Old Timers

September 8, 1930 at Braves Field in Boston.  There'd been a few "Old Timers" games in baseball before but nothing like this charity game.  And it was a game.  The Boston Braves were not playing that day and instead, taking the field in front of a crowd of more than 20,000, were teams made up of former Braves players and a collection of baseball greats from the past.  All proceeds from the game went to Boston Children's Hospital and the Professional Baseball Players of America Charity Fund.

Sixteen future Hall of Famers participated: Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Cy Young, Home Run Baker, Eddie Collins, Sliding Billy Hamilton, Bill McKechnie, Johnnie Evers, Fred Clark, Chief Bender, Harry Hooper, Ed Roush, Big Ed Walsh, Hugh Duffy and Roger Bresnahan.  Honus Wagner, the Flying Dutchman, was also present, though not in the photo.

Other well-known players also took the field including Bill Dinneen, Red Sox pitcher who beat the Pirates three times in the first World Series in 1903, 30 game winner Jack Coombs, Nick Altrock (the Clown Prince of Baseball), Smokey Joe Wood, 1914 Braves World Series star Hank Gowdy, and Bill Carrigan who led the Boston Red Sox to world championships in 1915 and 1916 as a manager,  catcher on the championship 1912 squad, and whom Babe Ruth called the best manager he played for.  The oldest "old timer" was Patsy Donovan, born two weeks after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and who years later as baseball coach at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA tutored the young George HW Bush in the fine points of the game.

Before the game, Cobb was presented with a gold bat and painting.  In the photo below are Cobb (c) with Bill Carrigan, Nick Altrock and Fred Clark.


The game was a big event and was covered live nationwide on radio and the New York Times carried a full account the next day.

The Society for American Baseball Research has published an account of the game by Bob LeMoine:

Cy Young (age 63) took his place on the mound for Boston again.  After he pitched a scoreless first inning, Boston Old-Timers scored two runs in their half of the inning. Jimmy Collins singled, Duffy Lewis doubled, and they both scored on Freddie Parent’s double, which was misplayed by Ty Cobb. The All-Stars scored a run in the second inning as a single by Ed Walsh scored Edd Roush. They took a 3-2 lead in the third inning on hits by Fred Clarke, Eddie Collins, and Roush. Boston countered in its half of the third inning with a barrage of hits that scored Tris Speaker, Duffy Lewis, and Bill Sweeney to give Boston a 5-3 lead. The All-Stars cut the lead to 5-4 in the top of the fifth inning as Stuffy McInnis reached on a muffed fly ball by Harry Hooper and scored on a single by Jack Barry. Boston scored three more runs in the seventh inning for the final tally of an 8-4 win.

In the 21st century Old Timers Games have become extinct.  Too bad.