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The SABR(UK)

ExaminerTHE JOURNAL OF THE BOBBY THOMSON CHAPTER OF THE SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN BASEBALL RESEARCH (UK)

October 1996

Number 7a

1996 SABR AGM IssueSABR(UK)’s 1996 Annual

General Meeting, held on May18, was attended by baseballfans and friends from all overthe known baseball world. Itwas another unqualified suc-cess.

What a different a yearmakes! Last year’sAGM was held dur-ing the 50th anni-versary of V-E day,and the weatherwas oppressivelyhot. This year thesun was not to beseen, and a graydrizzle hung overLondon. But not atthe Kings ofClerkenwell pub,where the subjectof baseball kept theclouds away.

A goodlycrowd was there.The North was, asusual, well-represented. JanBagin was in from Prague asthe ambassador for Czech base-ball. Laurens De Jong, late ofthe Netherlands, flew in fromhis current job in upstate NewYork. Clive Russell representedMajor League Baseball, the firsttime we have been so hon-oured. He also brought hiswife and newborn daughter,whose record asYoungest At-

tendee will probably hold foryears.

The meeting started.Chairman Mike Ross bade allwelcome. He noted anothersuccessful year of existence,and thanked the SABR mem-bers for their recent contribu-

tions to the Chapter. ThenAndy Parkes gave his treasuryreport, with the good news thatall your contributions have keptus from penury.

Then the SABR(UK) Ex-aminer editor, MartinHoerchner, talked about thejournal, and then released is-sue No. 7 to the meeting. Thiswas essentially this issue with-

out the meeting report. MartinDodd took the photo and MikeRoss made me put it on thecover.

Afterward Barry Winetrobetalked about the need for indi-vidual members to keep in

touch, and to thatend, announcedthe launch of a pub-lication that hewants to make asuccess. He calls it“Number 23”, andhe envisions it asan instrument forcommunication be-tween members.The idea is, in in-ternational terms,for Number 23 toact like the “SABRNewsletter” (whilethe Examinerwould be more like“The National Pas-time” or “BaseballResearch Journal”)

and hopefully coming out asoften. He stressed that theSABR family and friends willbe the ones to make this news-letter suceed. To give Number23 a start, the first issue isenclosed with this Examiner,and it goes out with best luckwishes from the Chapter.

continued on Page 6

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VIEW FROM THE CHAIR by Mike Ross

Chairman: Mike Ross, 2(B) Maida Avenue, Little Venice, London W2 1TF (Tel: 0171 723 9848; Fax: 0171 266 3166)

Treasurer: Andy Parkes, 84 Hillingdon Road, Stretford, Manchester M32 8PJ (Tel and Fax: 0161 865 2952) Procedural

Advisor: Hugh Robinson, 567 Kings Road, Stretford, Manchester M32 8JQ (Tel: 0161 286 7012) Chairman of BritishBaseball Historical Committee: Patrick Carroll, 10 Court Barton, Crewkerne, Somerset TA18 7HP (Tel: 01460 74183)

Publications Editor: Martin Hoerchner, 3 Sheridan Crescent, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 5RZ (Tel: 0181 467 2828; E-Mail:

Martin@mhoerch.demon.co.uk) Membership Co-ordinator: Barry Winetrobe, 53 Woodside Road, New Malden, Surrey

KT3 3AW (Tel: 0181 949 1035) European Co-ordinator: Laurens De Jong, Carnisseweg 61, 2993 Ad Barendrecht,

Netherlands

OFFICERS AND GENTLEMEN

In reverse order as to

the way events often tran-

spire, let me recount the for-

tuitous events of recent his-

tory. In 1982, I became the

first-ever member of SABR

in England. Ten years later,

like going home, I was elected

as the ‘founding’ chairman

of the first European SABR

Chapter of ‘Big’ SABR, based

in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. As

a baseball-starved alien

American, an ocean away

from the source, it is fair to

assume that - in Lou Gehrig’s

words - I was “the luckiestman alive”. Or maybe like aMoses being fished out ofthe Nile, now that I thinkabout how it all transpired...What a strange trip it hasbeen.

While taking a pre-gamedrink in a bar opposite BuschStadium in St. Louis, prior tocrossing the street for Game Oneof the 1982 World Series. I got totalking to some fans at the adjoin-ing table. Soon, one of them ap-proached me and asked me if Iwished to join SABR. He told meabout it, and, in a word, forkedover three ‘ones’ in change, andfor $22 I became SABR MemberNumber 1250, that is as CliffKachline opined the day he in-ducted me - and we shook on it,too. Cliff, a former staff member ofthe Sporting News and Hall ofFame officer, was a founder ofSABR, one of 12 recently hon-

oured as such for their 25th Anni-versary celebrations. Now that’sas close to blue blood as I get: Ishook the hand of the man whoshook the hand of the creator.And since then the blessings ofbaseball have since been heapedupon me. Over the years I’vestayed in touch with Kachline. Hehas assisted in some of my re-search needs and we’ve met atsubsequent World Series’. Cliff isblue blood in the truest sense ofthe SABR ethos. I probably wouldnot be writing this item forSABR(UK) were it not for the pio-neering spirit of a founding father.

So I would like to add hisname to the list of foreign angelswho have made their presence feltin the formation and growth ofSABR(UK); this list includes Nor-man Macht, Bobby Thomson, histeammate on the great Giants teamof 1951, Monte Irvin; and CliffKachline in recognition of his car-ing efforts for baseball.

As for SABR(UK)’s progress, Ifell we’ve made it. We’re over thehump. We now have a nucleus of50-60 associates in Britain, aswell as a handful of faithfuls inEurope. We came together withease. Several of us have had re-search items published in SABRannuals. It is, after all this, stillvery important to keep in touch,one with another. Guys shouldtry to get together as often aswhims suggest, by telephoning,exchanges, letters, e-mail. Thereis nothing to stop four of you get-ting together which would offi-cially construe an official regionalmeeting. I realize this is often

difficult, being spread out over anestimated 250,000 square miles(and that’s not counting the wa-ter.) It is always good to hear fromyou when I do hear from you.

Don’t forget our search forthe Spalding Trophy (our elusiveHoly Grail). The John Moore Tro-phy is also missing. We are stillon a sticky wicket with our reti-cent friend in Middlesborough,who has what he claims is a re-gional Spalding Trophy but willnot let anyone of us see it.

Finally, to reiterate what Ispoke of at our AGM in May: Thisis a British Chapter, and its‘Britishness’ is what matters most.The way the game of baseball isperceived amongst them deter-mines whether the game can flour-ish here. So how can we help?One wonders why Britain lags be-hind the rests of Europe in itsbaseball interest. The currentgame of baseball started in Brit-ain as a childrens’ game. But itstayed that way. Innovation wasstifled - that is, the innovationthat could transform baseball intoan organized sport for adults. Nowwe can finally conceive of rootsreturning to roots. The full circlewould be returning this children’sgame back to its homeland as afully-fledged professional sport.

We had another super AGMmeeting about which you’ll readhere-in. We are aiming for a gath-ering in Manchester, hopefully af-ter the World Series. Hope to seeyou there, and remember, thinkbaseball!

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THIS SABR'D ISLE by Martin Hoerchner

I write this on the lastweekend for Major LeagueBaseball in 1996, and it’s look-ing positively autumnal out-doors. As we put anotherbaseball season into the his-tory books, the trees are rap-idly shedding their greenery,and the world is carpeted withdead leaves. Baseball is over,and so is summer. Baseball is

again the perfect sport, because itbegins during the height of spring,when Nature begins its symphony ofcolor, of hope, of rebirth. And the flipside, of course, is that baseball fin-ishes it season just as the leaves areturning brown, as hope is extinguishedfor all but one, and a long winter setsin, like the perfect setup man, waitingfor the Easter resurrection. Wait ‘tillnext year.

Baseball on TV in Britain is asusual a mixed bag. The addition ofanother Sky Sports channel (no. 3)has meant that there is more time forbaseball, and we’re not getting onlythe 3 a.m. slots anymore. A plus. Theediting is done well, so the fact we’renot getting a full game isn’t too both-ersome. Another plus. Also I’ve beentold that the lag time between thegame and its first U.K. showing hasdecreased - it used to be a week. Stillanother plus. But the ultimate pluswould be see the games live. Sky isgoing to show a lot of the playoffs andall of the World Series live - and howthat keeps us alive! At the beginningof the year I read that NBCSuperchannel was playing live base-ball again early on Saturday morn-ings - what a delicious treat, likeprofitaroles. So I forsake sleep, ea-gerly stay up, and get the CNBC Busi-ness News all night. Zzzzzzz! I phoneup NBC, and they say they’re movingall their programming to Eutelsat - awise move, because then they don’thave to worry about anyone watchingthem. It’s also available on cable. Butnot on Astra, the single most popularextraterrestrial programming sourcein Europe. So I’ve got to check intohow to hook up Eutelsat, along withits wide variety of Turkish and Roma-nian programming. The people at thesatellite advice center said I couldeither buy a motorized dish or a get adish with two thingeys sticking out ofit, one for each satellite.

This June was what in Americawe would call “Baseball’s

Sesquicentennial” - it’s 150th Anni-versary. More specifically, it was theanniversary of the first contest playedbetween two teams under the firstcodified rules of Baseball. It wasplayed at Elysian Fields, Hoboken,New Jersey, and the event was com-memorated with a parade includingour baseball patron, Bobby Thomson.The 1846 game was between theKnickerbockers - baseball’s first realteam, and the New York Nine, onJune 19, 1846. The rules were veryclose to what we follow today, exceptfor the pitching distance, and the factthat the first team to score 21 runswould win, with equal innings. Alex-ander Cartwright, the closest thingbaseball has to an Abner Doubleday,was the umpire. The New York Ninewon a decisive victory, with two extraruns in their pocket, 23-1. The Knick-erbockers had been playing only in-tramural games before, and with thissetback, they only played among them-selves until about 1850. But theycouldn’t keep it to themselves. Themost fascinating thing I comprehendby reading about the early days of thegame is its incredible spread. I thinkit was 1858 when it was first de-scribed as “our national game”. That’sthe year after the first baseball con-vention, and the founding of the Na-tional Association of Base Ball Play-ers. And it only went uphill fromthere. Two years later Jim Creighton,the man who invented pitching, be-came baseball’s first professional.

Have you ever had baseballdreams? I have. I remember seeingan article about the Giants and Dodg-ers in the teens, the dead-ball era.There were pictures of John McGrawand Wilbert Robinson, the two ex-old-Orioles who split New York NationalLeague baseball between them. I wasfascinated. At that time Polo Groundswas the palace of baseball, with by farthe largest capacity. That night I hada dream of a huge ballpark, filled withpeople, with huge soaring arches con-necting both sides of the bleachers,with Muggsy and Uncle Robbie bat-tling it out on the field. I had anotherdream once; I don’t remember whatbrought it on. I was at Wrigley Field inthe 30’s. I knew I was a time traveller,and it was a cherished moment. Idon’t remember the game, but themilling crowd, the ballpark experi-ence, the individuals from the depres-sion era - I can vividly recall. Onemore - I can remember dreaming aboutthe Polo Grounds being discovered inGolden Gate Park, in San Francisco.

This is weird - it’s like no one knew itwas there before, and someone juststumbled upon it. I remember view-ing it with awe, its bathtub-shapedhull, its green interior. Then a fewdays later I was at a ball game there -I was in a corner of the ballpark,watching the crowd as much as thegame. Only Freud could explain this- and he’s dead. But so is PoloGrounds.

I may be nuts. But I’m notclinically insane. It’s easy to waxlyrical about the ballpark experience.There’s something wonderful about aballpark, something that the narrowview of television just can’t capture.Maybe because it’s full of the rituals ofhumanity, of challenge and teamwork,win and loss. Maybe because it’s abridge for generations, really like noth-ing else. So is it a metaphor for life?That might be going a bit too far,unless you’ve always got eight guyson your side. On a good day I’m luckyto have one.

All ballparks, however, are nothome to baseball. Elsewhere in thisissue, I write about a Henry Chadwickarticle I discovered in a wonderfulUniversity of Nebraska Press bookentitled Early Innings. Another articledealt with Albert Spalding’s Round-the-World Baseball Tour, with hisChicago White Stockings playing anAll-Star team picked from the rest ofU.S. baseball. On March 12, 1889they played at the Oval in Kennington,a cricket ground that still exists. Thebook reprints a Times article thatmentions Spalding’s previous 1874Baseball mission - they remembered!- and then mentions the illustriouscompany that viewed the game, listed,of course, in strict order according toclass: first two Princes, then a Vis-count, two Lords, a Sir, Dr. W.G.Grace, then a few nondescript Mr’s.It’s important to get these things cor-rect. This cast my mind back to thetime I’d seen baseball played at theOval - no, it wasn’t in 1888. It wasn’teven in 1924. Don’t be cheeky! Infact, it was in 1993, when two AAAteams masquerading as the New YorkMets and the Boston Red Sox playedthere. It was a sunny day in October- in fact, it was the last day of the U.S.baseball regular season. The lastgames hadn’t been played yet, so, asyou recall, the Giants and the Braveswere tied with 103 wins. I saw some-one with a Braves hat and I beratedhim, and he said “Yeah, and they’regoing to win today” and I said “Yeah,

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Chadwick Explains Baseball’s Rootsby Martin Hoerchner

I wish I could tell you that Idiscovered this article in the dustybasement of some obscure library,after pouring for hours over wizenedtomes. It sounds good, but I cannottell a lie. I found this article in a recentcompilation of baseball articles that Ipurchased at Sportspages. It is enti-tled Early Innings, and it is publishedby the University of Nebraska Press.It includes first-hand source materialfrom baseball’s early days, from 1825-1908. The article that really caughtmy eye was entitled “The Ancient His-tory of Base Ball”, written by HenryChadwick in 1867. For those of younot acquainted with Henry Chadwick,he is the closest person we have to theFather of Baseball Writing, the Fa-ther of Baseball History, and the Fa-ther of Baseball Scoring. He was bornin England, emigrated to America,and started out as a cricket devoté.But he very soon embraced the newAmerican sport of baseball, and be-came its biggest supporter in the pressduring the second half of the nine-teenth century. Being British, he wasaware of the true origins of the sport,and tried to refute the Al Spalding-inspired jingoistic “Abner Doubleday”myth. To no avail, at least at the time.The young country was just assertingitself, and it didn’t want to acknowl-edge any foreign influence. Well,we’re older and wiser now, and wefinally can acknowledge it. The rootsof baseball are old, probably olderthan any other sport played today,and we can’t pretend it started inCooperstown.

What really impressed me aboutthis article was that Chadwick con-firms a lot of the findings that theBritish Baseball History Committeehas made in the last few years. Notonly the research, but even some ofthe hypotheses. Seeing that, I willquote extensively from Chadwick.Frankly, I would take him as the finalauthority on baseball’s roots. He wasclose enough to the formal game’sbirth chronologically, and was alsofamiliar with the game’s roots, geo-graphically. He often wrote of the“ancient game of base ball”, and inthis article, he explains just how an-cient it is.

In the old days of the gallant Edward

the Third, in the first half of the

fourteenth century, there came into

fashion, among the youths and chil-

dren of England, a game called

barres, or bars, which consisted in

running from one bar or barrier to

another. It grew to be so popular

that it at last became a nuisance, so

that the barons of England, as they

went to the Parliament House, were

annoyed by the bands of children

engaged in playing it. They were at

last obliged to pass an act of Parlia-

ment which declared, in the quaint

Norman French of the period, that

“nul enfaunt ne autres ne jue a

barres” in the avenues which led to

Westminster Palace.

This medieval history was cov-ered by us in Examiner No. 5, in MikeRoss’s article “1847 Sporting Life Ar-ticles Shed Light” and subsequentlyenlarged upon by Barry Winetrobe inhis article in No. 6, “Starting fromHome”. Chadwick continues:

The name of this game was subse-

quently corrupted to “base;” and

two hundred years after Edward’s

day, Spenser, in his “Faerie Queen,”

alluded to it as follows:

“So ran they all as they had been at

bace,

They being chased that did others

chace.”

Now this was new to me, but thenext reference I was familiar with,thanks to Ross’s article in No. 5:

And Shakespeare, in his

“Cymbeline,” shows that he was

familiar with its character, for he

makes one of his characters say:

“He with two stripling lads more

like to run

The country base, than to omit such

slaughter.”

Even now men frequently indulge

in this pastime, and so late as 1770

there was a celebrated game of

“bars” or “base” played in London,

in the field behind Montague House,

which has since been transformed

into the British Museum. It was

played between a select party of

persons from Derbyshire and an-

other from Cheshire, and was wit-

nessed by all London. Derbyshire

won, and a great quantity of money

changed hands on the occasion. In

the process of time, from a peculiar-

ity in the method of playing it, and

to distinguish it from other games

which had sprung out of it, it was

called “prisoner’s base”, and as

such still affords amusement to the

children of England and America.

This game was mentioned inWinetrobe’s article in No. 6, where hequoted Joseph Strutt’s book “TheSports and Pastimes of the People ofEngland”. The games mentioned wereprimarily running games, without aball. As for baseball as “prisoner’sbase”, Mike Ross has a theory - as yetunsupported - that an early name forbase ball, goal ball, is a corruption ofgaol ball. He also had a theory thatthe game of base ball came aboutwhen the game of base met the gameof ball. Chadwick continues:

The skill in this game consisted

simply in running with agility and

swiftness, in such a way as not to

be caught by the opposing party,

from one “bar” or “base” to another.

After a while somebody thought of

uniting with it the game of ball, and

thus formed the game of rounders,

“round ball,” or “base ball.” “Round-

ers” took its name from the fact that

the players were obliged to run

round a sort of circle of bases. [Hethen goes on to a detailed explana-tion of the rules of rounders].

This game of rounders first began

to be played in England in the sev-

enteenth century, and was the

favorite ball game in the provinces

until it was generally superseded

by cricket at the close of the last

century. It is still, however, occa-

sionally practiced in remote locali-

ties. It was brought to our country

by the early emigrants, and was

called here “base ball” or “round

ball.” Sometimes the name of “town

ball” was given to it, because

matches were often played by par-

ties representing different towns.

But, so far as we know, the old

English title of “rounders” was never

used in America. The reason of this

is that so many of our old New

England settlers came from the east-

ern counties of England, where the

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SABR’D ISLE, CON’T

Chadwick, con’tterm “rounders” appears never to

have been used. In Moor’s “Suffolk

Words” he mentions among the ball

games “base ball;’ while in the dia-

lect glossaries of the northern and

western counties no such word is to

be found. English “base ball” or

“rounders,” was a mild and simple

amusement compared with the

American sport which has grown

out of it. Even the hardy girls and

women of England sometimes

played it. Blaine, an English writer,

says, “There are few of us, of either

sex, but have engaged in base ball

since our majority.” Think of Ameri-

can ladies playing base ball! Yet

the English “rounders” contained

all the elements of our National

game. All that it needed was sys-

tematizing and an authoritative

code of rules. This it did not obtain

until after 1840-and not completely

until 1845. Previous to that date

base ball was played with great

differences in various parts of the

country. Sometimes as many as six

or seven bases were used; and

very frequently lengthy disputes

arose among the players as to the

right method of conducting the

game. It is a little noticeable that in

laying down rules for base ball there

is not one technical term that has

been borrowed from cricket - a game

long since reduced to a science. Of

course the two sports, being both

games of ball, necessarily have

many terms in common, but there is

not a base ball phrase which can be

recognized as originating among

cricketers. On the other hand, it is

quite probable that cricket owed

many of its peculiar words, such as

“field,” “fieldsman,” “run,” and

“bat,” to the older “rounders.” In

relation to the word “base,” we may

say that, in addition to the origin

which we have given-namely, that

it comes from a corruption of “bars”

in the game styled “prison bars,” or

“prisoner’s bar” - there is another

somewhat plausible derivation. It

has been suggested that as the

object of each side in the game of

“bars” was to keep the other party

at bay, the places where they were

so kept, that is the “bases,” were

styled “bays,” of which “base” is a

corruption.

The idea of baseball being as atleast as old as rounders and bothdeveloping side-by-side was covered,with great wit, by Patrick Carroll, inhis article in No. 5 entitled “TheChicken or the Egg”.

Thus in his article, Henry

Chadwick sheds more light on the origins of baseball, while letting the BritishBaseball History Committee know that they are on the right track. But the jobis by no means finished, and his last line sounds like a clarion call for moreresearch:

But this whole subject needs elucidation, and a careful study of the rural

sports of the mother country would undoubtedly throw much light upon the

history of base ball.

continued on Page 5

no chance”. All in good fun, of course.I think it was my last day of happinessever. The event was sponsored byFrench’s mustard, ostensibly to pro-mote the winning combination of hotdogs and non-toxic mustard. But thisaim was spoiled by the fact that theydidn’t have real hot dogs - it’s almostimpossible to get them in this coun-try. I was feeling my taste budssalivating at the smell of open firecooking, and then I overheard anAmerican tell a friend disappointedly,“They’re sausages!” Here they put“American hot dogs” in tin cans packedin brine, and they can’t tell the differ-ence.

But as for the Grounds, I wasfascinated - I don’t know when it wasbuilt (obviously before 1888), but ithad a multitude of character. No U.S.ballpark even approaches it in age.The Giants have played in six differ-ent parks since then. I got the feeling

that it had been built in stages, asection here and a section there, overthe years. It never gave the impres-sion of being very big or seating manypeople. It reminded me of the picturesI’d seen of the original Polo Grounds,not the Harlem ballpark, but the oneat Columbus Circle that was torndown after the 1888 season, the yearthat baseball visited the Oval. Beinglate arrivals, we sat in the outfield.The game was enjoyable, and theculture clash of American cognicentiand the British curious was amusingat times. We were regaled by a franticgreen parrot mascot - was this thePirate mascot? Once, toward the endof the game, I felt the pangs of hungerand went off in search of a sausagedog. While I was queuing up in frontof a huge French’s mustard bottlereplica, a home run was hit over thefence right where I had been sitting.Oh well. You can’t always be at theright place at the right time.

EDITOR’S NOTE,or , “A Difficult Birth”

First of all, I must apologisefor the lateness of this issue of theExaminer. I was already behindschedule when my computer brokedown, and stayed broken for twomonths! If you want to under-stand your dependence on tech-nology, have this happen. Any-way, it’s finally been restored to(still only partial) health, at leastenough for me to finish the paper.To make up for the delay, we’remaking this issue a special issueand include a photographic spreadon the meeting. Some day we’ll trycolour printing.

In this issue we also includethe maiden issue of BarryWinetrobe’s newsletter, “Number23”, which he hopes will be avehicle of communication betweenSABR members, especially be-tween meetings and issues of theExaminer. Shall we wish himluck? Barry also stresses thatNumber 23 can only succeed if weall get involved.

Once last thing: the Execu-tive Editor made me put that pic-ture on the cover. Anyway, I hopeyou enjoy this issue, and I hopeyour team had a better year thanmine.

6

Then Clive Russell spoke.He is the representative of Ma-jor League Baseball in the U.K.He spoke about the state ofbaseball in the United King-dom, including a report on TVcoverage we’re likely to seesoon, on Sky Sports and theNBC Superchannel. He alsotalked about opening a base-ball field in Brighton the previ-ous weekend. He then informedus of the success of a schoolsprogram sponsored by MLB,going into a school for eightweeks and teaching childrenthe game and it’s basic skills -batting, catching, throwing,running. Then he mentionedthe upcoming baseball Festi-val of Baseball (otherwiseknown as the FanFest), andtalked about baseball resourcesavailable on the Internet. Hisenthusiasm was infectious.

Then the Chairman of theBritish and European Base-ball History Committee, PatrickCarroll, spoke. He talked abouthis involvement with the Brit-ish Baseball Federation, andtheir efforts to produce a BBFHall of Fame. He stressed theneed for communication be-tween members. Then Patrickread a report of Committee ac-

tivities, achievements, andgoals - both collective and indi-vidual. He then gave the Com-mittee credit for producing aRegistry of all U.S. MajorLeague baseball players whowere born in Europe, whilenoting on the side that he haddone all the work.

Then Jan Bagin, who hadtravelled in from Prague, spoke.

He has been involved with base-ball for 25 years, and is veryactive in Czech baseball. Hetalked about how baseball gotstarted in Czechoslovakia inthe early 60’s, and has grownto have 5000 players in 60clubs, and that’s not countingschool programs. Jan toldabout the European BaseballChampionships due to takeplace in Hull the second weekin August, and invited all to

come. He would bethere with his Czechteam. Jan said hewas the first full-time employee ofCzech baseball.Then he told of a newbaseball complexwith four diamonds,

Top: Most of the groupposed outside the Kings

of Clerkenwell pub.Bottom: Most of thegroup unposed inside

the pub.

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currently being built in Prague. He told of the popularityof the Czech Baseball League, and how an actionphotograph from one of their games won Sports Pictureof the Year last year. And to top it off, he passed outthese wonderful Czech baseball pins and stickers. Verystylish.

Then John Gausted, the owner of SportsPages, heldthe floor. SportsPages has always been a haunt ofanyone in London who likes to read about baseball, andis a long-time VIP (very important place) for SABRmembers in or near London. To show his appreciationfor our business (if not reverence), he donated £100 tothe Chapter, a contribution which was certainly appre-ciated and probably will hold the record for HighestIndividual Donation for years to come.

Top left: MikeRoss auctions

priceless tomes.Top right: HughRobinson greetsClive Russell.Centre right:Clive Russellspeaks to the

group. Bottom:Members of thewinning triviateam celebrate

after the victory.

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Top right: Patrick Carroll, TimMcNicholl, and Harvey Sahker

discuss baseball past andpresent.

Centre left: Laurens DeJong again wins the

“Most Traveled”award, having come

from upstate New Yorkfor this meeting.

Centre right: AndyParkes mulls over theTreasurer’s Report.

Bottom left: Jan Baginshows the plans for theCzech Baseball Centrein Prague, while BarryWinetrobe takes notes.

Bottom right: TonyDarkin and Jan Bagin

talk over Czechstatistics.

Then Robert Bruce, our residential cricketexpert and quintessential Scot, spoke. He hadbeen put on the spot to support or refute thestatement that cricket is to baseball as chess isto draughts (checkers in the U.S.). He comparedboth sports, and said that baseball has moresymmetry while cricket has more complexity.He also talked about trends in cricket edging itmore towards baseball, e.g. more one-day testmatches instead of five-day matches, and thechanges that brings in the way the game isplayed. In the end, he refused to make a finaljudgement.

Then a general discussion about the com-parisons between baseball and cricket brokeout, including an analysis of the different skillsinvolved, e.g. the importance of throwing overcatching in each sport. It was generally felt that cricket was

being pushed into one-daymatches because of com-mercial reasons, bringingabout a change in the focusof the game.

Appetites whetted bysuch intellectual discus-sions, we broke for lunch.It was Mrs. Eichler’s legen-dary lasagne and chilidishes, which makes mehungry just to think of it.

After business, speak-ers, and food, we usually

9

Top right: Patrick Carroll inaction. Centre left: John Gausted

opens his heart and wallet toSABR. Bottom right: The faces of

some of the names on themasthead. Back row: PatrickCarroll, John Eichler, Hugh

Robinson, Mike Ross. Front row:Andy Parkes, Martin Hoerchner,Barry Winetrobe. Photo credits:

Cover photo: Martin Dodd. OtherAGM photos: Martin Hoerchner

have a spot reserved for watching vid-eos, especially those from the Statesthat most members don’t get to see.Unfortunately, we had a slight me-chanical hitch - the Guvnor’s flash newSony TV had a misunderstanding withmy multi-standard VCR. We couldn’tplay U.S. standard tapes without get-ting psychedelic visual effects, so KenBurns had to cool his heels in the box.But we did get to see a short video aboutMartin Sawyer, a British pitcher whothinks he’s got major-league stuff.

Afterward Mike Ross held his auc-tion. Bidding was hot and wild, as old

and valuable baseball books were bid for. I personallyended up with an old hardback edition of Ring Lardner,complete with dust cover. Proceeds went to SABR(UK).

Finally, Tony Darkin held the Trivia Contest. 27questions representing 27 outs, three to an inning.Martin Hoerchner’s team avenged their controversialloss last year and won by a point. There was somemurmuring about the preponderence of Giants ques-tions in the contest, but I didn’t have anything to do withthat. Just don’t ask Tony about his new diamondstickpin.

- Martin Hoerchner

10

Annual History Report1996 Annual Report of The UK/

Europe History Committee

The Committee’s secondyear has seen encouragingprogress both in its overallpursuits, and in those of indi-vidual members. Although ouropportunities for meeting enmasse have been limited in thepast twelve months (a situa-tion to be rectified at our SABR(UK) AGM on the 18th Maynext which will be the occasionfor both Bobby Thomson Chap-ter and UK/Europe His-tory Commit-tee meetings)m e m b e r shave beencon t i nu ingtheir re-searches andkeeping intouch byphone andcorrespond-ence. In re-gard to ourCommittee’smain collec-tive aim, which is the produc-tion of a comprehensive his-tory of baseball in Britain andIreland, we are at a stage mak-ing it possible for us to producean outline/proposal for thebook, laying out its structureand contents, and giving pro-files of its contributors. Thisdocument is intended to servethe dual functions of editorialguide and prospectus for pos-sible publishers. A draft will beavailable for discussion at theAGM.

Committee members have alsobeen active on other fronts. We havefor the few past months been busywith the compilation of a register of allEuropean-born major league playersand managers from 1871 to thepresent. In making this register as

complete and accurate as possible wehave had welcome assistance fromBill Carle, Chair of the BiographicalCommittee, and Frederick Ivor-Campbell, Chair of the NineteenthCentury Committee. It is hoped thatthe register and an accompanyingpaper will in time be produced as apamphlet. The paper is scheduled tobe delivered as a presentation at bothour AGM, and at the Annual Conven-tion of the Association of Sports His-torians at Leicester in June. Copies ofboth paper and register will be lodgedwith the SABR Research Library. Inno particular order some current ac-tivities of Committee members in-clude: Daniel Bloyce - newly appointed

as lecturer in the sociology of sport atChester College of Higher Education -continuing his research into the de-velopment (or otherwise) of baseballin Britain in particular relation to theearly tours of American profession-als. Ian Smyth continues work on thepost-WWII period and the evolution ofthe British Baseball Federation - ofwhich he is Coaching Officer. Ian’saccount of the 1938 US vs England“Test Series” appeared in the lastissue of The Baseball Research Jour-nal. Bobby Thomson Chapter Chair-man Mike Ross had a piece in thesame number of the Journal. Mike,along with Martin Hoerchner, BarryWinetrobe and others, is also busy inthe ‘Black Hole’ or pre-1874 depart-ment. Gary Bedingfield - former GreatBritain catcher and a relative new-comer to SABR - has produced (andfound a publisher for) a study of base-ball as played in Britain by AmericanArmed Forces personnel. An excerptfrom this work appears on page eight.

Patrick Morley has unearthed fasci-nating material regarding baseball inDerby, particularly concerning SirFrancis Ley and the formation of theDerby Baseball Club in 1890.

Along with our research con-cerns the UK/Europe History Com-mittee has had to address certainadministrative and (especially) finan-cial questions during the past year.Our somewhat unusual postion inthe overall SABR context of being, inessence, simultaneously a regionalChapter and a research Committeehas created problems, particularly inrelation to the SABR (UK) Examiner.The Examiner, which acts as both

Chapter and Com-mittee newsletter,does not produceitself out of thin airat no cost. Up untilthe present pro-duction of the Ex-aminer has de-pended to a dispro-portionate and in-iquitous degree onthe patronage of itsEditor. This can-not continue and atthe AGM membersof both the BobbyThomson Chapterand our Committeewill be asked toconsider ways andmeans of spread-

ing the load.

In conclusion I would like towelcome the new members of ourCommittee who have joined in thepast year, including those in Americawho have not allowed the interveningocean to dampen their interest in ourobjects and activities, and to expressthe hope that the coming year will beeven more productive than the onejust past. We will continue to take asour watchword and starting inspira-tion the closing words of HenryChadwick’s 1867 article, The AncientHistory of Base Ball: “...But this wholesubject needs elucidation, and a care-ful study of the rural sports of themother country would undoubtedlythrow much light upon the history ofbase ball.”

- Patrick Carroll, Chairman,

UK/Europe History

Committee

11

THE TRANSATLANTIC POLITICAL ALL-STAR GAME

by Barry K Winetrobe

There are many joys inbrowsing through a Baseball En-cyclopedia. In addition to lookingat the records of your favouritesand of the all-time greats, thereare the perhaps greater pleasuresin coming across the fantasticnicknames (Chicken Wolf, OysterBurns, Doug ‘Eyechart’ Gwosdz)or real names (Urban Shocker andVida Blue are pretty hard to beat)of major leaguers of the past, orthe extremely abbreviated careersof some (other than MoonlightGraham of ‘Field of Dreams’ fame,I like Ted Tumer’s managerialrecord with the Braves, 0-1), andso on.

One obvious trivia game isto create teams composed of thosewith the same surnames of filmstars, authors, artists or what-ever. Working in Parliament, andhaving recently assisted in theproduction of a factbook on Brit-ish Prime Ministers, I started casu-ally to look up major leaguers withthe same surnames as the 50Prime Ministers. From there itwas a simple matter to create ateam, and then to match it with aparallel team of US Presidents.Yes, I know that teams of Presi-dents have probably been created(and published) many times inthe USA, but have they ever playeda team of British Prime Ministers?The following teams are based onthe 6th edition (1985) of the Ency-clopedia, updated where neces-sary by more recent books like theSporting News Baseball Register.Tearns are selected by a numberof rules, to which I don’t alwaysadhere, such as using a surnameonly once, and choosing wherepossible players for their interest(name, history etc) rather than -with one or two obvious excep-tions - their record. In other words,my picks are rarely the best choice(if there is such a thing as best inobjective terms) for each position(no DH!), but suggested alterna-tives are welcomed. After eachname a very brief note of the player

is given, sufficient (I hope) to iden-tify them, and a reference to therelevant Prime Minister or Presi-dent, with their term of office.

THE UK PRIME MINISTERS (‘The

Premiers’)

1B Mickey Heath (1930s Red;Edward Heath, Conservative,1970-74)

2B Mike Eden (1970s Brave/White Sox; Anthony Eden, Con-servative, 1955-57)

SS Bill Russell (1970s/80sDodger; Lord John Russell, Lib-eral, 1846-52, 65-66)

3B Buster Chatham (2 year Brave1930-31, Earl of Chatham (WilliamPitt the Elder), Whig, 1766-68)

OF Reddy Grey (2 games for Pi-rates in 1903; Earl Grey, Whig,1830-34)

OF Billy North (In A’s 1974 andLA 1978 World Series teams; LordNorth, Tory, 1770-82) OF Homer Peel (1920s/30s NLjourneyman; Robert Peel, Con-servative, 1834-35, 41-46)

C Gene Derby ( Baltimore 1885in AA; Earl of Derby, Conserva-tive, 1852,58-59,66-68)

RHP Icebox Chamberlain (157-120 in 1880s/90s; Neville Cham-berlain, Conservative, 1937- 40)

LHP Lady Baldwin (73-41 in1880s/90s; Stanley Baldwin, Con-servative, 1923-24, 24-29, 35-37)

MANAGER: Jimmie Wilson (493-735 for 1930s/40s Phillies/Cubs;Harold Wilson, Labour, 1964-70,74-76)

THE US PRESIDENTS (‘The

Chiefs’)

1B Jack Pierce (1970s Brave/Tiger; Franklin Pierce, Democrat,1853-57)

2B Tony Taylor (19 years 1958-76, mainly Phillies; ZacharyTaylor, Whig, 1849-50)

SS Joe Hoover (1940s Tiger;Herbert Hoover, Republican,1929-33)

3B Eddie Grant (10 years early20th century; Ulysses S Grant,Republican, 1869-77)

OF Joe Jackson (‘Shoeless Joe’,.356 lifetime BA; Andrew Jackson,Democrat -Republican, 1829-37)

OF Deacon Van Buren (13 gamesin NL 1904; Martin Van Buren,Democrat - Republican, 1837-41)

OF Hack Wilson (12 years NL,190 RBIs in 1930; WoodrowWilson, Democrat, 1913-21)

C Gary Carter (future Hall-of-Famer Expo/Met; Jimmy Carter,Democrat, 1977-81)

RHP Walter Johnson (‘The BigTrain’, 416 wins; Andrew Johnson,Democrat (nominated as VP onRepublican ticket), 1865-69)

LHP Whitey Ford (1950s/60sYankee; Gerald Ford, Republican,1974-77)

MANAGER Donie Bush (497-539in 1920s/30s; George Bush, Re-publican, 1989-93)

The game would be played, ofcourse at (Grover) Cleveland. TheChiefs should easily beat the Pre-miers, especially with Wilson,Carter and Jackson (with OtisNixon as pinch-hitter), and anunbeatable pitching duo (I re-sisted the temptation of choosingGrover Cleveland Alexander!). Iwould have played Hack Wilsonon the Premiers, if I didn’t need aWilson as manager. No closingpitchers, because I couldn’t find aspecialist closer for the Chiefs, sono place for Jeff Russell to bolsterthe Premiers’ pitching.

12

by Gary BedingfieldThe Tragic Story of Forrest Brewer,Minor League Pitcher and World WarII HeroSABR(UK) is proud to present an ex-

cerpt from a soon-to-be-published book,

Somewhere Over England, a study of

baseball in Britain as played by Ameri-

can personnel in World War II :

Forrest “Lefty’ Brewer was anaturally gifted athlete who shouldhave enjoyed a long and successfulcareer as a major league pitcher. In-stead, the United States’ entry intoWorld War II thrust him into militaryservice, robbed him of vital profes-sional seasons and, after pitching hisfinal game at a soccer ground in Eng-land shortly before D-Day, claimedhis life.

The story of Brewer, the pitcher,begins in Florida in the mid-1930s asthe United States clawed its way fromthe depth of the depression. He wasa standout pitcher with the Robert E.Lee High School team and later be-came somewhat of a local celebritywith the semi-pro Jacksonville Tars.

In the Spring of 1938, the confi-dent 19-year-old asked for a tryoutwith the St Augustine Saints of theFlorida State League. His deceptiveyet smooth delivery immediatelyearned him a contract and his rookieseason was little short of sensational.Leading the Class D circuit with 25wins and 234 strikeouts, Brewer com-pleted 28 of the 34 games he started,and his 1.88 earned run average wasthe league’s third best. His four shut-outs for the year included a June 6no-hitter against Orlando, and leaguesecretary Peter Schaal proclaimed himas “the greatest young prospect tocome out of the Florida State League.”

Impressed with the scouting re-ports on the youngster, WashingtonSenators’ owner Clark Griffith wasprompted to purchase Brewer’s con-tract, inviting him to the capital cityfor the final weeks of the season.

1939 was spent in the Senators’organization between Charlotte of thePiedmont League (Class B), Orlandoof the Florida State League (Class D),

and Shelby of the Tar Heel League(Class D). He won 12 games betweenthem and recorded 171 strike outs in231 innings. The following year,Brewer was again with the CharlotteHornets, finishing the season with an11-9 record, a 3.68 earned run aver-age, and a further September recall tothe Washington bench.

At the age of 22, and with 113minor league games under his belt,Brewer was due to report to the Sena-tors’ spring training camp in 1941,with a serious chance of making theteam. But military service beckonedand he left, instead, for CampBlanding, Florida, in March.

Following basic training, Brewervolunteered for paratrooper service.He was assigned to the 508th Para-chute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd“All American” Airborne Division, andin January 1944, in preparation forthe Allied invasion of Europe, wassent overseas.

The 508th spent a brief time inNorthern Ireland, at Castledawson,30 miles northwest of Belfast, beforemoving, in March, to Wollaton Park,Nottingham, England. It was to betheir home for three months, and thegregarious young paratroopers madea favourable impression with the lo-cal community, prompting the imme-diate organization of the NottinghamAnglo-American Committee.

It was this committee, led bychairman Frederick W. Gray, thatfirst suggested a baseball game, stagedby the Americans, for the entertain-ment of the Nottingham public. As aresult, and with the full support of82nd Airborne Division commanderMajor-General Matthew B. Ridgway,the 508th Red Devils faced the 505thPanthers at Notts County soccerground, Meadow Lane, on Sunday,May 28.

Fatigues and jump boots werethe uniform for the day, and an en-thusiastic crowd of 7,000 turned outin glorious weather to watch the event.The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress(Councillor and Mrs F. Mitchell) wereamong the spectators, the former

throwing out the first ball, and, as anaid to the British spectators moreaccustomed to soccer and cricket, anentertaining, wise-cracking commen-tary was supplied by Sergeant West ofCalifornia.

The Red Devils proved far toostrong for the Panthers and the re-sult, with Brewer pitching, was an 18-0 rout. The Nottingham Guardiandescribed how the teams “played withextraordinary vigour,” and noted therewas “spectacular hitting, some mag-nificent catches and many excitingincidents.”

Nine days later, as part of the D-Day invasion, men of the 508th wereamong 13,400 American paratroop-ers that ascended on the Cherbourgpeninsula in occupied France.

Reaching the French coast inplanes that were flying too fast, toolow, and often miles from their in-tended drop zones, the paratroopersplunged into the early morning dark-ness and almost instantly struck theground. Many suffered broken limbswhile others, weighed down by vastamounts of equipment, drowned inthe treacherous swamplands that cov-ered much of the area.

Nevertheless, many did engagethe enemy valiantly and Brewer wasamong 70 paratroopers that broughtabout the swift surrender of a Ger-man stronghold at La Fier Manoir.Later that morning the same group ofparatroopers were attacked by a farstronger enemy force and trapped in ahail of bullets and explosions frommachine guns, rifles, mortars andtanks. They could offer little resist-ance and ran for their lives towardsthe nearby Merderet River. As Brewerreached the water’s edge, a tank ma-chine gun opened fire and in an in-stant his lifeless body lay face down inthe water.

Private Forrest Vernon “Lefty”Brewer was 25 years old. It was fourmonths before his wife, Mary, receivedconfirmation that her husband hadbeen killed on June 6, ironically, thesixth anniversary of his Florida StateLeague no-hitter.

One Last Pitch Before I Die

BREWER, FORREST VERNON (LEFTY)Born, December 9, 1918, at Sequatchie, Tennessee.Home address in 1944, 3551 Rayford Street, Jacksonville, FloridaKilled in action, June 6, 1944.Batted left. Threw left. Height, 6.01-1/2. Weight, 165Year Club League G CG IP W L PCT H BB SO R ER ERA1938 St Augustine Florida State 41 28 297 25 11 .694 224 123 234 107 62 1.881939 Charlotte Piedmont 3 0 7 0 2 .000 5 8 3 13

Orlando Florida State 22 14 152 7 11 .389 145 103 107 106 65 3.85Shelby Tar Heel 19 7 72 5 4 .556 85 30 61 56 42 5.25

1940 Charlotte Piedmont 28 11 176 11 9 .550 54 104 95 96 72 3.68