Earl Reid

Earl Reid pitched in two games for the Boston Braves in May 1946.

Earl was born June 8, 1913, in Bangor, Alabama, the eighth of nine children of farmer Andrew Reid and his wife Sarah, also known as Sallie. By 1930 the family had moved slightly northeast to Holly Pond, where Earl finished high school while working on the farm. I didn’t find any information about his early days playing baseball, but seemingly his first professional experience was at age 23 in 1936, with the Enterprise Browns of the Class D Alabama-Florida League. He had a 9-8 record and 3.92 ERA in 163 innings in 27 games, walking only 28.

The Enterprise team folded after the season, and in 1937 Earl played for the Augusta Tigers, the Yankees affiliate in the Class B South Atlantic League. The Augusta Chronicle reported on April 18, opening day, “In the second game, slated for tomorrow, Manager Mealey plans to rely on the right arm of the round-shouldered Earl Reid, generally regarded by Tiger supporters as one of the 1-2-3 pitchers our nine will feature this year.” This was the only instance I found of Earl, who was 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, being referred to as “round-shouldered;” usually it was “lanky Earl Reid,” but just in 1937 he was also “towering righthander,” “hefty Earl Reid,” “gangling righthander,” “portly righthander,” “elongated Earl Reid,” and “the youthful Reid.” I’m not sure how someone can be both portly and gangling.

Earl got off to a poor start due to health problems, but in mid-May he went home to Alabama to have his tonsils taken out, not returning to action until early July. He pitched much better after that, and got his first Sporting News mention in the August 26 issue:

Although he did not yield a hit during the five innings he pitched in a relief role against Savannah, August 15, Earl Reid, Augusta right-hander, was charged with a 6 to 5 defeat. Two errors, a stolen base and a close play at the plate in the sixth inning enabled the Indians to put over the run which gave the decision to Jake Levy, who went the distance for Savannah.

Earl wound up with an 11-10 record and 3.55 ERA, splitting his time between starting and relieving, making 34 appearances for a total of 175 innings. At the end of the season it was announced that the Yankees would be moving him up to Class A for 1938, with the Binghamton Triplets of the Eastern League. Then, two days after the season ended, he married Lyndall Bailey in Birmingham.

On February 6, though, it was announced that Earl would be returned to Augusta for 1938.

He missed most of the first month of the season with a sore arm, and when he returned he relieved more than he started. On July 17 he came into the game in the third inning and finished it up; the Chronicle reported:

Reid, who was scheduled to start the game but who was held aside for a while after slitting his finger on a piece of tin, bandaged the injury and went to Cauble’s rescue. Also worrying Reid was his 26^th boil of the year, an ailment which found him sporting adhesive tape on his face as well as on his finger.

I’m guessing 26 boils led the league.

On September 6 Earl started and lost a tiebreaker game with Columbia for third place; the top four teams made the playoffs so this determined the seeding. He made two relief appearances in the first-round series with Macon, which Augusta lost. For the season, he pitched a few more games and a few more innings than the year before, lowering his ERA to 3.35 but achieving only a 10-14 won-lost record. At the plate, he hit .341 and slugged .523 with five triples in 88 at-bats, and made several appearances as a pinch-hitter.

During the off-season, Earl was placed on the roster of the Yankees’ top farm team, the Class AA Newark Bears, but before spring training he was transferred to Binghamton. He was used mostly as a starter there and topped 200 innings for the only time in his professional career, and went 13-11 with a 3.73 ERA. In 1940 he went to spring training with the Kansas City Blues of the American Association, the Yankees’ other Class AA team, but was sent back to Binghamton. Again used mostly as a starter, he pitched 199 innings with a 2.89 ERA, went 13-9 and led the league with five shutouts. Unfortunately I didn’t find any newspaper coverage of Earl’s time in Binghamton, except for this mention in the Sporting News of September 12:

Games of Friday Sept 6: AT ALBANY—Pitcher Earl Reid of the Trips staged a one-man show to enable Binghamton to square the preliminary playoff with a 6 to 3 triumph over Albany in the second game. In addition to holding the Lawmakers runless, except in the sixth stanza, and spacing seven hits, Reid knocked in five of his team’s tallies with a double and a pair of singles, cleaning the sacks on his two-bagger in the sixth.

On October 16 Earl filled out his draft registration, giving his residence as Cullman, Alabama, his employer as George M. Weiss (the director of the Yankees’ farm system), his next of kin as Lyndall (with no others in the household), and his description as 6-3 200, ruddy complexion, blue eyes, and black hair.

On January 26, 1941, an Associated Press story announced that Earl had been moved to the Newark Bears, calling him a “big hurler” and “gangling moundsman.” Three days later the Daily Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, ran a filler item that read “Earl Reid, who’ll graduate from Binghamton to Newark this Spring, has issued only 252 passes in 931 innings.” But in mid-April he was sent on option to the independent Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League, also Class AA, whose season had already begun. He made his debut on April 26, and on May 2 Portland Oregonian sports editor L.H. Gregory wrote in his column “Greg’s Gossip”:

The fellow who said he could identify a New York Yankee chain baseballist at a glance because “they’re always big and rangy, and throw like a bullet,” called the turn exactly on Earl Reid, the Beavers’ new right-handed pitcher on option from Binghamton via Newark. He stands 6 feet 2, weighs 190 and pitches a fast one with plenty on it…This is the sixth baseball season for Reid, whose home town is Cullman, Ala., a short distance out of Birmingham, and who will be 25 on his next birthday, June 8 (that’s his real as well as his baseball age, he says)...

(The ellipses are part of the original and not an indication of omission.) This is the first time I have seen Earl described as a hard thrower, and his perennially-low strikeout totals seem to contradict it. And despite what he says, 25 is actually only his “baseball age,” as he was in fact about to turn 28.

Earl made his first start for the Beavers on May 4, and was a regular in the rotation for several turns. On May 17 the San Francisco Chronicle described him as “husky Earl Reid,” “a man with a sweeping curve ball and a variety of deliveries.” He spent June in the bullpen, then was mostly a starter for the rest of the season; late in the year the Oregonian started calling him “Farmer Earl Reid.” 

He ended up completing 17 of 22 starts and adding 15 relief appearances, pitching 184 innings with a 13-10 record and a 3.96 ERA.

After the season he appeared on Newark’s reserve list, but again was transferred to an independent team, this time the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association for 1942. He had another year of bouncing back and forth between starting and relieving, pitching just 116 innings in 30 games, 13 starts, going 10-7 with a 4.11 ERA. At the end of the season Indianapolis traded him to the Brooklyn Dodgers (so apparently they owned him, though it had not seemed that way when they obtained him) along with Joe Bestudik, but when Bestudik joined the military Commissioner Landis voided the deal.

So Earl started 1943 back with Indianapolis. In May the newspapers started mentioning that he would be entering the army soon; the May 20 Sporting News reported:

Earl Reid, Indianapolis pitcher, has one foot in the armed service. He took his blood test in Indianapolis, last week, after a transfer from Birmingham, Ala. Although married, Reid is in 1-A.

On June 30 he made what was reported to be his last start before reporting for induction, on July 3 he took his physical, then he went back into the rotation before making another last start on July 13. The Sporting News of July 22 reported “He was given $100 by his teammates and the club on his last night here. Reid Night also brought him a number of gifts from the fans.” On July 24 he entered the army; in his partial season with Indianapolis he had made 15 appearances, all starts, going 5-6 with a 3.31 ERA. (Never much of a strikeout pitcher, he had only 24 in 98 innings, almost freakishly low.) On August 14 the AP reported that Earl had pitched a five-hitter for Fort Benjamin Harrison, giving him three wins in three starts for the Fort team.

The next news of Earl wasn’t until November 1945, when he was drafted from Indianapolis by the Boston Braves while still in the Philippines. He was discharged on January 29, 1946, and promptly signed his Braves contract; the news report stated that he had had a 15-3 record in the army. The February 18 Boston Traveler said that “Reid was one of the best big league prospects Indianapolis had before he entered the service.” He pitched in an intrasquad game on February 21 and impressed manager Billy Southworth, and on March 7 the Traveler ran a long article by John Drohan:

Braves Give Pitcher Reid Test Against Phils Today 

It is extremely doubtful that Earl Reid, a good-looking young pitcher who is getting his first real test today against the Phillies, is as nervous as he was during the closing days of World War II between the United States and the [ethnic slur omitted] in the famous battle of the Watertower on the outskirts of Manila. For Earl was in the second wave of that famous charge that lasted for days. And whatever fear he ever might have had of one fellow with a bat in his hand as a weapon was thoroughly erased from his mind. 

BUSH RECOMMENDED REID TO BRAVES 

Reid has looked good in his workouts. Standing six feet two inches and weighing 185 pounds, this Alabaman has the physical equipment you look for in a big league pitcher. Although he never pitched in the big league, he came close in 1943 when the Brooklyn Dodgers bought him from Indianapolis. But before he reported to the Dodgers, he was inducted into the Army and the deal was subsequently called off by the late Commissioner Kenesaw Landis. [As we know, this was not how it happened.] 

He might have been sold to some other big league club following V-J Day, but in the interim the Braves and Indianapolis became interlocked in a deal whereby the Indianapolis owners, Col. Frank McKinney and Donie Bush, sold part of their stock to the Braves owners and the Braves in turn sold stock to McKinney and Bush. And it was on Bush’s recommendation that Reid was sold to the Braves. [Actually he was taken in the draft.] 

It’s a bit complicated, but it’s easily discernible Indianapolis wanted the Braves to have him, rather than some other big league club. 

Donie Bush, a gentleman of wide and varied experience in baseball, often referred to as “Mister Baseball” in Indianapolis, believes Reid can make it. However, he’s no more emphatic about it than Reid himself. And it looks like it’s going to take a powerful lot of convincing to make him think otherwise. 

Earl started his baseball six [actually ten] years ago in the town of Enterprise, Fla. [Actually Alabama.] It must have been a misnomer because the team folded up making him a free agent. But that didn’t deter our young hero from shopping around a bit and finally selling his baseball wares to Augusta in the Sally League. 

Johnny Lee, who scoured the bush in this section while scouting for the Yankees, recommended his purchase by the Yankee organization. He did a little pitching for both Binghamton and Newark [actually not for Newark] without startling results when he was sold to the Portland [sic] of the Pacific Coast League [actually he was optioned to Portland by the Yankees], from which Indianapolis bought him. 

“We used him mainly in relief,” stated Bush [no they didn’t], who was here to see how his former hired hand went against the Phillies. “He did all right too, considering we didn’t have such a good ball club. But he was always saving the bacon for somebody else and that’s where he was valuable to us. But I think he can win up in the big show.” 

We have talked with many of the ex-service men in camp here, but none can tell more thrilling tales than Earl Reid. He was on Leyte, where the going was very rough, and then on Luzon, where it was scarcely a pink tea until the [ethnic slur omitted again] had been conquered. Following the [worse ethnic slur] evacuation, he pitched for the club that won the championship of Manila. He won 18 games himself while the club was winning forty. Twenty-six of these were in consecutive order against clubs composed of major league players. How can a guy like that miss?

Meanwhile, on February 28, the Sporting News had published a Braves roster, showing Earl’s year of birth as 1915, meaning he was now only cheating by two years. He made the team, and on May 8 he made his major league debut, pitching the sixth and seventh innings in a loss at Chicago. He allowed three runs on four hits and three walks, with two strikeouts. On the 13^th he pitched a perfect ninth at home against the Giants, in a game that the Braves came back and won in the bottom of the inning, giving Earl the victory.

For some reason Earl didn’t get into another game with the Braves, and on May 24 he was sent back to Indianapolis on option. He pitched 120 innings in 28 games, 16 of them starts, with a 3.30 ERA, and led the league in winning percentage, going 10-2. 

After the season the Braves switched their Class AAA affiliate to Milwaukee (so much for the close relationship between Boston and Indianapolis), also in the American Association, and the Milwaukee Sentinel named Earl as a “mound probability” for the Brewers in 1947. On December 2 the Braves traded him to the Brewers, which seems unusual given that they were their parent club. On December 4 the Sentinel offered the opinion that “Reid has to be pampered to be at his best,” then on March 9 they added “Earl Reid is good for one appearance a week.” On March 23 they ran the following:

Reid Eyes Good Year 

“Borchert Field is my lucky ball park and I am sure glad I will get a chance to pitch there regularly this year,” says Earl Reid, the 29 year old righthander [now he’s fudging by four years] the Brewers got from the Braves during the winter in the Walter Lanfranconi deal. 

“I never lost a decision in Milwaukee while with Indianapolis in 1942 and ’46,” he went on, “and I am going to try to preserve that record.” 

The best game he ever pitched? At Borchert Field, of course. 

“I realized every hurler’s dream there in ’42,” the soft spoken, drawling Alabaman relates. “I struck out three men on nine pitches with the bases filled. 

“The Indians were leading 4-2, when our starting pitcher lost his control in the fourth and filled the bases on walks. I was called in from the bull pen. I fanned Hal Peck, Bill Norman and Greek George. The last five frames not a Brewer reached first, giving me six innings of perfect ball, also my best to date.” 

Reid won 10 and lost 2 with Indianapolis last summer, the best record in the league, but pitched infrequently because of injuries sustained in the Army. 

“I want to work every third day, not once a week,” he insists, and will probably be accommodated. With such a schedule, and off past performances, he could total 20 victories, a goal no other man on the staff now has a chance to attain.

Earl had a poor spring training and began the season in the bullpen, getting the loss in relief on opening day and again a few days later. On May 20 manager Nick Cullop announced that he would get his first start the next night, the Sentinel adding “Reid has been under the weather a good part of the spring but says he is ready now.” He only lasted into the second inning, though the Brewers came back to win. After two more starts he had given up 14 runs in 10 innings, but then things started to turn for him as he won five straight starts in June, including a one-hitter (on June 8 he pitched a four-hitter, on what the Sporting News said was his 32^nd birthday). 

July was a different story, though, going winless for the month in a mixture of starts and relief appearances. On July 22 the Sentinel’s “Problem Clinic” column answered a question about the local addresses of three of the Brewers, saying that Earl was staying at 3175 N 15^th St. For the rest of the year he was mostly a starter, and he finished the season 7-9 with a 5.35 ERA, by far the worst of his career, as was the ratio of 154 hits allowed in 116 innings.

The Brewers were soured on Earl and spent the 1947-48 offseason trying to deal him away, though the Sentinel was skeptical that they could get much for him. On March 5 they reported:

Reid fell off a ladder while painting his house near Birmingham and sprained his pitching wrist. He is not counted on heavily, anyway, and Birmingham is eager to make a deal for him. The Barons can have him, we gather, if they come up with a decent offer.

He did not get traded to Birmingham, and on March 25 he made his first exhibition start. There were conflicting reports during the spring as to how he was doing; on April 15 the AP reported that he was the expected opening day starter, but that didn’t happen. After making one relief appearance, he and a teammate were sold to the Toledo Mud Hens, his third straight American Association team, for $7000 on April 29. 

On May 2 the Sentinel editorialized:

The sad state of the nation in the way of baseball players, and especially pitchers, was exemplified here the other day when the Mud Hens purchased two Brewer mound veterans, Buck Ross and Earl Reid. Ross, 35, and Reid, 30 [actually 34], have indicated they are definitely on the downgrade, yet the Browns’ system cannot come up with anything better.

Earl was mostly a starter for the Mud Hens, ending the season with a shutout that the Columbus Dispatch correctly reported was “by 35-year-old Earl Reid.” That gave him a 9-13 record for the year, with a 5.18 ERA in 153 innings; his nine wins led the team. When the season ended he went to Cuba to play for Marianao in the Cuban Winter League.

In January 1949 the Browns sent Earl down one rung, to the San Antonio Missions of the Texas League. He was their best pitcher in spring training and got the nod as the opening night starter. He had a 6-4 record in early June when he went down for a week with an elbow injury; in one of the losses he beat out a bunt for his team’s only hit. After he came back he was less effective and was soon sent to the bullpen, as his record sank to 6-10. On July 28 the Missions sold him to the independent Dallas Eagles two hours before a game between the two clubs. 

He finished the season with a career-high 45 appearances, 21 of them starts, an 8-15 record and 4.55 ERA in 186 innings, his most since 1940, and struck out a career-high 88. It was reported near the end of the season that he was one of eleven Dallas players who had asked permission to play in the Cuban Winter League, but I don’t know whether he did.

In October Dallas transferred his contract to the Gainesville Owls of the Class B Big State League, though in December the Dallas Morning News reported that “If all this trade talk with the major league clubs fails to produce enough mound help, Goff may bring Earl Reid, lanky right-hander who showed a world of stuff when given adequate rest between assignments, back from Gainesville.”

As it turned out Earl spent 1950 in the Big State League, though only pitching in eight games with Gainesville before moving to the Temple Eagles. He spent the season in the bullpen, pitching in 35 games total with a 4.62 ERA and a 7-6 record and striking out 62 in 78 innings, a much higher ratio than he had ever had before.

On April 25, 1951, the Sporting News ran the following obituary:

Mrs. Lyndall Reid, wife of Pitcher Earl Reid, died recently at their home in Cullman, Ala. Earl, who was drafted by the Braves from Indianapolis and is now with Temple (Big State), has been pitching in the minors since 1936 with various clubs and also with Marianao in the Cuban Winter League. A young son also survives.

I never found any other information about a son. Also, Earl was no longer with Temple but was out of professional ball and back home in Alabama, pitching for the semi-pro Huntsville Boosters, whose season started the same week the obituary appeared. An account of the game of July 26, in which Earl pitched in relief, in the Huntsville Times is the last mention of Earl I have found until his own Sporting News obituary ran June 11, 1984. He died on June 8 in Cullman, the Sporting News correctly reporting his age as 70. I know nothing about his life during those last 33 years.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/R/Preide101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reidea01.shtml

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=17013