December Pickups

[Scott Garner]

I was able to recently scratch off one of the genuine toughees on my want list of early vintage no-hit pitcher signatures:

Hubert Benjamin "Dutch" or "HUB" Leonard (D-1952) pitched for the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers during his 13 year ML career. Dutch Leonard has the distinction of holding the lowest single season ERA in the modern era of baseball (post 1900). "HUB" had a microscopic ERA of 0.96 during his 1914 season with the Boston Red Sox.

Additionally, Leonard hurled the second ever no-hitter at historic Fenway Park on August 30, 1916. In his career, Leonard actually pitched two no-hitters, the second one on June 3, 1918 also with Boston.

Here is a picture of my HB "Dutch" Leonard 1948 GPC, a photo of Dutch from 1916 and an actual game ball that I own from Leonard's 1st no-hitter in 1916:

[3-2-count]

Thanks Joel, Tom & Scott. Decemeber is off to a grand start.
Keep em' comin guys.....

[Klrdds]

Scott,
The Dutch Leonard autograph is great addition to your collection but the baseball is really impressive!!

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Klrdds

Scott,
The Dutch Leonard autograph is great addition to your collection but the baseball is really impressive!!

Thanks Kevin! It's one of my favorite items in my collection. I suspect that the darkness of the ball is partially due to the fact that "Dutch" was a sometimes spitballer. It's amazing how much use balls got during the deadball era...

[btcarfagno]

Wasn't it Dutch Leonard who almost got Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb thrown out of baseball due to game fixing allegations? At a minimum, it led to Cobb losing his job as player/manager with Detroit and sent him packing to the A's to play out the string.

Tom C

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

Wasn't it Dutch Leonard who almost got Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb thrown out of baseball due to game fixing allegations? At a minimum, it led to Cobb losing his job as player/manager with Detroit and sent him packing to the A's to play out the string.

Tom C

Tom,
You are absolutely correct! Dutch Leonard was an enigma of sorts and thought to be a weasel/whiney-baby by many.

Here is some history on the feud between Dutch Leonard and Ty Cobb from Wikipedia:
Dutch Leonard and Ty Cobb

Even before their player-manager feud, Leonard and Cobb had a history. In 1914, Leonard hit Cobb in the ribs with a fastball. In the next at bat, Cobb dragged a bunt which the Red Sox first baseman was forced to field. Cobb later described the play as follows: "Leonard ran to first to take the throw. When he saw I was going for him and not the bag, he kept running into the coaching box. Damned coward. I ignored the bag, drove right through after him ... he ran toward the dugout and missed cutting him by inches." (Al Stump, Cobb: The Life and Times of the Meanest Man Who Ever Played Baseball, p. 213)

A full feud broke when Cobb took over as the Tigers' manager in 1921. Cobb took pleasure in fining Leonard, who enjoyed late nights, for violating curfew. At one point in the 1921 season, Leonard was 11–13, despite a respectable ERA; Cobb left his office door open so that Leonard could hear him on the phone, faking a call: "I'm putting that damned Dutchman on waivers." (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 140) In 1922, Leonard and Cobb fought over how to pitch to George Sisler and Tris Speaker. Leonard cursed Cobb to his face during the dispute, and Leonard ended up quitting the team in 1921, calling Cobb a "horse's ass." (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 340)

When Leonard returned to the Tigers in 1924 after two seasons in the San Joaquin Valley League, the feud with Cobb resumed. By the middle of the 1925 season, Leonard was 11–3, but that did not stop Cobb from accusing Leonard of being a shirker. In front of the team, Cobb berated Leonard: "Don't you dare turn bolshevik on me. I'm the boss here." (Richard Bak, Peach, p. 147) Leonard accused Cobb of over-working him, and Cobb responded in July 1925 by leaving Leonard on the mound for an entire game despite Leonard's giving up 20 hits and taking a 12–4 beating. After that, Leonard refused to pitch for Cobb. As a result, the Tigers put Leonard on waivers, and when no team picked him up, his baseball career came to an end. (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 364)

Rumors began to spread that Leonard was claiming he "had something" on Cobb. Leonard was quoted as saying, "I am going to expose that bastard Cobb, I'll ruin him." (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 371) And in 1926 Leonard sought his revenge, contacting [American league president Ban Johnson]] and accusing Cobb of being involved in gambling and/or fixing games with Tris Speaker. Leonard claimed that Speaker and Cobb had conspired before a 1919 Tigers-Indians game to allow the Tigers to win, enabling the team to reach third place and qualify for World Series money. To corroborate his story, Leonard produced letters written at the time (one by Cobb and one by Smoky Joe Wood) that obliquely referred to gambling or game-fixing. When Johnson made Leonard's letter public in December 1926, it started a scandal.

Cobb was called to testify at a hearing before Commissioner Landis, and denied Leonard's allegations. Cobb noted that Leonard "had the reputation in the past of being a bolshevik on the club." (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 382) Leonard declined to appear and testify at the hearing, saying he feared a physical attack from "that wild man." In the absence of Leonard's testimony, Landis found Cobb and Speaker not guilty.

Interesting Dutch Leonard factoid:
Leonard finally retired to the Fresno, CA area and grew grapes and made wine and did quite well. His hobby was collecting vinyl records and I've read that his collection was one of the largest that was ever amassed at that time. When Leonard died he had amassed a reasonably large estate estimated at greater than $2.1 million (over $18 million in todays dollars).

[chaddurbin]

that ruth is phenomenal tony...color me extremely envious!

[johnmh71]

Originally Posted by Klrdds

Scott,
The Dutch Leonard autograph is great addition to your collection but the baseball is really impressive!!

+1