The First Baseball Strike
“…a bruised and bloody mess.”
Bygone baseball by C. Philip Francis
Many consider the players’ major league strike of April 1, 1972 lasting 14 days and losing 86 games to be the first ever. Since then there have been seven more including the 1994 stoppage that killed the World Series and turned off many die-hard fans. Actually the very first strike including replacement players occurred on May 18, 1912, and could be called “Cobb’s strike game.”
Tyrus Raymond Cobb, known as the Georgia Peach, is possibly the greatest player of all time, but also the most disliked. He holds the highest lifetime batting average of .367, hit over .400 three times, and retired after the 1928 season with 90 records in hitting and base running. His bat and spikes, however, were overshadowed by his failure in human relationships. Cobb had a lifetime belligerent behavior, and was an unabated racist. He once slapped a black elevator operator, tried to choke the wife of a black groundskeeper, pistol-whipped a black butcher, and beat up a roommate who used the bathtub before Cobb. He was a lonely and bitter man whose teammates would seldom speak to him.
Ty’s most infamous altercation occurred on May 15, 1912 when he and his Detroit Tigers played the New York Highlanders (soon to be the Yankees.) at their Hilltop Park. The angry Tiger had previously been heckled by a handicapped Yankee fan (they were called “cranks” at the time), and on this day Cobb began a verbal battle with the same tormentor, Claude Lueker. For three innings the ballplayer heard profane and abusive terms hurled by Lueker, a secretary to a former sheriff, who had lost his left hand and three fingers from his other hand in a printing accident a year before.
There were certain words Cobb would not tolerate, and after hearing enough the Detroit outfielder vaulted the fence and charged into the stands where he began to pummel the unlucky Yankee fan. It had been reported that after someone yelled out that the man doesn’t have any hands, Cobb shouted back, “I don’t care if he even has no feet!” The antagonized Cobb continued to kick with his spiked shoes until the police and others stopped the assault. Lueker was “a bruised and bloody mess.”
American League Ban Johnson president fined Cobb $100 and suspended him indefinitely. The Yankee series had finished, and the team moved to Philadelphia where they would meet Connie Mack’s A’s on May 18. In spite of the intense dislike of their teammate, the incensed Tigers refused to take the field until Cobb was reinstated. The Detroit Tigers were about to pull off the first ever players’ strike in baseball history.
Johnson said that he would suspend all players who refused to play, and fine Tiger owner Frank Navin $5,000 for each missed game. In an attempt to avoid paying any fines Navin ordered manager Hughie Jennings to round up a team in case the team refused to play. Jennings asked Philadelphia Bulletin reporter John Nolan to help find twelve men. Nolan in turn went to St. Joseph’s College where he found 20-year-old Al Travers who had pitched for the school. His catcher was 48-year-old Deacon McGuire who had enjoyed 26 years in the big leagues followed by six years as manager. Another graybeard was 41-year-old Tiger coach Joe Sugden now activated for one game at first base. The others were found hanging around at the corner of 23rd and Columbia including some who had played in the semi-pros. The pitcher was to be paid $25 with $10 to each of the others although they were told the game would probably never be played.
But it was. The actual Detroit team suited up and took infield practice, and when Johnson refused to lift the suspension the players left the field. Then the ersatz Tigers took over, and when Mack saw the “bums in disguise” he saw an easy victory. Tiger pitcher Travers said, “We were nothing but a bunch of nondescripts. It’s a wonder we ever got them out.”
The real Tiger players sat comfortable up in the stands watching their replacements being clobbered by the World Championship A’s 24-2 before a crowd of 15,000. The strike ended the next day after the suspension was reduced to ten days and the fine to $50. Cobb thanked his Tiger mates, urged them to return to the field so to not jeopardize their careers, and the one-day sit-down strike was over.
The incident apparently failed to influence the Georgian’s batting skill as he won the title with a .410 although the Bengals did fall from second place in 1911 to sixth. In addition to their one-day paycheck each paper Tiger has their name entered in the Baseball Encyclopedia. The only man to again wear a major league uniform was Billy Mahag who played third, a nefarious character who somehow convinced the Philadelphia Phillies to allow him to take one official at-bat in the final game of the 1916 season. Shady Billy Mahag again surfaced during the 1919 Chicago White Sox betting scandal.
Third-baseman Ed Irvin had two triples in three times at bat, and finished his lifetime career with a .667. Pitcher Aloysius Travers gave up 26 hits in his first and last professional baseball, and ended with a 0 and 1 record. He went into the priesthood and became Father Travis. When Al walked out to the pitching mound and knew he would be facing such hitters as Hall of Famers Eddie Collins and Frank “Home Run” Baker, one can assume that a lot of praying was taking place on that day in May.