Horseshoe
A new era in Cincinnati gambling dawns this Monday, March 4 when the Horseshoe Casino opens at 1000 Broadway, a site also known as Broadway Commons (and formerly considered for Great American Ball Park before, ultimately, it was situated on the banks of the Ohio River). Here's an aerial view, looking south towards the river:
Mount Adams is seen at upper left, downtown at upper right and the Blue Grass State across the top.
Here's a recent photo of the facade, construction still underway:
The iconic Horseshoe name originated with Binion's Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas which was bought by Caesar's, which itself was formerly known as Harrah's and which these days is a co-owner of Turfway Park, thus bringing the Horseshoe theme full circle.
I'm not much of a casino gambler, some of you may know that I prefer thoroughbred horse racing (it has been written about here before, on occasion). These are interesting times for regional horse racing:
--- Any successes achieved by the Horseshoe Casino should benefit the purse sizes and, therefore, quality of racing at Turfway Park which itself has seen better days,
--- Venerable old River Downs is being demolished, paving the way for an entirely new plant featuring a larger track, massive grandstand, video gaming, restaurants, shopping and, who knows, maybe handicappers cashing a winning ticket or two,
--- Decrepit Lebanon Raceway will soon be completely and utterly obliterated from the map, befitting its abysmal crumminess, its new owners relocating a modern facility elsewhere in the county, nearer to the I-75 corridor, with video gaming machines.
All this talk of casinos and gambling got me to thinking, as so many things seem to do, of Dean Martin and the heyday of gaming and nightlife in 1960s Las Vegas. The showroom at The Sands was an intimate setting:
In the photo above Dino is playing to a front row filled with celebrities, notably comedian Jack Benny. Dean would often play two shows nightly, a dinner show and a midnight show. And of course, in addition to relaxing poolside at The Sands with a bevy of buxom beauties and taking up residence at the bar, Dino would hit the tables (below, playing blackjack at The Sands with Frank Sinatra looking on):
The Sands was one of the settings for the Rat Pack's Ocean's 11 film, released in the U.S. on August 10, 1960. You've all seen the more famous photo of the Sands' marquee featuring their names, as seen in the film. Below is the same marquee at night:
And just a little further back in time, a daytime scene from 1954:
We'll rap this walk down Sands memory lane with another famous walk, the concluding scene of Ocean's 11 shot on the sidewalk outside of The Sands.
Long-range Reconnaissance
Leading off, for those of you - if anyone - still puzzled by last week's panoramic photo (see February 17 posting, below) the aspect subject to question is the seeming appearance of ten White Sox fielders; pitcher, catcher, four infielders and four outfielders. Logic informs us that cannot be so, that there must be some undetermined issue with the photograph itself but the fact remains..... our eyes see four outfielders in that photograph.
The first photo, below, puts you as close to the action as any historic panoramic photo I've yet discovered.
This photo is circa 1903 and features the visiting Chicago White Sox (batting) playing the Boston Red Sox (actually the Boston Americans as they were known from inception, in 1901, through the 1907 season). Fenway Park opened in 1912. Prior to then the Boston Americans [Red Sox] played at the Huntington Avenue Grounds which you see in the photo above.
The only Boston player of note in 1903, at least to the modern non-Hub dwelling fan, was pitcher Cy Young. The future eponym was then 36 years old but led the Boston pitching staff with a 28-9 record and posting a 2.08 ERA over 341.2 innings pitched. The WHIP statistic did not yet exist, but that season Cy Young achieved a 0.969 mark.
1903 saw the playing of the first World Series, won by Boston over the Pittsburgh Pirates 5 games to 3.
The Boston Americans used just six pitchers in 1903, five of whom pitched right handed. My knowledge of Cy Young isn't complete enough to assert that's who is depicted pitching in the above photo. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I don't know.
In 1904 the Boston Americans again won the American League but they would not win the World Series that season as there was no World Series in 1904. The manager of the National League champion New York Giants, John McGraw, refused to play the A.L. representative more out of denial of their equality, as a League, than anything else. The World Series resumed in 1905 and has been played every year since except 1994 when A. Bartlett "Bug" [sic] Selig ordered it cancelled. While the Boston Americans did not have the opportunity to defend their championship in 1904, they did draw a sizable crowd (see photo, below) when they played New York City's other ball club late in the 1904 season.
In contrast to last week's photo, here you see the outfield defense playing at a depth we today recognize as "normal." Among the abnormalities, in terms of the modern game, are the thousands of Bostonians occupying fair territory, the towering flag pole in play in center field and the distance from home plate to the center field fence; 560 feet. That's FIVE HUNDRED SIXTY FEET. For reference, both old Riverfront Stadium and today's Great American Ball Park measure 404 feet to center field. Another 156 feet puts a modern-day home run into the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The photo above was taken in Boston at the Huntington Avenue Grounds on October 8, 1904. The New York Yankees were not yet Yankees. Before 1913 they were known as the Highlanders. Still, New York-Boston was a hot ticket.
In 1904, the 37-year old Cy Young went 26-16. He recorded an ERA of 1.97 in 380 innings pitched. Had anybody in 1904 known of WHIP, they would have also known that Cy Young's was 0.937.
The 1904 New York Highlanders were led by pitcher/manager Clark Griffith. As a pitcher that season, he posted a 7-5 record in 100 innings pitched. Clark "The Old Fox" Griffith began his playing career in 1891. He would later manage the Cincinnati Reds for three seasons (1909-1911) before moving on to manage the Washington Senators. In 1920 Clark Griffith bought the Senators and remained their owner until his passing in 1955.
The Highlanders ace that season was Jack "Happy Jack" Chesbro, mentioned here last week. In 1904 Chesbro set a then-A.L. record when he pitched 454.2 innings (later surpassed by "Big Ed" Walsh) while starting 51 games and throwing 48 - FORTY EIGHT - complete games.
The Highlanders catcher was 40-year old Youngstown, Ohio native Deacon McGuire. Deacon was born on November 18, 1863. As you know, that was during the Civil War. That was, to us reading this today, a long time ago. I'll let that sink in for a moment before proceeding.
OK? Ready to continue?
[As a brief aside, regarding long-ago birthday's of Major League players, Harry Wright, captain and center fielder of the undefeated 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, was born January 10, 1835 in Sheffield, England. Here in the good 'ole U. S. of A., that was during the presidency of Andrew Jackson! Oh, Doctor!]
Deacon McGuire's rookie season came in 1884 when he debuted wearing the Tools of Ignorance with the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association (a short-lived rival to the National League) where he was a battery-mate to future Cincinnati Red Tony "The Apollo of the Box" Mullane, he of the ambidextrous pitching delivery. In that 1884 season, Tony Mullane went 36-26 while pitching 567 innings. It is unknown today how many of those innings were pitched right handed and how many were pitched left handed. Deacon McGuire jumped to the National League in 1885 where he suited up with Detroit. No, not the (later) Detroit Tigers of the American League, but the N.L.'s Detroit Wolverines. The Wolverines were only in existence from 1881-1888. In 1885, Deacon McGuire was the backup catcher for a pitching staff that featured Stump Wiedman, Pretzels Getzien, and Lady Baldwin. Stump, Pretzels and Lady. No wonder the Wolverines didn't last for very long! Kentuckian Mox McQuery played first base for the 1885 Wolverines. He died young, in 1900, and is buried in Covington, Kentucky.
Without question, the most famous of the 1904 Highlanders was outfielder Wee Willie Keeler, originator of the quote "Hit 'em where they ain't." Baseball-reference.com lists Wee Willie at 5'4" and 140 lbs. Keeler came to prominence at the end of the 19th century playing for the infamous - but excellent and innovative - Baltimore Orioles of the National League. There he was teammates with Hall of Famers John McGraw (5'7", 155 .lbs), Hughie Jennings (5'8", 165 .lbs), Joe Kelley and Wilbert Robinson (5'8", 215 .lbs). The Baltimore Orioles of the 1890s were an indomitable force of dirty play and trickery but also are credited as perfecting "small ball" - in particular directional bunting, the double steal, the so-called Baltimore Chop and the Hit and Run (if you call it "Run and Hit" I'll give you a knuckle sammich courtesy of John McGraw). These National League Orioles won the pennant three years in a row, from 1894-1896. Along the way they earned their reputation for dirty play by spiking opposing players and umpires alike and for fighting with opposing players and umpires alike. In a coarse age of American sport their particular nature, frequency and volume of verbal vitriol aimed at the opposition (and umpires) was unparalleled. And for those with a primary interest in statistics, the N.L. Orioles achieved some ridiculous numbers.
From 1893-1899, third baseman John "Mugsy" McGraw had the following On-Base Percentages; .454, .451, .459, .422, .471, .475, .548. I did not transpose numbers in that final OBP, you read it correctly - .548. The Orioles were contracted by the N.L. following the 1899 season, but "Mugsy" went on to post a .505 OBP in 1900 with St Louis. In 1902, playing for the newly formed Baltimore Orioles of the American League (it get's confusing, I know), his OBP was .508. In a sixteen year Major League career, McGraw's lifetime batting average was .334 with a career OBP of .466. Interestingly, McGraw's .548 OBP stood as the single-season record from 1899 until 1940, when that mark was passed by Ted Williams' .553 in 1941. The Splendid Splinter's record stood until 2001 when scoundrel Barry "the San Francisco Cheat" [credit: Lou] Bonds brought discredit to MLB and set a .582 OBP in 2002. Think of it; from 1899 until 2001 - the totality of the twentieth century - just two players held the all-time single-season record for OBP.
Shortstop Hughie Jennings led the N.L. in Hit By Pitch for five consecutive seasons, from 1894-1898. His high-water mark for HBP was 51 in 1896. On a ball club infamous for its profane hectoring of the opposition, you now have a very clear indicator of which Oriole ran his mouth the most! Here are Hughie's peak-season slash lines:
.386/.444/.512 [1895] 204 hits in only 131 games played
.401/.472/.488 [1896] 209 hits & 70 stolen bases in only 130 games played
.355/.463/.469 [1897] 60 stolen bases in only 117 games played
Joe Kelley had a .502 OBP in 1894, from 1894-1898 he had consecutive 100+ RBI seasons, and in 1896 he swiped 87 bases.
No wonder those old National League Orioles won so many championships!
But let's get back to the focus of this chapter in Orioles/Highlanders (Yankees) history; Wee Willie Keeler. From 1894 through 1901 (playing for Brooklyn in 1900 and 1901 following Baltimore's contraction) Keeler had eight consecutive 200+ hit seasons. From 1894 until the demise of the Orioles Keeler's season OBP never dipped below .420 and his batting average never sank below .371. In 1897, the diminutive Wee Willie staked his claim to the peak of ridiculous statistics when he finished the season batting .424 with 239 hits, 19 triples and 64 stolen bases (Keeler sandwiched that .424 season batting .386 and .385 in 1896 and 1898 respectively). Wee Willie's .424 batting average that season remains the fifth-highest in MLB history, dating back to the foundation of the National League in 1876 (fans of the Cincinnati Reds know that in 1869, playing for the undefeated Red Stockings, shortstop George Wright led the galaxy when he batted .633 with 49 home runs in 57 games played). 1897 was also the season in which Keeler set the all-time single-season National League record for consecutive games with a hit, 44, that was later equalled by The Hit King Peter Edward Rose in 1978.
By 1904, when the Highlanders-Americans photo (above) was taken, Wee Willie was on the downside of his Hall of Fame career. That season, his 13th in the Majors, he managed to eke out a .343 batting average with a .390 OBP. Keeler's career ended in 1910, his 19th season, playing in just nineteen games for the New York Giants but still posting a .300 batting average and a .462 OBP. For his 19-year career, Wee Willie Keeler was a .341 batter. He was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1939 on his fourth BBWAA ballot.
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