Remember the 5-card series I did on the Brooklyn Bushwicks? Well, my pal Will Arlt of the Ideal Cap Co. took a shine one of the caps I had illustrated. The Bushwicks were the class-act of all semi-pro ball clubs back before World War II and as such they wore the sharpest duds around. For most of their heyday the Bushwicks' team colors were navy blue and orange - a loud combo for the time and a color scheme that earned them the nickname "The Kandy Kids". The cap Will liked was the one worn by catcher Walt VanGrofski - the 1940 Brooklyn Bushwicks cap.
As far as caps go, it's a pretty smart looking one, navy blue crown with an orange bill and orange felt "B".
Like me, Will loves baseball obscura and the Bushwicks are right in his strike zone. Thus, it was only natural that he would be compelled to take one of the caps I illustrated and make it a reality. Now the '40 Bushwicks cap is the "Cap of the Month" for April and you can see it (and own one!) HERE.
Now,
over the past 4 years I've gotten quite a few lucrative offers to
advertise on my site, all of which I turned down; I wanted the Infinite
Baseball Card Set to be pure and good, clean fun. So I want to make it
clear that this isn't some shill ad disguised as a blog post - I
get nothing from Ideal Cap and simply wanted to share what I believe is
the most unique and beautiful baseball caps in the world. I highly
recommend picking one out (and that's a hard thing to do!) and wearing
it proudly - you'll never wear one of those modern hard-hats again!
Click the logo to see Will's caps (and tell him what a great logo design it is - I designed it!)
This past summer I wrote about my friendship with Will which started as a business relationship 25 years ago. For those who haven't read it, I'll post it below...
In
what seems like a thousand years ago, during the summer of 1989 I was
working in a garment factory in Passaic, N.J. On a lunch break I was
reading Sports Illustrated and happened on an article about a company in
upstate New York called Cooperstown Ballcap Company who was recreating
classic baseball caps, just like the ones made from the 1860's through
World War II. I was smitten with the beautiful wool caps with felt
logos, with the soft crown and leather sweatbands. I WANTED one of those
caps, but they were about twice the amount one of those adjustable mesh
caps cost, and being in art school, I couldn't justify spending that
much bread on a cap. But I WANTED one of those caps!
In a rare moment
of business acumen, I wrote a letter to the owner, Will Arlt up in
Cooperstown and offered to do illustrations for his catalogue in
exchange for ballcaps. Much to my surprise Will accepted and I've been
proud to call him a friend ever since. I'll never forget opening the box
that held my first Cooperstown Ballcap - it was a 1944 St. Louis Browns
cap and I loved it. The crown molded to the shape of my head and after a
few months the brim became soft and pliable. It looked just like the
caps depicted in my baseball history books. It was perfect. Today I have
dozens of Will's ballcaps and I never wore a modern cap again. Over the
years Cooperstown Ballcap developed a following of ballcap purists and
aficionados - one guy even came up with a website devoted to fans showing off their favorite Cooperstown Ballcap!
Will
closed Cooperstown Ballcap Company about 7 years ago and knew the world
had lost the greatest cap manufacturer of all-time. I was distraught at
the horror of resigning myself to having to wear those cheap and boxy
modern jobs or substandard "retro" caps that jersey companies put out.
Then one night over drinks at the Formosa Cafe in Hollywood, Will
disclosed he was starting a new company: IDEAL CAP COMPANY.
Not only would he produce those beautiful ballcaps again, but other
interesting styles as well. I immediately signed on to design the logo
and illustrate the caps on the website, and after a few years of
preparation and inventory building, Will launched Ideal.
I highly
recommend picking one out (and that's a hard thing to do!) and wearing
it proudly - you'll never wear one of those modern hard-hats again!
When it came down to delivering the manuscript for my book, The League of Outsider Baseball, I found I had run way past my intended target of 240 pages and had about 100 extra pages. Then began the excruciating process of having to edit out dozens and dozens of great stories and illustrations. In the end I admit the final product is much leaner and taut - it's Major League quality. Still, the cuts left a slew of ballplayers who wont get their due in this book. Today's story and illustration is from a two-page spread I had done depicting the 1912 Replacement Tigers. I decided to go with one character today to represent the group of nine guys who went from the street corner to the majors in the span of one day in 1912. If my book does well then perhaps the other eight will make it into a second volume next year!
Earlier that morning Bill Leinhauser was hanging out on his street corner in Philly with a handful of his pals. Now it was two in the afternoon and he was waiting to take the field in Shibe Park as a member of the Detroit Tigers.
How did Bill Leinhauser go from a Philadelphia street corner to replacing Ty Cobb in the Tigers outfield?
Most casual baseball fans know about Ty Cobb's horrifying temper. The one story usually told to illustrate the point is how he once leaped into the stands and beat an armless man who dared heckle him to a bloody pulp. When someone cried "That man has no hands!" Cobb defiantly yelled between kicks of his cleats "I don't care if he has no legs!" and continued pummelling the man until cops and teammates dragged him away. The story, though told over and over so many times, is essentially true.
The incident took place at New York's Hilltop Park on May 15, 1912. Cobb, the best ballplayer in the American League, was a natural target for hecklers. One guy sitting in the third base stands was especially vocal. Claude Lucker was a former printer who lost eight of his ten fingers in a press accident. Now he pushed Ty Cobb into the red zone when he called the Georgia Peach one too many racial slurs. Cobb did indeed vault into the stands and kick and beat the defenceless Lucker, uttering the infamous line "I don't care if he has no legs!"
As would be expected, the American League suspended the slugger, but what was unexpected was that his teammates - who cared for Cobb about as much as he cared for them - fully supported him and voted to go on strike unless he was reinstated. When the Tigers rolled into Philadelphia to begin their series against the World Champion Athletics, neither the League nor the striking players were willing to budge. Tigers manager Hughie Jennings had a big problem: if Detroit didn't field a team that afternoon at Shibe Park, the American League would forfeit the game to the A's and bring forth all kinds of costly fines.
Jennings met with A's manager and owner Connie Mack. It became obvious Jennings had only one choice - find a team. Since time was tight he couldn't bring up any Tigers prospects or players under contract with Detroit. He had to find local amateurs. Both Jennings and Mack knew any pick-up team would get murdered going up against the A's juggernaut. Mack's men were the defending World Champs, some say the greatest team ever assembled. The kindly Connie Mack told the Tigers manager that he would hold back his regulars and field his scrubs that day. Reassured, Jennings only had one more thing to do - find a team!
Since he was unfamiliar with the local baseball scene, the Tigers skipper turned to a local sportswriter named Joe Nolan. He in turn tapped Allan Travers, the assistant coach of the St. Joseph's College baseball team to find the players. The 20 year-old went to his neighborhood and scooped up eight "ballplayers" and herded them to Shibe Park. Each man was instructed to sign an official American League Player's Contract for a salary of $25 and told to suit up in the unused Tigers road uniforms. Travers received a $50 contract because he claimed he could pitch.
The real Tigers wore their street clothes and sat in the stands. If Jennings felt relieved that he had a team, it was short-lived. When the line up cards were exchanged he discovered that Connie Mack had duped him - every position was manned by one of his regulars including three future Hall of Famers.
The game was a slaughter. The A's pounded Allan Travers for 24 runs. At one point many of the 16,000 fans demanded their money back but were refused. A riot was close to breaking out but was somehow avoided. After the game Cobb begged his teammates to end the strike, which they did. Each of the striking Tigers were fined $100 - $50 more than Cobb's original fine for beating Claude Lucker back in New York! In their next game Detroit fielded their normal lineup sans Cobb who would return from his suspension on May 25th.
The guy who
took Ty Cobb's place in center field and even wore his uniform was
William Charles Leinhauser. He was a local sandlot player and accomplished welterweight boxer, but he wasn't Ty Cobb. Leinhauser went 0 for 4 with 3 strike outs against the World Champs. Besides his failure at the plate Leinhauser also managed to get hit on the head by a fly ball. Perhaps he could be forgiven since Travers was serving up gopher balls all afternoon and the replacement Tigers were run ragged chasing flies. Cobb's replacement never appeared in another professional ballgame, but he did go on to to become a highly decorated Philadelphia Police Captain and retired as head of the city’s narcotics squad.
The Replacement Tigers became a footnote to baseball history, significant in that it added eight players to the Baseball Encyclopedia whose entire career lasted only a single game. Only one of those nine would ever effect baseball history a second time, and not for his play on the field but off it. The starting third baseman that day was Billy Maharg, a scrappy neighborhood corner boy. He went hitless in his only plate appearance and left the game early when a line drive slammed into his mouth, knocking out a handful of teeth. He continued to hang around the fringes of professional baseball and by 1916 was a trainer and chauffeur with the Phillies. In 1916 Maharg got one more chance to appear in a big league game. He did as well in his second major league game as he did in his first: 0 for 1. He did however play a few innings in the outfield, this time without any damage to his choppers. The next time he appeared in conjunction with the national pastime was when he and pal Sleepy Bill Burns helped cobble together the fix of the 1919 World Series.
69 years ago
today, Jackie Robinson sat in the visitor's locker room of Jersey City's
Roosevelt Stadium. Suiting up with his Montréal Royals teammates,
Robinson was about to do what no black man had done since 1899 - play in an organized baseball game. Johnny Wright, another black
ballplayer was on the roster that day, too, but Wright was a pitcher and
was not going to play. Once the bands stopped and Mayor Hague threw out
the first ball, Robinson
was on his own. Opening Day in Jersey City was a big deal back then, a
city-wide holiday. The Hague Democratic political machine that ran the city since
1917 expected every single municipal employee to purchase a ticket in
order to give Jersey City the largest opening day crowd every year.
Although 25,000 fans streamed through the turnstiles that afternoon,
twice than number was sold. Still, with 25,000, Jersey City easily led
the International League in attendance that day, and they witnessed
history being made.
Robinson’s fame as a college athlete, his university education, and
experience as an army officer made him the perfect man for a very
difficult job. Many Negro League ballplayers expressed disappointment
that he was to be the first to integrate the game. His manager with
Montréal silently questioned whether or not a black man was even human.
Bob Feller, who pitched against Robinson in 1945, thought so little of
his talent said “If he were a white man, I doubt if they would even
consider him big league material, except perhaps as a bat boy.” Robinson
faced it all with quiet dignity and strength. In that first game in
Jersey City he went 4 for 5, including a three-run homer, scored 4 runs,
drove in 3 and stole 2 bases. Overcoming immense racial pressure,
Jackie won over his teammates and fans with his natural physical ability
and intense drive to win. Sparked by his play, Montréal won the Little
World Series of 1946 and the next year he was playing for Brooklyn.
Through his sheer determination Jackie Robinson not only paved the way
for the desegregation of the major leagues but also the modern civil
rights movement.
Here's to you Jackie!
Don't forget the card I posted of Happy Chandler, the Commissioner of Baseball who backed up Branch Rickey when he wanted to bring Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers.
I finally received a few advance copies of The Book. Now, I'm usually my own worse critic, but I have to say, it looks better than I ever imagined. Besides that, I can honestly say I have never seen a baseball book like this one. When I started out 5 years ago with this blog, I went about it with the idea of creating the baseball card set I always wanted. I had the same thing in mind when I began the book - to create the book I always wanted to find in the bookstore.
I can honestly say I did.
The 240-page hardback book hits the stores May 5th and you can pre-order one at a whole variety of outlets HERE. If anyone is in the Cincinnati area, please know that I will be having my book launch party at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Crestview Hills, Kentucky on May 8th. I would absolutely love to meet anyone who can attend and share the greatest achievement of my artistic career with you in person!
* As a demonstration of pro-photography vs. amateur, the first three photos in this post were taken by my pal Todd Robinson, a true artist with the lens from still product shots like these to event photography. You can see more of his amazing work HERE. The last three shots are by yours truly, a testament to why I stick to ink and paper instead of a camera...
