SIDELINE SIDELIGHTS
Fred Russel
Memories of Kid Elberfeld
Recent death of Kid Elberfeld, the stormiest manager in Southern League history, has brought forth recollections of numerous incidents involving the Tabasco Kid during his colorful career.
Few people knew Elberfeld better than Larry Gilbert, then a New Orleans player and manager, and Bob Pigue, city hail reporter for the Banner who was a Memphis sports editor for almost 20
years.
Gilbert remembers Elberfeld for his strange mixture of kindness and toughness.
"I've been to Kid's home many times and he never had less than a dozen, often fifteen, at the dinner table," Larry writes from New Orleans. "He spent a small fortune helping down and out ball
players.
"At the same time, he was one of the toughest fellows I've ever known. He was always ready to fight and he didn't mind how big they came.
"I recall one time Cy Warmoth was pitching for the Pels and Tom Rogers for Kid's Chattanooga club. Rogers hit "Chuck" Deal on the wrist and had been throwing at us all day. So I got on him. The Kid then got on Warmoth, who couldn't pitch when somebody was riding him.
"In the seventh inning Warmoth blew a three-run lead and I took him out. As Cy walked off the mound he went to first base, where Kid was coaching and knocked him down.
"Cy then went in to dress. A few minutes later we got word that a fight was on in the dressing room. Kid had gone in there with a couple of players, locked the doors and gave Warmoth a going over.
Always Fighting
"Dick Robertson was pitching for us back in Kid's day and was always a hard man to beat. In one of the late innings one day, Chattanooga had a runner on second- it was the tieing run, and Kid was at bat. He bunted the ball down the first base line, Robertson fielded the ball. and Kid deliberately ran into him.
They started punching and during the fight, Kid looked up, saw the runner had stopped at third instead of going home and he yelled:
"You dumb-bell, couldn't you see the play I figured out to get you home with the tieing run?"
Last of the Old School
"When Kid was playing he usually had one or two black eyes and was always cut and bruised. He thought nothing of blocking runners at second, or grabbing them by the belt and holding them on the bag or between bases. He was full of tricks.
"Elberfeld did a lot for baseball in Little Rock and sent many a star to the big leagues. "Stoney" Jackson, ''Bing" Miller, Fred Marberry, Chief Yellowhorse, Bubber Jonnard--they were some of the players Kid developed.
"One season Kid sold $72,000 worth of players at Little Rock and that was big money in those days. Would be big money now.
"Time has brought a lot of changes in baseball since Elberfeld and McGraw were in their heyday. Kid was the last of the old school that baited umpires and fought rival players and their own teammates every day to win. There'll never be another like Elberfeld but I'll say he was a good man for the league in his day, and I know, for all of his rep as a tough fellow, he was kindhearted and generous to a fault."
Pink Tea Party
ONE of the funniest stunts Elberfeld ever pulled, as recalled by Bob Pigue, was a real tea party on the diamond. "Kid had been in hot water most of the season because of his continuous riding of the umpires and was almost bankrupting the Chattanooga club in paying his fines," Bob said.
"The kid decided that baseball was going sissy when a manager wasn't permitted to ride the umps, and he decided to show the fans and baseball generally how he felt about it.
"One afternoon, in a game being played in Chattanooga, Elberfeld halted the contest at 5 o'clock, and out came several Negro waiters rolling tea wagons, with pots of pink tea.
"All of the bats of the Chattanooga club were decorated with pink ribbons, and Elberfeld had one around his head. The players gathered around home plate and sipped tea for a few minutes, and even the umpires, who were to be shown up, participated in the festivities.
"Judge John D. Martin, president of the Southern at that time, severely reprimanded Elberfeld, and especially did the umpires come in for a verbal jolt from the league president.
Charlie Frank Locked Up the Park
WHEN Elberfeld was managing Little Rock," Pigue continued he signed a couple of ball players, Casey Smith and Tom Seaton. who had been given the gate out of the Pacific Coast League by the league president because of rumors that all was not as it should be as regarding their baseball honesty.
"The Southern League also put up the bars against the two players but Elberfeld decided he'd force the league to permit them to play So he took the matter before a Federal Court judge in Memphis, who ruled that the Southern had no right to prevent the two men from earning a living at their chosen profession,
"Having won the case, Elberfeld headed for Atlanta with his ball club and his two blacklisted players.
"But he never got to play a single game in the Cracker City, for Charley Frank, manager of the Atlanta club, boarded up the gates of Ponce de Leon Park, and said he would not permit Little Rock to perform so long as they had the two players in question on their roster.
"So Elberfeld, seeing he was licked, released the two men."
Repartee
ONE afternoon in Memphis, a fan was riding Elberfeld from the stands. "The Kld kept trying to find his heckler, and soon spotted him—a man with an unusually large nose. "The fan was having the time of his life riding the Kid, when Elberfeld walked up to the screen and yelled in a loud voice: "'Shut up, horse nose.' "That silenced his heckler for the remainder of the game."
Started the Dixie Series
ELBERFELD was the first Southern League manager to stage a Dixie Series with the Texas League.
"It was back in 1920 while the Kid was with Little Rock. "The league refused to sanction the Series, but the Kid decided tp play it anyway, and went through with it. The next season the Dixie Series became a fixture in the Southern and remained on the menu until the Texas emulated an accordion.
"Elberfeld was the sports writers' friend, and was always good for a story. He had one peculiarity—he wore long black ribbed stockings with garters all his life. And a cap was his stock In trade He never even owned a hat.
Great Shortstop
ELBERFELD was a shortstop in his day and one of the greatest. "During his major league career, he performed against many of the great stars of the game. and I recall hearing him say one day that Joe Jackson, the famed "Shoeless Joe" of the Chicago White Sox which turned black in 1919, was the greatest natural hitter of all time, even barring Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.
"For his infield immortal, the Kid named Honus Wagner with Napoleon Lajoie next.
"Baseball can ill afford to lose characters like Elberfeld, for he played the game for all it was worth, and there are entirely too few of his tribe in baseball today.°
Fred Russel
Memories of Kid Elberfeld
Recent death of Kid Elberfeld, the stormiest manager in Southern League history, has brought forth recollections of numerous incidents involving the Tabasco Kid during his colorful career.
Few people knew Elberfeld better than Larry Gilbert, then a New Orleans player and manager, and Bob Pigue, city hail reporter for the Banner who was a Memphis sports editor for almost 20
years.
Gilbert remembers Elberfeld for his strange mixture of kindness and toughness.
"I've been to Kid's home many times and he never had less than a dozen, often fifteen, at the dinner table," Larry writes from New Orleans. "He spent a small fortune helping down and out ball
players.
"At the same time, he was one of the toughest fellows I've ever known. He was always ready to fight and he didn't mind how big they came.
"I recall one time Cy Warmoth was pitching for the Pels and Tom Rogers for Kid's Chattanooga club. Rogers hit "Chuck" Deal on the wrist and had been throwing at us all day. So I got on him. The Kid then got on Warmoth, who couldn't pitch when somebody was riding him.
"In the seventh inning Warmoth blew a three-run lead and I took him out. As Cy walked off the mound he went to first base, where Kid was coaching and knocked him down.
"Cy then went in to dress. A few minutes later we got word that a fight was on in the dressing room. Kid had gone in there with a couple of players, locked the doors and gave Warmoth a going over.
Always Fighting
"Dick Robertson was pitching for us back in Kid's day and was always a hard man to beat. In one of the late innings one day, Chattanooga had a runner on second- it was the tieing run, and Kid was at bat. He bunted the ball down the first base line, Robertson fielded the ball. and Kid deliberately ran into him.
They started punching and during the fight, Kid looked up, saw the runner had stopped at third instead of going home and he yelled:
"You dumb-bell, couldn't you see the play I figured out to get you home with the tieing run?"
Last of the Old School
"When Kid was playing he usually had one or two black eyes and was always cut and bruised. He thought nothing of blocking runners at second, or grabbing them by the belt and holding them on the bag or between bases. He was full of tricks.
"Elberfeld did a lot for baseball in Little Rock and sent many a star to the big leagues. "Stoney" Jackson, ''Bing" Miller, Fred Marberry, Chief Yellowhorse, Bubber Jonnard--they were some of the players Kid developed.
"One season Kid sold $72,000 worth of players at Little Rock and that was big money in those days. Would be big money now.
"Time has brought a lot of changes in baseball since Elberfeld and McGraw were in their heyday. Kid was the last of the old school that baited umpires and fought rival players and their own teammates every day to win. There'll never be another like Elberfeld but I'll say he was a good man for the league in his day, and I know, for all of his rep as a tough fellow, he was kindhearted and generous to a fault."
Pink Tea Party
ONE of the funniest stunts Elberfeld ever pulled, as recalled by Bob Pigue, was a real tea party on the diamond. "Kid had been in hot water most of the season because of his continuous riding of the umpires and was almost bankrupting the Chattanooga club in paying his fines," Bob said.
"The kid decided that baseball was going sissy when a manager wasn't permitted to ride the umps, and he decided to show the fans and baseball generally how he felt about it.
"One afternoon, in a game being played in Chattanooga, Elberfeld halted the contest at 5 o'clock, and out came several Negro waiters rolling tea wagons, with pots of pink tea.
"All of the bats of the Chattanooga club were decorated with pink ribbons, and Elberfeld had one around his head. The players gathered around home plate and sipped tea for a few minutes, and even the umpires, who were to be shown up, participated in the festivities.
"Judge John D. Martin, president of the Southern at that time, severely reprimanded Elberfeld, and especially did the umpires come in for a verbal jolt from the league president.
Charlie Frank Locked Up the Park
WHEN Elberfeld was managing Little Rock," Pigue continued he signed a couple of ball players, Casey Smith and Tom Seaton. who had been given the gate out of the Pacific Coast League by the league president because of rumors that all was not as it should be as regarding their baseball honesty.
"The Southern League also put up the bars against the two players but Elberfeld decided he'd force the league to permit them to play So he took the matter before a Federal Court judge in Memphis, who ruled that the Southern had no right to prevent the two men from earning a living at their chosen profession,
"Having won the case, Elberfeld headed for Atlanta with his ball club and his two blacklisted players.
"But he never got to play a single game in the Cracker City, for Charley Frank, manager of the Atlanta club, boarded up the gates of Ponce de Leon Park, and said he would not permit Little Rock to perform so long as they had the two players in question on their roster.
"So Elberfeld, seeing he was licked, released the two men."
Repartee
ONE afternoon in Memphis, a fan was riding Elberfeld from the stands. "The Kld kept trying to find his heckler, and soon spotted him—a man with an unusually large nose. "The fan was having the time of his life riding the Kid, when Elberfeld walked up to the screen and yelled in a loud voice: "'Shut up, horse nose.' "That silenced his heckler for the remainder of the game."
Started the Dixie Series
ELBERFELD was the first Southern League manager to stage a Dixie Series with the Texas League.
"It was back in 1920 while the Kid was with Little Rock. "The league refused to sanction the Series, but the Kid decided tp play it anyway, and went through with it. The next season the Dixie Series became a fixture in the Southern and remained on the menu until the Texas emulated an accordion.
"Elberfeld was the sports writers' friend, and was always good for a story. He had one peculiarity—he wore long black ribbed stockings with garters all his life. And a cap was his stock In trade He never even owned a hat.
Great Shortstop
ELBERFELD was a shortstop in his day and one of the greatest. "During his major league career, he performed against many of the great stars of the game. and I recall hearing him say one day that Joe Jackson, the famed "Shoeless Joe" of the Chicago White Sox which turned black in 1919, was the greatest natural hitter of all time, even barring Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.
"For his infield immortal, the Kid named Honus Wagner with Napoleon Lajoie next.
"Baseball can ill afford to lose characters like Elberfeld, for he played the game for all it was worth, and there are entirely too few of his tribe in baseball today.°
