Anthony - Stew Thornley posted the same article that you found and relates it to an oft-forgotten story about Chuck Dressen which may also be of interest to the Latin American Committee..  Here's another anecdote about speaking espanol on the diamond from Marshall Wright and Bill Weiss' "100 Greatest Minor League Teams".

 

Rod Nelson

 

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/history/top100.jsp?idx=6 

 

TEAM #6 1920 ST. PAUL SAINTS (115-49)

 

The American Association’s top pitcher in 1920 was 35-year-old St. Paul right-hander Charley (Sea Lion) Hall who had a 27-8, 2.06 record. He led the league in wins, ERA, percentage (.771) and lowest opponents batting average (.213) and was third in innings pitched (327). In later years, his Saints manager, Mike Kelley, maintained that no pitcher ever was better in a single season than Hall in 1920. Fred Lieb wrote in The Sporting News: “Sea Lion Hall they used to call him. He had a raucous penetrating voice like a fog horn at sea, and when he roared, especially from the coaching lines, you could hear him all over the stands.”

 

Hall was born Carlos Clolo, of Mexican parentage, in Kerrville, TX. [Do Wright and Weiss know something that the rest of us don't?  Baseball Encyclopedia shows Hall, born Clolo in Ventura, CA - RN]  Lieb said: “Hall pitched in the big leagues….when inelegant players referred to Charley as ‘the Greaser.’ He didn’t mind Sea Lion, rather relished it, but Greaser was a fighting word, and Charley was in plenty of fights. He capitalized on his ability with his fists and in handling rough customers.” That stood him in good stead in his post-baseball years when he was a police officer in Ventura, CA, then Ventura County Sheriff and jailer. He died in Ventura December 6, 1943.

 

Sea Lion broke into pro ball with Seattle (Pacific Coast) in 1904, just before his 19th birthday and had a 28-19 record in his rookie year. He was sold to Cincinnati in June 1906. The Reds sent him to Columbus a year later, then to St. Paul where he finished 1908 and started 1909. Midway through the 1909 season Hall was traded to the Red Sox and pitched for Boston through 1913. He had a 15-8, 3.02 record for the 1912 World Series champions, 0-0, 3.38 in 10 2/3 innings of relief in the eight-game Series. The Red Sox released Hall to St. Paul in 1914. After a 24-10, 2.62 season with the Saints in 1915, he was purchased by the Cardinals, but was back in the minors in mid-1916 with Los Angeles. He pitched for the Angels again in 1917, then was re-acquired by the Saints. Hall pitched briefly for Detroit in 1918 after the American Association shut down. He was back with St. Paul for five more seasons, then was traded to Sacramento. He pitched for the Solons in 1924 and Minneapolis and Birmingham (Southern) in 1925 before retiring. In his major league career he went 54-47, 3.09. In the minors he won 284 and lost 244 with a 3.32 ERA. Sea Lion pitched four nine-inning no-hitters, two for Seattle in 1905-06, both against Oakland, and two for St. Paul in 1918 and 1920, both against Columbus. In addition, in 1909 he pitched nine no-hit innings against Louisville, only to lose the game in the 12th. In 1915, Hall set the American Association record, never broken, for most consecutive wins, 16.

 

Hall told Lieb that “the highlight of his career came in Detroit while pitching for the Red Sox. The Tigers were at bat in the ninth, the bases were loaded and Boston held a one-run lead. Hall was rushed in as a relief pitcher at this point and he struck out Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford and Jim Delahanty, Detroit’s famed murderers’ row of that era, in succession, to save the game for Boston.” In 1922-23, Charley’s catcher at St. Paul was Cuban Mike Gonzalez. “One of Hall’s favorite stories was how he and Mike jabbered so much Spanish that they talked Bunny Brief, the Association home run leader, into striking out in the pinch. ‘St. Paul was leading 4 to 3, when Brief came to bat with the bases full and two out in the eighth inning,’ the Sea Lion used to relate. ‘Brief was awfully hot, and piling up the home runs. Eventually I worked the count down to three and two. I had to get the next one over, take a chance at Bunny knocking it out of the park, or force in the tying run. So, I called time and walked to the plate to talk it over with Gonzalez. We spoke in Spanish, which annoyed Brief, who couldn’t understand what we were saying. As I walked back to the pitching mound, Mike continued to jabber away as only a Latin can. Bunny became so interested in Gonzalez’ Spanish that he wasn’t ready for the pitch. It came right over for a called third strike, and Brief was so mad that he could have broken his bat over our heads, while we gave him a good Mexican-Cuban horse laugh.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From HalseyHall@yahoogroups.com

Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 20:57:23 -0000
From: "stewthornley" <stew@...>
Subject: Umpire Bans Little Leaguers from Speaking Spanish on Field

Recently I came across an item in a 1955 The Sporting News about how
Chuck Dressen had banned players on the Senators from speaking
Spanish.  It's good to know that a half-century later that Dressen
has been reincarnated as a Little League umpire in Massachusetts.

From today's Star Tribune web site:

METHUEN, Mass. -— An umpire ordered players on local Little League
team to stop speaking Spanish during a state tournament game this
week, a decision the coach said demoralized the team and cost it the
game.

"This never should have happened,'' head coach Chris Mosher told the
Eagle-Tribune newspaper. "These are 14-year-old kids who should not
have to deal with any of this, especially in Little League
baseball.''

National Little League spokesman Lance Van Auken said there's no
rule against players speaking Spanish or any other language on the
field. But he said it's too late to reverse the decision or the
outcome of the game.

Mosher said he tried to file a protest after the game, but under
league rules, protests must be filed before the game ends.

"It appears the umpire was concerned that the coach or manager may
have been using a language other than English ... to communicate
potentially 'illegal' instructions to his players,'' Van Auken said
in an e-mail to The Associated Press Friday. "The umpire simply
overstepped his authority, and there was no malicious intent.''

Mosher said the incident happened Tuesday night during a Junior
Little League game against Seekonk in Lakeville.

Methuen was winning 3-1 when assistant coach Domingo Infante
instructed the pitcher in Spanish to try to pick off a runner at
second base. After the unsuccessful attempt, the umpire called time-
out and spoke with the local tournament director. The unidentified
umpire then decreed that only English could be spoken.

"All I could hear was, 'We cannot allow this,''' Mosher said. "At
this point I was baffled why we could only speak English.''

Mosher said he challenged the ruling, but kept his team on the field
after the tournament director said it would stand.

An angry Infante then left the field, which Mosher said demoralized
his pitcher and catcher, who speak little English. Methuen lost the
game 10-6, though the team remains alive in the tournament.

Van Auken told the Eagle-Tribune the umpire won't be punished.

"You're talking about human beings,'' Van Auken said. "Human beings
do make mistakes.''


What a wimpy response from the Little League spokesman.  A mistake
would be blowing a call.  This goes well beyond the scope of a
mistake.  I think a little cultural sensitivity training would be in
order--even if it would have no more effect on this umpire than it
may have on Marge Schott or John Rocker. 

And what the heck would be "potentially illegal instructions."  That
sounds like something Dean Wormer would come up with.


Stew