Baseball's Smallest Player Ever
Eddie Gaedel, a Three Foot-Seven Inch Man, Had One Career At Bat
May 31, 2007
Bill Veeck, who owned the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox from the 1940s through the 1970s, was always a great promoter and a consummate showman. During his career, he often ran pulicity stunts to create excitement and increase attendance for his teams. The promotions included such risky and highly visible stunts as Disco Demolition Night (in which he invited fans onto the field to burn disco records),hiring the Clown Prince of Baseball as a coach, and having his players wear baseball uniforms that featured shorts instead of baseball pants. But Veeck's biggest stunt came when he signed a dwarf named Eddie Gaedel to make a Major League appearance for the St. Louis Browns.
The event occurred on August 19, 1951, when the Browns were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the American League during a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers.
The First Part of the Gag
It started when Veeck rolled a large cake out onto the field between games of a twin bill. Just when the cake reached home plate, Gaedel, popped out of the cake to the surprise and delight of the crowd.
One Famous At-Bat
In the second game, Veeck took the stunt one step further. In the bottom of the first inning, Gaedel entered the game as a pinch-hitter in place of leadoff batter Frank Saucier. As Gaedel approached the plate, the crowd roared and laughed and behaved just as Veeck had hoped. (These were not politically correct times.) Immediately, the umpire called for Browns manager Zack Taylor. Veeck and Taylor had the foresight, however, to have Gaedel's contract on hand, as well as a copy of the Browns' active roster, which had room for Gaedel's addition. When the ump saw the evidence, he allowed Gaedel to bat.
The little man, who wore the number 1/8 on his back, was under strict orders from Veeck not to move the bat off his shoulder. (One version of the story claims that Veeck threatened to shoot Gaedel if he took a swing.) Detroit pitcher Bob Cain laughed at the absurdity that he actually had to pitch to Gaedel, and catcher Bob Swift went down to his knees to get down to Gaedel's level, who was crouching low with bat in hand. In his stance, Gaedel's strike zone measured less than one foot. Cain delivered four consecutive balls, all high. Gaedel took his base (stopping twice during his trot to bow to the crowd) and was replaced by a pinch-runner. The fans gave Gaedel a standing ovation as he trotted off the field.
The Fallout
The next day, American League president Will Harridge voided Gaedel's contract on the grounds that Veeck was making a mockery of the game. Initially, Major League Baseball struck Gaedel and his at-bat from its record books, as if he had not been in the game. A year later, however, the ruling powers changed their stance and put him in the books. Officially, Gaedel finished his Major League career with an on-base percentage of 1.000.
Gaedel was able to parlay his baseball fame into more than $17,000 by appearing on several television shows and at car dealerships.
Veeck continued to employ Gaedel in non-playing promotions over the years: in 1959, Gaedel and three other dwarves dressed as spacemen were seen presenting "ray guns" to White Sox players Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio at Comiskey Park. In 1961, Veeck hired several dwarves, including Gaedel, as vendors, so as not to "block the fans' view" of the game.
Some claim that living down the stunt was difficult for Gaedel. Combative in his private life, he later became a heavy drinker and died of a heart attack after being mugged in Chicago in 1961. He was just 36 years old. The only baseball figure to attend the funeral was Bob Cain, the pitcher who had walked him.
Due to it scarcity, Gaedel's autograph now sells for more than Babe Ruth's.
