![\"Hooks](\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Hooks-Wiltse.jpg\")
<\/a>) Colorful nicknames were once plentiful in turn of the 20th\u00a0Century America.\u00a0\u00a0Baseball in particular, included the likes of Noodles, Dummy, Piano Legs, Bones, Ginger, Jiggs, Klondike, Cozy, Snags, Daff, Cupid, Topsy, Brickyard, Wild Bill, Nixey, Zaza, Socks, Farmer, Boileryard, Crazy and countless Doc\u2019s, Kid\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0and Pop\u2019s.<\/p>\nAnd then there were two widely known Central New Yorkers known as \u201cHooks\u201d and \u201cSnake.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0They were local farm boy siblings from Pecksport on the outskirts of Hamilton.<\/p>\n
As America left the 19th\u00a0Century, baseball was unquestionably America\u2019s most popular pastime.\u00a0\u00a0Town teams provided exciting summertime entertainment.\u00a0\u00a0Games were hotly contested\u2014the quality of play of the highest order and the rivalry between teams and communities was fierce and highly competitive.<\/p>\n
Brookfield\u2019s Town team began competitive playing soon after the Civil War and fielded teams well into the 20th\u00a0Century.\u00a0\u00a0From time to time box scores were recorded in the widely read Brookfield\u00a0Courier.\u00a0Games were played on a diamond up at the Brookfield\/Madison County Fairgrounds.\u00a0\u00a0Occasionally balls hit into the outfield were lost in the tall grass as the runner(s) circled the bases.\u00a0\u00a0Local teams were mostly composed of local men, but it was common to \u201crecruit\u201d from time to time ballplayers from other teams.\u00a0\u00a0Usually these players were a cut above the others in talent and experience and no doubt were paid a modest amount for their services.<\/p>\n
In the summer of 1897 the Brookfield\u00a0Courier\u00a0contained detailed coverage and box scores of games played by the Town team.\u00a0\u00a0Their uniforms were gray flannel purchased from Schoverling, Daley and Gales of New York City.\u00a0\u00a0In scanning the box score this simple country man noticed similar last names of two Brookfield players. Names not familiar in this area at that time.<\/p>\n
Then I remembered a brief conversation I had with a stranger some years ago in a local diner.\u00a0\u00a0This elderly man once lived in Leonardsville but then moved away.\u00a0\u00a0In his reminiscing about the \u201cgood old days\u201d he mentioned in passing that he recalled two of Brookfield\u2019s early baseball players went on to play in the Major Leagues.\u00a0\u00a0He mentioned a name but it was unfamiliar.<\/p>\n
When I later read the 1897 box scores I recognized the name the man had mentioned.<\/p>\n
His full given name was George LeRoy Wiltse, aka \u201cHooks.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0His older brother by 8 years was Lewis DeWitt \u201cSnake\u201d Wiltse.<\/p>\n
When they played for the Brookfield \u201cnine\u201d in 1897 \u201cHooks\u201d was a strapping 17 year old who pitched left handed and batted right.<\/p>\n
\u201cHooks\u201d was all of 14 or so when his older brother took him to Utica to play baseball.\u00a0\u00a0He was paid $5 and expenses to pitch for the Utica Actives, a YMCA indoor team.\u00a0\u00a0As Hooks later recalled \u201cthat was a big event in my life, taking the train alone to the city!\u201d<\/p>\n
Four years after playing for Brookfield \u201cSnake\u201d was a 30 year old \u201crookie\u201d left hand pitcher with the National League Pittsburg Pirates.\u00a0\u00a0Relieved in mid-season he was signed by the Philadelphia Athletes where he compiled a commendable 13-5 record and batted (for a pitcher) a remarkable .326.\u00a0\u00a0(On August 20 Snake made baseball history hitting two doubles and two triples for 10 total bases).<\/p>\n
In 1902 he again pitched for the Athletics and then was sold to the Baltimore Orioles, a franchise transferred to New York for the following season.\u00a0\u00a0He pitched his final major league game on May 28, 2903 later playing 7 more years in the minor league.\u00a0\u00a0His combined pitching record was nearly 100 victories.<\/p>\n
Snake\u2019s younger brother Hooks described his early baseball initiation.<\/p>\n
I was the seventh son born on September 7, 1880.\u00a0\u00a0Four of the boys were\u00a0right handed and would not even pay to see a ball game.\u00a0\u00a0The three left handers played baseball every chance they could get.\u00a0\u00a0My brother, Lewis, eight years older than I\u2026taught me how to pitch and bat\u2026.We never had more than one ball and we played until that was lost, even missing dinner and playing well into the long summer evenings.<\/p>\n
With thanks to local Hamilton, NY baseball scholar Dr. Richard Cohen and considerable archival information at the Baseball Hall of Fame, the outstanding career of Hooks Wiltse has been thoroughly researched and documented.<\/p>\n
We know that Hooks\u2019 nickname didn\u2019t come from an unhittable curve ball, or his hook nose, but from his fielding prowess.<\/p>\n
Seven years after playing in Brookfield Hooks was a 25 year old rookie left hand pitcher with John McGraw\u2019s New York Giants.\u00a0\u00a0In 1904 he won his first 12 games (a tied but still unbroken record).\u00a0\u00a0In his 1904 rookies season he won 13 games and lost 3.<\/p>\n
The next season as the 5th\u00a0starter on McGraw\u2019s staff Hooks made the record book again by striking out 7 batters in 2 innings!\u00a0\u00a0(The catcher\u2019s dropped 3rd\u00a0strike allowed the batter to safely reach first base).<\/p>\n
In 1908 Hooks became the Giants\u2019 second\u00a0pitcher behind the legendary Christy Mathewson.\u00a0\u00a0That year Hooks won 23 games with a very impressive 2.24 ERA.\u00a0\u00a0On July 4 Hooks pitched one of the greatest games in baseball history.\u00a0\u00a0A 10 inning no hitter.\u00a0\u00a0The only left handed one in history (he missed a perfect game when he allegedly nicked the sleeve of Phillie\u2019s pitcher George McQuilllan).<\/p>\n
In 1909 Wiltse went 20 and 11 with a 2.00 ERA.<\/p>\n
Hooks would play for the Giants for 10 years winning 139 games with nearly 1,000 strike-outs.\u00a0\u00a0Hooks combined with Mathewson for 435 victories making them the best left hand duo in history.<\/p>\n
Madison County can be rightfully proud of the Wiltse brothers who went from town teams like Brookfield to the cheering crowds of thousands in many big league cities including the \u201cBig Apple.\u201d\u00a0This simple country man can clearly imagine these young men playing up at the Fairgrounds.\u00a0\u00a0Their baseball dreams soon to become a reality.<\/p>\n
Hobie Morris is a Brookfield resident and simple country man.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nThe Madison County Courier would like to acknowledge that the village of Hamilton honored \u201cHooks\u201d Wiltse by naming a recreational field after him.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Musings of A Simple Country Man By Hobie Morris \u2026We took turns at the plate using a flat stone for home plate and the barn door for the catcher\u2026there were generally enough farm boys to make up a team\u2026. (Brookfield, NY -March 2013) Colorful nicknames were once plentiful in turn of the 20th\u00a0Century America.\u00a0\u00a0Baseball […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23377,9057,23378,20466],"class_list":["post-44105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-george-leroy-hooks-wiltse","tag-hobie-morris","tag-lewis-dewitt-snake-wiltse","tag-the-musings-of-a-simple-country-man"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}