1894 Baltimore or 1927 Yankees?

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Posted By: Howard W. Rosenberg

While I don't know much about the 1927 Yankees, my book from earlier this year contains a parade of praises and roasts about the 1890s Orioles. But first, here's a poem that appeared after Baltimore clinched the pennant in 1894:

In Dixie’s land
The champions stand,
Look away, look away;
In Dixie’s land
The champions stand,
The pennant floats o’er Dixie.
Cinnamon seed and great ball playin’
Sawin’ wood and nothin’ sayin’
Look away, look away;
The pennant floats o’er Dixie

Now for some praise and criticism. First, the praise. In July of that year, Boston manager Frank Selee said the following, in referring to the Baltimore team: ``When a man becomes a base runner, the batsman offers at any ball that comes up to him. If the ball isn’t pitched over the rubber [plate] he swings his bat slowly and deliberately and returns it to the shoulder. This bit of byplay interrupts and balks [blocks] the catcher and gives the base runner a few seconds advantage in stealing a base. Of course, a trick like this would be useless to a team of slow base runners.’’ He added that Baltimore’s teamwork ``reminds me of my own team.’’

Now the criticism. After the 1894 season, Johnny Foster of the Cleveland Leader said Baltimore ``is composed of players of tolerably small caliber. McGraw, Brodie, [Joe] Kelley, Jennings, and [Kid] Gleason are fair ball players in their way but live with a terribly exaggerated idea of their own importance. The world existed before they did and is likely to struggle through a summer or two after they pass away. They are young, healthy, vigorous and abusive athletes. When one has said that, everything has been said. They are not brainy ball players. They are energetic machines. As a team the Baltimore club has not played with its brains. The brains have been furnished by Ned Hanlon and Captain Robinson. Without those men the Baltimores would not have been in the race.’’ Baltimore won the pennant ``because the Baltimore management caught the entire League napping, more [sic] especially the East.’’ Also, when the regular season began, ``they were more fit to play ball than any team in the League.’’