The Deacon, Chief, and Henry Schmidt Clutch Stardom: Remembering Opening Day a Century Ago

After two years of unlawful contract signings and other roster-jumping shenanigans that produced end­less lawsuits, baseball’s Great Tampering War settled down as the 1903 NL campaign began on Thursday, April 16, in Cincinnati and St. Louis. Though person­al disgust and distrust may not have subsided between all franchise owners, a signed truce between the long­ time NL and upstart AL existed. It was inked in late January after a series of volatile meetings in Cincinnati. More amicable discussions followed as NL and AL reps met to negotiate non-conflicting sched­ules and coordinate the adoption of similar rules.

Headlines centered around AL President Ban Johnson’s eventual agreement to enforce the standing NL foul rule, counting foul balls as strikes one and two. Johnson’s spin claimed the change was supposed to speed up the game and prevent the best willow han­dlers from prolonging an at-bat to boring lengths while waiting for a perfect pitch to whack. Fans and sportswriters heatedly debated the move’s pros and cons. Minus the strike penalty, the upstart ALers out­ hit their rivals by .010 in 1901 and .015 in 1902. On an even playing field in 1903, league stats readjusted and the NL hit .269 to the AL’s .255, indicating that many AL bats were perhaps as overrated as the Senior Circuit often charged.

Manager/LF Fred Clarke’s (.351) Pittsburgh Pirates had simply demolished the NL in 1902 with a 103-36 record. Wins (91) were to be only slightly more difficult for them in 1903. In 1902, the Reds finished 70-70 with Sam Crawford as their top batter (.333 in 1902). Crawford jumped to AL Detroit in 1903 while Pittsburgh lost its ’02 mound ace Jack Chesbro (28-6) to the new AL franchise in New York. Manager/utility man Joe Kelley’s Reds opened against the Pirates and Charles “Deacon” Phillippe. The gallant Phillippe (25-9) also would pitch Pittsburgh’s last game that year, the final October contest of the first World Series, which he lost 3-0 in Boston. The nine-game event (one tie) gave Phillippe a probably never-to-be­ broken single Series mark of 3 wins and 2 losses.

Deacon started his year off masterfully in Cincy, two-hitting the hosts, 7-1 in under two hours. Unfortunately, gloomy, drizzly weather blotted out the beautiful new stands at the spruced-up Palace of the Fans. Still, 12,000 cranks showed up and watched the Pirates rap out 11 hits off Jack Harper (6-8). Rookie C Ed Phelps (.282) had three hits, while CF Clarence “Ginger” Beaumont (.341, 1903 NL hit leader, run leader, and 1902 bat champ) and Phillippe (no hits) each scored twice. Batting champ of ’03, SS Honus Wagner (.355) had two singles. Slugging CF Cy Seymour (.342) and vet SS Tommy Corcoran (.246) managed the Cincy safeties. Cy’s bunt hit and Deacon’s wild throw allowed Seymour to score on a subsequent groundout in the seventh. Manager Kelley (.316) did not play in his team’s opener.

After a one-day rain postponement out in St. Louis, only 4,500 people populated the Robison Field (also called League Park) stands on Vandeventer Avenue to witness a 2-1 victory by the locals. In a pitcher’s dual, Cardinal Clarence Currie (5-14) bested Chicago Colt Jack “Brakeman” Taylor (21-14), a 22-11, 1.33, 8- shutout hurler in 1902. Leadoff Card 2B Johnny Farrell (.272) got three singles, an RBI, and scored, while rookie SS Otto Williams (single) came home with the other run.

For Frank Selee’s Chicagoans rook­ie 2B Johnny Evers (.293) and 3B Joe Tinker (.291, two errors) slashed out three of the four (or five) Colt hits. Tinker singled and scored in the eighth inning when Currie committed a fielding error, botching his own shutout, according to one news account. However, the Chicago Tribune claimed 1B Bill Hanlon (played just eight ML games, .095) knocked Tinker home on a ”lucky” bounce hit, but neglected to give Bill credit for the scratch in its box score. Cardinal manager/RF Patsy Donovan, who guided his club to a cellar finish of 43-94, went hitless, but his fly ball plated Farrell. Tinker and C Johnny Kling botched a simple rundown play at third base that gave Farrell an extra life. Canadian Currie was 15-23 in his two-year career.

In 1986 SABR voters retroactively selected Iowa native “Tornado Jake” Weimer (20-9) as NL rookie of the year for 1903. He started the next day for Chicago, but blew a 6-0 lead to his hosts. Chicago won in the tenth, 7-6 as Jock Menefee (8-8), beginning his last season of a nine-year career, picked up the relief victory. Left fielder Jimmy Slagle (.298) had three hits and scored twice for the Colts. Farrell smacked two dou­bles and scored twice, but made three errors for St. Louis. Weimer, who in 1902 won 25 games and topped the Western League with 209 Ks for champi­on Kansas City under manager “Kid” Nichols (27-7), led the NL in 1903 in allowing the fewest hits per nine innings, was third in ERA at 2.30 and fifth in whiffs. Jake, already 29, was one of only a handful of south­ paws in the league in that year.

Games scheduled in New York and Philadelphia were postponed due to rain and cold.

On Friday, the other four NL squads opened as Boston visited Philadelphia and New York’s borough rivals battled at the Polo Grounds. Vic Willis, the NL workhorse of 1902 (27-20, 410 innings) toed the slab for Boston. In the third frame he started the winning rally with a double and soon scored. It was the first of 5 runs leading to an 8-3 win over Chick Fraser (12-17) before a crowd of 8,250 on a cool, clear afternoon at the Huntingdon Grounds (later Baker Bowl). Willis (12-18) had two hits as did his catcher, Mal Kittridge (.213, two RBI, and a run that day). Left fielder Duff Cooley (.289) had three singles and knocked in the first run. Manager Al Buckenberger’s Beaneater star 1B, Fred Tenney (.313), scored twice.

Phils’ LF Bill “Wagon Tongue” Keister (.320), playing in his last of seven seasons, drove out two hits and got two RBI. Strangely, Bill never played for the same team in con­secutive years but also never played for a different ML team other than the one he started with in any year. Rookie lefty Fred Burchell (0-3) relieved Fraser and got the Quakers’ third RBI. He played most of his short (13-15) career later with the Red Sox. In 1903 Chief Zimmer caught his final 37 games (.220) as the Phils’ skipper.

A clear and mild day brought out 20,000 Polo Grounds spectators, who were treated to an offensive explosion as both the Giants and Brooklyn scored four runs in the first inning, but the Superbas prevailed, 9-7. The wife of Giants president John T. Brush threw out the first pitch, and from the grandstand the Seventh Regiment Band entertained the throng. In attendance was “the father of baseball” and first score­ keeper, Henry Chadwick. Yells of “Harrah for Muggsey” came from everywhere for New York manager John McGraw, who some papers had listed as a possible Opening Day starter. In reality, retired legend McGraw played only a handful of games from 1903 to 1906, mostly necessitated by player injuries. Umpire Hank O’Day shouted, “Play ball” at 4:05 p.m.

A century’s worth of hindsight shows the pitching matchup to have been an odd classic. Christy Mathewson (30-13), who would have a 17-year Hall of Fame career, faced Texan Henry Schmidt (22-13), in what was Henry’s only ML campaign. Ned Hanlon’s men got nine hits off Christy, but Mathewson’s five walks, two wild pitches, and six Giant errors really sealed the home club’s tomb that day. Much traveled veteran 1B “Dirty” Jack Doyle (.313) had three of Brooklyn’s hits. Left fielder Jimmy Sheckard (.332, NL leader with nine home runs) had two singles, scored three runs, and swiped three bases. Playing in his only ML season, RF Walt McCreedie (.324 in 56 games) also touched home thrice. Sub CF Ed Householder, who played just 12 ML games (.209), had a hit and scored twice.

For New York, city native 3B Billy Lauder (.281) began his final of five ML campaigns with three hits of the Giants 11 and had three RBI. Schmidt first faced RF/leadoff man George Browne, who immediately smashed his first of 18 career home runs over the right-field fence. Star CF George Van Haltren (.257) tripled, doubled, and scored twice. Van Haltren would end his 17-year career (.316) in 1903, and his first hit on Opening Day was the last of his 162 three-baggers.

Sam Mertes (.280), a vet of both Chicago franchises, belted the first of his NL-top 32 doubles, but didn’t drive home any of his NL-high 104 RBI. Sam did score twice. Rookie SS Charlie Babb (.248) had two singles and scored for the losers. Babb played his other two years for Brooklyn. 1B Dan McGann smacked a double, had an RBI, scored once, and swiped two pillows. Playing in his first full Giants season, Roger Bresnahan (.350) sat out the Opener. He patrolled the pastures mostly in 1903, catching only 11 times.

When Brooklyn opened at its Washington Park home four days later, Matty and Henry dueled again. Some 17,000 roaring fans saw Schmidt pitch much better, but this time Christy had his Cooperstown stuff, winning 2-1, on a three-hitter. Crackpistol shot 3B Sammy Strang walked and scored in the first inning off Matty, but then “Big Six” slammed the run door shut. Browne and McGann (two hits) later toured the basepaths for the Giants to nip Schmidt’s eight-hit effort.

Thirty-year-old rookie Schmidt is one of the most interesting characters of 1903. The Brownsville-born righty remains the lone hurler to win 20-plus games in the only season he ever pitched in the majors. In 1902, Henry (35-20) was in the outlaw Independent California League with the pennant-winning Oakland Clamdiggers (108 wins). Only Los Angeles workhorse Oscar Jones (36-25) had more decisions and wins. Batters hit less than .200 against both of the two pitchers. Brooklyn also signed Jones for the 1903 cam­paign (19-14) to make up for the loss of moundsman Frank Kitson (19-13 in 1902) and Wild Bill Donovan (17-15) to AL Detroit.

After his battles with Mathewson, Schmidt shut out Philadelphia, Boston, and Philly again (on 17 total hits) before losing to Boston. Henry ended his cam­paign with a great flourish, going 7-0-1 in mid­ August/September. Matty beat him 3-1 on August 10, on a five-hitter and George Browne scoring twice. Then, Henry began his streak. After one win he defeat­ed rookie Cub Weimer 6-2 as each gave up seven hits and scored a run. Chicago’s six errors and four walks by Tornado Jake gave host Brooklyn the win on the day super horse “Dan Patch” set a world pacing record at nearby Brighton Beach track. Schmidt did get whacked around once, but the Superbas won 11-10 anyway.

In September, Henry erased Boston 5-0 on two hits, beat New York ace Joe McGinnity, 3-0 at the Polo Grounds behind Sheckard’s bat, edged Colt (aka Cub) Currie 3-2 in Chi-town, tied St. Louis and nipped pennant winner Pittsburgh, 5-4 in 10 innings after blowing a lead in the ninth. Opposing Cardinal pitcher Jim Hackett (1-7 career, usually a IB) ruined Schmidt’s perfect month with three hits (2 runs, 2 RBI) in their 5-5 tie. Pittsburgh manager Clarke came off the bench to pinch hit a home run to tie Schmidt in the ninth. If another Pirate had been on base or Brooklyn had scored one less run, Clarke’s blast would have ended the game and Henry’s season the way it started, by serving up a rare round tripper.

Unknown to anyone, that was the last of Schmidt in the majors. Though the Texan’s arm kept the mediocre Superbas above .500, Schmidt returned his 1904 contract unsigned, saying he simply did not like living in the East. Henry toiled in the reorganized Pacific Coast League through 1908, going 26-28 for Oakland in 1904.

Giant McGinnity (born McGinty), arguably base­ball’s best flinger from 1899 to 1904, topped the NL in wins with a tireless 31-20 record (434 innings) in 1903. McGraw’s “Iron Man” ace won his first and sec­ond starts by beating Brooklyn, 6-1 and 7-2, on April 19 and 22. He left the NL his calling card on April 19, gaining the first Giant win with a one-hitter. Dirty Doyle managed the hit while LF Sheckard toured the bags on an E-wp-E sandwich for Brooklyn. Catcher Bresnahan singled and homered (2 RBI, 2 runs) to beat vagabond hurler Roy Evans (4-12), who had been arrested in February in Butte, Montana, for passing bad checks. Joe was the pennant-winning Superbas’ big winner in 1900 at 29-9. He then moved to AL Baltimore with McGraw for that town’s 1901 inaugu­ral campaign where he was 26-20.

BAN JOHNSON’S BOYS COMMENCE HOSTILITIES

It was not until Monday, April 20, that the American League got under way in 1903, and it did so with a huge bang. It was Patriots’ Day in Boston and New England’s Hub was in a sports and holiday fren­zy. There were home doubleheaders slated for both the AL’s Huntington Avenue Grounds and the South End Grounds of the NL, located just across some railroad tracks.

But those events had to share a grand spring day with the seventh annual Boston Athletic Association marathon (31 of 56 runners finished), a major horse show, a boxing match, the city of Revere and Charles River Park cycle races, an auto hill-climb­ing contest, Tufts College facing the “strong”amateur Wellington club (6-4 Tufts) in baseball, the city’s North End Park athletic games, and the area’s annual Revolutionary War hoopla at Lexington Green and Concord’s famed Old North Bridge, “where embattled farmers stood.” Another veterans event was also held in nearby Arlington. Tuesday’s Boston Globe newspa­per estimated that more than 360,000 persons attended all these events, with 200,000 of them lining the 26-mile marathon route.

The AL’s morning and afternoon contests drew 27,660 persons to the NL’s 5,700. As baseball some­times goes, however, the marquee pitchers in both games were shelled like British redcoats. Connie Mack’s 1902 AL champs split with manager/3B Jimmy Collins’ 1903 pennant winners. Visiting Athletics’ lefty ace, Rube Waddell (21-16, 302 K) lost the morning tilt, 9-4 to George Winter (9-8), while Cy Young (AL win high 28-9) blew an apparent easy win over Eddie Plank (23-16, 336 innings), by losing 10-7 in the afternoon. Waddell fanned the first four Pilgrims he faced, but when ahead 2-0 gave up dou­bles to 1B Candy LaChance (2 RBI, 2 runs) and mound foe Winter (2 RBI) in the five-run fourth frame. Second baseman Hobe Ferris had two hits, scored twice, and knocked one home for Winter. Right-fielder Buck Freeman singled and scored (AL tops with 13 home runs and 104 RBI).

For Philly, SS Monte Cross, CF Ollie Pickering, and 2B Danny Murphy (run) each had two hits. Seventeen-year veteran, 3B Lave Cross, doubled and scored, as did gentleman 1B Harry Davis. Newspapers reported that fans lustily booed each foul strike call by the umpire.

In the afternoon encore, the script was reversed. When the Pilgrims’ seventh inning began they were hitless, and Boston had pounded Plank for a 6-0 lead. Of 16 Pilgrim safeties, both Freeman and SS Fred Parent (.304) had accumulated a single, double, and triple each (2 runs and an RBI for Buck and 2 RBI for Fred). LaChance scored twice and Young had an RBI. But it all evaporated in the seventh when Philadelphia clob­bered Cy’s suddenly docile throws for 6 runs. Pickering’s 2-RBI triple and run were key. Ollie had another RBI in the eighth and Lave finished the job with his own two-run triple in the ninth.

Right fielder “Socks” Seybold, Lave, and Davis each scored twice for Philly. Shortstop Monte had an RBI single and scored. Mack’s boys smashed 12 hits over their final three frames. “Long Tom”Hughes (20-7) relieved Young in the ninth and allowed the last three Philly scores. Boston managed only a lone tally in their final turn at the dish.

Albert Charles Bender, half Chippewa and a Carlisle Indian School star, took over for “Gettysburg Eddie” in the fifth. It was the Minnesota reservation-born rook­ie’s first ML game. SABR folks elected Mack’s cele­brated Chief as the AL’s top 1903 freshman. Bender (17-13) swatted his first hit and scored, helping his own cause in the Opening Day comeback victory.

Also of note in the second game was the Pilgrims’ touching tribute to 16-year catcher Charley “Duke” Farrell. In the second inning, he was presented with an expensive diamond ring by his baseball buddies. Bay State native Farrell played only one year for any Boston club before 1903 (17 games, .404). It was for the 1891 Boston Reds, winners of the final American Association pennant. Duke (3B-C) hit .302 and led the circuit with 12 home runs and ll0 RBI. Farrell caught both ’03 Opening Day games, collected three hits, scored, and knocked home a couple of mates. A week later Farrell broke his leg trying to steal against Washington. He hit .212 in 1904 and retired after seven games in 1905.

Across the tracks the NL Boston-Philadelphia matchup was also a split decision, Boston winning the morning game 4-3, as Togie Pittinger (top NL loser at 19-23) tasted victory. In the afternoon, the Phillies defeated their host Beantowners 10-7, behind Fred Mitchell (ll-15). Willis, Boston’s Opening Day victor, took the loss despite getting three hits off Mitchell, who made two himself and scored twice.

It wasn’t until April 22 that the other AL teams played their first games of 1903. In Detroit, a record crowd of 16,482 piled into Corktown’s Bennett Park on a cold, raw day to see the Tigers edge Cleveland 4-2. It was an early matchup between (then sophomore) phenoms George Mullin (19-15) and Addie Joss (18-13), a twosome worth seeing even in bad weather. Five hundred Elks were on hand and the mayor made the first ceremonial toss.

Leadoff/CF Harry “Deerfoot” Bay singled (.292, 45 steals) and scored on 1B Charlie “Piano Legs” Hickman’s (.330, 12 homers, 97 RBI) two-out base hit in the initial frame. In the third inning, 3B Bill Bradley reached on a Mullin bobble and scored on a double play attempt after a Nap Lajoie single (’03 batting title champ with .355). Hickman and star RF Elmer Flick (.299) each had two hits.

Detroit tied the score in the fifth, when ex-NL Clevelander, Lewis “Sport” McAllister (C), playing in his final season, doubled. With one out Bay dropped CF Jimmy Barrett’s fly (.315), and both came home on 2B George “Heinie” Smith’s double. Joss lost the game to Ed Barrow’s boys in the eighth as AL newcomer and triples leader (25), LF Sam Crawford (.335) walked, SS Norm “Tabasco Kid” Elberfeld singled, and rookie RF Harry “Doc” Gessler doubled into the crowd.

Bill Armour’s Naps had no rally left in them. Smith, in his final season, Elberfeld and Gessler each had two hits of Detroit’s seven. Mullin was a happy victor, since it was only two and half months since he surrendered to the Wayne County, Indiana, sheriff because he was wanted for perjury in a case concerning his finances.

Win Mercer, who was 15-18 for Detroit in 1902, was supposed to manage this Bengal edition, but he com­mitted suicide by inhaling gas in San Francisco in mid-January.

At Sportsman’s Park, 3,800 Brownie fans in over­ coats and earmuffs saw their team pummeled by Charles Comiskey’s White Sox, 14-4. Left fielder Bill H. Hallman scored four times with only one hit. Manager Nixey Callahan started Patsy Flaherty (11-25) for Chicago. Jimmy McAleer countered with Francis “Red” Donahue (15-16, 8-7 with the Browns), who gave up 16 hits. For Chicago, CF Fielder Jones, 3B Frank Isbell (two doubles, usually played 1B), and C Ed McFarland (.209) each had three hits. Four Sox scored twice and only hurler Flaherty didn’t make a hit.

For St. Louis, star leadoff/LF Jesse Burkett had two hits (including a home run) as did SS Bobby Wallace. First baseman/cleanup hitter John Anderson stroked three (one triple) and scored once. Browns captain/2B Dick Padden (.202/29 games) was injured, so outfielder Bill Friel played in his spot and made three early, costly errors. It was Friel’s last of three ML seasons. At campaign’s end, however, St. Louis had five more wins than Chicago, and Flaherty topped the AL in defeats.

Not in the Comiskey-Callahan Chicago lineup was primo club jumper (SS) George Davis, who hit .299 in 1902. His checkerboard leaps from the NL Giants to AL Chicago and back were daily headlines, while ongoing judicial rulings fell like rain. Except for a handful of games with New York, George missed the entire season. The courts gave him back to Comiskey for 1904.

Ban Johnson’s popular circuit dumped Baltimore in exchange for New York before its third season. The new “Highlanders” were managed by Clark Griffith, who bossed Chicago in 1902. A bleak, raw day greeted 12,000 onlookers packed in at Washington’s National Park, leaving several thousand more latecomers at vantage points outside the ballyard. Al Orth (10-22) pitched for Tom Loftus’s hosts while NL jumper from Pittsburgh, Jack Chesbro (21-15), hurled for New York.

The New York Daily Tribune sometimes referred to the club as the New York Americans, but usually called them the “Invaders.” Though RF Willie Keeler scored in the first frame, “Curveless Wonder” Orth took the contest, 3-1, for the cellar-ending Senators. His 22 defeats tied mate Casey Patten for the league’s high.

Keeler, from NL Brooklyn (1902), walked with one out and CF Dave Fultz (from AL ’02 Philly) singled him to third. Second baseman (from 1902 Baltimore) Jimmy Williams got Willie home on a grounder. Washington tied it in the fourth when 1902’s top AL hitter, LF Ed Delahanty (. 376) walked and was sacri­ficed to second. George “Scoops” Carey (.202) singled him to third, but out-of-condition Ed was nailed in a rundown when the next batter grounded back to Chesbro. Carey scored when 2B Gene DeMontreville doubled. “DeMont”only played 12 games (and four in 1904) in ending his career.

In the fifth, Senator rookie SS Bill “Rabbit” Robinson singled, as did RF Kip Selbach. Delahanty sent Robinson home with a third single off Chesbro. Selbach then scored on Carey’s muffed grounder to SS Herman Long, 13-year Boston vet playing in his final season, except for a solo 1904 game. Though Robinson made two errors (and Orth one), he also had seven assists and dazzled the crowd with his basepath sprints. Each team got six safeties, and Fultz was the only player with two. For New York, 3B William “Wid” Conroy (from Pittsburgh) had a single while Senator CF Jimmy Ryan, a 2,000-hit getter with NL Chicago, went hitless in what would be his last ML Opening Day. He had played more than 100 games in 15 of his 18 solid seasons. Orth and Chesbro became New York teammates in July 1904, the season Jack would set the franchise and AL record for most wins with 41.

New York won 7-2 the next day as their ballpark in Manhattan was still being readied for their arrival. Soon known as just Hilltop Park, The New York Times on the day of the inaugural game said it would be called “the American League Park at Washington Heights.” Chesbro beat Senator Jack Townsend (2-11), 6-2 on April 30.

As May 1 dawned, Delahanty was still swinging mightily. His decision to jump the Washington club while traveling home from Detroit by train and subse­quent mysterious fatal plunge at Niagara Falls on July 2, the most notable tragedy of 1903, was still two months away. But for now, every team still had a sporting chance at the pennant.

Boston park ranger DIXIE TOURANGEAU supplies SABRites with box seats and scorecards for classic Openers most of us missed.