“Katsy Keifer, a pitcher with Battle Creek in the Southern Michigan league, is worrying some these days as to what the future has in store for him. After the Southern Michigan season closed he jumped to the Feds, or thought he did. He pitched one game for the Indianapolis outlaws – and then they let him go. Now he is inquiring if there is a chance for him to square himself and return to Battle Creek next season. They should bring Katsy Keifer into the big leagues. Any player with a name like that is worthy of one swing around the big league country, just to let the “humorists” dedicate a few verses and quips to the honorable name of Katsy Keifer.”

“Sport Snapshots,” Missoula Missoulian (MT), 15 February 1915: 6.

Indianapolis allegedly paid Keifer $450 to jump his reponsibility to the Southern Michigan League. (Federal League teams paid players to jump from major league teams – so getting a kid to jump from a low level league was no big deal.) Had they drafted Keifer away, Keifer would have received nothing at all from any transaction between teams.

Keifer won his start for the Indianapolis Hoosiers on October 8, 1914. Interestingly, it was the last game of the season and, thankfully, Indianapolis had just clinched the pennant over the Chi-Feds. He went all nine, allowing two runs on six hits and even drove in Edd Roush with a single in the seventh inning. He made an error in the third that put a runner on, then threw a wild pitch that allowed a runner to score in that inning. Otherwise, he pitched well enough to beat the St. Louis Terriers. However, he never saw another game in the Federal League, National League, or American League after that. He did bounce around the minors for a while and apparently had an interesting personality and willingness to talk to sports writers of his day (1912 to about 1924)… And, he was a switch hitter and apparently a pretty hard thrower.

Indianapolis was willing to give the tall southpaw a shot after a 1914 season where he went 22 – 11 for South Bend (IN) and Battle Creek in the South Michigan League, but that was the only season in the minors where Keifer was that good. Prior to his season at Battle Creek, he struggled to a 1 – 12 record with Traverse City. Still – he was a lefty who threw hard enough and that kept getting him chances. Sherman’s career started with amateur games in Charleroi; before he left town he had already had been tagged as Katsy. After his MLB dance, he spent four years with Worcester in the Eastern League; left professional baseball for a year only to get a quick look with the Washington Senators in 1922; and then spent two years with Augusta in the South Atlantic League. None of those years stand out – he was 52 – 93 in seasons other than 1914. (Not listed in his register is 37 games with Galveston of the Texas League in 1923.)

His career also took a detour in 1918 when he did a five month hitch with the US Army during World War I serving as a private in the 2nd Co., 1st Battalion, 155th Depot Brigade. (A depot brigade outfits, trains, and prepares to send troops to battle – in this case, France. This brigade was based in Virginia.) When he was discharged that December, he was injured. His service file says he was 16-2/3% disabled, which makes you wonder what kind of injury affects that specific percentage of your body’s abilities.

“Sherman Keifer, 35, Charleroi, World War veteran, was in a serious condition today suffering from poison liquor. Keifer was on his way to the U.S. Veteran’s Hospital at Aspenwall to be treated for Tuberculosis when he took a drink from a man he met in a speakeasy here (Pittsburgh), he told police. He was removed to the Allegheny Hospital. Police are holding Valentine Beck and John Clark, who were identified by Keifer, pending the outcome of the poison.”

“Veteran Gets Poison Booze,” Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, 04 March 1926: 1.

The future Pvt. Sherman Carl Keifer (sometimes spelled Kifer) was born to coal miner David Keifer and Mary (Brookbank) Keifer on 03 September 1891 in California, Pennsylvania, the eighth of nine children. Soon after, the family moved to Charleroi, some 20 – 25 miles south and west of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. It’s hard to say what kind of education he had, given that his older brother Benjamin (by two years) was already working in a Charleroi glassworks shop before his 11th birthday. One thing we do know is that Keifer spent a good amount of time getting sick. At various times he had scarlet fever, diphtheria, mumps and measles. By 1910, his father and two siblings had passed away and he and his brothers were laborers in the river city now known for making Pyrex glass. (Keifer was listed in the 1910 census as a shovelman.)

Just as his baseball career took a detour in 1918, his childhood included a detour in 1908 when he was convicted of breaking and entering while also committing larceny. Keifer spent a year in the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory in Huntington, PA before he was paroled.

I haven’t found a specific reference, but I wonder if Sherman Keifer was nicknamed after the Katzenjammer Kids in some way. The comic strip was created in 1897 by Rudolph Dirk and it features twin boys who fight authority, staring with their mother and including the police. Katsy was frequently the shortened name for Katzenjammer. And Sherman Keifer wasn’t easy on his mother or (at times) the local authorities.

He married Rae Wilson in 1914. Two years later, their six-month-old son George was dead having not survived a bad case of pneumonia. The death of a child and a fourth season in Worcester, miles from home, took its toll on the couple. Keifer bolted Worcester with his wife mid-season 1920; a divorce came in 1921. Keifer’s career came to a stop after a year in Galveston, Texas for 1923; he failed a 1924 opportunity with New Haven. Soon after he got sick. By 1925, he was being treated for consumption at a VA hospital in Tupper Lake, New York. Katsy succumbed to tuberculosis on 19 February 1927 in a sanitarium in Outwood, Kentucky, just 35. He had been in that sanitarium some three months. His earthly remains lie in Charleroi Cemetery in Charleroi, Pennsylvania.

Notes:
1900, 1910 US Census
1925 NY Census
WWI Draft Registration
US Military Service Records
PA Prison Records
Death Certificate filed in KY
PA Death Certificates
Baseball-Reference.com

“Game Attracting Attention,” Daily Republican (Monongahela, PA), August 23, 1912: 1.
“Dobbins and Keifer Go To Battle Creek,” South Bend Tribune, July 18, 1914: 1.
“Katsy Kiefer {SIC} Hurling for Federal Leaguers,” South Bend Tribune, October 8, 1914: 12.
Worcester Photo of Keifer, Portland Sunday Telegram, June 17, 1917: 21.
“Two Splendid Features to Appear in Journal,” Winston-Salem Journal, October 11, 1917: 6. (Example of “Katzies” used to describe Katzenjammer Kids…)
“Hampdens Slip to Fifth Place,” Springfield (MA) Daily Republican, August 10, 1920: 5.
“54 Are Seeking Divorces in Courts of Westmoreland,” Pittsburgh Press, March 28, 1921: 6.
“Woodward Best Rookie Slabman with Senators,” Springfield (MA) Daily Republican, March 30, 1922: 5.
Donald B. Bagg, “Led Travis Jackson by Hand to Elberfeld,” Springfield (MA) Daily Republican, October 30, 1923: 12.
“New Haven,” Springfield (MA) Union, March 23, 1924: 15.