Number 60 December 2011 Plum at the Polo Grounds by Patrick Carroll n his admirable life of Wodehouse , Robert although both contain one or two bits of scansion McCrum observes that “In old age, he had become that walks a tightrope between the daring and the aI devoted baseball fan ”. While loath to contradict, or dodgy . even slightly amend, the words of the Master’s “There is that about baseball which arouses definitive biographer – especially as he was kind enthusiasm and the partisan spirit in the unlikeliest enough to include my name among his bosoms. It is almost impossible for a man to live in acknowledgements – I suggest the evidence indicates America and not be gripped by the game. ” Like that Wodehouse’s devotion to the American National Archie Moffam, whose indiscretions inform the Pastime developed much earlier, very probably loosely connected stories of the 1921 book, during his initial 1904 and 1909 visits to New York . Wodehouse, by the time he had settled in New York, I was set to think again on the subject by the had become not only a baseball fan but also an ardent appearance in the December 2010 By The Way supporter of the city’s National League stalwarts, the newsletter of ‘The Old Cricketer’s Story ’. It was New York Giants. From the late 19th century and apparent to me that this into the 1920s, the jeu d’esprit of the young Giants, under their feisty Wodehouse was almost and combative manager, certainly influenced by John McGraw, were the his acquaintance with team to beat in the Ernest L. Thayer’s light- National League, competing hearted verse opus ‘Casey in nine of 20 World at the Bat ’. Wodehouse Series between 1905 and was, of course, through- 1924. The Giants ’ home out his life a sportsman , field, which Wodehouse engaged by any and all certainly knew well , was games and athletic the Polo Grounds, first pursuits. He was also used for baseball in 1880 addicted to most forms of and long since demolished theatrical entertainment but then located on – the plays of Chekhov, Manhattan’s Upper West Ibsen , and Strindberg Side at 155th Street and perhaps excepted. He The old Polo Grounds as Wodehouse would have known it Eighth Avenue. once said that his own The book that offers mentality was perfectly attuned to Music Hall. most evidence of Wodehouse’s enthusiasm for Thayer’s epic was first performed as a recitation baseball is Piccadilly Jim (1917). In its opening by DeWolf Hopper in 1889 at New York’s Wallack’s chapter , Peter Pett is described as “a baseball fan of Theater . Hopper, a leading vaudevillian and comic no lukewarm order [who] had an admiration for the actor of the period, went on (by his own account) to Napoleonic gifts of Mr. McGraw which would have perform this popular piece over 10,000 times. gratified that gentleman had he known of it ”. In the Considering his sporting and theatrical interests, same book , Mr. Pett’s brother-in-law, Bingley Crocker Wodehouse must have been familiar with it. – unwillingly resident in London – is found suffering Comparing the two pieces , it is apparent that pangs of homesickness exacerbated by his longings Wodehouse was – unsurprisingly for so nimble a for the Polo Grounds , combined with his song lyricist – the more accomplished light versifier, bewilderment when exposed to cricket. His reaction Wooster Sauce – December 2011 to the English summer game is similar to that of seasons and leading the American League in Groucho Marx, who, after an hour’s play at Lord’s, strikeouts for six years from 1902 through 1907. remarked , “Great game. When does it start?” Both Crucially , as a model for Looney Biddle, Waddell was men would have concurred with Bernard Shaw’s as renowned for his wild eccentricities as he was for observation that “The English, not being a spiritual his pitcher prowess. people, invented cricket in order to give themselves Robert McCrum notes that in later life some conception of eternity.” Wodehouse “enjoyed following the inept exploits of Rather dazed by the butler Bayliss’s jargon-filled the newly formed New York Mets ”. Him and me both explication of the cricket match both had witnessed – although in my case I’m not sure ‘enjoyed’ is the the previous day , Mr. Crocker is further appalled right word. Having been a fanatical supporter of the when, following his own spirited demonstration of Giants’ arch rival Brooklyn Dodgers, I’d had no New the diamond game – using a bread roll and various York National League team to support since the bits of tableware for illustration – Bayliss explains departure in 1957 of both the Giants and Dodgers to that the game is known in England as rounders and California. Like Wodehouse I rooted for the Mets is played by children with a soft ball and a racket. from their inception in 1962 and still bear the Throughout Piccadilly Jim the Polo Grounds is psychological scars to prove it. evoked as a kind of Garden of Eden to which – like Also according to Robert McCrum , Wodehouse the Peri outside the gates of Paradise – Mr. Pett, Mr. wrote about American sports. I still have a letter Crocker , and even Jimmy Crocker long to return. from Wodehouse written to my father when he was Three real-life major league players of the era are an editor at Sports Illustrated magazine. My father named in Piccadilly Jim. One is Frank ‘Home Run’ had become professionally acquainted with Baker , who at that Wodehouse – whom he usually referred to as time did not play for “PeeGee” – in the late 1940s when he was a fiction the Giants but rather editor at Collier’s Magazine . The letter was in reply for the New York to one from my father asking if Wodehouse might do American League team a piece for the magazine. Wodehouse said he would initially known as the happily consider it and that the next time he was in Highlanders and later the city he would touch my old man for lunch. I don’t as the Yankees. (The know what, if anything, came of this Yankees of the period correspondence, although it has always struck me before the arrival of that, unlike the half-dozen or so letters that he wrote Babe Ruth in 1920 to my mother (also a lifelong Wodehouse fan), which were notably mediocre , were always addressed Dear Mrs. Carroll and signed and it is unsurprising P. G. Wodehouse, the one to my father was addressed that Wodehouse found Dear Joe and signed Plum. Whatever the game or the Giants the more occasion , Wodehouse always knew the rules and attractive team to root played by them. for. ) Another is the Frank ‘Home Run’ Baker Giants ’ star pitcher, “Who’s leading in the pennant race?” said Christy Mathewson, referred to as Matty when the this strange butler in a feverish whisper. brothers-in-law meet. Mr. Pett, under the impression It was a question, coming from such a that Mr. Crocker is a butler, is surprised when the source, which in another than Mr Pett might well supposed major-domo eagerly asks for news of the have provoked a blank stare of amazement. Giants’ progress in the National League pennant race Such, however, is the almost superhuman (see boxed quote). intelligence and quickness of mind engendered by the study of America’s national game, that A third player mentioned is the Giant second he answered without the slightest hesitation: baseman, Larry Doyle, said to have hit home runs on “Giants!” two consecutive days. The long-serving (1905–41) “Wow!” said the butler. National League umpire Bill Klem is referred to as . “one swell robber ”. “No signs of them slumping?” inquired the Two chapters of Indiscretions of Archie describe butler. the hero’s farcical encounter with a supposed Giants “No; but you never can tell. It’s early yet. left-handed pitcher, Looney Biddle . Looney Biddle is I’ve seen those boys lead the league till the end of August and then be nosed out.” a made-up character , but I suspect that the “True enough,” said the butler sadly. inspiration for him was an actual star hurler of the “Matty’s in shape.” early 20th century, Rube Waddell. Waddell did not “He is? The old arm working well?” play for the Giants but rather for the American “Like a machine. He shut out the Cubs the League’s Philadelphia Athletics. He was a dominant day before I sailed.” pitcher for the team during the first decade of the “Fine!” (From Piccadilly Jim , 1917) 20th century, recording five consecutive 20-win Page 2 Wooster Sauce – December 2011 A Memorable Book Launch he evening of October 31 saw the launch of the long-awaited P. G. Wodehouse: A Life in Letters , eTdited by Sophie Ratcliffe. Those of us lucky enough to be invited to the occasion at Heywood Hill in Curzon Street had a splendid time , and the place was soon packed with people talking at the tops of their voices while holding a glass in one hand and the 602- page book with the other. Just about everybody there had been connected with the project in one way or another , including Sophie’s husband , Andrew , and some undergraduates who had helped Sophie on the donkey-work of sorting and indexing the enormous number of documents involved in the project. There was Nigel Wodehouse (a great-nephew) and his wife, Celia; all the Cazalets; HRH The Duke of Kent; Woman of the hour Sophie Ratcliffe with Robert McCrum various leading lights from The P G Wodehouse Society; Henry Blofeld; Edward Cazalet opened the Wodehouse biographer Robert proceedings by telling us about how McCrum ; and countless others.