Detailing A Nasty Baseball Brawl in the Deadball Era
From SABR member Dennis Pajot at Seamheads.com on April 3:
The game [on May 8, 1913] was a hitting and scoring affair not associated with the Deadball Era. Minneapolis scored a single run in the first inning and the Brewers came back with two runs in their half of the inning. Brewer starter Tom Dougherty become ill in the first inning and John Nicholson took the mound “without a thing but his suit, shoes and glove.” Nicholson gave up seven runs in the second inning to put the game out of reach early. Problems between the Brewer players and the umpire crew continued. In the third inning shortstop Lena Blackburne was bounced from the game by Handiboe. After six innings the score stood 13 to 4 in the Miller’s favor.
What exactly happened in the seventh inning was disputed, but the results were “probably the most disgraceful scene ever witnessed since the inception of the American association,” according to the Evening Wisconsin. According to this evening paper Minneapolis shortstop Dave Altizer walked and then stole second base.
From this point the Evening Wisconsin gave its readers a description of the incident, round by round, as if reporting a boxing match …
Read the full article here: http://www.seamheads.com/2011/04/03/a-good-old-fashioned-mano-a-mano-fight-in-milwaukee/
Originally published: April 3, 2011. Last Updated: April 3, 2011.