Howie Mooney posted this Eddie Gaedel from 1951 on Facebook. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. Most Weird Wednesday columns I write describe the strangeness of the card but there’s no doubt that the whole situation of Bill Veeck’s decision to pinch hit with 3’7” Eddie Gaedel had a aura of oddity surrounding it.
“Eddie came to us in a moment of desperation,” recalled St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck. “Not his desperation, ours.”
Most baseball fans know the story of Eddie Gaedel. In grandstanding fashion (he popped out of a seven-foot cake), he played in just one game for the St. Louis Browns.
He walked in his only appearance and never appeared in another game.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 Totals | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
It’s easier to count those numbers that aren’t 14s than those that aren’t. He has a total of twenty-four 14s leaving four standard groundouts (26-29), three flyouts (30-32), a 12-25, a 54-12, a 44-40 a 53-16 and a 65-35.
There are those out there (including me sometimes) that just want to exclaim, “why doesn’t APBA give him thirty-six 14s and be done with it?”. I guess I understand the cardmakers sentiment. There are those who would abuse cards like that. If APBA was to go through the trouble of making a card for Gaedel though, it might be a case for an exception.
By the way, for those wanting a good in-depth bio of Eddie Gaedel, check out Brian McKenna’s write-up on sabr.org.
thanks, Howie!
I noticed they don’t have a J rating on the card. Is that typo, or was that standard for that era?