Skee-Ball, Too
The Cleveland Public Library had a terrific photograph on display for the event on Friday — a shot of Charles Bender sitting on a chair being overwhelmed by fishing poles, golf clubs, bats, rifles, and so on. The tools of Bender’s ever-active life included more than one kind of ball. He was an avid bowler and not long after bowling’s most prominent offspring, Skee-Ball, was born in 1909 he gave that a whirl as well. Of course, he was good at that, too. According to a piece in the New York Times in 1915 Bender “rolled 3,500 in ten frames, and in one frame made the perfect score of 450.” Thanks to a fellow writer — I’ll leave his name out of it because he’s doing research he may not want the world to know about it just yet — who sent the article citation.
This post was added on Tuesday, July 01, 2008 by Tom Swift at 07:07 and is filed under Albert.
"Chief Bender's Burden" has won the 2009 Seymour Medal, which recognizes the best work of baseball history during the preceding calendar year. Thanks awards committee, Dorothy Seymour Mills, the Society for American Baseball Research, and readers!
