April 25, 1901: After Cleveland’s Erve Beck slugs American League’s first home run, White Sox rally to win John Skopec’s debut

Despite signing with the Chicago White Sox in mid-March, John Skopec had no guarantee of making the Opening Day roster in 1901 – it actually appeared that he would face a daunting uphill climb to do so.1

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.