Ed Mensor

Once labeled the “lightest player in the major leagues,”1 Eddie “The Midget” Mensor (5-feet-6, 125 pounds) had over 2,600 professional career at-bats, yet he never hit a home run that landed over a fence. Nonetheless, the utility player drew the affection of Pittsburgh Pirates manager Fred Clarke and owner Barney Dreyfuss during the 1912-1914 National League seasons, adding value with his range, throwing arm, speed, and being “an excellent judge of pitched balls.”2

Edward F. Mensor was born on November 7, 18873 in Woodville (now called Rogue River, near Grants Pass), Oregon. He was the second of four sons of Henry Mensor and Gabriella (Specht) Annie Mensor. Both Henry’s and Annie’s parents emigrated from Poland. Father Henry was listed as a bartender as of 1900. He was one of 17 children, many of whom played baseball. In fact, the family formed its own local team.4

The Mensors moved to San Francisco when Ed was four years old.5 By 1905, 15-year-old Eddie was a featherweight boxer at the Reliance Club in Oakland. He left the sport for a year, then backed out of a fight at the last minute in November 1906.6 The Oakland Tribune commented that Mensor “lacks the courage of meeting a formidable opponent, or one that he believes has an equal chance for victory.”7

The very next month, Mensor was charged with the kidnapping and assault of Alice Green, a 15-year-old female home runaway, in Oakland.8 The following February, he was given probation for the charges.9 Just two months later, teenager Mensor fell afoul of the law yet again, being accused of stealing boxing gloves and tights from a fellow pugilist at the Reliance Club.10

On the diamond, Mensor played shortstop for a Newsboys amateur team in Oakland, then outfield for the Relays Cigar Stand team (formerly called the Holligans), which won a county amateur championship.

By May 1907 and back in the ring, Mensor won the local 118-pound amateur championship.11 In July 1908, however, he backed out of another fight, this time in Reno, claiming ptomaine poisoning.12

Later that month, the switch-hitter landed with the awful Oakland Commuters of the California State League. The team owned a 3-41 record as of early August, but a writeup stated that “Mensor, Oakland’s new left fielder, is a first-class ball player and covered his acre faultlessly yesterday.”13 He went 8-for-39 (.229) in nine July-August games for the historically bad Commuters, who ended up 4-71 for the season.

Mensor also fought future bantamweight world champion Monte Attell for three rounds during this time. Monte’s older brother Abe, nicknamed “The Little Hebrew,” was featherweight champion from 1906-1912, and would have a baseball connection, being charged in 1920 with game-fixing after the Black Sox scandal was exposed.

For 1909, Mensor started with the Newman (California) Reds of the semipro Raisin Belt League. He earned a tryout with Stockton of the California State League in July, with the initial opinion being that “Mensor, the Newmanite, has a good eye. He swings at no bad ones. He’s also fast on the paths.”14

He returned to but jumped that club in March 1910 to join the San Jose Prune Pickers of the Cal State League.15 Mensor paced the league in hitting as of mid-May with a .323 batting average. But by late June, the San Jose franchise was defunct, so Mensor latched on with the Watsonville Pippins, then later with the Coalinga Savages in the Class D San Joaquin Valley League.16 Mensor returned to the city of San Jose in late August, joining the Sodality team of the Central Coast Counties (“Three C”) League. Brother James was a San Jose teammate. But a few weeks later, Eddie jumped from San Jose to the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League, whom he had impressed in an exhibition the prior spring.17 The “promising little busher of the Beavers was the hitting star of the last series with Vernon,” including five hits in a doubleheader on the final day of the season.18 Mensor hit .323 (10-for-31) in his short time with the pennant-winning (114-87) Beavers.

W.W. McCredie in Portland owned both the PCL’s Beavers and its de facto farm team, the Portland Pippins of the Class B Northwestern League, where he sent Mensor for 1911. Regarding Mensor, Beavers manager Walter McCredie, W.W.’s nephew, stated that “this young fellow is the most promising player I have seen in years.”19 Playing predominantly second base, Mensor hit .287 in 135 games and stole 46 bases.20

Mensor returned to the Northwestern League’s Portland franchise, now dubbed the Colts, for 1912. Manager Nick Williams wanted Mensor to play second, but the player insisted on manning the outfield. Mensor was considered the NWL’s most valuable ballplayer that season. Owner McCredie had a business relationship with Cleveland of the American League.21 However, Mensor was flagged to the Pittsburgh Pirates by Pacific Coast League umpire George Van Haltren, a former Pittsburgh outfielder who birddogged for the Pirates. Mensor was sold to Pittsburgh for $3,000 on July 3.22 Rains washed out the train tracks for a couple of days, but he finally joined the Pirates on July 14.23

Skipper Fred Clarke immediately inserted “Midget” Mensor in right field in both ends of a doubleheader against Brooklyn on July 15. The newcomer went 1-for-7 yet reached base four more times via base on balls.24 In Mensor’s second day in the bigs, also against the Dodgers, he collected a single, double, then a 10th-inning triple, later scoring the game-winner on Max Carey’s single. Mensor’s size and speed quickly reminded Pirates fans of Tommy Leach, who after 13 years had been traded in late May to the Chicago Cubs. Mensor started his major-league career going 16-for-39 (.410) over his first 12 games, while also walking 16 times in his first 15 games. The rookie had “broken into the National League like a young comet out of a clear sky,”25 helping the Pirates in their desperate effort to catch the amazing New York Giants.

After auditioning Frank “Stump” Eddington in right field for a few weeks, Clarke replaced slow-footed right fielder Mike Donlin with Mensor. Mensor was later moved to center field; however, his bat cooled in September. In his 40 games for the second-place Buccos, he finished with a .260 average, along with 10 stolen bases. Being many times being “sent up to wait” by Clarke, Mensor also collected 23 walks, even more than regulars Donlin and catcher George Gibson, contributing to Mensor’s .402 on-base percentage.26

Deemed an “excellent judge of pitched balls”27 and a “mighty good waiter,”28 Mensor was regarded highly by Clarke and Pirates President Dreyfuss. Mensor re-signed with Pittsburgh for 1913 and was moved to the infield, but lost the second base battle in camp at Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Arty Butler. At 125 pounds, Eddie also was proclaimed the “lightest player in the major leagues.”29 Mensor didn’t hit in 1913, posting only a .179 average in 56 at-bats spanning 47 games, while suffering from stomach ailments much of the season.30 On May 16, however, he ended Christy Mathewson’s streak of 49 innings without a walk, although Eddie was subsequently picked off first base by Giants catcher Jack Meyers.31

After the season ended in October, Mensor married Oregon-born Bernice (Mae) Simmons in Mendocino, California. They honeymooned in Ukiah in northern California, visiting his parents, then settled in Portland.

For the 1914 season, the St. Louis Federal League team offered Mensor a contract, allegedly $13,000 for three years, but he stayed with Pittsburgh, signing a “new form” contract, one that had been altered by major-league teams to combat the Federal League’s attempts at raiding.32 In rejecting the Feds’ overtures, Mensor responded: “Honor was one of my first teachings…and in my home and in my earliest school days it was impressed upon me that treachery is a great sin. Barney Dreyfuss and Fred Clarke have shown themselves to be my friends. They have kept me with their club although they had little opportunity for me to do any playing and yet they always treated me just the same as if I had been a regular all my life.”33 Another reason was that Mensor thought he could get some World Series money. The Pirates certainly looked very tough early on, starting the season with 15 wins in their first 17 games.

Mensor played in only 45 games in 1914, 25 of those being in the outfield. On July 15, he hit his only major-league home run. It also was the first Pirates homer of the year at Forbes Field, a first-inning leadoff inside-the-park job off Brooklyn Dodgers starter Ed Reulbach which found a gap between Brooklyn outfielders Zack Wheat and Jack Dalton. Teammate Max Carey, who sat out the game (one of only two games he missed that year), manned the third base coaching box and directed Mensor home.34 Mensor’s swat earned him a free suit.

Getting another start two days later, he led off, going 1-for-7 in Pittsburgh’s 21-inning, 3-1 home loss to the New York Giants. Mensor’s outfield flub cost Pittsburgh a 1-0 game against the Boston Braves on July 20. He got three hits over the final two days of the season to nudge his season batting average over .200 (.202) for the Pirates, who tumbled to a seventh-place finish.35 However, 22 more walks that year gave him a .372 on-base percentage.

Mensor underwent an offseason operation to remove his appendix.36 Pittsburgh sold his rights in March 1915 to the Columbus (Ohio) Senators of the Class AA American Association. After going 9-for-40, he was traded in early May to the Newark (New Jersey) Indians of the AA International League for pitcher Cliff Curtis.37 The Newark franchise moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, becoming the Senators in early July. Mensor hit but .219 for the season, although he walked 85 times.38 He played winter ball in Los Angeles for the Cline & Cline club before quitting in December to return to the Northwest.39

Before the 1916 season, Harrisburg sold Mensor to an International League rival, the Richmond Climbers. But Mensor was eager to return west and work under Nick Williams once again, paying half of the sale price himself to be shipped to the Spokane Indians of the Northwestern League.40 Outfielders Mensor, Ken Williams, and Harry Harper all hit over .300 for the Indians, who won the league’s pennant with a 79-48 mark. Labeled “a marvelous fielder,”41 Mensor set a league record with a perfect fielding percentage over the entire season, handling 239 chances flawlessly (198 of which were in the outfield).42 He also stole 42 bases.43

Mensor hit two home runs that year. His first was an inside-the-parker on June 6. A ball to left field “hit a rock and caromed off to the fence and by dint of fast sprinting Mensor managed to reach home, getting credit for a home run.”44 There was one time, however, when he cleared the fence…briefly. On August 19, he got credit for a home run on a ball that landed in the field of play. Only on this occasion, his swat had nailed a large tree past the fence, before bouncing back onto the grass, with the umpire correctly awarding a round-tripper.45

Spokane sold Mensor to the Oakland Oaks of the PCL before the 1917 season. In spring training, he became one of the first users of old manager Fred Clarke’s patented flip-down sunglasses.46 He hit another inside-the-park home run on August 19 in the nightcap of a doubleheader in Portland. The Oakland Tribune put quotations around the reporting of Mensor’s “home run,”47 with the Portland Oregonian offering that “Williams (was) loafing on the retrieve.”48 The Spokane Chronicle reported that this was the first inside-the-park homer ever at Portland’s Vaughn Street Park.49 Eddie and Mae welcomed their only child, Betty Jane, in 1917.

After batting .278 (10-for-36) in 11 games in April 1918 for the Oaks,50 Mensor jumped the team and moved back to Oregon to do World War I defense industry work. He became a shipwright for McCormicks, while playing in St. Helens on their baseball team, part of the Columbia-Willamette Shipbuilders League.51 Mensor became manager in May. He rode the arm of former Detroit pitcher Oscar Harstad all summer, but they finished as runners-up.52

Mensor subsequently enlisted in the Army, and by October 1918 was serving in Angers, France, helping provide amusement for soldiers at camp.53 Before year-end, however, Mensor returned to the States and to Oakland, playing for the first time with Columbia Steel out of Pittsburg.54

Although still Oakland Oaks property for 1919, Mensor continued to play semipro ball for Columbia Steel until June. He then left for central California, playing for a Merced Bears team of the independent Northern Valley League, managed by Rube Gardner. Mensor also ran a garment cleaning, pressing, dyeing, and repairing service in Merced. He was still listed on Oakland’s suspended list as of the end of 1919.

Returning to his now-hometown team, Merced, for 1920, Mensor hit another “home run” in June, getting credit for a four-bagger against Chowchilla when a ball to deep center hopped over the fence.55 He led the league in hitting as of late July, but also committed five errors in a September contest.56 In 1921, Mensor latched on with the Madera Coyotes of the Northern Valley League, but departed in early June to return to Organized Baseball with the Calgary Bronchos of Class B Western Canada League, managed by Bay Area-based skipper Joe Devine.57 Mensor hit .270 in 73 games for Calgary, which beat Winnipeg for the league crown.

Mensor lived in Coos Bay, Oregon, as of early 1924. That summer, he signed to play ball for the Scotia Lumberjacks of the Humboldt County League in upper coastal California. By 1927, the Mensors had moved to Taft, in central California, where Eddie worked for General Petroleum. By 1930, Eddie, Mae, and Betty had returned to Portland. There Eddie was a greaser or warehouse painter at GP, where he worked for over 20 years. He also managed a local ball team in Delake (now Lincoln City) on the Oregon coast as of 1955.

Eddie Mensor died on April 20, 1970, at the age of 84, in Salem, Oregon. He was survived by his wife, daughter, two grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.58

Acknowledgments

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

Photo credit: Ed Mensor, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the endnotes below, the author utilized Baseball-Reference.com, StatsCrew.com, and MyHeritage.com.

Notes

1 “Eddie Mensor Signs Contract to Play Ball with Buccaneers,” Pittsburgh Post, February 5, 1913: 13.

2 “Eddie Mensor Signs Contract to Play Ball with Buccaneers.”

3 Baseball-Reference.com says his birth year was 1885, but Mensor’s birth certificate and the 1900 census have the correct year of 1887. Some later articles after he made the major leagues erroneously showed his birthdate as November 22, 1889, probably to make Mensor seem younger. See “Birthday Congratulations,” Oregonian, November 22, 1912: 11.

4 Horvitz, Peter S. and Joachim, “Ed Mensor,” The Big Book of Jewish Baseball (New York: S.P.I. Books, 2001), 120.

5 Ed. F. Balinger, “Eddie Mensor Hopes to Remain on Roster of the Buccaneers,” Pittsburgh Post, July 28, 1912: 37.

6 “Murray Puts Out Burns with Ease,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 21, 1906: 8; “Big House Attends West Oakland Bouts,” Oakland Enquirer, November 21, 1906: 6.

7 Eddie Smith, “Substitutes in Ring at West Oakland,” Oakland Tribune, November 21, 1906: 9.

8 “Young Girl Is Held Prisoner,” San Francisco Bulletin, December 29, 1906: 2; “Two Are Held in City Jail,” Oakland Tribune, December 29, 1906: 12; Must Now Face a Serious Charge,” Oakland Enquirer, December 29, 1906: 3.

9 “Arraignments in Superior Court,” Oakland Enquirer, February 12, 1907: 1.

10 “Boxer Accused of Bribery,” San Francisco Call, April 17, 1907: 7.

11 “Amateur Fighter Looking for Battle,” San Francisco Bulletin, May 14, 1907: 8.

12 Crowd Leaves Ringside Last Night When Announcement Is Made that Main Event Is Cancelled,” Reno (Nevada) Evening Gazette, July 4, 1908: 5.

13 “Whalen’s Curves Were Puzzlers,” Sacramento Independent-Leader, August 9, 1908: 5.

14 “Baseball Notes,” Stockton (California) Daily Evening Record, August 2, 1909: 4.

15 “Mensor Jumps to San Jose,” Newman (California) West Side Index, March 16, 1910: 1.

16 “Eddie Mensor is Now with Portland,” Bakersfield Californian, September 9, 1910: 7.

17 “Shortstop Who Hit .321 in California League to Join Beavers,” Sunday (Portland) Oregonian, September 11, 1910: 49.

18 “Mensor Leads All Hitters for Week,” (Portland) Oregon Daily Journal, November 7, 1910: 16.

19 McCredie in Disgust Summons Mensor,” San Francisco Call, March 2, 1911: 6.

20 “Complete N.W. Averages,” (Portland) Oregon Daily Journal, October 8, 1911: 39.

21 “Van Haltren Offers $3000 for Mensor,” Los Angeles Evening Herald, July 27, 1912: 10.

22 “Eddie Mensor Sold to Pittsburg Team,” San Francisco Call and Post, July 4, 1912: 15; “Eddie Mensor Sold,” (Portland) Oregonian, July 4, 1912: 4. Mensor confided that his new salary was $2,100, more than double that of his Portland stipend. See “Mensor Leaves Colts,” (Portland) Oregonian, July 11, 1912: 9.

23 “Eddie Mensor, Speed Wonder, Joins Local,” Pittsburg Press, July 15, 1912: 14.

24 “Mensor, Ex-Fighter, Is Making Good with Pittsburg,” San Francisco Bulletin, July 17, 1912: 15.

25 “Mensor, Ex-Fighter, Is Making Good with Pittsburg.”

26 James Jerpe, “President Lynch in Town,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, November 5, 1912: 10. Baseball-Reference.com shows Mensor with 99 at-bats in its ‘Standard Batting’ list, while the day-to-day totals add up to 100 at-bats, which would have dropped his OBP to .398.

27 “Eddie Mensor Signs Contract to Play Ball with Buccaneers,” Pittsburgh Post, February 5, 1913: 13.

28 “Mensor Is Good Infielder,” Los Angeles Examiner, April 13, 1913: 48.

29 “Eddie Mensor, Lightest Player in Major Leagues,” Pittsburgh Post, April 18, 1913: 20. Mensor’s Sporting News player card would show him in other years at 145 pounds.

30 “Eddie Mensor Will Spend Winter Here,” Oregon Daily Journal, November 13, 1913: 16.

31 “As Seen from the Press Box,” Victoria (British Columbia) Daily Times, June 4, 1913: 9.

32 James Jerpe, “On and Off the Field,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 26, 1914: 18.

33 “Miner Brown Wants Eddie Mensor for His St. Louis Feds,” Pittsburgh Post, April 22, 1914: 14.

34 Richard Guy, “Pirates Win Game from the Dodgers,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, July 16, 1914: 10.

35 “Eddie Mensor Picks the Cubs,” Spokane (Washington) Spokesman-Review, November 27, 1914: 13.

36 “Eddie Mensor Undergoes Operation in Portland,” Los Angeles Evening Herald, December 11, 1914: 10.

37 “Mensor Goes to Newark,” Pittsburgh Post, May 2, 1915: 39.

38 “Climbers Get Infielder,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, February 24, 1916: 8.

39 “Whaling, Easterly, West, Mensor, and Meek Coming,” San Diego Sun, November 11, 1915: 8; “Meek and Mensor of Cline-Cline Club Quit,” Los Angeles Evening Express, December 7, 1915: 21.

40 “New Fielding Record Made by Eddie Mensor,” Spokane (Washington) Chronicle, September 4, 1916: 16.

41 “MacPhee Says,” Spokane (Washington) Press, January 23, 1924: 8.

42 “New Fielding Record Made by Eddie Mensor.”

43 “Final Averages of Upper-Class Batters in Northwestern League,” (Portland) Sunday Oregonian, September 10, 1916: 23.

44 “Indians Make It Two Straight: Freak Homer for Mensor,” Spokane Spokesman-Review, June 7, 1916: 16.

45 “Tacoma Defeats Spokane, 4 to 2; Mensor Gets Home Run,” Spokane Spokesman-Review, August 20, 1916: 27.

46 “It’s a New Stunt for Coast League,” Oakland Tribune, February 9, 1917: 16.

47 “Beavers Make Eleven Hits, But Cannot Get a Run,” Oakland Tribune, August 20, 1917: 6.

48 “Beavers Trounced Twice by Oakland,” (Portland) Oregonian, August 20, 1917: 10.

49 “Oaks Close by Taking Double Bill in North,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 20, 1917: 4; “Mensor Smashes Home Run Record,” Spokane Chronicle, August 20, 1917: 14.

50 “Coast League Batting Averages,” Salt Lake Herald-Repubican-Telegram, May 5, 1918: 32.

51 “Mensor Signed by St. Helens,” Oregon Daily Journal, April 9, 1918: 12.

52 “Foundation Tossers Are Yard Champions by Trimming Saints,” Oregon Daily Journal, September 23, 1918: 9.

53 Charles M. Bregg, “Closing of Theaters as a Health Measure,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, October 6, 1918: S5: 9.

54 Eddie Murphy, “Breezy Gossip for Baseball Fans,” Oakland Tribune, December 17, 1918: 14.

55 “Pitcher’s Battle Is Won by Bears,” Merced (California) County Sun, June 11, 1920: 4.

56 “‘Comedy of Errors’ Is Way Dinuba Man Describes Contest,” Selma (California) Enterprise, September 2, 1920: 7.

57 “Calgary Secures Mensor’s Services for Outfield Place,” Regina (Saskatchewan) Leader, May 31, 1921: 14; “New Outfielder Is Joining the Bronks,” Calgary (Alberta) Daily Herald, June 8, 1921: 9.

58 “Edward Mensor,” Salem (Oregon) Capital Journal, April 21, 1970: 20.