FACT CHeCKING MYSELF

One of the great things about blogging is that you can be wrong and noone takes you behind the woodshed for it. I am glad for that, because on this journey of Montgomery baseball history I have been consistently misled and misinformed concerning basic history facts. And of course I pass the savings along to you!

Things like Turkey Stearnes, who isn't from Montgomery and didn't play his first pro games here no matter how many things we read say that he is and he did.

Like the Montgomery Climbers playing at Capitol Heights, which they did for a small handful of games but spent many, many more at the Oak Park's Highland Oval. Nobody talks about the Oak Park Oval, how are we supposed to know?

Or those 80 wins the Grey Sox famously posted in 1921, which was really more like 65 league games with some barnstorming wins added in. But once they sent their press release to the newspaper, that 80 win record was taken as gospel for the rest of all time. Even the 21st century media often repeats the total, which led me to quote it in my research about the top Negro League team from Montgomery as recently as last months blog post.

 

NUMBERS DONT LIE? HELL YEAH THEY DO!

Negro League stats and standings are a Gordian Knot. You simply can't follow one cord without getting lost and there is no way to ever untie the whole thing. I have spent years now, pouring over info and reports, trying to figure out how to best illustrate the Grey Sox story and discovering error filled local newspaper articles only casts more doubt on the final numbers. You have to believe the Advertiser right? Especially when they agree with MLB and the Biscuits and the City of Montgomery and every other press release ever. NOPE!

So imagine my surprise when I cross checked my work with the scholarly studies of historian Bill Plott and others and learned the Grey Sox fudged their win numbers in the press release. Just... really? Come on guys, you are killin me here!

Ironically, the Montgomery Advertiser stuck by its guns on the numbers over a century later. When the Biscuits came to town it sparked a revival in interest and Advertiser writer Tim Gayle referenced the Grey Sox 80 wins in multiple articles about Montgomery's baseball history as recently as 2007. Old lies die hard!

RICKWOOD NEWS

A rumor that MLB and Rickwood Field were on tap for future major league games was squashed by the Rickwood Field twitter account. It was flatly denied that MLB and Rickwood agents were in talks for more major league games there. 

That lines up with what I have heard about the Rickwood, with almost zero chance of a return event anytime in the near future. 

There is a strong possibility that working with MLB left a bad taste in the mouths of those who encountered the big league machine in Birmingham. While a shizz-ton of money was dumped on the venerable stadiums various and much-needed improvements, fans and park officials were less than happy to have to remove the original outfield wall and to have the iconic scoreboard obscured by safety barriers.

Other restrictions were set in place by the Major League baseball corporate entity, limiting the power of the city of Birmingham and the Barons team to capitalize on the improvements. Even future naming of minor league games held at the historic site are subject to MLB scrutiny and certain terms and descriptions have been strictly defined and removed from what the Barons and the city of Bham are allowed to use over the next few seasons.

Back to normal for MLB. They take a good thing like the Rickwood Classic, water it down, whitewash it, wrap it in plastic and market it. Then dictate that you can't use it, even after they are done and gone.

Hard pass.

NINE INNINGS WITH DR. MIRACULOUS PODCAST

The first epi is in the can, being edited and should be posted sometime in the next two weeks. 

In this episode, Uncle Mikey and I discuss one of the weirder nine innings in baseball history, the Dock Ellis Beanball game against the Cincinnati Reds of 1974. There is lots of intrigue for the game, so be sure to tune in and hear all about how Dock dealt with the Big Red Machine!

THIS WEEK MONTH IN MONTGOMERY BASEBALL HISTORY

 

OCTOBER 9 1920 

Montgomery, AL
"Cuban Team Wins From Montgomery - In one of the fastest and best played games of the season, the Montgomery Grey Sox team was defeated Saturday by the Cuban Stars by the score of three to one. The Grey Sox batters were helpless in hitting, and at no stage of the game did the local have an opportunity to drive out a victory. The Cuban team is a well balanced club, and gave their pitcher jam-up support. President John Stapes of the Grey Sox team announced Saturday night that the game scheduled this afternoon between his club and the Cubans would close the season for the Grey Sox club.

Myers allowed hits to be bunched in the early stage of the game Saturday, three hits coming in the initial inning counting for one run. The Grey Sox run came in the seventh inning when Scales scored from second on McGavock's rap to the infield. Streeter or Mason will pitch for the Grey Sox this afternoon."

OCT 22 1870 

The Savannah Daily Advertiser, Oct. 22, 1870: "Base Ball Notes...At Opelika, Ala. on the 18th, a game was played between the Olympians of West Point, Ga., and the Bonnie Blues of Montgomery, resulting in a defeat for the Alabama boys by a score of 74 to 30."

OCT 29 1870 

The New York Clipper Oct. 29, 1870 reports that the Bonnie Blues claimed to be the champions of Alabama. Same paper Oct. 15, 1870 has them losing to a local picked nine, when their scheduled opponents, the "Prairie Roughs" of Montgomery, failed to show. "Pearsall" played first base for them--presumably Alec Pearsall of the old Excelsior of Brooklyn.