Pirates, Dodgers Have Perfectly Matched Contest

It is always interesting when two teams have the exact same number of runs, hits, and errors after a few innings. On this day in 1910, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Brooklyn Superbas, as the Dodgers were called, took their symmetry to another level.

Sometimes, a baseball game can be evenly matched, right down to the box score. After a few innings, the teams have the same number of runs, hits, and errors. Eventually, that symmetry ends, and one team ends up taking the victory.

At least, that is how it usually works. On this day in 1910, with the Pittsburgh Pirates facing off against the Brooklyn Superbas, that symmetric performance was taken to another level. Not only did the two teams each have eight runs, 13 hits, and two errors, but they also had 38 at bats, three walks, five strikeouts, and one hit batter on each side.

Both the Pirates and Superbas were even matched on defense as well. In addition to the two errors, both sides made 13 assists and had 27 putouts. Both catchers had a passed ball. And, to add to the symmetrical nature of the game, both teams used two pitchers.

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Fittingly, neither side was able to pull away from the other. The game ended in a tie due to darkness, leaving the Pirates and Superbas deadlocked. Given the way the two teams were essentially mirror images of one another in the game, it was fitting that the game resulted in that tie.

It may have also been a strange game for the players as well. Regardless of what they would have you believe, most players are aware of what is transpiring on the other side. Knowing that every action had been matched throughout the contest may have helped whenever a run was scored or a mistake had been made. Yet, it must have seemed strange to see every action mirrored.

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The Pirates and the Superbas played one of the most evenly matched games in baseball history on this date in 1910. Fittingly, it ended in a tie due to darkness.