Dan Woodman

The Woodman surname has a distinguished history in the string of coastal suburbs north of Boston known as the North Shore. A local restaurateur named Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman claimed to have invented the fried clam there in July 1916. Whether Woodman was truly the first to fry clams is open to debate. What’s certain is that fried clams brought lasting success to him and his restaurant – which was still open more than a century later – and Woodman helped turn the dish into a favorite whose fame extended far beyond New England.1

A few years before the first breaded bivalve hit the hot oil, a different Woodman seemed poised to make the North Shore famous. Hard-throwing Daniel Courtenay Woodman was one of the youngest players in the 1914 Federal League at age 21 and pitched effectively in limited use with the Buffalo Buffeds.2 But he faltered the following season and was sent down. He continued to pitch in minor and semipro leagues into the mid-1930s, but his 19 games in two Federal League seasons – including one as a pinch-runner – were his only major-league appearances. (Online genealogical records indicate that the pitcher and the fried clam entrepreneur were distant cousins.3)

Woodman and his peers would do a double-take if they saw him listed in 21st-century baseball records as “Dan Woodman.” During his career he commonly went by the nicknames Coke or Cocoa, sometimes varied to Cokey or Coco. Some news accounts referred to him by his middle name as well, and he was D. Courtenay Woodman in U.S. Census records and on his marriage certificate. Still, “Daniel” was the first name he was given at birth on July 8, 1893, in the town of Danvers, Massachusetts, about 21 highway miles north of Boston.4 He was the son of Chester I. Woodman, a superintendent in a box factory, and the former Emma Huntress.5

By the spring of 1910, 16-year-old Daniel was the oldest of six Woodman siblings – joined by Rachel, Phillip, Dexter, Hilda, and Chester.6 Dexter, four years younger, reportedly developed into a pitcher good enough to rival his brother, though he never moved past the amateur ranks.7

The oldest Woodman boy starred as a halfback on the Danvers High football team and pitched on the school’s baseball team.8 In August 1911 he won multiple events at a local athletic competition, including the pole vault, the high jump, and “ball-throwing.”9 He was recommended to the Boston Rustlers of the National League for a look that year, but nothing came of it.10

Woodman grew into a strong young man of about 5-feet-9½ and 175 pounds.11 “Physically, Woodman was hard as a rock,” recalled a sportswriter who knew him.12 He had energy to spare; before a start, he would catch flies, hit fungoes, and pepper the outfield fence with stones – the latter a ritual he repeated after the game.13 When shagging flies, he would casually fling the ball over the backstop on his return throws, a sign of his powerful arm.14 He reportedly threw a ball 345 feet while in the Federal League.15

After a stint with an amateur team in Lynn, Massachusetts in spring 1912,16 he turned pro that summer with Haverhill of the Class B New England League, managed by former major-leaguer Lave Cross.17 Woodman drew notice for a July game that he entered in the third inning with his team trailing, 4-1. Woodman pitched 11 innings of two-hit relief as Haverhill rallied for a 13-inning, 7-6 win over Lawrence. His mound opponent for part of the game, Ray Keating, was purchased by the New York Highlanders later that season and pitched seven seasons in the majors.18 Woodman played 13 games for Haverhill; near the end of the season, his record was given as 2-4.19

Woodman returned to the New England League in 1913, this time with Fall River. He earned praise for his speed, being described as “a fine looking youngster with a Joe Wood smoke ball,” but struggled with control, airing out five wild pitches in one game.20 Another account described him as “erratic” – dominating hitters one moment, missing the strike zone the next.21 “Cocoa Woodman would be a great little heaver if he could only overcome his wildness,” one story lamented.22

As the season wore on, Woodman seemed to improve. In August, manager “Sliding Billy” Hamilton praised his pitching.23 And a Fall River newspaper declared near season’s end: “It will not be many months before the name of ‘Cocoa’ Woodman will appear in the box scores of the big leagues. There are more finished twirlers in the New England [League], but there is not one with the ability of the young Fall River twirler.”24

Woodman’s shot at the big leagues arrived the following spring, in sensational circumstances. The Fall River team moved to Haverhill in the 1913-14 offseason.25 Woodman, working in a shoe factory, wanted more money and refused to sign manager Dan Clohecy’s contract.26 The Lowell team of the New England League offered to trade 13 players for Woodman in March 1914, but Clohecy couldn’t accept the trade because he hadn’t signed Woodman.27

A few days later, the Buffalo team of the outlaw Federal League swept in. Manager Larry Schlafly traveled to Danvers and signed Woodman to an $1,800 contract – leaving Clohecy with nothing in return for the loss of his pitcher.28 Art LaVigne, a former New England League catcher who also signed with the 1914 Buffeds, had told Schlafly about the talented but dissatisfied young hurler who was up for grabs.29 “The air must be blue down at the Haverhill baseball quarters,” the Lowell Sun summarized.30 Clohecy called his departed pitcher “a bonehead” – not for skipping the team, but for settling for a $200 bonus.31 One news story on the signing called Woodman “richly equipped with speed and endurance,” with “sharp” curves.32

Woodman joined the Buffeds in mid-April, shortly before Opening Day, after doing what one paper called “light training” in the offseason.33 Woodman did not pitch in a regular-season game for the first three months; it’s possible that Schlafly wanted him to work himself into better shape. He was one of a group of players Schlafly left in Buffalo to work out during a road trip in late April and early May.34 In mid-May Woodman pitched an exhibition game in Niagara Falls. The Buffeds lost, though he was paired up with an amateur catcher who played poorly.35

Woodman finally got a chance in FL play on July 10, two days after his 21st birthday, when Schlafly let him work the eighth inning of a loss to Baltimore. He set down Guy Zinn, Harry Swacina, and Jimmy Walsh in order.

Woodman pitched in 13 games for the Buffeds that season. Generally he was brought in with the team behind, and sometimes well behind. He surrendered nine earned runs in 33⅔ innings for a 2.41 ERA. Six of those runs were given up in a four-inning mop-up stint against Kansas City in the second game of a doubleheader on July 24. He walked 11 and struck out 13 for the season, suffering occasional lapses in control. After one game in October, he was described as being “wild as a flock of hawks.”36 Sporting Life magazine reported that Schlafly limited Woodman’s game action because the manager was “schooling him,” but added, “[Woodman] will be a wonder next summer.”37

From a statistical standpoint, Woodman’s most notable outing took place on September 17, when he relieved starter Al Schulz and worked the final two innings against the last-place St. Louis Terriers. Entering with Buffalo leading 7-1, Woodman allowed two hits and an earned run, walked one and struck out one. Decades later, when the major leagues codified and compiled the save as an official statistic, Woodman was awarded the only save of his career. He earned neither a win nor a loss in his 13 appearances, although he came close to both while pitching in a game that ended in a tie. On September 28, Woodman doused a Kansas City Packers rally in the eighth inning, leaving Buffalo down, 8-4 at home. The Buffeds stormed back with five in their half, and Woodman was one out away from a 9-8 win when two KC hits coupled with two Buffalo errors led to two unearned runs. Now trailing 10-9, Buffalo tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, after which it was called due to darkness.38

Earlier that month, Woodman received his only major-league ejection in a tense, heated game against the Baltimore Terrapins.39 Umpire Ed Goeckel thumbed Buffalo second baseman Tom Downey for protesting an out call on a stolen base attempt. Then, Goeckel ran Woodman and teammate Nick Allen for complaining from the bench. Terrapins player-manager Otto Knabe was ejected later in the game as well.

In 1915, Woodman joined the Buffalo team, now called the Blues, from the start of spring training and made the Opening Day roster.40 He pitched another scoreless mop-up inning on the second day of the season, April 12. From there he found the going difficult. In four more pitching appearances, he gave up eight earned runs in 14 innings. This included his only big-league start, on April 23 against Baltimore. Woodman worked seven innings, giving up seven hits, four walks, and four runs, in a game Buffalo lost, 6-5. One Buffalo newspaper said the youngster “pitched like a veteran” and “has the makings of a great pitcher, provided he isn’t rushed too fast.”41

He might have been promising, but Woodman’s final major-league appearance suggested he had become surplus to the Blues’ requirements. On May 12, 10 days after his last game on the mound, he ran for catcher Walter Blair with two outs in the ninth inning of a game against Pittsburgh. A game-ending fly ball by pinch-hitter Del Young stranded Woodman at first.42 Woodman and two other Blues were farmed out the next day to the Springfield, Massachusetts, team of the Colonial League, a New England circuit that served as a minor league for the Federal League.43 Woodman pitched in five games for the 1915 Buffalo Blues. Despite some subpar outings, his record was again 0-0, so he finished his two major-league seasons without an official decision.

Woodman was supposed to stay in Springfield until September 1.44 But he struggled in the Colonial League, going 7-10 in 17 games.45 The Springfield team released him in August, leading some observers to accuse the Federal League of using the Colonial League to dump players who were supposedly signed to binding contracts.46

Another account blamed Woodman’s release not on dirty dealings, but on his own lack of effectiveness. Springfield’s attempt to trade him to New Bedford failed when the latter team’s manager “could not see where he would gain anything by the swap, and refused to exchange.”47 By early September, Woodman had fallen from Federal League ballparks to high-school fields. He started – and lost – a game between amateur teams in Beverly and Peabody, Massachusetts, held at Beverly High School.48

As of September 2023, Baseball-Reference’s entry on Woodman shows no record of his playing professionally from 1916 through 1925. He briefly landed with the Lynn and Lowell, Massachusetts, teams of the Class B Eastern League in 1916, but pitched poorly and was released by both. “Once upon a time, Woodman was a real pitcher,” the Lynn Daily Item mused about the young man who was still a month shy of 23.49 A questionnaire filled out by Woodman’s sister after his death indicated that he studied at Salem Commercial School in Massachusetts and worked as a teacher at one point; it’s unclear when he did this, but it might have been around this time.50

World War I interrupted any other plans Woodman might have had. He enlisted in the medical detachment of the U.S. Army’s 102nd Field Artillery in July 1917 and served until April 1919.51 At the time, he was working for the National Lamp Works of General Electric. A company history reported that he spent much of 1918 at the front lines: “Woodman was never absent from duty during his period of army service nor did he receive a scratch to show that he had been in the midst of terrific action.”52 The same was not true for his ballplaying younger brother. Dexter Woodman enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and was killed in France in November 1918, only nine days before the signing of the armistice on November 11.53 A square in Danvers is named in his memory.54

Discharged in 1919, the eldest Woodman pitched for an amateur club in Danvers and also married the former Elsie Herrick of Salem, Massachusetts.55 The 1920 U.S. Census found the newlyweds living in Danvers, with Woodman working as a seasoner in a leather factory.56 Two children followed – a son, Dexter, in 1920, and a daughter, Vivian, in 1921.57 After a few years off the baseball radar, at age 30 Woodman resurfaced in amateur baseball north of Boston in 1923.58 He regained his skills quickly, as two years later he was described as one of New England’s best semipro pitchers.59

From 1926 through 1931 – about ages 33 through 38 – Woodman enjoyed a second act as a professional pitcher, mostly in the Eastern League. In the decade since he’d left it, the Eastern loop had been reclassified as Class A, two steps below the majors.60

He bounced between Eastern League teams in New Haven, Pittsfield, and Hartford and contributed solidly, winning 16, 14, 13, and 13 games in his first four seasons. In one memorable outing he went the distance for New Haven in an 18-inning game against Albany in May 1927. He lost 2-1 after yielding two hits, a walk, and another single with one out in the 18th.61 Woodman also pitched briefly for the Birmingham, Alabama, team of the Class A Southern League in 192862 and the Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport, Pennsylvania, teams of the Class B New York-Penn League in 1930.63

The 1930 U.S. Census recorded Woodman’s occupation as ballplayer, indicating that he’d set aside other careers to focus on the game.64 “Like Tennyson’s brook, [he] babbles on forever,” a newspaper in Albany, New York, rhapsodized that year.65 Woodman even had enough spring left in his step to play semipro football in New Haven in the fall of 1930.66

A 4.50 ERA in 25 games with New Haven in 1931 spelled the end of his professional days, but Woodman continued to pitch for several more semipro seasons. In 1933 he pitched for a New Haven police department team. The following season, he was knocked around by the Boston Braves in a start for a semipro team in Bridgeport, Connecticut.67 “Coke has been in the game so long there seems to be no record of just when he did start,” one newspaper quipped in 1934, 22 years after Woodman turned pro.68

As Woodman’s career finally ground to a halt in the mid-1930s, he faced several personal losses. His father, Chester, died in 1935.69 He declared bankruptcy the same year, with liabilities of $1,203 and assets of $50.70 At some point in the 1930s, he and Elsie were divorced. Elsie remarried in 1939 to Harry L. Holmes, a funeral director in Henniker, New Hampshire. The 1940 U.S. Census recorded Elsie and children Dexter and Vivian as part of Holmes’s household.71 Woodman did not remarry.

Dexter Woodman enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in September 1940.72 On December 13, 1941, six days after the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, Private Woodman made the same sacrifice as his uncle and namesake: He was killed in a Japanese air attack on Nichols Field in the Philippines. A park in Henniker was dedicated in his honor.73

Coke Woodman spent his post-baseball years working for the Florence Stove Company in Gardner, Massachusetts, a maker of oil and gas stoves, water heaters, and ovens.74 At one point he took a leadership role in a company baseball team. He was also known to attend baseball games in Danvers, proclaiming that he “would show the young ones up today if he were playing.”75 In his final years he lived with his sister, Hilda, in Topsfield, Massachusetts, a town adjoining Danvers.76

Woodman died of a stroke at age 69 on December 14, 1962.77 Following services at the Crosby Funeral Home in Danvers, he was buried at Riverview Cemetery in Groveland, Massachusetts. His military-issued gravestone identifies him as Daniel C. Woodman, another example of his passing into history under a name that would have been unfamiliar in his lifetime.78 He was survived by four siblings; his daughter, Vivian, who was married with three children; and several nieces and nephews.79

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Rick Zucker and fact-checked by Jeff Findley.

Sources and photo credit

In addition to the sources credited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for background information on players, teams, and seasons, as well as game stories and box scores from various newspapers, mostly in Massachusetts and Buffalo, New York.

The author thanks the Giamatti Research Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and is also grateful to the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers, Massachusetts, for making past issues of local newspapers freely available online.

Photo from the Buffalo Courier, March 14, 1915: 80.

Notes

1 “Lawrence H. Woodman; Said He Fried First Clams,” Boston Evening Globe, January 21, 1976: 31; Manli Ho, “Fried Clams (and Essex) Will Never Be the Same,” Boston Globe, February 7, 1976: 3. At the time this story was written in June 2023, Lawrence Woodman’s restaurant, Woodman’s of Essex, was still in operation. Some sources give his nickname as “Chub.”

2 To be specific, he was the eighth-youngest player to appear in the 1914 Federal League, making his debut at 21 years and two days old on July 10. The youngest, Chicago infielder Jimmy Smith, was 19 years and 134 days old when he played his first game on September 26.

3 In June 2023, the author began with the main Familysearch.org pages for Daniel C. Woodman and Lawrence H. Woodman and worked backward through each man’s lineage until he found a common ancestor. The shared link is Lieut. Jonathan Woodman (1665-1750), who was each man’s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. Jonathan’s son Joshua begat the line of Woodmans leading to Lawrence, while Jonathan’s son Edward fathered the line of Woodmans leading to Daniel.

4 As of June 2023, only four major-leaguers had Danvers listed as their birthplace, and only one was born after 1900. The four are Woodman (born 1893; played 1914-15); Ed Caskin (born 1851, played 1879-1886); Thorny Hawkes (born 1852; played 1879 and 1884); and Connie Creeden (born 1915, played 1943).

5 1910 U.S. Census listing for Chester and Emma Woodman and family. Accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2023.

6 According to Familysearch.org, a seventh Woodman child, Roger, died in childhood in 1903.

7 “Big Crowd to Attend, Weather Permitting,” Lynn (Massachusetts) Daily Item, July 16, 1917: 6; “Weeden’s Team and Cornet’s All-Stars Meet,” Lynn Daily Item, June 15, 1917: 6.

8 “Baseball Notes,” Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, March 22, 1912: 9.

9 “Thursday,” Danvers (Massachusetts) Mirror, August 26, 1911: 2. The news item does not specify whether “ball-throwing” was a test of distance, accuracy, or both.

10 “Lowell Lineup at Present and Some Prospects,” Lynn (Massachusetts) Daily Item, February 28, 1912: 6.

11 A questionnaire filled out after Woodman’s death by his sister, Hilda Allen of Topsfield, Massachusetts, and on file with the Giamatti Research Center of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, gives this height and weight. Baseball-Reference lists him at the slightly smaller 5’8” and 160 pounds, while his Sporting News contract card lists him at 5’10” and 170 pounds.

12 J. Jay Lemire, “Cokey Woodman…,” Danvers Herald, December 20, 1962: 4. “Even in recent years, despite his age, he would nearly break one’s hand in two in a handshake,” Lemire added.

13 Harvey L. Southward, “Back Through the Years,” Lynn Daily Evening Item, November 13, 1963: 26.

14 Lemire, “Cokey Woodman…”

15 “Field Day Events Mark Close,” Buffalo Enquirer, October 6, 1914: 8.

16 “New England League Crumbs,” Lynn Daily Item, July 18, 1912: 8.

17 “Baseball Notes,” Lowell Sun, March 22, 1912: 9; Untitled news item, second column, Danvers Mirror, July 27, 1912: 2; Phil Williams, “Lave Cross,” SABR Biography Project, accessed June 2023. Woodman’s Sporting News contract card lists him as pitching in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1912. News stories report that the Lowell team signed him to a contract before the season, but released him in mid-April. All available news stories regarding Woodman’s pro pitching in 1912 place him with the Haverhill team.

18 “Woodman Pitches Haverhill to 7 to 6 Victory,” Lynn Daily Item, July 25, 1912:

19 “Pitchers’ Records,” Lynn Daily Item, September 3, 1912: 6; “Batting and Fielding Averages N.E. League Players,” Lynn Daily Item, September 9, 1912: 6. Unfortunately, while the Lynn newspaper printed year-end batting and fielding statistics, it does not appear to have done the same for pitching results. Baseball-Reference did not have a statistical line for Woodman’s 1912 season as of September 2023.

20 “New England League Opens Season Today,” Evening Herald (Fall River, Massachusetts) (hereinafter referred to as the “Fall River Evening Herald”), April 30, 1913: 6; “Notes of the Lynn-Lowell Game,” Lynn Evening Daily Item, July 26, 1913: 3.

21 “Fall River Loses in Tenth 5 to 4,” Fall River Evening Herald, July 1, 1913: 6.

22 “In the Realm of Sportdom with Casey,” Fall River Evening Herald, July 29, 1913: 6.

23 “Hamilton Praises Woodman,” Fall River Evening Herald, August 5, 1913: 6.

24 “In the Realm of Sportdom with Casey,” Fall River Evening Herald, August 23, 1913: 6. Baseball-Reference lists Woodman’s record in 1913 as 7-15.

25 “Haverhill to Get Ball Team Back,” Fall River Evening News, December 31, 1913: 9.

26 “Outshoots from N.E. League Diamonds,” Lynn Daily Item, March 12, 1914: 7.

27 “‘Cocoa’ Woodman Much in Demand,” Fall River Evening Herald, March 25, 1914: 6.

28 An article in a Buffalo newspaper claimed that “one of the biggest of the major-league teams” had claimed Woodman but was waiting for him to get older before taking him on board. The team was not identified. “Local Feds Sign a Star,” Buffalo Commercial, March 28, 1914: 8.

29 “Coke Woodman Signs Contract with Federals,” Lynn Daily Item, March 26, 1914: 6.

30 “Athletes and Athletics,” Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, March 26, 1914: 9.

31 “New England League Gossip,” Lewiston (Maine) Evening Journal, April 2, 1914: 8.

32 “Coke Woodman Signs Contract with Federals.” The article went on to note that Woodman was prone to stretches of wildness.

33 “New Twirler Joins ‘Em,” Buffalo Express, April 12, 1914: 55.

34 “Monster Parade Planned to Precede Opening of Federals Here on Monday, May the 11th,” Buffalo Sunday Times, April 26, 1914: 77.

35 “Buf-Feds Start Circuit Trip,” Buffalo Enquirer, June 1, 1914: 7.

36 “Stogies Extract Cinch Victory on Buf-Feds’ Off Day,” Buffalo Courier, October 2, 1914: 10.

37 “Side-Lights on Base Ball,” Sporting Life, November 7, 1914: 5.

38 “Umpire Calls Game with the Score Tied Up,” Buffalo Enquirer, September 29, 1914: 9.

39 “Terrapins Repulsed,” Baltimore Sun, September 5, 1914: 8; “Gene Krapp Lands Close Game,” Buffalo Enquirer, September 5, 1914: 9.

40 He is pictured in a photo of the team taken on the first day of 1915 spring training in Athens, Georgia, and printed in the Buffalo Courier, March 14, 1915: 90.

41 “Terrapins Finally Whipped the Blues,” Buffalo Commercial, April 24, 1915: 8.

42 By happenstance, it was also Young’s last major-league game.

43 “Three Local Fed Players Released,” Buffalo Commercial, May 13, 1915: 9; “Federal Minor League Starts Play Tomorrow,” Buffalo Evening News, May 14, 1915: 18. Del Young and Bob Smith were the other two Buffalo players sent to the Colonial League.

44 Edward Tranter, “Sport Comments,” Buffalo Enquirer, May 14, 1915: 6.

45 “Official Averages of Colonial League,” Hartford Courant, September 12, 1915: 20. Baseball-Reference lists his record as 6-10 for this season.

46 “Colonial League Used as a Blind,” Norwich (Connecticut) Bulletin, August 7, 1915: 3.

47 “Hartford Faces Crucial Series,” Hartford Courant, August 26, 1915: 17.

48 “Peabody 8, Beverly 6,” Boston Globe, September 7, 1915: 16.

49 “‘Coco’ Woodman Released by Manager Pieper,” Lynn Daily Evening Item, May 18, 1916: 6; “Base Ball Briefs and Gossip,” Lynn Daily Item, June 8, 1916: 7.

50 Previously cited questionnaire filled out by Woodman’s sister, Hilda Allen. The author was unable to find any additional information on Woodman’s teaching career.

51 Military service record for Daniel C. Woodman, accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2023.

52 The National in the World War (General Electric Co., 1920): 80.

53 Findagrave.com listing for Private Dexter Woodman, accessed June 2023.

54 Dexter Woodman Square is at the intersection of High, Liberty, River, and Water streets in Danvers. A marker with his name stands in front of a brick building at the end of High Street; it can be seen on Google Maps.

55 “Danvers Plays Tie Game,” Danvers Mirror, June 14, 1919: 1; Massachusetts certificate of marriage for D. Courtenay Woodman and Elsie G. Herrick, issued November 15, 1919, and accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2023.

56 1920 U.S. Census listing, accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2023.

57 Birth records for Dexter Courtenay Woodman and Vivian Adele Woodman, accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2023.

58 “Beverly Honors its Twilight League,” Boston Globe, September 13, 1923: 10. Woodman won an award at a season-ending banquet for hitting the most triples in the league.

59 “Salem All Stars Here on Saturday,” Portland (Maine) Evening Express, August 21, 1925: 15.

60 The Eastern League was reclassified from Class B to Class A beginning with the 1919 season.

61 “Albany Triumphs Over New Haven in 18 Inning Game,” Hartford Courant, May 22, 1927: 1B. Woodman’s opponent, Earl Johnson of Albany, also went the distance. Johnson won 240 games in a 16-season minor-league career, most of it at Class A, but never pitched in the majors.

62 Zipp Newman, “Dusting ‘Em Off,” Birmingham (Alabama) News, April 27, 1928: 27; Zipp Newman, “Dusting ‘Em Off,” Birmingham News, July 15, 1928: 5. The first of these articles reported that Woodman was wounded while serving in World War I, an assertion not verified by other sources.

63 Sporting News contract card, cited above; John M. Flynn, “The Referee’s Sporting Chat,” Berkshire Evening Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), August 16, 1930: 13. As of September 2023, Woodman’s appearances in the 1928 Southern League and 1930 New York-Penn were not cited on his Baseball-Reference page.

64 1930 U.S. Census listing for D. Courtenay Woodman and family, accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2023. Elsie Woodman was also working as a railroad clerk, and the family lived in New Haven.

65 “Hartford In Need of Moundmen to Round Out Array,” Knickerbocker Press (Albany, New York), April 13, 1930: 3:3.

66 “Rams Will Engage Tough Contender,” New Britain (Connecticut) Daily Herald, October 10, 1930: 24.

67 “Knights to Meet New Haven Police in Baseball Headliner Tomorrow,” Meriden (Connecticut) Record, August 12, 1933: 4; Tom Shehan, “Sport Shots,” Danvers Herald, June 7, 1934: 6.

68 John M. Flynn, “The Referee’s Sporting Chat,” Berkshire Evening Eagle, August 4, 1934: 13.

69 “Chester I. Woodman,” Danvers Herald, August 22, 1935: 2.

70 “Business Troubles,” Boston Globe, July 4, 1935: 12. This is one of a very few news items during Woodman’s life to refer to him as “Daniel C. Woodman.”

71 1940 U.S. Census listing for Harry L. Holmes and family; New Hampshire marriage certificate for Harry L. Holmes and Elsie G. Herrick; both accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2023. Elsie Holmes’s obituary reported that she moved to Henniker in 1937, and Dexter Woodman graduated with Henniker High School’s class of 1938. “Elsie G. Holmes,” Concord Monitor, May 13, 1976: 14; “Methodist Church Wins Prize on Old Home Day,” Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor, August 18, 1960: 12.

72 Transcription of military enlistment record for Dexter C. Woodman, accessed via Familysearch.org in June 2023.

73 Associated Press, “Killed in Action,” Waterville (Maine) Morning Sentinel, December 29, 1941: 1; “Henniker, N.H., Now Has Dexter Woodman Square,” Danvers Herald, June 10, 1943: 1.

74 The questionnaire filled out by Woodman’s sister after his death lists his employer as “Florence Oil Corp.” of Gardner. A 1935 news item about Woodman’s bankruptcy, cited above, also describes him as a factory worker in Gardner. A history of the company can be read in Mike Richard, “To This Day, Historical Florence Stove Co. Evokes Warm Feelings,” Gardner (Massachusetts) News, posted July 8, 2021, and accessed June 2023.

75 “New League’s Delegates to Meet Tonight,” Fitchburg Sentinel, May 13, 1935: 8; “Twi-League Baseball News,” Danvers Herald, July 20, 1950: 4.

76 “One of Danvers’ Great Athletes, ‘Cokey’ Woodman, Dies at 69,” Danvers Herald, December 20, 1962: 4.

77 Woodman’s death certificate, included in his Giamatti Research Center clipping file, describes the cause of death as “recurrent cerebrovascular incident,” suggesting he may have suffered a series of strokes.

78 Findagrave.com entry for Daniel C. Woodman, accessed June 2023.

79 “One of Danvers’ Great Athletes, ‘Cokey’ Woodman, Dies at 69.” Familysearch.org page for Vivian (Woodman) Messer, accessed June 2023. Vivian Messer died in 1975, predeceasing her mother, Elsie Holmes (Woodman’s ex-wife), by less than a year. “Vivian A. Messer,” Concord Monitor, October 23, 1975: 12; “Elsie G. Holmes,” Concord Monitor, May 13, 1976: 14.