<— MAY 25     MAY 27 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1865 Pete Hasney

Hasney got in two games with Philadelphia in the American Association – both ends of a September 13 doubleheader. He landed a hit and a walk in eight plate appearances, but he also made two errors in his four chances as a right fielder. In the first game, he was most active – got his hit, scored a run during the four-run rally that won the game for Philadelphia, and made both miscues. In the second game, he went hitless and had no official chances. (From what I gathered quickly, Hasney was a competent outfielder for a number of amateur and low-level minor league teams.)

Box Scores, Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Times, September 14, 1890

The UK import was a weaver in his post-baseball life…

According to his death certificate, Hasney was two days shy of his 44th birthday when he died of uremia.

1867 Harry Burrell

Henry J. Burrell started life in Bethel, Vermont on May 26, 1867 and left here for the next league from Omaha, Nebraska. The only son amongst three sisters born to Peter and Louise (Pierce) Burrelle attended local schools until about 1884. (The Vermont family kept the extra E at the end because they were French Canadians from Quebec who came to Vermont for lumber jobs.)

Once he left Bethel to play professional baseball he rarely returned home. He was rather nomadic in his baseball career, nearly all of it in the minors or at the semi-pro level, but a decent chunk of it was in the west, which is how he ended up staying in Omaha. I found an article noting Burrell’s death and his role on a famous Des Moines team that won 26 straight games and a pennant. The article says that only three guys on a team from 1896 were remaining – these are athletes and barely 18 years had passed. And almost all of them were dead?

“Des Moines Player of 1896 Team Dies,” Des Moines Register, December 13, 1914: 7.

His major league career consists of seven outings (four starts) resulting in a 4 – 2 record for the 1891 St. Louis Brown Stockings of the American Association during the last weeks of the season. Both he and his catcher, William Moran, came from Joliet in the Illinois-Iowa League.

The confirmed bachelor was working for an billards establishment owned by Billy Holmes, himself a former local ballplayer (but not a major leaguer), when he died from erysipelas on December 11, 1914. He’s buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha.

According to his SABR bio, written by Jeff Purtell, Burrell is a distant relative of Pat Putnam.

“The Browns’ New Battery,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 10, 1891: 10.
“Harry Burrell, Former Baseball Star, Dead,” Evening World-Herald, December 12, 1914: 1.
“Death of Henry Burrelle,” Bethel Courier, December 24, 1914: 4.

1872 Ulysses Simpson Grant (Stoney) McGlynn
1874 Jack Cronin
1874 Dave Pickett
1891 Gene Paulette
1894 Bill Fincher
1898 Milt Steengrafe
1902 Herb Thomas
1904 Bill Shores
1904 Frank Ragland
1907 Emil Roy
1910 Jim McCloskey
1918 Jim Cohen
1927 Dutch Romberger
1931 Jim Frey
1932 Joe Altobelli
1933 Ramon Lopez
1934 Jim Mahoney
1935 Eddie Haas
1942 Chuck Hartenstein
1945 Al Yates
1947 Darrell Evans
1948 Bob Hansen
1949 Ed Crosby
1954 Kevin Kennedy
1959 Dann Bilardello
1960 Rob Murphy
1964 Willie Fraser
1965 Ricky Jordan
1967 Stacy Jones
1969 John O’Donoghue
1971 Jason Bere
1973 Chris Latham
1975 Travis Lee
1980 Sean Barker
1981 Ben Zobrist
1982 Carlos Martinez
1982 Joe Koshansky
1985 Kevin Mulvey
1985 Lance Zawadzki
1990 Alex Dickerson
1990 Paul Sewald
1992 Aaron Blair
1993 Garrett Stubbs
1993 Gabriel Ynoa
1994 Sam Hagarty
1995 Roel Ramirez
2000 Jonathan Ornelas
2000 Endy Rodriguez
2002 Petey Halpin

OBITUARIES:

1911 Billy O’Brien

Heart disease took the 1887 NL home run champ (he hit 19 for Washington). After his baseball career, William Smith O’Brien became a police officer in Kansas City, Missouri.

“‘Home Run Billy’ Dies,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 28, 1911: 14.

1914 Jumbo Latham
1918 George Bone

When Bone died in 1918, they weren’t writing about his 12-game career with Milwaukee in that first season of the American League. And, he could play some – hitting .302 in those twelve games at shortstop after being recruited from New Haven of the Connecticut League.

No – Bone was perhaps the finest roller polo athlete of his day.

His parents said he would never make a living in that sport, but they were wrong. And, it was written that Bone was perhaps the hardest loser of his day.

Tuberculosis took Bone to the next league.

“George Bone, Roller Polo Player, Dead,” Bridgeport (CT) Times, May 27, 1918: 8.
“George Bone, Star Polo Player Dies,” Richmond Palladium, May 29, 1918: 5.

1919 Sadie Houck

According to the cemetery’s interment record, Houck died of general paralysis. Could be a stroke? Could be another issue? He was a widower when he died and his obituary notice only included his father and mother.

“Sargent P. Houck,” Washington Times-Herald, May 28, 1919: 6.

1921 Walter Fisher
1921 Gil Hatfield
1924 Ed MacGamwell
1927 Herm Merritt
1942 Ed Gremminger
1948 Bill Sweeney
1951 George Winter
1956 Al Simmons
1958 Dwight Wertz
1959 Ed Walsh
1964 Clyde (Buzzy) Wares
1966 William Rumler
1967 Bud Davis
1968 Chippy Gaw
1968 Doc Ayers
1969 Harland Rowe
1971 Judge Nagle
1973 Chicken Hawks
1977 Johnny Kucab
1981 George Smith
1981 Bartolo Portuondo
1983 Dutch Romberger
1988 Dick Strahs
1994 Red Treadway
1996 Mike Sharperson
1996 Don Bollweg
1998 Charlie White
2005 Jim Ray
2005 Chico Carrasquel
2013 Larry Johnson
2014 Mike Gordon
2016 Lou Grasmick
2017 Jim Bunning
2025 Horace Speed

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1933 Chuck Klein hits for the cycle for the second time in his career. He last did it in 1931.

1959 Harvey Haddix takes a perfect game into the thirteenth inning – but an error, a walk, and a double by Joe Adcock ruin his day. The Braves beat Pittsburgh, 1 – 0.

1964 Washington’s Jim King is a perfect 4 for 4 and completes the cycle.

1993 A fly ball off the bat of Carlos Martinez hits rightfielder Jose Canseco on the top of his head and bounces over the wall for a homer.

2004 Daryle Ward has a six RBI game while completing the cycle. His dad, Gary, turned the trick in 1980.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1908 The Highlanders purchased Hippo Vaughn from Hot Spring in the Arkansas State League.

1912 Washington sent three players to Montreal of the International League for Chick Gandil.

1959 The Yankees stole Ralph Terry and Hector Lopez from Kansas City for Johnny Kucks, Jerry Lumpe, and Tom Sturdivant.

1976 Baltimore signed free agent Terry Crowley.

1978 St. Louis sent Eric Rasmussen to the Padres for George Hendrick.