1944: Elmer Gedeon

Because it is Memorial Day, I am reposting this blurb on Elmer Gedeon that I originally published in April 2008.

April 20, 1944

Elmer Gedeon was part of an athletic family from the beginning. His uncle Joe was a major league ballplayer who made a little history of his own by being the only player banned as a result of the Black Sox scandal that wasn’t actually a member of the team that threw the games.

Elmer followed in his uncle’s athletic footsteps, however, and became a multi-sport athlete at the University of Michigan. He lettered in three different sports, but his best was probably track and field, in which he was a two-time Big Ten Champion, helping his team to earn multiple National Championships. Elmer also played football and baseball in college.

Upon graduation in 1939, Gedeon signed with the Washington Nationals. After spending the first part of that season in the minors, he was called up in mid-September and appeared in five games for Washington. He spent the 1940 season playing in Charlotte, and though he received another September call to Washington he did not appear in any games. Gedeon was set to return to spring training in 1941, but was drafted to the military in January of that year instead.

Gedeon joined the Air Force and ended up flying missions as a captain in France. Gary Bedingfield chronicled the events of April 20 at Baseballlibrary.com:

On April 20, Gedeon piloted one of 30 B-26 Marauders that left Boreham to attack construction works at Bois de Esquerdes. It was the group’s thirteenth mission. Gedeon’s bomber was severely hit by flak over France, and co-pilot Lieutenant James Taaffe, who had been sitting alongside Gedeon when the airplane was hit, was the only crew member able to escape as the bomber plunged to the earth, carrying Gedeon and five others. He is buried at St Pol, France.

Gedeon was listed as MIA for more than a year. Finally, in May of 1945, his father received confirmation of Elmer’s death from a commanding officer who explained that his burial site had been located.

Gedeon was one of two major league players who were killed in action during World War II. The other was Harry O’Neill of the Philadelphia Athletics, who was killed at Iwo Jima in March 1945.

Baseball Reference page

Another Bio

1905: Washington Nationals

March 29, 1905

Prior to the introduction of the American League onto the sporting public in 1901, there was a National League franchise in Washington that from 1891-1899 went by the nickname “Senators.” Before settling on Senators, the team went by “Statesmen” and “Nationals” in previous incarnations, but neither of those names stuck longer than a few years. By the time the National League Washington Senators disappeared in 1899, the name “Washington Senators” was established as the name for the baseball team in the D.C. area.

When the Washington American League club was established, they were essentially without an official nickname. Newspapers didn’t really go for the name “Washington American League club” so, out of habit perhaps, they were stuck with the label “Senators.”

In 1905, the team’s owner Thomas C. Noyes made an effort to distance his team from the National League version of the Senators by allowing a committee of writers to vote for a new nickname. On March 29, 1905, just prior to the start of the team’s fifth season, the writers voted to call the team “Washington Nationals.”

For 50 years, the club’s official nickname was “Nationals.” They were rarely called that, however, in large part because the very writers who voted for the new nickname had such trouble applying it the actual team. Through the years the references to the Senators in the newspapers outnumbered the references to the official nickname. Finally, in 1955, Calvin Griffith made the name official, changing the team from the “Nationals” to the “Senators.”

For more on the history and a little of my personal venting, here is my original post on the matter.

1938: Nats Swap First Basemen with White Sox

Originally posted March 18, 2008

March 17, 1938

Joe Kuhel came up with the Washington Nationals in 1930. By 1931, he had taken over as the every day first baseman, a position that had been held by Joe Judge since 1916. Kuhel had some solid offensive numbers with the Nats, though it is likely that he was held down a bit in that regard by playing his home games in Griffith Stadium. Still, it was Kuhel’s defense that made him a popular player with Clark Griffith. He was widely considered the best fielding first baseman in the league. Kuhel did his talking on the field, known as a quiet man off the field.

Kuhel’s direct opposite might have been Zeke Bonura. Bonura came up with the White Sox in 1934 and immediately hit for power in Comiskey Park. He set a team record for home runs in a season in his rookie year with 27 and knocked in more than 90 RBI’s in each of his first four seasons. Bonura generated interest amongst fans with his bat, but was a headache for management, particularly due to his statuesque play at first. Bonura managed to lead the league in fielding percentage in 1936, largely due to the fact that he didn’t move his feet. As if his “effort” fielding wasn’t bad enough, Bonura further alienated himself from White Sox management by being a problem off the field. Between frequent hold outs he was rumored to have had a romantic interest in the owner’s daughter, which ultimately led to the need for the Sox to trade him before the 1938 season.

The trade went down in the spring of 1938. Both players had been popular with their cities’ respective fans, so the trade wasn’t greeted warmly in either city. Still, both players were able to win the fans over, Bonura with his hitting – 22 home runs in 1938, and Kuhel with his fielding.

Despite the fact that the trade seemed like a win-win, Washington had a young first baseman by the name of Mickey Vernon waiting in the wings, so Bonura’s tenure with the Nats lasted only a year. He was dealt to New York to play with the Giants for the 1939 season. He returned to Washington briefly for the beginning of the 1940 season, but was traded by Griffith once again, this time to the Cubs.

Kuhel showed that he could have some success hitting for power in a different ballpark. He was able to put together some very good seasons for the White Sox, though he too found his way back to Washington. Griffith purchased Kuhel back before the 1944 season. Joe had a couple of good seasons during his second stint with Washington, including what was probably his best season in 1945. The White Sox purchased him back in 1946 and Kuhel finished his playing career there after a few appearances at the age of 41 in 1947. Kuhel returned to the Washington organization as a manager the following year, though he was replaced after two losing seasons.

1916: Gandil Sold

February 15, 1916

Arnold Gandil, whose usefulness to the Washington Club ended when Manager Griffith declared that Joe Judge was the man for the job, finally has been disposed of …. had been sold outright to Cleveland.

Chick Gandil had been regarded as one of the best first basemen in baseball during his time in Washington, but managed to fall out of favor with Clark Griffith, possibly due to Gandil’s habit of smoking in between innings. Just four years prior, Griffith had called Gandil the “missing link” in his infield and gave him credit for turning the team around in 1912.

Griffith got $5,000 in exchange for Gandil, which was reportedly about half what he could have gotten had Gandil cleared American League waivers and landed with the Boston Braves. Though Chick had made a name for himself in Washington, he wasn’t the highest profile signing by Cleveland in the offseason. The Naps also brought in Tris Speaker.

Gandil, of course, is now known more for his role in the Black Sox scandal than his time with Washington. It was in his first season in Washington, 1912, that Gandil first met gambler Joseph “Sport” Sullivan, who would be a key figure in the scandal.

Read More:

BIOProject – biography by Daniel Ginsburg

Wednesday June 17, 1959 (Take Two)

Box

Senators 7, Athletics 2

Neither the Senators nor the Athletics figured to have much impact on the 1959 pennant race by the middle of June. Washington had lingered around the .500 mark until the last week in May when a 1-4 record on a five-game homestand against the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, the latter of which swept three games by a total run tally of 25-2, dropped them to 21-26, 6.5 games out of first place.

By the time the A’s came into town in mid-June, Cookie Lavagetto’s men had a 3-8 record in the month, dropping the overall record to 24-34. The Seantors hoped an 8-5 win in the first game of the series was a sign of things to come.

Camilo Pascual took the ball for the second game of the series at Griffith Stadium. Though he allowed eight hits, the A’s managed only two runs in the game. The Senators fell behind early, but a fourth inning triple by Hal Naragon plated Jim Lemon to even the score. Naragon later came home on a Reno Bertoia single to give Washington a 2-1 lead. Bob Allison’s two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning made the score 4-1, and Bertoia capped off the 7-2 win with a two-run shot of his own in the bottom of the eighth.

Washington completed the sweep the next day, and were able to climb back to two games under .500 by the time the A’s returned to D.C. on July 17. The A’s took three out of four in that series, starting the ‘Nats on a landslide in which at one point they lost 18 games in a row and totaled 2-24 over the course of a month of baseball. They finished the season in last place, 31 games out of first.

1934: Rice signs with Cleveland

February 13, 1934

While Sam Rice’s playing career seemed to be winding down prior to the 1933 season, the long time Nat was looking to start has managing career. When Walter Johnson was dismissed as manager, Rice thought it might be his time. Clark Griffith went to the much younger Joe Cronin, however. Rice’s disappointment was likely exacerbated by the fact that he was, for the first time in decades, relegated to the bench full time.

After being used for only one pinch-hitting appearance in the 1933 series, the writing was on the wall for Rice. He was released by Washington in January of 1934, but jumped at the opportunity to join long-time teammate Walter Johnson, who was managing in Cleveland.

Rice saw a lot more playing time than he had in 1933. While he only saw 89 plate appearances in his final year in Washington, Rice compiled 367 in Cleveland. The wear and tear of near daily work got to Rice later in the summer, however. After a miserable August in which he batted less that .200, Rice decided to hang up his spikes. As a farewell, he went 3-for-5 in his final game – which just happened to come against his former team.

Elmer Valo

When Elmer Valo joined the Washington Senators in 1959, he was already a veteran of 19 baseball seasons. Though he spent his first 15 seasons with the Philadelphia/Kansas City A’s, by the time he was signed as a free agent by the Nats in May of 1960 he had spent the previous five seasons playing for six different teams in seven different cities.

It seemed that his major league career was over in 1959. After the Czechoslovakia native seemed to get no interest from major league teams in the offseason, he began the year as player-manager for the Seattle Raniers. He caught the eye of many during his short stint in the Pacific Northwest, including famous Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich who noted in a May roundup that Valo was leading the Pacific Coast League in hitting with a .340 average.

The Senators snatched him up when the 40-year-old became available after appearing just eight times for the New York Yankees before being cut when the rosters reduced in the early part of the season. The Sporting News report indicated that Washington was interested in Valo primarily as a pinch-hitter, which turned out to be an understatement. To make room for Valo, the team sent young first baseman Don Mincher to Charleston, though manager Cookie Lavagetto insisted that Mincher had a future as a major league player.

While he appeared in 76 games for the Nats that season, Valo started in a single game. By the end of the season, he had compiled all of 20 innings in the outfield. Of his 85 plate appearances, 75 came as a pinch-hitter. When combined with the seven pinch-hitting plate appearances with the Yankees, Valo still holds the single-season American League record with 82 pinch-hitting appearances.

Valo made the move with the franchise to Minnesota. He appeared in 33 games (all as a pinch hitter) before he was released in June. Valo was picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies for the rest of the season before retiring at the age of 41.

In 108 games with the franchise, Valo made just the one start. His batting line was .240/.372/.292 thanks to a patient eye at the plate.

Baseball In DC During WWII

Mark Hornbaker at Nationals Daily News posted some stories shared by George Case III (son of George Case, Jr. who played for the Nats from 1937-1945). It is well worth a read.

One of the stories is about Buddy Lewis:

Buddy Lewis, “flew the Hump” in a DC 3 during the war – my dad related an interesting story about Buddy – in 1943, Buddy stopped by Griffith Stadium to say “good-bye” to his Washington teammates – he told them that he had to take his plane out of Andrews but to look for him – my dad was in the on deck circle and there was Buddy Lewis in a DC3 coming in low and fast over Griffith Stadium dipping his wings and my dad threw his bat in the air as his way of saying “we know it’s you Buddy – be safe.”

1925: “At no time did I lose possession of the ball”

Amidst all the “baseball in October” commercials I keep coming back to this moment that is not a huge part of the modern lore, but probably should be.

Saturday October 10, 1925

After splitting the first two games of the 1925 World Series, the Washington Nationals returned home to host Game 3 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Nats were ahead 4-3 heading into the top of the eighth inning, looking to take a 2-games-to-1 lead in the series. With two outs, Pittsburgh catcher Earl Smith hit a drive deep into the right field corner of Griffith Stadium. Right fielder and future Hall of Famer Sam Rice sprinted toward the right field line, leapt, and backhanded the ball in his glove as he tumbled into the stands. Moments later, Rice emerged with ball in hand. Smith was called out, and Washington went on to win the game.

There was some dispute from the Pirates as to whether Rice had actually caught the ball. The working theory for Pittsburgh was that he lost the ball in the crowd, but a helpful Washington rooter placed it back in his glove.

Rice seemed to enjoy the mystery surrounding the play. As the years went on, he never directly addressed the question of whether he caught the ball, often replying in a coy manner that “the umpire said he was out, so he was out.” He even refused to tell his wife and daughter the truth, obviously enjoying the mystery of the whole thing.

Instead of revealing the truth while alive, Rice left a sealed letter with the baseball Hall of Fame, to be opened upon his death. Finally, in October of 1974, the letter was opened, revealing that following:

“… the ball was a line drive headed for the bleachers towards right center, I turned slightly to my right and had the ball in view all the way, going at top speed and about 15 feet from bleachers jumped as high as I could and back handed and the ball hit the center of the pocket in glove (I had a death grip on it). I hit the ground about five feet from a barrier about four feet high in front of bleachers with all my brakes on but couldn’t stop so I tried to jump it to land in the crowd but my feet hit the barrier about a foot from top and I toppled over on my stomach into first row of bleachers, I hit my Adam’s apple on something which sort of knocked me out for a few seconds but McNeeley arrived about that time and grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me out. I remember trotting back towards the infield still carry in the ball for about halfway and then tossed it towards the pitcher’s mound. (How I have wished many times I had kept it.) At no time did I lose possession of the ball.”

Rice’s “revelation” was obviously written in a clever way as to keep the mystery surrounding the event. In fact, a Washington fan claiming to have been sitting in the front row that day claimed that Rice had indeed lost the ball.

Lou Gehrig and Concussions

Friday September 9, 1938

It is noted in Charlton’s Baseball Chronology that Lou Gehrig played his 2,100 consecutive game on September 9, 1938 against Washington. As was par for the course in Nats-Yankees, games, the Yankees shut out Washington in the game.

That little tidbit reminded me of the recent episode of HBO’s Real Sports in which Gehrig’s career, and its tied to his namesake disease, were discussed. Now, it seems, a link has been discovered between head trauma and ALS (or an ALS-like disease) that would explain the higher than normal rates of ALS among former athletes.

A search of news archives performed by Real Sports turned up at least six instances in Gehrig’s Yankee career in which the Iron Horse was knocked unconscious on the field. In one particularly scary incident, Gehrig was forced to wear teammate Babe Ruth’s cap the next day- several sizes larger- due to the swelling in his head.

The recent research indicates that athletes who “play through the pain” when it comes to head injuries likely make the effects worse. Gehrig, of course, made part of his legend by playing every day.

All of this seems to indicate that head injuries should not be treated the same as other injuries, and that the Twins and Justin Morneau are doing the right thing by delaying his return. There has been a small amount of discontent, most notably in the comments sections of various Twins blogs, with the amount of time it is taking Morneau to get back. It is not too far off base to say those whispers might be a bit louder if the team were not winning. Based on these findings and others, however, it is prudent to err on the side of taking too much time to get back – whether the team suffers or not.