Sunday, March 30, 2014

Dude, Chicken, and the Louisville Colonels baseball club in 1889.



The 76ers snapped the losing streak against the woebegone Pistons, and we're left with this timely (yesterday's Bats vs. Reds exhibition) and intriguing discussion about the even more wretched 1889 Louisville Colonels, who played in the old American Association.

Among the squads four managers in 1889 were Dude Esterbrook (who later died while being taken by train to an insane asylum) and Chicken Wolf, who was killed by the effects of brain injuries suffered as a firefighter. Louisville star Pete Browning was an infamous drinker.

Meanwhile, with another season about to start for the Bats, will there be the usual paucity of better beer in Louisville Slugger Field in 2014? Only team management and Centerplate know for sure, and that's enough to make a guy emulate Dude.

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