The Squibber

THE DAVIDS CHAPTER E-NEWSLETTER

Fall 2005

This newsletter is produced by the Bob Davids Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), which serves SABR members in Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia and parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Visit the chapter’s official website at www.sabrdc.org. For a current description of the chapter’s program of activities and volunteer needs, go to http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mccrayl/Projects.htm

This quarterly newsletter is distributed electronically to members. It is posted, along with a wide range of cumulative material on baseball and baseball research in our geographical area, on The Squibber’s website at http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mccrayl/NewNL.htm The deadline for material for the next newsletter is Dec. 30 Keep sending us those squibs, and those ideas for squibs!

CONTENTS – Fall 2005

1. Ripken League Debuts: Bethesda Big Train Rolled This Summer, by Bill Hickman

1. Rooting Interest: New Book Examines the History of Fans, by Fred Stein

1. Double the Fun: Turning Two Across the Land, by Doug Kurkul

1. Forgotten Birds: TV Pilot Project in the Works

1. Diamond Cuts: More Baseball Tunes from Jeff Campbell

1. Mashing Moundsmen: The Best Hitting/Pitching Seasons, by Phil Hochberg 

1. BioProject: An All-Star Team of Players With Area Ties, by Jan Finkel

1. Six Decades on the Sandlots: Charlie Brown Sr. Blazed a Memorable Trail, by Bob Schnebly

1. RIPKEN LEAGUE DEBUTS: Bethesda Big Train Rolled This Summer, by Bill Hickman

The 2005 summer collegiate baseball season saw the debut of the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League. The Bethesda Big Train finished the regular season in first place, one game ahead of the Maryland Orioles.

Big Train shared the playoff championship crown with the Silver Spring-Tacoma Thunderbolts, as the rains came and shut down the opportunity for a final playoff game between those two teams.

Big Train's offense was led by Greg Lemon (2B), Rhett Teller (1B), Andrew Smith (SS), Jonnie Knoble (CF), and Bryan Thomas (3B). Starting pitchers Ron Lowe (3-2, 1.39), Derek Caldwell (4-1, 1.48), Dustin Pease (4-3, 1.71), Adam Redd (5-0, 2.42) and Kenny Moreland (5-0, 2.89) were terrific.

Sidearm closer Wyatt Stewart mowed down the opposition in 14 appearances, chalking up 6 saves and yielding zero earned runs.

Big Train alumni also continued to enjoy success in 2005. Steve Schmoll made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and John Maine was recalled by the Baltimore Orioles in August.

Pitcher Bobby Livingston was promoted to the AAA level in the Seattle Mariners' minor league system. First baseman Danny Matienzo had an outstanding season with the Twins' AA New Britain Rock Cats, and was voted the MVP of the Eastern League's All-Star Game.

More than one-third of the players who appeared with the Big Train during the 1999-2003 regular seasons had enjoyed some professional baseball experience by the end of the 2005 season.

The next event for the Big Train organization is its annual Base Ball and Auction. The event will be held at the Pook's Hill Marriott Hotel in Bethesda, Md., on Sunday, November 13. The doors open at 5 p.m. for admission to the silent auction.

It will be a great opportunity to pick up some nice baseball items at bargain prices and to enjoy a dinner in the atmosphere of baseball conversations. Plus, your participation through paying admission and acquiring auction items will help to finance baseball field improvements in Montgomery County and in the District of Columbia.

Visit the Big Train website, www.bigtrain.org, for more details on the Base Ball and Auction.

2.) ROOTING INTEREST -- New Book Examines the History of Fans, by Fred Stein

McFarland Publishing has just published Fred Stein's most recent book entitled, "The History of the Baseball Fan."

The book, written in a light, entertaining style, discusses the baseball fan from the 1840s, when club members rooted for their fellow members as they played "base ball" against other clubs, to the present day, when baseball fans do everything except take the field with gloves and bats.

SABR members' participatory role is described in detail, along with chapters on player popularity, famous fans and gambling. The book can be ordered from book stores, Amazon.com, or from the publisher.

Fred Stein’s's earlier books for McFarland include "Mel Ott: The Little Giant of Baseball," and "And The Skipper Bats Cleanup," a history of player-managers. 

3.) DOUBLE THE FUN -- Turning Two Across the Land, by Doug Kurkul

Jose Vizcaino and Jeff Kent have turned double plays together for the Mets, Indians, Giants and Astros. Do SABR members know if that is unusual, or what the record for the most number of teams might be?

4.) FORGOTTEN BIRDS – TV Pilot Project in the Works

Stephen Johnson is executive producer of The Forgotten Birds of Baltimore documentary, which is now being made. He is looking into making a pilot for a possible cable TV show and for PBS.

Stephen would like to call it Baseball Researchers, a 30-minute show on biographies, looking into and going into the lives and backgrounds of ballplayers.

“There are many ballplayers from the past and present and that are a mystery to many,” says Johnson. “The public never got to the know the person off the field. We would like to make the shows very interesting to the viewers. We’d like to find out some hobbies of the former ballplayers, or what line of work they did during or after baseball, as well as what work they did for their communities.”

To recommend players, email your ideas to stephen.johnson@comcast.net

5.) DIAMOND CUTS -- More Baseball Tunes from Jeff Campbell

Music and Poetry Committee Chairman Jeff Campbell recently produced the eighth volume of his Diamond Cuts compilation series of baseball songs.

"Centerfield" includes songs about baseball personalities such as Mel Ott, Sammy Sosa,

Edgar Martinez, Eddie Waitkus, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Joe DiMaggio.

Also featured on "Centerfield" are an updated version of "Tessie" by the New Royal Rooters, several songs using baseball as a metaphor for life, as well as cuts about the Negro Leagues, fathers and sons, Little League, love of baseball, Boston Red Sox World Series win.

It also includes a Diamond Cuts tradition: A special instrumental version of "Take

Me Out to the Ball Game." Proceeds from the sale of the CDs benefit Campbell's charity, Hungry for Music. For more information, go to www.hungryformusic.com

Campbell was interviewed in August about the latest Diamond Cuts release by Bob

Edwards for his XM Radio show.

McFarland Books has asked the Music & Poetry Committee to compile a book

on baseball sheet music. Anyone interested in contributing an essay

about a particular piece of sheet music can contact Jeff Campbell at

202-479-2810.

6.) MASHING MOUNDSMEN -- The Best Hitting/Pitching Seasons of All Time, by Phil Hochberg

That Nationals Manger Frank Robinson, in the heat of a pennant race, sent up pitcher Luis Ayala as a pinch hitter in August – pitcher Luis Ayala! – brought back the old adage: pitchers can’t hit.

(Forget for a moment that Ayala actually delivered a hit, a relative rarity among Nats’ pinch hitters, delivering at a Mendoza-line pace this season. And forget, as well, that Washington pitcher Livan Hernandez has two home runs, only two less than regular shortstop Christian Guzman. Think more about Bob Buhl, the Braves and Cubs pitcher, who was 0 for 1962, going 70 at-bats without a hit.)

But it also brought back thoughts of arguably the single greatest pitching/hitting season ever in baseball, 80 years ago this summer. It was accomplished by that icon of Washington baseball history, Walter Johnson.

Not even Babe Ruth, the most celebrated of hitting pitchers, ever had a single season like The Big Train had in 1925. More recent slugging pitchers, like Wes Ferrell, Bob Lemon or Don Newcombe, couldn’t come close to the kind of combined pitching/hitting record that Johnson had.

Johnson may have been buoyed by the end of the season before. After losing two games early in the World Series, he won the seventh game to bring Washington its only Series championship. He was selected the American League’s Most Valuable Player. But in 1925, when the Senators won their second pennant in a row, Johnson hit an amazing .433.

Johnson’s mark is probably overlooked since he got to bat only 100 times, including three walks, during the entire season, despite starting 30 games and finishing 16 and pinch-hitting a half-dozen times. But he made the most of those 97 official plate appearances, with 42 hits, including six doubles, a triple and two home runs, and 20 runs batted in. He went two for six (one a homer) as a pinch hitter that year, both of them game-winners in the bottom of the ninth. His slugging percentage was an astounding .577, a mark bettered by only four A.L. regulars.

There was nothing in Ol’ Barney’s prior efforts that would have predicted such a breakout season. Six times earlier in his 21-year career, he had hit over .260, but the 37-year old Johnson – the oldest player in the league and just two years from retiring – never approached anything like his .433 mark.

What makes the season so outstanding, however, was that Johnson’s success at bat was matched by his efforts on the mound. At 20-7, he was third in the American League in wins and winning percentage and fourth in earned run average. He was second in the league in strikeouts and fourth in shutouts.

Others pitchers have had outstanding pitching/hitting seasons:

• Cleveland’s George Uhle, who hit .288 for his career, was 26-16 and hit .361 in 1923, leading the league in wins and complete games.

• Wes Ferrell, playing for the Red Sox in 1935, was 25-14, hitting .347 with seven home runs.

• The Indians’ Bob Lemon, a converted third baseman/outfielder, hit 37 home runs in his career, but never hit for average.

• Don Newcombe had the best record of post-war pitchers, in 1955 with Brooklyn, when he hit .359, with seven homers, while going 20-5 on the mound.

Still others have had more hits in a single season than Johnson in 1925 (but not with a higher average). And of course, other pitchers have had better pitching seasons. But it’s virtually impossible that we’ll ever see anyone challenging Johnson’s dual mark.

These days, pitchers don’t pitch as many games, frequently are pulled are pulled after a six-inning “quality” start, and, in the American League – because of the abominable Designated Hitter rule – don’t even pick up a bat.

(Philip R. Hochberg, a Washington attorney, was the stadium announcer for the Washington Senators from 1962 through 1968.)

7.) BIOPROJECT -- An All-Star Team of Players With Area Ties, by Jan Finkel

All of the players on this team (with supporting cast) are on the BioProject, having either played for the Orioles or Senators; coming from the area served by the Bob Davids Chapter; or researched by a member of the chapter

I hoped to make the team two-deep at each position but I had to fudge. Fortunately, Jimmie Foxx could help out this team in a lot of ways. His bat wouldn't hurt, either. I wanted to limit biographers to one figure but couldn't make it work.

The team assembled has decent hitting with some power, is solid at second and third base but thin at short, and lacks range and speed in the outfield. The pitching staff could be surprising.

The manager won a World Series. The owner? Well, yes, the owner. The broadcast booth and sports section are solid. The historian is in a class by himself. The name of the researcher follows players’ names in parentheses.

C—Babe Phelps (Cort Vitty)

1B/3B/C/OF—Jimmie Foxx (John Bennett)

1B—Dan McGann (Don Jensen)

1B—Bob Boyd (Bob Rives)

2B—Cupid Childs (Jimmy Keenan)

2B—Buddy Myer (Ralph Berger)

SS—Frank Cox (David Vincent)

SS—Simon Nicholls (Campbell Gibson)

3B—Art Devlin (Jan Finkel)

OF—Buzz Arlett (Cort Vitty)

OF—Hy Myers (Norman Macht)

OF—Rip Radcliff (Lyle Spatz)

OF—Curt Blefary (John Henshell)

P—Brewery Jack Taylor (Peter Mancuso)

P—Eppa Rixey (Jan Finkel)

P—Bugs Raymond (Don Jensen)

P—Bobo/Buck Newsom (Ralph Berger)

P—John Carden (Bill Hickman)

P—Al Burris (Marty Payne)

Manager—Eddie Dyer (Warren Corbett)

Owner—Marge Schott (Warren Corbett)

Announcer—Arch McDonald (Warren Corbett)

Sportswriter—Shirley Povich (Ralph Berger)

Historian—Bob Davids (David Vincent)

You'll find all of these people, and many others, at the BioProject. Happy reading.

8.) SIX DECADES ON THE SANDLOTS -- Charlie Brown Sr. Blazed a Memorable Trail, by Bob Schnebly

The American flag unfurled and showed itself magnificently as it blew in the breeze. What was different about this flag and this day, a sunny Sunday afternoon in southern Maryland in April 2003?

This was the start of a baseball season, in and of itself no different from any other baseball season, except this was the rebirth of the Charles County Raiders of the Chesapeake Independent Baseball League. And this flag was held by Charlie Brown Sr., a member of the Washington, D.C. Home Plate Club, Sandlot Hall of Fame and Owner, Operater/P.T. Barnum of the Raiders for more than a quarter century.

During that time Mr. Brown's teams have "owned" the league like no other, at one point ripping off nine championships in 11 seasons and putting up runs in bunches the way the Redskins once put up TD’s.

There's more to the story, though. This story is really about a man and his love of the game of baseball, his desire to be the very best he could be, even in a time when he had to walk long distances to play for the Mitchellville Tigers, a former Negro League team in the Mid-Atlantic Negro League. They were the team of his youth and young adult life (age 14 to 25) and they played on substandard fields that white players almost never had to play on.

Many times Charlie would reminisce about playing for the Tigers, walking 10 miles each way, and each night walking home when the moon was bright above. The fields that Black players had to play on were nothing more than converted cow pastures. Many times, the fields were so rocky that by the time the game was done, players would look more like they had been in a fight than having just played a Sunday baseball game.

While these games were played in virtual obscurity, white ballplayers played on the Ellipse Grounds in Washington, D.C. in the Industrial League or for town teams with fields paid for by the local community. While these fields weren't the Polo Grounds or Yankee Stadium, they sure were a step up from what the black players had to make do with day in and day out.

As the 1950s waned, and the 1960s emerged, change was starting to happen.  Even ballplayers could feel and see it, as teams all over integrated for the first time.  The Negro Leagues evaporated into history's past to be seen only in the mind’s eye except where documentation occurred.

More and more, black and White players were playing together. By this time, Charlie Brown Sr. was moving toward team ownership, and was establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with on the ball field with his various baseball teams.

His teams were among the first to totally integrate, and they always won. The Chesapeake Independent Baseball League and the Industrial League had a solid working arrangement so ballplayers could play in both leagues with minimal schedule conflicts.

The Chesapeake League was mostly black, while the Industrial League was mostly white. The Charles/St. Mary's League, which was primarily white, also worked with this arrangement. It worked well for the most part, as all three leagues played on fairly equal footing, even though the Industrial League was known to be the strongest league.

Charlie had the best of the best with regard to players from all three leagues. As the 1990s came, Charlie and his teams were so dominant that they took on all comers...and won all the time. The Chesapeake League put together an all-star team on several occasions to play Charlie Brown Sr., and his Charles County Raiders.  The Raiders won every time these contests were held.

As the 90s ended and a new century dawned, Charlie thought it was time to put away his bats and balls and let a younger man run baseball and the various teams in Southern Maryland. By this time, Charlie was in his mid-70s. His kids were grown and having children of their own. It was time to move on.

Charlie also owns a horse or two, and has had some real success in the racing game. After a two-year absence, knowing he wasn't getting any younger, but feeling that his life and his soul were on the ball fields of Southern Maryland, those same cow pastures of his youth, Charlie got the itch... the itch only someone who has been involved with sports as a player, coach, and team owner can know how to scratch.

In 2003, Charlie returned to the ball fields he dominated for so long. The end result of that venture was a regular season championship and a league tournament title capped off with his son, Charlie Brown Jr., winning the Maryland State Semi-Pro Manager of the Year Award.

Who knows how long this run will last with the Charles County Raiders? The reins of the team are slowly moving toward Charlie Jr., and he is having success just like his dad. Will the team stay together or break up and finally go on their separate ways with no thought of revamping for the future?

These questions are soon to come. Players like both Charlies like are few and far between these days. Players with commitment, desire, ability and a "team-first" attitude are soon to be a forgotten thing of the past in this "do it now, I want it now" generation. What will happen? Time will tell, but Charlie Brown Sr., is a living Hall of Fame representation of how to do it right with the commitment, desire and talent that has lasted for 60-plus years on the sandlots. Now that is a living legend!