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JOHN ERARDI

Jake Beckley returns to Reds Hall of Fame and Museum

John Erardi
jerardi@enquirer.com
Reds Hall of Famer Jake Beckley


''Enjoyed being back. Thank the bugs (fans) for coming out.'' –Jake Beckley.

That's the note Beckley left on the table this week in the theater of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum after giving a talk to Reds fans about his days playing for the Reds from 1897-1903.

Reds Hall executive director Rick Walls showed me the note, which he said a custodian found when tidying up after Tuesday night's presentation.

I have no idea how Beckley came to be back – Reds historian Greg Rhodes, who introduced Beckley, said Walls found Beckley wandering among the third-floor plaques that afternoon and invited him to give a talk that evening – but I'm glad he did. Come back, that is.

Rhodes attributed Beckley's return to a ''cosmic reawakening,'' triggered by space-waves from the great Reds' Hall of Fame class of 2014 -- Ron Oester, Dave Parker and Ken Griffey, Jr., and oh yes, Beckley (posthumously) – which was enshrined early last month.

Beckley told the audience Tuesday that he felt a bit woozy, much the same as he felt after awakening from being knocked unconscious by a Christy Mathewson pitch on May 8, 1901.

"What year is it?'' Jake asked.

I didn't know if Beckley was repeating his question upon coming-to from that beaning more than a century ago –he was out for a full five minutes – or what year it was now. Same difference, I guess. When you're out of it, you're out of it.

One of the audience members asked Jake if his Reds teammates rushed the mound or otherwise attempted to exact any revenge on Mathewson.

Not from what I know, Beckley answered. He said the attitude his teammates took, they later told him, was more along the lines of, ''Jake's out; might as well go get a hot dog,'' which drew a laugh from the audience.

Not a bad line, but as a listener I wasn't sure if Jake was correct about hot dogs already being part of ballpark cuisine in 1901. I went back and looked it up, and sure enough: Hot dogs were introduced at the ballpark in St. Louis in 1893 by club owner Chris von der Ahe.

Beckley said something else about sausages. Seems as though the native of Hannibal, Mo. – yes, the same town that brought us Mark Twain, who Beckley said he knew, even though they were 30 years apart in age (''Good storyteller, couldn't hit the curveball,'' Jake said) – was a foodie of sorts. Not that Jake would've known the term.

Plaques are set out for Reds Hall of Fame inductees Jake Beckley (not pictured) Ron Oester, Dave Parker and Ken Griffey Jr. during a ceremony in August.

Beckley's story went something like the following, if I can recall it correctly. I wasn't taking notes.

Beckley recalled playing ball here with the young outfielder Sam ' 'Wahoo'' Crawford from 1899 through 1902. Crawford led the league with 22 triples in his final season here, when glorious ballpark, ''Palace of the Fans,'' opened.

Beckley said Crawford was fond of a homemade liniment he had concocted, made of Vaseline and Tabasco hot sauce (he called it ''Go Fast''), and liked having the trainer rub it on his legs before games.

Made you feel like you were on fire, Crawford told me…

I remember one day I walked in with a pork sandwich from Elias Kahn's on Central Avenue.

Hey, Sammy, this sandwich is kinda dry. Got any Go Fast? Hold the Vaseline.

The audience seemed to buy it.

So Wahoo gave the Vaseline to our pitcher that day, Noodles Hahn, who went out and pitched a two-hitter .

Bodda-bing, bodda-bang.

Beckley appeared to be channeling the repartee of Johnny Carson with Ed McMahon on ''Carnac the Magnificent,'' but that couldn't have been possible, because Beckley had died almost a half century before the great seer, soothsayer and sage flew in from the east and lit up late-night TV.

Beckley didn't know from the idiot box; he died in late June, 1918.

He appeared confused when Rhodes told him that in 1971 he had been elected posthumously to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

''What's that?'' Jake asked.

The slugger did know that his 244 triples led the majors when he retired mid-way through the 1907 season, and that he was third all-time in that category at his death, but was amazed to hear he still ranks fourth (behind only Crawford, Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb).

Beckley was some kind of player; in fact, within the 2014 Reds Hall of Fame class, he was clearly the second greatest, behind only Griffey.

Beckley showed the fans, er bugs, how he held the bat with his hands together (unlike so many other players, including Cobb, who held them apart), and how -- when a bunt was called for -- he flipped the bat upside down to deaden the ball off the bat handle, and told stories of nabbing the great Hans Wagner and Frank Chance with the hidden ball trick.

Beckley was the second long-departed Reds first baseman to visit Cincinnati this season. The first was Jake Daubert, earlier this summer, who played for the 1919 World Champions.

Beckley may've known Twain, but he obviously didn't know Ring Lardner, whose 1915 short story, ''Alibi Ike'' - later turned into a major motion picture - would have been a good primer for a presentation such as this.

If you ever see ol' Jake again, director Walls, please give him a copy of Alibi Ike, would ya? And Rick? Send me the bill. Guy needs some work on his delivery.

Jake didn't speak well of turn-of-the-century Reds' owner John Brush, who made his fortune in Indianapolis as a department store owner. After a smoldering cigar burned down League Park in Cincinnati and the players' uniforms with it in 1900, the Reds owner told the players, including Beckley, that they had to buy their own replacement threads.

Oh my, did Jake ever have some choice words for Brush last Tuesday, but it was almost as though he was holding something back, because there was a schoolboy in the Reds' that night, 10 or 12, I'd estimate.

I'd forgotten that Beckley had been traded to St. Louis after the 1903 season here.

Seems that Beckley didn't have any fondness for Reds manager Joe Kelley, either, remembering that it was Kelley who was behind the trade, wanting to play first base himself here in 1904.

I don't remember what Kelley hit in 1904, but I hit .327 my last year in Cincinnati , Beckley said.

"I doubt Kelley hit .327,'' said Rhodes.

Later, I looked it up.

Sure enough, Kelley hit only .281 in 1904. Jake didn't mention what he'd hit in St. Louis in 1904, but I looked that up, too: He hit .325 -- exactly his Reds' average in seven years here, third-best in franchise history – even though he was 37 years old.

Turns out Beckley's 1904 season coincided with the St. Louis World's Fair. I wish Jake had said something about that – about all I know about it is the references in the 1944 Judy Garland movie, ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' – but hey, it was only a 45-minute presentation, so I guess ol' Jake couldn't cover everything.

Beckley related that when Sam Crawford jumped to the fledgling American League for more money in 1903, that it was a fortuitous pairing, because even though Detroit hadn't yet acquired its name, Motor City, ''Sam could really motor.''

''That's awful,'' moaned a member of the audience. ''No shame.''

Jake didn't appear taken aback. Actually, he seemed pleased to hear that some things obviously haven't changed, that a bad pun draws a groan in any era.

I'm just glad nobody brought any tomatoes.