Skitz Bombed, Talkin Turkey Stearnes

The Biscuits were drubbed 10-1 by the Generals. The beating was bad enough that even a player commented to me that we "might need a little help in the bullpen" soon. I felt that was a bit of an understatement, though to be fair the starting pitcher had already surrendered five runs before the pen got into the game.

The History Night was good, though the dignitaries weren't able to be there for their first pitches. The stuff I submitted worked well for between innings video stuff, very Ken-Burns-ish. I liked it and was really glad to help out. I think the original plan of using Faux-back uniforms would have really helped it out, fans love to see the Skitz in different uniforms!

Saturday is a doubleheader that Montgomery really needs to win both ends of to keep their first half playoff hopes alive. Gates open at 4:30 for Biscuits History Night. There will be former Biscuits players in attendance!

MY BAD
Shows you what I know, Brad Boxberger was brought into the game in the middle of an inning, shooting down my "rehab guy needs to start an inning" theory. Boxberger pitched well, giving up one hit and striking out one. I noticed Brad pitched with his mouth open on every pitch, looking a lot like an excited kid.

  Glad someone was having fun out there!

LIFE OF THE PARTY
Not sure who these guys were, but they really wanted their picture taken! They were having fun on Thursty Thirsday and were pretty much in charge of their section, I suspect they are Huntingdon College students, not sure why! haha

Todays history nod is a repost about a Montgomery favorite, one with much myth and misconception surrounding his playing days in our area, Hall of Famer Turkey Stearnes.

TALKIN TURKEY STEARNES

Turkey Stearnes is one of the most famous negro leaguers from our area, known even to fans just moderately familiar with the Alabama River Region baseball history. I studied his career and found out he isnt exactly what the legends say he is, he certainly isnt from the Montgomery area and he had a few things going on that even those who have heard of him maybe don't realize!


HERE WE GO
When Montgomery and the Biscuits celebrated Montgomery Baseball Leadership Heritage Day, (back in 2013) one of the main players noted was Turkey Stearnes.

Satch faced Stearnes often

As well it should be, as Turkey Stearnes was one of the best to don the Montgomery GraySox uniform, or any other for that matter. "If you don't put Turkey Stearnes in the Hall of Fame, they shouldn't put anybody" was how Cool Papa Bell felt, and he knew a thing or two about great hitting.

Legend has it that Satchel Paige gave up six consecutive hits to Stearnes. When he faced him the seventh time, Satchel rolled the ball along the ground to the plate saying "Let's see you hit that one!"



 WHY THE LONG FACE?
My complaint about the "event"?

Its that there was exactly one picture of Stearnes used by the city, the newspaper and all other media covering the event, stolen from the BaseballHall.org website. And it is a particularly bad photo....

NOT the only known photo of Turkey Stearnes!

So, in order to make things better for future generations who hopefully plan their events a little farther in advance, I thought I would offer other images of one the few Montgomery players to have a berth in the Hall of Fame.

Norman T. Stearnes, Hall of Famer

Stearnes in 1971 w/grandson

  THE REAL TURKEY STEARNES
Stearnes, whose real name is Norman T. Stearnes (no the "T." does not stand for turkey!) was born in 1901 in Nashville Tn. - not Montgomery in spite of many considering him a Montgomery native.

In his twenty year career in baseball, Turkey would be known as one of the most dangerous hitters in the game, a four time All-Star and one of the top two all-time Negro league home run leaders, depending on who's stats we trust its either him or Mule Suttles.

Stearnes hit a homer every 16 at bats, an equal rate to Hank Aaron and Lou Gehrig.

His outfield play was usually in centerfield and always exemplary - Willie Mays often received comparisons to Stearnes defense.

He was a multiple AllStar, won pennants, batting titles, led the league in homers, triples, doubles and stolen bases.

Sixty years after his last game in 1940 the premier leadoff hitter of the Negro Leagues 1920-30s heyday was finally given a pass to Cooperstown.




MONTGOMERY MISCONCEPTIONS...
While many mistakenly think of Stearnes as having come from Montgomery, even more think he played his first pro games here - including otherwise well-educated baseball websites like MiLB.com, NegroLeagueBaseball.com and many others who have no excuse for not checking their facts.

In actuality Norman started his baseball career in Nashville, contributing 35 plate appearances while batting .265. This is very contrary to the idea of him turning pro and coming here in his first tilt. Even the term of "professional" is debatable, as the Montgomery team was with the Independent Negro League for the 1921 season.

In all, he spent only a single summer in Montgomery. The City of Montgomery press release erroneously states that he began his playing career here, as do many otherwise reliable sources, but the reality is he spent a year for hometown Nashville BEFORE signing on with the Grey Sox of Montgomery in the Negro Southern League at the age of 20 years old.

ONE HOMERUN?

rare photo of Stearnes in '27

Known records show him making a meager 18 trips to the plate for the 1921 GreySox, rapping just one lone home run towards his career total of 176 (or, alternatively 183, or maybe 181 depending on your source.)

Negro leagues famously didnt keep full statistics, and Stearnes likely posts numbers now lost to history, as did '21 GreySox teammate Steel Arm Dickey. Stearns himself said "I never counted my home runs, I had so many. If we didn't win it didn't matter."


In spite of his legendary status in the area, Stearnes wasn't exactly what we would call Montgomerys most prolific player - his one home run accounts for exactly half of the hits he records with the Mgm team, which usually played at College Hill Park, located on what is now the ASU campus.

That one home run, however, was the first professional home run of his long and storied Hall of Fame career. Perhaps that is why its a common misconception that he played his first games here, as well as one of the reasons Montgomery adopted him into their baseball pantheon.

In a bio of Stearnes on PitchBlack.com its said he struggled in limited at bats with the Montgomery team, which sounds alot more like what one would expect from a 20 yr old rookie with a funky batting stance on a pennant winning team loaded with talent - which the Gray Sox very much were.

FUNKY STANCE IN THREE PARTS
I have never seen anyone imitate Turkey Stearnes batting stance - unorthodox would be an understatement! Sadly, I have not seen a photo or even an illustration of Stearnes at the plate. However several descriptions give us the following details...

1. Stearnes, a lefty, stood in the middle of the left handed batters box with what we today would call an "open" stance - his bellybutton facing the pitcher, at the time pretty much unheard of.
2. Stearnes would hold his bat with both arms straight in front of him, pointing the bat straight up into the air over home plate and letting the barrel lean slightly toward the pitcher.
3. Most unusual of all, Stearnes would plant his right foot heel down on the ground and point his toes skyward while waiting for the pitcher to deliver the ball.

Of Turkey stearnes hitting stance Satchel Paige was quoted he "hit with his right foot in the bucket and twisted his right heel and pointed his big toe up." Stearnes had one of the most unusual hitting styles in history, but his legendary speed and talent for getting the bat through the hitting zone led him to a career .344 batting average.

WE DEMAND A RE-COUNT!
TURKEY STEARNES stats with Montgomery Gray Sox in 1921, from Baseball Reference dot com.

18 plate appearances
3 runs scored
2 hits
1 home run
3 runs batted in
3 stolen bases
.111 Batting Average
.278 Slugging Percentage
5 total bases

Uhhh, really? Someone get on the horn and ask them how a guy hits a home run and steals three bags but only has 5 total bases. I think we have to ask for a recount on those totals. A homer is four bags, three steals bring us to seven total bases and there is yet another hit listed, so he HAD to have at least 8 TB.

Just another example of how little people have fact checked Turkey Stearnes info and rely on what they are told in spite of what can plainly be seen.




THAT'S OUR TURKEY

Norman Stearnes

The city of Montgomery likely adopted him as their own at the end of his GraySox tenure - the Sox won the Southern Negro League pennant by defeating the Nashville Elite Giants in a cool four game sweep.



The GraySox had a reputation for being one of the top negro league teams in the nation that year, sporting great players at every position.

Its quite possible Stearnes one listed homer came from that huge title series, when every hit counted and the teams likely made sure to bring the score book, keeping a running tally of stats to send out to the major national newspapers that covered the Championship Series.

Stearnes stats are the only ones listed for the Montgomery Gray Sox of 1921. This is likely owing to the fact that he is a Hall of Famer, his career having been researched to complete his stat line at Cooperstown.

Being Champ means post-season appearances!

BIG SERIES FOR TURKEY

Turkey raps four hits, steals base in first game

After the victory against Nashville, the GraySox were league champs.

They then went north to play an exhibition series against the StLouis Giants, the winner of the Negro Southern championship against the Negro National Leagues regulars. The Giants were led by Oscar Charleston, himself a future Hall of Famer, and ran a nice second in the NNL that season.

Oscar Charleston

 

Biscuits Beaten, The Goat

The Biscuits fell to the Generals on Thursday. Lets ask Manager Brady Williams what he thought...

Yeah, thats about how everyone felt about it!

SP Hu was ejected too

It was tough to watch as the umpire crew blew call after call, pretty much screwing up anything that could be screwed up. Everyone has bad days, but it made it a long and frustrating game.

Da Beers Man!

At least it was cheap beer night!

Its good to know that the season isn't lost, the Generals have to face us a few more times over the next couple days and Montgomery doesn't quit when they are down a few runs.

The Skitz did try to make a game of it late, but came up short in the end. Its a huge series, the biggest one of the first half, the team needs to put it in the past and bounce back.

RP Jeff Ames

I asked Jeff Ames about his new pitch, a cut fastball, "A work in progress" he called it but said he was throwing it regularly in his appearances and felt it was coming along. Ames agreed a person doesn't just roll out of bed one day and start throwing a cutter, calling it "a feel pitch".




"First pitch fastball" and a big smile was the reply I got when I asked Johnny Field what the pitch he had hit to tie Wednesdays game was, it sparked a tenth inning walk off rally. Johnny tripled in the late innings on Thursday, sparking late inning runs for the second day in a row.


SO NICE WE WANT IT TWICE
Look for Brad Boxberger to make his second rehab appearance in Fridays game, likely the first guy to come out of the bullpen. Unless a reliever is needed in the middle of an inning, rehab guy needs to start the inning!

Biscuits rehabbing MLB reliever Brad Boxberger

HISTORY TIME!
Friday is Montgomery History Night, a promotion I have been looking forward to since the last one got rained out in 2013! Lots of cool presentations on the board with facts and history, probably former Rebels to toss out the first pitch and plenty good stuff on tap.

To go with the History Theme, today I have the info on Montgomery's GOAT. The

Greatest Of All Time pitcher for us is actually a Goat himself. A knuckleball hurler so popular the team held "Goat Walker Day" to honor him.

THOMAS ROYAL WALKER - THE GOAT

Roy Goat Walker, likely on Goat Walker Night, he played all nine positions that game!

I stumbled across him as I went over old newspaper clippings. One sentence in a Milwaukee paper from 1942 led me to one of the most significant players in our cities baseball-rich history. 

He is called Roy or more often by his nickname, Goat.


A mention as part of an article on older players who might inhabit MLB rosters if WW2 takes its toll on the available players includes....

YOUNG WALKER

Walker w/MGM

Thomas Royal Walker first pitched for Montgomery in 1927, winning 17 games. He is a mainstay in the pitching rotation through 1929, picking up double digit victories each season to put his total at 63 wins in three seasons for the Lions.

An average season for Walker is about 16 wins, over 200 Innings Pitched and an ERA usually under 3.25. His knuckleball tossing helps Montgomery win a title in 1928.

Walker also gets into games in the outfield. For three straight seasons Walker picks up over a hundred at bats a year, batting as high as .299. In his first season with Montgomery, 1927, he hits a pair of homers to win a game.


He gets sold, as an outfielder, to Nashville at the end of the 1930 season. Its a deserved promotion for his fine work in B league Montgomery. Nashville is about as close to the major leagues as Roy will get.

Walker with Montgomery 1928

I'm pretty sure that 63 victories would put Goat Walker at or near the top of the Montgomery Wins list. But Goat isn't done. He kicks around the Piedmont and Sally leagues through the 1930s. Roy is just as good for them, twice winning twenty games for Jacksonville with his knuckleball.

In one game story from Goat's time at Jacksonville, he is mentioned as having helped hold the crowd back while police escort umpires from the field after a questionable call. While in the sixth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, with the tying runner at second base, umpires called the game at midnight in favor of the visiting team. Fans knew the league rule was that no inning could be started after midnight, and were up in arms that the game was handed over. Goat helped distract the mob while police helped the umps to the train station for a get-away!

WONT STOP
The Goat just keeps pitching and he keeps winning games. After four seasons in Jacksonville where he won 74 games, he lands back in Montgomery in 1940.

1940 Goat note

 At the age of 36 he is living up to the nickname Goat, but he is still wins games on both sides of the ball. In 1940, Tom is a 20 game winner and leads the circuit in victories.

1941 Goat note

1941 is a down year, he gets just 11 wins for the Rebels. Its the only year he has a losing record in Montgomery. Goat is the hero in at least one contest, driving in the winning run with an 11th inning bunt.


1942 is one of the great seasons by a pitcher in Montgomery history, as Goat Walker wins 20 games, loses just 7 and posts an ERA of 2.76.


GOAT TOPS THE LIST

1940s Cramton Bowl

Walker totals 116 Wins for Montgomery, which is going to be tough to beat! Not to mention he makes the twenty game winners list twice.

Goat Walker Night - a career highlight for Walker as he managed Montgomery - probably in 1940 - the team held a night in his honor. During the game, Walker played all nine positions in front of one of Cramton Bowls biggest crowds.



JUST WONT STOP

Goat Walker

Walker keeps on chugging along, at age 39 he moves on for one season with Memphis where he wins ten more games. After a year in indie ball, Goat is back with Memphis in 1945. In 1946 Roy Walker pitches for the Selma Cloverleafs in a handful of games.

After two years out of the game, Walker returns to pitch again for Selma in 1949 at the ripe age of 45. He wins four and loses a few more in 23 appearances. He is now almost 20 years older than the average age of the Southeastern league players!


GOAT FINALLY HEADS HOME

Roy Walker hangs up the spikes for good after 1949, closing a career with an eye-popping 226 Wins -169 Loss total.

His lifetime 3.16 ERA is stellar over nineteen seasons. He hits .256 at the plate in his career, picking up over 100 at bats in most years by being a serviceable outfielder as well as a great starter.

His career could be even more impressive than is known, there are gaps in the B-Ref data. Unaccounted for are three prime seasons, age 29-31, and a couple years later around age 40. Those uncredited seasons could be time spent in indie ball or simply with a different spelling or assumed name.


Born in 1903 on November 5th, in Pike County, the righthander is listed as 5'11 and 165lbs. There were ten Walker kids, but only Roy and two others survived past the age of three.

 Walker lived in Selma after his time pitching, he also spent some time in Pensacola and around the South.

Thomas Royal Walker - the All Time Montgomery Leader in Wins.

I learned he passed away on 11 September, 2003, at 99 years of age Goat Walker's endurance went beyond the diamond.


Roy Walkers 12 straight victories is a Montgomery record.

Skitz Win Wednesday, Lucky History

The Biscuits pulled one out of their assorted back pockets, Johnny Field bending a long fly ball around the fair pole to tie the game and then Kean Wong knocking in a run to walk off winners in the tenth.

 PITCHING BISCUITS WELL

Chris Kirsch started and pitched very well, giving way to the pen after seven strong innings. It was a merry Kirsch-mas indeed as the Lackawanna Lefty piled up six strikeouts.

Brad Boxberger

Rehabber Brad Boxberger had no problems in the 8th, pitching a clean inning with one punchout.

Beleaguered relievers Schrieber and Ames each dealt out a run but it was Jeff Ames turn to benefit from the late rally to pick up his third win of the year.

Schreiber gets a postgame handshake from Dick Bosman

#BULLPEN LIFE

BURGER-FEST SUCCESS
The Burgers for Burger-Fest were large and delicious, and a dollar cheaper than my usual choice, so that was great! Brad Boxberger was nice to talk with even though I could tell he was abit tired, he signed a baseball for me and when I brought up his dad's no hitter Brad said "Isn't that going back a ways?"

Yeah, it is a minute, but thats just how I roll! haha

Speaking of history stuff, I have a nice piece that I would like to share for the History Week. I put this out a few seasons ago in segments, about a notable Montgomery player that few people would recognize. 

He is a World Series hero, one of the few ever to lead Montgomery in Home Runs in Back-To-Back seasons, the All Time leader in Games Played in the Minor Leagues. Involved in two curses, suicides and death-defying high dives, the story is a little long but I find it one of the most interesting tales of any Montgomery player.


GEORGE "LUCKY" WHITEMAN

Looking again at the 1909 Climbers roster, one of my fave topics, George Whiteman is a name that doesn't stand out to the casual observer, but is one of the most interesting characters on the team, and perhaps in all of baseball.

George was known as "Lucky", a name perhaps brought with him after his first career - daredevil. The Climbers outfielder would go on to star in the RedSox last World Series before the Babe is traded and is one of, if not the most prolific minor leaguer in history.

SABR describes him as a "cross between Roy Hobbs and Crash Davis" and he is forever linked with Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Tris Speaker.
He is connected with two curses and a string of pennants and championships.

Among the nicknames he garnered during his career are "Chief", "Whitey" and "Bandit Pete" but Lucky seems most appropriate for this man and the events of his life, which included winning a batting championship, a world series title and repeatedly taking teams to the top of the standings.

George was born in Peoria Ill in December of 1882 to a German immigrant mother and presumably, a father.

Little is known about his early life, but it is thought he was brought up in that small town setting, likely until he was able to make his own way.

That way was as a diving daredevil.

Beginning in his teens, he and his partner would appear at carnivals and fairgrounds, diving from a tower into a barrel of water. When George's partner was killed in a dive, the act fell apart and Whiteman looked for a new career. 

BASEBALL CALLS

George Whiteman with Boston

George "Lucky" Whiteman came to baseball late, at age 22. The outfielder-third baseman quickly begain putting in over a hundred games annually, starting in '05 with Waco, then Cleburn and two seasons in Houston.

In 1906 with Cleburn, Lucky won a pennant and a batting title in just his second season. His .281 average was second on the Railroaders, but the team leader didnt get enough at bats to qualify for the league title so Whiteman won it even though he trailed by over a hundred points!

It was in the following year that he joined the Houston Buffaloes, where he was not so lucky to find that he had to split time in the outfield with a teenage Texan named Tris Speaker.

Whiteman clubbed five homers and hit pitchers for a pedestrian .242 pace with Houston, yet the RedSox were desperate for warm bodies and scouted Lucky to join them in Boston. Luckily for Boston, Buffaloes owner Doak Roberts wanted out of the baseball business and demanded the RedSox take young Speaker along with Whiteman the top prospect, or no deal.

RED SOX DEBUT-

SEPT 1st, 1907 - BOSTON DOVES DRAFT GEORGE WHITEMAN (houston) IN RULE 5 DRAFT

1907 was the first of Lucky's trips to the big leagues. Whiteman got into four September games at the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds.

spacious outfields were often ringed by fans, in play!

Beginning September 13th, George Whiteman appeared twice as a pinch hitter and twice in the RedSox outfield where he handled his two chances cleanly and also picked up his first two career hits and first career RBI.

Future HOF Tris Speaker, the throw in

Tris Speaker also made his first foray into the lineup the day before Lucky, on September 12th, at just nineteen years of age. He would stay in the game for twenty-one more seasons, not a bad throw in to the trade.

Cy Young 1908

On the other end of the spectrum was the veteran of the Boston pitching staff. 40 year old Cy Young would win 21 games for the lowly Sox to lead the team in victories. Young wasn't anywhere near done yet though, winning another 51 games over the next four seasons on his way to that staggering 511 career wins.

Young had spent a week managing the Boston team, and three other managers would fill out the lineup card for the Red Sox - just before the season began Chick Stahl, manager of the team, committed suicide under very mysterious circumstances.

Chick Stahls death may have resulted from Stahl being told to cut Collins from the team. The subject of Stahl's last words "I couldn't help it...it drove me to it..." remain a mystery.

The season went downhill quickly after that.

Other than Young, the Boston Americans pitchers lost more games than they won. The team batting average was a paltry .231, six of the regulars hit less than .245. Only the 100+ loss Washington Senators were worse than Boston in the standings that September.


The Sox had dealt an aging Jimmy Collins to Philly, Collins would be elected to the HOF in the 1940s, creating an opening on the roster for a fourth outfielder. Collins, the first Boston manager, had been suspended multiple times and given the manager chair over to Stahl after 1906.



Scout George Huff signed both Texas league prospects to fill the Boston outfield needs. Boston was the perfect situation for a Texas League player to break into the big leagues.

BACK TO THE MINORS

1908 saw Lucky back with Houston when Boston didn't bring him back after his cup of coffee with the Red Sox. In Houston, Whiteman had a nice season - hitting .271 with six homers in over five hundred at bats. That summer Whiteman made a pitching appearance in relief, earning his only career victory on the hill.

1909-10 MONTGOMERY CLIMBERS

Lucky Whiteman makes it to Montgomery in 1909, a fresh start from his four straight tours in the Tx League.

However he would see improved levels of pitching he was facing, and offered up a considerably lower average than his previous numbers - batting just .237 with a pair of home runs the first season. His eight triples suggests that he had opposite field power, which in Montgomerys park leads to a spacious portion of the outfield with plenty of room to run.

Your 1910 Montgomery Climbers, Whiteman front row second from left

Champ Osteen

While with the Climbers the long time outfielder starts making appearances at third base, taking over in 1910 when regular third baseman Champ Osteen was injured sliding into second base.

Osteens injury was a break for Lucky, who got into more games by playing a second position. He saw his appearances rise from 128 games to 141, second only to Osteen. Though at the plate his average dipped he smacked 15 doubles and 10 triples.


November 23, 1910, the Atlanta Constitution reported that George was sold to the Mobile Gulls for “the measly sum of $400.” Apparently, he wasn’t getting along with some of his teammates.


AFTER MONTGOMERY
Once the former daredevil left the Climbers and the Southern League behind, he signed with Missoula but appeared in just under two dozen games before coming home to the Texas League. Lucky takes up with Houston again, and after a bad season in 1911 he regains his batting stroke.
In 1912 Whiteman puts up his first career .300+ average, slugs .425 and bangs out 25 doubles on his way to a career year.

Back again in 1913 with Houston, Lucky play in over 150 games and enjoys the success of every day play when it attracts the eyes of big league scouts. This time its the Yankees who are interested in Lucky.

YANKEES DAYS

Former Cub great Frank Chance skippers the Yankees at the Polo Grounds, not yet the Bronx Bombers - this '13 edition is made up of names like Birdie Cree and Ezra Midkiff. Well on the way to losing 94 games, the Yanks are playing out the string when Lucky shows up.

1913 New York Yankees - can you find Lucky?

Whiteman has his best major league totals while with New York, getting 11 hits in 11 games at a .344 pace. Lucky also swipes two bases, takes seven walks and is credited with a pair of sacrifices. He scores runs, hits the ball and runs the bases well.

Whiteman also miffs two of the 32 chances hit his way in the outfield, earning his first career errors.

George Whiteman with NY

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

Its back to the minors, but this time its a step up - Double-A baseball in Montreal. He would spend two seasons in the International League with the Royals, feasting on pitching as he posted batting averages of .313 and .312. Eight home runs and twenty doubles in 1914 turned into 14 homers in 1915 as Lucky led the league in round trippers and runs scored. With numbers like that, the big leagues might soon be calling again.



ALMOST BIG LEAGUE
In 1915 as the season wore down, Lucky got a chance to play in New York again, though this time it was the outlaw Federal League that wanted him. The Brooklyn Tip-Tops were interested, and George even jumped his contract to join them, but never appeared in a game.

John McGraw is said to have expressed interest in the former daredevil diver, but it was back to the minors for Lucky, where he signed on with Louisville for 1916.

1916 Louisville would win another Pennant for Lucky

After the championship campaign in Louisville where he hit .273 he was brought back and resigned, but it took all of three games for Lucky to decide to head back north. He spent the rest of 1917 in Toronto, helping the Maple Leafs to the International League title by batting .342. Another pennant for Lucky.

1918

RETURN TO BOSTON

Things are about to change for George "Lucky" Whiteman, and for the rest of America. World War I has sapped many teams of players, but 35 year old Lucky Whiteman is too old for drafting into the service.

At the start of the spring Toronto sells his contract to the RedSox for $750. There is speculation that Sox owner Harry Frazee and Whiteman are friends, being both from Peoria and both about the same age.

For the first time, Lucky will spend the entire season on the big league roster. He plays 71 games,

1918 Boston Red Sox - Whiteman center row, third from left

This time however, its not on a team playing out the string in seventh place. The 1918 Red Sox win twenty more games than they lose and take the American League pennant easily. It was a great team powered by hard hitting pitcher Babe Ruth.


Ruth pitched and played outfield, sharing left field patrols with Lucky Whiteman. Lucky swiped nine bases, hit .266 and drove in 28 runs.

Mogridge served it up

Late in the summer, during the last game of the season - the second game of a labor day doubleheader during the final road trip to New York, Lucky hit his first and only big league home run. It came off of Yankees lefty George Mogridge at the Polo Grounds. It was a solo homer in the top of the second inning, and ties the game at one run each. Lucky was batting cleanup that afternoon, and rewarded skipper Ed Barrow for penciling him into the lineup.

WORLD SERIES  1918

RED SOX VS CUBS

  THE UNEXPECTED FELLOW

“I’m lucky against these left-handed pitchers. No one is figuring that I’ll do much in the Series and you know it’s the unexpected fellow who usually does the heavy work.” 

George Whiteman - Sept 1918

1918 Cubs Sluggers

 When the Cubs met the Red Sox in the 1918 Fall Classic, all eyes were on the big pitchers on both teams. Ruth was the #3 pitcher for a Sox team that featured Carl Mays, Sad Sam Jones and Bullet Joe Bush - opposing them was Hippo Vaughn's Cubs, a team running away with the National League, winning almost two games for every loss.

Game One Ticket

GAME ONE
Ruth started the first game of the series on the mound for the RedSox, giving Lucky the start in the outfield. The Bambino only won 11 games and spent more time in the field, but Boston manager Barrow wanted to start the lefty Ruth vs the Cubs.

Lucky rapped two hits in four trips with his father in attendance, his first time seeing George in a major league game. His Dad traveled from Texas to see Lucky, who had a big moment with a hit over the shortstop to move a runner into scoring position - that runner would later score the games only run as Ruth pitches a shutout.

Game Two ticket

 GAME TWO
Again Lucky gets the start hitting fourth, Whiteman triples and walks in three at bats, plus he drives in a run. But Lucky grounded into a double play, and Lefty Tyler defeats Bullet Joe Bush as the Sox lose in Comiskey to the Cubs evening the series at a game apiece.

Cubs pitcher Lefty Tyler

Game Three ticket

GAME THREE
Whiteman again batting cleanup as Ruth rides pine, watching Lucky as he gets hit by a pitch in the fourth inning and scores after a pair of Boston hits. Whiteman also robs Paskert of an extra base hit in left field. Lucky steals a base off of the Cubs Hippo Vaughn and the Red Sox take a two games to one advantage home to Boston.

Cubs James Hippo Vaughn

INTRIGUE

During the 1918 World Series, players on both teams met with each other to discuss the lacking compensation owners were giving as World Series shares. As the shares were pretty much equal to most players annual salary, it was a bone of contention among players when it was felt that they were getting shorted, due in part to low attendance.
Players demanded more, and refused to play unless it was given.
How serious were they? When players get to Boston the first game there is delayed an hour until players were assured that they were getting the money they expected to get from owners.

From the start of game four onward, there are those who point to certain actions by players in the series and statements by others about the possibility of the Cubs throwing games. 

World Series souvenir

GAME FOUR
Babe Ruth pitches again. Lucky hits fourth again.
In his second plate appearance Whiteman takes a walk and after a groundout erases the runner ahead of him, Lucky stands at second base as the worlds greatest power hitter steps to the plate. Cubs manager Fred Mitchell elects to have Lefty Tyler pitch to The Bambino.

Cubs mgr. Fred Mitchell didn't issue walks

Not quite the Hollywood result though not far from it - Babe drives the ball to deep right center field - banging it against the wall and dropping onto the outfield grass. Lucky scampers home with the first run of the game and Ruth ends up at third with a triple.

Whiteman would tap back to the mound in the sixth and in the 9th inning he would leave the game.

Down just one run in the ninth, Babe allows a hit to Merkle and walks the Cub third baseman as well, forcing a pitching change by putting the potential tying and game winning runs on base.

Ruth was removed as pitcher and shifted to left field, replacing Lucky Whiteman.

Bullet Joe Bush comes on to pitch and when the Cubs fail at a sacrifice, Bush gets a ground ball double play to end the game and push the Red Sox to needing just one more win.

Bullet Joe Bush - deadball era bullpen specialist