Pastime League

[AcesFull]

In January of 1901, a group of progressive, forward-thinking businessmen, looked at America's emerging pastime, and saw opportunity. They believed that the Reserve Clause in players' contracts was in direct opposition with the American Dream, and that, if players and owners were required to negotiate contracts with each other, the end result would be a better, more competitive game.

And so, on Tuesday, January 15, 1901 eight businessmen, from the eight largest cities in America, met and founded the Pastime League. The eight teams that emerged from those meetings are well-known today; the New York Titans, the Chicago Wind Machines, the Philadelphia Brotherhood, the St. Louis Pilsners, the Boston Colonials, the Baltimore Terrapins, the Cleveland Rocks, and the Buffalo Bisons.

Because of the Reserve Clause in the American and National Baseball Leagues, none of the players in those leagues were released from their contracts, and so on March 9, 1901, the eight teams held open weekend tryouts. From these players, each team was allowed to keep 40, and had only three weeks to practice and put together the teams that would take the field on April 2, Opening Day of the Pastime League.

Recently, a discovery of great interest to baseball historians and fans has been made. Tim Plummer, the Boston Colonials first manager, long rumoured to have lost all his marbles and lived as a cranky, muttering recluse for the last years of his life, kept extensive records of his time in the league. Newspaper articles and personal notes and letters were all kept. Recently, his great-grandchildren have contacted the Hall of Fame. Having inherited his house, they discovered it was nearly brimming with these records. They contacted the Hall of Fame to see if it would be of interest.

"We were just hoping that we could get someone to take all this crap off our hands. I mean, the house is full! You can't even walk around in the place without tripping on another stack of papers. He was just an old lunatic."

Unfortunately, the piles of papers and notes (three 24' box trucks full), were completely unorganized. As the records and documents are sifted through and organized, records of interest wlil be posted here.

[AcesFull]

To: Tim Plummer, GM and Manager
From: Mark Luster, Hitting Coach

Tim, Here is my pre-season report on the fellows. Keep in mind, I've only had three weeks to work with them!

C - John Mateo. The best bat I have ever seen. The guys are calling him "The Musketeer." Just sit back and watch the show.
1B - Greg Kittredge. Good contact hitter, bunter. He'll move runners. Not very mobile in the field. Always seemed to be nursing an injury.
2B - James Crampton. Good fielder. Good eye. Nice pop in his bat -- he might hit 30 homers.
3B - Travis Kellam. He sure does swing at everything, thankfully, he hits it.
SS - Greg Erickson. Doesn't do much at the plate, but he plays his position as good as anyone.
LF - Arthur Cox. Good bat with some power. Can steal some bases.
CF - John Byers. This guy can play anywhere in the outfield, and get to any ball. Amazing fielder. His bat won't hurt us.
RF - James Harrah. He can also play any outfield position. Great arm. Not a consistant hitter.
OF - Deon Suface. Great bat to have off the bench. Needs to work on his fielding. Might consider platooning him with Cox.
OF - Rodney Sallee. Amazing speed for a 38-year-old. Good pinch runner or late-game defensive replacement. A nice option to have on the club.
IF - Daniel Cundiff. OK fielder. Good contact hitter off the bench. Can bunt, too.
OF - Frank Emmert - Nothing special here, but the best remaining outfield option in the organization.
IF - Wilburn Tompkins - Decent backup infielder.

The guys are raring to go. I hope so. Philly is going to start us off with a couple of tough lefties. Could not be as bad as Kinlaw in Cleveland today though? 21 strikeouts! Glad it wasn't us or you'd be sending me packing before the weekend! See you bright and early, Skipper.

- Mark

[AcesFull]

To: Tim Plummer, Manager & GM
From: Eric Walter, Pitching Coach

OK, Here are my observations on the guys. All-around a strong staff.
Bill Yates is our ace. 4 great pitches, and thrives under pressure. He can even bunt.
Christopher (don't call him Chris) Qualls. Consistent with 4 pitches. Good #2 guy.
Michael Chenowith. Good command of 3 pitches. Keeps the ball down.
Josue Cullings. He insits on working with 5 pitches, but I'm trying to get him to focus more. Average arm, but he can put some movement on the ball. Great move to 1st.
Greg Wood. Pretty good. Can eat a lot of innings.

Bullpen:
David Loch wants to close, but I think he'd be a better set-up guy. Don't get me wrong, he's got great stuff. But, Robert Gardiner has got better.
Robert Nelson is a reliable option, but he's had some arm troubles.
Phil Wallace is a steady righty who can notch some innings. Good for middle/long relief.
Anthony Candelario. Another long reliever. Could start in a spot. Great job keeping the ball in the park.
Bill Cavitt - Nothing special, can put up 3 or 4 innings.

Keep an eye on that kid Anderson down in Hartford. He's gonna be the real deal, and I can't wait for the chance to work with him. And we've got that 18-year-old down in Fall River. Make sure Mazon takes it easy with the kid.

(Did you catch the wire report about today's St. Louis-Cleveland matchup? 21 strikeouts! When do we play Cleveland, anyways?)

Eric

[AcesFull]

A brief entry in Tim's journal

04/01/1901: We kick off the season tomorrow against Philadelphia. This was all put together so suddenly. I hope Mr. Callahan understands this. I am nervous as hell. The biggest crowd I ever played in front of was with the gang over in Worcester. Word is that there's quite an interest in our new league. The new park sure is huge, I know that. Yanes will start tomorrow - a no-brainer. I've decided to start Surface in left. I hope Artie understands. He'll get his hacks too. Think I'll toss back a little rye and get some sleep.

[Dark Horse]

Good stuff AcesFull keep it up.

[AcesFull]

From the Boston Globe, p. 4, 04/02/1901:

Quite the sporting specticle took place today at the New England Park. The Boston Colonials of the new Pastime League of Professional Base Ball hosted the Philadelphia Brotherhood in the contest. Mr. William Yanes of the Colonials out dueled the Philadelphia pitcher, Mr. Kenton Lawrence. The Colonials scored two runs in the first inning, and another in the eighth, and won the contest 3 runs to 1. Mr. Yanes pitched for the entirety of the game, and recorded nine outs by strike. Mr. John Byers, the center fielder for the Colonials, hit safely in each of his four attempts, and scored two of the club's three runs. The contest was enjoyed by all.

[AcesFull]

April 3, 1901

Well, so far so good. 2 games, 2 wins. We won both games 3-1. Yanes pitched as well as anyone hoped in the opener. Had to go to the pen a little earlier than I'd hoped this afternoon. Christopher Qualls pitched a good game, but threw over 100 pitches by the 6th. Nelson pitched 2 scoreless innings, and then Gardner came in and mowed down 5 batters in 11 pitches. I think Eric was right to peg him as the closer, but I can see that David Loch was upset that he didn't get the save. Right now, I'm planning to use both of them depending on the situation. Nice that Dave is righty and Robbie's a southpaw.

Gotta find out what John Byers is having for breakfast and feed it to the whole club. He followed up his 4-for-4 Opening Day with a 2-run homer and two spectacular diving catches today. I gave Artie Cox the start today against the left-hander.

Think I'll hit the pub for a quick one.

[AcesFull]

April 4, 1901

To: Eric Walter, Pitching Coach
From: Tim Plummer, Manager & GM

Eric,

Thanks for manning the ship for me after my little blow-up in the 5th. Sorry I lost my head, but that ump made a lousy call. How's Mike Chenowith's arm? He looked awfully tight after the rain; I should never have sent him back out there, but I hated to go to the pen in the 3rd inning.

Sorry I couldn't have left a better scenario for your "managerial debut." Hey, you did a better job than me! They got 7 before I left, you only let 'em get 2 more. How far did their left-fielder hit that grand slam, anyways? It must have been some kind of record.

Well, we took 2 out of 3 to open the season, and the two we won were thanks to your pitchers, Eric. Great job!

Tim

[AcesFull]

April 5, 1901

Clipping from the New York Times:

The Boston Colonials of the newly formed Pastime Base Ball League arrived at the New York Grounds ballpark and ruined the home park debut of the New York Titans in front of nearly 45,000 interested spectators. The Titans scored early, notching 3 runs in the 1st inning. Titan leftfieder, Mr. Michael Malia led off by being hit by a pitch thrown by Boston's Mr. Josue Cullins. Two batsmen later, Titan second baseman, Mr. David Trusheim, hit a two-base hit deep to left field. As Mr. Malia tried to score on the hit, but was the victim of a perfect throw by Boston's left-fielder, Mr. Deon Surface. The next batsman, Mr. George Stonecipher hit another two-base hit upon which Mr. Trusheim was able to score. This was followed by a 2-run home run by New York's catcher, Mr. John Cawthon.

There was no further scoring until the 6th inning. Boston second-baseman, Mr. James Crampton batted in two runs on a 2-base hit, followed by a run-scoring hit by Mr. Surface.

The tied score was quickly broken, on a home run by Mr. Stonecipher in the bottom half of the 6th.

In the 8th inning, the Colonials surpased the Titans when their first five batsmen safely reached base. Two hits and a base on balls set up a pair of run-scoring hits, by Mr. Surface and Mr. George Kittridge.

The Titans were unable to score again. Boston relief pitcher Mr. David Loch was credited with the victory after pitching a perfect 7th inning, while Mr. Robert Gardner pitched the final 2 innings, striking out 4 batters and allowing 2 hits.

[AcesFull]

April 6, 1901

This was quite a day. First, I found some letters in my mailbox from Sallee and Emmert; they have each decided to hang up their cleats at the end of the season. I've been making use of Sallee's speed as a pinch runner, and I'll miss those legs.

And then, of course, the game. The guys finally put together an offensive burst -- a 7-run first inning. Erickson's been struggling, but led off the game with a homer. Then, after two more hits, Crampton hit a 3-run shot out of the cleanup spot. A single, a hit-and-run, and a walk loaded up the bases for the pitcher, Wood. I took a chance with a squeeze play, and it paid off, for run number 6. Finally, Erickson sac flied in the 7th run.

I had Wood on the mound today, not the best stuff, but good endurance, so I figured with the huge lead, I'd get a chance to burn some innings.

Well, I did, but not without making it as close as I could... The Titans managed to whittle away, and we ended up squeaking out a 10-9 win. You could see a path in the dugout floor from all my pacing, but I did get 8 innings out of Wood; he was a real trooper today. He said his arm felt fine, he just had a hard time keeping the ball down. Gotta keep an eye on him. I put Nelson in with a 4-run lead in the ninth, but after loading up the bases without getting an out, I put Loch in to close out the game. He did a great job, giving up a 2-run single to Stonecipher, before settling in and striking out the side.

I'm happy to pull this one out; I got too confident about the lead, and started thinking too early about how I was going to rest the team.

Oh... the final kick in the pants today; I started Cox today, against the lefty, but, when I decided to pull Wood I put in Surface to hit since he's been so hot lately. He belted a nice-looking double, but bruised his foot sliding in to second. He says he's ready to play, but I'm gonna rest him a couple of days, I think. Plus it'll give me a chance to see Cox against some right-handed pitching.

Well, it's my last night in New York, so I think I'll hit the town for a few hours.

[AcesFull]

A nice end to the week, finishing off a sweep of the Titans. Got off to another fast start with 3 runs in the first, on 5 singles. Yanes went out and gave up a solo shot in the first, but then shut down New York, scattering 4 hits over the remaining 8 innings, and striking out 11.

Notes after week 1:
Byers - .400, 1HR, 2RBI, 5 Runs
Mateo - .450, 3RBI, 5 R, and 7BB
Surface - 5-for-8 in a platoon role, and is a sure start against righties. Bruised his heel on Saturday, but seems OK.
Kittredge - .391, but only 2RBI and only 1 run scored. Might need to move him up in the lineup a bit.
Crampton - .208, 5-for-24 with 7K's, but... also 7RBI. A great clean-up hitter, and protection for Mateo, but I'd love to see a little more patience.
Cox - .333. Strong performance and better fielding than Surface has earned him more starts, for sure.
Erickson - .087 with 11K's. By far the worst start on the team. I had him leading off against lefties, but I think I'll try leading off with Byers against R and L, and put Greg at the bottom and get some pressure off of him.

As a team, we lead the league in batting at .288, but are last in HR (3) and have yet to successfuly steal a base. (This is partly because of some good success with the hit-and-run, though.) We also have the fewest strikeouts (50) but this still seems like a lot for 6 games.

.>

Yanes - Wow. 2 starts, 2 CG, 8 hits, 4 walks, 20K's, 1.00ERA, .133 OAVG and 2 wins. Outstanding.
Qualls - Never looked commanding, but only gave up 1 run in 5.1 innings and earned the win.
Chenoweth - I sent him out in the 3rd after an hour-long rain delay and he got pummeled for our only loss. My bad. The jury is still out.
Cullens - Gave up 4 runs in 6 innings in a no decision. 5 K's and no walks though. He held 'em enough for us to win it.
Wood - Chalked up a 6.75 ERA, largely because I kept him out longer than I would have. He did not have great stuff, but we gave him such a huge lead I decided to take advantage of his great endurance and just let him tough it out. He earned his W the hard way.

Gardner - 2 monster appearances for 2 saves, and one 3 inning stint where he gave up 2 runs. (Eric put him out there while after I got tossed. Not sure why he wasted him like that, but no harm done.)
Loch - A win and a save in 2 appearances. He definitely wants the closer job. I'm still going to go on a day-by-day basis. Gardner from the left and Loch from the right makes an outstanding set-up/closer combo either way. I'm gonna keep playing the matchups until it backfires on me.

Team pitching is middle of the road, 3.86ERA, .233 OAVG.

Team W L
BAL 5 1
BOS 5 1
PHI 2 4
NYT 0 6

STL 5 1
BUF 4 2
CLE 3 3
CHI 0 6

[AcesFull]

Monday, April 8, 1901,
From: Thomas Callahan, Owner
To: Tim Plummer, Manager & GM
Cc: Eric Walter, Pitching Coach

I have just received word that Bill Yanes has been selected by the league as Player of the Week. Please pass along my congratulations. Nice job in New York this week. Hope you can have similar results next weekend when they come to Boston. Enjoy your travel day, and keep it going in Philadelphia.

Sincerely,
Thomas Callahan

[NYJuggalo45]

very nice read, keep up the good reports dude

[AcesFull]

April 11, 1901,

Well, we finished up a 3-game series in Philly this afternoon on a down note. Here are brief recaps of the series.

04/09/01
Win 7-5. All seven runs were scored in the first 4 innings, and we held on for the 7-5 win. I used Kittredge to lead off, and he took to it, going 3-4 with 2 runs and a steal. Kellam batted behind him and was 3-for-5 with a homer and 4 RBI. I gave Mateo the day off. (There are drawbacks to the biggest bat belonging to a catcher...) Qualls had the start and threw 5 innings. He was rolling along, scattering some harmless hits, but blew up in the 5th, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits. For the game, he gave up 10 hits and walked 3 while striking out none. Not a good outing, but he got the win on the strength of our bats. Qualls helped himself at the plate, going 2-for-2, and crossing the plate twice. He stole a base, too. Fun, but I could have killed him for taking off like that. [editor's note: I accidentally clicked the "steal 2nd" button... d'oh!]

04/10/01
Win 6-2. Mateo continued to roll, going 4-for-5 with an RBI. Crampton was 0-for-3, but had 2 RBI on sac flies, and did not strike out once. I was very pleased with this performance. Chenowith got to pitch in good weather this week, and was obviously well-rested after his short start last week. He pitched 7 strong innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, 7K and 1BB, in 7 innings. Great work from him.

04/11/01
We could not get going. The game started off looking good. Byers led off today, and went 3-for-3 with a walk. He also scored our only run in the first inning. After that, we were completely shut down, scattering 5 hits over the remaining 8. The big difference today, despite our hits, was our complete inability to manufacture a run. The first 8 games, I've watch this team go around and around the basepaths, but there was just no groove today.

Tonight, we have to board the train back to Boston, and we have a start against New York tomorrow afternoon. I see they finally won one against Baltimore yesterday. Kept us tied for 1st place.

[AcesFull]

BOSTON - The Boston Colonials will be without their finest pitcher, Mr. William Yanes, for at least six weeks. He injured himself throwing a pitch to New York Titan slugger John Cawthon, in the first inning of this afternoon's contest at New England Park. The look of pain on his face was immediate and obvious, immediately after the 2-0 pitch in the first inning. Doctors have diagnosed Mr. Yanes with a ruptured ligament in his elbow.

Mr. Anthony Candelario performed admirably in relief of Mr. Yanes, pitching 5-1/3 innings of 1 run ball, but it was not good enough for the victory, as the Colonials lost the game 2 to 1. Of much bigger concern to Boston Manager, Tim Plummer, surely must be the loss of his best pitcher until June. Mr. Plummer was not available after the game for comment, but his disappointment was evident in the tirade he unleashed upon 1st base umpire, Mr. Rocky Roe Sr., in an 8th inning argument.

The Colonials will play host to the Titans again tomorrow afternoon. Attendees will be treated to 5-cent hot dogs, courtesy of the Colonials' owner, Mr. Thomas Callahan.

[AcesFull]

To: Willie Rice, Manager, Hartford Blues
From: Tim Plummer, Manager & GM, Boston Colonials

Willie,

No doubt you've heard by now that we've lost Yanes for the next 6 weeks or so. We're gonna have to call someone up to fill his spot. I need your honest opinion.

Mr. Callahan is very interested in seeing Terry Anderson in a Boston uniform. What do you think? Is he ready to come up? If you tell me he needs more time, I'll deal with Callahan, and we'll call up Steve Kinchen and put him in the #5 slot. But if you think Anderson is ready to go, I have to admit, I'd love the opportunity to see how he does against some big league bats.

The rotation is set for the next couple of days, but we're travelling to Baltimore on Monday, and we'll need Kinchen or Anderson on the train with us when we go. I will trust your decision on this, but I want an answer by tomorrow night.

Thanks, Willie.

Tim

[AcesFull]

April 12, 1901

Lost 2-1. We lost Bill Yanes to an elbow injury until the end of May. Great relief work by Candelario was not enough to overcome our 11 strikeout, 4 hit floundering at the plate.

April 13, 1901

Lost 7-6. Artie Cox went 3-for-4 with his first homer and knocked in 4 runs, but his Player of the Game performance was not enough. Good offensive performance was outdone by New York's better offensive performance. Our 3rd straight loss.

April 14, 1901

Won 7-6. Same score as yesterday, but a better result. 11 of our 13 hits came from the top 5 guys in the lineup. Crampton, struggling all season, finally came alive, going 4-for-4 with 3 doubles, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. He bumped his average from .182 to .250 . Qualls struggled again giving up 9 hits and 6 runs in 7 innings, but improved to 3-0 with great run support.


Notes after Week 2:
Mateo -- everything we hoped. .425, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 9 BB, 6 K. Leads the league in BA, 2nd in OPS.

Byers -- .380, 2HR, 4RBI, and 9R, mostly from the lead-off spot. His 9 runs tie for the Eastern League lead. His defense is the talk of the league.

Cox -- .375, 1HR, 6RBI in 32 AB platooning in LF.

Kellam -- .348, 1, 6. He has a 10-game hitting streak going right now, and is perfectly suited to the #2 spot in the lineup.

Crampton -- .250, 1HR, 12 RBI. 16 K to only 2AB. He can knock 'em in, but still needs more discipline at the plate.

Surface -- .474, 9-for-17, platooning in LF. With Harrah struggling so much at the plate, I think I will try moving Cox over to RF, and getting Surface in the lineup every day.

Erickson -- .089. Outstanding defense, but woeful at the plate thusfar. I don't have another SS option who can compare defensively. I'm gonna leave him in the 8-spot for a while longer and hope he snaps out of it.

Overall, we lead the Pastime League handily in team batting, at .283 (Cleveland is 2nd at .256). However, we are last in HR with only 9.

Yanes -- Had 2 wins in 2 complete games before his injury after 2/3 of an inning on Tuesday. By far, our ace, we will miss him.

Qualls -- Has been thoroughly unimpressive with a 6.23 ERA and over 17 runners allowed per 9 innings. And yet, he sits a 3-0, thanks to great run support. Hopefully he will settle down.

Chenowith -- a nice 2nd start this week. He's 1-1 now, with a 3.86 ERA, 12 K and 4 BB.

Gardner - 2.08, 3 S, 10K and 0BB in 8.2 IP. Outstanding lefty reliever.

Loch -- 0.00, 1-0, 2S, 8K and 0BB in 5IP. The right-handed side of my dual-handed monster.

Team is 6th of 8 in ERA, and middle of the pack in OAVG at .241. Starting pitching has not been strong after Yanes, and the guys are really going to have to pick up the slack in his absence. These next 5 weeks will be very important to our season.

Standings through 04/14/01:
BAL 8 4
BOS 8 4
PHI 5 7
NYT 3 9

STL 8 4
CLE 7 5
BUF 6 6
CHI 3 9

[AcesFull]

April 16, 1901

Baltimore - For the first time this season, the Boston Colonials find themselves alone atop the Eastern League standings. Boston's pitcher, Mr. Michael Chenowith was in command, shutting out the Baltimore Terrapins in a 6-hit, 9-strikeout outing, as the Colonials defeated the Turtles 5 runs to none.

Boston's third basemen, Mr. Travis Kellam, extended his league-leading hitting streak to 11 games with a 3 hit performance. Outfielder Mr. John Byers batted in three runners, including 2 on his 3rd homerun of the season.

[Redhead_Alaskan]

good read. keep it up