Edward Lloyd Klepfer was a

spitball A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of a foreign substance such as saliva or petroleum jelly. This technique alters the wind resistance and weight on one side of the ball, causing it to mo ...

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 ...

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), ...

who played for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

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 ...

and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

in a span of six seasons between 1911 and 1919. Klepfer, commonly known as "Big Ed", was born on March 17, 1888 in

Summerville, Pennsylvania Summerville is a borough in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 528 at the 2010 census. History It was named after Summers Baldwin, the first settler in the area. It was formerly known as "Troy". The borough was inc ...

. He batted and threw right-handed and was also , 180 pounds, and attended

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

. Klepfer made his big league debut on July 4, 1911 with the Highlanders. His career was chopped up due to time spent fighting in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, as part of the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought alon ...

in France. At one time in his war fighting tenure, he was gassed. Perhaps the most extraordinary part of his career was his second to last season-1917. He went 14–4 with a 2.37 ERA in 213 innings. He finished his career with a 22–17 record and a 2.98 ERA in 98 games. Even though Klepfer was a fairly productive pitcher, he will still go down in history as one of the worst hitters (pitcher or otherwise) to ever step on the diamond. In 125 career at-bats, he collected 6 hits for a paltry .048

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

. He played his last game on September 5, 1919. After baseball, Klepfer became an independent oil operator and then in 1946 went to work for C.W. Titus, an oilman in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

. Klepfer died on August 9, 1950 in a hospital in Tulsa. His body was laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery.

Major transaction

On August 21, 1915, the White Sox traded Klepfer along with

Larry Chappell La Verne Ashford "Larry" Chappell (February 19, 1890 – November 8, 1918) was a professional baseball player who played from 1913 to 1917 for the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians and Boston Braves. Early life Born in McClusky, Illinois, Ch ...

Braggo Roth Robert Frank Roth (August 28, 1892 – September 11, 1936), nicknamed Braggo, was an American professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball over parts of eight seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Phi ...

and cash for

Shoeless Joe Jackson Joseph Jefferson Jackson (July 16, 1887 – December 5, 1951), nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American outfielder who played Major League Baseball (MLB) in the early 1900s. Although his .356 career batting average is the fourth highest ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Klepfer, Ed 1888 births 1950 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers New York Highlanders players New York Yankees players Chicago White Sox players Cleveland Indians players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania State University alumni Penn State Nittany Lions baseball players Rochester Hustlers players Venice Tigers players