John Enzmann (a.k.a. ''Gentleman John'') (March 4, 1890 in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

– March 14, 1984 in

Riverhead, New York Riverhead is a town within Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the north shore of Long Island. Since 1727, Riverhead has been the county seat of Suffolk County, though most county offices are in Hauppauge. As of the 2020 census, the po ...

) 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), ...

Biography

He pitched for the 1914

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 ...

, the 1918–1919

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 ...

and the 1920

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. Following his baseball career, Enzmann worked as toolmaker from which he retired in 1972. The Phillies celebrated the franchise's centennial in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

and identified Enzmann as the team's then-living oldest player. Enzmann was 93 years old and living in Ft. Lauderdale. As part of celebrations on May 1, 1983, Enzmann threw out the first-pitch prior to the Phillies game against the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capacities were 65,358 for footb ...

References

External links

Major League Baseball pitchers Brooklyn Robins players Cleveland Indians players Philadelphia Phillies players Minor league baseball managers Newark Indians players Rochester Hustlers players Harrisburg Senators players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Syracuse Stars (minor league baseball) players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Reading Keystones players Newark Bears (IL) players Hartford Senators players Bridgeport Bears (baseball) players Pittsfield Hillies players Baseball players from New York (state) 1890 births 1920 deaths {{US-baseball-pitcher-1890s-stub