "B" until the early 1930s.

The Cubs will wear navy blue pinstripes and lettering on a grayish uniform. On the front left-hand side of the uniform, there will be a horizontal outline of a "C" enclosing "UBS" in smaller, navy blue letters. The Cubs will sport a five-part sock with grey, blue, white, blue and grey color sections. The road hat will have a navy blue bill and pinstripes (but no "C" or any other lettering on the cap). The Cubs used this uniform for only one season, as they changed their road uniforms on an almost-yearly basis during the 1910s. ...

There are also plans for additional elements of the Saturday pre-game ceremony and game presentation that will be reminiscent of the fans' experience in 1918.

I have read rumours that this may mean no public address announcements or blaring pop music and commercials for several innings! If that happens, my fervent hope is that so many people love the quiet -- because it heightens the intensity of the game -- and they demand that it be done all game, every game. (Alas, there is probably a greater chance Judgment Day actually arrives before the first pitch.)

Or it could mean front office employees will go through the stands confiscating (by force, if necessary) foul balls for re-use, or fans will get soda in easy-to-throw glass bottles, or only white-skinned players will be able to play. .. So many options to choose from!

Extra Bases, post-game:

It was the first game between the two teams at Fenway Park. They played three games at Wrigley Field in 2005. ... E-Cafardo.

AL East: Rays/Marlins at 4 PM and Mets/Yankees at 7 PM.