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Bill Veeck and Eddie Gaedel Photo Gallery
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Bill Veeck and “Little Person” Eddie Gaedel
“A fan’s knowledge of baseball is in indirect proportion to the price of his seat!” –Gadfly owner Bill Veeck, commenting on why he liked to sit with the fans in the bleachers rather than in the pricey box seats.
In my recent post about Comiskey Park, I included a photo of Disco Demolition Night, which was one of Bill Veeck’s stunts that went horribly wrong. That got me thinking about other Veeck promotions, including one of his most memorable: sending “little person” Eddie Gaedel up to the plate in 1951!
In 1951, Veeck was the owner of a truly miserable team, the St. Louis Browns, and was scheming to find ways to draw fans into the ballpark. And then he had a “Eureka!” moment: On Sunday, August 19, at the start of second game of a doubleheader at Sportsman’s Park against the Tigers, Veeck had a giant cake wheeled up to the plate – and inside of it was 3-foot, 7-inch “little person” Eddie Gaedel!
The fans gave Eddie a standing ovation as he stepped out of the cake, waved to the crowd, and then took a crouched stance in the batters’ box. He was announced as a pinch-hitter for Bob Saucier. Armed with a miniscule strike zone and Veeck’s orders not to swing, Gaedel drew a four-pitch walk from startled Tigers’ starter Bob Cain in what was Gaedel’s only career plate-appearance. The crowd roared as he trotted to first base, doffed his cap, and then was lifted for a pinch-runner. He ended his career with a perfect on-base percentage of 1.000 and earned $100 for the day. Cleveland’s Falstaff Brewery was in on the promotion and distributed free “midget” bottles of beer at the stadium. The league office was not happy about the stunt and came down hard on Veeck, fining him and then changing rules about “making a mockery of the game.”
In the classic photo below of Eddie at the plate, the catcher on his knees is Bob Swift , and the umpire is Ed Hurley. Eddie wore a uniform used by the St. Louis batboy, Bill DeWitt, Jr. On the back of the uniform was Eddie’s number: 1/8.
Gaedel’s appearance is actually recognized by Major League Baseball. You can find his entry in the Baseball Encyclopedia or on the Eddie Gaedel page on Baseball-Reference.com. In the Hall-of-Fame Museum, a life-size cutout of his stance is fittingly displayed on exhibit next to the uniform of 6-foot-11 former reliever Jon Rauch – as the tallest and shortest men ever to play in the majors are juxtaposed next to each other.
Following the game, Gaedel’s contract was voided by Major League Baseball. Although Eddie Gaedel never appeared in another game, for a brief period of time the spotlight shone brightly on him. “For a moment, I felt like Babe Ruth,” he was once quoted as saying. And believe it or not, today his autographs, due to their scarcity, command as much as the Babe’s. The Browns lost the game 6-2, one of their 102 losses for the season, but for that night they were the talk of baseball, all thanks to gadfly-owner Bill Veeck – who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 – and his flair for the unexpected.
Eddie Gaedel died in 1961 at age 36, following a beating he received after he left a bowling alley in Chicago. His grandnephew, 6′ 4″ Kyle Gaedele is also a ballplayer, drafted in the 32nd round by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008.
-Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from public domain
Information: Excerpts edited from article by Paul Dixon of the National Pastime Museum. Read more at: http://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/bill-veeck-maverick-who-changed-baseball-100th-anniversary-his-birth. And from article by Ryan Turnquist, the 2015 public relations intern in the Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
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