Self Destruction

Today is the birthday of Phil Douglas, born in Cedartown, Georgia, 1890. 

After the Giants beat the Yankees in the 1921 World Series, manager John McGraw said Douglas’ performance was “among the best pitching that has ever been displayed in a World Series.” Babe Ruth called him “as tough a man as I’ve ever seen in the American League.”

Less than a year later, NYPD detectives broke down the door of an Upper West Side apartment and found Douglas passed out drunk. He was dragged to a sanitarium, where he spent five days undergoing hot baths, stomach pumps, sedatives — and was denied contact with his wife. 

Over his nine-year career, Douglas played for five teams, each repeating the same cycle: a manager, seduced by his talent, convinced himself he could control Douglas. He’d win some games, lose others, and inevitably disappear for days or weeks at a time. Eventually, the vanishing acts would wear thin, and the ace would be traded. 

When Douglas landed with McGraw’s Giants, the manager hired private detectives to tail him. Douglas managed to slip the ones he didn’t like and become drinking buddies with the ones he did. 

After an ugly loss to the Pirates in July 1922, McGraw blew up. In front of the team, he demanded to know where Douglas was hiding his booze. Douglas vanished — again — into a bottle, and an Upper West Side apartment. 

When he returned from his forced detox, drunk and still filled with sedatives, McGraw chewed him out again in front of the team. He was told he’d be fined for missing games and have to pay for the detox himself.

Angry and inebriated, Douglas sent a letter to his former teammate Leslie Mann, saying he didn’t want to win another pennant for McGraw and offered to disappear for a price. After sobering up, he called Mann and told him to destroy the letter. But it was too late. Mann forwarded the letter to Kenesaw Mountain Landis — then still polishing his halo from the Black Sox scandal. Landis banned Douglas for life. 

Banished from baseball, Douglas bounced between coal and iron mines, and drank harder than ever. Until his death in 1953, he insisted he’d done nothing wrong. “I may never get back into Organized Baseball,” he said, “but before long I’ll force them to admit I was not guilty of any crookedness.”

On May 13, 2025 — 103 years after his last season — Commissioner Rob Manfred reinstated him along with Pete Rose and 13 other deceased players.

Being a Fan Is Expensive, Sox Fans in Despair, and a Draggy Ball

• The Devers Trade – In one of the most shocking trades in recent MLB history, the Red Sox have traded DH Rafael Devers to the Giants. Needless to say, Boston fans are in shock. Devers resisted a move to DH earlier this season, and pushed back against a request to move to first base after Tristan Casas suffered a season ending injury. Hall of Famer David Ortiz weighed in.

• $4,785 – That’s how much it costs to be a sports fan now, or at least so says Joon Lee. Check out his break-down of how short-term focuses on profit are eroding the sense of community sports once engendered.

• What a Drag – The baseball being used by the MLB this year is acting a little…funny. Or so say the data guys over at The Athletic. Bottom line; the ball has a bit more drag, and is falling about 4 feet short on average. Why? No one knows for sure.

• ‘People Suck, Dude’ – The Athletic asked MLB players if sports betting has changed how fans treat them or their teammates. The response was overwhelming.

• Highlights – The MLB round up the best photos from last week. Kiké Hernandez gets his first K. Gage Wood throws a no-hitter in the College World Series elimination game. And Ohtani is back on the bump, but not quite happy yet.

6/17/2025

Ted Williams Breathes Rarified Air

• 1960 — Ted Williams hits his 500th home run, joining Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, and Mel Ott as the only players to hit the milestone.