The Month Newt Parker Hit Like No Other

 Newt Parker, listed as William Parker on BR, was a big, big-hitting first baseman in the low minors of the South from 1939 to 1953. Most of his seasons were good but not great - nothing you'd remember eighty years later. But his 1941 season looks like a misprint.

Known as Newton "Gashouse" Parker in college, Newt played baseball and basketball for the Middle Georgia College (MGC) Wolverines from 1937 to 1939. He played third base on the diamond and center on the hardwood, and won the junior college basketball title of Georgia with MGC in 1939. 

Newt is second from the left, back row. Macon Telegraph, 1939-2-23, p.8

He spent the summer of 1939 playing for the Callaway Cubs of the Middle Georgia Textile League. The only game report I found that mentioned him was the game of June 24, in which he hit a 410-foot homer, a double, and a single, leading Callaway to a 28-2 win over Dixie.

Atlanta Constitution, 1939-6-25, p.18

The star pitcher of the Calloway Cubs was Royce Mills, who would win 89 games and lose 67 in the low minors from 1940 to 1952.

Newt Parker made his entrance into pro baseball late in 1939, playing 14 games for the Kannapolis Towelers of the class D North Carolina State League. His batting average was only .255 but he made his hits count, slugging three homers and three doubles in his 47 at-bats. 

Newt spent 1940 with the Jackson Generals of the class D Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League. Its friends called it Kitty. 

He batted .291 and tied his teammate, outfielder Joe Polcha, for second place in home runs with 27 in 118 games. (1940 was Joe Polcha's only year in pro ball.) He finished 2nd in RBIs with 108, 47 shy of the 155 driven in by former major leaguer Mike Powers. He also struck out 128 times, 26 times more than anyone else in the league. 

He was considered to be the league's top fielding first sacker. His large size - 225 pounds - would have been a liability at any other position, but provided some much-needed margin for error for the throws of his infielders. "Parker was made of rubber, could stretch a mile, and furnished an excellent target for the infielders." - Jackson Sun, 1941-6-01, p. 11.

It was an impressive season, and during the winter meetings the Tulsa Oilers of the Texas League bought his contract. He went to spring training with the Oilers but was optioned back to Jackson at the start of the season, subject to twenty-four hour recall.

The Jackson Generals' season opened May 11. Parker hit a two-run homer, a double, and a single, driving in three of the General's four runs in a 4-2 defeat of the Union City Greyhounds. With that, Newt Parker began one of the most remarkable months of power-hitting in baseball history. 

Over the next eight games, from May 12 to May 20, Parker hit a home run in every other game. He scored at least one run in every game but one, the only exception being May 15, in which the entire General team was shutout by Union City Greyhounds' pitcher Donald Bakkelund. As of May 20, he had a .355 batting average (11 for 31), five home runs, and three doubles, for a slugging percentage of .935. 

He cooled down a little after that. He didn't hit a single homer in a two game series vs. the Mayfield Browns May 21-22. On May 23, he had a homer, a double, and three runs scored against the Hopkinsville Hoppers, but the next day was just 1-for-4 with a single. 

That's when he really got going.

On May 25 he went 4-for-4 with a homer against the Hoppers, and hit at least one home run in each of the following six games. He hit one in each game of a two game series against the Fulton Tigers, May 26-27. Next came a four game series against the Bowling Green Barons. He hit two in the first game, two in the second, and in a doubleheader on May 30, hit two in each game - seven home runs in the four game series. All told, he hit ten home runs in seven games over six days, with a home run in every game.

And then the Tulsa Oilers recalled him and sent him to play with the Hutchinson Pirates of the Western Association.

Jackson Sun, 1941-6-01, p. 11

He wasn't happy to go. The Jackson Sun of 1941-6-01, p. 11, quoted him as saying: "I hate to leave here hitting like I am. I want a shot at the home run record in the Kitty." 

His final stats for Jackson were eye-popping: A .405 batting average, 16 home runs, 37 RBIs, 30 runs scored, 30 hits, 7 doubles, and 14 walks in 20 games. His slugging percentage was 1.149.

The final stats of the Kitty League saw him finish 8th overall in home runs, with 16 - the league leader hit 30 - despite playing in less than a sixth of the season. 

https://1drv.ms/x/s!Ako34EwWdHgA6ABDiVRp0tl22sok?e=K445cI

The RBIs in this game-by-game record are two short - the Jackson Sun wasn't terribly scrupulous about keeping accurate count of RBIs. I counted him as having 75 at-bats while the official Kitty League records list him with 74 at-bats; I'd probably trust the official records there.

The Jackson Sun predicted at his parting:

    "The club owners will feel his presence in the Western Association. He is a very expensive ball player. He knocks boards off the fences, loses baseballs, and according to some players in this man's league, he packs a pretty mean right."

But Newt didn't have enough time with Hutchinson to knock any boards off of fences, let alone show off his 'mean right' in battle. After three games, possessing a sound mind in a sound body and a nullity of dependents, Newt was drafted into the army. (He had only managed to hit two singles in those three games for Hutchinson.)

He didn't return to pro ball until 1946.

For two seasons, he lived the life of the baseball nomad. In 1946, he played for the Leaksville-Draper-Spray Triplets of the Carolina League, the Tarboro Tars of the Coastal Plain League, and the La Grange Troupers of the Georgia-Alabama League. 1947 was split between the Tarboro Tars and Roanoke Rapids Jays of the Coastal Plains League.

He was decent in both years - .278/9/92 in 111 games in 1946, .302/18/84 in 103 games in 1947 -  but nothing like he had been in that charmed month of May 1941.

In 1948 he was hired to manage and play first base for the Edenton Colonials of the semi-pro Albemarle League; he would lead them to three Albemarle League pennants from 1948 to 1950. In 1948 he tied teammate Johnny Bohonko for first in the league in home runs with 14, and was leading the league in homers in 1950 when the league folded. After his nomadic years of 1946 and 1947, he was able to stay in one place long enough to become a local favorite. 

He was a "quiet, easy going man off the field," but as a manager he would get "really worked up during a game" and his arguments could be spectacular. (Raleigh News and Observer, 1951-3-28, p.14)

The Edenton Colonials joined the class D Virginia League in 1951, and Parker moved up with them. 
 They finished third out of six teams, with a 63-55 record. Parker was their best batter, hitting.303/19/73 in 96 games and tying for second in the league in home runs.

Parker managed the Colonials in a third league in 1952, the Coastal Plain League; the Virginia League had collapsed of ennui. He did not retain his post for long. He hit a meager .214 with three homers in 47 games, was released, and signed on with the Palatka Azaleas of the Florida State League, with whom he hit .163 with three homers in 13 games. 

But even after Parker left Edenton, his legacy lived on in John "Monk" Raines, who Parker had signed to his first pro contract in 1951 for the Colonials. 

John Raines was a 5'9" righty pitcher with an impressive pedigree. He was four-sport star for Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, and he set the South Carolina college strikeout mark with 20 in a 1948 game. He pitched for the Kingstree Royals of the semi-pro Palmetto League in 1950, winning 17 games, losing 5, and averaging 15 strikeouts a game.  (Raleigh News and Observer, 1951-3-28, p.14)

Raines was good for the Colonials in 1951 - 16-13 record, 134 strikeouts, and a 3.61 ERA - but in 1952 he was great. In the regular season, he won 26 games, lost 5, struck out 244 batters, and had an 1.48 ERA. He earned a new nickname, "Iron Man", presumably because he never needed to be relieved - he completed all 29 of his starts. He threw two one-hitters and two two-hitters. (1952-9-04)

In the Coastal Plain play-offs, he won another three games without a loss to finish the year with a 29-5 record. The Edenton Colonials had finished third out of eight in the regular season with a 69-55 record, but swept through the playoffs like a devouring flame, sweeping the Wilson Tobs in four games in the semi-finals, and winning four out of five against the Goldsboro Jets in the finals to win the championship.

1952 proved to be the last season of the Coastal Plain League, which had been playing since 1937, and 1953 proved to be Newt's last season. He managed the Hickory Rebels, in the class D Tar Heel League, to a 46-66 record, and batted .290/2/15 with 22 walks in 107 at-bats in 45 games. 

He was also reunited with John Raines. Raines had been sold to the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern League in December 1952. He made the Crackers team out of spring training as a reliever, but was sent to the Hickory Rebels after pitching in five games. He was good for the Rebels, with a 12-5 record, 112 strikeouts, and 4.10 ERA in 23 games, but it was his final year in baseball; he, too, finished his career with the Hickory Rebels. 

Newt Parker should be remembered for his short flash of glory, those two weeks in May 1941 in which he hit in a way few had done before and few have done since. But he should be remembered for more than that. 

Fred Snodgrass used to complain that all people ever remembered him for was his error in the 1912 World Series. "You'd think I was born the day before and died the day after." The case of Newt Parker is a bit different in that no one remembers him for anything, but the principle in unearthing him is similar. The career of William Newton (Gashouse) Parker lasted fifteen years, not two weeks. Though the things he did outside of May 1941 may not have been so spectacular, they were no less valuable. They were just quieter, and harder to see from the distance of time. 

A year without Joy: part three

  I wrote a crazy long post about the 1907 Honolulu League season which I feel compelled to break up; this is the third and final part.
Part one 

Part two
Part three

 In the first game of July 6 Kamehameha beat Punahou 11-5. Bill Hampton was demolished; he gave up 11 hits, walked five, and gave up a homer in the eighth to Bill Vannatta, who hit the ball over the center fielder's head and had scored before the right fielder could throw home. It was his second homer of the year, and the sixth in the league altogether.

Evening Bulletin, 1907-6-01, p.1

Reuter was hard to hit - he gave up just three hits - but also surrendered six walks, contributing to the Puns' five runs.

Attention was also given to Kamaiopili, who made his debut for the Kams in the game, hitting ninth and playing center field. In the second inning, in which the Kams scored eight runs, he laid down what was considered to be "the prettiest bunt of the season," a single that brought in a run. It was to be his only hit in 14 at-bats that year, though throughout it all he was honored as a beautiful bunter.

The Punahous had now lost three straight, after having finished just one game behind St. Louis in the first half. 

In the second game, St. Louis beat the Diamond Heads 9-0 as Clown Leslie was found for ten hits. His opponent, Bushnell, threw his second shutout of the season. St. Louis was now tied with Diamond Head in the standings at 2-1.

From June 15 to June 29, Leslie had given up four hits in twenty-four innings. In the two games since then, he had given up twenty-two hits in seventeen innings. 

Punahou was likewise falling fast, but there was hope. Returning to Hawaii on a steamer from the mainland was Alfred Castle, a Punahou alumni who had pitched for Harvard. He was 6'0", 150 lb., and a fine pitcher in the Ivy League. His greatest athletic moment at Harvard came on June 6, 1906, in a game against Brown University. He threw a no-hitter, walked no one, made the only two hits of the game himself, and scored the only run. (Harvard made four errors, so it wasn't a perfect game.)

Castle graduated from Harvard in 1906, and finally returned to Hawaii just in time for the doubleheader of July 13. Maybe he could set things right for Punahou. 

Cartoon depicting Doc Monsarrat, Punahou manager, greeting Alfred Castle with joy. Advertiser, 1907-7-13, p.5

The first game of July 13 was a tight pitcher's duel between Andy Bushnell and Dick Reuter. St. Louis scored two runs on four hits and the Kamehamehas scored one run on five hits as Bushnell won his third straight game.

Al Castle was set against Leslie and the Diamond Heads (now that's a good band name) in the second game. The Jewels scored five runs off Castle in the first inning, and that was the game. Castle was highly mediocre, and the Punahou defense was no better. The Diamond Heads scored ten runs on eight hits, four walks, and six errors. The Advertiser was sympathetic to Castle, saying that "it was not fair to be expected that so soon after a sea voyage Castle would be up to his own standard, though after the first inning he held things down."

Alfred Castle. Advertiser, 1907-7-20, p.5

The first game of the July 20 doubleheader "was so poor that the crowd was hardly satisfied." The Diamond Heads beat the Kams 7-4 on just four hits; the Kams made seven errors and the Diamond Heads made six. 

Nani Lemon hit a homer, a "beauty," off Leslie in an abortive ninth inning Kam rally. He was also called out by the Advertiser for "the way in which he loafs before going to bat. Several times yesterday he delayed the game by his inattention."

Advertiser, 1907-7-20, p.5

The first game may have been a poor one, but the second game "made up for everything that was lacking in the first contest." St. Louis fought the Punahous twelve innings before finally coming out on top, 6-5. 

Eddie Desha had quite the game. He hit a double in the fifth and a homer in the seventh. He started the game for Punahou, the first game he'd pitched all year, and went six innings before he switched places with third baseman Bill Hampton with the score tied at 5-5. All five runs St. Louis scored had been unearned. 

Bushnell and Bill Hampton traded zeroes until the twelfth when Bushnell won his own game. He got on first by a fielder's choice, stole second and third, and scored on a passed ball. 

The Advertiser commented the next week that "Bushnell and Soares make an ideal battery. They are working together in fine shape and for two youngsters have a fine baseball future ahead of them."

Neither Bushnell nor Soares had been much of a factor in the first half - Bushnell played more outfielder than pitcher, and Soares was on the Coast until June 22 - but they became absolutely essential to St. Louis in the second half. 

Soares was not much of a hitter - though he had led the league in home runs with two in 1906, he hit only .141, and would hit only .111 in 1907 - but he was an excellent fielder, by the far best defensive catcher in the league, going by statistics. In 1907 he made but one error and allowed but one passed ball in ten games, and made 21 assists. 

Advertiser, 1907-9-08, p.13

 The Advertiser was in awe of Evers - all rancor over his money demands was gone. "Evers, the shortstop of the St. Louis team made a catch in the seventh inning off Hampton's bat, that was a wonder. Running backwards at full speed he jumped into the air and caught a ball that there are few major league men could have handled." [somebody needed an editor] The next week the Advertiser called Evers the league's "bright particular star at short."

For the third straight week, the Diamond Heads and St. Louis were tied for first place - now at 4-1. Kamehameha was third at 2-3, and Punahou was languishing in last at 0-5. 

There was no baseball on Saturday, July 27. Percy Lishman had died. He was a long-time player, and very popular. He had been traveling on the steamship the Siberia from Honolulu to San Francisco in April. Soon after the ship had left Honolulu he fell on the deck of ship, and afterwards seem a bit "crazed." Just a day into the voyage he cut his throat in a suicide attempt, but survived "due to the prompt action of surgeons on board the ship." "After his wound had been treated he repeatedly threatened to kill himself, and said he would never be landed alive in San Francisco." He was kept under close watch for the rest of the voyage.  "When the steamer arrived [in San Francisco, April 28], Lishman was considered out of danger and his chance for recovery good. No reason was found for the suicidal act, except that he must have become temporarily insane." (The San Francisco Call and Post, 1907-4-29, p.1) 

Advertiser, 1907-7-18, p.2

It was believed he had made a full recovery. He traveled on to New York, and met a number of his Honolulu friends there. He seemed to be in good spirits, and in July decided he would return to Hawaii together with them. "Lishman had already bought his railroad ticket via the Canadian Pacific, however, and the others were returning by a different route, so he came alone across the continent." He killed himself in Vancouver. He was just 31. 

And do you know what caused him to fall on the deck of the Siberia in the first place, starting the whole tragic series of events? It was a rope stretched "between the Caucasian steerage and that assigned to men of other races." He was running in the dark and tripped on it; it was supposed to be kept waist-high, but had sagged during the night. The story is like a symbol of the tragedy and insanity of segregation. It's just a shame that Lishman had to act it out. (Los Angeles Times, 1907-5-05)

Life goes on after tragedy, if fitfully, and the next Saturday there was baseball again.

There was a large enthusiastic crowd on August 3. "The bleachers, and in fact the whole grandstand, was overflowing with advice to the players and opinions of the game." 

Kamehameha defied the odds, beating St. Louis 6-4 in the first game. It was Bushnell's first loss since Paul Burns quit the team. Kamehameha third baseman Lota hit a homer off Bushnell in the sixth inning. It was the ninth and last home run of the season. 

Kamaiopili started in left field for Kamehameha and the crowd cheered for him loudly, remembering his brilliant bunt of July 6. It was his first game since then. The Advertiser summed him up so: "He is a youngster whose chief recommendation is that he is a willing performer." A charitable description.

Evers starred in the field again, making "a beautiful running catch bringing down a high fly with his left hand."

The second game was tied 5-5 until the tenth inning, when the Punahous scored three runs. Bill Hampton was the star of the game. Eddie Desha started, but switched places with Bill Hampton at third for the second straight game, this time after just three innings. Punahou was down 5-1 at the time. 

But Punahou started chipping away, scoring three runs in the sixth, one in the eighth, and the three in the tenth, Hampton pitched six scoreless one-hit innings, and the Puns had finally won their first game of the second series. David Desha starred at the plate, hitting a pair of doubles.  

The Diamond Heads and St. Louis had both lost, so they were still tied for first, but Kamehameha was now just a game behind them. The pennant race was wide-open. 

August 10 turned out to be the day of Bill Hampton... for all the wrong reasons.

The Advertiser led off the sports section thusly:

"The Punahous lost, but Hampton lost his temper. A disastrous defeat in which however there was no discredit, was made discreditable by an outbreak on the part of Hampton, which absolutely appalled the spectators, so that for an instant there was absolute silence, and then a storm of hisses and exclamations of disapproval, as the crowd realized what had been done, and burst out in indignant resentment at the display of such spirit." 

The incident that called down wrath from above occurred in the sixth inning. Punahou was losing 5-0 to St. Louis. Bill Hampton came to the plate with two outs in the first half of the sixth and "a good deal of talking" coming from the crowd. He struck out. As he was trudging back to the dugout, his bat still clenched in his hands, he stopped in front of the grandstand and angrily asked "who was making the remarks he resented." No answer. 

Hampton returned to the dugout and came out to the pitcher's mound to face St. Louis. "Instantly there was a renewal of talk across the field, the expression 'kill it' being used several times. Gleason was at bat, in position, waiting for the ball to be pitched, when suddenly Hampton threw the ball with violent energy in the direction of the crowd at the rail in the carriage paddock right at the makai* end of the grandstand. The ball passed over the heads of the crowd but not very much over their heads, if indeed active dodging was not the only thing that saved somebody from being hit."

*Makai means "sea-ward." 

The crowd did not react well to this, as you might imagine. The St. Louis team was not particularly pleased, either, and "it looked for a time as though there would be trouble between the rival teams. There was a good deal of discussion, and some heat developed." 

When the Chief of Detectives asked Hampton whether he threw the ball intentionally, he replied: "What if I did? I have a right to throw the ball anywhere I please in the field." Okay... 

Hampton probably wished he was back in Maui, where at least the crowds were quiet. 

The Advertiser reported that "It was generally understood that Hampton's anger and the ball he threw were directed at Jimmie Thompson, who was coaching from his position just behind the benches."

Jimmy Thompson's rooting had drawn attention before; the Advertiser wrote on June 9 that: "The coaching of Jimmy Thompson, from the Clerk of the Supreme Court's office, was refreshing. He should keep it up." He did, and look what happened.

Advertiser, 1907-8-17, p.6

But a fight was averted, everyone settled down enough to continue, and St. Louis beat Punahou 8-0.

Everything else in the game was overshadowed by the maelstrom of indignation, but Bushnell pitched a beautiful game. He struck out nine and held the Puns to three hits in his third shutout of the year.

In the other game, Kamehameha beat Diamond Head 12-5. Every Kam batter scored a run - the top three in the lineup, Lemon, Miller, and Jones, each scored two, and the rest scored one each. Leslie had been humiliated again. The Diamond Heads made seven errors, so it wasn't all Leslie's fault, but he certainly didn't pitch well. Reuter struck out 10 and gave up just five hits to the Jewels. 

St. Louis was now alone in first place, at 5-2. Diamond Head and Kamehameha were tied for second at 4-3. 

Alfred Castle started for Punahou against Kamehameha in a "fizzle" of a first game on August 17. He was a disaster. In six innings, he was subjected to six walks, six runs, and one unceremonious yanking from the box. The fans were not appreciative.

"Castle did not seem to be half as much put out at walking men as the crowd was in watching it done... At times there was some little rooting and at all times the remarks from the bleachers were emphatically sarcastic, so much so that Castle wanted to make a date 'after the game' with one fan whose comments made the Varsity twirler 'feel sick.' "

The Advertiser noted next week that "It is doubtful if A.L. Castle will be seen in the box for the Puns again, unless he shows a desire to take part in practise when the other players do." I guess the Harvard star thought he was above "practise." 

He was replaced by Johnny Williams, who pitched three scoreless innings and struck out five, but the damage was done. (Johnny, the future major leaguer, had not pitched in over two months, and I have no idea why. He pitched fine in the early part of the season - surely they could have used him during their long losing streak?)

The final score was Kamehameha 6, Punahou 2. Dick Reuter was "in fine form", striking out 11, and giving up but two hits and one walk. 

Lota, Kam third baseman, had a good game, going 1-for-3 with a run scored, a stolen base, and flawless play in the field, but the Advertiser did not approve of his fashion, declaring that he "ought to be presented with a cap. The big, flappy felt hat he wears is neither pretty nor suitable."

The second game was a great one. Leslie blanked St. Louis almost to the end - the Diamond Heads had a 2-0 lead going into the top of the ninth. If they won, St. Louis, Diamond Head, and Kamehameha would all be bunched together at 5-3 in a three-way tie for first. But the Saints had other plans. Akoni Louis led off the top of the ninth with a single. Lo On sacrificed him to 2nd and Bruns singled him to third and then stole second himself - men on second and third, one out. Paddy Gleason hit an easy fly to center, but Olmos and Jonah, in center and left, "both did the after you Gaston stunt," and the ball fell to earth between them. 

From the comic master Fred Opper: Alphonse and Gaston.

Louis scored, Bruns made third, and Gleason made first, and stole second shortly after. Louis Soares sacrificed Bruns home and Gleason to third, and suddenly the score was tied at two. Clown Leslie unleashed a "wild, low pitch" that blew by Diamond Head catcher Sam Davis, Gleason scored, and St. Louis was up 3-2. Bushnell set down the Jewels easily in the bottom of the ninth, and St. Louis maintained their sole possession of first place. The Diamond Heads, two games behind St. Louis with but one game left to play, were mathematically eliminated from the pennant. All their hard work and steady improvement had come to naught. But the Kams still had a chance - if they won on August 24 and St. Louis lost, both would be tied at 6-3.

There was a good crowd at the final doubleheader. Both games were rematches of the previous week: Kam-Pun in the first game, and Diamond Head-St. Louis in the second. 

Advertiser, 1907-8-25, p.13. The Advertiser had been using this picture for a few years.

Johnny Williams started for Punahou, as he should have for the last two months, and Kamehameha managed just four hits off him. Punahou was up 4-0 after two innings and never looked back. Final score: Punahou 7, Kamehameha 2. At least the Puns went out with a bang.

The second game, between St. Louis and Diamond Head, was meaningless, as St. Louis had already clinched the pennant, and a bit of a farce. St. Louis won 17-8. It was Diamond Head's fourth straight loss. St. Louis made seven errors, and Diamond Head made twelve. When St. Louis and Diamond Head played on June 22, neither team made a single error. The game fattened some batting averages, and that was all. (Though Bushnell's pitching stats took a hit from the game, his hitting stats were bolstered: batting from the cleanup spot, he went two-for-four, doubled, and scored four runs.) Bill Hampton was lent to Diamond Head to catch, as Sam Davis, the regular catcher for the Jewels, was absent. In that way "Hamp" managed to play eighteen games in an eighteen game season while missing a game.

The Advertiser praised Bert Bower, the league's umpire, saying he officiated in a "manner which has satisfied both players and spectators. He is one of the best men with an indicator who could be found in the United States."

The final standings for the second series:
St. Louis, 7-2
Kamehameha, 5-4
Diamond Head, 4-5
Punahou, 2-7

Final standings for the season:

W  L RS RA                           Manager       Captain

13  5 103  73  St. Louis          Charlie Falk, Pat Gleason
  8 10  93  95  Kamehameha   John Wise, Bill Vannatta

  8 10  83  93  Diamond Head  Eddie Fernandez
  7 11  73  91  Punahou                           , Eddie Desha

As St. Louis won both series, no play-off was needed to determine the championship. St. Louis was clearly the best team in Hawaii, even in a year without Joy.

Stretch your mind back to the very beginning of the season - do you remember when Diamond Head protested Eddie Desha playing for Punahou? Well, more than three months later, after the season was already finished, the league finally responded. Throughout the entire season, a majority of the league's trustees had been abroad. Finally, on August 28, three of the five trustees were present (President Paul Isenberg and Charles Chillingworth were still gone) and the league held a meeting to address the Desha case, among other issues. They ruled that Eddie Desha's signing with Diamond Head and notification  to them that he had decided against playing for them all occurred before April 17, so it was fine that he had played for Punahou all season. 

I have a hard time finding words to express my disbelief that a league would have a majority of its trustees absent through the entire season. Maybe they should have had trustees who actually made the league their priority. Is that really such a crazy idea?

Anyhow... Eddie Desha turned out to be the top player for Punahou, so their determination to field him in the face of a protest held in suspension was wise. He led the league in hits (20), doubles (7), slugging percentage (.500), and total bases (32). He finished second in batting average only to Eddie Fernandez, the manager of Diamond Head, who had protested against Eddie Desha playing with Punahou. 

Eddie Fernandez had a case for the league's most valuable player: he was a shortstop, though not a great one, and led the league in batting average (.328), runs scored (21), and stolen bases (21). 

Nani Lemon, Kamehameha outfielder noted for his small size, loafing before at-bats, and plate discipline, was third in batting average, .283, and second in slugging percentage, .441.

En Sue, St. Louis third baseman, hit .237, which sounds bad, especially as he hit .375 in 1906, but was still well above the league average of .204. He hit three doubles and three triples to tie Nani Lemon in slugging percentage. 

Andy Bushnell tied for the league lead in runs scored, with 21, despite hitting .194 without power or stolen bases. I don't get it. 

The top ten batters:

.394, Johnny Aylett, cf, St. Louis, 13 for 33 (did not qualify for batting title)
.328, Eddie Fernandez, ss, Diamond Head, 
.313, Eddie Desha, 3b-p, Punahou, 20 for 64
.283, Nani Lemon, lf, Kamehameha, 17 for 60
.283, Jones, catcher, Kamehameha, 15 for 53
.273, Darcy, 2b-lf, Diamond Head, 15 for 55 
.270, Bill Hampton, p-3b-c, Punahou, 17 for 63
.254, George Bruns, c-lf, St. Louis, 17 for 67
.242, Miller, ss, Kamehameha, 16 for 66
.239, Bill Vannatta, 2b, Kamehameha, 16 for 67

Evers, St. Louis shortstop, led the league with four triples and and five sacrifice hits, and was the best fielding shortstop by FAR.

Here's my list of Gold Glovers, based on stats and reputation:

                                                   G  PO A E DP FLD PB  League fielding at position:
C  St. Louis * Louis Soares       10  64 21 1 1  .988 1      .974 (with average of .67 PB/ G)
1b St. Louis * Pat Gleason        15 135  1 5 6  .965         .952
2b St. Louis * Jimmy Williams   11  15 19 1 1  .971         .919
SS St. Louis * Evers                  15  40 43 8 3  .912        .851
3b Diamond * Eddie Desha        8  14   9  4 0  .852        .805  (No particularly good choice)
LF Diamond * Jonah                 11 16   1  2 0  .895         .880 
CF St. Louis * Johnny Aylett    10  16  1  0  0 1.000       .893
RF St. Louis * Akoni Louis      14  19  2  2  0  .913        .851
P   Punahou * Bill Hampton       9  12 41  0 3 1.000       .965

It's easy to see that much of St. Louis' success came from their fielding. The Advertiser noted on June 15 that  "All tales to the contrary, notwithstanding, the secret of the St. Louis success is team work. They play together better than any of the other teams. This is just contrary to what has generally been accepted, but it is true just the same." You can see it in their stats. They turned 13 double plays in eighteen games, five more than any other team, and their .931 fielding percentage was rivaled only by Punahou's .925. 

One thing confuses me terribly about the fielding stats I imperfectly compiled: The league fielding average was .918, far below the 1907 MLB average of .958, but the average for pitchers in the Honolulu League was .965, well above the 1907 MLB average of .948. I assume the difference lies somewhere in the scoring methods, but I have no idea what the difference is.

The top pitcher was easily Andy Bushnell, who was 10-3, allowed 3.59 runs per nine innings, and threw three shutouts. Paul Burns, the primary pitcher for St. Louis in the first half, was 3-1 with a 3.65 RA/9, and led the league with a WHIP of 0.83 - he allowed but 12 walks and 25 hits in 44.1 innings. Much of the success of the St. Louis pitchers, of course, must be credited to the excellent defense behind them.

Dick Reuter, Kamehameha, was the workhorse of the league, leading in losses (8), strikeouts (112), innings (131), starts and games pitched (15), hits (95), runs (74), and complete games (15). He had a very good season; his mediocre RA of 5.08 and win-loss of 7-8 were fueled by the Kams' terrible fielding: their fielding percentage was .902, ten points worse than any other team, and twenty-nine points worse than St. Louis. 

Early in the season people were worrying that Punahou was conniving their way to the pennant by hoarding pitchers - they need not have worried. Eddie Desha was terrible, and Bill Hampton was mediocre (3-7, 4.69 RA). Johnny Williams was very good, with a 3-2 record and league-leading 3.56 RA, but was used too infrequently to save Punahou's season.

Bill Chillingworth was the primary Diamond Head pitcher until June 15 - after that, he pitched one inning for the rest of the year. He was okay, with a 2-4 record, 39 strikeouts against 11 walks in 48 innings, and a 4.69 RA, but then Robert Leslie got hot and Chillingworth was forgotten. Leslie was ineffective for most of the second half, and finished with a 5.11 RA, worse than Chillingworth. He led the league in walks (54 - 17 more than anyone else) and wild pitches (10 - six more than anyone else) in just 104 innings. Through it all he was held in high regard - for some reason people couldn't grasp that despite the no-hitter and speedy fastball, he was not actually a good pitcher.

If you would like to see the complete stats I compiled for the 1907 Honolulu League, here they are:
https://1drv.ms/x/s!Ako34EwWdHgA5xOmsL7qOa6g4Wt3?e=7SY2rL
I will warn you: the pitching stats are slightly off in a couple places (I need to fix that), and the fielding stats don't add up perfectly, so there must be a few small mistakes somewhere. I'm just not sure where. 

And in case you care as much about finances as I do, here are the financial stats:

The treasurer of the league, H.M. Whitney, presented the financial statement of the league for the 1907 season at the meeting of August 30. The Trustee's total gross receipts were $2,553.90, and its expenditures were $2,407.94, "leaving a balance in the treasury of $145.96." 

Gate receipts were detailed from every game of the year. I think it's fascinating to be able to compare attendance at the various games.

As tickets cost 25 or 50 cents, paid attendance never reached 1,000, and was usually far lower. The crowds for the Honolulu League were dwarfed by those of the Riverside League, which played in Honolulu on Sundays and charged nothing for attendance. I'll write something about the Riverside League in the future. 

The trustees' "disbursements": 

(All these figures were printed in the Evening Bulletin, 1907-8-30, p.11)

I believe the "paid league in full" item refers to the share of the money distributed among the teams. 

Thus ended the 1907 Honolulu League, with $145.96 in the league treasury and St. Louis as king. 

A year without Joy: part two

  I wrote a crazy long post about the 1907 Honolulu League season which I feel compelled to break up;  this is the second part of three. 

Part one 

Part two
Part three

On June 1, after four unsuccessful attempts, Diamond Head finally won its first game. Eddie Fernandez, manager and shortstop of the Jewels, stole four bases, made three hits, and scored three runs, while left fielder Darcy stole four, hit two, and scored two as the Jewels beat Kamehameha 9-3. 

Eddie Fernandez. Advertiser, 1907-6-09, p.13

After just one home run had been hit the first four doubleheaders of the season, three were made in the Diamond Head-Kamehameha game alone. Bill Vannatta hit one; R. Leslie, Diamond Head first baseman, hit one; and Jones, Kamehameha catcher, hit one. 

Of the four homers that had been hit all year, qualifying their creators for free $5 suits from E.O. Hall & Son, Bill Chillingworth had allowed three of them. He was really doing his part to bolster his opponents' wardrobes. 

In the second game of the doubleheader, Andy Bushnell started his first game for St. Louis, and shutout the Punahou Colts on four hits. It was the first shutout of the season. 

On June 8, Kamehameha beat Punahou 4-0. Reuter scattered seven hits and struck out 10, while Bill Hampton gave up ten hits.

I'm not sure what Bill Hampton is trying to do here, but it doesn't look like he's succeeding at it. Advertiser, 1907-6-09, p.13 

In the second game, St. Louis beat the Diamond Heads in a tight game. The Saints were down 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth when, with Bill Chillingworth on the mound for Diamond Head, shortstop Evers led off with a single, and then Williams hit a grounder to first baseman Leslie, who fumbled it, making it first and third. Williams stole second and then "Akoni" Louis drove them both in with a single to put the Saints ahead 5-4, the final score. The game left St. Louis 5-1, and Diamond Head 1-5. 

Diamond Head would not lose again until July 6. 

On June 11, in a Tuesday doubleheader, St. Louis beat Kamehameha in a loose 11-7 game as the Kams made nine errors, and the Diamond Heads beat Johnnie Williams and Punahoe 7-3, collecting 14 hits. 

Hannah and Ringland, Punahou's right fielder and catcher, respectively, played their last game with Punahou on June 11. They were both members of the Tenth Infantry, which was being transferred to Alaska. 

Ringland had put up the second highest batting average in the league in 1906, with a mark of .380 for Oahu. He had fallen off in hitting in 1907, with a .250 average in seven games, but was still good. Hannah had been three-for-sixteen, but had played errorless ball in right. 

Ringland was replaced as Punahou catcher on June 15 by Charlie B. Lyman, of Oahu College. [Note: The Wikipedia page for Punahou School says that it was known as Oahu College until 1934. If that is true, then the Punahou of 1907 might have been a different school from the current Punahou, because it seems to me looking at newspapers of the time that Punahou School and Oahu College were different institutions. This is all rather confusing...]

Lyman had been playing in Hilo earlier in the year. In May there was voting for the most popular player in Hilo, and as of May 16, Lyman was 1st with 32 votes - 14 more than any one else. 

Lyman was well-regarded as a catcher in his time with Punahou. The Evening Bulletin declared on June 24 that: "Lyman's throwing in the first game was the best that has been seen all season... he [is] a tower of strength to the team." He had thrown out three runners in that first game. Lyman could also contribute offensively, hitting an excellent .261 with six stolen bases in five games, but after June 29 he returned to Hilo and was gone for the rest of the season. 

Major Van Vliet, also of the Tenth Infantry, played his last game at second base for the Diamond Heads on June 15. "A good many of the army people, beside scores of his friends and well wishers, were there to see him play." Van Vliet was rather ancient for a ball player, and hit just .118 in nine games, but he could still "cover ground... like a youngster." 

What cares an army man for father time? Advertiser, 1907-6-16, p.13

The Diamond Heads won Major Van Vliet's last game 7-1 against Reuter and the Kams, pounding out nine hits and stealing seven bases.

The Advertiser wrote on June 22: 

    "The departure of Major Van Vliet and Lieut. Hannah is much regretted; these men have aided materially in giving us good clean sportsmanlike ball. They have accepted defeat or victory with the same grace and the moral effect of their gentlemanly demeanor will not be lost."

In the second game of June 15, Punahous vs. St. Louis, there were three Desha brothers and four Williams brothers on the field. "When Williams as pitcher... threw the ball to Williams' first-base, to put out Williams' base-runner, it was a little confusing to the stranger."

But the Desha is mightier than the Williams. The three Deshas on the Punahous combined to score six runs as the Punahous smacked Evers, St. Louis shortstop pressed into mound duty, for twelve runs. 

Jack Desha. Advertiser, 1907-7-13, p.5

Before the game of June 22, a certain Mr. Whitney filled the baseball field's holes and rolled it flat, hopefully making it a pristine altar conducive to pristine fielding.

It worked. The smallest crowd of the season was in attendance, according to the Evening Bulletin, but they saw two great games.

If only more people had heard the call. Evening Bulletin, 1907-6-20, p.7

In the St. Louis-Diamond Head game, not a single error was made by either team. Just as remarkable as the fielding was the score: Diamond Head 3, St. Louis 1. Earlier in the year, St. Louis had been 5-1 and Diamond Head 1-5, but now the Saints had lost two straight games and the Jewels had won three straight. 

It had been feared for a time that the Diamond Heads would be just as bad in 1907 as the Maile Ilimas had been in 1906. It took a while, but the Diamond Heads didn't give up, and made themselves into a decent team. As the Advertiser wrote on June 15, when the Diamond Heads were still just 2-5: "The Diamond Heads are playing all the time and though they have not a star team, by keeping everlastingly at it, they have developed into a factor in the game. What an improvement over the old Mailes."

Bill Hampton of the Punahous beat Lota of the Kamehamehas 5-2, in another well-played game with just six total errors, and with that, the first series was finished. 

Lota. Advertiser, 1907-7-06, p.6

The final standings of the first series:

St. Louis, 6-3
Punahou, 5-4
Diamond Head, 4-5
Kamehameha, 3-6

St. Louis, Punahou, and Diamond Head all seemed well-positioned for the second half. The Saints, though shaky near the end, were the winners of the first series. Punahou was solid throughout the first half, and the Diamond Heads had finished very strong. Only Kamehameha seemed as if they might be hopeless.

When their ace, Dick Reuter, was pitching well, the Kams could win, and Reuter did have some moments of glory in the first half: On May 18 he struck out 14 Diamond Head batters, and he shutout Punahou with 10 strikeouts and just one walk on June 8. But he'd had even more bad games, giving up 7 runs on opening day to St. Louis, 9 to Punahou on May 25, 9 to Diamond Head on June 1, and 11 to St. Louis on June 11. He just didn't seem consistent enough to base a team's hope on, and the Kams had no good replacement for him. 

Advertiser, 1907-7-29, p.6

Saturday, June 29, opened the second series, and each game was a shocker.

In the first game, Kamehameha absolutely demolished St. Louis 9-0. Reuter struck out nine, walked one, and gave up just four hits to a silent Saint lineup. With regular St. Louis pitcher Paul Burns at third base the whole game, the Kams pounded Andy Bushnell, St. Louis pitcher, for fourteen hits. 

Not what you would have expected from looking at the first half standings.

Kuhina, Kamehameha first baseman, hit the fifth home run of the season off Andy Bushnell. "He drove a liner within about thirty feet of the left-field fence, and on the first bounce the ball was out of the grounds." I guess the Honolulu League didn't have ground-rule doubles. 

Three regulars were missing from the St. Louis lineup. Lo On and En Sue had gone to Hilo. Lo On would be back by the July 6 game and En Sue would be back by July 20. Lo On was mediocre, but En Sue was one of the top power hitters and base runners of the league, and they would dearly miss him. 

The third missing was Evers, their star shortstop. 

Evers was known for his fielding. The Advertiser wrote on 6-08 that: "Evers is the star at short; he has the pick-up and throw of a professional." And he was a solid hitter. He had hit .255 in 1906. But on June 30 the Advertiser reported he would never appear in a St. Louis uniform again. "He demanded a certain sum of money before being willing to go into the game and was asked to turn in his suit. Capt. Gleason and Manager Charlie Falk are to be congratulated on the stand they took. If Evers thinks that he can hold up any of the teams he should be taught differently." 

But the desire to win turned out to be greater than the desire for amateurism. Evers was back at short the next game.

In the second game of June 29, Robert "Clown" Leslie of Diamond Head no-hit Punahou. 

Leslie had been dominant in his prior two outings - he gave up just one hit in six scoreless innings of relief on June 15, and gave up three hits and one run against St. Louis the previous week. His control was a little iffy - he walked five in both of those prior outings, and he walked four and hit a batter in his no-hitter - but that didn't matter too much if nobody could hit him. 

In the three games from June 15 to June 29, Leslie had allowed four hits and one run in 24 innings. He also walked fourteen, but a good fastball covereth up a multitude of sins. 

Hampton also pitched a great game in his defeat at the hands of Leslie- the score of the game was 2-0. Hampton struck out eleven and didn't walk a single batter - in contrast to Leslie, who "only" struck out seven, and had walked four batters. Tough luck for Hampton.

Diamond Head catcher Sam Davis scored the only two runs of the game with a triple off Hampton in the first inning. After the game, "a certain Senator, who belongs to the Diamond Heads," gave Davis $10 for his hit. He had wanted to give Davis $20, but Davis refused.

Random note: The Honolulu Rapid Transit Co. giveth and the Honolulu Rapid Transit Co. taketh away. The Advertiser noted on June 29 that the Rapid Transit Co. was now providing free rides to Honolulu League players to and from their games. But I'm not sure that was enough to make things right for Kamehameha. They had lost their third baseman, Fern, because "he is employed on the day shift for the Rapid Transit Co. and cannot get off." Fern was just 3-for-25 in his six games with the Kams in 1907, but two of his three hits went for extra bases, and he was a solid fielder. 

Before the Fourth of July doubleheader, it was announced that Paul Burns, St. Louis' star pitcher, had quit. No explanation was given.

Now St. Louis had just one pitcher to rely all their hopes upon: Andy Bushnell, who the Kams had trounced for nine runs and fourteen hits the previous Saturday, and who had given up six runs in his start before that. Bushnell had had some good moments too - he also shutout Punahou on four hits, June 1 - but having him as your only pitcher, with no fallbacks, was not ideal. 

The Diamond Heads won the first game of July Fourth, beating the Kams 6-5. Robert Leslie allowed twelve hits to the Kams, as opposed to no hits in his previous start, but still managed to win. The Advertiser noted that "Leslie fields his position better than any pitcher in the league. He is certainly making good."

The Diamond Heads had now won five straight games, and six of their last seven. Their only loss in that stretch had been by one run, a 5-4 defeat at the hands of St. Louis. Their 2-0 record was first in the second series, one game ahead of St. Louis. The Advertiser opined that "it is dollars to doughnuts [the Diamond Heads] win the second series." 

St. Louis won their game 3-2 against the Puns in a rather silly fashion. All three runs they scored came in the third inning due to two "inexcusable" errors made by Lowrey, the Puns' second baseman. Those were the only two errors made by Punahou all game.

Bushnell pitched well. He struck out eight, walked two, and gave up seven hits, while his defense played well behind him, making but a single error. 

Evers was back in the lineup like nothing had happened. He went 0-for-3 and made an error, but scored a run.

Evers. Advertiser, 1907-7-06, p.6

Free-booters. Advertiser, 1907-7-06, p.6

Bateman, who caught a great game by Bill Hampton for Punahou, was the catcher and captain of the Twentieth Infantry team, as such being a kind of successor to the soldier-catcher Ringland. He was a good fielder but no batter; he led off but went 0-for-4, and did not appear in another game. 

In the seventh inning, Punahou left fielder Dave Desha hit a foul ball into the grandstand which broke the nose of a Chinese fan. 

A year without Joy: part one

 I wrote a crazy long post about the 1907 Honolulu League season which I feel compelled to break up; this is the first part of three. 
Part one 

Part two
Part three

The Honolulu Athletic Club Reds had utterly dominated the Honolulu Baseball League in 1906. They won the first half of the season with a record of 7-1, and the second half with a record of 7-3. Their success was fueled by pitcher Barney Joy, who was the league's best pitcher and best batter that year by a mile. At the plate, he led the league in batting average (.438 - 63 points higher than anyone else), in hits (32), doubles (5), and triples (7). On the mound, he led the league in wins and winning percentage with a 13-4 record, strikeouts with 159, and runs allowed per nine innings with 3.11 - the pitcher's triple crown. 

He was a wonder.

 But in 1907 Joy signed to pitch for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. The Seals gained a starter, but the Honolulu Athletic Club lost its star. (It could have been worse; the Seals were also going to sign En Sue, star third baseman for the Honolulu Athletic Club and star sprinter for the Chinese Athletic Club, but ended up passing on him when they decided they had too many unexperienced players on their roster.) 

Honolulu Advertiser, 1907-2-17, p.13

San Francisco Call and Post, 1906-10-19, p.6

With Joy gone, the H.A.C. changed its name to the St. Louis College Alumni team, as a number of them had gone to St. Louis School, a Roman Catholic prep school in Honolulu founded in 1846 that still exists today. (Alumni notable in sports include recent major leaguers Benny Agbayani, Chad Santos, Brandon League, Rico Garcia, Jordan Yamamoto, Ka'ai Tom, and star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.)

The H.A.C. had lost its star and changed its name, but around the league even greater changes were taking place. The 1906 league had been a five-team affair, with the H.A.C. Reds, the Punahou Colts, the Maile Ilima Zebras, the Oahus, and the Kamehamehas. 

The Oahus, who had finished second overall in 1906 with a record of 10-7, sold their franchise to the Diamond Head Athletic Club for $500. The Diamond Head Athletic Club was described by the Honolulu Advertiser as "one of the largest purely athletic associations in the city." It was best established in soccer, football, track and swimming, but its baseball team had won the championship of the Winter League in 1906. (The Winter League was only for players who had not played in the Honolulu League; its goal was to give younger/more inexperienced players a chance to play.)

 The Diamond Head team seemed to have a fair chance at glory - and profit - in the Honolulu League.

 The Advertiser reported on January 25 that:     

    "It was stated that figuring on last season's gate receipts the Diamond Heads might safely count on $350 a year as their share of the season's profits. The expenses of running a team for the season will be about $200, which will leave a net profit of $150. The franchise has six years to run, so that investment looks, at this distance, to be a good one." 

Notice the low expense figure for running a team. In the same article, the Chairman of the Diamond Head Athletic Club exhorted his club to "do all they could to keep the game clean from the taint of professionalism." No pesky player payroll needed in the Honolulu League.

On April 12 the Honolulu League decided to buy back Maile Ilima's franchise for $500 so they could have a four team league. There had been rumors of replacing Maile Ilima with either the Honolulu Rapid Transit Co.'s team, the Ding Dings, or the Tenth Infantry team, but nothing came of it. After three months of wrangling, from January to April, the league line-up was finally decided: St. Louis, Punahou, Kamehameha, and Diamond Head. 

John Wise: manager of Kamehameha, Hawaiian politician, and member of the unsuccessful 1895 armed uprising against the blatantly illegitimate Republic of Hawaii. Advertiser, 1907-5-19, p.13

St. Louis, Punahou, and Kamehameha were all prep-school alumni teams. St. Louis was founded in 1846 (see above), Punahou was founded in 1841, and Kamehameha was founded in 1887. All still exist today. (Kolten Wong, former St. Louis Cardinal second baseman, went to Kamehameha.) 

The alumni teams were not exclusively for alumni, but their cores were made of alumni. As an athletic club, Diamond Head was the odd man out.

The schedule was drawn up by mid-April. Double-headers would be played every Saturday from May 11 to August 17, for an eighteen-game season. Bert Bowers would umpire all the games, C.L. Cutting would keep score, and the league president would miss all of it. 

Advertiser, 1907-5-26, p.13

The league president was Daniel Paul Rice Isenberg, known as Paul Jr., the son of a German businessman who had owned sugarcane plantations in Hawaii. Paul Isenberg attempted to resign at the league meeting in early March because he would be on a trip to Europe for several months of the season, but Charlie Falk, St. Louis manager, proposed a resolution keeping him as president, and it was passed. 

Why, I cannot hope to fathom. 

Paul Jr. was a big dude. Hawaiian Star, 1907-3-07, p.6

Isenberg did indeed a leave for Europe April 23, "for a visit of several months", and the season started without him on May 11. The teams would be playing for the Senior League cup, "a handsome trophy presented to the Honolulu Baseball League by E.O. Hall & Son."

Honolulu Advertiser, 1907-5-11, p.6

The Honolulu Advertiser wrote on May 11:

    "The lemmo man lies in waiting in the grandstand's graceful shade, the fat policemen are guarding the gentlemen in the press box, the peanuts are crisp and salty.

    "All is ready.

    "Play ball!"

(Lemmo was a species of lemonade, conceived of and sold by G.A.E. Miller, a Honolulu entrepreneur/street-preacher.)

Opening day went well. "The band was there, the girls were there, in fact everybody seemed to be there." In the first game, St. Louis beat Kamehameha 7-1 as Paul Burns, St. Louis' replacement for Barney Joy, threw a 1-hitter and didn't walk a single batter. (Dick Reuter, Burns' mound opponent, hit a single in the third for the only hit. ) Burns was just a rookie, but had good speed and control.

The Punahous beat the Diamond Heads 5-1 in the second game, looking like a championship team. Five-ninths of their line-up came from just two families.

Of the five Desha brothers who played baseball, Punahou had Eddie, Dave, and Jack in their opening day lineup. (George, who had hit .307 for Punahou the last year, played in Hilo in 1907. W. Desha would play two games for Punahou later in the year.) The Deshas were speedsters: pitcher-third baseman Eddie Desha stole ten bases in 1906 and 12 in 1907, shortstop Jack Desha stole 16 bases in 1906 and 11 in 1907 (while hitting below .160 both years), and George had stolen 14 bases in 1906. There were a lot of stolen bases in the Honolulu League, but stealing more than 10 in a season was still very good.

Of the Desha brothers, Eddie was the controversial one, at least in May 1907. After the first game, Diamond Head manager Eddie Fernandez submitted a protest, complaining that Desha had violated the rule against players signing contracts with two teams. There was no doubt that Desha had signed contracts with both Diamond Head and Punahou before the season; the trouble was figuring out when he had signed with Diamond Head.

The rule banning players signing with two different teams was only passed on April 17, 1907. If Desha had signed his contract with Diamond Head before April 17, signing with Punahou after changing his mind would be fine (it was reasoned.)  It would have been easy to figure out when Desha signed the contract - except that the Diamond Head contract had no date on it. Desha claimed he signed with Diamond Head before April 17, before he changed his mind and signed with Punahou - Eddie Fernandez claimed Desha signed after. The question was which one was telling the truth. 

The league's response to the protest was... silence. A majority of the trustees were abroad, and a decision could not be made. As things turned out, they would wait a long time for a response from the league.

Did the Honolulu League higher-ups have their act together or what? 

But back to Honolulu League families...There were five Williams brothers, and none of them would hit a lick in 1907. Punahou had Alfred as their shortstop, and Johnnie as a pitcher/infielder; they hit .143 and .136 respectively. Johnnie would later become the first Hawaiian to reach the majors, losing two games for the Detroit Tigers in 1914, but on opening day 1907 he was just a seventeen-year-old. He still managed to three-hit the Diamond Heads, and collect three hits himself. (He would only get five more hits the rest of the season, in 13 games.) 

Meanwhile, St. Louis had Jimmy Williams at second base (.205), William Williams in rightfield for three games (.182), and Diamond Head had Harry Williams in left field for one game. (He went 0-for-4.) In 174 at-bats, the Williamses combined for zero extra base hits. 

To be fair, the Honolulu League was a serious pitcher's league in 1907: the league as a whole batted .204 with a slugging percentage of .257. But it was definitely not a good year for Williamses. 

St. Louis got off to a hot start, winning their first three games. On May 18, they beat Punahou 6-4, and on May 25 they beat Diamond Head 7-2. Burns pitched a gem against Diamond Head, striking out 10 and allowing three hits. One spectator said the Diamond Heads were "worse than the Mailes." (The Mailes had lost all their twelve games in 1906.) Harsh words, yes, but not undeserved. The Diamond Heads were 0-3, and had collected a total of 13 hits and five runs. Bill Chillingworth had pitched all of their games, and was adequate, but certainly no match for St. Louis. 

En Sue, St. Louis' "doughty little Chinese" third baseman, led off the game with the first home run of the season, entitling him to the $5 suit from E.O. Hall & Son given to home run hitters. 

Pat Gleason, captain and first baseman for St. Louis. Advertiser, 1907-5-26, p.13.

The Punahou Colts, meanwhile, were 2-1, and acting as if they were trying to corner the market on pitchers. Not only did they have Johnnie Williams and Eddie Desha, who had a 6-6 record in 1906; on May 18 they added Bill Hampton, who the previous season, pitching for Oahu, had won eight games, lost seven, allowed a scanty 3.24 runs per nine innings (just .13 behind Barney Joy), walked just 23 batters in 128 innings, and led the league in shutouts with three. He was "the headiest pitcher in Hawaii," according to the Advertiser, June 3. Of the four pitchers who had pitched over 20 innings in 1906 and were still in the league, the Punahous now had three of them. (Dick Reuter was the only exception.)

The Honolulu Advertiser thought this was hardly cricket. "It is to be hoped that [Punahou's] efforts to secure a leadpipe cinch on the pennant will be frustrated. This sort of thing is not looked on with favor by fair-minded adherents of the game." (1907-5-18, p.5) Whether the Advertiser's prayers were answered shall be seen.

Advertiser, 1907-5-25, p.6 (In his pitching debut of the season, Hampton would allow eight runs, but the Punahous scored nine so he got the win. 

Besides giving the Punahous three solid pitchers while they only played once a week, the signing of Bill Hampton also helped wreck a league in Wailuku. Before the Punahous grabbed him, Hampton had been playing infield for the Kahuluis of the league in Wailuku, Maui. Hampton's departure to Honolulu, along with an injury to the Kahuluis' pitcher, the frustration of playing their hearts out but not receiving any pay for it, and the players having to pay $15 to get to and from Wailuku, was a factor in the Kahuluis withdrawing from the league. And after they withdrew, the league fell apart. 

But look at it on the bright side: "The churchgoers will hail the dissolution with especial delight, for there will be no more hideous noises heard at Wells' Park between the hours of two and four in the afternoon on Sunday." And the churchgoers were very serious about preserving the silence of the Sabbath.

For the game of April 28, in which Hampton played at second and the Kahuluis trounced the Waikapus 14-2, there was a large crowd but no cheering. There had been "a letter addressed to the association asking that all noise be stopped." The crowd was dutiful, but the hush sounded more like a funeral than a ball game. 

St. Louis finally lost Thursday, May 30, in spectacular fashion, to the Kamehamehas. The Saints scored three runs in the first inning and four in the third to take a sudden 7-0 lead. But then they fell apart. "The Saints began to make errors and they were wonders at it after they started." The Kams scored four in the fourth, and in the fifth inning Andy Bushnell came in from left field to replace Paul Burns. Joe Fernandez went out in left, and immediately "misjudged a fly which [Nani] Lemon stretched into a three-bagger and which also brought [H.] Sheldon home." En Sue made a poor throw on a grounder, scoring Lemon, and suddenly the Kams were just down by one. 

The Kams finally tied the game at seven-all in the seventh on two singles, a stolen base, and a groundout. Then in the ninth H. Sheldon made second on an error by Lo On, St. Louis right fielder, got to third on a fly to right, and scored on a passed ball by George Bruns. 

St. Louis was not invincible after all. 

Pat Gleason, St. Louis captain, and Charlie Falk, St. Louis manager. Advertiser, 1907-6-02, p.13

Bill Vannatta, captain and second baseman of Kamehameha, wearing his famous black hat. 

Advertiser, 1907-6-02, p.13

The same day, Punahou beat Diamond Head 4-3, as Johnnie Williams allowed just four hits. St. Louis and Punahou were now tied at 3-1 in the standings.