The Green Light Letter by FDR

The Green Light Letter was a letter dated January 15, 1942, that was written by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and addressed to Judge Landis, the baseball commissioner.

The letter encourages baseball and its owners to continue playing during WWII.  Landis was concerned by a shortage of players as many men were in the service.

The letter gave baseball the green light to continue games not just to employ several thousand young men and players but to provide a diversion and recreation to millions of Americans.

My dear Judge:

Thank you for yours of January fourtheenth. As you will, of course, realize the final decision about the baseball season must rest with you and the Baseball club owners- so what I am going to say is solely a personal and not an official point of view.

I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before.

And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before.

Baseball provides a recreation which does not last over two hours or two hours and and half, and which can be got for very little cost. And, incidentally, I hope that night games can be extended because  it gives an opportunity  to the day shift to see a game occasionally.

As to the players themselves, I know you agree with me that the individual players who are active military or naval age should go, without question, into the services. Even if the actual quality to theteams is lowered by the greater use of older players, this will not dampen the popularity of the sport. Of course, if an individual has some particular aptitude in a trade or profession, he ought to serve the Government. That, however, is a matter which I know you can handle with complete justice.

Here is another way of looking at it- if 300 teams use 5,000 or 6,000 players, these players are a definite recreational asset to at least 20,000,000 of the fellow citizens - and that in my judgment is thoroughly worthwhile.

(thanks to baseball-reference.com)

Kevin Marquez

Timing is Everything

Donald Barnes was the owner of the St. Louis Browns. And perhaps because he was tired of seeing the evergrowing dwindling number of fans attending the Browns' games (at Sportsman's Park) because he was working on a plan.

Barnes owned a chunk of Sportsman's Park and the St. Louis Browns was a money loser. The author, Kevin Nelson, of the Golden Game. The Story of California Baseball states:  Barnes had a plan. Move to Los Angeles. He checked into train schedules between California and the rest of the country, figuring ballclubs would be on the road more, criss-crossing between East and West, and travel costs would be higher.

He would have to sell Sportsman's Park. Then unload-for a fee- his territorial rights in St. Louis to the Cardinals, who would never have to worry about another baseball competitor in the city again.  With the money he would make from these deals he planned on buying Wrigley Field, in Los Angeles, and the Coast League Angels from Phil Wrigley. The Angels would leave town, clearing the way for the major leagues to begin play in Los Angeles by Opening Day of 1942.

Timing, in baseball and life, is everything, and Barnes's timing could not have been worse. The winter meetings of the owners took place December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor. Roughly 2400 American servicemen had been killed or wounded. The president of the United States declared war. It was believed or feared that California was next on the list of the Japanese and there was widespread doubt whether any baseball would be played during the war.

Nothing ever became of this plan and the Browns would eventually move to Baltimore in the early 1950s to become the Orioles.

(thanks to Kevin Nelson's aforementioned book for the info)

Kevin Marquez

"Prince Hal" Chase

"I wasn't satisfied with what the club owners paid me. Like others, I had to have a bet on the side and we used to bet with the other team and the gamblers who sat in the boxes. It was easy to get a bet. Sometimes collections were hard to make. Players would pass out IOUs and often be in debt for their entire salaries. That wasn't a healthy condition. Once the evil started there was no stopping it, and club owners were not strong enough to cope with the evil."

Harold Homer Chase born on February 13, 1883 in Los Gatos, California, played for the NY Highlanders (would later become the Yankees), Chicago White Sox, Buffalo Blues, Cincinnati Reds, and NY Giants.

Considered by many one of the best fielding first-basemen in the game, which had to lead to some suspicion when it was Chase who would boot balls to throw games he himself bet on.  Hal Chase would bet on his team to lose!

He was selected by the New York Highlanders from the Class-A Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels in a Rule 5 draft on October 4, 1904.

Chase played for the Highlanders until June 1, 1913 when he was traded to the Chicago White Sox. With New York he compiled 1182 hits, scored 551 runs while hitting 22 homers.

(per http://www.chaseplace.iwarp.com/) In 1910, the Yankees had a chance for the AL pennant, fighting against the White Sox for the flag.  In a mid-season game at Sportsman's Park, in St. Louis, manager George Stallings accused Chase of deliberately losing games.  Hal took offense.  Punches were about to be tossed but teammates intervened (the way baseball brawls usually do, you know like a dance hall scene except there's no music).  After the incident, Chase was not often penciled into Stallings' lineup. His accusation against Chase shocked the fans and team ownership. It was a charge that would follow Chase throughout his career.

President Ban Johnson, the head of the American League, said: "Stallings has utterly failed in his accusation against Chase. He tried to besmirtch the character of a sterling player. Anybody who know Hal Chase knows that he is not guilty of the accusation made against him, and I am happy to say that the evidence of the New York players given to Vice-President Somers this morning showed Stallings up."  According to the Hal Chase place site, President Johnson was obviously eager to disbelieve any charges against Chase. He didn't want the prize jewel of the New York franchise branded as a cheater. Johnson developed a protective attitude toward Chase and shielded him from controversy to maintain good will with the American League fans. The so-called thorough investigation by New York owners, Frank Farrell and Bill Devery never did take place.

In 1914, Chase found conflict playing for Charles Comiskey and quarreled about his contract. A feature of many of Comiskey's contracts, and of other clubs at the time, was a "ten day clause."  Meaning the team could terminate a player's contract within 10 days.

"At the time, Comiskey called me into his office and asked me to have the 10-day clause stricken from my contract. I demurred at this. A contract, it seemed to me, ought to bind both parties to the agreement. If that agreement allowed him to dispose of my services with ten days notice, I didn't see why I shouldn't enjoy the same privilege."  The next month, Comiskey and the White Sox took Chase to the Supreme Court. On July 9th, the White Sox and Hal met in court. Long before Curt Flood challenged baseball's reserve clause, Hal Chase found himself in the midst of a historic case against basebll ownership. Whether he was just motivated out of selfishness or principle in fighting his contract, the judge in the case saw his point. The ruling in the case of the Chicago White Sox vs. Hal Chase, as given by Judge Herbert Bissell, is as follows:

"While the services of these baeball players are ostensibley secured by voluntary contracts, a study of this system...reveals the involuntary character of the servitude which is imposed upon players by the strength of the combination controlling the labor of practically all of the players in this country. (This makes it) necessary for the player either to take the contract prescribed..or abandon baseball as a profession and seek some other livelihood...This system of servitude...provides for the purchase, sale, barter and exchange of the services of ball players, skilled laborers, without their consent...(the players servitude) under the operations of this plan of agreement is contrary to the spirit of American institutions (and) to the spirit of the Constitution of the United States...This court will not assist in enforcing an agreement which is part of a general plan having for its object the maintenance of a monopoly, interference with the personal liberties of a citizen, and the control of his free right to labor wherever and for whom he pleases."

(I wonder if Curt Flood's people (reps) referred to this case at any time during his case? In some manner of speaking for the ways of the world, however "layman's term" this may sound, Hal Chase's case vs. Comiskey's White Sox set the precedent and it should have been referred to as proof that this unfair treatment has been tolerated for too long.)     

In 1916, with the Cincinnati Redlegs, he led the National League in hitting, batting .339 and hits with 184.

Per the Wikipedia information on "Prince Hal" he played at a time 'when gambling was so rampant that whenever a player was not at his best, particularly in a big city such as New York, there were claims of players laying down, whether it was true or not.'

Midway through the 1918 season, Chase allegedly paid pitcher Jimmy Ring $50 to throw a game against the Giants. Christy Mathewson (the Reds manager) got wind of it and suspended Chase for the rest of the season. Although Mathewson brought formal charges against Chase for fixing games National League president, John Heydler acquitted him because he did not have enough evidence to convict "Prince Hal."

An "unknown individual" sent NL President Heydler a copy of a $500 check that Chase received from a gambler for thowing a game in 1918.  This was just the evidence Heydler needed to contact Giants' owner, Charles Stoneham, and order Stoneham to release Chase.

During this time, no American League team would sign Hal Chase (on the advice of Detroit Tiger manager, Hughie Jennings).  And as a result, Chase was effectively blackballed from the big leagues.

Hal Chase was a career .291 hitter, who scored 980 runs and had 2,158 base hits.  These are the numbers of someone who very well could have been voted into Cooperstown.  But NOT when you are blackballed from baseball. 

(thanks to http://www.chaseplace.iwarp.com/ and Wikipedia for their information on Hal Chase)

Kevin J. Marquez

Cap on Backwards

Adrian Constantine Anson, nicknamed "Cap," (which was short for captain) was born in Iowa.  He hated blacks and felt they shouldn't be allowed to play baseball because (to him) baseball was a white man's domain.  (Did he have bad experiences with this race or did he just prefer to remain ignorant on the subject of who African Americans were ?)

His authority contributed to the spread of what was understood (by those on the outside looking in) as "the unwritten rule."  The unwritten rule wasn't something etched in stone like the gloriously fabulous story of the Ten Commandments. It was the "word of mouth." 

If someone were to ask if they could see these "unwritten rules" no one would be able to present them.  These "rules" were and are a nod and a wink of ignorance and prejudice. Because Cap Anson-the best ballplayer at the time- would not play against the blacks (or anyone with a dark complexion) a vast majority of caucasians (who wanted to play the great game of baseball) became sheep as they fell prey to the so-called "unwritten rules."

Kevin J. Marquez

You Have Got to Get Something

When you have a pitching staff that consists of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Barry Zito there is going to be that time when you may not be able to pay one of these members.

It is for this reason that the Giants' front office has to get someone in a trade for the pitcher they cannot come to agreement with on a new contract.

What disturbs me is the idea that some team carelessly overpays someone (see Barry Zito) and this becomes the new standard for what a pitcher is "owed."  When really what should be factored into the equation is: Has the pitcher established that he is a winner -and- Is his team usually in the game when he starts? 

Get a ring and then you should be treated like royalty.  Eric Byrnes, the other night on his KNBR talk show, said, "You get paid for what you have done."  And he's right.  But the people who get together to determine the player's worth must not go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to the number of years figured into the contract.

Keep it at 3-years and you will generally get your money's worth.


Kevin J. Marquez

Charlie Sweeney Not "Winning" like that other Charlie

When you describe a ballplayer from the early days (Dead Ball Era) you really are painting the picture of a people who had more trials and tribulations than smiles and jubilation. It was a time when the men who were playing a boy's game were juvenile delinquents. And though they may have acquired street smarts they were ignorant as far as civility was concerned. That's why there was such a thing as the "unwritten rules" and it took until 1947 to allow people of color to enter the Big Leagues, an entirely white (Native American excepting) establishment.

A person who epitomized what a baseball player was was a San Franciscan-born pitcher named Charlie Sweeney. In a book,"The Golden Game, The Story of California Baseball," by Kevin Nelson he states: Charlie Sweeney was one of the bad boys of early California baseball. As rowdy and rebellious as he was talented. Sounds like a 21st century Charlie who made the news somewhat recently. I am speaking of Charlie Sheen, of course.

Nelson goes on to list some of Sweeney's forgettable moments which could only be enjoyed by the criminal element and that would then make these selected events "unforgettable."

One year, while in the middle of a game, he walked off the field for no reason and never came back, causing him to be kicked off his team and out of the California League.

He reappeared that same season in the American Association, then a major league. In 1894, while pitching for Providence, Sweeney struck out 19 Boston batters in a game. This was the first time such a feat occurred in major league history.

After arguing with his manager and getting kicked off Providence he bounced around the majors for a few years before returning to his old California League stomping grounds. In the winter of 1897, a visiting member of the New York Giants hit a home run in an exhibition game at the Haight Street Grounds, only to suddenly leave town on a train. One of the stories was that this Giant had licked Sweeney in a fight and Sweeney, in retaliation, had gone to fetch his pistol, causing the Giant to flee.

Seven years later Sweeney shot and killed a man in a barroom brawl. Convicted of manslaughter, he served four years in San Quentin Prison. His health failing, he received a pardon from the governor and a release from prison in the late 1890s. He returned to the California League as an umpire.

After officiating a game between Santa Cruz and Fresno he got word that the Fresno catcher thought a cane and sunglasses were in order for Sweeney the umpire. Sweeney sought out and attacked the outspoken backstop. He was arrested and bailed out of jail. He then fled to another city where a local sheriff tracked him down. While waiting to return to Fresno, he and the sheriff decided to sample some alcoholic beverages. The sheriff may have been a fan who enjoyed the tall tales Charlie Sweeney was telling because one drink became two then three. Do the math, there wasn't anything like light beer back then. The sheriff's delicate condition allowed Charlie to sneak his way towards freedom. (California League historian John E. Spalding says Sweeney may have never answered for those Fresno assault charges.)

Charlie Sweeney's poor health got him four years later. He died of tuberculosis. He was thirty-eight years old. (The tuberculosis infection is usually acquired from contact with an infected person, infected cow or drinking contaminated milk. Let your imagination run wild pondering what might have been the cause of Charlie's untimely demise.)

(thanks to the Kevin Nelson book on California baseball)

Kevin J. Marquez

Around the Horn Look at Your 2012 San Francisco Giants

After I read an article on Bleacher Report.com by Augustin Kennady I felt the need to make some amendments and offer my own opinion on the person and his position.

With the catching position Kennady has Buster Posey starting and Eli Whiteside or Chris Stewart backing up the up and coming superstar. But after listening to a few pre-season games I offer that Hector Sanchez is making a good push to force the Giants to make Eli Whiteside a full-time coach. Thereby creating the backup spot for Stewart, with Sanchez on the roster as someone who could spell Posey as Posey increases his endurance and stamina. Imagine having Sanchez entering the game with his ability to hit, as a late-inning replacement.  It would cause the opposition to maintain an intense concentration because there would be very little drop off between the two batters. Those who bat before or after the Posey slot will likely see some good pitches to hit.

 At first base there is Aubrey Huff, Brandon Belt and Brett Pill all vying for playing time.  This is Huff's job to lose.  Now when camp breaks for the regular season the thought is to send Belt down to get every day playing time in Triple A- Fresno while keeping the veteran Brett Pill on the roster to come off the bench as a right-handed bat with some pop. He reminds me of Joel Youngblood because he is so versatile.

This is not a demotion for Belt but rather a chance for him to find his stroke and when he does the roster will be adjusted accordingly to find a spot for him.

Second base:  Freddy Sanchez, Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot.  All should see plenty of action, especially if Sanchez is unable to maintain his health.

Both Freddy Sanchez and Buster Posey would be good to get 100 games at catcher and second base respectively.  The remaining 62 games is why they have Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and Chris Stewart.  Somebody not mentioned could also be a contributor such as Charlie Culberson.

There are still about 3 weeks before the season starts.  Soon the Giants will be trimming the roster to have a better idea of who will be around come the April 6th, opening day in Arizona to play the Diamondbacks.



Kevin J. Marquez