Grantland Rice, in his column in The New York Herald Tribune in 1950, said a discussion among colleagues identified Ed Walsh as best spitball pitcher during “the good old days when saliva slants were baffling bewildered batsmen.”
Rice had another candidate for the honor which took him back to his early days as a sportswriter in Atlanta:
“There was another spitball master who wasn’t far behind. (John) McGraw always said he had the finest pitching motion in baseball. His name was Bugs Raymond. Bugs first collected fame around 1903 at Shreveport, Louisiana. That year he bet somebody $25 that he could eat a whole turkey, drink two bottles of scotch and win a double header. He did.”
Rice told a story about Raymond in Atlanta:
“He arrived at high noon and he was due to work against the Boston Americans, World’s Champions. This was the team that had beaten Pittsburgh the fall before.”
That morning, Rice said he was “for some odd reason” in a bar:
“(A) trampish-looking character came in. He hadn’t shaved and he wore no tie. He was bull-throated and practically bare of arm.
‘”How about a drink?’ he asked me.
“I had to buy him two drinks. He also wanted a third.
“’You must be Bugs Raymond.’ I said. ‘And you are booked to pitch against Boston today.’
“’What of it?’ he asked. ‘How do we get to the park?’
‘”We walk,’ I said. Being down to my last nickel after Raymond’s two drinks.”
Rice said on the walk to the ballpark, “Bugs spent most of his time throwing rocks at pigeons, mockingbirds, and telegraph poles. He must have thrown a hundred stones.”
Rice said when they arrived, “Ab Powell told Bugs to warm up.”
Raymond informed his manager he was already warmed up.
“Here were the world champions facing one from the last outpost of the bush at that time. The sequel should be that Bugs Raymond had his ears shot away in the first inning. The answer is that he shut out Boston’s champions with two hits, both scratch singles, and struck out 12 men. He had a spitter working that day I’ve never seen equaled.”
Rice quoted McGraw who said:
“There but for alcohol could have been the greatest pitcher of all time. He could have worked five games a week.”
Rice’s recollection of the game was off—it took place in 1906, not 1905—and Abner Powell was no longer manager of the Atlanta Crackers—Billy Smith was the manager.
Raymond did only allow two hits. He took a no hitter into the eighth inning when Moose Grimshaw reached on an infield single. The Atlanta Constitution said, “the decision at first base allowing a hit was very close.”
With two out and Grimshaw at first, the next two batters reached on errors by second baseman Mike Jacobs—Jacobs, of the Charleston Sea Gulls in the Sally League was filling in for Dutch Jordan. Raymond then gave up the second hit of the game, another infield single, scoring Grimshaw. Raymond walked the next batter, forcing in a run before retiring the side. He struck out seven, not 12.
Raymond beat Cy Young and Boston 4 to 2.
The implication by Rice that the game would have been their first meeting would also be impossible. Raymond had joined the Crackers in July of 1905 and was returning for the 1906 season; Rice had been with The Atlanta Journal and covered the team since 1902
Just more than a month after Raymond’s victory over Boston, The Constitution, said, under the headline:
Will Tin Can Bugs Raymond
“Bugs Raymond, pitcher will never again don an Atlanta uniform while Billy Smith has anything to do with it.”
Three days earlier, Raymond had been pulled after the sixth inning, having allowed three runs and six hits in a 4 to 1 loss to the Birmingham Barons. Smith alleged that Raymond had thrown the game. The Atlanta newspapers were vague about the details, Robert Moran, sports editor of The Constitution, in an article supporting Smith disciplining his players said:
“(Smith) can suspend a man for failure to put ginger into his work, for being lazy, for playing suspicious ball, for not being in condition, for throwing games.”
But one paragraph later, Moran implied that Raymond’s expulsion was because he “failed to get into condition.”
The New Orleans Picayune said, “Billy Smith…suspended Bugs Raymond for conduct that was bad.”
But, while the paper said “There have been more rumors that Bug threw that game” in Birmingham, The Picayune believed that the charge:
“(P)erhaps does the Bug and injustice, for it is hardly likely that he did this. His sins seem to be more of omission, than commission.
Raymond was careless, reckless, but not dishonest, the paper concluded:
“He likes to stand around with the boys and dispense hot air and listed to the admiring fans tell each other what a big man the Bug is. That he looks upon the cup that cheers, but deliberates, and does not think of tomorrow. Bug was spoiled, just like a child, by the attention shown him, and he fell, not morally but physically, and Billy Smith suspended him. That is all there is to the Bug story.”
Raymond’s contract was sold to the Savannah Indians in the Sally League. When Raymond left town on June 1, The Atlanta Journal said:
“Bugs Raymond bid farewell to Atlanta for quite awhile he boarded the train for Macon.”
Raymond won 18 games and led Savannah to the pennant.
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Tags: Abner Powell, Atlanta Crackers, Billy Smith, Birmingham Barons, Bugs Raymond, Charleston Seagulls, Cy Young, Ed Walsh, Grantland Rice, John McGraw, Mike Jacobs, Moose Grinshaw, Robert Moran, South Atlantic League, Southern Association
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