Connie Mack SABR Chapter Finds Perfect Way To Celebrate National Pastime

If you are a fan of baseball history then you never hear too many tales of baseball’s past. Last Saturday, the Connie Mack Chapter of SABR met for their annual regional meeting at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and delivered exactly that.

A jam packed day of member presentations, a tour of the park’s Hall Of Fame Club, a Q & A session with a panel of former players and baseball writers and a presentation on the Athletics’ departure from Philadelphia by Bob Warrington, a member of the A’s Society to cap it off. For the long-time members in attendance, it was more of what they’ve come to enjoy over the years and for new members like me, it was an entertaining and enlightening fact-filled day.

The day kicked off with SABR member Jerry Crosson’s analysis of the major league playoffs and whether the best team won and “not always” was the answer (and even less now that there’s a wild card).

Jimmy Lindberg introduced a new term for a fly out – apprehended aerial – while giving a colorful retelling of the 1958 batting race between Richie Ashburn and Willie Mays. By the end of Lindberg’s retelling, you didn’t care that he was only 9 when the race started. And while I knew the race was won by Ashburn, I never knew that Ashburn and Mays finished 1 ^st and 2 ^nd in 5 difference categories. Ashburn won the batting title that season and finished 1 ^st in hits, triples and “apprehended aerials,” with Mays right behind him in 2 ^nd, while Mays edged out Ashburn 31-30 in stolen bases. What was more astonishing was that Ashburn hit .350 but had an 0-for-23 stretch from July 3 to July 6.

Dick Rosen attempted to bail out Fred Merkle whose base running blunder was blamed for the New York Giants ultimately not winning the pennant in 1908. Instead, Rosen wanted to credit the Giants’ fall to the older brother of Hall of Famer Stan Coveleski, Harry. “The Giant Killer,” while pitching for the Phillies, beat the Giants three times in five days. Rosen gave more background including how the Polish American ballplayer was ripped in the New York Times by writer W. W. Aulick who warned that Coveleski proved the dangers of “unrestricted immigration.” (I thought only bloggers wrote stuff like that.) Then he discussed how John McGraw exacted revenge on Coveleski with some bench-jockeying which included having his players ask for a bite of his bologna (Coveleski used to keep bologna in his back pocket) and marched around third base beating an imaginary drum (Coveleski was a drummer before he was a ball player).

Nine more SABR members presented their research. Kevin Tulley discussed the “Outlaw United States League” of 1912. Steven Glassman talked about Dave Bresnahan and the “Hidden Potato Trick.” SABR member and author Bob Bloss presented manager Steve O’Neill’s case for a spot in the Hall. Former Class D ballplayer Paul Fritz retold the Phillies’ first failed World Series quest of 1915 although he was cut short of finishing the tale when his 10 minutes were up.

The day was barely half over and the meeting had already delivered. Author of Big Ed Walsh: The Life And Times of a Spitballing Hall of Famer Jack Smiles talked about why Walsh ended up throwing a spitball. Dave Voigt tried to earn Denny Lyons some respect by reminding everyone of his 52-game hitting streak. Son of Patsy Donovan, Charles Donovan, shared some information on his father and some other former greats like Babe Ruth, who Patsy was concerned might be trouble for the Red Sox. The presentation portion of the day concluded with author Jerry Casway’s case for Sam Thompson being the greatest right fielder in Phillies history and a little trivia presented by Bruce Brown who revealed the All-Time Philadelphia A’s/Phillies Team.

At lunch, the group was given an unexpected treat. The Hall of Fame Club at Citizens Bank Park was opened up for a special tour to all SABR members. A premium seating area usually reserved for those willing to pay a little extra to see a game in the lap of luxury, the area is also home to great Dick Perez artwork, rotating memorabilia displays that rotate throughout the year, and a few other bells and whistles. The Perez artwork of Philadelphia natives and Philadelphia Phillies in the Hall of Fame was amazing to see and as a Phillies fan it was great to see a display honoring the great broadcasters of the Phillies, and Jimmy Rollins’ MVP award.

After lunch, the Players Panel convened. During the Players Panel, highlighted by author Rich Wescott and former major leaguer Bob Duliba, SABR members were given the opportunity to ask the panel questions. Duliba was the highlight of the panel. He talked about being roommates with Bo Belinsky who once dated Mamie Van Doren, how he gave up Mickey Mantle’s 450 ^th home run, even though he “made a good pitch,” and how the game has changed. Duliba talked about his only major league hit which came off of Sandy Koufax in Duliba’s first-ever major league win. The most colorful tales were of Bob Gibson who Duliba referred to as a “mean mother.” “If you swung the bat hard at (Gibson), he would knock you down,” said Duliba.

The feature presentation took place after the Players Panel by Philadelphia A’s Society member Bob Warrington. Warrington’s “Departure Without Dignity” discussed the unceremonious exit of the Philadelphia Athletics who finished 60 games out of first place in their final year in Philadelphia. Warrington retold the days leading up to the Athletics’ move from Philadelphia to Kansas City and showed how the Mack family let the club slip through their fingers and land in the hands of Arnold Johnson (who many say turned the A’s into a farm team for the New York Yankees from 1954-1960). Warrington left some SABR members wondering if the Connie Mack Chapter was due for a name change.

While Philadelphia has not always been known for winning, it has always been recognized for passion and the Connie Mack Regional Meeting of SABR members was held in the right place for that. The group even found the time at the end of the day for Fritz to finish a shortened version of the finish of the 1915 World Series and even though everyone in the room knew the Phillies lost, some of us were still pulling for the result to change.