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INQUISITIVE FANS
One of the delights of doing research is the things you
stumble upon while looking for something else. One of my favorite features of early twentieth-century
sports sections is the “query columns” consisting of questions from readers and answers
from the sports editor and his staff. Most of the questions and answers
were straightforward, but every so often there was a gem. A few samples:
“Can you name some games which you believe have been ‘sold’
this season, and do you believe that any of them have been played in Chicago?”
You have been around the pool-rooms until your poor
little brain has gotten overheated. (Chicago Tribune, September 2, 1877)
[Historical afterword: a few months later, four Louisville players were banned
from the National League for life for fixing games.]
“Is it true that [Burtis] umpired under false names last
season?”
No; he suppressed his last name once or twice for family
reasons. (Chicago Tribune, May 27, 1877)
“I have noticed frequent references to Altrock as ‘Handsome
Nick.’ Will you kindly inform me if he really is beautiful and can you send me
his photograph?”
Ask him, care of the White Sox. (Chicago Tribune,
August 11, 1907)
“The batter has two strikes and three balls called. The
pitcher delivers a ball and the umpire calls ‘ball,’ making four balls. The
batter retains his position in the box. The pitcher delivers a ball and the
umpire calls ‘strike,’ making three strikes. Is the batter out?”
No - asleep. (Chicago Tribune, July 1, 1906)
“Kindly state how to figure the percentage of the standing
of ball teams – a short way.”
The only ‘short way’ is to buy a book of percentages at
some sporting goods store. Otherwise divide the number of games won by the
number of games played. (Chicago Tribune, July 22, 1906)
“In your accounts of games frequently there is mention of
the pitcher compelling batsman to hit ball in air or upon ground, as pitcher
desires. Jack Taylor has been credited with this repeatedly. Can the pitchers
do this, however much they desire to, and what is their method of successfully
accomplishing this result, even if not always successful?”
No pitcher can compel batsman to hit in the air or on
ground at will, but some can do so often. Different methods are said to be
equally successful, but usually the ball is given what is called a ‘jump,’
fooling batsman into hitting under it and, consequently, raising it in the air.
(Chicago Tribune, August 12, 1906)
“What muscles in general and what muscles in particular are
brought into play in jumping straight upward, such as the infielders make?”
The muscles of the leg. (Washington Post, August 22, 1909)
“Kindly let me know why Tannehill’s name is in large type
on the score card which you buy at the south side ball park”
Query referred to Secretary Fredericks, who has charge
of Sox score cards. He said: ‘Because Tannehill is greatest third baseman there
is.’ (Chicago Tribune, August 19, 1906)
“In a gathering of a dozen faithful followers of the
Washington baseball club today the question arose as to what constitutes an
amateur or a professional in baseball or other sports. Being about evenly
divided, it was decided to ask you to settle the question. One side contended
that ability in any sport made a man a professional; the other side contended
that if one receives compensation for his services it places him in the
professional class, although he may not be possessed of any very great amount of
real ability or be outclassed in ability by an amateur.”
In baseball, a professional player is one who signs a
contract for a stipulated amount. Ability does not enter into the question.
(Washington Post, May 9, 1909)
“I sometimes see references to parties known as ‘also rans.’
To what does this refer, something in the bible or something more modern? I am
anxious to know, but hardly know to whom it should be referred, the sporting or
religious editor. I will look for the answer, however, in the sporting
section.”
The expression comes from the running horse-races in
which horses which finish no better than fourth are designated as “also ran.”
(Chicago Tribune, March 3, 1907)
“I notice Alec Smith is referred to as ‘the Giants’ betting
commissioner.’ I had always thought betting was strongly discouraged in the
baseball world, especially by the management of the big league teams. Is it
possible the Giants actually have a betting commissioner?”
Betting on baseball games is prohibited by the leagues
and the term applied to Smith is a jocose reference to his liking for the
racetrack. The fact he is retained on the Giants’ payroll led to the jest that
he must be retained to place wagers on the horses for McGraw and other Giants.
(Chicago Tribune, March 3, 1907)
“Has pitcher Scott, of the White Sox, any relations living
in Gloucester City, N. J.? And if so, please give me their names, and are there
any living in Washington, also give me their names?”
We have no line on Scott’s relatives. (Washington
Post, May 9, 1909)
“Is a fellow safe or out if the other side plays on him?”
Query unintelligible. (Chicago Tribune, July 22, 1906)
“In answering ‘61-8’ on Sunday you said that, with only
first occupied and less than two out, if a fly hit to the infield is dropped,
the man on first is forced. Then, in answering P. C. Griffin, you said that,
under the same conditions, the batsman is out? Do not these two answers
contradict each other?”
They certainly do. The ‘sub’ who answered part of last
Sunday’s ‘Inquisitive Fans,’ in the absence of the sporting editor in Pittsburg,
has been fired from the job permanently. He also had Billy Keeler throwing
right handed instead of left. The answer to ‘61-8’ was correct. See section 8
of rule 51. (Chicago Tribune, April 28, 1907)
“Why does a batter get out of the box when a foul ball is
knocked and there is a man on base?”
For the same reason that a hen crosses a dusty road.
There is no known reason for either. (Washington Post, October 11, 1908)
“Will the nine American League clubs play ball in 1909?”
Present indications are that they will. (Washington
Post, September 27, 1908)
“What paper has
the most correct athletic news in Washington?”
Modesty forbids
us answering this question. (Washington Post, January 10, 1909)
Your query is one simply of multiplication.
There are eight League clubs; each club plays ten games with each of the other
7, or 70 games in all for each club, and 560 for the whole League.
(Cincinnati Enquirer, reprinted in the Louisville Courier-Journal, July 19,
1876) The Courier-Journal, however couldn’t
resist pointing out that the answer was actually 280, since two clubs played in
each game.
“Can a player stand still and let the ball pass in
order to keep an error from being marked against him?”
It is not beyond the bounds of possibility for
a player to do as you say, but he would be exercising very poor judgment. In
the first place the scorers would justly scratch down against him the largest
error recognized by the fraternity, and, last of all, the directors of the club
would take him out and ‘jayhawk’ him. (Louisville Courier-Journal, July 14,
1877)
And one of my very favorites came after the 1877 season, when a fan asked the
Chicago Tribune,
“Is Foley as good a third baseman as Williamson?” The
answer prompted Williamson to write a letter to the paper claiming that the
statistics they had provided did not do him justice. The Tribune printed
Williamson’s reply and then wondered whether Foley would be next to write. After that, it tried to avoid questions
of that sort. |
