Sunday, February 3, 2019

The Sunday Funnies

Jack Dunn, who operated the old Baltimore Orioles of the International League in the 1910s and 20s, was known as a top-notch judge of talent. Among the stars he discovered, signed and later peddled to major league teams were Babe Ruth and Lefty Grove.

In 1921, Clark Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators, heard that Dunn was about to buy a young outfielder out of the lower level Sally League. Giffith had never heard of Goose Goslin, but if Dunn wanted Goslin enough to pay the rumored $5,000 for him, the Old Fox reasoned, Goslin must be good.

And indeed, Goslin was hitting .390 for the Columbia team. So Griffith hustled down to South Carolina and struck his own deal for Goslin, upping the ante to $6,000 and landing the player, still sight unseen.

Griffith pocketed the paperwork, climbed into the stands chortling to himself over his sharp manoeuvre -- and promptly witnessed his newly signed slugger get conked on the head by a fly ball.

(It all worked out OK; Goslin was the regular left fielder on all three pennant-winning clubs in Washington history and wound up in the Hall of Fame.)

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