Lou Sleater

Playing in the majors for one’s hometown team is the dream of many American boys, and Lou Sleater achieved it two times over. Born in St. Louis, but a Baltimore resident by his high school years, Sleater started his big-league career with the Browns and finished it with the Orioles. Primarily a reliever, the left-hander pitched for five franchises over parts of seven seasons (1950-1952, 1955-1958).

Louis Mortimer Sleater Jr. was born on September 8, 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri. His father, Lou Sr., had played professional soccer for the Ben Millers of the Municipal Soccer League before marrying Ann O’Connor in 1923.1 Their daughter Rita-Rose arrived that year, followed by Lou in 1926 and Gerald in 1935. The elder Lou spent 36 years working for the American Credit Indemnity Co., traveling throughout North America as a claims adjuster before eventually working his way up to vice president. Prior to starting a family, Lou Sr. had spurned two offers to play professional baseball after starring for the semipro Donnelly Stars.2

Young Lou was a member of the Knothole Gang, attending Cardinals and Browns games at Sportsman’s Park. He preferred the latter club because they were perennial underdogs, and power-hitting third baseman Harlond Clift was his favorite player.3 In 1940, the Sleaters moved more than 800 miles east to the Forest Park neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland.4 “The two cities, St. Louis and Baltimore, are so much alike they defy comparisons,” Sleater observed 51 years later. “The downtowns are similar, the weather is almost identical, and psychologically they are virtually the same. Both are family communities. Personally, I think St. Louis is more of a baseball town and Baltimore is stronger for football, but you can debate that.”5

At Mount Saint Joseph High School, Sleater was a three-sport star: “Coveted by Notre Dame for his football ability, by Dartmouth for how he played ice hockey and the major leagues of baseball,” a Baltimore sportswriter described.6 In the latter sport, Sleater batted .364 and compiled a 7-1 pitching record for the Gaels as a senior, attracting a personal scouting trip to witness his final high school game by the New York Yankees’ Paul Krichell.7 With Krichell among the 2,500 in attendance, Sleater shut out Baltimore Polytechnic Institute at Oriole Park on June 2, 1944, to win the city championship.8 Oriole Park – then the home of Baltimore’s Triple-A International League team – burned down just over a month later.

Boston Braves scout Jeff Jones invited three Gaels to work out, and signed Sleater and second baseman Tommy Lind less than two weeks after they graduated.9 In a 2000 interview, Sleater explained that he picked the Braves because they offered him more money than either the New York Giants or Yankees. Also, playing football for Notre Dame would have required him to attend summer school first, something he wasn’t interested in considering his impending military service with World War II still raging.10

After reporting to Jamestown, New York initially, Sleater spent the final month of the 1944 season with the Hartford (Connecticut) Laurels of the Class-A Eastern League, but he didn’t appear in any games before his September induction into the Navy. Finally, after he was discharged in June 1946, Sleater rejoined the club – by then called the Hartford Chiefs – and saw action in three contests, allowing one earned run over five innings in his only pitching appearance.11

Sleater enrolled at the University of Maryland to study physical education but pitched only batting practice because his professional status made him ineligible for Terrapins games.12 In 1947, he experienced a dizzying series of transactions before his baseball career found its track. In spring training, he was released by the Braves. He caught on with the Raleigh Capitals of the Class-C Carolina League but worked just three innings in one outing before he was released again, because of a salary dispute.13 Sleater then returned to Baltimore to play sandlot ball until he encountered Harry Postove, a fellow Navy veteran who’d begun scouting for the Chicago Cubs.14 After signing for $2,400, Sleater reported to the Davenport (Iowa) Cubs of the Class-B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa (Three I) League.15 He posted a 1-3 (6.28 ERA) record in 10 games and was was optioned to the Ogdensburg (New York) Maples of the Class-C Border League. There the 5-foot-11, 185-pounder finished the season by posting a 4-1 (3.51) mark in nine appearances.16

That winter in Panama, Sleater went 5-0 for the Cristóbal Mottas of the Canal Zone League.17 Nevertheless, the Cubs organization dumped him six starts into the 1948 season despite his decent 3-3 (3.86) showing for the Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Canaries of the Class-C Northern League. According to later reporting by The Sporting News, Sleater’s outright sale to Ogdensburg in June 1948 was prompted by his argument with Cubs farm director Jack Sheehan about pitching in Panama.18 Ogdensburg – which had become a Giants affiliate – claimed the championship; Sleater compiled a 12-8 (3.37) record with 164 strikeouts in 171 innings .He won the opener of the playoff finals, 1-0, with a 10-inning, 10-strikeout, four-hitter.19

In 1949, Sleater advanced to the Jacksonville Tars of the Class A South Atlantic League. On May 1, he two-hit Greenville to outduel former Brooklyn Dodgers righty Rube Melton.20 Overall, in 237 innings, Sleater finished 14-13 (2.77) for a sub-.500 team. That winter, he married Jane Boulay. Their union lasted the rest of his life and produced two sons and two daughters. Raymond was born in 1951, followed by twins Robert and Joanne the following year, and Susan in 1955.

During spring training 1950, the April 5 edition of The Sporting News reported, “The southpaw is a bonus player and the Giants don’t want to lose him, but that isn’t the only reason he is being kept. [New York manager] Leo Durocher is sure Sleater can help the team.”21 On April 10, however, the St. Louis Browns were able to claim Sleater on waivers because of a clerical error by the Giants’ front office.22 He made his major-league debut at Sportsman’s Park on April 25, by working the ninth inning of the Browns’ 5-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Sleater struck out the first batter he faced, Jerry Priddy, and worked a perfect frame.

A few weeks later, the Browns shipped Sleater to Double-A. In 29 appearances (16 starts) for the San Antonio Missions, he was 12-5 with a 2.82 ERA and made the Texas League All-Star team.23 In the playoffs, Sleater won two of three decisions to help the Missions win the championship. “I suppose the year at San Antonio did me lots of good,” he reflected. “In the first place, I was able to work regularly, and in that way I was able to pick up some valuable experience and confidence.”24

During spring training 1951, Browns pitching coach Earle Brucker (who resigned before Opening Day) agreed, saying, “[Sleater]’s got a swell curve ball, good enough fast one, and gives the impression he’s learned a lot the last year.”25 Sleater, described by beat writer Bob Broeg as a “chunky southpaw” who resembled former Reds righty Red Lucas, began the season in St. Louis’s rotation and lost his first seven decisions.26 His strongest effort came on May 6 against the Boston Red Sox, when he allowed just two earned runs through nine innings despite issuing nine walks. When he tried to throw a fastball by Ted Williams, however, the Splendid Splinter led off the top of the 10th with what proved to be a game-winning homer.27 “[Sleater]’ll be around for a long time and you’ll hear from him,” said Browns manager Zack Taylor afterwards.28 “The kid hung in there, and that’s encouraging.”29

The hapless Browns were in last place to stay by the end of June, and Sleater recalled Taylor telling the team, “Let’s try to look good losing.”30 Shortly after Bill Veeck purchased the franchise and vowed to shake things up, Sleater – 1-9 with a 5.11 ERA in 20 appearances (eight starts) – was sent to the minors on July 31. He’d been optioned to the Yankees’ Triple-A American Association club, the Kansas City Blues, as part of St. Louis’s deal for Cliff Mapes.31 In Kansas City, Sleater lived in the same house as outfielder Mickey Mantle, who’d recently been demoted by New York.32 Sleater went 4-2 in seven regular season starts for the Blues and earned the club’s only playoff victory, a 1-0, five-hitter in Milwaukee.33 After each of his outings, he wrote to Veeck, explaining what he did right and wrong. “He even enclosed clippings from the daily newspaper to back him up,” Veeck recalled. “Believe me, that boy was interested in his work and wanted to make sure I was, too. If he doesn’t make the grade with our club, I’ll be terribly disappointed.”34

Sleater broke camp with the Browns again in 1952, but made just four appearances under new manager Rogers Hornsby, whom he recalled as “just a bad human being, nobody liked him.”35 After Sleater was dealt with veteran infielder Fred Marsh to the Washington Senators for former All-Star Cass Michaels on May 12, he remarked, “It’s like being let out of prison. It’s nice to get away from That Man.”36 Sleater had been recommended to Senators skipper Bucky Harris by catcher Clyde Kluttz, a former Browns backstop.37 “[Sleater] looked good getting licked,” said Harris. “You had to take notice of the fact that he had plenty of natural ability, and that the stuff he threw us was alive. I always had him tabbed as a kid who could make good.”38

With Washington, Sleater tossed complete games in his first three outings, including his only major-league shutout, on May 25 against the Philadelphia Athletics. By going 4-2 (3.63) in 14 appearances (nine starts), he earned the only four victories by a Senators southpaw all season. Nevertheless, on July 29, he was optioned out to the franchise’s Chattanooga (Tennessee) Lookouts affiliate to help them battle for the Double-A Southern Association title. Understandably, he was upset, and – four hours after he received the news – Sleater’s wife gave birth to their twins two months prematurely, requiring incubation. “If I don’t have ulcers after this, I never will,” he said.39 He went 1-2 in three appearances as the Lookouts finished with the circuit’s best regular season record before falling in the semifinals.

Sleater did not pitch in the majors in either of the next two seasons. In May 1953, seeking to boost his team’s league-leading attendance figure to 600,000, Toronto Maple Leafs owner Jack Kent Cooke spent $30,000 to land Sleater and Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Woody Main.40 Sleater finished 7-11 (4.01) in 25 outings, Main worked just 48 innings, and Toronto missed the playoffs while drawing 403,990 fans – still tops in the Triple-A International League.41

After two appearances for the 1954 Maple Leafs, Sleater was optioned to the Charleston (West Virginia) Senators – the White Sox’s American Association farm club – along with Red Fahr as payment for Al Zilian.42 None of the three pitchers finished the year with their new teams, though Sleater enjoyed the most success. He went 5-2 for Charleston, including a 14-strikeout shutout at St. Paul on July 27.43 Seven of the whiffs came in succession to match Monte Pearson’s 1933 circuit record. Sleater was named to the American Association All-Star squad.44 On August 18, however, Toronto recalled Sleater’s option and reassigned him to the Kansas City Blues in exchange for Bob Wiesler. Four days later, Sleater beat his former Charleston teammates, 2-1.45 One week after the deal was made, though, he suffered a season-ending muscle pull after delivering a pinch-hit single.46 Sleater’s career minor-league batting average was .262, and he came off the bench to swing frequently. In 1954, for example, he saw action in just 25 games as a pitcher but appeared in 61 contests overall.

Although Sleater’s injury cost him any chance at a September call-up, his contract was purchased that fall and he began the 1955 season with Yankees. Prior to Opening Day, he pitched an exhibition inning against the Brooklyn Dodgers on a chilly afternoon at Ebbets Field, but he forgot his sweatshirt and his arm was sore the next day.47 Sleater never appeared in a regular-season contest for the Yankees. On April 28, he was sold to Kansas City, the new home of the American League’s relocated Philadelphia Athletics. “When [Yankees manager] Casey [Stengel told me I was traded to Kansas City, he said, ‘Go there and do a good job but don’t be like that fellow Sleater we have around here who tries to strike out everybody,’” Sleater recalled.48

Sleater’s return to the majors after three years didn’t last long. In 16 appearances for the Athletics, he went 1-1 (7.71). He lost his only start – in Baltimore, where the Browns had moved in 1954 – by allowing six runs over five frames. On July 19, he was demoted to Kansas City’s Triple-A IL farm club, the Columbus (Ohio) Jets, and lost all three of his appearances with a 15.43 ERA.49 On August 5, Columbus sent him back to the American Association – to the Toledo (Ohio) Sox for southpaw Dick Hoover.50 “I made up my mind that this was it,” Sleater recalled. “I was going to finish out the season and then quit. At Toledo, though, things were different. [Manager George] Selkirk and [pitching coach Charlie] Root took an interest in me and told me I had a chance to go back up if I showed something.”51

Selkirk recognized that Sleater’s infrequent usage before joining Toledo had rendered him rusty and out of shape. “Don’t let his record fool you,” said Selkirk, who’d previously skippered Sleater with Kansas City in 1951. “I’ve seldom seen a fellow with more moxie in the clutch… Lou hasn’t got a world of stuff, but he gets the ball over the plate and he’s got courage galore. His fastball isn’t overpowering, but it’s deceptive. He has a real good curve and a pretty fair change up and, last year, he started working on a screwball.”52

In nine appearances for Toledo, a Milwaukee Braves affiliate, Sleater split two decisions and posted a 2.40 ERA.53 That fall, he joined Al] Kaline’s All-Stars for a barnstorming tour on the East Coast.54 Then, three days after Thanksgiving, the Braves officially acquired him from the Athletics by selecting him in the Rule 5 draft. “I don’t know much about Sleater,” admitted Braves manager Charlie Grimm. “But he may give us the left-handed relief strength we need.”55

Sleater impressed in his Braves debut on April 20, 1956. He entered a tie game in St. Louis with a runner on third base and just one out in the bottom of the seventh, and retired future Hall of Famers Red Schoendienst (on a popup) and Stan Musial (on a comebacker) to keep the score even. Sleater was credited with the victory after Milwaukee tallied a run in the eighth and he shut out the Cardinals over two more frames. Six days later, Sleater was hospitalized briefly after he was hit in the back of the head by teammate Hank Aaron’s line drive during batting practice.56 He never lost consciousness, however, and soon became the Braves’ only bullpen lefty for a month following the demotion of Chet Nichols.

On June 15 in Brooklyn, Sleater was involved in an unusual sequence of events. With the score tied and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, he was about to pitch to lefty-hitting Rube Walker when Grimm – mistakenly believing right-hander Roy Campanella was up next – sent his pitching coach to the mound to summon a right-handed reliever. The umpires generously allowed the pitching change to be canceled, but Sleater surrendered a game-ending single, and Grimm resigned less than 24 hours later.57 The Braves were in fifth place at the time, but they quickly surged back into the National League pennant race under replacement skipper Fred Haney. Sleater notched his first big-league save in Pittsburgh during the Braves’ 11-game winning streak in June. He picked up a victory and another save on the club’s critical, two-week road trip in September.

Entering the final series of the regular season, Milwaukee led second-place Brooklyn by one game, but the Dodgers swept the Pirates while the Braves lost two of three –and the pennant – in St. Louis. One of the defeats was a heartbreaker in which Milwaukee’s Warren Spahn worked into the bottom of the 12th before one-out doubles by Musial and Rip Repulski brought a 2-1 win for the Cardinals. “[Spahn] cried like a baby after we lost thar ballgame,” Sleater recalled.58

Sleater finished his first full season in the majors with a 3.15 ERA, but he worked only 45 2/3 innings over 25 appearances (one start). Taylor Phillips, a 23-year-old rookie who debuted on June 23, surpassed him as the Braves’ top southpaw reliever in the second half. In addition to his regular offseason job doing public relations for Baltimore’s ABC Freight company, Sleater spent the winter working on a knuckleball entering his age 30 season.59

In 1957, the Braves sent Sleater to Triple-A in the final week of spring training, but he never pitched for their affiliate in Wichita, Kansas. Instead, he was dealt to another American Association club – Charleston – on May 6 for first baseman Roy Hawes. Charleston had become a Tigers farm club, but Sleater made only one appearance for them before he was summoned to Detroit. On May 30, he performed double duty to earn his first Tigers victory. After hurling a scoreless top of the 10th at Briggs Stadium, he led off the bottom of the inning with a game-ending homer off Kansas City righty Wally Burnette. While it was Sleater’s first big-league round-tripper, he added two more within five days that August – three-run shots off Chicago’s Jim Derrington and Baltimore’s Ray Moore. Sleater also enjoyed his busiest year in the majors on the mound. In 41 relief appearances covering 69 1/3 innings, he finished 3-3 (3.76) with two saves. The Tigers rewarded him with a bonus and a raise.60

Sleater made news for his golfing prowess prior to the 1958 season. Twice, he broke 70 at the Country Club of Maryland in Baltimore.61 During spring training, he won a tournament for Tigers players sponsored by the Lakeland (Florida) Chamber of Commerce by defeating teammate Ray Boone in a playoff.62 In baseball, however, Sleater broke the ring finger on his pitching hand early in the year and made just four relief appearances for Detroit. When the Tigers tried to send him back to Charleston on May 24, he refused to report and was granted permission to make his own deal. On June 2, the Baltimore Orioles purchased him for approximately $20,000.63

Still bothered by his injured finger, Sleater allowed six runs over two innings in his first two outings for his hometown Orioles. He was then placed on the disabled list on June 16 and sent to an orthopedic specialist. “I’ve never been hit this hard in my life,” he said. “The way I’m throwing now, I can’t win anywhere. I just can’t grip the ball right.”64 He returned to action on August 12 by striking out Mickey Mantle in a 7-2 Orioles loss at Yankee Stadium. Two days later, though, during an off-day workout at Memorial Stadium, he fouled a ball off the big toe on his right foot during batting practice.65 The fracture derailed Baltimore’s plan to try him as a starter.66 Sleater appeared in just three more games – his last in the majors, as it happened – and finished the year with a 10.22 ERA in 12 1/3 innings. The Orioles sold him to their Triple-A Miami Marlins affiliate. “I’m disappointed, naturally, but the Orioles treated me in a way that I couldn’t complain,” Sleater said. “I just don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll forget about baseball.”67

Sleater joined a barnstorming tour organized by Baltimore outfielder Bob Nieman and struck out 15 of 21 batters against a semipro Central Shore League All-Star team in Salisbury, Maryland that fall.68 He attended Orioles spring training in 1959 but didn’t make the team and opted to retire rather than report to Miami. At the time, Sleater was 19 days short of the five years of major-league service time required to qualify for a pension. On September 2, the Orioles placed him on their active roster so that he could collect the money.69 The only action he saw was throwing batting practice. Sleater finished his big-league career with a 12-18 record and 4.70 ERA in 131 games (21 starts).

The Orioles offered Sleater a job coaching minor-leaguers or scouting, but he declined. “He had seen enough of the road at that point,” explained Washington, DC-based broadcaster Phil Wood.70 Sleater sold steel for Stanley Tools and the Butler, Pennsylvania-based Marmon/Keystone Corporation. After the Orioles won a championship in 1970, a photo of Sleater and his neighbor, sportswriter John Steadman, appeared in The Sporting News. Their Brook Road address in Towson had been renamed Brooks Road in honor of World Series MVP Brooks Robinson.71 Sleater remained active at the Maryland Country Club. Teaming with Bill Dornbusch, he won the Maryland State Golf Association’s two-man championship in both 1984 and 1988.72

Lou Sleater was 86 when he died from lung disease at his home in Timonium, Maryland on March 25, 2013. He is buried in that town’s Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Warren Corbett and Rory Costello and fact-checked by James Forr.

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted www.ancestry.com, www.baseball-reference.com, and www.retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 “Millers Battle Leos to a Scoreless Tie,” St. Louis Star and Times, December 18, 1922: 16.

2 “Louis M. Sleater Sr.” Baltimore Sun, December 20, 1993: 5B.

3 Lou Sleater, Interview with David S. Paulson, November 1, 2000, SABR Oral History Collection. https://sabr.org/interview/lou-sleater-2000/ (last accessed November 24, 2021), (Hereafter Sleater-Paulson interview).

4 Jacques Kelly, “Louis M. Sleater: Knuckleballer Ended Seven-Year Major League Career with the Orioles and Was a Top Baltimore Prep Athlete in 1944,” Baltimore Sun, March 28, 2013: A12.

5 John Steadman, “This Tale of Two Cities Should Have Baltimore Ending,” Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), October 23, 1991: E1.

6 Steadman, “This Tale of Two Cities Should Have Baltimore Ending.”

7 R.P. Elmer, Jr., “St. Joe and Poly Get 7 Places on All-Scholastic Ball Team,” Baltimore Sun, June 8, 1944: 18.

8 “R.P. Elmer, Jr., “St. Joe Blanks Poly for Title,” Baltimore Sun, June 3, 1944: 10.

9 Lind peaked in Double-A. Gaels outfielder/pitcher Tony Lipton was the third player, but he declined to turn professional on his father’s advice. One year later, a fourth member of Mount Saint Joseph’s 1944 champions, shortstop George Eikenberg signed with the Braves. “Two St. Joe Stars Sign with Hartford,” Baltimore Sun, June 21, 1944: 15.

10 Sleater-Paulson interview.

11 “Louis Sleater, Jr.,” The Sporting News, December 7, 1955: 9.

12 Shirley Povich, “Bucky Molds Hill Castoffs into Winners,” The Sporting News, June 4, 1952: 13.

13 Sleater-Paulson interview.

14 John Steadman, “Unitas Replies in Kind, Completing Graceful Play,” Baltimore Sun, December 13, 1998: 4E.

15 Bob Broeg, “Giants’ Mistake Gave Brownies Homebread Southpaw Prospect,” The Sporting News, March 21, 1951: 7.

16 “Louis Sleater, Jr.”

17 Leo J. Eberenz, “Bilko Bat Hot in Canal Zone,” The Sporting News, February 18, 1948: 20.

18 Broeg, “Giants’ Mistake Gave Brownies Homebread Southpaw Prospect.”

19 “No-Hit Hurler for Nine Innings Loses in Tenth,” The Sporting News, September 29, 1948: 38.

20 “Sally League,” The Sporting News, May 11, 1949: 35.

21 Ken Smith, “Maglie, Sleater to Front in Giants’ Pitcher Parade,” The Sporting News, April 5, 1950: 17.

22 Broeg, “Giants’ Mistake Gave Brownies Homebread Southpaw Prospect.”

23 “Blackburn, Courtney Only Unanimous All-Star Picks,” The Sporting News, July 26, 1950: 29.

24 “Sleater Out to Prove Giants Made Prize Baseball Boner When They Put Him on List,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 23, 1951: 26.

25 Broeg, “Giants’ Mistake Gave Brownies Homebread Southpaw Prospect.”

26 Bob Broeg, “It Happens Every Spring – Bases on Balls Slay Zack,” The Sporting News, May 2, 1951: 10.

27 Sleater-Paulson interview.

28 Bob Broeg, “Work of Baltimore Rookie Pair Brightens Dark Brown Picture,” The Sporting News, May 16, 1951: 9.

29 Broeg, “It Happens Every Spring – Bases on Balls Slay Zack.”

30 John Steadman, “Angelos Says Sky-High Attendance Doesn’t Mean Big Profits for O’s,” Baltimore Sun, October 6, 1996: 2C.

31 In addition to releasing Bob Hogue and Kermit Wahl to Kansas City outright in exchange for Mapes, the Browns also optioned Sleater and infielder Tom Upton. Dan Daniel, “Bombers’ Brass Calls in Reserves for Flag Charge,” The Sporting News, August 8, 1951: 11.

32 Kelly, “Louis M. Sleater: Knuckleballer Ended Seven-Year Major League Career with the Orioles and Was a Top Baltimore Prep Athlete in 1944.”

33 “Semi-Final Series,” The Sporting News, September 26, 1951: 25.

34 “Pitcher in Minors Wrote Veeck After Every Start,” The Sporting News, February 13,1952: 23.

35 Sleater-Paulson interview.

36 Marsh went back to the Browns four weeks later in exchange for outfielder Earl Rapp. “Quotes,” The Sporting News, June 25, 1952: 10.

37 Shirley Povich, “Bucky Molds Hill Castoffs into Winners,” The Sporting News, June 4, 1952: 13.

38 Shirley Povich, “Hats Off…!” The Sporting News, June 11, 1952: 17.

39 “Twins Arrive at Sleaters Same Day Lou Optioned,” The Sporting News, August 4, 1952: 17.

40 Cy Kritzer, “Added Pitching Steams Up Race,” The Sporting News, May 27, 1953: 27.

41 “Toronto,” The Sporting News, September 23, 1953: 26.

42 “Charleston,” The Sporting News, May 26, 1954: 26.

43 “Charleston,” The Sporting News, August 4, 1954: 26.

44 “Herb Score Tops All-Star Voting; Six Indianapolis Players Picked,” The Sporting News, August 11, 1954: 29.

45 “Toronto’s Shift of Sleater to Blues Roils Charleston,” The Sporting News, September 1, 1954: 26.

46 “Kansas City,” The Sporting News, September 8, 1954: 28.

47 Sleater-Paulson interview.

48 John Steadman, “Bunning is the Man Baseball Needs,” Evening Sun, October 10, 1992: 4D.

49 “Louis Sleater, Jr.”

50 Hoover was traded back to his hometown of Columbus after arguing with Toledo manager George Selkirk about pitch selection. At the conclusion of the 1955 season, Hoover retired and became a Columbus police officer. Bob Wolf, “Braves’ Long-Shot Sleater Impresses in Short Order,” The Sporting News, May 2, 1956: 11.

51 Bob Wolf, “Braves’ Long-Shot Sleater Impresses in Short Order,” The Sporting News, May 2, 1956: 11.

52 Bob Wolf, “Braves Brush Off Sleater Slate in Drafting Lefty,” The Sporting News, December 7, 1955: 6.

53 “Louis Sleater, Jr.”

54 “Kaline Team Hits Barnstorm Trail,” The Sporting News, October 12, 1955: 29.

55 Bob Wolf, “The Biggest ‘If’ on Braves in ’56?” The Sporting News, December 14, 1955: 21.

56 Bob Wolf, “Braves’ Long-Shot Sleater Impresses in Short Order,” The Sporting News, May 2, 1956: 11.

57 Bob Wolf, “Charlie’s Departure Hastened by Mound Blunder,” The Sporting News, June 27, 1956: 4.

58 Sleater-Paulson interview.

59 Bob Wolf, “Bull-Pen Lineup Among Flock of Haney Problems,” The Sporting News, February 27, 1957: 10.

60 “Quotes,” The Sporting News, October 29, 1958: 14.

61 Oscar Ruhl, “Bits and Bites – Begged, Borrowed and Bagged,” The Sporting News, January 8, 1958: 13.

62 “Sleater Tiger Golf Victor,” The Sporting News, March 26, 1958: 31.

63 United Press International, “Spurned Minors, Sleater Sold to Baltimore,” Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), June 3, 1958: 28.

64 Bob Maisel, “Move Gives Flock Spot to Grab Help,” Baltimore Sun, June 17, 1958: S17.

65 Bob Maisel, “Nieman Has Chipped Bone,” Baltimore Sun, August 17, 1958: 1D.

66 Jesse A. Linthicum, “Bird Bunts,” The Sporting News, August 27, 1958: 11.

67 “Quotes,” The Sporting News, October 29, 1958: 14.

68 “Semi-Pros Surprise Nieman’s All-Stars,” The Sporting News, October 29, 1958: 25.

69 “Lou Sleater, Near Pension Level, Reacquired by Orioles,” The Sporting News, September 9, 1959: 14.

70 Kelly, “Louis M. Sleater: Knuckleballer Ended Seven-Year Major League Career with the Orioles and Was a Top Baltimore Prep Athlete in 1944.”

71 “Sign of the Times,” The Sporting News, October 31, 1970: 41.

72 “CC of Maryland Pair Wins MSGA Team Title,” Baltimore Sun, May 11, 1993: AA8C.