A hard wind blows in Dalton

Gaylord Anderson, the catcher for Dalton, Nebraska, caught three outfield flies in a game on May 22, 1932. I learned this in John Hix' Strange As It Seems cartoon of August 20, 1932, displayed alongside human interest notes about monstrous Czechoslovakian carpets and human leopards from Liberia who attacked other humans with iron claws. 

A note below the cartoon explained that, incredible as it might sound, the wind was blowing in so furiously that fateful day in May that three Sydney [sic] batters' towering flies hit past second were driven back home, into the tender waiting catcher's mitt of Anderson.

Classic Great Depression. 

With a little searching I found that Dalton played in the Wheatbelt League in 1932, centered in Cheyenne County, Nebraska. Dalton's population of 453 was about par for the league, to give you an idea of its scale. But in those days even villages in middle-of-nowhere Nebraska had staunch weekly newspapers, and Dalton's team was covered by the Dalton Delegate.

While its account of Dalton's game of May 22 doesn't mention Anderson's great feat, it does note that "the game was played in a high wind from the southeast that made playing almost impossible, and anything but enjoyable for spectators." I am sure.

Dalton lost that game 11-6 to Sidney as the two teams combined to make 25 errors in the tempest. The devil was in these details:

I want to take a moment to acknowledge that Sidney's shortstop was named Clinginpeel.

The wind had been just as bad the previous Sunday: in that game, while Dalton and Gurley combined to make just 18 errors, don't go thinking it was some kind of pitchers' duel - Gurley won 23 to 22.  In case the apocalyptic winds weren't enough, it was so cold "the players had difficulty in holding the ball." The Delegate admitted the game was "everything disagreeable." The only bright spot was the umpiring (!). (The decisions had to have been good - there were four umpires.)

I feel really sorry for whoever had to put this box score together. 

Dalton's 1932 season was more grotesque than great; the team would finish with a 1-13 record. Anderson scored two runs in its lone win (a 5-4 squeaker).


With a little sifting on Family Search I found that Gaylord's full name was Gaylord LeRoy Anderson, and he was born on March 22, 1911, to Oliver Francis Anderson and Ellen Caroline Iverson. Anderson's father died in Exeter, Nebraska, in 1917, and his mother was remarried in 1918 to a Robert C. Shannon. 

Gaylord came to Dalton in 1927 after his mother died to stay with his uncle and aunt and their six children. His step-father died in 1930. 

Gaylord would himself die in January 30, 1971, in Los Angeles. 

That's his life as told by records. A kind of pointillist portrait of a period in his life can be built with scraps from the Dalton Delegate; having to fill eight pages every Friday with the doings of 450 people, the news had to be scraped thin. The Delegate told tales of visits and minor ailments and the other small excitements of ordinary lives. Being unused to that kind of reporting I find the normalcy of their notes kind of surreal. 

Here's a crazy quilt of "news" about Gaylord Anderson, strange to me by its very prosaicness. 

"Celebrated his eighth birthday anniversary with the help of seventeen of his little friends." (March 28, 1919.) 10 boys attended a surprise party for his twelfth birthday. They "had a most enjoyable time with games." (March 30, 1923.) He was absent from school. (April 13, 1923.) He came from Chicago to visit his relatives, the Frandsens, in Dalton after his mother passed away. He saved a lot of money going by bus instead of train. (June 17, 1927.) He decided to stay in Dalton and enroll in its high school. (August 19, 1927.) He worked in his uncle's drug store when not at school. (September 2, 1927.) He was "quite ill with the flu and complications" and "had his throat lanced for quinsy." (December 16, 1927.) He played Tubby Hays in "Smile, Rodney, Smile," a "Laugh Comedy in Three Acts" put on by the "Junior Class of the Dalton High School." (March 30, 1928.) His tonsils were removed. (July 13, 1928.) His watch, a "good timepiece," was stolen from his open locker during football practice. (November 23, 1928.) 

HEALTH WARNING: If this is boring you to death, you should quit reading now because it's like this to the end and I don't want you to die too.

But if you know what's good for you, you will bask in the magnificent minutiae. 

He acted as a judge in a debate on ''Immigration'' in his 12th grade ''Democracy'' class. (December 14, 1928.) When the results for the school popularity contest came out he was the boy with the prettiest hair. (February 8, 1929.) He played second base for Dalton high. (April 12, 1929.) He graduated from high school, one of six boys out of a class of fifteen. The class motto was "Launched But Not Anchored." A sermon was preached at the graduation by the Rev. E.E. Dagley, "new pastor of the Presbyterian church," upon the theme of "Keeping Pace With the Spirit of Tomorrow." (May 10, 1929.)

He began catching for the Dalton town team, which played in the Central League that year. He turned a double play while catching on June 16, catching a foul far behind the plate and throwing out a baserunner who was trying to go from first to second. (June 21, 1929.) He was one of three Dalton players to be struck upon the head with baseballs in a 14-13 win against Angora. (July 5, 1929.) 

"See Gaylord Anderson - and let him take your order for a made-to-measure suit, made by the Becker Tailoring Co., Cincinnati. Satisfaction guaranteed. New swatches to choose from. All the new shades and weaves.

    Prices $24.50   $29.50   $34.50   $39.50

        Also a special trousers line, two pairs for $9.90. 

        Order now and have your new clothes for Easter." (March 14, 1930.)

He was assessed $25 in taxes, a figure tied for third-lowest out of the many assessed in Dalton village. I guess not many people were letting him take their orders for made-to-measure suits. (June 20, 1930.) H.C. Blome drove Gaylord and four other Dalton lads and lasses to Lincoln State University for school. (September 19, 1930.) He returned home for Christmas break. (December 26, 1930.) A group of his friends held a dance for him at Frandsen hall; as "his finances are not weighting him down... his friends decided to help him along." He was studying to be a pharmacist. (December 26, 1930.) A large crowd raised $58 for him. (January 2, 1931.) He was held up while working at a "service station." The rascals made off with $16. (March 13, 1931.) 

He got a job in Lincoln, and consequently was not expected home. (June 12, 1931.) He hitchhiked from Lincoln back to Dalton but only stayed a week; school loomed large. He had worked at a cafe in the summer, and would work there again part-time in the school year. (August 28, 1931.) Spent Thursday night at the Bill Schuler home. (September 4, 1931.) He returned to college (September 4, 1931), but he may have dropped out after the fall semester because he attended a spring-time birthday party in Dalton. (March 18, 1932.) 

He got a dual job as truck driver and station attendant for the Western Nebraska Oil Co (June 24, 1932), ate dinner at the Bill Schuler home on Thursday (August 5, 1932), and resigned from his job with the Western Nebraska Oil Co. (June 16, 1933.) Went to Denver for work. (June 30, 1933.) Rode the 200 miles back home with a friend by box car, not quite legally. (July 28, 1933.) 

He applied to the Navy and was accepted; he reported in Denver. (September 15, 1933.) He returned from San Diego where he was stationed. "Gaylord likes his work and states it is pretty much of a revelation to him." (December 12, 1933.) Both the sentiment and the prose of that quote are kind of sad.  He returned to San Diego with two local boys who were also in the Navy; they thought (hoped?) they'd "be sent aboard a battleship... with the chances favorable for a trip to the Orient." (December 29, 1933.)

Dalton's young 'uns threw a party for him at Frandsen hall before he returned to the navy. (December 21, 1934.) 

Silent-film intertitle: FIFTEEN YEARS PASS. Cut to scene. 

"Gaylord Anderson of Los Angeles, California, visited his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Frandsen and family from Thursday evening until Saturday evening when he went to Denver to join his wife and family. They planed [sic] to have a week each place, but a break down at Elks, Nev., delayed them five days. His uncle and aunt Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Schuler of Bridgeport accompanied him to Denver." (August 19, 1949.) Notice how he had become a stranger to the newspaper that had known him so intimately twenty years before? 

The Delegate wheezed its last breath in 1951, twenty years before Anderson. It was survived by 400-odd newspaper-less citizens, a number that dwindled to 284 by the 2020 census. Gaylord was survived by fewer people but I bet he got more flowers.

Long Beach Press-Telegram, 1971-2-02, p. 29

(Where'd his family go? The Delegate said he had a wife and family in 1949 but neither the obit nor his page on Family Search show any signs of them. Was the Delegate mistaken? Had it really lost touch with him that badly?)

Smoky Joe Lotz: Believe It or Not

Joe Lotz, known respectfully as "Smoky Joe" and "Iron Joe," pitched professionally from 1911 to 1921. With his fine fastball he did many wondrous things in semi-pro ball and the low minor league, but he lacked the zeal that could have made him a star; he did not hone his craft, pitched but briefly in the majors, and had a career record of 65-67 in the minors. But his career outside pro ball really was remarkable; some of his individual games were almost incredible, and he appeared in Ripley's Believe It or Not in 1932 for his prolific pitching. 

The story of his career begins in 1910, when he was nineteen years old. He'd pitched a little before then for his college and hometown teams, but without distinction. In the spring of 1910 he pitched for Creighton College of Omaha and also tried out for the Omaha Rourkes of the Western League; the Rourkes offered him a contract but he refused. In the summer he pitched for amateur teams in Omaha and for town teams all over Nebraska and Iowa, and lucky was the opponent that could manage even a half-dozen hits off of him. He dominated his opponents so thoroughly it was almost unbelievable. His success gave him only petty greatness, true, greatness in the context of sandlots and country diamonds, but any kind of greatness is a heady wine for one newly-fledged. 

Omaha World-Herald, 1910-6-26, p. 7

He pitched for two Omaha amateur teams in 1910: the Farrell Syrups and the Storz Triumphs. He pitched for the Syrups for the first half of the season. On May 8th, with a purse of $100 at stake, he struck out 22 Hanscom Park batters. On June 5th, against the Hollys, he struck out 17 batters and didn't allow a hit. He pitched a couple of games for the Triumphs near the end of the season and was good, but not quite so otherworldly. The Farrell Syrups and the Storz Triumphs were captained by brothers, Frank Quigley for the Triumphs and Willard Quigley for the Syrups, and they shared a rivalry. The teams tied against each other early in the season and when they rematched on July 31, Lotz beat the Triumphs 2-1, driving in both runs on a triple.

Frank Quigley. Omaha Daily News, 1910-9-04, p.35

He had an even greater day on September 18. Pitching for Plattsmouth against Tabor in a tournament, he threw a no-hit, no-walk game, striking out 16 of the hapless Tabor batsmen. He would have had a perfect game if his team hadn't made four errors behind him. 

Great as those games were, this post was prompted by a sequence of three of his performances that I find even more amazing.

On June 28 he pitched for Pocahontas, Iowa, against Pomeroy, Iowa, before a crowd of 1500. Pomeroy scored two runs in the second inning and Pocahontas scored two runs in the third, and that was the scoring for the day. Lotz traded zeroes with the opposing pitcher, Liddell, until the game was called on account of darkness after 20 innings. Liddell struck out 19 batters, but Lotz struck out 36! (Or 38. Accounts differ.) And he just got better as the game went on: he struck out the side in the 17th, 18th, and 19th innings.

The teams met on July 16 to play off their tie. The game was scoreless until the twelfth inning when Pomeroy won on an error; even in loss Lotz struck out 18 batters. If you count the second game as an extension of the first game, which some newspapers did, Lotz struck out 54 batters in one 32 inning game. Phew.

Omaha World-Herald, 1910-7-17, p. 35

The teams met a third and final time on July 22, and Lotz beat Pomeroy 2-1 in 15 innings before a "large crowd." He struck out 22 batters and gave up five hits. 

In his three games for Pocahontas against Pomeroy, Joe Lotz struck out 76 batters in 47 innings and allowed just 14 hits. For the seven games of his in 1910 I have strikeout numbers for, he struck out 145 batters. 

After a season like that the Omaha Rourkes were not going to let him get away a second time. He pitched twice for them in a post-season exhibition series against the Sioux City Packers, Western League champions of 1910, and won both games.

Omaha Daily News, 1911-2-26, p. 15

He kept his pitching arm in shape over the winter by bowling, and made the Rourkes' roster out of spring training. He wasn't a big fish in a small pond anymore; he was pitching in the Western League, one rung beneath the major leagues. To dominate there he would have to take a giant leap: a grand jump across the gaping abyss of mediocrity onto the proud rock of greatness, if I may be permitted a purple phrase. 

Omaha World-Herald, 1911-3-22, p. 5

He didn't make it. By mid-June the Rourkes were sick of his losing and planned to banish him to the Rock Island Islanders of the Three-I League. He refused to report and was suspended for his stubbornness, but was reinstated after just ten days in the desperate hope that he could bail out the Rourkes' disintegrating pitching staff. He spent the rest of the year with the Rourkes but never found his footing. His record for the season was 6-9, with 92 walks issued in 27 games. 

He started out the 1912 season with the Rourkes, but after two games pitched and two games lost he was sent to the Kearney Kapitalists of the class D Nebraska State League. He didn't make the Rourkes' roster in 1913 and spent another season with the Kapitalists, winning 16 games and losing 14. 

In 1914 he finally broke through. Pitching for the champion Oshkosh Indians of the class C Wisconsin-Illinois League, he won the pitchers' triple crown with 24 wins, 267 strikeouts, and a 1.96 ERA. By his new-found success he earned both his nickname of "Smoky Joe" and a ticket to the major leagues. On the strength of his fastball, his canniness, and his "coolness under fire," Smoky Joe was signed to a St. Louis Cardinals' contract on August 3rd by the scout Eddie Herr.

The Oshkosh Northwestern, 1914-8-04, p. 9

1914 was a pivotal year for him off the field as well as on, as he married Nina Drews of Oshkosh in it. They would stay together for 57 years, until his death did them part. 

In 1915 he went to camp with the Cardinals and was one of the last two players cut from their roster. Cardinal manager Miller Huggins liked his fiery fastball but didn't like that his only other pitch was a roundhouse curve. Huggins thought that Lotz needed another pitch but that his fingers were too short to throw a sharp curve, and he urged him to learn to throw a spitter. Released to the Seattle Giants of the class B Northwestern League, Lotz opened his season by allowing one run over two consecutive wins. But he stubbornly refused to throw the spitter, contenting himself with his inadequate fastball/roundhouse repertoire, and it was all downhill from there. He lost nine straight games, giving up 44 runs in 71 innings, and Seattle finally released him on June 18.

The Cardinals wanted to assign him to a team in the Three-I League after that, but he dissuaded them. He asked to be carried on the suspended list for the rest of the season, as his wife was very ill and he wished to be home with her in Oshkosh. He pitched a little near the end of the season for the semi-pro Oshkosh Independents. 

Because of his unwillingness to acquire a spitter he was not invited down south to the Cardinals' training camp in 1916. On April 27 the St. Louis Star and Times said he was being farmed out to Muskegon of the Central Association, but it doesn't seem like he ever pitched with them. Miller Huggins had said that if Lotz did not learn a spitter he would be released from Muskegon, and it seems like that's what happened. Instead, Lotz played for the Iowa town teams of Remsen, his home town, Cherokee, and Le Mars, a town 10 miles west of Remsen. According to his SABR biography, Lotz threw a 13-strikeout no-hitter for Le Mars on June 25. 

Meanwhile, the Cardinals were in the midst of a 7th place season. In desperate need of pitching, they recalled Lotz from his seclusion in Iowa in early July - now that's a plot twist - and he spent the rest of the season with them. He was great in relief, with a 1.27 ERA in 21.1 innings, but his three starts were disasters, and his 7.71 ERA as a starting pitcher gave him a 4.28 ERA for the season. For context, the National League average ERA that year was 2.61. 

He spent 1917 with the Rochester Hustlers of the International League, and went 7-14 with 119 walks in 32 games. The next three seasons he pitched for town teams in Iowa. 

To quote his SABR biography: "In the spring of 1918, his wife Nina required surgery because of a life-threatening internal hemorrhage. Her hospitalization and recuperation no doubt curtailed his baseball activities. Early in 1919, he managed the Kass family mercantile store in Alta, Iowa. [Nicholas Kass, the store's owner, was Joe's step-father.] But that summer, he was back pitching in his native Northwestern Iowa." 

Away from the heavy hitters of pro ball he dominated once again. Pitching for his hometown Remsen in late June of 1919, he threw five games in one week and won four of them. For those five games he averaged three hits allowed and 14 struck out, and walked a total of two batters. On August 30, pitching for Moville in a tournament in Mapleton, he threw a 15-strikeout no-hitter. Pitching for Denison on September 14, he lost a pitchers' duel to "Lefty" Powers of Dow City 4-2. Lotz allowed five hits and struck out 15, but Powers struck out 16 and allowed two hits. 

He pitched for Wagner of the South Dakota Sunshine League in 1920. On July 19 he beat Platte 4-3 in 14 innings, winning his own game with a sacrifice hit, in late July he struck out 17 Geddes batters in a 4-0 win, and on August 1 the Sioux City Journal reported that he had a record of 12-1 for Wagner. "Iron Man" Lotz had not lost his strength. 

In January 1921, the Sioux City Packers of the Western League bought Smoky Joe's contract from Houston of the Texas League. He had been sold to Houston the previous spring but had never reported. I suppose Sioux City figured Lotz would be more likely to report to a team located 40 miles from his home town instead of in far-off dusty Texas.

Lotz did report to Sioux City and had a mediocre year, winning seven, losing nine, and giving up 123 runs in 126 innings. The Western League may have been an extreme hitters' league in the 1920s, but giving up 8.79 runs per nine innings was still outside the realm of accepted taste.

Despite his rough year he began 1922 with Sioux City again and did well, winning three games and losing one out of seven starts. Despite his success, he retired from pro ball on May 11 and returned to his home in Remsen. But he didn't stop pitching; he would continue to pitch in semi-pro ball well into the 1930s. He was even featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not on August 28, 1932, for having pitched 1213 complete games. 

The Sioux City Journal profiled him on the same day and gave a more detailed account of his career. They claimed that in 1920 Lotz had thrown 82 complete games between May and September (I really doubt that); that he had pitched eight complete games in six days on two different occasions; that once, "in a period of ambition, he pitched 15 complete games in 15 days. He won 13 of 'em and was shooting for 30 straight games in as many days but he ran out of engagements." He had thrown a perfect game, too, and twelve no-hitters. 

Sioux City Journal, 1932-8-28, p. 11

The profile also told of how Lotz had been injured in a bad car crash in 1931 and had subsequently fallen into a deep depression. Despondent, he fell out of baseball. But he found his way back to life, and returned to the diamond in 1933, making the commute from his Remsen home to Sioux City to manage a new semi-pro team called the Cornhuskers. He was 42 years old and 220 pounds by then, up from the 175 pounds of his playing days, but he still took an occasional turn on the mound. He pitched the first six innings of a 7-2 win versus Wagner, South Dakota, on "Joe Lotz Day" on June 8. 

The Cornhuskers included in their lineup such future and former pros as former White Sox pitcher Biggs Wehde, former White Sox catcher Jimmy Long, former Western League pitcher Harold Bornholdt, former Mississippi Valley League catcher Clayton Thompson, and future Pacific Coast League pitcher John Lotz, Joe's eighteen-year-old son. 

The two Lotzes worked together in tandem twice at least. In one game, trailing 5-4 in the eighth inning to the Broadway Clowns, a black team, Lotz Sr. inserted himself as a pinch hitter and dunked a single into center. He pinch-ran his son for himself, and Lotz Jr. promptly stole second and scored the game-tying run on a single by Biggs Wehde. The Cornhuskers ended up winning 6-5.

Less happily, Lotz Sr. and Jr. combined on the mound to lose a game 14-1 to Alvord, Iowa, early in June. 

I'll let Lotz' SABR bio sum up the rest of his life: 

"Appointed scout for the Sioux City Cowboys Western League team in 1937, Joe also took on the job of managing the semipro Le Mars Orioles that same year. By 1940, he was managing the Storm Lake, Iowa, White Caps. Then his son Jack, who continued pitching for minor-league clubs, including Sioux City in 1936 and 1937, moved with his new wife to California in 1941. Joe and Nina followed shortly thereafter. In 1943, both Lotz families were living in Oakland when Jack started playing for the Class AA Pacific Coast League Oakland Oaks. The iron man’s offspring remained with the team for two more years, earning his best won-lost record of 18-13 in 1944.

"Living in California during his declining years, Joe Lotz took pleasure in the sports achievements of his grandchildren. Jack’s sons, Dick and John, developed successful golfing careers, turning pro in 1963. With the PGA tour, Dick won the 1969 Alameda Open, the 1970 Kemper Open, and the 1970 Monsanto Open. Then, on January 1, 1971, following a lengthy illness, 80-year-old Joe Lotz died of a massive heart attack at his home in Hayward, California. He was survived by his wife Nina, his son Jack, three grandsons, and one granddaughter. The “Iron Man Pitcher” was buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward." 

I had originally planned to just write about Joe Lotz' 1910 season, but the more I read about "Smoky Joe" the more I became interested in him, and this piece soon grew into a story of his life. It's an incomplete account - I left out an entire ten years in the telling of his career because I just wanted to finish this piece up, and of course even the years I did cover are dealt with imperfectly -  and I'll probably revisit his life another time. 

I'll close this piece with one last tale of Joe Lotz' greatness. In the middle of September 1922 Lotz led Modale, Iowa, to the first prize in the Harrison County Fair tournament. He pitched three games on three consecutive days, beating Council Bluffs 11-0, Little Sioux 6-0, and Missouri Valley 4-0. He gave up a total of five hits across the three games. 

Believe it or not. 

1908 Honolulu League: The Saints stumble

In this post I'll give a game-by-game account of the 1908 Honolulu League and recount some of its statistics at the end, just as I did for the 1907 Honolulu League. 

A little information about the league: The Honolulu League consisted of four teams; three, the St. Louis Saints, Kamehameha, Punahou, were alumni teams of Honolulu prep schools. The fourth was Diamond Head, an athletic club, nicknamed the Jewels. The league played doubleheaders every Saturday at the League Grounds in Honolulu. Its season was typically divided into two nine-game halves. 

The 1908 Honolulu League opened its season May 3rd. The great star Barney Joy was back with the St. Louis Saints after his season with San Francisco, the doubleheader was well-played, and the crowd was by all reports large and appreciative. 

"The crowd was an enthusiastic one, particularly in the makai bleachers. All the old fans and rooters were on deck and many new ones."

And this is how they rooted:

Advertiser, 1908-5-03, p.3.

But those who cheered for the St. Louis Saints, reigning champions of the Honolulu League, must have been sorely disappointed on opening day. The Punahous, the worst team in the league in 1907, shut out the Saints 4-0 on the strength of Bill Hampton's pitching. 

The Saints had recovered their great star Barney Joy, who instead of signing with the National League's Boston Doves, who owned him, demanded a contract too great for him and elected to stay home in Hawaii but that stroke of luck would avail them nothing if his teammates could not hit. 

Strangely, Joy, who had won 17 games the previous year for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, did not pitch on opening day, and would not pitch in a league game until the second half of the season. Jimmy Williams, who had not pitched in the League since 1906, pitched in his stead on opening day; he did well but the Saints' defense was poor behind him. The only bright spot of the game for the Saints came in the fourth; their star left fielder En Sue threw out Jack Kia at the plate, who had been trying to stretch a triple into a home run.

Evers, who had played shortstop so beautifully for the Saints in 1907, was now playing with the Diamond Heads. The Jewels had also retained their captain and shortstop from last year, Eddie Fernandez, who in 1907 hit .328 and was probably the best player in the league. Fernandez, who was a better slugger than fielder, moved over to first base to make room for Evers. Akoni Louis, the Saints' right fielder, and Joe Fernandez, the Saints' left fielder, also signed with the Jewels. 

Bolstered by the former Saints, and having retained all their stars from 1907, the Diamond Heads began their season by beating Kamehameha 5-3. Eddie Fernandez "did some mighty good base-running and handled his team well. Evers, at short, put up a crack game and made some beautiful stops."

Sadly, I have no illustrations with which to spice this account of the 1908 season. The Honolulu Advertiser's cartoonist who had enlivened the sports pages with his work in 1907 was gone. At the same time the Advertiser ceased to publish pictures of Honolulu League players. A great loss.

On May 9th the Punahous and Diamond Heads won again. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The Advertiser had predicted a day before that a big crowd was looked for, but it was a sparse crowd that saw the afternoon's interesting games. 

The Punahous scored two runs in the first inning off Kamehameha's star pitcher Dick Reuter. Reuter gave up just one more hit the rest of the game but the damage was done; Punahou pitcher Bill Hampton limited the Kams to one run and two hits and the Punahous had won again. 

The second game began with a bang when the Diamond Heads scored three runs off Andy Bushnell in the first inning, all unearned. After the first inning Bushnell and Bill Chillingworth traded zeroes to the game's end, and the final score was Diamond Heads 3, St. Louis 0. After having only been shutout once in 1907, the Saints had been shutout in their first two games of the season. They were still a fine-hitting team on paper, but at the plate they were wheat before the pitcher's scythe. 

The Saints' fortunes turned abruptly on May 16; facing Dick Reuter of Kamehameha, who had previously been "pitching grand ball," they scored 14 runs on 13 hits, nine errors, eight stolen bases, and a walk. The Saints themselves played errorless ball, and their pitcher, the eighteen-year-old future major leaguer Johnnie Williams, held the Kams to a scanty two runs and five hits. Barney Joy went 5 for 5. 

In the second game the two undefeated teams, the Diamond Heads and the Punahous, battled. The Diamond Heads scored two runs in the first inning and never looked back, winning by a final score of 3-1. Bill Chillingworth and Bill Hampton both pitched fine games, but the Punahous were weak with men on base. The Jewels' catcher, Sam "Phony" Davis, did his part, giving "perhaps the best exhibition of throwing to bases that has ever been seen in Honolulu."

For a third straight week the Jewels had taken the lead from the start of the game and never relinquished it; they now stood alone in first place with a 3-0 record. 

On May 23, for a second straight week, the Saints and Diamond Heads won. The Saints scored five runs off the previously dominant Punahou pitcher Bill Hampton. Barney Joy continued his torrid hitting by socking two doubles, and Andy Bushnell pitched a fine game. 

The Diamond Heads beat the Kams 8-3 in the second game. For a second straight week Dick Reuter was lit up, giving up ten hits and walking six Jewels. His defense didn't help him out, either, as his shortstop Miller made three errors. Bill Chillingworth "pitched a well nigh perfect game," the former Saints' star Akoni Louis made three hits, and catcher Sam "Phony" Davis threw out four base-runners. 

On May 30 Robert "Clown" Leslie returned to the mound for the Diamond Heads after a few months' absence from Honolulu. He faced the St. Louis Saints and did well, giving up one run on four hits, but his delivery prompted the Saints to badger umpire Bert Bower that Leslie was balking. When Barney Joy told him that in the sixth inning, Bower replied that Leslie was not balking. Barney Joy replied "You're playing," a phrase was which apparently disrespectful because Bower threw Joy out of the game for using it and fined him $5. 

Kamehameha beat Punahou 9-5 in the second game for their first win as Reuter struck out 10 Pun batters. It was a close game until the 7th inning when the Kams scored six runs off Main, a new man who the Puns were trying out. Bill Hampton closed the game with his customary grace, but Main's mediocrity had left the Puns with no chance to win. 

Two home runs - the first of the 1908 season - were hit in the first game of June 6th. Punahou center fielder Jack Kia hit a two-run homer "almost to the cigar sign" in the second inning off Bill Chillingworth, and Diamond Head catcher Sam Davis hit a two-run shot himself in the sixth inning off Bill Hampton, tying the game at 5-5. In the seventh inning Diamond Head starter Bill Chillingworth, who had been pitching a fine game all things considered, was removed in favor of "Clown" Leslie, who blew the game. Leslie allowed only one hit in his three innings of duty but walked six, and the two runs he allowed in the eighth inning meant the ballgame. The Jewels rallied in the ninth but were only able to score one run, and the final score was Punahou 7, Diamond Head 6. It was the Diamond Heads' first loss of the season. 

Evers made a great play at short and Eddie Fernandez "played his usual heady game"; it was not their fault that the Jewels lost in the end. 

The second game of June 6th was a tight, well-played game, won by Kamehameha over St. Louis by the score of 2-1. The Kams scored an unearned run in the first and a second run in the fifth when their right fielder John Fern hit a triple and was driven in by pitcher Dick Reuter. Reuter played a great game all-around, going 2-for-2 at the plate with a stolen base and striking out 13 Saints. 

The Advertiser noted that Kamehameha left-fielder "MacKenzie, champion sprinter of the territory, was there with some phenomenal bursts of speed between bases."

The annual track & field championship of Hawaii was held on March 21, 1908, and MacKenzie had been one of the brightest stars. Running for Kamehameha, he won the 100 yards with a time of 10.2 seconds, and according to the Advertiser tied the world record in the 50 yards with his mark of 5.2 seconds, a record En Sue had previously set. (Running for the Chinese Athletic Club, En Sue finished third in the final having gotten out to a bad start.) McKenzie also jumped 21' 7", and in the Advertiser's eyes had earned the title of "best and most versatile athlete in the Territory, and he is only a boy at that." But he was only a fair baseball player, hitting .179 in 1908, an acceptable but unremarkable batting average for Honolulu League standards. He did lead the league in at-bats, batting 1st or 2nd in every game he played in. 

A number of other Honolulu League players starred in the meet. Oscar Jones, Kamehameha catcher and holder of the island record for the twelve-pound shot put, set a new record for the sixteen-pound shot put by throwing it 38' 6.75". A. Lota, Kamehameha third baseman and pitcher, set a new record in the 120 yard hurdles with a mark of 17.2 seconds. Charlie Lyman and William Desha also competed for Kamehameha in the 100 yards. Kamehameha won the meet by 18 points; only the Y.M.C.A. came close. 

The Diamond Heads were anxious to win June 13th against Kamehameha. Their 5-1 record was just a game ahead of Punahou's 4-2; a second loss could mean sharing first with Punahou, and anything could happen after that. (Kamehameha and St. Louis were both 2-4, practically eliminated from the first half pennant race.)

The start of their game was delayed by an hour due to by the tardiness of some of Kamehameha's players, but the Diamond Heads were not dismayed. They got off to a roaring start, scoring two runs in the first and four in the second. But after that Kam pitcher Dick Reuter settled down and no-hit the Jewels for the rest of the game, and Jewel pitcher Bill Chillingworth fell apart. After having been no-hit by Chillingworth for the first four innings the Kams broke loose. They scored four runs in the fifth, another in the six, and a final two in the eighth to come from behind to win 7-6. They made twelve hits in the last five innings. 

The second game of June 13th was called off by rain - and it was a lucky thing for the Saints, for they were missing En Sue, Jimmy Williams, and catcher Louis Soares. 

The crowd was "better than usual" - an ominous phrase - on June 20th. What there were of the fans watched Diamond Head beat St. Louis 8-6 in the first game. Though Leslie beat the Saints, he "allowed himself to be rattled by the rooters" and walked seven batters. Eddie Fernandez played a spectacular game for the Jewels, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, three runs scored, and flawless play at first.

After having thrown three straight good games, Dick Reuter was practically annihilated in the second game: though he struck out ten batters, Punahou made ten runs and fourteen hits off him. Bill Hampton pitched a fine game, allowing the Kams only one run and four hits, and pulled off some spectacular base running in the ninth inning. 

Hampton hit a harmless ground ball and after running halfway down the first base line turned back, as if in despair. The fielder, thinking his job was done, threw the ball back to the pitcher instead of the first baseman. This accomplished, the heady Hampton turned right around and made first base. The umpire called him safe, and while the Kams argued with the umpire he took second and third base. 

The first half of the season closed on June 27 before an "average crowd." Kamehameha beat St. Louis 3-0 in the first game. After Reuter had been hit so terribly the previous week he was replaced in the box by A. Lota, who scattered seven hits and three walks over nine scoreless innings. The Advertiser suggested that Reuter was benched only to give him a rest now that the Kams had no hope for the first half, not because he was demoted in any way, but I wonder. 

Oliver Jones, Kamehameha's catcher, hit a solo home run "over the left field fence for the longest hit of the season" in the fifth inning. With that he had collected a home run in all three of the Honolulu League seasons I have compiled statistics for, 1906-08, the only player to do so. 

Part of the reason for the Saints falling prostrate before the typically mediocre Lota was that they lacked their customary line-up. "Jimmy Williams, En Sue and Aylett were missing from the ranks of the Saints yesterday. Plada and Markham were given a chance to shine, but their brilliancy isn't known to have affected anyone's eyesight." But the Saints' usual line-up didn't gleam much either; their record for the first half was 2-6. The Advertiser eulogized: "How are the mighty fallen. Poor old Saints!"

As always, the Diamond Heads got off to a great start in the second game, scoring three runs in the first inning against the Punahous. But Bill Hampton blanked them the rest of the way and Leslie, despite striking out 13 Puns, allowed two runs in the fifth and blew the game by allowing another two in the 9th. 

Bill Hampton helped his own cause with his chutzpah: "In the first of the fifth Hampton bluffed his way to first on three balls. There is little of that kind of work done here compared with what happens at a Coast game."

There wasn't very much spirit in the stands apart from the ever-loud Jack Doyle: "Doyle's voice gave out and thereafter a gloom pervaded the bleachers which could be cut with a knife." 

On that cheerful note the first half ended.

The first half's final standings ran as follows:

Diamond Head, 6-3
Punahou, 5-3
Kamehameha, 4-5
St. Louis, 2-6

The second half of the season would not start until September. In the meantime two college teams from west and east, Keio University of Japan and Santa Clara University of California, converged upon Hawaii, and played a series of games with the teams of the Honolulu League dubbed the Triangular Series. The series was a lot more lively than the regular Honolulu League, and I'm planning to write a post on it soon. 

The second half opened on September 5 before a "miserably slim crowd." After two months of games between the visiting teams and miscellaneous combinations of the locals, Honolulu's fans were surfeited with baseball and had no passion left for the League. 

The first game of the doubleheader was not very competitive as Punahou beat Diamond Head 8-1. Many regular players were missing from both line-ups. Alfred Castle, Punahou coach and former Harvard star, pitched for Punahou and struck out seven batters, allowing only five hits and walking none. 

The second game was a great one: Lota of Kamehameha and Barney Joy of the St. Louis Saints matched each other 0-0 until the twelfth inning when the Kams finally scored. Joy, who had only begun pitching again in the Triangular series, gave up just three hits and struck out ten in defeat. The Kams turned three double plays after having turned just one all first half. Lota had picked up where he had left off at the end of the first half - throwing shutouts - and his scoreless streak was now at 21 innings.

His streak would pause there. The Honolulu League would play no more games in 1908; fan interest was dead. The Honolulu League would not begin play in 1909 until August, and then only played a six-game schedule. In 1910 it was superseded by the Oahu League. 

The final standings of 1908:

                          W L RS RA
Punahou             6  3   43  29
Diamond Head   6  4   47  40
Kamehameha     5  5   32  51
St. Louis             2  7   27  29

I'm not sure which team deserved the championship, Diamond Head for winning the first half or Punahou for having the best all-around record. Formerly invincible, St. Louis was the only team to finish below .500. They scored the fewest runs in the league by five, and fourteen of their runs came in a single game.

Even stranger than St. Louis scoring half its season's runs in one game was Diamond Head's dominance in the first inning. They scored fifteen of their forty-seven runs in the first inning. The only game in which they failed to score in the first was that of June 6th.

Statistical notes: 

The 1908 Honolulu League was incredibly pitcher-friendly: the league batting average was a scanty .188, and the league slugging percentage was .247. 

Barney Joy led the league in batting average with a mark of .387, and tied Bill Hampton for the lead in slugging percentage with .452. Bill Hampton just hit .258, but three of his eight hits were triples. 

Eddie Fernandez, Diamond Head first baseman, was the best all-around player, leading the league with 14 hits, 13 runs scored, 16 total bases, and 10 stolen bases. 

Akoni Louis, whom the Jewels had snatched from the Saints, hit .344. 

Nani Lemon hit .257 and led the league with four doubles. The Advertiser said of him on June 7th that "Lemon is the same finished player that he ever was. He seems to improve with age, if anything."

Sam Davis, Diamond Head catcher, hit a homer, a triple, a double, and no singles in thirty at-bats. 

The top ten in batting:
.387, Barney Joy, utility, St. Louis, 12 for 31
.379, Harry Bruns, left field, Punahou, 11 for 29
.378, Eddie Fernandez, 1b, Diamond Head, 14 for 37
.344, Akoni Louis, outfield, Diamond Head, 11 for 32
.281, Olmos, right field, Diamond Head, 9 for 32
,259, George Bruns, utility, St. Louis, 7 for 27
.258, Bill Hampton, p-if, Punahou, 8 for 31
.257, Nani Lemon, center field, Kamehameha, 9 for 35
.250, Evers, shortstop, Diamond Head, 8 for 32
.250, Charles En Sue, left field, St. Louis, 7 for 28

Dick Reuter led the league in losses (5), strikeouts (59), innings (70), games started and games (8), hits (60), runs (51), and complete games (8). In other words, the same categories he led the league in in 1907. His 6.56 RA was the worst by 2.47 of anyone who pitched in more than one game.

His replacement, Lota, set a new league record with his RA of 0.00. 

Bill Hampton of Punahou led the league in wins with 5:  he had a 5-2 record, 2.71 RA, and gave up just 34 hits while striking out 44 batters in 63 innings.

Bob Leslie led the league in walks with 26 but allowed just 16 hits - he only pitched in 33 innings. 

Barney Joy only pitched in one game but because it was an extra-inning game and his team only played nine games, he actually qualified for rate statistics. He led in WHIP, with 0.42. 

The fielding was about the same as 1908; the league average went up a tick, from .918 to .919. The Saints had the highest fielding percentage (.936), just like 1907, but they turned the fewest double plays (2) - they had turned thirteen in 1907. Punahou had the second highest fielding percentage (.925), Kamehameha followed them with .912, and Diamond Head, despite its excellence in batting and pitching, brought up the rear in fielding with a mark of .906. 

Here's a link to the stats I compiled if you're interested: https://1drv.ms/x/c/007874164ce0374a/EXOK7cacst5Eg-m0rEmFTi0BKC6oGyRV__l9JnzNUnnZJg?e=o4fKPW

The Gospel of Orlando K. Fitzsimmons

 This is the tale of Orlando K. Fitzsimmons, pitcher, proto-Ponzi, and prolific utterer of fragrant idiocy. Possessing a healthy ego and limitless chutzpah, his life traced a story that is absurd above all else. 

Orlando Kellogg Fitzsimmons was born January 5, 1866 in Reading, Michigan, the last of Jane and Andrew Fitzsimmons' three children. He was named after Orlando H. Kellogg, who ran a general store together with his father.

His parents divorced sometime between 1866 and 1869. Orlando acquired a stepmother when his father married Elizabeth Dixon in 1869. 

His baseball career began as a shortstop in 1883 with the Park nine of Pleasant Lake, Indiana. He continued playing with the club in 1884 but signed in August with a team from Lexington, Kentucky. 

Angola Steuben Republican, 1884-8-13, p.5

He played with the Parks of Pleasant Lake again in 1885, and near the end of the season pitched in some practice games for the National League's Detroit Wolverines. He signed with Detroit in 1886 but didn't pan out. Detroit spent their pre-season in Georgia, and Fitzsimmons pitched twice against Southern Association teams. On March 19 he beat Macon 21-0 before a crowd of 1500, but his next start on March 23 did not go quite so smoothly as Savannah defeated him 13-5. Detroit released him, and by March 28 he had signed with the Augusta Browns of the Southern Association. Pitching for Augusta, he beat Pittsburg of the American Association 2-1 in a pre-season game, March 30.

He pitched fairly well with Augusta in the regular season, winning three games and losing four with an ERA of 2.00 and fifty strikeouts in seven games. His 7.1 strikeouts/nine innings were the fourth highest in the league but he wasn't given the chance to qualify; Augusta released him in late May. He quickly signed with the St. Paul Freezers of the Northwestern League. 

The St. Paul Pioneer Press was excited at his advent, saying: "He is unquestionably an A - No. 1 pitcher. He has great curves, and a most wonderful drop ball. His command of the ball is also good, while he is daily recovering the speed he lost early in the season, when pitching for Detroit." 

One of his games for St. Paul would continue to be recounted in newspapers for another thirty years. On June 18, pitching against Duluth pitcher Mark Baldwin, who would go on to earn 154 MLB wins and the nickname "Fido," Fitzsimmons struck out twelve batters and Baldwin struck out eighteen for a remarkable 30 combined strikeouts. It wasn't exactly a pitcher's duel, though: Duluth collected sixteen hits off Fitzsimmons, beating him 13-4. (Note that in the box score only one run of the seventeen scored in the game is considered to be earned.)

Saint Paul Globe, 1886-6-19, p.1

Hugh Daily

Fitzsimmons overstayed his welcome in St. Paul and was released on September 13. (In his stead they signed Hugh "One Arm" Daily, a surly thirty-eight-year-old Irishman who struck out 483 batters in the Union Association in 1884.) As a parting gift, manager John Barnes fined Fitzsimmons $50 for losing 7-6 to Milwaukee on the frigid Sunday of September 12. The Duluth Jayhawks signed him on the rebound and he stayed with them until the end of their pennant-winning season.

Saint Paul Globe, 1886-10-10, p.5

Fitzsimmons pitched for five different teams in 1887. He spent most of the year in the Western League, going 9-5 for the Leavenworth Soldiers, 5-4 for the St. Joseph Reds, and 5-1 for Denver. He finished the year back in the Northwestern League and pitched miserably: On September 14 he pitched for the Milwaukee Cream Citys but had no control and was hit hard; he left the game after four innings. On September 17 he pitched for Duluth but was so wild he had to be taken out after seven innings. An ignominious end to his season. 

In 1888 he was briefly with Jackson of the Tri-State League but was back in his hometown, Reading, by July, pitching for the town team. He lost 16-4 to the Angola Grays on July 13 in the one game I can find a score for. 

By the end of the season he had come full circle in his baseball career: again he was an infielder,  a second baseman this time; again he played for Pleasant Lake, Indiana. 

As far as I am aware he never played baseball again. Business henceforth would be his realm. He began it inauspiciously: in the winter of 1889-90 it was noted that he was "on the road selling fruit trees." 

From 1890 to 1892 the newspapers declared not his name but it was not an uneventful time for him: in 1892 he married Mary Green of Dexter, Michigan, a lady close to eight years his junior. 

He popped up again in Owosso, Michigan, in 1893. He was hired as an agent of the American Express Company. As of June 30 1893 he had handled about 400 crates of strawberries, whatever the significance of that is. 

On June 8th 1894 it was reported that he was a member of the fledgling Silver Dandruff Cure Company which the Owosso Times heartily endorsed. 

Warranted to cure all skin diseases? I bet.

Whatever its merits or lack of them, the Silver Dandruff Cure Co. does not seem to have survived past 1895. 

Fitzsimmons' newspaper trail runs cold for a half decade after that until December 6, 1900, when the Victoria Daily Times reported that he had arrived in Victoria, British Columbia on the steamer Charmer from Vancouver.

I have no idea why he was in Victoria.

He volunteered to coach Victoria's baseball team in 1901, and the team was very happy to have an old pro like him at the helm. The Victoria Daily Times described him at various times during the season as "energetic and capable," and "experienced and level-headed."

The team had one future pro: Thomas Holness, who would win two games and lose nine for the Victoria/Spokane team of the Northwestern League in 1905. 

No further trace of Orlando can be found until November 1902, when advertisements of his began to appear in the Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. 

This is where the bizarre part of his story begins. Brace yourselves, folks, for a lot of nonsense. 

The advertisements promised that the reader could earn 8% to 10% profit a month by depositing a mere $1.00 per week with Orlando K. Fitzsimmons. 

His headlines blared the plan's virtues: "RAPID MONEY," "INDEPENDENT MONEY," "MONEY COMES EASY," etc.

"Don't be timid," Orlando said. "Fear destroys opportunities and undermines success." But there was no need to fear, anyways: the plan was "absolutely safe and sure." 

"Don't be afraid," Orlando said, "for there is no hidden monster; only first truth." "I would not mislead you for the state of California. I have no incentive for misleading you." 

"Be like Napoleon" and do "not tremble before that old bugaboo, 'IMPOSSIBLE.'" 

'kay. 

The Los Angeles Herald got in on the act with an interview of him published on December 21, blithely presenting his twaddle as news and calling his Tontine Investment Company of California "up-to-date and apparently reliable." 

From the interview:
Q: "What is the nature of your business?"
A: "It is hard to explain clearly in a very few words, but, were I to attempt it, I would say that we keep money constantly moving in such a way that one dollar will cancel many dollars' worth of obligations in a short space of time."

Constantly moving money around apparently delivered 100% profit, for Fitzsimmons went on to explain that patrons receive $160 for every $80 they put in. He explained that all this was merely the law of evolution at work, the law of evolution comprising two forces, growth and change, which when working in harmonious unison apparently bred money like rabbits. 

It didn't take too long for him to get called out. The Los Angeles Times published an article on February 17, 1903, summing up his pamphlet "How to Make Money Quickly, Honestly, and Legitimately" as a get-rich-quick scam for suckers. Fitzsimmons was now promising to bestow 15% to 25% profit upon his patrons each and every month. 

All by moving money around. The Times quoted the pamphlet's explanation: 

"Now, we return the 'profit' to our patrons under a perfect coöperative system, whereby, under certain fixed laws, we move or circulate among our members the money received in such a way that $1 produces many dollars' worth of 'profit' in a very short time." 

"Clear as mud," the Times replied, "and equally attractive to the normal intellect." 

Fitzsimmons quickly fired back with advertisements in the Post-Record challenging those "ignoramuses who like to pose before the general public as thinkers" to a debate, but nothing ever came of it. 

All was relatively quiet on the Fitzsimmons front until June 14, when the Los Angeles Times exposed the "BRAZEN BLASPHEMY OF 'RICH-QUICKSTER.'"    

The Times was referring to the May issue of Fitzsimmons' new mouthpiece, the Federation Herald, published by the Rev. E.H. Brooks, later described by the Times as "clerical floater and persistent beggar." A picture of Christ graced the cover; within were pages upon pages extolling the greatness of Fitzsimmons' Cumulative Credit Company. It was "a door of hope to the struggling millions," delivering the downtrodden and disheartened out of destitution and into prosperity not by cutthroat capitalist competition, not by the adoration of those "two mighty kings... Selfishness and Greed," but by the Golden Rule. 

The company's logo

Practical details sullied not the publication's pages: "Space here will not allow an explanation of the details, but the main point is that we dethrone money as master and make it man's servant. It is faithful, willing and obedient when properly used, for is it not a creature of man's creation? Our mission to the material plane is what Christ's was to the spiritual." 

The Times noted that "Believers in omnipotence may well wonder why lightning does not strike the propagators of the Federation Herald."

The Los Angeles Post-Record, no doubt uninfluenced by the fact that Fitzsimmons was a steady advertiser in its pages, devoted its entire sixth page on June 20 to parodying the Times and uncritically quoting Fitzsimmons. 

E.g.: "THE TIMES HAS NOT INVESTIGATED THIS CURSED INSTITUTION FURTHER THAN TO READ ITS LITERATURE IN A DESULTORY MANNER, BUT EVERY UNTHINKING, PARROT-LIKE MAN SHOULD KNOW THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DO WHAT THIS CONCERN IS DOING AND WHAT HAS BEEN DONE FOR MANY YEARS.    

    "WHEN A NEW IDEA LOOKS AS THOUGH IT MIGHT BE SUCCESSFUL, IT IS TIME TO SQUELCH IT, FOR MOST PEOPLE DO NOT WANT ANYTHING NEW."

Etc. 

The Post-Record's response to the Times was infantile. The Times' article was based upon prior articles establishing that Fitzsimmons' company was a scam. The Times called Fitzsimmons blasphemous not merely because he was promising to apply the golden rule to business and comparing his work to Christ's, but because the business he was pretending was Christ-like was a fraud. By taking the Times' article out of context and then drowning it in reams of Fitzsimmons' eloquent emptiness, it exercised no impartiality. It was simply an attack on the Times and a defense of their advertiser. 

The Times published a reply on June 24 further skewering Saint Orlando Fitzsimmons' (their phrase) pretensions to unworldly righteousness which flavored his "$2 for $1" siren-call. The article makes plenty of good points, though its headline "CLAIMS TO BE THE MESSIAH" is pretty misleading - what Fitzsimmons said was that his material mission was akin to Christ's spiritual mission. Isn't that ridiculous enough without having to distort it? 

The Post-Record did not take this lying down, and devoted a second full page to Fitzsimmons' defense. Its centerpiece is this lovely depiction of the Times as a great ugly mud-slinging lover of big business futilely endeavoring to destroying such unworldly institutions as the Cumulative Credit Company and the Point Loma Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society.

The main thrust of the Post-Record's arguing was that Fitzsimmons' enterprise was like the New York Life Insurance Company, only better. Or rather, the Post-Record printed Fitzsimmons' bizarre and long-winded arguments to that effect. 

The newspapers' cat-fight petered out after that, thank God, not before I lost a lot of brain cells. 

By September 9 the Federation Herald was defunct. It went out with a bang, according to the Times, composing in its last issue a new "Credo" that began "I believe in Orlando K. Fitzsimmons." 

The early months of 1904 brought the Cumulative Credit Company nothing but woe. In January the company became the subject of an investigation by a grand jury. Some interesting facts were brought out. Since the company's start it had issued 46,000 weekly certificates - not taking into account certificates that had matured or lapsed, that represented $46,000 a week, a quarter of which was set aside for the company's expenses. Though that figure was an exaggeration, it helped explain the company's opulence, which was described by the Times thusly: 

"That it is a real good business - for the company - has been apparent for some time. The offices on Broadway are extensive, well appointed, and in a measure luxurious, and the cost of keeping the broad span of window space in such a polished condition that the suckers may see themselves as they pass cannot be a trifle."

A disconcerting clause was discovered in the certificates themselves. The certificates promised to pay to their bearers at their maturation $2 for every $1 they had invested provided - here's the catch -  "Provided that there shall be sufficient money in said Mutual Benefit Credit Fund available for that purpose to pay said amount." If there wasn't enough, that would just be too bad. And it was very likely there would not be enough. As Judge Wellborn of the United States Circuit Court would explain in March, about 30% of the $80 from each certificate was set aside for the company's use, leaving just $56 to pay the $160 promised. The shortfall could only be made up by the hooking of two more suckers; and they in turn could only be paid by hooking four more suckers, etc. In other words, Fitzsimmons was Ponzi while Ponzi was still in Italy, though he operated on a smaller scale than Ponzi would. 

Investigation by grand jury did not go well for the company. On February 22 the Assistant United States Attorney General declared the company a fraud, and barred it from using the mail. No letters addressed to it nor to its president (Fitzsimmons) or secretary (M.E. Johnson) would be delivered. It could neither give nor receive money with postal money orders.

Predictably, the great Orlando declared himself and his associates to be martyrs, and complained that the rights of the company's patrons were being trampled under foot. 

But he was not deterred; no amount of oppression at the hands of a government in the pocket of Big Insurance could quell his salvific fire. In a circular mailed out to his followers, presumably before March 1 when the order to stop his mail became official, he included a poem of his own composition entitled "Too Fast" which went like this:

The poem reminds me of the songs Toad sings in The Wind in the Willows. Its shameless egotism is reminiscent of "The Song of Toad" while its ending refrain echoes "When the Toad Came Home." 

But Fitzsimmons did not confine his defiance to doggerel. 

The Cumulative Credit Company expanded into Iowa, opening an office in Cedar Rapids; the Cedar Rapids Gazette published an article on June 16th, 1904, deriding it as a get-rich-quick scheme, and panning the book Fitzsimmons had recently published. After quoting the book extensively they concluded: "it is inane stuff, to say the least." That book, a slim thirty-eight page volume entitled Financial Ideas Worth $5000 to You - If You Can Comprehend Them! can actually still be read on archive.org, not that I recommend it - it's just an extensive advertisement. Any morbid curiosity you might have about it can be sated at: https://archive.org/details/financialideaswo00fitzrich/mode/2up

The company also opened up offices in San Francisco later in the year that occupied "half a dozen rooms in one of the best office buildings in San Francisco. The rooms are fitted up like a bank. [Fitzsimmons] has a large staff of stenographers and clerks.... His business shows every sign of prosperity notwithstanding the painstaking efforts of Uncle Sam to drive him out. He has the most astonishing flow of language. He has got hold of the jargon of insurance and actuarial science and will reel it off to you by the hour. It is an awful death if you can't escape in time." (Stockton Evening Mail, 1904-12-10, p.4)

But the beginning of the end was nigh. He was arrested January 7, 1905, in San Francisco. He gave his name as Adolph, and was let free on a bond of either $2,000 or $5,000.

His arrest was due to his refusal to stay away from the mail; he had worked around his postal proscription by having his mail sent to him under miscellaneous Chinese names at his office in the Callaghan building of San Francisco. 

Inappositely, at almost the same time he was arrested a new book of his entitled Financial Ideas was published. On one of the leading pages these words were emblazoned in large type: "We need not worry about the sun's cooling off, nor the depopulation of the earth, neither need we fear the time when the Cumulative Credit system will commence to retrograde, for that is only when its blessings have covered the entire earth, and there are no more people to reach."

On page nineteen he drew a verbal "likeness" of himself:

 "Here is the staunch business man. Through the broad shoulders and fully-developed chest can be seen great physical endurance, while the keen, bright eyes, the clear-cut features and strong, heavy jaw indicate executive ability and the indomitable will power that has characterized his life.

 "But these qualities, valuable as they are to the head of a great enterprise, are not sufficient to carry to successful issue the stupendous plans conceived by him. To these must be added those of the philosopher and teacher - the man who can conceive a great idea, and present it intelligently to the masses."

You can't make this stuff up. 

Meanwhile, in reality, in May he was granted a divorce from his wife, Mary, for her desertion of him. By the terms of the divorce she received $3,000, $100 a month, and their daughter Virginia. 

At the same time, M.E. Johnson, Fitzsimmons' former partner, filed a suit against him for nonpayment; in 1904 Fitzsimmons had bought Johnson's stock in the company but had yet to pay either $6,500, according to Fitzsimmons' statement, or $17,500, the LA Times' statement. Whatever the figure was, Fitzsimmons said he didn't have enough money to repay Johnson.

I don't know how that suit turned out, but Fitzsimmons spent a few months in Chicago and published a new booklet called "What Has Been Done and Why." He returned to California on September 16 for his trial. The court had a difficult time picking out a jury, but Fitzsimmons was eventually convicted on eight counts of using the United States mails for a lottery. 

On reporting his conviction the Post-Record referred to him with chill sarcasm as "the man who conceived the brilliant scheme of bettering the condition of the poor by giving them $100 for $50." Apparently they had forgotten their rabid support of him a mere two and a half years prior; but perhaps it was not so obvious then that shuffling around money and talking up a storm does not make 50 equal 100. 

On October 9th Fitzsimmons was sentenced to six months in jail, accompanied by a $250 fine. His two business associates, John W. Neighbors and E.A. Arnett, were also convicted and were fined $250 each without jail time. 

They got disgustingly light sentences, really -  for context, F.B. Parker, the local manager of the Cumulative Credit Company in Washington, was sentenced to a year in jail and a $1000 fine in August, and even that was far from the maximum sentence  - but the trio appealed their sentences. Fitzsimmons was let free on a four-thousand-dollar bond. 

In early 1906 he published yet another book, this one called Metamorphose: Involving Regeneration of Individual and Race, and Also the Solution of the Great Problem of Poverty. 

The Fresno Morning Republican called it "an interesting sort of fraud. On its face, it appears to be a fantastic jumble of Socialism, mysticism and greenbackism, written in the turgid and meaningless style affected by devotees of freak cults.... There is also much blasphemous appeal to the sanctions of religion and impious misquoting of the words of Christ." 

In mid-1906 Fitzsimmons founded a new organization  called the World Betterment League with offices in Chicago and Buffalo. He hooked about 200 followers in Buffalo on the promise that $5 a month or more would get them from 50% to 120% profit, and left town before his flock got back a dime. 

He married the 27-year-old Amy L. Brown in 1906. 

His appeal was denied by the United States circuit court of appeals, October 7th, 1907, Judge Gilbert ruling that he had indeed used the mails for his lottery schemes. It's odd that apparently the only law that could be used against Fitzsimmons was a law against conducting lotteries by mail. Judge Gilbert said the Cumulative Credit Company was a lottery because there was a discrepancy between the money put in and the expected prize, explaining that:

"The subscriber to the scheme knows full well that no increment is to be earned by his money, but that all returns are to come from his own contributions and the contributions of others. The chance of getting back from these sources double the sum that he pays in, and getting it soon, is the prize which lures him to make the payments."

But that was a completely false description of what Fitzsimmons' patrons believed. Fitzsimmons did not advertise his certificates as lottery tickets but as guarantees to pay their owners $2 for every $1 they put in. The Cumulative Credit Company preyed upon "those of little means and less business acumen," according to the front page of the Los Angeles Evening Express of 1907-11-18. His patrons did not "know full well that no increment is to be earned by his money" - they were clueless and desperate, in need of the financial salvation Fitzsimmons promised them. Some continued to give money to Fitzsimmons even after the Cumulative Credit Company was put out of business in Los Angeles, apparently not being close readers of the newspapers. They were suckers, not gamblers prepared to lose.

On August 24th, 1905, the Los Angeles Times told the story of G.W. Packer, a sober, dedicated, middle-aged carpenter who was driven insane after he lost all his life savings investing in Cumulative Credit. He had hoped for some financial independence in his old age.

Fitzsimmons was a liar and a thief, a proto-Ponzi, not a lottery conductor. 

Laws are strange things. 

When Fitzsimmons heard his appeal had been denied he gave himself up to a United States marshal, paid his $250 fine, and headed to jail for a six-months' stay. He was released from jail on May 20, 1908. 

There is little of news of the great Orlando past 1908. He had a son, Fielder Dwight Fitzsimmons, born unto him in 1912 in Portland. 

In 1914 he was indicted, along with five other men, as the secretary of the National Mercantile company of Vancouver. The charge? Using the mails to promote a lottery. He was described as a resident of Vancouver at the time. 

The last mention of him in a newspaper alive is a article from May 1, 1931, in the Los Angeles Southwest Wave, describing a speech he gave to the Los Angeles Realty board in which he detailed how all the money moldering away in American savings accounts was bogging down the economy. Sounds Keynesian, actually. The newspaper described him as an "author and economic specialist."

In 1940 he copyrighted the phrase "Direct way to business betterment";  it seems like he was keeping busy in his old age. 

He died August 23rd, 1950, in Pala, California. He was 84, an inappropriately ripe old age for such a sinner. Who can ken the world's workings? 

 

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, one 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 a 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.