Tag Archives: Detroit Wolverines

“By-By, Baby Anson”

26 Dec

On August 20, 1888 Adrian Constantine “Cap” Anson and his Chicago White Stockings were set to begin a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Chicago was in second place, six and a half games behind the New York Giants.

Anson’s club had been in first place for most of the season, but  relinquished the lead to the Giants after dropping eight of nine games at the end of July.

After sweeping two games from the Giants in New York earlier that week, Anson said he had just improved his team by signing pitcher John Tener, who was playing for the East End Athletic Club in Pittsburgh, for a reported $2500 for the remainder of the season.   He also spoke to a reporter from The New York Times:

“Mr. Anson is inclined to think that New York will ‘take a tumble,’ and if it occurs soon the Giants’ chances of closing the season at the top of the pile are woefully thin.”

Another New York paper, The World, was determined to not let Anson forget his prediction.

Three days after he made the comment, The World said Anson and Giants Manager Jim Mutrie had bet a $100 suit on the National League race, and:

“(Anson) has been busily engaged in predicting a tumble for the Giants. Jim says that tumble is not coming.”

Within a week the White Stockings had dropped to eight games behind the Giants.  The World said:

“Anson’s prophecies much resemble the boomerang.  He swore Mutrie’s men would take a tumble, and his own men are fast getting there themselves.”

The paper also taunted Anson with a front-page cartoon:

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The taunting continued.  After Chicago lost 14 to 0 to the Indianapolis Hoosiers on August 31:

“Did Brother Anson notice anything falling in Indianapolis yesterday?”

Another front-page cartoon on September 6:

anson18881

A week later, after the Colts took three straight from the Giants in Chicago, and cut the New York lead to five and a half games, The World attributed it to “Two new men for Anson’s team;” umpires Phil Powers and Charles Daniels.   The Giants managed win the fourth game of the series 7 to 3; the paper said Giant pitcher Tim Keefe was “too much for Anson and the umpires.”

Chicago never got within six and a half games again.  On September 27 the Giants shut out the Washington Nationals, putting New York nine games ahead of the idle White Stockings.  The World declared the race over on the next day’s front page:

anson1888

All was finally forgiven on October 10.  The Giants had won the pennant, and Anson, on an off day before his club’s final two games of the season in Philadelphia, came to the Polo Grounds and met with Mutrie:

“(Anson) gave Mutrie a check for $100, in payment for the suit of clothes won by the latter.  The two then clasped hands over a similar bet for the next season—that is, each betting his club would beat the other out..  Anson then cordially congratulated his successful rival upon the winning of the pennant, and stated his belief that New York would surely win the World’s Championship.”

The Giants beat Charlie Comiskey’s American Association champion St. Louis Browns six games to four.

Anson’s White Stockings won five National League championships between 1880 and 1886, he managed Chicago for another decade after the 1888 season; he never won another pennant.

Tener, the pitcher signed by Chicago in August posted a 7-5 record with a 2.74 ERA.  He played one more season in Chicago and finished his career in 1890 with the Pittsburgh Burghers in the Player’s League.  Tener later became a member of the United States Congress (1909-1911) and Governor of Pennsylvania (1911-1915), and served as President of the National League.

Mutrie’s Giants repeated as champions in 1889 (and he presumably claimed another $100 suit from Anson), he managed the team through the 1891 season.

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” I had Lamed my Shoulder with Cricket Playing”

5 Dec

Hall of Fame outfielder Sam Thompson was known for his excellent arm.  After four seasons with the Detroit Wolverines, he was sold to the Philadelphia Quakers in October of 1888. Several months after the sale it was revealed that he had a bad shoulder.

Sam Thompson

Sam Thompson

The speculation about how the injury might affect Thompson led The Cincinnati Enquirer to talk to “the old man of base-ball” Harry Wright about the art of throwing:

“Thompson’s trouble was entirely in the shoulder.  His arm muscles or elbow joint never bothered him.  He can, if he chooses, learn to throw without using his shoulder quite so severely as is natural for him.  The correct way to throw is to start the ball at the height of the ear, but after a man has had trouble with any of his throwing muscles he can often change his style of throwing with benefit.  Take Jack Rowe for an example.  He cannot throw naturally, and yet he plays a very good shortstop by snapping the ball with a peculiar wrist motion.  (John) Meister throws in a similar fashion.

Harry Wright

Harry Wright

 

“When I first tried to play baseball I could not throw twenty yards, and yet I could bowl very effectively.  I had lamed my shoulder with cricket playing.  I knew that I must learn to throw if I wanted to play baseball, so I put in a whole winter of practicing.  I was then living in Hoboken, and every day I would go down to the river and throw stones for an hour or so.  I had to snap my arm and wrist something as Rowe does, and at first, I could not tell where the stone was going to land.  I would throw an old bottle or piece of wood out into the stream and practice at that.  Before spring, I could hit the mark nearly every time, and could throw a ball seventy yards without difficulty.”

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“There was probably none so Unique as Shreve”

24 Jul

Leven Lawrence “Lev” Shreve II came from a prominent family in Louisville, Kentucky.  His great-uncle, and namesake, had been president of the Louisville Gas and Water Company, and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

The 19-year-old made his professional debut in 1886, playing with Savannah, then Chattanooga; he was a combined 12-9 with 1.52 ERA.  Shreve was signed by Billy Barnie to join his young pitching staff with the Baltimore Orioles in the American Association.  He came to Baltimore with great expectations.

Lev Shreve

Lev Shreve

The Baltimore Daily News called him “Barnie’s phenom.”  In wasn’t the first time a relatively unknown pitcher was given that name by the Baltimore press.

Shreve had trouble getting as Barnie primarily relied on 21-year-old Matt Kilroy and 22-year-old Phenomenal Smith; Shreve, and fellow 20-year-old Ed Knouff saw limited action in the first two months of the season.

The Sporting Life said he wasn’t happy:

 “Shreve, the Louisville boy…complains that he does not get a fair deal.  He affirms that his arm is in fine trim, but that he is not allowed to pitch. Shreve is an ambitious ball player, and desires to show what is in him.  He says he will quit if Barnie does not play him.”

The Baltimore Sun said

“People are asking why Shreve isn’t given a chance.”

The Sporting Life, perhaps, provided an explanation for the lack of work later that month:

“Cigarette smoking is said to be impairing the efficiency of two Baltimore pitchers, Shreve and Knouff”

It would not be the last mention of cigarettes and Shreve in The Sporting Life;  the pitcher was also said to be “a cigarette fiend,” and “as noted for his cigarette habit” as his pitching.

Neither Shreve, who was sold to the Indianapolis Hoosiers in the National League, nor Knouff, who was sold to the St. Louis Browns, would finish the season with Baltimore; it’s unknown whether smoking was the cause.

Shreve was 3-1 with a 3.79 ERA in five games in Baltimore.

The sale to Indianapolis didn’t seem to hurt Shreve’s confidence according to George Myers, his catcher with the Hoosiers.  Meyers, two decades after playing with Shreve, said the pitcher was talented, cocky and erratic, and described Shreve’s first National League game; a 4-1 10-inning victory over the first place Detroit Wolverines on August 19:

“There was probably none so unique as Shreve…My, but he was a fresh youth…He had awful speed and good curves and perfect control of the ball.  His confidence and egotism were astounding.  I remember one day we were to play against Detroit (Wolverines).  It was when the big four, (Jack) Rowe, (Deacon) White, (Hardy) Richardson and (Dan) Brouthers were on the team.

“Mr. Shreve, who had been assigned to pitch, strutted to the box with the swagger that would have made John L. Sullivan look cheap when John L. was monarch of all in the fistic business.  ‘Just watch me fellows, and see what I do to those swell-headed guys from Michigan,’ said the smiling Shreve.  ‘I am going to make ‘em look like a lot of suckers.’

“Richardson was the first batter up…’So you are the great invincible Hardy Richardson, eh?’ drawled Mr. Shreve.  ‘Well Hardy, old chap, I’m going to show you that you are easy for a good pitcher…Shreve let go the first ball and it went around Hardy’s neck like a shot.  He struck at it after I had it in my hands.  Bang goes the second, also a strike, and the third a wide, slow, outshoot, fooled the great batter completely and Shreve said mockingly: ‘Back to the bench Hardy, I told you that you were easy.

“Big Dan Brouthers, who was always a terror to pitchers, came next and he had blood in his eye…’so this is the terrible Mr. Dan Brouthers,’ grinned the fresh pitcher.  ‘Hate to tell you Dan, how soft a mark you are’…Dan missed the first two, which went close to his chin, and the next he hit like a shot at the pitcher.  Shreve caught it in easy style and gave Brouthers the ‘ha ha’ in most tantalizing fashion as Dan ambled to the bench.

“Deacon White came next and Shreve kidded him unmercifully.  ‘Deacon who told you that you could hit anything?’ was the greeting white was given.  The Deacon scowled and muttered ominous.  ’Duck soup is what you are for me.’ Sand Shreve, as White missed the first ball by several inches.  ‘Oh, how easy,’ was the next rejoinder, and Deacon smashed blindly at an outshoot, a moment later striking out on one of those speedy ones such as had sent Richardson to the bench.

“The Big Four could do absolutely nothing with Shreve’s delivery, and the other members of their team were just as helpless…This fellow Shreve was one of the best pitchers I ever met, but he was an erratic chap, and dreadfully hard to handle.”

George Myers

George Myers

After beating the eventual National League champions in his first start, Shreve ended up a disappointing 5-9 with a 4.72 ERA for Indianapolis.

Myers said on another occasion Shreve approached him before pitching against the Chicago White Stockings, who had won the National League championship in 1886:

“’Say, George, what team is this we are up against today?’

“I immediately began to read him a lecture, telling him that a young man just starting in on his career as a professional ballplayer shouldn’t deport himself in such a manner. ‘The idea of you coming on to the grounds when the champion Chicagos are here, and not knowing it, why—‘  ‘The champion Chicagos,’ interrupted Shreve, ‘Never mind, George, just watch me.  Oh just wait and see what I will do to that bunch.”

Myer s said Shreve shutout the White Stockings.  (This story appears to be either apocryphal or conflated with another incident as Shreve did not shutout Chicago that season).

Shreve was 11-24 in 1888 and 0-3 in 1889 when he was released by the Hoosiers.  He played three minor league seasons and was out of professional baseball by the age of 24.

Myers said his former teammate was “erratic as Rube Waddell,” and:

“I could tell story after story about this man Shreve.  If he had taken care of himself he would have been the greatest pitcher in baseball history.”

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“Baseball by Electricity”

11 Jul

In 1886, The Electrical Review told the story of the first attempts at “reproducing almost instantly a vivid view of the exact situations and plays in a game of baseball.”

The original plan was hatched by three telegraph operators in Nashville, Tennessee who “turned their enthusiasm for baseball to good account.”   J. U Rust, E.W. Morgan, and A.H Stewart made the first attempt to transmit a game between Chattanooga and Nashville in 1884:

“To do this they leased a wire from Nashville to Chattanooga, one end of which was on the ball field, with an expert operator, who was accurately informed in baseball playing, seated watching the game and immediately telegraphing each play as it progressed.  At the Nashville end of the wire were two other telegraphic and baseball experts.  As they received the record from their partner, one man reproduced it verbally to the audience, while the other man manipulated cards bearing the names of the players, around a painted view of the ball field which was placed in full view of the audience.”

The following season Southern League games were transmitted to opera houses in several of the league cities by Morgan & Co. “the ingenious firm” created by the three telegraph operators.

On July 9, 1886 Morgan & Co. transmitted the game between the Detroit Wolverines and the Chicago White Stockings from Chicago’s West Side Park to the Detroit Opera House. The “unique entertainment before a crowd of 600 persons,” was described by The Electrical Review:

“On the stage was a huge landscape—it would have done well as a drop curtain—having a well-painted perspective view of a baseball diamond and outfield.  At the points on the picture representing the positions of batsman, pitcher catcher and basemen, are openings into which may be shoved cards bearing the names of the players, and into which these names are placed as the telegraph operator seated at his instrument reads to the audience the progress of the game, even to the smallest details.”

The crowd at the Opera House “was wrought up to a very high pitch of enthusiasm.  For instance, when the operator read—with (Abner) Dalrymple’s name appearing as batsman—“foul fly to left,” the audience fairly held its breath, and when the next instant the operator called out, ‘and out to (James “Deacon”) White,’ there came a storm of applause, just such as heard on a veritable ball field…the excitement was intense.”

The Chicago White Stockings defeated the Detroit Wolverines 8-2 on July 9, on there way to the 1886 National League championship

The Chicago White Stockings defeated the Detroit Wolverines 8-2 on July 9, on their way to the 1886 National League championship

By the end of the 1886 season, games were presented in opera houses in Chicago, Boston, New York and Cincinnati.  By the end of the decade the practice would become commonplace in all big league cities.

By the mid 1890s the system for presenting games to the public had become much more advanced.

The Baltimore Morning Herald said in September of 1894:

“The ball game today between the Baltimore (Orioles) and Louisville (Colonels) clubs will be given as usual from the stage at Ford’s Grand Opera House at 4 o’clock by electricity.  The system utilized for the first game in the city is ‘The Compton Electric Baseball Game Impersonator.’   It has been used in New York and elsewhere with unbounded success.  It is a contrivance so ingenious that the slightest move of the players is visible, and the anxiety and interest of those present is just as great as though they had been occupying the grandstand.  Every strike is recorded and illustrated, and, whether at the bat, running the bases or in the field, all the players are known and watched…a visible reproduction of the game is given to the minutest detail.”

By the end of that season the Compton system was used to transmit games to fans in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, and it, and numerous systems developed by competitors would become commonplace over the next four decades.

The Chicago Examiner sponsored the "automatic Baseball Playograph" exhibition of the 1913 World Series between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Athletics.

The Chicago Examiner sponsored the “automatic Baseball Playograph” exhibition of the 1913 World Series between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Athletics.

Usually sponsored by local newspapers, the exhibitions were an especially popular method for following the World Series in real-time.   It was not until 1938 (when the New York Yankees, New York Giants, and Brooklyn Dodgers became the last teams to have their games broadcast on radio) that the technological descendants of Morgan & Co. became completely obsolete.

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A Thousand Words—Deacon McGuire’s Left Hand

14 Jun

mcguirehand

 

James “Deacon” McGuire caught more than 1600 games in a career that spanned parts of 26 seasons between 1884 and 1912.  He broke every finger on both hands and suffered thirty-six separate injuries to his left hand.  In 1906, his x-ray was acquired by the New York papers after yet another injury.

The New York World said doctors were “amazed to see the knots, like gnarled places on an old oak tree, around the joints, and numerous spots showing old breaks.”

Deacon McGuire

Deacon McGuire

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Things I Learned on the Way to Looking Up Other Things #3

26 Apr

Tools of ignorance

As catchers began to wear more equipment the was widespread disapproval.  In 1884 The New Haven News said:

“With his frontal liver-pad, his hands cased in thick gloves and the familiar wire helmet on his head, the average baseball catcher looks for all the world like an animated combination of a modern bed-bolster and a medieval knight.”

Roger Bresnahan, 1907, more than 20 years after catcher's began to look like "medieval knights."

Roger Bresnahan, 1907, more than 20 years after a catcher began to look like a “medieval knight.”

Cuban Giants Challenge

In August of 1888, The Freeman declared the Cuban Giants “virtually the champions of the world.”

The paper said that the first professional black baseball team, were willing to take on any ballclub, but:

“The St. Louis Browns, Detroits (Wolverines) and Chicagos (White Stockings) afflicted with Negrophobia and unable to bear the odium of being beaten by colored men, refused to accept their challenge.”

1887-88 Cuban Giants--"virtually the champions of the world."

1887-88 Cuban Giants–“virtually the champions of the world.”

The Elizabeth Resolutes

The Elizabeth (NJ) Resolutes were one of the worst professional teams of baseball’s infancy.  The 1873 National Association team only played 23 games, losing 21, and from the beginning of the season, the franchise was on the verge of demise.

The New York Herald summed up the general feeling about the team in an August article:

“The Resolute Club, whom everyone hoped had disbanded, as was reported, put in an appearance on the Union grounds yesterday afternoon and played the (Brooklyn) Atlantics, committing, as usual, about five hundred errors.”

It was the first, and last, game on the mound for pitcher Len Lovett.

The Herald concluded:

“The game was a most wretched affair.”

dougallison

Catcher Doug Allison who hit .300, and his brother Art, who hit .320, were rare bright spots for the resolutes.

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Profiles of Members of Spalding’s World Tour

22 Apr

Among those who joined A.G. Spalding’s world tour between the 1888 and 1889 seasons, was Simon “Si” Goodfriend, a sports writer for The New York World who later became a theatrical agent.  In 1935 The New York Times said of Goodfriend “has watched baseball as a fan and a sportswriter since the days of the Civil War.”

Simon "Si" Goodfriend

Simon “Si” Goodfriend

Throughout the trip Goodfriend wrote brief profiles of some of the players:

On Hall of Famer John Montgomery “Monte” Ward:

“Ward is a credit to the professional brotherhood of ballplayers.  He is not only ambitious to elevate the standing of the profession but he is equally ambitious personally.  He is exceedingly studious and never visits a strange city (without visiting) the art galleries, museums and libraries and takes copious notes of what he sees.  He presents the same disposition on the sea voyage.  He is a busy person both with his pencil and at his ball practice.”

Ward, who had spearheaded the effort to create the first player’s union in 1885 and the creation of the Players League in 1890.

John Montgomery Ward

John Montgomery Ward

Of John Kinley Tener, White Stockings pitcher and future United States Congressman and Pennsylvania Governor:

“I was going to allude to John K. Tener as a typical handsome American gentleman, but unfortunately I learned, but a day or two ago, that he was born in Ireland and came to America with his parents when he was 9-years-old…His features are clear cut, regular and refined.  His manners are gentle and cultured. Baseball players secured a worthy brother professional when he joined their forces, and there is a to be regretted possibility that he may retire again next season…Anson can be relied on to make a great effort to hold him back.  On the trip Mr. Tener acts as a secretary and treasurer to Mr. Spalding.”

John Tener

John Tener

Tener jumped the Cubs to join the Pittsburgh Burghers in Players League in 1890; after posted a 3-11 record with an ERA of 7.31 Tener left baseball for the banking business, and ultimately politics.

Jimmy Manning, who would quite possibly save an umpire’s life in Kansas City in 1890, was also on the tour:

“(He) is another modest young man with a blond mustache, of which he is proud.   He recently graduated from the Boston college of Pharmacy.”

Jimmy Manning

Jimmy Manning

Philadelphia Quakers outfielder Jim Fogarty:

“(Monte Ward) mentions in his book on baseball (that Fogarty was) probably the best right fielder in the country, is a bright looking young fellow with an exuberance of spirits, unquestionably inherited from the land of Erin, and that apparently has no limit.  It is said that he is writing for a Philadelphia paper.  If his letters are half as bubbling and genial as he is at sea they will make interesting reading.  With the exception of (Charlie) Bennett of the Detroits, Fogarty probably has as bad a pair of hands from hard knocks in baseball games as any player in the country.”

Fogarty also jumped to the Players League, joining the brotherhood team in Philadelphia; however he became ill during the season would die of tuberculosis in May of 1891.

Jim Fogarty

Jim Fogarty

Of Billy Earle, “The Little Globetrotter,” McClure said:

“Little William Earle…has already proven himself a first-class backstop (and) is still quite a lad, being only 21 years old.  He is heavy-set has a jolly round face, an habitual smile and tightly curled hair.  He rarely smokes, doesn’t drink and would almost sooner play ball than eat.

Billy Earle

Billy Earle

Some of Goodfriend’s observations about Earle would prove to be wrong, as discussed in an earlier post.

Goodfriend’s profiles of the White Stockings’ “stone wall infield” tomorrow.

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“Leather-Fisted Phil”

12 Apr

“Leather –Fisted Phil” is what Phillip J. Powers was called in his 1914 Associated Press obituary which said:

“(Powers) was famous for his ability to stop the swiftest throws of the league’s star pitchers.”

He most likely earned the nickname in 1877 when, like many other catchers of the era, he began using a small, leather pad on his hand while with the London Tecumsehs of the International Association.

After the London team disbanded in August of 1878 Powers joined the Chicago White Stockings.  According to The Chicago Inter Ocean:

“He is a tall young fellow…He is described as a good catcher, but liable to get hurt, fair at the bat, and a genial man on the grounds.”

Powers would spend parts of seven seasons and 155 games in the National League and American Association with the Boston Red Stockings, Cleveland Blues, Cincinnati Red Stockings and Baltimore Orioles, hitting .180.  In between his engagements as a player Powers was an umpire.

It was as an umpire that he made a name for himself, but it probably wasn’t what he had in mind.  Few umpires, even in an era when members of the “profession” were poorly trained and underpaid, were the target of as much criticism as Powers.

In 1881 he began the season as a National League umpire.  By July he had become a target in several cities,

The Detroit News said:

“Phil Powers has acquired reputation enough in the last two weeks to last him a lifetime.  The erroneous umpiring he did here, people were inclined to regard as errors of judgment, but to say the least his ‘mistakes’ have become so numerous that his utter unfitness for the position he holds is unquestioned.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer took the criticism even further:

“Powers is said to have been offered $150 to play ball (for the Detroit Wolverines) for one month, but refused it.  As an umpire he cannot, if square, earn more than $15 or $20 a week and expenses; and must take the chance at that of being chosen an umpire.  He preferred to be an umpire.  Several of his decisions on Saturday were grossly unfair, and, what is worse, they bore heavily on Cleveland.  They were so one-sided that many of the spectators believed he deliberately purposed to give the game to Troy.”

Despite the ill feelings in Cleveland, Powers joined the Blues in August and caught five games for the team after Michael “Doc” Kennedy was injured and John Clapp was “called away by an illness in his family.”   He finished the season with the New York Metropolitans in the Eastern Championship Association.

Powers again became a full-time player from 1882-1885, and was part of the Red Stockings American Association championship team in 1882.  He was released by Cincinnati in July of 1885, signed with the Baltimore Orioles and was again released the following month.

1882reds

1882 Cincinnati Red Stockings, Phil Powers standing 2nd from left

Powers was signed by the St. Louis Browns in the spring of 1886, but released before the beginning of the season, and was added to the National League umpiring staff in August.  He again worked as an umpire through the 1887 season, left to return to London, Ontario to manage the Tecumsehs in the International Association, but again returned to the National League as an umpire in August of 1888.   He came back just in time to find himself in the middle of a controversy involving two Hall of Famers.

New York Giants catcher/captain William “Buck” Ewing was hit on the wrist by a ball during a game with the White Stockings in Chicago.  In 1888 the opposing team’s captain had to agree that an injury was serious to necessitate a substitution; Chicago’s “Cap” Anson said he did not agree to a substitution when backup catcher “Big Bill” Brown entered the game in the 6th inning.  Anson appealed to the umpire, and according to The Chicago Inter Ocean, “(Powers) said that Captain Ewing was not so badly hurt that he could not play.”

After a heated argument, during which The Inter Ocean said Ewing acted “in a childish and fatuous manner,” Powers declared the game “forfeited to Chicago by a score of 9 to 0.”

Buck Ewing acted “in a childish and fatuous manner”

Buck Ewing acted “in a childish and fatuous manner”

Powers had been involved in a similar situation in 1886, refusing to allow Philadelphia Quakers catcher “Deacon” McGuire to leave a game after an injury.  The Chicago Tribune said Quakers captain Arthur Irwin “told McGuire to catch ‘away back’ (from the plate).” The Tribune said Irwin’s actions created a “scene” and “pandemonium reigned,” until Anson agreed to allow Philadelphia to replace McGuire.  White Stockings President A.G. Spalding “preferred charges against umpire Powers” for losing control of the game.

The substitution rule was changed in 1891, putting an end to controversies regarding the replacement of injured players.

But controversies involving Powers continued.  More on Monday.

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Count Campau Explains the “Science of the Sport”—the Battery

20 Mar

Charles Columbus “Count” Campau earned his nickname because of his regal appearance and his background; he was a member of a prominent Detroit family and educated at Notre Dame, and was regarded as one of the smartest players of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

His Major League career was brief, just 147 games with the Detroit Wolverines, St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators, but he was one of the best known, and highest regarded minor league players for 20 years.

Charles Columbus "Count" Campau

Charles Columbus “Count” Campau

Campau was especially popular in New Orleans, where he played for parts of four seasons, managed for one, and adopted as his home.

In 1893 Campau, who The New Orleans Times-Picayune called “one of the best students of baseball,” wrote an article as “Advice for Amateurs” about the “Science of the Sport:”

 “Many a time I have been asked for my views on the successful way to make a good ball player.  From a player’s standpoint a ball player is born and not made.  But with continued practice and coaching from and older and experienced head the amateur will probably reach the top notch in the profession.  There are two things, when combined, (which) will make a good ball player.  A practical and intellectual knowledge of the pastime or sport will aid the amateur.”

The New Orleans Pelicans captain explained what passed for “scientific baseball” in 1893; position by position:

“The most important position is the pitcher. For three reasons he ranks as the most important player on the team. He is the pivot upon which the victory of the team rests.  Should he be slightly disabled or out of condition all hopes of victory would go glimmering and the rest of the team would not put up a good game of ball.  A good pitcher, with fair fielders, is better than a poor pitcher with brilliant fielders.  With a weak pitcher, a fast fielding team would make a sport, and with good hitters would likely win one game out of ten.”

Campau blamed pitching for the Pelicans slow start that season; in spite of being “as hard a batting team” as there was in the league, they “could not win for the reason that the box was decidedly weak.”

“Another important factor in a game is the catcher…A catcher with good judgment and a quick brain will prevent the speedy base runner from advancing, and will lessen the work of the pitcher by watching the bases.  A good battery, with judgment, will work a hard batter, and the chances are that he will pop up a fly or send a grounder to short.  The catcher’s work does not only consist of receiving the delivery of his pitcher, for such a catcher is not worth the chest protector he wears, and will never become a success…(Charlie) Bennett, (Jack) Clements, (Buck) Ewing and (Morgan) Murphy are catchers who watch every point of the game.  They back up the first baseman at every safe opportunity.”

"Count" Campau

“Count” Campau

More from the “Count” next week.

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