Agate Type

a proliferation of rubes

Waddell, Foster, DeGroff

A few months ago I finally found the long-sought game (suspected by some, including me, to be mythical) in which Andrew Foster pitched against, and defeated, Rube Waddell, thus earning the right to be called “Rube” himself.  This contest, with Foster hurling for the Cuban X-Giants and Waddell (under the pseudonym “Wilson”) for Nat Strong’s New York City semipro club, the Murray Hills, took place on August 2, 1903, at New York’s Olympia Field.

The other day John Thorn tipped me off about a sequel to this story (which he wrote about here).  Six weeks after the Murray Hills game, the X-Giants were barnstorming in upstate New York.  On September 21 (as John describes) they met the Kingston Colonials of the Hudson River League and edged them 3 to 2.  Foster was on the mound for the X-Giants. His opponent, the Kingston pitcher, was one Art DeGroff, who went on to a long career as a minor league outfielder and made some appearances in the big leagues with the Cardinals in 1905 and 1906.  “It may be coincidence,” John says, “but by the time [DeGroff] reached Rochester for the 1904 campaign, and forevermore thereafter, he too was known as ‘Rube’.”

So (perhaps) Foster beat Waddell to take the name Rube, then DeGroff came close to beating Foster to gain the nickname himself. Whatever the case with DeGroff, Waddell was the indisputable godfather of Rubes.  Richard Marquard, the third in the trinity of baseball’s most successful Rubes, also supposedly got his nickname because he reminded a minor league sportswriter of Waddell.

ruth vs. royal giants, 1927

While searching for mentions of the Brooklyn Royal Giants in the New York Times during the 1920s (there were seven hits altogether), I ran across this item, from Oct. 12, 1927:

BOYS JAM TRENTON FIELD AND STOP GAME
WHEN RUTH HITS HIS THIRD HOMER OF DAY

TRENTON, N.J., Oct. 11 (UP)—Babe Ruth’s third home run of the afternoon broke up an exhibition game here today between a selected Trenton team and the Brooklyn Royal Giants, which Trenton won, 9 to 4.

The Babe and Lou Gehrig  of the world’s champion New York Yankees opened their exhibition barnstorming tour, playing with Trenton, before a crowd which packed the field here.

Twice before the eighth inning, as Ruth lifted the ball over the right field wall, hundreds of boys swarmed into the field to romp from third to home with the King of Swat, each time holding up the game for fifteen minutes before the field could be cleared.

However, after his third homer in the eighth with two on base, officials found it impossible to get the fans from the field and the game was called.  Lou did not fare as well as the Babe, collecting only a double and a single out of four times at bat…

John Holway wrote about this game  in the chapter on Cannonball Dick Redding, the Royal Giants’ playing manager, in Blackball Stars:

Trenton promoter George Glasco recalled that he took the Cannonball aside before the game.  “Now look,” he said, “you know why all these people are here.  You know what they came to see.  They’re out here to see Ruth hit home runs, right?”
“Right.”
“Now, when the Babe comes to bat, no funny business.”
“Got ya,” Redding winked.  “Right down the pike.”

Another game, between Ruth and Gehrig’s “Bustin’ Babes” and the Brooklyn Royal Giants, was played in Asbury Park, N.J., on October 13. This one was held up for an hour while Ruth waited at his hotel for a guaranteed fee to be delivered to him.  When he finally arrived at the park, he found an overflow crowd of 7,000 and the entire police department of Asbury Park waiting for him.  According to the Times, “Thousands of youngsters darted past the police lines and fought to shake hands with the Babe,” making it a “miserable” game for anybody who tried to take it seriously.  “After each inning he half carried dozens of small boys who surrounded him on the trips from the bench to the outfield and vice versa.  He could not get rid of them…”:

These lads often raced with the players to gain possession of the ball, and when the former won another souvenir was pocketed.

On one occasion the ball trickled past the catcher while Babe Ruth was on first. The Babe started to steal second and one of the boys determined that his idol would not be caught stealing.  So he promptly pounced on the ball and darted away, with the catcher in hot pursuit.  The boy scurried between two spectators and disappeared from view….

No ball lasted very long.  Every foul meant a lost ball, and most of the outfield hits meant the same, so after two dozen were gone a messenger was dispatched for another dozen.  Eleven of these found their way into yawning pockets, and then Gehrig was inconsiderate enough to knock the one remaining ball out of the park [causing the game to be called].  No one complained, because all the fans had a lot of fun.

Ruth hit one home run in the lake, Gehrig two, and the “Babes” won, 6 to 5.