Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy are together on the wall in Cooperstown that honors all recipients of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting greatness. Between Murphy and Nelson is Bob Wolff, who was considered for the inaugural Mets booth. (Courtesy of MetSilverman.com)

The New York Mets were born in sin, cleansed by pain, and saved in 1969. Sin: the National Leagues 1957 adieu to New York City. Pain: Marvelous Marv, Roger Craig, and Casey Stengel’s other expansion ‘62ers. Salvation, coming half-a-century ago: In the year men first walked on the moon, the Amazins’ walked on air—miracle and metaphysical, climbing a stairway to baseball heaven.

“The Mets may last a thousand years, as Churchill would say,” Lindsey Nelson, their grand radio/television stylist, conjured. “’They may win a dozen championships. But they can only do it the first time once, and the first time was incomparable.”1

The 1969 Mets—Caseys Metsies—took a fractured time and briefly made it whole: then and now, crying gotcha to the soul. Let us retrieve perhaps The Greatest Baseball Story Ever Told, and their three broadcast amigos who superbly told it.

“That was a delirious once-in-lifetime year,” Nelson said of 1969, “just as 1957 was its sad opposite”2—also the Mets’ genesis. The back page of the August 20 New York Daily News screamed: “It’s Official: Giants Go To Frisco in ’58: Historic PG ] Polo Grounds] is Doomed.”3 On October 8, the area’s other NL team, the Dodgers of Brooklyn since 1890, confirmed the other elephant in the room— their exit for Los Angeles also of 1958.4 For New York, Moving Day had truly come.

Having baseball do unto him, New York Mayor Robert Wagner forged a five-man citizens committee led by lawyer William A. Shea to do unto others—as Wagner vowed, “to corral a National League team.”5 Ill-wind: The Reds, Pirates, and Phillies scorned relocationin the Apple.6 Whirlwind: In 1959, the threat of a proposed third eight-club major league—the Continental League—made the National League reconsider expansion to 10 teams: ergo, the 1962 New York Metropolitans and Houston Colt .45s.7

The Mets club began with castoff Yankees management: George Weiss, as General Manager, and Stengel, unretiring, to manage. Their park, 55,300-seat $24.5 million Shea Stadium in Queens, scheduled to open in 1963, was delayed a year by two cold winters and more than 17 different labor strikes.8 In the interim, Job One became the 1961 expansion draft, age trumping beauty. “Weiss picked old Dodgers and Giants,” mused Nelson. “Craig, Gil Hodges, Charlie Neal.” They excelled on paper, “but paper doesn’t play.”9 Unsolved: Who would air them on radio/TV? For a time, it depended on whom you read.

That October, several reports suggested that long-time Dodgers Voice and native New Yorker Vin Scully would trade coasts next season, returning east to air the expansion Mets.10 In fact, Weiss phoned another New Yorker, the Minnesota Twins’ Bob Wolff, who missed the area. The New York Daily News pealed: “Wolff Coming.”11 Problem: no station/sponsor. Time passed. “Weiss couldn’t make a commitment,” said Bob, “so I reupped with the Twins,”12 ultimately becoming the 1962-64 Voice of NBC’s Major League Baseball.

Instead, Weiss signed as the Mets’ first and— to some—forever Voice, a Tennessean who as an 8-year-old heard famed broadcaster Graham McNamee call a fight so near the ring that he could “reach out and touch the canvas.” To the boy, the box speaker—an Airphone—“looked like a question mark.”13 The answer formed at the University of Tennessee, Nelson football spotting on WSM Radio. After 1941 graduation, he taught English, joined the Army, and became a World War II Army publicist. In 1945, U.S. and Soviet troops drank captured German champagne at the Elbe River, a photo showing Lindsey with Russian officers. He prized its signature: “To Lindsey Nelson, a very busy man the day this picture was taken. Dwight Eisenhower.”14

At war’s end, Nelson, 26, back in Tennessee, became a reporter. Bored, he returned to the wireless, airing Liberty Broadcasting System re-created baseball. In 1952, NBC TV hired him, tapping him for a potpourri of gigs including college football and basketball and Major League Baseball as Wolff’s predecessor.15 How could he trade that for The Metropolitan Baseball Club of New York, Inc? Easily, as it occurred. Lindsey thought daily baseball broadcasting’s king of the hill, though NBC’s 1957-61 twice-weekly series had been blacked out in big-league cities like New York. “Many people, not knowing, said, ‘Why are they hiring this football guy?”’ Nelson laughed. “If this were Broadway,” he mused, “the tryout had run five years.”16

For seven straight (1946-52) years, Ralph Kiner led the NL in homers, saying, as he repeated for a writer, “Home run hitters drive Cadillacs. Singles hitters drive Fords.”17 At four, Kiner’s father died. Soon mom and son left New Mexico for California, where a neighbor and semipro baseball manager “let me tag along and shag.”18 Ralph’s last Pirates team in 1952 was 42-112. That fall he asked for a raise after hitting 37 homers. General Manager Branch Rickey’s reply was memorable, if impolite: “Son, we can finish last without you.”19 Kiner retired with 369: only Babe Ruth had more per at-bat. How to top the topper? It took till 1969, but Ralph found a way.

Nelson gave the nascent Metropolitans a household name. Hired in late 1961, Kiner lent an ex-jock’s cachet. Weiss felt the last member of their broadcast booth should leaven them: “be a steady professional,”20 said Bob Murphy, who got the Mets’ job shortly in early 1962. Born in Oklahoma, Bob made the Marines, returned to study petroleum engineering and do radio at the University of Tulsa, and major in the Puritan work ethic. “He had a weak voice and raw techniques,” then-college radio director Ben Henneke told The Tulsa World, but was determined to reach the major leagues. “He needed a lot of help.”21

In college, Murphy called basketball and minor-league baseball—also the University of Oklahoma football dynasty of Bud Wilkinson that went unbeaten in 47 straight games. There Bob met another Okie, Curt Gowdy, who in 1951 became Voice of the Red Sox. In 1954, Gowdy invited Bob to become the No. 2 radio/TV man at Fenway Park. “Curt was a marvelous teacher,” Murphy said. “He said, ‘Let’s announce like we’re friends, just talking to each other.’ Plus, I had a Southwestern twang. With his support, I did a lot to clean up, practicing word for word.” Ultimately, “people peg[ged] me as having come from somewhere in the Midwest.”22

In 1960, Murphy joined the Orioles. Next year Jack Fisher faced Roger Maris in the at-bat that ironically brought him to New York. “It’s number 60!” Bob bayed on WBAL Baltimore on September 26, 1961. “He’s tied the Babe!”23 in Maris’s single-season pursuit of Ruth’s home run record. Next month the Orioles’ dumped sponsor Theo. Hamm Brewery. Conceding to being “lost in the shuffle,”24 Murphy sent the Maris tape to Weiss. Listening, George found his man. Nelson saying, “Bob had a distinctive voice that filled the air.”25 Soon all three amigos found the Amazins’ to be distinctive in the extreme. In March 1962, they convened at St. Petersburg, Florida, for an inaugural spring training. “The ’62 Mets played for fun,” Lindsey conspired with memory. “They weren’t capable of playing for anything else.”26

From the start the Ol’ Perfessor composed the Mets melody, Stengelese his baton. “We got to work on the little finesses,” Stengel said. “Runners at first and second, and the first baseman holding a runner, breaking in and back to take a pickoff throw.”27 Losing the exhibition opener, 17-1, Casey saw the light, not liking what he saw. “The little finesses aren’t gonna’ be our problem.”28 Yarns stitched what were. “Only attitude made it tolerable,” Lindsey mused. “Love at first laugh.”29 The first regular-season set was truly Metsian, Roger Craig’s first-inning balk helping score a St. Louis run. The Cardinals romped, 11-4, on April 11 at Busch Stadium. Casey’s invite on first greeting the press in Florida wafted through the air: “Come see my amazin’ Mets,” he said, “some of which has never played semi-pro before.”30

The home opener was Friday, April 13, in their temporary den, the Polo Grounds. Hobie Landrith caught, Stengel’s first expansion pick, the 01’ Perfessor explaining sagely, “You have to start with a catcher, or you’ll have a lot of passed balls.”31 The puzzle was whether New York would pass. Instead, the rookies drew 922,530—“amazing,” Nelson gaped, “given our [40-120] atrocity’32 The “New Breed” scribbled on bed sheets. Placards waved at the roving camera eye. Early on, a chant arose from the jammed and rowdy stands—’’Let’s go Mets!”—even as the club lost 9 straight, then 17 in a row, then 16 out of 1733 and as Casey said, “The Mets have shown me more ways to lose than I ever knew existed.”34 It applied even when their two-headed progenitor returned home.

On Wednesday, May 30, the Dodgers packed the Polo Grounds (55,704). That weekend, crashing their old park, the Giants drew 43,742 and 41,001. Stengel said to Nelson, “‘We are frauds for this attendance. But if we can make losing popular,’ I’m for it.’ Casey never asked how the Mets lost 120. He asked how they won 40.”35 Craig was 10-24. Al Jackson finished 8-20. The Perfessor allegedly told a barber, ““Don’t cut my throat. I may want to do that later.”36 On June 17, an umpire called Marvelous Marv— Marvin Eugene—Throneberry (MET) out for missing first base on a triple.

About to argue, Stengel was told by the umpire, “I hate to tell you this, Casey, but he missed second base, too.”

The skipper was unbowed. “Well, I know he touched third base,” said Stengel, “because he’s standing on it.”37 The year ended with Joe Pignatano hitting into a triple play in his final major league at-bat. Hitting .306, Richie Ashburn was voted team Most Valuable Player. He took the prize, a boat, out on the Delaware River, where it sunk.

Wisely, the Mets’ three Voices tried when possible to divert attention from anything germane to score. WOR Channel 9’s post-game Kiner’s Korner was a black and white period piece: interviews with stars, wrote the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick, “more times than not … a Mets opponent, given that the Mets, more times than not, had lost.” It built “a cult-like following,” forged by Ralph’s “effortless capacity to just get through it, then get the heck out. It was an absolute howl.”38 To Kiner, it doubtless felt like 1952 again: The Mets could have finished last without him. Murphy, in particular, worried about competing with the world champion Yankees—and about briefly unlearning some of Gowdy’s Red Sox tutelage. “Lindsey didn’t like my conversational style. He was a straight-ahead announcer, eyes on baseball.”39

One day Nelson eyed a men’s clothing store on Broadway. “Show me jackets that you can’t sell,”40 he told the owner, buying seven “gaudy, awful” coats. Next month a cabbie said, “You’re the guy who wears all those wild jackets!” Lindsey told a friend, “See, he doesn’t know my name, but he knows what I do. Against the Yankees, it pays to advertise.”41 His radio/TV mates often scavenged on the road, Murphy saying, “If we saw a wild enough jacket, we’d tell hm.”42 Once oldest daughter Nancy bought a jacket in Ireland. Both were stopped at customs. The inspector, a Mets fan, joked, “Nobody would wear a jacket like this.” Nancy beamed: “My daddy will.”43 In time, he owned 175.

By 1963, “Mets radio/TV ratings topped the Yanks,’” akin, said Murphy, to “a mule lapping Man O’ War.”44 The Polo Grounds closed. The Mets’ new abode, Shea Stadium, named for Bill, was christened April 16, 1964, with Dodgers Holy Water from Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal and Giants Holy Water at the Harlem River at the point it passed the Polo Grounds45—the first new baseball park to open in New York since 1923’s Yankee Stadium. Seats formed a four-tiered circle from one foul line to another. The circular shape included two rotating stands each of 5,000 seats. Atop motor-operated sections moving on underground railroad tracks, they converted Shea between baseball and football.46 Upper decks rose almost vertically, many far from the field. Few complained, glad to have baseball back.

Some games never seemed to end. On May 31, 1964, in 23 innings, the Mets lost the second set of a doubleheader to the Giants at Shea, 8-6.47 “Pitch to [Orlando] Cepeda. “Runners go,” said Lindsey in the 14th inning. “And it’s lined to [Roy] McMillan. And a double play! And maybe a triple play! A triple play!”48 The 7-hour, 23-minute game remained the majors’ longest until 1984.49 Incrementally, Nelson later mused, “the Mets’ hapless has-beens became hopeless maybes,” occupying the 1962-65 cellar of the Eastern Division of the National League, then vacating for a year. Basement-bound again in 1967, escaping again in 1968, would they bounce up or down as their first decade ended? Each year the broadcast trio aired 162 radio and between 130 and 1937 TV games—the nonpareil constant. Said Mushnick: “Already, the thought of anyone else calling them ever seemed insane.”50

In 1975, Kiner entered the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum as a player. Nelson and Murphy made its broadcast wing in 1988 and 1994, respectively. (Ralph should, too) The early Mets had trouble turning two. “Here we are, three for three,” Bob laughed.51 Looking back, their impact peaked in a year the Republic seemed undone. By 1969, the less United than Divided States blared hawk vs. dove, hard hat vs. hippie, and Silent Majority vs. hip, camp and pop art intelligentsia. Viet Nam was a horror house. Said H. Rap Brown: “Violence is as American as cherry pie.”52 By contrast, the Miracle Mets rivaled Father Christmas. “Who can explain it? Who can tell you why?”53 the Broadway musical South Pacific had first asked in 1949. Casey told us: “The team has come along slow but fast.”54

On April 8, the Metropolitans’ road began roughly under second-year manager Gil Hodges, the beloved former Dodger-turned-should-be Hall of Famer: first-year and -game Expos, 11-10. At Wrigley Field, Willie Smith pinch-homered a first-day 7-6 home victory. For most of the year Chicago held first place in the NL’s Eastern Division like a lead Porsche racing at Lemans. Tommie Agee became first to reach Shea’s upper deck. The Mets forged an 11-game winning streak vs. the Padres, Giants, and Dodgers as May morphed into June. Donn Clendenon arrived from Montreal. On July 9, Tom Seaver retired the first 25 Wrigleys. Then: “Here’s the pitch on the way” Murphy said. “Line drive hit hard into left -center field! A clean base hit for Jimmy Qualls. And the roar goes up from the big [Shea record 58,083] crowd! A roar of disappointment.”55 Seaver recouped, winning, 4-0. Qualls didn’t, retiring after one more hit.

Yin: Next week banjo hitter Al Weis zinged the Cubs. “Swung on, a high drive well hit toward left field!” said Bob. “A three-run [5-4] homer!”56 Next day Brother Al hit his second homer of the year. The Mets won again. Yang: The Mets fell to third, 10 games behind, in August. Chicago’s Billy Williams’ 895th straight game set a league record. Baseball’s best infield—Ernie Banks (106 RBI), Ron Santo (123), Glenn Beckert (.291), and Don Kessinger (.273)—made the All-Star Game in its entirety. Santo began clicking heels upon each victory. Towel-waving reliever and ex-Met Dick Selma conducted Wrigley’s Bleacher Bums. Rarely had their Friendly Confines seemed giddier.

At this point, ’sixty-nine was not a stand-alone term, like Waterloo or later Watergate. “Pennant race?” Nelson laughed. “We were given up for dead!”57 The Metsies first swept a three-game series at San Diego, completed a 6-4 road trip, and faintly sensed the fairy dust that lay ahead. At Candlestick Park, Willie McCovey slashed an August 30 one-out apparent game-ending hit. “The throw coming in by Rod Gaspar!” said Murphy. “And he is out at the plate!”58 Wrongly thinking it the final out, Mets catcher Jerry Grote rolled the ball to the mound, where Clendenon nabbed it, threw to third, and got McCovey! Extra innings: Amazins’, 3-2. Planets realigned. Good grief, Charlie Brown: The Mets only trailed by four.

On September 8, Chicago invaded Shea two and a 2 ½ games ahead. Like Canute, hoping to reverse the tide, Bill Hands almost beaned Agee in the opener. “[The next pitch] is hit to deep left-center field!” said Kiner. “Going, going, it’s gone!”59 Agee later doubled, scoring the decisive run. A day later, appearing out of nowhere, a black cat hissed at the Cubs skipper. The crowd sang, “Good night, Leo [Durocher],” Seaver romping, 7-1. Ken Boswell’s overtime next-night hit edged Montreal, 3-2. “So, for the first time,” Ralph said, “the Mets have gone into first place! The New York Mets, seven years and four months, for the first time in their history, have gone into first place in the National League race!”60 The crowd heaved, “We’re Number One!” The moon was in its seventh house.

The Mets swept a 1-0 twin-bill at Forbes Field, starting pitchers Jerry Koosman and Don Cardwell batting in each run. The Cardinals’ Steve Carlton K’d a record 19 men – and lost, 4-3. On September 23, the magic number fell to one: “Line drive, hit sharply into left-center field for a base hit!” said Murphy. “Ron Swoboda gets the green light from Eddie Yost …and he’ll score!”61 Mets win, 3-2, in 11. Next day the East River flowed upstream. “Ground ball hit to shortstop!” Bob sang in the one-out ninth. “[Bud] Harrelson to Weis! There’s one! First base!” Double play! The Mets win! [6-0] It’s all over! Oh, the roar going up from this crowd! Oh, the scene on the field! Fans are pouring out on the field!”62

That off-season WOR produced a documentary To The Mets With Love—and The New York Times’s George Vecsey wrote a book, Joy In Mudville, “about how he saw more honest and enthusiastic joy in the crowd that [division-clinching] night and on that program than he ever saw on television,”63 mused Nelson. A reporter asked Hodges, “Tell us what this proves.” The Flatbush institution and imminent-miracle-worker sat back, spread his hands, and laughed, “Can’t be done.”64 The last laugh lay ahead, “people thinking they had no chance to move ahead,”65said Kiner. Having drawn an Apple NL regular-season record 2,175,373—Seaver’s 25-7, Koosman’s 17-9, Cleon Jones’s .340 average, and Agee’s 26 homers keyed—the 100-to-lers met the Braves in the first best-of-five League Championship Series: new gateway to the Classic. Atlanta appeared ready to have them for lunch—except that the Amazins’ seemingly added almost overnight to their own diet an unforeseen kind of strength.

“There’s a swing and drive into center field!” Nelson chimed of Jones in the opener. “It will score [Wayne] Garrett, I believe!”: 5-all. Next: “A [Ed Kranepool] swing and a ground ball topped to first. Taken by Cepeda. Play at the plate, and he’s safe!”66 Mets win, 9-5, in a rare display of power. Next day they staged an even greater power play, 11-6, then repaired to Shea, Atlanta leading the third game, 4-3. “A high drive deep to right!” Murphy gaped. “A [two-run Garrett] homer!”67 Who were these guys with the bulging biceps, ranking a mere regular-season eighth in homers and ninth in runs among NL teams? The ninth began, 7-4. “So, the Mets are one out away from their impossible dream. And the batter coming up is Tony Gonzalez,” said Kiner. “The pitch, a curve, chopped out to third. Garrett has the ball! The throw to first! And the Mets are the National League champions! A wild, wild scramble as the Mets celebrating their National League championship!”68

Growing up in Queens, future Voice Radio/TV Gary Cohen left Section 48, Row 9, “in left field, five rows from the top,” to maneuver toward Shea’s field. “Had to get my little piece of turf.”69 Heaven rarely looked so green. Looking on, less wowed, was American League champion Baltimore. “We are here,” Brooks Robinson said, “to prove there is no Santa Claus.” Don Buford dinged Seaver’s first-game second pitch. Orioles pitcher Mike Cuellar did the rest: 4-1. Next day Koosman, pitching, and Weis, driving in the decisive run, countered, 2-1. In the Birds’ ninth, Hodges devised what is possibly the majors’ first four-man outfield—here, vs. Frank Robinson.70 Elves awoke. Pre-1981’s World Series forbade even local radio, Kiner, the O’s Bill O’Donnell, and NBC’s Jim Simpson doing network wireless. Simpson aired Game Three thievery, the Classic moving to New York: “Hit high and deep to center field! Agee, who was pulled around to right, goes over with his speed … He’s got it!”71 In the sixth, O’Donnell conveyed his: “Fly ball to right-center field! Deep in right center! [Art] Shamsky with Agee! Agee dives – and he makes the catch!”72 Mets led, 5-0. The North Pole chilled, dimming Brooksie’s hope.

In Game Four, Seaver led, 1-0: one out, ninth inning, the Orioles’ tying run on third. Brooks Robinson’s line out scored it, Swoboda’s diving, sprawling catch keeping Baltimore from scoring more. In the 10th, J.C. Martin bunted “down the first-base line,” said O’Donnell, with no out and two Mets on. “[Pitcher Pete] Richert fields, throws, and it hits the runner!” on the wrist, bouncing wildly. “Here’s the runner coming on from third base! Gaspar! And the Mets win the ballgame by a score of 2 to 1!”73 Today the play would be endlessly replayed, the game endlessly delayed, the telecast needlessly bleached of color. Then, the Orioles protested Martin’s circuitous path to first, Nelson and Gowdy gaping at Mets wonderwork on NBC TV. (Before 1976, each local-team Voice also aired half of each home network telecast.) Plate umpire Shag Crawford cried humbug. Santa readied for Christmas Eve.

Game Five, sixth inning, O’s up, 3-0, 57,397 at Shea and a Nation antic, manic, and about to bust loose. Jones claims to be hit by a pitch. Eyeing shoe polish. Hodges retrieves the ball, at which point umpire Lou DiMuro explores it, whereupon Cleon takes first. “Fly ball deep left field!” O’Donnell followed. “To the warning track! It is in and up for a home run by Donn Clendenon!”74 Weis had not gone yard in five years at Shea. Dave McNally threw him seventh-inning heat. Then: “A fly ball out into deep left-center field! Buford going back! … It is over the fence for a home run!” Swoboda batted in a one-out, one-on, and three-all eighth. “A fly ball, deep left field, headed for the fence, and it’s on the warning track, picked up by Buford!”75 O’Donnell said. “On comes Jones to the plate! He throws it late”—4-3. A double O’s error doubled their deficit—and doubled down their fate.

At the eighth inning’s end, Nelson left the NBC-TV booth. “By pre-arrangement,” he said, “I headed for the elevator to get to the clubhouse for the victory celebration. That’s when it hit me—the whole enormity of the thing.”76 The Chinese discovered the 365 ½ day solar year in 2300 B.C. The Mets discovered Canaan on October 16, 1969. At 3:16 P.M., Dave Johnson swung at Koosman’s 2-1 pitch. “There’s a fly ball out to left!” said NBC TV’s Gowdy. “Waiting is Jones! The Mets are the world champions! Jerry Koosman is being mobbed! Look at this scene!”77 We still are, reliving Nelson’s “incomparable” year. Go ahead. Pinch yourself. We still do not believe it.

Nelson aired the post-game bash, then crossed the East River to Manhattan. “‘If we don’t go into town, we’ll have missed the celebration,’ I told my wife and kids. So we did and it was marvelous. Dancing in the streets, throwing confetti. Once in a while a cop would recognize me and go wild.”78 Santa cleared the chimney. A ticker-tape parade snaked through Manhattan. Said Mets chairman of the board M. Donald Grant, memorably and timelessly: “Our team finally caught up with our fans.”79

In 1843, Karl Marx wrote that “religion is the opium of the people.”80 In a real sense, the Mets have remained New York’s. The 1970 Amazins’ drew 2,697,479, more than they had, or would till 1985. The ‘73ers waved another flag, Nelson again telecasting the Series. Having swung from tenth to first, the Mets swung back. Lindsey resigned in January 1979, outlasting the Polo Grounds, seven Mets managers, and 238 assorted players from A (Ashburn) to Z (Don Zimmer).81 He moved west to be near daughter Nancy, a graduate student at University of Southern California (Nelson’s wife had died)82, aired the baseball Giants through 1981, then taught broadcasting at his alma mater and did a 26th Cotton Bowl for CBS. Inducted at Cooperstown in 1988, Nelson removed his coat and gave it to the Hall. A visitor can still see its 12 colors randomly jiggered into squares.

On June 10, 1995, Lindsey died, at 76, of Parkinson’s Disease and pneumonia. Only illness prevented him from being hailed by the Smithsonian Institution at a 1993 series in Washington, D.C. Sans senior partner, Murphy increasingly seemed “the voice of all things Mets,”83 wrote Marty Noble—at the beach, aboard the Staten Island ferry, home rabbit ears ferrying WOR Channel 9. The “Happy Recap” became a life, not game. “I remember thinking it was corny, dropping it, then mail on its behalf.” It wasn’t always easy to be happy on the Mets’ behalf. A laggard set of 1990 teams tested even the old-school Bob’s strict rule against obscenity.

Once New York led, 10-3, at Philadelphia, before the Phillies started scoring a slew of ninth-inning runs sans benefit of a real base hit. Finally and ironically, a Philly batter then hit the inning’s only smash: “Line drive—caught!” Bob bayed. “The game’s over! The Mets win it! A line drive to Mario Diaz! They win the damned thing!”84 Colleagues almost doubled over in hysterics. Likely many listeners did, too, knowing his personality like a family member’s. The ex-Marine had a baritone that rose an octave, home phone number whose last four digits read 6-3-8-7 (Mets),85 and team radio booth named after him. (It remains so at Citi Field, replacing Shea in 2008.) Retiring, Murphy died August 3, 2004, of lung cancer, having outlasted any Mets player, manager, or owner and always “trying to bring friendliness to the game.”

Only Kiner endured from 1969, its glow perceptible, inexhaustible. CBS broadcaster Peter King grew up on Long Island with Ralph’s gentling of the language. “Today is father’s day,” he recalls Kiner saying. “So to all of you fathers in the audience, happy birthday.” American Cyanamid Co. became a TV sponsor. “We’ll be right back,” Ralph said, “after this word from American Cyanide.” Some lines were planned. “Statistic are like bikinis. They show a lot but not everything.” Some weren’t. “The Mets got their leadoff batter on only once this inning.”86 In 1995, WOR canceled Kiner’s Korner. He left the air, battled Bell’s Palsy, then rejoined the Mets before WOR yielded to WPIX—for some, a culture shock, the station imbedded in their DNA—and cable’s SNY. Aptly, the new TV booth is named after Ralph at Citi Field.

In 2013, the last of the three amigos retired, for the last time having cried of a homer, “It is gone— goodbye!” Kiner’s 52 years made him the third-longest-speaking active Voice with a team, behind the Dodgers’ Vin Scully and Jaimie Jarrin. At 90, he was also the game’s oldest mikeman. On February 6, 2014, Ralph died at 91 of natural causes at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, Noble writing: “Baseball has had few in its family who were so widely revered, respected, and enjoyed.”87 His, Murphy’s, and Lindsey’s dowry remains their successors in the booth.

The inexhaustible Howie Rose did TV in 1996-2003, then moved to radio: an encyclopedia of the club’s light and dark sides. On TV, Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez sashay brilliantly on, Cohen acting as traffic cop: opinion and inside baseball, with almost a telepathic grasp of what a viewer wants and needs to hear. Born in Queens, each day, sitting there, Cohen recalled learning to see with his ears. “Lindsey and company, with those great word-pictures. [Today] I’ll be listening to someone on radio and scream when I can’t see what’s happening.”

Starting on Mets wireless in 1989, Gary moved in 2006 to TV. “The one thing I knew I wanted in radio was not to have preconceived phrases.”88 Perhaps only God could conceive the Amazins’, their plot so otherworldly it must have hatched on another planet.

In 1988, working alongside Murphy, Cohen had almost frozen airing a test game. Reaching over, Bob patted Gary’s hand. “He started talking, reassured me. It was my greatest memory.”89 Our greatest memory may be a year. In Casablanca, Bogart tells Bergman, “We’ll always have Paris.”90 We’ll always have ’69.

CURT SMITH, dubbed “the voice of authority on baseball broadcasting” by Gannett News Service, is the author of 12 books. A review he prizes was Lindsey Nelson’s of the classic Voices of The Game: “Absolutely marvelous.” Smith wrote more speeches than anyone for former President George H.W. Bush. He is a Gatehouse Media columnist, XM Satellite, and NPR Radio affiliate host, and senior lecturer of English at the University of Rochester.

SOURCES

I want to thank Lindsey, Ralph, and Bob for taking time to speak so generously over the years—and for the thousands of hours of radio/TV joy they gave to so many in the Mets’ trek from Death Valley to Mt. Sinai. Perhaps there has not been a pilgrimage like it—nor, some say, such Voices to call it. Let me also thank longtime friend and colleague Ken Samelson for his help help. Grateful appreciation is made to reprint all play-by-play and color radio text courtesy of John Miley’s The Miley Collection. In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, most especially in The Society for American Baseball Research, the author also consulted: Baseball- Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites box scores, player, season, and team pages, batting and pitching logs, and other material relevant to this history. Fan Fraphics.com provided statistical information. In addition to the sources cited in the Notes the author also consulted:

BOOKS

Allen, Maury. After the Miracle: The 1969 Mets Twenty Years Later. (New York: Franklin Watts, 1989).

Breslin, Jimmy. Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game? (New York, Viking, 1963),

Cohen, Stanley. A Magic Summer: The 1969 Mets (New York: Harcourt, Brace Jonanovich, 1988).

Durso, Joseph. Amazing: The Miracle of the Mets. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1970).

Fox, Larry. Last to First—The Story of the Mets. (New York: Harper & Row, 1970).

Golenbock, Peter. Amazin’: The Miraculous History of New York’s Most Beloved Baseball Team. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2002).

Kiner, Ralph and Dany Peary. Baseball Forever. (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2004). ang, Jack, and Peter Simon. The New York Mets: Twenty-Five Years of Baseball Magic (New York: Henry Holt, 1986).

Ryczek, William. The Amazing’ Mets 1962-69 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008).

Vecsey, Peter. Joy In Mudville: Being a Complete Account of the Unparalleled History of the New York Mets from Their Most Perturbed Beginnings to Their Amazing Rise to Glory and Renown (New York: McCall, 1970).

Zimmerman, Paul D, and Dick Schaap. The Year the Mets Lost Last Place (New York: World Publishing, 1969).

NEWSPAPERS

The New York Daily News, New York Post, and The New York Times have been a primary source about the 1969 New York Mets. Other key sources include: the Los Angeles Times, New York World-Telegram, The New Yorker, The Sporting News, The Wall Street Journal.

INTERVIEWS

Gary Cohen, with author, September 2008.

Ralph Kiner, with author, July 1986 and August 1988.

Peter King, with author, April 2006 and August 2011

Bob Murphy, with author, May 1984 and July 1998.

Phil Mushnick, with author, May 2004.

Lindsey Nelson, with author, April 1984, August 1985, February 1986, July 1990.

Nancy Nelson, with author, June 1993.

Bob Wolff, with author, February 2012.

Notes

1 Lindsey Nelson interview, with author, April 1984.

2 Nelson interview, with author, August 1985.

3 https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/giants-announce-move-san-francisco-1957-article-1.2324632 Republished in 2015.

4 Frank Finch, The Los Angeles Dodgers: The First Twenty Years (Virginia Beach, Virginia: Joran & Co., 1977), 14.

5 https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/William_Shea.

6 Ibid.

7 Geoffrey C. Ward, Baseball: An Illustrated History (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994), 369, 371, 373.

8 http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/ballpark/history.jsp. See “History of Shea Stadium.”

9 Nelson, August 1985 interview.

10 Bob Wolff interview, with author, February 2012.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Nelson, August 1985 interview.

14 Ibid., April 1984 interview.

15 https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/12/obituaries/lindsey-nelson-76-broadcaster-for-mets-for-17-years-is-deadLhtml.

16 Nelson, April 1984 interview.

17 Ralph Kiner interview, with author, July 1986.

18 Ibid.

19 Bill James, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (New York: Free Press, 2001), 663.

20 Bob Murphy interview, with author, May 1984.

21 https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/04/sports/bob-murphy-79-an-original-voice-of-the-mets.html.

22 Ibid.

23 Play-by-play courtesy of The Miley Collection

24 Murphy May 1984 interview.

25 Nelson, August 1985 interview

26 Ibid.

27 Nelson, April 1984 interview.

28 Ibid.

29 Nelson, February 1986 interview

30 https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/biography/item/10976-remembering-the-amazin-mets-of-1962. Jack Kenny, New American, “Remembering the “Amazin’ Mets” of 1962,” April 11, 2012.

31 Ward, Baseball: An Illustrated History, 374.

32 Nelson, February 1986 interview.

33 https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/1962-schedule-scores.shtml

34 https://www.brainyquote.com./authors/casey_stengel.

35 Nelson, February 1986 interview.

36 https://quotlr.com/author.casey-stengel.

37 Ward, Baseball: An Illustrated History, 374.

38 https://nypost.com/2014/02/06/unique-calls-were-ralph-kiners-korner-stone.

39 Murphy, May 1984 interview.

40 Nelson, February 1986 interview.

41 Ibid.

42 Murphy, May 1984 interview.

43 Nancy Nelson interview, with author, June 1993.

44 Murphy, May 1984 interview.

45 https://ballparks.com/baseball/national/sheast.htm. “Shea Stadium”

46 http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/ballpark/history.jsp. “History of Shea Stadium”

47 http://www.ultimatemedia.com/metannual.php?ThisYear=1964&tabno=4

48 Play-by-play courtesy of The Miley Collection.

49 https://www.forbes.com/sites/maury-brown/2015/04/14/the-10-longest-games-in-major-Ieague-baseball-history/#66a59bee235f.

50 Phil Mushnick interview, with author, May 2004

51 Murphy May 1984 interview.

52 https://blackthen.com/h-rap-brown-violence-is-as-american-as-cherry-pie. “H. Rap Brown: Violence Is As American As Cherry Pie.”

53 http://lyrics.wikia,com/wiki/Rogers_And-Hammerstein:Some__Enchanted_Evening. “Rogers and Hammerstein: Some Enchanted Evening”

54 http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/The_team_has_come_along_slow_but_fast./208512/

55 Play-by-play courtesy of The Miley Collection.

56 Ibid.

57 Lindsey Nelson interview, with author, July 1990.

58 Play-by-play courtesy of The Miley Collection.

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid

62 Ibid

63 Nelson April 1984 interview.

64 Ibid.

65 Kiner 7/86 interview.

66 Play-by-play courtesy of The Miley Collection.

67 Ibid.

68 Play-by-play courtesy of The Miley Collection

69 Gary Cohen interview with author, September 2008.

70 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/27/sports/baseball-mets-1969-world-series.html.

71 Play-by-play courtesy of NBC Radio

72 Ibid.

73 Ibid.

74 Ibid.

75 Ibid.

76 Nelson April 1984 interview.

77 Play-by-play courtesy of NBC Television.

78 Nelson February 1986 interview.

79 https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/407866738. Rob Edelman, “M. Donald Grant,” Society for American Baseball Research.

80 https://www.l843magazine.com/intelligence/the_big_question/what_is_the_opium_of_the_jpeople_. Rosie Blau, “What Is the Opium Of The People?” The Economist.

81 https://baseball.org/discover-more/awards/frick/lindsey-nelson.

82 Nelson April 1984 interview.

83 https://www.newsday.com/sports/murph-the-happy-recap-after-42-seasons-behind-mike-voice-of-mr-met-will-be-missed-1.395737. Marty Noble, “Murph: The Happy Recap/After 42 Seasons behind mike, voice of ‘Mr. Met’ will be missed,” Newsday, September 24, 2003..

84 https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/04/sports/bob-murphy-79-an-original-voice-of-the-mets.html.

85 Nelson February 1986 interview.

86 Peter King interview, with author, August 2011,

87 https://primesportsnet.com/remembering-ralph-kiner/. MartyNoble, MLB.com.

88 Cohen 9/08 interview.

89 Ibid.

90 https://movies.mxdwn.com/feature/well-always-have-paris-a-look-back-at-casablanca-on-its-75th-anniversary/ Rick Rice, “We’ll Always Have Paris,” November 22, 2017.

In major league history, 121 pinch slams have been hit, 70 in the National League and 51 in the American. No one connected in the 19th century, when pinch hitting was at a minimum. Ironically, the first pinch clam was hit by a pitcher for the Cardinals, Mike O’Neill, in a game against the Braves on June 3, 1902. Mike, born in Ireland, was one of the four O’Neill brothers, the best known of whom was Steve. Another brother, John, caught that June 3 game for the Cards. The first AL pinch slam did not originate until September 24, 1916, when Marty Kavanagh, a utility infielder for Cleveland, hit a hard liner off Hubert “Dutch” Leonard of the Red Sox. The ball rolled through a hole in the fence and every one scored.

Who hits pinch homers with the bases loaded? Not necessarily the great sluggers. Of the top dozen career home run hitters, only Jimmie Foxx and Harmon Killebrew have connected as emergency batters with the bags full. Double-X did it twice, once in each league. Roy Sievers also blasted one in each league. Other two-timers were Vic Wertz, Bill Skowron, and Rich Reese in the AL, and Ed Bailey and Willie McCovey in the Senior Circuit. But the King of Swingers was “Round” Ron Northey, who went “Bingo” on three occasions while with the Cards and Cubs.

It is also noted that no less than five pitchers have come through with pinch, slams. In addition to O’Neill, there was Schoolboy Rowe, Early Wynn, Zeb Eaton, and Tommy Byrne. If pitchers can hit pinch slams, what kind of hurlers can serve them up? Looking over the list, it appears that relief hurlers are the chief victims. This seems only logical, considering that most substitute batters appear late in the game. Only five pitchers were burned twice: Don Mossi, Steve Ridzik, Dave Koslo, Satchel Paige, and Hank Borowy, who was bombed once in each league. Early Wynn was the only player to serve one up (to Bob Cerv in 1961), and to hit one himself (off Jack Gorsica in 1946).

Pinch homers with the bases loaded have been hit in each inning from the 2nd to the 12th. Twenty-eight were hit in the 9th, and 26 in the 7th. Even team managers got into the act. At least two of them looked over their bench and decided that they could do better themselves. Rogers Hornsby connected for his Cubs in 1931, and Phil Cavarretta also hit one for the Cubs shortly after he took over the helm in 1951. Cavvy belted it off Robin Roberts when the latter was at the height of his career. On May 26, 1929, Pat Crawford of the Giants and Lester Bell of the Braves both connected in the same game, the only time that has been accomplished.

The full list of players who have hit pinch hone runs with the bases filled is carried below. (* indicates 2nd game)

National League pinch-grand slams, through 1971

American League pinch-grand slams, through 1971

Assisted by Raymond Gonzalez and Leonard Gettelson.

The top major league winning streaks by pitchers for one season are the National League streaks of 19 games by Marquard in 1912 and by Tim Keefe of an earlier New York NL Championship team in 1888.  Hoss Radbourn won 18 consecutive games (all complete games in consecutive starts) for Providence NL in 1884. The top streak in the majors since 1920 is the l7-game streak put together by Elroy Face, a fork-balling reliever for the 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates, who finished 4th in the National League. Face won his first 17 decisions that year, finishing with an 18-1 record. He had won his last 5 decisions of 1958 for a 2-year streak of 22 relief wins. Face was helped by several late-inning or extra-inning Pirate rallies which helped him avert defeats.

The American League record winning streak is 16 consecutive games, shared by 4 different pitchers. They are Smokey Joe Wood (34-5) of Boston AL and Walter Johnson (32-12) of Washington AL, both in the Marquard year of 1912, Lefty Grove (31-4) of Philadelphia AL in 1931, and Schoolboy Rowe’s 16-game winning streak in 1934 for the pennant-winning Tigers when he was 24-8. Besides the 19-game streak by Marquard, 3 National League pitchers have notched 16-game streaks since 1900. Carl Hubbell (26-6) of New York did it in 1936, Ewell Blackwell (22-8) turned the trick for a 5th place Cincinnati outfit in 1947, and Jack Sanford (24-7) reached the sweet-16 plateau for the 1962 San Francisco Giants. Hubbell, in fact, reeled off an amazing 2- year string of 24 consecutive victories (two more than Face later compiled) in National League competition, winning his last 16 in 1936 and his first 8 in 1937. He was 26-6 in 1936 and 22-8 in 1937. Hubbell won 21 of his 24 games in starting roles while leading the New York Giants to consecutive pennants.

Several items are worthy of note in the accompanying tables. The year 1977 was only the second year since 1900 which failed to produce at least one streak in either league of 9 consecutive games. A total of four NL pitchers (Christenson and Lonborg of the Phils, John of the Dodgers, and Seaver of the Reds) and two AL hurlers (Guidry of the Yankees and Pattin of the Royals) put together 8-game streaks. The only previous year without a streak of at least 9 games was 1933, when Fred Frankhouse (16-15) of the Boston Braves and Earl Whitehill (22-8) of the Washington Senators paced their respective loops with streaks of only 8 wins.

Three leaders’ streaks represented all of their decisions in undefeated seasons. They are Joe Pate of the A’s (9-0 in 1926), Tom Zachary of the Yankees (12-0 in 1929), and co-leader Ken Holtzman, Chicago Cubs (9-0 in 1967). Pate, a rookie, won all 9 of his decisions in relief after becoming one of the greatest pitchers in Texas League history. He never won another major league game as he was let go by Philadelphia Manager Connie Mack after an 0-3 record in 1927. Zachary (who won 9 of his 12 decisions as a starter) was a journeyman who pitched for several teams in both leagues and is best-remembered for yielding Babe Ruth’s 60th home run in 1927. Holtzman spent much of that 1967 season in military service after the first month, occasionally pitching after that on weekend passes. Even that way he pitched more frequently than he did for the Yankees when he was fully available in 1977. Besides Pate, Zachary, and Holtzrnan, only one other major league pitcher had an undefeated season with 9 or more wins. He was Howie Krist, 10-0 in his first full major league season in 1941 for the St. Louis Cardi nals (6 of 10 wins in relief 0. Elmer Riddle of Cincinnati, also in his first full major league year, topped Krist to become the leader that year with a season-opening streak of 11 wins en route to a 17-4 record that year.

Burt Hooton of the 1975 L.A. Dodgers, a former Chicago Cub,  came out of nowhere to win his last 12 decisions-ironically becoming  the first NL pitcher to win an even dozen in a row since Dick Rudolph of the “Miracle” Boston Braves in 1914, a team which went from last  place on July 19th to a decisive pennant victory and an upset World Series win over Connie Mack’s Athletics in 4 straight games. Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies won 15 in a row in 1972 and was 27-10 for a team which had a won-lost mark of 59-97 – the worst record in the National League! Nothing gives a manager greater satisfaction than to send out a pitcher who he knows he can count on for a victory, even under adverse circumstances. Canton’s performance that year was among the all-time best.

Most of the streak leaders are pitchers whose names are easily recognizable as being standout hurlers, but there are many exceptions.  Ike Delock of the Boston Red Sox won his first 10 decisions in 1958 on his way to a 14-8 season, with his winning streak topping the efforts of such fine pitchers as Whitey Ford, Bob Turley, Billy Pierce, Jim Bunning, and Early Wynn. The same year in the NL, an even more obscure hurler named George Witt was 9-2 and he led the league with a 7-game winning streak in a lean streak year, during a season when Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, and Bob Friend were 20-game winners. Aside from 1958, Witt won only 2 other games in his major league career.  Yankee rookie Spec Shea led the American League with a mere 7-game streak in 1947.

Several relief pitchers were leaders or co-leaders in their leagues in various seasons. In the season when Face won 17 in a row in relief for Pittsburgh, another famous relief pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm led the American League with 9 consecutive wins. Wilhelm, however, was used primarily as a starting pitcher that year for Baltimore. Relief pitcher Luis Arroyo of the 1961 New York Yankees had a 12-game winning streak which is a one-season record for an AL relief pitcher. However, it does not appear in the accompanying tables since Whitey Ford, his teammate, won 14 consecutive games that season – several of them saved by Arroyo’s stellar relief work. Arroyo’s streak likely was overlooked that year because of the attention given Whitey Ford’s efforts to record 30 pitching wins or at least to exceed Lefty Gomez’ record of 26 for a Yankee lefty (Ford finished with 25 wins).

Besides the relief streaks of Face, Pate, and Arroyo, three other relief streaks seem worthy of mention. John (Eddie) Yuhas, a rookie relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals won his last 10 decisions in a 12-2 season in 1952 to set the rookie record, but was released after going 0-0 in 2 games in 1953-never to appear in the majors again. Clarence (Butch) Metzger tied the record by winning his first 10 decisions in an 11-4 season for San Diego NL in 1976. Besides Face, Pate, and Metzger, the only reliever whose streak led both leagues was Phil Regan, the “grease-ball” specialist, who won his last 13 decisions in a 14-1 season in 1966 to play a vital role in leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to the National League pennant. Speaking of the Dodgers, the top streaks by Sandy Koufax were his 11-game streaks in 1964 and 1965.

Preacher Roe of the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers had two 10-game streaks in his 22-3 season, the first one starting the season. The only other pitchers with two streaks of 10 or more games in the same season were Walter Johnson of the 1913 Washington Senators (10 and 14) and Dave (Boo) Ferriss of the 1946 Boston Red Sox (10 and 12). Johnson and Ferriss both started the season with their first streaks. Johnson was 36-7 in 1913 and Ferriss was 25-6 in a pennant-winning year where Boston won 41 of its first 50 games. Johnson was the leader or co-leader in top annual winning streaks a record total of five times, while Christy Mathewson, Whitey Ford, and Dave McNally led four times each.

Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals had the longest World Series winning streak, with 7 consecutive wins (all complete games) between 1964 and 1968. New York Yankee pitching greats Red Ruffing (1937-1942) and Lefty Gomez (1932-1 938) each had 6-game streaks. Gomez had a 6-0 won-lost record lifetime in the World Series; Ruffing and Gibson were each 7-2. Even though many volumes have been written about Babe Ruth, it has escaped prior notice that Ruth won his last 9 decisions as a pitcher – spread out over 15 years! The Babe won his last 4 decisions while finishing with a 9-5 record for the 1919 Boston Red Sox as a combination pitcher-outfielder. Ruth won all 5 games he pitched for the Yankees (1 in 1920, 2 in 1921, 1 in 1930, and 1 in 1933).

In the following tables, I have attempted to list the top winning streaks by pitchers in both leagues for each season since 1900. It must be noted that this was not always easy to do because of gaps in available data, and conflicting or unclear scoring rules prior to 1920. For example, the American League did not list pitchers’ wins and losses in its official day-to-day averages for 1913 to 1919 because League President Ban Johnson had felt that the won-lost stats were misleading.

Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants won 11 consecutive games in 1905, but the streak would be 16 games under present scoring rules. Mathewson was deprived of one victory when he relieved the Giant starter Luke Taylor after 3 innings and protected a 4-3 Giant lead vs. Chicago for the remainder of the game. In his previous start, he was charged with a defeat when a New York-Pittsburgh game was forfeited to Pittsburgh in the 9th inning with the score tied 5-5 when the Giants left the field and refused to return soon enough after protesting an umpire’s decision. Under today’s scoring rules, a starter must pitch at least 5 innings for a win (which Taylor did not do), and no defeats are charged in forfeits to pitchers unless the team which is the victim is trailing in the game. Thus Mathewson, who was 31-9 in 1905, would be 32-8 under today’s rules, besides having a 16-game streak instead of 11 games.

Also, Rube Marquard’s 19-game streak in 1912 would be 20 under today’s rules. Marquard relieved in the top of the 9th inning vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers in a game where the Giants led 2-1. Two baserunners who were previously on base scored on a Giant fielding error, and they trailed 3-2. Though the Giants rallied to win 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th, the win went to Giant starter Jeff Tesreau (who pitched 8 innings plus part of the 9th) under the scoring practices of the day. Also, Tim Keefe in his 19-game streak of 1888, started and hurled only 2 innings in one of his victories.

Here is the annual list of pitchers’ winning streak leaders in each major league since 1900 based on the best information available:

LONGEST WINNING STREAKS BY PITCHERS, EACH SEASON (1900-1977)

Note: (S) denotes that the streak started the season.

(F) denotes that the streak ended the season.

(R) denotes that the entire streak was in relief.

We’ve all seen them. Game-ending or “walk-off” home runs are shown on SportsCenter almost every night and many fans consider them to be among the most exciting plays in baseball. Of course, there are other ways to “walk off” the field. Some readers may recall Pirate pitcher Bob Moose’s walk-off wild pitch that scored George Foster to give the Reds the 1972 National League pennant, the walk-off walk by Andruw Jones off the Mets’ Kenny Rogers that won the deciding game of the 1999 NLCS for the Braves, and the unforgettable walk-off error by the Red Sox’s Bill Buckner in game six of the 1986 World Series.

Of all the ways a game-ending run may score, perhaps the most unexpected is by the steal of home. An adventuresome base runner using the element of surprise can win a game in a sudden and dramatic fashion. Chances are that you have not witnessed a major league walk-off steal. There have been only three in the past 31 seasons.

This author was fortunate enough to be in the stands at Royals Stadium (as it was then known) in Kansas City on August 17, 1976, as Hall of Famer George Brett broke from third as Indians reliever Dave LaRoche wound up in the 10th inning of a 3-3 game. Brett was two-thirds of the way to the plate before LaRoche noticed him and easily slid in under the pitch to score the winning run.1

Since 1901, there have been 35 game-ending steals of home in the major leagues, but only eight in the post-1960 expansion era. The busiest decade was the 1930s with seven. There was just a single gameending steal in the 1980s, one more in the 1990s and none so far in the 21st century.

A few of the game-winning steals were executed by established base stealers. Rod Carew, Marquis Grissom, and Willie Davis all turned the trick, although Ty Cobb, the all-time leader in steals of home with 54, Rickey Henderson, the all-time stolen base leader (1,406 total steals but just four steals of home) and Jackie Robinson (19 steals of home), never accomplished the feat.

Three years removed from the 1969 season in which he stole home seven times (though none were game winners), Carew surprised the Indians with a 10th inning game-winning steal against reliever Ed Farmer on September 1, 1972.2 Carew finished his Hall of Fame career with 17 steals of home, the most for any player with a walk-off steal.

Grissom, then with the Indians, was on third with one out in the 12th inning of a 1-1 game in game three of the 1997 ALCS against the Orioles. With Omar Vizquel at the plate, the Indians attempted to squeeze home the winning run. Randy Myers’ pitch was in the dirt and scooted past catcher Lenny Webster as Grissom scored.3 The play was originally scored as a passed ball, and fans left Jacobs Field not knowing that they had witnessed something much more historic. The following day, citing rule 10.08(a), the official scorer changed the play and credited Grissom with a game-ending steal.4

Of the 35 walk-off steals of home, 22 have occurred in extra innings. This may suggest that once a game goes into extra frames, it would be more likely that an intrepid base runner would attempt to win the game, but considering that walk-off steals can only happen in the ninth or later innings, the fact that 37% of them have occurred in the ninth inning suggests that the inning in which a courageous runner takes matters into his own hands is really not a factor.

Former Dodger Willie Davis holds the record for the latest game-winning steal of home, having used his legs to end a 16-inning game against the Phillies on September 19, 1964. In the 14th inning, Phillies outfielder Johnny Callison was caught stealing home when shortstop Bobby Wine failed to get the ball down on an attempted squeeze play, setting the stage for Davis to win the game two innings later. Davis reached on a two-out single, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch, then raced home with the winner.5

That a player like Carew, with a history of stealing bases and stealing home, would pull off a game-winning steal is not terribly surprising, but there have been a few game-enders that were surprising even to the players that completed them. Six players that won a game by stealing home finished that season with fewer than five stolen bases. Two players that accomplished the feat finished their careers with fewer than five stolen bases.

Huck Geary played in just 55 major league games for the Pirates in 1942 and 1943, finishing with a career average of .160 and three stolen bases. In the 14th inning of a game against the Boston Braves on June 1, 1943, Geary was on third with the bases loaded and one out when he raced for the plate and scored under the tag of catcher Hugh Poland, giving Pittsburgh a 5-4 decision.

Glenn Brummer played for the Cardinals and Rangers in 1981-85, never appearing in more than 49 games in any season. Brummer, never mistaken for some of the speedsters on the St. Louis clubs of that era, stole just two bases during the 1982 season, finishing his career with four. Brummer entered the August 22, 1982, game against the Giants as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning and remained in the game to catch. After striking out in the 10th, Brummer singled to left in the 12th for his first hit since July 16. He advanced to second on a single and to third on an infield hit.

With two out and a 1-2 count on David Green, Brummer, noticing that Giants lefty pitcher Gary Lavelle was not paying attention to him, broke for the plate and slid under the tag of catcher Milt May, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 victory. The Giants argued that home plate umpire Dave Pallone had not called the pitch. Had it been a strike, the inning would have been over and the run would not have counted. Pallone indicated that he had, in fact, called the pitch a ball and thus the game was over. Brummer, apparently as surprised as anyone, remarked, “No one would have ever thought I would steal home in the major leagues, including me, especially to win a ball game.”6

Seven Hall of Famers have pulled off game-ending steals. In addition to the aforementioned Brett and Carew, Frank Chance of the Cubs, Tony Lazzeri of the Yankees, Al Lopez, of the Dodgers and Eddie Murray of the Orioles all took matters into their own hands to bring a game to conclusion. The seventh Hall of Famer isn’t enshrined in Cooperstown with the others. Instead, Jim Thorpe’s plaque is mounted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Thorpe played parts of six  seasons  with  the New York Giants, Boston Braves, and Cincinnati Reds between 1913-19, appearing in just 289 games with a lifetime batting average of .252. Thorpe stole only 29 bases in his career, but the one on June 5, 1918, was the most memorable. With runners on first and third and two out, teammate Jose Rodriguez broke for second as Thorpe delayed a break for home. As Joe Wilhoit swung at and missed Pirate pitcher Wilbur Cooper’s first offering, Thorpe made his move. Catcher Walter Schmidt, bluffing a throw to second, fired the ball to Cooper, who inexplicably threw behind Thorpe to third baseman Bill McKechnie. McKechnie’s hurried throw home was in the dirt as Thorpe scored the game winner.7

With over 169,000 regular and post-season games played since 1901 and only 35 game-ending steals, it would seem unlikely that any player or pitcher would be involved in more than one. Wally Moses played 17 seasons for the Athletics, White Sox, and Red Sox, stealing a total of 174 bases, although he only stole six in 1940. On August 20 of that year, Moses beat the White Sox when he took advantage of a slow windup by Sox pitcher Thornton “Lefty” Lee to slide in with the winner in the 10th inning.8

Demonstrating that practice makes perfect, Moses became the only player in major league history to execute a second game-ending steal of home when he won a 14-inning game for the White Sox against Boston on July 7, 1943. Moses’s steal was so unexpected that Irving Vaughan’s game account in the Chicago Tribune stated that Moses was nearly in his slide before Red Sox pitcher Mace Brown had released the pitch.9

While Moses “perfected” the art of the walk-off steal, a pitcher whose career is most remembered for giving up a World Series home run is the only hurler to be on the mound for not one but two game-ending steals of home. Charlie Root spent 16 of his 17 major league seasons pitching for the Chicago Cubs and is most noted for giving up Babe Ruth’s legendary “called shot” in the 1932 World Series. Root entered the July 2, 1933, game against the Dodgers in the ninth inning in relief of starter Lon Warneke, attempting to preserve a 3-2 lead. After Brooklyn tied the game on a single by Ralph Boyle, Al Lopez clinched a doubleheader sweep for the Dodgers with a two-out theft under the tag of Cub catcher Gabby Hartnett.10

Root faced a similar situation six seasons later. On June 1, 1939, again against Brooklyn at Ebbets Field, Root entered the game in the eighth and held the Dodgers hitless until Gene Moore tripled with one out in the 14th inning. After two intentional walks, Root faced shortstop Leo Durocher. With the squeeze on, Durocher failed to make contact with Root’s offering but catcher Bob Garbark couldn’t hold the ball and by the time he recovered, Moore had scored the winning run.11 That game also featured a triple play, executed by the Dodgers in the 12th inning. Remarkably this was not the only game that featured both a walk-off steal and a triple play.

Pat McNulty, who spent five seasons with the Indians, had a game to remember on June 11, 1924. With McNulty on second and Charlie Jamieson on first in the fourth inning, Tris Speaker lined to Red Sox first baseman Howie Shanks, who stepped on the bag to double Jamieson, then threw to shortstop Dud Lee, doubling McNulty and completing the triple play. McNulty’s fortunes took a turn for the better when he tallied the winning run with a two-out steal of home in the 11th giving the Indians a 3-2 victory.12

Perhaps the most startling game-ending steal of home was by the Cleveland Indians’ Vic Power on August 14, 1958. Power played 12 seasons for four clubs and in 1958 split time between the Indians and Kansas City Athletics. Power was not a serious threat on the base paths, stealing just 45 bases while being caught 35 times during his career. He stole just two bases for the Indians in 1958. What made Power’s feat so remarkable was that those two stolen bases both occurred in the same game, and they were both steals of home! Power stole home in the eighth inning to give the Indians a 9-7 lead over the Tigers, and after Detroit tied the game in the ninth, Power won the game for the Tribe with a two-out steal in the 10th off Frank Lary. Power remains the only player since 1927 to steal home twice in the same game.13

No one can deny that the game has changed in recent decades. Unlike the years prior to the 1980s, starting pitchers now rarely pitch into the ninth inning (or later) when fatigue may result in a loss of concentration on base runners. Starters often do not pitch from the windup with runners on third, as in years past, and most relievers regularly pitch from the stretch position regardless of runners on base. Coupled with players making multimillion-dollar salaries unwilling to risk a three-way collision with ball and bat at home plate and so many managers managing “by the book,” the chances of the average fan seeing any straight steals of home, never mind a game ender, simply aren’t as great as in years past. Considering that the last game-ending straight steal of home occurred 25 years ago, it is possible that arguably the most exciting play in baseball history may have gone the way of the dinosaur.

(Click image to enlarge)

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to acknowledge the following SABR members who provided consultation and/or research assistance to the game-ending steals of home project: Lyle Spatz, Chuck Rosciam, Tom Ruane, Bill Deane, Jim Smith, Bill Gilbert, Monte Cely, Norman Macht, Gilbert Martinez, Patrick Gallagher, John Delahanty, Rod Nelson, Frank Vaccaro, and Jim Sweetman. Special thanks to Dave Smith. Without Retrosheet, this research would have been virtually impossible.

Notes

1. “Brett Steals One for the Royals, 4-3,” Los Angeles Times, August 18, 1976.
2. “Twins Edge Tribe,” Washington Post, September 2, 1972.
3. Jack Curry, “Indians Defeat the Orioles in a Wild One on a Disputed Passed Ball in the 12th,” New York Times, October 12, 1997.
4. “Game 3 Scorer Makes Change,” New York Times, October 13, 1997.
5. “W. Davis Steals Home in 16th to Beat Phils,” Chicago Tribune, September 20, 1964.
6. Washington Post, August 23, 1982.
7. “Giants Crash Their Way to Victory Over Pirates by a Ninth-Inning Rally,” New York Times, June 6, 1918.
8. Irving Vaughan, “White Sox beat A’s in 9th, 6-1; Lose in 10th, 4-3,” Chicago Daily Tribune, August 21, 1940.
9. Irving Vaughan, “Moses Steals Home in 14th; Sox Defeat Boston, 3-2,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 8, 1943.
10. Roscoe “Dodgers Take Two from Cubs, 7-3, 4-3,” New York Times, July 3, 1933.
11. Edward Burns, “Dodgers Beat Cubs in 14th, 3-2; Make Triple ” Chicago Daily Tribune, June 2, 1939.
12. “Steal by M’Nulty Wins for Indians,” New York Times, June 15, 1924.
13. “Stealing Home Base Records,” Baseball Almanac, https://baseballalmanac.com/recbooks/rb_stbah.shtml.

A National League players’ strike, instigated by some of the St. Louis Cardinals, against the presence in the league of Jackie Robinson, Negro first baseman, has been averted temporarily and perhaps permanently quashed.

WARREN CORBETT is the author of “The Wizard of Waxahachie: Paul Richards and the End of Baseball as We Knew It,” and a contributor to SABR’s BioProject. He became a baseball fan when he saw Jackie Robinson dancing off base on a snowy black-and-white TV set. This article was selected as a winner of the 2018 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award.

Yom Kippur in the Hebrew Year 5780 (sundown Tuesday, October 8, 2019, through sundown Wednesday, October 9, 2019) offered a unique exhibit in that debate. Three Major League Division Series games began within that 24-hour period. One team in each game featured a Jewish player as star or significant contributor. Each Jewish player appeared in the game. Each team lost.

On Tuesday evening (during Kol Nidre, the beginning of the holy day), the Houston Astros lost Game Four of their best-of-five American League Division Series to the Tampa Bay Rays. Alex Bregman, the Astros star third baseman, played and went 1-for-4. But the Astros allowed three first-inning runs and never were in the game. The loss forced a deciding fifth game, played two days later following an off-day on Yom Kippur.

At 5:02 pm EDT Wednesday (around the start of Neilah, the service that closes the holy day), the Atlanta Braves began a deciding Game Five of their NLDS, surrendering a postseason record 10 first-inning runs in a 13-1 loss. Braves left-hander Max Fried did not start but was pressed into first-inning relief; he surrendered four earned runs in less than two innings of work.

At 5:38 pm PDT Wednesday, before the holy day ended with the blowing of the shofar and breaking of fasts with bagels and kugel, the Los Angeles Dodgers began Game Five of their NLDS against eventual World Series champion Washington Nationals. Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson started and hit what appeared to be a first-inning homer, although video review showed the ball traveled through a hole in — rather than over — the fence for a ground-rule double. Pederson scored on a subsequent first-inning homer, so no harm/no foul, except for his statistics. The Dodgers surrendered a two-run lead in the eighth inning and allowed four in the 10th to lose the game and the series.

Journalist Armin Rosen labeled this the “Koufax Curse.”3 It is the curse of the Jewish player who plays on Yom Kippur, rather than following in the footsteps of Dodgers Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax, who did not pitch Game One of the 1965 World Series on Yom Kippur 5726.4 Koufax is not alone in his actions (or inactions) among Jewish players. Hank Greenberg skipped a Yom Kippur game during a pennant race in September 1934.5 Shawn Green and Kevin Youkilis earned praise for skipping multiple Yom Kippur games during their careers. But the practice, and thus the curse, remain wedded to Koufax — whether because of his special greatness, that he missed a World Series game, or recency bias.6

Rosen acknowledges that “it’s a theological stretch to claim that there’s some kind of Koufax curse at work whereby Hashem punishes teams whose star Jewish players don’t sit out on Yom Kippur. That would be an absurd and completely nondisprovable thing to assert. Why would Yom Kippur observance be the determinative factor in a baseball game? Surely Hashem isn’t that petty.”7

But correlation does not require causation. There might be a Koufax Curse in the sense of diminished performance by Jewish players and their teams — whether the cause be divine will, Jewish guilt, regression to the mean, or the nature of baseball as a game of failure.

If there is a Koufax Curse, it finds fertile haunting ground in Jewish baseball’s new gilten alter (golden age).8 Fifteen Jewish players spent all or part of 2019 in the major leagues.9 Their ranks included several regulars who contributed significantly to their teams, and an All-Star and American League MVP runner-up in Alex Bregman. Thirteen spent all or part of the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season in the majors, including five regulars and a star starting pitcher. The last four World Series have featured at least one Jewish player. The 2017 (Bregman and Pederson), 2018 (Pederson and Ian Kinsler of the Red Sox), and 2020 Series (Pederson and Ryan Sherriff of the Rays) featured one Jewish player on each team, including the first game in which each team started a Jewish player and the first Series (2017) in which multiple Jewish players homered.10 Pederson and Bregman have each hit five World Series home runs, most among Jewish players. The two also staged an epic one-on-one contest in the first round of the 2019 Home Run Derby.

This renewal follows a fallow period from the late 1970s to early 1990s, during which the few Jewish players were non-starters.11 Green arguably launched the renaissance when he emerged as a star outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1995, the best Jewish player since pitcher Ken Holtzman in the 1970s; the attention on Green included invitations to Bar Mitzvahs in the Toronto area.12 Numerous Jewish stars and everyday players have followed in the past three decades.

A legacy Jewish press has always covered Jewish athletes wherever they could be found.13 Jewish-issues publications, such as The Forward and Tablet Magazine, publish stories on Jewish baseball players.14 But new sites such as the online Jewish Baseball News, the Jewish Baseball Museum, and the tongue-in-cheek generalist site Jew or Not Jew, which includes a section on athletes, have arisen to report on this emerging topic.15 The result is a perfect confluence — many Jewish baseball players to talk about and many outlets in which to talk about them. And an annual topic remains what Jewish baseball players do or do not do — and should or should not do — on Yom Kippur.16

Rosen is correct that Hashem is not so petty as to smite Jewish players with poor performance if they play on the holy day.17 But a correlative question remains: How do Jewish players, and the teams that employ them, perform when they play or choose not to play on Yom Kippur?

This article identifies 36 Jewish players — 18 nonpitchers and 18 pitchers — since 1966/5727, the year after Koufax sat during the World Series. Through box scores from Yom Kippur games for each season of their careers, it explores whether they played on any part of the holy day and charts how they and their teams performed. It conducts the same analysis for Rod Carew, the Hall of Famer who is not Jewish but enjoys a unique familial and cultural connection to Judaism-in-baseball. From this, we can draw conclusions about whether players or teams are haunted by the Koufax Curse. And whether Yom Kippur 5780 was an anomaly or reflects a broader historical correlation since 1966.

1. Identifying the Koufax Curse

A. The Players

Koufax’s 1965 non-start stands as the watershed event in Jewish baseball.18 This study thus begins in 1966 (Yom Kippur 5727) — the beginning point for any “curse” upon Jewish players who would fail to follow Koufax’s lead.

Given the importance of the number 18 in Judaism as the numerical representation of life, that number frames the study.19 I identify 18 nonpitchers and 18 pitchers since 1966 with at least one Jewish parent and who self-identified to some degree with their Jewish heritage.20 Players are listed in chronological order from their debuts. (As noted, the 1980s were a fallow period for star Jewish players, leaving a bit of gap between starters of the 1970s and the revival in the 1990s and early 2000s.)

Nonpitchers

• Mike Epstein: 1B: 1966-74 (Bal; Was;21 Oak; Tex; Cal)
• Ron Blomberg: 1B/OF/DH: 1969-78: (NYY, ChW)
• Bob Melvin: C: 1985-94 (Det; SF; Bal; KC; Bos; NYY; ChW)
• Ruben Amaro, Jr.: OF: 1991-98 (Cal; Phi; Cle)
• Brad Ausmus: C: 1993-2010: (SD; Det; Hou; LAD)
• Shawn Green: OF: 1993-2007 (Tor; LAD; Ari; NYM)
• Mike Lieberthal: C: 1994-2007 (Phi; LAD)
• Gabe Kapler: OF: 1998-2010 (Det; Tex; Col; Bos; Mil; Tam)
• Kevin Youkilis: 1B/3B: 2004-13 (Bos; ChW; NYY)
• Ian Kinsler: 2B: 2006-2019 (Tex; Det; LAA; Bos; SD)
• Sam Fuld: OF: 2007-15 (ChC; Tam; Oak; Min)
• Ryan Braun: OF: 2007-Present (Mil)
• Ike Davis: 1B: 2010-16 (NYM; Pit; Oak; NYY)
• Danny Valencia: 3B/1B/OF: 2010-18 (Min; Bos; Bal; KC; Tor; Oak; Sea)
• Kevin Pillar: OF: 2013-Present (Tor; SF; Bos; Col)
• Joc Pederson: OF: 2014-Present (LAD)
• Alex Bregman: 3d: 2016-Present (Hou)
• Rowdy Tellez: 1B/DH: 2018-Present (Tor)

Among nonpitchers, five remain active as everyday players. Most enjoyed at least a few seasons as regular or semi-regular players, appearing in 110 or more games with 400 or more plate appearances. Several enjoyed (or continue to enjoy) lengthy careers.

The best in the group are Green (two-time All Star, third in home runs by a Jewish player); Youkilis (three-time All Star, Gold Glove first baseman, key player on two championship teams); Kinsler (four-time All Star, two-time Gold Glove infielder, played in three World Series); and Braun (six-time All Star, 2007 Rookie of the Year, 2011 MVP, career leader in home runs by a Jewish player with 35222).

None is likely to make the Hall of Fame; Green fell off the ballot after receiving two votes in his first year of eligibility, and Youkilis received no votes in his first year of eligibility in 2019.23 Epstein hit at least 19 home runs in four consecutive seasons, including as the starting first baseman for the 1972 World Series champion A’s. Pederson has topped 24 homers four times, including 36 in 2019, and has hit five World Series home runs. Blomberg claims the historic achievement of being the first designated hitter, drawing a first-inning walk on Opening Day 1973. Bregman could become the best of the group — at 26, he has played five seasons, made two All-Star teams, finished second in the 2019 MVP balloting, and hit five World Series home runs.

Pitchers

• Ken Holtzman: (S) 1965-79 (ChC; Oak; Bal; NYY)
• Dave Roberts (S) 1969-81 (SD; Hou; Det; ChC; SF; Pit; Sea; NYM)
• Steve Stone: (S) 1971-81 (SF; ChW; ChC; Bal)
• Ross Baumgarten (S) 1978-82 (ChW; Pit)
• Jose Bautista (S/R) 1988-97 (Bal; ChC; SF; Det; St.L)
• Steve Rosenberg (S/R) 1988-91 (ChW; SDP)
• Scott Radinsky (R) 1990-2001 (ChW; LA; ST.L; Cle)
• Andrew Lorraine (R/S) 1994-2002 (Cal; ChW; Oak; Sea; ChC; Cle; Mil)
• Al Levine (R) 1996-2005 (ChW; Tex; Ana; Tam; KC; Det; SF)
• Scott Schoeneweis (R) 1999-2010 (Ana; ChW; Tor; Cin; NYM; Ari; Bos)
• Jason Marquis: (S) 2000-15 (Atl; StL; ChC; Col; Was; Ari; Min; SD; Cin)
• Justin Wayne (R/S) 2002-04 (Fla)
• John Grabow (R) 2003-11 (Pit; ChC)
• Craig Breslow: (R): 2005-17: (SD; Bos Cle; Min; Oak; Ari; Mia)
• Scott Feldman: (S/R) 2005-17 (Tex; ChC; Bal; Hou; Tor; Cin)
• Dylan Axelrod (R) 2011-15 (ChW; Cin)
• Richard Bleier (R) 2016-Present (NYY; Bal; Mia)
• Max Fried: (S) 2017-Present (Atl)

The pitchers form a less-elite group. Holtzman, Roberts, Stone, Feldman, Marquis, Baumgarten, and Fried spent the majority of their careers as starters; the first five occupy half the spots on the list of top-10 winningest Jewish pitchers. The remainder were spot- and middle-relievers who started the occasional game, some enjoying lengthy careers in this role for multiple teams.24

Holtzman pitched two no-hitters, made two All-Star teams, and won 174 games (nine more than Koufax) in fifteen seasons; he was the third starter on the three-time World Series champion A’s of the mid-’70s. (He also hit the lone World Series home run by a Jewish player in the long gap between Greenberg in 1945 and Bregman and Pederson in 2017). Stone won the AL Cy Young Award in 1980 (the only Jewish Cy Young winner other than Koufax), going 25-7. Holtzman (1970) and Roberts (1971) had better seasons measured by WAR and other metrics. In addition to a decade-plus career as a middle-reliever (including pitching 61 games for the 2013 World Series champion Red Sox), Breslow attended Yale and considered becoming a doctor before pursuing a life in baseball.25

Two pitchers remain active through the shortened 2020 season. Fried won 17 games with a 4.02 ERA and 173 strikeouts in his first season as a full-time starter in 2019, then went 7–0 with a 2.25 ERA in the COVID-19-shortened 2020. Bleier has been an effective reliever since 2017, sporting a 9-2 lifetime record with four saves.

B. The Jewish Narrative

Many of these players were known among teammates, fans, and media for their Judaism during their careers. Epstein carried the nickname “Super Jew;” one writer described him as “Mickey Mantle bred on blintzes and gefilte fish.” Epstein’s A’s teammate Holtzman became known as “Jew” or “Regular Jew.” Following the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, both sported black fabric strips on their uniforms.26 As mentioned, Green received invitations to Bar Mitzvahs in the Toronto area.27 Other players describe invitations to people’s homes for Shabbat and High Holy Days.28 Bregman’s Judaism is a flashpoint for a segment vested in his continuing development into greatness.29

Using 1966 as the starting point, the story opens with an adjacent game. Yom Kippur fell on Saturday in late September. Koufax pushed his start against the Cubs to Sunday afternoon. His opponent was Holtzman, a rookie left-hander who had pushed his own start back after telling his manager that he observed the holy days. The rookie Jewish pitcher outdueled the greatest Jewish pitcher, pitching a two-hit complete game with eight strikeouts in a 2–1 victory; Koufax gave up four hits and struck out five in his last regular-season loss before retiring following the season.30 Holtzman’s mother had hoped both would earn no-decisions so neither Jewish pitcher would lose.31

There is a generational divide among the players. Holtzman never pitched on Yom Kippur. Blomberg sat out Kol Nidre games in 1971 and 1974 and made clear early in his career that he could not and would not play on the holy day.32 Epstein played following the end of Yom Kippur as a late-season call-up in 1966, and sat out a late-season afternoon game in 1971 as the starting first baseman for a division champion after it had clinched the title.

Green’s emergence in the mid-90s as the first Jewish star in a quarter century reignited the Yom Kippur debate. The play-or-not question gained strength because it focused on a high-profile star, someone central to his team’s success and expected to play every day. Green endured greater scrutiny and criticism on the subject than did his contemporaries; greater pressure to follow earlier stars such as Greenberg, Al Rosen, and Koufax in not playing; and more explicit suggestions that by playing he had failed as a Jew.33 Green picked his spots. He did not play on Kol Nidre 5762 (in 2001), the holy day falling several weeks after 9/11. He split the difference in 2004, playing on Kol Nidre and sitting the following afternoon, while doing the converse in 2007.

Youkilis is most consistent among recent players, sitting multiple Kol Nidre games, as well as a two-game evening/day combination in 2007. Bautista started a game on Kol Nidre during his rookie year but would not attend Yom Kippur games the remainder of his career.34 Lorraine and Breslow attended games, were in uniform, and were available to pitch. Lorraine attended services in the morning before going to the park.35 Breslow fasted.36 Breslow said that appearing at the park “weighed heavily” on him, but he could not shake the belief that as a non-star player he lacked leverage to demand the day off.37

But no current player — in particular no current star player — talks about sitting on the holy day. Kinsler played every Yom Kippur on which his team had a game. No news stories raised the prospect of Bregman, Pederson, or Fried not playing or not being available in those 2019 Division Series games and none made an issue of their playing.38

This narrative must account for the fact that most of these players — current and past — are not religiously observant, especially the several from mixed marriages. Epstein was unique in this respect, announcing “I put on tefillin at different shuls in different cities. I was Bar Mitzvahed. I can read Hebrew. I’m a Jew.”39 Game One of the 1973 ALCS between the A’s and Orioles fell on Yom Kippur 5734; Holtzman, not scheduled to pitch for the A’s, attended synagogue in Baltimore with the Orioles owner.40 Greenberg attended synagogue in 1934 and received a standing ovation; he described it as one of the times in his life he felt like a hero.41 Bautista and Holtzman were observant and maintained kosher homes.42

Among recent players, many had Bar Mitzvahs (among them Bleier, Bregman, Fried, Lorraine, and Youkilis) and most express deep pride in their Jewish heritage. Green’s father said that baseball placed his son in touch with his Judaism.43 Many have played for Israel in the World Baseball Classic or the Olympics, including Kinsler, who relocated to Israel upon his 2020 retirement.44

But not playing on the holy day lacks force for these players, even those raised in the shadow of Koufax and for whom High Holy Day attendance was part of their Jewish upbringing.45 Kinsler described celebrating Passover and Chanukah with his Jewish father’s side of the family and embraced that part of his identity, but did not practice Jewish rituals, including observing the holy days.46 Explaining his decision to play on Kol Nidre in 2004 (a game for which his rookie teammate Youkilis dressed but did not play), Gabe Kapler said it made no sense for him to miss one important game on one day when he was not religiously observant 364 days of the year. While expressing pride in his Jewishness and welcoming the chance to serve as a role model as a Jewish athlete, sitting out the game was not part of that identity.

David Leonard argues that the will-he-play question evolves as Jews gain greater acceptance in US society and anti-Semitism decreases.47 This works in conflicting directions. On one hand, by not playing, Greenberg and Koufax — operating in eras of greater and more explicit anti-Semitism in which Jews occupied a more tenuous space in American society48 — made it safe to express Jewish identity.49 On the other, Greenberg and Koufax rendered it unnecessary for current players to demonstrate that identity by not playing; Judaism is part of them and they can move through baseball and American society without calling attention to it. Even recent upticks in anti-Semitism seem unlikely to manifest in widespread criticism of a Jewish player who chooses not to play on Yom Kippur.50

2. The Koufax Curse by the Numbers

This part turns to the numbers, for teams and players. The sample of players in the study is naturally limited. The number of Jewish major leaguers is small, which is why it is the subject of many books.51 Howard Megdal wrote that, as of 2008, fewer than 160 Jews, broadly defined, have played in the majors, representing less than one percent of players in MLB history. Focusing on a subset of 18 nonpitchers and 18 pitchers — rather than looking at every Jewish-identifying player — further shrinks the sample, while centering it on players more likely to play in a typical game.

The sample of games also is naturally limited. Jewish holy days run from sundown to sundown, so the study focuses on two days and, at most, two games each season. Teams may have no games scheduled on Yom Kippur.

Following the Hebrew calendar, I treat three categories of games as “on” Yom Kippur: 1) evening, when Kol Nidre and the fast have begun; 2) during daylight the following day, which I define as beginning before 6:00 p.m.; and 3) first pitch between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. the following evening, beginning as the holy day is ending for some number of Jews but finishing after its conclusion.

A. Team Records

The first consideration is team success when Jewish players play. The events of 2019 were striking less because of the performance of three Jewish players than for the fact that all teams lost, two of them series-deciding games.52

Table 1 shows team performance when Jewish players play, broken by three classes of Yom Kippur games and all holy-day games. In the “Team W-L” column, the larger record is for all players, while parentheses show records when the Jewish player is a pitcher.

In 120 games, teams are 53–67 when a Jewish player plays at any point on Yom Kippur, 14 games below .500 — ten games under on Kol Nidre, five games under before sundown the following day, and one game over in games played as or after the holy day is ending. This is a .442 winning average, projecting to a 71-91 record in a 162-game season. Teams won six of 23 games in which the Jewish player is a pitcher, a .261 winning average.

Teams had a –114 run differential when Jewish players played, including a –61 differential on Kol Nidre and a –40 differential at the end of the holy day. Interestingly, teams outperformed that run differential. A team with those numbers of runs scored and allowed expects to win 47 of 120 games (.392 winning average), six fewer than teams won.

Table 2 shows team records when Jewish nonpitchers (excluding pitchers) do not play on Yom Kippur, whether for religious or other reasons.

Teams remain two games below .500 on Kol Nidre and one game below during Yom Kippur day. But the record jumps to ten games above .500 in after-holy-day evening games. This produces a total of seven games over .500 in about half the number of games.

B. Nonpitchers

1. Total Statistics

Table 3 shows combined performance for the 18 nonpitchers in the study, again broken by three categories of games, all holy-day games, and careers.

As a group, nonpitchers match combined career batting average and OPS for all holy-day games. They significantly out-perform on Kol Nidre — surprising, given team records in those games. Only in Yom Kippur day games, the smallest of the three categories, do they under-perform career numbers to a significant degree. Power and run-production numbers are not great, but the sample size is small.

Ninety-seven games represent 59.9 % of one season. Imagining these as the statistics for one Jewish nonpitcher (call him “Moses”), Table 4 projects Yom Kippur performance for a 162-game season.

Moses finishes a full season with a .267 average, .776 OPS, with 120 hits, a modest 17 home runs, 58 RBI, a slash line of .267/.343/.433, and more strikeouts than walks.

2. Individual Statistics

Appendix A shows career performance for the 18 nonpitchers, listed in chronological order of MLB debut.54 For each player, it lists performance in the three categories of games, all holy-day games, and career.

Kinsler (15), Ausmus (12), and Braun (10) have played the most games, a reminder of the small sample size. Ausmus significantly outperformed his career stats on Kol Nidre. Kinsler hit well in eight end-of-holy-day games, but otherwise under-performed his career numbers for the full holy day.

Youkilis never played on Kol Nidre or during the day, but went 2-for-3 with two home runs and 3 RBIs in a 2009 post-fast loss. Pillar provides the standout game, going 3-for-3 with a solo home run in 2015 (Kol Nidre 5776) in a loss. Epstein played at the end of the holy day as a late-season call-up in 1966, going 2-for-4 with a triple and 3 RBIs.

In 2004, Green played on Kol Nidre 5765 so he could sit the following afternoon; he went 1-for-3 with a two-run home run in an important late-season victory. Bregman played two Yom Kippur games in 2017. On Kol Nidre, he went 3-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs in a late-season 3-2 win; the following afternoon he went 0-for-4 in a loss.

As a rookie in 2010 (5771), Valencia enjoyed the best overall Yom Kippur. On Kol Nidre, he went 2-for-3 with a solo home run, the lone run for his Twins in a loss. The following afternoon, he went 2-for-4 with a home run, driving in three of the team’s four runs in a victory. Valencia arguably enjoyed the best Yom Kippur career, with eight hits, including two home runs, five walks, and seven runs batted in in eight games.

C. Pitchers

1. Total Statistics

Table 5 shows combined performance for the eighteen pitchers in the study.

Pitchers provide a smaller sample than nonpitchers, with fewer games and fewer innings pitched. Eighteen of 23 Yom Kippur appearances were in relief, the average appearance lasting two innings. A Jewish pitcher earned a decision in five games in which any Jewish pitcher appeared, going 2-3; the win or loss was charged to a different, non-Jewish pitcher in 18 games. There was one save earned.

The sample size for pitchers is too small to extrapolate over a full season.

2. Individual Statistics

Appendix B (below) shows career performance for the 18 pitchers, listed in chronological order of MLB debut.56 The first parenthetical indicates whether he threw lefty or righty; the second indicates starter, reliever, or both.

Breslow made the most appearances with four, all in relief, followed by three for Marquis (two starts) and for Roberts (all in relief). Four pitchers on the list never appeared on the holy day, although only Holtzman appears to have done so as a religious decision, as opposed to not being needed.

The best combined pitching performance occurred in 1980 (Yom Kippur 5741). On Kol Nidre, Baumgarten surrendered one earned run on five hits with four strikeouts in seven innings and left with a 3-2 lead; he earned no decision when the bullpen surrendered the lead. As the holy day ended 24 hours later, Stone surrendered one run on six hits in eight innings, striking out five in a win, continuing his dream season.

Marquis earned the other win in 2001 (Kol Nidre 5762), allowing one run on five hits in six innings. Schoeneweis earned the lone save in the study, striking out three of the four batters he faced to preserve a 2007 (Kol Nidre 5768) win. Breslow never allowed a run and struck out five of his seven outs — an impressive performance considering he fasted.

The three losses reflect poor outings. Marquis surrendered six runs on six hits in 1/3 of an inning in a 2010 (Kol Nidre 5771) loss. Levine surrendered the winning run on three hits in the bottom of the ninth in relief in a 2002 end-of-holy-day game (Yom Kippur 5763). Bautista lost the only Yom Kippur game he pitched in 1988 (Kol Nidre 5749) — five runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Several poor relief performances have come in games that the team trailed, resulting in a team loss but no decision. Fried surrendered four runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings in his 2019 playoff game, but the Braves trailed 4–0 before Fried entered in the first inning of an eventual 13-1 loss. Radinsky surrendered two hits, three walks, and four earned runs in less than one inning in 1990, but his White Sox trailed 7-4 on the way to a 13-4 loss.

D. The Special Case of Rod Carew

Preliminary discussions with colleagues about this article and the players to include in the study precipitated a miniature debate: What of Rod Carew, the Hall of Fame infielder for the Minnesota Twins and California Angels from 1967–85? Carew occupies a unique space in the conversation about Jews and baseball, earning him a unique space in this study.

Were Carew Jewish, he would be on the Mount Rushmore of Jewish players (Mount Sinai?) with Koufax and Greenberg, while perhaps waiting for Bregman to fulfill his potential and form a quartet. Although he lacked power, Carew was among the best hitters of his generation. He had more than 3,000 career hits, ranking ninth all-time in singles; a career batting average of .328; and a career OPS of .822. He was an 18-time All Star; won 1967 American League Rookie of the Year; and won 1977 American League Most Valuable Player, when he batted .388 (second-highest batting average since 1931 by a player not named Ted Williams) with an OPS of 1.019. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1991. And MLB placed his name on the AL batting champion award in 2016.57

Carew was born to an African American father and Panamanian mother with West Indian roots. He was married to a Jewish woman during his playing career and raised three Jewish daughters.58 Carew appeared on the covers of Time and Sports Illustrated in 1977 wearing his Twins uniform and a chai (a pendant spelling the Hebrew word “life”) that he wore on the field. He spoke during his playing career about converting to Judaism.59 Baseball writer Thomas Boswell described him in an essay titled The Zen of Rod Carew as a “Jewish convert.”60 Most famously, comedian Adam Sandler included Carew in his first Chanukah Song, including Sandler’s vocal aside: “He converted.”

But Carew never converted, which he explained in a phone call to Sandler.61 Although he took preliminary steps, he never completed the process. Carew’s connection to Judaism made news when his youngest daughter died of a rare form of leukemia in 1996; her mix of African, West Indian, and Panamanian ancestry on her father’s side and Eastern-European Jewish ancestry on her mother’s made finding a bone marrow donor difficult.62 Stories did not mention Carew having converted.

Nevertheless, Carew skipped Yom Kippur games five times.63 In 1980, after missing a Kol Nidre evening game, he did not enter the following evening game until the ninth inning, well after the shofar had sounded and the fast had ended. In 1982, he played in a late-afternoon game prior to Kol Nidre, intending to leave had the game run past eight o’clock.64 In 1977, while Carew’s Twins played in Kansas City on Kol Nidre, Carew was home in Minneapolis; news reports conflicted about whether he went to seek medical attention for an ailing arm or whether he had planned to be home to observe the holy day with his family.65

Non-conversion makes Carew not Jewish for inclusion with the 18 Jewish nonpitchers. But his connection to Judaism and his intentional avoidance of playing on Yom Kippur compel his consideration in the study.

Table 6 shows Carew’s individual performance in nine games — two on Kol Nidre, none during Yom Kippur day, and seven in the late-afternoon or evening following the end of the holy day — while Table 7 shows team records in those ten games.

Carew’s Yom Kippur experience mirrors that of the Jewish players in the study. He performed well, with numbers (in a small sample size of nine games and 34 plate appearances) outstripping even his Hall of Fame career numbers. And his team lost more than it won, although they at least broke even when he played on Kol Nidre.

III. A Koufax Curse?

We conclude with the question that begat this paper: does the Koufax Curse exist, even as a correlative matter?

At the individual level, the answer appears to be no. As a group, Yom Kippur hitting numbers for nonpitchers match their career batting average and OPS, if limited power and run production, with higher numbers on Kol Nidre than in games during the following afternoon or evening. Pitcher performances have been mixed, with several good starts and relief appearances balanced against some poor games.

At the team level, however, something strange happens. Teams are 14 games under .500 in all Yom Kippur games, including ten games under on Kol Nidre. When a Jewish player plays on Yom Kippur, their teams are the equivalent of a 71-91 team. And they project to a worse record.

The events of October 2019 (Yom Kippur 5780), with which the article began, reflect this trend. Neither Bregman nor Pederson played poorly. Bregman had one hit in four at-bats and made some plays in the field, but the Astros surrendered three runs in the first inning. Pederson had two hits, including a double that was initially ruled a home run, scored one run, and made two plays in the outfield, but the bullpen blew a late lead. Fried pitched poorly in surrendering four runs in an inning-plus of work, but the game was lost before he entered.

In other words, any curse appears to target not Jewish players, but their non-Jewish teammates, with consequences befalling the whole team. Perhaps this warrants a new approach to Yom Kippur — teams should welcome and encourage Jewish players to sit these games. The media can retire the historic narrative of a dilemma between team and faith or of a player letting his teammates down by missing one game that could decide the season.66 The story becomes that the Jewish player helps his team and supports his teammates by not playing, at least for one or two games. The player becomes a hero to Jewish fans, offers the team an ironically better chance at victory, and perhaps appeases Hashem.

This revised narrative recalls the biblical story of Jonah, fittingly read and studied on Yom Kippur.67 God’s anger at Jonah causes a storm certain to wreck the boat and kill everyone on board, so Jonah urges his shipmates to throw him overboard. The crew reluctantly does so, after which the “sea ceased from its raging.” Perhaps by casting their Jewish teammates into the sea of a day off, the storm of defeat will cease from raging that day.

On the other hand, overall team record is better than it should be, given performance. While teams won 53 games with a Jewish player, their run differential reflects a team that should have won 47 games. Perhaps winning six more games than expected reflects Hashem smiling upon these teams and their Jewish players.

On a third hand (invoking the oft-repeated phrase “two Jews, three opinions”68), teams do not win when their Jewish players rest on Kol Nidre or during the following day, finishing a combined three games below .500. The foundational events that beget any curse reflect this. With Greenberg sitting during Yom Kippur day in 1934, the Tigers lost — although they had built a lead in the pennant race thanks in part to Greenberg hitting two home runs in a Rosh Hashanah win nine days earlier.69 With Koufax sitting in a Minneapolis hotel room, the Dodgers lost Game One of the 1965 World Series, with future Hall of Famer Don Drysdale surrendering seven hits (two home runs) and seven runs (three earned) in 2 2/3 innings. The story is that when Dodger manager Walter Alston pulled him from the game, Drysdale said, “I bet you wish I was Jewish today, too.”70 Team records without Jewish players improve in evening games, or after the sounding of the shofar and breaking of the fast.

Perhaps the solution is that no one should play on Yom Kippur, at least not teams with Jewish players. Like public schools or the Supreme Court, everyone should benefit from the off day that the Hebrew calendar and a Jewish population provides.71 Jews can recommit to their faith. And everyone can be ready to play the following day.

I make both suggestions with tongue in cheek, of course. MLB should not stop playing on Yom Kippur, nor should it urge Jewish players not to play. But these numbers might relieve Jewish players of the belief, expressed by Breslow, that they lack the leverage to request the day off.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to David Fontana, Michael Helfand, Roberta Kwall, David Leonard, Peter Oh, Howard Simon, and Spencer Weber Waller for help and comments. Thanks to Alexis de la Rosa, Jesse Goldblum, Jordan Roth, Carlos San Jose, and Jesse Stolow for research assistance.

Sources

Unless otherwise stated, all game, season, and career statistics were found on player biography pages on Baseball-Reference.com. All scores and details were found on box scores for the relevant games on Baseball-Reference.com.

Appendix A: Nonpitchers

(Click images to enlarge)

Appendix B: Pitchers

(Click images to enlarge)

Notes

1 16 Leviticus 1-34; 58 Isaiah 3-6; Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays (New York: Touchstone, 1993 184-85.

2 Edward Sherman, “L’dor v’dor: The annual re-telling of the Sandy Koufax Yom Kippur story,” Jewish Baseball Museum. Oct. 10, 2016, http://jewishbaseballmuseum.com/spotlight-story/tradition-annual-re-telling-sandy-koufax-yom-kippur-story/.

3 Armin Rosen, “The Koufax Curse,” Tablet, Oct. 10, 2019, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/sports/articles/the-koufax-curse.

4 Jane Leavy, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy. (New York: HarperCollins, 2002), 170-71, 183-84; Larry Ruttman, American Jews & America’s Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013), 129; David J. Leonard. “To Play or Pray? Shawn Green and His Choice Over Atonement,” Shofar 25, no.4 (2007): 159 & n.25; Matt Rothenberg, “Sandy Koufax Responded to a Higher Calling on Yom Kippur in 1965,” National Baseball Hall of Fame, https://baseballhall.org/discover/sandy-koufax-sits-out-game-one.

5 Mark Kurlansky, Hank Greenberg: The Hero Who Didn’t Want to Be One (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011); Leonard, “To Play or Pray?,” 157-58; Howard M. Wasserman, “When They Were Kings: Greenberg and Koufax Sit on Yom Kippur.” Tablet Magazine, Oct. 11, 2016, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/when-they-were-kings-greenberg-and-koufax-sit-on-yom-kippur.

6 Leavy, Sandy Koufax, 171.

7 Rosen, “The Koufax Curse.” Hashem (“the name”) is one of the names Jews use to speak of God.

8 David Fontana, “The Return of the Jewish Athlete.” Huffington Post, Dec. 6, 2017, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-return-of-the-jewish-_b_4601775.

9 Jewish Baseball News, http://www.jewishbaseballnews.com/.

10 The Oakland A’s starting lineup for Games One and Four of the 1972 World Series included pitcher Ken Holtzman and first baseman Mike Epstein.

11 In Howard Megdal’s ranking of the top Jewish players by position, no top-five player at any starting position played the bulk of his career during the 1980s and the only player on his All-Time Jewish team who played the bulk of his career in the ‘80s is a relief pitcher. Howard Megdal, The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), 287-888.

12 Steve Wulf, “The bat belongs to Shawn Green, the Mitzvah is his breakout for the Blue Jays.” ESPN.com, July 10, 2012, https://www.espn.com/espn/magazine/archives/news/story?page=magazine-19990614-article43.

13 Robert L. Cohen, “How the Jewish Baseball Superstars Have Handled the High Holiday Conflict,” St. Louis Jewish Light, Sept. 26, 1984, 3.

14 Jesse Bernstein, “The Greatest Jewish Baseball Players of All Time, By Position,” Tablet Magazine, July 29, 2016, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-greatest-jewish-baseball-players-of-all-time-by-position; David Hazony, “Why Israel’s Sudden Baseball Prowess Actually Means Something.” The Forward, Mar. 10, 2017, https://forward.com/opinion/365646/why-israels-sudden-baseball-prowess-actually-means-something/.

15 Leonard, “To Play or Pray?”, 151, 160-61; http://www.jewishbaseballnews.com/; http://jewishbaseballmuseum.com/; http://www.jewornotjew.com/category.jsp?CAT=Athletes%20and%20Coaches.

16 Leonard, “To Play or Pray?”, 151; Sherman, “L’dor v’dor.”

17 Rosen, “The Koufax Curse.”

18 No World Series game has been played on Yom Kippur since Game One in 1978 fell on Kol Nidre. No Jewish player has missed a World Series game since Koufax. And none will repeat that feat, as Yom Kippur and the World Series no longer overlap. Under the current (and expanding) post-season format, the World Series never will begin earlier than October 20, while Yom Kippur cannot fall later than October 14. This adds to Koufax’s legend.

19 The Hebrew word for life is chai. It is spelled in Hebrew with two letters, the 8th and 10th in the alphabet. This gives the word a numerical value of 18.

20 Traditional Judaism is matrilineal. Observant Jews would not recognize as Jewish a person with a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother, unless the person converted. Reform and more liberal Judaism recognize patrilineal descent.

21 The second iteration of the Washington Senators, that played from 1961-72 before relocating to Dallas-Fort Worth and becoming the Texas Rangers.

22 Jewish Baseball Museum, http://jewishbaseballmuseum.com/stats.

23 Braun’s early-career numbers might have been Hall-worthy, Megdal, The Baseball Talmud, 130, but he has not maintained the pace. His candidacy also may be hurt by his 65-game suspension in 2013 for using performance-enhancing drugs during that MVP season, including defending himself by impugning the integrity of the lab technician who collected his sample. Bernstein, “The Greatest Jewish Baseball Players.” Hall voters have been unforgiving of PED users, and Braun’s response to being caught may not help. David Sheinin, “The key changes that could finally put PED users into the Baseball Hall of Fame,” Washington Post, Jan. 17, 2017.

24 In his position-by-position rankings, Megdal identified 20 Jewish starting pitchers (7 lefty, 13 righty) and 47 Jewish relief pitchers (21 lefty, 26 righty). Megdal, The Baseball Talmud, 181-285.

25 Megdal, The Baseball Talmud, 225; Ruttman, American Jews, 424-25; “Red Sox Reliever Craig Breslow Brings Brains and Jewish Faith to Mound.” Haaretz, Oct. 23, 2014, https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/red-sox-s-breslow-brings-judaism-to-mound-1.5278574

26 Jason Turbow, Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic: Reggie, Rollie, Catfish, and Charlie Finley’s Swingin’ A’s (Boston: Mariner Books, 2017), 48-61.

27 Wulf, “The bat belongs to Shawn Green.”

28 Ira Gewanter, “Seven Questions for a Pair of Jewish Birds,” JMore: Jewish Baltimore Living, May 16, 2018, https://www.jmoreliving.com/2018/05/16/seven-questions-for-a-pair-of-jewish-birds/.

29 Armin Rosen, “Is Alex Bregman Having the Best Season Ever By a Jewish Baseball Player?” Tablet Magazine, Sept. 27, 2019, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/is-alex-bregman-having-the-best-season-ever-by-a-jewish-baseball-player; Dave Sheinin, “Alex Bregman nears MLB greatness set in motion generations ago in D.C. sandlots and boardrooms,” Washington Post, Oct. 4, 2018.

30 Ruttman, American Jews, 214-15.

31 Ruttman, American Jews, 215.

32 “Yankees Edge Bengals.” New York Daily News, Sept. 27, 1971.

33 Leonard, “To Play or Pray?”, 150-51, 160-61.

34 Horvitz & Horvitz, The Big Book of Jewish Baseball, 25-26.

35 George Castle, “A Jewish Lefty: Lefty Lorraine continues tradition.” Jewish World Review, Sept. 22, 1999. http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0999/lorraine.html.

36 “Red Sox Reliever Craig Breslow.”

37 Ruttman, American Jews, 424.

38 Jonathan S. Tobin, “Did we need another Sandy Koufax?” Jewish News Syndicate, October 11, 2019, https://wwwjns.org/opinion/did-we-need-another-sandy-koufax.

39 Turbow, Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic, 49.

40 Ruttman, American Jews, 221-22; “A’s, Orioles Call 1st Playoff Game ‘Vital’,” Sacramento Bee, Oct. 6, 1973.

41 Kurlansky, Hank Greenberg, 10.

42 Horvitz & Horvitz, The Big Book of Jewish Baseball, 26; Ruttman, American Jews, 213.

43 Wulf, “The bat belongs to Shawn Green.”

44 Referred to as “Making Aliyah,” or the “act of going up to Jerusalem.”

45 David R. Cohen, “Max Fried’s Birthright from Israel to SunTrust Park,” Atlanta Jewish Times, Aug. 25, 2017, https://atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com/fried-is-working-to-fill-koufaxs-shoes; Gewanter, “Seven Questions.”

46 Ruttman, American Jews, 488-90; Jackie Headopohl, “Kinsler and Ausmus connect with their family roots,” The Jewish News, June 8, 2017, https://thejewishnews.com/2017/06/08/kinsler-ausmus-connect-family-roots/.

47 Leonard, “To Play or Pray?”, 162.

48 Id. at 159-60; Wasserman, “When They Were Kings.”

49 Leonard, “To Play or Pray?”, 162, 165.

50 Jonathan Weisman, (((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2018), 11-14, 31.

51 Horvitz & Horvitz, The Big Book of Jewish Baseball; Megdal, The Baseball Talmud; Ruttman, American Jews.

52 Rosen, “The Koufax Curse.”

53 Snyder, “MLB All Star Game.”

54 Mike Digiovanna, “A Father’s Prayer: ‘Give Her More Time’: Rod Carew’s Daughter Michelle, in a Battle for Life, Waits for a Bone-Marrow Transplant,” Los Angeles Times, Mar. 3, 1996.

55 Steve Lipman, “Carew Heading Home to Judaism,” The Journal News, Sept. 29, 1977,16B

56 Thomas Boswell, “The Zen of Rod Carew,” in How Life Imitates the World Series (New York: Penguin Sports Library, 1982).

57 Carly Mallenbaum, “Adam Sandler’s ‘Chanukah Song’: Are of those celebs in the song actually Jewish?” USA Today, Dec. 23, 2019, https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/11/29/adam-sandler-chanukah-lyrics/2133567002/.

58 “Hall of Famer Rod Carew Ruins Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah Song By Admitting He Isn’t Jewish.” NESN. Last modified Aug. 6, 2012. https://nesn.com/2012/08/hall-of-famer-rod-carew-ruins-adam-sandlers-hanukkah-song-by-admitting-he-isnt-jewish.

59 Ron Lesko. “Michelle Carew: ‘She Was the Light of the World.’” Associated Press. Apr. 21, 1996.

60 R. Cohen, “How the Jewish Baseball Superstars,” 3.

61 “Angels,” 13.

62 Lipman, “Carew Heading Home to Judaism,” 16B; “Arm Injury.”

63 Megdal, The Baseball Talmud, 67.

64 Leonard, “To Play or Pray?”, 153-54; R. Cohen, “How the Jewish Baseball Superstars,” 3; Sherman, “L’dor v’dor.”

65 Leonard, “To Play or Pray?,” 158, 163; Tobin, “Did we need another Sandy Koufax?”; Wolpe, “A Rabbi’s Advice for Shawn Green,” BeliefNet, Sept. 24, 2004, https://wwwquestia.com/library/journal/1Ps-1318031171/to-play-or-pray-shawn-green-and-his-choice-over-atonement; Marc Tracy, “Marquis to Pitch on Kol Nidre,” Tablet Magazine, Sept 14, 2010, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/marquis-to-pitch-on-kol-nidre.

66 Greenberg, The Jewish Way, 213.

67 1 Jonah 12-16.

68 Sandee Brawarsky & Deborah Mark, Two Jews, Three Opinions: A Collection of Twentieth-century Jewish Quotations (New York: Pedigree Books, 1998).

69 Kurlansky, Hank Greenberg; Leonard, “To Play or Pray?,” 157-58; Wasserman, “When They Were Kings.”

70 Leavy, Sandy Koufax, 184-85.

71 Nathaniel Lewin, “When Jewish justices got the Supreme Court to shut down on Yom Kippur,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Sept. 29, 2017, https://www.jta.org/2017/09/29/opinion/when-jewish-justices-got-the-supreme-court-to-shut-down-on-yom-kippur.

Introduction

The annual baseball winter meetings of 1928 took place in three cities. The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (the minors) went north for its 27th annual convention, filling the King Edward Hotel in Toronto from December 5 to 7. The chief topic of conversation was a continuation of 1927’s primary sticking point, the drafting of players by teams in higher classifications, including the major leagues. The National League met on December 10 and 11 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, and American League moguls were in Chicago’s Congress Hotel on December 11 and 12. Just for good measure, all major-league owners got together at the Congress Hotel on December 13, with Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis presiding. At that session a surprise topic was a radical idea unexpectedly proposed by John Heydler, president of the National League.

Northern Exposure

The minor-league gathering in Toronto was described as “the biggest meeting the minor leagues ever held.”1 There were, in fact, some 500 delegates to this convention, including a large contingent of major-league “observers,”2 who were there for two reasons: to make trades or at least begin talking about deals that might be completed the next week when the big leaguers met in New York and Chicago; and to see what sort of draft recommendations the NAPBL would put forth.

As usual the first order of business was the annual report by Secretary-Treasurer John Farrell, in which he announced that 208 teams in 30 leagues had qualified for membership in 1928; three leagues folded during the course of the season while one failed to start altogether.3 President Mike Sexton, in his annual address, deplored the fact that some smaller leagues could not afford to journey to the convention and suggested that future gatherings be held in central locations, like West Baden, Indiana.4 This recommendation was eventually rejected by the membership when they selected Chattanooga, Tennessee, as the site for their 1929 meeting.5

As you might expect when so many people are gathered in the same place, a great deal of activity took place on several fronts, including rumors that proved to be unfounded. There were reports, for instance, that Harry Williams, president of the Pacific Coast League (Class AA), was investigating the possibility of putting together a new league that would feature cities in Washington state and western Canada and would serve, in effect, as a farm for his PCL. On the other side of the country, John Toole, president of the Class AA International League, said that George Stallings, the manager of the 1914 Miracle Braves of Boston, would return to the helm of the Montreal Royals. Stallings had been forced by health concerns to step down during the 1928 season. As it turned out, the PCL rumor was untrue, and Stallings died just five months after the meetings.6

By and large the Toronto meetings proved to be a lively affair, with several former major leaguers signing to manage in the minors, including former New York Giants teammates Jack Bentley and Heinie Groh, who took over York (Class-B New York-Pennsylvania) and Hartford (Class-A Eastern), respectively.7 George Burns, who had played in the Polo Grounds before Bentley and Groh, agreed to manage Springfield in the Eastern League, while Eugene “Bubbles” Hargrave, the first catcher to win a major-league batting championship (he hit .353 with Cincinnati in 1926), was sent to St. Paul of the Class-AA American Association as manager, with right-hander Paul Zahniser going to Cincinnati in return.8 Former White Sox skipper Clarence “Pants” Rowland took charge of the Nashville Volunteers of the Class-A Southern Association; former Yankees infielder Fritz Maisel moved into the Class-AA Baltimore Orioles’ (International League) dugout; and Steve O’Neill also went to the IL as the leader of the Toronto Maple Leafs. This proved to be the first of numerous managerial assignments for the former catcher, highlighted by a World Series triumph with Detroit in 1945.9

There were some interesting twists to a handful of managerial assignments. Former major-league righty Allan Sothoron became a first-time skipper, with Louisville of the Class-AA American Association. This took place, however, after Bert Niehoff had already been told the job was his! Nowadays one would expect a noisy lawsuit, but the former Atlanta Crackers leader landed on his feet by joining the New York Giants as a coach.10 Future Hall of Famer Tris Speaker hung up his spikes to manage Newark in the Class-AA International League. Speaker having been Cleveland’s player-manager for eight years (and winning the 1920 World Series), it was natural to assume, as Francis Powers did in The Sporting News, that “(it) will only be a matter of time until Spoke is recalled to the majors as a manager.”11 It never happened, however, and after the 1933 season Speaker was only occasionally involved with baseball.

Other managerial moves found Wilbur Good agreeing to lead Atlanta in the Class-A Southern Association, Frank “Pop” Kitchens taking the reins in Tampa (Class-B Southeastern League), and Lester “Pat” Patterson going to Dubuque of the Class-D Mississippi Valley League.12

There were also some small player transactions generated in Toronto that involved men whose names have pretty much passed into history. For example, a couple of Pacific Coast League teams made moves: The Los Angeles Angels sold the rights to second baseman Gale Staley to Portland for cash, and the neighboring Hollywood Stars purchased outfielder Joe Bonowitz and infielder Hod Kibbie.13 A couple of trades involved players who would make more of a mark in succeeding years. The Red Sox shipped infielder Billy Rogell and right-hander William “Slim” Harriss to St. Paul of the (Class-AA) American Association in exchange for catcher Alex Gaston and outfielder Russ Scarritt.14 While Scarritt had a couple of good seasons in Boston before washing out, Rogell would resurface in Detroit in 1930 and became the starting shortstop for the Tigers’ back-to-back American League champions of 1934 and 1935. The Tigers sent three players to Toronto of the International League in exchange for first baseman Dale Alexander and righty John Prudhomme, plus cash.15 Prudhomme won exactly one game for Detroit but Alexander was a solid hitter, compiling a lifetime batting average of .331. He led the AL with 215 hits in 1929 and won the batting title in 1932 with a .367 mark. (He started the season with the Tigers and was traded to Boston in June.)

In other action, the Class-C Piedmont League allowed its teams to carry as many as four rookies on their 14-man rosters, up from two in 1928. It set its season to end on the Saturday after Labor Day, after which the top two teams would play a best-of-seven series to determine the league champion.16 Former major-league executive Joe Cantillon became the American Association’s umpire-in-chief, while Dale Gear was re-elected president of the Class-A Western League.17 International League President John Toole was also re-elected, but his powers were cut. A move to oust Toole was thwarted by a compromise in which a three-man executive committee was appointed to take over most presidential duties, making Toole little more than a figurehead.18

Several teams announced spring-training sites. Rochester of the International League moved from Monroe, Louisiana, to Plant City, Florida, while Buffalo announced it would be in Palmetto, Florida. The Dallas Stars of the Texas League, having given the White Sox permission to train in their park, said they would work out the kinks in Corsicana, Texas.19

The Washington Senators announced that they would train in Tampa, Florida, but the Southeastern League, of which Tampa was a member, told Washington owner Clark Griffith that it would either like a share of the Sunday gate receipts, or be allowed to play a couple of Sunday exhibition games. Griffith was not interested in turning over any money, and reminded the mayor of Tampa that he had a lease on the playing field and, what’s more, had paid off the team’s debts in 1927 in exchange for his current spring-training arrangement. The Old Fox got his way — money always speaks loudly — but he did not forget. After training in Tampa in 1929, the Senators moved their spring base to Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1930 and then to Orlando in 1936, where they stayed for many years, except for the travel-restricted World War II seasons of 1943-1945.20

An entire league got stonewalled. A proposed revival of the Michigan-Ontario League was put off when NAPBL Secretary John Farrell informed organizers that there were financial claims still outstanding against one or two of the proposed franchises.21 An Ontario League came into being in 1930 (does this mean that the cities at fault were in Michigan?), but it folded after just one season. And a team tried to stonewall its association, as the Piedmont League had to hold up many of its operations –especially creating its schedule — while waiting for the Greensboro Patriots to try to come up with $3,500 to guarantee that it would be able to operate in 1929.22

Several franchises were openly for sale. The Baltimore Orioles, a training ground for so many great players over the years, including Babe Ruth and Lefty Grove, went on the market after owner Jack Dunn died in an accident just weeks before the Toronto meetings.23 Akron of the Class-B Central League was also available, as was Columbus (Georgia) of the Southeastern League, which announced it was taking sealed bids.24 In Nashville, owner Rogers Caldwell was buying out his partners so he could become the sole owner of the Southern Association’s Volunteers. Since he was a close business associate of the Yankees’ principal owner, Jacob Ruppert, this led to speculation that he would sell all or part of the club to the reigning World Series champions, or at least sign on as one of their affiliates.25 The Yankees, meanwhile, bought control of the Syracuse team in the Class-B New York-Pennsylvania League, and were poised to take charge of the Chambersburg club of the Class-D Blue Ridge League, while across the Harlem River, the Giants purchased “a controlling interest” in Bridgeport of the Eastern League.26

All of this, however, took a back seat to two important pieces of business. One was the rule that allowed a franchise to control the territory for 10 miles around it (from home plate, to be specific). This was brought up because there was talk of placing teams in Kansas City (Kansas) and Windsor, Ontario. The 10-mile rule was invoked by Kansas City (Missouri) of the American Association and the Detroit Tigers in the American League, blocking any new club.27 Dale Gear, president of the Western League, fearing the rule would be successfully challenged in court, suggested that an exception be permitted when a state line was crossed. This would have allowed the Western League to move to Kansas City, Kansas. His idea was voted down.28

While the 10-mile regulation was important and had long-lasting ramifications, it was the draft rule that was the talk of Toronto. Adopted seven years earlier in order to help guide relations between teams in the majors and minors, it was now proving to be a bone of contention within the NAPBL itself. Most minor-league teams were in favor of unlimited selection of players, allowing a team from a higher classification to claim the contracts of players from teams in lower classifications. At that time the modern farm system was not only just in its infancy, but was openly discouraged by Commissioner Landis. Selecting players from a lower classification was an established method for bringing fresh talent to the higher-level club and for providing the lower-level team with much-needed cash. But the three Double-A leagues, plus the Western League (Class A) and Three-I League (Class B), preferred a different approach, lobbying for a system in which players could be drafted only if they had already been sent down by a major-league team.29 This greatly favored the top classifications, making it less than popular with the majority of the NAPBL rank-and-file.

Judge William Bramham, who was the head of three minor leagues and would later become president of the NAPBL,30 brought a compromise to Toronto. Bramham suggested that if a player had originally been signed into a league in which the draft was in effect, he would always be subject to the draft, no matter where he had played in any given year.31 In this way, all leagues would be treated equally when it came to drafting players.

Baseball’s five-man Advisory Council also weighed in with a proposal. This committee was made up of Landis, John Heydler and Ernest Barnard, presidents of the National and American Leagues, respectively, and Mike Sexton and John Farrell of the NAPBL. Under their proposal, a major-league team could option up to 12 players to the minors (up from the 1928 limit of eight); it could sign no more than four players without any minor-league experience in 1929, three in 1930 and then just two thereafter; no Double-A player could be drafted by a major-league team if he had not been in Organized Baseball for at least four years; and higher draft prices, originally proposed in 1926, would be adopted.32

Neither of the compromises could muster enough support. In fact, despite the fact that a majority of teams and leagues favored unlimited selection, the power wielded by the three Double-A leagues and their two lower-level cohorts prevented the NAPBL from making a firm decision in Toronto. It was decided that the matter would be dealt with at a separate conference dedicated solely to resolving the issue. Mike Sexton’s favorite gathering spot, West Baden, Indiana, was chosen as the site for a January10 meeting that would feature three representatives from Class AA, one from each Class A league, and five other men to speak for all the other classifications. The major leagues would also be asked to send people to West Baden so that their interests could be heard.33

Before leaving Canada, the delegates were treated to a speech by Commissioner Landis, who paid tribute to Toronto, acknowledging the importance of its recreational and sporting development, and thanked all Canadians for their efforts during the Great War.34 And with that, having deferred the important draft issue for another month and having already chosen Chattanooga to be the site for the 1929 confab, the lively NAPBL meetings came to a close.

New York State of Mind

The National League set up shop at New York’s swank Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on December 10 for two days of meetings preparing for the 1929 season. Early speculation on personnel changes centered on the local teams. Having finished just two games behind the Cardinals in the 1928 pennant race, Giants manager John McGraw decided he needed a little more pitching and set his sights on one of two right-handers deemed expendable by the Cincinnati Reds, Dolph Luque and Peter Donohue. The New York Times’s John Drebinger, one of the leading sportswriters of his day, stated explicitly that the Giants had “virtually … closed a deal with … the Reds” that would bring either or both of these veterans to the Polo Grounds,35 no deal came to pass. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, there were rumors that Wilbert Robinson, who had been managing the Robins since 1914 (and had been team president since 1925), might lose both of those posts. Since they won the pennant in 1920, the Robins had finished in the first division only once, and the frequent odd occurrences that took place during their games had made them better known as the Daffiness Boys than for being serious pennant contenders.36 Two of Robinson’s veteran players, outfielder Max Carey and shortstop Dave Bancroft (both future Hall of Famers) were rumored to be interested in taking over the team’s managerial duties if Uncle Robbie got the sack.37

None of that scuttlebutt proved to have any substance. Brooklyn did make news, though, by completing a major trade, sending southpaw Jess Petty and infielder Harry Riconda to the Pittsburgh Pirates for shortstop Glenn Wright.38 This immediately brought up the question of Bancroft’s future in Brooklyn, but Robinson said he planned to keep him because “he is too good a man to let go.”39 Robinson kept his word on Bancroft but would lose the presidency a year later, and was fired as manager after the 1931 season, and replaced by Max Carey.

There was one other deal involving a notable name. After an eight-year absence, Boston brought shortstop Rabbit Maranville back to his original club, purchasing his contract (and that of outfielder George Harper) from the Cardinals.40 Despite having just turned 37 years old, Maranville would be the Braves’ everyday shortstop for the next three years before moving over to second base for his final two seasons as a regular, on his way to a 1954 Hall of Fame induction.

A few other people made some news during these NL meetings. One of the league’s most distinguished umpires, Bill Klem, resigned.41 While no official reason was given, two stories circulated. One was that he was upset over not having been asked to officiate at either of the past two World Series; the other said his continuing problems with the Giants, which included serious threats to his safety, prevented him from continuing in the post he had held since 1905.42 Writing in The Sporting News, Joe Vila commented that the future Hall of Famer was “a capable, fearless and honest official,” and that league President Heydler “will persuade him to change his mind, for his permanent retirement would be a detriment to the National Game.” And in fact Heydler did prove to be successful in keeping Klem around, with the Old Arbitrator staying on until 1941, when he became the National League’s umpire-in-chief until his death in 1951.43

While Klem was, temporarily at least, eager to give up the life of an umpire, another person eagerly embraced it; The Pacific Coast League sold the contract of arbiter George Magerkurth to the National League. A former professional boxer, he would become known over the next 19 years for being cantankerous and pugnacious, and was indirectly responsible for the addition of a screen attached to the inside of the foul poles.44 At the time of his move to the NL, the Christian Science Monitor rather amusingly wrote that Magerkurth “has been an efficient umpire on the coast. His name, however, is too long. … (W)hen he comes to the majors he will be known as ‘Mager.’”45 He actually was called “Mage” throughout his career.

Judge Emil Fuchs had been part of a small group, fronted by Christy Mathewson, that had purchased the Boston Braves in 1922. Mathewson was scheduled to be the team president but when his tuberculosis made that impossible, Fuchs assumed the role. In 1928 the Braves lost 103 games under two managers, and when dire financial straits forced Fuchs to sell off his star player-manager Rogers Hornsby, Fuchs announced that he would manage the club in 1929. Modern-day commissioners might have stepped in and told him no (Bowie Kuhn did just that with Ted Turner), but Landis didn’t say a word and Fuchs would lead the Braves to a 56-98 record in 1929, good for dead last in the National League. In 1930 Bill McKechnie was the manager; Fuchs sold the team in 1935.46

A couple of old catchers found major-league employment. Hank Gowdy, whose .545 batting average and five extra-base hits had led the Miracle Braves to a World Series triumph in 1914, returned to the team as a coach.47 And Gabby Street, whose chief claim to fame as a player had been catching a baseball dropped from the Washington Monument in 1908, was signed to be a manager in the Cardinals’ farm system.48 He had been leading minor-league teams since 1920 and had spent the previous three years in the Class-B South Atlantic League. The new connection benefited Street. McKechnie’s Cardinals had won the pennant in 1928, but were swept by the Yankees in the World Series. St. Louis fired him and hired Billy Southworth to be their skipper; Southworth added Street as one of his coaches. Things did not go well for the defending champs (who finished fourth), with Southworth being booted after just 88 games in favor of McKechnie. Deacon Bill, however, bolted for Boston at the end of the season, at which time Street was handed the reins and won back-to-back National League pennants in 1930 and ’31, topped by a World Series triumph in the latter year.

In administrative matters, Heydler reported that NL attendance for 1928 had fallen below 5 million, a decrease of 400,000 from 1927. To no one’s surprise, he was re-elected as league president.49 In a very forward-thinking action that still resonates today, National League owners decided that all of their fields needed to have telephone hookups between the dugouts and the press boxes.50 Two pieces of business were deferred until a meeting to be held in New York in February. Boston residents had just voted, by better than three to one, to allow Sunday baseball. The City Council was required by law to wait at least 30 days before they could act, but they were expected to ratify the voters’ overwhelming decision, which would, naturally, affect the 1929 schedule.51 Also placed on the agenda for February was the rule about interference and blocking a runner, especially at home plate, which was based on a Cubs-Giants game played at the Polo Grounds in late September.52

The Cubs sent several players down to the minors. One eventually resurfaced and etched his name into the record books. Earl Webb was a left-handed-hitting outfielder who had been a part-time player for the Cubs when they sent him to their Los Angeles farm team.53 After a big year on the Coast, Webb found his way to the Red Sox, and in 1931 he cracked out 67 doubles, as of 2015 still the major-league single-season record. It would not be the last time that a player thrived, even for a short time, after leaving Wrigley Field.

Other items needed to be dealt with, but since they would affect both leagues, they were held for the joint session scheduled for later in the week. So the NL owners found their way to Chicago while their American League counterparts prepared for their own meeting.

Let’s Make a Deal

The final day of the National League meeting, December 11, was the first day for the AL conclave, held at the Congress Hotel in Chicago. Perhaps because of the league’s competitive imbalance — the Yankees had won 101 games in 1928 and the A’s had won 98, but only one other club (the Browns) had finished above .500 — there were few trades of note in addition to the Dale Alexander deal, which had already been completed at the minor-league convention.

The player who generated the most interest was Red Sox third baseman Buddy Myer, who was being eyed by several clubs. Myer had originally come up with Washington, but was traded to Boston early in the 1927 season and proceeded to become one of the top infielders in the game, batting .313 and stealing a league-leading 30 bases. The last-place Red Sox were in the midst of rebuilding and were willing to part with Myer, though according to Washington owner Clark Griffith, Boston wanted “a whole flock of players for him.”54 With several suitors, it was no wonder that Red Sox president Bob Quinn could place a high price on Myer, and the much-anticipated deal was completed on December 15 (shortly after the meetings concluded), with the winner being the Senators (or Nationals; both names were used by sportswriters of the era). Five players were sent to the Red Sox for Myer: right-handed pitchers Hod Lisenbee and Milt Gaston, infielders Bob Reeves and Grant Gillis, and outfielder Elliot Bigelow.55 Despite the odds, Washington came out way ahead in this deal. The two pitchers both had losing records in Boston, with Gaston losing 20 games in 1930 and leading the league in wild pitches twice. Reeves was handed the third-base job and batted just .248 in 1929 before becoming a part-time player, while Gillis and Bigelow made marginal contributions before heading back to the minors. For Washington, however, the addition of Myer solved long-term infield problems. Third baseman Ossie Bluege was moved to shortstop, but when he was injured, young Joe Cronin entered the lineup and began his Hall of Fame career. In 1930, Bluege went back to third base and Myer moved to second, where he would become one of the top players of the 1930s, helping the Senators reach the World Series in 1933 and winning the 1935 American League batting title with a .349 average.

Washington also traded Bucky Harris, who had not only played second base for the Senators since 1920 but had also been their manager since 1924, to Detroit for infielder Jack Warner, who wound up never playing an inning in the nation’s capital but instead split the 1929 season between Toledo and Brooklyn. Harris’s playing career was at its tag end, but he would manage in the majors almost continually until 1956. The Senators also announced that Walter Johnson would not pitch in 1929. The Big Train had been hired two months earlier as the team’s new manager (replacing Harris), and had not been an active player for more than a year. Johnson, who had managed Newark of the International League in 1928, would in fact never throw another competitive pitch again.

The Cleveland Indians were also active in Chicago. First general manager Billy Evans sent $50,000 to the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League for hard-hitting outfielder Earl Averill.56 Averill injected instant offense into the Indians lineup, batting .332 with 18 home runs (including one in his first major league at-bat) and 96 RBIs in his rookie season, and he went on to be a six-time All-Star and a 1975 Hall of Fame inductee. The Indians sent money and a couple of players to Kansas City (American Association) for 34-year-old left-hander Jim Zinn, who hadn’t pitched in the big leagues since 1922.57 That deal didn’t pan out, as Zinn went 4-6 with an ERA of 5.04, and spent 10 more years in the minor leagues. Finally, Evans pulled the trigger on the second big trade of the AL meetings when he sent 29-year-old right-hander George Uhle to Detroit for shortstop Jackie Tavener and pitcher Ken Holloway. Uhle had been a mainstay in Cleveland, winning 20 or more games three times, including two years when he led the league in victories. But he had been under .500 for two straight seasons and, in spite of also being a good hitter (a .286 average with 17 RBIs in 1928, and a .289 lifetime average), he was thought to be a poor influence on a couple of players, which paved the way for the trade.58 The deal worked out a little better for the Tigers than for the Indians. Holloway won just seven games in a Cleveland uniform, Tavener batted just .212, and both were back in the minors by 1931. Uhle had a good year in 1929 but was mediocre after that. One of the long-term outcomes of this trade, however, was that Uhle was credited with the invention of the slider. Pitching batting practice against teammate Harry Heilman one day, Uhle experimented with a new pitch, releasing the baseball off his middle finger. Heilman had never seen that pitch before and thought it was a new curveball, but Uhle said, “Hey, that’s not a curve. That ball was sliding.” 59

At least three clubs were thinking spring: The Giants declared they would train in San Antonio, while the Tigers said they would be in Phoenix. The Red Sox announced that they would head back to Bradenton, Florida, for the second straight spring, and they were also debating the merits of offering a contract to a college outfielder named Ken Strong. Strong was the Bo Jackson of his era, a multidimensional football star at New York University who excelled as a running back, placekicker, punter, and passer, and was expected to join the NFL after graduation. Like Jackson (and John Elway and numerous others), Strong wound up playing both sports, and was elected to both the college and professional football Halls of Fame. He played three years of minor-league baseball — probably to help supplement his income — while starring in the NFL.60

Under the category of “sound and fury,” Yankees manager Miller Huggins let it be known that he was willing to “dismantle” his club if he could complete certain trades.61 Over the years many teams have been torn apart, but rarely after winning a World Series (the 1997 Florida Marlins immediately come to mind), but Huggins, for whatever reason, was threatening to do just that. It did not happen; the Yankees, in fact, made no significant changes heading into 1929 and won a very respectable 88 games, good enough for second place. Huggins died suddenly just before the season ended.

The Future Is Just Around the Corner

On December 13 the two leagues met together under the overall auspices of Commissioner Landis, in the same Chicago hotel, the Congress, that had just played host to the AL moguls. Landis was unequivocally opposed to the minor leagues serving as a farm system for the majors, believing that this system, dubbed “chain-store baseball,” restricted player movement. So when it came to his attention that several teams already owned or controlled minor-league clubs and several more were thinking of following suit, he asked for all owners to give him an accounting of their current or potential holdings.62 It was unclear what the commissioner planned to do with this information; indeed, if he was working behind the scenes to maintain the independence of the minor leagues, he failed completely. The one matter that had been the chief issue in Toronto was quickly shot down — both major leagues agreed that they would not attend the draft conference the minors had scheduled for January which, according to The Sporting News, “was equivalent to telling the minors to get busy and straighten out the troublesome question among themselves.”63 (The minors quickly canceled their West Baden meeting and issued a statement that the draft rules would remain the same for the immediate future, which did not thrill the Double-A leagues, who hinted at a possible secession from the NAPBL.64 Cooler heads eventually prevailed.)

With one other exception, the one-day joint session took up administrative matters of interest to both leagues. Having suffered through a series of springtime postponements and subsequent doubleheaders later in the season because of inclement weather, the leagues decided that the 1929 season would begin and end a week later, running from April 16 until October 6. It was recognized that this would bring baseball into conflict with football, but that was felt to be a necessary evil.65 The Sporting News applauded this move, saying there would be plenty of room for the complete schedule to be played without doubleheaders being crammed into September,66 and added this interesting comment: “If there is a World Series (italics added) it will be an easier matter to arrange it in October. …”67

A rule change ended the practice of minor-league teams selling a star prospect to a friendly major-league club for a high price, having the player returned at a later date and then, when it put him back on the open market, forcing another big-league club to pay the already established price. In addition, the leagues banned the signing of any player under the age of 17, and set a pricetag of $7,500 on any first-year player.68

The magnates agreed to donate $50,000 to the American Legion to help finance a tournament of junior ballplayers.69 It was also agreed that the major leagues and minor leagues would each donate $5,000 a year for the next five years to the Association of Professional Ball Players, an organization that had been formed to help out former players who were struggling financially.70

And beyond the discussion of the schedule and playing into the football season, there were other glimpses into a future era. The Baseball Writers Association of America appointed a committee to speak with the American and National League presidents to discuss ways to improve the scoring system. The BBWAA was hoping to get the leagues to hire independent and impartial people to serve as official scorers at all games so that its members would not feel beholden to any major-league club.71 It would take more than 50 years to effect this change.

Then there was the suggestion made by National League President John Heydler. Never previously mistaken for a radical or Bolshevik, at the joint meeting Heydler surprisingly asked the assembled owners to consider an idea that would, quite simply, revolutionize the game. Saying only that he wanted to “give club owners … something to think over … at a future meeting,” Heydler suggested turning the traditional starting nine into a 10-man team with the addition of a permanent pinch-hitter for the pitcher, i.e., a designated hitter.72

It is impossible to determine, all these years later, what made Heydler think of this, but it certainly had the capability of changing the game in a variety of ways. Managers would have to rethink the batting order from top to bottom, while pitchers would need to focus only on pitching. It was thought that some outfielders might protest against this idea, since for many years the outfield had been the last haven for an aging slugger. On the other hand, good-hitting pitchers (like George Uhle) might also object, since they enjoyed swinging the bat. Most pitchers, however, took little batting practice, so they were not very well prepared when they stepped into the batter’s box. They also wasted a lot of energy running the bases, thus possibly hurting their effectiveness when they got back on the mound. Heydler asserted that quite frequently a pitcher was replaced by a pinch-hitter not because he was tiring, but because it was simply his turn to bat, and his idea would allow managers to keep an effective pitcher in the game.73 Heydler also believed that hurlers would be able to improve their pitching skills if they did not have to worry about hitting, and he also thought his idea could help speed up the game.74

Heydler also speculated that minor-league clubs could possibly benefit from the new rule change. The majors were often reluctant to spend upward of $50,000 for a great hitter who was not nearly as good in the field. With this designated-hitter rule, a player’s defensive shortcomings would be a secondary concern, making it possible for minor-league teams to ask for, and receive, top dollar for top batting prospects.75

Heydler’s revolutionary proposal, however, fell flat at the joint meetings. No one from the American League expressed any interest, with new Tigers manager Bucky Harris saying it would ruin baseball and Indians skipper Roger Peckinpaugh adding that a “manager would not have a chance to do any masterminding.”76 The National League supported their leader, and the Washington Post found that the idea had its supporters and detractors among fans interviewed at random.77 But it had its impact: In an editorial, The Sporting News wrote that “there may come a time when such a departure (from tradition) is welcomed without anybody shrinking with fear. …”78 And that time would come more than 40 years later, on April 6, 1973, when Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees faced Luis Tiant of the Boston Red Sox as the game’s first designated hitter.79 The DH is now used in virtually every league and conference, from kids games to the major leagues; ironically, it is not in effect in the National League, despite having first been proposed in 1928 by its president, John Heydler.

Summary

In contrast with many previous gatherings, the 1928 Winter Meetings were filled with hot topics and a couple of major transactions, plus numerous managerial hirings on the minor-league level. The battle over the draft, the possible introduction of Sunday baseball in Boston, the increasing development of the farm system, and the overlapping schedule with football were all matters that would evolve as the years went on, but chief among them was John Heydler’s shocking idea to institute a designated hitter. Though it took more than four decades for this proposal to become a reality, Heydler proved to be a baseball visionary, and his initiative has left a lasting legacy on all levels of the game.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted:

Anderson, David. “Bill Klem,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, sabr.org/bioproj/person/31461b94, undated, accessed August 16, 2014.

Baseball Library. “Charlton’s Baseball Chronology — 1928.” baseballlibrary.com/chronology/byyear.php?year=1928#November (accessed May 29, 2011).

Cooper, George S. “Middle Atlantic Makeup Stands,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 2.

Davis, Ralph. “Garden Directors Approve Sharkey-Stribling Go; Klem to Remain,” Pittsburgh Press, January 15, 1929: 35.

Drebinger, John. “Baseball Sessions Carded This Week,” New York Times, December 9, 1928: S-2.

Drebinger, John. “Detroit Gets Dale Alexander and Prudhomme from Toronto in $100,000 Deal,” New York Times, December 6, 1928: 42.

Dunkley, Charles W. “Heydler’s Idea Unsound, Is Decision,” Washington Post, December 13, 1928: 15.

Greene, Sam. “Detroit Jumps Into Big Money to Beat Off Rival Major Bidding,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 1.

Pegler, Westbrook. “Ghost Hitters for Pitchers is New Plan for Old Idea,” Washington Post, December 23, 1928: 15.

Semchuck, Alex. “Wilbert Robinson,” SABR Baseball Biography Project sabr.org/bioproj/person/5536caf5, undated, accessed August 18, 2014.

Thorn, John, Pete Palmer, Michael Gershman and David Pietrusza, eds. Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball, Fifth Edition (New York: Viking Penguin, 1997).

Young, Frank H. “Griffith Plays Waiting Game as Buddy Myer deal nears,” Washington Post, December 12, 1928: 17.

—— “Nats Angle for Hunnefield In Triple Exchange if Deal for Myer Proves Failure,” Washington Post, December 13, 1928: 15.

—— “Red Sox Asked to Hold Open Offer,” Washington Post, December 14, 1928: 15.

—— “Nats Obtain Myer, Trading 5 Players,” Washington Post, December 16, 1928: 1, 21.

—— “Red Sox Rate 3rd Baseman Highly,” Washington Post, December 8, 1928: 13.

“Draft Meet Spurned by Heydler,” Washington Post, December 11, 1928: 14.

sportsencyclopedia.com/al/wasdc/nats.html.

“Indians Trade Uhle for 2 Detroit Men,” New York Times, December 12, 1928: 44.

“Minor League Men Gather at Toronto: International and American Association Meetings Today,” New York Times, December 3, 2011: 33.

“Minor Leagues May Talk Draft at Session Today,” Washington Post, December 6, 1928: 18.

“Myer Decision by Griffith Due Today,” Washington Post, December 15, 1928: 15.

Notes

1 “Yankees Seek Buddy Myer or Bluege,” Washington Post, December 5, 1928:15.

2 “Major Leaguers Arrive at Minors’ Convention” Hartford Courant, December 5, 1928: 19.

3 “Report of Secretary Opens Minor Session,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 1.

4 Brian Bell, “Baseball Heads to Talk Over Draft Today,” Los Angeles Times, December 6, 1928: B-1.

5 “Convention of Owners Shelves Baseball Draft,” Hartford Courant, December 7, 1928: 22.

6 “Trading Rapid on First Day,” Christian Science Monitor, December 6, 1928: 8; Joe Vila, “National League to Lose Klem, Who Is Peeved, New York Hears,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 1; baseball-reference.com.

7 “Trading Rapid on First Day,” Christian Science Monitor, December 6, 1928: 8.

8 “Baseball Trade Winds Blow Gale at Toronto Meet,” Chicago Daily Tribune, December 6, 1928: 25; Charles Dunkley, “10-Man Team Proposal is Tabled,” Washington Post, December 14, 1928: 15.

9 John Drebinger, “M’Graw Is on Trail of Luque-Donohue,” New York Times, December 7, 1928: 35; “Report of Secretary Opens Minor Session,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 1; L.H.Addington, “Shopping and Swapping With the Minor Leaguers,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 3, 7.

10 “Trading Rapid on First Day,” Christian Science Monitor, December 6, 1928: 8; Addington, L.H., “Shopping and Swapping.”

11 Francis J. Powers, “Evans Thumbs Over His Trading Stock,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 2.

12 “Shopping and Swapping.”; “Caught on the Fly,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 7.

13 “Angels Sell Staley to Ducks, Stars Buy Pair,” Los Angeles Times, December 9, 1928: A-1.

14 “Trading Rapid on First Day.”

15 Ibid.

16 “Piedmont Magnates Broaden Rookie Rule,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 2.

17 L.H. Addington, “Modified Draft Loops Allied Against Any Change in Policy,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 1.

18 Ibid.

19 “Trading Rapid on First Day”; “East Carolina Loop Stands,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 2; “Shopping and Swapping”; “Caught on the Fly”; Paul Moore, “Dallas to Train in Corsicana,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 2.

20 Paul W. Eaton, “Tampa Smokes Up One on Senators,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 2.

21 “Shopping and Swapping.”

22 They obviously found the money — the Patriots won the 1929 Piedmont League title. J. Chris Holaday, Professional Baseball in North Carolina (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1998), 75; “Piedmont Magnates Broaden Rookie Rule”; George Netherwood, “Outlook Bright for Patriots,” Greensboro Daily News, December 4, 1928: 13; George Netherwood, “Extension Granted the Patriots,” Greensboro Daily News, December 16, 1928: 4, 1.

23 “Shopping and Swapping.”; W. Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, eds., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition (Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America Inc., 1997), 256.

24 “Shopping and Swapping.”; “Southeastern Club on Block,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 1.

25 Joe Hatcher, “Rowland Comes Back in Managerial Field,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 1.

26 Joe Vila, “Retirement Plans Confirmed By Klem,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 1; John Drebinger, “Giants Adopt the Chain-Store Idea By Purchasing Bridgeport Club,” New York Times, December 18, 1928: 44.

27 Brian Bell, “Draft Matter Given Go-Bye,” Los Angeles Times, December 7, 1928: B-1. A territorial rule is still in effect today although, due to better roads and modes of transportation, a minor-league club nowadays controls a diameter of 35 miles.

28 “Shopping and Swapping.”; “Minor League Territorial Question Brings Warm Debate,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 3.

29 “Trading Rapid on First Day”; Robert L. Finch, L.H. Addington, and Ben H. Morgan, eds., The Story of Minor League Baseball (Columbus, Ohio: The Stoneman Press, 1952), 26-27. Double-A was the highest level of the minors at that time and would be until 1946. That level included the American Association, the International League and the Pacific Coast League.

30 He led the Class-B South Atlantic Association, Class-C Piedmont League, and Class-D Eastern Carolina League; he became head of the NAPBLat the end of 1931. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd edition, and The Story of Minor League Baseball.

31 “Trading Rapid on First Day.”

32 John Drebinger, “Important Trade by Yankees Looms,” New York Times, December 5, 1928: 37.

33 “Minors Disband; Leave Draft as Muddled as Ever,” Chicago Tribune, December 8, 1928: 30; “M’Graw Is On Trail Of Luque-Donohue”’ “Convention of Owners Shelves Baseball Draft,” Hartford Courant, December 7, 1928: 22.

34 “M’Graw Is on Trail of Luque-Donohue.”

35 Ibid.

36 Peter Golenbock, Bums (New York: Pocket Books, 1984), 5.

37 John Drebinger, “Baseball Owners Leave for Chicago,” New York Times, December 13, 1928: 37; “N.L. Washes Its Hands of Minor Draft Fight,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 1.

38 “Baseball Owners Leave for Chicago.”

39 Ibid. It was a good thing for the Robins that they didn’t move Bancroft. Wright was hurt early on and made only 30 plate appearances for the year, so Bancroft wound up reclaiming his shortstop post and batted .277. Overall, the trade proved to be fairly inconsequential for both clubs. Wright did come back in 1930 with a good season, but that was the last one of his career. Petty won 11 games for Pittsburgh in 1929 but then only two more in the majors, while Riconda wound up playing in just nine more major-league games.

40 James C. O’Leary, “Braves Get Harper, Maranville, Gowdy,” Boston Globe, December 9, 1928: A-32.

41 “National League to Lose Klem, Who Is Peeved, New York Hears.”

42 Ibid.

43 “Klem to Remain,” Pittsburgh Press, January 15, 1929: 36.

44 In 1939 during a dispute over whether a ball was a home run or foul ball, Magerkurth and Billy Jurges spit at each other. Both were fined and suspended, but more importantly, National League President Ford Frick ordered that a two-foot-wide wire screen be installed inside the foul poles to help the umpires determine whether a ball was fair or foul. Evening News of Sault Sainte Marie, July 19, 1939: 10; Kingston (New York) Daily Freeman, July 19, 1939: 1; Rhinelander (Wisconsin) Daily News, July 24, 1939: 5; Paul Geisler Jr., “Billy Jurges,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, sabr.org/bioproj/person/aada6293#sdendnote14sym, undated, accessed July 7, 2016.

45 “Committees to Discuss Draft,” Christian Science Monitor, December 8, 1928: 7.

46 Burt Whitman, “Hub Marking Time on Council Action,” The Sporting News, December 6, 1928: 1; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Fuchs_(baseball), accessed August 30, 2014.

47 baseball-almanac.com/treasure/autont2002b.shtml, accessed August 31, 2014; “Minors Disband; Leave Draft as Muddled as Ever,” Chicago Tribune, December 8, 1928: 30.

48 “M’Graw Is on Trail of Luque-Donohue.”

49 “Landis Polls Major Owners on Farms, But No Action Is Taken,” The Sporting News, December 20, 1928: 3.

50 Ibid.

51 “Hub Marking Time on Council Action”; “N.L. Washes Its Hands of Minor Draft Fight,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 1.

52 “N.L. Washes Its Hands of Minor Draft Fight”; In the Cubs-Giants game, as a Giants runner attempted to score, the Cubs’ Gabby Hartnett hit him with his shoulder and knocked him down, even though the catcher did not have the ball. Hartnett then held the runner down until his third baseman came down the line and applied the tag. The umpire ruled that there was no interference and the runner was out. The umpire was Bill Klem, and this may have been the reason for the threats made against him. Dom Forker, Wayne Stewart, and Michael Pellowski, Baffling Baseball Trivia (New York: Sterling Publishing Company, 2004), 220-221.

53 Irving Vaughn, “Cub Ranks Shrink at Minor Session,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 1.

54 Frank H. Young, “Red Sox Rate 3rd Baseman Highly,” Washington Post, December 8, 1928: 13.

55 Burt Whitman, “Bob Quinn’s One-For-Five Deal Should Help Boston Red Sox,” The Sporting News, December 20, 1928: 3.

56 “Evans Thumbs Over His Trading Stock”; baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Earl_Averill_(averiea01), accessed September 1, 2014.

57 Francis J. Powers, “Billy Evans Adds as He Subtracts,” The Sporting News, December 13, 1928: 1.

58 Joseph Wancho, “George Uhle,” SABR Baseball Biography Project (sabr.org/bioproj/person/1d015def), undated, accessed September 11, 2011.

59 Ibid.

60 “Business Lags, But Baseballers Chin and Chin,” Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1928: 29; “Caught on the Fly”; profootballhof.com/hof/member.aspx?PLAYER_ID=206.

61 “Important Trade by Yankees Looms.”

62 “Landis Polls Major Owners on Farms, but No Action Is Taken”; John Drebinger, “Giants Adopt the Chain-Store Idea By Purchasing Bridgeport Club,” New York Times, December 18, 1928: 44.

63 “West Baden Conference Off; Present Draft Pact to Stand,” The Sporting News, December 20, 1928: 3.

64 Ibid.

65 Charles Dunkley, “10-Man Team Proposal Is Tabled,” Washington Post, December 14, 1928: 15. One has to wonder what those 1920s owners would think of the twenty-first-century baseball and football schedules.

66 “Landis Polls Major Owners on Farms, But No Action Is Taken.”

67 Ibid.

68 Ibid.

69 “10-Man Team Proposal Is Tabled.”

70 “Pickups and Rebounds From the Major League Meetings,” The Sporting News, December 20, 1928: 3.

71 Ibid.

72 “10-Man Team Proposal Is Tabled.”

73 “Heydler’s Plan Receives Favor,” Christian Science Monitor, December 12, 1928: 10.

74 Brian Bell,“Many Hurlers Star at Bat, Others Hard to Convince, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service archive, December 13, 1928: 15-16.

75 Ibid.

76 Charles Dunkley, “American League Managers Condemn Heydler Proposal for Batless Pitchers,” Hartford Courant, December 13, 1928: 20.

77 “National Firm in Radical Proposal,” Washington Post, December 13, 1928: 15.

78 “The Ten-Man Team,” The Sporting News, December 20, 1928: 4.

79 Marty Noble, “First DH Blomberg thankful for his place in history,” m.mlb.com/news/article/36452472/, accessed August 22 and September 2, 2014.

APPENDICES: OTHER INTERESTING ASPECTS FOR PLAYERS WITH DGS AWARDS

A-1. PLAYERS WITH THE FIRST DGS FOR VARIOUS FRANCHISES

Table A-1 provides, in chronological order, a list of the first DGS achieved by various franchises. Some franchises did not have any of their players achieve a DGS—for example, the Boston Braves, Philadelphia Athletics, Seattle Pilots, or Montreal Expos.

Table A-1 reveals that it took nearly a century for a St. Louis Cardinals player to achieve a DGS. There had been 89 golden sombreros by players on the Redbirds 1901–96 before Ron Gant earned the DGS in late 1996. That was the longest DGS incubation period for any of the eight franchises comprising the NL at the beginning of the twentieth century. Similarly, the original AL Washington Senators did not have any of their players accomplish a DGS 1901–60. It was not until 44 years after the franchise shifted to Minneapolis and became the Twins, that Jacque Jones collected the first DGS for the Nationals-Senators-Twins in 2004. There were 107 golden sombreros by Nationals-Senators-Twins players before Jones homered for the DGS. Six of the 34 players included in Table A-1 are Hall of Famers—Frank Robinson, Duke Snider, Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt, Jim Rice, and Harold Baines.

A-2. DGS PLAYERS WITH GRAND SLAM HOMERS In addition to the jackpot wallop by Derek Norris shown in Table 5, five other players compensated for their four strikeouts with four-run homers. Table A-2 shows the first two jackpot DGSs were slugged by Reggie Jackson when he played for the Angels. He’s the only player with a pair of bases-loaded DGSs. Here are some of things Mr. October said about his first jackpot DGS performance: “I know I struck out [four times] but you have to keep plugging. I finally got something good to hit.”1 The 0 had this headline—“One swing wipes out Reggie’s four Ks.” In the article, Jackson stated, “As much as I strike out, I think I pay for my hits.” Seattle manager Rene Lachmann added, “We struck him out four times and he gets four RBIs—four big ones.”2 Since the Angels defeated the Mariners 11–9, Jackson’s 4-run downtowner was vital for the victory. Jackson also added, “I was lucky. The kid [Ed Vande Berg] made a mistake. I earned that S.O.B tonight.”3

While Reggie was the first (and still the only) player with two bases-loaded DGS performances, he was not the first player to accumulate a pair of DGS awards. That distinction was claimed by Dave Kingman.

A-3. PLAYERS WITH MULTIPLE DGS GAMES

Table A-3a. Players with Two DGS Performances

Table A-3a provides a list of “all” the players who accumulated a pair of DGS awards. In addition to the dozen players with a pair of DGS games, there have been three players with three or more DGS performances; they’re listed in Table A-3b. Ryan Howard has the most DGSs—five.

Table A-3b. Players with Three or More DGS Performances

A-4. PLAYERS WITH MULTIPLE HOMERS IN THEIR DGS GAMES Four players went downtown twice in their DGS games. As described previously, for two of these players—Evan Longoria and Brandon Moss—their second downtowner was a last-inning, game-winning bonafide walk-off home run.

TABLE A-5. DGS PLAYERS WITH GAME-STARTING LEADOFF HOMERS Seven players started their DGS game with a leadoff home run and then suffered four strikeouts. In fact, two of the players endured five subsequent strikeouts—Brian Dozier and Dexter Fowler—thereby meriting downtown platinum sombrero awards.

A-6. PLAYERS WHO EARNED THE DOWNTOWN PLATINUM SOMBRERO AWARD Five players have merited downtown platinum sombrero awards.

A-7. PLAYERS WHO ACHIEVED A DOWNTOWN GOLDEN SOMBRERO IN THE POSTSEASON Only four players have merited a DGS award in post-season play. The first one was achieved by Wayne Garrett in the 1973 World Series. It remains the only DGS in the Fall Classic. While there have not yet been any DGSs in the League Championship Series, there have been three DGSs in League Division Series. Of particular interest are the two in the 1996 ALDS—Bobby Bonilla and Rafael Palmeiro achieved their DGSs in the same game. They each went downtown in their first at bat and then struck out four times. Interestingly, they went downtown in back-to-back fashion. Palmeiro, batting clean-up, and Bonilla, batting in the fifth slot, took Cleveland’s Charles Nagy downtown in the second inning of the fourth game. Bonilla then struck out in his next four at bats before flying out in his sixth at bat; Palmeiro struck out in his next three at bats before flying out in his fifth at bat and striking out in his sixth at bat.

NOTES

1 “Reggie’s slam paces Angels,” Tulare (California) Advance-Register, August 7, 1982, 6.

2 “One swing wipes out Reggie’s four Ks,” San Francisco Examiner, August 7, 1982, C3.

3 Mark Wallace, “Jackson, Kelleher key Angels over M’s, 11–9,” The (Tacoma) News Tribune, August 7, 1982, B1.

Little else is known about what must have been a remarkable baseball game played just months after the Klan had been officially ousted from the state by the Kansas Supreme Court and, a few years earlier, by Kansas governor Henry J. Allen, publisher of the Beacon.3 Despite the unlikely matchup, few remarked on the game, to judge by newspaper coverage at the time, and few, therefore, have remarked on it since.4 Coverage of it in the morning newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, in which it was described as a “novel” game, is typical. Under the headline “Monrovians Beat K. K. K.,” a tantalizingly short, two-sentence report in the middle of a sports page devoted to white baseball coverage summarized the action from the day before, a day during which “searing winds” drove the mercury to 102 degrees: “The Wichita Monrovians won from the K. K. K. team in a close and interesting baseball battle at Island Park, Sunday 10 to 8. A good sized crowd watched the colored team win the contest.”5

Why did the game take place at all? Who initiated or organized the event? What did the teams seek to gain in playing, other than a paycheck? Unfortunately, the newspapers of the day are silent, and the game’s participants, whose names are not known, likely all are deceased.6 That the game occurred at all, however, reveals something of the state of race relations in the mid-1920s in Kansas, a state with, according to one historian, an ambiguous record on race.7 Examining newspaper coverage—or the absence of it—of racial conditions in the heartland in the 1920s, we can identify something of the social change that eventuated in the introduction of integration in the 1930s, a decade before Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947 and two decades before the desegregation of public schools was ushered in by Brown v. (Topeka) Board of Education in 1954.

To that end, I looked at coverage in the Eagle and the Beacon, the two dailies in Wichita during the 1920s, as well as in several weeklies, including the Negro Star and the People’s Elevator, the city’s two African American papers at the time; the Klan Kourier (later the Kansas Kourier); and the Catholic Advance. Particularly, I looked at press coverage—mainstream and black—of the beginnings of the integration of baseball in Wichita during 1920—30, a momentous period for race relations in the United States. Founded to fight legal race discrimination of all kinds, the NAACP marked its first decade in 1920, while the Urban League, the African Blood Brotherhood, and the Universal Negro Improvement Association all were ascendant.8 The re-formed Ku Klux Klan, which aimed to enforce race discrimination, to fight Catholicism, Judaism, and immigration, and to make money, was but five years old, struggling for credibility and acceptance in the state and in the region.

The literature on the history of baseball in Wichita and all of Kansas is thin with respect to the contributions of African Americans. Harold Evans in Baseball in Kansas, 1867—1940 does not mention players of color in any context, for example, while Bob Rives in Baseball in Wichita only briefly mentions the Monrovians in its single reference to African Americans in baseball (and does so incorrectly, referring to the team as the Monrovarians).9 Jason Pendleton in “Jim Crow Strikes Out” does carefully document interracial baseball in the city, and I seek to build on his scholarship by focusing on newspaper coverage.10

BASEBALL AND RACE RELATIONS AFTER WORLD WAR I

Having fought for freedom in Europe in a war in which blacks served with distinction both as soldiers abroad and in factories at home, America did little to prevent a hardening of the racial divide on its own soil. During the “Red Summer” of 1919, twenty-five race riots broke out across the nation.11 Two years later, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, thirty-five black residents were killed in a twenty-four-hour spree of violence that a grand jury later blamed on “agitation among the negroes of social equality.”12 Walter F. White, secretary of the NAACP, warned that the patience of blacks was running out, that their experience of inequality at war and now at home was taking its toll.13 In addition, in the early twenties, in the “Great Northern Drive,” hundreds of thousands of blacks from the South migrated northward and into the cities to benefit from the industrial boom, leading to a sense of hope and a period of institution building.14 From 1910 to 1930, 1.5 million blacks, including the publishers of Wichita’s Negro Star, left the South and headed for Northern cities, many of them passing through the gateway city of Kansas City, just east of Wichita.15 Kansas actively recruited Southern blacks, allowing land ownership as early as the 1870s.

Baseball during this period was reestablishing itself as the national pastime after the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 had threatened its integrity.16 Several developments coincided to contribute to baseball’s resurgence. Press coverage of the game was expanding; a playground movement, school athletic programs, and park programs were all growing; baseball’s moral tone and reputation for civility and sportsmanship were felt to be improved by the increased interest that women were beginning to take in baseball; baseball was celebrated in popular songs and entertainment; and the automobile gave easy access to the ballpark for many people who otherwise would be unlikely to attend a ballgame in the city. Movie houses had been showing World Series films since 1908, while the advent and mass adoption of the telegraph and electric scoreboards enabled fans in America’s cities to monitor the progress of games remotely.17 In Wichita, baseball coverage in the Eagle, Beacon, and Star was robust, indicating the game’s importance to black and white communities alike.

Baseball provides a convenient lens through which to examine integration’s contexts, because during the first half of the twentieth century the national pastime flourished—together with banking, insurance, gambling, and journalism—as one of the industries in which African Americans found most success during the “bleak decades of racial exclusion.”18 Culturally, the summertime game was an important institution in black communities throughout the country, from the Roaring Twenties through the war-riven 1940s and into the 1950s. The hugely successful Kansas City Monarchs, for example, were described in the Call, the city’s African American newspaper, as “the life of Kansas City in the Negro vicinity.”19

BLACK BASEBALL IN WICHITA IN THE 1920s

The game between the Monrovians and the Klan could only highlight the racial divide in Wichita and Kansas at mid-decade. In 1906, ten years after the U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson (“separate but equal”), Wichita began segregating its schools, a move that the Klan aggressively fought for. The Eagle endorsed the plan as best “for the colored race.”20 The black population of 6,500, less than 10 percent of the city’s total, was too small to mount a significant resistance. Probably in light of that fact, the Wichita Searchlight advised that blacks avoid “ungentlemanly or unladylike” behavior in response to the new Jim Crow law.21 Housing, too, became increasingly segregated, as shown by a study done by the Wichita Council on Churches in 1924. One out of five blacks, 1,300 in total, lived “far below the level of decency and comfort,” according to the report, and many lived in“squattertowns” that were developing at the city’s margins.22

The Klan—Monrovians game punctuated a period of transition for black baseball. In 1920 the Negro National, the first black professional league of substance, was launched nearby in Kansas City, Missouri, and was the product of an intimate partnership between team owners and the black press.23 In the context of what quickly became an economically depressed decade for most Americans but in particular black Americans, the cooperation from and among newspapermen interested to promote financial success and athletic achievement in black baseball was part of a larger effort to establish credibility in the eyes of the mainstream from which the black community was systematically excluded. It was this period of self-help and uplift that made possible the activist reporting and campaigning for the desegregation of baseball in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Many black communities, including Wichita’s, were heeding Booker T. Washington’s call for cooperation within and among black businesses “as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”24 The Negro Star, for example, sounded the theme in its house ads—“We strive to please, to uplift, to advance the race” and “Yours for Racial Uplift and Business Enterprise.”25 The headline to a story about a day of meetings at the black Water Street YMCA in 1922 read, “The Negro Must Help Himself.” “If we are to gain and maintain the respect of the white race,” wrote the reporter, probably Hollie T. Sims, the Star’s owner and publisher, who attended the meetings, “we must prove that the rich, red, potent blood is in our veins and that we are capable of producing and achieving results.”26

The same week that the Monrovians battled the Klan, the twenty-fourth annual National Baptist Sunday School and Baptist Young People’s Union Congress opened in Wichita with a ringing endorsement of Washington’s ideas. Atlanta’s Rev. Dr. Daniel W. Cannon, a bishop in the black Baptist church, delivered the Congress’s keynote address:

The American Negro must win his way to civilization as other races have done, and then he must learn that civilization is not a garment to be purchased . . . but must be gained thru [sic] industry, honesty, reliability and thrift.27

In a front-page story in the Beacon, Cannon was quoted as saying that blacks “are here to work.”28 The convention received several days of front-page coverage in the Beacon, probably because of the size of the assembly, which gathered at Wichita’s Forum, the city’s largest indoor meeting venue.

The Monrovians, too, were a product of the kind of self-help urged on the black community by Cannon, Washington, and the Star. The ballclub was owned by the Monrovian Park Association, “one of the first colored corporations in the West” to own and maintain both a team and a ballpark, Monrovian Park, also called Monrovian Amusement Park.29 In the history of black baseball, it was rare for a team to own and therefore control its own playing venue; most clubs had to accommodate their schedule to that of another club whose ballpark they rented.

The Monrovians officially opened their new park on June 3, 1922, with a gala event covered by the Beacon, though not the Star. Charles Prince Edward, a black “attaché” of Wichita’s district court, delivered the opening speech and then stayed to umpire the game. Throughout the decade, Edward appears more often than not as the umpire at games at Monrovia Park. Throwing out the first pitch was S. W. Zickefoose, a white man, chief of Wichita’s detectives. “A large number of enthusiastic fans of both races sat in the bleachers” for the game, indicating Wichita’s ambiguous attitudes toward race in the 1920s.30

Stock in the Monrovian Park Association was valued at $10,000, which was to be used to buy the ballpark at 12th and Mosley. It is not clear whether this transaction was ever made, though the park’s name, like the team’s, a tribute to the capital of Liberia, suggests that it did. J. M. Booker, president of the corporation, was reported by the Beacon to be planning a benefit for a children’s home in Wichita—an example of the civic involvement of most black teams of the era. The Monrovians appear sporadically in brief mentions in the Eagle and Beacon through 1930, when the team and the corporation simply vanish. According to the Negro Star, where coverage was also sporadic, the “Southwestern Champions” enjoyed enormous success in 1923, a year after the opening of their ballpark. They went 52—8, a record that included wins against “the best amateur clubs in the country,” many of them white.31

In 1922, two years after the Negro National’s momentous founding in Kansas City, the Monrovians and eight teams in Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Kansas banded together to form the Colored Western League, a segregated counterpart to the white Western League, of which the Wichita Izzies were longtime members. Charles Bettis, an editor with the Wichita Protest, a black weekly, served as secretary. Like most black leagues, however, the Colored Western was loosely run. It faced deep logistical and fiscal challenges and could not overcome infighting among its members. With team officials considering a lawsuit against the league director, Jack Johnson of Topeka, the league collapsed after only one season of play and one championship, won by the Monrovians, who finished with the best won—loss record.32

In 1925, without league games to fill out their schedule, the Monrovians had to hit the road and, just prior to their game with the Klan, had been touring for six days through western Oklahoma. Barnstorming, the team played six games, losing to Alva, Kiowa, and Decoma and beating Woodward, Waynoka, and Alva.33 In a brief report in the Eagle after the trip, the Monrovians announced they were “open for games with any team in Kansas,” an invitation that might have led to the game with the Klan approximately three weeks later.

So little is known about the Klan—Monrovians game in part because the Negro Star did not regularly cover sports until 1934. In 1925 it provided no sports coverage at all. The weekly devoted its four or six pages instead mostly to church news and sermons, black achievement, news on resistance to the Klan, and advertising by black businesses. The weekly Catholic Advance did not cover sports either. It focused instead on world and national Catholic news, local church news and announcements, and a buyer’s guide of Catholic businesses “recommended for your patronage.”34 Nor did the Klan Kourier cover sports, devoting its pages mostly to national roundups, meeting reports, reactions to the rhetoric of various politicians, reactions to daily reporting in the mainstream press, and coverage of Klan chapters and of such issues as immigration and education.35 The absence of sports reporting in the weeklies should not surprise. Even in the mainstream dailies it was just coming into its own, with the first separate Sunday sports section appearing in the New York Times in September 1919.36

Still, some important facts are known about the Monrovians—Klan game in 1925. In a report in the Eagle a few days afterward, it was described as the “best attended and most interesting game in Wichita” that Sunday, a see-saw battle that began as a pitchers’ duel and ended with a blizzard of scoring.37 We also know that, given “the wide difference of the two organizations,” violence was a distinct possibility, as the warning against razors and strangleholds indicates.38 According to the People’s Elevator, the record number of lynchings nationally in the first half of 1925, nine, was four more than during the first six months of 1924, the Klan’s disavowals of violence notwithstanding.39 In the Beacon’s pregame report, which likely was submitted by the Monrovians’ manager, Lascelle Dortch, the “colored boys” were said to have asked that “all their supporters be on hand.” The article also noted that “the Klansmen are comparatively new” and that the umpires—Irish Garrety and Dan Dwyer—were selected because they were “well known amateur umpires” and “to get away from all possible favoritism,” a reference to their being Irish Catholic.40

It is significant that the game took place at the city-owned Island Park. Built on Ackerman Island in the middle of the Arkansas River in 1911, the wooden ballpark anchored a thirty-four-acre leisure complex that included the Wonderland amusement park and its Giant Thriller rollercoaster built in 1905. Also on the property were a swimming pool, vaudeville theater, dance pavilion and bandstand, roller rink, and a collection of larger-than-life statues acquired from the 1904 World Fair. Ackerman Island was perhaps the most public of Wichita venues for an interracial game; after improvements to the ballpark in 1921, seating capacity was about 5,000.41

Island Park, like other city-owned, city-run venues and facilities, including Wichita High School, the city’s largest high school in the 1920s, was open to blacks. Segregation occurred at a societal level, but mostly it was not effected by law, as it increasingly was throughout the Deep South.42 A story in 1924 in the Star, for example, offered to “Any Group of Colored Boys” a baseball field at 9th and Mosley, a field owned by the city but run by the black Water Street YMCA two afternoons and two evenings each week.43 This allowed blacks and whites (and, presumably, the city’s Mexican and Syrian populations) to use the park on alternate days.

THE KLAN AND ITS OPPOSITION

The game against the Monrovians came at a critical time for the Klan in Kansas and nationally, which may explain why it occurred at all. The white supremacist organization was fighting for its life. Organized by William Simmons in 1915, the renewed Klan had a great deal of support in the early 1920s, counting 40,000 members in Kansas and approximately 6,000 in Wichita in 1922.44 In the 1924 gubernatorial race, the Klan’s policies became a campaign issue. William Allen White, publisher of the progressive Emporia Gazette, ran on a platform that included strong opposition to the Klan, a group he called a “self constituted body of moral idiots.” He called himself the “Anti-Klan Candidate for Governor.”45 The Klan fought back. In the October 17 issue of the Klan Kourier, the headline for the lead story on the weekly’s front page read, “White Appears in Sorry Role in Race for Governor.” The story carried the deckhead, “Editor Reckless of Truth.” Other front-page stories that week in the Kourier: “Kansas Citizen Says White Is Bushwhacker,” “Religion Football for Jests of Editor White,” “White Froths in Predicting What He’ll Do,” and “White Changes Stand Any Time to Make It Fit.”

Gathering opposition, including resistance from Catholics, the black press, and politicians such as Allen and White, who were also newspaper publishers, combined to limit the “Protestant American giant,” as did postwar society generally, in which stridency in any form seemed somewhat out of place. Robert S. Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender, the nation’s leading black newspaper at the time, called on blacks nationally to “join Catholics, Jews and the Irish in the war against the Klan.”46 Across the country, whites resisted, including, in Wichita, the local police force and veterans of foreign wars.47

The Negro Star opposed the Klan in a variety of ways. Virtually every week during the 1920s, it included news on the Klan’s progress nationwide or on success in curbing its influence and growth. “Watch and pray, yet be ye ever ready,” the Star warned in May 1922. “The Ku Klux Klan has a more sinister purpose than merely maintaining white supremacy and protecting the virtue of the white skin woman.”48

Three stories on the “continued outrages” of the Klan dominated the front page of the Star a month later, coverage that united “Negroes, Catholics, Jews” in opposition to the “un-American” organization.49 In July 1926, specifically in opposition to a Klan-backed slate, the Star endorsed three judges—of “unquestioned moral standing,” it wrote—who were up for election in Wichita.50

Neither the Eagle nor the Beacon actively opposed or supported the Klan. The Beacon was more thorough in its reporting on Klan and anti-Klan activities. Coverage of the Klan was in general infrequent. Typically it reflected concern for the organization’s reputation for stridency and violence.51 Also undermining the efforts of the Klan in Kansas was the fact that it was not a homegrown organization, being largely imported from Oklahoma. The Wichita chapter was organized by an Oklahoman using a local hotel room, “room 511, Hotel Broadview,” as headquarters.52 By early 1923, the “koo koos” had organizations in Wichita, Hutchinson, and Arkansas City, and a chapter was forming in Topeka. In 1925, the year of the game, a gathering of 15,000 Klansmen “jammed the fairgrounds here burning crosses and singing. . . . this marked the [Klan’s] crescendo in Kansas.”53 As the game was being played that hot summer’s day in Wichita, the Klan had already been exposed, in efforts such as Allen’s “ouster” suit, as a moneymaking racket.54

BASEBALL COVERAGE IN WICHITA’S NEWSPAPERS

These historical and social contexts suggest that for Wichita’s Klan chapter, Klan No. 6, the game at Island Park was a rather desperate publicity move. The Klan’s No. 6 team in fact does not appear in any other Beacon or Eagle article or in any posting of league standings in the 1920s, making the few reports of the Monrovians game the only evidence in the press that the team existed. It could have been organized expressly for the one Sunday afternoon in June, an irony against the backdrop of the Klan’s much publicized campaign to ban Sunday baseball earlier in the decade. If their purpose in playing a baseball game with the Monrovians was to win public favor, that could help explain why the event was evidently unaccompanied by violence or rowdiness. The see-saw battle, knotted at one apiece through the first five innings, was the most entertaining game in town that Sunday, according to the Beacon.55 The rooting was “enthusiastic,” it reported, and the large crowd “would have been a credit to the [white] Western League.”56

It is not clear whose judgments and opinions the newspaper was reporting, but coverage during the period of black teams in general and of the Kansas City Monarchs in particular suggests that the Beacon and the Eagle reprinted reports sent in by the black teams themselves, including the Monrovians. The game report carried no byline, which was common for sports coverage of the period, and no individuals in the short article were identified in any context, neither as subjects nor as sources. The report likely was submitted by Lascelle Dortch, the team’s manager and a porter at Wichita’s Skaer Hotel, exemplifying how in the black communities of the period business leaders invariably played many roles.57

That the game was not meaningfully covered by the big dailies can only be explained by race. White teams and leagues got plenty of regular coverage, including previews leading up to big games, reports on the contests themselves, and statistical roundups and league standings.58 That the dailies would accept and run reports from black teams signals accommodation, however, as does the existence on the Beacon staff in 1922 of at least two black reporters, George E. Hamilton and B. C. Ranavalona.59 (The Reverend Dr. Ranavalona also was the Star’s assistant editor throughout the decade.) Even more dramatically, the local dailies ran at least two items on all-black women’s teams, including one as early as 1920. In May of that year, in a game at Island Park, the Alabama Bloomers played a Wichita team called the A.B.C. Club.60 The report appears to have been submitted to the Beacon by the Bloomers, indicating a fairly liberal editorial policy on the part of the newspaper.

Why the Star did not cover the game is more difficult to understand, though perhaps simple to explain. Until mid-1934, sports coverage in the black weekly was almost entirely reflexive, or passive. The paper solicited and sometimes received reports from teams and clubs in the city’s black community, including the Monrovians, the A.B.C.s, the Gray Sox, and many of the city’s South Central Athletic Association basketball teams. It appears to have published whatever such reports it received, yielding no comprehensive or systematic coverage of any sport, much less of any one organization. In addition, publisher H. T. Sims was not in Wichita the day of the game. He was at a session of the Baptist Young People’s Union (BYPU), an organization for which he was national secretary, in Fort Scott. Given its limited resources, the newspaper may not have been able to send anyone to Island Park to cover the game, particularly on Sunday, the busiest news day of the week for a publication devoted to church news. The Star did briefly experiment with sports coverage in 1922 (one issue, 28 July, using Negro Newspaper Association wire copy), but Sims did not begin meaningful sports coverage until the arrival of sports editor Bennie C. Williams in 1934.61

Sims’s own story parallels that of the community he served. As a young newspaper publisher in Greenwood, Mississippi, and newly married to Virginia, who would help publish the Star for thirty-four years, Hollie T. Sims was run out of town for publishing a story in 1919 in tribute to the black soldiers who helped defeat Germany in World War I. Greenwood’s sheriff and “a committee of white citizens” told the Simses that “you can’t run that kind of stuff in Mississippi,” Virginia Sims later remembered. “Cotton can grow at the North Pole easier than the news you’re putting out could go in Mississippi,” the Simses were told. “We couldn’t continue to publish our newspaper and live,” wrote Virginia Sims, shortly before her death.62 In a letter to a fellow member of the NAACP, for which H. T. Sims founded the Wichita chapter, H. T. Sims remembered it this way: “The white man of the South attempted to stop me from praising my people.”63 With two other families who helped publish the newspaper, the Simses loaded up their printing press and boarded a northbound train to Kansas. They published the Star, the self-proclaimed “mouth-piece of 28,000 in Kansas” first in June 1919 from a barn behind their home at 1241 Wabash. (The barn and the house are completely gone, leaving only a neglected, overgrown vacant lot in a poor black section of Wichita.)

Hollie T. Sims was the son of R. T. Sims, who published a black church paper in Canton, Mississippi, the Mississippi Baptist.64 H. T. Sims was also a prototypical black newspaperman, serving as an important voice in and for Wichita’s black community and involving himself deeply in the community’s efforts to lift itself up out of poverty. He founded Wichita’s chapter of the NAACP soon after moving to Wichita and served as treasurer of the Water Street YMCA, which was a cultural nexus for Wichita’s black community in the 1920s. He also was secretary of the BYPU, which exerted important political influence in its role as a mouthpiece for Baptist blacks and particularly the young.65 Sims wrote in the Star that “a newspaperman’s duty is to serve the public by giving the truth of all matters touching the interests of the public regardless of his own individual opinions or creed.”66 Had he been in Wichita the day of the game, he might have covered it himself or at least been on hand. It is also possible he would have ignored the game, recognizing the event as a Klan ploy to curry favor with the public at large and the black community specifically.

Sims clearly lived out Booker T. Washington’s philosophy, by employing six people to publish the Star and more generally in working to expand business and enterprise in Wichita’s black community. In early 1922, for example, he joined with B. H. Neely, his longtime business manager and advertising representative, to organize the Kansas Coal and Mercantile Company.67 The business partners sold shares in the new company. “We need your and every Race man and woman’s $s and co-operation to make this Company a success,” they said. To judge from advertisements in the Star, which ran over a period of years, the company was indeed a success, but it is not known on what scale.

Neely was a “Race man” himself, organizing, with national backing, Wichita’s Local Porters Union in 1924, in addition to working at the Star and running the mercantile company.68 So also was Sims’s brother, Hugh T. Sims, who moved with the Sims family to Wichita from Mississippi. Hugh was one of Wichita’s two black dentists in 1925, according to a church-council report published by the Beacon, a comprehensive study that described “general race relations” as “co-operative” and that discouraged “discrimination against Negro pupils at Wichita High School,” an integrated school.69

The Beacon and Eagle each covered the Monrovians as frequently, or as infrequently, as did the Star, providing a few lines on a recent game in the city every few weeks or so. Of the three, the Beacon provided the most coverage, though for all three papers the short reports were almost certainly submitted by the teams—by Dortch for the Monrovians. The clue is how the teams are described. “The fastest organization of colored players ever organized in Wichita,” read one story in the Eagle about the Monrovians. According to another, they were “Wichita’s favorite colored ball team,” a team that played at a level “that has not been excelled in the history of colored baseball circles in Wichita.” The players’ names, too, suggest that the teams themselves submitted the copy, names such as “Chicken,” “Red Horse,” and “Six Shooter.”70

The dailies likewise included items on the city’s other black teams, including the Gray Sox, the A. B. C. Club, Black Wonders, Rex Cudahy, Stockyards, and Coffeyville. These short game reports, faits divers, appeared before filler copy at the bottom of the sports page. One report, on the Monrovians’ win over Aces Up of Hutchinson, was followed by the filler line, “Dutch painters have always given their women large hands.” Another inanely alerted readers that there were 3.5 billion cubic feet of timber in the forests of eastern Poland.71

Some of these games were against white clubs, including a game in 1922 at Monrovia Park against the Eagle’s own city-league team, the Wichita Eagle Newsies.72 That year the Monrovians also played the white American Legion team, winning 2 to 1, also at Monrovia Park, and played several games against the Beacon’s championship amateur-league team.73 That white teams would routinely play all-black teams on the black team’s home field in the black section of town says a great deal about race relations during the period. This did not occur, for example, in Boston, Chicago, Baltimore, or New York City, nor did it occur anywhere in the South.

THE KANSAS CITY MONARCHS IN THE WICHITA PRESS

One black team stands out for its high profile in the Wichita press, being routinely treated to more than brief mentions in the Star, the Eagle, and the Beacon— the perennial Negro Leagues champion Kansas City Monarchs. As Wichita native and baseball historian Tim Rives points out, no Negro Leagues team “won more pennants, sent more players to the major leagues, or has more members enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame” than the Monarchs.74 The team barnstormed throughout the Midwest in the 1920s, taking the Negro Leagues brand of baseball and its own brand of comedy to small towns, to black communities in the larger cities, and to white fans everywhere. As did Joe Louis and Jesse Owens for their peers in their respective sports, the Monarchs won for blacks in baseball a measure of credibility and notoriety, as shown by coverage of them in the Eagle and the Beacon.

For Wichita, the Monarchs also brought night baseball. The team’s white owner, J. L. Wilkinson, developed baseball’s first portable lighting system and in the early 1930s barnstormed with it in cities including St. Louis, Dallas, and Wichita, leading up to its debut in the major leagues at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field in May 1935.75 After the debut of night baseball in Enid, Oklahoma, on April 29, 1930, the lighting system came to Wichita, where it required fifty workers to install.76 Noting the importance of the innovation for baseball, both the Eagle and the Beacon devoted several days’ worth of coverage to the game in Oklahoma. More importantly, the coverage played up the technological progress the lights represented and made little mention of the Monarchs’ race or that the game was between black clubs. The Eagle story carried the headline “Night Baseball To Get Introduction In Wichita For Two Games,” and its lead paragraph read: “Between 7 A.M. and 8:15 P.M. today, Island Park will be transformed into a modern electrical plant . . . so fans in this vicinity can view night baseball for the first time.”77 The next day’s paper told Wichitans that “Night Baseball Proves Success At Island” and that playing conditions were “almost as perfect as . . . daylight could give.”78

There is no trace of prejudice, antagonism, or institutional bias against the Monarchs merely because of their race (though neither is there recognition of the injustices and discrimination that gave birth to the Monarchs and the Negro Leagues in the first place). By contrast, two years later, when the Wichita Izzies, a white team in the Western League, played its first night game, little was made of the event in either of the big dailies.79 The Eagle’s columnist Pete Lightner became a sort of Monarchs advocate, a peculiar posture for a white writer in a mainstream daily in 1930, and he remained a Monarchs booster throughout the decade.80 He was especially enamored of Satchel Paige, calling him the “greatest colored pitcher in the country and perhaps the greatest pitcher regardless of race.”81 In the Negro Star, the longest baseball story to appear there during the decade, and one of the few to land on page one, was a report on the Monarchs’ defeat of the Monrovians in 1923 in a game at Monrovian Park. Charles Prince Edwards umpired, and T.

J. “T Baby” Young caught.82 “Last Tuesday brought the long looked for and noted Kansas City Monarchs before the Wichita Base Ball Fans,” the story read, giving the most complete game report published in the Star up to that date. It is likely that the performance by Young in this game, catching popular Monrovians pitcher named only as “Farmer,” led the Monarchs to sign the 21-year-old Oklahoma native. Thomas Jefferson Young starred for the Monarchs in the late 1920s and 1930s, and for at least one season there his brother Maurice was a teammate.83 One of the other few front-page baseball stories to run in the Star was about the Monarchs winning the Negro National League pennant in 1923.84

*****

Coverage of baseball in Wichita during the 1920s, including coverage of the unlikely matchup of blacks and Klansmen on a hot summer Sunday afternoon, indicated an ambivalence toward race and an acceptance of the segregation that created distinct and separate worlds in Wichita, worlds that rarely intersected. When they did, as on that Sunday at Island Park and whenever the Monarchs came to town, little was made of it and nothing was written about it in the newspapers, which seemed to accept de facto segregation. The big dailies did little to cause readers to see any need for change in that regard. The city’s black community, to judge from its two weeklies, was more focused on uplifting itself and on gaining respect from the white community than it was on integration; activism on this front was more than a decade away.

The coverage also shows a Klan on the retreat, struggling to win public favor and finding new and gathering enemies as the decade advanced. It shows Wichita sports opening up to blacks, both on the field and in the stands—a picture of race relations in sharp contrast to those that prevailed in the South, where Jim Crow laws and policies were proliferating. The coverage is a tribute to the black press during the period, which relied on families like the Sims to overcome financial and logistical obstacles each and every week. The Negro Star, Wichita Protest, and Wichita Searchlight provide some of the only records of daily life for the city’s black community, which was concentrated along Wichita’s Cleveland Avenue, from Third to 21st Streets.85 They also were more than mere chroniclers of the black experience. As change agents they helped to shape it as well.

In important ways the philosophy of uplift that characterized the 1920s made possible the dramatic progress toward integration in the 1930s. Achievements like those of the Monrovians, the Monarchs, and the black business community in the 1920s provided tools with which to chip away at ignorance of and apathy toward segregation in the 1930s, an arrangement with great costs to black and white populations alike. An examination of coverage in these same newspapers during the 1930s will show how this progress was made and how, as the decade progressed, commentators felt about interracial play in baseball.

BRIAN CARROLL, assistant professor of communication at Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia.

Notes

The author would like to thank Tony Yoseloff and the Yoseloff Foundation for the Yoseloff / SABR Baseball Research Grant that made the research for this article possible.

1. “Only Baseball Is On Tap At Island Park; Klan and Colored Team To Mix on the Diamond Today,” 21 June 1925, A5.
2. Description “fast colored team” from “Monrovans [sic] Divide,” Wichita Eagle, 3 June 1925, Umpires’ names from “Only Baseball Is On Tap At Island Park; Klan and Colored Team To Mix on the Diamond Today,” Wichita Beacon, 21 June 1925, A5.
3. In January 1925, the Klan was “ousted,” or outlawed, for operating for profit without a state charter; the Klan appealed to the S. Supreme Court, but the appeal was denied (“Klan’s End in Kansas Began in 1922,” Wichita Beacon, 14 April 1965, no page number). The action was brought by Kansas’s attorney general, Richard Hopkins, at the request of Governor Allen, longtime owner and publisher of the Wichita Beacon. See also “Report Wichita Alive With Secret Service,” Wichita Eagle, 25 November 1922, 1. The story carried three deckheads: “Seeking Full Roster of Ku Klux Members,” “Many Wichitans Expected to be Listed as Defendants in Ouster Suit,” and “5,000 Klansmen in City is Belief.” Allen sold the Beacon in 1928.
4. The game has not previously been When the game is mentioned in news media, the few sentences the Beacon or Eagle devoted to the game are simply recapped. For examples, see Paul Gutierrez, “Museum Brings the Negro Leagues to Life,” (Ogden, Utah) StandardExaminer, 24 May 2007; Rheta Grimsley Johnson, “Exhibits of Jazz and Negro League Baseball are Must-Sees in Kansas City,” Seattle PostIntelligencer 13, January 1999; and Greg Couch, “You’re Never Too Old to Learn,” Chicago Sun-Times, 3 August 2003 (all accessed through America’s Newspapers database from NewsBank, 14 November 2007).
5. “Monrovians Beat K. K.,” Wichita Eagle, 22 June 1925, 3. Temperature reading from “Hottest Day,” Wichita Beacon, 23 June 1925, 1. The 102degree reading was three degrees off the record for the year and five degrees off the all-time record, according to the newspaper. The Eagle also reported a record 4,459 bathers at the city’s pool at Central Riverside park (“Municipal Pool Attracted 4,459 Bathers Sunday,” Wichita Eagle, 22 June 1925, 2).
6. The names of only two players, the manager, and the two umpires are On-site research to find the five, or their descendants, did not locate any living participants of the game. The players: Thomas Jefferson “T Baby” Young and Newt Joseph. The manager: Lascelle Dortch. The umpires: W. W. “Irish” Garrety and Dan Dwyer. Both Young and Joseph had good careers with the Kansas City Monarchs, Young as a catcher and Joseph as an infielder, mostly at third base. Joseph also started a taxi service in Kansas City, Paseo Cab Company, later Monarch Cab Company (Larry Lester, “J. L. Wilkinson: ‘Only the Stars Come Out at Night,’” in Satchel Paige and Company, ed. Leslie Heaphy [Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007], 124).
7. Craig Miner, Kansas: The History of the Sunflower State, 1854—2000 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002), 253.
8. Gregory Holmes Singleton, “Birth, Rebirth, and the ‘New Negro’ of the 1920s,” Phylon 43, 1 (1982), 42. For more on the black movements referenced, see Simon P. Fullinwider, The Mind and Mood of Black America (Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey Press, 1969).
9. “Baseball in Kansas, 1867—1940,” in Kansas Historical Quarterly 9, no. 2 (1940), 175—92; Baseball in Wichita (Charleston, C.: Arcadia, 2004). Rives also incorrectly places the Monrovians—Klan game at “Monrovarian Park.” There was no such place.
10. Jason Pendleton, “Jim Crow Strikes Out: Interracial Baseball in Wichita, Kansas, 1920—1935,” Kansas History 20, 2 (summer 1997): 86—101.
11. For more on the riots and the increase in lynchings in 1919, see Anne Hagedom, Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007).
12. In David Goldberg’s Discontented America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1999), 96.
13. Robert Cottrell, The Best Pitcher in Baseball: The Life of Rube Foster, Negro League Giant (New York: New York University Press, 2001), 139.
14. The “Great Northern Drive” was a phrase coined by the Chicago Defender in March 1917 to publicize migration (24 March 1917). For more on the pattern of movement into Kansas of African Americans, who came mostly from Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Tennessee, see Nell Irvin Painter, Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1976).
15. Two good studies of the exodus from the South are Nicholas Lemann, The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America (New York: Vintage Books, 1992) and Carole Marks, Farewell, We’re Good and Gone: The Great Black Migration (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989). In September 1923, in a report datelined Kansas City, the Chicago Defender gloated that the “Migratory Movement” had cost the state of Georgia more than $2 million in one year, finally tying economic repercussions to the absence of a federal anti-lynching law (“Solid South’s Power Doomed by Migration,” 1 September 1923, 1).
16. For more on Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox, see Eliot Asinof, Eight Men Out (New York: Henry Holt, 1963).
17. John Betts, America’s Sporting Heritage: 1850—1950 (Reading, : Addison-Wesley, 1974), 123.
18. Jerry Malloy, ed., Sol White’s History of Colored Base Ball (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), Malloy’s edition includes a reprinting of the 1907 volume Sol White’s Official Base Ball Guide, by Sol White, a black ballplayer, successful manager, and, later, a newspaperman.
19. Quoted in The Kansas City Monarchs, Champions of Black Baseball, by Janet Bruce (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1985),
20. In Miner, Kansas, 21.
21. Ibid., 256.
22. “Wichita Newspapers Attaining Success in Several Lines,” Wichita Beacon, 18 January 1924, n.p.
23. See Brian Carroll, When to Stop the Cheering? The Black Press, the Black Community, and the Integration of Professional Baseball (New York: Routledge, 2007).
24. Booker Washington, “Atlanta Compromise Speech,” 18 September 1895.
25. Appearing, respectively, in the Negro Star, 13 October 1922, 5 and p. 4.
26. “The Negro Must Help Himself,” Negro Star, 29 April 1922, Sims was treasurer of the YMCA and, therefore, was likely present for the meetings. The story carried no byline.
27. “Negroes Must Make a Place for Their Race,” Wichita Beacon, 25 June 1925, The convention reported 22,000 member churches and nearly 4 million individual members.
28. Wichita—Sedgwick County Historical Museum, photo archives, accessed 10 January Cannon’s message, which Beacon readers would likely have found reassuring, also likely contributed to the prominent coverage. In the June 26 issue he is quoted as preaching “love, not hate” (“Teach Negroes Tolerance, Not Hate, Is Urged,” Wichita Beacon, 11).
29. “Monrovians Get Charter,” Negro Star, 11 August 1922, The corporation was made up of “several colored men of the community,” who were not identified, and led by J. M. Booker, an attorney in Wichita, who served as president.
30. “Colored Western League Opened and Tulsa Lost,” Wichita Beacon, 4 June 1922, 4A. The Monrovians pummeled the Tulsa Black Oilers 8 to 1 behind the pitching of Hill and the catching of T. J. Young.
31. “Lost Just Eight Out of Sixty,” Negro Star, 20 July 1923, The team’s record is perhaps a bit misleading. The Monrovians would play anyone, including the Arthur Gosset American Legion Post team, the Campbell Bread team, and Kirke Tire Co.
32. “Colored Western League Having Some Bad Trouble,” Wichita Beacon, 20 July 1922, 4.
33. “Monrovans [sic] Divide,” Wichita Eagle, 3 June 1925, 11.
34. From the Catholic Advance, 23 May 1925, 8.
35. The Klan Kourier, which became the Kansas Kourier in August 1924, had little local news of any Its contents during the period studied resembled closely that of the Ohio Fiery Cross, the Klan’s weekly in Ohio, indicating more of a national agenda and the syndication of content.
36. James Harold Slusser, “The Sports Page in American Life in the Nineteen Twenties” (master’s thesis, University of California, 1952), 15.
37. “With the Amateurs,” Wichita Beacon, 23 June 1925, 2.
38. “Only Baseball Is on Tap at Island Park; Klan and Colored Team to Mix on the Diamond Today,” Wichita Beacon, 21 June 1925, A5.
39. “Lynching Record for the First Six Months 1925,” People’s Elevator, 3 July 1925, The newspaper relied on figures from the Tuskegee Institute. All of the lynchings were of blacks; none occurred in Kansas.
40. “Only Baseball Is on Tap at Island Park; Klan and Colored Team To Mix on the Diamond Today,” Wichita Beacon, 21 June 1925, A5. From advertisements in the Star, it is known that both W. W. “Irish” Garrety and Dwyer served in World War I, were longtime residents of Sedwick County, claimed to be friends of the black community, and courted the black vote in local elections, Garrety for sheriff and Dwyer for register of deeds (for Garrety, see 21 July 1922, 5; for Dwyer, 27 October 1922, 6). Dwyer was a native of Sedgwick County; Garrety had lived in Sedgwick all but one of his fifty years.
41. Jim Cross, “Mid-river Museum Offered; Proposal Calls for Island in Ark,” Wichita Eagle, 20 April 1995. Ackerman Island is gone; Exploration Place, a $62-million science center and children’s museum, occupies a piece of the land that once was home to the man-made The Wooden Island Park burned down in 1933; it was replaced the next year by Lawrence Stadium, which, as Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, still serves as the city’s minor-league baseball facility (“Local History Spotlight,” Wichita Eagle, 1 June 2006, E 1). Ray “Hap” Dumont, a former sports editor for the Hutchinson News, founded the National Baseball Congress, which annually organized the Kansas State Baseball Tournament (“Baseball Legend Dumont Put Wichita on the Map; Tourney Idea Spurred Stadium,” Wichita Eagle, 10 June 1993).
42. The 1906 law segregating some of Wichita’s public schools is the exception rather than the rule.
43. “Base Ball Field Open to Our Boys,” Negro Star, 18 July 1924, 1.
44. Miner, Kansas, 252.
45. Advertisement, Negro Star, 31 October 1924, White spoke to Wichita’s black community in four stops on 1 November 1924. “Dont [sic] Fail to hear him tell about the Ku Klux Klan,” the ad read.
46. In Goldberg, 134.
47. “Supposed Klan Under Eyes of Police,” Wichita Beacon, 5 May 1922, 1; “Kansas G. A. R. Warns Ku Klux by Resolution,” Wichita Beacon, 18 May 1922, 1.
48. No headline, Negro Star, 12 May 1922, 2.
49. “Continued Outrages of K.K.,” “K.K.K. Draw Small Crowd at Meeting,” “Journal Uprise,” Negro Star, 16 June 1922, 1.
50. “Watch Your Steps for Judges of the Supreme Court,” Negro Star, 30 July 1926, 1.
51. See “Fifty Thousand Klansmen Gather at Joliet,” Wichita Eagle, 4 June 1922, 1. The lead story carried an eight-column banner headline and the deckhead “It Gives Worry to Many.”
52. “Report Wichita Alive With Secret Service,” Wichita Eagle, 25 November 1922, The Broadview was Wichita’s premier hotel (and, some would argue, still is today).
53. “Klan Once Rode in Kansas,” Wichita Beacon, 17 April 1965, n.p.
54. Recruiters received four of the eight dollars levied to join the Klan (Goldberg, 57).
55. There were several other games in town that The powerful Wichita Advertisers “mauled” the Cudahy Puritans, 12 to 3, in an Open League game at Cudahy Park (“Bye League,” Wichita Beacon, 23 June 1925, 2); Dold’s played Derby Oil at Dold’s Park, in an Industrial League doubleheader (“To Play Today,” Wichita Beacon, 21 June 1925, A5); the Blind Toms, a squad of umpires, played the Wichita Juniors; and Frisco took on the East Side Merchants at the Mosely diamond, where the Monrovians played most of their home games (“Today’s Calendar Games,” Wichita Eagle, 21 June 1925, 15).
56. “With the Amateurs,” Wichita Beacon, 23 June 1925, 2.
57. Occupation from Polk’s Wichita City Directory (Kansas City, , 1925). The Skaer Hotel was a three-story, 56-room hotel built in 1917 by John Henry Skaer and J. W. Skaer, two brothers from Oklahoma (Wichita Beacon, 28 March 1943, 5).The hotel was sold in 1957 for $250,000 (Wichita Eagle, 5 January 1957, 5A).
58. See, for example, “Leading Teams in City Leagues Take Beatings,” Wichita Beacon, 21 June 1925, The roundup story documented play in the white leagues, including the Industrial, Bye, Commercial, Municipal, Spalding, Uility, Peerless, and Open leagues, but did not mention black teams or leagues.
59. “Colored Reporter on Big Daily Awarded Gift for Superior Service,” Negro Star, 2 November 1922, Nothing else is known about Hamilton; and no headline, Negro Star, 6 January 1922, 4. Ranavalona had been promoted from “cub reporter to first class reporter by The Beacon.”
60. “Alabama Bloomers to Play Wichita For Another Game,” Wichita Beacon, 29 May 1920, 7. Pitching for the Bloomers was to be Miss Havana Seegar, while Liza Grass was slated for center The paper published no report on the game’s results, however. The other report also appeared in 1920, on the A.B.C. Club beating the Wichita Gray Sox for the “local colored championship” (no headline, Wichita Beacon, 20 July 1922, 7). There also appears to have been a men’s A. B. C. Club, which in the early 1920s went by the name Black Wonders.
61. Williams was a Wichita city fireman before, during, and after his short stint as Star sports editor (Polk’s Wichita City Directory).
62. Sims Private Papers, Kansas African American Museum, Wichita, Kansas.
63. In Dissent in Wichita: The Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest, 1954— 1972, by Gretchen Cassel Eick (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001), Sims founded the Wichita chapter in 1919, six years after the first Kansas branch, and by 1920 the chapter counted 93 members.
64. T. Sims remained in Mississippi, pasturing the First Baptist Church of Moss Point. He resigned that position in February 1922 (“Expression of Regret,” Negro Star, 17 April 1922, 1). He moved to the Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Tupelo, Miss., in 1924 (“Dr. R. T. Sims,” Negro Star, 27 February 1925, 1).
65. See “B.Y.P.U. Indorses War Policy,” New York Times, 17 July 1898, 6.
66. No headline, Negro Star, 27 January 1922, 4.
67. “Attention!” Negro Star, 17 March 1922, 4.
68. “B. Neely Takes Lead for Porters’ Union,” Negro Star, 7 March 1924, 1.
69. “Wichita Newspapers Attaining Success in Several Lines,” Wichita Beacon, 18 January 1924, no page Hugh Sims became Wichita’s first black school-board member after winning election in his second try in 1949 (Eick, 30). He later served on the city’s advisory council on minority problems in 1957.
70. “Negroes Beat Legion,” Wichita Eagle, 8 June 1922, 11; “Game Sunday,” Wichita Beacon, 26 June 1926, 5; “Sunday’s Game,” Wichita Eagle, 23 July 1920, No other names were provided for Chicken and Six Shooter.
71. “Dutch painters” in the 23 June 1922 Wichita Beacon, A11; “timber” in Wichita Beacon, 1 July 1922, 4.
72. No headline, Wichita Eagle, 16 June 1922, It is from this brief report that we learn that the teams played for the gate receipts, the purse.
73. “Negroes Beat Legion,” Wichita Eagle, 8 June 1922, 11; “Beacon Team to Try and Break Tie at Monrovia,” Wichita Beacon, 28 July 1922, 8.
74. Tim Rives, “Tom Baird: A Challenge to the Modern Memory of the Kansas City Monarchs,” in Satchel Paige and Company: Essays on the Kansas City Monarchs, Leslie Heaphy (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007), 144.
75. Larry Lester, “J. L. Wilkinson: ‘Only the Stars Come Out at Night,’” in Satchel Paige and Company, ed. Leslie Heaphy (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007), 123.
76. “Night Baseball to Get Introduction In Wichita For Two Games, Wichita Eagle, 2 June 1930, 12.
77. Ibid., 12.
78. “Night Baseball Proves Success at Island; Monarchs Winning,” Wichita Eagle, 3 June 1930, 4.
79. See “Izzies Open Night Baseball Season,” Wichita Beacon, 17 April 1932, The Western League Izzies beat Paul Buser Lumber 13 to 1.
80. Pete Lightner, “Just in Sport,” Wichita Eagle, 3 June 1930, 4; 18 July 1935, 6; 23 July 1935, 6; 24 July 1935, It is interesting to note that, however well the night baseball game in Wichita went, Lightner wrote that he could not foresee lights catching on in football, not “after the newsness wears off,” nor could he envision a World Series played at night (3 June 1930, 4).
81. Pete Lightner, “Just In Sport,” Wichita Eagle, 18 July 1935, 6.
82. “Monarchs Defeat Monrovians,” Negro Star, 27 April 1923, 1.
83. Appendix D, Satchel Paige and Company: Essays on the Kansas City Monarchs, Leslie Heaphy (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007), 256.
84. “Negro National League to Meet December 6,” Negro Star, 30 November 1923, 1.
85. “Wichita Newspapers Attaining Success in Several Lines,” Wichita Beacon, 18 January 1924, no page number.