Wonder If There Are Pictures From This Game
 

On October 16, 1898 the Louisville Colonels played a benefit game in which their players dressed up in outfits that were described as weird and wonderful by The Pittsburgh Press. Of note was this blurb:

"Hans Wagner will display his charms in a ballet girl costume and will piroutte(sic) around third base with the grace for which he is noted."

Not sure I want to see the pic if his charms are on display. Anyway, why not post some manly Honus Wagner pictures as good luck charms for the Pirates tonight!

Reading further, I found out that the benefit was where Honus Wagner set the record for the longest baseball throw. 403 feet 8 inches according to the article, breaking a record set by John Hatfield in 1872, whose throw was just over 400 feet. Not bad for a guy in a ballet costume!

wow
 

that is very strange indeed....

im sure they destroyed any evidence of this game!

Here's a write-up about the game, taken from the October 17, 1898 edition of the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette. No photos, but also no mention of ballet costumes. In particular, I liked the 'skills competition' that is described with the second base-to-home throwing and the baserunning contest. Good stuff!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7331/1...5dba1dec_b.jpg

I have a hard time believing he threw a ball over 400 feet. I'm calling b.s...

Throwing a ball 400 feet on the fly is rare but I remember watching Raul Mondesi of the Dodgers stand in the open centerfield fence of Dodger stadium approx. 400 feet away and threw several balls that landed just short of the plate, within 3-4 feet. He did this before batting practice one day...I even think Vin Scully mentioned something about it as well. He had a cannon, no a rocket launcher, of an arm...one of the strongest I have seen. Ichiro, Puig, IROD, Madlock, Parker...saw them all throw but Mondesi was crazy with his arm.

Joshua

I remember hearing as a kid that Nolan Ryan could supposedly pop out of the catcher's squat and throw the ball over the centerfield fence.

There've been some pretty amazing freaks in this game.

According to the SABR bio of Ed (Cannonball) Crane
He beat Hatfield's record in 1884 by throwing a baseball 405 feet 7 inches.

Wow!
 

Longest Throw- Glen Gorbous (Canada) threw a baseball 445 ft. 10 inches on August 1, 1957.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_far_is...baseball_throw

I heard Jay Buhner had a rocket for an arm:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/cUwSxqnRW-8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

400 feet for a top pro doesn't seem out of line at all, even back then.

Anyone remember the presidential physical fitness stuff in school? A late 70's thing. They had a few different "events" and if you got over certain scores you could get a patch.

Our Jr High kept photos of the school record holders on the gym wall along with the scores. The record for the softball throw was 266. One kid in my class threw around 205-210. When I asked where the 266 throw had been since 205 was almost to the street the teacher said it had hit just in front of the front door of the house across the street.

The same kid had most of the school records, but lost a couple to kids in my class. That kid was in High school then, and I saw him play basketball, fantastic athlete. But he had a bit of an "I don't have to work at it" attitude, and never went anywhere.

Pretty amazing considering the school system had two guys drafted from 70- 73, another signed out of college in 77 who made the majors, plus a couple future MLB GMs in school around then.

Steve B

If I remember correctly, Ellis Valentine also had one heck of an arm. I remember seeing him throw a ball from the deep right corner to third base in one bounce.

Pirates outfielder Sheldon Lejeune threw a ball 426 feet. Amazing with the arm he had and how good he hit in the minors, he barely made a dent in the majors. I wrote a mini bio on him...

http://blogs.piratesprospects.com/hi...story-july-22/