Joe Casey was a catcher who played in 50 major league games,
mostly for the 1909-11 Detroit Tigers, then returning for nine games with the
1918 Washington Senators. The numbers suggest he was solid defensively (about
one assist every four innings), but not much of a hitter, at least at the major
league level. Like with Otis Lawry, I have found no narratives of his life, so
I have tried to piece one together myself.
Joe was born in Boston in 1887 and grew up in Wakefield,
Massachusetts. The 1900 census shows him living at 20 Melvin St. with his
father John, an upholsterer born in Ireland, his mother Elizabeth, born in
Canada, and four older siblings; the three eldest (18, 16, and 15) were
employed at a rattan company.
Joe was a star catcher at Wakefield High, probably
graduating in 1905. That year there is a report of him playing for an
independent team in Manchester, Connecticut. During 1906 he is mentioned in a
game account, playing for Manchester; his register at baseball-reference.com
shows him playing for Lowell in the New England League; and a newspaper report
from August says “Newark has landed ‘Joe’ Casey, a crack Boston college player.
Casey will report next season.” As far as I can tell he never did play for
Newark, but the mention of college brings us to some confusion. Various
websites list him as having attended Boston College, but I found no references
to that; instead one feature article about him from 1909 details how he had
played for Villanova until he got kicked out of school in 1907 for playing professionally
during the summers, and two years later there is another mention of his having
attended Villanova.
Joe played for Hartford in the Class B Connecticut State
League in 1907 and 1908, finding time to coach his old high school’s team in the
spring of 1908. That year he caught about half of Hartford’s games and played
well enough to be drafted by Little Rock in the Class A Southern Association.
He
played almost every day for Little Rock in 1909, receiving tutoring on the ins
and outs of the game from former major league catcher Jack O’Connor and receiving
rave reviews for his play despite hitting just .231. At the end of the season he
was purchased by the Detroit Tigers. He debuted for them on October 1, going
0-for-4 but getting three assists behind the plate, and got into the next two
games as well.
During the off-season Joe expressed some displeasure with
the contract the Tigers sent him, but signed in January, reportedly for $200
more than rookies normally got. Manager Hughie Jennings was very impressed with
Joe’s defense, especially his arm, and during spring training worked extensively
with him on his hitting. He was said to be a fast runner as well as a strong
tenor singer. On April 10 the Springfield Republican reported:
“Joe" Casey is filling the bill nicely behind the bat, as
far as catching goes. Casey’s great fault in hitting is that he sets himself
before swinging. What Jennings is trying to impress upon him is to settle and
swing at the same time. Maybe Casey will get the "knack" of it one of these
days. If he does, he will be a baseball celebrity of no little note. Apropos of
Casey, it must be said that he throws one of the most difficult-handled balls
to second base. "Doni" Bush and "Jim" Delahanty ought to know. They have taken
his throws repeatedly this spring. "It’s the worst I ever handled," explained
Bush. "The ball apparently is dead and hits your hands like a chunk of lead.
But it comes with great speed." "Yes, and if it ever hits you, it will leave a
mark, too," said Delahanty.
The Tigers carried four catchers to start 1910, and it was
said that Joe would be the backup to Oscar Stanage. But while Jennings
continued to work daily with him, and predictions as to his bright future
continued, Joe did not start a game until August 19 and had batted just twice
to that point. From that point on he started 17 of the 45 games, not hitting
much but throwing out a lot of runners. In September there was a story in the Detroit Times that he and a teammate
would be playing pool that evening at a local parlor, and that “Casey and Works
are highly proficient in the game and have mastered a lot of hard shots
lately.” Also in that newspaper, a week later, was this:
Manager Hugh Jennings must feel gratified these days when
he thinks of the long, hot summer during which he worked with little Joe
Casey…All summer he instructed the juvenile in catching and throwing…The net
result is a peppery, active catcher, who holds up his pitcher, and who throws
to bases with speed and accuracy. Joe Casey in his present form is a credit to
himself and to Hugh Jennings, whose perception and patience brought out the
talent the young man possessed.
The 1910 census showed Joe residing in Wakefield, now at 31
Bennett St., which would be Joe’s address for the rest of his life, with his
parents and two of his siblings. His father was now listed as a carriage
upholsterer, and Joe as a ballplayer. On December 28 the Boston Herald ran this story:
Joe Casey, the
Detroit backstop, is at Wakefield, his home town, spending the holidays.
Casey made good with the Detroit Tigers and he has signed
for next season. He has just returned from Cuba, where his team played with the
Almendares and other teams on the island, leaving there before the Philadelphia
Athletics, who are now on their way to Tampa.
Before he joined the Hartford team, Casey played in South
Manchester under Breckenridge. Since leaving Manchester it was his custom every
winter to visit Manchester and appear in the dining room of the hotel at every
meal in a different suit of clothes. He says he has outgrown this habit now and
he has cut out the parade.
Joe looked pretty chippy as he walked up from the station
yesterday. He was all dolled up. Casey says he looks forward to a good season
and will not have much time in Wakefield for his team will soon go to Louisiana
for the spring training. He said he was in fine health and his whip was just
like a piece of steel.
In February 1911 there were reports that Joe had not yet
signed his contract, despite what the above story said, but by the end of the
month he had done so. During spring training there was much talk of Joe’s
improved hitting. There was also a story in the Detroit Times with the headline “Kidding Casey Becomes a Popular
Pastime Now,” telling how he believed himself to be fast and his teammates were
giving him a hard time when he ran. Another story in the Times told how a Dartmouth professor had made him a “scientific
bat” with its largest diameter about six inches from the end, tapering after
that. It said that his teammates were asking to borrow it, and that it had
appeared to make Joe a 20 percent better hitter. Joe was also reported to be
159 pounds and hard as nails, which, as we shall see, was not the case for much
longer.
Joe was expected to get a lot of playing time in 1911,
especially since 1910’s backup catcher Charlie Schmidt had supposedly quit to
become a boxer, but Oscar Stanage ended up playing almost every day. In fact
Stanage started every game until getting injured in June, after which Joe
started two games in Boston (where he had been expected to start one anyway, in
front of his hometown fans) and two in New York before Stanage’s return. During
that week the Bridgeport Evening Farmer
stated that Joe “is winning praise for his great work behind the bat” and “is
regarded as one of the best throwers in the American league.” Even so, he only
started three more games the rest of the season (two of them in centerfield
after two of the team’s outfielders missed a train), finishing with just 33
at-bats. Along the way he did get ejected from a game in July, for getting
after the umpire from the bench.
During the 1911-12 offseason there was speculation that Joe
would have to fight for his job in 1912, and also that he might be returning to
New England to play in the minors. In January the Detroit Free Press reported:
Joseph F. Casey (Little Joe) of Wakefield, Mass., the
catcher with the Tommy Atkins walk and the never-failing supply of pepper, has
signed his contract with the Tigers and says that he will be there when the
bell rings…He has had little chance to show his real worth, largely due to the
fact that Stanage’s excellent work has left no opening for another backstop.
The Wakefield boy has a fine arm and is one of the most
gingery and aggressive men in the league. Batting is his weak spot, and for two
years now Jennings has been trying to make him a hitter without any great
success. Foul balls also trouble Casey, but he is improving in his handling of
the twisters and seldom lets one of them hit him on the head anymore…
Casey’s future is problematical right now, but the
indications are that he will be retained here to understudy the brilliant
Stanage. With regular work, he probably would develop into a reliable backstop,
for he is a hard worker and anxious to learn. It is his misfortune and not his
fault that the Tigers possess the best catcher in the league in Stanage, and
intend to use Oscar just as often as possible.
During spring training Joe fought with two other catchers
for two backup spots, with some articles saying he would make the team and
others saying he was on his way out. For the first time he reported overweight,
and on hot days was “wearing two or three flannel shirts, along with a rubber
one,” in order to lose pounds. On April 5 he was put on waivers, and two weeks
later was sold to Indianapolis in the Class AA American Association.
No statistics are available for Joe for 1912, but he was
apparently popular in Indianapolis. In early May the Arkansas Gazette reported “The Memphis Scimitar says, Indianapolis
press and fans say Joe Casey, secured from Detroit, is the best backstop seen
there since the days of Paddy Livingstone and think Jennings made a mistake in
letting the former Little Rock pepper box get away—We fall for that ‘pepper
box,’ for Joe was a chesty piece of furniture during his sojourn here.” That
same week, the chesty piece of furniture was sitting in front of the team’s
hotel with two teammates when a speeding taxicab almost hit them. In July, it
was mentioned in the Hartford Courant
that someone named Lemieux was the only player in the Connecticut League who
could read French since Joe Casey left. At the beginning of August Joe was
loaned by Indianapolis to their league rivals St. Paul, which seems to suggest
that his stock had fallen significantly. I found no further mention of him
during the season, so I don’t know if he came back to Indianapolis before
season’s end, but after the season he was once again their property.
During the offseason Joe expressed the desire to gain his
release and go back to Connecticut to play, but it didn’t happen. He reported
to spring training 1913 with Indianapolis overweight, but not as much as the
year before. In mid-March the Springfield
Union quoted an Indianapolis newspaper as saying that Joe was too heavy
last season “to allow him to perform in his usual lively manner behind the home
plate,” and continued:
Joe Casey’s bay window front, which, as the fans know, was
on a large scale, figures much in the redemption of Casey. Manager Mike Kelley
says Joe has been redeemed and he expects the former Detroit player to deliver
the goods in fine style for the Indians.
It all came about because of that bay window front. Casey
lives at Wakefield, Mass., and about a month ago when a contract was sent him
he also got orders. In the words of Kelley, the orders were this, "You get rid
of that stomach of yours, or you will take the first train leading from West
Baden after you report." That sounded ominous to Joe. He knew that when Boss
Mike passed the word with a threat tied to it that something would have to be
done. And he did it. Joe saw his meal ticket slipping away and he got to work
training in Wakefield. He trained like a prize fighter and when he walked into
the hotel to report Kelley hardly knew him.
Kelley declared that Casey’s inactivity in Detroit had
spoiled a natural catcher and cause him to slip back. Now Casey is looking like
himself again and Kelley is hopeful that he will get back his natural stride.
He said today that Casey was in good condition for the first time since he left
Little Rock.
Incidentally, the Indian boss slipped a quiet word to Casey
that if he caught him trifling with the hops that off would go his head…
Early in the 1913 season Joe injured his ankle sliding and
was expected to be out for several weeks. That’s the last mention of him I
found during the season. He ended up playing in 73 games and hit .236, which
was at least better than he ever hit with Detroit. In December it was reported
that Indianapolis had put him up for sale, in February 1914 that he was a
holdout, and in March that Lewiston, Maine, of the Class B New England League,
where he had started in 1906, was after him. An early April article in the Detroit Times about Ty Cobb throwing a
heavy ball and Oscar Stanage a light one stated that Joe throws the heaviest
ball in the game. On April 8 it was announced that he had been sold to
Lewiston, but three weeks later the Boston
Herald reported that he had declined to report to Lewiston and was working
out with the Boston Braves while hoping to get out of his Lewiston obligation
so that he could play for Art Devlin in Oakland, from whom he had a better
offer. That story said that he was “in great physical condition, weighing
nearly 40 pounds less than when with Detroit.” He ended up playing the season
in Lewiston, though, and hit .292 in 114 games.
In February 1915 the Boston
Herald reported that Joe had visited the Red Sox offices, and that he had
received a contract from Indianapolis but couldn’t accept it because he was
owned by Lewiston. Somehow he ended up starting the season with Buffalo of the
Class AA International League, where reportedly he had trouble getting down to
playing weight. Early in the season he was traded to Providence of the same
league, where he started off hitting .432 (16 for 37), and had the best
offensive season of his career so far, as best as I can tell from the extremely
spotty minor league stats of the era. He also led IL catchers in fielding
percentage.
In Massachusetts in early December Joe was hit by an
automobile, which broke his leg. He sued the “automobilist” for $10,000. Before
the 1916 season began he was released by Providence after nobody claimed
waivers on “the stocky backstop who, it is said, has lost what little speed he
had as a result of an auto accident.” All Joe’s Baseball Reference page shows
for 1916 is 34 games for Rochester in the International League; I found no
mention of this in the newspapers. All I found is that he signed with Elmira in
the New York State League in late July, so I don’t know whether Rochester came
before or after Elmira.
Joe started 1917 back with Buffalo in the International
League as the backup catcher. In June he was obtained by Salt Lake City in the
Pacific Coast League, also Class AA, to be the backup to Harry “Truck” Hannah,
but did not leave for Utah until Buffalo had secured a replacement. On July 8
it was reported that he was on his way, and on July 17 the Salt Lake Telegram said that he was being kept on the bench until
Hannah met his goal of catching the team’s first hundred games. Joe relieved
Hannah at the end of game 100 on July 19. The United States had entered World
War I in April, and on July 27 it was announced that Joe had been drafted. I
found a mention the following year that he had been “exempted from service on
account of gnarled and knotty finger joints,” but I don’t know what he did the
rest of the year. Baseball Reference doesn’t show his time with Salt Lake, but
does show him having played nine games for Vernon in the PCL.
In 1918 there was a shortage of players due to the war, and
consequently many fewer minor leagues than there had been. Joe began the season
with Minneapolis of the American Association, but at the beginning of May the
Washington Senators needed a catcher badly and Minneapolis manager Joe
Cantillon, who had managed the Senators several years previously, loaned Joe to
them. On May 7 the Washington Evening
Star stated:
The catcher is short as to stature, but is huskily built,
being one of the heaviest men on the club. He knocked the ball far and away in
hitting practice and demonstrated in throwing to the bases that he has an arm
of steel.
His pegs have nothing of the loop about them, traveling on a
line not more than head high from the plate to the keystone sack…
Joe made his debut for the Senators on May 8, replacing
Eddie Ainsmith when Ainsmith injured a finger. This was the first time in 1918
Ainsmith had missed an inning. Joe also started the next two games. On May 25
the Evening Star reported that
Washington had obtained catcher Val Picinich from the Atlanta Crackers in the
Southern Association, and that as part of that deal Joe was being loaned to
Atlanta until they could round up another catcher. (How do you loan something
that you borrowed in the first place?) Joe played 21 games for Atlanta and hit
.265, then was returned to Washington in mid-June. On June 20 there was a
report of he and Joe Judge “motoring to the Poconos” together, and on June 25
it was said that “Every time he emerges from the dugout Joe Casey gets a hand
from the fans, who still remember his timely clouting.” (They still remember
May 8-10?) He may have been well-regarded by the fans, and the newspapers, but
he didn’t get into another game until August, with Ainsmith and Picinich
handling the catching. He did do some base coaching, though, including the game
of July 8 when he sent a runner home who was thrown out. On August 12 Picinich
enlisted in the Navy, enabling Joe to get into five games before the season
ended early due to the war, on September 2.
Since Joe had been rejected for military duty he took up essential
war-related work at a factory in Rochester, where he played for the factory
baseball team and found several players to recommend to the Senators. They did
not return the favor, though, and released him in March 1919. In April he
signed with Buffalo again, and seems to have stayed there the entire season,
playing in 81 games and hitting .283.
Joe began the 1920 season with Buffalo, but moved to the
Baltimore Orioles, who were heading for their second of seven straight
International League championships, in May. On June 27 the Baltimore American reported “Just before today’s game at Oriole
Park there will be a foot race of 100 yards between Ben Egan and Joe Casey, the
local backstops. The race is the outcome over an argument between the players
as to which is the faster.” In late July Joe moved on to his third IL team of
the year, the Syracuse Stars. In December the Baltimore American stated: “Happy Joe Casey, who caught for the
Orioles part of last season, has been released by Syracuse to the San Antonio
Club, of the Texas League. Failure to keep in condition caused Joe to lose his
job with Baltimore.”
During spring training 1921 there were many comments in the
newspapers about Joe’s weight. Beaumont
Enterprise, 3-13-21: “Joe Casey, catcher from Syracuse, who is expected to
be a first-string receiver, is too fat to work yet. A week of training has
failed to diminish Joe’s paunch perceptibly.” 3-20-21: “…Joe Casey, who arrived
measuring about the same north by south, as east by west…Casey has lost 18 pounds
since reporting, and is still over the 200-pound mark, although he isn’t tall,
being considerably under six feet.” Boston
Herald, 3-27-21: “Joe Casey caught very well for seven innings [in an
exhibition against the Braves] but is very fat, the gang calling him ‘Fat’ from
the grandstand.” If you’re so fat that the gang calls you "Fat," that is a
problem.
Joe played in eleven games for San Antonio, hitting .105,
before he was purchased by Columbia of the Class B South Atlantic League in
early May, the first time he’d gone as low as Class B since 1914. Upon his
arrival in Columbia it was reported that he had been out for two weeks with a
broken finger but was now healed. On May 14 the Charlotte Observer reported Columbia manager Zinn Beck as saying
“…my club will be wonderfully improved. I have a bunch of young pitchers and
both of my catchers are youngsters. A wise old head like Casey back there will
help those young pitchers.” Joe made his Columbia debut that day, hitting a
home run, the first of three he hit in his first two weeks. On May 30 it was
reported that he was hoping to get back into the lineup after missing time with
a hand injury. On July 16 he was ejected from the game. The Columbia Record reported on July 24 “Joe
Casey suffered another injured finger early in the first game Saturday and had
to retire. He returned to the coaching lines in the nightcap and will likely be
back in the game in the Spartanburg series.”
By early August Joe’s stock seems to have fallen again, as
he was traded to the Portsmouth Truckers in the Virginia League, also Class B,
for another catcher who had “got in a row with a fan and was fined in police
court for it.” He did hit .364 in 32 games there, as Portsmouth won the league
championship.
In February 1922 Joe was purchased by the Greenville
Spinners of the South Atlantic League, and he promptly began a holdout. On
March 21 it was reported that the team was not trying very hard to sign him,
and on March 27 the Charlotte Observer
stated “Joe Casey, Columbia’s so-called ‘bad boy’ of last year, is another
Spinner who is still out of the fold. Whether or not he will report probably is
known to no one other than Casey himself.” He eventually signed in early May,
after the team had played its first 16 games of the season. Soon he was playing
regularly, and had appeared in 18 games when, on June 9, he broke his ankle
sliding into third.
From the June 29 Beaumont
Enterprise:
Slow Men Refuse to Race.
Joe Casey and Grover Land, veteran catchers in the South
Atlantic league and rated among the slowest men playing baseball, were ribbed
up for a foot race of 500 yards for a purse of $100. When the time came to pull
off the event—and the whole league was excited about it—Land put up a plea of
lumbago and Casey claimed he had broken an ankle or something. If both men are
in shape by next June the race will be pulled off as advertised.
Broken an ankle or something.
From the July 19 Charleston
Evening Post:
Joe Casey, the good-natured Spinner veteran backstop,
experienced the pleasure of putting a shoe on his right foot yesterday for the
first time in several weeks. Joe had the plaster cast removed from his leg
yesterday. It was injured several weeks ago. He hopes to be back in the game in
a week or so.
From the August 10 Greenville
News:
Joe Casey, the popular Spinner catcher who broke a leg
shortly after he joined the Spinners and just after he had his young pitchers
lined up and going fine, has returned to his home near Boston. At the time of
his injury it was believed that Casey would be able to play the latter part of
the season, but he sustained another fracture when he bang [sic] light workouts
recently and when he found he would be unable to play any more this season he
left for home.
For spring training 1923 Joe was hired as a temporary coach
by John McGraw of the New York Giants, to work with their young pitchers. This
was at the recommendation of Joe’s old Detroit manager, Hughie Jennings, who
was now a Giants coach. The pitchers and catchers reported to Marlin, Texas, in
February, and then moved to San Antonio, where they were joined by the rest of
the team. Joe seems to have had a good time there. On March 9 the Giants
presented a radio program on San Antonio’s WOAI, with coach Cozy Dolan as
emcee. Art Nehf played the piano, then the World’s Champion Warblers,
consisting of Virgil Barnes, Jess Barnes, Hugh McQuillan, and Joe, sang. This
was followed by a talk by sportswriter Bugs Baer about the hardships of
training camp, and then Frankie Frisch sang. In the Stamford Daily Advocate on March 21 there was a photo of a Giants
impromptu jazz concert, with Joe on drums.
Soon after that Joe was struck with appendicitis and had to
be operated on. On April 5 the Augusta
Chronicle reported that he had arrived at Greenville that afternoon, but on
April 16 the Evansville Journal said
that he was expected to be out of a San Antonio hospital soon. At any rate, he
was catching by April 25. He hit .329 in 52 games for Greenville, and then on
June 29 the Augusta Chronicle
reported that “valiant Joe Casey” had been sold to Wichita of the Class A
Western League. He hit .342 in 49 games for Wichita.
By the end of the 1923 season Joe was 36 years old, though
he seems to have had the best offensive season of his career. In November he
appeared on Wichita’s reserve list, but somehow when the 1924 season began he
was with Bridgeport of the Class A Eastern League. On August 24 the Seattle
Times reported “Joe Casey, a big leaguer more than ten years ago, is catching
for Tulsa, in the Western League.” However, Joe appeared in Bridgeport box
scores in September, so I don’t know who was catching for Tulsa. For the season
he hit .233 in 50 games. In November Bridgeport’s reserve list was published,
and Joe was not on it. In December baseball’s annual meetings took place in
Hartford, and Joe was there; on December 7 the Springfield Republican mentioned
the fact that he was a free agent.
In January 1925 Joe signed a contract with the Richmond
Colts of the Class B Virginia League. In spring training he was put in charge
of the pitchers and catchers for the first week and a half, until the manager
arrived. On March 17 the Richmond Times
Dispatch reported, under the headlines “Casey Pegs Well” and “Veteran
Catcher Keeps His Squad Hustling,” “Casey moved around with agility, and cut
loose with accurate pegs from home to the midway sack. His arm is good now, and
it won’t be many days before the veteran’s wing is in tiptop shape.” The season
started April 16 with Joe as the first-string catcher. On May 30 the Times Dispatch reported “Joe Casey
fattened his batting average and drove in three runs. Joe has become a popular
favorite with the bleacherites. They are for him, and show their appreciation
of his hitting ability whenever opportunity is offered, which has been often in
recent games.”
Things went sour quickly, though, and on July 6 Joe was
released. The Times Dispatch: “The
reason assigned by Dawson was ‘failure to keep in condition and breaking
training rules.’ According to the owner, Casey had ample warning what would
happen to him. ‘I really feel sorry for Casey,’ Dawson said, ‘but I also have
to consider the interests of the team.’ Announcement of Casey’s release will
come as a surprise to fans, who had been won over to Joseph’s standard after
giving him a panning early in the season. Casey is an experienced catcher, and
twice saw service in the major leagues. He was hitting around .260.”
I don’t know what happened to Joe after that, but in the Sporting News of December 17 a list of
National Board decisions included the entry “Joe Casey vs. Wilkes-Barre all
owed.” The final NY-Penn League stats do show that a Casey caught 33 games for
Wilkes-Barre and Binghamton.
In January 1926 it was reported that Joe had asked for a job
with Waterbury of the Eastern League, while in a Richmond Times Dispatch article on the Colts’ coming season it was
said that “Joe Casey qualified as an old head and a good hitter, but little Joe
often forsakes the primrose path,” in contrast with the team’s new catcher. On
June 8 the Boston Herald mentioned
that Joe had been a visitor to the press box during the Braves game at
Cincinnati. I don’t know what he was doing in Ohio, but soon after that he was
back in the Boston area, playing amateur or semi-pro ball. From the Boston Herald of June 27:
The Dedham A.A. will play host to Joe Casey’s All Stars at
Stone Park, Dedham, this afternoon at 3. The home team has yet to meet defeat
on their own grounds this season and expect to add another game to their list
today. In addition to Casey, former Washington and Detroit catcher, the all
stars will have Eddie McGrath, all scholastic shortstop from Brookline high,
Ralph Brewer of Wakefield and Ed Costello, Jamaica Plain all scholastic
choice.
And from the July 10 Herald:
Bob Hall and Joe Casey are a pair of Wakefield boys who
figure prominently in the Fore River games of late. The former burned up the
Mystic Valley league pitching for Wakefield High a couple of seasons ago, while
Casey is one of the few players in the circuit who can claim experience under
the big top. Young Hall should develop into quite a pitcher under the guidance
of his foxy battery mate.
After that I find no mention of Joe until a report in the
June 27, 1927, Kansas City Star that
Scranton of the NY-Penn League had released veteran catcher Joe Casey. It seems
like this must be our Joe, as I never came across any other veteran catchers
with the same name. If it is, then it is apparently the end of his professional
career. He is mentioned as being an umpire in the New England League in 1929,
but that is the only season for which I found such a mention.
The 1930 census shows Joe as 38 years old (he actually
turned 43 that year) and his profession as “ballplayer,” living at 31 Bennett
Street with his brother Charles (furniture reedworker), sister Frances (machine
operator—knitting mill), their mother, their uncle, and six boarders. On
November 15, 1933, the Boston Herald reported that “chubby Joe Casey, former
major league catcher” attended the Wakefield High football game. “Casey is now
listed as ‘trainer.’” In the same newspaper on August 26, 1935:
Joe Casey of Wakefield was more than slightly interested in
the work of Fred Red Lucas yesterday, as that veteran catcher of other years
had Red in charge as a stripling, thin and gangling when he broke into pro ball
at Nashville, Tenn., many years ago. The passing years have added to the weight
of tutor and pupil, yet they are of that tribe which never loses interest in
the game, its plays and players.
On June 25, 1941, Ty Cobb came to Boston to play a golf
match against Babe Ruth. When a reporter came to Ty’s hotel room for an
interview, Joe was hanging out with Ty. In 1942 Joe registered for the draft
again, and on the registration his employer was listed as “U S Post Exchange
No. 6, Camp Edwards, Falmouth Mass.” His sister Marion’s name was given under
“name and address of person who will always know your address.” On August 6,
1944, the Detroit Times mentioned
that Joe was a foreman of stevedores on the docks in Boston, and that’s the
last I know of what Joe was doing for a living. He kept on playing ball,
though. From the Boston Herald,
September 2, 1948:
Amputee Vets Win Over Elks Old Timers
The Amputee Veterans softball team scored its 17th
straight triumph of the season last night at Wakefield, a 6-5 decision over the
Elks Old Timers before a 5000 crowd.
Eddie Stanky, Braves’ second baseman, was the umpire. The
game was played for the benefit of the Amputee Vets, who plan to use the money
to build a swimming pool in Natick.
Chiff Jacobs, Wakefield fire chief, did the pitching for the
home team while Joe Casey, former Detroit Tiger player, was behind the plate.
From the Boston
American “My Boston” column, October 15, 1959:
Dini’s sea grill has new tanks with tropical fish, leading
night manager Harold Patovano to remark: "I can sell fish but I don’t know a
thing about feeding them and I told the boss, Louis Dini, so."
Joe Casey, who went from Wakefield to major-league baseball
via Little Rock, let Harold sell him some fish, Tuesday night. Joe is 72 years
old but looks very hale and hearty.
Casey talked glowingly of his old days with the Detroit
Tigers…A diamond hero singled out for special praise by Casey was Chief Bender,
the Indian, who pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics…
In the August 22, 1961, Springfield Union there was an
article about the 16th annual Father-Son-Daughter golf tournament at
Springfield Country Club, with a photo of Joe Casey with his son Bill, but I
doubt that this was our Joe, as I never found any indication that he had
children, or married.
Joe Casey died on June 2, 1966. On June 4 the Boston
Traveler reported “Joseph F. Casey, 78, of 31 Bennett St., Wakefield, a former
major-league catcher, died suddenly Friday. He leaves a sister, Sister St. Rita
of St. Joseph’s Convent in Holyoke.” The next day’s Boston Record American
called him “former major league catcher and minor league umpire” and referred
to his sister as “Sister St. Rita, C.S.J., of St. Jerome’s Convent, Holyoke.”
