Slumgullion
A combination of baseball items
Bygone baseball
By C. Philip Francis
THUMBED OUT BEFORE HE STARTED
It happened on September 27, 1951 when the Dodgers and Giants were scrapping their way to the National League pennant. Brooklyn was in the final game of a crucial three-game series with the Braves in Boston, and going into the bottom of the eighth they were tied at three all. When the Boston player attempted to score in a bang-bang play at home plate umpire Frank Dascoli called the runner safe that eventually became the winning run. After the Dodgers engaged in an excessively long and heated discussion regarding the decision, Umpire Dascoli began thumbing out the Dodger offenders that included those sitting on the bench.
One of the men quietly minding his own business and watching the game was a young outfielder by the name of Bill Sharman who had just been called up, and now suddenly he was officially invited to take an early shower. Sharman not only left the dugout but the team as he was sent back to the minors never again to appear in a major league game. Sharman thus become the only ballplayer ever ejected from a big league game without ever playing in one.
Don’t cry for Bill too long, however, because that same Bill Sharman later changed his baseball uniform for basketball shorts, joined the NBA Boston Celtics, and is in the professional basketball Hall of Fame.
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FUTILITY
Red Schoendienst, a second-baseman for the St. Louis Cards in the 1940’s, ‘50’s, and ‘60’s, is in the Hall of Fame in spite of his one day of futility in 1947 when he went 0 for 12 in a doubleheader. Infielder Bob Saverine of the Washington Senators matched Red with his own zero for 12 at-bats in a long and ineffectual 1966 twinbill.
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HE MANAGED, TOO
When Ted Turner bought the Atlanta Braves in 1976 he wanted to make his new club “America’s Team” with his national cable company. Unlike many of the other starchy team owners Ted showed a little bit of Bill Veeck inside by jumping out of his box to welcome each Braves home run hitter, and helping the ground crew smooth out the infield dirt between innings. When Turner’s team reached a 16-game losing steak following a doubleheader loss in Pittsburgh on May 11, 1977, the owner replaced regular skipper Dave Bristol and hired himself to manage his own team. The next day he wore a Braves uniform, and with a wad of tobacco in the jaw Turner took the lineup card up to the umpire. The owner explained, “People keep asking me what’s wrong with the club. I want to see if I can find an answer, in the dugout.”
Acting manager Turner just observed as coach Vern Benson handled the team, but even that strategy failed as the Braves lost their 17th straight. Ted Turner’s one game managerial career quickly hit a snag when National League president Chub Feeney immediately ordered the Atlanta team owner to take off that uniform and get back to his office. He did, but the name Robert Edward Turner with a record of 0-1 and a winning percentage of .000 can be found in the Manager Register section of the Baseball Encyclopedia not far from Joe Torre and Pie Traynor.
MORE ON EDDIE GRANT
A very special Chatter from the Dugout THANK YOU goes out to reader Mike Hanlon who is the director of The Great War Society, a World War One historical organization that has over 600 members worldwide. In Part 2 of “Heroes” first printed on September 26, 2001 we wrote of Eddie Grant, “…although his body may have been returned to the United States the location of his remains is unknown.”
Mr. Hanlon responded with, “We have a little information on Harvard Eddie Grant…According to the American Battle Monuments Commission website www.abmc.gov, he is buried at the Meuse-Argonne American, Romagne Cemetery in the Argonne Forest, Romagne, France. The Baseball Encyclopedia indicates that Grant died on October 5, 1918, but the Monuments Commission lists Grant’s date of death as October 9, 1918.
Mr. Hanlon’s adds “The New York Giants placed a plaque in honor Grant on the outfield wall at the old Polo Grounds after the war. When the Giants moved and the stadium demolished, the plaque disappeared.” The reader can find a photo of Eddie Grant in his army uniform at: www.worldwar1.com/dbc/album5.htm, the Society’s Doughboy Photo Album. For further information on Grant’s death or The Great War Society, you are invited to contact Mike Hanlon at: greatwar@verio.com
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DID HE GIVE AUTOGRAPHS?
In a nine-inning baseball exhibition college game in Raleigh, North Carolina between Wake Forest and North Carolina State a mechanical pitcher was used with one additional player standing by the robot to do any fielding. Wake Forest won 8-0 on 11 hits while the loser could only muster up three. The cold and lifeless throwing machine showed little emotion when charged with seven walks and one wild pitch, and had to be both the winning and losing pitcher.