Dutch Jordan

In the early 1900s, Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood was teeming with German, Slovakian, Polish, and Lithuanian immigrants. Steel mills and glass factories, fueled by nearby coal seams, lined the mighty Monongahela River and became Pittsburgh’s economic engine. This was what drew German immigrant John Jordan to the Smoky City. The labor was difficult but provided a steady paycheck. He wanted his sons to reap the benefits this type of life provided. However, his son Otto had other plans. He found that working in a glass factory was not to his liking; to his father’s chagrin, he spent most of his time on local sandlots playing baseball.

A few years later, with Otto sporting a diamond stickpin in his tie, his father agreed that the young man chose the right profession.1 The fiery infielder had a 15-year career in professional baseball, including two seasons (1903-04) with the Brooklyn Superbas. Though he was a rather light hitter, he was a good defender and team leader.

***

Adolf Otto “Dutch” Jordan was born on January 5, 1880. He was one of at least 10 known children born to master glassmaker John 2 and his fellow immigrant wife Minnie (née Hanel).3 The family settled on Twenty-Seventh Street in the blue-collar South Side neighborhood.

Otto Jordan (he went by his middle name) first gathered newsprint mention playing for the amateur South Side Trimburs alongside his brother William in June 1896.4 He returned to the team in 1897 as their shortstop.5 In March 1899, Jordan became the second baseman for another South Side amateur nine, Our Boys.6 That July, he crossed the river to join the team in the Pittsburgh suburb of Etna, playing for 60 cents per game.7 Later that summer, the Millvale Athletic club poached him with a $1.50 per game offer.8

Many heated altercations punctuated Jordan’s playing days. The first occurred in June 1900 during a game between Millvale and Punxsutawney. Jordan’s dispute of an umpiring call incited spectators; “only prompt action by police in dispersing the crowd” prevented a riot.9 In addition to Jordan, the Millvale team that year featured the pitching of the great Rube Waddell.10

In April 1901, Jordan – a right-handed hitter and thrower who stood 5-feet-8 and weighed 170 pounds – entered the professional ranks. He signed with the Binghamton Bingoes of the Class C New York State League. In the estimation of the Pittsburg Post, the new recruit was just two years away from the big leagues.11 Those two years were spent in Binghamton, where he posted unimpressive batting averages: .246 in 1901 and .212 in 1902.

Notwithstanding his lackluster offensive performance in Binghamton, Jordan was invited to spring training in 1903 by Brooklyn Superbas manager Ned Hanlon – and made the club’s opening day roster as a utilityman.12 He joined fellow Western Pennsylvanians Doc Gessler, Tom McCreery, and Ed Householder on the diamond at Washington Park.

The earliest discovered newsprint appearance of the “Dutch” nickname – frequently applied to men of German descent – was published in late March. Readers of the Brooklyn Eagle were informed that “one of the new recruits who is gaining in favor with the regulars is ‘Dutch’ Jordan, the young infielder. … Despite the fact that the diamond here is full of knots … [and] tuffs of grass that make fielding difficult, Jordan gathers in the hardest kind of drives with an ease and grace that stamps him as one of the prettiest fielders in the collection.”13

Jordan made his major league debut on April 25, 1903, replacing ailing second baseman Tim Flood in a home game against the Philadelphia Philles. He “showed up exceptionally well.”14 Facing left-hander Fred Burchell, the newcomer went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base while handling six defensive chances flawlessly in an 8-0 Brooklyn victory. Two days later Jordan had another 2-for-4 day against the Phillies, driving in two runs and playing errorless defense in a 7-1 Brooklyn triumph. The performance prompted the Brooklyn Daily Standard Union to observe that “If Tim Flood does not get off the sick list, some one (sic) by the name of Jordan will have his job for keeps.”15

For a June 11 game at Pittsburgh’s Exposition Park, a delegation in Jordan’s honor filled the grandstands and whooped it up with horns and cowbells. Their regalia included badges that proclaimed, “Loyal to the Pirates, but rooting for a Pittsburg Boy.” When Jordan came to the plate for his first at-bat, play was stopped and he was presented with the aforementioned diamond stickpin.16 Despite a 9-0 setback, Jordan rewarded his loyal following with one of Brooklyn’s three hits against Deacon Phillippe. The next day players from both teams got together for a smoker to honor Jordan; 300 attendees “did their utmost to make the time pleasant for the players.”17

By season’s end Jordan had appeared in 78 games, posting a .236 batting average (63-for-267). Spending the majority of his time at second base, he had a .928 fielding percentage in 54 games there. He also saw spot duty at the infield corners and in the outfield for the fifth-place (70-66, .515) Superbas.

Jordan started the 1904 season in a contract dispute.18 By April 25, however, he was back in the Brooklyn fold. During the ensuing campaign, Dutch split second base duties with Sammy Strang, but neither gave the Superbas much punch at that position. After a bout of pneumonia during the month of June,19 Jordan never picked it up with the stick. Even with a pair of late-season multi-hit games, he batted an anemic .179 (45-for-252). Strang’s .192 mark (52-for-278) was little better. Jordan supplied the club with good defense, however, placing among the top three National League second baseman in fielding percentage (.958).20 He also filled in competently at first, third, and the outfield for a non-contending (56-97, .366) Brooklyn club.

In February 1905, Jordan was sold to the Atlanta Crackers of the Class A Southern Association, assuming the post of player-manager.21 Hanlon had such confidence in Jordan that he told Crackers owner Chief W. R. Joyner, “if he fails I will give you a new man for the price of a postage stamp.”22

The demotion brought the major league career of Dutch Jordan to a close. In 165 games, he posted a meek .208/.258/.260 slash line, with only 24 extra-base hits and 40 RBIs. By early Deadball Era standards, he was also strikeout-prone, fanning more than three times as often (101) as he drew a walk (32). Jordan’s defensive numbers, particularly at the keystone (.945 fielding percentage in 126 games), were more tolerable but not nearly good enough to keep him employed at the game’s top echelon.

Jordan made a successful start as a minor league skipper, guiding Atlanta to an 8-0 victory over the Nashville Volunteers in the season opener. Joining him that season was a young knuckleballer from Pittsburgh, Lew Moren. Playing regularly, Dutch led Southern Association second sackers in fielding percentage (.971)23 and batted a respectable .270. Meanwhile, his Atlanta club went 71-60 (.542), finishing a distant third behind the champion (84-45, .651) New Orleans Pelicans. Nevertheless, manager Jordan was awarded a gold watch by club owner Joyner.24 Not everyone was so enthralled, though, and Jordan did not take kindly to press criticism of his managerial abilities. In early September he punched Atlanta News sports editor Frank Buxton in the mouth and was fined $10.75 for disorderly conduct.25

Boxing legend John L. Sullivan once stated that Jordan would have been an exceptional pugilist. “Not only has Jordan hands that would fit acceptably in gloves but he is built like a fighter, and the fight game certainly lost a great middleweight when he entered professional baseball.”26

Late that season and subsequently, Jordan was sold to or drafted by major league clubs. In the end, he wound up back in Atlanta for the 1906 season – but relieved of his managerial duties (Billy Smith took the reins).27 Jordan could concentrate on playing ball, though he was still the club’s captain.

The new season had touches of farce. During a June 15 game in New Orleans, a dust-up over the baseballs being supplied by the Pelicans led to captain Jordan’s arrest on a petty larceny charge. The accusation was grounded on his confiscation of one of the suspect balls as evidence. “Any child could see the balls were rubber,” said Dutch, withdrawing his team from the field. The game was thereupon forfeited to New Orleans. The larceny charge was later reduced to disturbing the peace and ultimately dismissed.28 Appearing in 134 games for another third-place (80-56, .588) finisher, Jordan batted (123-for-477) .258, while again supplying reliable second base defense (.966 fielding percentage).

In February 1907, Jordan married divorcée Alice Lucretia Roberts (née Lilly) in Atlanta.29 Back in Pittsburgh, the nuptials were taken hard by Caroline Funk, a longtime Jordan girlfriend; in time this yielded tragic consequences. In mid-August, news that Jordan was going to bring his bride home for a visit proved too much for Funk. She committed suicide by taking carbolic acid.30

On a more cheerful note, Atlanta unveiled a new ballfield, Ponce de Leon Park, for the 1907 season – Jordan christened it with the first home run.31 Aside from that rare dinger, his stats remained pretty much status quo from the prior two years: .253 BA/.968 fielding over 127 games. Dutch then spent the offseason running a soda water and cigar store located on Atlanta’s Peachtree Street.32

Over the next four years, Jordan’s offensive performance declined as he reached his 30s. From 1908 to 1911, his cumulative batting average sank to .223. Nevertheless, he remained a strong leader and an exceptional second sacker, admired by the local press. The Atlanta Journal declared, “Otto Jordan has come to be regarded as a fixture with the Atlanta club, for he stands head and shoulders above all competition among second baseman. …(H)e plays with all the vim and dash at his command because his heart is in the game from both business and a feeling of local pride.”33

His intrinsic value was appreciated by club management – in September 1909, Jordan was returned to the Atlanta helm.34 He had threatened to leave the game behind to enter the contracting business.35 The following season, he led the Crackers to a third-place (75-53, .543) finish. But a disappointing last-place finish in 1911 (54-84, .391) jeopardized his future with the club. As the 1912 season beckoned, speculation became truth: Charlie Hemphill was named Atlanta’s new manager. Hemphill’s first order of business was to sell Jordan to the rival Chattanooga Lookouts, where he was reunited with former manager Billy Smith.36

During a game against the Mobile Sea Gulls on May 19, 1912, Jordan dislocated his shoulder trying to score on an infield out and was knocked out of action for weeks. After returning to the lineup, a case of typhoid fever laid him up again.37 Despite it all, Jordan still managed to get into 99 games, although he barely hit the .200 mark (68-for-340) with the stick.

In need of a replacement for hospitalized second baseman Allie Moulton, the Memphis Chickasaws purchased Jordan at the start of the 1913 season. His stay there lasted only two weeks; Jordan was returned to Chattanooga and thereafter handed his unconditional release.38 The Chattanooga News eulogy stated, “For seven successive seasons Jordan was considered the greatest all-round second sacker outside the majors, and only his inability to hit, which no one was able to explain, prohibited his retention by the big ring organizations.”39

Jordan’s unemployment did not last long. A week later, he signed on as player/manager of the Valdosta Millionaires of the Class D Empire State League.40 With Valdosta, Jordan again had difficulty controlling his temper. In late May he was suspended by league president Oscar Groover after getting into a rhubarb with an umpire and subsequently using foul language in front of a group of women in the stands.41 Then on June 6, Groover formally reprimanded Jordan after a verbal confrontation with a fan.42 The discipline, however, did not hamper his on-field performance. In 96 games, Jordan feasted on the league’s inferior pitching. His batting average soared to a professional career-best .344; 38 of his 130 hits went for extra bases.

During the offseason, Jordan left Valdosta to become playing manager for the Dallas Giants in the Class B Texas League. But with the club stuck in sixth place and the clubhouse in disarray, Jordan resigned in mid-May.43 As before, he did not remain idle for long, assuming command of the Brunswick Pilots of the Class D Georgia State League.44

In May 1915, Jordan returned to Valdosta to pilot the Millionaires, now part of the Class D Florida-Alabama-Georgia League. He played first base.45 Valdosta, pennant winners in the second half, faced Brunswick, winners of the first half, for the championship (financial constraints shortened the season).46 The championship was awarded to Valdosta by FAGL president Dick Jemison in a forfeit after the Brunswick players failed to report to the scheduled game on July 23. At this point in the series Valdosta was up two games to one. Prior to the game, the striking Brunswick players approached team president J. H. Hopkins and insisted that he guarantee their back pay.47

In late October, Jordan returned to Pittsburgh to attend his mother’s funeral. Late the following February, at age 36, he announced that he was retiring from the game to take a “lucrative position” at Ford Motor Company’s assembly plant in Atlanta.48 Some four months later, Jordan’s wife Alice was granted a divorce on grounds of unreasonable jealousy and cruelty. It was further alleged that Jordan had thrown a gasoline-soaked rag at his stepdaughter Lucretia, Alice’s daughter from her prior marriage.49

The following year, Jordan was back in court again, sued by paramour Callie Applebaum for breach of promise after proposing marriage. Applebaum was so upset over the breakup that she attempted suicide, taking “a dose of bichloride of mercury because the baseball favorite had abandoned her.”50 The disposition of the suit is unknown.

Amid World War I, the YMCA was commissioned “to provide for the amusement and recreation of the troops by means of its usual program of social, physical, educational and religious activities.”51 In July 1918, Jordan was assigned to Camp Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, to serve as the Y’s athletic director.52

The events of 1919 began with the death of his father on February 22. In April Jordan was relieved of duty at Camp Jackson and headed back home to Western Pennsylvania. Once there, he managed an independent semipro baseball team in Franklin, Pennsylvania, a small town located 80 miles north of Pittsburgh.53

A theft of home during a Franklin game resurrected memories of Jordan’s old-time base running exploits. Ty Cobb once stated that “Otto Jordan invented the delayed steal.”54 Dutch’s stay with the club lasted until July 5, when he resigned to take a job at the Eclipse Oil Works in Franklin, becoming the newest player on the company ball team as well.55

In early 1920 Jordan purchased a farm in Renfrew, Butler County, Pennsylvania. Then on April 15, he remarried, taking former Franklin resident Myrtle Shaw as his second wife.56 Three months later, the Jordans moved to their new home in Cleveland.57 Then in December, Jordan signed a managerial contract with the Kitchener Beavers of the Class B Michigan-Ontario League. He joined his brother George, the club’s incumbent catcher.58

On January 2, 1921, son John Everett Jordan was born in Cleveland. Thereafter, the arrival of Emily Ann (1925) and Otto (1932) completed the Jordan family. By that time, Dutch had long forsaken baseball and returned to Pittsburgh. There, the Jordans took up residence on Kestner Avenue in Brentwood Borough, a Pittsburgh suburb. His namesake sandlot team, the Otto Jordans, played on the Stewart Avenue Grounds,59 This venue was later known as Otto Jordan Field.60 The Otto Jordans became one the best sandlot teams in the Pittsburgh area for years.61

In 1925, Jordan served as a one-man police force for Brentwood. Eventually, he became the borough’s police chief, a position that he held until retirement in 1959.62

On Christmas Eve 1972, Otto Jordan passed away at a hospital in suburban West Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He was 92.63 Jordan was buried at the Jefferson Memorial Cemetery in Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, alongside his wife Myrtle, who preceded him in death. The burial site is just a baseball throw away from that of his old friend, the great Honus Wagner.

Years earlier a Pittsburgh Press article said this of Dutch Jordan: “Children like the way he helps them through traffic early in the morning and about noon at the intersection of Route 51 and Brownsville Road. The boys usually nudge each other and guess on the kind of player he might have been.”64 Considering he was good enough to get hits off Christy Mathewson and throw Honus Wagner out at first, that is all they needed to know.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Paul Proia.

Photo credit: Dutch Jordan, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used the following:

Find A Grave; https://www.findagrave.com/

Retrosheet; https://www.retrosheet.org/

Baseball Reference; https://www.baseball-reference.com/

Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/

Newspapers: http://www.newspapers.com/

Email correspondence from Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Damer, Edward, Thirty-Three in Twenty-Three; The World of Rube Parnham and Other Baseball Stories, Kindle Direct Publishing, 3d ed., 2022.

Notes

1 “Obituaries,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 25, 1972: 29.

2 If this man’s name was Anglicized, evidence of it has not surfaced. Passenger manifests, ensus records, and his death certificate all show John Jordan.

3 1880 United States Federal Census for John Jordan, Ancestry.

4 “On Amateur Diamonds,” Pittsburgh Press, June 28, 1896: 6.

5 “Baseball Brevities, Pittsburg Press, March 17, 1897: 5.

6 “The Our Boys Team,” Pittsburg Press, March 25, 1899: 5.

7 “Amateur Contests on the Diamond,” Pittsburg Post, July 2, 1899: 6.

8 Phil Gundelfinger, “Millvale Doubles Pay and Otto Jordan Leaves Etna Club Flat,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 14, 1943: 15.

9 “Millvale Loses to Punxsy,” Pittsburg Post, June 26, 1900: 6.

10 “Rube Was The Star,” Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, July 10, 1900: 6.

11 “No Practice Since Thursday,” Pittsburg Post, April 14, 1901: 14.

12 “League Season Opens To-Morrow,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 15, 1903: 13.

13 “Will Play First Real Game Today,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 28, 1903: 19.

14 “Nine Goose Eggs for the Phillies,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 26, 1903: 51.

15 “On Even Basis,” Brooklyn Daily Standard Union, April 28, 1903: 9.

16 “Deacon Phillippe Does Find Work,” Pittsburg Post, June 12, 1903: 6.

17 “Pirates Are Now in Second Place,” Pittsburg Post, June 14, 1903: 14.

18 “Question Of Jordan’s Salary,” Binghamton Press, April 16, 1904: 12.

19 “Base Ball Gossip,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 13, 1904: 8.

20 Abe Yeagher, “Bouquets from Brooklyn for Atlanta’s Mogul,” Atlanta Journal, February 19, 1905: 10.

21 Jack Ryder, “Demands of Minors,” Cincinnati Enquirer, February 18, 1905: 3.

22 “Jordan Pleases Atlanta Owners,” Atlanta Constitution, February 21, 1905: 9.

23 Per 1905 Southern Association fielding stats published in the 1906 Reach Official American League Guide, 213.

24 “Gold Watch For Jordan,” Atlanta Journal, September 26, 1905: 12.

25 “Jordan Bound Over And Fined,” Atlanta Journal, September 9, 1905: 3.

26 John L. Sullivan, “Otto Jordan Looks Like White Hope To John L,” Atlanta Journal, June 2, 1911: 24.

27 “Billy Smith To Manage Atlanta,” Atlanta Journal, September 3, 1905: 7.

28 “Adjust Differences.” New Orleans Times Democrat, September 15, 1906: 8.

29 “Dan Cupid Busy Today,” Atlanta Journal, February 11, 1907: 14.

30 “Think It Was Love for the Pride of South Side,” Pittsburgh Gazette Times, August 14, 1907: 1.

31 “Otto Jordan Makes First Home Run,” Atlanta Journal, May 29, 1907: 18.

32 W. T., “Fanitorials,” Atlanta Journal, September 19, 1907: 14.

33 “Otto Jordan Signs for Another Year,” Atlanta Journal, January 20, 1908: 14.

34 “Billy Smith Released; Otto Jordan Is Signed,” Atlanta Constitution, September 23, 1909: 11.

35 Dick Jemison, “Otto Jordan Quits Baseball Business,” Atlanta Constitution, September 16, 1909: 4.

36 “Otto Jordan Is Sold; Now Up to Hemphill,” Atlanta Journal, April 6, 1912: 12.

37 “Second Base Hoodoo Point of Bill Smith’s Lookouts,” Chattanooga News, July 10, 1912: 8.

38 “Otto Jordan Is Free Agent,” Chattanooga Daily Times, May 1, 1913: 8.

39 “Jordan Has Passed from Southern League; Red Massey Goes Willingly to Galveston,” Chattanooga News, May 1, 1913: 10.

40 “Otto Jordan Signs Up with Valdosta; Ty Cobb May Lose His Hitting Crown,” Chattanooga News, May 9, 1913: 8.

41 “Otto Jordan Is Reinstated by Head of Empire League Following Fine,” Chattanooga News, May 31, 1913: 14.

42 “Otto Jordan in Near Mix-Up with Fan,” Atlanta Georgian and News, June 7, 1913: 13.

43 “Hunter Hill Will Manage Dallas Club,” Waco (Texas) Daily Times-Herald, May 17, 1914: 15.

44 “Otto Jordan To Lead Brunswick,” Atlanta Constitution, May 26, 1914: 10.

45 “Otto Jordan Is Signed To Manage the Locals,” Valdosta (Georgia) Times, May 4, 1915: 5.

46 “Valdosta Plays Brunswick For Flag League Pennant; Series To Start Tuesday,” Atlanta Constitution, July 18, 1915: 3.

47 “Flag League Pennant Given To Valdosta By Forfeit; Brunswick Players Strike,” Atlanta Constitution, July 24, 1915: 8.

48 “Otto Jordan Quits Baseball for Good,” Birmingham (Alabama) Age-Herald, February 28, 1916: 6

49 “Jordan’s Wife Gets Her First Divorce Decree,” Columbia (South Carolina) Record, June 8, 1916: 8.

50 “Mrs. Applebaum Sues Otto Jordan For Broken Troth,” Atlanta Constitution, February,28, 1917: 1

51 “The YMCA In WWI,” Tapsbugler, https://www.tapsbugler.com/the-ymca-in-wwi/

52 “Southern Baseball Men Sign with Army Y,” Atlanta Journal, July 7, 1918: 47.

53 “Otto Jordan Promises Franklin Good Club; Will Be Here Soon,” Franklin (Pennsylvania) Evening News, April 12, 1919: 3.

54 “Otto Jordan Invented the Delayed Steal,” Atlanta Journal, December 28, 1907: 10.

55 “Eclipse Ball Team Loses at Cooperstown,” Franklin News Herald, September 5, 1919: 3.

56 “Matrimonial,” Franklin News Herald, April 15, 1920: 5.

57 Anna Meehan, “Personal And Society,” Franklin News Herald, July 30, 1920: 5.

58 “Otto Jordan To Manage Beavers,” Kitchener (Ontario)) Daily Record, December 27, 1920: 2.

59 “Carrick Game Today,” Pittsburgh Press, July 8, 1923: 17.

60 “Beltzhoover Club Meets Boll’s All-Star Team Sunday,” Pittsburgh Press, September 19, 1928: 35.

61 “Jordan Pros To Open with Beltzhoover,” Pittsburgh Press, April 17, 1927: 53.

62 “Obituaries,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 25, 1972: 29.

63 Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1973 for Adolph Otto Jordan, Ancestry.

64 Roy Kohler, “Police Chief Who Touches All Bases,” Pittsburgh Press, January 16, 1955: 106.