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I remember it clearly. It was back in 1997, and I was sitting at my desk in an upstate New York brownstone apartment, reading what was then called "ESPN Sportszone" through my high-powered 56K modem Internet connection, when I stumbled across an essay by Keith Olbermann, then still an integral part of "Sportscenter," called "The Ninth Man."

Olbermann was always a good on-air personality, but this essay cemented what I always suspected -- he was an even better writer. I used several of Olbermann's old ESPN.sportszone.com essays in the freshman writing classes I was teaching at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the time to demonstrate one point or another, but never this particular one because I didn't believe the standard 18-year-old engineering major would "get" the power of "The Ninth Man."

To truly appreciate this essay, you have to be a baseball fan -- that's "fan" in the linguistic sense, as in "just short for fanatic" -- and you must have a feel for the history of the game and the power of baseball relationships across time. The readers of Batter's Box will understand "The Ninth Man" -- and after all these years, may also understand why, in retrospect, I now believe Olbermann didn't even take the concept far enough. But we'll do so here.

Here is a significant and representative cutting from Olbermann's brilliant little essay -- remember, this was published in 1997, eight years ago:

He is out there somewhere in spring training. He's probably 20 or 21, maybe 22. And he will retire in the year 2016.

He will be the grand old man of baseball. And they will say, 'He's so old that the year he broke in, Eddie Murray was still playing.' And he will become the ninth man.

Eddie Murray's the eighth man. When he broke in, Brooks Robinson was still playing. And when Robinson broke in, Bob Feller was still playing. And when Feller broke in, Rogers Hornsby was still playing. And when Hornsby broke in, Honus Wagner was still playing. And when Wagner broke in, Cap Anson was still playing. And when Anson broke in, Dickey Pearce was still playing. And when Pearce broke in, Doc Adams was still playing. Adams played for the Knickerbocker club inthe first organized game of baseball in 1846, number one of the eight men whose careers cover the 152 seasons since. And somewhere out there is the ninth man.

Right there, in the course of what constitutes a single baseball lineup -- nine men -- Olbermann recaps the entire history of the game. But again, he doesn't take it quite far enough.

Not to nitpick -- or, in this case, Knickpick -- but to start with the 1846 New York Knickerbocker club, which was an all-amateur "town team" that played many of its games out of Hoboken, NJ (just as the New York Giants and Jets of the modern NFL are based in the Garden State) is a bit misguided -- that was not truly a professional ballclub. Perhaps Olbermann starts here because the Knickerbockers were Alexander Cartwright's team, more or less, and perhaps Olbermann buys the "Alexander Cartwright invented baseball" alternative mythology to the Abner Doubleday myth.

Regardless of Olbermann's motive, it has been long accepted that the first true proto-Major League club, the precursor to the big league game of Blue Jays, Devil Rays and Diamondbacks, was the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, which completed that 1869 season a perfect 57-0; according to news reports of the time, although the team won more than 70 games, team captain Harry Wright only counted the 57 games played against other National Association clubs as official.

The star of that undefeated Red Stockings team was the captain's brother -- a young 22-year-old shortstop named George Wright, more or less the "A-Rod" of his day, as he was paid the rather unseemly amount of $2,000, or more than 18 percent of his team's payroll, that season.

While these Wright Brothers made baseball fly in Cincinnati, two other Wright brothers (no relation) just a bloop hit up the road in Dayton, Ohio were fixing bicycles and dreaming up airplanes. George eventually landed and taxiied into the Hall of Fame, where his plaque very simply reads "George Wright: Star of baseball's first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869. Great shortstop and captain of champion Bostons in National League's pioneer years."

So, with all due respect to Doc Adams and to Olbermann, George Wright is the first link in our "ninth man" chain. And speaking of Olbermann, here's where he fell just shy of demonstrating the power of baseball's relationships -- the power of teammates. Sure, it's nice that Bob Feller was still playing when Brooks Robinson broke in, but it's not like they were ever teammtes.

We'll return to our first-link Hall of Fame shortstop in a while, but for now, let's go to the other end of the chain, and who knows, maybe another Hall of Fame shortstop someday.

In 2004, the youngest player in the major leagues was Tampa Bay Devil Rays shortstop B.J. Upton, born in -- gulp -- 1984. Minor league guru John Sickels has written of Upton, "Scouts are certain he'll be a star, and given his performance thus far it is impossible to dispute that assessment." He ended his rookie season with an average of .258 and four homers and though he never shared a dugout with -- in fact, it's possible he actually took the roster spot of -- veteran 1B Fred McGriff, they at the very least played for the same team, the 2004 Devil Rays, and shared space in several spring training game lineups.

McGriff -- fans in Toronto probably remember this guy. The lanky first sacker slammed 124 homers in his Toronto career, and was part of a fairly significant trade that helped the Jays win two World Series trophies. And back in 1987, at the age of 23, McGriff hit .247 and hit 20 homers while sharing time with Willie Upshaw at first, while another teammate, seemingly ageless knuckleballer Phil Niekro logged two of his 274 career losses -- but unfortunately, none of his career 318 wins -- as a Blue Jay. Still, McGriff and Niekro were teammates.

Just as Niekro had been teammates with another 300-game winner, the all-time winningest lefty, Warren Spahn, back in 1964. Sure, Spahn was just 6-13 that year, while Niekro did not record a decision in his 10 appearances, but the very nexus of baseball history met in Milwaukee in that '64 season; it may be possible to build many "ninth man" chains from the 19th to the 21st century, but it's much harder to do so without the Spahn-Niekro link.

The two 300-game winners, teammates ever so briefly, combined to pitch in the majors from 1942 through 1987. Consider for a moment that by 1987, Niekro was the only player in the majors who had even been born in 1942 so you can appropriately consider the magnitude of the Spahn-Niekro link.

And as we start to collect moments of symmetry in this ninth man chain, realize that George Wright founded the Boston team that became the Braves with whom Spahn broke in -- and with whom Niekro retired two cities later for the franchise. And when Spahn was a rookie with the 1942 Boston Braves, one of the men who may have caught one of his two starts or two relief appearances was the Braves' aging former All-Star backstop, Ernie Lombardi.

Lombardi, who won two batting titles and an MVP award, like Niekro and Spahn -- and maybe someday McGriff -- is enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame with George Wright. But back in 1933, before the then-25-year-old Lombardi had done any of those things, he was catching for the Reds -- the successors to Wright's original team, of course -- where one of his teammates was a 49-year-old righty who compiled a 4.02 ERA in 14 relief appearances.

That man was Jack Quinn, who rang up 247 career victories in his 23 years in the majors, though he won at least 20 only once. And that was no typo -- he was actually 49 when Lombardi caught him, one season after he became the oldest man ever to hit a home run in the majors. Quinn is one of only four men to pitch in the majors at age 49 or older; one of the others, of course, is Phil Niekro. See how this all ties -- links -- together so nicely?

And though Quinn's 247 career wins were four more than Juan Marichal and just four less than Bob Gibson, it didn't get him a pass into the Hall of Fame. He had plenty of Hall of Fame teammates in his score-plus years in the bigs, though, including a diminutive outfielder with a nickname to match, the legendary "hit 'em where they ain't" Hall of Famer "Wee" Willie Keeler, all 140 pounds of him.

That's right, when Quinn was a 25-year-old rookie with the 1909 New York Yank ... er, sorry, Highlanders, he posted an impressive 9-5 mark with a 1.97 ERA in 11 starts and 12 relief appearances, while the 37-year-old Keeler was playing 99 games in the outfield for the New Yorkers, finishing up with a near-career-low .264 batting average.

Wee Willie would retire the next year, after just 10 more at-bats (and three hits, so one last .300 season) with the Giants. But he could look back on a glorious career that included 2,938 base hits, 37 of which came for those same Giants in his own rookie season of 1892.

That same year, a century plus a year before Joe Carter would "touch 'em all," Keeler roamed the National League New York outfield with "Orator Jim" O'Rourke, who was busy collecting the last few of his own 2,643 career hits. O'Rourke shares the same trait as Niekro and Quinn of being one of baseball's grand old men to play -- he came out of retirement after 11 seasons in 1904 to catch -- that's right, catch one game for the Giants, collecting a single in four trips to the plate.

A quarter of a century before the big comeback, O'Rourke was a 28-year-old C/1B/3B/OF spending one year with the old Providence Grays. The Grays were a fine club, thanks primarily to the 19-year-old ace John Montgomery Ward who started 60 (and won 47) games for the team, whose starting shortstop -- and player/manager -- was none other than ... George Wright.

So ... B.J. Upton, who was the youngest player in the major leagues last season as a shortstop for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, played with Fred McGriff who played with Phil Niekro who played with Warren Spahn who played with Ernie Lombardi who played with Jack Quinn who playd with Willie Keeler who played with Jim O'Rourke who played with George Wright who started at shortstop for the first all-professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Reds.

So forget about finding the ninth man in spring training of 1997; he didn't arrive until last season, and the links -- teammate-to-teammate through the decades -- are much stronger.

In fact, some time in, say, 2023, when B.J. Upton is playing first base or DHing for whatever team he's with by then, he might just look around the clubhouse and lock eyes with some teenage hotshot being talked up by legendary and ageless minor league guru John Sickels. And that kid, in his first big league camp right out of high school, will have been born way back in 2005 -- that kid will be The Tenth Man.

Who Will Be "The Tenth Man"? | 23 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Lucas - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 01:12 AM EST (#103554) #
Terrific article, Mick.

Upton and McGriff missed each other by only a few days. McGriff was DFA'ed on July 17 and released on the 26th. Upton joined the Devil Rays on August 1.
dp - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 01:14 AM EST (#103555) #
(Just registered- wanted to say the site looks great and I really appreciate all the hard work you guys put in)

Mick-
What were you teaching at RPI? A lot of my friends graduated from there between 1995-1999...

Albany's a wonderful place. Troy has charm some days, looks like an armpit on others.
Gitz - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 01:40 AM EST (#103557) #
Outstanding, Mick. (Profound, I know ... )
Magpie - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 06:53 AM EST (#103561) #
This is a wonderful piece, Mick - I am gnashing my teeth with jealousy.<p>

Naturally, being me, I couldn't help but think of Roger Angell's "The Web of the Game." Remember? 1981, and Angell was sitting in the stands watching a college baseball game. Yale and St John's, Ron Darling vs Frank Viola. Darling pitched a no-hitter through 11 innings, but lost in the twelfth. Angell's seat mate, of course, was Smokey Joe Wood. They remembered Wood's famous duel with Walter Johnson in 1912, and how the game stitched them all together: Wood and Johnson and Darling and Viola.<p>

You have raised the bar, pal. Well done.
Mike Green - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 08:57 AM EST (#103564) #

Great, Mick.

Or the link may be from George Wright to David Wright. Is it just a mirage or do I see a Hall of Names piece in the distance?

Dave Till - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 11:03 AM EST (#103583) #

Great article!

I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet: if you want to investigate chains of teammates, Baseball Reference's Oracle of Baseball provides an automated way to waste large amounts of time. :-)

For example, to get from Babe Ruth to Barry Bonds:

Babe Ruth played with Bill Dickey for the 1933 New York Yankees
Bill Dickey played with Billy Johnson for the 1943 New York Yankees
Billy Johnson played with Dick Schofield for the 1953 St. Louis Cardinals
Dick Schofield played with Jerry Reuss for the 1971 St. Louis Cardinals
Jerry Reuss played with Barry Bonds for the 1990 Pittsburgh Pirates

Great fun!

Dave Till - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 11:07 AM EST (#103585) #

Mind you, the Oracle of Baseball isn't perfect. I just tried George Wright to B.J. Upton, and it included McGriff as one of the links. Oh well.

Its chain:

George Wright played with Jerry Denny for the 1882 Providence Grays
Jerry Denny played with Kid Gleason for the 1891 Philadelphia Phillies
Kid Gleason played with George Mogridge for the 1912 Chicago White Sox
George Mogridge played with Johnny Cooney for the 1927 Boston Braves
Johnny Cooney played with Warren Spahn for the 1942 Boston Braves
Warren Spahn played with Phil Niekro for the 1964 Milwaukee Braves
Phil Niekro played with Fred McGriff for the 1987 Toronto Blue Jays
Fred McGriff played with B.J. Upton for the 2004 Tampa Bay Devil Rays

Mick Doherty - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 11:31 AM EST (#103593) #
Dave, I should've given The Oracle a shout-out as a resource for this story. I ran Wright-to-Upton a couple of dozen times so I could build a chain that involved all players that the casual-to-semiserious ball fan would have heard of, mostly Hall of Famers. I think the chain in the story, with the exception of 0'Rourke, and maybe Quinn, accomplishes that as best possible, and Quinn won almost 250 games while O'Rourke has a great backstory.

All due homage and bowing down to http://www.baseballreference.com without whom the entire concept of "Hall of Names" would simply not be feasible.


King Rat - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 12:35 PM EST (#103609) #
Well, Quinn is extremely interesting in his own right. He was one of the last legal spitballers, and he's the oldest man to play in a World Series-or postseason for that matter-game. He was also the starting pitcher for the Athletics in Game Four of the 1929 World Series, which is sort of a dubious honour-the game is famous for being the greatest comeback in Series history, so being the guy who gave up most of the deficit to be thrillingly overcome isn't much of a feather in one's cap. Nevertheless, there's nothing boring about Jack Quinn.
gv27 - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 03:05 PM EST (#103664) #
An excellent thread Mick. And now I wish I could find the original Olbermann piece. You've stoked my curiosity, so I should ask: can any of the regulars on this site link themselves to a big leaguer? Surely, there has to be one!
Matthew E - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 03:18 PM EST (#103676) #
Depends what you mean by 'link'. I lived in the same residence house as a girl who went to high school with Nigel Wilson.
gv27 - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 03:25 PM EST (#103681) #
I mean part of an extended family tree, like "Fred Gladding's second wife was my mom's second cousin."
Mick Doherty - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 03:26 PM EST (#103682) #
I can, yes.

Mick Doherty, Batter's Box regular, grew up down the street from former Expo 3B Andy Tracy and faced his brother Rick in Little League.

Is that a link?
Mike D - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 03:27 PM EST (#103684) #
I'll bet Gitz can link himself.
Mick Doherty - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 03:29 PM EST (#103685) #
Oh, yeah -- not to steal his thunder, but Gitz played ball at USC with Bret Boone and Jeff Cirillo and those guys. So all the roster members are just one degree from those major leaguers.
gv27 - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 03:45 PM EST (#103693) #
One of my best friends in high school was the second cousin of former Oriole Todd Cruz. That's the extent of links on my end, though my late grandmother went to games at Hamlin's Point in the late 20's, and may have dated a player or two.
Mick Doherty - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 04:00 PM EST (#103699) #
dp, I was at RPI from 1994-1997, teaching writing classes. If any of your buddies had one of my classes, they will remember me as the guy who expected way too much and graded way too hard and always looked like he was working on two or three hours sleep.
Named For Hank - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 04:07 PM EST (#103702) #
One of my regular customers at the lab is Corey Koskie's cousin. She got nice tickets last year whenever the Twins came to town.
Magpie - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 06:02 PM EST (#103723) #
can any of the regulars on this site link themselves to a big leaguer?

I can, sort of. And naturally, it involves 1912.

Rough Bill Carrigan was the Red Sox catcher from 1906-1916. He replaced Jake Stahl as the manager in 1913; still active as a player, he led the Sox to back-to-back world championships in 1915 and 1916. He then walked away from the game to pursue a career in banking. The Sox lured him out of retirement in 1927 to manage them again, but the team was awful and his magic was gone. If he's remembered today, it's because Babe Ruth once said Carrigan was the best manager he ever had.

My son Liam's maternal grandfather is a Carrigan - and it turns out Liam's grandfather is a dead ringer for Rough Bill himself. The resemblance is startling. We're not sure of the exact connection or the terminology - we think it might be great-great uncle. Once removed. Or something.

Here he is with Shoeless Joe:

gv27 - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 09:04 PM EST (#103733) #
Very interesting. There's a good shot of Carrigan on his player bio at the Baseball Library website. One more return to manage the Red Sox, and he could have become the Billy Martin of Boston's baseball history.
Magpie - Friday, February 25 2005 @ 09:19 PM EST (#103735) #
Liam is here and he confirms it for me: Rough Bill Carrigan is his grandfather's uncle, and that makes him a great-great uncle. Apparently.

I dunno, not my side of the family. My side is all... uh... Irish thieves and hustlers.

Mick Doherty - Wednesday, March 23 2005 @ 03:22 PM EST (#107301) #
Kudos to Mike Green! I finally got around to exploring that George Wright/David Wright connection, and though Upton is slightly older than the Mets youngster, the linkage is actually SHORTER. Amazing. That Early Wynn-Tommy John link is just about as strong as the Spahn-Niekro link I mentioned in the main story. I may have to re-think the entire article:

George Wright played with Deacon White for the 1875 Boston Red Stockings
Deacon White played with General Stafford for the 1890 Buffalo Bisons
General Stafford played with Nick Altrock for the 1898 Louisville Colonels
Nick Altrock played with Ossie Bluege for the 1924 Washington Senators
Ossie Bluege played with Early Wynn for the 1939 Washington Senators
Early Wynn played with Tommy John for the 1963 Cleveland Indians
Tommy John played with Al Leiter for the 1987 New York Yankees
Al Leiter played with David Wright for the 2004 New York Mets
Mick Doherty - Wednesday, March 23 2005 @ 03:26 PM EST (#107302) #
Correction - actually, Upton is *younger* than Wright, which is what I meant to write in the first place. And of course, my math was off -- it's still Wright as "The Tenth Man," but it sure is nice to have the Wright-to-Wright symmetry. Here is a potential new final paragraph for the story.

"In fact, some time in, say, 2023, when David Wright is DHing for the Yankees or Red Sox, he might just look around the clubhouse and lock eyes with some teenage hotshot being talked up by legendary and ageless minor league guru John Sickels. And that kid, in his first big league camp right out of high school, will have been born way back in 2005 -- that kid will be The Tenth Man."
Who Will Be "The Tenth Man"? | 23 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.