July 14, 1909: Rocky Mount pitcher Jim Thorpe defeats Wilmington in Eastern Carolina League

In 1909 there were six teams in the Class D Eastern Carolina League, all in North Carolina. They included the Wilmington Sailors and Rocky Mount Railroaders. On Wednesday, July 14, 1909, the Railroaders hosted the Sailors in the third game of a series at League Park in Rocky Mount. The teams had split the first two games. The Sailors were in fourth place in the league with a 25-24 record, while the Railroaders sat in the cellar with a 15-29 mark.1

Bob Gwaltney, owner and manager of the Sailors, put forth an eclectic lineup on July 14. Newly acquired Judson Hyames was an untested 21-year-old shortstop from Michigan. Steve Brodie, a 40-year-old center fielder, had played for the National League’s Baltimore Orioles in the 1890s. Gwaltney’s third baseman was scholarly: Prof. William Upton Guerrant, age 25, taught Greek, economics, and history at Atlantic Christian College.2 Brodie and Guerrant were regarded as the best players in the league at their positions.3

The starting pitcher was Robert Lee “Rube” Howard, a 23-year-old4 southpaw and ace of the Wilmington staff. He went to spring training in 1907 with Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics,5 and though he did not make that elite squad, he could dominate the hitters of the Eastern Carolina League. He had already pitched two no-hitters in 1909, the first at Goldsboro on June 15 and the second, an 11-inning gem, against Fayetteville on July 2.6

The Railroaders were owned by William Eaton Fenner, a prominent businessman in the tobacco industry. Five players in their lineup had played at schools in Pennsylvania: three at Villanova and two at the Carlisle Indian School. The Villanova alumni were catcher and manager Joe Walsh, second baseman John Murray, and center fielder Martin O’Gara.

Left fielder Joseph Libby and pitcher Jim Thorpe were 22-year-olds from Carlisle. Libby was a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe; Thorpe belonged to the Sac and Fox Tribe of Oklahoma. The duo had been with the Railroaders for only a month. Thorpe, a right-hander, had a 3-3 record as a pitcher.7 When not pitching, he played in center field or at first base. The Wilmington Dispatch called him a “herculean athlete.”8 A big man at 6-feet-1 and 190 pounds,9 he had been a football and track star at Carlisle.

It was oppressively hot in Rocky Mount on July 14, with the temperature in the 90s.10 The ballpark attendance was reported to be 500. Fans gathered also in Wilmington at the Struthers cigar store and billiard hall, where they could follow the game action on an “electric board.”11

This was the Deadball Era and runs were hard to come by, so it was momentous when Rocky Mount scored twice in the bottom of the first inning. A leadoff double by Dudley James and a bunt single by Lancaster set the stage. Howard Lambert bunted to Guerrant at third and was thrown out at first, while James raced home with the first run. Libby rapped a grounder to shortstop Hyames, who misplayed it, allowing Lancaster to score.

The Sailors threatened in the top of the second but came up empty. Brodie and Walter Jayes got aboard by a single and walk respectively. Next up was the inexperienced Hyames. Dick Smith, the team captain, perhaps decided the moment was too big for the youngster, or maybe Smith was punishing the kid for his error. In any case, Smith pinch-hit but was fanned by Thorpe. In the bottom of the second, Thorpe came to bat and was “robbed of a hit” by Jayes’ “sensational catch” in left field.12

In the fourth inning, Jack Ashton replaced Howard as the Wilmington pitcher. The Sailors eked out a run in the fifth. Smith drew a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice, stole third, and came home on a passed ball. The Railroaders tallied in the sixth. Lancaster reached on an error by Smith at short and scored on Murray’s double to right field.

Smith singled in the top of the seventh but was thrown out attempting to steal second. In the bottom half, while at his position in the field, he fainted, overcome by the heat. He had to be carried off the field, and a physician attended to him. Catcher Walsh was also affected by the heat; “the game was delayed for a few moments for him to recover.”13

No other fainting was reported. Thorpe kept going strong. He retired the Sailors in order in the eighth and ninth innings. The final score was Rocky Mount 3, Wilmington 1.

The Wilmington Star said Thorpe was “a puzzle to them all.”14 He allowed only three hits, struck out six, and walked four. Rocky Mount got only five hits off Howard and Ashton. Thorpe was hitless in three at-bats.

Final season statistics were printed in the 1910 Reach Guide.15 Wilmington finished in second place with a 50-40 mark; Rocky Mount was last at 28-61. Thorpe appeared in 44 games and batted .254. Among players with at least 100 at-bats, his average ranked eighth and was well above the median average of .215. His won-lost record was 9-10. “His pitching was remarkable as he was with a losing team throughout the season,” said the Wilmington Dispatch. “If he had been with one of the first division teams he would have twirled a grade of baseball second to none in the league.”16

In 1910 Thorpe again played in the Eastern Carolina League, for Rocky Mount and Fayetteville. He earned $60 per month,17 equivalent to about $2,000 per month in 2023 dollars. After spending time back home in Oklahoma, he returned in 1911 to Carlisle, where he was again a football star.

In the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Thorpe won Gold in the decathlon and pentathlon. But when it was learned that he had played professional baseball and therefore had not qualified as an amateur, he was stripped of his medals. In 1983 the International Olympic Committee reversed this decision and declared Thorpe a rightful Olympic champion.

Thorpe played major-league baseball from 1913 to 1919. In the 1920s, he played minor-league and semipro baseball and played in the early years of the National Football League. In an Associated Press poll in 1950, he was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century.18 He died in 1953 at the age of 65.

Author’s Note

Judson Hyames, who played only one inning on July 14, 1909, became known in his home state. He coached the baseball team (1922-36) and served as athletic director (1937-49) at Western Michigan University, the author’s alma mater. Hyames Field, the university baseball stadium, was named for him.

Acknowledgments

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

Sources

Game coverage in the July 15, 1909, issues of the Wilmington Star, Raleigh Times, and Charlotte Chronicle.

Ancestry.com and Baseball-Reference.com, accessed October 2023.

Notes

1 “The Sailors Lost,” Wilmington (North Carolina) Star, July 14, 1909: 1, 8.

2 “Preparing for Athletics,” Raleigh (North Carolina) News and Observer, October 9, 1908: 8. Located in Wilson, North Carolina, Atlantic Christian College changed its name to Barton College in 1990.

3 “Base Ball,” Wilmington (North Carolina) Dispatch, September 2, 1909: 5.

4 Findagrave.com. Howard’s tombstone indicates that he was born on June 7, 1886.

5 “Yanigans Lost Their Hefty Bats,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 22, 1907: 10.

6 “Howard Pitches a No-hit Game,” Raleigh (North Carolina) Times, June 16, 1909: 7; “No Hits on Howard,” Wilmington Star, July 3, 1909: 1.

7 Determined by the author from box scores at Newspapers.com.

8 “Base Ball,” Wilmington Dispatch, July 16, 1909: 2, 5.

9 “Sporting Sidelights,” Raleigh Times, June 16, 1909: 7.

10 “Cotton Region Bulletin,” Charlotte (North Carolina) Chronicle, July 15, 1909: 5.

11 “Base Ball,” Wilmington Dispatch, July 13, 1909: 5.

12 “Sailors Drop Third,” Wilmington Star, July 15, 1909: 1, 8.

13 “Rocky Mount Wins,” Charlotte Chronicle, July 15, 1909: 6.

14 “Sailors Drop Third.”

15 Francis C. Richter, ed., The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1910 (Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co., 1910), 435, 437.

16 “Base Ball,” Wilmington Dispatch, September 2, 1909: 5.

17 Don Jensen, “Jim Thorpe,” SABR BioProject, accessed November 27, 2023.

18 Gayle Talbot, “Jim Thorpe Named as Half-Century’s Greatest Athlete in Poll,” Arizona Republic (Phoenix), February 12, 1950: 4-2.