from wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubs%E2%80%93White_Sox_rivalry
"From 1903 until 1942, excluding the years one team or the other won the pennant, the Cubs and White Sox played each other in a best-of-seven postseason City Series. These series were officially sanctioned by the National Baseball Commission and, later, the Commissioner of Baseball. "
Johnson is Ernie Johnson, a rookie shortstop in 1912 who had a decent season, and would go on to have a decent career (and have a son who also played MLB). But for some reason didn’t play the next two years, and was in the Federal League until they went kaput and returned to MLB and the Yankees at the beginning of their Ruth dynasty era.
He’s also no relation to current broadcaster Ernie Johnson, whose dad was also a MLB player
ThTh5 - have they changed the standard of 'natural occurring elements' in schools since the 80s/90s? I just ask because back then the 'naturally occurring element' with the highest atomic number was Uranium, and most periodic tables were stylized to show that. The reason of course is that U-238's half life is the age of the solar system while the longest lived isotopes of Neptunium and Plutonium are measured in the millions of years. Those two do have trace amounts in Uranium ores (because uranium ores do naturally a little bit of what goes on, on purpose, in nuke reactors), but do we now teach that they are actually 'naturally occurring'?
An older man asking a teenager(?) to accompany him on a trip abroad even back then would have been a little wink wink nudge nudge, no?
I think Briggs meant it innocently enough, but I’ve been on enough tours of rich people museum homes where a very common origin story is
- rich person lived in the home with their somewhat younger “lifelong companion”
- the rich person passed away
- the companion also did some quarter to half century later
- the home then passed into semi-public use
(funny enough, this is also close to the origin story of the CIA Hq in Northern Virginia)
Also fun fact WGN is of course not the TV station but it’s also not a radio station yet, (not until the 1920’s) - it’s the original source of the moniker Worlds Greatest Newspaper, the Chicago Tribune.
I know the term from the famous Marx Bros* movie but I never knew until looking it up now that ‘duck soup’ was a slang term for an easy opponent or easy job.
*which I have never seen so that is probably a large part of my ignorance.
on the Wiki for Vaughn it says they both Vaughn and Caldwell were pitchers for the New York Highlanders at the beginning of the season in 1912. Vaughn coming in relief for Caldwell on opening day. (the team which would become the Yankees the next year).
The wiki for Caldwell indicates was the more established player, and had better on-field performance, but apparently his clubhouse manner and personal life were complete train wrecks. But when the manager (who was Frank Chance of Tinker Evers fame) tried to discipline Caldwell, the owners sided with Caldwell (because the Federal League was just on the verge of a breakout and poaching key players) and Chance quit (this was all in 1913)
Vaughn had a tough 1912, would get traded to the Washington Senators, and then send to Kansas to play on a minor league team. He finally got back to the Cubs (and the majors) in August 1913.
So it is very possible this is literal. As in Caldwell was racking up huge fines (wiki said that they were a significant portion of his annual wages). So Caldwell hits up his teammate Vaughn for a loan, but before Caldwell could (or wanted to) repay, Vaughn is shipped out of town, and then out of the majors entirely, so Caldwell may be thinking 'hey free money! sorry hippo, sucks to suck'
But Vaughn finally crawls his way back and complains to the league about the money.
and they do something about it? .... Don't do something about it (doing something is 'just a dream'?) ... do something about it, but like the USFL 3 dollar ruling, it's just a pittance? (4 bits i.e. a dollar? instead of 16?)
Call me Golden Earing because that pic is a thing called Radar love.
Our two older cats are from the same litter and at a glance it is hard to tell them apart. The boy (Luke) has always been bigger than the girl (Leia) which was useful when both were younger and smaller after the first year it wasn't a trivial distinction if they were just lying like lumps on the floor. When they move, it's fairly easy to tell them apart, and also Leia just simply refused to wear any collar after a few months so that's the go to distinction now.
Trump indictment curtesy of pwnallthethings on the bluesky social media app.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23909543-23sc188947-criminal-indictment
Doing a wiki walk, tango was cutting edge for the 1913 American social scene. American bands usually also sped it up compared to their Argentine/Rio de Plata counterparts. But also the word 'tango' was sometimes used to refer to other 'One Step' dances, in 2/4 or 4/4 time, many using various of ragtime tunes (which were near the peak of their popularity). Tango would in fact diminish a great deal in popularity in the next few years and being replaced by the foxtrot, which had a waltz origin (but changed the rhythm from 3/4 to also be 4/4).
And more importantly, less 'sexiness' than the various one step dances, which were giving the older generation the vapors. (and the ire was more on the Turkey Trot than the tango)
Reading it again, ‘some shock to the system’ is yeah, most likely just tying one on big time last night.
People probably did make ‘home brew’ even prior to prohibition, though that’s of course more associated with Appalachia /Ozarks than the Midwest. (and that was mostly to avoid the revenuers)
Not sure if between the fifth and six panel is “one day later” (but without SpongeBob font), or the first five panels are years ago and the sixth is some reminiscing and/or a Tommy Westphalian creation.
Edit - it looks like Nap’s contract was bought by Connie Mack for the Philly A’s in January 1915, and Cleveland played the entire 1915 season without him but with the new Indians name. Briggs must have just used the old one.
(Also, the official name of Brooklyn’s National League team at this time was ‘the Robins’, which apparently wasn’t really used by sportswriters or the general public much at all)
Naps = Cleveland (now) Guardians. (Naps is from their most famous player on their team at the time Napoleon Lajoie) (1915 was actually his last season there, they would change to Indians the next year after he left)
Browns is the St Louis Browns, formerly the Milwaukee Brewers (but not the current ones) in any case the beer stein is overdetermined. They would eventually be the current Baltimore Orioles. (The original Baltimore Orioles would become the Yanks of this era & present day)
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Game No. 6”
from wikipedia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubs%E2%80%93White_Sox_rivalry
"From 1903 until 1942, excluding the years one team or the other won the pennant, the Cubs and White Sox played each other in a best-of-seven postseason City Series. These series were officially sanctioned by the National Baseball Commission and, later, the Commissioner of Baseball. "
On “Some Things Columbus Didn’t Discover”
Johnson is Ernie Johnson, a rookie shortstop in 1912 who had a decent season, and would go on to have a decent career (and have a son who also played MLB). But for some reason didn’t play the next two years, and was in the Federal League until they went kaput and returned to MLB and the Yankees at the beginning of their Ruth dynasty era.
He’s also no relation to current broadcaster Ernie Johnson, whose dad was also a MLB player
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/johnser01.shtml
On “Mini Video Throughput: Emergency Zombies, Neuralink and iPhones”
ThTh5 - have they changed the standard of 'natural occurring elements' in schools since the 80s/90s? I just ask because back then the 'naturally occurring element' with the highest atomic number was Uranium, and most periodic tables were stylized to show that. The reason of course is that U-238's half life is the age of the solar system while the longest lived isotopes of Neptunium and Plutonium are measured in the millions of years. Those two do have trace amounts in Uranium ores (because uranium ores do naturally a little bit of what goes on, on purpose, in nuke reactors), but do we now teach that they are actually 'naturally occurring'?
On “Requiem for a Danny Dream”
An older man asking a teenager(?) to accompany him on a trip abroad even back then would have been a little wink wink nudge nudge, no?
I think Briggs meant it innocently enough, but I’ve been on enough tours of rich people museum homes where a very common origin story is
- rich person lived in the home with their somewhat younger “lifelong companion”
- the rich person passed away
- the companion also did some quarter to half century later
- the home then passed into semi-public use
(funny enough, this is also close to the origin story of the CIA Hq in Northern Virginia)
On “Sunday Morning! “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare”
You guys crack me up, for real.
On “S C H O O L”
I’m convinced that every accomplished cartoonist from the late 19th century to today hated school. And it makes perfect sense why.
On “Just Before The Battle”
Lastly someone crossed the timestreams between Briggs, Pat Hughes, and Derek the Die Workwear guy.
"
Also fun fact WGN is of course not the TV station but it’s also not a radio station yet, (not until the 1920’s) - it’s the original source of the moniker Worlds Greatest Newspaper, the Chicago Tribune.
"
I know the term from the famous Marx Bros* movie but I never knew until looking it up now that ‘duck soup’ was a slang term for an easy opponent or easy job.
*which I have never seen so that is probably a large part of my ignorance.
On “He Who Enters Leaves Hope Behind”
Briggs is channeling ol man Dante here
On “Danny Dreamer Makes a Wish”
This is eight years before the Great Molasses Flood in Boston
On “Only a Dream”
D’oh that’s right.
But it makes sense now, instead of 16 bucks, he gets 50 cents because he’s in the club.
"
on the Wiki for Vaughn it says they both Vaughn and Caldwell were pitchers for the New York Highlanders at the beginning of the season in 1912. Vaughn coming in relief for Caldwell on opening day. (the team which would become the Yankees the next year).
The wiki for Caldwell indicates was the more established player, and had better on-field performance, but apparently his clubhouse manner and personal life were complete train wrecks. But when the manager (who was Frank Chance of Tinker Evers fame) tried to discipline Caldwell, the owners sided with Caldwell (because the Federal League was just on the verge of a breakout and poaching key players) and Chance quit (this was all in 1913)
Vaughn had a tough 1912, would get traded to the Washington Senators, and then send to Kansas to play on a minor league team. He finally got back to the Cubs (and the majors) in August 1913.
So it is very possible this is literal. As in Caldwell was racking up huge fines (wiki said that they were a significant portion of his annual wages). So Caldwell hits up his teammate Vaughn for a loan, but before Caldwell could (or wanted to) repay, Vaughn is shipped out of town, and then out of the majors entirely, so Caldwell may be thinking 'hey free money! sorry hippo, sucks to suck'
But Vaughn finally crawls his way back and complains to the league about the money.
and they do something about it? .... Don't do something about it (doing something is 'just a dream'?) ... do something about it, but like the USFL 3 dollar ruling, it's just a pittance? (4 bits i.e. a dollar? instead of 16?)
On “Oh Man! Fickle, Man!”
"Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power"
On “Young People’s Weekly – Exchange Dept”
The Weeden Engine was apparently a real steam engine for kids.
https://www.weedensteam.com/
On “Weekend Plans Post: Learning to Tell Them Apart”
Call me Golden Earing because that pic is a thing called Radar love.
Our two older cats are from the same litter and at a glance it is hard to tell them apart. The boy (Luke) has always been bigger than the girl (Leia) which was useful when both were younger and smaller after the first year it wasn't a trivial distinction if they were just lying like lumps on the floor. When they move, it's fairly easy to tell them apart, and also Leia just simply refused to wear any collar after a few months so that's the go to distinction now.
On “Open Mic for the week of 8/14/2023”
Trump indictment curtesy of pwnallthethings on the bluesky social media app.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23909543-23sc188947-criminal-indictment
On “Tango vs Waltz”
Doing a wiki walk, tango was cutting edge for the 1913 American social scene. American bands usually also sped it up compared to their Argentine/Rio de Plata counterparts. But also the word 'tango' was sometimes used to refer to other 'One Step' dances, in 2/4 or 4/4 time, many using various of ragtime tunes (which were near the peak of their popularity). Tango would in fact diminish a great deal in popularity in the next few years and being replaced by the foxtrot, which had a waltz origin (but changed the rhythm from 3/4 to also be 4/4).
And more importantly, less 'sexiness' than the various one step dances, which were giving the older generation the vapors. (and the ire was more on the Turkey Trot than the tango)
On “Bottoms Up!”
Reading it again, ‘some shock to the system’ is yeah, most likely just tying one on big time last night.
People probably did make ‘home brew’ even prior to prohibition, though that’s of course more associated with Appalachia /Ozarks than the Midwest. (and that was mostly to avoid the revenuers)
"
Not sure if between the fifth and six panel is “one day later” (but without SpongeBob font), or the first five panels are years ago and the sixth is some reminiscing and/or a Tommy Westphalian creation.
On “Waiting to Get into the Telephone Booth”
This comic would have been timeless 30 years ago but not 15 years ago.
On “The Buckley Overture”
“Bedlam” in turn is derived from St Mary Bethlehem (aka Bethlehem Royal Hospital) a famous/infamous mental hospital in London.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital
On “A Dull Day in the Big Leagues”
Federal League Mentioned!
On “Mid-Season Standing of the Fans”
Edit - it looks like Nap’s contract was bought by Connie Mack for the Philly A’s in January 1915, and Cleveland played the entire 1915 season without him but with the new Indians name. Briggs must have just used the old one.
(Also, the official name of Brooklyn’s National League team at this time was ‘the Robins’, which apparently wasn’t really used by sportswriters or the general public much at all)
"
For those wondering, like I was-
Superbas = Brooklyn, now Los Angeles Dodgers
Naps = Cleveland (now) Guardians. (Naps is from their most famous player on their team at the time Napoleon Lajoie) (1915 was actually his last season there, they would change to Indians the next year after he left)
Browns is the St Louis Browns, formerly the Milwaukee Brewers (but not the current ones) in any case the beer stein is overdetermined. They would eventually be the current Baltimore Orioles. (The original Baltimore Orioles would become the Yanks of this era & present day)
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.