June 25, 1908 - Cubs win, Three Finger returns, and racially uncomfortable baseball comes to the Fir

Cubs celebrate the return of Three Finger Brown and give the Reds a beat down 7-0. Also, racially uncomfortable baseball debuts in the First Ward.

Say hello to the return of Cubs ace Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown on this sweaty, hot summer afternoon for a dominating shutout of the Reds. You may or may not have noticed, but Brown has been totally missing from these blog entries thus far, despite going 29-9 on the year and pitching a massive 312 innings. So where was he? Simply put ... his Mommy has been sick.

And since the Cubs have been away on the east coast for the world's longest road trip, Brownie chose to return home to Indiana to be with his mother (like any good son would). With the Cubs back in Chicago, Brown was back on the hill and pretty much mowed down the Cincinnati Reds 7-0.

By the way ... if you never knew the origin of the nickname "Three Finger," it really did come out of the fact that Brown had three fingers on his pitching hand, thanks to a farming accident in his younger years.

And really it's what made Brown such a great pitcher, because he could apply a massive amount of spin on the ball. That said ... he barely needed the extra help against the Reds today, who were pretty much a mess. As the Tribune pointed out, they rolled into town "minus most of their regular pitchers," which in that day meant you just borrowed a bunch of college kids to fill the roster.

Needless to say ... the kiddies were no match for the Cubs, who were already up 7-0 by the 5th inning, which was more than enough padding for Brown to dominate the amateur hour that the Reds had out on the field.

In other baseball stories of the day, I was totally intrigued by the news of America's very first Chinese baseball club that was set to debut in the newly formed First Ward league in inner city Chicago. More specifically, I was fascinated by the massive amounts of racially awkward stuff surrounding it.

Say hello to the Chinese Hip Lungs, apparently named after the guy who put the team together. The Hip Lungs played in a four team league, consisting of other awkward team names like the Jewish Matzas, Italian Kennas, and the All Nations. The Tribune points out that the All Nations were made up of "a Jew, Swede, Chinaman, negro, and a Frenchman" ... which sounds like the setup to some terrible joke your drunk racist Uncle would tell everybody after Thanksgiving dinner about them all walking into a bar together. Fun fun!

It really is amazing how times have changed in the last 100 years simply with the words and terminology that were considered acceptable in 1908, vs. the social media firestorm and outrage of today where we protest just about everything on earth as insensitive.

The Tribune pointed out that the Chinese players had unique skills for baseball because "slant-eyed players prove adept in dodging cars to catch fly balls." Oh my!

I did thoroughly enjoy that the Hip Lungs really wanted to play as many games as possible on their "home field," which ... I kid you not ... was in the middle of a public street where they practiced together. Not even a closed street ... a fully open and operating road in the city of Chicago (Clark Street).

Hey ... they were probably right ... it probably was an advantage. Remember when the Bad News Bears got clobbered by that team of Latino kids in Bad News Bears Breaking Training? Those dudes totally had the home field advantage in that one too ...

So yeah ... I am TOTALLY going to be looking for more updates in the coming days from the First Ward league. I'm dying to know who wins this thing.

So with the Cubs victory today, they move to 34-20 on the year. Pittsburgh also won, so the lead stays at one game. Cincinnati again tomorrow (and for what feels like 700 more consecutive days after that as well).

#1908 #racialawkwardness #cubswin #cubs #baseball #chicagocubs