Bobby Lowe - First to Four

The series of short oral histories originally called "My Biggest Baseball Day," first appeared in the Chicago Daily News on January 23, 1943, and became a periodic off-season feature through at least 1950.  The initial plan was for the paper's sportswriters to describe their most memorable baseball experiences, but the articles proved so popular the News decided to reach out to players for their stories.  Almost all of the roughly 175 or so articles cover games played in the first half of the twentieth century, divided relatively equally between the Deadball Era (1901-1919), the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s.  However, in a stroke of good planning or good fortune, the paper was also able to interview three nineteenth-century players, recording some of the earliest known baseball oral histories.  

Bobby Lowe

One of the three was Bobby Lowe (1865-1951) who spent the first twelve of his eighteen-year major league career with the Boston Beaneaters, the predecessor of today's Atlanta Braves.  Primarily a second baseman, Lowe was a key contributor to the Boston teams that won four pennants during the 1890s.  Perhaps not surprisingly Lowe chose his greatest baseball day from the 1894 season when he hit .346, well above his lifetime .273 average.  Like Al Simmons almost 40 years later, Lowe's most memorable day came as part of a Decoration Day morning-afternoon doubleheader.  As frequently happens in these oral histories, the account of a great, in this case, record-setting achievement is enriched by insights into what baseball was like so many years ago. In this case, note how close the sportswriters sat to the bench or dugout.  

Bobby Lowe's Biggest Baseball Day as told to John Carmichael

I hit four home runs in one game; two in one inning!  It happened in Boston, on May 30, 1894.  Ed Delahanty of the Phils did the same thing two years later and Lou Gehrig came along with four almost forty years afterwards, but I did it first. [Through 2023, 18 major leaguers have hit four home runs in a single game].

I’m 75 years old now [Lowe's story was published in the Chicago Daily News on February 23, 1945], so that pleases me more now than then . . . particularly because two homers came in one inning.  None of the others did that!

My first professional ball game was played at Newcastle, Pa., in 1887.  I wasn’t a heavy hitter and I wasn’t a big man, but in 1890 Frank Selee, who ran the Boston club, took me over there and I stayed 12 years at second base.

Those were the days when we had only one league of 12 teams . . . with Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, Brooklyn, St. Louis, Louisville, Chicago, Cincinnati and Washington in it. [Cleveland, Baltimore, Louisville, and Washington dropped out after the 1899 season reducing the National League to eight teams].

Congress Street Grounds

We won two pennants under Selee, in ’97 and ’98 and the last year we won 102 games and lost only 47.  Everybody said we had a pretty good infield those days, with fellows like Jim Collins, Herman "Dutch" Long, Fred Tenney, [Tommy] Tucker and [Billy]Nash at the other positions.

Sportswriters used to say there’d never be another infield combination like Tenney, Collins, Long and Lowe . . . they called me Sir Robert . . . but I always thought that Connie Mack had a pretty good one too with [Home Run] Baker, [Stuffy] McInnis, [Jack] Barry and Eddie Collins.

When I started big-league ball there were pitchers like John Clarkson and Tim Keefe and Kid Nichols and Elton Chamberlain and before I was almost washed up, around 1905, I’d batted against Amos Rusie and Cy Young and Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson.

Rusie pitched from 50 feet instead of the 60 as nowadays and it was like hitting at lightning.  Keefe threw slow balls that hung over the plate until you broke your back hitting at ‘em.

I always thought Nichols belonged right in the same Hall of Fame  [he was selected in 1949] with Young and the others, so maybe that’s why I’m proud of winding up 18 years with Boston, Detroit and the Cubs with a batting average of .299. [Lowe's actual lifetime average was .273].

Maybe baseball has changed in some ways after all these years . . . the crowds are bigger and the salaries are higher, but the game is still the same.  If you don’t outguess the pitcher, he’ll fool you.

Lowe with Lou Gehrig, the second player to tie his record of four home runs in a game

But there . . . I’m kinda getting away from what you want to hear . . . my biggest day.  Well, Cincinnati came to town that May 30 for morning and afternoon games.  We were in third place, only about three games out of the lead.

The morning crowd wasn’t too big, but we won 13-10 with a fellow named [Tom] Lovett pitching against [Tom] Parrott.  I was leading off, as usual, and didn’t get a hit.

Before the afternoon game, Mrs. Lowe and myself had dinner at the old North Railroad Station . . . a fish dinner.  I always liked fish.  Then it was time for me to get back to the park.  There were about 8,000 fans jamming the stands and Nichols, then pitching for us, was facing Chamberlain who I mentioned before.

We played those days at the old Congress Street grounds where the Boston team of the old Players League played in 1890. [Boston's home field South End Grounds was destroyed by fire on May 15, 1894, forcing the Beaneaters to play 27 games at the Congress Street grounds].  Some of our parks today aren’t any larger than that old spot. [Both parks had short left field lines at 250 feet.]

I didn’t get on base in the first inning, but we got two runs.  So did Cincinnati. Nothing happened in the second, but in the third, I was up first again and hit over the left-field fence.

A fellow named ["Bug"] Holliday [Holliday hit two home runs of his own] was playing left for Cincy and he went back a few steps and then stopped because he saw it was no use.  The fans whooped it up and you’d oughta heard’em before the inning was over.  We got nine runs off Chamberlain . . . he wasn’t taken out like they do now when a pitcher gets hit hard . . . and by golly I came up again with [Jack] Ryan , our catcher, on base and hit another homer over Holliday’s head.

I felt pretty good about that and when Selee was grinning all over.  Nichols got up off the bench when I came in and shook hands and hollered to the sportswriters over to one side of the stands: “Ain’t that a record . . . in one inning?”  I don’t suppose they knew. I didn’t although I thought it was pretty good.  

James "Bug" Holliday - after Lowe's fourth home run, Holliday "leaned against the left field fence in mock despair" - Boston Herald - May 31, 1894

But you should have heard that crowd when I came up in the fifth and hit another homer.  Three times up, three homers!  The third went by over the fence about 20 feet and was almost on the exact line of the other two.

Holliday was hollering at me as I went around the bases, but I couldn’t hear a word.  The fans were jumping up and down and Selee was telling everybody I’d tied Ed Williamson, Cap Anson and Dan Brouthers who also hit three in one game.

As I walked to the plate in the seventh the crowd was yelling: “Four . . . four, Bobby . . . hit another one . . . “and danged my soul if I didn’t.  I almost fell down when I saw the ball going for that fence the fourth time."

It wasn’t six inches either side of where the other three went and Holliday threw up both hands and ran back to see by how much it would clear.  He said afterwards the ball was about 10 feet above the fence.

Boston Globe - May 31, 1894

By the time I’d circled the bases there were silver dollars and other coins lying on the ground.  They were all for me and we held up the game to gather ‘em up. 

I got about $100 altogether and a Boston newspaper talked of giving me a purse of $1,000 but I never got it.  We won the game, 20-11 and a funny thing was when I came up in the ninth, for the fifth time, I hit a single.  

Everybody laughed.  I suppose it did look silly . . . after four homers.

Next up - in the heat of the 1915 pennant race, Philadelphia Athletics pitcher, Tom Sheehan has a strategy to retire the Red Sox in the ninth inning but forgets a certain left-handed hitting rookie.

The Story of the Stories

Over the past few years, I’ve shared some stories that were first published in the Chicago Daily News' "My Biggest Baseball Day" series during World War II. This post is about the story of the stories. How what started as a short-term fill-in series became baseball’s first large scale oral history project while making an important contribution to World War II morale. To do so we'll explore how the series came about, who made it happen, how they did it and its importance then and now. 

The first of 159 stories.  For some reason this one was entitled "My Greatest Day in Baseball" Chicago Daily News January 23, 1943

In January of 1943, Lloyd Lewis, the sports editor of the Chicago Daily News had a problem.  Over the past six years Lewis had built a popular sports section that encouraged reader participation.  Now, however, the outlook for finding interesting content wasn’t promising.  Winter was always a period of reduced sports activity, limited even further by war time restrictions.  Nor was previewing the upcoming baseball season as attractive as it once was.  While there would be major league baseball in 1943, the best players were increasingly likely to be wearing fatigues not baseball uniforms. 

Fortunately, Lewis, or a staff member, had an idea.  Why not have each sportswriter write about his “Biggest Baseball Day?”  The goal was to publish enough stories for a week or so. But the writers’ memories proved so popular the series was expanded to include players, managers and even umpires.  And even that wasn’t enough. “My Biggest Baseball Day” became a regular offseason feature for the last three years of the war. Unintentionally, the Chicago Daily News created baseball’s first large scale oral history project.

Lloyd Lewis

All told, the paper published 159 baseball memories highlighted by great players like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Cy Young talking about their greatest games.  Popular then, these stories still resonate today.  Just one example is Cobb's account of a crucial game in the 1907 pennant race, a story that because the game ended in a tie, might otherwise have been forgotten.  Other players, although perhaps not well remembered today, contributed to a more complete picture of major league baseball before World War II. While there may not be any direct cause and effect, the series anticipated Lawrence Ritter’s classic The Glory of Their Times.  

Lewis began the “Biggest Baseball Day” series with his memories of the fourth game of the 1911 Giants – Athletics World Series.  He vividly described the atmosphere at Shibe Park and the drama’s two leading protagonists Christy Mathewson and Frank “Home Run” Baker.  Even today, well over a hundred years later, Lewis’ rich prose makes the reader feel like they were there on that long ago October afternoon. 

Lewis contributed six stories to the “Biggest Day” series, but his direct participation ended later in 1943 when he became the paper’s managing editor.  John Carmichal, the new sports editor, took over the series which became so identified with him, his name is on the original book version.  Carmichael was already writing a popular, syndicated column called the “Barber Shop.” By the time he retired, Carmichael estimated he had written over 11000 columns.  But even with that hard to believe number, longtime Chicago Tribune writer, Jerome Holtzman’s claimed he couldn’t remember a single time Carmichael “knocked somebody.”  

John Carmichael

Carmichael was so “universally liked and respected,” that Ted Williams, no fan of sportswriters, called him “the home-run champion of sports writers.” Since players trusted Carmichael, they were more likely to talk to him, enabling Carmichael to use his “ability to set the scene and allow the players to . . . tell their stories.” In addition to leading the project, Carmichael wrote 33 “Biggest Day” stories, fifteen of Hall of Famers including Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson and Connie Mack.

In addition to good leadership, the “Biggest Day” project had the newspaper equivalent of a deep pitching staff. Four writers Hal Totten, Francis Powers, Jack Ryan and Lyall Smith were especially important contributors.  Not only were they good writers, but they also knew and valued baseball history.  Totten was a pioneering radio play-by-play announcer who reportedly “interviewed about every outstanding player in both leagues.” That alone was excellent preparation for his contributions to the series.  

  

Francis Powers, the most experienced writer, had seen a lot of historic baseball moments and also wrote about the game’s history. He worked on 29 player memories, including Ty Cobb’s story mentioned earlier, one of the best in the series. Like Powers, Jack Ryan, also wrote about baseball history. His 25 stories included Mordecai Brown’s account of the Merkle replay game, which vividly captures the intensity of Dead Ball Era baseball.  Lyall Smith not only wrote some of the Daily News stories, he introduced a similar series to the Detroit Free Press in 1947. Totten, Powers, Ryan and Smith understood the game, valued its history and knew how to write interesting and readable articles.

The fans wishes come true. The series will go on - Chicago Daily News - February 3, 1943

With a solid team in place, the next step was finding sufficient material for about 50 articles each offseason.  In addition to the Daily News reporters, Lewis recruited writers from other newspapers across the country.  Thanks to his interactive approach with the paper’s readers, fans also had a chance to participate. When a reader suggested Rogers Hornsby, Lewis immediately arranged an interview with the future Hall of Famer. Simultaneously, John Carmichael put his time in Florida for spring training to good use, seeking players who “winter there.”  

Getting the interview, however, didn’t guarantee a high-quality article.  In remembering long-ago events, a player might, intentionally, or otherwise, embellish his performance.  Wisely, Lewis and his team took steps to facilitate accuracy.  Before the interview, the paper provided the player with the play-by-play, the box score and the Daily News contemporary game article.  There was also some screening of players worthiness particularly Buck Weaver of the infamous “Black” Sox.  Lewis told readers that the paper’s investigation concluded that Weaver didn’t participate in the fix.

In the interview, the writer used his time with the player to gather as much detailed information as possible about the game and the player’s part in it.  Working with that raw material the writer then crafted a story designed to attract, inform and entertain the reader.  An excellent example is how John Carmichael worked with Casey Stengel on his “Biggest Baseball Day” story. Stengel chose his major league debut in Brooklyn in a meaningless late 1912 game.  Meaningless for everyone but Stengel who got four hits in first major league game.

Casey Stengel about 1916, in front of the fabled Ebbets Field right field wall (before the scoreboard) - Bain Collection

The story begins not with Stengel’s record setting performance, but a raw rookie’s rude introduction to the major leagues.  Upon arrival in New York City, the timid Stengel stays close to his hotel for fear of getting lost in the big city. Going to the ballpark the next day does nothing to make him feel more comfortable.  His only welcome from his new teammates is an invitation to lose money in a dice game which doesn’t exactly endear the young player to Bill Dahlen, his new manager.  Stengel then makes the situation even worse by naively thinking that, like the minor leagues, obeying the manager’s signs is optional.

Stengel’s haphazard arrival in the majors makes it seem unlikely he would survive much less be successful. Against this unpromising backdrop, Stengel’s four hit performance is even more impressive.  The story weaves his accomplishments and a rookie’s introduction to the majors into a compelling story any baseball fan would enjoy reading then or now. 

Clarence "Ginger" Beaumont

“My Biggest Baseball Day,” was a regular off-season feature in the Chicago Daily News through1945 and was briefly revived in 1950.  While most of the stories were from the twentieth century, the paper was fortunate to interview three nineteenth century players – Bobby Lowe, Bill Lange and Ginger Beaumont.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, no attention was paid to the Negro Leagues. But early on the paper did interview Satchel Paige, perhaps due to Lewis’s support for the integration of Major League Baseball.

Drawing that accompanied Satchel Paige's story - Chicago Daily News - March 13, 1943

Players, managers and others shared memories from 26 different World Series including four classic seventh games.  Important regular season contests were also part of the series including perfect games and no-hitters. Fifty-one of the participants were Hall of Fame inductees.  Among these were Cobb, Ruth, Tris Speaker, Walter Johnson and Cy Young all of whom were dead by the time Lawrence Ritter began his Glory of Their Times interviews.

The expanded series more than met the hopes and expectations of both the paper and its readers. Speaking for many fans, Joseph Mitchell said that each story was “just like sitting in the park looking at the game itself.”  One fan, Louis Horace became so dependent on his daily dose of baseball history he warned the paper not to – “dare run out of em’ for a long time yet.”  It’s no wonder Lewis told one reader that “I can say to you with perfect frankness that I never worked on a newspaper series that gave me the kick that this has.”

It was only a question of time before a selection was published in book form.  The first version was published in April of 1944 in a special edition for those in the military.  Printed in a tabloid format, the book had 35 stories featuring Cobb, Wagner, Ruth as well as Chicago favorites Johnny Evers, Gabby Hartnett and Ed Walsh.  Entitled "My Biggest Baseball Day," the anthology was available at cost to servicemen.  

Chicago Daily News - June 27, 1944

To no one’s surprise, the book was just as popular as the series, but with even more readers.  Over the next two months 50,000 copies were “distributed.” So popular was the book that some businesses got involved. The Edwin Hines Lumber Company, for example, sent almost 600 copies to its employees serving in the military.  The head of the Daily News mailroom was so moved by the company's effort that he worked with two of its employees to get all the copies in the mail that same day. Also involved was St. Benedict’s Church in Blue Island, Illinois which sent 375 copies to parishioners in the military including one POW.  

If the Daily News needed any confirmation from the servicemen themselves, it came from Corporal Maurice Levy, wounded five times and the recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross.  Levy told the paper that “You have no idea how a thing like the Biggest Baseball Day will go the rounds” of servicemen.  In complete agreement was Mr. & Mrs. Sam Odelson who sent copies to their seven sons and a son-in-law in the military.  

 Access to the stories wasn’t limited to the immediate recipient.  Exaggerating for effect, Sgt. Nick Delmonico claimed there were “a million guys waiting for me to finish it, so they could enjoy it too.” In a message to Carmichael, Bill Merar said “we discussed each article in the mess room until the wee hours.” Tech Sergeant Stanley Wronski spoke for everyone when he said the stories made him “hope it won’t be long until we see the good old national pastime in the states again.”

The final story - Chicago Daily News - February 28, 1945

The “Biggest Baseball Day” series ended in 1945, but not because of a lack of interest.  That same year, the first book version, entitled My Greatest Day in Baseball, was published.  More editions followed, with new writers interviewing players from later eras.  The 1960s brought Lawrence Ritter’s classic The Glory of Their Times arguably the most popular baseball book of all time.  Multiple collections of baseball oral histories followed Ritter and will likely continue to do so. 

While there may not be a direct connection between the Chicago Daily News series and Ritter’s book, the “My Biggest Baseball Day” stories are, to my knowledge, the first large scale baseball oral history project. Lloyd Lewis was likely well aware of the irony of how a short-term, stopgap effort grew into a three-year project that made a major contribution to wartime morale.  

Lawrence Ritter's Masterpiece

The series was well received because baseball was not just the country’s most popular sport, but its National Pastime.  During one of the most difficult times in American history, the stories were more than a pleasant diversion, they were reminders of happier days. Stories of memorable days at the ballpark reminded those far away from home of a life they hoped to return to as soon as possible. The series offered moments of happiness when they were in short supply.

Like any successful baseball team, the “My Biggest Baseball Day” series had leadership, talent and teamwork.  Lloyd Lewis approved the initial idea, had the wisdom to see the series potential and a commitment to a high-quality product.  He was followed by John Carmichael who led the project for two plus years while working on many of the stories.  And the series had a deep roster of writers who appreciated baseball history, could work with players and write well.  

The series also couldn’t have happened without players willing to talk about their most memorable days in baseball.  The teamwork between players and writers was like a highly skilled pitcher-catcher battery.  The player provided the content which the writer wove into an interesting, readable story.  Francis Powers said the goal of the series was “to give lovers of baseball vivid word pictures of the great games of long ago and immediate past.”  The “team” did that and then some.

While the series’ greatest contribution was to its initial readers, it’s also an important baseball history resource.  Oral histories offer a participant’s perspective which even if recorded many years later still has value.  One of baseball’s greatest pitching achievements was the 1934 All Star game when Carl Hubbell struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin.  In his story, Hubbell explained his pitching strategy, valuable information for anyone interested in that great accomplishment.

The “Biggest Day” series made another less visible, but no less important contribution to baseball history.  Just as the game needs fans, baseball history needs those who research and write about that history.  Well written, concise stories like these make baseball history accessible.  They open a door to the game’s past, inspiring readers to want to know more and, in some cases, to write about the game’s long history.

I speak from personal experience. About 70 years ago, thanks to my father, Hank Zinn, I read the original My Greatest Day in Baseball book.  Learning that baseball had a rich history of intense pennant races, legendary World Series games and other historic moments inspired an interest in baseball history that continues to this day.  Without the Chicago Daily News series this might never have happened. My lifelong love for baseball history began with these stories. I hope others will have, and enjoy, the same experience. 

Al Simmons' Greatest Day

Periodically (perhaps too periodically), I've mentioned how the book "My Greatest Day in Baseball" introduced me to baseball history.  While there have been multiple books with that title, I'm referring specifically to those with stories that originally appeared in the Chicago Daily News.  The first edition, published in 1945, had 47 short oral histories where some of the game's greatest players described what they believed was their greatest day in baseball.  In recent years, I've wondered if the Chicago paper published more articles than those that appeared in the book.  Earlier this year, I decided to find out for myself and began going through the back issues of the paper. I was more than a little surprised to find about 175 stories only about one-third of which have been published in book form.   

Al Simmons' Greatest Day headline as it appeared in the Chicago Daily News on March 31, 1943 - the original series was called "My Biggest Baseball Day"

To close out the 2023 blog year, I've decided to share three of these stories, beginning with one that was published in the first edition of the book. I'm hoping the choices illustrate both what appealed to a baseball novice so many years ago and the fascinating stories that are relatively unread and unknown.  Leading off is Hall of Famer Al Simmons who had his greatest seasons with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics.  I think anyone who reads the story will agree that it was truly a great day for a great player.  It also appealed to me because of the description of baseball in 1930 - a morning-afternoon doubleheader, something I'd never heard of, on an unfamiliar holiday called Decoration Day.  Clicking on highlighted names will connect the reader to a brief Society for American Baseball Research biography of the player.

Al Simmons's Greatest Day in Baseball as told to John Carmichael

When the 1930 season was over and we had won our second straight pennant I understand Clark Griffith told Connie Mack: "I went back and checked up on Al Simmons this year.   He hit 14 home runs in the eighth and ninth innings and everyone figured in the ball game.  We were never the same after he licked us in that double-header."  So Connie gave me a three-year contract for $100,000, which he didn't intend to do at all.  But that's more like the end, not the beginning of this particular day . . . . Memorial Day, 1930!

The Senators were in town for morning and afternoon games.  They were leading the league by four games and we were second.  What's more, they wanted to make so sure of knocking us off twice and really getting a stranglehold on first place that they'd sent Pitchers Ad Liska and "Bump" Hadley into town 48 hours ahead of the team to get fully rested for the big day.  Liska worked the opener against "Lefty" Grove, but we weren't worried, because Mose never lost a morning game in his career . . . that's a fact . . . and he always asked to pitch them.

Al Simmons

Well, we were brand-new world champions, of course, and we had a good crowd on hand, but we weren't doing so well near the end of the affair.  Liska was one of those semi-underhand pitchers with a little of this and a little of that and not much of anything, but he had us off stride and was ahead 6-3 into the ninth with two out, nobody on base and Grove up.  Naturally, Grove didn't hit.  Connie spent Spencer Harris up to swing for him and he got a single. Then Dib Williams hit safely and old man Simmons was on the spot.  I'd already gone four for the collar and those Philly fans could be tough every so often.  Some of 'em were yelling "Three out" and "How about another pinch hitter?" and I was thinking, "Boy, we better win that second game," when Liska cut loose.

The ball was right in there and didn't break and I really swung.  It landed in the left-field seats, the score was tied and the customers were all for me now.  We couldn't do anything more and went into extra innings.  I got a double in the 11th, but we didn't score.  I singled in the 13th and didn't get home.  In the 15th I hit another two-bagger . . . four straight hits, mind you, after going out easily four times in a row.  [The game lasted 13 innings, not 15 and Simmons had three hits in a row, not four.] Jimmie Foxx came up [in the thirteenth] and hit a twisting roller down the third-base line . . . topped the ball.  He beat it out by a half step and on the play, I went to third and rounded the bag as if I might try to score.  I got caught in a run-down.  Well, there I was, scrambling around and cursing myself for blowing a chance to get the game over, but finally, I dove for third and was safe.  Just as I lit I felt something go haywire in my right knee.

Standing on the bag I could feel it swelling up under my uniform and by the time "Boob" McNair singled and I scored the winning run it was becoming stiff.  We went inside and got the clothes off and the damn thing was twice its normal size.  Connie Mack couldn't believe his eyes.  "How did you do it?" he kept asking.  I didn't know myself . . . didn't hit anything but the ground.  He put in a call for Dr. Carnett, our club physician.  I can't remember his first name . . . and he's dead now . . . but he was one of the outstanding doctors in the East and a great ball fan.  He came in and ordered cold compresses on it.  "You've broken a blood vessel," he said, but it'll be all right."

Philadephia Inquirer picture of Simmons reception at home plate after his second game home run

We didn't have so much time between games, because that opener had taken too long, so there was nothing to do but sit around and order a little lunch.  The outgoing crowd was all mixed up with the incoming customers and, of course, a lot of those who figured to see only the morning game were so het up that they turned right around outside the gates and bought their way back in again.  Meanwhile, the swelling in my knee was going down, but it hurt and finally, Mr. Mack said to Carnett: "He can't play anymore today, I suppose," and Doc said no.  "You'll probably want to take him to a hospital," said Connie, and Carnett agreed.

"But not today," he said, "I came out here to see a double-header and I'm going to see it.  You . . ." and he addressed Mr. Mack . . . "can put him back in a uniform and let him sit on the bench.  He can't run, but he might come in handy as a pinch hitter.  What's more . . . if a spot comes up, I want him in there too.  I'll take care of the knee later, but at the moment I'm a rabid fan and assistant manager.

Philadelphia Inquirer - May 31, 1930

Out we went for the second game and the fans were in a great state when they saw Harris going to left field instead of me.  Only a few knew anything had happened and they couldn't understand why I was benched after driving in three runs and scoring the last one.  I think George Earnshaw was going for us and Hadley for them and he got off just as good as Laska had in the first game.  Came the seventh inning [it was the fourth] and we were behind 7-3.  We sent up a pinch-hitter for Joe Boley and he got on and then there was a base on balls and a hit and the bags were loaded.  Suddenly I saw Connie look down the line and crook that finger at me.

"Looks like this is the time and place," he said.  "This is what Dr. Carnett meant and you know what he said.  Walk around the bases if you can."

I picked up a bat and there I was for the second time in the same day in the clutch.  Hadley told me afterwards: "I never wanted a place to put somebody so much in all my life, but we were full up."  He seemed to take a long time and finally pitched and it was outside for a ball.  He tried another in the same spot and I let it go.  Then he changed up on me and tried for a strike.

Philadelphia Inquirer - May 31, 1930

My bat caught it just right . . . where you know that even if the ball is caught, you've hit it solid.  This one came down in the left-field stands, too, and the score was 7-7.  I hobbled around the bases and got back to the bench and Connie was sitting up straight, his eyes bright like a bird's, and he said: "My, that was fine, Al!"  We won in the ninth and down came Carnett and lugged me off to the hospital."

Next up - On another Decoration day almost 40 years earlier, Bobby Lowe uses the long ball in a less dramatic, but more historically significant fashion.