Cabinet Photos

[GeoPoto]

Washington? Detroit? What's the difference?

William P. "Bill" Coughlin. "Scranton Bill". "Rowdy Bill". Third baseman with the Washington Nationals in 1899 (NL) and Senators in 1901-1904 (AL). 972 hits and 159 stolen bases in 9 MLB seasons. He was known as a master of the hidden-ball trick. He was a key figure on the Detroit Tiger team that won AL pennants in 1907 and 1908. But, his most productive season was 1902 with Washington as he posted an OBP of .348 with 84 runs scored and 71 RBI's in 506 plate appearances. His final seasons were with Detroit in 1904-1908.

The Detroit Tigers teams of 1906–1908, on which Coughlin played, were among the most colorful groups in baseball history, with the flying spikes of Ty Cobb, on-field antics from Germany Schaefer and Charley O'Leary (who toured as a vaudeville act in the off-season), fisticuffs from catcher Boss Schmidt, and the shouts, gyrations, and jigs of Hughie "Ee-Yah" Jennings from the third base coaching box.

Coughlin's role in this colorful bunch was as the maestro of the hidden ball trick. The hidden ball trick is a play in which the runner is deceived about the location of the ball, in an effort to tag him out. Although no known comprehensive list is known to exist of all times when the hidden ball trick has worked, Coughlin reportedly pulled it off seven times (and at three different positions) -- more than any other player in MLB history. He pulled it off on May 12, 1905, against Hobe Ferris of the Boston Red Sox. He did it again on September 3, 1906, catching George Stone in the first inning. In Game 2 of the 1907 World Series, Coughlin caught Jimmy Slagle with a hidden ball trick, the only one in World Series history.

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