One-game wonder results from Tigers' strike in support of Ty Cobb

When I recently wrote about baseball's first walkout in 1912, a reader responded with an interesting fact related to the Detroit Tigers players' strike.

The Tigers walked off the field at Philadelphia's Shibe Park on May 18, 1912, in protest over American League President Ban Johnson's suspension of their teammate, Ty Cobb, after Cobb attacked a fan in the stands in New York on May 15.

Tigers Manager Hughie Jennings, unwilling to risk a $5,000 team fine for forfeiting, fielded a team of replacement players, including amateurs from St. Joseph's College, as well as Tigers coaches Deacon McGuire and Joe Sugden.

The Tigers were rewarded with a 24-2 pasting at the hands of the Philadelphia Athletics.

The reader, Barrington-area resident Marty Hedrich, pointed out that one of the spare Tigers had a notable major league debut and finale simultaneously.

As I looked into that, I found an interesting connection to the Black Sox scandal in the Detroit lineup.

Marty mentioned that a player named Irwin hit two triples in the game, setting the major league record for most triples in a career without another base hit. Later, another player, Cecil Bolton of the Cleveland Indians, matched that during a short stint in 1928.

Bolton, however, finished with a .154 career batting average, paling in comparison with Bill Irwin, who posted a stellar .667 average in his three at-bats.

Irwin entered the game as a replacement for third baseman Billy Maharg, whose name will be familiar to baseball historians.

A Philadelphia boxer, Maharg is best known for being involved along with his friend, former Phillies and White Sox pitcher "Sleepy Bill" Burns, in the conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, collecting the money from another member of the conspiracy, boxer Abe Attell, to pay the Black Sox.

In fact, it was Burns, a member of the Tigers that year, who recommended that Maharg play with the 1912 strikebreakers, or "misfits" as they were called, on that fateful May afternoon.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Maharg, the lightweight pugilist, "held down third for three innings, and then admitted that he had been 'knocked out.' "

Irwin took over for Maharg, but wasn't as impressive in the field, being charged with an error.

Later, Irwin was shifted to catcher, replacing the 48-year-old McGuire, whose baseball career began in 1884 with Toledo in the American Association.

The Inquirer wrote, "Irwin, an old National League backstop recently released by the Phillies, also performed and showed that he still had some of the goods left by making two triples during the awful agony that ensued."

To call Irwin a former Phillies backstop was only somewhat accurate. The truth was that earlier that year, Phillies manager "Red" Dooin took out a newspaper ad for a backup catcher. Irwin answered the ad and was hired after impressing the boss with his handling of pitchers, including Grover Alexander.

According to an April 10, 1912 report in the Elmira (N.Y.) Star-Gazette, Dooin said, "This youngster Irvin (sic) looks so good to me that I'm going to keep him and if I can't use him this season will farm him out until next year. I tell you, it pays to advertise."

When Irwin suited up for Detroit, it was likely he was still Phillies property. In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he admitted "that if he had been released by the Quakers he had not been apprised of the fact. He stated that he thought no one would recognize him and the $50 appeared awfully good to him."

Irwin resurfaced on May 23, when it was announced that "Catcher Bill Irwin has arrived and will probably catch" for the Columbia (S.C.) Comers of the South Atlantic League.

On June 17, 1912, The State in Columbia, S.C., said, "It is an interesting fact that Irwin is the leader of the American League at batting. He played third base and caught the game for the Detroit 'irregulars' against the Athletics when the famous strike of the Tigers was on ..."

Alas, Irwin's life as well as his major league career was short. In February 1916, Irwin, 31 according to one account and 34 to another, was killed in a brawl at a Philadelphia saloon. He was knocked through a plate-glass window and severed his jugular vein.

He was remembered as a "tall, well built man, who had black curly hair."

As for Maharg, he had one more major league game left in him. On Oct. 5, 1916, Maharg, in reports called "a friend of Alexander's," pinch hit and played right field for the Phillies against Boston.

The career .000 hitter would have far more impact on the game in 1919.

And now, as Paul Harvey would say, you know the rest of the story.