Paul Richards Spins a Tall Tale

Paul Richards during his time as a catcher for the Detroit Tigers

Baseball lore is full of tall stories. Some were invented by press box humorists and have been repeated and accepted because they appeared in print. (They didn’t call it fake news in those days.)

Some were passed down like tribal lore by players about other players they never saw. And some were spun by the subjects of the stories themselves. This is one of them. - Norman L. Macht

Paul Richards was considered one of the game’s smartest catchers and handlers of pitchers during his lengthy playing and managing career. He spent one season – 1935 – with the Philadelphia Athletics.

That was his last in the majors until 1943 when he was a wartime catcher for the Detroit Tigers. In 1951 he became the manager of the White Sox, his first of 12 years as a manager. - By Norman L. Macht

The Tale

At some point during his career, Richards began telling the story of how a mental lapse on his part during the 1935 season so ticked off A’s manager Connie Mack that the next day Mack shipped him out to the minor leagues in exchange for a catcher named Almon Williams.

As Richards told it, the A’s were playing Detroit. He was catching. Charlie Gehringer was at bat. When home plate umpire Charles Donnelly called ball four, Richards objected to the call.

He stood bouncing the ball on home plate while arguing with the umpire. Nobody called time. Gehringer ran to second, then to third. Hank Greenberg then singled and Gehringer scored.

The next day Richards was in the minor leagues.

Another Version

Some forty years later Richards was still relating the story – that is, a different version of the story, as reported by columnist Red Smith during the 1972 World Series. According to Smith, Richards said that Gehringer was on first base when Hank Greenberg attempted to bunt.

Paul Richards playing for the Chicago White Sox

Richards thought he hit a foul tip in the dirt. The umpire called it a ball. Richards turned to argue, the ball still on the ground at his feet. Gehringer raced to second. So what, Richards thought, he can’t go to second on a foul ball. He continued to argue. Gehringer ran to third.

[A’s coach] Earle Mack came out to home plate and picked up the ball. Richards lost the argument. Connie Mack lost his temper. The next day Richards was traded to Atlanta for Almon Williams.

What Might Have Happened

An actual incident that was closest to either version occurred on July 14 at Philadelphia. With two outs in the first inning, Gehringer walked. Greenberg was the next batter. Charles Donnelly was the home plate umpire.

According to Retrosheet, Gehringer went to second on a wild pitch by Bill Dietrich. Greenberg singled and Gehringer scored.

In my research, I was unable to find any newspaper accounts in either Detroit or Philadelphia mentioning anything about a Richards “mental lapse” or his immediate departure from the A’s. If there was any mental lapse during the season, whatever the details, there was no immediate reaction by Connie Mack.

Richards continued to catch for the A’s until the end of the season. He was sold to Atlanta on November 20, 1935, and Almon Williams was bought from Atlanta the same day (then optioned back to Atlanta for the next season).

An Eye Witness

It may be that something happened in some game that precipitated a prolonged argument between Richards and a home plate umpire, without the dire consequences attached to it by Richards.

Fifty years later Randy Gumpert, an A’s batting practice pitcher in 1935, recalled being at the game where it supposedly occurred. 

“While Richards was arguing, I saw Connie Mack, looking agitated, with one foot on the top step of the dugout like he wanted to go out to home plate.

Fifteen years later I was with the White Sox and Richards was the manager. I mentioned that incident to him. He said, ‘I didn’t think anybody remembered that anymore.’”

But it was Richards himself who had kept the tall tale alive.