by Steve Meyers
Julien Henri is sitting in his living room. The sun is setting and Julien turns on a lamp located on a table on his left side. Henri’s wife is busy tending to their two small children in another part of the home. Henri retrieves a cold one from the frig as he finds the need to unwind beckoning him to indulge in an alcoholic beverage to kick start the process.
It’s been a long year for the GM of the New York Bakers. After showing the smallest glimpse of progress in 1906 (51-69 and 3rd place) the team regressed to a fourth-place finish posting three fewer wins at 48-72.
Compounding Julien’s misery is the fact that attendance dropped by over 30,000. Only the Oilers and Packers drew fewer fans than the Bakers. It has occurred to Henri that owner Thaddeus Wocroft, known as an impatient and demanding owner, is not obligated to retain him for next season. However, Julien also believes in the adage that ‘no news is good news’.
The news he is about to engage in is bittersweet as he opens up his copy of the Evening Post. Henri resisted reading it as he walked the ten blocks from the ballpark to his home. He wanted, no needed to be in the right frame of mind to read the interview that Robert Batkin granted to the newspaper just before he headed out of town for the season.
Batkin, sighed Henri, where would he be without his pitching star? Probably working for the railroad was his first thought. But, of all the decisions he had made regarding the Baker personnel he was most satisfied with the Robert Batkin draft pick in the 1905 draft.
Henri took two long tugs from the chilled cold one and turned to the sports page. There was a photo of Henri just before the interview appeared. It was the lead story for this evening’s sporting section.
Evening Post: Julien, you won 16 games or one third of the Bakers games this season. You lowered your ERA to 1.68, led the league in strikeouts with 357, and led the league with a statistic called WAR at 10.1.
How would you access your season?
Batkin: I never heard of that war thing you mentioned but, yeah, I thought it was okay. I ain’t really happy about those 15 losses cause I could have pitched better in probably everyone of them.
Evening Post: So, are you saying there are some things you need to work on? At 21 years of age, I’m sure you get plenty of coaching from the fine coaches in your organization.
Batkin: That’s true. Johnny (Johnny Eppinger, Pitching Coach) has been working with me on ball location. You know, keeping it near the bottom of the zone. Johnny says if I want to be the best pitcher in the league that I need to forget about strikeouts and focus more on getting something he called ‘weak at bats. You know, where the batter doesn’t make good contact and squibs it down to third base or just back to the mound.
Evening Post: I’m not sure you are not already the best pitcher in the league with the Pitcher of the Year Award but I see your point. Do you feel pressure to carry the team being the best pitcher on the staff?
Batkin: Well, you know, it’s my job to go out and pitch and I don’t worry about carrying the team. I just take the ball every third day and do my best. I’ll tell you something else, there’s a guy who pitched thirteen games for us, name is Harry Savory, and he’s gonna make a difference. I know Savory and once he gets his feet on the ground there are going to be some teams that are not too happy about coming into Bakers Field and having to face the two of us.
Evening Post: Who else do you like in the lower levels?
Batkin: You know I don’t get a chance to see the boys playing much because I’m playing when they are playing. Know what I mean?
But we have this one fellow named Clem Holms. This guy, when he makes contact it sounds like a shotgun going off. Boom! You won’t see him next year but year after that would not surprise me.
Evening Post: Thanks Mr. Batkin for offering your time to the paper this afternoon. I’m sure all your fans are going to be thrilled to read your insights into New York Baker baseball. Do you have anything to say to them?
Batkin: I do. Don’t give up on us. Keep coming to the park and encouraging the boys to do their best. They are a good group and someday all the hard work is going to pay off and the good people of New York city are going to be rewarded with the best team in the city.
Evening Post: Does that include Brooklyn, too?
Batkin: It especially includes Brooklyn.
Henri sat back and didn’t even bother to contain a smile. The beer now making its way through his system, the positive words of his star pitcher, and the reminder of some of the youngsters working their way to Baker Field was enough to fill the GM with renewed hope.