Sunday, November 22, 2020

Frank Dessau

 

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.

In February 1905 it was reported that Frank had signed with Louisville of the Class A American Association but was “dissatisfied with his terms” and may join Altoona of the independent Tri-State League, but instead he ended up with the Birmingham Coal Barons of the Class A Southern Association. Early in the season they sold him to the Meridian Ribboners of the Class D Cotton States League for more seasoning; in mid-June the Coal Barons bought him back, the Birmingham Age-Herald reporting on June 16:

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

No comments:

Post a Comment