Allen, who began play with Philadelphia in 1890, sat out the next two years until he was coaxed back into playing for pennant-contending Boston. That season was followed by three years as a manager in the minors and majors. He left baseball after the 1900 season to concentrate on business and family before returning to the game in 1915 as a minor league owner. He was owner/president of the Knoxville Smokies of the Southern Association when he passed away in 1943.

Robert Gilman Allen was born in Marion, Ohio, on July 10, 1867. His grandparents had been the first settlers of Marion, constructing their home using a broad ax to hew the logs. His father, Elisha Allen, ran a bank in Marion and later in Paulding, Ohio. His mother was the former Maryanna Baker, whose father had built that first home.1

Bob Allen — often known as R. G. in his later business dealings — was the third of four children (three boys and a girl) born to Elisha and Maryanna. His education went through high school in Marion and he was working for his father in the banking business before his professional baseball career took off.

Central Ohio was a baseball hotbed with teams in almost every town. Allen’s older brother Herbert played baseball and no doubt guided Bob into the sport. Marion had a town team and starting in 1885 there was also an independent team known as the Mohawks. Bob Allen, who stood 5-feet-11 and weighed 175 pounds, played second base and Herbert the outfield for the Mohawks in 1885.2

The season opened in July and ran into early October with one or two games per week. The only victory found in a search of Marion newspapers was over Galion.3 The roster changed often, and they used at least 16 different players to fill in when teammates defected to rival clubs.

In 1886 the Mohawks took the field again with better results. Allen, who threw and batted right-handed, pitched frequently. Baseball historian David Nemec reported that Allen also spent time that summer with an independent team in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.4

Allen began his professional career in 1887 with Mansfield, Ohio, in the Ohio State League. Also simply called the Ohio League, there were entries from three states. The championship went to Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Just before the season began on May 2, the Mansfield board of directors asked Allen to take over as manager. He was still short of his 20th birthday. The team opened the season with three wins, but when they faced the tougher competition it was obvious they were outclassed. On June 10 Allen submitted his resignation as manager (he continued to play shortstop) and was replaced by former league umpire Frank O’Brien.5

The team featured a teenage Ed Delahanty, who started the season at catcher, then moved to second base. Allen and Delahanty became close friends. Another noteworthy teammate was pitcher George England, a one-armed pitcher from Pittsburgh.6 Allen batted .326 but in a hitter’s league that relegated him to 35th place in the hitting ranks. Delahanty hit .351. The league began to unravel in August before disbanding in September with Mansfield at the bottom of the standings.

Columbus, Ohio liked what they saw in Allen and reached an unwritten agreement for the 1888 season.7 In February they decided they no longer needed him, and Bob returned to Mansfield, which was now in the 10-team Tri-State League. One of just two returning regulars from the 1887 team, Allen played shortstop and batted lead-off to open the year. He started the campaign with a hot bat, hitting .400 (26-65) in mid-May, but the team was struggling.8

Allen’s hitting cooled considerably and the “0-fers” began to appear more often. On July 4 Mansfield swept Toledo in a doubleheader, but he went just 1-for-9. The next week on Friday the 13th, he collided with Sandusky’s first baseman while legging out an infield hit and fractured his left leg just above the ankle.9 He was done for the season. Despite the injury he was signed by Pittsburgh for the next season.

He fondly remembered his time in spring training with the Alleghenys. He was most impressed with veteran teammates Billy Sunday and Deacon White. Unfortunately, he struggled with an illness and never got into playing shape. Pittsburgh let him go on April 27, noting he was a good fielder but weak with the bat.10

After his release, Allen made his way west to Davenport, Iowa, where he joined the Hawkeyes of the Central Interstate League. Playing shortstop and batting clean-up much of the season, Allen impressed fans and writers with his range and hands but left a lot to be desired at bat. He hit a mere.207 with a .282 slugging percentage — hardly the ideal man for the middle of the order.

In June manager Charles Holacher resigned and Allen was appointed manager and team captain.11 The Hawkeyes season came to a bizarre ending in mid-September. Despite leading the league with 59 victories, the stockholders met and opted to disband the team. They were reacting to a conspiracy theory that an umpire named Hunt had been assigned to work their next 12 games and that he had declared they would not win a single one.12 Supposedly this would assure Quincy the pennant, which eventually went to Springfield.

Harry Wright, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, had suffered through the latter part of 1889 with Al Myers at second base and Bill Hallman at shortstop. They both hit adequately but they piled up errors faster than anyone else in the league; Myers with 99 and Hallman 78. The astute Wright realized a slick-fielding shortstop would be the solution and signed Allen.

In Florida for spring training, the Phillies wasted little time before starting exhibition play on February 21. Allen was installed at shortstop and Myers returned to second base where he would raise his fielding percentage from .843 to .958. Any hitting Allen provided from the eighth spot in the lineup would be a luxury.

Allen could handle the bat: in an April 7 exhibition against the Philadelphia Athletics he went 3-for-4 with two walks in a 24-6 rout. In the season opener against Brooklyn, he doubled for one of just three Phillies’ hits but more importantly did “phenomenal work… of the Ward–Glasscock stripe and… ‘ate up about five base hits.’”13

The Phillies went into first place on May 2 and stayed there until mid-June when Wright was felled by a mysterious case of blindness. President A. J. Reach managed the team for 11 games, dropping out of first before turning the reins over to Allen. Suddenly a 22-year-old rookie was at the helm of a pennant contender.

Just two weeks into his tenure a Philadelphia paper was theorizing that he might become a “great manager.”14 The team had just returned from a swing through the three “C’s” — Chicago, Cleveland, and Cincinnati — with an 8-5 record. Allen’s best results were still to come. The Phillies dropped the first game of a home stand to Cincinnati, then reeled off 14 straight home wins to regain first place. The Phillies’ bats were on fire; they outscored their opponents by over 100 runs in that stretch. Allen’s managerial record stood at 25-10 on July 23.

Most sources list Allen’s record as 25-10 for the year, suggesting he did not manage beyond July 23. It should be noted that there are numerous mentions in the Philadelphia papers as late as August 8 where he is labeled as “manager Allen.”15 Wright eventually returned, and the Phillies finished in third place.

Allen played in 133 games and batted .226. He hit two home runs. The first came in the morning game on the Fourth of July, a three-run blast against former Mansfield teammate Frank Foreman. The other was an August grand slam off Bob Caruthers. When future evangelist Billy Sunday joined the team in August he roomed with Allen.16

Allen’s 1891-92 seasons were remarkably similar. His hitting was in the .220s with occasional power. His fielding was always held in high regard. Modern statistics show him with a range factor above that of the league each year. His fielding average dropped to .896 in 1891 but bounced back to .919 in 1892. His 945 chances accepted that season were surpassed only by Hughie Jennings.

The pitching distance was stretched to the present day setting for the 1893 season. The National League hit .245 in 1892 before batting averages soared in 1893 (.280) and again in 1894 (.309). Not surprisingly Allen’s numbers look much better in 1893 than before. His stat line of .268/.369/.410 was a major improvement over his first three seasons. From 1890 through 1892 he had always finished in the bottom 10 percnt of “qualifiers” for the batting crown. (Qualifier is a twentieth century manifestation that awards the batting crown only if the player had 3.1 at-bats per team game.)17

After three seasons at the bottom of the hitting rankings, Allen found himself ranked 59 of 79 batters for average. More impressive was his slugging percentage, which placed him above the league average in 34th place and ahead of four teammates who met the qualifiers standard. Coupled with his tremendous glove work, and still just 25, the future was bright.

Arthur Irwin took the helm of the Phillies in 1894. On paper the Phillies looked to be loaded, but they were hit hard by the injury bug. Outfielders Sam Thompson and Delahanty missed time, opening the gate for Tuck Turner to get over 300 at-bats and hit a team-high .418. Catcher Jack Clements was held to just 48 games by a variety of maladies. The most serious injury was Allen’s beaning on June 15. It came in the ninth inning of a 21-8 blowout of Cincinnati. Until then, he had escaped injury, starting the first 41 games

Allen was hospitalized and there were fears that he might die or be left blind. Blessedly, he pulled through and returned to his parents’ home in Marion to recuperate. The injury would heal but Allen was concerned that the memory of the beaning would affect his confidence as a hitter.18 Once the headaches subsided, Allen went to work in his father’s bank in Paulding, Ohio.

Allen had married Estelle Cunningham Blizard in late October 1890 in her hometown of Paulding. She was a “highly educated and accomplished young lady” from one of the “best families” in Paulding. The nuptials were held in the Presbyterian Church, after which the couple honeymooned on the East Coast.19 After the beaning there were a few reports that Mrs. Allen did not want Bob to return to the game.20 This might have been true in 1895 but as time went on it did not seem to be an issue.

Teams made offers to Allen in 1895 and 1896 but he did not accept any of them. He did however schedule a banking trip to Chicago in the fall of 1896 that coincided with the league baseball meeting. Speculation had him in the running for the Philadelphia managerial position.

In early January 1897, Allen signed at “the highest salary in the league” to manage and play shortstop for Detroit of the Western League.21 He arranged to bring the team to Marion for an exhibition on June 18 against a team of locals. Marion selected their best pitcher, Jack Harper, who was playing semipro ball and working in an oil field. The game went 13 innings with Marion winning, 5-3. Harper only allowed six hits, one of them an Allen double.22 Harper’s performance brought him fame that culminated with eight seasons in the majors.

The Western League in 1897 was an example of the “haves” and the “have nots.” In early July Detroit was definitely a “have not” as they were below .500 in fifth place, looking up at Milwaukee in fourth but playing over .600 ball.23 Detroit ownership kept press and fans wondering what moves might be made when suddenly Frank Graves took over as manager and Hunky Hines moved from second base to shortstop. Allen had been fired.24

Allen was unemployed for about a week until he accepted an offer from the Boston Beaneaters. Boston had started the season slowly but had taken over first in June and were in a spirted race with Baltimore for the pennant. Their shortstop, Herman Long, was nursing a hand injury and Allen was added as insurance.

Boston spent their money wisely because Long was forced to the bench with Allen taking over for 32 games at shortstop. His fielding percentage and range factor were better than Long’s and he hit .319 with a career-high .409 OBP. Captain Hugh Duffy praised him: “Our pitchers put us in the race and Bob Allen kept us there.”25 Boston finished in first place with a 93-39 record. Despite playing just 32 games, Allen was voted a half share of the Temple Cup money.26

Allen had negotiated a deal with Boston that did not include a reserve clause, so he was a free agent when the season ended.27 He took the position of player/manager with the Indianapolis Hoosiers (aka Reds) in the Western League. Allen assembled a strong pitching staff with holdovers Foreman and Bill Phillips joined by Ed Scott and Marvin Hawley. Indianapolis was not expected to be a contender, but a fast start and Allen’s guidance kept them in the race.28

The race was a heated one with five teams holding the top spot after the fourth of July. Kansas City and Indianapolis battled it out in the final two weeks, with Kansas City winning by 6 percentage points (.633 to.627).29 In 1899 Phillips left the team and was replaced by young left-hander Doc Newton. Indianapolis played tight defense and team ball to squeeze into the title, beating out the Minneapolis Millers .615 to .603.30

Allen’s efforts earned him the manager’s job in Cincinnati for 1900, but his appointment was not without controversy. There were fans and sportswriters who favored shortstop Tommy Corcoran as the successor to Buck Ewing. These same individuals bristled at the thought that Allen might choose to play in the field instead of Corcoran.31

The 1899 Reds under Ewing had won 83 games but finished sixth. The lineup underwent changes under Allen, but he did not supplant Corcoran. Sam Crawford, Harry Steinfeldt, and Jimmy Barrett all gained more prominent roles. Former Hoosiers Scott and Newton joined the pitching staff.

The season started well for the Reds, who were in second place before an eight-game winless stretch in May dropped them off the pace. The team was dealt an even bigger loss on May 28 when the grandstand caught fire and was almost completely destroyed. One game was postponed before the team departed for a scheduled Eastern swing. Because of the fire they added an extra week on the road (a total of 23 games).

The Reds finally returned for a series with Boston on June 28. Fans had no roof over their heads and the field had no grass, but the Reds finished out the season without further interruptions,32 finishing seventh at 62-77.

When the season concluded, the Reds’ management dragged their feet about selecting a manager for 1901. Allen’s fate was sealed in late October when the Cincinnati Enquirer ran an account that reported discontent by an anonymous player as well as negative reviews from Phillips, catcher Mike Kahoe, and pitcher Noodles Hahn, who had rebelled against Bob Wood as his catcher.33 The Reds eventually hired Bid McPhee who guided the team to a last-place finish in 1901 with just 52 wins.

Allen’s managerial style was more like a businessman than a friend. Some players complained that he did not pal around with them. He acted like a father or financial advisor whenever a player came to him asking for an advance or a loan. Allen was often heard to say, “How do you ever expect to save money if you spend it so recklessly?”34

Allen left the game and eventually entered the lumber business in the South which took him to Little Rock, Arkansas. The family had grown with the birth of Robert Jr. in Philadelphia in 1893 and Edgar Cunningham Allen in Paulding in 1902.

Late in 1914, Allen returned to baseball by buying the Montgomery, Alabama, franchise in the Class A Southern Association and moving the team to Little Rock.. The name Travelers, which had been used with previous franchises, was brought back. That first spring was spent looking for a manager and filling out the roster because the only regular retained from 1914 was Heinie Jantzen.

Allen opened the season as manager before turning the reins over to Charlie Starr in mid-May. Appointing Starr, the starting second baseman, was a shrewd financial move because Allen would only have to count half of Starr’s salary towards the league salary limit. Allen left with the team in seventh place with a 10-18 record; they finished last at 65-87, an 11-game improvement over 1914 Montgomery.

Allen would retain the franchise through the 1930 season. He was his own general manager and his son, Robert Jr., was the secretary until 1920, when he left for a lucrative position with a cotton business on the East Coast.

The franchise’s best years came from 1918 through 1922. Kid Elberfeld served as manager and ably guided the team to five consecutive winning seasons, including two second=place finishes and the championship in 1920.

The 1920 squad featured league batting champ Harry Harper and the circuit’s home run leader, Bing Miller. The pitching staff was anchored by righty Chief Yellow Horse with 21 wins and lefty Hank “Rube” Robinson. who won 26. Robinson, from Floyd, Arkansas, was in the midst of a 13-year career with Little Rock.

Allen was regarded as an astute judge of talent. While in Arkansas he was able to sign many top prospects from the neighboring states. The most notable players who spent some or all of their first professional season with the Travelers were shortstop Travis Jackson, pitcher Firpo Marberry, and catcher Bill Dickey.

Allen believed in running his baseball operation like a bank. While some owners relied on giveaways and promotions to attract fans, Allen felt that the product on the field should be the main attraction.35 Little Rock was a small market compared to Nashville, Birmingham and Atlanta, yet he was able to outdraw them with a winning team.

After some initial success with finding top talent, Allen found it increasingly difficult to acquire top young players. From 1923 to 1927 the team finished last. In 1930, led by pitcher Leo Moon, the team won 81 games but still finished in fifth place.

Allen sold the Little Rock franchise and purchased the Nashville Volunteers in January 1931. He paid $50,000 for 90 percent control of the team’s stock and assumed a stadium mortgage.36 Despite the addition of eventual league batting and home run champion Moose Clabaugh, the team fell into last place. In mid-June, cash-strapped Allen offered the club to local businessman Fay Murray, who agreed to the sale.37 The transfer of the team emboldened the press to critique Allen harshly. Nashville sports columnist Claude “Blinky” Horn was especially pointed, stating that “Bob Allen left baseball here prostrated.”38 In another column Horn blamed low attendance on the “menace of Bob Allen.”39 Oddly just month’s earlier the same writer had praised Allen for the increase in turnstile use over the previous season.40

Shortly after he left Nashville,rumors circulated that Allen was after another franchise in the Southern Association. He purchased the Mobile franchise in December 1931 and shifted it permanently to Knoxville for the 1932 season.41 At his side in this venture was his younger son, Edgar, who was appointed secretary-treasurer of the team.

Edgar Allen had been a star baseball player at the University of Pennsylvania and developed a friendship with Walter O’Malley while there. He joined his father after his graduation in 1925. After working in different baseball capacities from batboy at age 12 to vendor and grounds crew, he was ready for a more important role.42 In 1943 when his father died, he took control of the team alongside his brother.

Battling the effects of the Depression in another small market, the Allens were able to bring only one winning season, 1939, to Knoxville. Good young talent was hard to afford, and the team roster listed many more players in their late thirties than early twenties. The most notable youngster he auditioned was a big slugger out of Alabama, Rudy York. After just a three-day trial, York was sent back to his home with a .100 batting average. York went on to a 13-year ML career and led the AL in home runs and RBIs in 1943.

While R.G. Allen was not prone to give-a-ways and special nights, he was a fan of the increased attendance at night games. He had introduced night baseball in Little Rock in 1930 and did the same in Nashville the following year. It seems odd then that night baseball did not come to Knoxville until after Allen’s death. In the two previous cities he owned or controlled the stadiums. He did not have that luxury in Knoxville, having signed only short-term leases. He was loath to install lighting for fear of losing his investment.43

In the 1940s, Allen’s health began to deteriorate. Bob Jr. left Boston and came home to assist Edgar with running the club in April 1943.44 Allen was hospitalized in Little Rock in the spring of 1943 and died there on May 14. He was buried in the Roselawn Memorial Park in Little Rock. The Park is the resting place of numerous Arkansas governors and congressmen as well as the Dickey brothers, Bill and George.

Estelle passed away in 1960 and is buried alongside her husband. Edgar stayed in baseball and was a supervisor of Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, when he died in 1960. Bob Jr. resided in Boston when he died in 1975.

Allen was interviewed in the Marion newspaper in 1939. He mentioned his two injuries as being days he would always remember. He had few regrets but did mention two. The first was not doing better when managing Cincinnati. His biggest regret was turning down an offer to buy the Western League Detroit franchise in 1897 for $12,500.45 That franchise became the Detroit Tigers of the AL.

Upon his death Allen received praises for his dozen seasons as a player and 28 years as an owner in the Southern Association. Billy Evans was president of the league at the time of Allen’s death and eulogized him: “Baseball loses one of the pioneers who helped make the game and the Southern League loses a man who helped greatly in the making of baseball in the South.”46

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Nowlin and Norman Mact. It was fact-checked by Kevin Larkin.

Sources

In addition to the items cited in the notes, minor league records from the 1900s are taken from the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball. Statistics are from Baseball Reference unless otherwise noted.

Notes

1 “Death Takes “Bob” Allen Marion’s No. 1 in Baseball,” Marion (Ohio) Star, May 15, 1943: 1.

2 President Warren G. Harding ran a newspaper in Marion. He was reputed to have played first base for the town team. This writer did not uncover any box scores containing Harding’s name. Harding did not appear in any game stories with the Mohawks suggesting he was not one of the better players in the area.

3 Marion Star, September 19, 1885: 4.

4 David Nemec, ed., Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Volume 1 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011), 445.

5 “Mansfield Club Changes,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 11, 1887: 5.

6 “Mansfield 2—Picked Nine 0,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 27, 1887: 5.

7 East Liverpool (Ohio) Evening Review, December 3, 1887: 4.

8 Sporting Life carried the box scores for the Tri State League.

9 “Base Ball Briefs,” Wheeling (West Virginia) Daily Intelligencer, July 16, 1888: 4.

10 “No Game at Pittsburg,” Boston Globe, April 27, 1889: 5.

11 “Davenport Club Changes,” Inter Ocean (Chicago, Illinois), June 4, 1889: 6.

12 “Out of the League,” Democrat Gazette (Davenport, Iowa), September 17, 1889: 3.

13 “National League,” The Times (Philadelphia), April 29, 1890: 2.

14 “Baseball Comment,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 8, 1890: 5.

15 “Will There be a Shake-up,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 8, 1890: 3. If you extend his managerial time to August 8 then his record would be 30-16.

16 Bob Allen’s Career with Major Leaguers,” Marion Star, October 2, 1919: 8.

17 In 1890 he was 42nd of 48, in 1891 it was 49 of 53 and in 1892 he was 62 of 69. Courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

18 “Sporting Notes,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 12, 1894: 24.

19 “R.G. Allen’s Marriage,” Marion Star, October 31, 1890: 3.

20 “Chat of the Diamond,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 28, 1895: 5.

21 “Will Not Sell,” Detroit Free Press, July 14, 1897: 6. Terms of Allen’s deal were not revealed but $2500 has been suggested. The “highest salary” comment came from his disgruntled owner so it may well have been sour grapes.

22 “Marion Beat Detroit in 13 Innings,” Detroit Free Press, June 19, 1897: 6.

23 “Western League Standings,” Detroit Free Press, July 4, 1897: 6.

24 “How Will it End?,” Detroit Free Press, July 4, 1897: 6.

25 “The City in Brief,” Marion Star, September 23, 1897: 3.

26 “Base Ball Caught on the Fly,” The Sporting News, October 23, 1897: 5.

27 “Robert G. Allen,” The Sporting News, May 20, 1943: 12.

28 “Was an Exciting Race,” Kansas City (Missouri) Journal, September 22, 1898: 5.

29 W.C. Madden and Patrick J. Stewart, The Western League (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2002), 50-51.

30 Madden & Stewart, The Western League.

31 “About Finished,” The Sporting News, February 10, 1900: 5.

32 “Willis Too Much for Reds,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 29, 1900: 4.

33 “All Sports,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 28, 1900: 31.

34 “Notes of the Diamond,” News-Journal (Mansfield, Ohio), April 11, 1903: 11.

35 “Bob Allen, Dean of Southern Club Heads, Called by Death,” The Sporting News, May 20, 1943: 12.

36 “R.G.Allen Buys Nashville Club,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), January 20, 1931: 13.

37 Blinky Horn, “From Bunker to Bleacher,” Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee), June 23, 1931: 8.

38 Blinky Horn, “From Bunker to Bleacher,” Tennessean, July 8, 1931: 6.

39 Blinky Horn, “From Bunker to Bleacher,” Tennessean, September 17, 1931: 13.

40 Blinky Horn, “From Bunker to Bleacher,” Tennessean, May 15, 1931: 15.

41 The franchise had played in both Mobile and Knoxville in 1931. When a purchase by a Knoxville group could not be finalized, the franchise was set to return to Mobile. The team was owned by Byrd Douglas of Nashville.

42 Online Arkansas Baseball Encyclopedia, https://arkbaseball.com/tiki-index.php?page=Edgar+Allen, last accessed March 29, 2020. Also Carl T. Felker, “Front Office Families,” The Sporting News, March 27, 1941: 1.

43 “Knoxville Comes Out of the Dark with Meridian’s Park Lights,” The Sporting News, July 29, 1943: 6.

44 Knoxville (Tennessee) News- Sentinel, April 18, 1943: 11.

45 “Death Takes “Bob” Allen Marion’s No. 1 in Baseball”

46 “Evans in Tribute to R.G.Allen,” Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas), May 17, 1943: 6.

The country was mired in the torment of the deepening Depression. Herbert Hoover was in the White House; unemployment soared to 15%, while a disenchanted people sought any means available to divert attention away from the hardship of everyday life.

It was the spring of 1931 and scarce pennies were invested in leisure pursuits such as movies, radio and of course baseball. America was in the mood for a special kind of hero, a real-life Buck Rogers to divert their minds from troubled times.

Understanding the need for such diversion, newspapers of the day sought to lighten spirits with uplifting stories of human interest. Such a hero was found in the story of Buzz Arlett, who for a brief moment in the spring of that year, produced heroic exploits for a populace in trouble. It was the engaging story of an aging rookie who suddenly burst upon the major leagues with a thunderous bat and an engaging personality.

We don’t know what Buzz Arlett was thinking when he made his major league debut on April 14, but we do know it was the culmination of 13 long years in the minor leagues, following a path dotted with false hopes and devastating setbacks, while playing on the West Coast as one of the biggest stars in the “third” major league.

Russell Loris “Buzz” Arlett was born in Elmhurst, California, on January 3, 1899. He was the youngest of four sons born to German immigrant Beny and his English wife Lillian. Sister Evelyn rounded out the family.

Brothers Al, Harry, Leslie (Dick) and Russell were no strangers to the diamond. While growing up, it was common for the Arlett brothers to play ball from sunup till sundown. If a ball was unavailable, the brothers were known to use fruit, stones or anything resembling a sphere as a substitute. Buzz went through life with a scar on his nose, thanks to an errantly thrown rock. As an adult, Buzz happily recalled his joy in learning the 1906 San Francisco earthquake had leveled his elementary school, providing the brothers with lots of extra time to play ball.

In 1918, oldest brother Al was already a member of the Oakland Oaks when he departed for spring training at Boyes Springs, California. In need of a vacation, the Arlett family decided to accompany Al as he got into shape for the upcoming season. Buzz took time off from his job, wiring motors at thirty cents a day, to be with the family.

During early workouts, the team experienced a lot of injuries. Especially hit hard were the pitchers, hurting from an assortment of aching muscles and sore arms. Manager Del Howard didn’t have enough healthy pitchers for an inter-squad game, when suddenly a spectator named Buzz Arlett piped up with a solution to the manager’s problem.

Boldly announcing to the Oaks skipper “he was a ballplayer,” the youngster was told to suit up and take the hill. Pitching for the reserves versus the regulars, Buzz proceeded to mow down seasoned veterans with a dazzling assortment of spitters, fast balls and curves. This was how he earned his nickname: based on his ability to tear through the opposition like a human buzz saw!

After several impressive mound appearances, the 19-year-old was signed to a professional contract. He stood over 6′ 3″ tall and weighed in at a muscular 185 pounds. During the 1918 season, young Buzz would post a 4-9 record for the last place Oaks; he impressed both fans and management alike with his raw talent on the hill.

From 1919 to 1922, the young right-hander blossomed into the workhorse of the staff, posting an overall record of 95-71. In 1920 alone, he won 29 games, while toiling an exhausting 427 innings. In those days, the PCL played an elongated schedule – often exceeding more than 200 games a season. The future seemed bright, as exuberant members of the press compared Arlett’s mound exploits to the likes of Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Major league teams started hovering around, including scouts from Detroit and Cincinnati. Detroit opted against pursuing the youngster, since his primary pitch was the recently outlawed spitball. In 1922, the Reds were interested in signing the young star, when his “gameness” became an issue; it seemed Buzz didn’t concentrate when contests were badly out of reach. Reds president Garry Herrman determined this to be a byproduct of toiling for a last-place club. Considering his overall ability, a change of scenery was probably just what the doctor ordered. Herrman directed his scouts to pursue the young prospect.

While the “ivory hunters” were jockeying for position, the massive number of innings pitched caught up with Buzz during the 1923 season, causing irreparable damage to his pitching arm. Admiring scouts were now scared away; a dejected Buzz thought his once promising career might never get back on track.

Buzz got tired of warming the pines, waiting for his arm to heal. He approached manager Howard and asked about playing the outfield. Arlett was already considered one of the better hitting pitchers in the league and was no stranger to pinch hitting assignments. Management approved the experiment, and the news shook Buzz from his depressed state.

The next problem was also related to his bum right arm: he couldn’t swing a bat. The right-handed hitting Arlett asked if he could practice hitting left-handed. An affirmative from the boss allowed Buzz to spend countless hours in the cage, practicing his portside swing. Adapting easily to the left side of the plate, Arlett soon began regularly patrolling the Oaks outfield. Buzz would continue as a “turn around” hitter throughout his career; arguably becoming the first power switch hitter in the history of the game.

Buzz responded in fine fashion, posting a .330 mark in 149 games as an outfielder. Major league scouts were astonished when they came to check the progress of his damaged throwing arm, only to find him blasting the opposition with his potent bat. Buzz was just a natural hitter, generating immediate results from both sides of the plate; however he didn’t take so easily to the outfield. While learning his new position, Buzz was awkward in his early days as a fly chaser, a fact not lost upon the scouts.

In 1924, the Cardinals sent a scout to watch Buzz in action. Arlett responded with a particularly bad day in the field. One fly ball even landed squarely on the head of the outfield newcomer. The scout abruptly ended consideration, surmising the big guy would lose more games with his glove than he’d win with his bat. Arlett would soon improve to become, at best, an adequate fielder; however, the reputation of being a poor glove man would persist.

The Reds were still interested. A letter to owner Herrman pointed out that his arm appeared to have improved; his fielding was great; he was smart on his feet; ran and hit well; but alas was temperamental and got down when his team was behind.

Buzz played some first base in 1924 while recuperating from an injury. His play around the bag was more than adequate for someone again thrust into a new position. Buzz put up more big numbers, contributing 33 home runs and a .328 batting average. The 33-homer mark led the Oaks in that offensive department; number two on the club came in with a total of 11 dingers. The 1925 season would be more of the same, as big Buzz punished Pacific Coast League pitching to the tune of a .344 average with 25 homers.

Buzz had a phenomenal year in 1926, hitting .382, with 25 home runs and an impressive 140 runs batted in. While amassing these numbers, a report was leaked that Buzz had been sold to Brooklyn. The sale never materialized, due mostly to an excessive dollar amount placed on the services of such a prized player, literally putting him out of the reach of prospective suitors.

The minor leagues were independent of major league ownership. In many cases, high minor league players were under contract to a team with no desire (or incentive) to sell valuable players. Often, owners would hold out trying to drive up bid amounts, later securing a premium dollar amount to fortify the team’s coffers.

Minor league players became stars in their own right and often earned salaries that exceeded the income of their big league brethren. Many minor league players were content with the system, enjoying the climate and lifestyle of cities not represented by major league baseball. Buzz Arlett was clearly such a player. He earned a high salary, and the Oaks, always a top team in attendance, appreciated the number of fans he put in the seats.

Nevertheless, press and fans alike lobbied for Buzz’s promotion to the big leagues. The sentiment persisted that Buzz had served the coast league well and now deserved a chance at the big show. News accounts reported: “although previously a little awkward in the outfield, he’s now . . . one of the best fielders; can make the long throws; is fast on the bases and a smart player; although he’s getting a little old!”

Buzz showed off his prowess in a July game when he cleanly fielded a single to right, came up throwing and nailed a runner at third. Second base was left uncovered; Buzz ran in, took a throw from the third baseman, and tagged out the batter trying to stretch his hit into a double.

Buzz was knocked unconscious in September when he made a running catch in right field. Diving into foul territory, he crashed headlong into the cement base of the bleachers, while holding onto the ball.

Nineteen twenty-seven was cause for celebration all around. Buzz gave up the single life. Marriage apparently agreed with the big outfielder, as he led the league with 123 RBI, hit 30 home runs, and posted a .351 batting average. Ivan Howard took over the managerial reins from his brother Del, and the Oaks won the Pacific Coast League pennant, their first in 15 years.

An event called “Buzz Arlett Day” was planned toward the end of the season. The big fellow was presented with an array of gifts, cash and even a brand new car. Local dignitaries, distinguished guests — and best of all even Buzz’s mom attended. Buzz won the fungo-hitting contest, but declined to address the crowd with a speech.

Manager Howard had a surprise awaiting his big star: With the pennant already secured, Buzz was going to take to hill and pitch the game to commemorate his day. Buzz proceeded to beat the Seals 12-6; allowing 10 hits and 3 runs, before being relieved. Buzz batted fourth and contributed two home runs to his winning cause.

Toward the end of the 1927 season, manager Howard, along with Coaches Joe Devine and Louie Guisto, commented to the news media that a play Buzz made in right field was perhaps the greatest catch any of the three had ever witnessed. After a long run, Buzz dove, made the catch and rolled several times before triumphantly rising to his feet with the ball secured in his glove.

Nineteen twenty-eight marked another fine season, with Buzz hitting .365 with 25 home runs and 113 runs batted in. The ’29 campaign was even better. Buzz chalked up 270 hits for an average of .374. His productive numbers included 39 homers, 189 RBI and 22 stolen bases. With these stats and numerous false starts, PCL president Harry Williams began to publicly express the pent-up rage of the Oakland fan base. Williams lobbied major league baseball, pleading with owners to get this guy where he belonged. It was readily acknowledged that spending his entire career in Oakland had slowed the advancement of Buzz Arlett.

Williams went on at length, expounding on Buzz’s hitting ability and deceptive speed for a big man. Claiming he was more than adequate as an outfielder, the league president pointed out that Buzz could handle first base too. He even went so far as to remind major league brass that Buzz was still listed as an eligible spitball pitcher, albeit in the Pacific Coast League. The pitch, illegal since 1920, was grandfathered to hurlers who pre-dated the ruling; Arlett’s arm had apparently recovered sufficiently for such a consideration.

Perhaps Williams should have lobbied Oaks ownership to revise the asking price for their biggest draw and star. Buzz became fed-up, too, with rumors of his big league potential never materializing. He took matters into his own hands by holding out and seeking a higher salary. Oakland began to realize that Buzz would cost more as years passed and his age would cause a decline in value.

Buzz ultimately signed again with the Oaks for the 1930 season. The latest club expressing interest was Brooklyn of the National League. Scout Joe Becker was dispatched to California by manager Wilbert Robinson, in search of another productive bat to insert into the Robins lineup. Becker was familiar with the circuit as a former Pacific Coast League umpire. He toured the league and scouted his list of prospective candidates, while Brooklyn remained in the hunt for the National League flag. He made his decision and Buzz Arlett was the player he wanted to sign. Suddenly disaster struck–in the form of an umpire’s mask!

Early in the 1930 season, the Pacific Coast League was experimenting with night baseball. In June, a series commenced at Sacramento, pitting the Solons against the Oakland Oaks, under newly installed lights at Moreing Field. The Oaks lost the opening contest, 8-0, amidst complaints from players regarding the lack of sufficient lighting.

Oakland won the next game, 10-9; however, an ill Buzz Arlett left the game early after striking out in his only plate appearance. The Oaks had a new manager in 1930 named Carl Zamloch. He removed Arlett from the lineup and sent his star outfielder back to the hotel for bed rest. The next day, Buzz was examined and admitted to the hospital. Toward evening, Arlett was feeling better while he listened to the game on a radio next to his bed.

With his team trailing, Buzz decided to get dressed, leave the hospital and head to the ballpark. The bench jockeys were already working hard when Buzz arrived late in the game. Buzz suited up and took his place on the Oakland bench, as players continued to razz home plate umpire Chet Chadbourne. Naturally, Buzz joined his teammates in riding the ump over blown calls.

For the second night in a row, benches cleared over pent-up frustration stemming from Chadbourne’s calls at home plate. Order restored, Chadbourne decided to toss Arlett, banishing Buzz to the visitors’ clubhouse. After the game, as players cleared the field, Arlett sought out Chadbourne, in the tunnel leading to the clubhouse. Buzz wanted an explanation and asked the ump why he was thrown out of the game. Without uttering a word, Chadbourne turned, reached over another Oaks player and viciously struck Buzz in the head with his heavy iron mask. The glancing blow struck Arlett just above the left eye.

Shocked and incensed over what happened, a bloody Buzz Arlett had to be restrained as he dove toward the umpire. Buzz was rushed back to the hospital, where he was listed in serious condition. The cut on his skull was bone deep and required 12 stitches to close; doctors were also concerned about permanent eye damage.

Manager Zamloch expressed dismay over the entire situation. He emphatically stated the umpiring was poor and naturally the players would react with razzing from the bench; however, nothing could possibly warrant such outrageous behavior from a member of the umpiring corps.

Both Arlett and Chadbourne were suspended pending a league investigation. Oakland players rallied around their teammate, adamant that Buzz had not laid a hand on the ump. A police officer who witnessed the fracas testified that Arlett was not the cause of the provocation. The league called a meeting of only the umpiring crew; members of the Oaks were not invited to attend and provide commentary on the events they had witnessed. Baseball commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis got a report of the incident and was upset at the thought of an umpire striking a player.

The Robins, still seeking to spark to their lineup for the balance of the 1930 season, withdrew their offer. A wounded Buzz Arlett recuperating in a West Coast hospital would certainly not be of any short-term help. The Dodgers signed Ike Boone.

Eventually, both Buzz and the umpire were reinstated. Arlett considered taking legal action against Chadbourne. Buzz maintained his innocence and even considered suing, to the tune of $10,000 worth of compensation, for an injury that could have permanently kept him out of the game. A fan letter to the league office further backed up Buzz’s claim that he had not provoked the attack. After almost eight years of false starts in becoming a major leaguer, Buzz could taste his chance, only to have it whisked away in a moment of rage.

Buzz stayed with the Oaks and slowly got back to his old self. He had trouble hitting from the right side while his left eye healed. Despite the missed time and accompanying mishap, Buzz would end the season hitting .361, with 31 homers and 143 RBI. One can only speculate what kind of numbers Buzz Arlett would have posted, as a member of the Dodgers, during a remarkable offensive year like1930. The addition of his bat into Ebbets Field during that explosive season could have been mighty impressive.

Scouts were again assembling and now had a new reason to bypass the Pacific Coast League star: his on-field temperament was called into question, due to the altercation with umpire Chadbourne. Even so, the St. Louis Browns were rumored to be considering Buzz as a pitcher and part-time outfielder. The Boston Red Sox were also in the bidding, salivating over the thought of the power-hitting outfielder patrolling Fenway Park.

The Oaks realized they’d better entertain any legitimate offers for their aging star. In addition to Buzz’s not getting any younger, his salary demands were increasing and reasons for not signing him were getting old. Another factor was the revised draft policy, greatly affecting the minor leagues. Initiated by the majors, big league clubs sought access to talented players at a reasonable cost; the new draft policy allowed minor league players to be “drafted” out of the minors and onto major league rosters.

Prior to actually being drafted, Arlett’s shot at the majors finally came late in 1930, when the Oaks sold his contract to the perennial last-place occupants of the National League: namely the Philadelphia Phillies. The configuration of Baker Bowl was thought to be perfect for the Arlett swing. The Buzzer was not strictly a pull hitter; he made smooth contact and was satisfied going with the pitch, to any field. Thanks to his great strength, it was not impossible to bang out opposite field dingers. Buzz planned to spend the off season working out, attempting to be in perfect condition for his major league debut.

Despite his regimen of getting into shape, Buzz started slow in spring training. The 32-year-old war-horse just had trouble getting into the big league routine. Although officially listed at 230 pounds at the start of the season, Arlett likely tipped the scales a few pounds over that figure. Indeed, everything about Buzz was big, even his bat. Ash was his material of choice, and he preferred to swing lumber weighing in at a staggering 44 ounces! He once placed an order that was rejected by the manufacturer; the supplier thought the 44-ounce designation was an error. Arlett personally weighed all new bats and felt only two out of any given dozen would be good. He had a favorite bat, lovingly referred to as “Big Bertha,” claiming this particular bat had more hits in her than any other. In the off season, he’d oil “Bertha” every two weeks to ensure she wouldn’t chip during the regular season.

Manager Burt Shotten was patient with the former PCL star and worked with Buzz in building his confidence, emphasizing the brilliant dozen years he’d contributed in the Coast League.

Toward the end of spring training, in Winter Haven, Buzz started to show signs of life at the plate. On the trip north, he caught fire and didn’t look back. When the season started on April 14, Buzz continued his fine stick work and the aging rookie became the most talked about player in all of baseball. Six weeks into the season, his numbers showed a league-leading .385 batting average, while placing second with 11 homers. For a while, it looked like he’d proven his worth as a major leaguer, until injuries took their toll.

How did comrades around the league take to the affable giant? In a May series, the Cubs invaded Philadelphia and decided to have some fun with the big rookie. The bench started to razz him about his physique and the number of years spent in the minor leagues, all spiced with salty language. Buzz marched over to the bench and started to remove his uniform shirt. The sight of big Buzz’s hairy chest and general invitation to “step out of the dugout and take a licking” had a calming effect on the Cub players. No one stepped forward, and subsequently the league became very careful in riding the big Californian.

By June, Arlett was thrilling fans with his exploits on the field. With Buzz hitting explosive home runs and creating excitement on the base paths, the small groups of fans at Baker Bowl at least had something to cheer. Buzz’s girth and shy demeanor made him appear surly to some fans. In reality, the gentle giant was friendly with press and public alike.

The injuries began in Cincinnati. Buzz hurt his leg while sliding and never quite regained his early-season form. In mid-June, he fractured his thumb in Philadelphia, trying to steal second base. At this point in the season, his average had fallen to .348, with Buzz stuck on 11 home runs. Buzz was out of the lineup for two weeks and when he returned, he couldn’t swing from the left side of the plate.

Arlett played some first base while recuperating, but his overall performance was just not the same. Buzz seemed to become indifferent and lackadaisical in spirit, further affecting his play. He probably sealed his fate on a hot August day, when he misplayed a routine fly to right. Pitcher Jumbo Jim Elliot was livid with the miscue and recommended an on-field rocking chair for the aging player. Buzz saw less playing time as the season progressed, spending most of his time in pinch hitting roles.

Buzz ultimately produced a .313 batting average, 18 homers and 72 RBI in his only big league season. His slugging percentage of .538 and was bested in the NL only by the likes of Chuck Klein, Rogers Hornsby, Chick Hafey, and Mel Ott. His fielding percentage, as a flychaser, was a low .955. Although the colorful giant was popular with Phillies fans — and the team improved to 6th place — some personnel changes had to be made for 1932.

Overall, the Phillies sought to improve the outfield by adding a speedy center fielder and moving Chuck Klein to right. The resulting move made Buzz expendable, and he was waived out of the league. He wanted to play back in the West once again; however, he was willing to come east if the money was right. In December of 1931, the Baltimore Orioles of the International League signed him. George Weiss, an astute baseball man, ran the Orioles and obviously saw value in bringing the big star to Baltimore.

Looking back at the 1931 season, Lefty O’Doul, a contemporary of Arlett in the Pacific Coast League, offered a sobering commentary on Buzz’s only season in the sun. He remarked to press that had Arlett been in the big leagues five years earlier, he would have been “the Babe Ruth of the National Circuit.”

The Orioles were a major league entry in the American League from 1901 until 1903, when the club was moved to New York. A new team settled into Baltimore and was embraced by the city. The International League Orioles became a powerhouse in the 1920s, winning 7 pennants during that decade. The team played at old Oriole Park, located on Greenmount Avenue in the city. Common to many parks of the era, it contained single tiered wooden construction. The park would be used until the 1940s when it was totally destroyed by fire, a calamity that eventually would lead to the Orioles playing at Memorial Stadium.

Fans and city alike took to their new slugger. “Buzzer,” as the Baltimore press affectionately called him, proceeded to put up impressive numbers for his new team. Early in the season, his powerful exploits caught the attention of awe struck fans. In a game on May 5 in Buffalo, Buzz hit for the cycle, securing 8 hits in 11 trips to the plate! In the 6th inning, Arlett reportedly hit a drive that sailed over the right field fence and through the window of a home where neighborhood ladies gathered for an afternoon of bridge. The unsuspecting homeowner was struck on the head by the towering drive! Another homer shot out of the stadium and through the front window of a house where a funeral was in progress. It’s said the deceased was a baseball fan and ultimately the ball stopped rolling at his casket.

On June 1, 1932, Buzz would enjoy a 4-homer day at Reading, Pennsylvania, hitting three from the left side and the last one right-handed, as the O’s posted a 14-13 victory.

This outstanding day at the plate would subsequently be followed by another explosive performance on July 4th. The big slugger proceeded to (once again) destroy the rival Reading Keys, with another 4-homer performance. In the first game of a doubleheader, Arlett hammered a grand slam from the right side of the plate, and then hit three more homers from the left side, as the Orioles defeated the Keys, 21-10!

As an encore, in his first at-bat of the second game, Arlett again cleared the fences, giving him five home runs in five consecutive at-bats. He later added a double, providing the offense leading to the Orioles sweep of the Keys; the second game tally was 9-8. The fans saw a hitting display that gave new meaning to 4th of July fireworks! Buzz Arlett appropriately added to his reputation as the Babe Ruth of the minor leagues.

Coincidentally, Buzz would appear on the diamond, with the legendary Babe, the very next day. On July 5 the New York Yankees would travel to Baltimore to challenge the O’s in an exhibition game. The O’s prevailed, defeating the Yanks, 9-2, with Buzz contributing a homer in the third inning. To give an idea of Buzz’s ample size, a photo appeared in the Baltimore Sun with Buzz standing between Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth; Buzz is clearly the biggest of the three. Buzz wore a size 54 uniform; Babe Ruth wore a loose-fitting 52.

Arlett’s totals during the 1932 campaign included league-leading numbers in the following categories: home runs at 54; runs at 141 and runs batted in with 144; his batting average stood at .339. Incredible as it sounds, he hit 54 home runs despite missing almost a month of the season due to injuries. The 1932 season also marked a position switch for Buzz; previously a right fielder, he’d now patrol left field.

The Orioles finished second in the league during both the ’32 and ’33 campaigns. Buzz continued his tenure with the Orioles until the end of the 1933 season, posting a league-leading 39 home runs and contributing 135 runs scored, while hitting .343. That fall, the new business manager of the Orioles embarked on a youth movement that resulted in the wholesale elimination of players.

Arlett was traded to the Birmingham club of the Southern Association, prior to the start of the 1934 season. He played in 35 games for the Barons before the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association purchased his contract. The idea was to insert a strong bat into the lineup behind another power merchant named Joe Hauser.

Buzz entertained the Minneapolis fans on May 27, 1934, with his both his hitting and fielding. Buzz smacked a homer and two doubles to lead the club to victory over the Toledo Mud Hens at Nicollet Park. But it was a spectacular running, barehanded catch that produced several minutes of deafening cheers from the adoring crowd. The Minneapolis Tribune aptly noted that this was from a man whose fielding supposedly kept him out of the big leagues. In 1934, he ultimately led the loop with 41 homers, while contributing a .319 batting average.

The 1935 season got off to an inauspicious start when a spring training auto accident cost Buzz part of the ring finger on his left hand. In 122 games for the Millers, his home run production dropped to 25; however, his batting average was still a very respectable .360.

In 1936, Buzz divorced his first wife, Frances Arlett, whom he’d married in 1927. The couple separated in 1932, when Frances returned to California to live with her parents. The couple had no children, and Buzz listed desertion as cause for the split. Vivian Johnson became the second Mrs. Arlett. She was secretary to Millers owner Mike Kelly when they tied the knot.

Age and injuries caught up with Buzz in 1936, as he was relegated to part-time status with the Millers. His batting average fell to .316, with only 15 round-trippers.

His last appearance as a player was with the Syracuse Chiefs in 1937, going hitless in four plate appearances as a pinch hitter. He followed his playing career with managerial posts in the low minor leagues; he also did some scouting for the Yankees, Reds and Dodgers.

In retirement, Buzz purchased and operated a very successful restaurant and bar in Minneapolis. Arlett’s Place had some minor skirmishes with authorities in the early 1950s, due mostly to charges of illicit gambling on the premises.

The establishment naturally had its own baseball team, and Buzz was known to suit up as player into the early 1940s. Buzz participated in charity games, including a contest at Nicollet Park, pitting a makeshift all-star team against the Chicago Giants, a Negro League team.

In 1945, Buzz was inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame, based on the outstanding career numbers he posted while playing for the Oakland Oaks. All told, during his minor league career, he hit a total of 432 home runs in 2,390 games, with a .341 lifetime batting average — all after starting as a pitcher.

In 1946, Oakland brought him back to honor their former star with a 10-day celebration on his behalf. Parties and gifts were in order, as Buzz was declared “the Mightiest Oak of All Time.” The event was planned by The Oakland Tribune and culminated at Emeryville Park on August 11. An estimated crowd of 6,000 was expected to attend, but true to form, the popular Arlett drew over 12,000 people. Buzz was presented with a brand new 1946 Ford; Arlett was so delighted with his automobile that he decided to forego the train and drive back home to Minneapolis. The thrifty Arlett kept the car over a dozen years and even drove it back to California to visit his brothers in 1958.

The fact that Buzz was so honored back in Oakland a full decade and a half after he originally left was not lost on the people of Minneapolis. The sentiment of an impressed populace was that “Buzz Arlett must’ve been quite a man to warrant such festivities.”

Arlett lived in the Minneapolis area until stricken with a heart attack in 1964; he passed away on May 16 at Northwestern Hospital. Buzz was 65 and was survived by his wife, a son, a daughter and his older brothers Harry and Dick.

Based on the exceptional numbers he produced during his great minor league career, he was named by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), in 1984, as the all-time greatest minor league player.

Epilogue

A few years ago, while gathering material about Buzz, I had occasion to correspond with an author named Tony Salin, who was also researching Arlett. We exchanged ideas and went back to our respective work. Subsequently, I learned of Tony’s untimely death and how his research material was left in the possession of The Baseball Reliquary, in California. I’m extremely grateful to Terry Cannon and the board members, for sharing Tony’s research. And to Tony, I’d just like to say thanks, and add “you did a Hall of Fame job in your research.”

Sources

Newspapers

Baltimore Sun
Chicago Tribune
Los Angeles Times
Minneapolis Times
Minneapolis Tribune
New York Times
New York World Telegram
Oakland Enquirer
Oakland Tribune
Philadelphia Inquirer
Sacramento Union
San Francisco Call and Post
San Francisco Examiner
The Sporting News
Washington Post

Other Sources

Bready, James H. Baseball in Baltimore. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1998.

Lavoie, Steven. Northern California Baseball History. Cleveland: SABR, 1998.

McEligot, Warren J. “Martyrs of the Baseball Diamond.” Baseball Magazine, June 1934.

Reichler, Joseph L. The Baseball Encyclopedia. New York: Macmillan, 1982.

Selko, Jamie. “Single Season Wonders.” Baseball Research Journal, 1990.

Snelling, Dennis. The PCL: A Statistical History, 1903-1957. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1995.

Tholkes, Robert. Toledo Toppled By Buzz Saw in 1934. Baseball Research Journal, 1982.

Thornley, Stew. On to Nicollet. Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 2000.

Tomlinson, Gerald. “A Minor League Legend: Buzz Arlett, ‘The “Mightiest Oak’.” Baseball Research Journal, 1988.

Zingg, Paul J., and Mark D. Medeiros. Runs, Hits, and an Era, the PCL 1903-58, Champaign, Illinois: Illini Books, 1994.

Edward Michael Ashenbach was born on October 18, 1871, in Cincinnati and always regarded the Queen City as his home. He had three older sisters, Francisca, Augusta, and Josephine. His parents were German Catholic immigrants, Joseph and Mariana Aschenbach. According to an 1882 newspaper article, Joseph was “a hard drinker,” and one day, in a drunken stupor, he shot a man outside a saloon and was arrested.2 Life was surely difficult for the family. At age 12, Josephine was not at school but employed with her sisters in a stocking factory.3

Ed Ashenbach played amateur baseball in Cincinnati with several future major leaguers, including George Hogreiver, George Yeager, and Barry McCormick.4 Ashenbach’s first professional experience was brief: seven games in the spring of 1890 on the Canton, Ohio, team of the Tri-State League. The Akron Daily Beacon reported that he was a “first class fielder,” but the club released him on May 8 “to reduce expenses.”5 He returned home to Cincinnati and told sportswriter Ren Mulford Jr. of Canton’s phenomenal pitcher, Cy Young. Mulford informed the Cincinnati Reds, who did not act on the tip.6 On August 6, 1890, Young made his major-league debut for the Cleveland Spiders.

Ashenbach worked in Cincinnati as a carriage trimmer and painter and made scissors in a hardware factory.7 He continued his baseball career in 1892 in the Class B Pennsylvania State League, appearing in one game with Harrisburg and 57 games with Allentown. A right-handed batter,8 he was a weak hitter but was regarded as the “star center fielder” of the league.9 The following year, after appearing in four games with Canton in the spring, he played for the Tyrone, Pennsylvania, team in the independent River League. On September 9, 1893, the “acrobatic” center fielder made “the fly catch of the season,” robbing a batter of a triple in Tyrone’s 3-2 victory over Johnstown, Pennsylvania.10 Ashenbach was quite a talker on the ball field. The Tyrone Daily Herald called him “Seldom Silent” Ashenbach, the “Cincinnati talking machine,” and the “prince of noise.”11

In Cincinnati on March 25, 1894, Ashenbach married Lydia “Lillie” Westermeier, a daughter of German immigrants. Three months later, she bore him a son named Edward Herman Ashenbach.12

In the spring of 1894, Ashenbach joined Ted Sullivan’s Atlanta team in the Class B Southern Association. In Atlanta’s 1-0 triumph over New Orleans on April 26, Ashenbach made a diving catch in deep center field; it was “the prettiest one-handed catch ever seen on the Atlanta grounds,” said the Atlanta Constitution.13 But he batted only .203 in 33 games and left the team in June. During the remainder of the season, he played for three teams — Altoona, Reading, and Shenandoah — in the Pennsylvania State League.

In 1895 Ashenbach emerged as a fine hitter, batting .313 on Sullivan’s pennant-winning Dallas Steers of the Class B Texas-Southern League. By age 23, Ashenbach sported a sturdy frame; years later he was described as “a big man, powerfully built, with the frame of a football hero.”14 In 1896-97 he played for teams in Dallas, Paterson (New Jersey), Fort Worth, Houston, and Springfield (Ohio). As a member of the 1897 Springfield Governors, he introduced a word into the baseball lexicon. A Springfield catcher failed to catch a high popup; the ball came down on his head and bounced “fully thirty feet off his bean into the bleachers.”15 Ashenbach called him a “bonehead,” a term that by 1911 was “universal” in the game.16

On the 1898 New Castle (Pennsylvania) Quakers of the Class B Interstate League, Ashenbach hit .281 in 149 games and achieved career highs in doubles (31) and triples (10). While on the coaching lines in Dayton on May 24, he “made more noise than the three hundred spectators” as New Castle edged Dayton in a 6-5 thriller.17

Ashenbach was a sly one. When New Castle played at Springfield on September 2, 1898, Springfield’s William Graffius lifted a long fly that barely cleared the left-field fence for an apparent home run. But as that ball went over the barrier, Ashenbach in center field flipped a concealed ball to Joe Rickert, the left fielder. Rickert threw it to second base where Graffius was tagged. Unaware of the ruse, the umpire called Graffius out at second. An angry mob descended onto the field in protest. Lew Whistler, the furious Springfield manager, did not clear the field, so the umpire forfeited the game to New Castle.18

After hitting .197 in 29 games in the spring of 1899, Ashenbach was released by New Castle and he joined the Schenectady Electricians of the Class C New York State League. He batted .303 in 54 games for the Electricians before deserting the team in August.19

In 1900 Ashenbach descended to Class D and served as playing manager of the Hampton Crabs of the Virginia League. He was primarily an outfielder, but he filled in as needed at first base and catcher, and occasionally pitched. As a whole, the league was a shaky proposition, and his team disbanded in mid-July. But before that, he observed a remarkable pitcher named Matthews on the Norfolk team. On June 12 Matthews threw a no-hitter in Norfolk’s 1-0 victory over Hampton.20 The next day Ashenbach pitched a four-hit shutout as Hampton defeated Norfolk, 5-0.21 On July 7 he and Matthews dueled; he allowed 12 hits; Matthews hurled a three-hitter and won, 8-2.22 “Matthews” was in fact Christy Mathewson. On July 17 Mathewson made his major-league debut with the New York Giants.

The next year Ashenbach was playing manager of the Newport News Shipbuilders of the Class C Virginia-North Carolina League. His batting average fell off — .229 in 66 games — but he continued to excel in center field. Due to declining attendance, he moved the team to Tarboro, North Carolina, in late June and then abandoned it two weeks later.23 He finished the season as a member of the Sacramento Senators in the California League.

In the spring of 1902, Ashenbach coached the University of North Carolina baseball team and was playing manager of the Charlotte Hornets of the Class C North Carolina League. He assembled a powerful lineup for the Hornets. Among his recruits was a fleet outfielder from the UNC team named Archibald Wright Graham, better known as Moonlight Graham, who was portrayed in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams. The Hornets dominated their league with a 44-12 record, including a 25-game winning streak from May 12 to June 10, which Sporting Life called “a new world’s record for consecutive victories.”24 Ashenbach rarely pitched, but when he did on June 11, Charlotte lost 13-8 to Durham and the streak was halted.25

The North Carolina League disbanded in July. The Hornets’ long streak had “paralyzed” the circuit, and the five other teams “couldn’t stand this and quit.”26 Ashenbach completed the season as playing manager of the Shreveport, Louisiana, team in the Class A Southern Association.

Ashenbach was “a natural born comedian” and a popular drawing card at home and on the road.27 His voice was described as high-pitched and melodious, and loud.28 It was “a big raucous organ that could be heard over the din of a boiler shop,” said one reporter.29

Ashenbach’s coaching “put life and vigor” into his teams.30 “Ash is the Great American Jollier,” said infielder Eddie Gilligan. “He can make an ordinary slob believe he is a star, and get better work out of him than some other managers can from real crackerjacks.”31 Ashenbach said a manager must be tough on some players: “Imagine my saying: ‘I beg your pardon. You are not in your best form and I shall ask you to increase your energy and carefulness.’ … What I’ve got to say is: ‘What’s ter matter wid yer, you blankety, blank blank! Git into de game!’”32

In 1903 Ashenbach moved on to the Class B New England League as playing manager of the Nashua, New Hampshire, team, and he became increasingly confrontational with umpires. On May 16 he asked a diminutive ump, “Little boy, aren’t you going to give us a fair deal today?”33 In Haverhill, Massachusetts, on June 10, after he was ejected for abusive language, he took “a seat on the roof of a building overlooking the grounds” and continued to “chaff the umpire.”34 Finally, in Nashua on August 18, he went too far. He “landed a vicious blow” on the umpire’s jaw; it was “a clean knockout” and the umpire “lay motionless on the ground, while Ashenbach assumed a belligerent attitude over him.”35 After the game Ashenbach apologized to his victim; nonetheless, he was suspended by the league.36 He requested and received his release from Nashua37 and finished the season as playing manager of the Evansville, Indiana, team in the Class B Central League.

In 1904 Ashenbach was playing manager and owner of the Charleston (South Carolina) Sea Gulls in the Class C South Atlantic League. It was the first year of the “Sally” league, which he helped to organize. A player named Cobb caught his eye. Ashenbach said:

“While I was down in the Sally I one day saw a green fellow on the Augusta team, whose crude work appealed to me, for, despite his inexperience, he was fast, could beat out most any bunt, and could throw like a catapult. Well, one afternoon, while we were playing in Augusta, this fellow allowed a grounder to roll through his legs at a critical stage. That started the fans, and President Taylor of the Augusta Club got hot in the collar. ‘I’ll have to get rid of that lobster,’ he snapped out. ‘I’ll give you $25 for him,’ said I. ‘I’ll take it, b’gosh,’ said Taylor, ‘but first I’ll have to get permission of the Detroit Club to sell him, as they have an option on all our men.’”38

The Detroit Tigers wisely hung on to Tyrus Raymond Cobb.

Ashenbach made a tidy profit when he sold the Charleston franchise in May 1905. He then moved north to become manager of the Scranton (Pennsylvania) Miners of the Class B New York State League. Now in his mid-30s, he rarely played — six games for Scranton in 1905 and only two games the following year.

One of Ashenbach’s mottos was: “Have your men up and fighting all the time. Never give up.”39 In Scranton on July 27, 1905, his team came to bat in the eighth inning trailing the Binghamton Bingoes, 5-2. Pitching for Binghamton was Lee Viau, a cagey 39-year-old right-hander. From the coaching line, Ashenbach urged his team: “Put the wood to it! Smash out the pellet! He’s easy, this old fellow! We’ve got him!”40 Viau ignored Ashenbach and retired the first two Scranton batters. But Ashenbach persisted in his fervent coaching. His team then rallied for five runs and won a game that seemed “hopelessly lost, and much of the credit is due to the resourceful and hard-working manager, who never permitted his enthusiasm to flag.”41

Fans came out in droves to see Ashenbach and the Miners. A record crowd of 8,000 attended the Labor Day game on September 4, 1905, and that figure was topped on Memorial Day, May 30, 1906.42 Ashenbach’s team won the 1906 pennant by a 12-game margin over the second-place Albany Senators.

Ashenbach left Scranton after the 1906 season to earn more money managing a Class A team, the St. Paul Saints of the American Association. Despite his best efforts, the 1907 Saints finished in last place. He spent the next two seasons in the Class B Tri-State League managing Pennsylvania teams, the 1908 Johnstown Johnnies and the 1909 Altoona Mountaineers. At both stops, he improved the team’s winning percentage from below .400 the prior year to above .500.43

Whether his team won or lost, Ashenbach was “the same good-natured fellow,” big-hearted with a warm smile.44 He made “friends with the audience by his persistent kidding,” and fans kidded him right back.45 He called himself the “Old German” and sometimes coached his team in German; in Pennsylvania, many folks understood the language.46 One day Ashenbach rattled a Polish pitcher, Harry Coveleski, by repeating some Polish phrases he learned from the crowd; some of these, he found out later, were less than proper.47 Of course, some fans simply annoyed Ashenbach. He told one of them to “go on home to your drunken father!”48 This remark, it seems, harkened back to his own childhood.

In 1910 Ashenbach managed the Syracuse Stars of the Class B New York State League. The star of the team was a pitcher he signed named Grover Cleveland Alexander, “a tall, slender youth” from Nebraska.49 Through the Fourth of July, the Stars compiled a 29-28 record and Alexander’s mark was 8-8.50 After the Fourth, the Stars went 49-29 and Alexander achieved a 21-3 mark. On July 20 he pitched and won both games of a doubleheader against the first-place Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Barons.51 The Philadelphia Phillies drafted the promising hurler, and he launched his extraordinary major-league career by winning 28 games for the Phillies in 1911.

Ashenbach, who had “discovered” Cy Young and Christy Mathewson, declared in 1911 that Alexander was “the greatest pitcher that ever lived.”52 In 1930 Alexander said Ashenbach was one of the funniest managers who ever lived and fondly recalled how he entertained the crowd during rain delays by wearing “a big moustache made of grass.”53

In collaboration with Cincinnati baseball writer Jack Ryder, Ashenbach assembled a collection of stories from his 20-year career. The charming volume entitled Humor among the Minors: True Tales from the Baseball Brush was released in February 1911 and added to his celebrity.

In leading the Stars to a second-place finish in 1910, Ashenbach “made the game more popular than ever in Syracuse.”54 But the next year, without Alexander, the team struggled. The 1911 Stars possessed a 26-33 record on the Fourth of July when Ashenbach was fired.55 Seven months later, he died under mysterious circumstances.

According to his wife, Ashenbach returned to Cincinnati in July “a nervous wreck and broken-hearted man.”56 He did some scouting for the Cincinnati Reds until the end of the 1911 season but suffered from declining health.57 He lost weight and experienced uncontrollable “nervous spells,” and tried to jump out of a second-floor window in his home.58 In January 1912 he was evaluated at the Cincinnati City Hospital and was sent to Cincinnati’s Longview Hospital, a mental institution. He died at Longview on February 16, 1912, at the age of 40, and was buried at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery in St. Bernard, Ohio.

Ashenbach’s wife believed he died from abuse he received at Longview and called for an inquiry. “He had wasted away to a shadow,” she said, “and was not violent, yet when I looked at him after death his teeth were missing and his face was frightfully bruised.”59 She also noticed “a deep wound on the back of his head.”60

A former coroner performed an autopsy and claimed “the injury on decedents’ head was an old one, and that his investigation showed Ashenbach had died of pneumonia.”61 At an inquest, Longview doctors and attendants testified that Ashenbach “was very violent, and that they were forced to strap him down on several occasions. They denied, however, that he received any injury at their hands which might have caused his death.”62

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Len Levin. It was fact-checked by Chris Rainey.

Sources

Ashenbach, Edward Michael, Humor among the Minors: True Tales from the Baseball Brush (Dickson, Tennessee: BrayBree, 2013), reprint of the book (edited by Jack Ryder) originally published in 1911. The photo of Ashenbach came from this book.

Ancestry.com and Baseball-reference.com, accessed July and August 2020.

Notes

1 “Ashenbach Dead,” Sporting Life, February 24, 1912: 8.

2 “Shot in the Breast,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 20, 1882: 8.

3 1880 US Census.

4 Jack Ryder, “Hustling Won for Ed Aschenbach [sic],” Cincinnati Enquirer, November 5, 1905: 10; Hugh S. Fullerton, “Baseball on the Lots,” Chicago Tribune, October 21, 1906: 16.

5 “Intensely Exciting,” Akron (Ohio) Daily Beacon, May 9, 1890: 3.

6 Ren Mulford Jr., “To Beat Cubs,” Sporting Life, August 29, 1908: 2.

7 1890 and 1891 Cincinnati city directories at Ancestry.com; Ryder, “Hustling,” Cincinnati Enquirer, November 5, 1905.

8 Indianapolis Star, January 12, 1912: 10. This source shows a picture of him batting right-handed.

9 “Base Ball News,” Allentown (Pennsylvania) Critic, June 15, 1893: 1.

10 “Tyrone Topics,” Altoona (Pennsylvania) Tribune, February 3, 1894: 4; “Johnstown State Leaguers Defeated,” Tyrone (Pennsylvania) Daily Herald, September 11, 1893: 2.

11 “Lost in the Ninth,” Tyrone Daily Herald, September 15, 1893: 4; Tyrone Daily Herald, April 16, 1894: 2.

12 Ancestry.com; 1900 US Census.

13 “It Was a Beauty,” Atlanta Constitution, April 27, 1894: 3.

14 “The Scranton Team,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Republican, August 7, 1905: 3.

15 Ashenbach, Humor among the Minors, 75.

16 “Sport Splinters,” Chattanooga (Tennessee) News, December 5, 1911: 12.

17 “Last Inning Was a Fatal One to Dayton Again,” Dayton (Ohio) Herald, May 25, 1898: 6; “Fast and Exciting,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 25, 1898: 4.

18 Sporting Life, September 10, 1898: 14.

19 “New York’s League,” Sporting Life, August 19, 1899: 8.

20 “Matthews’ Great Arm,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, June 13, 1900: 11.

21 “Locals’ Only Shut-out,” Norfolk Landmark, June 14, 1900: 3.

22 “A Tedium Game,” Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, July 8, 1900: 15.

23 “The Strike Situation,” Asheville (North Carolina) Gazette, June 23, 1901: 5; “After Slot-Machines,” Richmond (Virginia) Dispatch, July 10, 1901: 4.

24 Sporting Life, July 19, 1902: 1.

25 “Hornet Captain in the Box,” Charlotte (North Carolina) Observer, June 12, 1902: 2.

26 “Ashenback [sic] in Cincinnati,” Charlotte Observer, July 18, 1902: 5.

27 “News Notes,” Sporting Life, August 26, 1905: 12.

28 “Richmond Won by Great Playing,” Richmond (Virginia) Times, July 2, 1901: 2.

29 “The Scranton Team,” Scranton Republican, August 7, 1905: 3.

30 “What a Shame!” Shreveport (Louisiana) Times, August 14, 1902: 5.

31 “Urbana Liners,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 1, 1903: 4.

32 “How Instructions Shall Be Delivered,” Charlotte Observer, July 9, 1902: 5.

33 “New England League,” Fall River (Massachusetts) Globe, May 20, 1903: 3.

34 “Haverhill 12, Nashua 3,” Fall River Globe, June 11, 1903: 1.

35 “The Ashenback [sic] Trouble,” Fall River (Massachusetts) Evening News, August 21, 1903: 3.

36 “Sporting Notes,” Fall River Globe, August 20, 1903: 6; “Indefinitely Suspended,” Boston Globe, August 19, 1903: 5.

37 “New England League,” Fall River Globe, August 28, 1903: 3.

38 “Ashenback [sic] Saw Good Stuff in Cobb,” Charlotte (North Carolina) News, May 2, 1908: 11. The game in which Cobb erred is unknown but from information in this article, it must have occurred in the spring of 1905.

39 “Handy Precepts for Managers,” Washington Times, May 17, 1907: 10.

40 “The Scranton Team,” Scranton Republican, August 7, 1905: 3.

41 “The Scranton Team”

42 “A Record Breaker,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Tribune, September 5, 1905: 7; “Scranton Won Two,” Scranton Tribune, May 31, 1906: 7.

43 Baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Tri-State_League_(PA-DE-NJ).

44 “Base Ball Notes,” Lancaster (Pennsylvania) New Era, June 5, 1908: 7; “The Man in the Grand Stand,” Trenton (New Jersey) Evening Times, May 25, 1908: 11.

45 “Just Dope,” Altoona (Pennsylvania) Times, May 21, 1909: 9.

46 “The Hornets Buzz and Win Success,” Raleigh (North Carolina) News and Observer, May 27, 1902: 1; “Gossip of Sporting World,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Star-Independent, May 19, 1908: 4.

47 “Just Dope,” Altoona Times, June 19, 1908: 8.

48 “Just Dope,” Altoona Times, May 30, 1908: 8.

49 “Barons Whitewashed by Ash’s Saltines,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Record, June 13, 1910: 15.

50 “New York State League,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Times-Leader, July 5, 1910: 12; “Friene Is Leading Slab Artist in the N.Y. State League,” Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, July 6, 1910: 12.

51 “Alexander Again Proves Mystery for the Barons,” Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, July 21, 1910: 12.

52 Tim Karp, “Every Little Moment,” Scranton Tribune-Republican, August 12, 1911: 12.

53 “Ed Ashenbach Gave Alex Real Start in New York State League in 1910,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Times, June 10, 1930: 24.

54 “Sporting World,” Wilkes-Barre Record, September 13, 1910: 16.

55 “Ashenback [sic] Asked to Quit Position by Stars’ Owners,” Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, July 5, 1911: 10.

56 “Auchenbach’s [sic] Widow Writes of His Death,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, March 20, 1912: 6.

57 Jack Ryder, “Twelve Reds Already in Fold,” Cincinnati Enquirer, January 28, 1912: 18.

58 Reading Times, March 20, 1912: 6.

59 “Excitement of the Baseball Field Causes Nervous Breakdown of Eddie Aschenbach [sic], and His Death Occurs at Longview Hospital,” Cincinnati Enquirer, February 17, 1912: 8.

60 “Coroner to Probe Death of Ashenbach,” Washington Times, February 18, 1912: 1.

61 Washington Times, February 18, 1912.

62 “Aschenbach’s [sic] Death,” Cincinnati Enquirer, February 21, 1912: 8.

He played 850 miles from the nearest big league park in a part of New Mexico best known for alien spacecraft. On the road he drove the team bus. And at home he got up early to work in one of two Texaco service stations he owned.

That was 1954, the year Roger Bannister became the first to run a mile in less than four minutes and when Hank Aaron started his own record-breaking major league career. It was also the year that separated Joe Willis Bauman, first baseman for the Roswell Rockets, from all the thousands of men who played baseball professionally. For in that year Bauman hit 72 home runs, becoming the first in history with more than 70 in a single season.1

Nor was that all. He set two other all-time records in 1954. His 456 total bases in 498 times at bat produced a slugging percentage of .916. He also became the first to hit 50 or more home runs in three successive seasons. And if that cake needed any icing, he batted .400 that summer.

Still, it was the 72 home runs that stood out. No one ever had hit 70, although Joe Hauser and Bob Crues both had hit 69. A late-season flurry that included 13 in the last 14 games of a 138-game schedule–three in the season-ending doubleheader–gave Bauman what many thought an unbeatable record. So it was, until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001, Bauman’s record having stood for 49 years, far longer than did Bannister’s mile run record.

Born April 16, 1922, in Welch, a tiny Oklahoma community 21 miles from Mickey Mantle’s hometown of Commerce, Bauman grew up in Oklahoma City with his dad, Joe Sr., and mom, Tennessee. There, in a strictly run home that featured spankings and doses of castor oil for misbehavior, he learned discipline, cars and sports. His dad was maintenance supervisor for Railway Express, a kind of ancestor to UPS and Federal Express. Bauman worked there as a kid, scraping billboard-like ads–often for Camel cigarettes–off the sides of green delivery trucks and replacing them with new ones every month.

He also was raised to play ball. His dad helped Joe, a natural right-hander, learn to both hit and field as a lefty. Jack Baer, a teammate of Bauman’s and at times an opponent, was the longtime baseball coach at the University of Oklahoma. He described Bauman’s switch from right to left hand one of the most amazing changes he ever had seen.

At Capitol Hill High School, alma mater of pitching star Allie Reynolds, Joe played football, basketball and baseball. In the summer he worked with later big league outfielder Dale Mitchell delivering bills for Oklahoma Natural Gas Company and played on its baseball team. The Gassers’ manager was Roy Deal whose son, Ellis, became a major league pitcher.

Graduating from high school in 1941, Bauman immediately signed a professional contract after promising his dad he also would attend the University of Oklahoma. Joe’s brother already was there en route to becoming a nuclear engineer.

Bert Niehoff, family friend and longtime player, manager and scout, persuaded the Baumans that Joe’s future would be best with an independent team. Thus for $100 a month and 25% of the selling price if his contract were sold, the 19-year-old reported to Little Rock, Arkansas, of the Southern Association. There he confronted a power hitter’s worst nightmare. It was 500 feet from home to center field and 380 feet to right. But fence distances turned out not to be important. He batted 10 times at Little Rock without any hits before being sent to Newport, Arkansas, of the Class D Northeast Arkansas League. He roomed there with future Hall of Famer George Kell but hit just .215, while his 6’5″ body produced only three home runs.

When World War II started, Bauman moved to Wichita to work for Beech Aircraft and play on its baseball team. By late 1942, he was back in Norman, home of the University of Oklahoma, but this time at a Naval Air Station. There he taught physical fitness and played baseball, commuting in a Model A Ford from Oklahoma City where he lived with his new wife and high school sweetheart, Dorothy, who was working in an aircraft plant.

While Bauman’s fame would come from home runs, it was a noted singles hitter, Raymond (Rip) Radcliff, who most influenced him during the war. Before Radcliff entered the Navy, he had played in more than 1,000 American League games, compiling a lifetime batting average of .311. But he averaged just four home runs a year. Still, at Norman, he was the star young players listened to, and Bauman soaked up his advice about how and when to swing and how to read pitches and pitchers.

After the Navy, Joe found himself the property of the Boston Braves and reported to spring camp in 1946. So many veterans were spilling out of the service that the Braves ran out of uniforms for the returnees. But Bauman survived and was sent to Amarillo, Texas, of the Class C West Texas-New Mexico League. It was a good stop. Fans had hoarded cash during the war and were thrusting it through the wire mesh backstops into the hands of players who homered – maybe $25 for a run of the mill four-bagger to as much as $250 for a game-winner. His first year’s league-leading 48 homers produced so much cash that Joe bought a used Buick. He also batted in 159 runs and hit .301.

But the following spring ended in disappointment. Bauman believed his performance at Amarillo merited promotion. The Braves did not. He was returned to Texas, masking his dismay by hitting .350 and 38 homers. That earned the move up. In 1948 he was assigned first to Milwaukee, where he played in one game–and was given the temporary nickname “Peony”–then to Hartford, Connecticut, in the Class A Eastern League.

Hartford was one of the few places where a discouraging word about Bauman found its way into print. At mid-season, Bill Lee, sports editor of the Hartford Courant, wrote: “Last year in the West Texas-New Mexico League, the big first baseman batted .350 and hit 38 home runs. He knocked in 127 runs. What has Bauman done in the Eastern League? His batting average is .265. He has hit only six home runs and knocked in 32. He may have compiled a half-way mark for the number of runners left stranded.”

When Ray Sanders, who had played five seasons with the Cardinals and Braves, joined Hartford, his first night was perfect–a single, two doubles and a triple. That sent Joe to the bench for much of the rest of the year, although he did manage a total of 10 home runs and a batting average of .275 in 98 games.

Frustrated when the Braves offered too small a salary for 1949, Bauman told them, “I can make more money selling 27-inch shoelaces on the streets of Oklahoma City.” Boston decided to let him test the theory. Joe instead took a $500-a-month job with a semipro team in Elk City, Oklahoma, where he promised manager Rip Collins he would stay at least one full season. He adhered to that, even when the Braves called to offer him a job at Class AA Atlanta.

For three summers Joe led the Elks to the national semipro tournament in Wichita and with teammate Jack Riley opened a highly successful Texaco station on US 66. But when the Elk City oil boom sagged and support for the baseball team dimmed with it, Joe was invited to Artesia, New Mexico, in the Class C Longhorn League. An Artesia team official had recruited Joe in the drive of the service station. Bauman agreed to go if he could buy his contract for $250 after one full season.

In Artesia Bauman led the league with 50 home runs and 157 RBI his first summer, then hit a league-best 53 homers and scored 135 runs the second. He also took over as manager in mid-summer, a job he did not like and rarely discusses.

With 8,000 residents, Artesia was the smallest city in the Longhorn League, and Joe wanted back in the service station business. Unable to find one he liked for sale in Artesia, he looked north. There was Roswell, three times as large, and where his hitting services were in much demand. He paid Artesia the $250 and moved the 40 miles, eventually owning two Texaco stations and a tire distribution business while continuing to play.

Although Joe was a self-professed slow starter, the home runs soon were pouring in 1954. And he wasn’t simply hitting baseballs. He was punishing them. No one ever measured the distance, but folklore soon began describing 500-foot arcs. In September even the Associated Press was moved to report, “Joe Bauman drove in five runs, three on a tremendous home run that sailed into the adjacent rodeo grounds and disrupted proceedings there.”

But no one had ever hit 70 home runs, and with 14 games remaining in the season, he needed 10 simply to tie Hauser and his former Amarillo teammate, Bob Crues. The outlook was cloudy until August 31 when Joe hit four in one game.

“The pressure really mounted then. There were four or five photographers shooting every time I went to the plate. They’d be snapping while I was hitting. It’s bound to affect you and it did me,” Bauman told Bart Ripp of the Albuquerque Journal. Life Magazine, the nation’s top photojournalism outlet, and Sports Illustrated assigned photographers to record every swing along with the local lensmen.

Mounting pressure or not, two games later he hit his 69th to tie the record against Ralph Atkisson, Midland’s pitching ace. “It felt like they lifted a piano off my back,” he said. The game stopped, fans thrust bills through the backstop, and Joe even handed one of the dollars to Midland manager Rudy Briner who had asked for one. The newspaper said fans’ roars could be heard two miles away in downtown Roswell.

With some irony Bauman hit his record-breaking 70th at Artesia, the city he left for Roswell. In the first game of a doubleheader, his manager, Pat Stasey, moved him to the leadoff spot to give him an extra time or two at bat. Then Jose Gallardo, a 19-year-old Cuban rookie, tried an 86 mph fastball with the count 2-2 on Joe’s first trip to the plate. Bauman drove it over the 349-foot mark. Joe said fans gave him $500 through the backstop. Floyd Economindes, the Artesia catcher, remembers it as $800. The 71st and 72nd home runs came off men who were not normally pitchers in the otherwise meaningless second game. Both Artesia and Roswell were saving their mound staffs for the league playoffs, which began the next day.

Tom Jordan, a former major league catcher, veteran minor league manager and scout, had set several of the hitting records broken by Joe. He would serve as Bauman’s manager in 1955 and was among those who predicted Joe’s record would be eternal. He said small ballparks, prevailing winds that blew balls toward the outfields, tired-armed six-man pitching staffs and a shortage of left-handed hurlers gave all Longhorn League hitters an advantage. He believed that if the record ever was broken, “it will be out here in this country.”

Why was Joe so successful? Even Bauman has no clear answer. He always practiced his swing, often in the room while on the road. “That summer the ball looked this big,” he says, circling an area the size of a ripe cantaloupe with his hands. That he had a slight uppercut was a certainty. Economindes, the opposing catcher, knew it, as did Jim Waldrip, a pitcher who both played with Bauman and against him. He also got extra speed on his bat by grasping the end in the palm of his hand, so much so that his hand had an unusual callous, Waldrip recalls. And he was a notorious pull-hitter. Waldrip said any runner on first and the first base coach always were reminded to never turn their backs on Joe at the plate. While opposing teams tried versions of the Ted Williams Shift against him, he simply hit the ball so hard it went over or through the defense. His experience also had to help. He was 32 in 1954, a dozen years older than many opposing pitchers who still were coming to grips with the game’s essentials.

Regardless of why, his record earned no major league calls although San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League did contact him. But Bauman liked Roswell and agreed to the same salary for 1955. He hit 46 home runs and batted .336.

A year later Bauman was ready to retire. The Longhorn and neighboring West Texas-New Mexico League folded. Ten cities from the two formed a new Class B league, the Southwestern. Over the winter, Joe injured his ankle falling in a snowstorm, and didn’t want surgery or to play during the summer. But fans persuaded him to come back and he did–until June 12. Then, he says, pain in the ankle was too much. He had hit 17 home runs in 52 games but was batting just .287. Friend and teammate Waldrip believes Joe also was tired. Bauman had complained to him that he was having trouble seeing the ball.

Bauman often says he was content with his career and earnings. He had made more money than many major leaguers from his contracts, cash pressed on him by fans for home runs, and his businesses. Still, Leo Banks wrote in Sports Illustrated after interviewing him: “Looking back, Bauman says he made several mistakes, especially spending three years of his prime in semipro ball, which might have kept him from ever stepping to the plate in the big leagues . . . He regrets not pushing himself to see if he could play in the majors. ‘I still have that question in my mind: Could I have done it or not?'” Joe said, according to the Banks article.

Regardless of the what-ifs, Bauman impressed everyone around him. Newspaper writers often called him “the gentleman first sacker” because of his reputation for kindness. Waldrip remembers than when a player hit a homer, a local meat-packer gave him a ham. Joe was decimating New Mexico’s hog population in 1954, but he didn’t keep most of the meat. He gave it to other players, often young Cubans whose salaries made it tough to keep food on the table.

After baseball, Joe operated his service station and tire businesses, then joined his father-in-law in a retail liquor store in Hobbs, New Mexico. He later became sales manager for a beer distributor, retiring from that job in 1985, but continuing to live in Roswell.

As Banks concludes in his story, “the memory of the summer of 1954 is sweet. ‘There’s a sense of pride in it,’ says Bauman. “It was just the minor leagues, but 72 home runs was never done before. Hell, it’s a record, it’s something.'”

Sources

Interviews with Joe Bauman, Dorothy Bauman, Jim Waldrip, Floyd Economindes, Tom Jordan, and Jack Baer.

Oklahoma City Directory for 1930

Albuquerque Journal, April 1979 and May 1994

Amarillo Daily News, August 1991

Atlanta Journal, September 1954

Artesia Dispatch, August 1954

Hartford Courant, July 1948

Life Magazine, September 1954

Sports Illustrated, August 1991

The Roswell Record, April-September, 1954 and August 1991

The Sporting News, August 1954 and June 1956

The Minor League Register published by Baseball America, Inc.

Notes

1 Joe had 337 career home runs and would have had one more except for an umpire who lost sight of a ball crossing the fence. “I can’t call it a home run because I didn’t see it leave the park,” the official told the incredulous Joe. “But I saw you swing so it’s a strike.”

He played 850 miles from the nearest big league park in a part of New Mexico best known for alien spacecraft. On the road he drove the team bus. And at home he got up early to work in one of two Texaco service stations he owned.

That was 1954, the year Roger Bannister became the first to run a mile in less than four minutes and when Hank Aaron started his own record-breaking major league career. It was also the year that separated Joe Willis Bauman, first baseman for the Roswell Rockets, from all the thousands of men who played baseball professionally. For in that year Bauman hit 72 home runs, becoming the first in history with more than 70 in a single season.1

Nor was that all. He set two other all-time records in 1954. His 456 total bases in 498 times at bat produced a slugging percentage of .916. He also became the first to hit 50 or more home runs in three successive seasons. And if that cake needed any icing, he batted .400 that summer.

Still, it was the 72 home runs that stood out. No one ever had hit 70, although Joe Hauser and Bob Crues both had hit 69. A late-season flurry that included 13 in the last 14 games of a 138-game schedule—three in the season-ending doubleheader—gave Bauman what many thought an unbeatable record. So it was, until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001, Bauman’s record having stood for 49 years, far longer than did Bannister’s mile run record.

Born April 16, 1922, in Welch, a tiny Oklahoma community 21 miles from Mickey Mantle’s hometown of Commerce, Bauman grew up in Oklahoma City with his dad, Joe Sr., and mom, Tennessee. There, in a strictly run home that featured spankings and doses of castor oil for misbehavior, he learned discipline, cars and sports. His dad was maintenance supervisor for Railway Express, a kind of ancestor to UPS and Federal Express. Bauman worked there as a kid, scraping billboard-like ads—often for Camel cigarettes—off the sides of green delivery trucks and replacing them with new ones every month.

He also was raised to play ball. His dad helped Joe, a natural right-hander, learn to both hit and field as a lefty. Jack Baer, a teammate of Bauman’s and at times an opponent, was the longtime baseball coach at the University of Oklahoma. He described Bauman’s switch from right to left hand one of the most amazing changes he ever had seen.

At Capitol Hill High School, alma mater of pitching star Allie Reynolds, Joe played football, basketball and baseball. In the summer he worked with later big league outfielder Dale Mitchell delivering bills for Oklahoma Natural Gas Company and played on its baseball team. The Gassers’ manager was Roy Deal whose son, Ellis, became a major league pitcher.

Graduating from high school in 1941, Bauman immediately signed a professional contract after promising his dad he also would attend the University of Oklahoma. Joe’s brother already was there en route to becoming a nuclear engineer.

Bert Niehoff, family friend and longtime player, manager and scout, persuaded the Baumans that Joe’s future would be best with an independent team. Thus for $100 a month and 25% of the selling price if his contract were sold, the 19-year-old reported to Little Rock, Arkansas, of the Southern Association. There he confronted a power hitter’s worst nightmare. It was 500 feet from home to center field and 380 feet to right. But fence distances turned out not to be important. He batted 10 times at Little Rock without any hits before being sent to Newport, Arkansas, of the Class D Northeast Arkansas League. He roomed there with future Hall of Famer George Kell but hit just .215, while his 6’5″ body produced only three home runs.

When World War II started, Bauman moved to Wichita to work for Beech Aircraft and play on its baseball team. By late 1942, he was back in Norman, home of the University of Oklahoma, but this time at a Naval Air Station. There he taught physical fitness and played baseball, commuting in a Model A Ford from Oklahoma City where he lived with his new wife and high school sweetheart, Dorothy, who was working in an aircraft plant.

While Bauman’s fame would come from home runs, it was a noted singles hitter, Raymond (Rip) Radcliff, who most influenced him during the war. Before Radcliff entered the Navy, he had played in more than 1,000 American League games, compiling a lifetime batting average of .311. But he averaged just four home runs a year. Still, at Norman, he was the star young players listened to, and Bauman soaked up his advice about how and when to swing and how to read pitches and pitchers.

After the Navy, Joe found himself the property of the Boston Braves and reported to spring camp in 1946. So many veterans were spilling out of the service that the Braves ran out of uniforms for the returnees. But Bauman survived and was sent to Amarillo, Texas, of the Class C West Texas-New Mexico League. It was a good stop. Fans had hoarded cash during the war and were thrusting it through the wire mesh backstops into the hands of players who homered – maybe $25 for a run of the mill four-bagger to as much as $250 for a game-winner. His first year’s league-leading 48 homers produced so much cash that Joe bought a used Buick. He also batted in 159 runs and hit .301.

But the following spring ended in disappointment. Bauman believed his performance at Amarillo merited promotion. The Braves did not. He was returned to Texas, masking his dismay by hitting .350 and 38 homers. That earned the move up. In 1948 he was assigned first to Milwaukee, where he played in one game—and was given the temporary nickname “Peony”—then to Hartford, Connecticut, in the Class A Eastern League.

Hartford was one of the few places where a discouraging word about Bauman found its way into print. At mid-season, Bill Lee, sports editor of the Hartford Courant, wrote: “Last year in the West Texas-New Mexico League, the big first baseman batted .350 and hit 38 home runs. He knocked in 127 runs. What has Bauman done in the Eastern League? His batting average is .265. He has hit only six home runs and knocked in 32. He may have compiled a half-way mark for the number of runners left stranded.”

When Ray Sanders, who had played five seasons with the Cardinals and Braves, joined Hartford, his first night was perfect—a single, two doubles and a triple. That sent Joe to the bench for much of the rest of the year, although he did manage a total of 10 home runs and a batting average of .275 in 98 games.

Frustrated when the Braves offered too small a salary for 1949, Bauman told them, “I can make more money selling 27-inch shoelaces on the streets of Oklahoma City.” Boston decided to let him test the theory. Joe instead took a $500-a-month job with a semipro team in Elk City, Oklahoma, where he promised manager Rip Collins he would stay at least one full season. He adhered to that, even when the Braves called to offer him a job at Class AA Atlanta.

For three summers Joe led the Elks to the national semipro tournament in Wichita and with teammate Jack Riley opened a highly successful Texaco station on US 66. But when the Elk City oil boom sagged and support for the baseball team dimmed with it, Joe was invited to Artesia, New Mexico, in the Class C Longhorn League. An Artesia team official had recruited Joe in the drive of the service station. Bauman agreed to go if he could buy his contract for $250 after one full season.

In Artesia Bauman led the league with 50 home runs and 157 RBI his first summer, then hit a league-best 53 homers and scored 135 runs the second. He also took over as manager in mid-summer, a job he did not like and rarely discusses.

With 8,000 residents, Artesia was the smallest city in the Longhorn League, and Joe wanted back in the service station business. Unable to find one he liked for sale in Artesia, he looked north. There was Roswell, three times as large, and where his hitting services were in much demand. He paid Artesia the $250 and moved the 40 miles, eventually owning two Texaco stations and a tire distribution business while continuing to play.

Although Joe was a self-professed slow starter, the home runs soon were pouring in 1954. And he wasn’t simply hitting baseballs. He was punishing them. No one ever measured the distance, but folklore soon began describing 500-foot arcs. In September even the Associated Press was moved to report, “Joe Bauman drove in five runs, three on a tremendous home run that sailed into the adjacent rodeo grounds and disrupted proceedings there.”

But no one had ever hit 70 home runs, and with 14 games remaining in the season, he needed 10 simply to tie Hauser and his former Amarillo teammate, Bob Crues. The outlook was cloudy until August 31 when Joe hit four in one game.

“The pressure really mounted then. There were four or five photographers shooting every time I went to the plate. They’d be snapping while I was hitting. It’s bound to affect you and it did me,” Bauman told Bart Ripp of the Albuquerque Journal. Life Magazine, the nation’s top photojournalism outlet, and Sports Illustrated assigned photographers to record every swing along with the local lensmen.

Mounting pressure or not, two games later he hit his 69th to tie the record against Ralph Atkisson, Midland’s pitching ace. “It felt like they lifted a piano off my back,” he said. The game stopped, fans thrust bills through the backstop, and Joe even handed one of the dollars to Midland manager Rudy Briner who had asked for one. The newspaper said fans’ roars could be heard two miles away in downtown Roswell.

With some irony Bauman hit his record-breaking 70th at Artesia, the city he left for Roswell. In the first game of a doubleheader, his manager, Pat Stasey, moved him to the leadoff spot to give him an extra time or two at bat. Then Jose Gallardo, a 19-year-old Cuban rookie, tried an 86 mph fastball with the count 2-2 on Joe’s first trip to the plate. Bauman drove it over the 349-foot mark. Joe said fans gave him $500 through the backstop. Floyd Economindes, the Artesia catcher, remembers it as $800. The 71st and 72nd home runs came off men who were not normally pitchers in the otherwise meaningless second game. Both Artesia and Roswell were saving their mound staffs for the league playoffs, which began the next day.

Tom Jordan, a former major league catcher, veteran minor league manager and scout, had set several of the hitting records broken by Joe. He would serve as Bauman’s manager in 1955 and was among those who predicted Joe’s record would be eternal. He said small ballparks, prevailing winds that blew balls toward the outfields, tired-armed six-man pitching staffs and a shortage of left-handed hurlers gave all Longhorn League hitters an advantage. He believed that if the record ever was broken, “it will be out here in this country.”

Why was Joe so successful? Even Bauman has no clear answer. He always practiced his swing, often in the room while on the road. “That summer the ball looked this big,” he says, circling an area the size of a ripe cantaloupe with his hands. That he had a slight uppercut was a certainty. Economindes, the opposing catcher, knew it, as did Jim Waldrip, a pitcher who both played with Bauman and against him. He also got extra speed on his bat by grasping the end in the palm of his hand, so much so that his hand had an unusual callous, Waldrip recalls. And he was a notorious pull-hitter. Waldrip said any runner on first and the first base coach always were reminded to never turn their backs on Joe at the plate. While opposing teams tried versions of the Ted Williams Shift against him, he simply hit the ball so hard it went over or through the defense. His experience also had to help. He was 32 in 1954, a dozen years older than many opposing pitchers who still were coming to grips with the game’s essentials.

Regardless of why, his record earned no major league calls although San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League did contact him. But Bauman liked Roswell and agreed to the same salary for 1955. He hit 46 home runs and batted .336.

A year later Bauman was ready to retire. The Longhorn and neighboring West Texas-New Mexico League folded. Ten cities from the two formed a new Class B league, the Southwestern. Over the winter, Joe injured his ankle falling in a snowstorm, and didn’t want surgery or to play during the summer. But fans persuaded him to come back and he did—until June 12. Then, he says, pain in the ankle was too much. He had hit 17 home runs in 52 games but was batting just .287. Friend and teammate Waldrip believes Joe also was tired. Bauman had complained to him that he was having trouble seeing the ball.

Bauman often says he was content with his career and earnings. He had made more money than many major leaguers from his contracts, cash pressed on him by fans for home runs, and his businesses. Still, Leo Banks wrote in Sports Illustrated after interviewing him: “Looking back, Bauman says he made several mistakes, especially spending three years of his prime in semipro ball, which might have kept him from ever stepping to the plate in the big leagues. … He regrets not pushing himself to see if he could play in the majors. ‘I still have that question in my mind: Could I have done it or not?'” Joe said, according to the Banks article.

Regardless of the what-ifs, Bauman impressed everyone around him. Newspaper writers often called him “the gentleman first sacker” because of his reputation for kindness. Waldrip remembers than when a player hit a homer, a local meat-packer gave him a ham. Joe was decimating New Mexico’s hog population in 1954, but he didn’t keep most of the meat. He gave it to other players, often young Cubans whose salaries made it tough to keep food on the table.

After baseball, Joe operated his service station and tire businesses, then joined his father-in-law in a retail liquor store in Hobbs, New Mexico. He later became sales manager for a beer distributor, retiring from that job in 1985, but continuing to live in Roswell until his death at the age of 83 on September 20, 2005.

As Banks concludes in his story, “The memory of the summer of 1954 is sweet. ‘There’s a sense of pride in it,’ says Bauman. “It was just the minor leagues, but 72 home runs was never done before. Hell, it’s a record, it’s something.'”

Sources

Interviews with Joe Bauman, Dorothy Bauman, Jim Waldrip, Floyd Economindes, Tom Jordan, and Jack Baer.

Oklahoma City Directory for 1930

Albuquerque Journal, April 1979 and May 1994

Amarillo Daily News, August 1991

Atlanta Journal, September 1954

Artesia Dispatch, August 1954

Hartford Courant, July 1948

Life Magazine, September 1954

Sports Illustrated, August 1991

The Roswell Record, April-September, 1954 and August 1991

The Sporting News, August 1954 and June 1956

The Minor League Register published by Baseball America, Inc.

Notes

1 Joe had 337 career home runs and would have had one more except for an umpire who lost sight of a ball crossing the fence. “I can’t call it a home run because I didn’t see it leave the park,” the official told the incredulous Joe. “But I saw you swing so it’s a strike.”

He was born to Corrydon and Sophie Beasley on December 8, 1909, in Melrose, New Mexico Territory. He had an older brother, Orel, and a younger sister, Lorene. The family moved to Iowa Park, Texas, about 1912, and then to Santa Cruz, California, in 1920. Corrydon operated a confectionery in these towns.2

Bud excelled in baseball, football, and basketball at Santa Cruz High School, graduating in 1929. He received a football scholarship to attend the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) where he played on the varsity team for four years as a halfback and quarterback. He graduated from UNR in 1934 with a bachelor’s degree in history. He later did graduate work at UNR, Columbia and Stanford Universities, and the University of Washington, earning two master’s degrees.

From 1936-74, Beasley taught history and physical education at Reno High School and coached the school’s baseball, football, and basketball teams. And from 1934-43, he pitched for semipro teams in the Reno area. He met his future wife, Nellie Meyers Esterbrook, in 1939 when he coached her women’s softball team; they married two years later. An outstanding bowler who competed in national tournaments, Nellie was inducted into the National Women’s Bowling Association Hall of Fame in 2002.3

With a shortage of eligible players during World War II, the St. Louis Cardinals signed Beasley to a contract in 1944 and assigned him to the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League. Beasley stood 5’8” and weighed 170 pounds. The jovial pitcher resembled Popeye, with a large nose and protruding chin. He threw a fastball, curveball, and changeup, and a knuckleball that moved “like a snake on a red hot stove.” His age seemed a mystery. He was in fact 34 years old when he was signed, although the Cardinals may have thought him only 30. Beasley made clear that his teaching career came first, meaning that he could join the Solons only after the school year ended in June and would leave the team in September at the beginning of the next school year.4

In 1944 Beasley compiled a 5-6 record for the Solons. The highlight of his season came in Seattle on September 2, when he pitched a completed 17-inning game allowing only eight hits in a 5-4 Sacramento victory. Though not known for his hitting, that day he got four hits, and in the final inning he doubled and scored the go-ahead run. The next season he led the PCL in winning percentage with a 12-4 record and became a popular drawing card, combining “comedy with talent.”5

To disrupt the batter’s timing, Beasley fashioned windups that were comically exaggerated and intentionally unpredictable, varying in style, speed and duration. Sportswriters, such as Jack Hewins of the Reno paper, struggled to describe them: “He started his wiggle-waggle windup down around his shoelaces, worked up to his knees, waved the ball at centerfield, third base and the blonde in the fourth row. Then he threw it. By that time the batter had the flibberty jibbets and the rival manager had galloping squawkitis.”6

The rules required the pitcher to deliver the ball within 20 seconds. Sometimes Beasley quick pitched it to catch the batter off guard; other times he made the batter wait 19 seconds. “When the fans think I’m clowning around out there, I’m really practicing applied psychology on the batter,” said Beasley, who studied psychology but also liked to have fun.7

In a key moment against Portland in 1945, with the bases loaded and the dangerous Spencer Harris at the plate, Beasley forced Harris to endure several delays before retiring him.

He “changed balls five times, weighed them several times by juggling one in each hand, intermittently tied each shoestring, conferred with his catcher three times, and strolled over to the dugout for a drink once. Before the final pitch, he walked to the plate and borrowed Harris’ bat to knock the dirt from the cleats of his shoes.” He had pulled the latter stunt before. In the 1945 PCL All-Star Game, Red Adams stepped to the plate to face Beasley, who then borrowed Adams’s bat to knock the mud from his cleats. But he accidentally broke the bat, and he handed only about a foot of the original lumber back to Adams.8

Beasley’s sense of humor rarely played hooky. He told the story of a game in which he was getting hammered. “I was pitching in Hollywood and everything they were hitting was falling in. I took my glove and threw it to the umpire behind second base. I said, ‘You better shag some of these or we’ll be out here all night.’ He put it on and said, ‘Let’s go.’”9

Casey Stengel managed the Oakland Oaks in 1946, and when Beasley pitched against the Oaks, he and Stengel tried to “out-showboat each other.” On June 16, Beasley pitched the final two innings against the Oaks in the first game of a doubleheader at Emeryville, California. “Using a long, tricky and different windup on every pitch as the crowd howled at the sideshow, the Nevada schoolteacher held them hitless.” Meanwhile, Stengel “mimicked Beasley’s weird gyrations from the third base coaching box for an added comedy touch.”10

Years later, Stengel told these stories about the hilarious hurler:

Well, Beasley had this glove with holes in it and he’d have most of a can of talcum powder in it. Before he’d pitch he’d pound that glove all over, down between his legs, over his head and by the time he threw, the ball would come out of this big cloud of dust and you could hardly see it. The first time he did it to some of the guys they laughed so hard they had to drop their bats. Then he’d strike them out.

When the umpire would make a call he didn’t like he wouldn’t say nuthin,’ just walk up to the plate, take a brush out of his pocket and dust it off. Those umpires were so surprised they’d just stand there.11

But not every umpire tolerated his antics. In the final game of the 1947 season, Beasley delivered three consecutive pitches that umpire Pat Orr called balls. Beasley then walked to the plate, “whisked a whisk broom out of his back pocket and dusted off the platter before the very eyes of the arbiter.” Orr promptly ejected Beasley from the game. In protest, “Oakland fans showered the Emeryville field with hundreds of [seat] cushions. . . . It probably was the first time in history that hometown fans showered an umpire for ejecting a rival player.”12

Indeed, Beasley was popular in every ballpark. But Dick Bartell, a humorless, hard-nosed former major leaguer who became manager of the Solons in 1947, didn’t like him. One time Beasley pitched a grapefruit painted white to Bartell in batting practice. Bartell hit what he thought was a baseball and got juiced. He was not amused. And then there was the “Mad Russian” Lou Novikoff incident. Beasley himself tells the story best:

Well, Lou Novikoff was a great hitter down from the Chicago Cubs and playing in the Coast League and hitting home runs against everybody. And this is burning Bartell up. He’s beat us two games already with home runs. So Bartell gets all the pitchers in the clubhouse before the game, and he tells them, “Now, I’ve pleaded with you. I’ve asked you. I’ve told you how to pitch him, and you pay no attention to me. Anybody that throws a pitch above his belt—it’s going to cost you a hundred dollars. And that’s it. No pitch above his belt.”

All right. We go out to play the game now. Guy Fletcher starts, and I’m in the bullpen along with two or three other guys. Novikoff, first time up, Fletcher gets a pitch a little high, and Novikoff hits it out of the park. Bartell comes charging the mound. Fletcher’s out of there, cost him a hundred bucks. . . . [Now I come] in from the bullpen. And I get by for a couple of innings. Novikoff comes up again. Bartell gets up from his seat, and he’s on the steps of the dugout already and motions, “Down, down, down, keep the ball down.” So all right. I wind up and roll it on the ground all the way to the plate. Bartell comes charging out of the dugout. . . . The crowd is laughing. . . . And Novikoff is laughing. The umpires are laughing. Everybody’s laughing but Bartell, and he comes out [and says to me], “What the hell you doing?” And I said, “Protecting my hundred dollars.”13

At Bartell’s insistence, the Solons traded Beasley to the Seattle Rainiers on July 31, 1947. Beasley pitched for Seattle in 1947 and 1948. He did not play in 1949, choosing instead to attend summer classes at Stanford. He returned to minor-league baseball the following summer as a member of the Vancouver (British Columbia) Capilanos of the Western International League.14

Beasley pitched for the Capilanos in 1950 and 1951, and briefly in 1954 at the age of 44. When he wasn’t pitching, his humorous coaching entertained the fans. Against the Salem (Oregon) Senators on July 5, 1954, Vancouver’s Ed Murphy took a lead off first base and could have used some help from Beasley, the first-base coach.

Suddenly, Gene Johnson, the Salem pitcher, whirled and picked off Murphy “when Beasley let Murphy get too far off the bag. Beasley, knowing it was his responsibility, ducked in chagrin and dashed for the dugout. . . . He emerged soon after, carrying an oversized bit of luggage and waving goodby sullenly to [Vancouver manager Bill] Brenner and the crowd, but the only tears from anyone were tears of laughter.”15

Beasley did leave professional baseball after the 1954 season, but he continued to coach high school baseball. Fred Dallimore was “the star pitcher on Beasley’s 1962 state championship baseball team at Reno High.” Dallimore, who later coached at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), for 23 seasons, said this about Coach Beasley: “His love and appreciation for the game of baseball was second to none. He was one of the most knowledgeable baseball guys I’ve ever known.”16

Beasley was a sought-after speaker, and he would entertain his audience with amusing anecdotes from his baseball career. He customarily finished each talk by reciting Casey at the Bat, the classic baseball poem from 1888.

A man of many interests, Beasley “played piano and drums and had poetry published; became interested, and sufficiently proficient, in magic to perform in night clubs; [and] pursued an interest in sociology by doing research projects in the slums of New York City and Boston.”17

But more than anything, Beasley loved teaching. After leaving Reno High School in 1974, he taught special education and adult education classes in Washoe County, Nevada, for more than 20 years; he was still teaching in his 90s. In 1989 he received an honorary doctorate in education from UNR.

Beasley and his wife had no children of their own, but over the years they cared for dozens of foster children and adopted 17 of them. In the elementary school that bears his name, there is a trophy case displaying memorabilia from his baseball career. He enjoyed visiting the school and entertaining the children by telling stories and performing magic tricks. In failing health for nearly a year, Beasley died in Reno on July 17, 2004. He was 94.18

On May 3, 2005, the Nevada State Senate unanimously adopted a resolution “Memorializing eminent educator and coach Bud Beasley. . . . Bud Beasley will long be remembered and greatly missed by his many thousands of students as a teacher and coach who truly cared about them and their futures,” it said. He “set the standard that all educators and coaches should strive to meet.”19

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Tom Schott, and fact-checked by Alan Cohen.

Sources

Ancestry.com (accessed November 2019).

Hoadley, Richard, ed., “Bud Beasley: Nevada Educator, Coach, and Athlete,” Transcript of interviews conducted by Dwyane Kling in 2001, University of Nevada Oral History Program, available online at archive.org/details/BeasleyBud.

Photo credit: 1947 Sunbeam Bread baseball card depicting Bud Beasley on the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League.

Notes

1 Alf Cottrell, “Alfalfadust,” Vancouver [British Columbia] Province, June 15, 1954: 13.

2 1910, 1920 & 1930 US censuses.

3 Intvw transcript, Richard Hoadley, ed., “Bud Beasley: Nevada Educator, Coach, and Athlete,” 2001, University of Nevada Oral History Program, archive.org/details/BeasleyBud, accessed November 2019; Siobhan McAndrew, “Bowling with Beasley,” Reno Gazette-Journal, March 30, 2007: 1C, 6C.

4 Alf Cottrell, Vancouver Province, June 30, 1950:11.

5 “Sacs Triumph in 17th Frame,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 3, 1944: II-5; “Caps Defeat Bears Twice,” Vancouver Province, August 1, 1951: 16.

6 Carl Digino, “Nevada Sports,” Reno Gazette-Journal, Jan. 23, 1954:8; Jack Hewins, “Bud Beasley Is Back with Seattle, Everybody’s Happy,” Reno Gazette-Journal, June 1, 1948: 13.

7 John B. Old, “Prof. Beasley (M.A.-Columbia) Mixes Psychology with Pitches,” The Sporting News, September 6, 1945: 6; see note 3, Hoadley, 106.

8 See note above, “Beasley Mixes Psychology.”

9 Paul Bauman, “Beasley, 74, Runs in the Fastest Lane,” Reno Gazette-Journal, May 9, 1985: 1B, 4B.

10 Ibid.

11 Ed Levitt, “Lefty Now Number 1,” Oakland Tribune, May 22, 1966:45, 54.

12 Walter Judge, “Oaks Split in Windup,” San Francisco Examiner, September 29, 1947:19, 21.

13 See note 3, Hoadley, 95, 96.

14 Ibid., 130.

15 A.C. Jones, “The Sportmeter,” The Salem] Capital Journal, July 8, 1954: III-1.

16 Ibid. Guy Clifton, “Longtime Area Coach, Teacher Bud Beasley Dies,” Reno Gazette-Journal, July 20, 2004:1, 3.

17 Bob Nitsche, “Bud Beasley Doesn’t Want to Be Remembered as Just an Athlete,” Reno Gazette-Journal, August 27, 1965:1, 7.

18 Janice Hoke, “Beasley Marks 90th at Namesake School,” Reno Gazette-Journal, December 9, 2000: 1C, 4C.

19 Nevada Senate Journal, May 3, 2005, 1251, Leg.state.nv.us/Session/73rd2005/Journal/Senate/Final/sj086.pdf, accessed Feb. 3, 2020.

Baseball encyclopedias list him at 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, the greatest tonnage that baseball allowed in print in the 1950s until the mammoth Frank Howard came along. When anyone asked Bilko how much he weighed, as so many did, he’d say between 200 and 300. Years later he told writer Gaylon White that his best playing weight was 254, but he sometimes topped 270.

Bilko became a minor-league legend in a bandbox ballpark that was built for his right-handed power stroke. For three consecutive seasons “the Babe Ruth of the palm-tree division” was elected the Pacific Coast League’s Most Valuable Player. 1 “He was our Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams all rolled into one,” said Bobby Grich, a young Southern California fan who grew up to be a major-league All-Star.2 But Bilko’s big-league career was an unending series of disappointments.

The constant focus on his waistline may have held him back as much as his batting line. Bilko was the Chris Christie of his time, a favorite butt of fat jokes. He wasn’t fat, just big-boned, several teammates said. The sportswriter Red Smith called him “a great lummocking, broad-shouldered, wide-beamed broth of a boy.”3

Stephen Thomas Bilko was a refugee from Pennsylvania coal mines, born in a neighborhood of Nanticoke called Honey Pot on November 13, 1928, the first of two sons of Stephen and Elizabeth Bilko. His father, a contractor who supplied labor for the mines, hired the teenage Steve to feed the mules on Sundays. That meant confronting a herd of large, hungry animals. “Sometimes they would pin me against the sides and scare the hell out of me,” he remembered.4

Stephen Sr., a sandlot ballplayer who was bigger than his son, put a baseball in the boy’s hands almost as soon as he could walk. Northeastern Pennsylvania was better known for football, and Steve was an all-state fullback and guard, but baseball was his love.

Nanticoke native John Grodzicki spotted him first. A top Cardinals pitching prospect, Grodzicki came home in 1945 to recover from a war wound that ruined his career. He tipped scout Benny Borgman to the blond man-child who was crushing a white ball instead of black rock.

The first time Borgman saw him, the scout said, “I was convinced that here was a guy who would hit 65 home runs in a single season.”5 The boy was just 16, had not yet started his junior year in high school, when his father allowed him to sign with St. Louis.

The Cardinals sent him to Allentown, Pennsylvania, 70 miles from home. He singled in his only at-bat of 1945. Moving up through the farm system, he hit 29 home runs at Class-C Winston-Salem, then 20 at Class-B Lynchburg, leading the Piedmont League in homers and batting average, and was promoted all the way to Triple-A Rochester before his 20th birthday. There he broke out in 1949 with 34 homers plus a .310 batting average. It wasn’t just the number of long balls, but how long they were: routinely 400 feet or more, according to newspaper accounts, with a 500-footer in Montreal that was talked about for years.

Bilko made his major-league debut in September 1949, going 5-for-17 in half a dozen games. The next spring he got his first real opportunity because the Cardinals’ regular first baseman, Nippy Jones, had not recovered from back surgery. But Bilko reported to spring training as big as a boxcar—260 pounds. He had married his high school girlfriend, Mary Sunder, in January 1950, and blamed his girth on his mother-in-law’s good cooking. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings by leaving food on his plate.

“That’s when the weight thing started,” he recalled. “No matter where I went they said ‘Get on the scale! Get on the scale!”6 Manager Eddie Dyer’s solution: a rubber suit to sweat off the flab. “They’d make that poor fellow run around and sweat and sweat and sweat,” catcher Joe Garagiola said, “and ask him to play nine innings when he was about dehydrated and could hardly get the bat around. And he was still hitting the ball 400 feet to right-center field.”7 Bilko’s natural swing powered line drives to right- and left-center, the biggest areas of Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. The Cardinals wanted him to pull the ball toward the shorter left-field wall. After a 10-game trial he headed back to Rochester.

With a new manager, Marty Marion, the Cardinals gave him another shot in 1951. He opened the season as a regular but lasted only 21 games, with a .222 average and his first two major-league homers. “A bust again,” Post-Dispatch writer Bob Broeg commented.8 Mary joined him at Triple-A Columbus with their month-old baby, Steve Jr. Before the family got settled, he was transferred to Rochester.

The next spring, under yet another new manager, Eddie Stanky, the Cardinals’ first-base job belonged to Bilko, if he could keep it. “Put him at first base and play him there steadily, and Steve will do all right,” said farm director Joe Mathes. “I know the pitchers in the National League weren’t sorry about it when Bilko went back to the minors [in 1951].”9

Bilko played the first 20 games of 1952, hitting .264 with six doubles, a triple, and a homer, before he went down with a freak injury. Trotting off the field, he tripped over loose sod and fell on his right arm, breaking the bone above the elbow (the humerus). It was quite a day for the Bilko family; that night their second son, Tommy, was born back home in Pennsylvania.

The injury ended Bilko’s major-league season. When his arm healed he was recycled to Rochester, but Stanky didn’t give up on him. That eye-popping power was irresistible, and the Cardinals needed a strong right-handed bat to balance their left-handed stars, Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter.

Bilko opened the 1953 season batting cleanup between Musial and Slaughter. On his fourth try, he stuck. A 13-game hitting streak in May—a smoking 25-for-51—lifted his average above .300. A few days after the streak ended, he struck out five times in one game.

The strikeouts began to catch up with him. The rap was that he couldn’t hit a curve ball, but pitchers also said they could jam him with fastballs because his bat wasn’t quick enough to turn on an inside pitch. That was dangerous; if they didn’t get the fastball far enough in, it was likely to fly a long way.

Dropped to sixth and seventh in the order, Bilko finished with 21 home runs, 84 RBIs, 70 bases on balls, and a line of .251/.334/.412, decent numbers for his first full season except for the strikeouts: 125, the most in the majors and just nine short of the record. A strikeout was an embarrassment in 1953; only three other batters reached triple figures.

Approaching his 25th birthday, Bilko seemed to have won a major-league job, at least tenuously. Then he became a pawn in “baseball’s great experiment.”

Soon after the baron of Budweiser, August A. Busch Jr., bought the Cardinals in 1953, he asked his executives why the club had had no black players. Busch was a capitalist, not a crusader; black people drank beer, too. He ordered the front office to find some.

The Cardinals signed more than a dozen African Americans and paid $100,000 plus two players for another one, first baseman Tom Alston, who had had a big year in the Pacific Coast League. At spring training in 1954 Stanky said he would platoon Bilko with Alston, a left-handed batter.

Alston started on Opening Day, Bilko the day after. Alston’s first two hits were home runs, but by the end of April he was batting .211, Bilko .143. The Cardinals sold Bilko to the Chicago Cubs for something more than the $10,000 waiver price. Bilko believed that the front office wanted Alston to play without the pressure of his replacement looking over his shoulder.

Alston hit only two more homers in two months and lost his job by midseason. Then he became a tragedy. He began hearing voices and spent a decade in psychiatric hospitals.10

Everywhere Bilko went, he found another first baseman ahead of him or waiting for him to falter. In Chicago it was Dee Fondy, a .300 hitter. While Fondy played, Bilko pinch-hit, batting .239 in 92 at-bats. The next spring the Cubs shipped him to their Pacific Coast League farm club in Los Angeles. He appeared to have run out of chances.

Bilko came to Los Angeles at the perfect time—in his prime at 26—and in the perfect place: Wrigley Field, the home of the Angels. The exquisite little park was the original Wrigley, built by the chewing-gum millionaire in 1925 as a clone of the Chicago venue that was still called Cubs Park.

Most important for Bilko, LA’s Wrigley measured just 345 feet in the right- and left-center power alleys, his happy zone, and the wind usually blew in that direction. A few years later the park would become the natural host of TV’s Home Run Derby. A two-story apartment building across 41st Street beyond the ivy-covered left-field wall had iron bars over the downstairs windows and awnings on those upstairs. Before the protection was installed, Los Angeles Times columnist Ned Cronin wrote, “No one would think of sitting down to dinner without wearing a fielder’s glove.”11

The marriage of the ballpark and his uppercut swing made Stout Steve the Slugging Seraph “a special sort of local legend.”12 Twice in the next three seasons he threatened the PCL record of 60 home runs. He won a Triple Crown and was chosen as the league MVP all three years.

Bilko’s home run derby started in 1955 with 37, a modest number but enough to lead the league. He was second in batting at .328 and in RBIs with 124 to collect his MVP award. With its mild weather, the PCL played a 168-game schedule, and Bilko played every one, but this was the only time he appeared in more than 162.

The PCL was the West’s major league. It had been elevated to an Open classification, higher than Triple A, to encourage the vain hope that it might one day achieve equal status with the American and National. (Think of Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown.) PCL teams traveled by air rather than bus and paid the biggest salaries in the minors. Bilko signed a 1956 contract for a reported $14,000. Under a rule that applied exclusively to the PCL, he waived his right to be drafted by a big-league club so the Angels could sell him to the highest bidder. It was his strategy to get a fair shot in the majors: “I figured that if a club wanted me bad enough to put a lot of money in me, they’d give me a good chance.”13

Adding to Bilko’s star power, almost all Angels home games were shown on local television. In September 1955 his name went national in a new CBS-TV comedy starring Phil Silvers as Sergeant Ernie Bilko, a con artist in an army uniform. “I could as well have been Corporal Hodges or Private First Class Musial,” Silvers said. “I gave it to the guy who needed it.”14

In 1956 the Angels fielded one of the strongest teams in PCL history, nicknamed the Bilko Athletic Club. The roster was a mix of young Cubs pitching prospects and older position players who had washed out in major league trials. Managed by Bob Scheffing, with future manager Gene Mauch as the second baseman and on-field leader, the Angels compiled a 107-61 record. “I saw some teams in the big leagues that couldn’t play as well,” Mauch said later. “Hell, I managed two of them.” (He was talking about the 1961 Phillies and the expansion 1969 Expos.)15

With no suspense in the pennant race, Bilko’s chase of the PCL home run record riveted the fans’ attention. Tony Lazzeri had hit 60 for Salt Lake City in 1925, when the league played a 200-game schedule. By July 29, when Bilko hit his 45th, an LA newspaper was publishing the “Bilko Homerometer” every day. But he managed only two in the next two weeks, and in September went 12 games without clearing the fences.

Bilko was stuck at 55 when the Angels played a season-ending doubleheader. On “Steve Bilko Day” at Wrigley, the guest of honor apologized to fans for failing to break the record. He mashed one drive that hit the top of the right-field screen, but settled for three singles. He had hit 36 at home, 19 on the road.

He won the league’s Triple Crown with a .360 batting average and 164 RBIs, also leading with 215 hits, 163 runs, 104 walks, 410 total bases, and a .687 slugging percentage. Bilko’s home park was not his only advantage. The Angels played most home games in daylight, when the warm air made the ball fly farther, and Mauch was adept at stealing signs to tell him what pitch was coming.

The Bilko Athletic Club was not a one-man team; the Angels combined for a league-record 202 homers. “We were a family,” left fielder Bob Speake recalled. “There was such a tight camaraderie around Bilko. We became Bilko’s boys.”16

Besides his home run exploits, Bilko cemented his reputation as a champion beer drinker. His Angels teammate Jim Brosnan said he would take his evening supply into the hotel bathroom, stuff towels in the cracks around the door, and turn on a hot shower to steam the alcohol out of his body while he drank it. (Don’t try this at home.) Brosnan added, “Bilko could put away a case of beer after a game and you wouldn’t know he’d had a drink.”17

In 1957, with fewer day games and no Mauch, Bilko challenged the record again. Before the season the Cubs sold the Angels franchise and Wrigley Field to the Brooklyn Dodgers. In addition to opening the way for the Dodgers to move west, the sale broke up the super team. The Cubs, after a last-place finish, promoted their top prospects to the majors along with manager Scheffing and Angels president John Holland. The Dodgers, who had three Triple-A affiliates, packed the Angels roster with minor-league vets such as Tom Lasorda and Sparky Anderson, and the club finished sixth.

Bilko was reported to have signed a $15,000 contract for 1957, the biggest in minor-league history, but he later said the salary was a lot more, and he earned a substantial side income from personal appearances. Scheffing said he was a bigger name in Los Angeles than Marilyn Monroe. 18 (Bilko knew and liked the actor John Wayne, but the glitzy Hollywood scene was not his style.) In addition to his slugging, his easygoing manner made him a fan favorite. The club’s PR man, George Goodale, later ranked Bilko with Nolan Ryan as baseball’s leading nice guys.19

Bilko had 54 home runs in September when the Angels came home to finish their season with 13 games at Wrigley Field. Manager Clay Bryant batted him leadoff to give him more chances at the record. Bilko homered in the first two games of the homestand, then went cold. Wary pitchers were throwing balls eye-high. When he fouled out in the next-to-last game, he pounded his bat on the ground until it broke. He failed to connect in his final 11 games and 48 at-bats.

Along with 56 homers, Bilko led the league with 140 RBIs, 111 runs scored, 353 total bases, 108 walks, and 150 strikeouts. Though his batting average fell to .300, his third consecutive MVP award was a foregone conclusion.

In three years with the Angels, Bilko bashed 148 home runs, two-thirds of them at Wrigley. Except for Los Angeles, he hit more than 30 in a season only once. The Slugging Seraph was a Wrigley Field illusion.

“I’ve liked the Coast League very much,” he told a writer, “but I sure want another crack at the majors. Mainly I want to prove something to those jokers who have been saying for three years that Bilko is strictly a minor league hitter.”20

Angels president Holland had once predicted that he would sell Bilko for $200,000. The club probably got only about one-tenth of that when he was sold to Cincinnati after the 1957 season; there weren’t many bidders for a 29-year-old who was typecast as a platoon player and pinch-hitter. Bilko had to take a pay cut to go back to the big leagues.

The deal gave the Redlegs around 700 pounds of first basemen. Ted Kluszewski and Bilko probably could have balanced on a seesaw, and George Crowe checked in above 220. Cincinnati lightened the load by trading Klu to Pittsburgh.

Manager Birdie Tebbetts said he wouldn’t worry about Bilko’s weight: “If he says he plays best at 250 or 240, that’s the way it is.”21 Bilko and Crowe platooned at first base, but that arrangement lasted just a couple of months before Bilko was sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 15, 1958, in a swap for fading pitching star Don Newcombe.

Some observers saw the hero’s homecoming as a PR move by the Dodgers, who had sunk to last place in their first year in Los Angeles. Jim Murray wrote in Sports Illustrated that it “will be good for the fans although not good for the team.”22 Bilko had reservations, too; he had already seen the Dodgers’ bizarre temporary home, the Los Angeles Coliseum. With a baseball field shoehorned into one corner of a football stadium, the left-field fence was just 251 feet from home plate. “I wouldn’t want the Coliseum as my home field,” he had said when the Redlegs visited. “I’m not a pull hitter.”23 The fence fell away sharply to more than 425 feet in left- and right-center, where Bilko hit his best shots.

The Dodgers had no apparent need for him. Although their veteran first baseman, Gil Hodges, was slumping, rookie Norm Larker was on hand as his heir apparent. Bilko started only one game in the first three weeks. LA fans didn’t care what Hodges had done in faraway Brooklyn; a huge banner appeared in the stadium screaming “We Want Bilko.”

The fans got their way on July 9, Bilko’s first start at home. A frenzied ovation ushered him into the batter’s box in the first inning with two men on, and he delivered goosebumps: a three-run homer.

Bilko hit a game-winning home run four days later, and another homer the day after that. But he struck out 15 times in his first 16 games. Used primarily as a pinch-hitter, he batted .208 for the Dodgers while striking out in one-third of his plate appearances.

Embarrassed by a seventh-place finish, the Dodgers promised a youth movement for 1959. “Bilko doesn’t stand a chance,” sportswriter George Lederer predicted.24 When the club demoted him to Triple-A Spokane in the spring, Bilko exploded, “What does a fellow have to do to get a shot up here?”25 He couldn’t believe no other big-league team wanted him. At first he refused to report, but the Spokane manager, Bobby Bragan, convinced him that he could still be a big drawing card in the Coast League.

After Bilko hit .305 with 26 home runs for Spokane, the Detroit Tigers drafted him for his eighth major-league trial. Red Smith wrote, “Stephen Thomas Bilko has been coming up to play first base for one team or another since the dawn of history.”26 Bilko spent 1960 platooning with young Norm Cash and struggling to keep his batting average above .200.

American League expansion bought him yet another chance at age 32. He was an obvious choice for the new Los Angeles Angels, who would play their first season at Wrigley Field. The Angels also picked up Ted Kluszewski in the expansion draft. Manager Bill Rigney put both heavyweights in the Opening Day lineup, with Bilko on unfamiliar ground in right field. He made a fine running catch, but when Rigney was asked if he’d use that lineup again, he said, “I’ll think about that.”27 Bilko played twice more in right, and settled into a first-base platoon with Kluszewski and Lee Thomas.

Playing in 114 games, Bilko hit 20 home runs, 11 of them in his favorite ballpark. The Angels’ final game of 1961 was the last in Wrigley Field’s history. Bilko pinch-hit with two out in the ninth and cleared the left-field wall one more time.

He stayed with the Angels in 1962 when they moved into their new home, Dodger Stadium (the American League club called it Chavez Ravine). Pinch-hitting and playing first occasionally, Bilko managed to hit only two balls out of the spacious park. He added six homers on the road, batting .287 in 64 games. His season ended early when an infected leg wound put him in a hospital in August.

Although his two years with the Angels were the best of his big-league career, the club dropped him in the fall to their Triple-A farm club, which was moving to Hawaii. Bilko asked to be traded closer to home and landed in his old stomping grounds, Rochester. His final professional season was a disappointment. He shared first base in 1963 with two other minor-league veterans, Luke Easter and Joe Altobelli, hitting .261 with only eight homers in 101 games. Easter was as big a hero in Rochester as Bilko had been in LA. Bilko sometimes heard boos when his name was announced in the starting lineup.

Bilko retired from the game at 34 with 76 major league home runs and 313 in the minors. He went to work as a salesman for Dana Perfume Inc. in Wilkes-Barre, commuting distance from Nanticoke, and later was an inspector in the perfume plant. He built a new home just a block from the house where he grew up. His daughter, Sharon, was a high school cheerleader and sons Steve Jr. and Tom played football at Villanova.

In a 1976 interview, he was looking forward to collecting his baseball pension in two years when he turned 50. He didn’t plan to retire, but thought the extra money would allow Mary to quit working.28

He didn’t get there. Bilko died at 49 of undisclosed causes on March 7, 1978.

Years later, when some members of the Bilko Athletic Club wanted to organize a reunion of the great 1956 team, Gene Mauch asked, “How can we have a reunion without Bilko being there?”29

Additional Source

Bilko, Mrs. Elizabeth, as told to Paul Gardner. “Should Your Son be a Baseball Player?” Parade, June 29, 1952.

Notes

Pitcher George “Rube” Boehler had a blazing fastball and a sweeping curve.2 In the minors from 1911 to 1930, he won 249 games3 and was a seven-time 20-game winner. For the 1922 Tulsa Oilers, he won 38 games, a single-season mark unmatched in professional baseball from 1909 through 2023.4 Throughout his career, he ping-ponged between minor and major leagues. He was given only sporadic opportunities in the majors, primarily owing to his lack of control.

George Henry Boehler was born on January 2, 1893, in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and grew up in that Ohio River town, 25 miles west of Cincinnati. He was of German descent, the youngest of three children born to George and Emma (Stein) Boehler. Lawrenceburg was known for whiskey production; George Sr. worked at a distillery.5

Young George pitched for local amateur teams. In a 13-inning contest in September 1910, he struck out 17 batters.6 He was a big right-hander, about 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds.7

The Indianapolis Indians of the Class A American Association signed Boehler to a contract and optioned him to the Springfield Reapers of the Class D Ohio State League.8 On April 20, 1911, he defeated Marion in Springfield’s season opener.9 Three days later, he pitched a no-hitter in a 7-1 triumph over Lima.10 He posted a 12-6 record for the pennant-winning Reapers.

A right-handed batter, Boehler was a weak hitter early in his career. Through games of July 6, 1911, he managed only one hit in 49 at-bats for a microscopic .020 batting average.11 But his hitting improved; eight years later he batted .269.

In 1912 Indianapolis assigned Boehler to the Newark Molders of the Ohio State League.12 In 364 innings pitched, he achieved a 27-17 record. He delivered three-hit shutouts of Mansfield on May 13 and August 20, and fanned 14 in a three-hitter against Lima on August 2.13 At times, he struggled with his control; on July 16, he walked 10 batters in a 10-5 loss to Portsmouth.14

Upon the recommendation of scouts Bobby Lowe and Bill Donovan, the Detroit Tigers purchased Boehler’s contract for $3,000.15 The rookie debuted on September 13, 1912, at Navin Field in Detroit. He started and went seven innings against the Washington Senators, allowing eight runs on 12 hits. Detroit came back from an 8-1 deficit and won, 9-8. In five appearances with the Tigers that year, Boehler allowed 50 hits in 32 innings, and his record was 0-2 with a 6.47 ERA. But the Tigers saw his potential.

Detroit catcher Oscar Stanage said Boehler “has as much stuff as any youngster he ever saw.”16 Boehler’s fastball had unpredictable late movement, and his curve had a wide, quick break. He also mixed in a spitball.17 After Tigers pitcher George Mullin taught him a change of pace, Mullin declared, “He has everything that a pitcher needs.”18

But Boehler still lacked control. On April 15, 1913, in Detroit’s fourth game of the season, he pitched a complete game at Cleveland and was soundly beaten, 9-0. He walked six batters and hit three with pitches: Nap Lajoie, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and pitcher Cy Falkenberg. Jackson was beaned, “and the shoeless wonder dropped to the ground as though slain. He was revived in due time and took his hard-won place on first base.”19

It was clear that the 20-year-old Boehler needed further seasoning. The Tigers optioned him to the St. Joseph (Missouri) Drummers of the Class A Western League. “He’ll be a great pitcher as soon as he gets control,” predicted Detroit manager Hughie Jennings.20

Boehler demonstrated in 1913 that he could dominate Class A hitters. He compiled a 27-13 record for the Drummers in 345 innings. Batters averaged .208 against him. His 2.32 ERA was the best in the league among pitchers with at least 160 innings pitched, and his 244 strikeouts ranked second in the league (behind Red Faber’s 265).21

Boehler returned to the Tigers in 1914, but he appeared in only 18 of the team’s 157 games, six as a starter and 12 as a reliever. In 63 innings pitched, he walked 48 batters, a rate of 6.9 per nine innings. He earned his first major-league victory on June 15, 1914, defeating the New York Yankees, 4-1. In nine innings, he allowed six hits and walked eight. His second win came on June 27 against the Chicago White Sox. In that one, he allowed no runs and two hits in 6 1/3 innings, but he walked seven and hit two batters. Even in victory, he was wild.

In the offseason Boehler worked as a barber in Lawrenceburg. On April 13, 1915, he married Edom Pauline Oester.22 She, too, was of German ancestry.

Boehler spent the entire 1915 season with the Tigers but was barely used: eight appearances, all in relief, and 15 innings pitched. Manager Jennings did not trust him in games as the Tigers vied for the pennant. But, as sportswriter Harold V. Wilcox of the Detroit Times explained, Jennings did not want to let Boehler go, out of fear that an American League rival might pick him up and use him against the Tigers.23 “Few pitchers in the major leagues … can throw the sphere with more speed than Boehler can [in] the opinion of his teammates.”24

The Detroit coaching staff had given Boehler “enough tutoring to develop a [Christy] Mathewson,” said Wilcox, yet he sat “wasting away” on the Tigers bench.25 Newspapermen figured that his inactivity was rooted in untamed wildness. The less he pitched, the more his reputation as a “wild man” grew.

Boehler appeared in five games for Detroit in 1916. His last appearance, at Washington on May 16, sealed his fate with the team. He started but was taken out after facing four batters; he hit the leadoff man with a pitch and then gave up a single and two walks. The Tigers decided he no longer fit into their plans, and they sent him to the Louisville Colonels of the Class AA American Association. He pitched for Louisville for three weeks in July26 and finished the season with the Syracuse Stars of the Class B New York State League. In the offseason he was purchased by the Denver Bears of the Western League.27

With the 1917 Bears, Boehler posted a 9-5 record and 2.54 ERA in 145 innings. His season was cut short when he developed a sore arm in June.28 The following spring, after a brief trial with the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Class A Southern Association,29 he returned to the Western League as a member of the Joplin (Missouri) Miners. He played mostly in the outfield with the 1918-19 Miners and pitched infrequently because of arm trouble.30

Boehler revived his pitching career with the 1920 Miners. In 334 innings, he compiled a 20-17 record. He led the league with 258 strikeouts31 and allowed only 2.2 walks per nine innings. This fine season earned him a return trip to the American League.

The St. Louis Browns purchased Boehler’s contract in September 1920 for a reported $8,000, outbidding a $6,000 offer from the Chicago Cubs.32 He started for the Browns at Detroit on September 24 and took the loss; he went five innings and surrendered eight runs. To reduce their roster to meet a 25-player limit, the Browns released him to the Tulsa Oilers of the Western League on May 18, 1921.33 The Oilers paid $5,000 to get him.34

On May 31, 1921, the Oilers played a doubleheader against the Oklahoma City Indians at McNulty Park in Tulsa. Immediately after the twin bill, the Oilers left the city and headed to Wichita for their next series. That night, the African American community of Greenwood, one mile from McNulty Park, was victimized by the horrific Tulsa race massacre. Thirty-five square blocks were burned to the ground by white rioters and as many as 300 residents were killed in attacks.35

Yet the Oilers’ season continued. Pre-massacre, they were in second place with a 24-19 record.36 Post-massacre, they went 41-84 and finished in last place. It was an off year for Boehler: In 193 innings pitched, his record was 4-20. But a turnaround was coming in 1922.

With a record of 24-26 through games of June 7, the 1922 Oilers were in the middle of the pack.37 They went 80-38 after June 7 to claim the pennant.38 Boehler was the ace of the pitching staff with a remarkable 38-13 record. His record was 33-11 in 47 starts and 5-2 in 15 relief appearances.39 He led the league in innings pitched (441) and strikeouts (333).40 The Tulsa World said, “there is not a better natured and harder working ball player to be found anywhere than Big George.”41

In a postseason series, the Oilers defeated the Mobile Bears, champions of the Southern Association, in six games (four games to one with one tie). Boehler made three appearances and allowed two runs on seven hits in 18 innings. He was the winning pitcher of the second game of the series.42 Including the postseason, he amassed 39 wins in 459 innings.

Naturally, major-league scouts were buzzing. The Oilers entered into an agreement with the Pittsburgh Pirates: Boehler would receive a trial with the Pirates, and if they kept him, they would “send a surplus youngster or two to Tulsa and likewise $25,000 in cash”43 (about $450,000 in 2023 dollars). At spring training with the Pirates in 1923, Boehler showed “more stuff than any pitcher on the team,” and the Pirates decided to keep him.44

On April 18, 1923, in the second game of the Pirates’ season, Boehler pitched a complete game but lost 7-2 to Grover Alexander and the Chicago Cubs. In his next two starts, he defeated the Cincinnati Reds on April 23, but lasted only two innings in a loss to the St. Louis Cardinals a week later.

In Pittsburgh on July 5, Boehler pitched a complete game in an exhibition against the New York Yankees, which the Yankees won, 9-8. The fans were there to see Babe Ruth hit a home run. Boehler did as instructed and grooved a pitch to him in the ninth inning, which the Bambino clouted over the right-field fence.45

Boehler was seldom used by the Pirates. In 10 regular-season appearances, he walked 26 batters in 28 1/3 innings and his ERA was 6.04. His disappointing performance was attributed to a sore arm.46 On July 28, he was optioned to the Western League’s Omaha Buffaloes, for whom he posted a 7-9 record in 139 innings.47 In the offseason, the Pirates traded him to the Oakland Oaks of the Class AA Pacific Coast League.48

Boehler was a workhorse for the Oaks. He went 26-21 in 1924 and 23-25 in 1925, leading the league in innings pitched and strikeouts each year.49 In Los Angeles on July 18, 1924, the “iron man” won both games of a doubleheader, allowing one run and eight hits in 18 innings.50 Against Sacramento on May 28, 1925, he pitched a no-hitter for nine innings but lost 2-0 in 10 innings. He struck out 15 batters in that contest.51

“Boehler has more stuff than any hurler in the league,” said sportswriter Eddie Murphy of the Oakland Tribune.52 The Brooklyn Robins drafted him, and he joined the team in the spring of 1926. At age 33, he was headed back to the majors.

Boehler thrived when given steady work, but he spent the entire 1926 season with the Robins and pitched only 34 2/3 innings. He was given only one start, which he won, at Philadelphia on May 28. Sportswriter Thomas Holmes of the Brooklyn Eagle said Boehler is a “real big league pitcher. . .handicapped by the abundance of other pitching talent” on the team. He had “no chance” with the Robins.53

The Robins returned Boehler to the Oaks after the season. This marked the end of his major-league career. He pitched a total of 202 1/3 innings in the majors over nine seasons, with a 6-12 record and a 4.71 ERA. He averaged 6.0 walks per nine innings. With better control, he may have had a more extensive major-league career.

The Oaks won the PCL pennant in 1927, and Boehler was their ace. His record was 22-12 with a 3.10 ERA, and he led the league in wins and strikeouts.54 The next year he went 17-14 with a 4.10 ERA. But the end of his career was near. In 62 innings pitched for the Oaks and Los Angeles Angels in 1929, his record was 2-6 with a 7.40 ERA. He struck out 26 batters and walked 67.55 (While in southern California, he was one of several ballplayers who appeared in the 1929 movie, Fast Company.56)

In August 1929, Boehler was sold to the Nashville Volunteers of the Southern Association.57 He pitched in a few games for Nashville that year and in 27 games the following year. Rather than accept an assignment to the Peoria club in the Class B Three-Eye League, he voluntarily retired from professional baseball in July 1930.58

Boehler and his wife resided in Greendale, a town adjacent to Lawrenceburg. He pitched for local semipro teams until about 1936. At age 42, he threw a no-hitter for a Brookville, Indiana, team in a night game at Indianapolis on July 31, 1935.59

Boehler worked as a millwright60 and was employed by the James Walsh & Company Distillery in Lawrenceburg for about 25 years, until his retirement in the spring of 1958. After a lingering illness, he died at his home in Greendale on June 23, 1958, at the age of 65.61 His death certificate says neck cancer was the cause. He was interred at the Greendale Cemetery.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Dan Schoenholz.

Sources

Ancestry.com, Baseball-reference.com, and Retrosheet.org, accessed August 2023.

Notes

1 Nathan E. Jacobs, “Burch Rods Play Two Games with Des Moines Today,” Omaha News, August 19, 1923: Sports, 2.

2 Ralph L. Yonker, “Call George Boehler a Second Walter Johnson,” Detroit Times, April 8, 1913: 1.

3 SABR, Minor League Baseball Stars, Revised Edition, Manhattan, Kansas: Ag Press (1984): 102. This reference shows 248 career wins in the minor leagues, but it does not include the win Boehler earned while pitching for the 1916 Louisville Colonels; see “Pitching Records,” Louisville Courier-Journal, July 30, 1916: 8-10.

4 SABR, Minor League Baseball Stars, Revised Edition: 10. In 1906 Stoney McGlynn won 41 games and Rube Vickers won 39 games in the minors. In 1908 Ed Walsh won 40 games for the Chicago White Sox.

5 1910 US census.

6 “Sports, Amusements and Otherness,” Aurora (Indiana) Bulletin, September 9, 1910: 1. Boehler was the winning pitcher as the Hoosiers defeated Climax, 3-2.

7 Boehler’s World War II draft registration gives his height as 6-foot-1.

8 “Weeding Out Process at Washington Park,” Indianapolis News, March 29, 1911: 10.

9 Jack Reid, “Diggers Lose to Springfield,” Marion (Ohio) Mirror, April 21, 1911: 3.

10 “No-hit Game for Boehler,” Springfield (Ohio) News, April 24, 1911: 5.

11 “Ohio State Batting Averages up to July 6, 1911,” Marion (Ohio) Star, July 8, 1911: 9.

12 “Big League Scouts Are Watching Pitcher Boehler,” Springfield News, June 4, 1912: 9.

13 “Mansfield Is Shut Out by Newark,” Mansfield (Ohio) News, May 14, 1912: 10; “Rube Boehler Fans Fourteen Stogies, Permits 3 Hits, 1 Run,” Lima (Ohio) Republican-Gazette, August 3, 1912: 7; “Mansfield Loses Both at Newark,” Mansfield News, August 21, 1912: 8.

14 “Boehler Was Wild,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 17, 1912: 10.

15 “Pitcher Boehler Sold to Detroit,” Mansfield News, July 25, 1912: 10.

16 “Cobb and Stanage at War,” Fort Wayne (Indiana) News, January 30, 1913: 3.

17 Yonker, “Call George Boehler a Second Walter Johnson.”

18 “Tiger Recruit Hurlers Offer Varied Assortment,” Detroit Times, March 8, 1913: 1.

19 E.A. Batchelor, “Recruit Hurler Is Clouted by Naps Who Win Shutout,” Detroit Free Press, April 16, 1913: 10.

20 “George Boehler Gains Control by Cutting Out Extensive Wind-up,” Detroit Times, April 21, 1913: 6.

21 Francis C. Richter, ed., The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide for 1914, Philadelphia: A.J. Reach Co. (1914): 267, 268.

22 “Boehler–Oester,” Aurora Bulletin, April 16, 1915: 1. It seems that the couple had no children; their US census records from 1920, 1930, and 1940 show no children.

23 Harold V. Wilcox, “If Steen Makes Good Boehler Can Expect to Hear Tin Rattling,” Detroit Times, June 16, 1915: 6.

24 “Billy Sullivan’s Work Causes Hope of Tiger Fans to Rise Flagward,” Lansing (Michigan) State Journal, March 22, 1916: 8.

25 Harold V. Wilcox, “Team Speeding West after Fine Visit in East—Win 10, Lose 5,” Detroit Times, August 13, 1915: 6; Harold V. Wilcox, “Connie Mack Can’t Come Through with Winner on Schedule, Is Belief,” Detroit Times, September 22, 1915: 6.

26 “Pitching Records,” Louisville Courier-Journal, July 30, 1916: 8-10. In 34 innings pitched for Louisville, Boehler had a 1-1 record and 5.03 ERA.

27 John H. Farrell, “National Association Bulletin,” Sporting Life, November 11, 1916: 9.

28 “Pitchers Go Up in Denver,” Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln), June 11, 1917: 3.

29 “Lohman Proves Pinch Pitcher,” Chattanooga News, May 2, 1918: 10.

30 Lou Duffy, “Boehler’s Delivery Rivals Electrical Storm at Ball Park,” Tulsa Tribune, May 27, 1920: 13.

31 SABR, Minor League Baseball Stars, Revised Edition, 102.

32 “Personal Paragraphs,” Lawrenceburg (Indiana) Register, September 16, 1920: 5; Harry F. Pierce, “Yankees 4, Browns 3,” St. Louis Star, September 20, 1920: 18.

33 “George Boehler to Join Tulsa’s Staff,” The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), May 19, 1921: 10.

34 B.A. Bridgewater, “Boehler Declines Job with Browns; Would Rather Pitch for the Oilers,” Tulsa World, November 5, 1922: 14.

35 J. Paul, “Sport as a Place of Violence in the Tulsa Race Massacre,” African American Intellectual History Society, at aaihs.org, June 7, 2021, accessed September 2023; “1921 Tulsa Race Massacre,” Tulsa Historical Society and Museum, at tulsahistory.org, accessed September 2023.

36 “The Standing,” Kansas City Kansan, June 1, 1921: 9.

37 “The Club Standings,” Tulsa World, June 8, 1922: 8.

38 “The Club Standings,” Tulsa World, September 26, 1922: 11. The Tulsa Oilers finished the 1922 season with a 104-64 and won the Western League pennant, six games ahead of the second-place St. Joseph (Missouri) Saints.

39 “Boehler’s Record,” Tulsa Tribune, September 24, 1922: 12. Boehler’s record as a starter and reliever was determined by the author from box scores.

40 SABR, Minor League Baseball Stars, Revised Edition: 102.

41 “All Pittsburgh Hoping Boehler Delivers Goods,” Tulsa World, March 31, 1923: 16.

42 Lou Duffy, “Winning Class ‘A’ Worlds Baseball Championship Crowning Achievement of Tulsa Sports History,” Tulsa Tribune, December 31, 1922: 10-B; B.A. Bridgewater, “Lelivelt Hits Homer–Tulsa Wins 3 to 1,” Tulsa World, October 7, 1922: 1, 11.

43 Edward F. Balinger, “New Pirate Deals May Add Strength to Hurling Staff,” Pittsburgh Post, December 17, 1922: 26.

44 William Peet, “What the Post Clock Saw,” Pittsburgh Post, June 22, 1923: 13; James M. McAfee, “Des Moines Foe of Buccaneers Today,” Pittsburgh Press, April 6, 1923: 32.

45 “Bambino Gets Homer; Yanks Win over Bucs,” Pittsburgh Press, July 6, 1923: 32.

46 “Boehler Goes to Wild West under Option,” Pittsburgh Post, July 29, 1923: 25.

47 Baseball-reference.com, accessed September 2023, indicated that Boehler pitched for both Omaha and Tulsa in 1923, but an inspection of box scores by the author revealed that he pitched only for Omaha that year.

48 Charles J. Doyle, “Pirates Acquire Coast League Mound Ace,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, December 13, 1923: 13.

49 SABR, Minor League Baseball Stars, Revised Edition: 102.

50 “Boehler Pulls Iron Man Stunt,” Tacoma Ledger, July 19, 1924: 6.

51 Eddie Murphy, “Miller Says Boehler Second Only to Dazzy Vance,” Oakland Tribune, May 29, 1925: 12.

52 Eddie Murphy, “Success of Oaks Attributed to Flowers and Giusto,” Oakland Tribune, May 11, 1925: 14.

53 Thomas Holmes, “Boehler, Real Big League Pitcher, Has No Chance with Robins,” Brooklyn Eagle, July 11, 1926: C3.

54 SABR, Minor League Baseball Stars, Revised Edition: 102.

55 SABR, Minor League Baseball Stars, Revised Edition: 102.

56 Fast Company, Turner Classic Movies, at tcm.com, accessed September 2023.

57 “Foul Tips,” Los Angeles Times, August 9, 1929: III-3.

58 Freddie Russell, “Sideline Sidelights,” Nashville Banner, July 27, 1930: 23.

59 “George Boehler Pitches No-hit Game under Lights,” Lawrenceburg Register, August 15, 1935: 1.

60 1940 US census.

61 “Deaths: George Boehler, 65, Dies in Greendale Home Monday,” Lawrenceburg Press, June 26, 1958: 2-7.

Kenneth Charles Bolek Jr. was born on December 20, 1953, in Chardon, Ohio, located 35 miles east of downtown Cleveland. His parents were Kenneth Charles Bolek Sr. and Patty (Deel) Bolek.1 His siblings are Lynn Hallam and Shelley Bolek.2

For many enthusiasts, baseball is more than just a sport; it’s a cherished tradition passed down through generations. Ken Bolek’s passion for the game was kindled early by his father, Kenneth Sr., a revered figure in Chardon’s baseball community. The elder Bolek, who passed away in November 2023 at the age of 91, dedicated much of his life to coaching – from the local Little League to Chardon High School, and finally as the pitching coach at Notre Dame Cathedral Latin, where he helped the Lions clinch two Ohio state championships.3 With such a profound influence, it’s no surprise that Ken Bolek Jr. inherited an equally deep love and aptitude for America’s pastime, both as a player and coach.

This love was evident from the age of two. As Bolek recounted, his first interaction with a baseball occurred in his grandparents’ living room. “My grandfather brought a ball out, and we were going to throw it around in the living room,” he said. “I was sitting in the chair and threw the ball over his shoulder through the picture window. The rest of the winter we had some cardboard stuck up there because we couldn’t afford to get the window fixed.”4

Of his career in youth baseball, Bolek recalled, “I played and went through the whole series of leagues from Little League to Pony League to American Legion. I played semipro when I was still in high school in downtown Cleveland next to the stadium by the lake. I played against guys who probably averaged 28 or 29 years old.”5

Bolek attended a public high school for his first two years before earning a scholarship to a private school: University School in Hunting Valley, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1972.6 During his four years of high school baseball, Bolek compiled an impressive batting average of .380.7

While Bolek excelled in both baseball and basketball, his best sport was seemingly football. “Most of my college scholarship offers were for football. But I had nothing for baseball. Back then, colleges apparently weren’t stressing recruiting that much that far north,” he said.8

Upon graduating from high school, Bolek, a righty thrower and lefty hitter, was selected in the 30th round of the 1972 amateur draft by his hometown club, the Cleveland Indians. He declined to sign, noting, “I was picked real low, and I thought it would be better for me to go to college.”9

Bolek enrolled at the University of Arizona in 1972, where he studied Business Administration and Management.10 However, he almost became an Ivy Leaguer. “I was one day from signing a letter of intent. I was going to go to Princeton. And [head coach] Jerry Kindall from Arizona called me. He had old contacts with the Indians, who had drafted me out of high school, and the night before offered me a full scholarship, which I accepted.”11

In hindsight, Bolek is convinced that he made the correct choice. “I would probably be a wealthy lawyer in New York had I gone to Princeton. I was born with sports in my family and have always been very competitive. That’s always appealed to me. Looking back, it would be interesting to lead a double life and go back – but I certainly have no regrets over decisions I’ve ever made.”12

Although Bolek made Arizona’s varsity team as a sophomore, it took 17 games for him to break into the starting lineup. However, as Tucson Citizen sportswriter Dave Kellogg noted at the time, Bolek’s “patience” paid off.13 Bolek started the March 12 home contest against Iowa in place of a slumping Scott Norris and quickly proved he belonged. He tripled twice, scored a run, and stole a base to help propel the Wildcats to their 21st victory of the season.14

Coach Kindall explained the lineup swap. “I knew when Scott Norris slumped that we could put Ken in and get a good honest effort. He is one of those guys who stays ready by taking extra batting practice and getting his running in.”15 While Bolek expressed gratitude for the opportunity to start, he emphasized that the team’s success was his top priority, saying “I know that no matter who coach Kindall puts in the outfield, that it is because of who is hitting the best that determines who is going to play. Even if I wasn’t starting, I wouldn’t have any regrets.”16 Bolek continued, “The good thing is that our team is so close that we don’t have any morale problems, which is so important in winning games. Scott Norris gives me just as much encouragement as anyone else and that is what winning is all about.”17

Later that month, Bolek’s talent was on full display when the Wildcats scrimmaged against the Cleveland Indians. Seizing the moment to compete against a big-league team, Bolek drilled a second-inning, two-run homer off Dick Tidrow. He recounted at the time, “It has to be one of my biggest thrills, maybe the biggest. My folks … were listening [in Chardon] to the game on the radio, and I know they were thrilled too. In fact, it’s my father’s birthday, so it was kind of a gift for him. I talked to him on the phone last night and told him I’d give him my best shot.”18

That summer, Bolek joined Automatic Sprinkler in Lakewood’s Class A league, where he hit .337.19 He made the circuit’s All-Star team.20

During the summer of 1975, following his junior season, Bolek joined the Chatham A’s of the Cape Cod Summer League.21 On opening day, his three-run double to left-center field propelled Chatham to a 10-1 victory.22 Bolek was selected to participate in the Cape Cod All-Star Game at Fenway Park.23

In 1976, Bolek returned to Tucson for his senior year and earned his third varsity letter.24 The Wildcats (56-17) won their first national baseball championship (and first in any sport) by defeating Eastern Michigan University in the College World Series.

Bolek played a key role in the Wildcats’ championship quest. Before reaching the final, they faced a tough challenge from the Arizona State Sun Devils after having lost to them seven times in a row, including once already in the College World Series.25 However, this time Bolek’s two-run homer helped secure a 5-1 victory and eliminated ASU.26

Bolek had come through before in clutch moments. In a game against Brigham Young, with a trip to the regionals on the line, his sixth-inning homer secured a 4-0 victory.27

As Bolek’s tenure in Tucson ended, he left behind an impressive array of statistics that remain firmly embedded in the university’s record books.28 However, despite leading the team in home runs during his final season in Tucson, Bolek’s batting average dipped to .290.2930 As he told The Columbus Ledger in 1982, “My coach decided that I should be a power hitter. We needed some power. I hit 15 home runs that season and we won the national championship.”31 Bolek noted that after he got drafted, he still tried to hit for power, a detriment to his average and contact-hitting capability, “I kept swinging for the fences, and I wasn’t really built to be that kind of hitter at such a high level. I never could get my swing back the way it’d been.”32

In 1976, the Detroit Tigers selected Bolek in the 24th round (550th overall) in the amateur draft. Listed at 5-feet-11 and 180 pounds, he played for two teams in his first year of professional baseball. He got into 53 games for the Clinton (Iowa) Pilots, the Tigers’ Single-A affiliate in the Midwest League. He also got a three-game look with the Evansville (Indiana) Triplets, the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in the American Association. As the Triple-A season neared its end, outfielder Steve Kemp suffered a broken leg, leaving the Triplets in urgent need of a replacement. Bolek, having just completed his season with the Pilots, made the nearly seven-hour trip from Clinton to Evansville to step in for the injured Kemp.

That summer, Bolek recorded a .289 batting average across both leagues, with 43 hits, including one home run, and a .362 slugging percentage. As an outfielder, he posted a .978 fielding percentage in 92 defensive chances.

In 1977, Bolek was assigned to the Montgomery Rebels of the Southern League (Double-A). He got 90 hits in 123 games, for a .231 average, though 24 doubles and eight homers pushed his slugging mark to .360. Defensively, Bolek posted a .967 fielding percentage in 182 chances.

This marked Bolek’s last season in a Tigers uniform. He remarked, “There was no room left for me” – Detroit let him go to make room for a couple of top draft choices.33

In 1978, Bolek joined the Cleveland Indians, the organization that had originally drafted him out of high school. He played for two teams that season: the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Southern League and the Waterloo Indians of the Midwest League. Bolek appeared in just 48 games overall, receiving 157 plate appearances. He recorded 28 hits for a .231 batting average. One may infer that he was mainly a DH because he appeared only 14 times in the outfield.

Cleveland released Bolek after that season, ending his playing career at age 24. Over 227 games, he posted a .244 batting average (161-for-659), with 10 home runs and 81 RBIs.

Bolek reminisced, “I thought I could still make it. I don’t think any player wants to give up that hope. But I also knew that I was not an exceptional player and that I had worked awfully hard just to get where I was. You want to do well so badly it actually hurts.”34 He continued, “I was very intense. I took every bad game home with me. I’m still very intense but I can control my temper a little better. I’d always been a big hitter and I just couldn’t understand why I wasn’t producing.”35

After being released by Cleveland, Bolek – described by the Asheville Citizen-Times as a “burnt-out outfielder” – thought he needed to “distill the game from his system” and transition to the real world.36 However, his journey as a coach and manager was just beginning.

Bolek received a call from his good friend Tim Sorge, then baseball coach at Cuyahoga Community College in Parma, Ohio, west of Cleveland. “He asked me if I’d like to come over and help him, and I’m at the point where I’d like to make a clean break and get into something else. He said just come over for a week. If you like it, you’ve got a job. If you don’t, you’ve helped me for a week, and we’ll leave it at that.”37 Bolek took the job; he and Sorge led Cuyahoga to multiple Ohio junior college championships.38

Bolek became a graduate assistant at Mississippi State University in 1981.39 There he worked under Ron Polk, whose resume includes 1,373 wins in the SEC, coaching six Hall of Fame inductees, and eight trips to the College World Series.40 Off the field, Bolek pursued studies in Health and Physical Education.41

While Bolek’s years as a college coach helped lay a foundation, he wanted to build something bigger. “I didn’t want to get locked into the college system. So in 1981, I began sending out resumes to every major league team,” he explained.42 Bolek added, “Primarily I didn’t like the prospect of having to go out half of a year and recruit ballplayers. It was sort of like being a traveling salesman and I was very negative about it.”43 Skill levels also played a role. “At the professional level, you’re working with a higher caliber of athlete. While college athletes are impressive, the overall talent pool is significantly stronger in the professional arena, and that aspect appealed to me.”44

Bolek began his professional coaching career in 1982 in the minor-league system of the Houston Astros. He started as an outfielders coach for the Columbus Astros, working alongside manager Matt Galante.45 “He knows his stuff,” Galante said of Bolek.46

Bolek took to his new role immediately. “It’s great working with the young guys. They want to make the big time, and I want to help them make it if I can. I especially like working with the younger guys because they’re so enthusiastic. I know the frustrations some of them feel and hope I can help those guys through the rough times.”47

Bolek cited his own struggles as a player. “When you’re a star, there’s not a lot anybody has to tell you. When you’re like I was, though, there’s a struggle to make the adjustments to pro ball; you get plenty of instruction. You may not always be able to do what you need to do, but you know how things should be done. That’s why I think some of the best managers are the guys who weren’t successful players.”48

From 1982 to 1985, Bolek rotated among the Astros’ Rookie, Class A, Class AA, Class AAA, and Arizona Instructional League teams. In 1986, he made his managerial debut with the Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League. An excited Bolek praised the Astros organization. “I was fortunate enough to have been considered to manage at Asheville this year. I have been very, very well pleased with my working relationship with Houston. I think they have a very sound philosophy as far as their minor league development and a very sound organization. I feel very fortunate to be here.”49

Bolek’s intentions as a skipper were clear from the beginning: “Our job with Houston in the minor league system is to develop young, inexperienced players, and our goal is to get as many of those people as we can to the major leagues, and hopefully with the Houston Astros’ program.”50

Bolek added that his approach as manager could change based on his players’ needs at any given moment. “I’m very dead serious about the game. I know how important it is to me, and it’s my responsibility to get as much out of each of my ballplayers every day as I can. If that means I’ve got to yell and scream and get tough one day … [or] if another day I’ve got to come in and pat everybody on the back and get them going that way … whatever works.”51

Late in his first summer in Asheville, Bolek recounted how a childhood hero continued to inspire him. “When I was about the age when everybody loved Mickey Mantle, he couldn’t do anything wrong. We all loved him. To this day, I think the aura of Mickey Mantle is there for me. He … had a lot of talent but went out every day and played as hard as he could, faced adversity throughout his career with some very destructive injuries but managed to be … always in there every day playing hard. He served as a role model not only to his teammates but to every professional ballplayer at that time. That’s the kind of ballplayer I always hoped I would turn out to be, and I can relate most of those same things to managing.”52

At one point during the year, after losing five games in a row, Bolek injected some humor into his team’s slump by commenting, “I think I’ll go to church tomorrow.”53 A losing streak was rare for the Tourists that season – they compiled a 90-50 record, finishing in second place before losing in the playoff. Bolek also served as the All-Star Game coach that year.54

In addition to baseball, Bolek had a particular interest. “I read everything I can about the Vietnam War because I have some friends who went through that situation. I just missed being involved there, so I’ve always had a certain fascination for it.”55

In 1987, Bolek managed the Osceola Astros of the Florida State League (Class A circuit). The team finished at 80-59, first in the Central Division and third overall. They lost in the league finals.

After that season ended, so did Bolek’s tenure with the Astros. Reflecting on his experience, he remarked, “I was fortunate to start in a system like Houston’s because they do everything first-class.”56

In 1988, Bolek rejoined the Indians organization. He managed the team for which he used to patrol the outfield, the Waterloo Indians. The club placed third in the league’s South Division with a 78-62 record.

In 1989, Bolek took the helm of the Kinston Indians of the Carolina League. The team went 76-60, good for second in the league’s South Division.

In 1990, Bolek managed the Canton-Akron Indians of the Eastern League, then Cleveland’s Double-A affiliate. At his introductory press conference, Bolek affirmed a core principle, saying, “I prefer to be a very aggressive manager. The more pressure you put on the opposition, the more often you’ll come out on the winning side.”57 He also guaranteed three things from his team: “Our players will maintain a level of professionalism every time in uniform. Our players will work harder than any of the other teams in the Class AA Eastern League. And from first out to last out of the 1990 season, our players will continue to improve, and our team will continue to improve.”58

Bolek concluded, “The greatest challenge you’ll have each year as a minor-league manager is to put together an entirely different type of ballclub with an entirely different personality. I’m really looking forward to that challenge this year with the Indians. It should be a very competitive spring training for jobs on the Canton-Akron Indians. And it should be a very exciting summer.”59

Canton-Akron finished the 1990 season at 76-64, third in the EL. They suffered a first-round playoff loss. In 1991, the team came in fourth and was again knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. The Akron Beacon Journal described it as “both the best and worst of seasons for Bolek.”60 At one point, the team was 20 games over .500 and in first place, only to drop to six games over .500 and fourth. Bolek commented, “A minor-league manager is at the mercy of so many variables.”61 His roster that year had a significant future major-league presence – no fewer than 23 players went on to play at the top level, including 2018 first-ballot Hall of Famer Jim Thome.

Bolek’s managerial tenure in the EL concluded after the 1991 season. He spent the next two seasons as a special assistant coach with the big club in Cleveland. In November 1991, general manager John Hart described the rebuilding of the Indians’ coaching staff as potentially the most important move the team would make that winter.62 Bolek’s duties involved scouting, though he missed a portion of the 1992 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.63

The day after the 1993 season ended, manager Mike Hargrove shook up Cleveland’s staff, eliminating Bolek’s position.64 He returned to the minors in 1994 to manage the Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League, then the High A-Advanced affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. Al Goldis, then the Cubs’ Vice President of Scouting and Player Development, praised the hiring at the time. “We’re very happy with Ken Bolek. Ken’s a tremendous coach. He has an outstanding rapport with people. His teaching skills are excellent. He had a great record with Cleveland.”65 However, it was a challenging season for Bolek’s Cubs. The team finished 61-73, fourth in the league’s East Division. Bolek’s services were not retained by the organization.

Bolek’s minor-league managerial career concluded after seven seasons with an overall record of 536-433 (.553). He led six consecutive winning teams in five different leagues, and he participated in four postseason series and four All-Star games.66

Throughout Bolek’s minor-league managerial career, a constant source of support and love was his wife, Marilynne Samson, whom he affectionately refers to as “Mrs. Bolek.”67 They have one child, Lauren.

Bolek once said of Marilynne, “She comes from an entirely different family background than I do. Her family was not very competitive. She was brought up to do things because you enjoy them, while in my family I was brought up to do things you were going to be able to do well. That’s been a nice influence on me because I was the guy who maybe would want to play some golf with my friends after not playing all season and get frustrated because I didn’t shoot three under par my first day out, where she could go out and play and shoot a thousand and still probably enjoy it more than I did.”68

In 1995, Bolek became the Baseball Director at IMG Academy, located in Bradenton, Florida.69 Although IMG Academy often attracts highly sought-after talent, Bolek made it clear that his role as director was not solely focused on helping players reach the majors. Instead, his priority was to cultivate the skills and character needed for them to become responsible and contributing members of society. “We deal with reality on a daily basis. We are not sending the message that every one of our players is going to wind up playing shortstop for the Mets,” Bolek explained.70 He added, “If we do a good job, stressing certain characteristics and traits that are necessary for anybody leaving here to be successful, regardless of what their volition is, that’s the grand slam for us.”71 In addition to the full-time IMG Academy students, numerous professionals trained under Bolek’s guidance during the off-season. This included former #1 overall pick and AL MVP Josh Hamilton, former NL MVPs Andrew McCutchen and Joey Votto, Neil Walker, Chris Perez, Pedro Alvarez, and Ryan Zimmerman.7273

Bolek remained at IMG Academy for 19 years until 2014.74

After stepping away from his role as director and leaving the dugout following his tenure at IMG, Bolek found fulfillment in the batting cage, providing private lessons through his company, Bolek Hitting Consulting. One former player aptly captured Bolek’s expertise, the admiration players have for him, and his impact as a mentor in a review on Facebook.

“Ken’s training is by far the best in the baseball industry. Don’t just ask me, but also ask the many Major League Baseball players I saw Ken train as well. Ken … made a huge and positive difference to improve my batting and fielding skills. It was also exciting to see Ken help and train many major league baseball players, college ballplayers, high school players as well as beginners … Ken has the heart of a teacher and is a caring person. Ken will identify your weaknesses and train you to outperform and be the best. Thank you, Ken, for all the help and guidance not just in baseball but also in life.”75

After nearly seven years away from the dugout, Bolek returned to the field as the head baseball coach at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School in Bradenton. Ready for a new challenge at age 66, he said, “I’m looking forward to the Saint Stephen’s season. I want to pass on a lot of information that I can. At the same time, I’m going to be challenged that I’m in a competitive situation. It should be fun.”76 When asked about coaching in pro ball versus high school, Bolek remarked, “There’s a lot of things you teach at the high school level that you teach in the majors.”77

St. Stephen’s Athletic Director Lenny Paoletti raved, “I am very excited for our baseball players to learn the game under Coach Bolek. Professional experience aside, Coach Bolek graduated … from a school very similar to Saint Stephen’s and he understands what it takes to be a success on the baseball field and in the classroom.”78

Bolek commenced his three-year coaching tenure at St. Stephen’s in the spring of 2021. During the spring of 2022, he led the Falcons to a 9-3 record with a 6-0 mark at home.79 The next year the team struggled, going 2-10 and 0-6 on the road.80 That concluded Bolek’s time at St. Stephen’s.

Bolek has since retired from both coaching and his role as a hitting instructor. On rare occasions, you might still catch him tossing batting practice, but such sightings are infrequent. Content with life away from the sport, he has no plans to return to baseball. A longtime golf enthusiast, Bolek now devotes himself to refining his own golf game with the same meticulous attention he once applied to teaching baseball. He enjoys watching playoff baseball on television and occasionally returns to Ohio to visit his mother and relatives. While Bolek will always be associated with baseball, it’s important to remember that, above all, he is a teacher—someone who spent decades imparting life lessons to young men, shaping their success not only on the field, but in life.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Ken Bolek for his input (telephone call with the author, September 28, 2024).

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Mike Eisenbath and fact-checked by members of the SABR Bio-Project fact-checking team.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted baseball-reference.com and statscrew.com.

Notes

1  “Kenneth Charles ‘Ken’ Bolek Sr. Obituary.” Burr Funeral Home and Cremation Service. Legacy.com, November 9, 2023. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/kenneth-bolek-obituary?id=53556141.

2 “Kenneth Charles ‘Ken’ Bolek Sr. Obituary.” Burr Funeral Home and Cremation Service. Legacy.com, November 9, 2023. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/kenneth-bolek-obituary?id=53556141.

3 Chris Lillstrung, “Remembering Those We Lost in 2023: High School Sports Year in Review.” The News-Herald (Lake County, Ohio), December 31, 2023. https://www.news-herald.com/2023/12/31/remembering-those-we-lost-in-2023-high-school-sports-year-in-review/.

4 Jim Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball,” The Asheville Times (Asheville, North Carolina), August 19th, 1986:19.

5 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

6 Hamer, “Bolek Finds his Place in Baseball.”

7 Larry Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach,” The Columbus (Ohio) Ledger, April 15, 1982: 19.

8 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

9 Russell Schneider, “Schneider Around,” Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer, March 25, 1974: 32.

10 LinkedIn. “Ken Bolek,” https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-bolek-ba149098/.

11 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

12 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

13 Dave Kellogg, “Patience Pays Off for Cat Outfielder,” Tucson Citizen (Tucson, Arizona), March 13, 1974:50

14 Kellogg, “Patience Pays Off for Cat Outfielder.”

15 Kellogg, “Patience Pays Off for Cat Outfielder.”

16 Kellogg, “Patience Pays Off for Cat Outfielder.”

17 Kellogg, “Patience Pays Off for Cat Outfielder.”

18 Schneider, “Schneider Around.”

19 “Lakewood A Stars,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 23, 1973: 64.

20 “Lakewood A Stars.”

21 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

22 “First Cape League Week Shows Balance Plus Yarmouth Muscle,” The Cape Codder (Orleans, Massachusetts), June 19, 1975: 31.

23 “Cape All Stars in Fenway Park Next Monday,” The Cape Codder, July 17, 1975: 26.

24 The University of Arizona Sports Hall of Fame. University of Arizona Athletics. https://arizona_ftp.sidearmsports.com/old_site/pdf/m-basebl/2004-university.pdf.

25 “Arizona Eliminates Ariz. St,” The Michigan Daily (Ann Arbor, Michigan), June 19, 1976: 12.

26 “Arizona Eliminates Ariz. St.”

27 Tim O’Mara, “Crutcher Baffles Cougars; Cats in Regional Playoffs,” Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, Arizona), May 26, 1976: 52.

28 According to the 2024 Arizona Wildcats Baseball Media Guide, which features a section on the program’s history and records, Bolek over his three-year career ranks sixth in stolen base percentage (.846) and ninth in career walks, having drawn a total of 119. Bolek’s 1974 slugging percentage of .734 still ranks sixth in university history. His .538 on-base percentage that same year, tied with John Glenn, also holds the sixth spot in the record books. On February 21, 1975, in a game against Southern Illinois, Bolek tied a school record by hitting three triples, matching the mark set by Russ Gragg. To this day, Bolek, Gragg—who accomplished the feat twice—and Alan Zinter share the record for the most triples in a single game in Wildcats history with three.

29 2024 Arizona Baseball Media Guide, University of Arizona Athletics, February 6, 2024, https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/arizona.sidearmsports.com/documents/2024/2/6/2024_BSB_Media_Guide.pdf.

30 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

31 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

32 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

33 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

34 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

35 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

36 Jim Baker, “Fate Beckons Bolek to Tourists’ Helm,” Asheville Citizen-Times (Asheville, North Carolina), April 10, 1986: 18.

37 Baker, “Fate Beckons Bolek to Tourists’ Helm.”

38 Baker, “Fate Beckons Bolek to Tourists’ Helm.”

39 LinkedIn. “Ken Bolek.”

40 Mississippi State University. “Ron Polk.” Mississippi State Athletics. https://hailstate.com/staff-directory/ron-polk/1649.

41 LinkedIn. “Ken Bolek.”

42 Baker, “Fate Beckons Bolek to Tourists’ Helm.”

43 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

44 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

45 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

46 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

47 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

48 Gierer, “Rookie, Bolek Being Tested in 1st Season as Pro Coach.”

49 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

50 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

51 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

52 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

53 Jim Hamer, “Tourists Fall at Greensboro for 5th Straight Loss,” The Asheville Times (Asheville, North Carolina), May 28, 1986: 21.

54 LinkedIn. “Ken Bolek.”

55 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

56 Baker, “Fate Beckons Bolek to Tourists’ Helm.”

57 Bill Lilley, “New Manager, Same Ideas,” Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, December 14, 1989: 61.

58 Lilley, “New Manager, Same Ideas.”

59 Lilley, “New Manager, Same Ideas.”

60 Terry Pluto, “Waiting for his Chance,” Akron Beacon Journal, August 28, 1991: 26.

61 Pluto, “Waiting for his Chance.”

62 Sheldon Ocker, “Cleveland Indians,” The Sporting News, November 11, 1991: 36.

63 Sheldon Ocker, “Cleveland Indians,” The Sporting News, June 8, 1992: 26.

64 Sheldon Ocker, “Cleveland Indians,” The Sporting News, October 18, 1993: 22.

65 “Ken Bolek Taught Baseball Skills as Manager, Instructor,” The Greatest 21 Days, April 20, 2014. http://www.greatest21days.com/2014/04/ken-bolek-teaching-skills-1309.html

66 LinkedIn, “Ken Bolek.”

67 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

68 Hamer, “Bolek Finds His Place in Baseball.”

69 Dennis Maffezzoli, “Prep Baseball: Bolek Takes Over Falcons.” Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, Florida), July 15, 2020. https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/07/15/prep-baseball-bolek-takes-over-falcons/112570416/.

70 Robert Benincasa, “A Baseball School for Big League Dreamers,” All Things Considered (NPR), August 15, 2012, https://www.npr.org/2012/08/15/156191542/a-baseball-school-for-big-league-dreamers.

71 Benincasa, “A Baseball School for Big League Dreamers.”

72 Maffezzoli, “Prep Baseball: Bolek Takes Over Falcons.”

73 Tom Glass, “Pittsburgh Pirates: Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez at IMG.” Rum Bunter, January 22, 2013. https://rumbunter.com/2013/01/22/pittsburgh-pirates-andrew-mccutchen-neil-walker-pedro-alvarez-at-img/.

74 Emily D’Anna, “Ex-Pro to Coach Falcon Baseball This Year.” The Gauntlet, October 21, 2020. https://www.ssesgauntlet.org/sports/2020/10/21/ex-pro-to-coach-falcon-baseball-this-year/.

75 Bolek Hitting Consulting. “Reviews.” Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/bolekhittingconsulting/reviews.

76 Maffezzoli, “Prep Baseball: Bolek Takes Over Falcons.”

77 Maffezzoli, “Prep Baseball: Bolek Takes Over Falcons.”

78 D’Anna, “Ex-Pro to Coach Falcon Baseball This Year.”

79 “St. Stephen’s Falcons: Spring 2022 Season,” Tampa Bay High School Baseball, https://tampabayhighschoolbaseball.com/team/st-stephen-s-falcons/season/spring-2022/.

80 “St. Stephen’s Falcons: Spring 2023 Season,” Tampa Bay High School Baseball, https://tampabayhighschoolbaseball.com/team/st-stephen-s-falcons/season/spring-2023/.

Otto Borchert was born in Milwaukee on August 12, 1874. His father, Frederick Borchert, born in Mecklenburg, Germany, was an owner of the F. Borchert & Sons Brewery (which would become the Jung & Borchert Brewery and later be bought out by the Pabst Brewing Company). Otto’s mother was the former Barbara Neubauer, of Milwaukee. 1

Otto’s early education was at the German-English Academy, and then he continued his schooling in the Humboldt Public School. His first step as an entrepreneur was as a 12-year old peanut vendor at Milwaukee’s baseball park at 11th and Wright Street. The park’s concessionaire was delighted that “more liquid refreshments was required to drown the thirst inspired by the Borchert peanuts.”2 [A report after his death stated he was a batboy for the team when Clark Griffith was the manager. Griffith played in Milwaukee from July 1888 through the 1890 season, but never managed the team—which played in the newly built Athletic Park at 8th and Chambers.]3

At the age of 14 Otto left school and joined the employ of Benjamin Young, a wholesale saddler and hardware distributor, signing a contract for $2 a week for the first year and $5 a week for the second. The young Borchert did so well in this business that half way through his second year he was offered $7.50 a week from another firm. Otto later told the story: “I was all set to jump my contract and take the big money, but my father made me stick it out and the advice he gave me then has helped me plenty in my dealings with ball players. When a young fellow nowadays tried to run out on a contract, I always tell him about the Goll & Frank offer and how I stuck to my job in spite of the fact that I was losing money.”4

Borchert worked for Goll & Frank for two years, followed by three years with the Wisconsin Milling Company. He then obtained a job with the Wisconsin Telephone Co. After a brief time as an office boy he was elevated to a bill clerk, then became a lineman. However, Borhcert’s true calling was found when he became a solicitor for the company “and went galloping about the countryside installing plants.” It was said Borchert was responsible for putting more “new fangled contrivances” in rural homes than any other salesman.5

Borchert’s record was so imposing that he was hired by Julius Andrae & Sons, a local electronic supply business to travel the Midwest. His starting salary was $50 a month, which was soon raised to $75. Otto soon set up a headquarters in Waterloo, Iowa, and over the next 20 years was the Andrae Company’s star salesman. However, he never made over $200 a month.6

While selling supplies for Andrae & Sons, Borchert began taking options on electric light properties, then selling them at “profits equal to peanuts at $100 a bag.” After his death a story was told how he picked up a 30-day option on the Waterloo Gas Engine works, with no money down. Although at first he had a hard time selling the plant, he finally sold it to the Deere Plow Company for a reported $2,500,000. Borchert’s commission was $250,000 and he received an additional $50,000 from the Deere Company. Borchert also claimed he sold the Dubuque Light & Traction Company for $3,000,000, the MacGregor Light & Power Company for $360,000, and the Sumner Light & Power Company for $60,000.7

By the 1890s Otto Borchert was prominent enough to be found in the Milwaukee newspaper society columns.8 On December 24, 1899, Borchert married Miss Idabel Ruby Wilmot, a teacher of stenography and commercial methods. The Borcherts would have one daughter, Florence Mila.9

Borchert was something of an athlete in his youth. In 1894 the 19-year old caught for the Wisconsin Telephone Company baseball team. He reportedly ran hurdles with exceptional speed, and it was said “he played one of the meanest games of pool in this section of the country.” Otto also said he found interest in playing rummy and poker.10

Otto Borchert was also involved as a boxing impresario, calling it his second favorite sport, behind baseball. Along with Frank Mulkern he owned controlling interest in the Cream City Athletic Club beginning in 1919, conducting boxing shows at the Auditorium. Mulkern, who was called “one of the shrewdest promoters who ever arranged ring brawls in Milwaukee” by the Milwaukee Journal’s Sam Levy, said “Otto was the smartest fellow I ever dealt with.” In 1919 Borchert and Mulkern were instrumental in bringing Jimmy Wilde, the world flyweight champion from Wales known as “The Mighty Atom”, to Milwaukee. As a promotion Borchert asked all scribes and ringside seat patrons to appear in dinner jackets.11 Even though the Borchert/Mulkern team produced several five figure gates, Borchert said the Athletic Club never made enough money compared to what it cost to run it.12 Thomas Andrews bought Borchert’s interest in the Cream City Athletic Club after Otto’s death.13

In January 1920 Borchert was involved in the purchase of the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association from Clarence Rowland and Hugh Brennan for $100,000.14 [There were also published reports of $85,000 and $87,000.15] At the time it was reported the syndicate that bought the club was headed by Joseph O’Brien, former president of the American Association and at the time secretary of the New York Giants National League club. It was later reported Borchert owned 2/7 of the stock of the club, William H. Park [former owner of the Milwaukee Daily News and Evening Wisconsin] owned another 2/7 and William Kinsella [vice president of the Worden Allen Company] owned the remaining 3/7.16

Otto Borchert was named president of the baseball club.17 However, the first two years were no bed of roses for him. Some of his policies did not meet with the favor of certain minority stockholders, causing constant bickering. It was reported Borchert had made an honest effort to put a winning team on the field the first two years, but he had been ”hampered by internal dissension and grandstand managers.” Field manager Jack Egan sided with some of the stockholders not in Borchert’s camp, and it cost him his job. The Brewers’ records in 1920 and 1921 were 78-88, then 81-86. Borchert now made a wise and popular move by hiring Harry Clark as his manager for 1922.18 Clark had managed the Brewers from 1913 to 1916, winning American Association pennants in his first two years. Clark would manage the Brewers for the next four years with lackluster results:

The 1926 team was managed by Jack Lelivelt, finishing in third place with a 93 and 71 record.19

In November 1921 Borchert bought out William Park’s share of the Brewers, and in January he bought out William Kinsella and a number of smaller investors who had picked up stock, ending the internal feud that had continued within the club ownership.20 By 1926 Borchert owned the entire club and the park the team played in–Athletic Park at 8th and Chambers. Otto did not know much about running a baseball club when he purchased the club, but had the good sense to hire Frank Nahin, who had worked for earlier Brewer owners, to run the business affairs of the club. In his first year the club netted a $46,000 profit. For the next seven years the Brewers averaged better than $100,000 a year in profit.21

Borchert was rather flamboyant in appearance. He was usually seen walking about swinging a handsome cane, “which seem[ed] to become as famous as Charlie Chaplin’s moustache,” a derby, spats, diamonds glittering in a horseshoe tiepin, and smoking a cigar—with “ashes spread generously over his vest.”22 While some writers called attention to his silk underwear and other sartorial niceties, he did not call them a habit. He loved to buy new clothes, but didn’t always wear them. In one interview with a Milwaukee Journal reporter the Brewer owner was wearing a tweed suit “that could have had the pressing iron without suffering and upon his head was a distinctly disreputable slouch hat.” Borchert explained to the reporter: “Look at me. I have just bought six new suits from the best tailor in town and here I am with this on. I have also just bought six new hats—or was it seven—and give a look at this old thing. I am like a fireman. I get dressed in a hurry.”23 Otto also loved the spotlight being a baseball owner put on him—most of all the photographers. It was said he was possibly the most photographed man in the American sport world at the time—doubtful as this could be, when we see how many pictures of Babe Ruth are around. Hanging in his office were scores of pictures of himself, all autographed with “Otto Borchert, Pres.”24

Borchert was a life member of the Athletic Club and of the Midland Club of Chicago, as well as a member of the Elks Club, Eagles Club and the Y.M.C.A. He was also a 32nd degree Mason and belonged to the Association of Commerce.25

He had a reputation for being frugal. Some of this he brought upon himself. He once told a Milwaukee Journal reporter: “I can write a check of any size in a poker game, without stopping to think, but good Lord, how I hate to pass out a $10 bill.”26 Borchert was indeed wealthy, his estate valued at $242,589.15 after his death. He owned a home on Milwaukee’s west side, and a “palatial summer place” on Lake Nagawicka.27

As owner of the Brewers, Borchert never attained great popularity with the fans. On Sundays and holidays, when the park was generally jammed, Borchert would walk from the right field scoreboard, where he would sun himself before games, to the infield. The crowd jeered, but Otto flashed his broadest smile, waved his walking stick and enjoyed every step as he walked to the stands. “What do I care if the fans boo me,” he said philosophically. “It’s their privilege. They’ve paid to get into my park.”28

Borchert’s way of signing players was interesting. A few years after his death a report in the Milwaukee Journal explained how he went about contract negotiations. A week or two before the close of the season he would have the contracts ready for his players. He would tell the player, “I’ve called you in to praise you for your great work this year. As a reward I’m going to give you a present. Take this check. It’ll come in handy during the winter months. Next year if the club has a good season and we make a lot of dough, I’ll remember you.” A check for $200, $300 or even $500 was a lot of money in those days, and most players signed within five minutes.29

But the real side of Otto Borchert was mostly hidden from the public. When Borchert died Brewer business manager Louis M. Nahin said, “His greatest deeds, however, have never been made public. He refused to have the nice things he did revealed. It was not at all uncommon to have many persons call on him during the day and appeal for financial help, and in his own way he always lent a helping hand. ‘Keep this secret—I don’t want the press or anyone to know about this’, he would say.”30

A story by Sam Levy in the Milwaukee Journal years after Borchert’s death illustrated this. “The public never got to know Otto. He was gruff and growled at players when they asked for raises. I was in his office one day when the late Nat Stone of the Boston Store, who headed a committee, asked for funds for a worthy cause. ‘Put me down for $5,000,’ Borchert told Stone, ‘but no publicity must be given.’ Then he turned to this reporter and said: ‘Remember, that goes for you, too–no publicity on my contribution.’ ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Let the public know of what you’ve done. You receive enough bad publicity.’ ‘Never mind, I can take it.’ countered Otto. ‘And look–don’t say a thing.’”31

The Milwaukee Journal summed it up best:

Otto Borchert was a rough fellow, hard-boiled on the outside. But inside beat a heart warm with sympathy. Only his friends knew of his sterling qualities. “My father once told me, “ he said, “Otto, if you can make five friends in your lifetime you will have done well.” He not only made five, but 100—true, loyal friends, friends in all that the name implies. They will miss Otto, his keen wit, his sparkling repartee, his caprices, his loyalty. For Otto Borchert was a true friend. He was strong in his convictions, too strong possibly at times, but he had the courage of those convictions, and was willing to battle for them. A more diplomatic policy might have been better, but he drew a line and always tried to stay on it, regardless of what the general public did or thought. But the general public did not know the real Borchert, the fellow who would yell about a dime and in the next breath write a $1,000 check for some worthy charity or some friend in need. He seldom talked of those good deeds, but always made a noise about some minor expenditure that didn’t amount to anything. This gave the public a false impression of Otto, poor Otto, who had befriended scores of down and outers, who went on dozens of worthless notes and always had a liberal purse for charity.32

All through his ownership Borchert had a soft spot for children. It was told how hundreds of kids would follow him to Athletic Park, asking if he would let them in. He would shake his head, but finally grab some youngster and say, “Well, come on in, but this is the last time.” Of course, the children knew better and the show would be repeated the next day.33

As the owner of the Brewer baseball club Borchert was many times called lucky. In some ways he was; for example, in the seven years of his ownership it was reported he never had a Sunday game rained out—at home or on the road.34

The papers reported he also had “The Borchert Luck” when it came to getting large amounts of cash for players. However, one would have to believe more than just plain luck went into many of his transactions. It was claimed he bought Fred Schulte for $1,500 and sold him to the St. Louis Browns for $75,000 to $100,000 in cash and ball players.35 Other sales included Jim Cooney to the St. Louis Cardinals for $22,000; Denny Gearin—whom Borchert bought for $750–to the Giants for $10,000; Glenn Myatt to Cleveland for $50,000; Oscar Mellilo to the St. Louis Browns for $26,000.36 The story told by Milwaukee Journal writer Sam Levy, is a favorite. One day [around 1921] a lad with a tattered cap walked into his office and asked for [business manager Louis] Nahin. “I want to sign with the Brewers,” said the visitor. Just then Borchert entered, listened and went into his private office. When the youngster left, he called to Nahin. “Who was that punk?” asked Otto. “Hereafter when they come into my office, have them take off their caps.” “That kid,” prophesied Nahin, “will bring you a fortune in a year or two.” “Who said so?” “Wait and see,” suggested Nahin. In December 1923 the punk, Al Simmons, was sold to the Philadelphia Athletics for $40,000 and three players, plus a fourth player in May of the following year.37

Borchert was one of the leaders in the American Association and well liked by his fellow owners. League President Thomas Hickey later described Borchert’s baseball personality: “Those who did not know Otto called him selfish, but they did not know the true Otto. He was one of the strongest characters in the American Association and took the lead in all his business dealings. He had an excellent business head. In our councils he was always looking out for the interests of the league rather than his own club.” Hickey paid the Brewer owner the greatest compliment: “His heart and sole were wrapped up in his favorite sport—baseball. He was more than an owner—a fan. I have yet to find another club president who would attend the games of his club and root like the fellow who pays his admission at the gate.”38

On the evening of April 27,1927–the day before the Brewer home opener–while finishing an address to a large crowd at the Elks Club in downtown Milwaukee, which was also being broadcast on radio, Otto Borchert suffered a massive heart attack and fell back into his chair. After staggering to his feet he was taken into an anteroom, where he died five minutes later. His final words were fitting to the man: “I always made it a point to be loyal to my employers, and—give them the best I had.”39 Otto Borchert was buried in Milwaukee’s Valhalla Cemetery.40

The ball club was now run by Borchert’s widow, with the help of Henry J. Killilea and Louis Nahin.41 Killilea purchased the club from Mrs. Borchert in January 1928 for $280,000, reported to be the largest amount ever paid for a club in the American Association.42 (Mrs. Borchert kept control of the ballpark, purchasing it from Timme Realty for $90,000). Upon purchasing the club, Killilea changed the name of Athletic Park to Borchert Park in honor of Otto Borchert.43 It remained known as Borchert Park until it ceased to be used after the 1952 season, Milwaukee County Stadium taking its place.

Notes

Brief was born Anthony John Greszkowski on July 3, 1892, in Big Rapids, Michigan.2 His parents, John and Mary (Sandusky) Greszkowski, were born in Germany of Polish descent. They emigrated first to Canada and then to the United States in late 1877. The couple had six children. Their first child, John, was born in Canada, the other children (three boys and two girls) were born in Michigan. The elder John was a laborer, but the 1900 census lists him as an invalid. The family was provided for by sons John and Levi, who worked as laborers while the younger children attended school. Brief’s father died in 1907.

When it was decided to change the name to Brief is unknown. It was done during Bunny’s childhood so the baseball stories that a manager told him to “make it brief”3 when he signed a contract is pure fantasy. As for the nickname of Bunny, it is a corruption of his childhood nickname of Bunty. The alteration was blamed on sportswriters, but Brief accepted the nickname happily. At some point the middle name of Vincent replaced John, another switch that made no difference to Brief.

Brief grew up in Traverse City. He attended a Catholic school, Immaculate Conception, before going to Traverse City Central for three years of high school. He grew to be 6-feet tall and in his prime he weighed 185 pounds. The West Michigan League was a four-team league. Brief played catcher4 for the Resorters. In 1911 the league expanded and changed its name to the Michigan State League, retaining its Class D status. Traverse City finished fourth out of six teams. Brief smacked 10 home runs and slugged .500 to lead the circuit while playing a variety of positions. He was invited to spring training with the St. Louis Browns in 1912. As a rural 18-year-old, he was nervous about the travel and passed up the opportunity.

Brief played for Traverse City again in 1912, this time as a nearly full-time outfielder. He led the league in homers and slugging again for the second-place finishers. The Browns held Brief’s rights and persuaded him to join the team in September. The “bashfulness” that had held him back was gone and he was ready to join the majors.5 He reached St. Louis on September 21 and was put into the doubleheader against the Phillies on the 22nd. He pinch-hit and grounded out in the opener. In the nightcap he went 1-for-4 while playing left field.

Manager George Stovall opted to give Brief a good tryout in the remaining games. He played both ends of four consecutive doubleheaders with the White Sox, seeing playing time in left field and at first base. His biggest moments came in the September 25 twin bill when he went 4-for-5, with a double and scored 4 runs. He also walked twice and was hit by a pitch. The performance raised Brief’s batting average to .438 with a 1.050 OPS. He closed out the campaign on October 6 at .310.

Stovall kept Brief in town for the postseason series with the Cardinals. The Brown lost four of the seven games, but Brief made a favorable impression. Unlike most of the late call-ups, he saw plenty of action and was voted a full player’s share. Brief’s hitting excited fans and writers alike and they looked forward to the 1913 season.

The Browns held spring training in Waco, Texas, in 1913. Early on, Stovall announced his intention of turning Brief into a first baseman. Brief got plenty of attention in practice and practical experience in the preseason games. When the season began, he was Stovall’s backup. Used as a pinch-hitter, he had one start in April and closed out the month hitless.

Stovall got into a heated argument on May 3 and was ejected and then suspended. Brief took over at first and mounted a hitting streak from May 7 to May 22. He went 20-for-57 and raised his average to .294. Writers did not notice any drop-off in defense for the team.6 When Stovall returned, he split time with Brief and used the youngster in left field. Brief’s hitting nosedived and by early August he was batting just over .200. On August 25 he was traded to the Kansas City Blues along with Mack Allison, Pete Compton, and a bundle of cash for Tillie Walker.

Brief’s hitting woes continued with Kansas City. In 37 games he batted .242 and showed very little power. After working the offseason as a salesman, Brief returned to the Blues in 1914. Bill Armour took over as manager and inserted Brief at first base. He responded with a tremendous season as the Blues moved up one place in the standings and played .500 ball. Brief played in 169 games, batted .318, and poked 51 doubles and 16 triples to go with his 12 home runs.

Late in the season Brief bettered the consecutive-game hit record set in 1911 by Otis Clymer. Brief’s streak ended at 30 in mid-September. A few days later the Chicago White Sox announced they had drafted Brief. They were excited by his bat and his 35 stolen bases.7 In December the White Sox appointed Pants Rowland as manager. In one of his early remarks he mentioned that Jack Fournier would be shifted to the outfield. This slip of the tongue revealed that the White Sox thought Brief was ready for permanent duty at first base.8

The White Sox trained in California and took on PCL teams for their exhibitions. Brief’s fielding was top-notch while he displayed his power in the smaller ballparks. His emergence left Jack Fournier without a position. Branch Rickey was reported to be after Fournier for the Browns. The season opened with Chicago taking on the Browns in St. Louis on April 14.

Brief started at first base and batted sixth despite a nasty case of boils. The game was tied 3-3 after nine innings. In the 11th frame Brief sent a tremendous blast into the left-field seats. The Browns tied it in the bottom of the inning. In the 13th, Brief singled to start a three-run rally and cement the White Sox win. Besides his two hits he had 24 putouts and two assists.9

On May 24, Brief hit another homer that caught owner Charles Comiskey’s attention. The blast against the Yankees landed in the left-field seats in Chicago. It was reported that when Comiskey built the park “he did not think anyone would ever hit the ball over the left field fence.”10

Brief held onto the starting job until June 7. His average was just .213 and the White Sox needed more offense. Fournier took over at first and later in the season the White Sox added Joe Jackson to further boost their numbers. On July 22, Brief was sold to Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League.

The right-handed hitter found his stroke again in the West. Maybe it was because he delayed his trip to Utah long enough to marry Rhea Martin in Traverse City on July 26. She was the only daughter of a well-known physician/banker in Traverse City. Their honeymoon was the train ride across country to set up housekeeping in Salt Lake City.

In 82 games with the Bees, Brief batted .363. He was one point behind Harry Heilmann of San Francisco, although both were short on at-bats to claim the title. Brief launched eight home runs and slugged a team best .524. His bat joined Joe Gedeon and Buddy Ryan to form a potent lineup. Pitching ace Lefty Williams led the league in wins and strikeouts to help the Bees to a second-place finish.

Brief returned to the Bees in 1916. Finners Quinlan (.313) and Buddy Ryan (.310) in the outfield and Brief at first base paced the offense. The trio spent much of the year batting 3-4-5 in the lineup. Brief led the league with a league record 33 home runs, batted .314 (.000316 behind Duke Kenworthy), and led the league with a slugging percentage of .517. None of the batting heroics could make up for the loss of Williams’s 33 wins in 1915 and the team dropped to third place. Brief had a financially rewarding year as the fans started to throw money when he hit a home run. He collected a nice silver bonus with his blasts.

Negotiations for a contract in 1917 dragged on until manager Bill Bernhard suspended Brief on March 6. Business manager Jack Cook told the press that Brief was “getting the top salary in the Pacific Coast League and almost as much as a major leaguer.”11 Brief was conflicted. His wife was ill and surgery was a possibility. He was working as an automobile salesman for his father-in-law and had an offer from an independent team in Beloit, Wisconsin. Newspapers announced on March 13 that Brief had signed for $2,500.

Rhea took a turn for the worse and had to undergo further surgery. Brief sent word to the Bees that he would not be able to report until May 1. When May began, Brief sent another telegram saying he would be leaving as soon as Mrs. Brief was recovered. The Bees had heard enough, they sent Brief to the Pittsburgh Pirates on a 30-day trial.12

Brief joined the Pirates in Chicago and started at first base on May 6. He singled and scored a run in the 3-2 loss. Manager Jimmy Callahan gave him 21 consecutive starts. Brief poked two home runs and drove in eight runs, but his batting average was .224. Forty-three-year old Honus Wagner returned to the field at first base. A few days later he shifted to third base and Brief returned for a dozen starts at first. The Pirates dropped seven of those games and Callahan was soon fired.

A deal was made to send Brief to the Louisville Colonels in the American Association. He took over first base for them at the end of June. Brief’s batting numbers were down for the Colonels. He hit. 288 with only one homer in 48 games. On the field he drew praise for his defense. Against Minneapolis in July he “handled fourteen chances without the semblance of a wobble. Some of his putouts bordered on the phenomenal and received applause.”13

The Colonels cut their losses and sold Brief to the league rival Kansas City Blues in the offseason. In March, the Blues assigned infielder Joe Wagner to Louisville to complete the deal. Recovered from her medical issues, Rhea accompanied Bunny to spring training in Wichita, Kansas. Because of the World War the 1918 season would end early. The Blues were in first place when the league suspended operation on July 21. Brief blasted four home runs, which tied him for fourth in the league.

He weighed offers for a defense job and could choose between Allegheny Steel in the Pittsburgh area or the shipyards around Duluth, Minnesota. He opted to head east, but played only one game with the Steels. His wife was miserable about the trip and the locale. Brief quickly changed his mind and headed for Duluth. He became one of many professional ballplayers in the Twin Ports-Mesaba League. He joined the Riverside Cubs team, which required the players to work for McDougall-Duluth Shipbuilding. Newspapers poked fun at Brief as both a riveter and a painter. What job he actually held is uncertain, but on Sundays and holidays he played baseball.

Brief became a jack-of-all-trades in the league. He pitched for Riverside and played first base. In an all-star game he played second base. The season ended with a 10-0 win over Hibbing in the championship series. Brief launched a home run to support Rip Hagerman’s pitching. Brief left the shipyards soon after the season ended and headed to Kansas City. He served as a clerk in the cattle yards and awaited the next spring.

From 1919 to 1924 Brief was a mainstay of the Blues’ offense. He posted impressive stat lines every season in the hitter’s paradise in the Midwest. He averaged 44.5 doubles, 11 triples and 27 home runs a year with the Blues. His batting average over his tenure was .340. He provided offense from the right side and most of his statistics were matched from the left side by outfielder Wilbur Good. When the Blues took the pennant in 1923, Good batted .350 with 66 extra-base hits. Brief was at .359 with 91 extra-base knocks.

The Blues were up and down during Brief’s tenure, winning the pennant only in 1923. The teams got a reputation as fence-busters. Brief helped cement the image with his 35-inch, 39-ounce lumber. During these years Brief “was to the minors what Babe Ruth was to majors — a hitter without a peer.”14 The Blues players “never bothered to do much training and they kept horrible hours, but they loved baseball. And they could hit.”15 In 1958 Brief was named as the first baseman on the all-time Blues team.16

Brief played first base for the Blues until young Dud Branom developed into a force at the plate. In the midst of the 1923 season, Branom took over at first and Brief moved to left field. Before the 1925 season, Brief was traded to Milwaukee for outfielder Beauty McGowan. The move rejuvenated Brief’s power. He launched 37 home runs to lead the league, slugged a league-leading .652 and drove in 175 for the seventh-place Brewers.

Milwaukee climbed up to third place in 1926. Outfielders Lance Richbourg and Fred Schulte both matured into powerful forces at the plate. The outfield trio (including Brief) slammed 200 extra-base hits. Each man had over 200 hits and they batted a cumulative .348. Brief led in home runs, but it would be his last slugging championship.

Now 34, Brief started to slow down. Some scribes dropped “Bunny” and started to call him “Old Bunions” instead. The Brewers remained a first-division ballclub, but time was running out for Brief. In January 1929 he was sold to Nashville in the Southern Association. Brief earned $5,000 in 1927 but took a cut to $3,500 in 1928. He was unable to come to terms with the Volunteers. He retired from baseball with one item still on his bucket list. He had never stolen home.17

Brief owned a gasoline station in Traverse City and retired to that business. In 1929 he played for the Traverse City Independents. He operated the station until 1936, when he was invited by Harold “Zip” Morgan to become an instructor in a baseball program in Milwaukee. His work there led to a position as manager of the Wausau (Wisconsin) Lumberjacks in the Class D Northern League in 1938.

Brief managed the Jacks for only one season. He mentioned that he was disillusioned by the emphasis some opposing managers placed upon winning over developing young players. He returned to the baseball school in Milwaukee. He eventually became the supervisor of the recreation department’s baseball program. He did apply for the managing job of the Brewers but did not get the position.

Rhea had suffered physical problems early in the marriage but made a recovery. In 1920 the couple welcomed their only child, Barbara. She gave birth to a grandson before she died in 1951. Brief worked as a baseball instructor into 1961 despite some health issues and abdominal surgery in 1960. He retired in 1962 when he was battling cancer. He died at home on February 11, 1963. Rhea had the body returned to Traverse City, where he was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Len Levin and fact-checked by Warren Corbett.

Notes

1 Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, eds., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (Durham: Baseball America Inc., 1993), 154.

2 Early paperwork on Brief, like his draft registration in 1918, listed his birthplace as Big Rapids, Michigan. On his Hall of Fame questionnaire he listed Big Rapids. After his death his wife did one that listed “Remus, Mich near Big Rapids.” The two towns are in the same county but are 24 miles apart. It was also reported on occasion that his original name was Bordetzki. One writer even suggested he was born “Briefaloski.”

3 Shavenau Glick, “Down in Front,” Berkeley (California) Daily Gazette, January 20, 1943: 10.

4 Ray Webster, “Brownies Are Real Youngbloods of A.L.,” St. Louis Star and Times, August 2, 1912: 8.

5 Clarence F. Lloyd, “Stovall to Cut Down Squad for Drafting Season,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, September 10, 1912: 7.

6 Gus Klemme, “Brief Helping Browns,” St. Louis Star and Times, May 14, 1913: 11.

7 “Sox Sign New Infielders,” The Dispatch (Moline, Illinois), September 18, 1914: 10.

8 Sam Weller, “Rowland to Tribune: ‘Fans Will See Fight,’” Chicago Tribune, December 19, 1914: 8.

9 James Crusinberry, “White Sox Open Season with Victory in 13 Rounds,” Chicago Tribune, April 15, 1915: 12.

10 Sporting Life, June 19, 1915: 9.

11 “Bunny Brief Has Been Suspended,” Ogden (Utah) Standard, March 6, 1917: 2.

12 “Bunny Brief Leaves,” Ogden Standard, May 5, 1917: 1.

13 Tom W. Cooke, “Diamond Sparks,” Louisville Courier-Journal, July 13, 1917: 6.

14 Chester L. Smith, “Etiquette Book Tells Proper Behavior on Bowling Lanes,” Pittsburgh Press, February 28, 1963: 46.

15 Ibid.

16 “Bunny Brief Is Dead, Teacher of Baseball,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 11, 1963: 32.

17 “Bunny Brief Ambitious to Pilfer Home,” Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), December 31, 1928: 23.