Charlie Duffee

Although generally regarded as a state where football is king, Alabama also enjoys a rich baseball legacy, having produced 13 Hall of Famers. Included among these Alabama-born immortals are some of the game’s most prolific home run hitters: Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Billy Williams, et al. The subject of this profile is Charlie Duffee, a forgotten 19th-century player who appears to have little in common with Aaron, Mays, and company. Yet Duffee has a historical connection to these all-time greats. For it was Duffee who blazed a baseball trail for fellow Alabamans, being the very first Alabama-born ballplayer to reach the major leagues. In addition, he was a prototype of the modern slugger of the McCovey stripe, an early game free swinger whose long-ball exploits so impressed his contemporaries that he was nicknamed Home Run Duffee.

Sadly, Charlie Duffee was not blessed with the good health and strong physical constitution of his home run-bashing successors. His playing days and, ultimately, his life were shortened by an insidious disease. Duffee was only 28 when he succumbed to consumption (tuberculosis) on Christmas Eve in 1894. Upon his passing, The Sporting News is said to have declared that “Charlie ‘Home Run’ Duffee will be forever remembered for his proclivity to strike prodigious home runs at the ballpark.”1 The story of his abbreviated life follows.

Charles Edward Duffee was born on January 27, 1866, in Mobile, Alabama, a Southern gulf port and the scene of a major Civil War naval battle. He was the youngest of four known children born to local carpenter Green Berry Duffee (1821-c.1896) and his wife Margaret (née Nettles, 1828-1879), a South Carolina native.2 Next to nothing is known of our subject’s early years except that he was known as Ed in his hometown and that his mother died of consumption just as he was entering his teen years.

Baseball was late taking root in Mobile, the first reported contest not being played there until early 1868.3 But the game had firmly taken hold by spring 1886, when Southern diamond enthusiasts organized the Gulf League, an independent circuit. The new league consisted of four teams, two based in Mobile (the Acid Iron Earths and the Mobiles) and two situated 145 miles west in New Orleans (the R.E. Lees and the New Orleans). As for Duffee, “he began his baseball on the lots around his home [in Mobile]. He soon developed a decided taste for the sport, and it was not long before he was connected with the leading amateur and semi-professional teams of his native city.”4 By late 1885, Duffee was attracting press attention playing shortstop for an amateur club called the Mobiles.5

After the Gulf League was formed, Duffee was initially engaged by the Acid Iron Earths.6 But for most of the season, he wore the uniform of an upgraded version of Mobiles.7 Although he played left field on occasion, Duffee was primarily the club’s everyday shortstop. A diminutive 5-feet-5, 151 pounds, and baby-faced, the right-handed batting and throwing youngster did not present a fearsome appearance. But he quickly developed a reputation as a dangerous hitter and an excellent defender. Illustrative of Duffee’s two-way prowess was his performance in the Mobiles’ late-season 6-2 triumph over the Acid Iron Earths on September 26: a double and single stroked with the bat and eight chances handled flawlessly at shortstop.8

Over the winter, the New Orleans and Mobile clubs were incorporated into the newly formed minor Southern League. Among the talents signed for the Mobile Swamp Angels by manager John “Kick” Kelly for the 1887 season was “Ed Duffee, late of the Acid Iron Earths, a promising young player and heavy batter.”9 The recruit played well, but club highlights, like a 14-4 victory over Savannah in which Duffee went 5-for-5 on April 27,10 were few. With their record standing at a dismal 5-21 (.192) on May 17, the Mobile Swamp Angels disbanded.11 Having batted .309 (30-for-97) in 22 games for Mobile, Duffee remained a prospect at age 21. He was scooped up by the Birmingham (Alabama) Ironmakers, a semipro club installed as a Southern League replacement franchise in early June.

History promptly repeated itself, as Duffee performed capably for another bad ball club. In 82 games for (19-63, .232) Birmingham, he batted a team-leading .345 (126-for-365)12 and exhibited some of the extra-base power for which he soon would become famous, with five home runs included in his club-best 26 extra-base hits. Duffee was also Birmingham’s leading base stealer (48) and run scorer (74). His work as a bare-handed outfielder was solid as well, with an .874 fielding percentage ranking Duffee fourth among Southern League center fielders. Possessed of a powerful and accurate throwing arm, he led league center fielders in assists (22).13

During the offseason, the Birmingham club reorganized, but incoming team management retained Duffee for the center field spot. Renamed the Maroons, Birmingham shot to the front in Southern League standings in 1888 despite mediocre work from the expected stalwart. In 46 games, Duffee batted a so-so .260 (46-for-177), with three round-trippers. Nevertheless, two National League clubs, the Chicago White Stockings and Detroit Wolverines, reportedly made offers for Duffee’s contract, only to be turned down by Birmingham club management.14 Then in early July, the Southern League disbanded.15 Temporarily out of work, Duffee returned home and played semipro ball, where he quickly rediscovered his long-distance batting stroke. “Duffee, the slugger, knocked a ball over the centre field fence and made a home run” for the Mobiles during an 8-5 loss to the Pastimes club on July 11.16 Shortly thereafter, he signed with the New Orleans Pelicans, a Southern League refugee about to join the Texas League as a midseason replacement team.17

Familiar with Duffee from his visits to the city during Gulf League days, the New Orleans Daily Picayune waxed enthusiastic about the Pelicans’ new addition. “Duffee is a very valuable acquisition to the nine – a sure fielder, an excellent thrower and a reliable batter,” the newspaper declared.18 Once in the Pelicans livery, Duffee did not disappoint. In 20 late-campaign games, he posted a team-best .346 batting average (27-for-78), with eight extra-base blows for New Orleans (18-9, .667) before the Texas League season concluded on September 2.

The New Orleans Pelicans returned to a reconstituted Southern League for the 1889 season, but Duffee did not accompany them. Instead, he signed with the defending American Association champion St. Louis Browns,19 becoming the first Alabaman to reach baseball’s highest echelon. Charlie Duffee made his major league debut on April 17, 1889, playing center field before 15,000 hostile fans crammed into Cincinnati’s League Park I. The game proved a triumph for both the newcomer and his St. Louis team. Facing Reds veteran right-hander Tony Mullane, Duffee went 2-for-3, stole a base, and scored two runs while handling both fly balls sent his way during a 5-1 Browns victory.20

Stationed in center with AA batting champion Tip O’Neill in left field and future Hall of Famer Tommy McCarthy in right, Duffee provided the Browns with a dependable third member of a standout outfield. Usually slotted into the middle of the lineup, Duffee generated the performance profile of today’s all-or-nothing slugger. Soon, the free-swinging Duffee’s proclivity for hitting the long ball led the press to nickname him Home Run Duffee.21 True to his new moniker, he blasted a team-leading 16 homers while simultaneously registering a low (.244) batting average and an American Association-worst 81 strikeouts.22 Duffee’s penchant for power hitting was reflected in his other stats as well. His 42 extra-base knocks included a club-best 11 triples, while his .411 slugging average and .738 OPS were second-highest among the regulars on the second-place (90-45-6, .667) Browns.

During the winter of 1889-1890, club brass was concerned about overtures made to Duffee by the Players League, the recently arrived third major league busily draining playing talent from the American Association and National League. On Christmas Day, Sporting Life published a report from Browns correspondent Joe Pritchard relating that “the little fellow has not signed a Brotherhood contract, and if he gets an increase in salary over what he received last year, the probabilities are that he will play in St. Louis in 1890.”23 Of more consequence in the long run, Pritchard further reported that “Duffee is now in Mobile, Ala., taking things easy…Duffee does not enjoy the best of health, and this is his only draw back, as he is a sober and earnest ball player, and always works hard for his team to win.”24

Duffee’s health did not improve over the winter and he was unable to report for duty when the Browns regathered for the 1890 season.25 In late April, he was reportedly “well enough to umpire games in Mobile,”26 but thereafter suffered a “relapse and may never again be able to play ball.”27 In early June, however, Duffee contacted the club to advise that “his health was much better” and to deny the assertion that he would be unable to play anymore. To the contrary, he intended to report to the club in a few days.28

Charlie Duffee returned to the Browns lineup on June 12, getting two hits, scoring a run, and playing errorless center field in a 13-6 loss to the Columbus Senators. It soon became apparent, however, that he was not the same player as the season before – particularly in the power department. In 98 games, Duffee hit only three home runs. Yet in other ways, his performance improved. He upped his batting average to .275; played stellar outfield defense (.951 fielding percentage in 66 appearances) and filled in competently at third base (fielding .880 FA in 33 games, respectable for the era).

With mercurial club boss Chris Von der Ahe putting the Browns through no fewer than five managerial changes during the 1890 season, St. Louis went 77-58-4 (.574) and slipped to third place in final American Association standings. Turmoil continued during the offseason as the collapse of the Players League and the subsequent abrogation of the National Agreement by the AA29 left major league team rosters in flux. With players coming and going, the Browns sold Duffee to Columbus in late February 1891.30

Duffee played well for his new club, supplying the weak-hitting Senators with their only offensive threat. Not only did he lead the club in base hits (166), extra-base hits (42), home runs (10), batting average (.301), slugging percentage (.420), RBIs (90), and total bases (232), no teammate was near him in any of these categories. Charlie also whittled his strikeout total down to 36 (in almost 600 plate appearances) and stole 41 bases. But he received little help, and Columbus finished a non-competitive sixth (61-76-1, .445) in the American Association pennant chase.

At the close of the 1891 season, Duffee re-signed with Columbus. In an encouraging sign about the state of his health, Duffee did not return home to lounge about during the offseason. Instead, he played ball for a semipro club in New Orleans.31 Meanwhile, the American Association had taken to its deathbed and expired that winter. Thereafter, Columbus was not one of the four AA franchises absorbed into a newly bloated 12-club National League. That consigned Duffee to the pool of AA ballplayers to be distributed to NL teams by an arbitration committee consisting of National League President Nick Young and outgoing American Association chief Zach Phelps. In time, Duffee was assigned to a newly created National League entry placed in Washington, DC.32

Before joining his new ball club, Duffee made a change in his domestic situation. On February 24, 1892, he married Rosa Kern, a daughter of Mobile gentry.33 The new Mrs. Duffee then accompanied her husband to spring training in Savannah,34 the couple leaving behind an unsolved mystery in their wake. Just a year before, it had been reported that Charlie Duffee “is now a benedict” having married “one of the fair daughters of the South,” name unmentioned.35 And thereafter, Sporting Life published a letter in which Duffee advised a friend: “I have just been married to the idol of my heart.”36 The particulars of this pre-Rosa union and whatever became of it, however, could not be ascertained.

Back in Washington, Duffee was eagerly awaited. The Washington Evening Star informed readers that “Duffee is a hard-working player and keeps himself in condition…He is a zealous player and will try for the most difficult balls, consequently making errors where other players would allow a safe hit to be made.”37 But once again, health problems intruded, hampering Duffee’s effectiveness.38 Although almost released on two separate occasions,39 he managed to appear in 132 games for a poor (58-93-2, .384) Washington Nationals club. But his numbers were down across the board: just 29 extra-base hits including six homers; .248 batting average; 51 RBIs; .354 slugging percentage; and 174 total bases.

During the offseason, Duffee was well enough to accompany Mike “King” Kelly and his All-Americans on a winter barnstorming tour of Cuba.40 When he returned home, it was reported that Duffee had signed with the National League Chicago Colts.41 But the report proved unfounded, and Duffee remained unengaged as the start of the 1893 season approached. Finally in early April, he received an invitation to audition from another NL club, the Cincinnati Reds.42 His four-game tryout proved a fiasco. Duffee was harmless at the plate, batting .167 (although he drew five walks) and he muffed three of five outfield chances. After he went 0-for-3 and dropped two fly balls in an 11-1 loss to Chicago on April 28, Duffee was handed his release.43 He played better in his big-league finale, recording two base hits (but another outfield error) in a 7-1 defeat by Chicago two days later. He then went home to Mobile.

In five major league seasons compromised by illness, Charlie Duffee posted a .267 batting average in 508 games played. Of his 518 base hits, 135 had gone for extra bases. His nickname notwithstanding, Home Run Duffee hit only 35 dingers. After a strikeout-filled rookie season, he became a more selective swinger, and his career walks total (180) eventually exceeded his whiffs (150).44 Duffee had also been a decent defensive player, sound in the outfield and adequate as a fill-in at all four infield spots. In addition, he had been a positive force in the clubhouse, a quiet, sober, and conscientious ballplayer who could be depended upon to give his best effort. In all, undersized Charlie Duffee was a competent major leaguer who might have blossomed into a star had his health been better.45

Duffee’s release by Cincinnati did not bring his playing days to an end. He soon returned to familiar haunts, joining the Atlanta Windjammers of the Southern League in 1893.46 His health may have been in decline but Duffee (presumably aided by the recent elongation of the pitching distance to the modern 60’6” and elimination of the pitcher’s box) feasted on Southern League pitching. In 68 games for Atlanta, he batted a robust .371, with a team-leading 43 extra-base hits that included 11 homers. But franchise disarray and a Yellow Fever outbreak brought the Southern League season to an abrupt August 2 close.

Thereafter, it was reported that the National League Brooklyn Grooms wanted to engage Duffee but his “health … is not very good and he decided to go to his home in Mobile” instead.47 That fall, Charlie planned for his post-baseball future by opening a downtown saloon, the Diamond Exchange.48 But he also signed a contract to play for the Southern League’s Mobile Bluebirds in 1894.49 That proved wishful thinking, as Duffee grew weak and spent most of the winter confined to his home.50 In April 1894, his departure from the game became official, Sporting Life announcing that “‘Home Run’ Duffee is in retirement in Mobile on account of ill health.”51 He then quietly awaited his fate out of the public eye.

Charles Edward Duffee died at home on Christmas Eve 1894, moments before midnight. He was 28. The cause of death was consumption, a familiar killer of late-19th century ballplayers who died young.52 Following funeral services conducted by a Presbyterian minister, the deceased was laid to rest in Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile. Survivors included his young widow, elderly father, older brother George, and sister Fannie.

Postscript: Rosa Duffee was devastated by the death of her husband. Days after his passing, she authored a touching tribute in which she recalled her beloved’s final hours. “His life passed away like the last flickerings of a dying candle. Fully conscious to the last, he gave a farewell kiss but was unable to look into the hungering eyes or answer the pleading of the breaking heart of her to whom he was her all,” lamented Rosa.53 She concluded her remembrance with a prayer that “God not keep us parted long. Patiently, I shall wait my summons to join you.”54

Only 26 at the time of Charlie’s passing, Rosa would have to endure a 66-year wait. Never remarrying, she died in New Orleans in November 1960. But in the end, her prayer was answered. Upon death, the remains of Rosa Kern Duffee were interred alongside those of her long-departed spouse in Magnolia Cemetery.55

Decades thereafter, Charlie received belated local due. In April 2014, the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame conducted its annual induction ceremony. Among honorees feted at the ceremony was one long beyond living memory. Almost 120 years after his death, Charlie Duffee was admitted into his hometown athletic hall of fame.56

Acknowledgments

The writer is indebted to Valerie Ellis, Local History & Genealogy Department, Mobile Public Library, for her assistance in the research of this profile.

This story was reviewed by Darren Gibson and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Brian Wood.

Photo credit: Charlie Duffee, Trading Card Database.

Sources

Sources for the biographical info imparted above include the Charlie Duffee file maintained at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; the Duffee portraits published in the New York Clipper and Major League Baseball Profiles: 1871-1900, Vol. 1, David Nemec, ed. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011); US Census and other government records accessed via Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes. Unless otherwise specified, statistics have been taken from Baseball-Reference or Retrosheet.

Notes

1 According to Mobile Sports Hall of Fame board member Ron Wilhelm, quoted in Mark Inabinett “Charlie Duffee Got Something Started for Alabama 125 Years Ago Today,” posted April 4, 2014 and accessible online at https://www.al.com/sports/2014/04/charlie_duffee_got_something_s.html. The writer was unable to locate the passage in TSN but found analogous expressions of regard for Duffee published elsewhere.

2 The older Duffee children were Manly Joseph (born 1850), George (1853), and Fannie (1856).

3 Per the Charles Dickson papers on Mobile baseball archived at the University of South Alabama and accessible online at  https://www.southalabama.edu/libraries/mccallarchives/resources/mobilebaseball1868-1910.pdf.

4 “Charles Edward Duffee,” New York Clipper, February 14, 1891: 777.

5 See “The Waters Win a Batting Victory over Mobile,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, November 16, 1885: 2: “Stamhoff and Duffee did some fine playing for Mobile.”

6 A pre-season team photo of the 1886 Acid Iron Earth Baseball Club includes “E. Duffee, short stop.”

7 Baseball-Reference and other modern authority place Duffee on the Acid Iron Works, but he only played briefly for that club. Duffee was actually an everyday player for the Mobiles, as reflected in Gulf League game accounts and box scores published in the New Orleans Daily Picayune and New Orleans Times-Democrat. See also, The Sporting News, October-November 1886.

8 See “The Acids Beaten by the Weakest Nine Mobile Has Had,” with accompanying box score, New Orleans Daily Picayune, September 27, 1886: 2.

9 “The Mobiles,” Sporting Life, February 23, 1887: 4.  

10 See “Mobile 14, Savannah 4,” Nashville Daily American, April 28, 1887: 8; “How the Game Was Played,” Savannah Morning News, April 28, 1887: 9.

11 Per The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, eds. (Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, Inc., 3d ed. 2007), 149.

12 The extent to which Duffee’s batting average was elevated by the peculiar 1887-only rule that treated a walk as a base hit cannot be determined.

13 Per Southern League fielding stats published in the 1888 Reach Official American Association Guide, 86. He also posted an .877 fielding percentage in 12 games as a right fielder for Mobile-Birmingham, combined.

14 According to “Base Hits,” Houston Daily Post, May 13, 1888: 5.

15 As reported in “Base Ball: The Southern League a Thing of the Past,” Montgomery (Alabama) Weekly Advertiser, July 12, 1888: 4. The article also refers to Charley Duffee, the first discovered use of that nickname instead of Ed.

16 “Yesterday’s Game,” Montgomery (Alabama) Daily Advertiser, July 12, 1888: 2.

17 As reported in “Duffee Secured for the Home Nine,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, July 19, 1888: 3.

18 “In Texan Togs,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, July 29, 1888: 3.

19 The Duffee signing with the Browns was reported in “Latham All Right,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 10, 1889: 16.

20 See “Still a King,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 18, 1889: 8; “Opening Championship Games,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 18, 1889: 9.

21 Early mention of the Home Run nickname for Duffee appeared in “Mob Rule in St. Louis,” New York Herald, August 12, 1889: 6; “Base Ball Notes,” Philadelphia Times, July 28, 1889: 9; and “Pickups,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, July 3, 1889: 6.

22 Duffee’s strikeout figure betrayed an alarming lack of bat contact as foul balls were not counted as strikes until the turn of the century.

23 Joe Pritchard, “St. Louis Siftings,” Sporting Life, December 25, 1889: 3.

24 Same as above.

25 Per “Notes and Gossip,” Sporting Life, April 5, 1890: 3.

26 “Notes and Gossip,” Sporting Life, April 26, 1890: 4.

27 “Base Ball Notes,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 10, 1890: 5.

28 Joe Pritchard, “St. Louis Siftings,” Sporting Life, June 7, 1890: 7.

29 Promulgated in 1883, the National Agreement obliged the National League, American Association, and signatory minor leagues to respect the player contracts and reserve lists of fellow member organizations.

30 See “A Good Exchange,” Columbus Dispatch, February 26, 1891: 2. See also, Joe Pritchard, “St. Louis Siftings,” Sporting Life, March 14, 1891: 8: “Home-Run Duffee goes to Columbus.”

31 Per “News, Gossip, Editorial Comment,” Sporting Life, November 14, 1891: 2.

32 As reported in “He Won’t Change It,” Pittsburg Dispatch, December 31, 1891: 6; “Distribution of Players,” Omaha World-Herald, December 20, 1891: 2; “Where Some Players Will Go,” Washington (DC) Evening Star, December 19, 1891: 9; and elsewhere.

33 As reported in “Sporting Gossip,” Chicago Inter Ocean, February 28, 1892: 7; “Base Ball Briefs,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 25, 1892: 12; and elsewhere. Details of the nuptials were earlier provided in “Condensed Dispatches,” Sporting Life, February 20, 1892: 1. Although Duffee was likely Protestant, the Kern family was Roman Catholic and the wedding ceremony was performed at the residence of the diocesan bishop of Mobile by Father John W. Shaw, a Catholic priest.

34 Per “Personal Mention,” Sporting Life, March 19, 1892: 2.

35 “Base Ball Notes,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 1, 1891: 24. The Duffee marriage was also reported in “Notes of the Game,” Louisville Courier-Journal, February 15, 1891: 13.

36 Joe Pritchard, “St. Louis Siftings,” Sporting Life, March 7, 1891: 6.

37 “Ready to Play Ball,” Washington Evening Star, April 9, 1892: 8.

38 See e.g., “Current Baseball Comment,” Washington (DC) Post, August 7, 1892: 6: “Duffee is a good outfielder, but his effectiveness has been impaired by sickness;” “Current Comment,” Washington Post, June 19, 1892: 6: “Duffee is incapacitated from work owing to sickness.”

39 See “A Manager’s Problem,” Washington Evening Star, September 3, 1892: 12: “It looks as if Duffee will have to go…He has been kept after being once released in the hope that he would once more regain his former grip at the bat, but he hasn’t seemed to show that he has got his eye again on the ball.”

40 As reported in “Kelly’s Team in Cuba,” Birmingham (Alabama) Daily News, December 9, 1892: 5; “Baseball Briefs,” Washington Post, November 27, 1892: 6; and elsewhere.

41 See “Chicago Gleanings,” Sporting Life, January 28, 1893: 3.

42 As reported in “Notes from the Ball Field,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Patriot, April 8, 1893: 2; “Editorial Views, News, Comment,” Sporting Life, April 8, 1893: 2.

43 Duffee’s dismissal was subsequently reported in the Canton (Ohio) Repository, May 28, 1893: 11, and Kalamazoo (Michigan) Gazette, May 28, 1893: 7.

44 Duffee’s career strikeout figure is incomplete; his whiffs for the 1890 St. Louis Browns do not appear in modern baseball references.

45 See “Passed Away,” The Sporting News, December 29, 1894: 1: Duffee “was a well-behaved, tractable player, and had he retained his health, would have developed into a star.”

46 Another Southern League club, the Montgomery Colts, asserted but thereafter waived a competing claim for Duffee’s services. See “Duffee Is Ours,” Atlanta Constitution, May 23, 1893: 5; “Southern League Arbitrators,” Savannah Morning News, May 23, 1893: 2.

47 “Sporting Gossip,” Atlanta Constitution, August 30, 1893: 4.

48 Per “The Diamond,” Evansville (Indiana) Courier, January 6, 1894: 6. See also, “Mobile Budget,” New Orleans Daily Picayune, November 27, 1893: 4.

49 As reported in “Mobile Moves,” Sporting Life, January 6, 1894: 1.

50 Per “Mobile Mems,” Sporting Life, March 17, 1894: 2. See also, “Mobile Budget, New Orleans Daily Picayune, February 27, 1894: 2: “Ed Duffee … has been quite ill for several weeks.”

51 “Personal and Pertinent,” Sporting Life, April 14, 1894: 3.

52 The Duffee death certificate lists “pulmonary tuberculosis,” the medical dictionary term for consumption, as the cause of his demise.

53 “In Memoriam: Charles Edward Duffee,” Mobile Daily Register, December 30, 1894. Rosa Duffee signed her tribute “Your Heart-Broken Wife.”

54 Same as above.

55 Per Mark Inabinett, “Hallmark of Love,” Mobile Al.Com/Press-Register, May 21, 2014: 7.

56 Inabinett, “Charlie Duffee Got Something Started,” above.