Forfeits and Successfully Protested Games in Major League Baseball: A Complete Record, 1871-2013 Paperback by David Nemec (Author), Eric Miklich (Author)
July 15, 1900
Place: Stillwell, Michigan (now a part of Detroit) League: American League (AL)
Field: Burns Park
Clubs: Detroit versus Cleveland
Umpire: Joe Canrillon
Even though the American League was still a minor circuit in 1900 we arc including its most prominent forfeit that year, if only because it was but one of many ugly incidents which belied Ban Johnson's pledge that his fledgling loop would be free of the rowdyism that had long plagued the National League and American Association of Professional Base Ball Clubs and impaired its quality of umpiring, because too many officials either feared asserting their authority lest a player take physical action against them or chose not to work in the lone major loop at all. hhe forfeit in addition foreshadowed the numerous on-field skirmishes between players and umpires that haunted the AL's first season as a major circuit the following year. On July 15, prior to a Sunday game with Cleveland at Burns Park (named after Detroit's owner at the rime, James D. Burns) in Stillwell, Michigan— also the Tigers' Sunday home field in 1901-02—the management of the Detroit club, then still known as the Wolverines, barred scheduled umpire Joe Cantillon, a former minor league outfielder and Walter Johnson's first major league manager, from the grounds after an altercation involving him and Detroit shortstop Kid Elberfeld in Detroit's 4-2 loss to Chicago the previous day. Cantillon declared the game forfeited to Cleveland even though Detroit won, 6-1, Joe Yeager topping Charlie Cheek, and (Cleveland manager Jimmy McAleer allegedly agreed to play the contest with Wolverines utility man Sport McAllister serving as the umpire. Contrary to league president Johnson's initial decree that the forfeited game would be counted in the 190) AL standings, he himself agreed to throw it "out of the record" by the end of July 1900. To further cleanse the record, Johnson also threw out an earlier forfeited game at Milwaukee on June 29 that umpire Jim McDonald gave to the Brewers after he called Minneapolis out- fielder Dan Lally out for interference on a play at home plate and Millers player-manager Walt Wilmot continued to deride his decision atter he was ejected and refused to allow his club continue play. SOURCE Sporting LEA May 12, 1900, July 21, 1900, and July 23, 1900.
August 21, 1901
Place: Baltimore
League: American League
Field: Oriole Park IV
Clubs: Baltimore versus Detroit
Umpire: Tommy Connolly
There had been had blood between the two teams all season. Magnifying the prospects for trouble on this day was a groundswell of public opinion in Baltimore on the regrettable subject of umpire Connolly. His work in Lobstertown for the past week reportedly had been so wretched that Orioles officials advised him in no uncertain terms to stay away from the park on August 21 and arrange for a substitute. His job already in peril because AL president Ban Johnson thought him somewhat callow, Connolly refused to vacate his post. The arrival of Connolly at the field on August 21 prompted the Baltimore club to request that the Baltimore Police Department send 50 men to Oriole Park as quickly as possible. Trouble for Connolly began in the first inning when Detroit third base-man Doc Casey skied a high fly ball to right field. Cy Seymour raced to get the ball but pulled up short when he saw he couldn't get to it and it would alight in foul territory, a full foot outside the foul ball line. Connolly called the ball fair and Casey, running from the start, ended up on third base. The crowd went wild. Seymour ran in from the outfield to confront Connolly and begged to show him the place the ball initially hit, which left a small hole in the soft ground, but Connolly refused the invitation and called for the game to proceed. In the 4th inning, with Detroit leading 7-4, Baltimore third baseman Jack Dunn hit a hot shot to Detroit first baseman Pop Dillon, who could not initially corral the ball. Both men then raced for the bag. Connolly called Dunn out, although it appeared that Dunn got there first. The Baltimore players surround Connolly and began arguing the call. Amid the usual exchange of expletives Orioles pitcher Joe McGinnity stomped his spiked shoe on Connolly's right foot. Connolly immediately forfeited the game and the festivities began in earnest. Baltimore pitcher Harry Howell grabbed Connolly. Detroit shortstop Kid Elberfield tried to pull Connolly away and the two came to blows. The police swarmed onto the field followed by the spectators. Connolly was hustled into the ticket office, but not before being assaulted. He stayed there "for an hour before the angry mob could be induced to leave." One of his assailants, a spectator named Frank Allen, was arrested and "fined $20 and costs." Connolly also had earlier fined both Howell and McGinnity. Meanwhile Elberfeld had already been placed under arrest by "a plain clothes man" and dragged off the field in handcuffs and Howell was also arrested. Both were later acquitted. It was the second time in four days that Connolly required a police escort to escape a crowd at the same ball park. That night "a request was made [by Baltimore officials] upon the police commissioners to bar Connolly from the grounds on the ground of inciting a riot: When Connolly was not barred, the Baltimore PD notified the Orioles management on August 22 that he would not receive any protection in the future. That same day in Washington, Chicago shortstop Frank Shugart slugged umpire Jack Haskell from behind, casting further doubt on the trustworthiness of Johnson's boast when he launched his fledgling major league that it would be free of the rampant rowdyism that had tarnished his NL counter- part for years. The following morning Johnson banned Shugart "for all time: One paper lectured: It was a case of a player with a big weight of meanness in hint, whose only control was a worn thread of decency that easily broke: But other members of the press chided that equally heinous incidents of rowdyism that season involving such luminaries as Hugh Duffy and Joe McGinnity had not been nearly so severely punished, and, after weeks under similar fire, Johnson was persuaded to reinstate Shugart in time to finish the season and join in the first pennant celebration by an AL club after the loop went major.
SOURCES Chicago Tribune, August 22, 1901, New York Sun August 22, 1901, New York Tribune, August 22, 1901
Product Information
Forfeits and Successfully Protested Games in Major League Baseball: A Complete Record, 1871-2013 Paperback by David Nemec (Author), Eric Miklich (Author)
This chronologically organized book is the first to provide comprehensive coverage of forfeits (Part I) and successful protests (Part II) of major league baseball games, educating the reader on the rules and prevailing styles of play at the time that each of the games was played. In addition to the date, location, and source information, authors Nemec and Miklich provide capsule biographies of many of the principal characters involved (including, for instance, the obscure one-game umpire who perpetrated the first forfeited game in major league history in 1871). The last forfeited or successfully protested game having occurred nearly twenty years ago, the book will almost certainly remain the definitive work on the subject.
Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: McFarland (July 31, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786494239
ISBN-13: 978-0786494231
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,244,438 in Books
