"Dead-ball" era Characters wanted....tell us of your favorites ?

[Touch'EmAll]

At St. Mary's, Brother Mathias wanted the kids to learn a marketable skill to later help them through life.

Babe had a tailoring and heming job for which he was paid. Babe used the money to buy candy for all the kids. Even as a kid, Babe was a loveable teddy bear type and very popular. Dude taking his own hard earned money to buy candy for the less priviledged.

I have a 4 year old, and his fondness of candy takes me back to my own youth when my sister and I would walk down to the 7-11, use our allowance to buy candy (and packs of baseball cards).

Story goes even when Babe was all grown up, big and famous, he still tailored his own clothes.

[Jay Wolt]

Here's another character who had a sad life and died young.

(taken from Wikipedia)

Raymond was born in Chicago, Illinois. He started his professional baseball career with the Waterloo Microbes in 1904.[1] After a short stint with the Tigers, Raymond returned to the minors. He developed his spitball sometime in 1906. With the new pitch, he had a big season in 1907, going 35-11 for the South Atlantic League's Charleston Sea Gulls. Raymond pitched a no-hitter that year, as well, and led Charleston to the pennant.[2] The Cardinals purchased him in September, and in 1908, he was the best pitcher on the team. His 2.03 earned run average ranked tenth in the National League, and his 145 strikeouts were fourth-best. During the 1908 season, he gave up fewer hits per game than Christy Mathewson and threw five shutouts, but he was also on the mound eleven times when the Cardinals failed to score.[3]

Raymond was known for his spitball and got his nickname because of his zany antics on the mound. What might have been a promising career was short-circuited by a perpetual addiction to alcohol. The only manager who could keep Raymond in line for any length of time was hard-nosed Giants manager John McGraw. McGraw picked him up in the Roger Bresnahan trade before the 1909 season, and Bugs won 18 games for him that year.[2]

However, Raymond could never stay sober for long. McGraw tried everything - including fining him so there wouldn't be any money left for drinks and hiring a detective to trail Bugs - but nothing worked. In addition, Raymond had a subpar performance on the mound in 1910, going 4-11. He was released him midway through the Giants' 1911 pennant-winning season.[2]

In 1912, after a short stint in an independent league, Raymond got into a number of fights in Chicago and ended up badly beaten. He died of a fractured skull a few weeks later at age 30.[4]

[iggyman]

A little bit more info. on Arthur L. "Bugs" Raymond's death:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...+raymond&hl=en

Lovely Day...

[Jay Wolt]

Iggy Thanks for the article scan

[iggyman]

A little bit past the T206 era but a little bit before the Goudey era, what about Flint Rhem??? A recent eBay auction brought him to mind. In the thick of a pennant race and on the day he was scheduled to pitch, he actually claimed that he was kidnapped by two Brooklyn Dodger fans and forced to drink booze for 24 hours ??? The great part about this tale, is that he got away with it. Here is the story as per Google archives>>>

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...int+rhem&hl=en


In 1960 he told the truth (or at least blamed it on Gabby Street who was conveniently dead at the time>>>

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...int+rhem&hl=en

Lovely Day...

[deadballera]

Luther "Dummy" Taylor was profoundly deaf and performed on-field communications with his teammates in sign language. He is credited with helping to expand and make universal the use of sign language throughout the modern baseball infield, including but not limited to the use of pitching signs. He played baseball at the same time as another deaf player, William Ellsworth Hoy, more commonly known as Dummy Hoy

[pgellis]

To expand just a little on Dummy Taylor. He was 1 of 3 deaf children born to hearing parents. He played for McGraw's Giants and his teammates learned sign language so that they could communicate with him. He then moved on to Cleveland and found it frustrating and difficult there because the Cleveland players did not bother to learn sign language.

He went back to the Giants and would often "sign" during the game regarding his thoughts of the job that the umpires were doing. He once got bagged by an umpire that also could read sign language and was fined for doing so.

Here's a very good article on Taylor:

http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?...=14004&bid=987

[birdman42]

Originally Posted by Jay Wolt

Raymond was born in Chicago, Illinois. He started his professional baseball career with the Waterloo Microbes in 1904.[1]

The Waterloo Microbes? And I thought the Albuquerque Isotopes had a great name. I'd love to hear the story behind the Waterloo team name.

Bill

[albrshbr]

So I'm reading the bio on Dummy Taylor, and guess who his roommate is on the Giants...Mike Donlin.

[deadballera]

gotta love the moustache...

John Franklin Titus (February 21, 1876 - January 8, 1943) born in St. Clair, Pennsylvania was an outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies (1903-12) and Boston Braves (1912-13).

His most notable accomplishment was that he led the National League in being hit by pitches (16) in 1909 and ranks 74th on the Major League Baseball career Hit By Pitch list (94).

In 11 seasons he played in 1,402 games and had 4,960 at bats, 738 runs, 1,401 hits, 253 doubles, 72 triples, 38 home runs, 561 RBI, 140 stolen bases, 620 walks, a .282 batting average, a .373 on-base percentage, a .385 slugging percentage, 1,912 total bases and 144 sacrifice hits.

[tedzan]

Check out this dude......






My long-time friend, hobbyist, and professional artist, J. Weaver, presented this classic to me at my 70th Birthday party.



TED Z

[Tim Kindler]

Sadly, maybe Miguel Cabrera should read that story about Bugs Raymond in his rehab. I'm not trying to make a smart*** post, alcoholism is a serious matter that hurts ALL the friends and family of a person like Cabrera. I hope he fixes himself, not just for him but for everyone who cares about him.