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Some things are more
important than baseball
Early professional baseball players were generally considered an undesirable group, uneducated, hard-drinking men whose behavior on the field and off was often scandalous.
Erasmus Arlington "Arlie" Pond certainly didn't fit this image. He was graduated from the University of Vermont where he was a member of the glee and banjo club as well as an outstanding pitcher for the baseball team. He also played one season of varsity football.
He then enrolled in the university's medical school before moving on to the University of Maryland's College of Physicians and Surgeons, which led to him being contacted by Ned Hanlon, who managed the Baltimore Orioles, the top team in the National League. Hanlon convinced Pond he could pitch for the Orioles in the summer and then take post-graduate courses at Johns Hopkins.
Pond thought this was a good deal, especially since he could use the money to pay for his schooling and finance his younger brother's college education.
He quickly proved he belonged in the big leagues. In 1897, his second full season, he won 18 games.
However, his life changed forever in 1898. The Orioles had financial woes, forcing Hanlon to make some tough decisions. He released Pond, though he would change his mind a few days later.
In the meantime, the United States declared war on Spain and Dr. Erasmus Arlington Pond was appointed acting assistant surgeon with the U.S. Army and ordered to report to Fort Myer near Washington. By this time Pond had rejoined the Orioles, but only long enough to pitch one game – a five-hit shutout in what would prove to be his last major league appearance.
The war itself lasted only a few weeks, but one result of the conflict was that the Philippines became an American colony. Dr. Pond's services were needed there. And except for short tours of duty elsewhere, Arlie Pond spent most of his remaining years in the Philippines, in the service and later as a civilian.
In 1930 he underwent surgery for appendicitis at his own hospital on the Philippine island of Cebu. At first the operation appeared successful but then peritonitis set in. He died nine days later. He was only 57. |
Dunn's team was minor
league in name only
There's a great piece on owner Jack Dunn and his Baltimore Orioles in "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract."
Though a member of the International League, and thus not a major league team, Dunn's Orioles had big league talent in the 1920s.
For example, Lefty Grove spent five seasons with the Orioles, three times winning 25 or more games. He obviously was good enough to be pitching in the majors, but he remained one of Dunn's Baltimore players until he was 25.
Dick "Twitchy" Porter hit better than .300 for six straight seasons for the Orioles, leading the International League in batting twice. The second time was in 1927 when he batted .376. Finally, after the 1928 season, Dunn sold the outfielder to the Cleveland Indians. In 1930 Porter batted .350 for the Indians. |
Well, it got him into
the record book
Pitcher Nelson Potter might have been a 20-game winner in 1944 except for his habit of wetting his fingers before picking up the resin bag.
On July 20 the St. Louis Browns pitcher was warned by umpire Cal Hubbard, but Potter continued to behave as usual. Next thing he knew, Hubbard tossed him from the game, and the league followed with a 10-day suspension for throwing the outlawed spitball, something Potter always denied.
This made him the only major league pitcher ever suspended for this offense against a 1920 rule change that outlawed the spitball.
As things turned out, Potter wound up winning 19 games that season as he helped lead the Browns to their only American League pennant. |
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| Part 2 |
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| Biff Pocoroba (1953- ) |
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| The name Biff conjures up several images – he's one of the sons in 'Death of a Salesman', right? And the villain in the 'Back to the Future' movies. Also sounds like a name that would roll dramatically off the lips of a ring announcer, either in wrestling or boxing.
But Biff Benedict Pocoroba was a catcher with the Atlanta Braves for 10 seasons. The best of those was 1977, the only year Pocoroba played more than 100 games with Atlanta, and he responded with a .290 batting average and he walked twice as often as he struck out.
From what I can determine from my website surfing, Pocoroba operates a couple of businesses in the Atlanta area – Sausage World and Biff Pocoroba Master Cuisine. He and his brothers, Steve and Joe, make custom and specialty sausages. |
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| Specs Podgajny (1920-1971) |
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| John Sigmund "Johnny" Podgajny breezed through the minor leagues. At the end of his second season, when he won 18 games for Ottawa-Ogdensburg of the Canadian-American League, he was summoned to Philadelphia to pitch for the Phillies.
Podgajny (pronounced "poe-JOHNNY") stood six-feet-two. His weight is listed at 173, but he is often described as being almost painfully thin. That and his glasses made him the butt of many jokes.
Ah, yes, his glasses. One of his minor league managers noticed Podgajny dropped his head and looked over the tops of his specs in order to see the catcher's signals.
"You ought to get yourself a pair of bifocals," advised the manager.
"Buy focals?" replied the pitcher. "I just bought these glasses yesterday."
It turned out he had purchased eyeglasses because they felt and looked good; they didn't help his vision at all, probably made it worse.
By the time he reached Philadelphia he was wearing proper Specs. He remained with the Phillies until June 15, 1943 when he was traded to Pittsburgh. He then spent two years in the minor leagues before briefly resurfacing in the majors, this time with Cleveland in 1946.
His best season was 1941 when he had a 9-12 record for the Phillies. His lifetime major league record was 20 wins, 37 losses. Podgajny's stay in the majors was short, but would have been even shorter if he didn't get to face the Chicago Cubs, a team he beat 10 times against only four losses.
His best seasons were the five he spent with the Baltimore Orioles, then of the International League. He won 20 games for the Orioles in 1945, and his five- year record for them was 57-55. He later pitched for Birmingham of the Southern Association and Milwaukee of the American Association before retiring after the 1950 season. He returned to his hometown, Chester, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1971. |
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| Jennings Poindexter (1910-1983) |
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| Chester Jennings Poindexter was also known by the nickname "Jinx." He was a left-handed pitcher who made three starts for the Boston Red Sox in 1936, getting two decisions, both of them losses. Earlier that season he had pitched for Little Rock of the Southern Association, enjoying a career day on June 11 when he struck out 17 batters in a game against Nashville.
In 1937 Poindexter returned to the minor leagues. He received a second chance to pitch in the majors in 1939, this time in the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies. He appeared in 11 games with the Phils, 10 of them in relief. He was involved in no decisions.
Overall, Poindexter worked 41 innings, gave up 31 walks and struck out 14, with no wins and those two losses. After his stay in Philadelphia he returned to the minor leagues. |
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| Placido Polanco (1975- ) |
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| I suspect many people would identify Placido Enrique Polanco as one of the famous tenors. However, this Placido, a native of the Domincan Republic, is a utility player who has been gainfully employed by major league baseball teams for several seasons.
Polanco mostly plays second or third base, though he has filled in a shortstop, first base and the outfield. Not only that, but through 2009 he managed to maintain a .303 batting average while playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers.
His best season so far was 2007. As the full-time Tiger second baseman Polanco batted .341, third best in the American League, and did not make an error. |
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| Arlie Pond (1873-1930) |
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Erasmus Arlington Pond was named for his uncle, a physician who'd started the Pond Sphygmograph Company in Rutland, Vermont. The boy's father worked for the company, selling surgical instruments. Young Arlie Pond was destined to become a doctor, too, though he took some time out to pitch in the National League, showing great promise. He pitched only two full seasons, 1896 and 1897, winning 34 games against 17 losses.
However, a greater calling took him away from baseball in 1898. See the story on the left. |
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| Twitchy Porter (1901-1974) |
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| Richard Twilley Porter from Princess Anne, Maryland, was born in 1901 and truth be told he spent his life better known as Dick than as the more colorful Twitchy. He was identified as Dick Porter on the 1934 baseball card (right) from Goudey Gum Company and its Big League Chewing Gum series. But indeed he was nicknamed Twitchy because of his batting stance which had him twitching, wiggling and waving his bat until he got ready to swing. (One of my favorite websites, the invaluable www.baseball-reference.com, ignores Twitchy and lists his nicknames as Wiggles and Twitches, both of which would keep him on this list.)
Porter was an outstanding left-handed hitter who didn't move up to the major leagues until he was 28. Near as I can tell, Porter didn't have the fielding weaknesses that prevented Smead Jolley and other minor league superstars from proving themselves in the big leagues. Porter just happened to be playing for Jack Dunn's Baltimore Orioles, a team good enough to beat major league competition, but one that happened to be a member of the International League.
Dunn finally sold Porter to the Cleveland Indians in 1928. He remained in the American League through 1934, finishing with Boston after five years in Cleveland. His stay in the majors proved successful. His lifetime batting average was .308, his career best was .350 in 1930. Twice he scored 100 or more runs. He had just 11 home runs in the majors, but twice hit more than 40 doubles. Like most players of his era, Porter walked more than he struck out.
He played with the Newark Bears and then was player-manager of the Syracuse Chiefs before becoming manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, also in the International League. Porter was inducted into the IL Hall of Fame in 1963. |
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| Arnold Portocarrero (1931-1986) |
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| I always loved the way this name rolled off the tongue. Like Biff Pocoroba, his name would be perfect for ring announcer Michael Buffer who'd stretch it out for about five minutes: "Awesome Arrrrrrnolllllld Puerrrrrrto Carrerrrrrroh!."
Portocarrero was a pitcher for Philadelphia and Kansas City Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles (1954-60). His best season: 1958, he was 15-11 with Baltimore. |
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| Nelson Potter (1911-1990) |
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| Nicknamed Nels, Potter pitched for St. Louis (the Cardinals and the Browns), the Philadelpia Athletics and Boston Braves (1936-1949). His best season: 1944, when he was 19-7 and instrumental in helping the Browns win their only pennant, setting up an all-St. Louis World Series, won by the Cards.
With the Athletics in 1948, Potter got into a clubhouse argument with manager and team owner Connie Mack, who had bought Potter from the Browns about a month into the season. Potter demanded his release – and Mack gave it to him, which turned out to be a big break for the pitcher who joined the Boston Braves, winning five of seven decisions for them on their way to the National League pennant. This got Potter another shot at the World Series, but once again he was on the losing team as the American League Cleveland Indians won the Series in six games.
Potter returned to the Braves in 1949, but that turned out to be his last major league season. He won six games, lost 11. His lifetime won-lost record in the majors was 92-97.
Nelson remains my favorite Potter. I'll leave Harry to the kids who read his books. |
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| Boog Powell (1941- ) |
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| His real name – John Wesley Powell – suggests that famous Old West gunfighter. You know, John Wesley Hardin.
The nearly 6-foot-5, 230-pound Powell was a power-hitting first baseman for the Baltimore Orioles (1961-74), later with the Cleveland Indians for two seasons, then one season with Los Angeles Dodgers (1977).
He retired with 339 home runs and 1,187 runs batted in.
Powell was the first player in my memory to receive that home field fan reaction that sounds like they're booing when they're actually yelling the player's name.
His nickname Boog is short for Booger, which is not what you might think. To refer to a young person as "you little booger" was fairly common years ago. Apparently Powell's father used the expression on his son. Over time Booger was shorted to Boog. And in Baltimore these days, Boog means barbecue – as in Boog's Barbecue, the stand Powell operates outside of Camden Yards, the Orioles stadium. |
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| Gibby Pruess (1895-1979) |
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| Earl Henry Pruess was an outfielder who played in one game for the St. Louis Browns in 1920. He caught two fly balls, and in his only at bat he walked, stole a base and scored a run. What happened before and after remains a mystery, as does the story behind his nickname and the pronunciation of his last name. Does it rhyme with guess or dues?
He died in country music's Las Vegas antidote – Branson, Missouri. There's got to be a story behind that. |
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| Spencer Pumpelly (1893-1973) |
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| Spencer Pumpelly's life story is one of baseball's stranger tales – see www.bioproj.sabr.org and click on research. He appeared to come out of nowhere in 1925 for a one-inning appearance with the Washington Senators. The former Yale University pitcher was 32 at the time and had no minor league experience to speak of.
Ordinarily he'd be quickly forgotten, but with a name like Spencer Pumpelly ... even better, Spencer Armstrong Pumpelly (makes him sound like George Armstrong Custer), I couldn't resist listing him. Oh, yes, not only did he come out of nowhere in 1925, apparently he disappeared afterward and his whereabouts were unknown for many years. |
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| Blondie Purcell (1854-1912) |
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| William Aloysius Purcell was an outfielder and sometime pitcher with various teams in the early days of professional baseball (1879-1890). His lifetime pitching record was 15-43, which was bad, but not as bad as his 1883 managerial record with the Philadelphia Quakers of the National League – 13 wins, 68 losses. Needless to say, Philadelphia finished in last place. Purcell fared much better as an outfielder, at least in 1889, when he hit .316. However, his lifetime batting average was just .267.
Purcell first attracted attention as a teenager in his hometown, Paterson, NJ, where he organized an amateur baseball team that took on all comers and soon was recognized as one of the best in the country. One of his players was King Kelly, recruited by Purcell when Kelly was just 15.
This is the photo from a Blondie Purcell baseball card made for Old Judge Cigarettes in 1887. The card identifies the player as:
PURCELL, Captain, Baltimore.
This was not the vaunted Orioles team that dominated baseball for a few years. They wouldn't come along until the 1890s.
He may have abandoned the practice by the time this photo was taken, but the story is he was called Blondie because he used peroxide on his hair. And he had the nickname while he was in his teens. |
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| J. J. Putz (1977- ) |
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Joseph Jason Putz arrived in the majors in 2003 as a relief pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. In 2007 he emerged as one of baseball's best closers, which means he's the pitcher entrusted with saving the game in the final inning. He finished the season with 40 saves, a 6-1 won-lost record and a 1.38 earned run average in 68 appearances.
Things haven't gone well since then. Last season he was with the New York Mets and appeared in only 29 games, posting an earned run average of 5.22. The Mets let him go, but the Chicago White Sox were willing to take a chance on the pitcher, giving him a reported $3 million in a one-year contract for the 2010 season. In any event, the pitcher's name would be great for a Potsie-like sitcom character. |
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