Abbey doggedly zig-zagged his way through the loosely knit minor leagues with uneven progression. He was an anomaly as a lefty second baseman early on before he moved to the outfield, where he played in the majors. Abbey was called one of the greatest outfielders of the mid-1890s. Off the playing field, he was a journalist, who rose from the managerial ranks of the Falls City Journal to the managerial ranks of the Washington Post. More than a dozen years after he retired as a player, he pursued a role as an umpire in the amateur baseball leagues of Washington, D.C. Abbey gained great popularity in Washington as a player and an umpire, but he suffered a succession of devastating personal losses later in life.

Charles Scofield Abbey was born on October 14, 1866, on a farm near Salem, Nebraska,3 to Wallace W. (W.W.) and Alzina (Worth) Abbey. Abbey’s parents were prairie pioneers. W.W. had been a captain in the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war the Abbeys moved from Illinois to Kansas-Nebraska Territory, where W.W. farmed and Alzina kept house. Charlie had four sisters. Alzina died in 1893; W.W. then married Lillis Rhodes in 1895. The two had a daughter and a son.4

Abbey attended Falls City public schools.5 After his schooling he assisted in the clerk’s office of the United States district court in Lincoln.6 In 1885 he began “the study of law with Judge (Isham) Reavis.”7

But Abbey didn’t become a lawyer. Instead, he became increasingly interested in baseball, as did Falls City. On June 19, 1885, the Falls City Journal impatiently asked, “Where is our base ball club this summer?”8 The Falls City Daily News opined on July 30 that “Falls City needs a base ball club, if she expects to keep pace with St. Joe [Missouri] and Atchison [Kansas].”9 Two weeks later the same paper announced that a baseball club had been organized in Falls City, with Charley Abbey as a left fielder on the club.10 However, baseball wasn’t yet a full-time occupation for Abbey, who in 1886 also was “a student of the college at York [Nebraska].”11

On December 1, 1886, the York Republican reported that “C.S. Abbey left for Falls City … to take a position on the Journal. … His father has bought the paper, and the style of the firm will be W.W. Abbey & Son.”12

Abbey’s newspaper assignment gave him ample opportunity to pursue his burgeoning baseball interests. In late August 1887 it was reported that “he will play ball with the [Falls City] Blues. As a second baseman Charlie is hard to beat, and as a hitter he will greatly strengthen the sluggers. He is one.”13 He was named team captain14 and locally was touted “as good a second baseman as there is in Nebraska outside the league clubs.” With Abbey at second base, the Blues’ infield was described as one “that will paralyze any club in the state that employs no professional players.”15

In mid-February 1888 the Falls City Daily News forewarned that if “Falls City is backward in organizing a club, Dave Reavis will sign with the Stellas [Nebraska] to play short, and Charley Abbey with the Humboldts [Nebraska]. Should these two ‘standbys’ leave Falls City it is feared that base ball will have little recognition here.”16 Abbey didn’t leave — he maintained his ties to the home team, at least for a while.17

In early July 1888 the Beatrice, Nebraska, newspapers chronicled the creation of a “new base ball club … known as ‘Thrift’s garlands.’”18 “The Beatrice baseball club is the finest in the state,” proclaimed the Falls City Journal.19 The Falls City Daily News reported that “Charley Abbey has been playing ball with the ‘Garlands’ of Beatrice. It is a noticeable fact that the ‘Garlands’ have won every game in which Charley participated.”20 The Garlands concluded their ’88 season, amassing a record of 23–2, and broke up. The Beatrice Republican said, “The club has been quite an advertisement for the city, almost every paper in the state having given the Garlands of Beatrice a notice in its columns.”21

Abbey became “business manager and local editor” of the Falls City Journal in January 1889.22 Then in mid-May he left Falls City and took a position on the Kearney (Nebraska) Enterprise,23 while playing first base with a club in Kearney. On August 9 Abbey’s Kearney team completed a statewide road trip, going 12–0, while twice blanking state champion Grand Island. Abbey also tied for the lead in hitting.24

At 22, Abbey decided to become a professional baseball player with the Des Moines Prohibitionists of the Western Association (WA). The Falls City Journal noted that “Charley Abbey is getting quite a reputation as a baseball player. He played left field for Des Moines … at Omaha and received some very complimentary notices from the Omaha papers.”25 During a six-game stint, he went 9-for–24 (.375).

That Christmas Abbey reported he had signed with Des Moines for $1,500 (equivalent to roughly $47,000 in 2022) for the 1890 season.26 But he didn’t join the Prohibitionists, who subsequently relocated to Lincoln on August 1. Instead, Abbey played the ’90 season with the St. Paul Apostles of the WA. The Apostles carried 13 men on their roster, with Abbey one of two potential right fielders.27 Near season’s end, Abbey was the Apostles’ leading hitter.28

That winter he toiled as a clerk in the auditor’s office in Sioux City.29 During the off-season the Omaha Daily Bee opined that many Omaha fans “would like to see Charley Abbey wearing an Omaha uniform next season.”30 However, Omaha didn’t sign Abbey in ’91.

The Falls City Daily News said St. Paul opened the ’91 season with a win over Cincinnati (Cincinnati was not a member of the WA that season). Reportedly Abbey clubbed six extra-base hits — a homer, two triples, and three doubles.31 In an April 25 3–1 win over Lincoln, Abbey singled twice and tripled. The Nebraska State Journal proudly noted, “These Nebraska grown boys always are hard to beat.”32 Abbey had grown to 5’8½” and weighed 169 pounds.

On June 21, the Omaha Daily Bee asked, “What has become of Charlie Abbey?”33 The answer came in mid-July: The Falls City Journal reported that “Charley is a member of the Duluth [Minnesota] ball team but is laid up with a sore knee and will remain at home until able to go to work again.”34

The Apostles had moved to Duluth on June 8, but Abbey didn’t follow them. He was on the St. Paul roster only six weeks, playing in 24 games. He disappointed, hitting a career low .198, his sore knee possibly a factor. However, on July 27 Abbey was called up by the Portland [Oregon] Gladiators35 of the four-team Pacific Northwestern League (PNL). He played the outfield in 38 games, hit .262, and stole 14 bases. Portland finished 58–40 and won the ’91 PNL pennant.

In 1892 Abbey joined the Columbus (Ohio) Reds of the eight-team Class A Western League (WL), after the collapse of the WA. He played in 65 games and hit just .230. The Reds finished first with a record of 46–26, but the WL folded on July 11, largely because of wet weather and a lack of fan support.36 Abbey remained in the Upper Midwest to close out ’92 playing for the Ishpeming-Negaunee [Michigan] Unions and the Marinette [Wisconsin] Badgers of the Wisconsin-Michigan League.

The Falls City Journal announced Abbey’s resignation from the role of editor in mid-March 1893. He was departing for Chattanooga, Tennessee,37 where he played 94 games for the Chattanooga Warriors of the Class B Southern Association. He was an outfielder and walloped .313, with 29 extra-base hits, including two home runs. He also pitched a complete game and won. Abbey was a skilled defender: “Charlie Abbey the old Omaha fielder (sic) made the most sensational catch in centerfield yesterday that was ever witnessed here. … [It] looked like a ‘homer,’ but Abbey turned, sprinted to the fence … and nailed it with both hands over his head.”38 Abbey also was the Warriors’ team captain.39

In mid-August, the Falls City Journal proudly proclaimed Abbey’s promotion to the major league: He had accepted “a proposition from the Washington, DC, team of the National League. … [We] are glad to hear of his continued advancement.”40 His signing with the Senators was “upon the recommendation of Gus Schmelz,” who managed Abbey at Columbus, and Chattanooga, acting as a scout for J. Earl Wagner, the Washington owner.41

Abbey premiered on August 16, 1893. He played 31 games in left field for the last-place Senators under future Hall of Famer Jim O’Rourke. Abbey batted .259, with 25 of his 30 hits being singles. He collected 12 RBIs and stole nine bases. He fielded .937. His major-league debut, however, was tainted by the death of mother in October.42

In 1894 Abbey, now 27, manufactured his best season for the 11th-place Senators. He batted .314, had 51 hits for extra bases, drove in 101 runs, stole 31 bases, and received 58 bases on balls, all career highs. He scored 95 runs and clouted seven homers. In the outfield he handled 407 chances while recording 344 putouts (second in the league), 26 assists and six double plays, while committing 37 errors for a .909 fielding percentage. Abbey appeared in 129 of the 132 games that Washington played that year.

National League Umpire Tim Hurst regarded Abbey as “one of the best outfielders in the league. … [He] is fast enough to play in any team in the league. He picks out the good balls delivered … with rare judgment. He is a hard hitter, a brilliant fielder and the best baserunner in the team.” Best of all, he “plays ball from start to finish, and has no time for kicking.”43

During a 9-6 loss to the Cleveland Spiders June 5, Abbey hit a first-inning two-strike inside-the-park home run to deep center field off future Hall of Fame great Cy Young.44 He also demonstrated another weapon when “(Piggy) Ward … scored on Abbey’s bunt and marvelous slide to first. It was a very pretty play.”45 In a June 22 drubbing of the Boston Beaneaters, 26–12, Abbey had a five-hit game.46 The Nebraska State Journal on July 8 declared that “Abbey is [the] most popular Washington player.”47

After a July 20 12–8 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, it was printed that “Abbey is deserving of credit for excellent throws from the field to third base and home respectively.”48 However, one Washington Times scribe, after a doubleheader loss to the Orioles on August 1, wrote that “Abbey’s baserunning was very amateurish and he should have been severely reprimanded.”49

The Senators scored a 6–2 win over Young and the Spiders on August 16, with Abbey tripling, scoring once, and stealing two bases.50 The Senators routed the Chicago Colts, 14–3, on August 23 and moved out of last place while Abbey recorded four singles, a triple, a run scored, and a stolen base.51

National League President Nick Young candidly discussed the challenges of forming a new baseball association in the October 20 Evening Star. Among his observations and opinions, he called Charlie Abbey “one of the greatest outfielders in the league.”52

That fall, Abbey became a dual sport athlete. “In 1894, a group of baseball owners … created the nation’s first professional soccer league, the American League of Professional Football (ALPF). … The owners allowed the baseball managers to run the soccer clubs. … Joining [Washington Senators] manager Schmelz from the baseball side was Charlie Abbey, the only Senator to suit up for both baseball and soccer entities.”53 The October 20 Evening Star said “Abbey … understands the game and promises to be as conspicuous … as he was in the great national game.”54 He played pro soccer just that one year.

The Senators departed on March 2, 1895, for spring training in Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia.55 The Omaha Daily Bee reported two weeks later that future Hall of Famer “Buck Ewing declares that Charlie Abbey is the best fielder in the country.”56

Abbey didn’t replicate his ’94 output in 1895, but he still led the league in defensive games played, 133, and assists with 34. He was second in double plays turned as an outfielder with eight, but his error total was 34. He fielded .902. Abbey hit a respectable .275, cracked eight home runs (five was the NL average in ’95), a career high at all professional levels, and knocked in 84. He also stole 28 bases.

A July 14 game in Cincinnati, won by the Senators 6–3, was witnessed by 12,000 fans. The game summary headlined: “Charlie Abbey the Star.” The sportswriter stated that “Abbey’s fielding was the best that’s ever been seen on the local grounds. Twice during the game, he prevented the home team from winning by sensational catches.”57 In a lopsided 17-5 loss to the New York Giants on July 30, Abbey homered off future Hall of Fame pitcher Amos Rusie.

The Washington Times in mid-September lauded Abbey as player, journalist, and role model. “Charlie Abbey … is one of the fastest fielders in the business. … Charlie is a scribe during the winter season. … [He] has worked on the staff of several Southern papers. … [No] player stands higher in the estimation of the baseball public than this gentle fielder, of the Washington club.”58

On August 20, in an 8–7 loss to Cleveland and starter Young, Abbey stroked four hits, including a double and triple.59 The Evening Star speculated, “If Charlie Abbey had hit the ball throughout the season as he has been hitting it during the past six weeks he would be up among the first dozen sluggers of the league.”60

In an 8-5 win over Boston and future Hall of Fame pitcher Kid Nichols on September 28, Abbey singled twice and scored two runs. The Senators finished in 10th place.

The Senators opened the ’96 season on April 16 with a 6–3 win over the New York Giants. Abbey’s play in right field was outstanding. He “had done the bulk of the work, accepting nine chances … one of them a circus catch. It was the old Charley Abbey, he of 1894.”61

Despite some decline in hitting and fielding, Abbey’s base stealing acumen remained keen. In a 9–5 win over the Orioles in late April, “Charlie Abbey … in the ninth inning … stole home. … [He] got a big start while Arlie] Pond wasn’t watching … It was a daring play and further discomfited the Orioles.”62

During an 18–5 loss to the Reds May 26, Abbey again flashed signs of past brilliance. “The fielding play of the game was Abbey’s catch of Frank] Dwyer’s long fly to center. … The strawberry blonde made a great sprint backwards, caught the ball, and held it as he stumbled to the ground.”63 However as the season wore on, a critique in the Evening Star complained that “Abbey is playing a shaky game.”64 An item from the Morning Times said the Senators might trade Abbey to the Louisville Colonels. The Washington Times objected, and the deal didn’t develop.65

Abbey’s big-league career appeared to be losing steam. He collected just 79 hits in 79 contests in 1896. His batting average closed at .263. Still, he stole 27 bases. In the outfield, he committed 16 errors in 132 chances, and fielded a career-low .879. He also pitched two innings, allowing one earned run, with no decision. After the season, the Evening Times reported that “Charley Abbey, the utility outfielder, is engaged on the Washington Post.”66

Prior to the 1897 season opener, the Washington Senators team went to the White House and met newly inaugurated President William McKinley. The Senators invited the commander in chief to their season opener. Purportedly a baseball enthusiast, McKinley said he would attend if his schedule permitted.67

The ’97 Senators reached the first division of the 12-club National League, finishing tied with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms for sixth place. After the team started 9–25–2, Schmelz was replaced by Tom Brown on June 9. The Senators went 52–46–1 the remainder of the year.

Abbey’s season also got off to a slow start. On May 23 he was batting under .200,68 but by June 1, he was hitting .255 and fielding .947.69 His baserunning, however, was described as “wretched” in the Washington Times, which suggested benching him.70 Less than a week later, in a 9–3 victory over the St. Louis Browns, Abbey’s play drew favorable comparison with that of future Hall of Famer, Willie Keeler. Abbey “snatched a line hit … while on a dead run” looking into the sun.71 Brown later said, “Charley Abbey was another crackerjack of a sun fielder.”72

In a 7–2 win over Brooklyn on August 13, “Abbey was exceedingly fast and his lightning throw … cut Fielder] Jones down at third.”73 But on August 19, in his final game with the Senators, Abbey went 0-for-4 in a 10–4 loss to the Chicago Colts and future Hall of Famer Clark Griffith.74 Washington released Charlie Abbey on August 21.

Over a five-year major-league career, Abbey had a .281/.351/.404 slash line in 452 games. He stroked 493 base hits, 132 for extra bases, including 19 home runs, with 280 RBIs. Abbey stole 93 bases and accumulated 709 total bases. In the outfield he handled 1,112 chances, recorded 920 putouts, with 92 assists, and committed 100 errors. He generated 19 double plays and fielded .910.

Abbey wasn’t quite finished as a player. He joined the Providence Clamdiggers of the Class A Eastern League on August 25. The Omaha Evening Bee noted that since Abbey had joined the Providence team, they’d won nine in a row.75 Abbey played in 30 games with Providence, recording 31 base hits for a .274 batting average. That stint brought his professional baseball career to an end.

After the season, the Evening Star announced Abbey’s betrothal to “one of Washington’s most charming girls, Miss Felicita Roman.”76 The Fall River (Massachusetts) Globe boasted, “The bride is said to be one of the handsomest young women in Washington.”77 They were married October 11, 1897, in Washington, D.C.78

In November 1899, the couple welcomes a daughter, Lucille.79 The Abbeys resided in Washington, D.C., and six years later, on January 7, 1906, a son, John Roman, was born to Charlie and Felicita. Sadly, the infant died from neonatal jaundice seven days later.80 Little more than two weeks hence, Abbey was injured in a bizarre hit-and-run accident. The Washington Times reported that he “was knocked down and run over by a Le Droit Park car at Fourteenth and E Streets northwest yesterday morning (January 30).”81

Abbey’s encounter was reported in multiple national newspapers, which is how the Falls City community learned of his misfortune. To spare them anguish, he deliberately had not told his family and friends about what happened.82 Naturally, there were conflicting details about the sequence of events, but according to a lawsuit later filed by Abbey, he was walking along Pennsylvania Avenue before sunrise near the Washington Post building. He looked west and saw a streetcar speeding toward him and assumed it would slow down and stop as required, but it didn’t — it sped up. He shifted to avoid being hit but stepped in a low-lying spot and fell, his left arm caught on the track. The front and back streetcar wheels ran over his left forearm doing irreparable damage.83 Abbey got up, walked into the office of the Post and referring to his injury, said “This looks pretty serious.” It was. He was rushed to the hospital where surgeons amputated his left arm above the elbow. He remained for treatment and recovery.84

A year later, Abbey sued the Anacostia and Potomac River Railroad company “for the loss of his left arm by the alleged negligence of the defendant.” The damages sought were $25,000 (about $765,000 in 2022). The railroad company proposed a settlement of $7,000, but Abbey refused that offer85 and continued the suit. The February 22, 1908, issue of the Washington Herald referenced the case as No. 45, in Circuit Court No. 1 under Justice Wright. No newspaper report of a court decision was found, however.

Ten years after he retired from baseball, Abbey also retired from the Washington Post. The June 18, 1907 Washington Herald reported that Abbey “has taken a position with the Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York” in the insurance industry.86

But the game brought him back again. The July 14, 1910, Washington Times noted that Abbey had filled in as an umpire in a Suburban League game and “made a big hit with the crowd.”87 The Evening Star noted that umpire Abbey “has now gone through six games without a kick being made, which shows that there is class to his work.”88 During the ’97 NL season, he had acted as an arbiter at first base for two games.

Abbey’s selection “as the official umpire of the Departmental League” in late March 1911 was met “with general approval.”89 But two months later Abbey resigned from the post to devote “more time to his personal business.”90

By 1914 the Abbeys had relocated to Seattle, Washington. The Seattle Star reported a break-in and theft. Their home “was entered by burglars last night [September 10]. A quantity of valuable jewelry was taken.”91

Abbey’s father, W.W., passed away on April 13, 1916, at Falls City. Charlie was unable to return in time for the funeral on April 16.92

According to the 1920 federal census, Abbey and Felicita were divorced, and he was residing as a lodger in Seattle. His occupation was listed as solicitor in the advertising industry.93 Felicita had married William R. Duff on November 26, 1917, in Washington, D.C., and Lucille, a government clerk, lived with them.94

The January 25, 1923, Falls City Journal printed letters from former residents, who reflected on their experiences living in Falls City. John Towle, Omaha, wrote: “I recall … when Charley Abbey was the Managing Editor. He not only was a great base ball player himself, but he took an interest in the games of younger boys. He would even permit us to write accounts of our games and publish our scores in full in his columns.”95

Abbey, 59, died April 27, 1926, in San Francisco, California. His death occurred “On Arrival [at] Park Emergency Hospital.” The fatal cause was “Rupture of dissecting aneurism of ascending aorta.”96 In other words, he bled to death internally.97 Abbey was laid to rest in the family plot at Steele Cemetery, Falls City, Nebraska. His headstone is marked “CHARLIE.”98

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the Falls City, Nebraska, Public Library staff for introducing me to John Martin, great-nephew of Charlie Abbey. John then introduced me to his son, Chris, the family genealogist. Chris Martin answered many questions via e-mail, provided some Abbey family history, and shared several links to unique photographs of Abbey. Their assistance was invaluable.

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Will Christensen and fact-checked by Kevin Larkin and Alan Cohen.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-almanac.com, Baseball-reference.com, Retrosheet.org, SABR.org, and StatsCrew.com.

Notes

1 history.nebraska.gov, It was the first of two official nicknames for the state of Nebraska, 1895.

2 Thomas Beer, The Mauve Decade: American Life at the End of the Nineteenth Century, New York: A.A. Knopf, 1926.

3 “Charles S. Abbey Dies in California,” Falls City (Nebraska) Daily News, May 5, 1926: 1.

4 Abbey family tree, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/180615832/person/222348930967/facts

5 “Charles S. Abbey Dies in California.”

6 Nebraska (Lincoln) State Journal, February 8, 1885: 8.

7 Falls City (Nebraska) Journal, April 3, 1885: 5.

8 Falls City Journal, June 19, 1885: 8.

9 Falls City (Nebraska) Daily News, July 30, 1885: 3.

10 Falls City Daily News, August 13, 1885: 3.

11 Falls City Journal, June 25, 1886: 5.

12 York (Nebraska) Republican, December 1, 1886: 3.

13 Falls City Daily News, August 26, 1887: 5.

14 “Falls City Vs. Sabetha,” Falls City Journal, August 26, 1887: 5.

15 “Baseball Notes,” Falls City Journal, August 26, 1887: 5.

16 Falls City Daily News, February 17, 1888: 5.

17 Falls City Daily News, April 13, 1888: 5.

18 Beatrice (Nebraska) Republican, July 7, 1888: 3.

19 Falls City Journal, August 7, 1888: 8.

20 Falls City Daily News, September 14, 1888: 7.

21 Beatrice Republican, October 13, 1888: 1.

22 Verdon (Nebraska) Vedette, January 11, 1889: 5.

23 Falls City Journal, May 17, 1889: 8.

24 Falls City Journal, August 9, 1889: 5.

25 Falls City Journal, September 27, 1889: 8.

26 Falls City Daily News, December 27, 1889: 5.

27 “Flashes from the Diamond,” Omaha (Nebraska) Daily Bee, April 6, 1890: 5.

28 “Talk in the Grandstand,” Omaha Daily Bee, September 21, 1890: 16.

29 Omaha Daily Bee, February 8, 1891: 13.

30 “Miscellaneous Sports,” Omaha Daily Bee, October 19, 1890: 9.

31 Falls City Daily News, April 17, 1891: 2.

32 “Base Ball Briefs,” Nebraska State Journal, April 26, 1891: 2.

33 “With Your Morning’s Coffee,” Omaha Daily Bee, June 21, 1891: 16.

34 Falls City Journal, July 17, 1891: 3.

35 Falls City Daily News, July 31, 1891: 3.

36 W.C. Madden and Patrick J. Stewart, The Western League: A Baseball History, 1885 through 1999 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2002), 32.

37 Falls City Journal, March 17, 1893: 8.

38 Omaha Daily Bee, April 16, 1893: 18.

39 Falls City Journal, August 18, 1893: 5.

40 Falls City Journal, August 18, 1893: 5.

41 Omaha Daily Bee, September 10, 1892: 11

42 “Charley Abbey Loses His Mother,” Omaha Evening Bee, October 31, 1893: 2.

43 “Notes of the Players,” (Washington, DC) Evening Star, June 2, 1894: 7.

44 “Second Won by Cleveland,” Washington Times, June 6, 1894: 4.

45 “An Exciting Game,” Evening Star, June 12, 1894: 7.

46 “No Trouble with Lovett,” Washington Times, June 23, 1894: 4.

47 “Baseball Notes,” Nebraska State Journal, July 8, 1894: 10.

48 “Not The Umpire This Time,” Evening Star, July 21, 1894: 18.

49 “Won Both Games,” Washington Times, August 2, 1894: 4.

50 “Senators Again Victorious,” Washington Times, August 17, 1894: 4.

51 “Smothered The Colts,” Washington Times, August 24, 1894: 4.

52 “‘Uncle Nick’ Undisturbed,” Evening Star, October 20, 1894: 3.

53 A Moment of Brilliance—An American Soccer History Blog, “The First Professional Soccer League in America and the Senators of Washington,” Part One, January 4, 2014.

54 “Notes,” Evening Star, October 20, 1894: 3.

55 “Senators Start South,” Washington Times, March 3, 1895: 3.

56 Omaha Daily Bee, March 17, 1895: 19.

57 “Charlie Abbey The Star,” Omaha Daily Bee, July 15, 1895: 6.

58 “What The Bleachers Say,” Washington Times, September 15, 1895: 7.

59 “Tried to Mob the Umpire,” August 21, 1895: 5.

60 “May Have Trouble,” Evening Star, September 21, 1895: 7.

61 “Broke All Records,” Evening Star, April 17, 1896: 8.

62 “Orioles’ Feathers Flew,” Washington Times, April 29, 1896: 3.

63 “Diamond Dust,” Washington Times, May 27, 1896: 3.

64 “The Senators Out West,” Evening Star, July 21, 1896: 9.

65 “Objects to Further Trades,” Washington Times, August 13, 1896: 3.

66 “Baseball Notes,” Evening Times, October 19, 1896: 3.

67 “Moving Very Cautiously,” Washington Times, April 18, 1897: 7.

68 Omaha Evening Bee, May 23, 1897: 18.

69 “Work Of the Senators,” Evening Star, June 1, 1897: 7.

70 “The Senators Shaken Up,” Washington Times, June 6, 1897: 4.

71 “The Senators Win Again,” Washington Times, June 11, 1897: 6.

72 “Baseball Brevities,” Pittsburgh Press, March 7, 1898: 5.

73 “Win The Fifth Straight,” Washington Times, August 14, 1897: 6.

74 “The Colts Win the First,” Washington Times, August 20, 1897: 6.

75 “Sports Of the Day,” Omaha Evening Bee, September 13, 1897: 6.

76 “Engaged Permanently,” Evening Star, October 9, 1897: 11.

77 Fall River Globe, October 11, 1897: 6.

78 Abbey family tree, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/180615832/person/222348930967/facts

79 Abbey family tree, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/180615832/person/222348931599/facts

80 Abbey family tree, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/180615832/person/222356834470/facts

81 “Charley Abbey Will Get Well Say His Physicians,” Washington Times, January 31, 1906: 1.

82 “Charlie Abbey Terribly Injured,” Falls City Tribune, February 9, 1906: 1.

83 “Nebraskan Brings a Suit,” Nebraska City News Press, January 26, 1907: 3.

84 “Charley Abbey Loses Arm,” Falls City Daily News, February 9, 1906: 8.

85 “Nebraskan Brings a Suit,” Nebraska State Journal, January 25, 1907: 8.

86 “Charles Abbey Takes New Post,” Washington Herald, June 18, 1907: 4.

87 “Suburban League,” Washington Times, July 14, 1910: 15.

88 “Suburban League,” Evening Star, July 16, 1910: 8.

89 “Departmental Umpire Meets with Approval,” Washington Times, March 23, 1911: 12.

90 “Departmental League,” Evening Star, May 23, 1911: 13.

91 “Player Plucked,” Seattle Star, September 11, 1914: 11.

92 “Wallace William Abbey,” Falls City Daily News, April 18, 1916: 1.

93 Abbey family tree, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/180615832/person/222348930967/facts

94 Abbey family tree, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/180615832/person/222348931593/facts

95 “Absent Falls City People Extend Their Best Wishes,” Falls City Journal, January 25, 1923: 12.

96 Charles S. Abbey, National Baseball Hall of Fame file, which included State of California Death Certificate, issued October 26, 1993.

97 Cotton O’Neil Manhattan (Kansas) medical staff explanation, May 2022.

98 “Funeral of C.S. Abbey Held This Afternoon,” Falls City Journal, May 6, 1926: 1. Grave site information provided by Chris Martin in e-mail to the author, April 19, 2022.

After an impressive rookie season in 1906, Altizer was never again given a fair chance to win a starting job. He played every defensive position other than pitcher and catcher during his brief big-league career, picking up the reputation as a jack of all trades and master of none. One writer said, “One season of constant play at shortstop may have developed Altizer into a star player at that position.”2 New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy once said, “The greatest player I saw in the minors was Dave Altizer, shortstop with Minneapolis.”3

After his major-league career ended, Altizer found a home in the American Association (AA), where he remained a productive player well into his forties. A noted umpire baiter, Altizer remained feisty into old age. When interviewed during World War II at age 65, he claimed that he “could still do a fair to middling job of playing baseball and his share of fighting for Uncle Sam, if granted a chance.” He added, “It made me damned mad when they recently told me at a recruiting office, I am too old to fight. I wish they’d give me a rifle and turn me loose against the Nazis and Japs.”4

David Tilden Altizer was born on November 6, 1876, near Pearl, in Pike County, a small Mississippi River village on the eastern border of Illinois. His parents were William, a farm laborer, and Elizabeth (née Ottwell). He grew up with three older brothers, William, Otis, and Austin; a younger sister, Mollie; and a younger brother, Oren. Oren was killed in action in France during World War I.

Little is known of Altizer’s early years until 1899, when he enlisted in the U. S. Army and was assigned to the Fourteenth Infantry Regiment. His unit was sent to China, where Altizer saw action during the Boxer Rebellion and participated in a campaign that led to the siege of Peking. He was then transferred to Battery H of the Sixth Artillery and sent to Manila in the Philippines. There Altizer began playing on Army baseball teams, first as a pitcher and later at shortstop. Some sources called Altizer “the best baseball player in the United States Army.”5 He was discharged in March 1902.

Once stateside. Altizer was assigned to Fort Porter. near Buffalo, New York. While playing there he was noticed by George Stallings, then manager of the Class A Eastern League’s Buffalo Bisons, and later manager of the New York Highlanders and Boston Braves. The details of his acquisition weren’t reported, only that during spring practice Altizer “simply reported from Fort Porter.”6 Thus he began his professional career at the relatively advanced age of 25. Baseball-reference records that he played in one game for Buffalo, but independent research by the author revealed that he went 1-for-10 in three games before being sent to Meriden of the Class D Connecticut State League in May.

Altizer signed with Toledo, Ohio, for 1903 but found the Class A American Association too difficult, batting just .152 in 22 games. In early May he was returned to Meriden, which still held his rights. He played second base for the Silverites for the rest of 1903 and again in the early part of 1904. During a May 31 Meriden-New Haven game that season, Altizer got into a physical altercation with umpire Charles Kennedy. Accounts differ. but Kennedy said Altizer called him a “fat head.” The ump fined him $5, after which Kennedy said that Altizer threatened to “get him.”7 According to Altizer’s version, Kennedy said he would “knock his head off” and walked toward him in a threatening manner.

Both men were arrested and charged with assault and breach of the peace and were later fined $10 each.8  League President James O’Rourke then suspended Altizer for two weeks. When the suspension was lifted, Altizer noticed that his salary for the time missed, and the earlier court fine, were deducted from his June 15 paycheck. He did not report to the team when his suspension was lifted, so Meriden manager Sam Kennedy suspended him again. A short time later, Meriden traded Altizer to the Springfield (Massachusetts) Ponies, also of the Connecticut State League.9

Altizer returned to Springfield in 1905 but was slowed by an abdominal injury that required surgery in June. In August, before a road trip to Bridgeport, he turned up missing and there were rumors that he jumped the club. “His latest trouble is said to have been caused by private affairs.”10 He was finally located at Sand Springs, a nearby resort, where he was receiving treatment for a sore foot. Altizer eventually returned to the team and batted .351 in 91 games. As a result of his strong season, in September Altizer was drafted by Pittsburgh11 but [they] later released [him] back to Springfield.

Although he was reserved by Springfield, in January 1906 Altizer was offered twice the salary  the Ponies extended and signed with the Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Red Roses of the independent Tri-State League. He started off hot, batting .362 in 27 games. When George “Rabbit” Nill, the regular shortstop of the American League’s Washington Nationals, sustained a broken finger in late May, the Nationals went looking for a replacement. Washington manager Jake Stahl reached out to Altizer and by offering $650 per month, convinced him to jump Lancaster and come to Washington.12

But first the matter of his eligibility needed to be settled. Secretary John Bruce of the National Commission determined that Altizer was on the ineligible list and Secretary John H. Farrell of the National Minor League Association, not recognizing any claim by the “outlaw” Lancaster club, encouraged Washington President Tom Noyes to negotiate with Springfield manager Dan O’Neil for Altizer’s release. After Altizer returned the $25 advanced by Springfield, O’Neil and Noyes agreed to a $1,500 sale price for Altizer’s release.13

Everything seemed to be set for Altizer to join the Nationals, but other complications cropped up. It was revealed that Tom Brown, former Washington outfielder and by then one of the Tri-State League’s umpires, was the one who tipped off the Nationals about Altizer. This raised questions about Brown’s partiality if he was also working as an agent for Washington while continuing to umpire. Secondly, Pittsburgh, which had drafted Altizer a year earlier, also put in a claim on his services. When it was revealed that Springfield returned the $250 draft money, Pittsburgh’s claim was disallowed.14 Finally, Lancaster tried to induce their star shortstop to return with an offer of $3,000 per month,15 causing Washington to counter with a $800 advance and three-year contract at $3,400 annually.16

Altizer made his major-league debut on May 29 against the Highlanders at Hilltop Park in New York, recording a single and stealing a base in a 5-2 Washington loss. He had five hits in eight at-bats in a doubleheader the next day and followed that up with two more hits the next day. Altizer had eight hits in 17 at-bats in a four-game series against the Boston Americans and after his first seven big-league games his batting average stood at .483. He held the regular shortstop job for the rest of the season (Nill was relegated to a utility role after his return from injury and was traded to Cleveland the following season).

Altizer had one more legal obstacle to overcome during his rookie season. When Nap Lajoie jumped from the Phillies to the Athletics in the upstart American League in 1901, Phillies owner John Rogers obtained an injunction from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court preventing Lajoie from playing in the state of Pennsylvania for any team other than the Phillies (Lajoie was later traded to Cleveland to circumvent the ruling).17 The Lancaster club used a similar tactic to recover the $175 advanced to Altizer when he jumped the club. Lancaster waited until he returned to Pennsylvania for a late-season game against the Athletics and swore out a complaint charging Altizer with obtaining money by false pretense. Altizer was arrested at the team’s hotel,18 but when Washington officials sent a check for $175 to Lancaster, the proceedings were dismissed.19

His batting average dropped off after his hot start, but Altizer still had an excellent rookie season, batting .256 in 115 games with 37 stolen bases – tied for third in league. Altizer had speed, good range, and a strong throwing arm but fielded erratically, committing 43 errors, fourth most among American League shortstops. One report explained, “he seems unable to steady down. He will follow a marvelous play with the rankest kind of error and his boots usually come with men on the bases and when they do the most damage.”20

 Joe Cantillon took over for Stahl as Washington manager in 1907 and he and Altizer never got along. That season Cantillon moved Altizer around. In addition to 80 games at shortstop, he played him in 50 games at first base, and in an attempt to take advantage of his speed, 17 more in center field. Altizer still had defensive lapses but batted .269 overall in 147 games with 38 stolen bases, fifth best in the league. Late in the season, Cantillon, who wanted to rid the team of Stahl holdovers, made it known that he was willing to listen to trade offers for Altizer.21

Altizer’s father died when he was young and at some point, his mother and siblings moved to Ontario, California. Dave made his off-season home there after he began playing professionally and played winters for amateur teams in and around Sonoma. While traveling by train to California after the 1907 season he was robbed of a wallet containing nearly $1,500 in cash.22 Later it was revealed that Altizer made the acquaintance of a young lady while on the train and it was suspected that she lifted his wallet. When the word got around, Altizer was kidded about the incident. Once during a game umpire Tim Hurst called Altizer out. When he yelled, “He didn’t touch me,” Hurst responded, “No, I guess not, neither did that young lady touch you last winter while enroute to the coast.”23

Altizer and teammate Walter Johnson, who was born in Kansas but grew up in California, had become acquainted earlier while playing against each other in the offseason. Early in the spring of 1908, Johnson was hospitalized and required surgery. It was Altizer who visited Johnson in a Fullerton hospital and telegraphed reports of his progress back to team officials in Wahington.24

Finding no suitable trade partners, Cantillon planned to shift Altizer to third base in 1908; he would compete with Bill Shipke for the starting position. Shipke won the job, so Altizer was relegated to a utility role, seeing time at all four infield positions over the first half of the season. Finally, in late July, Cantillon sold Altizer and pitcher Cy Falkenberg to the Cleveland Naps for $10,000.2526 In 29 games over the rest of that season, Altizer batted .213 in a utility role for Cleveland. His fate seemed to have been sealed when he missed the train for the team’s final road trip. He took a later train but rather than joining the team at their hotel, “he and his dog took up quarters at another tavern.”27

That winter Cleveland placed him on waivers, and he was claimed by the White Sox. Chicago manager Billy Sullivan used him both in the outfield and at first base. His batting average was below .200 most of the season before finishing at .233. During the offseason Altizer was placed on waivers and picked up by the Minneapolis Millers of the AA. Ironically, the Millers’ owner was Mike Cantillon, brother of Altizer’s former manager in Washington. Altizer had an excellent season in Minneapolis, batting .300 in 163 games.

In September Altizer was acquired by the Cincinnati Reds in the Rule 5 draft but did not immediately report to his new team. Assuming Altizer to be in Chicago, Cincinnati manager Clark Griffith asked his friend Jimmy Callahan to place an ad in the classified section of the Chicago Tribune that read; “PERSONAL – will Dave Altizer, Baseball player, please report to the Cincinnati Baseball club at once” CLARK GRIFFITH, Manager.”28 Altizer saw the ad and reported to Cincinnati.

He appeared in just three games for the Reds at the end of the 1910 season but got six hits in 10 at-bats. Altizer opened the 1911 season as the Reds’ regular shortstop but struggled at the plate, batting under .200, and by early May was displaced by Tom Downey. Shortly thereafter, a Minneapolis paper reported that the Reds had worked out a deal sending Altizer back to the Millers, along with pitcher Barney Schreiber, for pitcher Art Loudell and $2,500 cash.29

A few days later the transaction hit a snag when it was revealed that Schreiber, whom the Reds had obtained from Denver of the Western League, still belonged to that club. In addition, Griffith claimed that the deal was merely in the discussion stage and had not been formally agreed upon. The case went before the National Commission for a decision, but Minneapolis officials were not hopeful of a favorable outcome because Garry Herrmann, Cincinnati owner, was the third member of the commission. In early June, the commission ruled against Minneapolis, and the deal was called off.30

Altizer was stuck in limbo back in Cincinnati, relegated to spot duty, mostly as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner until mid-July, when the Reds sent him to Minneapolis on a straight sale. Altizer was delighted about returning to the Millers and getting away from Griffith. As he left town, he took a shot at his former manager, hinting that, “the Reds are laying down on Griffith.” He added, “If the Cincinnati players were as loyal to Griffith as he is to them, the team would be fighting for a higher position in the race.”31

Altizer was back in Minneapolis for good and played for the Millers the next seven seasons. During this period the club, managed by his former Washington manager Joe Cantillon, employed several ex-major leaguers, such as Gavy Cravath and Otis Clymer, as well as pitchers Roy Patterson and Rube Waddell. After rejoining the Millers in July 1911, Altizer hit .335 in 73 games. In 1912 he led the AA in stolen bases (68) and sacrifice hits (56),32 helping the Millers to a league pennant.

The salary offered by Minneapolis was usually lower than Altizer thought he was worth, so each offseason he threatened to hold out and even retire. He still spent winters in California and organized a semipro team in Riverside. One spring he told Cantillon he planned to stay on the coast all summer. He claimed he had tempting offers to manage the Louisville AA club and to play for Vernon of the Pacific Coast League but was unable to get his release from Minneapolis. In 1913 it was reported that he bought a farm in northern Minnesota and planned to quit baseball and take up farming.33 Altizer also made overtures about joining the Federal League, going so far as traveling to Chicago to meet with FL President James Gilmore and ChiFeds manager Joe Tinker.

Each season Cantillon brought in a younger player to replace Altizer at shortstop, and each season Dave held on to the job. He was the team’s regular shortstop until 1915, when Bill Morley displaced him and Altizer moved to center field. He signed a one-year contract that excluded the reserve clause, leaving him free to pursue other opportunities after the season. Despite leading the AA in runs scored (118), few opportunities presented themselves. Early in 1916 he threatened to retire and go into business, but “the lure of the diamond proved too much for the veteran,”34 and he re-signed with the Millers as a utility player. Despite being the oldest player in the league, Altizer led AA with 98 walks and scored 108 runs.35

Altizer returned to the Millers in 1917 and batted .322, second in the AA to Beals Becker of Kansas City, who finished one point higher at .323. Dave returned to Minneapolis in 1918 although he thought that, because so many players had been called into military service during World War I, he might have a chance to return to the majors. Altizer even quipped, “The postal department has been very careless in not laying that communication at my door.”36  A broken ankle in June ended those hopes as well as his career in Minneapolis. Once healed, Altizer finished the season with Hibbing (Minnesota) of the Twin Ports-Mesaba League.

He then reportedly took over the hog raising operation on a farm owned by Joe Cantillon at Hickman, Kentucky. When asked about the career change, Altizer said, “It isn’t much of a change for me because pigs is easier to get along with than umpires and they aren’t half as stubborn.”37 Despite his apparent satisfaction, in February 1920 Altizer was offered a job as one of the eight American Association umpires.38 Less than a month later, however, he accepted an offer to manage and  play for Aberdeen of the Class D South Dakota League.39 Late in 1920 he moved to Madison of the same league; the following season, he returned to Madison, by then a member of the  Dakota League.

Over the next few years there were reports that Altizer umpired in the Tri-State,40 Ontario-Michigan,41 Southern,42 and Three-I Leagues,43 but how long these engagements lasted is not known. Altizer fell on hard times, reportedly finding work on a stock farm near Brookings, South Dakota. One report explained, “He saved his money only to see it slip away through bad investments made for him by friends he trusted.”44  

Altizer also divorced around this time. While playing for Chicago in 1909 he had met Margaret Ward, and the couple got married in November 1910. They had two children, Edward, born in 1913, and Corrine, born in 1919. While he was managing in Madison in 1922, Margaret left him and took the children to Chicago. Altizer filed for divorce on grounds of desertion and was granted a divorce decree in 1925.45 In 1928 Altizer married Iva Marie Cloninger, and the couple moved to Pleasant Hill, Illinois, not far from his boyhood home.

They remained there (his children lived with their mother in Chicago) for the rest of Altizer’s life. After retirement, he enjoyed traveling to St. Louis for Browns and Cardinals games. Altizer died of pulmonary emphysema in Pleasant Hill on May 14, 1964, at the age of 87. He was survived by his wife, two children, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Daredevil Dave was buried at Crescent Heights Cemetery in Pleasant Hill.

Acknowledgments

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

Photo credit: Dave Altizer, Trading Card Database.

Sources

Unless otherwise noted, statistics from Altizer’s playing career are taken from Baseball-Reference.com and genealogical and family history was obtained from Ancestry.com and Findagrave.com. The author also used information from clippings in Altizer’s file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Notes

1 “Some Sporting Snaps,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Courier, September 7, 1906: 7.

2 “Was Jack-Of-All Trades in Game, Springfield (Ohio) News Sun, January 28, 1911: 6.

3 Samuel B. Cohen, “Sayings of the Spectator,” Meriden (Connecticut) Journal, July 23, 1936: 4.

4 “At 66, Dave Altizer Still Wants to Play,” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune and Star Journal, August 30, 1942: 32.

5 “Dave Altizer Crack Shortstop of Army,” Pittsburg Press, September 16, 1906: 10.

6 “Buffalo Players Report,” Toronto Star, April 2, 1902: 8.

7 “What Kennedy Says,” Meriden Daily Journal, June 1, 1904: 1.

8 “Altizer in Court,” Meriden Daily Journal, June 3, 1904: 1.

9 “Goes to Springfield,” Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript Telegram, June 23, 1904: 6.

10 “Regarding Altizer Missing Ballplayer,” Meriden Daily Journal, August 10, 1905: 2.

11 “Altizer to Pittsburg,” Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican, September 2, 1905: 3.

12 “Altizer Has Jumped,” Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Daily Intelligencer, May 29, 1906: 6.

13 “Outlaw League Will Retaliate,” Pittsburg Press, June 6, 1916: 12.

14 “Diamond Dust,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Times, June 14, 1906: 3.

15 “Hot After Altizer,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Telegraph, July 12, 1906: 8.

16 “Would Raid Red Roses,” York (Pennsylvania) Dispatch, July 17, 1906: 6.

17 Nap Lajoie, SABR BioProject (https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/nap-lajoie/).

18 “Dave Altizer Arrested,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, September 13, 1906: 6.

19 “Altizer Will Go Free,” Altoona (Pennsylvania) Times, October 8, 1916: 9.

20 J. Ed Grillo, “Sporting Comment,” Washington Post, July 7, 1907: 32

21 “Cantillon May Trade Dave Altizer for LaPorte of the New York Team,” Washington Post, August 25, 1917: 31.

22 “Dave Altizer was Robbed,” Washington Post, December 21, 1907: 8.

23 “Breeze,” Cincinnati Enquirer, January 23, 1910: 35.

24 “May Lose Johnson,” Washington Herald, March 6, 1908: 8.

25 “Altizer and Falkenberg Sold to Naps for $10,000,” Washington Herald, July 24, 1908: 8.

26 Per Altizer’s Baseball-reference page, the sale price was $7,000.

27 “Naps Let Altizer Go to White Sox,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 10, 1909: 13.

28 “‘Want Ad’ Brings Results,” Chicago Tribune, October 4, 1910: 23.

29 Fred B. Coburn, “Dave Altizer Starts for Cantillon Camp,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, May 13, 1911: 20.

30 “Can’t Have Dave Altizer,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, June 6, 1911: 10.

31 “Altizer Draws Aside the Curtain; Lets Fans Look,” Cincinnati Post, July 15, 1911: 6.

32 “Records of the Year,” Minneapolis Journal, October 2, 1910: 28.

33 “Back to the Soil for Dave Altizer,” Minneapolis Journal, November 23, 1913: 30.

34 “Dave Altizer Back with Millers; Jennings Comes Back from Washington,” Minneapolis Tribune, February 20, 1916: 45.

35 Per SABR member Stew Thornley’s website (https://stewthornley.net/millersgames/1911.htm).

36 “Daredevil is Waiting,” Indianapolis News, February 28, 1918: 12.

37 “Dave Seeks the Soil: From Shortstop to Swineherd,” Minneapolis Journal, July 29, 1919: 19.

38 “Dave Altizer to Be Association Umpire; Pongo Sees Griffith for New Players,” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, February 9, 1920: 10.

39 “Minneapolis Man to Head Aberdeen Baseball Team,” Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Daily Argus-Leader, March 15, 1920: 3.

40 “Dave Altizer Back into Game as an Umpire,” Albert Lea (Minnesota) Tribune, July 23, 1924: 7.

41 “Still In Game,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 5, 1923: 24.

42 “Dave Altizer Will Umpire This Season in Southern League,” San Bernadino (California) Sun, January 26, 1926: 1.

43 “Vet Will Umpire,” Omaha Daily Bee, January 31, 1926: 27.

44 “Altizer Victim of Misfortune,” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, July 6, 1924: 33.

45 “Dave Altizer Granted Divorce From Wife,” Minneapolis Journal, May 26, 1925: 25.

Emmett Littleton Ashford was born on November 23, 1914 in Los Angeles. His father Littleton, a police officer, soon abandoned the family, and Emmett and brother Wilbur were raised by their mother. His mother Adele was a highly motivated and ambitious woman, who worked as a secretary for the California Eagle, a black newspaper. Ashford himself earned money selling Liberty magazine, building his route up to 300 customers, and later was a cashier in a supermarket.

Ashford excelled at Jefferson High School, rising to co-editor of the school paper, The Jeffersonian, and becoming a teen journalist for the California Eagle. He also played baseball and ran sprints for the track team. When he graduated in 1933 he was the senior class president, the first black student so honored, and a member of the scholarship club. Ashford then attended Los Angeles Junior College and Chapman College, where he played baseball.

About 1936 Ashford scored well on a civil service exam and landed a coveted job as a clerk with the post office, a position he held for 15 years. In the late 1930s he had a brief career as a semipro baseball player before turning to officiating. According to Ashford, he played on a white team called the Mystery Nine, who wore uniforms with question marks on the fronts. One day the umpire didn’t show up, and Emmett (who rarely played) was called into emergency service. He was soon busy officiating recreational baseball and softball in southern California.

In 1937 Ashford married Willa Gene Fort, and the couple had two daughters, Adrienne and Antoinette. It was not his only marriage; like many people his personal family life was complicated and private with much of it unknown. The next several years were taken up with family, post office work, and umpiring. Soon after he finished a three-year stint in the United States Navy during World War II, Emmett and Willa divorced. He continued to umpire, moving up to major college baseball, working regularly. He often officiated with Bill Stewart who had umped in the American League in the 1940s. Ashford credits Stewart for teaching him the major-league strike zone.

In 1951 Ashford took a leave of absence from his post office job for a two-month trial in the Southwestern International League, becoming the first black umpire in organized baseball. Les Powers, the league president, claimed that “Ashford has the making of a big league umpire.” After the season, Ashford was offered a full-season job, so he resigned from the postal service, leaving behind 15 years towards his pension.

The following offseason, the Southwestern International League announced plans to field an “all-Negro” club, to play only road games. Ashford was named general manager and asked to put together a team. Two days later Chet Brewer, former Negro League star, was hired as the club’s manager. Ultimately the team had a series of “homes” during the season, including Ensenada, Mexico; Riverside, California; and Porterville, California. The team did not remain all-black, though many former Negro Leaguers did play for them (including Brewer), as did two future major leaguers (Tom Alston and Dave Roberts).

As for our hero, Ashford relinquished his role with the club before the season began, and returned to umpiring. By mid-summer the league folded and he hooked on with the Arizona-Texas League. In December 1952, The Sporting News first suggested that Ashford might be destined for the major leagues. “I know that the road to the big leagues will be a hard one,” said Ashford, “but most of my biggest obstacles are behind me now.”1 He moved up to the Western International League in 1953, before a promotion to the Pacific Coast League in 1954.

During his 12 years in the PCL, Ashford became the best-known umpire in the minor leagues. “He was a showman, exuberant, strong, alert, loud and expressive,” recalled Paul Wysard of Ashford’s’ days in the PCL. “He was constantly in motion, full of nervous energy and obviously delighted to be out there in front of everybody.”2 Between innings he often sprinted down the right field line to keep his legs loose. He constantly interacted with the crowd, doffing his cap and giving little speeches.

Ashford spent most of his time during the season alone, not hanging out with his fellow umpires. As he later related to Larry Gerlach, “I didn’t come to town and have to go to the ghetto to enjoy myself. I stayed downtown and went to the theater and the opera. I just love some opera–know the librettos of a few. … I made a host of friends; many of them were attorneys and doctors who invited me to their homes and nice functions. I’d meet with the lawyers for lunch in Spokane, and, shoot, in Vancouver, I think I could have run for office.”3 In the offseasons, Ashford refereed Pac-8 basketball and small college football. As early as the fall of 1958 he umpired in the Caribbean winter leagues. He was also a constant after-dinner speaker on the west coast, and ran several umpiring clinics.

In 1963 PCL president Dewey Soriano named Ashford the league’s umpire-in-chief, making him responsible for the organization and training of the crews, and for advising the league on disputed games or rules. In June 1963, the league hired its second black umpire, Osibee Jelks, from the Northwest League. On July 4, a game in San Diego was officiated by Ashford and Jelks (the third crew member was ill), the first all-black umpiring crew in a minor-league game.

By the early 1960s, writers on the west coast began clamoring for Ashford’s promotion to the majors. A.S. Young also took up the cause in the Chicago Defender, suggesting of major-league presidents Joe Cronin and Warren Giles, “Whereas they hire, and approve the hiring of Caucasian umpires solely on the basis of qualifications, they refuse to act on the Ashford case–and probably won’t until the Ashford campaign, which should be unnecessary, becomes embarrassing.”4 In 1965 Cronin was considered the leading contender to replace the retiring Ford Frick as baseball’s commissioner, but Jim Murray supported Bill Veeck for the top job, with Ashford as his umpire-in-chief. Both endorsements were due to Cronin’s foot-dragging on Ashford.5

Ashford’s most famous on-field incident took place during the 1964 playoffs in the Dominican Republic. After a strike call on Julian Javier met with prolonged disapproval, Ashford motioned the pitcher to continue, and rung up strike three. Javier reacted by slugging Ashford in the mouth, cutting the umpire’s lip open and swelling his jaw. Ashford retaliated by hitting the Cardinal infielder with his mask, temporarily forgetting that Javier was a local hero. Ashford finished the game, applying ice packs to his mouth between innings. Javier received a three-game suspension, and Ashford had to be talked out of resigning from the league after the weak penalty.

Despite whatever frustrations he must have felt in the minor leagues for 15 years, he remained a cheerful and optimistic man his entire life, a disposition which stood out in his profession. He charmed his critics and admirers alike, relying on his quick wit and intelligence to get him through a crisis. In one southwest city early in his career Ashford needed to find a place a black man could sleep. He went to the best hotel in town and approached the desk. “Sir,” he explained, “I am that barefoot, and uncultured Negro man you have been reading about. I wish to seek lodging in your handsome establishment.”6 He got the room, and his charm would get him many other rooms, and many meals in restaurants.

In mid-September 1965 he got a long-awaited phone call. The voice on the telephone was Dewey Soriano, telling Ashford that he had sold his contract to the American League. “That was the last thing I remembered for the next several days,” recalled Emmett.7 He always spoke fondly of Soriano’s support throughout his years in the PCL, and for helping him get to the majors.

The nation’s press was thrilled, though not willing to give baseball too much credit for its tardy step. Melvin Durslag figured that Emmett was “bound to raise the game to his refined level.”8 Bill Slocum wondered, “If corporate Baseball has joined the 20th Century, can Mississippi be far behind?”9

After his protégé’s promotion, Soriano claimed, “The only reason he [Emmett] was not brought up to the majors sooner was because he was colored.” Soriano later elaborated: “Emmett was very popular wherever he went, with the players and the fans. I’ve known him since 1953 and it is an all-out total effort–not showboating. With more Emmett Ashfords, baseball games would be better run and a lot more fun for the fans. I didn’t make him umpire-in-chief his last three years out here for comedy.”10

Ashford had a high-pitched voice that he utilized like a megaphone, keeping the fans aware of where he was and what he was doing. During his first spring training in the majors he interrupted an Angels-Indians game in Tucson to explain to the crowd a recent discussion with the Indians’ manager. Removing his cap, he bowed to the throng behind home, loudly intoning, “Ladies and Gentleman… Mr. Tebbetts was merely questioning the strategy of the opposing manager… I thank you.”11 Putting his mask back on, he resumed the game. His fellow umpires soon realized what they were up against. The next day, home-plate umpire Bill Valentine turned to the crowd himself: “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry to inform you that the eminent Emmett Ashford will be at third base and not behind the plate today…”12

Prior to his first season, Ashford reflected, “I feel proud being an umpire in the big leagues. Not because I am the first Negro, but because umpires in the major leagues are very select people. Right now, I just want to vindicate Mr. Cronin’s faith in me… But first, I’ve got to buy me a pair of eye glasses,” he added, his sense of humor ever present, ready to strike.13

Emmett Ashford’s regular-season debut took place on April 11, 1966, in Washington’s D .C. Stadium, the traditional American League opener. His first major-league hurdle was getting into the ballpark. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey was in attendance to throw out the ceremonial first ball, and the Secret Service needed to be convinced that a black man was there to umpire the game. Humphrey later kidded Ashford, who had worked at third base, that he hadn’t had any plays to call. “No plays, no boots,” responded Ashford, “but it was the greatest day of my life.” Joe Cronin told his new employee, “Emmett, today you made history. I’m proud of you.”14

Ashford was a sensation right away, but not principally because of his race. His style, well-known on the west coast, took the conservative major leagues by a storm. The stocky (5-foot-7, 185 pounds) Ashford sprinted to his position between innings, stepping on the bases or leaping the pitcher’s mound, and raced around the field after foul balls or plays on the bases. The Sporting News was impressed enough to claim, “For the first time in the history of the grand old American game, baseball fans may buy a ticket to watch an umpire perform.”15 The fans did not always need to watch Ashford, they could just listen to his high-pitched cannon of a voice, as he called out a batter or runner.

On a strike call, Ashford jerked his right arm first to the side, then up, then down like a karate chop. That completed, he would then reach either up as if twice yanking a train whistle, or to the right as if opening a car door. Even while dusting the plate he knew every eye in the house was on him, and he behaved accordingly, pirouetting on one foot and hopping back to his position. Emmett would say, “I never went to an umpiring school because they didn’t accept blacks in those days, so I developed my own style of officiating.”16 Ashford was also known for his natty attire on and off the field. While umpiring he wore polished shoes, a freshly pressed uniform, cufflinks, and a handkerchief in his suit pocket.

In his first game behind the plate, Andy Etchebarren, the Orioles’ catcher, recalled diving into the stands after a foul ball: “I knew I couldn’t reach the ball, but I dove into the seats thinking a fan would put the ball in my glove or I could grab it off the floor. But while I was reaching I looked around, and who was in the seats with me but Emmett. I couldn’t believe it.”17 In a later Baltimore game, Frank Robinson quipped, “That Ashford gets a better jump on the ball than Paul Blair [the Orioles’ fleet-footed center fielder].”18

Though he was generally well-liked and admired by the people in the game, the open question was always whether he was a good umpire–whether his style came at the expense of substance. His flamboyance certainly left himself open for abuse, as he was generally the center of attention even when everyone agreed with his calls. Red Sox manager Dick Williams, after a controversial Ashford call in 1969, called the arbiter “a little clown.” Joe Pepitone and Pete Ward, in separate incidents, had to be restrained from going after Ashford. “When he calls you out on a third strike,” complained one player after a typically emotive Ashford punch-out, “you feel like he’s sending you to the electric chair.”19

Ashford toned down some of his mannerisms as his big-league career progressed. “Sure, I was a showboat,” he told the Boston Globe‘s Ray Fitzgerald. “For 12 years, that was my routine in the Coast League. I couldn’t change overnight, but I’m different now. I’ve toned myself way down.” But still, “I’m not exactly without color,” he said, using a favorite double entendre.20

In 1967, Ashford was named to work the All-Star Game in Anaheim, though he saw little action working the left-field foul line. Ashford realized another dream in 1970 when he umpired the World Series. Unfortunately for Ashford, and for baseball fans, he was slated to work the plate in the sixth game, but his turn never came: the Orioles beat the Reds in five. “Maybe it’s just as well it didn’t happen—the World Series would never have been the same.”21

When Ashford turned 55 in December 1969, he had reached the American League’s retirement age of 55 for its umpires, a rule occasionally bent. He was given one additional year, but after the 1970 season Ashford announced his retirement. “I’m afraid that by continuing I would only dilute the thrills of the last five years and especially those I received by umpiring in the 1970 World Series,” Ashford said.22

An unwritten baseball credo suggests that a well-officiated game is one in which the umpire is unnoticed. By that standard, Emmett Ashford was not a good umpire. Not surprisingly, his fellow umpires were the hardest people to win over.

Bill Kinnamon worked on the same crew with Ashford in 1969, and later recalled to Larry Gerlach, “I think he was a good umpire. On the bases and behind the plate he was no better or worse than the rest of us, but it is no secret that his eyes weren’t too good when it came to balls hit into the outfield at night. The man was about fifty years old when he came into the league, and I think Emmett would be the first to say that he came up after the peak of his career. If he had come up ten, fifteen, twenty years earlier, he would have been one hell of an umpire.”23

Speaking of Ashford’s impact on the game, Kinnamon said, “He was good for baseball. I never saw him do anything detrimental to baseball. No one ever found any fault with his deportment off the field. He was a gentleman. And the people absolutely dearly loved him. One night, as we were leaving Yankee Stadium together, some kid all of a sudden yelled, ‘Emmett!’ The next thing I knew, he was standing there talking and signing autographs for a couple of hundred kids. Nobody recognized me; I just sat there on a railing and waited. He signed an autograph for every last kid. That’s the kind of man he was, and that’s the kind of feeling there was for him.”24

As Ashford often said, he did not go through the traditional umpire training, and therefore that particular doctrine was not instilled. Kinnamon further explains some of the tension: “There was resentment toward him among the umpires. Everybody knows there was. Emmett knew it, but he shrugged it off. Many guys simply didn’t accept Emmett. Politics or pull had nothing to do with it. Some questioned his umpiring ability. And Emmett had his idiosyncrasies–the cuff links, jumping over the mound on his way to second base, his showmanship, things like that. But mostly I think it was the publicity Emmett got. … It’s also natural for there to be resentment when there were five reporters around Emmett’s cubicle and none around anybody else’s. Everywhere Emmett went he was news, good copy. Emmett got more ink in one year than the top five umpires in our league got in their whole career.”25

It probably didn’t help when teams would ask the league for Ashford to umpire their games. In 1968, Athletics owner Charlie Finley wanted Ashford to umpire his home opener–the inaugural game at the new Oakland Coliseum. Umpire crews generally rotate their roles from game to game–from third base, to second, first, and home. For this game Ashford was due to ump second base, but at Finley’s urging he got the more visible home plate assignment.

In early 1971 Ashford was hired by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn as a public relations adviser, a role which allowed him to speak and hold clinics on the west coast, and as far away as Korea. He also umpired the occasional minor-league or college game, old-timers games in Dodger Stadium, pleasing the crowd as always. He was umpire-in-chief for the Alaskan summer league for three years. Ashford earned money doing TV commercials (he played a cashier in an ad for the A&P grocery chain), film (as an umpire in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings), and television (episodes of Ironside and The Jacksons). He was also on What’s My Line during his first year in the major leagues.

Ashford died at Marina Mercy Hospital in Marina Del Ray, California, on March 1, 1980, of a heart attack. At his funeral, he was eulogized by Commissioner Kuhn and Rod Dedeaux, longtime USC baseball coach. He was cremated, and his ashes are interred in Cooperstown, New York.

In looking back on his career, the ever-positive Ashford focused on his good fortune: “Think of all the people who live an entire life and do not accomplish one thing they really wanted to do. I have done something I wanted to do. I have that satisfaction.”26 This is only fitting, as Ashford’s class and style provided so much satisfaction to others.

This biography originally appeared in SABR’s 2007 edition of “The National Pastime,” edited by Jim Charlton.

Sources

In researching this article, I made use of Ashford’s extensive clipping file at the National Baseball Library and articles published in The Sporting News throughout his career. Larry Gerlach’s The Men In Blue (Viking, 1980) includes interviews with Ashford and several of his contemporaries. Robert C. Hoie’s article in the 1979 Baseball Research Journal (“Riverside-Ensenada-Porterville, An All-Negro Minor League Team”) outlines Ashford’s affiliation with the 1952 club. Ashford’s daughter, Adrienne Cherie Ashford wrote a short book Strrr-ike!!, which outlines his early life. Bob Sudyk’s article in The Sporting News (“Emmett Ashford: Only His Suit Is Blue,” April 23, 1966) provided the backdrop to Ashford’s debut in the major leagues and his first game. Retrosheet’s essential website includes detailed game logs for umpires.

Notes

Coming of age at the dawn of the Great Depression, Baker had the benefit of regular employment as he bounced coast-to-coast around four organizations with his stops including teams in each of the then-highest-classification minor leagues operating in the 1930s.i He began as a pitcher and outfielder, and although he found a more useful niche as a catcher and was the everyday receiver in most of his minor league seasons, Baker was relegated to backup and bullpen duty in the majors. He was 38 when he appeared in his last major league game and spent the next season coaching in the majors before a final season as a player-coach back in the high minors. Baker then began a five-year climb up the umpiring ladder, culminating in one year of service as a National League arbiter. Damaged knees from a lifetime of catching finished his umpiring and sent him home to North Carolina and a life of community service, American Legion baseball, and automobile sales before retirement.

William Presley Baker was born February 22, 1911, in Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, near Charlotte. He was the first-born son and second of seven children of Lawrence Edward and Iva Davenport Baker, both native North Carolinians of Dutch-English extraction. Edward was a merchant, while Iva tended the busy Baker household. When Bill was 14 the family moved 45 miles northeast to Salisbury, Rowan County, where Edward operated a clothing and dry goods store.

Six feet tall and 200 pounds, Bill took naturally to both baseball and football at Salisbury’s Boyden High School, but he graduated at the onset of the nation’s economic ills in 1929-30, which made the potential of a regular baseball paycheck look attractive. A right-hand-hitting catcher in high school, he played semi-pro baseball around Charlotte before breaking into Organized Baseball in-state and getting into 13 games as an outfielder with the 1931 Greensboro Patriots of the Class C Piedmont League. Baker failed to impress there and dropped a level to the Cardinals’ Cotton States League affiliate in Monroe, Louisiana, to start the 1932 season. There he still played in the outfield, but hit a promising .313 with nine home runs in 46 games and met a teammate, Frank “Pop” Kitchens, who would change the course of his career. Kitchens, a career minor-league catcher, saw potential and began to work with Baker to develop his skills behind the plate.ii

By June of that season Baker’s improved hitting and new position versatility advanced him to the Nashville Volunteers of the Southern Association (Class A). Baker caught 15 of his 39 Nashville games, and except for a one-game appearance in 1946 at first base while with the Pittsburgh Pirates, never played another position. Despite moving to a higher level, he continued to hit well at Nashville (.316).

Baker solidified himself as a dependable minor-league backstop over the next two seasons. He stayed at Nashville and became the regular catcher in 1933, hitting .274. The Philadelphia A’s organization signed Baker for 1934, keeping him in Class A with the Williamsport Grays of the New York-Pennsylvania League. His .335 there was only tenth-best in a hitters’ league but landed him on the all-star team and caught the attention of Yankee scout Paul Krichell, who plucked Baker away from Connie Mack for $6,000 at the end of the season.

In 1935 Baker began a string of five straight years in the top minors. The Yankees’ International League club, the Newark Bears, was his first stop. A .303 average sharing catching duties with Willard Hershberger earned Baker a trip to 1936 spring training with the Yankees, where a more-heralded rookie, Joe DiMaggio, was also in his first Yankee camp. Baker wasn’t able to dislodge Joe Glenn as Bill Dickey’s backup, but returned to Newark as the Bears’ regular catcher and hit .296. Hershberger appeared in only 16 games before the Yankees assigned him to Oakland in the Pacific Coast League.

During that offseason–on November 16, 1936–Bill married the former Valdois Foster back home in Rowan County, where he worked in his father’s store. The couple established their home in Woodleaf, a small community near Salisbury. Valdois remained there raising the Baker children–Susan, William B., and Stanley–while Bill pursued his baseball career.

The 1937 leg of Baker’s minor league journey took him once again to spring training with the Yankees in St. Petersburg, then to the Pacific Coast League and the Yankees’ Oakland Oaks affiliate as Hershberger moved back to Newark. In the Coast League, Baker held his own at .292 and New York reserved him for 1938 but, still flush with catchers, assigned him to Kansas City in the American Association, then released him in April. Baker stayed in the American Association, landing on the Indianapolis Indians roster.

Indianapolis was unaffiliated, but had ties with both the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds and in June 1938 the Cubs acquired Baker’s contract. He was Cubs’ property over the rest of the 1938 and 1939 seasons, but remained at Indianapolis, where his manager was former catcher and future Hall of Famer Ray Schalk. Bill caught regularly for Schalk and continued his success at the plate, but Chicago still deemed him dispensable and sold him Cincinnati at the end of the 1939 season.iii

Baker, now 29, warranted an invitation to 1940 spring training in Tampa with the reigning National League champion Reds guided by manager Bill McKechnie. The Reds had veteran starter Ernie Lombardi and Baker’s former Newark teammate Willard Hershberger returning behind the plate but, as The Sporting News reported on March 14, “[McKenchie’s] policy is to try out his young players and see what they can do, knowing full well what to expect from his veterans.iv So he has let Bill Baker and Dick West do the bulk of the catching, with Baker being especially impressive back of the bat and also with the war club in his hands. In his first five swings against big league pitching the husky catcher from the Indianapolis club delivered five singles and drove in three runs, which is par on any ball field.”

West had caught in only seven games for Cincinnati in 1939 and The Sporting News reported “Dick still has plenty to learn about being a catcher.” It was obvious Baker had caught McKechnie’s eye as a third catcher when the skipper included him among 25 Reds who traveled from Tampa to Miami and Havana for exhibition games in mid-March. His spot was secured when he made the trip north with the Reds for the April 16, 1940, opener against the Cubs at Crosley Field.

With Lombardi, an established star, and Hershberger, who had hit .345 in 195 plate appearances for the Reds in 1939, ahead of him, Baker couldn’t have had illusions about serving much more than bench and bullpen duty as a rookie. But he had stuck with it, fulfilled a dream, and made his major-league debut on May 4 as an 11th inning defensive replacement as the Reds eked out a 3-2 win at home over the Philadelphia Phillies. Baker survived a potential demotion when, having acquired outfielder Johnny Rizzo for Vince DiMaggio and still needing to reduce the roster from 26 to 25 by May 16, the Reds in “somewhat of a surprise” to The Sporting News, released veteran outfielder Wally Berger, once one of the premier hitters in the National League and a McKechnie favorite from their days together with the Depression-era Boston Braves.

Baker’s first start and first hit both came two-plus months later in the opening game of a July 28 doubleheader in Philadelphia. Baker hit fifth, the usual catcher’s spot in McKechnie’s 1940 order, and his single gave him a major league batting average and drove in a run in a 7-1 Cincinnati win.

A tragedy unparalleled in baseball history struck the 1940 Reds as July rolled into August. Despite a few nagging injuries earlier in the season which had pressed Hershberger into duty, Lombardi caught regularly until a sprained ankle on July 26 necessitated even Baker’s getting that first start to spell Hershberger. But in the midst of the Reds’ quest to repeat as National League champions, McKechnie wasn’t inclined to use a rookie catcher, and the moody and intensely-private Hershberger was forced into handling the pitching staff daily and also maintaining what he could of Lombardi’s vital offensive presence.v The Reds lost a doubleheader in Boston on August 2, their sixth loss in eight games. Baker had caught the first game, but Hershberger, still doubting himself over a pitch call made earlier in the week in a loss to the Giants, went hitless in five at-bats in the second game, which the Reds lost 4-3 in 12 innings. Seeing Hershberger fail to even attempt to field a swinging bunt in that game, McKechnie sensed something was wrong with his catcher and engaged him in lengthy conversation through dinner and the rest of the evening until he was satisfied his intervention had succeeded. But Hershberger’s demons prevailed. Before another twenty-four hours had passed, he was dead.vi

The shocking loss of Hershberger necessarily hastened Lombardi’s return, but on August 8 The Sporting News reported that he had “lost his true stride, especially at bat, while disabled.” He continued to hobble, injured the little finger on his left hand on September 2, and by September 15 his sprained ankle had deteriorated to the point that he was back on crutches.

Over their grind to the pennant following Hershberger’s death, Lombardi still managed about half the catching starts and West, recalled from Indianapolis in September, started a handful of games. Charles Alexander’s Breaking The Slump speaks to the rest: “Although shaken by their teammate’s suicide, The Reds were seasoned professionals whose uppermost concern was gaining another pennant and another World Series check. McKechnie had had coach Jimmie Wilson, who’d caught a total of seven games over the past two years, placed on the active-player roster. The forty-year-old Wilson and Bill Baker divided the catching chores for the remainder of the season, as the Reds, threatened by Brooklyn for a couple of weeks in August, pulled away from the competition.”vii

While Alexander recognizes Baker’s contribution down the stretch in 1940, fellow baseball historian Bill James credits only Wilson in his 2003 Historical Baseball Abstract: “[The Reds] had a rookie, Bill Baker, but he didn’t hit and didn’t field, so Wilson came out of retirement to catch for the Reds the last two weeks of the season.”

For the record and perspective, Lombardi had 32 catching starts over the 63 games after July 31, Baker had 15, Wilson 10, and West 5. Baker hit .230 over 64 plate appearances in his starts. Wilson also doubled as acting manager while McKechnie scouted the American League champion Detroit Tigers during the latter days of the season in preparation for the World Series.

Cincinnati had been closed out in four games by the Yankees in the 1939 World Series and wanted redemption. But they faced Detroit with Lombardi and the catching situation as looming concerns. Tom Swope of the Cincinnati Post wrote as Sporting News correspondent on September 26: “The question of whether Lombardi is going to be able to catch in the Series is the only fly in the Reds’ ointment a week before the big games start. The Reds without Lombardi are simply not the Reds.”

A “crippled” Lombardi, Baker, and Wilson made the Series roster. The Reds took the Series, four games to three, finishing with a tight 2-1 win at home on October 8, Paul Derringer besting Bobo Newsom. At 40, Wilson played in six games, was excellent defensively, and added six singles and a crucial Game 7 sacrifice in 18 plate appearances. Lombardi was limited to four plate appearances with a single, while Baker got into three games with four plate appearances and something to recall for a lifetime–a single in the 9th inning of Game One, mopping up for Wilson in a 7-2 loss. None of the Cincinnati catchers drove in a run in the Series, but Wilson scored two runs and Baker collected another memory, scoring a run in relief of Lombardi in the third game, another Cincinnati loss.

Baker had filled his role adequately in 1940 as a rookie and had a World Series championship to show for it. He didn’t hit (.217 with a double, triple and 7 RBI in 27 games) nearly as well he had in the minors, but he was errorless behind the plate. He was, however, well below the 1940 National League average in stopping stolen bases, successful against only three of 18 attempts.

This body of work kept Baker on Cincinnati’s 1941 spring training roster, which listed four catchers: Lombardi, Baker, Dick West, and Neil Clifford.viii During camp the Reds brought in another catcher, veteran Johnny Riddle, whose brother, Elmer, pitched for the Reds. Lombardi was late to camp with a salary dispute and lingering pain in his damaged ankle, and Tom Swope had kind words for Baker in the March 27, 1941, Sporting News: “Riddle joined the Reds at a time when Lombardi was still limping badly and West was handicapped by a sore arm. Bill Baker then was the only physically sound backstop in camp and he has done a lot to strengthen his chances of remaining with the team by catching and hitting ably.”

Baker did make the Opening Day roster, but by early May he had been in only one game and with Lombardi slumping, McKechnie tried a catching shakeup. When West got the call to start on May 4, Baker could probably see the handwriting on the wall. Whatever Baker’s suspicions, McKechnie used him as a pinch-hitter in a 9-1 loss to the Cubs on May 11 and the next day he was gone, sold to Frankie Frisch’s Pittsburgh Pirates.

Baker was again a third catcher in Pittsburgh, behind Al Lopez and Spud Davis, but The Sporting News reported “the presence of Bill Baker on his club makes Frisch feel comfortable.” Frisch tried him out on arrival, giving Baker six starts from May 13 through the end of the month. He then played only sporadically until September, when he got another ten starts as the Pirates were wrapping up a fourth-place finish, 19 games behind Brooklyn. Baker hit only .224 in 35 games with his new team, but showed a good batting eye with 11 walks and nary a strikeout.

The Pirates reserved Baker for 1942 and he remained with the club through the season, once again No. 3, this time behind Lopez and Babe Phelps, acquired in the offseason. Oddly, an injury kept Baker in the majors. In mid-July, Pittsburgh had worked out an option arrangement with Toronto that would have brought in Burgess Whitehead, a serviceable prewar second baseman, at the close of his International League season, with Baker going to Toronto immediately. But, catching an exhibition game against the Pirates’ Albany farm club, Baker broke a bone in his throwing hand. Toronto nixed the deal and Baker went to the disabled list instead of the minors. His 1942 season was over by July 21, with one start and 18 plate appearances as Pittsburgh also fizzled, proving the sagacity of local Sporting News stringer Charles “Chilly” Doyle, who had labeled the club “run-of-the-mill” in midseason. The Pirates finished fifth, 36½ games behind St. Louis.

The Selective Service Act had been enacted in September 1940, and Baker registered the next month, with “Woodleaf, Rowan County, N. C.” lined out on his draft card and replaced by “c/o Cincinnati Base Ball Club.” As 1943 dawned he was draft-exempt because of dependents and the Pirates reserved him again. Lopez was still on hand, but Phelps was gone and the vicissitudes of wartime baseball finally bumped Baker up a spot to second string. He responded with his best season in the majors, appearing in 63 games, coming to the plate 199 times, hitting .273, and topping it off with his first major-league home run on July 30 in Forbes Field–a sixth-inning shot off the Giants’ Cliff Melton, a fellow North Carolinian.ix Baker’s batting eye, which may have been a factor in his ability to stick on rosters, was still keen–he walked 22 times against only six strikeouts. The Pirates finished six games over .500 and moved up a notch to fourth place.

Baker and eight other Pirates remained draft-exempt for 1944, but he opted for the US Navy in March and spent part of his two years of service catching for the Great Lakes Naval Base’s Bluejackets. The team, managed by Lt. Cmdr. Mickey Cochrane, finished 48-2 in 1944, when Baker was on the roster. The pitching staff he helped handle included Tiger standout Virgil Trucks and former Tiger Schoolboy Rowe.

Baker was discharged to civilian life on December 20, 1945, and reinstated to the Pittsburgh reserve list on December 31. The January 3, 1946, Sporting News included him, with the omnipresent Lopez and Bill Salkeld, in the Pirates’ catching picture, but Baker, now 35, was on the fringe at best. He caught in 41 games, played first base in part of another, and hit .239; but again walked more times (12) than he struck out (6).

Coming off a seventh-place finish, the Pirates reserved Baker again for 1947, but “Chilly” Doyle observed “Baker seems to be getting close to the end of his major career” in a preseason story. That prediction was accurate. Although Lopez was traded to Cleveland during the 1946-47 offseason the Pirates went with younger catchers and set Baker, who never appeared in a game.x  Adrift, he landed with the Cardinals’ Columbus American Association (AAA) club, where he hit close to his minor-league norm (.276) in 108 games. The Pirates finished seventh again, this time without Baker.

Catching was cited as a problem when the Cardinals opened 1948 spring training. Del Wilber was projected as No. 1, with Del Rice to platoon against left-handed pitching. Twenty-two year-old Joe Garagiola made the Opening Day roster, but by July 4, Baker, among the American Association’s top hitters, was promoted to replace Garagiola. As Wilber, who hit .190 for the season, faded, Baker shared the catching with Rice the rest of the way, starting 34 games through the heat of July, August, and September. His .294 batting average and .373 on-base percentage were useful as St. Louis bounced around the National League pennant race with Boston, Brooklyn, and Pittsburgh, finally finishing second, 6 ½ games behind the Braves.xi

Baker was still with the 1949 Cardinals behind Rice and Garagiola after May 18 roster cuts, but saw little action, batting only 32 times. The last one was a pinch-hit strikeout on August 1—Baker’s last major league at-bat. He was released August 19.

A non-playing coaching stint with Frisch’s 7th-place Cubs occupied Baker in 1950, but he went to 1951 spring training with Toledo of the American Association. Not dissuaded by seeing him pinch-hit into a triple play against them in a spring training game, the Syracuse Chiefs picked up Baker, now a creaky 40, as a player-coach a few days later. He had his last moment of glory as a player, albeit now back in AAA, when he drove in four runs with two doubles on May 16 against Baltimore.

Baker finished his playing career with one pinch-hit appearance for the Little Rock Travelers (AA, Southern Association) in 1952 before being released on May 6. But his love for the game took him immediately into umpiring. He signed on with the Class D North Carolina State League on June 1 and spent the 1952 season working in and around Salisbury. He stayed near home with a shift to the Tar Heel League, also Class D, in 1953, then moved up to Class B and the Carolina League for the 1954 and 1955 seasons. He spent 1956 umpiring in the American Association (AAA).

Then, Baker reached the umpiring pinnacle when he and Vinnie Smith from the Pacific Coast League were added to the National League staff for 1957 as replacements for Larry Goetz and Al Barlick, who were both sidelined for the year with medical problems. Baker was assigned to the Frank Dascoli, Frank Secory, and Stan Landes crew and stayed with them most of the season. His debut in major league blue was on April 16 at Wrigley Field. As the 1957 NL season progressed, players and managers became increasingly vocal about what they perceived to be short-fuse, “rabbit ears” ejections, particularly by the Dascoli crew. Baker stayed under the radar until a July incident involving Pittsburgh manager Bobby Bragan.xii Four of Baker’s ten dismissals on the season came in the final two innings of the first game of a Phillies-Cardinals doubleheader in St. Louis on August 4. In the top of the eleventh, Baker, at home plate, called the Phillies’ Rip Repulski out on a foul tip third strike and Willie Jones, batting next, protested to the point of getting Baker’s thumb. The ensuing rhubarb saw him also banish Solly Hemus, who was on deck, and manager Mayo Smith. Cardinal Ken Boyer drew Baker’s fourth heave-ho contesting a third-strike call in the bottom of the twelfth as the Phillies, down two players and their manager, still prevailed 5-4.

Goetz retired after the 1957 season, but Barlick returned for 1958, forcing the league to make a choice between Baker and Smith. Smith got the nod; Baker returned to the American Association for 1958 and 1959. By then, his knees, ravaged by two-plus decades of catching and another eight years umpiring, dictated his baseball retirement.

Baker returned home to North Carolina and settled in the Rowan County community of Granite Quarry, near Salisbury. Until retirement in 1973 he worked as an automobile salesman for Raney Motor Company and later Aaron Chevrolet and regaled his customers with stories from his years in baseball. “And he was successful,” Salisbury sportswriter Mike London recalled. “Who didn’t want to buy a car from a man who had played in the World Series?” Baker was active in the Civitan Club and the Presbyterian Church and was elected a Granite Quarry alderman. He served as commander of the local American Legion post, and his work as commissioner of Rowan County American Legion baseball earned him induction to the North Carolina American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame with the class of 1974-75.

Bill and Valdois had been married for 52 years when she died in the summer of 1989. Over the years Baker had become one of the oldest living major league veterans and he ultimately moved to the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, area to be closer to his daughter Susan. He died there at age 95 on April 13, 2006, and is buried at the Unity Presbyterian Church cemetery in Woodleaf, Rowan County, North Carolina.

Sources

Charles Alexander, Breaking The Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004) 257.

Lee Allen, The Cincinnati Reds (New York: Putnam, 1948).

Steven R. Bullock, Playing For Their Nation: Baseball and the American Military During World War II (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2004) 79.

Bill James, Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (New York: Free Press, 2003) 412.

Mitchell Conrad Stinson, Deacon Bill McKechnie: A Baseball Biography (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2012) 180.

Mike London, “Remembering Bill Baker,” Salisbury (North Carolina) Post, April 16, 2006.

Will Wedge, “Yank Rookie Has Hard Task,” New York Sun, March 11, 1937.

Brian Wigley, Frank Ashley, and Arnold LeUnes, “Willard Hershberger and the Legacy of Suicide,” The National Pastime, No. 20, 2000, 72-76.

Cincinnati Sunday Morning Star, August 3, 1940.

Salisbury (North Carolina) Post, William Presley “Bill” Baker obituary, April 14, 2006.

The Sporting News, Numerous issues, April 1931 through November 1957.

Baseball-Reference.com.

Retrosheet.org.

Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York, Excerpts from Bill Baker Player File (Accessed by Gabriel Schechter, SABR).

Bill Baker Player/Umpire Card, The Sporting News (Accessed through Retrosheet.org).

Transylvania County Library, Brevard, North Carolina, Genealogical databases.

Notes

Albert Joseph Barlick was born on April 2, 1915, in Springfield, Illinois, the fifth and youngest son of John Barlick (c. 1879-1953) and Louise Gorence (1883-1966). John Barlick, an Austrian immigrant, worked for 50 years at the Peabody No. 59 bituminous mine.

Young Al dropped out of high school after two years to help support his family. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era federal work program, spending six months in Washington State and six more in Wisconsin. When an older brother died, Al returned home and went to work in the coal mine as his father’s helper.

Growing up in Springfield, Barlick and a friend, Pat Ciotti, had devised a backyard game in which they used a flat board for a bat and pitched kernels of corn from about 35 feet away. The pitcher also called balls and strikes. In 1935 Jack Rossiter, who ran the Springfield Municipal Baseball League, needed umpires. Ciotti recommended the 20-year-old Barlick, who was given a tryout and, eventually, a job.

In August 1936 the Class D Northeast Arkansas League needed a replacement umpire after one of the league’s arbiters fell ill. Barlick was recommended to the league’s president, Joe Bertig, and was hired for the last four weeks of the season. He hitchhiked from Springfield to the league office in Paragould, Arkansas. In 1937 Barlick jumped to the Class B Piedmont League, where he spent two seasons, then to the International League after the 1938 season. That league farmed him out to the Eastern League for the start of the 1939 campaign but recalled him by June.

In September 1940 National League chief umpire Bill Klem was unable to work, so the league needed a fill-in. Barlick made his debut in a doubleheader at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on September 8. His debut game was the first major-league contest he had ever seen. (The complete list of games he umpired can be viewed on the Retrosheet.org website.)

In February 1941 Barlick married Jennie Marie Leffell. They had two daughters, Marlene (born c. 1943) and Kathleen (born c. 1945). At the time of Barlick’s Hall of Fame induction in 1989, two of his grandsons were serving in the US Marine Corps.

The National League offered Barlick a contract for the 1941 season. At 26, he became one of the youngest umpires in major league history.

Barlick was behind the plate for the first game of a doubleheader in Pittsburgh on July 27, 1941. In the first inning, Brooklyn catcher Herman Franks objected to Barlick’s strike zone and Barlick ejected him, the first time he had ejected someone from a major-league game. Bill Klem joined Barlick and his partners for three games in St. Louis starting on September 11, the last three games of Klem’s career.

In just his second season, on July 6, 1942, Barlick was in the umpire crew for the All-Star Game, at the Polo Grounds in New York. It was the first of seven All-Star Games he umpired, and the only one for which he was not the home-plate umpire and crew chief. He worked at second base for the first half of the game and third base for the second half.

Barlick joined the US Coast Guard on November 5, 1943. He spent most of the next two years assigned to an 83-foot cutter based at the training station at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. When he was discharged in 1945, he had attained the rank of seaman 1st class.

He returned to umpiring in 1946, and worked in his first World Series that season. At the time a four-man umpire crew worked in the Series. Barlick umpired at second base in the first game and worked behind the plate twice, including the Series-deciding seventh game, in which Enos Slaughter made his mad dash around the bases. Barlick ruled Slaughter safe at the plate.

Barlick worked at first base on April 15, 1947, Opening Day, as the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Braves, 5-3, in Brooklyn. The historic game marked the big-league debut of the Dodgers first baseman, Jackie Robinson. Thus, Barlick was the closest man on the field to Robinson as he became the first African-American to play in the majors in the 20th century.

Barlick umpired six no-hit games, the first of them as the home-plate umpire on June 18, 1947, as Ewell Blackwell of the Cincinnati Reds shut down the Boston Braves. In the other five no-nos, he umpired on the bases.

Barlick worked at first base in Pittsburgh on June 10, 1948, and, in the second inning, called a balk on Dodgers hurler Harry Taylor with the bases loaded, allowing a run to score. Dodgers’ manager Leo Durocher ran out on the field to argue the call with Barlick and was ejected. Before the game the next afternoon, Durocher started yelling at Barlick, renewing the argument from the previous evening. According to news reports on the game, Barlick was overheard saying something along the lines of “this thing is starting all over again” before tossing Durocher.

This was a continuation of a long-standing battle between the young umpire and the fiery Durocher. The arbiter ejected Durocher ten times during Durocher’s career as a manager; in all, Barlick had 81 ejections.

In 1948 Barlick umpired 161 National League contests in a 154-game season. He worked 22 doubleheaders, including a four-day span starting September 19 in which he umpired four consecutive twin bills. He led all National League arbiters in games worked that summer.

On April 30, 1949, Rocky Nelson of the St. Louis Cardinals hit a sinking line drive to left-center in the top of the ninth at Wrigley Field, Chicago. Andy Pafko made a diving attempt at the ball, somersaulted, and came up running into the infield, thinking his catch was the third out. However, Barlick ruled that he had not caught the ball. Pafko argued with the arbiter while holding onto the ball and Nelson ran the circuit for a two-run inside-the-park homer that provided the Redbirds with a 4-3 victory.

Barlick made his second All-Star Game appearance on July 12, 1949, at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. This was the first time six umpires worked the midsummer classic, and Barlick was the home-plate umpire. This game was played in an intermittent drizzle and was sloppily played because of the conditions. The tradition at the time was that the umpires rotated positions after 4½ innings. Instead of taking another position, Barlick left the contest and the right-field line was left uncovered, which was not unusual at the time. No reason was disclosed for his departure.

At the end of the 1950 season, Barlick made his second appearance in the World Series as the New York Yankees swept the Philadelphia Phillies in four games. He worked only in the outfield, two games along the left-field line and two along the right-field line. When the World Series umpire crew expanded from four to six arbiters in 1947, it was the practice that two of the umpires, deemed as “alternates,” worked only in the outfield. This practice was changed for the 1964 fall classic, when the current system of rotating all six umpires around the field was instituted.

On May 6, 1951, Barlick and his partners were at the Polo Grounds in New York for a doubleheader between the Giants and the visiting Cincinnati Reds. The first contest lasted ten innings, with the Reds scoring in the top of the tenth on a solo homer by Virgil Stallcup. In the bottom of the frame, Whitey Lockman singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on Alvin Dark’s sacrifice. However, Reds second baseman Connie Ryan, who had made the putout at first on Dark, walked down to second with the ball hidden in his glove. He asked Lockman to step off the bag so he could straighten it, and the unsuspecting Lockman did so. Ryan tagged Lockman on the hidden-ball trick to complete a double play and negate the sacrifice. When Barlick called Lockman out, the enraged Giants stormed the umpire, led by their manager, Leo Durocher. Eventually, Barlick ejected his old nemesis and the game ended on the next play. Two days later Durocher and Lockman were fined by the league for their actions. The Durocher ejection was the first of 12 by Barlick during the 1951 season. He led all NL umpires in ejections that year, the only time he ejected more than eight people in one campaign.

Barlick was chosen for the World Series in 1951 for the second consecutive year. This year, he was part of the four-man rotating crew in the infield in the six-game, all-New York series. He worked behind the plate in Game Four, which was played at the Polo Grounds.

Barlick was behind the plate at Shibe Park, Philadelphia, for the 1952 All-Star Game. This was his third appearance at an All-Star Game and his second time starting a game behind the plate. In the middle of the fifth inning, the umpires changed positions and he moved to second base. The start of the game had been delayed 20 minutes by rain and, at the end of the fifth inning, there was a 56-minute rain delay before the game was called off, with the National League ahead, 3-2.

Barlick umpired the 1954 World Series, a four-game sweep by the New York Giants over the Cleveland Indians. He was behind the plate for Game One, a ten-inning affair at the Polo Grounds made famous by Willie Mays extraordinary catch of Vic Wertz late in the game.

On July 12, 1955, Barlick was once again behind the plate to start the All-Star Game. After 4½ innings, he swapped places with third-base umpire Bill Summers of the American League. The game, played at County Stadium in Milwaukee, was won by the NL, 6-5, in 12 innings on a game-ending homer by Stan Musial.

On September 25, 1955, Barlick and Lee Ballanfant worked their last game together. They umpired 1,633 games together in the major leagues, starting with Barlick’s debut in 1940. At the time, only Beans Reardon and Larry Goetz had worked more games as partners (1,913) and, at the end of the 2013 season, Barlick and Ballanfant are third on the list of partners. Joe Brinkman and Derryl Cousins top the list with 2,123 games together.

Barlick missed the 1956 and 1957 seasons because of a heart problem, described in various news accounts as either an enlarged heart or a mild heart attack. He spent the time operating a gas station called Barlick & Petrone in Springfield, Illinois. He returned to the National League in 1958 as a crew chief. At the end of the season, Barlick umpired the 1958 World Series, a seven-game set won by the New York Yankees over the Milwaukee Braves.

In 1959 the major leagues held two All-Star Games and Barlick was the plate umpire to start the first game, played on July 7 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. (He swapped with third-base umpire Joe Paparella in the middle of the fifth inning.) 

On September 20, 1959, Barlick was in San Francisco with Jocko Conlan’s crew for the last game played at Seals Stadium. It was an important game in the standings because the hometown Giants, the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Milwaukee Braves (who were in Philadelphia that day) were all fighting for the National League pennant. At the start of the day, the Giants and Dodgers were tied for first place and the Braves were a half-game behind. The Dodgers never trailed in the contest and took a one-game lead over the Giants. At the end of the season, the Dodgers and Braves played a best-of-three series to determine the league champion. The two senior umpires in the league, Barlick and Conlan, were chosen to work the series, along with a veteran group of four other umpires.

On August 15, 1960, Barlick’s crew was in Cincinnati for a doubleheader between the Braves and the Reds. In the first game, Barlick was umpiring at third base when Frank Robinson of the Reds slid hard into third attempting to stretch a double into a triple. Eddie Mathews tagged Robinson out and decided that the latter had come in too hard to the bag, so Mathews started punching the runner. Barlick ejected Mathews for fighting in one of the most memorable brawls in major-league history.

The National League umpire staff expanded in 1961 in anticipation of the addition of two teams in 1962. The league decided to season some arbiters before the league expansion. Barlick’s crew worked with various other umpires for many games as a five-man crew, with the extra umpire stationed down the left-field line. On July 4 the crew was at Wrigley Field in Chicago for a doubleheader between the San Francisco Giants and the Cubs. For those games, the fifth man on the crew was stationed in center field. Barlick’s reasoning, according to The Sporting News, was to give the outfield umpire a better angle to view balls hit near the wall. Many fans would reach over the wall and touch balls in flight, so this angle gave the arbiter a better chance to rule on those situations. This was before netting was installed near the top of the wall.

On July 26, 1961,

The Sporting News published the results of a poll to determine the best umpires. In the opinion of the managers and coaches, Al Barlick was rated as the most respected in the National League and won the top rating in five other categories in the poll: best caller of balls and strikes, best on the bases, best knowledge of rules, best at being in the right position, and most serious-minded. He was tied for the best with Shag Crawford in the category of making the most deliberate decisions. In the opinion of the writers polled, Barlick was at the top of four lists: most respected, best on bases, best knowledge of the rules, and making deliberate decisions.

When asked about the poll, Barlick, the senior National League umpire at the time, called it a disgrace. He criticized what he called the ill-informed opinions of the writers and some of the categories in the poll, including the most sarcastic, the hardest to talk to, the biggest grandstander, and the worst pop-off. His comments drew a lot of negative responses from writers, as might be expected.

Barlick was quoted by Ray Kelly in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin as saying: “The very idea of the ratings is unfair in that they place labels on hard-working officials who always try to do a good job. What, for instance, has neatness of appearance to do with sound officiating on the field? What constitutes respect? Does refusal to take abuse from a manager or player signify respect and is that respect forfeited when the player or manager is thrown out of the game?”

At the start of the 1962 season, Barlick’s crew umpired the first game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. At the end of the season, the San Francisco Giants and Dodgers were tied and played a best-of-three series to determine the winner of the NL pennant. Barlick was chosen to work the playoff series, and for the third time in nine years, he was the crew chief for the World Series. This seven-game series started at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park; it was the first time that the Series had been played in the Bay Area and Barlick umpired behind the plate for that initial contest.

In 1963 the National League mandated that the umpires crack down on balks by pitchers. This created a lot of arguments on the field. On May 4 Barlick was behind the plate for a game in Milwaukee between the Chicago Cubs and the Braves. Milwaukee starting pitcher Bob Shaw was called for a balk in the top of the first inning, three times in the third, and again in the fifth. In the third, the Cubs’ Billy Williams had walked and the three balks sent him around to score. In the fifth inning, after setting a record with his fifth balk of the game, Shaw walked Andre Rodgers to load the bases and then Nelson Mathews to force in the go-ahead run for the Cubs. Shaw objected to Barlick’s strike zone and was ejected by the arbiter.

A week later Barlick was quoted by Les Biederman in

The Sporting News: “We umps have to shoulder too much blame, yet all we do is enforce the rules. We don’t write the rules, just make certain none is violated. Now everybody is on us about the balks. Our instructions are to call balks when the pitcher fails to pause in his delivery with men on base, and we’re following orders. What would you do if your boss told you to do something and you didn’t follow through? What happens to a player who fails to follow instructions from a manager? It’s just as simple as that.”

On June 15, 1963, his crew worked a game in Cincinnati between the Reds and the New York Mets. At 3 o’clock the next morning, Barlick called Fred Fleig, the secretary of the National League, and, according to various news accounts, told him: “I am fed up with things and I am going to quit and go home.” League President Warren Giles told reporters later that day that he had tried to contact Barlick without success but hoped that he would change his mind because “he is an excellent umpire and a fine person.” At the time, there was no supervisor of umpires in the league, unlike the American League, which had a supervisor. The NL umpires were dissatisfied with Giles’ administration and felt that he failed to back them up when there was a controversy.

The balk situation was one of those controversial issues. Giles had ordered the arbiters to call the rule the way it was written, and so well over 100 were called in the first few weeks of the season. Commissioner Ford Frick convened an emergency meeting of the rules committee to reword the balk rule and bring it into conformity with standard practice. The umpires felt that Giles caused the problem and then failed to defend them once the trouble started. On June 17 Giles announced that he had spoken with Barlick, who was at his home in Springfield. Giles released a statement saying: “A misunderstanding has been cleared up. I asked Barlick to spend two or three days with his family. He will rejoin his crew in Chicago on June 21.” Giles refused to elaborate on the misunderstanding.

The time at home for the umpire was a rarity. Most years, Barlick would leave for spring training in February or March and not return home until the beginning of October or later. On the last day of the 1963 season, he said he was not sure if he would return the following year. He had umpired 20 seasons in the National League and, at 48 years old, was the senior arbiter in the league in terms of service. When he returned home to Springfield, he took a job at the city’s Water, Light and Power Department as a public-relations representative. By mid-January, however, Barlick had told the league that he would be back for the 1964 season.

In October 1963 the first umpires union was formed. The Association of National Baseball League Umpires included only National League umpires and was no doubt a reflection of the umpires’ opinion of the state of relations between them and Warren Giles. The union’s board of directors comprised Barlick, Jocko Conlan, Henry “Shag” Crawford, Augie Donatelli, and Tom Gorman. Conlan and Barlick were the two most senior umpires in the league at the time, since both joined the staff in 1941.

The purpose of the union as stated in its Illinois incorporation papers was “(t)o improve the general conditions pertaining to the relationship of the National Baseball League Umpires with the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs and to further aid in the constructive improvement of the game of National League Baseball.”

This union was replaced with the Major League Umpires Association, which was recognized by both leagues in 1970 and represented all umpires. This organization was disbanded and replaced with the World Umpires Association in 2000.

In 1965 Barlick and his crew opened the season in Houston, as the Astros hosted the Philadelphia Phillies at their new ballpark, the Astrodome. This was the first indoor stadium in the major leagues and the senior member of the league umpiring staff, Al Barlick, worked behind the plate for the initial contest.

On May 28, 1966, Barlick’s mother, Louise, died at her home in Springfield. Barlick went home after the game of May 25 to be with his ailing mother and returned to work on June 3, missing nine games. On July 12 Barlick was behind the plate for the All-Star Game, played at the newly opened Busch Stadium in St. Louis. As was the practice, the umpires changed positions in the middle of the fifth inning, with Barlick moving to third base.

Six days later, he was behind the plate for a game at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Phillies. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Dick Allen was on second base when a pitch got by Dodgers catcher John Roseboro for a passed ball. Barlick called the pitch a foul ball, so Roseboro did not run after the ball immediately. By the time he retrieved the ball, Allen had scored from second base. However, Barlick called time and placed Allen at third, explaining to the Phillies what he had done and that Allen would only have reached third without the umpire’s gaffe. Allen scored minutes later on a sacrifice fly.

Barlick missed the last two weeks of the 1966 season due to high blood pressure. He worked his last game on September 15 in Chicago and traveled to Houston for the next series. However, on September 17, he went home and was admitted to the hospital for a series of tests, which showed no damage to his heart. Barlick rested during the fall and later decided he was fit enough to go back to work in 1967. The 135 games Barlick umpired in 1966 represented the lowest total of his career for one season, excluding his partial season in 1940 before he joined the National League staff in 1941.

Barlick was chosen to umpire the 1967 World Series, his seventh and final time in the fall classic. In the second inning of the first game, played at Boston’s Fenway Park, Barlick stopped the contest briefly because a teenager was watching the game from atop the left-field wall just to the fair side of the foul pole. This was before the addition of the Monster Seats above the wall, when there was only a net.

On September 13, 1968, a fifth umpire was added to Barlick’s crew. Just as in 1961, the league decided to give some umpires big-league experience before they were needed on the field the following season. Each member of the crew was to take a day off in rotation and they worked that way until September 24, when all five umpires were on the field. The crew worked together for the last five games of the season.

After the season, Barlick accompanied the St. Louis Cardinals on a five-week tour of Japan. In one game, Lou Brock protested a strike call by the arbiter, so Barlick took Brock’s hat and bat, gave Brock his umpire cap, and stepped into the batter’s box. The crowd loved this prearranged set piece.

During the 1969 season, Barlick umpired 166 games, including 20 doubleheaders. The 166 games were the most in any season of Barlick’s career. With the expansion in 1969, each league was split into two divisions and the division winners played a round of playoff games to determine the World Series participants. The NL version of the League Championship Series started on October 4 with Al Barlick as the crew chief.

After the 1969 season, Barlick announced that he would retire if the pension plan for umpires was set up sufficiently. If not, he told reporters, “I’ll hang around. They’re not going to leave me in the middle of the street.” However, he returned to work in 1970 and, on June 28, he was in Pittsburgh for the final game played at Forbes Field. The Chicago Cubs and the Pirates played a doubleheader that day, with Barlick behind the plate for the first game. Two days later, the crew was in Cincinnati as the Reds opened their new home, Riverfront Stadium.

The 1970 All-Star Game was played at Riverfront Stadium on July 14, and Barlick was the crew chief and home-plate umpire. This was his seventh All-Star Game appearance, which is the most by any umpire, tied with longtime American League arbiter Bill Summers. Summers worked behind the plate for all of his games, while Barlick was the plate umpire six times. The 1970 game ended with the famous play in which Pete Rose crashed into catcher Ray Fosse, scoring the winning run when Fosse dropped the ball.

In February 1971 Barlick accepted the Umpire of the Year Award at the Al Somers Umpire School. The selection was based on a poll of the major-league umpires. As he accepted the award, Barlick said: “I’ve never accepted an award before. This is a true, honorable, sincere award because it is given to an umpire by umpires. That’s why it is very special.” He continued: “Bill Klem told me I’d meet some people in baseball I’d like. I’d meet some I didn’t like. But to help them all, because in doing that you’ll be helping all baseball.”

Barlick returned to the field in 1971 for his 28th and final year, even though he was a year past the retirement age. On May 31 the crew worked a game in Cincinnati between the Houston Astros and the hometown Reds. Barlick, who had been the plate umpire on the previous afternoon, worked at third base this day. During the game, Reds coach Alex Grammas was sarcastically praising Barlick’s strike zone of the previous day, so Barlick ejected Grammas.

The crew was at Wrigley Field for a Sunday afternoon game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs on September 26. Barlick worked behind the plate that day in the final game of his career, as the Phillies won, 5-1. The rest of the crew went to New York for three days, but Barlick did not work that series, having taken the advice of his teammates to go home early.

Al Barlick worked 4,227 games in the major leagues, which at the time was the fourth most of all time. He worked with 49 different umpires, including more than 1,000 games with four different umpires: Lee Ballanfant (1,633), Stan Landes (1,229), Augie Donatelli (1,104), and Ed Vargo (1,009).

On December 9, 1971, National League President Chub Feeney announced that Barlick was retiring from active duty as an umpire. The league hired him to supervise and scout umpires, a job he held for 22 years. During his time as supervisor, he hired many umpires who had long major-league careers. According to Bruce Froemming, who worked on Barlick’s crew in 1971, Barlick was “very proud of the staff he built.”

Froemming also talked about how easy Barlick made the transition from the minors to the majors. He “was a good teacher for the young guys” and “down to earth” with them, helping them get acclimated to life in the big leagues.

During spring training in 1988, Barlick was eating dinner with some umpires. He asked Mike Winters, a minor-league umpire working major-league spring games, to bring the bottom of his strike zone up a quarter-inch the next day. Winters looked at Barlick for a bit and then realized he had been had. Barlick was only joking with him because “no one is that good with their strike zone.”

In 1989 Al Barlick was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. He was the sixth umpire to be so honored, after Bill Klem, Tommy Connolly, Billy Evans, Jocko Conlan, and Cal Hubbard. In 1991 Barlick was made a charter member of the Springfield (Illinois) Sports Hall of Fame.

On September 10, 1995, a ceremony was held at Wrigley Field, Chicago, to retire numbers for three Hall of Fame umpires who worked in the National League: Bill Klem (No. 1), Jocko Conlan (2) and Al Barlick (3). Note that these were not numbers actually worn by those arbiters but done to honor them.

At the end of that month, the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore held a weekend card show as part of its celebration of the centennial of Ruth’s birth. The museum gathered many Hall of Famers for autograph sessions during the three-day event and Barlick was one of them. The Hall of Famers waited in a backstage room before doing their session with the public. Many players who came into the room, upon seeing Barlick sitting quietly at the side of the room, made a detour and stopped to say hello. Most addressed him as “Mr. Barlick” and asked how he was doing. Barlick once said: “I think I earned the players’ respect and that’s the ultimate in life, isn’t it? I didn’t care if they liked me or disliked me, as long as I had their respect.” The reaction of those Hall of Fame players that day in Baltimore certainly proved that respect.

Weeks later, Al Barlick died in Springfield on December 27, 1995, at the age of 80. He had collapsed at home and was pronounced dead at a hospital. Cardiac arrest had stilled his growling, booming voice, one of the loudest in the big leagues. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered by the family.

Barlick was fond of saying: “There are umpires and there are those who hold the title.” No one doubts that Barlick was an umpire. In fact, Bruce Froemming described Barlick as “an umpire’s umpire.”

In addition to the 49 umpires with whom he shared the field, Barlick mentored many umpires who were still working in the major leagues as of 2014. His legacy in the game lives on in those people.

Photo credit

Al Barlick, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

Sources

Biederman, Les, “Umps Shoulder Too Much Blame,”

The Sporting News, May 11, 1963.

Dolson, Frank, “Barlick a Loveable Tough Guy,”

Philadelphia Inquirer, July 27, 1989.

Froemming, Bruce N., phone interview with the author, January 27, 2011.

Holtzman, Jerome, “How Al Barlick Entered the ‘Hall,’ ”

Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1989.

“Japan Land of Fun for Gift-Laden Cards,”

The Sporting News, December 14, 1968.

Kelly, Ray, “Rating of Umpires Called Disgrace by Barlick,”

Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, July 24, 1961.

Koppett, Leonard, “Al Barlick: An Ump Calls Himself Out,”

New York Times, June 17, 1963.

Miller, Tony, “An Interview with HOF Umpire Al Barlick,”

Sports Collectors Digest, December 25, 1992.

Retrosheet website

retrosheet.org (umpire data and game schedules).

Vincent, David, Lyle Spatz, and David Smith,

The Midsummer Classic: The Complete History of Baseball’s All-Star Game (Lincoln, Nebraska: Bison Books, 2001).

Wind, Herbert Warren, “How an Umpire Gets That Way,”

Saturday Evening Post, August 8, 1953.

Winters, Michael J., phone interview with the author, January 25, 2011.

Dan Bellino is another; he is a Doctor of Jurisprudence, a graduate of John Marshall Law School who has served as an aide to a federal judge in Chicago. Umpiring was suggested to him by one of his law school professors.

“So you’re Dr. Barrett?”

“Reverend Doctor — the guys call me Reverend Doctor Crew Chief.”

Indeed, Dr. Barrett is also an ordained minister. In the most recent offseason — 2015/16 — he and fellow umpire Angel Hernandez traveled with others on a mission to Cuba. “This was my third year going. Angel went with me in December, which was really cool because, like he said, it was his first time back. He met his cousin for the first time. It was very emotional. We went and did missionary work.”

“I was ordained in the Southern Baptists, but I’m in a non-denominational church right now. In Arizona. I live in Gilbert. My undergrad was in kinesiology; that was in ’88. Then after a few years I decided it was time to go back to school and get a theological degree and I got my master’s degree in Biblical Studies [in 2007], from Trinity, which is a seminary in Newburgh, Indiana. It’s a four-year college as well as a seminary — Trinity University as well as Trinity Theological Seminary. They were big in the early days of distance learning. They also do regional seminars and I was able to go during the winter. You could go for a four-day thing and meet the professor, which was great then as we talked back and forth.”

There have been umpires who went into the ministry later in life, just as there are former ballplayers (Billy Sunday comes to mind) who later became ministers, but Teddy Barrett is the only one known to be a minister while an active umpire.

Dr. Barrett received his degree in 2013. The title of his dissertation for Trinity is An Investigation of Faith As A Life Principle in the Lives of Major League Umpires. 1 Barrett is also a co-founder of Calling for Christ, an organization created in 2003 to “love, encourage, and disciple umpires in their relationships with Jesus.” The board of directors of Calling for Christ (CFC) is comprised of MLB umpires Rob Drake, Mike Everett, Chris Guccione, Marvin Hudson, Alfonso Marquez, and Dave Rackley.2

Writer Jon Mooallem wrote a piece for ESPN The Magazine in which he gives some of the background to Barrett’s interest. “Barrett broke into the majors full time in 1999 and, having grown up in a religious family in upstate New York, was deeply unsettled by what he saw when he arrived. ‘How can I put this delicately?’ he says. ‘It was a devil’s playground. It was a dark, dark time.'”3

When one stops and thinks about it a bit, umpires do not just come emerge from nowhere and return to anonymity. They are real people with real lives. As Barrett wrote in his dissertation, “When a major league umpire speaks at a fundraiser dinner, classroom, church group, or some other event, he will inevitably receive the usual questions. What team do you ump for? What base do you work? Who is your favorite player? What is your favorite team? It is almost is if people, even the die-hard baseball fan, is under the impression that umpires appear from out of the ground underneath the stadium and work the game. Many people think umpires live in a city with a major league team and only work that game. Perhaps the umpires are so maligned because they are largely misunderstood.”4

To provide grounding for his dissertation, Barrett began with the words “It is said the job of the umpire is to start out perfect and get better.” And yet, under all the stresses of the job, it is not surprising that in their personal lives “some umpires fall into destructive behavior patterns.”

In order to better understand the experiences and concerns of his fellow umpires, rather than simply relying on conversations and anecdotal evidence, he distributed a confidential survey to every one of the 68 serving umpires in Major League Baseball during the annual meeting of World Umpires Association, the union which represents major league umpires, after the 2011 season. Removing himself from the research process, Barrett received completed surveys from 37 of the other 67 umpires. Their written responses were illuminating and exceptionally candid.

The pressures of the job are intense, first to advance up the ladder and then to continue to undergo public and professional scrutiny even when established as a major-league umpire. To make it to the top is, in the words of former minor-league umpire Rick Roder, to progress through “baseball’s narrowest door.”5 By way of some perspective, there are 100 United States Senators and there are 76 major-league umpires (a total of eight more were added in 2014 and 2015.)

There are only 76 major-league umpires and once one makes it, the rewards of the job are substantial — starting pay of $140,000 increasing to $400,000 in 2012, first-class travel, a $400 per diem, and — recently — even vacation time during the season.6 There remains a downside, however. Umpires are rarely home, missing milestone events in the lives of their children, hoping to hold together a relationship with a spouse who must inevitably be exceptionally understanding and capable of running a household. They do not travel with a baseball team, but in a very small group of four who must work together effectively on the field and who typically spend many of their non-working hours together as well. There is not only the strain on family life, but also the need to build productive working relationships while performing that work in an intensely competitive environment which inevitably pits one umpire against another, as it has throughout their entire professional development.

Very few people make it to the top. Every year about 300 people attend one of the two umpire schools recognized by MLB. Twenty-five from each school will go on to an evaluation course, from which some will become minor-league umpires. If hired, they are ranked at the end of every season in the minors and they will either be retained or released. There are 293 minor-league umpires, Barrett writes. In an average year, there might be one or two openings in the ranks of major-league umpiring. That math alone would be discouraging, but there is also the process of getting there for those who have, often a process that takes eight or nine years working for one-tenth the pay and with few of the amenities available at the top. The minor-league umpires do often work in the majors as fill-ins, and receive big-league pay during that time, but without the benefits or protection of the union. Rob Drake worked 1,218 games over 11 seasons as a Triple-A fill-in before being hired as an MLB umpire. Chris Guccione worked 1,250 over nine seasons.

All the while, every call of the umpires in every game is subject to reaction from ballplayers whose very livelihood can be affected by a safe-out call. And their calls are studied minutely by umpire observers, umpire supervisors, and by a general public which doesn’t hesitate to spew out abuse when they (rightly or wrongly) disagree with a call.

Like any employee in any field of work, umpires make mistakes. When a file clerk misplaces a dossier, he/she will never have 35,000 people booing at them for their mistake. They won’t be blasted through social media; their children will not receive abuse back in their hometowns. Barrett reminds us of one of the worst cases, after umpire Jim Joyce missed a very important call at the end of what would have been a perfect game for Armando Galarraga on June 2, 2010. Umpires take their mistakes to heart, and often can lose sleep to a bad call in a routine game. But, Barrett writes, “When Jim Joyce had the missed call in Detroit in 2010, his children received instant death threats on Facebook.” He adds, “One need to only do an engine search by typing in the name of any major league umpire, the vulgarity and hatred the reader would discover is hard to believe.”7

No one in the world felt worse than Joyce. A 20-year veteran umpire at the time, he’d made a mistake, but this was a mistake that deprived Galarraga of baseball immortality.8 The players had just voted Joyce best umpire in the game the year before. And at the time of the call, he was suffering a profound loss. “His father had recently passed away and this would be the first time he stayed in the home he was raised in without his father being there.”9

Umpires Larry Barnett and Don Denkinger are among others who received death threats that were taken seriously enough to result in a degree of mobilization by police and/or the FBI.10

It’s not surprising that umpires overwhelmingly value the implementation of replay—it helps them ensure that the call is right.

This is not to say that most umpires don’t find their work satisfying. Of the 34 umpires who responded to the question in Barrett’s survey, 33 said they were happy in the jobs. “Many used the term ‘very happy’ or ‘extremely happy.’ Some of them went as far to say they ‘love’ their job.”11 They are the elite who made it to the very top, and do have significant job security — though even umpire supervisors are not exempt from termination. Barrett wrote, “Two supervisors were fired following the 2009 postseason in which there were several high-profile umpiring mistakes.”12

Competition between umpires can be intense. Indeed, Barrett writes, “From the first day of umpire school the students are fully aware that they will be in direct competition with each other…The entire process from day one is a competition among umpires for progression.”13 Even after working as a fill-in for years, and being hired as a major-league umpire, there is a four-year probationary period. Perhaps it isn’t a stretch to learn that “Of the thirty-seven umpires who responded, thirty-six of them say there are umpires they do not trust. Many men simply stated that there are those they do not trust and many added that they constantly watch what they say in front of others. Some men pointed out that while it is a problem in the umpiring profession, it is also a problem in society as a whole.”14

Barrett had earlier mentioned finding a “devil’s playground” when he first arrived in the majors. And indeed, there is politicking and back-stabbing in many workplaces. Umpires are susceptible to the same crutches and temptations that others fall victim to. It is unrealistic to think that because baseball is a game with some glamour attached to it, somehow umpires are immune. That is not the case. Barrett talks about the extra responsibility of the crew chief, to keep his men working together effectively: “There are members of the staff, who have manipulative behavior, and they need to be called on it or they will shatter the crew dynamic. There are members of the staff who are in the midst of full blown addiction; their behavior can be detrimental to the crew. There are members of the staff who suffer from severe psychiatric disorders, a crew chief must be able to navigate all of these problems and keeps the crew functioning as a cohesive unit….There have been situations in the major leagues where men have worked side by side with functioning alcoholics.”15 That this is true in many workplaces does not mean it is less challenging to professional umpires and those who care about them. And umpires are indeed subject to random breathalyzer tests and other drug tests during the season, before they walk on the field of play. But such a test cannot pick up other forms of substance abuse, and cannot determine the mental health of the umpire. One of the motivations behind Baseball Chapel and a baseball ministry such as Calling for Christ is to help the crew confront such problems.

There is already a great deal of stress with which umpires must cope, but a crew which harbors someone struggling with serious issues “can add a great deal of stress to an umpire’s life, an umpires’ locker room should be an inner sanctum, a refuge from the bedlam that is a professional baseball game. Instead, it can be a place of bitterness, anger, jealousy, tears, rage, and fistfights. It can also be a place full of despair, despondency, loneliness and depression.”16

Divorce is not uncommon, but is not dramatically different than that in the population at large. And fully half the respondents said they have remained faithful and never engaged in “chasing.” Of those who have entered second marriages, the divorce rate is much, much lower than in the general population.

Nonetheless, among the respondents there were four who admitted to some form of sexual addiction. Pornography is among the problems they face. Three admitted to tobacco addiction and two to alcohol addiction. Several acknowledged problems with food addiction. Some had multiple addictions.

“Umpires wear masks when they work home plate,” writes Barrett in his dissertation. “This is something they become very adept at, wearing masks. Many of them know they need to keep a certain persona on the field as they do their jobs. Some of them feel the need to play the role of umpire off of the field as well. Many umpires emulate the veteran arbiters they look up to. They adopt their persona both on and off the field. As their career passes, they never take a good look at their own lives. They get so caught up in trying to emulate their idols they never take the time to discover their own personalities.”17

The situation appears to be improving, unfortunately accelerated by the 1996 death on the field of umpire John McSherry. Major League Baseball hired a full-time medical consultant, and a nutritionist. Several have sought counseling, though often outside baseball’s employee assistance program, in order to avoid unfortunate concerns regarding confidentiality. Barrett is optimistic: “I believe the umpires of the present are more mature, more aware of their surroundings, and make better decisions than umpires of the past.”18

Ted Barrett also found work, earlier in his career, as a sparring partner for professional boxers, and has indeed sparred with seven world champions: George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, Greg Page, Razor Ruddick, Obed Sullivan, Tony Tucker, and Mike Tyson. “They put ‘Everlast’ on me and then hung me from the ceiling and punched me.”

More seriously, he elaborated, “I wore head gear and everything. I got punched a lot. I had to have my nose fixed and this tooth. I’ve had a few scars. I kind of was in demand for a while because there aren’t too many heavyweight sparring partners. I’d promise my wife that I’d stop and then I’d get a phone call, and when I was in the minor leagues, I needed the money so I’d go.

“There’s an etiquette to it. You need someone you can trust. When you’ve got a fighter in there that they’ve got a lot of money invested in, they don’t want someone sparring with him who’s trying to hurt him or trying for a cheap shot. The first world champ I sparred with was Greg Page. He was a champ in the mid-1980s. He told me, ‘You could make a lot of money sparring, but you’ve got to do it right. You’ve got to know the business. You’ve got to know what you’re doing.’ He taught me the sparring partners’ creed and everything, and I became in demand.”

The sparring is behind him now. Umpiring pays well enough to take care of his family. A son, Andrew Barrett, has entered the ranks of professional umpiring. “He went to umpire school in January of ’15. He worked the ’15 season in the Arizona League. Arizona rookie league. Then he worked Instruction League in Florida. He worked minor-league spring training this year. He’s in extended spring training now [April 2016], waiting for the season to start. He’ll probably be in the Northwest or Pioneer League.

I wouldn’t let him go to umpire school out of high school. His buddy did, and his buddy is now in Triple A. But I told him he had to get a college degree or join the military. So he did four years in the Air Force. When he got out, that’s when he went to umpire school.

I never encouraged it. I never discouraged it. He always followed in my footsteps a little bit, other than he didn’t play football. He played one year but it wasn’t his cup of tea. He played baseball. He boxed a little. He kind of grew up in the gym, so it was kind of natural. That I did try to discourage, but….

“He was nuclear weapons maintenance. The sad thing is, he really wanted to travel. He joined the Air Force and he did four years in Albuquerque. It was 45 minutes for him to go through security and then go underground. I said, ‘Man, it sounds awesome.’ He goes, ‘It sounds awesome, but it’s not. It’s pretty boring.’ He and his wife have got a young baby and they’ve got another one on the way. It’s going to be a challenge, like I had, with young kids.

“I’ve got a daughter. She’s going to college. My youngest son’s in the Army. He just got back from Kuwait. He’s in Colorado Springs now. He’s on a tank crew. He’s only 20. They’re talking about Eastern Europe right now, in February. I saw on Fox News they’re sending 240 tanks to Poland in February.”

For all the varied life Ted Barrett has enjoyed, it comes as no surprise that his work in the ministry is what he feels gives his life the most meaning.

Last revised: February 8, 2016

This biography is included in “The SABR Book on Umpires and Umpiring” (SABR, 2017), edited by Larry Gerlach and Bill Nowlin.

  
Sources

This article began with a conversation in the umpires room at Fenway Park on July 11, 2015 and another on April 18, 2016. It was furthered by a reading of Dr. Barrett’s dissertation, and subsequent communications.

Notes

1 A copy of Edward G. Barrett’s dissertation was supplied by Trinity, courtesy of Sheryle Knight of Trinity Theological Seminary.

2 The Calling for Christ website may be found at: www.callingforchrist.com

3 Jon Mooallem, “Lest Ye Be Judged,” ESPN The Magazine, June 20, 2014. Available online at: http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11107264/mlb-umpires-flock-pastor-dean-baptized-espn-magazine

4 Edward G. Barrett, An Investigation of Faith As A Life Principle in the Lives of Major League Umpires (Newburgh: Indiana: Trinity Theological Seminary, 2013), 45, 46.

5 Rick Roder, Baseball’s Narrowest Door, How to Become a Professional Umpire, 3rd ed. (Remsen, Iowa: by the author, 2003).

6 In the environment where they work, even the highest-paid umpire makes less than the minimum wage of the lowest-paid player, which in 2015 was $507,500. The highest-paid players earn more in a year than do all 76 major-league umpires together. Nonetheless, at one point, Barrett writes, “Umpiring at the big league level is a Peter Pan existence. You never have to make your bed because the hotel maid will do that for you. You never have to do your laundry because your clubbie will do it. You never have to do dishes because you are eating in a restaurant.” (p. 82) And it falls on the wives to do most of the work in the household.

7 Barrett, 65, 66.

8 See the book which pitcher and umpire wrote together. Armando Galarraga, Jim Joyce, and Daniel Paisner. Nobody’s Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and A Game for Baseball History (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011).

9 Barrett, 55.

10 See, for instance, Durwood Merrill and Jim Dent, You’re Out and You’re Ugly Too! Confessions of an Umpire with Attitude (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998), 96, 97.

11 Barrett, 47.

12 Ibid., 38.

13 Ibid., 70-71.

14 Ibid., 72.

15 Ibid., 75-76. “Of the thirty-seven umpires in the survey, only three claim they have never abused alcohol and have never been drunk since they were members of the major league staff.” (p. 79)

16 Ibid., 75.

17 Ibid., 112.

18 Ibid., 85. Calling for Christ holds an annual retreat for umpires and their families each winter, and Barrett reports that 11 major-league umpires have attended, while several others have participated in the other activities the ministry offers.

Joseph V. Battin was born on November 11, 1853, in West Bradford, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was the only child of Joshua and Hannah (Pierce) Battin. His father was a farmer. By the time he was seven, Joe was living with his maternal aunt, Lydia Pierce, and her husband, James. Joe’s first job was a short stint as a Civil War drummer boy, only to be kicked out because he was just 10 years old. Battin learned the bricklaying trade during his early teen years and had no trouble finding work, although he was increasingly interested in playing baseball. By age 16, he was with West Chester’s Brandywine Baseball Club, a semi-pro team that played top-flight competition in the Delaware Valley. According to the Daily Local News, “his employer [who] did not like his employee to quit work to play ball, said: ‘Joe, you can do one of two things, either play ball or lay bricks, which will you do?” His reply was ‘I’ll play ball.”1

Battin made his major-league debut as a 17-year-old with the Cleveland Forest Citys of the National Association on August 11, 1871, against the Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Kekiongas. He was 0-for-3 with a walk and a putout in right field. The Cleveland Plain Dealer called the 15-3 loss “almost the sickliest game on record…probably without exception the worst played by the club in two years.”2

In 1873, Battin played in Easton, Pennsylvania for what author Paul Batesel described as a powerful semi-pro team – it sent several men to the majors. 3 On July 4, he played third base, batted leadoff, and scored five runs for the amateur Easton team in a 39-5 rout of a club called Nameless. One game account noted, “Battin did finely at third,” posting four putouts and five assists. 4

One day in 1873, Battin was laying bricks on a scaffold when Hicks Hayhurst, president of the Philadelphia Athletics, came along and asked him if he would like to play the following season with the club. Battin accepted the offer and agreed to take $150 in advance money and a salary of $1,000 for the season.5 Battin played his second major league game in 1873 with the Athletics, going 3-for-5 with four runs, two RBIs, and a walk. He had one putout, one assist, and an error in the field. Unfortunately, there is no record of the date or Philadelphia’s opponent.

Battin appeared in 51 games for Philadelphia in 1874, batting .230. According to one 1890 account, Battin “held down second base… coming into general favor at once.”6 He was a member of the Athletics club that toured England and Ireland with Al Spalding’s Boston squad in 1874; each team won eight games and each player earned a $15,000 share of the gate receipts. His roommate during the tour was future Hall of Fame member Cap Anson. Battin had introduced Anson to his future wife, Virginia “Jennie” Feigel of Philadelphia. He was also Anson’s best man at their 1876 wedding.7 It was during this period that Battin became the highest salaried player in baseball, earning $700 a month.8 He also umpired his first game on May 22, 1874, a National Association contest between the Baltimore Canaries and the Hartford Dark Blues, a 9-7 Baltimore victory.9

Battin signed with the St. Louis Brown Stockings of the National Association in 1875 and hit .250 in 67 games. On September 11, he “played third as well as he ever attended second” in a 6-0 win over Hartford. 10 He also singled and scoring a run. On November 7, in a writeup of what appears to have been some form of unofficial postseason competition, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat said he “brought down the house” by taking a hot liner from Oram’s bat in a 10-8 victory over the Picked Nine.11

Battin returned to St. Louis, now in the National League, in 1876. He had his best year with the bat (.300, 34 runs, 46 RBIs in 64 games). He was also the league’s leading fielder at third base, though his .867 mark was a sign how much fielding would advance in years to come. On July 15, Battin was an important part of George Bradley’s no-hitter, the first in major league history, a 2-0 St. Louis win over Hartford. With two outs, after mishandling Jack Burdock’s grounder at third, Battin “made a fantastic stop” of a hot liner by Dick Higham. He then doubled Burdock off first to end the game.12

On May 1, 1877, Battin played in what Henry Chadwick called “The Grandest Game Ever Played.” It was a 15-inning scoreless tie between the St. Louis Brown Stockings and the independent Star Club of Syracuse, featuring “heavy batting [despite a lack of runs], splendid fielding, and universal brilliancy of play.”13 Battin was hitless against pitcher Harry McCormick with two putouts and an assist at third base.

A few months later, though, Battin’s time in the NL ended under a cloud. According to Paul Batesel, “On August 25, 1877, he [Battin] and Joe Blong were named as gamblers and ‘willing partners’ in a St. Louis loss and as a result were ‘eased’ out of the league.”14

In 1878, Battin played in the International Association. He first performed for the New Bedford/New Haven/Hartford club and later for Lynn/Worcester. On June 28, the Worcester Daily Spy noted that “Battin, the new third baseman of the Worcesters, made a fine beginning [including two hits], and everybody was pleased with his work.”15

By the end of August, Battin had been elected team captain. He continued to play in the International Association in 1879, first with Utica and, as of mid-August, with Springfield. On June 10, the Springfield Republican noted that “The Uticas played a poor game at Holyoke yesterday, Battin [2-for-4, two walks] and Dolan being however brilliant exceptions and their playing securing frequent applause.”16

The available records do not show where Battin played in 1880, if he did at all. Battin returned to Philadelphia with the Athletics of the Eastern Championship Association in 1881. He attracted generally positive attention from the press that year. In an 8-2 loss to the New York Metropolitans on July 19, the New York Herald noted that he stroked two hits and “picked the balls up handsomely…but his throwing to first was miserable.” 17 On August 29, in a 10-2 Philadelphia win over Baltimore, the Philadelphia Inquirer said that “Battin carried off the batting honors, stroking two hits and scoring twice.”18 According to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, “Battin at third was one of the features of the game most admired” in a 6-3 loss to the Browns on September 3. 19

Philadelphia released Battin in mid-April 1882 and, on June 4, it was announced that he had been appointed a league umpire.20 By late August, he surfaced with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys of the American Association, where he appeared in 34 games and batted .211. On August 25, the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune reported that “Joe Battin is playing a fine game at third base for the Alleghenys.”21 He continued to play with the Alleghenys in 1883 (98 games, .214, and a league-leading .891 fielding percentage). Perhaps his best game was on July 12 when he went 5-for-5 with two runs, three doubles, and a triple in a 9-1 win against the Athletics. He managed his first game for Pittsburgh on September 10, 1883, a 12-6 loss at Cincinnati. His overall record as Pittsburgh’s interim manager in 1883 was 2-11.

Battin briefly returned to Pittsburgh in 1884 but was “laid off” and then suspended in late June, only to be hired as manager in July after Bob Ferguson was fired. 22 His managerial tenure lasted only two weeks even though the team played almost .500 ball (6-7) under him. Unfortunately, he was axed again on August 7, although team directors refused to say why. The press speculated that it was because Battin was very popular with the members of the club and player dissatisfaction with his release caused a 6-0 loss to Brooklyn. The Boston Herald thought it had to do with “falling off in his batting.”23 (He hit just .177 in 43 games.) Reading between the lines, it appears that the team gave less than a maximum effort. By August 10, Battin was placed on Pittsburgh’s retired list.

On August 11, he headed to Detroit and arrived two days later to replace Bill Geiss, but saw no action.24 Battin signed with the Pittsburgh club in the Union Association (the franchise had relocated from Chicago). He batted .188 in 18 games and posted a 1-5 record as manager. He also played for the Baltimore club in the UA that year (17 games, .102).

Battin spent the winter of 1884-85 in Pittsburgh. He returned to the minor leagues in 1885, first with Waterbury of the Southern New England League (40 games, .145). On July 28, the Cleveland Leader reported that “Battin is playing his usual good third base for Waterbury, but his batting is as weak as ever.”25 Shortly thereafter, he was signed as an umpire by the American Association. He also played for Cleveland of the Western League (29 games, .186) and Binghamton of the New York State League.

Battin returned to Waterbury in 1886, playing for the city’s entry in the Eastern League, the Brassmen. He hit .228 in 94 games and managed for part of the season too. That year prompted Battin’s claim that he recommended Connie Mack to Washington of the National League – which Norman Macht, Mack’s biographer, called “dubious. Battin did play against Mack in the Eastern League in 1886 and may well have had good things to say about him, but he certainly didn’t discover him and it’s a stretch to say he recommended Mack to the son of the owner of the Washington Club, who had gone to Hartford to buy some players and was subjected to a little arm-twisting to take Mack along with three others.”26

Nonetheless, it appears that Battin and Mack maintained a friendship for many years. Mack would leave tickets for Battin, and decades later, in 1933, The Akron Times-Press reported that “A few years ago, Mack came to Akron to visit Battin when he was in the hospital.”27

Ahead of the 1887 season, the Cleveland Leader remarked, “Joe Battin is one of the few players always in condition to play. He was the only man in the Waterbury club last season who played in every game, both regular and exhibition.” 28 Battin remained in Waterbury that year, hitting .321 in 54 games. In May, the Plain Dealer noted that “Joe Battin of the old Athletics and St. Louis Browns is doing good work on third for Waterbury.”29 He upheld his reputation as a durable player too; in early August, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle noted that “Battin has played ball thirteen years and in all that time he has lost but seven games by sickness or otherwise.”30

During the 1887 season, Battin moved to Syracuse of the International Association when the Waterbury team relocated. He returned to Syracuse in 1888 (110 games, .196). That July, the Boston Herald noted that “old Joe Battin is playing a great third base.”31 He also showed his feisty side. In August, he had a fistfight with a teammate, pitcher Con Murphy, over their abilities as batsmen. Battin thought Murphy should be placed lower in the order. Murphy resented this and, according to the Plain Dealer, “hot words followed and finally Murphy called Battin a liar, whereupon the latter promptly knocked Murphy down with a blow to the nasal organ.”32

In 1889, again with Syracuse, Battin hit .167 in 107 games but led Southern New England League third basemen in fielding. According to the Evansville Courier and Press, he also offered a unique suggestion on how to increase batting: “do away with the wearing of gloves by in-fielders. He claims that many batsmen are now put out on hits that would otherwise be safe and he attributes the daring of fielders in large measure due to the use of gloves.”33

The rise of the Players’ League in 1890 gave Battin a last opportunity to play at the big-league level.34 He was with the Syracuse Stars of the American Association for 29 games, hitting .210. On May 27, Battin had four fielding opportunities at third base. One resulted in a wild throw and the others found him reacting poorly to three hot grounders which should have been fielded. He was released by Syracuse by the end of May, prompting the Philadelphia Inquirer to note “Poor Joe Battin has about reached the bottom of the ladder. He was a dandy in his day.”35 He then signed with Saginaw-Bay City of the International Association on May 31, hitting .208 in 27 games.

Battin continued to umpire in the late 1880s and early 1890s, but to increasingly bad notices. In late April 1891, the Watertown Daily Times commented on his work in the Eastern Association: “Joe Battin’s umpiring Saturday was bad.”36 The Bay City Times featured a scathing review of his work in May 1891, noting that he “really is to be pitied, he ought to be driving a street car…he does as well as his limited capabilities allow him…he has made a colossal failure of it.”37 On June 6, 1891, the Eastern Association announced that Battin had been fired.38

Battin’s work as an umpire offered him an opportunity to scout and help young players by recommending them to his acquaintances. One such situation came about in 1890 when Bill Dahlen had an outstanding season at Cobbleskill of the New York State League. His play attracted Battin’s attention, and he later recommended Dahlen to Cap Anson, who was then managing the National League’s Chicago Colts.39

In October 1892, the Trenton Evening Times reported that “Joe Battin, after twenty years on the ball field, had gone back to his old trade as a bricklayer.”40 In 1893, however, the 39-year-old Battin appeared in four games for Reading of the Pennsylvania State League. His playing career concluded the following year with 16 games for Easton (also in the Pennsylvania State League) and two for Buffalo in the Eastern League.

In 1896, the Detroit Free Press reported that Battin “has been for the last year or so connected with a St. Louis race track.”41 He also still umpired on occasion, working his final game on July 12, 1896, a 14-1 Washington win at St. Louis. That year, Battin discussed his views on umpiring with the Milwaukee Sentinel. “If you want to tackle a job that will turn your hair from the hue of the raven’s wing to an iron grey in less than a fortnight, just try umpiring in the Western League. I have never been in any sort of a jail or prison, but I think I would rather serve two years in such a place than do a turn of two weeks as the master of ceremonies in a championship game at Minneapolis, St. Paul, and a few other Western cities.”42

In 1900, Battin was employed by Homestead Steel in Pittsburgh. By 1910, he was living in West Chester, Pennsylvania, with his wife of 36 years, Kathrine, and their daughter, Annette, age 33. At the time, Joe was working as a policeman. Kathrine died in 1911.43

The 1920 census showed Battin, described as a “retired bricklayer,” living in Akron, Ohio.44 Sixteen years later, when the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted its first class, Battin received one vote. Author James Vail shed light on this curiosity. There were two different ballots in 1936. Members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) “were charged with selecting ‘modern’ players who appeared in the majors after 1901. A second set of electors, an Old-Timers Committee (OTC), whose 78-man composition is currently unknown (but probably consisted of the elder statesmen among the BBWAA’s active and retired membership of the era), was supposed to select five men who played primarily in the 19th century. … It was never made clear who should be eligible for either of the 1936 ballots. … The lack of forethought regarding eligibility also encouraged some electors to vote for players with relatively short big-league careers.”45

The Eagles Lodge of Akron honored Battin as its oldest member in November 1937 – but soon thereafter he fell ill with pneumonia. Joe Battin died on December 10, 1937. He is buried in Akron’s Glendale Cemetery. There were no survivors.

Acknowledgments

A special thanks to Rory Costello for his baseball knowledge and editing expertise. This biography wouldn’t have seen the light of day without his help.

This biography was reviewed by David Lippman and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Thomas Nester.

Notes

A long post-baseball career in law enforcement was sprinkled with similar strife. Inflexibility and defiance of orders by Lieutenant Bausewine put him in frequent hot water with Philadelphia Police Department brass, and prompted the imposition of various disciplinary sanctions. In a subsequent late-life stint as chief of police in nearby Norristown, Bausewine was threatened with far graver punishment. Convicted on bribery and official misconduct charges, he was saved from a substantial prison sentence only by the intervention of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. His reputation in tatters, Bausewine died at home in his sleep at age 78.

George W. Bausewine began life in Philadelphia on March 22, 1869. He was the older of the two surviving children born to German immigrant tailor George Bausewine (1839-1932) and his wife, Katherine (née Nehlig, 1839-1910), a Pennsylvania native.1 George attended city schools through high-school graduation and then obtained employment in a local glass factory, where an on-site accident necessitated the amputation of a thumb.2 Thereafter, he worked in the less hazardous position of clerk.3 A youthful marriage to Ella Smith produced son George Jr. in 1889, but ended in divorce shortly thereafter.

Little is known about Bausewine’s formative baseball years, but he likely traveled the familiar path of sandlot play to amateur club ball. Baseball-Reference.com lists his batting and throwing sides as unknown, but the presumption is that he was right-handed.4 By 1886, Bausewine was playing for the Kensingtons, a fast Philadelphia semipro nine.5 He entered the professional ranks at age 18, signing with the Utica Pent Ups of the International League. Of imposing size (eventually 6-feet-2, 207 pounds), young George was one of six pitchers engaged by Utica for the 1887 season.6 Although given few opportunities in the box while with the Pent Ups, he somehow caught the eye of Bill Zecher, the player-captain of the Altoona Mountain Cities of the independent Pennsylvania State Association. Once Bausewine’s release had been purchased by Altoona, he was installed in the club’s rotation. But after he posted a 7-6 log, Altoona dropped him, leaving Bausewine free to join a newly formed Canton club, poised for midseason entry into the Ohio State League.

The local paper enthused about the acquisition of Bausewine, reporting that “he is a lusty youth, and eats bananas every morning before breakfast for his health.”7 But on August 4 he and Canton got off on the wrong foot, taking an 18-11 beating from Zanesville in their OSL debut. Bausewine quickly righted himself, throwing a five-hit, 6-0 shutout at Columbus five days later. From there, he completed a successful 7-4 campaign for the 22-14 Canton club.8 In a precursor of his later career, George had also served as a one-game emergency umpire, drawing favorable reviews for his work in a 3-3, 11-inning tie against Sandusky.9 At season end, he returned home to Philadelphia, informing the Canton Repository that he was “going to enter the Pennsylvania University gymnasium for the winter so as to put himself in good trim for next season … [and] to practice a different mode of pitching, which he thinks will be a success.”10

The following April, Bausewine and incumbent first baseman Jake Virtue returned to Canton, now a member of the newly organized Tri-State League, “looking as gay and chipper as two spring chickens, and ready to put up the best base ball that is in them. Bausewine says he has been hard at work this winter practicing and is going to pitch a speedy ball.”11 Forming a “Pretzel Battery” with fellow Teuton Gus Hoeneman, Bausewine started the season well, defeating Lima 6-3 in the club opener. He followed by hurling a two-hitter in a 7-2 win over Sandusky. But other times, he was hit hard. Of perhaps more concern, Bausewine also began to exhibit the attitude problems that would chronically plague him. After a “terrible slaughter” at the hands of the Wheeling Nail Cities, the once favorably inclined hometown newspaper felt disposed to reprint gloating out-of-town commentary that “it was good to see the conceit knocked out of [Bausewine and Hoeneman] by Wheeling.”12 In early July, lackadaisical effort against Mansfield prompted Canton club directors to release Hoeneman and suspend Bausewine indefinitely.13

The suspension proved a short one, as Bausewine was back in the box in time to suffer a well-pitched 4-3 loss to Columbus on the Fourth of July. But he was soon in the doghouse again, this time for verbal abuse of an umpire named Hall.14 With Canton languishing in the league standings and his record standing at 11-16,15 Bausewine was released on August 15. Soon thereafter, he was at the center of an editorial-page dispute. Several days after Bausewine’s termination, the Tri-State League adopted a rule that prohibited a league club from engaging any player released by another TSL club. Taking the side of the local boy, the Philadelphia-based Sporting Life denounced the Tri-State League, branding its new rule an “infamy” and an unjust restriction upon league employment opportunities for released players.16 But the weekly’s indignation may well have been misplaced. As noted in the response of the Canton Repository, the rule was prospective in nature and had not been applied to Bausewine. He had been released “because he was of no use to the Canton club as a pitcher. He tried to sign with other clubs in the Tri-State League, and the Canton directors put nothing in the way to prevent him from getting a position, but no club wanted him.”17 Whether fairly treated or not, Bausewine’s time as a player in the Tri-State League had come to its end. He finished the season “doing some pitching” for an independent club in Norristown, Pennsylvania.18

The unhappy events of 1888 notwithstanding, Bausewine was still only 20 years old and determined to continue his pursuit of a professional baseball career. And before the year was out, he would have his lone taste of major-league ball as a player. But the route taken was a tortuous one. In February it was reported that Bausewine had signed with Lowell (Massachusetts) of the Atlantic Association.19 But when the 1889 season started, he was a member of the Memphis club in the Southern League. George pitched well, his subpar 6-9 record belied by an excellent 1.99 ERA. With Memphis teetering on the financial brink as the season progressed, club boss A.W. Lang began selling off team assets. His attempt to peddle Bausewine to St. Paul of the Western League, however, was stymied by young George’s refusal to go there.20 On June 14 the Memphis franchise folded, ending all play in the four-team Southern League. Deeming himself a free agent, Bausewine quickly signed with the London (Ontario) Tecumsehs of the International League. Unbeknownst to George, London had already arranged to purchase his contract from Memphis for $350. When London reneged on payment, Lang filed a grievance with baseball’s National Board of Arbitration.21 The outcome of the proceedings is unknown, but Bausewine was likely long gone from London by the time a decision was rendered. Two ineffective outings (14 base hits and 13 walks in 15⅓ innings pitched) precipitated George’s swift release to the Jersey City Skeeters of the Atlantic Association.

His Jersey City stay was necessarily a brief one, as the club disbanded on July 25. Bausewine’s whereabouts for the next six weeks are undiscovered, but on September 10, 1889, he was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association. George made his major-league debut four days later against the defending Association champion St. Louis Browns in the second game of a home doubleheader. The A’s staked Bausewine to an early 4-1 lead, but he was undermined by control lapses (six walks) and a shoddy defense that allowed the Browns three unearned runs. Still, George pitched well, yielding but four hits in a game that ended in a 4-4 deadlock. He returned to the box on September 20 against Brooklyn and again pitched capably, allowing only four hits and two earned runs, but was tagged with the 4-1 loss. Days later, a ninth-inning Philadelphia rally propelled Bausewine to a 9-8 victory over Baltimore. It was his first and only big-league win.

He closed the campaign with several ineffective outings, his record finalized at 1-4, with a 3.90 ERA in seven games. In 55⅓ innings pitched, he surrendered 64 hits, yielding an over-generous .281 opponents batting average. His control was also shaky, with combined walks/HBP/wild pitches (47) far exceeding his strikeouts (18). And he had been near-helpless at the plate, posting a microscopic .048 (1-for-21) batting average. Nevertheless, Bausewine’s youth, size, and live arm induced the A’s to retain him, and he was placed on the Philadelphia reserve list for the 1890 season.22

Bausewine reported to the Athletics spring camp in March 1890 and pitched in two intrasquad games.23 He failed to impress and was released in early April.24 For the next several weeks, Bausewine hurled for the Kensingtons and other local semipro teams before signing with the St. Paul Apostles of the minor-league Western Association.25 After several poor outings, he took his leave of the club to embark upon a new career as a circuit umpire. By all appearances Bausewine had the makings of a first-rate arbiter. He was a large man of impressive bearing, reasonably intelligent, and fearless. But he also had the knack of rubbing others the wrong way. On July 5 umpire Bausewine was mobbed by angry Omaha fans and required a police escort to leave the grounds safely. Given the times, the event was hardly a remarkable one. But what followed thereafter was singular, and revelatory of the adversarial streak in Bausewine’s personality.

On August 10 Bausewine was again scheduled to umpire in Omaha, but club management refused to admit him to the ballpark. Undaunted, Bausewine purchased a ticket to the game, only to be denied admittance once more. He then bought a second game ticket, intending to use this one as evidence in a lawsuit contemplated against the Omaha club. Meanwhile, he cooled his heels outside while the game was played. Thereafter, Bausewine encountered Western Association President Dick McCormick on the street. The intemperate remonstrance that ensued so angered McCormick that he broke his umbrella on Bausewine’s skull.26 That evening, WA secretary Mike Roche informed umpire Bausewine that his services were no longer required by the league. After consulting a local attorney who advised him that he had excellent grounds for legal action, Bausewine caught the next train for Kansas City, his umpiring career suspended for the time being.27 He subsequently re-signed with St. Paul,28 but pitched no more effectively than he had earlier and finished the season playing for an outlaw club in Houghton, Michigan.29 By fall, George had returned home to Philadelphia and resumed his offseason job as a street-car conductor.

For the next two seasons, Bausewine spent his leisure time pitching and umpiring semipro games in the greater Philadelphia area. He re-entered Organized Baseball in 1893 as the player-captain of the Allentown Colts of the Pennsylvania State League. After posting an 8-1 record, Bausewine “skippered out of Allentown” and joined the Albany Senators of the higher-tier Eastern League,30 where he went 12-11. He spent the following season with an Eastern League rival, the Syracuse Stars,31 before ending his professional playing career in 1895 with a three-game pitching stint with yet another Eastern League team, the Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons.

Although his primary occupation remained city street-car conductor, Bausewine also embarked on his third and final career in 1895. He joined the Philadelphia Police Department reserves. Among other things, this part-time, special-duty position made Bausewine eligible to pitch for the police department baseball team organized by ex-major leaguer Ed O’Neil, now a Philly cop.32 George also continued playing for local semipro clubs, but more and more his time on the diamond became devoted to umpiring. But the highlight of this time period for him occurred away from the game. In 1900 George remarried, taking Philadelphian Emma Allbaster as his second bride. The subsequent birth of daughter Emma (1903) and son Harry (1908) completed the family.

In January 1904 Bausewine was engaged as an umpire by the minor-league American Association, a circuit recently formed by an ex-major-league outfielder turned baseball magnate, George Tebeau.33 Only one month into his tenure, Bausewine had a memorable encounter with the short-tempered Tebeau, who doubled as owner-manager of the league’s Louisville franchise. During a May 4, 1904, twin bill against St. Paul, Tebeau began taking loud exception to umpire Bausewine’s strike zone. Bausewine, in turn, took exception to Tebeau’s commentary, finally ejecting him from the game and ordering him to depart the grounds within five minutes. An infuriated Tebeau thereupon entered the ballpark dressing quarters, broke into Bausewine’s locker, and collected its contents down to the umpire’s underwear – all of which he promptly deposited throughout the outfield, much to the entertainment of the 1,500 spectators.34 Bausewine was not among those amused, and only the intervention of bystanders averted a postgame fight between the two antagonists.35

Despite the Tebeau incident and a quickly rescinded midseason resignation, Bausewine “made a good record” as an American Association umpire, and that winter he was appointed to the National League staff for the 1905 campaign.36 His early-season work drew the commendation of Boston sportswriter J.C. Morse, who declared, “No umpire in recent years has covered ground any better than [Bausewine] and he has made an excellent impression.”37 Then on June 13, George was behind the plate for the second career no-hitter thrown by the fabled Christy Mathewson, a 1-0 masterpiece against Chicago. But such highlights were overshadowed by controversial run-ins with John McGraw, Joe Kelley, and Honus Wagner, the affable shortstop drawing a three-game suspension for an infield warm-up toss that appeared aimed at umpire Bausewine.38 Still, the announcement of his dismissal during the offseason was unexpected. Bausewine was let go, it was said almost laughably, “because of a tendency to get homesick.”39

The purported homesickness did not dissuade Bausewine from umpiring in the Tri-State League during the 1906 and 1907 seasons. But again his work was marred by frequent confrontations, most notably with Williamsport manager Harry Wolverton and angry York White Roses fans,40 as well as by another withdrawn midseason resignation. But ultimately the cause of Bausewine’s abandonment of the game had nothing much to do with events in and around the diamond. Rather, it was precipitated by his advancement in police ranks. For years, his superiors had accommodated Bausewine’s baseball ambitions by extending him leaves of absence as needed. But in 1908, Bausewine was promoted to acting lieutenant and placed in charge of the Fourth District station.41 “This means a first class umpire is now permanently lost to professional baseball,” lamented Sporting Life.42

In law enforcement as in umpiring, Bausewine’s performance was mixed. His intimidating size and ability to instill discipline and efficiency in wayward police precincts were much prized at headquarters. Not so his often-contrary and maverick disposition. Nor would Bausewine, the only known Democrat in an otherwise solidly Republican police hierarchy, tolerate the intrusion of neighborhood ward heelers into the running of his command or accept the assignment of political appointees to his station. The result was recurring clashes with departmental bosses, with his transfer, and occasionally suspension, the usual outcome. Yet on balance, Bausewine was an asset to the department, and his retirement in 1925 after nearly 30 years of police service was accepted with regret.

At age 56, Bausewine uprooted himself from Philadelphia to become the second chief of police in newly incorporated Hollywood, Florida. Then a sparsely populated coastal town distinguished only by constant sunshine and the host of Prohibition Era bootleggers who prowled its waters, Hollywood was a lawless place plagued by inexperience and turnover in its fledgling police department. Taking office on January 15, 1926, Bausewine lasted 10 weeks, his brief time as chief marred by the murder of a rookie patrolman dispatched to investigate suspicious activity at an out-of-the-way farmhouse.43 He then returned to Philadelphia. Three years later, George was appointed police chief of Norristown, the nearby suburb where he had occasionally pitched decades earlier.

By the early 1940s, Chief Bausewine had become a target of both the Norristown Times-Herald and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. In July 1942 the newspaper’s editorial page criticized the now-73-year-old Bausewine’s age, salary, and lack of vigor, describing him as a septuagenarian castoff of the Philadelphia police in dire need of replacement.44 The Times-Herald quickly followed up that blast by tarring Bausewine via resurrection of a 1930 auto accident that had placed him in the company of a small-time gangster named Joe Allegro.45 The latter editorial spurred Bausewine to institute a libel action against the newspaper, but his troubles kept on coming. In July 1943, the torpedoing of the cruiser USS Helena imperiled his grandson, Ensign George W. Bausewine III. The young naval officer survived, but would spend the remainder of World War II in a convalescent hospital. In the meantime, 54-year-old George Jr., a Cincinnati mining company executive, was felled by a fatal heart attack.46

No sooner had he buried his son than an investigation of Chief Bausewine by the local district attorney took center stage. At the heart of the probe was the allegation that Bausewine had regularly accepted $50 payoffs to permit a Norristown social club called the Orioles Lounge to maintain illegal slot machines on the premises. Charged with bribery and official misconduct, Bausewine stood trial and was found guilty of both offenses in early April 1944.47 He was subsequently sentenced to a prison term of 4 to 23 months, fined $500, and stripped of office, but permitted to remain free on bond pending the outcome of appeals.48

Disgraced and suffering from heart disease, Bausewine fought back. And in time and against the odds, he prevailed. Civil juries twice agreed that the Norristown Times-Herald editorial had defamed Bausewine, and in January 1945 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court sustained that judgment and the $50,000 award in Bausewine’s favor that came with it.49 Fourteen months later, the Court came to Bausewine’s rescue again. On the basis of a crabbed reading of the trial record, the justices concluded that that charges against the accused lacked sufficient evidential support and vacated the convictions.50

Unfortunately for Bausewine, the public did not share the sympathies of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and its rulings did little to restore his battered reputation. He spent his remaining days quietly at home in Norristown until he was found dead in his bed on the morning of July 29, 1947.51 George Bausewine was 78. Interment was at Arlington Cemetery in nearby Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. Survivors included his second wife, Emma, son, Harry, daughter, Emma Donaghy, and his unmarried sister, Evaline Bausewine.

Sources

Sources for the biographical info recited herein include the George Bausewine file maintained at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; US Census data, Philadelphia city directories, and Bausewine family posts accessed via Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited below. Unless otherwise noted, stats have been taken from Baseball-Reference.

Notes

William Henry Becannon was born in 1856 in New York City.1 He was the oldest of the four children of Hiram and Mary (Greene) Becannon.2 His father was a well-to-do businessman who could afford to live in a brownstone on West 123rd Street across from Mt. Morris Park in then-suburban Harlem.3

Given his father’s stature in the business community and local Republican political circles, William received an education and could devote the time to play amateur baseball as a young man. He played mostly for amateur teams, briefly as a professional from 1877 to 1879. His younger brother James “Buck” Becannon, who played some major-league baseball, was a more talented ballplayer.

From 1873 to 1875, William played for the Olympic club, an amateur team based in the Manhattanville neighborhood, adjacent to Harlem.4 In 1876 he played for the Arlington club of New York City, which played higher-level amateur competition than did the Olympic club, often at the Capitoline Grounds in Brooklyn.5

William played professional baseball in 1877 as a third baseman with the Hornell club of Hornellsville, New York, located in the western part of the state near Buffalo.6 Hornell, managed by Horace Phillips, played a number of games against teams in the International Association, a nascent minor league that was a notch below the National League. The Hornell ballclub was a member of the International Association for the 1878 season; however, William is not listed in any box scores, so he perhaps handled business matters to assist Phillips.7

In the spring of 1879, William played for the Alaska amateur club, based in New York City.8 By June he was playing for the professional team in Hudson, New York, located 25 miles south of Albany. “Mr. Becannon, the new player, has the reputation of being first class,” the local newspaper reported upon his arrival in Hudson, “filling the position of third baseman in a very handsome manner, besides being a good hitter.”9 After the Hudson club disbanded in mid-August 1879, William played a few games with the Campello semipro ballclub, based in Brockton, Massachusetts.10

Although biographical sketches of William published in 1886 and 1890 (as well as his 1932 obituary) contend that he played for the Troy team in the National League in 1879, his name cannot be found in box scores.11 Since Phillips managed the Troy team that year, William could have been an emergency substitute player, if needed, in between his stints with the Hudson and Campello clubs, or he may have played in an exhibition game for Troy. More likely is that Phillips merely gave him a brief tryout.

In 1880 William gave up playing baseball to work as a clerk at the Surrogate Court of New York County, which handled probate and estate proceedings.12 However, given the proximity of his home at West 123rd Street to the baseball field at the Polo Grounds on 110th Street, he returned to baseball as a spectator at the ballgames played there by an independent professional team, the Metropolitans.

William was an umpire for three games at the Polo Grounds in 1882, when the Metropolitans played major-league opponents.13 In the August 12 game, the New York Clipper noted that “the game was well umpired by young Becannon.”14 For the 1883 season, the Metropolitans entered the American Association, a major-league rival to the National League.

At the March 1883 meeting of the American Association, William was named to be a league umpire for the 1883 season.15 Instrumental in his selection was Horace Phillips, his former manager at Hornellsville, who was one of the founders of the American Association. William umpired a dozen games in May 1883 before he abruptly resigned after the May 17 game, citing “dissatisfaction caused by his decisions in the Cincinnati games.”16

William married Constance Whitehorne Kingsley on November 12, 1883.17 Their only child, Harry Becannon, was born on January 12, 1885.18 He was also stepfather to George Kingsley, a son from Constance’s first marriage.

William kept his hand in baseball as a salesman in the New York City store of the Spalding & Bros. sporting-goods company.19 He was quoted in an 1885 wire-service story about the New York Giants as saying that he would recommend “playing baseball … to any one seeking a strong constitution” to remain healthy. “Our people are taking more to athletic exercise, and there is no better place to witness the result than among our patrons,” William told the writer. “There is a man buying a catcher’s mask at the opposite counter. Through the thin flannel suit you can see the splendid proportions of his figure.”20

While working at Spalding & Bros., William organized an amateur league in New York City and then managed the reserve team of the New York Giants in 1887, where it was noted that he had “sufficient expertise to handle the club with profit.”21

Early in 1889 William left the employ of Spalding to start his own sporting-goods business in partnership with Tim Keefe, the star pitcher for the New York Giants and secretary of the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players. Their company, Keefe & Becannon, operated a store at 157 Broadway.22 “What Becannon lacks in fame as a player he makes up in business capacity and executive ability,” Sporting Life reported. “The success which has attended the new firm is in great measure due to his untiring efforts and a practical knowledge of the business acquired by his long connection with the Spaldings.”23

In November 1889 the Brotherhood announced the formation of the Players League to compete with the National League during the 1890 season. Many of the players in the National League, including Keefe, jumped to the Players League.

Keefe & Becannon was awarded the contract to supply the official Players League baseball, which became known as the Keefe Official Ball.24 The company also supplied uniforms and equipment to many of the Players League teams. The firm made a huge bet that the Players League would succeed, stating in its advertisements that it was “Outfitters to the Players’ National (Brotherhood) League and Manufacturer of The Keefe Official Ball.”25 However, the Players League collapsed after the 1890 season.

In May 1891 Keefe & Becannon went into bankruptcy, since the firm had lost money on the first year of its three-year contract to supply baseballs to the league (expecting to make it up in the next two years), and was also owed money by league teams that had bought uniforms and equipment.26 The company officially dissolved in July 1891, when a receiver paid off its obligations at cents on the dollar.27

William went back to work at Spalding & Bros., but left in 1893 to start another business.28 In 1894 he was involved in trying to revive the American Association as a major league, to compete against the National League, which levied a 50-cent admission charge. “We are convinced that 25-cent ball will find plenty of patrons in all the chief cities,” William told reporters. “We only want our share of patronage and we think we can get it.”29 The league never went farther than discussions.

In 1895 William was a selling agent affiliated with W.C. Hodgkins & Company. “Becannon is a hustler, has a thorough knowledge of the base ball business, and a host of friends,” Sporting Life reported on his latest venture.30 However, not even he could successfully peddle the surplus stock of the Keefe Official Ball from the Players League days, which he highlighted in advertisements to leverage his prior work at Keefe & Becannon.31

Over the next four decades, William worked as a salesman in a variety of businesses, including bicycles, hammocks, specialty drugs, and furniture.32

William Becannon died on August 8, 1932, in New York City and is buried at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.33

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Len Levin and fact-checked by Rob Wood.

Notes

1 No birth record can be located for Becannon. The 1856 year is consistent with his age as recorded in federal census records from 1870 to 1930.

2 Federal census record for 1870 for Hiram Becannon, 7th election district, 12th ward, New York City, New York; death notice of four-year-old Hiram Jr., New York Times, March 20, 1866.

3 New York City Directory, 1867 and 1875; federal census record for 1870 for Hiram Becannon.

4 “Our National Game: William Becannon,” National Police Gazette, June 5, 1886; “Keefe & Becannon: The New and Prosperous Sporting Goods Firm,” Sporting Life, May 31, 1890; Olympic box scores, New York Spirit of the Times, September 26, 1874, and New York Clipper, June 19, 1875.

5 Arlington box score, New York Clipper, July 1, 1876.

6 Hornell box scores, New York Clipper, May 19, July 7, and September 22, 1877.

7 Brock Helander, “The Mystery of Horace B. Phillips,” Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game, Fall 2014.

8 “Later Baseball Notes,” New York Clipper, April 19, 1879; Alaska box scores, New York Clipper, May 24 and June 14, 1879.

9 “Base Ball Matters,” Hudson (New York) Evening Register, June 25, 1879; Hudson box scores, New York Clipper, July 19 and August 9, 1879.

10 “Base Ball Matters,” Hudson (New York) Evening Register, August 18, 1879; “Baseball Notes,” New York Clipper, August 23, 1879; Campello box scores, Boston Globe, August 20 and 22, 1879. William didn’t get much respect in Brockton, as he was initially listed in the box scores as “B. Cannon” and later his surname was often misspelled as Buchanan.

11 “Our National Game: William Becannon” and “Keefe & Becannon: The New and Prosperous Sporting Goods Firm.”

12 “Our National Game: William Becannon”; federal census record for 1880 for Hiram Becannon, 1 West 123rd Street, New York City, New York.

13 Metropolitan box scores, New York Times, August 13, August 20, and September 10, 1882.

14 “Metropolitan vs. Troy,” New York Clipper, August 19, 1882.

15 “The Base-Ball Convention,” New York Times, March 14, 1883.

16 “All Around the Diamond,” Boston Globe, May 19, 1883.

17 Marriage records for 1883 for New York, at familysearch.org website.

18 Birth date in Social Security Death Index record of his death in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

19 “Our National Game: William Becannon.”

20 “The New York Nine,” Olean (New York) Democrat, September 3, 1885.

21 “New York Reserves,” Sporting Life, April 6, 1887.

22 New York City Directory, 1889.

23 “Keefe & Becannon: The New and Prosperous Sporting Goods Firm.”

24 Charlie Bevis, Tim Keefe: A Biography of the Hall of Fame Pitcher and Player-Rights Advocate (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2015), 187-188.

25 Advertisement in Sporting Life, June 28, 1890.

26 “Keefe and Becannon Are Out,” New York Press, May 9, 1891.

27 “News of the Ball Field,” Brooklyn Eagle, July 19, 1891.

28 “Minor Sporting Matters,” New York Times, February 5, 1893.

29 “New Baseball Association,” New York World, October 26, 1894.

30 “Personal,” Sporting Life, March 16, 1895.

31 Advertisement in Sporting Life, April 6, 1895.

32 Federal census records for William Becannon in New York City, New York: 1900 at 461 East 176th Street in the Bronx; 1910 at 643 East 169th Street in the Bronx; 1920 and 1930 at 719 West 180th Street in Manhattan.

33 “William Henry Becannon,” New York Sun, August 9, 1932; Kensico Cemetery records show that William is buried in Section 45/46, Lot 1186.

Jacob Peter Beckley was born on August 4, 1867, in Hannibal, Missouri, the Mississippi River town that Mark Twain made famous. A left-handed batter and thrower, Jake played in his teenage years for fast semipro teams in the Hannibal area. Bob Hart, a former teammate from Hannibal, arranged his introduction to professional ball. While pitching in the Western League for Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1886, Hart recommended the 18-year-old Jake Beckley to his manager. Beckley traveled to Leavenworth and batted .342 in 75 games, playing mostly second base and the outfield. Though left-handed throwers still played second, short, and third in the 1880s, Jake really didn’t have the arm strength to play any position except first base. Leavenworth moved him there the following season, and that is where he remained for the rest of his lengthy career.

Beckley batted over .400 in 1887 (walks counted as hits that season), splitting the summer between Leavenworth and another Western League team in Lincoln, Nebraska. The following year Lincoln sold the steadily improving first baseman to the Western Association’s St. Louis Whites. Beckley played only 34 games before the Whites sold him in June 1888 to the National League’s Pittsburgh Alleghenies for $4,000. Still only 20 years old, Jake batted .343 as a rookie and solidified the right side of the Pittsburgh infield with his defensive play. The next year he again led the club’s regulars in batting and soon earned the nickname “Eagle Eye”—not for his ability to draw bases on balls (his walk totals were consistently below the league average) but for his batting skill. The hard-hitting Beckley brought a dash of excitement to the Alleghenies, and before long he became the most popular player on the Pittsburgh team.

In the spring of 1890 Beckley interrupted his NL career when he, along with eight of his teammates and manager Ned Hanlon, jumped to the Pittsburgh entry of the new Players League. Jake considered staying with the Alleghenies but the new league offered him a higher salary, and, as he explained, “I’m only in this game for the money anyway.” He belted 22 triples to lead the Players League, while the Alleghenies missed him and their other stars so much that they fell all the way to last place. The Players League collapsed after one season and Beckley returned to the Alleghenies (soon to be called the Pirates) for the 1891 campaign.

Jake married in 1891 but his wife Molly died after only seven months. He slumped badly after her death, with his batting average plummeting to a career-low .236 in 1892. Jake didn’t marry again until his baseball career was over. “Eagle Eye” returned to the .300 mark from 1893 to 1895, but when he slumped again in 1896 the Pirates, over the loud objections of their fans, traded him to the New York Giants for Harry Davis and $1,000 in cash. Beckley didn’t hit well in New York, either, and most people thought his career was over when the Giants released him in May 1897. Fortunately for Jake, the Cincinnati Reds needed a first baseman and signed him a few weeks later. His bat came alive again in Cincinnati, and on September 26, 1897, Beckley belted three homers in a game against St. Louis. No other major leaguer performed that feat again until Ken Williams did it in 1922.

Beckley was a handsome man, though one of his eyes was slightly crossed, and kept his impressive mustache long after all but a handful of players had relinquished theirs; at the time of his retirement he was one of only three men in the majors who still sported facial hair. He also displayed several other idiosyncrasies. Beckley yelled “Chickazoola!” to rattle opposing pitchers when he was on a batting tear, and he perfected the unusual (and now-illegal) practice of bunting with the handle of his bat. As the pitch approached the plate, Jake flipped the bat around in his hands and tapped the ball with the handle. Casey Stengel was a teenager when he saw the maneuver performed. “I showed our players,” said Stengel 50 years later, when he was managing the Yankees, “and they say it’s the silliest thing they ever saw, which it probably is but [Beckley] done it.”

Jake Beckley wasn’t afraid to bend the rules. Despite his stocky build (he stood 5’10” and weighed 200 lbs.), he ran well enough to reach double figures in stolen bases and triples almost every year, but he also didn’t mind cutting across the infield if the umpire’s back was turned. One day, when umpire Tim Hurst wasn’t looking, Jake ran almost directly from second base to home, sliding in without a throw. Hurst called Beckley out anyway. “You big son of a bitch,” shouted Hurst, “you got here too fast!”

Jake also loved pulling the hidden-ball trick and tried it on every new player who came into the league. Sometimes he hid the ball in his clothing or under his arm, and other times he hid it under the base sack and waited for the unsuspecting player to wander off first. One day, with Louisville’s Honus Wagner on first, Jake smuggled an extra ball onto the field and put it under his armpit, partially exposed so Wagner could see it. When the umpire’s back was turned, Wagner grabbed the ball and heaved it into the outfield. Wagner lit out for second, but the pitcher still held the game ball and threw Wagner out.

For seven years Beckley played first base for the Reds, batting over .300 in every season except 1898. His career nearly ended on May 8, 1901, when Christy Mathewson hit him in the head with a fastball, knocking him unconscious for more than five minutes. Beckley recovered, missing only two games, and hit .307 for the last-place Reds that season. He was “Old Eagle Eye” by then, but still a solid run producer with good range and quick reflexes on defense. His only weakness remained his poor throwing arm, and National League base runners always knew they could take an extra base on him. Beckley once fielded a bunt and threw wildly past first base. He retrieved the ball himself and saw the runner rounding third and heading for home. Rather than risk another bad throw, Jake raced the runner to home plate and tagged him in time for the out.

The veteran first baseman pitched for the only time in his career on the last day of the 1902 campaign. The Reds were in Pittsburgh on a rainy, muddy day, and Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss insisted on playing even though the Pirates had clinched the pennant weeks before. To show his dismay, Reds manager Joe Kelley tapped the scatter-armed Beckley as his starting pitcher and played other Reds out of position. Jake allowed nine hits and eight runs in his four innings of work, and the game degenerated into a farce. Catcher Rube Vickers, normally a pitcher, committed six passed balls and didn’t even bother chasing Beckley’s wild pitches. The Pirates won, 11-2, but the irate fans forced Dreyfuss to refund all the gate receipts.

Beckley batted .327 in 1903 but manager Kelley wanted to play first base himself, so in February 1904 the Reds sold the 36-year-old star to St. Louis. Jake hit well in his first two seasons with the Cardinals but his batting declined quickly as injuries began to slow him down. He served briefly as a National League umpire in 1906, while on injury leave from the Cardinals, and tried to play again the following spring. In June 1907 the Cardinals released Beckley, ending his 20-year career in the majors.

Jake wasn’t yet finished with baseball. He signed with Kansas City of the Single-A American Association shortly after the Cardinals let him go, and he played there for three years and managed the team for one. After short stints in 1910 with Bartlesville and Topeka, Beckley returned in 1911 to his hometown of Hannibal, where he managed and batted .282 at age 44. In late 1911 he moved to Kansas City and retired from professional ball, though he played on semipro and amateur nines for several more summers. He also helped coach the team at nearby William Jewell College and umpired for the independent Federal League in 1913, the year before the circuit became a short-lived major league.

Jake Beckley operated a grain business in Kansas City after he stopped playing ball. He once placed an order with a Cincinnati company, which cabled back, “We can’t find you in Dun and Bradstreet.” Beckley replied, “Look in Spalding Baseball Guide for any of the last 20 years.” Beckley suffered from a weak heart, and he was only 50 when he died in Kansas City on June 25, 1918. He was buried in Hannibal, where the townspeople erected a small monument to his memory after his election to the Hall of Fame.

Note: A slightly different version of this biography appeared in Tom Simon, ed., Deadball Stars of the National League (Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, Inc., 2004).

Sources

Appel, Marty and Burt Goldblatt. Baseball’s Best: The Hall of Fame Gallery. McGraw-Hill, 1980.

Baseball Magazine. July, 1910.

Lieb, Fred. The Pittsburgh Pirates. Putnam, 1948.

Ritter, Lawrence. The Glory of Their Times. William Morrow and Company, 1984.

Sporting Life. May 19, 1906.

The Sporting News, July 4, 1918.