Volume II: Filmography

THE BASEBALL BUG

November 24, 1911 (Friday)

Length: 900 feet

Character: Comedy-drama

Cast: Florence LaBadie (the amateur baseball player's wife); John W. Noble (the would-be baseball star); members of the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team, the world's champions: Big Chief Bender, Jack Coombs, Rube Oldring, Cy Morgan

ADVERTISEMENT, The Moving Picture World, November 18, 1911:

"Now let the hearts of all fans rejoice, for the four stars of the Philadelphia Athletics will be with them once more, and it will be a diversion to see them as actors - to see if they face the cameras confidently as they did the Giants."

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture News, November 11, 1911:

"Bender! Coombs! Morgan! Oldring! They're picture players! Now let the hearts of all fans rejoice, for the four stars of the star Philadelphia Athletics will be with them once more, though the season is over. And it will be a diversion to see them as actors - to see if they face the cameras confidently as they did Mathewson. In advance, let it be said that they did. They enacted their roles at the Thanhouser studio with the precision of veteran photoplayers, and they even played a 'stage' game of ball with all the enthusiasm that they manifested in their battles on the genuine diamond. With a characteristic film-maker's enterprise, the Thanhouser people set to capturing the athletic cracks as soon as it became evident that the athletics would win the World's Championship. As soon as the ballplayers were 'cinched,' work was begun on the scenario that would permit them to show both their acting and baseball talent. Here's a way the story was finally made to read... [synopsis follows]."

ARTICLE, The Moving Picture World, November 18, 1911:

"WHO THEY ARE. Some handy data on the champion ball players who became picture players: The four cracks of the world's champion Athletics, who were engaged by the Thanhouser Company to appear in The Baseball Bug, a comedy released Friday, November 24th, have had stirring baseball careers, and are figured strongly in the headlines of the past few years. To the dyed-in-the-wool fan, their diamond records are gospel. But for the busy fan who likes to have his baseball jogged him we have gathered the following.

"Jack Coombs is 29 years of age. He graduated from Colby College in 1906 and went directly from college to the American League. His first notice was the game with the Athletics against Boston, when he pitched one of the longest games in the history of baseball, lasting 24 innings. Coombs' arm went back on him the next year, but he gamely stuck to the game, playing in the outfield. Next year his arm came back in good style, and since then he has been known as one of the headiest pitchers in baseball, doing his best work on joining the Athletics. His record this year is 31 games won, 11 lost. The last year's World Series against the Chicago Cubs, Coombs won three straight games, equaling Mathewson's famous record of 1905. In the world series this year he clashed Mathewson's for the first time, neither ever having lost a world series game, and Coombs won. Mr. Coombs will be in vaudeville this winter, appearing with Bender and Morgan and the Mrs. Katherine and Violet Parl.

"'Big Chief' Bender is a full-blooded Chippewa Indian, 29 years of age, born in Oklahoma. He attended Carlisle Indian Institute. A highly educated man, he is known in baseball as one of the cleverest pitcher and batsman. He went direct from Carlisle to the Philadelphia Athletics nine years ago, and has been one of Mack's mainstays for the past three years. His pitching record this year is 19 games won and five lost.

"Henry Richard Morgan, known as 'Cy,' is a native of Martins Ferry, Ohio, right across from the West Virginia line. He is known as the minstrel of baseball players - putting in his winters in the stage. He broke into professional baseball 10 years ago in the New England league at the age of 21, and pitched such sensational ball that he was signed by the St. Louis Nationals. The next year he went to the American Association for more seasoning and then to Boston three years ago, where his work was so excellent that Connie Mack paid $3,500 and two crack players for him. He is one of the spit-ball pitchers in the business. His record for the year is 17 games won and 7 lost.

"Robert E. Oldring, known as 'Rube,' is a native of Mt. Vernon, New York. He is 27 years and broke into the game around the lots of Harlem and the Bronx, New York City, six years ago. He was with Memphis down south when Connie Mack selected him for the Athletics. He has been the regular center-fielder of the Athletics for the last four years, and is ranked as one of the speediest men on the diamond. His batting average is the high one of .300 and he has few equals as a sure hitter. He appears to be getting better every year, and with this past, his most successful season to date and big league baseball. The picture is issued as a regular release."

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, November 18, 1911:

"A little frog who splashes into a tiny puddle sometimes thinks he has created a commotion in the Atlantic Ocean. A young clerk in a small town was like the little frog, as local tryouts on an amateur baseball team convinced him that he was really a wonderful player and far superior to the men in the big leagues. Glory came to him, that is to say, his name was a household word in the small village where he lived, but he got no money for it. More than that, he neglected his regular work in a store and was endangered of being discharged. For he thought baseball, drank baseball, and dreamed baseball. He was a nuisance to his friends and a trial to his family, and his wife worried greatly as to what the future would bring.

"The wife had a distant cousin, Big Chief Bender, the noted twirler of the world champion Philadelphia Athletics, and she decided to confide her troubles to him. She figured that a man who could pitch three out of the six past seasons' game against the Giants, win two of them and miss the third by a fluke, must be resourceful enough to help her. She judged correctly, and her appeal was not in vain. To the conceited counter jumper came a letter purporting to be signed by Connie Mack, explaining that his fame had reached Philadelphia and that Bender, Coombs (the pitcher who beat Mathewson), Morgan, the wonderful spit-ball expert, 'Rube' Oldring (the heavy-hitting outfielder who broke up a world series with a home run) were coming to the country to learn from the village champion how to play baseball.

"By this time the little frog had swollen to such a size that he really believed the plea for help was genuine. So he gladly welcomed the seasoned champions of the world and they studied baseball together. There was only one lesson. Then the little frog went sadly home. He burned up his uniform, his bat, and the baseballs he had. He returned to his regular work behind the counter and his wife finds that he is cured of his infatuation."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, November 26, 1911: This review is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, December 2, 1911:

"A very clever picture indeed and one that stirs up some enthusiasm. It is not only a good, human comedy, well acted and set; but, further, the champion Athletics' brightest stars are pictured as taking part in it. The four who posed for the Thanhouser camera in this picture are pitchers Coombs, Morgan, and Bender, and Oldring, the catcher. They seem to enjoy the fun and the situation too. The heroine of the comedy is supposed to be Coombs' cousin. Her husband was a good clerk and a good fellow but he thought he was a wonder on the baseball diamond, and it was making him act 'nutty.' She got Coombs and three of his friends to cure him. Coombs promised to make him sick of the game. The three pitchers pitched and Oldring caught and the 'nutty' man fanned the air. It took the conceit out of him and it cured him. The heroine is very pleasing and the whole cast put the situation over in first class shape. It is a very desirable film."

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, November 29, 1911:

"The feature of this film is the introduction as actual characters of Coombs, Morgan, Bender, and Oldring of the Athletics of Philadelphia, and they make decidedly good picture actors, too. Percy, a clerk in a country town, is a baseball fan of the worst type. He is the star batter of his local nine, and is so taken up with his glory that the poor, little wife is entirely neglected. She appeals to Coombs to teach hubby a lesson, and the great pitcher consents, inducing his mates to assist him. A message is faked up from Connie Mack to Percy, telling him that his fame has reached Philadelphia, and that Coombs, Bender, Morgan, and Oldring will visit him to learn pointers on the game. Even Percy should have seen the ridiculous nature of this message. A more plausible ruse would have been to make Percy think he had a chance to sign with the Athletics, and that the four players named would come out and try him out. However, they arrive, and the pitchers pitch for him while he tries to show them how to hit. Needless to say, he fans the air until he is sick of baseball, and is a cured man to the joy of his wife."

# # #