July 15, 1904: Anton Chekhov Dies

July 15, 1904: Anton Chekhov dies of tuberculosis in Badenweiler, a health-resort town in the Black Forest, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He was 44 years old.

Regarded as Russia's greatest playwright, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860 in Taganrog, in Rostov Oblast, in the southern portion of European Russia. (An "oblast" is an administrative division, like what America calls "States.") He became a physician, but, as a man unmarried for most of his life, admitted, "Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress."

Chekhov renounced the theatre after the poor reception of his play The Seagull in 1896, but the play was revived to acclaim in 1898 by Konstantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre, which subsequently also produced Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, and premiered his last two plays, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.

These four works present a challenge to the acting ensemble as well as to audiences, because in place of conventional action Chekhov offers a "theatre of mood" and a "submerged life in the text." The plays that Chekhov wrote were not complex, but easy to follow, and created a somewhat haunting atmosphere for the audience.

"Chekhov's gun" is a popular literary device: The idea is that, if you're going to mention something in your narrative, it should be part of the story. In other words, Chekhov believed that, if you write about a gun being in the room, at some point in the story, that gun must be fired.

Chekhov at first wrote stories to earn money, but as his artistic ambition grew, he made formal innovations that influenced the evolution of the modern short story. He made no apologies for the difficulties this posed to readers, insisting that the role of an artist was to ask questions, not to answer them.

But he was always unhealthy, and by 1884 had already begun to suffer from tuberculosis. Actress Olga Knipper had appeared in all 4 of his plays, and he married her in 1901, when he was 41 and she was 32. They had no children. The character of Masha in Three Sisters is said to be based on her, although Chekhov also had a sister named Masha. 

On June 3, 1904, like many TB patients before and after, he headed for a town known for its health spas, in his case Badenweiler, taking Olga with him. She described his death on July 15:

Anton sat up unusually straight and said loudly and clearly (although he knew almost no German): Ich sterbe ("I'm dying"). The doctor calmed him, took a syringe, gave him an injection of camphor, and ordered champagne. Anton took a full glass, examined it, smiled at me and said: "It's a long time since I drank champagne." He drained it and lay quietly on his left side, and I just had time to run to him and lean across the bed and call to him, but he had stopped breathing and was sleeping peacefully as a child.

Olga lived on until 1959. It's been suggested that Pavel Chekov, the Russian navigator on the original Star Trek series, was named for Anton Chekhov, but the names are spelled differently.

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July 15, 1904 was a Friday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Highlanders beat the Cleveland Naps, 3-2 at Hilltop Park in Upper Manhattan. The game went 15 innings, and both starters went the distance: Jack Powell for New York, and Earl Moore for Cleveland.

Al Orth, known as "The Curveless Wonder," outpitched future Hall-of-Famer Addie Joss, known as "The Human Hairpin" because of his pitching motion. Jimmy Williams singled home Norman "Kid" Elberfeld to win the game in the bottom of the 9th.

In 1913, the Highlanders renamed themselves the Yankees. Cleveland's 2nd baseman, manager and namesake was Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, who did not play in this game. Nor did the Highlanders' biggest star, "Wee" Willie Keeler. After Lajoie he left in 1914, the team was renamed the Cleveland Indians. In 2022, they renamed themselves again, the Cleveland Guardians.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2 at The Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati. Christy Mathewson was the winning pitcher. Sam Mertens went 4-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs.

* The Brooklyn Superbas, forerunners of the Dodgers, beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0 at Robison Field in St. Louis. Ned Garvin pitched a 3-hit, 10-inning shutout.

* The Boston Americans, forerunners of the Red Sox, beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-1 at Columbia Park in Philadelphia.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Washington Senators, 7-2 at American League Park in Washington.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner went 0-for-1 with 3 walks.

* And the Boston Beaneaters, forerunners of the Braves, beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago.