The Heights of Rhetoric – and Less
…thunderous sound simply flowed out of his mouth.
Olde-tyme baseball by C. Philip Francis – September 1, 2006
In the early years of major league baseball the game had a constant problem with excessive gambling, heavy drinking, foul language, and more than one umpire packed a gun under his professional garb. Mothers kept their daughters away from ballplayers as they were often considered rude, crude, not too intelligent, and even primitive. The game survived, of course, with strong executives and especially new baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
Not all ballplayers, however, were uneducated, uncultured, and uninformed. Moe Berg had to be the smartest ballplayer of all time, was an alumnus of Princeton, the Sorbonne, and Columbia, could speak fluently in 12 languages, and would have no trouble conversing with Albert Einstein on any subject. Many players were college-bred including Mickey Cochane, Boston University; Eddie Collins and Lou Gehrig, Columbia University; Christy Mathewson, Bucknell University, and George Sisler, University of Michigan while others were not too agile with the verbiage. One of the former was James Henry O’Rourke who had a nickname of “Orator Jim” for a very good reason...
Orator Jim O’Rourke was born on September 1, 1850 in Bridgeport, Connecticut He began playing amateur baseball at age 14, was a graduate of the Yale Law School, and an outfielder by trade although he worked behind the plate plus at first base, third and shortstop. Jim began his major league career with Boston of the National League in 1876 at the age of 25, was traded eight times in his 19-year career, and even caught an entire game for the New York Giants at age 52. It was his last game and his only one in 1904 when he singled and scored. Orator Jim had more playing years in the majors as a 19th – century performer than anyone else with the exception of Cap Anson.
O’Rourke was one of the first and great clubhouse lawyers. When O’Rourke read that Louis Sockalexis, a Penobscot Indian, signed a contract including a clause that prohibited drinking he remarked, “I see that Sockalexis must forgo frescoing his tonsils with cardinal brush, and is so nominated in the contract of the aborigine.” Orator Jim had five years as both player/manager, and when one of his players came to ask for a ten-dollar advance on his salary O’Rourke replied, “I am sorry but the exigencies of the occasion and the condition of our exchequer will not permit anything of the sort at this period in our existence. Subsequent developments in the field of finance may remove the present gloom, and we may emerge into a condition where we may see fit to reply in the affirmative to your exceeding modest request.” The ballplayer left quietly, and never asked for money again.
Orator Jim owns the first ever hit made in the National League, and appeared in six pennant-winning ball clubs in seven years. After his playing years were over O’Rourke continued in the game as a manager, umpire, a minor league president, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945.
Jim O’Rourke died on January 8, 1919 at the age of 68, and in his obituary it says the following, “Words of great length and thunderous sound simply flowed out of his mouth.”
One might think that O’Rourke or other highly intelligent players would go into announcing, but that was not always the case. Moe Berg became a very successful spy while some who had few words of great length of sound went into announcing such as Ron Fairly, outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers; Jerry Coleman, second baseman for the New York Yankees; and Dizzy Dean, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Dizzy became even more famous behind the mike for fracturing the English language including his infamous, “He slud into third.” Casey Stengel was noted for being able to say words that could not be understood, and Yogi Berra may be more eminent for his “Yogisms” than his hitting acumen such as “It aint’t over ‘til it’s over” and “It gets late early out here.”
Some players eschew from even speaking at all. Hall of Fame Charlie Gehringer, second baseman for the Detroit Tigers, once roomed with another quiet man, Chief Hogsett. One time at breakfast the Chief said, “Please pass the salt.” The taciturn Gehringer simply responded with, “You might have pointed.”
Before today’s athletes came out of the College World Series with their thousands or millions of dollars and pressed dark suits, many were considered rubes or hicks with little education. When a good hitter of the 1880’s was told of James Garfield’s assassination he asked, “Yeah, what league was he in?”
Joe “Shoeless” Jackson, one of the most adroit hitters of all time, was unfortunately involved in the 1919 World Series scandal. He had little education, and his inability to spell was well known. After standing on third base following a booming triple a fan yelled out, “Hey Joe, spell cat.” Shoeless squirted out a stream of tobacco juice, and countered back, “Spell hit.”
Connie Mack was in the clubhouse with his players going over the weaknesses of their opposition. A new player stood up and said, “Mr. Mack, you forgot to mention that guy in the paper named Totals. He got four hits yesterday.”
Branch Rickey was in 119 major league games as outfielder and catcher over four years in the early 1900’s with the St. Louis Browns and New York Yankees, and ended his playing career with a batting average of .239. He is, however, in the Hall of Fame as one who influenced baseball more than anyone else including the farm system, racial integration, and expansion. He also had a high reputation for manipulating the English language with his biblical adages in keeping the players from asking for a raise at contract time.
Whether it is Branch Rickey, Orator Jim, Moe Berg, Shoeless Jackson, or that player who asked about that guy named Totals, the gamut of intelligence can be unequivocally found in baseball’s assemblage.