The anonymity of this team is exemplified by the fact that not one player from the club is in the Hall of Fame. It is the only team with two successive league championships not so honored, excluding such recent teams as Oakland (1972-1974), whose players are not yet eligible for enshrinement. Modern fans might be hard put to name a single player from the 1939-40 Reds.

Ironically, the manager of those teams, Bill “Deacon” McKechnie, is in the Hall of Fame, but he probably wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for those two pennants. He won only two others in 25 years of managing.

The 1939-40 Reds had no real weakness. They had outstanding pitching, excellent fielding and solid, consistent hitting. “We felt if we got a run ahead we could win the game,” Lonny Frey, the second baseman, recalled recently. “McKechnie’s strategy was always to play for one run.”

In one-run games, of course, pitching is critical. The Cincinnati staff featured two righthanders having their peak years, Bucky Walters and Paul Derringer. Walters, acquired in a 1938 trade from Philadelphia, relied on a sinking fastball. He went 27-11 in 1939, earning the league’s Most Valuable Player award, and 22-10 in 1940.

“If he got by the first couple innings and got in a groove, he was awfully tough to hit,” Frey remembered.

Good as Walters was, Frey says if he had to pick one pitcher to win a big game it would have been Derringer. A control pitcher with a good fastball and curve, Derringer was 25-7 in `39 and 20-12 in `40. In a key game with St. Louis in 1939 Derringer struck out Pepper Martin, Joe Medwick and Johnny Mize in succession on nine pitches.

Gene “Junior” Thompson and Whitey Moore were the other primary starters. Thompson won 13 and 16 in his first two seasons before arm trouble shortened his career, and Moore added 13 and eight wins, respectively, those two years. The staff was stronger in 1940 with the addition of Jim Turner (14-7) and ace reliever Joe Beggs (12-3). Frey says the Reds could not have won the pennant in `40 without Beggs, an off-speed, sinkerball pitcher. “We won over 40 games by one run,” Frey pointed out. “We needed him.”

“We had pretty good hitting, plenty of speed and a great defense,” said Walters about his supporting cast. Citing the infield of Frank McCormick at first, Frey at second, Billy Myers at short and Bill Werber at third, Walters called them “all good, fast, smart ballplayers.” Eddie Joost was the utilityman.

Frey mentioned that he, Myers and Werber called themselves “The Jungle Club.” “We were loose and quick on the balls of our feet like cats,” he said. Frey was the leopard, Myers the jaguar and Werber the tiger. McCormick, at 6-4 and 205 pounds, didn’t fit the mold, but wanted to belong. Told by the trio that he would be accepted if he hustled for one month, the first sacker pressed them for the verdict one day in Boston. After teasingly dubbing him “Hippopotamus,” the besieged cats accepted him as “Wildcat.” Werber felt this infield unity was a big factor in the team’s strength.

McCormick may not have been a gazelle, but he could hit and field. In 1939 he led the league in hits (209) and runs batted in (128) while batting .332, second in the league. McCormick continued his assault on National League pitching in 1940, leading the league in at-bats (618), hits (191) and doubles (44) while socking 19 home runs, driving in 127 runs and batting .309. He was named Most Valuable Player in 1940. “Wildcat” paced the league’s first basemen in fielding both years.

Frey, who batted second, liked to work for walks and punch the ball to all fields. In 1939 he scored 95 runs and batted .291 with 47 extra-base hits. Though his average fell to .266 in 1940, he scored 102 runs and led the league with 22 stolen bases and afield paced all second baseman in putouts, assists and double plays.

Myers, according to Frey, was underrated and seldom made a bad play afield. In 1939 Myers enjoyed his best year at the plate, hitting .281. However, he slumped to .202 in 1940 and shared playing time with Joost.

Werber led off for McKechnie’ s one-run wonders and topped the league with 115 runs in `39, adding another 105 the next season. “He hit the ball where it was pitched and lined a lot of balls through the box,” Frey said. Werber had 35 doubles each season and was among the league leaders in stolen bases both years. He averaged about 300 assists the two seasons.

“In the outfield,” Walters recalled, “we had Wally Berger, Harry Craft – what a center fielder he was – and a good all-around ballplayer in right, Ival Goodman.” The aging Berger, though, was gone in 1940, replaced by rookie Mike McCormick. Jimmy Ripple was acquired from the Dodger system early in the `40 season and hit .307 in reserve. “He was an inspiring guy,” Frey recalled. “He gave us that little extra spark.”

On paper the flychasers were hardly inspiring. Goodman, who hit third, did have 37 doubles, 16 triples and 84 RBIs with a .323 average in 1939. “Goodie was a low-ball line-drive hitter,” said Frey, “and he had a great arm.” Other than Ripple, Mike McCormick was the only outfielder to have a good season in `40, hitting .300 as a rookie.

Cincinnati had great catching. The inimitable Ernie Lombardi hit .287 with 20 homers and 85 RBIs in 1939 while reserve Willard Hershberger hit .345. Though he batted .317 with 74 ribbies in 1940, Lombardi was slowed by injuries. Tragedy struck the club on August 2 in a Boston hotel when Hershberger, hitting .307, slit his throat in his room.

“Willard was a nice, easygoing fellow, but he could be moody,” Frank McCormick said later. “The night before he killed, himself, Willard obviously was in some emotional distress.

His eyes were all welled up with tears.” The team, Werber recalled, had just lost four or five close games, and Hershberger put the blame on himself. Werber spent a great deal of time with him in the last hours, trying to convince him that the losses were not his fault. “What did happen might have been anticipated,” Werber said, referring to previous suicides of Hershberger’ s father and uncle. “Hershie was simply an over-conscientious, sick kid, mentally and physically.”

Lombardi sprained an ankle in mid-September, leaving only green rookie Bill Baker available. To fill the gap the Reds activated 40-year-old coach Jimmie Wilson, who had caught just two games since 1937. Wilson backstopped 16 games down the stretch, hitting .243. More importantly, he played himself into shape for the World Series, in which he played a hero’s role.

In 1939 Cincinnati won the National League pennant with a 97-57 record, 4½ games better than St. Louis. The Cardinals’ offensive machine led by Mize, Medwick and Enos Slaughter hit .294 for the season to Cincy’s .278. However, Walters and company posted a 3.27 earned-run average, far better than St. Louis’ 3.59.

The World Series was another story. Joe McCarthy’s New York Yankees swept the Reds in four games to capture their fourth straight world championship. The Bronx Bombers hit seven home runs in the Series, but their pitching was also exceptional. After Red Ruffing out dueled Deninger in the opener, 3-1, on a four-hitter, Monte Pearson hurled a two-hit, 4-0 shutout, owning a no-hitter for seven and two-thirds innings. Long balls by Charlie Keller, Bill Dickey and Joe DiMaggio powered the Yanks to 7-3 and 7-4 victories in the final two games. The Reds were homerless for the Series.

Bob Considine, writing for International News Service, described the power differential: “The Reds made ten hits, but they were like light jabs on the face of a brooding fighter who is waiting only for a chance to score a knockout.”

Although blitzed by the New Yorkers, the National League champions had little trouble defending their title in 1940. They won 100 games and finished 12 games ahead of runner-up Brooklyn. The Reds batted a so-so .266, but the team ERA of 3.05 was light years ahead of the next best staff, that of the Dodgers, which posted a 3.50 mark.

At World Series time, McKechnie’s one-run wonders found themselves up against another American League powerhouse, the Detroit Tigers. The Bengals were led by Hank Greenberg (.340, 41 HR, 150 RBI), Rudy York

(.316, 33 BR, 134 RBI), Charlie Gehringer (.3 13) and Barney McCoskey (.340). Buck Newsom (21-5) and Schoolboy Rowe (16-3) led the pitchers. The Reds had not only Lombardi out of action, but reliable Frey, with a broken toe, as well.

However, Cincinnati refused to be steamrollered this time. The Deacon’s disciples came back again and again to win in seven games.

After Newsom beat Derringer, 7-2, in the opener, Walters evened things with a three-hit, 5-3 victory over Rowe. Ripple’s two-run homer in the third inning was the key blow. Del Baker’s

Tigers then regained the advantage with a 7-4 win. Pinky Higgins and York homered and drove in five runs between them.

Baker, writing a column on the Series for INS, predicted that his club would take the next two games in Briggs Stadium and avoid having to return to Cincinnati for games six and seven. “There isn’t much of that Cincinnati pitching staff that we haven’t walloped,” he wrote, “and we’re certainly not afraid to test the rest.”

Nonetheless, matching the performance of Walters in game two, Derringer stifled Detroit’s hitters in game four for a five-hit, 5-2 triumph. Goodman had two hits and two runs batted in to pace the Red attack.

The next day Cincinnati was caught in an emotional buzzsaw. Newsom, whose father had died after the Series opener, vowed to win for his dad and hurled a magnificent three-hit shutout for an 8-0 victory. Greenberg stroked two singles and an upper-deck shot to left, driving in four Bengal runs.

“Buck scraped the ceiling of baseball today,” Considine reported. “His fastball was virtually hurling down the third base line at those apprehensive Reds and pounding into Billy Sullivan’s catcher’s mitt with the boom of a bass drum.”

Returning to Crosley Field with their backs to the wall again, McKechnie’s players refused to quit. Walters pitched and batted the Reds to a 4-0 victory to even the series for the third time. Besides pitching a five-hitter, the former third baseman clouted a homer and drove in two runs.

Game seven was a classic matchup of great righthanders – Derringer and Newsom, the latter with only two days of rest. McKechnie was the master of one-run games, and his battlers came from behind one more time, scoring twice in the seventh inning on doubles by Frank McCormick and Ripple and a sacrifice fly by Myers for a 2-1 victory. It was the National League’s first Series win since 1934.

It was a splendid Series. As Associated Press reporter Judson Bailey wrote: “In retrospect the Series was so full of drama, joy and pathos that it might well have been a piece of fiction. It was a victory for the time-tested standards of baseball – that pitching is 70 percent of the game and that smartness is as good as strength.”

Heroes? For the losers, Newsom pitched three complete games in a week for a combined 1.38 earned-run average. For the winners, Werber hit .370 and provided field leadership. Ripple batted .333 and drove in six runs. Walters and Derringer won two games each.

Foremost was Wilson, who caught six games, hit .353 and contributed two singles and a key sacrifice in the finale. At age 40 he stole a base in his final game as a player. “Jimmie Wilson,”

Considine wrote, “the archaic catcher whose legs have taken a terrible pounding in this series, finished Monday’s game with a veritable stable of charley horses. His legs looked like gunnysacks of squash.” According to Werber, “It was an unusual exhibition of guts. He caught the final game or two with a charley horse in back of each leg, and each leg shaved and encased in tape. In addition, his catching hand was swollen, sore and enlarged.”

It had been a gutsy performance by the Reds, but the man behind it all was the Deacon, 54-year-old William Boyd McKechnie. McKechnie steered the course of the Reds from 1938 through 1946, the last nine years of a 25-year managing career.

As early as 1915 he had been player-manager for Newark of the Federal League. The former third baseman managed the Pirates from 1922-1926, taking the pennant in 1925. For two years, 1928-1929, he was the St. Louis Cardinal skipper, winning a championship in 1928. The Deacon managed the Boston Braves from 1930-1937, finishing no higher than fourth. McKechnie’s 25 years produced 1,898 victories in 3,650 games, a .524 percentage. Of his four pennant winners, the 1925 and 1940 teams won the World Series. He was admitted to the Hall of Fame in 1962, three years before he died.

His players at Cincinnati were almost universal in his praise. “We liked to play for him,” Frank McCormick said. “He was very understanding and sympathetic.”

“He has to go down in history as one of the great managers,” Thompson said. “He could get more out of a player than any manager I ever knew. He was like a father to all of us.”

Werber remembered him as an excellent manager, citing McKechnie’s intelligence, patience and knowledge of baseball and his personnel. Craft, a long-time manager himself, described the Deacon as a man with strong convictions. “He was straight from the shoulder and you always knew where you stood with him,” Craft said. “He was an excellent handler of men and a good percentage manager.”

Frey agreed that McKechnie was a good technical manager who got along well with his players. However, Frey was personally frustrated by his manager’s insistence that he become a pull hitter. Joost, too, was frustrated — by his lack of playing time.

McKechnie is the only member of the 1939-1940 Reds who has found a place in baseball’s pantheon of greats. They were a dominant team, the National League’s best between the Giants of 1936-1937 and the Cardinals of the mid-1940s.

Why are none of the players enshrined in Cooperstown? McCormick’s back problems prevented him from producing the sustained excellence required to make the Hall of Fame. Derringer, despite some great years, lacked the consistent stats, although he won 223 games over a 15-year career, with four 20-.win seasons. Walters wasn’t a full-time starter until he was 27 years old. He finished with 198 career victories.

That leaves Lombardi, whose teammates strongly support his bid for Hall of Fame recognition. Joost, Werber, Craft and Frey all feel he belongs in Cooperstown. Werber claims he measures up well with the Hall of Fame catchers and is “way ahead of most.” Craft says it’s a travesty that “The Schnozz” hasn’t been inducted.

Lombardi was a good handler of pitchers, and he had an outstanding arm. He was a line-drive hitter with power who drove the ball to all fields.

He seldom struck out. Although notoriously slow afoot, he won two batting championships, hitting .342 for the Reds in 1938 and .330 for the Braves in 1942. For his career he had a lifetime average of .306.

McKechnie is gone. McCormick is gone. Lombardi is gone. And so, too, are several of the others. But to knowledgeable fans the 1939-1940 Reds rank along with the best in baseball annals.

Alas, to no avail. Keepers of the records from the first held that Marquard had no case. It was true, they admitted, that under present scoring rules he had a point. But, they hurried to add, Marquard won his games in 1912, not today, and under the rules of 1912, he won only 19 straight.

Marquard may have gained some satisfaction when early researchers discovered he really had won 20 straight by reason of a victory in his last 1911 game, but this feeling suffered somewhat when another New York Giant southpaw came along in the next generation who put together an undisputed chain of 24 wins over a two-year period. That would be Carl Hubbell, and there is no gainsaying he screw-balled his way to a record that, as is said about too many records, may well last forever.

But to start at the usual place – the beginning – 1936 was an unusual year as far as the Giants were concerned. World’s champions in 1933 and late season goof-ups in the next two seasons, they began 1936 as though winning was as bad as stealing.

Something was wrong with the club, and there were some unkind enough to say that everything was wrong with it. Their pitching staff was a shambles. Slick Castleman couldn’t get started. Schumacher’s arm was ailing. Veteran Fred Fitzsimmons just wasn’t ready. Frank Gabler was a risk. Hubbell was overworked, although he had managed ten wins against six losses. The promising Al Smith had his bad days.

But it was more than pitching. The aging Travis Jackson had a bad knee and was covering fully as much ground as his shadow. Dick Bartell at shortstop was making wild heaves past first base. Burgess Whitehead wasn’t hitting. Sam Leslie was lumbering around first base on damaged legs. Mel Ott and Joe Moore, the old reliables, had both fallen into hitting slumps. Manager Bill Terry had to drag his battered frame out on the diamond. Their defense, to sum it up, was as full of holes as a carload of Swiss cheese.

It was a time of disaster. Strategy was a dirty word. If Terry made a move it was sure to be a big help to the ball club — the ball club the Giants happened to be playing. If a Giant made a hit, it was with two out and nobody but the coaches near the bases. If a Giant made an error it was just in time to hand the other gents the ball game. Terry was on the grill and his critics were building a gorgeous bonfire under him.

Giant fans surely were not optimistic over their team’s chances when they opened their July 17 newspapers to find the club bogged down in fifth place with an uninspiring 42-41 record, 10-1/2 games back of league-leading Chicago. The low point in the season’s fortune seemed to come in Hubbell’s last defeat of the season. Playing in Chicago on July 13th (not a Friday, but a Monday) when Carl held the home team to two measly singles yet lost a 1-0 game when Whitehead made a throw that was both ill-advised and far over Bartell’s head.

The New Yorkers moved on to Pittsburgh and, suddenly, everything was changed. Bill Swift started for Pittsburgh and headed for the showers within minutes as Moore, Ott and Hank Leiber unloaded three-baggers in the first inning. Brought on in relief, Big Jim Weaver was tagged for a fourth triple in the same inning by utility infielder Eddie Mayo. Hubbell, poised as a poplar, coasted to a 6-0 win. The fairy godmother had waved her wand and the mice turned into beautiful stallions.

It would be folly to claim that Carl Hubbell, alone, won the oennant that year for New York, but there can be no gainsaying he was a key factor; nay, more, he was THE key factor. As he swung into his 16-game winning streak the rest of the pitching staff braced. Game after game was won on strong pitching and timely hitting.

The defense stiffened. When a fielder made a circus catch it was just in time to save the ball game. Where Mancuso had been the only man who could make a hit when it counted, Ott, Moore and Ripple began slapping out the hits that brought in the runs at the right time. Bartell settled down to accurate pegging and hammered out a couple of homers when they did the most good. If a fielder made an error, he picked the proper time and made it when it didn’t count in the scoring.

Every managerial move Terry made turned out to be perfect strategy. He was once again the mastermind of 1933. Take the day the Giants bounded over the Cardinals to the top. Terry put Leiber in and he delivered the blow that won the game. Bill took Leiber out and inserted George Davis for his fielding. George saved the game with his brilliant catches. If Terry had tried that six weeks before, Leiber would have gone 0 for 4 and Davis would have fallen on his face chasing the first foul hit near him.

Within a week’s time, the Giants slipped into third place and from then on it was a three-way contest among New York, St. Louis and Chicago. By August 2, by which time Hubbell had won five straight, the Terrymen had won 15 of their last 19, a pace that had them within five lengths of the leaders. During the second week of August the Polo Grounders began a terrific gait that kept the pressure on Cards and Cubs alike and didn’t end until August 29, when the Gothamites lost to the Pirates after winning 15 in a row. At that point they had captured 35 out of their last 40 games.

New York Timesman John Kieran rhapsodized thusly in his “Sports of The Times” column:

Out of the fog that blurred their game,
  Up from the dark that wrapped them `round,
Through bitter weeks to happy days –
  Behold the Giants, pennant-bound!
In the fell clutch of batting slumps,
  Bludgeoned by Pirates, Cards and Cubs,
The Giants looked the part of chumps
  And played the role of diving dubs.
Clear from the fifth-place vale of tears,
  Gaining by inning and by inch,
Turning the rasping jeers to cheers,
  They came back slugging in the pinch.

It was the month of August that put the Giants over. In third place at the start of that month, they swept into a lead of 3½ games by the 31st and went on to win the 1936 NL Pennant. Carl won 26 games, 16 of which were consecutive victories. He lost one of two decisions against the Yankees in the World Series, but the next season he picked right up again and won his first eight games.

Hubbell’s figures, of course, were outstanding. Over the course of his two-year win streak he hurled the equivalent of 23 nine-inning games. He allowed, roughly 7 hits and 2 runs per game and fanned 4.5 and walked 1.5 men per nine innings. While he pitched only two shutouts he held the opposition to a single run in nine other games. That he usually finished what he started is indicated by his complete game record. Of the 22 games he started during this long stretch, he completed 19 and required relief only three times.

Terry didn’t hesitate to use his ace in a relief role as the occasion required. When Coffman found himself in a jam on July 19, 1936, Carl came on to pitch a couple of excellent relief innings and “saved” the game, as it would be called today. And he was used in the same capacity several other times.

His best rescue job came in his 24th win on May 27, 1937. Again called on to replace Coffman, with the score tied in the eighth frame, he retired three Cincinnati batsmen on infield grounders, and in the last session got three more on pop flies. No one reached first.

More than once Carl, not especially noted for his batting, helped his cause with timely hits. On July 30, 1936, he drove in the tying run, then checked the Cubs for the rest of the game. Again on August 8, his “blazing single” after two were out in the seventh led to the winning score.

Probably his most satisfying blow came in a late season 1936 game against St. Louis. The score was tied in the ninth inning, as you must have surmised, and there were men on second and third, with one man out and Hubbell due to hit. The book, of course, cried for a pinch hitter, but Terry had the bit in his teeth by this time, and he waved Carl to the plate.

Hubbell missed two mighty swings, then lifted a puny fly to Pepper Martin in short right-center, a pop that fell only a few yards back of the clay infield. Whitehead, rushing in from third after the catch, found himself blocked off the plate by burly Spud Davis and slithered past the scoring station without touching it. But Burgess twisted and squirmed and somehow managed to reach past Davis’ blocking legs and touch the plate an instant before the catcher grabbed the ball.

Any long skein of victories is bound to be marked by controversies, and this one was no exception. There was, for instance, the famous “balk” incident of May 19, 1937, when Carl was seeking win No. 22. The Giants and the Cards were again fighting it out, this time for second place, when they met in St. Louis.

Trailing by one run in the top of the sixth, Whitehead led off with a single and Hubbell sacrificed him to second. While pitching to Dick Bartell, Dizzy Dean half turned toward second base and then, without halting his motion, fired to the plate. Bartell lifted an easy fly to left for what should have been the second out, but Umpire Barr ruled out the play and called a balk on Dean for failing to pause a full second in his delivery.

Whitehead was motioned to third and, after the ensuing argument had subsided, Bartell, batting again, sent a line drive to right-center which Martin dropped. There followed a couple of base hits and the resultant three runs sewed up the game.

Dizzy was so upset at the turn of events he took to throwing “knockdown” pitches at any one who dared show up at the plate with a bat in his hands. The Giants soon tired of this foolish game and presently Jimmy Ripple challenged Jerome, the challenge was accepted, and both teams tangled in one of those free-for-ails that enliven every season.

National League President Ford Frick slapped $50 fines on both Dean and Ripple and threw in a sharp reprimand for the pitcher, pointing out that every one had been warned in advance that the balk rule would be strictly enforced and, further, that Dean had already committed two balks in the game in question, each time being warned by the umpire.

Unabashed, Dizzy, loose-tongued as Memnon, counter-attacked by offering $1,000 to anybody who would print what he thought of his league president. Further, he shouted, he would not — positively not – appear in the All-Star game that year. If Dean had lived up to that threat he would have done himself a tremendous favor. It was in that All-Star game that Earl Averill stroked a line drive that  broke Dizzy’s toe. As every one knows, Dean, rushing back into action before the toe mended, altered his pitching style to favor the injury and irreparably damaged his arm.

Brooklyn, the team that always gave Carl the most trouble, finally brought him down. On May 31st, before the second largest crowd in Polo Grounds history up to that time, the Dodgers combed him for 7 hits in the opening game of a doubleheader. They also drew 3 walks in the 3.1 innings he was on the mound. When he trudged down the center of the field in the middle of the fourth frame he was trailing 5-2. The final count was 10-3.

Between games of that twinbill there was a little ceremony.  Hubbell was awarded the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award for the 1936 season. The fat man who handed that award to him was none other than Babe Ruth.

Harvey’s Wallbangers: The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers
Edited by Gregory H. Wolf
Associate Editors: Len Levin, Bill Nowlin, and Carl Riechers
Publication Date: June 9, 2020
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-970159-27-1, $34.95
ISBN (e-book): 978-1-970159-26-4, $9.99
8.5″ x 11″, 407 pages

Harvey’s Wallbangers: The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers commemorates a team that captured the hearts and imagination of baseball fans not just in Wisconsin, but around the country. Named for skipper Harvey Kuenn, the home-run slugging club was filled with a memorable cast of characters, future Hall of Famers, and All-Stars: from Robin Yount, Gorman Thomas, Ted Simmons, and Rollie Fingers to Cecil Cooper, Ben Oglivie, Paul Molitor, and Don Sutton. They were a close-knit and resilient group that weathered controversies and slumps to capture the AL East crown on the last day of the season, overcome a two-games-to-none deficit to win the best-of-five League Championship Series, and move to within one game of winning the World Series.

This book is the result of the tireless work of more than 40 members of the Society for American Baseball Research. SABR members researched and wrote all of the biographies, game accounts, and essays in this volume.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

• E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Harvey’s Wallbangers for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB/Kindle formats.
• Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the Harvey’s Wallbangers paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

Buy the book

• E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Harvey’s Wallbangers for $9.99 from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB/Kindle formats.
• Paperback: Get the paperback edition of Harvey’s Wallbangers from the SABR Store ($34.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

Below: Find player biographies and memorable game stories from Harvey’s Wallbangers: The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers

Biographies

Game Stories

Contributors include: Eric Aron, Bill Bishop, Richard Bogovich, Phillip Bolda, Frederick “Rick” Bush, Isaac Buttke, Ken Carrano, Alan Cohen, Rory Costello, Dennis D. Degenhardt, Dan Fields, John Gabcik, Gordon J. Gattie, Austin Gisriel, Gregg Hoffmann, Mike Huber, Jay Hurd, Maxwell Kates, Jimmy Keenan, Norm King, Lee Kluck, Steven Kuehl, Russ Lake, Len Levin, Dan Levitt, Bill Mortell, Rod Nelson, Bill Nowlin, J.G. Preston, Carl Riechers, Richard Riis, Joel Rippel, Rick Schabowski, David E. Skelton, Doug Skipper, Stew Thornley, Clayton Trutor, Dale Voiss, Joseph Wancho, Gregory H. Wolf, and Mario Ziino.

A Palace in the Nation’s Capital: Griffith Stadium, Home of the Washington Senators
Edited by Gregory H. Wolf
Associate Editors: Len Levin, Bill Nowlin, and Carl Riechers
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5949-3, $24.95
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-9701-5948-6, $9.99
8.5″ x 11″, 317 pages

A Palace in the Nation’s Capital: Griffith Stadium, Home of the Washington Senators revives memories and the history of Griffith Stadium through detailed summaries of more than 70 games played there, as well as insightful essays. The ballpark’s rich and storied history of Negro League baseball is included, too.

Griffith Stadium was the home of the American League charter member Washington Senators from 1911 through 1960 and the identically named expansion team in 1961. Situated in the middle of a bustling residential neighborhood with tree-lined streets on what is now the site of the Howard University Hospital, Griffith Stadium was known for its cavernous dimensions, a unique outfield notch in center field with a conspicuously large tree behind the wall, cozy quarters, and something no ballpark or stadium in the US had: a presidential box. For more than 50 years, presidents traveled from the White House two miles northeast to Griffith Stadium to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

• E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of A Palace in the Nation’s Capital for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB/Kindle formats.
• Paperback: Get a 50% discount on the A Palace in the Nation’s Capital paperback edition from the SABR Store ($17.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

Buy the book

• E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of A Palace in the Nation’s Capital for $9.99 from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB/Kindle formats.
• Paperback: Get the paperback edition of A Palace in the Nation’s Capital from the SABR Store ($34.95 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

Below: Find memorable game stories and essays from SABR’s A Palace in the Nation’s Capital: Griffith Stadium, Home of the Washington Senators

SABR Biography

Griffith Stadium played host to three pennant-winning teams by the Washington Nationals in the American League and 10 by the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

Click here to read more about Griffith Stadium at the SABR BioProject

Game Recaps

Contributors: Luis A. Blandon, Thomas J. Brown Jr., Ken Carrano, Alan Cohen, Richard Cuicchi, Paul E. Doutrich, Dan Fields, Jeff Findley, James Forr, Brian Frank, Gordon J. Gattie, Clark Griffith, Lou Hernandez, Paul Hofmann, Mike Huber, Jimmy Keenan, Timothy Kearns, Thomas E. Kern, Ben Klein, Kevin Larkin, Bob LeMoine, Len Levin, Mike Lynch, Bill Nowlin, Chris Rainey, Carl Riechers, Joel Rippel, C. Paul Rogers III, Gary Sarnoff, John Schleppi, Steven D. Schmitt, Doug Schoppert, Tom Schott, Paul Scimonelli, Doug Skipper, John Sokora, Mark S. Sternman, Stew Thornley, Joseph Wancho, Gregory H. Wolf, Jack Zerby, and Don Zminda.

Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins: The Federal League 1914-15
Edited by Steve West and Bill Nowlin
Associate editors: Carl Riechers and Len Levin
Publication Date: April 6, 2020
ISBN (e-book) 978-1-9701-5920-2, $9.95
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-9701-5921-9, $29.95
8.5″ x 11″, 472 pages

The Federal League formed in 1913 as an “outlaw league” in six cities across the Midwest. In 1914 it added two teams and declared itself a major league. The league’s owners “stole” players from the two existing major leagues and put teams in some of the same cities. Both the American and National Leagues struck back. After the 1915 season, with several Federal League teams struggling financially, the two more-established leagues bought out several teams. This caused the collapse of the Federal League.

The impact of the Federal League on baseball is still felt today. The league filed one of the first antitrust lawsuits against Organized Baseball. The case ended up in the court of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who looms large in baseball history. Although that case was settled, a later lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court decided that baseball is entertainment and thus not subject to antitrust law. This decision has had a wide-ranging effect on the business of baseball. For a physical reminder of the Federal League, one can still see the ballpark built for the Chicago Whales, now known as Wrigley Field.

This SABR Digital Library book contains biographies of a number of the key players and executives, and game accounts of some of the most interesting games during the league’s brief existence.

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• E-book: Click here to download the e-book version of Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB/Kindle formats.
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• Paperback: Get the paperback edition of Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins from the SABR Store ($34.99 includes shipping/tax; delivery via Kindle Direct Publishing can take up to 4-6 weeks.)

Below: Find player biographies and memorable game stories from Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins: The Federal League 1914-15

Biographies

Game Recaps

Contributors: Matt Albertson, Bob Barrier, Rich Bogovich, Maury Bouchard, Thomas J. Brown Jr., Dan Busby, Frederick C. Bush, Matthew Clever, Jerrod Cotosman, Richard Cuicchi, Tom Drake, Jeff Findley, Adam Foldes, Brian M. Frank, Paul Hofmann, Mike Huber, Joanne Hulbert, Bill Johnson, Jimmy Keenan, Anne Keene, Adam Klinker, Sean Kolodziej, Kevin Larkin, Jim Leeke, Bob LeMoine, Dan Levitt, Chad Moody, Rob Nee, Skip Nipper, Bill Nowlin, Chad Osborne, Mark Pestana, Chris Rainey, Richard Riis, Joel Rippel, C. Paul Rogers III, Benjamin Sabin, Steve Schmitt, Harry Schoger, Blake W. Sherry, Steve Steinberg, Mark S. Sternman, Andy Terrick, Cindy Thomson, Bob Webster, Steve West, Robert Peyton Wiggins, Phil Williams, Gregory H. Wolf, Brian Wood, Jack Zerby, and John Zinn.

1995 Cleveland Indians: The Sleeping Giant Awakes
Edited by Joseph Wancho
Associate Editors: Rick Huhn, Len Levin, and Bill Nowlin
Publication Date: January 14, 2019
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-943816-94-1, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943816-95-8, $21.95
8.5″ x 11″, 410 pages

After almost 40 years of sub-500 baseball, the Sleeping Giant woke in 1995, the first season the Indians spent in their new home of Jacobs Field.

The Indians ruled Cleveland from 1994 through 2001, winning two pennants and making five playoff appearances. In 1995, the Cleveland Browns had left town and were putting down roots in Baltimore. The Cleveland Cavaliers, while competitive, were usually ousted in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Indians were the best ticket in town, and 455 consecutive sellouts — from June 12, 1995 through April 2, 2001 — are a testament to their popularity.

While the Indians made it to the brink of baseball nirvana in both 1997 and 2016, losing in Game Seven of both those World Series, it is the 1995 team that fans remember the most fondly. Perhaps this is because they were the first to break through since 1954 and make the postseason. Maybe it’s because of the different characters and personalities who made up that team, which included Jim Thome, Eddie Murray, Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, Orel Hershiser, and Sandy Alomar Jr. They had an All-Star seemingly at every position.

As you leaf through the pages of this SABR Digital Library book, presented here by 40 SABR authors and editors, you will be transported back in time to 1995. The biographies of all the players, coaches, and broadcasters will evoke that glorious era once again for Tribe fans. The volume is also sprinkled with personal perspectives, as well as game stores from key matchups during the 1995 season, information about Jacobs Field, and other writing of interest on the historic season.

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• Paperback: Get the paperback edition of 1995 Cleveland Indians from the SABR Store ($34.99 includes shipping/tax; delivery can take up to 3-4 weeks.)

Below: Find player biographies and memorable game stories from 1995 Cleveland Indians: The Sleeping Giant Awakes

Biographies

Game Recaps

Contributors include: Rick Balazs, Richard Bogovich, Augusto Cárdenas, Alan Cohen, Philip A. Cola, Rory Costello, Richard Cuicchi, Charles F. Faber, Dan Fields, Chip Greene, Edward Gruver, Mark Hodermarsky, Paul Hofmann, Rick Huhn, Jay Hurd, Jimmy Keenan, Ted Leavengood, Bob LeMoine, Len Levin, Stephanie Liscio, Gary Livacari, John McMurray, Jeanne M. Mallett, Wynn Montgomery, Bill Nowlin, Gregg Omoth, Anna Pohlod, Joel Rippel, Kelly Boyer Sagert, Rick Schabowski, Harry Schoger, Blake W. Sherry, David E. Skelton, Doug Skipper, Mark S. Sternman, Andy Sturgill, Clayton Trutor, Nick Waddell, Joseph Wancho, Tom Wancho, Steve West, Christopher Williamson, and Gregory H. Wolf.

The 1986 New York Mets: There Was More Than Game Six
Edited by Leslie Heaphy and Bill Nowlin
Publication Date: March 3, 2016
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943816-13-2, $39.95
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-943816-12-5, $9.99
8.5″ x 11″, 360 pages

The 1986 Boston Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six
Edited by Bill Nowlin and Leslie Heaphy
Publication Date: March 3, 2016
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-943816-13-2, $39.95
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-943816-12-5, $9.99
8.5″ x 11″, 415 pages

This two-book companion series focuses on the rivals that met in the 1986 World Series, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets, including biographies of every player, coach, broadcaster, and other important figures in baseball’s top organizations that year.

This book on the 1986 season re-tells the story of that year’s classic World Series. After four games, each team had won two away games and neither had won at home. Then the Red Sox won Game Five at Fenway, and were one game away from winning their first World Championship in 86 years. It came to the point they were one pitch away from baseball Nirvana. And then …

Just about everyone knows what happened, but there are takes on it here you might not have read elsewhere. Mostly, this is the story of each of the players, coaches, managers, and broadcasters, their lives in baseball, and the way the 1986 season fit into their lives.

As with many of the books published by SABR, this was a true collaborative effort. There are 74 different SABR members who contributed to making these two books on the Mets and Red Sox a reality. It took us two books to tell the story as well as we wanted. Get your copy of each book for the full story!

SABR members, get these e-books for FREE!

• E-books: Click here to download the 1986 Mets or 1986 Red Sox e-books for FREE from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB/Kindle formats.
• 1986 Mets paperback: Get a 50% discount on the 1986 Mets paperback edition from the SABR Store ($22.95 includes shipping/tax).
• 1986 Red Sox paperback: Get a 50% discount on the 1986 Red Sox paperback edition from the SABR Store ($22.95 includes shipping/tax).

Buy the books

• E-books: Click here to download the 1986 Mets or 1986 Red Sox e-books for $9.99 from the SABR Store. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB/Kindle formats.
• 1986 Mets paperback: Get the 1986 Mets paperback edition from the SABR Store ($44.95 includes shipping/tax).
• 1986 Red Sox paperback: Get the 1986 Red Sox paperback edition from the SABR Store ($44.95 includes shipping/tax).

Below: Find player biographies and memorable game stories from 1986 Mets/Red Sox: There Was More Than Game Six:

1986 Mets biographies

1986 Red Sox biographies

1986 Mets Game Recaps

1986 Red Sox Game Recaps

Contributors: Niall Adler, Malcolm Allen, Will Anderson, Audrey Levi Apfel, Mark Armour, Eric Aron, Tyler Ash, Rich Bogovich, Bob Brady, Frederick C. Bush, Augusto Cardenas, Ralph Carhart, Alan Cohen, Warren Corbett, Rory Costello, John DiFonzo, Alex Edelman, Jeff English, Greg Erion, Dan Fields, T.S. Flynn, James Forr, David Forrester, Irv Goldfarb, John Gregory, Gene Gumbs, Donna L. Halper, Leslie Heaphy, Paul Hensler, Michael Huber, Joanne Hulbert, David Kaiser, Mark Kanter, Maxwell Kates, Jimmy Keenan, Norm King, Lee Kluck, Russ Lake, Bob LeMoine, Len Levin, Dan Levitt, Michael Martell, Shawn Morris, Rod Nelson, Skip Nipper, Bill Nowlin, Armand Peterson, Richard J. Puerzer, David Raglin, Alan Raylesberg, Mike Richard, Carl Riechers, Joel Rippel, Matthew Silverman, Mark Simon, David E. Skelton, Doug Skipper, Curt Smith, Jon Springer, Mark S. Sternman, Andy Sturgill, Cecilia Tan, Joan M. Thomas, Cindy Thomson, Clayton Trutor, Alfonso Tusa, Nick Waddell, Joseph Wancho, Steve West, Dave Williams, Saul Wisnia, Gregory H. Wolf, Allan Wood, and Jack Zerby.

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 memories flow freely for the athlete-announcer of another era, and no amount of work around the house can make him forget those times long ago. From 1932 until advancing age and the demanding schedule of major league baseball forced his exit from radio, Jack Graney was THE voice of the Cleveland Indians. He was there during the time of Earl Averill, Joe Vosmik, Hal Trosky, Willis Hudlin, Mel Harder, and Johnny Allen; through the heady years of Bob Feller, Lou Boudreau, and Ken Keltner, and bowed out when Bob Lemon, Early Wynn, Larry Doby, and Al Rosen were at their peaks. He tells you it is hard to forget his days spent in baseball.

Possessing a crisp, stirring delivery, Graney was a master at setting a scene and his enthusiasm packed a sense of built-in drama. His ability to re-create a game from just a telegraphic report has never been paralleled.

“My association with Jack Graney was one of the finest I have ever known,” affirms his last broadcasting partner, Jimmy Dudley.

“He was a tremendous announcer and taught me many tricks of the trade. Jack had an exceedingly high-pitched voice which generated more excitement than anybody else’s I have ever heard. Had he a voice like Ted Husing’s, he might be considered today with the four or five greatest sports broadcasters of all time.”

Baseball broadcasting has undergone immense changes in the last 25 years. Until his last few years as an announcer, traveling with the team to broadcast the “away” contests was unheard of. Only the home games were broadcast from the scene; the away games being re-created by telegraphic report.

It took a special talent to broadcast an entire ball game from several brief slips of paper while at the e time maintaining a semblance of realism and authenticity. It was sitting at a table broadcasting an event occurring hundreds of miles away that truly tested the mettle of a good baseball announcer. With a unique talent that combined accuracy and an electric enthusiasm, Jack Graney perfected re-creations into a highly precisioned artform which resulted in a legion of admirers. He says he had an advantage over the broadcasters from other cities because he had played in, and was quite familiar with, every American League park. When the telegrapher handed him a note saying a ball had just been hit off the scoreboard in right center field in Boston, Jack knew exactly where the spot was located because he had bounced off the e wall numerous times during his playing days.

“Actually I disliked re-creations,” he reveals today. “It was a dizzy job and more than once I’d wake up in the middle of the night in nervous fright over what had transpired in the enclosed studio the night before. So much had to be remembered. If I mistakenly positioned a baserunner on third instead of second, or had two runners inadvertently switched around in the order they had scored, I’d get hundreds of letters saying `Why did you have

Trosky scoring in front of Averill when it was the other way around?”

Many Clevelanders can still recall the time Jack was re-creating a game between the Indians and the Senators with his partner Pinky Hunter. Washington was in a jam and elected to change pitchers. They brought in a lad by the name of Joe Krakauskas, who was not listed on the scoreboard. The two announcers tossed the pronunciation hazard around all evening, neither one landing on the right combination. In spite of minor embarrassments like this, Jack was a resourceful man at the mike. He has a “top baseball broadcaster of the year” trophy from the Sporting News to support that contention.

The baseball announcers of 30 years ago were held in greater esteem than are the broadcasters of today. It was such a novel treat to listen to a game direct from the field, which was the next best thing to being there, that the fans developed a strong personal regard for the radio reporter. In fact, most of the early “voices from the field” reached legendary heights during and after their broadcasting careers. There was Ty Tyson in Detroit, Fred Hoey in Boston, Rosey Rowswell of Pittsburgh, Arch McDonald from Washington, France Laux in St. Louis, Hal Totten and Pat Flanagan in Chicago, and of course, Jack in Cleveland. They were magic names from a part of radio’s past that has gone the way of the dance band remote and, needless to say, the tickertape re-creations.

The man who endeared himself to two generations of Cleveland baseball fans considers his current physical condition as “fair to middlin’, just fair to middlin’”. He underwent surgery for a benign brain tumor eight years ago and made a remarkable recovery. His nose, which was whittled apart in a serious automobile accident in 1934, is similar to what a small child might come up with if handed some putty and told to go to work. But there aren’t many who remember his nose being any other way.

Graney’s American League career spanned 14 seasons, 1908 to 1922. He was never a star, playing in the shadows of the spectacular Napoleon Lajoie, after whom the team was named, Tris Speaker, Addie Joss, Jim Bagby, Steve O’Neill and others. A lefthanded batter, his lifetime average for 1402 games was .250, but he led in doubles once and bases on balls twice. Being the lead-off batter, he was ordered to take two strikes for the ball club and “one for Graney,” which didn’t make hitting any easier. One year, though, he did manage to bat .299.

However inconspicuous he might have been as a player, Graney managed to carve out several firsts as a major leaguer. Back in 1914 he had the distinction of being the first to hit against a raw lefthander for the Boston Red Sox named George Herman Ruth. As the lead-off man, Jack was also the first big leaguer ever to appear at the plate with a number sewn on his uniform. He remembers one particularly satisfying moment when Philadelphia was dominating the League. “In this game in Philadelphia, Eddie Plank was pitching and the score was tied. We had runners on second and third and Lajoie was walked intentionally so they could pitch to me. But their game plan backfired when I tripled home three runs to win the game.” His eyes still twinkle when he recalls that brief moment of glory which transpired some 60 years ago.

He refers to baseball as “my whole life” and like so many oldtimers who came before their time, he gave the game more than he received from it. It was a National League umpire named Bob Emsile, a resident of St. Thomas, who first took notice of young Graney, who was then a pitcher on the local team. Emslie convinced the Chicago Cubs to take a chance on the Canadian, and after stopoffs in Rochester, New York, Erie and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, he was sold to the Naps, and went to spring training with them at Macon, Georgia. It turned out to be one of the worst mistakes of his life.

“I threw batting practice one morning and was so wild, each batter stood up to the plate over five minutes before I served up anything in the neighborhood of a strike. When Lajoie came up to the plate I wanted to give it everything I had because he was the manager of the team and one of baseball’s greatest hitters. That’s all I could think about, the boys back in St. Thomas sitting around the coal stove talking about how Jack Graney struck out the great Lajoie. I reared back and threw the fastest ball I had ever pitched and instead of striking him out I knocked him out. The ball glanced off the side of his head and bounded up into the stands. The next day I was handed a ticket to Portland, Oregon, by Mr. Lajoie who insisted that all wildmen belong in the West.”

In 1908, Jack returned to the big league for good, this time as an outfielder. Lajoie didn’t want to take any chances. In this year, the Naps had George Stovall on first base, Lajoie on second, Tuck Turner played third, and the catchers were Nig Clarke and Harry Bemis. Handling the bulk of the pitching were Joss, Dusty Rhoades, and Otto Hess. Jack remembers that he slept for two days with his uniform on. Nobody could take it off of him, but then, nobody tried.

He remembers trying to sleep in the Pullman cars on many hot summer nights and hanging a damp sheet over a propped-open window in an effort to generate a breeze. And facing Walter Johnson, the toughest pitcher he ever hit against, an oath echoed by several hundred other batsmen during the glittering career of “the Big Train.” Johnson threw nothing but fast balls, “But they would jump sometimes three feet,” Jack shuddered, as he stretched his arms in a manner like the fisherman describing “the one that got away.”

They talk about the domination of the pitcher in modern baseball and the wide assortment of pitches, but it was no different 50 years ago. According to Graney, “They threw everything.” The spitter was prominent then.

So was the emery ball, and the shine ball, “which was outlawed when big Dave Danforth of the White Sox hit Tris Speaker on the head and almost ended his career.”

He remembers his roomie, Ray Chapman, and the day he was fatally struck by a pitched ball thrown by submariner Carl Nays during an August 1920 game at the Polo Grounds. Sitting on the bench, Jack watched the ball collide with Chapman’ s head and them bounce back to Nays on the fly. With fractures on both sides of his skull and a neck that was broken, Chapman did not have a chance. After they rushed the ill-fated shortstop to the clubhouse, Jack, in his haste to revive his dying comrade, tried to get him to write something, but in a state of unconsciousness and moaning incoherently, Chapman dazedly dropped the pencil to the floor. It was a tragic episode in Cleveland baseball history and upset several of the players to the point of taking leaves of absence in order to try to forget what had happened on that black August day in New York. Joey Sewell was quickly summoned from New Orleans to play short and the youngster helped spark the Indians to the 1920 pennant and world championship.

In 1922 at the antiquated baseball age of 36, Graney drifted away from the game he loved after managing the last place Des Moines outfit of the Western League for a half season to help his friend Jim Dunn, the owner of the Cleveland club. He turned to selling automobiles and until 1927, when Ford changed its model types from “T” to “A” and shut down its plants for over a year, he operated a successful Ford agency in Cleveland. Stockholding and shrewd investing became the favorite pastime of the rich and the poor in the devil-may-care 1920s. Enthused over the thought of making a quick kill on the stock market, Jack invested his savings and lived contentedly for two years until the great crash of 1929 crippled the country and “knocked the legs right out from under me,” as he says, shaking his head slowly. This was the nadir in the life of John Gladstone Graney. In an effort to recoup his losses, he re-entered the car business, this time as a used car salesman. But this was short-lived as the depression left everyone’s pockets empty and forced people to survive on the barest of essentials. Nobody was buying cars, not even used ones.

By 1932 radio had become a powerful asset to baseball’s coverage and popularity. It was one medium that had been unaffected by the “Great Depression.” Tom Manning had been broadcasting the Indians’ games since

1927 on the team’s flagship station, WTAM, but after the 1931 campaign, the radio contract shifted to WBK, and a search began for a new announcer. Several candidates were auditioned, none of them successfully, and when it was obvious the right mixture needed to be a polished sportscaster was not going to be found in the group of applicants, Ellis Vander Pyl, the best of the mediocre crop, was chosen to announce the Cleveland games. The selection proved a poor one, however, as the sponsor was dissatisfied and threatened to quit the account unless an adequate broadcaster were found. Aware of the dilemma, Billy Evans, the Indians’ General Manager, quickly summoned Graney, also having his troubles, and within a few hours the problems of both parties were solved. “Before my first broadcast,” he will tell you, “I was so nervous I almost changed my mind and ran out of the booth.”

Baseball broadcasting provided a new lease on life for Jack Graney, and he was always to say that broadcasting was the next best thing to playing. His biggest thrill in radio occurred in 1935 when he was asked by the Columbia Broadcasting System to cover the World Series between the Tigers and Cubs. He had been asked to do the 1934 classic but was forbidden by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis because he might show partiality since he had played in the Junior Circuit. Graney was the first of what has become a long line of major leaguers to broadcast baseball. Perturbed and angered that the Judge would hold this against him, Jack wrote the commissioner a letter clarifying that “my playing days are over. I am now a sportscaster and should be regarded as such.” In 1935, he received no static from Landis.

Graney broadcast thousands of games and went through six partners (Bud Richmond, Gil Gibbons, Lou Henry, Pinky Hunter, Van Patrick and Jimmy Dudley) before he retired. One of the important occasions he remembers best was when the Indians pulled into Boston’s Back Bay train depot amidst the jeers of partisan Red Sox fans in l948, the day before the two teams played off for the AL pennant. The sight was determined by the flip of a coin and Boston won, sending nightmarish thoughts of Fenway Park’s left field wall up the spine of every Indian. “Gene Bearden was elected to pitch because he had the best chance of keeping the ball low and preventing any ball from sailing over the wall. The game was scoreless around the second or third inning, when third baseman Kenny Keltner, with runners on first and second and no outs, strode to the plate in an obvious bunt situation. After failing in his first attempt to lay one down, Keltner drove the next pitch over the left field wall to make it 3-0. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.” The Sox crumpled and the Tribe went on to take the World Series from the Boston Braves, four games to two, in what was Cleveland’s finest baseball hour.

“Yes, there are many memories,” he said in a wispy voice. The voice is unchanged, remarkably identical to the familiar echo so many thousands of fans identified with over a period of 21 years. From 1908, except for the spell between playing and broadcasting, until 1953, he was as much a part of Cleveland baseball as anybody.

“I always tried to give the fans an honest account,” he says in reflection. “It was a tremendous responsibility and at all times I kept in mind the fact that I was the eyes of the radio audience. I was like an artist trying to paint a picture. I never tried to predict or second guess, even though I had played the game. I just tried to do my best, and I hope my best was good enough.”

Don’t worry Jack, it was.

Sylvester “Syl” Johnson was born in Portland, Oregon on December 31, 1900. By the time Syl was eight years old, he and his younger brother Norman were regular players at the local sandlots. At that time, Sylvester preferred the duties as the team’s catcher, but his choice of position changed dramatically after a hot pitch smashed him in the mouth, knocking his teeth loose and his awareness out cold. Johnson quickly realized that he would be safer on the other side of home plate, as a pitcher. Syl’s father worked as a sawyer at a lumber mill near Portland’s Willamette River, and the father would soon receive his son’s assistance.

Sylvester contributed to the Johnson family till by dropping out of high school and working at a paper mill adjacent to his father’s. Moments after the bell rang at the end of his work day, Syl brushed the sawdust from his shoes and pedaled his bicycle back to the sandlots. He soon found himself playing semi-pro baseball for Portland’s financially powerful United Artisans. Johnson was immediately recognized for his side-armed fastball while he worked with the Advanced Junior Artisan team. Portland’s newspaper, The Oregonian, took notice of Syl’s skills on the mound and the youngster’s name appeared in press ink that would soon change his life forever. Throughout the AJA’s 1918 and 1919 seasons, young Syl cut every article from the newspapers and created a personal scrapbook resume of his baseball talents. In 1920, Johnson’s bicycle wheels crossed a bridge over the Willamette River to the Vaughn Street Park, the home of the minor-league Portland Beavers. With his scrapbook in hand, Johnson pleaded with Beavers boss Walter “Judge” McCredie for a chance to attend spring training with the club.

McCredie ordered his star pitcher, Harvey “Suds” Sutherland, to catch Johnson’s twirls during the short audition. After several fastballs were fired into Sutherland’s mitt, McCredie gave Johnson the invite he was hoping for.

Syl’s inexperience and lack of control soon forced the Judge to send the youngster away for some Canadian seasoning with the Vancouver Beavers shortly after the 1920 schedule began. Sylvester worked under the command of Vancouver skipper Bob Brown who taught Syl to control his wild right arm. McCredie reviewed Johnson’s progress and invited the skinny kid back to the Portland roster in 1921. The Portland pilot let Sylvester handle 304 innings in the ’21 season, and Johnson earned 12 wins and 26 losses.

Although his won-loss record worked against him, the skinny kid wasn’t completely at fault. Regardless of Johnson’s well-controlled golden righty, the Portland Beavers had difficulty scoring in 1921. Similar to 1920, the Beavers finished dead last. The McCredie family finally gave in to their bad luck, and booing Portland crowds, by selling the team to a former president of the Seattle Rainiers, William “Billy” Klepper.

Before making his permanent exit in November, Judge McCredie told The Sporting News: “I look for Johnson to be one of the best pitchers in the Pacific Coast League next season. Within five years he will be one of the greatest pitchers in the country. Just paste that prediction on the wall and see if I’m not right.”1 New boss Billy Klepper saw things differently when the topic of Syl was discussed. Prior to the sale of the Portland club, Detroit talent scout Eddie Herr took notice of Sylvester and another Portland twirler, Herman Pillette.

Herr contacted Detroit president Frank Navin and insisted that Johnson and Pillette were the finest hurlers on the West Coast. Bird dog Eddie attempted to sway McCredie in October, but Mack adamantly refused to give up Johnson. Navin met with Klepper in early December and acquired Johnson and Pillette for $40,000 in cash and eight players from the Detroit ballclub—Boss Klepper had pocketed a third of his Portland investment and an octet of Motor City players before the 1922 season began. Sylvester’s name made headlines around the country, getting top billing in the most famous baseball transaction of 1921, “The Johnson-Pillette Deal.” Sylvester’s first order of Detroit business involved a lengthy barnstorming tour with the Rochester Tribe from New York. Early into the trip, Johnson’s life changed forever.

During an exhibition game against the Tribe, Syl tossed a side-arm bullet to a Rochester batter who hit a line-drive boomerang back to the mound. The fateful ball slammed against Johnson’s right arm, crushing the bones joining his wrist and hand. Poor Syl believed that Ty Cobb would send him and his useless appendage back to Portland once the barnstorming tour was completed, but he didn’t. It seemed that Cobb agreed with Walter McCredie’s fervent faith in Syl Johnson. The Peach decided to keep the crippled kid on Detroit’s 1922 roster.

In July, Sylvester spent more time on the bench after part of his tonsils were removed. Weeks after he was given medical clearance to return to the game, Syl got cracked on the elbow after a fellow Tiger sent the boomerang ball back to the mound during batting practice. After he pitched the last game of the season, Johnson was credited with a 7–3 record. Days after returning to his hometown of Portland, Syl married his sweetheart, Ruth Heitsman. Johnson was invited back to the Tigers in 1923.

About a week before the season began, Syl accidentally let go of a bat during routine batting practice. It spun erratically from Johnson’s grip and landed on the leg of a fellow teammate: Detroit’s famous center fielder and Syl’s faithful boss, Ty Cobb.

On September 19, 1923, Syl experienced a bittersweet game against the Philadelphia Athletics. That day he smacked his first major-league home run. His luck ran out a few innings later while he took the mound and pulled ligaments in his golden righty. Johnson took the bench again. Sylvester finished the 1923 season with the Cobbmen, earning a 12–7 pitching record. Detroit then kept him on the roster in 1924 and 1925.

In June of 1924, Johnson threw the pitch that resulted in Babe Ruth’s 253rd career home run. The Peach’s faith in Johnson faded completely after another jinx found the pitcher in May of 1925. Johnson appeared in five games and earned himself a 0–2 record before his last game in Detroit stripes. Bad luck arrived in Comiskey Park’s batter’s box in the form of Bibb Falk while Syl was on the mound. Falk, who took Shoeless Joe Jackson’s leftfield position in 1921, slammed a line drive directly into Sylvester’s left eye.

Sylvester mentioned his catastrophic injury in a 1978 interview: “We had a big lead going in the ninth inning. Bibb Falk hit a line drive; hit me right there. Fractured eight bones. The ball rolled over to first base, … picked the ball up. Knocked me down. Just a line drive. A flash. So I got up. Fred Haney was on third base and he come over … and he got a hold of me. Blood was just pouring out. After that happened they thought I was through.”2

Falk’s liner knocked Syl back into the minor leagues in late June. After three weeks to heal in the Windy City, Johnson was shipped to California to play for the Vernon Tigers and answer to his new boss, Bill Essick. Syl suffered on the mound as the vision in his left eye adjusted. With his recovery and a scarred cheekbone, Sylvester turned in an atrocious 3–17 record in the PCL minors. At the end of the 1925 season, St. Louis Cardinals scout Charlie Barrett saw something interesting in Sylvester Johnson and he convinced Cardinal bosses Sam Breadon, Branch Rickey, and manager Rogers Hornsby to give the unlucky pitcher a chance on the 1926 roster. Barrett’s persistence worked, but Syl’s good luck turned sour in May after Cincinnati’s new first baseman, Wally Pipp, smacked one of Johnson’s bullets back to the mound. Sylvester sustained a broken toe on his right foot.

Unlucky Johnson took his familiar place on the bench while the rest of the Cardinals fought their way to the 1926 World Series. Just as Syl’s toe finished healing, more bad luck appeared after his teammate Bob O’Farrell hit another liner to Johnson during batting practice. Bob’s liner smashed several bones in Syl’s hand. Moments before the Cardinals clinched the NL pennant, Hornsby sent Syl back to Portland with a promise. Johnson recalled the details of Hornsby’s pledge in an interview recorded in 1978: “Rogers Hornsby said if you can’t do anything more for the rest of the year, you might as well go home. He said I guarantee you if we win the pennant, anything that anybody gets you get, too. I got the World Series check.”3

Hornsby and his Cards defeated the New York Yankees and Johnson got his first World Series ring, although he was missing from the St. Louis lineup. Sylvester had limited time on the major-league heap thanks to Lady Luck’s absence and two unforgiving line drives. The 1926 season produced an 0–3 record for Johnson in only 19 appearances. Two months after Syl slipped on his first World Series ring, Ruth Johnson gave birth to their first child, Beverly. Unwilling to gamble with Johnson in 1927, the Cardinals farmed Syl to their International League associates in Syracuse, New York.

Sylvester stepped into a Syracuse Stars uniform with hopes of better luck in the minors. With manager Burt Shotton at the helm, Syl quickly came back into his original form. In June, the Portland hurler threw a no-hitter against the neighboring Buffalo Bisons. When the season wrapped up, Johnson had an 18–13 record with the Stars. In 1928, the Cardinals noticed Syl’s improvement and invited him back to the St. Louis roster. Rehired Johnson worked closely with St. Louis’ new manager, Bill McKechnie. Syl was soon befriended by the Cards’ new catcher, Jimmie Wilson. With the undeniable talents of Johnson, Wilson, and the other stars on the roster, the Missouri club won the NL pennant in 1928. Johnson had finally earned a chance to pitch in a World Series, albeit briefly, as he threw two innings and allowed one earned run.

Syl finished 1928 with an 8–4 record in 34 mound appearances. Sylvester and Jimmie Wilson stayed in the Cardinals’ birdcage in 1929. At the age of 28, Johnson was noted as a reliable relief pitcher. That season, he pitched in more games than any other Cardinal., and after 42 appearances, he was credited with 13 wins and seven losses. His 1929 performance was the best season of his career, so St. Louis manager Gabby Street decided to make Johnson a starting pitcher rather than a reliever in 1930. The Cardinals cinched the pennant and another ticket to the World Series.

With Gabby steady at the helm of the St. Louis ballclub in 1931, Sylvester Johnson was designated as one of the team’s dependable starting pitchers. With the assistance of Syl and the other stellar twirlers on the St. Louis roster, the Cards captured another NL pennant. Syl cleaned up the last two innings during the first game of the World Series at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis but his relief came too late as the A’s won, 6–2.

Four days later, on October 5, a homicide took place at a Brooklyn speakeasy. The victim, Gustave Johnson, was killed in a World Series brawl while defending his namesake and favorite Swedish pitcher, Sylvester Johnson. A fellow patron, John Leonard, took a swing at Gustave for bragging about Syl. Gustave fell and hit his head on a marble table, which led to his death. Leonard was charged with murder while the proprietor of the speakeasy was pinched for violating the Volstead Act. In 2010, Syl Johnson’s offspring learned about the horrific incident that involved a man defending their father’s name and talents. All were shocked to hear the news for the first time, as each child explained that their father never mentioned any details or knowledge of the Brooklyn homicide linked to his title. Perhaps Syl himself never knew that his name was connected with one of the most violent World Series arguments in history.

With credit to Sylvester Johnson, Jimmie Wilson, and the intense talent that filled the Cardinals lineup, St. Louis beat the Athletics in seven games for the 1931 championship. Sylvester picked up a sharp pitching record of 11 wins and nine losses in 1931 and he looked forward to improving his low 3.00 ERA in 1932. But a few changes were waiting for him. In addition to his first assigned uniform number in the majors (23), Johnson shared the St. Louis mound with a new pitcher named Dizzy Dean in 1932. Unlike their successful season the year before, the Cards landed in sixth place with a 72–82 record. Johnson’s performance also reflected a dismal pitching record of five wins and 14 losses.

In January 1933, the Cardinals sold the 32-year-old Syl and left-fielder Ray Blades to their minor-league team, the Columbus Redbirds in the American Association. The deal became tainted after Cincinnati Reds president Sidney Weil noticed that Syl’s name was not included on St. Louis’ waiver list. In February, the Cardinals informed Johnson of the botched sale and he was instructed to report to spring training in Florida. Johnson’s majorleague service was far from over.

Cards manager Gabby Street assigned Johnson a substantial amount of relief work, while Dizzy Dean handled the brunt of the team’s pitching duties in 1933 season. After appearing in 84 innings, Johnson pulled an even 3–3 record. The calendar year of 1934 brought several changes for Johnson and his Portland family. In January, St. Louis sold him and veteran catcher Bob O’Farrell to the Cincinnati Reds. Syl would now be answering to O’Farrell as the Reds’ player-manager. Soon after the sale was completed, Cincinnati Syl got an interesting call from a trusted ally, Jimmie Wilson, who had been traded to the Phillies after the 1933 season.

Wilson, now the Phillies manager, insisted that Syl would be accompanying him to Philly. “He said I’m gonna take you back to Philadelphia with me,” said Johnson in a 1978 interview. “And I said oh, get outta here. Sure enough, series was over, I got called by Cincinnati. You’re traded to Philadelphia.”4 After appearing in just two games with Cincinnati, Jimmie Wilson handed his pal Syl a Philadelphia uniform as promised.

Wilson decided to put Johnson to work as a relief pitcher, even though Syl was one of the oldest hurlers on the squad. Old Jimmie would share the Philadelphia clubhouse with Sylvester for the next four years, using Syl primarily in relief. Syl welcomed the birth of his second child, Sylvester Jr., in 1935. Syl Sr. looked forward to spending time with his growing family once the ’35 season closed. Less than a month after the pitcher handed out cigars to his Philadelphia teammates, Johnson had another visit from Old Man Jinx in the Baker Bowl clubhouse: A hemorrhaging ulcer forced him off the schedule and the Portlander returned to Oregon.

Johnson reunited with the Phillies in 1936 and was later noted as one of the most profound relief hurlers on the squad. Fellow teammates nicknamed Johnson “The Fireman” after the twirler pulled seven doomed contests out of the flames. Regardless of Syl’s saving grace, the Phillies slipped into the cellar. The club turned in a frightful 54–100 record in ’36, sending them to last place. The following season barely brightened, as the team took one step out of the darkness, claiming seventh place in the NL. Sylvester stayed busy in 1937 as his manager and trusted comrade Ace Wilson assigned him the additional task of coaching first base.

Months before Philadelphia closed the ’37 season with a frown, Sylvester Johnson began a public crusade to create a pension plan for retired baseball players who devoted a decade of their lives to the game. The 36-yearold veteran justified his notable proposal by explaining the active pension plan exercised by retired major-league umpires. “Umpires are entitled to a pension after 15 years of service,” explained Johnson to the sportswriters. “Why shouldn’t a player receive the same reward? I’d like to see each ten year man become eligible for a pension of seventy-five dollars a month, with five dollars for each additional year of service. There are not many players with that length of service in the majors.”5

Old Syl tried to pitch his idea to Baseball Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis and the league bosses during the winter meetings of 1938, but his request fell on deaf ears. Nine years later, in April of 1947, Johnson’s bright idea found justice after Commissioner Albert “Happy” Chandler and Yankees boss Larry MacPhail created a pension plan for retired baseball players that were active as of 1947.

During the last hour of 1937, Sylvester celebrated his 37th birthday and was one of the oldest players on the 1938 Phillies roster, and the ninth-oldest player in the National League. Jimmie Wilson (born six months before Syl) shared the distinction as the other “old man” on the Phillies brigade. Though his age was against him, Johnson stayed active as a reliever for the Phillies in 1938 and 1939. Sylvester returned to Philadelphia to complete the 1939 season under the supervision of newly assigned manager James “Doc” Prothro. The Doc was unable to save the Phillies from a losing season as the club took last place in the NL with a 45–106 record. Johnson stayed consistent with an even 8–8 record in 22 appearances. Phillies president Gerry Nugent and pilot Prothro decided to keep old Syl with them in 1940. Not only was he the eldest player on the squad, he was noted as the fourth-oldest player in the majors. (Charlie Root, Jimmie Wilson, and Gabby Hartnett were the only players older than Sylvester.) 1940 was a bittersweet year for Syl for two important reasons: In January his third child, Judith, was born, and in April he suffered an internal hemorrhage in the Phillies clubhouse and was immediately admitted to Temple University Hospital. After he was released, Sylvester spent minimal time on the mound. Prior to his medical ailment, Doc named Sylvester team coach and his light duties as club instructor kept him busy until his final performance.

On September 14, 1940, Sylvester Johnson made his last major-league appearance, pitching the full nine against the Chicago Cubs at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. His grand finale produced the last recorded win on his pitching resume as the Phils took the game, 5–3. In his 19 years in both leagues, Sylvester handled 2,165 innings, appeared in 542 games, and struck out 920 batters. Since his efforts to create a pension plan were dashed in 1938, he had no choice but to look for work to support his Portland family, which continued to multiply.

During the month of December 1940, Syl’s wife announced that another child would be added to the Johnson roster. Three months after Johnson got the good news, the Phillies handed him his unconditional release. Rumors of other major-league clubs having their telescopes fixed on the old hurler trickled throughout the sports pages, but Sylvester had made up his mind to stay close to his family in Portland. Things worked out perfectly when Seattle Rainiers boss Emil Sick and new manager Bill Skiff presented Syl a contract to pitch in the Pacific Coast League. Sylvester happily bit the line since Seattle was close to home. In August 1941, Ruth Johnson gave birth to her fourth child, David, who was born with Down syndrome. The following month, Syl broke his elbow twirling pepper to a Hollywood Stars batter.

Before he took the rest of the season off, Johnson recorded 13 wins and seven losses. After the season ended, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. As fate would decide, 40-year-old Sylvester (with a wife and four children) was not eligible to participate in the war.

In 1944, Skiff promoted Johnson to the combination position of pitcher-coach. The Rainiers skipper made another adjustment to staff by adding an eight-yearold to Seattle’s payroll. With references provided by the new recruit’s father, Sylvester Johnson Junior took the assignment of team batboy for the Rainiers. Not long after the season began, Ruth Johnson was expecting another child. Syl Sr. actively coached Seattle’s pitching staff in 1944 and took the mound 13 times himself. During the last week of November, the Johnson clan welcomed a visit from the Portland stork who delivered baby number five, Sharyn.

In 1945, Johnson was named assistant manager to pilot Skiff ’s squad and earned a 6–3 pitching record after appearing in 23 games. After the 1945 schedule was completed, old man Johnson got a job offer from an old friend. In December 1945, Seattle sold Sylvester to the Vancouver Capilanos from the Western International League after Bob Brown (Syl’s old Beaver boss) came calling for the Portlander personally; he hired Syl to manage Canada’s Caps jointly with Eddie Carnett and Bill Brenner. Since Carnett and Brenner were 20 years younger than Johnson, old Syl felt out of place. The Capilanos’ disgraceful lineup matched their unsuccessful May record.

In June 1946, unhappy Syl took an interesting telephone call from Bill Skiff, who was recently dropped by the Rainiers and rehired by the New York Yankees as a chief scout (he had once managed in their farm system). By the end of June, Johnson decided to resign from Vancouver. It would be the last time that he would wear a minor-league uniform. Including his early years playing for the Portland and Vancouver Beavers, the Vernon Tigers, and the Seattle Rainers, Sylvester threw 1,336 innings over 248 minor-league contests. Skiff ’s contact with Syl continued and soon enough the old pitcher was hired as a New York Yankees scout working under Joe Devine in August 1946.

During his time off from the season, Sylvester stayed busy in 1947 bird-dogging on the West Coast for young players. He frequently visited Oregon and Washington colleges, snatching athletes worthy to play for the Yankees farm teams. In 1948, Johnson remained with the Yanks scouting team, scouring the local diamonds for new talent. In this era, there was a football team in New York also called the Yankees and owned by Dan Topping. During 1949, the he assisted the football Yankees, scouting to sign athletes for both teams. Johnson spent his time visiting fraternity houses, baseball diamonds, and football fields throughout the Coast.

Early in his scouting years, Syl purchased some property with his in-laws and started a berry farm in Gresham, Oregon. In 1954, he bid farewell to the Yankees and was hired as a talent scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sylvester was designated to his familiar territory of the western division (Washington and Oregon) and answered to division scouting boss Bill Brenzel. Syl remained a Dodger talent spy for eight years. The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, but Johnson stayed busy on the Coast. As the years progressed, Sylvester was invited to several old-timer games to meet with old teammates from the Portland Beavers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 1961, Sylvester finished his last year with the Dodgers and said goodbye to baseball. With 10 years earned in the minors, 19 years in the majors, and 15 years as a bird dog, Johnson had acquired a 42-year resume devoted to organized baseball. In 1981, a committee from the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame added Sylvester Johnson to their historic roster. Just after his 84th birthday, Syl Johnson passed away in Portland on February 20, 1985. Mrs. Ruth Johnson passed away in 2001, preceded by her son David W. Johnson in 1995.

MATTHEW M. CLIFFORD is a freelance writer from the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. He joined SABR in 2011 with intentions to enhance his research abilities and literary talents to help preserve the accurate facts of baseball history. Clifford has a background in law enforcement and is certified in a variety of forensic investigative techniques, all of which currently aid him with historical research and data collection. He has discovered and reported several baseball card errors and inaccuracies of player history to SABR, Baseball Almanac.com, Baseball-Reference.com and the research department of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. His literary contributions have been added to the SABR Biography Project.

Photo credit

National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

Notes

1 Kennedy, Lou. “Portland Will Lose Neither McCredies”. The Sporting News. Volume 72, no. 7, October 20, 1921: 8.

2 Eugene Converse Murdock Audio Interviews. Recorded 1978 in Portland, OR. Mears-Murdock Exhibit. Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, OH.

3 Murdock Audio Interviews.

4 Murdock Audio Interviews.

5 “Syl Johnson Campaigns For Pensions”. The New York Evening Post, November 17, 1937.