In 1916, The Newspaper Enterprise Association ran a series of brief articles called “One Minute Talks with Ballplayers.”
Robert “Braggo” Roth, in the midst of a .286 season for the Cleveland Indians:
“I certainly feel as if I owe Leslie Nunamaker of the Yankees a vote of thanks for consenting to trade bats with me earlier in the season.
“At the start of the season I was using a bat I had obtained from Joe Jackson (Roth was one of three players traded by the Chicago White Sox for Jackson in 1915) in a trade but one afternoon during preliminary practice I borrowed a big black bat from Nunamaker who had been hitting to beat the band. I thought I might change my luck. Sure enough, I started to hit ‘em on the nose with my new ‘Betsy’ and have been going good ever since.
Roth and his “Betsy”
“I suppose I’ll hit a slump the minute I lose that stick.”
Nunamaker appears to have done OK with the “trade” as well; he hit .296 in 260 at bats that season. Jackson hit .341 for the White Sox.
These are very interesting. Thanks for sharing them.
Thank you. I think I have a couple more for next week.