When Carol and I visited our grandchildren in December their focus was understandably on Christmas. For young Henry, however, December 25th has some added significance. Since he was born on June 25th, Christmas Day is halfway to his next birthday. Sure enough, he proudly informed us that "I'm now 6 and 2/4ths." After graduating from the Concord Children's Center, Henry is currently matriculating in the Acton/Boxborough School District and I'm impressed one of those institutions taught him fractions at such a young age. Impressed enough to wait patiently for them to move on to the lowest common denominator. In any event, Henry is well on his way towards seven while Sophie, his big sister, is closing in on, dare I say it, ten. Naturally that leads to thoughts about where did the time go. In some cases, of course, milestones are reached almost regardless of what we do. The same however cannot be said of things that require some degree of initiative - like this blog for example.
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the first post at A Manly Pastime. If that's difficult for anyone reading this to believe, just imagine how I feel. At the beginning I had no idea about how long the blog would continue (the average blog supposedly lasts 18 months), but I certainly didn't imagine there was a decade of blogging ahead of me. I had recently become interested in early New Jersey baseball, thanks both to Brad Shaw and the Flemington Neshanock as well as Peter Morris who invited me to write about New Jersey teams for the book Baseball Founders. After completing that project, the next step would logically have been a book, but it wasn't clear how to do it effectively. As Peter pointed out after writing a similar book about Michigan, the challenge is to find the middle ground between two extremes. Trying to cover everything that happened across an entire state risks getting bogged down in mind numbing detail, but too broad an approach might produce little more than generalities.
Blogging, which offered greater flexibility, proved to be a good way to explore baseball's early history in the Garden State and ultimately contributed to my writing A Cradle of the National Pastime. By the time it was published, the blog had moved on to become an unofficial publication of the Flemington Neshanock and a place to write about other areas of baseball history especially the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 2010, my first year with the Neshanock, the team went on a remarkable run in the National Silver Ball Tournament, reaching the championship game. I wanted to share that story, but had no means to do so. Once I began the blog in 2012, I soon realized it was a good place to write about vintage baseball usually accompanied by some aspect of baseball history. It's at the point now where at least once during every game someone labels a play as "blog worthy." The Dodger connection began when I started researching my biography of Charles Ebbets and the Brooklyn club is pretty much an inexhaustible subject.
Although this blog understandably focuses on the past, at least once a year I try to project what lies ahead. Writing history has its challenges, but at least the past doesn't have the uncertainty of the future. If I didn't know that already, I learned it when I predicted that the one thing that was certain about 2020 was the blog would cover the Neshanock's season. Unfortunately there was no season so I ended up writing a series of game accounts with some attention to the centennial of the Brooklyn Dodgers 1920 National League championship. Once burned is well learned so I want to be careful in predicting the blog's subject matter for the rest of 2022. Naturally, the Neshanock season, pandemic permitting, will be a focal point. Without being specific, it's also fair to say there will be posts based on stories that I found while researching Mike Kelly's 16 year major league career. The most recent post about bat bag superstitions is just one example.
Leading off, however, as we begin the 11th year of this blog is something new - a three part series. Since I alluded to this back in November, it shouldn't be a surprise the subject will be Mike "King" Kelly from Paterson, New Jersey. Kelly was a lifetime .300 hitter, who twice led the league in hitting and was a key contributor on six pennant winning teams. Impressive as Kelly's Hall of Fame record is however, what makes him fascinating to me are the accolades that go beyond his statistical record. In 1886 the Chicago Tribune proclaimed Kelly "the greatest player in the world." Chicago captain Cap Anson, echoed those sentiments, claiming his sometimes difficult to manage star was "undoubtedly the finest [player] in the world." And Kelly's greatness was far from one dimensional. Not only his hitting, but also his catching and base running were frequently hailed as great. According to Jim Price, a contemporary sportswriter, Kelly's "very nickname tells the story, he was the King of all he surveyed."
At the same time however, a statistical comparison with his peers doesn't seem to support Kelly's elevation to the pinnacle of baseball greatness. Eight of his contemporaries (excluding pitchers) are also in the Hall of Fame and most have better numbers. For example, of the nine, Kelly is sixth in batting average and fourth in on-base percentage. Defensive numbers are difficult to compare, but Kelly ranks behind Jim O'Rourke as an outfielder and also behind Buck Ewing as a catcher. Further complicating the comparison, Kelly's reputation seems based on stories of feats many of which cannot be confirmed. The use of stories, accurate or not, however, suggests that Kelly greatness couldn't be captured in a box score. In 1887, a Boston Globe reporter claimed "no figures could possibly give to a man who has never seen him play, any idea of Kelly's 'phenomenal work." For us that possibility is gone forever, but we still have the contemporary eyewitness reports of those who saw Kelly play on a regular basis. Beginning in early March, three posts will draw on those accounts to see if we can understand why he was considered the greatest player of his time.
I want to conclude this 10th anniversary post with a heartfelt word of thanks to everyone who devotes some of their limited time to reading this blog. While it may not always seem like it, I try to be concise, if not brief, and to choose topics that may have some interest. I know that each of you takes time away from other things to read what I write and I deeply appreciate your doing so. Special thanks also to those who tell me they've enjoyed a post (you know who you are). Such comments mean a great deal to me and I almost always feel I don't adequately express my gratitude, so once again, thank you. On to the second decade of A Manly Pastime - I'm not sure we'll make the full ten years, but let's enjoy the journey together.
Congratulations on 10 years, and thank you! We love this blog, and are hoping for 10 more!!
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