No, No, Not Quite; or, Again: The Real Story of Babe, Harry, and a Certain Broadway Hit . . .

"Says Tracy Ringolsby, Hall of Fame baseball writer ruminating over baseball’s long enough history of ownership troubles: 'There’s been troubled ownership in baseball since at least the days of Babe Ruth, who in 1919 was sold by Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee to the New York Yankees for $125,000 because Frazee needed money to fund his Broadway musical No, No, Nannette.' Say I: Aw, jeez, not this crap again. Ringolsby, customarily one of the game’s better writers, seems blissfully unaware that the No, No, Nanette myth (notice he couldn’t even spell it right) was debunked several years ago. As a matter of fact, you don’t have go back any further than 2003 to begin discovering some of the actual facts behind the Ruth sale, even if you did know that No, No, Nanette didn’t hit Broadway running until five years after Ruth was sold to the Yankees. ... "
Throneberry Fields Forever

Stuffy McInnis

"John Phalen 'Stuffy' McInnis (September 19, 1890 – February 16, 1960) was a first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball. McInnis gained his nickname as a youngster in the Boston suburban leagues, where his spectacular playing brought shouts of "that's the stuff, kid". From 1909-27, McInnis played for the Philadelphia Athletics (1909–17), Boston Red Sox (1918–21), Cleveland Indians (1922), Boston Braves (1923–24), Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) and Philadelphia Phillies (1927). He batted and threw right-handed. In a 19-season career, McInnis posted a .307 batting average with 20 home runs and 1,062 RBI in 2,128 games. A native of Gloucester, Massachusetts, McInnis broke into baseball with the Philadelphia Athletics as a shortstop in 1909. Two seasons later, he replaced Harry Davis at first base as a member of the famous $100,000 infield, teaming up with second baseman Eddie Collins, third baseman Frank Baker and shortstop Jack Barry. As prices and costs rose in later years the tag seemed low, but at this time the group was higher-price than any. The Athletics were in their prime, winning the American League pennant in 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914, and back-to-back World Championships in 1910 and 1911. But after they were swept by the Boston Braves in the 1914 World Series, owner Connie Mack asked waivers on three starting pitchers and began to dismantle his team in light of the attempted raids on his stars by the new Federal League."
Wikipedia

"'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...' During his 18-year career in the Major Leagues, John Phalen 'Stuffy' McInnis’ teams finished in first place six times, winning five World Series, and in last place four times. He started his career by becoming the youngest member of Connie Mack’s famed '$100,000 infield,' replacing veteran Harry Davis at first base for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1911, and joining Eddie Collins, Frank (soon to be 'Home Run') Baker, and Jack Barry in that fabled infield. Following the dismantling of the Athletics after the 1914 season, Stuffy stayed on, suffering through three straight last-place A’s finishes. But whether it was feast or famine for his teams, McInnis remained a consistent singles hitter, an outstanding defensive first baseman, and a savvy clubhouse leader. A spry 5’ 9 ½” right-handed line-drive pull hitter with a boyish face, McInnis has a career batting average over .300, having amassed more than 2,400 hits. However, he is best known as one of baseball’s best defensive first basemen, due to his amazing consistency covering first base."
SABR

Quick Thinking of Stuffy McInnis
"To speed up games, Ban Johnson ruled that to start a new half-inning pitchers would not be allowed to throw warm-up pitches. On June 27, 1911 at the Hunington Avenue Grounds in Boston the sides changed in the middle of the eighth inning. Red Sox pitcher Ed Karger took the mound and began tossing warm-up pitches to catcher Les Nunamaker as personnel were changing sides. Two Philadelphia players (Boston manager Patsy Donovan claimed) hadn’t left the field yet and center fielder Tris Speaker was casually talking to A’s second baseman Eddie Collins. A’s first baseman Stuffy Mcinnis took note and quickly jumped in the batter’s box and smacked one of Karger’s tosses into an unmanned center field. Speaker and the Red Sox were taken unawares. The ball rolled to the wall as McInnis circled the bases. Patsy Donovan and his men pitched a fit, but umpires Egan and Sheridan ruled it a home run. It was the final run in an A’s 7-3 victory. The Red Sox protested to Ban Johnson to no avail." [Baltimore Sun 6/28/1911...]
Baseball History Blog

The Man Who Might Have Been the Greatest Player in the Game - John Thorn

Joe Jackson with Savannah, 1909

"... Joe Jackson will be known in after years as the man who might have been the greatest player the game has ever known. To sum up his talents is merely to describe in another way those qualities which should round out and complete the ideal player. In Jackson, nature combined the greatest gifts any one ball player has ever possessed but she denied him the heritage of early advantages and that well balanced judgment so essential to the full development of his extraordinary powers. Joe Jackson is the most striking example in history of what a player can accomplish on sheer ability. The oddest character in baseball today is that brilliant but eccentric genius, Joe Jackson. Those who know him best are readiest to admit they know him least. So strange a medley of contradictory traits, of weaknesses and errors, sustained throughout by sheer natural ability no atom short of marvelous has never been seen elsewhere in that region of queer personalities and clay footed popular idols known as major league baseball. Jackson is unique unparalleled; dramatic in his rise to prominence, brilliant in his success, startling in his manifold failures."
Our Game

One Hundred Thousand Dollar Infield

"The Philadelphia Athletics infield from 1911 to 1914, consisting of first baseman Stuffy McInnis, second baseman Eddie Collins, shortstop Jack Barry, and third baseman Frank 'Home Run' Baker. The infield was named for its alleged value (according to managed Connie Mack) and not for the players' collective salaries. Also expressed in lowed case and as '$100,000 infield,' Syn. Hundred Thousand Dollar Infield. 1ST. USE. 1911 (The North American [Philadelphia], Aug. 21; Norman L. Macht)."
Paul Dickson, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary

Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game - David Block

"Baseball is America's great secular religion, a collection of mythologies that reflect who we are and who we aspire to be. The game's most enduring myth, of course, is its immaculate conception on a Cooperstown, N.Y., street in 1839. Who invented baseball? For nearly a century, the axiomatic answer to that question has been Abner Doubleday, though that belief was discredited almost as soon as it was first made public, in 1908. What's more, as David Block reveals in Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game, America's pastime was not born in America, and legitimate claims to its origin can be made by a handful of nations, including -- of all places -- France. While the Doubleday myth was never taken seriously by historians, Block reveals that the gospel that supplanted it was also deeply flawed. In this accounting, baseball was understood as the derivation of an English children's game, rounders, but America was allowed to retain patrimony over its national pastime through the assertion that it had been reinvented as a modern sport by the members of a New York gentlemen's club, the Knickerbockers, who codified its rules for the first time in 1845."
NYT: 'Baseball Before We Knew It': What's the French for 'Juiced'?

In Search of Baseball's Holy Grail
"... The Blocks live on the top two floors of a blue house in the Mission District of San Francisco. Block is 69 years old, with a bald head and neatly trimmed beard. One afternoon, Block was pulling old books off his shelf. They are volumes with disintegrating covers and foxed pages and the labels of long-dead booksellers. 'I have tons of stuff,' Block said. 'It literally takes hours to look at all my stuff. And I never have the opportunity to show it to people.' This is our fault rather than his. In a just world, Block would be an archaeologist hero. What Bill James did for 20th-century baseball, Block is doing for 18th-century baseball. Eight years ago, Block came out with a book called Baseball Before We Knew It."
Grantland

"Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game is a 2005 book by David Block about the history of baseball. Block looks into the early history of baseball, the debates about baseballs beginnings, and presents new evidence. The book received the 2006 Seymour Medal from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). The account, first published in 1905, that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in 1839 was once widely promoted and widely believed. However, this belief was discredited almost immediately. Although the Doubleday myth was never taken seriously by historians, Block showed that the gospel that supplanted it was also deeply flawed."
Wikipedia

"... Block’s book takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the centuries in search of clues to the evolution of our modern National Pastime. Among his startling discoveries is a set of long-forgotten baseball rules from the 1700s. Block evaluates the originality and historical significance of the Knickerbocker rules of 1845, revisits European studies on the ancestry of baseball which indicate that the game dates back hundreds, if not thousands of years, and assembles a detailed history of games and pastimes from the Middle Ages onward that contributed to baseball’s development. In its thoroughness and reach, and its extensive descriptive bibliography of early baseball sources, this book is a unique and invaluable resource—a comprehensive, reliable, and readable account of baseball before it was America’s game."
amazon

MLB - Baseball Discovered: Who's Who: David Block (Video)

Why Do Baseball Players Still Bunt So Damn Much?

 Ross Barnes, Red Stockings, 2B, 1874

"In the 1870s, just as professional baseball was getting its sea legs, there was an infielder named Ross Barnes who was really only good at one thing. At 5 feet 8 inches and 145 pounds, he had a smidge of pop in this deadest part of the dead-ball era, hitting six home runs in almost 500 career games, but where Barnes really excelled was bunting. As recounted by Bill James in his most recent Historical Baseball Abstract, Barnes made a career of being able to bunt balls that would land fair and then spin over the base lines and off the field. (In the rules of the day, this still counted as a fair ball.) And so it was that Barnes led the league in hits four times and batting average three times."
Buzzfeed

SABR 43: Ross Barnes selected as Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend for 2013
"... In June, 279 members of the Society for American Baseball Research submitted their votes for the 2013 Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th-century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Previous Overlooked Legends were Pete Browning in 2009, Deacon White in 2010, Harry Stovey in 2011, and Bill Dahlen last year. White was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 28. Charles Roscoe Barnes was born to Joseph and Mary (Weller) Barnes on May 8, 1850 in Mount Morris, New York. His family eventually moved to Rockford, Illinois where Barnes became a ballplayer. He joined the Forest City Club of Rockford in 1866, the beginning of a historic career on the field for possibly the most exciting all-around player of the 1860s and 1870s."
SABR

1874 Harper's Woodcut of the Boston Bostons

"Charles Roscoe Barnes (May 8, 1850 – February 5, 1915) was one of the stars of baseball's National Association (1871–1875) and the early National League (1876–1881), playing second base and shortstop. He played for the dominant Boston Red Stockings teams of the early 1870s, along with Albert Spalding, Cal McVey, George Wright, Harry Wright, Jim O'Rourke, and Deacon White. Despite playing for these star-studded teams, many claim that Ross was the most valuable to his teams."
Wikipedia

The Ross Barnes Case
"Charles Roscoe 'Ross' Barnes was one of the greatest players of his era, and largely forgotten today. Barnes was a member Harry Wright’s Boston Red Stocking teams in the National Association from 1871-75, and won the National League’s first batting title hitting .429 in 1876 as a member the Chicago White Stockings. Teammates and contemporaries had no doubt about how good he was. 'Orator Jim' O’Rourke called Barnes 'the greatest second baseman the game ever saw.' In 1896 A.G. Spalding 'declared Ross Barnes to have been the greatest ballplayer in America,' and Tim Murnane said of Barnes: His left-handed stops of hard-hit balls to right field were the prettiest stops ever made on the Boston grounds. As a base-runner no man of the present day is his equal, and as a batsman he must be reckoned very high."
Baseball History Daily

Doc Crandall

"James Otis Crandall (October 8, 1887 – August 17, 1951) was a right-handed pitcher and second baseman. He was the first player to be consistently used as a relief pitcher. Consequently, he was given the nickname Doc by Damon Runyon who said Crandall was 'the physician of the pitching emergency'. He played from 1908 to 1918, debuting with the New York Giants. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1913, but played just two games with them before being sold back to the Giants. He also played for the St. Louis Terriers in the Federal League in 1914 and 1915, the St. Louis Browns in 1916, and for the Boston Braves in 1918. That same year he flirted with a no-hitter in the morning game of a double-header in Los Angeles against Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League. He carried the no-hitter into the 9th inning when, with two out, his outing was spoiled by Karl Crandall, his brother."
Wikipedia

"Doc Crandall is generally regarded as the premier relief specialist of the Deadball Era. Though he never led the National League in saves, he did lead the league in relief appearances each year from 1909 to 1913, and from 1910 to 1912 he led the NL each year in relief victories, compiling an overall record of 45-16. 'Crandall is the Giants' ambulance corps,' wrote Damon Runyon after the 1911 campaign. 'He is first aid to the injured. He is the physician of the pitching emergency, and they sometimes call him old Doctor Crandall. He is without an equal as an extinguisher of batting rallies and run riots, or as a pinch hitter.' In the latter role the .285 lifetime hitter never really excelled, batting just .229 in 96 pinch at-bats over the course of his 10 seasons, but one reporter nevertheless proclaimed him 'the only pinch-hitting pitcher ever developed in the Big Leagues'. ..."
SABR

P2 Sweet Caporal Pins

“Big, Good-Hearted and Foolish”
"Almost immediately there was trouble for manager John McGraw after the New York Giants acquired Larry McLean from the Saint Louis Cardinals, August 6, 1913—it was one of the few times in his career when the trouble wasn’t McLean’s fault. With Chief Meyers hurt McGraw needed a catcher and traded the popular Doc Crandall to the Cardinals for McLean. The day after the trade The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune reported that McGraw had 'exchanged fisticuffs' with five of his players: Crandall was very popular among the club members, and there was much bitterness felt at his loss…The players passed hot words (at McGraw), and several blows were struck. McGraw was left with a bloody nose from the fight, and less than two weeks later reacquired Crandall from Saint Louis. ..."
Baseball History Daily

Giants Come From Behind in 9th to Win Thriller; Did Doyle Touch Home Plate?
"(October 26th, 1911) NEW YORK– It looked like this Series was shaping up to have a real Broadway ending. Rube Oldring (left, looking at camera), whose sister died a week ago, was one out away from being Philadelphia’s newest hero. In the 3rd inning of yesterday’s game, he blasted a 3-run shot deep into the left field bleachers off of Giants pitcher Rube Marquard, and the A’s had a 3-0 lead and Jack Coombs on the hill. It looked like the Series was over, and Philadelphia prepared for a celebration. But these Giants proved that their hearts were still beating, and they’ve got as much grit as any team in baseball. They scratched out a run in the 7th, and the 9th inning began with the Athletics up by a score of 3-1. ... Up came Giants pitcher Doc Crandall. Doc, the first pitcher that I’m aware of being used solely as a relief pitcher, had come in in the 8th inning and shut the A’s down. Of course, he’s also known for swinging a fair piece of lumber, and McGraw regularly uses him as a pinch hitter. Jim Nasium over at the Inquirer remarked on the feeling amongst Philadelphia fans as Crandall (pictured below, right) stepped to the plate with 2 outs."
Philly Sports History

T206

The Physician of the Pitching Emergency
"When New York Giants' Manger John McGraw began using Otis 'Doc' Crandall regularly as a relief pitcher during the Deadball Era he employed a new strategy that would eventually become the norm. The report 'From Exile to Specialist: The Evolution of the Relief Pitcher' shows that at the beginning of the 1900's more than 80% of games were completed by the starting pitcher and and when averaged out, fewer than .25 relief pitchers appeared per game. By the year 2000, less than 10% of games were complete games and approximately 2.5 relief pitchers appeared per game. This transition saw relievers move from second-rate pitchers with high earned run averages to specialists with low ERAs."
Baseball Has Marked the Time

Brother broke up Doc Crandall's no-hitter
"Uncommon commons: In more than 30 years in sportscards publishing I have thrown hundreds of notes into files about the players – usually non-star players – who made up the majority of the baseball and football cards I collected as a kid. Today, I keep adding to those files as I peruse microfilms of The Sporting News from the 1880s through the 1960s. I found these tidbits brought some life to the player pictures on those cards. I figure that if I enjoyed them, you might too. Otis 'Doc' Crandall was a pitcher for the New York Giants 1908-13, the St. Louis Terriers of the Federal League, 1914-15 and St. Louis Browns, 1916. A relief specialist for most of his time with the Giants, he also filled in around the infield when he wasn’t on the mound. He was a lifetime .285 hitter. His career pitching record was 102-62 with an excellent 2.92 ERA."
Bob Lemke's Blog

Eight Men Out - John Sayles (1988)

"Eight Men Out is a 1988 American dramatic sports film, and based on Eliot Asinof's 1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles. The film is a dramatization of Major League Baseball's Black Sox scandal, in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series. ... The 1919 Chicago White Sox are considered the greatest team in baseball and, in fact, one of the greatest ever assembled to that point. However, the team's owner, Charles Comiskey, is a skinflint with little inclination to reward his players for a spectacular season. When gamblers gets wind of the players' discontent, they offer a select group of Sox — including star pitcher Eddie Cicotte — more money to play badly than they would have earned by winning the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. A number of players, including Chick Gandil, Swede Risberg, and Lefty Williams, go along with the scheme. The team's greatest star, Shoeless Joe Jackson, is depicted as being not very bright and not entirely sure what is going on. Buck Weaver, meanwhile, is included with the seven others but insists that he wants nothing to do with the fix."
Wikipedia

"... Eight Men Out is the story of the 1919 World Series-fixing scheme that shattered the faith of this boy and so many others. As such, it's much more than a film about baseball. It's an amazingly full and heartbreaking vision of the dreams, aspirations and disillusionments of a nation, as filtered through its national pastime. Eight Men Out, which opens today at Loews Tower East and other theaters, establishes its scope in a wonderfully edited (by John Tintori) opening ballpark scene that shows how many disparate elements Mr. Sayles will bring into play. There are the Chicago White Sox themselves, just on the verge of winning the pennant and in their full bloom of talent and optimism. There are the White Sox wives and children, bursting with pride, and the fans, whose excitement fills the air. There is also the team's owner, Charles Comiskey (Clifton James), whose stinginess is so extraordinary that he rewards his players for winning the pennant with bottles of flat Champagne."
NY Times

Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series
"The headlines proclaimed the 1919 fix of the World Series and attempted cover-up as 'the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!' First published in 1963, Eight Men Out has become a timeless classic. Eliot Asinof has reconstructed the entire scene-by-scene story of the fantastic scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players arranged with the nation's leading gamblers to throw the Series in Cincinnati. Mr. Asinof vividly describes the tense meetings, the hitches in the conniving, the actual plays in which the Series was thrown, the Grand Jury indictment, and the famous 1921 trial. Moving behind the scenes, he perceptively examines the motives and backgrounds of the players and the conditions that made the improbable fix all too possible. Here, too, is a graphic picture of the American underworld that managed the fix, the deeply shocked newspapermen who uncovered the story, and the war-exhausted nation that turned with relief and pride to the Series, only to be rocked by the scandal. Far more than a superbly told baseball story, this is a compelling slice of American history in the aftermath of World War I and at the cusp of the Roaring Twenties."
amazon

"... That’s not a criticism of their performances - it was great to see Terkel chewing his cigar and looking as if he’d seen it all - but of the screenplay. If you’re going to make a movie about a baseball scandal that happened before most of the audience was born, you’d better start by making it understandable and then move on to considerations of art and drama. Perhaps the problem is that Sayles, who wrote as well as directed the film, was so close to the material that he never decided what the focus of his story really was. Early in the film, we get a lot of vignettes designed to give us a flavor for professional baseball at the time, and they’re intercut with short personal or domestic scenes in which the characters are established, but not very clearly. ..."
Roger Ebert

Eight Men Out: 25 Things You Didn't Know About the Classic Baseball Drama
"... Public sympathy for 'Shoeless Joe' Jackson and his teammates has built ever since the release of this movie, generally regarded as one of the finest baseball films ever made. Still, there's a lot you probably don't know about Eight Men Out, including which of its stars had real potential as ballplayers, the tricks Sayles used to recreate the 1919 World Series on a budget, the truth about the 'Say it ain't so, Joe' incident, and the inspirational story of Black Betsy. Read on for the behind-the-scenes story of Sayles' pitch. ..."
moviefone

YouTube: Eight Men Out 1988 trailer

Tyrus: The Greatest Of 'Em All

"Originally published in the June 1915 issue of American Magazine and anthologized in the Library of America's new collection of Ring Lardner's stories. Reprinted here with permission.
Sit down here a while, kid, and I'll give you the dope on this guy. You say you didn't see him do nothin' wonderful? But you only seen him in one serious. Wait till you been in the league more'n a week or two before you go judgin' ball players. He may of been sick when you played agin him. Even when he's sick, though, he's got everybody I ever seen skun, and I've saw all the best of 'em. Say, he ain't worth nothin' to that club; no, nothin'! I don't know what pay he's gettin', but whatever it is, it ain't enough. If they'd split the receipts fifty-fifty with that bird, they wouldn't be gettin' none the worst of it. That bunch could get along just as well without him as a train could without no engine."
The Stacks

A Game of Brawl: The Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Battle for the 1897 Pennant

"It was probably the most cutthroat pennant race in baseball history. And it was a struggle to define how baseball would be played. This book recreates the rowdy, season-long 1897 battle between the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Beaneaters. The Orioles had acquired a reputation as the dirtiest team in baseball. Future Hall of Famers John McGraw, Wee Willie Keeler, and “Foxy” Ned Hanlon were proven winners—but their nasty tactics met with widespread disapproval among fans. So it was that their pennant race with the comparatively saintly Beaneaters took on a decidedly moralistic air."
amazon

For 1897 Orioles, Keeler swung a big little stick Baseball: 'Wee Willie'
"It's Sept. 27, 1897, and Baltimore's Union Park is filling fast: 25,000 pennant-crazed baseball 'cranks' converge on the stadium at the edge of town to root on the Orioles against first-place Boston. A half-game separates the teams; the National League title is at stake. The crowd surges into the wooden park, trampling the gate on 25th Street as thousands stream onto the grounds, armed with noisemakers of all kinds -- horns, stovepipes and tin cans filled with stones. The cacophony dies quickly.

 Oriole Park III, 1897

 Boston wins, 19-10, wresting the title from the three-time defending NL champions. The Orioles bow meekly but for their smallest player, 'Wee Willie' Keeler, who goes 4-for-4 and scores four runs against Boston pitcher Kid Nichols, a future Hall of Famer. 'Lion-hearted Keeler never gave up to the very end, but kept on cracking out safe hits to the last,' The Sun reports. A century ago, bands tooted at Orioles games, fans rooted from nearby housetops and summer belonged to the mousy son of an Irish trolley switchman who summed up his success with a shrug and a sound bite: I hit 'em where they ain't."
Baltimore Sun

[PDF] A Game of Brawl. The Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Battle for the 1897 Pennant

castoff

"A player who has been let go or dismissed by a team. Occasionally, a castoff from one team goes on to become successful with another. Syn. discard. 1ST USE. 1897. 'None of the twirling cast-offs of the Orioles have cleaved a large field of congealed aqua, as the erudite savant, Dod Clarke, would it' (The Washington Post, June 14)."
Paul Dickson, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary

Huntington Avenue Grounds

Huntington Avenue Grounds 1901 - 1911

"Huntington Avenue American League Base Ball Grounds is the full name of the baseball stadium that formerly stood in Boston, Massachusetts and was the first home field for the Boston Red Sox (known informally as the 'Boston Americans' until 1908) from 1901-1911. The stadium, built for $35,000, was located across the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad tracks from the South End Grounds, home of the Boston Braves. ... The playing field was built on a former circus lot and was fairly large by modern standards-530 feet to center field, later expanded to 635 feet in 1908. It had many quirks not seen in modern baseball stadiums, including patches of sand in the outfield where grass would not grow, and a tool shed in deep center field that was actually in play."
Wikipedia

"... Sand, Wood and Smoke. It is said that the playing field, made up mostly of weeds and sand, sloped upward toward deep center. But this would have been only one of many hazards associated with playing here. Balls hit into a tool shed out there (which would have had to travel over 600 feet) were in play. Probably the most formidable obstacle might have been the fans who, when they weren't standing on the field behind ropes, apparently came out of the stands to aid in arguments with the umpires. That may be what happened to result in the unusual image shown below from a 1910 game against the Tigers. Despite wearing hats and coats to the games, it appears that this was a pretty rowdy bunch. It is well documented that they came primarily to gamble and drink (some things never change). They can be seen in photos to climb over fences both to get into the park -- and again to get out of it. There is only evidence of a single entry point for the entire structure yet it is apparent that those sitting in the distant centerfield bleachers could take a shortcut across the field to get to their seats. Given the bad field conditions, groundskeepers probably didn't mind."
Huntington Avenue Grounds

1904 Boston Americans Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox’s First Home Game, in 1901 at Huntington Avenue Grounds
"The Red Sox began life in Boston at Huntington Avenue Grounds, the predecessor to Fenway Park, on May 8, 1901. The next day’s Boston Globe wrote of the 12-4 win over Philadelphia, which gave the Sox a 6-5 record: 'It was the birth of a major league baseball club for Boston. Eleven thousand five hundred persons went to dedicate the new grounds on Huntington av and cheer for the members of Capt Collins’ team. The day was an ideal one for sport and the large crowd were the essence of good nature. It was a regular holiday attendance, and the peanut man was in high glee, as he sailed his paper bags among the joyous throngs on the bleachers. With new grounds, and practically new teams, the lovers of the sport were not too particular about the style of ball played, so long as the home team came out victorious.'"
Misc.Baseabll

"Fenway Park has been home to the century-old Red Sox franchise for over 90 years. And while the 'lyric little bandbox' is synonymous with Boston Red Sox baseball, few fans know about the predecessor to the current stadium, the ballpark that actually gave birth to the franchise. The American League began operations in 1901 with eight charter franchises, and with an announcement on January 28 of that year the team that would become known as the Red Sox was officially inducted into the League and the city. The announcement of the team was preceded by Connie Mack's mission to Boston to locate a tract of land within the city that would be used for a ballpark."
Boston's Pastime

Misc.Baseball: The First Game at Fenway Park: April 20, 1912

Misc.Baseball: The Duel Between Smoky Joe Wood and Walter Johnson at Fenway Park in September 1912


Huntington Avenue Grounds 1911

Greatness in Waiting: An Illustrated History of the Early New York Yankees, 1903-1919

"Before they acquired Babe Ruth or won a single championship, the New York Yankees (ne Highlanders) inspired the strongest of feelings in baseball circles. Stars such as Jack Chesbro, Hal Chase, and Brooklyner Willie Keeler had loud followers, and the team made loyal fans of those who disliked the crosstown Giants or Dodgers. Even Ban Johnson prized the franchise, which gave his upstart American League a foothold in the nation's most populous city. Baltimoreans, on the other hand, nurtured an animus toward the team, which only a few years earlier had been called the Orioles. And former Orioles manager John McGraw hatched a plan, along with Giants owner Andrew Freedman, to sabotage the new club. This heavily illustrated volume combines a fully documented history of the deadball-era Yankees with more than 190 photographs of the people, places and events that figured prominently in the story."
amazon

Addie Joss

"Adrian 'Addie' Joss (April 12, 1880 – April 14, 1911), nicknamed 'The Human Hairpin,' was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He pitched for the Cleveland Bronchos, later known as the Naps, between 1902 and 1910. Joss, who was 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg), pitched the fourth perfect game in baseball history. His 1.89 career earned run average (ERA) is the second-lowest in MLB history. ... After an offseason contract dispute between Joss, Toledo and Cleveland, he debuted with the Cleveland club in April 1902. Joss led the league in shutouts that year. By 1905, Joss had completed the first of his four consecutive 20-win seasons. Off the field, Joss worked as a newspaper sportswriter from 1906 until his death. In 1908, he pitched a perfect game during a tight pennant race that saw Cleveland finish a half-game out of first place; it was the closest that Joss came to a World Series berth. The 1910 season was his last, and Joss missed most of the year due to injury. In April 1911, Joss became ill and he died the same month due to tuberculous meningitis."
Wikipedia

"For nine seasons Addie Joss was one of the best pitchers in the history of the American League, posting four 20-win seasons, capturing two ERA titles, and tossing two no-hitters (one of them a perfect game) and seven one-hitters. Of Joss's 160 career victories 45 were shutouts, and his career 1.89 ERA ranks second all-time only to his long-time rival Ed Walsh among players with 1,000 innings pitched. An exceptional control pitcher with a deceptive pitching motion, the right-handed Joss employed a corkscrew delivery, turning his back entirely to the batter before coming at him with a sidearm motion that confused most hitters. 'Joss not only had great speed and a fast-breaking curve,' Baseball Magazine observed in 1911, 'but [also] a very effective pitching motion, bringing the ball behind him with a complete body swing and having it on the batter almost before the latter got sight of it.'"
SABR

Addie Joss Perfect Game Box Score
"Addie Joss had an uncanny delivery which started behind his right hip and appeared at the last moment - often with blazing speed. In the middle of a four way pennant race he was called on to face Big Ed Walsh and he rose to the occasion with this, the second perfect game in American League history. ... How tense was the crowd in this battle of immortals? One reporter wrote, 'A mouse working his way along the grandstand floor would have sounded like a shovel scraping over concrete,' and a half century later Arthur Daley of the New York Times described the performance by Addie Joss with, 'the most astonishing clutch job baseball has had.' The Cleveland Indians were called the Naps during this time frame because their manager was non other than hall of famer Larry 'Nap' Lajoie who managed while playing second base."
Baseball Almanac

Addie Joss on Baseball: Collected Newspaper Columns and World Series Reports 1907-1909
"... Beyond the obvious interest of Joss's newspaper column to an Indians column, Joss and his writing sideline has been known to regular readers for some time. Like most memes, 'Addie Joss was a hack' wasn't started on purpose; it was a off-the-cuff retort by Jay to Chuck in a 2007 game thread, and it kind of grew from there. The phrase has some truth to it; during several offseasons, Joss was a regular columnist and sports editor for the Toledo News-Bee, a paper that was trying to compete with the dominant Toledo Blade. Nigel D. Cochran, the owner of the News-Bee, had gambled that bringing on Joss, a very popular player in his adopted home town, would increase the paper's circulation, and the gamble paid off in spades, with Joss's columns becoming a major draw to the city's rabid sports fans."
Let's Go Tribe

2012 October: The "Joss Game" All-Stars

Ebbets Field - Brooklyn Ballparks

Ebbets Field, 1920 World Series Game

Ebbets Field, one of the finest baseball parks in the country, stands as a lasting tribute to the national game in this borough. -- Brooklyn Eagle, October 26, 1916

"All kinds of hoopla had surrounded the move of his Brooklyn club to a new Washington Park in 1898, but as early as 1908 Charles Ebbets was dissatisfied with the place. It could no longer hold large enough crowds, even after a substantial renovation, and was aging fast. Ebbets looked around for alternative sites, and began in September 1908 to buy up lots in Pigtown, a small slum area on the border between Flatbush and Crown Heights, as quietly as possible. Soon he had accumulated all of the block bounded by Bedford Avenue, Sullivan Place, Cedar Place (now McKeever Place), and Montgomery Street, apart from one small lot. Ebbets could not trace the owner, but after a search throughout America and Europe he was eventually found in New Jersey, and in December, 1911 the final purchase was completed. Architect Clarence Randall 

Ebbets Field, Hot Dogs

Van Buskirk (a distant cousin of BrooklynBallPark.com's own Andrew Ross) had masterminded alterations to Washington Park in 1908, and Ebbets went back to him, asking for a monument to the game of baseball. Van Buskirk produced a breathtaking design, grand in scale and rich in fine details. The stadium was built by Castle Brothers, at a cost of $750,000. In order to finance construction, Ebbets sold half the team to the McKeever Brothers, Steve and Ed. Ground was broken at the site on March 4, 1912, with more than 500 people present to hear a speech from Borough President Alfred Steers, who recalled his youth, peeking through the knotholes to watch the Atlantic-Red Stocking game of 1870 at the Capitoline Grounds. ..."
Brooklyn Ballparks

The Great 19th Century Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball

"The authoritative compendium of facts, statistics, photographs, and analysis that defines baseball in its formative first decades. This comprehensive reference work covers the early years of major league baseball from the first game—May 4, 1871, a 2-0 victory for the Fort Wayne Kekiongas over the visiting Cleveland Forest City team—through the 1900 season. Baseball historian David Nemec presents complete team rosters and detailed player, manager, and umpire information, with a wealth of statistics to warm a fan’s heart. Sidebars cover a variety of topics, from oddities—the team that had the best record but finished second—to analyses of why Cleveland didn’t win any pennants in the 1890s. Additional benefits include dozens of rare illustrations and narrative accounts of each year’s pennant race. Nemec also carefully charts the rule changes from year to year as the game developed by fits and starts to formulate the modern rules. The result is an essential work of reference and at the same time a treasury of baseball history."
Project MUSE

W - 19th-century National League teams

amazon: The Great 19th Century Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball

1907 World Series

1907 World Series

"The 1907 World Series featured the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers, with the Cubs winning the Series four games to none (with one tie) for their first championship. The Cubs came back strong from their shocking loss in the 1906 World Series. The Tigers' young star Ty Cobb came into the Series with the first of his many league batting championships. With pitching dominance over the Tigers and Cobb, the Cubs allowed only three runs in the four games they won, while stealing 18 bases off the rattled Tigers. Tigers pitcher 'Wild Bill' Donovan struck out twelve Cubs in Game 1. Although that matched Ed Walsh's total in Game 3 against the Cubs in 1906, it was across twelve innings. Donovan struck out just ten Cubs in the first nine innings of the game."
Wikipedia

Chicago Cubs third baseman Harry Steinfeldt

Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers in the 1907 World Series
"The 1907 World Series was an exciting match up, with the powerhouse Chicago Cubs facing a new challenge -- the young phenom Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers. The following is a condensed excerpt from The Best Team Ever, a Novel of America, Chicago and the 1907 Cubs. Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers, a fierce competitor with an antagonistic combative attitude, spent every moment of his waking life trying to find an edge. Sometimes, in a game already lost or won, Ty Cobb attempted to take an extra base on a single where he knew he had no chance, or to advance from first to home on a routine single, simply to set the stage for the future, to plant, as he put it, 'the threat.'"
1907 Cubs

squab squad

"A team to rookies and substitutes. 1ST USE. 1911. 'While on the road with the squab squad he slept for two nights in a Pullman berth with his right arm in the hammock, which he had been told was put there for the particular benefit of the baseball players' (Charles E. Van Loan, The Big League, p. 199; David Shulman)."
Paul Dickson, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary

Baseball: The Early Years

"Now available in paperback, Harold Seymour and Dorothy Seymour Mills' Baseball: The Early Years recounts the true story of how baseball came into being and how it developed into a highly organized business and social institution. The Early Years, traces the growth of baseball from the time of the first recorded ball game at Valley Forge during the revolution until the formation of the two present-day major leagues in 1903. By investigating previously unknown sources, the book uncovers the real story of how baseball evolved from a gentleman's amateur sport of 'well-bred play followed by well-laden banquet tables' into a professional sport where big leagues operate under their own laws. Offering countless anecdotes and a wealth of new information, the authors explode many cherished myths, including the one which claims that Abner Doubleday 'invented' baseball in 1839. They describe the influence of baseball on American business, manners, morals, social institutions, and even show business, as well as depicting the types of men who became the first professional ball players, club owners, and managers, including Spalding, McGraw, Comiskey, and Connie Mack."
amazon

Early Catchers Paid a Heavy Price
"... Pioneer catchers were daredevils who stood directly behind the batter with a simple rubber mouthpiece as their only protection. The mask arrived in 1877 and was soon joined by the chest protector and the mitt, but these safeguards offered minimal cushioning because full range of motion was valued far more than safety. The position was made still more hazardous by ignorance of the cumulative danger posed by the inevitable blows to the head, which has now been made clear by looking at boxers in the late 20th century and football players today. Catchers earned high praise if, after being knocked unconscious, they insisted on completing the game. A typical 1883 account described the mask of George Myers of the Port Hurons in Michigan being ripped off his face by a foul ball. He gamely borrowed a replacement, only to be clobbered on the next pitch by another 'terrible blow' that 'threatened to disable him,' The Cleveland Herald reported."
NY Times

Legends of the Dead Ball Era (1900–1919) in the Collection of Jefferson R. Burdick

"The term 'dead ball era' refers to the era of American baseball when the combination of cavernous ballparks, spongy baseballs, and pitcher-friendly rules resulted in games with few home runs. Strategy was important to the sport at this time, with great value placed on individual runs, stolen bases, sacrifice bunts, and other maneuvers. Beginning July 8, the exhibition Legends of the Dead Ball Era (1900–1919) in the Collection of Jefferson R. Burdick, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will feature nearly 600 historical trade cards of baseball greats from the time. A highlight of the installation, which is drawn entirely from the Metropolitan’s renowned and extensive holdings of such historical trade cards, will be a rare card from the T206 White Border series of Honus Wagner, who was a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1900 to 1917. Other well-known players from the dead ball era whose cards will be shown include such luminaries as Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins, and Napoléon Lajoie, who are still among the all-time hit leaders; and the pitchers Walter ohnson and Christy Mathewson, who trail only the indomitable Cy Young in career wins."
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rascals and Heroes, Before the Babe
"The annual All-Star Game is scheduled to take place on Tuesday at that crime scene in Queens known as Citi Field, where the New York Mets routinely commit misdemeanor assaults on the heart. A night of celebrity baseball, neatly wrapped in red, white and blue bunting, might be just the thing to clean the slate and help the Mets see the light, and maybe a fastball or two. But if the All-Star break for many fans is a welcome timeout in a long season, all I can think of is some century-old baseball doggerel about an ancient Chicago Cubs infield: Tinker to Evers to Chance. Tinker to Evers to Chance. Tinker to Evers to Chance. I don’t care that much about the All-Star Game, but Tinker to Evers to Chance."
NY Times

NY Times: ‘Legends of the Deadball Era’

Mike Donlin

Mike Donlin

"Michael Joseph Donlin (May 30, 1878 – September 24, 1933) was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Perfectos/Cardinals (1899–1900), Baltimore Orioles (1901), Cincinnati Reds (1902–1904), New York Giants (1904–1908, 1911, 1914), Boston Rustlers (1911), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1912). He was one of the finest hitters of the dead-ball era. Later he turned to acting. ... 'Turkey Mike', nicknamed because of his gait while walking, hit .340 with Baltimore, which was good for second in the league. But in March of 1902, he was sentenced to six months in prison for his actions during a drinking binge and was promptly released by the Orioles. After serving his time, Donlin was picked up by the Cincinnati Reds and hit .287 for them in the last month of the season. ... On October 26, 1908, Donlin made his stage debut in Stealing Home, a one-act play written by Donlin and Hite. Although the reviews for Donlin were mixed, critics raved over his wife's performance and the show became a smash hit. Claiming he made more money from his play, Donlin left baseball and vowed never to return to baseball but after 3 successful years, the play's popularity diminished and with Hite not able to land any successful roles, Donlin did return to baseball."
Wikipedia

"A flamboyant playboy and partygoer who dressed impeccably and always had a quip and a handshake for everyone he met, Mike Donlin was 'one of the most picturesque, most written-about, most likeable athletes that ever cut his mark on the big circuit.' Donlin also could hit as well as anyone in baseball during the Deadball Era. Though he rarely walked, the powerfully built 5' 9" left-hander was a masterful curveball hitter with power to all fields. His career slugging percentage of .468 compares favorably to better-known contemporary power hitters like Honus Wagner (.466) and Sam Crawford (.452), and his .333 lifetime batting average might have earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame had he sustained it over a full career. But Donlin was 'not serious about the game,' and his love of the bottle and frequent stints in Vaudeville limited him to the equivalent of only seven full seasons."
SABR

Turkey Mike Donlin, A Reluctant Ballplayer (Part 1)
"... Donlin, often in poor health as a child, found odd jobs befitting his age and even worked as a machinist as a teenager. About 1893, he was hired as a candy hawker aboard a western-bound train. He landed in California and settled there. Donlin had little money and seemingly few prospects after departing from the train. His was however extremely fast. He hired a manager and began running races for cash. Eventually, they found their way to Santa Cruz, a resort town. At a track in Pacific Grove, outside Santa Cruz, his racing career ended due to a freak accident. Winning the race, Donlin turned to catch sight of his opponent, Tommy Simms, just as Donlin was about to cross the finish line. Unfortunately, one of the tape holders didn’t let go as the runner passed the finish. Donlin was sliced about the face and strangled (which might be a problem for someone finishing a foot race) as he tumbled."
Baseball History - Part 1, Baseball History - Part 2

"Most ballplayers’ careers are like a roller-coaster ride, a whirlwind succession of high points and declines that ends all too abruptly. But that of Mike Donlin was wilder than most. For the charismatic star whose strut earned him the nickname 'Turkey Mike,' life was full of turmoil, triumph, and tragedy. Hitting a baseball was the easy part. ... Like many players of the time, Donlin craved the nightlife, and his booming voice drew attention in bars across the country. He was convivial up to a point but didn’t hold his liquor well and could turn nasty and even violent. In fact, he was sleeping off a bender in a jail in Santa Cruz, California, when the first summons to the Major Leagues arrived. That wasn’t the last time he experienced simultaneous highs and lows."
The National Pastime Museum

YouTube: Turkey Mike Donlin - Another T206 Moment

Random Game Callback, July 16, 1909

Ed_Summers

"In the longest game of its kind in the history of the American League both then and now, the last place Washington Senators and first Detroit Tigers met at Bennett Park in Detroit and played an 18-inning 0-0 tie halted because of darkness. The two-time defending AL champion Tigers, managed by Hughie Jennings, were a star-filled squad led by Ty Cobb. Ed Summers got the start on the mound for Detroit. Washington, managed by Joe Cantillon, was a terrible squad that had never finished higher than sixth in its history. The only real star on Washington was 21-year old flamethrower Walter Johnson. And he didn't pitch in this game. The starting pitcher was lefty Dolly Gray. Gray was pitching the game of his life, holding the Tigers to just one hit, a leadoff single in the first by leftfielder Matty McIntyre, before leaving the game in the ninth with a strain in his side. (Probably what we would call an oblique strain in this day.) Bob Groom came in to relieve and finished up."
The Griddle

1909 Washington

"July 16, 1909: Bennett Park, Detroit. At 3:30, Oron Edgar 'Kickapoo Ed' Summers took the mound for the Tigers against Washington's rookie hurler Dolly Gray. 18 innings. At 6:45 pm, home plate umpire John Kerin called the game because of darkness, much to the displeasure of both players and spectators. For 3 hours and 15 minutes, neither team crossed the plate in the first 18-inning scoreless game of the 20th century. Summers went the distance, pitching the equivalent of two games. He surrendered only 7 hits with 2 walks (one of which was intentional) and 10 K. Gray pitched 8 innings, yielding only one hit while walking one. He didn't strike out a batter. He was taken out in the ninth when he apparently tore a muscle in his side while pitching to the leadoff batter. Dolly's replacement, Bob Groom, gave up 5 hits, walked 6, and struck out 8 in 10 innings."
Golden Rankings

Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession

"When Dave Jamieson's parents sold his childhood home a few years ago, forcing him to clear out his old room, he happily rediscovered a prized boyhood possession: his baseball card collection. Now was the time to cash in on his 'investments,' but all the card shops had closed, and eBay was no help, either. Cards were selling there for next to nothing. What had happened? In Mint Condition, Jamieson's fascinating history of baseball cards, he finds the answer, and much more."
Dave Jamieson

The Great Baseball Card Bubble
"... Around the mid-1970s, a small cabal of serious baseball card collectors grew wise to the fact that their cards had become valuable. Cards had almost always had prices attached to them, even when prolific collector and cataloger Jefferson Burdick began sending out his Card Collectors Bulletin in the 1930s. But cards that had been worth a few cents were now worth a few bucks, and some of the rarer specimens, such as the T206 Honus Wagner, were commanding hundreds and occasionally thousands of dollars apiece. The number of trade shows sprouting up in the East and the Midwest testified to a growing market."
Slate

Napoleon LaJoie

"... But onto the book itself. Jamieson dug deeply into the rich history of baseball cards, and I learned a lot from this book. The first time baseball cards created a sensation among young boys was in the 1880's, when cigarette companies inserted cards into their packs of cigarettes. This had the dual effect of both promoting brand loyalty to collect more cards, and also of making these young boys eager smokers. Win-win for the cigarette manufacturers. According to Jamieson, the popularity of the baseball trading cards helped establish cigarettes as a tobacco product at a time when they were seen as hopelessly lower-class. (People with status smoked cigars or pipes.)"
Mark My Words

"It's a form of megalomania, of course, one famous card collector once said of his hobby—and, as Jamieson explains, there are plenty of people willing to cash in on collectors' obsessions; the secondary market for baseball cards may be as much as a half-billion dollars annually. It used to be even stronger: Jamieson got interested in the history of baseball cards when he rediscovered his own adolescent stash only to find that its value had plummeted in the mid-1990s. His loss is our gain as he tracks the evolution of the card from its first appearance in cigarette packs in the late 19th century through the introduction of bubble gum and up to the present. The historical narrative is livened by several interviews, including conversations with the two men who launched Topps (for decades the first name in cards) and a collector who's dealt in million-dollar cards. ... - Publishers Weekly"
amazon: Mint Condition

Robison Field

"Robison Field is the best-known of several names given to a former Major League Baseball park in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the home of the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League from April 27, 1893 until June 6, 1920. Today's Cardinals of the National League began in 1882, as the St. Louis Browns of the then-major American Association. They won four championships during the Association's ten-year existence of 1882 through 1891. During that decade, the team was playing their home games at Sportsman's Park, at the corner of Grand and Dodier. In 1892, four of the Association clubs were absorbed into the National League, and the Association folded. Sportsman's Park remained the home of the Browns during their first NL season. Although the Browns had been the most successful of the Association clubs, they fell on hard times for some years after the merger. For 1893, owner Chris von der Ahe moved his team a few blocks to the northwest and opened a 'New' Sportsman's Park, at the corner of Natural Bridge and Vandeventer. The move to this particular site was part of a "deal", as the property had been owned by a trolley company, who then ran a trolley line out near the ballpark."
Wikipedia

1901 Fire At Robison Field

"The first baseball park built for the club that became the National League St. Louis Cardinals was originally called New Sportsman's Park. Now most commonly known as Robison Field, it was also called League Park and Cardinal Field during its existence. Though the Mound City never realized a pennant there, the park served National League baseball from 1893 to 1920. Fourteen members of that early National League organization have since been immortalized in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. ... Located directly across the street from a popular city park called Fair Grounds Park, the site for the new ball grounds occupied the estate of a wealthy St. Louis real estate broker, Jesse G. Lindell. While the city west of Grand Avenue experienced urban development, Von der Ahe eagerly accepted a fifteen-year lease with terms of $1500 per year for eight years and $2000 per annum for the remaining seven. After his enterprise, the Sportsman's Park Association, obtained approval for a building permit for a frame grandstand and pavilion with an estimated cost of $45,000, the ballpark reached completion by the spring of 1893."
SABR

Crowd on game, 1912

"Located on the former site of the St. Louis Maroons' Union Grounds Park, Robison Field was a wooden park featuring tall iron columns, which were placed behind the stands in order not to interfere with the fans' view of the field. The park was variously called League Park, New Sportsman's Park, and Vandeventer Lot until the Robison brothers bought the Cardinals in 1899 and renamed the park. Robison Field was struck by fire six times in its first ten years and was constantly being rebuilt. A fire during a 1898 game destroyed the grandstand, half of the bleachers, and a nearby saloon. Another blaze occurred during a game on May 4, 1901, but each time, the park was quickly rebuilt. Midway through the 1920 season, Cardinals owner Sam Breadon was forced to sell the stadium for financial reasons, and the Cardinals took up roost with the St. Louis Browns in Sportsman's Park. Beaumont High School today stands where Robison Field once was."
Baseball Reference

1909 St. Louis Cardinal

1

"... In the 1880s, the St. Louis Browns of the American Association played home games at Sportsman’s Park at Grand and Dodier. After the merger with the National League in 1892, the team that would become the Cardinals played there for a year until their new venue was ready, opening in 1893 as New Sportsman’s Park. A fire in 1898 precipitated new ownership, the Robisons, who brought Cy Young with them from Cleveland. They rebuilt the stadium, re-named it League Park and adopted a new nickname, the Perfectos. The nickname didn’t stick, mainly because the new owners changed the team colors to red and white instigating a new nickname. The venue became known as Robison Field. The stadium was damaged by fire again in 1901. The Robisons’ niece, Helene Britton, inherited the team in 1911 and officially changed the name of New Sportsman’s Park to Robison Field. During that decade, competition from the American League Browns and Federal League Terriers led to financial problems, and Robison Field fell into disrepair."
The Cardinal Nation blog

John McGraw

"John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934), nicknamed 'Little Napoleon' and 'Muggsy,' was a Major League Baseball player and long-time manager of the New York Giants. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. Much-lauded as a player, McGraw was one of the standard-bearers of dead-ball era major league baseball. Known for having fists as quick as his temper, McGraw used every advantage he could get as both a player and manager. He took full advantage of baseball's initial structure that only provided for one umpire, becoming notorious for tripping, blocking and impeding a baserunner in any way he could while the umpire was distracted by the flight of the ball. His profligacy in employing such tactics may have led to additional umpires being assigned to monitor the basepaths."
Wikipedia

"John McGraw was perhaps the National League's most influential figure in the Deadball Era. From 1902 to 1932 he led the New York Giants to 10 NL pennants, three World Series championships, and 21 first- or second-place finishes in 29 full seasons at their helm. His 2,784 managerial victories are second only to Connie Mack's 3,731, but in 1927 Mack himself proclaimed, 'There has been only one manager--and his name is McGraw.' The pugnacious McGraw's impact on the game, moreover, was even greater than his record suggests. As a player he helped develop "inside baseball," which put a premium on strategy and guile, and later managed like he'd played, seeking out every advantage for his Giants."
SABR

When The Yankees Beat The Giants In The 1923 Series, A New Era Began
"In 1912 the New York baseball club in the American League was a sorry operation indeed. Known as the Highlanders, they played in rickety, wooden Hilltop Park at Broadway and 165th Street and finished last in the league that year. A few blocks away, John J. McGraw's New York Giants were the most famous team in baseball—the most feared, the most loved, the most envied, the most imitated. They were also the incarnation of McGraw's vision of the game: 'Inside baseball,' he called it, 'scientific baseball,' a shrewd amalgam of bunts, steals, sacrifices, platoons and strategies. Play for a run or two, then make them stand up. This was the august old game—refined and purified, to be sure—played the way it had been since Grandpa's time. But McGraw had elevated it to an art form, and the Giants became the team to contend with."
SI

John McGraw's Trouble at The Lambs: Part I
"... Despite this, he was well liked and held in high esteem, particularly throughout his career in New York. While aggression and grit were considered positive attributes in baseball, particularly in the early days of the game, McGraw often took things too far. One such event happened in 1920, and actually had nothing to with baseball. It was the result of an argument over whether Brits or Americans made better stage actors. Despite such an inconsequential topic, it greatly embarrassed McGraw, and endangered his standing in New York and baseball. Around 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, August 8th, McGraw arrived at his 109th West Street apartment in a cab, having come from The Lambs, a private club known for its patronage of the theatre and high class clientele."
The Baseball Historian - Part I, Part II

YouTube: John McGraw and Christy Mathewson