stands. Not until the 1923 season did baseball, tired of seeing umpires attacked with projectiles, ban glass bottles in parks. During the ’18 season, after two women were injured by fans who threw seat cushions during Cubs games, Charley Weeghman pushed Chicago’s aldermen to make it a crime to throw bottles and other objects from the stands. He failed. The aldermen decided that “the enraged fan was within his rights in heaving a bottle at Catfish the umpire.” One alderman, incredibly, argued, “Our ancestors fought and died for certain unalienable rights. Just now our boys are fighting in France for freedom and democracy. Why should not the baseball fan have freedom to innocently express his sentiment?” 14
The Cubs were 23–12 when they left the friendly, flying-bottle confines of Weeghman Park to set out on the road for a 23-day junket to the East on May 31. The train ride was miserable—it was hot, and war restrictions meant all 30 members of the Cubs traveling party were crammed into one car, which made even grabbing a seat a challenge. Teddy Roosevelt was on the train, with a car to himself. Several players stopped to visit the ex-president, who had been a loud critic of the administration’s war effort. Roosevelt’s disdain for Wilson and Baker was widely known (rooted in the fact that they hadn’t allowed Roosevelt, 59 years old and not exactly in peak shape, to put together his own fighting division to take to France). When players asked what Roosevelt thought about the work-or-fight order and how it would affect ballplayers after July 1, they were probably expecting T.R. to deliver a scathing rebuke. They were disappointed. Roosevelt told them he had been too busy to think about baseball’s situation. 15
The Cubs swept the Braves and Phillies to start the trip, which boosted them to the top of the standings. They were greeted in Philadelphiaby Bill Wrigley, who gave each player a first-place reward—$5 to spend on new clothes, which they gladly did the following day. “Haberdashers on Chestnut Street did some business,” the
Daily News
reported. “The boys came back with new ties, hats, socks and shirts, which they sported on the Sabbath.” 16 To close the trip, the Cubs split the rematch with the Giants, won two of three from Brooklyn, and split with Pittsburgh. They went 13–5, returning to Chicago with a 36–17 record and a tight grip on first place.
NINE
Loyalty: The
Texel
O FF T HE N EW Y ORK C OAST , S UNDAY , J UNE 2, 1918
It was just after 4:00 P.M . by the watch of K. B. Lowry, the Brooklynite captain of the
Texel
, a Dutch steamship that had been loaded up with 42,000 tons of sugar from the Caribbean. The sea was calm, the afternoon was warm, and Lowry had the boat about 60 miles from its destination, New York harbor. That’s when he saw ripples radiate in the water, just yards from the
Texel
’s bow. The smooth surface of the ocean convulsed and split, and suddenly Lowry was looking at the massive gray deck of a submarine. Without warning, the sub aimed its gun and fired a shell packed with shrapnel at the clumsy body of the
Texel
. Panic set in among the crew.
What was a submarine doing firing shells on an unarmed sugar boat 60 miles off the New York coast
? The men took cover. One of the crew, Frank Ryan, scrambled back on deck to rescue the ship’s mascot, a Maltese cat. Just in time. The sub’s guns fired again, a rain of debris spraying the
Texel
’s deck. And then a third blast. Lowry pulled the
Texel
to a stop. The U-boat’s captain boarded, demanding to see the ship’s papers. Looking them over, he said to Lowry, “We will give you time to get off. Then we shall sink your vessel.” 1
The 36-man crew crammed into two lifeboats. The cat too. They began to row to shore, a two-day ordeal. Behind them, the U-boat blasted the
Texel
, which tipped to its side and slowly eased into the water.
June 2 was a bad day for ships in American waters. The
Texel
was one of six
The Cubs were 23–12 when they left the friendly, flying-bottle confines of Weeghman Park to set out on the road for a 23-day junket to the East on May 31. The train ride was miserable—it was hot, and war restrictions meant all 30 members of the Cubs traveling party were crammed into one car, which made even grabbing a seat a challenge. Teddy Roosevelt was on the train, with a car to himself. Several players stopped to visit the ex-president, who had been a loud critic of the administration’s war effort. Roosevelt’s disdain for Wilson and Baker was widely known (rooted in the fact that they hadn’t allowed Roosevelt, 59 years old and not exactly in peak shape, to put together his own fighting division to take to France). When players asked what Roosevelt thought about the work-or-fight order and how it would affect ballplayers after July 1, they were probably expecting T.R. to deliver a scathing rebuke. They were disappointed. Roosevelt told them he had been too busy to think about baseball’s situation. 15
The Cubs swept the Braves and Phillies to start the trip, which boosted them to the top of the standings. They were greeted in Philadelphiaby Bill Wrigley, who gave each player a first-place reward—$5 to spend on new clothes, which they gladly did the following day. “Haberdashers on Chestnut Street did some business,” the
Daily News
reported. “The boys came back with new ties, hats, socks and shirts, which they sported on the Sabbath.” 16 To close the trip, the Cubs split the rematch with the Giants, won two of three from Brooklyn, and split with Pittsburgh. They went 13–5, returning to Chicago with a 36–17 record and a tight grip on first place.
NINE
Loyalty: The
Texel
O FF T HE N EW Y ORK C OAST , S UNDAY , J UNE 2, 1918
It was just after 4:00 P.M . by the watch of K. B. Lowry, the Brooklynite captain of the
Texel
, a Dutch steamship that had been loaded up with 42,000 tons of sugar from the Caribbean. The sea was calm, the afternoon was warm, and Lowry had the boat about 60 miles from its destination, New York harbor. That’s when he saw ripples radiate in the water, just yards from the
Texel
’s bow. The smooth surface of the ocean convulsed and split, and suddenly Lowry was looking at the massive gray deck of a submarine. Without warning, the sub aimed its gun and fired a shell packed with shrapnel at the clumsy body of the
Texel
. Panic set in among the crew.
What was a submarine doing firing shells on an unarmed sugar boat 60 miles off the New York coast
? The men took cover. One of the crew, Frank Ryan, scrambled back on deck to rescue the ship’s mascot, a Maltese cat. Just in time. The sub’s guns fired again, a rain of debris spraying the
Texel
’s deck. And then a third blast. Lowry pulled the
Texel
to a stop. The U-boat’s captain boarded, demanding to see the ship’s papers. Looking them over, he said to Lowry, “We will give you time to get off. Then we shall sink your vessel.” 1
The 36-man crew crammed into two lifeboats. The cat too. They began to row to shore, a two-day ordeal. Behind them, the U-boat blasted the
Texel
, which tipped to its side and slowly eased into the water.
June 2 was a bad day for ships in American waters. The
Texel
was one of six
Similar Books
