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A Game of Inches Updates, Chapters 6, 7 and 8
The nature of a book of firsts is that it is always a work in progress. Although A Game of Inches was published only last year, I have already
received and uncovered a great deal of new information. I encourage anyone who
has read the book to contact me with questions,
concerns, comments, updates, and corrections. A few simple corrections have been
made in new printings, but longer updates will have to wait for the next
edition. For now, I’ll be putting such updates to both volumes on these pages on
an ongoing basis, so check back frequently if interested.
Links to Updates to Other Chapters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapters 4-5
Chapter 9
Chapters 10-12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapters 15-17
Chapter 18
Chapters 19-21
Chapters 22-26
CHAPTER 6: MANAGERIAL STRATEGIES
6.1.2 Managers
An addition to the last paragraph, after sentence 1: “An
initial reason for this reluctance was that owners used bonuses to captains to
evade their own salary caps (see 18.5.12 ‘Performance Bonuses’). Yet the
captains’ role persisted even after that practice waned.”
6.1.4 College of Coaches
There’s some great additional material on pages 42-44 of
John Skipper’s Inside Pitch.
Stuart Shea’s essay “1967: The Rebirth of the Cubs” in
Wrigley Season Ticket 2007 contends that the rotating system continued even
after Kennedy was named “head coach” and did not end until after the 1965 season.
I need to do more research, or at least acknowledge Shea’s claim.
6.2.1 Insertion of Substitutes
Another amusing account to add to the paragraph about
Holly: “Coleman is Harry Wright’s general utility man. He carries the bats to
and from the ground, sees that the water-pail is always full and contains plenty
of ice and oatmeal, as well as sweeping and dusting the grand stand each
morning, and scrubbing out the club-rooms once a week. He is a valuable and
useful man as he is a pretty fair pitcher.” (National Police Gazette, May
10, 1884)
And this one nicely illustrates the use of spare players to
collect tickets: “Finley, Chicago’s eleventh man, will play in the ticket
office. He was placed under a League contract to keep him in good condition.” (St.
Louis Globe-Democrat, March 25, 1877, 7)
In sentence two of the paragraph beginning “In 1889 a rule
…” I want to delete the words “it appears that” and add this source: Aberdeen
(S.D.) Daily News, November 22, 1888
This might be worth adding to the end: “In a 1909 article,
sportswriter Paul H. Bruske contrasted the attitudes of Tiger reserves Davy
Jones and Wade Killefer to being subs. Jones admitted that the role was an
‘unwelcome assignment’ but said that team president Frank Navin assured him his
pay would not be cut and was philosophical that at least he was getting paid
well. But Wade Killefer was frank about his unhappiness: ‘there I sit, year
after year, like a turkey buzzard on a limb, waiting for somebody to get hurt.
My soul craves action and I think I’m getting there with the ability to act, if
I get the regular chance. No man can duck into a game of ball and play a day or
two at the speed which he should be able to show, when given a regular
assignment. Philosophy? Well, that’s all right for a player like Davy Jones
who is drawing the stipend of a regular. I can’t philosophize on the wage scale
of a Southern Michigan league graduate, though, and that’s what I’m regarded in
this league. I wasn’t in any rush about signing in the winter and I haven’t
signed yet. After I showed my reluctance, Mr. Navin wrote me, advising me to
sign up in a hurry, lest I be sent down to Jersey City instead of Jerry Downs.
I wrote back, advising him to do his worst. A regular assignment to Jersey City
would give me a chance to show whether I’m there or not and would be regarded by
me in the nature of an investment. If I made good, I’d be back in the big
league somewhere, getting what I could earn. If I’m only a minor leaguer, I can
always console myself by the thought that perhaps I can do something else than
play ball and make more money at it. But here I am’ (Detroit Times,
March 17, 1909).”
6.2.5 Pinch Hitters
Researcher Cliff Blau informs me that he has documented at least
22 instances of pinch-hitters being used in 1889. I am puzzled by this because:
(1) as I read the rule this should not have been permitted, and (2) the surprise
expressed when the tactic was used in 1891. But obviously with that many
examples, pinch-hitting must have been allowed. I guess that what caused
surprise in 1891 was the idea of having a non-pitcher bat for a pitcher.
Cliff has also
discovered 14 examples in 1891.
6.2.6 Courtesy Runners
I need to add this to paragraph 3: “Following the 1877
season, it was decreed that courtesy runners could only be introduced after the
batter reach base (Brooklyn Eagle, January 27, 1878, 3).”
6.2.11 Designated Hitters
This will be added to the end of the third paragraph: “It
was probably just the wrong time for the idea, since run-scoring was at
historically high levels and many were looking for ways to reduce offense
(William B. Mead, “The Year of the Hitter,” National Pastime Spring 1985,
30).”
6.3.1 Submitting Lineups
Another example that I want to add to the last paragraph,
before the reference to Cobb, is one that appears on page 216 of Timothy Gay’s
biography of Tris Speaker.
An addition to the end: “In 1930, Commissioner Kenesaw
Mountain Landis instructed teams not to announce their starting pitchers as a
way of hindering gamblers, but he soon changed his mind (William B. Mead, “The
Year of the Hitter,” National Pastime Spring 1985, 31).”
6.3.6 Spacing Left-handed and Right-handed Batters
To illustrate Chadwick’s claim: “The batting order of the
Holyokes leads off with four left-handed batters” (St. Louis Globe-Democrat,
July 27, 1879, 3)
After the description of Jones’s approach, I need to
insert: “Evansville manager Charley Lord took this further the following
season. When facing a right-hand pitcher, his lineup featured his four
left-handed batters in the first four slots. But against a southpaw, ‘the
left-hand batters [were] sandwiched in between the others’ (Evansville
Journal, April 21, 1884).”
6.3.9 Platooning
As in entry 6.3.6, I need to note that Charley Lord of
Evansville followed Jones’s example.
And this will be added to the end of the third paragraph:
“Deacon White, arguably the greatest left-handed batter of the nineteenth
century, was also benched for an 1881 game pitched by Richmond (Joseph Overfield,
“James ‘Deacon’ White,” Baseball Research Journal 1975, 6).”
6.3.13 Rotations
To illustrate the belief that rotations were poor strategy
I intend to insert this paragraph after the one that begins “Larger staffs…”:
“As Chicago president Jim Hart explained in 1897, ‘I am not a believer in the
rotation system of pitching men. Why? Because certain men are winners against
certain teams and failures against others … A man who is successful in fooling
the hard hitters in a team should be used against that team. The very fact that
he has puzzled them before takes away the confidence of the batters, and they
are half-beaten before the game starts’ (Chicago Tribune, March 8, 1897,
8).”
To the end, I want to add: “Similarly Red Barber considered
it unusual enough in 1947 to note that new Brooklyn manager Burt Shotton
promised his four starting pitchers that they would work in sequence without
variations (New York Times Magazine, September 28, 1947; quoted in Lee
Lowenfish, Branch Rickey, 432)
6.3.14 Weekend Starters
An addition after the sentence about Lyons: “Researcher
Thomas Karnes suggests that the strategy was used at least in part because it
was good for business – Lyons (and the prospect of a likely win) was a guarantee
of a big Sunday crowd (Thomas L. Karnes, “The Sunday Saga of Ted Lyons,”
Baseball Research Journal 1981, 159-166, especially 163).”
6.4.1 Intentional Walks
Another suggestion to add to the next-to-last paragraph:
“Branch Rickey suggested in 1950 that a fair penalty for walking batters
intentionally might be to automatically start the next hitter with one or two
balls (‘World Series 2000 A. D.,’ Colliers, October 7, 1950; quoted in Lee
Lowenfish, Branch Rickey, 499).”
6.5.4 Conferences to Go Over Signs
The word “catcher” should be added before James McKeever’s
name for clarity.
6.6.1 Playing for One Run
I’m planning to add a new penultimate paragraph: “By 1897,
bunting in situations like this had become so routine that a Chicago Tribune
columnist responded to a reader’s question by stating, ‘A player should always
sacrifice when a runner is at first, no one out, unless the opponents have a
lead of more than two runs’ (Chicago Tribune, May 21, 1897, 6).”
6.6.4 Don’t Give Him Anything to Hit on 0-2
David Ball passed along this anecdote that nicely
illustrates the point. In 1898, pitcher Henry Boyle recalled a game in which “I
fooled Paul Hines into two strikes at balls close to him, and youngster like, I
thought I’d feed him another of the same sort. He didn’t do a thing to it but
drive out a home run and we were beaten.” Player-manager Fred Dunlap as called
Boyle “a pin-headed chump” and the two didn’t speak for six years. (Sporting
News, February 19, 1898, 4) Ball reports that the game in question occurred
on June 7, 1886.
6.6.5 Taking 3-0 and 3-1
After the fourth paragraph, I’ll add this new one:
“Likewise, in 1889 Washington co-owner J. Earl Wagner said disapprovingly of one
National League batter: ‘I have seen him get three balls on a pitcher with no
strikes tabbed against him, and yet he would swipe at the next ball pitched if
it was within range of his bat’ (Denver Evening Post, July 28, 1899).”
6.7.3 Curfews
I need to add this: In 1878, Milwaukee’s players were
required to be in the hotel no later than 10:00 p.m. when on the road. (Milwaukee
Sentinel, April 6, 1878; quoted in Dennis Pajot, “1878 – Milwaukee A
National League City” (unpublished paper))
CHAPTER 7: COACHING
7.1.2 Coaching Calls
An addition to the end of paragraph 4: “Still others pushed
the boundaries of language itself and seemed to only be making noises; Tommy
Tucker, for example, became associated with a ‘yelping dog style of coaching’ (Galveston
News, January 19, 1890).”
7.1.4 First Base Coaches
I found this 1897 article, which makes me suspect that the
rule change was short-lived: “Trouble is brewing in the National league, and
indications point to open rebellion before many days are passed … The rules
framed by the magnates have taken all the fun out of the game. They allow only
one coacher and make every player sit on the bench. The rule takes all of the
life out of the game. If the rule is not repealed it will kill the game; in
fact, it is dead now. No one wants to see the game as now played. Capt. Duffy
of the Bostons says: ‘Nearly all the players want the single coaching rule
abolished. I have heard a good deal of muttering against the magnates’ (Chicago
Tribune, May 21, 1897, 6).”
7.2.1 Full-time Coaches
Cliff Blau pointed out that
Duke Farrell coached for the New York team in the American League, not the
Giants. This error has been fixed in the most recent printing.
I now feel all but certain that Bobby Matthews didn’t coach
in the major leagues and am going to revise the sentence about him and add
“Matthews did coach the University of Pennsylvania during their preparations for
the 1888 season and there was talk that he would serve as an adviser to
Philadelphia’s young pitchers, but the arrangement fell through (St. Louis
Globe-Democrat, December 9, 1887, 8; research by David Ball).”
7.2.3 Pitching Coaches
I plan to delete the reference to Matthews altogether in
light of the above.
I’m feeling
increasingly sure that the tale about Rube Foster coaching the Giants pitchers
is also untrue.
More additions to the list of early pitching coaches, all
from David Jones, ed., Deadball Stars of the American League: Red Faber,
1946-48 White Sox (p. 519), Oscar Stanage, Detroit 1914 (p. 567, though Stanage
was still an active player); Chief Bender, 1925 White Sox and several other
subsequent teams (p. 609); Frank Roth, 1921 Yankees (p. 689).
7.2.4 Hitting Coaches
I want to add a new introduction stressing that there was a
general belief that hitting couldn’t be taught. I’ll use this note to
illustrate: “Joe Cantillon has been holding little lectures on hitting after the
morning practices of the Senators. Many cynical persons were inclined to scoff
at this idea, but judging from the stunts that Washington gang have been doing
to opposing pitchers, Joe must have something in his talk.” (Washington
Herald, April 19, 1907, 8)
I may also mention the 1888 article being added to entry
3.3.5, which said, “In the National League there are about 125 players, and none
of them hold a bat or use it in the same manner.” (New York World,
reprinted in Dallas Morning News, May 20, 1888) That many batting styles
would no doubt make the idea of a hitting coach seem impractical.
7.2.5 Strength and Conditioning Coaches
I’m going to add a mention that the Yankees hired a new
coach named Marty Miller before the 2007 season and gave him the unfortunate
title of director of performance enhancement. When the team got off to a
lackluster 10-14 start and suffered a series of hamstring injuries, Miller was
fired. This certainly speaks volumes about the emphasis on strength and
conditioning in today’s game. (Tyler Kepner, “Yankees, Hurting, See Culprit: The
Fitness Coach,” New York Times, May 3, 2007)
7.3.2 Pitch Limits
I’m going to mention that Little League baseball mandated
75 pitch limits in 2007. New York Times reporter Bill Pennington went to
a Little League game in Long Island to gauge how young players felt about the
rule. Ten-year-old Anthony Service looked a bit disappointed when he reached
the quote and was forced to leave the game. But afterward, he was
philosophical, saying “I didn’t really mind coming out. I don’t want to have
arm surgery when I get old, you know, like when I’m 15 or something.” (Bill
Pennington, “Pitching Change Intended to Save Young Players’ Arms,” New York
Times, May 21, 2007)
7.3.4 Visual Aids for Coaching Hitting
Dean Sullivan directed my attention to a 1969 article about
Twins manager Billy Martin’s use of television replays for hitting instruction.
So I’ll be adding this to the last paragraph, after the second sentence: “In
1969 Minnesota Twins manager Billy Martin started videotaping telecasts of his
team and replaying them to his players. Martin believed that the videotapes
were a good way of showing players what they were doing well and what they could
improve on, but others remained skeptical. Ted Williams, for example, commented
doubtfully, ‘It may be a good idea. But you know what pitches one being thrown
and what ones are being hit without the television’ (“Martin Uses TV Tapes in
Twins’ Move,” Hartford Courant, May 28, 1969, 47B).”
CHAPTER EIGHT: UMPIRES
8.1.1 Professionals
I want to add mention that the idea of using professional
umpires was seriously debated after the 1876 season, but ultimately rejected.
An article in the Chicago Tribune observed, “There is no end of talk in
some of the papers south of here concerning professional umpires for the League
next year, and it is well enough to state that there is not a ghost of a show
that the League will pass favorably upon the matter. The managers profess to
believe that they can get their work done cheaper under the old system, and they
are doubtless right in their assertion. At any rate, not more than two members
of the League will be prepared to vote for the idea.” (Chicago Tribune,
November 5, 1876, 10) In a subsequent article, the Tribune reported that
the idea had been “abandoned on a unanimous protest from the managers, to whom
the idea was submitted.” (Chicago Tribune, December 3, 1876, 7)
8.1.3 You’ve Got a Friend
I need to expand the description of the Players’ League in
paragraph 7. I’ll add this justification for the change: “practical and
experienced players like Ewing, Pfeffer and Ward, say that their observations
have led them to believe that the double umpire system is the only one fit for
use in important games … comply with a public demand.” (Chicago Inter-Ocean,
March 30, 1890) And this one of how it would work, “The umpires of the players’
league will work in couples, each pair remaining together throughout the
season.” (Chicago Globe, April 13, 1890) I also need to mention that the
change was an expensive one, and may have contributed to the Players’ League’s
demise.
After the first sentence of paragraph 8, I need to mention
that the idea was seriously discussed on a regular basis. An 1888 article, for
instance, stated that John T. Brush was in favor of the second umpire and was
trying to convince National League president Nick Young, but that cost remained
a big stumbling block. (New York Sun, February 5, 1888) During the 1895
season, Young declared that the league would use the double umpire system in
1896, but that didn’t come to pass. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 10,
1895)
To the start of paragraph 9, I want to add this
explanation: “The double umpire system has proved the game must have this number
next year if the rough element is to be eliminated from the field, as players
seldom kick when tow umpires are in the game.” (Chicago Tribune,
September 28, 1897, 4)
In paragraph 10, I need to explain that the reason for
these odd figures was that the leagues needed to have a few extra umpires in
case of injuries or illness. So when all the umpires were healthy, there were
quite a few games with two umpires.
8.1.7 Six-Man Crews
I plan to instead start the entry as follows: “After Sam
Rice’s controversial tumbling-into-the-stands catch in the 1925 World Series,
Umpire Cy Rigler publicly recommended that two extra umpires be used for the
World Series. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, however, took no action
(Dan Krueckeberg, “Take-Charge Cy,” National Pastime Spring 1985, 11).”
Then I’ll have the current first sentence, followed by:
“There was now every reason to use the two extra umpires in the outfield, but
when Joe McCarthy proposed this idea in 1943, Landis again nixed it (Jocko
Conlan and Robert Creamer, Jocko, 221).” Then I’ll start a new
paragraph and note that implementation finally came after Landis’s death.
8.1.9 Chief of Umpires
After the sentence
mentioning Day’s appointment, I’ll add this one: “This time it was decided to
use the title ‘Inspector of Umpires and Players’ and his job description
suggested that he would spend much of his time handing out fines to players
(“Create A New Office,” Chicago Tribune, February 28, 1897, 7).”
8.1.10 Umpire Schools
This will be inserted before the last sentence: “Early
twentieth-century umpire Billy Evans was also an outspoken advocate of the need
for umpiring schools (David Anderson, William George Evans,” in David Jones,
ed., Deadball Stars of the American League, 398).”
8.1.11 Unions
Two important pieces of information to add:
Neil Lanctot’s Negro League Baseball, 181-182, reveals that Negro League
umpires had a union twenty years earlier than did umpires in the white major
leagues.
American League umpire Ernie Stewart was forced to resign
in 1945 by league president William Harridge, who believed Stewart was trying to
form a union. Stewart maintained that he merely tried to obtain better working
conditions for umpires, and that he did so at the suggestion of Commissioner
Happy Chandler. (Larry R. Gerlach, The Men In Blue, 123-126)
8.3.1 Fines
To bolster the description of the difficulty of making
fines stick in the third paragraph, I’ll add this account: “The umpire [Dick
Pearce] made several very cross decisions against the Bostons, and thereby drew
upon his head the maledictions of the crowd. It seems that Snyder had a good
deal to say to him by way of assisting him in his duties, for suddenly Pearce
turned about and gave Snyder an emphatic warning, exclaiming that he had heard
enough from him. At this time there was a voice from the stockholders’ seats,
telling Snyder to ‘Go for the umpire; I’ll pay your fine.’ With a few
stockholders of this temper, the management of the Boston Club would find it
difficult to maintain discipline among the players or decency among the
spectators.” (Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1878; cited as a reprint from the
Boston Globe but I could not find the original)
After the fourth paragraph, I’ll add this one: “Umpires
were understandably reluctant to take money out of the players’ pockets. As
Billy McLean put it, ‘Several times I have had to fine players for abusing me in
the field. I hate to do it, and find that they generally obey when I speak
sharply to them, but once in a while they let their feelings run away with them,
and then they suffer’ (Macon Telegraph, August 17, 1884).”
In the first sentence of the next paragraph, I’ll change
“allowing” to “encouraging.”
In that paragraph, as more evidence of the ill will being
created, I’ll also mention that Jack O’Connor went to court and got an
injunction against the league over a fine levied on him by an umpire, though he
eventually dropped the lawsuit. (Brooklyn Eagle, August 16, 1895)
In the final paragraph, I’ll add a period after the words
“gradual one” and then replace the rest of that sentence with: “In 1897, John B.
Day was hired as the National League’s ‘Inspector of Umpires and Players’ and
the description of his job responsibilities suggested that he would spend much
of his time recommending fines of players to the league secretary (“Create A New
Office,” Chicago Tribune, February 28, 1897, 7). The trend accelerated
when Tom Lynch, a former umpire, became president of the National League in
1910.”
8.4.2 Positioning
Two new additions to the discussion in the last paragraph
of the pros and cons of the new positioning:
Henry Chadwick noted that the new placement necessitated some new rules, “When
the umpire takes up his potion [sic] on fair ground to judge called balls and
strikes, or to judge base running, and a batted ball strikes him, the batsman is
entitled to his base … In base running there are several new points evolved
under the new rules. For instance, if a runner is on first base and the umpire
is judging called balls and strikes from a position back of the pitcher on fair
ground, and the catcher, in throwing the ball to second base to cut off the
runner trying to steal second, hits either the person of the umpire or his
clothing with the thrown ball, the runner must return to the base he left. Of
course, the umpire must watch carefully that the throw is not made so as to hit
him intentionally, with the object of sending the runner back to his base.” (Evansville
Journal, April 27, 1889, 7)
And Cap Anson said that there was a general impression that
umpires had narrower strike zones when standing behind the pitcher, although he
did not believe that to be the case. (Philadelphia Inquirer, April 8,
1894)
8.4.3 Home Umpire
I want to get rid of the first paragraph, which is rather
trite, and instead say more about why this was such a huge problem in early
baseball. I’ll also add a cross-reference to entry 8.1.2 “Assignments.” I’ll
then mention that the hiring of Billy McLean (see 8.1.1 Professionals) was part
of the effort to address this problem.
Then I’d like to add something like this: “Nonetheless, the
problem was difficult to entirely eliminate and many were willing to settle for
ridding the game of blatantly biased officiating. The Buffalo Express,
for example, stated, ‘It is a rule with [International Association] umpires
generally in their decisions to give the home Club the benefit of the doubt when
there is one … Mr. Charles S. Taylor, acknowledged the best umpire the Uticas
ever had, resigned because the Directors required him to make his decisions in
their favor whether right or wrong. Mr. Thomas H. Brunton, of the Tecumseh
Association, one of the best of umpires, says it is the rule to decide in favor
of the home Club when there is doubt.’ (quoted in Chicago Tribune, August
4, 1878, 7).
“The Chicago Tribune
maintained that this could not happen in the National League: ‘This may be so in
International games, but if any such “rule” should be set up in a League game
the umpire would be apt to be pitched over the fence, “with or without appeal”’
(Chicago Tribune, August 4, 1878, 7).”
Then I’ll note the irony of Young’s instructions, described
in the second paragraph of the current entry.
8.5.2 Ball and Strike Signals
It would be more accurate to say that it’s debatable
whether Hoy was mute; accounts suggest that he could make noises that sometimes
resembled words. Since Hoy referred to himself as a deaf mute, I will
delete the sic.
The paragraph beginning “By the end of the 1880s …” also
needs to be revised. I’ll probably have it read something like this: “During
the 1880s crowds grew larger and more dispersed, and by the end of the decade it
was apparent that many spectators ‘in case of unusual noise cannot hear the
umpire’s decision’ (New York Sun, May 27, 1888). One Union Association
umpire, Mike Hooper, was fired ‘on account of his weak voice’ (Cleveland
Herald, May 21, 1884). But umpires were hard to come by, so this wasn’t a
viable solution.” Then Rooney’s suggestion will form its own paragraph.
8.6.3 Chest Protectors
The umpire described in the third paragraph is Thomas
“Sandy” McDermott. A slightly longer version of the same article appeared in
the Chicago Tribune on March 24, 1889, page 6, and included this additional
detail: “Cast-iron shoes for his feet and a pair of eight ounce boxing-gloves
for his hands complete the costume.”
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