Rip Vowinkel

Reaching the major leagues takes so much hard work and talent that it’s always interesting to read about players who get there and then turn their backs on the game. Examples include Jack Shepard, the promising Pittsburgh Pirates catcher of the 1950s, who abruptly left baseball for an attractive job opportunity;1 Bruce Bochte of the Seattle Mariners, who sat out the 1983 season to devote himself to environmental and spiritual causes;2 or Jackie Jensen, the 1950s Boston Red Sox star worn down by lengthy separations from his family, as well as a fear of flying.3

Before these, there was Rip Vowinkel. An up-and-coming pitcher with the 1905 Cincinnati Reds, Vowinkel announced at age 21 that he planned to retire from baseball to work in his father’s thriving drugstore.4 He never pitched in the majors again, though his threat to leave baseball proved to be a whim. Vowinkel returned for seven more seasons in the minors before taking up the life of a small-town shopkeeper for good.

John Henry Vowinkel was born November 18, 1884, in Oswego, New York, a city of about 21,000 residents on Lake Ontario.5 As of early 2023, only five players in big-league history listed Oswego as their birthplace. The next one to come along after Vowinkel was born 88 years later, almost to the week.6

John Vowinkel lives on in baseball history under the nickname Rip, almost certainly a reference to Rip Van Winkle, the enduring fictional character created by 19th-century American author Washington Irving.7 While this nickname was in place by the time he arrived in the majors in September 1905, it was not universally used during Vowinkel’s lifetime.8 Numerous news stories referred to him as John or Johnny. Some hometown friends knew him as Hans or Honus – German equivalents of Johnny – and these nicknames also surfaced in news stories.9 (While the fictional Rip Van Winkle was a Dutchman, the real-life Rip Vowinkel was of German extraction.)10

The Vowinkel name was well-known in the Oswego area well before young Rip picked up a baseball.11 His father, Chris, was a successful local druggist and maker of patent medicines. Chris Vowinkel also served as Oswego County’s elected coroner for 33 years, investigating an estimated 2,500 deaths, including 24 murders.12 In his free time he arranged parades and public events, such as Fourth of July celebrations, and was active in local Republican Party politics. He also pitched in local baseball leagues as a young man. “It was said of Chris that he had more friends and acquaintances than any two other men in Oswego County, and it was true,” a local newspaper said after his death in 1924.13

Chris Vowinkel must have been a strong influence, as his teenage son followed him into two of his favored endeavors – baseball and drugstores. Rip became a pitcher, though not always successfully. In June 1900 he hit an opposing batter over the heart during a game pitting boys from Oswego High School against those from nearby Fulton High. The batter suffered a dislocated rib and later collapsed; Rip “felt very badly over the accident.”14

High school baseball stardom was not in young Vowinkel’s future. The family entry in the 1900 U.S. Census reported that the 15-year-old had left school and was working full-time as a drugstore clerk, presumably for his father. Decades later, Vowinkel or a close relative told the 1940 Census that his formal education ended after one year of high school.15 As of 1901, he was pitching amateur or semipro ball around central New York state. Late August found him throwing a four-hit, complete-game win and hitting a home run for a local team called the Lake Shores, earning notice for “steady and brilliant work.”16 Earlier that month he’d taken a 4-1 loss for a team called the Crescents.17

The following season Vowinkel pitched for Gouverneur in the St. Lawrence River League, a local circuit in northern New York and Ontario that dissolved and reformed after its first week of play.18 Several news accounts mention his strong pitching that season; he won five of eight games, with two losses coming by one run as the result of errors.19 One paper, referring to the Class B New York State League, wrote: “While some of the State League clubs are looking for pitchers, it would be well for them to size up Vowinkel…Last Friday he defeated Antwerp 17 to 0. He had a double, a triple, and a home run out of four times at bat.”20

Vowinkel’s performance earned him a 1903 tryout with the New London (Connecticut) Whalers of the Class D Connecticut League. He reportedly pitched well but was not one of the three pitchers kept.21 He landed with an independent team called the Kingston (Ontario) Ponies. The Ponies won 24 of their 27 games. Vowinkel supported that success by winning his first eight decisions.22

This reportedly brought him an offer from Toronto of the Class A Eastern League, one step below the majors. But Vowinkel stayed closer to home and made some late-season appearances with the Utica Pent-Ups of the New York State League, two levels below the bigs.23 On September 19, he lost a close-fought game to Ilion, yielding just five hits and striking out eight.24 He was not quite 19, pitching on a staff whose average age was almost a decade older.

Vowinkel moved full-time onto the Pent-Ups’ staff in 1904 and 1905, pitching in a combined 71 games, and here he became a big-league prospect. Through 21st-century eyes, the notion of jumping from Utica to the majors might seem far-fetched. But in Vowinkel’s day the major leagues regularly trawled the New York State League for talent. Players who jumped straight from Troy, Ilion, and Syracuse to the majors between 1902 and 1904 included: future Hall of Famer Johnny Evers; Red Ames, who won 183 big-league games and one World Series over 17 seasons; Ames’s Giants teammate Hooks Wiltse; and Frank “Wildfire” Schulte, who played 15 seasons and won the 1911 National League Most Valuable Player Award, along with two World Series. Other New York State League alumni had briefer big-league careers.25

Cubs manager Frank Selee took positive notice of Vowinkel’s work in a game in Syracuse in August 1904.26 By the following July, the Giants, Cubs, Brooklyn Superbas, Philadelphia Athletics, and Pittsburgh Pirates were said to be scouting the young man, with the Giants deemed most likely to land “one of the best pitchers in the State League.”27

Vowinkel impressed his pursuers with a series of well-pitched games that summer, including two shutouts of the Amsterdam-Gloversville-Johnstown team and a narrow 1-0 loss to Binghamton.28 His record of 16-17 was less impressive, though contemporary sources described him as a “hard-luck” pitcher whose teammates tended not to give him much run support.29 “The prize hunters, from the big leagues, are grabbing for him with both hands,” a newspaper in Pennsylvania reported.30

On August 8, Utica manager Jack Lawlor pitched Vowinkel out of turn against Wilkes-Barre so the Cincinnati Reds could scout him.31 Vowinkel’s performance – eight scattered hits and a walk in a complete-game 3-2 win – apparently convinced the Reds to muscle their way to the front of the line.32 The Reds’ purchase of Vowinkel was announced August 14, with the pitcher scheduled to report to the NL after Labor Day, September 4. A news article praised Vowinkel’s “fine curves, excellent control and splendid speed,”33 noting also that he was a “fair hitter,” “strong and robust,” “gentlemanly,” and “well liked and popular with all of the players.”34 The Cincinnati Post introduced him to its readers as “husky with oodles of speed.”35

At 20 years old, Vowinkel became the youngest member of the 1905 Reds and the league’s third-youngest player.36 He and other new arrivals might not have been heartily welcomed. The Sporting News of September 9 quoted an unnamed Cincinnati veteran who criticized the team’s “indiscriminate purchase” of minor-leaguers, on the grounds that the Reds’ scouts had not spent enough time studying the parent club to know where its weaknesses were.37

In Cincinnati, Vowinkel’s rocket-like rise bumped up against reality. The Cardinals touched him up for 12 hits and six runs in his debut, a complete-game loss in the second game of a September 5 doubleheader. Worse yet were starts against the Boston Beaneaters, who knocked him out after six innings on September 27, and the Philadelphia Phillies, who routed him in the fourth inning on September 30.38 In the Phillies game, Vowinkel was opposed by Johnny Lush, the only pitcher in the NL younger than he was. Lush yielded nine hits but cruised to a 15-3 win. After his debut, Vowinkel noted that he was pitching to hitters he knew nothing about: “It is simply a case of serve them all you’ve got and take a chance.”39

At other points, the young man from Oswego delivered on his promise, like the first game of a September 11 doubleheader against the Cubs. Working against a lineup with Evers, Joe Tinker, and Frank Chance, Vowinkel scattered six hits and won 3-2, “as cool as a freezer of Neapolitan cream.”40 He followed that with a complete-game 8-3 win over Brooklyn on September 24. And in his final big-league appearance, in the second game of an October 7 doubleheader, Vowinkel avenged himself against the Cardinals. He fell behind 2-0 in the third but held the fort while the Reds tied the game and then pulled ahead. The Reds won 6-3, giving Vowinkel a 3-3 lifetime major-league record.

Vowinkel’s big-league sojourn also included a memorable exhibition. On October 5, Reds president Garry Herrmann invited his team to a picnic and party at a private club in Cincinnati called the Laughery Club. An informal game involving Reds players and club members ensued. At one point late in the game, Vowinkel found himself pitching to Herrmann, who swung and missed at a curveball. Herrmann then called on Reds groundskeeper Matty Schwab to complete his at-bat; Schwab struck out.41

The Sporting News quoted a Cincinnati paper’s assessment that Vowinkel was unlikely to start 1906 with the Reds, and that more time in the minors would help him.42 Newly hired Reds manager Ned Hanlon confirmed this on January 9 by announcing Vowinkel’s release.43 At just about the same time, the young pitcher publicly announced that he was retiring from the game to go into partnership with his father, the druggist.44 His announcement was noticed and reprinted as far away as St. Louis and Butte, Montana.45

Vowinkel remained in limbo until late April when Cincinnati released him to Utica. There, he beat the Boston Beaneaters 4-2 in an exhibition. His father sneaked in to watch, as Rip usually pitched poorly when Chris was in the stands.46 Utica subsequently sold him to the Buffalo Bisons of the Class A Eastern League, where he stayed until 1911.47

What accounted for Vowinkel’s decision to quit in January of 1906 and then come back in April? According to one article, Vowinkel’s rocky tenure in Cincinnati discouraged him, and it took personal intervention from Buffalo manager George Stallings to rekindle his interest in the game.48 Vowinkel had also been married in 1904 to Eliza Mae Burke, known as Mae,49 and some sources suggested that his marriage contributed to his decision to quit.50 Also, Chris Vowinkel’s duties as coroner often called him away from his shop. Whether from filial obligation or a desire to set himself up in business, Rip apparently decided to help his father.51 The younger Vowinkel went back to baseball in the end but stayed in western New York until the waning days of his career.

Vowinkel made a slow start in a partial season in 1906, going 3-4 in eight games for the league champion Bisons.52 After that he became a workhorse, if not necessarily an ace, winning 14, 19, 16, and 11 games between 1907 and 1910, described as “clowny but steady.”53 He led the 1908 team in wins, earning a small spot in Bisons history; more than 110 years later, he still held a place on the “Year-by-Year Team Leaders” page of the Bisons’ media guide.54

Perhaps Vowinkel’s greatest moment with the Bisons came on July 31, 1909, when he started both ends of a doubleheader against Newark. He won the first game with a complete-game four-hitter and left the second game after eight innings with a 6-5 lead. Reliever Luther Taylor coughed up the lead, costing Vowinkel a second win, but Buffalo came back to win 8-7.55

Vowinkel came close to a second big-league opportunity with Brooklyn in 1909, so close that at least one newspaper reported it as a done deal.56 Reportedly, Brooklyn wanted to draft Vowinkel from Buffalo in the Rule V draft that September. But the St. Louis Browns wanted his Bison teammate, outfield prospect George “Dutch” Schirm, and minor-league teams could only lose one player through the draft. The Superbas and Browns drew straws. The Superbas won and chose Schirm, not Vowinkel.57 It proved to be a missed chance for both men. Schirm reported to Brooklyn in spring 1910 but was hobbled by an injured knee. Eventually, he was sent back to Buffalo without playing in a major-league game.58

Beginning in 1911, injuries put a gradual end to Vowinkel’s pro career.59 He developed a sore arm and in June the Bisons traded him to Newark, also of the Eastern League.60 The problems persisted and Newark released him at the end of July.61 “When it comes to curves the arm fails to respond,” one article reported.62 Vowinkel pitched in 12 games between the two stops, winning only one.63 He remained healthy enough to play third base in semipro ball in Oswego that summer, and to participate as an infielder in a newly organized indoor baseball league that played games at the city’s State Armory that winter.64

Vowinkel signed with a team in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for 1912, and held the Cincinnati Reds scoreless in a preseason exhibition.65 He was released in early May after pitching poorly, posting a 1-3 record.66 Vowinkel then landed in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the Class B Tri-State League, his last professional stop, where he posted a 5-5 record. Pleading sickness, he was released in mid-July and returned to Oswego for good, where he operated his own drugstore.67 He apparently held out hopes for a comeback in 1913, getting preseason arm treatments from “an Italian … who is a natural bone-setter.”68 In the end, Vowinkel – not yet 30 years old – was absent from pro ball that year, despite getting a preseason offer to manage an Oswego team in a new circuit called the Empire League.69

By 1914, Vowinkel had returned to pitching with a local semipro team called the Rowan Stars, with a start scheduled against a Black team called the Havana Red Sox.70 In one appearance, he struck out 10 men, leading a reporter to rhapsodize: “Vowinkel seems to have regained his old-time speed, and the cunning of his arm has not left him as yet.”71 He worked out with the Syracuse Stars in July, but declined an offer to join the New York State League team.72

While continuing to dabble in local baseball, Vowinkel left the drugstore business the following year, taking up an idyllic-sounding new career in its place. He opened a sweetshop on East Bridge Street in Oswego, selling sodas, candies, hand-packed quarts of ice cream and other treats, along with cigars, magazines, stationery, and sundries.73 Vowinkel’s Chocolate Shop remained in operation through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, feeding Oswego’s collective sweet tooth all the way into the 1940s.74

Vowinkel must have entertained more than his share of children at Vowinkel’s Chocolate Shop, but there is no record of him and Mae having children of their own. However, they took in and helped raise a young niece of Mae’s after the girl’s father died. The girl, named Helen Burke, grew up to become the mother of Howard Nolan Jr., a New York state senator from the 1970s through the 1990s. In a family-written biography of Nolan, Vowinkel is remembered as “a very, very nice man.”75

Vowinkel was a highly competitive bowler, one of Oswego’s best for much of his life, and accounts of his bowling success are numerous.76 In April 1942 he achieved a longtime goal of rolling a perfect 300 game.77 This gave rise to a recurring but unproven claim that Vowinkel was the only man to pitch a no-hit game in professional baseball, roll a 300 on the bowling lanes, and shoot a hole-in-one on the golf course. This claim was reprinted several times by Oswego newspapers78 and even showed up in Sports Illustrated magazine in August 1970, after Vowinkel’s death.79

Vowinkel was said to have pitched his no-hitter – two no-hitters, by some tellings – during his Buffalo years. An extensive review of news articles from throughout his career found no mention of his pitching a no-hit game for the Bisons.80 A brief news item from Vowinkel’s time with the 1903 Kingston Ponies referred to his having “let Belleville down without a hit.” This may have been a no-hitter, but whether the independent, roaming Kingston team meets any definition of “professional baseball” is open to debate.81

By 1950, Vowinkel had left the candy business and was working as a stock clerk in the Oswego County highway garage.82 Mae Vowinkel died four years later, ending the couple’s half-century of marriage.83 In 1956, Little League baseball came to Oswego for the first time. As the city’s foremost ballplayer-in-residence, Vowinkel had the honor of leading the season-opening parade.84

In his final years, Vowinkel stepped back from full-time work at the highway garage but filled in when extra help was needed. On the morning of July 13, 1966, Vowinkel left home for a shift at the garage; he made it but reported feeling severely ill when he got there. An ambulance brought him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at age 81. The cause of death was listed as ventricular fibrillation, or an irregular heart rhythm. He was survived by two nieces and two nephews, including the niece he helped raise.85

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Rory Costello and Tom Reinsfelder and fact-checked by Jeff Findley. The author thanks Lynn Blumenau for assistance with genealogical research.

Sources and photo credit

In addition to the sources cited below, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for information on players, teams, and leagues. The author also reviewed additional news articles, particularly from newspapers in Buffalo, Oswego, and Utica, New York.

Photo of Vowinkel from the Buffalo (New York) Sunday Morning News, August 15, 1909: 11.

Notes

1 Jack Zerby, “Jack Shepard,” SABR Biography Project, accessed February 6, 2023.

2 Tracy Ringolsby, “It Is a Sincere Retirement,” Monrovia (California) News-Post, March 10, 1983: B1.

3 Mark Armour, “Jackie Jensen,” SABR Biography Project, accessed February 6, 2023.

4 “Vowinkle [sic] Retires,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Republican, January 15, 1906: 3; “Back in the Game,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Times, June 2, 1906: 6.

5 According to the U.S. Census, Oswego had a population of 21,116 in 1880 and 21,842 in 1890.

6 Greg LaRocca, who played parts of three seasons as an infielder with the San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians between 2000 and 2003, was born in Oswego on November 10, 1972. LaRocca was not entirely a native son, as he graduated from high school in Manchester, New Hampshire. The other three major-leaguers listed as being born in Oswego are Dad Clarke (born 1865, played 1888-1898); Will Calihan (born 1868, played 1890-91); and She Donahue (born 1877, played 1904).

7 While the connection between Rip Van Winkle and Rip Vowinkel seems obvious, the author of this biography is compelled to mention that he did not find any news story or other source in which Rip Vowinkel commented on the origin of his nickname.

8 The author searched newspaper databases at Newspapers.com, FultonHistory.com, and NYSHistoricNewspapers.com in January and February 2023 for “Rip Vowinkel” and a common misspelling, “Rip Vowinkle.” The earliest use of the nickname in those databases was in the headline, “Rip Vowinkle’s Warm Welcome,” in the Covington (Kentucky) Post, September 6, 1905: 6.

9 Two examples: “Vowinkel on the Slab,” Oswego (New York) Daily Palladium, May 1, 1906: 10; “Vowinkle [sic] in Business,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Leader, January 28, 1907: 9.

10 According to the 1900 U.S. Census, accessed via Familysearch.org, both of Rip Vowinkel’s paternal grandparents were born in Germany. (Rip’s mother, Louisa Maria, listed one of her parents as New York-born and the other as Canadian.) The 1900 Census also reported that Rip was his parents’ only child.

11 As of February 2023, information on Familysearch.org indicated that the family name was once spelled Vohwinkel, perhaps as recently as Chris Vowinkel’s birth. The author of this biography was unable to firmly verify the spelling change. All available newspaper references to Chris Vowinkel during Chris’s public life spelled the name Vowinkel, and that spelling is also used on Chris’s gravestone, according to his listing on Findagrave.com.

12 Some online biographies of Rip Vowinkel conflate the activities of father and son, crediting Rip with serving as Oswego County coroner and compounding patent medicine. While Rip Vowinkel followed Chris’s lead and worked for a time as a druggist, there is no record of Rip serving as county coroner.

13 “C.J. Vowinkel Passes Away in Rochester,” Oswego Daily Palladium, March 26, 1924: 4; “Funeral Rites for C.J. Vowinkel,” Oswego Daily Palladium, March 27, 1924: 9.

14 “Base Ball News,” Oswego Daily Palladium, June 18, 1900: 6. The batter is identified as Gordon Otis. Records on Familysearch.org indicate that a Thomas Gordon Otis, born in 1883 in Fulton, New York, died in Fulton in December 1957. Five years later, the Palladium reported that Vowinkel had hit a batter in the mouth, knocking out three teeth.

15 The 1900 U.S. Census is cited above; the 1940 U.S. Census was also accessed via Familysearch.org. At the time of the 1940 Census, Rip was living with his wife and his sister-in-law. His sister-in-law’s name appears first in the family entry, which might suggest that she was the one who answered the census-taker’s knock and provided the family’s information.

16 “Johnny Vowinkel’s Strong Arm,” Oswego Daily Palladium, August 26, 1901: 8.

17 “Base-Ball Gossip,” Oswego Daily Palladium, August 19, 1901: 8. The previous year, an Oswego news item mentioned Vowinkel among a crowd of young people attending a dancing party at a place called the Crescent Club; it seems possible that the Crescent Club sponsored the Crescents team.

18 “Likely to Accept,” Kingston (Ontario) Daily British Whig, August 16, 1902:1; “The League Reorganized,” Kingston Daily British Whig, July 17, 1902: 3.

19 “Vowinkel Has Another Error,” Oswego (New York) Daily Times, September 2, 1902: 5. Other news accounts say the St. Lawrence River League season was scheduled to end August 29, so the record of five wins in eight appearances cited here was probably about where Vowinkel ended the season. The story does not specify how many losses were credited to Vowinkel.

20 “His [sic] Is a Comer,” Oswego Daily Times, August 12, 1902: 5. The Oswego paper said this commentary appeared in the Syracuse (New York) Herald.

21 “Base-Ball News,” Oswego Daily Palladium, March 12, 1903: 8; “Base-Ball News,” Oswego Daily Palladium, May 11, 1903: 8.

22 “Base-Ball,” Oswego Daily Palladium, August 10, 1903: 8; “Sports In General,” Kingston Daily British Whig, September 21, 1903: 2. News stories from the Daily Whig indicate that the Kingston team initially planned to join a start-up league, then pulled out. The Daily Whig, which published the standings of the National, American, and Eastern leagues, did not print standings from any league involving the Ponies.

23 “New Pitcher for Utica,” Elmira (New York) Daily Gazette and Free Press, August 27, 1903: 3.

24 “Base-Ball,” Oswego Daily Palladium, September 21, 1903: 8.

25 Bill Hinchman, who started at left field or third base for Cincinnati in four of Vowinkel’s six major-league games, was another New York State League alumnus. So was Cardinals outfielder Rube DeGroff, who started against Vowinkel in Vowinkel’s final major-league game. DeGroff spent much of the 1905 season with Troy.

26 “Base Ball Bunts,” Johnstown (New York) Daily Republican, August 2, 1904: 8.

27 “Game Stopped by Rain,” Oswego Daily Palladium, July 14, 1905: 10; “The National Game,” Monongahela (Pennsylvania) Daily Republican, August 29, 1905: 2; “Base-Ball News,” Oswego Daily Palladium, July 21, 1905: 10.

28 “Empire State League Notes,” Oswego Daily Palladium, July 17, 1905: 3; “Only Four Hits off Villeman,” Johnstown Daily Republican, August 5, 1905: 3; “Base-Ball News,” Oswego Daily Palladium, July 21, 1905: 10.

29 “Base-Ball News,” Oswego Daily Palladium, August 29, 1905: 8. Utica’s record as of September 4, when Vowinkel joined the Reds, was 57-56, so he wasn’t pitching on a powerhouse team. “New York State League Standing of the Clubs,” Buffalo Morning Express, September 4, 1905: 8.

30 “Madison’s Error Proved Costly,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Truth, August 15, 1905: 3.

31 “Personal Mention,” Oswego Daily Palladium, August 10, 1905: 5.

32 “Utica Took Final Game,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Record, August 9, 1905: 12.

33 A few articles from the later years of Vowinkel’s career describe him as a spitballer, which was still allowed at that point. An example: “Sport Gossip,” Elmira Star-Gazette, January 24, 1912: 8.

34 “Cincinnati Gets Vowinkel,” Johnstown Daily Republic, August 14, 1905: 3.

35 “Young Vowinkel Is Husky with Oodles of Speed,” Cincinnati Post, September 5, 1905: 6. Baseball-Reference lists Vowinkel’s height as 5’10” and his weight as 195 pounds.

36 Vowinkel made his big-league bow at 20 years, 9 months and 18 days old. The only younger players in the NL in 1905 were Boston Beaneaters catcher Bill McCarthy, who played his first game at 19 years, 3 months and 22 days old, and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher/outfielder Johnny Lush. Lush had made his big-league debut in April 1904 at 18 years old; as of his first 1905 appearance in September, he was 19 years, 11 months and 11 days old.

37 “Caught on the Fly,” The Sporting News, September 9, 1905: 6. Of course, incumbent major-leaguers have never been entirely welcoming to younger players who are out to take their jobs.

38 Vowinkel completed four of his six starts, or about 67 percent. This trailed the Cincinnati staff as a whole. The eight pitchers who combined to start 155 games for the 1905 Reds completed 119 of them, a rate of about 77 percent.

39 “The Dopy Fan,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Republican, September 17, 1905: 2.

40 “Reds Win in First; Lose Second,” Cincinnati Post, September 12, 1905: 6. Vowinkel’s first major-league win brought him congratulatory telegrams from, among others, New York State Excise Commissioner P.W. Cullinan. “Base-Ball News,” Oswego Daily Palladium, September 21, 1905: 1.

41 William A. Cook, August “Garry” Herrmann: A Baseball Biography (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2008): 65.

42 “Caught on the Fly,” The Sporting News, October 14, 1905: 6. This assessment is credited to the Cincinnati Times Star.

43 “Two New Deals Are Started by Hanlon; One Trade Blocked,” Cincinnati Post, January 10, 1906: 6.

44 A newspaper in Kentucky reported the Vowinkel retirement news several days before other papers, and also several days before the Reds released him. “Druggist Vowinkel,” Covington Post, January 4, 1906: 6.

45 “Sportgossip,” Butte (Montana) Inter Mountain, January 10, 1906: 7; “Vowinkel Retires,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Tribune, January 15, 1906: 3; “Hot Bingles from the Bat,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 1, 1906: 14.

46 “Biffs and Bunts from the Baseball Diamond,” Lockport Daily Journal, May 2, 1906: 7; “Vowinkel on the Slab,” Oswego Daily Palladium, May 1, 1906: 10.

47 “Farrell’s Bulletin,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Times, June 2, 1906: 6; “Back in the Game,” Wilkes-Barre Times, June 2, 1906: 6.

48 “Stallings Is Beaten by Man He Developed,” Newark (New Jersey) Evening Star, April 24, 1908: 6.

49 On the Vowinkels’ shared gravestone in Oswego’s Saint Paul Cemetery, she is “Mae E.” Findagrave.com listing for John and Mae Vowinkel, accessed February 12, 2023.

50 “Back in the Game,” cited above, describes John and Mae Vowinkel’s marriage as happening “a few weeks ago.” However, the couple’s betrothal was recorded on page 411 of the Reach American League Official Base Ball Guide for 1905, with a date of April 19, 1904.

51 “John Vowinkel Has Retired from Game,” Utica Herald, January 8, 1906: Page number illegible.

52 “Work of Buffalo Pitchers,” Buffalo Times, September 24, 1906: 8; “They Won the Pennant” (photo and caption), Buffalo Times, October 7, 1906: 22. As of spring 2023, Baseball-Reference credited Vowinkel with a 2-5 record for Buffalo in 1906, rather than the 3-4 record credited to him in “Work of Buffalo Pitchers.”

53 Win totals for 1907 through 1909 taken from Baseball-Reference. As of February 2023, Vowinkel’s Baseball-Reference page listed him as having a 1-17 record in 1910, but a Buffalo newspaper near the end of that season credited him with an 11-15 record. “Work of Buffalo Pitchers,” Buffalo Commercial, September 12, 1910: 5. “Clowny but steady”: “Pace Will Be a Rapid One in the League This Year,” The Argus, March 13, 1908: 2.

54 “Year-by-Year Team Leaders,” 2019 Buffalo Bisons media guide: 105. Accessed February 12, 2023.

55 “Praise for Rip,” Oswego Daily Palladium, August 2, 1909: 8.

56 “Vowinkel Going Up,” Utica Observer, September 4, 1909: 2.

57 “Vowinkle [sic] Lost Out in Drafting Gamble,” Buffalo Courier, September 6, 1909: 10. Baseball-Reference’s BR Bullpen page on the 1909 Rule V draft, accessed February 12, 2023, confirms that the Superbas drafted Schirm that season. For additional information on the early years of the minor-league draft, see Steve Treder, “The 10 Most Interesting Rule 5 Draft Picks, 1903-1940,” The Hardball Times, posted October 14, 2008, and accessed February 12, 2023.

58 “Schirm Released to Buffalo,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 12, 1910: 7.

59 A few news stories from around this time mention Vowinkel’s name in relation to insurance, and it appears that he tried the insurance business for a brief period. He is called “the Oswego insurance fiend” in “Johnny Vowinkel,” Oswego Daily Palladium, March 28, 1910: 3.

60 “Vowinkel in Trade for Lew M’Allister,” Buffalo News, June 12, 1911: 10.

61 “Vowinkel Draws Release from Braves,” Buffalo News, July 28, 1911: 9.

62 “‘Rip’ Vowinkel Let Out,” Utica Observer, July 28, 1911: 2.

63 “Base-Ball,” Utica Observer, January 24, 1912: 2. As of spring 2023, Baseball-Reference credited Vowinkel with only 11 games that season, rather than 12.

64 “Havanna [sic] Fillers Won,” Oswego Daily Palladium, August 11, 1911: 5; “Company D Won,” Oswego Daily Palladium, December 19, 1911: 5; “Indoor Game Attracted Many,” Oswego Palladium, December 28, 1911: 3.

65 “Going to Chattanooga,” Oswego Daily Palladium, February 20, 1912: 4; “Vowinkel in Form,” Oswego Palladium, April 3, 1912: 5.

66 “Can’t Win on Home Field,” Chattanooga (Tennessee) Daily Times, May 11, 1912: 10; “Moran Approaches .300 in Batting; More Going after Pole in Pitching,” Chattanooga Daily Times, July 12, 1912: 7.

67 “News of the Circuit,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Daily Independent, July 13, 1912: 4; “Tri-State Champs Quit for Season,” Harrisburg Courier, September 22, 1912: 5.

68 “Johnny Has a Contract,” Oswego Daily Palladium, February 27, 1913: 8.

69 “Starting the Empire League,” Oswego Daily Palladium, March 1, 1913: 5.

70 “To Play at Watertown,” Oswego Daily Palladium, August 11, 1914: 6; “Havana Red Sox Play Oswego,” Watertown (New York) Daily Times, August 25, 1914: 6. According to news stories, the initial game involving the Havana Red Sox was not played due to a “misunderstanding” between the managements of the two teams. The author was unable to definitively confirm whether it was rescheduled.

71 “Vowinkel In Form,” Oswego Daily Palladium, August 22, 1914: 7.

72 While in Syracuse, Vowinkel also rescued umpire A.R. Kneeland from a beating by a mob of fans after a Syracuse-Binghamton game. “Payne Wants Vowinkel,” Oswego Daily Palladium, July 14, 1914: 4; “Syracuse Roughs Assault Umpire Who Runs His Game.”

73 The earliest reference to Vowinkel’s Chocolate Shop that the author could find was an ad that appeared in the Oswego Daily Palladium, July 9, 1915: 6.

74 The author was unable to determine exactly when Vowinkel’s Chocolate Shop closed. The 1940 Census, cited above, still identified Vowinkel as the proprietor of a candy store. By the time of the 1950 Census, he had left the sweetshop business.

75 Bill Heller, Politics and Ponies: The Fascinating Life of Howard Nolan (Bloomington, Indiana: Archway Publishing, 2018). The pages of the book are unnumbered; the anecdote involving Rip and Mae Vowinkel is found in Chapter 3: Friends for Life. This book is among the online sources that incorrectly credit Rip Vowinkel with the accomplishments of his father (see Endnote 12). No date is included for the Vowinkels’ custody of their niece.

76 One early account of his bowling skill dates to November 1906; at the time, Vowinkel and his father were on the same three-man bowling team. “Bowling League,” Oswego Daily Palladium, November 28, 1906: 8.

77 “Vowinkel Rolls 300 in Practice Game,” Oswego Palladium-Times, April 9, 1942: 13.

78 Among other places, it’s in his obituary: “John Vowinkel, 81, Oswego Athletic Great, Succumbs,” Oswego Palladium-Times, July 13, 1966: 3.

79 “Scorecard,” Sports Illustrated, August 3, 1970: 6. The magazine made no apparent attempt to verify or research the claim. The Oswego-based journalist who sent in the information was responding to an earlier item in the magazine about a man who had bowled a 300 and shot a hole-in-one.

80 The lengthy list of minor-league no-hitters on Baseball-Reference’s BR Bullpen site – so long and thorough that it is divided into decades – also included no mention of Vowinkel at the time this article was written in February 2023. https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Minor_League_No-Hitters

81 “New Pitcher for Utica.” The author was unable to find a game story for the possible no-hitter against Belleville. Vowinkel is known to have pitched a one-hitter for Kingston that season against a team from Watertown, New York; it’s described in “Sport Review,” Kingston Daily British Whig, August 3, 1903: 2.

82 1950 U.S. Census.

83 “Deaths in the County,” Fulton (New York) Patriot, November 4, 1954: 2.

84 Don McGann, “The Sports Scoreboard,” Oswego Palladium-Times, June 4, 1956: page number illegible.

85 Cause of death from Vowinkel’s New York State certificate of death, which is included in his clipping file at the Giamatti Research Center of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. All other information in this paragraph from “John Vowinkel, 81, Oswego Athletic Great, Succumbs.” Vowinkel’s niece Helen Burke, by then Mrs. Howard Nolan, is misidentified in the obituary as “Knowland.” Her name is similarly misspelled on Vowinkel’s certificate of death, on which she served as his informant.