Ballou on Baseball: August 17 Update

Choosing the greatest athlete in the nation’s history is like choosing the greatest president. There is no consensus and never will be, but Lincoln would get more votes than Taft, etc.

So it would be with athletes.

One thing is certain. If there were a Mount Rushmore for sports legends, Jim Thorpe’s face would be chiseled into it.

The history of affiliated professional baseball in Worcester is substantial but was in hibernation until the WooSox arrived last year. The legacy has already been enriched by things like Yairo Munoz’ 35-game hitting streak last year and Worcester’s combined no-hitter in 2022.

Thorpe, a Native American, is part of that legacy. It was exactly 100 years ago this month that he joined the Worcester Busters of the Eastern League — the equivalent of Double-A — and played the final weeks of his pro baseball career.

If Thorpe is not the greatest American athlete ever, he was certainly the best of his time and in several polls has been voted the best athlete of the 20th Century. He won Olympic gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon in 1912 (more on that later) and was the best football player in the world. Thorpe was the first president of what is today the National Football League.

Thorpe was a good enough baseball player to spend parts of six seasons in the majors and 12 in pro baseball overall. At the time, baseball was the only place an athlete could make serious money.

Thorpe began the 1922 season in the Pacific Coast League and played 35 games for Portland before being released. He then signed with Hartford of the Eastern League and played well there, but during a road game in New Haven was subjected to so much racist verbal abuse he tried to go into the stands to confront his tormentors.

Teammates prevented that but Thorpe’s stay in Hartford was over. Even then, players were discouraged from beating up fans, even if they deserved it.

He was loaned to Worcester and made his debut for the Busters on August 15. Thorpe’s impact was intangible, more than anything. Worcester was in last place when he arrived and finished there, going 8-30 during his time with the team.

He was leading the league in hitting at .373 when loaned to the Busters and finished second in the EL at .344, playing mostly in center field. Thorpe had several memorable performances in a Worcester uniform including one on September 9, when the Busters played host to the National League’s parent Boston Braves. Worcester won that exhibition game, 7-3, before 1,500 fans at Boulevard Park. Thorpe was 3 for 4 with a home run.

His final game as a pro was on September 23. Worcester beat Albany, 8-3, at Boulevard Park. Thorpe was 1 for 2 and, at age 35, stole home.

He was an off-field presence, too. Thorpe fired the starting gun at a road race. In late September he went to a Holy Cross football practice and gave punting lessons.

The Worcester Telegram wrote about him, saying, “The coming of Thorpe is of great benefit even beyond his capabilities, great as they may be. He has injected a new spirit into the team…It could not be otherwise with a man working as earnestly as he has done so far.”

Which brings us back to 1912.

Thorpe was one of the world’s most recognizable people after dominating the Stockholm Olympics. A year later, though, the Telegram ran a story saying he had played professional minor league baseball in North Carolina before those Olympics — they were strictly for amateurs back then — and Thorpe was subsequently stripped of his medals.

No mention of that story, or its consequences, was made during his 1922 days in the city. It took years but after Thorpe’s death the medals were eventually restored.

He played in the NFL through 1928, but it was a part-time job. His last full-time paycheck as an athlete was issued by the Worcester Busters in September, 1922.

Thorpe had a difficult life after sports and died in 1953, that life having intersected with Worcester on two memorable occasions.

TRIPLE-A TRIVIA

1. Which pioneering Red Sox player was the first switch-hitter to lead a Boston Triple-A farm team in batting average for a season?

2. What road ballpark have WooSox batters hit more home runs in than any other?

Answers below.

HERE AND THERE…

It is a great endorsement for the quality and integrity of competition in the International League East and, OK, fans in the minors are not as married to wins and losses as in the majors, but it’s not great business that the 10 teams in the IL East are a combined 20 games below .500 at home. … Enmanuel Valdez’ six RBIs at Scranton/WB Friday night established a WooSox record. How about Valdez having 15 RBIs in just 10 games for the Worcester? A quick look at some 2021 stats shows Michael Gettys with 14 RBIs in 46 games, Chad De La Guerra with 13 in 49 games and Jeremy Rivera with 12 in 45 games, just for comparison. … Isn’t this always the way in baseball? When the WooSox won on Saturday night, 7-6, every batter in the lineup struck out at least once except for Ryan Fitzerald, who had fanned at least once in 13 straight games going into the night. The WooSox and RailRiders combined to strike out 30 times in that game, the most in any Worcester game in more than a year or since the same two teams fanned 32 times in the same ballpark on Aug. 5, 2021. … Connor Wong’s home run off Ryan Weber marked the second time in WooSox history a Worcester player homered off a former teammate. Johan Mieses took Matthew Kent deep in Jacksonville on April 9 of this season. Also — and this is hard to believe — each of the WooSox’ last 23 home runs have been off right-handed pitching.

THE WEEK AHEAD….

The WooSox play six games against the Rochester Red Wings at Polar Park with things following the usual schedule save for a Wednesday game at 12:15. The Red Wings have had a bizarre season that includes a six-game sweep of Worcester at Polar Park in May, then a 19-game losing streak that started on July 16 and ended four games ago.

They are 3-1 in their last four games.

For some reason, Rochester loves Worcester when it comes to sports. The Red Wings are 12-5 at Polar Park all-time. Rochester’s AHL team, the Americans, only lost once in 11 hockey games at the DCU Center.

TRIVA ANSWERS

1. Pumpsie Green, the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox and a switch hitter, led the Minneapolis Millers with a .320 average in 1959.

2. WooSox batters have slammed 31 homers at NBT Bank Park in Syracuse, paced by Jeter Downs and Johan Mieses with five apiece.

CATCHING UP WITH…

The Padres’ organization includes two former Boston Triple-A players, both with Pawtucket, serving as advisors. One is the immensely popular Glenn Hoffman, an infielder who played 428 games with the PawSox starting in 1977. The other is the less memorable Allen Craig, who hit six home runs in 165 games from 2014-17.

Ryan Court, who was a utility player (isn’t everyone these days?) for Pawtucket in 2016-17 and got into 114 games, is an insurance broker at RT Speciality in his native Illinois.