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The Society for American Baseball Research is introducing a new publishing initiative this spring.  The SABR Digital Library will be publishing new titles as well as reviving historical SABR publications that have gone out of print.

Two books mark the inception of the library: one new release and one revival.  Can He Play? is a new book examining the world of baseball scouting.  Run, Rabbit, Run is the autobiography of Walter “Rabbit” Maranville, published once again for the first time since 1991.  Both titles are available as paperback and digital editions.

Can He Play?, a production from SABR member editors Jim Sandoval and Bill Nowlin, is a collection of accounts of the lives of scouts, containing biographies, interviews, and historical essays.  From the beginning of more informal “ivory hunting” in the early 1900s to today’s intricate network of cross-country scouting, Can He Play? is a collection of stories that shows the development of the business over the last hundred-plus years.

Run, Rabbit, Run is Walter “Rabbit” Maranville’s recollection of years of baseball stories, collected only a year before his death.  From 1912 to 1936, he spent twenty-four years playing ball and getting himself into quite a few interesting situations.  The account also contains rare photographs and an introduction and conclusion from noted baseball scholars.

 

A Potential Interracial Crisis, Near-death on the Diamond

Imagine a black pitcher beaning and killing a white batter in professional baseball – at the turn of the 20^th century. The lucrative history of barnstorming may have taken a sour turn. It almost happened in 1903. Luckily, the incident didn’t spark any racial outrage. But, it very well may have if the batter failed to recover.

Bill Kelley

In 1903, the Winnipeg Maroons won the Class-D Northern League pennant with a 65-28 record. One of the stars on the nine was its 22-year-old captain William W. Kelley, the league’s top second baseman.

Kelley’s career as posted at Baseball-reference.com:

• http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=kelly-010wil
• http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=kelley006wil
• 1901 Meriden, Connecticut State League
• 1902 Fall River, New England League
• 1903 Winnipeg
• 1904 Winnipeg

In 95 games with Winnipeg in 1903, Kelley hit .251. He was the younger brother of Michael J. Kelley, a former major leaguer with Louisville in the National League in 1899. In 1903 Mike, a potent hitter, was the manager and first baseman for the St. Paul Saints in the American Association. He would manage in the AA through 1931, recalled during World War II.

Postseason

The Northern League’s season ended on September 8 in 1903. In this era predating million-dollar contracts, ballplayers often hit the road, barnstorming for a few weeks, or a month or more, after the season to pick up extra cash to support them through the off-season. Many black players and clubs actually made a lifestyle out of this and spent the winter in the warmer areas – the south, out west or even South of the Border – pitting their skills before baseball-craved audiences. In this respect, some men lived an itinerant life playing ball 10, 11 or 12 months a year. They often played two or more games a day, especially on weekends and holidays, and even more so in resort areas.

On the weekend of September 19 and 20, Winnipeg landed in St. Paul, Minnesota for the first two games of a series against the Algona Brownies, a top western black club from Iowa. In all, the teams scheduled 11 head-to-head contests.

Algona Brownies

The Algona Brownies were an impressive lot in 1903. They included some of the top men in western black baseball:

• Sherman Barton
• Pete Burns
• Johnny Davis
• Billy Holland
• Will Horn
• Rat Johnson, later better known as Chappie
• Whirlwind Johnson
• Bert Jones
• Willis Jones
• Mike Moore
• George Richardson
• Danger Talbert
• George Wilson

Algona topped both the Chicago Union Giants and Winnipeg in separate series, allowing them to claim the mythical title

 ”Colored Champions  of the West,” behind strong southpaw Billy Holland. Born in 1874, he had been playing with top clubs for a decade before joining the Brownies, most notably the Chicago Unions, Page Fence Giants and Columbia Giants. Before joining Algona he won state championships with an integrated Weseca, Minnesota nine that was sponsored by a local flour mill.

Saturday, September 19

On Saturday, September 18, 1500 fans at St. Paul’s downtown park paid to see Winnipeg take on the heralded black club, the Brownies. The Canadians won 8-6 with Frank “Demon” Shaw on the mound. Shaw had finished the year with a 12-15 record for nearby Duluth, a Northern League rival. He possessed an impressive fastball despite his size; one of the smallest men in the game he weighed 125 pounds.

Sunday, September 20

Algona and Winnipeg met again the next day at Lexington Park, before a Sabbath crowd pushing 2500. Twenty-five-year-old Perry Sessions of the Grand Fork (ND) club (another Northern League rival) who had gone 22-9 during the regular season, started for the Pegs but was wild, walking 6. Algona ceded a lone run due to an error in the first inning but shut the Maroons down thereafter, winning 4-1. The Brownies’ Bill Holland, age 29, struck out 14 along the way, scattering six hits. Algona beat Winnipeg again on Monday 5-1 in Alberta Lee and Tuesday at Mason City 9-8 on a home run in the ninth by George Wilson.

Beaning

Bill Kelley knocked in Winnipeg’s only run with a double. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, the game:

was very exciting until the eighth when Capt. Kelley was hit in the head and rendered unconscious. After being taken over to the players’ bench he was conscious for a few minutes; then he relapsed and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital and at 8 o’clock the doctors in attendance had little hope for his life.

The headlines rang out:

Kelley, a righthanded batter, strode to the plate in the 8^th inning with two outs, both strikeouts. Holland’s fifth pitch of the at bat struck him near the left ear or on the temple. In this era long before batting helmets, he immediately dropped, bleeding from his ear, mouth and/or nostrils (as accounts vary). The pitch was a curveball that failed to bend over the plate, according to the Grand Forks Herald.

Grand Forks Herald 9/22/1898

Holland Arrested

At the end of the game, Holland was arrested but later released when it was determined to be an accident. The pitcher received a little sympathy from his hometown:

Aurora via Rockford Morning Star 9/23/1903

Recovery

Grand Forks Herald 9/22/1898

Kelley regained consciousness briefly at 9 pm and even spoke after an incision was made in the ear to remove “a gathering.” He then spent the night in “semi-consciousness.” Four days later, the same newspaper declared, “Captain Kelley is recovering nicely from his injuries and is now able to sit up.” It was hoped he would be able to re-join the club for the rest of the exhibition season but that wasn’t possible. A month later, he was out and about in St. Paul, where he took a job for the winter.

SOURCE LIST

• Algona Advance, 24 September 1903
• Algona Upper Des Moines Republican, Iowa, 23 September 1903
• Baseball-reference.com
• Grand Forks Herald, North Dakota, 18 September 1903, 22 September 1903
• Janesville Daily Gazette, Wisconsin,  21 September 1903
• Johnson, Lloyd and Miles Wolff. Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, Third Edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007.
• Negro League Database at Seamheads.com
• Rockford Morning Star, Illinois, 23 September 1903
• Sporting Life, 19 September 1903
• Waterloo Daily Courier, Iowa, 21 September 1903
• Winnipeg Free Press, 21 September 1903, 22 September 1903, 26 September 1906, 26 October 1903, 2 December 1903, 7 December 1903

 

Hornsby gave the sign

Bases loaded: Gehrig, Meusel and Combs abound

Up a run, 2 outs, Game 7 on the line

A new man was needed on the mound

 

In strolled Ol’ Pete, 39 and passed his prime

The New York crowd was getting merry

So Alex took his time

In the box stood the rookie Lazzeri

 

Alex seemed tired, hungover and unsteady

3 warmups were all he could manage

But with 2 wins under his belt already

The Cards hoped for no more damage

 

First a curve off the plate, a strike and a long foul down the line, a screaming hiss

Lazzeri brought the crowd to its feet

Next a fastball – swing and a miss

The moment belonged to Pete

 

Yet Alex had two more innings to apply his cunning

The game was not yet in the bag

It ended when Ruth took off running

But Hornsby was there with the tag

 

With abandon he moves to his left and right

The leather it always seems to touch

More reflex and instinct than flight

A moment later it’s in Boog’s clutch

 

The Machine seems meek as a dove

On May, Perez and Bench he will dine

It wasn’t only his glove

He also hit .429