Kid Elberfeld’s New-Fangled Baseball

This article was originally published in the November 2024 issue of the SABR Deadball Era Committee newsletter.

 

In September 2022 Major League Baseball announced a set of rule changes that would have an immense impact on gameplay. The changes included adding pitch timers, increasing base sizes, and restricting defensive shifts. These rule changes were put in place primarily to increase scoring and reduce the length of games. In other words, they were meant to boost fan interest. If MLB wanted to make the game more interesting, they could revisit an idea suggested over one hundred years ago by Norman “Kid” Elberfeld.

Kid Elberfeld played in the major leagues between 1898 and 1914, with some stops in the minor leagues in between. He was one of the more colorful players of the times, and he had no trouble drawing attention during the seven seasons he played in New York City as a shortstop with the Highlanders. Elberfeld was nicknamed “The Tabasco Kid” for his fiery demeanor, and he was a known umpire baiter of the day. As much as he was renowned for his heated disposition, he was also considered an innovative player. He was a self-proclaimed proponent of “scientific” baseball, which he described as studying the game and players to plan out all the plays possible under the existing circumstances, rather than just relying on hitting and running.1 Such studies helped Elberfeld be a forerunner in using tactics like the squeeze play and the delayed steal, and they helped him become a long-time manager in the minor leagues after his playing career ended.

His strategies were devised with the intent to win ballgames, but he had one suggestion that he reckoned would also stir up fan interest in the game. From 1905 to 1906 the Highlanders’ attendance increased, but overall fan attendance across both major leagues was slightly down for the year, and executives and players alike were always on the lookout for the next big idea that would reverse the trend. In October 1906 Elberfeld made a novel suggestion to make the game more interesting; the first batter of an inning who gets a chance to run to base should be able to decide whether they want to head to first base or instead go to the left and run to third base. Elberfeld presumed “…the first men who played baseball, and the fellows who decided on the nine positions, must have been right-handed; otherwise, why should a runner be compelled to run to the right…”2 Why not let the batter decide which way he wants to run? Whichever direction they chose would then be the direction for the rest of the half-inning and every subsequent batter would have to run the bases that way.

The first batter in Elberfeld’s concept would not be required to declare which way he was running, so fielders would have to guess in which direction a play would be made. Such a change would have impacts all over the diamond. Batters could try to cut precious fractions of seconds off their runtime to get on base. Pitchers would not know which base to be ready to cover on a bunt attempt. Managers may even have to decide if they should position left-handed throwers at middle infielder spots. One article figured “The idea would keep every man on the infield awake. It would certainly make a hit with the fans, as it would do away with a lot of mechanical batting and fielding.”3

The new method of play would potentially increase scoring by letting the offense take advantage of weaknesses of the opposing defense, but it would also cause chaos on the field. Even if the first batter of an inning could successfully switch up their direction, the other batters would have to battle against the deeply ingrained routine of automatically running to first base after hitting a ball. Elberfeld’s idea was interesting, to say the least, but it was simply too radical to play out in a real-life game. Articles around the country referred to the suggestion as crazy, new-fangled, and even freak baseball. The thought was so outlandish that it wouldn’t have even been worth writing an article about in a SABR committee newsletter nearly 120 years later…except someone actually tried it.

Articles about the Elberfeld proposal began appearing in papers right after the 1906 Highlanders season concluded on October 6. The major league season officially ended with the Chicago White Sox winning the World Series on October 14 (against the cross-town rival Chicago Cubs), but baseball continued in various forms around the country for as long as weather allowed it. Two city league teams in New Orleans, Louisiana, caught word of Elberfeld’s unique take on baseball and in November they decided to give the “scientific” game a try. The Chalmettes (a laundry service) and the Parker-Blakes (a drugstore) practiced playing under Elberfeld’s rules before meeting on Sunday, November 11. The first base runners of the day for both teams ran towards third base for the sheer novelty of it. With two outs in the first inning, the Chalmettes got the first chance to try the reverse running. Their third batter singled and opted to go to third, but then was thrown out trying to steal second base. The leadoff batter for the Parker-Blakes drew a walk and likewise went to third. The next Parker-Blake batter to get a hit put the ball past the shortstop and instinctively started towards first before realizing he went the wrong way. He reversed course and went back to touch home before speeding to third base, but he was easily thrown out by the left fielder. The “Laundrymen” couldn’t overcome their frequent errors in the field, especially when runners were on base, and they were shut out by the “Drugmen” 7-0 (or as the local paper stated, the launderers had their starch taken out of them). Overall the teams played with “…remarkable proficiency, taking into consideration the short time in which the men indulged in practice”4 and the spectators appeared to have greatly enjoyed the game. The reverse baseball seemed fine for local city league teams to try and gather a crowd, but major leaguers would never consider it. Or would they?

New York Giants pitcher “Iron Man” Joe McGinnity supported Elberfeld’s idea and agreed that it would increase the science of the game. After reportedly trying the game in October with an unnamed team, McGinnity claimed the style of play “…not only causes amusement, but a lot of excitement.”5 McGinnity played in exhibition games between the close of the Giants’ season and the start of his coaching duties for the Princeton University fall baseball team, but there is no record of when the reverse running game may have occurred. Then, in the October 30 edition of the Brooklyn Citizen, it was announced that the Brooklyns6 had an upcoming exhibition game against a local team, the Howards, and during that match, they would give Elberfeld’s “scheme” a tryout, with an open invitation to Elberfeld to umpire the game.7 First baseman Tim Jordan said that he was ready to play like a third baseman if a ball was hit his way, and right-handed pitcher Mal Eason stated he would get in on the act and toss with his left hand if called upon to enter the game. The two teams met on November 3, but there was no mention of them trying the alternate rules. The box score for the game showing Jordan’s 11 putouts at first base in seven innings indicates that they played under standard regulations.8 The same teams met again three days later, but again there was no mention of incorporating Elberfeld’s idea. The only news apparently worth mentioning in the paper the following day was the play of Breen at shortstop.9

Elberfeld aspired to organize two teams in the fall that he would oversee to help perfect his game design, and Highlanders manager Clark Griffith was willing to give the arrangement a try during training camp for the 1907 season. If it worked well, he and Elberfeld would formally “…ask the bosses to consider the proposition”,10 though it isn’t clear who “the bosses” were. But the next time Elberfeld’s name appeared in papers was to report that he had returned to his chicken farm in Suffern, New York, for the winter.11 Alas, when the 1907 season began Kid Elberfeld’s new-fangled baseball was not adopted. Elberfeld’s reverse base running never got off the ground at the time of his suggesting it, and it wouldn’t be given a second thought by Major League Baseball today. But it sure would make for an amusing evening for a team looking to entertain an audience. Does anyone have the phone number for the Savannah Bananas?

 

Photo credit

Kid Elberfeld, SABR-Rucker Archive.

 

Notes

1 “Advice of Elberfeld,” Chattanooga Daily Times, May 19, 1907: 11.

2 “Kid Elberfeld” Invents A New Baseball Game,” Binghamton Press, October 20, 1906: 8.

3 “New Game of Baseball,” Decatur Daily Herald (Decatur, Illinois), October 8, 1906: 6.

4 “Drugmen Win,” Times-Democrat, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 12, 1906: 12.

5 Terry Simpkins,”Kid Elberfeld,” SABR BioProject, accessed October 1, 2024, at https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/kid-elberfeld.

6 Some papers referred to Brooklyn as the Nationals for these exhibition games, but in most articles they were called the All-Leaguers. The squad was made up of some of the Superbas who were still in Brooklyn and some local players.

7 “New Fangled Baseball,” Brooklyn Eagle, October 30, 1906: 18.

8 “Played A Tie Game,” Brooklyn Citizen, November 4, 1906: 7.

9 Breen was likely Dick Breen, a minor league player from Brooklyn who would have been picked up for the game.

10 New Game of Baseball.

11 “American League Notes,” Sporting Life, December 1, 1906: 3.