Know Your Pre-Ruthian Sluggers! Pt. III

 

All right, what are we to make of Ned (actually Ed) Williamson, of the 1884 Cubs (actually called the White Stockings still)?

Well, he had a Ruthian figure, at least.

It was Ned who set the all-time, single-season record of 27 homers in just 107 games, before The Babe broke it with 29, during the shortened, 1919 campaign.

This might be surprising, seeing as how Ned never hit more than 9 dingers in any other of the 13 seasons he played. 

In fact, the whole White Stockings team surprised in the 1884 season, compiling a stunning 142 home runs as a team. Right on Ned's thick heels were second baseman Fred Pfeffer (25), outfielder Abner Dalrymple (22), and Cap "Worse Person Ever" Anson (21).

Aside from Anson, who got extra points for being a surly racist bastard, none of these individuals were exactly household names, and none made the Hall.

So what gives?

A good rule of thumb is, whenever you see some extraordinary burst of power back in the deadball era, cherchez the rules. Or the ballpark.

So it was with the White Stockings.

The White Stockings—who would also be called the Black Stockings, Colts, Ex-Colts, Rainmakers, Cowboys, Rough Riders, Zephyrs, Nationals, Recruits, Panamas, Spuds, Remnants, and Orphans before settling on "Cubs" no I'm not making this up—lost their very first ballpark in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. 

Searching for a place to play, they eventually settled on a new park on the site of the original, one that would be known variously as Lake-Shore Park, Lake-Front Park, or simply Lake Park. (Of course.) 

As you can from this map of Chicago, it was squeezed into a corner of the waterfront, right behind the narrow beach and a railroad:

No, not there! There, on the left side of what looks like part of a peninsula. No, behind the sailboat, and just to the right of the big domed thing-y. That's right. It was that little.

Lake Whatever Park was just 186 feet to left, 196 to right, and 300 to dead center. The White Stockings first sought to work around these absurd dimensions by making anything that went over the wall a ground-rule double.

In 1883, the future Cubbies hit just 13 homers in 98 games—and 277 doubles. A record 49 of them by our Ned.

Figuring they could only make a good thing better, for 1884 the White Stockings changed that ground rule to make over-the-fence a home run, and records tumbled.

Interestingly, neither all the doubles nor all the home runs could put Chicago on top again. The Pale Hose came in second in 1883, and tied for fourth in 1884.

After that...someone discovered that The Team of Many Names had been playing all along on public land. Off went the White Stockings, to the West Side Grounds, then eventually to Wrigley. The rest is...futility.

But what of Corpulent Ned? 

He would go on playing the infield—becoming, despite his girth, one of the few players to move from third base to shortstop as he aged. He also played second, first, and even caught and pitched a little, appearing on the mound in 12 games over the years, and going 1-1. 

Ned's  decided to go on A.G. Spalding's famous "World Tour," a months-long circuit of the globe during which a team of all-stars ended up playing games in the shadow of the Sphinx, and in front of the partly built Eiffel Tower. The tour was supposedly about winning over all the foreigners to America's pastime, but in fact it seems to have been an attempt by Spalding to distract the stars and get them out of the way, while his fellow owners prepared for war with the players' union.

It seems that poor Ned got hurt playing ball in Paris, and didn't have the money for a doctor. Spalding refused to pay, and Williamson got into only 47 games in 1889, before closing out with the Chicago Players' League entry in 1890.

He did not fare well in retirement. Ned, charitably listed as 5'11", 210 pounds while a player, took over running a saloon,and soon ballooned up to 250 pounds. Or maybe it was his diseases. 

Williamson was soon suffering from both dropsy (edema) and consumption (tuberculosis), and died at just 36. 

Want to know more? Believe it or not, there was a movie made about Ned—at least, his fateful trip to Paris on the world tour. It's billed as a 48-minute comedy, made in 2015 and available on YouTube. I've never seen it, but it sounds sort of intriguing. 

In case you're interested, it's called Deadball, and listed here on IMDB. Good for a rainout? You tell me.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4531902/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3