Chick Autry played first base and outfield in 81 major
league games in 1907 and 1909, mostly for the Braves but also for the Reds. He
was the first of two Chick Autrys to play in the majors, the second being an
American League catcher from 1924-30. In the first half of his career the
newspapers tended to spell his name correctly, but in the latter part it was
mostly spelled “Autrey;” the second Chick also had this problem.
William Askew Autry was born in 1885 in either Chesterfield
or Humboldt, in the western part of Tennessee. As a child he was known as
Askew, presumably to differentiate him from his father, William F., who in the
1900 census was listed as a 41-year-old traveling salesman (in the 1910 census
he is listed as a partner at Eclipse Marble Granite). By this point Askew and
his 17-year-old sister Ethel had a stepmother, 26-year-old Mollie. I have no
idea when or how he got the name Chick, but that’s what he was always referred
to as in his baseball career.
A 1916 article in the San
Diego Union said:
Autry was whipped into a ball player while attending the
Union University in Jackson, Tenn., in 1902 and 1903. He began his playing as
an outfielder, but in recent years has been a guardian of the initial sack. His
first professional ball was played with the Washington State League in 1904.
The next year he was in the North Texas State League. In 1905 and 1906 he
played with Webb City, Mo., in the Western Association. Then he began to climb.
But three months later, the Portland Oregonian had a somewhat different timeline: “Chick was a Texas
busher when he busted his way in the lineup of the old Monterey club in 1904.
Then he bowed out and played in the Washington State League, Kitty, North
Texas, Missouri Valley, Western Association, Western League, National, American
[he didn’t actually play in the American League], American Association and the
Coast League.” His page at baseballreference.com doesn’t show anything before
1906, when he split the year between Webb City in the Class C Western
Association and Omaha in the Class A Western League.
The first newspaper mention of Chick I found was in the Omaha World Herald of August 24, 1906,
in Sports Editor Sandy Griswold’s writeup of the previous day’s Omaha-Des
Moines game, in which Chick played right field and batted fourth: “There was
but little ball playing on the part of the Omahas. McNeeley pitched a good game
and Chick Autry did a fielding stunt or two that was electrifying. So was his
unnecessary foozle in the ninth.” Chick hit .311 in 51 games for Omaha that
season, after hitting .276 with 24 doubles, 7 triples and 3 homers in 96 games
for Webb City.
On February 4, 1907, Griswold wrote: “Funny old Jack Doyle
of Milwaukee offers to trade Pa one Hemphill for Chickering Autry and throw in
Pitcher Hickey and one other relic. If old Jack doesn’t look out the nutologist
will be wanting to examine his bean.” On March 9 he mentioned that “Chick Autry
cultivates a grove of ash trees over on his Pa’s farm from which he makes all
his own bats.” Chick was generally the left fielder and number three hitter for
Omaha that season. In the league stats published on June 2, Chick leads the
league in batting average (.370) and triples; by August 4 he is down to .286,
though that leads the team and there are only three regulars in the league over
.300. That same day the ever-positive Griswold wrote an article about Omaha
being the best minor league team ever, as good as a majority of the major
league teams.
Chick finished the 1907 Western League season with a .291
average in 151 games, then reported to the Cincinnati Reds, who had purchased
his contract. He made his major league debut on September 18, playing center
field at home against the Cubs. After his second game the Cincinnati Post reported:
Chick Autrey does not look like a sensational
ground-coverer, but the youngster, unacquainted with the batters he must now
lay for, is at a disadvantage that can hardly be appreciated from the stands.
The Omaha youngster does look like a more than fair batter. He swings with a
chop and goes after good balls only. He has hit it somewhere every time but
once in two games, and made a fair bid for a safety during the busy seventh
Thursday.
In his first three games he played center, batted 8th,
and went 0-for-9. In his next four, he played left, batted first, and went
5-for-17, .294. Back in Omaha, the Daily
Bee observed:
Few youngsters have ever gone directly from a minor to a
major league and made good from the start like Autrey. The Chick is up at the
head of the batting order, setting the pace like he had been there for ever.
And Cinci continues to win.
Chick did not play in the Reds’ final ten games, and they
finished in sixth place. In October it was announced that the Reds had sold him
back to Omaha for less than they had paid for him. Sandy Griswold, on January
12, 1908, in an article about the coming season and how “Omaha looks to have a
romp:”
Chick Autry comes back, that is if he continues in the game,
and this is a source of general congratulation among the local fans.
Chickerington is one of the most popular men who ever wore a Gala City uniform,
and when at his stride, is a ball player who takes rank with much higher class
organizations than the Western league. Just what the defugelty was at
Cincinnati, does not seem to be generally understood, but as long as that is a
pure business matter between the two clubs, and as long as Omaha is to get the
young man back, no one cares.
Meanwhile Chick was in San Diego, playing in the California
Winter League. When it came time to head for spring training 1908 with Omaha,
he had his own unusual mode of transportation, as reported by the Daily Bee on February 26:
Pa has just received word from Chick Autrey who says that he
has determined to beat his record last year and all other records as a
pedestrian. Last year he walked up from Mexico and got here in something over
sixteen hours, about a month over. This year he proposes to hoof it in from
California where he has shone as the one bright star this winter. The rest of
de gang will ride.
Incidentally, “Pa” was how both Omaha newspapers generally
referred to manager Billy Rourke, and the team was usually called the Rourkes.
The Daily Bee, March 8:
Chick Autrey has written Pa that he will soon start on his
long journey and hopes to reach Omaha on time and not be late this time, as he
was when he walked from Mexico last year. He is playing first at San Diego and
will start immediately on his long walk to Omaha. Pa received his signed
contract in the letter.
On March 20 it was reported that he had arrived in Omaha. When
the season began Chick was still batting third but was now the first baseman.
Sandy Griswold’s game story from April 24’s World-Herald
included the following:
Every man was great, but if there was one bright particular
star, it was Chicherington Autry. His play of the first bag was a revelation.
He covered as much territory as a three-ringed circus and his interception of
high and low throws and his one-handed catches of wild ones was
breath-snatching. He made one safe whack, burgled two bases, outed sixteen men
and annexed one assist, and I guess that was going some.
On May 24 Griswold wrote:
Critics around the circuit, chagrined at our athletes’ continued
success, say that the addition of Chick Autrey to the infield is the secret of
it. Though great credit is due every man on the team, there is no dodging the
fact that the cheery-voiced, happy-go-lucky, nimble-limbed and ready-brained
Chicken has really produced wonderful results.
And on June 14 he continued to gush (re-using one of his own
similes):
The sensation of the league is, without quibble or doubt,
the first bag and all round playing of Chick Autry. Omaha never had a first
baser who could hold a candle to him, He is ubiquity itself, keen, alert and
tireless—always in the game, always in a good humor and always an idol in the
hearts of the fans. It is a question whether there is a better first bagman in
the game today, big leagues or little leagues, than this same genial Chicken.
He covers as much ground as a three-ringed circus, and exhibits as many
sensations in his territory, in preserving intact the records of his infield
mates, as is generally found under such an expanse of canvas. His fielding is
next to perfection itself and his batting strong and consistent.
On August 28 it was announced that the Reds had again
purchased Chick from Omaha and would like him to report at the Rourkes’
earliest convenience; however, he finished out the Western League season,
winning the batting title at .320 (with 37 doubles, 11 triples, 4 homers, and
31 stolen bases), and even then did not head for Cincinnati. On October 8 the San Diego Evening Tribune reported:
“Chick” Autry also writes that he will be unable to play
with the San Diego team this winter. Autry has decided to assist his father in
the latter’s business this winter and will not play ball. This news will be
received with regret by the fans, for Autry was one of the most popular players
on either of the two San Diego teams last winter.
Within days, though, Chick had changed his mind and left on
the train from Knoxville for San Diego (not, as the Omaha Daily Bee pointed out, by foot as he did last year). The
season began on October 18, with Chick playing first base and hitting third. On
February 12 the Cincinnati Post
reported that he had signed his Reds contract for 1909, and on March 9 he
arrived at their training camp in Georgia, apparently again not by foot. From
the March 15 Daily Bee:
CHICK SETS THEM ON FIRE
Performed Like a Seven-Day Wonder on First.
HOT FIGHT FOR INITIAL BAG
Autrey Plays One Day and Has All Wondering What Has Broke
Loose from the Western League.
Chicken Autrey has set the base ball contingent of the Reds
on fire by his wonderful work around first sack on the first day of his
appearance in a Red uniform. Here is an item the special correspondent of the Cincinnati Times-Star wired from Atlanta
to his paper Thursday:
“Friends, Cincinnati base ball fans, lend me your ear!
There’s going to be the darndest scrap for that first base job on the Red team
that has made the followers of the game perk up and get out their binoculars
for many a day. Remember what a rummy Chick Autrey appeared to be when he was
tried out by Manager Hanlon in the fall of 1907. Remember how he muffed the
first fly that was knocked to him in the outfield, the error costing the Reds
the game. And how his general performance was of a caliber to give one the
collyobles.
“Well, Chick has come back—but it isn’t at all the same
Chick. This new Chick is the gingeriest specimen that has hooked up with the
Red squad this spring. And, say, when it comes to making back-handed catches,
running pick-ups, tosses from semi-reclining positions and covering first base
after making a play to second, Autrey has Fred Tenney out-Tenneyed, Frank
Chance nailed to the mast, and big Konetchy looking like a novice.
“Autrey got to town Tuesday night and began his exhibitions
Wednesday morning. Griffith gave him all he possibly could in the way of batted
balls to try him out and the fielders tossed them at his feet, his pad, into
the air and to the sides. But Chick was there after everything, and in the end
had the other fellows gasping in weariness and wonder. And when it came to
swatting the ball in practice, Chick quite lived up to that Western league
reputation of hits. Of course, this one day’s work doesn’t give the first base
job to Autrey, for that Hoblitzell boy also is going at a rate that is pretty
to see, and the fight for the sack will be a long, hard and close one. But
wouldn’t it be fine if the Reds did dig up a second Hal Chase or Jiggs Donahue
in Autrey?”
Dick Hoblitzell, who had been the Reds’ regular first
baseman for the last month of 1908 after moving up from the minors, did in fact
beat out Chick for the job. Chick made the team, but did not play until manager
Clark Griffith, tired of Hoblitzell’s hitting in the first two weeks of the
season, decided to see what he could do. Chick made his 1909 debut in a
doubleheader on April 29, and the Cincinnati
Post described it:
No first baseman who ever worked on the Red lot ever
performed in better fashion than this man Autry did Thursday. He made rousing
stops of hard ground balls that brought the excited fans to their feet a number
of times; he made marvelous captures of difficult flies that drew forth
applause in bunches, and he played that bag as well as any first baseman in the
country could have done.
He did not make a hit, but he got two bases on balls and
scored a run. It’s a cinch that if Autry makes good with the stick he will give
Dicky Hoblitzell an awful battle for the position.
One day, while the Reds were practicing at Ponce De Leon
Park, in Atlanta, and Autry was making some of his great plays, Manager Billy
Smith, of the Atlanta team, made the following remark: “The only difference
between Autry and Jiggs Donohue, the star first baseman of the Chicago White
Sox, is that Autry is a better hitter.”
Autry’s best piece of fielding was pulled off when Schulte
rapped a hard one down by first base that looked good for at least two bags.
“Chick” flung himself at the ball, grabbed it with his ungloved hand, and then
beat Schulte in a race for first…
Chick’s term as the Reds’ first baseman lasted nine games,
and then Hoblitzell got the job back. As the Cincinnati Post explained it on May 6:
Autry made a nice start in the field. In his first game
against the Cubs he pulled off some of the prettiest work ever seen in
Cincinnati, but he couldn’t hit a lick. He has not done any hitting since, and
his fielding has not been of a very high order.
On May 9 the Reds left for Boston to start a string of 15
games on the road; Chick was one of three players on the roster who were left
behind. On May 26 the Detroit Times
reported that the Tigers were interested in him. On June 10 Chick, who had not
played in a game since early May, was sold to the Boston Doves (they weren’t
yet known as the Braves; they were called the Doves because they were owned by
the Dovey brothers). The Boston Herald
reported on June 11:
CINCINNATI, O., June 10--Among those present in the special
car which carried the Boston Nationals to Chicago tonight was Chick Autrey,
late first baseman with the Cincinnati team. The deal which was started for
Autrey yesterday was completed today and when Secretary Dovey called on Chick
and informed him what had happened the big fellow was highly pleased. “I want
to work,” he informed Mr. Dovey, “and as it looks like a regular job for me
with your team I’m glad the deal was made.”
Autrey ought to add a lot of ginger to the Doves’ infield,
something that appears to be sadly lacking now. He is an aggressive player,
always on the job and with a reputation of being a prime swatter. Acting
Manager Dahlen expects to use him in the game at Chicago tomorrow.
Acting Manager Dahlen did in fact use him at Chicago, as
Chick immediately became the everyday first baseman, replacing the
apparently-lacking-in-ginger Fred Stem. This lasted 14 games, during which he hit
.140/.245/.163, worse than the .182/.229/.242 he put up for the Reds. On July 7
one of the “Sporting Notes” in the Milwaukee Journal was the understatement
“Chick Autry is not hitting the ball for Boston as good as his new manager
would like to see him.” At this point he hadn’t played since June 26. On July 9
it was reported that he had been sent to the Lynn Shoemakers of the Class B New
England League, the Cincinnati Post
explaining, “Autry was able to take care of the fielding end of the game in
good shape, but his hitting was very light,” while the Topeka State Journal on July 13 added “Autrey was hit in the eye a
few days ago, and is practically worthless to the Boston team for the remainder
of the season.” Meanwhile, the Boston
Herald, which gave away “free action photogravures” of a player from each
of the city’s two teams in each Sunday’s paper, had featured Chick on July 11
(instant collector’s item?).
In 35 games for Lynn, Chick hit .193 and slugged .215, which
may not be much better than “practically worthless” but still he got brought
back to Boston, while Fred Stem was sent to Lynn in his place. Chick played
first base the rest of the way, boosting his Boston stats to .196/.269/.216;
his National League numbers for the Reds and Doves combined were .194/.272/.220
in 232 at-bats in 74 games, with 6 doubles, no triples or homers, 6 stolen
bases and 14 sacrifice hits. This would turn out to be the end of his major
league career, though he still had a lot of baseball left to play.
Meanwhile, on August 19, immediately after being brought
back from Lynn, he got married in Boston, to May McBurney of Omaha; Chick’s
occupation was listed as “granite worker,” which ties in with his father’s
occupation in the 1910 census.
After the season the newlyweds moved to southern
California for the winter, after visits in Tennessee and Omaha, and Chick again
played for San Diego in the winter league there. On November 24 the following
appeared in the San Diego Union:
Chick Autry Given Reward by Stranger for Home-Run Hit
Admirer Stops Ball Player on Street and Hands Him Silver
Dollar.
“I’ve been watching the work you have been doing here for
the past two winters. You have been improving right along, and when you knocked
that ‘homer’ over the right field fence Sunday it was the climax. Here, take
this.”
And a stranger who had stopped “Chick” Autry, the clever
little first baseman of the San Diego baseball nine, on the street yesterday,
slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a shiny new silver dollar,
which he handed to the ball player.
“Surprised?” said Autry, “I should say I was. And did I take
the money? You should have watched me. He skipped off before I hardly had time
to thank him.“Don’t talk to me any more about virtue going unrewarded in
this world,” continued the grinning athlete. “Come and have a cigar on my
luck.”
On January 16 the Union
mentioned in passing that Chick was working five or six days a week, whenever
there wasn’t a game, on the construction of a hotel—perhaps as a granite
worker. On February 1 it was announced that the Doves had released him to the
St. Paul Saints of the Class A American Association.
Chick was the everyday first baseman for the Saints in 1910,
and he apparently got off to a good start. The Omaha Daily Bee reported on May 15:
If Chick Autrey keeps
up his present lick, nothing can keep him out of the majors. He is winning many
games for St. Paul, playing like a wild man, batting as well as fielding. It is
in him if he can only back it up with the nerve.
But the same paper reported on August 14:
Those who have followed Chick Autrey’s work for the last two
weeks carefully have observed that his batting has been almost nothing. Prior
to that he was hitting like a house afire. That is one of the reasons Chick did
not stay up when he was there. He is a great first baseman, one of the best in
the country and has a good batting eye; ought always to be in the .300 class.
But what he lacks is plenty of nerve. When he hits a slump his heart fails and
it takes him weeks to get up again. That is not the fiber that wins and Chick
ought to get over it.
He finished the year hitting .256 and slugging .314 in 570
at-bats in 164 games, significantly better than his major league numbers but
nowhere near what he was doing in Omaha. After the season he and May bought a
house in San Diego as a permanent winter home and Chick played winter ball
again. On October 6 the San Diego Union
ran the following story:
“CHICK” AUTRY, WHY DID YOU HIDE? FANS ANXIOUS TO SEE YOU
If “Chick” Autry, baseball player, globe trotter and Adonis
of the diamond, does not show up today at places where the baseball fans
congregate it is probable that the fans will appeal to the police to locate the
elusive “Chick.”
Autry arrived in San Diego last night and eluded the
vigilance of a delegation of fans who were waiting to greet him. Although the
haunts of ball players were searched last night, the mysterious “Chick” could
not be found.
When he is found the fans say they will secure a signed
statement from him regarding the manner in which he is going to play first for
“Bill” Palmer’s local winter league team. Autry played last season with St.
Paul and, according to information given out, was to bring some players with
him.
It was rumored that “Chick” got off the Santa Fe train at
Pacific Beach and walked into San Diego. Late last night an excited fan
telephoned to Manager Palmer and said his first base guardian was holding a
session with a “stack of hots” in a restaurant. The trail was taken up by several
of the fans, but up a late hour Autry had not been located.
On March 17, 1911, the Aberdeen
(South Dakota) American reported:
The Saints’ manager is somewhat worried about Chick Autrey,
having failed to hear a word from the first baseman. He fears that the Chicken
will stick to his ultimatum to remain out of the game unless he is given more
money. Kelly hopes to be able to swing him into time later, and if he does he
will have no worry about his ball club.
He did in fact sign a contract, and 1911 was a significant
improvement for him over 1910. He hit .294 and slugged .383, with 24 doubles, 9
triples and 3 home runs in 575 at-bats in 160 games. I’m not sure what he did
over the winter of 1911-12, though apparently he did not play winter ball, and at
some point he began to be afflicted with rheumatism. The Saints’ spring
training was being held at Little Rock, and Chick went to Arkansas early and
spent time at Hot Springs. From the Grand
Forks Daily Herald, March 5:
Autrey Already in Camp
Chick Autrey, the lanky St. Paul first sacker is at Hot
Springs working out and awaiting the arrival of Manager Kelly. Autrey writes
that it is his intention to be in the very best shape when the first game is
played with Brooklyn on March 15. The tall initial sacker is a conscientious
worker, and his spirit is the proper sort.
New Orleans Item,
March 17:
Chick Autrey is on deck here with Mrs. Autrey. Rheumatism
had him for a while, but he’s on the mend and expects to be ready for the A.A.
opening.
Little Rock’s Arkansas
Gazette, March 26:
“Chick” Autry, the star first-sacker of the Saints, arrived
from Hot Springs yesterday and worked out for the first time yesterday
afternoon. He declares he never felt better and is loud in his praise of the
healing waters of Hot Springs. It is probable that he will be in the game
today.
Kansas City Times,
March 28:
Chick Autrey and Elmer Rieger arrived from Hot Springs this
afternoon, accompanied by Jack Flynn of St. Paul. Autrey and Rieger got out in
uniform, and the former, although weak, displayed surprisingly agile form.
Washington Herald,
March 28
Chick Autrey, the former Boston National first baseman, who
is now with St. Paul, is laid up with rheumatism at Hot Springs and will be
unable to get into the game for two or three weeks.
Despite these often-contradictory reports, Chick was at
first base for the Saints when the 1912 season opened. On May 24 the Arkansas
Gazette reported:
Just at the time when he had recovered from an attack of
rheumatism, from which he was suffering while in spring training practice at
Little Rock, “Chick” Autry, the first-sacker of the St. Paul (American
Association) team, was injured in a wreck. Danny Hoffman, home-run hero of the
Little Rock (1912 season) also sustained injuries. Despite the hard luck Mike Kelley’s
bunch hold their own.
Chick still managed to play 157 games in 1912, though he
dropped off some offensively, hitting .272 and slugging .347. After the season
he spent some time playing on a barnstorming team with members of the Kansas
City Blues, and apparently again did not play in southern California.
1913 found Chick back with the Saints, setting career highs
in games (169) and at-bats (617), though his offense fell off some more, to a
.261 batting average and .306 slugging percentage; he did lead the league’s
first basemen in fielding percentage at .992. On October 13 the San Diego Evening Tribune reported:
AUTREY IS BACK IN SAN DIEGO AGAIN
First Baseman for St. Paul Will Play in Winter League This
Year for First Since Season Of 1910-1911.
Chick Autrey, first sacker extraordinary of the St. Paul
team in the American Association and one of the most popular ball players that
ever gripped a bat at Athletic Park, is with us again this winter, having
arrived in San Diego yesterday from the east.
He immediately got in touch with Will Palmer, local winter
league magnate, and among other things stated that he was ready and anxious to
hold down the old fist cushion for the Bears, much to Palmer’s satisfaction.
Autrey has overlooked San Diego in the past two years, his
last performance on the local lot being in 1910-11. The stormy eastern winters
don’t appeal to Chick, who is getting to be somewhat of a “vet,” so once more
he decided to hike to old S.C. His judgment was hastened by the fact that last
winter in Oklahoma [actually two winters ago, as we have seen] he contracted
rheumatism in huge bunches and was forced to thaw out at Hot Springs, Ark., for
several weeks before he could get into playing shape. Autrey figures that he
still has many good years of baseball left in him and is not going to take any
chances on letting the “old man stuff” grab a hold on him…
Outside of being somewhat heavier Autrey is the same spry
looking Chick that was here three years ago.
Chick played first base for the San Diego Bears, also
sometimes known as the Qualities. An article from January 30, 1914, mentioned
that the team was having its first workout in two weeks and that “The only
absentee was Chick Autrey, first-sacker, who is holding down a city job and
could not very well desert it in the afternoon.” On February 5 the Kansas City Star reported that he had
signed his 1914 contract with the Saints “and that he will not listen to any
temptations the Federals may subject him to,” a reference to the upstart
Federal League. Chick took yet another offensive step backward that season,
ending up with a .238 batting average and .295 slugging percentage in 168
games; but the fact that he was still playing every day suggests that his
defense was still highly valued. On October 1 the Omaha Daily Bee reported that he had arrived in town to spend the
winter and was looking for a job, and on October 18 they ran the following
blurb:
Omaha naturally feels the inspiration that comes from the hibernating
of our hill-billy pal, Chick Autrey. We may have been a bit tardy in saying so,
but weuns is powerful glad to have you all with us, so we is, Chicken. Reckon
you all don’t doubt it, do you?
On November 1 they continued with the dialect humor:
This heah mild sortah weathah must showly be due to the fact
that Mistah Chick Autrey is spending the winter in our midst—or said he was
going-ta. By the way, have any of you all seen the Chicken?
The Daily Bee
reported on December 16 that the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast
League were interested in Chick, and on December 20 that he had asked to be
traded to a team in that league. But he didn’t go anywhere; on March 22, 1915,
the Arkansas Gazette of Little Rock
said that “The St. Paul team of the American Association arrived here tonight
to do their training. “Chick” Autrey, their first sacker, began his
professional career at DeQueen, this state, just 13 years ago.” I have no idea
what they are referring to—I find no evidence of Chick playing in DeQueen, or
that DeQueen ever had a professional team.
On April 5, the Daily
Illinois State Register of Springfield reported that the “Coming of Lee
Dressen, left-handed first baseman from the Cardinals, may mean the passing of
Chick Autry, one of the few players of last season’s team that remains.” On
April 18, still during spring training, the Kansas
City Star reported that “’Chick’ Autrey, a perfectly good first baseman, is
warming the bench for the Saints. Manager Kelley will give Dressen a chance to
show his worth before sending Autry back in the game.” When the season began
Chick was still the first baseman, but at the end of May he was released. From
the Grand Forks Daily Herald of June
1:
Chick Autrey Has Been Signed With The Miller Outfit
Minneapolis, May 31.—Chick Autry, long famed as the best
fielding first baseman in the Association, was signed by the Millers today. He
has been with the Saints for several years and was released by Mike Kelley to
make room for Dressen.
Autrey has been hitting well this year and at first base
will mean a big help to the infield.
The Washington Evening
Star told the story this way on June 5:
ST. PAUL, Minn., June 5—Chick Autry will not leave the
American Association after all, but will perform in the uniform of the Minneapolis
club.
Autry was given five days’ notice of release by St. Paul
last Friday, and was trying to get placed with a Pacific Coast League club. He
also was considering an offer to manage the Winnipeg Northern League club.
When the Saints went to Minneapolis for the morning Memorial
Day game Autry was button-holed by President Mike Cantillon of the Minneapolis
club, and within ten minutes he had affixed his signature to a contract to play
with the Pongos. Cashion has been playing first base for the Millers, but he
is a poor fielder, and recently has not been hitting well.
As it was his hitting, and only his hitting, that was
keeping him in the line-up, his usefulness to the team ceased when he ceased
slamming them out.
On July 3 St. Paul held a “Chick Autry Day” at the ballpark
when the Millers came to town; the Duluth
News-Tribune reported that “Local admirers of Autry, for several years
first baseman for St. Paul, but now with Minneapolis, presented him with a
purse containing gold.” The Millers ended up as league champions as Chick had a
comeback year, hitting .288 with a .377 slugging percentage in 138 games
between the two teams. On October 2 the San
Diego Evening Tribune mentioned that Chick was expected to arrive in a few
days to play winter ball, but four days later they had to revise their story:
“CHICK” AUTREY IS SIGNED BY SEALS
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6—“Chick” Autrey, one of the star first
sackers of the American Association has been signed by the San Francisco Seals
and will appear in uniform here this afternoon.
Autrey just returned from the east where he was a member of
the pennant winning Minneapolis club. His name was attached to an unreserve
contract so the minute he landed at the expo Autrey sought out Manager
Wolverton, and was signed in short order.
The initial sacker batted .291 this year, and is reputed as
one of the most gingery players in the game.
The San Francisco
Chronicle reported the same day:
FIRST BASEMAN FOR THE SEALS ON JOB TODAY
Wolverton signs Chick Autrey of the Minneapolis Club to
Bolster Up a Weak Spot of the Locals.
San Francisco will have a new first baseman in the line-up
when the club goes against the Tigers this afternoon. Chick Autrey, who
finished the season with Minneapolis in the American Association, but who had a
non-reserve contract, has signed with the locals and will play first instead of
Meloan.
Autrey has been in the city for some few days since the
Minneapolis club closed its year’s work and Wolverton came to terms with him
yesterday afternoon. The newcomer batted .291 with the Minneapolis club and,
according to Boss Harry, he is full of life and ginger—a fighting player.
Evidently Wolverton is not disposed to consider the pennant
as in anyway cinched for the local club, and wants to strengthen the spot that
looks the weakest. Meloan’s fielding has been off color. He has been making
hard work of handling thrown balls, and his performance has been decidedly
uncertain.
If the new man can hit the pill, he will be welcomed to the
ranks of the local talent. San Francisco fans wouldn’t like to come so close to
a pennant and then lose out.
On October 15 the San
Jose Mercury News reprinted a story from the Monterey Cypress about Chick’s early days in that city:
Chick Autrey, now playing firstbase for the San Francisco
Coast league club, was first discovered in Monterey by Harry Schaufele and Ross
Sargent, former city commissioners and managers of the local club.
Autrey “blew” into Monterey one Saturday night in 1905 and
applied the following morning to Sargent for a “hand-out” of coffee and
sinkers. While appeasing his hunger he told Sargent that he could “play ball a
little.” He was sent to Schaufele, who put him in leftfield on the same
afternoon, when Monterey was playing the Fifteenth Infantry team, for which
Bankston was pitching. Bankston was the best soldier twirler ever seen here and
has since been identified in the big brush.
The hobo ball player gleaned four hits out of five times at
bat and his fifth bingle would have been a homerun but for an adverse wind.
Bankston pitched only five balls to him. Autrey won a home right away and was
appointed city street superintendent, playing ball throughout the 1905 and 1906
seasons.
Chick finished out the season with the Seals as their first
baseman, playing in their last 14 games as they won the pennant—giving him two
championships in the span of a few weeks. He batted second and third in the
order, and hit .296. At the beginning of November he became the first Seal to
sign a 1916 contract, and then he headed for San Diego, where he played first
base for the San Diego Pantages in the winter league. Meanwhile, the
Minneapolis Millers put him on their 1916 reserve list, which raised a lot of
speculation that not only might he not be available for the Seals in 1916, but
that conceivably the games he played for them in 1915 could be protested,
putting the pennant in jeopardy. However, things all worked out, with some
stories saying that Chick had been released by the Millers and others saying
that his contract with them had had the reserve clause crossed out.
This year Chick did not work during the week while playing
winter league baseball on the weekends; instead he spent his time hunting and
fishing in the mountains, coming down as necessary.
Before spring training 1916
began the Seals signed former major league first baseman Hap Myers, out of a
job with the collapse of the Federal League, but Chick beat him out and began
the season hitting sixth in the order.
On May 12 the Portland Oregonian said
“Chick Autrey, Seal first-sacker, gets away from the plate about as fast as any
player in the league. Autrey is in his stride before the bat leaves his hands.”
Chick was benched for a while in August due to a lack of
hitting, but an injury to another player forced manager Wolverton to put him
back in the lineup. Then, on September 7, he was given his five-day release
notice as the Seals signed Bill Speas, recently released by Portland, to play
first. The Oregonian remarked “Autrey
has fallen off in his hitting, but this is not the only reason for his release.
His average of .250 would do if he was faster on the paths.” Despite the fact
that there was more than a month and a half left in the season Chick played in
151 games—the Seals played over 200 that year. He was not able to find a job
with a pro team, so he stayed in the Bay Area, hooking on with a good semi-pro
team in Richmond as first baseman and manager. At the end of October Richmond
was playing for the state semi-pro championship, and the San Diego newspapers
were reporting that Chick was not coming there this winter.
In March 1917 it was reported that Chick was going to play
for Dallas in the Class B Texas League, but it didn’t happen, and in April he
was again playing for and managing Richmond. As the Oregon Journal put it on April 11:
Chick Autry slipped about as rapidly as any veteran
professional ball player. After a long period in the American Association,
Chick was secured last year by San Francisco. In mid-season he was released.
Now he is managing and playing first base for the Richmond, Cal., team of bush
leaguers.
In mid-July Chick was signed by the PCL Oakland Oaks after
their first baseman jumped to an independent league in New Mexico, but he only
lasted six games. The next mention of him I find is in a February 4, 1918,
story in the Sacramento Bee—Chick was
an umpire in a game between the Zerolenes and the Buffalo Outlaws in
Sacramento’s winter semi-pro league (other teams in the league included
Standard Oil, Grant’s Billiards, and Capital Clothing Co.). Chick is next seen
in a September 9 story in the San Jose
Mercury News, playing first base and hitting cleanup for San Leandro vs.
San Jose in another semi-pro league. Then there’s nothing until the October 19,
1919, San Diego Union, which in a
“whatever happened to?” article on former San Diego winter league players says
that “Chick” Autry, first sacker, is with the Standard Oil company at Richmond,
Calif., and is drawing a fine salary.”
The 1920 census shows Chick, age 35, and May living at 558
Hayes Street in Richmond, and Chick is listed as working at an oil refinery. At
this point they have no children. The December 10, 1921, San Francisco Chronicle included the following story:
Enquirer League Is Buzzing Along
Unless baseball lives up to its reputation of being
uncertain, the C. L. Best Tractors and the Alameda Merchants, leaders of the
Enquirer Midwinter Class A League, look well able to hold their lead in
Sunday’s games.
It will be the tailenders vs. the leaders. Pop Arlett’s Les
Smarr Tailors battle the Tractors at San Leandro, while Artie Schimpf’s
Elmhurst Merchants meet the Alameda Merchants at Lincoln Park, Alameda.
The Chevrolet Motors, who have caused quite a stir among the
pennant contenders, meet the Cotton Mills at Chevrolet Park.
Chick Autrey’s Crystal Laundrys started the season with the
intention of cleaning up every team and staying in the lead, but they have met
with many reverses. Sunday, Pat Kilhulen says his Del Monte Cafes will bowl
them over at Richmond. All Class A games will start at 2 p. m.
Chick next turns up in the June 30, 1922, Chronicle:
Semi-Pro Teams To Play for Title
The Kenealy Seals and the Richmond Standard Oil team are all
primed up for their five-game series for the California State semi-pro
championship, which will start Sunday at Recreation Park at 2:45 o’clock…The
Richmond team is rated as the strongest semi-pro team across the bay, and to
prove this “Chick” Autrey, manager of the team, will put his full strength on
the field in an endeavor to defeat the San Francisco champs…
On June 6, 1924, the Chronicle
ran a story on the leading hitters in Richmond’s Standard Oil League. Former
PCL player Artie Schimpf was leading the league, one month into the season,
with a .538 average (7 for 13) and four stolen bases, while “Chick Autry,
ex-Seal and manager of one of the Standard Oil teams, isn’t hitting the size of
his bat.”
On December 4 of the same year the Chronicle reported that Chick, now 39, would be playing first base
in the Northern California Knights of Columbus baseball league. This is the
last mention I have found of him as an active player. In July of 1927 the
Oakland Oaks held a Harry Krause Day in honor of Harry’s twenty years in baseball,
and Chick played in the old-timers’ game played before the regular game. In
July 1928 the Chronicle mentioned him as one of the members of the Old-Time
Professional Baseball Players’ Association (George Van Haltren, president).
The 1930 census shows Chick and May still at 558 Hayes in
Richmond, now with two children, eight-year-old William and seven-year-old
Helen; Chick’s sister Ethel and May’s sister Helen, a drugstore clerk, also
lives with them. Chick’s occupation is foreman in an oil refinery.
In July 1932 Chick participated in an Old-Timers’ game at
Seals Stadium, and tripled. The 1940 census shows Chick still at the Hayes
Street house, but his brother-in-law William McBurney is listed as the head of
household. The other residents of the house are William’s wife and four kids,
all of whom, as well as Chick, are listed as having lived in the same place in
1935. Chick is a foreman in an oil refinery, William a janitor in an oil
refinery. May, the two kids, and Chick’s sister Ethel are living at 412 Fitch
Mountain Road in Healdsburg, Sonoma County; none are employed, and all are
listed as having lived in Richmond in 1935. Perhaps Chick was living in town
during the week for his job, and joining his family for the weekends. Or
perhaps he and May were separated, but then it seems odd that he’d be living
with her family while she is living with his sister. At any rate they both pop
up in 1947 in the Santa Rosa City Directory, with the address Rt 2 Box 412, and
Chick is listed as retired.
On February 7, 1951, the Chronicle printed a photo of Chick
at the Alameda Elks annual hot-stove session; also pictured is the
aforementioned Artie Schimpf.
Chick and May pop up again in the 1953 Santa Rosa
City Directory, still at Rt 2 Box 412, then they reappear in the 1960
directory, now with an address of 2206 Oakview Court. May passed away on August
19, 1962, at the age of 76. Chick was still listed at Oakview Court in the 1974
directory. He passed away in Santa Rosa on January 16, 1976, shortly after his
91st birthday.
