Pickles Dillhoefer
William Dillhoefer (1894-1922)

Pickles was an obvious nickname for this catcher who spent three years with the St. Louis Cardinals after brief stints with the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. He appeared to find a home in St. Louis where he split catching duties with Verne "Fats" Clemons in 1920 and '21.

Then tragedy struck. In February 1922, six weeks after his wedding, Dillhoefer died of typhoid pneumonia. The city of St. Louis mourned his passing because the engaging catcher was one of the most popular Cardinals.

Cozy Dolan
Patrick Henry "Harry" Dolan (1872-1907)

Dolan was primarily a pitcher when, at age 19, he joined the National League Washington Senators in 1892. He won two games, lost two, then played minor league baseball for a couple of years, returning to the National League in 1895 with the Boston Beaneaters. He had an 11-7 record that year, but stumbled in 1896, losing four of five decisions. Perhaps he had arm trouble because he again dropped back to the minor leagues and became an outfielder.

In 1900 he returned to the National League, this time with Chicago, then nicknamed the Orphans. By the time the team was renamed the Cubs, in 1902, Dolan was playing in Brooklyn for the team that eventually would be known as the Dodgers. (In 1902 they were the Superbas.)

Dolan changed teams about as often as teams changed nicknames, playing with the Chicago White Stockings in 1903, the year before the team decided White Sox sounded better. No matter, by then Dolan was in Cincinnati, playing for the Reds. It was with Cincinnati, in 1904, that Dolan had his best season, hitting .284 with 10 triples and six home runs.

Nonetheless, that didn't secure his job with the Reds, who early in 1905 sent Dolan back to Boston and the Beaneaters, a team wallowing in the second division. In 1906, Dolan played four positions with the last-place Beaneaters, including seven games at second base, unusual because Dolan was left-handed.

In 1907, the renamed Boston Doves embarked on a spring training trip that came to a halt in Louisville, KY, when Dolan fell ill and died unexpectedly on March 28 of a typhoid-related illness. He was 34.

The deaths of Dolan and Pickles Dillhoefer (above) are reminders that life really wasn't simple in an era often referred to as a "simpler time" in our history.

Cozy Dolan
Albert J. Dolan (born James Alberts, 1889-1958)

Cozy Dolan was so popular a name that two players were known as such. Albert Dolan came along two years after the tragic death of Harry Dolan. Albert was an outfielder-third baseman (1909-1915) who, like the earlier Cozy, bounced from team to team, having his best years (1914-15) with the St. Louis Cardinals.

However, he made his biggest headlines not as a player but as a New York Giants coach in 1924 when he was banished from baseball for allegedly conspiring to fix a game between the Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies.

She Donahue
Charles Michael Donahue (1877-1947)

Have no idea how this nickname originated. Donahue didn't stick around the major leagues long enough to warrant much interest. He was an infielder who played 62 games in the National League in 1904, most of them with the last-place Philadelphia Phillies. He batted .219, which was bad, and fielded .858, which was worse. Maybe the "e" in the nickname had something to do with errors because Donahue made 38 of them in those 62 games.

Whammy Douglas
Charles William Douglas (1935- )

A pitcher, Douglas had one glass eye. He wound up with a 3-3 record for Pittsburgh in 1957, was later traded to Cincinnati, but never pitched for the Reds.

Astyanax Douglass
Astyanax Saunders Douglass (1899-1975)

Douglass enjoyed two brief visits with the Cincinnati Reds, catching four games in 1921, seven more in 1925. He had four singles in 24 at bats (.167).

However, he didn't fade away quietly. On May 24, 1925, he broke into an argument between teammate Ivy Wingo, also a catcher, and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jimmy Ring. (Wingo and Ring had been battery mates with the Reds for four seasons, 1917-20). Douglass kicked things up a notch by punching Ring's jaw.

In the clubhouse after the game there was a rematch. It must have been a honey because a bit later that day the pitcher followed the catcher to the railroad station to stage Ring vs. Douglass III.

Snooks Dowd
Raymond Bernard Dowd (1897-1962)

An infielder, Dowd had two brief visits to the major leagues – in 1919 and 1926.

In 1921 he stole 54 bases in the International League for a Buffalo team that had an incredible 325 stolen bases.

Had Dowd come along 20 years later, he likely would have been saddled with the nickname Baby Snooks, after a very popular 1940s radio program that starred Fanny Brice.

Monk Dubiel
Walter John Dubiel (1919-1969)

As a rookie pitcher in 1944, Dubiel won 13 games for the New York Yankees. He won 10 more in 1945, but didn't make the team in 1946 when major league rosters returned to normal for the first post-World War II season. Dubiel had been 4-F during the war because of an eye ailment.

He dropped into the minors, but was back in the majors in 1948 with the Philadelphia Phillies, winning nine games, losing 10. That December the Phillies traded Dubiel and pitcher Dutch Leonard to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Hank Borowy and first baseman Eddie Waitkus.

It was with the Cubs in 1950 that Dubiel was involved in an unfortunate incident triggered by the frustration of his manager, Hall of Famer second baseman Frankie Frisch, a fesity guy who'd managed the rowdy St. Louis Cardinals Gashouse Gang in the 1930s.

Dubiel was sailing along with a 4-0 lead over the Philadelphia Phillies when, in the seventh inning, he began having control problems, wallking six batters. Frisch refused to remove Dubiel from the game, claiming the pitcher was looking for help from the bullpen instead of correcting the problem himself. Afterward, Frisch told reporters, "I'd have kept him in there even if he gave up 99 runs."

As it was, Dubiel and the Cubs lost, 6-4. The pitcher said he'd been hit by a line drive in the first inning and his pitching shoulder tightened up as the game progressed. Over the years Dubiel complained of several injuries; Frisch apparently didn't believe him.

Frisch was fired a year later, but Dubiel remained with the Cubs until 1952, winning 14 games, losing 21 over three seasons. The Cubs then traded him to Boston for pitcher Sheldon Jones, but Dubiel's injuries continued and he never pitched for the Braves. Instead he was sent to the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association. Dubiel never pitched his way back to the majors.

Most of what I know about Dubiel comes from his Sporting News obituary which can be found in the obit section of an interesting website called thedeadballera.com

Included is an anecdote from 1943 when Dubiel pitched for the Newark Bears, a New York Yankee farm team. The Bears were in Baltimore to play the International League Orioles. Dubiel lost his meal money, but couldn't bring himself to ask the team's traveling secretary for a loan. So he went to a hotel garage and washed cars until he made four dollars, which lasted him through the next day. If only we could say the same about four dollars today.

Double Joe Dwyer
Joseph Michael Dwyer (1904-1992)

Dwyer's a mystery man, which is strange considering he was a modern day player, not one of those unknowns whose last name appeared in a few scorebooks for Worcester, Troy or Toledo in the 1880s.

It was in 1937 that Dwyer, a 33-year-old rookie, pinch hit 12 times for Cincinnati. He walked once and had three singles. How and where the nickname originated, I cannot say. It's not even known what position Dwyer played.

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