during the season's final doubleheader at the Highlanders' home stadium, Hilltop Park. In order to win the pennant, New York needed to take both games from Boston. With Jack Chesbro, the Highlanders' 41-game winner, on the mound, New York seemed to have a good chance of winning the first game. However, in the top of the ninth inning with the score tied 2–2 with a man on third in the top of the ninth, a spitball got away from Chesbro allowing Boston's Lou Criger to score the go-ahead run on one of the most famous wild pitches in history. Unfortunately the NL champion New York Giants had previously declined to play any postseason series, fearing it would give their New York rivals credibility (they had expected the Highlanders to win), but a sharp public reaction led to the two leagues immediately turning the World Series into a permanent championship, starting in 1905. These successful times quickly ended, as the Americans would go on to lose 100 games in the 1906 season. But several new star players would soon help the newly renamed Red Sox reverse their fortunes once again. 1910–1919 By 1909, center fielder Tris Speaker had become a fixture in the Boston outfield, and the Red Sox worked their way up to third place in the American League. However, the Red Sox would not win the pennant again until their 105-win 1912 season, finishing with a club-record .691 winning percentage while anchored by an outfield considered to be among the finest in the game (Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper and Duffy Lewis). Boston was also led by superstar pitcher Smoky Joe Wood, with whom the Red Sox beat the New York Giants 4–3–1 in the 1912 World Series that has become best known for "Snodgrass's Muff." From 1913 to 1916, the Red Sox were owned by Joseph Lannin, who signed Babe Ruth, soon to become one of the best-known and most-revered baseball players ever. In Ruth's debut as a pitcher he got a win vs. the Indians, then in 1915 his first major league home run was against the Yankees, who he would ironically play for later in his career. Another 101 wins in 1915 propelled the Red Sox to the 1915 World Series, where they beat the Philadelphia Phillies four games to one. In the 1915 World Series, Harry Hooper hit two home runs, and Duffy Lewis batted .444