Wichita Witches · Wichita, Kansas · 1920

Witches Beaten by Indians 9 to 7

August 1920, Western League baseball: the Oklahoma City Indians beat the Wichita Witches 9 to 7 in what the Tulsa World plainly calls a wild ball game. The headline news is the umpire. Flood called Gregory's hit into left field an infield fly, checked a big Wichita rally in the eighth and was almost mobbed by local fans for it.

The Morning Tulsa Daily World of August 12, 1920 had Western League news from down the road: “WITCHES BEATEN BY INDIANS 9 TO 7.” That’s the Wichita Witches and the Oklahoma City Indians, and the game itself barely makes the first sentence. “Oklahoma City got an early lead of six runs and won a wild ball game today, 9 to 7.”

The subhead has the part everybody talked about at supper: “Ump Flood Is Almost Mobbed.” The story explains in one breath: “Umpire Flood was almost mobbed by local fans for calling Gregory’s hit into left field an infield fly, checking a big Wichita rally in the eighth.”

That’s the whole account. No word on how Flood got out, though the summary line “Umpires—Flood and Wilson. Time 2:00” suggests the game finished with both of them still on the premises. The box score tells the rest of the story: eleven hits apiece, Wichita burning through Brooks, Billman and Gregory on the mound after starter Salisbury gave up “10 and 7 in 4 1-3 innings,” and a nine-run hole that a five-run fifth couldn’t quite fill.

Umpires have never had it easy in these pages. In 1913 a Washington paper declared a day in their honor, and the man in blue needed every bit of it. As for the Witches, their nicknames alone are worth a story, and Topeka once held them to three hits, but that’s a clipping for another day.