{"id":34483,"date":"2023-11-21T11:39:35","date_gmt":"2023-11-21T16:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/?p=34483"},"modified":"2023-12-16T18:03:48","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T23:03:48","slug":"texas-league-spitballin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2023\/11\/21\/texas-league-spitballin\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas League Spitballin\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"James

James Patrick “Snipe” Conley<\/p><\/div>\n

Chances are you knew about spitballs long before you learned about baseball history.\u00a0 Somewhere in elementary school \u2013 or maybe in preschool if you were a prodigy \u2013 you learned how to chew up wads of paper into soggy little balls which you could throw at someone else or the blackboard.\u00a0 Eventually, you learned that a spitball in baseball was something altogether different\u2026or was it?\u00a0 In both cases, a spitball was something you threw, and if some snitch or authority figure saw you throw it, you were in trouble.<\/p>\n

Given our enlightened existence in the year 2023 C.E., it is hard to believe that more than a century ago a pitcher could lavishly slather saliva on a baseball before serving it up to a hitter.\u00a0 During the Deadball era, it was as socially acceptable as wetting your hand to tame a cowlick.\u00a0 Ironically, it was a time when \u201cNo Spitting\u201d signs were ubiquitous to deter the spread of tuberculosis.<\/p>\n

Tuberculosis didn\u2019t stop the spitball, but the Spanish Flu that swept the nation and the world after World War might have convinced the solons of organized baseball that applying saliva to a ball that was handled not just by a pitcher but by a catcher, the fielders, an umpire \u2013 and maybe a fan in the stands if the pitch was fouled off \u2013 was, as Daffy Duck once said, \u201cunthanitary.\u201d\u00a0 And in the case of a pitcher who chewed tobacco\u2026well, you can imagine.<\/p>\n

And so the spitball was banned, starting with the 1920 season.\u00a0 It more or less ended with the Deadball era, and there is some evidence that the main reason it was banned was to get more offense into the games.\u00a0 Sure enough, batting averages and home run totals surged during the decade.<\/p>\n

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the pitch was phased out rather than banned.\u00a0 Any pitcher who had already utilized the wet one could continue to throw it.\u00a0 17 pitchers were given the grandfather clause treatment.\u00a0 Some were highly successful (e.g<\/em>, HOF inductees Burleigh Grimes<\/a>, Stan Coveleski<\/a>, Red Faber<\/a>), others not so much.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the grandfather clause is not something that one should apply without careful consideration.\u00a0 Consider Prohibition, which went into effect more or less the same time as the spitter was prohibited.\u00a0 No one suggested that brewers or distillers who had been practicing their craft for decades would be allowed to continue doing so after Prohibition.\u00a0 Like the major league spitballers, they could legitimately claim that their livelihood was being taken away from them.<\/p>\n

Famously, the last man to legally throw a spitball in a major league game was Grimes, a name Charles Dickens (who toured America and was appalled by the American custom of spitting) might have given to a blacksmith.\u00a0 A four-year MLB veteran at the beginning of the 1920 season, Grimes pitched till age 40.\u00a0 How long he would have lasted without his spitball is debatable.\u00a0 When he retired, he had a record of 269-210 and had logged 4,180 innings.\u00a0 He threw his last spitter as a member of the Pirates (he pitched for six other teams) on September 20, 1934.<\/p>\n

Somewhat lost in the shuffle, however, were the minor league pitchers who relied on spitters.\u00a0 What to do with them?\u00a0 Well, as in the majors, it was OK for minor league hurlers who had relied on the spitter to continue to throw it \u2013 but only in the minor leagues.\u00a0 If such a pitcher were promoted to the major leagues, he would have to park his spitball.<\/p>\n

As in the majors, the identity of the spitball pitchers in the minors was no secret.\u00a0 Perhaps the best known was right-hander James Patrick \u201cSnipe\u201d Conley, who spent almost all of his minor league career with the Dallas franchise of the Texas League.<\/p>\n

Born in Cressona, Pennsylvania \u2013 coal mining country \u2013 on April 25, 1892, Conley played for an assortment of small-market minor league teams (Shenandoah, York, Pottsville) in the Keystone State.\u00a0 He was good enough to get a tryout with Connie Mack\u2019s Philadelphia A\u2019s in 1913.<\/p>\n

The A\u2019s didn\u2019t sign him (they managed to win the 1913 World Series without him) but in 1914 the opportunities for players with major league aspirations were greatly enhanced, thanks to the startup of the upstart Federal League.\u00a0 With eight more teams, the number of jobs for major league players increased by 50% overnight.<\/p>\n

The FL teams attempted to establish credibility by signing away players from National and American League teams.\u00a0 Since the Federals did not honor the reserve clause that kept major league players bound to their teams they were free to sign as many players as they chose.\u00a0 Of course, this meant NL and AL teams had to pay their players more to keep them from straying.\u00a0 As with any other cartel, MLB did not welcome competition, particularly in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, Chicago, and St. Louis, where major league clubs were already established.<\/p>\n

22-year-old Snipe Conley, however, could not be accused of jumping ship.\u00a0 He had not played in either of the established major leagues, so his 1914 season in the Federal League was his rookie year.\u00a0 That was the year he acquired his nickname, thanks to falling victim to the old snipe-hunting prank (in short, stranding a na\u00efve young player in a remote area) that veteran players often inflicted on rookies.<\/p>\n

Conley\u2019s rookie year for the Baltimore Terrapins was encouraging.\u00a0 Though his record was just 4-6, he had a good ERA of 2.52 in 35 games.\u00a0 A lot of the credit was due to his teammate Jack Quinn, also a native of Pennsylvania coal country.\u00a0 A savvy 30-year-old veteran, Quinn won 26 games for the Terrapins in 1914.\u00a0 His out pitch was the spitball \u2013 as legal in the FL as it was in the NL and AL \u2013 and he taught Conley how to throw it.\u00a0 Quinn, by the way, was one of the grandfathered 17.\u00a0 He played till age 49 in 1933, spitballing his way to 247 MLB victories (and 88 in the minors, where he last pitched at age 51).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Conley\u2019s sophomore season was a disappointment.\u00a0 He literally got off on the wrong foot, slipping on ice and landing on his right shoulder.\u00a0 He tried to compensate with a sidearm delivery but never really got over the injury.\u00a0 The Terrapins released him before the season ended.\u00a0 Since the Federal League folded after the season, he would have had to seek new employment anyway.<\/p>\n

No National or American League team attempted to sign Conley.\u00a0 It could have been residual resentment of the Federal League, or it could have been his injury \u2013 or both.\u00a0 The Dallas franchise of the Texas League, however, took a chance on him.<\/p>\n

Still hampered by his shoulder injury, Conley finished the 1916 season at 15-20 but was quite the workhorse with 332 innings pitched.\u00a0 That season he began a long association with Dallas, where the team was known as the Giants (1916-1919), the Marines (1919), the Submarines (1920-1921), and the Steers (1922-1926) during his tenure.\u00a0 That final nickname had more staying power, as the Steers were not rebranded (cringe) as the Rebels till 1938.<\/p>\n

By 1917 Conley\u2019s shoulder problems were over.\u00a0 Conley had another workhorse season (323 innings), but the results were much better, as he led the league in wins (27) and strikeouts (171). \u00a0He tied a league record by winning 19 games in a row and also threw a no-hitter. \u00a0As a bonus, he led the team in hitting with a .309 batting average.<\/p>\n

Typically, such a season attracts major league scouts, and that was true of Conley in 1917.\u00a0 The Philadelphia Phillies made a bid for him but Dallas turned the offer down, choosing to retain him for the Texas League pennant drive.\u00a0 Their faith in him was rewarded when the Dallas Giants won the Texas League championship.<\/p>\n

Before the 1918 season, however, Dallas sold Conley\u2019s contract to the Cincinnati Reds.\u00a0 The Reds were managed by Christy Mathewson, which surely impressed Conley.\u00a0 Under any circumstances, a chance to pitch for a major league team was welcome, but to do so under the guidance of the legendary Mathewson made it doubly attractive.<\/p>\n

The results, however, were not good: a 5.27 ERA in just 13.2 innings pitched.\u00a0 So Conley returned to Dallas for 100 innings and helped them win another Texas League championship.<\/p>\n

In 1919 he resumed his workhorse ways with Dallas (308 innings pitched followed by 333 in 1920).\u00a0 Though he never got a tumble from a big-league team again, Conley and his spitball had become something of a legend in the Texas League.\u00a0 He was surely the face of the Dallas franchise, though that term was not around 100 years ago.\u00a0 One wonders\u2026were his fans called Snipers?<\/p>\n

One possible factor in big-league teams\u2019 lack of interest was Conley\u2019s reliance on the spitball.\u00a0 If a spitball pitcher like Conley failed his \u201caudition\u201d with the Reds, how effective could he be without the spitter?\u00a0 Since Conley had played briefly for Cincinnati in 1918, it is not clear if the grandfather clause would have applied to him, since he had spent the intervening years in the minors.\u00a0 The point was moot since Conley never signed another big-league contract.<\/p>\n

In at least one instance, Conley\u2019s reliance on the spitball worked against him.\u00a0 On August 12, 1922, Conley was scheduled to face the Wichita Falls Spudders in Dallas.\u00a0 The Spudders had won 24 in a row and were aiming for the league record of 27.\u00a0 To enhance the Spudders\u2019 chances, someone had accessed the game balls (nowhere near as many as today) and doctored them with a creosote compound.<\/p>\n

When Conley gripped a ball, he got the substance on his right hand, then when he went to his mouth for saliva, the substance got on his lips and tongue, which became swollen and painful.\u00a0 Call it poetic justice, irony, karma, or whatever, a man who had made his living by applying a foreign substance to the ball was victimized by someone else applying a foreign substance to the ball.<\/p>\n

The Spudders prevailed by a 4-3 score but Dallas manager Jim Galloway filed a protest with Texas League President J. Doak Roberts.\u00a0 Though there were potential suspects, the culprit was never identified.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the protest was upheld and the game was ruled a forfeit, thus ending the Spudders\u2019 win streak.\u00a0 That nickname, by the way, has nothing to do with potatoes.\u00a0 It is oil field terminology for someone (or a drilling rig) that has just begun to drill.<\/p>\n

Conley won 19 games in 1923 but his career started winding down in 1924.\u00a0 In mid-season 1925 he replaced Dallas manager Larry Gardner.\u00a0 In 1926 he led the team to a championship with a record of 89-66.\u00a0 In 1927, however, the team got off to a bad start and he was fired, but he remained with the team as a pitcher.\u00a0 After winning 148 games for Dallas, it appeared his spitballing days were over.\u00a0 Or were they?<\/p>\n

In 1929 Conley remained in baseball but not in organized baseball.\u00a0 Hired by the Big Lake Oil Company in the company town of Texon, he worked in the oilfields during the day and at night managed the company\u2019s semi-pro baseball team, as well as supervised other athletic contests.<\/p>\n

As was often the case in the oil patch, towns arose overnight around oil fields.\u00a0 Texon had sprung up in the wake of the 1923 Santa Rita gusher that kick-started the Permian Basin oil industry, which is still functioning, albeit with booms and busts. \u00a0While most of the towns tended towards the wild and wooly, Texon was the exception.\u00a0 Its growth was actually planned.<\/p>\n

Conley\u2019s Texon Oilers won the Permian Basin League nine times in ten years.\u00a0 Though long past his prime, Conley occasionally took the mound and showed off his spitball for West Texas baseball fans.\u00a0 One wonders how the dry West Texas atmosphere affected his ability to produce saliva.<\/p>\n

By the end of the 1930s oil production was waning in Texon and the town was in decline.\u00a0 The Oilers team disbanded but Conley was still not finished with the spitball.<\/p>\n

Conley\u2019s duties in Texon had kept him in shape, so he was still at his playing weight of 179 pounds.\u00a0 Appearing at minor league Old-Timers games, he was head and shoulders above his peers.\u00a0 George Schepps, who had purchased the Dallas Texas League franchise in 1938, took note of Conley\u2019s proficiency and signed him to a contract in 1941.<\/p>\n

At age 49, Conley pitched a complete game victory against the San Antonio Missions.\u00a0 A second start, against the Shreveport Sports, was less successful.\u00a0 Interestingly, he was pitted against another middle-aged spitballer, 47-year-old Oscar Tuero, who had been toiling in the minor leagues and the Cuban Winter League after his brief major league career ended in 1920.<\/p>\n

Tuero didn\u2019t make it out of the first inning but Conley lasted till the fifth.\u00a0 The experience taught him that he just didn\u2019t have the stamina to pitch competitively. Remember, in 1941 a starter was expected to go the distance so long as he was effective.\u00a0 A quality start was a complete game victory.\u00a0 So Conley retired again, this time for good.<\/p>\n

Conley\u2019s two appearances in 1941 were more than just a footnote to his career.\u00a0 Since he had a long track record as a minor league spitballer, the grandfather clause still applied to him.\u00a0 He was certainly not the last man to throw a spitball in organized baseball \u2013 but he was the last man to throw one legally.<\/p>\n

You may not have heard of Snipe Conley before now, but his legend lived on in Texas long after he died (1978).\u00a0 He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Texas League Hall of Fame in 2010.<\/p>\n

Conley built a long career on what one might call spit-and-polish strategy.\u00a0 First, spit on the ball, then polish off the hitter.\u00a0 Today that strategy is as outmoded as a cavalry charge, but in its day it got the job done.\u00a0 Unsanitary, to be sure; but just like every other dirty job, some people not only made a living from it, they excelled at it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chances are you knew about spitballs long before you learned about baseball history.\u00a0 Somewhere in elementary school \u2013 or maybe in preschool if you were a prodigy \u2013 you learned how to chew up wads of paper into soggy little balls which you could throw at someone else or the blackboard.\u00a0 Eventually, you learned that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1893,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-top-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t