Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 11-19-2021

Toledo News-Bee, November 19, 1921:

FEW SIX-FOOTERS ARE GOOD PITCHERS

Clark Griffith says that few pitchers who measure better than six feet are worth while. When they come around six feet six inches, then seldom turn out to be great pitchers.

Their height makes it difficult for them to field, and makes them a sucker for bunts. According to Griffith, the late Addie Joss is the only pitcher who went well over six field who could field.

If Jim Kaat winning 16 Gold Gloves and being 6’4” would have blown Griffith’s mind, Randy Johnson would have made him spontaneously combust.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 11-10-2021

Wilmington [Delaware] Evening Journal, November 10, 1921:

Babe Pinelli, who had a chance with Detroit and was sent back to the Coast League for further seasoning, is said to be ready for another crack at the big show. Pinelli made one ecord as a major leaguer that will stand for a long time. In one season he worked the hidden ball trick four times, pulling it at the expense of such wide-awake fellows as Sam Rice, John McInness and others.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a guy with that kind of baseball brain and attention to detail, Pinelli became an umpire. He was the guy behind the plate for Don Larsen’s perfect game.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 11-5-2021

Chicago Eagle, November 5, 1921:

Branch Rickey’s Cards mind him. During the St. Louis-New York series at the Polo grounds the Cardinals rushed out of the dugout on two occasions, bent on assisting a fellow player who had protected against the call of play.

Each time Branch’s mediating voice called out, “Come, now, boys!” and his players boomeranged back to their seats in the doghouse.

They knew that with Branch Rickey, there would be heck to pay if they made him so angry he said “darn”.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 11-2-2021

Pittsburgh Press, November 2, 1921:

Amos Rusie, the old star pitcher, now connected with the Giants, says it was not a lively ball that caused the heavy hitting in the major leagues last season. He intimated it was poor pitching.

Ah yes, the two eras of baseball: The good pitching era and the bad pitching era.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-28-2021

Pittsburgh Press, October 28, 1921:

[Babe Ruth] arrived in Pittsburgh this morning to begin rehearsals for his vaudeville act, for which he has just signed a 20 weeks’ contract at $3,000 per week.
...
It is said that the Babe will attempt to sing, dance and do a monologue.

On one hand, it was probably terrible. On the other hand, I’d have bought a ticket to watch Babe Ruth sing and dance.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-22-2021

Pittsburgh Press, October 22, 1921:

Babe Ruth is a repentant fence-buster today. The home-run king has given up his barnstorming tour and is expected to go to Chicago in a few days to see Judge Landis and try to explain matters.

Ruth quit his tour at Scranton, Pa., after a long conference with Col. Til Houston of the Yankees. He is said to have admitted to Huston that he saw his error in openly defying the baseball rules and baseball’s high commissioner.

If he was headed to Chicago anyway, maybe he could have stopped off to play some exhibition games in Toledo and Fort Wayne.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-21-2021

Kenna [New Mexico] Record, October 21, 1921:

Col. John H. Wigmore, dean of Northwestern University School of Law, advocates the establishment of a federal department of sport with a seat in the cabinet, and would like to see Judge Landis the first secretary of baseball.
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“The sport should be declared a public service and be taken over by the state for management…This can be done by exercising the power of eminent domain.”

This is horrible, this idea.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-14-2021

New York Herald, October 14, 1921:

GIANTS CHAMPIONS; 1-0 VICTORY IN FINAL SAVED BY RAWLINGS

He stabs drive by Baker; Quick Play to Kelly to Frisch Ends Game.

The Giants are champions. They beat the Yankees 1 to 0 in the eighth and final game.
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From [Waite Hoyt’s] chilled fingers slipped two bases on balls in the first inning. This and a blunder by Peckinpaugh, the Yankee captain, produced the only run.

An injured Babe Ruth pinch hit for Wally Pipp to start the ninth inning but bounced out to first. Two batters later, the Giants were world champs.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-12-2021

Alaska Daily Empire, October 12, 1921:

The Giants won a nerve wrecking pitcher’s battle from the Yankees this afternoon by a score of 2 to 1. The spitballer Douglas won the decision by a hair line over the underhand slinger Carl Mays.
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The series now stands, Giants 4 and the Yankees 3. The series will continue until one team wins five games.

Before the game, John McGraw had speculated that Shufflin’ Phil Douglas might miss his start because of a severe cold, but obviously Douglas came through.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-11-2021

Alaska Daily Empire, October 11, 1921:

GIANTS AND YANKEES EVEN UP WORLD SERIES; BARNES PLACES MYSTICAL SPELL ON THE YANKS

Victory perched on the bats of the Giants this afternoon when the Yankees pitching staff caved-in and engulfed the American Leaguers in an 8 to 5 defeat.
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Barnes pitching cast a mystical spell over the Yankees, 10 of whom were erased at the plate by strike outs.

The Giants had won three out of the last four to tie the best-of-nine series 3-3. Things fell apart for the American League champions when Babe Ruth scraped his elbow stealing third base in Game Two. The site became infected and forced the Babe out of the lineup for most of the rest of the series.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-7-2021

Lakeland Evening Telegram, October 7, 1921:

GIANTS BREAK HOODOO, TAKING THIRD

The Giants slugged their way to victory in the seventh when they bunched eight hits for eight runs. The Yanks used three pitchers in an attempt to stem the tide but the Giants were hitting their pace today and could not be stopped. Up until the seventh inning the game was evenly fought by both teams, the score being tied 4 to 4 at the end of the sixth.

After being shut out in the first two games of the series, the Giants dropped 13 on the Yankees in Game Three.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-6-2021

Wilmington [Delaware] Evening Journal, October 6, 1921:

YANKS WIN SECOND 3-0

HOYT MAKES IT TWO STRAIGHT FOR YANKEES OVER NATIONAL LEAGUERS

That’s the second consecutive 3-0 win for the Yankees, who now lead the series 2-0 without so much as allowing a run. Looks like they have this series well under control.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 10-5-2021

Perth Amboy Evening News, October 5, 1921:

YANKEES WIN
GIANTS SHUT OUT BY MAYS; SCORE IS 3 TO 0
M’Nally Steals Home; Frisch Batting Star

The first New York subway series was underway with the Yankees taking Game One. Frankie Frisch went 4-for-4 and the rest of the Giants went 1-for-26. Shufflin’ Phil Douglas took the loss for the Giants, and while he pitched pretty well and his team was hopeless against Carl Mays, his later actions do make me wonder if he was up to something.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-30-2021

Alaska Daily Empire, September 30, 1921:

Participation in a World Series is the ambition of every ball player. Yet Babe Ruth has it figured that if the Yankees get into the interleague title series this fall it will cost him something approaching $50,000.

For Ruth, participating in the annual blue ribbon event of baseball, will be prevented from barnstorming this season as he did last…He received as much as $3,500 per game for playing in semiprofessional parks.
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All players participating in a World Series are barred that year from engaging in any barnstorming expeditions.

That’s a weird rule. Speaking as a Cleveland fan, I really wish the Babe had been able to barnstorm during the 1921-22 offseason.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-28-2021

Pittsburgh Press, September 28, 1921:

One thing Barney Dreyfuss ought to do when he draws up his 1922 contracts is to put an anti-singing clause in the documents. The Pirates did too much “harmonizing” this season to suit a lot of their followers.

The Buccaneer quartet wasn’t a populat institution by any means. Indeed, many fans thought that the eagerness of some of the players to sing, sing, sing was an indication of a lack of interest in the real work they were paid to do.

I hope none of them had a harmonica.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-23-2021

Great Falls Tribune, September 23, 1921:

Trade Boycott Result of Baseball Rivalry

Because President Bradley of the Virginia league threw out several games played by the Wilson [North Carolina] club, on account of alleged violation of the salary limit, thus forcing Wilson out of first place in the pennant race, the Merchants’ association of [Wilson, NC] has gone on record as opposing trading with Virginia firms.

I’ll give them this much: They supported their local ballclub.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-20-2021

Seattle Star, September 20, 1921:

Claude Derrick, who played for Seattle a short time in 1919, and one of the worst shortstops we ever expect to see in action, is certainly in bad in Toledo, Ohio. After being advanced $1,200 on the season before the American association race started Derrick showed his appreciation by jumping the club recently. He jumped the Seattle team by request. He must have found the fountain of youth, or else they play goofy baseball in that circuit if they will advance a player like Derrick any dough.

Derrick’s career was over at this point, perhaps because he was 35, unreliable, and not all that good. But maybe it’s because he was utterly eviscerated by this columnist.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-16-2021

Pittsburgh Press, September 16, 1921:

Alleging he was accused of “pilfering the pill,” taken out of the grandstand by two burly coppers and given the “razz” by the fans, Ben Hurst, a merchant of [Kansas City] has filed suit for $10,000 damages against the Philadelphia National league baseball club.
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He denied he [took the ball,] but in spite of this was taken to the office, he declares, and, in consequence, suffered a nervous breakdown, deep humiliation, mortification and near prostration.

This seems like a fairly easy dispute to settle. Did he have the baseball? Then he probably took the baseball. If not, he didn’t.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-15-2021

Babe Ruth on being studied by scientists to see how he’s able to hit so many home runs, Pittsburgh Press, September 15, 1921:

“Some time back I was invited to the experimental laboratories of Columbia university and, man, what those experts didn’t make me do.
...
“They harnessed me with wires and tubes until I felt like a cross between a fire horse and a deep-sea diver. The professors were terribly serious and seemed to have a lot of dope I never thought possible. But many a time a doctor says you have lumbago and it turns out to be nothing but chilblains. So with all due respect to my learned friends, I do not agree with all the reasons and theories they evolved about my home-run hitting.

My theory is that Babe Ruth was ridiculously talented.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-10-2021

Indiana Daily Times, September 10, 1921:

“Six more and maybe a dozen,” Babe Ruth, baseball’s champion slugger, said [in Philadelphia] today, in talking about a home run record.

Ruth equaled his 1920 mark of 54 when he hit one off Naylor in yesterday’s game with the Athletics…He has twenty-two games in which to make a new record, the majority of which are to be played in New York, where he has the range on the short right field stands.

As it turned out, six more than 54 was exactly Ruth’s single season limit.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-8-2021

Indiana Daily Times, September 8, 1921:

New Yorkers take off their hats to “Bambino” Ruth. When the Babe hit his fifty-second homer in the second game with the Boston Red Sox yesterday, the game had to be called for five minutes while the umpires and groundkeepers collected a swarm of “straw kellys” that were tossed out of the stands. More than fifty hats were carried to the New York dugout.

The fans weren’t just showing love for the Babe. They were also getting rid of trash; back then you didn’t wear a straw hat after September 15 and people were not kidding about that rule.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-6-2021

Pittsburgh Press, September 6, 1921:

A New York writer the other day remarked that “Babe” Ruth by the end of the season will hold practically every record in baseball. That statement isn’t relished by Harry Salsinger, the Detroit sage, who comes back thusly:

“Ruth will have hit more home runs than any man in modern baseball, but what else? What has Ruth ever done in the way of base stealing? What has he done in sacrifice hitting? What has he accomplished in two and three baggers? What his is batting average? How does his total of runs scored compare with that of the other great players? What are his records for putouts and assists?”

That’s some bad take, Harry. You’re watching a guy who’ll be revered for centuries. Have some fun. Enjoy yourself. Have a beer and relax.

Okay, maybe no beer, this being the 1920s. But still.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 9-2-2021

Pittsburgh Press, September 2, 1921:

“Take it from me,” says Billy Murray, sage veteran of 40 baseball seasons, according to the Cincinnati Times-Star, “the big league team that pays a barrel of money for the Baltimore players is going to get stung. Stung extremely hard…The International League is a joke, a jest, almost a crime against baseball. It is made up of hasbeens, neverwases and hopeless cases. It contains seven jokes and one ball club.

Don’t hold back, Billy. Tell us how you really feel.

The 1921 Baltimore Orioles had a couple of 21-year-olds that were obviously useless. A left-handed pitcher named Robert Grove and an infielder named Max Bishop who definitely had no chance to play 12 years in the big leagues and get on base at a .423 clip. Best to let someone else buy them.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 8-30-2021

Pittsburgh Press, August 30, 1921:

In a recent [Adirondack League] game between Malone and Loon Lake at the latter resort, one of the Malone players busted one on the trade-mark for a humming bird into short right field. The outfielder came in fast, trying hard for a pickup, but as he stooped to scoop the ball, it faded from the scene.

A frantic search revealed that the old apple had shot cleanly into a woodchuck hole, down which it sailed so far that new ball had to be put in play. It was probably the shortest home run on record.

At least until Benito Santiago’s bunt home run off of Mike Witt.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 8-26-2021

Connecticut Labor News, August 26, 1921:

Some of the Giants were chiding Slim Sallee for clinging to a soft hat in the straw hat season, which led the veteran pitcher to explain why he did so.

“I never had a straw hat yet that didn’t bring me bad luck, and I’m off them for life…the next time you see old Sal with a straw hat on his head just come right up and knock it off.

The first shots were being fired in the buildup to the Straw Hat Riot of 1922.