A 1929 Mail Pouch Tobacco advertisement featuring Bubbles Hargrave, Hack Wilson, and Goose Goslin
“Ball Players Know!”
“Any Mail Pouch chewer will tell you that here is one tobacco that does not cause indigestion or heartburn no matter how often you chew it”
Hargrave, who spent of his career in Cincinnati, settled in that city, owning a tavern for a time and was a frequent source for local reporters to reminisce about his career and opine on the current state of the game. In 1956, he was asked by The Enquirer if the game had improved in the last 30 years. Hargrave said it had, for the most part, but pointed out that it could still be improved:
“There’s too much delay–too much changing of pitchers and running out to the mound every time a pitcher gets into a jam. I’d stop all consultation between pitcher and manager out on the rubber.
“When we were going to make a change, the manager announced to the umpire who was coming in to pitch and that was it, except for a short session between pitcher and catcher to make sure of the signs.
“In my years under Pat Moran he would ask me about a pitcher with, ‘How is he?’ If I replied, ‘Not so hot,’ he’s just pitch somebody else.”
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