<— SEP 19     SEP 21 —>

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1847 Jim Price
1860 Henry Boyle
1861 George Pechiney
1871 Bill Coyle
1878 Larry Schlafly
1881 James Harvey (Red) Bowser
1886 Eustaquio Pedroso
1893 Frederick Renshaw (Doc) Wallace
1893 Jack Bradley
1894 Chuck Dressen
1899 Nelson Greene
1899 Karl Schnell
1900 Jimsey Roussell
1908 Henry John (Zeke) Bonura
1909 Rogelio Linares
1909 Cornelius Cook
1912 Tony DePhillips
1912 Al McLean
1912 Coley Logan
1916 John Samuel (Red) Juelich
1918 Rufus Baker
1922 Vic Lombardi
1938 Tom Tresh
1941 Dennis Ribant
1943 Rich Morales
1944 Ed Phillips
1945 Mike Jurewicz
1946 Roric Harrison
1947 Pete Hamm
1952 Jim Wilhelm
1954 Mickey Klutts
1954 Bob Detherage
1956 Mike Gates
1958 Jim Siwy
1960 Dave Gallagher
1960 Randy Kramer
1968 Donnie Elliott
1970 Chris Snopek
1975 Yovanny Lara
1976 Kevin Walker
1978 Jason Bay
1981 Jordan Tata
1983 Angel Sanchez
1985 Ian Desmond
1985 Kevin Mattison
1986 A. J. Ramos
1988 Steve Lombardozzi
1989 Scott Snodgress
1990 Ken Giles
1992 Jeffrey Springs
1994 Kramer Robertson
1995 Joe Dunand
1995 Cory Abbott
1996 Zach Pop
1997 Gustavo Campero

OBITUARIES:

1896 Ed Crane

Crane’s life ended with a bottle of chloral poison in a hotel room he could no longer afford to keep.  After his baseball career came to a close in 1893, he tried to make it as an umpire working in the Eastern League.  His later years were filled with alcohol, causing his wife to leave him and take their young daughter with her.  The more despondant he was the worse he drank, costing him his umpiring job.  (“Pitcher Ed. Crane Ended His Life,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, September 21, 1896: 8.)

1906 Jack Neagle

John H. Neagle died of a strangled hernia.  After his baseball career, he spent his days working for Bell Telephone… “Was Pitcher in the Days When Ryder Was Manager,” Syracuse Post-Standard, September 21, 1906: 6.

1909 Joe Wright

Wright died of natural causes on the front porch of his home in Omaha, NE after an illness of a few days.  That he was maybe 40 years old makes you wonder what that natural cause was.  Heart attack?  Stroke?  Some infection?

Anyway – I was happily surprised to find out that Wright has a SABR bio, authored by SABR bio legend Peter Morris.  Morris’s bio is pretty good, especially as it relates to his quick ascent to the majors with Louisville and Pittsburgh, and his slower decline through the minors until about 1900.  However, it’s missing a lot of stuff about his family.  That said, when he wrote it he probably had access to fewer resources than are available now, so if you read the bio some of the answers to the missing questions can be found here.

As noted in Morris’ essay, Joel Sherman Wright was born to Willard and Margaret Harriet Maynard in Oshkosh, Wisconsin – his middle name was likely a nod to the general who burned through the south, given that his dad was a member of the Wisconsin infantry during the Great War for Slavery.  Joe’s mother was an early resident of Milwaukee; her obit says her first play friends were Native American children.  She moved to Oshkosh around 1847 and her god-parents were original settlers of Oshkosh. Willard and Margaret had five kids and Joel was the second (1870, 1880 US Census). The five kids were Willie, Joel S., George A., Anna Elizabeth, and one other child who was born and died without living long enough to be counted by a census enumerator.  Only Joel and Anna were still alive by 1900.

“Death of Mrs. Wright,” Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, WI), September 20, 1923: 4.
(Margaret’s maiden name comes from a death notice of her sister… “To Her Last Rest,” Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, WI), January 18, 1897: 1.)

Joel Wright’s first wife died in 1895.

“{Mary Grose Wright}…died…at the residence of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Grose at Kaukauna, of consumption, aged 23 years.  She leaves a bereaved husband and a little daughter aged 3 years.”

“Death of Mrs. Joseph Wright,” Appleton Crescent, October 19. 1895: 1.

(Since Joel Wright was known as Joe Wright when he was a baseball player, it’s not surprising that a paper outside of his home city would not know that Joe was not Joseph Wright but Joel Wright.)

Joel and Mary had a daughter named Jennie M (Mary? Margaret?  Maynard?) Wright, who was born August 23, 1892 in Oshkosh, WI.  (Winnebago County (WI) Birth Records)  Jennie’s birth apparently helped her father’s play.

“It is the current belief among ball players that the birth of Joe Wright’s daughter has exerted a wonderful influence upon Joe’s batting ability.  Since the little one arrived he has been pounding out three baggers with as much ease as he formerly made singles.  Joe says that in his imagination he already pictures the little one as a future crack center fielder in a ladies’ base ball nine and he is going to train her to handle the sphere as soon as she is old enough to walk.”   (Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, WI) September 2, 1892: 1.)

After Mary died, Jennie was raised by Joe(l)’s mother, Margaret.  Jennie is listed as living with Margaret in both the 1900 and 1910 US Census records; the latter shows that Jennie is working at a local candy store in Oshkosh.  From there, I lose track of Jennie.

Joel was not done with married life.  He landed in Omaha, NE where he began an affair with Felicita (Schmidt) Lauer.  They must have met when Joe Wright joined Omaha in 1900…  Her husband, Charles, filed for divorce and named both Felicita and Joe in his complaint.  Lauer was originally from St. Joseph, MO, moved to Omaha and married Charles in 1897.  (Douglas County, NE Marriage Records)  They had two kids, he kept them after the divorce but died in 1905 – which makes me believe their two children wound up with Joel and Felicita after that…

“Local Brevities,” Omaha World Herald, May 17, 1901: 5.
“Western League Official Averages,” Omaha Daily Bee, February 24, 1901: 11.

According to Pottawattamie County marriage records, Joel and Felicita Lauer married on 12.10.1901.  After his baseball career came to an end Wright worked as a laborer in Omaha…

Wright appears in the news in the weeks before his death.  He had fallen on hard times, so the local Associated Charities decided to help him out.  They asked him to find a more desirable home, which he did (624 Locust Street) and they also advanced to him the first month’s rent.  Other people in the charity offered to furnish the home…

“Help on Way For Former Ball Player,” Omaha Daily News, September 8, 1909: 11.

However he never paid the next month’s rent, passing away less than two weeks later.

When he died, he was found dead on his own front porch and apparently had been sick for some time without any medical attention.  The coroner said it was natural causes – which seems weird for a 39-year-old, no?

Henry was survived by Felicita, his mother, a sister, a daughter, and Felicita’s two children.  However, I can’t find Felicita in the news or other sources after that…  I tried finding her family in Missouri – maybe I’ll have more luck during the next dig.  When she was widowed she only took responsibility for her own two children by the late Charles Lauer, as Jennie Wright was raised by Wright’s mother.

“Man Found Dead on His Front Porch,” Omaha Daily News, September 21, 1909: 11.

Wright is in an unmarked grave at Riverside Cemetery in Oshkosh next to his sister…

1910 Lou Schiappacasse
1914 Levin Jones
1919 Cy Seymour
1937 Harry Stovey
1946 Wiley Piatt
1955 Art Herman
1956 Tom Gastall

Gastall was a letter winner in three sports at Boston University, a teammate of Harry Agganis – Agannis would throw touchdown passes to Gastall in college.  They also both died way too soon.  Gastall died in a plane crash flying the over Chesapeake – he was just 24.  Malcom Allen, as good a story-teller as the Society for American Baseball Research has, penned his bio.

1961 Jim McGinley
1970 Oliver Hill
1970 Fred Lamlein
1973 Jim Bishop
1974 Al Huenke
1975 Chuck Tompkins
1976 Luther Gilvard
1981 Harry Fisher
1990 Dick Gyselman
1991 Chet Morgan
1991 Steve Peek
1992 Joe Fillmore
1997 Jim Hickey
2000 Earnest Long
2001 George Archie
2001 Joe Stephenson
2007 John Sullivan
2010 Al Pilarcik
2010 Jack Cassini
2013 Walt Linden
2017 Mickey Harrington
2017 Garry Hill
2017 Ed Phillips
2021 Cloyd Boyer
2021 Fred Kuhaulua
2023 Bobby Durhbaugh

YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!!!

1902 Nixey Callahan tosses the first no-hitter in White Sox history, blanking the Detroit Tigers, 2 – 0.

1907 Pirate Nick Maddox holds the Dodgers hitless, winning 2 – 1. It was the first Pirate no-hitter, and he was the last Pirate to throw a no-hitter in Pittsburgh until 1976, when John Candelaria turned the trick.

1908 A run in the ninth gives the White Sox a win over the Athletics; Frank Smith wins his duel with Eddie Plank while firing his second career no-hitter.

1951 Ford Frick is named the third commissioner of Major League Baseball.

1958 Hoyt Wilhelm beats the Yankees, 1 – 0 – for the Orioles hurler, it’s his first career no-hitter.

1969 Bob Moose blanks the Mets, 4 – 0, without allowing a hit…

1986 Tony Gwynn steals five bases in a loss to Houston.

1992 Phillies second sacker Mickey Morandini catches a liner, steps on second and tags Barry Bonds, who had been running from first base, to complete an unassisted triple play.

TRANSACTION WIRE:

1889 Indianapolis purchases Jesse Burkett and Tug Wilson from Worcester of the Atlantic Association for $2500.

1917 Among those taken in the Rule 5 Draft were Jimmy Dykes (by the Philadelphia Athletics from Gettysburg in the Blue Ridge League) and Irish Meusel (by the Phillies from Los Angeles in the Pacific Coast League).

1979 California purchases Ralph Garr from the Chicago White Sox.