“Used to Come Upon Field Staggeringly Drunk”
Arthur Irwin was a scout for the New York Highlanders in 1912 when he declared to William A. Phelon of The Cincinnati Times-Star that, “Players who are hard drinkers in the big leagues are scarce now.”
Arthur Irwin
Irwin said a combination of “the improvement in morals” of players, and more so the fact that current players were “money mad” were the reason:
“Long ago the hail fellow and the good fellow, who believed that drinking was the jolliest part of life, were numerous in the big leagues, and there were surely some wonderful soaks in the profession. Stars whose names will shine forever used to come upon the field staggering drunk, and other stars who had sense enough not to exhibit their follies in public would wait till the game was over and then tank up till dawn.”
Irwin told Phelon about King Kelly’s American Association team:
“The club that tried to play ball under King Kel in 1891 at Cincinnati was about the limit. They made their headquarters at a saloon across the street from the ball park and some of them could be found asleep there at almost all hours when not actually in the game. Some of the champion Chicago White Stockings and some of the old St. Louis Browns were likewise marvels on the jag, and it has become a baseball legend that the Browns defeated Anson’s men for the world’s championship (in 1886) because (John) Clarkson, Kelly and two or three others were beautifully corned.”
Clarkson won his first two starts of the series, but lost his next two. Kelly hit just .208 in the series and St. Louis won four games to two.
Jennings’ Six Best
In 1916, Hughie Jennings “wrote” a short piece for the Wheeler syndicate that appeared in several papers across the country, about the six best pitchers he faced:
Hughie Jennings
“Jack Taylor and Nig Cuppy had fair speed and a fine curve ball, with the added advantage of a slow ball, and good control. The latter, I contend is the most important asset a pitcher can possess. My six greatest pitchers are:
Jack Taylor
Nig Cuppy
“Rusie, Nichols and Young had wonderful speed and fast breaking curves. Cy Seymour also belonged to this case.”
“Batters Might as Well Hang up Their Sticks”
Add Ned Hanlon to the long list of prognosticators who were sure a rule change would be the death of the game—in this case, the decision in 1887 that abolished the rule allowing batters to call for high or low pitches.
Ned Hanlon
According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
“Hanlon of the Detroits says the abolition of the high and low ball was a fatal mistake, and the batters might as well hang up their sticks. Ned argues that as the pitcher has the space between the knee and the shoulder in which to throw the ball, all he has got to do is vary the height of his delivery with every ball he pitches, and thus completely delude the batter. He claims that pitchers capable of doing head work will have a picnic, and that Baldwin will be particularly successful.”
Baseball History Daily 
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