Hal Bamberger

 

Hal Bamberger was an outfielder who appeared in seven games for the 1948 New York Giants.

Harold Earl Bamberger was born October 29, 1924, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, the second of two sons of Henry and Sadie Bamberger. In the 1930 census the family is living at 13 Pershing Avenue in Lebanon, in a house they owned themselves, valued at $5600. Henry, the proprietor of a garage, and Sadie are both 37 years old, Herbert is ten and Harold is five.

By 1935 they had moved to a farm on Route 5 in West Cornwall, still in Lebanon County, which they also owned. In the 1940 census 20-year-old Herbert is out of high school but not employed, so presumably he was helping out on the farm; 15-year-old Harold is in high school.

An item in the Bradford Era of June 10, 1942, mentioned that Harold, an outfielder and catcher, had reported to the Hornell Pirates of the Class D PONY (Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York) League; he supposedly played some for them that season, but not enough to be included in the official statistics. On September 19 the Lebanon Daily News reported that he had made honorable mention on a County Twilight League all-star team named by one of the league’s umpires; he was playing for South Lebanon in what was either a semi-pro or amateur league.

On October 29 Harold turned eighteen, and on December 18 he filled out his draft registration card. He gave his address as back at 23 Pershing Avenue, and listed his father, at the same address, as the “person who will always know your address.” His place of employment was “5^th Avenue, Lebanon,” his size 5-8 160, and his appearance gray eyes, brown hair, and ruddy complexion. He also had a scar on his left knee.

On March 13, 1943, Harold entered the Marine Corps; the following month his father passed away. Harold was stationed in the US until March 17, 1944, then served overseas until returning July 24, 1945. He was discharged on October 13. On December 21 an item in the Lebanon Daily News said that “Harold Bamberger, ex-Cornwall High star and another ex-Marine back home from war service” had signed with Gingrich in the YMCA City-County basketball league.

In January 1946 Harold headed for Tampa, Florida, where Bob Feller was holding a free baseball school. There were a lot of pro scouts there, and Harold was one of the first two players signed, by Cubs scout Cy Slapnicka. He went to spring training on the roster of Davenport of the Class B Three I League, but before the season began was moved to the Shelby (North Carolina) Cubs of the Tri-State League, also Class B. He appeared in fewer than ten games for Shelby, so he again did not appear in the official stats, before being sent down to the Class D Concord Weavers of the North Carolina State League, sometime in May. His stock apparently recovered quickly from that reversal, though, as in June he and a teammate were sold to the New York Giants, deliverable at the end of the NCSL season. From the July 4 Statesville Landmark:

Harold Bamberger, Concord outfielder, was hit on the head in the fifth and was unconscious for several minutes. Doctors said he apparently didn’t suffer a fracture and may be in the game today.

The beaning may have affected him; league stats through June 30 showed Harold leading the league with seven homers and 39 RBI and hitting .344, while he finished the season with the same seven homers and just 51 RBI, though his average was still .320. He wound up with a .404 on-base percentage and .478 slugging percentage. It was while with Concord that I first saw him being referred to as “Hal,” as well as a “fleet center fielder.” Despite having been sold to the Giants, they did not have him report to them at this time.

During the 1946-47 off-season Hal again played basketball in Lebanon’s YMCA City-County League; as of February 15, he was sixth in the league in scoring. He spent the 1947 season with the Trenton Giants, a NYG farm team in the Class B Inter-State League. On May 17 he filled out a questionnaire, in which he said his address was 13 Pershing Avenue, his size was 5-10 ½ 175, he was unmarried and had not been to college, his favorite sports other than baseball were basketball and bowling, his hobby was “keeping scrapbook of personal happenings,” his ambition in baseball was to “reach the top,” and “to whom do you owe the most in your baseball career” was brother Herbert.

Hal had a big year in 1947, playing center field for Trenton and usually hitting third in the order. On August 3 Trenton played a doubleheader at Lancaster, as reported on in the following day’s Lebanon Daily News:

Hal Bamberger Feted By Fans At Lancaster

It was Hal Bamberger Day at Lancaster yesterday. And the Cornwall centerfielder of the Trenton team in the Interstate League celebrated the occasion auspiciously by slapping out three hits and batting in five runs as Trenton took a doubleheader from the Lancaster Roses.

A delegation of Lebanon County fans, many of them from Hal’s home town of Cornwall, watched W.W. “Tiny” Parry, sports editor of the NEWS, present the Trenton star with a variety of useful gifts.

Captain Lawrence Kreiser, commander of Lebanon’s National Guard unit and commander of the Cornwall Veterans of Foreign Wars Post gave Hal a membership in the Cornwall Post.

When Bammy singled in the ninth inning of the opening fray and connected for a double and triple in the nightcap, it marked the twenty-first consecutive game in which he has hit safely.

Local merchants donated articles of wearing apparel and other gifts to the Cornwall youth.

The Trenton Evening Times had more details about the gifts:

The speedy fly-chaser was presented with a U.S. Savings Bond by the citizens of Cornwall and an assortment of gifts from the Lebanon merchants. VFW Post 9096 of Cornwall awarded Bamberger with a beautiful wallet and a membership to the post. Bamberger’s teammates gave him a large, beautifully wrapped box containing a cigar and a package of sen-sen, in the form of a joke.

Sen-Sen was a breath mint, so I guess it was sort of a joke to include it with a cigar. Two days later, at home against Harrisburg, there were field events held before the game, and Hal won the 50-yard dash. On the 7^th the Evening Times declared that Hal “has put himself in the running for the Inter-State League’s ‘most valuable player’ award with his brilliant hitting and fielding all year.” Toward the end of the season he was voted “most popular player” by Trenton fans; from the Evening Times of September 5:

Bamberger ‘Beaned’ as Giants Win

…Although the Giants recorded their 85^th and 86^th triumphs of the season last night they temporarily lost the services of Hal Bamberger, hard-hitting centerfielder, who was “beaned” by Allentown’s Stan Slack in the third inning of the second game.

The 23-year-old Lebanon, Pa., fly-chaser was hit on the right temple by Slack’s offering less than 15 minutes after he had been showered with gifts in recognition of being named Trenton’s “most popular player.” The blow sent Bamberger to the ground where he lay unconscious several seconds before being revived by Trainer Leon Bevo and Dr. George A. Corlo, State Athletic Commission physician, who went to his immediate aid.

Hal was able to leave the field under his own power, although he was dazed by the accident. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital by Business Manager Bill McKechnie Jr., where he was placed under observation for the night by Dr. Samuel Siza.

Latest hospital reports this morning gave Bamberger’s condition as “favorable.” After enjoying a night’s rest, Hal told his nurse that he was “feeling much better.” X-rays were taken this morning to determine the extent of his injuries.

While last night’s accident probably will sideline Bamberger for the remaining four games of the regular season, the slugging outfielder is expected to be ready for the opening game of the Governor’s Cup playoffs here on Tuesday…

Bamberger’s mother, sister and girl friend were in the stands when Hal was “beaned” last night. They had traveled from Lebanon to be on hand when “Bammy” was honored between games. In addition to receiving $100 worth of haberdashery, Hal was given a hunting rifle by George Case, Washington Senators’ outfielder, who was making his first appearance at Dunn Field in 10 years. Case, who has been in the big leagues for the past 10 seasons, has been vacationing in the Maine woods for the past few weeks. He is undergoing treatment for a back injury which has sidelined him from active duty with the Senators…

Trenton finished in first place, 9.5 games ahead of Wilmington, but lost to Allentown in the first round of the playoffs. Hal got back into the lineup for game four, and was hit in the elbow by a pitch in the first inning. For the season he hit .333/.398/.517 and led the league in triples with 24, also hitting 20 doubles and 10 homers. After the season he was named to the league’s all-star team. But years later his 1947 teammate Bobby Hofman would say in an interview: “Hal Bamberger—what a prospect he was ‘til he got beaned one day—.”

For 1948 the Giants moved Hal up from Class B Trenton to Class AAA Minneapolis; this is from the Jersey Journal from March 22, during spring training:

Jersey City might have been given Hal Bamberger, the good looking young prospect with Minneapolis when he was moved up from Trenton had it not been for [NYG farm system director] Carl Hubbell’s desire to play him in center field, exclusively. [Jersey City manager Bruno] Betzel passed up the opportunity to get the young ball hawk because he felt [Les] Layton is the best centerfielder in the International League and he wanted to build his outfield around the Kansan. As a result, Bamberger, regarded as one of the brightest prospects in the Giants’ farm system, went to the Millers and has been outstanding in these games to date.

Hal started the season playing center and batting third for the Millers but didn’t get off to a very good start; when manager Frank Shellenback benched him Hubbell made a trip to Minneapolis and told Shellenback that if he wasn’t going to use Hal as his centerfielder he needed to send him to Jersey City. As a result a trade was worked out between the two Giants AAA teams and Hal, who had gone 7 for 32 in the American Association, found himself playing center and batting second for Jersey City, Les Layton having made the New York roster. One of his Jersey City teammates was future major league pitching coach and manager George Bamberger, no relation. Hal hit .279/.337/.411 for Jersey City in 484 at-bats, with 21 doubles, eight triples and nine home runs. As soon as the season ended on September 12, his contract was purchased by New York and he was a major leaguer.

Hal made his Giant debut on September 15 at home, striking out against Pittsburgh’s Ernie Bonham as a pinch-hitter for Clint Hartung in the bottom of the eighth. He pinch-hit for Hartung again the next day, grounding out against Pirate Bob Chesnes. After another pinch-hit ground out and a pinch-running appearance, he made his first start at home against the Phillies on September 28; he played right field and batted second, going 0-4 with a strikeout. On October 2 he came into the game in center, replacing Les Layton, and went 0-2, and the following day, the last of the season, he played right field, batting seventh, and had a single and a walk. He had the one hit in 12 at-bats in seven games.

On December 9 Hal married Mary H. Simenec of Cornwall. The application showed Hal as a professional baseball player living at 13 Pershing Avenue with his mother; Mary was a nurse, age 24 like Hal, whose parents had been born in Yugoslavia—her late father had been a miner and her mother was living in Cornwall.

In January 1949 Hal signed a major league contract with the Giants. In mid-March, during spring training, the following filler item from the AP appeared in many newspapers:

The New York Giants are boasting of the speed of three of their rookie outfielders, Gail Henley, Bill Milne and Hal Bamberger.

However, they are confronted with a tough task of beating out Bobby Thomson, Willard Marshall and Whitey Lockman for regular berths.

It was a tough task, and at the end of March Hal was sent to the Giants’ rookie camp for reassignment. His reassignment turned out to to be the Birmingham Barons of the Class AA Southern Association, which was one level lower than Jersey City and Minneapolis—also the Barons were an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, but he was subject to recall by the Giants at any time. On April 21 the Lebanon Daily News reported that Mary had gone to join him in Birmingham. Hal spent the year with the Barons, though he played in just 102 of their 154 games; a hint as to why he wasn’t in more comes from the Daily News of August 3:

By way of the latest issue of Sporting News it is noted that Hal Bamberger returned to the lineup for the Birmingham Barons for a stretch of three games on July 21-22-23 after taking a well-earned rest. Playing left field for those three games, Dutch, as they know him down in Alabammy, clipped off five hits in nine trips to the plate for a handsome .556 average, scored one run and drove in another. Bammy’s absence from the Birmingham line up recently is understandable in that the Barons recently purchased a new outfielder, Lavigne, and have been using him regularly since they acquired him. And, since he is their own property while Bammy is still the property of the New York Giants, it can readily be understood how come Lavigne has crashed the lineup while Bammy rides the bench. After all, the Barons hardly get any compensation for providing experience for a New York outfielder since they are closely affiliated with the Boston Red Sox.

In his 102 games Hal hit .271/.337/.452 with 19 doubles, six triples and 11 homers in 354 at-bats. After the season the Giants recalled him to their roster, then sold his contract to Jersey City. Leading up to the November minor league draft he was mentioned as someone who might get picked, but he wasn’t.

In spring training 1950 Hal seemed to have won a starting spot with Jersey City until Monte Irvin got sent down by New York. Hal was then optioned to the independent Dallas Eagles of the Class AA Texas League, where he started out playing center field and batting second; but after seven singles in 33 at-bats Dallas returned him to Jersey City. They had no spot for him there, so they sent him to the NYG Class A affiliate Jacksonville Tars of the Sally League.

Hal played some center and some left, while batting second and third in the lineup. He was hitting .316 when he was sidelined after being hit in the wrist by a pitch in June; on the 21^st manager Hal Gruber was fired after 11 consecutive losses and our Hal, still just 25 years old, was named interim manager. Depending on the source, he either won three out of four games as manager or was only manager for two games, but either way the team broke the losing streak the day he was hired. He then gave way to Dale Alexander, and on June 30 was finally placed on the disabled list, though he was activated a week later. He played some at all three outfield positions the rest of the way, hitting second, third and fourth in the order, and even played a few innings at catcher in an emergency. During his time in Jacksonville he hit .266/.349/.380 in 305 at-bats in 83 games. In December he filled out an application for World War II veteran’s compensation, which showed his mailing address as a PO box in Cornwall and his mother still living at 13 Pershing.

For 1951 the Giants made Hal the manager at Class C Muskogee in the Western Association, a pretty strong indication that they no longer regarded him as a prospect at age 26. He played himself in left field, but missed some time when he tore cartilage in his chest, diving for a line drive in July. He hit .265/.396/.402 in 264 at-bats in 85 games (out of the team’s 124); his OBP was way up due to an increase in his walks. Muskogee finished fifth out of eight teams and Hal was not retained as manager.

By spring training 1952 Hal was the property of the Cincinnati Reds’ organization, though I didn’t find how that happened. He was on the roster of the Tulsa Oilers of the Texas League, and he started the regular season with them; in the second game he struck out with the bases loaded in the ninth as a pinch-hitter for the final out of a complete game victory by Dave Hoskins of Dallas, making his debut as the league’s first black player. He had made just two pinch-hitting appearances when on April 29 he was optioned by Tulsa to the Columbia Reds, Cincinnati’s Sally League team. He only spent a couple weeks there, during which he was briefly hospitalized after being hit in the head by a pitch, and had six hits in 27 at-bats. 

Then Columbia optioned him to Salisbury, Maryland, of the Inter-State League, in which he had had his big year with Trenton in 1947. But that didn’t last long either, as told by the Salisbury Times on June 17:

Bamberger Is Released Here

Move Surprises Many Fans

Outfielder Hal Bamberger was unconditionally released last night by the Salisbury Reds. This announcement, by President George W. Smith, came as quite a surprise to many.

Bamberger was hitting .261 and was considered by some fans as a fixture.

Manager Mike Blazo explained the move. “Bamberger was the property of the Tulsa Texas League club, which was carrying the financial burden of his salary. The Cincinnati office preferred to go along with development of young outfielders like Kirby Jackson and Ed Trytek. That’s the reason for the decision. I recommended to Bill McKechnie, Jr., the farm boss, that Bamberger would be a valuable man in the organization as a field manager. He said there wasn’t such a spot open for him at the moment.”

Three days later Hal was signed by the Philadelphia Athletics affiliate Harrisburg Senators, also of the Inter-State League, where he spent about a month before being released again after a salary dispute. He was quickly picked up by the Lancaster Red Roses, a Dodgers affiliate, his fifth team of the season and third in the Inter-State League. He played right field and batted third for the Red Roses for the rest of the season; his stats for the three teams in the league totaled .271/.362/.409 in 447 at-bats in 112 games. Lancaster finished in fourth place and beat second place Allentown in the playoffs, then lost to first place Hagerstown in the championship.

That ended Hal’s professional baseball career. In 1953, still just 28 years old, he was the player-manager of Reamstown in the East Lancaster County League, presumably a semi-pro league. In June he played the outfield in a game between his league’s all-stars and those of the Lancaster City-County League, and on July 31 it was reported that he was leading the league in hitting at .425 and in doubles and triples with 11 and four, in 106 at-bats. He was employed at the Bethlehem Steel Concentrator Plant.

In 1954 Hal again played and managed for Reamstown, and also coached the Cornwall Little League team. In 1955 and 1956 he managed the Cornwall Babe Ruth League team. In 1957 and 1958 he was mentioned by Lebanon Daily News sports editor Tiny Parry in columns listing sports people Tiny had received Christmas cards from. And that’s the last I found of Hal until his death in Reading at age 86 on November 14, 2010, at which time he and Mary were living in Birdsboro.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B/Pbambh101.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bambeha01.shtml