Lee Elmer Handley (July 13, 1913 – April 8, 1970) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

second baseman and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

. He played 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), ...

from 1936 to 1947 for the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Phillies. His younger brother,

Gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

, also played in the major leagues from 1946 to 1947.

Early years

Handley played baseball for

Soldan High School Soldan International Studies High School (also known as Soldan High School) is a public magnet high school in the Academy neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri that is part of the St. Louis Public Schools. Soldan was known for its wealthy and pre ...

and the Jerome Goldman Post American Legion team in St. Louis, Missouri. The Goldman team won the Missouri championship "due to a large degree to Handley's hitting and fielding."

College sports

Handley played quarterback for Bradley Polytechnic Institute, with his accomplishments including a 50-yard pass that won a game in 1934. An article in the May 25, 1937, issue of the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the Alle ...

'' described him as the "leading quarterback of the conference, featured schedule with his passing running and kicking." In 1933, Handley won the Most Valuable Player Award in football in the

Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) was a college athletic conference that existed from 1908 to 1970 in the United States. At one time the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, or IIAC, was a robust league that clai ...

, and he was an all-conference second baseman two years. He also was a guard and captain on the basketball team and ran track at Bradley.

Baseball

Handley originally signed with the Cincinnati Reds, but Commissioner

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 ...

voided the contract, resulting in Handley's signing with Pittsburgh for a $20,000 bonus. In 1939 Handley hit a career-high average of .285 and tied for the

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 ...

lead in stolen bases (17), despite suffering a serious beaning that kept him out of the lineup for 52 games. He also was hurt in an automobile accident before the 1942 season, but returned in 1945 to hit .298 in 98 games. Jackie Robinson named Handley, who played for the Phillies in 1947, as the first opposing player to wish him well, and stated that he even apologized for the behavior of his teammates, who were acting on instructions of Ben Chapman, their manager, who was racist. In a 10-season career, Handley was a .269 hitter with 15 home runs and 297 runs batted in during his 968 games, including a solid 1.31

walk-to-strikeout ratio In baseball statistics, walk-to-strikeout ratio (BB/K) is a measure of a hitter's plate discipline and knowledge of the strike zone. Generally, a hitter with a good walk-to-strikeout ratio must exhibit enough patience at the plate to refrain from ...

(267-to-204).

Post-baseball career

In 1954, Handley and

Frankie Gustine Frank William Gustine (February 20, 1920 – April 1, 1991) was an American Major League Baseball player who appeared in three All-Star Games during his 12-season (1939–50) MLB career. He spent the bulk of his tenure (1,176 games played) with ...

began a daily 15-minute sports program on KDKA radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They had previously worked together on both radio and TV programs.

Death

An alumnus of

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. Th ...

, Handley died of an apparent

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, at the age of 56.

References

External links

Baseball Library
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Handley, Lee 1913 births 1970 deaths Baltimore Orioles (IL) players Baseball players from Iowa Bradley Braves baseball players Chattanooga Lookouts players Cincinnati Reds players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball third basemen Minor league baseball managers National League stolen base champions People from Clarion, Iowa Philadelphia Phillies players Pittsburgh Pirates players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players