FAME WENT ELSEWHERE
Bygone baseball: The unfamiliar, the unusual, the dramatic
By C. Philip Francis
Part 1
In this presidential year of 2000 we are bombarded with unceasing political ads on television, in the mail, and then, of course, the regular news and commentaries. You might have seen the political discussions by former New York governor, Mario Cuomo, but did you know that Governor Cuomo played professional baseball before beginning law and his political career? He is only one of many who left the game (Did they give up a call to the Hall of Fame?) for fame that was found elsewhere. Here are more:
MARIO MATTHEW CUOMO
He was born in 1932, and began a baseball career twenty years later with a Pittsburgh farm team, the Class D Brunswick (Georgia) Pirates. Centerfielder Cuomo was hitting .353 when he injured his wrist during a collision with an outfield fence. Baseball luck seemed to turn its back on Mario whom later spent a month in the hospital after being hit in the head with a wild pitch. He finished the season with a batting average of .244 and 26 RBI’s in 81 games before leaving professional baseball forever convinced that baseball was not part of his future, and that law school and politics was much less dangerous. Cuomo was elected Governor of New York in 1976, but continued his interest in baseball when he assisted in an unsuccessful attempt to bring a Major League expansion team to Buffalo in the late 1980’s.
DOCTOR ARCHIBALD WRIGHT GRAHAM
Few baseball followers have missed the 1989 movie The Field of Dreams that was based on W.P. Kinsella’s book Shoeless Joe when Doc or Moonlight Graham finally went to bat in an enchanted Iowa corn field. In reality Dr. Graham made his Major League debut on June 29, 1905 for the New York Giants as a right field replacement. He was in the game for only a few minutes before it ended as did his baseball career, and never did make it to the plate. The Giants went on to win the World Series as Graham walked away from the game for a successful medical career.
Moonlight spent 50 years as a doctor mostly in Chisholm, Minnesota, and died in 1965 at the age of 89. His name continues to live in the little northern Minnesota town with the Doc “Moonlight” Graham Memorial Scholarship Fund that was established in 1993. The money is raised by the sale of Moonlight Graham baseball trading cards, and used to award $500 scholarships to Chisholm High School seniors.
Yes, THAT Zane Grey. The famous author of popular western stories was born in 1872 in Zanesville, Ohio, and was a fine outfielder for the University of Pennsylvania baseball team while studying dentistry, and also played professional baseball under the name “Pearl Zane” to protect his eligibility at the university. He made his minor league debut as a left fielder with Findley, Ohio on June 15, 1895 going hitless, but walked and scored on a grand-slam by brother Romer who was in two ML games with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1903. Grey also pitched before graduating with a DDS degree in 1896.
Ed Barrow, later a ML manager and GM of the New York Yankees, signed the future writer who played pro ball through 1898 with Ohio and independent teams before starting his dental practice in New York. Grey wrote 86 books including Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) and The Last of the Plainsmen (1908), some works on game fishing, and three baseball novels. Grey died in 1939 at the age of 67.
GEORGE “PAPA BEAR” HALAS
Many athletes have often performed in several sports, but acclaimed in one more than another. Mention George Halas to a follower of sports, and he or she will say, “Oh, the man who spent so many years with the Chicago Bears in pro football.” The Papa Bear of the National Football League (NFL) Chicago Bears operated the Chicago NFL franchise, played end through 1929, and coached his Bears through 1968.
Prior to his football years Halas was in12 games, six in the outfield, for the New York Yankees in 1919 hitting a lowly .091. Many still believe that Yankee rightfielder Halas was replaced by Babe Ruth, but not so as the Bambino was traded by the Boston Red Sox to New York on January 3, 1920, months after Halas left baseball. Papa Bear died in 1983 at the age of 88.
THEY ALSO LEFT BASEBALL:
JOHN ELWAY, quarterback for the Denver Broncos from 1983 through 1999, had one year of professional baseball as an outfielder with Oneonta of the NY-Penn League in 1982.
RANDY MARIO POFFO had four years in minor league baseball before becoming a professional wrestler taking the name of Randy “Macho Man” Savage. He followed both father Angelo and brother Lanny into the glittery world of pro wrestling.
Next week: More baseball
players who later made it big in other fields.
FAME WENT ELSEWHERE
Part 2
We continue with some that tried to begin a career in baseball, but found fame elsewhere.
GEORGE RAFT
George Raft, a dark, handsome, and popular movie star in the 1930’s and ‘40’s, was born in 1895 in the rough section of New York City called Hell’s Kitchen only blocks from the movie theaters that would later show his many pictures including Scarface and Each Dawn I Die. He became an excellent dancer, made enough for food and rent at shooting pool, and was a skilled boxer.
Early in the 1900’s the National and American leagues joined together to shape Major League Baseball and first World Series soon followed. The young sports lover had an exceptional memory for baseball averages and statistics, and it was this ability that would help him in memorizing lines during his movie career. George’s ambition, however, was to play baseball saying that he would “give up anything for professional baseball.” He did play with some semi-pro teams on the Upper West Sid of New York, and at 16 he passed for 18 at a minor league tryout in Springfield, Massachusetts. The fledging outfielder’s dream was punctured when the manager said, “You can field pretty good, kid, but you can’t bat. I don’t think you’ll ever make it.”
Raft made lots of money as a movie star, and could afford tickets to any sport event. He saw most World Series games, and became friends to many ballplayers and managers. In the last game of the 1935 Series between with the Tigers and Cubs, Detroit’s Goose Goslin’s single brought home the winning run, and then immediately walked over to Raft’s box with the precious bat and said, “Here’s a present for you, Georgie.” The actor unfortunately soon lost the bat when he threw it at a driver who had cut off his taxicab while hurrying to catch a train for California.
Corbett was born in 1866, and beat John L. Sullivan for the world heavyweight championship in 1892. In Gentleman Jim’s case, he reversed the situation by becoming a famous heavyweight boxer before entering the world of professional baseball. He was still the champ when he played his first minor league game on August 12, 1895. The fighter handled first base for Scranton (PA) with brother Joe at shortstop. Jim was in one more game, but none in 1896 as he was training for a title bout with Bob Fitzsimmons on March 17, 1897. Although Corbett was a big favorite and ahead on points, he was knocked out in the 14th round by the British-born Fitz with a “lucky punch”.
Gentleman Jim was never given a return bout, and did not ever regain his championship. He did, however, use his boxing popularity for baseball connections. He never made it to the big leagues, but did play in 1897, ’98, and ’00, and finished with a batting average of .274 in 146 games. Corbett would often put on a boxing exhibition during the same day he played baseball, and when his Pawtucket (RI) team played the ML Louisville Colonels on August 22, 1897 Honus Wagner was in centerfield. Corbett gave up baseball and boxing, went into acting, and died in 1933.
Chuck is best known as “The Rifleman”, a highly popular television western series, but had earlier been in 942 minor league games from 1940 through 1952 less three military years. Chuck was born in 1921, was over 6’5”, attended Seton Hall University, and played pro basketball for three years in the late1940’s. .
Connors did make it to the majors. He was with the Brooklyn Dodgers for one game as a pinch-hitter in 1949, and was in 66 more with the Chicago Cubs in 1951. The big, left-handed firstbaseman hit two home runs for the Cubs, and finished his big league career with an average of .238. He was sent back to the minors, left baseball after a year with Los Angeles in the Pacific Coast League, and became an actor.
The television headliner was also in many motion pictures such as the classic The Big Country with Gregory Peck and Charlton Heston. Conners died in 1992 at the age of 71.
Ten presidents are known to have played baseball as a youth: Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, William Howard Taft (the first to throw out the first ball to open the season), Woodrow Wilson (who coached football at Wesleyan University), Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter (who broke the first ball tradition), Ronald Reagan, and George Bush.
Reagan’s first professional job was at a radio station in Davenport, Iowa. He went on to become a sportscaster in Des Moines recreating Chicago Cub games as they came over the ticker wire. George Bush was probably the best presidential player, but was described by a college coach as, “…wasn’t a prospect. He could run, but he lacked real power”
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