Jim Delsing
James Henry Delsing was an American Major League Baseball outfielder who is most remembered for having been the pinch runner for -tall Eddie Gaedel on August 19, 1951. He also was the centerfielder replaced by Hall of Famer Al Kaline in Kaline's major league debut on June 25, 1953. During his career, which spanned 822 games over 10 seasons, Delsing played for the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, and Kansas City Athletics.
Delsing signed his first professional contract at the age of 16 in 1942 for the Green Bay Bluejays in the Wisconsin State League. After two years of Minor League Baseball, he joined the Army Medical Corps and served for over a year in Europe during World War II. He resumed his baseball career in 1946 and made his major league debut with the White Sox in 1948. In 1949, he was acquired by the Yankees, filling in for Joe DiMaggio for a few games late in the year while DiMaggio recovered from a virus. He was traded to the Browns in 1950 and became an everyday player in St. Louis for the next three seasons. In August 1952, he was traded to the Tigers. His best year in the major leagues came in 1953, when he had a batting average of.288 and hit 11 home runs. Delsing led American League left fielders with a.996 fielding percentage in 1954, but his batting average declined, and in 1955, he began losing playing time to Charlie Maxwell. In 1956, he started very few games, used mainly as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement for the Tigers and the White Sox, who reacquired him in May. He spent the next three seasons in the minor leagues, winning the American Association pennant with the Charleston Senators in 1958. In 1960, after several of their outfielders suffered injuries, the Athletics added Delsing to their roster in August; he finished his professional career playing 16 games for Kansas City.
Since his time with the Browns, Delsing had resided in the St. Louis. He continued to live there after his baseball career, serving as an advertising salesman for the St. Louis Review for over thirty years, helping out with Catholic charities, and participating in the St. Louis Browns Fan Club. He died of cancer on May 4, 2006.
Early life
Delsing was born to Ben and Barbara Delsing in Rudolph, Wisconsin, on November 13, 1925. He was raised on a dairy farm with his sister, Clairbel. At Rudolph High School, Delsing played guard on the basketball team. "Basketball was our big sport," Delsing recalled. "We did not have enough guys for baseball. We didn't even have football. Our conference had about a half-dozen schools from other towns. I played guard, because I could run." He was skilled at handling the ball and dribbling, but Delsing also got the chance to play baseball with a semi-pro team in Stevens Point, as well as the Moland Truckers of the Wisconsin Valley League, where he competed against Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, who went on to be a star in the National Football League. Delsing caught the eye of scout Eddie Kotal, who signed the 16-year-old to a contract for the Green Bay Bluejays of the Class D Wisconsin State League in 1942.Career
1942–48: early years; reaching the major leagues with the White Sox
Once his junior year of high school ended, Delsing finished Green Bay's season playing shortstop for the team. "They thought I was a shortstop, because that's what I was playing in semipro," he recalled. "The only reason I played shortstop for Stevens Point was because nobody else could handle it. But I made a lot of errors. I either kicked the ball away, or I threw it away. I think I made more errors throwing than I did any other way, and it was a tough learning experience." He made 28 errors in 49 games and batted.249 with three home runs and 30 runs batted in. Green Bay finished a half-game back of the Sheboygan Indians for the league pennant.Delsing graduated high school in 1943 and played for another Class D team, this time the Lockport Cubs of the Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League. He started his season as the third baseman but asked to be moved to the outfield after making 17 errors. Delsing batted.312, tenth in the league by players who participated in at least 50 games, and he had eight home runs and 69 RBI.
In 1944, the Milwaukee Brewers of the Class AAA American Association purchased his contract; Delsing made the team but would not play for two years, as the United States Army drafted him for service in World War II. Assigned to the 95th Evacuation Hospital of the Army Medical Corps, he spent over a year in Europe. When he was able to resume playing in 1946, he failed to get much playing time in spring training because the Brewers had a lot of outfielders, so he asked to be reassigned and was sent to play for the Eau Claire Bears of the Class C Northern League. He batted what would be a career-high.377 in 65 games with 61 RBI, earning a promotion to Milwaukee, where he batted.318 with 20 RBI. This caught the interest of the Chicago White Sox, who obtained him from the Brewers after the season. Delsing attended spring training with the White Sox in 1947 but was assigned to the Hollywood Stars of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, with whom he had a good season. In 153 games, he batted.316 with 92 runs scored, 181 hits, five home runs, and 53 RBI.
Delsing was part of the White Sox roster to begin the 1948 season. His major league debut was brief. On April 21, he pinch-hit for pitcher Orval Grove in the seventh inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers. Since Delsing batted left-handed, Detroit opted to replace Dizzy Trout with Stubby Overmire on the mound, prompting White Sox manager Ted Lyons to pinch-hit for Delsing before he ever saw a pitch. He got more playing time in the second game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns on April 25. Starting in left field, he had two hits and three RBI in a 7–6 loss. Delsing also had two hits in his next start on April 26, though he had 14 innings to do so as the White Sox lost 12–11 to the Cleveland Indians. After hitting.211 in nine games through May 8, though, he was sent back to Hollywood. Said Delsing, "I didn't do much in the big league. I batted under.200 . So the White Sox optioned me back to Hollywood, and I had another good season in Coast League." In 122 games with Hollywood, he batted.333 with 82 runs scored, 154 hits, six home runs, and 56 RBI. A September callup by the White Sox, Delsing started in center field for the ballclub from September 22 through October 3. In 20 games with Chicago, he batted.190 with 12 hits, no home runs, and five RBI. On December 14, he was traded to the New York Yankees for Steve Souchock.
1949–52: substituting for DiMaggio, everyday outfielder for the Browns
The Yankees sent Delsing to spring training with the Kansas City Blues in 1949; Delsing served as their everyday centerfielder during the season. He played 151 of 153 games for the Blues, leading Kansas City hitters with a.317 average and hitting 24 doubles, five triples, and seven home runs. In September, he was called up by the Yankees, and he started four games in place of regular centerfielder Joe DiMaggio, who was suffering from a virus. His first game with the Yankees was the second game of a doubleheader against St. Louis on September 14, in which he had two hits and two runs scored. On September 28, he hit his first major league home run against Joe Coleman of the Philadelphia Athletics. The hit helped the Yankees win 7–5 and keep pace with the Boston Red Sox. They trailed the pennant race with Boston by one game that day but went on to sweep the Red Sox in the season's last two games and win the American League pennant. In nine games, Delsing batted.350 with five runs scored, seven hits, and three RBI. His promotion to the major leagues came too late in the season for him to be eligible for the playoff roster, but he was voted a partial share of the team's winnings when they beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1949 World Series.Delsing was part of the Yankees' roster for the 1950 season, but the team had many outfielders, and he only played 12 games through June 15 before being dealt to the St. Louis Browns at the trade deadline. He was traded with Snuffy Stirnweiss, Don Johnson, and Duane Pillette for Tom Ferrick, Sid Schacht, Joe Ostrowski, and Leo Thomas. "I became a regular in St. Louis, and I ended up hitting.269 the first year. Of course, it was a good move for my career. I wanted to get out of New York because I knew I wouldn't get to play, but in St. Louis I started," Delsing said of the deal, happy to get more playing time as the Browns' everyday centerfielder. His first game with the Browns was against the Yankees on June 16; Delsing had two hits, two RBI, and a run scored, but the Browns lost 7–5. In the second game of a doubleheader on July 16, he had three hits and three RBI in a 10–8 victory over the Washington Senators. He had three hits in a game three times during the year: July 16, August 9 against the Indians, and August 11 against the Tigers. In 69 games with the Browns, he batted.263 with 25 runs scored, 55 hits, no home runs, and 15 RBI. His combined totals in 81 games between St. Louis and New York were 27 runs scored, 59 hits, no home runs, 17 RBI, and a.269 average.
Used only as a pinch-hitter for the Browns' first few games in 1951, Delsing became the team's regular centerfielder again starting with the sixth game. On May 16, he pinch-hit for Cliff Fannin in the third inning of a game against the Athletics and had a two-RBI double against Carl Scheib. Then, in the eighth inning, his single against Johnny Kucab scored Hank Arft and broke a 9–9 tie to give the Browns the winning 10th run. While running the bases against the Yankees on June 6, 1951, he ran into Phil Rizzuto, causing the shortstop to drop the ball, enabling the winning run to score in a 5–4 victory for the Browns. He left the Browns' game on June 19 in the fifth inning and did not play again for 13 games. On July 4, he had two hits and three RBI in a 6–5 loss to Cleveland.
Delsing's most famous moment in baseball came on August 19, 1951. Browns owner Bill Veeck, as a publicity stunt, hired a man with dwarfism to play a game for the Browns. The Eddie Gaedel popped out of a cake before the second game of a doubleheader against the Tigers, holding a toy bat and wearing the uniform number 1/8. Gaedel pinch-hit for Frank Saucier to lead off the game, drawing a walk against Bob Cain, who said that the short Gaedel's strike zone was "about the size of a baby's bib." Delsing was promptly sent in to pinch-run for Gaedel, and he played center field for the rest of the game as the Browns lost 6–2. In 2001, Delsing told the Chicago Sun-Times, "A lot of people say Maris hit 61, but I'm the only one who ran for a midget."
In 1951, the Browns finished in last place in the AL, posting a record of 52–102. Delsing played 131 of their games, batting.249 with 59 runs scored, 112 hits, eight home runs, and 45 RBI.
Delsing again opened 1952 as a reserve player but, after only about a week, was playing nearly every day. The Browns used him in center field and in left field at various points during the season. In the first game of a doubleheader against the Senators on May 4, he had three hits in a 2–1 loss. He pinch-hit in the ninth inning for pitcher Ken Holcombe on July 6 and hit a home run against Art Houtteman in an 8–6 loss to the Tigers. On August 8, he had a three-RBI double against Bob Feller in a 12-inning, 10–9 loss to Cleveland. He batted.255 with 34 runs scored, 76 hits, one home run, and 34 RBI through 93 games with the Browns. Looking to improve their offense, the Browns included him in a trade with Ned Garver, Bud Black, and Dave Madison to the Tigers for slugger Vic Wertz, Don Lenhardt, Dick Littlefield, and Marlin Stuart on August 14.