During the 1912 season pitcher Bob Groom was having what would be the best season of his career; he was 24-13 with a 2.62 ERA for the Washington Senators.
His former teammate John “Buddy” Ryan was hitting .271 during his first season with the Cleveland Naps.
Groom and Ryan had been teammates with the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) in 1908. Ryan claimed that while they played together Groom had nearly quit baseball. According to The (Portland) Oregonian:
“(Groom) was a most sensitive fellow. One day we were playing San Francisco and had them 4 to 1 in the sixth inning, when Groom became a trifle wild , Mac (Walter “Judge” McCredie) jerked him after he had filled the bases with none out. Bobby did not like it and he threw off his glove angrily and walked to the bench made as a wet hen.
According to Ryan, when Groom reached the bench he told McCredie he was through with the “blamed old club” and was going home. All three San Francisco runners scored, tying the game. The following inning:
“We got the bases full and (Otis) Ote Johnson up, when Groom ambled dejectedly out of the clubhouse, carrying his little grip with all of his baseball togs and stuff in it. He got about as far as third base when Ote landed on one for one of those long triples of his, and Bobby forgot about quitting the club and going home, for he threw his cap, grip and everything in the air and yelled ‘Come on you Swede boy, it’s good for three.’ We won the game and Bobby never said a word about going home.”
Bob Groom
Bob Groom remained in the big leagues through the 1918 season, compiling a 119-150 record with Washington, the St. Louis Brown, Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Terriers in the Federal League.
Buddy Ryan spent just two seasons in the major leagues, hitting .282 as Cleveland’s fourth outfielder in 1912 and 1913. He returned to the Pacific Coast League and became one of the league’s most popular figures for the next twenty years.
Buddy Ryan
His unusual wedding made headlines in 1915:
“John F. (Buddy) Ryan, one of the best-known and popular baseball stars on the Coast, was arrested early yesterday morning on a charge of immorality preferred by Deputy District Attorney Richard Ceich. At 2:08 PM he was married by Municipal Judge Stevenson to Miss Ruby Winters and the charge was dismissed.
“Miss Winters, who was at first held as a witness against the ballplayer, has been living with him for nearly 10 years, according to her statement, and has been known as Mrs. Ryan. She said yesterday that she had asked Buddy to marry her several times.”
Failing that, she had him arrested:
“With Ed Kennedy (Ryan’s former Portland teammate and county jailer), as best man, the two were wedded in the Municipal Courtroom yesterday afternoon. The bride wept for several minutes following the ceremony. Mr. and Mrs. Ryan left last night for the training camp of the new Salt Lake Coast League team.”
Ryan had his best season in Salt Lake City in 1915, hitting .340 for the Bees. That winter he had an emergency appendectomy and developed an infection, the newspaper headlines said his condition was grave: The San Francisco Chronicle said he was “In Very Bad Shape,” The San Bernardino News said “Buddy Ryan Near Death.”
Ryan recovered in time to return to the Bees for the beginning of the 1916 season. He hit better than .300 the next three seasons, and after the completion of the PCL’s war-shortened 1918 season he played for and managed a team in Seattle’s Puget Sound “Shipyard League.”
He sat out the 1919 season and returned to the PCL in 1920—the rest of his story tomorrow.
Baseball History Daily 