A notable Adair who lived with the Cherokee tribe in the eighteenth century was an Irish trader, James Adair. He wrote a lengthy book about his belief that the unique, dignified Cherokees were one of the biblical lost tribes of Judah. In 1838, a majority of the Cherokees under the terms of an onerous treaty with the United States government were forcibly removed on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory. Thousands of Cherokees died along the way. In 1907, Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory were combined to form the state of Oklahoma.

Bordering on the state of Arkansas in the flint hills of northeastern Oklahoma, Adair County is named for one of Jerry Adair’s Cherokee family members of the Civil War era, Judge William Penn Adair. Jerry’s grandfather George Starr Adair was enrolled in a tribal census as a 28-year-old member of the Cherokee Nation in 1900 in what became Adair County, Oklahoma. His son, Kinnie Adair, spoke Cherokee when he visited with friends and relatives from Adair County. Today, heavy concentrations of the inhabitants of the county are descendants of the original Cherokee settlers.

Jerry Adair’s life was described by the Tulsa World‘s sports editor Bill Connors as “an experience of two lifetimes.” Connors’ obituary after Jerry’s death in 1987 surmised, “The first half was exaltation. The second half was tragedy.” Connors described Jerry as “the best athlete to come out of the Tulsa area in his lifetime.” He would not have stretched the truth if he had stated that no athlete from Oklahoma had a more storied pre-professional career than Adair, not even Mickey Mantle, who was 5 years older than Adair. Mantle had close relatives who were Cherokee; his grandmother was born in Indian Territory, but he was not a mixed-blood American Indian.

Jerry’s father played sandlot baseball on his employer’s teams in the Sand Springs area. Like Mantle’s father, Kinnie Adair always had time after work to play ball with his son. A tool grinder by trade, Kinnie also coached Jerry’s Little League teams. Jerry told Ray Fitzgerald, a Boston Globe sports columnist, about his Little League days when he “did a lot of pitching. Anybody who could throw a curveball was a pitcher, and I was a pretty good one.”

Kinnie Adair died in 1986, one year and three days before Jerry’s death. He had remarried after Jerry’s mother died in 1952 and had a son, Dennis, who died in 2005. Jerry’s only sister, Joyce, who was born in Adair County, still lives in Sand Springs.

Jerry’s high school coach, Cecil Hankins, was a legendary football and basketball player at Oklahoma A&M College, now Oklahoma State University (OSU), in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Hankins regarded Jerry as the greatest all-around athlete he ever coached. Jerry earned nine letters at Sand Springs High School, three each in football, basketball, and baseball. During his high school years, he earned the nickname “Iceman” because of his coolness. He is particularly remembered for his coolness during the football game against Ponca City during his senior year. Ponca City grabbed a 20-0 lead in the first quarter. Playing quarterback, Jerry scored just before halftime and kicked the extra point to cut the deficit to 20-7. In the third quarter, Jerry engineered a scoring drive and kicked another extra point for a 20-14 score. Late in the fourth quarter, Jerry scored a touchdown and kicked the extra point to win the game 21-20 for Sand Springs. Bill Connors once wrote, “Adair demonstrated All-American possibilities as a high school quarterback at Sand Springs.”

After football season in the fall of 1954, Daily Oklahoman sports writer Ray Soldan telephoned coach Hankins to tell him that he had selected Jerry for the all-state football team. For many years Soldan made Oklahoma’s all-state team selections. Only seniors were eligible and a player could be selected for only one sport. Coach Hankins spoke with Jerry, who said he did not want to make all-state in football; he wanted to make it in basketball. Soldan said he would give no assurance that Jerry would be selected for basketball, but Jerry said he would take the chance. Another player was named to replace Jerry on the all-state football team. After basketball season, Jerry was selected on the all-state basketball team. Playing in the state all-star game in the summer of 1955, Jerry was selected as the most outstanding player in the game.

Jerry also played Ban Johnson League baseball during the summer of 1955. He was scouted by Toby Greene, the longtime head baseball coach at OSU. Jerry’s team was leading 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the opponent had loaded the bases with no outs. Greene watched as the manager motioned for Jerry to pitch. Jerry nodded and walked to the mound from his third base position with a big cud of tobacco in his mouth. He threw two balls to the catcher and announced he was ready. Greene thought this was the cockiest player he had ever seen. Jerry struck out the three batters he faced. Greene later declared to Coach Hankins, “I’ll take him–he can play anywhere.” Jerry Adair was one of Coach Greene’s seven All-Americans at OSU.

Jerry entered OSU in the fall of 1955 on an athletic scholarship to play basketball and baseball. Freshmen were not then eligible for varsity competition and played only limited schedules in all sports. Jerry’s first varsity competition was during the 1956-1957 basketball season under Hall of Fame coach Henry Iba, the Iron Duke. A rare sophomore starter at OSU, the 6-foot, 175-pound Adair was the team’s playmaking guard and second leading scorer on the nation’s top defensive team. During his junior year, he was again the team’s second leading scorer. Bill Connors once wrote, “Long time Iba watchers say Adair was one of the few players who was not yelled at by Iba. ‘There was no need to yell at Jerry,’ Iba said at the time. ‘He does everything right.'”

To this day, what is referred to as “The Game” at Gallagher Hall (now Gallagher-Iba Arena and Eddie Sutton Court) at OSU is the February 21, 1957, rematch between OSU and the Kansas Jayhawks, led by their phenomenal sophomore center Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain. Earlier in the season, Iba’s team was said to have played one of their best games of the season when they held the Jayhawks to a ten point winning margin on their home court at Lawrence, Kansas.

Chamberlain did not disappoint the fans as he scored an arena record of 32 points. But OSU came from far behind to win the game, 56-54. The high OSU scorer with 18 points was forward Eddie Sutton, who would return to his alma mater as head coach in 1990. Although he scored only six points, Jerry Adair, according to Bill Connors, “played brilliantly on the floor.” Jerry had no fouls and one field goal, and was four-for-four from the free-throw line.

The highlight game of Jerry’s junior year and his last basketball season at OSU was a 61-57 verdict over the Cincinnati Bearcats. Their future Hall of Fame player, Oscar Robertson, scored 29 points. Jerry was OSU’s second leading scorer, and made two free throws and a field goal down the stretch to preserve the victory. The 1957-1958 OSU team finished 21-8 and won two games in post-season NCAA play. They were eliminated by Kansas State in the western regional finals, one game from the final four.

Baseball was a much lower profile sport than basketball at OSU in the 1950s as well as today. OSU won the NCAA basketball championships in 1945 and 1946. Henry Iba had been the OSU basketball and baseball coach from 1934 to 1941. When he was also the athletic director in 1942, he passed the baseball coaching reins to Toby Greene, who was Jerry Adair’s head baseball coach during the 1957 and 1958 seasons.

The 1957 OSU baseball season was essentially “called on account of rain.” Nine games were canceled because of rain or unplayable fields. The year’s record for OSU was 12 won and three lost. When three consecutive days of rain prevented the Missouri Valley conference championship series from being played, Bradley University was given the NCAA tournament bid because of its better conference record.

Regarded as a “converted basketballer,” sophomore Jerry Adair was the starting shortstop on the experienced 1957 OSU baseball team. Two of his senior teammates signed professional contracts at season’s end. Center fielder Mel Wright, who was the other starting basketball guard with Adair during the 1956-1957 season, signed with the Kansas City Athletics. He had four undistinguished seasons in the minor leagues. Pitcher Merlin Nippert signed with the Boston Red Sox, with whom he had a cup of coffee in 1962 before finishing his career in the Pacific Coast League.

Competing in the Big Eight conference in 1958 for the first time, OSU was rained out of its last two games of the year with champion Missouri, which thus backed into the NCAA tournament bid. OSU’s record for the year was 17 won, six lost. Junior shortstop Jerry Adair was the team’s leading hitter with a .438 batting average. He was the first player from OSU named to the All-Big Eight team. He was also named to the All-American second team by the American Baseball Coaches Association. One of three excellent OSU pitchers was future Chicago White Sox ace Joel Horlen, who would lead the Adair-less 1959 team to OSU’s first and only NCAA baseball championship.

On August 24, 1957, Jerry married his high school sweetheart, Kay Morris. They had met in an English class at Sand Springs High School. While he was playing semipro baseball during the summer of 1958 for Williston, North Dakota, in the Western Canada Baseball League (WCBL), Kay gave birth in Tulsa to Kathy, their first of four children.

Adair won the batting title with a .409 average, with the runner-up trailing at .371. He tied for the lead in home runs and finished close behind the RBI leader. Jerry was the league’s top fielding shortstop. He was the starting pitcher in three games and was credited with the victory in each. He batted .444 in 14 playoff games and led his team to the league title on August 30, 1958.

After being signed by Baltimore Orioles scout Eddie Robinson for a reported $40,000, Jerry made his major league debut defensively at shortstop for the O’s on September 2, 1958, in a 4-3 loss to the Senators in Washington. Playing right field for the Orioles that day was former Yankee Gene Woodling whose steadying influence and advice helped Jerry adjust to major league baseball. At third base for the Orioles was future major league manager Dick Williams who would be Jerry’s future ticket to participate in three World Series.

The news that Adair had signed a professional baseball contract came as a complete surprise to OSU’s athletic director and basketball coach, Henry Iba. He had understood that Jerry would return to OSU for conferences with him before making a definite commitment to a major league club. Iba had once counseled OSU’s baseball and football star, Allie Reynolds, to take a baseball contract offered by the Cleveland Indians instead of one offered by the New York Giants in Allie’s then favorite sport, football. As to Adair, Iba was quoted in the Tulsa World as saying “He has an excellent chance in baseball, I believe, for he is a fine baseball player and a boy with a great competitive spirit.” With his playmaking guard not in the lineup for the 1958-1959 season, Iba was to suffer through just his second losing basketball season (11 won, 14 lost) since his arrival at OSU in 1934.

The Red Sox had offered Jerry a larger signing bonus than Baltimore, but he figured he would move up the ladder quicker with the Orioles.

After playing in only 11 games with the Orioles in 1958, with just 19 at-bats, Jerry was shipped in the spring of 1959 to the Amarillo Gold Sox, the Orioles’ farm team in the Double-A Texas League. His Amarillo manager, George Staller, was quoted in the Tulsa World as saying that Jerry was a surefire major leaguer but that he needed a season of Triple-A experience. At the beginning of the season in Amarillo, Jerry batted around .275 and failed to cover much ground. Suddenly he caught fire, both at bat and in the field. Staller credited Adair with being instrumental in Amarillo’s surge from 17 games below .500 to four over that mark. Recalled Adair in a Tulsa World article, “My fielding improved when my hitting got better and I learned to play the batters. That’s the big difference. When you’re hitting everything seems to go well. Knowing the hitters is the key. That’s why I didn’t do so well with Baltimore.”

In 146 games, mostly at shortstop, for Amarillo in 1959, Jerry batted .309. Called up at season’s end by Baltimore, he batted .314 in 12 games, playing second base or shortstop, mostly as the starter. After playing in an instructional league in the fall of 1959, he batted .266 in 1960 playing for the Miami Marlins of the Triple-A International League. He was named the league’s all-star shortstop.   He played three games at second base for the Orioles at the very end of the year.

Jerry had an excellent 1961 spring training with the Orioles to make the club, but by Opening Day was still unable to dislodge veterans Ron Hansen at shortstop or Marv Breeding at second base. But as the season progressed, he replaced Breeding as the regular second baseman and substituted occasionally for Hansen at shortstop. Batting .264 for the season, he outhit both Hansen and Breeding and played 107 games at second base, 27 games at shortstop, and two at third base. Jerry hit nine home runs and drove in 37 runs. During the seasons 1961-1965, Adair was recognized as one of the premier fielding infielders in the American League. He batted .258 during these five seasons, substantially above the league average for middle infielders. However, he was overshadowed by the Orioles’ spectacular third baseman and future Hall of Famer, Brooks Robinson.

Adair is particularly remembered for setting a major league record for second basemen. In 89 games from July 22, 1964, to May 6, 1965, he handled 458 chances without an error. In 1964 and 1965, he led all American League second basemen in fielding percentage. He shares an American League record with Bobby Grich and Roberto Alomar for the fewest errors in a season by a second baseman (five in 1964). For his career he had a better fielding percentage (.985) than three Hall of Fame second basemen of his era: Nellie Fox, Joe Morgan and Bill Mazeroski.

Although Jerry was known primarily for his glove, he told the Boston Globe‘s Ray Fitzgerald in August of 1967 that his biggest moment in the major leagues came in late August 1962 in a five-game Orioles-Yankees series. Jerry recalled that the Orioles won all five games and that he had 13 hits in the series. His best day came in a twi-night doubleheader that opened the series when he was 3-for-4 in the first game and 5-for-6 (with a double and a triple) in the second game.

When Orioles manager Hank Bauer gave the second base job to rookie Dave Johnson, Jerry demanded a trade — more than once — and was finally dealt to the White Sox for Eddie Fisher on June 13, 1966. The trade cost him the opportunity to be a member of the Orioles when they defeated the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series and also cost him about $12,000 World Series money.

After hitting .243 for the White Sox in 1966, he shared second base with Wayne Causey early in the 1967 season. After having missed out on a pennant in 1966, things balanced out when on June 2, 1967, the White Sox traded him to the Red Sox. Dick Williams was glad to get him; the two had been teammates for several years in Baltimore and author Bill Reynolds said that Williams viewed him as “the ultimate professional.” Adair’s toughness appealed to Williams. Reynolds recounted a 1964 doubleheader when Jerry was hit in the mouth by a throw in the first game, received 11 stitches, then played in the second game. He described Adair as having “a face right out of the Grapes of Wrath.” Jerry was hitting only .204 with the White Sox when the trade was executed, but would hit .291 in 89 games while playing three infield positions for the Red Sox. The Red Sox were 22-21 before he joined them but were 70-49 afterward.

Adair filled in for the injured Rico Petrocelli at short off-and-on for a month, playing errorless defense. Adair played pivotal roles on offense in several games, too, but his biggest single day was likely the Sunday doubleheader at Fenway Park on August 20. Jerry was 3-for-3 in the first game, a 12-2 rout of the Angels. In the second game, California got off to an 8-0 lead after just 3½ innings. The Sox crept back, and Adair’s single in the bottom of the sixth tied the game, 8-8. In the bottom of the eighth, his leadoff home run gave the Red Sox the lead and the 9-8 win. As Herb Crehan wrote in Lightning in a Bottle, “Role players like Adair seldom get their moment in the sun. But in the summer of ’67 every Red Sox fan thought of Jerry as a hero.”

In the final game of the season, Adair was 2-for-4 at the plate. He singled and scored the tying run in the bottom of the sixth, but his big play of the day came in the top of the eighth as Jim Lonborg was working with a 5-2 lead. Pinch hitter Rich Reese singled to lead off the inning, but César Tovar grounded to second. Adair charged in on the ball, sweeping it up with his glove, tagging the oncoming Reese, and firing accurately to George Scott at first, though spiked so severely he had to leave the game and have several stitches. Red Sox broadcaster Ken Coleman called Jerry Adair “Mr. Clutch” and wrote that if there had been a “Tenth Player Award” in 1967, he would have deserved it.

After the wild clubhouse celebration when the Red Sox clinched the American League pennant on the last day of the season, Jerry telephoned his sister to say that manager Dick Williams had just kissed him and other Red Sox players. In the World Series that was won by the pitching heroics of Bob Gibson for the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, Adair appeared in five games, starting the first four (all against righthanders), but had only two hits in 16 at-bats. He did have Boston’s only stolen base of the series and had one RBI. Williams started Mike Andrews in Game Five against lefty Steve Carlton, then stuck with Andrews in Games Six and Seven.

Neil Singelais, a sports writer with the Boston Globe later quoted 1967 Red Sox catcher Russ Gibson as saying, “No one could pivot as well as Jerry on a double play ball. He could play anywhere and he was a tough guy to get out.” Jim Lonborg, the 1967 pitching ace of the Red Sox staff, added that the trade that brought Adair to Boston “was like adding a gem to a beautiful necklace. He did such a magnificent job for us. He was a quiet guy around the clubhouse. He was so invaluable, older and more experienced.”

In 1968, Jerry had a poor year at the plate for the Red Sox, batting only .216 in 74 games while filling a journeyman’s role and playing four infield positions. In the 1968-1969 off-season, he was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the American League expansion draft. He was the regular second baseman for the Royals in 1969 and batted .250 for the season. On April 8, in the first game the Royals ever played, Adair hit second and knocked in their first-ever run: Lou Piniella led off with a double, and Jerry singled him home.

In 1970, the Royals awarded the second base position to Luis Alcaraz, and Adair played sparingly. In May, the Royals abruptly released Adair as he was boarding an airplane. He had spent most of the spring with his daughter, Tammy, who died of cancer shortly after his release. Jerry resented the Royals not taking his family problems into consideration at the time of the release. Later that season, Adair played near his hometown with the Tulsa Oilers of the Triple-A American Association, the top Cardinals farm club.

In 1971, Adair joined the Hankyu Braves in Japan and batted .300 for the season. The Braves won the pennant in the Pacific League, but were defeated by the perennial champion Yomiuri Giants of the Central League in the Japan Series. In 1972 and 1973, Jerry earned World Series rings as a coach under his friend, manager Dick Williams of the Oakland Athletics. Williams quit as manager of the A’s after the 1973 World Series. Jerry earned another World Series ring in 1974 as a coach for manager Alvin Dark of the A’s, who won their third straight World Series. In 1975 and 1976, Jerry was a coach for manager Dick Williams of the California Angels. The major league coaching doors were closed to Jerry after the Angels fired Williams during the 1976 season.

Jerry’s wife, Kay, died of cancer in June 1981. Personal and financial problems forced Jerry, always an introvert, into a shell. A cancerous mole was removed from his arm in 1986. Prior to gall bladder surgery, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to his liver. As the former OSU basketball players were making plans to have a Saturday night banquet in Stillwater, Oklahoma, honoring Henry Iba, Jerry was out of the hospital and optimistic for a new treatment for his disease. Friday night he was readmitted to the hospital. At the very hour of the event that Iba called the happiest of his life, Adair’s condition worsened. He died Sunday morning, May 31, 1987. Jerry was survived by his sister, Joyce; his half-brother, Dennis; and three children, Kathy, Judy, and Michael. Graveside funeral services were held at Woodlawn Cemetery in Sand Springs.

Sand Springs friend Ron Dobbs helped perpetuate Jerry’s memory by displaying Jerry’s sports memorabilia at his pizza restaurant in Sand Springs. Many of the items were still on display years after Dobbs owned the restaurant. Jerry’s fierce competitive nature was evident early on, according to Dobbs. Like the Dodgers’ Pee Wee Reese, Jerry was regarded by his friends as a world class marbles shooter in grade school. He was said to have more marbles at his house than any other kid in Lake Station. Dobbs and one of Jerry’s former Sand Springs teammates, Oklahoma State Representative David Riggs, helped get the Sand Springs Little League complex named in his honor. In 1992, Jerry was inducted into the Sand Springs Sandite Hall of Fame. In 2001, he was inducted into the OSU Baseball Hall of Fame.

Author’s Note

An updated version of this article appeared in Mustaches and Mayhem: Charlie O’s Three Time Champions: The Oakland Athletics: 1972-74 (SABR, 2015), edited by Chip Greene. It originally appeared in SABR’s The 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox: Pandemonium On The Field (Rounder Books, 2007), edited by Bill Nowlin and Dan Desrochers.

Sources

I interviewed Jerry Adair’s only surviving sibling, Joyce Bachus, and a close friend, Ron Dobbs, both of Sand Springs, Oklahoma. They also reviewed and provided helpful comments as to my draft of this article. Like Jerry, I have a Cherokee heritage and was a student at OSU when Jerry was making his records in basketball and baseball.

In addition, I made use of the following sources:

Bischoff, John Paul. Mr. Iba: Basketball’s Aggie Iron Duke. Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1980.

Burke, Bob; Kenny A. Franks, and Royse Parr. Glory Days of Summer: The History of Baseball in Oklahoma. Oklahoma Heritage Association, 1999.

Coleman, Ken and Dan Valenti. The Impossible Dream Remembered. Stephen Greene Press, 1987.

Crehan, Herb with James W. Ryan. Lightning in a Bottle. Branden Publishing, 1992.

Echohawk, Rodney. “Jerry Adair, Sandite Athlete Without Equal,” Sand Springs Leader, May 31, 2001.

Ehle, John. Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation. Doubleday, 1988.

Hankins, Cecil. “Adair” in Sand Springs, Oklahoma: A Community History. Sand Springs, Oklahoma Museum, 1994.

King, Richard. “Jerry Adair” by Royse Parr in Native Americans in Sports, Sharpe Reference, 2004.

Parr, Royse. Allie Reynolds: Super Chief. Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2001.

Reynolds, Bill. Lost Summer. Time Warner, 1992.

Woodward, Grace Steele. The Cherokees. University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.

Prepared by the Commission and the Commissioners of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Final Rolls of Citizen and Freedman of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory, 1907.

1957 Redskin and 1958 Redskin, yearbooks of Oklahoma A&M College.

Press book, Oklahoma State 1999 Cowboy Baseball.

Numerous articles and game reports from the sports section of the Tulsa World on microfilm at the Tulsa City-County Library, particularly writings by its sportswriters Bill Connors and John Cronley, 1956-1987.

Boston Globe, August 7, 1967, with articles about Kay Adair by Laura Holbrow and about Jerry Adair by Ray Fitzgerald.

Internet sources last viewed for Jerry Adair information in January 2006 included www.findagrave.com, www.baseballlibrary.com, www.thebaseballpage.com, www.thedeadballera.com, and www.attheplate.com/wcbl. 

But well before Adams found his way to Kauffman Stadium on the night of September 1, 2014, he made news as a young multisport superstar in Red Oak.

The son of Shelly and older brother to Chance, Lane was likely known better to locals as a basketball star. As an eighth-grader, he believed he could play pro basketball.2 There was even a time when Adams wanted to quit baseball, but his mother told him he would have to get a job at Sonic fast-food instead, so he stayed with it despite being a basketball-focused teenager.3 4 While at Red Oak High School, he played guard for the basketball team and scored 3,251 points in his interscholastic career, making him the fifth-highest scorer in Oklahoma high-school basketball. His 93.7 percent free-throw percentage as a junior led all of Oklahoma.5 Adams told the McAlester News Capital that 300 people lined up outside the gym before one of their home games.6 (According to the 2010 Census, only 549 people resided in Red Oak) His team won a state championship during his senior season in 2009. He was not heavily recruited to play collegiate baseball and committed to play basketball for Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.7 The 6-foot-4, 190-pound player did receive an invitation to work out with the New York Yankees, but turned it down because he was primarily focusing on basketball.8 He also received offers from numerous other college basketball programs, though interest waned as it became clear that Adams was garnering interest as a baseball prospect and could sign with a major-league baseball team.9

Aside from his talents on the hardwood, Adams was also known for his overall quickness and speed, a trait that served him well as a right-handed throwing and batting outfielder. He never competed in track and field as a result of Red Oak High School not having a team, but perhaps it was unlikely that he would have anyway since he was a baseball standout in the spring. In the spring of 2008, Adams led Red Oak to a state championship in baseball and then another baseball title in the fall. Small schools in Oklahoma like his did not have football programs, so many talented players like Adams had the opportunity to refine their baseball skills in the fall as well. That ultimately played a huge role in the baseball exposure Adams received growing up.10

The Royals drafted Adams in the 13th round of the June 2009 amateur draft.

Adams was faced with a major decision. He was forced to either forgo his opportunity with Missouri State and sign with the Royals, or stay in school and likely not play baseball professionally again. As someone who was a basketball standout, the decision was a hard one. Adams did not want to give up basketball, but he also did not want to have regrets about passing up the opportunity to play professional sports.11 With strong counsel from his mother, who handled his negotiations,12 Adams chose to sign with Kansas City and later informed Missouri State and head basketball coach Cuonzo Martin of his decision. Martin told Adams he would have the opportunity to come back and play basketball if he wished, but it never came to be. Martin eventually left to coach at the University of Tennessee, and Adams was destined for the major leagues.13

First on Adams’s journey to Kauffman were brief stops in rookie ball during 2009 with the Arizona League and for Idaho Falls in the Pioneer League in 2010. Over those two seasons, Adams batted .264 in 70 games. For the 2011 season, Adams began with Burlington in the rookie Appalachian League before moving on to play with Kane County in the Class-A Midwest League. He finished that season with a .261 cumulative batting average in 90 games. In 2012, after hitting .298 with 44 RBIs, 5 home runs, and 11 stolen bases in 67 games with Kane County, Adams was promoted to Wilmington, in the high Class-A Carolina League. He finished the season there with six more home runs and was named a Midwest League All-Star.

In 2013, Adams was being noticed more as a prospect by the Royals’ brass and by Kansas City fans. He was named the Wilmington Blue Rocks player of the year. His .276 batting average, 7 home runs, and 39 RBIs were enough to earn a call-up to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals of the Double-A Texas League. In 44 games with the Naturals, Adams added 5 homers, 26 RBIs, and 15 steals to his tally.14

By season’s end, he was promoted again to Triple-A Omaha during the Pacific Coast League playoffs, where the Storm Chasers won the 2013 Triple-A championship. The 2013 season was Adams’s best as a minor leaguer, and it didn’t go unnoticed. The club named him the co-Minor League Player of the Year, alongside the late Yordano Ventura.15 After the season, the Royals added Adams to their 40-man roster.

Adams began the 2014 campaign with Northwest Arkansas, and slashed .269/.352/.427 with 36 RBIs and 38 stolen bases. His encore performance was strong enough to propel him to a Texas League All-Star selection. When major-league rosters expanded in September, Adams was called up to the Royals. He had been told in July that he might be called up because of his speed.16 On September 1, 2014, Adams made his major-league debut, against the Texas Rangers at Kansas City.

Adams entered the contest in the eighth inning, running at first base for designated hitter Raúl Ibañez. He moved to second on a wild pitch but did not advance further. Kansas City defeated the Rangers, 4-3. The Royals went on to win the American League pennant, but Adams was not on the postseason roster.

By the time 2015 spring training ended and the regular season began, Adams found himself back in the minors with Northwest Arkansas. The season turned out to be one of his strongest minor-league campaigns; he hit .298 with 29 stolen bases. He was not promoted again to Kansas City, though, and after the season he was released.17

Within a few months, Adams was claimed off waivers by the Yankees.18 He spent the early part of the 2016 season with the Trenton Thunder of the Double-A Eastern League. During that stint Adams batted .253 with 31 stolen bases. He was released in late July, and it was at this time that Adams, turning 27 in November, again contemplated leaving the sport, but persevered and found his way to a new opportunity.19

Adams completed the 2016 season with the Double-A Tennessee Smokies, as part of the Chicago Cubs organization, compiling a strong .325 average over the remainder of the minor-league campaign. He elected free agency after the season and was determined to find a path back to the majors.20

A month later, Adams signed a minor-league contract with the Atlanta Braves, in what would prove to be a pivotal turning point in his journey back to the majors. His agent’s assistant pitched the idea of going to Atlanta instead of the San Francisco Giants, the other team that Adams was considering.21 Adams acquiesced and only a little under a month into the following season, he was called up to Atlanta from the Gwinnett Braves. It had been over two years since he last appeared in a big-league game with the Royals. On April 28, 2017, Adams got his first big-league base hit, a pinch-hit single to right field off Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Barnes. The next batter, Ender Inciarte, doubled in two runs, Dansby Swanson and Adams. Atlanta went on to win the game, 10-8.

On June 22, Adams recorded his first major-league home run, off San Francisco Giants hurler Bryan Morris. It was a “no-doubter” deep to left field that had a 107 MPH exit velocity according to Statcast.22 When asked about the experience, Adams told MLB.com that the feeling of hitting his first home run was “probably better than [he had] ever thought.” What made the moment even more special was that his nieces were in attendance that day. They had driven from Oklahoma all the way to the Braves’ SunTrust Park to see Adams play in Atlanta. Adams went on to recall the journey back to the big leagues, telling MLB.com, “It’s a grind getting up here, I’m just taking it day by day and trying to make the most of the opportunity the Braves have given me.”23

Toward the end of the season, Adams twice came to bat against the Miami Marlins with the game on the line. On September 10, with the Braves trailing 8-6, Adams came to bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and Nick Markakis on second base. He drew a walk from Marlins pitcher Jarlín García and advanced to second on a single by Johan Camargo. Next, Rio Ruiz singled to left; Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was unable to make a quick play, allowing Markakis to cross home plate and Adams to score the tying run, sending the game to extra innings.

Two innings later, in the bottom of the 11th, Adams came to bat again for Atlanta with the game still tied. With one out and Tyler Flowers on first base, Adams deposited a first-pitch fastball from Vance Worley into the left-field stands, securing the win for Atlanta and providing what was likely the highlight of his major-league career.

After the game, Adams told MLB.com once again that he valued the opportunity, saying, “It all comes with opportunity and timing, being at the right place at the right time. I was fortunate to be given an opportunity at the right place and the right time.” Flowers echoed the sentiment by complimenting his readiness, “He’s got an upbeat attitude and he’s a tremendous worker. He’s ready [to pinch-hit] the third inning sometimes.”24

To that point in the season, Adams had hit .281 with 3 home runs and an .839 OPS in 74 plate appearances. By season’s end a few weeks later, he finished the season with a final batting average of .275 and an OPS of .807 to go along with 5 home runs. The 2017 season was his most successful to date.

Adams began 2018 with the big-league club after breaking camp, but was designated for assignment on April 18 to create a roster spot for pitcher Matt Wisler. At the time, his skipper was hopeful that Adams would go unclaimed on waivers. “He’s done a really good job,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Hopefully, everything works out [so] that we can keep him. It’s unfortunate, but it’s just one of those moves we had to make.”25

Snitker’s wishes were not met. Adams went unclaimed; he declined an assignment to Triple-A Gwinnett and became a free agent.26 In May 2018 he signed a minor-league deal with the Chicago Cubs. With the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, he hit .136 in 32 games and was released by the end of June.

After his release by the Cubs, Adams signed another minor-league contract, returning to the Braves organization for the second time in his career. With Gwinnett, Adams struggled offensively and batted .192 in 30 games.

However, Adams was still a part of the September call-ups in late 2018, as the Braves were in the thick of a National League East division race. By season’s end, Adams had compiled a .250 batting average during his final 11 big-league games, including a home run in the fifth inning on September 23 against Philadelphia Phillies Aaron Nola, who was an All-Star that season.

Adams was not brought back to Atlanta at the end of 2018 season and instead signed with the Phillies in January 2019. Through the first three months of the 2019 season, Adams had 271 at-bats and drove in 29 runs with 12 home runs for the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Despite the strong performance, he was released on July 1, 2019.

For the rest of 2019, Adams appeared in only 18 more games in the minor leagues, returning once again to the Braves organization and playing all of those 18 games with Double-A Mississippi. He spent the 2020 pandemic-shortened season as a taxi-squad member of the Minnesota Twins, but his appearances with Mississippi were his last in affiliated professional baseball. Adams’s post-pandemic time on the diamond came during 2021 in the Mexican League, where he played for the Acereros de Monclova and the Tigres de Quintana Roo.

After his playing career, one could still find Lane Adams in the baseball conversation on X, where he engaged with fans and other former players on all of the game’s latest topics, including hitting mechanics, player movement, and analytics.27 He also privately coaches and instructs young hitters at his facility in Norman, Oklahoma, focusing on both the mental and physical side of the game.28

For a ballplayer who began his career as a high school basketball star, Adams’s journey through the challenges of professional baseball is an admirable one. He is a player and teammate who the State of Oklahoma and the Choctaw Nation can proudly call one of their own.

Last revised: January 31, 2026

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted numerous websites such as Baseball-Reference.com, baseballalmanac.com, and MiLB.com.

Photo credit: Lane Adams, courtesy of ESPN.

Notes

1 David O’Brien, “5 Things You Might Not Know about Braves Rookie Lane Adams,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 16, 2017. https://www.ajc.com/sports/baseball/things-you-might-not-know-about-braves-rookie-lane-adams/kdP2fdl6v6vGVWof5krL4M/.

2 Kyle Bandujo, “Lane Adams on Approaching Baseball as a Multi-Sport Athlete,” From Phenom to Farm, June 16, 2020. Accessed November 26, 2024. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lane-adams-on-approaching-baseball-as-a-multi-sport/id1497327828?i=100478222718.

3 Gaurav Vedek, “An Interview with Former Braves Outfielder Lane Adams,” Talking Chop, August 20, 2020. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/battery-power-for-atlanta-braves-fans/id1082214582?i=1000488640090.

4 Jeff Stanek, “Lane Adams – High-Level Experiences from a Former MLB Outfielder,” Figure It Out Baseball. December 13, 2024. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://youtube.com/watch?v=XkJ2PBj-x8Y.

5 “Arizona Fall League Profiles: Lane Adams and Malcom Culver.” MLB Blogs. Royal Rundown, November 7, 2016. https://royals.mlblogs.com/arizona-fall-league-profiles-lane-adams-and-malcom-culver-a1c6748e7680.

6 Adrian O’Hanlon, “Legends: Lane Adams – Red Oak Grad Working Back toward Majors,” McAlester (Oklahoma) News, July 6, 2015. https://www.mcalesternews.com/sports/legends-lane-adams—red-oak-grad-working-back-toward-majors/article_4b0dda74-2399-11e5-ad43-c70143ec0015.html.

7 Bandujo.

8 Stanek.

9 Vedek.

10 Vedek.

11 Bandujo.

12 Bandujo.

13 O’Hanlon.

14 Paul Boyd, “Naturals’ Adams Made Right Choice,” Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Fayetteville, Arkansas), April 3, 2014. https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2014/apr/03/naturals-adams-made-right-choice-20140403/.

15 SI Wire, “Yordano Ventura: Royals Pitcher Killed in Car Crash,” Sports Illustrated, January 22, 2017.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/01/22/royals-yordano-ventura-dead-car-crash

16 Bandujo.

17 Associated Press, “Tuesday’s Sports Transactions,” San Diego Union-Tribune, November 3, 2015. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-tuesdays-sports-transactions-2015nov03-story.html.

18 Steve Adams, “Yankees Claim Lane Adams from Royals, Designate Ronald Torreyes,” MLB Trade Rumors, January 15, 2016. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/01/yankees-claim-lane-adams-dfa-ronald-torreyes.html.

19 Gabriel Burns, “A Year after Almost Retiring, Lane Adams Finds New Life with Braves,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 26, 2017. https://www.ajc.com/sports/baseball/year-after-almost-retiring-lane-adams-finds-new-life-with-braves/gd3WGg2JtfWBtXBFgHUTKO/; Stanek, “Lane Adams – High-Level Experiences from a Former MLB Outfielder.”.

20 Bandujo.

21 Bandujo.

22 Mark Bowman, “L. Adams on First MLB HR: ‘A Great Feeling,’” MLB.com, June 23, 2017. https://www.mlb.com/news/braves-lane-adams-hits-first-homer-in-majors-c238224684.

23 Bowman, “L. Adams on First MLB HR: ‘A Great Feeling,’’’

24 Mark Bowman, “L. Adams Goes from No Invite to Walk-Off Hero,” MLB.com, September 10, 2017. https://www.mlb.com/news/braves-lane-adams-hits-walk-off-homer-c253607634.

25 Mark Bowman, “Freeman in Fine Form Night after HBP Scare,” MLB.com, April 19, 2018. https://www.mlb.com/news/braves-freddie-freeman-back-after-clean-mri-c272923376.

26 David O’Brien, “Lane Adams Opts for Free Agency; Acuna Call-Up Clogs Outfield,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 27, 2018. https://www.ajc.com/sports/baseball/lane-adams-opts-for-free-agency/dih7x19GNP3pMDX7BUVjEL/.

27 Lane Adams, “Situational Hitting. Nobody On Get ’Em In. It’s the Little Things,” Twitter, October 19, 2022. Accessed December 2, 2022. https://twitter.com/LA_Swiftness/status/1587622514364227584.

28 Stanek.

On his left arm, the former major-league pitcher sports a grizzly bear surrounded by various symbols, a depiction of a Native American warrior, a bison, and a chain of triangles. On the other, he has a tattoo of a woman wearing a bear headdress and painted mask, along with a howling wolf. The difference is that these are not just random pieces of artwork; instead, they reference Native American culture and act as a tribute to Bailey’s Chickasaw ancestry.

In a video, Bailey said, “Basically, this represents seven generations of native family. I need to honor the people that came before me. … And anything I do will impact the people that come after me.”1

“It’s something we are very, very proud of,” said Bailey, who is enrolled as a citizen of the tribe and wants to use his position in the game as a platform to support Native American issues. “For me, it’s trying to keep my family heritage alive, but it’s also trying to give back to the people, who, over the course of time, were told their background was wrong.”2

“It doesn’t matter if you’re one-sixteenth, one-eighth [Chickasaw] or whatever. This is who we are as a family,” he said. “This is where we came from, and we should be proud of that.”3

Bailey, a pitcher who was part of three major-league organizations and appeared briefly in the big leagues with Houston in 2020, is one-eighth Chickasaw. According to family oral history, his great-great-great-grandmother, Matahoya, walked the Trail of Tears.4 Her son George, Bailey’s great-grandfather, was full-blooded Chickasaw. He was born and raised in Oklahoma and attended boarding schools there to become “Americanized.” He served in World War II, married a non-native, and later moved the family to Colorado.

Bailey’s father, Brad, began looking to connect with his roots not long before Brandon was born in 1994. Though he raised his family far from Chickasaw Nation’s headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma, Brad Bailey made it a point to continually expose Brandon and his sister Bri to native culture.

“When my grandfather [George] left Oklahoma, he was 18 years old, and he said he would never go back,” Brad Bailey said. “[But] it was important for me because the traditions were kind of lost between my dad [Keith] and me. … Now, it’s coming full circle [with Brandon].”5

Cultural identity, though, wasn’t the only thing imbued in Bailey from an early age. There were also sports, particularly baseball. Brandon David Keith Bailey was born to Brad and Antoinette Bailey on October 19, 1994, in the Denver suburb of Westminster, Colorado. His father was a software engineer, and his mother worked for grocery stores. He was given the native name of Nita’ Iskanno’si, which translates to Little Bear, because he had hair from the start. He recalled that his “very first memory was of a ball in my hand.”6 Another of his earliest recollections is when his father took him to a Colorado Rockies game for the first time. “I fell in love with the game then. I wanted to be just like them.”7

And it was clear early on that he might be able to do that.

“When he was three years old, we’d get out in the yard and play catch,” father Brad recalled. “He’d watch something on TV, then go outside and do it … exactly like what he saw. He’d have a correct windup, over the top, and hit what he was aiming at.”

“For his entire career, since T-ball, I’ve never seen a ball come to him that he didn’t go to the right bag with,” Brad said. “A lot of kids, especially that young, don’t know where to throw it. It was always natural to him. By the time he was 11, he knew more about the game than I ever did.”8

As a high-school junior in 2012, Bailey was 11-0 with a 1.02 earned-run average and led Broomfield High School to the Colorado Class 4A state championship. He was a first-team all-state selection, was named player of the year in Colorado Class 4A, and was tabbed state player of the year by BoCoPreps.com. All that brought Bailey some national recognition: Under Armour included him on a preseason All-America team for the following year.

“I was definitely coming off a high and feeling on top of the world going into summer ball with my travel team,” he said. “I had just committed to Gonzaga University on a baseball scholarship and was feeling pretty confident about where things were going. Things couldn’t get much better.”9

But, in fact, they initially got worse. 

His elbow started bothering him in summer ball, but he pitched through it. Then, in July 2012, he went to a showcase event in which a good performance could have gotten him an invitation to the Under Armour All-America game to be held at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

“Playing in that game was a big goal because I wanted to show that guys from Colorado can really play, and that short athletes like myself [he’s officially 5-feet-9] can compete at the highest level with some of the most elite prospects,” Bailey said. However, his velocity – as high as 95 mph during his junior season – was significantly off.

“I was throwing 86 or 87 and getting hit around pretty badly,” he recalled. “I went back out and threw a pitch and felt a pop. I knew deep down what had happened, but I tried to throw one more pitch, and it went like 50 feet at like 65 miles an hour.”10

Hello, Tommy John surgery. Goodbye, senior season.

On July 26, 2012, Dr. David Schneider, formerly the head surgeon for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Lakers, and Kings, performed the procedure.

“When I found out I needed the surgery, I broke down crying,” Bailey said. “Our high school team had 10 of 16 guys coming back and was fully geared to make another run, so it was really hard not to be able to help us defend our championship. And you hear the horror stories about high school guys getting injured and colleges taking their scholarships away.”

Luckily, that did not happen in Bailey’s case – “I was very scared when I had to call the coach at Gonzaga and tell him the news, but everyone on the coaching staff from Coach [Marc] Machtolf on down told me to just do everything I could to get healthy and be as close to 100 percent as I could by the time I stepped on campus. That says a lot about the type of people they are.”11

The doctors grafted a ligament from Bailey’s left hamstring, the recovery from which was more difficult than from the elbow procedure. “I couldn’t walk even two weeks after the surgery. After that, I was on a crutch with my left arm, and I couldn’t use my right elbow. Getting around school was a struggle, and I couldn’t write with my right arm. I went to physical therapy every day after school.”12

But it worked. It can take as much as 18 months for a pitcher to come back from Tommy John surgery, but Bailey said he “started tossing a ball around” six months after the procedure and made 20 pitches in a game – “all fastballs” – 11 months after surgery. Working with his trainers, he slowly increased his pitch count over the summer and “felt really good … heading into my freshman year at Gonzaga.”

That wasn’t false optimism, as Bailey posted a 6-7 record and a 3.69 earned-run average over 102⅓ innings and made the All-West Coast Conference first team. He got stronger as the season went on, posting a 6-2 mark with a 2.85 ERA in conference play.

“The initial speculation had been that I might redshirt since I was coming off Tommy John surgery, but I went into my freshman year and earned the Friday night starting job,” he said. “That was extremely exciting because your ace is the one who usually pitches on Friday nights. There was really no gap in my performance from high school to college.”13

He later recalled that “as I got older, I started to realize that there was something that separated me – the ability to throw hard and put the ball where I wanted it to go. As I started to develop in my freshman year, I began to think that … maybe I could be dominant.”14

And Bailey’s performance steadily improved over the next two seasons. As a sophomore in 2015, he was 8-3 with a 3.72 ERA and significantly improved his hits- and strikeouts-to-innings-pitched ratios. He also earned honorable mention all-academic recognition. That summer, Bailey played for Yarmouth-Dennis in the prestigious Cape Cod League, posting a 2-4 mark and a 3.03 ERA.

Bailey really broke out in his junior year at Gonzaga, winning 10 of 13 decisions with a 2.42 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 100⅓ innings. He was first-team all-conference, second-team all-West Region, and academic all-region. He struck out 17 batters in a complete-game victory over Brigham Young in the West Coast Conference championship tournament.15

That set Bailey up for the 2016 major-league draft. He had been worried that his history of Tommy John surgery might give some clubs pause, but that was not an issue. There was some concern about his height, as Bailey was listed at 5-feet-10, which may have been generous. In fact, one Colorado Rockies scout used a tape measure to record his height and then rejected him on the spot.16

In a March 2020 tweet, Bailey revealed that “HS teammates told me I’d never achieve my dream of playing pro ball. Travel coaches told me to go to a JC b/c I wasn’t a D-1 talent. Scouts told me I was too small & I would never be considered a prospect.”17

Nonetheless, the Oakland Athletics selected Bailey in the sixth round,18 setting up a major decision. Though his dream had been to play baseball professionally, he had shortly before the draft been chosen over thousands of applicants for an internship with Nike’s N7 Fund, which raises funds to promote health and disease-prevention programs among Native tribes. He said he would have taken the job if the Athletics had not agreed to his $300,000 asking price.

“Something like 11,000 people applied for about a hundred internships,” Bailey said, “so it was a real opportunity that I debated for a long time.”19

Bailey’s father acknowledged that “all of us were torn, but we also knew Brandon had dreamed of playing pro ball since he was three years old.”20

After signing with Athletics scout Jeff Coffman, Bailey began living out the dream in 2016 with the Athletics’ team in the Arizona Complex League, starting two games and putting up a 1.80 ERA in five innings. He then moved up to the Vermont affiliate in the low-A New York-Pennsylvania League. In 38 innings there, he was 3-1 with a 3.08 ERA while striking out 42 batters and walking just 9.

“I was definitely nervous as I transitioned from college to the professional ranks,” Bailey said. “You don’t truly understand [what is necessary] until you immerse yourself in it. The minor-league experience helped establish who I was as a competitor. You have to have that internal flame.”21

The next season Bailey advanced to Beloit (Wisconsin) in the Class A Midwest League. Appearing in 15 games (11 starts), he was 1-1 with a 2.68 ERA and struck out 73 batters in 57 innings. That earned him a boost to Stockton of the high-A California League. There, he was 2-1 with an ERA of 4.24, not a bad mark in a very hitter-friendly league. He struck out 47 batters in 34 innings.

Despite his positive results, Bailey got a brush with the business side of baseball when the Athletics traded him to the Houston Astros on November 20, 2017, for outfielder Ramon Laureano. According to Bailey, Oakland general manager David Forst regretted losing him but said, “[T]he Astros were dead set on me. They said, ‘Either Bailey, or no deal’”22

Bailey reached a milestone in a February 26, 2018, preseason matchup against the New York Mets when he made his first appearance for and against a major-league team. He entered the game with two out in the fourth inning and pitched 1⅓ scoreless innings.23

Bailey split the 2018 season between Buies Creek (North Carolina) in the high-A Carolina League and Corpus Christi of the Double-A Texas League. He was 5-8 with a 2.49 earned-run average in 20 games (16 starts) at Buies Creek and got a big boost after a heart-to-heart talk with manager Morgan Ensberg.

Ensberg asked him, “Why are you still here? In my opinion, you should be in Double-A or Triple-A, dominating those hitters, or potentially knocking on the door of the big leagues, right now.” Bailey later called that discussion “a turning point,” as he reaffirmed a commitment to improvement, pitched 30 consecutive scoreless innings, and cut down on his walks allowed. A month and a half later, he was promoted to Double-A Corpus Christi, where he got into five games (one start), going 1-0 with a 4.01 ERA.24

Bailey spent the entire 2019 season at Corpus Christi (4-5, 3.30). After that season, the Astros made him available in the Rule 5 draft, and he was chosen by the Baltimore Orioles.

Bailey at the time was considered the most big-league ready of the three prospects Houston lost in the draft. His changeup was considered a “plus” pitch.25

Since Baltimore had hit rock bottom with just 54 victories in 2019 and 47 the year before, it seemed like a good opportunity for Bailey. “We’re excited about the pitch mix he has. He has five really good weapons,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said, alluding to Bailey’s fastball with good spin rate, changeup, spike curve, slider, and cutter.26

Nonetheless, Bailey failed to make the club in spring training and was returned to Houston on March 6, 2020.27 That actually turned out well for him.

Covid-19 restrictions, put in place shortly after he went back to Houston, forced cancellation of the 2020 minor-league season and shortened the major-league season to 60 games. But while the pandemic cast a pall over so much of daily life, the year proved to be the brightest part of Bailey’s baseball career, as the Astros put the 25-year-old on the July 23 Opening Day roster.28

“When Covid hit, I went home to Colorado and continued to train and be ready,” Bailey said. “I then got a call in June that I was on the 60-man roster and needed to be in Houston, so I went with zero expectations of getting onto the active roster. But I pitched really well in the alternative camp against a lot of major-league hitters like Yuli Gurriel, Martin Maldanado, and others and caught the attention of [manager] Dusty Baker and pitching coach Brent Strom.”

A Tweet from a beat writer said Bailey had a chance to be on the roster, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. Soon after, he was awakened by a call at 7:30 in the morning and told he needed to be at the ballpark. After a half-hour wait, he was ushered into Baker’s office and encountered pitcher Blake Taylor, who had just been told he’d made the Opening Day roster.

“So I was kind of holding my breath,” Bailey said. “I knew this meeting could either be really good or really bad.”

It was the former. He had made the club.

“I just lost it then,” he said. “I started crying. I walked out of the office, and Justin Verlander and Lance McCullers – who probably didn’t know me from Adam – congratulated me.”29

Bailey made his debut three days later by pitching a scoreless ninth inning in a 7-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners at Houston’s Minute Maid Park.30 That appearance made him one of only four people with Chickasaw heritage to play in the major leagues. (The others are catcher Wyatt Toregas, who appeared briefly for Cleveland in 2009 and Pittsburgh in 2011; pitcher Dallas Beeler of the Chicago Cubs in 2014-2015; and Euel Moore, who pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Giants from 1934 to 1936.31)

There were no fans in the stands that day because of Covid restrictions, so Bailey’s family members couldn’t be there in person. Nonetheless, the thrill was there.

“I was definitely nervous – sweating bullets,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘I am a major-league baseball player. I’ve accomplished my dream, and no one can take that away from me.’”32

A few years later, he recalled, “The only way I can describe it is that time [seemed to be] moving in slow motion. I was handed the ball and started fixing the dirt. I turned around and looked at the people behind me – George Springer, Jose Altuve, Josh Reddick, Michael Brantley, and others. I tried to soak up every moment.”33

Then Bailey turned back to the plate. He retired the Mariners’ Evan White on a groundout, then gave up a single to José Marmolejos, who was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. Tim Lopes then singled, but Mallex Smith grounded out to first base to end the inning. It was an efficient, 13-pitch effort.

Bailey pitched in four more games, all in relief. He appeared against the Los Angeles Angels on August 1, the Arizona Diamondbacks on August 5, Oakland on August 9, and Seattle again on August 14. Overall, he was 0-0 with a 2.45 earned-run mark in 7⅓ innings. He allowed six hits, three walks, and one home run while striking out four batters.

Those were the only games in which Bailey pitched. Rosters were trimmed from 30 players to 28 on August 6 and were set to go to 26 on August 20. On August 15, the Astros activated pitcher Joe Biagini and optioned Bailey to the alternate training site,34 where he remained for the rest of the regular season.

“I had known that when some of the veterans came off the injured list that I’d at least be a candidate to be cut,” he said. “It’s one of those things when you’re on the low rungs and fighting to keep a roster spot. After that, I always pitched in workouts following the games, just to be ready if an opportunity presented itself. That’s something I preach to all players now – you have to be ready.”35

Though eligible, Bailey was not placed on the active roster for the playoffs, in which the Astros advanced to the American League Championship Series before losing to Tampa Bay. And he never again appeared in a major-league game, as arm trouble continually played the bogeyman role.

Not long after the playoffs, on November 20, 2020, Bailey was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for cash.36 But he never threw a pitch for Cincinnati; instead, he had to undergo a second Tommy John surgery just a few months later, on February 26, 2021.

“I was already on a throwing program in late November [of 2020] and preparing for spring training 2021 [and] felt a little tweak in my forearm,” Bailey said. “I went to Dr. Schneider, and he informed me that there was just a bit of fluid buildup in the elbow and a slight strain of the pronator muscle. So I thought I’d just rehab in December and return to throwing in January.”

He showed up early at the Reds training facility in Goodyear, Arizona, but didn’t feel right as he started to increase the intensity of his throws. “Something was off,” he said. After a two-week shutdown, he went for another MRI, which showed a partial tear of the UCL. The doctor recommended that he get surgery as soon as possible.37

Bailey missed the entire 2021 season. The Reds then dropped him from the 40-man roster on November 30, 2021 and re-signed him to a minor-league contract with an invitation to 2022 spring training.

“As a competitor, this one stings,” Bailey wrote on Twitter. “But I’m thankful the Reds are giving me the opportunity to prove I’m healthy and show what I can do on an MiLB deal. Adversity shows one’s true character, and my first instinct is to get back to work!”38

On January 2, 2022, Bailey posted a video of himself working out in Phoenix and reaching 90-plus mph on a couple of throws. He said in his tweet, “It’s been over 450 days since I last threw a baseball 90 mph. It’s been exactly 310 days since my 2nd Tommy John surgery. Words can’t describe how much this moment meant to me. But I’m just getting started.”39

But Bailey did not appear in a game and elected free agency on November 10, 2022. He then went to the Dominican Winter League but tore the flexor tendon in his arm on his very first pitch for Escogido. That necessitated yet another surgery, which took place December 1.40

Still, he wasn’t through trying. In a video posted on April 29, 2023, he said, “[I] don’t know if I can make it back to MLB, but let’s find out.”41

Bailey’s prospects got a boost when he signed a minor-league contract with the Chicago White Sox in June 2023. In a tweet, he said, “The past seven months have been the most challenging time of my life. … There were days when I thought my playing career was over. … [But] I never gave up. I’m back in the game.”42

But not for long. Bailey made just two short appearances, pitching just one-third of an inning for the White Sox entry in the Arizona Complex League and another third of an inning for Winston-Salem in the high-A South Atlantic League. He allowed two hits, one walk, and three earned runs. Bailey was released by the White Sox on November 1, 2023.

“In May of that year, I’d thrown for some [Colorado] Rockies’ scouts and was back up to 95 mph,” he said. “They didn’t sign me, but then the White Sox stepped in. They knew my medical background and that I needed to rehab, so there was no pressure to perform right out of the gate.”

“The goal was to get to [Triple-A] Charlotte by the end of the season, but I strained a bicep on the very first batter I faced in Winston-Salem, so I went back to the Complex League. By then, there was a new regime in Chicago, and I had a gut feeling that I was going to be released.”43

Then, in a sometimes emotional video posted on February 2, 2024, Bailey announced his retirement as a player.

“While my MLB career was very short, I’m blessed to have those experiences,” he said. “It was extremely hard being hurt the entire 2021, 2022, and 2023 seasons [and] trying to do everything I could think of to heal my arm. It’s tough to walk away from something that has been my entire life – my entire identity. I’m going to miss it. [But I] accomplished something that so many kids dream about.”44

But while Bailey’s playing career is over, his baseball career is not. In February 2024 he signed to be a pitching coach for the Orioles’ Sarasota entry in the Florida Complex League.

“When the White Sox released me, I had to think long and hard about whether to continue pushing toward my dream of playing,” Bailey said. “Some teams were interested in me as a player but were reluctant to take a chance on me because of the health issues. I talked with several teams about coaching opportunities, but the Orioles showed the most interest, and this has turned out to be a great fit.”

“I would have preferred to go out on my own terms, but I also wanted more consistency and certainty in my life, so I decided to focus on coaching,” he added. “I’d always wanted to do that anyway. I’d worked on my master’s degree in sports coaching while I was in the minor leagues, and then had an internship at Driveline in 2019 and realized that working with other players was really enjoyable. From that point, coaching became something I wanted to pursue. I’m now looking at my baseball career through a different lens – trying to turn a negative into a positive.”45

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Photo credit

Courtesy of Brandon Bailey.

Notes

1 “Brandon Bailey on His Tattoos,” YouTube video, February 24, 2020: https://www.mlb.com/video/brandon-bailey-on-his-tattoos.

2 Joe Trezza, “Chickasaw Heritage Helps Drive Orioles Pitcher; Bailey Plans to Use Platform to Advocate for Native American Issues,” mlb.com, February 26, 2020. https://www.mlb.com/news/orioles-brandon-bailey-native-american-heritage.  

3 Infield Chatter Player Profile: Brandon Bailey 2021, YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMzyT7NQbmc

4 “Trail of Tears,” history.com, https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears, November 9, 2009.

5 Trezza.

6 “Brandon Bailey Retirement,” YouTube Video, February 2, 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOEz6aDyqt0

7 “Brandon Bailey Retirement.”

8 Stanley Nelson, “Mound Builder: Being Chickasaw Is a Part of Pro Pitcher Brandon Bailey’s Game,” Chokma Chickasaw Magazine, Spring 2019: 56.

9 Scott Bolohan, “Interview: Reds Pitcher Brandon Bailey on Tommy John Surgery,” thetwinbill.com, no date shown. https://thetwinbill.com/interview-reds-pitcher-brandon-bailey-on-tommy-john-surgery/.

10 Bolohan.

11 Bolohan.

12 Bolohan.

13 Bolohan.

14 “Brandon Bailey Retirement.”

15 https://gozags.com/sports/baseball/roster/brandon-bailey/199#:~:text=Had%20a%20team%2Dbest%206,Coast%20Conference%20Freshman%20first%20team…

16 Trezza. He is listed on Baseball-Reference.com as weighing 195 pounds.

17 Twitter, March 20, 2020: https://twitter.com/BBailey_19/status/1235279437404557313.

18 Bailey had thought the Chicago Cubs would take him in the fifth round, but they took Duke pitcher Bailey Clark instead. “A Cubs’ area scout had asked me if I would sign for slot value, and I said absolutely. After the draft, the scout called me and apologized. Whoever was calling the shots had decided to go with the other guy. But Oakland still took me in the next round, so things worked out.” Brandon Bailey telephone interview, April 13, 2024.

19 Bailey telephone interview.

20 Trezza.

21 “Brandon Bailey Retirement.”

22 Nelson, 60.

23 ESPN.com, February 26, 2020. https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/380226118.

24 Nelson, 64.

25 “Astros Lose Three Players in Rule 5 Draft,” Houston Chronicle, December 12, 2019. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-lose-three-players-in-Rule-5-draft-14902086.php.

26 Trezza.

27 “Orioles to Return Rule 5 Pick Brandon Bailey to Astros,” Houston Chronicle, March 6, 2020. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Ex-Astros-prospect-Ramon-Laureano-finds-home-with-13165301.php.

28 Jeff Todd, “Astros Select Brandon Bailey,” mlbtraderumors.com, July 23, 2020. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/07/astros-select-brandon-bailey.html.

29 Bailey telephone interview.

30 “Brandon Bailey’s 9th-Inning Debut,” YouTube video, July 26, 2020. https://www.mlb.com/video/brandon-bailey-s-9th-inning-debut.

31 Nelson, “The Trailblazer,” Chokma Chickasaw Magazine, Spring 2019: 65.

32 “Profiles of a Nation: Brandon Bailey,” Chickasaw TV, September 21, 2022. https://www.chickasaw.tv/episodes/profiles-of-a-nation-season-17-episode-1-brandon-bailey.

33 “Brandon Bailey Retirement.”

34 Associated Press, “Christian Javier Gives Up 1 Hit in 6 Innings as Astros Beat Mariners,” Houston Chronicle, August 15, 2020. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Ex-Astros-prospect-Ramon-Laureano-finds-home-with-13165301.php.

35 Bailey telephone interview.

36 Steve Adams, “Reds Acquire Brandon Bailey from Astros,” mlbtraderumors.com, November 20, 2020. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/11/astros-trade-brandon-bailey-reds.html.

37 Bolohan.

38 Bobby Nightengale, “Cincinnati Reds Take Brandon Bailey off 40-Man Roster at MLB Deadline to Tender Contracts,” Cincinnati Enquirer, November 30, 2021. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2021/11/30/cincinnati-reds-roster-brandon-bailey-cut-40-man-roster/8797998002/.

39 Twitter, January 2, 2022. https://twitter.com/BBailey_19/status/1477788059366084609.

40 Bailey telephone interview.

41 TikTok, April 29, 2023. https://www.tiktok.com/@bbailey_1994/video/7223773849664392491.

42 Twitter, June 6, 2023. https://twitter.com/BBailey_19/status/1666237871148404736.

43 Bailey telephone interview.

44 “Brandon Bailey Retirement.”

45 Bailey telephone interview.

Yet while football may have been Balenti’s best sport, he also starred at track and field and baseball while at Carlisle. And it was in baseball that he carved out a career including two stints in the major leagues. Possessing tremendous speed and a strong throwing arm, attributes highly valued in the Deadball Era, Balenti, a right-hander who stood 5-feet-11 and weighed 175 pounds, quickly ascended to the major leagues after his year at Texas A&M. But it was his bat that kept him from staying at that level. First with the 1911 Cincinnati Reds, then with the 1913 St. Louis Browns, Balenti was unable to stick in the majors. But he stuck with baseball, playing regularly in the minors until 1918, then appearing sporadically as he moved from the minors to semipro teams and back again until 1926.

Michael Richard Balenti Jr. was born on July 3, 1886, in Calumet, Oklahoma, the third of six children, to Hungarian-born Mike Balenti and his wife, Belle Rath, or as she was known, Cheyenne Belle. Cheyenne Belle actually was only half Cheyenne, the product of a marriage between a Cheyenne woman, Roadmaker, and Wild West legend Charles Rath.1

Mike Sr. immigrated to America at the age of 20 and joined the Army, eventually finding himself at Fort Reno, where he met Cheyenne Belle. They married in 1879. In 1885, a year before Mike Jr. was born, Cheyenne Belle served as an interpreter for General Philip Sheridan during the Stone Calf uprising of the Cheyenne in Western Oklahoma.2 A government report in 1887 described Cheyenne Belle as “an intelligent half-breed married to a white man.”3 After they were married, Balenti left the Army and become a tailor at Fort Reno.

In 1904 Mike Jr. was sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Starting in 1905, and for the next four years, he played both football (quarterback) and baseball (outfielder) and found time to participate on the track team. In 1907 he moved to second base. In the summer, he played semipro baseball for the Hagerstown, Maryland, town team where he was “one of the stars of the Hagerstown Baseball Club.”4

In 1908 Balenti was elected captain of the baseball team. He moved over to shortstop to take advantage of his strong arm. That summer, he played semipro baseball for the Bridgeton, New Jersey, town team. His manager was Charles “Pop” Kelchner, the Albright College baseball coach and a future scout for Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics. Playing under the name Mike Ball, Balenti had an excellent summer.5

Back at Carlisle, Balenti took over the quarterback position from Frank Mount Pleasant, who had graduated. Mount Pleasant not only was an All-American football player, he was a two-time US Olympian on the track team. Balenti had big shoes to fill. But he more than held his own.

Carlisle won its first five games, then tied the powerful University of Pennsylvania. The following week Carlisle traveled to Annapolis to play the Naval Academy, a perennial powerhouse. With Thorpe unable to dropkick for the game due to injury, Balenti led his team to a 16-6 victory, kicking four goals and causing one sportswriter to claim that it was “the most notable performance in this line against a strong team in the history of the game.”6

Injuries took their toll on Carlisle as the team lost two of its next three games. However, Carlisle ended the season with a three-game winning streak, leading to a 10-2-1 record with all but two of the games played away from Carlisle.

Toward the end of the football season it was revealed that Balenti had signed with the Athletics. He was quoted as saying he had promised Chief Bender, the Athletics pitching ace and a Carlisle Indian School graduate, that he would sign with the Athletics.7 Kelchner, his coach during the summer, signed him to the contract.8

But Balenti wouldn’t report to the Athletics until after the Carlisle baseball season. He was again elected captain and played shortstop. In June after the college season, the Athletics sent him to the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association. The Brewers in turn sent him to the Dayton Veterans of the Class B Central League.9 Balenti, playing center field, started out quickly with the bat but soon cooled off.10 By early July he was benched and a couple of weeks later he was released, having played in only 20 games while batting just .214.

A week later Balenti caught on with El Reno of the Class C Western Association.11 He played well for the Packers and stuck for the rest of the season with the team. The Dallas Morning News remarked that Balenti was “making good as a heavy hitter and swift man on the bases.”12

After the season, Balenti enrolled in Texas A&M University, taking an agricultural course.13 He quarterbacked the A&M football team, playing for coach Charlie Moran, a former major leaguer for the St. Louis Cardinals. Despite protestations of playing professionals by several opponents, Balenti led A&M to a 7-0-1 record, including two wins over archrival University of Texas, and was named to the All-Southwestern team.14

In 1910 Balenti was signed by Savannah of the Class C South Atlantic League. By June he was having such a good year that he attracted the attention of Washington Senators scout Dick Padden.15 On June 25 his considerable speed helped break up future major league Roy Radebaugh’s bid for a no-hitter when he beat out an infield single with two out in the ninth.16 For the season Balenti batted .254, playing 97 games at third base and 12 at shortstop.17 Though the Senators didn’t sign Balenti, the Atlanta Crackers of the Class A Southern Association were impressed, drafting him in November from Savannah.18

Balenti held out and didn’t sign with Atlanta until April 6, 1911, as a utility infielder.19 Eleven days later, Atlanta sold Balenti to Macon of the South Atlantic League.20

Playing in the South Atlantic League for a second straight year, Balenti had a great season. The Charleston News & Courier wrote, “That Balenti is certainly a beautiful ball player. He starred on a team which, in this circuit, is scintillating with baseball stuff.”21 In late May, when he was batting .371, Chattanooga of the Southern Association tried to purchase him.22 Macon, however, held onto Balenti.

Finally, on July 13, on the recommendation of scout Hugh Nicol, the Cincinnati Reds bought Balenti from Macon for $12,500.23 He reported immediately to Philadelphia, where the Reds were playing. His first major-league appearance came on July 19 in New York against the Giants. He entered the game in the bottom of the second after Reds shortstop Tom Downey was thrown out for arguing balls and strikes. Balenti showed his great speed by stealing a base in the sixth, then got his first major-league base hit, off Red Ames, in the eighth. His successful debut earned him his only start of the season, two days later. But Balenti got into only six more games, five as a pinch-runner, before the Reds sold Balenti to Chattanooga of the Southern Association after his final appearance of the season on September 13.24

While there had been a handful of Native Americans who had played in the major leagues, Balenti was still a novelty based on his looks – not because he looked like a Native American but the opposite. One sportswriter wrote that “Balenti, the new Indian outfielder of the Cincinnati club, isn’t as dark as [Chief] Bender or [Chief] Meyers, and is hardly to be taken as an Indian even on close inspection.”25

After the season Balenti married his college sweetheart, Cecilia Barovich, a Hydah Indian from Alaska, in Cincinnati on October 10.26

Balenti played the entire 1912 season with Chattanooga, batting .288 in 139 games. In July Cincinnati waived its option on Balenti and he was sold outright to Chattanooga for $750.27 Chattanooga turned its $750 investment into $1,200 when it sold Balenti to the St. Louis Browns on September 16.28

In the offseason Balenti lived in Kasaan, Alaska, on Prince of Wales Island with his wife’s tribe. Newspapers reported that it cost nearly $200 for Balenti to travel to the Browns spring-training camp in Dallas, Texas. He left on March 11 and arrived in Dallas on March 23 and was a holdout. Balenti claimed that Chattanooga was offering him more than the Browns. Eventually he signed with the Browns and found himself in a competition for the starting shortstop job with Dee Walsh and Bobby Wallace.

Balenti had a good camp. He was in excellent condition when he reported, telling reporters that he had rowed an average of 15 miles a day in a canoe while fishing for salmon in the offseason.29 He was described in camp as “a rare combination of phenomenal fielding and hard-hitting infielder at the same time.”30 Based on his camp, he made the Browns team.

But Balenti’s excellent camp didn’t transfer to the regular season. In 70 games, he batted only .180. And equally disappointing, he stole only three bases the entire season – the same total he had in eight games in 1911 for the Reds. In October the Browns sent Balenti back to Chattanooga. He never played in another major-league game.

Balenti’s original plans for the offseason were to work as an assistant football coach at the University of St. Louis.31 Instead, he decided to winter in Alaska again.32

The following season, Balenti played in only 40 games for Chattanooga after breaking his leg sliding into second on May 25. He was in the midst of another poor season, batting only .157 and was dead last in the league in fielding percentage for shortstops.33 In July Balenti was appointed athletic director at the University of Chattanooga. His duties included assisting with the football team.34

Not only was Balenti busy with his duties with the university but he also found time to develop an apparatus to help measure jumping heights in the high jump and pole vault. He submitted a patent with his brother George on April 14, 1915, to the US Patent and Trademark Office. It was approved in August 1916.35 The apparatus was used by the Southwestern Conference for its track meet at College Station, Texas, in May 1916.36

Meanwhile, Chattanooga sold Balenti to San Antonio of the Class B Texas League for the 1915 season. In 148 games, he batted .259 for the Bronchos. In September he accepted a position as the backfield coach for Baylor University. The Baylor head coach was C.P. Mosely, a minor-league baseball player as well.37

Balenti was back with San Antonio for the 1916 season but he got off to a slow start. By May 2 he was batting only .219. Later in the month, he was benched in favor of Shorty Dee. On June 1 San Antonio sold Balenti to league rival Galveston. Balenti found his hitting stroke and was batting .262 in July. He finished the season with Galveston batting .242.

In addition to his football coaching duties at Baylor, Balenti also helped out with the baseball team in the spring of 1917. In the meantime, he signed with Galveston after threatening to retire from baseball. While Balenti was leading the league in steals, he was batting only .180 in 39 games before he was let go.38 He caught on with Tulsa of the Class D Western Association. He played well enough that he was selected to the Western Association all-stars, who played Texas League champion Dallas in a postseason series.

Balenti was out of Organized Baseball in 1918 and didn’t return to it until 1922. After not coaching at Baylor in 1918, he was brought back for one more season as an assistant football coach in 1919.

He did patent another invention in 1920. This time, with brother John, he patented a design for a pancake machine for commercial restaurants.39

After playing for a semipro team in Jackson, Tennessee, in 1921, Balenti returned to Organized Baseball in the Class D Oklahoma State League in 1922. He started out as the manager of Guthrie and then moved to Clinton as a player-manager later in the season.40 The following year Balenti played a few games for Sioux City in the Class A Western League, then moved to Henryetta of the Class C Western Association.41 He played 39 games for Henryetta, batting .265.

Balenti played one more year in Organized Baseball. In 1926, at the age of 40, while playing for the powerful Tonkawa Comar semipro team, he was asked to step in as player-manager of Blackwell in the Class D Southwestern League.42 He took over the club on June 26 and held the position for a month before he was released.43 Balenti went back to Tonkawa Comar in time to play in the prestigious Denver Post Tournament.44

With his playing career behind him, Balenti kept his hand in sports. He refereed high-school football games and managed a semipro team in his hometown of Altus, Oklahoma.

When he wasn’t busy with sports, Balenti farmed his 160 acres in Oklahoma.45 In the 1930 US Census, he listed his occupation as bookkeeper at a garage. Ten years later, he was a foreman for a highway construction firm. He eventually found employment at the Altus Air Force Base in the 1950s.46

In 1950 Balenti consented to let himself be portrayed in the movie Jim Thorpe – All American.47 It’s unclear who portrayed him or even if his character made it into the movie, since there is no one credited as portraying Mike Balenti.

On August 4, 1955, Balenti died, at the age of 69, in Jackson County Memorial Hospital in Altus after having a heart attack at home.48 He was buried in Altus Cemetery. Balenti was survived by his wife, Cecilia, three sons, and two daughters.

Notes

In his debut for the Chicago Cubs, right-handed pitcher Dallas Beeler checked off more “career goal” boxes than some other pitchers manage in their entire major-league careers. As the starting pitcher in the first game of a doubleheader against the Washington Nationals, Beeler tallied six strikeouts, picked off a player, and singled his first at-bat – a trifecta that prompted Cubs announcer Pat Hughes to bellow, “Dallas Beeler, you’re my hero!”1

That first game as a major-league player, being in the bullpen and on the field with players he’d previously only seen in televised games, is etched in Beeler’s memory. As is his first time stepping up to the plate. “When I was on deck, I just kept thinking, ‘Man, I’m not going to let a pitch go by. I’m swinging first pitch,’” he recalled. “I just put bat on ball like we’re taught to do in BP. … It’s another moment you’ll have for your lifetime.”2

That game, that day, June 28, 2014, also shines as the highlight of Beeler’s time pitching professionally, which included seven seasons with the Cubs organization. From July of 2010 through his release in March of 2017, Beeler appeared as a starting pitcher for the Cubs five times in two seasons (2014 and 2015). In 19⅓ innings and 92 major-league batters faced, he tallied 13 strikeouts and 14 walks to finish with a major-league career ERA of 6.05.

“The question for Dallas Beeler has always been when, not if,” sportswriter Tommy Birch wrote in a 2015 article.3 As demonstrated time and time again over decades on the mound, including 10 years playing at the professional level, when the 6-foot-5, 225-pound fastball-hurling Beeler was on, he was on! Over eight seasons pitching in the minors, primarily as a starting pitcher, Beeler tallied 368 strikeouts and 156 walks in 559 innings pitched, and a minor-league career ERA of 3.88.

Dallas James Beeler was born on June 12, 1989, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was raised in Jenks, a suburb of Tulsa, surrounded by family on all sides. His father, Darrell, one of three children, likewise grew up in Jenks. Beeler’s mother, Susan, also one of three siblings, grew up in Tulsa. On his mother’s side, Beeler is part Choctaw and Chickasaw and his family, especially his grandmother and aunts, is active in the tribe and community.

In the Beeler household, the question was never whether to play sports, it was which sport to play. Theirs is an athletic family. Susan, a retired schoolteacher, ran track at Hale High School, and in college, at Arkansas and Northeastern State University. Darrell, a Tulsa firefighter, played baseball for Jenks High School (the same school Dallas and his siblings attended) and college ball before making a name for himself in competitive slow-pitch softball. Dallas’s older brother, Chase, a star football player went to Stanford and then the NFL as a practice squad player. And their younger sister Lacy, excelled at volleyball and soccer.

Beeler can’t remember a time when he didn’t play baseball. Among his earliest memories is a photo of himself at about 2 years old, posing with a bat. He started with T-ball, then Coach Pitch, Little League, and on. Those early baseball years were truly a family affair. Darrell helped coach both Dallas and Chase’s teams. And when he wasn’t coaching, he was playing. Darrell is a USSSA hall of famer with a career batting average of .715.4 Dallas Beeler said watching the highly competitive athletes in action during his father’s slow-pitch softball games taught him about teamwork and the game.

Following in their father’s footsteps, Dallas and his siblings attended Jenks High School, where he and his older brother Chase excelled at baseball and football. By his sophomore year, however, Dallas – then 6-feet-5 and 200 pounds, long and lean – realized that his football future was limited. “I wasn’t fast enough, couldn’t jump high enough, I wasn’t quite big enough,” he said.5 But that didn’t stop him giving it his all. As a starting wide receiver, Beeler helped the Jenks Trojans bring home a pair of state football championships.

Beeler hyperfocused on baseball and his hard work paid off. During his senior season, he posted a 4-1 record and a 1.09 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 38⅔ innings pitched and batted .385 with 4 home runs and 17 stolen bases. Beeler earned All-Conference, All-Metro, and All-State honors with the Jenks Trojans. It was no surprise that he caught the attention of Toronto Blue Jays area scout Ty Nichols. Beeler was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 37th round of the June 2008 amateur draft. “I was tempted [to sign],” Beeler said. “As a high schooler it’s hard to turn down a chance to play baseball – get paid for it?” In the end, after lengthy family discussions, Beeler turned down the offer in favor of going to college. “I had a good feeling that getting some more playing time against better competition would benefit me.”

In the fall of 2008, Beeler began his freshman year at Seminole State College in Seminole, Oklahoma, a Division 1 junior college “known for turning out good ballplayers.”6 Support offered by the Chickasaw Nation was a key factor in Beeler’s opting for college at that point. The tribe helped defray Beeler’s tuition, books, clothing, and housing costs. In addition, he participated in the work-study program. And he played ball. Beeler called playing ball at Seminole “a game changer.” He credited the Seminole coaching staff, especially Mark Allen, for helping hone his competitive edge or, as he put it “find that killer instinct” pitchers need. The Seminole Trojans Find it he did. But three-quarters of the way through the season, he injured his elbow. Facing surgery on his right elbow, after finishing out his freshman year at Seminole, he returned home to Jenks.

That summer Beeler underwent Tommy John ligament replacement surgery. Wanting to continue his education and eagerly anticipating his return to baseball, he enrolled at nearby Oral Roberts University, where he majored in business administration. “This is where support from the Chickasaw really helped with tuition, books, even clothing and living expenses,” Beeler said. As part of ORU’s work-study program, he also served as the locker room “clubbie,” and put in the work needed to rehabilitate his elbow.

Beeler recovered faster than expected and as is often the case after Tommy John surgery, came back stronger. Under the tutelage of ORU coach Rob Walton, Beeler matured as a pitcher. Walton, Beeler said, “taught me the importance of throwing a fastball for a strike and about pitch sequencing. How pitching is actually a chess game. It’s not just throwing pitches out there; it’s attacking a batter with a plan.” Walton’s coaching style included having players study and emulate successful pitchers’ style. Beeler, Walton observed, had a similar body type, arm slot, and pitch arsenal as Hall of Famer Roy Halladay, who “blended a blistering sinking fastball with pinpoint control.”7 Beeler studied film of Halladay in action and mirrored his technique. Additionally, Walton worked with Beeler to develop new pitches.

By the end of the 2010 season, Beeler proved himself to be one of the team’s standout players, going 2-0 in two starts and earning two saves.8 Scout Ty Nichols once again put out the word. Beeler was picked up by the Cubs in the 41st round of the 2010 draft.

That summer, Beeler played college ball in South Carolina with the Florence Flamingos for whom, he recalled, “I pitched some of the best games I ever had.” That’s when the call from the Cubs organization came. “It was decision time,” Beeler recalled. “Do I stay in college or sign? … It happens fast. One day you’re a college kid, two days later you report to spring training.”

After signing, Beeler headed to Mesa, Arizona, to play Rookie ball with the Arizona Cubs. At 21, with two years of college under his belt, in comparison to the 16- and 17-year-old high-schoolers, he was one of the older guys, which, in terms of maturity, may have been to his advantage. Rookie ball was super-competitive. “I remember telling myself to enjoy it,” Beeler said of the experience, “because I had prepared for this.” Shortly after his arrival, Beeler got the first strikeout of his professional career. As is the way in rookie ball. he only pitched the one inning against maybe four batters, still, “That strikeout felt good.” So did moving up to the Boise Hawks, the Cubs’ short-season team, a month later. And a week after that, moving up again to the Peoria Chiefs of the Class-A Midwest League.

Beeler started the 2011 season with Peoria and was quickly promoted to Tennessee (Knoxville) of the Double-A Southern League. In his Double-A debut, on June 7, 2011, “throwing what he estimated to be 90-95 percent two-seam fastballs, the 21-year-old right-hander struck out four without walking a batter” to lead the Smokies to a 6-0 victory over the Jackson Generals.9

He stayed with the Smokies the rest of that season, all of 2012, and the first part of the 2013 season. Beeler recalled those early years fondly. “Some of your best friends and best memories are made in the minor leagues,” he said. “Because everyone is going through the grind together, whether it’s the bus rides, whether it’s long travel, whether it’s the locker rooms that are worse than any small-town high school you’ve been to or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches five times a day … that’s where bonds are made.” Among the bonds Beeler forged in the minors were those with fellow pitchers Kyle Hendricks and Eric Jokisch, with whom he shared similar pitch arsenals and approach to the game.

Having quickly worked his way up in the minor-league system, January of 2013, Beeler was selected to take part in the Cubs’ inaugural Rookie Development Program, a “joint venture between the Major League Baseball Players Association and the commissioner’s office.10 Beeler found that participating in the program “gives you a glimpse of what goes into being in the big leagues, how to manage your days and the season. Mostly it made me feel like I was ready for the next level.” But toward the end of the season, a sprained finger on Beeler’s right hand kept him in the Smokies dugout for the rest of 2013.

Beeler was assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. He made six starts and went 4-1 with a 2.49 ERA, a performance that earned him a promotion to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. Baseball America ranked him the number-24 prospect in the Cubs organization, noting, “He can touch 94 mph with the fastball and has a slurvy slider as his main breaking ball, working to get early contact with both pitches. He uses both forkball-type of splitter that he can use in the strike zone and a more conventional split-finger pitch that he tries to bury out of the zone.”11

That November Beeler was added to the Cubs’ 40-man roster. “I think he’s a kid that everybody’s looking forward to having an opportunity to come out here and show what he can do,” Cubs manager Rich Renteria said. “We’re glad to have him.”12

At the start of 2014 spring training, the 24-year-old, commenting on the sprained finger that had curtailed the previous season, said, “It happened, I got over it, I worked hard, and now I’m here and now I’m just trying to stay healthy and pitch well.”13

Beeler observed that at every step of his baseball career, coaches guided him to the next level. With the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, two coaches were instrumental in his getting a shot at the majors. Bruce “Pap” Walton, had been the bullpen coach for the Blue Jays when Beeler’s role model, Roy Halladay, played for Toronto. “To be able to pick Pap’s brain on what made Halladay successful, his work ethic, pitch grips, pitch sequencing, what he was trying to accomplish and how, was fantastic.” And pitching coordinator David Johnson taught Beeler the pitch that got him his shot.

“It was a cutter,” Beeler said. “Honestly, I think that pitch is what got me to the big leagues. Two-seam is good, but it’s great to have a pitch that goes the opposite direction at basically the same speed.” For Beeler, a groundball pitcher, adding the cutter to his arsenal was a huge advantage, because groundball pitchers try to get early swings and early contact so they can pitch longer into the game and save bullpen arms. “I could pepper the same spot,” Beeler explained. “If I was facing a lefty, I could throw a fastball in the outside corner and I could make it run away from the guy, make it run back on the plate, or I could freeze them. I could go through a whole at bat and throw the same pitch.”

On Sunday, June 8, 2014, in a game against Colorado Springs, Beeler pitched seven shutout innings, during which gave up five hits, struck out five and walked two to lead the Iowa Cubs to a 3-0 win. It was, sportswriter Tommy Birch noted, his “fourth consecutive quality start and fifth of the season.”14 Birch wasn’t the only one who noticed. A few weeks later, Beeler was at Wrigley Field making his major-league debut with the Chicago Cubs.

When asked to name one best memory of his time in the pros, Beeler didn’t hesitate. “My debut, definitely.” Called up for a spot start in the June 28 doubleheader at Wrigley Field, he recalled running out to center field prior to the start of the game. “Everyone’s cheering for you, they don’t know who you are, but they’re still rooting for you.” He was especially impressed with how knowledgeable the fans were. While he was warming up in the outfield before the game, the fans – who had most likely never even seen him play – called out stats about him and the other players they themselves didn’t even know. “Then, of course, running out for the first inning, picking up the ball, standing on the mound and taking everything in. That was one of the bigger moments of my career … and my hit.” Beeler’s first time batting in a big-league game, he swung at the first pitch Gio González threw and singled. His debut performance didn’t go unnoticed by Cubs management. In a postgame interview, Rich Renteria told reporters, “Beel showed really good stuff today. He’s a Cubbie now.”15

That was the first of two starts with the Cubs in 2014. He made 20 starts for Iowa, where he went 9-6 with a 3.40 ERA.16 But by the end of the season Beeler was plagued with shoulder issues. In a postseason newspaper interview, Beeler described the 2014 season in one word: “Maturing.” He added that he was “trying to pick up little things that I can improve mentally and physically on the mound.”17

In 2015 Beeler missed all of spring training after suffering biceps tendinitis with a shoulder impingement. He went to extended spring training before rejoining the Iowa Cubs on a rehab assignment. Rebounding wasn’t easy. He struggled to find the strike zone. “I had about five starts in those 30 days and I never pitched more than three innings in one game,” Beeler said of that frustrating time. “And in all those five starts I didn’t give up less than seven runs. I was so low after one game I remember sitting in the batting cages with the lights off thinking, ‘What am I doing? I need to quit. I need to retire.’” 

Again, coaching, this time from Cubs mental skills coach Josh Lifrak, helped turn things around. Lifrak told Beeler he was trying too hard. “Go out there and clear your mind,” Beeler recalled Lifrak telling him. “You can only worry about what you do when the ball comes out of your hand. You can’t control much after that.” His next outing, Beeler took Lifrak’s advice. “I tried not to throw so hard, but to relax into it.”

What followed was, in Beeler’s words, “The start of the best three months of my career.” He was feeling good, pitching well, and it didn’t go unnoticed. July 7 found him back in Wrigley Field for another spot start in the second game of a day-night doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals. In five innings, he struck out six, walked two, and allowed four hits and two runs. That was the first of three major-league starts. Beeler finished 2015 with an ERA of 4.07, enough to once again earn a spot on the Cubs’ 40-player 2016 roster, assigned to Iowa, his third stint with the club.

Beeler said he felt especially fortunate to have been part of the Cubs organization when, as he put it, it was all coming together.

Although lingering injuries kept Beeler on the disabled list for much of the 2016 season (after 21 starts for Iowa in 2015, he managed only eight in 2016), being part of the Cubs, “with its history and incredible fans,” when they won the 2016 World Series was indescribable. He said his World Series ring, emblazoned with 108 round diamonds to commemorate the 108 years between World Series championships, is one of his prized possessions, still in the lighted case in which it was delivered.

Released by the Cubs on March 30, 2017, Beeler signed with the Kansas City T-Bones of the independent American Association. However, because of persistent shoulder issues, he soon doubted the wisdom of his decision. Rather than cause further damage, he opted to sit out the 2017 season and focus instead on healing. The decision proved to be a good one. The next season, 2018, he signed with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League. Beeler quickly proved himself a valuable addition to the team. In his June 3 start against the York Revolution, Beeler struck out 10 batters, to set a single-game high for a Skeeters pitcher that season. Five days later, in a home game against the Lancaster Barnstormers, he pitched eight no-hit innings.18  After going 5-0 with a 1.61 ERA in June, Beeler was named the Atlantic League’s Pitcher of the Month.

His pitching performance didn’t go unnoticed. On July 9, 2018, the Kansas City Royals purchased Beeler’s contract from the Skeeters. He was sent to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals of the Double-A in the Texas League. Beeler struggled, losing two starts. On July 23 he was released by the Royals and re-signed by the Skeeters.

Beeler helped the Skeeters win the division and league titles in 2018, and in 2019 he helped them win a division title again. Beeler spent both the 2018 and 2019 offseasons in the Mexican Pacific Winter League playing for the Tomateros de Culiacan, which he thoroughly enjoyed and would have returned to but for the Covid pandemic.

Careerwise, the Covid shutdown came at the worst possible time for Beeler. In January of 2020 he signed with the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association as a player-coach. The Covid shutdown in March put an end to that plan as the Saltdogs were not one of the teams selected to compete in the condensed 2020 season. That, as it turned out, was the end of his professional pitching career. “Guys that are done playing always talk about how a ballplayer never knows what the last pitch will be,” said Beeler. “Mine was a friggin’ curveball I threw in Sugar Land to get me out of an inning.”

With his playing days over, Beeler and his wife, Bayle, whom he’s met in Des Moines while playing with the Iowa Cubs, settled in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, a suburb of Tulsa, not far from where he grew up. As of 2025, Bayle worked in educational tech and the couple have two sons, Stellan and Graeme. Unlike many big-leaguers who stay in the game in some capacity, Beeler pivoted. His interest in business coupled with his own familiarity with sports-related injuries led to a job with RX Medical, providing technical support and guidance to health-care providers for patients with spinal injuries.

Beeler thought he’d put baseball – except as a fan – behind him. A call from his former high-school coach, Jeff Owens, in 2021 changed that. Owens had been offered a coaching position at Cassia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa and Beeler’s father, Darrell, was going as assistant coach. Did Dallas want to join them as pitching coach? After the possibility of becoming a player-coach for the Lincoln Saltdogs fell through, Beeler hadn’t given coaching another thought. Now, perhaps because a few years had passed since he’d been a player, he became part of a coaching team with his father and Owens, two coaches who had been instrumental in his success as a ballplayer. Coaching seemed like the right next step.

Beeler said he enjoyed being on the coaching side of the game. “It’s addicting,” he said. “I learned more about pitching from coaching than I ever did as a player.” Well aware of the impact knowledgeable, patient coaches had on his career, Beeler is grateful to have a chance to give back. “What seems like common knowledge to a 30-year-old is brand new to kids and can make all the difference to their game.” After three years at Cassia Hall (2012-2013),???? That’s two years Beeler, along with his father and Coach Owens, moved with head coach Dean Wilson to Bixby High School.

The motto that was written all over the Cubs’ facilities during his time with the organization, “It’s not if it happens, it’s when it happens” also became Beeler’s personal motto. He credits that “if not when” attitude with his being able to rebound from setbacks throughout his career. Now that he was coaching, he tried to foster that same supportive attitude among his players. “Teams ebb and flow. No matter how good a team you are, every season there are low points. And especially during those low points there can be friction in the dugout, issues with personalities, frayed nerves, and the like. I try to teach my players you’ve got to have each other’s backs, be each other’s best friends and at the same time toughest competitors, and also to understand we are all trying to be our best.”

In 2024 Beeler said that if his sons chose to play baseball (and he couldn’t help hoping they did) he would do just as his father did by assisting with their teams. In the meantime, he intended to continue coaching, with a goal of helping young pitchers achieve their goals the way coaches and many others at every step of his career supported him. “I’m blessed to have the career I’ve had – five or six starts in the big leagues,” said Beeler. “I battled with injuries here and there but I was fortunate to play and do I all got to do.”

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, baseball-almanac.com, and MLB.com.

Photo credit

Dallas Beeler, courtesy of the Chicago Cubs.

Notes

1 YouTube highlights from Beeler’s major-league debut on June 28, 2014: “WSH@CHC: Beeler Allows No Earned Runs in MLB Debut,” YouTube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyXpPJrRYwY, accessed September 25, 2024.

2 Jacob Unruh, “Q&A: Iowa Cubs’ Dallas Beeler Talks Major League Debut, Keeping Up with Jenks,” the Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), July 6, 2014. https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/columns/2014/07/06/qa-iowa-cubs-dallas-beeler-talks-major-league-debut-keeping-up-with-jenks/60813609007/.

3 Tommy Birch, “Dallas Beeler Battles Through Rehab Start for I-Cubs,” Des Moines Register, May 11, 2015. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/iowa-cubs/2015/05/11/dallas-beeler-iowa-chicago-cubs-colorado-springs-sky-sox-pcl/27144547/.

4 USSSA was the United States Slowpitch Softball Association. It has since been renamed: The United States Specialty Sports Association.

5 Author interview with Dallas Beeler on September 5, 2024. Unless otherwise indicated, all direct quotations from Beeler come from either this interview or in interviews on September 26 and 27, 2024.

6 Beeler interview.

7 https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/halladay-roy.

8 “Oral Roberts Golden Eagles – 2011 Baseball, 18 – Dallas Beeler,”

9 David Heck, “Beeler Tosses Gem in Double-A Debut,” June 8, 2011, https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-20191636.

10 “Rookie Career Development,” mlbpplayers.com. https://www.mlbplayers.com/rookie-career-development#:~:text=The%20RCDP%20is%20joint%20venture,leagues%20in%20the%20upcoming%20season.

11 Baseballamerica.com, https://www.baseballamerica.com/players/671871-dallas-beeler/.

12 Bruce Miles. “Cubs Add 2 Players to Roster,” Arlington Heights (Illinois) Daily Herald, November 20, 2013. https://www.dailyherald.com/20131120/pro-sports/cubs-add-2-players-to-roster/.

13 Tommy Birch, “Dallas Beeler Shines Again for Iowa Cubs in Strong Start,” Des Moines Register, June 8, 2014.

  https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/baseball/iowa-cubs/2014/06/08/dallas-beeler-iowa-cubs-chicago-cubs-baseball-america/10204471/.

14 “Dallas Beeler Shines Again for Iowa Cubs in Strong Start.”

15 Bruce Miles, “Cubs Come Away with 7-2 Win on Strange Day at Wrigley,” Arlington Heights Daily Herald, June 29, 2014.

https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20170725/cubs-come-away-with-7-2-win-on-strange-day-at-wrigley/

16 Dallas Beeler stats, https://www.mlb.com/player/dallas-beeler-542923.

17 “Jokisch, Beeler Hoping to Pitch at Some Point,” Arlington Heights Daily Herald, February 28, 2015.  

18 Carrie Muskat, “Cubs Make Adjustments to 40-Man Roster,” MLB.com, November 7, 2016. https://www.mlb.com/news/cubs-add-rosario-mullee-to-40-man-roster-c208325178.

Charles Albert Bender with the Philadelphia Athletics. (Library of Congress)

American Indian. Innovator. Renaissance man. Charles Albert “Chief” Bender lived a unique American life, fashioned a Hall of Fame career, and was an important member of modern baseball’s first dynasty. He silently struggled against racial prejudice, became a student of the game, and was a lifetime baseball man. His legacy, however, is less nuanced than all of that. Bender is known foremost for a rare ability to pitch under pressure. “If I had all the men I’ve ever handled, and they were in their prime, and there was one game I wanted to win above all others,” said Philadelphia Athletics icon Connie Mack, who managed fellow all-time pitching greats Lefty Grove, Herb Pennock, Eddie Plank, and Rube Waddell, “Albert would be my man.”1

For nearly the entire second half of the twentieth century Bender was the lone Minnesota representative in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. That he is no longer a household name in the North Star State is in part because he spent so little time in Minnesota and because some details about that time remain unclear. Bender’s birthday, for one, is not certain. His birth certificate, registered decades after the fact, says May 3, 1883. Other sources list May 5, 1883. Based on the federal Indian census and on Bender’s school records, the correct year, almost certainly, is 1884. Many sources list his birthplace as Brainerd but that is likely inaccurate. According to research on Bender’s early years conducted by researcher Robert Tholkes, within a year of Charley’s birth the family lived in an area close to Partridge Lake, 20 miles east of Brainerd. No town existed on the site at the time. So it is most accurate to say that Bender was born in Crow Wing County.

Not long after Charles’s birth, the Bender family moved to the White Earth Reservation in the northwest section of the state. Bender’s father, Albertus Bliss Bender (often referred to as William), was an early white settler in Minnesota, a homesteader-farmer of German-American descent. Charley’s mother, Mary Razor Bender, was believed a member of the Mississippi Band of the Ojibwe. Mary, whose Indian name was “Pay shaw de o quay,” gave birth to at least 11 children, perhaps as many as 14. Charley was the fourth child born and the third son. His troubled older brother, John Charles Bender, was an outfielder who bounced from team to team in the minor leagues.

At White Earth, the family lived in a log house on a small farm. The Benders had to be self-sufficient and they were not the only ones. As scholar Melissa Meyer chronicles in The White Earth Tragedy, during the early years of Charley’s childhood White Earth was destitute.2 Things were so meager that as a young boy Charley supposedly went to work, taking a job as a farmhand for a dollar a week. At the time reservation families such as the Benders often sent their kids to boarding schools. There were four on-reservation boarding schools, and Charley attended one of them for a short time, but at age 7 he was sent to the Educational Home, which was under the auspices of the Lincoln Institution, an off-reservation boarding school for American Indian children near Philadelphia.

Bender was at the Educational Home for five years before he went back to White Earth not long after he turned 12 in June of 1896. He had been out of touch with his family for those years and he returned to a situation that had not improved and possibly regressed. During his time away, too, the Bender family had continued to grow; Charley was then one of nine children in the modest Bender home. A few months after he returned to White Earth, according to a story Bender told The Sporting News as an adult, he and his older brother Frank ran away from home. The two went to another White Earth farm and got jobs in the fields. While there, a teacher from the Carlisle Indian School, a boarding school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, later made famous by Jim Thorpe-led powerhouse football teams, came through and recruited Frank and Charley to Carlisle.

In many respects, Charley Bender’s life was shaped during five years at Carlisle, which was run by Richard Henry Pratt, a military man who strictly drove his pupils to assimilate into the dominant white culture. At Carlisle, Bender continued to develop his sharp mind—during his career, teammates, and sportswriters often attributed Bender’s success to his mental approach—and he met his first real baseball coach, legendary football maven Pop Warner. After becoming a rare Carlisle Indian School graduate in 1902, the right-handed pitcher signed with the semipro Harrisburg Athletic Club. While playing for that team in the summer of 1902—not long after he held his own in an exhibition loss to the National League’s Chicago Cubs—Bender was discovered by one of Connie Mack’s birddogs.

Bender joined the Philadelphia Athletics in 1903 and, as chronicled in Chief Bender’s Burden, had one of the great seasons in history for someone aged 19.3 After an impressive debut in which he pitched six innings in relief for a victory over Boston’s Cy Young, Bender earned his first complete-game shutout victory on April 27, defeating New York Highlanders pitcher and future Hall of Famer Clark Griffith. By the end of the 1903 season the rookie had 17 wins and a 3.07 earned-run average (ERA), which was about league average. His control was impressive from the start as he walked just 2.17 batters per nine innings.

Compared to his peers, Bender did not have an inordinate level of pitching stamina as he was plagued by poor health during several seasons. (Bender battled a number of physical ailments and, later in his career, drank heavily.) He never pitched more than 270 innings in any season, a feat regularly attained by top-tier starters of the Deadball Era. Near the end of the 1905 season, however, Bender showed he could labor long if given the chance. The Athletics needed to win two games against Washington to all but secure the pennant. Bender won the first game 8-0 and came on as a relief pitcher in the second game to win that one as well. It was an incredible one-day performance. Bender pitched 15 innings, won two games, and struck out 14 Senators. What’s more, he was the hitting hero. A right-handed hitter who posted a lifetime .212 batting average, he made five hits in six official at-bats, including two triples and a two-run double in the fourth inning of the second game that pushed Philadelphia ahead. On the day he drove in seven runs.

Bender’s poise in big games was most evident during the World Series, and he received his first such opportunity in 1905. Starting the second game against John McGraw’s New York Giants, he delivered a masterful, four-hit, 3-0 shutout in the Athletics’ only victory of the series. Following the 1905 season, and after studying New York’s Christy Mathewson up close, Bender worked to further develop his control. He threw a well-directed fastball and a sharp-breaking curve—a man named Bender has to have one—that was a precursor to the slider, a pitch he may have invented.4 He also threw a submarine fadeaway—a pitch that moved like the contemporary screwball, away from a left-handed hitter. “I use fast curves, pitched overhand and sidearm, fastballs, high and inside, and an underhand fadeaway pitch with the hand almost down to the level of the knees,” Bender told Baseball Magazine in 1911. “They are my most successful deliveries, though a twisting slow one mixed up with them helps at times.”5

Bender was exceptionally bright. His intelligence was recognized by teammates, opponents, and umpires, such as Billy Evans, who believed Bender was one of the smartest pitchers in the game. “He takes advantage of every weakness,” Evans said in his Atlanta Constitution column, “and once a player shows him a weak spot he is marked for life by the crafty Indian.”6 Bender possessed a keen ability to focus on the task at hand, attributes that won the admiration of legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice, who once called Bender one of “the greatest competitors I ever knew.” Rice and Bender often played golf together, and Rice sometimes quoted Bender in his syndicated column. “Tension is the greatest curse in sport,” said Bender, according to Rice. “I’ve never had any tension. You give the best you have—you win or lose. What’s the difference if you give all you’ve got to give?”7

During his first eight years in the major leagues, Bender continued to hone his craft. Though his win-loss record fluctuated, his ERA dropped every year, to a career-best 1.58 in 1910. That year he also won 20 games for the first time, notching 23 victories against only five defeats, which gave him the league’s best winning percentage (.821). Among his victories that season was a no-hitter, thrown May 12 against the Cleveland Indians. Bender was nearly perfect; he faced just 27 hitters as the lone man to reach, shortstop Terry Turner, was caught stealing after a walk. Bender won the opening game of the 1910 World Series, and the Athletics beat the Chicago Cubs in five games—Philadelphia’s first world championship.

The following year, Bender helped the A’s win a second title, as his 17-5 record again led the league in winning percentage (.773). Facing the New York Giants in the World Series, Bender pitched brilliantly, winning two of three starts, posting a 1.04 ERA, and striking out 20 batters in 26 innings. Philadelphia failed to win a third straight pennant in 1912 as injuries, illness, and a team suspension for alcohol use limited Bender to a 13-8 record in just 171 innings.8 But the following year the A’s were again the premier team, as Bender won 20 games and also led the league with 13 saves (retroactively calculated). In that year’s World Series—the A’s and Giants squared off one more time—Bender won two games and the Athletics captured their third world championship in four years.

Bender’s World Series career line was blemished in 1914, as the favored Philadelphia Athletics were swept by the so-called “Miracle” Boston Braves. Bender had put up a fine regular season record, winning 14 straight games during one stretch, finishing the year with a 17-3 mark and a league-leading .850 winning percentage. But, in his only appearance in the World Series, Bender started the opening game and surrendered six earned runs in 5⅓ innings. It was his last appearance in an A’s uniform.

The next year, Bender signed with the Federal League and was assigned to Baltimore. Pitching for the last-place Terrapins, he went 4-16 and was released by the team in September. After the 1915 season, Bender was picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies, where, pitching mostly in relief, he had a 7-7 record in 1916. In 1917, he showed flashes of his previous level of performance with an 8-2 mark and a 1.67 ERA but nonetheless was released by the Phillies at the end of the season. During the 1918 season Bender went to work in the Philadelphia shipyards to contribute to the war effort.

His life in baseball did not end, however. When the war was over, Bender began a successful career as a minor-league player and manager. He was offered opportunities to return to the big leagues but enjoyed managing so much—and probably earned as much money in the minors as he would have in the majors—that he declined. Bender managed Richmond of the Virginia League in 1919 and also dominated the league as a pitcher, winning 29 games against two defeats. Subsequently, he pitched and managed at New Haven in the Eastern League (1920-21); Reading (1922) and Baltimore (1923) in the International League; and Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the Mid-Atlantic League in 1927. During that period he also spent several years as a baseball coach for the U.S. Naval Academy.

Bender pitched once more in the major leagues. In 1925, while employed as a coach for his friend, Chicago White Sox manager Eddie Collins, he worked a gimmicky frame in a game against the Boston Red Sox—the club he had beaten for his first major-league victory 22 years prior. Bender, 42 at the time, allowed two runs on a walk and a home run but did manage to retire the side.

During the 1930s, Bender managed the Eastern team of the independent House of David. He also managed Erie in the Continental League in 1932, Wilmington of the Inter-State League in 1940, Newport News of the Virginia League in 1941, and Savannah of the Southern Association in 1946. Thereafter he was associated with the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, New York Giants, and Philadelphia Athletics as a coach or scout. At 61 he began pitching batting practice to the Athletics and years later served as the A’s de facto pitching coach.

Over a 16-year major-league career, Bender won 212 games and posted a .625 winning percentage. He pitched to avoid the bats of American League hitters, and every time he did he stared into the face of racism. Though he often exhibited a calm, levelheaded demeanor, he was seldom portrayed in newspapers, cartoons, or words on the street without references—many of them demeaning, few of them subtle—to his race. Though proud of his American Indian heritage Bender resented the bigotry and the moniker he and nearly every other Indian ballplayer of the time received. “I do not want my name to be presented to the public as an Indian, but as a pitcher,” he told Sporting Life in 1905.9 The writers didn’t listen. Though his manager called him Albert, prevailing stereotypes rarely were absent from baseball coverage and bench jockeying. Bender didn’t publicly protest, but he signed his autograph as “Charles” or some derivative. Eventually, he was called “Chief” so often (and so often with affection) that he allowed the name to be etched into his tombstone. But the tacit racism never went away. Even decades after his retirement, Bender’s obituary in The Sporting News carried the headline, “Chief Bender Answers Call to Happy Hunting Grounds.”10

As noted in Chief Bender’s Burden, as a way to keep his mind occupied, Bender engaged in an inordinate number of sports and hobbies outside of baseball, and he was exceptional at many of them. He was often referred to as one of the top trap shooters (he shot live bird and clay pigeons) in the country. He loved to hunt and fish and was an outstanding golfer. Bender’s favorite hobbies were gardening, playing billiards, and painting oil landscapes. He also occasionally served as a consultant to people in the diamonds and textiles trades. He had a long post-major-league career in retail, selling, among other things, sporting goods and men’s clothing.

Bender’s life partner was Marie (Clement) Bender, whom he married in 1904. The couple’s marriage, which lasted nearly 50 years, did not produce any children. In 1953, Bender became the first Minnesota-born player enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and he remained the only one until Dave Winfield joined him in 2001. On May 22, 1954, the year following the vote, Bender died, a few weeks shy of his 71st birthday and a few weeks before his induction ceremony. He had previously suffered a heart attack and was receiving treatments for prostate cancer. Bender is buried in Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn, Pennsylvania.

A version of this biography appeared in SABR’s “Minnesotans in Baseball,” edited by Stew Thornley (Nodin, 2009).

Sources

Portions of this biography are drawn from the author’s book Chief Bender’s Burden (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008).

Research conducted by Robert Tholkes, written in an excellent article called “Chief Bender: The Early Years,” published in the 1983 edition of the Baseball Research Journal of the Society for American Baseball Research, was the solid foundation upon which I conducted further exploration about the rough details of Bender’s first years, his family, and life at White Earth. Beverly Hermes provided additional genealogical research assistance. The Charles Albert Bender file at the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bemidji, Minnesota, was useful. Facts about the Bender family were also found in the federal Indian census and the U.S. census.

Paulette Fairbanks Molin’s article, “Training the Hand, the Head, and the Heart: Indian Education at Hampton Institute,” published in the fall 1988 issue of Minnesota History, revealed facts about the Bender family.

Articles in a multiple-part series about Bender’s life published in The Sporting News, December 24-31, 1942, were used for information about Bender’s childhood, including the story of how Bender and his brother ran away.

Notes

1 The Connie Mack quote that if he could pick one pitcher for a big game, “Albert would be my man,” has been included in nearly every biographical profile ever written about Bender, including David Pietrusza, Matthew Silverman, and Michael Gershman, editors, Baseball: The Biographic Encyclopedia (Total Sports, 2000), 80. Mack made the statement often in his later years.

2 Melissa L. Meyer, The White Earth Tragedy: Ethnicity and Dispossession at a Minnesota Anishinaabe Reservation, 1889-1920 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994).

3 Tom Swift, Chief Bender’s Burden (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008).

4 There is no one agreed-upon inventor of the slider. One source among several sources consulted on this topic was The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, and Pitches by Rob Neyer and Bill James (Fireside, 2004). E-mail correspondences with Bill James were also useful.

5 “Big Chief Bender,” Baseball, Vol. 7, August 1911: 64.

6 Billy Evans, “Chief Bender Discusses Pitchers and Pitching; Control greatest Asset,” Atlanta Constitution, December 28, 1913: 5. There is no one agreed-upon inventor of the slider. One source among several sources consulted on this topic was The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, and Pitches by Rob Neyer and Bill James (Fireside, 2004). E-mail correspondences with Bill James were also useful.

7 Grantland Rice wrote about Bender in several columns during and after Bender’s major-league career, including a column that appeared in the September 2, 1915 Boston Daily Globe.

8 Regarding Bender’s alcohol use, Connie Mack discussed problems he had with Bender and a teammate in the March 6, 1950 New York Times. Bender’s drinking habits in the 1912 season were discussed most prominently in the Philadelphia North American’s coverage that year, from September 12 on. Other useful information was found in an article under the headline “The Fallen Stars of the 1912 Season” in the September 21, 1912 Philadelphia Evening Telegraph. One of Bender’s contracts, according to his salary history card at the National Baseball Hall of Fame (thanks to Gabriel Schechter for providing a copy), stated that he must “[refrain] from intoxicating liquors.”

9 Francis C. Richter, “Philadelphia News,” Sporting Life, August 5, 1905: 25.

10 “Chief Bender Answers Call to Happy Hunting Grounds,” The Sporting News, June 2, 1954: 32.

Older brother John “Big Chief” Bender was an altogether different character. Good-sized and with a striking facial resemblance to his celebrated sibling, John was a lesser talent who also lacked his brother’s stable temperament. Frequently bedeviled by the effects of drink, Big Chief was a troubled man, widely perceived by the sports press and fandom as likeable but unreliable, the archetypical chronically alcoholic Injun. A fine defensive outfielder but only a mediocre batsman, John Bender never rose higher than midlevel minor leagues, bouncing from team to team while leaving a trail of fines, suspensions, and other disciplinary sanctions in his wake. He even spent three years on baseball’s blacklist, the result of a drunken, near-fatal stabbing of his manager with Columbia of the South Atlantic League. The year of Big Chief’s restoration to playing eligibility saw the Bender brothers attain their respective destinies. In October 1911 Charley pitched the A’s to their second consecutive World Series title, but John was unable to bask in any of the family glory. Weeks earlier, hard living and a weak heart had put him in his grave at age 32.

Gaps and conflicts in US and tribal censuses make suspect any biographical narrative about Native Americans born in the 19th century. But in all likelihood, John Charles Bender was born in or about Crow Wing County, Minnesota, in October 1878. He was the second of at least 11 children1 born to Albertus Bliss Bender (1849-1922), a homesteader of Dutch or German descent born in Massachusetts,2 and his half-Ojibwe (Chippewa) wife, the former Mary Razor (or Pay shaw de o quay, c.1855-1930). When John was still a boy, the ever-multiplying Bender family moved to the White Earth Reservation in northwestern Minnesota to farm acreage doled out to Indian claimants by the government. Thereafter, John was among the vanguard of reservation children sent to the Philadelphia area to further their education at Episcopal Church-run prep schools. In time, a number of younger Bender siblings would follow them East.3

On September 5 1896, John Bender was admitted to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.4 Either simultaneously or shortly thereafter, his younger brother Charles joined him there. The Carlisle program was designed to immerse Native American youngsters in Christian values and the dominant European-American culture, but the school soon became known more for its athletic teams. John and Charley became members of the Carlisle football and baseball teams, although one Chief Bender biographer asserts that John “didn’t develop at Carlisle to the point where he earned a spot on the varsity [baseball] squad.”5 Other sources state that John Bender, like his brother, was a star pitcher at Carlisle.56 Whichever the case, John’s time at Carlisle ended abruptly. He was expelled from school on unknown grounds on March 8, 1900.

Tribal census records invariably place John Bender back on the White Earth Reservation during his post-Carlisle years, but his actual whereabouts are unknown until he began playing professional baseball in 1902.7 Now 24 years old, he was presumably close to the 6-foot-plus/190-pound ballplayer depicted in a photo of Big Chief Bender published in the March 15, 1908, edition of the Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle. With the exception of one ill-fated pitching audition, the lefty batting/righty throwing Bender played his entire career in the outfield. That career began with stints playing for a terrible (14-71) Sheldon team in the Class D Iowa-South Dakota League, and mediocre ones in Cavalier (15-32) and Fargo (30-26) of the independent Northern League. Seeing action in 49 games total, Bender batted a promising .300.8

John returned to the now-Class D Northern League the following summer, batting .302 in 63 games for the (41-51) Duluth Cardinals.9 Meanwhile, Charley inaugurated his Cooperstown-bound career with a 17-win rookie season for Philadelphia. His older brother began the 1904 season with the Hartford Senators of the Class D Connecticut State League, but was released after hitting only .188 in 21 games. Thereafter, John Bender returned once again to the Northern League, landing a berth with Fargo. Back in familiar surroundings, he batted a career-high .343 in limited (29 games) action. A regrettable precedent was also established there: Bender and teammate Joe Lynch were suspended for “going too heavy on the liquid portion of Fourth of July celebrations.”10 In 1905 Bender signed with the Charleston Sea Gulls, commencing a multiseason odyssey through the Class C South Atlantic (SALLY) League. John would call Charleston home for the remainder of his life. He also initiated a relationship with the College of Charleston, in time becoming the school’s football and baseball coach. Perhaps most important, Charleston was the place where John met future wife Theresa Delany, the daughter of Irish immigrants.

In his first Charleston go-round, Bender hit .264, posting the second highest batting average on the offensively challenged Sea Gulls (whose team batting average was a dismal .201).11 Early the following year, John made the first of his recorded court appearances, being fined $20 by a Charleston police court “for applying a vile epithet to a spectator.”12 Soon thereafter, he was dispatched to a league rival, the Augusta Tourists. Between the two clubs, Bender batted a SALLY League-acceptable .234. But the highlight of Bender’s season occurred away from the diamond. On August 26, 1906, John and Theresa were married at the Delany residence at 115 Calhoun Street in Charleston,13 the place where the couple would live for the entirety of their childless five-year marriage. After the ceremony, league president Charles W. Boyer presented the newlyweds with a silver service, a gift from Augusta teammates and club management.14

With club permission, Bender spent the early spring of 1907 coaching the College of Charleston baseball team. When he joined Augusta, trouble was not long in following. On May 9 Bender failed to appear at the ballpark for a league game, drawing a $10 fine and an indefinite suspension.15 Once reinstated, he managed to avoid problems for a while. But on August 1, Augusta manager Dick Crozier fined Bender $20 and suspended him indefinitely for “violation of team rules.”16 Despite this, a .250 batting average in 106 games earned Bender a place on the Augusta reserved list for the 1908 season.17

That season would be a tumultuous one. Early in the campaign, a “hilariously happy” Bender was deemed unfit to make a road trip to Charleston.18 In May he was reportedly released by Augusta, with the hometown newspaper lamenting that “Bender when right is a good fielder, a fairly good hitter, and has one of the greatest arms in baseball. … Booze has been the undoing of the Big Chief.”19 But new manager Charlie Dexter was apparently unwilling to give up on Bender, who had “one of the strongest and swiftest right arms in baseball.”20 Dexter wanted to convert him into a pitcher, but the idea was kiboshed by club management. Bender was released by Augusta, only to be signed by another SALLY League club, the Columbia Gamecocks. Still drinking to excess, Bender was soon fined and suspended indefinitely by his new club. When restored to the roster, Columbia manager-first baseman Win Clark decided to try Bender as a pitcher, inserting him into a July 10 game hopelessly lost to Macon. Eight hits later, Columbia starter Gus Salve was back on the mound, thus bringing the pitching career of “one of the greatest arms ever seen in the South” to its one-appearance conclusion.

Within a fortnight, the life of John Bender would be irrevocably altered. After a Saturday game in Jacksonville, Bender went out drinking with a friend and was arrested that evening for public intoxication.21 Manager Clark then bailed Bender out and escorted him to the Iroquois, the steamship booked to return the club back to South Carolina. Shortly after Bender had gotten on board, a ship steward sought Clark’s intervention with Bender following complaints made by female passengers. “That night at the supper table, Bender again began to annoy the lady passengers and Clark was again called down.”22 Bender, “crazy drunk,” wanted to fight, but Clark refused to accommodate him while the two were aboard ship. Evicted from the dining area, Bender waited for Clark to finish his meal and then attacked him in a ship’s corridor. Clark knocked Bender to the floor and had the better of the fight until onlookers interceded. It was then discovered that Clark had been stabbed and was bleeding from wounds to the arm, chest, and torso. Providentially, a young physician named Weeks was among the Iroquois passengers. Summoned to the grievously wounded victim, Dr. Weeks stanched the blood loss, and then, using fishing line, closed the wounds via 40 to 54 improvised sutures (accounts varied). Meanwhile, Bender was placed in irons until the Iroquois reached Charleston.

Once the ship reached port, Clark was rushed to the hospital, treated, and later pronounced out of danger.23 Bender, meanwhile, was turned over to federal authorities for prosecution, as the incident had occurred on the high seas rather than in the jurisdiction of a particular state.24 Pending proceedings in the United States District Court, Bender was placed in lockup. Thereafter, testimony by eyewitness Augusta players established a prima facie case against Bender, but with the victim on the mend, Bender was released on $1,000 bond posted by his wife.25 When sufficiently recovered, Clark testified, albeit reluctantly, against Bender, but made plain that he had forgiven Bender and did not wish to see him prosecuted. Still, the evidence presented left US Magistrate Arthur Young little choice but hold the charges over for trial during the coming court term.26 But prosecutors, presumably acting upon Clark’s wishes, declined to pursue the case, and the charges were quietly dismissed about a year later.27

Baseball was not so lenient with the Big Chief. Within 24 hours of the incident, Bender had been fined and suspended by the Columbia club, with SALLY League President Boyer vowing to seek Bender’s permanent banishment from Organized Baseball.28 The advice of counsel inhibited Bender from discussing the incident, but his contrition was evident to those having contact with him. He also benefited from the fact that, notwithstanding the assault and his other failings, Bender was well-liked by teammates, league officials, SALLY League fans, and the local press. Once it was clear that Win Clark would recover, many observers felt sorry for Bender and were not averse to his eventual return to the game. Nevertheless, his immediate baseball prospects appeared bleak.

Columbia retained the suspended Bender on its reserved list for the 1909 season,29 and supporters, particularly in his adopted hometown of Charleston, hoped for Bender’s reinstatement. In the meantime, John busied himself with coaching duties at the College of Charleston. He also reportedly became involved in running a local restaurant. 30 Prior to the 1909 season, Columbia club brass refused to seek Bender’s reinstatement by the league, but later relented, following receipt of a telegram sent on Bender’s behalf by prominent Charleston citizens. Columbia agreed to petition for Bender’s reinstatement, conditioned upon his payment of an unsatisfied $50 fine. The club would then sell his contract to Charleston.31 League President Boyer, however, was having none of it. Bender would remain the property of Columbia and on the league blacklist. In March 1910, a petition for Bender’s reinstatement to new SALLY League President Cap Joyner was referred to the collective club ownership,32 but no action was taken.

Early in 1911, Charleston manager Ed Ransick contacted Columbia regarding release of Bender to the Sea Gulls, a maneuver intended to foster his reinstatement by the league. Momentum was building in Bender’s favor, with SALLY League sportswriters publicly urging leniency upon league officials,33 progress that Bender then jeopardized by getting himself arrested on a street robbery charge.34 Notwithstanding that, Columbia club president F.C. Williams put his imprimatur on the Bender reinstatement petition,35 and on March 20, 1911, league President Joyner granted the application, directing Bender to report immediately to Columbia.36 As Bender was making ready to rejoin the club, another happy event occurred. The Philadelphia A’s came to town for a preseason game against the Charleston Sea Gulls, occasioning the first meeting of John and Charley Bender in nine years.37

Bender was anxious to get back into uniform, but increased age (he was now 32) and the three-year layoff had taken their toll. Toward the close of spring training, the Macon Telegraph reported that “Chief Bender is also trying for a place on the [Columbia] club, but the old war horse has slowed up considerably, and he will have a tough time beating Marty Krug out of the left field job.”38 Shortly thereafter, Bender was released. He then signed with Charleston. His tenure was short-lived. After batting a meager .189 in 38 games, Bender was released again, the Charleston Evening Post observing that he “is not considered fast enough for the rejuvenated club and has not hit as well as an outfielder should.”39 Bender’s final professional destination was a distant one: the Edmonton Eskimos of the Class D Western Canada League. But even such modest competition was now too much for Big Chief. In 33 games, he batted a soft .213, with only three extra-base hits. The day before the league season ended on September 3, Bender was given his walking papers for a third time in 1911.

For reasons unknown, Bender did not immediately head for home. Instead, he lingered in Edmonton. On the morning of September 25, he had breakfast in a local café. Suddenly and without warning, John “Big Chief” Bender collapsed and died.40 He was 32. A Coroner’s Certificate subsequently cited “acute dilatation of the heart” as the cause of death.41 News of Bender’s death was conveyed to SALLY League fans via reportage that sometimes maintained that Bender had died in the middle of an Edmonton game,42 a canard that would not be discredited for decades.43 After a slow railway passage to Charleston, funeral services were conducted at the Bender residence on Calhoun Street. Among those paying their respects were a large contingent of College of Charleston athletes.44 Suffering from the flu and in need of rest for upcoming World Series assignments, brother Charles Bender was noticeably absent.45 On October 7, 1911, John Bender was laid to rest at St. Lawrence Cemetery in Charleston. Meanwhile some 770 miles to the north, Charley Bender took the mound against the New York Giants in the Series opener. Chief would drop a 2-1 decision to Christy Mathewson that afternoon, but would pitch brilliantly throughout the Series, winning Game Four and the decisive Game Six for the world champion Athletics.

Products of the same blood and upbringing, the Bender brothers were distinguished by differences in talent and temperament. When it came to baseball, Charles would go on to great major-league success and, ultimately, immortalization in Cooperstown. His older brother John, a minor-league journeyman, would die young and fall into the obscurity that shrouds his memory to this day. Neither fate is undeserved.

This biography is adapted from an article published in the September 2014 issue of “The Inside Game,” the newsletter of SABR’s Deadball Era Committee.

Notes

The World War I-era right-hander who played under the name Jim Bluejacket possessed key perquisites for pitching success – intimidating size, good stuff, and the ability to change speeds effectively. But he also had to contend with a ruinous shortcoming: the weakness for alcohol that pervaded his career. In the end, intemperance won out, precipitating Bluejacket’s departure from the major league scene in what should have been his pitching prime. Notwithstanding that unfulfilled potential, it appears that Bluejacket led a happy and productive life in his later years, particularly while living on the Dutch Antilles island of Aruba. There, Jim worked for Standard Oil of Indiana for 15 years and spent untold hours of his free time imparting baseball instruction to local youth. In appreciation, a street in the capital city Oranjestad was later named in his honor. His life story follows.

Photo credit

Any understanding of Bowles’ background would be incomplete without some discussion of the history of the Potawatomi in Oklahoma. Following a series of treaties signed from the 1820s through ’40s, the Potawatomi in the Great Lakes region – whose descendants had “developed close political, economic, and consanguine ties to the French” – were forced to relocate west.4 Many eventually settled outside Topeka, Kansas, near St. Mary’s Mission, a Jesuit-run institution that served tribe members. In the 1870s, the Citizen Potawatomi, a band of the tribe that had accepted US citizenship and a land allotment process in the prior decade, began relocating at their own expense from Kansas to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) per stipulations of an 1867 treaty. This chronology closely follows Bowles’ own ancestral story.

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s website reports this of Bowles’ maternal grandmother: “Mary Margaret (Mack) McWinnery, a full-blood Potawatomi, was born in 1844 in Michigan. She was orphaned at a young age, and a non-Indian couple named McWinnery adopted her. Mary traveled to Kansas to study at St. Mary’s [Mission], where she eventually met [and married] Amable Toupin, a French-Canadian who looked to make a fortune on the early American frontier.”5 Being “among the more affluent Potawatomi families,” the couple had the wherewithal to become early settlers in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, where one of their children, Adele, eventually wed Michael Bowles, a Southern farmer of English heritage.6 In the early 1890s, Adele and Michael received a land allotment (which divvied up commonly held reservation lands to individual tribal members) in Wanette, Oklahoma, a cotton-based small community about 60 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.7 It was there on August 2, 1898, that the two brought Emmett Jerome Bowles into the world. Census information indicates that Bowles was the second youngest of his six known siblings: Lillie, Mary Elizabeth, Martha Louise, Grace, Andrew, and Alberta. An unidentified brother or sister reportedly died as a youngster (as did Lillie). Bowles was only 7 years old when his father passed away, leaving the clan’s matriarch to raise the family on her “own income” in Wanette.8 The rural area traces its formative period to the 1870s, when the noted French Benedictine monk Father Isidore Robot obtained nearby land from the Potawatomi in exchange for building a mission and school for the tribe members. The resulting formation of the Sacred Heart Mission became the “first center of Catholicism” in what was then Indian Territory.9

During his youth, Bowles cultivated his diamond skills by running “barefooted over the sandburrs on the vacant lots of Wanette playing ball.”10 After graduating from Wanette Grade School around 1916, he attended Sacred Heart College (later renamed St. Gregory’s University) in Shawnee, Oklahoma, for one year. In November 1917 Bowles enlisted in the US Army. Serving overseas in World War I, he was a bugler in the 20th Engineers Regiment. Dubbed the Fighting Foresters, these soldiers “operated in various areas of France’s forestlands, managing forest growth, felling and logging timber, and operating sawmills” to produce wood for American forces throughout Europe used for “building roads and railroads, constructing barracks, erecting telephone poles, supporting trenches, and various other building and construction projects.”11 The 20-year-old headed stateside in May 1919 and received his honorable discharge from the service a month later.

Immediately after returning from war, Bowles headed to south central Kansas, where he “pitched winning ball” for the semipro Larned club during the summer of 1919.12 The right-hander also moonlighted for the Hoisington team, located in an adjacent county.13 Despite possessing the nickname “Gravy” in his home area, contemporaneous newspaper articles indicate that he was becoming more widely known by the moniker Chief, an epithet that was commonly foisted upon Native Americans back in that day.14

The 1920 campaign found Bowles much closer to home in Oklahoma toeing the slab for independent clubs in Asher and Byars; both small towns were neighboring to his birthplace.15 Census information reported that Bowles worked as a farmer when not hitting the diamond. He lived alone in Eason, another rural community near Wanette.

After two years of laboring in anonymity, Bowles had a watershed season in 1921 – despite still not yet appearing in Organized Baseball. Back in the Sunflower State with his old Larned team, Bowles had “not lost a single contest to a strong club” well into August.16 The Hutchinson (Kansas) Gazette offered this scouting report of the hurler: “His broad smile and very peculiar delivery baffles opposing batters.”17 Featuring “perfect control” and a “strike out reputation,” Bowles reportedly fanned a remarkable 21 batters in an early August contest against Ellinwood.18 Particularly in the latter part of the campaign, the “husky” pitcher also loaned his services to the nearby Great Bend club, where his success continued.19 Less than two weeks after outdueling Ellinwood’s former big-league moundsman Claude Hendrix in early September, Bowles again victimized the rival club – this time with a no-hitter.20 His strong performance did not go unnoticed. Great Bend offered Bowles $50 per game plus a $1,500 year-end bonus to stay on for the 1922 season.21 Rumors also were circulating that a scout from the Kansas City Blues of the Double-A22 American Association had been giving the “bright” prospect the “once over.”23 And most significantly, the American League’s Chicago White Sox reportedly agreed to give Bowles a future tryout at the behest of Father Edward Cryne, a former collegiate athlete with Windy City roots and important baseball connections who had recently relocated to Larned. “When [Cryne] came West, [White Sox owner Charles] Comiskey, realizing our newly made Kansan’s judgment was good, requested Father Cryne to keep his eye open for big league timber,” reported the Kinsley (Kansas) Mercury.24 Finally ending any further speculation, in November the “sturdy” pitcher with “quite an assortment of stuff” signed with the Little Rock Travelers of the Class-A Southern Association after piquing the interest of the club’s manager, Kid Elberfeld.25

The frenzied activity at the end of the prior year continued into the 1922 campaign for Bowles. Reportedly on the spring camp roster in Seguin, Texas, for his promised tryout with the White Sox, the 6-foot, 180-pounder soon developed a sore arm and was farmed out to Little Rock, where the nagging ailment lingered.26 After getting hammered there in a preseason intrasquad exhibition in which he “was as wild as the proverbial March,” Bowles was demoted to the Joplin Miners of the Class-C Western Association.27 Because this proposed move “didn’t meet with his approval,” he decided instead to return to his old Great Bend club in the semipro ranks as a player-manager to open the regular season.28 The musical chairs resumed in mid-May, when Bowles was picked up by the Hutchinson Wheat Shockers of the Class-C Southwestern League. In his first regular-season appearance in Organized Baseball, Bowles “was pounded at a lively clip” by the Independence Producers in suffering an 8-3 complete-game loss.29 He was promptly released by Hutchinson and returned to Great Bend, where he tossed a no-hitter in recapturing his status as one of the “ranking independent right-handers of the state.”30

Despite the unevenness of his 1922 season to that point, Bowles was nonetheless summoned to report to the White Sox in August.31 Waiting until September 12 to finally make an appearance for the middling Chicago club, he was “hit hard” at Comiskey Park by the Cleveland Indians in his big-league debut.32 After rookie starter Cecil Duff gave up three consecutive hits to start the third inning, Bowles entered the game with one runner aboard and his team down 3-0. Although able to close out the frame, the 24-year-old was touched for two earned runs, two hits, and a walk in his one inning of work. First up to bat for the White Sox in the bottom half of the third, Bowles was replaced by pinch-hitter Augie Swentor, who was also making his premiere in “The Show.” Chicago went on to lose the contest 8-2, and Bowles was released shortly thereafter. The hurler described as dark-complexioned with black hair and blue eyes never appeared in another major-league game. (Neither did Swentor.)

Disappointedly returning to his familiar south central Kansas stamping grounds, Bowles capped his year with a modicum of consolation when he took the mound on October 27 for the independent Belpre club in a barnstorming exhibition tilt against Pratt. The Belpre squad that day included major-league star outfielder Bob Meusel, while Pratt featured none other than Silent Bob’s Yankee teammate Babe Ruth. In “arguably the most infamous case of barnstormers being penalized,” Meusel and Ruth had both been fined and suspended that spring by Commissioner Kenesaw Landis for wrongfully participating in postseason exhibition contests in 1921; this incident led to a loosening of barnstorming restrictions in the summer of 1922.33 Striking out six Pratt batters – including the Bambino – Bowles “shared the biggest honors of the day” with the slugging Meusel in Belpre’s 13-2 victory.34 Prior to his guest spot with Belpre, Bowles had earlier in the month plied his trade with the Little River and Great Bend semipro teams.

Although reportedly under contract with either the Portland Beavers or the Seattle Indians of the Double-A Pacific Coast League for the 1923 season, Bowles “didn’t want to go.”35 Instead, he remained in Kansas playing semipro ball for his old Larned squad. At some point during the year the Wichita Izzies of the Class-A Western League picked up Bowles’ contract, but it does not appear that he ever played for the team.

Continuing to call Kansas home in 1924, Bowles “pitched winning ball” after opening the campaign with the Independence Producers of the Class-D Southwestern League.36 The team ceased operations in early July; shortly thereafter he joined the Topeka Senators of the Class-C Western Association. Despite being awarded the victory in his first start (and appearance) with the team, Bowles was “pounded” and “knocked out of the box” in the high-scoring contest.37 And after being tagged with two losses while pitching poorly in a handful of outings over the subsequent two-week period, he was quickly released by the Senators. At the end of July, Bowles headed back the Southwestern League upon being picked up by the Eureka Oilers, with whom he finished the hectic season.38 All told during his time in the Southwestern loop with Independence and Eureka, the 26-year-old tossed 223 innings in 31 games and posted a 15-12 record with a respectable 4.32 RA9 (total runs, both earned and unearned, allowed per nine innings).

In February 1925 Bowles signed with the Denver Bears of the Class-A Western League for a salary of $300 per month. However, with his old Independence and Eureka clubs both believing they held claims to his services, a contract dispute was ignited. “I do not care with whom I play, but I do wish to make sure of a position,” Bowles said of the predicament.39 Denver ultimately prevailed but released the journeyman hurler toward the end of spring training. Back in the mix, Independence (now a member of the Class-C Western Association) quickly added Bowles to its regular-season roster; however, he “failed to make the grade” and was released after only two weeks without appearing in a game.40 Heading west, Bowles spent the season as the “big ace” of the local semipro club in Florence, Colorado, a town a little over 100 miles south of Denver, where he boasted that he had “as good a curve ball as anybody” that he could throw in a “knothole.”41

Moving about 30 miles east for the 1926 campaign, Bowles signed on as a slabman for the independent Pueblo Fords.42 Late that summer, he also moonlighted for the Wyoming-based Green River club in the Denver Post Tournament.43 Eventually becoming popularly known as the “Little World Series of the West,” this prominent competition (sponsored by its namesake newspaper) drew some of the nation’s best semipro teams.

After a 1927 season spent with the independent club in Rushville, Nebraska, Bowles returned to Pueblo – and Organized Baseball – in 1928, signing with the Steelworkers, the city’s new entry in the Class-A Western League.44 Upon posting an 0-2 record after pitching abysmally in his only two outings, he was released. Bowles remained in Colorado and spent the balance of the campaign tossing for the Leadville club, with which he competed again in that year’s Denver Post Tournament.45

After 10 nomadic seasons, Bowles settled down in Madrid, New Mexico, a booming coal-mining company town located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. There, the “old master” excelled for the semipro Madrid Miners from 1929 to 1938 before finally hanging up his spikes.46 Although the team was made up primarily of miners from the Albuquerque and Cerrillos Coal Company, some “ringers” employed by the business – including Bowles – were “given special privileges” and not required to work underground.47 Behind the “stellar” veteran hurler’s mound exploits, the Miners – whose historic ballpark is said to be the first in the West to have been equipped with lights – became “one of the most feared teams in the Central New Mexico League” in the 1930s.48 Consistently drawing “nearly the entire town” of over 3,000 denizens to home games along with “crowds from around the state,” the team, with Bowles its “legendary” star, became an “institution” in central New Mexico.49 And despite their remote desert locale, the widely popular Miners drew barnstorming opponents of note such as the Detroit Colored Giants, the House of David, and the Zulu Cannibal Giants.50

With World War II pulling many miners into military service and the country simultaneously beginning to decrease its dependence on coal, the flagging mining industry began to suffer. Madrid began a decline to almost ghost-town status by the mid-1950s. It was at that time that Bowles, who had remained in Madrid as a miner until its near bitter end, relocated to the much more vibrant Albuquerque. There, the adopted New Mexican held memberships in the Catholic Church and the American Legion.51 Bowles shared his life with Nora (née Kirkham), a homemaker from his hometown whom he had wed in 1921 in a “seemingly sudden event” that “rather surprised” their friends.52 The union produced three daughters: Wilma Jean, Betty Jo, and Mickie Ann.

On September 3, 1959, Bowles died in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he had been working. Just prior to making a speech at the Flagstaff chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous, the 61-year-old “dropped dead” at the podium of a heart attack.53 Funeral services were held at St. Therese Catholic Church in Albuquerque, with interment nearby at Mount Calvary Cemetery.54

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Kelly Boyer Sagert for her research assistance.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author accessed Bowles’ file from the library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York; Bowles’ player contract card from The Sporting News collection; Ancestry.com; Baseball-Reference.com; Chronicling America; Fold3.com; GenealogyBank.com; NewspaperArchive.com; Newspapers.com; Paper of Record; Retrosheet.org; and Stathead.com.

Notes

1 L.M. Sutter, New Mexico Baseball: Miners, Outlaws, Indians and Isotopes, 1880 to the Present (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2010), 65.

2 Kelly Boyer Sagert, untitled biographical profile from Bowles’ file at the library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

3 Sutter, New Mexico Baseball: Miners, Outlaws, Indians and Isotopes, 1880 to the Present, 68.

4 Mary B. Davis, Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge, 2014), 469.

5 “CPN Family Reunion Festival: Honored Families of 2018,” Citizen Potawatomi Nation, June 25, 2018, potawatomi.org/blog/2018/06/25/honored-families-of-2018, accessed May 27, 2022.

6 “Moving to Indian Territory,” Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center, potawatomiheritage.com/history, accessed June 3, 2022.

7 Sagert, untitled biographical profile from Bowles’ file at the library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

8 1910 US Federal Census.

9 “Wanette,” Oklahoma Historical Society, okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=WA017, accessed May 30, 2022; “Benedictine Beginning: 1875-1891,” Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, archokc.org/history/1875-1891, accessed May 30, 2022.

10 Kate R. Snider, “Wanette,” Shawnee (Oklahoma) Morning News, October 30, 1921: 6.

11 “WWI: The 20th Engineers Regiment (‘Fighting Foresters’),” US Forest Service Southern Research Station,  srs.fs.usda.gov/video/fightingforesters, accessed May 30, 2022; “World War I: 10th and 20th Forestry Engineers,” Forest History Society, foresthistory.org/digital-collections/world-war-10th-20th-forestry-engineers, accessed May 30, 2022.

12 “Local Jottings,” Larned (Kansas) Chronoscope, October 9, 1919: 12.

13 “Beloit Was Too Good,” Hoisington (Kansas) Dispatch, September 4, 1919: 1.

14 Kate R. Snider, “Wanette,” Shawnee Morning News, April 7, 1921: 7.

15 Kate R. Snyder, “Asher,” Shawnee Morning News, June 30, 1920: 5; Kate R. Snyder, “Asher,” Shawnee Morning News, July 4, 1920: 5.

16 “Larned Will Meet Grain Club Today,” Hutchinson (Kansas) Gazette, August 14, 1921: 8.

17 “Larned Will Meet Grain Club Today.”

18 “Larned, With Indian Pitcher, Coming to Play Grain Club,” Hutchinson Gazette, August 13, 1921: 2; “Mound Battle Is Certainty,” Hutchinson News, August 13, 1921: 10.

19 “Chief Bowles May Get League Tryout,” Hutchinson News, September 20, 1921: 13.

20 “Locals Defeated Ellinwood,” Great Bend (Kansas) Daily Tribune, September 6, 1921: 6; “A No-Hit Game for Bowles,” Great Bend Daily Tribune, September 19, 1921: 2.

21 “Big Offer for ‘Chief’ Bowles,” Larned (Kansas) Tiller and Toiler, September 15, 1921: Second Section-1.

22 Double A then was the equivalent of today’s Triple A.

23 “Chief Bowles May Get League Tryout.”

24 “Scouting for Big League,” Kinsley (Kansas) Mercury, October 20, 1921: 5.

25 “Elberfield Signs an Indian Pitcher,” Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock), November 20, 1921: 18.

26 “Local Happenings,” Great Bend Daily Tribune, July 31, 1922: 3.

27 “Tutweiler and Sturdy Join Travelers’ Training Camp; Kidlets Trim Streeties,” Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock), March 14, 1922: 7.

28 “Local Happenings,” Great Bend Daily Tribune, March 25, 1922: 3; “Bowles to Manage Team,” Great Bend Tribune, May 8, 1922: 1.

29 “Bowles Is Hit Hard and Loses,” Hutchinson News, May 19, 1922: 3.

30 “A No-Hit, No-Run Game,” Great Bend Daily Tribune, June 12, 1922: 3; “Pitchers’ Battle Likely Tomorrow,” Hutchinson News, June 17, 1922: 3.

31 “Local Happenings,” Great Bend Daily Tribune, July 31, 1922: 3.

32 “Cleveland Takes 8 to 2 Game from White Sox,” Wilmington (North Carolina) Morning Star, September 13, 1922: 5.

33 Bill Francis, “At Home on the Road,” National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, baseballhall.org/discover-more/history/barnstorming-tours, accessed June 16, 2022.

34 “Local Happenings,” Great Bend Daily Tribune, October 28, 1922: 3.

35 “‘Rusty’ Pitched Two-Hit Game,” Ness County News (Ness City, Kansas), May 5, 1923: 1; “Chief Bowles Reports to Wichita,” Larned Tiller and Toiler, September 20, 1923: 2.

36 “The Fanning Bee Hive,” Hutchinson News, July 14, 1924: 3.

37 “The Fanning Bee Hive.”

38 “Eureka Hires New Pitchers,” Emporia (Kansas) Daily Gazette, July 30, 1924: 8.

39 “Fight Over Contract,” Wichita Daily Eagle, February 14, 1925: 3.

40 “Same Old Faces and Many New Ones in Western Association This Year,” Ardmore (Oklahoma) Daily Press, April 16, 1925: 2; “The Fanning Bee Hive.”

41 “Florence, Colorado, Enters Post’s Tenth Annual Baseball Tournament,” Denver Post, July 28, 1925: 17; Sagert, untitled biographical profile from Bowles’ file at the library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

42 Leo Hoban, “North Denver Merchants Down Knights of Columbus, 10-8, in Elitch League,” Denver Post, May 10, 1926: 15.

43 C.L. Parsons, “Cheyenne and Woodmen Win Wednesday Afternoon Games in Post Tourney,” Denver Post, September 2, 1926: 22.

44 “Bats Will Swing at Hemingford,” Alliance (Nebraska) Times and Herald, April 26, 1927: 1.

45 “Leadville Wins From Rifle, 6-5,” Denver Post, July 17, 1928: 18; “Boulder and Texon Post Tourney Winners,” Denver Post, August 5, 1928: Section 5-3.

46 “Bowles Yields But 5 Hits to Local Ball Club,” Albuquerque Journal, August 11, 1930: 2.

47 Levi Weaver, “Miner Leagues: Discovering a Hidden Baseball Treasure in Madrid, New Mexico,” The Athletic, January 15, 2019, theathletic.com/756090/2019/01/15/miner-leagues-discovering-a-hidden-baseball-treasure-in-madrid-new-mexico, accessed June 19, 2022; Laurie Evans Frantz, The Turquoise Trail (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2013), 59.

48 Sutter, New Mexico Baseball: Miners, Outlaws, Indians and Isotopes, 1880 to the Present, 68; William M. Simons, The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 2005-2006 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2007), 135.

49 Weaver, “Miner Leagues: Discovering a Hidden Baseball Treasure in Madrid, New Mexico”; Sutter, New Mexico Baseball: Miners, Outlaws, Indians and Isotopes, 1880 to the Present, 68.

50 Simons, The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 2005-2006, 140-141.

51 “Emmett J. Bowles Dies in Arizona,” Albuquerque Tribune, September 4, 1959: A-2.

52 Kate R. Snider, “Wanette,” Shawnee Morning News, April 29, 1921: 6.

53 “Albuquerque Man Dies at Meeting,” Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff), September 4, 1959: 10.

54 “Bowles Rites Set,” Albuquerque Tribune, September 7, 1959: B-1.

Bruce was a serious and intelligent man. His baseball career helped finance his education; before joining the A’s, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dentistry. Bruce went on to obtain another degree in theology from Syracuse University and became a Methodist minister. He served 11 different churches (including tribal congregations) in central and upstate New York over a 38-year period.

In addition, Bruce sought to help indigenous peoples in secular life. He was an active proponent of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which granted Indians suffrage. His son, Louis Rooks Bruce, carried on this tradition as an organizer of the National Congress of American Indians (founded in 1944) and U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1969 to 1972.

Louis Bruce was born in St. Regis, New York, on January 16, 1877.2 This is part of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in Franklin County. It is way upstate, lying on the St. Lawrence River across from Cornwall, Ontario. Some sources show Bruce as being born in the neighboring village of Hogansburg, New York. Hogansburg is the location of the Akwesasne Cultural Center. (“Akwesasne” is the Mohawks’ name for their nation.)

Bruce’s parents were John Bruce and Christine Benedict. Further detail on siblings is scanty, though the 1887 census of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation shows John Bruce as the head of a household of seven. John was a Mohawk chief, although his basic occupation was farming. Louis eventually inherited the family property and later passed it on to his son. One of John Bruce’s most remarkable accomplishments, however, was fighting on behalf of the British crown in Africa in the mid-1880s. He was part of a contingent of about 60 Mohawks in the expedition that attempted to rescue General Charles Gordon when he was besieged in Khartoum, Sudan. Bruce served as a boatman, won two medals, and was taken on visits to Asia and Australia.3

At the age of seven, Louis Bruce went to live and study at the Lincoln Institute in Philadelphia, which was founded in 1866.4 According to his grandson, Don Bruce, “Grampa was one of the few Indians who wasn’t taken away to school – he wanted to go. He always wanted to further himself in life.” In addition to his studies and athletic pursuits, at Lincoln Louis met a girl named Noresta Rooks, who was born in Nebraska to a mixed-blood Sioux mother and a Caucasian father from Missouri.5 Their friendship later blossomed into marriage in 1904.6

Bruce went from Lincoln to Philadelphia’s Central High School, “where he excelled as a student and as an athlete before graduating with an A.B. degree in 1899.”7 According to a 1903 article in Sporting Life, he “played with Westchester, Atlantic City, and Morristown, semi-amateur teams. He started out as an outfielder, and began pitching in 1899 for Morristown.” He was discovered by Ed Barrow, who later attained fame as manager of the Boston Red Sox and then as business manager of the New York Yankees.8 Barrow became manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern League in 1900, and Bruce was one of his first signings.9

As Barrow biographer Daniel Levitt wrote, “Players like Bruce who could both pitch and play the field offered important versatility when competing for minimal roster spots.”10 For the Maple Leafs in 1900, the Mohawk batted .275 in 60 games, while going 6-5 on the mound. Bruce spent time in Toronto during the winter, and as Sporting Life wrote, “made many friends by his quiet behavior.” The news snippet quoted him as saying, “This is the way I am.”11

In 1901, Bruce lifted his average to .322 in 101 games. Baseball-reference.com shows no records for him as a pitcher that season; a May account in Sporting Life showed that Ed Barrow had focused him on left field, though there was “talk of putting Bruce on the rubber again.”12 Indeed, he did pitch at least once that year, a complete-game 4-2 win on May 28.13 In the fall of 1901, Bruce began attending dental school at Penn. By that time, his family was living on Cornwall Island, Ontario, on the St. Lawrence River, very close to his birthplace.

Bruce excelled with Toronto in 1902, in particular as a pitcher. He was 18-2 in his 20 appearances for the Eastern League champions, allowing just 38 runs and pitching five shutouts.14 As Sporting Life wrote that June, “the Toronto Indian is pitching a wonderful article of ball for Ed Barrow. Bruce is one of the most valuable men in the league, all positions appearing the same to him.”15 He batted .313 in 88 games overall, as his season did not begin until May 15 owing to his school commitment.16

Sporting Life reported in October 1902 that the Cincinnati Reds invited Bruce to spring training for 1903.17 No further news on this topic surfaced in the paper, though, and he continued to do it all for the Maple Leafs that year, batting .356 in 100 games and going 12-4 as a pitcher. According to the Toronto Mail, “Not even the redoubtable Jimmy Casey, in the heyday of his popularity in Toronto, was ever as warm a favorite as Louis Bruce, the clever twirler and utility man of the Toronto Club. Bruce is a natural ball player. While small in stature, he has tremendous strength and stamina, and unquestioned ability. His remarkable pitching since he played with the Toronto Club has created a sensation. He is also one of the leading batsmen of the Eastern League, and probably without a peer as an emergency hitter.”18

That year, Arthur Irwin – the Toronto native and former big-leaguer who succeeded Ed Barrow as manager of the Leafs – hung a $5,000 price tag on Bruce.19 That reportedly scared away some clubs, but not the Philadelphia Athletics. Connie Mack purchased Bruce’s rights that September, later turning over pitcher Connie McGeehan (who was 1-0 in his only three big-league appearances for the A’s in 1903) as partial consideration.20

Bruce married Noresta Rooks, also known as Nellie, on February 20, 1904. Shortly thereafter, he finished dental school. He was vice president of his class in his senior year, captain of the class baseball team, and manager of the class football team in 1903.

Bruce did not report to the A’s until after they finished their “western” swing – St. Louis, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit – on June 18.21 He made his debut on June 22 and appeared in 30 games altogether for Connie Mack, batting .267 in 112 plate appearances with no homers and 8 RBIs. He had three extra-base hits, all doubles, out of his 27 safeties. Of his two pitching appearances, one was a strong effort in long relief on July 6. On the road in New York, he allowed one run on three hits in six innings after the Highlanders took an early 6-0 lead (the final was 7-1). In the other, on July 21 at Philadelphia, he entered in the fifth inning as Cleveland led 8-1. This time he was hit hard, giving up six runs (five earned) in five innings. As a result, his final ERA in the majors was 4.91.

In late July, Sporting Life wrote, “Bruce is available as a pinch hitter and all around substitute, but apparently not quite the real thing, either as outfielder or as a pitcher.”22 On August 16, the Hartford Courant added, “Connie Mack does not think as much of Bruce as he did in the spring. He has sent the little bronze-faced pitcher to the Toronto club for more experience.”23 Philadelphia loaned Bruce to Toronto, which badly wanted him back. He got into 16 games for the Maple Leafs (.171, 4-3 as pitcher) and rejoined the A’s in mid-September. His final game in the majors came on the season’s last day, October 10.

Right around then, Sporting Life reiterated, “Manager Mack seems to have little confidence in the Indian, either as fielder or pitcher.”24 Nonetheless, Bruce was with the A’s at their 1905 spring training camp in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was apparently suffering from a sore arm.25 He bounced back, however; as the Chicago Tribune wrote on April 9, “Bruce, the Indian pitcher, has done remarkably well in the practice and Manager Mack probably will use him in some of the big games before the close of [the exhibition season].”26

On May 6, however, Sporting Life reported, “Louis Bruce has been disposed of by the Athletic Club to the [Indianapolis] Hoosiers. . .The lad’s hitting was not up to Manager Mack’s requirements.”27 The manager in Indianapolis was old friend Ed Barrow. Bruce got into 132 games that year in the American Association, batting .252 and posting a 1-2 record on the mound. His career trailed off after that, as he played just 30 games for Columbus (also in the AA) in 1906. He turned down a deal to become manager-captain of Newark that June, as he hoped to return to Toronto.28

Bruce’s last professional action came with the Binghamton Bingoes of the New York State League (Class B) in 1907. Statistics are lacking, but that August, Sporting Life wrote, “Lou Bruce, of whom great things were expected, proved a positive failure.”29

Bruce then returned to family life. He and Nellie welcomed their other child, a daughter also named Noresta, in 1908. Son Louis had arrived near the end of 1906. “By 1910, Bruce had finished his degree in theology, gave up his job as a mechanic in a typewriter company and began his Methodist ministry on the Onondaga Indian Reservation.”30 He also established a dental practice in Syracuse at that time.

Bruce believed strongly in the value of education. In 1918, he issued the following statement with regard to his people:

“The reservation blocks the progress of the Indian. Present conditions make it impossible to succeed there. I do not think I would ever return to make it my home again. We Indians must think of the future. We have a duty to perform which our ancestors shirked when they sold all the ancient lands. They did not think of us who were to come after them. They gave up their broad domains for a mess of pottage. They thought only of themselves, but we are thinking of our children and we must provide for them, and strive that they obtain an education which will fit them for the struggle of life in competition to-day.”31

Bruce, a “stern but loving” father, instilled this value in his son. He sent young Louis to Cazenovia Seminary, a Methodist school in Cazenovia, New York, where the lad was the only Indian student.32 Bruce was also strongly against drinking alcohol, the scourge of so many Indian nations.33

“The great battle of [Bruce’s] life was for Indian citizenship and he campaigned on all the New York reservations.”34 In 1921, The Southern Workman identified him as “among the noteworthy leaders of the citizenship movement.”35 There was a serious debate among the six Iroquois Nations on this topic, though. In May 1919, the New York Indian Welfare Society met to confer on “their present and future needs. . .The temporary chairman was Jesse Lyon, the courier of the Six Nations. Mr Lyon is a stalwart exponent of the old regime and is bitterly opposed to citizenship, preferring the citizenship of his tribe to that of the United States.” Even so, at that meeting Bruce was elected an officer of the society.36

One wonders what Bruce would have thought of developments in the Mohawk nation in more recent years: casinos, tax-free cigarette and gasoline sales, and outbreaks of violence on the St. Regis Reservation. It’s probably safe to conclude that his beliefs in religion and citizenship would have led him to deplore all these things.

Bruce retired from his ministry in 1949. Six years before, his wife Nellie had died. The widower survived her for a quarter-century; among other things, he instructed his grandson when Don played baseball as a youth. He died at the age of 91 on February 9, 1968, at his daughter’s home in Ilion, New York. Although his big-league career was brief and took place over a hundred years ago, Louis Bruce’s conduct off the field remains his enduring accomplishment. As a 1922 Methodist publication observed, “he was said by Connie Mack to be ‘one of the best influences he ever had on the team.'”37

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Don Bruce for memories of his grandfather.

Sources

Biographical sketch of Louis Bruce in University of Pennsylvania Archives (http://www.archives.upenn.edu/people/1800s/bruce_louis_r.html)

1904 University of Pennsylvania Yearbook (http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/archives/image.html?id=ARCHIVES_20051102003&)

Richardson, Jane. Chief of the Chiefs (biography of Bruce’s son, Louis Rooks Bruce). Colorado Springs, Colorado: Thistle Publishing, 2008. Abstracts from this book are available at the author’s website: http://www.janerichardson.com/chiefofthechiefs/default.asp.

www.la84foundation.org (Sporting Life online)

www.ancestry.com

www.baseball-reference.com

www.retrosheet.org

Photo Credits

Bruce at bat: Courtesy of Don Bruce and the Iroquois Indian Museum

Head shot: University of Pennsylvania Archives