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April 9, 2021

Another Edition of “From the Lighter Side”

New Blog Topic: White Sox’ Yermin Mercedes Breaks 110-Year-Old Team Record Set by Ping Bodie! 

 

And just wait until you hear about Ping Bodie’s 1919 “Spaghetti Eating Contest” against “Percy the Ostrich.” (see the featured photo)

And no, I’m not making this up…

As your humble Baseball History Comes Alive editor, my baseball history antenna is always set on “high alert” for anything that our baseball history fans might find interesting. I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t! And so my baseball “trip-wire” went off last Friday night during the White Sox second game of the season in Anaheim.

Yermin Mercedes’ Historic Day

I’m sure some of you have heard that 28-year-old White Sox rookie Yermin Mercedes, who rode the bench for the team’s opener on Thursday, got off to a rather, shall we say, “auspicious beginning” in his first major league start. Yermin had been bouncing around various minor league teams since 2011. After one at-bat last year, he finally landed a spot in the White Sox’ lineup as the DH. And boy did he ever make the most of it!

The La Romana, Dominican Republic native posted a historic 5-for-5 game with a double and four RBIs in the Sox’ 12-8 victory over the Angels. His start was so good, in fact, that he broke the White Sox team record of a 4-for-4 start set in 1911 by Ping Bodie (a team record later tied by Art “The Great” Shires in 1928). In doing so, he also became the first player since 1933 to go 5-for-5 in his first major league start.

When informed of the new White Sox records, he got off a great line: “I’m better than Ping Bodie and Art Shires!” I think it’s safe to assume Yermin had never heard of either. And how many baseball fans have, by the way?

Of course, that’s where “yours truly” comes in!

More Records Follow…

The 5-for-5 start would have been significant in itself, except that Yermin wasn’t finished. In the next day’s game on Saturday, Mercedes added three more hits in his first three at-bats, including his first career homer. With that achievement, he now became the first player in the modern era (since 1900) to begin his season with eight consecutive hits.

And no, his frontal assault on the record books was still not over! He followed this performance by going 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs scored in the White Sox’ 6-0 win over the Mariners on Monday. Counting his one at-bat last year, he now had collected 12 hits in his first four major league career starts, again the most by any major league player in the modern era.

As of today, Friday, the season is one week old. So far, Mercedes has appeared in six of the team’s first eight games (manager Tony LaRussa, in his infinite wisdom, kept the red-hot DH out of Wednesday’s games to “rest” him),  he’s 15-for-27, with a league-leading .556 batting average, two home runs, and seven RBIs. Throw in a “Ruthian” .669 slugging average, a .571 on-base percentage, and I’d say he’s had a pretty good start to the new season! No surprise, on April 5, Mercedes was named the American League Player of the Week.

Congratulations to Yermin Mercedes for these historic achievements. After all, he’s waited a long time for his chance to shine. But, being the baseball history buffs that we are, let’s take a moment to remember one of the two players whose records he broke.

How Many Fans Remember Ping Bodie?

Ping Bodie, whose real name was Francesco Pezzolo, played nine seasons (1911-1921) in the majors for the White Sox, A’s, and Yankees. Over his career, he hit

.275, with 43 home runs and 414 RBIs. He was one of the first Italian-Americans in the majors, and opened the door to many to follow. A great self-promoter, he once boasted while playing for the Philadelphia Athletics:  “I and the Liberty Bell are the only attractions in Philadelphia!

Bodie was quite a character, known for his good-natured, happy-go-lucky personality. Besides being a pretty good hitter, he has a couple other baseball “claims to fame.” A roommate of Babe Ruth, he’s reputed to be the first to call Babe Ruth “the Bambino,” a nickname which, of course, caught on. The 5’8”, 195-pound Bodie was also known for his voracious appetite; and being Italian, needless to say, pasta was his favorite dish.

 

Percy the Ostrich, “The World’s Greatest Eater”

Well, back in 1919 at the Yankees’ spring training camp in Florida, co-owner Cap Huston heard stories about an eight-foot-tall ostrich named Percy who was billed as the “world’s greatest eater.” The large bird was residing at the nearby Jacksonville zoo. Sensing a great publicity stunt in the making, Huston arranged for a “spaghetti-eating contest” between the two great eaters, Bodie and Percy. It was actually set up as a boxing match, with a bell, a ring, spectators, oddsmakers, plenty of money on the table, and a large plate of pasta for each round. I’m not sure what the odds were but it was booked as a real match. If I had been there, my money would have been on Bodie. Would any red-blooded Italian let an ostrich beat him in a spaghetti eating contest? No way!

Sportswriter W.O. McGeehan was in attendance for the epic contest and provided his readers the next day with not the usual “blow-by-blow” commentary, but rather it was “gulp-by-gulp”:

“As the combatants struggled with the platters, the cheering of the spectators shook the pavilion. There were times when it was all that the police could do to keep the crowd from tearing through the ropes into the ring…”

Bodie Wins the Day!

Well, after 10 rounds, Bodie was ahead, and showing no signs of slowing down. Percy, on the other hand, was beginning to struggle. He was seen staggering out of his corner before Rounds Nine and Ten. As the bell rang to start Round Eleven, poor Percy failed to come out of his corner, and soon passed out. He was “down for the count,” as they say. His handlers had to concede the match; or, to use boxing lingo, they “threw in the towel.” Bodie was announced as the winner by a TKO. The referee declared him the “undisputed eating champion of the world.”

Bodie went on to have a decent season with the Yankees in 1919, hitting .278, with six homers, and 59 RBIs. After his retirement a few years later, he was inducted into the National Italian Sports Hall of Fame. As for “Percy the Ostrich,” it’s not known what fate had in store for him. The poor bird had put up a gallant fight in this battle of voracious eaters, but he came up a bit short.

Meanwhile, back to Yermin Mercedes. I doubt he has any idea of just how significant his accomplishments actually are. I mean, just how many other “world’s greatest eaters” are out there holding major league baseball records, just waiting to be broken!

Gary Livacari

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