1913 baseball column--query

[Paul Ivsin]

Could be an unrelated coincidence, but "Bud" Hillerich is credited with
inventing the Louisville Slugger -- he turned his father's woodworking shop
into a major bat producer.

Hillerich signed the first endorsement contracts for bats with Honus Wagner
(1905) and Ty Cobb (1908), so he was, in a sense, doing quite a business
with the big stick.

(Also, but probably even less related, "Buddy the Bat" is the mascot of the
Louisville RiverBats, so perhaps the Buddy/Bat connection is fairly known in
that area.)

HTH

Paul Ivsin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerald Cohen" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2001 11:03 AM
Subject: 1913 baseball column--query


>     Would anyone be able to see what I am missing here?  It's from a
> light-hearted, eclectic sports column in the 1913 newspaper _San
> Francisco Bulletin_ ("Sporting Tit-Bits by 'Mac'"), May 31, 1913,
> p.10, col. 5. This is the entire item:
>
>         "If you will notice, 'Buddy' Ryan is doing quite a business
> with the big stick [= baseball bat] for the 'Naps' [Cleveland's major
> league team], but how could he help it with a name like his?"
>
>      I don't understand what Ryan's name has to do with his hitting
> well. What am I missing?
>
> ---Gerald Cohen
>