Introduction/Resurrection

Hi All! I have moved an existing blog from Wordpress to Blogger, which is what you have here. Just as an intro to everyone who's new, this is a baseball history blog, but the inspiration was the HOF induction of umpire Hank O'Day. I had a hand in the acceptance speech by his ancestor, so I decided to write a blog with O'Day as the starting block. Here are the posts so far:

Honoring O’Day Posted on April 10, 2013

Since Hank O’Day was a native Chicagoan (and the first Chicago-born manager of the Cubs), he was always admired in his hometown. Even when he was at the helm of a rival team, he was still Chicago, through & through. Check out this short blurb from the New York Times (February 24, 1912):

Chicagoans to Honor Hank O’Day

Chicago, Feb. 23 — Friends of “Hank” O’Day, former umpire in the National Baseball League and now manager of the Cincinnati Nationals, today announced plans for a celebration at the West Side Baseball Park when the Cincinnati and Chicago teams open the season April 18. The celebration will be in honor of O’Day, who was born and reared in the neighborhood of the West Side Park.

Plug Time! Posted on April 4, 2013

I just read the Hank O’Day section of a book titled ‘You Can’t Beat the Hours: Deadball Umpires from 1901-1909′ by David Anderson, and it is an excellent introduction to the man and his career. Here are some highlights:

“The most curious part of O’Day’s career was his two tours of duty as a manager, first with the 1912 Cincinnati Reds and later with the 1914 Cubs. During his time with Cincinnati and Chicago some opponents groused that his former colleagues gave him an edge.”

“One player who knew him well was Jimmy Archer; he played for him as a member of the Cubs and was a catcher. “Umpire O’Day never robbed a ball player of a ball or strike in his long career. He had an iron nerve that refused to budge.”

“He was the son of a steamfitter and was one himself until baseball called. He did not marry and baseball was his life.”

Hank O’Day: Umpire Scout Posted on April 2, 2013

This article is from the Washington Post, dated December 14, 1927 (actually from 12/13/27 A.P. coverage). You didn’t think that umpires had scouts, did you? Well, just like players, talent at the umpire position is needed, and I can’t think of a better scout than O’Day. And what about this ‘clearinghouse scheme’? Keep reading…

Hank O’Day Is Retired; Will Scout for Umpires

New York, Dec. 13 (A.P.).– Hank O’Day, pitcher, major league manager and umpire over nearly a half century of connection with the national game, has a new job. The veteran arbiter was relieved by the National League Club owners of all umpiring duties and appointed “general player and umpire scout.”

His new duties remain to be definitely defined, but President John A. Heydler explained he will be free to investigate talent as well as look for umpiring recruits. Information on players scouted by O’Day, however, will be turned over to President Heydler, who probably will pass it on to the club owners as part of a new clearinghouse scheme.

O’Day, whose principal occupation for the last 25 years or more has been umpiring, first gained fame as a pitcher back in the eighties. He stepped out of his arbiter’s uniform in 1912 to manage the Cincinnati Reds and again in 1914 to pilot the Chicago Cubs.

Hank O’Day – Player & Umpire Posted on March 30, 2013

From Baseball Magazine (circa 1913)

Hank O’Day pitched for the champion Giants in 1889 and 1890. His catcher was the famous William Buckingham Ewing, and it was some battery, too. O’Day wasn’t particularly careful as to his habits in those days, and when his arm went back on him he was forced to ask for an umpire’s berth. At first the players treated him with disrespect, but he soon made them understand that he would not be trifled with.

Sticking to his temperance pledge, O’Day umpired for nearly 20 years, a record of which he is justly proud. He learned the meaning of inside baseball and the weak points of every player in the game. “He would not be trifled with” sums up O’Day perfectly.

Hank O’Day Poetry Posted on March 27, 2013

Thanks to Joanne Hulbert, who is a fellow member of the SABR Deadball Committee as well as the SABR Baseball Arts Committee, I have poetry referencing Hank O’Day and his contemporaries. Poetry in the sports page was a common occurrence, so this will give you an idea of what early 20th Century periodical perusers regularly encountered:

Marianne Moore, Yankee Stadium, Opening Day 1968

THE TACTFUL O’DAY

Henry O’Day,
(Their manager once)
Watched the Reds
In their wonderful stunts.
“Say Hank,” cried a fan,
“Watcha think of their play?”
“It may rain, if it’s cloudy.”
Said Henry O’Day!

The Sporting News, pg.4, August 7, 1913.

WHEN O’DAY UMPIRES

“I’ll bet the speech will be a peach
‘Twixt Hank O’Day and Tommy Leach.
But just imagine, if you can,
The words of Hank and Bresnahan.”

Sporting Life, pg. 13, December 12, 1914.

HANK DOESN’T MIND ABUSE

“O yes,” responded Hank O’Day
And carelessly he laft,
“Tis true that I will soon rejoin
The umpires’ lowly craft.
O, no; I’ve not the slightest fear
That it will drive me draft,
I worked for Garry Herrmann once,
And then for Charley Taft.”

Sporting Life, pg.5, January 30, 1915.

Hank O’Day on the Job in Cincinnati Posted on March 26, 2013

Here’s a fun article I found in the Chicago Day Book, dated 5/7/1912, referencing the fantastic job O’Day was doing as manager of the Reds. Pennant? I think not…

HANK O’DAY TAKES THE DISMAL CINCINNATI REDS AND MAKES ‘EM GO AFTER THE PENNANT

Hank O’Day on the Job in Cincinnati

Are the Cincinnati Reds going to keep up their wonderful stride and win the National League pennant? If they do the craziest baseball city in the country will go mad. And Hank O’Day, famous umpire, but now manager of the Reds, will be king of Cincinnati. For a quarter of a century it has been the custom in Cincinnati to look on the team as a sure pennant winner in March and go into deep mourning immediately after the opening of the season. This year it’s different. At this writing the Reds have lost next to no games. They are in top place, high above everybody else. And ex-Umpire Hank O’Day has done it with practically the same team that finished a dark and dismal sixth last fall. O’Day took the team with the understanding that he was to be THE boss.

Then Hank Hopped Him Posted on March 25, 2013

I found this funny anecdote involving O’Day in an August 1913 issue of Baseball Magazine, located in the ‘Short Lengths’ section:

THEN HANK HOPPED HIM

STEVE EVANS, of the St. Louis Cardinals, is a gay and merry jester, always coming through with some joyous joke, and, as a rule, delighting everybody within hearing distance of the comedy. Now and then, though, Steve falls down—and, like every other man who has ever tried it, he failed direfully when it came to making a pleasing impression upon Hank O’Day. You can’t even dent that ironbound countenance of Hank’s, and it is National League tradition that Henry has never yet been known to smile.

During one week in 1911 Steve Evans had an awful time. It seemed as if he had been Snodgrassed by a muffing jinx. He couldn’t catch a pop fly, and if he didn’t have seventeen errors that week it was because the scorers gave it a hit whenever a ball fell softly to the ground, with Steve’s hands actually closing on the pill. Toward the last of the week, the bleachers were singing derisive ballads at poor Steve, and the advent of a fly over right pasture was the cue for shrieks of dread and consternation.

On Saturday afternoon, with the bases populous, a large and perfectly intelligible fly floated out over Steve’s bean. Evans feinted, sidestepped, grabbed, and muffed. Bellows of wrath and grief from the public, and down from the quarter seats a hoarse roar of “Say, Steve, yuh big muffin’ stew, why doncher git an umbrella out dere?”

Evans looked straight over at his foe, and, with a cheery grin, shouted back: “Yuh got the dope—I’m goin’ to do it! Fer me, to-morrow, an umbrella!” And when the gong rang Sunday afternoon, out trotted Steve to right, bearing in his horny hand a huge umbrella—a veritable elephant of umbrellas—which he solemnly opened and reared above his head.

A roar of merriment from stand and bleachers—and a glowering, terrible look from Hank O’Day behind the catcher. Steve grimly held his post, and also held up the umbrella. Nothing happened to be hit his way that inning, and he trotted gayly in after the third out, still toting the umbrella. As he passed the plate, Hank O’Day, frowning like a thundercloud, accosted him.

“See here, Evans,” barked the burly umpire, “wotcha tryin’ tuh do? Tryin’ tuh make a joke outa this game?”

Evans smiled seraphically and twirled the umbrella. “Why, no, Mr. O’Day,” said he, “I’ll leave that to you!”

And with a terrible roar of rage, Mr. O’Day fell upon Mr. Evans, who fled headlong down the field, still waving the umbrella, and pursued by the infuriated Hank till the clubhouse doors swallowed him from view.

Welcome! Posted on March 18, 2013

Thanks for visiting my brand new site, Hank O’Day’s Tavern! If you’re a fan of baseball history, you know that Hank O’Day is being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year as an umpire. What you may not know is that he is the only player/manager/umpire in the history of the National League. Want more facts like this? Then, you’ve come to the right place. Not only will this site act as an information receptical regarding O’Day (I’m currently working on a biography), but I’ll also cover other baseball history topics as well as current events. Baseball history is happening right now, as we speak! As this is a blog, whatever fancies me at the current moment is fair game. But, I’d love to have some feedback as well and get some lively interaction. That’s what the internet does best! Oh, and I’ll also give you our daily specials. This is a tavern, after all, so you need to know your food and drink options… I’ll be in touch soon!