Pomrenke: The Tim Murnane All-Star Benefit Game

From SABR member Jacob Pomrenke at The National Pastime Museum on May 29, 2017:

On September 27, 1917, the Chicago White Sox and Washington Senators were scheduled to play a game at Griffith Stadium in Washington. But Walter Johnson, the Senators’ ace pitcher, was nowhere to be found. Neither were Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver of the White Sox, who had recently clinched the American League pennant and were preparing for the upcoming World Series.

In Philadelphia, the A’s and St. Louis Browns were set to take the field at Shibe Park that afternoon. But A’s Manager Connie Mack wasn’t in the dugout wearing his familiar suit and waving a scorecard. Neither were catcher Wally Schang or first baseman Stuffy McInnis, veterans of Mack’s first championship dynasty.

Tigers star Ty Cobb wasn’t with his team in Detroit and the Indians’ Tris Speaker wasn’t in Cleveland, either. Why were all of the biggest names in baseball away from their teams entering the final weekend of a long season? They were all at Fenway Park instead—and Tim Murnane, the Boston Globe’s popular sports columnist, was the reason why.

Read the full article here: https://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/tim-murnane-all-star-benefit-game