Archive for the ‘General Baseball History’ Category

 

It was popular during the early 20th century for players to leave their gloves on the field while they were at bat. Not all the players did it, but quite a few did. In general, the outfielders and middle infielders would leave them in the outfield and the corner fielders would drop them in fair territory.

You can see the practice in old films such as When it was a Game and World Series DVDs – through the 1953 series.

This caused surprisingly few controversies over the decades. The most recent controversy stemmed from a game on July 12, 1952 between the White Sox and Senators. Washington was trailing 1-0 in the fifth inning when White Sox shortstop Sam Dente, making a play on a ball hit by Jim Busby, tripped over Pete Runnels’ glove which was laying in short left field. He was charged with an error which would have been the third out. The Senators then scored twice to take the lead and eventual win.

Dente, not the glove, was roundly blamed:

Washington Post 7/13/1952

A rule was agreed to on November 3, 1953 to eliminate the practice.

New York Times 11/4/1953

The Sporting News 11/11/1953

Some were quite preturbed by the change of custom. The Texas League tried to repeal the new rule citing that it cause a delay in game:

Washington Post 3/27/1954

Others, like the TL, wanted to buck the system as well:

Chicago Tribune 4/15/1954

Hartford Courant 4/17/1954

The Sporting News 4/14/1954

The Sporting News 4/21/1954

 

James Coogan and Coogan’s Hollow
 

The area later known as Coogan’s Hollow was granted by an act of the King of England to John Lyon Gardiner in the 17th century. In the mid 19th century it was passed from Sarah Gardiner to her granddaughter and her husband Sarah and William L. Lynch.

The Lynches owned significant expanses of real estate in and around the current New York City. They were one of the largest property owners in the New York area. Nineteenth century newspapers are littered with the family’s real estate acquisitions and transactions and consequent legal battles.

The property, one the last vestiges of land granted by royal charter in Manhattan, would house the Manhattan Polo Grounds during the 1870s. The lot underwent an extensive remodel and reopened on September 25, 1880. Four days later, the Polo Grounds were opened to the public for the first time as a baseball arena.

The Lynches leased many of their properties to commercial and government entities. For example, the lease on the Polo Grounds and Manhattan Field to the New York Giants brought the family $20,000 a year, as part of a five-year deal signed in February 1895.

Amid a potentially expense legal battle in December 1897, the widow Sarah Lynch transferred ownership of the Polo Grounds property to her daughter Harriet Gertrude Lynch Coogan, wife of James Jay Coogan.

James Coogan

In his youth James Coogan, born in 1845, learned the trade of upholstery. He eventually opened a furniture store in the Bowery called Coogan Brothers Furniture. Coogan also obtained a law degree from New York University.

In the mid 1880s he married Harriet Lynch and also became involved in politics. In 1888 Coogan ran for mayor of New York on the Union Labor Party ticket but lost, coming in forth.

Dismayed over his financial losses during the campaign, Coogan withdrew from politics to oversee his mother-in-law’s real estate interests. Due to his administration of these properties, the area around the Polo Grounds became known as Coogan’s Hollow, now generally referred to as Coogan’s Bluff.

His duties also led to many connections with Tammany Democrats. Due to his friendship with Tammany boss Richard Coker, Coogan became president of the Borough of Manhattan in January 1899. His term ran until 1901.

In October 1915 Coogan died at his apartment at the Netherland Hotel at age 70.

Big Plans

It was rumored in late 1910 that Madison Square Garden would be sold and possibly close. Also in April 1911 a fire burned down much of the grandstands at the Polo Grounds. This set into motion some grandiose plans which the Lynch and Coogan families had been pondering for some time.

For one, the park was expanded, becoming the third steel and concrete ballpark in the majors. The Coogans also purchased additional lands opposite the Polo Grounds and set to build a huge $6,000,000 athletic park at Coogan’s Bluff to fill the entertainment gap.

The 90 acres north of 155th Street and between Speedway Park, St. Nicholas Avenue and the Harlem River was to be called Olympia and modeled after the Olympia of London. The attractions at New York Olympia would potentially include:

• Transfer of shows from Madison Square Garden within a new facility
• National Horse Show Association with stables and show area
• New baseball stadium built by John Brush and the Giants
• Track and field area with clubhouse, grandstands and training facility
• Boathouses and docks

In July 1912 Coogan went to London trying to lure business for the area. For one, he wanted to land the Shakespearean Exposition; but more importantly, he wanted to entice the International Olympic Committee to hold games at the Polo Grounds in 1920.

Most of the plans didn’t pan out.

SOURCE LIST

Various contemporary newspapers including:

• New York Times 2/11/1895
• New York Times 1/15/1896
• New York Times 1/6/1899
• Wall Street Journal 2/24/1910
• New York Times 7/8/1911
• New York Times 5/5/1911
• New York Times 7/31/1912
• New York Times 10/25/1915
• New York Times 10/28/1915

 

During the barehanded era of baseball history, it was common for ballplayers to catch pop-ups at mid-chest height or lower. This allowed the fielder to trap the ball between his hands and body if necessary.  Thus, the basket catch is not a new invention.

The standard overhead style, which is prevalent today, of catching pop-ups became the norm during the 20th century.

Two men ultized the basket-style during their careers in modern times – Rabbit Maranville and Willie Mays.

Sporting Life 8/30/1913

Willie Mays

 

Off Vic Wertz’s bat – 1954 World Series

 

Deaf Major Leaguers

Ed Dundon, pitcher, 1883-1884

Tom Lynch, pitcher, 1884

William Hoy, outfielder, 1888-1902

Reuban Stephenson, outfielder, 1892

Luther Taylor, pitcher, 1900-1908

George Leitner, pitcher, 1901-1902

William Deegan, pitcher, 1901

Dick Sipek, outfielder, 1945

Curtis Pride, outfielder, 1993-2006

Being that times are different, Sipek was the first deaf-mute not to be nicknamed “Dummy.”  Those before him were deaf-mutes as well.

Other major leaguers have had dramatic hearing loss such as Paul Hines and Pete Browning.

There have been quite a few other deaf ballplayers in the minors. Some notable ones are:

John Ryn, first base, 1884-1895

George Kihm, first base, 1895-1911

Kihm racking up 2,245 hits and a .293 batting average. 

Lefthander Ryan Ketchner, whose professional career began in 2000, pitched at Triple-A during the 2009 season. 

Many of the pros were taught the game at the Ohio Institute for the Deaf. Stephenson learned to play ay a similar school in New Jersey.

There is a Dummy Murphy listed in the encyclopedia but that nickname seems to stem from his four errors on April 24, 1914 and subsequent misplays.

 

Night Baseball

Night baseball is not a new idea.  Games had been played under artificial lights since September 2, 1880, at Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts, a scant year after Thomas Edison invented the incandescent lamp.

Various Negro league, minor league and college teams all predate the majors, using a crude lighting system to attract after-work crowds. Al Spalding installed lights at Chicago’s Lakefront Park in 1883 but no National League contests were played under the stars.

Likewise, the Brooklyn Federal League franchise installed light towers at Washington Park for the upcoming 1916 season, but the league folded prior to Opening Day

Eventually, night baseball became a staple in the industry, but not right away.  It had its detractors including the crabby Landis and Phillip Wrigley who fought it until his death.

It is obvious today that night games would draw a larger crowd.  After a while, it was obvious then, too.  Sentiment prevented many from jumping on the bandwagon.  Eventually, all benefited.  The following parks installed lights:

1935 Cincinnati - Crosley Field

1938 Brooklyn - Ebbets Field

1939 Philadelphia - Shibe Park (Both the A’s and Phillies)

Cleveland - Municipal Stadium

Chicago - Comiskey Park

1940 New York - Polo Grounds

St. Louis - Sportsman’s Park (Both the Browns and Cardinals)

Pittsburgh - Forbes Field

1941 Washington - Griffith Park

The remaining franchises had to delay night baseball until after the war. 

The first major league regular season night game took place on June 15, 1935 in Cincinnati and drew a healthy 20,422 fans.  Innovator Larry MacPhail brought the lights to the majors.  He is also responsible for the second team, Dodgers, to host evening ball. 

Connie Mack initiated the first night game in the American League on May 16, 1939 with 15,109 spectators in attendance.

The first night World Series game did not take place until the fourth game in 1971.  It was so successful that Bowie Kuhn ordered all weekday World Series games to be played at night the following year.

 

The first foreign-born players per country in major league baseball history.

As the need for top-notch baseball talent increases, Major League Baseball has continually tapped new resources.  There were 229 foreign-born players on Opening Day rosters in 2009, comprising 28% of the slots. 

This figure is likely to increase since 47.8% of minor leaguers, to start 2009, were born outside the United States.  The following men in baseball history are the first from their respective countries or race, etc. to make the show (with their debut year):

Afghanistan	Jeff Bronkey	1993
American Indian	Jim Toy	1887
American Samoa	Tony Solaita	1968
Amish	Bill Zuber	1936
Aruba	Gene Kingsale	1996
Australia	Joe Quinn	1884
Austria	Frank Rooney	1914
Bahamas	Andy Rodgers	1957
Belgium	Brian Lesher	1996
Belize	Chito Martinez	1991
Canada	Bill Phillips	1879
China	Harry Kingman	1914
Columbia	Luis Castro	1902
Cuba	Esteban Bellan	1871
Curacao	Hensley Meulans	1989
Czechoslovakia	Amos Cross	1885
Denmark	Swede Henriksen	1911
Dominican Republic	Ozzie Virgil	1956
England	numerous	1876
Finland	John Michaelson	1921
France	Joe Woerlin	1895
Germany	Emil Geis	1882
Greece	Al Campanis	1943
Hawaii	Johnnie Williams	1914
Honduras	Gerald Young	1987
Ireland	numerous	1876
Italy	Lou Polli	1932
Korea, South	Chan Ho Park	1994
Jamaica	Chili Davis	1981
Japan	Mashi Murakami	1964
Mexico	Mel Almada	1933
Netherlands	Frank Houseman	1886
Nicaragua	Dennis Martinez	1976
Nisei	Len Sakata	1977
Norway	John Anderson	1894
Okinawa	Bob Fenwick	1972
Panama	Humberto Robinson	1955
Philippines	Bob Chouinard	2003
Poland	Henry Peploski	1929
Puerto Rico	Hi Bithorn	1942
Russia	Jake Gettman	1897
Scotland	Jim McCormick	1878
Sierra Leone	Tomas de la Rosa	2000
Singapore	Robin Jennings	1996
Spain	Al Cabrera	1913
Sweden	Charlie Hallstrom	1885
Switzerland	Otto Hess	1902
Taiwan	Chin-Feng Chen	2002
Venezuela	Alex Carrasquel	1939
Vietnam, South	Danny Graves	1996
Virgin Islands	Valmy Thomas	1957
Wales	Ted Lewis	1896

 

Profitable Sunday Baseball – it wasn’t always legal. Baseball history is filled with instances of ballplayers flaunting the laws and drawing admissions on Sundays. Sometimes local ministers or others objected and the players were hauled in by the local police.

The cities of Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis permitted Sunday baseball in the 1880s.  The National League lifted its ban against playing on Sunday in 1892. 

Until 1934, there were many one-day jaunts on Sundays to fit in a profitable game.  For example, it was not uncommon for the A’s to travel to Cleveland or Washington after their Saturday game and then slide to another city on Monday.

Repeal of the Blue Laws

Boston, 1929               

Brooklyn, 1919

Cleveland, 1911               

Detroit, 1910

New York, 1919               

Philadelphia, 1934

Pittsburgh, 1934               

Washington, D.C., 1918