Joseph Mann with the 1874-75 Princeton Baseball Team
Five years earlier when he was 14, Mann was a student, a far different status than that of Nolan who even though a year younger was already working in a silk mill, doubtless the beneficiary of little in the way of formal education. By 1874, however, Nolan was supplementing his meager wages with money earned on the ball field as a member of the Olympic Club, Paterson's top team. Dormant since 1868, the Olympics were reorganized in July of 1874 and Nolan, although only 16, became a member of the first nine, initially playing in the outfield. In the next game, however, in a Wally Pippesque moment, the club's pitcher was injured and Nolan was chosen as his replacement. No box score of the game survives, but the youngster dominated the opposition, retiring 11 batters on foul outs. For the next two years, Nolan was the Olympic's pitcher and while he couldn't boast of a no-hitter, only two weeks before the Trenton game, he held the professional Atlantic Club of Brooklyn to just three hits and one run in a 1-0 loss, supposedly one of the earliest games of that score.
Edward "The Only" Nolan with the 1877 Indianapolis Club
As different as their backgrounds were, however, the two teenagers had something in common - their "politics" as it were. Both relied on the curve ball, a pitch that while hardly new, was in 1875 enjoying what Richard Hershberger has termed its "breakout year." Mann had discovered how to throw the pitch the prior fall when in an intramural game he gripped the ball differently to protect a blister and to his surprise began throwing curve balls. In a step that would have made the Princeton faculty proud, Mann analyzed his discovery and claimed the ball curved because the top and bottom were moving at 100 feet per second in opposite directions. More importantly from a baseball standpoint, Mann spent the winter in the school's gym perfecting the pitch and was more than ready to take full advantage as evidenced by his no-hitter. No such breakthrough moment was recorded for Nolan, but that same fall, he was reportedly throwing "swift balls" which he combined with a "sudden and peculiar underhanded jerk." Whatever he was doing, it was clearly working as the 1-0 loss to the Atlantics was the club's only defeat against nine victories.
Mann's analysis of how his curve ball worked
According to the Paterson Daily Press, some 300-400 fans paid 25 cents to see one of the earliest match ups between dominant curve ball pitchers. The Olympics were at what would prove to be a fatal disadvantage because William St. Lawrence, their regular catcher, had to play with hands "in a bad condition." The Olympics went first to the striker's line and got a preview of what was in store for them when lead off batter Jim Foran "struck at three of Mann's pretty-looking twisters, and gave it up." A much traveled player, Foran had played in the National Association in 1871, hitting .348 for the Fort Wayne Kekiongas which apparently did him no good against Mann. The next two Olympics made out, but Trenton did no better against Nolan who set them down in order. Mann repeated the feat in the top of the second again recording a strikeout. Nolan gave up his first hit in the bottom of the second initiating a pattern that would doom the Olympics as St. Lawrence injured hands and all couldn't handle Nolan's pitches and two passed balls gave the visitors their first run.
Jim Foran with the 1871 Fort Wayne Kekionga team
A Trenton error gave the Olympics their first base runner in the top of the third, but it did them little good as Mann proceeded to strike out the side. Trenton added single runs in the third, fourth and seventh innings, all of them, according to the New York Clipper aided by passed balls since the Olympics even with a lineup change "had no catcher to support Nolan's swift pitching." The few opportunities the Paterson team did have were turned away by the Trenton defense and the visitors led 4-0 heading to the bottom of the eighth when the roof fell in for Nolan and his teammates. Once again errors and passed balls kept the inning going and Trenton finally got to Nolan's pitches for three hits and four runs. Almost shut out or "Chicagoed," as the term went, the Olympics finally scored twice in the top of the ninth. As was standard for the day, the bottom of the ninth was played which saw Nolan record two strikeouts of his own while setting the side down in order, but Trenton had won the curve ball duel 8-2. Even though they scored eight times, Trenton only managed five hits off of Nolan compared to just three allowed by Mann.
New York Clipper - July 10, 1875
While the game itself had no lasting significance, the victory was widely celebrated in Trenton where a "goodly crowd" met the team when it arrived home with the "most extravagant cheers," followed by "marching through the streets." Unfortunately, the Olympics injury based weaknesses at catcher may have hindered those in attendance from fully realizing that they were witnessing part of a major change in baseball. In his book, Game of Inches, Peter Morris notes that while there is much debate over the invention or discovery of the curve ball, there can be do debate about its impact on the game itself to the point that it became almost impossible to play the position without one. Indeed in an article about Nolan in the most recent edition of Base Ball: New Research on the Early Game, Richard Hershberger wrote that the emphasis on the curve ball convinced some of "the previous generation of pitchers" including Albert Spalding it was time to retire. That Nolan and Mann two pitchers from such very different backgrounds were brought together by the same pitch says something about its lasting impact.
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