Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators: The War-Torn Career of an All-Star Shortstop [Paperback] by Robert J. Kirkpatrick, Dave Kindred
Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators: The War-Torn Career of an All-Star Shortstop [Paperback] by Robert J. Kirkpatrick, Dave Kindred
While playing in the Flint River League, Cecil began to display the natural hitting ability that would distinguish him throughout his pro career. Legend of the sweet-swinging kid from Riverdale first grew out of this amateur league. Cecil graduated in the spring of 1930, and he was offered scholarships to three local colleges: Georgia Tech University, the University of Georgia, and Oglethorpe University." He initially planned to go to Georgia Tech — and even had a room all set at the school — until he met a man named Kid Elberfeld. "They ran a baseball school in 1931 in Atlanta, and some of the fellas that played on the Jonesburg team, they went up there to the school and told Kid Elberfeld about me playing against them,"
Travis recounted 60 years later." Elberfeld, an ex-major leaguer, was president of Tubby Walton's Baseball University in Atlanta. The school was named after William Hewlett "Tubby" Walton. Tubby Walton was a large, jovial man known amongst Atlanta sandlots for his good nature. He once ran a cafe named "Tubby's Home-Cooked Meals, which he had to shut down when he realized he was giving away more meals through the back door of the cafe than he was selling to paying customers. Walton was what was known then as a "bird dog," or freelance scout. He developed young players at his "university" and then shopped their rights to professional teams. He also ran a touring team, Tubby Walton's Firecrackers, which gave his students a chance to refine their playing skills. Once, Walton had informed Elberfeld that he'd discovered "a little boy that can hit a curve ball." "Ain't no boy can hit a curve ball, Bird," Elberfeld replied. "This boy kin. Look a little like a Indian and kin hit a curve ball."
Elberfeld told him to bring the player to the school, which in truth consisted of a "skin diamond and a chicken-wire backstop" in Almand Park. Elberfeld later remembered: "I got this pitcher who was sorta mean. Later got in jail. I tole him to knock this Indian down and then curve him. This mean boy low-bridged him, then that Indian-looking boy hit the next curve 10 miles." The "Indian-looking boy" was named Luke Appling. Elberfeld accepted Appling to the school, and later he got Appling signed to a pro contract for the Atlanta Crackers of the South Association. Appling would go on to a Hall of Fame career as a shortstop in the Majors. Walton also had the distinction of discovering Johnny Mize, the future Hall of Famer slugger. When he first saw Mize playing in the North Georgia hills, Walton claimed that Mize "flogged a line drive that hit a hickory tree 500 feet from home, so hard hickor' nuts kept falling for five minutes."'
The circumstances of Travis's discovery were similar to that of Appling's. A student of the school, a boy named Leroy Waldrop, told Walton that he knew "a boy out in Clayton County that could hit anybody." "Ain't nobody kin hit anybody, Leroy," Walton responded. "This boy kin," the youth asserted, "but he can't get away." He then explained the commitment that Cecil had to his family and the farm. Intrigued, Walton told Waldrop to bring Travis to the school at nine o'clock the next morning, and that Travis would be a guest of the school while Waldrop gave him a look. The next morning, Waldrop brought Travis, who showed up wearing tennis shoes and white duck pants. Walton greeted the youth and told him to pick out a bat and swing at some pitched balls. While Walton noted that the rest of his students would always choose models bearing the signatures of their favorite players— Babe Ruth, Al Simmons, Jimmie Foxx — Travis simply picked up a random bat and strode to the plate to face a pitcher named Hugh Casey, an ex-con who'd done time on a chain gang. Walton remembers: "I told ol' Hughie to bear down, and this lean ol' plow- boy hit a line drive off him, and kept. hitting 'em." And "that boy hit every mean thing that ex-con could throw at him." But could he field? Unfortunately, that week had seen so much rain- fall that the school's diamond had been rendered unusable for any substantial fielding practice.
So Elberfeld took Cecil to his home in Atlanta. He had Cecil stand at one end of his living room, and from the other end, Elberfeld hit grounders to Travis over a rug surface. Apparently, Travis evidenced enough skill in fielding ground balls in a domestic setting. Both Elberfeld and Walton were thrilled at the chance to have Cecil as a prized pupil at their struggling school. Travis also felt that he had found his true calling. He would later recount: I had a good mind to go there on my own hook, but at the time was torn between two emotions. First, I had an ambition to become a professional ball player; second, I had the choice of going to one of three colleges. It was a difficult decision to make, but I finally decided to take a chance with Walton and Elberfeld and try to make my own money. Not surprisingly, Travis's family was reluctant to see Cecil turn down a chance to attend college on a scholarship—and at a time when the nation's economy was reeling from the effects of the great stock market crash that had occurred in October 1929. "My parents were not enthused," Travis admitted. "I think they and my siblings were ready to carry me off to Georgia
Tech."
Despite the standing scholarship offer from Georgia Tech, the 17-year-old Travis had the two men accompany him back to Riverdale and talk to his father. As they drove up the hill that led to the Travis farm, Cecil reportedly said, "Mistuh Walton, get Pa to let me plow and play baseball, too." Walton and Elberfeld met with James Travis on the porch of the Travis house and told him about their baseball school. They brought with them a contract that would give Travis a scholarship to the Tubby Walton school. In exchange for the scholarship, Travis the player would essentially become the property of the school. The elder Travis sat in his rocking chair and closely read the contract. It sounds like he's joining the chain gang," he commented. "It does sound like that," Walton admitted, "but they'll pay him for his work. They don't pay on the chain gangs." Seventeen-year-old Cecil signed the contract and returned to Atlanta with Walton and Elberfeld. Elberfeld took it upon himself to tutor Cecil personally. Kid Elberfeld had been known as "The Scrappy Kid" during his playing days, which, as H.G. Salsinger noted, was "no mean distinction since at the time major league rosters were filled with gents who made pugnacity their main virtue." In fact, legend has it that Elberfeld used to file the spikes of his cleats in order to make them more dangerous to fielders when attempting to tag him out or turn double plays. Elberfeld, perhaps seeing something of himself in Cecil, taught the third base position to the youngster. Unfortunately, the school was due to close for the season in only a couple of days.
But Elberfeld saw potential in Travis, and he took him to visit a number of Southern Association teams, including the Atlanta Crackers and the Little Rock Travelers, shop- ping the youngster's talents. It was the spring of 1931, and in Elberfeld's hometown of Chattanooga, the Lookouts farm team was about to begin training for the upcoming season. Elberfeld took Cecil under his wing and arranged for him to work out with the Lookouts team. Travis would remember: Elberfeld made me feel right at home. In fact, he took me to his home, where I had my meals and slept. During the evenings Elberfeld talked nothing but baseball to me. He was a third baseman and a shortstop in his day and he gave me many pointers that helped me a great deal. Even when I was working out with the Lookouts, Elberfeld frequently called me to one side and corrected a fault, or told me how to do a certain thing." Cecil was just one of 108 fresh, young students of the Tubby Walton school whom Elberfeld had brought to Chattanooga for a tryout that spring. But Cecil showed enough standout ability in his workouts to make a favorable impression on Lookouts manager Bert Niehoff and team president Joe Engel.
They gave Elberfeld a $200 finder's fee and signed Travis to a contract with Chattanooga. Cecil was still green to the world of professional ball, and Niehoff already had a third baseman named Rube Lutzke. So Niehoff gave him the option of either sitting the bench with the Lookouts or playing for a semi- pro team in Newport, Tennessee, where Travis could gain more playing time. Travis remembered: "I told them as long as they'd pay me, I'd rather go up there and play, so I went up there and played."So Travis went north to Newport, with Niehoff's promise that the youngster would get another chance with the Lookouts before the end of the 1931 season. According to Travis's later recollection, he hit .400 while playing shortstop at Newport that summer. But he was not getting paid while playing for the semipro team. Discouraged, Travis considered going home to Riverdale and giving up thoughts of playing pro ball. But before he could, Niehoff made good on his promise and recalled Travis to the Chat- tanooga squad in August. In the summer of 1931, as Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics and the hard-nosed St. Louis Cardinals were running away with the American and National Leagues, respectively, Travis took advantage of his second chance in Chattanooga. The 18-year-old collected 15 hits in 35 at bats for an average of .429. Travis's run was a brief flurry at the end of a minor league season, but it foretold the rapid rise of one of the game's next great hitters.
----
'''Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators: The War-Torn Career of an All-Star Shortstop [Paperback] by Robert J. Kirkpatrick, Dave Kindred''' A three-time All-Star, Cecil Travis (1913-2006) was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career when he was drafted for World War II in 1941. When he returned to the game in 1945, after three and a half years in the army, Travis was no longer the dominant player he had been. In the three seasons that followed-the last of his career-only once did Travis play in more than seventy-five games, and his offensive numbers plummeted. Yet his prewar accomplishments were such that he finished his twelve-year career with a .314 batting average, and baseball maven Bill James put Travis atop his list of players most likely to have lost a Hall of Fame career to the war. This biography documents Travis's life and dynamic career. It recounts his childhood years on his family's Riverdale farm in rural Georgia, his demonstration of talent during high school, the beginning of his professional career with the Minor League Chattanooga Lookouts in 1931, his rise with the Washington Senators, the historic 1941 season in which Travis led all of baseball in hits, his time as a soldier, the decline in his play from 1945 to 1947, and his retirement. In an epilogue Cecil Travis comments on his baseball career, the effects of the war, and his life in Riverdale, where he raised livestock on the farm that was his childhood home. Rob Kirkpatrick is a senior editor at Thomas Dunne Books and the author of several books, including 1969: The Year Everything Changed and Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen. Dave Kindred has been a sportswriter for more than thirty-five years.
Product Details
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Bison Books (March 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0803224753
ISBN-13: 978-0803224759
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,690,025 in Books
Travis recounted 60 years later." Elberfeld, an ex-major leaguer, was president of Tubby Walton's Baseball University in Atlanta. The school was named after William Hewlett "Tubby" Walton. Tubby Walton was a large, jovial man known amongst Atlanta sandlots for his good nature. He once ran a cafe named "Tubby's Home-Cooked Meals, which he had to shut down when he realized he was giving away more meals through the back door of the cafe than he was selling to paying customers. Walton was what was known then as a "bird dog," or freelance scout. He developed young players at his "university" and then shopped their rights to professional teams. He also ran a touring team, Tubby Walton's Firecrackers, which gave his students a chance to refine their playing skills. Once, Walton had informed Elberfeld that he'd discovered "a little boy that can hit a curve ball." "Ain't no boy can hit a curve ball, Bird," Elberfeld replied. "This boy kin. Look a little like a Indian and kin hit a curve ball."
Elberfeld told him to bring the player to the school, which in truth consisted of a "skin diamond and a chicken-wire backstop" in Almand Park. Elberfeld later remembered: "I got this pitcher who was sorta mean. Later got in jail. I tole him to knock this Indian down and then curve him. This mean boy low-bridged him, then that Indian-looking boy hit the next curve 10 miles." The "Indian-looking boy" was named Luke Appling. Elberfeld accepted Appling to the school, and later he got Appling signed to a pro contract for the Atlanta Crackers of the South Association. Appling would go on to a Hall of Fame career as a shortstop in the Majors. Walton also had the distinction of discovering Johnny Mize, the future Hall of Famer slugger. When he first saw Mize playing in the North Georgia hills, Walton claimed that Mize "flogged a line drive that hit a hickory tree 500 feet from home, so hard hickor' nuts kept falling for five minutes."'
The circumstances of Travis's discovery were similar to that of Appling's. A student of the school, a boy named Leroy Waldrop, told Walton that he knew "a boy out in Clayton County that could hit anybody." "Ain't nobody kin hit anybody, Leroy," Walton responded. "This boy kin," the youth asserted, "but he can't get away." He then explained the commitment that Cecil had to his family and the farm. Intrigued, Walton told Waldrop to bring Travis to the school at nine o'clock the next morning, and that Travis would be a guest of the school while Waldrop gave him a look. The next morning, Waldrop brought Travis, who showed up wearing tennis shoes and white duck pants. Walton greeted the youth and told him to pick out a bat and swing at some pitched balls. While Walton noted that the rest of his students would always choose models bearing the signatures of their favorite players— Babe Ruth, Al Simmons, Jimmie Foxx — Travis simply picked up a random bat and strode to the plate to face a pitcher named Hugh Casey, an ex-con who'd done time on a chain gang. Walton remembers: "I told ol' Hughie to bear down, and this lean ol' plow- boy hit a line drive off him, and kept. hitting 'em." And "that boy hit every mean thing that ex-con could throw at him." But could he field? Unfortunately, that week had seen so much rain- fall that the school's diamond had been rendered unusable for any substantial fielding practice.
So Elberfeld took Cecil to his home in Atlanta. He had Cecil stand at one end of his living room, and from the other end, Elberfeld hit grounders to Travis over a rug surface. Apparently, Travis evidenced enough skill in fielding ground balls in a domestic setting. Both Elberfeld and Walton were thrilled at the chance to have Cecil as a prized pupil at their struggling school. Travis also felt that he had found his true calling. He would later recount: I had a good mind to go there on my own hook, but at the time was torn between two emotions. First, I had an ambition to become a professional ball player; second, I had the choice of going to one of three colleges. It was a difficult decision to make, but I finally decided to take a chance with Walton and Elberfeld and try to make my own money. Not surprisingly, Travis's family was reluctant to see Cecil turn down a chance to attend college on a scholarship—and at a time when the nation's economy was reeling from the effects of the great stock market crash that had occurred in October 1929. "My parents were not enthused," Travis admitted. "I think they and my siblings were ready to carry me off to Georgia
Tech."
Despite the standing scholarship offer from Georgia Tech, the 17-year-old Travis had the two men accompany him back to Riverdale and talk to his father. As they drove up the hill that led to the Travis farm, Cecil reportedly said, "Mistuh Walton, get Pa to let me plow and play baseball, too." Walton and Elberfeld met with James Travis on the porch of the Travis house and told him about their baseball school. They brought with them a contract that would give Travis a scholarship to the Tubby Walton school. In exchange for the scholarship, Travis the player would essentially become the property of the school. The elder Travis sat in his rocking chair and closely read the contract. It sounds like he's joining the chain gang," he commented. "It does sound like that," Walton admitted, "but they'll pay him for his work. They don't pay on the chain gangs." Seventeen-year-old Cecil signed the contract and returned to Atlanta with Walton and Elberfeld. Elberfeld took it upon himself to tutor Cecil personally. Kid Elberfeld had been known as "The Scrappy Kid" during his playing days, which, as H.G. Salsinger noted, was "no mean distinction since at the time major league rosters were filled with gents who made pugnacity their main virtue." In fact, legend has it that Elberfeld used to file the spikes of his cleats in order to make them more dangerous to fielders when attempting to tag him out or turn double plays. Elberfeld, perhaps seeing something of himself in Cecil, taught the third base position to the youngster. Unfortunately, the school was due to close for the season in only a couple of days.
But Elberfeld saw potential in Travis, and he took him to visit a number of Southern Association teams, including the Atlanta Crackers and the Little Rock Travelers, shop- ping the youngster's talents. It was the spring of 1931, and in Elberfeld's hometown of Chattanooga, the Lookouts farm team was about to begin training for the upcoming season. Elberfeld took Cecil under his wing and arranged for him to work out with the Lookouts team. Travis would remember: Elberfeld made me feel right at home. In fact, he took me to his home, where I had my meals and slept. During the evenings Elberfeld talked nothing but baseball to me. He was a third baseman and a shortstop in his day and he gave me many pointers that helped me a great deal. Even when I was working out with the Lookouts, Elberfeld frequently called me to one side and corrected a fault, or told me how to do a certain thing." Cecil was just one of 108 fresh, young students of the Tubby Walton school whom Elberfeld had brought to Chattanooga for a tryout that spring. But Cecil showed enough standout ability in his workouts to make a favorable impression on Lookouts manager Bert Niehoff and team president Joe Engel.
They gave Elberfeld a $200 finder's fee and signed Travis to a contract with Chattanooga. Cecil was still green to the world of professional ball, and Niehoff already had a third baseman named Rube Lutzke. So Niehoff gave him the option of either sitting the bench with the Lookouts or playing for a semi- pro team in Newport, Tennessee, where Travis could gain more playing time. Travis remembered: "I told them as long as they'd pay me, I'd rather go up there and play, so I went up there and played."So Travis went north to Newport, with Niehoff's promise that the youngster would get another chance with the Lookouts before the end of the 1931 season. According to Travis's later recollection, he hit .400 while playing shortstop at Newport that summer. But he was not getting paid while playing for the semipro team. Discouraged, Travis considered going home to Riverdale and giving up thoughts of playing pro ball. But before he could, Niehoff made good on his promise and recalled Travis to the Chat- tanooga squad in August. In the summer of 1931, as Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics and the hard-nosed St. Louis Cardinals were running away with the American and National Leagues, respectively, Travis took advantage of his second chance in Chattanooga. The 18-year-old collected 15 hits in 35 at bats for an average of .429. Travis's run was a brief flurry at the end of a minor league season, but it foretold the rapid rise of one of the game's next great hitters.
----
'''Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators: The War-Torn Career of an All-Star Shortstop [Paperback] by Robert J. Kirkpatrick, Dave Kindred''' A three-time All-Star, Cecil Travis (1913-2006) was well on his way to a Hall of Fame career when he was drafted for World War II in 1941. When he returned to the game in 1945, after three and a half years in the army, Travis was no longer the dominant player he had been. In the three seasons that followed-the last of his career-only once did Travis play in more than seventy-five games, and his offensive numbers plummeted. Yet his prewar accomplishments were such that he finished his twelve-year career with a .314 batting average, and baseball maven Bill James put Travis atop his list of players most likely to have lost a Hall of Fame career to the war. This biography documents Travis's life and dynamic career. It recounts his childhood years on his family's Riverdale farm in rural Georgia, his demonstration of talent during high school, the beginning of his professional career with the Minor League Chattanooga Lookouts in 1931, his rise with the Washington Senators, the historic 1941 season in which Travis led all of baseball in hits, his time as a soldier, the decline in his play from 1945 to 1947, and his retirement. In an epilogue Cecil Travis comments on his baseball career, the effects of the war, and his life in Riverdale, where he raised livestock on the farm that was his childhood home. Rob Kirkpatrick is a senior editor at Thomas Dunne Books and the author of several books, including 1969: The Year Everything Changed and Magic in the Night: The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen. Dave Kindred has been a sportswriter for more than thirty-five years.
Product Details
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Bison Books (March 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0803224753
ISBN-13: 978-0803224759
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.5 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,690,025 in Books
