One of the first players whose last name was a challenge for the box score editor of your local player, Gene Vadeboncoeur was a minor league nomad who was one of a baker’s dozen catchers to appear behind the plate for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1884. And, Vadeboncoeur was the first player from Quebec to appear in a major league game.

Onesime Eugene Vadeboncoeur was born September 5, 1859 in Louiseville, Quebec to Onesime and Angela Vadeboncoeur, one of seven kids born to the future Canadian imports. According to the Boston Globe, “‘Vaddy’ has played ball ever since he was able to catch the sphere and wield the ash.”

Gene was still a teen when he started playing on good amateur teams in Michigan. In 1878 he was catching for the White Pigeons and, a year later, a team in Otsego.  He spent time in Grand Rapids playing semi-pro ball and professional ball there. Vadeboncoeur was one of many members of the Phoenix club that joined a professional nine managed by William H. Redmond in Grand Rapids during the 1882 season. Vady formed one half of a solid battery with Charles “Pretzels” Getzien, who was talented and temperamental – but Vadeboncoeur was tough enough to keep Getzien in his place when the pitcher got

“Getzien, the pitcher of the visiting nine, has a very hasty temper. At one of the games at Grand Rapids he had a row with the catcher, Vadeboncoeur, over some trifle. However, it was noticed that yesterday the irascible player was very cautious…” Getzien was especially calm with a batter who had been hit by one of his pitches; Getzien actually apologized for the wayward throw.

“Notes,” Fort Wayne Sentinel, September 7, 1882: 3.

As for Vadeboncoeur’s skill, a Fort Wayne Sentinel reporter noted his strong and accurate throwing arm, writing, “Vadeboncoeur is a fine catcher. He threw some fine liners as straight as an arrow.”

After a stint with Port Huron (MI), Vadeboncoeur joined the semi-professional Chicago Unions in 1883 but soon left the big city for Peoria with a few teammates. However, some of his team jumping got him in trouble with organized baseball, keeping him from a regular job until May 1884 when he finally got signed with a group of reserve players in Philadelphia that were managed by the Phillies. Then, when the Phillies needed catching help – and they needed catching help a lot that season – he was called to New York to help the big league team.

Vadeboncoeur’s maiden effort was facing New York and Mickey Welch in support of pitcher Jim McElroy. The New York Tribune noted, Philadelphia’s “crippled team” was forced to play reserve players in the battery. Vadeboncoeur “caught well… but McElroy’s wild delivery proved costly in balls and wild pitches, besides which he was hit heavily and often.” It added, “It was remarked that if they would change the catcher’s name the nine might possibly have better luck.”

Vadeboncoeur appeared in four games over a 12 day period. On July 22, what would be his final game, he scored a run in a wild ninth inning that gave Philadelphia a victory over Providence and Charlie Sweeney. In fact, it was Sweeney’s behavior that led to his being released, forcing Ol’ Hoss Radbourne to pitch nearly every game the rest of that season for the Grays.

With a 6 – 2 lead after the seventh inning, Sweeney was asked to play right field to let Joseph (Cyclone) Miller get some work in. Sweeney, instead, threw a hissy fit that included “vile and insulting language.” Sweeney left the field and Providence finished the game with eight men on the field. Philadelphia scored eight in the ninth inning off Miller and a missing outfielder to win, 10 – 6.

In his four-game tryout Vadeboncoeur got three hits in fourteen at bats.  He also had four errors and nine passed balls, which led to his release soon after his final game. There were rumors that Vadeboncoeur was signing with Wilmington in the Union Association, but he never took the field there. Instead, he finished the season in the Eastern League playing for York.

“Vadeboncoeur, the Blues’ new catcher, is one of the most gentlemanly players in the profession, and, unlike most players, uses neither tobacco nor liquor in any form.”

“New England League Notes,” Boston Globe, July 18, 1886: 4.

The French-Canadian catcher moved on to the Eastern New England League and hung around the Boston area for a while. He appears briefly in St. Paul in 1886. In 1887, he was catching for Rutland in Vermont and, given the length of his name, he was called “Vady” in the papers. His last newspaper clipping shows him catching in an exhibition for Easton in the Eastern League. Other than his position, little else is known about him – including things like what arm he threw with and which way the Louiseville, Quebec native batted. He was listed at 5′ 6″ and 150 pounds, average size for a male, but on the smaller side for an athlete.

Around 1890, Vadeboncoeur moved to Sacramento, California – but not to play baseball. Three years later, he died in Sacramento on April 16, 1893 and was buried in Sacramento City Cemetery. Obituaries and notices mentioned his membership in the International Organization of Odd Fellows (IOOF) and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), but not a wife or children.

Sources:

1875 New York Census

Image Source

“Base Ball,” Grand Rapids Eagle, May 30, 1882: 4.
“Diamond Dust,” Illinois State Register (Springfield, IL), August 6, 1882: 3.
“Notes,” Fort Wayne Sentinel, September 6, 1882: 3.
“Notes,” Fort Wayne Sentinel, September 7, 1882: 3.
“Base Ball,” Chicago Daily Inter Ocean, July 17, 1883: 2.
“Local Lines,” Fort Wayne Sentinel, August 1, 1883: 1.
“Base Hits,” Grand Rapids Eagle, July 31, 1883: 2.
“Fair Balls,” Detroit Free Press, May 18, 1884: 11.
“Return of the New York League Nine,” New York Tribune, July 12, 1884: 8.
“Philadelphia Badly Beaten,” Philadelphia Times, July 12, 1884: 3.
“Providence Expels Sweeney,” Philadelphia Times, July 23, 1884: 4.
“McElroy and Vadeboncoeur have gone to the Wilmington Union Club,” Cleveland Leader, August 25, 1884: 3.
“Local News,” Kalamazoo Gazette, August 1, 1884: 5.
“Base Ball Briefs,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, August 22, 1884: 3.
“E. P. Vadeboncoeur,” Boston Globe, October 19, 1885: 2.
“Base Ball Notes,” Democratic Age (York, PA), January 29, 1886: 4.
“New England League Notes,” Boston Globe, July 18, 1886: 4.
“Diamond Dottings,” Boston Globe, July 19, 1886: 5.
“Sporting Gossip,” Minneapolis Journal, August 17, 1886: 3.
“Diamond Studs,” St. Albans Weekly Messenger and Advertiser, May 19, 1887: 4.
“Notes,” St. Albans Weekly Messenger and Advertiser, June 9, 1887: 5.
“Notes,” St. Albans Weekly Messenger and Advertiser, June 17, 1887: 1.
“Personal,” Rutland Herald, September 30, 1887: 4.
“A York Ball Player’s Position,” York (PA) Gazette, April 20, 1888: 4.
“Died,” Sacramento Union, April 19, 1893: 3.
Notice. Sacramento Bee, April 18, 1893: 2.
Notice. Sacramento Bee, April 18, 1893: 2.
“Talk of the Town,” Olneyville (RI) Times, May 5, 1893: 4.