1910 Los Angeles Trilbys

A Calendar, Including Newspaper Clippings, of the 1910 Los Angeles Trilbys

1910 Los Angeles Trilbys

Stories are placed in order of the date they appeared.

March 5, 1910

Los Angeles, CA
"Colored Players Should Develop Batting and Give Less Attention to Pitching and Fielding. - By Dave Wyatt. - The Los Angeles Trilbys (colored) are taking part in some great winter contests on the coast. They were recently defeated by the Shamrocks (white), of that city, by the score of 3 to 0. Cyclone Joe, one of the pitchers upon the staff of the Chicago Giants, played first base in the game, and had the unique record of one putout in eight innings. This is probably accounted for through the great pitching of Langford, who struck out twelve batters. Seven putouts went to short, one to the pitcher, one to first, leaving but three balls to go to the outfield. Manager should watch his performance in the future. Four hits were made off each pitcher, and the opposing twirler found eleven of the dark skins. There was only one error on the part of the colored lads, which shows good fielding, as the assists were plentiful. This latter fact would make it appear that pitching and fielding are being developed more rapidly than batting. This is quite often the case with colored teams, they seem to fancy the fielding part of the game, and will practice for hours to perfect the same, but they give a scant amount of attention to the development of batting. Teams are good fielders, but how many come up to the standard in batting? The Leland Giants were perhaps the greatest batting aggregation of color that we have yet seen, still their record in the City League is not so impressive when you consider the class of pitchers they were facing. I say this because this club had the choice of the best material in the whole country, and it is a well-known fact that the equal of some of their batsmen is hard to find in the semi-pro ranks; still their best batsmen were lead by men who never could reach the big leagues, and others, who had been discarded. We will have to do better in order to rand with the select class of big hitters. The poor batting ability shown by some of our teams is brought about through various causes, some of which I will attempt to name. We do not have the opportunity to face high class pitching day by day, and this is one of the best things in the business. The pitchers we face are nothing more than amateurs or a lot of passed up old leaguers playing semi-pro ball, and their offering is usually found with such an amount of ease that it causes a great slump in thinking, figuring or guessing. Occasionally we meet a big league star, but it is upon a rare occasion when he sends up his best goods; he is always supported by a mixed aggregation of inferior ability, of which high-class playing and inside baseball is an enigma; therefore, batting averages obtained in such contests are no criterion upon which to judge. We can not afford to carry many extra players, and when the regulars go out for the warming up process you will find nothing left upon the bench but pitchers and a sub catcher. Pitchers are not supposed to get out and run down batted balls, as their time is consumed in warming up, as some managers select their slab artist for the day according to the warm-up or other circumstances which may trise. This leaves a dearth of ball chasers, as the regulars are supposed to have batting practice before field practice takes place. As there are no available ball chasers, our boys as a rule resort to batting lightly tossed balls in front of the stands. This is a bad thing for the eye, and nothing can be gained from it. In semi-pro ball the spectators are constantly in danger of injury, which makes it necessary for the balls to be tapped lightly, which is not even good bunting practice. One should practice batting the kind of pitching that he is most likely to encounter in all games, and he should put as much life and energy in such work as if he were actually in the real contest. The pitchers should do the same. This will benefit both. A bad mistake amongst our players is this: The pitchers, if throwing up balls to the plate, are against the idea of teammates hitting him all over the lot, and the batters in turn are against the idea of being struck out by the pitchers. These things have brought out many kidding match which has upon numberous occasions developed into strong envy and hatred, which often ruins the discipline of the team and serves to break up strong inside playing and team work. To avoid these offensive features of baseball, colored pitchers are seldom called upon to deliver balls to the batsmen for practice. Each of these mistaken ideas has its functions, all of which help to hold down the development of batting."

June 26, 1910

Chicago, IL
"The best game of baseball of the season at the Leland Giants Baseball Park, 69th and Halstead Street, Kansas City Giants vs. Leland Gaints, Sunday, June 26th. Game called at 3:30p.m. Come early and get a good seat. Battery Frank Wickware and Bruce Petway for the Leland Giants, Bill Lindsay and William Tenney for Kansas City Giants."

July 23, 1910

Chicago, IL
"On Monday of this week the Chicago Baseball League passed a rule barring games between its members and all visiting colored ball clubs from now on, the rule being made to include the Cuban clubs that have been playing around the circuit the past two years. The rule will work very badly against the Stars of Cuba, who figured on playing on the Chicago League Circuit after the Cuban Stars left the city. This action means that the Chicago Leaguers will not play visiting colored teams any more in the future."