The Days of Wee Willie, Old Cy and Baseball War
Scenes from the Dawn of the Deadball Era, 1900–1903
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About the Book
This account of the four baseball seasons of 1900 through 1903 seeks to capture the flavor of the period by providing yearly overviews from the standpoint of each team and by focusing more deeply on 30 or more players of the era—not only such legendary stars as Cy Young and Willie Keeler, but also relative unknowns such as Bill Keister and Kip Selbach. Each team section is supplemented by a table providing the significant batting and pitching statistics for each regular team member.
The major theme of the period was the baseball war between the National and American leagues from 1900 to 1903. But the broad multi-season, multi-team view allows varying the focus. The pennant races receive due attention but there are other aspects of the baseball drama, such as: the aging star who finds a way to extend his period of dominance (Cy Young); the young, unpolished phenom whose raw talent enables him to excel (Christy Mathewson); and the fierce competitor who risks injury to help his team (Joe McGinnity or Deacon Phillippe).
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
Chuck Kimberly
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 296
Bibliographic Info: 28 photos, tables, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-9401-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1551-6
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter One. 1900, National League
A Gem of a Season 5
The Iron Man to the Rescue: Brooklyn 10
Putting It Together Too Late: Pittsburgh 14
A Formidable Batting Order: Philadelphia 17 Faded Glory: Boston 18
Spoiled Broth: St. Louis 21
A Team of Fighters: Chicago 22
Good Idea, Bad Timing: Cincinnati 23
Polishing the Big Apple’s Team 27
Big Ed Decided to Bunt 29
Wee Willie Was Big 30
Kip’s Bad
Rep 36
Intersecting Career Paths: Pink Hawley and Joe McGinnity 37
A Loud Noise in Brooklyn: Roaring Bill Kennedy 43
Chapter Two. 1901, National League
The Baseball War’s Opening Salvo 46
A New Powerhouse: Pittsburgh 47
More Ginger: Philadelphia 51
Please, Please—Not Toward Third: Brooklyn 53 Addition by Subtraction: St. Louis 55
Battle Damage: Boston, Chicago, New York and Cincinnati 57
A Fine Utility Player: Honus Wagner 61
There Was Something About Harry: Harry Wolverton 64
A Rising Star: Jimmy Sheckard 65
He Doesn’t Need the Money: Emmet Heidrick 66
A Tale of Two Lefties: Lefty Davis 69
The Toast of New York: Christy Mathewson 70 Rambling Rube 73
Harsher Times 77
Chapter Three. 1901, American League
The New Major League 81
The Defending—and New—Champions:
Chicago 82
A Gentleman’s Team: Boston 86
A Thrilling Start: Detroit 89 Mack Cobbles Together a Winner: Philadelphia 91
McGraw’s Orioles, Act II 94
A Considerable Trick: Washington 96
Cleveland Still Had the Blues 98
Losing Brews Fan Discontent 102
In a Class by Himself: Napoleon Lajoie 104 A Designated Hitter Born Too Soon: Bill Keister 108
Davey Crockett in
Detroit 110
Adjusting Successfully: Cy Young 111
A Logical Decision:
Frank DeHaas Robison 115
Chapter Four. 1902, National League
A Desperate Counterattack 117
Like Men Among Boys: Pittsburgh 121
Hanlon’s Projects: Brooklyn 123
End of the Road for a Star: Boston 127
Refreshing Changes: Cincinnati 129
New Nickname, New Manager, New
Players: Chicago 130
Why Rebuilding Is Difficult: St. Louis 133
Seventy-
Five Percent Good: Philadelphia 136
The Fourth Estate Gets Its Chance: New York 138
A Fielding Wonder: Fred Tenney 141
A Wee Bit of a Slugger: Tommy Leach 143
The Future King of Sluggers: Sam Crawford 144
Setting the Standard: Bill Bergen 149
“Noodles”: Frank Hahn 150
Chapter Five. 1902, American League
Mixed Luck and Rube Waddell: Philadelphia 156
Dashed Hopes: St. Louis 161 Misplaced Charity: Boston 164
Comiskey’s Machine Sputters 166
A Team Transformed: Cleveland 168
Not As Good As Advertised: Washington 170
A Team Too Fiery: Detroit 173
Orioles and Patriots 176
A Golden Glove: Jimmy Collins 180
“Scoops”: George Carey 184
An All-American Guy: Dave Fultz 186
Welcome to the Big Leagues, Mr. Joss 189
Chapter Six. 1903, National League
Stumbling Toward Peace 193
Still Good Enough: Pittsburgh 199
A Successful “Con” Job: New York 202
Selee Builds a Contender: Chicago 205
Costly Altruism: Cincinnati 208
The Stars Said “Goodbye”: Brooklyn 210
A Painful Season: Boston 214
Tragedy and Disappointment: Philadelphia 216
At Least the Grandstand Didn’t Collapse: St. Louis 218
Poor Control: Mike Donlin 221
A Quiet Hero: Deacon Phillippe 227
Chapter Seven. 1903, American League
Paying More, Getting Less 232
A Nebraska Cyclone in Boston 233
Not Enough Pixie Dust: Philadelphia 238
Too Many E’s: Cleveland 240
Not Quite Ready: New York 243
Kerosene: Detroit 245
Seriously Off-Track: St. Louis 248
Playing Ugly: Chicago 250
The Passing of a Great Player: Washington 253
The Man They Fought Over: George Davis 255
Bill Bradley, B.I. 259
Count Your Cows: Kid Elberfeld 262
“Socks”: Ralph
Seybold 265
Don’t Tread on Griff: Clark Griffith 267
Chapter Notes 273
Bibliography 281
Index 283
Book Reviews & Awards
Co-Winner, Larry Ritter Book Award—SABR
