A good hitting catcher, Ed Bailey of Strawberry Plains Tennessee played 14 major league seasons, 10 as a starting backstop, and was a 5-time All-Star. He broke in with the Cincinnati Reds in 1953, went back-and-forth to the minors, then took over the team’s regular catching duties in 1956. The left-handed batting Ed Bailey responded by hitting 3 homers in one games and for the season batted .300 with 28 home runs, 59 Runs, 75 RBI, struck out just 50 times, walked 52 times in 118 games. As a fact: In this moneyball era, Ed Bailey had a good lifetime .355 obp, and as you'll read below an even better sense away from the plate too. Segregation Issue Settled Immediately Baseball Story In a minor league game in Tampa in 1955 local Tampa officials ordered players not playing in that day’s game to sit in the segregated stands. Ropes were set up and black players in uniforms had to sit in a Black section and white players in a White section. The muscular 6 ft 2 inch 205 pound white Ed Bailey, who wasn’t starting that day, sat next to black teammate pitcher Brooks Lawrence with a rope separating the pair. Ed Bailey got up and declared, "This is stupid. I’m going to change this." and tore down the rope. No person dared put the rope back up. Copyright 2007 by baseballhistorian.com |
