Detroiters had reason to feel optimistic about the coming baseball season. Just a month earlier, local businessman James Burns and team manager George Stallings had purchased the Tigers, ending speculation that the newly christened American League— fashioned from the former Western League—might drop the team because of ongoing legal disputes. The acquisition ended six tumultuous years under quarrelsome owner George Vanderbeck.

It was also the first game for the re-christened league (Chicago had been scheduled to host the inaugural game, but it was rained out.) Western League owners had renamed the circuit during the offseason, signaling league President Ban Johnson’s ambitions of achieving major-league status. Although the caliber of play among American League teams during the 1900 season is debatable,[fn]Wayman, Joseph M. “Major League Status for the AL: If 1901, Why Not 1900?” Baseball Research Journal 27 (1999), p. 74-76. Shiner, David. “Another Look at the AL of 1900,” The National Pastime 21 (2001), p. 28-31.[/fn] fans still felt enthusiastic about the league’s major-league aspirations, which it achieved in 1901.

Aside from being the first game in the history of the American League, the afternoon was made memorable by Morris “Doc” Amole’s pitching performance. The Buffalo starter silenced the hometown favorites without a hit, winning 8–0.

About 5,000 fans packed the grandstand and bleachers—hundreds more ringed the field. It was the largest Opening Day crowd in Detroit since its National League days in the late 1880s. Before that afternoon, Amole, a 21-year-old left-hander, was probably best known for a prank he pulled when he was 17 years old during his first season of professional ball with Wilmington (Delaware) of the Atlantic League. During a poorly planned exhibition night game on July 4, 1896, Amole replaced the ball with a “torpedo” firecracker that ignited on impact. Batter Honus Wagner couldn’t see the explosive device in the dim light. He smacked the torpedo, resulting in a flash of light and a loud pop. The game ended abruptly as Wagner stood stunned at the plate. The Wilmington players fled the field while fans left the stands and angrily demanded refunds.[fn]Hittner, Arthur D. Honus Wagner: The Life of Baseball’s “Flying Dutchman.” (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1996).[/fn]

Amole compiled a 4–10 record in 18 majorleague games with Baltimore and Washington in 1897. He joined Buffalo in 1898, going 11–11 with one shutout. During the 1899 season, Amole ran into trouble—the team fined him and a teammate $25 apiece for “keeping late hours.”[fn]“News And Gossip,” Sporting Life, July 22, 1899.[/fn] Buffalo released Amole that July, then re-signed him.

Detroit right-hander Jack Cronin retired the side in the first before Amole took the mound. He initially looked shaky, as Tigers left fielder and leadoff hitter Harry Bay reached base on an error and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Center fielder Dick Harley walked and the runners advanced on a sacrifice. Amole escaped damage by striking out second baseman Suter Sullivan and getting right fielder Lew “Sport” McAllister out on a foul fly.

The Tigers’ only other scoring opportunity came in the fourth. Amole walked shortstop Norman “Kid” Elberfeld, who advanced to third after a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt. With one out, Elberfeld attempted to score on an infield grounder, but Bisons shortstop Bill Hallman threw him out at the plate. Third baseman Ed Wheeler ended the inning with a grounder to second. Detroit didn’t get another baserunner until there was one out in the ninth, when Amole hit Elberfeld. But the Tigers went quietly as Sullivan flied to center fielder Jake Gettman and McAllister popped foul to first baseman George “Scoops” Carey.

Amole didn’t have perfect control, but he struck out four and used his curveball effectively to keep Tigers hitters mystified. Cronin pitched credibly for Detroit but was backed by sloppy play. The Tigers committed eight errors, including three by Elberfeld.

The next day’s Detroit Free Press headline said it all: “BASKET OF FRESH GOOSE EGGS.” The anonymous sportswriter praised Amole’s performance, albeit in backhanded fashion:

Doc Amole … was in grand form, had all sorts of curves and speed and kept the Tigers guessing so effectually that only once in the game was there anything that approached a base hit. … Perhaps the wound will heal sufficiently to allow forgiveness to be granted and due credit allowed the twirler for his wonderful feat; but forgotten, never![fn]“Basket of Fresh Goose Eggs,” Detroit Free Press, April 20, 1900.[/fn]

Amole’s performance raised Buffalo’s expectations for the left-hander, but his past digressions also raised concerns. “[Amole] is in grand form and promises to be the star twirler in the American League this season,” wrote the Buffalo correspondent for Sporting Life. “But he must take care of himself in order to sustain this reputation. Manager Dan Shannon declares that Doc is good and has promised to keep in the straight and narrow path. Every fan in Buffalo hopes that this is true.”[fn]“Buffalo Briefs,” Sporting Life, April 28, 1900.[/fn]

Amole’s success was short-lived. Indianapolis pounded him for a 7–1 loss four days later, and he finished the season 22–22 with two shutouts in 47 games (41 starts). He continued to pitch for Buffalo through 1903, splitting that season with Providence. Amole remained with Providence through the 1904 season and finished his professional career in 1905, bouncing between Syracuse, Utica, and Scranton of the New York State League. He never reached the level of dominance he displayed in the 1900 season opener.

Major-league records don’t consider Amole’s performance to have been an Opening Day no-hitter because the American League was not considered a major league at the time. In all of baseball history there has been only one, that pitched by Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians against the Chicago White Sox on April 16, 1940.

Little is known about Amole’s life after baseball. He was found dead at the age of 33 in his Wilmington boardinghouse in March of 1912.[fn]“Latest News by Telegraph Briefly Told,” Sporting Life, March 16, 1912.[/fn] He had arrived in town three weeks earlier to work as a carpenter for a local contractor. Amole had been complaining about his health but was not known to be seriously ill.

This essay was originally published in “Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century” (2013), edited by Bill Felber. Download the SABR e-book by clicking here.

The once-proud New York Giants finished in 10th place in 1899. Buck Ewing, who was the star catcher on the pennant-winning Giants of 1888 and 1889, agreed to manage the 1900 squad. Ewing expressed his optimism: “I like the material and there is no reason on earth why it should not put up such a game as has not been seen on the Polo Grounds for several seasons.”2 George Davis, the Giants’ brilliant shortstop, was named the team captain.

The Beaneaters and Giants split the first two games of their April series at the Polo Grounds in New York. The third game of the series, on Thursday, April 26, 1900, drew a crowd of 3,200 on a windy day.3 The game began at 4:00 P.M. with the temperature in the low 60s.4 The sole umpire was 29-year-old Tommy Connolly, in his third season as a National League ump. Selee chose 23-year-old southpaw Harvey Bailey as his starting pitcher; Ewing countered with Emerson “Pink” Hawley, a veteran right-hander.

Before the game, a major fire spread through a complex of three five-story apartment buildings a block south of the Polo Grounds. Trolley cars transporting fans to the game stopped short of the ballpark due to the fire. Among the passengers were George Davis, Kid Gleason, and Mike Grady of the Giants. The trio leaped from the trolley and joined the rescuers, and “worked like Trojans” helping women and children down the fire escapes. “Captain Davis went up the ladder like a squirrel” and carried a woman down who “had nearly fainted from terror.”5

Despite this pregame exertion, Davis clouted “a fierce triple” in the first inning as the Giants took a 2-0 lead.6 Neither starting pitcher was effective, and after six innings, Boston led 6-5. Charles Pittinger made his major-league debut when he relieved Bailey in the sixth inning.

Collins led off the top of the seventh with a single; Hawley walked Stahl, and Freeman sacrificed to advance the runners. Lowe grounded the ball to second baseman Gleason, who threw over the head of catcher Grady, and both Collins and Stahl scored. Long followed with a single to left field to bring Lowe home. The Beaneaters added a run in the eighth inning and led 10-5 going into the bottom of the ninth. It looked hopeless for the home team, and many fans had left the ballpark.

Charlie Hickman led off the bottom of the ninth and was hit by a pitch from the rookie Pittinger. The next two batters, Gleason and Grady, walked to load the bases. The Giants on the bench did everything they could to rattle Pittinger; they “ran on to the field, throwing their caps in the air,” danced around “like schoolboys,” and got the crowd yelling.7 Pop Foster pinch-hit for Hawley and drew a walk, forcing in a run. George Van Haltren followed with a line drive to center field that was misplayed by Billy Hamilton. Gleason and Grady scored. Foster blundered by stopping at second base, and he did not head to third until Van Haltren steamed into second. As a result, Foster was easily tagged out.

Pittinger struck out Win Mercer for the second out. With Van Haltren on second base and the Giants trailing by two runs, Kip Selbach lifted a fly ball to deep right field. It looked like an easy catch for Stahl “until the stiff breeze caught it and curved it just over the ropes” for a home run.8 The score was now tied, 10-10. Davis struck out to end the inning.

Bill Carrick took the mound for the Giants in the top of the 10th inning and was ineffective as the Beaneaters tallied three runs to take a 13-10 lead. Selee put Vic Willis in to pitch for the Beaneaters in the bottom half. Willis was the ace of the Boston staff; in 1899 his record was 27-8 and his 2.50 ERA led the league. The Giants felt they could not rally against Willis, and with darkness approaching, they “began a series of kicks, protests and prayers to the umpire … to get him to call the game.”9 If Connolly called the game before the bottom of the 10th inning was completed, the three runs scored by Boston in the top half would be erased, and the game would be declared a tie.

“Capt. Davis and his men delayed the proceedings by every means in their power. They lighted pieces of paper to look for their bats and refused to take their places at the home plate until threatened with a forfeiture by the umpire. They had consultations among themselves and argued with Connolly. … The spectators took part in the paper-burning act, and at one time there were fully fifty small bonfires burning at once in the grand stand and bleachers.”10 (“The police tried to stop this, as there was danger of setting fire to the stands, but they were only partly successful.”11) “The Giants and spectators were dancing and howling like so many Dervishes and the shouts of ‘Call the game!’ echoed” through the ballpark “like a banshee’s wail.”12

These “unsportsmanlike tactics” worked.13 The sun officially set at 6:52 P.M.,14 and with two outs and two men on in the bottom of the 10th inning,15 Connolly called the game at 6:55. The final score was Boston 10, New York 10. Connolly fined Grady, Selbach, and Jack Doyle $5 each “for kicking and delaying the game.”16

“The Boston contingent became furious because the game was not forfeited to them on account of the unwarranted delays caused by the New York team. Tenney was particularly abusive, and followed Connolly to the dressing room, declaring that his team had been robbed.”17

The Boston Daily Globe called it a “baseball farce” and claimed there was “plenty of light” when the game was called.18 The New York Sun conceded that it was “almost dark, but had the New York players not resorted to dilatory tactics, the game could have been finished much sooner.”19 Connolly said, “I simply refused to call the game as long as there was light enough for me to see the plays. When I couldn’t see them, I stopped the contest.”20

Three weeks later Connolly resigned his position as a National League umpire, citing “the vilest kind of abuse” he received “from the players ever since the season opened.”21 He umpired in the American League from 1901 to 1931, and he was the supervisor of AL umpires from 1931 to 1953. Connolly and Bill Klem were the first umpires inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.22

Notes

Early in his career, John Francis Smith was a pitcher of great promise. As a 20-year-old in 1885, the southpaw struck out 147 batters in 11 games for the Newark team of the Eastern League, and he became known as Phenomenal Smith.1 A clever hurler who mastered a variety of deceptive curveballs,2 he pitched for several major-league teams, going 54-74 with a 3.89 ERA in 140 games, before his arm gave out in 1891.3

The end of Smith’s pitching career was the beginning of his second career, as a minor-league outfielder and manager. He was a superb hitter. His .405 batting average in 1896 was second only to Nap Lajoie’s .429 mark in the New England League; and three years later, at age 34, Smith led that league with a .382 average.

Smith was then hired as playing manager of the 1900 Norfolk team of the newly formed Virginia League, and his team was nicknamed the Phenoms. He brought with him a half-dozen players from the Portland (Maine) Phenoms, the team he had played for and managed in 1899.

Also recruited by Smith was a 19-year-old pitcher named Christy Mathewson, who had posted a dismal 2-13 record for the 1899 Taunton, Massachusetts, team, between seasons as a football star at Bucknell University. On August 23 of that year, Smith’s Portland squad had pounded Mathewson’s deliveries for 24 hits and 35 total bases in a 19-11 victory over Taunton.4 Yet Smith saw potential in Mathewson, a tall, hard-throwing right-hander who might thrive under his tutelage.

Norfolk’s twin city, Portsmouth, also joined the Virginia League in 1900, fielding a team called the Boers, named for South Africans who were at the time fighting the British. Both the Norfolk Phenoms and Portsmouth Boers used League Park in Norfolk as their home ballpark.

They began the 1900 season by playing each other in a six-game series at that venue, alternating as the home team. In the opener, the Phenoms were designated as the home team and Norfolk Mayor C. Brooks Johnston participated in the pregame ceremony. The next day the Boers were the home team and Portsmouth Mayor J. Thompson Baird was featured.

Enthusiastic fans turned out to see these teams. Attendance was estimated to be between 3,500 and 4,000 for the first game of the series5 and 2,500 for the second contest.6

Young Mathewson pitched the final three innings of the opener on April 30, in the Phenoms’ 10-9 triumph.7 Smith tabbed him to start the second game, on Tuesday, May 1, and Portsmouth manager Pete Weckbecker chose John Leonard to pitch for the Boers.

Portsmouth batted first and Mathewson nervously walked the first three Boers without throwing a strike. Billie Kemmer followed with a triple to center field. The next batter made the first out, and then Win Clark singled to drive in Kemmer. After another out, Charlie Luskey tripled, and just like that, Portsmouth had put five runs across. Years later, Mathewson recalled the moment:

“The Norfolk fans were yelling to Smith to take me out, and I, of course, thought he would, but that is just what he did not do. Instead of chasing me to the bench, he put his hand on my shoulder and said, ‘Christy, you have got the stuff, but you are a little nervous. You are going to get over that in an inning or so, and I am going to leave you in till the finish if Portsmouth gets a hundred runs.”8

Mathewson settled down after Smith’s reassurance and did not allow another run in the game.

Meanwhile, the Phenoms mounted a comeback. Team captain William Spratt led off the bottom of the first inning with a sharp grounder that was misplayed by shortstop John Bammert. Jim Smith’s single sent Spratt on to third base, and Spratt came home on manager John Smith’s infield out. Two batters later, Mike Sullivan’s double brought Jim Smith home.9

The Phenoms scored three more runs in the second inning, tying the game, 5-5. The exact manner was not explained in the newspaper account of the game, but it was reported that Mathewson contributed a single to the rally.10

Norfolk took the lead in the sixth inning when Jim Smith tripled with two men on base. One of those men was Mathewson, who had reached on an error by Clark, the second baseman.

Held scoreless since the first inning, the Boers threatened in the seventh. Will Kohnle led off by drawing a walk from Mathewson, and Harry Longley smacked a single to left field. But Mathewson escaped the jam impressively by fanning the next three batters.11

There was no further scoring in the game. The final tally was Norfolk 7, Portsmouth 5.

In his complete-game victory, Mathewson allowed five hits, struck out 10, and walked five. His “baffling curves and cannon ball delivery” subdued the Boers, said the Richmond Times.12

Three days later, Mathewson again defeated Portsmouth, and the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot declared that he “is certainly a comer.”13 Indeed he was – a phenom among the Phenoms.

By July, Mathewson had already compiled a 20-2 record for Norfolk, drawing interest from major-league teams. He was sold to the New York Giants and made his major-league debut on July 17, 1900. He went on to win 373 major-league games in his Hall of Fame career.

“I believe I owe my success as a baseball pitcher to Phenomenal John Smith,” said Mathewson in 1911. By leaving Mathewson in the game in his first start for Norfolk, after he had allowed five runs in the first inning, Smith instilled confidence in him. “Had he taken me out,” said Mathewson, “I believe I never would have amounted to anything as a pitcher, for without confidence a pitcher does not amount to much.”14

Even after losing Mathewson’s services just 2½ months into the season, John Smith’s Norfolk Phenoms finished 1900 with the best record in the Virginia League. For the next three years, Smith was playing manager of the Manchester, New Hampshire, team of the New England League. In 1902 he led Manchester to the pennant, and he led the circuit with a .369 batting average.

Smith later joined the Manchester police force, and in 1916, at the age of 51, he was playing manager of the Manchester police baseball team.15 He surely told stories about how he had mentored Christy Mathewson during the 1900 season.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kevin Larkin and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

Game coverage in the May 2, 1900, issue of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.

Baseball-reference.com, accessed May 2022.

Left image: Christy Mathewson in a Norfolk Phenoms uniform; painting by and image courtesy of Graig Kreindler, graigkreindler.com.

Right image: 1887 Old Judge baseball card of John “Phenomenal” Smith.

Notes

1 “Drift from the Ball Field,” New Haven (Connecticut) Journal and Courier, September 16, 1885: 3.

2 “Played a Part in Christy’s Career,” Lincoln (Nebraska) Star, December 21, 1919: 7.

3 “The Record of a Bristolian,” Bucks County (Pennsylvania) Gazette, February 15, 1900: 3.

4 “A Base Hit Field Day,” Portland (Maine) Daily Press, August 24, 1899: 2.

5 “Norfolk Won the Game,” Norfolk Landmark, May 1, 1900: 3.

6 “Norfolk Won,” Richmond (Virginia) Times, May 2, 1900: 2.

7 Reports of Mathewson’s work in relief on April 30 varied; he allowed either two runs or no runs in three innings. “Opening of the Ball Season,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, May 1, 1900: 6; “Norfolk Won the Game,” Norfolk Landmark, May 1, 1900: 3.

8 “Young Pitchers Need Confidence,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Evening News, February 18, 1911: 12.

9 “The Boers Lose to the Phenoms,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, May 2, 1900: 10.

10 “The Boers Lose to the Phenoms.”

11 “The Boers Lose to the Phenoms.”

12 “Norfolk Won,” Richmond Times, May 2, 1900: 2.

13 “Gleaned in the World of Sport,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, May 5, 1900: 11.

14 “Young Pitchers Need Confidence.”

15 “‘Phenomenal’ Smith – Remember Him?” Allentown (Pennsylvania) Democrat, April 21, 1916: 4.

The Buffalo Bisons were in the American League in 1900, when it was a minor league, the year before it became a major league. Home games were played at Olympic Park in Buffalo. Because Sunday baseball was illegal within the city limits, the Bisons found an alternate venue for Sunday games. The Pine Hill section of neighboring Cheektowaga, New York, was rural yet easily accessible by trolley. A resort there owned by John Schwabl included a ball field and stands.

A son of German immigrants, Schwabl named his resort “Klein Deutschland” (Little Germany). It featured a hotel, restaurant, saloon, dance hall, bowling alley, picnic grounds, and zoo.2 A major draw for this and other Pine Hill establishments was the availability of alcohol on Sundays.3 Pine Hill developed a reputation for “wild and unseemly doings.”4 In modern parlance, it was a party town.

Schwabl’s baseball grounds were decidedly substandard, but Sunday baseball was a moneymaker and Bisons owner James Franklin was determined. The first game was scheduled for Sunday, May 13, 1900, against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Brewers manager Connie Mack visited the grounds that morning and was shocked by what he saw: “a cow field partially enclosed by a weather beaten and ramshackle fence.”5 “There was not even a diamond laid out in the water covered field,”6 and “the stands were in awful shape. … Not for $10,000 would I allow my men to play in that cesspool.”7

The game was canceled, but word did not reach thousands of fans who made the trip to Pine Hill. It was a boon for Schwabl and other local businesses, who entertained the visitors. “The pianos were kept rattling in rag time. Songs and dances by hoarse voiced men and half drunken women were interspersed,” reported the Buffalo Courier.8

On Saturday, May 19, a crowd of 1,200 saw the Chicago White Stockings defeat the Bisons, 7-5, at Olympic Park.9 A much larger crowd – estimated to be 2,500 – came to see them play at Pine Hill on Sunday, May 20. This time, the game was played, despite the deficiencies of the grounds. Schwabl’s outfield was all “hills, and swamps, and holes,” according to the Chicago Tribune.  The diamond, “located on the side of a hill … was almost as lumpy and uneven as the outfield.”10

The White Stockings were owned and managed by Charles Comiskey. They compiled a 14-10 record through games of May 19 and were in third place in the eight-team AL. The Bisons, managed by Dan Shannon, were in seventh place with an 8-13 mark.

Comiskey’s lineup of May 20 included five major leaguers he had shrewdly picked from the four National League teams that disbanded after the 1899 season. From Louisville, he obtained Billy Hoy, a first-rate center fielder who was deaf. Walter “Steve” Brodie in left field was acquired from Baltimore. Second baseman Dick Padden, the team captain, came from Washington, and first baseman Tommy Dowd and catcher Joe Sugden from Cleveland. Comiskey’s starting pitcher was Frank Isbell, a 24-year-old right-hander.

Shannon’s lineup featured captain Billy Hallman at shortstop and first baseman George Carey, nicknamed “Scoops” for his ability to pick balls out of the dirt. The starting pitcher was Morris “Doc” Amole, a 26-year-old left-hander who had hurled a no-hitter at Detroit on Opening Day, April 19.11

The sole umpire on May 20 was Joe Cantillon. The game commenced at 3:30 P.M. with the temperature about 58 degrees.12 It was a high-scoring affair.

The White Stockings batted first. In the first inning, Brodie got aboard when Hallman failed to field his hit, and he scored when Fred Hartman sent a fly ball beyond the reach of Jocko Halligan in left field. The visitors collected four more runs in the second inning. Amole “lacked his usual speed”13 and was hit freely. Padden, Sugden, and Isbell stroked triples. In the fourth inning, with the bases loaded, Padden hit another triple, and the White Stockings led 8-0.

The Bisons rallied for six runs in the bottom of the fourth. They were helped by two errors committed by Hartman at third base. The big blow was Carey’s bases-loaded triple. Chicago’s lead was cut to 8-6.

Amole was taken out after four innings and replaced by Kid Carsey, a newly acquired 29-year-old right-hander. Carsey allowed six runs over the next three innings, as the White Stockings extended their lead to 14-6. In the sixth inning, with two outs and a man on, Padden lifted a fly ball that was pursued by Jake Gettman in center field.

Gettman “was about to clasp it in his mitt when he went into a bog and the ball rolled to the fence. By the time that Jake had gathered himself together Padden had scored,” observed the Buffalo Express.14 It was a bog-aided, inside-the-park home run, the only home run of the game. Chicago’s Herm McFarland drove a ball over the right-field fence in the seventh inning, but it counted as a ground-rule double because that fence was too close to home plate.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Bisons unleashed a nine-run assault on Isbell and his replacement, Willie McGill, and took a 15-14 lead. Halligan, Hallman, Carey, and Jack Shearon had two hits apiece in the inning. Errors were committed by Padden at second base and Frank Shugart at short. The Bisons added two more runs in the eighth, and Carsey pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings to seal the victory. The final tally was Bisons 17, White Stockings 14.

The teams split the two remaining games of their series; both were played at Olympic Park. The White Stockings won the American League pennant in 1900. The next year, known as the White Sox, they were a charter member and the league champion of the now-major American League. The Bisons finished the 1900 season in seventh place. They were dropped by the AL after the season,15 and they joined the Class A Eastern League in 1901.

“Possibly some day the [Pine Hill] grounds will be good ones, if they are properly nurtured. At present they are a pretty tough proposition to ask a ball player to risk a limb on.” – Buffalo Courier, May 21, 190016

In the years that followed, John Schwabl invested thousands of dollars to turn the “one-time cow patch” into a “handsome” ballpark.17 And for a decade, it hosted many amateur and semipro teams, and occasionally the Bisons. After a long illness, Schwabl died at his Pine Hill home on September 25, 1912, at the age of 56.18 In 2024 his legacy endures at Schwabl’s German-American restaurant in West Seneca, New York, seven miles south of Pine Hill.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Thomas J. Brown Jr. and was copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

“Chicago Was Beaten,” Buffalo Express, May 21, 1900: 9.

“Bisons Bat Out Victory,” Chicago Tribune, May 21, 1900: 4.

Ahrens, Art. “The Chicago White Sox of 1900,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, 1978. Accessed online at sabr.org/journal/article/the-chicago-white-sox-of-1900/.

Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org, accessed March 2024.

Image: 1903 Sporting Life cabinet card of George “Scoops” Carey.

Notes

1 “Buffalo Breaks Chain of Defeats,” Buffalo Courier, May 21, 1900: 9.

2 “Schwabl’s,” Buffalo Times, September 19, 1897: 8; “A Brief History of Schwabl’s,” Schwabls.com, www.schwabls.com/history, accessed March 2024.

3 “Sunday Not Exactly Dry,” Buffalo News, April 20, 1896: 1; “Many ‘Hotels,’” Buffalo Courier, May 4, 1896: 5; “No Effort Made to Enforce Law at Pine Hill Resorts,” Buffalo Courier, May 14, 1900: 7.

4 “Wild Scenes in and about Pine Hill Saloons,” Buffalo Enquirer, July 30, 1900: 8.

5 “Public Fooled at Pine Hill,” Buffalo Courier, May 14, 1900: 9.

6 “No Effort Made to Enforce Law at Pine Hill Resorts.”

7 “Three Hours of Boxing Is on the Olympic Club’s Programme,” Buffalo Enquirer, May 14, 1900: 4.

8 “No Effort Made to Enforce Law at Pine Hill Resorts.”

9 “Hooker Good, Fielders Bad,” Buffalo Courier, May 20, 1900: 26.

10 “Bisons Bat Out Victory,” Chicago Tribune, May 21, 1900: 4.

11 Sporting Life, April 28, 1900: 6.

12 “Hooker Good, Fielders Bad”; “Local Weather Forecast,” Buffalo Commercial, May 21, 1900: 10.

13 “Chicago Was Beaten,” Buffalo Express, May 21, 1900: 9.

14 “Chicago Was Beaten.”

15 Only four of the eight teams in the 1900 American League were in the 1901 American League: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Buffalo, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Minneapolis were replaced by Eastern teams in Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington. The Kansas City team was transferred to Washington.

16 “Buffalo Breaks Chain of Defeats.”

17 “Schwabl’s Grounds Will Be No More,” Buffalo Times, March 3, 1912: 72.

18 “John Schwabl Has Passed Away,” Buffalo Times, September 25, 1912: 5.

Run by a reliable Republican machine, the host city raised the $100,000 requested by GOP kingpin Mark Hanna for the privilege of hosting the affair. Conventioneers were feted with parades, river excursions, and banquets. Philadelphia also showcased baseball for the conventioneers. The Phillies were hosting the Brooklyn Superbas in a decisive battle for first place.

Whether they were visiting Republicans, or Philadelphians of any political stripe, few cranks2 could have been surprised to see the Superbas in contention. After manager Ned Hanlon, outfielders Willie Keeler and Joe Kelley, and infielder Hughie Jennings arrived in Brooklyn from the original Baltimore Orioles, the Superbas had captured the 1899 pennant. With their veteran execution of the era’s inside game and with new ace Joe McGinnity, the Superbas were favorites to repeat.

More surprising was that the Phillies, too often dysfunctional underachievers in the past, were living up to their potential. With Roy Thomas leading off and Ed Delahanty, Nap Lajoie, and Elmer Flick in the heart of the order, the Phillies possessed the league’s finest offense. Through May they averaged 7.75 runs per game and stood four games up on Brooklyn with a 22-10 record. Then injuries beset Philadelphia. On May 31 Lajoie broke his left thumb in a clubhouse fight with Flick. On June 11 third baseman Harry Wolverton slipped on the bicycle track that surrounded Philadelphia’s playing field and broke a bone in his arm. With a shaky pitching staff, these losses loomed large.

With a 12-2 run to open June, the Superbas surged past the Phillies, albeit by only a half-game, when the series opened on Wednesday, June 20. A healthy crowd of 7,195 attended.3 Of the visiting fans, an onlooker noted, “[J]udging from their badges, every State in the Union must have been represented.”4 They were in for a treat. Both teams fielded well, while the offenses repeatedly tested the pitchers. Yet, while Brooklyn’s Bill Kennedy outpitched Philadelphia’s Chick Fraser, the latter worked out of jams in the eighth and ninth innings while the former yielded a two-out, three-run homer to Flick in the fifth. Hanging on, 5-4, the Phillies moved back into first.

At 2:14 the next afternoon, a final gavel concluded the Republican convention in its West Philadelphia hall. As the 20,000 attendees began to file out, some again hopped on streetcars for the five-mile journey to the Phillies’ National League Park in the northern reaches of the city.

After holding out that spring, Brooklyn’s starting pitcher for the second game of the series, southpaw Jerry Nops, had landed in the rotation in late May. The results had not been encouraging: Nops won only one of his first three starts.5 Philadelphia’s starter, Al Orth, had also struggled. The Phillies had won only four of his 11 starts.6 His last start, versus the Giants on June 16, was especially disconcerting: Leading 5-2 with two outs in the ninth, Orth yielded five straight singles to lose, 6-5.7

The Thursday game began at 3:45 P.M. Orth held Brooklyn scoreless in the top half of the first inning. The Phillies jumped ahead early, scoring two unearned runs in their half. Jimmy Slagle rapped a one-out single, Delahanty grounded to third but second baseman Tom Daly dropped Lave Cross’s throw. Shortstop Bill Dahlen handled Flick’s grounder and nabbed Delahanty at second. Left fielder Kelley then misjudged Bill Douglass’s liner, and Slagle and Flick scored.

In the second, Brooklyn picked up a run when Deacon McGuire’s fly ball scored Dahlin. In the bottom of the third, Philadelphia squeezed three runs out of five singles. Brooklyn missed opportunities in the third: Fielder Jones was caught stealing and, after a subsequent triple, Keeler was caught in a rundown when Jennings grounded to third. After three, Philadelphia led, 5-1.

Brooklyn came back somewhat in the fifth to get to a 5-3 deficit. Jones opened with a single, advanced to second with Keeler’s out, and to third on a passed ball. Orth walked Jennings. The two Superbas executed a double steal, with Jones following his pretty slide by “very thoughtfully sitting all over” catcher Douglass, allowing Jennings to scamper to third.8 Kelley’s grounder to shortstop Monte Cross brought Jennings home.

In the Philadelphia seventh, with the bases loaded, Kelley made “a wonderful catch of [Joe] Dolan’s terrific line drive to the extreme left corner of the field.”9 Flick came home. It was now 6-3, Philadelphia.

From the onset, the game proceeded slowly, in considerable part due to the notoriously slow-working Nops. Batters worked counts and engaged in delaying tactics like walking to the bench for a new bat after fouling off several pitches. The match’s grinding nature, and its defensive lapses and careless baserunning, tested the patience of the 7,487 in attendance. “All hands performed like a lot of Nebraska delegates who had been sleeping two in a cot in the attic of a third-rate hotel,” wrote Charles Dryden in the Philadelphia North American.10

Mustached and grinning toward the plate with a “Roosevelt smile,” Orth shut down Brooklyn in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.11 The large crowd began to shrink. Out-of-towners had travel plans. Local fans hungered for dinner.

As the game ground on into the ninth inning, Jimmy Sheckard, batting for Nops, flied out as Brooklyn’s leadoff hitter. But Jones ripped a double to center and Keeler dragged a bunt down the third-base line for a single. Jennings singled to center to bring home Sheckard. Douglass’s fumbling with one of Orth’s offerings facilitated a double steal by Keeler and Jennings. Both scored as Kelley launched another double to center, taking third on Thomas’s poor throw to the infield.

With the score now tied, 6-6, captain Delahanty called for Bill Bernhard to replace Orth.12 Dahlen singled to bring home Kelley. Two wild pitches later, Dahlen occupied third. Cross walked but was caught stealing at second. Daly singled to bring in Dahlen. McGuire, the ninth Superba to march to the plate in the rally, grounded out. But Brooklyn had forged an 8-6 lead.

It ended that way as Frank Kitson replaced Nops; he retired the Phillies in order as Jones made two fine catches in center field.

The next day, an Evening Bulletin sportswriter chastised the home team. Acknowledging that the Phillies “have one of the hardest hitting teams ever put together,” the scribe added “they must not forget that team work is absolutely essential to success, and the captain should not hesitate to take any player out of the game if, by so doing, he can improve his chance of winning.”13 Specifically, “it was apparent to nearly everybody on the grounds, including the Brooklyn players, that Orth had reached his limit in the eighth inning.”14 Indeed, while Philadelphia pitchers completed 116 games in 1900, Brooklyn’s completed 104 — the third lowest percentage of complete games by a team since 1890.15 The commentator also praised the Superbas for their baserunning, adding that “the Phillies would materially improve their chances if they would imitate the champions’ aggressive style.”16

With the convention over, a smaller crowd of 5,682 attended the series finale on Friday. The wild affair, featuring two four-run Philadelphia rallies in the eighth and ninth, went into extra innings tied, 13-13. After a scoreless 10th, Brooklyn rallied for three runs in the top of the 11th. At that point, with some 90 minutes to go before an 8 P.M. train to Boston, Philadelphia captain Delahanty instructed rookie twirler Bert Conn to walk batters, with the hope that umpire Hank O’Day might call the game as a 10-inning tie. Three Superbas earned such passes, forcing in another run. Seeing that no one would apply a tag to them, the trio simply trotted around the bases, making the score 20-13. Phillies fans began to jeer and hiss the travesty. Brooklyn batter Harry Howell swung futilely at Conn’s offerings attempting to register the final out. After the third strike, Phillies catcher Ed McFarland dropped the ball and threw it deep into right field. A disgusted O’Day called the game as a 9-0 forfeit to Brooklyn.17

The Phillies caught their train and went 5-13 on their three-week road trip to fall into fourth place, seven games behind the Superbas. Brooklyn held onto first for the remainder of the campaign. Pittsburgh threatened in September, but Hanlon effectively used McGinnity in both starts and relief down the stretch to fend them off.18

On November 6, William McKinley routed William Jennings Bryan in the general election. Aided by a 115,000-vote margin in Philadelphia, McKinley easily carried Pennsylvania.

Sources

In the absence of the usual box scores from the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites, which currently commence with the 1904 season, the author used the game stories and box scores from the newspapers cited in the Notes.

Notes

1 This description of the Spanish-American War is attributed to Secretary of State John Hay. nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/spanish-american-war-a-splendid-little-war.htm, accessed July 8, 2020.

2 “Crank” was a term used at the turn of the twentieth century for what we now know as baseball fans. jstor.org/stable/455556, accessed July 8, 2020.

3 Box score with game story, “Flick’s Home Run Put the Phillies Again in the Lead,” (Philadelphia) Times, June 21, 1900: 11.

4 “Home Runs Put Phillies First Again,” Philadelphia Press, June 21, 1900: 15.

5 Nops’ starts prior to June 21: May 30 (first game of a doubleheader), June 7, June 16.

6 Orth’s starts prior to June 21: April 19, April 23, April 27, May 1, May 15, May 21, May 26, May 31, June 6, June 11, June 16.

7 “Giants Bat Out a Victory in the Ninth Inning,” (Philadelphia) Times, June 17, 1900: 7.

8 “Lost on the Post,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 22, 1900: 6.

9 “Brooklyn Is First Again,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 22, 1900: 16.

10 Charles Dryden, “Orth Weakened and the Phillies Lost,” Philadelphia North American, June 22, 1900: 8.

11 Dryden.

12 Philadelphia manager Bill Shettsline, since coming into the role from the front office, delegated such on-field decisions to his captain.

13 “Base Ball,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, June 22, 1900: 8.

14 Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.

15 In 1891, St. Louis (American Association) pitchers completed 72.7 percent (101 of 139) of their team’s games. Brooklyn’s pitchers in 1896 completed 72.9 percent (97 of 133). In 1900, Brooklyn’s pitchers completed 73.2 percent (104 of 142).

16 “Base Ball,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, June 22, 1900: 8.

18 For an overview of the Superbas’ 1900 season, see Chuck Kimberly, The Days of Wee Willie, Old Cy and Baseball War: Scenes from the Dawn of the Deadball Era, 1900-1903 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2014), 10-14.

Did the 1900 Phillies have “the greatest batting team that was ever organized”? The 1899 Phils had won 94 games (good for third place in the National League), posting the franchise’s best winning percentage since 1886. They had topped the league in batting (.301), hits (1,613), RBIs (787), and runs scored (916). First baseman and future Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty, dubbed “one of the greatest right-handed sluggers”2 playing at the end of the nineteenth century, led the league in most offensive categories, batting .410 with 55 doubles and 137 RBIs. Four other Philadelphia starting position players had batted over .300 as well, and three of those (Roy Thomas and future Hall of Famers Nap Lajoie and Elmer Flick) were back with Delahanty in 1900, boosting the Phillies’ chances to capture their first NL pennant.

After a strong start in April and May, the ’00 Phillies had built a four-game lead in the National League. During a 21-game homestand from the end of May through June 22, the Phillies went 12-9 and fell to second place in the standings. In some ways, the “greatest batting team” was slumping. Lajoie was absent from the lineup for five weeks after breaking his thumb3 in a fistfight with Flick. He was replaced by utility infielder Joe Dolan, who batted just .198 for the season. Delahanty’s average was down almost 100 points from the previous year. Still, Thomas, a perennial leader in bases on balls, continued to get on base and score runs,4 Flick had the most RBIs in the NL by the time the season ended, and Philadelphia’s season total of runs scored was just six behind the league-leading Brooklyn Superbas.5 If anything, the Phillies’ most significant shortfall was in run prevention, as their pitching staff allowed over half a run more per game than in 1899.6

On June 23 the Phillies began a Western road trip, which was scheduled to finish with a four-game series against the Reds at Cincinnati’s League Park.7 Leading up to that series, the Phillies had won just four of 13 of those away contests,8 losing further ground to the league-leading Superbas.

The Reds, meanwhile, had won about 60 percent of their games in April and June, but that success sandwiched a 6-16 record in May. After being swept in four games at home by the Superbas on July 5-8, the Reds took their revenge on the Phillies, winning the first three games of the series and climbing to within three games of fourth-place Philadelphia.

Trying to salvage a win to end the skid, Philadelphia manager Bill Shettsline gave right-hander Bill Bernhard the start. Bernhard was in his second big-league season, having debuted in 1899 at 28 years old; he was already 26 in 1897 when he switched from playing amateur to professional baseball as a pitcher and first baseman on the Palmyra Mormons in the Class C New York State League.9 Philadelphia had won 11 of Bernhard’s first 12 starts in 1900, including two victories without a loss against the Reds, but they then lost the last five games the second-year hurler started, and none of the games were close.

First-year Cincinnati skipper Bob Allen, a former star outfielder with the Phillies, gave Hahn the mound duties. After making his minor-league debut in 1895 as a 16-year-old with Chattanooga (which became the Mobile Blackbirds) of the Southern Association, Hahn was in his second season with the Reds. As a rookie in 1899, he had led the NL with 145 strikeouts. His 23 wins and 2.68 ERA paced the Reds’ pitching staff, and now in 1900, the Reds had won in six of Hahn’s last seven starts.

Philadelphia got a runner in scoring position in the first inning when Delahanty walked with two out and stole second, but Hahn stranded him there by striking out Flick. Delahanty turned out to be the only Philadelphia player to get as far as second base. In the home half, Jimmy Barrett led off with a walk. As Barrett attempted a steal of second, Bernhard threw a wild pitch, and Barrett advanced to third. An out later, Barrett scored on Jake Beckley’s fly ball to left, and Cincinnati had a 1-0 lead.

Hahn retired the Phillies in order in the second, and although the Reds had two baserunners in their turn, Bernhard did not allow a run. Thomas reached in the top of the third on an infield error by third baseman Bob Wood, but he was caught trying to steal second.

Cincinnati added two runs in the bottom of the third. Tommy Corcoran led off with a single. Beckley followed with an RBI triple to center. Bernhard then walked Sam Crawford and Algie McBride to load the bases, and Beckley scored when Wood hit a grounder, forcing McBride out at second.

The Reds loaded the bases again in the fourth but came away empty. Both starters were then in a groove until the seventh, when Hahn hit Flick with a pitch. A basestealing threat,10 Flick took too big a lead, and Hahn threw over to first, getting Flick in a rundown that ended in the inning’s third out.

With one down in the bottom of the seventh, Crawford lined a pitch that Jimmy Slagle in left field “failed to smother,”11 allowing Crawford to race around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. That was Cincinnati’s fourth and final run of the game.

Hahn was as dominant in the ninth inning as in any other. He struck out Monte Cross and Pearce Chiles, batting for Bernhard. Down to the Phillies’ last hope, Thomas “tried to get a bingle”12 by bunting the pitch from Hahn. The ball rolled in front of the plate. Reds catcher Heinie Peitz pounced, picked up the ball, and threw to first in time to get Thomas for the final out and seal the no-hitter.

In pitching the third no-hit game in Cincinnati history,13 Hahn shut down the Phillies lineup, allowing just two bases on balls. Only four of Philadelphia’s 29 batters reached first base, and two were tagged out attempting to steal.

The lefty struck out eight batters, adding to his eventual league-leading total of 132.14 Both Delahanty and Flick struck out twice. Delahanty finished the season with just 36 strikeouts in 539 at-bats, prompting the Cincinnati Enquirer to print, “When the mighty Delahanty fans twice in one game, there is some pitching being done.”15 Further, after Delahanty struck out for the second time, “the idea of a no-hit game struck the rooters, and thereafter they begged and implored Hahn not to allow the Phillies to get one safe.”16 Hahn twice retired the side on just five pitched balls.17 This was Hahn’s second shutout of the season, and he went on to lead the NL with four shutouts.

The Philadelphia Times reported that “for the first time in the history of the Philadelphia Club the Quakers were shut out without a single hit to their credit,”18 but this was actually the second occasion in franchise history, although it had been 17 seasons since the Philadelphia team went hitless in an official game. On September 13, 1883, Cleveland’s Hugh “One Arm” Daily had pitched a no-hitter against the Phillies. The next time after Hahn that the Phillies were no-hit was on July 4, 1908, when New York’s George “Hooks” Wiltse accomplished the rare feat.19

Coincidentally, the umpire for this historic game was former Brooklyn Bridegrooms pitcher Adonis Terry, who had pitched no-hitters himself on July 24, 1886, against the St. Louis Browns, and May 27, 1888, against the Louisville Colonels.20 This was the first time that a former pitcher who had authored a no-hitter was the umpire in another pitcher’s no-hit game.

Hahn’s feat was the only no-hit game pitched in 1900, and the last no-hitter pitched in the nineteenth century.21 This was the best performance of his eight-season career. He pitched a one-hit shutout on October 9, 1904, against the St. Louis Cardinals; that was the only other time he flirted with a no-hitter.22

Acknowledgments 

This article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org.

Notes

1 “Hahn Too Much for Quakers,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 13, 1900: 4.

2 John Saccoman, “Ed Delahanty,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ed-delahanty/. Accessed November 2024.

3 According to his SABR biography, Lajoie broke his thumb as a result of a fistfight with his teammate Flick. See Stephen Constantelos and David Jones, “Nap Lajoie,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/nap-lajoie/. Accessed November 2024. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Lajoie did not play in this game, as “the thumb of his right hand still resembles a well-worn cork of a vinegar jug.” See “Hahn Too Much for Quakers.”

4 Thomas led the league in bases on ball (115) and runs scored (132) in 1900. He led the NL is walks six times in a seven-year stretch (1900–1906).

5 In 1899 the Phillies scored 916 runs in 154 games (5.95 runs per game average) and the Superbas scored 892 in 148 games (6.03 average). In 1900 Philadelphia scored 810 runs in 141 games (5.74 average); Brooklyn, which also played 141 games, scored 816 runs (5.79 average).

6 Bill Bernhard won 15 games in 1900 (with only six in 1899), but his ERA jumped from 2.65 to 4.77. In addition, Wiley Piatt had won more than 20 games in each of his first two seasons (1898 and 1899), but his ERA jumped more than a run per game in 1900, to 4.65.

7 A travel day had been built into the original schedule for Friday, July 13, but the Phillies traveled to Pittsburgh from Cincinnati and played one game before heading home, routing the Pirates 23-8. It was a makeup game from a May 19 rainout.

8 In those 13 games, the Phillies scored more than six runs just twice, while they allowed more than seven runs in five different games. The Reds outscored the Phillies 21-12 in the four-game series sweep.

9 Stephen V. Rice, “Bill Bernhard,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Bill-Bernhard/. Accessed November 2024.

10 Flick stole 31 bases in 1899 and 35 in 1900, which was ninth-best in the NL.

11 Cincinnati Enquirer.

12 Cincinnati Enquirer.

13 The first two Cincinnati pitchers to throw a no-hitter Bumpus Jones (October 15, 1892, against the Pittsburgh Pirates – in his major-league debut and only appearance of the season), and Theodore Breitenstein (April 22, 1898, against the Pittsburgh Pirates – this was his second career no-hitter, with his first coming on October 4, 1891, while he was pitching for the St. Louis Browns).

14 This was the second consecutive season in which Hahn led the NL in strikeouts (he fanned 145 in 1899). He also struck a National League-high 239 in 1901, giving him three straight seasons with the most strikeouts in the majors; he bested the American League’s Cy Young (158) as well.

15 Cincinnati Enquirer.

16 “Quakers Shut Out Without a Hit,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 13, 1900: 6.

17 “Not a Run or Hit for the Phillies,” Philadelphia Times, July 13, 1900: 10.

18 Philadelphia Times.

19 Wiltse pitched 10 innings in this near-perfect performance. The only batter to reach was hit by a pitch, “following a missed third-strike call.” See Gary Belleville, “July 4, 1908: Giants’ Hooks Wiltse denied 10-inning perfect game by umpire error, settles for no-hitter,” SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-4-1908-giants-hooks-wiltse-denied-10-inning-perfect-game-by-umpire-error-settles-for-no-hitter/. Accessed November 2024.

20 Terry played for 14 seasons in the American Association and National League, from 1884 to 1897, as a pitcher and outfielder. While still an active player, he was an umpire 10 times (between 1884 and 1892). In 1900 he called 39 games, including this no-hitter. However, after two months, he was “unwilling to put up with poor treatment on the field and off,” so he retired. He came back for two more games in 1901. See Larry DeFillipo, “Adonis Terry,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/adonis-terry/. Accessed November 2024.

21 The nineteenth century began on January 1, 1801, and ended on December 31, 1900.

22 See “Top Performances for Noodles Hahn (Incomplete),” Retrosheet.org, https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/H/PX_hahnn101.htm. Accessed November 2024. Hahn injured his arm in 1905 and was released after 13 games. He tried a comeback in 1906 with the New York Highlanders, but after just six starts, he asked for a release, and his major-league career ended.

Few fans are probably aware that 120 years earlier, the Philadelphia Phillies used the technology of the day to do the very same thing. It was known around the league that the Phillies were doing something, but no one knew how elaborate their system was. They were caught red-handed on one memorable day in the first game of a doubleheader on September 17, 1900, at the Baker Bowl. Their technology? Binoculars, a buzzer, and a seldom-used backup catcher.

First, the details of the game, which meant little in the National League standings. The Phillies were a distant third (60-55) at 10½ games back and sent Al Orth (14-14 in 1900, 3.78 ERA) to the mound, while the Reds were seventh (53-64) and countered with Theodore Breitenstein (10-10, 3.65 ERA). A little over 4,700 fans were on hand for the Monday afternoon contests.

Jimmy Barrett slammed a leadoff home run for the Reds on Orth’s second pitch. It was a quiet day for the Reds from then on. The Phillies’ bats came alive in the second. Ed McFarland singled and went to second on a passed ball. Joe Dolan walked and both runners scored on Orth’s single to left. In the third, Ed Delahanty led off with a double and scored on Elmer Flick’s single. The Phillies held that 3-1 lead into the sixth when Napoleon Lajoie tripled to right and scored on McFarland’s fly.

In the seventh, the Reds scraped out a run. Tommy Corcoran reached on an error and after a groundout scored on singles by Harry Steinfeldt and Joe Quinn. That was all the scoring in the game as the Phillies prevailed, 4-2, in 1 hour and 50 minutes. Orth scattered eight hits, and five errors were not costly for the Phillies. Breitenstein allowed the Phillies only seven hits while striking out three and walking two. Breitenstein’s career was winding down and he finished with a career 160-170 mark and a 4.03 ERA. Orth had several great seasons ahead and topped 200 wins in his 15-year career.

The reason this game has a story to tell, however, is what happened in the third inning.1 To understand the backstory, we have to go back to 1899. Morgan Murphy was a rarely used backup catcher for the Phillies. He didn’t play at all in 1899, and played in only 11 games in 1900. The Detroit Free Press reported, “[Murphy] is said to be the right-hand man of the management and is consulted in every deal that is made.”2 In September sportswriter Frank Hough said, “Morgan Murphy may not catch many games, but the old Boston Brotherhood catcher learned a few tricks from King Kelly in tipping off signs that enabled the Phillies to drive a few pitchers off the slab this summer.”3 Kelly and Murphy were teammates on the Boston Players League team in 1890.

The Washington Times broke a story in its September 11 issue with “the tale which is hereby unfolded.” Murphy regularly sat in a suite in the Baker Bowl clubhouse in center field “with a telescope of wonderful magnifying power.” Murphy saw the catcher’s sign and signaled the batter “by certain manipulations of the side curtains of the observatory.”4

The scheme was paying off. “The wonderful batting of the club is easily accounted for,” The Times commented. The 1899 Phillies were 58-25 at home, 36-33 on the road. They scored 503 runs at home, 413 on the road. The Phillies led the NL in hits, runs scored, doubles, RBIs, and batting average. “Morgan Murphy has earned every dollar of his salary this season,” an unidentified Philly player said. “Had it not been for the signal service department we would be in the second division, and in many games where Morgan was not working we could not hit a balloon.”5

Washington pitcher Bill Magee told the Washington Post, “Any player in the league will tell you that (the Phillies) were helped to many a hit by a confederate, by means that are perfectly legitimate, because there are no rules in the baseball code to prevent this scheme that was employed to bunco opposing pitchers out of hits. Morgan Murphy was the villain in this plot.”6 On the road, Murphy utilized nearby buildings. In Brooklyn he rented a room across the street from the park and used a newspaper to communicate stolen signs.

A June 1900 game in Pittsburgh dragged on as the Pirates held conferences at the mound to change signs. Players were constantly watching Murphy watching the game with his binoculars, determined “to disable the bureau.”7 The 1900 Phillies led the NL in hits, RBIs, and total bases, finishing 45-23 at home with 434 runs scored, 30-40 on the road with 376 runs. Fans suspected foul play.

Murphy’s sign-stealing scheme included Pearce “Petie” Chiles, who often coached third base. In the third inning of that September 17 game, Corcoran began to vigorously dig in the third-base coach’s box. Phillies manager Bill Shettsline knew immediately what was happening. Groundskeeper Joseph Schroeder and a police officer raced to the box. They were too late. Corcoran had extracted a box supporting a buzzer system. “Of course, there was considerable commotion among the players and the spectators,” wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer. Cincinnati coach Arlie Latham broke the stunned silence. “Ha! What’s this?” he sarcastically asked. “An infernal machine to disrupt the noble National League, or is it a dastardly attempt on the life of my dear distinguished friend, [Phillies’ owner] John I. Rogers?” Umpire Tim Hurst was business as usual. “Back to the mines, men,” he directed, and the game resumed.8

Reds manager Bob Allen had known of the scheme for a few days. “It was tipped off to us, I won’t say by whom,” Allen admitted about the buried device. Allen visited the clubhouse and kept his eye out for wires. “I detected two running into an upper window of the clubhouse. We decided, however, not to interfere with it until Monday.”9 Corcoran actually had been digging in the dirt each inning to avoid detection.

Chiles had developed the spying method idea two years earlier while using his spyglass to watch horse races in New Orleans. He happened to spot a nearby youth baseball game and could clearly see the catcher’s signals.10 No wonder Chiles was known as “one of the most slippery, elusive historical characters major-league baseball has ever produced,” in the words of SABR biographer Ron Schuler.11 He was also known for a twitching leg while he kept his foot stationary in the box, even when it was deluged in a puddle.

F.C. Richter in Sporting Life mused, “Morgan (‘Buzzer’) Murphy is now entered on the rolls of fame as the Edison of base ball, while Pete Chiles will be forever known as the ‘Human Push Button.’”12 Later in the season, Brooklyn manager Ned Hanlon was plotting his own scheme. After a game with the Phillies he approached Shettsline. “During all this series,” he griped, “you have had Morgan Murphy armed with a pair of field glasses, seated in a flathouse outside the grounds, where he has been in communication with Chiles on the coaching line. It is useless for you to deny it, for I have sent two Brooklyn players into the house and found Murphy there. You may call this base ball; I don’t. I changed the signs in the fourth inning today, and your celebrated tenth man could not read them. The result was that your men could not bat, and they could not win the game.”13

Chiles got the last laugh in the next game against the Reds. He coached first base and made his familiar leg twitching. The Reds again came out to investigate, only to find out Chiles had buried a plain stick of wood.14 Rodgers tried to cover up the Phillies’ indiscretion by saying the wires were left from a traveling entertainment group. The buzzer system, he said, didn’t exist. “Neither Artemus Ward nor Mark Twain in his happiest moment ever perpetrated anything so deliciously humorous as that,” joked the Philadelphia Inquirer.15

Rumors circulated 120 years later that the Astros were wearing a wireless buzzer system, something an MLB investigation proved false.16 What is considered serious in 2020 was a joke in 1900. “Inquiry has been made as to whether or not Morgan Murphy belongs to the Electrical Workers’ Union,” quipped Dryden.17

Sources

Baseball-reference.com.

Dittmar, Joe. “A Shocking Discovery,” SABR Baseball Research Journal #20 (1991): 52-53, 65. https://research.sabr.org/journals/files/SABR-Baseball_Research_Journal-20.pdf.

Albertson, Matt. “Morgan Murphy, Pearce Chiles and the Phillies Sign Stealing Schemes,” Sports Talk Philly. January 26, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2020. https://sportstalkphilly.com/2020/01/pierce-chiles-sign-stealing-and-the-philadelphia-phillies.html.

Retrosheet.org.

Verducci, Tom. “How MLB Handled Sign Stealing Before Punishing Astros,” Sports Illustrated, January 23, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2020. https://si.com/mlb/2020/01/23/sign-stealing-history-astros-red-sox.

Notes

1 Some accounts say it was the second inning.

2 “Baseball Gossip,” Detroit Free Press, July 27, 1899.

3 “Baseball Gossip,” Detroit Free Press, September 2, 1899: 6.

4 “Murphy’s Shrewd Trick,” Washington Times, September 11, 1899: 6.

5 Washington Times.

6 “Baseball Notes,” Washington Post, October 9, 1899: 8.

7 “Phillies Use Unfair Means,” Pittsburgh Press, June 4, 1900: 5.

8 “Morgan Murphy’s Signal Service Exposed at Last,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 18, 1900: 10.

9 “Fake Batting Averages,” Washington Evening Star, September 25, 1900: 9.

10 “All Sorts,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 14, 1900: 31.

11 Ron Schuler, “Pearce Chiles,” SABR BioProject. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/038d8ca7. Retrieved February 9, 2020.

12 F.C. Richter, “Local Jottings,” Sporting Life, September 22, 1900: 4.

13 “Another Exposure,” Sporting Life, September 29, 1900: 4.

14 “Came Up with a Rush,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 20, 1900: 10.

15 “A Grotesque Joke Was the Buzzer, Says the Colonel,” Philadelphia Inquirer, October 3, 1900: 6.

16 Justin Leger, “Report: MLB ‘Found No Evidence’ Astros Used Buzzers to Steal Signs,” NBC Sports Boston, January 16, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020. https://nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/report-mlb-found-no-evidence-astros-used-buzzers-steal-signs.

17 “Baseball Gossip,” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 21, 1900: 4.

Fittingly, the one game that was played was the most intriguing on the schedule – pitting the defending league champions against an upstart franchise that aspired to launch a rebirth of major-league baseball in a city where the sport had been declared dead after an unceremonious exit of its National League franchise two years earlier.4

Under the “fairest skies the weather clerk could select,”5 the Chicago White Stockings raised the 1900 championship flag in front of 9,000 fans6 at South Side Park and picked up the first victory on the path to defending that title with an 8-2 drubbing of the visiting Cleveland Blues – the same franchise7 they swept in a doubleheader seven months earlier to clinch the city’s first pennant since 1886.8

“With pomp and ceremonial, with braying of bands and braying of fans, with an enormous audience gathered in the frapped stands, the American league season of 1901 was duly opened in Chicago, and the real champions, [Charles] Comiskey’s [W]hite [S]tockings, began their campaign by giving the Clevelands all that was coming to them,” wrote the Chicago Inter Ocean of the season-opening affair.9

The matchup was just shy of a decade in the making. Johnson had turned the fledgling Western League into one of the top minor-league circuits in the country between 1893 and ’99, and in 1900 he shifted some of the league’s geography and rebranded it the American League.10 One year later, Johnson relocated more teams and declared his intention to compete directly against the National League, hoping to reduce rowdyism and raise salaries to deliver a superior major-league product.11

“The American League is prepared to set just a pace as it set last year. It is in for clean, fast baseball, for we know that is the only kind the public wants to see,” Johnson said. “During the entire season there will probably be more or less ill feeling between the National and the American leagues, but next year I am sure there will be nothing more than a friendly rivalry. The players will have become settled then, and it will be evident that the people delight in two big leagues.”12

While Johnson traveled to Philadelphia to take in the Athletics’ opener there against the Washington Senators, it was in Chicago that the season started on schedule in a city that hadn’t called two major-league teams home since 1890.13 The Blues, meanwhile, were hoping a fresh start two years removed from the disastrous 20-win Cleveland Spiders team of 1899 would be enough to win back the city’s fan base.14

After a home-opening victory in 1900 against the Indianapolis Hoosiers in front of 5,500 fans, the Cleveland Plain Dealer claimed the supposedly dead fan base in Cleveland was “about the liveliest corpse that has ever found a place in history.”15 Excitement only grew as major-league status was declared for 1901, and by 1903 the Blues had cemented themselves as legitimate contenders for the pennant.16

Farther west, the Chicago Tribune wrote that opening day would “go down among the important events in baseball history,” which, while an exaggeration, exemplified the excitement surrounding the White Stockings’ coming season.17 After the First Regiment Rough Riders band regaled the crowd before and after the championship pennant was lifted up the new flagpole in center field, play in the American League commenced a little after 3 in the afternoon. Ground rules were established as an overflow crowd found its way onto the field of play.

Roy Patterson, the 24-year-old “boy wonder,” was tabbed to start for the White Stockings, despite developing a boil on his pitching arm the day before. The young right-hander, who went 17-8 as one of Chicago’s leading pitchers in 1900, threw a ball on the first pitch of the game but got Ollie Pickering to fly out to center fielder William Hoy – who at age 38 was the league’s oldest player – for the first out of the season.

Jack McCarthy, who jumped to the Blues from the National League’s Chicago Orphans before the season, received a round of applause from the crowd before hitting a hard smash that ricocheted from third baseman Fred Hartman to shortstop Frank Shugart. Shugart’s throw to first was late, and McCarthy was credited with the first hit in AL history.

Bill Hoffer, a 30-year-old right-hander whose 16 wins were the second-most on the 1900 Cleveland Lake Shores club, drew the start for the Blues. The former National Leaguer – who had 78 wins in 114 games from 1895 to ’97 – struggled with control early in his eight innings of work, heavily contributing to Chicago’s commanding lead after just two innings.

In the bottom of the first, Fielder Jones drew a one-out walk and moved up a base when Sam Mertes hit a hard shot at first baseman Bill Bradley, who was unable to turn the double play. Shugart and Frank Isbell drew back-to-back walks to load the bases, and Hartman battled through a lengthy at-bat, finally lining a two-run single into left field to drive in the first two runs in league history.

Erve Beck hit a harmless single for Cleveland in the top of the second,18 and in the bottom of the frame, Hoffer once again got two quick outs with one runner on but couldn’t contain the White Stockings. Jones, Mertes, and Shugart each drew consecutive two-out walks to bring in a run for a 3-0 Chicago advantage.

Isbell followed with a two-run single to center, and that is where the inning should have ended. Shugart found himself caught in a rundown between second and third, and Isbell got tied up in a rundown between first and second. But the Blues couldn’t nab either runner in one of the “weirdest mix-ups ever seen at South Side Park,” and the White Stockings continued to bat.19

With a chance to make the mix-up meaningless, Cleveland shortstop Bill Hallman struggled to contain a sharp shot from Hartman, and his errant throw to first allowed two more runs to score, giving Chicago a 7-0 lead.

“I had a couple of rather bad seasons and got discouraged, but last season, I played in almost my old-time form” said the 34-year-old Hallman, who hadn’t appeared in a major-league game since 1898 and spent 1900 with the Buffalo Bisons before joining the Blues on April 1. “I am convinced that I am out of the little rut I struck.”20

But Hallman’s try at a big-league comeback in Cleveland was short. After committing five errors in five games, he was released. Hallman signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and played 123 games at second base and third base the rest of the season, making just 17 errors.

Candy LaChance opened Cleveland’s half of the fourth inning with a single, and after a popout, Patterson walked Beck and Hallman to load the bases. Bob Wood grounded into what should have been an inning-ending double play, but Chicago second baseman Dave Brain struggled to control the ball and Wood beat the throw to first, which allowed LaChance to score.21

Hallman opened the seventh by reaching on an error, moved to second on Wood’s single, and got to third when Hoffer grounded into a double play. Pickering’s smash between the third baseman and shortstop went for an infield single, but it would be the last run in Cleveland’s effort to spoil Chicago’s grand opener. The White Stockings answered with their eighth and final run in the bottom of the frame when Mertes singled, Shugart sacrificed, and Isbell hit his second RBI single of the game.22

“Our men are hardly in shape to play winning ball. The bad weather at Cleveland for the last week – in which we had only one day’s practice – set us back considerably,” said Blues manager Jimmy McAleer. “I think with a few more games we will round into form. We have, I believe, a team capable of winning the pennant, and it will take a lot of beating to change my mind.”23

Cleveland picked up a win in the third game of the series, but it was otherwise a lot of beating in the early going. A season of ups and downs saw the Blues start 4-17 on the way to a seventh-place finish in the standings at 54-82.24 The White Stockings used the 3-1 start over Cleveland as a springboard for an 83-53 record that was good for a second straight pennant – and a 29-game advantage over the hapless Blues.25

Johnson’s league had a successful first year, drawing nearly 1.7 million fans26 and gaining respect among baseball’s top players. In 1902, teams in the AL outdrew their NL counterparts by more than 520,000 fans,27 and the AL franchises were especially strong at the ticket offices in the four cities where each league held a team.28 The leagues came to a peace agreement after the 1902 season, and a championship World Series between the leagues was first played in 1903.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Russ Walsh and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, I used the Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for statistics and team information.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA190104240.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1901/B04240CHA1901.htm

Notes

1 “Opening Game Postponed,” Detroit Free Press, April 25, 1901: 6.

2 “A Baseball Setback,” Baltimore Sun, April 25, 1901: 6.

3 “Rain Falls Upon Just and Unjust,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 25, 1901: 7.

4 Franklin Lewis, The Cleveland Indians (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2006), 53.

5 “Champions Win Opening Game,” Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1901: 6.

6 The game report from the Chicago Inter-Ocean estimated a crowd of 10,000 spectators.

7 Cleveland’s nickname in 1900 was the Lake Shores.

8 In 1886, the Chicago White Stockings – a precursor to the modern Cubs – won 90 games to edge the Detroit Wolverines by 2½ games.

9 “White Sox Begin Well,” Chicago Inter Ocean, April 25, 1901: 8.

10 Going into the 1900 season, six Western League teams remained in place, while new clubs were added in Cleveland and Chicago (replacing Columbus, Ohio, and St. Paul, Minnesota). When Johnson went for major-league status in 1901, only the Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers remained from the final year of the Western League in 1899.

11 Johnson’s league fielded teams in Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia, where he directly competed with long-standing National League clubs from the start. In 1902 he moved the Milwaukee Brewers to St. Louis to compete with the Cardinals, and in 1903 the Baltimore Orioles moved to New York City to compete with the New York Giants.

12 Francis C. Richter, “American League,” Sporting Life, April 29, 1901: 5.

13 That year, the Chicago Colts of the NL and the Chicago Pirates of the Players’ League shared the city’s fan base.

14 Spiders owner Frank Robison, along with his brother, Stanley, purchased a majority share of the NL’s St. Louis franchise and rebranded the team as the Perfectos. In an effort to build up the St. Louis club, Cleveland’s top players – such as Cy Young, Jesse Burkett and Bobby Wallace, and manager Patsy Tebeau – were transferred to St. Louis in exchange for the bottom feeders on the Perfectos’ roster. Attendance became so poor at Cleveland’s League Park that opposing teams refused to travel to play there because it wasn’t financially feasible. Prior to the 1900 campaign, Robison offered the new Cleveland club a pick of some of his St. Louis players, but manager James McAleer wanted to cut all ties with the previous regime and said, “We don’t care to give anyone an excuse for saying that we are running a farm for the St. Louis club, and that opinion might be formed if we accepted some of the surplus players from that team. Mr. Robison has been kind to us to give us a chance to secure several men, but for the present, we prefer to get our players elsewhere.” “No Assistance From Old Owners,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 11, 1900: 6.

15 “A Right Royal Welcome,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 27, 1900: 6.

16 In 1903 Cleveland finished third in the standings. The closest the franchise came to a pennant in the early 1900s was a second-place finish in 1908, when the Naps finished a half-game behind the Detroit Tigers.

17 “Pennant to Be Raised Today,” Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1901: 7.

18 In the ninth inning, Beck hit a double – the only extra-base hit of the game.

19 “Champions Win Opening Game.”

20 “Out of Door Work Today,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 5, 1901: 6.

21 Wood hit .307 in 36 games for the 1900 White Stockings after opening the season with the Cincinnati Reds.

22 Isbell’s .248 average was the second-lowest among regular hitters on the 1900 championship roster, so a fast start to the season was a welcome surprise for Chicago. He hit .257 in 1901 but led the major leagues with 52 steals.

23 “Champions Win Opening Game.”

24 McAleer left the Blues after the season, which was his second year in Cleveland, and managed the St. Louis Browns until 1909 and the Washington Senators in 1910 and ’11.

25 The White Stockings finished five games ahead of the Boston Americans, and they were in first place from July 10 until the end of the season.

26 The new league drew 1,683,584 fans, which trailed the NL by 265,823 fans.

27 The AL won the attendance battle by 523,442 fans – bringing in 2,206,454 spectators to the NL’s count of 1,683,012.

28 The AL outdrew the NL by wide margins in Philadelphia (the Athletics drew 308,012 more fans than the Phillies) and Boston (the Americans drew 231,607 more fans than the Beaneaters), while posting moderate positive margins of fans in Chicago (74,198) and St. Louis (45,866).

The White Sox, who won the 1900 pennant when the American League was a Class A minor league, stockpiled players after league President Ban Johnson announced plans to compete directly with the established National League as a second major league in 1901. Chicago’s new collection of talent included Skopec, a 21-year-old left-handed pitcher who did not seem to have a place in a starting rotation expected to feature veteran newcomers Clark Griffith and Jimmy “Nixey” Callahan, and young 1900 holdovers Roy Patterson and Jack Katoll.2

But on April 14, Callahan broke his arm when he was hit by a pitch in a preseason exhibition game,3 giving Skopec an opportunity to showcase the skills that had owner Charles Comiskey calling him a “daisy” before the season.4 Reports 10 days before Opening Day called Skopec a “sure thing” to make the roster, and not only did he do that, he also became the answer to an obscure trivia question in his major-league debut.5

Skopec started the second game of the season, on April 25 at Chicago’s South Side Park, and in the second inning he surrendered the first home run of the AL’s major-league era to Cleveland Blues second baseman Erve Beck. Undaunted, Skopec allowed only one more run and pitched a complete game, and Chicago’s offense backed him for a 7-3 victory before 3,000 fans on a Thursday afternoon.

A day earlier, the White Sox had beaten Cleveland in the first major-league game in AL history, and Chicago’s 2-0 start was a sign of things to come for the eventual pennant winners, who finished the year 83-53, four games ahead of the Boston Americans. Cleveland picked up its first win two days later in the third meeting of this four-game series but finished the year in seventh place at 54-82.

Skopec, who first gained attention in 1899 in the Joliet (Illinois) city league before winning 21 games for the Interstate League’s Wheeling Stogies in 1900,6 initially signed with the 1901 Little Rock Travelers in February but jumped to the White Sox about a month later.7

At one point, Skopec had been tabbed for Chicago’s Opening Day assignment.8 He instead started the second game against touted Cleveland rookie Earl Moore, and Skopec showed signs of his inexperience at the onset.

Cleveland’s Ollie Pickering drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on two wild pitches. Jack McCarthy watched two more of Skopec’s pitches pass out of the strike zone for another walk. White Sox second baseman Dave Brain then muffed Frank Genins’ grounder, which allowed Pickering to score and gave Cleveland a lead for the first time in its major-league history. Chicago’s first of three double plays and Skopec’s first career strikeout ended the threat.

The Blues added a run in the second when Beck launched Skopec’s first pitch over the right-field wall for a 2-0 lead, which led Sporting Life to call him a “regular Hans Wagner with the stick.”9 The day before, Beck had collected the first extra-base hit in AL history, a double.10

Beck had hit .360 with the Toledo Mud Hens in 1900 to win the Interstate League’s batting title and paced the Class B circuit with 15 home runs and an astounding 71 doubles.11 The 22-year-old native Toledoan signed with Cleveland in mid-March, representing a “tower of strength” after the 1900 Cleveland Lake Shores minor-league club hit only four home runs.12 Manager Jimmy McAleer expected that Beck would help solidify Cleveland’s new major-league offense, which Beck did to the tune of a .289 batting average and 40 extra-base hits.13

In response to Beck’s homer, Chicago struck back in the bottom of the second inning against the 23-year-old Moore, who had major-league teams battling for his services after he won 22 games for the Interstate League champion Dayton Veterans in 1900. Moore had signed contracts with both Cleveland and the NL’s St. Louis Cardinals, who reportedly had used underhanded tactics to get him to sign what was his second major-league deal.14 The Blues won the contract sweepstakes, bringing the young right-hander north and eventually to the top of their rotation.

Chicago’s Fred Hartman punched a single to right field to kick off the second-inning rally. As he took off to steal second base, Moore’s pitch went wild and allowed Hartman to reach third. Brain laced an RBI double into right-center to cut Cleveland’s lead in half.

In the third, Chicago’s Fielder Jones drew a leadoff walk and stole second – one of three bases he swiped during the game. That put him in position to score the tying run when Sam Mertes smacked a double into right. Frank Shugart struck out and Mertes was forced at third on Frank Isbell’s grounder, but the White Sox were undeterred. Isbell stole second and scored on Hartman’s second hit of the game for a 3-2 White Sox advantage.

Back-to-back two-out doubles by Cleveland’s Bill Bradley and Beck in the sixth tied the game at 3-3, but the White Sox shifted the game’s momentum with a three-run rally in the bottom of the inning.

After Brain popped out in foul territory, catcher Billy Sullivan sent a single into right. Skopec hit a grounder to Blues shortstop Bill Hallman, who “plucked up four handfuls of the finest sand” instead of the baseball in what likely would have been a double play.15 Billy Hoy popped out, but when Jones singled to left, Sullivan was determined to score from second.

Sullivan arrived at home plate around the same time as McCarthy’s throw from the outfield, and with an aggressive slide, Sullivan jarred the ball loose from Cleveland catcher George Yeager for the go-ahead run.16 With Skopec on third and Jones on second, Mertes sent a single into left for two more Chicago tallies and a 6-3 lead.

Over the last three innings, only one Cleveland hitter reached base, Pickering, on a walk. The White Sox added their last run in the eighth. Brain walked and scored when Yeager fielded Sullivan’s bunt and fired wildly from his knees well past first baseman George “Candy” LaChance.

Despite Moore’s shaky debut – seven runs (three earned) on nine hits and five walks – he went 16-14 for Cleveland and finished his rookie season with the AL’s sixth highest Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement value, 5.0.17 Two years later, he became Cleveland’s first 20-game winner and led the AL with a 1.74 ERA. Moore spent 14 years in the majors and won 163 games for five teams.

Skopec followed his debut with three consecutive complete-game victories, including another win against Cleveland on May 8. In all, he made nine starts in Callahan’s absence, going 6-3 with a 3.16 ERA between April 25 and May 31.

But Skopec did not report to practice the day after his May 31 start, reportedly having injured his pitching hand in a fight against a loudmouthed fan while watching an amateur game.18 By mid-June, Skopec was pitching for the Chicago Gunthers, a prominent semipro team, and his year came full circle when he joined the Little Rock Travelers on July 25.19

He later made six appearances for the Detroit Tigers in 1903 in what amounted to his last major-league season. Skopec did not allow another home run in the majors but became the first AL pitcher to hit one, connecting on April 30 in his next game after the Cleveland contest.20

Beck’s homer was his first of six in 1901, but he did not last long as the only AL player with a round tripper, as Billy Clingman of the Washington Senators homered two days later.21 Despite Beck’s successful campaign, he did not return to Cleveland for 1902 after McAleer stepped down as manager and new Blues field general Bill Armour acquired veteran Frank Bonner to man the keystone.22 Beck instead split 89 games between the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers in what ended up being his final major-league season. He added three more home runs to his ledger in 1902, one with Cincinnati and two with Detroit.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Jim Sweetman and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Erve Beck, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, StatsCrew.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent statistics and the box scores. He also used information obtained from the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Inter Ocean, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland Leader, Cleveland Press, Sporting Life, and The Sporting News.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA190104250.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1901/B04250CHA1901.htm

Notes

1 “Doyle Reports for Duty,” Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1901: 9.

2 Griffith and Callahan were also new to the White Sox, both having come across town from the National League’s Chicago Cubs. Other prominent newcomers for the 1901 White Sox included second baseman Sam Mertes (Cubs), outfielder Fielder Jones (Brooklyn Superbas), and catcher Billy Sullivan (Boston Beaneaters).

3 Coincidentally, Skopec was the starter in the game in which Callahan was injured. Callahan, who had made good as a pitcher and an infielder since debuting in 1894, was playing second base on the day he was injured. He returned to the White Sox on June 1. Callahan primarily pitched, but he started six games at third base and appeared in two others as the second baseman for the 1901 White Sox. “Callahan’s Arm Broken,” Chicago Tribune, April 16, 1901: 6.

4 “Magnates’ Legal Complications,” Chicago Inter Ocean, April 9, 1901: 8.

5 “Comiskey’s Men Play at Home,” Chicago Tribune, April 15, 1901: 6.

6 Before the 1900 season, John E. Calvin, a Chicago correspondent for The Sporting News, advised the Wheeling club that Skopec was a worthy find. In a letter published by the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, Calvin noted that Skopec, a native Chicagoan, was “a heady, strong young pitcher” and that “he has all the bends, shoots and change of pace” in his arsenal. “Base Ball,” Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, March 13, 1900: 3.

7 “Has Little Hope for Interstate League,” Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, February 19, 1901: 4; “Doyle Reports for Duty.”

8 The Opening Day starting assignment was slated for Roy Patterson, but he developed a boil on his pitching arm the day before the game. Patterson recovered in time and fired a complete game. “Pennant to Be Raised Today,” Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1901: 7.

9 W.A. Phelon Jr., “Chicago Gleanings,” Sporting Life, May 4, 1901: 15.

10 Beck doubled later in this game, giving him four hits and nine total bases in his first seven at-bats with Cleveland. In the first two games of the season, the rest of Cleveland’s hitters went a combined 8-for-55 with nine total bases.

11 Beck began playing professionally as a 16-year-old in 1896 and had previously appeared in the majors for the Brooklyn Superbas in 1899, batting .167 in eight games. After his offensive onslaught with Toledo in 1900, he caught the interest of major-league clubs.

12 “More Stars Are Signed,” Cleveland Leader, March 17, 1901: 10.

13 “More Stars Are Signed.”

14 According to one report, the Cardinals threatened to blacklist Moore from the majors if he did not break his Cleveland contract and report to St. Louis. “Moore Is Back Home,” Cleveland Leader, March 27, 1901: 6.

15 Hallman had picked up a second error in two games, and in Cleveland’s first five games of the season, Hallman committed five errors on 27 chances. The Blues released Hallman on May 2 and he debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies on May 11. Danny Shay took over at shortstop for Cleveland, though Frank Scheibeck eventually became the main shortstop for the 1901 Blues. “Whites Do It Again,” Chicago Inter Ocean, April 26, 1901: 8; “Hallman Released,” Cleveland Press, May 3, 1901: 5.

16 “Team Not in Condition,” Cleveland Leader, April 26, 1901: 6.

17 Moore trailed well-known names Cy Young (12.5), Joe McGinnity (8.1) and Clark Griffith (5.7), and fellow rookies Roscoe Miller (6.6) and Eddie Plank (5.3).

18 “Boston Took the Last,” Chicago Tribune, June 2, 1901: 17; “Skopec Was in a Fight,” Pittsburgh Press, June 6, 1901: 8.

19 “Skopec and Parker Will Pitch,” Chicago Inter Ocean, June 16, 1901: 18; “Lost the Third,” Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), July 25, 1901: 8.

20 AL pitchers hit 14 home runs in 1901 and White Sox hurlers accounted for six of them.

21 Beck’s six homers tied for ninth in the AL. Collectively, the rest of Cleveland’s players had six home runs, one each by six players.

22 A dispatch in mid-November noted, “The Cleveland people have evidently kissed Erve Beck goodby. That sort of thing can certainly be inferred from the dash into the Eastern league territory and the capture of Frank Bonner.” Bonner was later replaced at second when the Philadelphia Athletics sent Nap Lajoie to Cleveland in the middle of the season to resolve a legal dispute that prohibited Lajoie from playing in Pennsylvania for any team but the Philadelphia Phillies. “In Armour’s Territory,” Dayton Daily News, November 18, 1901: 3.

The inaugural 1901 American League season was scheduled to open in Detroit on Wednesday, April 24, but rain just before game time prevented play. The next day was sunny, warm for April, and “a day to make a well man glad to be alive, and a sick man feel the tingle of returning health.”2

The largest throng to yet attend a ball game in Detroit overflowed Bennett Park. The players paraded to the park in carriages from the Russell House Hotel, and by the time they arrived, a mass of 10,0233 had overflowed into the outfield. The overflow necessitated the imposition of a ground rule— any balls into the outfield crowd would be doubles.

The visiting Milwaukee Brewers4 were introduced first to a polite reception. The Tigers, in red coats, then lined up, marched a few steps toward the grandstand, and removed their caps in a salute to the fans. After the teams warmed up, “Oom Paul,” the canine Detroit mascot, made an appearance, and the local Elks club presented a loving cup to Tiger owner James Burns and manager George Stallings, both fellow Elks. A local legislator, Jacob Haarer, filled in for the mayor and threw out the first pitch to Charlie Bennett, a retired catcher and Detroit baseball legend for whom Bennett Park was named.5

After a band played a prophetic “There’ll be a Hot Time in the Old Town To-night,” Brewer leadoff hitter Irv Waldron hit a grounder to Kid Elberfeld at shortstop, who “made a gorgeous fumble.”6 Billy Gilbert followed with a base hit and Bill Hallman sacrificed both runners up a base. Tiger third baseman Jim “Doc” Casey then forced Waldron at the plate on             John Anderson’s ground ball. Anderson and Gilbert attempted a double steal, but Elberfeld’s return throw to catcher Fred Buelow caught Gilbert for the third out.

Casey led off for Detroit. Wearing the club’s new uniform, with a small red tiger on the cap, he accepted a basket of flowers from the Elks on arrival at the batter’s box. After he bowed in appreciation and handed off the flowers, he grounded back to the Milwaukee pitcher, Pink Hawley. The Tigers managed a hit and stolen base by Bill “Kid” Gleason, but didn’t score.

Wid Conroy opened the Brewers’ second with a single. He went to third on an out by playing manager Hugh Duffy, but first baseman Frank Dillon made a bad throw in an attempt catch Conroy, who advanced and scored the first run of the game. With two outs Brewer catcher Tom Leahy reached second base on a wild throw by Elberfeld; he then scored as Tiger left fielder Ducky Holmes muffed a fly ball by Hawley when Holmes encountered the overflow crowd in the outfield. After another Elberfeld error, the Brewers were retired, but they had two runs. The four Detroit errors made it look to the Detroit Tribune reporter that the Tigers were hypnotized or suffering from an attack of stage fright. In any case they were playing “wretched ball.”7

Detroit failed to score in its half of the second, and Milwaukee, already leading 2-0, added five more runs in the third on another error, four hits, a walk and a sacrifice. Stallings replaced starting pitcher Roscoe Miller with Emil Frisk during the uprising. Milwaukee’s seven-run lead held as the Tigers failed to score in their half of the third. Brewer captain and third baseman Jimmy Burke made the defensive play of the game here, stopping Buelow’s hot grounder and throwing him out at first.8

Detroit managed to shut down the Brewers in the fourth, then scored their first run on an error, followed by Dillon’s ground rule double into the crowd. Elberfeld then knocked in Dillon with another ground rule double. The Tigers pecked away with a run in the fifth, and after six innings it was 7-3, Milwaukee.

The Brewers, though, lengthened this to 10-3, plating three runs after two outs in the seventh. Duffy apparently considered the lead safe and replaced Hawley with Pete Dowling, a 24-year-old left-hander, who “had been Detroit’s jonah all last season.”9 Dowling held form through the Detroit seventh, allowing only a walk.

Milwaukee padded its lead to 13-3 in the eighth, but the Tigers nicked Dowling for a run in their half, using another ground-rule double by Dillon. Still plugging away, Frisk got the Brewers one-two-three in the top of the ninth.

With their team down 13 to 4 and the Tigers not having shown them much, some Detroit fans had left by the bottom of the inning. But there were still enough for overflow in the outfield, and Casey led off with another ground rule double. Jimmy Barrett beat out a slow grounder to third. Gleason then singled to center to score Casey. The crowd livened, as Holmes, Dillon, and Elberfeld all doubled. “The tremendous shouts that were sent up evidently unnerved Pitcher Dowling. As each hit went out a mighty cheer went up that was enough to make most any one lose his nerve.”10 Five runs were now in; it was 13-9.

By this time Duffy was feeling uneasy. He came in from center field and replaced Dowling with Bert Husting. Husting, who wasn’t fully warmed up, uncorked a wild pitch, but settled down to retire Kid Nance for the first out.

As the inning progressed, the crowd had pressed closer to the diamond. Duffy protested, and umpire Jack Sheridan ordered the fans back. The game was delayed a few minutes as the Detroit players “ran out to push back the throng in order to afford the Milwaukee outfielders a chance to chase some of the terrific drives that were being sent out.”11 Although the delay gave Husting a chance to warm up, he walked the next batter, Buelow. Frisk followed with a single to left, scoring Elberfeld. 13-10.

Casey was next up and beat out a bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Husting was able to fan Barrett for the second out. Gleason then hit a hard shot to Burke at third base. But Burke botched the play and Buelow scored to make it 13-11. It quickly became 13-12 when Burke couldn’t get an out on Holmes’ slow roller and Frisk scored.

Dillon was up again. The big first baseman already had three ground-rule doubles on the day, and made it a fourth when he ripped a 2-2 pitch into the crowd in left field. Casey and Gleason romped home with the tying and winning runs.

Pandemonium broke loose at Bennett Park. The crowd quickly overtook the field and “a dozen crazy fans picked [Dillon] up and carried him about the diamond on their shoulders, while everybody assured his neighbor that he had never in his life seen anything so wonderful.”12 The Detroit Tribune writer waxed rhapsodic: “The riotously jubilant vocalization of 10,000 throats let loose in one simultaneous sub-aerial explosion, [making] the old earth’s enveloping atmosphere heave and billow clear to its surface 50 miles away, and no doubt it is tumultuous yet.”13

And as of this writing in late 2015, the Tigers’ feat on their first day of play in the brand-new American League is still the biggest ninth inning game-winning comeback in major league baseball history.

Across Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, there was astonishment as the wire reports rolled in. Brewer secretary Fred Gross was in the process of preparing a telegram recounting the victory to club president Matthew Killilea, who was in Arizona for health reasons. Before Gross could send the telegram he received a phone call telling him the Tigers had won the game. Gross assured the caller there had to be a mistake, as Detroit would have had to score ten runs to win. When told this was exactly what had happened, Gross replied that he needed to hear from Duffy, then presupposed a reason for the apparent collapse: “The men all must be injured for a team to make ten runs in one inning. I will wire Duffy to take care of the men until they recover.”14

Only the Brewers’ pride had been injured by the epic Detroit rally. Although some in Milwaukee talked of a protest because of crowd interference, the Evening Wisconsin was philosophical: “It was indeed hard for Duffy to lose a game in that manner, but such is baseball and will ever be that way. It only goes to prove once more that baseball is the one sport that is absolutely honest in every line of playing.”15

Box score

As a box score for this 1901 game is not yet available at Retrosheet.org or Baseball-Reference.com, the box score from the May 4, 1901, edition of Sporting Life is reproduced below. (For reasons lost in the mists of time Sporting Life showed Milwaukee as batting in the bottom of the innings, even though Detroit, as the home team, did. This inconsistency also appears from time to time in other, but not all, Sporting Life box scores.)

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank fellow SABR members Marc Okkonen and Jonathan Frankel (and any others whose emails I might have accidentally deleted) for help in obtaining material for this article.

Notes