George Goetz

George Goetz is among those rare pitchers who won his only major-league game. It was in 1889 for Baltimore of the American Association, which existed from 1882 to 1891. In contrast to so many other major leaguers over the decades who played very few games at that level, Goetz had a very short career in the minor leagues as well.

Important details of Goetz’s life remain obscure, despite the efforts of several researchers of his family tree. He was often called Bert (or Bert), and occasionally George B. or George Burt Goetz, though more than one family tree online shows his middle name as Albert (without citation). He was apparently called Albert in his mother’s obituary.1 He was born in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, in or around 1865 – the year based mainly on his age of 5 in the 1870 census.2 His parents were Philip and Ann (Rhoadarmer) Goetz, who were married on September 30, 1856.3 He was the oldest boy and among the couple’s 11 children, seven of whom were still living at the time of the 1900 census (which he himself might not actually be in, anywhere).

Greencastle is a small community about 10 miles north of Hagerstown, Maryland. In the 1870 and 1880 censuses, Philip Goetz was identified as a shoemaker. At least one son, Frank, had been “educated in the Greencastle public schools,” though that likely applied to the other Goetz children as well.4 However, at the time of the 1880 census (which somehow omitted Frank), only 13-year-old Ross was identified as a student. “Bert,” age 15, worked in a machine shop. Their sister Mollie graduated from Greencastle High School in mid-1891.5

Two Goetz children died prior to the 1880 census, and two more by the one in 1900. First was an unnamed baby boy in 1875. The other three were Edith in 1878, Ruth in 1884, and Emma in 1895.6

In September of 1883, Greencastle’s “association team” played a baseball game in Hagerstown against a nine of that city’s Iolanthe Club, and at the bottom of the visitors’ lineup in a Hagerstown newspaper’s primitive box score was a player named Goetz. Positions weren’t identified, but the description of the game noted that Greencastle’s pitcher was named Flack.7 Whether or not that Goetz was George, he soon demonstrated promise as a ballplayer around age 19. By mid-1884, he and two teammates agreed to travel west more than 300 miles to play ball in a big city: “Bert Goetz, Clarence Murray and Philip Baer have accepted positions on an ameteur [sic] base ball club in Columbus Ohio; Goetz as pitcher, Murray catcher, Baer short stop – will start next Tuesday,” an area newspaper reported. “The Greencastle club will miss these boys.”8 Shortly before the trio left, Goetz struck out eight visiting Hagerstown batters in a 23-6 romp over that Maryland club.9

It’s unknown if Goetz played ball during 1885, but in 1886 he pitched for a club in Bedford, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles northwest of his hometown. He did likewise the following summer, at least briefly.10 In 1888 he played for a team in Roanoke, Virginia, 230 miles to the southwest of Greencastle. “The club is composed entirely of workmen in one of the manufactories there,” a paper in his home county noted while mentioning that the distant team included “Goetz, the well-known pitcher of the old Greencastle club.”11 That Roanoke club didn’t simply play locally. For example, for a game in mid-July it traveled about 150 miles to the twin cities of Bristol in Tennessee and Virginia. Goetz, described in a Knoxville newspaper as “a fine pitcher,” was the starter but had to be relieved as the home team rallied late to tie the score, and the game was thus called at 9-9.12

By the end of July, Goetz was back in his home county and pitched one inning in a local game, “but the catcher was too weak for him and he gracefully withdrew,” an area paper reported. However, the next day another paper there listed “Bert Goetz of Roanoke” among Greenfield natives who were visiting “their old homes the past week,” perhaps implying his return was temporary. It appears he actually stuck around. A few days into August, he played for a Greencastle club against Hagerstown’s, and by mid-September he agreed to pitch a few games for a team in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, about 75 miles to the northwest of his hometown and not in the direction of Roanoke.13

Goetz didn’t seem especially close to entering any of the minor leagues that were springing up across the Eastern United States, but his baseball career took a sudden lunge forward in April of 1889. A traveling salesman named J.M. Ritter was so impressed with how Goetz pitched while observing him in Virginia previously that he took the young man to Baltimore, and on April 5 Goetz approached the American Association’s Orioles as they prepared at home for the regular season. Soon enough, he was pitching to big leaguers. “The ball-players laughed at first, but soon found that they could not hit the stranger,” reported a Baltimore daily. “He placed the ball in every conceivable position, and his curve, and in-and-out shoots were remarkable.” He also tried batting, and smacked a ball to the center-field fence.14

Goetz’s height was reported inconsistently in newspapers that month, probably most commonly as 6-feet-2 but also as 6-feet-4 and just 6-feet. One newspaper that reported him as 6-feet-2 gave his weight as 175 pounds. It also said he “pitched a peculiar zig zag ball,” which Goetz dubbed a “whipporwill [sic] swoop.”15 That served as the basis for one nickname for him.

Another paper paraphrased Baltimore manager Billy Barnie’s assessment that Goetz had “greater speed than any pitcher he ever saw. The trouble now is where to get a catcher to hold his cyclonic curves.” Goetz soon had the nickname “Cyclone” as well.16

Four days after his tryout, Goetz pitched the first five innings of a game against the University of Pennsylvania’s team. He gave up just two hits and no runs while striking out four batters. He and one teammate led the Orioles’ very potent offense that day with four hits each.17

A few days later, Goetz had apparently picked up the nickname “Snipes,” for no stated reason. That was alluded to in the Philadelphia Times, which referred vaguely to a second exhibition game for him that week. Though other papers had emphasized his fastness, the Times focused on a different pitching strength: “He generally pitches a slow ball, but it has a curve and drop about it that is very mysterious.”18

On April 15, 1889, Goetz had a very different experience when Baltimore hosted Boston’s National League team. After three innings, the home team gave Goetz a lead of 6-1, but over the middle three innings Boston plated six unanswered runs. A five-run eighth sealed a 12-8 win for the visitors. Goetz gave up 16 hits for 22 total bases in his eight innings of work.19 Be that as it may, by April 18, the American Association had “promulgated” Baltimore’s contract with George B. Goetz, according to the Washington Post.20

At the end of April, Goetz was suffering from a bout of malaria, but that wasn’t mentioned on May 12, when the Philadelphia Times reported that he and another young Orioles hurler, Pat Whitaker, were “becoming tired doing nothing but practicing at home.”21 The latter didn’t pitch his lone regular-season game for Baltimore that season until July 25. Goetz did wait two full months, but not quite as long as Whitaker.

In the meantime, Goetz did get to pitch in an important home exhibition game on June 7. The Orioles split their roster in half to raise funds for victims of the Johnstown flood, and the proceeds totaled $130.65. Though Goetz gave up five runs across the first two innings and nine overall, he reportedly gave up just four hits. Meanwhile, Whitaker was pounded for 17 runs on 17 hits for the other half of the roster.22 If the two were auditioning for a start in a regular-season game, Goetz seemingly got the part.

On June 17, 1889, the front page of the Baltimore Sun included a small ad of sorts about that day’s doubleheader at home vs. the Louisville Colonels, and it announced the “First Appearance of Goetz in a Championship Game.” (In this context, “championship” meant a league game.) A few pages inside, the paper said he was scheduled to pitch in the first of the two games.23 The Baltimore American wrote that there was “some talk of saving him for the second game.”24

The first game it was. Catching for Goetz was backup Bart Cantz, who had a 62-game major-league career from 1888 through 1890. Cantz had played for Chambersburg’s team in the Keystone Association in 1884. This battery faced visitors who started play having lost an astounding 20 games in a row. As a result, not only had Louisville already lost more games than any other American Association team previously, no team in the contemporary National League had lost that many consecutive games, either.25

Though the Orioles were the home team, they batted first. They didn’t score in the opening inning off 24-year-old lefty Toad Ramsey, who won an impressive 75 games for Louisville in 1886 and 1887 against only 54 losses. Captain-manager Chicken Wolf was the first batter Goetz faced. The count reached three balls and two strikes, and then Wolf grounded out to Goetz. Next up was center fielder Farmer Weaver, who was also known as “Buck” (as were several other pros through 1930). The count also went full on him, and he likewise grounded back to the pitcher. Soon enough, Goetz completed his first inning unscathed.26

Goetz did yield the day’s first run, an unearned one in the second frame. Three Baltimore dailies and the Louisville Courier-Journal all agreed on the innings in which runs were scored. However, three of these papers credited Baltimore with scoring four earned runs and Louisville with just two, whereas the Sun instead reported Baltimore with a fifth earned run and the visitors with four instead of a pair.27 Goetz’s baseball-reference.com entry uses the Sun’s higher total of four earned runs.

Baltimore took the lead in the third inning by scoring three runs. The Colonels responded to the Orioles’ outburst with a run in the bottom of the third and tied the game at 3-3 with one more in the fifth. The earlier run resulted when Goetz allowed a triple and then a double. The tying run simply resulted from a single followed by a double. Newspaper reports were a bit vague about how the visitors broke this tie off Goetz in the bottom of the eighth inning. Apparently the visitors’ one big inning started with an infielder’s error. After that, Goetz allowed two singles, followed by a successful sacrifice. Ramsey himself singled to complete the three-run rally.28

Was Louisville suddenly about to end its horrible losing streak? “Six to three was the gloomy outlook when Baltimore faced Ramsey in the ninth inning,” the Sun wrote. Amazingly, the Orioles responded with three runs of their own to tie the game. Goetz kept the Colonels from scoring in the bottom of the ninth, so an extra inning was required. Baltimore promptly added four more runs, to demonstrate a clear shift in momentum.29

Bert Cunningham, who had a record of 22-29 for Baltimore the previous season, relieved Goetz for the bottom of the 10th. When fans noticed the switch, “a shout of protest went up from the open stand,” the Sun reported. Dissenters presumably wanted Goetz to pitch a complete game. The Sun countered:

The protest was based on sentiment, not on judgment. The management acted wisely. There has   been two [sic] much sentiment in running the club in the past. From this time out it should be run        on business principles.30

Goetz was still the pitcher of record when his teammates made the score 10-6, so he was the winning pitcher after Cunningham ended the game with relative ease. Assessments of the rookie’s nine-inning debut varied. A harsh viewpoint was printed back in his home county. “Goetz pitched for Baltimore yesterday and his team would have been snowed under had Cunningham not come to his rescue,” wrote the Franklin Repository. “Another exploded phenomenon.” The Baltimore Morning Herald called him “a dangerous experiment.” That daily’s negativity was lengthier than the Repository’s, and read, in part: “He was weak just at the time when he should have been strong, and the Baltimores were so afraid that he would go to pieces in the tenth inning that Cunningham was sent in to finish the game. Goetz seemed very nervous.”31

Another Baltimore daily, the American, expressed a very different viewpoint of Goetz: “He pitched a very creditable game, and fielded his position well.” Similarly, a report in The Sporting News said Goetz did “good work,” and added that he could “with a little practice, become a success in the association.” A third Baltimore daily was more neutral about Goetz: “With hard, steady work and a display of intelligence he may become a success,” the Sun said. “At times he would fire the ball over the plate with a speed like a rifle shot, but when men were on bases he was nervous.”32

The baseball-reference.com entry for Goetz shows him yielding 12 hits, with four of the six runs off him earned. Among the 39 batters he faced, he struck out two and walked none. He was charged with one wild pitch. As a fielder, he logged four assists and an error. As already noted, the newspapers disagreed on Louisville’s earned runs. Daily papers and the sports weeklies had some other totals that differed, such as for hits he allowed and his assists.33 The Sun’s box score specified that all four of the outs Goetz made as a batter were strikeouts.34

Baltimore began a weeklong road trip two days later and was back home for a game on June 27. Goetz and Whitaker were the only two players who didn’t travel with the team. Baltimore released Goetz on July 3.35 That outing on June 17 turned out to be the only major-league game of his career. A Sporting Life columnist almost predicted as much after Goetz’s game against Louisville, writing that “it is certain he will never do the Baltimore Club much good, and you need not be surprised if he is dropped altogether.”36

Four days later the Philadelphia Times printed an anonymous commentary about Goetz: “A good, hustling captain could have made something out of the long, lanky Pennsylvanian, but he was allowed to loaf, never compelled to practice, and in consequence never developed into anything else but a disappointment,” a special correspondent wrote. “Some good manager will take hold of Goetz and make a player out of him.”37 Back in his home county, the Public Weekly Opinion of Chambersburg reported on his reaction to the decision to release him. “Bert is certainly a phenomenal pitcher, and says he is glad to be released, as he was given no chance whatever by Manager Barnie to show the club or people what he could do,” the paper wrote.38

Goetz joined another pro team by midmonth, York of the Middle States League. On July 17 he started a home game of historical significance, against one of the two all-Black teams in that league, the New York Gorhams. At second base for the latter nine was future Hall of Famer Sol White, whom Goetz struck out in the first inning. Goetz lasted only two innings, leaving with cramps in his arm. During his short stint he threw three wild pitches, but allowed only one run. York won, 9-6.39

On July 20 Goetz pitched two innings in Hagerstown, close to home, for a temporary team with players from six Pennsylvania cities.40 Still, he was on York’s roster for the remainder of July at a minimum, because manager William Whorl received a letter from Goetz on the 30th in which the hurler said his arm was improving quickly and he would return to the team in a few days. He may have been far too optimistic, because he apparently disappeared from York and other Pennsylvania newspapers in August plus the first half of the following month. On September 16 Goetz was presumably the catcher, not the pitcher, for the Greencastle Clippers in an 11-4 loss at home to the Hagerstown Unions.41 After his two innings on July 20, he might not have pitched in a game until September 27. On that occasion, he pitched for a Chambersburg team against the Harrisburg Ponies, champions of the Middle States League. Before 400 fans on what a Harrisburg daily condemned as a very rocky field, the visitors beat Goetz and Chambersburg, 15 or 16 to 7. Goetz exited the game after allowing 13 runs in six innings, according to a local paper. Nevertheless, his single and double reportedly led the home team’s offense and thus earned him a diamond scarf pin.42

All told, apparently George Goetz pitched in only two regular-season pro games during 1889. Still, barely two months into 1890, a Chambersburg paper said he was “again in good shape,” fit enough to pitch “for an American association team this season if he wants to.”43 A freak injury about a month later prevented that for a long time, likely for the remainder of that year at a minimum. Goetz had just moved to Altoona, Pennsylvania, 80 miles to the northwest. On April 6, while descending some stairs near a bridge, he lost his footing and an upright prong of an iron fence penetrated a few inches into one of his arms. Newspapers disagreed on which arm, but two of three said it was his left (and the one that said it was the other incorrectly said he was a catcher for Baltimore in 1889). Goetz was a right-handed pitcher, but an injury to his left arm could have limited his ability to catch a hit or thrown ball.44

One day after initial the reports of this calamity, it was deemed more serious than initially thought. One Altoona daily said an artery had been severed, “causing a very serious, and it may turn out to be a fatal, injury.” Another paper only disagreed on that last prognosis but added that Goetz had become “irrational” at times. When he visited his parents early that summer, he still hadn’t recovered fully, so he recuperated there for a time.45

During the spring of 1891, Goetz provided a little evidence that he had recovered, by pitching a Greencastle team to a 19-1 victory over Hagerstown on May 18. Four days later, watching a game between a Chambersburg team and a collegiate squad, he told a local paper about his health. “Goetz, of Greencastle, says his arm is again in good condition and he can now pitch better ball than he could … for the Baltimore Association team,” the Franklin Repository reported.46 Then he again seemingly disappeared from Pennsylvania newspapers from June through the remainder of baseball season.

In late May of 1891, a catcher arrived in Greencastle who would form a battery with Goetz during subsequent seasons in at least three other states, two a considerable distance from Pennsylvania. He was M.K. Osborn, whose surname was spelled a few different ways. On May 26 the Baltimore Sun reported that “Osbourn, of the Marylands, will leave for Greencastle tomorrow to play with the Pennsylvania Club. For the past two years he has played with the Charlotte and Norfolk Clubs. On the Greencastle Club he will probably be Goetz’s catcher. Goetz is the man who pitched several games for Baltimore last year and was nicknamed ‘Whip-Poor-Will.’”47 If Osborn did join Greencastle’s team, he also didn’t draw attention there for the rest of 1891.

In the spring of 1892, Goetz was pitching very far from home, for a team in Hayward, Wisconsin. In June a paper back in his home county reported that in one recent game he had struck out 14 batters and yielded only four hits. In August the Sun received a report on Goetz from his catcher, “M.K. Osbourn,” about their experiences in the Wisconsin and Minnesota League. First, though, the Sun said it was led to believe “that Goetz was drowned in the Johnstown flood, but he seems to have turned up again.” In a game between Hayward and the West Superior team, Goetz struck out 19 of the latter’s batters.48

The duo played in the same area in 1893, except for a team in Little Falls, Minnesota. A reporter for the Brainerd (Minnesota) Journal complained that Little Falls had recruited a few players who were so new that they hadn’t become voting residents of that city, and pointed first to their pitching ace: “His nibs, Mr. Goetz, we have seen before in our travels among salaried teams around the Forks,” the Brainerd reporter grumbled. Conversely, he asserted that Brainerd’s team comprised solely local residents, and all were amateurs.49

Goetz saw considerable action with the Little Falls club through August, and reportedly did some moonlighting at least once, with a club in St. Cloud. However, toward the end of August, the Brainerd Dispatch hinted that Goetz may have been experiencing some arm trouble. In fact, during a game against Brainerd on September 7, in which Little Falls was pummeled 18-5, Goetz started in center field but switched to pitcher in midgame and may have been responsible for 15 of those runs. One newspaper said the Little Falls team might have disbanded after that game.50

In October Goetz was pitching for a team in Chambersburg, back near his hometown. On the 9th he defeated Harrisburg of the Pennsylvania State League, 10-7. He scattered eight hits while striking out five, walking five, and tossing one wild pitch. Goetz pitched in a rematch the next day, but was on the losing end of an 8-7 score.51

Early in 1894, the Baltimore Sun said “Osburn” was hoping to get Goetz and himself onto a Southern League team for the coming season. In April the duo joined Lynchburg of the Virginia State League. That is Goetz’s only other professional team in his baseball-reference.com entry besides the pair in 1889.52

In Lynchburg’s first game, against Norfolk, Goetz and “Osburn” played left field and center field, respectively, in a 9-0 loss. They were the battery in the team’s second game, and were trounced, 18-2. Goetz gave up 13 hits and walked five, but was charged with only five earned runs. Goetz lost the next day as well, 13-2 to Petersburg. Two days later, he relieved in another loss to Petersburg “and was hit hard,” according to the Norfolk Virginian. Two more days later Goetz started against Richmond but exited due to a sore arm, apparently after just one inning. Richmond scored five times, but Lynchburg countered immediately with eight runs. That was all the scoring Lynchburg could manage, and it suffered a truly astonishing drubbing, 45-8 in eight innings.53 Osborn continued to appear in Lynchburg lineups for a few weeks, if only as the center fielder,54 but Goetz seems to have vanished after all that agony in April.

Goetz resurfaced in Greencastle by mid-June. He pitched for his hometown team in a 16-12 loss that received minimal coverage. In July, the Baltimore Sun reported that he pitched a complete game for the Chambersburg Country Club in Hagerstown and won it. The detailed account in the Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light showed Chambersburg ahead 6-5 after eight innings, though the final score was 12-9. The paper said Goetz had “splendid command of the ball.”55

Goetz won again about a month later, pitching for Hagerstown against a Chambersburg team. He reportedly pitched well until he was removed in the seventh inning after being hit on the arm by a pitch. By August 25 he was reunited with Osborn on a Shenandoah club in a 16-11 victory in Luray, Virginia.56 The victors presumably represented the town of Shenandoah, less than 20 miles to the southwest of Luray.

In April of 1895, Goetz had a tryout with Hagerstown’s “Association” team in preparation for a season scheduled to begin on May 1. He started a game against a Lancaster team on April 18 but was replaced after six innings because he’d given up 15 runs on the way to an 18-1 clobbering. The opposing pitcher was Frank West, who had pitched three innings in a game for Boston’s NL team in 1894.57

Before April was over, Goetz jumped to the Luray Browns. He was with that team longer than he’d been with many others over his career. In June he was named first by Luray’s weekly among players given the most credit for the team’s first two victories ever over its rivals from its sister city, Front Royal.58 By mid-July he’d apparently become his club’s pitching ace, and a rumor surfaced that the rival Harrisonburg club had lured him away. To the contrary, he was Luray’s losing pitcher in a game on August 4 that was reported in the Baltimore Sun. After “pitching great ball at Luray” on September 6, the Franklin Repository in his home county reported that he’d returned to Greencastle.59

Then Goetz largely disappeared from the public record, as noted by historian Jackie Howell, known as “The Baseball Bloggess.” As she pointed out, one of the few significant mentions of him in a newspaper ever again was in his father’s obituary, in 1913, among the surviving offspring.60 However, one clue was printed in a Greencastle newspaper shortly after his return from Luray. On September 9 “Cyclone Goetz” and a man named George Eachus began a “drive” to Ohio, presumably in an automobile. Eachus was expected to settle in Ohio, but Goetz planned to continue on to Chicago.61 The name Goetz turns up on Chicago-area baseball teams in 1896, including as the winning pitcher in a game between two Chicago Telephone Company ballclubs in late April, but there may be no additional possibilities more substantial than that example.62 Of course, George Goetz may have given up baseball after 1895.

In early 1898 Goetz probably visited his family back in Greencastle. “Mr. Bert Goetz is visiting his parents on south Carlisle street,” the Franklin Repository reported. In the 1900 census, his parents, three sisters, and nephew Clement Gordon lived together in a house on Carlisle Street.

On August 22, 1905, a festival in Greencastle included a baseball game between “old boys” and the current local team. The elder players included a Goetz in the outfield. George’s brother Ross was among the residents who returned for the festival, but George very likely wasn’t the “G.A. Goetz” attending from Hagerstown. The latter was a married shopkeeper there in 1899.63

In the spring of 1906, Goetz presumably was out near San Francisco, at the time of the historic earthquake in that area on April 18. “Clay Hawbecker [sic] and Bert Goetz, formerly of Greencastle, both went through the California earthquake safely but lost all they had,” the Franklin Repository wrote. That terse report left it unclear whether Hawbaker and Goetz had some connection out near San Francisco, or had each ended up in that area separately. Perhaps only by coincidence, in early 1904, Clay H. Hawbaker was elected to the board of directors of the newly incorporated Oakland Association baseball team.64 There’s no indication that anyone named Goetz was associated with that club.

Goetz was reportedly out in California (still, or again) at the time his brother Fred was struck and killed by a train in early 1913. The surviving siblings included “Bert, California.” “Bert” was again included among the survivors when their father died late that same year. One newspaper didn’t identify where any of them were residing, but another identified five relatives named Goetz who attended the funeral from out of town, two of whom were presumably George’s two surviving brothers. Also listed was a “George Goetz, Altoona” (where brother Ross still lived),65 but there were at least two other men named George Goetz with roots in or other strong connections to Greencastle, with whom the ballplayer could easily be confused.

For example, engaged to be married in early 1900 were a “George F. Goetz and Rilla C. McKelvey, both of Greencastle, Pa.” However, most likely to cause confusion was the George B. Goetz of approximately the same age who is buried in the same cemetery as much of the ballplayer’s nuclear family. He was among five top Army officers tried for profiteering during World War I who were acquitted in early 1924.66

When the ballplayer’s brother Frank died in early 1929, George wasn’t listed among the surviving siblings. It’s possible he was still alive, but relatives had no idea.67 An unpublished 1984 paper held by Greencastle’s public library might explain why. Author W.P. Conrad, who called Goetz a “free spirit” with “eccentricities,” wrote: “His last known residence was said to have been in Australia and he was never heard of again.”68 As of this writing, when and where pitcher George Goetz died remains unknown.

Notes

1 “Mrs. Philip Goetz,” Franklin Repository (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania), August 23, 1905: 3. Her seven surviving offspring who were living at the time of the 1900 census were all listed, including sons Frank, Ross, Albert, and Fred. In the 1880 census, younger brothers Ross and Frederick were listed after “Bert.” The 1880 census taker may simply have omitted the fourth brother, Frank, whose full name was Benjamin Franklin Goetz, according to online genealogical records. Frank, age 1, was indeed in the 1870 census with his older siblings, including George B., age 5.

2 His birthplace might be assumed, based on his parents’ long residency in Greencastle, and genealogical records identifying that community as the birthplace of several siblings, but it was specified that he was born there in “A Base-Ball Deal,” Baltimore Sun, April 6, 1889: 4. The 1970 census page listing his family was dated July 19.

3 “Married,” Franklin Repository and Transcript, October 8, 1856: 5.

4 “Deaths,” Chambersburg (Pennsylvania) Public Opinion, February 4, 1929: 2. The obituary gave his name as B. Frank Goetz. As of this writing, one Ancestry.com family tree has January 31, 1929, as the date of George’s death, without citation, but that was the date of Frank’s death.

5 “All About Home,” Chambersburg Valley Spirit, June 10, 1891: 7. Based on censuses and her death certificate, Mollie may have been 20 years old at the time of her high-school graduation.

6 A photo of a gravestone in the local Cedar Hill Cemetery, accessible via findagrave.com, shows an infant boy who was born in 1875 and died that year shares it with Edith and Ruth. Each of the daughters received a death notice in newspapers: “Died,” Chambersburg Saturday Local, October 5, 1878: 3. “Died,” Public Weekly Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania), February 16, 1884: 2. “Obituary,” Franklin Repository, February 1, 1895: 1.

7 “At the Bat,” Hagerstown (Maryland) Herald and Torch Light, September 6, 1883: 3. In 1927 and 1928, the Hagerstown Hubs of the Class-D Blue Ridge League had a player named John Edward Goetz, but he was apparently no close relative of George Goetz. That much younger Goetz, who grew up in Washington, D.C., wasn’t born in either Pennsylvania or Maryland.

8 “From Greencastle,” Franklin Repository, July 25, 1884: 1. A search of the Columbus Dispatch from mid-July to October turned up no mentions of the three players. Most coverage of the base ball in that city during 1884 focused on its American Association team, which finished second that season.

9 “Base Ball at Greencastle on Saturday,” Franklin Repository, July 29, 1884: 4. The line score indicated that Goetz limited his opponents to five hits for eight total bases. Murray was mentioned as his catcher that day.

10 “Fireman’s Day,” Everett (Pennsylvania) Press, August 24, 1887: 3. It’s unclear when this article first mentioned “Goetz, now of Altoona,” whether that meant he’d moved to that city or had been on that city’s baseball team. However, see mention of Altoona herein during April of 1890.

11 “A Chambersburg Ball Player Goes South,” Valley Spirit, July 5, 1888: 4.

12 “Bristol on the Border,” Knoxville (Tennessee) Journal, July 15, 1888: 1. A line score with additional information was printed on the same page, under the headline, “Bristol Vs. Roanoke.”

13 “The National Game,” Franklin Repository, July 26, 1888: 1; “All About Home,” Valley Spirit, July 27, 1988: 3; “Men and Affairs,” Valley Spirit, August 4, 1888: 3; “Affairs Around Home,” Valley Spirit, September 19, 1888: 3.

14 “A Base-Ball Deal,” Baltimore Sun, April 6, 1889: 4. This paper said he was 6 feet tall.

15 “A Real Phenom,” Pittsburgh Dispatch, April 7, 1889: 6.

16 “A Phenomenal Pitcher,” Philadelphia Times, April 7, 1889: 3.

17 “Burt Goetz Is All Right,” Baltimore Sun, April 10, 1889: 5.

18 “Barnie’s New Wonder,” Philadelphia Times, April 14, 1889: 16.

19 T.H. Murnane, “Poor Prodigy,” Boston Globe, April 16, 1889: 5.

20 “Behind the Bat,” Washington Post, April 18, 1889: 2.

21 “Base-Ball Notes,” Baltimore Sun, April 29, 1889: 6; “The Orioles Jubilant,” Philadelphia Times, May 12, 1889: 16.

22 “Couldn’t Hit Goetz,” Baltimore Sun, June 8, 1889: 6.

23 “Base-Ball Gossip and Games,” Baltimore Sun, June 17, 1889: 5. See also the announcement in the first column of the front page, near the top.

24 “Gossip of the Diamond,” Baltimore American, June 17, 1889: 5.

25 See https://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/games_lost_records.shtml for all teams to have lost 20 more games consecutively. The 1876 Cincinnati Reds lost 18 consecutive games, as shown at https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1876-schedule-scores.shtml. Information on Cantz is from his baseball-reference.com entry.

26 “Hard on Old Kentuck,” Baltimore American, June 18, 1889: 5. See also the box score on that same page. . Information on Ramsey is from his baseball-reference.com entry. Baseball-reference.com identifies one other major leaguer and seven minor leaguers named Buck Weaver, though six of the latter were reportedly named Buck at birth.

27 “Two More Games Won,” Baltimore Morning Herald, June 18, 1889: 1; “Hard on Old Kentuck,” Baltimore American, June 18, 1889: 5; “Almost Won It,” Louisville Courier-Journal, June 18, 1889: 2; “Two Games in a Day,” Baltimore Sun, June 18, 1889: 6. The box scores in the American and the Courier-Journal included columns for times at bat.

28 See the first two articles identified in the previous note.

29 See the articles in Baltimore newspapers identified in Note 27.

30 “Base-Ball Notes,” Baltimore Sun, June 18, 1889: 6. Here the Sun said, “Cunningham took Goetz’s place in the ninth inning” but Goetz was the winning pitcher and thus remained the pitcher of record into the extra inning. Cunningham’s record in 1888 is from his baseball-reference.com entry.

31 Franklin Repository, June 18, 1889: 3; “Two More Games Won,” Baltimore Morning Herald, June 18, 1889: 1. The former news item had no headline.

32 “Hard on Old Kentuck,” Baltimore American, June 18, 1889: 5; Job Lots, “Baltimore Briefs,” The Sporting News, June 22, 1889: 1; “Two Games in a Day,” Baltimore Sun, June 18, 1889: 6.

33 See https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/goetzge01.shtml. The Sporting News reported that Louisville had “only eleven hits” off Goetz, which could’ve implied that Cunningham yielded the 12th, but the box score printed six pages later showed Louisville with 11 hits total. See Job Lots, “Baltimore Briefs,” The Sporting News, June 22, 1889: 1; “Game Played June 17,” The Sporting News, June 22, 1889: 7. The box scores in two Baltimore dailies credited Goetz with six assists, not four, while a third box score showed him with five assists. Respectively, see “Two Games in a Day,” Baltimore Sun, June 18, 1889: 6. “Two More Games Won,” Baltimore Morning Herald, June 18, 1889: 1; “Hard on Old Kentuck,” Baltimore American, June 18, 1889: 5.

34 “Two Games in a Day,” Baltimore Sun, June 18, 1889: 6. Also, the two batters Goetz struck out were identified, Guy Hecker and Bill Gleason.

35 “Base-Ball Notes,” Baltimore Sun, June 19, 1889: 6. “Not Up to the Work – Pitcher Goetz Is Broken,” Chambersburg Valley Spirit, July 5, 1889: 3. The latter said he was signed on April 7. In addition to the June 17 game, it summarized his preseason outings against the Pennsylvania collegians and Boston.

36 T.T.T., “Baltimore Bulletin,” Sporting Life, June 26, 1889: 6. It was common practice for this national weekly to identify writers only by their initials.

37 “Among Barnie’s Men,” Philadelphia Times, July 7, 1889: 9.

38 “Pitcher Goetz Released,” Chambersburg Public Weekly Opinion, July 12, 1889: 3. This paper printed an item that originated in the Everett Press.

39 “Middle States League,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 18, 1889: 6.

40 “Base Ball,” Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, July 25, 1889: 3.

41 “The Champions on Friday,” Franklin Repository, September 18, 1889: 3.

42 “Base Ball,” Harrisburg Daily Patriot, September 28, 1889: 1. “Done Up,” Chambersburg Valley Spirit, September 28, 1889: 3. “Has Not Yet Received the Pin,” Franklin Repository, October 3, 1889: 3. “Newsy Paragraphs,” Franklin Repository, October 4, 1889: 3. The latter confirmed that Goetz did receive the prize.

43 “Newsy Paragraphs,” Franklin Repository, March 3, 1890: 3.

44 “A Very Serious Accident,” Altoona (Pennsylvania) Times, April 7, 1890: 1. “At the Hospital,” Altoona Tribune, April 7, 1890: 4. The latter said the injury was to his right arm, but it also identified him as having been a catcher for Baltimore in 1889. Years later, another paper noted that he was a righty and a few years earlier it was “an injury to his left arm that rendered it useless.” See “It Was a Lively Game,” Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, July 10, 1894: 4. The first of these articles specified that Goetz lived at 1402 Seventh Avenue in Altoona, and the local city directory that year listed laborer John E. Goetz as boarding at that address. George’s brother Ross, a longtime Altoona resident, was presumably the Ross L. Goetz in Altoona’s 1888 directory.

45 “At the Hospital,” Altoona Tribune, April 8, 1890: 4. “Hospital Notes,” Altoona Times, April 8, 1890: 4. “Newsy Paragraphs,” Franklin Repository, June 26, 1890: 3. “All About Home,” Chambersburg Valley Spirit, July 2, 1890: 3.

46 “Base Ball Notes,” Franklin Repository, May 20, 1891: 3; “Stopped by the Rain,” Franklin Repository, May 23, 1891: 3.

47 “The National Game,” Baltimore Sun, May 26, 1891: 4.

48 “Personal Points,” Franklin Repository, June 11, 1892: 2; “Success of Pitcher Goetz,” Baltimore Sun, August 16, 1892: 8.

49 “Base Ball,” Little Falls (Minnesota) Transcript, June 9, 1893: 1; “Brainerd Registers a Kick,” Little Falls Transcript, June 23, 1893: 1. It was the earlier of these two articles that quoted the Brainerd Journal.

50 “Base Ball Notes,” Little Falls Transcript, August 4, 1893: 3; “Won Two Games,” Brainerd (Minnesota) Dispatch, August 25, 1893: 8; “Base Ball,” Little Falls Transcript, September 8, 1893: 1.

51 “The Professionals Lose,” Franklin Repository, October 10, 1893: 3; “The Tables Turned,” Franklin Repository, October 11, 1893: 2.

52 “Base-Ball Gossip,” Baltimore Sun, February 13, 1894: 8; “Diamond Flashes,” Baltimore Sun, April 23, 1894: 7.

53 “We Can Play Baseball,” Norfolk Virginian, April 25, 1894: 2; “The Second Waterloo,” Norfolk Virginian, April 26, 1894: 2; “Norfolk Defeated,” Norfolk Landmark, April 27, 1894: 1; “Lynchburg Weak,” Norfolk Virginian, April 29, 1894; “Victory Number Seven,” Richmond (Virginia) Times, May 1, 1894: 1; “Norfolks Win Again,” Norfolk Landmark, May 1, 1894: 1. The latter, which specified arm soreness as the reason for Goetz leaving, reported the score as only 42-8.

54 For example, see “A Day of Heavy Batting,” Norfolk Virginian, May 18, 1894: 1.

55 “Notes,” Franklin Repository, June 16, 1894: 1; “Chambersburg Defeats Hagerstown,” Baltimore Sun, July 10, 1894: 6; “Base Ball Notes,” Franklin Repository, July 10, 1894: 2; “It Was a Lively Game,” Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, July 10, 1894: 4. The second of these Franklin Repository articles specified that Chambersburg had two other strong ballclubs besides the Country Club’s.

56 “Hagerstown at Home,” Franklin Repository, August 9, 1894: 1; “Local Matters,” Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, August 9, 1894: 18. “Base Ball,” Luray (Virginia) Page Courier, August 30, 1894: 3.

57 “Notes of the Diamond,” Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, April 9, 1895: 4; “The Murray Hills Are Here,” Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, April 12, 1895: 4; “Lancaster Wins Easily,” Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, April 19, 1895: 4.

58 “Diamond Tips,” Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, April 23, 1895: 4; “Luray vs. Front Royal,” Luray Page Courier, June 20, 1895: 3. This weekly noted that the team was named the Browns in honor of its manager. Goetz apparently pitched a complete game to win one game, 22-4, but the naming of the battery for the other win, which ended 17-9, implied he was the catcher. Similarly, he was listed last in the three-player battery of a win on June 27 over Harrisonburg, 31-10, in “Luray vs. Harrisonburg,” Luray Page Courier, July 4, 1895: 3. This weekly noted that a rematch started at 9:30 the next morning, and Goetz apparently hurled a complete game on the way to another victory for Luray, 16-4.

59 “Penciligraphs,” Luray Page Courier, July 18, 1895: 3; “Other Games,” Baltimore Sun, August 5, 1895: 6. The latter reported on a doubleheader in Berryville, Virginia, in which Goetz and Luray lost the second game, 12-8. See also “The Local Base Ball News,” Franklin Repository, September 6, 1895: 3.

60 Jackie Howell has made available a collection of newspaper snippets relating to his lone American Association game at https://thebaseballbloggess.com/2020/06/17/june-17-1889-george-goetz-the-fallen-phenom/. She also posted the Orioles’ team photo taken that month, and speculated that Goetz is in it.

61 “Personal Mention,” Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, September 13, 1895: 4. This paper quoted a paper in Greencastle, the Press. In mid-1893, Goetz had mailed newspaper accounts of his performance for his team in Little Falls, Minnesota, to a J.H. Eachus back in Greencastle, according to “Gathered within the County Line,” Hagerstown Valley Spirit, June 28, 1893: 3. This paper quoted a different paper in Greencastle, the Echo.

62 “Amateur Baseball Notes,” Chicago Record, April 29, 1896: 6.

63 “Old Home Week in Greencastle,” Franklin Repository, August 23, 1905: 3; “Exciting Burglar Chase,” Franklin Repository, July 20, 1899: 3.

64 “About People,” Franklin Repository, May 23, 1906: 3; “Oakland Club Is Incorporated,” Oakland (California) Tribune, January 13, 1904. The Clayton Henry Hawbaker associated with the Pacific Coast League was born in “Green Castle, Pa., in 1856,” according to “C.H. Hawbaker of Pythian Home Claimed by Death,” Santa Rosa (California) Republican, August 21, 1937: 3.

65 “Greencastle Native Killed by Train,” Franklin Repository, February 26, 1913: 1; “Philip Goetz,” Chambersburg Public Opinion, December 3, 1913: 5; “Greencastle’s Days Doings,” Franklin Repository, December 4, 1913: 4.

66 “Marriage Licenses,” Hagerstown Morning Herald, February 20, 1900: 3; “Army Officers Freed in Harness Conspiracy,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 25, 1924: 1; “Col. Goetz Is Dead at Charles Town,” Washington Post, November 10, 1937: 4. See also https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/177152549/george-b-goetz.

67 “Deaths,” Chambersburg Public Opinion, February 4, 1929: 2. One family tree made public on Ancestry.com has a 1929 death date for George Goetz, but that presumably was mixed up with Frank’s. Their brother Ross apparently provided an example of the family losing touch with one another over the years. When their sister Alice passed away in 1942, she was survived by several nephews and nieces but otherwise was reportedly “the last of her family.” However, their brother Ross didn’t die until May of 1945, according to the Certificate of Death accessible online, yet he hadn’t even moved out of Pennsylvania. See “Miss Alice M. Goetz,” Chambersburg Public Opinion, March 16, 1942: 2.

68 W.P. Conrad, “Franklin County’s Oldest Team Sport: Baseball,” 1984: 5. This is an unpublished 11-page paper in the history file of the Lilian S. Besore Memorial Library in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, very kindly supplied in 2022 by the director, Kiely A. Fisher. Special thanks also to SABR members in Australia who likewise tried to solve the mystery of his death, particularly Tanith Harley, Eddy Campbell, and Robert Laidlaw. Conrad’s paper contains several entertaining anecdotes about Goetz but none are included here because of the possibility of inaccuracy; on the same page he incorrectly stated that Goetz pitched had two victories in the major leagues and both “were shutouts, 4-0 and 7-0, against Boston.”