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Low and Inside A Book of Baseball Anecdotes, Oddities, and Curiosities
An excerpt from Low and InsideTHE OLDTOWN TEAM of the Northern Maine League was playing at Millinocket one August afternoon in 1902 when Horace Newenham executed his fielding play which places him on the roll of baseball immortals-at least in Maine. Our account of Horace's feat comes from the Portland Press.
The Millinocket River flowed past the ball field where the game was being played. Horace Newenham was playing right field when Barrington, the heaviest hitter on the Millinocket team, belted a terrific drive. Horace was outward bound with the crack of the bat and heard the crowd roar as the ball came out of the clouds and went kerplosh into the middle of the river.
Barrington, the hitter, also saw where his long hit had gone and took his time on the base paths.
Meanwhile Horace arrived at the riverbank. Seeing the ball drifting on the surface in midstream, Horace didn't hesitate. He leaped into the water, swam out, seized the ball, and-the Portland newspaper says he did this-put it in his mouth.
Barrington had slowed to a walk by this time, feeling quite pleased with himself, and was on his way from second to third when Horace emerged from the water, snatched the ball out of his own teeth, and heaved it hard. It was a fine throw, and arrived in the hands of the third baseman just ahead of the ambling Barrington, who was promptly tagged out.
The Millinocket River flowed past the ball field where the game was being played. Horace Newenham was playing right field when Barrington, the heaviest hitter on the Millinocket team, belted a terrific drive. Horace was outward bound with the crack of the bat and heard the crowd roar as the ball came out of the clouds and went kerplosh into the middle of the river.
Barrington, the hitter, also saw where his long hit had gone and took his time on the base paths.
Meanwhile Horace arrived at the riverbank. Seeing the ball drifting on the surface in midstream, Horace didn't hesitate. He leaped into the water, swam out, seized the ball, and-the Portland newspaper says he did this-put it in his mouth.
Barrington had slowed to a walk by this time, feeling quite pleased with himself, and was on his way from second to third when Horace emerged from the water, snatched the ball out of his own teeth, and heaved it hard. It was a fine throw, and arrived in the hands of the third baseman just ahead of the ambling Barrington, who was promptly tagged out.
- GenresBaseball
Unknown Binding
First published April 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
H. Allen Smith
80 books19 followersHarry Allen Wolfgang Smith was an American journalist and humorist whose books were popular in the 1940s and 1950s, selling millions of copies.
Smith was born in McLeansboro, Illinois, where he lived until the age of six. His family moved to Decatur in 1913 and then to Defiance, Ohio, finally arriving in Huntington, Indiana. It was at this point Smith dropped out of high school and began working odd jobs, eventually finding work as a journalist.
He began in 1922 at the Huntington Press, relocating to Jeffersonville, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky. In Florida, editing the Sebring American in 1925, he met society editor Nelle Mae Simpson, and they married in 1927. The couple lived in Oklahoma, where Smith worked at the Tulsa Tribune, followed by a position at the Denver Post. In 1929, he became a United Press rewrite man, also handling feature stories and celebrity interviews. He continued as a feature writer with the New York World-Telegram from 1934 to 1939.
He found fame when his humor book Low Man on a Totem Pole (1941) became a bestseller during WWII, popular not only on the homefront but also read on troop trains and at military camps. Featuring an introduction by his friend Fred Allen, it eventually sold over a million copies. Damon Runyon called it, "Rich funny stuff, loaded with laughs." As noted by Eric Partridge in A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, the book's title became a catchphrase for the least successful individual in a group.
With his newfound financial freedom, he left the daily newspaper grind for life as a freelance author, scripting for radio while also writing (for six months) The Totem Pole, a daily column for United Features Syndicate, making personal appearances and working on his next book, Life in a Putty Knife Factory (1943), which became another bestseller. He spent eight months in Hollywood as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures, and wrote about the experience in Lost in the Horse Latitudes (1944). His first three books were widely circulated around the world in Armed Services Editions. The popularity of these titles kept Smith on the New York Herald Tribune's Best Seller List for 100 weeks and prompted a collection of all three in 3 Smiths in the Wind (1946). By the end of World War II, Smith's fame as a humorist was such that he edited Desert Island Decameron (1945), a collection of essays and stories by such leading humorists as Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and James Thurber. Histories of the Manhattan Project mention Desert Island Decameron because it's the book Donald Hornig was reading when he was sitting in the Trinity Test tower babysitting the atomic bomb on July 15, 1945, the stormy night prior to the first nuclear explosion.
His novel, Rhubarb (1946), about a cat that inherits a professional baseball team, led to two sequels and a 1951 film adaptation. Larks in the Popcorn (1948, reprinted in 1974) and Let The Crabgrass Grow (1960) described "rural" life in Westchester County, New York. People Named Smith (1950) offers anecdotes and histories of people named Smith, such as Presidential candidate Al Smith, religious leader Joseph Smith and a man named 5/8 Smith. He collaborated with Ira L. Smith on the baseball anecdotes in Low and Inside (1949) and Three Men on Third (1951). The Compleat Practical Joker (1953, reprinted in 1980) detailed the practical jokes pulled by his friends Hugh Troy, publicist Jim Moran and other pranksters, such as the artist Waldo Peirce. His futuristic fantasy novel, The Age of the Tail (1955), describes a time when people are born with tails. One of his last books was Rude Jokes (1970).
Smith also wrote hundreds of magazine articles for Esquire, Holiday, McCall's, Playboy, Reader's Digest, The Saturday Evening Post, The Saturday Review of Literature, True, Venture, Golf and other publications. Smith made a number of appearances on radio and television. Fred Allen was one of his friends, and he was a guest on The Fred Allen Show on December 7, 1947
Smith was born in McLeansboro, Illinois, where he lived until the age of six. His family moved to Decatur in 1913 and then to Defiance, Ohio, finally arriving in Huntington, Indiana. It was at this point Smith dropped out of high school and began working odd jobs, eventually finding work as a journalist.
He began in 1922 at the Huntington Press, relocating to Jeffersonville, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky. In Florida, editing the Sebring American in 1925, he met society editor Nelle Mae Simpson, and they married in 1927. The couple lived in Oklahoma, where Smith worked at the Tulsa Tribune, followed by a position at the Denver Post. In 1929, he became a United Press rewrite man, also handling feature stories and celebrity interviews. He continued as a feature writer with the New York World-Telegram from 1934 to 1939.
He found fame when his humor book Low Man on a Totem Pole (1941) became a bestseller during WWII, popular not only on the homefront but also read on troop trains and at military camps. Featuring an introduction by his friend Fred Allen, it eventually sold over a million copies. Damon Runyon called it, "Rich funny stuff, loaded with laughs." As noted by Eric Partridge in A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, the book's title became a catchphrase for the least successful individual in a group.
With his newfound financial freedom, he left the daily newspaper grind for life as a freelance author, scripting for radio while also writing (for six months) The Totem Pole, a daily column for United Features Syndicate, making personal appearances and working on his next book, Life in a Putty Knife Factory (1943), which became another bestseller. He spent eight months in Hollywood as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures, and wrote about the experience in Lost in the Horse Latitudes (1944). His first three books were widely circulated around the world in Armed Services Editions. The popularity of these titles kept Smith on the New York Herald Tribune's Best Seller List for 100 weeks and prompted a collection of all three in 3 Smiths in the Wind (1946). By the end of World War II, Smith's fame as a humorist was such that he edited Desert Island Decameron (1945), a collection of essays and stories by such leading humorists as Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and James Thurber. Histories of the Manhattan Project mention Desert Island Decameron because it's the book Donald Hornig was reading when he was sitting in the Trinity Test tower babysitting the atomic bomb on July 15, 1945, the stormy night prior to the first nuclear explosion.
His novel, Rhubarb (1946), about a cat that inherits a professional baseball team, led to two sequels and a 1951 film adaptation. Larks in the Popcorn (1948, reprinted in 1974) and Let The Crabgrass Grow (1960) described "rural" life in Westchester County, New York. People Named Smith (1950) offers anecdotes and histories of people named Smith, such as Presidential candidate Al Smith, religious leader Joseph Smith and a man named 5/8 Smith. He collaborated with Ira L. Smith on the baseball anecdotes in Low and Inside (1949) and Three Men on Third (1951). The Compleat Practical Joker (1953, reprinted in 1980) detailed the practical jokes pulled by his friends Hugh Troy, publicist Jim Moran and other pranksters, such as the artist Waldo Peirce. His futuristic fantasy novel, The Age of the Tail (1955), describes a time when people are born with tails. One of his last books was Rude Jokes (1970).
Smith also wrote hundreds of magazine articles for Esquire, Holiday, McCall's, Playboy, Reader's Digest, The Saturday Evening Post, The Saturday Review of Literature, True, Venture, Golf and other publications. Smith made a number of appearances on radio and television. Fred Allen was one of his friends, and he was a guest on The Fred Allen Show on December 7, 1947
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 10, 2021
Ira L. Smith was a researcher of stories about early baseball. H. Allen Smith was a successful humorist. I don't know if they were related. In 1949 H. Allen agreed to put together a collection of the stories uncovered by Ira L. This book is a collection of baseball stories from the 1860s to the beginning of WW1. Most of them are from contemporary newspapers.
I was interested for two reasons. I just read and enjoyed H. Allen's chili book. Secondly, I watched the Baseball All Star Game. I decided to start watching the Sox games again. They were in first place and looking great. The wheels promptly came off the wagon. They got devastated by Covid-19 and they began to look horrible. After two months of my fan-ship, they are nine games out.
So I was in the mood for H. Allen plus baseball. This is a collection of odd baseball anecdotes. A player stealing third somersaults over the third baseman. The umpire calls him out for leaving the base path. An outfielder get bitten by a snake in the outfield grass and dies from the bite. There are allot of deaths. Batters are killed by pitches. Umpires are killed by bats swung by angry hitters. A scorekeeper borrows a knife to sharpen his pencil. A foul ball hits his hand, drives the knife into his heart and kills him.
Most of the stories are light hearted stories of funny and unusual baseball stories. The fields in early baseball where not the sterile places we have now. Fences broke or had gaps. Spectators wandered onto the field. The fields had hills and divets.
The umpires where characters who wanted to be noticed. We get a story about an umpire out-arguing a Vice-President of the US who challenged one of his calls.
This is a fun collection of good old time baseball stories
These
I was interested for two reasons. I just read and enjoyed H. Allen's chili book. Secondly, I watched the Baseball All Star Game. I decided to start watching the Sox games again. They were in first place and looking great. The wheels promptly came off the wagon. They got devastated by Covid-19 and they began to look horrible. After two months of my fan-ship, they are nine games out.
So I was in the mood for H. Allen plus baseball. This is a collection of odd baseball anecdotes. A player stealing third somersaults over the third baseman. The umpire calls him out for leaving the base path. An outfielder get bitten by a snake in the outfield grass and dies from the bite. There are allot of deaths. Batters are killed by pitches. Umpires are killed by bats swung by angry hitters. A scorekeeper borrows a knife to sharpen his pencil. A foul ball hits his hand, drives the knife into his heart and kills him.
Most of the stories are light hearted stories of funny and unusual baseball stories. The fields in early baseball where not the sterile places we have now. Fences broke or had gaps. Spectators wandered onto the field. The fields had hills and divets.
The umpires where characters who wanted to be noticed. We get a story about an umpire out-arguing a Vice-President of the US who challenged one of his calls.
This is a fun collection of good old time baseball stories
These
February 26, 2018
A fun book of amusing baseball anecdotes. It definitely makes a good gift for any baseball fan.
May 15, 2010
Fascinating and fun look at pre-WWI baseball through player anecdotes. Some of the stories are funny, some simply odd in today's climate.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews