A City Lies In Ruins, But The Game Must Go On: Major League Teams Respond to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

This article was published in the SABR Deadball Era Committee’s May 2024 newsletter.

Fires rage in San Francisco after a major earthquake on April 18, 1906. (Photo: US Army Center of Military History)

 

In the early hours of April 18, 1906, California was shaken by a major earthquake. The catastrophe was one of the worst natural disasters in the nation’s history, and San Francisco was especially decimated. By the time the sun set that evening, much of the city had been leveled, and fires had the city skyline glowing through the entire evening. When news of the tragedy appeared in newspapers the next day, many people across the country were left waiting to find out if their friends and family were among the thousands that perished. Organizations of all types immediately started raising funds to donate to the victims and the recovery effort.

Recreation Park, the home of the Pacific Coast League’s San Francisco Seals, was not spared by the quake. The park was destroyed, and the Seals were left to play their remaining home games at Oakland’s Idora Park. Though major league teams were not impacted as directly by the earthquake as the PCL teams, they still felt its effects. Several major leaguers called San Francisco home and were anxious for news about their families and homes.

When news of the great San Francisco earthquake broke, many major league teams were quick to assist with desperately needed financial aid. Owners of that era are often looked back on as penny-pinchers, and some of them deservedly so. Owning a major league baseball team in 1906 wasn’t quite the mega-million-dollar pastime it is today. That’s not to say owners of the day couldn’t turn a substantial profit running a baseball team, but they had to watch costs much more closely.

On April 19, the day after the quake struck, Philadelphia Athletics president Ben Shibe pledged to donate the team’s share of gate receipts from their upcoming April 20 home game against the New York Highlanders to relief funds.1 Spring rain showers in Philadelphia kept many fans away that day. However, 3,081 people still came to Columbia Park and saw Andy Coakley hold the Highlanders to five hits, as the Athletics easily defeated New York 11-3. New York pitcher Al Orth kept the Highlanders in the game until a ten-minute rain delay stopped the game in the sixth inning. Following suit, the St. Louis and Cleveland American League clubs both agreed to donate half of the shares of their April 21 contest to the victims. A respectable-sized crowd of 11,250 attended the game at St. Louis’s Sportsman’s Park and $1,512 was raised for the California relief effort.

The National League also jumped to action after the earthquake struck. On April 21, the league office announced that the clubs had given approval to NL President Harry Pulliam to donate $1,000 to go to the victims of the earthquake. The ruling board of the major leagues, the National Commission, also gave $250. Commission member and Cincinnati president Garry Herrmann pledged $250 on behalf of the Reds, raising the overall group donation to $1,500.2 Herrmann had earlier announced that proceeds from an upcoming game between his Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals would go to San Francisco, but he opted to stick with the Reds team donation. Other clubs went with this option as well. The Pittsburgh Athletic Co. (the Pirates) donated $100, and team president Barney Dreyfuss kicked in another $10.3 Washington Nationals (Senators) owner Thomas Noyes’ name could also be found on a list of contributors with a $20 pledge.4,5 Some National League clubs decided to instead donate funds from games. The Philadelphia and Boston NL clubs had the best of intentions when they announced that all gate receipts from their scheduled game in Boston on Monday, April 23, would be donated.6 But in what became a common feature of these benefit games, the weather was terrible. After morning rains and a bitter wind blew through the South End Grounds in Boston before the game, Philly president Bill Shettsline and manager Hugh Duffy asked the Boston Nationals to push the game back a day. Boston executive William Conant called for the game to go on as scheduled. The Boston Globe derided the decision, sarcastically pointing out that Conant and the other Nationals magnates made the decision while “… refusing to take a chance of getting a cold by visiting the grounds themselves.”7 Only about 540 shivering cranks showed up for the game, though more would surely have attended if they thought the game would actually take place that day. Those fans who did attend probably wished they had stayed home. The game ended up in a 1-0 Phillies victory. The most interesting thing that happened in the game occurred in the ninth inning when Nationals manager Fred Tenney pinch-hit for all his outfielders using a pitcher and two light-hitting catchers. Tenney didn’t support playing the game under the weather conditions in the first place;8 perhaps he decided to call it a day and throw in the towel. A month later it was reported that Boston decided to hold onto their gate receipts,9 but it would be hard to blame them after such a low turnout for the game.

NEW YORK TEAMS HELP WITH THE EFFORT BUT ALSO SEE AN OPPORTUNITY

With three major league teams in the vicinity of New York City, there was ample opportunity to realize a large collection from the area. After receiving news of the earthquake, an unspecified New York Congressman was said to have asked the Giants and Brooklyn Superbas to donate part of the gate receipts from their game on April 19. Giants owner John T. Brush apparently did not want to put that responsibility on the fans, but he did offer to write a personal check, “… if it was needed.” 10 One report later claimed that he donated $500 to earthquake relief.11 Rather than give proceeds from one of their games, the Giants instead allowed a relief support group to sell newspapers to raise funds at their April 21 game against the Brooklyn Superbas. Before the game, an automobile drove around the park selling papers, and then more were sold throughout the stands during the game. Manager John McGraw himself was said to have purchased a paper for $200.12

The Brooklyn club in turn announced that all proceeds from their April 22 game at Washington Park against the Giants would go to San Francisco. Any game between Brooklyn and the rival Giants caused excitement around the city, but this one caused some stirring as well, for it was to take place on a Sunday. Baseball on Sundays was a hot topic in New York State at the time; it was still illegal for sports to take place on Sundays, at least if people were charged to watch the games or if the crowds were thought to be disturbing the community. Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets hadn’t been afraid to evaluate the flexibility of these laws over the previous two seasons. In 1905 Ebbets allowed free admission to fans for Sunday games, thus the team did not make any money from ticket sales. The fans were encouraged to buy scorecards, however, with sales going back to the team.13 Brooklyn scheduled a game on Sunday, April 23, and it was later ruled by police to be illegal. The police did not interfere with the game, but four days later the Superba battery mates Malcolm Eason and Lewis Ritter were arrested for their role in starting the illegal Sunday game since they took part in the opening pitch. The charges were dismissed in May.14 The team played four more Sunday home games before the Brooklyn courts and law enforcement let it be known that the Sunday games must cease. Ebbets tried for Sunday baseball again in 1906 when he scheduled a game against the Boston Nationals for April 15, the first Sunday of the season. Again, no fans were charged to get into the game. Instead, donation boxes for the San Francisco relief effort were placed around the park and fans could make donations if they wished. Ebbets took the precaution of notifying the local authorities, and police kept a watchful eye on the crowd to make sure no programs were sold and that no one was turned away if they did not donate.15 Otherwise, the game would be allowed.

Brooklyn had already made plans after their April 15 game to play the following Sunday against the New York Giants. When the San Francisco earthquake struck just days before that April 22 date, Ebbets had the perfect reason to promote a Sunday game. Collection boxes would again be placed around by entrances, and all fans were encouraged to make donations, all of which would go to the earthquake relief efforts. Even if the Superbas did not make a penny from the game, it would be a showing that Sunday baseball was perfectly acceptable. The game was approved because money was being raised for charity and because the previous Sunday game had not caused any provocations in the stands or the surrounding community. But there was one problem; the New York Giants declined to play in the game. A reason was not published. It was possible that enough of the New York team didn’t want to break the Sunday baseball laws, or perhaps John Brush just didn’t want to give Ebbets the satisfaction of hosting the game.

Instead, the Superbas played an intrasquad game between their regular starters and their second squad of “Yannigans.” New York Giants utility man Sammy Strang joined on with the Yannigans for the day, batting leadoff and playing second base, and the team also picked up a local player by the name of Hagan. Veteran umpire Hank O’Day volunteered his services for the exhibition game. The Brooklyn regulars managed only five hits and were defeated 3-2 in 10 innings by the makeshift Yannigans. Nearly 7,000 fans did not take offense to the Sunday activity and came out to Washington Park to watch the game, and the effort raised $1,254.16 The game was popular enough that the Superbas set up another game the following Sunday against the Phillies, again for donations. For that game, however, there was no mention of the proceeds going to San Francisco.

Frank Farrell and his New York Highlanders weren’t quite as daring as the Superbas when it came to Sunday baseball. They played in the city on Sundays but stuck to exhibition games against local teams. But following the success of the Superbas’ Sunday game, they announced that an exhibition game would take place on Sunday, April 29 with the Athletics at American League Park (aka Hilltop Park). The two teams had just met on April 20 in Philadelphia’s earthquake benefit game, and now New York would take their turn to give the proceeds. The Highlanders had just played another benefit game two weeks earlier. On April 16 New York had donated their gate receipts from a home game against Boston to victims of another disaster, the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy on April 7. But now, with an emergency closer to home, the team was up for another fundraising effort.

Unlike the game in Brooklyn, the Highlanders were able to charge admission for their benefit contest since Highlander owner Frank Farrel was said to be on good terms with the local authorities and thus was able to “… induce them to allow his team to play … a Sunday game for the benefit of the earthquake sufferers”.17 New York Mayor George McLellan permitted the game, said to be the first major league professional game on a Sunday in New York City in 20 years.18 The game raised the largest collection of any of the benefit games or collections involving major league teams. An estimated 15,000 fans turned out for the game and raised $5,602.

Although the Brooklyn and New York games did much good for raising money for San Francisco, they didn’t do much to change state lawmakers’ perception of Sunday baseball. Brooklyn continued to try playing Sunday “donation” games after the San Francisco benefit game, but the local law enforcement made an edict that Sunday games for money must cease. The authorities made it known that if any games were played on Sunday for money, even in the form of donations, the managers and a player from both teams would be placed under arrest (though the game would be allowed to play out).19 When the Superbas and Reds played on Sunday, June 17, the donation boxes were out again, and local police stayed true to their word. Ebbets, Superbas manager Patsy Donovan, and Reds Manager Ned Hanlon were arrested, as were players Chick Fraser and Malcolm Eason (again). The city courts later considered the arrests to be unlawful and dropped the charges. The issue went all the way to the New York Supreme Court, and they ruled that Ebbets’ donation games violated the state Sunday ordinances. Other than a couple of WWI-era games in support of the Red Cross, Sunday home games would not appear again on the schedules of the New York teams until 1919.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER IN CHICAGO, BUT ALSO NEVER

On the opposite side of the active New York clubs was one club that was interestingly absent from mention of benefit games or donations — Charles Murphy’s Chicago Cubs. Outside of supporting the overall gift from the National League, the author was not able to find any mention of Murphy or the Cubs making donations, at least not in online newspaper searches. If this was the case, Chicago missed an opportune time to help with fundraising. On April 21 Chicago held a grand celebration to raise a banner celebrating their championship in the city league series against the White Sox the previous October (the two teams would meet in a much more important series the next October). The festivities that day began with a parade to escort the players from the Victoria Hotel to West Side Grounds, and Chicago Mayor Edward Dunne was on hand at the game to throw the ceremonial first pitch. Just a day earlier Dunne had to decline an invitation to do the same at the Chicago White Sox home opener, stating he committed to attending a meeting of the city’s relief committee in response to the disaster. National League President Pulliam was also in attendance, the same day the contribution from the National League was announced. The weather for the game was ideal, sunny, and cool, and about 9,000 fans came out to see the Cubs take on the Cardinals. Maybe the Cubs should have waited until the next day for the ceremonies when over 14,000 Cubs rooters came out to see the first game of the series against the league-leading Pittsburgh Pirates. Any percentage of the proceeds from either of the two games could have raised a substantial amount.

As the end of April approached, there was no indication that Chicago’s other team was planning to act either. Neither the White Sox nor the Detroit Tigers had yet been mentioned in any fundraising efforts. After the earthquake struck, Ernest P. Wheelan, a popular popcorn vendor at Detroit’s Bennett Park, pledged to donate 15 percent of his popcorn sales at the Tigers home game on April 25 to help San Francisco.20 The Tigers and White Sox weren’t as quick to action as Wheelan, but on April 30 they announced that half of the proceeds from that day’s game in Chicago would be donated, as would those from an upcoming game in Detroit.21 Around 2,100 fans braved the cold temperatures in Chicago that day to come to South Side Park and witness the visiting Tigers beat the White Sox 2-1.

As with the Cubs, the author could not find mention of separate contributions being made by the Boston Americans22 or the St. Louis Cardinals. The total earned from the initial Philadelphia Athletics game was not found in any game reports, and the amount raised by the New York Giants could not be determined. Assuming the Boston Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies held onto the earnings from their game, there was still over $10,000 raised by the major leagues in support of San Francisco, not including any donations that players may have made on their own. When that city was again struck by an earthquake in 1989 Major League Baseball contributed a minimum of $1.4 million. The amount raised in 1906 would equal nearly $350,000 in 2024 dollars.23 This amount doesn’t quite compare to the amount raised in 1989, but the citizens of San Francisco appreciated every penny.

 

ENDNOTES

1. “Base Ball Receipts for Sufferers”, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 20, 1906: 16.

2. “Ball Players Send Contribution of $1,500”, Standard Union (Brooklyn, NY), April 22, 1906: 2.

3. “Local Fund Took Big Jump”, Pittsburg Press, April 22, 1906: 4.

4. “Contributions To the Star”, Evening Star, Washington, D.C., April 20, 1906: 2.

5. The Noyes family owned the Washington Star and likely donated through the newspaper.

6. “Plan Athletic Meet” under section “Benefit Game”, Boston Globe, April 21, 1906: 2.

7. “One Run Is Just Enough”, Boston Globe, April 24, 1906: 8.

8. “One Run Is Just Enough.”

9. J.B. Sheridan, “The Sportsman’s Niche”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, May 17, 1906: 18.

10. “Six Straight for Superbas and Not an Umpire to Blame”, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 19, 1906: 15.

11. J.B. Sheridan, “The Sportsman’s Niche”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, May 8, 1906: p 14.

12. “Superbas Meet Defeat in The Ninth Inning”, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 22, 1906: 57.

13. “McGraw Asks Court to Remit His Fine”, under section “Eason and Ritter Freed”, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 2, 1905: 2.

14. “Ball Players Discharged”, Brooklyn Citizen, May 15, 1905: 12.

15. “Sunday Baseball at Washington Park.”, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 16, 1906: 6.

16. “Gessler Goes to Chicago, Jordan to Play First”, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 23, 1906: p 15.

17. “Sheridan.”

18. “Big Benefit Game in New York”, Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), April 25, 1906: p 18.

19. “Legality Of Sunday Ball Games Will Come with To Day’s Contests”, Standard Union (Brooklyn, NY), June 17, 1906: 6.

20. “Old Favorites” under section Baseball More Briefly, Detroit Free Press, April 24, 1906: 10.

21. “Benefit Game Today”, Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL), April 30, 1906: 9.

22. Like Thomas Noyes, Red Sox owner John Taylor’s family ran the Boston Globe and likely made donations in the paper’s name.

23. This figure was estimated using multiple online inflation calculators.