The Red Rebels of Richmond dealt a fatal blow to their oldest cross-division rival, the Brooklyn Whales, in an exciting five-game series that concluded in late-inning heroics by a relatively unknown pinch hitter.
When Rifles pinch hitter Okey Sibthorp approached the plate in the top of the ninth inning on August 31st, his name was barely known even to his teammates. In fact, visiting reporters often mistake the twenty-two year-old, who sees precious little playing time, for a bat boy.
“It’s sort of a wisecrack around the clubhouse,” veteran second baseman Ralph Bennet told the Times. “When Okey was called up, there wasn’t time to get him fitted in a proper uniform. So Skipper had him take the clothes of the guy he replaced, Elgin Gibb–a good fifty pounds fatter than Okey. Having recently been demoted, Elgin wasn’t particularly inclined to launder and press the thing, either. So Okey, the poor idiot, comes out against Baltimore in this gigantic uniform, and the Clippers photographer starts yelling at him to get the hell away from the players. So after that, he was the Bat Boy.”
The Rifles, perpetually straining to find a permanent solution at First Base, gave Sibthorp a shot at the bag this Spring. A second-round draft pick in 1905, “Bat Boy” Sibthorp enjoyed a productive tenure in both the Madigan and Reserve League. His ability to foul off balls until he sees one he likes earned him a Platinum Stick award at Second Base in AA last year. However, Sibthorp, traditionally a middle infielder, is an abysmal defender, even by Madigan League standards. There was no serious prospect of starting the Bat Boy at Second Base in the LBL, even if the position was not carefully guarded by the aging Ralph Bennet.
Like many prospects, the Bat Boy’s meteoric rise through the minors was snuffed out by big-league pitching. Okey floundered in June, losing his short-lived job to veteran Leonard Turner but retaining a roster spot. He failed to mark pitches early; failed to avoid the razor-sharp infields of the Eastern League; failed to field routine outs. However, there was one specific quality that caught the attention of longtime Richmond Bench Coach Josh Price: the one time Okey faced flamethrower closer Jewell Durtnell, the kid had his number.
“Sometimes you just know, these players have a history, there’s a story there, and it rattles the pitcher,” Price told the times. “I’ve been in this game a long time, and when you see it, you see it. The Bat Boy and Durtnell have a history, and whatever that history is, it ain’t in Jewell’s favor.”
Durtnell and Sibthorp are both products of the Academy League’s inaugural class. While Durtnell graduated a year before Sibthorp, they saw each other often enough as cross-league rivals.
Baseball is a mystical game, despite it’s geometric certitudes. In Game 5 of the 1909 Eastern League Cup, with a game tied in the ninth inning against the Brooklyn leviathan, Price didn’t call for Richmond’s best hitter. Veteran Lyle Priddy would have been a far more logical choice. But to Price, there are signs and sacraments that cannot be ignored. Richmond needed the Bat Boy.
The rest of the story is already well-known, as Virginians pile in to the city from every county to hoist “Bat Boy” Sibthorp across downtown before the Rifles head to Saint Louis. Okey takes two balls, fouls off a fastball, takes another ball, then pops a line drive perfectly into left field to score Bennett from second. Willis takes the ball and finishes the whales off. A sacrament rewarded; a leviathan slain.
Whatever Sibthorp’s psychological hold on Durtnell is, the kid isn’t saying. Relishing his triumph as the hero of the 1909 Eastern League Cup, he didn’t have much to tell the Times. Whatever the future holds, he will always have his sacramental moment at the Field of the Whales. One thing is for certain however: in Richmond, “Bat Boy” has a new meaning.