I have just finished reading a book by Bill Bryson, 'One Summer: America 1927' and even though it runs to over 600 pages it never failed to hold my attention. The cover blurb says it 'fairly whirls along' and so it does, covering the main events in that summer in the USA but never afraid to change course and take the side roads. I came across only one reference to cricket and that in connection with Miller Huggins who in 1927 was manager of the New York Yankees managing them to be World Series winners that summer. The link to cricket is that Huggins' father was an Englishman who became a grocer in Cincinnati but who Bryson describes as an 'excellent cricketer', where and for whom he played is not known. Miller died aged 51 from a skin infection (erysipelas) which would now be cured with a course of antibiotics.
Much of Bryson's book is dominated by Charles Lindbergh who in the chosen year became the most famous man on earth after flying the Atlantic nonstop from Long Island to Paris. The fame that this brought him was accompanied by quite astonishing public adulation that was only soured when his Nazi sympathies were revealed in the late 30s. In baseball the focus was on two of the greatest batters in the history of the game, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig* who were locked in a struggle to see who could hit the most home runs, Gehrig rather fell away towards the end of the season but Ruth became the first man to hit 60, a record that would last until 1961. To put Ruth's efforts into context his sixty hits were more than the totals for all but three clubs.
Elsewhere that year Al Capone was at the peak of his power, Calvin Coolidge, a man as far removed in personality from the present incumbent of the White House as it is possible to imagine **, was President, sound came to the cinema and Gene Tunney beat Jack Dempsey in what at that time was probably the most hyped boxing match ever.
What of England at this time and in particular what was happening on the cricket field? George the Fifth was on the throne, Stanley Baldwin was in number 10, the BBC first broadcast live football on radio, Huddersfield Town were runners up to Newcastle United in the First Division, and Darlington were relegated from Division Two with Bradford City. Oldham beat Swinton in the Challenge Cup Final.
Wisden 1928 tells us that Lancashire were county champions with a % points obtained from 28 games of 68.75, Notts were runners up, 67.85, also from 28 games while Yorkshire who played only 27 games finished third, 62.54%. Bottom with a percentage of only 18.51, far behind anybody else, were Worcestershire, 'most disappointing', to quote Wisden (price 25p or 5/0s). Charles Hallows top scored for Lancs with just short of 1900 runs, and their leading wicket taker was Australian Ted Macdonald with 143 wickets. For Notts William 'Dodge' Whysall led the way with the bat and Larwood averaging over 25 with the bat took 91 wickets at 16.48. Yorkshire, captained by Major Lupton played championship cricket on seven different home grounds and could rely on Sut
cliffe, Holmes, Oldroyd and Leyland for runs. GG Macauley was leading wicket taker with 118.
New Zealand were the visitors and it is significant that the report of their tour does not appear until page 450. This was their first tour of England and in a wet summer they contested 26 first class matches winning seven and losing five. The tour began at Holyport at HH Martineau's ground on May 9th and ended at Scarborough on in September against Leveson-Gower's XI. This last fixture ended in a draw with Mills and Blunt making hundreds for the visitors. L-G's XI owed much to stubborn defence from JWHT Douglas and FW Gilligan which gained them a draw.
In his notes editor C Stewart Caine remarks that after a fine May and June the weather broke to produce a 'summer...that will probably be regarded as one of the worst in the history of cricket'. Yorkshire with nine blank days reported a steep loss in takings. I referred earlier to the method of deciding the championship using percentage points and that counties did not all play the same number of games. Middlesex played only 20 and Glamorgan 21, and the editor records that 'much dissatisfaction has been expressed at the method of reckoning'. Looking ahead to 1928 he suggests that it is likely that games will begin at 11:30 each day, stumps be drawn at 6:30 except on the third day when they may be drawn at 6:00, a scheme that many of us will recall as the norm in the past.
*a biopic of Gehrig, 'The Pride of The Yankees' starring Gary Cooper is shown on tv occasionally, worth a watch but keep the tissues handy. Films have also been made about Ruth including The Babe Ruth Story starring William Bendix as the slugger. and free to stream on YouTube
**when Coolidge's death was announced in 1933 acerbic wit Dorothy Parker is said to have asked 'How can they tell?'
WW Whysall,
Notts 1910 to 1930
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