Local and national baseball coverage 100 years ago today from the August 15, 1914 Charlotte Daily Observer.
The Hornets came in second in the Piedmont League after beating
the Asheville Mountaineers on September 9, 1914.
'The score was 7 and 5 and the game was stopped after the seventh inning because darkness was spreading its ensaddened shadows across Wearn Field in evident sympathy for the expiring moments of the season.'
Does anyone know the exact location of Wearn Field? I think it was on S. Mint Street, near Dilworth.
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5 comments:
A 9/1/13 Observer story by Toppman says Wearn Field was on "South Main Street". Not sure where that is/was. The Wearns went to Covenant Presbyterian, where my family did.
Anon - thanks for the comment. I did see Toppman's story, and there are a couple similar tidbits on the internet. Wow, your fam is old Charlotte!
Baltimore Os Minor League Team
In early 1914, Babe Ruth was signed to a professional baseball contract by Jack Dunn, owner and manager of the minor-league Baltimore Orioles, an International League team.
Babe Ruth's first appearance as a professional ballplayer was in an intersquad game on March 7, 1914. Ruth played shortstop, and pitched the last two innings of a 15–9 victory. In his second at bat, Ruth hit a long home run to right, which was reported locally to be longer than a legendary shot hit in Fayetteville by Jim Thorpe. His first appearance against a team in organized baseball was an exhibition against the major-league Philadelphia Phillies: Ruth pitched the middle three innings, giving up two runs in the fourth, but then settling down and pitching a scoreless fifth and sixth. The following afternoon, Ruth was put in during the sixth inning against the Phillies and did not allow a run the rest of the way. The Orioles scored seven runs in the bottom of the eighth to overcome a 6–0 deficit, making Ruth the winning pitcher.
Once the regular season began, Ruth was a star pitcher who was also dangerous at the plate. The team performed well, yet received almost no attention from the Baltimore press. A third major league, the Federal League, had begun play, and the local franchise, the Baltimore Terrapins, restored that city to the major leagues for the first time since 1902. Few fans visited Oriole Park, where Ruth and his teammates labored in relative obscurity. Ruth may have been offered a bonus and a larger salary to jump to the Terrapins; when rumors to that effect swept Baltimore, giving Ruth the most publicity he had experienced to date, a Terrapins official denied it, stating it was their policy not to sign players under contract to Dunn.
Sale To Boston Red Sox For 8500.
Dunn offered Ruth to the reigning World Series champions, Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics, but Mack had his own financial problems The Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants expressed interest in Ruth, but Dunn sold his contract, along with those of pitchers Ernie Shore and Ben Egan, to the Boston Red Sox of the American League (AL) on July 4. The sale price was announced as $25,000 but other reports lower the amount to half that, or possibly $8,500 plus the cancellation of a $3,000 loan. Ruth remained with the Orioles for several days while the Red Sox completed a road trip, and reported to the team in Boston on July 11.
The rest is history ...
Anon 4:55 - nicely done! I came across this, too, by former Observer writer Lew Powell. I'll probably do a blog about it at some point.
http://blogs.lib.unc.edu/ncm/index.php/2010/04/08/babe-ruth-pays-memorable-visit-to-charlotte/
wrenn field was on s. mint st behind littles hardware co.
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