April 21, 1898: Bill Duggleby’s debut slam clears contentious sign in Philadelphia

Phillies fans who sat down for an early-season contest against the visiting New York Giants saw that much had changed since their team’s previous, disastrous campaign. An offseason trade with the St. Louis Browns brought first baseman Klondike Douglass and shortstop Monte Cross. Several rookies, including outfielder Elmer Flick and pitcher Wiley Piatt, sat on the bench. Another rookie, Ed Abbaticchio, started at third, while pitcher Bill Duggleby was making his major-league debut. After a 10th-place finish in the 12-team National League in 1897, the revamped Phillies were now the circuit’s youngest team.1

Perhaps even more striking were two new additions to Philadelphia Ball Park, considered then by Henry Chadwick to be “beyond question the finest in the world.”2 (A generation later, with its reputation faded, the park became known as the Baker Bowl.) Painted in red along the base of the wall-mounted seats running from the bleachers to the grandstand were identical 150-foot-long signs: “Profanity, obscenity or insult to player, patron or umpire forbidden under penalty of ejection.”3 The edict came from Philadelphia’s majority owner, Colonel John I. Rogers. Dissatisfied that recent measures to check foul language on the playing field (the “Brush Resolutions,” named after their chief architect, Cincinnati owner John T. Brush) did not extend to the bleachers and grandstand, Rogers took matters into his own hands.4

Local sportswriters quickly found controversy in the signs. Horace Fogel, in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, wrote that “only the profane and obscene can find any ground for objection to the sign prohibiting ‘profanity and obscenity.’”5 The Philadelphia Inquirer, in an editorial likely written by sporting editor Frank Hough, protested “against the intimation conveyed in the signs that the men and women who attend the games at Philadelphia Park were given to profanity and obscenity.” The signs were, Hough continued, “gratuitously insulting and superfluous” as any foul-mouthed fans could (and should) be removed independently of them.6 The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin sided with Hough and printed numerous fan letters finding the Colonel’s message offensive. But another Bulletin reader called the press box’s attention “to the hoodlums that generally occupy the bleachers in left field, and next to the grand stand. … It is unpleasant to sit near them and listen to their ‘roasting’ of the players, and swearing generally. You, in the upper stand, cannot hear their rowdy talk.”7

Meanwhile, the Giants sought to build upon a third-place finish the previous season. A veteran, pugnacious squad, their hopes largely rested with pitchers Jouett Meekin and Amos Rusie. In the series opener on Wednesday, Philadelphia hammered Meekin for 16 hits, coasting to an 8-5 victory.

On Thursday, New York manager Scrappy Bill Joyce again penciled himself in at first base. Two ex-Phillies, equally combative, graced the lineup card: Mike Grady behind the plate and Kid Gleason at second. Philadelphia also knew the Giants starting pitcher, Cy Seymour. In his three career starts against the Phillies, all in the previous season’s second half, he had won each.8 Yet the hard-throwing left-hander could struggle to find the strike zone; Seymour led the league in both strikeouts and walks in 1897.

After Seymour set down the Phillies, Giants leadoff man George Van Haltren began the bottom of the first by beating out a grounder to short. Mike Tiernan singled through the box. Joyce homered over the right-field bleachers onto Broad Street, before Duggleby escaped further damage.9 Sam Thompson opened the next frame by singling, a balk was called on Seymour for one of his pickoff moves, then he walked Cross and Abbaticchio to load the bases. Catcher Ed McFarland struck out. The crowd gave Duggleby an encouraging hand as he strode to the plate. The rookie drove Seymour’s second offering over the same contentious right-field sign and wall Joyce had cleared.10 As the ball bounced off a cobblestone, the collective shock cleared. Duggleby circled the bases as 2,617 fans cheered, and Philadelphia led, 4-3.

From this point, both pitchers settled down. During spring training, a correspondent described Duggleby’s pitching: “No two balls in six or eight delivered were anywhere near alike. They came fast or slow and from all points of the compass. A remarkable part of his work is the control he seems to have.”11 Behind him, Nap Lajoie fielded 11 chances cleanly at second. Left fielder Ed Delahanty, playing the right-handed Grady as a dead pull hitter, robbed the Giants backstop of an extra-base hit along the foul line in the second. Both Grady and McFarland earned praise for their catching; the former ended Philadelphia’s third-inning hopes by catching Cross’s popup in front of the grandstand, then rifling a throw to third baseman Fred Hartman to nail Lajoie trying to advance on the play. New York right fielder Walt Wilmot saved a likely run with a terrific catch of Abbaticchio’s shallow liner in the sixth.

The press reported no violations of Rogers’ edict from the smallish crowd. With some measure of affection, fans hooted Grady when he struck out in the fifth. They heaped scorn upon Gleason who, trying to shoo away a small pigeon near his infield post in the sixth, killed the bird by throwing his glove at it.12

Philadelphia and New York exchanged runs in the sixth: Duggleby drove in McFarland with a single, George Davis sent Van Haltren home with a fly out. With the Phillies leading 5-4, Seymour melted down in the top of the eighth. Two hit batsman, two singles, a walk, and an error resulted in three runs, and the bases remained full when Lajoie came to bat. After Lajoie reportedly kidded the pitcher about his wildness, the pitcher drilled the young star in the ribs, forcing in another run.13 Joyce hooked Seymour, and the two delighted the crowd by exchanging heated words for a full minute. Reliever Charlie Gettig retired the Phillies, but not before another error and single resulted in four more runs.

Duggleby survived an eventful bottom of the ninth. With one out and the bases loaded, Van Haltren hit to the pitcher, who threw to McFarland to cut down Wilmot at the plate. McFarland then shot the ball to Delahanty at first to retire Van Haltren. The game finished as a 13-4 blowout.

Dating back to 1896, this was the 10th consecutive time Philadelphia had defeated New York in April. But as the Philadelphia Press observed, the previous two seasons’ impressive starts proved to only be “an opium smoker’s dream” once the Phillies stumbled on their first extended road trip. Yet as fans exited the park, they couldn’t help but wonder if Duggleby’s impressive major-league debut hinted at better fortunes.

Colonel Rogers’ signs remained in place until the team was sold after the 1902 season.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Newspapers and Microfilm Center for their assistance in obtaining sources.

Notes

1 Per Baseball-Reference’s 1898 National League team statistics.

2 Henry Chadwick, “Chadwick’s Estimate,” Sporting Life, April 23, 1898: 3.

3 “The Man Behind the Plate,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 18, 1898: 4; “Those Red Signs,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 26, 1898: 4. For a (partial) view of one sign (with later rewording) see Philadelphia North American, September 5, 1901: 15.

4 “Rogers’ Resolve,” Sporting Life, March 19, 1898: 9. Additionally, Rogers informed park officials of specific behaviors (gambling, throwing seat cushions, etc.) to be stamped out and had each of his players sign an abstinence clause. See “Rowdies Are Warned,” The Sporting News, April 16, 1898: 2.

5 “Decorum vs. Rowdyism,” Philadelphia Public Ledger, April 16, 1898: 20.

6 “Deportment on a Base Ball Field,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 21, 1898: 4. While Hough was not indicated as the piece’s author, he initialed many similar pieces in the surrounding days.

7 “Despite Those Red Signs,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, April 23, 1898: 8.

8 August 6, August 17, and September 30, 1897.

9 The author has relied upon game accounts appearing in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia North American, Philadelphia Press, Philadelphia Public Ledger, Philadelphia Record, and Philadelphia Times. The only play-by-play account, however, seems to come from the New York Evening Telegram.

10 It is not known from which side Duggleby batted from. But turn-of-the-century sportswriters often noted left-handed hitters as such, and as a significant majority (approximately five in six) of right-handed pitchers also batted right-handed during Duggleby’s career, he likely batted from the right side.

11 “Lajoie Will Report Today,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 18, 1898: 4.

12 “Base Ball,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, April 22, 1898: 8. The Bulletin suggested “something was evidently wrong with that pigeon that Gleason knocked out.”

13 Lajoie’s kidding and Seymour’s purposeful hitting of him were mentioned in “Philadelphia Takes Another Game from New York,” Philadelphia Public Ledger, April 22, 1898: 16.