Hall of Famer Ed Walsh’s Time in Milwaukee

Hall of Famer Ed Walsh’s brief stay in Milwaukee is not well known Not surprising, as it is a small, small chapter in the successful career of the Big Spitballer. But as he is a Hall of Fame pitcher, I think it merits some paragraphs.

Walsh first appears on the 1919 Milwaukee radar on February 2, when there was a report in the Milwaukee Sentinel he was seeking the open manager’s job of the American Association Brewers. From his home in Meriden, Connecticut, Walsh wrote to Brewer owner A.F. Timme: “I have had a great deal of experience, and as you know, I am well known in the baseball world. I was a pitcher for the White Sox for many years. If it is possible for you to consider me, I wish you would write me as soon as possible. I can still pitch a winning game of ball occasionally.” Within a week the Brewers were purchased by Pants Rowland and Hugh Brennan. Rowland became manager of the team.

At a Booster Banquet in Milwaukee on March 25 Pants Rowland, a former White Sox manager, announced the signing of Ed Walsh. There was a time when Walsh was “the idol of the Windy City; when he could have had the city hall of that village for the asking, when he was known from the furthest tip of Maine to the Rio Grande, and from the jumping off point at Cape Cod to the Golden Gate, as the Spitball King”. But actually this was before Rowland managed the Sox. Rowland was Walsh’s skipper in Chicago in 1915 and 1916, and Big Ed was 3-0 and 0-1 in those two seasons. Walsh’s arm was dead, but he could still play ball. In 1918 Walsh had played ball with the Marlin Arms team of New Haven, hitting around .400 and fielding better than .950. Rowland was confident Walsh had a lot of good baseball left in him, and knew he would also be an invaluable aid to the Brewers’ young pitchers. Others saw another good reason to sign the future Hall of Famer. The Columbus Dispatch was sure Rowland would draw many fans in his first trip around the circuit, as fans would come out just to see the famous Ed Walsh take the pitcher’s hill.

Walsh was certain what he wanted to do with the Brewers: “Will I coach? No, I think not. I don’t know what Rowland wants me to do, but I suppose it’s a little bit of everything. I don’t know whether he still has faith in my arm, but I hope so, for I think there’s something in it yet. A little careful work when warm weather sets in may start me going again. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll get another try in the majors.”

The Brewer players arrived in Evansville, Indiana, around April 1 for spring training. The first exhibition game at Bosse Park was against the National League St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday, April 5. Ed Walsh was one of the bright stars of the contest. Playing first base, he had two hits and two RBIs. However, Big Ed was not so deft at first base, dropping two fly balls that led to runs. The Brewers won the game 8 to 5. Walsh continued hitting well. In the two games against the Cardinals he totaled five hits–one a double and another a triple. Even if his arm did not come along, it was felt he could help as a pinch hitter.

Big Ed told a Milwaukee Journal reporter he planned on making Milwaukee his last stopping place, so far as his diamond career was concerned. He said he was determined to become a farmer, and was anxious to purchase about eighty acres of land, either in Wisconsin or Iowa, and devote his time towards conducting a poultry farm. If Walsh was serious, or this was just an off hand comment to a report is hard to determine.

Spring in Evansville was wet and cold, but Walsh used the time wisely. He took the pitchers on the squad under the grandstand, “the veteran imparting some of his pitching lore gained by his long experience in the majors.” Two pitchers he took special concern in were Lou North and Tim Murchison. The veteran pitcher said: “These two fellows don’t belong in this league. They have great stuff and all they need is control. Both had a bad habit of taking their eyes off the batter when winding up. As a result their control was bad. We have been trying to remedy this drawback and once they learn how to keep the ball in the alley there’ll be nothing to it.”

During this spring Walsh pitched little, playing first base on a number of occasions, but not well.

When the regular season came along Walsh found himself on the bench at the start of the first game. However, he soon found himself on the ball field, in the second inning replacing the ailing Bruno Hass in left field. Walsh went 0 for 3 at bat, having two put-outs and one error in the outfield. Walsh saw limited action this early in the season, playing a little in left field on April 25, and pinch-hitting the next day. Big Ed was 0 for 5 in April.

Walsh’s next appearance was not until May 12, when he made out pinch-hitting. Two days later Walsh made his debut on the mound. A large flock of fans gathered at Milwaukee’s Athletic Park to see the famous pitcher on the mound. His big comeback lasted only one inning. But it was not the St. Paul hitters that routed him, but the “Storm King.” Walsh started the first inning by allowing a single to Leo Dressen. The next batter forced Dressen at second, and this was followed by another force out. The inning ended with a long fly ball to the outfield. One Brewer batted in the bottom of the inning “when someone turned on the water” and the umpires were forced to call the game. Walsh had looked good during his short time on the mound, needing only six pitches to retire the Saints. The big right hander had fine control and good speed. After the rainout he said: “There is not the least sign of a kink in the old whip. It feels better than it has since I hurt it several years ago and I feel so sure I can hold a regular job that I have bet a suit of clothes I win the first game I pitch.”

Walsh made one-at-bat appearances in two more games before his next start on May 23 in St. Paul. In his first “official” time in the box score at the pitching position “he turned ‘em back like the days of long before.” He could no longer throw the saliva ball he had used so well to make his name, (the pitch had banned in the American Association since the 1918 season) but the veteran’s speed and headwork were sufficient to baffle the Saints. Of his outing Walsh would say: “I believe I had as much stuff as I ever had in my life, excepting of course, that I could not use the spitter. I did not tire one bit as the game progressed and my arm felt no ill effects from the test to which I had put it. It’s sure great to be out there again, confident you can fool the batters.” The Saints could only manage five scattered hits in a 6 to 1 defeat. Big Ed struck out four and walked three.

Big Ed was not only good on the mound, but he had a good day on the streets of St. Paul. The Milwaukee Evening Sentinel told its readers: “Walsh had a lucky 15 minutes at a big downtown hotel Wednesday night when he started punching a board for a gold watch. He copped one worth $50 for $1.40, and then went back and won another worth $37.50 on an outlay of $2.25. The other day a dime invested in a chance punch won him a souper worth $40. Ed is thinking seriously of going into the jewelry business.”

Walsh’s next appearance on the pitcher’s mound was June 1. A Sunday crowd of somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 attended Milwaukee’s Athletic Park in “extremely torrid weather” to see Big Ed throw. Though he did not show a whole lot of stuff, he worked like a well-oiled machine, displaying a free easy windup that gave every indication of a sound arm. He offered few good balls for the hitters to swing at, working the edges and corners of the plate at all stages of the game. Walsh won the game 14 to 3, giving up 7 hits, walking 2 and strikeout out 2. The veteran still had his famous balk move working to perfection and he kept the batters who reached first base glued to the bag. Kansas City Manager John Ganzel protested to the umpires a couple of times, claiming the big righty was balking. “The umps gave him the laugh. The former Sox star got by with this move in the American League for several years so the Association can probably stand it.”

Walsh’s next mound appearance was not for eleven days. Facing the Louisville Colonels the veteran shut down the Colonels in the first two innings. In the bottom of the second Walsh got his first hit of the season, then stole second base. He then scampered home on a single. With a 3 to 0 lead Big Ed fell apart in the third inning, allowing five runs to cross the plate before he was taken out. The Brewers lost the game 8 to 5. In the next day’s game summary the Milwaukee Journal writer told this story: “Clarence Rowland, when manager of the champion Chicago White Sox, once ordered his pitcher to permit Walter Johnson, the Washington mound star, to get a triple. He wanted the capital city star to run, so that when he ascended the knoll the following inning he would be tired.” The journalist wondered if something similar did not happen to Walsh in this game.

Walsh did not appear in another contest until he pinch-hit on June 21, knocking out a triple. He did not score in this game. He was the starting pitcher the next day in Kansas City. The first batter he faced singled sharply. After an out, Big Ed gave up a double to right scoring a run. Another single scored run number two. Beals Becker then hit a shoulder high fast ball “onto a porch of a house out side the ball yard.” With four runs across, the crowd was yelling “take him out.” Walsh finished the inning, but was replaced in the second inning. As Big Ed made his way to the clubhouse, he was cheered by the crowd, making him feel good and he doffed his cap and smiled broadly. The Brewers lost the 7-inning rain shortened affair 6 to 1.

No doubt these two bad outings were the cause for the rumor that the Brewers had released Walsh. The Brewer management denied this. However, he was not used again until June 26 when he got into the game as a late inning replacement at first base for the injured Mal Barry. In the June 29 edition of the Milwaukee Sentinel an editorial writer answered another paper’s question of “Is Big Ed Walsh Almost Through”? The Sentinel answered: ”Yeah, Ed Walsh is probably through from the neck down as a pitcher, but so long as he remains unconfined by due process of law from some insane asylum, that old bird is worth having around for what good he is from the chin up, for other purposes. Ed Walsh’s arm may refuse to do its cunning, but so long as his brain works, he is an asset.”

On July 6 Ed Walsh made his final appearance as a Brewer, pinch-hitting for Earl Howard in the ninth inning of a home game. He failed to record a hit. The next morning he tendered his resignation to Brewer president Clarence Rowland. His letter of resignation is an interesting document:

Clarence Rowland: After mature deliberation I have decided to tender my resignation to the Milwaukee Baseball club, which now I ask you to accept. This action on my part, fraught with deep and sincere regret, is prompted by my conclusion to retire from baseball for the present and I presume it will be agreeable to you to make me a free agent, as I feel my years of earnest effort in baseball and my unstinted loyalty to the game itself justifies this request.

You may be assured that it requires quite an effort on my part to acquaint you and Mr. Brennan with my decision, for my association with both of you has been a most splendid one and you may be sure I am sincere when I say that in my entire career was I ever treated with such fairness or with such kindness and consideration as I have been by you. That element is a big factor in affecting my conclusion to resign from the club, for I feel the rule prohibiting the use of the spitball in the American Association practically bars pitchers from the Association because they cannot use the spitball. I have been in the game a long time and I think my career an enviable and an honorable one, but it is my candid opinion that the anti-spitball regulation is the most ridiculous and most unfair legislation in the history of baseball, as it deprives a man of natural skill and acquired ability, and I am sure the majors in their wisdom will never eliminate it. The ruling is just as unfair to the fans as it is to the player, for it deprives the spectator of many—very many—spectacular exhibitions of pitching which the fan is entitled to witness. [The American Association had eliminated the spitball, shine ball, emery ball and other similar pitches on December 17, 1917, effective the 1918 season. A $25 fine was to be imposed for each offense by a pitcher.]

I have given the subject very serious thought and my mental attitude on the subject combined with the physical handicap of no spitball in the league forces the conclusion I have made.

Again let me thank you heartily for your kindness to me. Our pleasant association I shall always cherish and my best wishes will constantly be with you and the boys to get up in the race where you deserve to be and where you belong. You surely have had some tough breaks of luck, otherwise you would be up fighting the leaders right now, but I am confident you are on your way up there now and I shall miss my guess if you are not considerably high in the first division by August. With regards,
(signed) ED. WALSH

Walsh had appeared in 14 games for the Brewers, four as a pitcher, three at first base, one in left field and six as a pinch hitter. In 20 at bats he had 2 hits, and scored 3 runs. As a pitcher he pitched 21 and 1/3 innings, gave up 23 hits and allowed 13 runs to score. He walked eight and struck out six. He won two games and lost the same amount.

In accepting Walsh’s resignation Pants Rowland wrote: “Under conditions outlined in your letter we accept your resignation but I am sincerely sorry to have to do so. Your association with us both on the ball field and off of it has been inspiring and I can not adequately express to you my feeling in the matter. I want you to know we join in wishing you every possible success in the world in whatever line of endeavor you pursue, and if I may be able to serve your, please command me.”

In an editorial the Milwaukee Sentinel showed the respect Milwaukee had for Walsh:

Ed Walsh has resigned as a member of the Brewers and the acceptance of his resignation is the preliminary step to his ultimate retirement from the great American game of baseball, which he has graced for many years and which has brought ho him honor and support. Ed Walsh is one of the characters of baseball whose name long will be remembered. He was a player who accomplished things. It is such as he who perpetuated the game, for it was splendidly established many years ago by men whose names still are happily remembered.

There is always the slightest touch of pathos and regret at the passing of a professional sportsman, particularly if he has been popular. It appears sort of sad that men who have done deeds should have to quit trying to do them. But it requires youth to keep muscle supple, and youth is one of the things men can not always retain. There is one consolation, however, that the right sort of sportsman may always have in retirement, and that is that he so conducted himself in sports as to have and retain the respect of the public. And that is something!

The 38-year old veteran told a Sentinel reporter that he had no prospects in mind, but was willing to accept a position as a manager in some minor league organization that outlawed the spitball, as he felt he still possessed sufficient stuff to get by in one of these smaller leagues. Walsh admitted that his arm was not what it used to be, and he was considering giving up the game completely. Big Ed said he would leave in a day or so for his home in Meriden, Connecticut, where a deputy sheriff’s job was waiting. This job was courtesy of Sheriff Thomas L. Reilly of New Haven County. Reilly was a former Connecticut congressman, and was formerly manager of the Jersey City, Meriden, and the New Haven baseball clubs.

If Walsh’s poor showing in Milwaukee was due to the American Association having outlawed the spitball, or because of his continuing arm problems is debatable. Sam Levy, baseball columnist for the Milwaukee Journal wrote this about the A.A. spitball ban.

At the winter session in 1917 the AA passed legislation abolishing the saliva (spit) ball and all alleged illegal deliveries. Not all club owners favored the measure, but a majority did, and consequently it went into effect. Since the adoption of that rule not a single hurler has ever been punished for its violation, although it is not at all uncommon to see a hurler place the pellet to his mouth, moisten it with saliva or discolor it in some shape or manner.

In the series between Milwaukee and St. Paul which ended last Sunday, Dan Griner , long noted as a shine ball king, violated the anti-spitball rule on two occasions he occupied the pitcher’s box. Throughout Saturday’s game Griner kept a handful of cinders back of the knoll, and at intervals applied them to the ball. Not once did the Keystone umpires in charge reprimand the Apostle moundsman for his continual violations. If Teejay Hickey (A.A. president Thomas J. Hickey) has a rule against illegal deliveries, why not see that it is abided by? If not, let the spitter, the shine ball, emery ball, etc., re-enter into the league, which at times has the appearance of a small town circuit.

After his resignation, Walsh did not leave Milwaukee all to quick. The next day he was in the press box watching the Brewer game. Within the next few days there were numerous rumors and reports that Walsh had been offered jobs—and baseball positions—at various companies in the Milwaukee area, and outside. One job in Milwaukee offered to Big Ed was the manager of the tire department of the McCoy-Nolan Supply Company. John McCoy’s baseball team was tied for first place in the Milwaukee Amateur League. It was said Walsh had been coaching this team, and if he accepted the job at the company would become manager of the club. Another rumor had him going to the Kosciuszko club of the local semi-pro Lake Shore League.

Walsh reportedly signed with the Duluth White Sox of the outlaw Range Lakes League on July 11. According to at least one report he had been offered a job in a Duluth shipyard with the understanding that he was to play ball one day a week. It was also stipulated in his contract that he could use his spitball in this league. Walsh pitched his first game with Duluth on Sunday, July 13. One of the largest crowds of the season turned out to see the game. Big Ed only made it into the sixth inning, giving up 10 hits and three runs. After he retired from the mound Walsh went out to center field, where he made several sensational running catches. The Hibbing team went on to win 4 to 1.

But there was also a report that Big Ed had signed to play with the Milwaukee Teeling All-Stars, a very strong semi-professional team, having won 13 of the 15 games it played this season. After the game in Duluth Walsh returned to Milwaukee. It was now reported he had been in Duluth for a business transaction for the McCoy-Nolan Supply company, having been named manager of the tire department at the company. The affair became clearer when it was reported a day later that John McCoy purchased the Teeling All-Stars. It was reported Walsh would pitch for the team, now called the McCoy All-Stars.

Walsh pitched for McCoy’s All-Stars in a game in Racine against that city’s Stanley Peach Specials, on July 20. Big Ed was allowed to use his spitball, and went four innings—it had been announced before the game he would only take the mound for four innings–before going to the outfield. Walsh gave up three tallies in the first inning, but settled down after that, as the All-Stars went on to win 11 to 3. Big Ed only struck out one, walked none and gave up two hits. In the outfield he made a nice one handed circus catch to cut off triple.

Although it was reported Walsh would continue to play center field for the All-Stars, he apparently never did. On July 26 it was announced he would start “scouring the bushes” for the Chicago White Sox. His first scouting assignment was to take him to Reading, Pennsylvania, where “some phenom was burning things up.”

Walsh was said to be in Chicago for the World Series and was expected to be in Milwaukee after it ended. John McCoy said Big Ed would be seen in this team’s line-up in the outfield that weekend at Milwaukee’s Athletic Park against the strong Sheboygan club. McCoy also said Milwaukee native George McBride, captain of the Washington Senators, would play for his team in the game. Neither in fact did play, and the state champion Sheboygan team beat the McCoy’s 5 to 3.

There had been talk Walsh would return to Milwaukee with his family to live permanently, and accept the position with the McCoy-Nolan company. This would not happen, and no more was heard of Ed Walsh in regard to Milwaukee baseball after this.