These are the saddest of possible words: Romero to Kittredge to Helsley

 On April 24 the Cardinals led the Diamond Backs 3-1 after six good innings from starter Kyle Gibson. After that, JoJo Romero threw a scoreless seventh, Andrew Kittredge threw a scoreless eighth, and Ryan Helsley threw a scoreless ninth.

The Cardinals next played on April 26, against the Mets. Miles Mikolas threw 5.2 decent innings, and the Cards were up 4-2 when JoJo Romero came in to close the sixth; he stayed to throw a scoreless seventh, Kittredge followed him with a scoreless eighth, and Helsley closed the game 1-2-3 with two Ks. 

You'll never guess what happened today. Starter Sonny Gray allowed four runs (one earned) over six innings and left the game with the Cardinals up 6-4. Romero threw a scoreless seventh, Kittredge blanked the Mets in the eighth, and Helsley tiptoed around two singles and a walk to clean up the game in the ninth.

I've never seen anything like that before: three relievers laying down three-fold domination in three straight games. They're not Mike Marshall and won't be able to pitch every game like this forever, but it's been a thing of loveliness while it has lasted.

The stark beauty of the three Cardinal relievers matches Tinker-Evers- Chance in grace while bettering them in value: these Cardinals get nine outs in one block, not two. 

And they've been dominating like this all year. After tonight, Romero and Kittredge are both tied for the MLB lead in holds with ten apiece in 27 games - for comparison, the MLB leader last year tallied 31 holds all season. Helsley's save today ties with him Robert Suarez and Clay Holmes for the MLB lead in saves, with 9. Romero-Kittredge-Helsley have ERAs, respectively, of 1.23, 0.75, and 1.80. 

Ryan Helsley

Ryan Helsley's been dominating for a few years now with a fastball that goes up to 104 and a killer slider, so his success is no surprise. He had a 1.25 ERA in 2022 and a 2.45 mark last year - he's just going about business as usual this year. (I have him on three of my four fantasy teams.) Romero and Kittredge have considerably less impressive pedigrees, unsurprising given that they're middle relievers. 

JoJo Romero

JoJo Romero is a solidly built mustached man, now 27 years old, born in Camarillo, California. JoJo started out with the Phillies, compiling a 7.89 ERA in 25 games over his three years with them before the Phillies traded him to the Cardinals for the walk-averse Edmundo Sosa mid-way through 2022. JoJo was up and down between the Cardinals and the AAA Memphis Red Birds last year, but pitched great for the Cardinals: in 36.2 innings, he k'd 42, walked 10, and gave up just a single solitary homer, good for a 3.68 ERA and 2.22 FIP. Unusually for a reliever, JoJo throws a fairly even mix of four different pitches: Sinker, slider, changeup, and four seam fastball. JoJo is the sole lefty of the trio. 

Andrew Kittredge

Andrew Kittredge has spent the last seven years with the Tampa Bay Rays, with whom he's been good but injury-prone. He was an all-star in 2021 with an 1.88 ERA and eight saves, but combined to throw just 31.2 innings over the last two years. Like Romero (215 pounds) and Helsley (235 pounds), Kittredge is a big dude: 6'1", 230 lb. Kittredge relies mostly on his sinker and slider; as with JoJo, he throws a four seam fastball but it's his least-used pitch. "Kitt" is 34, the old man of the group. 

I don't know how well the Three Great Men of the Cardinals bullpen will hold up over the rest of the season. Even if they continue to pitch well there's no way they can sustain their current furious rate of saves and holds, which is made possible only by the Cardinals having won an obscene amount of close games. Out of the Cardinals' thirteen wins, they haven't won by more than four runs in a game a single time, and in one of their two four-run wins, the April 24 game which they won 5-1, the Cardinals were only winning by three until the ninth so Romero and Kittredge still got holds. In other words, twelve of the Cardinals' thirteen wins have provided opportunities for holds. That's insane. 

Anyway: good luck to JoJo, Kitt, Helsley, and all who have them on their fantasy teams. 

.450-hitting big names in La Guaira

The Tiburones de la Guaira of the Venezuelan Winter League have both Ronald Acuna Jr. and Yasiel Puig in their outfield. Right now Acuna has a .446/7/19 triple crown line and .446/.577/.892 rate line, with 28 runs scored and 17 walks in 17 games. Puig has a .458/6/14 triple crown line and .458/.536/.898 rate line. The Tiburones are in third place out of eight teams with a record of 24-22. 

Maikel Garcia, who hit .272 in 123 games this year as the Royals' shortstop, is hitting .451 in 18 games. Other than those three, no one else in the league is hitting above .380.

Did Bernard Hannegan throw the first curve ball?

 Baseball tradition holds that the first curveball was thrown in a game on October 7, 1867, by Hall of Famer Candy Cummings, pitcher for the Excelsiors of Brooklyn. 

On the other hand, the New York Clipper reported that, after a game on September 22, 1860, more than seven years before Candy's historic game, "the result was chiefly owing to the very effective pitching of young Hannegan, of the Unions, who imparted such a twist to the balls he pitched, that it was almost impossible to hit them squarely and fairly into the field.."

"Hannegan" was Bernard Hannegan (also spelt Hannigan), pitcher for the Unions of Morrisania, and if that isn't a description of a curveball, I don't know what is.

Hannegan's career lasted from 1859 to 1866, all of which he spent with the Unions. 

A few notes about him:

In the infamous game between the Excelsiors and Unions of October 14, 1862, in which Jim Creighton, baseball's first super-star, hit a home-run and suffered what was most likely a ruptured inguinal hernia, dying four days later, Hannegan was the opposing pitcher for the Unions.

Hannegan's connection with Creighton was not only coincidental; Hannegan was one of a crowd of Creighton imitators. The 1876 DeWitt's Baseball Guide reports that Jim Creighton's speed and accuracy while throwing under-handed inspired dozens of mediocre copy-cats, and it singled out Bernard Hannegan as an example to be censured:

"In the days of the old Union nine of Morrisania, when Hannegan succeeded the old pitchers of the club, that player went in strong for speed, and tried in vain to succeed in command of the ball; but instead of the under-hand throw delivery, he sent the ball in by a square pitch, and as he did so with all the speed at his command, the result was that not one ball in six went near enough the bat to be hit. A wilder pitcher never handled the ball; and in those days, when the calling of "wides" or "balls," or in fact any punishment of the pitcher for an unfair and wide delivery was unknown, the games in which Hannegan pitched became noted for their tedious length, frequently occupying four hours."

Hannegan didn't just throw the seeming-first curveball; he invented the endless baseball game.

1881 New California League

  In 1881 a new pro league appeared in California, creatively named the New California League. 

The California League, which played continuously from 1879 to 1893, both preceded it and long outlived it, as 1881 proved to be the New California League's only season. Of its three teams, the Mystics and Oaklands were new to pro ball while the Californias had played in the semi-legendary 1880 California League. There they had finished their season with a 1-10 record, dropping out of the league a third of the way through the season. 

The 1881 New California League was a big step-down from the 1880 California League in terms of player quality. The 1880 California League was fantastic for a minor league, featuring Eastern stars like The Only Nolan, Cal McVey, Jim Devlin, Grasshopper Jim Whitney, and even hall-of-famer Pud Galvin. Presumably, paying the salaries of such skilled players turned out to be an insupportable strain upon the wallets of the clubs because the only Eastern players in California in 1881 were fringe players in comparison, like Ed Rowen and Bill French. 

Though the New California League was not overflowing with talent, its one year of operation was filled with colorful characters and drama. Making appearances in this story are gypsies, nervous pitchers, wonderfully inept second basemen, hapless umps, and freeloading spectators.

The 1881 New California League did feature some home-grown California talent destined for the big leagues. Sandy Irwin caught six games for the Oaklands, hitting .208 but with enough courage behind the bat to catch the attention of the National League's Providence Grays. The first Mexican-American in the major leagues, Sandy Irwin, who in the major leagues played under the name of Sandy Nava to sound more Hispanic, played the next five years in the major leagues. He hit just .177 but was presumably esteemed behind the plate. Pete Sweeney, a mere 17-year-old from San Mateo who played two games for the Oaklands, would play in the major leagues (hitting .209 with horrendous defense) from 1888 to 1890, and Pete Meegan, the league's top pitcher, had a 14-20 record in the American Association in 1884 and 1885. 

The New California League was supposed to open its schedule on April 3, 1881, and run until October 9. All games were to be held at the Oakland Baseball Grounds between three teams: the San Francisco Mystics, the San Francisco Californias, and the Oaklands. There was one slight problem: in March, it was discovered that a band of gypsies had lived in the Oakland Baseball Grounds over the winter, and "had succeeded in keeping themselves warm by frequent raids upon the stands, dressing rooms, and bar, in order to obtain the necessary fuel." The park was in rough shape. Many of the buildings were "tottering, " and there were camp-fire remnants scattered about the grounds. Manager-outfielder Percy Jacobus of the Mystics quickly took charge of restoring the park. He had the buildings newly painted, made "general improvements," and the new league opened right on time, April 3, when Jacobus' Mystics beat the Californias 9-1. (All quotes and data are from the San Francisco Examiner unless otherwise specified.)

California baseball in 1881 was young and rather uncouth. Games were only played on Sundays, and fans watched the games from outside the park as well as inside. The San Francisco Examiner reported after the game of April 24 that "there was quite a large number of spectators perched in the trees and on the housetops outside the ground during the early part of the game, but before the Mystics had half filled the available space in their error column, their freebooting spectators got disgusted and filed sadly home. As one unadulterated hoodlum remarked, it was altogether too tough for a 'fellar' to spoil a pair of pants climbing a tree only to see the crack player of a nine muff four balls out of five, and stop the fifth only because his legs happened to be in the way of its further progress."

That crack player was Ed Lamb, shortstop for the Mystics. Lamb led the league in at-bats (84), games (17), and runs scored (23), but apparently his effort on defense was lacking.  In their account of the April 24 game, the Examiner elaborated that "In point of ABSOLUTE IRREDEEMABLE BADNESS , E. Lamb, the phenomenal shortstop of the club, and who is also regarded as its best player, certainly earned a position away ahead of the front rank. " The Examiner was even more direct in their condemnation of him after the game of June 5: "Lamb, shortstop, was simply impotent, letting balls pass without even stooping to attempt to stop them."

 Yeah. The baseball was a little rough. Near the beginning of the season, teams were making about a dozen errors a game per team. The Californias made 20 errors in their opening day loss, and the Mystics made 22 in that infamous game of April 24.  Fielding improved somewhat over the course of the season, but it was never exactly pristine. It settled down to an average of maybe 6-8 errors per team per game, though on July 17 the Mystics and Californias did play a game where each team only made two errors. 

As one would expect, due to the proliferation of errors the scores were frequently high. The high water mark of scoring was reached June 26, when the Mystics beat the Californias 23-11 in a game marked by small attendance and the players' "general inattention to the details of the game." 

It wasn't all bad, but it was rather primitive. My favorite player in the league might be "Wallace," who was the captain and third baseman of the Californias in the early part of the season. Wallace was not his real name. According to the Examiner, April 25, Wallace was a "young gentleman who fears maternal chastisement for Sabbath-breaking so much that he plays under an assumed name." It is possible his mother detected his ruse and duly inflicted maternal chastisement upon him for, though he played well, his last game was May 22. 

One player who would go on to be great was William Incell, pitcher for the Mystics, who Carlos Bauer describes as the "first great California-bred pitcher." (1) In 1884 in the California League he had an 8-0 record and 107 strikeouts, but that was three years off. He was a good pitcher in 1881, but was not yet a star.  He may have been most notable for his nervousness. His 12-4 loss to the Oaklands on May 8 was due partly to his flusterment at the umpire's doubtful decisions. 

A quick note on the league's umpires: The league had no umpiring staff. For umpires, they typically used players selected more-or-less at random from the team rosters. They were predictably mediocre. 

Back to Incell. The Examiner did not beat around the bush after his 14-8 loss to the Californias on June 5. It said: "Incell has a bad habit of getting nervous, and he allows the, perhaps, too-frequent comments of the small boys among the spectators to irritate him." Apparently acid-tongued small boys were a problem at the time, and no high-strung young pitcher was safe from their heckling. 

One player who was great in 1881 was Pete Meegan, the other pitcher for the Mystics. He pitched them to their opening-day 9-1 drubbing of the Californias, allowing but three hits. For the next three months he didn't pitch a single time, playing left field and second base while Incell pitched every game. Finally getting the chance to pitch again on July 10 against the Oaklands, he won 9-1 again. In two games he had pitched two one-run games; not a single other one-run game had been pitched by anyone else in the league at that point. But the Examiner was not impressed, and commented after the game that "The change of pitchers from Incell to Meegan is not very much of a gain, if at all." 

Meegan pitched most of the rest of the season, hurling with success, and on August 29 the Examiner did admit he was "developing good method in his works, his specialty being curves and deceptive soft snaps." In the last game of the season, October 9, he set the league's K record against the Oaklands, striking out 13 of the hapless Oakland batters in a 4-3 win. For the season, Meegan had a 6-1 record, and Incell had a 6-4 record. As mentioned before, Meegan would go on to pitch in the major leagues for two seasons. 

A California all-time great made his pro debut on July 3, playing center field and getting four hits for the Californias. His name was Rube Levy, and though he was less successful for the rest of the season, he would play in California pro ball until 1900. An early Jewish star, he was one of the most popular players in California and received many contract offers from the east. He refused them all, saying that "he knew California needed him, and... he would never desert the state." (2) 

The Mystics and Oaklands had a tight pennant race, the Oaklands finishing with a record of 11-5 and the Mystics finishing at 11-7. The Californias ended in distant third with a dismal standing of 4-14. 

California baseball in 1881 was messy, and even inept, but it was exciting, it was lovable, and it was baseball. 

  (1) Baseball in Early California Part 2

 (2) From the San Francisco Chronicle, as quoted by the Baseball History Daily's profile of Levy:
        https://baseballhistorydaily.com/2013/06/12/all-men-were-his-friends/

114 pound pitcher relieves deaf and dumb southpaw

 Just a short little note today. The 1911 Topeka Jayhawks, of the Class-A Western League, had a pitcher named Hickman who weighed just 114 pounds, which may be the non-Japanese record. 

St. Joseph Gazette, Missouri. 1911-8-18, p.7. 

He had a 2-5 record in 10 games. 

The Jayhawks also had a deaf and dumb pitcher named Reynolds, who was relieved by Hickman in this particular game. 

Reynolds isn't listed on Baseball Reference, unfortunately. 

Iron Men #1: Clifford Randolph

 One of the best things to come across when you're researching is when a pitcher won both games of a doubleheader. Starting both games of a doubleheader is rare enough (and hasn't happened since 1973), but winning both is amazing. Throwing a no-hitter for one of them is even more amazing.

Clifford Randolph was a so-so minor league pitcher around 1910. He pitched in the New York State League and New England League from 1909 to 1911, and then pitched in semi-pro ball in 1912 and 1913. He returned to organized baseball with the Perth Amboy Pacers of the D-level Atlantic League, and went 12-9. But the Atlantic League went out of business before the 1915 season, and so the Perth Amboy Pacers played as a semi-pro team. 

On September 6th, 1915, Clifford beat both the Franklin and St. Anthony teams in a doubleheader. In the first game, he beat the Franklin team in a 1-0 pitcher's duel, allowing the grand total of zero hits and striking out 11 batters. The opposing pitcher, "Chunk" Applegate struck out 13, and the only run was scored on a play similar to the famous play where Johnny Pesky held the ball too long in the 1946 World Series*. Mickey Loeser, left fielder for the Pacers, drew a walk in the seventh inning and went to second on a ground out. Then right fielder Eddie Regan hit a single into right. Franklin right fielder Foster made a quick return to first baseman "Eats" Coley, who hesitated long enough for Loeser to slide across home with the winning run.

* Actually, Pesky most likely did not hold the ball for long, and it's just a myth. 

In the second game, the first batter he faced, first baseman "Butch" Worth, lined a single off him. Another single and an error by Randolph himself led to two runs in the first inning, but he recovered to win 4-3. 

I'm hoping to make this into a series. I know Rube Parnham did this occasionally, so I'll do a post on him next.

Harry Ruby: Screenwriter, composer, and baseball player

 I was surfing Baseball Reference when I stumbled upon an odd player. One Harry Ruby had played one game for the Hollywood Stars in 1932, one for Hollywood in 1935, and one for the Los Angeles Angels in 1940. He was 37 in 1932, and 45 by the end of his career. This called for an explanation, so I googled him. He turned out to be a Hollywood composer and screenwriter who had dreamed of being a pro ball player, but when his dreams failed him went to Hollywood. This worked out pretty well for him, but he still felt the lure of the diamond. He wasn't much of a player, but his passion was to work out with big league teams. He would travel all over the U.S working out with teams, and for years he would join the Pirates in their spring training camp in San Bernardino. 

Ruby in 1945

In 1941 he pinch ran in an exhibition game between the Coast League All-Stars and the Major League All-Stars, which was won by the Coast Leaguers 6-4. In 1947 he was also practicing with Pacific Coast League teams every Sunday. He appeared in the annual game between the Comedians and Leading Men for the benefit of the Mount Sinai Hospital from at least 1935 to 1938. In 1947 he was practicing with Pacific Coast League teams every Sunday, but he retired after that season. He was 52.

In 1950 a movie was made, "Three Little Words", about him and his song-writing partner Bert Kalmar. Though he didn't play himself, he appeared in a couple of baseball scenes, and was, in the words of the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, "probably the only man who has ever played somebody else in his own film biography."

So that's the story of Harry Ruby, screenwriter and baseball fanatic. There's probably more I could find, but I've spent enough time researching a screenwriter. 

Here's a funny story involving Ruby: In the days when future Angels' batting coach Jimmie Reese was playing in the Pacific Coast League, he participated in a celebrity game. Harry (Rubenstein) Ruby was the opposing pitcher. Ike Danning, major league catcher and brother of Harry Danning of the New York Giants, was catching and instead of bothering with signals he called out the pitches in Yiddish, figuring no one would understand. Reese went four-for-four that day, and after the game Ruby told Reese that he didn't know he was such a good hitter. "You also didn't know," Reese replied, "that my name was Hymie Soloman."