The Cleveland Umpires Association held a special meeting at city hall to marshal the forces of the amateur ballplayers and coaches. It was their goal to assign at least one person to canvas every precinct and voting booth the day of the election. Not everybody was twenty-one, but the younger guys could hold signs and encourage voters.
The day before the election, twenty-five hundred people lined up attempting to register to vote. There was a presidential vote to be held the next day, but the last-minute registrants were likely more interested in the stadium issue than in who would be running the country. Estimates were that 250,000 people would cast their ballots in the city. There were no predictions made, but most of the big names of Cleveland publicly urged a yes vote.
At 8:30 a.m., November 6, the polls were opened. In the general election nearly two hundred thousand people cast their votes. In less than four hours, half of the voting was completed. Results were tabulated and the bond issue passed by a comfortable margin, with 55 percent voting yes, 45 percent no. It was quite a vindication for William Hopkins. He had worked tirelessly to get the project on the ballot. Now he could celebrate with all the people who had devoted their time and energy to make the new stadium a reality. Cleveland was getting a world-class stadium; all it needed was a baseball team that could fill the seats. It was now up to Bradley and Evans to make that happen.
The next few weeks saw the Cleveland general manager and his scouts pick their targets for the 1929 team. By the middle of November they had zeroed in on two of the best outfielders obtainable: Dick Porter and Earl Averill.
Dick Porter was born in Princess Anne, Maryland, on December 30, 1901. A left-handed hitter with some pop in his bat, he played his collegiate ball at St. John’s College in Annapolis. His outstanding play there got the attention of Jack Dunn, the owner-manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Without much hesitation, Porter signed a contract to play for Dunn’s ball club.
At that time the Orioles were a member of the International League and not affiliated with any Major League teams. As a result, Dunn held onto his best players without any real pressure from the big-league teams. As long as he was doing swell with the gate receipts, his players stayed where they were. Dunn had a knack, though, for signing and developing future Major League ballplayers, including Babe Ruth, Ernie Shore, Max Bishop, Robert “Lefty” Grove, and George Earnshaw. The only problem with Dunn was his reluctance to sell his stars, even when they were ready to move up to the American or National League. To placate the frustrated players, Dunn reportedly paid them well above the minor-league standards. It was said he paid them nine o’clock salaries in a two o’clock town.
Porter had to wait eight long seasons before he got his chance to leave the Orioles. The Cubs and then the Yankees tried several times to pry him away but to no avail. It was not until Jack Dunn passed away in October 1928 that Porter became obtainable. Charles Knapp, the new Orioles president, had no qualms about selling players. As a consequence, Billy Evans swooped and bought Porter for $30,000 plus two players, the total value of the deal coming to $40,000. Before he died, Jack Dunn had told reporters that Porter was worth considerably more. Dunn remarked, “Porter is worth $65,000 of anybody’s money. He can bat like a demon, field finely and is fast. He can improve any club.”
The twenty-eight-year-old Porter had an incredible career at Baltimore. In 1927 he led the league with a .376 batting average, 225 hits, twenty-five home runs, and 153 RBIs. The next year he played almost as well, batting .350 with 216 hits and sixteen triples. Evans would say later that Porter had been ready for the majors at least three or four years before. He would join the Indians right in the middle of his peak years.
One of the great things about the left-handed-hitting Porter was his unique batting style. He could not stand still in the batter’s box, moving and fidgeting until the ball was delivered, with very quick wrist and arm movements similar to cracking a whip. Over the years he’d had a number of nicknames, including Wiggledy, Twitchy, and Wiggles. During an exhibition game between New York and Baltimore, Yankees manager Miller Huggins had tried to get Porter to change his style and relax at the plate. The experiment proved a failure as “Twitchy” started to roll up the strikeouts. He soon reverted back to fidgeting and the strikeouts diminished.
Not only did the Indians pay out the $30,000 for Porter, they had to award him a decent salary. At Baltimore he was collecting $5,000 a year. Evans would have to up the ante to get Porter to sign his new contract. In addition to his baseball salary, Porter had a sausage manufacturing business he ran in the off-season. He was not a starving ballplayer by any means.
While the Cleveland faithful were buzzing about their new outfielder, Billy Evans was on a train to California. His mission was to have a conference with Charlie Graham, the president of the San Francisco Seals. There were two star ballplayers on the Seals that had caught Evans’s eye. Number one was Smead Jolley, a power-hitting left fielder who batted .404 during the 1928 season. Due to the favorable weather, the Pacific Coast League played a considerably longer season than the Major Leagues, and in 191 games Jolley had pounded out forty-five home runs. The other player, Earl Averill, was not as prolific but did bat .359 with 33 home runs and 270 hits. Evans had some trouble deciding which man was a better prospect, but a letter from former Indians pitcher Walter “Duster” Mails had urged the team to pick Averill. Mails had been one of the stars of the 1920 World Champion team. He pitched tremendously in game six, beating the Brooklyn Robins 1–0. The next day Cleveland won it all. Mails did not last long in the big leagues, but knew talent when he saw it. In the letter he told the club Averill was a fantastic hitter, especially when he had two strikes on him.
Evans took the letter quite seriously. Manager Peckinpaugh reminded him that the Indians would soon be in a new stadium with a mammoth outfield. Jolley was at best an average outfielder. Earl Averill was fast and could cover a lot of ground. When Evans arrived on the West Coast he came to a decision to go after the better fielder. Averill was his man.
Just three days after the acquisition of Dick Porter, the announcement came over the newswires that Earl Averill was purchased by Cleveland for $40,000 and two players. As in the Porter deal, the two players to be named later were worth $5,000 each. If San Francisco was not keen on the players chosen, the Indians would pay an additional $10,000 instead. That made the total value of the two separate deals a whopping $90,000. Newspapers all around the country had a field day writing about the money shelled out by Cleveland. There was no doubt that Alva Bradley and his partners were playing for keeps.
Earl Averill came from the small town of Snohomish, Washington, in the northwestern part of the state. He was born on May 21, 1902. His father died when Earl was only eighteen months old. The Averill family, mother and sons, all went to work to scrape out a living. As a young boy, Earl would play baseball in a converted potato patch. The neighborhood boys had pulled out the stumps, cleared the rocks, and there was a perfect diamond to play on. They fashioned baseballs from old shoes and played until the makeshift balls fell apart. Snohomish did not have any organized baseball for Earl to get involved with. As a freshman in high school he attempted to make the team, but a problem with his throwing arm kept him on the sidelines. Soon Earl would quit high school and go to work on road crews, hauling lumber, and anything else he could find to earn a few bucks. All the physical labor helped him develop a large set of shoulders and strong arms that would come in handy in the near future.
A few years later, the owner of the local pool hall determined that the town should have a baseball club. Averill got a chance to play and immediately earned a reputation as a tremendous hitter and outfielder. The Snohomish Bearcats did not pay their players, but the pool hall owner passed the hat after games. He kept most of the money for himself, but Earl usually pocketed a small share when the hat was full. There is a story that one day Averill belted an important game-winning home run. Before he left the field the excited spectators presented him with a total of fifty dollars in coin. No doubt, the men in the stands had a few bets out on the winning team.
In the early days of the twentieth