Buck Jordan

There was a National League franchise in Boston from 1876 until 1952. Future Hall of Famers such as Rogers Hornsby, Johnny Evers, and Rabbit Maranville were on some of those rosters in Beantown – but the only player on any of those Boston teams with at least 14 hits in a four-game span was Buck Jordan. Playing in St. Louis from June 12-15, 1934, Jordan had three hits in each of the first three games and then followed with a five-hit game (one of two during his career) on June 15.1 Jordan’s skill at the plate earned plaudits from Babe Ruth. The pair were teammates on the Boston Braves in 1935, which prompted the Babe to remark, “If I hit the way you did, I’d hit .500.”2 Jordan finished his 10-year career with a .299 batting average.

At the turn of the 20th century, George Washington Jordan (a tobacco picker) and his wife Alice (née Spry) lived in the central North Carolina village of Cooleemee.3 The prolific couple boosted the population by eight, with six sons and two daughters.4 Their youngest child, Baxter Byerly “Buck” Jordan, was born on January 16, 1907.

Honing his baseball skills as he grew up, Jordan developed a good eye at the plate and a strong arm. Former major league player Rowdy Elliott was a teammate of Jordan’s on the local Piedmont League team, the Salisbury Colonials. He nicknamed Jordan “Buck Shot” because of the strength of his right arm.5 Jordan was also referred to as “Sure-Shot” and “Shotgun” in reference to his ability to put zip on the ball.6 7 Despite throwing from the right side, Jordan batted from the left.

By the time he was 18, he was playing for the Salisbury club. The town held a “Baxter Jordan Day” at the local ballpark in his honor during June 1925.8 (Newspapers referred to him as both Buck and Baxter Jordan during his playing days.)

The 18-year-old Jordan surprised many of his friends by marrying Mildred Owen in South Carolina shortly after the 1925 season.9 The marriage lasted until Baxter’s death parted the couple nearly 68 years later.

Reminiscing in 1974, Jordan said that he didn’t really aspire to a big-league career. He remarked, “Baseball was played everywhere back when I started. I had no real dreams of playing big league baseball. Heck, you could make pretty good money in the Piedmont League right here in Salisbury.”10

Jordan played for the Charlotte Hornets in the South Atlantic League in 1926 (briefly) and ’27. The quality of his play caught the attention of John McGraw of the New York Giants. McGraw purchased Jordan’s contract for about $7,500 in August 1927, and Jordan made his major-league debut with the Giants on September 15.11 Pinch-hitting for Les Mann, Jordan got an infield single in his first at-bat. Asked about that first hit, Jordan said, “We were playing in old Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis and I was scared to death. I was only 19 [sic] years old, but I hit a ball to the shortstop and beat it out…I think I was so scared, they couldn’t throw me out.” 12

The youngster failed to reach base in four other pinch-hitting opportunities that month.13 He didn’t impress McGraw enough to be able to stay with the Giants. Although he played in a couple of games for the Giants in 1929 and nine games for the Washington Nationals in 1931, he spent most of the period from 1928 through 1932 with various minor league ballclubs.

For most of the 1932 season, Jordan was with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League. He batted .357 with a career-high 19 home runs in 118 games. That production prompted the Boston Braves to acquire him in early August. “I was having a good year with Baltimore so Boston bought me. Then… Art ‘The Great’ Shires broke his kneecap, and they brought me up,” Jordan recalled.14

He immediately moved into the starting lineup for Shires as the Braves’ first baseman. In his second game with the club, on August 7, his RBI triple and two runs scored helped Boston sweep a doubleheader from Pittsburgh. Jordan struggled at the plate after the triple, but a three-hit game in Cincinnati in mid-August started a 13-game hitting streak that raised his batting average to .330. The streak included 27 hits, including a four-hit game in Chicago (in 19 innings) in which he launched his first home run in the majors off future Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes. Boston lost 3-2 despite Jordan’s efforts.

Five days later, his first three-RBI game propelled the Braves to a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Jordan contributed to both ends of a doubleheader sweep of the Cubs in Boston on September 7. He drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double in the first game; in the first inning of the second game, the second long ball of his career gave the Braves a 1-0 lead they would not relinquish.

Jordan also contributed defensively. His good plays at first base were often mentioned in game accounts. “I was always considered a good defensive player. A righthander playing first base doesn’t look good, but I played just as good as the lefties. I was, by far, better than average defensively because I was fairly fast on my feet.” he said.15 Gene Mack of the Boston Globe noted that Jordan used an unusual glove – “a loose mitt that he folds up like a roll of music.”16 Using it, he took part in two triple plays during his career.17

Jordan played in 49 games for Boston during that campaign and finished with 68 hits for a .321 average. He was one of just three Braves to bat over .300 for the season. Jordan then returned to Cooleemee, where he spent offseason time hunting birds and rabbits along with chopping wood. He made a concerted effort to put on some weight because he felt it would help him hit with more power. He added 10 pounds, so there were 170 on his six-foot frame.18

Shires and Jordan competed for the starting first base job during spring training in 1933. Jordan won the spot with a strong showing at the plate. But he struggled in the batter’s box once the regular season started and was well under .200 in early May. His slow start ended when he hit safely in 17 out of 18 games in the middle of the month. Two of those hits were notable. The first, on May 5 against the Cubs, was a game-ending single in the bottom of the ninth. The second safety prevented the Braves from becoming the victims of a no-hitter. On May 18, Si Johnson – who had already thrown a one-hitter against Boston two weeks before – allowed only Jordan’s single to left in the top of the second.

Less than a week later, the Braves were in St. Louis for a two-game set against the Cardinals. The second game was tied at 1-1 in the top of the ninth when Jordan was called out on strikes by home plate umpire Cy Pfirman. When the North Carolinian argued the call, Pfirman threw him out of the game. It wasn’t the only time that Jordan let his temper get the best of him. He was ejected from three other games over the next five years.

Jordan missed a couple of games in mid-June with a minor leg injury but was back to form by the end of the month. Rain in Boston forced a doubleheader against the Cardinals on June 28 and the Braves trailed by a run in the first game when they came to bat in the bottom of the ninth. Jordan stepped to the plate with the game hanging in the balance. The bases were loaded with two outs. His single to center was his second game-ending hit of the season and gave the Braves their fifth walk-off victory that year.

As he’d done the previous year, Jordan hit well in August and September, batting .333 each month to raise his average to .286 at the end of the season. September 8 – the finale of a three-game series at Wrigley Field – was a particularly memorable day for the Cooleemee native. Jordan gave the Braves a one-run lead with his fourth homer of the season in the top of the first. He followed with a single and a run scored in the fourth before doubling to lead off the sixth. Jordan singled again in the top of the eighth – his fourth hit of the day. His efforts were not enough for the Braves to prevail, but he scored two of the three Boston runs and it was his only four-hit game of the season.

Jordan was a contact hitter who rarely struck out. He fanned just 22 times in 588 at-bats in 1933. That tied for the eighth-lowest total in the league that season among players with at least 500 at-bats.19 His play that season helped the Braves improve six games over 1932; it was the team’s first finish over .500 since 1921. Boston would not exceed the 83 wins in 1933 until getting 86 in 1947.

The Braves opened the 1934 season at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn and Jordan started it in style. He doubled in his first at-bat in the top of the second and then scored Boston’s first run that year. He added a run-scoring single in the sixth. Although the Dodgers ultimately won, Jordan went 2-for-4 in the game. But he could not sustain that momentum; his average declined to .216 after going hitless on May 1. That was the nadir in his batting average for the season. He went on a seven-game hitting streak starting the next day and lifted his average to .293 by the end of May.

One of the hits during the seven-game streak marked the second consecutive season in which Jordan broke up a no-hitter. In St. Louis on May 7, Jordan’s single with one out in the seventh was the first hit off Cardinals starter Tex Carleton. (The Braves broke through for five runs in the eighth and ninth, but the Cards coasted to a 10-5 win.)

A couple of days later he had his first three-hit outing that year. The Braves were in Cincinnati for a four-game set against the Reds. In the initial game of the series, Jordan tripled in two runs in the first inning, singled in the third, and then singled in another run in the fifth. It was the first of four games that season with three RBIs.

Eleven days later the teams met again, but this time it was in Beantown. Si Johnson, who always seemed to pitch well against the Braves, held Boston scoreless for nine innings. But Ben Cantwell did the same to the Reds. Cincinnati put a man in scoring position in the 10th, but Cantwell kept the game scoreless. Jordan hit a lead-off triple in the home half of the inning and scored the winning run on a single by Marty McManus.

Jordan had an excellent month at the plate in June (36-for-95, .379). The surge included his only five-hit game of the season, in St. Louis on June 15. An injury forced him out of the starting lineup in mid-June, but he remained available as a pinch-hitter.20 From June 24 to July 7, he appeared five times in that role, going 4-for-5. He was back starting at first base on July 8 and went 2-for-4 to increase his batting average to .333.

Although Jordan cooled somewhat over the rest of the season, he still finished with a very solid team-best .311 batting average. But the Braves went 14-19 in July to fall out of contention; they finished in fourth place (78-73-1).

Jordan returned to North Carolina after the season and played in an exhibition game in Greensboro featuring major leaguers. He went 1-for-3 but his side came up short in the game.21

The big news at spring training for the Braves in 1935 was the presence of Babe Ruth. The Bambino had signed with Boston hoping that it would lead to a managerial position, but the Braves only wanted him to boost attendance.22 The question during camp was where Ruth would play – which affected Jordan because Ruth had expressed interest in playing first base.

That appeared possible because Jordan held out. As the team’s leading hitter the previous season, he believed he deserved a $2,000 raise but Boston offered only $500.23 Even though he was not signed, Jordan reported to the team early in spring training – but when he received an ultimatum to sign or pay his own training expenses, he went back to North Carolina.24 He later met with the Braves’ owner, Judge Emil Fuchs, in Washington D.C. and inked a new contract.25

The Braves opened the 1935 season at home against the Giants. Ruth started in left field and Jordan manned first base. After an RBI single by Ruth in the bottom of the first, Jordan came to bat with the bases loaded. His single scored Ruth from third to give Boston a 2-0 lead. Ruth hit a two-run homer in the fifth to lead the Braves to a 4-2 victory in front of 20,000 fans.

But as he had the previous two seasons, Jordan struggled at the plate early. A groin injury and a case of the flu may have contributed, but nonetheless he was batting .175 at the end of May.26 27 That’s why Jordan wasn’t in the lineup on May 25 when Ruth hit the final three home runs of his illustrious career at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Jordan recalled, “The first one he hit just barely got into the stands. Then the second was a hard line drive that hit the upper deck. But the third one topped the other two. He hit the third one completely over the stands and out of the ballpark.”28 It was the first home run that had ever been hit completely out of Forbes Field.29

Jordan’s batting revived in June – he batted .354 that month – but he never fully overcame his poor start and finished at .279, the lowest average of his tenure in Boston. He did, however, hit a career-high five of his 17 big-league homers. Manager Bill McKechnie used him in right field and third base over the last month of the season. Meanwhile, the Braves floundered. The club won just five games in both July and September, ending the season with a mere 38 and the lowest winning percentage in franchise history. Jordan argued that the primary factor was bad luck. “We didn’t have that bad of a ball club. We just had everything go against us. Some players say the breaks go 50-50, but I would have never believed it that year.”30  

As usual, Jordan returned to North Carolina after the season. He took part in a five-game exhibition series with other major leaguers from the Tar Heel State during October. He also and had some bothersome teeth and his tonsils removed.31 32 Jordan felt like he was in the best shape of his career and signed the contract that Boston offered him.33

But he was returning to a different team. The travails of the previous season, both on the field and off, prompted a change of ownership. The new owner, Bob Quinn, wanted to start fresh, so he allowed fans to suggest new names for the team. The franchise became known as the Boston Bees from 1936 through 1940.34

Jordan lived up to his optimistic assessment of the coming season. For a change, he hit well early on and was able to maintain that pace. He hit safely in 10 out of 13 games in April and finished the month batting .345. That month included four hits at home against the Giants on April 17 and three in Brooklyn four days later. A stretch of 23 hits in 13 games raised his batting average to .391 on May 10.

On May 13, Pittsburgh met Boston in the second of a three-game set at Braves Field. Jordan singled in the first but was stranded at second. He went hitless in his next three at-bats, and the game was tied after the bottom of the ninth. In the bottom of the 10th, Jordan came up with two outs and Boston’s starting pitcher, Danny MacFayden, on second. Jordan’s single off future Hall of Famer Waite Hoyt won the game for the Bees.

He continued to pound the ball through June and led the league with a .355 batting average after play on July 2. Fans in Boston believed Jordan’s performance both at bat and in the field merited an All-Star selection, but the first base honors went to Ripper Collins and Gus Shur.35 The snub stung a little more because the game was held at Braves Field that year.

On July 5, after starting at first base for Boston in every game to that point, Jordan’s stellar campaign was interrupted as the Bees played the Cubs in Chicago. In the fifth inning, Billy Herman grounded into a double play but accidently spiked Jordan’s right heel at first base. The wound required five stitches; Jordan didn’t get back into the starting lineup until August 9.36

About two weeks after he returned, Jordan had one of the best days of his career. Boston was in St. Louis on August 25 for a doubleheader against the Cardinals. He doubled twice in the first inning of the opener, driving in two of the 11 runs Boston scored in the frame. He followed with RBI singles in the sixth, eighth, and ninth innings. It was the only five-RBI game of his career and one of only two five-hit games. In the second game, he added three more hits, including a go-ahead single in the top of the ninth that proved to be the winning run. Of note, Boston nemesis Si Johnson lost both ends of the doubleheader.37 Another surprising feature of this twin bill is that Jordan’s roommate, Gene Moore, connected for seven hits over the two games. The team celebrated the roomies’ fusillade of 15 hits in a single day.38

Two more hits the next day raised Jordan’s batting average to .347, but he couldn’t maintain the surge. He batted .250 from August 27 until the end of the season – but still finished at a career-high .323, tops on the Bees and good enough for 12th in the league. His totals for hits (179), runs scored (81), and RBIs (66) were also single-season personal bests. Although the Bees finished the season in sixth place, Jordan’s career year contributed to a 33-game improvement from 1935 (38 wins) to 1936 (71).

His fine year had two pleasant results. Jordan’s picture appeared on the Wheaties breakfast cereal box in 1937. Also, a young fan in Massachusetts was inspired to write this verse.

When Jordan comes up to bat,
The catcher and the pitcher chat.
They know they are out of luck,
Because they have to pitch to Buck.39

As he’d done two years earlier after a strong performance, Jordan refused to sign the $8,000 contract offered by Boston before the 1937 season. He asked for $12,000 and missed most of spring training seeking to get the team to increase the offer.40 By the time he finally agreed to terms, he had worn out his welcome with the club, pinch-hitting just eight times in Boston’s first 18 games. Cincinnati purchased is contract in mid-May.

Jordan knew his holdout was detrimental, “That ruined my career. I know it did. I would have played five or six more years if it wouldn’t have been for that.” But he also felt justified. “I was right in my demands, although I wish I wouldn’t have done it now. I hit .323 and didn’t get a nickel raise. Something is wrong when that happens,” he said.41

Jordan took over at first base for the Reds on May 15 and made an immediate impact: 20 hits and five RBIs during his first 12 games with the team. The surge included a four-hit game with two doubles and two runs scored against the Phillies on May 22, plus three RBIs in a victory over Brooklyn the next day. About a month later, a three-hit effort at home against Philadelphia brought his batting average to .359, but he could not continue to hit at that level. Les Scarsella took over at first base for the Reds on August 1 after Jordan went 2-for-25 in the last six games of July. Jordan was used mostly as a pinch-hitter for the last two months of the season.

Frank McCormick and Jordan battled for the first base job in Cincinnati during spring training in 1938. The Reds settled on McCormick, who became the National League’s MVP in 1940 as Cincinnati won the World Series. After just nine pinch-hitting appearances in 39 games, Jordan was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Justin Stein.

Phil Weintraub manned first base for the Phillies, so Jordan took over at third when he started with his new club in June. He made a positive first impression, batting .387 that month, with a pair of three-hit games soon after he arrived and four hits in each end of a doubleheader on June 26.

Jordan started at both third base and first base over the next few months, but he was primarily used as a pinch-hitter starting in late August. That proved to be his last action in the majors. The Phillies hired a new manager, Doc Prothro, before the 1939 season, and he didn’t think the team needed Jordan as an infielder. So, the 32-year-old veteran was sold to Syracuse of the International League during spring training.42

Jordan played at the top level in the minors through 1940. He sat out the 1941 season but returned to action as player-manager for Lexington of the North Carolina State League in 1942. When he took the job, he said, “I’m glad to get back in the game. I’m going to try to get some good pitchers. You’ve got to have pitching. Even if the rest of your club is mediocre, you can win with good pitching.”43

Amid World War II, the NCSL did not operate in 1943 or 1944. His playing days over, Jordan returned to Salisbury, where he spent his time running a farm. He and his wife Mildred had a son named David, who passed away the day after he was born. Another child, daughter Jeanie, died of spinal meningitis at the age of four.44 Those tragedies likely explain why the couple also adopted a daughter, Martha, and had three foster sons (Phillip Kirk, Terry Morris, and William Donovan) along with a foster daughter (Margaret Russ).

Buck Jordan passed away on March 18, 1993. He was 86 years old.45 Despite the ups and downs of his career, he believed the game had treated him well and appreciated that he’d had the opportunity to play in the big leagues.46 “Baseball was good to me,” he said.47

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to SABR members Gregory Wolf and Rory Costello. Their careful review of this biography and the modifications they suggested significantly improved the final product, which was also fact-checked by Dan Schoenholz and Alan Cohen.

The author is not related to Buck Jordan.

Photo credit: Baxter “Buck” Jordan, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-reference.com, Retrosheet.com, and MLB.com.

Notes

1 Baseball-Reference Stathead search https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/sOJYI.

2 Horace Billings, “Jordan, Ex-Major Leaguer, Dies at 86,” Salisbury Post (North Carolina), March 19, 1993: 1C.

3 Census of 1900, accessed June 4, 2026, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-D1NF-TF?view=index&cc=1325221&lang=en&groupId=M9LK-PQ6.

4 “Baxter Jordan’s Mother is Dead,” Salisbury Post (North Carolina), November 24, 1945: 4.

5 James J. Murphy, “‘Buck Shot’ Jordan Has Throw Like Rifle Bullet,” Brooklyn Eagle, September 9, 1927: A5.

6 “Deal for Herman Holshouser May be Closed Today Moguls Announce,” Salisbury (North Carolina) Post, August 21, 1926: 6.

7 “Jordan Leading Charlotte Club With Base Hits,” Salisbury Post, May 16, 1927: 5.

8 “Jordan Day Tomorrow,” Salisbury Post, June 9, 1925: 7.

9 “A Surprise Wedding at York, South Carolina,” Salisbury Post, September 22, 1925: 3.

10 Ron Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls,” Salisbury Post, July 21, 1974: 10D.

11 “Jordan Sold to N.Y. Giants,” Salisbury Post, August 2, 1927: 7.

12 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

13 Jordan believed the record book that shows he had five at-bats in 1927 with the Giants is wrong. He said, “I am absolutely sure I pinch hit just twice and got one hit.” He thought the change would increase his career batting average to .300, but it would not have done so. Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

14 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

15 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

16 Gene Mack, “A Wide Assortment of Gloves,” Boston Globe, March 30, 1934: 22.

17 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

18 James C. O’Leary, “Jordan Adds Weight, Expects to Hit Better,” Boston Globe, January 25, 1933: 16.

19 Stathead query run on May 25, 2026, https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/nx7c8.

20 James C. O’Leary, “Cubs Win First Game,” Boston Globe, July 11, 1934: 22.

21 Edward V. Mitchell, “Major League Talent in Battle at Stadium,” Greensboro Daily News, October 13, 1934: 10.

22 Mark Bowman, “The Story Behind the Final Stop of Babe Ruth’s Career, MLB.com, February 25, 2025, https://www.mlb.com/news/babe-ruth-ends-career-with-boston-braves.

23 James C. O’Leary, “Judge Went There Today,” Boston Globe, April 8, 1935: 11.

24 “Jordan Quits Braves’ Camp,” Boston Globe, March 27, 1935: 12.

25 Melville E. Webb Jr., “Ruth Stops in New York,” Boston Globe, April 10, 1935: 23.

26 “Wigwam Waggings,” Boston Globe, May 1, 1935: 24.

27 Gerry Moore, “Frankhouse Makes it All Even for Series,” Boston Globe, May 9, 1935: 27.

28 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.,”

29 Jack Zerby, “May 25, 1935: Babe Ruth Smashes Three Homers in Final Hurrah,” Society for American Baseball Research: Games Project, accessed May 25, 2026, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-25-1935-ruth-smashes-3-homers-in-final-hurrah/.

30 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

31 “Rick Ferrell to Lead Club,” Charlotte Observer, September 24, 1935: 7.

32  Harry D. Gwin, “Sportin’ Round,” Salisbury Post, December 15, 1935: 16.

33 “Buck Jordan Leaves for Training Camp of Boston Bees in Florida,” Salisbury Post (North Carolina), February 21, 1936: 11.

34 Bob LeMoine, “Boston Braves Team Ownership History,” Society for American Baseball Research: Biography Project-Team Ownership History Project, accessed April 29, 2026, https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/boston-braves-team-ownership-history/.

35 Victor O, Jones, “What About It?” Boston Globe, June 29, 1936: 18.

36 Hy Hurwitz, “Buck Jordan Badly Spiked as Bees Bow to Cubs,” Boston Globe, July 16, 1936: 25.

37 Si Johnson was traded from Cincinnati to the St. Louis Cardinals early in the 1936 season. In the first game of this doubleheader, he allowed six runs to score in the first inning before being relieved, and he took the loss in the game. Johnson came on in relief with the score tied in the ninth inning of the second game. Jordan’s single gave Boston a one-run lead and when the Cardinals didn’t score in the bottom of the ninth Johnson got the loss in the second game as well. He finished the season with a 5-3 record.

38 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

39 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

40 Melville E. Webb Jr., “Rain Stops Bees and Sox,” Boston Globe, March 30, 1937: 19.

41 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

42 Stan Baumgartner, “Brownies Drop Phillies Again,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 29, 1939: 21.

43 Bill Peeler, “Buck Jordan Wants Good Hurlers on His Ball Club,” Salisbury Post, March 14, 1942: 7.

44 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”

45 “Jordan Funeral,” Salisbury Post, March 19, 1993: 2B.

46 Bill Peeler, “Sport Review,” Salisbury Post, March 7, 1941: 13.

47 Morris, “Buck Jordan Recalls.”