Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime

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#12- Run Like Hell- A Look Behind- 1900-09

Baseball was a roughneck game at the turn of the twentieth

century. Pitchers threw beanballs; runners tried to knock over

fielders, and theft was as integral to the sport as redeye. They

say that Ty Cobb played with the fury of a madman. He was far

from alone in that regard; probably just more famous. Toward the

end of the “dead ball” era Europe too did its best to imitate

one demented. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand set off an

unresolvable diplomatic crisis, which activated secret treaties,

quickly broke into a war consuming all of Europe; then spread

further. Some historians will pretend to say that this makes

sense. It does. It makes as much sense as the shooting of a US

Mayor culminating in a replay of the Civil War.

Nonetheless the whole mess started full tilt in 1914 and

Woodrow Wilson and the US wanted no part of it. Wilson was

reelected in 1916 while his supporters emphasized "he kept us

out of war". But by 1917 the peaceable young country was pulled

into the brawl. Despite having gotten off with a promise not to

do it again the Germans resumed sinking US ships. To add insult

to injury they offered to finance Mexico in a war against the

US. For the US, it was a short strategic involvement which

commenced in 1917 and was over by 1918. As battlefield bombs and

poison gas were common weapons used, many soldiers returned home

with fewer limbs and a disease which killed over a few years.

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Star pitcher Christy Mathewson was one who had gotten gassed. He

died of tuberculosis in 1925 at the age of 45. Some say the

deformed characters played in silent movies with Lon Chaney were

inspired the common sight of bomb victims. Despite the horrors,

the nation and the ballplayers exuded a confidence. Hell, they

could take care of all of Europe in a year. What was the big

deal about knocking over a second baseman?

 

With that mind set one might reasonably ask; “Why were home

runs so few prior to Babe Ruth?” There are a number of possible

answers, but the simplest one is that nobody tried to hit any.

The very thought must have been vulgar to a “scientific” hitter.

Besides, the outfield fences in some of the old ballparks were

so far off that only Mickey Mantle would have had a shot at

reaching them. Besides, at important games fans were standing

out there. Besides, consensus says that the ball was dead or

beaten up and not replaced or soggy or something.

John Franklin Baker was nicknamed “Home Run,” because he

led the league in that category four times, the highest total

12. In a 13 year career he amassed 96, and added 3 more in six

World Series appearances. I’m not making any fun of Mr. Baker,

as he is a legitimate Hall of Fame resident. But sometimes I

wonder if the nickname wasn’t a source of amusement to some; as

home runs were not the main objective. I’ve read that Ty Cobb

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said that triples were the best hit one could get in normal

circumstances. He added that home runs were a freak event. I

suppose J. F. could have answered him by saying; “I suppose it

would have met your standards if I stopped at third base the 99

times.”

It must be visualized that in those days a home run was not

usually a towering golf shot which landed in the stands. They

were actually inside-the-parkers; a current rarity. Most often

it was a line drive to left or right center which got between

the fielders. Outfield grass was not regularly mowed back then.

Usually, the one which the fielders could run down resulted in a

triple; and the one they couldn’t find became the home run. So,

maybe irascible old Ty had a good point, but displayed his

customary way with words to convey that.

Ty is a mystery of greatness, psychosis, or both which will

never be solved until someone actually invents a time machine.

He was seen as the “crazy” violent man who wanted to win at all

costs. However, there is some evidence to the contrary. But, the

witnesses are now all dead and the story will have to stand as

already presented. A writer named Al Stump had the last chance

to spend time with Cobb. He wrote or co-wrote a number of books

about Cobb; which have now been discredited as “sensationalized”

and “proven to be entirely fictional.” Worse, in the one which

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was turned into a movie the writer wrote mostly of himself,

apparently confusing the stars.

Cobb, himself was quoted as saying; “In legend I am a

sadistic, swashbuckling despot who waged war in the guise of

sport.” Perhaps the key word is “legend.” Cobb did a number of

wonderful things for some old baseball players in dire straits

and at one time the entire league went out on strike when he got

suspended, saying; “If he can’t play, neither can we.” This

doesn’t seem a logical gesture toward someone hated. But, there

is also a quote from a Cobb contemporary, Hall-of-Famer Sam

Crawford, who said; “Cobb didn’t have a friend in the game.” I

suppose we’ll never really know the truth, but the majority

opinion is that he was some kind of nut.

Another of the original five inductees into the Hall of

Fame was a Cobb contemporary. Honus, or Hons Wagner was a

National League Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop, whose stats would

have been the best of his time if not for those generated by Ty

Cobb, Wee Willie Keeler, Napoleon Lajoie and Eddie Collins in

the upstart American League. In addition, Wagner played the most

integral position on the field; shortstop;, and he did it in a

manner which was exemplary.

Just as in pre-merger pro football, the baseball National

League was considered much more competitive than the newer

American League, which was founded in 1901. Unlike the AFL-NFL

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competition, the baseball American League wooed players away

from the National League with better pay, which somewhat

equalized the talent level. Like the time of the original Super

Bowl, the teams never played each other during the regular

season. The World Series was born of the fan desire to see who

was the best and the gamblers’ interest in a big pay day; the

first held in 1903. Boston of the American League won the best

of nine encounter after falling behind 3-1. Wagner’s Pirates

represented the National League, who were said to be heavily

injured. Among the injured was Wagner with a bad leg and Doheny,

who was committed to a mental institution. Things were a bit

different from today; mostly because of pain killers and that

they’ve now closed almost all of the mental institutions.

Wagner was terrible and embarrassed. He batted only .222;

going 6 for 27 in the Series and committed six errors in eight

games. The shortstop was deeply distraught by his performance.

The following spring, Wagner, who in 1903 led the National

League in batting average, refused to send his portrait to an

early attempt at a "Hall of Fame," actually a bit of a pre-

cursor, made only for batting champions. "I was too bum last

year." Hons wrote. "I was a joke in that Boston-Pittsburgh

Series. What does it profit a man to hammer along and make a few

hits when they are not needed only to fall down when it comes to

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a pinch? I would be ashamed to have my picture up now.” Can you

imagine anything like that being said by Alex Rodriguez?

The game had entered the new century with relative

stability in rules, and relative instability of players; and for

that matter; fans. The pattern was set for all sports to

eventually realize the interest and money in post season play.

 

For baseball there still remained a few goals. One was to

get rid of the drunken rowdyism in the stands and attract proper

people to the game. A second was to get rid of the drunken

rowdyism on the field. The third was to get the pitchers to stop

“doctoring” the one game ball in hopes that it wouldn’t become

as gray and lopsided as a rotten egg in the ninth inning.

It was fortunate that back then no one had criticized the

game for having stars and ordinary players who were not suitable

“role models” for their children; as they generally were not. If

warned against them, the kids would probably have liked them

even more.

The just departed 1890’s are sometimes referred to as the

"Mauve Decade" because of the discovery of the process by which

that essentially light purple color could be reproduced. Like

most “new” discoveries it quickly became popular in fashion. The

more commonly used term, "The Gay Nineties", referred not to

someone’s likely first interpretation in 2016, but to the belief

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that it was full of merriment and optimism. It may be telling to

note that the phrase, "The Gay Nineties," was not coined until

the 1920’s.

This period was also part of the “Gilded Age,” defined as

1870-1900, a phrase sarcastically made up by Mark Twain in 1873,

referencing the seemingly profitable era which was actually

riddled with crime and poverty. Use of the term “Gilded Age” did

not become popular until the 1920’s. In the United States, the

1890’s were marked by an economic depression sparked by

the Panic of 1893, as well as several huge strikes by the

industrial workforce.

The decade was rife with internal conflicts. Some follow;

1) The Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota.

2) The Chilean Civil War.

3) The Tobacco Protest, which went through a set of deals

leading to the first fatwa known in the US.

4) The Johnson County War; a range war in Wyoming

5) The Leper War in Hawaii

6) The End Pond Creek Railroad War in the Oklahoma territory.

7) The Philippine Revolution which eventually tied in quite

nicely with the Spanish-American War.

8) The Lattimer massacre

9) The Battle of Sugar Point

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Is it any wonder that the game of baseball resembled a

sneaky ferocious battle? “Gay Nineties?” Someone’s bustled ass.

 

"The idea of going to the ballpark, say in 1900, was that the

urban masses would get a taste of country pastoral air, that

their lungs would expand by cheering, and nonsense like this.

Baseball grew in the cities. It is an outgrowth of gambling,

it's an outgrowth of crookedness, it's an outgrowth of drinking.

It's a roistering, boisterous event. It is as wild as the Wild

West."

John Thorn, sports historian, author

 

“What's the matter with these National League magnates? What a

shame it is that the greatest of sports should be in the hands

of such a malodorous gang as these magnates have proven

themselves to be on more than one occasion. League meetings are

characterized by mudslinging, brawling, corruption, breaches of

confidence, dishonorable conspiracies and threats of personal

violence.”

Sporting News, magazine, 1899

 

“Sunday would come and the little park would be packed way

before game time, everybody wanting to see the great Rube

Waddell pitch. Nowhere to be found! Manager'd be having a fit.

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And then just a few minutes before the game time there'd be a

commotion in the grandstand; you'd hear people laughing and

yelling, ‘Here comes Rube! Here comes Rube!’ And there he'd come

right through the stands. He'd jump down onto the field, cut

across the infield to the clubhouse, taking off his shirt as he

went, and in about three minutes; he never wore any underwear;

he'd run back out in uniform and yell, ‘All right let's get

'em!’”

Sam Crawford, outfielder

 

On Waddell; "He began that year (1903) sleeping in a firehouse

in Camden, New Jersey, and ended it tending bar in a saloon in

Wheeling, West Virginia. In between those events he won 22 games

for the Philadelphia Athletics, played left end for the Business

Men's Rugby Football Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan, toured the

nation in a melodrama called The Stain of Guilt, courted,

married and became separated from May Wynne Skinner of Lynn,

Massachusetts, saved a woman from drowning, accidentally shot a

friend through the hand, and was bitten by a lion."

Lee Allen, sportswriter, historian

 

“At the turn of the century, major league veterans often refused

to even speak to new players. Once, early in his career, a shy

young infielder dared compliment a New York Giant for hitting a

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home run. 'Nice hit,' he said. The veteran answered, 'Go to

hell.' The young player was Johannes Peter Wagner; Honus Wagner;

on his way to becoming the greatest player in the National

League."

 

“And it turned out that ol' Honus was the best third baseman in

the league. He was also the best first baseman, the best second

baseman, the best shortstop and the best outfielder. That was in

fielding. And since he led the league in batting 8 times between

1900 and 1911, you know that he was the best hitter too. As well

as the best baserunner.”

Tommy Leach, infielder and outfielder

 

“Matty was without a peer. He had a greater variety of stuff

than any pitcher I ever knew or handled. His fastball was the

equal of Walter Johnson's, or Amos Rusie's. He had the fadeaway

down to perfection, and he used his knowledge of batsmen to

greater effect than any twirler in the game. He possessed

wonderful control, remarkable fielding ability, and was one of

the finest sportsmen the game has ever known.”

John McGraw, third baseman, manager

 

“Mathewson was the greatest pitcher who ever lived. It was

wonderful to watch him pitch, when he wasn't pitching against

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you.”

Connie Mack, catcher, manager, owner

 

“The fallaway, (screwball) which I have used, if I may be

pardoned for saying so, with greater effectiveness than any

other pitcher, is an exceptionally slow ball and calculated to

deceive the greatest batter. As it rushes toward him it looks

like a fast high ball. Six feet from him when it begins to drop

it has the appearance of a slow drop ball. And then as he

swings, it is traveling in two directions at once.”

Christy Mathewson, pitcher

 

"Christy Mathewson was Frank Merriwell in the flesh. He was so

virtuous he would not give interviews to sportswriters who he

heard cheated on their wives."

Studs Terkel, author, historian

 

“If we had waited for the National League to do something for

us, we would have remained a minor league forever. The American

League will be the principal organization of the country within

a very short time. Mark my prediction.”

Ban Johnson, Commissioner and executive

 

“Ban Johnson never missed an opportunity to make a speech. It

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was always the same speech, all about how he, singlehanded and

alone, had made baseball a gentleman's sport, and it must be

kept forever clean because sportsmanship spoke from the heart of

America, and he would lay down his life to save our beloved

nation. At which he would begin to cry.”

Baseball Digest, magazine

 

“It was an important part of McGraw's great capacity for

leadership that he would take kids out of the coal mines and out

of the wheat fields and make them walk and talk and chatter and

play ball with the look of eagles.”

Heywood Broun, journalist

 

“You couldn't come around and second guess McGraw's players in

his presence without having a fight on your hands. He stood up

for us at all times. We always called him Mr. McGraw, never John

or Mac, always Mr. McGraw.”

Chief Meyers, catcher

 

“McGraw's very walk across the field in a hostile town was a

challenge to the multitude, and the ferocity of McGraw's teams

aroused such resentment on the road that he routinely demanded

police protection against irate fans.”

Grantland Rice, sportswriter

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“The main idea is to win.”

John McGraw, third baseman, manager

 

“Baseball is the most popular sport in this country. In every

hamlet, town and city may be the future Rube Fosters. Romping

over corner lots, batting, pitching, and learning how to play

the game. Organize your team!”

W. E. B. Du Bois, various including social activist

 

“That was probably the wildest series ever played. Arguing all

the time between the teams, between the players and the umpires,

and especially between the players and the fans. That's the

truth. The fans were part of the game in those days. They'd pour

right out onto the field and argue with the players and the

umpires. It was sorta hard to keep the game going sometimes, to

say the least. I think those Boston fans actually won that

series for the Pilgrims. We beat them three out of the first

four games, and then they'd start singing that damn Tessie song.

You could hardly play ball they were singing Tessie so damn

loud. Only instead of singing ‘Tessie, I love you madly’, they'd

sing special lyrics, like when Honus Wagner came to bat they'd

sing, ‘Honus, why do you hit so badly?’ Sort of got on your

nerves after a while, and before we knew what had happened we'd

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lost the series.”

Tommy Leach, infielder and outfielder

 

“Baseball is something like a war."

Ty Cobb, center fielder

 

“The greatest ball player of all time? I'd pick the Detroit man.

Because he is, in my judgment, the most expert man of his

profession, and is able to respond better than any other

ballplayer to any demand made upon him. He plays ball with his

whole anatomy, his head, his arms, his hands, his legs, his

feet. I have never seen a man who had his heart more centered in

the sport than Cobb has when he's playing. I believe Cobb would

continue to play ball if he were charged something for the

privilege, and if the only spectator were the groundskeeper.”

Charles Comiskey, owner

 

“Baseball is a red blooded sport for red blooded men. It's no

pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out. It's a struggle

for supremacy, a survival of the fittest.”

Ty Cobb, center fielder

 

“My father had his head blown off when I was eighteen years old

by a member of my own family [his mother]. I didn't get over

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that. I've never gotten over it.”

Ty Cobb, center fielder

 

“Every rookie gets a little hazing but most of them just take it

and laugh. Cobb took it the wrong way. He came up with an

antagonist attitude which, in his mind, turned any little

razzing into a life and death struggle. He always figured

everybody was ganging up on him. He came up from the South and

he was still fighting the Civil War. As far as he was concerned,

we were all damn Yankees before he even met us.”

Sam Crawford, outfielder

 

“Sure I fought. I had to fight all my life to survive. They were

all against me. Tried every dirty trick to cut me down, but I

beat the bastards and left 'em in the ditch.”

Ty Cobb, center fielder

 

“If I hadn't been determined to outdo the other fella at all

costs, I doubt I would've hit .320. In other words, my lifetime

batting average has been increased at least fifty points by

qualities I'd call purely mental.”

Ty Cobb, center fielder

 

“The cruelty of Cobb's style fascinated the multitudes, but it

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also alienated them. He played in a climate of hostility,

friendless by choice in a violent world he populated with

enemies. He was the strangest of all our sports idols. But not

even his disagreeable character could destroy the image of his

greatness as a ballplayer. Ty Cobb was the best. That seemed to

be all he wanted.”

Jimmy Cannon, sports journalist, who is actually too young to

have seen much of Cobb

 

1905 World Series; Christy Mathewson, who had won 31 games that

season, easily deceived the hitters on the [Philadelphia]

Athletics in the series, pitching a record three shutouts in six

days. Twenty-seven innings and not a single run; the greatest

pitching performance in World Series history.

Unattributed

 

1906; John Henry "Pop" Lloyd debuts with the Negro league Cuban

X-Giants at shortstop. Called by his fans the "black Honus

Wagner", the authentic Wagner said he was honored by the

comparison.

Unattributed

 

"The 1906 Chicago Cubs are believed by many to have been the

best team in baseball history. They moved smoothly to the

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pennant that year, winning 116 games and losing just 36. One key

to the Cubs consistency was their infield, the celebrated double

play combination of Tinker to Evers to Chance. Chicago fans

loved them but they did not much like each other, or anyone else

for that matter. First baseman and manager Frank Chance, once

called the greatest amateur brawler in the world, fined his

players ten dollars if they so much as shook hands with an

opposing player. Second baseman Johnny Evers was so touchy that

his teammates called him the Human Crab, and he missed one

entire season after suffering a nervous breakdown. Shortstop Joe

Tinker was ordinarily a cheerful man, but even he refused to

speak with Evers for two whole seasons after a quarrel over cab

fare."

Unattributed

 

These are the saddest of possible words:

"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,

Tinker and Evers and Chance.

Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,

Making a Giant hit into a double —

Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:

"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

”Baseball's Sad Lexicon” by Franklin P Adams

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1906 World Series; AL Chicago White Sox, called the "Hitless

Wonders" because the team averaged just .230 and hit only 7 home

runs all season, upset the heavily favored NL Chicago Cubs.

 

"No one had counted on the superb pitching of White Sox ace,

Eddie Walsh, master of the spitball. Big Eddie Walsh, oh

brother! You talk about spitballs. I think that the ball

disintegrated and got back together when the catcher got hold of

it. I think when it went past the plate it was just spit going

by.”

Sam Crawford, outfielder

 

1907. Walter Johnson debuts with the AL Washington Senators.

“On August second, 1907, I encountered the most threatening

sight I ever saw on a ball field. He was only a rookie and we

licked our lips as we warmed up. Evidently, manager ‘Pongo’ Joe

Cantillon had picked a rube outta the cornfields of the deepest

bushes to pitch against us. He was a tall, shambling galoot,

with arms so long they hung far out of his sleeves and with a

sidearm delivery that looked unimpressive at first glance. One

of the Tigers imitated a cow mooing and we hollered, ‘Get the

pitchfork ready, Joe! Your hayseed's on the way back to the

barn!’ The first time I faced him I watched him take that easy

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windup, and then something went past that made me flinch. The

thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him. Every one

of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a

ballpark.”

Ty Cobb, center fielder

 

“There's only one way to time Johnson's fastball. When you see

the arm start forward, swing.”

Birdie McCree, baseball executive

 

"New York writers are determined to make Christy Mathewson the

best pitcher, the pitcher-hero of all time. And in that sense

they tended to ignore Walter Johnson. They couldn't do this

because Walter Johnson surpassed Mathewson in so many ways. If

Walter Johnson were pitching for a team that had the winning

percentage of Mathewson's Giants there would have been no

contest."

Shirley Povich, sports columnist

 

But for all Johnson's skill and speed there was one hitter whom

he could not seem to intimidate. A young Georgian playing for

Detroit, who soon found a way to get hits off Johnson. “Walter

Johnson was a kindly man, and never really wanted to hurt

anybody. It was useless to try for more than a single off

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Johnson. You had to poke and try to meet the ball. If you swung

you were dead. After he told me he was afraid he might kill a

hitter, I used to cheat. I'd crowd the plate till I was actually

sticking my toes on it, knowing he'd be so timid that he'd pitch

me wide. Then with two balls and no strikes he'd ease one up to

get one over. That's the Johnson pitch I hit.”

Ty Cobb, center fielder

 

1907 World Series; Chicago Cubs come back from their collapse in

the previous year's series to defeat Ty Cobb and the Detroit

Tigers four games to none.

 

September 23 1908; The Merkle Boner. With the National League

pennant on the line between archrivals Chicago Cubs and New York

Giants, Giant Al Bridwell drives in what would have been the

winning run, but baserunner Fred Merkle fails to touch second,

believing the game to be over as hundreds of fans rush the

field, and is subsequently forced out, ending the game in a tie.

The Cubs go on to win the pennant. “Merkle never lives it down.

It is criminal to say that Merkle is stupid and to blame the

loss of the pennant on him. We were robbed of it, and you can't

say Merkle did that.”

John McGraw, third baseman, manager

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“I wish I'd never gotten that hit. I wish I'd struck out

instead. If I'd done that, then it would have spared Fred a lot

of humiliation.”

Al Bridwell, shortstop

 

1908 World Series; Chicago Cubs defeat Ty Cobb and the Detroit

Tigers a second year in a row. They have not won a World Series

since.

 

1909 World Series; NL Pittsburgh Pirates v. AL Detroit Tigers.

"For the first time, Ty Cobb would have to face his great rival

and near opposite in all things, Honus Wagner."

They met today for the first time, these Cobb and Wagner. It was

an interesting study in contrasts. On the one hand was the

Georgia boy, lithe and trim as a greyhound, his build speaking

the athlete in every line. And on the other, the enormous,

heavy-bodied German, the picture of strength and stability,

without, however, any apparent suggestion of quickness or

movement. Honus Wagner completely outplayed Ty Cobb, and

Pittsburgh won. Cobb had led the Tigers to three consecutive

World Series and lost all three.” He never played in another.

The Detroit News, newspaper

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“That's the way it is in baseball. It's a tough racket. There's

always someone sitting on the bench just itching to get in there

in your place. Thinks he can do better. Wants your job in the

worst way. Back to the coal mines for you, pal! The pressure

never lets up. It doesn't matter what you did yesterday — that's

history. It's tomorrow that counts. So you worry all the time.

It never ends. Lords, baseball's a worrying thing.”

Stanley Coveleski, pitcher

 

“They have work to do, and they should be sleeping or eating,

but they would rather do without sleep, or without a square meal

deliberately eaten, than miss a minute of a ball game, even if

they go on their night turn in the mill or factory, minus the

rest that should be theirs. Baseball has been a passion of

immigrants because it is a way into the United States; it's a

kind of citizenship perhaps more authentic than anything which

can be on a piece of paper. Sometimes it was the youngster's

rebellion against his father — becoming less Polish, more

American by taking up baseball — but it became an enormously

important part of the American identity."

Donald Hall, poet

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#13- Keep Running Until You Drop- 1910-19

 

Interrupted by a war the nation tried to stay out of, the

decade started with the Titanic and ended with another sinking;

the latter on the baseball playing field.

Major League Baseball in the 1910’s was a rowdy

proposition. The first inklings of management and ownership’s

desire to fill seats with guys who had manners and ladies not

dressed in mauve were seen. But this was still a small minority.

Irate fans still left the stands to yell at or fight with a

player when that player did something particularly stupid. And

of course the umpires remained fair game for anyone disgruntled.

Aside from the big stars, players were paid salaries most

would trade for, but not enough for them to quit their off

season jobs. In 1914-15 the Federal League operated. As was

intended, the competition of another better paying league caused

players' salaries to increase temporarily, giving an inkling of

player market value for the first time. Pioneer of the 1890

Players League, John Montgomery Ward became an official in the

short-lived Federal League in 1914, acting as the business

manager of the Brooklyn Tip-Tops.

So too were the rest of America’s workers trying to flex

their muscle; and the game was even rougher in their ballpark.

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Striking and unionizing workers were shot and killed and some

retaliated by bombing factories.

In news of the time the 1910 Accident Reports Act was

passed and a 10 hour work day and standardization of rates of

pay and working conditions were won by the Railway Brotherhoods.

Union membership topped 8 million workers in 1910.

The Los Angeles Times bombing killed twenty people and

destroyed the building. Calling it "the crime of the century,"

the newspaper's owner Harrison Gray Otis blamed the bombing on

the unions, a charge denied by unionists.

A dynamite bomb destroyed a portion of the Llewellyn Iron

works in Los Angeles, where a strike was in progress. In April

1911 James McNamara and his brother John McNamara, secretary-

treasurer of the International Association of Bridge and

Structural Iron Workers, were charged with the two crimes. James

McNamara pleaded guilty to murder and John McNamara pleaded

guilty to conspiracy in the dynamiting of the Llewellyn Iron

Works.

Two men were shot dead by police during the Llanelli

Railway strike of August 1911, leading to rioting. The Llanelli

riots of 1911 were a series of events precipitated by

the National Railway Strike of 1911. Mass picketing action at

Llanelli railway station was brutally suppressed by the

police, resulting in the deaths of two men, shot dead by troops.

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Rioting followed and magistrates' homes were attacked and

railway trucks were set on fire, resulting in an explosion which

killed a further four people.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was the largest

single, loss of life in New York City up until 9-11-01. The

Triangle Shirtwaist Company, occupying the top three floors of a

ten-story building in New York City, was consumed by fire. One

hundred and forty-six people, mostly women and young girls

working in sweatshop conditions, died.

The National Guard was called out against striking West

Virginia coal miners at the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek, West

Virginia mines.

Striking members of the Brotherhood of Timber Workers and

supporters are involved in an armed confrontation with the

Galloway Lumber Company and supporters in the Grabow Riot,

resulting in four deaths and 40 to 50 wounded.

Police shot three maritime workers, one of whom was killed,

who were striking against the United Fruit Company in New

Orleans.

“The "Ludlow Massacre." In an attempt to persuade strikers

at Colorado's Ludlow Mine Field to return to work, company

"guards," engaged by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and other mine

operators were sworn into the State Militia just for the

occasion, and attacked a union tent camp with machine guns, then

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set it afire. Five men, two women and 12 children died as a

result.

And the decade was not yet half over when we entered World

war Two.

 

“I will not tolerate profanity, obscene language or personal

insults from my bench. I will always insist as long as I am

manager of the club that my boys be gentlemen. There is room for

gentlemen at any profession.”

Connie Mack, catcher, manager, owner

 

“He could be as tough as rawhide and as gentle as a mother,

reasonable and obstinate beyond reason, and courtly and

benevolent and fierce. He was kindhearted and hard-fisted, drove

a close bargain and was suckered in a hundred deals. He was

generous and thoughtful, and autocratic and shy, and independent

and altogether completely lovable.”

Red Smith, catcher, coach

 

“It is more profitable for me to have a team that is in

contention for most of the season but finishes about fourth. A

team like that will draw well enough for the first part of the

season to show a profit for the year. And you don't have to give

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the players raises when they don't win.”

Connie Mack, catcher, manager, owner

 

In 1911 Addie Joss died after a secret battle with meningitis at

age 31. His grieving teammates simply skipped town and staged a

benefit game to aid his widow. Walter Johnson, Smoky Joe Wood,

Napoléon Lajoie and Ty Cobb were there and raised $12,931.

“The employer tries to starve out the laborer, and the laborer

tries to ruin the employer's business. They quarrel over a bone

and rend each other like coyotes. And we are free born Americans

with a Constitution and public schools! Our business philosophy

is that of the wolf pack.”

Walter Johnson, pitcher

 

In 1912 the players went out on strike after Ty Cobb was

suspended indefinitely for going into the stands to beat up a

heckler.

“Everybody took it as a joke. I was only kidding that fella and

I frightened him to death. But I would not take from the United

States Army what that man said to me, (called him a half nigger)

and the fans in New York cheered me to the echo when I left the

field. I don't look for applause but for the first time in my

life I was glad that the fans were with me.”

Ty Cobb, center fielder

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1912 World Series. “Write in the pages of World Series baseball

history the name of Snodgrass. Write it large and black — not as

a hero, truly not. Put him rather with Merkle, who was in such a

hurry that he gave away a National League championship.

Snodgrass was in such a hurry that he gave away a world

championship.”

New York Times, newspaper

 

On The construction of Ebbets Field. “There is no greater

optimist in baseball than president Charles Hercules Ebbets of

the Brooklyn club. For thirty years he's been in baseball, and

all that time he has had confidence in the Brooklyn fan. Through

many seasons of losses and disappointments he has carried the

Trolley Dodgers, losing money year after year, when those about

him lost faith in the game as a paying proposition. But the

confidence of Mr. Ebbets has never been shaken. He believed

years ago, as he does today, that Brooklyn is a major league

city and that it would support a good team.”

New York Times, newspaper

 

“I've made more money than I ever expected to, but I'm putting

all of it, and more too, into the new plant for the Brooklyn

fans. Of course it's one thing to have a fine ball club and win

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a pennant, but to my mind there's something more important than

that about a ball club. I believe the fans should be taken care

of. A club should provide a suitable home for its patrons. This

home should be in a location that's healthy, it should be safe

and it should be convenient.”

Charles Hercules Ebbets, owner

 

“Hitting alone will not win ball games. I want speed on my team,

and I also want every man on the squad to know how to slide. I

intend to have my players taught how to run. I don't say we will

win any pennants, but I do think that my systematic training

will be laying the foundation of a pennant winner. If this is

theory, it is blamed good practical theory.”

Branch Rickey, baseball executive

 

“No ballplayer can learn to steal bases by practicing sliding in

the sand pits. I wouldn't ask a veteran to slide into a pit. I

don't think much of this theory stuff.”

Miller Huggins, crosstown manager of Cardinals at the time

 

In 1915; Federal League owners sued organized baseball in

federal court in Chicago, charging that the American and

National Leagues constitute a monopoly. The presiding judge

was Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Landis permitted the case to drag

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out while the Federal League collapsed under financial strain.

Ban Johnson rescinds his promises of better pay. “Do you realize

that a decision in this case may tear down the very foundations

of this game, so loved by thousands? Any blows at the thing

called baseball would be regarded by this court as a blow to a

national institution.”

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis

 

“Dear Sir; I don't give a damn to be in the big leagues unless I

get something for my work. I see you want to give me a good

fucking, but I'll pick shit with the chickens before I play for

any less.”

Fred Toney, pitcher, returning an unsigned contract, 1916

 

1916 — “The Red Sox celebrated Columbus Day in their hometown by

wresting the World's Championship banner free from the

trembling, nerveless fingers of the Brooklyn Superbas and

throwing it wide to the wind that swept Braves Field, theirs for

another year.”

New York Times, newspaper

 

1917-1918; "America's entry into World War I was very near in

the spring of 1917. Millions had died in battlefields in Europe

and Americans could no longer stand by. Baseball was eager to

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show that it was ready to do its part. Ban Johnson ordered teams

to learn close order drill, and the Washington Senators showed

off their marching skill lead by the athletic young Assistant

Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But baseball

had become one of the biggest entertainment industries in the

country, and when war actually came in April the owners saw no

reason to stop playing. They argued that baseball should be

declared an essential wartime industry so that players would be

exempt from the draft. It didn't work. With an astonishing

disregard for the new proprieties and new decencies, the so-

called magnates of baseball have proclaimed in both leagues

their unswerving adherence to the wretched fallacy of ‘business

as usual.’ That policy is not calculated to make us proud of

baseball as an American institution.”

New York Times, newspaper

 

1918 — “Baseball received a knockout wallop yesterday when

Secretary Baker ruled; Players in the draft age must obtain

employment calculated to aid in the successful prosecution of

the war or shoulder guns and fight.”

Washington Star, newspaper

 

"The Red Sox won the World Series in 1918. The series' star was

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young Babe Ruth, who had won both his starts, including a one to

nothing shutout.”

Common knowledge

 

On Shoeless Joe Jackson. “The greatest natural hitter I ever

saw.”

Ty Cobb, center fielder

 

How the 1919 Black Sox threw the World Series is one of

baseball’s most significant stories and a previous chapter of

this book is devoted to sketching it.