In 1951, as the St. Louis Browns (today’s Baltimore Orioles) were suffering through the dog days of summer and another dreadful season, owner Bill Veeck concocted one of baseball’s all-time classic promotional events.
The American League was celebrating its 50th anniversary that year, and Veeck decided to hold a big birthday party that would both exploit this momentous anniversary and also celebrate the founding of Browns' sponsor Falstaff Brewing Company.
Veeck Plans Birthday Party for American League, Falstaff Brewing Company
In early August, Veeck discussed his party plan with Falstaff representatives, pointing out that he had a special surprise he would unveil at the event. The Falstaff people were intrigued about the cryptic plan, and now all Veeck had to do was pick a date and figure out what his surprise was to be.
Nobody at Falstaff seemed to know the precise anniversary of the company’s founding but this didn’t deter Veeck; he merely chose a date that was convenient – August 19, a Sunday on which his Browns played a doubleheader against the Tigers.
As for the surprise, Veeck recalled stories he was told as a boy by Giants manager John McGraw, who once kept a short, hunchbacked man in the clubhouse as a sort of unofficial team mascot. Inspired by these memories, Veeck decided to hire a midget to play in a game. Through a booking agency he found Eddie Gaedel, a 26-year-old native of Chicago who stood 3’7” tall and weighed 65 pounds.
Veeck planned to give Gaedel a single at bat as a pinch hitter and showed him how to stand at the plate. Gaedel practiced crouching in a way that would minimize the strike zone (which Veeck measured to be only 1 ½ inches!)
Gaedel was not to swing, but just to stand at the plate and take four pitches, which surely would be balls because of the minuscule target. When Gaedel indicated he may want to take a swing, Veeck replied, “Eddie, I’m going to be up on the roof with a high-powered rifle watching every move you make. If you so much as look as if you’re going to swing, I’m going to shoot you dead.” Enough said.
As August 19 neared, Veeck built up the party, always being cagey about his grand surprise. Meanwhile, he signed Gaedel to a $100, one-day contract and found a uniform for Eddie to wear – that of team vice president Bill DeWitt’s seven-year-old son. Veeck had the number 1/8 sewn to the back.
Entering the doubleheader the Browns were mired in last place with a record of 36-77, 36 games out of first place. But this wasn’t a day to worry about records; this was a day to celebrate. 18,369 fans – the Browns’ largest home crowd in years - showed up at Sportsman’s Park and were given birthday favors including cake, ice cream, and cans of Falstaff beer.
After the Tigers won the first game, 5-2, the birthday celebration really kicked off with circus-like events including performances by the Browns’ team band (with the ageless pitcher Satchel Paige on drums), baseball’s clown prince Max Patkin, jugglers, musicians, trampolinists, and bicyclists.
Eddie Gaedel Pinch Hits and Walks on August 19, 1951
Finally, Browns’ staff rolled out a seven-foot-wide birthday cake and out of it popped Gaedel. The Falstaff people, thinking this was Veeck’s big surprise, were disappointed. Veeck didn’t let on that this was just a warm-up to the main event.
When the second game started, Browns’ regular back-up Frank Saucier started in center field and was slated to bat first for the home team. After the Tigers went down in the top of the 1st inning, Gaedel came out of the dugout, swinging three miniature bats. Then the public address announcer introduced Gaedel batting for Saucier, stunning fans, players, and everyone else in attendance.
While photographers flocked to the field to take pictures of Gaedel, Browns officials showed Gaedel’s contract to the incredulous home plate umpire, who, seeing that the contract was legal, ordered play to resume.
Tigers’ catcher Bob Swift got on his knees to receive the pitches from Bobby Cain, who didn’t throw a pitch even close to Gaedel’s strike zone. As Veeck recalled years later, “By the third pitch, Cain was laughing so hard that he could barely throw. Balls three and four came floating up about three feet over Eddie’s head.”
Gaedel jogged down to first base, stopping a couple times to wave to the cheering fans and pose for the photographers. Regular starting center fielder Jim Desling was then announced as a pinch runner for Gaedel, who slowly came off the field to the thunderous applause of the crowd.
Though the Browns went on to lose the game 7-2, the day was an enormous success for the home team, and Gaedel is immortalized for the part he played. The uniform he wore is now a valuable artifact in the Hall of Fame’s collections in Cooperstown.
Sources
Retrosheet website.
Veeck, Bill & Ed Linn. 2001 (1962). Veeck - As in Wreck. University of Chicago Press.
Kevin Schindler - I have worked at scientific institutions for more than 20 years written more than 200 articles about science, history, and baseball.
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