'Old' Stuff

[DOUGHBOYS]

Bill Doak is noted as one of the 17 spit ballers grandfathered into the Major Leagues keeping the pitch, when the pitch was made illegal.
His lifetime record of 169-157 was average for the day. Like most pitchers of his day, he pitched whenever asked and sometimes both ends of a doubleheader.
'Reverse batteries' were even still present. When a pitcher and catcher would simply change positions for the second game of a doubleheader.

Doak changed the course of baseball....And just in time.
Baseball was changing from the dead ball to the live ball. Ray Chapman had been killed by a pitch from Carl Mays and cries were heard that the ball was so dark, Chapman never had a chance.
By the way, Mays and Babe Ruth were both up and coming pitchers for the Red Sox before both were ultimately traded to the Yankees.
I just like saying Mays and Ruth...

Anyway, with the balls being 'Forever new', they started coming back to fielders with a lot more velocity behind them. Balls that were struck very hard at an infielder would be called a hit because there was little chance for the infielder to 'glove' the ball.
Enter Bill Doak. Or 'Spittin Bill' as he was called back then.
He suggested to the Rawlings Company that they put a web between the the first finger and thumb to form a natural pocket.
The rest is history. That glove became the standard and would give infielders more than a fair chance against hard hit balls.
Doak would retire from baseball and live off the money garnered from his idea.

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There's been a lot of talk about Bryce Harper being all that and a bag of Doritos and he has lived up to the hype so far.
In 1915, there was another kid. Only this kid, without the hype, changed baseball.
Babe Ruth was the kid pitching for the Boston Red Sox. He was not well liked by most teammates. He was obnoxious, brash, and even at 20, he was better than everybody else on the team, and he knew it.
The Red Sox were finishing up a (get this) 29 day road trip.
Ruth was on the mound vs. the Yankees. Ruth loved pitching almost as much as hitting.
He hit his second Major League homer on this day. A homer that neither team had seen the likes of before.
Still during the dead ball days, home runs were not the order of the day.
Especially ones like this, mammoth.
Ruth would pitch well and win the game 7-1.
But after his home run and even though he was a pitcher, the Yankees intentionally walked him twice after his home run.
First, the sight of his home run wowed the Yankees and second, they thought it may piss off Ruth enough to effect his moundsmanship (shuddup spell checker, they know what I mean!)
While not effecting his pitching, it did piss off Ruth. He was mad enough to be robbed of two chances of hitting that he kicked the bench as hard as possible after the victory.
The youngster broke his big toe and was unable to play for two weeks.

Two things come to mind with this story-
1. Just how much press would a player receive today for such an incident?
The Babe got a small mention.
2. How long would a modern day player be out with a broken big toe?
They don't come back that early from turf toe.

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Before prohibition, the San Francisco Seals had a great seating arrangement.
First, the San Francisco Seals were the New York Yankees of the West Coast. There was no Major League baseball west of St. Louis, so for west coasters, Minor League baseball WAS Major League baseball.

The Seals would graduate several players to the Major Leagues. Most known of all being Joe DiMaggio.
The Seals also had a seating arrangement, the likes that will never be seen again.
Field level and for eight rows, there were benches. These benches were enclosed by chicken wire to form a cage.
They called it the 'Booze Cage'.
For forty cents, men would be admitted into the booze cage where they would have a choice of a big slug of whiskey, or two beers, or a ham and cheese sandwich. The whiskey was the usual choice. These men would also bring their own spirits and share with some of the players if asked.
Fistfights were normal, as were passed out patrons, and the smell of vomit.

After prohibition, the cage was kept. The Seals could not offer beer or nips of whiskey, at the same time, they averted eyes at the site of their patrons bringing in flasks and having a nice drunken and disorderly day in the 'Booze Cage'.