Friday, June 17, 2011

Daily Conlon: 19 through 27

The Conlon goodness continues. Here are cards 19 through 27.

Former Dodger and Hall of Famer, Burleigh Grimes is featured on card #25, but wears a Pirates uniform. Here's an interesting story about the old spit baller from Wikipedia.
According to Baseball Digest, the Phillies were able to hit him because they knew when he was throwing the spitter. The Dodgers were mystified about this; first they thought the relative newcomer of a catcher, Hank DeBerry, was unwittingly giving away his signals to the pitcher, so they substituted veteran Zach Taylor, to no avail. They suggested that a spy with binoculars was concealed in the scoreboard in old Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, reading the signals from a distance, but the Phils hit Grimes just as well in Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. A batboy solved the mystery by pointing out that Burleigh's cap was too tight. It sounded silly, but he was right. The tighter cap would wiggle when Grimes flexed his facial muscles to prepare the spitter. He got a cap a half-size larger and the Phillies were on their own after that.
It's amazing how the little things is often all that matters.

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