Tuesday, March 12, 2024

New Biscuits Manager! Rickwood Info! History Conference!

 


The Biscuits finally got a new manager! Yet with Kevin Boles taking the helm its difficult to predict what we should expect from him in Montgomery. Boles has made stops at multiple levels with multiple affiliated organizations, as well as recently heading a club in the Appy League, a collegiate wood-bat level. 

Boles shares a similarity to previous Biscuit managers, being the son of a well known baseball man. Like Billy Gardner Jr and Brady Williams, Kevin Boles father made a name in the game as a manager and coach, though the elder Boles, John, staked his claim largely on the collegiate level. John Boles also with the Expos, Royals and Marlins with which he won a World Series title.

The Biscuits new pilot Kevin Boles began managing in 2000 and has plenty of experience with Class-A level clubs. At higher levels Boles struggled to guide his teams to winning records, until 2014 when he earned his first title by guiding the Portland SeaDogs to the championship. 

Boles has managed in the Australian Baseball League, guiding the Perth Heat. His most recent affiliated position was with the Mets triple-A affiliate Syracuse in 2022 earning a 64-85 record. When Boles was promoted to Syracuse from Binghamton, former Biscuit infielder Reid Brignac took over from Boles as manager of the Rumble Ponies.

Kevin Boles career record hovers around the .500 mark and he will surpass 1300 victories soon after the Biscuits season begins.

I look for a professional approach, it just isn't yet clear which approach that will be. The first few weeks of the season will tell fans much about the style of baseball Kevin Boles brings to the Biscuits.

As a double-A skipper, Boles has some work to do, having posted a record forty games under five hundred in his career and in fact carrying a losing record when managing clubs above A ball. He will likely get a nice team full of talent to help him turn that record around.


RICKWOOD INFO 

We are starting to hear info on the Rickwood Classic and Giants/Cardinals Rickwood games. Tickets will be issued via lottery.

The infield is being rebuilt, including the mound which was a concern for outspoken coaches Rich Dotson who listed the White Sox hurlers who had pitched at Rickwood and later would have Tommy John surgery.

The outfield wall is also being torn down and replaced. Add to that the complete rebuild of the dugouts and the old yard wont look quite the same as it did before, but there is a rumor that the MLB Rickwood game could become an annual game.

In between the Biscuits visit and the MLB game there will be a celebrity softball game on the off day, featuring names like Barry Bonds, Deon Sanders and others. Looks like the whole week is shaping up to be quite the event!

mis-dated as 1906, this image is taken in 1910 at the Rickwood opening


CONDOLENCES

Our thoughts are with the family of Jimy Williams, father of longtime Biscuits skipper Brady Williams, who passed away recently. A tough and feisty manager himself, Williams was often seen at Riverwalk watching over his sons Biscuits team. 




CONFERENCE NEWS
The SAC Conference in Montgomery set for May 18th is a SABR event that has been in the planning for over a year. With Montgomery History and Legends as the theme, you can be sure that I will be swinging for the fences on this one!


This week we are proud to announce that Clarence Watkins, author of the book Baseball in Montgomery and Baseball in Birmingham, will be speaking on the subject of his popular work on the sport in our area.

I am also equally thrilled to announce that speaking at the SAC conference this year is Bill Plott, noted historian and author of the book The Negro Southern League. Mr. Plott will be speaking on various topics of Montgomery baseball and its connection to the Negro Leagues.

 

Already on the schedule is Joseph Stewart's presentation on Negro League great Paul Hardy. Mr. Stewart is a respected biographer and brings new information on his research into this Grey Sox catcher and his long an storied career.

Paul Hardy

 

My planned report is focused on the 1954 Montgomery Rebels and its efforts to integrate. Some graphic images and descriptions are involved, a disclaimer will be made before the presentation as this ranges far from the usual baseball story.



I will also offer an update to my research on the timeline of Black Baseball in Montgomery from 1870-1955. Including previously undocumented images and information on Negro League greats, this paper focuses on the accomplishments of professional African-American baseball teams from Montgomery and their impact on the game.


HOW TO ATTEND

Another change to this years conference that I am very proud of is the FREE ADMISSION TO THE PUBLIC for the presentations. Having an educated discussion of Montgomery baseball history is a rare event and one we are thrilled to make it open to as many interested people as possible. Usually the SAC is open only to invited researchers and authors in a reserved event, but the rarity of the occasion dictates a much more open door policy for this years conference. 

VIP Packages are only $20! Ballpark tours of Cramton Bowl and Paterson Field are still a go for VIP Package patrons, who will enjoy a tasty lunch catered by one of the areas most noted eateries.

 

If you are interested in attending, presenting research, displaying memorabilia or volunteering to help out, we would love to hear from you! Contact info is on the flyer, feel free to reach out!


 



Monday, February 26, 2024

Montgomery's Ace, Old Reliable, Woody Parks



"My grandfather played for the Rebels."
It's a simple statement, yet it caught me by surprise. 

It's the connection to the past that reminds us players are more than statistics. They are husbands, fathers, grandfathers, uncles - to people who maybe never even saw them in uniform. 

Some family members have stories to share, some are looking for details about loved ones. Or ones never met. Often it's more tall tales than truth, no matter which direction the information flows.



On this occasion, now some years ago, I was baking in the summer sun watching a largely irrelevant game. Alongside me was the wonderful Mrs. K. H. and her family.

Aware of my likely interest in her grandfathers connection with the local club, she followed with "He played with the Rebels and also worked for them in the front office."  These statements, humble and unassuming, piqued my curiosity. However it would take quite some time to pull all the pieces together regarding granddads career in baseball.

Now that I have looked deeply into it my assessment is this:
While fully true, it is a complete and total understatement of almost criminal proportions. 

I would suggest amending that initial statement to something along the lines of 

"My grandfather's the best pitcher in Montgomery, ever. My grandfather was Woodford Parks. Oh, and he also played for the Rebels"


A tall statement indeed. Brash even.
But dare them to find someone, ANYONE, who is better.


WOODFORD PARKS
You haven't heard of him and that's not your fault. The Montgomery Sports Hall of Fame is kept in the basement of the old Advertiser building at the County Archives, literally stored in shoeboxes.

That's where Woody Parks' plaque resides, along with the others, detailing his decades long career as a player and baseball executive in this town. And even it probably doesn't cover many of the details unless it's been written by the guy who puts the Lords Prayer on the heads of pins.



B.I.O.N.
In the 1920's Ripley's Believe It Or Not was on the sports page of the Montgomery papers nearly every day. So was Woodford Parks.

Woody Parks, Lanier HS grad 1923

Woody pitched his first game in Montgomery in 1919 as a member of the Buffalo Rocks, a youth team sponsored by the drink company of the same name, at the age of fifteen. 

By the time of his graduation in 1923 the righthander was the top pitcher at Lanier HS and no stranger to the local diamonds, well known for his blazing fastball and sweeping curve.

Parks said he developed his curve by throwing tennis balls against the wall of his childhood home in Montevallo, then moving to rag balls to improve his control of the pitch with a regular baseball. It was a pitch that would serve him well throughout his career - and beyond.


In 1922, while still pitching for Lanier high school, Parks entered the local amateur league with the Baraca Bible Class team where he won acclaim as a pitcher by hurling a no-hit no run game, against his own Lanier classmates.

Starting about 1923, Woody Parks gets a job at a downtown bank where he would work his way up from cashier to vice president, while still finding time to be one of the areas leading sportsmen.  

From this time on, hard as it may be to believe, sports is Woody Parks side hustle.

 
Parks pitches in the city league for teams such as May & Green Co. and Coca Cola, building a solid reputation as a tough pitcher before settling in with the Acme Roofers.



ACME ROOFERS
If the local league had a Yankees, that team was the Acme Roofers.

Sponsored by, of course, Acme Roofing Co., the Roofers are headed by Earnest O'Connor. O'Connor is the dean of sandlot baseball in the area, organizing youth teams and semi pro clubs as well as having an open line to some major league scouts gives O'Connor a wealth of talent to build the Roofers roster.


From 1930 until the team disbands for good in 1950, the Roofers never finish lower than second in the Dixie Amateur League. Twice the Roofers represent Alabama in the national tournament, finishing fifth and seventh overall against nationwide competition. 

Former major leaguers play for Acme, future major leaguers play for Acme. Major league teams schedule spring exhibition games against Acme. The Acme Roofers are simply the best white team in town.

For twenty-two seasons, from 1929 to 1950, Woodford Parks is their ace pitcher.

After watching Parks win 27 games and lose just two for Coca Cola, Ernest O'Connor convinced Parks to vacate the Dopes and join the Roofers. In his first season with Acme, Parks came away with 23 victories and two defeats. The Roofers finish third in 1929 and would never place below second again.

RECORD SCORELESS INNINGS STREAK

57 Innings Scoreless Streak

Parks dominance among local pitchers is evidenced by his amazing string of 57 scoreless innings tallied at the end of the 1928 season and carrying well into 1929.

Stats for the city league are meticulously kept but not meticulously distributed, yet the scoreless string is discussed as a matter of fact among local sportswriters for the next fifty years. It is without a doubt the stingiest pitching in Montgomery history.


The Thirties
The depression sometimes prevents the Roofers from fielding a team, Parks plays for the Montgomery Capitals and Coca Cola - where he pitches them to league titles. 

Parks is called to take the hill to start games often. And when the team needs a reliever on his off-day, they count on Woody Parks for the last few innings.

And he wins games. Often. By the close of the 1930's decade he is credited with more than 300 victories in the city league.

In 1931 the Roofers make their first visit to the amateur National Tournament in Cincinnati, finishing fifth overall. Parks himself said that if the Roofers team had one more pitcher they would have won it all.

A perennial All Star, Woody Parks is chosen for many tough assignments - such as a 1933 exhibition tilt pitting Dixie League All Stars against the Toledo Mud Hens and starter Carl Mays. 

Parks pitches the Roofers to the city title in 1939, with a shutout, to close out the decade on top.


TENNIS ON THE SIDE

Woodford Parks, not content with being the top pitcher in town, makes regular appearances on the local tennis courts. Parks is a fierce opponent, at one point ranked second in the city and garnering more sports page headlines. Detailed reports in the newspaper of the 1932 city singles championship matches include Parks witty banter with the crowd during his sets.

Though Woody loses the title match two years in a row, after the second defeat Charlie Sellers, who had just beaten Parks for the trophy declares the competition "too tough" and retires on the spot.



THE 40's
Woody shows no signs of slowing in 1940, authoring a July no-hitter at West End Park against the Selma team, one of three no hitters in his career. "Old Reliable" pitches to contact facing Selma, striking out just two in the gem. A few weeks later he hurls a two-hit shutout against the Bradford Mill club.

The Roofers win the league but lose in the playoffs in 1940. They are determined not to be stopped the following year, taking the 1941 city title. 

1941 Parks Notes in Roofers Win
In 1942 the Roofers again win the league but are stunned by a playoff defeat against Selma, losing a six run lead in the ninth inning of the final contest.



1942 is Woody Parks twentieth season and he is widely regarded as one of greatest moundsmen seen in Montgomery. However Woody's biggest pitching assignments still lay ahead of him.



WW2
The wartime years offer new opportunity.
Parks is in contact with Chattanooga's Clyde Engle, owner of the Lookouts. When the Lookouts move to Montgomery in mid-1943, Parks is available and wartime player shortages open a roster spot. 

THE "WOODY PARKS" RULE

The city league alters its charter to allow players to sign with pro teams and not have to surrender their amateur status or quit their city league teams, essentially creating the Woody Parks rule, as Woody is the only player to take advantage of or be affected by the new clause.

In 1943 Woody is signed to pitch for the Montgomery Rebels. On August 6th, the 40 year old rookie Woody Parks takes the hill as a pro for the first time. Parks compiles a 2-1 record for the Rebels, starting four games and relieving in three. Also, he continues to pitch for Acme, winning more than twenty games for the Roofers that season.


In 1944 Woody continues to pitch professionally for Chattanooga when the Lookouts return to their mountain home. Parks wins two and loses one while pitching for the Noogas when they are in Bham, Nashville, Atlanta or New Orleans. These are easy train hopping day trips that allow Woody to keep his day job as a bank teller as well as maintain his spot on the Acme team.

And play some tennis.
And golf too, as Woody begins entering local tournaments. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.




THE TOUGH GET TOUGHER
 

1944 Gunter Kaydets
Already one of the fiercest semi-pro loops around, the local Dixie League turns up the heat during the 1940's, particularly the WW2 years. While most leagues were losing players to the wartime military draft, Montgomery locals are treated to the arrival of those same players in the local amateur league.

New entries into the city league included the Maxwell Bombers, The Selma Flyers of Craig Field and the Gunter Kaydets. 

The only non-military team in the city league is the Acme Roofers, due in part to wartime player shortages.



LEGENDARY BOMBERS STAFF

The Maxwell Bombers field one of the best teams in local history during those wartime years, included on their staff are three pitchers who either had already or would go on to toss big league no hitters. 

So deep was the Maxwell pitching that the team went to a six-man rotation comprised entirely of past or future major league players. With pitchers like Mel Parnell and Royce Lint on the hill, the Bombers were instant contenders.


The Bombers and Roofers are quickly tabbed as rivals and mix it up as rivals do. Animosity rose between the clubs, boiling over in 1943 and carrying on through two more seasons, the fireworks featured accusations of game throwing and heated league meetings.

The Bombers accused the Roofers of throwing games versus Kilby Prison to alter the playoff matchups. 


Then the Roofers accused the Bombers of rescheduling league games without approval. The league prexie ruled for the Roofers in a highly charged league meeting, then saw that decision over-ruled by the league committee. As a response, the Roofers quit the league in protest of Maxwell's demand that their Bombers can "schedule games as they see fit or the league can go to hell."

All good fun!



AFTER THE WAR
The end of hostilities meant the Acme Roofers were back to being the team to beat in the city league and Woody Parks their top hurler.


In 1949, Parks tossed eight straight victories for Acme and winds up the year by signing with Dothan for three games at the tail end of the season. The forty-five year old moundsman is called "banker-baseball pitcher" hired to help Dothan make a late season push towards the playoffs. Parks helps by throwing a one-hitter in his debut, but takes the loss in one of his most memorable games.


THE 1950s
The Acme Roofers folded in 1950 as Acme's company president fell into ill health. Parks keeps rolling, pitching for teams in the city league and across the area. A THIRTY year veteran, Woody has lost a little off his fastball but is still baffling hitters with his curves.

Some of the hitters he is now facing are the sons of hitters he faced in the past and soon Woody begins to help their grandkids too, helpng organize little league teams across the city. Also active in the Civitan club, Woody and his wife are both popular features on the social scene.

1950 finds Woody Parks pitching for the Union Springs Springers of the Conecuh River League as well as the Langston Finance Company in the city loop.


1952
In January, Parks and two of his semi-pro stalwart companions headed out to Bruce Park. They wanted to make sure they "got the first baseball workout of the year". Later that summer he would throw both ends of a doubleheader, winning both games for Langston Finance. Asked after the second game how he felt, Woody replies "Good enough to go seven more innings!" and indeed Woody pitched for Langston through 1956.

In 1955 Woody Parks is among those feted at a meeting of Montgomery baseball Old Timers, including former Rebels players and MLB stars. Its likely Parks is the only active player among this group, and Woody, seated on left, will toss an opening day shutout against Kilby Prison just a few weeks after this photo is taken.



In 1957 the Montgomery Rebels front office adds Woody Parks as team secretary under Mac McWhorter and Earnest O'Connor.

THE 1960s

During the 1967 All-Star festivities in Montgomery, Woody Parks took to the hill at Paterson in an Old Timers Game. Parks was credited with 1 1/3 hitless innings after being teased with a rocking chair left for him near home plate.


In 1969 Parks is asked to return to baseball, helping to guide the Montgomery Rebels alongside his old skipper Earnest O'Conner as a member of the front office, taking over as General Manager of the team.



THE 70's

Woodford Parks begins the decade as the Rebels General Manager, having retired from banking. Parks handles the change to a new position with ease, applying his financial skill to his baseball knowledge with results that, if you have been paying attention, are easily predicted!


Slowing down isn't easy for Woody Parks. In 1973 he is named "Golfer of the Week" in a piece that humbly mentions he can beat anyone.




1975 - Woody Parks is brought out of retirement again, not to pitch, but as a front office assistant for the Montgomery Rebels. He is replaced but brought back yet again in 1978 to sort through the large stack of unpaid bills that built up during his absence.

In the 1980s Woody Parks continues to pop up on the sports page often, promoting senior tennis and other family sporting events around Montgomery. 

In 1982 Parks is back on the hill at Paterson as a pitcher, this time tossing for an Old Timers team facing high-school All Stars.

In 1991 Woodford Parks is inducted into the Montgomery Sports Hall of Fame on the strength of his long baseball career as both a player and executive.

When Woody Parks passed away in 2002, just before Opening Day, he was buried with full baseball honors, wearing his Montgomery Rebels uniform. 

 

It is always exciting to explore the stories of lives lived fully, and few are filled with as much baseball adventure, excitement and civic service as that of Woody Parks. If anyone has more information, baseball or otherwise, I encourage you to share it below, as I am sure much is missed in this biography.

 


 



Sunday, February 4, 2024

Your 1914 Montgomery Rebels!

 


1914 Game Ad

A hundred and ten years has passed since the 1914 Montgomery Rebels took the field in what was essentially a swan song for baseball in Alabama's capitol city.

After the '14 season The Rebels would lose their franchise in the Southern Association and not see upper level affiliated baseball for nearly 30 years. Montgomery would not field a team at all in 1915 and only weakly in 1916 - starting a drought that would last until deep into the Jazz Age. From the start of the first world war until just three years before the stock market crash the city would host major league teams in spring training games and negro league teams but not have a team of its own.

Montgomery ca 1914


However, in 1914 the Rebels were still a potent team of veteran players. Composed of many former and future major leaguers, the Rebs enjoy a prime spot as a travel hub in the era of train trips. They make short trips to the other cities in the Southern Assoc., taking on opponents in the usual places like Atlanta and Birmingham as well as longer rides to Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans.

Led by manager Bob Gilks, Montgomery fields a roster around big league names like Jud Daley and Heinie Jantzen. They arent houshold names now, but a hundred years ago Montgomery fans knew they had a team full of character and major league experience.



 BOB GILKS
Manager
Old Judge Gilks Cleveland card
Bob Gilks was brought to Montgomery as skipper, previously he had managed Shreveport in the Southern Assoc. and is familiar with the league and its teams.

Robert Gilks is a veteran of the game, having made his last major league appearance over twenty years before. His career .230 average in five seasons as a third baseman and left fielder, nine wins and nine losses as a pitcher for the Cleveland Blues & Spiders and Baltimore Orioles don't due justice to the man and his baseball reputation.

A teammate of Wee Willie Keeler on John McGraws great Orioles teams of 1892-3, Bob Gilks has a baseball pedigree beyond statistics.

Gilks
He gained fame as the first outfielder to perfect a short-hop trap in order to get a force play on a runner, often resulting in a double play. He is one of the first outfielders to record an unassisted double play.

Gilks shows form
Bob Gilks was the first major league player ever to have two bases-loaded doubles in the same game (August 5, 1890).

As a pitcher, Gilks is listed among the saves leaders, having led that category in 1888. He may not have known.

In 1909 Gilks appears with three different teams and at the age of 44 is seemingly at the end of his playing career. But while he doesnt take the field for Montgomery, Bob Gilks makes a comeback, he joins Atlanta for two games and gets one hit in six at bats for the 1918 Crackers at the age of 53.

 After his time in Montgomery, Gilks will be a scout for the Yankees, covering southern teams.


 HEINIE JANTZEN
RIGHT FIELD
Jantzen in 1910
Walter "Heinie" Jantzen spent 1912 with StLouis, batting a meager .185 with one home run in 31 errorless games with the Brownies before being purchased by Montgomery, along with Charlie Snell and Joe Kutina, in November.

All three would appear for the Rebels in 1913, with Heinie playing in 135 games and finishing second on the Rebels in homers, earning him an invitation to return in 1914.



JUD DALEY
FIRST BASE
Daley w/Brooklyn
In his second stint at Montgomery, Daley was with the team in 1909-11 under skipper Ed Greminger.

In 1910 Daley was second in the league in batting average, trailing only Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Daley
He returns to the team after a two year taste of the majors with Brooklyn of the National League. Daley batted a respectable .250 in 80 games over the two seasons he spent with New York, swatting one homer.

Having also played with Nashville and New Orleans, Daley has become a veteran of the southern circuit.

He will have a nice 1914 summer for the Rebels, dependable at age thirty he appears in 155 games while putting up a .308 batting average.


PAT DONAHUE
CATCHER
Donahue with A's
The veteran catcher brings a big league influence to handling the pitching staff. Three seasons with Boston and appearances with Cleveland and the Philly A's mean the Rebels are throwing to Cy Young's catcher, Eddie Ciccotte's target, Smokey Joe Wood's signal caller.

Known as a capable backup, Donahue had played his last big league game at the age of 25 and was kicking around the minors when Montgomery signed him ahead of the 1913 season.

However he contracted "malarial fever" midseason and had to be sent home at the start of August. Still, he returns to Montgomery in 1914 and will play in over 100 games, hitting .235 and an umpire.

Yes, he did hit an umpire.

Pat Donahue
In an onfield dispute with an umpire named Fifield, Donahue struck the ump which resulted in the catchers suspension without pay.
1910 with A's


The next season Pat will be asked to return to the Rebels, albeit at a reduced salary. Donahue rejects the offer and plays instead with the Knights of Columbus in the Montgomery City League.

His playing days end in 1917 when the team he is with is involved in a serious train accident, resulting in Donahue losing some of his fingers. He began umpiring in 1919 and later would offer scouts a tip on a young pitcher named Bob Feller.



JACK LIVELY
STARTING PITCHER
Lively with Tigers
Also making a homecoming of sorts, Alabama native Henry "Jack" Lively has had much success, including major league experience, since he last wore the Rebels uniform. At Montgomery, Lively returns to the scene of the crime, his no hitter against Little Rock in 1909 helped propel him to the major leagues.

Posting a 7win-5loss season in 1911 for the Detroit Tigers, Jack made about 14 big league starts and completed ten of them, including a 16 inning outing. Unfortunately his 4.59 ERA for the season will become his career total as he will be sent back to the minors after just one season.
Jack won 31 w/Oakland!

While with the Tigers, Lively is Ty Cobbs roommate, despite rumors that the Georgia Peach didn't have a roommate due to his not getting along with teammates. In fact Cobb and Lively would develop a long friendship during their time in Detroit. The two even enjoyed hanging out at the White House together with President Taft in 1911.

Tiger Jack
B-Ref lists him as having a batting appearance in 1912 for Montgomery, but but didn't pitch in a game.

Lively 1911

As covered in a previous blog, Lively was a hard thrower who also featured a spitball and is likely the first player to throw a knuckleball. He is also a strong batter, often used as a pinch hitter and frequently hits higher in the batting order - very rare in his era.

In 1914 Lively rejoins the Rebels, logging 170 Innings pitched, third on the staff. While putting up a record of 9-9 isnt overwhelming, he provided a steady arm in his 25 games. His 1914 season's WhIP ratio of 1.118 is excellent, proving he kept runners off the basepaths.


KARL BLACK
STARTING PITCHER
Karl Black w/Tuscon
A switch hitting pitcher in his first season in upper level pro ball after three years of seasoning in various D-Leagues, Black was given the ball by the Rebels often in 1914. Unfortunately he was hit hard and posts a record of 10 wins against a staggering 29 losses, leading the league in that futile category.

w/'27 Oilers
Karl Black's struggles highlight the Rebs weak pitching staff, none of the starters finish with a winning record and only one reliever tallies more wins than losses.

Karl Black won't make the majors in his 20 year career, but will find his home in Tulsa from 1922-27 winning over 100 games and a championship with them.

Lautenschlager was his real last name, for many years he held the record for longest name in baseball.


No matter what he called himself, he was a workhorse for the teams he played with, winning 275 games in over 800 appearances on his way to 4400 Innings Pitched. The stint with Montgomery was no different, his 300+ Innings Pitched lead the team and most other starters on the team barely log half as many innings.



RED KLEINOW
CATCHER 

catcher Kleinow

John "Red" Kleinow is a well known major league catcher and comes to the Rebels after playing the previous season in the short-lived outlaw Federal League with the Cleveland Green Sox under manager Cy Young.
Red in action

At 36 years old (b.1877) he is in his last pro season, an eight year major leaguer with New York and Boston (AL) and Philadelphia (NL). Red appears in over 500 games. His big league stats arent overwhelming, but he was known as a good hitting catcher and has 42 stolen bases in his career.

Red's modern gear
He caught Jack Chesbro, HOF pitcher for the NY Highlanders and was the backup to HOF catcher Deacon McGuire.

Kleinow is one of the first catchers in the major leagues to wear the new style chest protector.

Red plays in twenty games for Montgomery, batting .191. In June he is dropped from the active roster and is given a job scouting players for the Rebels.



Palmer Snedecor - first base - b.1891
a veteran of southern and texas leagues, the Bham native was with the Rebels for most of 1913 and all of 1914. He batted .236 with two homers in 1914.

Both Palmer Snedecor and Dutch Hollander were sent to Mgm from the St.Louis Browns after failing to make the big league team out of spring training.


Howard Baker

second base
b.1880

Howard W Baker w.Nashville 1916
This is Howard W. Baker, not Howard F. Baker. The former Baker is the career minor leaguer 2b/OF who played for Montgomery and Bridgeport. The latter is a one time major league 3b who also played for Bridgeport. Yes, Bridgeport had two Howard Bakers at one time, in 1918!

The Howard Baker who played for Montgomery was born in 1880, eight years before the other guy. Howie is another journeyman on the 1914 Rebels roster at age 34, though his .289 average shows he was one of the more consistent hitters in Montgomery's lineup during the 1914 season.

And for Howard, there is plenty more left in the tank, as Baker continues his career well into his forties. Too old for military service during WW1, he finds a home in wartime baseball with the Eastern League starting in 1918. He will play for three different teams in the E.L. over the next six seasons, making the move from second base to the outfield.

They finally pry his spikes off after his 19th season. He accumulated over 2000 hits and 40 deadball era home-runs in his career.

1913 Pittsfield Electrics, Howard W Baker, second from left, hit .307



William Hollander - Shortstop

Hollander with Oakland
Bref knows little about Bill Hollander, three seasons listed, Scranton-Mgm-Albany, no birthdate.

However William Hollander's lifetime stats from 1911-1915 dovetail perfectly with Bill Hollander's career 1915-1920. So if we put two and two together we find Hollanders bio to contain a birthdate: Dec 9 1891 in York PA. It also lists his nickname as "Dutch" but we didn't need the internet to figure that one out!
For Montgomery in 1914 Dutch hit .237 in 120 games and knocked 11 triples.









Bill Elwert - Third Base
another Rebel on the wrong side of 30 for baseball, Elwert has been a staple of the Montgomery lineup since he arrived in 1911 and hit .303 rapping out 135 hits in 139 games. The 1914 campaign will be his last in Montgomery, he hits just .239 in 118 games as a 34 year old and moves on to the Texas league the following year.


Francis Gribbens - utility
Bref offers no help, but in fact Gribbens was born in 1905 and passed away in 1961. He is listed as catching, as well as playing some third base and second base with Mgm in 1914, at the plate batting .221 as the second backup backstop. Which we needed when our starter socked an ump and got suspended!

Gribbens is one of the Montgomery players featured in the popular tobacco cards of the era, a late addition to the popular set started in 1909.



W.E.Parker - unknown dates, unknown position
Parker joins the Rebels in 1914 and bats .220 in 83 games. Parker was a letterman in baseball for Maine University in 1912.


Cotton Knaupp - second base

Knaupp w.Pelicans
Cotton Knaupp in 1923
born Henry Antone Knaupp in San Antonio during 1889, the Rebels second baseman had already appeared sparsely in the major leagues, 31 games in two seasons for the Cleveland Naps in 1910-11.

With the Naps, named for star second baseman Napoleon Lajoie, Deacon McGuire is the Cleveland manager, Shoeless Joe Jackson a teammate of Knaupps during his big league time.
Cotton Knaupp

In 1916 Knaupp will etch his name into history as the only man in the Southern Assoc to turn an unassisted triple play while with New Orleans.

Cotton hit .213 for Montgomery in 1914, splitting time between the Rebels and Pelicans. A southern player for many years, Knaupp would appear in over 1500 Southern Assoc. games.


Pop Shaw - outfielder

Shaw plays in 30 games for the Rebels, batting .296 in just over 100 at bats. A career .330s hitter, little is written about his career as a fly chaser.

In the late 1920s Shaw acted as a scout, signing Ivy Andrews to play for Mobile and setting him on track for a big league career with the Yankees. Later he umpired games and scouted for major league teams such as the Cardinals under Sam Breaden. St.Louis had a chance to sign a young Willie Mays but passed on him in spite of Shaw's report "'If you're coming to see Willie Mays, be sure and bring a bunch of balls with you. He's gonna lose some for you"

1911 Johnson City Soldiers w.rookie Pop Shaw


CHARLIE CASE - pitcher

Charlie Case
Case comes to Montgomery in 1913 from Nashville, winning 11 and losing 15 between the two. In 1914 he is back with the Rebels and at age 34 is finding that he is throwing the ball harder than ever but its just not getting there as fast. Case loses 14 of the 24 games he is in for Montgomery, winning only 8 in spite of being very stingy when it comes to base hits.

Charlie Case is a major league veteran, however he is eight years removed from his last game with the Pirates in 1906. His big league numbers are good, 23 wins 19 losses and his ERA of 2.93 is excellent. Yet his stay in the majors is short, just four seasons starting in 1901 with Cincinnati and ending after three seasons with Pittsburgh.

His only appearances on the major league leaders boards aren't good ones to be on, he was in the top ten in Wild Pitches and Hit By Pitch in 1905. In 46 career starts, Case pitched the game to completion 36 times.


Holt McDowell - Outfielder -
info unknown - making his debut in 28 games with Mgm in 1913, Holt bats .209 in 21 games in 1914 before being shipped to C-league Albany NY. In Albany he would have more success on both sides of the ball, his average went up .200 points and he won four games in Relief for the Albany Babies.

Herb McLeod - Starting Pitcher
D.Herbert McLeod appears in 24 games for Montgomery in 1914 and struggles with a 7-14 win loss record. He walks 58 and allows more than a hit an inning, over matched in his first taste of A-level baseball.
Herb will split the next season between Nashville and Shreveport before hanging up his spikes.


HARRY CHAMPLIN - Shortstop/Third Base

Champlin in 1914
1920 w.Portsmouth
Harry J. Champlin is getting his first shot at A-Level ball, the top class below the majors at the time.

He is a part time player, making it into just 23 games for the 1914 team. He swats one homer in about 75 at bats and while he hit over .300 for D-league Thomasville earlier in the year, he can only muster a .132 average against the Southern Associations tough pitching.

Born in 1891, he becomes a stalwart in the Virginia League where he helps win a pennant in 1920 as the backup infielder to a future Hall of Famer,
young Pie Traynor.



RED DAY - pitcher
Virgil Manson "Red" Day was born in September of 1888 and Montgomery was his first affiliated ball. Also known as "Professor", red haired Virgil Day spent his offseason as a teacher and a farmer in his home state of Arkansas. He would play for the Rebels and in Atlanta as an effective starting pitcher, winning 45 games over three seasons.

For Montgomery in 1914, Red Day is the young pitcher who allows alot of hits, alot of walks, quite a few runs and subsequently - loses 11 games while winning only 6.


After the first world war breaks out, Red Day spends a year away from the game and when he returns his last couple seasons are at lower levels. Later he would teach and become an umpire little league, semi-pro and American Legion ball. His career line is good, 73 wins against 58 losses.

A member of the El Dorado Baseball Hall Of Fame, Red Day is described as a robust outdoorsman, known for his fairness as an umpire and his love of bringing the game to young players. 




PHIL BUSCHER - pitcher

Phillip Buscher took the hill 18 times for the Montgomery Rebels logging 140 Innings pitched in 1914, winning five games upon arriving here.

But by Mid-season he is sent to Erie Pa, picking up 1 win and 3 losses in the Canadian League.

Soon after his arrival to Erie he beat the Cleveland Naps in an exhibition game in Washington Dc.




V.Roth 1915
Vincent Roth - Pitcher

Roth w.Hornets
With three wins and no losses in his four games with Montgomery, Vincent Roth has the distinction of being the only Rebels pitcher in 1914 with a winning record.

The Cleveland native was born in 1892, and passing away in 1971 makes him the longest lived of the '14 Rebels. In 1917 Roth is made manager of the Augusta team in the South Atlantic league, where he would hit .313 and play first base.

Roth comes to Montgomery from Thomasville midseason along with Harry Champlin where the pair helped the Thomasville Hornets capture the pennant.

Thomasville Hornets 1913 Champs with Champlin and Roth

 

Red Nelson -Pitcher

Red Nelson
Red Nelson wasnt always Red Nelson - he was born Albert W. Horadovsky in Cleveland in 1886.

Another veteran moundsman on the Rebels staff, having spent the previous three seasons with St.Louis (AL), Philadelphia (NL) and Cincinnati.  The 28 year old Nelson has a 10w-12L mark in 39 career games when he arrives in Montgomery.

Nelson got off to a hot start in the big leagues, winning seven of his first eight starts, including a shutout against Hall of Fame pitcher Ed Walsh.

At old timers game

Red Nelson was the pitcher who surrendered Shoeless Joe Jackson's only inside-the-park home run in the majors in the first game of a 4th of July doubleheader.

After an illness cost him a spot on the Browns roster, he caught on with the Phillies for 1912 and 1913. During the 1913 season the Phils dealt him to the Reds where Red was a part timer in just a handful of games.


Signing with the 1914 Rebels, Red Nelson got into nine games, winning one and losing five. His stats say he pitched efficiently, allowing just 46 hits in 63 innings for Montgomery.

Sporting Life says Red Nelson works in the offseason as a brakeman on a freight train.



Charlie Wheatley - Pitcher

Wheatley
Charles D. Wheatley, a young right hander from Kansas, has a nice record in three minor league seasons - 23wins and 18 losses for teams in Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri.

He then becomes a teenage bigleaguer. In 1912 - at just 19 years of age, Charlie makes his debut with Hughie Jenning's Detroit Tigers on September 6th in a 2-4 loss to the St.Louis Browns.

Wheatley made five starts for the Detroit team, walking more batters than he struck out as the Tigers played out the string in 6th place. Even though he is just 19, he is just the ninth youngest player in the league.

On Sept.27th Wheatley enters the Tigers record books, in a game at Cleveland he sends five wild pitches to the backstop - a team record unequaled until Jack Morris matched it on August 8th 1987. Wheatley, who remembered it as being seven wild ones, later said of that game "That was a day I was experimenting with a rough part of the cover and sailing the ball. If you could do it, the ball would hop at the plate."
 His major league career ended exactly a month after it began, in a loss to the White Sox on Oct 6th. Wheatley's 6.14 season ERA and 45 hits allowed in 35 innings probably didn't endear him to teammate Ty Cobb. Charlie only allowed one home run, meaning Cobb had extra work chasing Wheatley's mistakes after the Georgia Peach had praised Wheatley to Tigers brass before the season.


A durable hurler who had posted over 180 Innings each year before coming to the Rebels, Wheatley spent a few weeks with the Providence Grays in July of the 1913 season.

The Providence Grays are a very talented team, their top pitcher is Bill Bailey who, just two years before, was the Rebels top pitcher. Perhaps it was Bailey who had a hand in getting Wheatley to Montgomery. Charlie Wheatley's 2.13 ERA in 1913 is excellent against Western League and International League hitters, which is how his resume' reads when the Rebels sign him for 1914.

In 1914 Charlie Wheatley appeared in 11 games for Montgomery, but the results were generally not good. Wheatley was tagged with seven losses against just one lone victory in 68 Innings Pitched. He tended to give up a hit per inning, and the 21 year old had the usual trouble rookies have in finding the strike zone resulting in over 30 free passes.

Wheatley reportedly injured his arm while boxing in the winter following his big league time and never was the same pitcher again. Indeed he sat out of pro ball in 1915 before returning to the minors.

Charlie Wheatley would go on to better things - he was an inventor who designed valve equipment for industrial pipelines, described as a pioneer in the field. He and his brother organized the Charles Wheatley Valve Co in the 1950's, in 1970 they sold the company for ten million dollars.

In 1981 Wheatley designed a device to keep coffee fresh.

One of Charlies early teammates was Dwight Eisenhower!



CARL EAST - Right Fielder/Pitcher

Carl East
Carl broke into baseball in 1912 with Lindale in Georgia. Lindale was managed by Lillian Duke, the only woman to manage in professional baseball. He was a minor league staple across the South, compiling the fourth highest career batting average among minor leaguers. He served in WW1 and returned to the game for another 12 seasons.

He wound up his playing days with Anniston in the Georgia-Alabama League, where he hit .434 and led all minor leaguers in batting average. He would go on to become president of the Ga-Al league in 1946.


In between Lindale and Anniston, Carl W. East made the major leagues.
Twice.

Carl w.Millers
With the Browns of St.Louis he had his day in the summer of 1915, getting one at bat in a game he started as a pitcher in the first game of an August doubleheader.

That afternoon Carl East tossed three and a third innings against the Philadelphia Athletics, striking out one while walking two and allowing six runs on six hits before manager Branch Rickey lifted him from the game.

The Browns would sweep the doubledip, though East didnt last long enough to earn a victory, the decision going to relief pitcher George Sisler. Yes, the Hall of Fame first baseman was a pitcher for the Browns for one season before taking up at first base and setting batting records.


Nine years later Carl East would return to the bigs with Washington for twice as much action - two games. He played right field at Yankee Stadium as the Senators faced the Yankees in May of 1924.

East bats lefty, threw righty
Carl had jumped his first contract with the Senators and played for the Fairbanks Fairies in the outlaw Midwest League before his second chance with the Senators finally got him back onto a big league roster. Its said he had a disagreement with Washington team pres Clark Griffith during this two day stint and what it was about is not known, but Carl East never played in the majors again.

With the Montgomery team Carl spent 1914 as a double threat, pitching in 12 games he won five and lost five. At the plate his 1914 batting stats are good, hitting .279 in 61 at bats between Mgm and Thomasville, and his career .367 average in over 800 games suggests he was more than just a good hitting pitcher!




POSTSCRIPT
In 1915 the Rebels players would be scooped up wholesale by Little Rock. Daley, Lively, Elwert, Gribbens, Jantzen and Pop Shaw all appear for the Travelers after the Montgomery team folds the tent.