Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 18, 1990 TAG: 9006180014
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHATTANOOGA, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
It was Phil Douglas Day at Chattanooga's Engel Stadium, the latest salvo in his clan's battle to clear the tarnished name of the once-famous spitball pitcher.
Douglas, a Tennessee-reared right-hander, was thrown out of baseball in 1922 for writing a letter that suggested he would abandon his team, the New York Giants, in return for money. For years, the family has been trying to get Douglas reinstated, saying the lifetime ban by then-Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis was much too severe.
In a letter released earlier this week, Commissioner Fay Vincent refused to open the case, contending there is not enough evidence to reverse Landis' decision. In a brief ceremony before Sunday's Class AA Southern League game between the Knoxville Blue Jays and the Chattanooga Lookouts, family members vowed to continue their fight.
"We're concerned that he gave us this answer without more information. He's not been exposed to the full story," said Douglas Stewart, a great-nephew of Douglas from Anniston, Ala. "We are not willing to accept this."
Accompanied by a bagpipe band commemorating their Scottish heritage, nearly 100 members of the Douglas family marched onto the field and watched Douglas' daughter, 77-year-old Eunice Shoemate, throw out the game's first pitch from her wheelchair.
"My nurse advised me not to even try to come," said Mrs. Shoemate, who has a heart condition. "But this will be the last chance I ever get to celebrate his 100th birthday."
Afterward, children roamed the stadium seeking petition signatures and donations to help fund the family efforts.
Douglas had a 93-93 record in nine major-league seasons with five teams. His best season was 1921, when he went 15-10 and won two games in the World Series against the New York Yankees. He was 11-4 with the Giants in 1922 when, after going on a drinking spree, he was forced by manager John McGraw to undergo a painful, five-day "cure" at a sanitarium. Afterward, he wrote a letter to Leslie Mann, a former teammate then playing with the St. Louis Cardinals, saying he hated McGraw and was afraid he would win the pennant for him if he stayed.
"So you see the fellows, and if you want to, send a man over here with the goods, and I will leave for home on the next train," Douglas wrote.
Mann turned the letter over to his manager, Branch Rickey, who relayed it to Landis. The commissioner, who had been hired to clean up baseball after the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, kicked Douglas out after a brief hearing.
The family contends Douglas, who died in 1952 in Sequatchie, Tenn., was angry and still confused from the effects of the experimental cure when he wrote the letter.
Attorneys for the family have suggested the matter could end up in court if Vincent doesn't give them a hearing.
by CNB