Frank Dessau was a National League pitcher for Boston in
1907 and Brooklyn in 1910. The major baseball websites list him as “Rube”
Dessau, but I found hundreds of references to him as Frank and only a couple as
Rube.
Frank Rolland Dessau was born on March 29, 1883, in New
Galilee, Pennsylvania, near the Ohio border and northwest of Pittsburgh, to
Adolphus Dessau, a German immigrant, and Elizabeth McClure Dessau, born in
Pennsylvania. Adolphus had passed away by the time of the 1900 census, at which
time his family is living in New Brighton, a little closer to Pittsburgh, at
901 11th Avenue. Elizabeth is 51 years old, 25-year-old Charles is a
laborer at what looks like “car wks,” 19-year-old Dora is not employed, Frank,
listed as 18 but actually 17, is a laborer in pottery; 22-year-old Minnie is
out of the house.
Frank got his first newspaper mention in the Evening News
of East Liverpool, Ohio, just across the state line, on May 28, 1902:
Frank Dessau, of New Brighton, had his foot mashed while at
work in the Mayer pottery. He was working about an elevator when it descended
and caught his foot.
Sometime after this, it seems, Frank was recruited to attend
Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, by someone who saw him playing
basketball. (He appears in the 1902 Beaver Falls city directory as an assistant
shipping clerk for the S.S. Manufacturing Company, and his residence is given
as 925 8th Avenue.) At the suggestion of the baseball captain at
Geneva Frank joined the Ohio Works team of Akron in the independent
Ohio-Pennsylvania league in the middle of the 1904 season. He made his debut on
July 13, pitching a three-hitter but giving up four runs and losing, thanks to
five walks. He pitched a four-hitter and another three-hitter in his next two
starts, after which the Cleveland Leader called him “the find of the
season,” but that’s the last I found of him that season, and I found no stats,
though I did find a later reference to his having been second in the league in
batting average.
The youngster had speed and curves when here and with no one
on the bases he pitched great ball. He needed to learn how to deliver the ball
with runners on the bags. Besides that he promised to be a good hitter.
Frank won his first two starts, allowing a total of six hits
and one run, but it was downhill from there. No other stats are available, but
he finished with a 4-16 record.
The April 9, 1906, Cincinnati Commercial Tribune
reported:
Frank Dessau, of New Brighton, who made a great record last
year [?] twirling for the Birmingham Club, of the Southern League, has jumped
to Harrisburg, having signed a contract which calls for $400 a month, it is
alleged.
That same day the news was reported in both Birmingham and
Harrisburg, with very different assessments of Frank’s 1905 performance. The Harrisburg
Patriot ended its news item with the statement “Dessau was one of the best
twirlers in the Southern League last year and hopes to prove himself a star in
the Tri-State,” while the Birmingham Age-Herald closed its with:
When the strong Tri-State leaguers commence to connect with
Dessau’s bunch of wild junk the Harrisburg manager will tie a boiler on to the
country fashion plate. To think that ever Billy Hamilton, ex-major leaguer
[Harrisburg manager] could be thus fooled.
The evidence of the 4-16 won-lost record seems to be on the
side of the Age-Herald, though the Patriot doubled down two days
later, saying:
Frank Dessau, the New Brighton boy who will twirl for the
local team has all the earmarks and confidence of a seasoned player. He is a
little fellow but made a splendid record in the South last year and is expected
to do good work in Harrisburg.
(Baseball Reference has Frank as having been 5-11, 175,
though on his World War II draft registration card, filled out when he was 59
years old, he put that he was 5-7 ½, 162.) Frank didn’t last long in
Harrisburg, being released on May 1, but he quickly signed with the Lancaster
Red Roses, also of the independent Tri-State League, and on the 10th
he had the satisfaction of beating Harrisburg. Still, he didn’t last long with
Lancaster before being again released; he then signed with his third Tri-State
team of the year, the Williamsport Millionaires, on June 5. I’m not sure why
teams kept dropping him, or why other teams kept picking him up, but he had a
10-7 record in 22 games between the three teams before Williamsport in turn
released him; on August 24 the Patriot reported that “Pitcher Frank Dessau, a
former member of the Harrisburg, Lancaster and Williamsport teams, has joined a
team in the P.O.M. [Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland] League.” But, the September 8 Sporting
Life ran this item:
Dessau, pitcher of the Washington (Pa.) nine, has a name
ticklish for types and tickers. Saturday a messenger boy with a message for
“Frank D. Essau” was running around headquarters. Just by luck was that
telegram delivered to the proper man.
On October 6 Sporting Life published the reserve
lists of the minor league teams, and Frank appeared both on the Birmingham list
(with the notation “suspended”—he had jumped the Coal Barons in April) and the
list of Waynesburg of the (Class D) P.O.M. league. Also from Sporting Life
was this item in the January 5, 1907, issue:
Tri-State Pitcher Marries
Lancaster, Pa., Dec. 26.—Frank R. Dessau, a member of last
season’s pitching staff of the Lancaster Red Roses and later with Williamsport,
and Miss Cora H. Zug, of this city, were married today at the bride’s home, the
ceremony being performed by Rev. W.H. Hartzler.
In the same issue Sporting Life printed rudimentary
Tri-State League stats with the disclaimer “We give these figures space, not
for the benefit of the outlaw league, but in justice to the many worthy players
in the organization and for the information of the general public.”
Somehow Frank, who doesn’t seem to have felt bound by
contracts, ended up with the Steubenville, Ohio, Stubs of the P.O.M. League,
despite being on the reserve lists of two other teams, one in the same league.
The Steubenville Herald Star reported on April 9:
Frank Dessau, a member of the Stub twirling staff arrived in
the city yesterday from his home in Ossining, N.Y., where he has been located
since the close of last season. The good work of this flinger with the
Waynesburg team last season is remembered by the fans and they expect him to be
one of the regular pitching staff this season for the Stubs. Manager Stetler
speaks highly of Dessau having seen him work a greater part of last season. The
claim that Zanesville laid to his services has been knocked by Hogan’s refusal
to take any of the Waynesburg players. Dessau was accompanied by his wife who
will remain with him here during the season.
Frank had a great year with Steubenville (apparently—there
aren’t really any stats out there), and in mid-July it was widely reported that
he had been sold to Boston of the American League, then usually known as the
Americans, and would report after the end of the P.O.M. season. On August 13
the Uniontown Morning Herald relayed some praise of Frank:
Sporting Editor Poe, of the Zanesville Times-Recorder, says
Dessau is the greatest minor league pitcher in the country. In speaking of him,
Poe pays him the following nice compliment:
“The marvelous work of Pitcher Frank Dessau, who has been
sold to the Boston Americans for $2,000, is what has kept Steubenville up in
the race. Before the season started Dessau was not regarded as a regular twirler,
but since the season started he has proved himself to be one of the greatest
minor league twirlers in the country. Cool as an iceberg in the box, with
marvelous speed when required, Dessau is practically unbeatable. Stetler works
him every third or fourth day, and during the course of the season he has won
every game he pitched except two, in one of which he got a tie and the other he
was knocked out of the box by McKeesport. Rarely has he been found for more
than five hits. If Dessau had been with an American Association team this year
he would have been the sensation of the country.”
On August 22 the Uniontown Daily News Standard
relayed the latest update on Frank’s destination from the Steubenville
Gazette:
While the Boston American league team was thinking about
putting up the cash for the purchase of Frank Dessau, the Stubs’ star twirler,
Manager Tenney, of the Boston National league team got busy with the long green
and closed the deal for the purchase of Dessau. The check for $2,000 was
received by the local association Monday night [20th] from the
Boston National league team.
On September 16 the Steubenville Herald Star
mentioned that after the season Frank would be going to Elizabeth, New Jersey,
to work as a structural iron worker, and two days later they reported on his
departure for the majors:
Joins the Bostons.
Pitcher Frank Dessau, of the Steubenville club who was
purchased by the Boston Nationals before the drafting season leaves to-morrow
morning for Chicago where he will join the Bean Eaters on the 20th.
Dessau, owing to recent illness, is not in the best of form and will not likely
be able to do his best work for Boston this fall but nevertheless his many
friends here think he will make a favorable showing in the big league. Very few
pitchers in minor leagues have better records than Dessau and he is often
spoken of as the man who won the pennant for the Stubs.
At this time the Boston NL team was usually called the
Doves, and Frank made his major league debut with them on September 22, in the
first game of a doubleheader in Chicago. He pitched a complete game and lost
8-7, allowing seven singles and nine walks while striking out one, and making
two errors. On September 27 he got another start, at Pittsburgh, but only
lasted an inning and two thirds, allowing three runs on six hits, a walk and a
hit batter; the hit batter was Honus Wagner, whose hand was broken, causing him
to miss the remainder of the season. The Doves played another seven games
before the season ended, but Frank didn’t get into any of them. On September
29, an off day on their schedule, they had arranged an exhibition game in
Wheeling, West Virginia; Frank was scheduled to pitch and over 200 Steubenville
fans were expected to travel to Wheeling to see him, but the game was rained
out. Frank’s National League ERA was 10.61 over 9 1/3 innings in the two games.
After the season Frank appeared on the reserve lists of both
Boston and Steubenville. On April 11, 1908, Sporting Life ran this
article about his latest contract drama:
PLAYER LIBERATED.
Pitcher Dessau, Formerly of Boston, Declared a Free Agent.
Special to “Sporting Life.”
Cincinnati, O., April 7.—The National Commission has
declared pitcher Dessau, formerly of the Boston National Club, a free agent
upon his appeal for release. Dessau stated that up to March 4 no contract had
been tendered him by any club for the season of 1908, and that under Article 7,
Section 1, of the National Agreement, he should be declared a free agent. He
states that the Boston National League Club purchased his release from the
Steubenville Club of the P.O.M. League last fall, and that on the 28th
of February President Dovey [of Boston] wrote him stating that he had been
unconditionally released back to Steubenville, but neither that club nor the
Boston Club had tendered him a contract previous to March 1. The attention of
both the Boston National League Club and the Steubenville Club was called to
the case by the Commission, but nothing was heard from either of them. They
were then given five days’ time to furnish any evidence that they desired to
submit in the matter and were notified that upon their failure to do so an
award would be made in favor of the player, as is provided under Article 8, Section
4, of the National Agreement. Nothing has been heard from either one of these
clubs, and the player’s request is therefore granted and he is declared to be a
free agent.
Frank signed with the Baltimore Orioles of the Class A Eastern League, and he had a good year for them. He had a 15-13 record
and pitched 170 innings in 38 games, many of them in relief, and finished sixth
in the league with 137 strikeouts—that was a very high strikeout per inning
ratio for those days, and he pitched significantly fewer innings than the
pitchers ahead of him did. Along the way, on June 29, he was ejected from the
game after throwing his glove at, and then trying to punch, umpire Moran. He
was suspended indefinitely but then reinstated after just three games, while
Moran was fired for not reporting the incident to the league president.
In March 1909 Frank signed a new contract with Baltimore. In
mid-April it was widely reported that John McGraw of the New York Giants had
been impressed with Frank in an exhibition game and was trying to buy him. The Steubenville
Herald Star said on April 19:
The price asked by Baltimore is rather steep, it being
reported that the sum of $11,000 was asked for his release when McGraw
expressed his desire to make him a Giant. It is barely possible that any such
sum will be paid for Dessau but it is believed that he will eventually become a
member of the New York team.
Frank was the workhorse of the Oriole staff in 1909,
pitching 359 innings in 44 games, but the popular view seems to have been that
he didn’t live up to expectations. This seems strange, given that he went from
a 15-13 record for a first place team to an 18-17 record with a seventh place
team, while his runs allowed per nine innings went from 5.56 to 3.81. At any
rate, toward the end of the Eastern League season he was drafted by the
Brooklyn Superbas, not yet generally known as the Dodgers, for 1910. Meanwhile,
on July 23, Cora gave birth to daughter Ferne.
Frank signed his Brooklyn contract in early February, and in
early March he joined the team in Harrisburg on their way to spring training in
Hot Springs, Arkansas. He made the team, and he made his Brooklyn debut on
April 26, in the team’s ninth game of the season, on the road against the
Giants. He came in to pitch the bottom of the fourth in a 5-5 tie and finished
the game, giving up the winning run with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth
in a 9-8 loss. That same day Frank’s household was counted in the US census;
he, Cora, and baby Ferne were living with Cora’s parents, John (a traveling
salesman) and Lovenia Zug, at 243 Elm Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Frank didn’t get out of the bullpen very often. His next
appearance was on May 6, then May 27, then June 8, and then June 21, each time
pitching an inning or two at the end of a game; in the June 21 game he allowed
six runs to the Giants in two innings as the Superbas lost 12-1 to Christy
Mathewson. On June 13 the Jersey Journal had reprinted this article from
the Rochester Democrat-Chronicle:
Another Pitcher for Charley Ebbett’s Farm
Manager Bill Dahlen of the Brooklyn Nationals is about to
turn over a pitcher to Rochester, and if Jawn Ganzel gets the one Rochester
fans hope he does, he will be a welcome addition to an already strong corps of
hurlers. The choice lies between Frank Dessau, last year with Baltimore, and
Fritz Schneiberg, drafted by the Dodgers from Milwaukee.
Dessau is favorably remembered in Rochester. This tall,
rangy boxman always made a good impression here, his long, overhead swing, fair
steam and good breaking curves having generally baffled the Hustlers…
Last season with his club wabbling in seventh place, Dessau
won eighteen games and lost seventeen. In 1908 he was on the winning side in
fifteen of twenty-eight games.
Three things about this: 1. Frank has gone from “little” to
“tall, rangy.” 2. I don’t know if Schneiberg went to Rochester, but Frank
didn’t. 3. I love the word “wabbling.”
While Frank didn’t go to Rochester, he also didn’t appear
again for Brooklyn for a month, until pitching the last four innings in a game
at Pittsburgh on July 21. After that he started seeing a little more action,
pitching six times in August, six in September and once in October, all in
relief. He wound up with a 5.79 ERA in 51 1/3 innings in 19 games. At the close
of the season the Superbas released him to Rochester, where they had been so
eager to have him; in one of the newspaper items about this, he was described
as a knuckleball pitcher.
As an aside, the game of August 13 is worth talking about—it
would be discussed for years afterward, even appearing in “Ripley’s Believe it
or Not.” It was the second game of a doubleheader between the Pirates and
Superbas, in Brooklyn. Frank relieved Brooklyn starter Nap Rucker after the
fifth inning and pitched the rest of the game, which was called because of
darkness after nine innings, tied 8-8. Each team had 13 hits, 13 assists, two
errors, three walks, five strikeouts, one hit batter, and one passed ball.
In February 1911 Frank signed a Rochester contract. He began
the season in the starting rotation but wound up in the bullpen, pitching 148
innings in 31 games while the team’s other five pitchers each pitched over 200,
as the Bronchos AKA Hustlers won the Eastern League pennant. He had a 9-7
won-lost record. It was reported on August 9 that the team had asked waivers on
him, but nothing came of that. On December 13 he was sold to the Atlanta
Crackers of the Southern Association, also Class A; Sporting Life observed that
“he should prove to be a good man in that warmer climate.”
On March 31, 1912, the Syracuse Herald reported that
“Frank says his arm is better than it has been in years and that he will surely
be heard from this year.” He began the season in the Atlanta rotation but
missed two weeks in May due to arm problems.
When he returned he was getting
good reviews initially, but then on July 12, after two weeks without pitching,
he was sold, as reported by the following day’s Atlanta Constitution:
Dessau Is Sold To Kansas City; Leaves Today
Frank Dessau, the big right-hander, who has been with the
Crackers ever since the beginning of the present season, coming here from the
Rochester International League team [the Eastern League had dissolved after the
1911 season and Rochester had joined the new International League], is no
longer a Cracker.
Manager Hemphill yesterday closed a deal with the Kansas
City team of the American Association selling the big right-hander to them and
he leaves today to join his new teammates.
Dessau has been suspended for the past ten days through lack
of condition, his arm giving him trouble just at the time he was called on to
pitch. It is said to be all right now and he will have a chance to pitch good
ball for the American Association club.
Dessau twirled nice ball for the Crackers. In fact, he has
won seven games and lost four since becoming a member of the team, a percentage
that should warrant his being kept. He leads the team’s hurlers, and also
fielded well, and as a hitter he has batted .323.
Manager Hemphill must believe that Dessau’s arm will never
quite be the same and therefore he is turning him loose. Surely he could not
turn a pitcher of that caliber adrift if he was in the best of form.
The Constitution gave Frank a chance to respond the
next day:
DESSAU OFF FOR KANSAS CITY; DENIES THE SORE ARM REPORT;
BELIEVES LOCALS WILL CLIMB
Frank Dessau, the big right-hander of the Crackers, leaves
today for Kansas City, where he will join the American association team of that
city and finish the season with them.
Dessau, who has been on the ineligible list for the past two
weeks, was sold to that club by Manager Hemphill, the deal being closed Friday.
It was claimed that Dessau had a sore arm and that was the reason he was placed
on the ineligible list and then disposed of.
“There is absolutely no truth in my having a sore arm,” said
Dessau. “I was placed on the ineligible list for some other reason. Just what
it was I do not know. If Manager Hemphill wanted to place me there, that was
his business. But he does me an injustice in saying I have had a sore arm.
“I would have been satisfied to stay with Atlanta and I
always gave the local club my best at all times. I got beaten occasionally, but
not because of any unwillingness on my part, but just because the other team
was better on that day.
“As much as I hate to leave Atlanta, the local manager has
done me a real favor in sending me to Kansas City. In what way, I do not care
to state, as I do not want to criticize Mr. Hemphill in any of his moves.”
…Atlanta fans wish Dessau the best of success everywhere
that he goes. He always gave the local club his best services and any one that
says anything to the contrary tells a deliberate falsehood. No twirler ever
worked harder for a club than he did and his record is sufficiently good to
prove such a contention.
Dessau will make the Kansas City club a good man and we
venture to predict that when the final figures come in at the end of the season
that he will be standing near the top of the hurlers of that league.
Just why the Atlanta team let him go will probably never be
known. Probably the local mogul had some good reason known to himself. This
Dessau is not questioning and neither are we, but unless the reason was of
sufficient merit to warrant the release of such a pitcher, we do not believe
that it was a good one.
On July 17 the Bridgeport Evening Farmer reported that Frank
had signed with the Bridgeport Orators of the Class B Connecticut State League,
saying that “He didn’t like the intense heat in the south and was anxious to
return north,” but the next day he made his debut with Kansas City. On August 1
the Sporting News weighed in:
Frank Dessau was sold last week to Kansas City. This came as
a surprise as Dessau had won more games and lost fewer than any Cracker hurler
[his record was 7-5]. Hemphill claimed Dessau’s arm was in bad shape, but as
Kansas City bought him only with the proviso that he made good, it seems
strange that he should have been allowed to get away when the Crackers need
dependable boxmen just as much as the club they sold him to.
The Atlanta Constitution had more on August 15:
Frank Dessau Likes Atlanta; Would Return
The sporting editor is in receipt of a letter from Frank
Dessau, the former Atlanta pitcher, now with the Kansas City team of the
American association.
Without commenting on his letter, we reproduce it herewith,
showing the esteem that he holds for the locals.
“Dick Jemison, Sporting Editor The Constitution: I fully
intended writing you before this to thank you for all the ‘good things’ you
have published about me since leaving your city. The write-up the day after my
departure was good and explained my case to a ‘tee.’
“As my sale was an optional one, there was a chance for me
to revert to Atlanta, but I guess Carr has closed the deal. I would not object
to coming back to your city as I only realize now how well we were treated
there.
“I am for Atlanta and the baseball officials. I am sorry the
team hasn’t braced since Hemphill left. The town deserves a winner and also
Messrs. Callaway, Ryan and Nunnally.
“My arm, which Hemphill said was gone, is feeling fine and
strong. I have an awful time explaining why I was let out by Atlanta to the
Kansas City players. They cannot understand it.”
With some other comment about the race in the American
association, a big boost for Sidney Smith and regards to the Atlanta fans,
Dessau closes his letter.
At that point Frank had made nine appearances for Kansas
City, and after making three more he moved on again. He is credited with a 1-2
won-lost record for the Blues, but given that he made seven starts and five
relief appearances, it seems unlikely that he had that few decisions. His last
game with Kansas City was August 25, and on September 1 he made his first start
with his third team of the year, the Lincoln Railsplitters of the Class A
Western League. On September 9 the Wilmington Evening Journal reported:
Frank Dessau couldn’t make a go of it with Kansas City and
has been sent to the Lincoln club…This seems to indicate that the tears shed by
Atlantans over Dessau’s departure were largely wasted.
The September 21 issue of Sporting Life included a list of
the latest decisions handed down by the National Board of Arbitration of the
National Association. Under the heading of “Claims Allowed” was the entry
“Dessau against Atlanta (allowed in part).” I found nothing that would help to
explain that. He finished the season with Lincoln, appearing in nine games for
them, eight of them starts, and had a 6-2 record, allowing just 19 runs in 67
innings. In October he appeared on Lincoln’s reserve list, then in the December
7 Sporting Life he again showed up in the list of National Board of Arbitration
decisions: "Claim of Frank Dessau disallowed; player reverts to Kansas
City Club." Again, I don’t know what he was claiming, but in February
1913 Kansas City released him back to Lincoln.
On April 9, during spring
training, it was reported that he “has been battling with an attack of blood
poisoning.” Frank spent the season with Lincoln, pitching 198 1/3 innings in a
mixture of starts and relief appearances. For the first time in his minor league
career we have an ERA for him, 4.86 in what was a high-scoring league, though
it was the highest mark on the team; on the other hand we don’t have a won-lost
record for him. During the season he worked as a fill-in umpire at least four
times. The July 14 issue of the Lincoln Daily Star ran a list of
examples of humorous things fans yell at the players; one was this:
To Frank Dessau, who is wandering in front of the stand with
a bright and shining bucket (he is not rushing the growler) “Oh, you milk maid.”
After the season Frank appeared on the Lincoln reserve list,
and in the November 15 Sporting Life he again came up in the report of
National Board of Arbitration cases, this time “Claim of Atlanta vs. Player
Dessau, allowed;” yet again I don’t know what that was about.
In late January 1914 it was simultaneously being reported
that Frank had signed with Lincoln and that he had signed with the Chicago team
in the Federal League, the outlaw organization trying to establish itself as a
third major league. On February 13 the Lincoln Daily Star reported that
Frank’s signed contract had arrived at the team offices that morning, which was
elaborated on in the following day’s Omaha World-Herald:
PITCHER DESSAU WILL RETURN TO ANTELOPES
Special Dispatch to the World-Herald
Lincoln, Neb., Feb. 13.—Because Manager Hugh Jones carried
him on the pay roll last year, when his arm was “off color” and he had
difficulty pitching his way to victory, Frank Dessau writes from his home at
Providence, R.I., that he will return to the Antelopes for this year and has
turned down two offers from the Feds.
“I don’t want the Lincoln public to think that I am
ungrateful to Hugh Jones,” Dessau writes, “after the way he paid me when I
couldn’t fling a bit. It’s up to me to reward him this year with all the best
that’s in me,”
Dessau was obtained from the Kansas City team of the
American association. He is one of the highest-priced players on the Lincoln
pay roll.
It shows the fluidity of team nicknames in those days that
the article refers to Lincoln as the Antelopes, while Baseball Reference lists
them as the Railsplitters in 1913 and the Tigers in 1914. People called teams
whatever they called them.
Frank spent 1914 with Lincoln, pitching 241 innings in 30
games, with a 12-15 record and a 3.10 ERA. He again filled in as umpire in
several games. In one Sporting Life article he was referred to as “Count
Dessau.” On September 27 the Daily Star reported that he “will work as
timekeeper for a large engineering company through Pennsylvania during the
winter.” But first, on October 15, he attended the annual meeting of the board
of directors of the Base Ball Players’ Fraternity, an organization of major and
minor league players, in New York. Other directors included Ty Cobb, Sam
Crawford, John Evers, Fred Merkle, and Max Carey.
In March 1915 Frank was released by Lincoln for some reason
(for being a labor agitator?), and in April it was reported that he had signed
with the Montreal Royals of the International League. There is no evidence that
he pitched with them, though, and he ended up with the Elmira Colonels of the
Class B New York State League, the first time he had been below Class A since
Steubenville in 1907. On August 6 he won a 15-inning 1-0 complete game, and the
next day’s Sporting Life observed:
Dessau, picked up by Wid Conroy for use on the mound in
Elmira, is one of the New York State League’s most successful pitchers. His old
habit of “blowing” midway through a game has been overcome.
Frank pitched 37 games for Elmira and had a record of 21-11,
his only 20-win season. In 1916 he returned to the team; the Lincoln Daily
Star updated its readers on his fortunes on July 30:
DESSAU GOING GOOD IN NEW YORK STATE LEAGUE
Frank Dessau, who used to put ‘em over for Lincoln, but
finally had to succumb to the ravages of time, and he is still quite a young
man [33], appears to be going good in the Elmira club of the New York State
league. Recently Dessau pitched a one hit game against Albany, the one hit
allowing the batter to reach first base, the only man who got as far as the
first sack in the game.
At some point in the season Frank moved over to the Albany
Senators, which by the end of the year had moved to Reading and become the
Pretzels. Between the two teams he had a 15-20 record in 35 games. He appeared
in the 1916 Lancaster city directory, listed as a traveling salesman, living at
243 Elm Avenue.
1917 found Frank back in the Eastern League, with Bridgeport,
but after pitching 43 innings in six games, with a 1-3 record, on June 12 he
took a job as an Eastern League umpire. It seems to have only lasted for the
rest of that season, so I don’t know what he was doing in 1918 until August 31,
when he joined the US Army’s Quartermaster Corps as a second lieutenant. In
September he was shipped to France, where he remained until July 1919,
receiving his honorable discharge on August 5. The 1919 Lancaster city
directory shows his employer as “USA” and Cora as a milliner for the Donovan
Company, their address is still 243 Elm.
The 1920 census, taken on January 2, shows Frank, a shipyard
welder, Cora, a department store saleslady, and ten-year-old Ferne still at 243
Elm with John, a bank clerk, and Lovenia. Sometime after this Frank went to
work for the American Chain Company in York; in 1920 he pitched for the company
baseball team and the next year he took over as manager. The 1921 York city
directory shows him as a clerk for ACC, he and Cora residing at “Hotel Eich.”
From the June 17, 1921, Gettysburg Times:
EASY FOR YORK CHAIN
The American Chain Company team of York easily defeated the
Fleisher Club of Philadelphia in York Thursday afternoon, 8-3. Cal Plowman, the
Gettysburg College man who beat the Baltimore Dry Docks last Saturday under the
name of “Weaver,” was prevented from scaling the mound on account of having
tonsilitis. Since leaving college Plowman has not been right physically and is
taking a rest in order to round into shape.
Manager Frank Dessau, of York, twirled instead of Plowman
and had little trouble with the Philadelphia players…
(What’s the point of playing under an assumed name if the
newspaper is going to give you away?) The June 27 Philadelphia Evening
Public Ledger ran an article on a variety of people who had been charged
with playing baseball on Sunday, still illegal in Pennsylvania, which included:
John B. Abbey, 6646 Musgrave street, manager of the Jack
Karst’s Stenton Baseball Team, and Frank Dessau, of York, Pa., manager of the
American Chain Works Baseball Team, were assessed $2.50 each, the costs of
prosecution, by Magistrate Pennock on several charges. The teams met yesterday
at Stenton Field.
The team was not merely a semipro team but an actual
professional team, though not part of any league. The Harrisburg Patriot
reported on September 6:
BIG LEAGUE CLUBS SEEK NUMBER OF YORK STARS
Several of the flashing players of the American Chain team
of York which now has won seventy-five out of 100 games this season, will go to
faster company before the end of the baseball year, according to word received
from Frank Dessau, the York manager.
Incidentally, the Acco Club will be in Harrisburg on
September 16 to play on Island Park with the Baltimore Orioles, champs of the
International League. The chain team has taken the series from such teams as
Red Lion, Spring Grove, Chester, Minersville, Black Sox of Baltimore and the
Rex A.C. of Washington.
It twice defeated the Reading Internationals and split a
doubleheader with the Boston Red Sox of the American League. The Athletics,
White Sox and Baltimore International all want Hickman, the Acco first baseman.
Barty, a York boy who plays in the outfield will go either to Syracuse or
Jersey City next season and Costello is wanted by three or four big league teams.
From the Gettysburg Times, February 11, 1922:
FRANK DESSAU LEADS YORK
Re-elected Manager of Accos for This Year.
York, Pa., Feb. 11—Frank Dessau, who piloted the Acco nine
last year, will again head the local professional aggregation this year. Dessau
was re-elected manager at a meeting of the Acco Association. The association
officially adopted the name of “Acco Club of York,” for the baseball team. In
the future the “Accos” will wear uniforms that display “York” on their shirt
fronts. They will wear the word “Acco” on their sleeves. Manager Dessau was
authorized to hire fourteen players.
Acting upon the instructions of the association, Manager
Dessau will arrange a schedule of approximately 120 games. About fifty-five of
the games will be played at home. The majority of the home games will be played
Saturday afternoons.
Bridgeport Evening Farmer, March 23:
SOME CLASS THERE
To all appearances the York (Pa.) plant of the American
Chain company is going to be represented with a ball team of minor league
caliber this season. Frank R. Dessau, manager, is advertising for a catcher,
pitcher and first baseman, who have played Class B ball or higher.
Harrisburg Patriot, May 17:
ACCO TO BRING STRONG TEAM HERE TOMORROW
Baseball fans will see the Acco team of York in action at
Island Park tomorrow afternoon. It will be the third of a series of eighteen
games arranged between Motive Power and Frank Dessau’s fast bunch that is now
causing much gossip in the baseball world…York is bringing a big crowd of
rooters and an old-time rivalry is expected.
On May 27 it was reported that “Acco Club of York” had a
24-4 record, but I didn’t find any references to their record after that. In
November it was announced that a new Class B league, the Atlantic League, would
begin play in 1923, and Frank talked the American Chain people into moving
their team into it. But on January 16 the Chester Times reported:
YORK QUITS ATLANTIC
Manager Dessau’s Accos to Continue Independent Baseball
Manager Frank Dessau, of the A.C. Co. baseball team,
announced that York would not be represented in the proposed Atlantic Baseball
League. Failure of the National Association to give protection to the league,
as promised, and the entrance of what he terms “non-supporting baseball cities”
into the organization are given by Manager Dessau as his reason for
withdrawing. The A.C. Co. team will continue to play independent ball, Dessau
says.
However, two days later this ad appeared in the Sporting
News, it apparently having been too late to pull it:
WANTED—Young players of experience for York, Class B league,
club. Prefer those knowing, or knowing of, me. Address Frank Dessau, Mgr.,
York, Pa.
Frank (who appeared in the 1923 York city directory as a
foreman at ACC, living with Cora at 117 S. Pine) began arranging a schedule for
the Acco team, while the Atlantic League collapsed. But at the last minute he
got York a spot in another new Class B league, the New York-Pennsylvania
League, and the team, now known as the York White Roses, finished second. In
1924 they finished second again, and in 1925 they tied for first with
Williamsport, then beat the Grays in a playoff for the championship.
In 1926 Frank and the White Roses finished second; after the
season the team was put up for sale by the American Chain Company and Frank,
not knowing whether the new owners would want to retain him, applied for the
job at Williamsport, but he didn’t get it. In February 1927 it was announced
that the new owners at York had rehired him; he appeared in the 1927 York city directory
as manager of the York Baseball Club, living at 108 South Penn Street (Cora was
not mentioned). Frank and the new owners didn’t see eye-to-eye, and on August
25 they let him go.
In November Frank was hired to manage the Decatur
Commodores, more frequently referred to as the Commies, of the Class B
Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League. In early December he traveled to Dallas for the
annual minor league meetings, where he met Commies President Clyde Foster for
the first time, having been hired by mail. The Decatur Herald of
December 11 quoted Foster:
“He’s a gentleman every inch,” he declared. “Everyone we met
at the meeting who knew him congratulated us on obtaining him. We were told
that ‘Dessau isn’t a one year man. He’s a kind of a manager one likes to keep
at the head of a team.’ Dessau knows baseball thoroughly and already has
started work of rebuilding the team for next season.”
The Decatur Review added:
Dessau who is well known in the East and almost a total
stranger to the West although he did pitch out in the Western League a number
of years ago, is a tall well mannered and well groomed man 44 years of age…
Manager Dessau who has a daughter in college will probably
move to Decatur in the middle of February so that he can take over much of the
baseball work.
In March 1928 Frank began a practice of visiting other,
higher-classification teams’ training sites in the south before opening the
Decatur camp, to look for players. On May 11 the Decatur Review
mentioned:
Manager Frank Dessau and several of the Commies went over to
Springfield Thursday night to see the boxing show. Les Marriner won another one
of his one round K.O.’s.
The Commies won the second half of the split season, Frank,
now 45, pitching the first four innings of the first game of a final-day
doubleheader as a publicity stunt. The team defeated Terre Haute in the
championship series, and Frank’s rehiring was announced on October 21. In
December it was reported that he would live in Decatur over the winter.During spring training 1929, on April 9, the Decatur
Review reported:
Manager Frank Dessau of the Commies was at the ringside of
the Labor-Veta boxing show Monday night and was introduced to the crowd. Times
have changed since the skipper was introduced to a fight crowd a year ago and
some fan yelled “let him produce.”
Frank produced last year all right. Monday night he made no
comment but the applause he received indicates that he has the fans with him.
In June the Herald described Frank as probably “the
most popular manager the Commies have had;” the team finished in second place,
one game out of first and one game ahead of third, as the split season format
was abandoned. Frank went back to Pennsylvania, and the year closed with
speculation in the newspapers that he had applied for the managerial job with
Decatur rivals Springfield, and that the Commies would like him back but
couldn’t afford to pay him the $3750 they paid him in 1929.
In January 1930 Frank returned to Decatur, still the
manager, and began to work on the roster. In April, instead of a story about
Frank attending a boxing match like there was the past two years, there was one
in the Review on the 5th about him appearing on the radio:
Frank Dessau and his Commies are to be introduced to WJBL
listeners Saturday evening, beginning about 6:30. Bud Rucker will do the
honors. There is no way to tell just what will happen. Members of the team will
be given an opportunity to speak their mind, and with Bud there to egg them on,
well, write your own ticket.
The league went back to a split season; Decatur was second
in the first half and third in the second, finishing with the third best record
overall. Toward the end of the season, on August 28, the Herald
reported:
INDIANS WHIP COMMIES, 13-9 IN BITTER SLUGGING CONTEST
Manager Dessau Chased From Park in Sixth After Row With Umps
MIKE STEVENS STARS
(Special to The Herald)
QUINCY, Aug. 28.—For the second straight night Decatur and
Quincy engaged in a bitter slugfest here, and although Decatur drove Ruel Love,
Quincy ace from the box in the eighth, the Indians won, 13 to 9. So unusual was
the contest that Manager Frank Dessau of the Commies came to blows with Umpire
Gaston, an almost unheard of happening and was escorted from the park by
officers in the sixth inning…
As Quincy went to bat in their half of the sixth, Umpire
Gaston, working the bases, went to the Decatur dugout and warned Manager Dessau
who was riding the umpire from the bench. Dessau followed Gaston back to the
umpire’s position, arguing with him. After a time the argument developed into
blows. The manager and umpire were separated by ball players, and Dessau was
escorted from the park by officers…
In December Frank signed to return to Decatur for 1931. In
mid-January there was speculation in the Dallas Morning News that Frank
might move up to Shreveport of the Texas League, both Shreveport and Decatur
having working agreements with the Cleveland Indians, but that did not happen.
On January 25 the Decatur Herald reported:
At present, the skipper is snow bound at his home in Pennsylvania.
He plans to drive west as quickly as the weather permits, and expects to be in
Decatur about the first week in February…
On February 15 the Herald ran a feature article on
Frank, by Bob Sink, from which I got information on his college days; this was one
paragraph:
In addition he has the satisfaction of knowing he has helped
to build the sport through his personality, his ability as a leader and teacher
and through his character. Frank Dessau is recognized everywhere among baseball
men as among the most intelligent, resourceful managers in the minors.
Also from the Herald, April 7:
Speaking of fighters, Manager Frank Dessau of the Decatur
Commies could pass for Daniel Boone most any day as he bangs away with his
single barrel shotgun at the sparrows in the Commie outfield. Frank and Chet
Cook have set up a couple of scarecrows, one in right field and one in left, using
some of George Martin’s old clothes. Now Dessau’s job is to keep the sparrows
from nesting in them.
On the 16th came the annual non-baseball sighting
of Frank, this time from the Springfield Daily Ilinois State Journal:
Wrestling in this man’s town is attracting fans from all nearby
points. Frank Dessau, Commie skipper, was spotted among the Decaturites at the
arsenal Tuesday night. A delegation of Greeks from Peoria was on hand to watch
Zaharias and Maxos, their fellow-countrymen, strut their stuff.
The Commies finished in fifth place in the first half and
tied for third in the second, though they were over .500 overall. By November
there were rumors that Frank would not be back and reports of him applying for
other jobs. On December 20 it was reported that Decatur had hired a new manager
and that Frank had applied for the Springfield Solons job, also in the Three-I
League; he got the job. In February 1932 the Sporting News mentioned his
address as 55 West Market Street in York, while he appeared in the 1932 city directories
for both Decatur (at 460 Powers Lane) and Springfield (at the Empire Hotel).
The Three-I League contracted from eight teams to six for
1932 but still had financial problems in what was possibly the worst year of
the Depression. On July 13, five days after Frank had been given a vote of
confidence from the team’s board of directors, Branch Rickey took over the team
to keep it from going bankrupt. He immediately replaced Frank with a new
manager, but two days later the league folded.
Frank wasn’t out of work too long—on August 8 he was rehired
by the York White Roses, who had fired him almost exactly five years
previously. The team finished in third place. For 1933 the New York-Pennsylvania
League was moved up from Class B to Class A, but there was speculation that
York would have to drop out, not having the funds to continue. They got it
together though, established a working agreement with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and
in March rehired Frank. Hopes were high in York, but things didn’t pan out, and
with the team in last place Frank resigned in July. The Daily Illinois State
Journal reported on the 27th:
DESSAU OUT AT YORK
Frank Dessau has joined the great army of former baseball
managers. The former Commie and Solon chieftain, who once rated as one of the
most popular skippers in the New York-Penn ranks, has stepped down after a
dismal season at York, made especially unhappy by the lack of funds to provide
ballplayers. Rumors that the club would throw up the sponge have been rife for
some weeks. Players have been only partially paid. So once again the manager is
made the goat…
Meanwhile, Cora appeared in the 1933 Lancaster city
directory, on her own, as a bookkeeper for Robert B. Todd, residing at her
family’s home at 243 Elm. In early 1934 it was reported that Frank was a
candidate for the managerial job with the Springfield (Ohio, not Illinois) team
in the Class C Middle Atlantic League, but there is no indication that he got
that job, or that he did any more managing at all. Also in early 1934 he filled
out a veteran’s compensation application, giving his address as 131 S. George
Street in York; Cora is listed as his wife and dependent, living on Elm Street
in Lancaster.
In the 1940 census Frank is 57 years old and still lives at
131 S. George Street, as a roomer with 55-year-old widow Minnie Hoover, a silk
weaver. Frank is an employment agent at the chain works, and is listed as
married; Cora lives with her father on Elm Street in Lancaster, and is listed
as single.
On April 27, 1942, Frank filled out his draft registration
card; he still lives on George Street, his employer is the American Chain and
Cable Company, and the “person who will always know your address” is P.D. Hines
of the chain company. Frank describes himself as 5-7 ½, 162 pounds, blue eyes, brown
hair, light brown complexion, with a mark under his left arm and one on his
right ear.
On May 6, 1952, Frank passed away at age 69 at York Hospital,
after an unspecified long illness. The Sporting News ran an obituary in
their May 14 issue; elsewhere in the same issue was this item:
The Decatur (Mississippi-Ohio Valley) club paid tribute to
Frank Dessau, who led Decatur to its last championship flag in 1928, with his
photograph on the front of the score card. Dessau died in York, Pa., May 6.
On November 3, 1953, daughter Ferne, a 44-year-old divorced
registered nurse, living with Cora at 243 Elm in Lancaster, died of cancer.
Cora lived until 1978.
https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/D/Pdessr101.htm
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dessaru01.shtml
