Here’s a note from W. Rollo Wilson’s “Eastern Snapshots” column in the Pittsburgh Courier (October 11, 1924), writing on José Méndez, manager of the Kansas City Monarchs, just before the World Series vs. Hilldale:
I thought I’d check to see how Mike Donlin fared against Méndez in Cuba. Turns out he only faced him there once, during the Giants’ visit in 1911.
On November 30, 1911, in the second Almendares/Giants game, came the big matchup everyone was waiting for: Méndez vs. Christy Mathewson. Mathewson came out on top, 4 to 0. In the first inning, Donlin was safe on a fielder’s choice and scored when Beals Becker tripled. In the third Donlin grounded out to Méndez. In the sixth inning, Gene Paulette hit for Donlin, the only substitution made by the Giants in the game.
On December 10, Méndez lost an 11-inning game to Otis Crandall, 6 to 3. Donlin stayed in the whole game and hit 2 for 6 (both singles), but struck out three times.
On December 14, Méndez replaced Pedroso in the sixth inning with Almendares leading 5 to 3, the bases loaded (including Donlin on first), and nobody out. Méndez gave up a sac fly to Beals Becker, scoring Buck Herzog. Fletcher grounded to third baseman Rafael Almeida, who forced Donlin at second, then Gervasio González gunned down Fletcher trying to steal—and Méndez was out of the inning. He coasted through the last three innings, allowing a single hit (to Larry Doyle), and Almendares won comfortably, 7 to 4. Donlin only faced Méndez once, popping to the shortstop in the eighth. Altogether, Méndez faced the miminum twelve batters in the four innings he pitched. And, by the way, Christy Mathewson went the whole way on the other side, so Méndez did actually pitch four strong innings in a winning effort against Mathewson.
On December 18, Méndez lost to the Giants for the third time. He pitched eight innings, giving way to Pedroso in the ninth with the score 3 to 1, Giants. Unfortunately, I don’t have a play-by-play account of this game. The Giants scored one run in the ninth; the description of the scoring begins with Becker, who batted after Donlin, and it seems very likely Becker was the first batter in the inning. That would mean all of Donlin’s plate appearances were against Méndez—and he went 0 for 4.
Overall, Donlin hit 2 for 13 against José Méndez in the 1911 series (or possibly 2 for 12, if he came to bat once against Pedroso in the last game)—either .154 or .167, with no walks or extra base hits, and at least three strikeouts. Of course, Donlin probably faced Méndez in exhibition games in the United States, possibly a number of times (I haven’t checked). Maybe Méndez was referring to one of those games. But the fact remains that Donlin hit poorly against him in Cuba, and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in his first appearance.
UPDATE 8:28 p.m. I forgot to mention that overall Donlin hit .333/.367/.422 (series averages .224/.283/.303), 15 for 45 with 2 triples and a team-leading 8 RBI. He was the second-best hitter on the Giants, behind only Art Wilson (.382/.425/.471). So he did have a specific problem with Méndez in this series.
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