--------THE------- National Pastime A REVIEW OF BASE·BALL HI·STORY I t's slipping by unnoticed, but 1993 is the 100th anni­ counted as a hit just six years ago. versary of modern basebalL A century ago this pastApril, In 1893, a 50-year-old baseball fan had lived through pitchers for the first time in official play toed a slab sixty the whole history ofthe "New York Game." Even young­ feet, six inches from the intersection of the foul lines. sters of 30 had been able to watch the development of the This was the last of the great changes made in the game sport into a business calculated to make money for "mag­ during the vigorous, experimental, unrestrained, nates," who three years before had crushed a player untraditional nineteenth century. The diamond was set. revolt and who now seemed determined to run the over­ A hundred years ago, baseball was already the national large "big League" into the ground. They didn't ofcourse. pastime, but it was still a relatively young sport. Ifwe su­ Outside forces, including Ban Johnson and an improved perimpose our year on 1893 and look back, baseball's economy, would soon reinvigorate the game. (Our development seems remarkably rapid. The game broke troubled sport could use another such jolt any time now.) free from its town ball roots about the time Pesky held (or Sometime this season, maybe as you catch a few rays didn't hold) the ball and Slaughter scored from first. The in the bleachers, or lie in a hammock tuning a lazy ear to great, professional Cincinnati Red Stockings took the a Sunday afternoon broadcast, or-bestyet-perch on a field the year the Mets stunned everyone by winning a grassy hill overlooking a high school game, give the pennant and a World Series. The National League was game's past century a thought. And pass it on. Modern founded in the year of Mark ''The Bird" Fidrych. A walk baseball is 100 years old. -M.A. The Board Frank Keetz 3 Locating Philadelphia's Historic Ballfields Jerrold Casway 5 Jackie and the Juniors vs. Margaret and the Bloomers Barbara Gregorich 8 AL Diamond Stars Polished in Puerto Rico Thomas E. Van Hyning 11 George Magerkurth Tom Knight 13 Extraordinary 1884 Frederick Ivor-Campbell 16 The Upstart Senators of 1912-1915 Guy Waterman 24 The Goalie who Loved Baseball Antonia Chambers 28 Satch vs. Josh Larry Lester andJohn '13uck" O'Neil 30 A History of Dodger Ownership Andy McCue 34 Young and a Giant-Laughing Larry Doyle Bill Chambers 43 Denny Lyons' 52-Game Hitting Streak David Q. Voigt 45 In Holland, Honk If You Love Baseball Jay Feldman 50 The 1884 Altoona Unions Jerry Jaye Wright 53 Wee Willie Keeler: Fame and Failure LeoTrachtenberg 57 "Doc" Powers' Shocking End Joe Dittmar 62 The Louisville Colonels of 1890 Bob Bailey 66 The 1930 Phillies John Thom 71 The Continental League of 1921 David Pietrusza ~ 76 The Milkman Dutch Doyle 79 Les Tietje Steve Smart 81 The Chicago School of Baseball Writing Tom Nawrocki 84 Billy Goodman Jim Sumner · 87 :xx and Hoosier Chuck Steve Krevisky 90 Kid Sisters Diana Star Helmer 94 Field of Dreams, a poem Gene Carney 96 THE NATIONAL PASTIME (ISSN 0734-6905, ISBN 0-910137-52-8), Number 13. Editor Designated Readers Published by The Society for American Baseball Research, Inc., P.O. Box 93183, Cleveland, OR 44101. Po~tage paid at Birmingham, AL. Copyright 1993, Mark Alvarez Jack Kavanagh The Society for American Baseball Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Repro­ Norman Macht duction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Printed by EBSCO Media, Birmingham, AL. Robert L. Tiemann For more than twenty years, the Society for American Baseball Research has published unique, insightful, entertaining literature. In addition to SABR's annual publications, Baseball Research Journal and The National Pastime, special issues have focused on specific aspects of baseball history. For further reading enjoyment, consider obtaining the SABR publications below. The National Pastime SABR Review of Books PUBLICATIONS #1: Fall, 1982 (88 pp.) $5.00 Articles ofBaseball Literary Criticism * #2: Fall, 1983 (88 pp.) $5.00 __Vol. 1,1986 $6.00 -ORDER FORM #3: Spring, 1984 (88 pp.) $7.00 __Vol. II, 1987 (96pp.) $6.00 19th Century Pictorial __Vol. 111,1988 (104 pp.) $6.00 #4: Spring, 1985 (88 pp.) $6.00 __Vol. IV, 1989 (128 pp.) $7.00 Baseball Research Journals #5: Winter, 1985 (88 pp.) $6.00 __Vol. V, 1990 (148 pp.) $7.00 __1975 (112 pp.) $3.00 #6: Spring, 1986 (88 pp.) $8.00 _._1976 (128 pp.) $4.00 Dead Ball Era Pictorial Baseball in Cleveland __1977 (144pp.) $4.00 #7: Winter, 1987 (88 pp.) $6.00 * 1990 (40 pp.) $7.50 __1978 (160pp.) $4.00 #8: Spring, 1988 (80 pp.) $8.00 __1979 (160pp.) $5.00 Nap Lajoie Biography Baseball in New York __1980 (180 pp.) $5.00 * #9: 1989 (88 pp.) $ 8.00 __1991 (36 pp.) $5.00 __1981 (180 pp.) $5.00 The Big Bang Era Pictorial * 1982 (184 pp.) $5.00 __ #10: Fall, 1990 (88 pp.) $8.00 St. Louis's Favorite Sport * 1983 (188 pp.) $5.00 __ #11: Fall,1991 (88pp.) $7.95 __1992 (64 pp.) $7.50 __1984 (88 pp.) $6.00 __ #12: Summer,1992 (96pp.) .$7.95 __1985 (88 pp.) $6.00 The International Pastime Minor League Baseball Stars __1986 (88 pp.) $6.00 __Vol. I, 1978 (132 pp.) $5.00 __1987 (88 pp.) $6.00 19th Century Stars Year-by-year records of __1988 (88 pp.) $7.00 __. 1988 (144 pp.) $10.00 170 minor league greats __1989 (88 pp.) $8.00 Biographies of America's First Heroes __VoLII, 1984 $5.00 __1990 (96 pp.) $8.00 (Non-Hall of Fame players) 20 managers and 180 more players __1991 (96pp.) $8.00 __Vol. 111,1992 $9.95 __1992 (96 pp.) $7.95 Baseball in the 19th Century 250 players __1986; An Overview $2.00 Baseball Historical Review Minor League History Journal __1981; Best of '72-'74 The Federal League of 1914·15 __1991 (40 pp.) $6.00 Baseball Research Journals $6.00 1989 (64 pp.) $12.00 Stories and statistics Baseball;s Third Major League Index to SABR Publications Run, Rabbit, Run 1987 (58 pp.) $3.00 Award Voting 1991 (96 pp.) $9.95 The Nadonal Pastime, __19RR (72 1'1'.) $7.00 Tales of Walter "Rabbit" Maranville Baseball Research Journal, History & Listing of MVP, Rookie of & SABR Review of Books the Year & Cy Young Awards Baseball: The Fan's Game (reprint) __by Mil;key COl;hrane (189 pp.) $9.95 The Baseball Research Handbook Cooperstown Corner __1987 (120 pp.) $6.00 Columns from The Sporting News by Lee Allen How to Do Research __1990 (181 pp.) $10.00 * =Out of Print. 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Box 93183 City, State, ZIP _ Cleveland,OH 44101. 2 THE NATIONAL PASTIME Before there was radio, there was... The Board Frank Keetz Itwas the 1920 World Series. Cleveland versus Brook­ lyn. Opening game. Second inning. Joe Wood on third base, Joe Sewell on first base. Veteran catcher Steve O'Neill "slammed the ball down the third-base line" for a two-base hit which drove in Cleveland's second run on the Indians' march to a World Series title. Waiting for Brooklyn twirler Rube Marquard to take the mound again to pitch to the next batter, O'Neill scuffed at second base. It was at that moment, according to O'Neill's inter­ view with H. C. Salsinger, veteran sports editor of the Detroit News, that he realized his greatest diamond thrill. Back ill Scralltoll, Pennsylvania over six thousand anx­ ious fans were watching the huge play-by-play "boards" in front of tl1e buildings of botIl tIle Scranton RBpublica1tt and the Scranton Times. When the board operator put the name "O'Neill" beside the "At Bat" sign, cries of "C'mon, Steve" echoed through the crowd. Everyone was cheer­ ing for a local boy made good. Steve O'Neill had been born and raised in Minooka, then a mining community a few miles from downtown Scranton. A miner at age 12, he and his friends, all of whom were wildly enthusiastic baseball followers as well as players, would take the street car from Minooka to Scranton to watch the World Series boards and dream of playing in the World Series. Now, at age 29, after more than a thousand games during eleven years as· a minor and major league baseball catcher, Steve O'Neill's child­ hood dream had been realized. .....J CD Z Frank Keetz, recently retired after 38years as a high school teacher, just published a book about Schenectady, NY in the Eastern League during Steve O'Neill the 1950s.