Chuck Lauer

During the 19th century, Pittsburgh became one of the major hubs for livestock being shipped from the Midwest to the markets in the East via the Pennsylvania Railroad as well as those destined for local buyers.1 As the industry grew and new railroads came through the area, a central choke point for the convergence of meat animal and railway was needed. In 1864, the East Liberty Stockyards opened to fulfill that demand.2 Working in these stockyards was a young man who would one day leave the stench for the greener pastures of the baseball diamond. His name was Chuck Lauer.3

Though forgotten today, Lauer was one of many young men – like Bobby Cargo, Henry Jones, and Jake Seymour – to emerge from the Pittsburgh sandlots and get their shot at the Big Show. Lauer’s entire major league career amounted to only 19 games played over three seasons (1884; 1889-90). Yet his likeness was captured in five poses for the 1889 Old Judge tobacco card series, sporting the heavy moustache that was fashionable at the time.4 What follows is a fuller look at this obscure player from the stockyards of Pittsburgh.

Born to German immigrant parents, John Charles Lauer came into this world on April 5, 1865. Father John A. Lauer was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1837; according to the 1880 US Census, he worked as a car inspector for the Pennsylvania Railroad.5 Mother Mary Dora Lauer (née Cruise/Kruise) was born in Hanover in the Kingdom of Saxony in 1842.6  Chuck, as our subject was called, had eight siblings: Mattie (born 1864), Elizabeth (1867), Henry (1869), Charles (1871), George (1873), Edward (1876), Dora (1878), and Emelia (1880).

Very little about Lauer’s pre-baseball career is known except that he entered the livestock trade working for the firm of Holmes & Lafferty in the East Liberty Stockyards at an early age.7

The earliest documented appearance of Lauer (who batted and threw right-handed) occurred on May 19, 1883. He was playing for the semipro Liberty Stars of the Interstate State Association against the Altoona (Pennsylvania) Altoonas.8 Positioned at first base, Lauer went 0-for-2 at the plate and committed a fielding error.9 Thereafter, his activities are undiscovered until August 22, when he appeared again for the Liberty Stars in an exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Alleghenys of the major league American Association.  

The Pittsburgh Commercial-Gazette reported that “About 1,000 people witnessed a very poor game between the Alleghenys and the East Liberty Stars on the new grounds of the latter club on Larimer Ave. The men of neither club played anything approaching a fair school boy game of ball.”10  Lauer’s own performance was lackluster: he went 0-for-5 batting, made two errors while stationed in the outfield, and allowed five passed balls while catching.11

The final box score of the 1883 season known to contain Lauer’s name was published on August 24.12 In a game played the day before against the professional Neshannock (Pennsylvania) baseball club, Lauer hit a double and scored two runs while splitting his time between the pitcher’s box and center field.13 Although these press mentions of Lauer’s performance are few, he must have made a favorable impression with management of the Alleghenys – he was heading to the major leagues the following season.

The exact circumstances that led to Lauer’s engagement by the Alleghenys were not discovered. However, one might speculate that in 1884, the arrival on scene of the outlaw Union Association created playing opportunities for many marginal talents like Lauer. On April 7, 1884, Lauer was one of the pitchers used in an exhibition game played at Union Park between picked nines from the Allegheny club. Called after five innings, Lauer was on the short end of an 8-7 decision.14 Seven days later Lauer was back pitching in a game between the Allegheny “Regulars” and “Reserves.” He scored one of the Reserves’ three runs but suffered a 9-3 defeat.15  

A few weeks thereafter, Lauer and the Allegheny reserves took on the reserve squad of the St. Louis Browns. In a game that the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette described as “the best of the season.,”16 Lauer walked away with a 6-0 victory, scoring one of the Allegheny runs and striking out nine.17 The following day, Lauer came up with another victory, this time against a Cincinnati Reds reserve team that “fell victim to Laner’s [sic] delivery,” 17-5.18 Finally, in a May 21 game against his old team, the Liberty Stars, Lauer blasted a home run and helped win the game, 7-4.19

Despite his exhibition game performance, Lauer did not make his major league debut until July 17. His lone contribution to the Alleghenys’ 12-inning, 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals was being struck by a pitched ball.20 After several more unproductive appearances, Lauer broke into the hit column with a single off Brooklyn right-hander Adonis Terry in a 10-4 defeat suffered on July 23.21

Lauer drew his release from Pittsburgh on August 6.22 He was not idle long, though – he joined the Athletics, a new local semipro team made up of former players from his old team, the Liberty Stars.23 In front of 1,000 fans at Liberty Ball Park on August 21, Lauer enjoyed the satisfaction of pitching the Athletics to a 14-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Alleghenys. The Pittsburgh Evening Penny Press writeup of the game, however, was not particularly complimentary: “Lauer pitched for the Athletics and nearly killed five of the ‘Allies’ by hitting them with the ball.”24

After a little over a month with his new team, Lauer was recalled by Allegheny management to pitch for the club for the remainder of the season.25 On October 6, Lauer took on Cincinnati in what the Evening Penny Press called “one of the worst played this year by the home nine.”26 Taking a six-run lead into the ninth inning, Lauer’s work was undone by a succession of errors and six unearned runs that tied the score at 8-8. The game was called soon after on account of darkness. Despite the unsatisfying outcome, the Evening Penny Press stated that Lauer pitched a fine game for the Alleghenys yesterday, and had he been properly supported, the contest would not have resulted in a tie.27

Overall, however, Lauer’s performance was underwhelming during his two stints with the Alleghenys. In 13 games, he batted an anemic .114 (five singles in 44 at-bats). His pitching line was little better: 0-2, with a bloated 7.58 ERA in 19 innings.

In 1885, Lauer signed with the Cleveland Forest Cites of the minor Western League. The engagement was reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which stated that “Manager Lawernce went to Pittsburgh yesterday to engage J.C. Lauer, pitcher for last year’s Alleghenys. Lauer will report at Toledo on Saturday and pitch the opening game with M.F. Walker as catcher.”28 The season before, Fleet Walker had become the first black player in major league history. The paper went on to state that the 5-foot-8, 185-pound Lauer was “a man as large as [husky hurler Pud] Galvin.”

On opening day, the Plain Dealer reported that Lauer had such good curve balls and speed that he was almost unhittable, leading Cleveland to an 11-5 victory over the Toledo Avengers. But Lauer’s time with Cleveland was short. Suffering from an undisclosed illness, he was released upon his own request in mid-May and returned to Pittsburgh.29 Prior to his departure, Lauer appeared in 10 games, batting a paltry .125 (5-for-40). His pitching line read 3-7 with a 1.76 ERA in 82 innings.

In 1886, it was reported in the Zanesville (Ohio) Signal that Lauer pitched a few games for the amateur Malleables Baseball Club of Cleveland.30 Thereafter, Lauer was signed by the Zanesville Kickapoos of the Ohio State League31 and spent two seasons there. In his September 6, 1888 OSL finale, Lauer teamed with future major league standout Ad Gumbert to lead Zanesville to  a 6-2 victory over the Jackson (Michigan) Jaxons.32

On February 8, 1889, Al Pratt – a veteran of the Civil War and founder of the Allegheny baseball club – related the following about Lauer. “But let me tell you what Mr. McDermith of the Tri-State League and President English of the Wheeling Club says sic about Chuck Lauer. Mr. McDermith says that Lauer is a great catcher, and that if he and Andy Sommers were in the market at the same price he would as soon have Lauer as Sommers. McDermith really thinks that Lauer will rapidly make himself famous.”33

Several weeks later, Lauer was catching with the Alleghenys in the preseason.34 On April 2, he Lauer performed poorly in an exhibition game against the National League Cleveland Spiders, recording two passed balls, an error, and no runs scored.35 A week later, Lauer caught another preseason game, going 1-for-4 and scoring a run in an 11-6 loss to the St. Louis Browns.36 While still under contract to the Alleghenys, Lauer played for the East End Athletics of the Allegheny County League until recalled in late June.37 The Pittsburg Dispatch raved about his performance in a June 24 game against Washington in which he had two base hits and scored twice.38

On July 27, it was reported that Alleghenys manager Horace Phillips was trying to “dispose of Ed Morris and Charles Lauer, the catcher, to the Columbus management.”39 No such move, however, came to fruition. On August 8, the Dispatch reported that Alleghenys president William Albert Nimick was going to release Lauer and Bill Garfield, but the exact date of Lauer’s discharge is uncertain. 40 In any event, by September 6 Lauer was playing for the Davenport (Iowa) Hawkeyes of the Central Interstate League, where he finished the season before heading home to Pittsburgh.41 In his brief second stint as a major leaguer, Lauer went 3-for-16 (.188) in four games.

In January 1890, it was announced that the National League’s Chicago Colts had picked up Lauer for the upcoming season.42 Accompanying the team to Florida for spring training, Lauer was the recipient of a bizarre practical joke. While rooming with pitcher Roscoe Coughlin, the pair complained of feeling something spiny against their feet while they slept. When the duo threw back the sheet, they discovered a baby alligator that had been smuggled in by their third roommate, Big Mike Sullivan. The duo fled their room in terror only to have the reptile thrown at them by Sullivan. Sullivan was threatened with a $50 fine by Cap Anson for causing a commotion – but escaped punishment by making him laugh once he told Anson the whole story.43

With spring training and the preseason behind him, Lauer got his first chance with Chicago on April 23 against Cincinnati in an away game. It did not go well; the Chicago Tribune declared that “Lauer did not show up very strongly for the visitors.”44  With two passed balls and three errors charged against him, Lauer wasn’t much help in the Colts’ 9-6 loss. Just five days later, he played the final major league game of his career.

On April 28, Chicago visited Cleveland. With Sullivan in the pitcher’s box, Lauer was again charged with passed balls that allowed two runs to score. He redeemed himself, however, with a game-winning walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth of a 5-4 triumph. 45 Such heroics were not enough to keep him for losing the spot as backup catcher to rookie Malachi Kittridge.46 The two appearances for Chicago concluded Lauer’s major league career. In 19 games total, he posted a puny .147 (10-for-68) batting average. His final pitching record stood at 0-2 with a 7.58 ERA. Defensively, he had been adequate as an outfielder (.944 fielding percentage in 11 games); substandard as a catcher (.822 in five games), and weak as a pitcher (.667 in three games) and a first baseman (.667 in one game).

Lauer finished out the 1890 season playing for the Evansville (Indiana) Hoosiers of the Northwestern League, where he remained through the 1891 season.47 Lauer married Luella Deems in Pittsburgh on September 9 of that same year.48 In 1892, Lauer suited up for the Tacoma (Washington) Daisies of the Pacific Northwest League and the Missoula baseball club of the Montana State League before exiting professional baseball for good.

While Lauer was done with professional baseball, he wasn’t done with the game. Starting in 1893, he played for the hometown P.A.C. baseball team.49 He continued to appear in the Pittsburgh area playing for various local teams until 1909.50 Sadly, according to baseball historian David Nemec, while playing for the semipro Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh) Grays, Lauer hit a foul tip that struck catcher Charles Snyder of the Homewood (Pittsburgh) Athletic Club over the heart. Snyder, who was not wearing chest protection, returned the ball to the pitcher and then dropped dead.51

To make money, Lauer returned to his old trade as a livestock dealer, this time organizing his own firm – Imhoff, Lauer, and McCarthy – in 1900.52 Lauer continued to play local baseball before moving to Buffalo, New York, in 1910. There, he worked in the livestock trade as a “commissioner.”53

On May 4, 1915, Lauer passed away at his home in Buffalo.54 He was 50. Childless, he left behind his wife, mother, and assorted brothers and sisters. Lauer’s body was returned to Pittsburgh and interred at St. Peter Cemetery in the Lauer family plot, not far from the East Liberty Stockyards.55

Acknowledgments

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

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and the following:

Ancestry.com

Findagrave.com

Nemec, David, The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball: Biographies of 1,084 Players, Owners, Managers and Umpires. (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2012).

Newspapers.com

US Census Bureau, 1870 and 1880 US Census

Notes

1 Model for the Nation: Sale, Slaughter, and Processing at the East Liberty Stockyards, accessed: February 6, 2026.

2 Same as above.

3 “John C. Lauer,” Pittsburg Press, May 5, 1915: 11.

4 Joe Gonsowski, Richard Masson, and Jay Miller. The Photographic Baseball Cards of Goodwin & Company 1886-1890 (‎Self-published, 2008), 297. Lauer’s hair color is obscured by his hat.

5 1880 U.S. Census lists “about 1838” as his birth year and misspells the family surname as “Lower.” The  John Andrew Laurer – Find A Grave memorial lists July 28, 1837, as his birthday. John A Lauer Death Certificate, “Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1973 – Ancestry.com, accessed: February 6, 2026.

6 1880 U.S. Census. The census gives “Dora” as her first name while the Mary Dora Cruise Lauer – Find A Grave memorial states that her middle name was “Dora.”

7 “John C. Lauer, above.

8 “Ball on the Mountain,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, May 21, 1883: 8.

9 “Ball on the Mountain.” 

10 “A Miserable Game,” Pittsburg Commercial Gazette, August 22, 1883: 2. The team’s name oscillates in print between the East Liberty Stars and the Liberty Stars.

11 “A Miserable Game,” 

12 “The Neshannocks Win,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, August 24, 1883: 2.

13 “The Neshannocks Win.”

14 “The Neshannocks Win.”

15 “The Regulars Win,” Pittsburgh Daily Post, April 15, 1884: 4.

16 “Reserves In Line,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, May 15, 1884: 2.

17 “Reserves In Line.” 

18 “Peters’ Pulverizers,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, May 17, 1884: 5.

19 “Peters’ Pulverizers,” 

20 “The Tail Enders,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, July 18, 1884: 3.

21 “Brooklyns Defeat the Alleghenys,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, July 24, 1884: 8.

22 “Sporting Sprints,” Pittsburgh Evening Penny Press, August 7, 1884: 1.

23 “New East End Base Ball Club,” Pittsburgh Evening Penny Press, August 11, 1884: 1.

24 “Great Sluggers,” Pittsburgh Evening Penny Press, August 21, 1884: 1. “Sporting in General,” Pittsburgh Evening Penny Press, August 21, 1884: 1.

25 “Sporting in General,” Pittsburgh Evening Penny Press, October 6, 1884: 1.

26 “The Worst Yet,” Pittsburgh Evening Penny Press, October 7, 1884: 1.

27 “Sporting in General,” Pittsburgh Evening Penny Press, October 7, 1884: 1.

28 “Cleveland’s New Pitcher,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 16, 1885: 3.

29 “Base Ball Notes,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 19, 1885: 3.

30 “Base Ball Briefs,” Zanesville (Ohio) Signal, Feb 21, 1887: 4.

31 “Base Ball Briefs.”  Baseball-Reference provides no data for Lauer’s 1886 season.

32 “No More Base Ball,” Zanesville (Ohio) Times Recorder, September 7, 1888: 1.

33 “Local Ball Gossip,” Pittsburg Dispatch, February 8, 1889: 6.

34 “A Careful Training,” Pittsburg Dispatch, March 27, 1889: 6.

35 “Snowed Under,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, April 3, 1883: 8.

36 “They Tried Staley,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, April 10, 1889: 6.

37 “The East Enders Win,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, April 14, 1889: 6.

38 “Found Our Victims,” Pittsburg Dispatch, June 25, 1889: 6. The box score misprints his name as Sauer.

39 “Horace Phillips Mission,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, July 27, 1889: 6.

40 “Sunday as Manager,” Pittsburg Dispatch, August 8, 1889: 8.

41 “Beaten by Hoosiers,” Davenport (Iowa) Morning Democrat, September 6, 1889: 1. “The Players Depart,” Davenport Morning Democrat, September 18, 1889: 4.

42 “In the Ball Field,” Champaign (Illinois) Daily Gazette. January 18, 1890: 3.

43 David Nemec, The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball: Biographies of 1,084 Players, Owners, Managers and Umpires. (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2012), 245.

44 “National League Games,” Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1890: 2.

45 “Won In the Ninth Inning,” Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1890: 6.

46 Nemec, The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball, above.

47  In 1891 the league name changed to the Northwestern League.

48 Pennsylvania, U.S., Marriages, 1852-1968 – Ancestry.com accessed: February 6, 2026.

49 “P.A.C’s Day,” Pittsburg Press, July 9, 1893: 6. P.A.C. stands for Pittsburgh Athletic Club.

50 “Athletics Land the Championship,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, August 15, 1909: 18.

51 Nemec, The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball, above.

52 “John C. Lauer,” above.

53 1910 U.S. Census.

54 “John C. Lauer,” above. The cause of death is unknown – no death certificate has been discovered.

55 John Charles “Chuck” Lauer (1865-1915) – Find a Grave Memorial accessed: February 6, 2026.