Ty Cobb Beats Up a Man With No Hands
On May 15, 1912, in New York's Highland Park, the Detroit Tigers were playing the hometown New York Highlanders. In the stands behind home plate was a Highlander fan named Claude Lueker who was giving Detroit's Ty Cobb a tough time. A really tough time. According to spectators who were in the stands that day, Lueker hurled insults and epithets at Cobb every time the Georgia Peach came to the plate.
By the end of the fifth inning, Cobb warned the Highlanders manager and the umpires that if the man wasn't ejected from the game, there was going to be some serious trouble. Nothing was done to the rambunctious fan, and so when he called the notoriously racist Cobb a "half-nigger" in the bottom of the sixth inning, the ferocious outfielder climbed into the crowded stands, leapt upon the man and began beating him senseless.
Other fans began pleading with Cobb to stop the physical attack because the foul-mouthed Mr. Lueker had no hands. He had apparently lost them years earlier in an industrial accident. As the crowd pleaded, Ty Cobb responded as he pummeled the man, "I don't care if he's got no feet!"
American League Commissioner Ban Johnson, who was at the game that day, immediately suspended Cobb indefinitely from baseball.
In a surprise show of support from his teammates, who didn't exactly adore Cobb, the entire Tigers roster went on strike the next day and refused to play unless Cobb was allowed to return to the team.
Commissioner Johnson told Detroit's owner Frank Navin that he would fine the team $5,000 for every game that they refused to play. Navin pleaded with his players, but they simply would not budge.
Manager Hughie Jennings Pieces Together a Team in Philadelphia
Accordingly, on May 18th, Navin told his manager Hughie Jennings to round up whatever players he could so the Tigers could field a team for that afternoon's game against the Philadelphia Athletics. Jennings recruited eight young kids from a local North Philadelphia neighborhood, and those boys (and two of the team's coaches) suited up as the Detroit Tigers for that day's contest at Shibe Park.
The Worst Pitching Performance in History
The Detroit Tigers pitcher that day was a twenty year old junior from St. Joseph's University named Allan Travers, who always dreamed of being a professional ballplayer but could not make his college's varsity team. But here he was on May 18, 1912, pitching in the Major Leagues against the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Athletics.
The game went as one would have expected. Although Travers pitched a complete game (mainly because the "Tigers" had no relief pitchers), he gave up 26 hits and 24 earned runs. Both of these are still the most ever surrendered by one pitcher in an official Major League game. The final score of the "contest" was 24-2. The Athletics, of course, were mortified by the fact that they had given up two runs to a bunch of kids.
Cobb Helps Put the Tigers Back on the Field
When he learned the news of the "Tigers" trouncing that day, Cobb urged his fellow ballplayers to return to the field, which they did. In response, Commisioner Johnson decreased Cobb's indefinite ban to a 10-game suspension. He also had to pay a $50 fine.
The missed ten games and all of the negative press didn't effect Cobb's play on the field, however. The Georgia Peach finished the seasn with a .409 batting average, besting Shoeless Joe Jackson for the 1912 American League batting title.
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