Jim Delsing

American baseball player (1925–2006)

James Henry Delsing (November 13, 1925 – May 4, 2006) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder who is most remembered for having been the pinch runner for 3 feet (1 m) 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.

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. 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. 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 (a right handed pitcher) with Stubby Overmire (a left handed pitcher) on the mound, prompting White Sox manager Ted Lyons to pinch hit for Delsing before he ever saw a pitch. After hitting .211 in nine games through May 8, though, he was sent back to Hollywood. 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. 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. 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. Delsing's most famous moment in baseball came on August 19, 1951. 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 the first game of a doubleheader against the Senators on May 4, he had three hits (including two doubles) 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. In the first game of a doubleheader against Cleveland on September 3, Delsing had two hits (including a home run) and three RBI against Feller as the Tigers won 11–8. Though Delsing played 60 fewer games with Detroit in 1952 than he did with St. Louis, he tripled his home run total. Additionally, he batted .274 with 14 runs scored, 31 hits, and 13 RBI. In 126 games combined between the two teams, he batted .260 with 48 runs scored, 107 hits, four home runs, and 49 RBI. On April 17, he hit two home runs against Feller and had four RBI as the Tigers beat the Indians 6–5. The next day, he had four hits in the first game of a doubleheader against the Browns, but St. Louis won 8–7. Delsing had three RBI and scored a run on May 1 in a 7–3 victory over the Athletics. On June 12, Delsing scored a run in the seventh inning with a triple, then snapped a 1–1 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run against Sonny Dixon as the Tigers beat the Senators 2–1. The next day, he hit a grand slam against Bob Porterfield in a 7–6 victory over the Senators. Against the Yankees on June 19, he hit two home runs against Bob Kuzava as the Tigers won 3–2. The next day, Delsing had three hits against the Senators, including a two RBI double against Johnny Schmitz as the Tigers won 7–3. In the first game of a doubleheader against the Athletics on September 9, he had three hits, including a home run against Harry Byrd, as the Tigers won 8–2. Delsing set career highs in almost every category in 1953, including games played (138), batting average (.288), runs scored (77), hits (138), home runs (11), and RBI (62). He had four hits including a home run against Coleman on May 25 in a 12 inning, 5–4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. On July 22, he had three hits and four RBI, including a home run against Moe Burtschy as the Tigers beat the Athletics 9–4. He had three hits and three RBI on September 20 in a 4–3 victory over Baltimore. Six days later, he had four hits and scored two runs, including a home run against Mike Garcia in a 13 inning, 8–7 victory over Cleveland. In 122 games, he batted .248 with 39 runs scored, 92 hits, six home runs, and 38 RBI. On April 27, he had three hits and three RBI in an 11–3 win over Baltimore. In the second game of a doubleheader against Boston on May 15, he hit a home run against George Susce and had three RBI in a 9–3 victory. He had his third three RBI game of the year on June 6, along with three hits, but the Tigers lost that game 7–5 to the Yankees. In the first game of a doubleheader against the Athletics on July 10, he had three hits in a 9–5 Tiger defeat. Hitting .270 through June, he batted .193 in the latter half of the season. In 154 games for Charleston, he batted .287 with 78 runs scored, 167 hits, seven home runs, and 74 RBI. Sports Illustrated, in its preview of the 1959 Senators, was pessimistic about Delsing, saying he and fellow outfielder Faye Throneberry "don't scare many pitchers when they walk up to the plate." He was on card #386 in the 1959 Topps set, but Delsing never played a game with the Senators; an injured back hurt his chances of making the team. Acquired by the Houston Buffs of the American Association after spring training, Delsing played the whole of the 1959 season with them. "It was different in Houston," Delsing remembered. "I probably hit the ball as well as I ever did. If you check the records, you will see that lefthanded hitters don't do much hitting down there, because of the wind. The outfielders give you the right field line, and bunch you up toward the alleys in right center and left center. Those power alleys are where most of my base hits used to be. I would hit a good line drive and be headed around first going to second with a double, I thought, and some outfielder would be scooping up the ball, and I would be out. They just knew how to play the ballpark and the wind conditions. It was like that in the whole league. I thought it was a righthand hitting league." On September 5, he had two hits, two RBI, and a run scored in an 8–7 victory over the White Sox. He appeared in his final major league game on September 30, when, as he had in his debut 12 years earlier, Delsing pinch hit for the pitcher (Dick Hall). This time, he reached base on an error by shortstop Dick McAuliffe before being replaced in the next inning by new pitcher Ken Johnson. In 16 games for Kansas City, Delsing batted .250 with two runs scored, 10 hits, no home runs, and five RBI. and Jim's grandson Taylor Twellman was the Most Valuable Player of Major League Soccer in 2005. After Delsing retired, he spent 30 years as an advertising salesman for the St. Louis Review, a Catholic newspaper. Delsing was also involved in the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the St. Nicholas food pantry, the Ascension Altar Society, and other Catholic charities. Several of his former Browns teammates remained friends with him, such as Sherm Lollar (his best friend in St. Louis), Arft (who lived 15 minutes away from him in 1994), and Don Robinson (Delsing was in his wedding). Delsing died of cancer on May 4, 2006.