The Dirty Inning: Hookworm, line, and sinker

Shadows and LightOn June 1, 1923, Jimmy O’Connell might have been the best he’d ever be.

The young Giants prospect was, as far as we know, free from any lingering signs of the hookworm parasite he’d been rumored to have had before being signed by John McGraw and the New York Giants, and put together a five-hit day against the Phillies. O’Connell would play only two seasons in the majors and wind up getting what some felt was a raw deal from Kenesaw Mountain Landis, in regards to a bribery scandal that erupted in 1924.

But before that, he helped the Giants make a little offensive history when they beat the Phillies 22-8. Join Justin and Trev as they travel back to 1923, a time in Philadelphia…