Depending upon which source one believes, the pitcher known as Jack Quinn was born on July 5, 1883, or 1884 or 1885. As an infant, he emigrated with his family to southwest of Wilkes-Barre, but whether it was Janesville, Jeansville, Jeanesville, Hazleton, Mahanoy City, Gorman’s, St. Clair, or some other coal mining town, is a matter of dispute. The first two places can probably be ruled out, Janesville being in the wrong part of the state and Jeansville most likely being a misspelling of Jeanesville.

As for his age, it was a popular topic of speculation among baseball writers as Quinn was getting along in years. Many were of the opinion that he was at least three or four years older than the age given in most record books. Quinn did nothing to end the controversy. “I’ll tell my age when I quit,” he once said. “Nobody’s going to know before that.”1 Eventually, the old spitballer did retire, but he reneged on his promise and even then he did not reveal his true age.

He told another interviewer, “I’m not as old as they try to make out….Some of these newspaper fellows had me forty years old ten years ago. I’d be wearing long white whiskers like Santa Claus if I had kept pace with all the dope that’s been written about my age. I’m old enough, and there’s no argument on that point. But why confine me to the boneyard before my time?”2

The assertion in his Sporting News obituary that Quinn had served in the Spanish-American War is probably incorrect.3 The most likely date of his birth was July 5, 1883. All references to his age at the time of various accomplishments will be based upon that assumption.

John Kieran of the New York Times wrote that Quinn was called a Welshman, a Pole, an Irishman, and an Indian, among other things.4 Greek, Slovak, and French can be added to the mix. Quinn was sometimes called an Irishman, probably by those who thought Quinn was his real name. Usually he was said to have been of Welsh or Polish extraction, a logical guess since most of the miners in the area were of such lineage, but Picus certainly is not a Welsh name. With tongue in cheek, Kieran reported that the pitcher was actually of Russian ancestry and that the family name was originally Pajkosz5 He based this on a letter from an old resident of Mahanoy City, who said that his father was a grocer in that town, and in his daily rounds with horse and wagon he delivered groceries to the parents of Jack Quinn, who lived in Gorman’s, a tiny hamlet on the outskirts of Mahanoy City. He further stated that Jack was born in Gorman’s, that he was of Russian parentage, that he was christened in the Russian church at Shenendoah, as there was no Russian church in Mahanoy City and no church of any kind in Gorman’s. The oldtimer said that the family’s name was Pajkosz, pronounced Pie-kosh.  Lee Allen, the baseball historian, wrote that he was able to find a baptismal certificate showing that our hero was born at Jeansville [sic] on July 5, 1884. He went on to state that Picus is a truncated form of the Polish name Paykos.6

In order to surmise why some thought Quinn was Indian, we need to understand that he was a silent man, not given to idle conversation. Kieran tells a story about two Yankee ballplayers being out at a late hour one night, liberally imbibing of the cup that cheers. They observed a third figure, silent and unmoving in the darkness. They debated whether it was Jack Quinn or a cigar store wooden Indian. One of them investigated and reported back, “He didn’t say a single word.” His companion remarked, “Then it must be Quinn.”7 Because of this incident, some of his teammates began referring to Quinn as a wooden Indian. Perhaps some eavesdropping scribe thought they meant Quinn was of Native American ancestry and the story spread.

Pennsylvania writer Jim Zbick said the family was either Polish, Welsh, or Greek.8 Zbick did not say why he included Greek in the mix; perhaps he thought the name Paykos sounded Greek.

According to one Internet site, Jack’s parents were Anna Czarick and Michael Picus, who lived in St. Clair, a village about five miles north of Pottsville in Schuykill County, and attended the Immaculate Conception Church on Diener’s Hill in St. Clair.9 That particular Roman Catholic Church catered to persons of Slovak descent. Czarick sounds like a Slovak name. So could Quinn be of Slovak descent? Perhaps, but Anna Czarick was probably his stepmother. William C. Kashatus, a foremost authority on ballplayers from the anthracite coalfields, wrote that John Picus was born in Jeanesville, the son of Polish immigrants who ran a boarding house for coal miners.10 Kashatus is also the source of the information that the boy had a stepmother while still a child.11

Quinn signed his legal documents John Picus, but said his real name was something different, though he did not remember exactly what it was. He said his mother died when he was a few weeks old, his father married again to give him a stepmother, then his father died, and his stepmother married again to give him a stepfather, and the stepfather’s name was Picus, pronounced Py-kus, but Quinn said he thought it was of French origin and should be spelled Piqeues12 Whether the old spitballer expected anyone to believe his story is not known. Most authorities seem to think he was Polish.

Much of the above speculation about Jack Quinn’s birth and ancestry is probably misguided. Michael D. Scott has conducted extensive research and provided documentation that Quinn was born on July 1, 1883, in Stefurov, in the northwestern part of what is now the Republic of Slovakia, but was then a part of Austria-Hungary. According to Scott, whose research was published in NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture (Spring 2008, Vol. 16., No. 2), Jack’s original name was Johannes Pajkos and he was a son of Michael Pajkos and his first wife Maria, nee Dzjiacsko. The family arrived in New York on June 18, 1884, aboard the SS Suevia. Shortly after arrival in America, Maria died. Michael found work in the coal mines near Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and found women of Slovak descent to care for his infant son. In November 1887 Michael married Anastasia Tsar, who became Jack Quinn’s stepmother.

On Jack’s application for a Social Security card in 1939, the pitcher listed his name as John Quin Picus; his date and place of birth as July 5, 1884, in Mahoney City; his father’s Name as Michael Picus; and “Do not know” for his mother’s name. Scott suggests that Quinn did not know the facts about his birth.

All of this discussion about Quinn’s ethnic origins might seem to be much ado about nothing. But ethnicity was important to John Picus and other sons of immigrant coal miners who settled in the anthracite region in pursuit of the American Dream. Poor working conditions, low wages, and ethnic conflict resulted in tremendous hardships. As Kashatus points out, the miners sought refuge in the churches of their own ethnicity. They established fraternal societies and resided in their own ethnic groups in the small towns that dotted the anthracite region. Baseball was an important part of the assimilation process. Baseball flourished as a church-sponsored form of recreation and entertainment for coal miners and their families.13

For the young ballplayers, being raised in poverty and miserable working conditions, baseball offered a way out of the mines, a vehicle for upward mobility. In an era when professional baseball was dominated by Irish, English, and German names, it was not uncommon for sons of Polish immigrants to think their baseball careers might be helped by assuming a different surname. Bolinsky became Boley, Kowalewski became Coveleskie, and Wyshner became Gray. Szymanski became Simmons and Jablonowski became Appleton. Picus became Quinn, not only to avoid ethnic discrimination, but perhaps also to escape the derisive cognomen of “Pick Ass.”14

When he was about 12, John Picus became a breaker boy at the mines near Pottsville, working in tall, wooden structures where coal was broken and sorted for market. (Pennsylvania law stipulated that boys had to be at least 12 years of age to work in the coal breakers and 14 to work down in the mines. As the state had no compulsory birth registration, the laws could be circumvented by lying about the child’s age.) As each coal car emerged from the mine, it was pulled to the top of the breaker by a long, steel cable, where the car was tipped and the coal rushed down long chutes. The breaker boys separated the coal from the rock, slate, and other refuse as it streamed down, spewing black clouds of coal dust and smoke. To keep from inhaling the dust, the boys wore handkerchiefs and chewed tobacco in order to keep their mouths moist and prevent the dust from going down their throats.15

After a year in the breaker, John joined his father in the mine as a laborer, working an early shift so he could play baseball in the afternoon. Early in life he developed a combative personality, often challenging his stepmother who would not allow him to keep much of the money he earned for fear he would spend it on chewing tobacco.16 His mining career ended when a fire broke out in the pits, forcing him to escape by fighting his way for more than a mile through suffocating smoke.

For a while young Picus worked as a blacksmith, which helped develop his muscles, but he regarded it as an unhealthy occupation because it required him to breathe sulphur and charcoal fumes.17

So the teenager and an older companion hopped a freight and headed west, riding the rails as far as Montana sometime in the 1890s. In many cases he had to fight to survive. Quinn later recounted that his only possessions at the time were dirty, ragged clothes, a tattered cap, and his two fists.18 Around the year 1900 he returned to Pennsylvania. On the morning of the Fourth of July (probably in the year 1900) he arrived in the town of Dunbar, where the big event of the day was a baseball game between semipro teams of Dunbar and Connellsville. While he was watching the pre-game practice, a ball rolled toward him and he was instructed to throw it back, which he did with such velocity that the Dunbar manager offered him a job on the spot as a pitcher, promising him five dollars for a victory and two and one-half dollars if he lost. He won the game, pocketed the five dollars, and started a semipro career that lasted seven years, pitching for teams from Pennsylvania towns such as Dunbar, Connellsville, Mt. Pleasant, Berlin, and Washington. He later claimed that he was getting thirty dollars a month for pitching ball when he was fourteen years old, but he was probably at least sixteen or seventeen at the time.

When Quinn started employing the spitball is, like many other aspects of his life, a mystery. In a rare interview in 1930, he explained why he used it: “I didn’t take up the spitter because I especially like it although I learned to like it later. My fingers were so short I couldn’t get a grip on the ball well enough to throw an effective curve. With a fast ball and a spitter, however, I have developed a control that I think will rank as good as anybody’s in this circuit. If you bother to look up the records, you’ll find that I give up fewer bases on balls, year after year, in proportion to the amount of work I do, than almost any hurler in the league.”19  The records show Jack was right. In the decade starting in 1920 he twice led the league in fewest bases on balls per game and ranked in the top five 8 times in 10 years. No pitcher led more than twice, and no other ranked in the top five more than five times.

According to Zbick, Quinn did not consider his spitters to be as messy or repulsive as were those of the tobacco juice variety. Jack worked up his saliva with chewing gum, and he applied the juice by slightly touching two fingers to his lips. The “dry spitter” that Quinn delivered broke down sharply, but normally stayed in the strike zone. He kept batters guessing by faking the spitter on every pitch he threw, of course. He also used a no-name pitch that was a cousin to the knuckler. He threw it without using the index finger. He also developed an excellent change-up pitch.20

In 1903 Quinn pitched for Connellsville in the Pennsylvania State League before returning to semipro ball for a few years. In 1907 he posted a 6-5 record with Macon of the South Atlantic League in part of a season. In that same year he also pitched a few games for Pottsville in the outlaw Atlantic League, using the pseudonym Johnson. In 1908 he had an undefeated season, going 3-0 or 1-0 (sources differ) with the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association and then winning all of his 14 decisions for Richmond, including a no-hitter in defeating Norfolk 8 to 0 on August 28.

While Quinn was pitching for Richmond in a game against Lynchburg, he was “discovered” by Al Orth and soon thereafter drafted by the New York American League club, then known as the Highlanders.

Quinn made his major league debut on April 15, 1909, for New York against the Washington Senators. In the first inning he gave up two hits and one run, then settled down and pitched three-hit, scoreless ball the rest of the way. He pitched a complete game, allowing a total of five hits and no bases on balls in a 4-1 victory. Among those in attendance at this game were James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States, and Ban Johnson, president of the American League. The win was the first of many over Washington by Quinn.

In 1910 Quinn had a strong season, winning 18 games against 12 losses for the Highlanders. He seemed well on his way to becoming a star. However, he slipped in 1911, winning only eight games while losing ten.

Things went from bad to worse for Quinn in 1912. In the seventh inning of a game against Detroit at Hilltop Park on May 11, Hippo Vaughn walked four straight batters, as the crowd yelled its displeasure at the balls called by umpire Silk O’Loughlin. In relief of the beleaguered Hippo, Quinn entered the game with the bases loaded and two out. Facing his first batter, he unleashed a wild pitch, allowing a runner to score from third. Then he buckled down and got out of the inning without further damage by striking out Oscar Stanage. In the next frame Quinn fanned Jean Dubuc for his second consecutive strikeout. Next up was Donie Bush. While pitching to Bush, Quinn became so angered at one of O’Loughlin’s calls that he threw his glove at the umpire. Silk ejected Quinn from the game. When protests by catcher Gabby Street and manager Harry Wolverton became too vigorous, they too were banished from the field. At this point some rowdy fans began hurling pop bottles from the stands toward the umpire. Two bottles came close to Silk’s head and one hit him on the foot. The New York Times reported that it was the first time in the history of Hilltop Park that a demonstration of that kind had taken place there.21 Order was eventually restored to the point where the game could be finished. Detroit won 9-5, and four Pinkerton men helped O’Loughlin to the dressing room, as the crowd again hissed and hooted and threw objects at him.

American League President Ban Johnson suspended Quinn indefinitely for throwing his glove at the umpire. The suspension did not last long. Johnson lifted it on May 17. On the next day Quinn started against Cleveland. The suspension had cost him one start at the most. However, he did not pitch effectively thereafter. In late July New York sold his contract to Rochester of the International League. After a short visit to Pottsville, he went through New York City on his way to report to his new club. Having been warned of recent activity by pickpockets in Gotham, the pitcher said he kept a weather eye open, but when he went to pay for his lunch, he discovered that his money—amounting to $125—was all gone. Nevertheless, he made his way to Rochester in early August and won eight games for the Hustlers before the season ended.

In 1913 Quinn won 19 games for Rochester and was acquired by the Boston Braves near the end of August. He won his first start for the Beantowners on the last day of the month, defeating Brooklyn 6-1. Although Quinn won only four games for the Braves in his short stay with them in 1913, he became the subject of a court battle the following year after he accepted $3500 to pitch for the Baltimore Terrapins of the upstart Federal League. A suit was brought in the United States District Court in Baltimore by James E. Gaffney, president of the Braves, asking for $25,000 in damages for the loss of Quinn’s services. Claiming that Quinn had already agreed to pitch for the Braves in 1914, the Boston club unsuccessfully sued Quinn, Terrapin officials, the Federal League, and its president for conspiracy. Undeterred by the suit, Quinn pitched Baltimore to a 3-2 win over Buffalo in the opening game of the Federal League season before 30,000 ecstatic fans. The Chicago Tribune reported it was the largest crowd ever to see a game in Baltimore and the most enthusiastic.22 The ex-coalminer went on to post 26 victories that season. The next year, however, saw a reversal of his fortunes. Jack led the league with 22 losses. After the Federal League folded, Quinn was unable to hook up immediately with a major league club and went back to the minors, signing with Vernon of the Pacific Coast League.

The spitballer had three highly successful seasons with Vernon, winning 53 games and posting an ERA of less than 3.00 each year. In 1917 he won 24 games for a last place club. In 1918 he led the Pacific Coast League with a remarkable 1.48 ERA, the best mark ever posted in that circuit during all its years as a Double A league. He also led the league in complete games with 22 and in strikeouts with 99 in the shortened season of 1918. He won at least 102 games in minor leagues affiliated with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues. How many more he won in independent and semi-pro leagues is unknown.

After the Pacific Coast League suspended operations on July 14, 1918, because of the war, the National Commission announced that players in leagues which had suspended could join, during the emergency, any club willing to pay them a salary. However, the original holding club was to retain rights to their services. Charles Comiskey signed Quinn to a White Sox contract. Quinn joined the Sox on August 1 and had a 5-1 record for the Sox over the remainder of the 1918 season. Meanwhile, the Vernon club had sold the rights to Quinn’s services to the New York Yankees on July 19. After the season was over the New York Yankees lodged a claim for Quinn, and the National Commission had to decide whether the White Sox or the Yankees were entitled to his services. Meeting in December the Commission decided in favor of the Yankees, further strengthening the enmity between Comiskey and Ban Johnson, president of the American League and a member of the commission. Quinn declared he would prefer to remain with the Sox, but saw no chance of reversing the commission’s decision, so he signed with the Yankees.23      

Quinn won 15 games for the New Yorkers in 1919 and improved to an 18-10 record in 1920. In the latter season he gave up the fewest bases on ball per game of any American League pitcher and ranked fourth in opponent’s batting average. In 1921 he slipped to an 8-7 record. That October he got his first World Series experience, being battered by the Giants, as he relieved Bob Shawkey in the third inning of a 13-5 loss. On December 20 Quinn, already considered old for a major league pitcher, was traded along with young pitchers Rip Collins and Bill Piercy and veteran shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh to the Boston Red Sox for shortstop Everett Scott and two top-flight pitchers, Bullet Joe Bush and Sad Sam Jones.

Quinn pitched well in Boston but could never win more than 13 games per season for the woeful Red Sox teams that owner Harry Frazee had stripped of stars. The spitballer continued to exhibit excellent control, ranking among the top five in the American League in fewest walks per nine innings during his entire stay in the Hub of the Universe. Used both as a starter and in relief, he was second in saves in 1923 and third in 1924.

On July 10, 1925, Quinn was sold to the Philadelphia Athletics for the waiver price. His record for the two clubs was 13-11. He again had the league’s second fewest bases on balls per game. In 1926 he won only ten games, but retained his excellent control, ranking third in walks per game. In 1927 his fortunes improved, as did those of his team. He had a 15-10 record for the second place A’s. Quinn’s remarkable control and his low-breaking spitball were major assets to the White Elephants’ young pitching staff as the A’s were on their way to becoming the top American League team from 1929 to 1931. Babe Ruth’s ghostwriter wrote that as a bluffer, Jack was in a class by himself. He bluffed the spitter on every pitch, but only threw it about one time in six pitches. He would go through the motions and then cross up the hitter with something entirely different.24

In 1928, at the age of 45, Quinn logged perhaps his best major league season ever. He won 18 games, while losing only seven, for a winning percentage of .750, fifth best in the league. He also ranked fifth in earned run average, and as was his habit, he had the second fewest bases on balls per nine innings. The secret to his success at an advanced age was his year-round conditioning program. During the off-season he did a lot of trap shooting at his lodge in Sunbury, Pennsylvania—an activity that he believed kept his eyes sharp. He also walked a great deal because he believed that a pitcher puts as much strain on his legs as on his arm. For an hour every afternoon he stood in front of a mirror and pantomimed his pitching motion. As he put it, this exercise kept his shoulder and arm muscles oiled up and prevented the stiffness that would otherwise set in after the season.25

In 1929 his win-loss record slipped to 11-9, but he still ranked in the top five in fewest walks per game. On October 12 the 46-year-old Methuselah became the oldest man to start a World Series game. Quinn got off to a good start in the game, pitching two-hit, shutout ball through the first three innings. In the fourth stanza he fell behind 2-0 when Kiki Cuyler’s single was followed by a home run by Gabby Hartnett. In the sixth, the roof fell in on the ex-miner. The Cubs knocked him out of the box with five successive singles. When the relievers could not check the carnage, five runs were charged to Quinn. The Cubs scored another run in the top of the seventh, and took an 8-0 lead into the home half of the inning. Then the White Elephants exploded with an avalanche of runs never before matched in any inning in the history of the World Series. The home team scored ten runs in the lucky seventh en route to a 10-8 victory in the greatest comeback ever achieved in the Fall Classic.

Although Quinn had been used occasionally in relief throughout his major league career, he had been primarily a starter until 1930, when he became mainly a reliever. He tied for second in saves among American League hurlers in 1930. On October 4, 1930, he became the oldest pitcher to finish a World Series game as he pitched the final two innings of the A’s loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Earlier that season on June 27 he had become the oldest man ever to hit a home run in a major league game.26 On November 10 Connie Mack released the veteran spitballer to make room for a young right-handed pitcher he was calling up from Portland. The youngster, Hank McDonald, stayed in the majors two years and had a lifetime record of three wins and nine losses.

Quinn’s career was not over, however. Portland tried to get permission from the Pacific Coast League to employ the spitballer, but Quinn was more interested in another shot at the majors. An Associated Press reporter tracked him down in a cabin in the Pennsylvania hills, where Jack was following his favorite sport of hunting small game. He told the reporter: “I still think I’m good for another year. I’m going to look around the majors and get another year which will give me a record of real service that any player can be proud of. I’ve been kicking around the country since I was twelve years old when I started out with a battered suit and two hands and a stout heart, and I guess I can keep going. I’ve been in baseball so long I hate to give up the game. I don’t know what I will do if I don’t answer the spring training call.”27

He got his wish and then some. In January or February 1931 he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as a relief specialist and led the National League in saves in both 1931 and 1932. (Save figures presented are based on retroactive calculation.) His 15 saves in 1931 set a new senior circuit single season record, which was tied twice in 1945, but not broken until 1947 when Hugh Casey of the Brooklyn Dodgers saved 18 games. After two good years in Brooklyn, Quinn was released by the Dodgers on April 29, 1933. It did not take him long to find additional employment. The Cincinnati Reds signed him on May 6. He appeared in 14 games for the Reds, recording one save and one loss. The Reds released him on July 13. At that point, Quinn’s 57 saves trailed only Fred Marberry’s record.

After Quinn was released by the Reds, he tried to resume his minor league career. On September 19, 1933, he pitched batting practice for the Los Angeles Angels, but was not offered a contract. The Angels did not want him, but they did not want him pitching for any of their rivals, either. On January 7, 1934, on a motion by Bill Lane, president of the Hollywood club, the directors of the Pacific Coast League voted 4-2 to allow Quinn to pitch in the PCL, using the spitball. The two negative votes were cast by the Angels and the San Francisco Seals. David P. Fleming, president of the Angels, said: “If the Hollywood club signs Quinn, we will protest any game in which he pitches and carry our protest to the National Association of the Minor Leagues and we believe we have a legitimate protest that the ruling body will uphold. The spitball is a nasty delivery and was voted out of organized ball; only pitchers who were registered spitball hurlers at the time it was barred were to be allowed to continue its use as long as they remained in the same league. Quinn was not in the Coast League when the bar was put on….I am sure that Judge W. H. Branham, president of the National Association, will uphold any protest we may be forced to make.28

Fleming overlooked the fact that Quinn had already changed leagues once since the ban was imposed. Originally on the American League list, he switched to the National League in 1931. Another spitball pitcher, Allen Sothoron, had done the same thing in 1924.

One week after the Pacific Coast League voted to make him eligible, but before he had yet been offered a contract, Quinn had a narrow escape that could have ended his career. He and three other passengers were injured when an automobile driven by his brother-in-law Ross Lambert was struck by a milk truck near Ada, Ohio. Jack was cut about the head and face, but was released from the hospital after receiving first aid. However, his wife and her two sisters were hospitalized overnight for the treatment of cuts and bruises. Luckily, the slight injury did not prevent the ancient pitcher from resuming his profession. 

Despite the objections by the Angels, the Stars offered Quinn a contract. According to the Los Angeles Times, the 52-year-old spitballer signed and returned the contract by mail on February 23 from Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he was getting in shape to join the Stars at their spring training camp in Riverside. He made his first appearance of the season in relief in the second inning of a game against the Oakland Oaks. With three runs already in, two out, and two runners on base, the ancient hurler ended the inning by retiring the first batter he faced. In the third inning Quinn gave up two runs on three hits and was replaced. After three ineffective relief appearances, Quinn got his first win of 1934 on April 23, when he took the mound in the seventh inning of a tied game and pitched three scoreless innings while his teammates scored two runs in the ninth to defeat Seattle 8-6. That was his only win for the Stars. After only six games, one win and one loss, he was released.

In 1935 Quinn became manager of Johnstown of the Mid-Atlantic League and pitched two innings in one game, giving up two hits and no runs in his last appearance at the age of 52 or thereabouts.

Why was Quinn able to pitch far beyond the age when most hurlers are forced into retirement? One scribe wrote: “A powerful physique, an iron endurance, an easy delivery, and a placid mind are the four cardinal causes of his prolonged activities in the big show.”29

Quinn himself attributed his surprising longevity to peace of mind. “Nothing bothers me,” he told a reporter, “Why should it? The undertaker will get us all soon enough. There’s no need to meet him more than halfway. A lot of pitchers worry themselves out of the game. They cut their span of successful work by whole seasons. What a foolish thing to do! Pitching, with me, is a serious profession. I realize its importance and I like to pitch. Above all, I want to feel I can do good work. Naturally I want to win. So far so good. All that’s mere horse sense. But much as I like to win, I’m not crazy about it. I realize the other fellow wants to win, too. If I’m lucky enough to get the breaks, well and good. If he outlucks me, I may get my turn next time. Doing his best is no more than a pitcher is paid for. Bearing down in the pinches is what he is supposed to do. But that isn’t worry and it isn’t physical strain. I get tired after a hard ball game just as other pitchers do, but I don’t get sick and hang around half the night unable to eat my supper. And I don’t lie awake till morning wondering what might have happened if I’d pitched a little inside instead of outside to a certain batter. Overdoing a thing is half doing it. There’s only one right way to pitch a ball game. Do your best and let it go at that. Fussing and stewing and fretting is like throwing grit into the machinery.”30

Few people regard Jack Quinn as a great ballplayer, but he was a very good one for many, many years. Perhaps he never had a great season, but he had more good years than most. He has not been named to the Baseball Hall of Fame but he won as many games as most of the 20th-century pitchers enshrined in Cooperstown. Among Hall of Fame notables with fewer victories than the old spitballer are Joe McGinnity, Ed Walsh, Three Finger Brown, Stan Coveleskie, Herb Pennock, Dizzy Dean, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Juan Marichal, and Whitey Ford. John Lardner was disappointed that Quinn was not elected to the Hall. He wrote: “I voted for the ageless John Picus Quinn, who pitched his spitball even longer than Faber, if not quite as well.”31 

Quinn married Georgenia Viola Lambert. She died in July 1940 in Dolton, Illinois. They had no children. After his wife’s death he moved back to his native Pennsylvania, where he spent his time in a Pottsville bar pitching pennies, talking sports, and drinking to excess.32 In January 1946, he entered Good Samaritan Hospital in Pottsville, where he died on April 17, after an illness due to a liver infection, perhaps brought on by alcohol abuse. Never one to seek publicity, he had lived in comparative obscurity for nearly a decade.  He was buried in Charles Baber Cemetery in Pottsville in the anthracite coal country from which he had sprung.

This account is adapted from the chapter on Jack Quinn in Charles F. Faber and Richard B. Faber, “Spitballers: The Last Legal Hurlers of the Wet One” (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Publishers, 2006).

Photo Credit

Library of Congress

Notes

 1 Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1946.

As teammate Eddie Joost noted in Danny Peary’s book, We Played the Game, Valo was a complete player who always put out 100 percent and was well liked. Though not a graceful outfielder, he used his sprinter’s speed, superior leaping ability, and sheer determination to make up for any deficiencies. He served as a player representative and goodwill ambassador for the Philadelphia Athletics, and had a lifelong commitment to youth sports as a baseball instructor at clinics and a basketball referee. And he was a popular speaker to youth groups; his theme was always the value of sports and their relationship to freedom and the American way of life.3

Al Simmons reportedly said of him, “There is a guy who should never hit less than .340. He has the timing, the coordination and the strength. If he could only learn to relax a little, he’d be great.”4

But, he couldn’t. He replayed games in his mind, found fault with his play and blamed himself for his team’s losses. He could cite a dozen reasons why it was his fault that the team lost.5 Though hard on himself, he was not without a sense of humor. He would tell players they had “made his team.” When they asked, “What team?” he replied, “The all-ugly team.”6 Another example in Peary’s book tells how Valo successfully imitated teammate Vic Power‘s voice and almost got Power thrown out of a game.7

Elmer was born Imrich Valo in Rybník, in the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia, on March 5, 1921. He was the only child of Joseph and Katharine, nee Klincok. The 1920 census reports both Elmer’s father’s and grandfather’s occupations as “farmer.” Elmer’s father served as a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army in World War I. For fun he reputedly raced the family’s plow horse bareback around the village on Sundays.8

Elmer’s grandfather, also named Imrich, immigrated to America, where he worked and saved his money. He returned to Austria-Hungary and purchased a large house on the main street in Rybnik9 where he lived out his days.10 He urged his son to take his own family to America.11

Imro (pronounced “EEM-ru”), as Elmer was called by his parents,12 was six when the family arrived in Palmerton, then a bustling company town nestled in a bend of the Lehigh River in northeastern Pennsylvania. Elmer’s dad operated a furnace for the New Jersey Zinc Company. His mother worked part-time at a shirt factory.13 Many Eastern Europeans worked for the zinc company, the largest contingent being Slovaks.14 The influx of immigrants created occasional resentment from the locals, who sometimes called the Slovaks “greenhorns” or “Hungarians” or “hunkies” because they spoke Hungarian.15

The family set up house in “The Flats,” company housing on the outskirts of town, which some referred to as the wrong side of the tracks.16 Former Allentown Morning Call sports editor John Kunda said, “Residents called it beka varos (frog land) because of its musty smell, and also the Hungarian expression for being in a tight spot: ‘At the bottom of a coal mine under a frog’s bottom.'” Residents called it still worse names on days when the wind blew the smokestacks’ belchings, and the “perfume” from the nearby filter beds wafted upwards, especially on a sweltering summer day.17

Elmer grew to 5’10-1/2″ and 190 pounds. He played baseball for Stephen S. Palmer High School, hitting .500 in his sophomore year. When the school discontinued baseball to renovate their ball field, he competed in track and field events, becoming the Carbon County champion in the 100-yard dash. His second favorite sport was basketball; he was named to the honorable mention all-state team.18

Elmer traveled to nearby Lehighton to play on their American Legion junior baseball team. When he turned 16, director Edgar Paulsen promoted him to the semi-pro Lehighton Moose. When the Moose were to play Palmerton’s team, Elmer did not want to play against his own town. He relented and delivered three hits, including the game winner, against the team that thought him “too young” to play for them.19

Paulsen wrote to the Philadelphia Athletics about Elmer, apparently without telling him, for he was absent when scouts showed up. How Elmer came to sign with the A’s while he was a junior in high school was reported by John L. Faust in a 1983 article in the Lehighton Times News.

According to Faust, Elmer developed blisters on his feet in a touch football game and decided to caddy at a local golf course. Paulsen took off after Elmer, bought him a larger pair of spikes and drove him to the game. After a few more looks, Elmer was signed to an agreement to play after graduation in 1939. No money changed hands. He joined the Federalsburg, Maryland, team of the Class D Eastern Shore League. In his abbreviated season he hit .374 and helped the team win the championship.

It has been said that Valo had one at-bat as an 18-year-old for the Philadelphia A’s in the last game of the 1939 season, which would have made him a four-decade player. Red Smith, a sports writer with the the Philadelphia Record at the time, later wrote that this at-bat was expunged from the official record, supposedly because Valo was not on the active roster and Connie Mack would have incurred a stiff fine. Smith related the story in 1975 as if Valo were jogging his (Smith’s) memory about it. Smith had been the official scorer. When asked about the article years later, Valo politely refused to comment.20

As a result of his fine partial season, Valo was promoted to the 1940 Wilmington, Delaware, Blue Rocks team in the Class B Inter-State League. He won the batting title, hitting .364, and received a September call-up.21 He made his major league debut on September 22, 1940, at age 19. He played in six games and hit .348.

Back at Wilmington the next season Valo batted .324. Called up again in September, he hit .420 with a .580 slugging percentage in 16 games.22

Elmer married Anna Zelienka, whom he had known since childhood, on November 8, 1941. They would have four children: James, Anna, Joseph, and Mary Jane.

Despite his hot September, Mack stated, “Valo isn’t quite ready to play regularly. He needs experience. He’ll be a good ballplayer.”23 With three outfielders injured, Mack tried three others in right field before giving Valo a shot. Finally in the lineup and batting leadoff, he struggled at the plate. He was dropped lower in the order and began producing hits. On July 20 he hiked his average to .272 and was batting second, when citizens of his hometown of Palmerton honored him. Elmer’s friend and fellow athlete Ray Carazo, who lost an arm at Pearl Harbor, presented him with $75 in defense bonds, and an electric razor.24

Valo tailed off to wind up hitting just .251. He legged out 10 triples and stole 13 bases, but was caught 8 times. Still, he was considered an exciting, aggressive rookie and was featured on the cover of Baseball Magazine in April and the inaugural issue of Baseball Digest in August. But the A’s finished last, 48 games out.

In 1943 both the team and Valo fared worse. Despite occasional bright spots, including a game-winning home run off Jim Bagby on June 5 and three stolen bases in a game in August, his career seemed in jeopardy. On June 19, the Washington Post‘s Shirley Povich referred to him as “a dismal flop with his own team last year.”25

When Valo left for the Army in August, he was batting just .221. The team went on to lose 20 games in a row, tying the American League record for consecutive defeats. Philadelphia fan James A. Michener wrote of the plight of the Athletics’ teams of that era and the grief of their followers: “Eighth place one year by 34 games, once by 49 and later by 55, by 60. The team was so inept that fans conducted contests to see who could invent the silliest sayings about it: ‘One day Elmer Valo actually got to third base, and he asked the umpire, “Where do I go from here?”‘26 After the season, manager Mack said Dick Siebert and Jo-Jo White were the only men on the team he considered major-leaguers. (Philadelphia Inquirer, November 4, 1943).

By the end of August Valo was playing baseball for the New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, Army Reception Center, touring the country playing other military teams for the purpose of selling War Bonds.27 He was sent to Officer Candidate School in the Medical Administration Corps at Camp Barkeley, Texas. He graduated as a second lieutenant and served until the spring of 1946.28

Valo rejoined the Athletics in April. He played sparingly and was batting .083 at the end of the month as the team got off to a horrible 2-10 start. By June he began to hit the ball hard, getting four hits in a 10-4 win over Cleveland to help break a nine-game losing streak. Two days later his game-winning double beat the Indians again, 3-2.29 The Sporting News reported that he had been working hard on his fielding. He began to gain a reputation as a courageous outfielder. In Baseball’s Pivotal Era, author William Marshall tells how “Elmer robbed Ted Williams of a home run, crashing so hard into the fence he had to be carried off the field.”30 Valo finished at .307, the first of three consecutive seasons batting .300 or better, but the A’s 49-105 record was the same as 1943.

In 1947 the Athletics were the surprise team of the AL. By mid-June they were only seven games behind the Yankees. Valo missed three weeks after a beaning by Sid Hudson. On September 3, his first day back, he ran up the scoreboard in Shibe Park to make a brilliant catch of what seemed a certain extra-base hit by Mickey Vernon. The play preserved a 3-0, no-hit, no-walk game by Bill McCahan. Ferris Fain committed an error in the first inning of the otherwise perfect game. Valo was also the offensive hero with a two-run double.31 He batted .300 and the A’s finished over .500 for the first time in 14 years.

“At $8,500 dollars per year, Elmer is one of the lowest salaried regulars in the majors,” Art Morrow stated in The Sporting News. Though it was an increase over his 1947 salary, he held out briefly along with Bobby Shantz and did not sign until he talked with Mack personally.32

Valo took the baseball umpire’s examination at Bill McGowan‘s Umpire School and passed, tying for the highest grade in the class. He said he hoped to be an umpire after his playing career.33 In the off-season he refereed high school basketball games and later refereed a few collegiate and professional (Eastern League) basketball games.34

The A’s continued to surprise in 1948. The 35 days they spent in first place must have seemed like heaven to the perennial doormats’ fans. Valo hit .305 and provided superb defense. On May 15th before a then-record Saturday crowd at Yankee Stadium of 69,416 he went high up against the right field wall to make two improbable catches and then a third, leaping over the wall in the eighth inning to rob Yogi Berra of a home run and falling back to the field unconscious. The New York Times reported, “He personally turned back three runs, possibly more,” calling the catches “amazing, and pulse-throbbing.” The story concluded, “Valo limped off the field amid an ear-splitting din.”35 One writer called him “the American League’s version of Pete Reiser,” the Dodger outfielder who was known for his violent encounters with outfield walls.

But the effort proved costly. Hospitalized for bruises, he persuaded Mack to let him rejoin the team after missing four games. Philadelphia won eight straight, while Valo continued running into walls in St. Louis and Chicago until he was no longer able to hold a bat. It was discovered that he had suffered two broken ribs somewhere along the line, but had been taping them himself in order to play. His average dropped to .239 before he left the lineup on May 31 and didn’t return for three weeks.36

On June 15 Carl Lundquist of United Press cited six outfielders he thought worthy of the AL All-Star team. He included Valo, hitting .283 at the time, with the comment: “fancy fielding.”

On July 25 with the A’s in a virtual first place tie with Boston, Valo, trying to rally his team from a 10-run deficit against Detroit, injured his ankle trying to steal third base.37 By August 22 he was leading the club with a .298 average and tied for the team lead with 10 steals. Of the 41 games Valo missed, the A’s won just 16.38

Connie Mack said, “This team was the best team I have ever had in respect to effort.” Road Secretary Benny McFarland chimed in, “when we hired these fellows we weren’t hiring ballplayers, we were hiring hearts.”39 The A’s faltered in the last few weeks to finish fourth with an 84-70 record, their best showing since 1933.

Articles about Valo began to appear in sports, religious and boys’ magazines. They told of his hard work and his dedication to baseball. Valo stated repeatedly that he did not consider himself a “natural athlete” but one who must constantly work hard to improve his skills. Likewise he read constantly to improve his English grammar. Roomate Pete Suder hid his magazines so he could read them before Elmer did.40

The next year the A’s lost only three more games, but were never really in contention. On June 22, 1949, Philadelphia defeated the Indians, 8 to 2. Valo hit his second home run in as many nights, a grand slam, to go with two singles and two stolen bases. The A’s moved into second place, four games behind New York. This was one of the last bright spots of the Philadelphia Athletics’ franchise. Elmer’s .283 average was the highest on the team.41

In 1950 despite a huge 50th anniversary celebration, the A’s thudded to last place, 46 games out of first. Valo hustled and hit .280.

Trade rumors in 1951 had Valo and a pitcher going to the White Sox for slugger Gus Zernial. The A’s got Zernial for two other players, but not Valo. Despite the urgings of new manager Jimmy Dykes, the A’s were in last place on June 15. They then beat the White Sox, who had won 12 straight road games, in the eleventh inning of the opener of a doubleheader. Valo walked with two outs and scored on Zernial’s double to left-center field. Valo would have been out by 15 feet, but he bowled over catcher Gus Niarhos and knocked him unconscious, dislodging the ball. A bench-clearing brawl followed, and Valo and Chicago pitcher Saul Rogovin were ejected for fighting. Valo was injured and was suspended as well.

On August 15 a party honored Valo on his tenth anniversary with the team. Two thousand fans came from upstate Pennsylvania and presented him with a watch. Inmates at the Eastern State Penitentiary made numerous hand-carved items and contributed model ships and airplanes for Elmer and his children. They also baked a 250-pound cake. Teammates contributed $300 in cash.42 The New World Catholic Paper wrote: “An Ideal Athlete? If he isn’t the difference is for hairsplitters. Valo is a devout Catholic, doesn’t drink or smoke, avoids profanity; he is pleasant, modest, unassuming, and on the field he’s hustling every minute of every game.” Somehow, from August 22 on, the team won 24 of 34 games to finish sixth.

For 1952, manager Jimmy Dykes moved Valo to center field. The experiment ended quickly after two collisions with walls resulted in an injury to his left hand.43 On May 1 Elmer was leading the league with a .410 average though the A’s were only 3-8. General manager Art Ehlers assured Valo the A’s didn’t want to get rid of him; Ehlers thought the “psychological gambit” helped to ease the outfielder’s mind and could be the reason for his success.44 On August 23 Valo crashed into another wall. This time the ball popped out of his glove. When he awakened in the clubhouse, he was told he dropped the ball. Good thing it was foul, he said. No, it was fair. “I must be slipping,” Valo said.45 His average slipped to .281. The Athletics finished fourth.

Next spring there were the usual trade rumors and crashes into outfield walls. The crash occurred in West Palm Beach. Uncharacteristically, Valo hit well in spring training. But by April 28 he had appeared in only six games, three as a fielder. There was no report of an injury, so Allie Clark may have beaten him out for the job. On April 28 Valo collided with the concrete right-field wall in Cleveland and tore a thigh muscle. After 10 days off, he pinch-hit a few times though he couldn’t run. In his first game back on June 14 he reinjured the same muscle.46 He returned again in August, but hit .224 in 107 trips to the plate for the year.

As 1954 rolled by, two things seemed certain: the A’s would leave Philadelphia and Elmer Valo’s career would soon end. The team got Vic Power and Bill Renna from the Yankees and put them in center and right field, respectively. For the first time in his career, Valo was a reserve player. Manager Eddie Joost benched Gus Zernial as the result of an argument and inserted Valo in the second game of a doubleheader June 14. Valo responded with two hits and four RBIs to beat the Tigers.47 But his average dropped to .214 as the Athletics fell 60 games out of first place.

The Athletics’ move to Kansas City in 1955 was the first of three franchise shifts in Valo’s career. Even after the change of scenery, most sportswriters picked the club for last place. Manager Lou Boudreau announced he would platoon Valo in left field with Gus Zernial.48 After two years spent mostly on the bench and the disabled list, the 34-year-old Valo rebounded to put up the best numbers of his career: a .364 average and .460 on-base percentage in 338 plate appearances. As a pinch hitter he batted .452 with 14 hits in 31 at bats. He received five votes in the AL Most Valuable Player balloting as the Athletics rose to sixth place.

But on May 15, 1956, the cutdown date, Boudreau needed to release an outfielder. He kept 40-year-old Enos Slaughter and released the 35-year-old Valo, who had just two hits in 11 tries.49 Brooklyn and the Phillies express interest and Valo signed with the Phillies a week later. In familiar surroundings, he started slowly, then began to hit consistently. When Jim Greengrass was hurt, Valo took over in right field and provided a spark to the listless Phillies.50 By July 10, he was batting .307, second only to Richie Ashburn and getting timely hits.

This was not lost on his fans in Kansas City, whose team is headed to a last place finish. The Kansas City Times announced the birth of the Valos’ fourth child, Mary Jane, on June 20 and noted that Valo was the Phils’ hottest hitter with seven hits in his last 15 at bats, including two homers. On August 8 the same paper ran an article headlined, “Valo Credited with Phil Surge.” The Phillies had gone 39-33 since signing Valo and he was leading the club with a .321 average. He finished the season at a respectable .289.

The next spring Valo awoke on his thirty-sixth birthday to find out he had been traded to the Dodgers with four other players and cash for a promising young shortstop, Chico Fernandez. The Dodgers, coming off two straight NL pennants, announced that they planned to use Valo mainly as a pinch hitter.51

The day after the trade Red Smith devoted his syndicated column to Valo. He told how Valo as a rookie, “a big kid with a sweet smile,” berated himself all the way home on a long train ride for a play that he felt cost his team the game. Even though he was told to forget it, that it was a tough play, and no error was charged, he would not allow himself to be consoled. “It’s chances like that that make the difference between a major leaguer and something less,” Valo said.

“An awful lot of line drives have been caught since then. And a lot have been dropped,” Smith wrote. “Hundreds of kids have come up to the major leagues and played out their time and departed. None was ever more sincere than Elmer Valo, none ever tried harder, none was quicker to blame himself for a mistake, none more stubbornly unwilling to offer or accept an excuse for error.”52

Smith called Valo “The Most Sincere Fella” and “Whipping Boy-Elect.” He said he hoped the fans would boo Duke Snider instead of Valo because Snider would “give it back to them, whereas Valo would agree with them.”53 Elmer batted .273 as the Dodgers finished third, 11 games behind the Milwaukee Braves.

He moved with the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. As the club fell to seventh place in its new home, Valo hit .248 as a part-timer. After the season, he was assigned to Montreal but asked for and received his release.54

After 17 years in the majors, Elmer received no interest from major league teams and signed with the Seattle Rainiers as a player-coach in 1959. He became a hustling fan favorite there and big league clubs took notice. Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich wrote, “Who else but Elmer Valo is leading the Pacific Coast League in hitting at .340?”55 In August, the Cleveland Indians, still in the pennant race, purchased Valo’s contract. He hit .292 in 34 at bats, but the Indians finished second.

The Yankees signed him in the spring of 1960, but let him go after eight at-bats, and he joined the Washington Senators. At season’s end he totaled 82 pinch-hit appearances and 18 pinch-hit walks. Both are still American League records.

Valo moved with the Senators to Minnesota in 1961, his third franchise shift. He appeared in 33 games as a Twin, and then was sold to the Phillies in time for their record 23-game losing streak. In October he announced his retirement from baseball.

He stayed in the game as a scout for the Mets in 1962 followed by two years as a Cleveland Indians’ coach. The Sporting News reported that he and manager Birdie Tebbetts carried Spanish-English dictionaries in their back pockets. One report said teammates detected a Slavic flavor when Venezuelan outfielder Vic Davalillo spoke English.

In 1965 Valo managed the Indians’ Class A Dubuque Packers. The Mississippi River flooded and their field was under six feet of water, delaying their home opener by 42 days. The players spent as much time filling sandbags as practicing baseball. If a player showed any promise he was promoted to a higher level. The Packers finished ninth in the ten-team league, but Valo came back for another season.56

The next year was as bad, and Valo admitted, “It just wasn’t worth it.”57 Six major leaguers came from those teams; the best known was Joe Rudi, who played third base for Valo.

From 1962 to 1976 Elmer attended the World Series and co-wrote a column under the guidance of longtime friend, John Kunda, sports editor of the Allentown Morning Call. Valo had encouraged Kunda to become a sportswriter after he sustained a serious knee injury playing high-school basketball.58

In the fall of 1966 Elmer began doing public relations work and special assignments for the Phillies. In 1970 he became the team’s scout in eastern Pennsylvania. He traveled with the Phillies’ staff to evaluate talent in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and ran tryout camps and clinics. In 1980 he received a World Series ring in recognition of his service to the organization.59

He ceased working full time in 1982, but continued to serve as an instructor at the minor league spring training camp in Clearwater, Florida, supervising bunting drills, and even repairing a pitching machine.60

In 1995 Elmer was inducted into the Phillies’ Wall of Fame and was immortalized with a commemorative bronze plaque on the same night as Mike Schmidt. Dwarfed by Schmidt, who appeared the classic athlete, it was difficult to picture the smallish man with the skinny legs, broad chest and silver hair barreling over a catcher and knocking him cold to win a game or leaping into the stands to rob Yogi Berra or Ted Williams of a home run. But he did.

Elmer died suddenly at his home in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, on July 19, 1998.

Phillies President David Montgomery said, “Every spring, he would set the tone by handling the batting cages for our young players with great enthusiasm. On the field, Elmer was aggressive and played the game hard. Off the field, he was a kind gentleman and an extremely nice person.”61 The Tribune of Scranton said, “He will be remembered as a player who gave the game everything he had.”

Fittingly, when Elmer passed away, it was requested that donations be made to Richie Ashburn Field, the Phillies’ baseball program for inner-city youth at the time.62

Acknowledgments

Ashman, George, Lehigh Gap Historical Society, Palmerton, Pennsylvania

Gietschier, Steve, clipping files, The Sporting News

Macht, Norman

Muhlena, David, Librarian, National Czech and Slovak Museum, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Nelson, Rod, SABR scouting committee

O’Brien, Margaret

Wyne, Mike, clipping files, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York

Williams, Ann Mrs. and her sister, daughters of Elmer’s high school coach, Bill Braucher

Sources

Books

Burian, Evan, Sports Legends of the Lehigh Valley, privately published, 1995.

Chance, Elbert, The Blue Rocks Past and Present: Wilmington’s Baseball Team, 1940- 1999. Cedar Tree Books, 2000.

James, Bill, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Free Press, 2002

Jordan, David M., The Athletics of Philadelphia: Connie Mack’s White Elephants, 1901-1954, McFarland, 1999.

Marshall, William, Baseball’s Pivotal Era 1945- 1951. The University Press of Kentucky 1999

Michener, James A., Sports in America. Random House.

Peary, Danny, ed., We Played the Game. Hyperion Press, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2002.

Newspapers and Magazines

Bostrom, Don, “Palmerton’s Valo joins select team,” Sports Plus section, Allentown Morning Call, September 23, 1990.

Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque, Iowa; Allison Zordell, Researcher.

Faust, John L., “Elmer Valo,” Times-News, Lehighton, Pennsylvania, spring supplement, 1983.

Kozak, Joseph J., “Baseball Talent, Clean Life Mark A’s Elmer Valo,” The New World Catholic Paper, Chicago, Illinois, August 31, 1951

Miller, Marjorie, “All-American,” Christian Science Monitor, June 2, 1949.

Morrow, Art, “Valo, Champ Fence crasher at $8,500 per year,” The Sporting News, August 15, 1948.

Morrow, Art, “Valiant Valo,” The Sporting News; August 28, 1948.

Povich, Shirley, “This Morning with Shirley Povich,” Washington Post, June 19, 1943.

Povich, Shirley, “This Morning,” Washington Post, May 31, 1959.

Smith, Red, “The Big League Chance,” Red Smith’s Views of Sport, April 8, 1957 .

Smith, Red, “Bouncing Czech,” Views of Sport, Red Smith, April 1, 1961.

Smith, Red, “What They Talk About”, Sports of the Times, New York Times, October 15, 1975

“Palmerton Legend Dies,” Times-News, Lehighton Pennsylvania, July 21, 1998.

Waldman, Frank, “Elmer’s Tune,” Christian Science Monitor, November 12, 1958.

Williams, Edgar, “Discretion Isn’t the better Part of VALO,” Baseball Digest, April 1953.

Interviews

Bednar, Rudy, Journalist, Palmerton, Pennsylvania, telephone interview, 2003.

Burian, Evan, Lehigh Valley sports historian, telephone interview, 2003.

Dosedlova, Mrs. Alicia, Town Registrar, Rybník nad Hronem, Slovak Republic.

Hawk, Ann Valo, and John C., telephone interview, June 2003.

Kunda, John, personal interview, 2003

Paulsen, Phillips H. (son of Edgar Paulsen), e-mail correspondence, 2003.

Psarsky, Joseph “Curly” (classmate of Elmer Valo), telephone interviews, February 2003 and May 2004.

Sabol, Mark, e-mail correspondence, 2003-2004.

Silberman, Max, historian, Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society, Hatboro, Pennsylvania, telephone interview, 2003.

Suder, Peter, telephone interview, January 2003.

Svaral, Karol, Tlmace, Slovak Republic, e-mail correspondence, 2004.

Valo, Anna (Mrs. Elmer), telephone interviews, 2003 and 2004.

Valo, James, telephone interview, 2003.

Other

“Medical Training in World War II. III. The Medical Administration Corps” Medical Department United States Army, http://historyamedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/medtrain/default.htm#cont

Rybník description from The State Guide to Towns and Villages. Slovak Republic. Translated for me by Vladimir Linder

Statistics: www.baseball-reference.com

Notes

1 Dick Stedler, “Major Leaguer Started as Laborer,” Open Road Magazine, page 12, September 1952.

2 Valo is tied with Joe DiMaggio for the 57th highest career on base percentage at .3983 as of August 17, 2007. Source: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hitting/hiobp1.shtml

3 Edgar Williams, “Discretion Isn’t the better Part of VALO,” Baseball Digest, April 1953, p. 20.

4 Williams, “Discretion Isn’t the better Part of VALO.”

5 Williams, “Discretion Isn’t the better Part of VALO.”

6 Red Smith, “Bouncing Czech,” New York Times, April 1, 1961.

7 Danny Peary, ed., We Played the Game, p. 268. 1994 Hyperion Press. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2002.

8 The family name was “Vallo” in Hungarian. When the family came to America, the Slovak spelling, Valo, was apparently restored. Elmer once said, “Our name was Vallo, I don’t know what happened.” The Slovak surname Valo is derived from the given name Valentin (Valentin/ Val’yo/ Valo). (Val’yo means friendly or kind Valentin). Sources: Mark Sabol, slovensko.com., find people forum, 2003; Art Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year,” The Sporting News, August 18, 1948; Karol Svaral and Alicia Dosedlova (Rybník town registrar), e-mail correspondence, 2003- 2004.

9 Karol Svaral and Alicia Dosedlova (Rybník town registrar), e-mail correspondence, 2003- 2004.

10 Anna (Mrs. Elmer) Valo, telephone conversation, 2003.

11 Art Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year,” The Sporting News, August 18, 1948.

12 Imro is the shortened form of Imrich. John Kunda, interview, May 13, 2003.

13 Anna (Mrs. Elmer) Valo, telephone conversation, 2003.

14 Joseph “Curly” Psarsky, telephone conversation, 2004.

15 Joseph “Curly” Psarsky, telephone conversation, 2004.

16 Rudy Bednar, telephone interview, 2003.

17 John Kunda, interview, May 13, 2003.

18 Art Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year,” The Sporting News, August 18, 1948.

19 Don Bostrum, “Palmerton’s Valo Joins Select Team” The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania, September 23, 1990.

20 Red Smith, “What They Talk About,” New York Times, October 15, 1975; Max Silberman, Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society. Telephone interview, 2003.

21 Elbert Chance, The Blue Rocks Past and Present: Wilmington’s Baseball Team 1940- 1999. Cedar Tree Books 2000.

22 http://www.baseball-almanac.com/yearly/debut.php?y=1940&l=AL. Valo was the third youngest player at the time.

23 Philadelphia Inquirer April 15, 1942.

24 Philadelphia Inquirer July 21, 1942.

25 Shirley Povich, “This Morning,” Washington Post, June 19, 1943: 10.

26 James A. Michener, Sports in America, page 12. Random House Inc.

27 “Many Majors with Visiting Army Team Will Play Senators Here in War Bond Game,” The Daily Times, Salisbury Maryland, September 1, 1943.

28 Art Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year,” The Sporting News, August 18, 1948.

29 Philadelphia Inquirer.

30 William Marshall, Baseball’s Pivotal Era 1945-1951, The University Press of Kentucky, page 94.

31 “Rookie Victor, 3-0, Facing 28 Senators,” New York Times, September 4, 1947: 33.

32 Art Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year,” The Sporting News, August 18, 1948.

33 Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year.”

34 Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year.”

35 “Saturday Record Crowd Sees Coleman End Yankees Five-Game Win Streak,” New York Times, May 15, 1948.

36 Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year.”

37 Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year.”

38 Morrow, “Valo Champ Fence Crasher at $8,500 a year.”

39 Philadelphia Inquirer, August 13, 1948.

40 Pete Suder, telephone conversation, 2003.

41 http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PHA/1949.shtml.

42 Frank Waldman, “Elmer’s Tune,” Christian Science Monitor, November 12, 1958.

43 Steve Snider, “Valo’s daring adds strength to A’s defensive play,” United Press, May 4, 1952.

44 Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2, 1952.

45 Williams, “Discretion Isn’t the better Part of VALO.”

46 Philadelphia Inquirer, April 28, 1953; June 15, 1953.

47 Philadelphia Inquirer, June 15, 1954.

48 “A’s Sign Four More”, Kansas City Star, February 6, 1955.

49 Associated Press, July 10, 1956.

50 “Elmer Valo Is Father Fourth Time,” Kansas City Times, June 20, 1956.

51 United Press, April 6, 1957.

52 Red Smith, “The Big League Chance,” Red Smith’s Views of Sport, April 8, 1957.

53 Smith, “The Big League Chance.”

54 United Press, “Valo Released,” October 15, 1958.

55 Shirley Povich, “This Morning,” Washington Post, May 31, 1959.

56 Press clippings from the Dubuque Times Herald, 1965, 1966; Bill O’Neill, “Flood of 1965 left Packers without own home for 41 days,” Dubuque Times Herald, Dubuque Iowa, April 15, 1975.

57 Norman L. Macht, “Baseball’s First ‘Cover Boy,'” Baseball Digest, September 1988, Vol. 47 No. 9, page 48.

58 Interview with John Kunda, April 17, 2003.

59 Rich Westcott, “Do You Remember? Elmer Valo,” Phillies Report Magazine, April 7, 1987.

60 Lehighton Times News, Lehighton, Pennsylvania.

61 Obituary, “Palmerton Legend Dies,” Lehighton Times-News, July 21, 1998.

62 Obituary, “Palmerton Legend Dies,” Lehighton Times-News, July 21, 1998.