braggo roth

Cleveland's Braggo Roth stole four bases in a 1917 Senators-Indians game.

(Plain Dealer file photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - When the Indians stole eight bases in a game this month against the Angels, they matched a team mark set 99 years ago. The history surrounding that game is rich with colorful stories and one especially tragic footnote.

Both games were at home in August, and it was four players in each who totaled the eight steals.

In the 13-3 win over the Angels, Rajai Davis and Jose Ramirez each stole three bases while middle infielders Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis had one apiece. Entering the game, the Indians led the American League in steals with 84. The 1917 Cleveland team would wind up with 210 steals.

On Aug. 27, 1917, Cleveland lost 11-9 to Washington at Dunn Field in a then-unheard of, now normal, 3-hour, 10-minute game.

Bobby "Braggo" Roth stole four bases while Joe Harris swiped a pair and Bill Wambsganss and Tris Speaker each had one.

The "how they scored" account shows Roth stealing two bases in the first and one in the fifth. The inning-by-inning tally states he recorded his fourth steal in the fifth, though it does not explicitly say exactly when the other steal took place. In fact, none of four newspaper stories of the game detail each of his steals. The Cleveland News says he tried for a fifth steal in the eighth, but Harris struck out.

Roth is an interesting story. He was, it seems by several accounts, a pompous ass.

Baseball historians paint a picture of a difficult, self-aggrandizing player who had few if any limits about making boastful claims of his prowess on the diamond - hence, the nickname.

In 1919, he wound up playing for Connie Mack's hapless Philadelphia Athletics. In "The Turbulent and Triumphant Years 1915-1931," Norman L. Macht notes: "Roth's attitude was getting on everybody's nerves."

(It took blockbuster trades to acquire, and later get rid of, Roth. He came to Cleveland in the deal that sent Shoeless Joe Jackson to the White Sox in 1915. Cleveland received Charlie Jamieson, Larry Gardner and Elmer Myers from Philadelphia for Roth prior to the 1919 season. Former Plain Dealer sports writer Mike Peticca called the latter one of the 10 best trades ever for a Cleveland sports team.)

Roth played for six teams over eight years in the Majors, and hit .284. The 1917 season proved to be his best year on the best paths; he recorded 51 of his 190 career steals, including home six times. But he also struck out 73 times, the most in his career.

The eight-steals game was played on a hot day in Cleveland, with temperatures hitting 82 degrees. The game came a day before Roth's 25th birthday.

A few notes surrounding the 1917 game:

Total steals: The teams combined for 13 stolen bases, as the Senators had five steals. The American League record for most steals by two teams in a game is 15, which happened in 1911 and 1916.

Tragic footnote: Washington's Sam Rice had three steals in the game. A footnote attached to Rice is one of the saddest: A few years earlier, while Rice was playing minor-league ball, a tornado ripped through his family's Illinois home, killing his wife, both of his children, his mother and two of his sisters.

The pitchers: Guy Morton took the loss. A year earlier, Morton was one of the first pitchers to notch four strikeouts in one inning. The great Walter Johnson, pitching on short rest, got the win.

Also in the news: Some Cleveland newspaper accounts of the game also include another story from the league office: Commissioner Ban Johnson announced a ban on the shine ball - the spitter.

Umpires: George Hildebrand and Tommy Connolly worked the game. Hildebrand officiated in a record 3,510 consecutive games. Despite having a playing career that lasted only 11 games, Hildebrand has an arcane footnote attached to him. An outfielder, Hildebrand said he invented the spitball. As a minor-leaguer, he reportedly was warming up next to pitcher Frank Corridon and noticed the hurler wetting his fingers, so he tried it. The ball swooped and dove in, and teammates - including Corridon - took notice. Corridon eventually made it to the Majors and became the first, or one of the first, pitchers to throw a spitter. Note: This is one of several tales regarding the origin of the now-banned pitch. And then this: Exactly one year from the date of the eight-steal game, Speaker got into an argument with Connolly. Speaker took a swing that did not connect and was suspended. Both men wound up in the Hall of Fame.