The Day the New York Giants Came to Oxnard

November 11, 1913

Jeffrey Wayne Maulhardt

    The 2nd Printing of the book is here! Eight color pages of new information and great pictures. 

    One of my earliest discoveries in doing my research for my first book was a picture of a game that was held in Oxnard in 1913 between the New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox. Being a sports fan, I was curious as to why two professional baseball teams would come to a little known town of Oxnard that most beet wagons would have a hard time finding. I put my "farmers" research down and started digging into the library resources and I found every reference I could find about the game. I began sharing my discovery with my family and friends. Their reactions confirmed my instinct that this was a story worth rescuing. I organized my findings into a short story that I decided the local paper needed to publish. In December 1996, the Ventura County Star printed a front page article about the game. The article was rewritten by a staff member but I was given credit for the research as well as several quotes. Next, I received an avalanche of phone calls and positive reaction that convinced me that the story still had some legs. I expanded my original story and added some pictures. Then I came across the final piece of the puzzle that legitimized the project. I made contact with the daughter of one of the players from the Giants team, Betty Snodgrass Garrett. Betty's father is Fred Snodgrass, the centerfielder for the Giants, was born in Ventura and who during the time of the game had a ranch near Oxnard. Betty opened up her archive of pictures and articles about her father and the story was soon completed. 

I feel that this is a story for Hollywood. It's a classic tale of the underdog making good. Fred Snodgrass became infamous for a misplayed fly ball in the 1912 World Series. The press chose Fred as their scapegoat for the Giants loss. Though the error did contribute to the disastrous extra inning loss, there were many other mistakes made by the other Giant players that only thoughtful baseball historians are aware of. Yet Fred's teammates nor his home town ever pointed the finger at their friend.

    In this story, the baseball game in Oxnard becomes Fred's redemption. He is given a hero's welcome and is presented with a gold watch at the opening ceremony. In addition to the three to two Giant victory, the well dressed Oxnard citizens were treated to a horse race between the fastest base runner in baseball, Hans Lobert, and one of the counties most adept vaqueros, Porfilio Lorenzana.

Participating in the sold-out game were future "Hall of Famers" Christy Mathewson, Tris Speaker, Sam Crawford and Ray Schalk. Managing the National League powerhouse Giants was non other than the legendary John McGraw. In fact, it was McGraw who discovered Fred when he was playing baseball during his college days in Los Angeles.

As a culminating activity for the Centennial of the city of Oxnard, the Parks and Recreation department organized a reenactment  game on June 29,  2003. It was a resounding success.

Poster by Boross & Higgins

I've put together a script based on the book and entitled Redemption Game.

It's the TITANIC of baseball movies!

EIGHT MEN OUT with a happy ending!

I have several agents currently looking over the script and with fingers crossed,

hopefully the odds are better than the lottery!

The story starts off in 1963, then flashes back to 1908...