Oscar Emil "Happy" Felsch (August 22, 1891 – August 17, 1964) was an American

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the c ...

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

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 ...

from 1915 to 1920."Happy Felsch Statistics and History"
''baseball-reference.com''. Retrieved 2010-10-24. He is best known for his involvement in the 1919

Black Sox scandal The Black Sox Scandal was a Major League Baseball game-fixing scandal in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money from a gambling syndicate le ...

Early life

Felsch was born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, to German immigrant parents. He dropped out of school in the sixth grade and played baseball on Milwaukee sandlots."Happy Felsch's Obit"
''thedeadballera.com''. Retrieved 2010-10-24. He began his professional baseball career in the Wisconsin-Illinois League in 1913. The next season, he batted .304 and slugged .512 for the American Association's

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. The Brewers are named for the city's association wi ...

, and was purchased by the White Sox.

Major league career

From 1916 to 1920, Felsch was one of the best hitters 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 ...

, finishing in the top 10 in more than a few major batting categories. His 102

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 ...

was good enough for second place in 1917, as the White Sox won the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Wor ...

. He missed most of the 1918 season due to military service. Felsch continued his good hitting and fielding in 1919. He had a strong throwing arm and was highly regarded as a center fielder; He led the AL in outfield putouts and assists in 1919. The White Sox won the pennant going away. That fall, Felsch agreed to join a group of White Sox players that planned to intentionally lose the

1919 World Series The 1919 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1919 season. The 16th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. ...

in exchange for monetary payments from a network of gamblers. He was reluctant to go along with the plan at first but then eventually did because of the money."Hap Felsch"
1919blacksox.com. Retrieved 2010-10-24. There was little doubt of Felsch's guilt on the field, as he not only hit poorly, but also misplayed flyballs in key situations. Chicago lost the series, five games to three. For his part in the fix, Felsch received $5,000, which was more than his entire regular season salary of $2,750. However, after the scandal broke in late 1920, Felsch, along with seven other players, was made permanently ineligible for organized baseball by

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

Kenesaw Mountain Landis Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his h ...

. 1920, his last season in the majors, was his best. He hit .338 with 14

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 115 runs batted in and it is possible that he would have put up more big numbers in the

live-ball era The live-ball era, also referred to as the lively ball era, is the period in Major League Baseball beginning in (and continuing to the present day), contrasting with the pre-1920 period known as the "dead-ball era". The name "live-ball era" comes ...

. Felsch later said, as quoted by the ''

Chicago American The ''Chicago American'' was an afternoon newspaper published in Chicago, under various names until its dissolution in 1974. History The paper's first edition came out on July 4, 1900, as '' Hearst's Chicago American''. It became the ''Morning ...

'':

Well, the beans are spilled and I think I'm through with baseball. I got $5,000. I could have got just about that much by being on the level if the Sox had won the Series. And now I'm out of baseball—the only profession I know anything about, and a lot of gamblers have gotten rich. The joke seems to be on us.

Career statistics

In 749 games over 6 seasons, Felsch posted a .293

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 ...

(825-for-2812) with 385 runs, 135 doubles, 64 triples, 38

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 443 RBI, 88

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

, 207

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, .347

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and .427

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player ...

. He finished his career with a .975

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, divi ...

playing primarily at center field. In the 1917 and 1919 World Series, he hit .229 (11-for-48) with 6 runs, 1 home run and 6 RBI.

Later life

Felsch spent the next 15 years touring the country with various amateur and semi-pro teams, including

Scobey, Montana Scobey is a city in and the county seat of Daniels County, Montana, United States. The population was 999 at the 2020 census. Scobey is known for its bird and big game hunting. The nearby Mansfield A. Daniels House is listed on the NRHP. Hi ...

Outlaws in 1925 and 1926;

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city population ...

in 1927 (Regina Balmorals of the Southern Saskatchewan Baseball League), in

Virden, Manitoba Virden is a town in southwestern Manitoba, Canada. Oil was first discovered in 1951, and Virden has since come to be known as the "Oil Capital of Manitoba". History Virden has its roots as a farming community known as Gopher Creek. However, it b ...

of the Winnipeg Senior League; and finally in Plentywood, Montana in 1928. After his playing days ended, he opened up a grocery store as well as a number of drinking establishments. Felsch died of a liver ailment in Milwaukee in 1964, just five days before his 73rd birthday. He was survived by his wife Marie and three children. He is buried at Wisconsin Memorial Park in

Brookfield, Wisconsin Brookfield is a city located in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. It had a population of 37,920 in the 2010 census. Brookfield is the third-largest city in Waukesha County. The city is adjacent to the ...

. In the 1988 film ''

Eight Men Out ''Eight Men Out'' is a 1988 American sports drama film based on Eliot Asinof's 1963 book ''Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series''. It was written and directed by John Sayles. The film is a dramatization of Major League Baseball' ...

'', Felsch was portrayed by

Charlie Sheen Carlos Irwin Estévez (born September 3, 1965), known professionally as Charlie Sheen, is an American actor. He has appeared in films such as ''Platoon'' (1986), ''Wall Street'' (1987), '' Young Guns'' (1988), '' The Rookie'' (1990), '' The Th ...

."Eight Men Out Cast"
''allmovie.com''. Retrieved 2010-10-24.

References

External links