George Michael "Dummy" Leitner (June 19, 1871 – February 20, 1960) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for two seasons for the

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

(1901),

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

(1901),

Cleveland Bronchos The Cleveland Guardians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since 1994, they have played in Progressive Field. The Cleveland team originated in 190 ...

(1902), and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

(1902). Leitner was deaf, and like other deaf baseball players of his era, was nicknamed "Dummy".Doxsie, Don.
Iron Man McGinnity: A Baseball Biography
' (McFarland, 2009), p. 74. Three members of the 1901 Giants pitching staff shared that nickname: Leitner, Deegan, and

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) **List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) Plac ...

. Leitner had a deaf sister, Lydia (died at 21), and a deaf brother, Frank, who was active in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. He married a deaf woman named Helen (née Wells) and had two children, a deaf daughter named Helen who was later married to deaf August Wriede, and a hearing son named Clarence Wells Leitner who was known for his intelligence in writing and editing for the ''Evening Sun'' and ''North East'' newspaper for the city of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. George and Clarence Leitner and August Wriede all worked for ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

''. Leitner died in Baltimore at the age of 88.

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1871 births 1960 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Athletics players New York Giants (NL) players Cleveland Bronchos players Chicago White Sox players Norfolk Skippers players Baton Rouge Cajuns players Baseball players from Maryland People from Parkton, Maryland Deaf baseball players American deaf people {{US-baseball-pitcher-1870s-stub