Buttercup Dickerson

Lewis “Buttercup” Dickerson was a stocky little outfielder – 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds – who played in the big leagues for seven seasons (1878-81; 1883-85). When in form, he was a capable hitter, batting .284 overall at the top level and leading the National League in triples with 14 in 1879. However, he was also known for his gruff personality and unsavory hard-drinking habits, which cost him the 1882 season and dogged his up-and-down career. During his time in the majors, he played for eight teams in three leagues. He batted .300 in three separate years – but also often struggled to hit over .200. He was suspended multiple times and was out of major-league baseball by age 26.

Today Dickerson’s memory is blurred by confusion about both his ancestry and his nickname. “Lewis Pessano” was accorded the distinction of being the first baseball player of Italian descent in the majors – in fact, he was inducted into the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1979 for this achievement. Only he was not Lewis Pessano, and he was not Italian. He was, in actuality, born Lewis Pessano Dickerson on October 11, 1858, in Tyaskin, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Pessano was not a family name, as some believed, forming the reason it was thought that Dickerson was Italian. Rather, it was the name of the doctor who delivered him; by tradition in the Dickerson family, boys got their middle name from the person who brought them into the world.1

Dickerson’s parents were William Porter Dickerson, an oysterman, and Mary Larmore. Both were listed in the 1860 census as being born in Maryland, though in a later interview, Dickerson’s granddaughter claimed they had immigrated from either England or Scotland. Though it is likely that his parents came from elsewhere, there is no evidence of Italian heritage in Dickerson’s background.2

Misunderstanding also surrounds Dickerson’s nickname. A 2014 account of his career stated that there is only one known reference to him as “Buttercup” during his playing career, with the name not becoming attached to him until well after he had stopped playing.3 However, that is incorrect. Throughout the 1879 season he was regularly referred to as “Little Buttercup” and “Buttercup” – and the label would remain associated with him throughout the remainder of his career.4

No direct explanation as to who bestowed the nickname upon him – or why – has surfaced. It seems likely, though, that it was given to him by teammates in Cincinnati, his first big-league stop, and was picked up by the sporting press. As the 2014 feature suggested, it was probably in reference to his stout physique. “[Sweet] Little Buttercup” was a plus-sized female character from H.M.S Pinafore, a Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera.5 The opera had premiered the prior year in the United States and proved to be very popular. Throughout the rest of the season, he was repeatedly called “Buttercup,” “Little Buttercup,” or “Sweet Little Buttercup,” in the press. Ironically, Dickerson’s behavior, with his surly demeanor and drunken indiscretions, often belied the innocuous nickname.

Little is known of Dickerson’s youth until he began playing baseball.  His major-league career began with Cincinnati in July 1878. The 19-year-old outfielder became one of the youngest players in the National League. He joined the Reds from the disbanded Binghamton (New York) Crickets, for whom he had played the prior two seasons as a part of the League Alliance and the International Association. He was brought in to replace Lip Pike, who had signed with the Providence Grays for the rest of the season. 

Dickerson made his debut on July 15, 1878, against Providence. The game, postponed from July 13, also marked the debut of future Hall of Famer John Montgomery Ward for the Grays.6  Ward had been a teammate of Dickerson’s in Binghamton the season before the team disbanded.  Dickerson went 1-for-5 that day as the Reds won, 13-9.7  Over the remainder of the season, he brought his average up to .309 in 123 at-bats across 29 games.

The following season Dickerson returned to Cincinnati and played in the outfield for each of the team’s 81 games. It would be his most successful season as a professional. In addition to his league-leading 14 triples, he finished third in RBIs (57), fourth in slugging (.440), and ninth in OPS (.737), OPS+ (142), and Runs Created (46). His performance on the field appeared to portend a bright future and lengthy career for the 20-year-old.

Yet in addition to first being saddled with the nickname Buttercup in 1879, there were also the first references to Dickerson’s surly nature, insubordination, and drunken antics that would come to define much of his career. Dickerson played generally well throughout the season, but after an 0-for-4 game against Providence on July 16, his inferior performance was called into question. The Chicago Tribune carried a report that declared of Dickerson, “If the Cincinnati Club had backbone in it, one of the Cincinnati players would be taken by the cuff of his uniform and pitched out of the league. Neither a drunkard nor a crooked player ought to be allowed to bamboozle the public. The player referred to has been coaxed and encouraged to do right long enough. Twenty times enough evidence could be obtained with which to expel him out of the profession. The public gets sick looking at a first-class bad-player vainly trying to play ball the day after a debauch.”8 

Previously, the Cincinnati Enquirer had issued an apology to Dickerson, explaining that it was informed he was actually ill and not hung over. “True, ‘Dick’ did play a useless game, but it was through no fault of his own. He had been very sick the night previous and was indeed too sick to play that afternoon. Buttercup, we are assured, has been taking excellent care of himself of late, and is trying to play ball with his full abilities. He was still feeling bad yesterday, but played better than most well men.”9 

Regardless of what caused Dickerson’s poor performance and “illness,” he would prove over the rest of the season that sportswriters were correct in questioning his drinking – it would prove to be a problem for the remainder of his career. The Cincinnati club would be heavily criticized for its handling of Dickerson when it had become clear that he was regularly drunk and insubordinate. The Enquirer reported that on a trip to Cleveland, Dickerson “was so helplessly drunk that he was unable to undress himself, and one of the players, assisted by the Captain, were compelled to undress him.”10 

That same article (published not long after the season was over) continued, “Why did not the Cincinnati Club act manly about it, and instead of casting reproach upon the whole team, do their duty and pitch Dickerson out of the League. His drunkenness and insubordination were no secret. A weak management which lacked the grit to make an example of him waits till the season is ended and then tells a newspaper that “one of the players did so and so. This is hardly just.”11 

The situation was resolved by other means, though – at the end of the season, Cincinnati was expelled from the National League, and Dickerson joined the NL club in Troy. He struggled mightily with his new team in 1880: as of mid-July, he was hitting just .193. On July 22, Troy was mired in fifth place with a 19-23 record, and had lost four of their last five. The team decided to shake up its roster and released Dickerson, Bill Harbridge, and Terry Larkin. 

Eight days later it was reported that Dickerson had signed with Buffalo of the National League.12  He would play one game with the Bisons, going 0-for-3 in a 7-0 loss to the Washington Nationals of the National Association, before being released. Six days later he joined yet another NL club, the Worcester Ruby Legs, for the remainder of the season. He recovered from the disastrous first half of the schedule with Troy to hit .293 in 31 games with Worcester.

Dickerson returned to Worcester for the 1881 season and continued his rebound to form on the field. He finished the season hitting .316, good for ninth in the National League. He ranked third in hits (116) and fifth in total bases (149). His season also included a 6-for-6 day on June 16 against Buffalo in a 15-4 Worcester win.

Yet despite his positive performance on the diamond, Dickerson exhibited an increased level of drunkenness throughout the season. His behavior did not go unnoticed by the team and league. The NL was having a “continued discussion in regard to weeding out dissipated and rebellious members,” and Dickerson would be named as part of the “outlaw” or blacklist at the end of the season.13  One account described these men as players who “can neither play in a league club, nor can a league club play a non-league club presenting or employing one of them either as player, manager, or umpire.  They are the same as the expelled men, excepting they can be reinstated by the unanimous consent of the league at the annual meeting, while an expelled player stands very little chance of ever being reinstated.”14 

The Cincinnati Enquirer further explained the NL’s decision to blacklist 10 players: “The action of the League in this matter was unanimous and was the inevitable result of the many known cases of disgraceful drunkenness and open insubordination that have occurred this season.  Four of the best and most skillful players in the country in their respective positions narrowly escaped being prescribed. They will be given a chance to redeem themselves. If any further complaints are made their names will be added to the list by direction of the League.”15 

Dickerson was definitely in the camp of disgraceful drunkenness. As a result, he would miss the entire 1882 season. It is unknown how Dickerson spent his season away from baseball.

Throughout 1882 there were reports that Dickerson would join the NL club in Boston in 1883 if he were reinstated. In February 1883, when the American Association and National League met in New York City at a joint conference, they recommended “that every expelled and black-listed player of each association not under contract be duly reinstated and that all claims on the services of players now made by each be given up.”  Upon being reinstated, Dickerson signed with Pittsburgh of the AA instead of joining Boston.

Dickerson proved to be a fairly solid player for Pittsburgh, hitting .249 over 85 games in 1883 while playing every position in the outfield along with second base and shortstop. But again, his surly nature and off-field drinking were his downfall. At the end of the season, the Pittsburgh Commercial-Gazette reported, “The men who will not be secured for Pittsburgh are Billy] Taylor, George] Creamer, Dickerson, and Denny] Driscoll, all good men under ‘control’ and who will individually prove excellent additions to other nines, provided the ‘brewery combination’ is broken up.”16

Fortunately for Dickerson, there was an alternative. At the conclusion of 1883, he and a number of other players were enticed to join the newly formed Union Association, which offered larger salaries and considerable advance money. He signed with St. Louis of the UA and hit .365 in 46 games over the first half of the season. Yet he did not last the full season with the Maroons, playing his last game with them on July 12 in Baltimore. Following the game, he disappeared and was not heard from. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat speculated that he was “meeting many old friends [and] yielded to his inclination for strong drink and fell by the wayside.”17 

Regardless of what he was doing, Dickerson had been enticed to “jump” his UA contract for more money with Baltimore of the AA. The Cincinnati Enquirer called him “Rowdy Lew Dickerson” and claimed he’d left because he was “among the most insubordinate and dissolute in the profession.”18  The Orioles defended the signing of Dickerson, saying it was only because the UA had taken one of their men, Gid Gardner, who signed with Chicago, so they were taking one of theirs now. 

Previously, his departure had been noted skeptically in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Lew Dickerson’s jump to the Baltimores may prove of benefit to that body and may not. Lew’s practice on the hoister has been a serious detriment to his qualities as a player.”19  Indeed, he was released after only 13 games with a .214 average. He was picked up by the AA’s Louisville Eclipse at the end of the season. He played in eight games and barely hit his weight, mustering only a meager .143 batting average. He did not return to Louisville the next season.

In April 1885, Dickerson signed with the Omaha Omahogs of the new Western League. He was given a $100 advance and then left the team, without ever playing a game and without returning the money, to join the NL’s Buffalo Bisons. After only five games with Buffalo, in which he hit a paltry .048, he was released and out of major-league baseball for good. He ended up with 500 hits in 408 games at the top level.

At the end of June, Dickerson joined Norfolk of the Eastern League. Despite hitting a respectable .286, he played only six games with the team and then was released. He did not play anywhere else over the rest of the 1885 season. It is fair to speculate that his drinking and insubordinate streak, which often led to his short tenure with teams, were at fault here too.

Dickerson bounced around the minors for another five years. He played the 1886 season in Chattanooga (Southern Association) until the team was disbanded in mid-July. He then joined Syracuse (International League) but was released after two games for his drinking, which had caused Chattanooga to suspend him early in the 1886 season.

Dickerson found his form in the following two seasons, hitting .386 in 1887 for Portland (Maine) of the New England League and .346 for London (Ontario) of the International Association. Even with his improved play, and though he seemed to mostly stay out of trouble, he was still recognized for his legendary boozing. Articles at the time continued to detail his struggles with the bottle.

Following his back-to-back .300 seasons, Dickerson regressed again in 1889, as he played in just 31 games while hitting .252. The following year he played for New Haven of the Atlantic Association. In what proved to be his final year, Dickerson hit .196 in 13 games and then was released. He was out of professional baseball for good at age 31.

After baseball, Dickerson settled back in Baltimore, where he held a number of jobs, including salesman, real estate agent, and night watchman for a bank. He and his wife Annie (they married in 1885) had three children: two sons and a daughter who died as an infant. He died on July 23, 1920, and was interred in Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore. Unsurprisingly for someone who was known as a hard drinker his entire life, the cause of death was given as “cancer of the liver.”20

In 1979, Dickerson was posthumously – and incorrectly – inducted into the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame. It is not documented when Dickerson came to be recognized as Lewis Pessano, with the dropping of his surname, giving the impression of Italian heritage.  After his career was over stories began circulating that Dickerson had changed his name from Pessano to Dickerson as “America’s early game was so resistant to players with foreign names that some, including Pessano, hid their ethnicity.”21 This led to the belief he was of Italian ancestry and paved his way for eventual induction into the Italian-American sports hall.

In 1996, he received a rightful honor as Maryland’s Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame Museum inducted the “first native of the Eastern Shore … to play major league professional baseball.”22 The Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame is also home to three Hall of Famers in Harold Baines, Frank “Home Run” Baker, and Jimmie Foxx.

More than a century before that, Dickerson’s legendary drinking habits were still the topic of sportswriters. In 1891, after his final season in the minors. Sporting Life discussed the player’s wasted potential that seemingly should have produced a longer, more successful career. The article recounted a story from his time with Worcester, when Dickerson’s intake was already well known. Freeman Brown, a local newspaper man and secretary with the Ruby Legs, believed he could reform Dickerson. Brown roomed with him on road trips and tried to steer him away from trouble.

“Oh, Dick, what a wonderful ball player you would be if you would but lead a temperate life,” he often remarked to Dickerson. One day Dickerson responded positively, “Mr. Brown, your advice strikes me in a forcible manner. I thank you for it.”  Brown thought he had finally broken through and convinced Dickerson to change his ways. With high emotion in his voice, he responded, “Then I have won you at last; you will lead a temperate life and take my advice!”

“I’m your mutton,” replied Dickerson.

“Good! Good Dick!” cried Brown, “When will the good work begin?”

In what seems a fitting epitaph to Dickerson’s career and life, he answered, “When the breweries stop running.”23

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Jeff Findley.

Sources

In addition to the sources credited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and Ancestry.com for background information on players, teams, and seasons.

Notes

1 Lawrence Baldassaro, Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013), 424. The information about Dickerson’s middle name came from a conversation that historian Charles Weaver had with one of Dickerson’s granddaughters that was described in Beyond DiMaggio.

2 Baldassaro, Beyond DiMaggio: Italian Americans in Baseball, 424.

3 “Buttercup Dickerson: It’s A Good Story (But Only Part of It Is True),” The Baseball Bloggess, December 25, 2014, https://thebaseballbloggess.com/2014/12/25/buttercup-dickerson-myth/, accessed July 20, 2024.

4 “Notes, News, and Announcements,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 15, 1879: 8.

5 “Buttercup Dickerson: It’s A Good Story (But Only Part of It Is True).”

6 “Ball and Bat,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 15, 1878: 8.

7 “Pulled Out,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 17, 1878: 8.

8 “Notes of the Game,” Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1879: 6.

9 “Notes, News, Observations,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 18, 1879: 8.

10 “Ball Playing.” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 9, 1879: 7.

11 “Ball Playing.” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 9, 1879: 7.

12 “Base Ball Notes,” New York Tribune, July 30, 1880: 8.

13 “The League Votes to Expel Nine Players,” Boston Globe, October 1, 1881: 4.

14 “Base Ball,” Fitchburg (Massachusetts) Sentinel, October 1, 1881: 2.

15 “Base Ball,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 1, 1881: 2.

16 “As Others See It,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, November 2, 1883: 2.

17 “Diamond Dust,” St. Louis Globe Democrat, July 25, 1884: 8.

18 “Notes,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 4, 1884: 8.

19 “Diamond Chips,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 23, 1884: 5.

20 1920 Death Certificate.

21 Richard Peterson, “Baseball’s Italian Heritage,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 22, 2015: D7.

22 http://www.esbhalloffame.org

23 “One on Dickerson,” Sporting Life, November 7, 1891: 3.