January 20, 1924 (Seattle Daily Times)
1924 PCL Newcomers Stats for 1923
What Coast League Newcomers Did in 1923, January 20, 1924 (Seattle Daily Times
Lockard Here With Plans For Winning Team
LOCKHARD HERE
WITH PLANS FOR
WINNING TEAM
Expects Word on Purchase of New Players Shortly Has Invitation Out to Williams to Attend Opening.
CHARLES LOCKHARD, the president of the Seattle Baseball Club, arrived home today from the schedule meeting of the Pacific Coast League held at Oakland Monday and Tuesday, firm in the belief that with harmony completely restored in the Pacific Coast League, he and Wade Killefer could proceed with their plans for building a winning team.
Numerous contracts have been sent out to the men expected to make up Seattle's 1924 team, Vean Gregg, Jim Bagby and. Billy Lane are already signed to contracts and the balance of the documents are going out today, Lockhard declared this morning.
Wade Killefer, manager of the team is still in San Bernardino, preparing the training camp at which the Indians are to report about March 1, and will reach Seattle within a week. Then things will hum for fair, declares Lockhard.
"The schedule meeting was so different from all our other recent battles that it seemed tame," declared Lockhard. "Everyone is convinced that the political battles are over and that the league will go ahead now.
"We have extended an invitation to Harry Williams, the new president of the Pacific Coast League, to attend our opening here and he has promised to try and arrange his affairs to be here. He will go to Salt Lake for their opening, then come over to ours, which is a week later. He is a fine fellow and is going to make a success of his new job. He plans at least two trips a year all around the circuit, something that we never could get McCarthy to do."
Lockhard expects to hear from the various clubs with which he is negotiating for players shortly now and to have some interesting announcements to make for the Seattle fans. One or two of the deals are so involved that they have taken more time than was expected. Player trades are involved, and the other clubs have had to be satisfied as to the men they are to receive.
The player limit was not cut by the league, according to Lockhard. May 15 being the cutting down date, and twenty experienced and five inexperienced men being allowed until September 1, when the lid is again raised.
The league also adopted a new rule regarding waivers which will permit of trades between the Coast League and the other two Class AA leagues, the International and the American Association, without the formality of securing waivers. It is hoped that the other two leagues will adopt similar rulings.
* * * * * *
Seals Take Fifty to Camp.
The San Francisco Seals are planning on taking fifty ball players to Boyes Springs for the annual spring training jaunt.
And out of those half hundred real and would-be ball players, no less than twenty-six are rookies of the rawest kind, youngsters who have never played a game of professional baseball. Four men are young men who were farmed out last year by the Seals, and who have been recalled or another looking over.
Pity poor Bert Ellison, manager of the Seals, when he starts trying to keep that outfit busy at practice.
The rookies, pitchers and catchers report a week ahead of the regulars and some of the youngsters will probably be on their way by the time the veterans come in. That will help some, but Ellison, without an assistant as he is this year, will probably have his hands full.
* * * * * *
Love Bothered Riley Most.
Slim Love, the lengthy southpaw who performed in Pacific Coast League circles before being sent to Dallas in the Texas League last season, was the pitcher who bothered Jim Riley, Seattle's baseball playing hockey star most last year."
"Love had that cross-fire for which he is famous working like clock-work," said Riley today. "He kept shooting it in from way over around first base with a deceptive curve on screw ball mixed up and I had an awful time hitting him. He had a good season, especially against the left-handed hitters."
* * * * * *
Portland Discards Blue
The Portland Beavers have discarded the navy blue road uniforms in which the players of the Rose City have been clad for more than twenty years.
In place of the somber-colored "unies" will be a neat gray with a fine purple stripe running through it.
"Just needed a change," declared Fred Rivers, business manager of the club, in discussing the new suits. One of the best bits of figuring that the blue suits brought out was a statement from the Portland pitchers of two years ago that they couldn't hide the ball against them and that that accounted for the fact that they were being hit so hard.
All of which causes one sport writer to remark that Gregg, Steen, Seaton and Krapp would have been "some pitching staff had they been able to hide the ball, too." (Seattle Daily Times)
Coast Decides on 20 Players
COAST DECIDES
ON 20 PLAYERS
IN MIDSEASON
Constitution Cleared to Avoid Repetition of Row Caused by McCarthy-Two Spitball Pitchers Added.
Special to The Times.
OAKLAND, Wednesday, Jan. 16. -The Pacific Coast League continued its meeting yesterday at the Hotel Oakland, with several changes accepted in its constitution, the insurance question closed and the agreement on the part of the owners to give its moral support to the organization of the Southern California League.
William Lane of Salt Lake, Oscar Reichow of Los Angeles, and Fred Rivers of Portland were called upon to suggest changes in the constitution. Their final decisions were as follows:
That a majority of the league voters can elect a man to office instead of the old rule of requiring five members to name an officer.
That the president of the league has no power to vote on any issue.
That in the event of an appointment of a new director to a club, the league can refuse to recognize him, but has to recognize the club.
That the annual meeting of the league will be held in November instead of October.
President Harry Williams, Alfred Putnam of-San Francisco, Oscor Reichow of Los Angeles and Herbert McFarline of Oakland were appointed to revise the by-laws of the league and to put them in simpler language.
The representatives of the clubs agreed to the insurance question, The league will carry its own insurance with an aggregate sum of $88,400 for the first four weeks, the first four Sundays, the first four Saturdays, and the last two weeks of the season. Each club will be assessed an equal amount of the total premium.
The league also pledged its moral support to the organization of the Southern California League, a Class C circuit, Santa Ana, Glendale, San Diego, and Longbeach will compose the league. It was also announced by William Lane of Salt Lake that he was leaving immediately after the meeting for Fresno, where he will formulate plans for a San Joaquin Valley League, to consist of four clubs. The winners of the Southern California and Valley League pennants will meet in a post-season series for the championship. The player limit was set at twenty from June 3 to September 1 with twenty-five allowed at other times.
A resolution fostered by President Williams calling for payment of part of the expenses of league umpires was passed. Each umpire will be allowed $3 a day for the fourteen weeks of the season.
An invitation to Mike Sexton, president of the Minor League Association, to visit the Pacific Coast League as guest of the organization, was extended in a resolution.
To the league's list of certified spitball pitchers was added the names of Elmer Reiger and Boston Bill James. Under this arrangement only listed spitball pitchers may dampen the ball before a delivery is made.
Passing of the so-called "booze cage" in parks under the control of the league was indicated by a vote... (Seattle Daily Times)
Rohwer Stays With Seattle; 1924 Coast League Schedule Set
ROHWER STAYS WITH SEATTLE; CASH REFUSED
Indians Willing to Trade Outfielder for Players-Season
Will Open and Close One Week Later Than 1923.
Special to The Times.
OAKLAND, Tuesday, Jan. 15 .- Charley Lockard, president of the Seattle Baseball Club, made efforts to interest his fellow directors, at the Pacific Coast League meeting yesterday, in a deal for Ray Rohwer, hard-hitting outfielder.
Lockard was unable to make a deal and decided to retain the former California player. The St. Louis Cardidinals offered cash and Bill Pertica, former Los Angeles pitcher, but their offer was turned down.
"We want players and not cash," said Lockard.
The Seattle chief is still angling to dispose of "Doc" Johnston, veteran first baseman, as It has been decided to open the season with Jimmy Welsh at first.'
Lockard is anxious to obtain another pitcher and an outfielder. The Indians still have a catcher coming from the Cubs. "Kettle" Wirts was offered Seattle, but his services were refused. Very" little - was accomplished at yesterday's meeting, other than the adoption of the 1924 schedule. The meeting will be continued today, at which time the player limit will be considered.
The season will open and close week later this year than in the past. the opening week being April 8. This was adopted against the advice of Williams, who claimed that it would interfere with the football season.
The schedule was submitted by Herbert McFarline, secretary of the Oakland Club. The opening, closing and holiday dates were announced as follows:
OPENING WEEK
Vernon at Sacramento
Oakland at Salt Lake
Portland at San Francisco
Seattle at Los Angeles
Decoration Day.
Sacramento at San Francisco.
Salt Lake at Los Angeles.
Oakland at Seattle.
Vernon at Portland.
Independence Day.
Salt Lake at Oakland.
Sacramento at Vernon.
Lon Angeles at Seattle.
San Francisco at Portland.
Labor Day.
Salt Lake at San Francisco.
Sacramento at Los Angeles.
Vernon at Seattle.
Oakland at Portland.
Closing Week.
Oakland at San Francisco.
Vernon at Los Angeles
Seattle at Portland,
Salt Lake at: Sacramento.
Game 38, in which Seattle moves to .500 on the season, 19-19
"Oakland, Saturday, May 17, 1924-
Elmer Bowman came through with a home run over the left field wall here this afternoon, winning for Seattle, 12 to 11, the wildest baseball game of the year here. The victory put Seattle in fourth place, with nineteen games won and as many lost."
Right Short
On page 27, a meaningful number for sure, of his Base Ball Manual, Henry Chadwick writes:
"In the present position of the game there is but one "short-stop," and he stands to the left of the infield between the second and third base positions. Ultimately, however, a "right-short" will be introduced, which will make the field one of ten men instead of nine, as now. In America the professional clubs this season play what they call exhibition games -vis., not regular matches-under the rule of ten men and ten innings, but all championship contests are played with nine men, there being no "right-short" fielder.
Chadwick's Base Ball Manual was published in London in 1874. The front page contains that title, as well as a nice illustration of a batsman, and the following, "Containing the New Rules of Base Ball as revised at the Base Ball Convention held at Boston, U.S., March 2, 1874, together with special instructions in all the scientific points of pitching, batting, and fielding, with instructions for scoring the game and rules for umpiring, by Henry Chadwick."
So...this is the latest thing I'm looking for, these ten men, ten inning or ten position game box scores. I have one, but its kind of an anomaly for these because its from 1863, and in Victoria, on Vancouver Island in what would eventually become the colony of British Columbia and part of Canada.
Here is a copy of that, its from March 31, 1863, reported in the British Colonist, a newspaper in Victoria. John Calhoun Keenan was the pitcher, and owner of the Fashion Hotel. He was from Sacramento [originally from Ireland], and played both cricket and baseball in both Sacramento and Victoria. He was also noted as a fireman.
In addition, further research...
So, using that, I found some articles in "Forest and Stream", a sporting magazine, initial find is for October 29, 1874.
The article reviews the championship matches for the 1874 season then states:
"-The professional championship season closes on Oct. 31st, after which date exhibition games, under the ten men and ten innings rule, will be in order. From the appended record of games won and lost up to October 25th, inclusive, it will be seen that the Bostons stand first-winning the pennant-the Mutuals second and the Athletics third. The table is as follows (gives rankings, you can go to bbref and look up the 1874 standings)..
-An exhibition match, under the ten men and ten innings rule was played on the Union Grounds, Brooklyn, October 24th, between the Mutuals and Atlantics, which resulted in the success of the Mutuals in a ten innings games, played in an hour and three-quarters, with a score of 7 to 1. West, of the Chelseas, played right short for the Atlantics and made a splendid double play. Geer, of the Fly Aways, assisting with the Mutuals. The Atlantics earned the only run earned in the game.
In August, the Forest and Stream reported on a game between the Atlantics and Chicago:
"-The finest display of ball playing ever seen in Chicago was on the occasion of the benefit match given Jimmy Wood on July 29th, the match being an exhibition game between the Atlantics and White Stockings, played under the ten men and ten innings rule, Ferguson playing at right short for the Atlantics and Collins for the Whites. At the end of the tenth inning the score stood at 4 to 4 only, and in the eleventh inning the Whites won by one run. The score was as follows:
Atlantics......0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 - 4
Chicago.......1 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 - 5
The new game is highly spoken of in the Chicago papers."
Here is another report from Forest and Stream, earlier in 1874, from March 19:
"-By the report of the proceedings of the Professional Association Convention held in Boston, it will be seen that the ten men rule though excluded from championship contests is to be the rule for all exhibition games played by professional clubs. In fact they are debarred playing any 'exhibition' game under the regular rule of play until they have played their championship series to a close. The first series of these games therefore under the ten men rule will be played the same week, in April, when the Boston Club will make an exhibition tour prior to their commencing the championship series. As at the Amateur Convention in New York last December, some of the delegates declared that the basis of their opposition to the ten men rule was the fact that the Professional Convention would adopt it, and that they wanted something different to the game that class played, by the same course of reasoning the Amateurs should adopt the new game themselves. Under their proposed rule of allowing but a square pitch in delivery, they well want ten men in the field to keep down the large scores that will be made against a simple pitch of the ball to the bat."
I've found William J. Ryczek gives the March convention good coverage in his book on the National Association, Blackguards and Red Stockings. Peter Morris also gave the attempt a page in his book A Game of Inches.
Here is a box score, finally, of a professional match. December 25, 1873. This is from "Record of the Boston Base Ball Club, Since Its Organization: With A Sketch of All Its Players for 1871, 72, 73, and 74, and Other Items of Interest. By Rockwell & Churchill, Printers, 1874." It is preceded on page 45 with the following:
Base Ball In Winter.
"Among the sports of Christmas day was a game of base ball upon the Boston grounds between the nines or 'tens' selected for the occasion. Harry Wright and Spalding chose sides from the various players, amateurs and juniors, who happened to be present, and the game proved very interesting to four or five hundred spectators.
The score was a tie at the end of the third, eighth, and ninth innings, Harry's side getting the winning runs in the tenth. Following is the score:-"
Peculiar, is that Wilson is Short Left Field and Mathews is Right Short. Al Spalding would pitch 617.1 innings in 1874, so hopefully this game didn't take too much out of him.
A retired blog on St. Louis baseball, This Game of Games, has the following article, which talks of a game played in the ten men ten inning format, also a winter exhibition. I find it interesting that Sweasy is also in this game: http://thisgameofgames.blogspot.com/2007/10/game-played-under-ten-men-ten-inning.html
In The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball by Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, he states
"a curious feature of nineteenth-century Cuban baseball is that it was played with ten men to a side, a fact that left its mark in Cuban baseball jargon. As kids we referred to sandlot games where sides were chose on the spot as a pit en, as in echar un piten, to play a casual, pickup game. The expression I know now comes from a "picked ten," a selected team of ten players."
In March 1874, the University of Virginia magazine, in Google Books as The Virginia Spectator, had this observation:
"-The Yale Courant is always quite interesting. It is generally full of news about boating, base ball, & c. We copy from a late number the following:
The prospects that the coming base-ball season will be a successful one with amateur and professional ball-players seem very encouraging. Up to the present time seven first-class professional teams have entered the lists to compete for the whip pennant. The much talked of Connecticut "ten" will probably do so at the next meeting of the Professional Association. The new rule, which constitutes ten men and ten innings the legal game, is received with little favor by unprofessional players in this vicinity, and there exist serious doubts of its adoption by the Amateur Association, notwithstanding the efforts which will be made in its behalf by all the prominent sporting papers in this city. It is now settled beyond dispute that the Athletics, of Philadelphia, and the Red Stockings, of Boston, will play a series of championship games in England, Mr. Alexander Spaulding [sic] having already been sent over to make all the preparations necessary to a successful debut of our national game in that country. The struggle for the professional championship promises to be a very lively one. At present the prospects of the whip pennant ever being held in New York or Brooklyn are very slim, neither city being able to raise a stock organization, though New York will be represented by a team, which will be partially run on the stock principle. The following is a list of the salaried paid by some of the more prominent stock organizations this season: (the article lists players for several teams, with salary. I will note one of interest, Fergy Malone, of the Chicago team, was highest paid at $2,200. He died in Seattle, a Special Customs inspector around age 70, in January 1905. He'd been out drinking all night, and died around 4 a.m. in a cab while the driver and a fellow inspector were in bar. His body was shipped back to Philadelphia where it was given a burial.)
Continuing, in Peter Morris' Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan, he states the Jackson Mutuals voted down implementing ten men, ten innings.
The most extensive coverage, at least of Chadwick's arguments, which have been well known and the purpose of my exercise here is to find scores, accounts of the games more particularly, lineups to see who played, etc, is in Andrew J. Schiff's The Father of Baseball: A Biography of Henry Chadwick. He elaborates the winter of Chadwick's discontent and the eventual defeat of the concept and how it was representative of the game moving away from Chadwick's influence.
Okay, now, have come across another one...
September 22, 1863, New York Clipper, Excelsiors v Knickerbockers (like baseball royalty you know?). Chadwick was the scorer for this game, so another clue. However, like the other early versions, this is 10 men, 9 innings. Which I now have two box scores of.
"In the present position of the game there is but one "short-stop," and he stands to the left of the infield between the second and third base positions. Ultimately, however, a "right-short" will be introduced, which will make the field one of ten men instead of nine, as now. In America the professional clubs this season play what they call exhibition games -vis., not regular matches-under the rule of ten men and ten innings, but all championship contests are played with nine men, there being no "right-short" fielder.
Chadwick's Base Ball Manual was published in London in 1874. The front page contains that title, as well as a nice illustration of a batsman, and the following, "Containing the New Rules of Base Ball as revised at the Base Ball Convention held at Boston, U.S., March 2, 1874, together with special instructions in all the scientific points of pitching, batting, and fielding, with instructions for scoring the game and rules for umpiring, by Henry Chadwick."
So...this is the latest thing I'm looking for, these ten men, ten inning or ten position game box scores. I have one, but its kind of an anomaly for these because its from 1863, and in Victoria, on Vancouver Island in what would eventually become the colony of British Columbia and part of Canada.
Here is a copy of that, its from March 31, 1863, reported in the British Colonist, a newspaper in Victoria. John Calhoun Keenan was the pitcher, and owner of the Fashion Hotel. He was from Sacramento [originally from Ireland], and played both cricket and baseball in both Sacramento and Victoria. He was also noted as a fireman.
In addition, further research...
So, using that, I found some articles in "Forest and Stream", a sporting magazine, initial find is for October 29, 1874.
The article reviews the championship matches for the 1874 season then states:
"-The professional championship season closes on Oct. 31st, after which date exhibition games, under the ten men and ten innings rule, will be in order. From the appended record of games won and lost up to October 25th, inclusive, it will be seen that the Bostons stand first-winning the pennant-the Mutuals second and the Athletics third. The table is as follows (gives rankings, you can go to bbref and look up the 1874 standings)..
-An exhibition match, under the ten men and ten innings rule was played on the Union Grounds, Brooklyn, October 24th, between the Mutuals and Atlantics, which resulted in the success of the Mutuals in a ten innings games, played in an hour and three-quarters, with a score of 7 to 1. West, of the Chelseas, played right short for the Atlantics and made a splendid double play. Geer, of the Fly Aways, assisting with the Mutuals. The Atlantics earned the only run earned in the game.
In August, the Forest and Stream reported on a game between the Atlantics and Chicago:
"-The finest display of ball playing ever seen in Chicago was on the occasion of the benefit match given Jimmy Wood on July 29th, the match being an exhibition game between the Atlantics and White Stockings, played under the ten men and ten innings rule, Ferguson playing at right short for the Atlantics and Collins for the Whites. At the end of the tenth inning the score stood at 4 to 4 only, and in the eleventh inning the Whites won by one run. The score was as follows:
Atlantics......0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 - 4
Chicago.......1 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 - 5
The new game is highly spoken of in the Chicago papers."
Here is another report from Forest and Stream, earlier in 1874, from March 19:
"-By the report of the proceedings of the Professional Association Convention held in Boston, it will be seen that the ten men rule though excluded from championship contests is to be the rule for all exhibition games played by professional clubs. In fact they are debarred playing any 'exhibition' game under the regular rule of play until they have played their championship series to a close. The first series of these games therefore under the ten men rule will be played the same week, in April, when the Boston Club will make an exhibition tour prior to their commencing the championship series. As at the Amateur Convention in New York last December, some of the delegates declared that the basis of their opposition to the ten men rule was the fact that the Professional Convention would adopt it, and that they wanted something different to the game that class played, by the same course of reasoning the Amateurs should adopt the new game themselves. Under their proposed rule of allowing but a square pitch in delivery, they well want ten men in the field to keep down the large scores that will be made against a simple pitch of the ball to the bat."
I've found William J. Ryczek gives the March convention good coverage in his book on the National Association, Blackguards and Red Stockings. Peter Morris also gave the attempt a page in his book A Game of Inches.
Here is a box score, finally, of a professional match. December 25, 1873. This is from "Record of the Boston Base Ball Club, Since Its Organization: With A Sketch of All Its Players for 1871, 72, 73, and 74, and Other Items of Interest. By Rockwell & Churchill, Printers, 1874." It is preceded on page 45 with the following:
Base Ball In Winter.
"Among the sports of Christmas day was a game of base ball upon the Boston grounds between the nines or 'tens' selected for the occasion. Harry Wright and Spalding chose sides from the various players, amateurs and juniors, who happened to be present, and the game proved very interesting to four or five hundred spectators.
The score was a tie at the end of the third, eighth, and ninth innings, Harry's side getting the winning runs in the tenth. Following is the score:-"
Peculiar, is that Wilson is Short Left Field and Mathews is Right Short. Al Spalding would pitch 617.1 innings in 1874, so hopefully this game didn't take too much out of him.
A retired blog on St. Louis baseball, This Game of Games, has the following article, which talks of a game played in the ten men ten inning format, also a winter exhibition. I find it interesting that Sweasy is also in this game: http://thisgameofgames.blogspot.com/2007/10/game-played-under-ten-men-ten-inning.html
In The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball by Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, he states
"a curious feature of nineteenth-century Cuban baseball is that it was played with ten men to a side, a fact that left its mark in Cuban baseball jargon. As kids we referred to sandlot games where sides were chose on the spot as a pit en, as in echar un piten, to play a casual, pickup game. The expression I know now comes from a "picked ten," a selected team of ten players."
In March 1874, the University of Virginia magazine, in Google Books as The Virginia Spectator, had this observation:
"-The Yale Courant is always quite interesting. It is generally full of news about boating, base ball, & c. We copy from a late number the following:
The prospects that the coming base-ball season will be a successful one with amateur and professional ball-players seem very encouraging. Up to the present time seven first-class professional teams have entered the lists to compete for the whip pennant. The much talked of Connecticut "ten" will probably do so at the next meeting of the Professional Association. The new rule, which constitutes ten men and ten innings the legal game, is received with little favor by unprofessional players in this vicinity, and there exist serious doubts of its adoption by the Amateur Association, notwithstanding the efforts which will be made in its behalf by all the prominent sporting papers in this city. It is now settled beyond dispute that the Athletics, of Philadelphia, and the Red Stockings, of Boston, will play a series of championship games in England, Mr. Alexander Spaulding [sic] having already been sent over to make all the preparations necessary to a successful debut of our national game in that country. The struggle for the professional championship promises to be a very lively one. At present the prospects of the whip pennant ever being held in New York or Brooklyn are very slim, neither city being able to raise a stock organization, though New York will be represented by a team, which will be partially run on the stock principle. The following is a list of the salaried paid by some of the more prominent stock organizations this season: (the article lists players for several teams, with salary. I will note one of interest, Fergy Malone, of the Chicago team, was highest paid at $2,200. He died in Seattle, a Special Customs inspector around age 70, in January 1905. He'd been out drinking all night, and died around 4 a.m. in a cab while the driver and a fellow inspector were in bar. His body was shipped back to Philadelphia where it was given a burial.)
Continuing, in Peter Morris' Baseball Fever: Early Baseball in Michigan, he states the Jackson Mutuals voted down implementing ten men, ten innings.
The most extensive coverage, at least of Chadwick's arguments, which have been well known and the purpose of my exercise here is to find scores, accounts of the games more particularly, lineups to see who played, etc, is in Andrew J. Schiff's The Father of Baseball: A Biography of Henry Chadwick. He elaborates the winter of Chadwick's discontent and the eventual defeat of the concept and how it was representative of the game moving away from Chadwick's influence.
Okay, now, have come across another one...
September 22, 1863, New York Clipper, Excelsiors v Knickerbockers (like baseball royalty you know?). Chadwick was the scorer for this game, so another clue. However, like the other early versions, this is 10 men, 9 innings. Which I now have two box scores of.
Game 37, Seattle Returns to the Winning Column with the arm of Wheezer Dell
Game played May 16, 1924, reported May 17. Wheezer Dell vs Walter Mails. Wheezer Dell would throw over 1,400 innings for Vernon over 4 PCL seasons later in the decade. His minor league career lasted from 1909 to 1926, with a brief respite for the Brooklyn team of the National League in the mid-Teens.
Walter Mails was also on those teams, along with George Cutshaw (their star 2nd baseman) who was on the Seattle bench for this contest. Duster Mails and Wheezer Dell.
Walter Mails was also on those teams, along with George Cutshaw (their star 2nd baseman) who was on the Seattle bench for this contest. Duster Mails and Wheezer Dell.
Game 36, In Which The Indians are Best'd by Peaches Kunz
Earl Dewey Kunz, born Christmas Day in 1898, played for Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco, and Seattle in a PCL career that spanned 1920-1930. His time with Seattle was still a couple years away when he beat them on a May day in 1924. Wikipedia identifies his nickname as Pinches, so maybe the columnist is yanking his chain in calling him Peaches. But, Peaches is a more familiar nickname of the time, so maybe Peaches is correct. In this game, Peaches beat Suds Sutherland.
Game 35, reported May 15, 1924, Seattle moves into tie for 4th place
"FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN FOR INDIANS MOVES THEM HIGHER
Seattle Makes Everything Count, Killefer Takes No Chances, and Acorns Are Beaten 4 to 3."
Seattle's hot hitting continued...
Seattle Makes Everything Count, Killefer Takes No Chances, and Acorns Are Beaten 4 to 3."
Seattle's hot hitting continued...
Game 34, Reported May 14, 1924
"FIRST VICTORY OVER OAKLAND CLUB GIVE FANS RIGHT TO HOPE
Earl Baldwin Features Win With Homer Over Left Field Wall With Bases Full-
Hard Hitting Keeps On."
The Seattle club was moving closer to .500 with a victory over Oakland. the march to the Pennant one day closer. Catcher Earl Baldwin brought the power, and Vean Gregg brought the arm.
Earl Baldwin Features Win With Homer Over Left Field Wall With Bases Full-
Hard Hitting Keeps On."
The Seattle club was moving closer to .500 with a victory over Oakland. the march to the Pennant one day closer. Catcher Earl Baldwin brought the power, and Vean Gregg brought the arm.
Well
The Mariner's won yesterday. Felix and Kuma are coming back, 2 weeks out. Okay, so awhile since I've posted, I was going to migrate this to a website, but I've realized I will never gain that level of technical competence and just prefer writing.
First, I'll get my post up about my presentation at the 2016 Fred conference at the BBHOF. Other than that, well, that's that.
First, I'll get my post up about my presentation at the 2016 Fred conference at the BBHOF. Other than that, well, that's that.
Jacob "Jack" Levy
Jack Levy was an early baseball manager and probably player in Victoria, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington. He came from a family that were Jewish pioneers in New Zealand, Australia, San Francisco, Victoria and Seattle. Below is a modified version of a chapter written by Protoball Digger Mark Brunke that appeared in Distant Replay! Washington's Jewish Sports Heroes, published in 2014 by the Washington State Jewish Historical Society.
Jack Levy has the distinction of being the earliest noted Jewish athlete in Washington that the Washington State Jewish Historical Society has discovered. Levy was an important early organizer and promoter of sports in Seattle. In addition to being president of Seattle's first organized Base Ball Club to play challenge matches, Levy would organize and promote the Seattle Rifle Team in international matches. The team Levy organized for a series of matches with the baseballers of Victoria developed over the following decade into an active semi-professional team. That team, the Seattle Reds, was the nucleus of baseball activity in Puget Sound prior to the advent of professional ball in 1890. Levy's efforts to promote dozens of games throughout the Northwest played a significant role in establishing organized baseball in Seattle.
Benjamin and Esther Levy were among the first Jews to emigrate from London to New Zealand in 1841. By 1848, they had settled in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and had given birth to their son, Jacob. By the early 1870s Jack was living in Seattle doing business at teh Grotto Cigar Stand on Mill Street. [This corrects for the previous version of this information, which was published with an error attributing Jack to Seattle Soda Works, which was run by two of his brothers : In his 20s, Jacob, now known as Jack, and his brother Henry Emanuel were living in the Northwest and had established Levy Brothers' Seattle Soda Works, manufacturing ginger beer, sarsaparilla, and other beverages. Jack Levy also ran the Grotto Cigar Stand on Mill Street and was the correspondent for The British Colonist newspaper in Victoria.]
In 1872, the game of "base ball" is mentioned for the first time in Seattle periodical. The establishment of the Dolly Varden Base Ball Club was announced in the July 11 edition of the Puget Sound Dispatch. Four years later, the newspaper described a challenge issued by a team from Newcastle, seeking to play any other team in the county. Levy is listed on the roster of the Seattle Base Ball Club, which accepted the challenge and beat the Newcastle Miners 51-0.
On May 18, 1877, The British Colonist published Victoria's challenge to the Seattle Base Ball Club to play a game for Queen Victoria's birthday on May 24. The Seattle nine accepted and beat the Victoria Club by a score of 15-7. Joshua P. Davis umpired the game, and like Jack's brother's Aunt Elizabeth, he was a well known leader of Victoria's Jewish community. Davis was also a founding director of the Olympic Base Ball Club of Victoria when it was formed in 1866. Along with the Pioneer Base Ball Club of Portland, these were the first two clubs in the Pacific Northwest to be formed under what were called New York Rules and more properly the rules of the National Association of Base Ball Players.
On June 1, 1877, the Seattle Base Ball Club voted to change its name to the Alki Base Ball Club and elected Jack Levy as its president. At this time, the club consisted of nine players, a president, and a secretary, William Jamieson. Jamieson was a jeweler who, like Levy, had moved to Seattle from Victoria. Jamieson had managed and played baseball in Victoria, and was the organizer of the Dolly Varden club in 1872, though there is no record of them ever playing club or match games.
The members of the Alkis also voted to invite the Victoria Club to a game in Seattle on July 4th, which would also include a rifle match. Seattle beat Victoria by a score of 21-9, but Victoria redeemed itself with a victory in the rifle match. With Levy managing the ball club, the Alkis turned in their best season that year, going undefeated in front of crowds that reached several hundred. Their home games were played in Georgetown, on the field of the Seattle Jockey Club's racecourse.
By 1879, Levy and nearly all his other original Alkis had left the game in Seattle, moving on to businesses in Seattle and Victoria, and one player, Curry Chase, playing at Cornell before becoming a reporter and eventually playing in Wisconsin. The Alkis team lasted only three years, but its players from its final year became the nucleus of a team that played as the Seattle Base Ball Club, continuing the May 24/July 4 home and away rivalry with Victoria through the 1880s. That team became known as the Reds by the mid-1880s, and the Seattle Browns by the late 1880s. Through the last part of the 1880s they were a semi-professional club, but had recruited at least 3 players from California and the Midwest who in addition to baseball worked in local banks and other businesses, some of which were operated by alumni of the Alkis. Finally in 1890, Seattle and clubs from Portland, Tacoma, and Spokane organized the first fully professional league in the Northwest. Victoria had initially been invited to this aggregation, but declined (though Victoria would partake in a league within a few years).
In 1897, Levy's business interests took him north to the Yukon with the Klondike gold rush. He prospected in Dawson and operated businesses there for the next 12 years. His brother and other family members operated a restaurant in Victoria. Levy returned there following injuries in a boating accident, dying a few years later on April 29, 1913.
Jack Levy has the distinction of being the earliest noted Jewish athlete in Washington that the Washington State Jewish Historical Society has discovered. Levy was an important early organizer and promoter of sports in Seattle. In addition to being president of Seattle's first organized Base Ball Club to play challenge matches, Levy would organize and promote the Seattle Rifle Team in international matches. The team Levy organized for a series of matches with the baseballers of Victoria developed over the following decade into an active semi-professional team. That team, the Seattle Reds, was the nucleus of baseball activity in Puget Sound prior to the advent of professional ball in 1890. Levy's efforts to promote dozens of games throughout the Northwest played a significant role in establishing organized baseball in Seattle.
Benjamin and Esther Levy were among the first Jews to emigrate from London to New Zealand in 1841. By 1848, they had settled in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and had given birth to their son, Jacob. By the early 1870s Jack was living in Seattle doing business at teh Grotto Cigar Stand on Mill Street. [This corrects for the previous version of this information, which was published with an error attributing Jack to Seattle Soda Works, which was run by two of his brothers : In his 20s, Jacob, now known as Jack, and his brother Henry Emanuel were living in the Northwest and had established Levy Brothers' Seattle Soda Works, manufacturing ginger beer, sarsaparilla, and other beverages. Jack Levy also ran the Grotto Cigar Stand on Mill Street and was the correspondent for The British Colonist newspaper in Victoria.]
In 1872, the game of "base ball" is mentioned for the first time in Seattle periodical. The establishment of the Dolly Varden Base Ball Club was announced in the July 11 edition of the Puget Sound Dispatch. Four years later, the newspaper described a challenge issued by a team from Newcastle, seeking to play any other team in the county. Levy is listed on the roster of the Seattle Base Ball Club, which accepted the challenge and beat the Newcastle Miners 51-0.
On May 18, 1877, The British Colonist published Victoria's challenge to the Seattle Base Ball Club to play a game for Queen Victoria's birthday on May 24. The Seattle nine accepted and beat the Victoria Club by a score of 15-7. Joshua P. Davis umpired the game, and like Jack's brother's Aunt Elizabeth, he was a well known leader of Victoria's Jewish community. Davis was also a founding director of the Olympic Base Ball Club of Victoria when it was formed in 1866. Along with the Pioneer Base Ball Club of Portland, these were the first two clubs in the Pacific Northwest to be formed under what were called New York Rules and more properly the rules of the National Association of Base Ball Players.
On June 1, 1877, the Seattle Base Ball Club voted to change its name to the Alki Base Ball Club and elected Jack Levy as its president. At this time, the club consisted of nine players, a president, and a secretary, William Jamieson. Jamieson was a jeweler who, like Levy, had moved to Seattle from Victoria. Jamieson had managed and played baseball in Victoria, and was the organizer of the Dolly Varden club in 1872, though there is no record of them ever playing club or match games.
The members of the Alkis also voted to invite the Victoria Club to a game in Seattle on July 4th, which would also include a rifle match. Seattle beat Victoria by a score of 21-9, but Victoria redeemed itself with a victory in the rifle match. With Levy managing the ball club, the Alkis turned in their best season that year, going undefeated in front of crowds that reached several hundred. Their home games were played in Georgetown, on the field of the Seattle Jockey Club's racecourse.
By 1879, Levy and nearly all his other original Alkis had left the game in Seattle, moving on to businesses in Seattle and Victoria, and one player, Curry Chase, playing at Cornell before becoming a reporter and eventually playing in Wisconsin. The Alkis team lasted only three years, but its players from its final year became the nucleus of a team that played as the Seattle Base Ball Club, continuing the May 24/July 4 home and away rivalry with Victoria through the 1880s. That team became known as the Reds by the mid-1880s, and the Seattle Browns by the late 1880s. Through the last part of the 1880s they were a semi-professional club, but had recruited at least 3 players from California and the Midwest who in addition to baseball worked in local banks and other businesses, some of which were operated by alumni of the Alkis. Finally in 1890, Seattle and clubs from Portland, Tacoma, and Spokane organized the first fully professional league in the Northwest. Victoria had initially been invited to this aggregation, but declined (though Victoria would partake in a league within a few years).
In 1897, Levy's business interests took him north to the Yukon with the Klondike gold rush. He prospected in Dawson and operated businesses there for the next 12 years. His brother and other family members operated a restaurant in Victoria. Levy returned there following injuries in a boating accident, dying a few years later on April 29, 1913.
Game 31, reported Sunday, May 11, 1924
After 31 games, and heading into a usual Sunday double-header that would end the current series with Portland, the Seattle Indians were 13-18. Here's the story and box score of the Saturday affair:
1978 Seattle Mariners Spring training
I've recently been working on some audio tapes that an old radio guy gave to our Northwest SABR chapter at a meeting in Oregon last year. Here's a link to a Soundcloud site where I've uploaded them:
https://soundcloud.com/pnw-baseball/sets/seattle-mariners-spring
https://soundcloud.com/pnw-baseball/sets/seattle-mariners-spring
Excursion to Port Gamble, reported September 16, 1877
EXCURSION TO PORT GAMBLE
Last Sunday morning the Steamer Nellie got up steam and blew her first whistle at have past four o'clock. Early as it was there were plenty of lights in town. At half past five the boat was to start on her excursion to Port Gamble, and those who intended to participate were already a stir.
The Pacific Base Ball Club were to try their strength with the Unknowns at Gamble. The day was delightfully pleasant. The trip across the placid waters of the Sound was enough to induce any one to get on board, even if they took no interest in B. B. After the usual delays of waiting for the last man and his Mary Jane, the final whistle was blown and we started down the river, a merry crew on pleasure bent.
Quite an accession to our numbers was received at Lowell, all eager to participate. About seven o'clock we reached the mouth of the river, the tide was nearly out. Bare mud flats with nothing to relieve them except a few snags, storks and gulls, the latter so silent and still that snag or bird could hardly be distinguished the one from the other, stretched away on our left; to the right was Priest Point; behind us great reaches of tide marshes, whose waving tale and wild grasses at this season of the year reminds one of the half ripe rice fields of South Carolina, and ahead Hat Island, with its great white sand bluffs crowned with emerald. Between us and deep water, was a serpentine channel, of shallow depth, whose course could be followed by a constant use of the sounding rod. We all expected to be stuck in the mud at every revolution of the wheel. But we listened in vain for the sound of the bell. On we went, twisting and turning as if hunting a sea-serpent, heading to all points of the compass, stirring up the already ruly water, but still edging out towards Hat Island, till all at once the boat headed up Sound, we glided into deep, blue water and were over the bar at as low a stage of water as ever a steamer crossed before.
Many had tumbled out of bed as early, or rather so late for the boat, that they came aboard before breakfast. But no matter. We ask for no better breakfast than the one we all sat down to on board that morning. It is but just to remark, that all the way over and back, everything was done by Capt. Low that could be done, to make the trip a pleasant one. Every one was made to feel at home on board. Not a word of complaint was heard from any one during the day. May many such excursions fall to the lot of the Nellie, before Capt. Charley's hair turns gray.
Before we reached Gamble, the boys in blue, the Pacifics, sat down to a light lunch, preparatory to the contest to take place immediately on their arrival. We were met at the wharf by the Gamble boys, cordially welcomed and courteously entertained.
Port Gamble is a beautiful town site, and will be a beautiful town, years hence, long after the mammoth mills have become silent for want of forests to consume. It being Sunday, the mills were idle. But the presence of several large vessels at the wharves and so large a concourse of people, employed in the harbor trade and manufacture, indicated the immense business of Puget Mill Company. There are several [best] but no very costly residences. The chief beauty of Port Gamble is her fruit and flower gardens with which every home is ornamented. Where such evidences of taste are seen out door, there must be refinement within. If this is not true of Gamble, the town is an exception.
The B. B. Grounds are about one mile from town. A fine road, beautifully shaded, leads out to them. The ground is not as well fitted up as it should be. There is no convenience for spectators. It is not level. The brush is too near, and the deep gulch in rear of the home base is a great draw back. This is no fault of the club. Suitable grounds are hard to be found anywhere. But, if the ground is level, all other objections can be overcome. Well our boys take the hint, and do a little work before fair time. Our ground if put in order, is every way superior to theirs; But as it now stands, the Gamble boys are entitled to more credit than ours; for, if we had spent as much labor on our ground as they have, we should have the best field- but without more work it is not so good. So take of your coats boys and pitch in. It will do you good. You need a little muscular exercise, to prepare you for the championship at the next contest.
At fifteen minutes of twelve o'clock the game commenced, Mr. Shoe, umpire. W. D. Scott and C. Packard scorers, with the Pacifics in the field. The game was as fair and impartial as ever was played, the only advantage being that the Unknowns were at home and familiar with the ground. The umpire and scorers did their duty like perfect gentlemen, showing neither partiality or favoritism. They all three gave perfect satisfaction to the players of both clubs, and won remarks of praise from the spectators. The most perfect order and decorum prevailed during the entire game. Not a word of obscene or profane language was used by either players or spectators. A great many ladies and gentlemen were present and readily expressed their approbation whenever a good play was made by either side.
The Unknowns took the lead at the start. Towards the middle of the game the Pacifics nearly caught up with them, the former being only two talleys ahead. But they steadily gained from them till the close of the game, beating the Pacifics by a score of sixteen. Both clubs showed want of practice. Each club has some excellent players. Specimens of good pitching, batting, catching and running were exhibited by several of the participants during the play. Some difficult flies were skillfully taken, and many good ones missed. Much wild throwing was done on both sides, but we think the Pacifics did much more of it than their opponents. The utmost good feeling prevailed throughout the contest. No question at any time arose that led to any wordy altercation. The umpires' decision seemed to be received by all with satisfaction; and at the close of the game, rousing cheers were giving for both visitors and vanquished, those for the Pacifics, louder than for their conquerors.
After the game, the two clubs, with a few invited guests, repaired to the hotel and sat down to a magnificent banquet provided by the Unknowns. We acknowledge our inability to do justice in words to this tempting bill of fare, although we showed our appreciation at the time in the usual manner. The table contained all the epicure could wish, carefully prepared and in profuse or drinkable abundance. Nothing edible or drinkable was lacking. All traces of the chagrin of their defeat vanished from faces of the Pacifics as they beheld this bountiful repast. The dinner alone, was worth the trip to Gamble; the trip there and back on the Nellie, with the view of the heavens above, the snowy mountains with summits lost in the clouds to be seen in every directions, the mirror like waters of our beautiful inland sea with its borders of green, reflecting the ever changing clouds, the far off mountains and the nearer foliage of evergreen forest, is worth a trip across the continent to behold. And, then, with these beautiful scenes, free to all, to meet with such whole souled fraternal feeling, is enough to make any one willing to be defeated every day in the year. That is the way our boys felt, after parting with the Unknowns, obtaining promise from them to return the visit on October 5th, shaking hands, shouting good bye boys as we left the wharf and waiving handkerchiefs as long as anybody was in sight.
The trip home, mostly by moonlight, was a fit rounding off of a day of unalloyed pleasure.
Crossing from Port Gamble to Skagit Head we had the best view of Mount Rainier we ever beheld. No matter when whether from where seen, this hoary old sentinel of the ages is always grand, magnificent and sublime; but to see it as we saw it then, with the illusion of the waters of the Sound stretching far away, seemingly to the very foot hills at its base, its western visage all aglow with the rays of the setting sun, will photograph a picture on the brain that live will not efface.
It was approaching midnight when we reached the wharf. There was no expression of regret by any participant no signs of fatigue. We believe all hands would have gladly turned back for a repetition of the day's pleasure. We have been a five years resident of the Sound, and have never spent a happier day since we have been here.
Last Sunday morning the Steamer Nellie got up steam and blew her first whistle at have past four o'clock. Early as it was there were plenty of lights in town. At half past five the boat was to start on her excursion to Port Gamble, and those who intended to participate were already a stir.
The Pacific Base Ball Club were to try their strength with the Unknowns at Gamble. The day was delightfully pleasant. The trip across the placid waters of the Sound was enough to induce any one to get on board, even if they took no interest in B. B. After the usual delays of waiting for the last man and his Mary Jane, the final whistle was blown and we started down the river, a merry crew on pleasure bent.
Quite an accession to our numbers was received at Lowell, all eager to participate. About seven o'clock we reached the mouth of the river, the tide was nearly out. Bare mud flats with nothing to relieve them except a few snags, storks and gulls, the latter so silent and still that snag or bird could hardly be distinguished the one from the other, stretched away on our left; to the right was Priest Point; behind us great reaches of tide marshes, whose waving tale and wild grasses at this season of the year reminds one of the half ripe rice fields of South Carolina, and ahead Hat Island, with its great white sand bluffs crowned with emerald. Between us and deep water, was a serpentine channel, of shallow depth, whose course could be followed by a constant use of the sounding rod. We all expected to be stuck in the mud at every revolution of the wheel. But we listened in vain for the sound of the bell. On we went, twisting and turning as if hunting a sea-serpent, heading to all points of the compass, stirring up the already ruly water, but still edging out towards Hat Island, till all at once the boat headed up Sound, we glided into deep, blue water and were over the bar at as low a stage of water as ever a steamer crossed before.
Many had tumbled out of bed as early, or rather so late for the boat, that they came aboard before breakfast. But no matter. We ask for no better breakfast than the one we all sat down to on board that morning. It is but just to remark, that all the way over and back, everything was done by Capt. Low that could be done, to make the trip a pleasant one. Every one was made to feel at home on board. Not a word of complaint was heard from any one during the day. May many such excursions fall to the lot of the Nellie, before Capt. Charley's hair turns gray.
Before we reached Gamble, the boys in blue, the Pacifics, sat down to a light lunch, preparatory to the contest to take place immediately on their arrival. We were met at the wharf by the Gamble boys, cordially welcomed and courteously entertained.
Port Gamble is a beautiful town site, and will be a beautiful town, years hence, long after the mammoth mills have become silent for want of forests to consume. It being Sunday, the mills were idle. But the presence of several large vessels at the wharves and so large a concourse of people, employed in the harbor trade and manufacture, indicated the immense business of Puget Mill Company. There are several [best] but no very costly residences. The chief beauty of Port Gamble is her fruit and flower gardens with which every home is ornamented. Where such evidences of taste are seen out door, there must be refinement within. If this is not true of Gamble, the town is an exception.
The B. B. Grounds are about one mile from town. A fine road, beautifully shaded, leads out to them. The ground is not as well fitted up as it should be. There is no convenience for spectators. It is not level. The brush is too near, and the deep gulch in rear of the home base is a great draw back. This is no fault of the club. Suitable grounds are hard to be found anywhere. But, if the ground is level, all other objections can be overcome. Well our boys take the hint, and do a little work before fair time. Our ground if put in order, is every way superior to theirs; But as it now stands, the Gamble boys are entitled to more credit than ours; for, if we had spent as much labor on our ground as they have, we should have the best field- but without more work it is not so good. So take of your coats boys and pitch in. It will do you good. You need a little muscular exercise, to prepare you for the championship at the next contest.
At fifteen minutes of twelve o'clock the game commenced, Mr. Shoe, umpire. W. D. Scott and C. Packard scorers, with the Pacifics in the field. The game was as fair and impartial as ever was played, the only advantage being that the Unknowns were at home and familiar with the ground. The umpire and scorers did their duty like perfect gentlemen, showing neither partiality or favoritism. They all three gave perfect satisfaction to the players of both clubs, and won remarks of praise from the spectators. The most perfect order and decorum prevailed during the entire game. Not a word of obscene or profane language was used by either players or spectators. A great many ladies and gentlemen were present and readily expressed their approbation whenever a good play was made by either side.
The Unknowns took the lead at the start. Towards the middle of the game the Pacifics nearly caught up with them, the former being only two talleys ahead. But they steadily gained from them till the close of the game, beating the Pacifics by a score of sixteen. Both clubs showed want of practice. Each club has some excellent players. Specimens of good pitching, batting, catching and running were exhibited by several of the participants during the play. Some difficult flies were skillfully taken, and many good ones missed. Much wild throwing was done on both sides, but we think the Pacifics did much more of it than their opponents. The utmost good feeling prevailed throughout the contest. No question at any time arose that led to any wordy altercation. The umpires' decision seemed to be received by all with satisfaction; and at the close of the game, rousing cheers were giving for both visitors and vanquished, those for the Pacifics, louder than for their conquerors.
After the game, the two clubs, with a few invited guests, repaired to the hotel and sat down to a magnificent banquet provided by the Unknowns. We acknowledge our inability to do justice in words to this tempting bill of fare, although we showed our appreciation at the time in the usual manner. The table contained all the epicure could wish, carefully prepared and in profuse or drinkable abundance. Nothing edible or drinkable was lacking. All traces of the chagrin of their defeat vanished from faces of the Pacifics as they beheld this bountiful repast. The dinner alone, was worth the trip to Gamble; the trip there and back on the Nellie, with the view of the heavens above, the snowy mountains with summits lost in the clouds to be seen in every directions, the mirror like waters of our beautiful inland sea with its borders of green, reflecting the ever changing clouds, the far off mountains and the nearer foliage of evergreen forest, is worth a trip across the continent to behold. And, then, with these beautiful scenes, free to all, to meet with such whole souled fraternal feeling, is enough to make any one willing to be defeated every day in the year. That is the way our boys felt, after parting with the Unknowns, obtaining promise from them to return the visit on October 5th, shaking hands, shouting good bye boys as we left the wharf and waiving handkerchiefs as long as anybody was in sight.
The trip home, mostly by moonlight, was a fit rounding off of a day of unalloyed pleasure.
Crossing from Port Gamble to Skagit Head we had the best view of Mount Rainier we ever beheld. No matter when whether from where seen, this hoary old sentinel of the ages is always grand, magnificent and sublime; but to see it as we saw it then, with the illusion of the waters of the Sound stretching far away, seemingly to the very foot hills at its base, its western visage all aglow with the rays of the setting sun, will photograph a picture on the brain that live will not efface.
It was approaching midnight when we reached the wharf. There was no expression of regret by any participant no signs of fatigue. We believe all hands would have gladly turned back for a repetition of the day's pleasure. We have been a five years resident of the Sound, and have never spent a happier day since we have been here.
2014 Hall of Fame
http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2014.shtml
Above is a link to the Hall of Fame ballot for 2014.
Here are my choices:
1. Greg Maddux. This should need no explanation.
2. Edgar Martinez. Just look at the swing. But, if we need to, the key to evaluating players from Martinez' time should be to look at the whole player, as always, but a useful stat would be OPS+. I think a whole view of Martinez shows him to be one of the top 5 or 6 hitters of his time. His weakness is in being a DH, but that is a position on a baseball field for 40 years, so its not really an issue. Martinez was a good enough 3rd baseman. I also offer one more argument: Ken Griffey Jr, Alex Rodriguez and Ichiro Suzuki will all probably end up in the HOF, Arod will probably have to wait, but still, I would argue that Edgar Martinez was a better hitter than 3 teammates who benefitted greatly from having Martinez in the lineup.
3. Tim Raines. Tim Raines is the second greatest leadoff hitter of modern times, Ichiro Suzuki is third, Charlie Hustle and Lou Brock tied in fourth, Paul Molitor is fifth, Craig Biggio is sixth, Kenny Lofton is seventh. After that you get your variations who shouldn't be in the HOF: Johnny Damon, Brett Butler, Willie Wilson. Then guys who aren't even quite to that edge, but have their own unique, and excellent, just not HOF level, time in at leadoff: Alphonso Soriano (I know, I know), Tony Phillips, Bert Campaneris, Jimmy Rollins. But, c'mon, Tim Raines. The fact is Rickey probably could have been more helpful as a 3 hitter. After all, if you have both Tony Phillips and Rickey Henderson, its not an argument that Rickey is a better leadoff hitter, but what is the best way to arrange the available bats you've got. But, that's kind of stupid of me, because if you've got Rickey Henderson, arguably to me the greatest baseball player ever, you just put him up front and let him play. Anyway, Tim Raines.
4. Alan Trammell. Are the greatest baseball players really all at first base and right field? Of course not.
5. Tom Glavine. Nuff Said.
6. Lee Smith. I think durability is something valuable when we consider the Hall of Fame. The idea to me that Kirby Puckett is a HOFer and Ferris Fain isn't is, well, just wrong. I think talent is only part of the HOF. A HOF player should have luck, resistance to injury, any number of things, as well as a transcendent level of talent that they use to achieve at a level higher than their contemporaries. Things must be measured in context. Lee Smith is one of the best closers in baseball history. He is also the model that we now have, and one of the reasons for that is Lee Smith. His talent changed the way a game was managed, and that approach, effective because of Smith's talent and willingness to actuate that talent, is now the model across all of baseball.
7. Jack Morris. Here's the rub: who should be in the Hall of Fame: Jack Morris or Curt Schilling? Jack Morris, for now, then Curt Schilling, then Pedro Martinez...., back to the point: pitched one of the great games in baseball history. I have a hard time differentiating that from the rest of his career, that impression colors the entire picture for me. Same with Edgar Martinez. I saw Edgar hit, he was a Hall of Famer. He did that at the conclusion of being, in my opinion, the best pitcher consistently for a decade. This is why my next one is
8. Roger Clemens. Who knows about the drugs. Roger, probably. He was already on the edge, and then BBWAA gives him 4 more Cy Youngs instead of being reporters. If they want to keep him out of the HOF now, I think its a bunch of hypocrisy on their part.
9. Barry Bonds. See Clemens, but the point is 4 MVPs. Lets say Canseco was right, and 80% of the players were using. What you got to see with Bonds was what happens when one of the all time greats, already, decides to use the same tools as a Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmiero. You could not pitch in the strike zone against Bonds anyway, and for a couple of years, it was really must-see-tv. It was the true spectacle of the game.
10. Craig Biggio. Judgment call. Let Bagwell wait another year. I think Biggio was a fantastic player, even with the taint on the clubhouse. My favorite part of Biggio's game was his immense talent at the game itself, put him anywhere on the field, he was a ball player. Also, his way of crowding the plate.
On the cusp: Frank Thomas. He has no steroids taint that I know of, but I say make em all wait a year. Besides, there's a backlog to sort through. But, I can see Thomas going in anyone's place except Maddux. Mike Piazza. I think Piazza and Thomas may get in, but they are just lower on my priority list. Palmiero. Overall, his career is an odd one, just under league leaders during times of specialization, and he didn't do himself any favors in Congress. But, I think one of the stupidest things ever is the idea that players need to be put in on the first ballot. Ridiculous. In fact, what we have developing here is a unique situation not seen since the early ballots, but also it may look like the 1960s. Look at the ballots in the 1960s: Bob Feller, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Joe Medwick, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella. Now that is a Hall of Fame.
Who among the batch of players measures up to that decade of elected? Well, Greg Maddux. If I could get the steroids issue out of my head, Barry Bonds. Lets face it, if Bert Blyleven can be in the HOF, then so can Jack Morris, but if Feller is the measurement?
What I would suggest is that the HOF needs several areas of improvement. For one thing, there needs to be greater parity among the defensive positions. There also needs to be a greater respect for the overall number of games a player plays in. Durability is, I think, the corrective. There have been many players who had an exceptional level of talent, and one thing or another prevents the sustained performance. I also don't think 10 years is a reasonable cut off. See Ferris Fain. Playing 3 games in another year, is that serious consideration for HOF? Well.....no. Yet, it would be. Also, I think "Fame" should be a consideration. There needs to be a certain amount of starpower for players we are considering for contemporary baseball.
Above is a link to the Hall of Fame ballot for 2014.
Here are my choices:
1. Greg Maddux. This should need no explanation.
2. Edgar Martinez. Just look at the swing. But, if we need to, the key to evaluating players from Martinez' time should be to look at the whole player, as always, but a useful stat would be OPS+. I think a whole view of Martinez shows him to be one of the top 5 or 6 hitters of his time. His weakness is in being a DH, but that is a position on a baseball field for 40 years, so its not really an issue. Martinez was a good enough 3rd baseman. I also offer one more argument: Ken Griffey Jr, Alex Rodriguez and Ichiro Suzuki will all probably end up in the HOF, Arod will probably have to wait, but still, I would argue that Edgar Martinez was a better hitter than 3 teammates who benefitted greatly from having Martinez in the lineup.
3. Tim Raines. Tim Raines is the second greatest leadoff hitter of modern times, Ichiro Suzuki is third, Charlie Hustle and Lou Brock tied in fourth, Paul Molitor is fifth, Craig Biggio is sixth, Kenny Lofton is seventh. After that you get your variations who shouldn't be in the HOF: Johnny Damon, Brett Butler, Willie Wilson. Then guys who aren't even quite to that edge, but have their own unique, and excellent, just not HOF level, time in at leadoff: Alphonso Soriano (I know, I know), Tony Phillips, Bert Campaneris, Jimmy Rollins. But, c'mon, Tim Raines. The fact is Rickey probably could have been more helpful as a 3 hitter. After all, if you have both Tony Phillips and Rickey Henderson, its not an argument that Rickey is a better leadoff hitter, but what is the best way to arrange the available bats you've got. But, that's kind of stupid of me, because if you've got Rickey Henderson, arguably to me the greatest baseball player ever, you just put him up front and let him play. Anyway, Tim Raines.
4. Alan Trammell. Are the greatest baseball players really all at first base and right field? Of course not.
5. Tom Glavine. Nuff Said.
6. Lee Smith. I think durability is something valuable when we consider the Hall of Fame. The idea to me that Kirby Puckett is a HOFer and Ferris Fain isn't is, well, just wrong. I think talent is only part of the HOF. A HOF player should have luck, resistance to injury, any number of things, as well as a transcendent level of talent that they use to achieve at a level higher than their contemporaries. Things must be measured in context. Lee Smith is one of the best closers in baseball history. He is also the model that we now have, and one of the reasons for that is Lee Smith. His talent changed the way a game was managed, and that approach, effective because of Smith's talent and willingness to actuate that talent, is now the model across all of baseball.
7. Jack Morris. Here's the rub: who should be in the Hall of Fame: Jack Morris or Curt Schilling? Jack Morris, for now, then Curt Schilling, then Pedro Martinez...., back to the point: pitched one of the great games in baseball history. I have a hard time differentiating that from the rest of his career, that impression colors the entire picture for me. Same with Edgar Martinez. I saw Edgar hit, he was a Hall of Famer. He did that at the conclusion of being, in my opinion, the best pitcher consistently for a decade. This is why my next one is
8. Roger Clemens. Who knows about the drugs. Roger, probably. He was already on the edge, and then BBWAA gives him 4 more Cy Youngs instead of being reporters. If they want to keep him out of the HOF now, I think its a bunch of hypocrisy on their part.
9. Barry Bonds. See Clemens, but the point is 4 MVPs. Lets say Canseco was right, and 80% of the players were using. What you got to see with Bonds was what happens when one of the all time greats, already, decides to use the same tools as a Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmiero. You could not pitch in the strike zone against Bonds anyway, and for a couple of years, it was really must-see-tv. It was the true spectacle of the game.
10. Craig Biggio. Judgment call. Let Bagwell wait another year. I think Biggio was a fantastic player, even with the taint on the clubhouse. My favorite part of Biggio's game was his immense talent at the game itself, put him anywhere on the field, he was a ball player. Also, his way of crowding the plate.
On the cusp: Frank Thomas. He has no steroids taint that I know of, but I say make em all wait a year. Besides, there's a backlog to sort through. But, I can see Thomas going in anyone's place except Maddux. Mike Piazza. I think Piazza and Thomas may get in, but they are just lower on my priority list. Palmiero. Overall, his career is an odd one, just under league leaders during times of specialization, and he didn't do himself any favors in Congress. But, I think one of the stupidest things ever is the idea that players need to be put in on the first ballot. Ridiculous. In fact, what we have developing here is a unique situation not seen since the early ballots, but also it may look like the 1960s. Look at the ballots in the 1960s: Bob Feller, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Joe Medwick, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella. Now that is a Hall of Fame.
Who among the batch of players measures up to that decade of elected? Well, Greg Maddux. If I could get the steroids issue out of my head, Barry Bonds. Lets face it, if Bert Blyleven can be in the HOF, then so can Jack Morris, but if Feller is the measurement?
What I would suggest is that the HOF needs several areas of improvement. For one thing, there needs to be greater parity among the defensive positions. There also needs to be a greater respect for the overall number of games a player plays in. Durability is, I think, the corrective. There have been many players who had an exceptional level of talent, and one thing or another prevents the sustained performance. I also don't think 10 years is a reasonable cut off. See Ferris Fain. Playing 3 games in another year, is that serious consideration for HOF? Well.....no. Yet, it would be. Also, I think "Fame" should be a consideration. There needs to be a certain amount of starpower for players we are considering for contemporary baseball.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)