No professional sport loves to celebrate its rich history as Major League Baseball. Milestones, achievements and anniversaries are regularly recognized by all teams. But last week MLB and the Baltimore Orioles dropped the ball by failing to honor the 70th anniversary of one of the most historical moments in baseball history: the day Eddie Gaedel stood tall in the batter’s box for his one and only professional at-bat.
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<center> <sub><em><a href="https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2015/08/12/eddie-gaedel-the-little-guy-who-wont-go-away "> The immortal Eddie Gaedel<br>Source</a></em></sub></center><br>
What made Eddie Gaedel so special? Outside of the fact that he was an entertainer and served his country during WW II as a riveter working on airplanes for the war effort, Gaedel only stood 3 feet 7 inches tall. To date he remains the only “little person” to play in a MLB game.
The story of Eddie Gaedel’s legendary moment starts with famous baseball maverick Bill Veeck. In 1951, in what Veeck himself described as “a moment of madness”, Bill purchased the sad sacks of the American League known as the St. Louis Browns.
The Browns, who played in the AL from 1902 to 1953, managed only 11 winning seasons during that span with one pennant. Even that one pennant deserves an asterisk as it came in 1944 when nearly all capable baseball players were involved with the war. In 1951 the Browns finished with a 52-102 record, one of eight times they lost more than a hundred games. In 1954 the franchise moved to Baltimore and was re-named the Orioles.
With such a terrible team Bill Veeck, a master of promotions, knew he needed a gimmick to help draw paying customers to the ballpark. 1951 was the 50th anniversary of the formation of the American League so Veeck felt a birthday party was in order. Needing a sponsor to help pay for the party, Veeck approached Falstaff Brewery.
Naturally Falstaff needed persuasion to get behind anything associated with a bad team like the Browns. In order to gain their support, Veeck promised them “I’ll do something for you I have never done before. Something so original and spectacular that it will get you national publicity.” Such a statement piqued the interest of the brewery, who pressed Bill for details. Veeck declined, saying his idea was so fantastic he couldn’t take any chances of there being a leak. Falstaff agreed to sponsor the event.
Of course, Bill Veeck had a much simpler explanation as to why he couldn’t share the details of his plan: he had no idea what he was going to do. Being the great promoter that he was Veeck felt he didn’t need to share that tiny little detail with his sponsor.
A Sunday double-header against the Detroit Tigers to be played on August 19th, 1951 was the date chosen for the promotion. Since nobody knew the actual birthdate of the Falstaff Brewery, Veeck decided to call it a double birthday celebration for both the American League and the Brewery. Still he needed a gimmick to get the publicity he promised his sponsor. Veeck, who literally grew up within the business of baseball, dug deep into his memory to come up with the perfect idea. What could he do that was so imaginative that not only had it never been done in baseball before, but would also create the national publicity he promised Falstaff?<br>
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<center> <sub><em><a href="https://www.historynet.com/bill-veeck-the-barnum-of-baseball.htm">Hall of Famer Bill Veeck <br>Baseball Owner, Hustler, Maverick and champion of Little People <br>Source</a></em></sub></center><br>
Suddenly, according to Veeck, the answer became obvious. He would send a midget up to the plate for a real at-bat in a major league game.
Bill Veeck’s inspiration came from Hall of Fame manager of the New York Giants John McGraw. Bill’s father William was the President of the Chicago Cubs when Bill was a little boy. McGraw was a good friend of the elder Veeck and when the Giants were in Chicago to play the Cubs McGraw would come to the Veeck home for dinner. Little Bill was enraptured by the stories the two shared at the dining table. At the time the Giants employed a small hunchbacked man named Eddie Morrow as a “good luck charm”. Often Veeck heard McGraw tell his father someday he was going to send Morrow up to the plate. He never did, but the story stuck with Bill and many years later Bill decided to steal that idea for his promotion.
Veeck called a booking agent and asked him to find a midget who as least somewhat athletic. The agent sent Eddie Gaedel from Chicago to St. Louis for a secret meeting.
Veeck explained his plan to Gaedel and Eddie wasn’t sure about the stunt initially. Veeck poured on the hype, telling Gaedel he would go down in history as the first little person to play major league baseball. Gaedel’s name would be entered into the record books for all-time and he would be immortalized. As an entertainer, that appealed to Eddie and he agreed to do the deal for a payment of $100, the scale rate for unionized entertainers at that time.
Bill grabbed a toy bat and proceeded to show Eddie how to take a low, crouching stance at the plate. Eddie copied the stance as Bill grabbed a ruler to measure his strike zone. With the low crouch, Gaedel’s strike zone measured at 1 and ½ inches. Perfect in Veeck’s mind. Eddie then started taking some practice swings, which scared the hell out of Veeck. “No, no, no!” he yelled. Bill explained to Eddie he wasn’t supposed to swing. His job was to take four balls for a walk, trot down to first base and then he would be removed from the game for a pinch runner.
Eddie seemed disappointed by that scenario. Veeck claimed he told Gaedel he would perch himself atop the roof at Sportsman’s Park with a rifle and shoot the little guy dead if he even attempted to swing at a pitch. Eventually Gaedel agreed to Bill’s terms and was sent back to Chicago for two weeks before the promotion was held.
Now that he the date and his star lined up, planning for the promotion began. First Eddie would need an official Major League contract. Veeck filled in a standard contract at the rate of $100 per game, with the standard 30-day waiver clause removed. Next was the problem of a uniform. Obviously the Browns didn’t have any laying around to fit someone like Eddie Gaedel. Or did they? Browns Vice President Bill DeWitt had in his office a small uniform he had made for his seven year old son. Veeck “borrowed” the uniform and had the now infamous number 1/8 sewed onto the back. <br>
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<center> <sub><em><a href="https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/Major-Leagues-Shortest-Player-was-Eddie-Gaedel-at-3-feet-7-inches">The famous uniform of Eddie Gaedel. Note the number 1/8. <br>Source</a></em></sub></center><br>
On August 18th, the day before the game, Veeck arranged for Gaedel to secretly return to St. Louis and put him up at a hotel near the ballpark. Gaedel signed two of the contracts, one for the Browns to send to the league office and one for Browns manager Zack Taylor to hold onto. Veeck, who knew the rules about the business of baseball as well as anyone, was aware that a player’s contract only needed to be sent to the league office before his appearance on the field. Being that it was Saturday, the contract wouldn’t land on the desk of American League president Will Harridge until Monday. Too late for Harridge to interfere with the plan.
Sunday morning August 19th Gaedel was smuggled into the Browns office at Sportsman’s Park. Only a handful of necessary employees were aware of the plan. Veeck once again demonstrated to Gaedel how to crouch at the plate and reminded him not to swing at any pitches. Eddie agreed, but Bill’s wife Mary Frances told Bill every time he left the office Eddie would begin taking practice swings. Bill told his wife not to worry, Eddie understood the plan. That was what Bill said, inside he was scared to death Gaedel would try to get a hit and screw the whole thing up.
It turned out to be a beautiful day for the St. Louis Browns. With the aid of Falstaff’s sponsorship, 18,000 paying customers showed up at the ballpark for the double-header. It was the largest crowd the Browns had seen in over four years. Fans were given a piece of cake, a box of ice cream and a can of beer as they entered celebrating the birthdays of both the American League and Falstaff Brewery.
{Little side note here. Can you imagine a professional sports team giving their fans a free can of beer today? Hell you can’t get one for under $10 at Citizen’s Bank Park today. That’s why I bring my own. During my trip to the park this year I enjoyed two beers before and two beers after the game in the parking lot. Got to save where you can during these tough economic times. Don’t worry, to make up for their lost profits I cheerfully “watered” their parking lot for free before I left town.}
As the first game started, nobody in the park seemed to notice a little irregularity printed on the scorecards: the listing of player # 1/8 Eddie Gaedel. With the gifts handed out before the game, Veeck described the crowd as happy and festive, so happy in fact their mood wasn’t diminished by the Browns losing the first game to the Tigers.
In between games, Veeck went all out for the celebration. He had a band playing at home plate and various circus acts performing all over the field. All during this time Eddie Gaedel was waiting patiently in Bill’s office, hidden from the crowd.
Then the time for Eddie’s first appearance was at hand. As Veeck made his way up to the owner’s box to mingle with the brewery executives, a seven foot paper-mache cake was wheeled onto the field. The public address announcer explained to the crowd that the Browns had a special birthday present for manager Zack Taylor: a new Brownie!
At that time Eddie Gaedel burst out of the cake in is uniform swinging his tiny bat. The crowd applauded and there was some small laughter among the people. Inside the owner’s box it was a completely different story. The Falstaff group was shocked that Bill’s “big surprise” was a midget jumping out of a cake dressed as a real ballplayer. Initially stunned into silence, they begun to berate Bill over how lackluster his promotion was. Bill felt the anger in the air and try to reassure them that even though it wasn’t his best gag, everybody was happy with the birthday party and things would be all right. The Falstaff executives weren’t buying it. According to Veeck the gloom in the box was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.<br>
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<center> <sub><em><a href="https://www.mlb.com/cut4/on-this-day-63-years-ago-eddie-gaedel-came-to-the-plate/c-90381742">Eddie Gaedel patiently waiting in the dugout with his new teammates before his at-bat <br>Source</a></em></sub></center><br>
That was about to change abruptly. As the Browns prepared for their first at-bats in the second game, it was announced leadoff hitter Frank Saucier was going to be pinch hit for by #1/8 Eddie Gaedel. Suddenly Eddie appeared at the on deck circle waving three little bats. The ballpark came alive as the fans realized little 3 foot seven inch Eddie Gaedel was actually going to play. Equally as important for Bill Veeck, the mood in the owner’s box did a complete 180 degree turn as the Falstaff people realized Bill had come through after all. This was going to be national news.
Not everybody was impressed. Home plate umpire Eddie Hurley walked up to the Brown’s dugout and insisted somebody explain to him what the hell was happening. Manager Zack Taylor brought out all the paperwork. He showed the umpire the official contract, the telegram sent to the league office complete with time stamp, and a copy of the Browns official roster which showed they had room to add an additional player.
After reviewing the evidence, Hurley agreed that Gaedel could play. Now it was the Tigers turn to complain. They began arguing about the situation for over 15 minutes, but Hurley held firm: Eddie Gaedel was going to play.
Behind the scenes Bill Veeck faced an even bigger problem. For unknown reasons, American League President Will Harridge showed up in his office on Sunday. Harridge saw a report over the Western Union teletype that the Browns were trying to send a little person up to bat. While Hurley was trying to restore order on the field, Harridge called the Browns office and demanded to talk to someone in authority. The message was relayed to Bill Veeck, who promptly told his secretary to tell Harridge “that we all disappeared from the face of the earth.”
An angry Harrison started sending wires to the Browns office through their teletype machine. Veeck did the only sensible thing. He unplugged it.
When all the dust had settled, umpire Hurley called Eddie Gaedel up for his at-bat. Tigers pitcher Bob Cain, who initially laughed at the stunt, was now stunned that he would have to actually pitch to him. He called out his catcher Bill Swift and they discussed how to handle the situation. They came to a simple conclusion: throw the ball low. Swift walked behind the plate and instead of dropping into his normal crouch, he went down onto his knees to get as low as possible.
By now not only was the crowd rocking in excitement, the Falstaff people were more excited than anyone. This was history being made. Bill Veeck had some reservations. Instead of the using the crouch that Veeck taught him, Eddie stood tall in the box with his bat held high. Bill suddenly was forced to think that Eddie might actually try to take a swing. At that point he wished he really did bring a rifle up to the roof.<br>
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<center> <sub><em><a href="https://www.eddiegaedelpubandgrill.com/about-us/
">The most famous photograph of Gaedel's epic Major League debut<br>Source</a></em></sub></center><br>
Fortunately for Bill, pitcher Bob Cain saved the moment by initially trying to pitch to Gaedel. He whizzed two fastballs by Gaedel for balls one and two. Poor Eddie, who never actually played baseball before, was too stunned to even think about swinging. At this point Cain begun laughing so hard at the absurdity of the situation he could barely throw the ball. He tossed two more pitches way over Eddie’s head and #1/8 headed down to first with a base on balls.
Eddie proudly stood on first base as the photographers took his picture and the crowd roared. When a pinch runner arrived to relieve him, Eddie gave him a pat on the butt and shook hands with the first base coach. Being a professional entertainer, Gaedel realized this was going to be his big moment in the sun. He slowly crossed the field, stopping after every step to bow or wave or tip his cap to the enthusiastic crowd. He took so long Veeck nearly sent someone out to get him.
In a perfect world, Eddie’s pinch runner would have scored and the Browns would have won the game by one run, further cementing Eddie Gaedel’s place in the all-time record books. The St. Louis Browns were as far from perfect as any team in history. Not only did Eddie’s pinch runner fail to score, the Browns lost the game 6-2. You can’t always have it all.
Still it was a big win for all involved. Bill Veeck got his big crowd who were happy they got to see history being made. The Falstaff Brewery received plenty of national attention for their sponsorship. And Eddie Gaedel went from a no-name entertainer to a man known nationwide who could (and with the help of Veeck did) cash in on his fame.<br>
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<center> <sub><em><a href="https://www.psacard.com/autographfacts/baseball/eddie-gaedel/935
">Eddie knew why people remembered him<br>Source</a></em></sub></center><br>
Alas not everybody saw it that way. While some reporters were amused by a harmless stunt that brightened a dull battle between two teams fighting for last place in the American League, most of the press cried foul over diminishing the sanctity of the game. Bill Veeck expected bad press and actually hoped that would be the case. Ever the master promoter Veeck knew a happy story comes and goes, but a battle with the press could be exploited for weeks of publicity. Suffice to say Bill Veeck was shameless when it came to promoting his baseball teams.
Bill wasn’t as pleased about the American League’s reaction to his promotion and their treatment of Eddie Gaedel. Things started out as expected at first. On the Monday following the game, Will Harridge made a new rule that player contracts not only had to be filed with the league office before a player plays in a game, the contracts now also had to be approved by the president before a player could take the field. Gaedel’s contract was voided by the Harridge.
This kind of announcement played right into Veeck’s wheelhouse. Veeck hammed it up with the press, crying foul that he finally found a player on his awful team that could get on base and the league was taking him away.
He gave Eddie a prepared statement that read: “Everybody talks about protecting the little man these days and now that someone has taken a direct step to help the plight of the little man in baseball, Harridge has stepped in and ruined my career.”
Eddie didn’t deliver the statement precisely, but he got the gist of it out there. Veeck eventually conceded to Harridge’s “odd” ruling without mentioning to the press he only contracted with Eddie to play in one game. Not all details need to be made known you know.
Bill Veeck didn’t take so kindly to Harridge’s next announcement, which stated that Eddie Gaedel’s at-bat was going to be erased from the record book. Bill had promised Eddie immortality and he intended to deliver. This battle wasn’t fought in the press. Veeck called up Harridge and reminded him that he had a legal contract with Eddie. Eddie was given an official at-bat in a game run by American League sanctioned officials. The Browns were allowed 27 outs and if Eddie’s record was thrown out they would have received only 26.
Eventually, very quietly, Eddie Gaedel’s record within the annals of baseball history was restored. <br>
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<center> <sub><em><a href="www.beckett.com
">Eddie Gaedel baseball card from 2006<br>Maybe MLB wants to forget about Eddie, but among baseball fans the legend lives on<br>Source</a></em></sub></center><br>
Shame on MLB and the Baltimore Orioles (the current version of the old St. Louis Browns) for failing to recognize this historic event’s 70th anniversary. 70 freaking years and this moment is still remembered by people who enjoy fun, people who know you can’t take life too seriously, and people that love baseball yet remember in the end it’s only a game.
I mean let’s face it, the Baltimore Orioles (38-86 record as I write this post) are already doing a very good impression of the old St. Louis Browns. They should have finished the deal and celebrated one of the most memorable moments in their franchise’s history.
MLB dropped the ball on this one, but myself and thousands of baseball fans once again are ready to clean up the mess. Maybe MLB wants us to forget but we the fans remember Eddie Gaedel, a titan among little people everywhere.
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