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Articles on Jack (John Picus) Quinn Appear in NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture

Jack Quinn, the Methuselah of the Mound, the spitball pitcher who played in the majors until he was 50 years old and still holds some baseball longevity marks, was born in the Slovak village of Stefano, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time. After years of painstaking and meticulous research, this remarkable story is presented in the Spring 2008 issue of NINE. E. Michael Scott, a British citizen who is married to a Quinn relative, presents this remarkable story.

Steve was involved with that research project and has his own article on Jack Quinn in that same issue of NINE. “World War I and Free Agency: The Fateful 1918 Battle for Jack Quinn” takes an in-depth look at one small part of Quinn’s career, which had enormous repercussions. In 1918 both the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox claimed the rights to Jack Quinn. When baseball’s governing body awarded Quinn to the Yankees, it was the final rupture to the relationship of American League President Ban Johnson and Charles Comiskey, the powerful White Sox’s owner. It led to the ascendancy of baseball’s first (and powerful) commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, just a couple of years later.

Steve’s article captures baseball in 1918, a tumultuous time when the nation was at war and the baseball season was shortened, after being impacted by the loss of many players (as well as fans), who left to support the Allied war effort.

These Quinn articles are based on papers that Mike and Steve presented at the NINE conference in Tucson in the spring of 2007.

Back issues of NINE are available through the University of Nebraska Press, by calling (800) 755-1105. Steve’s article is also available on-line to participating institutions (including libraries and universities) through Project Muse, at http://muse.jhu.edu.