Moonlight Graham: The Myth, the Legend, and the Bush League Ballplayer

On Thursday, June 29, 1905, the New York Giants were clobbering the Brooklyn Superbas. With the score 10-zip and the game all but won, Giants manager John McGraw began pulling his regulars and sending his rookies and second-stringers in to play.

In the bottom of the eighth, McGraw gazed down his bench and selected 25-year-old rookie Archie Graham to replace outfielder George Browne. Graham, who had joined the team earlier that month, raced out to his position in Washington Park’s right field.

After an unremarkable inning in the outfield, the eager rookie was waiting to bat in the top of the ninth when Claude Elliot popped up for the Giants’ third out. Archie Graham went back to right field and finished the game without getting his chance to bat.

A few days later, Graham was sent back to the minors, though McGraw had promised to call him back later in the year. He never did.

For the rest of his life, Archie Graham lived in baseball obscurity, one of the nearly 1,000 near-anonymous ballplayers whose careers lasted but one game. However, a timeless nickname and his fictionalization in both a novel and a Hollywood movie made “Moonlight” Graham a figure better known today than his Hall of Fame manager, who sent him back to the bush leagues.

WHILE WE KNOW for sure Archie Graham was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, there remains some discrepancy about the exact date. Wikipedia claims he was born November 12, 1876; Baseball-Reference.com says it was a year later; on his WWI draft registration card, Graham puts his birthday as November 12, 1879, as do authors Brett Freidlander and Robert Reising in their book, Chasing Moonlight: The True Story of Field of Dreams’ Doc Graham; and finally, his Sporting News Player Contract card reads “Nov 11, 1881.” For what it’s worth, my money is down on the 1879 date, since Graham attested to it himself and the Freidlander and Reising book is the definitive work on the man.

The Grahams were an old North Carolina family of some means, and even had a town, Graham, named after them. Archie’s father, Alexander Graham, was an 1869 graduate of the University of North Carolina and captained the school’s baseball team. After earning a law degree from Columbia University, Alexander Graham returned to his hometown of Fayetteville, where he embarked on a lifelong crusade to improve the public education system. He married Katherine Sloan, and the couple had nine children, with Archie the second oldest.

Alexander’s job in education took the family to Charlotte, where Archie spent the bulk of his childhood. He and his siblings were encouraged by their father to pursue sports and other athletic endeavors, and Archie excelled at both running and baseball. In 1897, he followed his father’s example by entering the University of North Carolina and playing on the school’s baseball nine.

THOUGH MANY SOURCES put Archie Graham’s professional baseball debut as 1902 or 1903, it appears he began a few years earlier. How Graham got his start in pro ball is unknown, but Jesse Oldham, UNC’s former baseball coach, caught and played outfield for Charlotte of the North Carolina Association in 1900, and I found an outfielder named “Archie Graham” in a few box scores from that summer. Baseball-Reference has Graham playing for Durham in the same league that year as well.

Archie Graham graduated with his bachelor’s degree in 1901, and that summer, a “Graham” played a few games for Portsmouth in the Virginia-North Carolina League. It is likely our man, since the team’s player-manager was Ed Ashenbach, a bush-league baseball lifer who would eventually earn the nickname “King of the Minors.” Ashenbach would become Graham’s biggest booster, and their subsequent baseball careers would be intertwined for the next decade.

Archie Graham returned to UNC in the fall to embark on a two-year postgraduate medical program. Meanwhile, Graham and Ed Ashenbach were reunited when the latter became UNC’s baseball coach.

During summer break, Graham followed Coach Ashenbach to Charlotte, where he had been named the new pilot of the Hornets. Ashenbach had built a monster team that year, posting a 25-game winning streak and finishing first in the first half of the split-season. The Hornets were so dominant that they drew complaints from other teams, and fans outside Charlotte began to lose interest. It didn’t help that Ashenbach inflamed opposing teams with stunts such as the one Archie Graham recalled in a 1963 Charlotte News interview: “We used to march around the flag pole before the game during our win streak and it used to burn the other ball clubs.”

In 31 games, Graham batted a solid .297 with 17 stolen bases. Unfortunately, infighting among the teams and financial difficulties led to the league’s disbandment in July.

At the conclusion of another year of medical school, Graham followed Ed Ashenbach to Nashua in the New England League. Now 23 years old, Archie Graham began making a name for himself as a real speedster on the bases. Ed Ashenbach swore that Graham was the fastest man in any league. An opening-day piece in the April 15, 1903 Fall River Globe wrote, “Dr. A. H. Graham, called ‘greyhound Graham,’ because he is so fast on the base lines.” On July 29, the same paper penned, “Archie Graham, the left fielder of Nashua, can come pretty nigh showing his heels to any man in the league going around the bases.”

While he had been wiry as a teen, the mature Archie Graham had since filled out his 5’-10” frame and earned a rep as a power hitter at the plate. Though Graham was hitting in the .240 area, he swiped 30 bases, and that same speed meant that many of his hits went for extra bases. The July 19 edition of Sporting Life proclaimed, “He easily makes two bases on many hits other men would count but a single.”

In the middle of August, Ed Ashenbach resigned as Nashua’s manager after slugging an umpire. Shortly thereafter, Archie Graham was let go by Nashua. Whether this was connected to Ashenbach’s departure was not reported; it certainly had nothing to do with his work, because the Manchester club in the same league eagerly took him on and claimed dibs on him for 1904.

That fall, Archie Graham entered the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore. In addition to his studies, Graham played for Maryland’s baseball and football teams. As usual, summer break meant a return to the minors, and Graham returned to Manchester. A May 4 note in the Fall River Globe read, “When Nashua let Archie Graham go, they lost one of the best all-around players in the league.” He hit .272 with 15 stolen bases for the season.

At the end of the season, several major-league teams expressed interest in the fleet-footed medical student, but it was the New York Giants who ultimately secured Graham’s services. How he came to the Giants’ attention is unclear, but it may have been through his mentor, Ed Ashenbach. After his ignominious departure from the New England League, Ashenbach resurfaced in 1904 as one of the founders of the South Atlantic League. Ashenbach also began doing some scouting work for John T. Brush, owner of the New York Giants. Among the players Ashenbach claimed to have “discovered” were future Hall of Famers Christy Mathewson and Ty Cobb. A nod from Ashenbach may have led to the Giants buying Graham’s contract.

There was a bit of buzz in the sporting press about the Giants’ new outfielder. His medical degree was a novelty at a time when most ballplayers had barely more than an elementary school education. Months before he even joined the club, the March 24, 1905 Wilkes-Barre Times reported, “Dr. Archie Graham, who is to join the Giants as soon as he completes his examinations at the Baltimore Medical College, is known among minor league players as ‘Moonlight’ because he is supposed to be fast as a flash.”

On March 27, 1905, the Cleveland Blade ran a photo portrait of Graham beneath the headline, “McGraw May Have a Prize in Graham.” “Much has been told about his fleetness of foot,” read the blurb below, “and Arthur Devlin, the third baseman of the team, who has seen Graham play, insists that his speed is not exaggerated.” Ed Ashenbach also got in on the praise, telling the Sporting Life about his efforts to stage a race between Graham and Harry Bay of the Cleveland Naps, at that time regarded as the fastest player in the majors. Ashenbach predicted that Graham would easily defeat Bay.

ARCHIE GRAHAM started his big-league career on the wrong foot. Instead of reporting to spring training with the Giants, Graham chose to finish his studies. That would have instantly soured Giants manager John McGraw, a man who had no use for any player who did not put baseball first. On top of that, it appears that Graham may have been hampered by a leg injury suffered playing football that fall for Maryland. Still, Graham was bought and partially paid for, so he joined the team at the beginning of June.

The Giants were the defending National League champions and stacked with talent. They would repeat as pennant winners that fall and go on to beat the Athletics in the World Series. With proven veterans Mike Donlin, Sam Mertes, and George Browne already in the outfield, Archie Graham spent all of his time riding the pines – that is, until Thursday, June 29, 1905.

After those two innings of big-league glory, Graham returned to the bench until the first week of July. Then, sports pages across the league carried this brief note:

 

According to legend, Giants manager John McGraw told Graham he would recall him at the end of the season, but he never did. Archie Graham’s big-league career was over.

THE DISAPPOINTMENT of being sent back to the bush leagues was somewhat eased when Graham learned that his biggest fan, Ed Ashenbach, was the Scranton Miners’ player-manager. Plus, the New York State League was one of the better minor leagues at the time. However, after playing a few games for Scranton, Graham disappeared.

That summer, the Tri-State League had been poaching minor league players from East Coast teams. Tri-State was what was called an “outlaw league” – a term applied to leagues that operated outside the umbrella of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the organization that oversaw the minor leagues. Teams that were part of the National Association were forbidden from hiring players who broke their contracts with other association teams. As an outlaw league, the Tri-Staters were not bound by this.

With his solid minor league rep and New York Giants pedigree, Archie Graham was prime outlaw-league material. When a recruiter from the Altoona Mountaineers offered $400 a month and another $200 for signing, Graham, who was making $225 a month with Scranton, went outlaw. Graham later gave the excuse for his desertion that he objected to playing baseball on Sundays, something the New York State League regularly did. However, we will see later that this was likely not entirely true.

In any case, Graham’s Altoona excursion lasted only three days. He quickly found that conditions in the Tri-State were a far cry from those in the New York State League. Plus, a visit from ol’ Ed Ashenbach convinced Graham that he had made a big mistake.

However, defecting back to Scranton was not a simple matter. Apparently, fans in the Tri-State League took their baseball very serious, as the title of the July 17, 1905, article in the Wilkes-Barre Times shows:

Ashenbach’s Battle for Archie Graham

When Ashenbach showed up in Johnstown, where Altoona was playing a road series, word quickly spread. At first, Altoona fans who had accompanied the team on the road trip tried to get Ashenbach to join their team. When this failed and it became clear that his mission was to reclaim Graham, the crowd turned dark. At one point, Ashenbach was roughed up on the street, and his suit was torn apart as other fans tried to carry Graham away. Amid the melee, Ashenbach managed to hold on to Graham, and both reached the safety of their hotel. While one group milled outside the hotel, a second crowd formed at the train depot to prevent the pair from boarding a train out of town. That night, Ashenbach and Graham ducked out the back door of the hotel and headed out of town on foot. The pair hiked ten miles down country roads until they reached the train depot at Steward, Pennsylvania. There, the two boarded the next train to Scranton. It was never reported whether or not Graham returned any of Altoona’s money.

Back with Scranton, Archie Graham batted a fine .288. However, any hopes of a Giants call back were squashed when Graham left a week before the season ended to resume his medical studies.

If McGraw had any interest in recalling Graham at the end of the season, this action surely made the prickly Giants manager decide against it. In fact, whether it was an oversight or spite, McGraw left Graham’s name off the team’s reserve list for 1906. This led to the Boston Red Sox drafting the unprotected prospect. McGraw quickly called foul, and the case went to arbitration. It was found that since Graham had accepted $200 in cash from John McGraw, he was still the property of the New York Giants. But if the ballplayer repaid the money, he could be declared a free agent and sign with whichever club offered him the best contract. He chose to stay with the Giants.

The following spring, Archie Graham joined the Giants at their training camp in Memphis, Tennessee. McGraw showed no interest in Graham, but the management of the Memphis Egyptians did. A cash deal was worked out, and although he initially balked at the trade, Archie Graham began the 1906 season with Memphis. After a few months, the Egyptians soured on Graham’s lackluster .260 bat and gave him his release.

ENTER ED ASHENBACH once again. Archie Graham’s old coach had stayed on as manager of Scranton for 1906. He improved on his 3rd-place finish from the previous season and assembled a real contender for 1906. Two of his starting pitchers had big-league experience, and the addition of Graham gave the Miners three ex-major-league position players. Graham had a career year, batting a league-leading .336 along with 38 stolen bases. Scranton cruised to the pennant, twelve games ahead of second-place Albany Senators.

The day after the season ended, Ashenbach arranged for the New York Giants to come to Scranton for an exhibition game. Though he had no hope of rejoining the Giants, Archie Graham didn’t let that keep him from showing off in front of his old team. He whiffed his first time at bat, but then recorded a walk, a double, and an RBI single as Scranton beat the big leaguers 9-1. Near the end of the game, Graham challenged Giants outfielder George Browne – the player he replaced in his lone big-league game – to a foot race. Browne replied that he wasn’t interested, but the crowd was, and soon a $500 purse was collected for the winner. Still, Browne refused, and the Giants left town with the challenge hanging in the wind.

Remember Archie Graham’s pious excuse for deserting Scranton the previous summer because of his aversion to Sunday baseball? That seems to have gone out the window in ’06. In his 1911 book, Humor Among the Minors: True Tales from the Baseball Brush, Ed Ashenbach recounts this ditty about his protégé Archie Graham: “He had some scruples about playing Sunday baseball, his father having strictly forbidden him to play on the Sabbath. My club was then a contender for the championship, and the fight promised to be a close one. I could ill afford to lose his services on the Sabbath, as we usually played a double-header on that day, so I prevailed upon him to play under an assumed name. Graham consented to this proposition and decided to play under the name of Wright. He was quite a fighter while in the game and his aggressiveness once led him into a fracas on a bright Sunday at Scranton when he and the umpire indulged in a battle of fisticuffs in the middle of the diamond. On another Sunday at Syracuse, Graham, alias Wright, had a glorious day at the bat. Out of four times up, he hit out a home run, two three-base-hits and a single. He was very much pleased at his big day’s work, and after the fourth time at bat he rushed wildly up to the press-box saying to the reporters, ‘Look here, boys, my name is not Wright today, it’s Graham.’ Four hits killed off the alias.”

THAT WINTER, Archie Graham completed his medical internship and passed the Pennsylvania physicians’ exam, becoming a certified doctor. Instead of plunging into a medical career, Graham signed on for another season in Scranton. Ed Ashenbach had left the team to take a managerial spot in St. Paul. Graham, who neglected to train properly in the winter training because of his studies, began the season slowly. He and the Miners’ new manager, Hank Ramsey, did not get along well, and he told local sportswriters he was considering retiring after the season.

Graham’s bat did warm up later in the season, and he batted .285 with 34 stolen bases as the Miners finished one game out of first. After another winter of internships, this time adding optometry to his ear, nose, and throat concentration, Graham was ready to begin practicing medicine. However, when he heard that Scranton had hired a new skipper for 1908, he signed on.

Interestingly, the Miners’ new catcher, Jim Robertson, was a Fordham-trained dentist. With Robertson covering the teeth and Graham handling the eyes, ears, noses, and throats, the Miners had the team’s head health well taken care of.

On the field, the 1908 season was one heck of a see-saw. After a strong start, the team hit a major speed bump when a fire destroyed their ballpark in early August. Playing solely on the road while their park was patched back up, the team sputtered but then staged a miraculous comeback to win the pennant by seven games. The season was crowned with a 2-game sweep of Williamsport, the outlaw Tri-State pennant winners. Archie Graham ended the season with a .277 average and 32 stolen bases. He announced his retirement and considered his options.

GRAHAM HAD BEEN very popular among the Scranton fans, and hanging up his medical shingle right there seemed the best option. However, Graham had developed respiratory problems, probably brought on by the choking smoke that poured out of the stacks of Scranton’s many industrial factories. A healthier climate was needed.

Doctor Graham’s first stop was Chicago, but he soon learned about the crisp, clean air of the northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. Graham chose to settle in the town of Chisholm. It wasn’t what one would call a picturesque place, for much of the town had been leveled by a fire some months earlier. Yet Graham saw promise in the cinders and settled in. He married a local girl, Alecia Flowers, and eventually became the doctor for Chisholm’s public school system.

Whether Archie Graham talked much about his baseball career in Chisholm is not well documented. In the early 1920s, a few of the Chicago Black Sox brought their outlaw barnstorming team to Chisholm for a game against the locals. Unfortunately, no one recorded whether Graham suited up for Chisholm, watched from the stands, or stayed home. In 1963, Archie Graham returned to Charlotte, where he gave an interview to the local paper. In it, Graham told the reporter an interesting tale about his one major-league game. Instead of two innings in the outfield and no plate appearance, the 83-year-old’s cup of coffee is thus described:

Dr. Graham did get one break, one that ended his baseball career at a very untimely point. He walked in his first trip to a major league plate, then immediately cracked his leg and was finished in baseball.

Well, I guess sometimes we remember things a bit differently as we age.

Anyway, Doc Graham lived out the rest of his years in Chisholm, passing away in 1965, a beloved member of the modest Minnesota town.

Chances are no one would have remembered Archie Graham and his one-line entry in the Baseball Encyclopedia had it not been for W. P. Kinsella’s 1982 novel Shoeless Joe. The book was later adapted into the hit movie Field of Dreams, in which Graham was portrayed by Burt Lancaster, propelling “Moonlight” Graham from a forgotten major leaguer to the most famous short-timer in baseball history.