Karl Swanson was a second baseman for the Chicago White Sox
in 1928 and 1929, and was the sixth-longest-living major league player.
Karl was born December 17, 1900 (two weeks before the end of
the 19th Century—keep that in mind for later), in North Henderson,
Illinois, a small farming town west of Chicago, near the Iowa border. He was
the second of three children of Frank and Mary; the family lived in town and
Frank worked for other farmers. Karl played baseball from a young age, and as a
teenager was on a team that played informally against boys from other towns in
the area. He graduated from the two-year high school at 16, then attended
Augustana College in Rock Island for a year, playing shortstop and majoring in
accounting. Then he worked at various jobs in Rock Island and Moline and played
semi-pro ball; at one of those jobs he met his future wife, Lucille Stein.
According to Karl’s chapter in the book Voices From the Pastime: Oral Histories of Surviving Major Leaguers,
Negro Leaguers, Cuban Leaguers and Writers, 1920-1934 by Nick Wilson
(2000), which was helpful for this post, he first played professionally at age
20 in 1921 for the Moline Plowboys of the Class B Three-I League and the next
year moved to the Class D Cedar Rapids Bunnies of the Mississippi Valley
League, though his stats do not show him starting until 1923, with Cedar
Rapids. An article in the Evansville
Courier & Press from February 26, 1923, names Karl “Peanuts” Swanson as
a promising candidate for an infield spot with Moline, adding:
“Peanuts” played for Cairo in the Kitty league last season until his health became affected by the torrid temperature and he, along with a few other northern players in that circuit, were forced to head toward more temperate regions.
Swanson made good with the stick. Several times he hit extra baggers with men on the sacks. His fielding was also good.
I don’t know whether he started the 1923 season with Moline,
but the stats only show 75 games with Cedar Rapids, where he played shortstop
and hit .291, without much power, and made 39 errors. In 1924 he was back with
the Bunnies, now at second base, and hit just .259 but was third in the league
with 18 triples.
In 1925 Karl was again playing second base for Cedar Rapids,
raising his average to .292 but falling off again in the power department. Still,
after the Bunnies’ season ended he was purchased by the Lincoln Links of the
Class A Western League, where he got into 12 games, playing well at second but
hitting just .194 with no extra-base hits.
Karl was on Lincoln’s reserve list during the off-season,
but in the spring of 1926 they sold him to Moline, which was no longer in the
Class B Three-I League but instead down in the Mississippi Valley League
alongside Cedar Rapids. This year he played more shortstop than second base,
and hit .291 with career highs, so far, in slugging at .422 and with six home
runs, and also hit ten triples. In 1927 he was again with the Plowboys, back
playing second base full time, and hit .275 with ten triples and eight homers,
scoring 96 runs. After the season he applied for the Moline manager job but
didn’t get it.
The January 19, 1928, issue of the Sporting News included the following:
MOLINE MAKES BIG TRADE
Fans View Transfer of Karl Swanson as a Miniature Rogers Hornsby Shock.
MOLINE, ILL., Jan. 16—There’s weeping and wailing and pounding of anvils and the howl of the wolf resounds through the long winter nights at the door of headquarters of the Moline Plow Boys.
They’ve gone and done it. They’ve traded Karl (Peanuts) Swanson, keystone king of the Mississippi Valley loop, to Rock Island for Frank Walczak, also a second sacker, and Sammy Schwartz, first baseman. Fans who live in towns separated by miles of rolling prairie can not appreciate the antipathy which exists in Moline for anything that hints of Rock Island and vice versa. Most of them believe a player who has appeared in the lineup of their neighbors is hopeless for future use in their own dooryard.
The whole idea is ridiculous, of course, but that’s their story and they’ll stick to it—at least until the season opens.
Realizing that there would be a “holler” from friends of Swanson in Moline and Schwartz and Walczak in Rock Island, Managers Dick Manchester of the Plow Boys and Pat Patterson of the Islanders, nevertheless, assembled the other night and signed the papers.
Swanson had applied for the managership in Moline and Walczak had done the same in Rock Island and the transfer was, the managers believe, the proper move for both…
The February 16 TSN included the assertion “…no one can deny
that Karl is the finest keystone man in this league and perhaps in any Class D
organization. Just class, that’s all.” So, Karl continued his tour of the
Mississippi Valley League with Rock Island in 1928 and had his best year,
making a big leap offensively. In late July he was purchased by the Chicago
White Sox, for “only $3,000,” for delivery later in the season; major league
scouts had been watching him all year, despite this being just Class D. Later
in the season came quickly, and Karl left Rock Island as the league’s leading
hitter at .384, with 101 runs scored, 23 doubles, ten triples and ten homers in
just 97 games, and his 58 stolen bases held up as tops in the league to the end
of the season.
Karl made his major league debut on August 12, a 27-year-old
rookie whom the Sox believed to be 24, as at some point he had changed his
birth year to 1903. He played second base and batted second in the order at
home against the Browns, going 0-for-4 but turning two double plays. He was the
regular second baseman for the next four weeks, eventually moving from second
to sixth in the order, then lost the job and barely played in the final 16
games; he ended up with a .141 batting average in 64 at-bats.
Meanwhile, on June 16 Karl and Lucille had gotten married in
Moline, and in December they finally had a chance to go on a honeymoon. From
the December 15 Seattle Times:
Karl Swanson, New White Sox Keystoner, Now in Longview
Special to the Times.
LONGVIEW, Saturday, Dec. 15—Karl Swanson, second sacker who was sold by the Rock Island club of the Mississippi Valley League to the Chicago White Sox late last summer, and his young bride arrived in Longview on a honeymoon trip through the western states. They will remain here over the holidays, visiting at the home of R.M. Anderson, local newspaper man, who came from Swanson’s home town, Moline, Illinois.
Apparently 22 games in the big leagues made Karl a
celebrity, and an article in the December 27 Tacoma Daily Ledger featured his
thoughts on several players and an umpire who had moved up from the timber and
lumber leagues of western Washington to the Mississippi Valley League.
Karl went to spring training 1929 with the White Sox, and
was involved in a four-way battle for the second base job, which was won by
John Kerr. He made two pinch-hitting appearances, walking on April 25 and
making an out on May 5, and then on May 10 he was optioned to the Indianapolis
Indians of the Class AA American Association. After playing in only nine games,
though, he moved on again, to the Class A Texas League. From the May 28 Beaumont Enterprise:
Young Chisox Infielder Is Coming Here
Karl Swanson Obtained on Option Is Speed Merchant
Karl Swanson, White Sox rookie infielder, has been signed by the Exporters and will report today or tomorrow. This was announced yesterday by Exporter executives who said that Swanson will come here under option for the remainder of the season—if we can use him.
“He has the earmarks of a great infielder,” said Manager Robertson last night. “I don’t expect to use him as long as the present combination is winning but it is good to have him available in case anything should go wrong.”
Swanson is essentially a second baseman…Swanson is not expected to replace Philbin, who has been playing a whale of a game himself since rejoining the Exporters. His presence will not involve the departure of any other member of the team since the roster now stands at only 17.
And two days later:
…The team was joined yesterday, which was a rainout, incidentally, by Karl Swanson, the rookie second baseman obtained from the White Sox. Swanson accompanied the club to Waco while his wife went with him as far as Houston, where she will visit friends. The young couple plan to make their summer home in Beaumont.
Swanson is short and slightly built but looks fully capable of the speed which enabled him to steal 58 bases last season in 97 games in the Mississippi Valley league. He has spent the season thus far on the White Sox bench and the fact that they retained him this long shows that they believed him, for a spell at least, to be of major league calibre…
Before long Karl had beaten Frank Philbin out for the second
base job, hitting first or second, and in early July it was announced that
Philbin would be released even though hitting .329. In mid-August Karl's susceptibility to hot weather resurfaced, and he missed some games; his
replacement received some criticism for not fielding up to Karl’s standard. He
played 113 games for the Exporters, hitting .261 with very little power, but
with 87 walks, and set a league record by turning five double plays in a game.
On October 28 it was announced that the Dallas Steers, also
of the Texas League, had bought Karl from the White Sox. Two days later, the Dallas Morning News reported:
Contrary to reports in circulation, the Dallas baseball club has not yet definitely acquired the services of Karl Swanson, young second-sacker who performed with the Beaumont Exporters during the last season. Business Manager Bob Tarleton hopes to get this fellow but he isn’t taking anything for granted. In short, he has the inside track on Swanson but he hasn’t got him yet. It was Bob who last season persuaded the White Sox to loan the young Keystone bag guardian to the Exporters. The latter want him back but Dallas has been promised first call if the Sox decide to put him out for another year. Tarleton recently expressed to Chicago officials his desire to get Karl. Jakie Atz [manager] likes him.
…Bob Tarleton is “sweet” on young Swanson. Given a chance to start the season in this climate, he believes the fellow will prove a sensation. He’s fast and a nice handler of double plays…
On November 9 the Beaumont
Enterprise quoted the Dallas
Times-Herald as saying “Swanson is a youngster, and is a hustler from start
to finish. He didn’t tear any fences down in the league last season—his first
in Class A baseball—but he hit at a fair clip and was one of the most peppery
lads in the loop.” On November 21 Karl’s purchase by the Steers was officially
announced, after which the Beaumont
Journal had a much less positive assessment of him:
Swanson’s loss will not be felt much, for there are lots better second sackers than the youngster. Karl just didn’t have the stamina, and several times last year, he had to be benched just to pick up strength. He’s only a fair hitter, and once during a seven game stretch, he failed to hit and only once or twice knocked a ball to the outfield.
The 1930 census shows Karl and Lucille at 435B 8th
W in Dallas, rented, no radio. A February 26 AP report on the Steers , written
by the sports editor of the Dallas
Morning News, said that Karl would be the second baseman, describing him as
“another flashy fielder but only fair batter.” A week later the Beaumont Journal said “Hap Morse, a
veteran, is slated to be back at second for the Steers this year. Karl Swanson,
who played with Beaumont last season, probably will make Morse play heads-up
ball to hold his position.”
Karl did beat out Morse, with much being written
about the outstanding double play combination of him and Wayne Windle, but
after hitting .242 in 23 games he was sent to the Toledo Mud Hens of the
American Association—either directly or by way of the White Sox, depending on
the story. The Houston Chronicle
reported it on May 9:
Little Karl Swanson, second sacker, who played with Beaumont last year, and was secured by Dallas this year, has been sent to Toledo by Atz. Swanson wasn’t big enough nor strong enough to stand up under the Texas heat. Swanson passed out during a double header here between Beaumont and Houston. The heat was too much for him.
So Jake has sent the boy back to the Midwest largely for his own good…
Karl got off to a hot start in Toledo, where he enjoyed playing for Casey Stengel. On June 28 it was
reported that the White Sox had waived their right to recall him as part of a
deal for another player. On July 7 he was hitting .377; on August 9, now
hitting .315 over 57 games, he was released to the Class B Quincy Indians of
the Three-I League, but I don’t know why. For Quincy he hit .350 in 38 games,
with 15 doubles, then he supposedly finished the season for his fourth team,
the Buffalo Bisons of the Class AA International League, though no statistics
are available. He did appear on the Buffalo reserve list after the season.
By the time the 1931 season began Karl was with the Des
Moines Demons of the Class A Western League (and had a son, Thomas, born
February 28). He had an excellent season, hitting .312 with 138 runs scored,
third in the league, 20 doubles, 9 triples, 7 homers, and 88 RBI, and led the
league’s second basemen in every fielding category. That same year Karl and
Lucille show up in the Moline city directory at 2509-1/2 5th Ave.
Karl was retained by Des Moines for 1932 and had another
good season; his batting average slipped to .298 but his slugging went up from
.413 to .425, thanks to 24 doubles, 15 triples, and six homers. On May 4, 1933,
the Sporting News reported that he had been signed by the Oklahoma City Indians
of the Class A Texas League, which would be a lateral move, but he must not
have stayed there long, as he played 126 games that season for the Dayton Ducks
of the Class C Mid-Atlantic League. He hit .306, with 24 doubles, nine triples,
and four homers.
In 1934 Karl played 102 games for Dayton, now a Brooklyn
Dodgers farm club, but also 14 games for Davenport in the Western League; I’m
not sure what part of the season he was with Davenport. He hit .308 and slugged
.404 with Davenport, .274 and .351 with Dayton. The Sporting News of November 1 reported that Dayton manager and club
president Ducky Holmes had been suspended, in his role as manager, for the
first 90 days of the 1935 season but was appealing: “He intimated that if he
was not successful in changing the official ruling, the Ducks probably will be
managed next season by Karl Swanson, for two seasons the team’s star second
baseman.”
Holmes lost his appeal, but by the beginning of the next
season Karl was gone from Dayton and playing in Cedar Rapids, where he had last
played in 1925, though the team was now the Raiders rather than the Bunnies and
was no longer Class D but Class A, as a member of the Western League. He had
played in 17 games for Cedar Rapids when on June 13 it was announced that he
had been named manager of the Rock Island Islanders, also now in the Western
League; the Islanders sent their second baseman to Cedar Rapids in exchange.
Karl couldn’t take over immediately due to illness, and once he did he resigned
after a few games. I did not find a reason reported on at the time, but Karl
recalled in 2000 that he had quit when they tried to reduce his salary. At any
rate he went home to Moline.
In the 1936 Moline directory Karl and Lucille are still
living on 5th Avenue, and Karl is listed as an inspector for
International Harvester. Starting in 1937, though, they’re in the Rock Island
directory, living at 914 18th Avenue, which is apparently also the
address of their store—Karl’s occupation is now “grocery & meats.” In the
1940 census Karl is listed as a grocer who worked 98 hours the previous week
and Lucille as a grocery clerk, an unpaid family worker, who worked 48 hours.
Thomas is now nine years old, and there’s a one-year-old daughter, June.
Karl’s draft registration, dated 2-16-42, says that he is the
only person in his household, and his next of kin is given as W.O. Stein, who
was Lucille’s father; I’m not sure what to make of that. His description is
5-9, 160, light complexion, gray eyes, and brown hair. In the 1945 Rock Island
directory Karl still has the grocery on 18th Avenue, but he and
Lucille are now living at 1903 27th, while in 1947 they’re at 3004
17th. The 2-28-51 issue of the Sporting
News reported on the annual dinner of the Baseball Old-Timers of Rock
Island, where Karl was elected one of two assistant secretaries. The city
directory listings remain the same as in 1947 through 1953, then in 1954 Karl’s
occupation changes to salesman. From 1955 through 1957 he’s listed as salesman
for Ray Anderson Radio & TV, in 1959 as salesman for Ellis Co., and in
1960, still living on 17th Street, as salesman for Elle’s Realty.
Then comes a gap until January 22, 1992, when Lucille died
in Rock Island at age 86, after 63 years of marriage. By the time Karl was
interviewed for the 2000 book he was living in Florida, where son Thomas died
in January 1999 at the age of 67. He was by then the oldest living major league
player, and was playing a lot of golf, watching baseball on television, and
still driving. He passed away on April 3, 2002, back in Rock Island, at the age
of 101, the only major league player to live in three centuries.
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