1912 – Former Brooklyn Superbas pitcher Elmer Stricklett, said to be the inventor of the spitball, is reinstated by the National Commission after playing outside organized baseball for three years. But he will not make it back to the major leagues.
Major League Baseball Season Recap 1911 World Series – Philadelphia A’s AL over New York Giants NL 4 games to 2 Awards – MVP – NL Frank Schulte AL Ty Cobb The Philadelphia Athletics struggled early, but pulled away to win the American League pennant handily. Then they repeated that performance against the New York Giants in the World…
Pittsburgh Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss proposes that each team in the World Series be required to turn over one-fourth of its share of the gate to the league, to be divided among the other teams. Until now, ten percent of the gross went to the National Commission, 60 percent to the players, and the rest to the two pennant-winning clubs. The National League will pass the resolution and send it to the American League. It marks the beginning of changes that ultimately give players of the first four clubs a percentage of the World Series money.
At the National League meetings at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, NY, Sporting Life reports that “For the first time in history a woman sat in at a major league meeting. Mrs. H.H. Britton, owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, remained throughout the entire session of the National League meeting on the second day. Mrs. Britton took no voice in the meeting. She allowed President Edward A. Steininger to do all the voting.”
New York politician James E. Gaffney and former player Montgomery Ward purchase the National League franchise Boston Doves. The team will be called the Braves due to Gaffney’s tie to Tammany Hall, which uses an Indian chief as their symbol.
1911 – A rift between the leagues develops over widespread charges of ticket speculation during the World Series, and accusations that officials of the Giants and A’s were involved. The American League passes a resolution refusing to participate in another World Series until it has control of ticket sales in its own parks. The National Commission investigates the charge that speculators were given large blocks of tickets, but takes no action and releases no findings. The following spring, the Commission finds that much scalping occurred, but there is no evidence either team was involved, and peace is declared.
1911 – William Russell, head of the syndicate that owns the Boston Nationals, dies. No doubt helping his demise was watching his team finish the season with a .291 winning percentage. Former player, now attorney, Monte Ward and New York politician James Gaffney will purchase 945 of the 1000 shares for $177,000. The team, also known as the Rustlers (or Doves) will start next season as the “Braves”.
When umpire Bill Klem stops the Phillies-Cardinals contest to have an unruly fan banned from the Baker Bowl, the removal marks the first expulsion of a patron from a game. The standard practice at the time was to use bodyguards after the contest to protect the arbitrators, rather than risk the crowd’s ire by ousting one of their own.
On July 2 1911, Future Hall of Famer Ty Cobb pounds out 3 hits improving his consecutive hitting streak to a startling 40 games. The Detroit Tigers top the Cleveland Indians 14-6 behind Cobb. @ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90YWdzIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiTGVhcm4gTW9yZSBhYm91dCB0aGUgdGVhbXMsIHBsYXllcnMsIGJhbGwgcGFya3MgYW5kIGV2ZW50cyB0aGF0IGhhcHBlbmVkIG9uIHRoaXMgZGF0ZSBpbiBoaXN0b3J5IGp1c3QgY2xpY2sgdGhlIHRhZ3MhICAiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsImxpbmtfdG9fdGVybV9wYWdlIjoib24iLCJzZXBhcmF0b3IiOiIgfCAiLCJjYXRlZ29yeV90eXBlIjoicG9zdF90YWcifX0=@
Ty Cobb, who had an infield single off Earl Hamilton in his last game, on June 29th, repeats by beating out another infield hit against the St. Louis lefty. Again, Detroit wins, this time, 8 – 0.
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