Frank Gregory pitched four games for the 1912 Cincinnati
Reds.
Frank (or Francis) Ernst (or Ernest) Gregory was born July
25, 1888, in Spring Valley (or Brodhead), Wisconsin, the only child that
survived of Harry and Lavina Gregory. In the 1895 Iowa state census the family
lives in Keokuk, Iowa, and Frank is listed as Frank, age six. In the 1900 US
census, taken on June 1, the family lives at 837 5th in Beloit,
Wisconsin; Harry is 33 and his occupation is “wood work making,” Nina is 28,
and Frank is listed as Francis and as 13 years old, which would put his birth
year in 1886, since he hadn’t had his birthday yet. In the 1905 Wisconsin state
census they are still in Beloit and their ages are given as 38, 34, and 17 for
Frank, once again listed as Frank.
In the 1910 census the family lives at 409 St. Paul Avenue
in Beloit. Harry has aged ten years since 1905, Lavina four, and Frank, back to
being Francis, four. Harry’s occupation is foreman of a livery barn, Lavina is
a dressmaker working from home, and Francis is a baseball pitcher and core
maker. 1910 is in fact, it seems, the first year that Frank played professional
baseball, though there is no evidence of his having pitched—he appeared in 42
games at second base for the Red Wing Manufacturers of the Class D
Minnesota-Wisconsin League, hitting .172. Early in the 1911 season he got into
six games as a pitcher for the Eau Claire Commissioners of the same league,
which had been moved up to Class C, but was let go. He wound up with a team in
Beloit’s city league.
In 1912 Frank was one of the top pitchers for the Ottumwa
Speedboys of the Class D Central Association. The first newspaper mention of
him I found was in the Muscatine Journal of June 1:
KEWANEE SECURES BUT 2 HITS FROM GREGORY
OTTUMWA PITCHER TWIRLS IN WHIRLWIND FASHION
Ottumwa, Ia., June 1.—The pitching of Frank Gregory
yesterday was worthy of the biggest league moundsman ever existing; the huge
party from the wilds of Beloit holding the energetic Kewanee squad down to two
knocks and not even a semblance of a score, Ottumwa winning 8 to 0…
Frank, who was sometimes referred to as “Rufus” or “Rufe,”
pitched 296 innings in 42 games for the Speedboys, with a 25-12 record; earned
runs were not part of the league stats, but he allowed 3.89 runs per nine
innings, allowing 240 hits and 100 walks, and finishing a close second in the
league in strikeouts with 195. In an important four-game series against Kewanee
he pitched three shutouts. On August 28 he was sold to the Cincinnati Reds for
$1500, $400 to be paid on delivery and the remainder to be paid on May 1, 1913,
if he was retained by the Reds. The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune
reported on August 29:
NEW HURLER BOUGHT FOR THE REDLEGS
Frank Gregory, of Ottumwa, Iowa, Is Bought for $1,500—Will
Report Sept. 4.
Special Dispatch to Commercial Tribune
OTTUMWA, Ia., Aug. 28.—Pitcher Frank Gregory was today sold
to Cincinnati for $1,500. He is 23 years old, height 5 feet 11 inches and
weighs 185 pounds. This is his first year [not really] in organized ball. He is
a right-hander and looks like a comer. Unlike most young pitchers he is good in
fielding his position and can hold base runners close. In appearance while
pitching he resembles Ed Walsh of the Chicago Sox…It is rather hard to say that
a young pitcher can jump in and make good with a major league team, but it is
predicted that Gregory will more than fill the bill. He is due to report in
Cincinnati on Sept. 4.
Frank debuted with the Reds on September 5, at home against
the Cubs. The next day’s Cincinnati Post had three articles about him:
KID PITCHER, FRESH FROM THE BUSHES, UPSETS THE PENNANT RACE
Frank Gregory, a recruit from the Ottumwa club, of the
Central Association, one of the real bush leagues of the country, broke into
the National League Thursday and upset the race for the pennant. He stopped the
Cubs while the Giants took two games from the Phillies, and now the Giants are
seven and a half games ahead of Chicago, which means the Cubs are almost
entirely out of the running.
Gregory’s name should go down in baseball history. A busher
one day, he put the kibosh on the aspirations of a great major league machine
the next. He has accomplished about as much as Harry Covaleski did in 1908 when
he trounced the Giants three times in one week, upset the race and made it
possible for the Cubs to land the rag.
Gregory probably will give the Reds just the extra strength
they need to finish the season in the first division. He pitched the team within
three points of fourth place Thursday by trimming the Cubs, and looks capable
of trimming a few other teams in the league.
Gregory is a spitball pitcher. His spitter is a good one and
pulled him out of bad holes in the game with the Cubs. The Chicago team ranks
second in the league in hitting and any man on the club is liable to break up a
game any time, but Gregory had just the right stuff to stop them, and if he can
stop the Cubs he ought to beat the weaker teams.
The Reds have been getting good pitching lately, but with
Bert Humphries unable to work regularly, a new man was needed to help Suggs,
Fromme and Benton. Gregory filled in Thursday and the team profited. He will be
depended on to work regularly…
GRIT THAT’S THE BIGGEST ASSET OF THE BOY WHO STOPPED CUBS
The biggest asset of the bush league kid who upset the
National League pennant race in a single day is grit. Here’s what he did
Thursday:
Faced the second hardest-hitting club in the league after
being out of the bushes only one day.
Fanned Heinie Zimmerman, the leading hitter of the league,
with three on bases and none out in the first inning.
Stopped Saier, a dangerous man, and Evers, a .300 hitter,
with three on bases in the first inning.
Kept Zimmerman from hitting in the fifth with two runners on
bases.
Fanned Cotter, a good hitting catcher, with two on bases in
the sixth inning, walked Jimmy Sheckard, a pinch hitter, purposely, filling the
bases, and then kept Ward Miller from hitting.
Kept Saier from hitting in the ninth, with Miller on third
base and Zimmerman on second.
A pitcher without grit would not have lasted through the
first inning against the Cubs after the bases were filled and Zimmerman, Saier
and Evers coming up with none out.
Gregory is a medium-sized, stocky-built chap. He has good
speed and a spitball. He has control of his spitter and is not afraid to use
it. He took a chance on the crazy fooler in the tightest of pinches Thursday.
Gregory is a typical “tough guy” in appearance. He wears his
cap on the side of his head and pulled down over his left eye in Chuck Conners
style.
He was cool as a cucumber in the box and at bat. He walked
in the third and scored the first run of the game. He got a single in the fifth
and helped Larry around with the second Red run.
BUSH MANAGER FOUND GREGORY
Frank Gregory was sent to the Reds by E.F. Egan, manager of
the Ottumwa Club, of the Central Association, the same man who sent the Reds
Harry Gaspar and Hank Severeid.
Egan has been on the lookout for players for the Reds for
about four years. He always tips President Herrmann to the best players in the
Central Association.
Egan’s team won the pennant in the Central Association this
season and Gregory helped. He was the team’s leading hurler and did most of the
pitching [actually he was second on the team in innings pitched].
When Egan recommended Gregory to the Reds he said the
youngster was the best major league prospect he had seen in a long time.
He also got a rave review in the Cincinnati report in the
September 21 issue of Sporting Life:
Cincinnati has been sweltering in the hottest September days
experienced during 31 years and while the faithful have been scattering the
good old perspiration around like a lot of leaky watering carts the “old guard”
has been saying all manner of nice things about Frank Gregory. Talk of a cool
Kid in a hot box! Say, a cucumber on ice hasn’t anything on this lad from the
Hawkeye State. Paired with Mr. Casey, the immortal who went to bat at a
critical time and struck out, Cincinnati has put Mr. Zimmerman, of Chicago. The
debut of Gregory was marvelous in its trying situations. Think of the problem
the greenie had before him. The Cubs with fire in their eyes and a grim
determination to fight their way alongside the New Yorks! To them Gregory was a
nice ribroast—fresh meat for their hook. Passes to Miller and Schulte and a hit
for Joe Tinker. Bases full—nobody out and the Redbugs sitting in the stands
like a bunch of Mutts at a convention of Glooms. Not for long, however. When
Gregory fanned Zim it was like the unchaining of Niagara—a roar of cheers swept
through the stands. A little foul for the backstop and a force-out grounder by
Evers sent the Cubs runless to the field. Once more the Cubs crowded the sacks
only to be again humiliated and sent back to pasture by this Iowa youth without
a sign of a tally. It really looks as if Cincinnati had at last picked up a
Live One from the big drove of twirling colts. Up to date no one has charged
that the branding iron Cincinnati used is not all right. Frank Gregory, here’s
looking at you! More power to you.
Three days later Frank pitched again, again against the Cubs
at home; he got the win in relief in what was, for unknown reasons, a
seven-inning game. The Cincinnati Post reported:
GREGORY IS GOOD AGAIN
Frank Gregory, the recruit from Ottumwa, Ia., who put the
binger on the Cubs Thursday, looked like a corking good pitcher again Sunday.
He went into the game with three runners on and one out in the fifth inning,
and had to face the best Cub hitters. He got the side out with only one run
being scored, and that on an error.
Gregory has a bewildering change of pace and a side-arm
spitball. He seems to use better judgement in the use of his goods than most
youngsters who come up from the bushes. He pitched to 11 batters before a hit
was made of his stuff. Saier singled in the seventh, and scored on a double by
Evers.
Gregory has been pitching three and four games a week to win
the pennant for Ottumwa. He pitched and won games Saturday, Sunday and Monday,
started to Cincinnati Tuesday, arrived Wednesday, beat the Cubs Thursday and
got credit for another victory over them Sunday.
Frank started in Brooklyn on the 12th, and was
taken out after allowing four runs in the second, though the Reds came back to
win. After that his stock seems to have dropped, as he sat on the bench until
October 6, the last game of the season. He pitched the last two innings of a
16-6 home loss to Pittsburgh, allowing four runs, two of them earned. He wound
up with a 4.60 ERA in 15 2/3 innings in the four appearances.
The Rockford Daily Register-Gazette reported on
October 9:
The Nationals, city baseball champions of Beloit, gave a
banquet at the Grand Hotel last night in honor of Frank Gregory, a former
member of the team, who is now a pitcher on the staff of the Cincinnati Reds.
Gregory told how he struck out the mighty “Heine” Zimmerman of the Cubs as one
of the anecdotes in his talk to the guests.
Frank was put on the Reds’ reserve list, but then they
decided to return him to Ottumwa, as reported in the December 31 Ottumwa
Tri-Weekly Courier:
GREGORY WILL RETURN TO US
BIG PITCHER NEEDED MORE SEASONING, SAYS HERRMANN OF REDS.
Frank Gregory, premier pitcher of the Central association
last season, will be in the line-up of Manager Egan’s 1913 Ottumwa team. The
big spit was turned back to Ottumwa by Owner Garry Herrmann of the Cincinnati
Reds, who maintained that Gregory needs another season at least in minor league
baseball. The Ottumwa club was paid $400 by the Reds for Gregory and if he had
made good $1,100 additional was to be forthcoming from the Ohio club. His
return to Ottumwa does not call for the return of any of the $400 to
Cincinnati. Secretary J.C. Bonham received the word of Gregory’s release from
Owner Herrmann several days ago, but he did not announce the sad tidings until
today, thinking perhaps Herrmann might realize his mistake and send along the
$1,100 instead…
Secretary J.C. Bonham of the Speedboys was Dr. J.C. Bonham,
who advertised his practice extensively in the Ottumwa newspaper, and we will
see more of him later.
Frank did pitch for Ottumwa in 1913. On July 7, the Muscatine
Journal reported:
Frank Gregory, the Beloit giant who has been doing wonderful
work during the past two weeks, pitched both of the games and was in great form.
Greg held the Pearl City guys to five little bingles in the initial contest and
pitched brilliant ball throughout.
Frank was sometimes referred to as a giant, but at 5-11,
185, he must have been the world’s smallest giant. On July 12 he was sold to
the Birmingham Barons of the Class A Southern Association, but he got one last
start for Ottumwa on the 13th, as reported in the next day’s Ottumwa
Daily Review:
Frank Gregory pitched his team to victory as a farewell
greeting to the large crowd of Ottumwa fans. He was effective all the way
through and the Boilermakers were eating out of his hands from the start. He
allowed them but four hits and two of these were of the dirty variety.
As a token of appreciation for his work while with the
Ottumwa team, several of the fans and directors made the parting twirler a
present of a beautiful traveling bag. The present was presented to him as he
stood before the grand stand and for several minutes after, the crowd was
yelling for Greg as a farewell greeting.
For Ottumwa Frank had pitched 169 innings in 23 games with a
13-5 record, allowing 3.94 runs per nine innings (Baseball Reference shows him
allowing 174 runs but it was actually 74), striking out 134 and walking 44. For
the Barons he had a 4-6 record in 71 innings in 12 games, allowing 4.82 runs
per nine innings. After the season he was part of a group of Birmingham players
who toured Cuba, playing against local teams.
Frank was back with Birmingham for 1914, but on May 16, after
pitching in six games, he was sold to the Evansville River Rats of the Class B
Central League; the Barons let him go because they had to reduce their roster
to stay under the player limit. For the River Rats he had a 9-5 record in 114
2/3 innings in 19 games, but somehow that didn’t keep him from going down
another level, to the Rockford Wolves of the Class C Wisconsin-Illinois League,
in late July. There he had a 4-6 record in 88 innings in 11 games; for the
year, combining his numbers with the three teams, he was 14-14 in 238 2/3
innings in 36 games, allowing 3.92 runs per nine innings. After the season, on
September 23, Frank married Cecile Emma Bonham, daughter of Dr. J.C. Bonham,
and moved into his father-in-law’s house at 123 N. Jefferson Street in Ottumwa.
Frank was on the Rockford reserve list over the off-season,
but on March 9, 1915, it was reported that he had signed with Des Moines of the
Western League. There is no evidence that he played there, though, and after
playing some semi-pro ball in Beloit he went back to Rockford, which had moved
up one level from 1914 to the Class B Three-I League, and asked for a tryout.
He was signed to a trial contract and given a start against Moline on June 6,
for which a large delegation of Beloit fans came to Rockford. However, he gave
up five runs in two innings and was released the next morning; that was the
last news of him I found during 1915.
In the spring of 1916 Frank was pitching for the Ottumwa
Daily Review’s semi-pro team; then he signed with his old Ottumwa team of
the Central Association, now known as the Packers. He pitched 82 innings in 11
games with a 2.96 ERA, but had a 3-7 won-lost record. That same year Cecile
started appearing on the church page of the Daily Review, hosting
meetings of various clubs and committees associated with the First
Congregational Church; she would continue for at least 30 years.
All I found of Frank in 1917 was his draft registration
card, filled out on June 5. It gave his address as 123 N. Jefferson, his birth
year as 1890 (instead of 1888), his occupation as farmer, his employer as Dr.
Bonham, and his appearance as tall, medium build, dark eyes, and dark hair. He
claimed exemption from the draft on the grounds of being a farmer.
Frank then drops out of sight again until January 3, 1920,
when the US census came to 123 N. Jefferson. 60-year-old Dr. Bonham shared his
house with Frank, listed as a 30-year-old farmer; Cecile, 31; and two roomers,
an electrician and a bookkeeper. Frank next appeared in the October 4 Janesville
(Wisconsin) Daily Gazette:
Frank Gregory made a brilliant debut as a pitcher, in a
Samson Tractor uniform, Saturday, when he held the Whitewater Quakers to six
hits while his mates went out and collected 12 off “Hank” Schultz, and the home
club won easily, 9 to 3. Save a couple of home runs and four double plays, the
game was devoid of excitement.
Gregory pitched masterful ball and looked just as strong at
the end as at any time through the game. He has a world of stuff, which he uses
effectively. The Tractors backed him up with some fast fielding so he was never
in danger…
I assume this is semi-pro ball. Sometime in 1921 or early
1922 Frank and Cecile’s son Eugene was born, and in 1922 Frank returned to
professional baseball, pitching for the Marshalltown (Iowa) Ansons of the Class
D Mississippi Valley League and then moving to the Ottumwa Cardinals of the
same league. Between the two teams he had an 11-9 record, pitching 183 innings
in 26 games.
That seems to have been the end of Frank’s professional
pitching career. In the 1924 Ottumwa city directory he is listed as working for
Dr. Bonham; then in 1925 he was hired as an umpire by the Mississippi Valley
League. From the June 26 Waterloo Evening Courier:
Gregory Quits League.
Frank Gregory, Ottumwa, Ia., last night telegraphed Belden
Hill, league president, that he would no longer serve as an umpire. Following a
tiff or two at Dubuque several days ago, Gregory wanted to quit but Hill asked
that he continue for several days until Hank Severeid could be located.
Before Thursday’s game, a reporter showed Gregory a press
dispatch from Birmingham, Ala., which stated that Joe Warrior, an umpire, had
been killed at a negro baseball game when someone shouted “kill the umpire” and
Lizzie Perkins fired five shots into his body. Gregory mistook the yellow paper
and capital letters for a Western Union telegram and thought that [Waterloo
manager] Dixon was at the bottom of a prank to spell his ruin. Calling at the
Courier office today, Gregory was put right and showed how such dispatches are
received. He stated he had already determined to quit, however, and would take
an early train home. Players will be left to handle today’s game.
Gregory says he is going to work out at Ottumwa and get his arm
back in shape, then go back into baseball as a pitcher.
Frank was mentioned in mid-August as still umpiring, so it
appears he finished out the season. In 1927 Dr. Bonham passed away, and Frank
and Cecile inherited the house; Frank is listed in that year’s city directory
as a farmer. In 1929 he was rehired as a Mississippi Valley League umpire, and
he returned in 1930. The 1930 census shows Frank, Cecile, and eight-year-old
Eugene in the Jefferson Street house, with Frank’s occupation given as umpire.
In 1931 Frank moved up to the Western League, and during the
following off-season he was listed as an umpire in the league’s reserve list.
But that’s the last reference to him as an umpire that I found. In 1934, while
Cecile continued to show up regularly in the Ottumwa Daily Review for
church activities, Frank began to pop up there for very different reasons. From
February 26, 1934:
Frank Gregory, said to live on North Jefferson street,
charged with being drunk, pleaded not guilty and will have a hearing February
28 at 4:30 p.m. His bond was fixed at $25.
He was sentenced to fifteen days in the county jail. From
October 1, 1937:
Two men faced Police Judge Harry Ziffren today on
intoxication charges. Frank Gregory of Ottumwa was fined $5, and Richard Hewitt
of Albia was ordered to leave the city.
On June 15, 1938, it was reported that Frank had received a
ten-day suspended sentence on intoxication charges, and on August 20 that he
had received another ten-day suspended sentence for drunkenness. In the 1939
Ottumwa city directory he is listed as a serviceman, which perplexes me; in
1941 he is listed as a coremaker for Dain Manufacturing Company. October 19,
1942:
Lester Parks, Frank Gregory and Gaylord W. Ross, all of
Ottumwa, and Joe Needham, a transient, were assessed $10 fines for
intoxication.
In the 1943 city directory Frank is shown as a coremaker for
Ottumwa Foundry Company. On June 22, 1943, it was reported that he had been
sentenced to ten days in jail on drunk charges, on August 17 ten days in jail
on intoxication charges, and on January 26, 1944, a ten-day suspended sentence
on intoxication charges. From July 3, 1944:
Eugene F. Gregory, seaman, first class, in the coast guard,
is at home on a seven-day leave visiting his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Gregory,
123 North Jefferson street. He is assigned to the Pacific fleet and has been on
sea duty since March.
And exactly two weeks later:
Those forfeiting $10 bonds on charges of being inmates of a
disorderly house were Frank Gregory and Chet Wineinger, both of Ottumwa, and
John J. Tierman, Peoria, Ill. Pearl Beghtol, Ottumwa, also taken in the raid,
was assessed a $10 suspended fine.
Cases against others arrested at the place have not come
before the court.
That was the last of those police blotter mentions of Frank
that I found. In the 1945 city directory he’s a coremaker, and in 1947 he’s an
employee of Iowa-Illinois Gas and Electric. The next year that the Ottumwa city
directory is available is 1951, and Frank does not appear in it; Cecile is
shown as living at 122 South Lillian. Then there’s a gap in the information
until the Monroe Evening Times of November 5, 1955:
Frank Gregory, 66, Found in Rock River
BELOIT (AP)—The body of Frank Ernest (Rufus) Gregory, 66,
who had a brief career as a major league baseball pitcher, was pulled from the
Rock River today by Beloit firemen.
The cause of death was not immediately determined. Friends
reported seeing the Beloit man as late as 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Gregory, who started his playing career in Beloit, finished
the 1912 season with the Cincinnati Reds, winning two games and losing one. The
next year he went back to the minors.
The version from the Rockford Morning Star of
November 6:
Former Major League Ball Player Drowned at Beloit
(Consolidated News Service)
BELOIT, Wis.—The body of a Beloit man, identified by police
as Frank Ernest (Rufus) Gregory, 67, 1002 ½ Pleasant st., former Major league
baseball player, was recovered in Rock river about 11 a.m. Saturday by Firemen
Donald Hurd and Donald Jacobs.
Rock county Deputy Coroner Robert McCaul said an autopsy
Saturday afternoon showed Gregory’s lungs were filled with water. McCaul termed
the death “accidental drowning” and said there were no marks on Gregory’s body.
A wallet, containing $37, was in his pocket.
The body was sighted by Glen Meister, Augusta, Wis., who
stopped here while traveling south on U.S. highway 51. Meister and his
passengers, Barbara Luedtke, Augusta, and Lillian Hadom, 716 Parker ave.,
Beloit, had stopped to rest and were looking across the river at Memorial
Beloit high school. They saw the body about 30 feet from the east bank of the
abutment which has been built for the new Henry ave. bridge.
Deputy Coroner McCaul learned that Gregory played baseball
here and had pitched for a short time in the National league. For the last
year, Gregory had been employed as a dishwasher in the Demos grill, 722
Pleasant st.
Gregory reportedly was in the habit of walking along the
river bank after work. He worked Friday until 1 p.m. and was seen later in a
store at Pleasant st. and Woodward ave., where he bought a newspaper. Employees
in the store said he appeared in good spirits.
Mr. Gregory was born in Spring valley township, Rock county,
July 25, 1888. He spent his boyhood in Beloit and played with the Hackett
school baseball team and the Beloit Nationals. He moved to Ottumwa, Ia., in
1912 and played in the Central association. He ended the season pitching for
the Cincinnati Reds, but the next year returned to Ottumwa. He returned to
Beloit in 1954.
He is survived by a son, Gene, Ottumwa, Ia.
Arrangements are being completed in the Rosman-Uehling-Kinzer
chapel.
The Ottumwa Daily Courier followed up on Frank's death on
November 21, in their “Browsing Around” column:
We recently reported the tragic death in the Rock river at
Beloit, Wis., of Frank Gregory, and also some of his achievements as a baseball
player in Ottumwa and elsewhere in the minor and major leagues, years ago.
Ottumwans also will be interested in the last chapter of this man’s story. Dan
Efner of Ottumwa, student at Beloit college, writes that Gregory had many friends
in that city. A Beloit old-timers baseball group provided a suitable lot in a
cemetery. A collection has recently been started by patrons of the restaurant
where Gregory was employed, to purchase a headstone for the grave. More than
$50 was collected in less than a week. “If there are people interested in
helping buy the headstone, friends and baseball fans of ‘Rufus’ Gregory in Ottumwa,
they can send their money to the Demos Grill, 722 Pleasant, Beloit,” writes
Dan. “You may be sure it will be carefully spent for as fine a marker as the
money will buy.”
https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/G/Pgregf101.htm
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gregofr01.shtml
