May 5, 2026 • 10 mins
Some messages are communicated without a sound, as these two curious tales show us in a delightful way.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Nke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
If you've ever watched a baseball game closely, you'll notice
something particular about the way the players communicate. There's not
a lot of shouting on the field. Much of the
way players talk is through hand signals and body language,
and this isn't surprising. After all, sports stadiums are noisy places,
and in baseball, every play needs to happen with clockwork efficiency.
(00:58):
A pitcher and a catcher also need to strategize without
the batter knowing what pitch will come next. Quick clear
communication is the difference between a win and a loss.
In the year nineteen hundred, the New York Giants brought
a pitcher up from the minor leagues to finish out
their season. His name was Luther Taylor, a twenty six
year old from a small town in Kansas. He wanted
(01:21):
to be a boxer, as a kid, but his parents
didn't approve, so he became a baseball player instead. As
soon as he joined the Giants, people thought this rookie
wouldn't be up to the task of the major leagues.
He was in over his head, didn't have what it takes.
In a game against Boston, five players on the other
team attempted to steal third base, assuming that Taylor wouldn't
(01:42):
be alert enough to throw them out, but he did
one after the other. He did this all without saying
a word, and because of that he would earn the
nickname Dummy Taylor. Now, in spite of the rude nickname,
he was a popular member of the team. His teammates
would remember him as a steady hand on the pitching mound.
The rookie, who everyone expected to underperform, closed the season
(02:05):
with a respectable pitching record, and the Giants chose to
bring him back for the nineteen oh one season. That year,
he held the second highest record for most games pitched,
but unfortunately, the Giants suffered from a weak hitting record,
so they didn't perform as well as Taylor pitched. In
nineteen oh two, he left the Giants persuaded by a
higher salary from the Cleveland Broncos. He was almost immediately
(02:28):
miserable in the team though the rest of the team
were uncommunicative with him, and he fell out. But the
money was good and he was in the major leagues,
and so he kept pitching. And then in May of
that year, a familiar face appeared in the stands. It
was Frank Bauerman, a catcher from the New York Giants,
and every time Taylor walked between the mound and the dugouts,
(02:50):
Bauerman signaled at him with sign language, asking him back
to the Giants and making an offer, And every time
he signed, Taylor would shake his head. Doorman kept signing
at him, increasing the amount of money they were offering Taylor,
and finally Taylor nodded yes and left Cleveland for good
that evening. He pitched with the Giants until nineteen oh eight,
(03:11):
before going back down to the minor leagues and finishing
his career in nineteen ten. He had played nine seasons
of professional baseball, earned himself a respectable record as a
major league pitcher, all while having a very specific disability.
You see, Luther Taylor was born deaf. His nickname Dummy
was not a crack at his intelligence, but a reference
(03:33):
to the fact that he didn't speak verbally. Think of
the phrase to be dumbstruck. He communicated only with sign language.
Every man in the nineteen oh one New York Giants
team learned sign language in order to communicate with him
on and off the field. It was a level of
commitment and inclusion that understandably he was sad to leave,
and that's why he felt so out of place in Cleveland,
(03:55):
where his teammates didn't know sign language and thus struggled
to communicate with the one deaf player they had. Taylor
wasn't the first person to use hand signs on a
baseball field, though, but his success popularized the practice in
the public imagination. In fact, during his early career, it
led to a game that disability rights advocates see as historic.
(04:16):
You see on March sixteenth of nineteen oh two, nine
days after his return from Cleveland, Luther Taylor took to
the mound to pitch against the Cincinnati Reds. On the
opposing team, center fielder William Ellsworth Hoy came up to
bat as their leadoff hitter. Hoy was forty years old
on his last season for the Reds, and he was
also another deaf player who went by the nickname Dummy.
(04:40):
This game was the first and only time two deaf
players had faced each other in the major leagues, and
because of that, the fact had been well publicized. The
stands filled with around five thousand deaf and hard of
hearing baseball fans. To these people, Taylor and Hoy's presence
on the field spoke loud and clear, no hand signals required.
(05:14):
There was a thick gray mist that was heavy in
the air on the morning of October fourth, of seventeen
seventy seven. The air was damp and already cold. It
would be another few hours before the first rooster crowed,
and the moon was still high overhead. Already, George Washington
was hard at work. More accurately, George Washington and every
soldier at his disposal were hard at work. Four months
(05:38):
had passed since the British had seized Philadelphia, the revolutionary capital.
The Continental Army had made several unsuccessful attempts to retake it,
But today Washington had a plan. Early in the morning,
long before sunrise, American soldiers would split into several groups
and ambush the British at their base camp before they
(05:58):
even woke up. The surprise attack would give them the
edge that they'd been missing in previous battles. Washington hoped
it would be enough. Already, the weather was getting cold,
his soldiers were exhausted, and he lost good men in
every battle over the past year, and so it would
soon be too cold to do anything but survive this plan.
This morning would be their last chance to take back
(06:19):
the city before spring. Unfortunately, the mysts that hid them
from their enemies also hid the men from each other.
You may have heard soldiers talk about the fog of war,
but in this case, there really was a fog. Thick
morning mist made it almost impossible to tell who was
fighting on which side. Two groups of American soldiers fired
(06:39):
on one another after mistaking the other side for the
British army, and in all of that confusion, the British
managed to escape. General William Howe, who had captured the
city in July, rode swiftly away from the battlefield after
hearing shots. He assumed that a rebel scouting party was
exchanging fire with patrolmen until the south of bullets followed
(07:01):
him and his men out of their camp. Washington's plan
the last hope of the Continental Army, had failed, not
because of a mistake or because he was outsmarted, but
because the fog literally caused mass confusion among everyone, from
the revolutionary soldiers to the British generals, and even to Lila. Lila,
(07:21):
you see, was a sweet fox terrier who had followed
her owner into the melee and then followed the Americans
when they eventually retreated. The soldiers were dirty, exhausted, freezing,
and embarrassed. They were angry. They wanted revenge. They wanted
to go home. When one of the men spotted the
well groomed dog back at the camp and picked her up,
(07:41):
he saw a shining silver color around her neck. These
men were so cold and so hungry, and yet here
was a dog who looked like she lived better than
they did. To add insult to injury, Lila's owner had
engraved his name on the gleaming silver collar. She belonged
to none other than General William Howe. A few of
the men, including the soldier who had found her, brought
(08:03):
Lilah to Washington. They were still stinging with defeat, and
they wanted Lilah, with her plump belly and saft fur
to pay the price, they asked Washington to hold her
in retribution for their defeat. Fortunately, the formidable General Washington
was what we might call a dog person. He kept
many pets and had several hunting dogs himself. In fact,
(08:25):
Lafayette once gifted Washington with seven greyhounds as a show
of friendship. So what did the brilliant strategist, the war general,
and the first President of the United States do with
his enemy's dog? While he instructed Alexander Hamilton to write
General how a letter which would be delivered to the
British soldier's camp under a flag of truce. And this
(08:47):
is what the letter said. General Washington's compliments to General Howe,
he does himself the pleasure to return him a dog
which accidentally fell into his hands, and by the inscription
on the collar, appears to belowung to General how Now.
Not only that, but Washington also insisted Lila be brushed
and fed before she was returned. The dog had done
(09:09):
nothing wrong, after all, and she would be treated with
respect and gentleness, the way Washington hoped that his own
hounds would be if the roles had been reversed. The
following day, Lilah was delivered to her owner. Along with
Washington's note, One British officer wrote that How was so
happy to see her that he picked her straight up
and put her on his lap. Washington's original letter to
(09:30):
General How can be found in the National Archives today,
although any response from General How has vanished with time.
George Washington accomplished many things during his time serving the
United States as both the General and a president, but
this story shows his integrity, generosity, and grace even in defeat,
(09:50):
and as far as we know, Lila never complained. After all,
as they say, a dog is a great judge of character.
I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet
of Curiosities. This show was created by me Aaron Manke
in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the
(10:12):
Grim and Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn
more about the show and the people who make it
over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find
a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book,
available in bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook,
and if you're looking for an ad free option. Consider
joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without
(10:35):
the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and
sign up over at patreon dot com. Slash Grimandmild, and
until next time, stay curious.
Welcome to Aaron Nke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of
the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all
of these amazing tales are right there on display, just
waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.
(00:36):
If you've ever watched a baseball game closely, you'll notice
something particular about the way the players communicate. There's not
a lot of shouting on the field. Much of the
way players talk is through hand signals and body language,
and this isn't surprising. After all, sports stadiums are noisy places,
and in baseball, every play needs to happen with clockwork efficiency.
(00:58):
A pitcher and a catcher also need to strategize without
the batter knowing what pitch will come next. Quick clear
communication is the difference between a win and a loss.
In the year nineteen hundred, the New York Giants brought
a pitcher up from the minor leagues to finish out
their season. His name was Luther Taylor, a twenty six
year old from a small town in Kansas. He wanted
(01:21):
to be a boxer, as a kid, but his parents
didn't approve, so he became a baseball player instead. As
soon as he joined the Giants, people thought this rookie
wouldn't be up to the task of the major leagues.
He was in over his head, didn't have what it takes.
In a game against Boston, five players on the other
team attempted to steal third base, assuming that Taylor wouldn't
(01:42):
be alert enough to throw them out, but he did
one after the other. He did this all without saying
a word, and because of that he would earn the
nickname Dummy Taylor. Now, in spite of the rude nickname,
he was a popular member of the team. His teammates
would remember him as a steady hand on the pitching mound.
The rookie, who everyone expected to underperform, closed the season
(02:05):
with a respectable pitching record, and the Giants chose to
bring him back for the nineteen oh one season. That year,
he held the second highest record for most games pitched,
but unfortunately, the Giants suffered from a weak hitting record,
so they didn't perform as well as Taylor pitched. In
nineteen oh two, he left the Giants persuaded by a
higher salary from the Cleveland Broncos. He was almost immediately
(02:28):
miserable in the team though the rest of the team
were uncommunicative with him, and he fell out. But the
money was good and he was in the major leagues,
and so he kept pitching. And then in May of
that year, a familiar face appeared in the stands. It
was Frank Bauerman, a catcher from the New York Giants,
and every time Taylor walked between the mound and the dugouts,
(02:50):
Bauerman signaled at him with sign language, asking him back
to the Giants and making an offer, And every time
he signed, Taylor would shake his head. Doorman kept signing
at him, increasing the amount of money they were offering Taylor,
and finally Taylor nodded yes and left Cleveland for good
that evening. He pitched with the Giants until nineteen oh eight,
(03:11):
before going back down to the minor leagues and finishing
his career in nineteen ten. He had played nine seasons
of professional baseball, earned himself a respectable record as a
major league pitcher, all while having a very specific disability.
You see, Luther Taylor was born deaf. His nickname Dummy
was not a crack at his intelligence, but a reference
(03:33):
to the fact that he didn't speak verbally. Think of
the phrase to be dumbstruck. He communicated only with sign language.
Every man in the nineteen oh one New York Giants
team learned sign language in order to communicate with him
on and off the field. It was a level of
commitment and inclusion that understandably he was sad to leave,
and that's why he felt so out of place in Cleveland,
(03:55):
where his teammates didn't know sign language and thus struggled
to communicate with the one deaf player they had. Taylor
wasn't the first person to use hand signs on a
baseball field, though, but his success popularized the practice in
the public imagination. In fact, during his early career, it
led to a game that disability rights advocates see as historic.
(04:16):
You see on March sixteenth of nineteen oh two, nine
days after his return from Cleveland, Luther Taylor took to
the mound to pitch against the Cincinnati Reds. On the
opposing team, center fielder William Ellsworth Hoy came up to
bat as their leadoff hitter. Hoy was forty years old
on his last season for the Reds, and he was
also another deaf player who went by the nickname Dummy.
(04:40):
This game was the first and only time two deaf
players had faced each other in the major leagues, and
because of that, the fact had been well publicized. The
stands filled with around five thousand deaf and hard of
hearing baseball fans. To these people, Taylor and Hoy's presence
on the field spoke loud and clear, no hand signals required.
(05:14):
There was a thick gray mist that was heavy in
the air on the morning of October fourth, of seventeen
seventy seven. The air was damp and already cold. It
would be another few hours before the first rooster crowed,
and the moon was still high overhead. Already, George Washington
was hard at work. More accurately, George Washington and every
soldier at his disposal were hard at work. Four months
(05:38):
had passed since the British had seized Philadelphia, the revolutionary capital.
The Continental Army had made several unsuccessful attempts to retake it,
But today Washington had a plan. Early in the morning,
long before sunrise, American soldiers would split into several groups
and ambush the British at their base camp before they
(05:58):
even woke up. The surprise attack would give them the
edge that they'd been missing in previous battles. Washington hoped
it would be enough. Already, the weather was getting cold,
his soldiers were exhausted, and he lost good men in
every battle over the past year, and so it would
soon be too cold to do anything but survive this plan.
This morning would be their last chance to take back
(06:19):
the city before spring. Unfortunately, the mysts that hid them
from their enemies also hid the men from each other.
You may have heard soldiers talk about the fog of war,
but in this case, there really was a fog. Thick
morning mist made it almost impossible to tell who was
fighting on which side. Two groups of American soldiers fired
(06:39):
on one another after mistaking the other side for the
British army, and in all of that confusion, the British
managed to escape. General William Howe, who had captured the
city in July, rode swiftly away from the battlefield after
hearing shots. He assumed that a rebel scouting party was
exchanging fire with patrolmen until the south of bullets followed
(07:01):
him and his men out of their camp. Washington's plan
the last hope of the Continental Army, had failed, not
because of a mistake or because he was outsmarted, but
because the fog literally caused mass confusion among everyone, from
the revolutionary soldiers to the British generals, and even to Lila. Lila,
(07:21):
you see, was a sweet fox terrier who had followed
her owner into the melee and then followed the Americans
when they eventually retreated. The soldiers were dirty, exhausted, freezing,
and embarrassed. They were angry. They wanted revenge. They wanted
to go home. When one of the men spotted the
well groomed dog back at the camp and picked her up,
(07:41):
he saw a shining silver color around her neck. These
men were so cold and so hungry, and yet here
was a dog who looked like she lived better than
they did. To add insult to injury, Lila's owner had
engraved his name on the gleaming silver collar. She belonged
to none other than General William Howe. A few of
the men, including the soldier who had found her, brought
(08:03):
Lilah to Washington. They were still stinging with defeat, and
they wanted Lilah, with her plump belly and saft fur
to pay the price, they asked Washington to hold her
in retribution for their defeat. Fortunately, the formidable General Washington
was what we might call a dog person. He kept
many pets and had several hunting dogs himself. In fact,
(08:25):
Lafayette once gifted Washington with seven greyhounds as a show
of friendship. So what did the brilliant strategist, the war general,
and the first President of the United States do with
his enemy's dog? While he instructed Alexander Hamilton to write
General how a letter which would be delivered to the
British soldier's camp under a flag of truce. And this
(08:47):
is what the letter said. General Washington's compliments to General Howe,
he does himself the pleasure to return him a dog
which accidentally fell into his hands, and by the inscription
on the collar, appears to belowung to General how Now.
Not only that, but Washington also insisted Lila be brushed
and fed before she was returned. The dog had done
(09:09):
nothing wrong, after all, and she would be treated with
respect and gentleness, the way Washington hoped that his own
hounds would be if the roles had been reversed. The
following day, Lilah was delivered to her owner. Along with
Washington's note, One British officer wrote that How was so
happy to see her that he picked her straight up
and put her on his lap. Washington's original letter to
(09:30):
General How can be found in the National Archives today,
although any response from General How has vanished with time.
George Washington accomplished many things during his time serving the
United States as both the General and a president, but
this story shows his integrity, generosity, and grace even in defeat,
(09:50):
and as far as we know, Lila never complained. After all,
as they say, a dog is a great judge of character.
I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour through the Cabinet
of Curiosities. This show was created by me Aaron Manke
in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and written by the
(10:12):
Grim and Mild team, and produced by Jesse Funk. Learn
more about the show and the people who make it
over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. You'll also find
a link to the official Cabinet of Curiosity's hardcover book,
available in bookstores and online, as well as ebook and audiobook,
and if you're looking for an ad free option. Consider
joining our Patreon. It's all the same stories, but without
(10:35):
the interruption for a small monthly fee. Learn more and
sign up over at patreon dot com. Slash Grimandmild, and
until next time, stay curious.
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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