December 2013 archive

Our Top Ten popular stories in 2013

NUMBER 10 Speak softly and carry a Big Stick by Mark Hornbaker This past February at the D.C. Baseball History Winter Meeting the first hour of the meeting was set aside for the attendees to introduce themselves and to share a piece of their Washington baseball memorabilia with the group. I would say half of …

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The 1948 Project – 20 July 1948 Whisper’s from Washington

Nats end five game losing streak. Don Black carried a 2-1 record into the game while Ray Scarborough was seeking his seventh decision. He’s been licked five times. At the end of five innings, the Nats led, 2-1, and every run in the game was set up by a stolen base. The Indians weren’t able …

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The 1948 Project – 19 July 1948 Whisper’s from Washington

McGowan Erupts. They got to see a flair up worth of a 4th of July fireworks display. American League Umpire Bill McGowan threw a baseball at Bud Stewart last night after Ed had filed a verbal brief against a decision by plate umpire Joe Paparella. McGowan’s toss missed Stewart. McGowan continued to curse Stewart, and …

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The 1948 Project – 18 July Game 1 Whisper’s from Washington

28,631 Boo Feller Who Lasts Only 5 Innings. To Bob Feller went the boos of 28,631 Griffith Stadium customers. Feller who has encountered the displeasure of the baseball world by his walkout on the All Star game, made his second start in the nightcap. The third largest crowd of the season gave him the works …

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Remembering Josh Gibson on his Birthday

On this day in the year 1911, Mark and Nancy Gibson became the proud parents of a baby boy named Joshua Gibson. Joshua spent the first ten years of his life in Buena Vista, Georgia where life wasn’t easy. At time his parents worked as sharecroppers in the fields throughout Georgia. In 1921, Joshua’s father …

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25 January 1947 Ethel Posey reflects on her husband

Mrs. Ethel Posey, I have come to learn, was the steadying influence behind the shrewd but erratic Cum Posey, before the Homestead Grays co-owner died last summer. Posey was one of those cussing, fighting, rootin tootin’ hombres who cared little about what he did to you and less about whether you liked it. “Cum was …

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22 July 1939 Nats take the Upper Bunks

The Washington Nationals managed by Clark Griffith, were making ready to leave Chicago en route to St. Louis for a series with the Browns. By one of this conincidents we are wont to call rare, Grif and Rube chose the same train. Therein might have been the rub if it had not been for the …

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8 August 1942 Gibson Clouts 2 Homers

Paced by Josh Gibson who banged out two home runs to drive across four tallies, the Washington Homestead Grays, Friday night, knocked the Baltimore Elite Giants out of the Negro National League lead, by taking a 7 to 3 victory under the arc lights at Bugle Field. Rain halted Sunday’s scheduled twin bill, but Friday’s …

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14 May 1932 Pilots Annex two from Baltimore

Cheered on by a band of lusty rooters, many of them of feminine gender, who journeyed over from the nation’s capital to see them in action, the Washington Pilots helped the Baltimore Black Sox pry off the lid of the East West League by taking two of the three games played on Saturday and Sunday. …

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4 July 1942 Eagles Nip Grays 6 to 5

A crowd of 9,000 fans saw the Newark Eagles defeat the Washington Homestead grays, 6 to 5, in 14 innings, at Griffith Stadium, Sunday, and then deadlock them, 1 to 1, in the second game of a twin bill; the latter game was scheduled to travel seven innings but went the regulation nine without a …

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