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Ohio Showman Harry Elliott Recalls<br />
Longest Game in Baseball History<br />
SPRINGFIELD—About the closest Harry<br />
Elliott, manager of the Ohio Theatre here,<br />
comes to a baseball game now is a seat in<br />
the grandstand, but 29 years ago he was behind<br />
the plate for Brooklyn when the Dodgers<br />
played a 1-1 deadlock with Boston in the<br />
longest game on big league record books—<br />
26 innings.<br />
Elliott, who thinks show business is "a nice<br />
quiet business after baseball and police work,"<br />
which he did after quitting the diamond,<br />
still follows the game closely, especially<br />
Cleveland and Cincinnati teams.<br />
SIGNED AT ONCE<br />
One day when he was playing baseball<br />
with a high school team back in his home<br />
town of Pittsbm-gh, a big league scout saw<br />
Elliott doing some pretty fair work as a<br />
catcher. "They signed me up," the theatre<br />
manager recalls.<br />
Then followed a year with the Kansas City<br />
HARRY ELLIOTT<br />
Blues in the American Ass'n. This was in<br />
1918. After only one year in the minors,<br />
still was 1-1. Fans began to be aware of the<br />
Elliott was called up by Brooklyn. This alone<br />
hard seats but the tenseness of the teams, the<br />
score and the inning kept them in the park.<br />
Then came inning 26. Both teams again<br />
went dovm without a runner crossing the<br />
reveals that he must have been a pretty good<br />
ball player. But, Elliott says, "I guess I really<br />
got the breaks." Anyway, he was the regular<br />
Dodger catcher for two years—1919 and 1920.<br />
It was in 1920 that the Dodgers won the<br />
National league pennant, lost the world series<br />
to Cleveland, five games to two, and played<br />
the longest game on record. That long game,<br />
Elliott remembers, "finished" two good pitchers<br />
and made him a mighty tu'ed player. He<br />
caught the full 26 innings for the Dodgers.<br />
That game, Elliott says, started out like<br />
any other. Leon Cadore was on the mound<br />
for Brooklyn. Joe Oeschger was doing the<br />
hurling for Boston. The scene was Braves<br />
field. The exact date: May 1, 1920.<br />
The players began feeling that this was<br />
going to be a "tough one" as the innings<br />
slipped by and neither team could score.<br />
Brooklyn scored once in the fifth and Boston<br />
tied the score with a run in the sixth.<br />
At the end of the ninth the -score was still<br />
tied 1-1. At the end of 15, the scoreboard<br />
still read 1-1. Through nine more innings<br />
the teams struggled unsuccessfully to make<br />
a rim.<br />
PLAYED 26 INNINGS<br />
"Both pitchers were going strong," Elliott<br />
said. "We all were tired but didn't notice it<br />
too mucli. It really was a dogfight."<br />
After the early innings both hm-lers settled<br />
down again. Boston batters went down swmging,<br />
so did Brooklyn batters, including Elliott.<br />
At the end of 25 innings, the score<br />
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plate. About then, something had to give,<br />
but it wasn't the ball clubs. It was the sun.<br />
Daylight could last only so long. The umpires<br />
walked on the field, shook their heads and<br />
called the game because of darkness. No<br />
decision had been reached after 3 hours, 50<br />
minutes of play.<br />
"Boy, were we tired." Elliott declared. "That<br />
long game ruined both pitchers. Their careers<br />
in baseball were ended. They should<br />
have been taken out, but it developed into<br />
such a battle they dared their managers to<br />
jerk them."<br />
•PLAYED FOR PEANUTS'<br />
That 1920 season, Elliott says, saw Brooklyn<br />
win the pennant "in a close race" with<br />
the Phils and Chicago. "But it wasn't as<br />
close as la.st season," he believes. "We had<br />
the pennant pretty well cinched by September<br />
1."<br />
Managing the Dodgers that year was Wilbur<br />
Robinson, Elliott remembers. "I can't<br />
remember who owned the club then although<br />
I .should. He signed all the pay checks."<br />
Speakmg of pay checks, EHliott said the<br />
salaries paid then were "peanuts" comipared<br />
to what the players get today. "You had to<br />
be a star to get $5,000 a year; a superman to<br />
get $10,000." fNote: Cleveland Player-Manager<br />
Lou Boudreau made $75,000 for the<br />
1949 season).<br />
It's hard to recall one's teamimates after<br />
29 years, but Elliott does remem.ber three<br />
of the boys he knew then. There was Burley<br />
Grimes, the New York Giants pitcher, and<br />
"Muggsy" McGraw, manager of the Giants.<br />
There was another fellow Elliott played<br />
against. His name is Casey Stengel, now<br />
manager of the Yankees. Then, the theatre<br />
manager said, Casey played with Pittsburgh.<br />
"Casey always was asleep. He played shortstop<br />
and pulled more boners than any other<br />
guy in the league. We always yelled at him<br />
after one of his misplays: 'Casey's asleep at<br />
the switch.' "<br />
What was wrong with the Dodgers this<br />
year in the series? "Well," says Elliott, "they<br />
were a pretty good club up until the series.<br />
I guess the Yanks were a little too much<br />
for them."<br />
Speaking of the Yanks, EUliott knows they<br />
bought their ball club. "They're wiUmg to<br />
pay the money for good men," he declared,<br />
"but the Red Sox bought their ball club, too,<br />
and what happened to them?"<br />
"I guess the answer is that the Yanks<br />
seemed to have picked up the right men—<br />
that and a lot of luck."<br />
Elliott said that pitchers back in his day<br />
seemed to have more "staying power" than<br />
the hurlers have today. "Why, a relief pitcher<br />
was an oddity. The regular hurlers took a<br />
turn every three days and it was a rare<br />
occasion when one didn't last the full nine<br />
innings."<br />
Those were the days of the old "spitball,"<br />
said Elliott. "The pitcher would go to the<br />
moimd with a big chew of tobacco. As he<br />
got ready to deliver, he would spit some of<br />
that tobacco on the ball and, boy, would<br />
it hop. I know!"<br />
SCHOOL SYSTEM FAVORED<br />
Elliott is in favor of installing a school for<br />
promising young ball players rather than<br />
training them in minor leagues. He doesn't<br />
think the majority of the kids get much<br />
help in the minors.<br />
"Take Springfield's Giants for instance.<br />
I've watched a player come up to bat time<br />
after time and make the same mistake—he<br />
either stands wrong, swmgs wi-ong or does<br />
something else that will keep him out of the<br />
big time."<br />
The Springfielder believes that too many<br />
of the minor loop club managers concentrate<br />
on winning ball games and not enough<br />
on developing players for their parent clubs.<br />
That was enough baseball talk for Elliott.<br />
He rose from his desk chair and, as a parting<br />
remark, said: "As for me, I don't think<br />
I now could throw a ball back to the pitcher,<br />
let alone to second base. In fact. I know<br />
I can't. I tried it."<br />
Elliott quit baseball in 1921 and joined the<br />
Pennsylvania state police. After six years<br />
with them, he joined the force at Permsylvania<br />
state prison where he did identification<br />
work. In 1931 he joined the Perkins<br />
detective service and was in charge of the<br />
Pittsburgh office.<br />
It wasn't until 1943 that Elliott got into<br />
motion picture business. He was persuaded<br />
by George Bauer, then nianager of the Regent<br />
and now in the front office of Chakeres<br />
Theatres, to take the job of manager of the<br />
Ohio Theatre. Elliott has been there ever<br />
since.<br />
Reopen Strand Theatre<br />
BROWNSVILLE, PA.—The Strand, undergoing<br />
remodeling and renovation in recent<br />
weeks, is being reopened here by the newly<br />
incorporated Fayette Amusement Co. of which<br />
William Basle and George Petroplus are officers.<br />
Alexander Theatre Supply fiumished<br />
RCA sound, projection and carpets.<br />
Dezel to Offer 'Savage'<br />
DETTROIT—Distribution rights of "I Married<br />
a Savage," featuring Zorita, have been<br />
acquired from Classic Pictures, Inc., New<br />
York, by Albert Dezel Productions. The picture<br />
will open at the completely remodeled<br />
Columbia Theatre under its new first run<br />
policy on Christmas day.<br />
72 BOXOFFICE :: December 24, 1949
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