Re: [Harp-L] Take Me Out To the Ballgame

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Obligatory harp content: It's very true about the country tuning messing up the tongue-block stuff. I suppose nothing is perfect. 
OK, Hoblitzell... after this post, we probably ought to take offlist...
Are you looking at his lifetime? He was the top run producer when he was at Cincinatti. Then between 1914 and 1916 he couldn't hit a kickball if somebody lobbed on to him. Then, around 1916 he got back into it and was a major factor
He joined the army in 1918, thus ending his career, so those bad years took a real toll on his lifetime stuff, and he couldn't focus during his 1918 games because he was in the process of joining the army and getting into the army dental corps. The Boston Globe cartoonists were always drawing him, cause he was a dentist on the side, he'd be pulling some Cleveland pitcher's teeth or whatever.
Game 2, 1916 World Series in Brooklyn. Babe Ruth has pitched 14 dynamite innings, score tied 1-1. Hoblitizell scores the winning run in the bottom of the 14th. I have held the ball from that game in my hands.Right in my freakin hands!
Hoblitzell got on base by drawing a walk. He was very good at that. During the entire 1916 World Series, Dick drew six walks. 
The rest of the team combined only drew 12. In game 2, he was in "get on base" mode with the score being so close, he drew four walks in that game alone. 
I call him a standout, cause he was a big standout in Boston. He was also Babe Ruth's roomate. I have at least one Babe Ruth story I don't think very many have heard... cause he wrote a lot of stuff down. Dick had a very interesting take on Ty Cobb, keep in mind, he was playing AGAINST Cobb and Cobb was pulling the same B.S. against Dick as any other baseman. One interesting thing he wrote about Cobb was that when Cobb ran his spikes into somebody, it was usually the baseman's fault. 
He and Cy Young were hunting buddies, I've seen a pic Cy Young gave Dick of Cy Young and his favorite huntin' dog.. This is fascinating stuff. 

----- Original Message ----
From: "msky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <msky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2008 5:08:03 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Take Me Out To the Ballgame

Totally off the music part of this topic, I'm fascinated by Dave Payne's reference to standout Dick Hoblitzell. 
By most objective ratings Hoblitzell is perhaps the 15th best 1st baseman of his era (1908-1918). Perhaps a little better defensively. And they only had 18 teams then.
Dave, is there something I'm missing?
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