Edward Isaih Poole (September 7, 1874 – March 11, 1919) was a

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), ...

. He played from 1900 to 1904 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, and

Brooklyn Superbas 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, Californ ...

. Poole stood at and weighed 175 lbs."Ed Poole Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-04.

Career

Poole was born in Canton, Ohio. He started his professional baseball career in 1897 and played in the

Interstate League The Interstate League was the name of five different American minor baseball leagues that played intermittently from 1896 through 1952. Early leagues Earlier versions of the Interstate League, with years active: *1896–1901: an unclassified ...

for four seasons. In 1900, he went 20–15 for the Wheeling Stogies. He also played in the infield and outfield when he didn't pitch and batted .257."Ed Poole Minor League Statistics & History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-04. Poole was then acquired by the Pirates and made his Major League debut in October of that year. In 1901, Poole pitched sparingly for Pittsburgh, making 10 starts and going 5–4. The Pirates won their first

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

pennant. In April 1902, Poole was traded to Cincinnati and immediately had his greatest success in the Major Leagues. He made 16 starts for the Reds and completed all 16, while going 12–4 with a 2.15

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

. In 1903, Poole suffered from a sore arm early in the season. His record dropped to 7–13, and his ERA went up to 3.28. He was sold to Brooklyn in 1904, but the reasons for the trade apparently had nothing to do with his pitching. According to the Reds' president,

Garry Herrmann August "Garry" Herrmann (May 3, 1859 – April 25, 1931) was an American political operative for Cincinnati political boss George B. Cox, an executive of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, and president of National Baseball Commission. In 1946, ...

, Poole had a habit of reading books in the dugout.

''"One day, when we were playing in Cincinnati, I noticed that Poole was deeply engrossed in a book while sitting on the players' bench in uniform ... The next day and the next I noticed that Poole had the same book, and then I began to grow suspicious. Inquiry developed the fact that instead of a rule book he had a novel, which he was reading daily. That settled his chances for remaining with the Reds, and when Brooklyn asked for him we parted with him willingly. Novels and baseball don't mix when a game is being played on the field."'' – Garry Herrmann

Poole's troubles did not end in Cincinnati. Playing baseball on Sunday was not allowed in New York at the time, but

owner

Charles Ebbets Charles Hercules Ebbets, Sr. (October 29, 1859 – April 18, 1925) was an American sports executive who served as co-owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1897 to 1902 before becoming majority owner of the team, doing so until his death in 1925. He ...

tried to circumvent the law. For a game played on Sunday, April 24, Poole had the misfortune of being the starting pitcher. Just as the game got underway, policemen marched onto the field and arrested him, along with two other players. Poole had to go to court and was eventually fined for violating the blue laws. He then pitched again on Sunday, May 29, and was arrested for the second time. That case went to trial and became known as ''The People of New York v. Poole''. Poole started off 8–14 for Brooklyn that season, and he pitched the last Major League game of his career on July 27. He spent the rest of the year hunting rabbits and quail near his home in Canton. Poole returned to baseball the following season and played in the minor leagues from 1905 to 1908. In 1905, he pitched a career-high 298 innings and won a career-high 21 games for the Providence Clamdiggers of the Eastern League. He then won 14 and 17 games the next two seasons but just 4 in 1908, after which his career ended. Poole later became a merchant."Ed Poole Death Certificate"
''thedeadballera.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-04. He died of

diabetes mellitus Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

in 1920 in

Malvern, Ohio Malvern is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in northwestern Carroll County, Ohio, Carroll County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,110 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is part of the Canton–Massillon metropolitan ...

, and was interred in Bethlehem Cemetery in that town.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poole, Ed 1874 births 1919 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Pittsburgh Pirates players Cincinnati Reds players Brooklyn Superbas players Providence Grays (minor league) players Trenton Tigers players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Baseball players from Canton, Ohio 19th-century baseball players People from Malvern, Ohio