Posted By:
David KellerRhett - Thanks for posting the Stenzel pin backs. Based on the info from your paper back, I believe this is the guy who had the pins made. Note the restaurant/bar across the street from the ballpark in Cincinnati.
From Baseball-Reference.com
"Jake Stenzel played at a time when the ball was the liveliest ever, so his statistics have a lot of air in them. Even so, he was a very good ballplayer.
His lifetime batting average is .339, over 9 seasons. He ranks # 18 on the all-time list with that average, right under Lou Gehrig. However, Stenzel never was higher than 9th in the league in batting in any one season. His lifetime on-base percentage is .408, ranking # 41 on the all-time list. However, he was never higher than 7th in the league in any one season.
In spite of that, he was a good ballplayer, with an Adjusted OPS+ of 135. His best years were all clustered in the period 1893-1897. His best year was 1894, when he posted the line of .374/.447/.539, and while he dominated his own team with those stats, none of those stats were in the top five in the league.
He began his professional baseball career as a catcher in 1887.
After his playing days, he opened up a restaurant and bar across from the ballfield in Cincinnati. However, when the U.S. joined World War I, business slowed and Stenzel was forced to sell the business and become a night watchman. He died in 1919, from what is said to have been the influenza."
Here are a couple more common Reds pins, but I like them....
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