In 1868, the Athletics of Philadelphia beat the Rockford Forest City club 94-13. And you thought the Orioles pitching staff had problems! Al Spalding, who is in the @baseballhall as a pioneer, was the pitcher for Rockford that fateful day. He was actually a really good player before he became a baseball executive and sporting goods magnate, so this was an off day for him. It’s also worth noting that players were fielding without gloves back then, so probably only 40 of those runs were actually EARNED runs.
Here lies Paul Giel, a legend of University of Minnesota football. However, he was also an MLB pitcher who played for the New York/San Francisco Giants (1954-55; 1958), Pittsburgh Pirates (1959-60), Minnesota Twins (1961) and Kansas City Athletics (1961).
Paul Giel was born in Winona, Minn., on September 29, 1932. He was a gifted athlete early on, throwing multiple no-hitters in high school. He went to Minnesota and rewrote the Gophers Football record book. He played as both a quarterback and halfback and was hard to stop at either position. Giel was the runner-up for the ‘53 Heisman Trophy, and pro football teams coveted him. But his heart was with baseball, and he signed a $60,000 contract with the Giants in 1954.
Giel was a “bonus baby,” and under MLB rules, he had to spend 2 seasons on the major-league roster. The ‘54 Giants were in a pennant race, and Giel barely played as the team went on to win the World Series. He played more in 1955 and was quite good. In 34 games, including 2 starts, Giel had a 4-4 record and 3.39 ERA, striking out 47 batters in 82-1/3 innings.
Giel was drafted into the military and was out of baseball for two seasons. By the time he came back in 1958, he was 25, the Giants were in San Francisco, and he struggled in the majors.
Because of the bonus baby rule, Giel never had the chance to spend time in the minors, working at his craft. After 2 years of limited play and 2 years in the Army, his career never recovered. The Giants waived him, and the Pirates, Twins & A’s all took a chance on him. He struggled, badly, with ERAs of 7.30 for the Bucs and 9.78 for the Twins. He was traded to the A’s and gave up 7 runs in 1.2 innings in his only appearance. Giel retired the very next day.
In his career, Giel appeared in a total of 102 games over 6 seasons. He had an 11-9 record and 5.39 ERA. He struck out 145 batters and walked 148.
Giel was a sports commentator in Minneapolis and the business manager for the Vikings. He became the athletic director at Minnesota from 1972-88. He greatly improved the finances of the athletic department.
Paul Giel died of a heart attack on August 22, 2002 while driving home from a Twins game. He was 69 years old.
Here lies Hy Vandenberg, who pitched for seven seasons in the 1930s and ‘40s. He didn’t have his best years until he reached the age where most ballplayers retire. Vandenberg played for the Boston Red Sox (1935), New York Giants (1937-40) and Chicago Cubs (1944-45).
Harold Vandenberg was born on March 17, 1906 in Abilene, Kan., but his family moved to Minneapolis when he was four years old. He entered pro baseball at a relatively old age, joining Bloomington in 1930 when he was 24. He struggled early on, and it was thought that he lacked confidence. He joined the Minneapolis Millers for a few good seasons and then pitched in the East Coast. That caught the attention of the Red Sox, who brought him to the big leagues in 1935.
His first game came against the Yankees on June 8, and they welcomed him to the majors with 4 base hits and a walk. Vandenberg was pulled from the game without retiring a batter, and 5 earned runs were charged to him. Two more poor outings left him with an ERA of 20.25, with 15 hits and 12 earned runs allowed in 5-1/3 innings.
The Giants were the next team to take a chance on him in 1937. He spent parts of four seasons, and they all went about the same. He would have a great Spring, join the Giants, have mostly ineffective outings along with the occasional good performance and get sent back to the minors.
By 1944, Vandenberg had pitched in parts of 5 MLB seasons and had a 1-3 record and 6.69 ERA to show for it. He was 38 years old.
Then something pretty remarkable happened. He turned into a very consistent and valuable pitcher for the Cubs in ‘44. He ended the season with a 7-4 record and a 3.63 ERA. He had a career high 54 strikeouts.
The 1945 Cubs won 98 games en route to winning the NL pennant. Vandenberg went 7-3 with a career-low 3.49 ERA in 30 games, with 7 starts, 3 complete games, a shutout and 2 saves. He threw 6 shutout innings against the Tigers in a losing effort in the World Series.
Vandenberg had a lifetime 15-10 record with a 4.32 ERA. He struck out 120 and walked 128. After leaving baseball, Vandenberg became an an engineer in the Hennepin County Highway Department. He died from cancer on July 31, 1994 at the age of 88.
Here lies Bobby Marshall, a pioneer in professional football. He, along with Fritz Pollard, were the first African-American players in the National Football League. However, Marshall was an accomplished baseball player as well, playing for several teams in the years before the Negro Leagues were established. He was active in sports well into his late 50s.
Robert Marshall was born in Milwaukee, Wis., on March 12, 1880. Marshall’s family moved to Minneapolis, where he attended high school at Central High. He was on the football and baseball teams there, and excelled at pretty much any other sport as well.
Marshall attended the University of Minnesota and played football and baseball there, integrating the Big 10 in the process. He was an end on the football team, but he played offense as well and kicked a winning field goal over the Mighty University of Chicago Maroons that made Marshall a Minnesota sports legend.
When it came to baseball, Marshall played with the Minnesota Lind-Lands in 1906, along with a team from Lamoure, N.D. (1907), the Minneapolis Keystones (1908) the St. Paul Colored Gophers (1909-11) and the Chicago Leland Giants (1909-10). He bought the Gophers team in 1911. His teams played other Negro League teams of the era, as well as semipro teams throughout the Upper Midwest. He played with and against the likes of Jim Thorpe, John Donaldson and Smoky Joe Williams.
Seamheads lists just 17 games in Marshall’s career over three years (1908-1910), with a .211/.262/.368 slash line, 2 home runs and 3 stolen bases. In actuality, Marshall played baseball well into middle age, putting him nearly on par with Satchel Paige for longevity. He was renowned for his fielding, but he was a heavy hitter, too.
His pro football debut came with the Rock Island Independents in 1920, when Marshall was 40. He played 9 game and started 7 at end. He returned to the NFL in 1925 with 3 games for the Duluth Kelley’s — he was 45 by then.
After practicing law, Marshall got a job as an inspector for the Minnesota grain department, which he held until his retirement in 1950.
Bobby Marshall died of Alzheimer’s disease on August 27, 1958 at the age of 78.
Here lies George Dumont, a hard-luck pitcher from the Deadball Era. Dumont played for the Washington Senators (1915-1918) and Boston Red Sox (1919).
George Dumont was born in Minneapolis on November 13, 1895. He made his professional debut in 1914 with the Fargo-Moorhead Graingrowers of the Northern League. However, Dumont had a pretty good pedigree in Minnesota already. He played semipro ball for the Newports and other local teams, and he once struck out 25 batters in a game in 1913.
Dumont won 20 games for Fargo in 1915 and was acquired by the Senators. He threw shutouts in his 1st two MLB starts and looked like a great addition to a staff that already included Walter Johnson.
Dumont’s sophomore season of 1916 looked good by the numbers: 2-3 record in 17 games, with a 3.06 ERA and 1.019 WHIP. However, his ERA+ was 92, which makes him a bit below average for the year compared to other pitchers in the league. He was shipped to the Minneapolis Millers in midseason.
In 1917, Dumont appeared in 37 games, with 23 starts, 8 complete games, 2 shutouts, 2 saves, a 2.55 ERA and a 1.207 WHIP. For all that, he had a 5-14 record. It looks like he was simply a victim of bad luck. The Senators were an average team offensively, but when Dumont pitched, their bats went to sleep. The Senators scored 2 or fewer runs in 13 of his 23 starts, and he went 2-9 in those games.
It didn’t help that Dumont was a lousy hitter. He had 2 hits all year for a .034 average. He committed 8 errors as well, further hurting his cause.
Dumont barely played in 1918, as he was drafted to work as a painter in the Wilmington, DE, shipyards. He was traded to Boston for the 1919 season, and he was mostly ineffective as a reliever.
In Dumont’s 5-year career in the major leagues, he had a 10-23 record but a 2.85 ERA and 1.222 WHIP. He struck out 128 batters and walked 130 more. Of his 77 games, 35 were starts, and he had 14 complete games, 4 shutouts and 3 saves.
Dumont pitched in the minors until 1932 and won a total of 140 games for a number of teams.
Dumont owned a tavern in Minneapolis and was a foreman for an car parts manufacturer. He died of a heart attack on October 13, 1956 at the age of 60.
Here lies Elmer Foster, an outfielder for three teams in the 1880s & ‘90s. He was, in the words of the great Chicago newspaperman Hugh Fullerton, the greatest disturber and enemy of peacefulness that the game had ever seen. Foster played for the New York Metropolitans of the American Association (1886), New York Giants (1888-1889) and Chicago Colts (1890-91).
Elmer Foster was born in Minneapolis on August 15, 1861. According to the 1870 and 1880 federal censuses, he was raised in Illinois. By 1883 at least, he was back in Minneapolis, playing ball with an amateur club called the Brown Stockings. He had some sensational seasons in the minor leagues. He started as a pitcher but had to quit after breaking his arm, so he converted to an outfielder. He hit .415 with 16 homers in 1887 for the Minneapolis Millers and topped .300 in most other seasons.
When he got to the majors, he just never put it all together. Over parts of 5 seasons, Foster had a .187/.258/.277 slash line. He had 72 hits in 105 games, with 6 home runs (all with the Colts). He stole 37 bases, had 41 RBIs and scored 56 runs. Despite his reputation as a fantastic outfielder, his .853 fielding percentage was almost 50 points below league average.
What Foster EXCELLED at was causing trouble. He drank and stayed out late. He drove Colts manager Cap Anson to distraction by playing an endless series of pranks on him, including cutting open Anson’s air mattress with a pen knife — while Anson was sleeping on it. He was arrested twice for assault and once left a fancy New York City restaurant by vaulting over a table. He made life interesting for his teams, but he didn’t necessarily make them better.
Foster was a stage actor in his off seasons. He also sold pianos later in life for the Foster & Waldo Co. He lived long enough for his reputation to become the stuff of legend in Minnesota, and he was compared to Ruth and Cobb — not bad for a lifetime .187 hitter. Foster died on July 22, 1946 at the age of 85.
