MEET THE BLACK PHILLIES

August 12, 1924

Cy was exhausted after his Phillie teammates abandoned ship yesterday, and went back to his hotel to sleep everything off. This meant our spare bedroom was open again so I invited none other than Calvin Butterworth over to fill it. And Mama sure didn't care, being used to a new person almost every night these days.

It seems that Cal isn't welcome in the Detroit press row anymore, and his paper doesn't like him much either, so with the Tigers in town and starting with a double-header at Shibe Park tomorrow, he needed a place to stay that wasn't the usual luxury team hotel.

Rube and Cy were also due for breakfast with hopefully most of the colored stars, and lots of discussing had to be done. Cy was real close with Fletcher and Phillies owner William Baker, who also must like me or he wouldn't have given me this batboy job a few months ago. Anyway, the plan was a simple one: put the Negro players in our uniforms, call them the Black Phillies and let them play as long as the real players sit home being babies. Baker hates the Pirates' guts, anyway, so even if the Black Phils only get one game in at least they'll have a good chance of trouncing the Bucs.

"You are traversing on most dangerous ground," is all Butterworth told me last night when I spilled it out to him. I wasn't used to such fancy language, and knowing that he took an aeroplane to get here, it seemed like he was the one that was traversing. I reminded him that Commissioner Landis was in a coma and even if he woke out of it tomorrow, the ball game would be over before he ever found out about it. Butterworth was more worried about the "larger scope," as he said, meaning how big league baseball and the public would take something like this. I told him I had no idea what would happen, but that's kind of the way life's been going for us all year, one strange happening at a time, and all you could do was roll with it.

So Butterworth had a glass of warm milk before he went to sleep, and by the time we got up this morning, Rube, Cy, Fletcher and Oscar Charleston were over for pancakes and coffee and everything got figured out. Baker had assigned extra police in case the Phillie fans started a riot, but with our 42-70 record they didn't have much more they could complain about. Bill McKechnie and his Pirates had already been told they were playing coloreds, and with Cuyler and Adams and Traynor filling their teammates in they didn't seem all that worried about it.

The Baker Bowl crowd was a-buzzing because the rumor had spread like a disease, and the stands were more stuffed than I'd seen in a while. When Bullet Joe Rogan took the mound looking darker than ever in his white Phillies jersey, the fans either cheered or booed or just plain gasped. Carey bounced the first pitch to Charleston at first, who booted it and made the boos take over. Moore and Traynor singled to load the bases, but Wright grounded out and it was our turn.

A speedy guy named Cool Papa Bell, who didn't even get to play out in Darby, led with a walk and danced around on the bag but Buc lefty Emil Yde kept him close. Lloyd, Wilson and Stearnes all went out and we went to the 2nd scoreless. Yde singled with two outs, Rogan wild-pitched him to second, and when Carey rapped a sharp single the Bucs had the lead.

Mackey hit into a double play to kill our 2nd inning rally, and then the Pirates fired their cannons. After Moore walked, Cuyler added to his 1924 legend with a smash homer deep into the bleachers. Bullet Joe was rattled and gave up a double to Traynor and single to Wright and it was 4-0 just like that. Bell and Pop Lloyd got mad and doubled with one out in our 3rd, and when Jud Wilson creamed a Yde pitch over the right fence, the place went nutty-cake.

But if anyone's been doubting how good this Pittsburgh team is, look at the rest of this game. They scored two in the 6th and two more in he 8th, Cuyler adding two more singles and driving in five on the day, while Yde blew through the great Negro lineup, tossing them only five scattered single-crumbs after Jud's homer. Charleston was even picked off first at one point and Cool Papa whiffed with two outs to end the thing.

There was a bunch of angry racist yelling from the stands after, and I thought I even saw Wrightstone and Harper in their street clothes helping out the crowd. The colored players went back in the club house with their heads down. Butterworth, who watched the game from our dugout, was scribbling notes like a lunatic and we'll have to wait and see what he writes about or who will even publish it. All I know is that I just saw the Pirates shellack the best Negro players around without anybody starting a riot, so I guess that has to account for something.

—Vinny

PIRATES
013 002 020 - 8 13 0
BLACK PHILLIES
003 000 000 - 3 10 2

Other Games played today:

CUBS 7-10-2, at BRAVES 0-5-1
Pete Alexander recovers from getting blasted in Darby with his 14th win and second shutout. The red-hot Cubbies outscore the cold dead Braves 35-6 in the four games and tie the Cards for 5th place.

at SENATORS 7-16-1, INDIANS 6-10-0 (15 innings)
Curly Ogden throws his worst game in a while but goes all 15 innings and outlasts the Tribe. Cleveland does come back from being down 6-2 with four late runs to tie the game, but a Tommy Taylor double and Peckinpaugh single off Bud Messenger win it, after Bud had gone eight scoreless relief innings.

BROWNS 9-13-1, at YANKEES 4-10-2
Ah yes, nice for the Yanks to get back home and keep on with their losing. Pennock is awful, Ruth drops a ball in right to lead to three unearned runs in the 2nd, and his 32nd homer doesn't even turn around the boos. Shocker wins his 15th and the Brownies are two games behind New York again.

NATIONAL LEAGUE through Tuesday, August 12
Pittsburgh Pirates	72	37	.661	—
Brooklyn Robins	67	46	.593	7
Cincinnati Reds	67	46	.593	7
New York Giants	60	50	.545	12.5
Chicago Cubs	54	57	.486	19
St. Louis Cardinals	54	57	.486	19
Philadelphia Phillies	42	71	.372	32
Boston Braves	30	82	.268	43.5
AMERICAN LEAGUE through Tuesday, August 12
Washington Senators	72	42	.632	—
Detroit Tigers	61	53	.535	11
Chicago White Sox	59	52	.532	11.5
New York Yankees	56	56	.500	15
St. Louis Browns	55	59	.482	17
Philadelphia Athletics	50	63	.442	21.5
Boston Red Sox	49	62	.441	21.5
Cleveland Indians	50	65	.435	22.5