1903 Spring Training: Boston
George Hildebrand, the baseball world’s vagabond of 1902, has somehow earned a tryout with the Boston Pilgrims this spring. He spent time in the minors with four different organizations, not lasting a month with any of them. His longest stint was with Brooklyn’s top minor league team, where he hit 12 for 62 (.194) with a homerun and 3 RBI in 25 games. For the year, he wasn’t any better, hitting .194 in 124 at bats. Perhaps by rumor of his influence in California, he was signed by the Pilgrims in February for $1000. With the club in spring training, Hildebrand has approached a number of pitchers about the spitball.
Big Bill Dineen, who had perhaps his best year last year with Boston (20-13, 3.14 ERA, 124 strikeouts in 287 innings pitched) and did well on the fall tour (3-3, 2.56 ERA), looked like a vulnerable target as he played second fiddle to Cy Young.
Long Tom Hughes, an impressive 6’1” stature, has four major league seasons under his belt despite being 24. He struggled with a poor Chicago Orphans team in 1901 going 8 wins and 25 losses with 130 walks. He jumped to the Orioles then bailed to Boston where he pitched well, ending the year with a combined 16-11 record, 2.78 ERA.
26-year old
Norwood Gibson has yet to make the big league club, pitching the last two years in Louisville. He broke out last year with a 19-13 record, 1.95 ERA, holding opposing batsmen to an average of .216.
The Matrix wasn’t favorable to this year's crop of the Slippery Elm Boys. Despite being a hard worker and very intelligent, Dineen was somewhat skeptical of Hildebrand and decided to stick with his current stuff based on his success last year. He might pick it up later as he gets older. Hughes was the same, more or less indifferent at this point. Gibson would have been best to listen and at least work with George, but he ignored the extra help, especially someone who was 2 years his junior.