Henry Lampe

Henry Lampe pitched in nine National League games in 1894-95.

Henry Joseph Lampe was born September 19, 1872, in Boston, to James, a carpenter born in New Hampshire, and Anna, born in Boston. James had apparently died by the time of the 1880 census, which showed 39-year-old Anna and 7-year-old Henry living at 37 Preble Street in Boston with two boarders, David and Thomas Murphy, a brass-finisher and a porter respectively, who may have been Anna’s brothers.

By 1892, the year he turned twenty, Henry was playing amateur and semi-pro baseball around Boston. He was a left-handed pitcher who batted right-handed. In 1893 he pitched well enough that in February of 1894 he was signed by the National League’s Boston Beaneaters. From the Boston Herald of February 21:

ANOTHER BOSTON PITCHER. 

Lampe of South Boston Added to the Champion Team. 

The Bostons have signed another pitcher. 

The young man’s name is Henry J. Lampe of South Boston. He is just 21 years of age, almost six feet high and weighs 180 pounds. 

He pitched for the first time with the Murray and Irwins of South Boston two years ago. His first game was against the Whittentons and he won it. Since that time he has pitched against such strong clubs as the Brattleboros, and in one game the latter failed to make a hit off him in the five innings he pitched. He is a left hander, has plenty of speed and curve, and has a good head. He is a good fielder in his position. 

Manager John Irwin [of the Murray and Irwins] says that he is a hard hitter and a fast runner. In speaking of his curves Mr. Irwin says that in one game at Haverhill Lampe pitched a ball that struck Miah Murray, his catcher, on the arm. 

Mr. Selee [Boston manager] is greatly pleased with the appearance of the newcomer.

He pitched a ball that hit his catcher on the arm? That’s amazing!

Henry didn’t get into a regular season game with Boston until May 14, when he relieved Kid Nichols in a 16-5 home loss to Baltimore. His second appearance, and first start, came on June 6, when he and reliever Tom Smith combined to allow 27 runs and a record-tying seven homers to Pittsburgh. That evening Boston owner Arthur Soden wrote Henry a letter giving him ten days’ notice of his release from his contract. In his two games he pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowed 19 runs (7 earned) on 17 hits including five home runs, struck out one and walked 7, and had an ERA of 11.81. He caught on with the Class B New England League, where he pitched for both Brockton and Haverhill, and had a 5-7 record in 12 games.

In the spring of 1895 Henry signed with the Lawrence Indians of the independent New England Association. On June 28 the Washington Evening Star reported:

Manager Arthur Irwin of Philadelphia has secured, as the result of a short visit to the New England clubs, Henry J. Lampe, the crack pitcher of the New England Association. Lampe is a big fellow, five feet eleven and a half inches in height, and weighs 175 pounds. He is about twenty-one years of age. Lampe has been the standby of his club, and won twenty-five out of twenty-seven games in which he has pitched.

Henry made three starts for the Phillies, an 11-10 loss on July 3, a 6-1 loss on July 12, and a 10-8 loss on August 1.  He also made four relief appearances, the final one coming on August 2, and sometime after that he was let go again. This time he had a 7.57 ERA in 44 innings; his major league career was now over, and his career ERA was 8.03. He found a job with the Buffalo Bisons of the Class A Eastern League, where he found the level of competition more to his liking and had a 6-3 record and 3.68 ERA in 93 innings.

For 1896 Henry signed with the New York Metropolitans of the Class A Atlantic League. In May he moved, somehow, to the Portsmouth Browns of the Class B Virginia League, then in June back to the Metropolitans, who folded in early July. He spent some time with Portsmouth again, then the Fall River Indians of the Class B New England League and the Syracuse Stars of the Eastern League. For Fall River he went 3-3 with a 3.44 ERA in 55 innings in seven games; no statistics have turned up for the rest of his season.

In March 1897 Henry attended the New England League schedule meeting as part of the Syracuse contingent, then was mentioned in the March 19 Boston Journal as part of the crowd at Lewis Wharf seeing the Beaneaters off on their steamship trip to spring training. He had a much more stable season, remaining with Syracuse all year. The Boston Herald reported on June 20:

Henry Lampe of South Boston keeps on winning games for the Syracuse team, and has played no small part in moving that club to the top. Lampe has the laugh this season on those who styled him as “no good.” “Jack” Ryan catches when Lampe is in the box, and the twain make a very stiff battery.

On December 26 the Herald looked back on Henry’s season:

Pitcher Henry Lampe, the fine young left-hander of this city, did some great work last season. May 11, at Springfield, he held the home club down to four runs in 12 innings; May 24, he shut out the Torontos; May 31, he held down the Rochesters to one run and four hits; Aug. 27, he shut out the Springfields, and Aug. 31 the Scrantons made but five hits. His work next season will be regarded with no little interest.

For the year Henry had a 23-12 record, pitching 292 innings in 37 games; he allowed 166 runs, of which supposedly only 45 were earned—that seems unlikely, even in 1897, but if true then he had an ERA of 1.39. In December it was reported that he had been traded to Brooklyn, but that was not the case.

On February 27, 1898, the Herald ran a feature article on Henry, from which some of the facts in this post were taken. It concludes:

Lampe, unlike most ball players, has not led a life of idleness since the base ball season closed, but has been in the employ of the firm of C.H. McKenney & Co. of this city, where he is highly esteemed. He is a faithful and hard working young man, his habits are of the best and there is no reason why, whether in base ball or in business, he should not some day rank with the best.

Henry started 1898 back with Syracuse, but apparently was let go in mid-May, just a couple of weeks into the season. On May 22 his mother died, and on May 27 the Boston Herald ran what seems to be a plea for short-term employment: “Pitcher Henry J. Lampe, late of Syracuse, can be secured for Saturday and Decoration day, and can be addressed 20 Locust street, Dorchester.” (Dorchester is a neighborhood in south Boston.) I don’t know if he found a place to pitch on Saturday and Decoration Day (now Memorial Day), but he spent the second half of June with Toronto of the Eastern League; between Syracuse and Toronto he had a 1-5 Eastern League record in 56 innings—he allowed 7.88 runs per nine innings, but it is not known how many of the runs were earned. I found no trace of him the rest of the season.

Before the 1899 season, on April 5, Henry got married, in Boston, to Hannah F. Murray, a 24-year-old clerk residing at 1026 Dorchester Avenue. Henry, 26, was listed as a ballplayer, living at 20 Locust Street. He moved in with her at her aunt’s house.

The season found Henry back in the Eastern League, now with the Worcester Farmers. For the first time I found him referred to as “Jack,” in two items in the Boston Globe. From June 21: “Jack Lampe was royally entertained at Hartford during the visit of Worcester to that city by Jimmie Connors, an old South Boston schoolmate, and a party of friends.” And on August 20:

The games the team have lost have been due wholly to the poorest kind of ball playing. Tuesday’s game was lost after two were out in the ninth inning, to the Torontos. Jack Lampe was batted all around the field, and Horton, who went in to help out, got all that was coming to him.

Henry finished the season with a 12-12 record in 239 innings in 30 games; he allowed 6.44 runs per nine innings, but again it is unknown how many of the runs were earned. Possibly because he was now married and would soon be starting a family, he retired from baseball.

On April 27, 1900, Henry was appointed a reserve officer with the Boston Police Department and assigned to Division 6, in south Boston. On June 11 the US Census found him and Hannah (inexplicably listed as “Josephine” this one time) living at 1026 Dorchester Avenue with Hannah’s aunt Mary Hayden, a widowed tailoress. Interestingly, Henry had brought along David and Thomas Murphy, his mother’s boarders/brothers, along with him to Mary’s house; David was now a 50-year-old machinist and Thomas a 48-year-old stevedore.

The very next day, Henry was “seriously injured while trying to stop a runaway horse in South Boston.” On July 20 he was given a commendation for the incident and awarded two days’ additional vacation time. On October 31 his probationary period ended and he was sworn in as a patrolman, still with Division 6. At some point during 1900 Henry and Hannah’s first child was born, daughter Marion (or Marian). Henry Jr. came along in 1902, and Frances in 1903.

On August 1, 1903, Henry, referred to as Jack in the stories, played in a baseball game between former and current players at the Locust Street Grounds. On August 9 the Boston Globe ran a feature article that mentioned him:

“COPS” WHO PLAY BALL. 

A Number of Boston’s Finest Traveled in Big Company Before Discarding the Bat for the “Club With the Acorn Attachment.” 

The Boston police department boasts of its many clever ball players, who in past years have made excellent reputations on the diamond. The men in their day could play the game with the best, but finally they forsook the uniform of the diamond for that with the brass buttons of the guardians of the peace. 

There were a few, however, who did not play all the time for pleasure and for love, and who could be forced to accept some of the long green for their efforts… 

Henry J., better known as “Jack” Lampe, who is attached to station 6, South Boston, is another bluecoat who had business relations with the Boston triumvirate. During 1893 he did such splendid work with semiprofessional teams that Selee secured him for Boston for 1894. 

In the few games that he pitched he was wild, but staid [sic] on the club’s payroll until July 15. In 1895 he pitched for the New York Nationals [actually New York of the Atlantic League] and at Philadelphia, where his career as a major league ball player terminated. He pitched for several eastern and New England teams in later years, and created a favorable impression. It was the fad for ball players to go “sleuthing,” and the examinations for the force looked so easy that he could not resist eating ‘em up. He has been a member of the police department about four years [actually three], and the only time he plays ball is when he is called upon to break up a kid game.

On October 22, 1905, David Murphy died; “Funeral from the residence of his nephew, Henry J. Lampe, 1026 Dorchester av. Wednesday, Oct 25, at 8:15.” In 1906 a fourth child, Ruth, was born, and in 1908 came Muriel. Also in 1908, on September 13, the Boston Herald ran an article headlined “ATHLETES AMONG CITY’S POLICEMEN” that mentioned Henry. The “Boston Briefs” column in the January 22, 1910, issue of Sporting Life included the item:

Jack Lampe, once famed as a left-handed pitcher, has taken to police basket ball. Strenuous? Ask Teddy.

Teddy Roosevelt? No idea.

In January 1912 Henry/Jack was an assistant to the chief marshal of the annual concert and ball of the Boston Police Relief Association, which drew over 20,000 people. At some point that year, he and Hannah had their sixth and final child, Richard.

The 1920 census showed two households at 1026 Dorchester, both of them renting. One was 59-year-old tailoress Mary Hayden and her single, unemployed sister, Catherine Wagner, also 59. The other was Henry and Hannah and their children: Marion, 19, a bookkeeper in the electrical field; Henry Jr., 17, a stockkeeper in the safety razor field; and schoolchildren Frances, Ruth, Muriel, and Richard.

On January 27, 1921, the Boston Globe, in its Dorchester District news column, ran the following item:

A whist party will be held tomorrow evening at the Columbia Club, under the auspices of St. William’s Catholic Club. Many valuable prizes have been donated for the party. The committee of the club in charge consists of Coleman J. Duran, president; Frank Bransfield, chairman; Henry Lampe, secretary; Joseph Casey, treasurer, and Leo Welch.

The same newspaper reported on April 7:

The Dorrox girls, composed of well-known young ladies from the Mt. Pleasant district and Savin Hill section of Dorchester will hold their annual dancing party at the Columbus Club, Pearl and Pleasant sts, Dorchester, Monday night, April 11. The club is composed of the Misses Mae Donovan, Catherine Leonard, Marion Lampe, Anna Leonard and Helen Donovan. They will be assisted by the Misses Margaret Monahan, Helen Diggins, Anna Lonovan and Frances Lampe and Messrs. Henry Lampe [Jr. I assume], Sidney Burnham, Thomas Leonard, Carl Olson and Parker Duffy. Mrs. Henry J. Lampe and Mrs. John Leonard will act as matrons. Warren H. Johnston of Somerville, famous exhibition dancer, will give an exhibition dance on the latest New York steps.

The 1930 census showed Henry, 57, owning the home at 1026 Dorchester, with all six of the kids, now getting up there in age, still at home. Marion, 29, is a stenographer for auto sales; Henry Jr., 28, is a railway express clerk; Frances, 27, is a clerk at the State House; Ruth, 24, is a hairdresser with her own shop; Muriel, 21, is a stenographer for a boarding house, which seems like a very slow job, and Richard, 17, is in school. Aunt Mary Hayden has apparently passed away, and her sister Catherine Wagner, who has aged 21 years since 1920 and is now 80, is listed as a lodger.

Three months after the census data was taken, on July 8, Hannah passed away. On September 16, 1936, Henry died. From the next day’s Boston Herald:

HENRY J. LAMPE 

Henry J. Lampe, 64 [actually three days short of turning 64], for 36 years attached to Station 6, South Boston, and a former pitcher for the Boston club in the National League in 1894, died yesterday at his home, 1026 Dorchester avenue, Dorchester, after a month’s illness. 

He was born in Boston Sept. 19, 1872. As a youth he starred in amateur and semi-professional baseball ranks and finally went up to the majors when he was signed by the Boston National League club. 

He was appointed to the police force, April 27, 1900, and was assigned to the South Boston station where he had been ever since. For the past 15 years he had been a clerk at the station.

The Sporting News also ran an obituary.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/L/Plamph101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lampehe01.shtml

Macay McBride

Macay McBride was a major league relief pitcher for three seasons in the early 21^st century.

Joseph Macay McBride was born October 24, 1982, in Sylvania, Georgia, a small town halfway between Augusta and Savannah, and the county seat of Screven County. (The internet says he was born in Augusta, but he put Sylvania on a 2005 questionnaire, so I’m going with that.) He played baseball and football at Screven County High School, and, during his sophomore year, he got his first feature article in the Augusta Chronicle:

Sophomore strikeout king turns heads 

By Tim Morse 

At first glance, Screven County pitcher Macay McBride doesn’t look overpowering. At 6-foot, 180 pounds, he looks like your ordinary high school pitcher. 

But there’s something about the sophomore pitcher when he gets ahead of batters in the count. 

“He has a good array of pitches,” said Screven County baseball coach J.T. Pollock. “He has good velocity on his pitches, and his fastballs run away from right-handed hitters, while his breaking ball bites in on them. Therefore it’s hard to look for a particular pitch with that kind of velocity. And of course, he has a good change-up too.” 

McBride is just 16, barely old enough to drive a car, and he’s as seasoned on the mound as most high school seniors. In 16 games this season, the left-hander has posted an 11-2 record with two saves, a 1.42 earned run average and a phenomenal 159 strikeouts in just 84 innings, an average of 9.9 strikeouts per outing. His fastball has been clocked in the high 80s. His season high was 16 strikeouts vs. Vidalia on March 20. 

McBride leads the Gamecocks into the second round of the Georgia Class AA baseball playoffs on Friday at Thomasville. 

He has set the school’s single-season record for strikeouts, breaking the old mark of 107 set in 1987 by James Parker, who went on to play baseball at Georgia College. 

McBride has 235 strikeouts in two seasons, just 40 shy of Parker’s school record of 275 established between 1984 and 1987… 

But the sophomore doesn’t just focus on his individual accomplishments. 

“I like the attention,” he said. “But the team can still win if I’m not pitching. But without the defense, I wouldn’t win.” 

If opposing coaches had their way, they’d probably wish they’d never have to face McBride again. 

“The only thing I’ve heard (players on the opposing team) say about me is, ‘Man, that’s a nasty curveball,’” McBride said. “Other coaches have asked Coach Pollock stuff like, “Where did he come from?” 

McBride has been one of the biggest reasons Screven County won its first region baseball title since 1961 and is in the state playoffs. Since beginning the season at 6-9, the Gamecocks have reeled off 14 consecutive wins…

Macay was named to the second team on the Georgia All-Area Baseball Team, and in January 2000 he was selected to Collegiate Baseball magazine’s preseason high school All-American team. Screven County advanced to the state playoffs again, and Macay made the first team on the All-Area team, going 11-3 again and lowering his ERA to 1.09 while adding 157 to his strikeout total; he was also an excellent hitter and played in the outfield when not pitching. In August he made a non-binding commitment to attend the University of Georgia on a baseball scholarship, then in November he signed a letter of intent.

In 2001 Screven County went to the playoffs again, and Macay won 11 games again, losing just two this time. He raised his strikeouts to 161 and was named the Gatorade State Baseball Player of the Year. On June 5 he was picked by the Atlanta Braves in the first round of the amateur draft, the 24^th player chosen overall. He had hoped to be taken by the Braves and he received a $1.34 million bonus to sign with them instead of going to the University of Georgia.

The Braves sent Macay to the rookie-level Gulf Coast League, where he had a 3.76 ERA in 55 innings in 13 games, mostly as a starter, with 67 strikeouts and 23 walks. For 2002 he moved up to Macon of the Class A Sally League, and the Augusta Chronicle reported on July 24:

Area star stops Jackets 

McBride pitches Macon to win against Augusta 

By Rob Mueller 

The Macon Braves wore their customary road grays Tuesday, but for the man on the mound at Lake Olmstead, this was anything but another road start. 

For Macay McBride, the former Screven County High School star, it was homecoming. With the seats filled with his family and friends, McBride didn’t let his boisterous fans down. 

Making his first start in Augusta as a Braves farmhand, McBride couldn’t have scripted it any better. He turned in a memorable performance, overpowering the Green Jackets for 7 1/3 innings in a 5-0 win. 

Though he already had experienced two homecomings pitching against the Savannah Sand Gnats at Grayson Stadium—about 60 miles from his hometown of Sylvania, Ga.—McBride said pitching in Augusta was extra special. 

“I love Augusta, and I played ball here more than anywhere in this area, so it was nice to have family and friends here, and to go out and pitch well for them,” said McBride, the Atlanta Braves’ first-round pick in the 2000 [2001] draft. “Some minor-league games, you come out and nobody’s in the stands, but tonight it was nice to get the adrenaline going.” 

McBride relied on the adrenaline rush to supplement his great stuff and excellent command of all four of his pitches Tuesday. He limited the Jackets to just two hits—both singles. He walked two and struck out seven batters en route to his third victory over the Jackets this season… 

McBride handcuffed the Jackets with a fastball that touched 93 mph and a good mix of breaking balls and off-speed pitches… 

“The thing with Macay is he has great stuff and great makeup and composure, but the thing that makes him special is he’s a competitor,” Macon manager Lynn Jones said. “He’s aggressive and doesn’t back down to hitters. He’s an impressive young pitcher with a very bright future.”

Macay finished the season with a 12-8 record and 2.12 ERA in 157 1/3 innings in 25 starts, with 138 strikeouts and 48 walks, and was named the league’s most valuable pitcher. In 2003 he was bumped up to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League, a higher Class A league; there he had a 9-8 record, a 2.95 ERA, 139 strikeouts and 49 walks in 164 2/3 innings in 27 starts.

In 2004 Macay pitched for the Greenville Braves of the Class AA Southern League. His ERA went up to 4.44 as he started pitching more out of the bullpen, starting just 12 of his 38 games, for a total of 103 1/3 innings. But Atlanta thought enough of him to put him on their 40-man major league roster over the off-season, and he went to spring training with them in 2005.

In mid-March Macay was optioned to the Mississippi Braves, the Greenville Braves having moved to Jackson, Mississippi. He had a 3.65 ERA in 24 2/3 innings in six games (three starts, three relief appearances) when he was moved up to AAA Richmond on May 10. He was almost exclusively a reliever for Richmond, where he got off to a rough start but turned it around. He had a 4.33 ERA over 25 appearances as of July 21, at which point he was called up to Atlanta.

The next night, in Arizona, Macay made his major league debut, pitching the eighth inning in a ten-inning, 6-5 Braves loss. After fly outs by pinch-hitter Jose Cruz Jr. and Craig Counsell, he allowed a single to Royce Clayton before striking out Luis Gonzalez; then he was pinch-hit for by not-quite-47-year-old Julio Franco, who made his major-league debut the year Macay was born.

In Macay’s next two appearances he was brought in just to get a single left-handed hitter out, and he succeeded. Then, on July 29, he got his first major league save, getting the last two outs in a 2-1 victory. (Around this time it was reported that Chipper Jones’ nickname for Macay was “Fat Boy.”) He didn’t give up any earned runs in his first seven appearances, but then on August he allowed four in 2/3 of an inning, ballooning his ERA to 7.20. After one more appearance the next week, he was optioned back to Richmond on August 14, in order to make room for a pitcher coming off the disabled list; but on the 23^rd he was called back up after another injury. He finished the year with a 5.79 ERA in 14 innings in 23 games for Atlanta, and 4.33 in 43 2/3 innings in 25 games for Richmond. Atlanta won their division, then lost to Houston three games to one in the NLDS; Macay pitched a perfect ninth inning in game one, a 10-5 loss.

Macay injured his forearm during spring training 2006 and began the regular season on the disabled list. He pitched in seven games in a rehab stint in Richmond and Mississippi, then on April 30 was activated on the major league roster, where he remained for the rest of the season. He appeared in 71 games, leading the team in that department, with a 3.65 ERA in 56 2/3 innings, one save, 46 strikeouts and 32 walks. The Braves missed the playoffs, breaking a streak of fourteen straight seasons; a post-season review in the Durham Herald-Sun pointed to the improved bullpen as a reason for optimism for 2007, with manager Bobby Cox mentioning Macay in particular.

Over Macay’s first five appearances of 2007 he walked eleven in three innings, and on April 14 he was sent down to Richmond “to deal with control problems.” He pitched 23 innings there in seven games, only walking seven while striking out 24, and had a 3.13 ERA; he was recalled by Atlanta on May 16. He pitched very well over the next month, then on June 20 he was traded to Detroit for another left-handed reliever, Wilfredo Ledezma. The Durham Herald-Sun reported on the 21^st:

Ledezma dealt to Atlanta for McBride 

ATLANTA—The Braves swapped left-handed relievers with Detroit on Wednesday, sending Macay McBride to the Tigers for Wilfredo Ledezma. 

If nothing else, the deal was convenient. Ledezma will fly to Atlanta with his former team, which opens a three-game series against the Braves on Friday. McBride will hang out in his native Georgia until his new club arrives. 

“It will make the transition easier,” McBride said. “I just have to walk over there” to the visiting clubhouse… 

Braves general manager John Schuerholz targeted Ledezma, feeling the bullpen needed a hard-throwing lefty after Mike Gonzalez had a season-ending elbow injury. 

“He brings a different look to the bullpen from the left-handed side.” Schuerholz said. “Macay is a young guy who’s still developing his pitching ability. But it’s obvious by our actions that we like Ledezma and his future better.” 

McBride first came up to the Braves in 2005 and has gone 6-1 with a 3.99 ERA in 112 games, holding left-handed hitters to a .176 average (28-for-159). He struggled with his control early this season and was sent back to the minors, but had pitched better since his recall on May 16…

Macay pitched 17 2/3 innings in 20 games for the Tigers, with a 6.11 ERA, then was sent down to their AAA affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens of the International League in mid-August; he appeared in five games there and had a 3.38 ERA in eight innings. His major league ERA for the season, combining Atlanta and Detroit, was 4.96 in 38 games.

But there was a reason for the off-year. From the Detroit Free Press, January 13, 2008:

MACAY MCBRIDE: In disappointing ’07, Tiger reliever ‘had a little broken bone’ in elbow 

Jan. 13—Left-handed Detroit pitcher Macay McBride appeared at Tiger Fest at Comerica Park Saturday. McBride spoke about how a broken bone in his elbow led to a disappointing ’07 season and more. 

What he’s been doing during the off-season: 

“Oh, it’s been great. We had a little boy this off-season and I’ve just been hanging out with him and having a good time.” 

How he’s feeling after injury: 

“I’m feeling great. I had a little broken bone in my elbow, obviously it was bothering me last year a little bit. I just didn’t know what it was and found out this off-season what it was. And now I’ve just been working out and hopefully go down to spring training in another week and be ready to go.”

During spring training Tiger manager Jim Leyland started talking about switching Macay back to starting. From the Detroit News, February 18:

…McBride was a starter in his early days in the Braves organization and pitched well during Class-A stops at Macon (12-8, 2.12 ERA) and Myrtle Beach (9-8, 2.95). 

As a starter, he had a four-seam fastball, a change-up that was his second pitch, a two-seam fastball, and a curveball as well as a slider. 

It was more pitches than a situational left-handed reliever needed, which was why Braves coaches told him to stick with his four-seam fastball and slider. 

But now McBride is working on his old repertoire, getting back in touch with his change-up and two-seamer. A 25-year-old who came to Detroit in June’s trade with Atlanta for Wilfredo Ledezma, he isn’t sure about his role, but he came to camp two weeks early all in an effort to develop touch on a broader pitch repertoire. 

McBride believes his two-seam, sinking fastball helps with his change-up and vice versa. It’s one more reason why the Tigers are planning on taking a look at him in a longer-innings role.

Detroit News, February 27:

30 seconds with…Macay McBride 

Q. It looks like the Tigers haven’t forgotten you were once a starter because from the get-go this spring, manager Jim Leyland has talked about “stretching you out.” How does that sound? 

A. Anything’s fine. I liked starting. But there’s an adrenaline factor with relief that I also like. Either one’s fine with me. 

Q. Are you saying you basically just want to pitch? 

A. That’s exactly it. But that’s what anybody in my position is going to say. Give me the ball, tell me what you want me do to. I like it all. 

Q. How long has it been since you thought of yourself as a starter? 

A. It’s not a matter of that. I think I’m capable of starting or coming out of the bullpen. But it’s been a few years since I’ve done a lot of starting. My first few years in the Braves organization, I started. Then came the switch (in 2004). 

Q. So you like them equally—starting and relieving? 

A. There’s something to like about both jobs. You prepare yourself differently. With starting, you know when your turn is going to come. With relieving, you don’t. The phone rings, and it’s suddenly you they want. I like them both.

In March Macay was optioned to Toledo, to get used to starting again as part of their rotation. On April 5 he started the Mud Hens’ second game of the season—but was removed after the first inning due to elbow tenderness. The next day he was placed on the disabled list, and on the 7^th team doctors performed an MRI on his elbow, which revealed stretched ligaments. The Toledo Blade reported on the 9^th that “doctors told him the damaged ligament was causing bones in his elbow to rub together.” He was sent to New York for a second opinion, and the Blade reported on the 11^th:

McBride scheduled for surgery, out for season 

Macay McBride’s 2008 season consisted of one inning. 

A visit to Dr. David Altchek in New York yesterday revealed a small tear in McBride’s ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. McBride said he will undergo Tommy John surgery sometime next week and will miss the rest of the season. 

“I’ll be ready hopefully sometime next spring,” said McBride, a 25-year-old left-hander. “This is good because at least I won’t miss two seasons.” 

McBride was first examined by Detroit Tigers orthopedic specialist Dr. Stephen Lemos this week, and an MRI showed the ligament was stretched—which could require surgery but may also be healed through rehabilitation. 

But when an MRI taken by Dr. Altchek, the New York Mets’ medical director, showed the ligament was torn, McBride said his choice to have surgery was easy…

In November the Tigers signed Macay to a new contract, and in February 2009 he was back at spring training. The Detroit News reported on February 16:

Macay McBride is impressing Leyland 10 months after he underwent Tommy John surgery on his left (throwing) elbow. McBride came to the Tigers in a 2007 trade with the Atlanta Braves involving left-hander Wilfredo Ledezma. 

“I will guess he’s feeling really healthy,” Leyland said, “and I don’t think he was before (surgery).” 

Leyland liked what he saw of McBride’s bullpen session Sunday. 

“He threw very well,” Leyland said.

And on the 24^th:

Left-hander Macay McBride appears to be recovering nicely from last year’s Tommy John surgery. At some point this season, after missing all of last year (except one start at Toledo), he could be of assistance. 

“At the end of 2007,” he said, “I had a lot of pain at the back of my elbow and it ended up being a stress fracture. When I started throwing again in January (2008), it wasn’t as painful, but never felt quite right. 

“It got to a point that I couldn’t recover. So I had it done (the surgery), got a new arm, but I missed a year. 

“So far, everything’s been encouraging.”

On March 6, though, the Free Press reported:

Leyland said that the Tigers have “backed off” the throwing schedule for left-hander Macay McBride, who’s recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery. 

Leyland would prefer that McBride build up his stamina as a starting pitcher but added, “I’ll leave that up to somebody else.”

On March 19 Macay was assigned to Toledo; then on the 30^th he was placed on the disabled list. A report in early May said he could return in June, but that didn’t happen. The Tigers activated him from the DL on September 7, but he didn’t actually play anywhere. On November 9 he was granted free agency, and on December 10 he re-signed with Detroit.

I didn’t find any references to Macay during the Tigers’ spring training in 2010, but at some point he and the team parted ways, and on April 12 his name appeared in a list of non-roster invitees to spring training with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League. In their first exhibition game on April 15, he pitched two innings, striking out five and allowing one hit and one walk. He made the team and on April 23 started the Barnstormers’ second game of the regular season; he was removed after four innings, ahead 4-3, due to elbow problems. That was the end of his professional career. Still in Sylvania, he owns a screen printing and graphics business.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/M/Pmcbrm001.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mcbrima01.shtml

Frank Houseman

Frank Houseman played in 84 National League games in the 1890s.

John Franklin Houseman was born January 10, 1870, in the Netherlands; his death certificate gave his father’s name as John Van Dyke, so presumably Frank was born Van Dyke. I don’t know when he came to the US, or to where, or whether he came alone or with his family, or when he took the name Houseman. Baseball Reference and other websites show him as having been known as John Houseman, but that is incorrect, he was always Frank. The only reference to him as John I found was in a Sporting News article from three years after his death; even then he was called John once and Frank twice in the article.

Frank first turns up in the July 1, 1889, edition of the Elkhart (Indiana) Daily Review, in an account of an amateur baseball game between Elkhart and Goshen; Frank, age 19, played first base and batted eighth for Goshen. The July 31 Goshen Daily News reported on a game between Goshen and Wabash in which Frank drove in the winning run in the bottom of the tenth: “Houseman went to bat and some enthusiast yelled ‘one dollar for a hit,’ which was accepted by the batsman driving a grounder which brought him the dollar and got Inks in.” In the August 22 Portland Commercial, Goshen was referred to as “the champion amateur club of the state.”

Frank started 1890 playing left field for Kokomo of the Indiana State League, but in late May he signed up with an independent team forming in Logansport. On May 27 the Logansport Reporter reported:

The base-ball season will probably be inaugurated on Friday or Saturday next. Negotiations are being made for some good club to play the home team here but as yet none has been definitely selected. Frank Houseman, who will play 1^st base or short stop, went to Chicago last Friday to select suits for the team and returned yesterday. The suits are a rich gray with black stockings, belts, and hands around the caps, and the word Logansport in black letters across the breast. Houseman is a good young player formerly of the Goshen team and more recently of the Kokomos.

The same newspaper reported on June 23:

Some thief got into the room of Frank Houseman and “Dad” Bowen, the ball players, at Mrs. Bishop’s place on Third street and stole their money and jewelry but did not take any clothing. Frank lost a silver watch that was an heir loom in the family sixty years, and a diamond ring.

On June 28 the Logansport Chronicle reported on two games in which Frank played shortstop, batting third in the lineup in one and second in the other. On July 7 the Logansport Pharos-Tribune reported:

At a meeting of the Logansport base ball association to-day Mr. Alf Anderson tendered his resignation as secretary of the association and manager of the ball club. Through his efforts the club has been placed on a good footing, which is evidence that it has been successfully managed. His excuse for retiring is that it takes too much of his time. Frank Houseman will probably succeed Mr. Anderson.

He did not, though; the new manager was named Sprague. A week later it was reported that the secretary of the Indiana State League was trying to get Logansport to replace the Marion team, which had dropped out of the league, and the next day the deal was made. On July 16 Logansport played their first league game, at Fort Wayne. Frank was still playing shortstop, and on the 21^st the team lost a game as he made five errors. On the 24^th the Reporter reported:

There was no ball game at the park to-day and will be none tomorrow. The Anderson club, which was to have played here failed to show up, claiming that Logansport had failed to put up the $200 forfeit money and therefore is not entitled to a place in the league…There are grave fears that the league will disband in a few days.

And, indeed, the Pharos-Tribune reported on the 25^th:

BASE BALL BUSTED. 

The State League and Logansport Club a Thing of the Past. 

At a meeting of the directors of the Indiana state base ball league, held at Muncie yesterday, the league was disbanded. Logansport was not allowed a voice in the meeting. The move to disband was urged by Anderson, Muncie and Kokomo, and opposed by Fort Wayne and Peru. Fort Wayne and Peru were anxious to hold the league together and were perfectly willing that Logansport should hold her place, but as disorganizers had gotten their fill of base ball, they were anxious to make a “divvy” of the $4,000 in the league treasury, in order to square up unpaid bills contracted in an effort to maintain expensive ball teams. Secretary Shroeder telegraphed Mr. Prager last evening of the action taken by the league directors, whereupon the latter called a meeting of the home club, paid the boys off in full and released them. This winds up the base ball question in Logansport, for this season, at least. A good many of the players left the city last night, and it is safe to say that ere the dawn of another day the entire outfit will have disappeared.

On July 29 the Reporter mentioned that “Frank Houseman, the clever short-stop and captain of the late Logansport team went to Goshen today to visit friends there.” On August 5, the Logansport Journal—yes, Logansport had four daily newspapers!—had more on Frank:

Frank Houseman, captain of the late ball club, was in the city again yesterday. He was seen in earnest conversation with Will Burrows, the traveling-salesman-base-ball-fiend-and-side-partner-of-Sprague, and it is possible that something is on the point of turning up for Frank. Houseman is a good ball player, and it will be well if this is so.

It will be well if this is so. In fact, by August 24 Frank was in Chicago, playing for Garden City in the amateur City League. He played for them through September, some shortstop and some third base, generally batting seventh.

In 1891 Frank went to spring training with the Grand Rapids Shamrocks of the Northwestern League. The Grand Rapids Herald reported on May 7:

Yesterday the members of the Grand Rapids Northwestern League team were out again for practice. Three balls were kept spinning with streaks of pink flame trailing in the rear all the afternoon in a way to make a crank shriek with delight. In practice they show up well. Houseman, the second baseman, though a larger man [5-10, 160], looks and acts like Frank Day, so well known to Michigan base-ball patrons. He handles the hottest grounders with ease and is lightning on his feet. He throws well and lines out the ball accurately. If he plays as well in games as in practice he will do…

I don’t know what the deal was with the streaks of pink flame, but apparently Frank did not do, as on May 21 he was released; on the 23^rd the Kalamazoo Gazette reported “The Grand Rapids ball club has released Pitchers Abbott and Barker and Second Baseman Houseman. They couldn’t hit a balloon.”

I didn’t find any trace of Frank between then and September 1, when he turned up back in Chicago and the City League, playing third base for the Whitings, then switching teams to the Brands, for whom he played second and short until mid-October, batting fourth or fifth.

In the spring of 1892 he found another professional gig, with the Rock Island-Moline Twins of the Illinois-Iowa league. Partial statistics show him playing for three teams in the league that season, hitting about .200 in 49 games, mostly in the outfield.

In 1893 he didn’t find a pro job, and seems to have spent the year back in the City League in Chicago, playing for the West Ends. In 1894 He played for a few teams, ending up making his major league debut on September 11 for Chicago’s National League team, known alternately as the White Stockings and the Colts. The Boston Journal reported on September 12:

MADE SPORT OF THE CHAMPIONS. 

Colts Have a Merry Time Dancing Around the Bases. 

Chicago, Ill., Sept. 11—President Hart read the riot act to the White Stockings this afternoon. The newspapers had set the ball rolling in the morning and the result was that the Colts played as if they were really alive. Houseman, a city league player, made his debut at short. He cut a big figure in the game. He played in the Johnstown club of the New York State League, and has also played for a time with the Springfields… 

Dahlen was still laid up, and Lange had shown such inability at short, that a substitute was necessary, so Frank Houseman, who had played on second for Tom Burns’s Springfield team, was tried, and his work was magnificent in the field and at the bat…

Frank went 2-for-6 with a double and a bases-loaded triple, batting second in the order, as Chicago won 17-2. He played in three more games, going 6-for-15 altogether with three doubles, a triple, and five walks. On September 26, before the season was even over, it was reported that he had secured his release from Chicago and had signed to play with the National League’s Washington Senators for 1895.

In the December 22, 1894 issue of Sporting Life, their Chicago correspondent wrote:

INDOOR BASE BALL 

Seems dead and laid away. A few short years ago the game enjoyed simply wonderful popularity. It was played in the club houses, amid throngs of aristocratic wealth and beauty; big matches were brought off in the public halls, and the sport was more beloved than dancing, cards or church bazaars. A few professionals were in the front ranks of the indoor game. Fred. Pfeffer, with a rose in his shirt front, played first for the ultra fashionable La Salle Club; Jack Luby and Martie Honan were the battery of a church society nine—the St. James’ team. Herman Long played second for a cycling club; big Jantzen caught for half a dozen teams, and Billy York and Frank Houseman were the crack shortstops of the town. This year none of the professionals are in the game, and the fun is little heard of.

By January Frank was having second thoughts about signing with Washington. The Washington Evening Star reported on January 5:

It is now—“Leave the league, become a big toad in a little puddle, and cease to be a small toad in a pond full of other batrachians.” Frank Houseman furnished the latest example of this kind. He is under contract with Washington for next season, and, being a good fielder, a rattling batsman, and a fast runner, should feel reasonably certain of his job. But [Chicago owner] Comiskey wants him to play in St. Paul, and Houseman is anxious to get away from [Washington manager] Schmelz and join Comiskey’s gang. He has written asking for his release, but Whiskers, who knows a good thing when he has one, gave Frank the loud ha ha, and informed him that he would be notified when and where to join the senatorial crew.

Meanwhile Frank was working out in Chicago with Colt shortstop Bill Dahlen. The Chicago correspondent to Sporting Life wrote in the February 16 issue:

AS TO DAHLEN, 

A rotund, circular, almost globular object, known last summer as Bill Dahlen, is taking vigorous exercise at the Chicago Athletic Association these days. It appears early in the morning, enveloped in seven sweaters, and does nothing all day long, but run around the track and work off mutton. Of course, you will remember what it looked like last summer—a well built, sinewy little fellow, who could play ball like a whirlwind? Well it weighs 196 pounds nowadays, and can’t button its clothing. 

To do Dahlen justice, he is working hard, and says he will be down to 165 pounds by April. Frank Houseman, almost as heavy, is working with the shortstop, and will be in splendid shape before Gus Schmelz gets his tribe together.

And two weeks later, March 2:

HINTS ON TRAINING. 

Lovers of good comedy and acrobatic diversion ought to visit the Chicago Athletic Association gymnasium and see the daily training indulged in by those chubby exponents of the national game—Bill Dahlen and Frank Houseman. 

They start in about 9 o’clock every morning, Dahlen heavily padded, and Houseman armed with a huge slapstick, of the kind used by knockabout performers. 

Dahlen shins around the track at a fair rate of speed. Close behind him come Houseman and the slapstick, and the stick lands solidly on Dahlen’s system at every jump. This exercises Dahlen’s running muscles, hardens his hide and reduces his weight, while it gives Houseman’s arm unlimited training…

Frank went to spring training with the Senators, and there were reports that he was looking good and would be the regular shortstop. But he was released before the regular season and hooked up with the Richmond Blue Birds of the Virginia State League. The Johnstown, New York, correspondent to Sporting Life wrote in the April 20 issue:

I see that Frank Houseman, who played second bag for Johnstown last season, has been released by Washington and signed by Richmond. The cranks here, although not questioning his ability to play good ball, thought he was getting a little too fast, just at present, in jumping from a minor into the National League…

A week later, Sporting Life’s Richmond correspondent said:

Frank Houseman, the clever second baseman procured from the Washingtons, has been putting up a class exhibition of ball playing, and as for tricks, why he knows them by the barrel. The universal verdict is that he will do.

And on May 4:

The greatest injury to the team, however, was to Frank Houseman, who was badly spiked last week by McCreery, of Norfolk. No blame is to be attached to anyone, as it is one of those things that will always happen, but the laying off of this player cripples the team no little. It will be perhaps two or three weeks before Houseman will again be with the game. He is the life of the team, and the fans are hoping for his speedy recovery.

But apparently opinions varied widely, as the Virginia State League correspondent to the Sporting News reported on June 8 that:

Houseman has proven that he is not fast enough for this league and besides he has created a lot of dissatisfaction among the players by talking too much. He should be given his release and Berte [?] played at second regularly and Barley Kalo [?] stationed at short. This would greatly strengthen our infield.

Three weeks later, the same writer said “Houseman is improving in his work at second. He is not catering so much to the grandstand,” and on September 14 the Richmond Sporting Life writer added that “Houseman, at second, is also a very clever player, and more than handy with the stick.” Both papers reported on Frank’s performance in a Labor Day doubleheader, when he went 9-for-9 with 17 total bases. Also on September 14 Sporting Life’s Chicago correspondent wrote:

Frank Houseman is expected home from Virginia next Sunday, and will join the Whitings. [Colts manager] Anson might do worse than telegraph Frank to join him right away. He played mighty good ball in Virginia, and must stand away up in batting, base running and second base playing. Washington made a fatal break when it let him out and had to depend on such work as Nicholson, Coogan, and other clubs have furnished all summer.

Frank played 106 games for Richmond, hitting .310 and slugging .415 with 90 runs scored and 53 stolen bases, though stolen bases were awarded more liberally in those days. On October 12 the Chicago Sporting Life correspondent reported:

Frank Houseman is home, and says that the Virginia climate is unequaled. His bad wing is restored to life, and he points to the fact that he went to bat fourth in all the games of the champion Richmonds as proof of the improvement in his eye.

This is the first mention of an eye problem that I found, but it won’t be the last.

In December it was announced that Frank had signed to play with the National League’s St. Louis Browns in 1896; in January he was mentioned in a report from the Chicago Sporting Life correspondent about the resurgence in popularity in the city of indoor baseball. The 1896 Chicago city directory lists him as a ball player, residing at 1332 W Madison.

On March 11 the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported:

A NEW PLAYER FOR NEW ORLEANS. 

Manager Abner Powell announced yesterday that he has signed another player for the New Orleans team. His name is Frank Houseman, who played second base for the Richmond, Va., team last season. Houseman was well thought of in the Virginia League, and many regrets are expressed by the Richmond cranks at his departure. While in the club he proved a hard worker, and when the season closed his batting and fielding record was of the best. 

Powell is racking his brain to determine Houseman’s position. The player can handle either second base or right field in excellent style, so it depends on the future where he will be played.

He ended up playing 69 games in the outfield and 32 at shortstop. On June 17 the Chicago Daily News ran this item:

Frank Houseman, as good a minor-league player as there is in the country, describes his sensations when, for the first time, he went against a big-league twirler. Houseman was filling in for Chicago during Dahlen’s illness and faced Staley, the Boston pitcher, with all the confidence that became a man who had led the New York State league in batting with a percentage of .425 [I didn’t find any 1894 NY State League stats]. 

“The first ball Staley threw,” says Houseman, “had a different twist on it from anything I had been accustomed to see. I stopped, puzzled, for a second, and, bing! He seized the chance and shot a strike across before I could get my bat up again. I found before I got to the bench again that a National league twirler has tricks that a new man in the business never thinks of. Down in the minor leagues there are plenty of swift pitchers, but they don’t have the heads. That’s what keeps big pitchers in the big league—the superiority of their skulls, and that’s why the average young twirler from the farm feels lost in fast company and why the young batter just breaking in is confused, scared and finally gets struck out.”

In another Daily News article, the following day, Frank says that he played in the Texas League in 1888. I found no evidence of this, but it’s possible. The (Class B) Southern League season ended in August, and Frank batted .298 and slugged .354 in 102 games, finishing third in fielding percentage among shortstops with .906. The Eastern League report in the August 8 Sporting Life included the following:

The Southern League season being about over Eastern League managers are casting their eyes that way. Frank Houseman, of the New Orleans Club, is thought by many to be the star of that League. He is very handy either in the in or outfield, and is a batsman as well. He would strengthen the Rochester team.

The August 29 issue included this from their Chicago correspondent:

Frank Houseman, Bill Bowman, and the other Chicagoans who went to New Orleans this spring are back, with disgusted looks and very little to say. New Orleans was all right, they remark, but some of the other Southern League towns wouldn’t do. I believe nearly every Chicago boy who went campaigning this summer has returned, many of them without their salaries.

Apparently Frank did not go to the Eastern League. He was mentioned as having played in a game for the City League’s Whitings in September, then on September 26 the Sporting Life Chicago correspondent reported:

FRANK HOUSEMAN, 

the bronzed and brawny captain of the champions of the South, was the maddest man in town the other day. By laborious chasing of Jim Hart he secured permission to practice on the League grounds. Then he went and packed his grip with shoes and sweaters and things, and bought a brand new ball, and hurried out to the fray. He started to bat up flies, and the first one he hit flew backwards over the fence. Frank climbed up on top of the stand, and told a small boy where to find the ball. The boy got the ball, pronounced it a good thing, and flew up the alley. And all that Houseman could to was to rave on top of the stand till people passing by wanted to know if the asylum was located over there.

During the 96-97 offseason Frank captained an indoor baseball team. On March 23 the Norfolk Virginian quoted the Sporting News on Frank, adding their own commentary:

Frank Houseman wants to break into the big league again. He claims to be free to sign anywhere. Houseman was with Washington several years ago. A bad wing put him out of the business at that time.—Sporting News. Houseman was also with Richmond two years ago and bad playing put him out of this league.

Frank’s 1895 season continued to provoke a divergence of assessments.

In April there were reports that he had signed with Milwaukee of the Western League, but that proved to be false. In May he found a spot with the St. Louis Browns, about a year and a half after it was originally reported that he had signed with them. From the Topeka State Journal, May 11:

St. Louis, Mo., May 11.—Frank Houseman, a crack second baseman in one of the Chicago city league teams, came here today to take the place of Bierbauer, who deserted the St. Louis Browns at Louisville some days ago. As punishment for his action, President Von der Ahe had fined Bierbauer $200 and suspended him indefinitely.

On May 14 the St. Louis Republic reported:

Frank Houseman, who joined the St. Louis ball team yesterday, has been a member of the All-Chicagos since the beginning of the season. Last year he played in the South, where he earned the reputation of being one of the heaviest hitters and best fielders in his league. He has several times been offered a place in the National League, but lost his chance by quibbling over salary. He will do well with the Browns.

On May 22 the Chicago Sporting Life correspondent wrote:

FRANK HOUSEMAN 

has caught on with St. Louis, and is doing very well so far—batting and fielding both very fair, and base running excellent. As the Browns are in a rut and are getting walloped in every game he has hardly a fair chance to show his speed in a winning battle.

While the same day the Norfolk Virginian continued their carping about him:

Frank Houseman has been in and out of the league on several occasions, and this time his friends expect him to stick with St. Louis. 

Aren’t his friends expecting too much?

Sporting Life of June 12 reported that Frank was hitting .310 in a utility role for the Browns. On July 23 it was reported that he had been released, but apparently that was not the case. On July 27 the St. Louis Republic reported:

A funny incident occurred during yesterday’s baseball game. Frank Houseman had just bunted a ball, and stood at the plate like a dummy waiting to see if it would roll fair or foul instead of chasing to first base as fast as his legs could carry him. When he got back to the bench Chris Von der Ahe opened up on him in this wise: “Vas you mesmerized, Houseman? Somebody must have put salt on your bloomers, for you stood there like a wooden Indian and wouldn’t budge. You ought to have flown to the bag, and would have been called back all right if it had been a foul bunt. Blow your nose and play ball hereafter. No more trance acts goes.”

Conversely, on August 23 the Milwaukee Journal reported:

And now they talk of making Frank Houseman captain down at St. Louis. Frank will get so elevated that his friends will have to speak to him with the aid of a lineman and a coil of wire.

For the year, Frank hit .245/.329/.309 in 289 at-bats in 80 games, a big drop from his .310 average as of June. The October 23 Sporting Life’s Chicago report included the following:

Frank Houseman, of St. Louis, is home for the winter. Frank has little to say about the Browns, but has much ridicule for the other teams, and wild kicks against the fat average of Billy Keeler. 

“In Baltimore one day,” says Frank, “I saw Keeler hoist two flies to left, and Dan Lally muffed them both. Then he hit one to third, and Hartman, after fumbling, threw wild to first. Then he made one good single. Next morning—four hits in the Baltimore papers. Oh, they don’t do a thing for their hitters down there.” 

The Baltimore method of scoring stolen bases has been sufficiently ventilated, and I had heard players say before that the base hit records were badly padded…

A week later the same correspondent added “Frank Houseman is receiving a jacketing from the Baltimore scribes for his published criticism of their scoring methods.” On December 4 Sporting Life reported “Frank Houseman of the Browns, who has it is said, inherited a fortune, is said to be contemplating a trip to Europe in the near future.” But in the same issue, the Chicago correspondent had this story:

HOUSEMAN IN HARD LUCK. 

Frank Houseman, of Von der Aheville, is around town with a bad eye. The eye troubled him so severely this fall that his batting average flopped from .302 to .240 and has since caused him a great deal of trouble. An operation is to be performed; if it succeeds the boy will be good enough for any company; if it fails he will probably retire from the diamond. His friends hope for the best, as Frank is extremely popular among all who know him. Like other players, he is puzzled over the complexion of Der Prowns for 1898…

I didn’t find a story on the results of the surgery, but in March 1898 Frank was fighting with the Browns over his contract. From the March 1 Chicago Daily News:

Frank Houseman went to St. Louis last night, intent on kicking. He says that he was offered the same salary as last year, but that the St. Louis players are required to buy their own uniforms, while the club stood for the expense last season.

Frank tried to get his release from the Browns; meanwhile on March 8 the Milwaukee Journal reported:

U. of W. Men After Houseman. 

Representatives of the University of Wisconsin are in Chicago looking for Frank Houseman, the Chicago player who made a good showing with the St. Louis Browns last season. They wish him to act as coach of the ‘varsity team. Houseman knows a great deal about ball, and, above all, is what the boys call a “jollier.” He would get a great deal of work out of the ‘varsity candidates without making them weary, by keeping up a continual fire of joking. It is not known whether the Chicago man can accept the offer…

On April 15 Frank secured his release, and it was said that the Omaha, Columbus, and Milwaukee Western League teams were after him. But he ended up back in the Southern League, signing with the Birmingham Reds on April 25, though somehow he had already played two games for league rivals the Atlanta Colts. For the Reds he played center field and batted sixth in the order; after playing eleven games for them, though, the league folded. The Birmingham Age-Herald reported on May 23:

THE RED LEGS ARE SCATTERING 

But Five of the Players left Behind. 

HOUSEMAN’S MEAN TRICK 

He is Alleged to Have Stolen Ten Dollars from Outfielder White and Wearing Apparel from Other Players Before Departing. 

“Wang” Switzer, Midget Montgomery, the handsome La Porte and Outfielder Housman [sic] have shaken the dust of Birmingham from their feet and are speeding away to their homes. 

Switzer goes to Kansas City, Montgomery to Allegheny, Pa., La Porte to Uricksville, O., and Housman to Cincinnati [?]… 

Housman, the short center fielder, does not leave a very savory reputation behind. It is alleged that he carried away with him $10 belonging to Outfielder White, besides some wearing apparel belonging to other players. 

It is said that Saturday afternoon the start was made to West End park, and White gave Housman $10 to put in care of the hotel clerk at the Metropolitan. When they returned to the city White discovered that the money had not been turned over. Before the discovery was made, however, Housman was out of town. 

Catcher La Porte found his valise had been broken open and several shirts stolen…

In Frank’s 13 Southern League games he hit .315 with a .500 slugging percentage, so it seems as if his eyes were fine. But after his departure from Birmingham he vanishes, perhaps for good reason, until the March 25, 1899 Sporting Life, under the heading of Engagements Wanted:

Frank Houseman, hard-hitting second baseman and outfielder, late of the St. Louis Browns, has quite recovered from the accident to his eyes, which kept him out of the game last season, and is ready to do business with some good club. Address 1621 Sauvage street, New Orleans, La.

Yeah, that’s right, he was out of the game last season, and didn’t play in Birmingham, no matter what you may have heard to the contrary…

Frank apparently spent the spring playing ball around New Orleans before signing a contract on April 21—in the re-formed Southern League, now Class C, with the Mobile Blackbirds. This Southern League had only four teams (the 1898 league had eight), the others being Dallas, New Orleans and Shreveport. Frank mostly played second base and led off for the Blackbirds, until on June 2 the league folded. He had hit .302 and slugged .373 in 40 games. Within a few days he had caught on with the Houston Buffaloes of the Texas League, another four-team Class C league; he played ten games for them, again playing second and leading off, and then was gone—by whose decision I do not know. The Chicago report in the July 1 Sporting Life included the following:

Frank Houseman, with Chicago in 1894, Washington in ’95 and St. Louis two years ago, is looking for a job, and wants to go with Louisville. Frank is in good shape, a weakness of the eyes that spoiled his batting average having left him, and the man would fit in well anywhere. He wrote Fred Clarke, but Fred said a short stop was the one thing needed down there and Houseman is preferably a second baseman.

Clarke was the manager of the Louisville National League team; he had Honus Wagner but Honus hadn’t become a shortstop yet. On July 6 the Chicago Record reported that the owner of the Grand Rapids team of the Interstate League was in town:

Torreyson, in addition to wanting to get rid of some players, is on the lookout for new ones, and that was one of the reasons for his coming to Chicago. He has Houseman particularly in mind, but could not find him yesterday.

In March 1900 there was speculation that Frank might play for Charlie Comiskey’s Chicago White Stockings in the new American League, but he wasn’t interested, saying he was out of baseball. The 1900 Chicago city directory, though, still listed him with the occupation of ballplayer, with his address as 925 W Harrison. On December 26 of that year he attended Clark Griffith’s wedding reception.

On December 30, 1903, Frank went to the theater. As reported in the January 9, 1904 issue of Sporting Life:

BASE BALL HEROES. 

TWO NOTED PLAYERS RISE TO A GREAT OCCASION. 

Charles Dexter and Frank Houseman, Caught in the Burning Iroquois Theatre, Save Their Families and Rescue Other Women and Children. 

The national game furnished its quota of heroes in the horrible Chicago Iroquois Theatre disaster of December 30, which cost nearly 700 lives. Charles Dexter, late of the Boston National League team, and Frank Houseman, the retired second baseman of the Chicago League Club, with their families, occupied a box. Both claimed that but for the presence of mind of Eddie Foy the death roll would have been doubled. When the panic began Dexter and Houseman each made for and manned a door leading into the alley on the north side of the theatre. The people from the balconies had already commenced jumping to the ground floor when 

HOUSEMAN AND DEXTER 

forced open their doors, and they were compelled to lift away the maimed and the dead in order to permit of exits from the ground floor. Houseman, having escorted his party out, took a position at his door and kept it from choking up by assisting people through. Finally forced away by the flames, Houseman got into the alley just in time to hear 

THE AGONIZED VOICE 

of a woman from the window in an upper gallery shriek: “Catch me!” As the woman screamed she jumped, and Houseman, catching her to the best of his ability, broke her fall to the ground, and she walked away uninjured.

The “Iroquois Theatre fire” Wikipedia page calls it “the deadliest theater fire and the deadliest single-building fire in United States history, resulting in at least 602 deaths;” the article mentions Frank’s efforts. The Sporting Life article made reference to Frank’s family, but I don’t know who that would be. I have not found any indication that he was married before 1913, and I found no mention of children—but then, I could not find him in any census.

In February 1904 Frank, whose address was given as 293 Warren Avenue, and Dexter testified at the grand jury on the fire. Frank pops up in the 1907 Chicago city directory as having a saloon at 75 Monroe Street, on the ground floor of the new Majestic Theatre building, which opened in 1906 and was at the time the tallest building in Chicago. In the 1909 directory the saloon’s address is given as 73 Monroe. The April 25, 1909, Washington Evening Star referred to Frank as “once a second baseman of the big leagues, now a prosperous Chicago boniface.”

The San Francisco Chronicle of July 19, 1910, featured a story told by Frank about playing in a winter league in St. Augustine, Florida, early in his career, involving a run-in with a very young John McGraw; this story would appear in many newspapers over the following years. A few weeks later, on August 12, the Chicago Daily News ran the following item:

IRISH AND GERMANS TO PLAY BALL 

Members of the Teams Will Weigh 200 Pounds—Game at Sox Park. 

The All-Star baseball team, picked by Callahan and McNichols, will play “Rube” Foster’s Leland Giants Wednesday at the south side ball park. After this contest a team of Irish 200-pounders, captained by Paddy Martin, and a team of German 200-pounders, captained by Frank Houseman, will play. Charles Comiskey will play first base for the Irish team and an attempt will be made to get Mayor Busse to lead the Germans. Elaborate field events have also been scheduled.

On October 6 the following wire service story appeared in the Erie Times-News:

BETTING BEGINS ON POST SERIES 

CHICAGO SPORTS BACK CUBS TO WIN AT SMALL ODDS. ONE BET MADE OF $2,550 ON WINDY CITY TEAM TO $2,000 ON ATHLETICS. 

(By National News Association.) 

CHICAGO, Oct. 6.—Betting on the world’s series baseball games has taken a brisk turn and within the next few days local bookmakers expect to handle bundles of coin… 

The odds set by the professional layers of odds here are 10 to 13 on Chicago and 6 to 5 on Philadelphia. One of the biggest bets yet made was placed at Frank Houseman’s, where $2,550 was wagered on the Cubs against $2,000 on the Athletics…

In December 1911 Frank accompanied White Sox manager Jimmy Callahan to the major league winter meetings in New York. In 1912 Hugh Fullerton, in his story on the October 9 World Series game between the Giants and Red Sox, which appeared in many newspapers, wrote:

In defensive work the Giants were wretched. Fletcher, who besides Frank Houseman and Sammy Samuels, is the worst infielder I ever saw in a major league, almost made a joke of the Giants…

From the January 2, 1913, Grand Forks Daily Herald:

Al Palzer’s Father Shows Sporting Blood; Bet $250 on Battle 

Chicago, Jan. 1.—Henry Palzer, of Ossian, Iowa, father of Al Palzer, who is to battle today for the white heavyweight championship, yesterday wagered $250 that his son would be returned winner. Frank Houseman, a local sporting enthusiast, covered the money…

A few weeks later, in the January 25 Sporting Life:

During the National Commission meeting in Chicago President Herrmann, of the Cincinnati club, sold 100 box seats for his opening game next Spring. The block of seats was purchased by Frank Houseman, who will chaperon a crowd of Chicagoans by special train so they may cheer for Joe Tinker in his first game as manager.

However, the railroad informed Frank that the special train could not be provided, so instead they had a testimonial dinner for Tinker the first time the Reds visited Chicago. On March 27 Frank married 34-year-old Kate Summet. On July 7 the Chicago Daily News reported on a plan advocated by a former alderman to have loop district saloons close at 11 PM instead of the current 1 AM.  Saloon keepers were quoted for and against, including Frank:

Frank Houseman, Majestic Theater building—I want all I can get for my $1,000. If I closed at 11 o’clock I’d lose a good part of my trade. Naturally I don’t want to do that. I see nothing to be gained by 11 o’clock closing. I see no advantage to anybody. One o’clock seems just about right and also accommodates the public in this locality just about right.

It doesn’t seem as if anything came of the proposal. In February 1914 Frank was reported to be part of a group trying to buy the Cubs; nothing came of that either. On March 10 he was part of the entertainment committee for a banquet in honor of Charles Comiskey. In July 1915 he was part of the executive committee in charge of the celebration of Joe Tinker Day; Tinker was by then back in Chicago, managing the Federal League Chicago Whales. In February 1916 Frank was the chairman of a banquet in honor of Charles Weeghman, who had just bought the Cubs.

By the 1916 city directory Frank’s saloon’s address is shown as 20 W Monroe and the Majestic Building’s address as 20 W Monroe, so I assume the city had done some reassigning of addresses. In early 1918 there were stories about Frank getting a Cubs tryout for his nephew, a 19-year-old, 6-foot-5, lefthanded pitcher named William Alexander “Bill” Johnson, from Kansas City. He was released on April 9. Later that month Frank was part of a group of Cubs rooters who traveled to the opening day game in St. Louis. At the end of the month it was announced that he would be playing in an old-timers game at White Sox Park on May 9 “for the benefit of a patriotic fund;” on May 4 this item ran in the Denver Rocky Mountain News, of all places: “Following announcement in the morning papers that Frank Houseman would play third base for the All-Nationals in the old-timer’s war benefit game, local sporting goods stores reported an unprecedented sale of bunting sticks.”

1919 was the last year that Frank and his saloon appeared in the Chicago city directory. On November 6, 1922, his death notice ran in the Chicago Daily News:

HOUSEMAN – Frank Houseman, at his home, 561 Surf st., Saturday, Nov. 4, 1922. beloved husband of Kate. Funeral services at his late home. Tuesday, Nov. 7, at 3:30 p.m. Interment at Kansas City, Mo.

In the same day’s edition:

RITES FOR FRANK HOUSEMAN 

Funeral of Former Baseball Player Will Be Held To-Morrow. 

Funeral services for Frank Houseman, 52 years old, old-time baseball player and hero of the Iroquois fire, who died yesterday [actually the day before] after an apoplectic stroke, will be held to-morrow afternoon from the home at 561 Surf Street. Houseman, a semipro baseball player in this city and later captain and second baseman of the old St. Louis team, was engaged in the wholesale liquor business prior to prohibition. He was the owner of the Majestic bar, a saloon famous in other days, and a member of the Illiniois Athletic and the Eagle River Fishing and Shooting clubs. Some of his closest friends included Charles A. Comiskey, “Bill” Lange, Robert M. Sweitzer and Charles A. McCulloch.

He was actually buried in Independence, Missouri, not Kansas City. His headstone reads simply “FRANK HOUSEMAN 1870-1922.”

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/H/Phousj102.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/housejo01.shtml