Quick update - 3.6.11

While I get my next season, 1901 NL set up for blog posting, I wanted to give a quick update on my progress.


I have gotten a big chunk of the 1910 AL completed.  Currently at 81.5% complete. 

Main areas that I am missing are Boston -  the on again/off again (see 1905/06) was off again, as I have only been able to get about 80% of the home game k's - thanks a good deal to the Boston Globe having decent play-by-play in their game write-ups.  Not true pbp, but a reasonable fascimile.

Washington - The Washington Post around July 2nd, decided to stop including the batter strikeouts in the box (actually in the box as a column).  This is a big disappointment as 1910 is the year that Walter Johnson had 310 strikeouts - which at the time was believed to be the record - in spite of the fact that Rube Waddell had struck out 349 ONLY 6 years earlier.   Apparently, the k's in 1904 were not tracked/documented accurately/correctly and the Waddell's 301 in 1903 was considered the record.  Only in 1946 or so, when Cliff Kachline was checking on Bob Feller setting the record, did Waddell's 349 truly come to light.   I still owe this blog his 1904 breakdown as I did with his 1903 season - hopefully sometime in the next couple of months.  Anyways, a bit of disappointment.  As a result, I currently only have 83% of the home game k's (a decent #, but still not where I would like it).

Detroit - I have already gone through the Free Press and gleaned a good chunk of home k's, but I am hoping that the Detroit Times had its Sporting Extra edition scanned as it was in 1909.   Hope to get up to Lansing in the next month or so, depending on work schedule and the weather to check at Library of Michigan.  Detroit home k's are currently at 76.7%.

St. Louis - Have not done anything here - I will explain what I will be doing here below.

New York - In addition, I am missing the whole month of August play-by-play for NY games as the NY Evening Telegram's scans found on FultonHistory.com reverted to the Night Edition for this month (from the Late or Baseball Extra edition). 

General note:  It is too bad that all of the editions of the papers I have been using did not get scanned - there would be a ton more stuff to pull.  For instance, in browsing a copy of the 1901 Evening Wisconsin sent to me by Dennis Pajot, I noticed that it refers to a "Sporting Extra Edition" available.   Not sure if there are any copies (microfilm or hardcopy) floating around.

1902 - Dwayne Ispring in St. Louis has been sending me scans of the Globe Democrat for games that I am missing info.   Have added a little, some is repeats of what I have already pulled from the Republic.

1899 - Louisville - Esta Day from U of Ky continues to assist me in scanning copies of the Louisville Times, now up to 1899.   She discovered that only a few of the dates in the Times were the "Extra" edition which had the pseudo play-by-play.   She was going to check w/ Louisville Public Library to see if they had any different editions there.  She did discover that the Evening Post had a similar pseudo play-by-play and will be running scans of this for me.

1909 - St. Louis - I had been using a researcher in St. Louis to run scans of the Globe Democrat for 1906, 1907.   She had gotten busy with some other stuff so I decided to check what other libraries carried the GD.
In my search, I discovered that I could get microfilm reels of St. Louis papers sent directly to my house (not ILL through the library) from the State Historical Society of Missouri for around $ 10 each way (+ $1 per reel) if I became a member at the $100 level.  Kind of expensive from a pure research standpoint, but since I can write-off the membership as a tax deduction, it will work well for me.   Plus, alot cheaper and quicker than having a paid researcher do it.  I have already received and reviewed my 1st set of 4 reels, April - August 1909 of the Globe Democrat.  For my next set of reels, I will finish out 1909 and start into 1910 w/ the GD.  After I am done with 1910, I plan on doubling back to 1906 and request the Republic for 1906,07, 09, 10.  Plan on using this service for the Star and Times for other various years.  Post Dispatch, I hope to find a way of accessing the info directly since it is a Proquest db.


That's about all for now.  Hope to get 1901 NL summary up in the next week or so.

Take care.