June 30, 1901 Field of the Whales Brooklyn, New York 6:00 PM Blanketed by rage and whiskey on a chilly summer evening, Marques Williams, the manager of the Brooklyn Whales, tolerated his unwanted visitor with all of the practiced grace of a hippopotamus attempting to use cutlery. At 6’4” and 220 pounds, just about the…
Ocie Stibbs had been throwing like this for as long as he could remember; 50 pitches a day to keep his arm strong. Unfortunately, this throwing session was mostly serving as the Whales’ backup catcher Noah Forbes’ calisthenics. Every third pitch seemed to whiz by Forbes to the backstop. For some reason, throwing wasn’t coming…
On a gray and uninspiring afternoon in Brooklyn, something extraordinary was happening. In a showing that was clearly practiced but barely choreographed, the long, lithe southpaw from the Western League fired pitch-after-pitch towards Whales’ backup catcher Noah Forbes. His delivery, all limbs and violence, was equal parts riveting and unrepeatable. The ultimate location of each…
After a hard-fought Legacy Cup with their Western League rivals, the Twin City Empire, the Brooklyn Whales have emerged from the 1902 season as Legacy Cup champions for the third consecutive year. The Legacy Cup was a nail-biter of a series full of bad blood and lingering animosity after Brooklyn played spoiler to Twin City’s…
Written by Doug By the time venture capitalist and team owner Robert Schilling arrived at his recently constructed Riverlands Field the morning of October 19, 1894, the flames had mostly subsided. The large, newly painted grandstand and its buttressing block towers lay charred and crumbled. Firefighters scrambled about, and layers of smoke leapt and danced…
Written by Nigel Monday May 20th, 1901 I had spent most of the last two months “Barnstorming” around Kansas playing baseball against the local teams, it had been a good time, we had won more than we had lost, but we are unfortunately, not that much richer for our tour. I decided to cheer myself…
Written by Brendan H. June 24, 1901 As he knocked on the door to the old man’s workshop, Landon Kerr, personal accountant to William Elwart Barclay and, as an offshoot of those responsibilities, the general manager of the Brooklyn Whales, braved for what he knew would come once the door opened. There was a certain…