Edward Wilbur Ainsmith (born as Edward Anshmedt; February 4, 1890 – September 6, 1981), nicknamed "Dorf,"
was a
catcher
Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...
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). He played fifteen seasons with the
Washington Senators (1910–1918),
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
(1919–1921),
St. Louis Cardinals (1921–1923),
Brooklyn Robins
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...
(1923), and
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. ...
(1924). He batted and threw right-handed. In 1,078 career games, Ainsmith batted .232 with 707 hits and 317
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...
.
After retiring as a player, Ainsmith worked as a minor league umpire, a baseball scout, and a manager in the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...
.
Early life
Ainsmith was born in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. His family came to the United States through
Ellis Island when he was young. He attended
Colby Academy
Colby most often refers to:
* Colby (given name), a list of people
* Colby (surname), a list of people
* Colby cheese (originally 'Colby Cheddar'), a type of cheese made from cow's milk
** Colby-Jack, a mixture of Colby and Monterey Jack cheeses ...
in New Hampshire. He began his playing career in the
New England League in 1908 before joining the Senators in the
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
.
[
]
Career
''The Day Book'' in Chicago, Illinois described Ainsmith in their May 10, 1913 edition as "a gingery young receiver, throws well, can handle Walter Johnson
Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-ha ...
and is a good batter. But he is not the man to handle a young pitcher like Engle">oeEngle". ''The Washington Times'' wrote in 1922 that Ainsmith "is a formidable blocker at the plate. He is endowed with tremendous strength like an ancient Greek athlete or a Roman gladiator. It is almost impossible to upset him when he sets himself on the base path."
Ainsmith was known for his toughness on the field. Walter Johnson said that if Aimsmith was bleeding from being spiked
Spiked may refer to:
* A drink to which alcohol, recreational drugs, or a date rape drug has been added
** Spiked seltzer, seltzer with alcohol
**Mickey Finn (drugs) In slang, a Mickey Finn (or simply a Mickey) is a drink laced with an incapacitati ...
by an opposing player, Ainsmith would refuse assistance from the team trainer, denying that he was injured. In 1913, as a member of the Washington Senators, Ainsmith was suspended by Ban Johnson
Byron Bancroft Johnson (January 5, 1864 – March 28, 1931) was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League (AL).
Johnson developed the AL—a descendant of the mino ...
for throwing dirt at umpire
An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.
The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
Peter McLaughlin
Peter McLaughlin (born 1956) is an Irish academic, historian, and educator. He is the CEO of Max Learning Limited, the educational arm of the Max Group. He was Headmaster of The Doon School. Before joining Doon in 2009, he served as Headmaster ...
.
On April 21, 1915, Ainsmith was sentenced to 30 days at Occoquan Workhouse
The Lorton Reformatory, also known as the Lorton Correctional Complex, is a former prison complex in Lorton, Virginia, established in 1910 for the District of Columbia, United States.
The complex began as a prison farm called the Occoquan Wor ...
for an assault on a streetcar operator in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
In 1918, Ainsmith was drafted into the United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
. He appealed to the United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...
for an exemption from the draft, but Secretary of War Newton D. Baker
Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (December 3, 1871 – December 25, 1937) was an American lawyer, Georgist,Noble, Ransom E. "Henry George and the Progressive Movement." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 8, no. 3, 1949, pp. 259–269. w ...
ruled that baseball was not an exempt occupation.
Later life
Ainsmith also worked as a scout
Scout may refer to:
Youth movement
*Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement
**Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom
**Scouts BSA, sectio ...
in the 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. ...
organization. In the early 1940s, he provided a scouting report on pitcher Sal Maglie
Salvatore Anthony Maglie (April 26, 1917 – December 28, 1992) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and later, a scout and a pitching coach. He played from 1945 to 1958 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, New ...
that, though lukewarm, led to Maglie being drafted by the Giants. Ainsmith managed the 1947 Rockford Peaches
The Rockford Peaches were a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A founding member, the team represented Rockford, Illinois.
The Peaches were one of two teams to pla ...
in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...
.
References
External links
Eddie Ainsmith at RetroSheet.org
1890 births
1981 deaths
Major League Baseball catchers
Washington Senators (1901–1960) players
Detroit Tigers players
St. Louis Cardinals players
Brooklyn Robins players
New York Giants (NL) players
Washington Senators (1901–1960) coaches
Major League Baseball players from Russia
Lawrence Colts players
Lowell Tigers players
Jersey City Skeeters players
Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players
Indianapolis Indians players
Little Rock Travelers players
Portland Beavers players
Seattle Indians players
Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League managers
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
Russian baseball players
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