March 2016 Baseball Magazine

SUSPENSION

How will history remember this first suspension under a new League policy?

Dave Hill and Matt Mirro look at both sides

Baseball Under The Sphinx The Fast Rise and Sad Fall Of Tony Conigliaro

A Long Summer Day At Shibe That time Babe Ruth Threw A No-Hitter

Letter From The Editor Spring is in the air! The players are in Florida and Arizona preparing for the season.

No doubt, many of you have either been down to one of the sites or are preparing to head down there soon. If you’re like me, and unable to head down, you’re watching as much Spring Training coverage you can get your hands on.

Much like the promise of a new season, we too at Baseball Magazine are preparing for our season. We have hired several new writers in the recent month and are working on even more great new things for the coming months. My name is Dan Hughes and I am the Associate Editor at Baseball Magazine. I’d like to take the time to personally thank each of you for reading this digital magazine. Whether this is the first time you’ve checked us out, or you jumped on sometime between our first issue in October to now, we couldn’t do this without your support.

So, what’s new this month?

First, we have a new home on the web. We can now be found at www.thebaseballmagazine.com. If you missed out on any of our Web issue articles, please be sure to check out the great stories that were brought to life by our staff this past month. In this issue, Managing Editor Billy Brost continues his series looking at the history of baseball in Portland, Oregon. Christine Sisto brings us the next installment in her ongoing series looking at the Brooklyn Dodgers and their impact on the city of Brooklyn and vice versa. Clinton Riddle brings us the conclusion of his story he started in our Web issue, about Fleet Walker, the first black ballplayer in professional baseball.

Guest contributor Jeff Polman takes you back in time and tries to help you get through the winter a little quicker. Eric Gray looks at the sad tale of Tony Conigliaro and Richard Kagan takes a look at his favorite Radio/TV calls of baseball games. Resident statistician JJ Keller looks at the effect of strikeouts on today’s game. Matt Mirro takes us back to a time where baseball was played Under the Sphinx and Wayne Cavadi looks at the time Babe Ruth threw a no-hitter......sort of.

Finally, our cover feature story this month is actually a two-sided story. First, Dave Hill makes his debut with Baseball Magazine by aruging that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was correct in his suspension of Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman under MLB’s new domestic violence policy. Meanwhile, Matt Mirro argues that Manfred was wrong in his suspension, though he understands the impact of domestic violence.

Once again, I want to thank you for taking the time to read our publication. We are working to make it easier to read and more accessible in the coming months. So please, tell your friends about us. And if you have a suggestion for a story or have a suggestion on a way we could improve the magazine, please, email me your thoughts: degan4baseball@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

March 2016

PAGE 4- The Effect of Strikeouts on Today’s Game PAGE 5- A Long Summer Day at Shibe PAGE 7- That Time Babe Ruth Threw a No-No PAGE 8- Brooklyn’s Secular Cathedral (Part 5) PAGE 10- Baseball Under the Sphinx PAGE 11- Fleet Walker and the Color Line (Part 2) PAGE 12- A History of Baseball in The Rose City (Part 2) PAGE 14- My Favorite Radio/TV Calls

of Baseball Plays PAGE 15- The Fast Rise and Sad Fall

of Tony Conigliaro PAGE 16- Cover: Rob Manfred Was Right

to Suspend Aroldis Chapman PAGE 17- Cover: Why Commissioner Manfred

Was Wrong Questions?

Comments?

Email us at:

editorbaseballmagazine @gmail.com

Table of Contents

The Effect of Strikeouts on Today’s Game Strikeouts are up in the game of baseball.

That’s no secret, the data is there, and it makes sense considering offense as a whole is down. That part is simple. But there are various threads connected to that fact that aren’t quite as simple.

We know instinctively that strikeouts are bad. That’s ingrained in us from Little League; all outs are bad, but strikeouts feel even worse. You didn’t even make contact, right? And while no one would argue that strikeouts are good, there has been an idea in the sabermetric world that strikeouts aren’t necessarily as bad as we assume they are.

The argument goes that while strikeouts are not ideal in any way, they aren’t all that much worse than any other kind of out, particularly if the player is still getting on base and being productive otherwise. Mike Trout has struck out over 20 percent of the time for his career, but he is still one of, if not the best player in the league because he still limits the number of outs he makes overall.

He was fifth-best at limiting outs in all of baseball last season, so why do we care that the few outs he does make are strikeouts?

That argument makes sense, and probably still holds true, overall. All things considered, getting on base and creating runs is more important than the number of strikeouts. It’s not that strikeouts aren’t bad, but limiting them also isn’t necessarily a focal point. But what if we get more granular? Is it still better to limit strikeouts, or does it really not matter at all where your outs come from?

It’s interesting that new Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto, a known forward-thinker who values the metrics, has stressed the idea of Controlling the Zone, an important part of which seems to be putting the ball in play rather than striking out.

In a piece by Tom Verducci at Sports Illustrated, Dipoto is quoted as saying, “The one thing we do know you can affect as a hitter is reducing the number of strikeouts.

As long as you are able to control the zone in that way with two strikes and put the ball in play good things can happen.” He has praised his new left fielder Nori Aoki’s ability to strikeout less than he walks (7.8 percent to 7.7 percent career, 7.7 percent to 6.4 percent last year).

That sounds to me like he sees value in simply putting the ball in play rather than striking out, which again, makes intuitive sense but doesn’t necessarily fit with what the analytical mindset has become. So let’s take a look.

Above is a graph showing team wins versus team strikeouts for every team from 2013 through 2015 -- 30 teams a year, three years, 90 data points total. As you can see, there is a slight relationship there, as more strikeouts generally mean fewer wins, but there are exceptions, especially for those in the middle.

The team with the highest strikeout rate also has the fewest wins. That’s the 51-win 2013 Astros, who struck out 25.5 percent of the time as a team. The team with the lowest strikeout rate was last year’s World Series Champion Royals, who won 95 games.

However, they were are just the 11th best team on the list. The 100-win 2015 Cardinals, the best team on the list, struck out 20.6 percent of the time, which is a touch worse than the 20.2 percent group average, and essentially equal to the 62-win 2013 Marlins (20.5 percent).

From what I can tell, strikeouts are kind of a crapshoot in terms of what your K-rate will mean for your team. Sometimes it correlates to a better team, other times it won’t.

Limiting outs in general is more important than trying to limit strikeouts.

There is more to the Control the Zone idea than just strikeouts. Drawing walks matters too, so some combination of K’s and BB’s may be a better indication of the ideology.

Above is a chart showing the relationship between team BB/K rate and team wins, and while the correlation still isn’t extremely strong, it is stronger than just Ks by itself, with an R-squared of .22 versus .08.

In other words, the better your walk total, in relation to your strikeout total, the more games your team should win.

The 51-win 2013 Astros are again at the bottom with .28 walks per strikeout, while the best BB/K ratio of .53 belonged to the 2014 A’s, who won 88 games. Again, though, we have an example of a team that struggled in terms of BB/K, and still managed to win a lot of games, that team being the 2014 Orioles who won 96 games despite a measly .31 BB/K ratio. That ratio is equal to the 66-win 2014 Rockies.

Of course, we can’t expect a perfect correlation when the game of baseball is as complex as it is. Way too many things go into a single at-bat, let alone an entire game, or an entire season. Personally, a 22 percent correlation is enough for me to buy in, and accept that limiting strikeouts and maximizing walks is a solid ideology to build your team around.

4

By JJ Keller

It’s important to note that it isn’t the only way, though I don’t think the Mariners or anyone else would suggest as much. That’s something I think some stat-heads such as myself can miss, in our quest for a team that gets on base and plays elite defense. That is certainly a great strategy, maybe the best strategy, but it isn’t the only one.

Look no further than last year’s World Series for evidence of that. The Royals held the lowest team strikeout rate in all of baseball.

The Mets were 18th. The Royals were tied for last in walk rate; the Mets were 11th. The Mets were ninth-best in ISO (Isolated power, SlG minus BA); the Royals were ninthworst. The teams were extremely different offensively, and yet they met each other in the championship.

I’m not ready to give up on the idea that strikeouts aren’t exceptionally important when you are able to get on base and limit total outs anyway. There is certainly something to trying to maintain a solid BB/K ratio. It isn’t a guarantee -- no single thing is -- but it seems to be a solid foundation to build upon.

JJ Keller is currently in college on his way to earning a degree in History Education with the hopes of becoming a high school teacher, but writing of all sorts has become a passion over the years.

Follow JJ on Twitter: @KJ_Jeller

A Long Summer Day At Shibe: How the Internet has Shortened Winter

Growing up in Western Massachusetts in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the baseball off-season truly was one. The moment the final pitch of the World Series was delievered, usually by the third week of October, a cold, morose spell seemed to cast itself over everything, like a vast, toxic shadow from some baseball-hating Sauron.

The game would be completely gone from our lives until February, when new bubble gum cards appeared at the drug store, and the first half-glimpses of Red Sox players working out in Florida sunshine

kees vs. Milwaukee Braves World Series or your pick of old All-Star Games from YouTube? Coming right up on your iPad! Maybe you recorded a few random games from the last World Series and they’re still on your DVR. Whatever your pleasure, it’s very possible to spend every winter evening watching a different ballgame.

Naturally, I do that religiously (though not every night; I wouldn’t still be married), and in addition to great tabletop games like Strat-OMatic and APBA, there are endless

By Jeff Polman

baseball vagabonds, untested rookies, and coffee cup drinkers. The Yankees and Cardinals repeated as league champions, and the league MVPs were Spud Chandler and Stan Musial, but as far as how the details of the season went, I’ve always drawn a blank. Using Retrosheet’s amazing database of game logs and box scores, then, let’s call up July 17th, 1943 and take ourselves to a sticky Saturday afternoon doubleheader at Shibe Park against the New York Giants. It might be a long day, the Phillies are struggling again Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

might leak onto a local TV sports report.

The frigid winter days weren’t any more numerous than they are today, but deprived of any baseball I often felt like a ragged orphan slogging through Siberian drifts in a personal version of Doctor Zhivago.

Today, fans have never had it any better during the colder months; in fact, I now call this baseball’s “on-season.” Want to re-watch highlights on MLB.com from the past year? Okay, here’s about 40,000 of those. Game Three of the 1957 Yan-

places on the Internet to feed your wintry baseball fix. Baseball Reference is indispensible if poring over stats is your thing, but I actually find taking a quick time machine trip to a random day in baseball’s past far more appealing, and nothing gets me there quicker than retrosheet. org. Care to come along?

I’d be willing to bet that no baseball season has gotten less attention than 1943. Coming smack in the middle of World War II when most of the best players were away in the military, it was a showcase for 5

and the Giants are dead last, but heck, where else do we have to be?

Last one to the home plate entrance is a rotten egg!...

The streetcar we’re on is usually more crowded than this, but it’s still plenty sweltering. Drops us off in north Philly and now it’s just a short walk to the corner of Lehigh and 21st. Phils will be lucky to draw 10,000 today, but what do you expect when you’re tied with the Boston Braves for fifth place, 14 games behind St. Louis?

Actually, they played the first night

All-Star Game in history here just four days ago, the American League winning 5-3, largely on the strength of an early Bobby Doerr homer, before a throng of over 31,900. How about some nice grandstand seats on the third base side, in the shade? My treat…

Philly creamed the Giants here on Thursday, 9-1, which wasn’t a shocker because New York can’t seem to do anything right and the have the worst record in the bigs going into today at 30-46. They’re throwing Johnnie Wittig at us in the opener and we got Dick Conger, this 22-year-old kid from L.A. who will be out of baseball after this year,

ball Conger hits back to the mound.

Then Northey doubles with two outs and Coaker chokes again by striking out. A leadoff walk and single in the 6th and two more singles in the 8th get us nowhere, and Wittig is still in there as we go to the last of the 9th.

Well, look who’s going to bat for Conger, pitcher Schoolboy Rowe, who’s a darn fine hitter actually.

And he singles! After Buster Adams runs for him, Murtaugh lays down a great sac bunt. They’ve announced the crowd at 11,076, including us, and everyone’s on their feet. Except Northey grounds out, sending Adams to third. Up to Coaker again, but this time he singles in the tying

Forbes Field 7-3 and they’re down 2-0 early in the nightcap. That’s sure good news.

This time we get out to a 3-0 lead in the 2nd on triples by Dahlgren and May, and by the time Melton departs after the 6th the Phils are up 4-1 with a sweep in the offing. Too bad the Schoolboy runs out of gas in the 7th. Two singles, a walk and a sac fly give the Giants two runs back.

Ace Adams tries his luck one more time against us in the 8th, but Ace folds big time, and we score three insurance runs on an error and three hits, including a Northey triple.

On to the 9th with Dutch Dietz, who will be out of baseball twelve days from now, on the Phillie hill. Johnny Rucker leads with a slap single, and after one out, Ducky Medwick singles.

Ott walks to load the bases and Buster Maynard singles to make it 7-4. Matthewson comes in to pitch for us, but it’s Dale, not Christy, and Dale will be out of baseball in a year. Jurges walks to force in a run and a sac fly by Bartell cuts it to 7-6. Joe Orengo, a .246 lifetime hitter who—you guessed it— will retire in two years, then launches a double to deep center to score the seventh and eighth Giant runs and put them ahead! Arrggh.

Photo Courtesy: baseballcarddb.com Bill Lohrman comes in trust me. run! for the save, gets May, Glen Stewart, The Giants don’t have much in Ace Adams, a 33-year-old from and Livingston with ease, and the their lineup except an old Mel Ott Georgia who will be out of baseball exciting, annoying split is complete. and an almost-as-old Ducky Medin less than three years, replaces Few of the Shibe fans seem thrilled wick, who came over from Brooklyn Wittig on the mound. Jimmy Wasas we file out, but they may as well recently. But can you believe this? dell singles to get Triplett to second, relax, because they won’t have a Here’s their shortstop Billy Jurges, and Babe Dahlgren walks to load pennant winner here for seven more barely over .200, smashing a home the bases! Pinky May steps to the years. run into the seats in left with two plate, and Adams unleashes a wild Well, that was sure fun. Let’s hit outs in the 2nd. That’s just bad. pitch for the Phillies win! Yahoo! An that streetcar back to the present, The Phillies are sure putting men amazing ending! and take in another winter game on against Wittig, but scoring one Help yourself to a Kosher Red Hot soon! or two of them would help. Two between games if you want, but I’m outs in the third, Danny Murtaugh going for a Hires Root Beer and El Jeff Polman writes about baseball and walks and Ron Northey singles, but Producto cigar … culture for The Huffington Post and Coaker Triplett strands them with Cliff Melton vs the Schoolboy in other Web sites, and has published four a grounder. Don’t even start me on Game Two here. Lot of folks sticking “baseball replay novels”, Mystery Ball the 5th inning, when Mickey Living- around, especially kids. Checking ’58 and Twinbill being his most recent ston hits a leadoff double, then runs the out-of-town scoreboard, looks creations. himself into an out at third on a like the Cards dropped Game 1 at http://jeffpolman.com/ 6

That Time Babe Ruth Threw a No-No Remember that time Babe Ruth threw a no-hitter? How about the day that Ernie Shore threw a “perfect game”? What if I told you they both happened in the same game?

June 23, 1917. The 22-year old Boston Red Sox lefty ace George Herman Ruth was 16 starts into what would end up as quite possibly his best season on the mound.

Ruth would finish 24-13 that season with an MLB-best 35 complete games. None was as strange as the no-hitter in which he was about to become part.

He had gone the distance in his previous seven starts, so skipper Jack Barry must have been completely surprised when he had to go to the bullpen after one batter.

Ruth would throw a whopping total of four pitches that day, walking the leadoff hitter, the Washington Senators’ second baseman Ray Morgan. According to umpire Brick Owens, all four of those pitches were balls. Babe saw it differently, feeling that two of his pitches were in fact strikes.

And The Bambino, notorious in his early years for his temper, was sure to let Owens know.

According to the June 24th edition of The Boston Globe, it went down like this.

“Get in there and pitch,” ordered Owens.

“Open your eyes and keep them open,” chirped Babe.

“Get in and pitch or I will run you out of there,” was the comeback of the arbiter.

“You run me out and I will come in and bust you on the nose,” Ruth threatened.

“Get out of there right now,” said Brick.

True to his word, Ruth charged at Owens.

Despite efforts to calm Ruth and defuse the situation, he came swinging, missing first but then connecting with a right that landed behind Owens’ ear (this would be disputed years later on whether or not he actually connected). Police actually had to drag — not escort, but drag mind you — Ruth from the playing field. The moniker Sultan of Swat certainly took on a different meaning that summer’s day.

Enter Ernie Shore. Shore himself was actually one of the more unheralded pitchers of the Red Sox run. The Sox were the reigning two-time World Series champions, and Shore was a big part of that. He would go 3-1 over the consecutive World Series victories behind a combined 1.82 ERA, going the distance in three of the four starts.

With Morgan on first, and the dust settled, Shore would toe the rubber to try and clean up the mess that Ruth left behind.

Morgan would be thrown out and Shore would sit down the next 26 consecutive batters. 26 up, 26 down.

The Red Sox rose victorious 4-0 that day.

The final combined pitching line showed nine innings pitched, one walk and two

strikeouts. Shore — never known as a strikeout pitcher with only 309 over 979.1 innings — struck out a mere two Senators that day, but made quite a few defensive stops as the Senators would attempt a few bunt singles.

Senators’ left fielder Mike Menosky, Washington’s last chance at being blanked, laid down an attempted bunt single that manager/ second baseman Barry fielded cleanly and ended the “threat”.

Could you imagine the backlash in today’s game if a batter laid down a bunt to break up a no-hitter?

Twitter would explode.

People would refer to the game as Ernie Shore’s “perfect game” for decades.

After all, nary a baserunner made it to first and the one he inherited was immediately thrown out. Technically, he was on the mound for all 27 outs.

While it would officially change to a combined no-hitter in 1991— the first in modern Major League history — most will always remember the feat as Shore’s. It would take 50 years for the next combined no-hitter to take place and that one had its own touch of the weird as well.

Steve Barber would toss 8 2/3 innings of no-hit ball for the Baltimore Orioles on April 30th, 1967. Stu Miller would relieve him and a wild pitch and an error later, the Orioles would lose the game, despite no hits appearing in the box score. There’s just something about combined no-hitters that seem to be harbingers for strange occurrences.

Ruth and Shore would always seemingly share a bond. Their contracts were purchased by the Red Sox from Baltimore’s team in the International League on the same day in 1914. A year after Shore was traded to the New York Yankees, the Red Sox would make one of the worst deals in the history of the game, selling Ruth to the pinstripes and changing the course of history. And in 1920, Shore would bail Ruth out yet again.

As the story goes, it was a spring training exhibition. Ruth had a heckler that called 7

By Wayne Cavadi

Photo Courtesy: fenwaypark100.org

him a “piece of cheese,” which must have been a pretty lofty insult back in the Roaring Twenties. Ruth charged into the stands after the heckler who was said to draw a knife. There to save the day was Ernie Shore, who broke up the incident before anything serious occurred.

Ruth — of course — would go on to become the game’s single most important player. He held nearly every record for what seemed to be an eternity. And in 1991, thanks to the “Committee of Statistical Accuracy” as it has been called, he was able to add a no-hitter to his list of achievements when they named the game the first official combined no-no in the history of the game.

Shore’s baseball career seemed to fizzle out when he came to New York and by the end of the 1920 season, he was done. He would go on to become a sheriff for 34 years of his life.

A sheriff that threw the most peculiar “perfect game” ever thrown.

Wayne Cavadi is an avid baseball junkie, whose love for the Yankees is only surpassed by his love of the game.

A proud graduate and forever loyal fan of the mighty Delaware Blue Hens Follow Wayne on Twitter: @UofDWayne

Brooklyn’s Secular Cathedral: Brooklyn’s Effect on the Mythology of the Dodgers (Part 5) Editor’s Note: This is the fifth part of a six-part series exclusive to Baseball Magazine by guest contributor Christine Sisto.

By Christine Sisto

game in 1942, ultimate Dodgers fan Hilda Chester dropped a note onto the field and told him to give it to manager Leo Durocher. Reiser did as instructed without telling Durocher who had written the note, which advised a pitching change.

After changing the pitcher, Durocher yelled at Reiser, “Don’t you ever give me another note from [Larry] MacPhail as long as you play for me.” When Reiser informed him that the note was from Hilda Chester and not the team’s owner, he “thought Durocher was going to turn purple.” Reiser concluded the story by saying, “So what you had was somebody named Hilda Chester sitting in the center-field bleachers changing pitchers for you. You talk about oddball things happening at Ebbets Field, you’re not exaggerating…

There really was no place like Brooklyn.”

Events like these proved to Dodgers’ fans that the team was their team and an extension of Brooklyn.

Not only was the stadium small, it was fun. Ebbets Field was well-known for its antics, during a time when on-field entertainment was nearly unheard of.

Hilda Chester, who has been mentioned frequently, made a career out of being a loud, obnoxious, cowbell-ringing Dodgers fan. The Brooklyn “Bum,” who has also been discussed, made frequent appearances on the field. Another attraction of Ebbets Field was the Sym-phony Band, which was an amateur marching band from Greenpoint. They would keep the mood lively by taunting opposing players when they struck out and playing “Three Blind Mice” when the umpires took the field. The idea that a group of amateurs from Greenpoint could publicly humiliate a professional baseball player was very much a part of the Brooklyn identity.

Another form of enterPhoto Courtesy: ballparksofbaseball.com tainment at Ebbets Field was the Abe Stark sign in center-field. If a Dodger player hit the sign, he would win a suit from the haberdashery; no one ever did. Even an attraction as simple as this tied into the Brooklyn dialogue. “The implication was also important: Yankee sluggers got tailored on Fifth Avenue, journeymen Dodgers slugged for Abe Stark’s sign.”

The situation with the Abe Stark sign was representative of probably the most important aspect of the unifying factor: “They weren’t above us.”

the middle of a residential area made the Dodgers an everyday part of Brooklyn life.

When St. Louis’ Ed Stanky imitated an ape in order to antagonize Jackie Robinson, half of the stadium could see Stanky’s The unity of the Brooklyn Dodgers cruelty clearly. This was the result of the not only benefited the civil rights movesmallness of the stadium. Although this ment, it benefited Brooklyn as a whole. fact would eventually lead to the downfall As previously mentioned, Brooklyn was separated into many different ethnic com- of Ebbets Field and the Brooklyn Dodgmunities. The baseball team served as the ers, it was also part of the reason the stadium was so popular. Former Brooklyn community’s foremost unifying factor.

Dodgers fans have testified to the fact that Much of this effect was the result of the people in the stands could hear the playplacement of Ebbets Field.

Built in 1913, in the residential commu- ers talking to each other in the dugout. nity of Flatbush, Ebbets Field was literally They could see their facial expressions when they stepped into the batter’s box. at the center of average, working-class, They could hear the bat make contact Brooklynites’ lives. Marty Markowitz’s with the ball. childhood living near Ebbets Field is Red Barber described the experience typical of many residents of Brooklyn: in the following way: “There was never “We lived two blocks away from Ebbets another ballpark like Ebbets Field. A little Field and we walked there. During batsmall, outmoded, old-fashioned… it was ting practice my friends and I would hang a dirty, stinking, old ballpark. But when out on Bedford Avenue, hoping Camyou went in there as a fan, it was your panella or Snider would hit one over and ballpark. You were practically playing we’d catch a ball… My friend and I would second base, the stands were so close to sneak into Ebbets Field.” the field.”

Brooklynites could hear and smell the Everybody was in touch with everybody games from the streets as they walked else at Ebbets Field. Since the stadium by it everyday. People in their homes was so small, the fan experience was uncould hear the roar of the stadium. If matched. For example, one dedicated fan fans did not live in the Flatbush area, they named Ann Chapin Brown had a crush listened to the same voice, the southern on first baseman Gil Hodges. Due to the drawl of Red Barber, on the radio. A closeness in proximety to the field, Hodgformer Brooklyn Dodgers fan testified es was aware of her unrequited love, but, that during the final game of the 1955 being married to a girl from Flatbush, he World Series, “...you couldn’t walk a block was unable to reciprocate. However, he without hearing the game over someone’s managed to send her a birthday card evradio.” In the same way that President ery year until the Dodgers moved to Los Roosevelt’s fireside chats over the radio Angeles. became a part of the everyday American’s Pistol Pete Reiser shared a similar event. household, Ebbets Field’s placement in In the middle of the seventh inning of a

8

Any Brooklyn Dodgers fan will testify to the fact that the Dodgers were just “regular guys.” The Yankees arrived to their home games in limousines; the Dodgers took the subway. The baseball players were part of the neighborhood. Many of them lived in Brooklyn. Jackie Robinson, for example, lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant and later East Flatbush. Baseball players did not get paid the exorbitant salaries that they earn now, during the off-season, many Dodgers players worked regular jobs; fans saw them around the neighborhood. Roy Campanella owned a liquor store in Harlem; meanwhile, Joe DiMaggio was out cavorting with Marilyn Monroe. As one fan has said, “You felt you knew these guys. They were part of the fabric of your life.”

All of these factors served a single purpose: to unify the borough. Even though the Brooklyn residents were separated into their own cultural niches, everyone was passionate about their Dodgers.

Everyone could identify with the action on the field. All fans loved the Brooklyn Bum, but became enraged in anyone outside of Brooklyn used that term. Everyone knew who Hilda Chester and Red Barber were. All Brooklynites knew why they cheered when a Dodger’s fly ball came close to the Abe Stark sign.

The building commissioner for New York City, Robert Moses, however, refused because in order to build a stadium at Atlantic Yards, the Dodgers would have to clear the slums that were there.

Instead, Moses insisted that the Dodgers move to the World’s Fair site in Flushing, Queens, but O’Malley wanted to keep the team in Brooklyn.

(This spot in Flushing would soon be the home of the New York Mets.) O’Malley explored every option; he attempted to build a stadium in Bay Ridge, Staten A Funeral in Flatbush Island, and Coney Island, among other Brooklyn Dodgers fan Charles Plotz has places. said, “The Dodgers were the glue that held Wealthy Brooklynites were even writing to O’Malley offering their private land for the borough together, so when they left, the site of the new Dodgers stadium. All it’s like when your parents die.” Indeed, the while, O’Malley continued to press the Dodgers’ metaphoric parents did die Robert Moses on the issue of Atlantic when owner Walter O’Malley made the Yards, going so far as to call a meeting fateful decision to move the team to Los Angeles. However, Brooklynites would be with him and Mayor Robert Wagner, but shocked to discover that O’Malley was not Moses was more powerful than even the the originator of the idea to create a base- mayor and could not be persuaded.

Eventually, the west coast heard of ball team in California. Branch Rickey had been on a committee to create a third O’Malley’s struggle to find an area to build the new Dodgers stadium. The city of Los league in major league baseball, called Angeles, desperate to bring professional the Continental League. Rickey planned for the Continental League to be based in baseball to California, offered O’Malley California, mainly because the city of Los a substantial area of land in Chavez RaAngeles petitioned Rickey to do so. Wal- vine, free of charge. As a businessman, O’Malley could not turn down such an ter O’Malley opposed the idea. The two offer and he moved Brooklyn’s Dodgers did agree, though, that Ebbets Field had to Los Angeles. On his way out, O’Malley outlived its usefulness. also convinced the Giants’ management to With the 1950s exodus to the suburbs, move their team to San Francisco, so that Americans, especially Brooklynites were the Los Angeles Dodgers would have a moving out of cities, mainly to Long team to play against.

Island. In addition to being in disrepair, New York lost two baseball teams, one Ebbets Field did not have enough parking spaces— only 200— to accommodate the stadium, and its collective soul. A Brooklyn fan described the event as “the single 35,000 fans that the stadium could hold. most important event in the history of The Dodgers’ ownership agreed that the American sports” and to Brooklynites, it team needed a new, state-of-the-art, $15 was probably the single most important million stadium, but O’Malley struggled event in history. to find a place to build it. O’Malley imOn September 24, 1957, the Dodgers mediately set his sights on the corner of played their final game in Brooklyn. On Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, which February 23, 1960, demolition of Ebbets was large enough to house the stadium Field began, with thousands of on-lookin question and plenty of parking spaces ers, including Duke Snider and Carl Erand, most importantly, it was the termiskine. The wrecking ball used was paintnus for the Long Island Railroad.

9

Photo Courtesy: baseballinteractions.com

ed to look like a baseball and the same wrecking ball was used later to demolish the Polo Grounds.

In 1958, after the Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles, but Ebbets Field had not yet been torn down, Gay Talese wrote an article for the New York Times about how Brooklynites were dealing with the loss of their beloved Dodgers. Talese described Brooklynites as “The Bitter Baseball Fan—an individual dedicated to blaming the Dodgers for every stolen wallet, every head cold and every parking ticket in Flatbush.”

He also reported that former Dodgers fans seemed to be trying hard to forget baseball. In popular bars where backseat managing had been an art form, Brooklynites refused to watch baseball games on the television sets. One bar’s management had the idea to invite Yankee players to the bar to talk to Brooklynites but eventually decided against it, because “everybody’s so bitter about baseball that we decided that we had enough of ballplayers.”

The Sym-Phony band even traveled to Philadelphia when the Los Angeles Dodgers were playing there to boo and play a funeral march. Bar and restaurant owners testified to the fact that when walking into a bar, one would think that someone had died, it was so solemn. Talese also reported that Brooklynites feared that “some day people will forget the Dodgers ever played in Brooklyn, and then O’Malley will no longer be a bad word in Brooklyn.” However, if the Dodgers had not left Brooklyn, they would not have reached their mythlike status; they would have been just another baseball team.

Baseball Under The Sphinx Baseball has been played anywhere and everywhere. From sandlots in New York City to the suburbs of Los Angeles. From open fields in the Dominican Republic to lavish domes in Japan. The outback of Australia to the city of Amsterdam. Over the last decade or so, the great American pastime has become more and more a global sport. I’m sure that would make Albert Goodwill Spalding smile more than a wolf in an unguarded sheep pen.

Well, as long as he could make a profit off of it. That was his mission long ago. First, spread the game. Second, make a profit.

Between 1888 and 1889, Spalding sent

the fabulous tour were Cap Anson, the first player to collect 3,000 hits, the Canadian George Wood, John Tener, born in Tyrone, Ireland, Hall of Fame manager George Wright and even Spalding himself who revisited his former profession as the team’s pitcher.

The team spent a sizable chunk of time in Australia and New Zealand, spending the Christmas and New Years of 1888 on the baseball field. Melbourne and Sydney, two popular baseball cities today, received their first taste of the baseball sacrament during that time. The merry men traveled to Egypt and played a historic

By Matt Mirro

where they exhibited both baseball and feats of daredevil excitement - or stupidity, that’s for you to decide - in cities like Naples, Paris, Glasgow, Dublin, Rome and London where the Americans attempted to display the superiority of their game to its ancestor, England’s grand game of cricket. Spalding, according to legend, petitioned to play a game in the Roman Coliseum but was repeatedly denied. Who can blame Italian officials after what they did to the Sphinx?

The group returned home and, after a grand celebration and banquet, resumed their everyday lives. The players

Photo Courtesy: i09.com

a battalion of talented ball players on a world-wide barnstorming tour.

In the end, Spalding’s campaign was a failure. The game, which he unquestionably ruled over, didn’t catch on anywhere the players traveled and the great mogul lost money on the endeavor. He celebrated nonetheless, proclaimed his grand crusade a success and was convinced that baseball would soon be a world sport. He would end up being right, but the fruits of baseball’s global mission would not be plucked until our time, although I’m certain Spalding would have been happier had the money poured in during his lifetime. It wasn’t meant to be, but Spalding did just fine and the tour has become famous despite the lack of intended success.

What players brought back with them were pieces of the sport’s history that are both unbelievable and impossible to replicate, today. Among the players on

game in Cairo in the shadow of the Great Sphinx and the titanic Pyramid of Giza.

Now, at the time ballplayers were known less as gentlemen and more as scoundrels and the day spent under the Sphinx did nothing to help that reputation. The men took turns tossing baseballs at the iconic monument’s eyes, pelting it repeatedly, something that would certainly send you to jail today. Image if Mike Trout and Bryce Harper did that today? There would be no place they could hide.

Then came a moment entirely unimaginable today. Upon the conclusion of the game, the players hoisted themselves up to the Sphinx’s shoulders, sat all together like a merry and (probably) drunk chorus line and posed for a historic photo which has become a mind-blowing piece of baseball history.

Egypt may have been the most memorable stop of the tour, but it wasn’t the last.

Spalding’s circus troup headed to Europe 10

returned to their respective teams and Spalding assumed control of his empire from the Chicago White Stockings to his ever-growing sporting goods enterprise.

Baseball didn’t catch on anywhere, although in Australia, professionally, the sport has grown massively in the last few decades.

Spalding lost money, although he refused to admit defeat. We know that the baseball of today is a worldwide affair and Major League Baseball tries hard to make it so. But, once upon a time, a man called Spalding beat them to the punch.

Matt Mirro is currently the Lead American League Writer at Call to the Bullpen, an MLB.com affiliate. He is a certified member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America.

Follow Matt on Twitter: @Mirro_The_Ronin

Fleet Walker and the Color Line (Part 2) Editor’s Note: This is a continuation of a story exclusive to Baseball Magazine. To read the first part, click this link.

“The International League officials have taken action against the employment of negroes by white clubs, and Anson, of the Chicagos, on Thursday, notified the Newarks that they must not play Stovey and Walker in the exhibition game against the Chicagos.” -- The Hartford Post, July 1887 With the start of the 1887 season, Fleet Walker found himself in new, yet familiar, territory. The age-old issue of race had permeated every strand of the fabric of society, and now was finding its way into sports.

This was nothing new to Walker; while with Toledo in 1884, pitcher Tony Mullane would continually cross him up, throwing pitches that Walker wasn’t expecting and generally making things as difficult as possible for his own catcher.

Mullane made no real secret of this, as he was quoted in The New York Age: “He was the best catcher I ever worked with, but I disliked a Negro and whenever I had to pitch to him I used to pitch anything I wanted without looking at his signals. One day he signaled me for a curve and I shot a fast ball at him. He caught it and walked down to me. “Mr. Mullane,” he said, “I’ll catch you without signals, but I won’t catch you if you are going to cross me when I give you a signal.”

And all the rest of that season he caught me and caught anything I pitched without knowing what was coming.”

Walker was not only penalized with 37 errors and an unbelievably high 72 passed balls in 41 games behind the plate that year, he also suffered a myriad of injuries so significant that he sometimes had to remove himself to the outfield simply to preserve his health. It is simultaneously amazing and disturbing that Mullane would call Walker the best catcher he’d ever worked with, while in the same statement voice how much he despised working with Walker because of his race.

Walker found himself playing with the Newark Little Giants in 1887, which was a team in the Eastern League the year before but had merged with two other leagues to form the International League for the ’87 season. The star left-hander George Stovey was one of their newer acquisitions, having played for the Cuban Giants in 1886 before being enticed to join the Newark nine. The interesting thing about this particular time for Stovey is that yet a third Giants team had made at least a cursory effort to obtain his services in ’86, that being the New York Giants.

Cap Anson was among the group who put an end to that.

Throughout the season, the battery of Stovey and Walker was a sight to behold; Stovey was, as he would continue to be, one of the best pitchers in the game, and Walker played an excellent defensive game behind the plate. These two would form the first all-black battery in professional organized baseball.

However, their mere presence on a roster in the International League was enough to set Anson about the business of joining with other like-minded separatists to ban colored players from

By Clinton Riddle

organized ball. Anson’s White Stockings were scheduled once again to play an exhibition game against a minor-league team, this time against Newark, a team on which not only Walker played, but the pitcher Stovey as well.

According to the Newark Evening News: “Before the game with the Chicago club yesterday, Manager Hackett (of Newark) received a telegram from Captain Anson saying that the Chicago club would not play if Stovey and Walker, the colored men, were put at the points.”

It was at this same time that the International League’s representatives were meeting in Buffalo, NY, during which was approved a new mandate concerning their stance on the issue of integrated teams, summed up in The Times of Philadelphia: “The color line has been drawn by the International League and no more contracts are to be approved with colored players.”

Just like that, the bigotry of Anson and those who shared his opinions on race was validated.

It was bad enough that the so-called “color line” was being drawn all over the country, in literally all facets of society; in restaurants, at the theatres, on trains, in hotels, anywhere one could imagine, the matter of race was being pressed one direction or another. Among the more deplorable examples of racism, black soldiers who had so recently fought in the Civil War were finding themselves unwelcome in places where veterans regularly congregated.

Stovey would continue to play in lower-level minor-league baseball and with

Continued on Page 18 Photo Courtesy: chronicle.northcoastnow.com

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A History of Baseball in the Rose City (Part 2) Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a multipart series on the development and evolution of baseball in the city of Portland, Oregon. After this month’s piece, we will be taking a break from the series, but rest assured, we will complete it and hope you’ve enjoyed the first part. ~BB A First of Firsts: Towards the latter part of the nineteenth century, baseball in the city of Portland had gone from a “player’s league”,

Butchel formed the first professional team in Portland. It was on this team, originally called the East Portland Willamettes, and later the Portland Webfeet, and was the charter member of the Pacific Northwest’s first-ever professional baseball league, the Pacific Northwest League.

Butchel helped to bring in other professional squads from regional cities such as Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma. It was also during this time that Butchel, rather than relying solely on regional talent, began recruiting players from all over the country.

After a few years of operation,

By Billy Brost

the 1892 season. Butchel wasn’t going anywhere however, and without baseball during the Panic of 1893 and beyond, he regrouped and and relaunched the Pacific Northwest League during the 1896 season.

This time around however, the region had failed to support professional baseball the way it had previously, and the newly relaunched league, better known as the New Pacific League, could only muster enough funding to last one lone season.

The Webfeet were nowhere to be found, and in their place, stood the Portland Gladiators.

Photo Courtesy: walkingmyfamilyline.blogspot.com

created strictly for recreation and competitive development among the local workers, merchants, etc., to becoming the charter member of one of the first professional leagues in Pacific Northwest history. The credit can be given primarily to Joe Butchel, who had played for the Portland Pioneers during baseball’s birth in the Rose City. He had a larger vision for baseball in Portland, took the risk, and is credited by most baseball historians, as the “Godfather of Professional Base Ball in Portland.”

After leaving the Pioneers,

the Webfeet finally brought home their first Pacific Northwest League championship in 1891. By this time, the Webfeet and other teams from the Pacific Northwest League were hosting and travelling to California to take on teams from the newly-formed California League. Members of this league included teams primarily from the Northern California/Bay Area in San Jose, Sacramento, and San Francisco.

Unfortunately, as the country began entering an economic downturn, the Pacific Northwest League failed to complete 12

The 1896 New Pacific League season ran through the end of June, with the Portland squad bringing home the league’s only championship pennant, posting a win-loss record of 19-9.

Entering the “Big Time” With the failure of the original Pacific Northwest League, along with the short-lived attempt at bringing about its second incarnation with the New Pacific League, Portland was ready to take the next step in competitive professional base-

selves however, the Pacific Northwest League made one more attempt at having an impact on ball at the dawn of the twenprofessional baseball in Porttieth century. With Major League Baseball still officially land. It came about when the Portland Webfooters, had a only a one-horse town, and the junior circuit of the Amer- new ballpark erected at NW Vaughn and NW 24th Aveican League still a couple of years away from being includ- nue. This ballpark would hold ed with the National League, a special place in the hearts of Portlanders for generations to big league baseball was still almost sixty years away from come, and would be known as Vaughn Street Park. seeing the west coast.

William H. Lucas, owner It wouldn’t be until the end of the Webfooters, entered of the 1950s that the Brookhis club back into the Paciflyn Dodgers would relocate ic Northwest League, with a from Ebbetts Field in Flatbrand new home to play in. bush, to Chavez Ravine in For those of you that know Los Angeles. Their NL rival New York Giants would also the name Joe Tinker, he shortly follow suit, and move helped lead Lucas’ team to a championship season that to San Francisco in the Bay first season of existence.

Area. Until then, the only It would be the lone high“Major League” on the west coast came about in the form light of Portland’s existence of the Pacific Coast League, in back in the league, as the club which Portland would have a was reassigned as a Class B league for the 1902 season, in team.

Before we get ahead of our- what was now known as miPhoto Courtesy: oregonstadiumcampaign.com

nor league baseball, the rise of the Pacific Coast League would take center stage. The founder of the PCL, Henry Harris, who also owned the San Francisco franchise in the California League, helped the merger of the Portland and Seattle franchises from the Pacific Northwest League, and would be one of the flagship franchises of this new league.

The Portland franchise in their first season of the Pacific Coast League would undergo yet another name change, this time fielding a team as the Browns. It was a rocky start for a city that had grown accustomed to competitive professional baseball teams, and championship-caliber squads early in their history.

During their inaugural season of 1903, the Browns finished with a dismal record of 95108, good for fifth place.

The team went through a pair of managerial changes as well, first being led by Sam Vigneaux, who was then relieved by Bones Ely. The following season wasn’t much better, posting a record of 79-136, and going through THREE MORE managers: Fred Ely, Dan Dugdale, and Ike Butler.

We’ll stop there for now.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the second part of “A History of Baseball in the Rose City”, and we’ll come back soon to pick up where we’ve left off!

Billy Brost resides in Riverton, Wyoming with his wife and two children.

In his spare time, he coaches youth baseball at the Little League and American Legion levels, and serves on his county’s historical preservation commission.

You can follow Billy on Twitter: @Billy_Brost

Photo By: Dan Hughes

13

My Favorite Radio/TV Calls of Baseball Plays I fell in love with baseball and have been following it for 50+ years. Living near Chicago and following the local teams, I didn’t have a lot to cheer about, except when the Chicago White Sox clinched the pennant in Cleveland.

The White Sox went to the World Series but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1959. I listened and learned about the game, and the great moments in the game.

There were, too many to mention here. Yet some baseball moments stood out as called by the top radio and TV announcers of the day. I have my favorites, and I mention them here.

Some include New York City teams. That might be a fact that NY is a major city, and their teams got the national spotlight. These are my top three favorite calls. I was thrilled by the emotion communicated by the playby-play announcers. Some with the greatest joy, others with pure awe, and excitement.

There were great moments I have never

in a best-of-three playoff series.

The Giants trailed 4-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. They notched a run when Whitey Lockman hit a double for an RBI, Alvin Dark scoring. Don Mueller slid into third base and broke his ankle. Clint Hartung replaced him as the pinch-hitter. Don Newcombe, the Dodgers starting pitcher was exhausted and Ralph Branca was called in to relieve him. Thomson had tagged Branca for a long ball during the season. He had hit a blast in Game One of the playoffs.

Thomson was up and before he went to the plate, Giants manager Leo Durocher supposedly said to him, “If you ever hit one, hit it now.” Thompson did, and here is the call from Russ Hodges as broadcast on WMCA radio in NY: “There’s a long drive, it’s gonna be it I believe…The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! Bobby Thomson hits a line drive in the lower deck of the left field stands and the place is going crazy!”

Photo Courtesy: nytimes.com

By Richard Kagan

This catch is considered one of the greatest in baseball history. It happened in Game One of the Series played in the Polo Grounds, home of the Giants. The score was tied at 2 in the top of the 8th inning, with runners on first and second base. Giants skipper Leo Durocher made a pitching change and took out starter Sal Maglie and put in left-handed reliever Don Liddle to face Vic Wertz, batting from the left side.

Liddle threw a pitch that Wertz crushed to deep center field. Mays, playing shallow, took off and raced to catch the ball in an over the shoulder basket catch with his back facing home plate. He hauled in the ball, and whirled to fire a throw back in the infield to hold the runner. Larry Doby, the runner on second, got to third but did not score. The Giants did in the 10th and went on the sweep the Series, 4-0.

Here is the call: “There is a long drive to center field, way back, way back, back… oh, it’s caught by Willie Mays! Mays just brought this crowd to its feet that must have been an optical illusion to a lot of people.” You could hear the roar of the crowd in the background, a cool baseball moment.

3. Stan Musial’s 3000th base hit:

heard. Bill Mazerowski’s walk-off homerun that beat the Yanks in Forbes Field. I recently saw the TV re-play of Toronto’s Joe Carter walk-off homer that beat the Phillies in Game 6 in 1993. Who can forget Jack Buck’s call of “I don’t believe what I just saw” –when describing hobbled Dodger Kirk Gibson winning Game One of the 1988 World Series with a two-out full count blast off of Oakland’s relief ace Dennis Eckersley? Here are my top 3 baseball moments:

Hodges, incredulous, at this moment, then said, “I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it, I do not believe it. The Giants win by a score of 5-4 and they’re picking up Bobby Thomson up and they’re carrying him off the field!” All of this said in state of euphoria, shock, and the excitement of the moment, make this one of the great calls in baseball history.

2. NY Giants’ Willie Mays Catch in ’54 World Series vs. Cleveland:

1. The Shot Heard ‘Round the World, 10/3/51:

I picked this call for several reasons. At first, I thought it was a radio call, as I heard it on an album of great moments in baseBobby Thomson’s three-run homer in the ball history. I later discovered this was a television broadcast call on NBC who was last of the 9th in the band box called the Polo Grounds. Thomson’s blast off Dodger broadcasting the World Series. Secondly, pitcher Ralph Branca is arguably one of the this call was made by Jack Brickhouse, the Chicago Cubs announcer and my favorite great moments in sports history, not just team as a boy. The reason Brickhouse was baseball. Baseball was king in New York, announcing the game was NBC wanted and the Big Apple was the mecca of baseball. The Brooklyn Dodgers and their rivals, a “guest” announcer, not from one of the the Giants were deadlocked at the end of teams in the game, to give the fans a more the regular season. Each team won a game objective perspective.

14

Musial hit a double to score a run as the Cards went on to beat Chicago, 5-3 at Wrigley Field on May 13, 1958. This moment is significant because Stan Musial was one of the greatest players in the National League, and he played 22 years for the St. Louis Cardinals. Musial amassed 3,630 hits before he retired in 1963. He was eventually was passed by Hank Aaron and Pete Rose.

Musial compiled a lifetime .331 batting average and won three MVP awards and played on three World Series title teams.

This call is notable because it involves Harry Caray, who was a long-time Cardinals announcer before his tenure with the Chicago Cubs.

Caray’s call: “Here the pitch, there it is!

A line drive into left field, hit number three-thousand...a run has scored, Musial around first, one his way to second…the first man since Paul Waner, in 1942, Stan Musial has just gotten his three-thousandth base hit.” Caray conveyed the importance of this baseball milestone. Afterwards, Musial said, “I just want to keep playing now.” He did for another five seasons.

Richard Kagan grew up on the North Shore of Chicago. He attended George Washington University during the turbulent 70’s, and covered student demonstrations for his college radio station. With little prompting, he can do a good Howard Cosell impression.

The Fast Rise and Sad Fall of Tony Conigliaro Tony Conigliaro, Tony C, a name Would a healthy Conigliaro have made that just rolled off the tongue. He was a difference in the series? That of course a wonder, a force from the very beginis a question that can’t be answered.

Many teams in all sports overcome the ning, and it was no short run of greatloss of a great player, even their leader, ness he crafted. He was drafted as an to achieve greatness in the face of adveramateur free agent at 17 years old by his hometown team, the Boston Red sity. Many teams playing at full strength, Sox. He broke into the major leagues in all the stars in the line-up, just don’t 1964 at the tender age of 19, and had a accomplish what is expected of them, terrific rookie season, hitting .290, with either by the fans, the insiders, the sta24 home runs and 52 RBI. He followed tistics, the odds or, most importantly, that up the next season, with his batting themselves. I imagine many Sox fans average dropping to .269 but his power will point to that horrific accident as a numbers continuing to grow to 32 and major factor in their not winning the 82. His third season produced comparable statistics.

By his fourth season, 1967, the Red Sox were built to win.

A powerful outfield was comprised of Yaz, Reggie Smith and Tony C, left to right on your radio dial. George Scott was the first baseman and Rico Petrocelli played short. This was a young team, filled with promise.

The rotation, except for Jim Lonborg, was nothing to go wild about, but it was good enough to think they had a shot of wining the American League pennant and going Photo Courtesy: siphotos.com to the World Series.

And get there they did, for the first time series. Some Sox players were on record since 1946. Conigliaro’s contributions as having that belief. were absolutely key to the team’s sucLike most accidents of this nature, it cess. During this season, he became the must have been absolutely gruesome youngest American League player to to watch (I recall seeing Giants pitcher reach the 100-home run milestone, just Joe Martinez hit in the head with a line a couple of months older than fastest in drive off the bat of Mike Cameron. I the game’s history: Mel Ott. heard the sound all the way down the Before reaching the World Series, there first base line.). Conigliaro lay still on was this day, August 18, 1967. The Red the ground and was then carried off the Sox were playing the Angels, and Cofield on a stretcher by his teammates. nigliaro was hit by a pitch, just above Photos released afterwards showed a his left cheekbone, by Jack Hamilton. left eye completely discolored. Initial His cheekbone and eye socket were reports speculated that he would miss fractured, and his retina was damaged. three weeks of the season. However, not This kept him out of baseball for the only did he not play in the World Serest of the year, and the next as well. ries, he missed the entire 1968 season as The Red Sox lost the World Series to the well. My friend Paul Leary suggested I Cardinals in seven games. Ironically, write an article about this. He was there, their previous World Series appearance his first ever major league game. He had also resulted in a loss to the Cards. still vividly remembers the “at-bat”, the 15

By Eric Gray

rising cheers of the crowd before every pitch followed by the mass groan and stunned silence. He told me about the cheers as the stretcher came and carried Tony, and essentially, his career, away.

Tony C returned to the Red Sox in 1969. By this time, his brother Billy had joined him in the Red Sox outfield.

Tony won the Comeback Player of the Year award hitting 20 home runs and driving in 82 runners. The following season was monstrous, with 36 homers and 116 RBI, but his eyesight had started to deteriorate. Perhaps for this reason, the Red Sox traded him to the California Angels for the 1971 season. That team, and Conigliaro individually, fared poorly, and he retired at mid-season. He attempted a comeback as a designated hitter for the Sox in 1975, but this was an ill-fated attempt.

After his retirement, he became a television sports anchor in Rhode Island and then San Francisco.

In 1982 he suffered a stroke and never recovered, passing away in 1990.

There is, of course, more to the story, but this is not a biography of Tony C. The reactions of his teammates, his relationship with his manager, why the Red Sox traded him after 1970, these points have all been covered in books and articles.

This is just a look back on a meteoric rise of a Boston native son, a promise of a generation, and the untimely crash and burn of a career and life that reminds us all how tentative life can be.

Eric Gray is from Plainview, New York, and got his BA from SUNY New Paltz. He moved to San Francisco and spent his career with the Department of Labor overseeing job training programs for disadvantaged youth. He has been married for 36 years to Lynn, and their two children, Rachel and David.

They are huge Giants fans.

He can be followed on Twitter, if he ever decides to post something, @ericcgray1

Rob Manfred Was Right To Suspend Aroldis Chapman Over the past few years, the National Football League and Roger Goodell have received a figurative black eye from their handling of domestic violence. Look at how Ray Rice was handled, getting suspended for two games after knocking his then-fiancé out in an elevator. Had the video of that incident never surfaced, then Rice would likely still be in the NFL. Speaking of players in the NFL, we can take a look at Greg Hardy. Hardy, who threw his girlfriend on what was described as a “bed filled with guns” was initially found guilty in a court of law, only to have the case thrown out when his accuser did not show up to the appeal. Hardy, who was still productive, was suspended for ten games, but only served four, as Goodell lowered his punishment.

Given the general criticism that the NFL and Goodell have both received, it was important for MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to make a statement when it came time to hand down punishment for the three domestic violence incidents that occurred this offseason.

With Jose Reyes still facing charges, Manfred had an easy way out with placing him on administrative leave until the legal process ran its course.

That, however, left Aroldis Chapman and Yasiel Puig as the first tests of Manfred’s domestic violence policy.

He needed to show that Major League Baseball took these allegations seriously, whether or not charges were filed.

Manfred needed to get out in front of these actions, and show that Major League Baseball is not the NFL, and that their players would be held accountable.

In giving Chapman a thirty-game suspension, Manfred did just that. He served notice that, just because charges were not filed, domestic violence has no place in baseball. He showed that his strong words over the past few months were more than politically charged rhetoric, an attempt to make himself appear tough on the subject when, in reality, nothing would happen.

This decision, and the harsh punishment from Manfred, also show that baseball has learned from its past mistakes. We can all remember the Congressional hearings, where Bud Selig and players like Rafael Palmeiro, were hauled before Congress to testify about PED use in the sport. Now, should such

By Dave Hill

a hearing be convened for the four ma- who violate the policy would have been jor sports, Manfred and Major League neutered from the beginning.

Baseball can point to this suspension This suspension was a win/win for as proof that they are indeed taking the Manfred as well. Had Chapman decidmatter seriously. ed to appeal, regardless of the outcome, For his part, Chapman himself is tak- Manfred could point to the initial term ing responsibility for his actions and is as proof that he, as the Commissioner not appealing the punishment. While of Major League Baseball, was serious being certain to state that he did not about doing his part to end domestic harm his girlfriend, he did state that he needed to take responsibility for his actions, and to exercise better judgement.

“Today, I accepted a 30game suspension from Major League Baseball resulting from my actions on Oct. 30, 2015,” Chapman said in a prepared statement. “I want to be clear, I did not in any way harm my girlfriend that evening. However, I should have exercised better judgment with respect to my actions, and for that I am sorry. The decision to accept a suspension, as opposed to appealing one, was made after careful consideration. I made this decision in an effort to minimize the distractions that an appeal would cause the Yankees, my new teammates and most importantly, my family. I have learned from this matter, and I look forward to being Photo Courtesy: draysbay.com part of the Yankees’ quest for violence. If the suspension had been a 28th World Series title. Out of respect overturned, that was on the arbiter, not for my teammates and my family, I will him. Likewise, had it not been overhave no further comment.” turned, Manfred would have the policy There will be those who feel that Manthat he desires in place. fred was too harsh. Those who feel Major League Baseball needed to that, since Chapman was ultimately distance itself from other sports, like not charged with a crime, that he either the NFL, in regards to how they handle should not have been suspended in the those accused of domestic violence. first place, or received less of a punMajor League Baseball sent the message ishment. However, to give Chapman a that domestic violence is not acceptlighter sentence would set a precedent that such behavior would be dealt with able, and did so with authority. Rob by a slap on the wrist. Giving Chapman Manfred was right to suspend Aroldis Chapman for those thirty games. less than the thirty games would limit the suspensions that Manfred would be able to hand out in the future.

Dave Hill is a long time Royals fan In a way, the decision to suspend who is obsessed with 1880’s baseball Chapman for thirty games was not and quite the dashing rogue. about Chapman at all, but rather the Dave has written for the Fall River Herfuture of the sport and its domestic ald News as well as on FanSided.com violence policy. Manfred had to drop You can follow Dave on Twitter: the hammer immediately in this case; @M1sterDave otherwise, his ability to punish those 16

Why Commissioner Manfred Was Wrong not to charge Chapman and the case was effectively closed. All that being said, were I Commissioner, Chapman still would’ve received a suspension. Just not 30 games.

My problem with this process is threefold. First off, Manfred having the first and final say on such a hefty decision is maddening. Even military court-martials are decided using a tribunal. That could’ve been done. Why not a three-member committee using Manfred, Players’ Union Leader Tony Clark and an outside arbitrator? That would have been more democratic than putting the entire decision in the hands of Manfred who, were he in the mood that day, could have said “Eh, you know what?

90 games!”. One man should not be able to hold such weight in an entire industry.

When that happens, personal morals get in the way of hard facts. Look at the original Ray Rice domestic violence decision versus. Josh Gordon’s marijuana banishment via NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

That brings me to my second problem. A major defense of Manfred’s actions, and in many cases a praise, has been how he sent a message and an example by suspending a star like Aroldis Chapman in the wake of the NFL’s major public relations blunder. “Setting Photo Courtesy: thescore.com an example” is a foolish and ble. That being said, this piece is a direct unimpressive defense. That is not how you criticism of the process and methods used run an industry as titanic as Major League

by Commissioner Rob Manfred and MaBaseball and it is certainly not how you jor League Baseball’s investigative wing as lead one. That is the equivalent of saying well as some of the defenses used to justify “This decision was made because I need people to know that no matter what, I’m those methods. in charge.” This Romanic Caesar style I have had my fair share of issues with consolidation of power makes me see the MLB’s investigative body ever since the Biogenesis scandal revealed some unorth- Chapman suspension as a power play, Manfred asserting himself over his predeodox methods such as harassment and purchasing of notebooks portrayed as cessor, Bud Selig, as well as his contempo“evidence”. We don’t know much about the rary Roger Goodell. folks who do the actual snooping although There’s a difference, however, between my suspicion is that its run by the prodigy the incidents in the NFL and Chapman’s of F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover. They’re case. There was a video showing Rice diligent, I’ll give them that, but they are assaulting his wife. We all saw it and we all not the police. knew he was guilty. There was an official Florida Police did investigate the report- arrest of superstar running back Adrian ed incident at Mr. Chapman’s home. They Peterson for child abuse and there were found gunshot evidence in the wall of his horrific and disgusting photographs showing the world exactly what Greg Hardy garage (probably bigger than my house) but no evidence of him having choked his had done to his wife. Goodell handled each matter poorly and paid the price girlfriend, as the report first released by for it. But there was no such evidence Yahoo.com indicated. Based on the evidence they uncovered, the police chose in Chapman’s case. If Manfred wanted Let’s get this out of the way. First off, there is no doubt in my mind that Yankees’ closer Aroldis Chapman should have received some sort of suspension. There is no civilized, warm-blooded humanoid on the face of the third rock from the sun that believes domestic violence is acceptable and I am no exception.

This is in no way a defense of something I personally find heinous and indefensi-

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By Matt Mirro

to “send a message” he could have done so with a case more similar to the NFL situations, Colorado Rockies’ shortstop Jose Reyes. Reyes was arrested in Hawaii for domestic abuse, posed smiling for a mugshot and will, in fact, appear in court on the matter. He’ll likely get a significant suspension, of course, but, if this truly was about sending a message, Reyes, not Chapman, would have been the better poster child for the league’s new domestic violence policy.

On that note, I touch on my final issue.

That being the new domestic violence policy itself (it refers to more than just DV by the way). The new policy basically gives Commissioner Manfred carte blanche when it comes to matters of domestic violence. Anything that they consider to be detrimental to the league, whether proof is evident of guilt or innocence, can be punishable by suspension under Manfred’s word. So if I run to the National Inquirer and claim a random ballplayer stole my car and all the sudden that news circulates and baseball goes under criticism for my accusation it wouldn’t matter whether my claim was true or false. The ballplayer’s name has all the sudden looked bad for the league and the very accusation, if Manfred feels necessary, could be punishable by suspension. That’s a rough and raw interpretation but as hyperbolic it may be, that is basically the gist of the new rule Will someone explain to me how that was ever approved by the Players’ Association? How could the league approve such a radical rule, granting unchecked power to impact a season and a career, whether there is evidence or not, to the commissioner? Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said Chapman was “innocent until proven otherwise.”

Well, he should have been right by that statement except for the fact that Chapman didn’t have to be proven guilty. If he was, the authorized and trained officers of the law would have handled it. The fact of the matter, is that Chapman was guilty the minute his name and the words “domestic violence” appeared next to each other and no amount of evidence to the contrary could prove otherwise. THAT is the problem. Sure, I would’ve suspended him.

That’s only right. But the process utilized was completely and utterly detestable.

Matt Mirro is currently the Lead American League Writer at Call to the Bullpen, an MLB.com affiliate. He is a certified member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America.

Follow Matt on Twitter: @Mirro_The_Ronin

Fleet Walker: Continued From Page 11 all-black teams after 1887 through 1891 and then worked as an umpire through the early 20th century. Walker, meanwhile, would play with the Syracuse Stars in 1888 and ’89, while working in the offseason as a postal clerk since 1884.

This time, when Anson and his White Stockings came north to play Syracuse in exhibition games, the so-called “gentlemen’s agreement” was firmly entrenched, and Walker was forced to watch the game from the dugout.

After the 1889 season, Walker moved on from baseball, likely somewhat embittered by his experiences and almost definitely holding negative views toward the future of integration in America. He would become a hotel owner in his native Ohio, purchasing the Union Hotel in Steubenville. He applied for several patents, receiving one in 1891 for a type of artillery shell. He would also publish a newspaper with his brother Weldy called The Equator, devoted to African-American issues and taking a view on their future in the United States that became gradually more and more pessimistic.

Contributing to his anti-integration stance were such events as his being assaulted by a small group of white men in April 1891, during which he stabbed and killed one assailant. He was ultimately acquitted of second-degree murder charges, ironically by an all-white jury.

Walker’s work with the post office came to an abrupt end in 1898. In September of that year, Walker was arrested in Steubenville by Deputy US Marshall W.T. Harness under a charge of mail theft and embezzlement. One of the inspectors on this case would testify that they planted a decoy registered letter at a hotel in Pittsburgh with marked money inside of it.

The letter was allegedly then taken to the Cleveland and Pittsburgh train line, on which Walker was working as a postman.

When the mail bag containing this letter was retrieved, it was found to have been opened and the aforementioned letter removed. Walker was tried and convicted in a Columbus court, serving nearly 10 months of a one-year sentence.

As the twentieth century dawned, little had changed socially for the black man in America. Years before, Marcus Garvey and his African Redemption Movement, Walker would in 1908 publish his own stance on Black Nationalism. Called Our Home Colony, Walker would explain his views on why integration was doomed to fail, not only in the United States, but wherever whites and blacks were living together under forced conditions (White Colonialism). Indeed, his brother Weldy held similarly strong convictions: in March 1888, as the Three-I League in Ohio had only a short time earlier approved banning African-Americans from

civilization; hence, we as a Nation, with the desire to make partial atonement its rosters, Weldy Walker wrote an open letter in response to Sporting Life: for the wrong done, and the wish to be “The law is a disgrace to the present age, of service to your race and to mankind and reflects very much upon the intellieverywhere, will undertake to aid you to gence of your last meeting, and casts deri- return to your native land, where we hope sion at the laws of Ohio –the voice of the to see you build a civilization which shall people—that say that all men are equal. I be the glory and admiration of the world would suggest that your honorable body, for all time!” in case that black law is not repealed, pass Fleet Walker died on May 11th, 1924, in one making it criminal for a colored man Cleveland, Ohio, after a long bout with or woman to be found in a ball ground.” pneumonia. He was 67 years old. His Despite the significance of Fleet Walker’s position in the history of professional grave remained unmarked until Oct 1990, when a delegate from his alma mater baseball as we understand it in the presPhoto Courtesy: toledoblade.com

ent day, the most telling and reflective statement concerning his views on the realities faced by the black man in America during his time is found within the words of his manifesto: “There is yet time for (the American people) to stand up bravely and say to the Negro: “We have wronged your race by forcing it from the Home where God placed it into an alien land, and there imposed the yoke of slavery. We have liberated your race, and wish to see you develop to the fullest the powers which your Creator has bestowed upon you.”

“Nothing but failure and disappointment awaits your efforts towards betterment while in contact with Anglo-Saxon 18

placed upon it a simple granite headstone with the statement “The gentleman is the first black Major League Baseball player in the United States.”

He was so much more than that.

Clinton Riddle has been writing for numerous websites and newspapers since 2009. He has also worked as a freelance photographer for the past 5 years, and is credentialed with several minor-league baseball teams.

Clinton lives in Lexington, Kentucky and is a long-suffering Cubs fan.

You can follow him on Twitter at @TheGrandOldGame

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