That Really Annoying Fan: Not a New Phenomenon

When I read a description appearing in an 1887 edition of Fargo's Sunday Argus, I felt like it could have been written yesterday. The subject: the obnoxious fan. The Philadelphia Press originally published the story, which also covers a distinctive sound known as the "baseball yell". The picture painted by the writer's explanation of the baseball yell isn't particularly clear or applicable to today's game, but the portrait of the unreasonable fan strikes a chord:

"The genuine base-ball yeller yells because he can't help it. But there is a cousin of his who makes other noises with a pertinacity that is evidently wilful (sic). There is a man with a shrill tenor voice who has a season ticket and who sits in one of the upper boxes overlooking the grounds. He is the self-constituted critic of the umpire. He knows more about base ball, in his own mind, than all the experts in the country boiled down and rolled into one. He is always, too, a violent partisan of the home club... He is there every season. His name may vary, but the type is never absent. The regular attendants, the constant devotees of the game, soon grow used to his rantings, and they pass without notice. Even the umpire is too sadly accustomed to the exhortations of the crank even to permit himself a smile."

I guess there is some consolation in knowing that this guy has been around for 125 years. Or maybe not.

Sunday Argus July 17, 1887 "Lovers of Base-Ball" citing the Philadelphia Press.

A Message to Horses and Other Spectators: Beware Flying Objects

Automobile parking was not a concern for fans of the national game in the late 19th century. The danger of broken windshields and body dents caused by stray baseballs was non-existent. Often, fans in the Red River Valley were within walking distance of the local baseball grounds, and if they weren't, a horse and buggy sufficed for the journey. Interestingly, the opening of a new baseball field for Fargo in 1896 presented problems for those attempting to access the park in their buggies. Officials quickly solved the traffic problem by opening a second entrance to the park.

The presence of horses near the playing field was certainly part of the flavor of minor league baseball in this era. One local fan, Jerry Bacon, had one of his horses present for a game between Brainerd and the Grand Forks Company F team in 1895. Unfortunately, Bacon soon learned that his equine attendee was not exempt from the danger of wayward baseballs. The Grand Forks Herald reported that during the 14-5 Brainerd victory, a foul ball struck Bacon's horse in the head. The result: one of the horse's eyes was knocked out of its socket!

Grand Forks Herald September 19, 1895 p. 5 "A Double Header", "City News"

Baptism by Curveball?

When the state of Iowa banned Sunday baseball in April 1897, special consideration was given to the members of the Seventh Day Adventist church. The new law provided that the members of the church, because of their celebration of the Sabbath on Saturday, were exempt from the Sunday ban. With the exemption, the Des Moines baseball club saw opportunity. The St. Paul Globe reported on May 1 that the team's members planned to be baptized as Seventh Day Adventists. Quite the act of dedication.

St. Paul Globe May 1, 1897 p.5 "Must Join a Church to Play Ball"

Terminology: Part 5

I have continued to find interesting terminology from the summer of 1897. Some of the references are a little difficult to figure out, but the context usually provides the answer.

"Assaulted the ozone instead of the sphere" - Swung and missed
"Comer" - player with potential; like an "up and comer"
"Cracker" - like a "crack" team; skilled
"Do the leg wrapping" - pitch
"Doughnuts to cookies" - like "dollars to donuts" (I'm not sure what this says about the relative value of doughnuts vs. cookies)
"Flowing bowl" - alcohol
"Garden" - field (i.e. Center garden = Center field)
"Hoodoo" - trickery, deception
"Horse collars" - zeroes (relating to their appearance on the scoreboard)
"Hospital list" - like the disabled list
"Hummest" - best
"Inshoot" - Curveball that breaks toward the right-handed batter
"In the swim" - similar to "in the mix"
the "McGinnity Act" - pitching both games of a doubleheader 
"On the toboggan" - injured
"Pan" - the plate
"Pets" - players
"Pink of condition" - in the best shape
taking a "Reef in his sails" - likely meaning the action of settling down, or reassessing a situation
"Stuff is off" - event is not going to happen
"Up in the air" - going up in the air is used to refer to a pitcher losing control of his pitches
"Weary Willies" - hobos

Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, Grand Forks Herald, Moorhead Independent", Sunday Argus; April - August 1897.

No photos? No problem.

I've commented regularly on the descriptiveness and creativity found in newspaper accounts of baseball games in the late 19th century. Today a game can be summarized by a few nice snapshots, or even video highlights. Writers in the Red River Valley certainly didn't have these luxuries, however, and actual photographs of any baseball games in the era are quite rare. In the summer of 1897, the Fargo Forum, Sunday Argus, Grand Forks Herald, and Moorhead Independent never featured a single photograph relating to baseball. Fortunately, written accounts of the games were usually quite good, being both descriptive, and at times, even entertaining. A few days ago, I posted a cartoon drawn in the Grand Forks Herald satirizing the 1897 league and the plight of the umpires. This is the only drawing that appeared in the Herald during the 1897 season concerning the Red River Valley League, but illustrations from the cartoonist Straub were fairly common in chronicling the 1896 season. The following is one of my favorites. It captures the spirit of a strong rivalry between Crookston and the Company F team of Grand Forks, with a good dose of humor injected as well. The Grand Forks squad won the game 15-9. Several members of the 1897 Grand Forks Senators appeared in the game, including Charles Hutton, Harry Walker, and Jack Turner.




Grand Forks Herald July 17, 1896 "Fixed 'Em Plenty"

Metaphorically Speaking

The baseball accounts from the dead-ball era were often unusually and excessively descriptive. The writing certainly played an important role regarding perceptions of baseball in an era before radio and television. The newspaper descriptions about the games of the Red River Valley League are a key piece in understanding the flavor of the league. Here are some of the more entertaining gems:

During the summer of 1897, several pitchers who struggled to control their pitches were deemed to be "as wild as a March hare" by the Sunday Argus. Among the out of control rabbits were Wahpeton-Breckenridge's Ollie Berg, Grand Forks pitcher Charlie Hutton, and Fargo's Gus Munch. On a separate occasion, during a particularly poor weather day in which Ollie Berg surrendered 15 runs, the weather was described as "being as wild and wooly as Berg's delivery."*

Solid pitching performances elicited even richer descriptions. Deacon Phillippe was credited for being "as steady as a clock" in a game in late June. Wahpeton-Breckenridge pitcher O'Donnell's alertness in a game in late May caused The Moorhead Independent to credit him for watching base runners "like a hungry hyena".** Moorhead's Pike Mullaney was complimented for a start in which he "shot the ball over the plate with Denzer-like steam," a reference pitcher Roger Denzer, who threw for the St. Paul Saints and Chicago Colts in 1897.*** Moorhead's other ace, Bob Brush, pitched an impressive game allowing hits and runs "as scarce as mosquitoes in January."**** Perhaps the most creative embellishment of a pitcher's dominance came courtesy of the Sunday Argus. The paper remarked that Pike Mullaney's pitching against the Wahpeton-Breckenridge club "had the Methodists feeling around as aimlessly as pedestrians trying to escape the Fargo street sweeper, or huge cats from whose muzzles the whiskers had been cleanly shaven."*****

*The Moorhead Independent June 11, 1897
**Independent May 28, 1897
***Independent June 25, 1897
****Independent June 11, 1897
*****Sunday Argus May 30, 1897

Terminology: Part 4 in a Series

A few more old time terminology references found in 1896 editions of the Forum:

"Cross bats" - a way of saying that two teams will play each other
"Did the business" - caused something to happen (a negative event in the Forum's reference)
"Have a snap" - have success; similar to the saying "it was a snap", meaning it was easy
"Rubber" - used to describe home plate; also used to describe the pitcher's rubber, which is the sole use of the term today
"Try conclusions" - a way of saying that two teams will play each other

The Comiskey Connection

Charles Comiskey managed the St. Paul Saints of the Western League from 1895 to 1899, occasionally taking the field for the team. A career .264 hitter in 13 major league seasons, Comiskey later gained recognition as the cheapskate owner of the Chicago White Sox of the American League. Interestingly, his brother Ignatius, who was a deaf/mute, played baseball for the Crookston team in 1896. The Crookston Giants club played teams from Fargo and Moorhead during the course of the summer. On August 13, the younger Comiskey broke his arm in two places when one of the team's wagons tipped over following a game against Morris, MN. Sadly, Ignatius Comiskey died of a heart condition at age 25. He was found in Charles's house in Chicago on July 3, 1900.

St. Paul Globe August 14, 1896 p.5 "Young Comiskey Injured"

St Paul Globe July 4, 1900 p.8 "Ignatius Comiskey Dead"