Charlie Callahan: A Ballplayer's Story

[Big Six]

Fostoria House Hotel
Fostoria, Ohio

Miss Kate Black
244 East 6th Street
Dover, Ohio

July 6, 1897

Dear Kate,

I am going to apologize in advance for not writing you a longer letter, but I have very little time before I have to get into bed. We have a curfew of ten o'clock on the night before a game, and Mr. Pace is not a fellow one wants to cross about a thing like that.

I wish you could have seen today's game! I felt good and strong while I was warming up, and my catcher, Jonathan Rakes, told me he had never seen my "stuff" quite so good. We scored two runs early, with the help of one of the new men we got in June, Fred Iversen. He got three hits today. Fred is a young fellow, 20 years old, and he looks like he's a real ball player.

Another man who is new to the team, Colin O'Holohan, hit a nice triple and drove in that Callahan fellow who plays the outfield for us. That Callahan is quite a handy player to have around, I must say. He ran back to the fence and caught a long drive, and saved two runs for me!

I got lucky there, and I guess I got lucky a few more times, too, and I was able to hold the Farmers scoreless. I haven't had a "shutout" since the very first game of the season, so I had almost forgotten how good it feels.

I am sorry to go on and on like that. I know you like base ball, but I promise I will write to you about other things too. Tomorrow, I will write to you again and I will tell you about this very pretty park we pass on our way to the Fostoria grounds. When I pass it, I think about how much I would enjoy walking there with you some time.

We will be back in Dover in two more days. Lafe Keefer is going to pitch that day. I hope he will turn out to be a good addition to the team, since my Pa and I talked Mr. Pace and the Canton bigwigs into giving him a chance.

I hope you and your family are well, and I hope I will see you at the grounds on Tuesday.

Sincerely yours,
Charlie

[Big Six]

Whenever I create a dynasty based on a single player, I always struggle with the question of how good to make him. When I created Pat O'Farrell, I had in mind a solid major leaguer who might have a chance at a long career. I was pleasantly surprised when Pat turned out to be an all-time great.

Charlie Callahan isn't being "designed" to be a sure-fire superstar, either. His potential ratings, when placed in the context of his era and league, are very good, but not outrageously so:

            RAT  POT
Stuff        5     9
Movement    15    21
Control     11    19

Charlie throws a fastball, sinker, curve, and changeup. His best heater comes in somewhere between 90-92 MPH. He's one of the harder throwers in the league, but John Adams, Burt Benton, Christian Mathews, and Kevin Pitts all bring it in with even more speed.

Charlie's secondary ratings look like this:

Endurance:  17
Hold Runners:  14
Ground Ball %:  56%

Charlie was born in Dover, Ohio on June 11, 1880. He stands an even six feet tall, and weighs 195 pounds. He throws and bats righthanded.

Charlie is intelligent (17/20), hard-working (18/20), steadfastly loyal (20/20) and refreshingly free from greed (6/20). He's an average fielder (11/20), a fairly good hitter for a pitcher (10/20 Contact) and a nifty bunter (20/20).

His overall rating at age 17 is 21/80, with a potential rating of 68/80.

Charlie has a chance to be a good one. Then again, he is only seventeen, and he has a long, long way to go.

[Big Six]

Dover Argus, July 14, 1897


YOUNG CALLAHAN PITCHES THIRD SHUTOUT IN A ROW
Circleville Is Victim This Time As Millers Win 3-0

CANAL DOVER--There have been few compelling reasons for the long-suffering base ball fanatics of Canal Dover to cheer this season. Among the few high points of the season has been the work of young pitcher Charlie Callahan, and yesterday at the Dover grounds he rose to new heights.

Callahan threw nine innings of shutout ball for the third straight game, giving him a streak of 29 frames without an opposing runner crossing home plate.

Circleville hitters were bewildered throughout the game by Callahan's delivery, in which he hides the ball as long as possible before releasing it.

The seventeen-year-old wonder boy struck out only three hitters yesterday, fewer than he has been retiring that way in recent games. Questions about his young arm tiring after so much work were dismissed by both Callahan and manager Vincent Pace.

"Charlie is a big, strong man who can work all day. He has never complained of his arm being weary."

Callahan's victory gives him a record of twelve wins against fifteen defeats, quite a creditable mark concerning the overall standing of the last-place Millers. His earned run average of 2.51 is a better indication of the skill with which he has pitched this season.

[Big Six]

Canton, Ohio
August 30, 1897

Three men sat at a table in the office of the Canton Watchmakers base ball club, papers spread out in front of them. The Buckeye League allowed its teams to expand their rosters from 22 to 30 players on September 1, and the Watchmakers brain trust was deciding which players from their Canal Dover farm they would bring up to Canton.

Watchmakers manager John Gilmore wrote the names "Jack Holland" and "Carl Backman" on the list. Holland, a big, strong outfielder, and Backman, a versatile infielder, would be rewarded for their efforts with a chance to spend three weeks with the "big club."

"That gives us 28," said Henry Blair, the general manager of the Canton club. "We have room for two more, if we want them."

Vincent Pace, the manager of the Canal Dover team, scratched his chin for a moment. "What about Charlie Callahan? He was the best pitcher we had this year, by a long shot."

Gilmore remembered Callahan, who had impressed him at the tryout back in March. "Callahan has a good arm," he noted. "But do you think he's ready to pitch against the hitters in our league?"

"He might get hit pretty hard," Blair admitted. "I think the question might be this: how would he respond to that? Do you think he will lose his confidence if he's roughed up a little bit?"

Pace shook his head. "He encountered some rough times with us this year, particularly at the beginning of the season. He seemed to be able to shake that off pretty well. And he pitched better late in the season."

A boy, perhaps eleven or twelve years old, slowly shuffled into the room. He walked with a noticeable limp, and he carried a sheaf of papers in his hand.

"Excuse me, Father, but I think you ought to let Charlie Callahan pitch for Canton," the boy said quietly. "He's a lot better than Lafe Keefer, and you have Keefer on your list."

Henry Blair smiled at his son. Henry, Jr. loved base ball more than anything, but a badly broken ankle, suffered in a wagon accident when he was five years old, kept young Henry from playing the game. A bright boy with a knack for mathematics, Henry became a passionate collector and student of baseball statistics.

"Son, I appreciate your suggestion, but we have a lot of work to do here," Blair said gently.

"But I think I have some information here that can help you," said the boy. He shuffled his papers and found the one he wanted, and placed it on the table in front of his father.

"Look here. Mr. Pace is right. Charlie did pitch better later in the season." Henry pointed to a neat column of figures. "In July and August, he won seven games and lost only three. He pitched 88 innings, and he allowed only 71 hits."

"That's enough, Henry," said Blair.

"No, Blair," said Gilmore. The boy's calculations intrigued him. "Let's hear what he has to say. "Go on, Henry."

Young Henry smiled. "He struck out 47 men and walked only 11. And here's something else. If you add up the number of men he walked and the number of hits he gave up, you see that he allowed less than one base runner per inning. That's what this means." Henry pointed to a column he had marked "WHIP."

"That sounds good to me," Gilmore smiled. "If a man doesn't get on base, he can't score a run, can he?"

Now the general manager was intrigued by his son's work, too. "Why do you call that WHIP, Son?"

"Walks plus hits per innings pitched," young Henry said, beaming.

"So all these numbers say he can pitch," said Gilmore. "Can they tell us if he'll lose his nerve if someone hits him hard?"

"Well, we have one more spot available," Blair pointed out. "Let's give it to John Callahan. John might not be young, but he hit .310. I think he earned a chance. And he'll be there to steady young Charlie if we need him to."

Henry Blair, Jr. smiled even more brightly. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was part of a base ball team, and it felt very, very good.

[Big Six]

The Callahan Farm
Tuscarawas County, Ohio
August 31, 1897

John Callahan and his hired hand, Joe Ruettiger, spent the morning in the Callahan wheat fields, trying to accomplish as much as they could before the heat of the day got any worse. At three o'clock, John would be taking the field with the Canton Millers for the last game of their forgettable, last-place 1897 season.

About noon, John invited Joe to come up to the house and join him for lunch. The two men chatted amiably as they walked up to the Callahans' neat frame farmhouse.

"Have a seat on the porch, Joe," John said. "I bet Mary's got some nice, cool lemonade for us." John entered his home with a smile on his face.

That smile disappeared when he read the note he found on the kitchen table...

Dear John,

Because it appears you intend to spend an increasing amount of your time playing a boy's game, despite my wishes to the contrary, I have decided to move to Cleveland, where I will be living with my sister for the foreseeable future. By the time you read this letter, I will already be en route to the Canal Dover station, where I will purchase my ticket and leave for Cleveland on the first possible train.

I have already lost my son to the pursuit of this folly, and if you are also foolish enough to chase a white ball instead of tending to our farm, as you should, I simply cannot live under the same roof with you, at least not now. I will be sending for my things, a few at a time, over the course of the next few days. Hopefully you will give up this nonsense, and when you do, I will return home, but not before.

Love,
Mary

His face ashen, John Callahan stepped back onto the porch. "There's no lemonade," he quietly said to Joe.

"I think that's all we'll be doing today. I want to get to the ballpark early and take some extra practice swings. After all, I'll be finishing the season with the Canton club, and that Buckeye League is a pretty fast circuit."

[Big Six]

Canton Advocate, September 8, 1897


YOUNG CALLAHAN MAKES CANTON DEBUT AGAINST OILERS
Findlay Beats Watchmakers 4-1; Callahan's Box Work Solid

FINDLAY--With second place secured and the chances of catching the first-place Sandusky club becoming more remote, Canton manager scrawled the name of Charles Callahan on his line-up card and sent him out to pitch against the Oilers here in Findlay yesterday.

Callahan, a youth of seventeen, made his first appearance against the fast competition of the Buckeye League and acquitted himself fairly well. Although the Oilers scored two runs in the second and sixth innings to send him down to defeat by a 4-1 score, "Charlie" showed enough stuff to warrant a good, long look over the season's final days.

The Oilers hit safely against him eight times in eight innings, and Callahan walked three other men, but otherwise the young right-hander was sharper than one might expect. His fast ball showed speed and life, and the Oilers beat his curved stuff into the dirt again and again. Fourteen times, the Watchmaker infield retired Findlay batters on ground balls.

Callahan looked like a hitter, too, hitting a sharp single in four times at bat, one of eleven the Watchmakers managed against Scott Cox. The Cantons could not manage to put together enough strings of hits to force more than one run across, a fact that disappointed the Canton captain.

"Callahan deserved a better fate to-day," said catcher Ted Cobb. "I think he has as much on the ball as any of our other pitchers. We should have made a winner out of him to-day."

Rest assured that the Watchmakers will have another chance to do right by young Callahan before the season concludes. Manager Gilmore has said he plans to make the Canal Dover product a regular part of his pitching rotation until the season ends.

[Big Six]

September 17, 1897

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, sunny with the slightest hint of fall in the air. Despite the fact the Canton Watchmakers had been eliminated from the pennant race, a crowd of nearly 2200 people crowded into the Canton ball park to watch the final game of the Watchmakers' 1897 season.

The Watchmakers' management had planned a variety of enticements to lure rooters to the grounds that day. The highlight of the afternoon would be the presentation of a huge, horseshoe-shaped floral garland and a Dueber-Hampden watch to the player selected by the rooters as their favorite. However, the team also publicized the fact that seventeen-year-old Charlie Callahan would be pitching that day, and more than a few turned out to watch the youngster in his first, and only, home appearance of the season.

Among them were a group of three fashionably-dressed young women, their crisp white shirtwaists almost glowing in the afternoon sun. The two young men accompanying them were equally dapper, decked out in suits with fashionable sack coats and sharp bowler hats.

As the Canton players warmed up, one of the girls stood up and called out to a young man who was casually tossing a ball back and forth with an older teammate.

"Charlie! Over here!" She smiled brightly, completely unconcerned with the fact that several of her fellow spectators turned to watch her attempts to catch the player's eye.

"Kate, don't do that!" Elizabeth Cates tugged at Kate's sleeve in an attempt to persuade her friend to sit down and stop drawing such attention to herself.

"If you think I'm going to ride up here on that crowded train and not let Charlie know I'm here, you're wrong." Kate Black scolded Elizabeth good-naturedly, shaking her head at her friend before turning back to the field.

Charlie smiled bashfully and gave Kate a slight wave, blushing to the top of the blue collar of his jersey.

"It looks like your friends have come to see you pitch today," said the man who was playing catch with Charlie. He smiled at the youngster and zipped the ball back to him with a quick snap of his wrist.

Charlie raised his glove and caught the ball like he'd been doing it all his life. In fact, he had been. The man who threw the ball was his father.

"I'm going to give them a reason to be proud." Charlie smiled back at his father as he returned the ball to him.

The Watchmakers' opponent today was the Middletown Red Sox of the West Division, a decent club that would complete the season in third place. They had several good hitters, and Callahan would have to be on his game to hold them off.

It took only one pitch for everyone in the ballpark to learn that Charlie did, in fact, have something on the ball today. He fired a fastball past Red Sox leadoff man David Broome, who flinched visibly as the ball popped into catcher Ted Cobb's mitt.

Lafe Keefer reclined almost lazily on the Canton bench. "The kid's really got some speed today," he said. Lafe, who had come up to Canton from Canal Dover with Callahan, had seen Charlie pitch many times. "You watch. He might pitch a shutout today."

Canton scored single runs in the second and third innings, and led 2-0 as Middletown came to bat in the top of the fourth. Elizabeth turned to Kate and touched her arm.

"You know, I don't think the Middletown team has gotten a hit yet."

Kate's face turned red. "Elizabeth! Don't say that!"

"Why not?"

"It's bad luck to mention such a thing!"

Elizabeth was right. When Callahan retired the Red Sox in order on two ground outs and a soft humpbacked liner to short, he completed his fourth perfect inning in a row.

Charlie's teammates were aware of the situation, too. They avoided saying a word to him as he returned to the bench and took a dipper of cool water from the bucket.

The first man up for Middletown in the fifth inning was Doug Dougherty, a stocky first baseman who held his bat down near the end. He worked the count to 2-1, and when he guessed correctly that Charlie would throw a fastball, he smacked it into left field for a clean single. The Canton fans stood up and cheered wildly, thanking Charlie for his four perfect innings.

Dougherty's single seemed to unnerve the young pitcher. He walked both of the next two hitters, loading the bases with nobody out.

"Come on, Charlie!" Kate wrung her hands in her lap as she watched Charlie work himself into a full-fledged jam.

Charlie removed his cap, wiped his forehead with his sleeve, and looked in to face the Red Sox' second baseman, Garry Hayes. He threw a good, low fastball that Hayes hit sharply down the third base line. Kate winced, fearing that the ball would end up in the corner.

The Canton third baseman was Joshua Spesinger, the former star of the Canal Dover town team. Now the cleanup man and star third sacker of the Watchmakers, he reacted quickly to Hayes' hard grounder, fielding it cleanly enough to start a 5-4-3 double play. Dougherty scored, but now the Red Sox had two men out, and when the next batter grounded out to short, the inning ended with the Watchmakers still ahead by a run.

With one out in the Middletown sixth, Mark Carr pounded a triple, but Callahan retired the next two men on a popup and a tapper back to the mound. Carr was the last Red Sox batter to reach base.

Canton scored two more runs, the final one driven in by Ted Cobb, who had been presented with the Rooters' Favorite prizes before his first at-bat. When Dougherty's fly ball settled into the glove of Canton left fielder Marshall Fry, the Watchmakers' infielders converged on the mound to congratulate their young pitcher on the first victory of his Buckeye League career.

They hoisted Charlie onto their shoulders for a moment, and he grinned as he waved his cap to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd. His eyes met Kate's, and she smiled even more brightly.

John Callahan had trotted in from right field, and reached his son just as his teammates were setting him back down on the ground. John clapped Charlie on the back and shook his hand.

"Good game, son," he said. "Good game."

[AZTarHeel]

Wow, another Big Six masterpiece in the making ... this one is going to be fun to follow ... keep up the good work...

[Big Six]

Originally Posted by AZTarHeel

Wow, another Big Six masterpiece in the making ... this one is going to be fun to follow ... keep up the good work...

Thanks very much, az. From a storyteller as gifted as you are, that's high praise.


While we're here, let's take a look at Charlie Callahan's first season. Here are his statistics for the Canal Dover Millers:

1897            W   L   ERA   G  GS   IP     H    R    ER  HR  BB   K   WHIP   OBA
Canal Dover    16  17  2.43  36  36  318.1  327  118   86   5  58  141  1.21  .266

Charlie's strikeout total was second in the Township League, seven behind the league leader. He tied for fourth in the league with four shutouts and placed sixth in both K/9 (3.99) and K/BB (2.43) ratio. He worked the seventh-most innings in the league, and his 17 losses were fifth-most. Of course, he pitched for a dreadful Canal Dover team that finished 36.5 games out of first and went 19-68 when Charlie wasn't on the mound.

Charlie was almost equally effective against right-handed and left-handed batters. Righties hit .270 against him, lefties .260. He walked a considerably higher percentage of lefties, however, and struck out over three times as many righthanded batters as he walked.

Here's how Charlie did in his September audition with the Watchmakers:

1897            W   L   ERA   G  GS   IP     H     R   ER  HR  BB    K  WHIP    OBA
Canton          1   2  2.81   3   3   25.2   21    8    8   0   9    2  1.17   .231

While Buckeye League righthanders had their way with him (.309 BA), Charlie was poison to lefties, who went 4-36 against him (.111).

The future looks bright for this talented teenager.

[Big Six]

232 22nd Street, Northwest
Canton, Ohio

Mr. Frank Crowder
844 Park Street
Columbus, Ohio

April 19, 1898

Dear Cousin Frank,

Your letter of the 15th was a very pleasant surprise. I am sorry I took so long to write back to you, but the last several days have been very busy ones for me.

I have been pitching quite a bit lately, because the new manager of the Canton club, Gil Cross, wants to get a good look at me before the season begins. He told me today that I will be returning to Canal Dover, but that is fine with me. After all, it is my home town, and I am only eighteen.

Mr. Cross has been pleased with my pitching, however, and so have I. I have worked in eleven games so far, and I usually pitch four or five innings at a time. I did work nine innings against the Hamilton club two weeks ago, and I only allowed two runs. I am not striking out many batters, but I believe my “stuff” is coming along just fine.

The Canal Dover club has a new manager this season, too. His name is Edgardo Pina, and he has come to the United States from Cuba. Mr. Pina speaks very good English, however, and he knows baseball inside and out. He is determined to have a club that plays with lots of pep, and he has told me he is very glad to have me on the team.

My Pa will also be playing for Canal Dover again this year. He might be forty years old now, and he might need to rest more frequently than he used to, but his skills are otherwise as good as ever. He can still cover a lot of ground in the outfield and his batting eye remains sharp.

I will write to you again once I am back at home in Canal Dover. Tell your Ma and Pa and Charlotte and Jimmy hello for me.

Your cousin,
Charlie

**************
Charlie Callahan remained with the Watchmakers until the end of spring training, and pitched fairly well. In 55.1 innings, he allowed 63 hits, but walked only 11 men. He won four games, lost three, and saved one. Charlie struck out 18, and posted a 2.61 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP.

Charlie’s ratings have improved slightly since we saw him last. His Stuff (7), and Control (12) are sharper than they were in ’97, and his Movement (15) remains the same for now.

[Big Six]

Canal Dover Argus, May 14, 1898

FATHER AND SON LEAD MILLERS TO VICTORY
Elder Callahan Makes Five Safe Hits In Support Of Younger

BUCYRUS--Forgive the members of the Bucyrus nine if they are not too fond of the Callahan family after yesterday's contest at the Bucyrus grounds.

With veteran John Callahan knocking out five safe hits and playing flawlessly in center field and with young Charlie Callahan holding the Bucyrus batsmen at bay, the Canal Dover club beat the home team easily by a score of 6-2.

John Callahan might be forty years of age, but his batting average, which has remained above .300 since he joined the Millers last season, shows no signs of decrepitude. And Charlie Callahan might be a youth of eighteen, but he is certainly doing a man's work in the pitcher's box this spring...

Callahan the younger might well have begun the season in Canton, if not for the insistence of the new Watchmakers manager that he pitch frequently. Edgardo Pina believes it would be hard for Charlie to find regular work with Canton at present, but that Callahan's presence in Canal Dover should not be taken as a reflection of his talent.

"I have no doubt that Callahan could hold his own in the Buckeye League," said Pina. "For now I want him to work a lot of innings and build the strength in his arm."

A strapping farm boy of six feet, Callahan says he weighs 195 pounds. "I can pitch all day and come back and do it again next game," he said without a touch of boastfulness. "Nine innings is not too much work for me."

[Big Six]

Canal Dover, Ohio
June 17, 1898

"I wish I knew exactly what I wanted to do." Kate Black sighed, looking down at the sidewalk as she and Charlie Callahan strolled along Wooster Avenue. A warm late-spring sun worked its way through the leafy branches of the trees lining the street.

Charlie's Canal Dover Millers were enjoying an 1898 season that made last year's disaster seem like the distant past. With Charlie joining Will Copeland and Nick Hancock in a potent pitching rotation, the Millers were battling the Niles Coalmen and the Circleville Reds for first place in the Township League's Eastern Division. Charlie and Copeland were tied for the team lead in victories with nine, and Charlie's ERA hovered right around 2.00.

Jose Estrada, a first baseman only a year older than Charlie, had joined a lineup that included another hard-hitting youngster, Colin O'Holohan, at third and swift Freddie Iversen in right field. Charlie was no slouch with a bat in his hands; he was hitting .370, the best mark on the team. And the team's cleanup man was none other than John Callahan, still going strong at age 40.

Charlie smiled softly. "Kate, you have talked about wanting to go to college since you were a little girl. You've been the best student in our class as long as I can remember. It would be such a waste if you didn't take advantage of your talents."

Kate nodded. Charlie was right; in a week, she would graduate from the Canal Dover school at the top of the Class of 1898. Charlie had always wished he was as smart as Kate, but school didn't come nearly as naturally to him as playing ball.

"That's what Miss Keller tells me, too. She says I'm the most promising girl to graduate from our school in ten years, and that if I don't go to college, other bright young girls won't, either."

"She's being unfair," Charlie said, his face coloring a little bit. "You haven't had a girl to provide an example for you, after all."

"My Aunt Hannah has been my example," Kate said as she kicked at a small pebble with the toe of her shoe. Her voice softened suddenly, and she turned her face up to Charlie's.

"That's something I wanted to talk to you about, too," she added. "Aunt Hannah and Uncle George want me to come stay with them in Massachusetts and go to school there."

George and Hannah Black lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, where George was a professor of natural history at Amherst College. Hannah had graduated from Mount Holyoke, a women's college in nearby South Hadley, and had always encouraged Kate to pursue her studies. Uncle George and Aunt Hannah had recommended Kate to the faculty at Mount Holyoke, and they were eager to learn more about her.

Charlie nodded. "I remember when you took the train out to visit them. All you could talk about was how beautiful Mount Holyoke was. This must be like a dream come true for you, Kate." His voice softened, too.

"It is...but it's so far away. Far away from home...and far away from you."

Charlie felt the color rising in his cheeks. Could it be true? Could she be thinking of him the way he was thinking of her?

"If I go to Western, I'll be in Oxford. Next year, if you're with the Millers again, you'll come to town with the team and we could see each other," Kate pointed out. Oxford was home to Western Female Seminary and the Oxford Scholars of the Township League, the farm club of the Buckeye circuit's Hamilton Maroons.

Charlie looked suspiciously at Kate for a moment. "You think you'd be allowed to leave school to meet a ball player from out of town? I hear the rules are pretty strict at a place like Western."

Kate's expression grew stern as she stopped and turned toward him. "Why, Charles Callahan! Are you implying I would do such a thing?"

Charlie froze. "I....uh...of course I'm not saying that..."

The girl finally smiled, a teasing sparkle making her vivid blue eyes flash even more brightly. "I know you're not. And, besides, there's nothing that says a group of us girls cannot go out to a ball game, is there? I could see you there, silly."

"But if you would be happier at Mount Holyoke..."

"I don't know what would make me happiest, Charlie. Sometimes I think I would be happiest right here in Canal Dover. I could teach at St. Joseph's school...and then we could see each other almost every day."

Charlie's eyes met Kate's, and for the first time in his life, Charlie felt what it was like to be in love.

[Big Six]

Canal Dover Argus, August 1, 1898

MILLERS FACE CIRCLEVILLE WITH FIRST PLACE AT STAKE!
Canal Dover Club Tied With Circleville As Reds Come In For Three Games!
Callahan, July's Best Twirler, Will Work To-Day

CANAL DOVER--It is difficult to find a resident of this town who is not talking about base ball, as the local nine prepares to play the biggest game in Canal Dover's history this afternoon at the local grounds.

The Millers, who have experienced a dramatic reversal of fortune this season under the leadership of Manager Pina, find themselves sharing the top of the standings with the Circleville club as the two teams face each other to-day. Both the Millers and the Reds boast records of 65 wins and 46 defeats, best in the Township League.

Canal Dover's fortunes will rest to-day on the powerful right arm of Charlie Callahan. There is nobody else the club would rather see in the box than Callahan. The young twirler was just crowned the Township League's best pitcher for the month of July, during which he worked in nine games, winning eight without a loss. In his other appearance, Charlie toiled for eleven innings against Bucyrus, leaving a scoreless tie that became a victory for the Millers in the fifteenth frame.

"My arm feels strong," said Callahan last night as the Millers returned home from Ada on the train. "I am looking forward to the opportunity to pitch such an important game. Once the first batter comes to the plate, I don't think about the standings of the teams or the size of the crowd. I just concentrate on each pitch, one at a time."

That approach has worked well for young Callahan, who can gain his twentieth victory this afternoon if he vanquishes the powerful Circleville nine. We shall see if it will work well again to-day, as the largest crowd ever to see a ball game in Canal Dover history should make its way to the grounds.

[Big Six]

Canal Dover Argus, August 2, 1898

MILLERS SEIZE FIRST PLACE
Callahan Shuts Out Reds, 2-0
Over Three Thousand Watch Great Game

CANAL DOVER--It is rare when a game of base ball that has been touted as a great one lives up to its promotion. Such was the case here yesterday, when the Canal Dover Millers met the Circleville Reds in a contest for first place in the East Division of the Township League. As three thousand or more looked on, Canal Dover twirler Charlie Callahan held the Circleville club without a run for nine full innings, leading the Millers to a 2-0 victory that left them in sole possession of the top spot in the standings.

The youngster kept the powerful Reds batsmen off balance, mixing his swift shoots with a sharp curve and a clever change of pace. His control was as good as it has been all year, as he did not walk a single batter while striking out eight.

With twenty victories to his credit against only seven defeats, Callahan has won as many games as any pitcher in the league, and no boxman has retired more batters via the three-strike route than he. In his second season with the Millers, Callahan has demonstrated that he has all the stuff he will need to make it in faster company. The Canton nine will surely find a place for him next season, so those of us in Canal Dover who enjoy his work should make sure to get out to the grounds and watch him now...

[Big Six]

I'm just checking to see if there was anyone still following Charlie's story. I haven't been able to update it as regularly as I'd like, and I'm hoping there are still a few of you who are reading along...

There will be an update soon, I promise.

[AZTarHeel]

Please continue with the story -- take your time. We're all busy and know how life can be ...

[Mach_1]

Originally Posted by AZTarHeel

Please continue with the story -- take your time. We're all busy and know how life can be ...

Agreed!

[Tyke]

Yup, we're still here - and lovin' it!

[GCCWolverine]

Following along and enjoying every entry.

[Big Six]

Thanks for your comments. Sometimes all a dynasty writer needs to get over a case of writer's block is the sense that someone out there's still reading what he posts.


Canal Dover Argus, August 22, 1898

MILLERS WIN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES IN THREE GAMES
Oxford Club No Match For Local Nine This Time

OXFORD—As evenly matched as the Canal Dover Millers and Oxford Scholars were over the course of the ’98 season, the Eastern Division champion Millers certainly established their superiority over the course of three games for the Township League Championship.

Relying upon a balance of good hitting and good pitching, the Canal Dover nine swept three in a row from the Oxfords. The final game, played yesterday here in Oxford, was won by the local fellows by a 5-1 score.

Will Copeland, the stout righthander from New York, pitched the deciding game. He was the third Millers twirler to get the measure of the Oxford club, following Jamie Crossley and Charlie Callahan. Like Copeland, Crossley allowed the Oxfords only a single tally, while Callahan held them scoreless…