Call them flakes, misfits or screwballs. They are athletes whose offbeat antics mystify teammates and fascinate fans and, over three centuries, Baltimore has been blessed with its share. The Baltimore Sun is counting down The Daffy Dozen, the 12 most memorable characters in the city's sports lore. Today's oddball, No. 3, is Orioles outfielder Walter Scott "Steve" Brodie, who played for the team from 1893-1896 and 1898-1901.
Characters peppered the 19th century Orioles. Outfielder Joe Kelley, a fancy Dan, hid a vanity mirror inside his cap. Third baseman John McGraw spewed tobacco juice in umpires' faces and ground his spikes into their shoes. Shortstop Hughie Jennings leaned into pitches deliberately to get hit in the head, which he did at a then-record pace.
But their antics paled beside those of Walter Scott "Steve" Brodie, a stellar if loopy center fielder who helped Baltimore win three consecutive National League championships.
Brodie talked to baseballs, caught flies behind his back and once nabbed a line drive that had ricocheted off his head. He mumbled to himself in the outfield, passing time by reciting soliloquies from Shakespeare. Once, Brodie chastised himself for committing an error, The Sun wrote:
"Then, as further punishment, he refused to talk to himself for the rest of the game."
In his first full year as an Oriole (1894), Brodie batted .366; the next, he hit .348. A solid fielder, he cut a hole in the pocket of his glove, believing he could better grasp the ball with his bare palm. In winter, he stayed fit by donning a catcher's mask and chest protector and wrestling a muzzled black bear in his backyard.
Brodie was the Ironman of his day, playing in 727 consecutive games to set a 19th century record. Ejections were something else. He was booted from one game for telling an arbiter, "I could tie both hands behind me and beat you umpiring."
In a game at Louisville, he found another way to protest having been called out on strikes.
"It being Sunday, Brodie didn't say a word," The Sun wrote. "He simply pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, stuffed it in his mouth and kept it there for half an hour."
Taunted by a fan in the stands at the Orioles' Union Park, he decided to end the heckling. In the fifth inning of a game against the Boston Beaneaters, Brodie carried a ladder into the outfield, leaned it against the wall and called to teammate Willie Keeler.
"You cover right and center this inning," Brodie said, "and I'll go up and get that guy." And he did.
Dealt to Pittsburgh in 1897, he persuaded the Pirates to move their training site from Atlanta to his hometown of Roanoke, Va. Then, in Pittsburgh's first game against the Orioles, Brodie sauntered over to the Baltimore bench and sat there as if he'd never left.
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