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MLB HOFer Johnny Evers On Bathing With Pigs And Other Horrors Of Early Baseball
The Human Crab lived up to his nickname with his complaining
It’s a matter of tradition that most people believe that the generations that come after them have things much easier than they ever did. While this may or may not be true, it’s hardly quantifiable. However, that doesn’t prevent the constant reminders. This includes sports like baseball. Hall-of-Fame Johnny Evers, who was famously known as “The Human Crab’ for his irritable personality, was really convinced that players had a much easier time than he did during his career, as later in life he recalled such degradations as having to bathe with pigs and cows while serving as a big league star.
During the course of 18 big-league seasons (1902–1917; 1922; 1929), Evers was primarily known for his time spent with the Chicago Cubs, with whom he spent the first 12 years of his career. The middle man in the famed double-play trio with shortstop Joe Tinker (Evers did not get along with him off the field) and first baseman Frank Chance, they were immortalized by a famous poem by Franklin Pierce Adams. His prickly nature gave him a reputation he carried throughout his life.
Evers was a ferocious winner. He played in four World Series; a key cog in three teams that won…
