by Steve Rushin
Dr. Cecil C. Fawcett patented a lethal baseball grenade: “Hand Grenade, Baseball Style, Designed for Easier Throwing,” New York Times, September 15, 1956.
“Pedro Ramos will trade a baseball for a hand grenade”: United Press International, “Baseball Sí, Politics No, Ramos Says,” Pittsburgh Press, April 11, 1961.
“The man who hit the Pearl Harbor home run”: Associated Press, “Admiral Who Directed Attack on Pearl Harbor Killed on Saipan Island,” St. Petersburg Evening Independent, July 14, 1944.
“teargas grenade… that skitters around”: “Army Studying Radar Set That Can See Through Wall,” Washington Star, February 15, 1971.
“Among college boys”: Hinton, “A Mechanical Pitcher.”
“whenever men wished to impel a ball”: Ibid.
“The baseball is placed in the barrel of the cannon”: “The New Baseball-Pitching Gun,” New York Times, March 12, 1897.
“There was a muffled report”: “Too Long to Load,” Boston Daily Globe, January 11, 1897.
“Batters having accustomed themselves”: “Played Ball with a Gun,” Daily True American, June 11, 1897.
shot baseballs out of the Chester County Courthouse: Carson-Gentry and Rodebough, Images of America, 6.
“As regularly as the ball teams visited Washington”: “Schriver’s Feat,” Sporting Life, September 1, 1894.
“[A] ball was thrown from one of the small windows”: “Only One Hundred Singers,” Washington Post, January 10, 1885.
“I’d never try a stunt like that again”: “Akron Man Captained Washington’s First Pennant Winning Nine,” Akron Beacon Journal, May 22, 1932.
“He talked of arrests”: “Schriver’s Feat.”
the ball was discovered by Gibson’s son: “Baseball Caught by Gabby Street in Monument Drop Rediscovered,” Washington Post, January 12, 1964.
“might as well try to stop a bullet”: The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide 1910, 258–59.
“other things besides Torso murders”: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, from an undated clip on file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.
“They looked like aspirin tablets”: “Drop Zone,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 20, 2003.
“jumped into my arms”: Anderson, “When Baseballs Fell from the Sky.”
“It looked like an aspirin”: “Joe Sprinz, Hit by Ball Dropped from Blimp,” San Jose Mercury News, January 25, 1994.
“This is the end of that kind of a stunt”: August 10, 1939, in an otherwise unidentified newspaper clipping in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.
“monstrous flies”: Kahn, October Men, 53.
“I get mad at the ball players”: Red Smith, New York Herald-Tribune column carried in Stars and Stripes, March 19, 1963.
“He liked his snakes”: Veeck and Linn, Veeck as in Wreck, 108.
Max Bengersen retrieved a ball: “Boy Wounded Fatally by Annoyed Man,” New York Times, July 27, 1902.
Gillis and two other Whales: “The Last Whale,” Sports Illustrated, February 3, 1964 (Gillis died in Phoenix in 1964 at age eighty-eight).
Christian Koehler clambered over that fence: “Boy Killed by Hammer Throw at Practice,” New York Times, October 1, 1904.
Harris fumbled for a baseball: From a description in the Heritage Auctions press release, March 22, 2006.
“Whooooa. It’s the ball”: “McFarlane Paid $3 Million for McGwire’s 70th Home Run Ball,” Washington Post, February 9, 1999.
“It is rather disconcerting”: “New Rule Idea,” Sporting Life, January 18, 1913.
Charlie Weeghman wearied of fighting: “Editorials,” Baseball Magazine, October 1916.
“I don’t know whether you or Shettsline”: “Boy Who Got Ball in Stands Found Not Guilty of Larceny,” New York Times, July 20, 1923; “Losing Proposition,” Philadelphia Weekly, June 27, 2007.
“a one-round knockout of a gent”: “Every Day Is Flag Day at the Ball Parks,” New York Times, May 16, 1942.
the hides of thirty-five thousand horses: “Inside Story of Baseballs,” Popular Science, April 1950, 161.
switched first to Bolivian horsehide: Mead, Baseball Goes to War, 78.
the powerhouse Cardinals lost 1–0: Associated Press, “Substitute Baseball Will Be Discussed,” Palm Beach Post, March 5, 1943. The dead balata baseballs of 1943—and the anemic scores they produced—were reported by the Associated Press, “Cincinnati Wins from Cards,” Tuscaloosa News, April 23, 1943; Associated Press, “Change Made in Major League Ball,” Lawrence Journal-World, April 24, 1943; Associated Press, “Test Shows 1942 Ball Liveliest,” Pittsburgh Press, April 21, 1943; and Hynd, “The Inside Story.”
“One day in school”: “Stoughton Man Invented First Cover of Baseball,” Stoughton Sentinel, April 3, 1909, Stoughtonhistory.com.
“The famous baseball genius”: St. Paul Pioneer Press, quoted in Lamster, Spalding’s World Tour, 3.
“Talk about special Providence!”: Spalding, America’s National Game, 511.
Chapter 2
named after biblical figures: James, The New Bill James, 45.
“a howling drunk”: “Louisville Wins Easily,” New York Times, July 13, 1887.
an exceedingly rare unassisted pickoff: Nemec, The Beer & Whiskey League, 240.
“he played about fifteen feet off second base”: From an otherwise unidentified news clipping dated October 12, 1887, in Browning’s player file in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.
“The Gladiator drank more than was necessary”: From an otherwise unidentified news clipping dated October 18, 1890, in Browning’s player file in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.
a nickname bestowed by newspapers: Louisville Post, June 17, 1891, cited in Von Borries, American Gladiator, 45.
“all oiled and rubbed”: Louisville Courier-Journal, May 19, 1895, cited in Von Borries, American Gladiator, 119.
Frank Bradsby so impressed J. Frederich: Hill, Crack of the Bat, 50.
slipped on an icy street: “Bat Manufacturer Dies,” New York Times, January 18, 1924.
fractured another man’s skull: “Blow Causes Boy’s Death,” Washington Post, April 29, 1907, cited in Gorman and Weeks, Death at the Ballpark.
“took up a batter’s stance”: Hendley, Al Capone, 144.
“hardly break stride saying hello”: Magee and Shirley, Sweet Spot, 71.
Easton was hunting one day: Gant, International Directory of Company Histories.
Shroyer received United States patent… for his bat of steel: The United States Patents Quarterly, 4.
Testifying in a 1975 patent suit: United Press International, “Aluminum Rapped as Bat Material,” September 11, 1975.
Chapter 3
“delicate garments”: “Glove Remains a Giant Target,” San Jose Mercury News, July 9, 2007.
“Cezanne painted apples”: Wulf, “Glove Story.”
“It’s something I don’t deny”: Oldenburg, Oldenburg, 11.
“diamond palace”: “Unveiling Diamond Palace in Land of Sun,” Sporting News, April 12, 1962.
“one of the wonders of the West”: “Giants’ Camp Is Oasis in Arizona Desert,” New York Times, March 7, 1965.
“Welcome to Franceesco Granday”: “Sauer’s Gastronomical Feat Opens Giants’ Farm Base,” Sporting News, March 22, 1961.
“the circular stitching peculiar to baseballs”: “Thousands Visit New Ball Park,” New York Times, March 17, 1913.
“national game of base-ball for men and boys”: “The Ball Up,” New York Times, December 18, 1870.
“a pair of buckskin mittens”: Cincinnati Daily Commercial, June 28, 1870.
He was one of thirty-two thousand casualties: Washington Post, January 12, 1908.
“Allison was a gunner”: Boston Daily Globe, March 24, 1876.
“gloves were unknown”: “Douglas Allison, One of Baseball’s Pioneers, Tells How the Great Game Was Played Forty Years Ago,” Washington Post, January 12, 1908.
“if we
fearlessly grasp a nettle”: Brookes, Manliness, 30.
“The glove worn by [Waitt]”: Spalding, America’s National Game, 475–76.
Cornelius McGillicuddy’s baseball journey: Mack, My 66 Years in the Big Leagues, 17.
“You had to catch the ball two-handed”: Baseball Digest, November 1972, reprinted from a story by Phil Elderkin in the Christian Science Monitor.
“almost a copy of Bushong”: “Notes and Comments,” Sporting Life, August 10, 1887.
“an inshoot jellied the fingers”: “As It Used to Be,” Cincinnati Post, May 28, 1926.
“a spring mattress on his left hand”: Shafer, When the Dodgers Were Bridegrooms, 64.
“The Doctor was proud of this affair”: “Ups and Downs of Catcher’s Gloves,” New York Times, January 24, 1915.
“When I shave my upper lip”: Brian McKenna, “Doc Bushong,” SABR bio,http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/5d4b5fe8.
he sent a version to the brand-new Baseball Hall of Fame: Vlasich, A Legend for the Legendary, 59.
“Boyle is fond of a joke”: Toronto Daily Mail, December 19, 1891.
the blade had snapped off when it hit bone: “Blade in Ball Player’s Shoulder,” Reading Eagle (Pennsylvania), May 6, 1899.
“I have just received a sad letter”: A copy of the letter is on file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.
“A more honest and harder-working professional player”: New York Clipper, December 16, 1882.
“a mattress for a Singer midget”: Bud Shaver, Detroit Times, March 13, 1935.
“three lengths of barbed wire”: Seidel, Ted Williams, 57, quoting Ring Lardner.
“There’s a whale of a difference”: “Major League Ball Teams Ready to Open Training Camp,” Palm Beach Post, February 18, 1940.
“the smallest glove of any first baseman I know”: John Kieran, New York Times, March 16, 1941.
seventeen fractures in Gehrig’s hands: “Iron Bird Pursues Iron Horse in Baseball’s Durability Race,” New York Times, July 13, 1993.
“He took his glove and threw it”: “Dahlgren Still Carrying Lou Gehrig’s Glove,” Sporting News, June 16, 1979.
“an extension of his own skin”: Eig, Luckiest Man, 279.
“Almost every youngster here”: “Memories Are Recalled by Bill (Spittin’) Doak,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, February 8, 1953.
“leave tombstones out there”: Hartford Courant, April 17, 1954.
“It would be foolish”: “Leaving Glove on Field Old Habit, but Some Day—,” Baseball Digest, January 1952, reprinted from the Boston Globe.
the unattended glove of teammate Topsy Hartsel: Nemec, The Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, 46.
Nellie Fox hit a bloop: “Strange and Unusual Plays,” http://www.retrosheet.org/strange.htm.
“gloves on the field look sloppy”: “Baseball Reinstates Sacrifice Fly,” New York Times, November 4, 1953.
“the A2000 gave you so much confidence”: Liberman, Glove Affairs, 28.
“single greatest piece of sporting equipment”: “Esquire Endorses,” Esquire, November 2008.
“a masterpiece of man’s creative urge”: Dave Kindred, “Riding the Wave,” in Smith, Celebrating 70, 181.
“the wreck of the Hesperus”: Lane, “Ball-players Hands.”
a promise to his mother never to swear: “From Classrooms to Boardrooms, Swearing Is Becoming More Commonplace,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 26, 1998.
landmark case Hundley v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue: The ruling is online at http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?page=1&xmldoc=196738748aitc339_1353.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1–1950–1985&SizeDisp=7.
Hundley’s ascension in Chicago: Johnny Bench’s conversion to one-handed catching is described in Furlong, “Johnny Bench: Supercatcher for the Big Red Machine.”
“come through the Catcher’s Mitt”: Hall and Hall, I Served, 135.
“an immediate transformation in his outlook”: “Lost and Found,” New Britain Herald, October 23, 2009.
afflicted with hemorrhoids: Kurkjian, “Old-Fashioned Glove Story.”
Chapter 4
“Tunnel workers crawled from the depths”: Alan Feuer, “You Think This Is Hot?,” New York Times, August 16, 2010, http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/way-back-machine-you-think-this-is-hot.
“terrible weapon of death”: “Barney Morris Dead; Was Said to Be 109,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 3, 1901.
Edison Electric Illuminating Company: The ad for electric fans ran in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 3, 1901.
wore their bathing suits on the streets: “Object to Bathing Suits for Wear in the Street,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 7, 1901.
the temperature dropped twelve degrees: “Elements Combine to Beat Champions,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 3, 1901.
BROILING SUN, WIND, RAIN AND HAIL: Ibid.
A horse had expired: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 3, 1901.
“When I played for Toledo”: Baseball Digest, October 1957, 78, reprinted from the Chicago Tribune.
“I asked Hughes to come up”: “Brooklyns Lose Two on Infield Errors,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 5, 1901.
leeches were applied: Ibid.
he was pummeled: “Cowardly Attack on Umpire O’Day,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 9, 1901.
“Owing to the heavy weight flannels”: Advertisement in Sporting Life, March 7, 1896.
“Charles Benson committed suicide while insane”: “Heat Drives Many to Their Death,” Atlanta Constitution, July 10, 1897.
Mike Grady and Brooklyn catcher Aleck Smith: “Relentless Heat,” Spokesman-Review, July 12, 1897.
“might prove fatal”: “Frank Chance Has a Collapse,” Meriden Morning Record, July 3, 1911.
sold at auction for $62,213: Chance’s Cubs home jersey was Lot #590 in a Legendary Auctions offering, for which bidding closed November 19, 2009.
“One of Hornsby’s great features”: “Diamond Stars Decided Tailor Needed Asset,” Miami News, April 28, 1929.
“you wouldn’t recognize old Casey”: “Casey Stengel Acquires Dignity Now That He Manages Boston,” Milwaukee Journal, March 16, 1938.
“The scratch is on the inside”: “Champs Begin to Hit Up the Pace,” Boston Globe, July 4, 1905.
Frank Bonner… died of blood poisoning: “Death List of a Day, Frank Bonner,” New York Times, January 2, 1906.
nearly lost a finger: Pittsburgh Press, December 27, 1907.
Forrest Crawford died of it: “Baseball Player Crawford Dead,” New York Times, March 31, 1908.
death of Yankees manager Miller Huggins: New York Times, September 26, 1929.
Waddell bruised one of his thighs: Meriden Morning Record, May 8, 1913.
“suffered such little things”: Associated Press, “Buck Newsom Claims Tough Luck Honors,” Calgary Herald, July 13, 1938.
join the boy in the great beyond: “Grief of Coolidge at the Deathbed of Son in ’24 Depicted by Doctor,” New York Times, July 11, 1955.
“the power and the glory of the presidency”: “Glory of Office Stolen by Death of Coolidge Boy,” Palm Beach Post, March 8, 1929.
Calvin Jr. had worn black socks: Morgan and Tucker, More Rumor!, 89.
calling Snodgrass “Spiker!” and “Dirty!”: “Postpone the Fourth Contest,” Pittsburgh Press, October 18, 1911.
Rabbit Maranville once entered: “Maranville: Boston’s Durable Shortstop.” New York Times, June 1, 1931.
“Partisan feeling here is very strong”: “Snodgrass Hooted Out of Philadelphia,” New York Times, October 20, 1911.
FRED SNODGRASS, 86, DEAD: New York Times, April 6, 1974.
“ankle-chokers”: Ballard, “Fabric of the Game.”
“First a layer of heavy underwear”: Henry McLemore, “Sports Parade,” Painesville Telegraph, August 3, 1939.
“The uniforms were so uncomfortable”: “Global Games,” Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1995.
Singleton’s hives only intensified: Associated Press, “Expos’ Singleton I
tching to Turn In His Uniform,” Oxnard Press-Courier (California), July 5, 1972.
Charles Ebbets suggested the league: “Decision on Benton Is Left to Landis,” New York Times, February 14, 1923. (The Baseball Hall of Fame database on uniforms, “Dressed to the Nines,” is a magnificent resource, available online at http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/database.htm.)
It was White Sox owner Bill Veeck: “White Sox Add Name to Number on Road Uniforms This Season,” New York Times, April 10, 1960.
“We look like semi-pros”: Portsmouth Times, March 23, 1960.
home phone numbers on the uniforms: Keene, 1960, 41.
Ted Kluszewski strode to the plate: “Kluszewxi (Who?) Stirs Fans,” New York Times, May 9, 1960.
Another was Orlon: A brief history of Orlon is available online at the DuPont Heritage Timeline, http://www2.dupont.com/Phoenix_Heritage/en_US/1941_detail.html.
New Era Cap Company: Watershed dates in New Era history are available online at http://pressroom.neweracap.com/category/13/Photos/page/172/History.aspx.
Johnson asked the home plate umpire: “Pirates Win World’s Series,” Reading Eagle, October 15, 1925.
“wore his cap inside out at the Polo Grounds”: “Big League Chatter,” New York Times, August 16, 1932.
stole his hat: “Four Home Runs by Phillies Help Simmons Vanquish Giants, 6 to 2,” New York Times, September 24, 1956.
Khrushchev snatched the cap: “Newsman Wins Nikita Over to Baseball Cap,” Lakeland Ledger, February 25, 1960.
“lovable piece of headwear”: Charles McDowell, Deseret News, November 25, 1966.
John Board was an usher: “Ushers Have Spent Decades Helping Out Reds’ Fans,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 4, 2010.
Chapter 5
Fred Clarke, the player-manager: “Hat Chatter: Fred Clarke Designs New Baseball Cap for Use in the Sun,” Men’s Wear 29 (May 11, 1910): 93.
“We never heard of flip-down sunglasses”: Cobb and Stump, Ty Cobb, 57.
“has taken to wearing smoked glasses”: Sporting Life 11, no. 3 (1888): 2.
“No outfielder should balk at wearing sunglasses”: Cobb and Stump, Ty Cobb, 233.