Dodgerfan1
04-07-2007, 08:00 AM
Very little has been said about Hall of Famer Jake Beckley on this forum. He was, of course, a great ballplayer with a .308 lifetime BA and the nickname of ‘Eagle Eye.’ He could hit better than most players, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame website calls him a ‘solid first baseman.’ That may have been true regarding his glove work, but they obviously weren’t considering his erratic arm when making that statement. He may have been able to hit better than most, but he couldn’t throw worth a damn. He had an early version of the Steve Sax/Chuck Knoblauch mental block when it came to throwing the ball.
Pittsburgh’s Tommy Leach liked to reminisce about the times that he took advantage of Beckley’s scattergun arm. During a 1905 game which pitted his Pirates against Beckley’s Cardinals, Jake was patrolling first base, as usual. Leach laid down a bunt which required Beckley to field the ball. He scooped it up just as pitcher Jack Taylor was approaching the first base bag to take the throw. Beckley, rather than risk a bad throw with an overhand motion, tossed the ball underhanded to Taylor. It sailed three feet over the pitcher’s head.
Beckley, who darted after the ball as soon as he realized he had made a horrific toss, dashed past Taylor and recovered it in foul territory. By now, Leach had rounded second base and was well on his way to third. When he paused and looked back, he noticed Beckley had the ball and, deciding it was good gamble to run on Jake’s notoriously erratic arm, lit out for home. Beckley, meanwhile, rather than attempt what would have been an easy throw to the plate for anyone else, decided to sprint for home rather than risk another crappy throw. After a mad dash, he arrived at the plate at the same moment that Leach began his feet-first slide. Lunging headlong with the ball extended, he tagged Leach out, breaking two of Tommy’s ribs with the hard tag!
Beckley tried to atone for his throwing shortcomings by employing the old hidden ball trick whenever he could. He often hid the ball under the first base bag whenever the runner (and apparently everyone on the other team, as well) wasn’t looking. Of course, the pitcher would go into his motion, as if he had the ball, the runner would take his lead, Beckley would sidle over to the bag, grab the ball and tag out the runner. One time, however, even that ploy backfired badly.
In a 1906 game against Pittsburgh, Honus Wagner was on first when Jake slyly hid the ball under the base. When Wagner took his leadoff, Beckley reached under the bag but couldn’t find the ball. Seeing this, Wagner took off for second base. Jake had groped under the wrong corner of the base allowing the quick-witted Wagner to sprint for second. Frantically, Beckley began lifting each corner of the bag until he finally came up with the prize and, predictably, heaved a wild throw to second, allowing Wagner to take third base easily.
Then there was the time in 1903 when Beckley, playing first for Cincinnati, tried a new twist on the hidden ball trick. Oddly, the opponent was, once again, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs had Otto Krueger on first, having beaten out a bunt. Beckley pretended to throw the ball back to pitcher Noodles Hahn, but had previously slipped the ball up his own sleeve (uniforms being much looser in them thar days). Krueger, unaware of the chicanery, edged off the bag. Beckley then reached up his sleeve to retrieve the ball, wrapped his hand around it but couldn’t pull it out! Noticing Jake’s plight, and figuring out what was up, Krueger hightailed it for second. Meanwhile, Hahn raced over to Beckley and ripped the entire sleeve from his shirt! The ball dropped harmlessly to the ground. That was the last time Jake Beckley ever had anything up his sleeve during a ball game!
And that’s my Jake Beckley post! He was a real character of the game. He would have gotten along well with fellow character, Pete Browning!
Pittsburgh’s Tommy Leach liked to reminisce about the times that he took advantage of Beckley’s scattergun arm. During a 1905 game which pitted his Pirates against Beckley’s Cardinals, Jake was patrolling first base, as usual. Leach laid down a bunt which required Beckley to field the ball. He scooped it up just as pitcher Jack Taylor was approaching the first base bag to take the throw. Beckley, rather than risk a bad throw with an overhand motion, tossed the ball underhanded to Taylor. It sailed three feet over the pitcher’s head.
Beckley, who darted after the ball as soon as he realized he had made a horrific toss, dashed past Taylor and recovered it in foul territory. By now, Leach had rounded second base and was well on his way to third. When he paused and looked back, he noticed Beckley had the ball and, deciding it was good gamble to run on Jake’s notoriously erratic arm, lit out for home. Beckley, meanwhile, rather than attempt what would have been an easy throw to the plate for anyone else, decided to sprint for home rather than risk another crappy throw. After a mad dash, he arrived at the plate at the same moment that Leach began his feet-first slide. Lunging headlong with the ball extended, he tagged Leach out, breaking two of Tommy’s ribs with the hard tag!
Beckley tried to atone for his throwing shortcomings by employing the old hidden ball trick whenever he could. He often hid the ball under the first base bag whenever the runner (and apparently everyone on the other team, as well) wasn’t looking. Of course, the pitcher would go into his motion, as if he had the ball, the runner would take his lead, Beckley would sidle over to the bag, grab the ball and tag out the runner. One time, however, even that ploy backfired badly.
In a 1906 game against Pittsburgh, Honus Wagner was on first when Jake slyly hid the ball under the base. When Wagner took his leadoff, Beckley reached under the bag but couldn’t find the ball. Seeing this, Wagner took off for second base. Jake had groped under the wrong corner of the base allowing the quick-witted Wagner to sprint for second. Frantically, Beckley began lifting each corner of the bag until he finally came up with the prize and, predictably, heaved a wild throw to second, allowing Wagner to take third base easily.
Then there was the time in 1903 when Beckley, playing first for Cincinnati, tried a new twist on the hidden ball trick. Oddly, the opponent was, once again, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs had Otto Krueger on first, having beaten out a bunt. Beckley pretended to throw the ball back to pitcher Noodles Hahn, but had previously slipped the ball up his own sleeve (uniforms being much looser in them thar days). Krueger, unaware of the chicanery, edged off the bag. Beckley then reached up his sleeve to retrieve the ball, wrapped his hand around it but couldn’t pull it out! Noticing Jake’s plight, and figuring out what was up, Krueger hightailed it for second. Meanwhile, Hahn raced over to Beckley and ripped the entire sleeve from his shirt! The ball dropped harmlessly to the ground. That was the last time Jake Beckley ever had anything up his sleeve during a ball game!
And that’s my Jake Beckley post! He was a real character of the game. He would have gotten along well with fellow character, Pete Browning!