George Ulrich

Undersized and a powder puff hitter, late-19th century utility man George Ulrich parlayed hustle, cunning, and defensive versatility into a nine-season professional career that saw him don the uniform of 23 different teams, including, albeit briefly, three National League clubs. Perhaps tellingly, Ulrich never lasted a complete season with any one of them, regularly drawing his release upon his shortcomings becoming evident to club management. Yet for almost a decade, there was always another pro nine desirous of obtaining Ulrich’s services. That string ran out in June 1899, after which Ulrich receded into almost complete anonymity. His name had gone without newsprint mention for almost two decades when a one-paragraph obituary announced his death from tuberculosis in early 1918. The story of this peripatetic but long-forgotten baseball journeyman follows.

George F. Ulrich1 was born in Philadelphia on June 5, 1869, the second of three children2 born to former Union Army cavalryman George Thomas Ulrich (1844-1918) and his English immigrant first wife Eliza (nee Eccles, 1843-1878). As with many of his contemporaries, the early years of son George are shrouded by time, leaving various biographical details — his middle name, religious upbringing, education, first employment, etc. — undiscovered. Government records, however, reveal that mother Eliza died while George was still a boy. Thereafter, his father’s fairly prompt remarriage3 and stable employment as a Philadelphia policeman notwithstanding, George and younger brother Harry spent most of their school years living elsewhere in the city with an elderly grandmother.4

Similar gaps appear in Ulrich’s baseball resume. Modern reference works list his height, weight, and bats/throws as unknown. But clues, if not definitive evidence, regarding same appear in era reportage. The career-long description of Ulrich as the “little Dutchman” as well as occasional use of the pejorative “runt” indicate that he was a man of small stature and unimposing physique. Game accounts, as well as the fact that Ulrich’s primary defensive positions were catcher and middle infielder, militate the conclusion that he likely threw and batted righty.5 Regarding his formal entry into the game, 19th century baseball scholar David Nemec has written that Ulrich played “amateur ball in Philadelphia for several years and also carve[ed] a name as both a sprinter and tumbler.”6 He entered the professional ranks in 1891, joining an independent team based in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.7

The following year, Ulrich was a late invitee to the spring training camp of the Washington Senators, a newly-admitted member of the swollen-to-12-club National League.8 Although an untested youngster, Ulrich’s defensive versatility — he would eventually play all nine positions at one time or another during his professional career — made him valuable in an era of limited player rosters. With the regular season already some three weeks old, he made his major league debut on May 1, 1892, replacing Paul Radford at shortstop, “and did very well” in a 6-4 road loss to the St. Louis Browns.9 On offense, Ulrich registered two singles off right-hander Frank Dwyer and stole a base. Defensively, he started a double play and handled himself capably in the field despite being charged with an error in his seven chances. In the estimation of Sporting Life, Ulrich was “a comer.”10

Weeks later, a start at third base against the Brooklyn Grooms did not go as well, with the Washington Post laying the blame for a 6-5 defeat almost entirely on the rookie. “Ulrich at third made a mess of it,” the newspaper’s unidentified correspondent declared, “his error being responsible for the loss of the game”11 — an odd pronouncement given that the Ulrich error only staked Brooklyn to an early one-run lead. The Senators took a 3-2 advantage into the seventh, and were undone by late-inning fielding miscues by Ulrich’s teammates. The following day, however, censure was merited, as Ulrich had a nightmarish afternoon in a rematch with the Grooms that ended in a 24-4 trouncing. “[Washington club owner J. Earle] Wagner’s phenomenon, little Ulrich was again put at third and he made a mess of it,” reported the Washington Evening Star.12 After making three errors at the hot corner, “he was then put behind the plate to catch [Frank] Killen and was just as bad,” adding another error and a passed ball to his box score demerits.13 The foul-tempered Killen’s judgment on our subject’s work was rendered later that evening in a local billiard parlor, via a punch to Ulrich’s jaw. To make matters worse, the blow injured a finger on the hurler’s throwing hand and precipitated Killen’s suspension by exasperated club leaders.14

Although he had made a respectable showing in six games overall, posting a .292/.333/.625 slash line with decent defense at shortstop and catcher (if not at third), the Brooklyn fiasco sealed Ulrich’s fate. Days later, the Washington Post’s clamor for his release was satisfied15 and Ulrich went home to Philadelphia. Once there, he made a one-game appearance for the Philadelphia Athletics of the Class A minor Eastern League before leaving town to become a member of the Birmingham (Alabama) Grays of the Class B Southern League.16 Ulrich finished the season with a tolerable .231 batting average in 65 games for the 73-50 (.593) league champion Grays and was reserved by Birmingham for the next season.17

Ulrich’s defensive versatility served Birmingham well in 1893. He alternated between right field (44 games) and second base (22 games), while occasionally filing in at first, third, and behind the plate. Significant for his future prospects, “the little Dutchman” impressed onlookers during a spring exhibition game against the National League Cincinnati Reds, belting a rare-for-him triple.18 That impression lingered with Reds field leader Charlie Comiskey when mid-season injuries required him to find ready replacements. With the Birmingham franchise in disarray — the club would shortly be relocated to Pensacola, Florida — Comiskey purchased Ulrich’s contract and installed him in center field for a July 27 game against Pittsburgh. The newcomer went 0-for-3 at bat, but managed to get on base by being hit by a pitch — an Ulrich specialty — and stole a base. The hometown Cincinnati Post took favorable notice, informing readers that “the Reds tried a new man in centerfield named Ulrich who played here in the spring with Birmingham. His only chance was Glasscock’s short fly which he took in after a hard run. The youngster is very fast both in the field and on the bases, and gives promise of being a good find.”19

Unhappily for George, his audition in Cincinnati did not extend to a second game, and he was soon back home in Philadelphia where his quest for new employment was promoted by Sporting Life. In the estimation of the nationally-circulated weekly, “Ulrich was a capital second baseman and catcher … [and] would unquestionably be a good man for some Eastern League team.”20 Days later, the Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Coal Barons, the EL’s resident cellar-dwellers, heeded the Sporting Life advice and signed Ulrich. As was his wont, the new recruit made a favorable first impression, the Wilkes-Barre Times reporting that “Ulrich, the new man, is playing a good second.”21 But almost as promptly, a chronically-weak bat proved his undoing. After going a feeble 2-for-20 (.100 BA) at the plate, Ulrich was released by Wilkes-Barre manager John Irwin.22

Ulrich completed his 1893 odyssey with another Pennsylvania ball club, the York White Roses of the less competitive and unclassified Pennsylvania State League.23 He once again got off to a fast start with his new club, getting on base four times in his debut. As his other managers did, York field boss Billy Sharsig made use of Ulrich’s defensive versatility, playing him in left field and at third base. And as it had in Wilkes-Barre, George’s early work for the White Roses drew praise in the local press, the York Dispatch observing that “Ulrich is a strong fielder and adds strength to the club,”24 while the Philadelphia Inquirer proclaimed that he “has proven himself to be quite a ballplayer. … He is a good base runner and quite skillful in numerous areas common to good ballplayers.”25 The season ended before Ulrich could dispel those fulsome appraisals, batting .234 in 17 games.

Ulrich spent the 1894 season in the Midwest, beginning the campaign with the Kansas City Blues of the newly-revived Class A Western League. His arrival was greeted by the customary testimonials in the local press, the Kansas City Star describing him as “a star outfielder and a good change catcher.”26 The Kansas City Times concurred, but also added the cautionary note that “Ulrick [sic] is a trifle too light for the National League,” even though “he is one of the best of the minor leaguers.”27 As it turned out, Ulrich was a bit too light for the Western League as well, his “unfortunate” batting precipitating his release in mid-July.28 His 52-game tenure in Kansas City, however, included the only two home runs hit by Ulrich in his pro career. He finished the season with Omaha of the Class A Western Association, playing second, third, and shortstop for the fifth-place (66-59, .528) Omahogs.

Our subject’s anticipated return to Omaha for the 1895 campaign was heralded in the now-customary local press encomiums, the Omaha Bee lauding Ulrich as “a fine baseman, an average batter, and one of the best run-getters in the business.”29 The January accolades also provided the first discovered newsprint mention of the nickname that would attach to Ulrich for the remainder of his career: Grasshopper.30 But Ulrich was not without detractors, as well. In publicizing the upcoming Thursday Ladies Day special at the Omaha ballpark, Sporting Life’s local correspondent sneered: “Georgie Ulrich, the dear little thing, can always be seen at his best on Thursdays.”31 In the short run, however, Omaha fans were in his corner, “howling” for Ulrich to assume the team captaincy from second baseman Ed Hutchison.32

The cause of popular acclaim was likely unprecedented life in the Ulrich bat. In 86 games combined for Omaha, and later league rival Quincy, he posted a (108-for-371) .291 batting average, and scored an eye-catching 114 runs. He also played competent defense at three different positions, registering fielding averages (.904 in 19 games at shortstop; .877 in 48 at third, and .934 in 15 in the outfield) that ranked in the top half of Western Association players at all three.33 A mop-up relief stint even added the pitching position to the Ulrich baseball resume. In addition to much-improved hitting, Ulrich perfected the art of getting hit while with Omaha. “There is not a player in the country more tricky than he and particularly in being hit by a pitched ball and doing it so gracefully and innocently that the umpire does not notice it,” the Omaha World-Herald later observed.34 “There is a gift in this style and Ulrich is the one who is past master of it.”

Notwithstanding his excellent play (and for reasons undiscovered but perhaps related to the franchise relocation to Denver),35 Ulrich and the club parted ways in mid-August. He then finished the Western Association season with the Quincy (Illinois) Ravens.36 More press raves ensued, with Sporting Life’s club correspondent declaring, “George Ulrich, the little Pennsylvania Dutchman from Philly, is without doubt the best all-around player in the league. He has played every position this season. As a run-getter he has but few equals. The fans would like very much to see him have full control as captain and manager of the Quincy team in ’96.”37

Ulrich returned to Quincy the following season but without assuming a team leadership post — which was probably just as well as the club disbanded in early July. He then hooked on with another Western Association nine, the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Bunnies.38 There, his aggressive play and a first base collision that sidelined Jacksonville (Illinois) Jacks pitcher-manager Bob Caruthers, elicited the condemnation of sportswriter James H. Lloyd. “This man Ulrich … should be fired out [of the WA] bodily,” wrote Lloyd. “He is dangerous to the rest … and a dirty ballplayer.”39 But before the expulsion call was taken up, Ulrich had moved on, signed by the New York Giants of the National League as a replacement for just-injured outfielder Jim (General) Stafford.40

Ulrich commenced his third major league audition during a July 21 doubleheader at the Polo Grounds against the Cincinnati Reds in fine style, going 3-for-8 and making a “sensational catch” of a hard line fly to left.41 His work drew the plaudits of often-acerbic Cincinnati sportswriter O.P. Caylor, who wrote: “Ulrich’s personal appearance is that of a runt … but he plays ball better than some for these Apollo Belvederes who lean up against the corner lampposts crosslegged and stampede the lady promenaders. His fielding was superb, and the way he hit the ball should have caused some of the $2500 stars to get up at sunrise and practice batting. The little Dutchman impresses me as being an extremely nervy, fast player who knows the game as it should be played.”42

Regrettably, he could not keep it up. In 14 Giants games, he batted a tepid (8-for-45) .178, although he also drew a walk, sacrificed twice, and managed to get hit by pitches twice in 50 plate appearances. But his fielding was sub-par, particularly at third base where he made more errors in three games (3) than he did in eleven in left field (2). An August “loan” to the Paterson (New Jersey) Silk Weavers of the Class A Atlantic League ushered in Ulrich’s permanent return to the minor leagues.43 In 21 games as a major league player, his powerless 15-for-72 at the plate yielded a weak .208/.250/.236 career slash line, with five runs scored, one RBI, and three stolen bases. On defense at five different positions (third base, shortstop, catcher, left and center field), he closed with a .923 cumulative fielding average.

Ulrich completed the 1896 season back in the Eastern League, playing a handful of September games for the Syracuse Stars. He began the following season home in Philadelphia without a professional engagement, playing occasionally with a semipro club called Mark Baldwin’s University of Pennsylvania Ineligibles.44 In late May, however, Ulrich got another Eastern League chance, signing to play second base for the Toronto Maple Leafs.45 Five games and a 2-for-22 (.091) performance later, Ulrich was released. He subsequently began a three-team tour of the now-Class B Atlantic League with a three-game tryout with the Richmond Bluebirds.46 Thereafter, Ulrich saw action at second, short, catcher, and center field in 19 games for a league rival, the Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Maroons.

George finally obtained some employment stability, lasting the remainder of the season with the Atlantic League version of the Philadelphia Athletics. Playing for a weak team headed for a (49-89, .355) seventh-place finish, Ulrich was an occasional standout, his errorless 16 chances handled at second base being the lone bright spot in a 16-0 drubbing administered to the A’s by Lancaster on August 27.47 But for the most part, Ulrich was the Philadelphia shortstop, posting respectable numbers at both the plate (.249 BA) and field (.906 FA in 57 games at short).48 As a result, he was reserved by Philadelphia for the 1898 season.49

Over the winter, the Philadelphia Athletics morphed into a new Atlantic League club, the Allentown (Pennsylvania) Peanuts. Ulrich, however, could not sustain the previous season’s level of play and was released by Allentown in late May. He quickly gravitated to another Atlantic League club, the Reading (Pennsylvania) Coal Heavers, where his early work drew praise. “Ulrich, our new second baseman, is always full of ginger and chases everything on the field in his territory. He has made many friends since his arrival here last month,” wrote one press observer.50 But equally as predictable as his fast start with a new club was his subsequent fade. Indeed, he did not even complete the 1898 season, quitting the club in early September.51 Before he left Reading, Ulrich posted a .228 batting average, with 70 runs scored and 20 stolen bases.52

Ulrich was reserved by Reading for the oncoming season,53 but over the winter the club’s acquisition of Pete Childs rendered Ulrich surplus.54 Nevertheless, “as a sacrifice hitter and base runner, Ulrich is one of the best in the business and would be a good man for some minor league team,” opined Reading sportswriter Arthur A. Fink.55 The only ball club evidently sharing that view was the Manchester (New Hampshire) Manchesters of the lowly Class F New England league, managed by John Irwin, Ulrich’s one-time skipper in Wilkes-Barre. That April, Ulrich signed with Manchester56 and began the 1899 campaign as an infielder. He got off to his typical good start and was batting a shade over .300 when the Manchesters faced the Portland (Maine) Phenoms on June 13. With his charges hopelessly behind, manager Irwin summoned third baseman Ulrich to the pitchers’ mound to finish the game. His hurling — seven hits and six runs allowed — provided a suitable finale to a 19-4 drubbing. That rare pitching appearance also marked the end of something else: George Ulrich’s time in professional baseball. Days later, he was released by Manchester, bringing his nine-season professional career to a close.57

Back home in the City of Brotherly Love, the mid-July recruitment of Ulrich as an emergency catching fill-in by the local Norwood club was noted in the Philadelphia Inquirer.58 That was the last discovered mention of Ulrich’s name published during his lifetime, as he receded into almost complete anonymity. But the 1900 US Census indicates that George was living with his older sister Lillian Moore and her family in Philadelphia and employed as a wheel checker in a local emery works. A decennial later, he had relocated to a Philadelphia rooming house but was apparently still employed at the emery works.59

In time, Ulrich contracted tuberculosis, the same insidious killer that had claimed his mother some 30 years earlier (and would shortly be the cause of death of his father). He spent his final days at the home of his father and step-mother in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, and died there on the evening of January 9, 1918.60 George F. “Grasshopper” Ulrich was 48. Following a brief funeral service at the cemetery chapel, his remains were interred next to those of his mother Eliza at Fernwood Cemetery, Philadelphia. Never married and without children, the deceased was survived by his terminally ill father, step-mother Mary, his sister Lilian Moore, and his brother Harry.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Darren Gibson and Norman Macht and fact-checked by Kevin Larkin.

Sources

Sources for the biographical info provided above include the Ulrich profile by David Nemec in The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball: Biographies of 1,084 Players, Owners, Managers and Umpires (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2011); US Census and other government records on-line accessed via Ancestry.com., and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes. Unless otherwise specified, stats have been taken from Baseball-Reference.

Notes

1 Government records for our subject and other family members often spell the clan surname Ulrick. But Ulrich was the spelling almost always used in newsprint during George’s playing days, and is the spelling used by modern baseball reference works today.

2 The other Ulrich children were older sister Lillian (born 1865) and younger brother Harry (1873).

3 George T. Ulrich and Mary Baylor (1853-1928) were married in 1880.

4 Per the 1880 US Census. Father George T. Ulrich joined the force in 1872, was promoted to sergeant in 1892, and retired on pension in late 1900. See “Street Serg. Ulrich Pensioned,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 24, 1900: 11.

5 By the 1890s, left-handed catchers and middle infielders were exceedingly rare at the high professional level. Given that, if Ulrich had been that exotic left-handed catcher/infielder, mention of that fact was to be expected somewhere in the hundreds of newspaper articles and game accounts covering his playing career. But no such mention of Ulrich left-handedness was discovered.

6 David Nemec, The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball: Biographies of 1,084 Players, Owners, Managers and Umpires (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2011), 274.

7 Per “Right-Fielder Ulrick’s Record,” Kansas City Times, March 4, 1894: 2. The variant surname spelling was a rarity in contemporaneous baseball reportage.

8 During the 1891 season, the Washington club had been a member of the American Association, the recently-deceased major league rival of the National League.

9 Per “Base Ball,” Washington Evening Star, May 2, 1892: 9.

10 See “Editorial Views, News, and Comment,” Sporting Life, May 21, 1892: 2.

11 See “Errors Lose the Game,” Washington Post, May 24, 1892: 6.

12 Per “Base Ball,” Washington Evening Star, May 25, 1892: 7. The Post was no less harsh: “Ulrich’s errors at third being of the Chinese order.” See “Worst of the Season,” Washington Post, May 25, 1892: 6.

13 The box score published in the hometown Washington Post charged Ulrich with four errors, total. Other newspaper box scores, and Baseball-Reference today, only give Ulrich two errors for the day.

14 As revealed by John H. Roche in “Washington Whispers,” Sporting Life, June 4, 1892: 15. See also, “Washington Whispers,” Sporting Life, March 25, 1893: 15.

15 The newspaper had begun campaigning for Ulrich’s release immediately after his May 24 performance against Brooklyn. See “Baseball Briefs,” Washington Post, May 25, 1892: 6.

16 As reported in “Baseball,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 15, 1892: 3. The Athletics’ effort to retain hometown product Ulrich was compromised by the fact that the club was not under the protection of the National Agreement, per “Athletic Affairs,” Sporting Life, June 18, 1892: 4.

17 Per “Minor League Reserves,” Sporting Life, October 22, 1892: 1. See also, “Birmingham Bets,” Sporting Life, January 7, 1893: 13.

18 As reported in “Earle’s Men Won,” Birmingham (Alabama) News, April 4, 1893: 4.

19 “Walked In,” Cincinnati Post, July 28, 1893: 3.

20 See “Editorial Views, News, and Comment,” Sporting Life, August 5, 1893: 2, which provided Ulrich’s home address in Philadelphia to interested parties.

21 “Passed Balls,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Times, August 10, 1893: 8.

22 As reported in “Ball Notes,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) News, August 17, 1893: 5.

23 The York signing of Ulrich was noted in Philadelphia Inquirer, August 23, 1893: 3; New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 28, 1893: 3; and elsewhere.

24 “Around the Bases,” York (Pennsylvania) Dispatch, August 28, 1893: 1.

25 “The Season Will Soon Be Ended,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 3, 1893: 16

26 See “Jimmie Manning Arrives,” Kansas City Star, March 1, 1894: 3.

27 See again, “Right-Fielder Ulrick’s Record,” Kansas City Times, March 4, 1894: 2.

28 As reported in Halpin, “Kansas City Briefs,” Sporting Life, July 28, 1894: 6. Another source traced Ulrich’s release to “a personal misunderstanding” with KC manager Jim Manning. See “Donnelly Released,” Indianapolis Journal, July 20, 1894: 4.

29 “Chat with the Ball Players,” Omaha Bee, January 13, 1895: 7.

30 See “Base Ball Briefs,” Omaha World-Herald, January 13, 1895: 13. See also, “Palaver with the Ball Players,” Omaha Bee, March 17, 1895: 19.

31 Duffy, “Omaha’s Team,” Sporting Life, April 27, 1895: 10.

32 According to “Diamond Dust,” Rockford (Illinois) Register-Gazette, May 11, 1895: 5.

33 Per Western Association final stats published in Sporting Life, February 8, 1896: 8. Baseball-Reference has no 1895 fielding stats for Ulrich.

34 See “In the Field of Sport,” Omaha World-Herald, July 26, 1896: 20, and reworded to that effect in the same column May 16, 1897: 19.

35 The Omaha franchise was reassigned to Denver on July 22 and played its first home game in the Mile High City on August 9, per The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, eds. (Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, Inc., 3d ed., 2007), 168.

36 The Ulrich transfer to Quincy was noted in “Breezes for the Fans,” Rockford Register-Gazette, August 24, 1895: 4.

37 Black Dispatch, “Quincy’s Team,” Sporting Life, October 12, 1895: 7.

38 For more on Ulrich’s tenure with Cedar Rapids, see “Cedar Rapids Professional Baseball Alumni Bios — George Ulrich (1896 — Cedar Rapids Rabbits), at www.mlblogsproutingnews.word press, posted July 5, 2012.

39 James H. Lloyd, “Burlington Bets,” Sporting News, July 11, 1896: 9.

40 As reported in “Notes,” Washington Evening Star, July 21, 1896: 10; “Baseball,” Buffalo News, July 22, 1896: 5; and elsewhere.

41 Per “Victorious Reds,” (Covington) Kentucky Post, July 22, 1896: 7.

42 O.P. Caylor, “Pick-Ups,” Kentucky Post, July 25, 1896: 7.

43 Ulrich played his final major league game on August 7, 1896. He then went back to the minors, as noted in “Proud Paterson,” Sporting Life, September 5, 1896: 12.

44See e.g., “Richmond Defeats Ineligibles,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 9, 1897: 8. Former major league pitching standout Mark “Fido” Baldwin served as spring pitching coach for the Penn varsity and then did some early season barnstorming with his own nine of local players.

45 As reported in “Irwin Signs Ulrich,” Buffalo News, May 29, 1897: 5. Maple Leafs manager Arthur Irwin, long-time major league infielder and veteran minor league club skipper, was the older brother of John Irwin, Ulrich’s manager in Wilkes-Barre.

46 As reported by Bat N. Ball, “Hits Here and There,” Norfolk (Virginia) Virginian, June 17, 1897: 4.

47 See “Athletics Shut Out,” Richmond Dispatch, August 28, 1897: 4.

48 Per Atlantic League stats published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, November 14 and 21, 1897.

49 See “The Official List,” Sporting Life, October 2, 1897: 4.

50 Arthur A. Fink, “Reading’s Reaction,” Sporting Life, June 11, 1898: 4.

51 According to Reading correspondent Fink, Ulrich “not being in condition to play,” decided to give up playing. See “Reading’s Review,” Sporting Life, September 10, 1898: 7. This was the only suggestion in the record discovered by the writer indicating that Ulrich may have been a drinker.

52 Per 1898 Atlantic League stats published in Sporting Life, November 26, 1898: 9.

53 See “Newell’s Interest,” Sporting Life, January 21, 1899: 3.

54 Fink, “Ready Reading,” Sporting Life, April 14, 1899: 7.

55 Same as above. “Ready Reading”

56 As reported in the “Base Ball Men Hopeful,” Boston Herald, April 25, 1899: 4.

57 Per “New England League Club,” Boston Herald, June 17, 1899: 4.

58 See “Changes in Norwood’s Team,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 15, 1899: 9.

59 Per the 1910 US Census.

60 Per “Obituary: The Death of George F. Ulrich,” Lancaster (Pennsylvania) New Era, January 11, 1918: 3. The same one-paragraph obituary was published the following morning in the Lancaster Examiner.